his royal master that it would be the wisest course to entrust Vahan with the government,' that the same head which had conceived the terms of the pacification might watch over and ensure their execution. Antegan's recommendation approved itself to the Persian monarch, who proceeded to recall his self-denying councillor, and to install Vahan in the vacant office. The post of Sparapet was assigned to Vart, Vahan's brother. Christianity was then formally re-established as the State religion of Armenia; the fire-altars were destroyed; the churches reclaimed and purified; the hierarchy restored to its former position and powers. A reconversion of almost the whole nation to the Christian faith was the immediate result; the apostate Armenians recanted their errors, and abjured Zoroastrianism; Armenia, and with it Iberia, were pacified;2 and the two provinces which had been so long a cause of weakness to Persia grew rapidly into main sources of her strength and prosperity.

The new arrangement had not been long completed when Balas died (A.D. 487). It is agreed on all hands that he held the throne for no more than four years, and generally allowed that he died peaceably by a natural death. He was a wise and just prince," mild in his temper,"

1 Lazare Parbe, p. 45.

2 Ibid. p.

46.

(1.8.c.), and Agathias (1.s.c.), speak of Balas as dying a natural death. Lazare Parbe makes him dethroned by his subjects as too peaceful (p. 46). Procopius (E. P. i. 5 and 6) and others (Theophan. p. 106, A; Cedrenus, p. 356, C) confound Balas with Zamaspes, and say that he was dethroned and blinded by Kobad.

3 Agathias, iv. 27; p. 138, A; Eutych. ii. p. 127; Syncellus, p. 360, D; Tabari, vol. ii. p. 144; Mirkhond, p. 352; Maçoudí, vol. ii. p. 195; Lazare Parbe, p. 46; Pat kanian, p. 176, &c. The four years were probably not complete, Balas ascending the throne in A.D. 484, and dying before the termination of A.D. 487. p. 144. 6 Agathias, iv. 27: Πρᾷος τοὺς трónový kuì îñioç.

There is not the same universal agreement here. Tabari (p. 144), Mirkhond (p. 352), Eutychius

5

Mirkhond, p. 351; Tabari, ii.

averse to military enterprises,1 and inclined to expect better results from pacific arrangements than from wars and expeditions. His internal administration of the empire gave general satisfaction to his subjects; he protected and relieved the poor, extended cultivation, and punished governors who allowed any men in their province to fall into indigence.2 His prudence and moderation are especially conspicuous in his arrangement of the Armenian difficulty, whereby he healed a chronic sore that had long drained the resources of his country. His submission to pay tribute to the Ephthalites may be thought to indicate a want of courage or of patriotism; but there are times when the purchase of a peace is a necessity; and it is not clear that Balas was minded to bear the obligation imposed on him a moment longer than was necessary. The writers who record the fact that Persia submitted for a time to pay a tribute limit the interval during which the obligation held to a couple of years. It would seem, therefore, that Balas, who reigned four years, must, a year at least before his demise, have shaken off the Ephthalite yoke and ceased to make any acknowledgment of dependence. Probably it was owing to the new attitude assumed by him, that the Ephthalites, after refusing to give Kobad any material support for the space of three years, adopted a new policy in the year of Balas' death (A.D. 487), and lent the pretender a force with which he was about to attack his uncle when news reached him that attack was needless, since Balas was dead and his own claim to the succession

1 Agathias, iv. 27. See the passage prefixed to this chapter. Tabari, 1.s.c.; Mirkhond, p.

352.

See above, p. 332, note ". 4 As Tabari (ii. p. 146) and Mirkhond (1.s.c.) relate.

undisputed. Balas nominated no successor upon his death-bed, thus giving in his last moments an additional proof of that moderation and love of peace which had characterised his reign.

