aster lays aside the prophet, assumes the legislator, and discovers a liberal concern for private and public happiness, seldom to be found among the grovelling or visionary schemes of superstition. Fasting and celibacy, the common means of purchasing the Divine favour, he condemns with abhorrence, as a criminal rejection of the best gifts of Providence. The saint, in the magian religion, is obliged to beget children, to plant useful trees, to destroy noxious animals, to convey water to the dry lands of Persia, and to work out his salvation by pursuing all the labours of agriculture. We may quote from the Zendavesta a wise and benevolent maxim, which compensates for many an absurdity. "He who sows the ground with care and diligence, acquires a greater stock of religious merit, than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers."* In the spring of every year a festival was celebrated, destined to represent the primitive equality, and the present connexion, of mankind. The stately kings of Persia, exchanging their vain pomp for more genuine greatness, freely mingled with the humblest but most useful of their subjects. On that day the husbandmen were admitted without distinction, to the table of the king and his satraps. The monarch accepted their petitions, inquired into their grievances, and conversed with them on the most equal terms. "From your labours," was he accustomed to say (and to say with truth, if not with sincerity), "from your labours we receive our subsistence; you derive your tranquillity from our vigilance: since, therefore, we are mutually necessary to each other, let us live together like brothers in concord and love." Such a festival must indeed have degenerated, in a wealthy and despotic empire, into a theatrical representation; but it was at least a comedy well worthy of a royal audience, and which might sometimes imprint a salutary lesson on the mind of a young prince.

Had Zoroaster, in all his institutions, invariably supported this exalted character, his name would deserve a place with those of Numa and Confucius, and his system would be justly entitled to all the applause, which it has pleased some of our divines, and even some of our philosoor made water, or as often as he put on the sacred girdle. Sadder, Art. 14, 50, 60. * Zerdavesta, tom. i, p. 224, and Précis du Système de Zoroastre, tom. iii. Hyde, de Religione Persarum, c. 19.

VOL. I.

8

258

THE MAGI.

[CH. VIII. phers, to bestow on it. But in that motley composition, dictated by reason and passion, by enthusiasm and by selfish motives, some useful and sublime truths were disgraced by a mixture of the most abject and dangerous superstition. The magi, or sacerdotal order, were extremely numerous, since, as we have already seen, fourscore thousand of them were convened in a general council. Their forces were multiplied by discipline. A regular hierarchy was diffused through all the provinces of Persia; and the Archimagus, who resided at Balch, was respected as the visible head of the church, and the lawful successor of Zoroaster.* The property of the magi was very considerable. Besides the less invidious possession of a large tract of the most fertile lands of Media,t they levied a general tax on the fortunes and the industry of the Persians. "Though your good works," says the interested prophet, "exceed in number the leaves of the trees, the drops of rain, the stars in the heavens, or the sands on the sea-shore, they will all be unprofitable to you, unless they are accepted by the destour, or priest. To obtain the acceptation of this guide

* Hyde, de Religione Persarum, c. 28. Both Hyde and Prideaux affected to apply to the magian the terms consecrated to the Christian hierarchy. +Ammian. Marcellin. 23, 6. He informs us (as far as we may credit him) of two curious particulars: 1, that the magi derived some of their most secret doctrines from the Indian brachmans; and, 2, That they were a tribe or family, as well as an order. The divine institution of tithes exhibits a singular instance of conformity between the law of Zoroaster and that of Moses. Those who cannot otherwise account for it, may suppose, if they please, that the magi of the latter times inserted so useful an interpolation into the writings of their prophet. [The passage quoted by Gibbon is extracted, not from the writings of Zoroaster himself, but from the Sadder, a work, as I have already said, of much later date than the Zendavesta, and composed by one of the magi for the use of the people. Its contents must not be attributed to Zoroaster. It is strange that Gibbon should have so deceived himself, for Hyde did not ascribe the Sadder to Zoroaster. He remarked (c. 1, p. 27) that this book was written in verse, whereas all Zoroaster's were in prose. This assertion may be doubted; but the later origin of the Sadder is certain. Abbé Faucher does not think that it was even taken from Zoroaster's books. See his already-cited dissertation, Mém. de l'Acad., tom. xxvii.-GUIZOT.] [In these notes M. Guizot appears to have forgotten that it was not so much Gibbon's design to represent the religion of Zoroaster as it was first taught by him, as to exhibit the form in which it inflamed the minds of the Persians at the period of their struggles with Rome. The Sadder did not then exist. But there can be no doubt that it

