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πεδίον. This chapter continues the subject of c. 97, i.e. the less organized parts of the Great King's revenue. H.'s tale of the Aces (v.i.) is inconsistent alike with physical laws and with what is known of the position of the tribes mentioned (cf. cc. 92-3 nn.). The idea, however, of the chapter is quite correct; the control of irrigation is in the East one of the prerogatives of government, and great sums are charged for the use of water. Cf. Réclus, ix. 180, for this in modern Persia. H.'s informants have made a fancy picture out of real facts. It is probable, too, as Meyer suggests (v. i.), that the canalization of the land was intended as a check on the raids of the nomads of the north-east. (Cf. the similar defensive use of canals in Babylonia, i. 185. 1.) The Hyrcanians (cf. 92. 2 n.) are mentioned here, but not in the list of satrapies. The Aces (the name may mean either ‘binder’ or ‘opening’） has been variously made the Margus, the Oxus or the Ochus (Wilson, Ariana, p. 129), a confusion of these with the Hilmend (Rennell, pp. 195-6), the Heri-rud (Meyer, iii. 52, 68). The ‘sea’ has even been identified (St. Croix) with the Sea of Aral. But it is better to regard river and sea as imaginary (v. i.). ἄρδεσκε, ‘watered at one and the same time’; the iterative tense here is used of place, not of time. Cf. the Homeric ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκεν ἰδὼν ἐς πλησίον ἄλλον.
χρηίσκονται: a ἅπ. λεγ., ‘are much in want of.’
βασιλέος. The personal appeal to the king is a genuine Oriental touch. Cf. 119. 3 and Exod. v. 15 (the Israelites and Pharaoh).
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