The ram had two horns, because two nations were
joined together, the Medes, who had revolted from Nineveh, and the
Persians. The Medes lived in the slopes towards the Tigris, and had
learnt to be luxurious and indolent from their Assyrian neighbours; but
the Persians, who lived in the mountains to the eastward, were much more
spirited and simpler, and purer in life. They are thought to be sons of
Japhet, and their religion had not lost all remains of truth, for they
believed in but one God, and had no idols, except that they adored
the sun as the emblem of divine power, and kept horses in his honour,
because they thought he drove his car of light round the sky. They
worshipped fire likewise as the sign of the light-giving and consuming
Godhead; and this notion is not entirely gone yet, so that there are
many Parsees, or fireworshippers, still in the East. Their priests were
called Magi, and their faith was therefore termed Magian. Though it went
astray in adoring these created things, yet it did not teach wickedness,
as did the religions of the sons of Ham; and the Persians were a brave,
upright race, who loved hardy, simple ways, and said the chief things
their sons ought to learn were, to ride, to draw the bow, and speak the
truth.
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