673 
PER 
he reached the boundaries of a territory called the Queen’s 
Head-drefs, and another day in travelling through a 
country which was ftyled the Queen’s Girdle. 
The king’s children, particularly the elded, were com¬ 
mitted, foon after their birth, to the care of certain eu¬ 
nuchs. At the age of feven years they were inftrufted 
in riding and hunting ; and at the age of fourteen they 
were placed under the difcipline of four learned tutors, 
the fird of whom was to teach them prudence, the fecond 
judice, the third temperance, and the fourth fortitude. 
The king’s ordinary guard confided of 15,000 men, who 
condantly attended his perfon, and were denominated the 
lung's relations, and 10,000 choice horfemen, who attended 
him in ail his expeditions, and were called immortal. 
Thefe guards received no pay, but they were abundantly 
fupplied with all the neceffaries of life. 
The Perfian kings frequently heard caufes both cri¬ 
minal and civil; and were generally very tender in refpe< 5 l 
of the adminidration of judice. After lidening atten¬ 
tively to the merits of a caufe, they took feveral days to 
refieft upon it, and to advife with their mod learned 
judges before they pronounced fentence. When they 
fat on a trial of life and death, they confidered, not only 
the crime of which the prifoner ftood impeached, but all 
the actions of his life ; and, accordingly as his crimes or 
virtues preponderated, they condemned or acquitted 
him. 
The royal revenues of Perfia, according to Herodotus, 
amounted to fomewhat more than fixteen millions derling: 
but this fum was, in later ages, greatly augmented by 
taxes drawn from Egypt, Syria, and feveral provinces of 
Europe. 
The ancient Perfians are faid to have paid more parti¬ 
cular regard to the education of their children than any 
other nation. A 1 ’on was never admitted to the prefence 
of his father till he had arrived at the age of five years, 
led, if he Ihould die before that period, his parent might 
be too heavily afflicted by his lofs. At five years old, the 
children of reputable Perfians were entruded to the care 
of learned rnaders, who carefully implanted in their open¬ 
ing minds an averfion to every fpecies of vice, and allured 
them rather by example than precept to the practice of 
all the moral virtues. Every parent had the power of 
life and death over his own children ; but theexercife of 
this prerogative was only allowable for capital offences, 
or the repetition of great crimes. 
No nation was ever more ready to adopt foreign cuf- 
toms than the Perfians. They had no fooner vanquiffled 
the Medes than they afl’umed their drefs. After thefub- 
jugation of Egypt, they ufed the Egyptian armour; and, 
as foon as they became acquainted with the Greeks, they 
imitated them in the word of vices. They were.indulged, 
by their laws, with a plurality of wives, befides as many 
concubines as they could conveniently maintain: and a 
numerous progeny was regarded as the greated bleffing 
which heaven itfelf could bellow upon mortals. 
The punilhments inflicted upon criminals were various. 
Thofe convifted of high treafon were condemned to have 
the right hand Ilruck off, and then to fuffer decapitation; 
a fentence which Artaxerxes caufed to be executed on 
the dead body of his brother Cyrus ; and thofe who had 
terminated the exiltence of a fellow-creature by poifon, 
were prefled to death between two large dones; which 
punilhment was infikded upon a woman called Gigis, for 
having confpired with Paryfatis to poifon queen Statira. 
But the mod fevere punifiiment known in Perfia was the 
inhuman one of fadening the culprit between two boats 
in fuch a manner that he was unable to move, though his 
head, hands, and feet, were left uncovered. His face, 
expofed to the rays of the fun, was fmeared with honey, 
which invited innumerable fwarms of flies and wafps to 
torment him; while the worms that bred in his excre¬ 
ments devoured his entrails; and the executioners com¬ 
pelled him, by thrufting fliarp iron indruments into his 
eyes, to receive nourifflment, for the exprefs purpofe of 
S I A. 
prolonging his excruciating agonies. Plutarch affirms, 
that Mithridates, whom Artaxerxes condemned to this 
punilhment for pretending to have killed his brother 
Cyrus, lived under this complication of torments feven- 
teen days; and that, when the uppermod boat was taken 
off’, nt his death, his body exhibited a fpedtacle too Ihock- 
ing for defcription. 
