25. But Theophrastus, in the Book on Royal Authority, addressed to Cassander, (if indeed the book under that title, attributed to him, be a genuine work of his, for many say that it was written by Sosibius, to whom Callimachus the poet addresses a triumphal hymn in elegiac metre,) says that "the Persian kings were so luxurious as to offer by proclamation a large sum of money to any one who could invent any new pleasure." And Theopompus, in the thirty-fifth book of his Histories, says, that "the king of the Paphlagonians, whose name was Thys, whenever he supped, ordered a hundred dishes of every sort to be placed on his table, beginning with oxen. And that when he was led captive to the king of Persia and kept in prison, he still continued to have the same profusion served up to him, living in the most splendid manner. So that Artaxerxes, when he heard of it, said that he appeared to him to be living like a man who knew that he should soon die." But the same Theopompus, in the fourteenth book of his History of the Exploits of Philip, says--"When the king comes to any one of his subject cities, twenty talents are expended on his supper, and sometimes thirty; and some even spend a much larger sum still. For it is a very old custom, that every city is bound to supply a supper in proportion to its greatness, just on the same principle as its tribute to the revenue and its taxes are exacted." 26. But Heraclides the Cumæan, who compiled a history of Persia, in the second book of that work, which is entitled Preparatory, says--"And those who wait upon the Persian kings while they are at supper, all minister after having bathed, wearing beautiful clothes; and they remain nearly half the day in attendance at the feast. But of those who are invited to eat with the king, some dine outside, and every one who chooses can see them, but some dine inside with the king: and even these do not actually eat with him; but there are two rooms opposite to one another, in one of which the king eats his meal, and in the other the guests eat theirs. And the king beholds them through the curtain which is at the door; but they cannot see him. But sometimes, when there is a feast, then they all sup in one room, namely, in the same room as the king, being the large room. And when the king has a drinking party, (and he has one very often,) his guests are about a dozen in number, and when they have supped, the king by himself, and his guests by themselves, then one of the eunuchs summons those who are to drink with the king: and when they come, then they drink with him, but they do not have the same wine; also they sit on the ground and he reclines on a couch with golden feet; and when they are very drunk indeed they go away. But for the most part the king breakfasts and sups by himself: but sometimes his wife sups with him; and sometimes some of his sons do so. And at supper his concubines sing and play to him; and one of them leads, and then all the rest sing in concert.