as the Pharaohs or Assyrian kings of old had done; and they
would track the lion to his lair and engage him single-handed; in fact,
they held a strict monopoly in such conflicts, a law which punished with
death any huntsman who had the impertinence to interpose between the
monarch and his prey being only abolished by Artaxerxes. A crowd of
menials, slaves, great nobles, and priests filled the palace; grooms,
stool-bearers, umbrella- and fan-carriers, _havasses_, "Immortals,"
bakers, perfumers, soldiers, and artisans formed a retinue so numerous
as to require a thousand bullocks, asses, and stags to be butchered
every day for its maintenance; and when the king made a journey in full
state, this enormous train looked like an army on the march. The women
of the royal harem lived in seclusion in a separate wing of the palace,
or in isolated buildings erected in the centre of the gardens. The
legitimate wives of the sovereign were selected from the ladies of
the royal house, the sisters or cousins of the king, and from the six
princely Persian families; but their number were never very large,
usually three or four at most.*

* Cambyses had had three wives, including his two sisters
Atossa and Roxana. Darius had four wives--two daughters of
Cyrus, Atossa and Artystone, Parmys daughter of Srnerdis,
and a daughter of Otanes.

The concubines, on the other hand, were chosen from all classes of
society, and were counted by hundreds.

[Illustration: 273.jpg PROCESSIONAL DISPLAY OF TRIBUTE BROUGHT TO THE
KING OF PERSIA]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from plates in Flandin and Coste.

They sang or played on musical instruments at the state banquets of the
court, they accompanied their master to the battle-field or the chase,
and probably performed the various inferior domestic duties in the
interior of the harem, such as spinning, weaving, making perfumes, and
attending to the confectionery and cooking. Each of the king's wives
had her own separate suite of apartments and special attendants, and
occupied a much higher position than a mere concubine; but only one was
actually queen and had the right to wear the crown, and this position
belonged of right to a princess of Achae-menian race. Thus Atossa,
daughter of Cyrus, was queen successively to Cambyses, Gaumata, and
Darius; Amestris to Xerxes; and Damaspia to Artaxerxes. Besides the
influence naturally exerted by the queen over the mind of her husband,
she