The reason why they are known to the Western nations as the Armenians, and not by their proper name, Haiks, is, that when Aram, one of their early kings, and the father of Ara the Handsome, succeeded to the throne of Armenia, he, by his wisdom and policy, so greatly extended his dominions, that the power and valor of the nation was acknowledged from Mount Caucasus to Mount Tauris. This prince first raised his people to any degree of renown, both by the exercise of arms and the cultivation of the arts of peace; so that contemporary nations, in making mention of the actions performed by his subjects, called them the deeds of the Aramians, or the followers of Aram, a name which has been corrupted into Armenians; the country which these people originally inhabited was called by them Haikastan, or Hayasdan, and those regions which were added to their territories by the conquest of Prince Aram were called Aramia, or in contradistinction to each other, the former were called the Greater, and the latter the Lesser Hayasdan, which the Western nations transcribed as Armenia Major and Minor. It will be perceived that they were at one time a very powerful and flourishing nation, and were the envy of all the neighboring tribes; facts well authenticated even by Roman historians. In the reign of Tigranes, many unfortunate princes, who had fallen prisoners to the Armenian king, were obliged to stand in his presence in an attitude of Oriental deference, with arms folded on their breasts, in token of perfect submission. Four of these wretched monarchs had also to attend him constantly in their regal robes, and when he appeared in public on horseback, his royal captives preceded him on foot. Mithridates, the uncle to the king Tigranes, rendered himself no less glorious. He extended his dominions even to the borders of Scythia. His subjects and tributaries comprised twenty-two nations; and it is related that this prince conversed with equal fluency in all the languages spoken by those peoples. Even Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, found an asylum in Armenia. In the time of their greatest prosperity, they amounted to 30,000,000 of souls, but constant wars, with their attendant train of famine, disease, and death, have sadly diminished their numbers, and reduced them to less than five millions. The depopulated condition of their provinces, and the internal dissension of their princes, favored the depredatory invasions of various nations, Romans, Greeks, Persians, Saracens, and Scythians, or Turks. These last finally crossing over the Caspian Mountains in hordes, subjugated them, and took possession of their immense territories, and have ever since held them in bondage.