History of the Wars, Books I and II | Page 9

it is not lawful among the Persians for any man
by birth a common citizen to be set upon the throne, except in case the
royal family be totally extinct. Blases, upon receiving the royal power,
gathered together the nobles of the Persians and held a conference
concerning Cabades; for it was not the wish of the majority to put the
man to death. After the expression of many opinions on both sides
there came forward a certain man of repute among the Persians, whose
name was Gousanastades, and whose office that of "chanaranges"
(which would be the Persian term for general); his official province lay
on the very frontier of the Persian territory in a district which adjoins
the land of the Ephthalitae. Holding up his knife, the kind with which
the Persians were accustomed to trim their nails, of about the length of
a man's finger, but not one-third as wide as a finger, he said: "You see

this knife, how extremely small it is; nevertheless it is able at the
present time to accomplish a deed, which, be assured, my dear Persians,
a little later two myriads of mail-clad men could not bring to pass."
This he said hinting that, if they did not put Cabades to death, he would
straightway make trouble for the Persians. But they were altogether
unwilling to put to death a man of the royal blood, and decided to
confine him in a castle which it is their habit to call the "Prison of
Oblivion." For if anyone is cast into it, the law permits no mention of
him to be made thereafter, but death is the penalty for the man who
speaks his name; for this reason it has received this title among the
Persians. On one occasion, however, the History of the Armenians
relates that the operation of the law regarding the Prison of Oblivion
was suspended by the Persians in the following way.
There was once a truceless war, lasting two and thirty years, between
the Persians and the Armenians, when Pacurius was king of the
Persians, and of the Armenians, Arsaces, of the line of the Arsacidae.
And by the long continuance of this war it came about that both sides
suffered beyond measure, and especially the Armenians. But each
nation was possessed by such great distrust of the other that neither of
them could make overtures of peace to their opponents. In the
meantime it happened that the Persians became engaged in a war with
certain other barbarians who lived not far from the Armenians.
Accordingly the Armenians, in their eagerness to make a display to the
Persians of their goodwill and desire for peace, decided to invade the
land of these barbarians, first revealing their plan to the Persians. Then
they fell upon them unexpectedly and killed almost the whole
population, old and young alike. Thereupon Pacurius, who was
overjoyed at the deed, sent certain of his trusted friends to Arsaces, and
giving him pledges of security, invited him to his presence. And when
Arsaces came to him he shewed him every kindness, and treated him as
a brother on an equal footing with himself. Then he bound him by the
most solemn oaths, and he himself swore likewise, that in very truth the
Persians and Armenians should thenceforth be friends and allies to each
other; thereafter he straightway dismissed Arsaces to return to his own
country.

Not long after this certain persons slandered Arsaces, saying that he
was purposing to undertake some seditious enterprise. Pacurius was
persuaded by these men and again summoned him, intimating that he
was anxious to confer with him on general matters. And he, without
any hesitation at all, came to the king, taking with him several of the
most warlike among the Armenians, and among them Bassicius, who
was at once his general and counsellor; for he was both brave and
sagacious to a remarkable degree. Straightway, then, Pacurius heaped
reproach and abuse upon both Arsaces and Bassicius, because,
disregarding the sworn compact, they had so speedily turned their
thoughts toward secession. They, however, denied the charge, and
swore most insistently that no such thing had been considered by them.
At first, therefore, Pacurius kept them under guard in disgrace, but after
a time he enquired of the Magi what should be done with them. Now
the Magi deemed it by no means just to condemn men who denied their
guilt and had not been explicitly found guilty, but they suggested to
him an artifice by which Arsaces himself might be compelled to
become openly his own accuser. They bade him cover the floor of the
royal tent with earth, one half from the land of Persia, and the other half
from Armenia. This the king did as directed. Then the Magi,