"throw it away, or tamely fuffer it to be taken from us. "Confider well of the ftate we are in, and to-morrow I will "more largely inform you of my fentiments of the matter." The next day accordingly the nobles of Perfia affembled again; and the king, being feated on his throne of ftate, with his royal crown upon his head, and the mubad mubadan, or highprieft, feated near him in his golden chair, rofe up, and spoke as he had done the day before, afcribing all dominion to the Almighty, and acknowleging that the crown of Perfia was his gift. He then obferved, that all things depended alike on the will of the Supreme Being; and that nothing could take effect, but by his command, or with his permiffion. He faid further, that GOD had long indulged the Perfian nation in the full enjoyment of many bleffings, in confequence of which, they were bound to live in exact obedience to his laws, that is, to make a proper ufe of the good things bestowed on them. He added, that, as to the point at present before them, viz. the invafion of the Turks, it came not, but by the permiffion of God; wherefore to him they ought firft to apply themfelves for its being taken away. He exhorted them to reform their lives, to be conftant in prayer, to exert their courage, and their underftandings, in the defence of their country, and to rest stedfastly in the hope, that the Almighty would not forfake them, but reftore them again to peace and quiet, either by giving them a victory over their enemies, or inclining the hearts of their enemies to peace. The piety of this prince was rewarded with a very long life and reign. As to the extent of the former, we have no certainty; but, as to the latter, authors agree in fixing it at an hundred and twenty years. They fay likewife, that the death of Manugjahr was, like his life, majeftic and ferene; that he called to him his fon and fucceffor, gave him, in few words, his advice as to the government of his dominions, and recommended his subjects most affectionately to his care. NUDAR or Naudar fucceeded his father; but his reign was Nudar. far from being as happy. He was feat ce feated on his throne before his grandees began to form parties, and to create feditions in his empire; which weakened it fo much, that the Turks immediately conceived hopes of conquering it; a thing they had long fet their hearts on. With this view, Pafhangh, at that time king of Touran, the direct defcendant of Tur, the fon of Phridun, called his fons together; and having expatiated, firft, on the right which their family had to the kingdom of Perfia, and, fecondly, of the low ftate the Perfian affairs were then in, he told them, that the intent of his drawing D'HERBELOT, biblioth, orient, ubi fupra, them them together, was to know which of them had courage enough to affert the pretenfions derived to him from his ancestors, and to undertake the reduction of the provinces on the other fide the Gjeihon. Apherafiab, his eldest son, stung with ambition, and defirous of excelling his brethren, immediately offered himself to raise an army, in order to conquer Iran. Accordingly, he drew together four hundred thousand horfe and foot; and, with this prodigious army, entered Sigjiftan. Nudar, as foon as he was informed of this, caufed his beft troops to file off that way, and gave the command of them to Soham, the father of Zal-zer; but he being old and decrepit, was forced to march flowly towards the enemy; and even that fatigued him fo much, that he died before he had reached the place of rendezvous: an event highly pleafing to Apherafiab, who very much dreaded the valour and conduct of this great man. Nudar, not doubting that Soham, and his troops, were already arrived at the place he appointed them, marched with his army towards Mazanderan, where, on a fudden, and before he expected it, they came within fight of the enemy. The camps being oppofite to each other, a Turkish champion, whose name was Bafmon, challenged any of the Perfian warriors to a fingle combat; which challenge was readily accepted by Kobad, the grandfon of Kaoh, of whom we have faid fo much in the life of Phridun. The combat terminated in favour of the Perfian, who, having flain his antagonist, spoiled him of his arms, and carried them, as the trophy of his victory, to his tent. The Turks were prodigiously incensed at this accident, and refolved with themselves to revenge it fpeedily on Nudar, and his army. Accordingly, having poffeffed themselves of all the posts about it, they attacked the Perfians in their camp, where a most obftinate battle was fought, till, at length, there happened fuch a