and the conspiracy of the satraps, were
impartially punished by the revenge or justice of the conqueror; the
merits of Bindoes himself could not purify his hand from the guilt
of royal blood: and the son of Hormouz was desirous to assert his own
innocence, and to vindicate the sanctity of kings. During the vigor of
the Roman power, several princes were seated on the throne of Persia by
the arms and the authority of the first Caesars. But their new subjects
were soon disgusted with the vices or virtues which they had imbibed in
a foreign land; the instability of their dominion gave birth to a vulgar
observation, that the choice of Rome was solicited and rejected with
equal ardor by the capricious levity of Oriental slaves. But the glory
of Maurice was conspicuous in the long and fortunate reign of his _son_
and his ally. A band of a thousand Romans, who continued to guard the
person of Chosroes, proclaimed his confidence in the fidelity of the
strangers; his growing strength enabled him to dismiss this unpopular
aid, but he steadily professed the same gratitude and reverence to his
adopted father; and till the death of Maurice, the peace and alliance of
the two empires were faithfully maintained. Yet the mercenary friendship
of the Roman prince had been purchased with costly and important gifts;
the strong cities of Martyropolis and Dara were restored, and the
Persarmenians became the willing subjects of an empire, whose eastern
limit was extended, beyond the example of former times, as far as the
banks of the Araxes, and the neighborhood of the Caspian. A pious hope
was indulged, that the church as well as the state might triumph in
this revolution: but if Chosroes had sincerely listened to the Christian
bishops, the impression was erased by the zeal and eloquence of the
Magi: if he was armed with philosophic indifference, he accommodated his
belief, or rather his professions, to the various circumstances of an
exile and a sovereign. The imaginary conversion of the king of Persia
was reduced to a local and superstitious veneration for Sergius, one
of the saints of Antioch, who heard his prayers and appeared to him in
dreams; he enriched the shrine with offerings of gold and silver, and
ascribed to this invisible patron the success of his arms, and the
pregnancy of Sira, a devout Christian and the best beloved of his wives.
The beauty of Sira, or Schirin, her wit, her musical talents, are still
famous in the history, or ra