Armenia Her Culture and Aspirations a Mahdesian 1938

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A rmenia, H er C ulture,

and Asp irations

By ARSHAG MAHDEslAN

iii1 H.OWI~I.L BUILDINGf i"R!;S;zo, 'O, f 'ALlFOII ru

19l5



1'0

CHRISTINE

Th,'u err wIll> tell "" LOI' COil dir,Will! lij., 1111Ot/II r ptlS8iouli JIll,All all" ,,,, IIf' bill "IlFli~/I.

-8m·1'IIE1'.



Armenia, H er Culture,

and Aspirations

By A..Rl:iHAG M.um N

Editor of The New Armenia

(TIlis article, ildltly rerilled, nd elahoruled byj.t:, lIUiJU')f, II'! reprinted in the Hem Lend~u.rulH!r of the Nelf) .. 1,." 1 1 m . .eeember, 1917,fmm the April, 1911. ~e of Ole JOII",ol 1 ) /UncI J) 1'1 Ivpm nil, 1\ quarterly magazine, w.lllchClark niv Mit)' pllblif<heu to elucidate "theprohlf>lll> f) f inl('rno.lional n>ht ioD l', ciuUyf hf l l 'o l ' "f fil"'.- II f""nn:It~> 111> 1n th i" (f,rl'l"P uw "r.> .,

1'1""1, jr U 1 ' J l l . ' It 8bk(·"1('(' , editor. at wh 'n', 1\It-si Ul~ s r1it,l.> 1111..~ I)"' IM.n:li for TIl!' .1oun::w.Ioi Rowl' iv lopm Ill, wrore ; "ArmlllitJ, H r('UIlUT,IIIIU fbp(rolml!'" i> I Lh In ruhnimble" .\ J)< t;;illO n o r rh ATUlelUUlI history 1 have everre"lJ u tJ , opinion of Prof r M i.nu;. Tell rus,

Kllllt'.:I CoIII'f(C, Loralon, EOl!=ia.od."Arm~II;Il, Iii rCulture alld .1$pi"aliu11" rl pi . roncil<ely lWei inI\n cxeelh-nt yle, almost [LII !.be na.tiollAl irion

or "-nopnin. Ii ollllhl to be tmnslated into Freneh.Gf'rm:ln, ItnJisn, And RUlMA.Il.and be 'i'tlibuledhy nu lh ~ •r. ( ) IJ i 1!.IlIt ng Ih . l l J I. ti o l ) l < . . .1

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I

1) VILLAGE parson, upon being asked,Vl "Wllat is an. oaoogenarian 1" answer-ed medita.tively: "I don't know what thElY

are, but they must be a.wfully sickly;. younever hear of 'em but they are dying." Asimilar thought i" probably awakened in themind of the average Amerioan concerningthe Armenians of whom one seldom bearsunless they are massacred by the 'Turks.There are even prominent American [our-

nelists, clergymen, p ro Ie ss era ,and statea-men, who still either regard the Armeniansas "Christianized Turks," or confuse themwith Arminians-s-the followers of theDutch theologian Arminius. Yet, the Ar~menians, 11 9 th e protagonists on tbe arenaof Western ideals, and as the first nationto embrace Christianity, have rendered re-markable servieea to civilization.

The Armenians belong to the Indo-Euro-pean family of mankind. They have beendepicted by impartial observers as intel-

lectuallyI

morallyI

and phy.sicaIJy superiorto most of the racessnrrcunding them, oras "the Anglo-Saxons of t,be Orient."

. .



ARM SIA, E" I :KCl1JhlJll.E. AND A\<PU1ATIOSS

Dr. Andrew D. White, President Emeri-tus of Cornell University) and late Ambas-sador to Germany. says:The A,.,rwnialUlare a people of Laroeand

n ob le c ap a citie s. F or a ge sthey have tl~ain-tained their civilization under oppressionthat: w01lld hav cnuhed almost any otherpeople The Armenian is one of the finestraCI18in the world. If 1 were asked to namethe most desirable races to be added by im-migratiotl to the American population, I

11.1ould' lame among tile very firstth e Ar-menian.

Dr. yruaHamlin, the founder of RobertCollege. Constantinople, lauds the Arme-nians a "0 noble raee ;" and Dr. A. E.Winship, editor of The Journal of Educa-tion, dee laresthat, "in the fibre of the Ar-menian cLaracter are the germ" of industry,genius and thrift.""It would be difficult," thinks Lord

Byron, If 0 find in the annals of a nationless crime than in those of tbe Armenians,

whosevirtues are those of peacesnd whosevices are the result of tbe oppression theyhave undergone. It

Lamartine calls the Annenians "The

5



As tD'u, lIEB CUl.TVIlf.:, ":-';0 AsPIRATIONS

wi..~ of tit En t," and Yiscount Bryce

write concerning them:A mOlly aU th088 who dwell in western

Asia they sta nd fir st, with a: rapacity forintellectual and mora l prOgT68S, us well0.1tuilh natural tenacily of will a nd p ur po seueyoml that of all their neigl!bolm:-notm .r rclll o fTurks, Tartar j Kurd s, and Per-sians, bu t a lso0/ Russians. They are a8/r071g race, 1I0t only with v igo rO l J . 8nervesan(l si'nC'lOB,phyrically active and en!.>rgetic,bu t a lso o J COllSpiCZWU8 bra in p ow er.Lord Cromer. peaking of different na-

tionaliti in modernEgypt, vouches thatTh,' Armninns. more than any otherp ople, lial'l! niuuned tile Ilighps t a r lmin t8-tmtiue mnks and haueat times excrc1.8edtl decisive in/h lcnce onth e cond uct 01public affairs in Egypt.

Lord arnarvon 8. S ert thul "The Ar-menians in intellectual power are equal tothe Greeks"; and B. F. n. J~YDh eon idersthem "pe uliarly fttlapt~1 10 he the inter-mediarie " betw n Europe and Asia, Beadds:

II I were (Ulk'elllt'hot ch(lTacleristir.~ di8-ting!J.i f, th e ArmMlions from other Orien-ta ls, I sh ou ld be d isp osed toMy most strm

6



on a quali ty known in p op ula r sp eecha.grit. It i. s this qtullity to which the1l owetbeir prcservation as a people, and they areno t rnrp a .ed in th is resp ect by a .ny Eu ro-pean nation. Their intellectual capacitie.a re su pp orted by a so lid founda tion ofchamcte«, and, unlike the Greeks, bu.t liketh e G erma lls, th eirnot1lre is averse to su-p er ficia l m eth ad »; they become a bso rbedin their ta sks and p lumb th em d eep .Herr Haupt, a . German scholar, in bis

book entitled, Armenia', Palt and Present,writes:

The 'more we fa thomtheir d ista nt p ast,the more we begin to rea lize tltecrm. tMJC-tive and enligh ieni110 role l)iayed by theA rm enia ns in th l.) w orld h istory of civiliza -tion.Prof ssor K Roth 811)'5 in Armenien und

D u t c hla nd :The importance of the Armenian people

is o f len ignored . The Armenians haveplay d 1:11 antiqu ity, anti m ore especia lly inthe .M idd le Ages, a n important Tole. A sa

factor o J civiliwtionin the Orient, the A r-menian. is more important tllofl, i .s generallyrea lized . The A rmenians a re , 'U Jithou ttlollbl, itllcllectuaUy the most au ia lce

7



AR&'!I:''''I.~. DEll CULTtJDE, ~D ASPIL1"TIUSS

amongst all t.hepeople that inhabit tbe Ot-

loman Empire. They are .B 'Uper ior toTurk.a nd K urd a.

II

According to Movses Khorenntzi, thegrcatppic historian of the Armenians. thefirnt chieftain of Armenia w as Ha-ik. "Therobust. hero of noble stature, with wavyhair, sparkling eyes, brave and renownedamongst the giants," who vanquished theTyrant. Bolus of Babylonia. and occupied9. vast terrilory extending from the Caspianto the Black. eft and the l\'Iedil.erranean,and Irom Pontu to the boundaries of As-syria. The appellations of Haik, Baia;Ilaiaadan, the country of Hai: and Haie-rea, the language of Hai, used by the lu:-menians to designate themselves, theirmud, and their language, may have inspiredKhcrenatzi to create an epcnymous hero,- .aik.

The Armenian plateau is described in theAnnals of Assyria as the land of ~airi,can~tons of which coalesced in the ninth cen-tury B. C. into the powerful Kingdom ofUrartu. The Biblical references to the King-doms of Ararat, Minru,and Ashkenaz,.eb-

8



AII'I£"I~, HEll CtlLTlIrn:, ,~SD Asl'lMTIO ...

viously relate to Armenia. It was to Arme-nia that the ons of Sennacberib fled afterslaying their father.It. i asserted, however, that the inhabi-

t.unls of the kingdom about Lak V.an,known to he ancient Hebrew a Ararat.and thl' Assyrians as Urartu, wer HiLtiti s,The Armenians, an Arynn people, invadedArarat and the adjoining country and as-imilat d the original inhabitant . Luschancontends that the Armenian are the des-cendants. very little modified, of the Ohal-deans.The word .4rmina,-old Persian Armani-

yo, Persian Armenia.-first appears in thefamous inscription of Behistoun, 518 B. C.,and is thought to have b n derived fromArum, the seventh and themost illustriousking of the Haik dyna.sty. Hi tori cal re-searches of later date, however, representAmenia a Ar, land; Mefli: mountain,-tile lrmd ofmountains. Thi etymologicalsolution, also. may prove conjectural. Butwhatever the meaning of Armenia, the landis unquestionably mountainous, with a .

mineral wealth of gold .. ilver, copper, iron,1 ad, marble, altpetre, quick ilver, andsulphur.

9



Above the huge tableland of Armenia,

varying in elevation from 6,000 to 7,000feet, rise massive and steep ranges of theTaurus and Anti-Taurus mountains, eulmi-natiag in the Iamoue Mount Ararat, 17,000feet. higll, famed as the resting place ofNoah's Ark. Between these ranges lie deepgorges and valleys, interspersed 'i\1th areasof pasturages. This exlcnsive plateau iswatered by the Cboruk, the Euphrates, theKur, and the Aras rivers. There are exten-sive lakes. Lake Van, 5,100 fcct above c&level, with an area of approximately 1,300

square miles, six times as large asthe Lakeof Geneva, is the most important inlandwater. On the plateaus where low tempera-tnres prevail there are but steppes. In thevalleys, where the temperature rises veryhigh, grow pillne-~recs, poplurs, peneh, mul-berry, rice, melons, olives, rigs, grapes, to-bncco, and cotton.Armenia, at the period of her greatest

territorial extent. was included between theparallels of 31Q 30' to 41° 45' north laLiludeand Lhe meridians of 37° to 49° cast longi-

tude, nnd comprised 500;000 square miles,e .mbc&<' ing lhenortb-east corner of AsiaticTurkey, vtZ., Erzerum, Van, Bitlis,

1 0



Diarbekr. Harpoot, : i " I 1 5 , .and Cilicia:Trsn euueasia, uiz., Erivan, Elizabethpol,and til' territory of Kars; and the north-w est corner oC P ers ia ,viz., the province ofAzerbaijan. with u population of about30,000 ,000. Tlli w as under the reign ofTigrane: II.

