A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volumes 1 and 2, 3rd ed.: From the Earliest Times to the Present DayFergusson, James
History
A History of Architecture in all Countries, Volumes 1 and 2, 3rd ed.: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day
Fergusson, James
Architecture -- History
As a consequence or a cause of this, the Turanian race are absolutely
casteless; no hereditary nobility, no caste of priests ever existed
among them; between the ruler and the people there could be nothing, and
every one might aspire equally to all the honours of the State, or to
the highest dignity of the priesthood. “La carrière ouverte aux talens,”
is essentially the motto of these races or of those allied to them, and
whether it was the slave of a Pharaoh, or the pipe-bearer of a Turkish
sultan, every office except the throne is and always was open to the
ambitious. No republic, no limited monarchy, ever arose among them.
Despotism pure and simple is all they ever knew, or are even now capable
of appreciating.
MORALS.
Woman among the Turanian races was never regarded otherwise than as the
helpmate of the poor and the plaything of the rich; born to work for the
lower classes and to administer to the gratification of the higher. No
equality of rights or position was ever dreamt of, and the consequence
was polyandry where people were poor and women scarce, and polygamy
where wealth and luxury prevailed; and with these it need hardly be
added, a loss of half those feelings which ennoble man or make life
valuable.
Neither loving nor beloved in the bosom of his own family,—too much of a
fatalist to care for the future,—neither enjoying life nor fearing
death,—the Turanian is generally free from those vices which contaminate
more active minds; he remains sober, temperate, truthful, and kindly in
all the relations of life. If, however, he has few vices, he has fewer
virtues, and both are far more passive than active in their nature,—in
fact, approach more nearly to the instincts of the lower animals than to
the intellectual responsibilities of the highest class of minds.
LITERATURE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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