in the Book of Esther, concerning the edict published by Ahasuerus in favour of the Jews; which edict was carried through that vast empire with a rapidity that would have been impossible, without these posts erected by Cyrus.

We are justly surprised to find, that this establishment of posts and couriers, first invented in the east by Cyrus, and continued so many ages afterwards by his successors, especially considering of what usefulness it was to the government, should never have been imitated in the west, particularly by people so expert in politics as the Greeks and the Romans.

It is more astonishing, that where this invention was put in execution, it was not farther improved, and that the use of it was confined only to affairs of state, without considering the many advantages the public might have reaped from it, by facilitating a mutual correspondence, as well as the business of merchants and tradesmen of all kinds; by forwarding the affairs of private persons; the despatch of journeys which required haste; the easy communication between families, cities, and provinces; and by the safety and conveniency of remitting money from one country to another. It is well known what difficulty people at a distance had then, and for many ages afterwards, to communicate any news, or to treat of any affairs together; being obliged either to send a servant on purpose, which could not be done without great charge and loss of time; or to wait for the departure of some other person, that was going into the province or country, whither they had letters to send; which method was liable to numberless disappointments, accidents, and delays.

At present we enjoy this general conveniency at a small expense; but we do not thoroughly consider the advantages of it: the want whereof would make us fully sensible of our happiness in this respect. France is indebted for it to the university of Paris, which I cannot forbear observing here: I hope the reader will excuse the digression. The university of Paris, being formerly the only one in the kingdom, and having great numbers of scholars resorting to her from all provinces, and even from the neighbouring kingdoms, did, for their sakes and conveniency, establish messengers, whose business was, not only to bring clothes, silver, and gold for the students, but likewise to carry bags of law proceedings, informations, and inquests, to conduct all sorts of persons, indifferently, to or from Paris, finding them both horses and diet; as also to carry letters, parcels, and packets for the public, as well as the university. In the university registers of the Four Nations, as they are called, of the faculty of arts, these messengers are often styled Nuntii volantes, to signify the great speed and despatch they were obliged to make.

The state, then, is indebted to the university of Paris for the invention and establishment of these messengers and letter carriers. And it was at her own charge and expense that she erected these offices; to the satisfaction both of our kings and the public. She

has moreover maintained and supported them since the year 1576, against all the various attempts of the farmers, which has cost her immense sums. For there never were any ordinary royal messen. gers, till Henry III. first established them in the year 1576, by his edict of November, appointing them in the same cities as the university had theirs in, and granting them the same rights and privi leges as the kings, his predecessors, had granted the messengers of the university.

The university never had any other fund or support than the profits arising from the post-office. And it is upon the foundation of the same revenue, that king Louis XV., now on the throne, by his decree of the council of state, on the 14th of April 1719, and by his letters patent, bearing the same date, registered in parliament, and in the chamber of accompts, has ordained, that in all the colleges of the said university the students shall be taught gratis; and has, to that end, for the time to come, appropriated to the university an eighth-and-twentieth part of the revenue arising from the general lease or farm of the posts and messengers of France; which eighth-and-twentieth part amounted that year to the sum of 184,000 livres or thereabouts.*

It is not therefore without reason, that the university, to whom this regulation has restored a part of her ancient lustre, reckons Louis XV. as a kind of new founder, whose bounty has at length delivered her from the unhappy and shamet necessity of receiving wages for her labours; which in some measure dishonoured the dignity of her profession, as it was contrary to that noble, disinte rested spirit which becomes it. And, indeed, the labour of masters and professors, who instruct others, ought not to be given for nothing; but neither ought it to be sold. Nec venire hoc beneficium oportet, nec perire.†

SECTION V.

Administration of the revenues.

The prince is the sword and buckler of the state; by him are the peace and tranquillity thereof secured. But to enable him to defend it, he has occasion for arms, soldiers, arsenals, fortified towns, and ships; and all these things require great expenses. It is moreover just and reasonable, that the king have wherewithal to support the dignity of the crown, and the majesty of the empire; as also to enable him to insure reverence and respect to his person and authority. These are the two principal reasons that have given occasion for the exacting of tribute and imposition of taxes. the public advantage, and the necessity of defraying the expenses of the state, have been the first causes of these burdens, so ought they likewise to be the constant standard of their use. Nor is

VOL. II.

* About 8,5002. sterling

R

† Quintil. I. xii. c. 7.

As

there any thing in the world more just and reasonable than such impositions; since every private person ought to think himself very happy, that he can purchase his peace and security at the expense of so slender a contribution.

The revenues of the Persian kings consisted partly in the levying of taxes imposed upon the people,* and partly in their being furnished with several products of the earth in kind; as corn, and other provisions, forage, horses, camels, or whatever rarities each particular province afforded. Strabo relates, that the satrap of Armenia sent regularly every year to the king of Persia, his master, 20,000 young colts. By this we may form a judgment of the other levies in the several provinces. The tributes, however, were only exacted from the conquered nations: for the natural subjects, that is, the Persians, were exempt from all impositions. Nor was the custom of imposing taxes, and of determining the sums each province was yearly to pay, introduced till the reign of Darius; at which time, the pecuniary impositions, as near as we can judge from the computation made by Herodotus which is attended with great difficulties, amounted to near 44,000,000 French money.‡

The place wherein was kept the public treasure, was called in the Persian language Gaza. There were treasures of this kind at Susa, at Persepolis, at Pasargada, at Damascus, and other cities. The gold and silver were there kept in ingots, and coined into money, according as the king had occasion. The money chiefly used by the Persians, was of gold, and called Darick, from the name of Darius, who first caused them to be coined, with his image on one side, and an archer on the reverse. The Darick is sometimes also -called Stater aureus, because the weight of it, like that of the Attic Stater, was two drachms of gold, which were equivalent to twenty drachms of silver, and consequently were worth ten livres of French money.

