Post chaos, ut primum data sunt tria corpora mundo, Inque novas species omne recessit opus." But an exception must be made in favor of Forcellini Lex. totius Latinitatis, where under the word Mundus this very passage of Ovid is quoted, with the comment, "h. e. cœlum, terra, aqua." I add the following examples, which are not quoted by Mr. Nares: Annuit invicto Cœlestum numine rector, Quo tunc et tellus, atque horrida contremuerunt Catulli Carm. 63. de Nupt. P. et Th. 205. (Mundus is here used for "the heaven," as in Seneca Q. N. 7, 2. Lucr. 5, 1435. mundi magnum et versatile templum.) So Ovid Met. 12, 39. Orbe locus medio est inter terrasque, fretumque, And in 15, 858. Jupiter arces Temperat æthereas, et mundi regna triformis. Isidor. Origg. 2, 28. p. 902.:-" Mundus est hic, qui constat ex cœlo et terra et mari cunctisque sideribus, qui idcirco mundus est appellatus, quia semper in motu_est; nulla enim requies ejus elementis concessa est." But Festus adds the air:-" Mundus appellatur cœlum, terra, mare, et aër." Quis cœlum terris non misceat et mare cœlo, Juvenal. 2, 25. (This is an allusion to the Proverb, Miscere cœlum ac terras, Liv. 4,3. Virg. Æn.1, 133. Th rộ ròi của vòi cau lại, Lu cian. Prom. 9. Mare cœlo confundere, Juvenal 6, 283. miscere, Virg. Æn. 5, 790. Tacit. Ann. 2, 23. Æsch. Pr. 1124.; Miscere omnia, Cic. de LL. 3, 19. ad Octav. et pro Roscio Amer., xuxav Távτa, Æsch. Pr. 1030.: on which Proverb I have spoken fully in the Classical Recreations, p. 211-14.) Quæ mare, quæ terras, quæ denique nubila cœli Non sic terra mari miscebitur, et mare cœlo. 3,854. E. H. BARKER. Thetford, March, 1823. 312 ON THE MATERIALS FOR A HISTORY OF ANCIENT PERSIA. ACCUSTOMED as we have been to form our opinions of Asiatic history chiefly from European writers, it is not to be wondered at, that we should reject such national accounts as have reached us as improbable or spurious. The interesting details and animated descriptions of Herodotus find favor in our sight, and we are easily disposed to consider what pleases us as no other than the truth. Another Greek, with more opportunities of information, left a history behind him, of which only a few fragments remain: we allude to Ctesias, the Cnidian physician, who was taken prisoner at Cunaxa, and served Artaxerxes Mnemon in his profession for several years. Subsequent research has brought to light the records of the country, though it is to be lamented that they have not been given to the English reader in a proper form; they are only to be found in the bulky volumes of Orientalists, or meagre abridgments for the use of schools: we shall, therefore, indiscriminately refer, as we find occasion, to the Persian History. In investigating comparative History, the want of frequent analogies cannot vitiate the detail: accounts which occasionally differ from each other may confirm but not invalidate a third, although the precise authority due to each be not ascertained. What Herodotus wrote must be considered as partial, and though by the beauties of his style he has glosed over defects which might appear of no importance to himself, his narrative cannot be received as a test for estimating that of another: the national details are too full of the marvellous, and possess little of that accuracy which bespeaks the contemporary. Native Asiatics, we suspect, write History in their cups, or with the help of a moral microscope. The fragments of Ctesias form what logicians call a middle term, being written in the peculiar situation of a Greek resident at the Persian court: preserved by Plutarch, Athenæus and Photius, they were translated into Latin by Henry Stephens, and published by him, together with Memnon and Agatharcidas, in 1594, and have since been annexed by Wesseling to his edition of Herodotus. Those of Dinon, also, are occasionally serviceable. The history of Iran, or Persia, commences with the Peishdadian dynasty, which closes about six hundred years before the Christian æra, and exhibits a succession of princes, whose identity is almost hopeless. Adam and Chedorlaomer have both been claimed for the first sovereign Cai-umeras. Dhohak is understood as the Deioces of Herodotus, but his personal history contradicts the nominal resemblance: the irruption of the Tartars under Afrasiab, in the reign of Minocheher, (when Iran was subjected for twelve years, the invader being at last driven back to his own kingdom) coincides with the expedition of the Scythians, who possessed the dominion of Asia, according to Herodotus, for a period of twenty-eight years. Ctesias frequently differs from Herodotus, and forcibly illustrates the difficulty, as Sterne observes, of reconciling accounts: in one remarkable particular he nearly coincides with the Persian History; we are there told that Cai-Khosru (grandson of Cai-Kaus, the Astyagas of Ctesias) resigned the crown to his subjects, who presented it at his recommendation to Lohorasp, a prince of the royal family.' Ctesias relates that Cyrus, being mortally wounded in an expedition against the Derbices, just before his death created his son Cambyses king. In the relation of what followed there is a disagreement among the historians, and Eschylus in the Persa gives a totally different account: the son of Cyrus, he says, was succeeded by Mardus, (who must pass for Smerdis) who was slain by the confederates. Maraphis, Artaphernes, Darius, and Xerxes follow." Gushtasp, our Darius Hystaspes, is commemorated as having restored the Jewish captives to their country, and for embracing the doctrines of Zoroaster, who is said to have appeared in his time. His son was Isfendiar (Xerxes), of whom we do not find a distinct account, as the events of his reign reflected little honor upon the nation. The following concise passage from Ctesias agrees nearly with the Grecian narrative-we quote the translation of Stephens: This was probably merely a constitutional form, and similar to a congé d'élire. 