imed king. This prince
was of an amiable temper, but apparently of a weakly constitution. He
was with difficulty persuaded to accept the throne, and anticipated
from the first an early demise. No events are assigned to his short
reign, which (according to the best authorities) did not exceed the
length of four months. It is evident that he must have been powerless to
offer any effectual opposition to Tiridates, whose forces continued
to ravage, year after year, the north-western provinces of the Persian
empire. Had Tiridates been a prince of real military talent, it could
scarcely have been difficult for him to obtain still greater advantages.
But he was content with annual raids, which left the substantial power
of Persia untouched. He allowed the occasion of the throne's being
occupied by a weak and invalid prince to slip by. The consequences of
this negligence will appear in the next chapter. Persia, permitted to
escape serious attack in her time of weakness, was able shortly to take
the offensive and to make the Armenian prince regret his indolence or
want of ambition. The son of Chosroes became a second time a fugitive;
and once more the Romans were called in to settle the affairs of the
East. We have now to trace the circumstances of this struggle, and to
show how Rome under able leaders succeeded in revenging the defeat
and captivity of Valerian, and in inflicting, in her turn, a grievous
humiliation upon her adversary.

CHAPTER VI.

_Civil War of Narses and his Brother Hormisdas. Narses victorious. He
attacks and expels Tiridates. War declared against him by Diocletian.
First Campaign of Galerius, A.D. 297. Second Campaign, A.D. 298. Defeat
suffered by Narses. Negotiations. Conditions of Peace. Abdication and
Death of Narses._

It appears that on the death of Varahran III., probably without issue,
there was a contention for the crown between two brothers, Narses and
Hormisdas. We are not informed which of them was the elder, nor on what
grounds they respectively rested their claims; but it seems that Narses
was from the first preferred by the Persians, and that his rival
relied mainly for success on the arms of foreign barbarians. Worsted in
encounters wherein none but Persians fought on either side, Hormisdas
summoned to his aid the hordes of the north--Gelli from the shores of
the Caspian, Scyths from the Oxus or the regions beyond, and Russians,
now first mentioned by a classical writer. But the