Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/776

 PERSIA

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PERSIA

Father, keep them in thy name wIkuii fliou h.is given" (John, xvii, 11); by St. Paul: "he, who hath begun a good work in you, will ])crfeet it unto the clay of Christ Jesus" (Phil., i, 0); and by St. Peter: "Hut the God of all graee, who Imth called u.s unto hi.s eter- nal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suiTered a little, will himself perfect you, ami confirm you, and establish you " (I Pet., v, 10). The extreme preeiou.s- ness of that supernatural gift places it alike bej'ond our certain knowledge and merit inn pcjwer.

That we can never in this life be certain of our final perseverance is defined by the Council of Trent, Sess. \T, can. xvi: "Si cpiis niagiuim illud usque in finem perse verantiie donum se certo habiturinn, absoluta et infallibili certitudine dixerit, nisi hoc ex speciali reve- latione didicerit, anathema sit". What places it be- yond our meriting power is the obvious fact that revelation nowhere offers final perseverance, with its retinue of efficacious graces and its crown of a good death, as a reward for our actions, but, on the con- trary, constantly reminds us that, as the Council of Trent puts it, "the gift of perseverance can come only from Him who has the power to confirm the standing and to raise the fallen". However, from our incapa- city to certainly know and to strictly merit the great gift, we should not infer that nothing can be done towards it. Theologians unite in saying that final per- severance comes under the impetrative power of prayer and St. Liguori (Prayer, the great means of Salvation) would make it the dominant note and bur- den of our daily petitions. The sometimes distres.sing presentation of the present matter in the pulpit is due to the many sides of the problem, the impossibility of viewing them all in one sermon, and the idiosyncrasies of the speakers. Nor should the timorousness of the saints, graphically described by Newman, be so con- strued as to contradict the admonition of the Council of Trent, that "all should place the firmest hope in the succour of God". Singularly eiuiifiirtiui; is the teach- ing of such saints as St. p'raiM is .|e Sales (Camus, "The Spirit of St. Francis dc Sales", HI, xiii) and St. Catherine of Genoa (Treatise of Purgatory, iv). They dwell on God's great mercy in granting final persever- ance, and even in the case of notorious sinners they do not lose hope: God suffuses the sinners' dying hour with an extraordinary light and, showing them the hideousness of sin contrasting with His own infinite beauty, He makes a final appeal to them. For those only who, even then, obstinately cling to their sin does the saj-ing of Ecclus., v, 7, assume a sombre meaning "nierey and wrath quickly come from him, and hia wratli Idoketh \ipon sinners". (See Grace).

M TliMMAs. .s.,mm« ll>,„h„,ir„. T-II,Q. oxiv. a. 9; Wilhelm

AND.SCANNELL. .1 M,l niUll nf I '. ,, I. . .1. r T1.-..I, II .londOD, 1901),

242; B.u^TEH, Outlines ,.' I. Ill (New York,

1891). 47; Newman, Per... . arses to Mixed

Congregations (London:i:., , I ■ i .,; Labauche,

Vhomme dans Vetat de giu.: ... ..:< iL-.-logie dogmatique

(Paris, 1908); Bareilles, Lc calichismc rumain (Montrfjeau, 1906-10), III, 417, and VI, 434. See alao current theological treatises Z)e ffrolia. J. p. SoLLIER.

Persia. — The history, religion, and civilization of Persia are ofTshoots from those of Media. Both Medes and Persians are Aryans; the .\i\aiis who settled in the southern part of the Irania n i ila 1 1 au 1 leeame known as Persians, while those of the HKmnialn regions of the north-west were called Medes. The Medes were at first the leading nation, but towards the middle of the sixth century B. c. the Persians became the dominant power, not only in Iran, but also in Western Asia.

