Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

9 Arcadius and Yazdgard I 95
emperor Theodosius but that he was threatening war against anyone who would
attempt to form a plot against him.
Agathias iv.26.3–7
(3) After that Yazdgard (I), the son of ˇ Sāpūr (II) took over rule in Persia, a man who
was held in high esteem by the Romans and much talked about. For they say that
when the emperor Arcadius was on the point of death and making arrangements
regarding his will, as is only human, he made the king guardian and protector of
his son Theodosius and of the entire Roman state. (4) For a long time this story
has been widely told among us, handed down from generation to generation, and
up to the present day it is circulated among both the elite and the common people.
However, I have not found this in any document or in any of the historians, and
have not even found it in those who give an account of Arcadius’ death, with the
only exception of the works of the rhetorical writer Procopius. It is not surprising, I
think, that he, who was very learned and had read practically every historical work
there is, includes a tale that someone else had written up earlier but that I (who
knows very little if anything at all) have not come across it anywhere. (5) But I find
it very surprising that in his account of this story he does not simply state what
was known but that he praises Arcadius and glorifies him as having made such a
wonderful decision. For he says that in general Arcadius was not that shrewd but
that in this particular situation he proved himself to be sound of mind and to have
greatest foresight. (6) It seems to me that whoever admires this does not judge and
express praise on the basis of the decision as such but in light of what happened
later. For how could it have been right to hand over what is dearest to you to a
foreigner, to a barbarian, to the ruler of the most hostile people, to someone whose
attitude towards trust and justice was unknown and to someone who on top of
everything else erred and held strange opinions in religious matters? 97 (7) If the
small child did not take any harm but his rule remained safe and sound because
it was protected by his guardian (this was the rule of someone who had not yet
been weaned off the breast), one should rather praise the king for his courtesy
rather than Arcadius for his plan. However, everybody may form his opinion on
this matter depending on his personal views and criteria.
To our surprise, Arcadius’ decision to approach the Sasanian king for help
in preserving his son’s rule is not attested in detail before the sixth century.
There are no references in the contemporary authors, although such an
intimate cooperation between the Byzantine emperor and his Persian archenemy
must have raised great attention at the time. It is possible that
in retrospect an arrangement of this kind seemed unacceptable when the
relations between East and West deteriorated once more during the later
part of Yazdgard I’s reign (399–421). However, when the two sides grew
closer again afterwards, this episode could be revived and found its way into
97 The Sasanian kings were followers of the Zoroastrian religion (30).