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As to the perfonal qualifications of this prince, he is celebrated, by oriental writers, as the Solomon of Perfia, one who made it his whole ftudy to govern his people in fuch a manner, as that they might enjoy greater felicity than if they had lived in a ftate of freedom. He extended his dominions, with a view of extending happiness to thofe, whom he reduced under his obedience. He was a zealous worshiper of the true GOD, and took fuch care to reprefs Zabiifm, that fome Mohammedan authors have not fcrupled to affert, that he was a muffulman. It is alfo recorded of him, that he left this advice with his fucceffor: Believe, my fon, that the days of your reign are so many leaves of a book; be careful therefore to write nothing in any page thereof, that you would not have feen by posterity. Many other wife fayings of this great prince are fcattered in various authors, which we have neither time nor opportunity to infert here. Some Perfian writers think, that Phridun was cotemporary with Abraham. On the other hand, the learned Dr. Hyde has entertained a notion, that this Phridun is the Phraortes of Herodotus f. It would take up too much time to discufs this controverfy here; and, befides, we fhall have occafion to refume this fubject hereafter, and to confider the opinions of the critics on oriental history all at once. In the mean time, let us pursue the thread of our narration, and proceed to the reign of Phridun's grandfon (F).

• D'HERBELOT. art Feridoun.

ing originally from the quarrel of their ancestors, it was natural enough for them to call their dominions after thofe in whofe right they held them. The whole empire belonged to Phridun; the defcendants of Tur or Tour kept up the claim of their ancestor to the whole; the kings of Perfia fucceeding Manugjahr afferted the right of Phridun to divide his dominions as he pleafed; and therefore it is likely, that Iran and Touran were words firft ufed in Perfia, and by degrees fpread themselves throughout the eaft. Whether Tur was the undoubted father of the Turks, will admit of fome queftion, fince almost all the oriental writers affirm, that Japhet had a fon called Turk and yet many of them admit,that

MA

f HYDE relig. vet. Perf. c. 8. Tarqueftan had its name from the prince we fpeak of. It would be needlefs, and at the fame time improper for us, to enter into a prolix difcuffion of that point here, fince it must be examined when we come to write the history of the Turks; however, we think it not amifs to remark, that there is nothing stranger, or more perplexed, in this double derivation of the name of the Turks, than there is in that of the Hebrews, whom fome affirm to have been fo called from Heber the fon of Salah, and others from the furname of Abraham, who was filed the Hebrew from his coming from the other fide the river, ..e. the Euphrates.

(F) The reader will easily perceive, from the characters he

has

1

not

MANUGJAHR, or Manugeher, according to fome authors, Manugewas not the fon of Irege, but his grandfon by a daughter. It is her, very material to us which of these opinions is true 8. Certain it is, that he was a wife prince, and of a mild difpofition; and had a minifter, viz. the vizir Soham before-mentioned, whofe fame is still great throughout all the eaft. Manugeher, probably by his advice, made feveral juft regulations in the government of Perfia: he afcertained, more exactly than any of his predeceffors had done, the boundaries of the provinces, into each of which he sent a prefident or governor, independent of whom he established, in every great town or borough, a mayor or provoft; fo that the governors had no opportunity of fetting up for themselves; and the provofts were obliged to behave prudently, for fear the governor fhould write against them to court. Obferving the infertility of Perfia to be chiefly owing to the want of water, Manugeher confidered every way of fupplying this defect: he caufed fine canals to be cut from the mighty rivers Tigris and Euphrates, to refresh the barren

8 D'HERBELOT. biblioth. orient. art. Manugeher.

has already feen drawn in this hiftory, that, among the oriental nations, wifdom, as well as valour, is thought necessary in a hero. Phridun is as famous among them as any of the heroes of Greece or Rome amongst us; and for the same reason, because he was a man great in all things, in war, and in peace, at the head of armies, and on the throne. On this account, orixental writers preferve, with as great care, the wife fayings of their princes, as the accounts of their conquefts. We have exEcufed ourfelves above from the repetition of all that has been recorded of this fort, in relation to Phridun; but the reader will, in all probability, be pleafed with the following fpecimens of his wifdom, becaufe they contain rules easily applied, and which concern mankind in general.

