"to ride, to shoot with the bow, and to speak the truth." To the last the Persians fought gallantly, and the Greeks conquered in battle because of improved weapons and better tactics, not from superior bravery.

The Persians borrowed their art and their material civilization from Babylon. They themselves were soldiers and rulers; and, apart from the influence of their religion, their important services to the world were connected with their political history. These services were of three kinds: (1) an immense expansion of the map; (2) the repulse of the Scythians; (3) a better organization of government. The first of these has been dwelt upon in connection with the rise of the empire; the other two demand separate treatment (§§ 62-64).

62. Persia and the Scythians. About 630 B.C., shortly before the downfall of Nineveh, the frozen steppes of the north had poured hordes of savages into western Asia (§ 34). By the Greeks these nomads were called Scythians. We do not know who they were; but the inroad seems in some respects like those of the Huns, Turks, and Tartars, in later history. The Scythians plundered as far as Egypt; and they were a real danger to all the culture the world had been building up so painfully for four thousand years. Assyria and Lydia both proved helpless to hold back the invaders; and empire fell rightfully to the Medes and Persians, who could defend civilization against these barbarians. The Medes drove the ruthless ravagers back to their own deserts; and the early Persian kings made repeated expeditions into the Scythian country. By these means the barbarians were awed, and for centuries the danger of their attacks was averted.

Darius, the greatest of the successors of Cyrus, seems to have justified his conquests on the ground of this service to civilization. In a famous inscription enumerating his conquests, he says: "Auramazda [the God of Light] delivered. unto me these countries when he saw them in uproar. . . . By the grace of Auramazda I have brought them to order again."1

1 Quoted by Ranke, Universal History, 113. The inscription from which this passage is taken is cut into a rock cliff in three parallel columns, in

63. Darius the Organizer: the Imperial Government. - The empires which came before the Persian had very simple machinery for their government. The tributary states kept kings from their old royal families; the peoples kept their separate languages, religions, laws, and customs. Two subject kingdoms might even make war upon each other, without interference from the head king. Indeed, the different kingdoms within an empire remained almost as separate as before they were incorporated in the conquering state, except in three respects: (1) they had to pay tribute; (2) they had to assist in war; and (3) their kings were expected, from time to time, to attend the court of the imperial master.

Plainly, such an empire would fall to pieces easily. If any disaster happened to the ruling state, if a foreign invasion or the unexpected death of a sovereign occurred, the whole fabric might be shattered at a moment. Each of the original kingdoms would become independent again; and then would follow years of bloody war, until some king restored an imperial structure. Tranquillity and security could not exist under such a system.

Assyria, it is true, had begun to reform this system. The great Assyrian rulers of the eighth century were not simply conquerors. They were also organizers. They left the subject peoples their own laws and customs, as before; but they broke up some of the old kingdoms into satrapies, or provinces, ruled by appointed officers.

The system, however, was still unsatisfactory. In theory the governors, or satraps, were wholly dependent upon the will of the imperial king; but in practice they were very nearly kings themselves, and they were under constant temptation to try to become absolutely independent, by rebellion.

different languages, — Persian, Median, and Assyrian. It served as the "Rosetta Stone" of the cuneiform writing (§ 4). The Persian writing was known, and from it scholars learned how to read the old Assyrian writing.

1 The brief empire of the Jews was of this nature. Solomon, the Book of Kings tells us, "reigned over all the kingdoms . . . unto the border of Egypt; they brought presents and served Solomon."

This then was the plan of government as the Persians found it. They adopted and extended the system of satraps; and Darius I, the fourth Persian king (521-485 B.C.), introduced three checks upon rebellion. (1) In each of the twenty provinces, power was divided between the satrap himself and the commander of the standing army. (2) In each province was placed a royal secretary (the "King's Ear") to communicate constantly with the Great King. (3) Most important of all, a special royal commissioner (the "King's Eye"), backed with military forces, appeared at intervals in each satrapy to inquire into the government, and, if necessary, to arrest the satrap.

Political organization in Asia advanced no further until Roman times. Not much had been done to promote a spirit of unity among the diverse peoples of the empire. Each still kept its separate language and customs. Still, for the age, the organization of Darius was a marvelous work. It is the most satisfactory ever yet devised by Orientals; and indeed it was nearer to the later Roman imperial government than to the older and looser Asiatic system of kingdom-empires.

64. Post Roads. To draw the distant parts of the empire closer, Darius also built a magnificent system of post roads, with milestones and excellent inns, with ferries and bridges, and with relays of horses for the royal couriers. The chief road, from Susa to Sardis, was over fifteen hundred miles long; but it is said that dispatches were sometimes carried its whole length in six days, although ordinary travel required three months. Benjamin Ide Wheeler writes of this great highway (Alexander the Great, 196-197):

"All the diverse life of the countries it traversed was drawn into its paths. Carians and Cilicians, Phrygians and Cappadocians, staid Lydians, sociable Greeks, crafty Armenians, rude traders from the Euxine shores, nabobs of Babylon, Medes and Persians, galloping couriers mounted on their Bokhara ponies or fine Arab steeds, envoys with train and state, peasants driving their donkeys laden with skins of oil or wine or sacks of grain, stately caravans bearing the wares and