III

Alexander Polyhi tor, a Greek writer,175 B. "affirms that. ti l Armenians livedtw enty c nturi s before Chrit, snd in anexp ed ition n gn.ins t th epowerful maritimepeople, Hie P ho en icia n , co nqu eredthem,and captured many prisoners, among whomwa. the nephew o r Abraham. A.n Iri h pub-lici t writes tha • at th e tim e of P hcm icianeommerr-e with the West, Armenian trader •were ameng thcm,-that every Iri h nameone meets ending in "an" such a Brian,O'Cnllahan. Sheridan, as well as th Cor-nish names o rTrevelyan, Tressilinn, andoth rs, ar bu the remains of the Arme-n ian te rm ina tion ian.

Acrorlling to some hi torians th e Arme-nian King, Huraehis, asai ted Nebuchad-neszar in the capture of Jerusalem, 600B. "' King Tigrsncs 1. allied with Cyru

II



in the overthrow of Babylon. 538 B. C.,

and Zarmair took part in the Homeric con-flicts 8itninst Troy.The Armenians, however, at.t.nined the

zenith of their military glory under thereign of Tigranes II., urnamed the Great,94-56 B. C., who by successful militaryefforts extended his power in all directions.He founded a new Royal ity. Tigrano-eerta, modeling it on Nineveh and Babylon."Tigrane made the Republic of Rometremble efore his prowess," writes Cicero i

and, according t .o Plutarch. Lucullus FBid:

It is bu t a fe w days' jOunlCIJ from tileco untry o f tile G abir i o r Seba Blia into .A r-menia, w here T igranes. K ing of Kings, issca te d u p on"is th ro ne , su rr ou nd e d w ith tilepower tlLat wrested.Asiaf rom th e Pa rth ia n ,;th at ca rried G recia n co lo nie s inta M ed ia .am i su bd u edSyria and Pa le stine .Rome could not brook Tigranee, and

finally over-threw him. In deference to hisvalour, however, Tigranes, under the tute-lage of Rome. was permitted to remain OD

the Armenian throne.

In later years Armenia was overlroddenby Persians, Rcmane, and Greeks. Afterthe fall of the Bagratid dynasty, the Ar-

12



msnian nobles took refuge in the inacces-sible Iastnesses of tbe Taurus Mountians,Cilicia Here, in 1080, Reuben founded theKingdom of Anncnia Minor that mighthave fared more fortunately had not hergov ernment an d p eop le B pon ta neou slya .n dgenerou 'Iy championed the Crusaders. PopeOfl'gory XIII. wriLes in his Bull, EcclesiaRomuna of the year 1584:Amona the other merilR of tile Armenian

nation to th«C n11rch and to the Christia.nBepu,b li (', thi .'1 in par ticu la ris em in ent a nddeserves special Telne1nbranc~-lhat whenthe prinf'P8 and the armies of C'hristendomV'f.rl' 011 their U Jay to tile lJ oly Land, noatlil'T natiot; Qtld 110 ollter people morep rom pll/f a ndmOTe zea iOU8t11than tlle A r~menian Tendered its aid in men, in horse,in a rlt lN , in ,foori, in COU1I8et; in a 'Word.,theAr1l1e11lu1l8, witli all their strength, witll thegreatest fen'our and /idelity. assided theCh r il lti u rl 8 i nthese Roll! Wars.But when th e Crusades failed, and thE'

Mohammedan fury burst over Armenia Mi-

nor. Europe remained indifferent, Sis, theGapital of Armenia Minor, was capturedin ]375, and the independence of Armeniacame to an end. Her last king, Lao VI.,

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\,1 ited the courts of England and France

trying in vain to e tablish an entente COT-ditJle betw een them , w ith a view to enlis tingtheir help for the re-e tablisbment of theArmenian .:tale. lie died in 1393, and W8.

buried in the ..athcdral of t eni. Pari.

IV

Th Armenians embraced Chri tianityvery early. Tertullian assert that "thepeople of the name of hri t" were foundin rmenia before the midd le ofthe thirdcentu ry; and Eu ebius mentioas there thexistenee o r "brethren." If the Greek ChurcholnirnsOrthodoX)·; the Roman, Catholicity;he Armenian C'hllJ'('h is entitled to Aposto-licity I n il th e Apo :" tle l-l Thaddeus ,Bartholo-m 'W, and Jude preaehed hri tianity lindsuffered martyrdom in Armenia. Throughthe ('frorts uf OrPgory, the Tlhtminotor,'llI'il'tinnily was made, by the rovul ~di('t

o r King Tiridute , the national religion ofA rm enia .. in 301. Th e EmperorConstantinemerely Collowrd th exampl o r the Anne-nian king when, iu 313, be proclaimedChri:;tinnity th • tate religion of Byzan-tium.

How deeply the Arru nian ou l had be-

14



rom e im bu edwith hri tianity can be at.-Ie to oby the ubsequent na .tional m arLyr-o lo gy, Wit n , in th e m id dle of thefifth en -lury, the Persians c ayed, first by prom-ises and thenby force, to have tbe A rme-niau embrace Iirewcrship, they entirelyfailed. The A rmenians retorted to the P er-siuu threat:From th i fa ith no [orcecan move tLB-

f!E 1'ther a ng el.s n or m en ;tleitlierS1oord, nOTfir, nor water, 1l0rany dead ly punishment .• . 1f you lealc us our fait/I, we shalt ac-cept no other lO1 'din place 01 you; but we/ tl ta l l accep t no Ood in p lace oj Christ. 1 /after this oreat confes8ion, you ask any-thing more of u s,lo! our liuee are in yourp owe r. F romyou, to rm e nts; fr omIU, sub-mis sio n ..Y01lrsw or d, o ur ne cks.Tre are nouettBr th an th oC 1 "ho h avegone b eio re'US,w ho Sacr ificed the ir w ea lth , andt he ir l iv e .!fo r th is te stim ony!In the memorable Battle oC Avarair,

May 26, 451, know n as theArmenian Ma-rathon, 66,000 A rm enian ron!rontcd 220,-

000 Persians; Their lender, Varten M nmi-gonian , perished like n Juda Mac abeaus,But II 'The A ngel of M o.rtrydom is brotherto the Angel o f "Vic to ry ;" (I P ers ia n g en era l

IS



AHIIIE!'IIIA, HEll 'LTURE, ...ND AsI'nu.rrONS

wa so impr ssed by the tenacious resis-

tan 'e of the Armenians, tba.t he exclaimed:"These people have put on Christianity notlike a garment, but like their flesh andblood. Men who do not dread fetters norfear torments, nor cure for their property,and who above all choose death rather thanlife-who can tand again t them?" Thehicf of the M agi,accompanying th e gen e--

ral, reported to the Persian IGng: "Even ifthe immortals aid us, it will be impo ibleto establi h Mazdaism in Armenia,"

Since the d ays of Avs .rnir,whenever the

alternative offered the Armenians hal' beenaposlacy or tile word, they luwo alway8chosen the sword,

During all Turki 11a~rocitie. , man)' thou-sand of Armenian I w ho w ere immolatedfor their Christian faith, could have savedthemselves by merely pronouncing the for-mula. of I lam and abjuring hri t. Theypreferred, instead, to uffer fiendish indigni-tic!' and death at the hands of the blood-be-otted and vice-trued Turks. Lord Bryceay :

Of the seven or eight hundred thousandArmenians 11'110 have perisiled in the recRntmassacre8, many thOUBonds /rOV8 died as

16



AII.!IIE:oII\, full CUUUItl:, \!'(O l\Jtl'IR.'TJO~S

martyrs. by which Imean they have diedfor their Christian faith when they C<lfdd

have Baved their livu by renouncing it.This has perhaps not been realized even bythose who in Europe01' A merica have read .0 / and been horrified by tile w ho le 3a leslaughter and hid eous crueltie«by whichhall 0 / a n a ncient na tion h as be en e xte rm in-ated. They ean hardly understand hoUithere should be religious peraecutioll in ourtime.

V

The Armenian National Church bas beendistinguished for its spirit of tolerance. SirEdwin Pears writes.

TI,e Armenian.'! haue been more 01 '611-

minded than any other of the Chri8tianr acts ... in reierenee to mal,ter801 relioion.The Uruks will not tolerate a RomanC atholic or a Proteilt1lllt miasionary. Buttohile the Armenian ... does not look kindlyon a man WilD changc-8his religion, he doesnot consider that it should prevent him in·Quiring into the tru thof other fOT7n4 0/

Christianity, or adopting them ilile likes. Inth e & ixtePnth centu ry the .A rm enian C hu rchdl:gnitariescorresponded with Erasmus andM ~/a1 l(:thon and oth er reform er, ....

1 7



The Armenians, with their passion. for

simplicity. have preserved the real spiritof Christianity in their Churob. J. C. Stuart.Glennis writes:

it wa s A rm enia n m issio na rie s-t.h e P au l-feian heretics-tD.ho 80Wed in Europa thaseed80jit l l R efrm n ation .. A n din tllcm-

teenth centu ry, tha t ord er oftile Jesui18c alle d in to emten(!6 by ti,e 8'UCC888 of th eRefo rma tio n, se nt m issio na rie « to A rmenia ,and c ar rie d in to th e b ir th la ndof Proteatant.ism th e 1 '" eve ngc o j C ath olU :1Bm .The broad, democratic base upon which

the Armenian Church rest.sC8n be hes~understood by the method or electing theupreme Primate, or CatboiicoEl, of the AI-

menian Church, whos e !lenthas. since 309,.been at Etehmiadzin, which with its Su-preme Synod, Theologicnl Seminary, ftndCathedral, corresponds to tJ1C Vatican

{Tpon n . vacancy of the throne of the Ca-tholico~, Ute Sup reme Synod issues invita-tions to all Armenian dioceses. whether inRussia. Turkey, Persia. or elsewhere, ce.llinglIpan them each to name two deputies, one

clerical and one lay, who after the lapse ofa yN!.r "hat! meet at; Etehmiadrin and cast;thrir votes, These deputies, should t.hl'Y he

18



unable to attend in person, may aigcify theirvote by letter. The ordinaries of the Arme-nian Church, also, are elected by diocesanccnn-lls, ix-sevenths of whose members arelaymen,The Armenians, on account of the Buctu-

sting fortune of their temporal power, re-gard their Church Dot merely 8.5 B spiritualcitadel, but al 0 as the focus of nAtional as-pirations nod learning. The Catholleos t.ahuk, 353-439, es nyed to revive a pure1 •

n at io na l litera tu re .His d ifficu lties w ere al-ma. t in upcrable, a the A rmenian Lackedan nlphnbe] of their own. But his friendand collaborator, Bishop Me rop, aIter lon~and painstllking labors, succeeded in devi -ing an alphabe in 404 . .It eonsiats of thirty-s ix ehnracters , "A Waterloo of!IJl Alphabet"in the poetic diction of Lord BYTon, whostudied Armenian nt the famous ArmenianMekhitanst onvent, t. Lazare, Venice.1 16~1818,and recommended it as 8 "richIllnl!tln~" thst "would amply repay onethe trouble of learning it."The Armenian language belongs to till'

Indo-European group. Many English wordM

spring from the same root a lhe Armenian,viz .. eye, ao; foot, 1.Iod; mother, mair,

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daughte-, dooster; thou,too,- &s8, 83/r; door,

toor; hair, hw,~ son, san; sore, eer; un-,CD l F - ;and -tiOD, --"tOUfl.

