it might seem by reason of the Roman power, but in truth, O King, by reason of thy decision,—­if, indeed, he who gives the strength to those who wish to do injustice should himself justly bear also the blame of their misdeeds.  Now we shall begin our account from a little distance back in order that you may be able to follow the whole course of events.  Arsaces, the last king of our ancestors, abdicated his throne willingly in favour of Theodosius, the Roman Emperor, on condition that all who should belong to his family through all time should live unhampered in every respect, and in particular should in no case be subject to taxation.  And we have preserved the agreement, until you, the Persians, made this much-vaunted treaty, which, as we think, one would not err in calling a sort of common destruction.  For from that time, disregarding friend and foe, he who is in name thy friend, O King, but in fact thy enemy, has turned everything in the world upside down and wrought complete confusion.  And this thou thyself shalt know at no distant time, as soon as he is able to subdue completely the people of the West.  For what thing which was before forbidden has he not done? or what thing which was well established has he not disturbed?  Did he not ordain for us the payment of a tax which did not exist before, and has he not enslaved our neighbours, the Tzani, who were autonomous, and has he not set over the king of the wretched Lazi a Roman magistrate?—­an act neither in keeping with the natural order of things nor very easy to explain in words.  Has he not sent generals to the men of Bosporus, the subjects of the Huns, and attached to himself the city which in no way belongs to him, and has he not made a defensive alliance with the Aethiopian kingdoms, of which the Romans had never even heard?  More than this he has made the Homeritae his possession and the Red Sea, and he is adding the Palm Groves to the Roman dominion.  We omit to speak of the fate of the Libyans and of the Italians.  The whole earth is not large enough for the man; it is too small a thing for him to conquer all the world together.  But he is even looking about the heavens and is searching the retreats beyond the ocean, wishing to gain for himself some other world.  Why, therefore, O King, dost thou still delay?  Why dost thou respect that most accursed peace, in order forsooth that he may make thee the last morsel of all?  If it is thy wish to learn what kind of a man Justinian would shew himself toward those who yield to him, the example is to be sought near at hand from ourselves and from the wretched Lazi; and if thou wishest to see how he is accustomed to treat those who are unknown to him and who have done him not the least wrong, consider the Vandals and the Goths and the Moors.  But the chief thing has not yet been spoken.  Has he not made efforts in time of peace to win over by deception thy slave, Alamoundaras, O most mighty King, and to detach him from thy kingdom, and has he not