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Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

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HISTORY OF PERSIA. iyi<br />

is <strong>the</strong> third one in succession, Varahn'n IV, famous for<br />

anything except as <strong>the</strong> founder of <strong>the</strong> city of Kirmanshah,<br />

and <strong>the</strong> part-execu<strong>to</strong>r of <strong>the</strong> famous sculptures of<br />

Takt-i-Bostdn, five miles <strong>from</strong> it. The inscriptions still<br />

remaining <strong>the</strong>re, first deciphered by De Sacy, leave<br />

no doubt that <strong>the</strong>y were chiefly made by his order, <strong>to</strong> per-<br />

petuate his own name and <strong>the</strong> glory of Shahpur II.<br />

The rule of <strong>the</strong> next emperor, Jezdigird, is<br />

variously related by<br />

<strong>the</strong> writers of <strong>the</strong> East and <strong>the</strong><br />

West, <strong>the</strong> former speaking of him, as an implacable<br />

and worthless tyrant, <strong>the</strong> latter as a wise and virtuous<br />

prince. Perhaps <strong>the</strong> differing tenor of <strong>the</strong>se reports is<br />

traceable <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that he lived on terms of friend-<br />

ship as well as of peace with <strong>the</strong> Roman Arcadius,<br />

who, at his death, declared him <strong>the</strong> protec<strong>to</strong>r of his<br />

son Theodosius <strong>the</strong> Second. As <strong>the</strong> young man grew<br />

up, <strong>the</strong> ties of friendship were streng<strong>the</strong>ned between<br />

<strong>the</strong> two empires, and <strong>the</strong> influence of <strong>the</strong> Bishop<br />

Marathas, <strong>the</strong> ablest of <strong>the</strong> ministers of Theodosius,<br />

was highly beneficial <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> Christians who had<br />

now become an important body in <strong>Persia</strong>. Hi<strong>the</strong>r-<br />

<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong>y had been, with some reason, held <strong>to</strong> be bad<br />

subjects, <strong>the</strong>ir inclinations leading <strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> support<br />

<strong>the</strong> views of <strong>the</strong> Christian emperors of Constantinople ;<br />

but, <strong>from</strong> this charge, <strong>the</strong> bishop, at least during his<br />

lifetime, seems <strong>to</strong> have successfully vindicated <strong>the</strong>m.<br />

But <strong>Persia</strong>n <strong>to</strong>leration was rarely of long endurance.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> next reign, that of Varahran V 1<br />

, a fierce persecu-<br />

1 The Oriental writers assert that Varahran V made a voyage <strong>to</strong><br />

India about A.D. 435, and married an Indian princess. If <strong>the</strong> s<strong>to</strong>ry be<br />

true, it is most likely that India means Beluchistan, or else <strong>the</strong> country<br />

at <strong>the</strong> mouths of <strong>the</strong> Indus. Varahran V is sometimes called Gatir,<br />

<strong>from</strong> his enthusiastic passion for hunting <strong>the</strong> Gaur, or wild ass.

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