Hubschmann, Moillet, Villefroi and SI..Martin have made valuable studies of theArmenian language, wWah bas been de-scribed as "a plastic and Doble language,capable of rendering faithfully, yet notservilely, the Greek Bible and the GreekF ath era"The immediate result of SL Saltak's and

Bishop Mesrop'e activities was an intel-Ieetual and literary revival, known 11 . ' 1 the"Golden Age of Armenian Literature." Dur-ing th ia p er io dmany didactic, religious, andhistorienl books were written, and transln-tiona made from the G reek .. Thefirst hookthe Armenians undertook to translate WaI,

f;he Bible, from the G reek , eptuagint, 11w as com pleted , in433, so succes s fu ll yAndfait.hfully I1S to be called, by La Croze,"The Queen of Versions." Other translationswere as excellent. It i8 asserted that wereth e Anabasi801 Xenephon los t,it could bereproduced from the Armenian version. TIleChronicle! of Eusebiu9, th e Homilies of

S t.Joh n C 'h ry !1 :os tom ) an d tw o wo rk!'! o f P hiloon Providence,survive o nly in oAn!lc nian.

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• ~U:~1AJ llin C LT I!..... ~D \ i'PllH'tIO ..

A lthough there arc fragm entsof Anne-ninn pagan ongs preserved in the histori-cal w ork of Mov. esK11onma.tzi,th e A rm e-nian lit rature really begins under tile do-minant power of th o Church. n w n notuntil the tw elfth centurythat the p oeticpirit o C the Armenian broke the ecclesias-tica l bond impo ed uponit. The seculari-zation of the Armenian literature receiveda fresh impetus when, in 14 ,about flIty'NIn: a fLe r t heinvention of priu ting by G u-tenl rg, A rm enian immigrant in Veniceand ,Amsterdam , constructed Armeniancharacters and began to print the manu-riJlt~ o r their great author, and publi II

trun latio from the lass ie. Sir H enry)lorman onsiders th e ancient, m dnevaland modern Armenian literature compura-bl w ith he literature of any oth r nation.Robert Arne writes:AS C l pc(}plc till' AnnenllUl,<Jcan no t bOWlt

01 a s J 'a sta lit ra iwe as the P rsians, theirall -time conquerors , but that tlJhich re -main-'! 01 pU T ly Annenian prose . fo lk- lore ,and poetry tell811 8 01 a p oetic ra ce, qifledwith im a gina tive fir e, ste rn ne ss o ftu i ll, andperei tency o fa dh erence to o ld id ea ls, a ra cethat iiI proportion to their lim ite d p ro du c-

21



, \"~1 H.. .. J \, 11t.1I CI LTI 1(1:, A:' D A.s1·IK.\TIO~1:i

lion in leiter« Ca7l challenge co7nparisonwith Ofly people .Being exposed lo the incessant invnaiens

and depredations of host-ile races, the Ar-menians never enjoyed that leisure andlmnf}uiJity of m im i, necessary forthe higb-est. 8 FIistie development, Sir Ed w in Pearswrites:I believe the Armenian to be the most

artistic 1'fl TU1'key, Many paint well, a nd80me have made rep1ltatio'M in Rmsia andPrnuce. ,b1lateuT painting 1'8 80 gen.eralallto suggest that the race has a natural taste

for A rt. The pictu regallery 01 1 t .he Island0/ Lazza ro a tVel'lil'P contains many ulOTks

0 / art by ..trnle.ni'om w hich w onihe ap-proval. 0 / Ruskin.

H. J? , B. Lynch, who visited the impos-in g rnlns of A ni, thecapital o f th e B agra tidD)'lHl.tli:;y I and studied its monuments, 8S-

eerts that. the Armenians were the origin-ators of tile G oth ic s tyle of architectu re.One of the most perfect specimens of By-zantine architecture, huilt in 1517-1526, atCurtail de Argcsh. Rumania, was, accord-ing to the E)Jcyciop:rdia 8n'tonica, th ework of a n A nn en ia n. 1t w as nn Arme-nian architect, Sinan, who designed and

22



AHlJoIES"lA, full ULTUM,'" 'II BPlIl.ATltJ:SJ

built that famous Mo que of Adrianopie,and the Mosque of uleyman in Constant..inople: and Armenian arohltocts, the Bal-inn, onstrueted the Palac of Oheragsn,of Beyler-bey, and of Delma Bahcbe,"which might be taken,' w ritesTheophilaGautier, "for S o Venetian Palace-onlyricber,vaslier, and more highly embellished-trnn ported from the Grand Canal tothe Banks of the Bo phoru."

VIAlthough Armenia, on ac aunt. of her

g ographieal position, W8.. expo e e l to on-s ta nt inv as io ns , y et.not only d id ie main-tain her civilization and culture, but shalso furnished mnny ilIu trious lenders toforeign lands. Dadar his, the int.repid gen-eral wbom Dariu Hystaspis chose to sup-p or th e A eh aim enid reDynasty I was an AI-menian.'o was Ner , the valiant and therenowned, the favourite of Theodora, whorender the armie of Ju tinian invincible.

It was to an Armenian, Pr resus, theteacher of Nazio.nzene, of t. Basil, and ofJulian h Apostate, that Rome erected astatue with this inaeription: Rerrt'na rerum

23



Roma, 'R f ! r J ieloquentw; Rome the queen of

the world to th e king o reloquence.Isaac, the Armenian Exareh of Ravenna,held the destiny of Italy in h is hands, 625-643. Herr Gclzer, au authority on Byzan-tine History, asserts that the period o r theArmenian Emperors WRS the most gloriousin the h is tory of Byaantium . Arm enianEmperors-Maunce, Ph ilIippi cua-Bardanes,Leo V., Basil I., the founder o rtbe Mac-edonian Dynasty, John Zimisces, and Cons-tantine VII. Porphyrogenitus-made By-santinum a . flourishing center ofcivilizatioD.

Basil II., the Conqueror of BuJgarin,.endedthe men see of n Russian invusion, strength.cned Italy against the pretensions of theGerman Emperor Otto IT., and made ofthe Venetiaus a Buren-By against the Sar-acens. The Armenian Empre~~., Theodora,1042-1056, reigned with such wisdom andsecured for Dyzantium such peace andprosperity, that her reign was called theGold en Era oJ All.gu .~la..In 1410 all the Armenian nobility assisted

the armies oJ Ledielaus Jagiello and con-

tributed to the victory in the battle ofGrunwnldl. "Hnd not," a cc ord in g toPolishassertions, "the bydra-head out of which

24



was later to spring the Prussian kingdombeen crushed" in this memorable battle,"the German deluge would have effacedPoland then, IlS it has submerged and eb-litereted the western Slavs on the banks ofth e F.lbt'.', th e Sp ree an dthe Od er ..WithoutGrunwnldt there would have been DO Po-land!"

, ben the Turks in 1683, besieged Vienna,the gate of Christian Europe, five thousandvaliant Armenian warriors succoured th e

army of King Sobieski, and turned the tide01 battle by hurling t.he Moslem hordesback to the Danube.

It 1V1l, the diplomacy of ISTK'cl Dei thatenabled Ruesia to vanquish Persia, Thevietorius generals in the Russian army-Mad ntoff. M elikoff, D er G hou k8!> off, Laz-arcff, Babcutofl, Chelkonikcff, and Alka-hazol1 were all Armenians. The correspon-dent. of The London Times writes:

The way in 11'hich GtmeTal Der Ghoukas-80ll conducted his men at Tagldr on the16th of June, 1877, when with his .eigllt div-w 'ons he com pletelyG7mihilated Mol!am-med PCUlha'$ twelve diui.sions; th e 8 tubbo r nresisiunc6 by u·hich, at Utch K11isse,he

2 :5



AIIM!lNIIo, Eb : J IOuLlrOIlE, AND AePIBA'l'IONa

.top ped the ad va nce0/ Mou kh tor P ru ha j

th e h ero ic retre at w hich h e effecte d a ga instt il e twenty- threed i t J i s i01 l80/ A.hmet Pru l ta , :hill r ema rkable BUb .equentclClJJ l l ingC l 3 8 a u l ton B a,ya zid , th e d e/ea t o f th eTUTkifh army,wh.icl! was twice as .tron.g u,shiJJ own, andthe relielting a /the bea ieged pla ce,-a reItflch sp le nd id f ea tsof·Q:nlU that tkey pt"ovehim to be a general. of the highut rank.General Malikoff was not merely Q sol-

dier, but also 8. great. edministrative reform-er. He drew for Russia a consti!altion,which Alexander II., had he not. been as-

sassinated, would have promulgated, onMllrch I, 1881.Nubar Pasha, Hie deliverer and generator

of Egypt, and twice its Prime Minister;Prince Malcolm Khan, OTIC of the earliestapostles o r tile Persian reform movement;and Eprem Khan, the hero and the martyrof the Persian revolution, whom the BritishPress hailed as the "Oaribaldi of ~heEast,"were Armenians. Shall we mention the dis-tingllsned tragedian, Adamian, whom Rus-sian eriticism has proclaimed superior to

Salvini and Rossi in the interpretation of11amlet; the inimitable marine painter,Hovsnnes Aivazovski; the mineralogist,

