esults, so far as Rome was
concerned, were negative, the event might not have seemed to be one of
much importance, or that required notice. The character of Procopius,
with whom the story originates, should also be taken into consideration,
and the special credit allowed him by Agathias for careful and
diligent research. It may be added, that one of the main points of the
narrative--the position of Antiochus at Constantinople during the early
years of Theodosius--is corroborated by the testimony of a contemporary,
the bishop Synesius, who speaks of a man of this name, recently in the
service of a Persian, as all-powerful with the Eastern emperor. It has
been supposed by one writer that the whole story grew out of this fact;
but the basis scarcely seems to be sufficient; and it is perhaps most
probable that Arcadius did really by his will commend his son to the
kind consideration of the Persian monarch, and that that monarch in
consequence sent him an adviser, though the formal character of the
testamentary act, and the power and position of Antiochus at the court
of Constantinople, may have been overstated. Theodosius no doubt owed
his quiet possession of the throne rather to the good disposition
towards him of his own subjects than to the protection of a foreigner;
and Isdigerd refrained from all attack on the territories of the young
prince, rather by reason of his own pacific temper than in consequence
of the will of Arcadius.

The friendly relations established, under whatever circumstances,
between Isdigerd and the Roman empire of the East seemed to have
inclined the Persian monarch, during a portion of his reign, to take the
Christians into his favor, and even to have induced him to contemplate
seeking admission into the Church by the door of baptism. Antiochus, his
representative at the Court of Arcadius, openly wrote in favor of the
persecuted sect; and the encouragement received from this high quarter
rapidly increased the number of professing Christians in the Persian
territories. The sectaries, though oppressed, had long been allowed to
have their bishops; and Isdigerd is said to have listened with approval
to the teaching of two of them, Marutha, bishop of Mesopotamia, and
Abdaas, bishop of Ctesiphon. Convinced of the truth of Christianity, but
unhappily an alien from its spirit, he commenced a persecution of the
Magians and their most powerful adherents, which caused him to be held
in detestation by his sub