desire to establish an equality in Persia, rejected, he fpoke thus: "As it feems determined that Perfia

fhall be governed by one perfon, whether chofer " among ourfelves by lot, or by the fuffrages of the "people, or by fome other method, you fhall have

no oppofition from me: I am equally averfe to govern or obey. I therefore yield, on condition "that no one of you fhall ever reign over me, of

any of my pofterity." The reft of the confpirators affenting to this, he made no farther oppofition, but retired from the affembly. At the prefent period this is the only family in Perfia which retains its liberty, for all that is required of them is not to tranfgrefs the laws of their country.

LXXXIV. The remaining fix noblemen continued to confult about the most equitable mode of electing a king; and they feverally determined,

natural; and which would be, if always vefted in proper hands, the beft: but the abuse of abfolute power is fo probable, and fo deftructive, that it is neceffary by all means to guard against it. Ariftotle inclines to the opinion of thofe, who efteem a mixed government the beft that can be devised. Of this they confidered the Lacedæmonian conftitution a good fpecimen; the kings connecting it with monarchy, the fenate with oligarchy, and the ephori and fyffytia with democracy.-Arift. Pol. 1. ii. cap. 4. Modern fpeculators on this fubject, with one accord allow the conftitution of Great Britain, as it ftands at present, to be a much more judicious and perfect mixture of the three powers, which are so contrived as to check and counterbalance each other, without impeding that action of the whole machine, which is neceffary to the well-being of the people. The fixth book of Polybius opens with a differtation on the different forms of government, which deferves attention.-T.

that

1

that if the choice fhould fall upon any of themfelves, Otanes himself and all his pofterity fhould be annually presented with a Median habit, as well

25 Prefented with a Median habit.]-The cuftom of giving vefts or robes in Oriental countries, as a mark of honour and distinction, may be traced to the remoteft antiquity, and still prevails. On this fubject the following paffage is given, from a manufcript of Sir John Chardin, by Mr. Harmer, in his Obfervations on Paffages of Scripture.

"The kings of Perfia have great wardrobes, where there are always many hundreds of habits, ready defigned for prefents, and forted. They pay great attention to the quality or merit of those to whom these veftments or habits are given; thofe that are given to the great men have as much difference as there is between the degrees of honour they poffefs in the ftate."

All modern travellers to the Eaft fpeak of the fame cuftom. We find alfo in the Old Teftament various examples of a fimilar kind. Chardin also, in his account of the coronation of Solyman the Third, king of Perfia, has the following paffage:.

7

"His majesty, as every grandee had paid him his fubmifiions, honoured him with a calate or royal veft. This Perfian word, according to its etymology, fignifies entire, perfect, accomplished, to fignify either the excellency of the habit, or the dignity of him that wears it; for, it is an infallible mark of the particular efteem which the fovereign has for the perfon to whom he fends it, and that he has free liberty to approach his perfon; for when the kingdom has changed its lord and master, the grandees who have not received this veft dare not prefume to appear before the king without hazard of their lives."

This Median habit was made of filk; it was indeed, among the elder Greeks, only another name for a filken robe, as we learn from Procopius, την εσθητα την παλαι μεν Έλληνες Μηδίκην εκάλεν, νυν δε Σηρικήν ονομάζουσιν. The remainder of this paflage, literally tranflated, is," and all that prefent which in Perfia is moft honourable." This gift is fully explained by Xenophọn in the H 4

first

well as with every other diftinction magnificent in Itself, and deemed honourable in Perfia. They decreed him this tribute of respect, as he had first agitated the matter, and called them together. These were their determinations refpecting Otanes; as to themselves, they mutually agreed that access to the royal palace fhould be permitted to each of them, without the ceremony of a previous meffenger 9, except when the king, fhould happen to be in bed with his wife. They alfo refolved, that the king fhould marry no woman but from the family of one the confpirators. The mode they adopted to elect a king was this:-They agreed to meet on horfeback at fun-rife, in the vicinity of the city, and to make him king whofe horfe fhould neigh the firft.

96

LXXXV. Darius had a groom, whofe name was bares, a man of confiderable ingenuity, for whom on his return home he immediately fent. "Ebares," faid he, "it is determined that we are to

meet at fun-rife on horfeback, and that he among

first book of the Anabafis; it confifted of a horse with a gilt bridle, a golden collar, bracelets, and a fword of the kind pecu. liar to Media, called acinacea, befides the filken veft. His expreffions are fo fimilar to thofe of Herodotus, as to fatisfy us that thefe fpecific articles properly made up the gift of ho+ nour.—T.

96 Previous meffenger.]-Vifits to the great in Eaftern coun tries are always preceded by meffengers, who carry prefents, differing in value according to the dignity of the person who is to receive them. Without fome prefent or other no vifit mult be made, nor favour expected.-T.

σε

us fhall be king, whofe horse shall first neigh. "Whatever acuteness you have, exert it on this ❝ occafion, that no one but myself may attain this "honour." "Sir," replied bares, "if your be ing a king or not depend on what you fay, be not afraid; I have a kind of charm, which will prevent any one's being preferred to yourself." "Whatever," replied Darius, "this charm may be, it must be applied without delay, as the morning will decide the matter." Œbares, therefore, as foon as evening came, conducted to the place before the city a mare, to which he knew the horse of Darius was particularly inclined: he afterwards brought the horse there, and after carrying him feveral times round and near the mare, he finally permitted him to cover her.

LXXXVI. The next morning as foon as it was light the fix Persians assembled, as had been agreed, on horfeback. After riding up and down at the place appointed, they came at length to the spot where the preceding evening the mare had been brought; here the horfe of Darius inftantly began to neigh, which, though the fky was remarkably clear, was inftantly fucceeded by thunder and lightning. The heavens thus feemed to favour, and indeed to act in concert with Darius. Immediately the other noblemen difmounted, and falling at his feet hailed him king "7.

LXXXVII.

91 Hailed him king.]-Darius was about twenty years old

when

LXXXVII. Such, according to fome, was the ftratagem of bares; others, however, relate the matter differently, and both accounts prevail in Perfia. These laft affirm, that the groom having rubbed his hand against the private parts of the mare, afterwards folded it up in his veft, and that in the morning, as the horfes were about to depart, he drew it out from his garment, and touched the noftrils of the horfe of Darius, and that this fcent instantly made him fnort and neigh.

LXXXVIII. Darius the fon of Hyftafpes 9

when Cyrus died. Cambyfes reigned feven years and five manths; Smerdis Magus was only feven months on the throne; thus Darius was about twenty-nine years old when he came to the crown. n.-Larcher.

This circumstance of thunder and lightning from a cloudless fky, is often mentioned by the ancients, and was confidered by them as the highest omen. Horace has left an ode upon it, as a circumstance which staggered his Epicurean notions, and impreffed him with awe and veneration, l. i. Od. 34; and the commentators give us inftances enough of fimilar accounts. With us there is no thunder without clouds, except fuch as is too distant to have much effect; it may be otherwise in hot climates, where the state of the air is much more electrical.-7.

9* Darius the fon of Hyftafpes.]—Archbishop Ufher holdeth that it was Darius Hyftafpes that was the king Ahafuerus, who married Ether; and that Atoffa was the Vashti, and Antystone the Either of the holy fcriptures. But Herodotus pofitively tells us, that Antyftone was the daughter of Cyrus, and therefore she could not be Esther; and that Atoffa had four fons by Darius, befides daughters, all born to him after he was king and therefore he could not be that queen Vashti, who was divorced from the king her hutband in the third year of his reign, nor he that Ahasuerus that divorced her.Prideaux.

was