THE PALACE OF FORTY PILLARS. 
595 
if intended for an inscription : probably, writing may have been 
there, which is now obliterated. To the left of it, are four 
standing figures about five feet six inches high, habited in long 
robes, with brogue-like buskins on their feet. They each hold 
a short spear in an upright position, in both hands. The 
fluted, flat-topped cap, before described on other bas-reliefs, is 
on their heads ; and from the left shoulder hangs their bow and 
quiver. The nicety with which all the details are executed, 
render these sculptures particularly interesting to the historian, 
and to the historical painter; they mark the costume of the 
time and the people, and their progress in the form, variety, 
and use of arms ; and in the latter instance, I cannot omit no¬ 
ticing the clearness with which they show the ancient method of 
stringing the bow, and the manner of attaching the leather cover 
to the quiver, which protects the feathers of the arrows from 
damage. Being an old bowman myself, these peculiarities of 
archery were more readily observed by me. 
On the right of the vacant tablet are three figures only. They 
look towards the opposite four, and differ in no way with respect 
to their robes and fluted helmet; but they have neither bows 
nor quiver; carrying the spear only; with the addition of a 
large shield on the left arm, something in the shape of the body 
of a violincello ; or rather, I should say, exactly in the form of 
a Boeotian buckler. It appears extraordinary, that none of these 
armed figures wear any thing like a sword or dagger; but on ex¬ 
amining all the sculptures throughout, I did not find the represent¬ 
ation of what we call a sword, on any one of them. As this seems 
to have been the grand approach to the entrance of the palace 
above, doubtless the spearmen just described must have been 
intended to pourtray the royal guards; the fashion of whose 
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