‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎246r] (498/722)

usually views with increased suspicion and alarm every action of those who
are placed nearest to his throne.
From what has been stated, we may assume that the power of the king
of Persia is, by usage, absolute over the property and lives of his conquered
enemies, bis rebellious subjects, his own family, his ministers, public officers,
civil and military, and all the numerous train of bis immediate servants and
domestics; and that he may punish any person of the above classes without
examination or formal procedure of any kind whatever. But in all other
cases that are capital the forms prescribed by law and custom are observed ;
and the monarch only commands, when the evidence has been examined
and the law declared, that the sentence shall be put in execution, or that
the condemned culprit shall be pardoned. There are, no doubt, instances
in which the king exceeds that prerogative, which usage gives him. But
these are rare; and when they occur, it is generally under a pretext
that the offence is dangerous to the person or to the power of the king.
It is, indeed, obvious that the hierarchy of the country could not maintain
its respect or popularity, if the law, of which it is the organ, was openly con
temned and set aside. But we cannot understand the character of the]X)wer
of the monarch without constant reference to the actual condition of the
empire he governs. Persia, in its most tranquil state, contains tributaries,
who reluctantly acknowledge his authority, and against whom he is annually
compelled to employ his troops. Mountain tribes, who subsist by plundering
their less warlike neighbours; ambitious nobles, who are eager to establish
their independence; and even the more peaceable part of the population,—
are so habituated to change, that they are prompt to obey any new master
whom the fortune of the hour places over them. The sovereign of such a
country must be dreaded, or his power could not be effective; and we
consequently find that some of the monarchs of Persia, who have been
stigmatised by travellers on account of their cruelty, are those under
whom that country has been most prosperous. The exaggerated accounts
spread of their barbarity has arisen, in a great degree, from the
king himself ordering all executions, and from the court of his palace
being often the scene of bloodshed. But a practice at which we shudder
is deemed by the Persians themselves essential to the preservation of the
royal power. It adds, they believe, in a very great degree to that impres
sion of terror, which it is necessary to make upon the turbulent and refrac
tory classes of the community.
There is no country in which the monarch has more personal duties than
in Persia; and the mode of performing these appears to have differed but
very little from the most ancient times to the present day. At an early
hour in the morning the principal ministers and secretaries attend the
—make reports upon what has occurred, and receive his commands.
After this audience he proceeds to his public levee, which takes place
almost every day, and continues about an hour-and-a-half. At this levee,
which is attended by the princes, ministers, and the officers of the court,
all affairs which are wished to be made public are transacted ; rewards are
given, punishments commanded; and the king expresses aloud those senti
ments of displeasure, or approbation, which he wishes to be promulgated.
When this public levee is over, he adjourns to a council chamber, where
one or two hours are given to his personal favourites and to his ministers.
After the morning has been passed in this manner, he retires to his inner
apartments. And in the evening he again holds a levee, less public than