Part 6 (1/2)

=The Satrapies.=--Oriental kings seldom concerned themselves with their subjects more than to draw money from them, levy soldiers, and collect presents; they never interfered in their local affairs.

Darius, like the rest, left each of the peoples of his empire to administer itself according to its own taste, to keep its language, its religion, its laws, often its ancient princes. But he took care to regulate the taxes which his subjects paid him. He divided all the empire into twenty[34] districts called satrapies. There were in the same satrapy peoples who differed much in language, customs, and beliefs; but each satrapy was to pay a fixed annual tribute, partly in gold and silver, partly in natural products (wheat, horses, ivory).

The satrap, or governor, had the tribute collected and sent it to the king.

=Revenues of the Empire.=--The total revenue of the king amounted to sixteen millions of dollars and this money was paid by weight. This sum was in addition to the tributes in kind. These sixteen millions of dollars, if we estimate them by the value of the metals at this time, would be equivalent to one hundred and twenty millions in our day.

With this sum the king supported his satraps, his army, his domestic servants and an extravagant court; there still remained to him every year enormous ingots of metal which acc.u.mulated in his treasuries.

The king of Persia, like all the Orientals, exercised his vanity in possessing an immense treasure.

=The Great King.=--No king had ever been so powerful and rich. The Greeks called the Persian king The Great King. Like all the monarchs of the East, the king had absolute sway over all his subjects, over the Persians as well as over tributary peoples. From Herodotus one can see how Cambyses treated the great lords at his court. ”What do the Persians think of me?” said he one day to Prexaspes, whose son was his cupbearer. ”Master, they load you with praises, but they believe that you have a little too strong desire for wine.” ”Learn,” said Cambyses in anger, ”whether the Persians speak the truth. If I strike in the middle of the heart of your son who is standing in the vestibule, that will show that the Persians do not know what they say.” He drew his bow and struck the son of Prexaspes. The youth fell; Cambyses had the body opened to see where the shot had taken effect The arrow was found in the middle of the heart. The prince, full of joy said in derision to the father of the young man, ”You see that it is the Persians who are out of their senses; tell me if you have seen anybody strike the mark with so great accuracy.” ”Master,” replied Prexaspes, ”I do not believe that even a G.o.d could shoot so surely.”[35]

=Services Rendered by the Persians.=--The peoples of Asia have always paid tribute to conquerors and given allegiance to despots. The Persians, at least, rendered them a great service: in subjecting all these peoples to one master they prevented them from fighting among themselves. Under their domination we do not see a ceaseless burning of cities, devastation of fields, ma.s.sacre or wholesale enslavement of inhabitants. It was a period of peace.

=Susa and Persepolis.=--The kings of the Medes and Persians, following the example of the lords of a.s.syria, had palaces built for them. Those best known to us are the palaces at Susa and Persepolis. The ruins of Susa have been excavated by a French engineer,[36] who has discovered sculptures, capitals, and friezes in enameled bricks which give evidence of an advanced stage of art. The palace of Persepolis has left ruins of considerable ma.s.s. The rock of the hill had been fas.h.i.+oned into an enormous platform on which the palace was built. The approach to it was by a gently rising staircase so broad that ten hors.e.m.e.n could ascend riding side by side.

=Persian Architecture.=--Persian architects had copied the palaces of the a.s.syrians. At Persepolis and Susa, as in a.s.syria, are flat-roofed edifices with terraces, gates guarded by monsters carved in stone, bas-reliefs and enameled bricks, representing hunting-scenes and ceremonies. At three points, however, the Persians improved on their models:

(1) They used marble instead of brick; (2) they made in the halls painted floors of wood; (3) they erected eight columns in the form of trunks of trees, the slenderest that we know, twelve times as high as they were thick.

Thus their architecture is more elegant and lighter than that of a.s.syria.

The Persians had made little progress in the arts. But they seem to have been the most honest, the sanest, and the bravest people of the time. For two centuries they exercised in Asia a sovereignty the least cruel and the least unjust that it had ever known.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] That is, of about the same area as that part of the United States east of the Mississippi, with Minnesota and Iowa. Modern Persia is not two-thirds of this area.--ED.

[29] Most historians place Zoroaster before 1000 B.C.--ED.

[30] ”I created the dog,” said Ormuzd, ”with a delicate scent and strong teeth, attached to man, biting the enemy to protect the herds. Thieves and wolves come not near the sheep-fold when the dog is on guard, strong in voice and defending the flocks.”

[31] Certain Persian heretics of our day, on the contrary, adore only the evil G.o.d, for, they say, the principle of the good being in itself good and indulgent does not require appeasing. They are called Yezidis (wors.h.i.+ppers of the devil).

[32] Herod., i., 131.

[33] i., 138.

[34] Herodotus mentions 20, but we find as many as 31 enumerated in the inscriptions.

[35] Herod., iii., 34, 35. Compare also iii., 78, 79; and the book of Esther.

[36] M. Dieulafoi.

CHAPTER VII

THE PHNICIANS

THE PHNICIAN PEOPLE

=The Land.=--Phnicia is the narrow strip of country one hundred and fifty miles long by twenty-four to thirty wide, shut in between the sea of Syria and the high range of Lebanon. It is a succession of narrow valleys and ravines confined by abrupt hills which descend towards the sea; little torrents formed by the snows or rain-storms course through these in the early spring; in summer no water remains except in wells and cisterns. The mountains in this quarter were always covered with trees; at the summit were the renowned cedars of Lebanon, on the ridges, pines and cypresses; while lower yet palms grew even to the sea-sh.o.r.e. In the valleys flourished the olive, the vine, the fig, and the pomegranate.