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Thus rode forth Xerxes from Sardis - but he was accustomed every now
and then, when the fancy took him, to alight from his chariot and
travel in a litter. Immediately behind the king there followed a body
of a thousand spearmen, the noblest and bravest of the Persians,
holding their lances in the usual manner - then came a thousand
Persian horse, picked men - then ten thousand, picked also after the
rest, and serving on foot. Of these last one thousand carried spears
with golden pomegranates at their lower end instead of spikes; and
these encircled the other nine thousand, who bore on their spears
pomegranates of silver. The spearmen too who pointed their lances
towards the ground had golden pomegranates; and the thousand Persians
who followed close after Xerxes had golden apples. Behind the ten
thousand footmen came a body of Persian cavalry, likewise ten
thousand; after which there was again a void space for as much as two
furlongs; and then the rest of the army followed in a confused crowd.
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