nified
the saintly calendar." These remarks are just; and it is certainly to
be regretted that, among the many unknown or doubtful names of canonized
Christians to which the Church has given her sanction, there is no
mention made of Acacius of Amida.

Varahran was perhaps the more disposed to conclude his war with Rome
from the troubled condition of his own portion of Armenia, which
imperatively required his attention. Since the withdrawal from that
region of his brother Sapor in A.D. 418 or 419, the country had had no
king. It had fallen into a state of complete anarchy and wretchedness;
no taxes were collected; the roads were not safe; the strong robbed and
oppressed the weak at their pleasure. Isaac, the Armenian patriarch,
and the other bishops, had quitted their sees and taken refuge in Roman
Armenia, where they were received favorably by the prefect of the East,
Anatolius, who no doubt hoped by their aid to win over to his master the
Persian division of the country. Varahran's attack on Theodosiopolis
had been a counter movement, and had been designed to make the Romans
tremble for their own possessions, and throw them back on the defensive.
But the attack had failed; and on its failure the complete loss of
Armenia probably seemed imminent. Varahran therefore hastened to make
peace with Rome, and, having so done, proceeded to give his attention
to Armenia, with the view of placing matters there on a satisfactory
footing. Convinced that he could not retain Armenia unless with the
good-will of the nobles, and believing them to be deeply attached to the
royal stock of the Arsacids, he brought forward a prince of that noble
house, named Artases, a son of Varahran-Sapor, and, investing him
with the ensigns of royalty, made him take the illustrious name of
Artaxerxes, and delivered into his hands the entire government of the
country. These proceedings are assigned to the year A.D. 422, the year
of the peace with Rome, and must have followed very shortly after the
signature of the treaty.

It might have been expected that this arrangement would have satisfied
the nobles of Armenia, and have given that unhappy country a prolonged
period of repose. But the personal character of Artaxerxes was,
unfortunately, bad; the Armenian nobles were, perhaps, capricious; and
after a trial of six years it was resolved that the rule of the Arsacid
monarch could not be endured, and that Varahran should be requested
to make Armenia a pr