t prince restored to its ancient splendor.
[23]

[Footnote 21: Plato in Alcibiad.]

[Footnote 22: Pliny (Hist. Natur. l. xxx. c. 1) observes, that magic
held mankind by the triple chain of religion, of physic, and of
astronomy.]

[Footnote 23: Agathias, l. iv. p. 134.]

The first counsel of the Magi was agreeable to the unsociable genius of
their faith, [24] to the practice of ancient kings, [25] and even to
the example of their legislator, who had a victim to a religious war,
excited by his own intolerant zeal. [26] By an edict of Artaxerxes,
the exercise of every worship, except that of Zoroaster, was severely
prohibited. The temples of the Parthians, and the statues of their
deified monarchs, were thrown down with ignominy. [27] The sword of
Aristotle (such was the name given by the Orientals to the polytheism
and philosophy of the Greeks) was easily broken; [28] the flames of
persecution soon reached the more stubborn Jews and Christians; [29]
nor did they spare the heretics of their own nation and religion. The
majesty of Ormusd, who was jealous of a rival, was seconded by
the despotism of Artaxerxes, who could not suffer a rebel; and
the schismatics within his vast empire were soon reduced to the
inconsiderable number of eighty thousand. [30] [301] This spirit of
persecution reflects dishonor on the religion of Zoroaster; but as it
was not productive of any civil commotion, it served to strengthen the
new monarchy, by uniting all the various inhabitants of Persia in the
bands of religious zeal. [302]

[Footnote 24: Mr. Hume, in the Natural History of Religion, sagaciously
remarks, that the most refined and philosophic sects are constantly the
most intolerant. * Note: Hume's comparison is rather between theism and polytheism. In
India, in Greece, and in modern Europe, philosophic religion has
looked down with contemptuous toleration on the superstitions of the
vulgar.--M.]

[Footnote 25: Cicero de Legibus, ii. 10. Xerxes, by the advice of the
Magi, destroyed the temples of Greece.]

[Footnote 26: Hyde de Relig. Persar. c. 23, 24. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque
Orientale, Zurdusht. Life of Zoroaster in tom. ii. of the Zendavesta.]

[Footnote 27: Compare Moses of Chorene, l. ii. c. 74, with Ammian.
Marcel lin. xxiii. 6. Hereafter I shall make use of these passages.]

[Footnote 28: Rabbi Abraham, in the Tarikh Schickard, p. 108, 109.]

[Footnote 29: Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. viii. c. 3. Sozomen, l.
ii. c.