These complaints, whether real or feigned, have always for their burden, Rete O Jan boi, which, repeated quick, very much resembles Prete Janni, the name that was given to this prince, of which we never yet knew the derivation; its signification is, “Do me justice, O my king!”
Herodotus[31] tells us, that in Persia, the people, in great crowds and of both sexes, come roaring and crying to the doors of the palace; and Intaphernes is also said to come to the door of the king making great lamentations.
I have mentioned a council of state held in Abyssinia in time of danger or difficulty, where the king sitting invisible, though present, gives his opinion by an officer called Kal-Hatzè. Upon his delivering the sentence from the king the whole assembly rise, and stand upon their feet; and this they must have done the whole time the council lasted had the king appeared there in person. According to the circumstances of the time, the king goes with the majority, or not; and if, upon a division, there is a majority against him, he often punishes the majority on the other side, by sending them to prison for voting against his sentiments; for tho’ it is understood, by calling of the meeting, that the majority is to determine as to the eligibility of the measure, the king, by his prerogative, supersedes any majority on the other side, and so far, I suppose, has been an encroachment upon the original constitution. This I understand was the same in Persia.
Xerxes[32], being about to declare war against the Greeks, assembled all the principal chiefs of Asia in council. “That I may not, says he, be thought to act only by my own judgment, I have called you together. At the same time, I think proper to intimate to you, that it is your duty to obey my will, rather than enter into any deliberation or remonstrances of your own.”
We will now compare some particulars, the dress and ornaments of the two kings. The king of Abyssinia wears his hair long; so did the ancient kings of Persia. We learn this circumstance from Suetonius and Aurelius Victor[33]. A comet had appeared in the war with Persia, and was looked upon by the Romans as a bad omen. Vespasian laughed at it, and said, if it portended any ill it was to the king of Persia, because, like him, it wore long hair.
The diadem was, with the Persians, a mark of royalty, as with the Abyssinians, being composed of the same materials, and worn in the same manner. The king of Abyssinia wears it, while marching, as a mark of sovereignty, that does not impede or incommode him, as any other heavier ornament would do, especially in hot weather. This fillet surrounds his head above the hair, leaving the crown perfectly uncovered. It is an offence of the first magnitude for any person, at this time, to wear any thing upon his head, especially white, unless for Mahometans, who wear caps, and over them a large white turban; or for priests, who wear large turbans of muslin also.
This was the diadem of the Persians, as appears from Lucian[34], who calls it a white fillet about the forehead. In the dialogue between Diogenes and Alexander, the head is said to be tied round with a white fillet[35]; and Favorinus, speaking of Pompey, whose leg was wound round with a white bandage, says, It is no matter on what part of the body he wears a diadem. We read in Justin[36], that Alexander, leaping from his horse, by accident wounded Lysimachus in the forehead with the point of his spear, and the blood gushed out so violently that it could not be stanched, till the king took the diadem from his head, and with it bound up the wound; which at that time was looked upon as an omen that Lysimachus was to be king, and so it soon after happened.
The kings of Abyssinia anciently sat upon a gold throne, which is a large, convenient, oblong, square seat, like a small bed-stead, covered with Persian carpets, damask, and cloth of gold, with steps leading up to it. It is still richly gilded; but the many revolutions and wars have much abridged their ancient magnificence. The portable throne was a gold stool, like that curule stool or chair used by the Romans, which we see on medals. It was, in the Begemder war, changed to a very beautiful one of the same form inlaid with gold. Xerxes is said to have been spectator of a naval fight sitting upon a gold stool[37].
It is, in Abyssinia, high-treason to sit upon any seat of the king’s; and he that presumed to do this would be instantly hewn to pieces, if there was not some other collateral proof of his being a madman. The reader will find, in the course of my history, a very ridiculous accident on this subject, in the king’s tent, with Guangoul, king of the Bertuma Galla.
It is probable that Alexander had heard of this law in Persia, and disapproved of it; for one day, it being extremely cold, the king, sitting in his chair before the fire, warming and chaffing his legs, saw a soldier, probably a Persian, who had lost his feeling by extreme numbness. The king immediately leaped from his chair, and ordered the soldier to be set down upon it. The fire soon brought him to his senses, but he had almost lost them again with fear, by finding himself in the king’s seat. To whom Alexander said, “Remember, and distinguish, how much more advantageous to man my government is than that of the kings of Persia[38]. By sitting down on my seat, you have saved your life; by sitting on theirs, you would infallibly have lost it.”