In the valley of the Araxes beneath, the valley which
Armenian legend has selected as the seat of Paradise,
the valley that has been for three thousand years the
high-road for armies, the scene of so much slaughter
and misery, there lay two spots which seemed to mark
the first and the latest points of authentic history.
One, right below me, was the ruined Artaxata, built,
as the tale goes, by Hannibal, and stormed by the
legions of Lucullus. The other, far to the north-west,
was the hollow under the hills in which lies the
fortress of Kars, where our countrymen fought in
0000, and where the flames of war were so soon again
to be lighted.