.2 6



Andreas Artzrouni, who enjoyed world-widercputntion; Hovannes Althen, who taughtFmnee lhe cultivation of rubic tinctorum,and whose statue stands now in the Duchyof Avignon: i\I. Manouelisn, whose mostvaluable dieccvcries have placed him in thefirs t rank of th e bis tolcgis ta.o f our epoch;E< lgnr : :-h allill, th egl1!arest drypoin], artist,according to eminent French critics likeHogor Murx and Gustave Geho)'; H, Ma-hokian, w hose paintings have w on many

prizes in th e B erlin 'alan; Vittorio. AganoorPompily, the lamented poet of Italy i andM. Lucas, the former Premier of Austria-Hungary?T 'I l' . \rm en ian s h nvouei been 1( '1""prom-

inent ill the nitcd I rates: witnes the lute(Iovernor Thomas Corw in. of Ohio, also ntone time Secretary of Ihs United Stntef::TrC '8 .J;u r-y ;th e la te D r, H ih ra nK. Kassab-ian, the distinguished scientist of Pbilade1-phin, and the foremost Roentgen raysinvestigator in the world j. Dr. Menaa Gre-

gory, the eminent p cychiatrut of BellevueHospit.a.l; Mooshegh "Vaygouny, a graduateof the University of California., who dev-eloped l\ synlhetic method o f c onve rtin ggrape sugar into tartaric acid; Mugurdich

27



AaMEllL\, HEI! CUL'l'uW-;, A.o'lD ASPlIlATlOS6

Garo, the famous photographer of Boston,unquestionably one of the greatest in Ame-rica, who originated the Garograph; M.Mnnga arian, the eloquent exponent of lib-eral thought in Amari &j Haig Patigian,the rlil'tingui ihed seulptor, who was awardedthe prize for the execu ion of a monumentto comm morate the r building of an Fran-cisco i and Dr. Christopher eropian, the in-venter of Ole gr n color of the Americanpaper dollar. Even the fir't, American sol-dier to land at Manila, in the Spanish-American war was IlD Armenian, according

to Nessib Behar, Managing Director 01 theN ational Liberal Immigration L ague. •

vnIn 1514 the Persians surrendered Arme-

nia to the Turks. It may readily be sur-

... Sinoe the publication of t.bis lLI'I~cl('. OUI rArmenians al-e have become distmgm:IDcd._-'lchI.. iichfll'I ArJ"n and William Snmynn. in liWrn-lure; Cahti'd. Chiljwciris.n, An;hng FetwdjilUl,Sarkis ICh:u~bndourian. V!,rl, Mclikinn. HovsepPu-hrnun, Mib"lO SC'nl.iliJln, PJIDOO! Terlern ~inn,~llmlll'l Thlegia.n. and Loudviz Yseoubian, lT 1

palnting : H{.'Illj' Lion n.nd NishllIl Thor, In

seulpurre ; Annen Shnh-MollmdilUl ami \nllondTokrltyun, in flinp;inK; Rnrolltunr M. D,,,io1Jrio,nlind Vlrdmir Ka.rn.petoff , In Science: ReubenMamoulinn, in the Jlroriuetion of motion pictlllUl,!lOci Y!II'Ilzts.dKalliDjillll, in SUlg('ry.

28



ARM&NIA, HEll CULT1JRE,AND ASI'lllJ\TlONS

mised Willie the fate of the gilted and pro-gres= ive Arm enians w ould be under the do-minion of 1 1 people concerning whom thePope, in 1456, had doomed the addition 01th e fo llow in g in vo ca tio nto tile Ave Mariaimperative: "Lord, save us from the devil,the Turk and the comet."The Turks belong 00 the Turanian

hordes of Central Asia, With their appear-ance ( 'h> ili zn tion im 'a riab ly vanished, inH yria :\1(' opotam ia, Byzantium , A rabia ,

Erol1t Arm enia , and G reece. V ictorHugoadmirably describes !:hisblighting influenceof the Turks 88 follows: Les Tu rco!) antpa,~sela, tou t estmine et deu iL . "They (theTurks) w ere upon the w hole," d eclaresGladstoue, "from the black day when theyfirs tc iltercd E urope, the one anti-hum ans pec im en o f h um an ity , W h ereverthey went ,a broad line of blood marked the trackbehind them; find as C a r £L ! I th eir d om in io nreached, civilization disappeared fromview." The Turk has noconsangumity

w ith th .. ~ rab, and henceDO cla im uponhis civilisation, He is heartily despised bythe Arab, one of whose bards sings:Th re e th ingsIlRllg.htbut evil WOT'.k-Tile l(}rll~t, tile vermin, and the Tur.k.

29



The Armenians, by their Christianity aud

by their genius, have been. the represeats-tives of Westerncivilizlltion in Turkey.While the Turks furnish the criminals, theArmenians furnish savants, pbysicians,artisans, and merchants. The Armeniantraders in Turkey were so successful thatthe Finallcial ]I,' aWB, Manchester,. England,'note years ago: "The commerce of thefuture belongs to the ~cot.ch" the Germans,sud the Armeniens."

It WAS through the collaboration of twogreat Armenian statesmen, Odinn and Secv-icen, that Midhat Pneha succeeded in Irum-ing the Turkish CODstitution, which w asproclaimed by Abdul Hamid on his aeees-sion to the throne, and then prorogued.

The !1 ret newspaper ever published inTurkey. eighty-sevenyeara ago, was an AI-menian periodical. The introduction 01Turkish printing and the establishment oftheatres WCJ'C l l iccompli~hcdby Armenians-Muhandisian and Cheubadjian. Were it not,for the Armenian pililogoisls. like Gurdik-ians, th e Tu rks w ou ld nC '> tevenhave had 8

JITsmmllr o r their ow n 1angu age .For many years Lhe c hief d irectors o·f the

Turkish arsenals and the Govenment Mint

30



were ArmeniflD8-Dadian and Dusisn. Theline stuffs. the embroideries,. the tapestry,and the jewelry admired in Europe andAment's as Turkish products, are almostexclusively manu facrured by Armenians.

The field of activities of French, Amer-ican, and later German missi ona ries , whowent to Turkey for educational and evan-gciical purposes, was strictly confined toth e A rm en ia n enmmunitlea

Genern! lheri f Pasha, A 'l'urkisb exile

in Paris, told the troth when he declared, asreported in the columns of The New YorkTi f 1U !B(If October J 0, 1915, that:

IJther8 ia a ra ce w hic.h h as be en clo se lyconneeicd with Uu~Turks by its fidc.lit1hbyIts services to th e counlTy, by th e 8tates-me rl a lld junct icmurieB ofta.lent it has f'ur-nished,by th e intellige.nce111 h i c hit hra ma-uifeRled in a ll d omain s- oommer ce , i~d ll.sir y, scie nce , a ndthe arts-it is cer-tainly the Armenian.] r. P. Rohrbach, the German author,

confirms the same fact, He writes: 'Wemay say without exaggeration that not oolyin Armenia proper, but sI8() far beyond itboundaries, the economic lire of Turkey

31



AIiMiTh"lA, 1h : a CVLTUllIl, A:."D ASPIR.\TJON8

rests, in great part, upon the Armenians."

Dr. V. Rosents, .0 . great authority 01 1Near Eastern affairs, says in TaglicheRunrl8cha.u:The A rme nia ns,trldu.stri0U6,so be r, a nd

zea lous , occu1J ied p r incipa l lylIIith agricul.ture, with 'raising cattle, and with manu·/actllritlf} e01jlet-can be c011~id ered thep osse sso rs o f th e !d yh estcivilisotia« in Jl6'iaMinoT. Thanks to the ir ap titu de and the irinlelligence, the. Armenians .... OCClIJIY thehig!uUJtposmonsin Tllr1te/l.The w hole popu lntion ofth e Turkish

Empire was estimated at 32,000,000o r

whom only 2,380.000 were Armenians. Yetthe A rm enians had 78.5 ed ucatienel institu-tiona with more thnn 82,000 students,wbC'rra!!lhe Turks couldnot boast of morethan 150 schools, with only 17,000 pupils.rnorder to demonstrate therconomlcpower of the Armenians in the TurkishEmpire, Marcel Leart recoeds the fact thatof 166 importers in Sivns. which has the!>mallc l<t A rmenian population of the sixArmenian provinces, 141 are Armenians, 13

Turks, and 12 Greeks: of 150 eX'pOrtcrs,127 are Armenians and 23 Turks; o r 37bankers and capilaliets, 32 are Armenians

32



and only 5 Turks; of 9)100 shopkeepers anda.rtisans, 6,800 are Armenians and only2,550 Turks, the rest being divided amongvarious other natioDalities. Tbe same istrue of native industry: of 153 fa.ctori~and flour m ilIs , L30 belongto Armenians,20 to Turks, snd 3, earpetooneerna, to for-eign or mixed ccmpaniea. The directors ofall theseest.ablishmente are Armenians ex-elusively. The number of employees isabout 17,000, of whom 14,000 are Anne-nians,2,800 Turks, 200 Greeks and others.

The Turks, being another version ofK riloff's ROske tliat. bites the glow wormbeeause it is shining, massacre the Arme-nians. uIt, is absurd," con:fided the Mayorof Smyrn.8to no Englisb traveler, "that weean govern the Armenians-a. people somuch abler than we .."Because the Armenians nre very brave,

the Turkish authorities rio not permit themthe pessesaion of arms. Dr. J. Lepsius writesin his book, entitled Armenia And Europe,that "Christians indeed. and Christiansalone. are b),statute forbidden to carryarms." As an example of Armenian V6!Our.Viscount Bryce mentions the heroic resis-tance of the Zeitunlis, who proudly called

31



.... llMEl>IA. B.t;1I ULTl1QE,":"ill ASr'IIIAT10N8

themselves "The British of Ama Minor-

unsubdued and unsubduable," writes:These Zeit un l is had only ,evenDr eightth o usa nd f!fJ htin gmen, bu t the ,tT ength oJtheir position enabled them to repel a ll a t-tacks; and, like the Montenegrinl, to dev-elop a thorou gh ly m ilitant type oJmaMood.They a re a. rude , stem people , w ithnowealth and little ed ucation, a ndpractising71 0 a rt except that o f ir on-work.u ! g- fo rthere is plenty 0 / iro n in th e tIlo unta im t/ralwall them in. From 1800 till 0010 they hadforty times beenin co nflict w ith tile Turk s;

in 1836 they 8:uccessfullyreRi.stcd theEgypt-ian invaders; and in 1859 and 1862 tlleVrepulsed t1flBtlymperior Tu rkish a rm ies. In1864 , by Eu ro p ea n in te rv en tio n, a. so rt: o fpeace was a rranged , andin 1 78 a fort W(U

erF 'cted , and tile peop le were obliged to ad -mit a. Turkish gamson, which in 1895 wa,600 strong. The Zeittml1's Jwd la id in astock of gra in in (m ticip atio n o fa. generalattack by T tlr '" uponChristian8, and hadfor som e little wh ile noticed that a .rm swerebeing distributed by the Turkish official!

among the M oslc7n8.lVlum th e m a ssa crubegan in northern yn a in November, 1895,'fteu prrceived tha t theytoollid be th e next

'J 4



victim-s, r086 suddenly, and besieged theOClITIson.A fter th ree d ays the Tu rks, whosewaf"T $UPJl1ll h a rl b ee n cut off, 8U1Tendered.T h e A rm enia ns,d~anning them and arm-ing themselves ,uilh rifles which they joundin tile arsena l, h nd ulso tu e ap01 ls e noughtosupply 80me of th e neigh bo uring vt1 la ges,and 1vere able to take lheticld aga inst th eT VT k-i8h a rm y w hich w as a dva ncing a ga ina tthem, and which is sa id to have been a ttime& 6,000 strong. They repu .laBd theTurka ,with great lOB.!, in a series of ha rd -fough t fiuh t., and kep t them a t baytill Feb-ruary, 1896. Throogh the mediation oj th eBritish Ambassador a t Conatantinopl6,terms ofpeace were a rra nge d in purS'llanceof which the liege WaB ra ised , a nd no freshuam·.~o1J plltl'l'fl in the town. The mostperil-011$ m 0 7 1 1 P T 1 thad been o n e when, th e fight-i 11 f1 mtTl bcit1 (l n ll absent, the impris01If'dTllrliish soldieTS had m enand sought to set/ire 10 th e 1011171. The 1 00m en, h ow eve r,pTo"ed ('qU Ill toth e occasion. They fellupon the Turks nnd Ravedth e tmD1l.

