[Footnote 86: The punishment of flaying alive could not be
introduced into Persia by Sapor, (Brisson, de Regn. Pers. l.
ii. p. 578,) nor could it be copied from the foolish tale of
Marsyas, the Phrygian piper, most foolishly quoted as a
precedent by Agathias, (l. iv. p. 132, 133.)]