her order of satraps.

Of the Parthian feasts, music was commonly an accompaniment. The flute,
the pipe, the drum, and the instrument called eambuca, appear to have
been known to them; and they understood how to combine these instruments
in concerted harmony. They are said to have closed their feasts with
dancing--an amusement of which they were inordinately fond--but this was
probably the case only with the lower class of people. Dancing in the
East, if not associated with religion, is viewed as degrading, and,
except as a religious exercise, is not indulged in by respectable
persons.

The separation of the sexes was very decided in Parthia. The women took
their meals, and passed the greater portion of their life, apart from
the men. Veils were commonly worn, as in modern Mohammedan countries;
and it was regarded as essential to female delicacy that women, whether
married or single, should converse freely with no males but either their
near relations or eunuchs. Adultery was punished with great severity;
but divorce was not difficult, and women of rank released themselves
from the nuptial bond on light grounds of complaint, without much
trouble. Polygamy was the established law; and every Parthian was
entitled, besides his chief wife, to maintain as many concubines as he
thought desirable. Some of the nobles supported an excessive number; but
the expenses of the seraglio prevented the generality from taking much
advantage of the indulgence which the law permitted.

The degree of refinement and civilization which the Parthians reached
is difficult to determine with accuracy. In mimetic art their remains
certainly do not show much taste or sense of beauty. There is some
ground to believe that their architecture had merit; but the existing
monuments can scarcely be taken as representations of pure Parthian
work, and may have owed their excellence (in some measure, at any rate)
to foreign influence. Still, the following particulars, for which there
is good evidence, seem to imply that the nation had risen in reality far
above that "barbarism" which it was the fashion of the Greek and Roman
writers to ascribe to it. In the first place, the Parthians had a
considerable knowledge of foreign languages. Plutarch tells us that
Orodes, the opponent of Crassus, was acquainted with the Greek language
and literature, and could enjoy the representation of a play of
Euripides. The general possession of such knowledge, at any rate by