Alexander : a history of the origin and growth of the art of war from ...

58 PERSIAN LEVIES.were kept tinder separate control for the protection of the cityfortresses, and were not obliged to assemble for the annualinspection. Their organization was quite apart from the activearmy, though resembling it in minor detail.Several corps, each ten thousand strong, served at court.The most noble and brave of the Persians served in a corpsd' elite.,which was kept always at ten thousand men, and wasknown as the Immortals.These held the first place of honorin the army. The second belonged to a somewhat similarcorps of Medes.The satraps and great officials each had hisown body-guard, which he regulated himself.The whole population, like the Jews, was divided into tens,hundreds, thousands and ten thousands, and in case of warfresh corps or reinforcements could be raised quickly andeffectively. These levies, when made, were apt to be commandedby the large land-owners of the districts whereraised, thus preserving the national character of the force.Sometimes, as in Darius' expedition against the Scythians, orXerxes' against Greece, a general draft of the entire peoplewas made, and theking determined how much each provinceshould furnish in men, material, horses, ships and so forth.Herodotus gives an extended and interesting description ofthe fifty-six tribes and peoples represented under Xerxes,and reviewed by him inThrace at the time of his invasion ofGreece.The troops were not paid. During active service they werefed by sinqily seizing and gathering in supplies whereverfound.Provinces through which a Persian army passed wereeaten up as by a plague of grasshoppers.Rank and command were well settled. The chiliarchs, orcolonels, who commanded one thousand men, and the myriarchs,or division-generals, who commanded ten thousand, wereheld in honor. The higher commands were filled by the rel-