According to the statements of Herodotus, the boys of the Persians were instructed from their fifth to their twentieth year (Xenophon and Strabo assert till their twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year) in riding, shooting with the bow, and speaking the truth.[326] In the Laws we are told that the boys of the Medes were entrusted to the women, and those of the Persians to free men. According to the assertion of Nicolaus of Damascus, Cyrus was already instructed in the philosophy of the Magians, in justice and truthfulness, as the hereditary laws prescribed for the leading Persians.[327] Plato tells us that the sons of the kings of the Persians were attended by eunuchs till their seventh year; from that time till the fourteenth year they learned to ride, shoot, and hunt. Then they received distinguished teachers, of whom the first instructed them in the wisdom of Zoroaster, and the business of the crown, the second in the duty of truthfulness, the third in temperance, the fourth in courage and bravery.[328] Plutarch observes that a Magian presided over the education of the princes and instructed them even in magic.[329] Xenophon narrates that the princes and the children of the leading Persians were brought up "at the gate" of the king, where they learned temperance and prudence and saw nothing unbecoming. They observed what men were honoured by the king and whom he punished, and thus learned even in their boyhood to command and obey. Modesty and obedience were counted as a distinction among these boys. In this way they learned to be excellent riders, to throw the javelin, and use the bow. At a later time they became so skilful in hunting that they ventured to encounter a bear.[330] Even now, he says in another passage, it is the custom to educate children at the court, but the exercise in riding has fallen into disuse, because they no longer go where they could gain reputation by skill in the art; and if in former days they seemed to learn justice when they listened to just sentences, they now see that he obtains justice who gives most. And if they formerly learned the nature of all plants in order to avoid what was noxious, they now seem to have acquired this knowledge in order to do as much mischief as possible.[331] In Strabo's account the education seems arranged even more systematically. He tells us that the Persian boys were brought up, fifty together, with one of the sons of the king, or with the sons of the satraps. Intelligent men were appointed to teach them, who instructed them in the legends of the gods, sometimes with and sometimes without song, and also recounted to them the noblest deeds of men, besides those of gods.[332] At the same time the boys and young men were rendered hardy. They were aroused early in the morning by the sound of a gong, and for food commonly received barley or wheaten bread, and water to drink; when hunting or keeping the flocks, they were compelled