cestors.
The orders which my master has given me are to entrust all the rights of
Persia to the clemency of Rome; and I therefore do not even bring with
me any conditions of peace, since it is for the emperor to determine
everything. I have only to pray, on my master's behalf, for the
restoration of his wives and male children; if he receives them at your
hands, he will be forever beholden to you, and will be better pleased
than if he recovered them by force of arms. Even now my master cannot
sufficiently thank you for the kind treatment which he hears you have
vouchsafed them, in that you have offered them no insult, but have
behaved towards them as though on the point of giving them back to
their kith and kin. He sees herein that you bear in mind the changes of
fortune and the instability of all human affairs."

At this point Galerius, who had listened with impatience to the long
harangue, burst in with a movement of anger that shook his whole
frame--"What? Do the Persians dare to remind us of the vicissitudes of
fortune, as though we could forget how they behave when victory inclines
to them? Is it not their wont to push their advantage to the uttermost
and press as heavily as may be on the unfortunate? How charmingly they
showed the moderation that becomes a victor in Valerian's time! They
vanquished him by fraud; they kept him a prisoner to advanced old age;
they let him die in dishonor; and then when he was dead they stripped
off his skin, and with diabolical ingenuity made of a perishable human
body an imperishable monument of our shame. Verily, if we follow this
envoy's advice, and look to the changes of human affairs, we shall not
be moved to clemency, but to anger, when we consider the past conduct
of the Persians. If pity be shown them, if their requests be granted, it
will not be for what they have urged, but because it is a principle of
action with us--a principle handed down to us from our ancestors--to
spare the humble and chastise the proud." Apharban, therefore, was
dismissed with no definite answer to his question, what terms of peace
Rome would require; but he was told to assure his master that Rome's
clemency equalled her valor, and that it would not be long before he
would receive a Roman envoy authorized to signify the Imperial pleasure,
and to conclude a treaty with him.

Having held this interview with Apharban, Galerius hastened to meet and
consult his colleague. Diocletian had remained in Syri