CHAPTER V.

Short Reign of Hormisdas I. His dealings with Manes.  Accession of Varahran I. He puts Manes to Death.  Persecutes the Manichaeans and the Christians.  His Relations with Zenobia.  He is threatened by Aurelian.  His Death.  Reign of Varahran II.  His Tyrannical Conduct.  His Conquest of Seistan, and War with India.  His war with the Roman Emperors Cams and Diocletian.  His Loss of Armenia.  His Death.  Short Reign of Varahran III.

[Illustration:  CHAPTER-5]

The first and second kings of the Neo-Persian Empire were men of mark and renown.  Their successors for several generations were, comparatively speaking, feeble and insignificant.  The first burst of vigor and freshness which commonly attends the advent to power of a new race in the East, or the recovery of its former position by an old one, had passed away, and was succeeded, as so often happens, by reaction and exhaustion, the monarchs becoming luxurious and inert, while the people willingly acquiesced in a policy of which the principle was “Rest and be thankful.”  It helped to keep matters in this quiescent state, that the kings who ruled during this period had, in almost every instance, short reigns, four monarchs coming to the throne and dying within the space of a little more than twenty-one years.  The first of these four was Hormisdates, Hormisdas, or Hormuz, the son of Sapor, who succeeded his father in A.D. 271.  His reign lasted no more than a year and ten days, and was distinguished by only a single event of any importance.  Mani, who had fled from Sapor, ventured to return to Persia on the accession of his son, and was received with respect and favor.  Whether Hormisdas was inclined to accept his religious teaching or no, we are not told; but at any rate he treated him kindly, allowed him to propagate his doctrines, and even assigned him as his residence a castle named Arabion.  From this place Mani proceeded to spread his views among the Christians of Mesopotamia, and in a short time succeeded in founding the sect which, under the name of Manichaeans or Manichaes, gave so much trouble to the Church for several centuries.  Hormisdas, who, according to some founded the city of Ram-Hormuz in Eastern Persia, died in A.D.272, and was succeeded by his son or brother, Vararanes or Varahran.  He left no inscriptions, and it is doubted whether we possess any of his coins.

Varahran I., whose reign lasted three years only, from A.D. 272 to 275, is declared by the native historians to have been a mild and amiable prince; but the little that is positively known of him does not bear out this testimony.  It seems certain that he put Mani to death, and probable that he enticed him to leave the shelter of his castle by artifice, thus showing himself not only harsh but treacherous towards the unfortunate heresiarch.  If it be true that he caused him to be flayed alive, we can scarcely exonerate