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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
PERSIA, PAST AND PRESENT. 449
PERSIA PAST AND PRESENT.
BY W. A. SCOTT, D. D.
“ And see—the Sun himself !—on wings
Of glory up the East he springs
Angel of light!
Where are the days, thou wondrous sphere,
When Iran, like a sun-flower, turned
To mect that eye where’er it burned ?
When, from the banks of BENDEEMEER
To the nut-groves of Samarcand,
Thy temples flam’d o'er all the land?
Where are they ? ask the shades of them
Who, on Capessra’s bloody plains,
Saw fierce invaders pluck the gem
From Iran’s broken diadem.—Latba Rooks.
Tue wars of Persia with Greece, the
lives of Oriental princes, and tales and
illustrations of the manners of the East
a long time ago, are a part of the early
studies of our boyhood, and a never failing
source of amusement to an enlightened
mind, through all the periods of life down
to old age. Even the loftiest strains of
poetry in our holy prophetical books—the
noblest outpourings cf Hebrew song are
about the people who lived on the Tigris
and the Kuphrates more than two thousand years ago. And even now it is
found, after centuries for research and
examination, and after the wonderful
discoveries of Botta, Layard, Rawlinson
and others, that the Hebrew Scriptures
are the best guide to the Hast—that the
minutest allusions in the Bible to the
habits of the people of Bible lands are
so correct, and that even the details of
their wars and religions, ad customs,
given by the father of profane history,
are so accurately told, that the history of
the inhabitants of those countries in the
present day, written from actual observation, varies in but few things from that
of Herodotus.
In our day, the long sleep of Oriental
literature is broken—never again to be
resumed. Its untomhed records have assumed a place, in historic value, above
the classic glory of Greece and Rome.
The scholar, the antiquarian, and the interpreter of ancient records, have vast
treasures of priceless worth now opened
to them that were hidden for ages. The
fall of Constantinople somewhat retarded
Oriental studies by the consequent revival of Greek learning, which was followed by the invention of printing in the
West. The tendency of the attention
given to Greek literature, and of printing, was to lay aside the learning of the
East as fabulous, or valueless. But, for
the last three centuries, Huropean travelers and scholars have been diligent in
those researches that have so happily resulted in our present attainments.
As we are desirous of becoming acquainted with some of the most remarkable personages, and some of the most
extraordinary events of ancient Persia,
a brief reference to its legendary history
seems necessary to enable us to form
something like a correct opinion concerning its institutions. All men of letters
have admired her poets, Jamz, Hafiz,
Saadi and Firdust; but Persia‘has been
admired for something more than her
poets. Alexander the Great intensely
coveted her dominions, not so much because she was the favorite country of the
imagination, as because she was wealthy
and powerful. The legends of the golden egg, and like fancies, do not solve the
great question, why Alexander marched
his armies across her territory. Was it
then to revenge Greece for Persian invasions before his day? or was it merely
to imitate the exploits of Achilles, whom
he greatly admired, and whose history he
diligently studied? No. I believe his
was a nobler ambition—an ambition ag
justifiable as that which inspired Napoleon, when he invaded Egypt and dreamed of an Oriental empire—an ambition
in every way as justifiable as that of the
English in the conquest of India, or of
China—the very same in substance that
now moves all the great powers of Hurope, and the United States, to seek an
extension of their influence over the