[59] Nöldeke, op. cit., p. 145; Zotenberg, op. cit., ii, 148. They were soiled by her menstrual flux, she said. To touch anything of the kind would have subjected him to a ceremony of purification and, perhaps, a flogging; Vendidâd, xviii, 5. The scene reminds us of that in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where Falstaff is carried out in the foul-clothes basket. Procopius relates that she changed clothes with him, and the Shah walked out disguised as a woman; De Bel. Pers., i, 6.
[60] This was not his first sojourn with the Hephthalites. His father Peroz, who ultimately perished in a battle with these Huns, had left him in Bactria as a hostage for the payment of an indemnity. In Tabari the story goes that on his journey thither he stopped incognito at the house of a noble (N.) or peasant (Z.), where he was accommodated with a daughter of the family as an informal wife. When Balâsh was dethroned (see p. 379), he returned to take up the succession by the same route and found that the girl had become the mother of a boy, the same who was afterwards known as Chosroes, his favourite son (see p. 314).
[61] "Hence he set the lower against the upper classes; wretches of every sort were mingled with the best blood; and it became usual for those who coveted other people's goods to seize on them; for the disorderly to riot around; and for libertines to gratify their passions and approach the noblest women, whom previously they never had a thought of intimacy with"; Tabari, p. 154 (N.). This passage with the context is not in Zotenberg.
[62] The details of this affair are incompletely known. The Greeks seem never to have heard of Mazdak, but confound his followers with the Manichaeans. The above account is based on that of Theophanes, modified so as to accord with Nöldeke's views; op. cit., p. 457 (Excurs.). He thinks the surname of Nushirvan ("the blessed") was bestowed on Chosroes for the part he played in this massacre. Existing Manichaeans were also involved in it.
[63] Theophylact. Sim., iv, 7; cf. Athenaeus, xii, 8.
[64] Nöldeke, op. cit., p. 221. He was concealed with "clothes" until he settled himself in a dignified position. But in Zotenberg (p. 205) the clothes become merely a covering to keep the dust off the jewels. Such differences are perpetual throughout the two versions of Tabari. On coins and sculptures the Shah wears a crown surmounted by a pedunculated ball of considerable size. At the siege of Amida (359) Sapor wore a golden ram's head instead of a crown; Ammianus, xix, 1. Theophylactus (who is noted for his turgidity) gives a description of Hormidz IV sitting in state on his throne (590). "He was clad with a regal robe of precious material. His tiara of gold and jewels was brilliant with the effulgence of carbuncles. A profusion of pearls glittered around the crest, scintillating on a sea of smaragdite, so that the eyes were almost blinded by the dazzling exuberance of the gems. His trousers, a priceless sample of the weaver's art, were embroidered on cloth of gold"; iv, 3. Cedrenus (i, 721) also furnishes some curious details as what was found when Heraclius broke into the treasure city of Gazaca and rifled the palace of Chosroes Parviz (622). The contents of a private fire-temple astonished them. "On entering the spherical chamber he found the impious effigy of Chosroes sitting, as it were, in the heavens among the sun, moon, and stars, whom the fanatic worshipped as gods. Sceptre-bearing angels stood around, and the wretch had devised machines which discharged water like rain, and emitted a sound as of thunder. All this was consumed by fire."
[65] Ammianus, xxiii, 6; cf. Menander, Leg., p. 335; Theophylact., iv, 8; letters in which Chosroes, Nush. and Parviz, assume all their titles.
[66] Herodotus, vii, 54; Q. Curtius, v, 1 (20).
[67] Nöldeke, op. cit., p. 222; Zotenberg, op. cit., p. 231, etc.
[68] As evidenced notably in the struggle between the successful rebel general, Bahram, and Chosroes Parviz; Theophylact. Sim., iv.