[363] The manuscript translation of D. Shea reads in this place: “These officers are called Sámór, or the Char Ayín Farangi, “the four institutes of law:” which words are not in the printed edition of Calcutta, but are probably in the two manuscripts which he had before his eyes.—A. T.
[364] It cannot be denied that the Persians, in very remote times, practised castration, and especially upon youths distinguished by their beauty (Herod. lib. VI). They are even accused of having been the first among whom this infamous practice and the name of eunuchs originated (Steph. de urbibus. Donat. in Eunuchum, act. I, scen. 2). Ammian. Marcell. (lib. XIV) attributes it, however, to Semiramis. (See upon this subject Brissonius, de Regio Persarum principatu, p. 294, 295.) The passage in the text permits us to believe that this cruel operation was a dishonouring punishment, generally abhorred, and particularly restricted by severe laws among the Persians.—A. T.
[365] It may be recollected that the interior service in the palace of an Indian king was of old always performed by females.—A. T.
[366] Bahman, son of Isfendiar and successor of Gustasp, is also named Kái Ardashír, diraz-dost and identified with the Artaxerxes μακροχειρ (longimanus) of the Greeks. He is placed 505 years before our era. He reigned 112 years, according to the Shah-namah.—A. T.
[367] Rustam, who in the Shah-namah, during a period of six centuries, appears rather a generic name, or a representative of the Medo-Persian heroism than a particular individual, Rustam is reckoned the fifth of the ten Persian philosophers enumerated in our note, page 112. Hence Rustam’s philosophical reflexions. In general, we see frequently in the Persian historical accounts the characters of kings, heroes, ascetics, and philosophers confusedly blended in the same persons.—A. T.
[368] At the time that a great army of Turanians commanded by Sohrab overrun Persia, Rustam, the ruler of Sistan, was summoned by Káús, his liege, to repulse the invaders. Rustam, although willing to obey, having spent some days in feasting, appeared later than his sovereign expected, who, in a fit of rage, after having severely rebuked him for his tardiness, condemned him to an ignominious death. Gív, one of the principal chiefs, and friend of Rustam, was charged with the execution, but, refusing to do what he felt impossible, he was sentenced to share the fate of the great hero, and Tus, a chief mentioned in the text, received the order to execute the mandate upon both. A reconciliation however took place between the king and his powerful vassals, whose united efforts were required against the Turanians. It was in the course of this war that Rustam slew his son Sohrab, without knowing him, and without supposing him at the head of the Turanian army: this is the subject of one of the most celebrated episodes of Ferdusi’s Shah-namah.—A. T.
[369] Isfendiar, the son of Gushtasp, several times mentioned in the course of this work, adopted, like his father, and zealously propagated, Zoroaster’s religion, which caused a new war between the Persians and Turanians. Arjasp, the sovereign of Túr, having invaded Persia, Isfendiar was called to the assistance of his father, who promised the throne to him if he repulsed the invaders; but, delivered from danger by his son’s successful exertions, Gushtasp, unwilling to fulfil his promise, readily listened to suggestions about the treacherous designs of Isfendiar whom he emprisoned. Arjasp, profiting by this event, marched to Balkh, killed Lohrasp, the father of Gushtasp, carried off the two daughters of the latter, whom he defeated in a battle and pent up in a fortress. Isfendiar, called out from his prison, routed the Turanian army and released his father. Moreover, he rescued his two sisters (one of whom was his wife) from captivity, by taking the strong residence of Arjasp, whom he killed with his own hand. He was not even then to enjoy the well-deserved reward, but charged with the most perilous expedition to bring Rustam in chains before the throne of his discontented liege. In vain did the hero just mentioned proffer his willingness to submit to any terms of submission except that of being enchained; nothing less than this was insisted upon: a combat became necessary, in which Isfendiar reduced his great antagonist to have recourse to the miraculous aid of Simurgh (see [note, p. 55]); by this alone Rustam was enabled to kill Isfendiar in a renewed combat.—A. T.
[370] Káí Khusró, after a glorious reign of sixty years, resolved to resign the crown. He assembled in a plain all his chiefs and the people of Iran. After a magnificent festival of seven days, he proclaimed his final determination; divided the empire among several chiefs, and appointed Lohrasp the successor of his sovereignty. This choice met with some opposition on the part of the aged Zaul (see Rauzat-us-Safa, Shea’s transl., p. 263), and although this chief yielded to the sovereign will, yet he never paid homage to the new king; and a pernicious misunderstanding remained between the descendants of both parties. It may be remarked that Káí Khusró’s abdication is quite Indian. According to Ferdúsi, it was towards the mountains of India, called Amajal, that Káí Khusró bent his steps, accompanied by a number of his chiefs, the most ancient of whom he soon dismissed, whilst others followed him further, although warned by him of an impending storm of snow which was to bury them all. He suddenly disappeared, and they were never heard of. This reminds of more than one similar event in Indian history.—A. T.
[371] This account agrees with the Shah-namah, according to which Bahman, in order to revenge the death of his father (see note last but one), invaded Sistan and took Zaul with all his treasures. It was then that Farámars, the son of Rustam, encountered the Persians in a battle: he was defeated, taken prisoner, and hanged. According to the Rauzat-us-Safa (see Shea’s transl., p. 340), Bahman, on reaching Zabulistan, heard of Rustam’s death; his son Farámans fell, and Zaul was taken prisoner.—A. T.
[372] Kobad, the Cabades or Cavades of the Greeks, the eighteenth king of the Sassanians, ruled 43 years in Persia from 488 to 531, A. D., not ingloriously within and without his empire, from which he was however driven on account of the support which he gave to the new and dangerous doctrine of the prophet Mazdak, about whom see section XV of this chapter. Kobad recovered the throne by the assistance of the Tartar prince Hestial (see Ferdusi’s Shah-namah), or (see Herbelot) by that of the nations, called Haïathelah, who inhabit the countries of Kandahar, Thibet, and Barantolah.—A. T.