Herodotus and Arrian were the authorities that seduced him into this mistake, the former of whom states that “the Persians originally occupied a small and craggy country, and that it was proposed in the time of Cyrus that they should exchange this for one more fertile; a plan which Cyrus discouraged as likely to extinguish their hardy and warlike pursuits”; and the latter, that “the Persians, when, under Cyrus, they conquered all Asia, were a poor people, inhabiting a hilly region”;[209] but those writers were as misinformed, as to all events and particulars relating to this locality, anterior to the time specified above, as any of their contemporaries; and when we reflect how very recent an era in the history of the world was that in which Cyrus appeared, it will be seen how fragile a substratum was that which the professor had adopted for the erection of his materials. We read accordingly, in Terceira’s Spanish history of that country, that “there was not at that time (A.D. 1590) one man in Persia (these were the direct descendants of Cyrus’s men) that understood their _ancient_ letters, for having often seen some plates of metal with _ancient_ inscriptions on them, I made inquiry after the meaning of them; and men _well versed_ in their _antiquities_, and _studious_, told me that was _Fars kadeem, ancient Persian_, after the old fashion, and _therefore_ I should find _no man_ that understood it.” Indeed the reasonings of Heeren himself,--and learned I cheerfully acknowledge them,--would seem to make him rise above the narrowness of his Grecian supporters. “Even previous,” says he, “to the time when the Arabs, with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, overran and subdued Persia, they were the more open to settlers from the North and East, from the circumstance that Persia was situated on the great highway of nations, by which the human race spread itself from East to West. All that is meant to be asserted is, that the various races who successively had dominion in these parts, all belonged to the same original stock. “This fact, which the observations of the best modern travellers tend to confirm, may explain how it has come to pass that many districts, anciently celebrated for their fertility, are at present barren and unproductive. A single invasion, by destroying the water-courses, is sufficient to reduce, in a short time, a fertile and flourishing country to an arid desert; and to how many such disastrous contingencies has not Persia at all times been exposed!”