prodigious fhower of rain, attended with such an extraordinary darkness, that Nudar laid hold of this opportunity to retire, and to order his fons Thus and Guftam, who were at the head of feparate bodies, to march fpeedily to his relief; which they did, accompanied by Karen the brother of Kobad, who had found means to withdraw the royal treasures out of Sigjiftan, and to fend them to a place of fafety. Apherafiab obferving the meafures taken by Nudar, and conceiving that his intent was to fpin out the war, he, to prevent its running into a length, which, in the end, would have been deftructive to his troops, fent an officer of his, whofe name was Karahon, with pofitive orders to attack Karen, and the body of Perfians under his command; which accordingly he did, killed their commander, and effectually difperfed the reft. Not long after, Apherafiab attacked Nudar in his camp; and, after obtaining a fignal victory, victory, took that monarch prisoner, in his flight, with many Perfian nobles. As foon as they came into his prefence, Apherafiab ordered them to be cut in pieces; but his brother, a prince of great humanity and wisdom, hindered him, and prevailed on him to content himself with putting them in prifon; to which, with much ado, he yielded. The next step, after this victory, was to poffefs himfelf of the court and treafures of Nudar; in order to which, Apherafiab inftantly detached a body of thirty thoufand men: they, entering the province of Sigjiftan, made themselves mafters of the capital, and of the royal palace, the Perfians being every-where fo intimidated, that they durft not flir; but fubmitted tamely to the yoke which conqueft had impofed upon them. Meherab, it feems, after the marriage of his daughter to Zal-zer, had retired into Perfia, and lived in great honour and affluence there, till this fudden overthrow of the empire threatened him, as well as the reft of its inhabitants. Meherab, being a man of great policy, bethought himself of a means to divert immediate danger, by fending a meflenger to Apherafiab, with very rich prefents, and a letter to this purpofe; That, though he lived in Perfia, he was by nation a Turk; and not only fo, but, in fome measure, allied to him in blood, being lineally defcended from Zoak: wherefore he hoped his family, and this early teftimony of obedience, would be fufficient to re'commend him to his fpecial protection.' Having thus amufed the victor, he gave notice to his fon-in-law Zal-zer, who, affembling as privately as he could feveral fmall bodies of men, appointed them a place of rendezvous, where he himfelf joined them; and, finding them numerous enough to attempt fomewhat against the common enemy, he began to act offenfively, and, in a fhort time, drove the Turks out of the province of Sigjiftan. Of which when Apherafiab received intelligence, it provoked him fo much, that he ordered the unfortunate Nudar to have his head ftruck off in prifon; which was accordingly put in execution, without the leaft regard to his dignity. As to the length of his reign, authors are divided, fome making it seven years, others enlarging it to nine. Mirkbond, whom we generally follow, adheres to the former number. Some oriental writers make this prince cotemporary with =Joshua; others place him much higher: we shall not determine here who are in the right m. APHERASIAB or Afrafiab, notwithstanding this rebellion, Apheraor rather infurrection, looking upon himself as monarch of fiab. Perfia, fent ar account to his father Pafhangh of the happy fuccefs with which his expedition had been crowned. But it MIRKHOND. hift. fect. 8. D'HERBELOT, art, Naudhar. was not long before he had news of another nature to fend him; for the Perfians, univerfally detefting his haughty and infolent temper, began to raise feditions in every part of the kingdom; nay, their averfion engaged them in fteps which carried their intrigues farther; and made them endeavour to ftir up the brother of Apherafiab, who had, at firft, faved Nudar's life, to put in his claim to the throne, promifing him both affiftance and obedience. He, burning with the ambition natural to his family, liftened readily to the propofal, and advised them to engage Zal-zer to invade the provinces in the neighbourhood of Sigjiftan, in the spring; affuring them, that, the war once begun, he would appear in their favour. Thefe negotiations could not be carried on fo fecretly, but that Apherafiab gained intelligence of them; and immediately set all his wits to work, to prevent their taking effect: with this view he caufed his brother to be affaffinated, and then applied himself