The varying frailness of this flat

t'ring world,

And the true excellence of heav'n's
high Lord;

Then would be this defpife, and
truft in him.
world deceives us all.·
God is truth.

The

Let

In

not thy riches or thy paw'r
prevail

To fwell thy bofom with conceits
of pride;

Look back, remember those thou
haft feen high,

And mark, if thou haft never seen
them fink;

Let this teach thee. One end a-
waits us all:
And when inevitable death com-
mands,

That we should follow to bis
dreary realm,
Matters it much, if from a royal
couch,

Or from a mattress thrown upon
We rife to take our journey? (5).
the ground,

Man should weigh awell, the nature
of himself,
(5) D'Herbelot, biblioth, orient, art. Feridoun.

coun

countries in their neighbourhood; he took care to collect all the ftreams iffuing from the little springs on the tops of mountains, that their waters might be made as ufeful as poffible. To encourage his fubjects to cultivate their lands with care, he employed much time in gardening, and took great pains to difcover the virtues of herbs and flowers, caufing fuch as were most valuable to be tranfplanted from mountains, and uncouth places, into his own gardens, or thofe of his courtiers. But, while he was thus cultivating the arts of peace, Apberafiab, the defcendant of Tur or Tour, invaded his dominions with a great army of Turks, in order, as he gave out, to avenge the death of his ancestor. Manugeher, finding himself too weak to refift fo formidable an enemy, retired towards the country of Tabreftan. Some authors fay, that there happened a battle between him and Apherafiab, and that Manugeher was routed, However that matter was, all are agreed, that the king of Perfia withdrew into a fortrefs, and prepared to defend himfelf there against the attempts of his enemy. Apherafiab befieged him with all his army; but to no purpofe; and the winter drawing on, the Turk, being afraid left his own men should defert him, began to think of peace. Upon this, commiffioners were dispatched on both fides, and a treaty concluded on these terms: That Apherafiab fhould poffefs all the country eaft of the river Gibon; and that he should leave Manugeher, without moleftation, in poffeffion of Perfia, and the provinces dependent on it. Such was the event of this cruel war, which threatened no less than the fubverfion of the monarchy of Perfia b. As foon as Apherafiab was retired into his own country, Manugeher began to provide against such invasions for the future, and ordered all his governors to get ready their quotas of troops. These measures alarming Apherafiab, he gave orders to his forces to make inroads into Perfia; but the Turk had not the fame fuccefs in this as in the former war. precautions of Manugeher perfectly answered his end; fo that the enemy were not only repulfed where-ever they made their courfes, but alfo loft a great number of foldiers, who were taken prisoners. Apherafiab therefore very willingly renewed the peace, and left Manugeher to act as he thought fit in his own dominions. That wife and good prince made the city of Sigjiftan for a time his royal feat; and when, by his presence, he had put all things on that fide in good order, he fent thither his vizir Soham to preserve them in that state; and went himfelf to refide in the centre of his empire, where he applied himfelf, as he had done before, to the cultivation of arts and fciences, and to every thing which might render his people MIRKHOND. hift, fect. 9.

