﻿64 THE SIXTH DISCOURSE : 



tang, which he pretended to be divine, is supposed to 

 have been destroyed by the Chinese, in whose domi- 

 nions he had sought refuge, the whole tale is too 

 modern to throw any light on the questions before 

 us concerning the origin of nations, and the inha- 

 bitants of the primitive world. 



Thus has it been proved by clear evidence and 

 plain reasoning, that a powerful monarchy was 

 established in Iran long before the Assyrian, or Pish- 

 dadl government ; that it was in truth a Hindu mo- 

 narchy, though if any chuse to call it Cusian, Casdean, 

 or Scythian, we shall not enter into a debate on mere 

 names; that it subsisted many centuries, and that its 

 history has been ingrafted on that of the Hindus, who 

 founded the monarchies of Ayodhya and Indrapresllw, 

 that the language of the first Persian empire was the 

 mother of the Sanscrit, and consequently of the Zend 

 and Parsi, as well as of Greek, Latin, and Gothic ; 

 that the language of the Assyrians was the parent of 

 Chaldaic and Pahlavi, and that the primary Tartarian 

 language also had been current in the same empire ; 

 although, as the Tartars had no books or even let- 

 ters, we cannot with certainty trace their unpolished 

 and variable idioms. We discover therefore in Per- 

 sia, at the earliest dawn of history, the three distinct 

 races of men, whom we described on former occa- 

 sions as possessors of India, Arabia, Tartary ; and s 

 whether they were collected in Iran from distant re- 

 gions, or diverged from it as from a common centre, 

 we shall easily determine by the following consider- 

 ations. Let us observe, in the first place, the central 

 position of Iran, which is bounded by Arabia, by 

 Tartary, and by India ; whilst Arabia lies contiguous 

 to Iran only, but is remote from Tar/ary, and divided 

 even from the skirts of India by a considerable gulf ; 

 no country, therefore, but Persia seems likely to have 



