chief endeavors.  Daily reports were made to him of all that passed not only in his capital, but in every province of his vast empire; and his knowledge extended even to the private actions of his subjects.  It was his earnest desire that all well-deposed persons should feel an absolute assurance of security with respect to their lives, their property, and their honor.  At the same time he punished crimes with severity, and even visited upon entire families the transgression of one of their members.  It is said to have been one of his maxims, that “kings should never use the sword where the cane would answer;” but, if the Armenian historians are to be trusted, in practice he certainly did not err on the side of clemency.

Artaxerxes was, of course, an absolute monarch, having the entire power of life or death, and entitled, if he chose, to decide all matters at his own mere will and pleasure.  But, in practice, he, like most Oriental despots, was wont to summon and take the advice of counsellors.  It is perhaps doubtful whether any regular “Council of State” existed under him.  Such an institution had prevailed under the Parthians, where the monarchs were elected and might be deposed by the Megistanes; but there is no evidence that Artaxerxes continued it, or did more than call on each occasion for the advice of such persons among his subjects as he thought most capable.  In matters affecting his relations towards foreign powers he consulted with the subject kings, the satraps, and the generals; in religious affairs he no doubt took counsel with the chief Magi.  The general principles which guided his conduct both in religious and other matters may perhaps be best gathered from the words of that “testament,” or “dying speech,” which he is said to have addressed to his son Sapor.  “Never forget,” he said, “that, as a king, you are at once the protector of religion and of your country.  Consider the altar and the throne as inseparable; they must always sustain each other.  A sovereign without religion is a tyrant; and a people who have none may be deemed the most monstrous of all societies.  Religion may exist without a state; but a state cannot exist without religion; and it is by holy laws that a political association can alone be bound.  You should be to your people an example of piety and of virtue, but without pride or ostentation....  Remember, my son, that it is the prosperity or adversity of the ruler which forms the happiness or misery of his subjects, and that the fate of the nation depends on the conduct of the individual who fills the throne.  The world is exposed to constant vicissitudes; learn, therefore, to meet the frowns of fortune with courage and fortitude, and to receive her smiles with moderation and wisdom.  To sum up all—­may your administration be such as to bring, at a future day, the blessings of those whom God has confided to our parental care upon both your memory and mine!”