terms on which Rome and Persia brought their contention
respecting Armenia to a conclusion. Friendly relations were in this way
established between the two crowns, which continued undisturbed for the
long space of thirty-six years (A.D. 384-420).

Sapor III. appears to have succeeded his brother Artaxerxes in A.D. 383,
the year before the conclusion of the treaty. It is uncertain whether
Artaxerxes vacated the throne by death, or was deposed in consequence of
cruelties whereof he was guilty towards the priests and nobles. Tabari
and Macoudi, who relate his deposition, are authors on whom much
reliance cannot be placed; and the cruelties reported accord but ill
with the epithets of "the Beneficent" and "the Virtuous," assigned to
this monarch by others. Perhaps it is most probable that he held the
throne till his death, according to the statements of Agathias and
Eutychius. Of Sapor III., his brother and successor, two facts only are
recorded--his conclusion of the treaty with the Romans in A.D. 384, and
his war with the Arabs of the tribe of Yad, which must have followed
shortly afterwards. It must have been in consequence of his contest with
the latter, whom he attacked in their own country, that he received from
his countrymen the appellation of "the Warlike," an appellation better
deserved by either of the other monarchs who had borne the same name.

Sapor III. left behind him a sculptured memorial, which is still to be
seen in the vicinity of Kermanshah. [PLATE XX.] It consists of two very
similar figures, looking towards each other, and standing in an arched
frame. On either side of the figures are inscriptions in the Old
Pehlevi character, whereby we are enabled to identify the individuals
represented with the second and the third Sapor. The inscriptions run
thus:--_"Pathkell zani mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri, malkan malJca Allan ve
Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, bari mazdisn shahia Auhr-mazdi, malkan
malka Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, napi shahia Narshehi
malkan malka;"_ and _"Pathkeli mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri, malkan mallca
Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, bari mazdisn shahia Shahpuhri,
malkan malka Allan ve Anilan, minuchitli min yazdan, napi shahia
Auhrmazdi, malkan malka."_ They are, it will be seen, identical in form,
with the exception that the names in the right-hand inscription are
"Sapor, Hormisdas, Narses," while those in the left-hand one are
"Sapor, Sapor, Hormisdas." It has been suppos