BABYLON AND PERSIA

MEDIA AND THE RISE OF PERSLA. 275admitted as not entirely unlikely that religious differ¬ences may have had something to do with the separa¬tion, for we shall see that the Persians retained theZoroastrian revelation in a far purer and more unal¬loyed form than their kindred, the Medes.12. By its conditions of soil and climate, Persiaproper as Persis may be called was eminently aptto produce a race of a high moral and physicalstandard. Notwithstanding its almost tropical lati¬tude, the elevation of its ground gives it the advan¬tages of moderate zones, as shown by the vegetationof the country, which, together with sycamores,cypresses, myrtles, the fig-tree, the date-palm, thelemon, orange, and pomegranate, embraces trees andfruits common to far more northern regions, such asthe oak, the poplar, willow, acacia, even the juniper,pears, apples, plums, nuts, and various berries. Thepeach with its varieties is indigenous to the countryof which it bears the name in several languages. Thevalleys, too, produce different kinds of grain andvegetableswheat, bariey, millet, beans, etc. Suchwealth of field and orchard is sufficient to ensure thewell-being of a nation, but, requiring assiduous cul¬tivation, does not expose it to lapse into idleness,while the climate in the uplands, moderate in sum¬mer, severe in winter, with several months of snowand frost, and great variations of temperature withinthe twenty-four hours, is wholesome and bracing,and certainly does not encourage effeminacy. Thewant of water, the great plague of the level parts ofEran, which begins to be felt at once in the plainsinto which the mountains of Persis slope down, to