324, 346, 406, 429.) Dr. Hyde (de Religione Veterum Persarum, p. 521, &c.) has given two alphabets of Thibet and of the Eygours. I have long harbored a suspicion, that all the Scythian, and some, perhaps much, of the Indian science, was derived from the Greeks of Bactriana.
Note: Modern discoveries give no confirmation to this
suspicion. The character of Indian science, as well as of their literature and mythology, indicates an original source. Grecian art may have occasionally found its way into India. One or two of the sculptures in Col. Tod's account of the Jain temples, if correct, show a finer outline, and purer sense of beauty, than appears native to India, where the monstrous always predominated over simple nature. - M.]
[Footnote *: This rite is so curious, that I have subjoined the description of it: -
When these (the exorcisers, the Shamans) approached
Zemarchus, they took all our baggage and placed it in the centre.
Then, kindling a fire with branches of frankincense, lowly murmuring certain barbarous words in the Scythian language, beating on a kind of bell (a gong) and a drum, they passed over the baggage the leaves of the frankincense, crackling with the fire, and at the same time themselves becoming frantic, and violently leaping about, seemed to exorcise the evil spirits. Having thus as they thought, averted all evil, they led Zemarchus himself through the fire. Menander, in Niebuhr's Bryant. Hist.
[Footnote 37: All the details of these Turkish and Roman embassies, so curious in the history of human manners, are drawn from the extracts of Menander, (p. 106 - 110, 151 - 154, 161 - 164,) in which we often regret the want of order and connection.]
Disputes have often arisen between the sovereigns of Asia
for the title of king of the world; while the contest has proved that it could not belong to either of the competitors. The kingdom of the Turks was bounded by the Oxus or Gihon; and Touran was separated by that great river from the rival monarchy of Iran, or Persia, which in a smaller compass contained perhaps a larger measure of power and population. The Persians, who alternately invaded and repulsed the Turks and the Romans, were still ruled by the house of Sassan, which ascended the throne three hundred years before the accession of Justinian. His contemporary, Cabades, or Kobad, had been successful in war against the emperor Anastasius; but the reign of that prince was distracted by civil and religious troubles. A prisoner in the hands of his subjects, an exile among the enemies of Persia, he recovered his liberty by prostituting the honor of his wife, and regained his kingdom with the dangerous and mercenary aid of the Barbarians, who had slain his father. His nobles were suspicious that Kobad never forgave the authors of his expulsion, or even those of his restoration. The people was deluded and inflamed by the fanaticism of Mazdak, ^38 who asserted the community of women, ^39 and the equality of mankind, whilst he appropriated the richest lands and most beautiful females to the use of his sectaries. The view of these disorders, which had been fomented by his laws and example, ^40 imbittered the declining age of the Persian monarch; and his fears were increased by the consciousness of his design to reverse the natural and customary order of succession, in favor of his third and most favored son, so famous under the names of Chosroes and Nushirvan. To render the youth more illustrious in the eyes of the nations, Kobad was desirous that he should be adopted by the emperor Justin: ^* the hope of peace inclined the Byzantine court to accept this singular proposal; and Chosroes might have acquired a specious claim to the inheritance of his Roman parent. But the future mischief was diverted by the advice of the quaestor Proclus: a difficulty was started, whether the adoption should be performed as a civil or military rite; ^41 the treaty was abruptly dissolved; and the sense of this indignity sunk deep into the mind of Chosroes, who had already advanced to the Tigris on his road to Constantinople. His father did not long survive the disappointment of his wishes: the testament of their deceased sovereign was read in the assembly of the nobles; and a powerful faction, prepared for the event, and regardless of the priority of age, exalted Chosroes to the throne of Persia. He filled that throne during a prosperous period of forty-eight years; ^42 and the Justice of Nushirvan is celebrated as the theme of immortal praise by the nations of the East. [Footnote 38: See D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 568, 929;) Hyde, (de Religione Vet. Persarum, c. 21, p. 290, 291;) Pocock, (Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 70, 71;) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii. p. 176;) Texeira, (in Stevens, Hist. of Persia, l. i. c. 34.)
Note: Mazdak was an Archimagus, born, according to Mirkhond,
(translated by De Sacy, p. 353, and Malcolm, vol. i. p. 104,) at Istakhar or Persepolis, according to an inedited and anonymous history, (the Modjmal- alte-warikh in the Royal Library at Paris, quoted by St. Martin, vol. vii. p. 322) at Wischapour in Chorasan: his father's name was Bamdadam. He announces himself as a reformer of Zoroastrianism, and carried the doctrine of the two principles to a much grater height. He preached the absolute indifference of human action, perfect equality of rank, community of property and of women, marriages between the nearest kindred; he interdicted the use of animal food, proscribed the killing of animals for food, enforced a vegetable diet. See St. Martin, vol. vii. p. 322. Malcolm, vol. i. p. 104. Mirkhond translated by De Sacy. It is remarkable that the doctrine of Mazdak spread into the West. Two inscriptions found in Cyrene, in 1823, and explained by M. Gesenius, and by M. Hamaker of Leyden, prove clearly that his doctrines had been eagerly embraced by the remains of the ancient Gnostics; and Mazdak was enrolled with Thoth, Saturn, Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Epicurus, John, and Christ, as the teachers of true Gnostic wisdom. See St. Martin, vol.
