n the slopes of the hills grow the oak, the beech,
the elm, the alder, the wild cherry; here luxuriant vines spring from
the soil on every side, raising themselves aloft by the aid of their
stronger sisters, and hanging in wild festoons from tree to tree;
beneath their shade the ground is covered with flowers-of various kinds,
primroses, violets, lilies, hyacinths, and others of unknown species;
while in the flat land at the bottom of the valleys are meadows of the
softest and the tenderest grass, capable of affording to numerous
flocks and herds an excellent and unfailing pasture. Abundant game finds
shelter in the forests, while towards the mouths of the rivers, where
the ground is for the most part marshy, large herds of wild boars
are frequent; a single herd sometimes containing hundreds. Altogether
Hyrcania was a most productive and desirable country, capable of
sustaining a dense population, and well deserving Strabo's description
of it as "highly favored of Heaven." The area of the country was,
however, small, probably not much exceeding one half that of Parthia
Proper; and thus the people were not sufficiently numerous to cause the
Parthians much apprehension.

The situation and character of Parthia thus, on the whole, favored her
becoming an imperial power. She had abundant resources within herself;
she had a territory apt for the production of a hardy race of men; and
she had no neighbors of sufficient strength to keep her down, when
she once developed the desire to become dominant. Surprise has been
expressed at her rise. But it is perhaps more astonishing that she
passed so many centuries in obscurity before she became an important
state, than that she raised herself at last to the first position among
the Oriental nations. Her ambition and her material strength were plants
of slow growth; it took several hundreds of years for them to attain
maturity: when, however, this point was reached, the circumstances
of her geographical position stood her in good stead, and enabled her
rapidly to extend her way over the greater portion of Western Asia.

CHAPTER II.

_Early notices of the Parthians. Their Ethnic character and connections.
Their position under the Persian Monarchs, from Cyrus the Great to
Darius III. (Codomannus.)_

The Parthians do not appear in history until a comparatively recent
period. Their name occurs nowhere in the Old Testament Scriptures.
They obtain no mention in the Zendavesta.