rents and followers, had fallen into great contempt. this reformer made his first appearance in Ecbatana.

It is thought

The chief reformation he made in the Magian religion was, that whereas before they had held as a fundamental tenet the existence of two supreme principles; the first light, which was the author of all good; and the other darkness, the author of all evil; and that of the mixture of these two, as they were in a continual struggle with each other, all things were made; he introduced a principle superior to them both, one supreme God, who created both light and darkness; and who out of these two principles, made all other things according to his own will and pleasure.

But, to avoid making God the author of evil, his doctrine was, that there was one supreme Being, independent and self-existing from all eternity: that under him there were two angels; one the angel of light, who is the author of all good; and the other the angel of darkness, who is the author of all evil; that these two, out of the mixture of light and darkness, made all things that are: that they are in a perpetual struggle with each other; and that where the angel of light prevails, there good reigns; and that where the angel of darkness prevails, there evil takes place: that this struggle shall continue to the end of the world; that then there shall be a general resurrection and a day of judgment, wherein all shall receive a just_retribution according to their works; after which the angel of darkness and his disciples shall go into a world of their own, where they shall suffer in everlasting darkness the punishment of their evil deeds; and the angel of light and his disciples shall also go into a world of their own, where they shall receive in everlasting light the reward due unto their good deeds; that after this they shall remain separate for ever, and light and darkness be no more mixed together to all eternity. And all this the remainder of that sect, which still subsists in Persia and India, do, without any variation after so many ages, still hold even to this day.

It is needless to inform the reader, that almost all these tenets, though altered in many circumstances, do in general agree with the doctrine of the holy Scriptures; with which it plainly appears the two Zoroasters were well acquainted, it being easy for both of them to have had an intercourse or personal acquaintance with the people of God: the first of them in Syria, where the Israelites had been long settled; the latter at Babylon, to which place the same people were carried captive, and where Zoroaster might have conversed with_Daniel himself, who was in very great power and credit in the Persian court.

Another reformation, made by Zoroaster in the ancient Magian religion, was, that he caused temples to be built, wherein their sacred fire was carefully and constantly preserved; which he pretended himself to have brought down from heaven. Over this the priests kept a perpetual watch night and day, to prevent its being extins guished.

Whatever relates to the sect or religion of the Magians, the reader will find very largely and learnedly treated in Dean Prideaux's Connexion of the Old and New Testament, &c. from whence I have *aken only a short extract.

Their Marriages, and the Manner of Burying the Dead.

Having said so much of the religion of the Eastern nations, which is an article I thought myself obliged to enlarge upon, because I look upon it as an essential part of their history, I shall be forced to treat of their other customs with the greater brevity. Amongst which, the mariages and burials are too material to be omitted.

There is nothing more horrible,* or that gives us a stronger idea of the profound darkness into which idolatry had plunged mankind, than the public prostitution of women at Babylon, which was not only authorized by law, but even commanded by the religion of the country, upon a certain annual festival, celebrated in honour of the goddess Venus, under the name of Mylitta, whose temple, by means of this infamous ceremony, became a brothel or place of debauchery

This wicked custom was still in being,† and very prevalent when the Israelites were carried captive to that criminal city; for which reason the prophet Jeremiah thought fit to caution and admonish them against so scandalous an abomination.

Nor had the Persians any better notion of the dignity and sanctity of the matrimonial institution, than the Babylonians. I do not mean only with regard to that incredible multitude of wives and concubines, with which their kings filled their seraglios, and of which they were as jealous as if they had had but one wife, keeping them all in separate apartments under a strict guard of eunuchs, without suffering them to have any communication with one another, much less with persons without doors. It strikes one with horror to read how far they carried their neglect and contempt of the most common laws of nature. Even incest with a sister was allowed amongst them by their laws, or at least authorized by their Magi, those pretended sages of Persia, as we have seen in the history of Cambyses. Nor did even a father respect his own daughter, or a mother the son of her own body. We read in Plutarch, that Parysatis, the mother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, who strove in all things to please the king her son, perceiving that he had conceived a violent passion for one of his own daughters, called Atossa, was so far from opposing his unlawful desire, that she herself advised him to marry her, and make her his lawful wife, and laughed at the maxims and laws of the Grecians, which taught the contrary. For, says she to him, carrying her flattery to a monstrous excess, are not you yourself set

Herod. 1. 1. c. 199.

