"From ancient times," Theopompus of Chios informs us, "the taxes and the entertainment of the king were imposed on the cities according to their size."[382] Ctesias and Deinon maintain that the table of the king of Persia, _i.e._ the entertainment of the entire court, cost 400 talents daily. This is grossly exaggerated. From Herodotus we see that the support of Xerxes and his train, the officers, and all the necessary accompaniments, the tents and plate, and moreover the feeding of the entire army for one day cost the city of Abdera 300 talents, and the island of Thasos 400 talents (£85,000). Theopompus also tells us that when the king visited a city it cost them 20, and sometimes 30, talents to entertain him, and others spent even larger sums.[383] These expenses were increased by the fact that the servants took away with them the plate used at table.[384] The support of the king, and apparently of the satraps, officers, and generals when travelling, the maintenance of troops on the march, were extraordinary burdens, but the contributions for the table of the king were ordinary and regular. The daily maintenance of the court was expensive, because it included the support of a body-guard. "Every day," Heraclides of Cyme relates, "a thousand animals were slaughtered; among them horses, camels, oxen, asses, and deer, but chiefly sheep. Many birds were eaten, and Arabian ostriches among them. The greater part of this and of the other food was brought to court for the body-guard, and the overseers gave out meat and bread in equal portions; for as the mercenaries in Hellas receive money, so do these soldiers receive their maintenance from the king."[385] Fifteen thousand men are said to have been fed at the court every day; and as the body-guard may be put at 10,000 men, this statement does not seem exaggerated.