Besides these tributes which were paid in money, there was another contribution made in kind, by furnishing victuals and provisions for the king's table and household, grain, forage, and other necessaries for the subsistence of his armies, and horses for the remounting of his cavalry. This contribulon was imposed upon the six-score satrapies, or provinces, each of them furnishing such a part as they were severally taxed at. Herodotus observes, that the province of Babylon, the largest and wealthiest of them all, did alone furnish the whole contribution for the space of four months, and consequently bore a third part of the burden of the whole imposition, whilst all the rest of Asia together did but contribute the other two-thirds.

By what has been already said on this subject, we see the kings

*Herod. l. iii. c. 89-97.

Q. Curt. 1. iii. c. 12.

Darius the Mede, otherwise called Cyaxares, is supposed to have been the first who caused this money to be coined. Herod. I. iii. c. 91-97; and l. i. c. 192.

of Persia did not exact all their taxes and impositions in money, but were content to levy a part of them in money, and to take the rest in such products and commodities as the several provinces afforded; which is a proof of the great wisdom, moderation, and humanity of the Persian government. Without doubt they had observed how difficult it often is for the people, especially in countries at a distance from commerce, to convert their goods into money, without suffering great losses; whereas nothing can tend so much to render the taxes easy, and to shelter the people from vexation and trouble as well as expense, as the taking in payment from each country such fruits and commodities as that country produces; by which means the contribution becomes easy, natural, and equitable.

There were likewise certain districts assigned and set apart for the maintaining of the queen's toilet and wardrobe; one for her girdle, another for her veil, and so on for the rest of her vestments; and these districts, which were of a great extent, since one of them contained as much ground as a man could walk over in a day: these districts, I say, took their names from their particular use, or part of the garments to which they were appropriated; and were accordingly called, one the queen's girdle, another the queen's veil, and so on. In Plato's time, the same custom continued among the Persians.

The manner in which the king gave pensions in those days to such persons as he had a mind to gratify, was exactly like what I have observed concerning the queen. We read, that the king of Persia assigned the revenues of four cities to Themistocles; one of which was to supply him with wine, another with bread, the third with meats for his table, and the fourth with his clothes and furniture. Before that time, Cyrus had acted in the same manner towards Pytharchus of Cyzicus, for whom he had a particular consideration, and to whom he gave the revenue of seven cities. In following times, we find many instances of a like nature.

ARTICLE II.

Of their war.

The people of Asia in general were naturally of a warlike disposition, and did not want courage; but in time they suffered themselves to be enervated by luxury and pleasure. I must however except the Persians, who even before Cyrus, and still more during his reign, had the reputation of being a people of a very military genius. The situation of their country, which is rugged and mountainous, might be one reason of their hard and frugal manner of living; which is a point of no little importance for the forming of good soldiers. But the good education which the Persians gave

Plut. in Alcib. i. p. 123.

† Plut. in Themis. p. 127.

+ Athen. 1. i.

p. 30.

their youth, was the chief cause of the courage and martial spirit of that people.

With respect therefore to the manners, and particularly to the article which I am now treating of, we must make some distinction between the different nations of Asia. So that in the following account of military affairs, whatever perfection and excellence may be found in the rules and principles of war, is to be applied only to the Persians, as they were in Cyrus's reign; the rest belongs to the other nations of Asia, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes. Lydians, and to the Persians likewise after they had degenerated from their ancient valour, which happened not long after Cyrus, as will be shown in the sequel.

I. Their Entrance upon Military Discipline.

The Persians were trained up to the service from their tender years, by passing through different exercises.* Generally speaking, they served in the armies from the age of twenty to fifty years. And whether in peace or war, they always wore swords, as our gentlemen do, which was never practised among the Greeks or the Romans. They were obliged to enlist themselves at the time appointed; and it was esteemed a crime to desire to be dispensed with in that respect, as will be seen hereafter, by the cruel treatment given by Darius and Xerxes to two young noblemen, whose fathers had desired as a favour, that their sons might be permitted to stay at home, for a comfort to them in their old age.t Herodotus speaks of a body of troops appointed to be the king's guard, who were called The immortals, because this body consisted always of the same number, which was 10,000; for as soon as any of the men died, another was immediately put into his place. The establishment of this body probably began with the 10,000 men sent for by Cyrus out of Persia to be his guard. They were distinguished from all the other troops by the richness of their armour, and still more by their courage. Quintus Curtius mentions also this body of men, and another body besides, consisting of 15,000, designed in like manner to be a guard to the king's person: the latter were called Doryphori, or Spearmen.

II. Their Armour.

The ordinary arms of the Persians were a sabre, or scimitar, acinaces, as it is called in Latin; a kind of dagger, which hung in their belt on the right side; a javelin, or half pike, having a sharppointed iron at the end.

It seems that they carried two javelins, or lances, one to fling, and the other to use in close fight. They made great use of the

Strab. 1. xv. p. 734. Am. Mar. 1. xxiii. sub finem. da Ira. I. iii. c. 16, 17. Herod. 1. vii. c. 83.

† Herod. 1. iv. and vi. Sea

Lib. iii. c.3.