ng the
slain; and the patriotic party found that no further resistance was
possible. The patriarch, Joseph, and the other bishops, were seized,
carried off to Persia, and martyred. Zoroastrianism was enforced upon
the Armenian nation. All accepted it, except a few, who either took
refuge in the dominions of Rome, or fled to the mountain fastnesses of
Kurdistan.

The resistance of Armenia was scarcely overborne, when war once more
broke out in the East, and Isdigerd was forced to turn his attention
to the defence of his frontier against the aggressive Ephthalites, who,
after remaining quiet for three or four years, had again flown to arms,
had crossed the Oxus, and invaded Khorassan in force. On his first
advance the Persian monarch was so far successful that the invading
hordes seems to have retired, and left Persia to itself; but when
Isdigerd, having resolved to retaliate, led his own forces into the
Ephthalite country, they took heart, resisted him, and, having tempted
him into an ambuscade, succeeded in inflicting upon him a severe defeat.
Isdigerd was forced to retire hastily within his own borders, and to
leave the honors of victory to his assailants, whose triumph must have
encouraged them to continue year after year their destructive inroads
into the north-eastern provinces of the empire.

It was not long after the defeat which he suffered in this quarter that
Isdigerd's reign came to an end. He died A.D. 457, after having held the
throne for seventeen or (according to some) for nineteen years. He was
a prince of considerable ability, determination, and courage. That his
subjects called him "the Clement" is at first sight surprising, since
clemency is certainly not the virtue that any modern writer would think
of associating with his name. But we may assume from the application of
the term that, where religious considerations did not come into play,
he was fair and equitable, mild-tempered, and disinclined to harsh
punishments. Unfortunately, experience tells us that natural mildness
is no security against the acceptance of a bigot's creed; and, when a
policy of persecution has once been adopted, a Trajan or a Valerian will
be as unsparing as a Maximin or a Galerius. Isdigerd was a bitter and
successful persecutor of Christianity, which he--for a time at any
rate--stamped out, both from his own proper dominions, and from the
newly-acquired province of Armenia. He would have preferred less violent
means; but, w