Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/212

 The Built Tomb. 20I it was visited by Alexander, just as Napoleon went to Potsdam to see the vault of Frederick the Great Strabo, at the end of his account of the burning of Persepolis, goes on to say, " Alexander then went on to Pasargadae, likewise an ancient royal residence. He visited the tomb of Cyrus, It was a tower of mediocre size, standing in the middle of a park and lost to view amidst great trees. The tower, solid and massive below, terminated in a roof and chamber having a very narrow entrance."* As to Aristo- bulus, says Scrabo, he went thene by the command of Alexander to see that the place was suitably kept, when he found a golden bed and coffin of the same metal, a table upon which were laid drinking bowls, a quantity of clothes, and jewels set with precious stones. These objects, as we shall see presently, were all taken away, except the bed and coffin, which were found broken to pieces and the body lying on the floor, proving that the pillage had been done not by a satmp, but by common thieves, who left behind what they could not conveniently carry. In any case the tomb was rifled, in spite of a number of Magi who had the keeping of it, and who were allowed a sheep daily for their maintenance, besides a horse monthly." Among the other acts of violence and rapine which took place during the expedition of Alexander to distant Bactriana and India, Aristobulus says the Persians had to deplore the desecration of the tomb of Cyrus, and he ends his narrative with the inscription incised on this very tomb : Stranger, I am Cyrus, the founder of the Persian em- pire AND sovereign OF AsiA ,* ENVY ME NOT, THEREFORE, THIS SEPULCHRE."' Then Strabo cites the formal statements of two writers, One- sicritus and Aristus of Salamina, who assigned ten and two stages to the tomb respectively. That no reliance is to be placed on their testimony, which is altogether worthless and void of truth, is proved from the fact that — unlike Aristobulus, whose recital we should so much like to have within reach — they had never seen the place, since they both speak of Greek inscriptions engraved above the tomb. Arrian, too, understood quite well that Aristo- bulus was alone to be trusted, and he is the only one he quotes. We cannot then be far wrong in assuming that he almost tran- scribed word for word a passage of which Strabo was content to ' Strabo, XV. iii. 7. DiLjiii^ed by Google
 * Stmbo^ XV. iii. 7. * Was not the horse intended for the sacrifice?— Trs.