↑ Baruch, vi. 42, 43.

Herod. 1. i. c. 135. ! Philo. lib. de Special. leg. p. 778. Diog. Laer. in Prom. p. 6.

In Artax p. 1023

by God over the Persians, as the only law and rule of what is becoming or unbecoming, virtuous or vicious?

This detestable custom continued till the time of Alexander the Great, who, being become master of Persia, by the overthrow and death of Darius, made an express law to suppress it. These enormities may serve to teach us from what an abyss the Gospel has delivered us; and how weak a barrier human wisdom is of itself against the most extravagant and abominable crimes.

I shall finish this article by saying a word or two upon their manner of burying their dead. It was not the custom of the Eastern nations, and especially of the Persians, to erect funeral piles for the dead, and to consume their bodies in the flames. Accordingly we find that Cyrus, when he was at the point of death, took care to charge his children to inter his body, and to restore it to the earth; that is the expression he makes use of; by which he seems to declare, that he looked upon the earth as the original parent, from whence he sprung, and to which he ought to return. And when Cambyses had offered a thousand indignities to the dead body of Amasis, king of Egypt, he thought he crowned all by causing it to be burnt, which was equally contrary to the Egyptian and Persian manner of treating the dead. It was the custom of the latter to wrap up their dead in wax,] in order to keep them the longer from corruption.

I thought proper to give a fuller account in this place of the manners and customs of the Persians, because the history of that people will take up a great part of this work, and because I shall say no more on that subject in the sequel. The treatise of Barnabas Brisson, T president of the parliament of Paris, upon the government of the Persians, has been of great use to me. Such collections as these, when they are made by able hands, save a writer a great deal of pains, and furnish him with erudite observations, which cost him little, and yet often do him great honour.

ARTICLE V.

The causes of the declension of the Persian Empire, and of the change that happened in their manners.

When we compare the Persians, as they were before Cyrus and during his reign, with what they were afterwards in the reigns of his successors, we can hardly believe they were the same people : and we see a sensible illustration of this truth, that the declension of manners in any state is always attended with that of empire and dominion.

↑ Cyrop. 1. viii. p. 238.

Herod. 1. iii. c. 16. Ac mihi quidem antiquissimum sepulturæ genus id fuisse videtur, quo apud Xenophontem Cyrus utitur. Redditur enim terræ corpus, et ita locatum ac situm quasi operiHerod. 1. iii. c. 16. mento matris obducitur. Cic. lib. ii. de Leg. n. 56.

Condiunt Egyptii mortuos, et eos domi servant: Persæ jam cerâ circumlitos condiunt, ut quam maxime permaneant diuturna corpora. Cic. Tuscul. Quæst. lib. i. n. 108. Barnab. Brissonius de regio Persarum principatu, &c. Argentorati, an. 1710,

Among many other causes that brought about the declension of the Persian empire, the four following may be looked upon as the principal: Their excessive magnificence and luxury; the abject subjection and slavery of the people; the bad education of their princes, which was the source of all their irregularities; and their want of faith in the execution of their treaties, oaths, and engagements.

