ian war. Moses of Chorene (Hist.
Armen. l. iii. c. 28, p. 261, c. 31, p. 266, c. 35, p. 271) affords some
additional facts; but it is extremely difficult to separate truth from
fable.]

[Footnote 137: Artaxerxes was the successor and brother (the
cousin-german) of the great Sapor; and the guardian of his son, Sapor
III. (Agathias, l. iv. p. 136, edit. Louvre.) See the Universal History,
vol. xi. p. 86, 161. The authors of that unequal work have compiled the
Sassanian dynasty with erudition and diligence; but it is a preposterous
arrangement to divide the Roman and Oriental accounts into two distinct
histories. * Note: On the war of Sapor with the Bactrians, which
diverted from Armenia, see St. M. iii. 387.--M.]

[Footnote 138: Pacatus in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 22, and Orosius, l. vii.
c. 34. Ictumque tum foedus est, quo universus Oriens usque ad num (A. D.
416) tranquillissime fruitur.]

In the general picture of the affairs of the East under the reign
of Valens, the adventures of Para form one of the most striking and
singular objects. The noble youth, by the persuasion of his mother
Olympias, had escaped through the Persian host that besieged
Artogerassa, and implored the protection of the emperor of the East. By
his timid councils, Para was alternately supported, and recalled, and
restored, and betrayed. The hopes of the Armenians were sometimes raised
by the presence of their natural sovereign, [138a] and the ministers of
Valens were satisfied, that they preserved the integrity of the public
faith, if their vassal was not suffered to assume the diadem and
title of King. But they soon repented of their own rashness. They were
confounded by the reproaches and threats of the Persian monarch.
They found reason to distrust the cruel and inconstant temper of Para
himself; who sacrificed, to the slightest suspicions, the lives of his
most faithful servants, and held a secret and disgraceful correspondence
with the assassin of his father and the enemy of his country. Under the
specious pretence of consulting with the emperor on the subject of their
common interest, Para was persuaded to descend from the mountains of
Armenia, where his party was in arms, and to trust his independence and
safety to the discretion of a perfidious court. The king of Armenia,
for such he appeared in his own eyes and in those of his nation, was
received with due honors by the governors of the provinces through which
he passed; but when he arrived