fighte. For yf they ware so good in continuaunce, as thei be violente at a brunte: ther ware no multitude able to susteine their force. For the moste parte thei breake of, when the skirmishe is euen at the whottest. And within a while aftre thei feigne a flight, wher with thei beginne againe a newe onsette. So when thou thinckest thy selfe mooste sure of the honour of the fielde, then arte thou at the poinct of the hardest hazarde. Their horsmen vse armour of mayle entrelaced with fethers: bothe for their owne defence, and the defence also of their horses. In times passed thei occupied no golde ne siluer, but only in their armour. Vpon regarde of chaunge in their luste, thei mary echeone many wiues, and yet punishe thei none offence so greuously as adultery. For the auoyding whereof thei doe not onely forbidde their women by generall restrainte from all feastes, and banckettinges of men: but also from the sighte of them. Some neuerthelesse do wrighte, amonge the whiche Strabo is one, that thei vse to giue their wiues sometime to their friendes, as in the waye of mariage, that thei maye so haue issue. Thei eate none other fleshe but suche as thei kylle at the chace. Thei be euer on horsebacke, whether thei go to the fielde or the banket, to bye, to selle, to commune of aughte with their friende, or to do any thing that is to be done. Yea thei dispatche al commune and priuate affaires, sittinge on horsebacke. And this is to be vnderstonden of the fre borne: for the slaues are alwaies on foote. Their buriall for all menne (sauinge the kinge) is the dogges bealy, and the kytes. But when thei or suche like haue eaten of, the fleshe, then couer thei the bare bones with earth. Thei haue great regarde vnto their goddes, and the worship due vnto them. Thei are men of a proude nature, busie medlers, and sedicious, craftie, deceiptfull, malaparte, and vnshamefaced: for thei holde opinion that it becometh the man as well to be Sterne, as the woman to be milde. Thei be euer in some stirre, either with their neighbours, or elles amonge themselues. Men of fewe wordes, and readier to doe, then to saye. And therefore whether it go with them or against them, thei lappe it vp in scilence. Thei obey not their superiours for any reuerence, but for feare. Altogether giuen to lechery, and yet skante in fiedinge. No farther trewe of worde or promesse, then semeth them expediente for their owne behoue. ¶ The. vii. Chapiter. ¶ Of Persia, and the maners and ordinaunces of the Persians.