Karaka, Dosabhai Framji: History of the Parsis: including their manners, customs, religion and present position ; in two volumes (Band 1) (London, 1884)

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HISTOR Y OF THE PARSIS. [chap. ii.

passage of myriads of busy feet and the march of
heavy bodies of soldiery in ancient times, where now
even the caravan dare not pass, and the wild robbers
of the hills gain a precarious subsistence by plunder-
ing the plains, or by tending cattle, which form
their sole source of wealth. In short, here is a
country, once the most powerful, groaning under
fanatical and despotic rulers, while the few descend-
ants of the ancient race that created its glory are
sunk into utter insignificance. We again say that
the history of no other race more forcibly reminds us
of the instability of human grandeur. To a Parsi,
however, the decline and fall of the old Persian empire
are and must always be a subject of peculiar interest.
That strong feeling of association which binds to the
present the memory of the last stages of a man's
private existence,—that same feeling recalls vividly
to our minds the memory of what our forefathers
were. Our race in India enjoys, under the English
rule, all the blessings of an enlightened and liberal
government; and our only wish is that our brethren
on Persian soil may yet be as happy and as fortunate
as we are ourselves.