[Footnote 40: He offered his own wife and sister to the prophet; but the prayers of Nushirvan saved his mother, and the indignant monarch never forgave the humiliation to which his filial piety had stooped: pedes tuos deosculatus (said he to Mazdak,) cujus foetor adhuc nares occupat, (Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arab. p.
[Footnote *: St. Martin questions this adoption: he urges its improbability; and supposes that Procopius, perverting some popular traditions, or the remembrance of some fruitless negotiations which took place at that time, has mistaken, for a treaty of adoption some treaty of guaranty or protection for the purpose of insuring the crown, after the death of Kobad, to his favorite son Chosroes, vol. viii. p. 32. Yet the Greek historians seem unanimous as to the proposal: the Persians might be expected to maintain silence on such a subject. - M.]
[Footnote 41: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 11. Was not Proclus over-wise? Was not the danger imaginary? - The excuse, at least, was injurious to a nation not ignorant of letters. Whether any mode of adoption was practised in Persia, I much doubt.]
[Footnote 42: From Procopius and Agathias, Pagi (tom. ii. p. 543, 626) has proved that Chosroes Nushirvan ascended the throne in the fifth year of Justinian, (A.D. 531, April 1. - A.D. 532, April 1.) But the true chronology, which harmonizes with the Greeks and Orientals, is ascertained by John Malala, (tom. ii. 211.) Cabades, or Kobad, after a reign of forty-three years and two months, sickened the 8th, and died the 13th of September, A.D. 531, aged eighty-two years. According to the annals of Eutychius, Nushirvan reigned forty seven years and six months; and his death must consequently be placed in March, A.D. 579.]
But the justice of kings is understood by themselves, and
even by their subjects, with an ample indulgence for the gratification of passion and interest. The virtue of Chosroes was that of a conqueror, who, in the measures of peace and war, is excited by ambition, and restrained by prudence; who confounds the greatness with the happiness of a nation, and calmly devotes the lives of thousands to the fame, or even the amusement, of a single man. In his domestic administration, the just Nushirvan would merit in our feelings the appellation of a tyrant. His two elder brothers had been deprived of their fair expectations of the diadem: their future life, between the supreme rank and the condition of subjects, was anxious to themselves and formidable to their master: fear as well as revenge might tempt them to rebel: the slightest evidence of a conspiracy satisfied the author of their wrongs; and the repose of Chosroes was secured by the death of these unhappy princes, with their families and adherents. One guiltless youth was saved and dismissed by the compassion of a veteran general; and this act of humanity, which was revealed by his son, overbalanced the merit of reducing twelve nations to the obedience of Persia. The zeal and prudence of Mebodes had fixed the diadem on the head of Chosroes himself; but he delayed to attend the royal summons, till he had performed the duties of a military review: he was instantly commanded to repair to the iron tripod, which stood before the gate of the palace, ^43 where it was death to relieve or approach the victim; and Mebodes languished several days before his sentence was pronounced, by the inflexible pride and calm ingratitude of the son of Kobad. But the people, more especially in the East, is disposed to forgive, and even to applaud, the cruelty which strikes at the loftiest heads; at the slaves of ambition, whose voluntary choice has exposed them to live in the smiles, and to perish by the frown, of a capricious monarch. In the execution of the laws which he had no temptation to violate; in the punishment of crimes which attacked his own dignity, as well as the happiness of individuals; Nushirvan, or Chosroes, deserved the appellation of just. His government was firm, rigorous, and impartial. It was the first labor of his reign to abolish the dangerous theory of common or equal possessions: the lands and women which the sectaries of Mazdak has usurped were restored to their lawful owners; and the temperate ^* chastisement of the fanatics or impostors confirmed the domestic rights of society. Instead of listening with blind confidence to a favorite minister, he established four viziers over the four great provinces of his empire, Assyria, Media, Persia, and Bactriana. In the choice of judges, praefects, and counsellors, he strove to remove the mask which is always worn in the presence of kings: he wished to substitute the natural order of talents for the accidental distinctions of birth and fortune; he professed, in specious language, his intention to prefer those men who carried the poor in their bosoms, and to banish corruption from the seat of justice, as dogs were excluded from the temples of the Magi. The code of laws of the first Artaxerxes was revived and published as the rule of the magistrates; but the assurance of speedy punishment was the best security of their virtue. Their behavior was inspected by a thousand eyes, their words were overheard by a thousand ears, the secret or public agents of the throne; and the provinces, from the Indian to the Arabian confines, were enlightened by the frequent visits of a sovereign, who affected to emulate his celestial brother in his rapid and salutary career. Education and agriculture he viewed as the two objects most deserving of his care. In every city of Persia orphans, and the children of the poor, were maintained and instructed at the public expense; the daughters were given in marriage to the richest citizens of their own rank, and the sons, according to their different talents, were employed in mechanic trades, or promoted to more honorable service. The deserted villages were relieved by his bounty; to the peasants and farmers who were found incapable of cultivating their lands, he distributed cattle, seed, and the instruments of husbandry; and the rare and inestimable treasure of fresh water was parsimoniously managed, and skilfully dispersed over the arid territory of Persia. ^44 The prosperity of that kingdom was the effect and evidence of his virtues; his vices are those of Oriental despotism; but in the long competition between Chosroes and Justinian, the advantage both of merit and fortune is almost always on the side of the Barbarian. ^45 [Footnote 43: Procopius, Persic. l. i. c. 23. Brisson, de Regn. Pers. p. 494. The gate of the palace of Ispahan is, or was, the fatal scene of disgrace or death, (Chardin, Voyage en Perse, tom.
