OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

337

all the provinces of his ancestors, and yielding chap.

to the Persians the empire of Asia , to content_

themselves with the undisturbed possession ofEurope . This haughty mandate was deliveredby four hundred of the tallest and most beauti-ful of the Persians ; who, by their fine horses,splendid arms, and rich apparel, displayed thepride and greatness of their master.” Such anembassy was much less an offer of negociationthan a declaration of war. Both AlexanderSeverus and Artaxerxes , collecting the militaryforce of the Roman and Persian monarchies,resolved in this important contest to lead theirarmies in person.

If we credit what should seem the most au- p . le<en d ed

, victory of

thentic of all records, an oration, still extant, Alexander and delivered by the emperor himself to thenate, we must allow that the victory of Alex-ander Severus was not inferior to any of thoseformerly obtained over the Persians by the sonof Philip. The army of the great king consist-ed of one hundred and twenty thousand horse,clothed in complete armour of steel; of sevenhundred elephants, with towers filled with arch-ers on their backs, and of eighteen hundredchariots, armed with scythes. This formidablehost, the like of which is not to be found in east-ern history, and has scarcely been imagined ineastern romance,' was discomfited in a great

b Herodian, vi, 209, 212.

c There were two hundred scythed chariots at the battle of Ar-bela, iu the host of Darius. In the vast army of Tigranes , whichwas vanquished by Lucullus , seventeen thousand horse only were

completely

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