History of Vardan and the Armenian War

Eghishe excels in descriptions. The battle of Artagu is as lively and vivid as those of Homer. You see before your eyes the arrangement of the commanders, the types of Persian and Armenian troops, and the attire of the weapons. He knows, unlike very few chroniclers, to mix the delightful and the pleasurable into the grave and the noble. When he makes the groaning of the multitude of the wounded and the dying resound in your ear, he reminds you of "the spring season and the flower-filled fields," with which, stunned by the vapors of the gushing blood and the crawling of the rolling wounded, the clanging of shields and the snapping of bowstrings, and the sounding of the great trumpets, the spirit is suddenly awakened, and the intensity of the tragedy is grasped.

And when, with your heart crushed by the state of the soft-nurtured Armenian ladies, you wait for their husbands to return from Heray (the city of Herat, modern-day Afghanistan) as soon as possible,

"Many winters were viewed with frost; spring arrived and new swallows came; life-loving people saw and rejoiced, yet they were never able to see their beloved ones. In the spring nights, they remembered their dignified husbands, and their eyes longed to see the desirable beauty of their faces. The fine hunting hounds were exhausted, and having been released, the hunters’ raids were blinded."

Do you want to have an idea of the court of the King of Kings of the Sasanians? Here, one of the king’s favorites is ill, and they call a doctor who goes to the palace by permission. You accompany him:

"And having arrived at the great square, he sees the multitude of the honored ones and the health of the beautiful youths, and having entered further into the royal hall, he sees there the dress of all the servants and the wonderful appearance, and he is not at all surprised by the miraculous sight. Moreover, even if the thrones are studded with gems and are entirely of gold, upon which the sick person lies and sleeps, it is of no concern to him at all; but he commands them to take away the gold-embroidered cloak, and inserting his hand, he examines the entire body: if the nature is feverish, and if the heart is resting in its place, or if the liver is soft, or if the movement of the arteries is proper; and according to this, he provides the cure of medicine, bestowing health upon him."