2 L. 779. et seqq. "Rursus Xerxes adversus Platæenses exercitum centum et viginti millium mittit, et Mardonium ejus ducem constituit. Qui autem Xerxem in Platæenses concitabant, erant Thebani. Mardonio occurrit Pausanias Lacedæmonius, trecentos Spartanos et mille accolas, ex aliisque viribus sex millia secum ducens. Ibi superato exercitu Persarum, Mardonius vulneratus aufugit. Hic Mardonius quum a Xerxe ad diripiendam Apollinis ædem missus esset, ingruente ingenti grandine oppressus moritur: quæ res Xerxi maximum dolorem attulit. Is cum suis copiis Athenas proficiscitur, sed quum Athenienses armatis centum et decem triremibus ad Salaminem fugissent, urbem vacuam capit, quam incendit, præter arcem, in ea etiam aliqui relicti pugnabant: tandemque quum et illi noctu fugissent, illam etiam noctu combusserunt. Xerxes autem, quum inde ad angustissimum Atticæ locum, Heracleum appellatum, venisset, aggerem Salaminem versus ducere cœpit, pedestri itinere ad eam trajicere cogitans. Sed consilio Themistoclis Atheniensis, et Aristidis, sagittarii ex Creta accersuntur, ac veniunt: deinde bellum navale Persarum et Græcorum geritur. Persæ naves habebant plusquam mille, ducemque Onophan: Græci vero septingentas. Græci tamen victores evadunt, et quingentæ naves Persarum profligantur: et fugit Xerxes consilio rursus et arte Aristidis atque Themistoclis. In reliquis vero omnibus præliis ceciderunt Persarum centum et viginti millia. At Xerxes, quum in Asiam trajecisset, et Sardis proficisceretur, misit Megabyzum ut templum Delphicum diriperet: illoque id suscipere recusante, Matacas eunuchus injuriam Apollini illaturus omniaque direpturus mittitur. Is confectis ita rebus ad Xerxem reversus est. Xerxes ex Babylone ad Persas proficiscitur." P. 76-7. Ardeshir or Bahman, son of Isfendiar, was called Diarzdest, which signifies Longimanus, and identifies him with the first Artaxerxes. The Persian History states that he married a beautiful Jewess named Ester, which Ctesias does not mention, or his relation is lost: indeed his account of Megabyzus and Amytis is the most curious portion of this part of his narrative: the scandal of this reign, if not authentic, is extremely piquant and amusing. Passing over the short and sanguinary reigns of Xerxes II. and Sogdianus, or Secundianus, it may be observed, that in speaking of an administration, Ctesias merely informs us who were the eunuchs of that reign:-" Regno autem potitur Secundianus, qui Azabaritem et Menostanem eunuchos apud se habuit." P. 83. Mr. Mitford, with reference to this and similar passages, remarks that "the government had fallen into the hands of the eunuchs of the palace," and infers that little could be known of the current transactions except through them. Oriental monarchs professedly take little part in state affairs, and, though supposed absolute, are merely the head of the executive, nor is there any thing extraordinary in the expression of Ctesias: in modern history, by substituting ministers for eunuchs, the sense would be preserved. Menostanes appears by the sequel to have discharged his duty with fidelity, but prejudice would consider Alexas in Dryden's All for Love as the model for an Oriental premier. The Persian History gives an account of Darius Nothus, which does not occur in our authors: Homai, daughter of Ardeshir, was pregnant at the time of his death, and caused her child to be exposed as soon as born; being found by a peasant, he was preserved, became a soldier, and, by a wonderful fortune, unknown among Asiatic princes, ascended the throne, somewhat like Cyrus, under the name of Darab, the Dariaus of Ctesias. That historian expressly says that his father, during his life-time, appointed him satrap of Hyrcania, and gave him Parysatis as a wife. "Ochum (i. e. Nothum) pater vivens Hyrcaniorum præfectum constituerat, eique in uxorem dederat mulierem quæ Parysatis appellabatur, Xerxis filiam, et regis sororem.' P.83. The insufficiency and incompleteness of the Persian History is manifest in its passing immediately to Darius Codomannus (Darab the less) as son of the monarch above mentioned. Ctesias supplies a few interesting circumstances to the Anabasis of Xenophon, relative to the treatment of the prisoners at Babylon: during this reign he appears to have served the king in a diplomatic as well as a medical capacity. Darab the less was defeated at Erbil (Arbela), and afterwards assassinated by his officers. Iskander of Macedon, the conqueror, married his daughter Rushenk (Roxana), and is placed by national writers among the sovereigns of Iran. Nizami relates that Aristotle was his vizier, that he destroyed the books of the Magi, and caused the scientific treatises then extant to be translated into Greek. The fables of Pilpay, commonly called the Kalila and Dimna, are dated from this reign. Pilpay, or Bidpai, is said to |