t in
the capital should appear before him on a certain day. The troops came;
but Babek dismissed them on the ground that a certain person whose
presence was indispensable had not made his appearance. Another day
was appointed, with the same result, except that Babek on this occasion
plainly intimated that it was the king whom he expected to attend. Upon
this Chosroes, when a third summons was issued, took care to be present,
and came fully equipped, as he thought, for battle. But the critical
eye of the reviewing officer detected an omission, which he refused
to overlook--the king had neglected to bring with him two extra
bow-strings. Chosroes was required to go back to his palace and remedy
the defect, after which he was allowed to pass muster, and then summoned
to receive his pay. Babek affected to consider seriously what the pay of
the commander-in-chief ought to be, and decided that it ought to exceed
that of any other person in the army. He then, in the sight of all,
presented the king with four thousand and one dirhems, which Chosroes
received and carried home. Thus two important principles were thought
to be established--that no defect of equipment whatsoever should be
overlooked in any officer, however high his rank, and that none should
draw from the treasury a larger amount of pay than 4,000 dirhems (L112.
of our money).

The encouragement of agriculture was an essential element in the system
of Zoroaster; and Chosroes, in devoting his attention to it, was at once
performing a religious duty and increasing the resources of the state.
It was his earnest desire to bring into cultivation all the soil which
was capable of it; and with this object he not only issued edicts
commanding the reclamation of waste lands, but advanced from the
treasury the price of the necessary seed-corn, implements, and beasts
to all poor persons willing to carry out his orders. Other poor persons,
especially the infirm and those disabled by bodily defect, were relieved
from his privy purse; mendicancy was forbidden, and idleness made an
offence. The lands forfeited by the followers of Mazdak were distributed
to necessitous cultivators. The water system was carefully attended to;
river and torrent courses were cleared of obstructions and straightened;
the superfluous water of the rainy season was stored, and meted out with
a wise economy to those who tilled the soil, in the spring and summer.

The prosperity of a country depends in par