Later Mughals v2.c17.s4.2

v2.c17.s4.2

For nearly a century and a half after the founder, a succession of wise warlike and active kings maintained the strength and glory of Persia. But about the middle of the 17th century began the inevitable decline in the monarchy from a continuous decline in the character of the monarch. In the words of the historian Sir John Malcolm, during the century following the death of Abbas the Great (1627), the Persian throne was occupied by "a succession of weak, cruel and debauched monarchs...... The lower orders became every day more unwarlike and...... ceased to be able to defend the State...... The nation may be said to have existed on the reputation it had acquired before." [Hist. of Persia, 2nd ed., i. 379.]