The contempt of riches frequently exprefled by the 
ancient Perfians ferves to (how that they were entire 
drangers to trade and commerce, as objects of gain. 
Previouily to the conqued of Lydia, they had no money, 
nor any clothing but the Ikins of beads; but, after the 
redublion of Lydia, they feem to have applied themfelves 
to trade and navigation, in order to barter fuch articles 
as they could eafily fpare for thofe commodities which 
their country wanted. Their learning appears to have 
been very inconfiderable to the time of Zoroader, who is 
thought to have flourilhed under the reign of Darius 
Hydafpes, and was the mod famous philofopher and ma¬ 
thematician of the age in which he lived. 
Anciently, the Perfians were all trained to military ex- 
ercife, but more particularly to the ufe of the bow; 
whence the bow of Elam is mentioned, by the prophet Je¬ 
remiah, and the quiver of Elam by Ifaiah, as weapons pe¬ 
culiar to this nation. Their armour confided of a tiara, 
or head-piece of great drength and thicknefs ; a coat of 
mail, wrought in likenefs of fcales, and embellifhed with 
fleeves of various colours; and a wicker (hield or target. 
Over this they wore great coats of purple ; but the king’s 
was white, by which he was known,and frequently fingled 
out by the enemy. It was accounted difreputable among 
the grandees of this nation to appear in public but on 
horfeback : hence the Perfians drove to emulate each 
other in the richnefs of their caparifons, their very horfes, 
as Dionyfius expreffes it, champing the pured gold: and 
they fometimes entered the field ot battle in fplendid cha¬ 
riots, drawn by four, fix, or even eight, horfes. 
The magnificence of their expeditions may be learned 
from Herodotus, who gives the following defcription of 
the march of Xerxes’s army. “ The baggage, carried by 
fervants on beads of burthen, appeared in front, and was 
followed by a body of troops, confiding of men of all 
nations mifcellaneoufly arranged; next advanced a 
thoufand horfemen, and the like number of fpearmen, 
with their fpears pointing downward, preceding ten 
beautiful horfes, caparifoned with fumptuous furniture, 
and confecrated to Jupiter. After thefe came the chariot 
of Jupiter, drawn by eight white horfes, a conduftor on 
foot holding the reins. The king immediately followed 
in a chariot drawn by Nifean horfes, and attended by a 
thoufand chofen Ipearmen. After thefe came a body of 
cavalry, confiding of a thoufand chofen Perfians, and 
they were followed by ten thoufand Perfian foot, of whom 
one thoufand were armed with javelins, embellifhed with 
pomegranates of gold; and nine thoufand had pomegra¬ 
nates of filver. The red of the forces then advanced 
promifcuoufly, and clofed the grand proceffion.” 
When they defigned to make war upon any nation, 
they fent heralds to demand of them earth and water, 
thereby commanding them to acknowledge the king of 
Perfia as fovereign lord of their country. In time of 
affion, the king animated his forces by his prefence and 
exhortations; and the fignal, which was given by (bund 
of trumpets, was always followed by an univerlal fhout 
of the army. Thofe who died on the field were accounted 
peculiarly happy; and fuch as abandoned their pods, or 
evinced a cowardly difpofition, were condemned to exem¬ 
plary puniflnnents. They never fought in the night, 
marched before fun-rife, nor ufed any dratagem inde¬ 
pendent of their own valour; whence Ammianus Mar- 
cellinus obferves, “ they deemed it bafe and unfair to deal 
a v'nflory.” 
Previoufly to their taking the field, the forces paffed in 
review before the king, or commander in chief, each 
man throwing an arrow into a balket. Thefe were fealed 
up 
