ational idolatry, had resisted determinedly. Nobles,
priests, and people had fought desperately in defence of their temples,
images, and altars; and, though the persistent will of the king overbore
all opposition, yet the result was the formation of a discontented
faction, which rose up from time to time against its rulers, and was
constantly tempted to ally itself with any foreign power from which it
could hope the re-establishment of the old religion. Armenia had also,
after the death of Tiridates (in A.D. 314), fallen under the government
of weak princes. Persia had recovered from it the portion of Media
Atropatene ceded by the treaty between Galerius and Narses. Sapor,
therefore, had nothing to fear on this side; and he might reasonably
expect to find friends among the Armenians themselves, should the
general position of his affairs allow him to make an effort to extend
Persian influence once more over the Armenian highland.

The bands of Sapor crossed the Roman frontier soon after, if not even
before, the death of Constantine; and after an interval of forty years
the two great powers of the world were once more engaged in a bloody
conflict. Constantius, having paid the last honors to his father's
remains, hastened to the eastern frontier, where he found the Roman army
weak in numbers, badly armed and badly provided, ill-disposed towards
himself, and almost ready to mutiny. It was necessary, before anything
could be done to resist the advance of Sapor, that the insubordination
of the troops should be checked, their wants supplied, and their
good-will conciliated. Constantius applied himself to effect these
changes. Meanwhile Sapor set the Arabs and Armenians in motion, inducing
the Pagan party among the latter to rise in insurrection, deliver
their king, Tiranus, into his power, and make incursions into the
Roman territory, while the latter infested with their armed bands the
provinces of Mesopotamia and Syria. He himself was content, during the
first year of the war, A.D. 337, with moderate successes, and appeared
to the Romans to avoid rather than seek a pitched battle. Constantius
was able, under these circumstances, not only to maintain his ground,
but to gain certain advantages. He restored the direction of affairs in
Armenia to the Roman party, detached some of the Mesopotamian Arabs from
the side of his adversary, and attached them to his own, and even built
forts in the Persian territory on the further side o