544 
THIRD BAS-RELIEF. 
of his conquest over an emperor of Rome. Artists, of course, 
of every description, would be found amongst so great a mul¬ 
titude ; and, probably, some of them were commanded to execute 
these commemorating bas-reliefs at Nakshi-Roustam, while 
others were employed on the same story at the vaster works of 
Shapoor. The style of these I am describing, is precisely in the 
degenerated taste that prevailed with the Romans at that period; 
and, when transplanted here, the poverty of the execution made 
it appear even worse. Rut the devices on the money of Shapoor, 
coined after this acquisition to his empire, are so much superior 
to those on the moneys of his immediate predecessors the 
Arsacidse, that we cannot but see, that some Roman artists of 
merit had imparted their talent to his. 
It is hardly necessary to add, that the degraded emperor died 
in his captivity, after having suffered indignities so cruel, that 
Mr. Gibbon, in his remarks on the subject, questions the truth 
of their infliction. But it seems strange that a historian, whose 
eyes had been so long fixed on the sanguinary usurpations of 
Rome, could have any doubt of the cruelties of ambition in 
those times. Indeed, with the exception of a few rare instances, 
we do not find, throughout all history, that conquest in the 
heathen world was attended with any thing like the generous 
conduct towards vanquished enemies, which has gradually pre¬ 
vailed since the diffusion of Christianity. We no longer hear of 
a hero dragging his slain adversary at his chariot-wheels; nor of 
male and female captives, however illustrious, walking in exposed 
procession in the triumphal train of a conqueror; nor of victor 
kings mounting their horses, by stepping from the neck of a 
captive king at their feet. In short, though Christianity has not 
yet brought heaven upon earth, by destroying the principle of 
