eged. But
the forces of Sapor were continually renewed and increased; the hopeless
courage of the garrison was exhausted; the strength of the walls yielded
to the assault; and the proud conqueror, after wasting the rebellious
city with fire and sword, led away captive an unfortunate queen; who,
in a more auspicious hour, had been the destined bride of the son of
Constantine. Yet if Sapor already triumphed in the easy conquest of two
dependent kingdoms, he soon felt, that a country is unsubdued as long
as the minds of the people are actuated by a hostile and contumacious
spirit. The satraps, whom he was obliged to trust, embraced the first
opportunity of regaining the affection of their countrymen, and of
signalizing their immortal hatred to the Persian name. Since the
conversion of the Armenians and Iberians, these nations considered the
Christians as the favorites, and the Magians as the adversaries, of the
Supreme Being: the influence of the clergy, over a superstitious
people was uniformly exerted in the cause of Rome; and as long as
the successors of Constantine disputed with those of Artaxerxes the
sovereignty of the intermediate provinces, the religious connection
always threw a decisive advantage into the scale of the empire. A
numerous and active party acknowledged Para, the son of Tiranus, as
the lawful sovereign of Armenia, and his title to the throne was deeply
rooted in the hereditary succession of five hundred years. By the
unanimous consent of the Iberians, the country was equally divided
between the rival princes; and Aspacuras, who owed his diadem to
the choice of Sapor, was obliged to declare, that his regard for his
children, who were detained as hostages by the tyrant, was the only
consideration which prevented him from openly renouncing the alliance of
Persia. The emperor Valens, who respected the obligations of the treaty,
and who was apprehensive of involving the East in a dangerous war,
ventured, with slow and cautious measures, to support the Roman party
in the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia. $ Twelve legions established the
authority of Sauromaces on the banks of the Cyrus. The Euphrates was
protected by the valor of Arintheus. A powerful army, under the command
of Count Trajan, and of Vadomair, king of the Alemanni, fixed their
camp on the confines of Armenia. But they were strictly enjoined not to
commit the first hostilities, which might be understood as a breach of
the treaty: and such was th