tries of Irán and Turán fell out for the first time at the period referred to, and that, in one of the violent collisions that followed, a great many people in Irán were slain, which induced some of the rest to fly from it to Fárs. But, if the hostility of Turán thinned the population of Persia in this way at this time, it was that hostility also which fully re-peopled it during the ages that followed. No doubt some benefit was derived by Persia from the migration of nations from Babel, by its very nearness to the spot; but it had no particular reason to be entirely dependent on the procreative power of Elam and his children when the fecund hive of the north, which was full of the generations born in it from the commencement of time, was already throwing out its superfluous hordes. The incursions of those hordes into Persia were constant, and were renewed as often as they were repelled; and, even when they were unsuccessful, they always left behind them a heavy deposit of barbarians for the better colonisation of the country. Nor were all their incursions unsuccessful. The very first prince of the second era of Persian history, Kaiomurs, if not himself a Tartar, appears to have fought at the head of Tartars for his throne, and to have had them afterwards for his subjects. In later years the conquest of Áfrásáib greatly facilitated the planting of the country; and we would not, perhaps, be altogether wrong if we took Cyrus himself as having been originally the Khákán of a large nomad horde.

Thus peopled, Persia had great facilities of being early eivilised. Her intercourse with India was constant, particularly in very remote times, and even her language seems to have been derived from the Indian stock. Originally, the people of Persia were herdsmen and shepherds, subdivided into hordes distinguished from one another by different modes of life. The king Jemsheed was the first to classify them properly, and to assign them several duties and occupations-a distinction apparently borrowed from India, or derived from a common source. Jemsheed also introduced among his people a knowledge of agriculture, tillage, and cattle breeding. He was, moreover, their first

legislator, and established a rude system of government, which was scarcely better developed in the days of Cyrus and Cambyses. The people of Persia were very ignorant in those ages, and the only government then understood was the collection of tributes from persons who could be made to pay them. It was not till the era of Darius Hystaspes that this state of things was improved. In time, however, the Persians became a very civilised nation. Of course their government was never anything but an arbitrary one; but, in this respect, it scarcely differed from the other governments in Asia. Possibly, the power of the king was more absolute than in some other countries, being uncircumscribed within any limits either by regulations or usage; but, in actual practice, many privileges were allowed to the people, especially to the merchant and the soldier classes; and, if the power of the king was very arbitrary, nothing less so would have held together the turbulent tributaries and wild nomad tribes over whom it was exercised. One great defect in the constitution was that the succession to the throne was not defined, and this was the cause of constant disputes which could not but distract and weaken the empire.

The manners and habits of the early Persians were very simple; but it is said that great hardihood was combined with this simplicity, the youths being all taught to ride, and also inured to the use of arms, particularly to shoot with the bow with dexterity. It does not appear, however, that they ever made very efficient soldiers. They were warriors by profession and training, and had a sense of gallantry and national honour, with much of that impetuosity which is mistaken for valour. But they had not that intrepid hardihood which makes the real soldier; they trusted more to their numbers than to their courage; they knew nothing whatever of discipline: and hence, all their pretensions and weakness were at once exposed the moment they came in contact with the Greeks. Their great hero Isfundear (Xerxes), with two millions of men at his back, went to Greece only to return covered with disgrace and confusion; while Alexander, with an avenging

army of thirty thousand men, not only overran, but annexed the whole of the Persian dominions. In later times-in the days of the Parthian empire, and afterwards-the Persians appear, indeed, to have not unsuccessfully contended with Rome; but this happened for the most part when the Roman power had well-nigh ceased to be formidable to any but its own oppressed subjects. The Persians also maintained, from the very commencement of their existence to comparatively modern days, a constant struggle with the Tartars. Here both parties were generally wellmatched; and yet the Persians often fared the worst.

