Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

1 64
HISTORY OF PERSIA.
Syria, and turning northward, swept the whole country
to the gates of Aleppo ere he returned to Ctesiphon.
The presence of such a foe awakened the fast de-
clining spirit of the Romans, yet, during the later days
of the reign of Constantine the prudence of Shahpur
prevented an open rupture.
With the death of Constantine matters changed,
and the despot of the East conceived himself bound
to repress the despot of the West. Five provinces had
been ceded to Rome after the peace of Galerius, and
these he felt it his duty to recover, by treaty, if
possible ; if not, by
force of arms. The disturbed
state of the Western Empire favoured his views ; the
legions were corrupt and lacked the firm grasp of the
veteran emperor ; the great Tiridates, after a reign of
fifty-six years, was no more, though, by becoming a
Christian shortly before his death, he had strengthened
the link that bound Armenia to Constantinople. Still
a large faction remained in Armenia who, misliking
the change of life Christianity demanded, were ready
to aid Shahpt'ir, though with the certain suppression
of their own political independence. Hence, the
might of Shahpur soon overcame Chosroes, the puny
successor of Tiridates, and hence, too, the siege by
the Persian of Nisibis and his occupation of great
part of Mesopotamia. Yet it must not be supposed
that the Romans tamely succumbed to the rising power
completely secured all the lower end of Babylonia and crossing the
sea by Al Cathif, put to the sword many of the people of
Bahrein and Hedjaz and of the tribe of Teniin. It is clear, therefore,
that St. Martin was wrong in supposing that the Sassanians did not
conquer Mesene till A.D. 389. As we shall see this date (A.D. 3.26)
agrees
well with the narrative in Ammiamis of the fatal march of
Julian thirty-seven years later.