A literary history of Persia

136 THE SASANIAN PERIOD"The blessed name of Nushirwan doth still for justice stand,Though long hath passed since Nushirwan hath vanished fromthe land."For the Christians, too, Nushirwan, as we learn fromDmawari (p. 72), entertained the greatest contempt. Whenhis son Anusha-zadh, who had espoused the faithNtishirwan's .. . .. . . . .. .,,,opinion of the of his Christian mother, revolted against him, andChristians. ... . . . . . _ .his viceroy at Ctesiphon wrote to him for instructions,he wrote in his replyas follows ": Let not the multitudeof the people affright thee, for they have no enduring might.How, indeed, shall the Christians endure, when it is prescribedin their religion that if one of them be smitten on the leftcheek, he shall offer the right also "?To return now to the scope of this chapter. Being unableto do more than glance at certain points in the history of thisperiod, I propose to speak especially of itsand!fthis chapter beginning and its end the; first,which is largelymixed with legend and fable, in order that Ihave an opportunity of comparing certain episodesmaytherein asor Muham-sung by Firdawsi in the Shdhndma with the same episodes asnarrated in the Pahlawl Kdr-ndmak-i-Artakshatr-i-Pdpakdn ;the as last, having an immediate connection with the Arab Conquestwhich marks the inauguration of the modern,madan period. Besides this, two religious movements of thisepoch those associated with the names of Manes (Mani) andMazdak deserve some notice, asearlyinstances of thatpassion for philosophical speculation which is so remarkable acharacteristic of the Persians, who have probably produced moregreat heresiarchs than any other nation in the world. Ofthese two men the first was born, according to his own statement,1 during the reign of Ardawan (Artabanus) the lastParthian king, and was contemporary with the founder of the1See al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations, translated by Sachau(London, 1879), p. 121.