Oriental nations, having once assumed this position, are usually
contented with it, and rarely make any effort to better themselves. It
would seem that, thus far at any rate, the Persians could not complain
of the Parthian rule, but must have been fairly satisfied with their
condition.

Again, the Greco-Macedonians had tolerated, but they had not viewed with
much respect, the religion which they had found established in Persia.
Alexander, indeed, with the enlightened curiosity which characterised
him, had made inquiries concerning, the tenets of the Magi, and
endeavored to collect in one the writings of Zoroaster. But the
later monarchs, and still more their subjects, had held the system
in contempt, and, as we have seen, Epiphanes had openly insulted the
religious feelings of his Asiatic subjects. The Parthians, on the other
hand, began at any rate with a treatment of the Persian religion which
was respectful and gratifying. Though perhaps at no time very sincere
Zoroastrians, they had conformed to the State religion under the
Achaemenian kings; and when the period came that they had themselves to
establish a system of government, they gave to the Magian hierarchy
a distinct and important place in their governmental machinery. The
council, which advised the monarch, and which helped to elect and (if
need were) depose him, was composed of two elements---the _Sophi_,
or wise men, who were civilians; and the _Magi_, or priests of the
Zoroastrian religion. The Magi had thus an important political status in
Parthia, during the early period of the Empire; but they seem gradually
to have declined in favor, and ultimately to have fallen into disrepute.
The Zoroastrian creed was, little by little, superseded among the
Parthians by a complex idolatry, which, beginning with an image-worship
of the Sun and Moon, proceeded to an association with those deities of
the deceased kings of the nation, and finally added to both a worship