Page:The Descent of Bolshevism.djvu/22

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THE DESCENT OF BOLSHEVISM

there was no relaxation in the practice, which, of course, was accompanied by plunder and bloodshed, by all the crimes, in fact, that lawlessness and anarchy engender. Everywhere his votaries seized the wives, the daughters and the property of others. And the King could not punish them, having become himself a Mazdakite.

When Kobad escaped from prison, he fled to the White Huns, a powerful tribe of Central Asia, who invaded Persia, and were defeated by the great Bahram Gur, to whom Omar pays the mocking tribute:

"And Bahram, the Great Hunter, the wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, but can not break his sleep."

But the White Huns were still camping on the frontier, awaiting the opportunity for another Great Offensive. The opportunity came when Kobad arrived and straightway made an alliance with his country's enemies. And at the head of an army of White Huns he led the invasion, entered the capital in triumph, smote

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