Persia (in Heb. C-;, in the Sept. Ilfptris, in the Acha-menian inscriptions Parsa, in Elamitic Parsin, in modern Persian Pars, and in Arabic Pars, or P/iris) w.as originally the name of a province in Media, but afterwards — i. e., towards the beginning of the fifth century B. c. — it became the general name of the whole countrj- formerly comprising Media, Susiana, Elam, and even Mesopotamia. What we now call Persia is

not identical with the ancient empire design.ated by that name. That empire covered, from the sixth cen- tury B. c. to the seventh of our (^a, such vast, ri^gions as Persia proper, Media, Klam, Chaldea, Babylonia, Assyria, the highlands of yVrmeiiia and Bactriana, North-lvistern Arabia, and even J'Jgypt. Persia proper is boimded on the north by Tran.scaucasia, the Cas- pian Sea, and liussian Turkestan; on the south by the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf; on tlx' east by Ku.ssian Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Beluehist;in, and on the west l)y .\sialic Turkey and the Persian Gulf; it is over one-tiftli as large as the United States (excluding Alaska) and twice as large as Germany, having an area of about f)42,(IO square miles. The whole country occupies a jilateau varying in height from 3000 to 5000 feet, and subject to wide extremes of climate, its northern edge bordering on the Casjiian Sea and the plain of Turkestan, its southern and south- western on the Persian Gulf and the plains of Mesopo- tamia. The ancient Persians were vigorous and hardy, simple in manners, occupied in raising cattle and horses in the mountainous regions, and agriculture in the valleys and plains. The four great cities were Ecbatana, in the north, Persepolis in the east, Susa in the west, and Seleucia-Ctcsiphon in the south-west. The provinces and towns of modern Persia will be given below.

I. History. — Historians generally assign the begin- nings of Persian history to the reign of Cyrus the Great (550-529 b. c), although, strictly speaking, it should begin with Darius (521-485 B. c). Cyrus was certainly of Persian extraction, but when he founded his empire he was Prince of Elam (Anzan), and he merely added Media and Persia to his dominion. He was neither by birth nor religion a true Persian, for both he and Cambyses worshipped the Babylonian gods. Darius, on the other hand, was both by birth and religion a Persian, descendetl, like Cyrus, from the royal Achsemenian house of Persia, and a follower of the Zoroastrian faith. The ancestors of Darius had remained in Persia, whilst the branch of the family of which Cyrus was a member had settled in Elam. The history of Persia may be divided into five great pe- riods, each represented by a dynasty: A. The Acha:'- menian Dynasty, beginning with the kingdom of Cyrus the Great and ending with the Macedonian conquest (550-.331 B. c.); B. The Greek, or Seleucian, Dynasty (331-250 b. c); C. The Parthian Dynasty (250 B. c.-A. D. 227); D. The Sassanian Dynasty (a. d. 227-651); E. The Mohammedan period (a. d. 651 to the present).

A. The Achmmenian Dynasty (550-331 b. c). — Towards the middle of the sixth century b. c, and a few years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar (Nabu- chodonosor) the Great, King of Babylon (605-562 B. c). Western Asia was divided into three kingdoms: the Babylonian Empire, Media, and Lydia; and it was only a question of time which of the three would anni- hilate the other two. Astyages (585-557 b. c), the suc- cessor of Cyaxares (62.5-585 B. c), being engaged in an expedition against Babylonia and Mesopotamia, Cyrus, Prince of Anzan, in Elam, profiting by his absence, fomented a rebellion in Media. Astyages, hearing of the revolt, immediately returned, but was defeated and overthrown by Cyrus, who was pro- claimed King of Media. Thus, with the overthrow of Astyages and the accession of Cyrus to the throne, the Median Empire passed into the hands of the Persians (.550 B. c). In 549, Cyrus invaded Assyria and Baby- lonia; in 546 he attacked Croesus of Lydia, defeated him, and annexed Asia Minor to his realm; he then conquered Bactriana and, in 539, marched against Babylon. In 538 Babylon surrendered, Nabonidus fled, the Syro-Phncnici.an provinces submitted, and Cyrus allowed the Hebrews to return to Palestine. But in 529 he was killed in bat t le, .and was succeed(-d by Cambyses, the heir apparent, who put his brother