Of those who settled in Iran, the Persians were the most prominent,—­a brave, hardy, and adventurous people, warlike in their habits, and moral in their conduct.  They were a pastoral rather than a nomadic people, and gloried in their horses and cattle.  They had great skill as archers and horsemen, and furnished the best cavalry among the ancients.  They lived in fixed habitations, and their houses had windows and fireplaces; but they were doomed to a perpetual struggle with a severe and uncertain climate, and a soil which required ceaseless diligence.  “The whole plateau of Iran,” says Johnson, “was suggestive of the war of elements,—­a country of great contrasts of fertility and desolation,—­snowy ranges of mountains, salt deserts, and fields of beauty lying in close proximity.”

The early Persians are represented as having oval faces, raised features, well-arched eyebrows, and large dark eyes, now soft as the gazelle’s, now flashing with quick insight.  Such a people were extremely receptive of modes and fashions,—­the aptest learners as well as the boldest adventurers; not patient in study nor skilful to invent, but swift to seize and appropriate, terrible breakers-up of old religious spells.  They dissolved the old material civilization of Cushite and Turanian origin.  What passion for vast conquests!  “These rugged tribes, devoted to their chiefs, led by Cyrus from their herds and hunting-grounds to startle the pampered Lydians with their spare diet and clothing of skins; living on what they could get, strangers to wine and wassail, schooled in manly exercises, cleanly even to superstition, loyal to age and filial duties; with a manly pride of personal independence that held a debt the next worst thing to a lie; their fondness for social graces, their feudal dignities, their chiefs giving counsel to the king even while submissive to his person, esteeming prowess before praying; their strong ambition, scorning those who scorned toil.”  Artaxerxes wore upon his person the worth of twelve thousand talents, yet shared the hardships of his army in the march, carrying quiver and shield, leading the way to the steepest places, and stimulating the hearts of his soldiers by walking twenty-five miles a day.

There was much that is interesting about the ancient Persians.  All the old authorities, especially Herodotus, testify to the comparative purity of their lives, to their love of truth, to their heroism in war, to the simplicity of their habits, to their industry and thrift in battling sterility of soil and the elements of Nature, to their love of agricultural pursuits, to kindness towards women and slaves, and above all other things to a strong personality of character which implied a powerful will.  The early Persians chose the bravest and most capable of their nobles for kings, and these kings were mild and merciful.  Xenophon makes Cyrus the ideal of a king,—­the incarnation of sweetness and light, conducting war with a magnanimity unknown to the ancient nations, dismissing prisoners, forgiving foes, freeing slaves, and winning all hearts by a true nobility of nature.  He was a reformer of barbarous methods of war, and as pure in morals as he was powerful in war.  In short, he had all those qualities which we admire in the chivalric heroes of the Middle Ages.