able wealth and
power. Kadphises, Kanerki, Kenorano. Ooerki, Baraoro, had the main seat
of their empire in the region about Cabul and Jellalabad; but from this
centre they exercised an extensive sway, which at times probably reached
Candahar on the one hand, and the Punjab region on the other. Their
large gold coinage proves them to have been monarchs of great wealth,
while their use of the Greek letters and language indicates a certain
amount of civilization. The marriage of Hormisdas with a princess of
Cabul implies that the hostile relations existing under Varahran II. had
been superseded by friendly ones. Persian aggression had ceased to be
feared. The reigning Indo-Scythic monarch felt no reluctance to give his
daughter in marriage to his Western neighbor, and sent her to his court
(we are told) with a wardrobe and ornaments of the utmost magnificence
and costliness.

Hormisdas II. appears to have had a son, of the same name with himself,
who attained to manhood while his father was still reigning. This
prince, who was generally regarded, and who, of course, viewed himself,
as the heir-apparent, was no favorite with the Persian nobles, whom
he had perhaps offended by an inclination towards the literature and
civilization of the Greeks. It must have been upon previous consultation
and agreement that the entire body of the chief men resolved to vent
their spite by insulting the prince in the most open and public way at
the table of his father. The king was keeping his birthday, which was
always, in Persia, the greatest festival of the year, and so the most
public occasion possible. All the nobles of the realm were invited to
the banquet; and all came and took their several places. The prince
was absent at the first, but shortly arrived, bringing with him, as the
excuse for his late appearance, a quantity of game, the produce of the
morning's chase. Such an entrance must have created some disturbance
and have drawn general attention; but the nobles, who were bound by
etiquette to rise from their seats, remained firmly fixed in them, and
took not the slightest notice of the prince's arrival. This behavior was
an indignity which naturally aroused his resentment. In the heat of the
moment he exclaimed aloud that "those who had insulted him should one
day suffer for it--their fate should be the fate of Marsyas." At first
the threat was not understood; but one chieftain, more learned than
his fellows, explained to the rest