ce the time
of Diocletian, from foreign and domestic war, was again subdued by the
successors of Cyrus. Pelusium, the key of that impervious country, was
surprised by the cavalry of the Persians: they passed, with impunity,
the innumerable channels of the Delta, and explored the long valley
of the Nile, from the pyramids of Memphis to the confines of AEthiopia.
Alexandria might have been relieved by a naval force, but the archbishop
and the praefect embarked for Cyprus; and Chosroes entered the second
city of the empire, which still preserved a wealthy remnant of industry
and commerce. His western trophy was erected, not on the walls of
Carthage, but in the neighborhood of Tripoli; the Greek colonies of
Cyrene were finally extirpated; and the conqueror, treading in the
footsteps of Alexander, returned in triumph through the sands of the
Libyan desert. In the same campaign, another army advanced from the
Euphrates to the Thracian Bosphorus; Chalcedon surrendered after a long
siege, and a Persian camp was maintained above ten years in the presence
of Constantinople. The sea-coast of Pontus, the city of Ancyra, and the
Isle of Rhodes, are enumerated among the last conquests of the great
king; and if Chosroes had possessed any maritime power, his boundless
ambition would have spread slavery and desolation over the provinces of
Europe.

From the long-disputed banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, the reign of
the grandson of Nushirvan was suddenly extended to the Hellespont and
the Nile, the ancient limits of the Persian monarchy. But the provinces,
which had been fashioned by the habits of six hundred years to the
virtues and vices of the Roman government, supported with reluctance
the yoke of the Barbarians. The idea of a republic was kept alive by the
institutions, or at least by the writings, of the Greeks and Romans, and
the subjects of Heraclius had been educated to pronounce the words of
liberty and law. But it has always been the pride and policy of Oriental
princes to display the titles and attributes of their omnipotence; to
upbraid a nation of slaves with their true name and abject condition,
and to enforce, by cruel and insolent threats, the rigor of their
absolute commands. The Christians of the East were scandalized by the
worship of fire, and the impious doctrine of the two principles: the
Magi were not less intolerant than the bishops; and the martyrdom of
some native Persians, who had deserted the religion of Z