scarcely condescended to
comport himself as a subject under Kobad, saw in the accession of a
boy, and in the near extinction of the race of Sassan, an opportunity
of gratifying his ambition, and at the same time of avenging the wrong
which had been done him by Chosroes. Before committing himself, however,
to the perils of rebellion, he negotiated with Heraclius, and secured
his alliance and support by the promise of certain advantages. The
friends met at Heraclea on the Propontis. Shahr-Barz undertook to
complete the evacuation of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, which he had
delayed hitherto, and promised, if he were successful in his enterprise,
to pay Heraclius a large sum of money as compensation for the injuries
inflicted on Rome during the recent war. Heraclius conferred on Nicetas,
the son of Shahr-Barz, the title of "Patrican," consented to a marriage
between Shahr-Barz's daughter, Nike, and his own son, Theodosius,
and accepted Gregoria, the daughter of Nicetas, and grand-daughter of
Shahr-Barz, as a wife for Constantine, the heir to the empire. He also,
it is probable, supplied Shahr-Barz with a body of troops, to assist him
in his struggle with Artaxerxes and Mihr-Hasis.

Of the details of Sharhr-Barz's expedition we know nothing. He is said
to have marched on Ctesiphon with an army of sixty thousand men; to have
taken the city, put to death Artaxerxes, Mihr-Hasis, and a number of the
nobles, and then seized the throne. We are not told what resistance
was made by the monarch in possession, or how it was overcome, or even
whether there was a battle. It would seem certain, however, that the
contest was brief. The young king was of course powerless; Mihr-Hasis,
though well-meaning, must have been weak; Shahr-Barz had all the rude
strength of the animal whose name he bore, and had no scruples about
using his strength to the utmost. The murder of a child of two, or at
the most of eight, who could have done no ill, and was legitimately in
possession of the throne, must be pronounced a brutal act, and one which
sadly tarnishes the fair fame, previously unsullied, of one of Persia's
greatest generals.

It was easy to obtain the crown, under the circumstances of the
time; but it was not so easy to keep what had been wrongfully gained.
Shahr-Barz enjoyed the royal authority less than two months. During this
period he completed the evacuation of the Roman provinces occupied by
Chosroes II., restored perhaps some portions