The manners of the kings and nobles of Persia were almost at all times exceedingly luxurious and dissolute, though exhibiting much outward polish and refinement. The civilisation attained by the nation culminated in the reign of Noshirwán, much of the progress made by them being attributable to their constant intercourse with the western powers, though doubtless the connection with Greece was in other respects exceedingly unfortunate. The religion of the first Persians consisted of the worship of one God; but this soon gave way to the adoration of the sun, planets, and fire, and that again to idol-worship, till the adoration of one God was re-established by Zoroaster in the time of Darius Hystaspes, apparently along with the adoration of fire. Zoroaster continued the rite (but did not originate it) of keeping up a burning flame continually. This is so very similar to the rite of agnihotra, as practised by the Brahmans in India, that it is not improbable that one was borrowed from the other. The national religion of Persia now is Mahomedanism, as observed by the Sheáh sect. The national character, also, has considerably altered with its faith, and unfortunately for the worse. The literature of Persia is of a varied character. It comprises many works on theology and ethics, mostly derived from the Grecian school. Of sciences, the knowledge of the Persians has always been very limited; but they have, on the other hand, an innumerable number of books on poetry.

CHAPTER V.

ASSYRIA, MEDIA, LYDIA, AND TARTARY.

Assyria.

ASSYRIA and Babylon appear from the commencement to have formed but one empire; it is not necessary, therefore, to notice them separately. The country being well watered, and for the most part low and flat, was originally very fertile, but has since been decaying, and running into wilderness. Its climate was temperate and wholesome during the greater portion of the year, but very dangerous at particular seasons. Herodotus says, that in the land of the Assyrians it seldom rained; but the periodical overflowings of the Tigris and the Euphrates made amends for this general dearth of water, and the industry of the inhabitants supplied whatever else was wanted, by the excavation of canals, which cooled the air and softened the soil, and rewarded the labours of irrigation by yielding bumper crops of corn. The products comprised wheat, barley, millet, and sesame; also honey, wine, olives, and figs: and, the yield being more plentiful than was required for the country, a lively commerce by land was carried on from the earliest times with Persia, and a maritime trade, possibly, with India, and certainly with the west.

The fabulous history of the country commences with the creation of the world, when Alorus was declared by God Himself to be the pastor of His people. Ten kings in all are said to have reigned over it from the creation to the flood, the last being named Xixuthrus. During this time the knowledge of letters, arts, and sciences, and, in fact, of all useful requirements, was taught to mankind by a strange being, partly man and partly fish, named Oannes,

who came out from the sea daily to communicate his instruction. The great deluge occurred in the reign of Xixuthrus, who was directed by Saturn in a dream to build a ship, and to put into it whatever he desired to preserve. The ship rested on a mountain, and when the waters abated all who were in it came out; but Xixuthrus, his wife, his daughter, and the pilot, who had first disembarked, were called away by name to dwell with the gods, which probably means that they lost their lives by some accident, perhaps by dropping off from the mountain.

The above is the account of Berosus, who collected the antiquities of the Assyrian empire. It does not differ much from the Mosaic history of the world before the flood, the names of Adam and Noah being substituted for those of Alorus and Xixuthrus. The history of the empire after the flood commences with Nimrod-the son of Chus, the son of Ham-who is spoken of in the Bible as "a mighty hunter before the Lord." The capital of it was Babylon, which owed its origin to the foolish vanity of the immediate descendants of Noah, or Xixuthrus, who longed for the erection of a tower to render their names immortal. The tower thus raised was thrown down by a hurricane; but it is difficult now to determine whether it was built and destroyed before or after the time of Nimrod. Its ruins are called Birs Nimroud; but that does not settle the question one way or the other, the site having been built upon a second time after the destruction of the tower. The probability is that Nimrod came back after the general dispersion of nations from Babylon, when his father, Chus, went out and settled in Ethiopia, and that, on the city being then rebuilt, he was worshipped in it as a god, under the name of Belus. Babylon thus became the capital of the province of Shinár; and, having afterwards succeeded in establishing an empire around it, Nimrod went out from the land of Shinár and built another city in the northern confines of his empire, which he named Nineveh, after his son Ninus, whom he wanted to immortalize.

Nimrod was succeeded by Ninus, who made Nineveh the