Wine was drunk both at the meal and afterwards, often in an undue
quantity; and the close of the feast was apt to be a scene of general
turmoil and confusion. At the Court it was customary for the king to
receive his wine at the hands of a cupbearer, who first tasted the
draught, that the king might be sure that it was not poisoned, and then
presented it to his master with much pomp and ceremony.

The whole ceremonial of the court seems to have been imposing. Under
ordinary circumstances the monarch kept himself secluded, and no one
could obtain admission to him unless he formally requested an audience,
and was introduced into the royal presence by the proper officer. On his
admission he prostrated himself upon the ground with the same signs of
adoration which were made on entering a temple. The king, surrounded by
his attendants, eunuchs, and others, maintained a haughty reserve, and
the stranger only beheld him from a distance. Business was transacted
in a great measure by writing. The monarch rarely quitted his palace,
contenting himself with such reports of the state of his empire as were
transmitted to him from time to time by his officers.

The chief amusement of the court, in which however the king rarely
partook, was hunting. Media always abounded in beasts of chase; and
lions, bears, leopards, wild boars, stags, gazelles, wild sheep, and
wild asses are mentioned among the animals hunted by the Median nobles.
Of these the first four were reckoned dangerous, the others harmless. It
was customary to pursue these animals on horseback, and to aim at them
with the bow or the javelin. We may gather a lively idea of some of
these hunts from the sculptures of the Parthians, who some centuries
later inhabited the same region. We see in these the rush of great
troops of boars through marshes dense with water-plants, the bands of
beaters urging them on, the sportsmen aiming at them with their bows,
and the game falling transfixed with two or three well-aimed shafts.
Again we see herds of deer driven within enclosures, and there slain by
archers who shoot from horseback, the monarch under his parasol looking
on the while, pleased with the dexterity of his servants. It is thus
exactly that Xenophon portrays Astyages as contemplating the sport
of his courtiers, complacently viewing their enjoyment, but taking no
active part in the work himself.

Like other Oriental sovereigns, the Median monarch maintained a seraglio
of wiv