First they present themselves, as in youth, before the magistrates for
service to the state wherever there is need for strength and sound
sense combined. If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade
march out, not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but
equipped with what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up
to the throat, a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior
appears in pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword.
Lastly, it is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed
except the teachers for the boys. But when the five-and-twenty years
are over and the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then
they take rank as elders, and the title is deserved. [14] These elders
no longer go on military service beyond the frontier; they stay at
home and decide all cases, public and private both. Even capital
charges are left to their decision, and it is they who choose all the
magistrates. If a youth or a grown man breaks the law he is brought
into court by the governors of his tribe, who act as suitors in the
case, aided by any other citizen who pleases. The cause is heard
before the elders and they pronounce judgment; and the man who is
condemned is disenfranchised for the rest of his days.

[15] And now, to complete the picture of the whole Persian policy, I
will go back a little. With the help of what has been said before, the
account may now be brief; the Persians are said to number something
like one hundred and twenty thousand men: and of these no one is by
law debarred from honour or office. On the contrary, every Persian is
entitled to send his children to the public schools of righteousness
and justice. As a fact, all who can afford to bring up their children
without working do send them there: those who cannot must forego the
privilege. A lad who has passed through a public school has a right to
go and take his place among the youths, but those who have not gone