hen they failed, he felt no scruples in employing the
extremest and severest coercion. He was determined on uniformity; and
uniformity he secured, but at the cost of crushing a people, and so
alienating them as to make it certain that they would, on the first
convenient occasion, throw off the Persian yoke altogether.

The coins of Isdigerd II. nearly resemble those of his father, Varahran
V., differing only in the legend, and in the fact that the mural crown
of Isdigerd is complete. The legend is remarkably short, being either
_Masdisn kadi Tezdikerti_, or merely _Kadi Yezdikerti_--i.e. "the
Ormazd-worshipping great Isdigerd;" or "Isdigord the Great." The
coins are not very numerous, and have three mint-marks only, which are
interpreted to mean "Khuzistan," "Ctesiphon," and "Nehavend." [PLATE
XXI., Fig. 3.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXI.]

CHAPTER XVI.

_Right of Succession disputed between the two Sons of Isdigerd II.,
Perozes (or Firuz) and Hormisdas. Civil War for two years. Success of
Perozes, through aid given him by the Ephthalites. Great Famine. Perozes
declares War against the Ephthalites, and makes an Expedition into their
Country. His ill success. Conditions of Peace granted him. Armenian
Revolt and War. Perozes, after some years, resumes the Ephthalite War.
His attack fails, and he is slain in battle. Summary of his Character.
Coins of Hormisdas III. and Perozes. Vase of Perozes._

On the death of Isdigerd II. (A.D. 457) the throne was seized by his
younger son Hormisdas, who appears to have owed his elevation, in a
great measure, to the partiality of his father. That monarch, preferring
his younger son above his elder, had made the latter governor of the
distant Seistan, and had thus removed him far from the court, while he
retained Hormisdas about his own person. The advantage thus secured to
Hormisdas enabled him when his father died to make himself king; and
Perozes was forced, we are told, to fly the country, and place himself
under the protection of the Ephthalite monarch, who ruled in the valley
of the Oxus, over Bactria, Tokaristan, Badakshan, and other neighboring
districts. This king, who bore the name of Khush-newaz, received him
favorably, and though at first, out of fear for the power of Persia, he
declined to lend him troops, was induced after a while to adopt a bolder
policy. Hormisdas, despite his epithet of Ferzan, "the Wise," was soon
at variance with his subjects, many of whom