elves delighted, because
his majesty had condescended to recollect them. A tone of sycophancy
and servility was thus engendered, which, sapping self-respect, tended
fatally to lower and corrupt the entire character of the people.

In considering the manners and customs of the Persians, it will be
convenient to follow the order already observed in treating of Assyria
and Media--that is to say, to treat, in the first instance, of their
warlike, and subsequently of their peaceful usages. On the latter the
monuments throw considerable light; on the former, the information which
they supply is comparatively scanty.

The Persians, like the Medes, regarded chariots with disfavor, and
composed their armies almost entirely of foot and horse. The ordinary
dress of the foot-man was, in the earlier times, a tunic with long
sleeves, made of leather, and fitting rather tightly to the frame, which
it covered from the neck to the knee. Under this was worn a pair of
trousers, also of leather, and tolerably tight-fitting, especially at
the ankles, where they met a sort of high shoe, or low boot. The head
was protected by a loose round cap, apparently of felt, which projected
a little in front, and rose considerably above the top of the head.
Round the waist was worn a double girdle or belt, from which depended a
short sword. [PLATE XXVIII Fig. 4.]

The offensive arms of the foot-man were, a sword, a spear, and a bow.
The sword, which was called by the Persians _akinaces_, appears to
have been a short, straight weapon, suited for stabbing rather than for
cutting, and, in fact, not very much better than a dagger. [PLATE XXIX.,
Fig. 2.] It was carried in a sheath, and was worn suspended from the
girdle on the right side. From the Persepolitan sculptures it would
seem not to have hung freely, but to have been attached to the right
thigh by a thong which passed round the knee. The handle was short,
and generally unprotected by a guard; but, in some specimens, we see a
simple cross-bar between the hilt and the blade.

The spear carried by the Persian foot-man was also short, or, at any
rate, much shorter than the Greek. To judge by the representations of
guardsmen on the Persepolitan sculptures, it was from six to six and a
half or seven feet in length. The Grecian spear was sometimes as much as
twenty-one feet. The Persian weapon had a short head, which appears to
have been flattish, and which was strengthened by a bar or ridge down
the m