Ex virginibus autem, quae speciosae sunt captae, ut in
Perside, ubi feminarum pulchritudo excellit, nec contrectare
aliquam voluit nec videre. Ammian. xxiv. 4.
The native race of Persians is small and ugly; but it has been improved by the perpetual mixture of Circassian blood (Herodot. l. iii. c. 97. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 420).