Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VII. c. 37, p. 393, Cruice; Epiphanius, _Haer._ XLIII. p. 688, Oehler. Footnote 763: Tertullian, _de Resurrectione_, c. II. Footnote 764: Eusebius, _Vita Constantini_, Bk III. cc. 64-66. Footnote 765: So Salmon in _Dict. Christian Biog._ and Harnack in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, both _s.v._ Marcion. Footnote 766: Hatch, _H.L._ p. 77, n. 1, quoting Harnack. Footnote 767: Hatch, _op. cit._ pp. 75, 76, shows that the allegorical method introduced by the Gnostics in order to avoid the difficulty of reconciling the Old Testament with the New was at first scornfully rejected, but was soon adopted by the orthodox, and was pursued by both Catholic and Protestant writers up to a few years ago. CHAPTER XII THE WORSHIP OF MITHRAS Few of us, perhaps, are inclined to recognize that, from its first establishment down to the Mahommedan Invasion of the VIIth century, the Roman Empire found itself constantly in the presence of a bitter, determined, and often victorious enemy. Alexander had conquered but had not destroyed the Persians; and, although the magic of the hero’s personality held them faithful to him during his too brief life, he was no sooner dead than they hastened to prove that they had no intention of tamely giving up their nationality. Peucestas, the Royal bodyguard who received the satrapy of Persia itself on his master’s death, and was confirmed in it at the first shuffling of the cards at Triparadisus, found it expedient to adopt the Persian language and dress, with the result that his subjects conceived for him an affection only equal to that which they afterwards showed for Seleucus[768]. Later, when the rise of the Parthian power under Arsaces brought about the defeat of Seleucus II Callinicus, the opposition to European forms of government found a centre further north[769], whence armies of lightly-equipped horsemen were able to raid up to the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean[770]. Thanks probably to the knowledge of this support in reserve, when Western Asia found the military power of the Greek kings becoming exhausted by internecine wars, she began to throw off the alien civilization that she had in part acquired, and to return more and more to Persian ways[771]. When the Romans in their turn set to work to eat up the enfeebled Greek kingdoms, they quickly found themselves in presence of a revived nationality as firmly held and nearly as aggressive as their own, and henceforth Roman and Parthian were seldom at peace. The long struggle with Mithridates, who gave himself out as a descendant of Darius[772], taught the Romans how strong was the reaction towards Persian nationality even in Asia Minor, and the overthrow of Crassus by the Parthians convinced his countrymen for a time of the folly of pushing their arms too far eastwards.