use of the camel for
the postal service is cited by Strabo, on the occasion of
the death of Philotas and the execution of Parmenion under
Alexander.

The most celebrated of the post-roads was that which ran from Sardes
to Susa through Lydia and Phrygia, crossing the Halys, traversing
Cappadocia and Cilicia, and passing through Armenia and across the
Euphrates, until at length, after passing through Matiene and the
country of the Cossaeans, it reached Elam. This main route was divided
into one hundred and eleven stages, which were performed by couriers on
horseback and partly in ferry-boats, in eighty-four days. Other routes,
of which we have no particular information, led to Egypt, Media,
Bactria, and India,* and by their means the imperial officials in the
capital were kept fully informed of all that took place in the most
distant parts of the empire. As an extra precaution, the king sent
out annually certain officers, called his "eyes" or his "ears,"** who
appeared on the scene when they were least expected, and investigated
the financial or political situation, reformed abuses in the
administration, and reprimanded or even suspended the government
officials; they were accompanied by a body of troops to support their
decisions, whose presence invested their counsels with the strongest
sanction.*** An unfavourable report, a slight irregularity, a mere
suspicion, even, was sufficient to disqualify a satrap. Sometimes he
was deposed, often secretly condemned to death without a trial, and the
execution of the judgment was committed even to his own servants.

* Ctesias at the end of his work describes the route leading
from Ephesus to Bactriana and India. It is probable that the
route described by Isidorus of Charax in his _Stathma
Parthica_ already existed in the times of the Achaemenids,
and was traversed by their postal couriers.

** Mention of the _Eye of the king_ occurs in Herodotus, in
AEschylus, and in Plutarch, of the _Ear_ in Xenophon; cf.
the Persian proverb, according to which "The king has many
eyes and many ears."

*** Xenophon affirms that these inspections were still held
in his day.

[Illustration: 186.jpg Street Vender of Curios] After the Painting by
Gerome.

A messenger would arrive unexpectedly, and remit to the guards an order
charging them to put their chief to death--an order which was promptly
executed at the mere sight