relate chiefly to music, rhetoric, and cookery. The obliterations and corrections are numerous, so that it is probable they were original manuscripts. There are two volumes of Epicurus "on Virtue," and the rest are, for the most part, productions of the same school of writers. Very few only are written in Latin, almost all being in Greek. They were all found in the library of one individual, and in a quarter of the town where there was the least probability of discovering anything of the kind.

The following is a list of the most important of these works:

1. Philodemus on the Influence of Music on the Human Constitution.

2. Epicurus upon Nature.

3. Philomedes on Rhetoric.
4. Id.

on the Vices.

on the Affinities of the Vices and the Virtues. on the Poets.

some Philosophical Fragments.

on Providence.

9. Democritus, some Geometrical Fragments. 10. Philostratus on Unreasonable Contempt. 11. Carnisirus on Friendship.

12. Cotothes on Plato's Dialogue of Isis. 13. Chrysippus on Providence.

ISFAHAN.

"In the territory of Istakhar is a great building, with statues carved in stone; and there also are inscriptions and paintings. It was said that this was a temple of Solomon, to whom be peace! and that it was built by the Dives or Demons: similar edifices are in Syria, at Baalbeck, and in Egypt."-EBN HAWKEL: OUSELEY.

THE origin of Isfahan is not to be traced with any certainty. It is, however, for the most part, supposed to have arisen from the ruins of Hecatom

pylos,* the capital of Parthia. This city was the royal residence of Arsaces, and was situated at the springs of the Araxes. Whatever may have been its origin, it is universally admitted that its situation, topographically, and centrically with regard to the empire, was admirably adapted for a royal capital. It stands on the river Zeinderood, and has been celebrated as a city of consequence from the time it was first noted in history,† which was at the period when it was taken possession of by Ardisheer, who soon after was proclaimed king of Persia, and was considered by his countrymen as the restorer of that great empire which had been created by Cyrus and was lost by Darius.

This prince was so wise a sovereign, that it gives us pleasure to note some of his sayings: "When a king is just, his subjects must love him, and continue obedient; but the worst of all sovereigns is he whom the wealthy, and not the wicked, fear.” "There can be no power without an army; no army without money; no money without agriculture; no agriculture without justice." "A furious lion is better than an unjust king; but an unjust king is not so bad as a long and an unjust war.' "Never forget," said he, on his deathbed, to his son, "that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your

This was an epithet given to Crete, from the 100 cities which it once contained: likewise to Thebes in Egypt, on account of its 100 gates. The territory of Laconia had also this epithet for the same reason as Crete; and it was the custom of these 100 cities to sacrifice a hecatomb every year.

†The boundaries of Iran, which Europeans call Persia, have undergone many changes. The limits of the kingdom in its most prosperous periods may, however, be easily described. The Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean, to the south; the Indies and the Oxus to the east and northeast; the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus to the north; and the river Euphrates to the west. The most striking features of this extensive country are numerous chains of mountains, and large tracts of desert, amid which are interspersed beautiful valleys and rich pasture-lands. -SIR JOHN MALCOLM.

country. Consider the altar and throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other. A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies. Religion may exist without a state, but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound. You should be to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or ostentation." After other similar lessons, he concluded in the following manner: "Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity of the ruler which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects, and that the fate of the nation depends upon the conduct of the individual who fills the throne. The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes: learn, therefore, to meet the frowns of fortune with courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom. To sum up all: May your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings of those whom God has confided to our paternal care upon both your memory and mine."

A.D. 1387, Isfahan was taken by Timour. The moment he pitched his camp before it, it surrendered. Satisfied with this ready submission, he commanded that the town should be spared, but levied a heavy contribution on the inhabitants. This had been mostly collected, when, a blacksmith beating a small drum for his amusement, a number of citizens, mistaking it for an alarm, assembled ; and they became so irritated by communicating to each other the distresses they suffered, that they began an attack upon those whom they considered the immediate cause of all their misery, and, before morning, nearly 3000 of the Tartars quartered in the city were slain. The rage of Timour, when he heard of this, exceeded all bounds; he would listen to no terms of capitulation, but doomed Isfahan to be an

example to all other cities. The unfortunate inhabitants knew what they had to expect, and made a stout resistance, but in vain. The walls were carried by storm; and the cruel victor not only permitted pillage and slaughter, but commanded that every soldier should bring him a certain number of heads. Some of these, more humane than their master, purchased the number required rather than be the executioners of unresisting men. It was found impossible to compute all the slain; but 70,000 heads were counted, and these were heaped in pyramids, to serve as monuments of this horrid revenge.*

Isfahan attained its greatest magnitude in the time of Shah Abbas. It became the great emporium of the Asiatic world; and during his reign nearly a million of people animated its streets, while the peasantry of more than 1400 villages in its neighbourhood supplied by their labour the wants of this vast population. Industry, activity, and trade were everywhere seen. The caravans were crowded with merchants, and the shops were filled with the products of Europe and of Asia; while the court of the great shah was the resort of ambassadors from the proudest kingdoms, not only of the East, but of the West. Travellers thronged thither from every part, not only on affairs of business, but to behold the splendour of the place.

In fact, it owes most of the glory it now possesses to Shah Abbas, who, after the conquest of Lar and Ormus, charmed with its situation, made it the capital of his empire between 1620 and 1628; for the fertility of its soil, the mildness of the seasons, and the fine temperature of the air, conspire, it is said,

*I conquered the city of Isfahan, and I trusted in the people of Isfahan, and I delivered the castle into their hands. And they rebelled; and the darogah whom I had placed over them they slew, with 3000 of the soldiers. And I also commanded that a general slaughter should be made of the people of Isfahan. -TIMOUR'S Institutes, p. 119. MALCOLM's Hist. Persia, vol. i., P. 461.

to make Isfahan one of the most delightful cities in the world. The waters of its two rivers, also, are so sweet, pleasant, and wholesome as to be almost unequalled.

The splendours of Isfahan have been described by Pietro Della Velle and Chardin. To relate what they were would occupy too large a space; but we may judge of the extent and nature of the public works by the causeway this prince formed across the whole of Mazenderen, so as to render that difficult country passable for armies and travellers at all seasons of the year. He threw bridges over almost all the rivers of Persia. He studied, we are told, beyond all former sovereigns, the general welfare and improvement of his kingdom. The population of Isfahan was more than doubled during his reign. Its principal mosque, the noble palace of Chehel-Setoon, the beautiful avenues and porticoes called Châr Bagh, and several of the finest palaces in the city and suburbs, were all built by this prince.

In 1721 there was a great rebellion. A celebrated traveller, who was on the spot, assures us that the inhabitants of one of the suburbs (Julfa, an Armenian colony) not many years before amounted to thirty thousand souls. He says that some of the streets were broad and handsome, planted with trees, and having canals and fountains in the middle; others, though extremely narrow, and winding many ways, were of an incredible length, and resembled so many labyrinths; that at a small distance from the town there were public walks adorned with plane-trees on either side, and always paved with stones, and having fountains and cisterns; and that there were one hundred caravanserais for the use of merchants and travellers, many of which were built

* Sir John Kinneir says of this causeway: "It is in length about 300 miles. The pavement is now nearly in the same condition as it was in the time of Hanway; being perfect in many places, although it has hardly ever been repaired."