Res Gestae

Now far within Persia lies Gedrosia, on the right reaching the frontiers of the Indi; it is made fertile by the Artabius, in addition to smaller streams. Here the Arbitani mountains come to an

But we would not give a detailed account of the seacoast at the extremities of Persia, and wander too far from our subject. So it will be enough to say that the sea extending from the Caspian mountains along the northern side to the above-mentioned strait is 9000 stadia;[*](See Strabo, xi. 7 ff., who, however, does not give the distance.) but the southern frontier, from the mouths of the river Nile to where Carmania begins, is reckoned at 14,000 stadia.

Among these many men of differing tongues there are varieties of persons, as well as of places. But, to describe their bodily characteristics and their customs in general, they are almost all slender, somewhat dark, or of a leaden pallor, with eyes grim as goats’, eyebrows joined and curved in the form of a half-circle, not uncomely beards, and long, shaggy hair. All of them without exception, even at banquets and on festal days, appear girt with swords; an old Greek custom which, according to the trustworthy testimony of Thucydides,[*](i. 6, 1-3.) the Athenians were the first to abandon.

Most of them are extravagantly given to venery, and are hardly contented with a multitude of concubines;[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 135.) they are

Except for the kings’ tables, they have no fixed hours for meal-times, but every man’s belly is, as it were, his sundial;[*](Cf. the parasite in the comedy Boeotia; Gell. iii. 3, 6.) when this gives the call, they eat whatever is at hand, and no one, after he is satisfied, loads himself with superfluous food.[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 133.)

They are immensely moderate and cautious, so much so that they sometimes march through an enemy’s gardens and vineyards without coveting or touching anything, through fear of poison or magic arts.

Besides this, one seldom sees a Persian stop to pass water or step aside in response to a call of nature;[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 133; Xenophon, Cyrop. viii. 8, 11.) so scrupulously do they avoid these and other unseemly actions.

On the other hand, they are so free and easy, and stroll about with such a loose and unsteady gait, that one might think them effeminate; but, in fact, they are most gallant warriors, though rather crafty than courageous, and to be feared only at long range. They are given to empty words, and talk madly and extravagantly. They are boastful, harsh and offensive, threatening in adversity and prosperity alike, crafty, haughty, cruel, claiming the power of life and death over slaves and commons. They flay men alive, either bit by bit or all at once, and no servant who waits upon them, or stands at table, is allowed to open his mouth, either to speak or to spit; to such a degree,