Narses, moreover, ought not to be accounted a weaker prince than other Persian kings; thou hast indeed conquered him, but then thou surpassest all other monarchs; and thus Narses has of course been worsted by thee, though he is no whit inferior in merit to the best of his ancestors.  The orders which my master has given me are to entrust all the rights of Persia to the clemency of Rome; and I therefore do not even bring with me any conditions of peace, since it is for the emperor to determine everything.  I have only to pray, on my master’s behalf, for the restoration of his wives and male children; if he receives them at your hands, he will be forever beholden to you, and will be better pleased than if he recovered them by force of arms.  Even now my master cannot sufficiently thank you for the kind treatment which he hears you have vouchsafed them, in that you have offered them no insult, but have behaved towards them as though on the point of giving them back to their kith and kin.  He sees herein that you bear in mind the changes of fortune and the instability of all human affairs.”

At this point Galerius, who had listened with impatience to the long harangue, burst in with a movement of anger that shook his whole frame—­“What?  Do the Persians dare to remind us of the vicissitudes of fortune, as though we could forget how they behave when victory inclines to them?  Is it not their wont to push their advantage to the uttermost and press as heavily as may be on the unfortunate?  How charmingly they showed the moderation that becomes a victor in Valerian’s time!  They vanquished him by fraud; they kept him a prisoner to advanced old age; they let him die in dishonor; and then when he was dead they stripped off his skin, and with diabolical ingenuity made of a perishable human body an imperishable monument of our shame.  Verily, if we follow this envoy’s advice, and look to the changes of human affairs, we shall not be moved to clemency, but to anger, when we consider the past conduct of the Persians.  If pity be shown them, if their requests be granted, it will not be for what they have urged, but because it is a principle of action with us—­a principle handed down to us from our ancestors—­to spare the humble and chastise the proud.”  Apharban, therefore, was dismissed with no definite answer to his question, what terms of peace Rome would require; but he was told to assure his master that Rome’s clemency equalled her valor, and that it would not be long before he would receive a Roman envoy authorized to signify the Imperial pleasure, and to conclude a treaty with him.