When, just prior to the deportations of1915, Z('ituD prepared to resist, the Otto-man authoriti . intimat d 0 hem. throughthr Armenian Cathelicos o r Cilicia, that, if

H



they resisted, reprisals would be made upon

their defenseless kiasmen in the plain. Theelders of ZeituD, like the Armenian lenderst.hroughout the empire, were determined togo almost .&ny lengths in order to keep thepeace. So the majority surrendered, andthey were deported. Fifteen hundred fight-ing men are reported to have withdrawn to

the loftier recesses of the mounteine.During the World War the Armenians,

fighting eitberas regulars in the RussianAnny or .8!' volunteers in the ranks of theGrand Alliance, displayed remarkable eour-age and heroiml. At a meeting of the Indiansection of the Royal Society of Arts, theRight Honourable Viscount Bryce, laudingthe martial qualities of the Armenians, de.elared that the Armeniaa warriors hadshown tbe utmost. courage and valour in thecombats before Verdune,

Francis Rogers, writing Crom a FrenchPort to the New York Times, described theArmenian volunteers from AmerirQ as "aband of crusaders," who "marehed resolute-ly away, .8 French flag at the head of thecolumn, flanked by the Armenian andAmerican celcrs." Then he asked admiring-Iy: "Can even this war offers more inspir-

36



AN 1 Nll, H£B CUI'TUII!:, ANIl ARI'JIIATJON8

ing example of patrioti m and self-sacri-fice?"

VllI

The chronic maasacres with which, as SirEdwin Pears once remarked aptly, the Turkhas tried to maintain hi supremacy eversine the capture of Constantinople, grew 80

appalling that Mr. E. Canthlow hus ohar-a teriz d the plight of the Armenians: "Thvery wrongs that. made the reneh peasant-ry rise and in one deluge of blood sweepa corrupt aristocracy {rom their land arebeing enacted with tenfold horrors inTurkey to-day." Mflirshal Von Moltke, whotraveled extensively in Turkey and whoW&I by no means a. Turkopbobe, rt.edthat security for Christians could never behad under the Turkish rulers.Finall the con ta.nt appeals of the mar-

tyred Armenian to Christian Europe were8Il8W red by Article LXI. of the Treaty ofBerlin, signed D July 13, 1878. that read:T11 c , ublime Porte u ndertakes to can-y

Old, tt1illiout further r1rlay. t.he improve-ments a ridrefonn8 demanded by local re-quirements in the provinces inhabited btlArmenians, and to gu ara nte e th eirlIecurify

37



ARMSN"', R£R CuL.l1llllil, AN D ASI'.lB..... nOloi8

agoin.'tt the irca88iam a nd Ku rd $. Itwillperiodically make known the steps takento th is effect to th e Pow ers, w ho w ill su per-inte nd th eir a p plica tio n.Furlou at the Armenian temerity in de-

manding reforms. the Turlcish governmentincreased its persecutions and encouragedthe Kurds to a i RY and pillage their Arme-nian neighbors. From 1884 to 1896 morethun three hundred thousand Armenia1l8were massacred; then followed the Adanaholocaust, with a total of sixty thousandArmenian victims. When the Young Turksentered the war in the latter part of Oct-ober, 1914, Talent and Enver ploUed to'solve the Armenian Question by extirpat-ing t.he whole nation"-bence the deporta-tion of the Armenians, ju t after the failureof the Dardanelles expedition.

But no 'Talaaf or Envel" can annihilatethe Armenians. who are endowed with awonderful power of re uperation and r . il-ience, and who have always arisen, pheenix-like, from ealumities f hal might have prov-ed ratal to any other nation. The Armenianshave believed that whoev r creates in pur-suit of enlightenment and ideal J that who-ever endeavors to serve the immortal gods,

38



may be subjected to the excruciating tor-tures of Prometheus or may endure the sor-rows of Niobe, but shall never die.Several years &gO, Dr. James L. Barton,

Secretary o f the American Board of Com -missioners lor Foreign Missions, and for-merly President of Euphrates College, Har-poet, Armenia, declared: "Give the Arme-nian capital and a righteous governmentand he will turn the wbole of Turkey intoa Garden of Eden in te n years,!'In th e past this peop le ofremarkable po-

tentialities has been offered fire. and sword;it is entitled now to an opportunity forachievement-to the enjoyment of com-p le te independence .As diplomatic relat.i.ons are severed be-

tween the nited tates and the progeny, orshall we say progenitor of BarbarimD-Turkey, the opportunity is presented, atlast, to achieve a most memorable victoryfor bumanity-UJe liberation of cru ifiedArmenia.When, during a. bloody recrudescence of

Turkish savagery. in 1905. many Arme-nians were slaughtered, Julia Ward Howe,the Ff'er and poet of liberty, asked indig-nlllltiy of an apathetic world:

J9



Still does complacent Europe smirk

At the pledged prom ise ofthe Turk?As fruitless as then: sympathies-Who rail at his iniquities,But never yet have plucked up heartTo act a valiant champion's part?

Then, also, prominent Europeans---amongst them Bjorstjerne Bjornson andFridtjof Nensen, of Norway; GeneralBooth, of the Salvation Anny; ProfessorWund t, ofLeipzig;. M. Berthelot. Profes-sor Ernest Lavisse. Jules Claretie, Leon

Bourgeois, Ludovic Hsie.vy, Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, and Louis Blanc, of France; andthirty-one Senators fm d twenty-five Depu-ties of France, two Senators and elevenDeputies of Italy, two Senators and forty-seven Deputies of Belgium, one Deputy ofSweden, and eight Deputies of Denmark,fourteen English Bishops, lifty-onc Profes-sors of the Universities of Gront Britninand the Continent, besides meny eminentcitizens of Norway, Sweden, Denmark,Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Scotland,

and Ireland, petitioned President Rooseveltto save from total annihilation "the Anne-ninn people whose origin is the same 88

40



ours, and who have played an importantpart in the development, of civilizationsince Mcient times."

In response to the appeal, the Honour-able Elihu Root, Secretary of State, wrote,on January 26, 1906:

" . . . The: sympn.thy of the Americanpeople with the oppressed of every countryhas been repeatedly espressed by variousbrsaehes of th is Government, and in thecase of th e unfortunate Armenians, has beeneloquently voiced by the American nationit~i'l r . There is no room for doubt in anyquarter as to the desire of the Presidentthnl these Armenians should possess thesecurity of life Bud property which it hasbeen the concerted rumor the EuropeanPowers to 8.l'SlLl'C to them. The sufferingsof th e Armenian 8uuj,ectsof Turkey cryaloud for remedy and redress. They shockthe humanitarian sense of all mankind ...No right-minded man can w itness sueh00-currence without craving the power to pre-V4m!. them . 1most sincerely wish th8~ t.hePnitl'fi f;tnwa had the power. .. "Perhaps Ul('1nan possumus atti~ude of

the United t.ntes Government. toward M~mania was diplomBtically justified. Our

41



ARME!>fA, H~ GULTIJIll':, AND ASl'llLlTlON8

country was not one of the signatory

Powers which had gtlaranteed, in . ArticleL.."Cl.of the Treaty of Berlin, "amerliora-tions and reforms" (or the provinces inha-bited by the Armenians.How entirely changed the situation nowl

A terrible conflagration, which blazed Iromthe smouldering embers of ruined heartbsof small nations, and which threatens th efabric of modern civilization with destruc.tion, has bestowed upon the United Statesthe power craved by the Honourable ElihuRoot.

It has, also, nearly materialised the wardevoutly desired several years aGO by thelate Bisbop McCahe, who, deeply arousedby fiendish Turkish atrocities, exclaimed;1 do n~t want wars and I do not like

litem, but there: is just 011CtDClr 1 wouldliA·e to !ive to Bec. I would like to Bee theUnited States and British Government,form an a lliance and make Tu rkey stO 'ph e r A rmen ia nmurders.The hour is propitioue, therefore, for the

Government of the United States to wield

effectively in behalf of Armenian freedomthe flaming sword of liberty it has so va-liantly and altruistically unsheathed.

42



Our Allie8~in~civilizllt.ion have one andnil, on various cecasiens, 8 llIJOUDced BO l~emnJy lhat they are ".figh tingfirst an dforemost lor tbe liberties of small nations."Our great President has proclaimed that"we shall fight for the things w hich w e havealwaysesrried nearest our bearts-for de-m ocracy, for Lberight or those who submitto authority to have II voice in their owngovemmenta, fo r the rights an d libertiesof smallnations, for a universal dominien

of right by such a concert of free peoplescs shall bring pence and sare~ to all na-tions and make Ole world itself at last.free."The Honeurahle Herbert IT. Asquith. Sir

F.dward Grey, M . . Aristide Briand,theHonourable Arthur J. Balfonr, and thoHonourable David Lloyd George havepledged (0 th e A rtn en ia n people "liberationand It life of peace and progress."In acknowledging congratulations ten-

dered him b), the Armenia.n Young Men's

A!l!' :O( ' intioDof MarseILles,France, MarshallJoffre replied:

I thank you Jar your sine61'S cttngralu-latio-ns.1 do not d ou bt th at ou r a rm i.es w illfJanqllls/l , for the triumph 0.1ri{Jht al1d j1l8-

43



tice, the bBrban· an enemyj <md tha t the op-pressed flatioll • amongst whom arethe AT-mcnuUls,w ill re sum e th eirworthy ptac&.

