Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/111

 THE PEOPLE AND GOVERNMENT. 91 learn everything without envy, and rely with more confidence upon the truth of what is taught them ; and being trained up in this learning from their very childhood, they become most famous philosophers, being at the age most capable of learning." 1 Centuries were required for the growth of such a corporation and for the firm establishment of its power upon a well-knit system of rites and doctrines. The institutions described by Ctesias would hardly show any sensible change from those in force in the same country before the Persian conquests. In their double character of priests and astrologers the Chaldaeans would enjoy an almost boundless influence over both kings and private individuals ; the general belief in their powers of divination made them in a sense the masters and arbiters of every destiny. Under the national kings " members of their caste led the national armies and occu- pied all the chief posts in the kingdom. The royal houses that succeeded one another at Babylon sprang from their ranks both in the days of vassalage to Assyria and in those of full independence. Their hierarchy was headed by an archimagus ; w y e do not know his title in the national language, but we do know that, after the king, he was the chief person in the empire. He accompanied the sovereign wherever he went, even to the wars, in order to regulate his actions according to the rules of his art and the indications of the heavens. When the king died and his successor was not on the spot to assume the reins of government, the archimagus was regent during the interregnum, as, for instance, between the death of Nabopolassar and the accession of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The almost theocratic character of this regime had both its advantages and its inconveniences. These priests were the savants of their time. The honours that were paid to them must have had their effect in stimulating intellectual culture and material well being, but, on the other hand, the constant intervention of a sacerdotal body in public affairs could not but do something to enfeeble the military spirit and the energy and responsibility of the commanders. Not that the priests were less penetrated by the national sentiment than their fellow countrymen. Proud of their ancient traditions and of the superiority of their science, they added contempt to the detestation they felt for a foreign master, whether he came from Babylon or Susa. The priests were the 1 DIODORUS, ii. 29. ' 2 Fr. LENORMANT, Mannd de I ' Histoire ancienne de V Orient, vol. ii. p. 252.