[Footnote *: This is a strange term. Nushirvan employed a stratagem similar to that of Jehu, 2 Kings, x. 18 - 28, to separate the followers of Mazdak from the rest of his subjects, and with a body of his troops cut them all in pieces. The Greek writers concur with the Persian in this representation of Nushirvan's temperate conduct. Theophanes, p. 146. Mirkhond. p. 362. Eutychius, Ann. vol. ii. p. 179. Abulfeda, in an unedited part, consulted by St. Martin as well as in a passage formerly cited. Le Beau vol. viii. p. 38. Malcolm vol l p. 109. - M.]
[Footnote 44: In Persia, the prince of the waters is an officer of state. The number of wells and subterraneous channels is much diminished, and with it the fertility of the soil: 400 wells have been recently lost near Tauris, and 42,000 were once reckoned in the province of Khorasan (Chardin, tom. iii. p. 99, 100. Tavernier, tom. i. p. 416.)]
[Footnote 45: The character and government of Nushirvan is represented some times in the words of D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 680, &c., from Khondemir,) Eutychius, (Annal. tom. ii.
To the praise of justice Nushirvan united the reputation of
knowledge; and the seven Greek philosophers, who visited his
court, were invited and deceived by the strange assurance, that a
disciple of Plato was seated on the Persian throne. Did they
expect, that a prince, strenuously exercised in the toils of war
and government, should agitate, with dexterity like their own,
the abstruse and profound questions which amused the leisure of
the schools of Athens? Could they hope that the precepts of
philosophy should direct the life, and control the passions, of a
despot, whose infancy had been taught to consider his absolute
and fluctuating will as the only rule of moral obligation? ^46
The studies of Chosroes were ostentatious and superficial: but
his example awakened the curiosity of an ingenious people, and
the light of science was diffused over the dominions of Persia.
^47 At Gondi Sapor, in the neighborhood of the royal city of
Susa, an academy of physic was founded, which insensibly became a
liberal school of poetry, philosophy, and rhetoric. ^48 The
annals of the monarchy ^49 were composed; and while recent and
authentic history might afford some useful lessons both to the
prince and people, the darkness of the first ages was embellished
by the giants, the dragons, and the fabulous heroes of Oriental
romance. ^50 Every learned or confident stranger was enriched by
the bounty, and flattered by the conversation, of the monarch: he
nobly rewarded a Greek physician, ^51 by the deliverance of three
thousand, captives; and the sophists, who contended for his
favor, were exasperated by the wealth and insolence of Uranius,
their more successful rival. Nushirvan believed, or at least
respected, the religion of the Magi; and some traces of
persecution may be discovered in his reign. ^52 Yet he allowed
himself freely to compare the tenets of the various sects; and
the theological disputes, in which he frequently presided,
diminished the authority of the priest, and enlightened the minds
of the people. At his command, the most celebrated writers of
Greece and India were translated into the Persian language; a
smooth and elegant idiom, recommended by Mahomet to the use of
paradise; though it is branded with the epithets of savage and
unmusical, by the ignorance and presumption of Agathias. ^53 Yet
the Greek historian might reasonably wonder that it should be
found possible to execute an entire version of Plato and
Aristotle in a foreign dialect, which had not been framed to
express the spirit of freedom and the subtilties of philosophic
disquisition. And, if the reason of the Stagyrite might be
equally dark, or equally intelligible in every tongue, the
dramatic art and verbal argumentation of the disciple of
Socrates, ^54 appear to be indissolubly mingled with the grace
and perfection of his Attic style. In the search of universal
knowledge, Nushirvan was informed, that the moral and political
fables of Pilpay, an ancient Brachman, were preserved with
jealous reverence among the treasures of the kings of India. The
physician Perozes was secretly despatched to the banks of the
Ganges, with instructions to procure, at any price, the
communication of this valuable work. His dexterity obtained a