Coins, which possess several points of interest, are assigned to Balas by the best authorities. They bear on the obverse the head of the king with the usual mural crown surmounted by a crescent and inflated ball. The beard is short and curled. The hair falls

behind the head, also in curls. The earring, wherewith the ear is ornamented, has a double pendant. Flames issue from the left shoulder, an exceptional peculiarity in the Sassanian series, but one which is found also among the Indo-Scythian kings with whom Balas was so closely connected. The full legend upon the coins appears to be Hur Kadi Valakashi, Volagases, the Fire King. The reverse exhibits the usual fire-altar, but with the king's head in the flames, and with the star and crescent on either side, as introduced by Perozes. It bears commonly the legend, Valakâshi, with a mint-mark. The mints employed are those of Iran, Kerman, Ispahan, Nisa, Ledan, Shiz, Zadracarta, and one or two others.

COIN OF BALAS.

1 Longpérier, Médailles des Sassa- | Thomas, Num. Chron. 1873, pp. nides, p. 65, and pl. ix. fig. 5; 228-9.

CHAPTER XVIII.

First Reign of Kobad. His Favourites, Sufraï and Sapor. His Khazar War. Rise, Teaching, and Influence of Mazdak. His Claim to Miraculous Powers. Kobad adopts the New Religion, and attempts to impose it on the Armenians. Revolt of Armenia under Vahan, successful. Kobad yields. General Rebellion in Persia, and Deposition of Kobad. Escape of Mazdak. Short Reign of Zamasp. His Coins.

Καβάδης δὲ ὁ τοῦ Περόζου ὕστατος υἱός, τῆς βασιλείας δραξάμενος, ἐπὶ τὸ βιαιότερον τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐχρᾶτο καὶ κοινὰς τὰς γυναῖκας ἐνομοθέτησεν ἔχειν.

CEDRENUS, p. 356, B, C.

WHEN Kobad fled to the Ephthalites on the failure of his attempt to seize the crown, he was received, we are told,1 with open arms; but no material aid was given to him for the space of three years. However, in the fourth year of his exile, a change came over the Ephthalite policy, and he returned to his capital at the head of an army, with which Khush-newaz had furnished him. The change is reasonably connected with the withholding of his tribute by Balas; 2 and it is difficult to suppose that Kobad, when he accepted Ephthalite aid, did not pledge himself to resume the subordinate position which his uncle had been content to hold for two years. It seems certain that he was accompanied to his capital by an Ephthalite contingent, which he richly rewarded before dismissing it. Owing his throne to the aid thus afforded him, he can scarcely have refused to make the expected acknowledgment. Distinct

1 Tabari, vol. ii. p. 146; Mirkhond, p. 352. 2 See above, p. 337. 3 Tabari, 1.s.c.

evidence on the point is wanting; but there can be little doubt that for some years Kobad held the Persian throne on the condition of paying tribute to Khushnewaz, and recognising him as his lord paramount.

During the early portion of his first reign, which extended from A.D. 487 to 498, we are told that he entrusted the entire administration of affairs to Sukhra, or Sufraï,1 who had been the chief minister of his uncle. Sufraï's son, Zer-Mihr, had faithfully adhered to him throughout the whole period of his exile; 2 and Kobad did not regard it as a crime that the father had opposed his ambition, and thrown the weight of his authority into the scale against him. He recognised fidelity as a quality that deserved reward, and was sufficiently magnanimous to forgive an opposition that had sprung from a virtuous motive, and, moreover, had not succeeded. Sufraï accordingly governed Persia for some years; the army obeyed him, and the civil administration was completely in his hands. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Kobad after a while grew jealous of his subordinate, and was anxious to strip him of the quasi-regal authority which he exercised and assert his own right to direct affairs. But, alone, he felt unequal to such a task. He therefore called in the assistance of an officer who bore the name of Sapor, and had a command in the district of Rhages.3 Sapor undertook to rid his sovereign of the incubus whereof he complained, and, with the tacit sanction of the monarch, he contrived to fasten a quarrel on Sufraï, which he pushed to such an extremity that, at the end of it, he dragged the minister from the royal

1 Sufraï is the form used by the Persians, Sukhra that employed by the Arabs (Mirkhond, p. 353).

2 Tabari, vol. ii. pp. 145-6; Mirkhond, p. 352.

Tabari, p. 147.