rch.
But as there was nothing to take hold of in his conduct, the queen laid
this snare for him. She was a woman of good address, had abundance of
wit, and _EXCELLED AT PLAYING A CERTAIN GAME WITH DICE_. She had been
apparently reconciled to the king after the death of Cyrus, and was
present at all his parties of pleasure and gambling. One day, seeing the
king totally unemployed, she proposed playing with him for a thousand
_darics_ (about L500), to which he readily consented. She suffered him
to win, and paid down the money. But, affecting regret and vexation,
she pressed him to begin again, and to play with her--_FOR A SLAVE_. The
king, who suspected nothing, complied, and the stipulation was that the
winner was to choose the slave.

'The queen was now all attention to the game, and made use of her utmost
skill and address, which as easily procured her victory, as her studied
neglect before had caused her defeat. She won--and chose Mesabetes--the
slayer of her son--who, being delivered into her hands, was put to the
most cruel tortures and to death by her command.

'When the king would have interfered, she only replied with a smile of
contempt--"Surely you must be a great loser, to be so much out of temper
for giving up a decrepit old slave, when I, who lost a thousand good
_darics_, and paid them down on the spot, do not say a word, and am
satisfied."'

Thus early were dice made subservient to the purposes of cruelty and
murder. The modern Persians, being Mohammedans, are restrained from the
open practice of gambling. Yet evasions are contrived in favour of games
in the tables, which, as they are only liable to chance on the 'throw
of the dice,' but totally dependent on the 'skill' in 'the management
of the game,' cannot (they argue) be meant to be prohibited by their
prophet any more than chess, which is universally allowed to his
followers; and, moreover, to evade the difficulty of being forbidden to
play for money, they make an alms of their winnings, distributing them
to the poor. This may be done by the more scrupulous; but no doubt
there are numbers whose consciences do not prevent the disposal of
their gambling profits nearer home. All excess of gaming, however,
is absolutely prohibited in Persia; and any place wherein it is much
exercised is called 'a habitation of corrupted carcases or carrion
house.'(20)

(20) Hyde, _De Ludis Oriental_.

In ancient Greece gambling prevailed to a vast extent. Of th