The idenlical sentiment was ex-pressed byAnatole France, who aid, at the rbonnemass -mee-L ing hel din honor of Armenia:

After the v i c t01 ' y0/ our armies, whiclla re fighting for ju atice and liberty, th 6Allies will have gr at dutt~8 to fulfill; andth mOllt saCTed o fthem. IPill be to bestowlife again on the martyred natWn.s,-onBclail.tt11,on Serbia. They will also insurethl' sa/fty and the independence oj Arme-

nia.Turning to her, they will 8ay, "Sister,

arise! • uffer no longer! Thou art hence-forth free to live in accordanca with till!geniu s and t.hy faith!"According to an Icelandic saga, a woman

drops the bloody robe of her murdered hus-band upon a friend in order that he avengehis death. Outraged Humanity now dropsthe mantle of bleeding Armenia upon theboulders of the United States and our Al-lies. The revenge it demands i not blood,

but the re toration of Armenia's 1 0 t inde-pendence, through the establi hment of nnew Armeniun Republic, which hall include

44



Van, Erzerum, Bitlis, Diarbekr, S i V B S ,Har-root, Cilicis j the distrieta 01 Erivan andl< :a r s -- -Russ ilUl Armeniaj and th e P ro vin ceof A zerbaijan-P ers ian A rm enia .

Before the recent. Armenian calamity,there were 4,160,000 Armenians. Tbe Tur-kish F.m.pireconlained 2,380,000; Rusaia ,1,500,000; the Unitetl tares, 100,000; Per-sia, 64,000; Egypt, 40,000; India, 20,000;Austria-Hungary, 20,000; Bulgaria, 20,000;Rumania, 8,000; Europe nnd yprus , 8,000.

Tlrerefore,we shall have enough Armeniansto populate the new Armenian Stare.The dictum of Gladstone, "To serve Ar~

menia is to s erv e c iv iliza tio n," isnot merelya bortatory effusion, It must be realizedthat an independent, united Atmeruawillbe the only bulwark ageinst the drang nachostlm Ilo lic y o fP.an ·German ism, theperen·a is l menace to the pea.ceo£ the w orld .

Again, th e estnblishment of an indepen-dent and united A rmenia will insure thetriumpb of justice. If [ustiee be denied to

small nationalities, i f their rights and as·r ira.tioll8be subord in a ted to th e interests ofthe great. States, then even if the Allieswin lhe war it i~ Prussianism tba.t will tri-umph.

45



In 1900, Professer Angelo Hall, of theAnnapolis Naval Academy, wrote:Self ..interest prompts the na tions tolet

Turkey go on with .her w('l1'k 0 ./e.xtermina.til1{1 the Anneniml~; and the nation" mayyet pay a h'J4vier penalty f('l1' their crimsthan we paid for slavery.

That prophecy of calamity is fulfillednow, and the Great Powers will not be ableto escape their downfaU H, after Lrus war,there remain one nation in bondage, be-CQuse,as enunciated by JEschylus, "Grea~ness is no defence from utter destructionwhen one insolently spurns Ule mighty al-tar of justice."Monsignor Touchet, Bishop of Orleans,

France, speaking OD the Armenian questionat the' Madeleine Chapel in Paris said:I would like fosee Europe, tI,at wept

over Uncle Tom'g Cabin, think over th eO1Itrages perpetrated by the Turks in Ar-m.enia.E~ht ce ntu rie s a goa leaser injua-tire th an these cMWle8 wou l-d h ave ca usedan avrrnging C'r1.Urade. Germany must standeternaUy condemned for her complicity inthese 01 It ra l1e8 , and it is th e dtlty oj theA llie d Powers,Jiohtiflfl nOtD aga inst th eC entral Em pires, to(lrant freedom tll Ar~

46



menia . O lhen.oYetile rem rU Jnt 0 /thie un. -fortu nate nation will becom e anarchwt8,and if th ey were to cU stro y Consta ntino pleby dynamite, I, a bishop, 8tanding beforeth e a l.ta ro / C k rist, w ou ldwith<ruta ny com -pu nctian pronou nce their actionn.ot onlyjustified, bu t even 8anctified."Italy," declared once Mo.z.zini,"wills to

be a nation, and one she must become--happen a it may." Armenia not only wills,but has nlso suffered immeasurably to bean independe.ntnation, and indeptmdent ,hn

mUJitbecome-happen (18 it may.This catastrophic war, born of Teutonic

iniquity .. hEla ultimately been ~ran formed,by the participation of America, intoa crusade for the liberation of mall nation-alities. President Wllson takes it (or grant-ed "that, statesmen everywhere are agreedthat there hould be a united, indep ndent,and autonomous Poland, and that hence-forth inviolable securit.y of life. of worship,and of industrial and social developmentshould be guaranteed to all peoples who

have lived hitherto under the power o rGovernments devoted to a faith and pur-pose ho tile to their own."

The cause and the plight of Poland and

4 7



Armenia. are similar, as has been empha-sized by Gustave Berve in his La

Victoire.Therefore, paraphrasing the last lines ofDr. Henry Van Dyke's sonnet, entitledAmerica's Way, we may write:

T hou ca nsttl-OW br ea k th e o pp re sso r's"Tonrod ,

And tho» canst help and com fort theoppre88edj

Thou canst nowloose th e captive'sheavy chain,

And thou canst bind his wounds andso oth e h is p a in.

A rmenia ca lls thee , overe ign oftheWest,

To act the L ibera tor's pa rt for G od !

48



CHRISTMAS .IN ARMENIA

(July 21, 1886-JaQull.'fY 20, 1931)

r;. OD set a day apart

'-:f To cheer the pilgrim's heart,-A day in prophecy

or Iairer worlds to be.,A hand of warriors bold,Garbed as the knigbts of old,Take up the ancient cross,Laying their earthly lossWhl're Ule white altar firesUplift their soul's desires.The peal of Christmas hells

Over the chapelswells,Mounting to heaven's beight,

Piercing the voiceless night,-Ollt.where the mangled creep,Out where the pale dead sleep.Each hill and valley fair

49



Wh i$ "p ers A rm en i a 's p rn :y er;

Quenched arc her hearth fires' gleamsUnder the dust .o f dreams;Only the blackened walls,

Standing like ghostly palls;Only the Icaflc8S trees,

Blighted for centuries,Watch through the slate and rain,Wbere the lus.t I('glons bear

The cross of Avarair l

';0



A Tribute to the Armenian

People

By TliE HO~OURAllLE _,EORGE E. HUlICH

('l'hl~ urtich- ... repmlle.-I from tJl!' October, 1906,Nnll (J[ .1 nil! Il;a, t be PIed ''''or of Ih l I (D

Armenia. 1 '11 " J lO llOumble Goor j: (C E .Ohureh, II<!

R upmor judge, enjoyl"li l .he high l't'!'lpcilt o Cthe I~I\~ . N nly was he an uprijtht judge.but he woo dist.inKllklhed hir U as [In rndit1CpOun

lr of politicnl science. He

wasnlWI ."

devoted to the CS t of bUlDILnily. and he neverfilii '(I to fip:b for Ih triumph of j 11 . " 1il'l' andn lt ht eo ll. tiD.C'l :f t. -A .M )

1) .' schnlnr, :- atesmnn lind diplOiD. I,Vl 0 American ranks high r thanAndrew D. 'Thite who some time ago.at the llge of seventy. voluntarily re-tired from hi high po of aruba sdor t .oGermanv. Th dutie of that position, oft-times delicat , difficult and extr mely OD-

er \I., he di charged with the same con-

summnte kill and ability as marked hisentire p oreeT,whether CI eduestor, presi-dent and build r of a great University,enat r, or n a impl itiz n of the great

51



republic. In whatever plate and at all

times his life and services have ennobledhis Dame and reflected the highest honourupon his country. His words, therefore,whenever he bas occasion to express himselfupon any grent question, com e w it.baweight and authority bardly commandedby those of any other HYing American,

Let ua interrogate this great scholar, thisprofound student of history. He tells us ofthe Arm eniau race ns follow s:"It is one of the finest. races in the world,

phy8ioRn~" morally and intellectually. If I

were asked to name the most desirableraces to be nddcd by immigration to theAme ric an popu la tio n,1 would name amongthe very first, the Armenian. In tro.velJingabout the wor ld , I have met many of them.In Egypt, I iound not oolythe p rim e m in-ister an Armenian, but also I found amanof the same race minister of public instrac-tion to whom is due one of th e finest tech-nirsI schools in existence: In St. Peters-burgthe most scholarly man in the Russianministry was the minister of public instruc-

tion, also an Armenian."They are a people of large and noble

capacities. For ages they h8:vemo.:intained

52



their civilization against. oppression whichwould have crushed almost. any otherpeople."These are, indeed, weighty and eloquent

word , coming, as they do, from the mouthof one of the most careful, thoughtful, andnoble of men I Of such testimony anypeople might well be proud. Lauda.l.ilaudato. To be praised by the praised_noone can ask more IWe mayor may not believe, as our

fancy or inclination dictates, that thealleged founder of he Armenian nationand ance tor of the Armenians, Haigor Haieus, was the great-great-grandson ofNoah through the line of Japbeth and Go-mer, but no one questions their rightfulclaim to a high place in the great Aryan orIndo-Germanic family of naticns.It j true that more than six hundred

years ago he Annenian nationality wasnearly extinguished, bu~ several millionArmenian still urvive, widely cattercd,indeed, up and down the earth, yet retain-ing to a considerable extent their language,national custom and habits, wi h 8.

specisllove of their country, which all theoppression and persecutioD tbey have sul-

53



\RMEl'>lA, HER CUl,TtrRC, A..VOAIIPllIA1'10N8

fered ha DOt ufficed to cru It oul of their

hearts, It j'l no wonder, for there i no por-tion of th earth' surface m orebeautiful,richer in natural resources orcapable ofbeing made more fruitful than both lesserand greater Ann D in, d ivid ed by the w atersof the Euphraw .

With a ny e nc ou ra gemen t,with noy as-surance of protection for their persone orprop ·rty. with their na tu ral indust ry I pat-

riot ic in tinct, love o C home and d .i l " ' fo rbettering their eonrlition, they w ould longsince have made w hat hould be their

country, w hatit w as in the clays of theirgreat king Anne " w hen you cou ldtravelfrom on end of it to anoth r over Cinerends n nd s olid ly bridged streams, by well• tocked pasture. and field or grain, byorchard. and vineyards, when its shipscovered the sea, w hen literntu re, el nee,(' mmer and very branch of indu try

were encouraged,The am national and ind ividunl trait

and characteristics hav attended lhe Ar-menians into every land w here they bsve

sought r fuge .• orne three thou and of themhave established home!'! in Fr sno County,California. The conduct of the great mass

54



of them has been entirely beyond reproa.ch.The facility and rapidity with which mostof them have adll.ptedBnd are adll.ptingthemselves to the new conditions have beensurprising. They ha.ve quickly American-ized themselves. Our language, customsand habita, as American citizens, they havetaken on easily and readily. Their rrugalityand industry nre proverbial. Mnny of themhave b ee om e w e alth y;most of them weU-to-do. They have esta.blished Ior themselveshomes. Their children ara sent to the publicschoole,and, though handicapped by theoecessityor learning II. foreign tongue, theirp rogress has beenremarkable. On tbe w holethen I can sny, wiU10Ut reservation, thatmy long observntion and experience of tbispeople here in Fresno County seem to meentirely to justify and confirm the conclu-sion reached by Amhascdor White thaI. the"Armenian race is to be named among themast desirnble to be added by immigrationto the American population."