transcript, his learned diligence accomplished the translation;
and the fables of Pilpay ^55 were read and admired in the
assembly of Nushirvan and his nobles. The Indian original, and
the Persian copy, have long since disappeared; but this venerable
monument has been saved by the curiosity of the Arabian caliphs,
revived in the modern Persic, the Turkish, the Syriac, the
Hebrew, and the Greek idioms, and transfused through successive
versions into the modern languages of Europe. In their present
form, the peculiar character, the manners and religion of the
Hindoos, are completely obliterated; and the intrinsic merit of
the fables of Pilpay is far inferior to the concise elegance of
Phaedrus, and the native graces of La Fontaine. Fifteen moral and
political sentences are illustrated in a series of apologues: but
the composition is intricate, the narrative prolix, and the
precept obvious and barren. Yet the Brachman may assume the
merit of inventing a pleasing fiction, which adorns the nakedness
of truth, and alleviates, perhaps, to a royal ear, the harshness
of instruction. With a similar design, to admonish kings that
they are strong only in the strength of their subjects, the same
Indians invented the game of chess, which was likewise introduced
into Persia under the reign of Nushirvan. ^56
[Footnote 46: A thousand years before his birth, the judges of
Persia had given a solemn opinion, (Herodot. l. iii. c. 31, p.
210, edit. Wesseling.) Nor had this constitutional maxim been
neglected as a useless and barren theory.]
[Footnote 47: On the literary state of Persia, the Greek
versions, philosophers, sophists, the learning or ignorance of
Chosroes, Agathias (l. ii. c. 66 - 71) displays much information
and strong prejudices.]
[Footnote 48: Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. iv. p. DCCXLV. vi.
[Footnote 50: In the fifth century, the name of Restom, or Rostam, a hero who equalled the strength of twelve elephants, was familiar to the Armenians, (Moses Chorenensis, Hist. Armen. l.
[Footnote 51: Procop. (Goth. l. iv. c. 10.) Kobad had a favorite Greek physician, Stephen of Edessa, (Persic. l. ii. c. 26.) The practice was ancient; and Herodotus relates the adventures of Democedes of Crotona, (l. iii p. 125 - 137.]
[Footnote 52: See Pagi, tom. ii. p. 626. In one of the treaties
an honorable article was inserted for the toleration and burial
of the Catholics, (Menander, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 142.)
Nushizad, a son of Nushirvan, was a Christian, a rebel, and - a
martyr? (D'Herbelot, p. 681.)]
[Footnote 53: On the Persian language, and its three dialects,
consult D'Anquetil (p. 339 - 343) and Jones, (p. 153 - 185:) is
the character which Agathias (l. ii. p. 66) ascribes to an idiom
renowned in the East for poetical softness.]
[Footnote 54: Agathias specifies the Gorgias, Phaedon, Parmenides, and Timaeus. Renaudot (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. xii. p. 246 - 261) does not mention this Barbaric version of Aristotle.]
[Footnote 55: Of these fables, I have seen three copies in three different languages: 1. In Greek, translated by Simeon Seth (A.D. 1100) from the Arabic, and published by Starck at Berlin in 1697, in 12mo. 2. In Latin, a version from the Greek Sapientia Indorum, inserted by Pere Poussin at the end of his edition of Pachymer, (p. 547 - 620, edit. Roman.) 3. In French, from the Turkish, dedicated, in 1540, to Sultan Soliman Contes et Fables Indiennes de Bidpai et de Lokman, par Mm. Galland et Cardonne, Paris, 1778, 3 vols. in 12mo. Mr. Warton (History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 129 - 131) takes a larger scope.
Note: The oldest Indian collection extant is the
Pancha-tantra, (the five collections,) analyzed by Mr. Wilson in the Transactions of the Royal Asiat. Soc. It was translated into Persian by Barsuyah, the physician of Nushirvan, under the name of the Fables of Bidpai, (Vidyapriya, the Friend of Knowledge, or, as the Oriental writers understand it, the Friend of Medicine.) It was translated into Arabic by Abdolla Ibn Mokaffa, under the name of Kalila and Dimnah. From the Arabic it passed into the European languages. Compare Wilson, in Trans. As. Soc.
[Footnote 56: See the Historia Shahiludii of Dr. Hyde, (Syntagm. Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 61 - 69.)]