VIII.

all the provinces of his ancestors, and yielding CHAP. to the Persians the empire of Asia, to content themselves with the undisturbed possession of Europe. This haughty mandate was delivered by four hundred of the tallest and most beautiful of the Persians; who, by their fine horses, splendid arms, and rich apparel, displayed the pride and greatness of their master. Such an

embassy was much less an offer of negociation than a declaration of war. Both Alexander Severus and Artaxerxes, collecting the military force of the Roman and Persian monarchies, resolved in this important contest to lead their armies in person.

Severus,

A. D. 233.

If we credit what should seem the most authen- Pretended tic of all records, an oration, still extant, and Alexander delivered by the emperor himself to the senate, we must allow that the victory of Alexander Severus was not inferior to any of those formerly obtained over the Persians by the son of Philip. The army of the great king consisted of one hundred and twenty thousand horse, clothed in complete armour of steel; of seven hundred elephants, with towers filled with archers on their backs, and of eighteen hundred chariots, armed with scythes, This formidable host, the like of which is not to be found in eastern history, and has scarcely been imagined in eastern romance,

b Herodian, vi, 209, 212.

There were two hundred scythed chariots at the battle of Ar bela, in the host of Darius, In the vast army of Tigranes, which was vanquished by Lucullus, seventeen thousand horse only were Com

VIIL

CHAP. was discomfited in a great battle, in which the Roman Alexander approved himself an intrepid soldier and a skilful general. The great king fled before his valour; an immense booty, and the conquest of Mesopotamia, were the immediate fruits of this signal victory. Such are the circumstances of this ostentatious and improbable relation, dictated, as it too plainly appears, by the vanity of the monarch, adorned by the unblushing servility of his flatterers, and received without contradiction by a distant and obsequious senate. Far from being inclined to believe that the arms of Alexander obtained any memorable advantage over the Persians, we are induced to suspect, that all this blaze of imaginary glory was designed to conceal some real disgrace.

completely armed. Antiochus brought fifty-four elephants into the field against the Romans. By his frequent wars and negociations with the princes of India, he had once collected an hundred and fifty of those great animals; but it may be questioned, whether the most powerful monarch of Hindostan ever formed a line of battle of seven hundred elephants. Instead of three or four thousand elephants, which the great Mogul was supposed to possess, Tavernier (Voyages, part ii, 1. i, p. 198) discovered, by a more accurate inquiry, that he had only five hundred for his baggage, and eighty or ninety for the service of war. The Greeks have varied with regard to the number which Porus brought into the field; but Quintus Curtius (viii, 13), in this instance judicious and moderate, is contented with eightyfive elephants, distinguished by their size and strength. In Siam, where these animals are the most numerous, and the most esteemed, eighteen elephants are allowed as a sufficient proportion for each of the nine brigades into which a just army is divided. The whole number, of one hundred and sixty-two elephants of war, may some times be doubled. Hist. des Voyages, tom. ix, P. 260.

МІЙ.

bable ac

Our suspicions are confirmed by the authority CHAP. of a contemporary historian, who mentions the virtues of Alexander with respect, and his faults More prowith candour. He describes the judicious plan count of which had been formed for the conduct of the the war. war. Three Roman armies were destined to inyade Persia at the same time, and by different roads. But the operations of the campaign, though wisely concerted, were not executed either with ability or success. The first of these ar

mies, as soon as it had entered the marshy plains of Babylon, towards the artificial conflux of the Euphrates and the Tigris, was encompassed by the superior numbers, and destroyed by the arrows, of the enemy. The alliance of Chosroes, king of Armenia,' and the long tract of mountainous country, in which the Persian cavalry was of little service, opened a secure entrance into. the heart of Media, to the second of the Roman armies. These brave troops laid waste the adjacent provinces, and by several successful actions against Artaxerxes, gave a faint colour to the emperor's vanity. But the retreat of this victoriousarmy was imprudent, or at least unfortunate. In repassing the mountains, great numbers of soldiers perished by the badness of the roads, and

⚫ M. de Tillemont has already observed, that Herodian's geography is somewhat confused.

f Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen, 1. ii, c. 71) illustrates this invasion of Media, by asserting that Chosroes, king of Armenia, defeated Artaxerxes, and pursued him to the confines of India. The exploits of Chosroes have been magnified; and he acted as a depend ent ally to the Romans.

CHAP. the severity of the winter season.

VIII.

It had been

resolved, that whilst these two great detachments penetrated into the opposite extremes of the Persian dominions, the main body, under the command of Alexander himself, should support their attack, by invading the centre of the kingdom. But the unexperienced youth, influenced by his mother's counsels, and perhaps by his own fears, deserted the bravest troops, and the fairest prospect of victory; and after consuming in Mesopotamia an inactive and inglorious summer, he led back to Antioch an army diminished by sickness, and provoked by disappointment. The behaviour of Artaxerxes had been very different. Flying with rapidity from the hills of Media to the marshes of the Euphrates, he had everywhere opposed the invaders in person; and in either fortune, had united with the ablest conduct the most undaunted resolution. But in several ob

stinate engagements against the veteran legions of Rome, the Persian monarch had lost the flower of his troops. Even his victories had weakened his power. The favourable opportunities of the absence of Alexander, and of the confusion that followed that emperor's death, presented themselves in vain to his ambition. Instead of expelling the Romans, as he pretended, from the continent of Asia, he found himself unable to wrest from their hands the little province of Mesopotamia."

For the account of this war, see Herodian, 1. vi, p. 209, 212. The old abbreviators and modern compilers have blindly followed the Augustan history.

VIII.

and max

A. D. 240.

The reign of Artaxerxes, which from the last CHAP. defeat of the Parthians lasted only fourteen years, forms a memorable era in the history of the East, Character and even in that of Rome. His character seems ims of Arto have been marked by those bold and com- taxerxes, manding features, that generally distinguish the princes who conquer, from those who inherit, an empire. Till the last period of the Persian monarchy, his code of laws was respected as the ground-work of their civil and religious policy.h Several of his sayings are preserved. One of them in particular discovers a deep insight into the constitution of government. "The autho"rity of the prince," said Artaxerxes," must "be defended by a military force; that force "can only be maintained by taxes; all taxes "must, at last, fall upon agriculture; and agri"culture can never flourish except under the

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protection of justice and moderation." Artaxerxes bequeathed his new empire, and his ambitious designs against the Romans, to Sapor, a son not unworthy of his great father; but those designs were too extensive for the power of Persia, and served only to involve both nations in a long series of destructive wars and reciprocal calamities.

Eutychius, tom. ii, p. 180, vers. Pocock. The great Chosroes Noushirwan sent the code of Artaxerxes to all his satraps, as the invariable rule of their conduct.

i D'Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale, au mot Ardshir. We may observe, that after an ancient period of fables, and a long interval of darkness, the modern histories of Persia begin to assume an air of truth with the dynasty of the Sassanides.