more terrible
than a score of minor perils, against which it is possible to guard.
Noble Persians were liable to be beheaded, to be stoned to death, to be
suffocated with ashes, to have their tongues torn out by the roots, to
be buried alive, to be shot in mere wantonness, to be flayed and then
crucified, to be buried all but the head, and to perish by the lingering
agony of "the boat." If they escaped these modes of execution, they
might be secretly poisoned, or they might be exiled, or transported for
life. Their wives and daughters might be seized and horribly mutilated,
or buried alive, or cut into a number of fragments. With these perils
constantly impending over their heads, the happiness of the nobles can
scarcely have been more real than that of Damocles upon the throne of
Dionysius.

In conclusion, we may notice as a blot upon the Persian character and
system, the cruelty and barbarity which was exhibited, not only in these
abnormal acts of tyranny and violence, but also in the regular and legal
punishments which were assigned to crimes and offences. The criminal
code, which--rightly enough--made death the penalty of murder, rape,
treason, and rebellion, instead of stopping at this point, proceeded
to visit with a like severity even such offences as deciding a cause
wrongfully on account of a bribe, intruding without permission on the
king's privacy, approaching near to one of his concubines, seating
oneself, even accidentally, on the throne, and the like. The modes of
execution were also, for the most part, unnecessarily cruel. Poisoners
were punished by having their heads placed upon a broad stone, and then
having their faces crushed, and their brains beaten out by repeated
blows with another stone. Ravishers and rebels were put to death by
crucifixion. The horrible punishment of "the boat" seems to have been no
individual tyrant's cruel conception, but a recognized and legal form of
execution. The same may be said also of burying alive. Again the Persian
secondary punishments were for the most part exceedingly barbarous.
Xenophon tells us, as a proof of the good government maintained by the
younger Cyrus, in his satrapy, that under his sway it was common to see
along all the most frequented roads numbers of persons who had had
their hands or feet cut off, or their eyes put out, as a punishment
for thieving and rascality. And other writers relate that similar
mutilations were inflicted on rebels, and even on