Page:Next-of-kin Marriages in Old Iran.djvu/32

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IN OLD IRÂN.
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Tatian (f. in the 2nd century A. D.); Minutius Felix and Athenæus (f. in the 3rd century A. D.); and Agathias (f. about A. D. 536–538). Of these Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Diogenes Laertius, Athenæus, Curtius, and Minutius Felix ascribe incestuous marriages to the Persians generally, according to Mr. Adam, 'without any distinction or qualification.' The spurious works of Xanthus, as well as the genuine books of Strabo and Tatian, impute such practices to the Magians alone, without drawing any line of separation between the different Magian orders among the Chaldæans or the Persians. Herodotus, Ctesias, Plutarch and Agatias make special mention of names of persons of rank, whom they charge with the guilt of such incest. Now, if we were to inquire to what different sources these reports owe their origin, we should find that Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus and his pupil Origen, as well as the true Plutarch, based their statements with regard to this question on the authority of Ctesias (Adam, p. 715; Rawlinson, Herodotus, Vol. I., p. 78).

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