The kings of Persia[22], like these we are speaking of, were eligible in one family only, that of the Arsacidæ, and it was not till that race failed they chose Darius. The title of the king of Abyssinia is, King of Kings; and such Daniel[23] tells us was that of Nebuchadnezzar. The right of primogeniture does not so prevail in Abyssinia as to exclude election in the person of the younger brothers, and this was likewise the case in Persia[24].
In Persia[25] a preference was understood to be due to the king’s lawful children; but there were instances of the natural child being preferred to the lawful one. Darius, tho’ a bastard, was preferred to Isogius, Xerxes’s lawful son, and that merely by the election of the people. The same has always obtained in Abyssinia. A very great part of their kings are adulterous bastards; others are the issue of concubines, as we shall see hereafter, but they have been preferred to the crown by the influence of a party, always under name of the Voice of the People.
Although the Persian kings[26] had various palaces to which they removed at different times in the year, Pasagarda, the metropolis of their ancient kings, was observed as the only place for their coronation; and this, too, was the case of Abyssinia with their metropolis of Axum.
The next remarkable ceremony in which these two nations agreed, is that of adoration, inviolably observed in Abyssinia to this day, as often as you enter the sovereign’s presence. This is not only kneeling[27], but an absolute prostration. You first fall upon your knees, then upon the palms of your hands, then incline your head and body till your forehead touch the earth; and, in case you have an answer to expect, you lie in that posture till the king, or somebody from him, desires you to rise. This, too, was the custom of Persia; Arrian[28] says this was first instituted by Cyrus, and this was precisely the posture in which they adored God, mentioned in the book of Exodus.
Though the refusal of this ceremony would, in Abyssinia and Persia, be looked upon as rebellion or insult, yet it seems in both nations to have met with a mitigation with regard to strangers, who have refused it without giving any offence. I remember a Mahometan being twice sent by the prince of Mecca into Abyssinia during my stay there, who, neither time, would go farther than to put his hands across upon his breast, with no very great inclination of his head; and this I saw was not thought so extraordinary as to give offence, as it was all he did to his own sovereign and master.
We read, indeed, of a very remarkable instance of the dispensing with that ceremony being indirectly, yet plainly, refused in Persia to strangers. Conon[29], the Athenian, had occasion for an interview with Artaxerxes, king of Persia, upon matters of great concern to both states; “You shall be introduced to the king by me, says the Persian minister to Conon, without any delay; do you only first consider with yourself, whether it is really of any consequence that you should speak with the king yourself, or whether it would not be as well for you to convey to him, by letter, any thing you have to say; for it is absolutely necessary, if you are introduced into the king’s presence, that you fall down upon your face and worship him. If this is disagreeable or offensive to you, your business shall nevertheless be equally well and quickly done by me.” To which Conon very sensibly replied, “For my part, it never can be offensive to me to shew every degree of respect possible to the person of a king. I only am afraid that this salutation may be misinterpreted by my citizens, who, being themselves a sovereign state, may look upon this submission of their ambassador as a reproach to themselves, and inconsistent with their independency.” Conon, therefore, desired to wave his introduction, and that his business might be done by letters, which was complied with accordingly.
I have already mentioned transiently the circumstance of the king not being seen when sitting in council. The manner of it is this: When he had business formerly, he sat constantly in a room of his palace, which communicated with the audience and council by two folding doors or large windows, the bottom of which were about three steps from the ground. These doors, or windows, were latticed with cross bars of wood like a cage, and a thin curtain, or veil of taffety silk was hung within it; so that, upon darkening the inner chamber, the king saw every person in the chamber without, while he himself was not seen at all. Justin[30] tells us, that the person of the king of Persia was hid to give a greater idea of his majesty; and under Deioces, king of the Medes, a law was made that nobody might look upon the king; but the constant wars in which Abyssinia has been engaged, since the Mahometans took possession of Adel, have occasioned this troublesome custom to be wholly laid aside, unless on particular public occasions, and at council, when they are still observed with the ancient strictness. And we find, in the history of Abyssinia, that the army and kingdom have often owed their safety to the personal behaviour and circumstance of the king distinguishing and exposing himself in battle, which advantage they must have lost had the ancient custom been observed. However, to this day, when he is abroad riding, or sitting in any of his apartments at home where people are admitted, his head and forehead are perfectly covered, and one of his hands covers his mouth, so that nothing but his eyes are seen; his feet, too, are always covered.
We learn from Apuleus, that this was a custom in Persia; and this gave an opportunity to the magi to place Oropastus, the brother of Cambyses, upon the throne, instead of Merdis who should have succeeded; but the covering of the face made the difference pass unperceived.
It is the constant practice in Abyssinia to beset the king’s doors and windows within his hearing, and there, from early morning to night, to cry for justice as loud as possible, in a distressed and complaining tone, and in all the different languages they are masters of, in order to their being admitted to have their supposed grievances heard. In a country so ill governed as Abyssinia is, and so perpetually involved in war, it may be easily supposed there is no want of people, who have real injuries and violence to complain of: But if it were not so, this is so much the constant usage, that when it happens (as in the midst of the rainy season) that few people can approach the capital, or stand without in such bad weather, a set of vagrants are provided, maintained, and paid, whose sole business it is to cry and lament, as if they had been really very much injured and oppressed; and this they tell you is for the king’s honour, that he may not be lonely by the palace being too quiet. This, of all their absurd customs, was the most grievous and troublesome to me; and, from a knowledge that it was so, the king, when he was private, often permitted himself a piece of rather odd diversion to be a royal one.
There would sometimes, while I was busy in my room in the rainy season, be four or five hundred people, who all at once would begin, some roaring and crying, as if they were in pain, others demanding justice, as if they were that moment suffering, or if in the instant to be put to death; and some groaning and sobbing as if just expiring; and this horrid symphony was so artfully performed that no ear could distinguish but that it proceeded from real distress. I was often so surprised as to send the soldiers at the door to bring in one of them, thinking him come from the country, to examine who had injured him; many a time he was a servant of my own, or some other equally known; or, if he was a stranger, upon asking him what misfortune had befallen him, he would answer very composedly, Nothing was the matter with him; that he had been sleeping all day with the horses; that hearing from the soldiers at the door I was retired to my apartment, he and his companions had come to cry and make a noise under my window, to do me honour before the people, for fear I should be melancholy, by being too quiet when alone; and therefore hoped that I would order them drink, that they might continue with a little more spirit. The violent anger which this did often put me into did not fail to be punctually reported to the king, at which he would laugh heartily; and he himself was often hid not far off, for the sake of being a spectator of my heavy displeasure.