indefatigably to the raifing troops, refolving to reduce all his opponents. Zal-zer, being informed of these proceedings, and vehemently regretting the lofs of the young Turkish prince, openly excited the Perfians to take arms, deriding their cowardice, and giving them to understand, that more than half their enemy's ftrength lay in their fears. His difcourfes, by degrees, had fuch an effect, that the inhabitants of Perfia, affembling together in fmall bodies, marched by night through fecret and by-ways to his camp; where, when they were all arrived, Zal-zer found himfelf at the head of a very formidable army . Apherafiab, who had his fpies every-where, receiving an exact account of Zal-zer's fituation, immediately refolved to change his manner of making war, and to act altogether on the defenfive. This gave the Perfian captain a great deal of trouble; but, at laft, he found an opportunity of bringing Apherafiab to a battle: it was very bloody, and fo obftinate, that it lafted till it was dark; and then each army, retiring to its camp, found that neither fide had any reason to boast of victory. The war continued for a long time after this, without any decifive action; whereby all induftry being destroyed, there followed first a fcarcity, then a famine, and, at the end of this, a grievous peftilence; which, falling at once into both camps, filled Apherafiab and Zal-zer with thoughts of peace. Negotiations were not long on foot, before a treaty was concluded, whereby it was ftipulated, that Apherafiab fhould withdraw his troops and effects without moleftation, and retire into Touran; while Iran, and all its dependencies, should remain under the protection of Zal-zer. This peace concluded and ratified, it would have been eafy for that nobleman to have n MIRKHOND. hift. ubi fupra. raised raised himself to the throne of Perfia; but he, fcorning to barter immortal fame for a fhort-lived royalty, fought out Zab or Zoub, the lawful heir of the house of Kejomaras, and put the crown upon his head o̟. ZAB, Zoub, or Bazab, at the time of his acceffion to the Zab. royal dignity, was far advanced in years, but had, notwithstanding, a tolerable fhare of health and fpirits: he applied himself to the restoring, as well as he could, the fhattered affairs of Perfia: the more effectually to do this, he affociated with him, in the empire, Gher fchafp, his nephew, whom fome have called Kifchtafp, and have made him not the nephew and affociate, but the fon and fucceffor of Zab or Zoub: but this feems to be a miftake, and the ground of it pretty obvious, the father of this Gherfchafp being called Kifchtafp. But to return to Zab, he facrificed much of the prerogative of the crown to make the people eafy, and to enable them to recover their loffes, after the wretched depredations committed by Afrafiab, and his troops he did more than all this; he threw open the royal treafury, and, as often as any fums were paid in there, he first paid his foldiers, and then diftributed the reft among the poor. These were certainly high virtues; but this prince is branded for a vice particularly infamous on a throne, viz. that of gluttony, or rather luxury in eating; and is recorded to have been the author of various forts of fawces and broths, unknown before in these regions. It is not very clear how long he reigned, or who was his fucceffor. Mirkhond makes him exprefly the laft of the first race of kings, who, from the furname of Huhangh, were called, in general, Pifchdadians, though to us it feems more probable, that they received this appellation, becaufe, during the feveral reigns of these princes, the laws and conftitution of Perfia were thoroughly fettled P. According to other authors, Gherschafp or Kischtafp succeeded in the empire, by the voluntary ceffion of Zab or Zoub; his mother is faid to have been a Jewefs, of the tribe of Benjamin: he proved a prince of great merit, and deferving of a better fate than he met; for he did all in his power to restore the Perfian diadem to its antient luftre. Afrafiab, little regarding his treaties, took advantage of the diforder the kingdom was in, to re-enter it with a formidable army, and to poffefs himfelf of various provinces. The new king fought under great difadvantages; but, in spite of thefe, he frequently defeated the Turks, and recovered various places out of their hands: at laft, however, he fell into the error of many of his predeceffors; that is, he 0 KHONDEMIR, in Khelaffat Alakbar. D'HERBELOT. art. Afraziab, Zal, Zoub. MIRKHOND. hift. fect. 10. P MIRKHOND. hi. fect. 10. D'HERBELOT. biblioth. orient. art. Naudhar. VOL. V. A a put |