What made the Persian troops in Cyrus's time to be looked upon as invincible, was the temperate and hard life to which they were accustomed from their infancy, having nothing but water for their ordinary drink, bread and roots for their food, the ground, or something as hard, to lie upon, inuring themselves to the most painful exercises and labours, esteeming the greatest dangers as nothing. The temperature of the country where they were born, which was rough, mountainous, and woody, might somewhat contribute to their hardiness; for which reason Cyrus would never consent to the project of transplanting them into a more mild and agreeable climate.* The excellent education bestowed upon the ancient Persians, of which we have already given a sufficient account, and which was not left to the humours and caprice of parents, but was subject to the authority and direction of the magistrates, and regulated upon principles of the public good; this excellent education prepared them for observing, in all places and at all times, a most exact and severe discipline. Add to this, the influence of the prince's example, who made it his ambition to surpass all his subjects in regularity, was the most abstemious and sober in his manner of life, the plainest in his dress, the most inured and accustomed to hardships and fatigues, as well as the bravest and most intrepid in the time of action. What might not be expected from soldiers so formed and so trained up? By them therefore we find Cyrus conquered a great part of the world.

After all his victories he continued to exhort his army and people not to degenerate from their ancient virtue, that they might not eclipse the glory they had acquired, but carefully preserve that simplicity, sobriety, temperance, and love of labour, which were the means by which they had obtained it. But I do not know, whether Cyrus himself did not at that very time sow the first seeds of that luxury, which soon overspread and corrupted the whole nation. In that august ceremony, which we have already described at large, and on which he first showed himself in public to his new-conquered subjects, he thought proper, in order to heighten the splendour of his regal dignity, to make a pompous display of all the magnificence

Plut. in. Apophth. p. 172.

and show, that was best calculated to dazzle the eyes of the people. Among other things he changed his own apparel, as also that of his officers, giving them all garments made after the fashion of the Medes, richly shining with gold and purple, instead of their Persian clothes, which were very plain and simple.

This prince seemed to forget how much the contagious example of a court, the natural inclination all men have to value and esteem what pleases the eye and makes a fine show, the anxiety they have to distinguish themselves above others by a false merit, easily attained in proportion to the degrees of wealth and vanity a man has above his neighbours; he forgot how capable all this together was of corrupting the purity of ancient manners, and of introducing by degrees a general predominant taste for extravagance and luxury.

This luxury and extravagance rose in time to such an excess, as was little better than downright madness.* The prince carried all his wives along with him to the wars; and with what an equipage such a troop must be attended, is easy to judge. All his generals and officers followed his example, each in proportion to his rank and ability. Their pretext for so doing was, that the sight of what they held most dear and precious in the world, would encourage them to fight with the greater resolution; but the true reason was the love of pleasure, by which they were overcome and enslaved, before they came to engage with the enemy.

Another instance of their folly was, that even in the army they carried their luxury and extravagance with respect to their tents, chariots, and tables, to a greater excess, if possible, than they did in their cities. The most exquisite meats,f the rarest birds, and the costliest dainties, must needs be found for the prince in what part of the world soever he was encamped. They had their vessels of gold and silver without number; instruments of luxury,‡ says a certain historian, not of victory; proper to allure and enrich an enemy, but not to repel or defeat him.

I do not see what reason Cyrus could have for changing his conduct in the last years of his life. It must be owned, indeed, that the station of kings requires a suitable grandeur and magnificence, which may on certain occasions be carried even to a degree of pomp and splendour. But princes, possessed of a real and solid merit have a thousand ways of compensating what they seem to lose by retrenching some part of their outward state and magnificence. Cyrus himself had found by experience, that a king is more sure of gaining respect from his people by the wisdom of his conduct than by the greatness of his expenses; and that affection and confidence produce a closer attachment to his person than a vain admiration of unnecessary pomp and grandeur. Be this as it will, Cyrus's last example became very contagious. A taste for pomp and expense

Xenoph. Cyrop. l. iv. p. 91-99. † Senec. 1. iii. de Irâ, c. 20.

Non belli sed luxuriæ apparatum-Aciem Persarum auro purpurâque fulgentem in tueri jubebat Alexander, prædam, ñon arma gestantem. Q. Curt.