Note 481 — Chapter XXV
E. J. (Edward James) Chinnock translation
Compare the words of Tissaphernes to Clearchus (Xenophon, Anabasis, ii. 5): “Though the king is the only man who can wear the tiara erect upon his head, I shall be able to wear mine erect upon my heart in full confidence, when you are in my service.” Cf. Curtius (iii. 8); Aristophanes (Birds, 487). The cap of the ordinary Persians was low, loose, and clinging about the head in folds; whereas that of the king was high and erect above the head. From Xenophon (Cyropaedia, viii. 3, 13) we learn that the Persian king’s vest was of a purple colour, half mixed with white, and that no one else was allowed to wear this mixture of white. He had loose trousers of a scarlet colour, and a robe entirely purple. Cf. also Strabo (xv. 3), where the tiara is said to be in the shape of a tower; and Seneca (De Beneficiis, vi. 31); Ammianus, xviii. 8, 5.