The

power

powerful and happy. Soham managed fo prudently in the province of Sigjiftan, that he gained the good-will of the people, as well as the favour of the court; but, in the midst of his happinefs, an accident fell out, which furprised him not a little : his wife was brought to-bed of a fon with long yellow hair. Soham therefore gave him the name of Zal-zer, i. e. golden hair. This young man, when he grew up to years of difcretion, gave manifeft tokens of an exalted genius, infomuch that Manugeher fent for him and his father to appear at court. Thither they went; and the fight of the young nobleman augmented the esteem and gratitude Manugeher had for his father and family. Loaded with new honours and dignities, Soham and his fon returned into their own country, and lived there with the fame fplendor and reputation that they had done before. One day it happened, that Zal-zer went to hunt in the province of Kabluftan, dependent on the kingdom of Touran, but bordering northwards on the Perfian dominions. Meherab, who was at this time governor of that province, being informed of this, went out to meet him, that he might fhew his refpect to the father by the honours paid to his fon. The conversation he had with Zal-zer charmed him fo much, and made fo ftrong an impreffion on his mind, that he could not help talking of him to his family upon his return home; which had fuch an effect on the mind of Roudabah his daughter, that she fell violently in love with Zal-zer on his report; and, as womens paffions are ever fudden and ungovernable, the fent immediately one of her maids into the place where Zal-zer was encamped, that the might find an opportunity of speaking with him. Her project fucceeded perfectly well: the young nobleman, perceiving the maiden gathering flowers, entered into difcourfe with her, inquiring her condition, and with whom the lived. The girl, properly inftructed, anfwered him, that fhe was the fervant of Roudabah, the daughter of Meherab; and then, talking of the family, expatiated on the wit, beauty, and sweet difpofition of her lady. Zal-zer immediately conceived a great esteem for this amiable perfon, which, by degrees, ripened into fo warm a paffion, that he could neither eat nor fleep till he had concerted the means of speaking to her. An interview, as our author obferves, between two perfons who equally defire it, is very quickly obtained. The lovers made the best use of their time; that is, they exchanged the most folemn vows of fidelity, and engaged to marry each other, as foon as the confent of their parents could be obtained. To cover his amour, Zal-zer made a vifit at the fame time to the father of his miftrefs, by whom he was very kindly received; and, after ftaying with him all night, fet out on his return to his father in the province of Sigjiftan. Almoft as

foon

foon as he came home, he acquainted Soham with all that had happened, and that it was impoffible for him to live, at least in any degree of happiness, without the poffeffion of the daughter of Meherab. Some difficulty there was in procuring the king's confent to this marriage; for it was hitherto a thing without precedent for a Perfian to espouse a Turk. However, the many fervices of Soham, and the great merit of Zal-zer, prevailed fo far over Manugeher, that he at laft yielded to all they defired. The nuptials were celebrated with prodigious magnificence, the inhabitants of Sigjistan and Kabluftan vying with each other in their expreffions of joy on this occafion: nor were the confequences of this match lefs happy, than its conclufion was fplendid; for, at the end of nine months, the lovely Roudabah was brought to-bed of a fon, who was named Ruftan, the mighty hero of all the oriental romances. The reader will hereafter perceive how the loves of this illuftrious pair came to find a place in the Perfian hiftory. Let us now return to Manugeher, who spent all his time in putting the affairs of his kingdom in the beft order imaginable, with respect both to peace and war; that is, he took care to banish luxury, to encourage virtue, and to render every man's condition fo happy, as to engage him to fight for that government, on the continuance of which it depended. The perfonal. qualifications of this monarch have been already, in fome meafure, difplayed. It remains however, that we do him juftice in one particular, of greater importance than all the reft: he was a moft zealous worshiper of the true God, of which we have the most shining inftances in the hiftory of his life and reign written by Tabari, an antient Perfian author. By him we are informed, that as foon as this prince heard of the Turks paffing the river Gjeibon, in order to drive him out of his dominions, he affembled a great council of his nobility, wherein he delivered himfelf in these words: "The most holy and "high GOD delivered to me this kingdom, that I might ren"der him praise and glory by my actions as a prince, pre

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ferving my people in plenty and eafe, and impartially dif "tributing juftice, that thereby the glorious gift of GOD might, in my hand, be ftrengthened and increased. If, contrary to this my duty, I had acted ungratefully towards my Creator, then I fhould justly have deferved to lofe my "kingdom here, and to fuffer everlasting punishment for my "wickedness hereafter. The moft holy and high God having "caused me to be born of royal blood, and, in right thereof, "bestowed a kingdom upon me, let us not, my friends, bafely

i MIRKHOND. hift. fect. 8. D'HERBELOT, art. Manougeher. Apud HYDE rel. vet. Perf, c. 8. p. 156.

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