to salvation, you must faithfully pay him tithes of all you possess, of your goods, of your lands, and of your money. If the destour be satisfied, your soul will escape helltortures; you will secure praise in this world, and happiness in the next. For the destours are the teachers of religion: they know all things, and they deliver all men."*

These convenient maxims of reverence and implicit faith were doubtless imprinted with care on the tender minds of youth, since the magi were the masters of education in Persia, and to their hands the children even of the royal family were intrusted.+ The Persian priests, who were of a speculative genius, preserved and investigated the secrets of oriental philosophy, and acquired, either by superior knowledge or superior art, the reputation of being well versed in some occult sciences, which have derived their appellation from the magi. Those of more active dispositions mixed with the world in courts and cities; and it is observed, that the administration of Artaxerxes was in a great measure directed by the counsels of the sacerdotal order, whose dignity, either from policy or devotion, that prince restored to its ancient splendour.§

The first counsel of the magi was agreeable to the unsociable genius of their faith, to the practice of ancient kings,** and even to the example of their legislator, who had fallen a victim to a religious war excited by his own inonly gave a systematic order and recorded sanction to traditional and long-practised corruptions.-ED.] * Sadder, Art. 8. Plato in Alcibiad. Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. 30, c. 1) observes that magic held mankind by the triple chain of religion, of physic, and of astronomy. [Recent inquiries into the origin and history of magic have been encouraged by prizes, which the Royal Academy of Sciences in Göttingen offered. They have shown that the word magic did not come into use till a late period, and that it was made a science by the New-Platonists. See Prof. Tiedeman's Treatise, and Prof. Eberhard's Explanations, in the last part of his Miscelaneous Works.—SCHREITER.] § Agathias, 1. 4, p. 134. Mr. Hume, in the Natural History of Religion, sagaciously remarks, that the most refined and philosophic sects are constantly the most intolerant. [The intolerance of the magi may be better accounted for by their zeal for the defence or increase of their large properties and revenues, described in the preceding page. Hume and Gibbon belonged to the most "philosophic" of sects. Would they have admitted that they were also "the most intolerant?" -ED.] **Cicero de Legibus, 2, 10. Xerxes, by the advice of the magi, destroyed the temples of Greece.

260

THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE

[CH. VIII. tolerant zeal. By an edict of Artaxerxes, the exercise of every worship, except that of Zoroaster, was severely prohibited. The temples of the Parthians and the statues of their deified monarchs were thrown down with ignominy.t The sword of Aristotle (such was the name given by the Orientals to the polytheism and philosophy of the Greeks), was easily broken; the flames of persecution soon reached the more stubborn Jews and Christians;§ nor did they spare the heretics of their own nation and religion. The majesty of Ormusd, who was jealous of a rival, was seconded by the despotism of Artaxerxes, who could not suffer a rebel; and the schismatics within his vast empire were soon reduced to the inconsiderable number of eighty thousand. This spirit of persecution reflects dishonour on the religion of Zoroaster; but as it was not productive of any civil commotion, it served to strengthen the new monarchy, by uniting all the various inhabitants of Persia in the bands of religious zeal.

