poS 
A Genet a I and Concije Hiftoty 
and reduced into Order the Religion of the Magi^ the 
fundamental Maxim of which was the Worfhipping 
only one God under the Symbol of Light, and be- 
caufe they in a particular Manner reverenced the Sun^ 
and paid their Devotions before a Fire, which was kept 
continually burning upon an Altar, the Greeks meafuring 
the Religion of others by their own, took it for 
granted that they worfhipped the Sun and the Fire 5 
and according to that remarkable Facility they had of 
fupplying by Fiftion the Want of better Authority, they 
have given us very large Accounts of the Ferftan Reli- 
gion, which have only ferved to mifiead and deceive 
fuch as trufted to their Relations j for beyond all Quef- 
tion, what they have Let down of human and other 
Sacrifices offered by the Perftans to feveral of their Di- 
vinities, is one continued Chain of Fables, utterly re- 
pugnant to the fundamental Principles of their philo- 
Ibphical and theological Syftems. 
ThePerftan Hiftories relate the 1 aft War between 
their Monarchs and the Greeks^ in a Manner very dif- 
ferently from what is contained in the Writings of the 
M-mentioned Nation ; the former ftile the laft Mo- 
narch of their Second Dynafty Barah al Afgar^ which 
is as much as to fay, Darius the Lejfcr, or Darius the 
Second ; whereas the Greeks reckon him the Third of 
that Name. The Perfians alfo fay, that he was a cruel 
and tyrannical Prince, and that by his Male-Adminiftra- 
tion he fo eftranged the Hearts, and loft the Affedions 
of his Subjeds, that fome of the great Men about him 
privately called in Alexander of Macedon, with a Promife 
to betray their Mafter into his Hands. To us this ap- 
pears wild and incredible, but that Nadir Shah was ac- 
tually fo called in by the Minifters of the Mogul, 
paffes for true Hiftory j which very poffibly may appear 
ftrange in the next Age, and ridiculous to Pofterity. 
The Perfian Hiftorians fay, that Alexander found Darius 
yet alive, when he fell into his Hands ; that he be- 
queathed to him his Daughter Roufchenky which Name 
the Greeks have changed into Roxana^ for. a Wife, 
and advifed him to leave the Government of the Pro- 
vinces of his new Empire to the Perftan Grandees, 
which Alexander promifed and performied. They add 
farther, that repenting of this fome Time after, he re- 
folved to remove them to make way for Greeks •, but 
that he was diffuaded from this Meafure by Ari§iotle^ 
who fuggefted to him^ that the latter would not be able 
to maintain themfelves againft the general Confederacy 
of the PerfianPxmz^% % and that the only Way to prevent 
fuch a Confederacy was to allow feveral of thofe Princes 
a greater Meafure of Power under his Government, than 
they could hope for under a Monarch of their own 
Nation. 
3. The Perftans ftile Alexander the Great, Eskender 
al Roumi, that is, Alexander the Greek ; Eskender ben 
Philicous^ that is, Alexander the Son of Philip ; and Ef- 
kender Dhulcarnein^ that is, Alexander with two Horns, 
and give a very different Account of his Expedition into 
and Conqueft of Per/ia, from what we meet with in 
either in the Greek or the Latin Hiftorians j wherein as in 
many Things they err, fo in fome perhaps they are in 
the right, and probably it might furnifli a learned Man, 
perfectly well acquainted with the Greek and Oriental 
Tongues, with an Opportunity of writing a very ufeful 
and entertaining Differtation, by way of Comparifon 
between thefe Hiftories, as it would afford him an Op- 
portunity of clearing up a Multitude of Paffages in 
both, that feem at .prefent either very dark or ab- 
iolutely unintelligible. Something of this Kind, with 
refped to the laft mentioned of his oriental Titles, has 
been attempted with Succefs by the very learned Dean 
Prideaux^ ont of whofe excellent Performance yir.Rollin, 
in his ancient Hiftory, has borrowed whole Sheers at a 
rime, and his Authorities from the Ancients into the 
Bargain, which ^ is a new Way of writing Univerfal 
Hiftoiy, in which I am afraid he will have but too 
^lany Followers. 
