"Of course I have now and then seen processions in Ecbatana, but Daniel would not let me go to the temple.

They say Ecbatana is very much changed since the Great King has not gone there in summer.

It is very quiet--it is given over to horse-merchants and grain-sellers, and they bring all the salted fish there from the Hyrcanian sea, so that some of the streets smell horribly." Atossa laughed at the description, more out of courtesy than because it amused her.
"In my time," she answered, "the horse-market was in the meadow by the road toward Zagros, and the fish-sellers were not allowed to come within a farsang of the city.

The royal nostrils were delicate.

But everything is changed--here, everywhere.