Tigranes and His Bride

BU ARBHAG M BDESIAN(From Hair ,uk W'cklv. December ' l7, 1935.)

ID ITH a view to recounting exactlythe memorable episode which re-

lates to Tigrane and his beautiful bride,a writer had paraphrased, in these columns,on October 11, Charles Rollin's version of

it. However, hi paraphrase conteins uchamplification and divagations as to marthe grandeur of the p i de, 0 cha.rminglydes ribed by X nophon inhis CYTO'lJmdia,to which Chari Rollin acknowledges him-self as indebted, inee Xenophon's CYTO-pr. ec i i ( Jand hsrl Rollin' Ancient Historyare no ea ill' ac essible, it is apposite toquote rrom them. Here follows Xenophon'snarrative, which] have bridged consider-ably, and edited.

Cyrus addre d Cyaxares saying: "Cy-

ax lues. I came from home without verymuch money of my own, and of what I badI have very little left. I have spent it upon

56



my sol diets, Now I remem~r hearing yousaY,one day recently, that. the Arm.enianking despises you, becauee he has heardthat enemies are coming against you,andthat therefore be is neither sending troopsnor paying the tribute which is due,"

''Yes, Cyrus," he answered.; "that is just.what he is doing j and so I am in doubtwhether it is belter to proceed against himor to let. him alone for the present.""But bis residences," asked Cyrus, "are

they all in fortified pIsces?""Bis residencea,' anaweredCyaxares,

"ere in places not. very well fortified, I didnot fail to attend to that. However, thereare mountains where he could take refugeand fora time be safe from falling into ourhands."

'Well," Oyrus then made answer, "if youwouJdgive me as many horaemeuas youdeemreascnable, I think t.hat, with the helpof gods, I could make him send the troopsand pay the tribute to you. Now, I haveoften hunted with all my forces betweenyour country and Aralenia, and have evengone there with some horsemen from amongmy companions.""A nd s o," s aid Oya ..."(s res ,"H yo u w e re to

S7



do the same again, you wouldexci{e DO sus-

pieion; but U ' t.hey <shouldnotice that. yourforce WIlS much lLnger than with w hich youused to hunt, thill would atonce 10okBUS~picious."

"But," rejoined Cyrus, "it is possible todevise a pretext that will b e : credited bot.hhere and there, il some one bring themword that I wish to institute a great hunt,""A very clever seheme!" said Cyaxares;

"and I shall refuse to give you more thnareasonsble number, on the ground that Iw i h to visit the outposts on tile ASSyrillD

border."Therefore Cya :xa res at. o nc e p ro ce ed edto

get his cavalry and infantry together forviaiting outpeste, but CyrusofIered saeri-flees in behalf o r his exped ition. W henCy~axares with his forces of cavalry and in-ffllltry had already started on on the roadto the outposts, Cyrus' sscrifice turned outfavourable for proceedin.gagain!<tthe Arme-nians. Accordingly, he led his men equippedas if for hunting. Al; he proceeded on hisway, ill the very .first field a hare started,

and an engle B}.u.gup from the east caughtsight of the hare, and swooping down struckit. seized it. and carried it lip. then bore it

.5 a



AII~IESt.\, Rim 'VLTt:RE, ASD t\ l'lIlNIJO'

away to a hill not far off and disposed ofit. a hi pleasure, Then yrus, ob-serving the omen, was delighted and didhomage to overeign Zeus and said to thosewho were by: " u r hu nt, comrades, pleaseGod . will be ruccessful."

WhE'D they arrived at the frontier, he nonce proceeded to hunt; and the most ofhis men, on foot and on horseback, wermarching in n straight line beiore him.When he . opped hunting, he marched tothe Armenian border and dined. On the fol-lowing day t be went to th mountain to-ward which he wa aiming, and buntedagain. When he aw the army from Oyaxa-res approaching, he ent to them e retlyarul bade them take their dinner at a dis-tanr of about Iwo para angs, for he fore-• uw that thi also would contribute to theserrecy of his plan; but be ordered theircommander to orne to him when they badfinished their runner. Then, after the dinnerbe called together hi captaina, "'h n it w asday, Cyrw:; ent lorward 6 messenger to heArmenian king wi h instruction to speak tohim a lollcws: "King of Armenis, Cyrubid you take tep 88 quickly as possibleto send him the tribute and the troops."

59



ARlIUJNlA, HER Cul.'I'CU, AND A l'JllATIO 8

troops heChrysanta

had, and sent orders toto leave a guard upon the

mountain and come.

The-n he sent. a herald to the Annenianking to ask him the following question:

"Tell me, King of Armenia, whether youprefer to remain there and fight againsthunger and thirst, or to come down into theplain and fight it out with us?"The Armenian king answered that be bad

no wish to fight against either. Agnin Cyrus

eo to him and asked: "Why then do youit there and refuse W come down?"

"Becnu e," he answered, "I aID in aquanda.ry what to do. II

"But," said yrus, "there is no occasionwhatever for that; (or you are free to comedown for a trial,""And who," asked he, "will be my

judge?""Be, to be sure, to whom God has given

the power to deal with you 88 be will, evenwithout a trial."

Then, the Armenian king, r'ccognizing theexigency of his predicament, eame down.Cyru received both the king and all thatbelonged to him into the midst and set his

61



camp round III m, for by this time he had

all hit; for es together.Now, at this time, Tigranes, the king's

cider D, returned from a journey abroad.He it. 'i\'8S who hod been Cyrus' companiononce on a hunt; and when he heard whathad occurred, he came at. once. just a hewn. ,to 'yru!'l." cing his ruther and motheraod brothers and sister and hi own wifeall made prisoners, he wept, 8S might beexpected. HIlt rru showed him no tokenof friendship, but merely remarked: "Youhave come just, in time to attend your

father's trial."Immediately Cyru called together the of-

ficers of both the Medes and the Persiansand all the Armcnianncbles who were pres-ent. He did not exclude the women whowere there in th ir enrriage . hut permittedthem to attend.liKing of Armenia," said he, "I advise

you to tell lhe truth, that you may be guilt-loss of Ulat offense which is bated more cor-dially than any oth f. For let me assureyou that being caught in a bore-faced lie

stands mo t BCriOUI'IJy in the way of a man'srecei vl.ng any merry.""'Yell. Cyrus." said he. "Al!k whnt yeu

62



will, and be 8BSUred that I will tell thetruth, let hll.PPCDwhat will as a result ofit..""Tell mc then," aaked Cyru I "did you

ever huve a war with Astyages, mymother's father, nnd with the rest of theMedes?""Yes," be answered, "1 did.'"When you were conquered by him, did

you agree to pay tribute and to join hisarmy, wherever be should command you togo, and to own no Iorts?""Those are the facts. II

"Why, then, have you now failed to paytribute and to end the troops, and whyhave you been building Iorts?""I longed {or liberty; for it seemed to

me to be a .glorious achievement, both to betree mysell and to bequeath liberty to myc hild re n l""You nre right," said yrus ; "it is Doble

to fight thn one may n ver be in dangerof becoming a stave. But if anyone hasbeen conquered. in war or in any other way

reduced to servitude and is hen caught.while attempting to rob his ma torsare you the first. man to reward him as anhonest m an and O D ewho does right, or do

63



you punish him 8.8 a malefactor if you catcbh i m ? "

"1 punish him," said be."Answer each of these questions explicitly

then," ordered Cyrus: "if anyone bappensto be an officer under yon and docs wrong,do you permit him to conbinu e in office ordo you put another in his place?"1< 1put a.nother in his place.""If he has great possessions=do you al-

low him to continue rich, or do you makehim poor?"

"I eonfiscate all tbat he many happen to

possess,"aDswered he."And if you find out f,bat. he is trying todesert to the enemy, what do you do?'"I put him to death," said the Annenian

king.Then his son, Tigrnnes, immediately

rent his gru-men!is. and the women criedaloud and tore their cheeks. But Cyrusbade them be silent and said: "Very well,K i n!!: o fA rrneniIll; so thnt is your id ea ofjustice; in accordance with it, then, whatdo you advise us to do 1"

Then the Armenian king was silent, forhe was in 8 quandary whether to adviseCyrus te put him to death or to proposeto

64



."-RMI:NH, HER LTLT 1Ui:, AND ASl'IllATlOS8

Cyrus, to mete out your punishments to

your benefit or to your own injury?""In the latter event, at least," said Cyrus,"I should be punished myself.""Aye, but you would be doing yourself a

great injury," rejoined Tigrsnes, "if youshould put your friends to death just at thetime when it was of the greatest advantageto you to have them.""How," saked Cyrus, "could men be of

the greatest advantage to me just at thetime when they were caught doing wrong?""They would be, I think, H at. that. time

they should become discrete. For it seemto me to be true, Cyrus, that without dis-c retio n th ere is no advantag at all in anyother virtue; for wha could one do with8 strong man or a brave man, or what. witba rich man or fl man or power in the slateif he lacked di e re tio n? B ute,,'C J"j' Irien dis useful and every ervan good, if he beendowed with di eretion.""Do you mean to sny I then," Cyrus an-

wered, "that in one day's time your ratherha become di. crete when he was indiscrete

before?""Yes, I do, indeed.""By that YOIl mean to Bay that discretion

66



•\ !I!IoI}:" lA, Him l 'l II ..TURJ., ASD ASPIa.\TIO-"ts

that such a defeat is adequate to make meo

d iserete= -I m ean, w henthey find out thntothers a re th eir s up erio rs ?""Yes," replied Tigranes, "much more than

when they are defeated in combat. For theone who is overcome by strength sometimesconceives the idea tha.t, if be trains hisbody, he may renew the combat. But ifpeople areeonvinced that others are super-ior to them selves , they are of Lenready,even w ithout eom puls ion,1 0 submit tothem."

"You seem to think," observed Cyrus,

htllal the insolent do not. recognise thosemore discrete than they. Do you not ) . . ' "DOW

tUQLyour father has played Ialse and hasDot kept his agreement \ViU, us, ulthoughhe knew thnl we have Dol been ,-jointing!lOY o f th e a gre em en tsmade by As ty ag es ? "

"Yes; bllt J do DO tmean that simply re-('ugniz.lnJ,! their superiors makes people dis-c rete, u nles s they are punished by thOI"C

superiors, 8.8 my father now is.'"But," rejoined Cyrus, "your father hM

not yet suffered the least harm: but he is

afraid, to be sure, that he will suffer theworst."