L he Perfian Writers tell us, and I believe very truly, 
tiiat not long aiter the Death of this great Conqueror, 
many of^ their Princes fet up for Petty Sovereigns in 
the Provinces which were committed to their Govern- 
mentj and that the Perjiau Eiiipire was ruled in this 
Book II L 
Manner for feventy two Years, t'hefe Princes they 
ftile in general Moluk Ahaovaif, that is, the Princes of 
the Provinces, and make a diftincT; Dyna/ly of them* 
which IS their Manner of diftributing their Hiftories* 
and a very perfpicuous Method it is, as the learned 
Reader will eafily difcern, by confulring Abul Ferraijus 
who has digefted his Work in this Manner, and from 
thence has given it the Title of the Hiftory of Dy- 
naSiies ; nor do I know any univerfal Fliftory extanr 
in any Language, that confidering its Conciienefs 
ought to be compared to his. We need not Wonder 
that there is a good deal of Confufion in that Part of 
the P erftan Hiftory which relates to the Time imme- 
diately after the Death of Alexander the Great, and we 
are the lefs able to recftify it, becaufe neither the Greek 
nor iht Latin Hiftorians treat of it dearly, but mention 
It only incidentally, contenting themfelves to mention 
It from Time to Time as it falls in their Wav ; and 
from Hiftory thus wrote by Starts, it is a very difticuk 
Thing to colled fuch a Number of Fads, as may ena- 
ble one to reduce it under any certain Method, and 
yet this is^abfolutely neceffary, in order to preferve the 
Thread of our Difcourfe. 
4. The Greeks fay, that under the Reign of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, an Armenian Prince, revolted and formed 
a new Empire in the Eaft. This Armenian Prince was 
Arfaces, the Founder of the Parthian Empire ; the Ori- 
ental Writers call him Afichek, and make him the firft 
Prince of their Dynajiy of Afkaniens, and they likewife 
reckon him amongft the Moluk Ahaovaif, or the Princes 
that ruled Alexander ; fo that he feems to have ac- 
quired a Dominion over feveral petty Princes, who 
were once his Equals, and his affuming this Dominion 
feems to be by the Concurrence both of the Perfian 
and Greek Writers, well enough fixed to the Year 230 
before Chrift. It may not be amifs to oblerve, that 
Mirkond, and fome other Perftan Writers, appear to be 
very much at a Lofs in regulating the Succeffion of 
thefe Princes, for which the trueReafon feems to be this, 
that they found no regular Memoirs concerning them 
m the old Perftan Writers, who did not confider them 
in the Light of their natural Princes. It was however 
under this Race, that the Parthians became known to,, 
and capable of makingHead againft the Romans ; and 
therefore in their Hiftories v/e find the Names and prin- 
cipal Circumftances of the Reigns of moft of thefe 
Princes. The laft of this Race was Ardevan, who was 
Cotemporary with the Roman Emperor Commodus, and 
with him the Parthian Empire fell, or rather the So- 
vereignty of the Eaft was reftored to the Perfians in 
the Perfon of Artaxerxes, after it had lafted upwards 
of four hundred and thirty Years. 
This great Prince the Perfian Chronicles MtArdfcbir 
Babegan, and make him the Founder of their fourth 
Dynafiy, called the Saffanians ; he was not only the Re- 
vivor of the Perfian Empire, but the Legiflator of it 
alfo, and left behind him a famous Book, intitled, Adab 
alaifch, i. e. Ahe Rule of Life, which is ftill preferved, 
admired, and reverenced throughout the Eaft, as the 
moft compleat Syftem of Government and Morals that 
was ever publifhed. It would not in all Probability be 
much efteemed in this Part of the W^orld, even if we had, 
it ; being penned entirely in the Eafiern Manner j as for 
Inftance, one of the Capital Maxims, which he lays 
down for a Prince to follow, is this, never employ a 
Sword, where a Cane will do as well ; by which he meant, 
that a Monarch fhould never refort to Capital Punifti- 
ments for light Offences. 
I mention this particularly, to fhow, that there was 
a great Difference between the Genius of the Parthian 
and Perftan Governments, and that the latter were na- 
turally mild, even though their Monarchs carried their 
Claim to abfolute Power, as high as the former. The 
Laws of the Medes and Perftans were indeed no other 
than the Wftl of the Prince, but they were irrevo- 
cable and immutable even by their Princes ; and there- 
fore Babegan having reftored the Empire,. thought 
himfelf at Liberty to lay down Rules for his Govern- 
ment, which were no lefs binding on his Succeffors 
than hk Subje(fts». He it was that fi.xed the Tenure of 
