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only paused on the Scythian frontier to get his army recruited 

 among the hardy race of the ancient Bactrians. Having ob- 

 tained those recruits, and being joined by his elder brother Bashu- 

 ten, sent by Hystaspes, and with powerful reinforcements from 

 the heart of Persia, these determined warriors pursued the fugi- 

 tive monarch over the wide champaigns and rugged forests of the' 

 Tartarian deserts, till they compelled him and his whole court 

 at length to take shelter in one of the strongest fortresses he pos- 

 sessed, in a remote part of his dominion. As, on the sack of 

 Balk, Argiasp had seized and sent captive into Turan, the sisters 

 of Asfendiar, and as these constantly attended the court, it was 

 necessary to make use of stratagem to procure the return of 

 the princesses without injury : Asfendiar, therefore, himself boldly 

 undertook and successfully accomplished an expedition of great 

 hazard for their rescue. To the fortress in question, says Mirkhond, 

 there lay open only three roads. The first, plain, and easily passa- 

 ble by caravans, with plenty of fine pasture on each side for cavalry ; 

 but withal so long and circuitous, that it would require several 

 months for an army to approach the city by that avenue : to this 

 road was necessarily confined the march of the great body of the 

 Persian army and the heavy baggage. The second road was ex- 

 tremely steep and rugged, and impassable by carriages ; but, at the 

 same time, so direct, that, in a month, at farthest, the fortress 

 might be reached. The third was still nearer, but lay through 

 woods and morasses, and over mountains covered with snow. The 

 second of these roads was that on which a large selected body 

 of cavalry, with Bashuten at their head, was ordered to advance 

 with all possible celerity. On the third road, Asfendiar determined 

 to force his way through every surrounding obstacle on the se- 

 cret expedition which he meditated. After unfolding his plan 

 to his brother Bashuten, he set off from the Persian camp with 



