The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon [1769]
It was insensible, since it is not accompanied with any memorial of time or place, of persecution or resistance. It was general, since the whole realm, from Shiraz to Samarcand, imbibed the faith of the Koran; and the preservation of the native tongue reveals the descent of the Mahometans of Persia. ^205 In the mountains and deserts, an obstinate race of unbelievers adhered to the superstition of their fathers; and a faint tradition of the Magian theology is kept alive in the province of Kirman, along the banks of the Indus, among the exiles of Surat, and in the colony which, in the last century, was planted by Shaw Abbas at the gates of Ispahan. The chief pontiff has retired to Mount Elbourz, eighteen leagues from the city of Yezd: the perpetual fire (if it continues to burn) is inaccessible to the profane; but his residence is the school, the oracle, and the pilgrimage of the Ghebers, whose hard and uniform features attest the unmingled purity of their blood. Under the jurisdiction of their elders, eighty thousand families maintain an innocent and industrious life: their subsistence is derived from some curious manufactures and mechanic trades; and they cultivate the earth with the fervor of a religious duty. Their ignorance withstood the despotism of Shaw Abbas, who demanded with threats and tortures the prophetic books of Zoroaster; and this obscure remnant of the Magians is spared by the moderation or contempt of their present sovereigns. ^206
[Footnote 198: The Zend or Pazend, the bible of the Ghebers, is reckoned by themselves, or at least by the Mahometans, among the ten books which Abraham received from heaven; and their religion is honorably styled the religion of Abraham, (D'Herblot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 701; Hyde, de Religione veterum Persarum, c, iii. p. 27, 28, &c.) I much fear that we do not possess any pure and free description of the system of Zoroaster. ^* Dr. Prideaux (Connection, vol. i. p. 300, octavo) adopts the opinion, that he had been the slave and scholar of some Jewish prophet in the captivity of Babylon. Perhaps the Persians, who have been the masters of the Jews, would assert the honor, a poor honor, of being their masters.
[Footnote *: Whatever the real age of the Zendavesta, published by Anquetil du Perron, whether of the time of Ardeschir Babeghan, according to Mr. Erskine, or of much higher antiquity, it may be considered, I conceive, both a "pure and a free," though imperfect, description of Zoroastrianism; particularly with the illustrations of the original translator, and of the German Kleuker - M.]
[Footnote 199: The Arabian Nights, a faithful and amusing picture of the Oriental world, represent in the most odious colors of the Magians, or worshippers of fire, to whom they attribute the annual sacrifice of a Mussulman. The religion of Zoroaster has not the least affinity with that of the Hindoos, yet they are often confounded by the Mahometans; and the sword of Timour was sharpened by this mistake, (Hist. de Timour Bec, par Cherefeddin Ali Yezdi, l. v.]
[Footnote 200: Vie de Mahomet, par Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 114, 115.)]
[Footnote 201: Hae tres sectae, Judaei, Christiani, et qui inter Persas Magorum institutis addicti sunt, populi libri dicuntur, (Reland, Dissertat. tom. iii. p. 15.) The caliph Al Mamun confirms this honorable distinction in favor of the three sects, with the vague and equivocal religion of the Sabaeans, under which the ancient polytheists of Charrae were allowed to shelter their idolatrous worship, (Hottinger, Hist. Orient p. 167, 168.)]
[Footnote 202: This singular story is related by D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. p 448, 449,) on the faith of Khondemir, and by Mirchond himself, (Hist priorum Regum Persarum, &c., p. 9, 10, not. p. 88, 89.)]
[Footnote 203: Mirchond, (Mohammed Emir Khoondah Shah,) a native of Herat, composed in the Persian language a general history of the East, from the creation to the year of the Hegira 875, (A.D. 1471.) In the year 904 (A.D. 1498) the historian obtained the command of a princely library,