n sorrow, they were
alike immoderate; in the one transported beyond all reasonable bounds,
and exhibiting their transports with entire unreserve and openness;
in the other proportionately depressed, and quite unrestrained in
the expression of their anxiety or misery. AEschylus' tragedy of the
"Persae" is, in this respect, true to nature, and represents with
accuracy the real habits of the nation. The Persian was a stranger
to the dignified reserve which has commonly been affected by the more
civilized among Western nations. He laughed and wept, shouted and
shrieked, with the unrestraint of a child, who is not ashamed to lay
bare his inmost feelings to the eyes of those about him. Lively and
excitable, he loved to give vent to every passion that stirred his
heart, and cared not how many witnessed his lamentations or his
rejoicings.

The feeling of the Persian towards his king is one of which moderns can
with difficulty form a conception. In Persia the monarch was so much the
State, that patriotism itself was, as it were, swallowed up in loyalty;
and an absolute unquestioning submission, not only to the deliberate
will, but to the merest caprice of the sovereign, was, by habit and
education, so engrained into the nature of the people that a contrary
spirit scarcely ever manifested itself. In war the safety of the
sovereign was the first thought, and the principal care of all.
The tales told of the self-devotion of individuals to secure the
preservation of the monarch may not be true, but they indicate
faithfully the actual tone of men's sentiments about the value of the
royal person. If the king suffered, all was lost; if the king escaped,
the greatest calamities seemed light, and could be endured with
patience. Uncomplaining acquiescence in all the decisions of the
monarch--cheerful submission to his will, whatever it might chance to
be--characterized the conduct of the Persians in time of peace. It
was here that their loyalty degenerated into parasitical tameness,
and became a defect instead of a virtue. The voice of remonstrance, of
rebuke, of warning, was unheard at the Court; and tyranny was allowed to
indulge unchecked in the wildest caprices and extravagances. The
father, whose innocent son was shot before his eyes by the king in pure
wantonness, instead of raising an indignant protest against the
crime, felicitated him on the excellence of his archery. Unfortunates,
bastinadoed by the royal orders, declared thems