II. Artaxerxes, by his valour and conduct, had wrested the sceptre of the east from the ancient royal family of Parthia. There still remained the more difficult task of establishing throughout the vast extent of Persia, a uniform and vigorous administration. The weak indulgence of the Arsacides had resigned to their sons and brothers the prin cipal provinces, and the greatest offices of the kingdom, in nature of hereditary possessions. The vitaxa, or eighteen most powerful satraps, were permitted to assume the regal title; and the vain pride of the monarch was delighted with a nominal dominion over so many vassal kings. Even tribes of barbarians in their mountains, and the Greek cities of Upper Asia,** within their walls, scarcely acknowledged, or

Hyde, de Relig. Persar. c. 23, 24. D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orien⚫ tale,-Zerdusht. Life of Zoroaster, in tom. ii. of the Zendavesta.

Compare Moses of Chorene, 1. 2, c. 74, with Ammian. Marcellin. 23, 6. Hereafter I shall make use of these passages. + Rabbi Abraham, in the Tarikh Schickard, p. 108, 109. S Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, 1. 8, c. 3. Sozomen, 1. 2, c. 1. Manes, who suffered an ignominious death, may be deemed a magian, as well as a Christian he retic. Hyde, de Religione Persar. c. 21. ** These colonies were extremely numerous. Seleucus Nicator founded thirty-nine cities, all named from himself, or some of his relations. See Appian, in Syriac. D. 124). The ora of Seleucus (still in use among the eastern Chris

seldom obeyed, any superior; and the Parthian empire exhibited, under other names, a lively image of the feudal system which has since prevailed in Europe. But the active victor, at the head of a numerous and disciplined army, visited in person every province of Persia. The defeat of the boldest rebels, and the reduction of the strongest fortifications,† diffused the terror of his arms, and prepared the way for the peaceful reception of his authority. An obstinate resistance was fatal to the chiefs; but their followers were treated with lenity. A cheerful submission was rewarded with honours and riches; but the prudent Artaxerxes, suffering no person except himself to assume the title of king, abolished every intermediate power between the throne and the people. His kingdom, nearly equal in extent to modern Persia, was, on every side, bounded by the sea, or great rivers; by the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Araxes, the Oxus, and the Indus, by the Caspian sea, and the gulf of Persia.§ That country was computed to contain, in the last century, five hundred and fifty-four cities, sixty thousand villages, and about forty millions of souls.T tians) appears as late as the year 508 (of Christ 196) on the medals of the Greek cities within the Parthian empire. See Moyle's works, vol. i., p. 273, &c. and M. Freret, Mém. de l'Académie, tom. xix. * The modern Persians distinguish that period as the dynasty of the kings of the nations. See Plin. Hist. Nat. 6, 25. + Eutychus (tom. i., p. 367, 371, 375) relates the siege of the island of Mesene in the Tigris, with some circumstances not unlike the story of Ninus and Scylla.

Agathias, 2, 164. The princes of Segestan defended their indepen. dence during many years. As romances generally transport to an ancient period the events of their own time, it is not impossible that the fabulous exploits of Rustan, prince of Segestan, may have been grafted on this real history. § We can scarcely attribute to the Persian monarchy the sea-coast of Gedrosia or Macran, which extends along the Indian ocean from cape Jask (the promontory Capella) to cape Goadel. In the time of Alexander, and probably many ages afterwards, it was thinly inhabited by a savage people of Icthyophagi, or fishermen, who knew no arts, who acknowledged no master, and who were divided by inhospitable deserts from the rest of the world. (See Arrian de Reb. Indicis). In the twelfth century, the little town of Taiz (supposed by M. d'Anville to be the Tefa of Ptolemy) was peopled and enriched by the resort of the Arabian merchants. (See Géographie Nubienne, p. 58, and D'Anville, Géographie Ancienne, tom. ii., p. 283). In the last age, the whole country was divided between three princes, one Mahometan and two idolators, who maintained their inde pendence against the successors of Shah Abbas. (Voyages de Taver nier, part. 1, 1. 5, p. 635.) Chardin, tom. iii., c. 1-3.