seem
that the entire animal was regarded as fairly palatable. The horse
and ass, which no one would touch in modern Persia, were thought,
apparently, quite as good eating as the ox; and goats, which were far
commoner than sheep, appeared, it is probable, oftener at table. The
dietery of a grand house was further varied by the admission into it
of poultry and game--the game including wild boars, stags, antelopes,
bustards, and probably partridges; the poultry consisting of geese
and chickens. Oysters and other fish were used largely as food by the
inhabitants of the coast-region.

Grades of society were strongly marked among the Persians; and the
etiquette of the Court travelled down to the lowest ranks of the people.
Well-known rules determined how each man was to salute his equal,
his inferior, or his superior; and the observance of these rules was
universal. Inferiors on meeting a decided superior prostrated themselves
on the ground; equals kissed each other on the lips; persons nearly but
not quite equals kissed each other's cheeks. The usual Oriental rules
prevailed as to the intercourse of the sexes. Wives lived in strict
seclusion within the walls of the Gynaeceum, or went abroad in litters,
seeing no males except their sons, their husbands, and their husbands'
eunuchs. Concubines had somewhat more freedom, appearing sometimes at
banquets, when they danced, sang, and played to amuse the guests of
their master.

The Persian was allowed to marry several wives, and might maintain in
addition as many concubines as he thought proper. Most of the richer
class had a multitude of each, since every Persian prided himself on the
number of his sons, and it is even said that an annual prize was given
by the monarch to the Persian who could show most sons living. The
concubines were not unfrequently Greeks, if we may judge by the case of
the younger Cyrus, who took two Greek concubines with him when he made
his expedition against his brother. It would seem that wives did
not ordinarily accompany their husbands, when these went on military
expeditions, but that concubines were taken to the wars by most Persians
of consideration. Every such person had a litter at her disposal, and a
number of female attendants, whose business it was to wait upon her and
execute her orders.

All the best authorities are agreed that great pains were taken by
the Persians--or, at any rate, by those of the leading clans--in the
education of thei