DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.634#0372
The Present State os PERSIA. 347
than Beasts, ( whole unrelenting Mercy sparM not the Royal Infants Chap. XII.
Cries) to make away inhumanly, or at IcasHuddenly dispatch them, i^^^w
Such isthefatalnccessityof Tyrants, that least can credit those that
are mod allied to them; which addition to their Grimes they think
is Comewhat extenuated by exoculating them only at this Court;
whereby they are render'd uncapable of the Throne, ( being to be
presented to the Supreme Government, like the Levites in the Old
Law, without Blemilh, being whole in every Member): But cer-
tainly those are bound up in hard Circumstances, who to avoid
Disputesof Succession to the Crown, unmercifully butcher Tender
Innocents, hurrying them to Execution as soon as they have escaped
Imprisonment from their Mothers Womb: On this Basis the Old
Monarchy of the Persians was founded, as if no other Cement could
so firmly knit, as Blood.
And at this Tnstant their Jealousy is (a fervent, that they keep
their Sons like Captives, till the Father's Death enlarges the Eldest;
when the Younger Brothers, Uncles, and Nephews on both sides,
on the Appearance of the Rising Sun, see their last: As if the Blood-
Royal were prophan'd, unless they fled to the Hot Iron, as the only
means to expiate for its Affinity; which being drawn over the most
sensible Parts sj their Eyes ), strikes from the Rays of their Kinsman's
Diadem such a Sparkling Lustre, as for ever after makes them irre-
coverably blind ; to seek Recovery whereof, or any for them, is a
Treason unpardonable. So abhorrent are they of a Partner or a Ri-
val in Empire, that they endure not any to emulate or outdo them by
an overforward Strain of Loyalty, whereby they might seem obliged
to their Subjects, or that they should outssiine them by a Popular Af-
fection, however meritorious their Deeds have been j wherebythey
teach their Children perfect Obedience, before they permit them to
think of Command.
But whether by this way it is best; to be conversant with Toothless
Old Women, Ignorant and Esfeminate Eunuchs, aTutor more ver-
sed in Books than the Assairs of the World, and all these bound in
the highest Allegiance to their Liege, is a fitter Topick for the
Macbiavilians of our Age, than for me to handle. Although Plu-
tarch has delivered this as a Maxim to Posterity, Those who are ge-
neroussy and Princely instru&ed, let them be compared with these,
and the disserence will presently discover its self which is the more
eligible Education: But for the Good of the Chief Ministers of State,
it is more profitable, I confess, to keep their Princes Judgments al-
ways in Minority, provided they can thereby make them more plia-
ble to their Ends and Designs.
Contrary to the Principles of the rest of the East, Nobility is re- Nobles by
garded and maintained among the Perjians, considing rather in their Bicth among
Homebred Honesty, than entertaining Mercenary Foreigners in ib-sP"^ms-
their Armies, to whose Fidelity and Conduct most other Countries
commit their greatest Strength, while these rely on their own Sub-
jects : For though they claim Nobility os Race, yet they are not of
the same Stock with the Royal Line, and theresore ( content to
move beneath) aspire not to the Top of Empire ; nor can they
stretch out their Hands to the Diadem, without apparent Usurpa-
Yyi tion,
than Beasts, ( whole unrelenting Mercy sparM not the Royal Infants Chap. XII.
Cries) to make away inhumanly, or at IcasHuddenly dispatch them, i^^^w
Such isthefatalnccessityof Tyrants, that least can credit those that
are mod allied to them; which addition to their Grimes they think
is Comewhat extenuated by exoculating them only at this Court;
whereby they are render'd uncapable of the Throne, ( being to be
presented to the Supreme Government, like the Levites in the Old
Law, without Blemilh, being whole in every Member): But cer-
tainly those are bound up in hard Circumstances, who to avoid
Disputesof Succession to the Crown, unmercifully butcher Tender
Innocents, hurrying them to Execution as soon as they have escaped
Imprisonment from their Mothers Womb: On this Basis the Old
Monarchy of the Persians was founded, as if no other Cement could
so firmly knit, as Blood.
And at this Tnstant their Jealousy is (a fervent, that they keep
their Sons like Captives, till the Father's Death enlarges the Eldest;
when the Younger Brothers, Uncles, and Nephews on both sides,
on the Appearance of the Rising Sun, see their last: As if the Blood-
Royal were prophan'd, unless they fled to the Hot Iron, as the only
means to expiate for its Affinity; which being drawn over the most
sensible Parts sj their Eyes ), strikes from the Rays of their Kinsman's
Diadem such a Sparkling Lustre, as for ever after makes them irre-
coverably blind ; to seek Recovery whereof, or any for them, is a
Treason unpardonable. So abhorrent are they of a Partner or a Ri-
val in Empire, that they endure not any to emulate or outdo them by
an overforward Strain of Loyalty, whereby they might seem obliged
to their Subjects, or that they should outssiine them by a Popular Af-
fection, however meritorious their Deeds have been j wherebythey
teach their Children perfect Obedience, before they permit them to
think of Command.
But whether by this way it is best; to be conversant with Toothless
Old Women, Ignorant and Esfeminate Eunuchs, aTutor more ver-
sed in Books than the Assairs of the World, and all these bound in
the highest Allegiance to their Liege, is a fitter Topick for the
Macbiavilians of our Age, than for me to handle. Although Plu-
tarch has delivered this as a Maxim to Posterity, Those who are ge-
neroussy and Princely instru&ed, let them be compared with these,
and the disserence will presently discover its self which is the more
eligible Education: But for the Good of the Chief Ministers of State,
it is more profitable, I confess, to keep their Princes Judgments al-
ways in Minority, provided they can thereby make them more plia-
ble to their Ends and Designs.
Contrary to the Principles of the rest of the East, Nobility is re- Nobles by
garded and maintained among the Perjians, considing rather in their Bicth among
Homebred Honesty, than entertaining Mercenary Foreigners in ib-sP"^ms-
their Armies, to whose Fidelity and Conduct most other Countries
commit their greatest Strength, while these rely on their own Sub-
jects : For though they claim Nobility os Race, yet they are not of
the same Stock with the Royal Line, and theresore ( content to
move beneath) aspire not to the Top of Empire ; nor can they
stretch out their Hands to the Diadem, without apparent Usurpa-
Yyi tion,