The fragrant odors, the blaze of color and sparkling of gold and jewels, the neighing of the horses, and shouts and songs of human beings, all united to produce a whole, at once bewildering and intoxicating to the senses and the feelings.

The messengers had not been sent up to Babylon empty-handed.  Beautiful horses, huge elephants and comical monkeys; rhinoceroses and buffaloes adorned with housings and tassels; double-humped Bactrian camels with gold collars on their shaggy necks; waggon-loads of rare woods and ivory, woven goods of exquisite texture, casks of ingots and gold-dust, gold and silver vessels, rare plants for the royal gardens, and foreign animals for the preserves, the most remarkable of which were antelopes, zebras, and rare monkeys and birds, these last being tethered to a tree in full leaf and fluttering among the branches.  Such were the offerings sent to the great king of Persia.

They were the tribute of the conquered nations and, after having been shown to the king, were weighed and tested by treasurers and secretaries, either declared satisfactory, or found wanting and returned, in which case the niggardly givers were condemned to bring a double tribute later.

[At the time of which we are writing, the kings of Persia taxed their kingdom at whatever time and to whatever extent seemed good in their own eyes.  Cambyses’ successor, Darius, was the first to introduce a regular system of taxation, in consequence of which he was nicknamed “the shopkeeper.”  Up to a much later period it still remained the duty of certain districts to send natural products to the court Herod.  I. 192.  Xenoph.  Anab.  IV. 5.]

The palace-gates were reached without hindrance, the way being kept clear by lines of soldiers and whipbearers stationed on either side of the street.

If the royal progress to the place of sacrifice, when five hundred richly-caprisoned horses had been led behind the king’s chariot, could be called magnificent, and the march of the envoys a brilliant spectacle, the great throne-room presented a vision of dazzling and magic beauty.

In the background, raised on six steps, each of which was guarded, as it were, by two golden clogs, stood the throne of gold; above it, supported by four golden pillars studded with precious stones, was a purple canopy, on which appeared two winged discs, the king’s Feruer.

[The Feruer or Ferwer is the spiritual part of every man-his soul and reason.  It was in existence before the man was horn, joins him at his birth and departs at his death.  The Ferwer keeps up a war with the Diws or evil spirits, and is the element of man’s preservation in life.  The moment he departs, the body returns to its original elements.  After death he becomes immortal if he has done well, but if his deeds have been evil he is cast into hell.  It is right to call upon the Ferwer and entreat his help.  He will bring the prayer before God and on this account is represented as a winged disc.]

Fan-bearers, high in office at the court, stood behind the throne, and, on either side, those who sat at the king’s table, his relations and friends, and the most important among the officers of state, the priestly caste and the eunuchs.