the Medes did so: for they built him a large and strong palace in that
part of the land which he told them, and they allowed him to select
spearmen from all the Medes. And when he had obtained the rule over
them, he compelled the Medes to make one fortified city and pay chief
attention to this, having less regard to the other cities. And as the
Medes obeyed him in this also, he built large and strong walls, those
which are now called Agbatana, standing in circles one within the
other. And this wall is so contrived that one circle is higher than
the next by the height of the battlements alone. And to some extent, I
suppose, the nature of the ground, seeing that it is on a hill,
assists towards this end; but much more was it produced by art, since
the circles are in all seven in number.[111] And within the last
circle are the royal palace and the treasure-houses. The largest of
these walls is in size about equal to the circuit of the wall round
Athens; and of the first circle the battlements are white, of the
second black, of the third crimson, of the fourth blue, of the fifth
red: thus are the battlements of all the circles coloured with various
tints, and the two last have their battlements one of them overlaid
with silver and the other with gold. 99. These walls then Deïokes
built for himself and round his own palace, and the people he
commanded to dwell round about the wall. And after all was built,
Deïokes established the rule, which he was the first to establish,
ordaining that none should enter into the presence of the king, but
that they deal with him always through messengers; and that the king
should be seen by no one; and moreover that to laugh or to spit in
presence is unseemly, and this last for every one without
exception.[112] Now he surrounded himself with this state[113] to the
end that his fellows, who had been brought up with him and were of no
meaner family nor behind him in manly virtue, might not be grieved by
seeing him and make plots against him, but that being unseen by them