Remember thou, my son, to always dwell In every city cherishing a mind Like to the skin of a rock-haunting fish; And always with the present company Agree, but when away you can change your mind. And Sophocles speaks in a like spirit, in the Iphigenia— As the wise polypus doth quickly change His hue according to the rocks he's near, So change your mind and your apparent feelings. And Theognis says— Imitate the wary cunning of the polypus. And some say that Homer was of this mind, when he often prefers the voluptuous life to the virtuous one, saying— And now Olympus' shining gates unfold; The Gods with Jove assume their thrones of gold; Immortal Hebe, fresh with bloom divine, The golden goblet crowns with purple wine; While the full bowl flows round the Powers employ Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy. And the same poet represents Menelaus as saying— Nor then should aught but death have torn apart From me so loving and so glad a heart. And in another place— We sat secure, while fast around did roll The dance, and jest, and ever-flowing bowl. And in the same spirit Ulysses, at the court of Alcinous, represents luxury and wantonness as the main end of life. 8. But of all nations the Persians were the first to become notorious for their luxury; and the Persian kings even spent their winters at Susa and their summers at Ecbatana. And Aristocles and Chares say that Susa derives its name from the seasonable and beautiful character of the place: for that what the Greeks call the lily, is called in the Persian language σοῦσον. But they pass their autumns in Persepolis; and the rest of the year they spend in Babylon. And in like manner the kings of the Parthians spend their spring in Rhagæ, and their winter in Babylon, and the rest of the year at Hecatompylus. And even the very thing which the Persian monarchs used to wear on their heads, showed plainly enough their extreme devotion to luxury. For it was made, according to the account of Dinon, of myrrh and of something called labyzus. And the labyzus is a sweet-smelling plant, and more valuable than myrrh. And whenever, says Dinon, the king dismounts from his chariot, he does not jump down, however small the height from the chariot to the ground may be, nor is he helped down, leaning on any one's hand, but a golden chair is always put by him, and he gets on that to descend; on which account the king's chairbearer always follows him. And three hundred women are his guard, as Heraclides of Cumæ relates, in the first book of his history of Persia. And they sleep all day, that they may watch all night; and they pass the whole night in singing and playing, with lights burning. And very often the king takes pleasure with them in the hall of the Melophori. The Melophori are one of his troops of guards, all Persians by birth, having golden