Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/104

85 alone they work. The general in command of the army supplies the soldiers with weapons, and the admiral of the fleet lets out ships on hire for the transport both of passengers and merchandize. {47) The fifth class consists offightingmen, who, when not engaged in active service, pass their time in idleness and drinking. They are main- tained at the king's expense, and hence they are always ready, when occasion calls, to take the field, for they carry nothing of their own with them but their own bodies. (48) The sixth class consists of the overseers, to whom is assigned the duty of watching all that goes on, and making reports secretly to the king. Some are entrusted with the inspection of the city, and others with that of the army. The former employ as their coadjutors the courtezans of the city, and the latter the courtezans of the eamp. The ablest and most trustworthy men are appointed to fill these offices.. The seventh class consists of the councillors and assessors of the king. To them belong the highest posts of government, the tribunals of justice, and the general administration of public affairs. J *■ No one is allowed to marry out of his ^ X The Greek writerg by confonndiiig some distiiic- tions occasioned by civil employment with those arising from that division nave increased the number (of classes) from five (inclnding the handicrafts-man or mixed class) to seven. This number is produced by their supposing the king's councillors and assessors to form a distinct clas» from the Br&hmans ; by splitting the class of Vaisya into two, consisting of shepherds and husbandmen ; by introduc- ing a caste of spies ; and by omitting the servile class alto- gether. With these exceptions the classes are in the state described by Menu, which is the groundwork of that still subsisting.— Elphinsione's History of India, p. 236. Digitized by Google