CHAP. VIII. Of the State of Perfia after the Reftoration of the the Eaft WHENEVER Tacitus indulges himself in C H A P. thofe beautiful epifodes, in which he re- VIII. lates fome domeftic transaction of the Germans The baror of the Parthians, his principal object is to barians of relieve the attention of the reader from a uni- and of the form scene of vice and mifery. From the reign North. of Auguftus to the time of Alexander Severus, the enemies of Rome were in her bofom; the tyrants, and the foldiers; and her prosperity had a very diftant and feeble interest in the revolutions that might happen beyond the Rhine and the Euphrates. But when the military order had levelled, in wild anarchy, the power of the prince, the laws of the fenate, and even the dif cipline of the camp, the barbarians of the North and of the Eaft, who had long hovered on the frontier, boldly attacked the provinces of a declining monarchy. Their vexatious inroads were changed into formidable irruptions, and, after a long viciffitude of mutual calamities, many tribes of the victorious invaders established themselves in the provinces of the Roman empire. To obtain a clearer knowledge of these great events, we shall endeavour to form a previous idea of the character, forces, and defigns of those nations who avenged the cause of Hannibal and Mithridates. CHAP. VIII. Revolutions of Afia. Fol In the more early ages of the world, whilst the foreft that covered Europe afforded a retreat to a few wandering favages, the inhabitants of Afia were already collected into populous cities, and reduced under extenfive empires, the feat of the arts, of luxury, and of defpotifm. The Affyrians reigned over the east', till the fceptre of Ninus and Semiramis dropt from the hands of their enervated fucceffors. The Medes and the Babylonians divided their power, and were themselves fwallowed up in the monarchy of the Perfians, whofe arms could not be confined within the narrow limits of Afia. lowed, as it is faid, by two millions of men, Xerxes, the defcendant of Cyrus, invaded Greece. Thirty thousand foldiers, under the command of Alexander, the fon of Philip, who was intrusted by the Greeks with their glory and revenge, were fufficient to fubdue Perfia. The princes of the houfe of Seleucus ufurped and loft the Macedonian command over the Eaft. About the fame time, that by an ig nominious treaty they refigned to the Romans the country on this fide Mount Taurus, they were driven by the Parthians, an obfcure horde of Scythian origin, from all the provinces of Upper Afia. The formidable power of the Par 'An ancient chronologist quoted by Velleius Paterculus (1. i. c. 6.) obferves, that the Affyrians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Macedonians, reigned over Afia one thousand nine hundred and ninetyfive years, from the acceffion of Ninus to the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans. As the latter of these great events happened 289 years before Chrift, the former may be placed 2184 years before the fame The Aftronomical Obfervations, found at Babylon by Alexan der, went fifty years higher. æra. thians, VIII. thians, which spread from India to the frontiers CHA P. of Syria, was in its turn fubverted by Ardshir, or Artaxerxes; the founder of a new dynasty, which, under the name of Saffanides, governed Perfia till the invafion of the Arabs. This great revolution, whofe fatal influence was foon experienced by the Romans, happened in the fourth year of Alexander Severus, two hundred and twenty-fix years after the Chrif tian æra 2. Artaxerxes had ferved with great reputation in the armies of Artaban, the last king of the Parthians, and it appears that he was driven into exile and rebellion by royal ingratitude, the cuf tomary reward for fuperior merit. His birth was obfcure, and the obfcurity equally gave room to the afperfions of his enemies, and the flattery of his adherents. If we credit the fcandal of the former, Artaxerxes sprang from the illegitimate commerce of a tanner's wife with a common foldier3. The latter represent him as descended from a branch of the ancient kings of Perfia, though time and misfortune had gradually reduced his ancestors to the humble station of pri 2 In the five hundred and thirty-eighth year of the era of Seleucus. See Agathias, 1. ii. p. 63. This great event (fuch is the carelessness of the Orientals) is placed by Eutychius as high as the tenth year of Commodus; and by Mofes of Chorene, as low as the reign of Philip. Ammianus Marcellinus has fo fervilely copied (xxiii. 6.) his ancient materials, which are indeed very good, that he describes the family of the Arfacides as ftill feated on the Perfian throne in the middle of the fourth century. 3 The tanner's name was Babec; the foldier's, Saffan: from the former Artaxerxes obtained the furname of Babegan, from the latter all his defcendants have been ftyled Saffanides. The Per fian monarchy reftored by Ar taxerxes. CHA P. vate citizens. As the lineal heir of the monarVIII. Reformation of the Magian religion. chy, he afferted his right to the throne, and challenged the noble task of delivering the Perfians from the oppreffion under which they groaned above five centuries fince the death of Darius. The Parthians were defeated in three great battles. In the laft of thefe their King, Artaban, was flain, and the fpirit of the nation was for ever broken. The authority of Artaxerxes was folemnly acknowledged in a great affembly held at Balch in Khorafan. Two younger branches of the royal house of Arfaces were confounded among the proftrate fatraps. A third, more mindful of ancient grandeur than of prefent neceffity, attempted to retire, with a numerous train of vaffals, towards their kinfman the King of Armenia; but this little army of deserters was intercepted, and cut off, by the vigilance of the conqueror, who boldly affumed the double diadem, and the title of King of Kings, which had been enjoyed by his predeceffor. But these pompous titles instead of gratifying the vanity of the Perfian, ferved only to admonish him of his duty, and to inflame in his foul the ambition of reftoring, in their full splendour, the religion and empire of Cyrus. I. During the long fervitude of Perfia under the Macedonian and the Parthian yoke, the nations of Europe and Afia had mutually adopted + D'Herbelot. Bibliotheque Orientale. Ardhir. 5 Dion Caffius, 1. lxxx. Herodian, I. vi. p. 207. AbulpHaragius Dynaft. p. 80. See Mofes Choronenfis, 1. ii. c. 65-YI. and VIII. and corrupted each other's fuperftitions. The CHA P. Arfacides, indeed, practifed the worship of the Magi; but they difgraced and polluted it with a various mixture of foreign idolatry. The me mory of Zoroafter, the ancient prophet and philofopher of the Perfians', was ftill revered in the Eaft; but the obfolete and mysterious language in which the Zendavefta was compofed, opened a field of dispute to feventy fects, who variously explained the fundamental doctrines of their religion, and were all indifferently derided by a crowd of infidels, who rejected the divine miffion and miracles of the prophet. To fupprefs the idolaters, reunite the fchifmatics, and confute the unbelievers, by the infallible decifion of a general council, the pious Artaxerxes fummoned the Magi from all parts of his dominions. Thefe priefts, who had fo long fighed in contempt and obfcurity, obeyed the welcome fummons; and on the appointed day appeared, to the number of about eighty thousand. But as the debates of ' Hyde and Prideaux, working up the Persian legends and their ówn conjectures into a very agreeable story, represent Zoroaster as a contemporary of Darius Hyftafpes. But it is fufficient to observe, that the Greek writers, who lived almoft in the age of Darius, agree in placing the æra of Zoroafter many hundred, or even thousand years, before their own time. The judicious criticism of Mr. Moyle perceived, and maintained against his uncle Dr. Prideaux, the antiquity of the Persian Prophet. See his work, vol. ii. 8 That ancient idiom was called the Zend. The language of the commentary, the Pehlvi, though much more modern, has ceafed many ages ago to be a living tongue. This fact alone (if it is allowed as authentic) fufficiently warrants the antiquity of those writings, which M. d'Anquetil has brought into Europe, and tranflated into French. fo |