A literary history of Persia

TOLERATION A SIN 135delivered up unto them ; for they have been accustomed toshow their pleasure and to rejoicein evil done to the childrenof men."Religious feeling, indeed, ran high on both sides,and in thematter of toleration there was little to choose between theZoroastrian and the Christian priesthoods. Aereilgious btas gd instance of the extent to which judgment ofcharacter was influenced by purely theologicalconsiderations is afforded by comparing the accounts ofYazdigird I (A.D. 399-420) given by the ArabicYazdigird "the historians (who drew their information and theirsinner.Vviews ultimately from the Pahlawi Book of Kings,which was composed under the influence of the Magian priests)with a Syriac account of the same king's character from the penof a contemporary Christian writer. In the former Yazdigird iscalled "the sinner " (Pers. Baza-gar, Arab. al-Ath\m\ and hiswickedness, frowardness, and tyranny are described as almostsuperhuman. In the latter he isspoken of in the followingterms": the good and merciful King Yazdigird, the Christian,the blessed amongst the kings, may he be remembered withblessing, and may his future be yet more fair than his earlierlife !Every day he doeth good to the poor and the distressed." *So too Khusraw I (A.D. 531-578) gained the title ofN "shjt"thNiishirwan (Anhshak-rubdn, "of immortal soul"),ky which he is still remembered as the veryembodiment of kingly virtue and justice, by hishigh-handed suppression of the heresy of the communistMazdak, which, in the eyes of the intolerant Magian priests,constituted his chief claim to " " immortality ;and suchservice has their approval done him that Sa'di, zealous Muhammadanas he was, says:" Zinda'st ndm-i-farrukh-t-Nushirwdn bi-'adl,Garchi basi guzasht ki Nushiiwdn na-mdnd"See Noldeke's Gcsch. d, Sasaniilcn, p. 74, n. 3 ad calc.