"Do you think, then." asked Tigraoes,

68



"that any deed breaks a man's spirit. soonerIhan abject rear? Do you not know thatUIOSC who are beaten with the sword, whiohis considered the most potent instrumentofcorrection, ere nevertheless ready to fightthe snma enemy ~ain, but when peoplereally rcuranyone very mucb, then theyCIll11loLlook him in the face, evenw hen hetries to cheer them?""You mean to say," asked Cyrus, "that

fear is 8 more heavy punislnnent to menthan real correction?'"You know," replied Tigranes, "that wha.t

I I'syis true; for yOll are sware tbnt, onthe one hand, those who are afraid thatluey nrc to be exiled from their native land,and those who on the eve of battle areafraid that they shan be defeated, andthose who fear el.avery or bondagc,sllsuchcan neither ent nor sleep ror {ear; whereasthose who a t£> a lready in exile or alreadydefeated or already in slavery can some-times eat and sleep better than those enjoy·ing n happier lot. Some, for fear thaI, theywill be caught and put to death, in terrortake their own Iives before their time-some by hurling themselves over a preci-pice. olhera by hanging themselves, others

6 9



by cutting their own throats ; SO doc f oar

crush down the soul more than all othertenor. for my father, in what a stateof mind do you think be is? For L is illdread not only for himself, but also for me,for his wife, and for all his children.""Well,1Ianswered GynL8, I<it is not at all

unlikely, I suppose, that be is for the mom-ent in such a sLate of mind. Ilowever, itseems to me that we expect of a man whois insolent in success and abject in failurethat, when s t OD his feet on e morc, he willagain wax arrogant and again CB\ll<C moretrouble. ""'Yell, by Zeus," said Tigranea, "our

wrong-doing do 5, DO doubt, give YOII .auseto distrust us; but you may build forts inour country and occupy lhe trongholda ai-r ady built and take whateverelse you wisl:as security. Yet you will not find LIS verymuch aggrieved by your doing so; for weshall remember that we are to blame for itall. But if you hand over our governmentto someone of those who have done nowrong and yet show t,hat you distrust them,see to j Icst they regard you a no friend,in spite 01 your favours to them. Again. OD

your guard against incurring t.heir hatred,

70



if you fail to place a check upon them tokeep them from rebellion, seeto it les t youneed to bring them to discretion even morethan you did just now,""Nay, by the gods," replied Cyrus, "I do

nol. th ink I shou ldlike to employ servantsthat I knew obeyed me only from compul-sion. Rul if t had servants who I thoughtassisted me, IlS in duty bound, out. o rgood-will and friendshlp toward me, I think Ishould be better satis fied w ith them w hen

they did wrong than win} others who dis-liked me, when they perfomed all theirtasks fait.hfully but Irem com pu ls ion."To th is T igranes replied: "From whom

could y011 ever get suchfriend sh ipas younow C::ID from us?""From those, I presume," said he, "wbo

nne never been m y enem ies ,if I w ould dothem such favors as you now bid me doyou,""Bill, (')'TIlS," naked he, lias Cads now

a re, c ou ldvou find anyone to w hom you

cou ld do nsgreat favours asyoucan to myfnther? For example, i f you gra.nt anyoneof those, who have done you [10 wrong , hislife. what gratitude do you think he willfeel tow ard you fortbat? Again, who will

71



love you [or not depriving him of his wileand children more than he who thinks thatit would rve h im right to lose them? Doyou know of anyone who would be moregrieved than we, not to have the throne ofArmenia? It is evident, then, tbat he whowould be most grieved not to be king, wouldalso be mo t. . arateful for receiving thethrone. U you care at all to leave mntlershere in IlS little confusion as possible whenyou go away, consider whether you thinkthe country would be more tranquil underthe beginning of n new admini tration than

if the one to which we are used should con-tinue. If you care to take with you as largean army as po~ ible, who do you thinkwould be in a hotter position to organize thetroop properly than be who h l 1 1 1oftenemployed them? If you need money also,who do you think could supply it beUerthan he who knows and commands all thesources of supply? My good Cyrus, beware

lest in CR ting UR aside you do yourself a

greater injury Ulan any harm my rather

h~ been able to do vou.""Tell rne, King of Armenia," commanded

Cyrus, "if I yield to you, how large an

72



..'Ul u.:o;U. URII lfLTUIIE, ~ND ,.\ PlJl.~'rIOSS

army will you send with me and how muchmoney will you contribute to the war?"

1'1 have no better offer, Cyrus," the lu:-

menian king replied, "than to show younil my forces. Wben you have seen them,you may lake as many as you see fi , leav-ing the rest here to protect. the country. Inthe snma WRy concerningLhe money. IL isproper for me to how you nil that I have,and for you to decide for your el r and takeas much as you please and to leave as

much8S

you please.""Tell me then," asked Cyrus, "how largeyour forces are and how much money youhave.""W 11," the Armenian king then an-

swered, "there are about eight. thousandcavalry and about forty thousand inlllDtry.The property, including the treasures thatmy father left me, amoun ,when reducedto cash, to more than three thousand ta-Ients.'

Immediately Cyru said: II end with methen only half the anDY, since your neigh-bours, the heldesns, are at war with you.Of the m oney, ins tead offifty talents whichyou II. ed to pay as tribute, pay Oya .X8 . l ' edouble that sum, because you are in arrears

73



with yOUl" payments. Also, land me per-

sonally a hundred m.ore,and I promise youtlHlt if God prospers me, I will in return foryour loan either do you favors wortb morethan that amount or at least pay you backthe money, if I can j but if I cannot, I mayseem insolvent, I suppose, but I should notjusUy be accounted dishonest."

"For heaven's sake, Cyrus/, exclaimedthe Armenian king, "do not talk that way IIf you do, you will make me lose heart.Consider !.haL what you leave here is DO

less yours than what you takeaway.""Very well,." said Cyrus, "that makes

already twice 95 much as you have." Turn-ing to Tigranes, he asked, "Tell rue howmuch would you pay to get your wifeback?"Now it happened thut 'I'igrunes wag

newly married and 10"00 bis wife verydearly."I would give my life, Gyrus," replied

he, "to keep her from sla.very.""Take her back; she is your own," said

Cyrus, "for do not consider t.hat she hasbeen made a prisoner of war at . 611 ,sinceyou never fa n away from [IS. You too. Kingof Armenia, may take back your wife and

74



ABM"'~ U, H E R 'ULTCIIE, AND A"J'IKATIO:>'

"Well, then,' replied Cyrus, turning tothe

mg,"if I should yield to your son's

ent.reatie , with what number of men, andwhat sum ofmoney will you assist us inthe war against the Babylonians?" "Mytroops and treasures," say the Armenianking, "arc no longer mine; they are en-tirely your , I can rai e 40,000 foot, and8,000 horse; and as to money, T reckon,that, including the treasure which my fa-ther left me, there are about 3,000 talentsready money. All these ar wholly at YOUI'

di posal." 'yru accepted half the numberof the troop, nnd lefl the king the otherhall for the defense of the country againstthe hald eans , w ith w hom heWIlS at war,The annual tribute which was due to th eMedes he doubled, and instead of fifty ta-lents exacted one hundred, and borrowedthe like sum over and above in his ownname."But. what would you give me," added

Cyrus, "for the ransom ot YOUT wife?"j'AIl that I have in the world," answered

the King."And fOT the ransom of your ehifdreu?""The same.""From this time, then, YOll are indebted

76



to me twice the value of all your possess-ions ... \_Dd you. Tigranes, at. what. pricewould you redeem the liberty of yourwile?" Kow he had but lately married herand was passionately fond of her. "At theprice," says be, "01 a thousand lives, if Ihad them ."Cyrus theu conducted U tero all to bill

tent, and entertained them at supper. H iscosy to imagine w hat lmnsporls of joythere must U8YC been on tWa occasion.

Cyrus, before tilCY parted, embracedthem ali, in token of !l perfect reconcilia-tion. This done) all got into their chariots,wiUI their wives, and went home full ofgratitu de and admiraL ion. N ot.U ingbut Cy-ru s WIlS mentioned the w hole w ayi som e ex-tolling his wisdom, others his valour; romeadmiring the sweetness of his temper,others praising the beauty of his person,and the majesty of his mein. "And you,"sn.ys Tigranes, addressing himself to hisbride, "what cia you think of Cyrus' aspect

and deportment?" "[ dill not, observe him,'replied the lad)'. "Upon what ohjeet thendid you fix your eyes?" "Upon him thaisaid he would rn ' l ' c11 thousand lives as theransom or my liberty."



Then Charles Rollin writes:III have thought proper, for several res-

on , to give 0 circumstantial an accountof this affair. though I have so far ab-ridged, thut it is not above a quarter ofwhat we find it in Xenophon,lilt may erve to give the reader 8. notion

of the style of that exc II at hi torian, andexcite his curionsity to consult the original,the nat-ural unaffected beauties of whicharc sufficient to justify the singular esteemwhich per on of good ta ..te 118\'c ever hadfor the noble simpli .jty of that author. To

mention but one instance; what an ides ofchastity and modesty, and at the same timewhat :l wonderful simplicity, and delicacyof thought. ar there in th an wer of Tig-ranes' wife, who has no eyes but lor herhusband I"

78



THUS SPAK 'EMAN(From the Armenian of AIlSHAO MAnnr.sIAN)

Dr. Charlell B. Shinn, literary erine, commentingOD Mill! .DIil.ckweU's "An:ncllilln Poems," in theFl'L"'I1luRppubliNlfI, 011 & >ptern oo r ~, 1 91 7,seleetedthe lIubjoiDed poem to ilhJBt.mte ~lhe unconquer-able Armenian pmt, which illumum1l'1It.he wholehook"

DEEP. sunk in tho l.l,gh tI w andered in8 City dead by fire,

Where walls, like blackened skeletons, inru in roseOD high.

Enahrouded by the shadow of D estructionall th ings seem ed ,

Smothered beneath the sun that shonewitilina tomb-like sky.

Destructionwit.h ita breath of flame intriumph boasted high:

"Thus in one day ,one moment, I destroythe pride and grace

Of works that Man bas taken years to rearupon the earth j

And low he lies before me when I showhim my stem face!"

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• R~rE '1 • HEll C LTUH. " AND ASPlR.\TlO~

But Mm, of mighty wiU power, when he

beard this haugbty boast,Raised up h is sorrow-laden head, and likea giant cried:

"Destruction, you are longing Ior mydowniaU and defeat,

But you are all in error, you are blindedby your pride.

"Creating, still creating, I shall combat youfor aye.

You may destroy, but 1 shall built!forevermore, with joy,

Till Godhood shall awake in me, and whenthat day shall dawnThen even grim Destruction itself I hall

destroy!"

Trans. ALICE TONE BLACKWELL

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Armenia Her Culture and Aspirations a Mahdesian 1938

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