 volume 2 part 6 of Herodotus's histories. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Histories volume 2 by Herodotus of Halachanarsis. Translated by E.D. Godly. Volume 2 part 6. So the herald went to carry this message to Darius, but the Scythian kings were filled with anger when they heard the word slavery. They then sent the division of the Scythians to which the Saromate were attached, and which was led by Scopacus, to speak with those Ionians guarding the bridge over the Istor. As for those of the Scythians who remained behind, it was decided that they should no longer decoy the Persians, but attack them whenever they were foraging for provision. So they watched for the time when Darius's men were foraging, and did as they had planned. The Scythian horse always routed the Persian horse, and when the Persian cavalry would fall back and flight on their infantry, the infantry would come up to their aid, and the Scythians, once they had driven in the horse, turned back for fear of the infantry. The Scythians attacked in this fashion by night as well as by day. Very strange to say what aided the Persians and thwarted the Scythians in their attacks on Darius's army was the braying of the asses and the appearance of the mules. For, as I have before indicated, Scythia produced no asses or mules, and there is not in most of Scythia an ass or a mule, because of the cold. Therefore the asses frightened the Scythian horses when they braided loudly, and often when they were in the act of charging the Persians the horses would shy in fear if they heard the asses bray, or would stand still with ears erect, never having heard a noise like it or seen a light creature. The Persians thus gained very little in the war, for when the Scythians saw that the Persians were shaken they formed a plan to have them remain longer in Scythia, and remaining be distressed by lack of necessities. They would leave some of their flocks behind with the shepherds moving away themselves to another place, and the Persians would come and take the sheep and be encouraged by this achievement. After such a thing had happened several times Darius was finally at a loss, and when they perceived this the Scythian kings sent a herald to Darius with the gift of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The Persians asked the bearer of these gifts what they meant, but he said that he had only been told to give the gifts and then leave it once. He told the Persians to figure out what the presence meant themselves if they were smart enough. When they heard this the Persians deliberated. Darius's judgment was that the Scythians were surrendering themselves and their earth and their water to him, for he reasoned that a mouse is a creature found in the earth and eating the same produce as men, and a frog is a creature of the water and a bird particularly like a horse, and the arrows signified that the Scythians surrendered their fighting power. This was the opinion declared by Darius, but the opinion of Goberus, one of the seven who had slain the Magus, was contrary to it. He reasoned that the meaning of the gifts was, unless you become birds, Persians, and fly up into the sky, or mice and hide in the earth, or frogs and leap into the lakes, you will be shot by these arrows and never return home. The Persians reasoned thus about the gifts, but when the first division of the Scythians came to the bridge, the division that had first been appointed to stand on guard by the Maetian Lake, and now had been sent to the Easter to speak with the Ionians, they said, Ionians, we have come to bring you freedom, if you will only listen to us. We understand that Darius has directed you to guard the bridge for sixty days only, and if he does not come within that time, then go away to your homes. Now, then, do what will leave you guiltless in his eyes as an hour's, stay here for the time appointed and after that leave. So the Ionians promised to do this, and the Scythians made their way back with all haste. But after sending the gifts to Darius, the Scythians who had remained there came out with foot and horse and offered battle to the Persians. But when the Scythian ranks were set in order, a rabbit ran out between the armies, and every Scythian that saw gave it chase. So there was confusion and shouting among the Scythians. Darius asked about the clamor among the enemy, and when he heard that they were chasing a rabbit, he said to those with whom he was accustomed to speak, these men hold us in deep contempt, and I think now that goberous opinion of the Scythian gifts was true. Since then, my own judgment agrees with his, we need consider carefully how we shall return to safety. To this goberous said, O king, I understood almost by reason alone how difficult it would be to deal with these Scythians, but when I came here I understood even better, watching them toying with us. Now, then, my advice is that at nightfall we kindle our campfires in the usual way, deceive those in our army who are least fit to endure hardship, and tether all our asses here, and ourselves depart before the Scythians can march straight to the Easter to break up the bridge, or the Ionians take some action by which we may all be ruined. This was goberous's advice, and at nightfall Darius followed it. He left the men who were worn out, and those whose loss mattered least to him, there in the camp, and all the asses too tethered. His reasons for leaving the asses and the infirm among his soldiers were the following. The asses, so that they would bray, the men who were left because of their infirmity he pretended were to guard the camp while he attacked the Scythians with the fit part of his army. Giving his order to those who were left behind, and lighting campfires, Darius made all haste to reach the Easter. When the asses found themselves departed by the multitude they brayed the louder for it, and the Scythians heard them and assured that the Persians were in the place. But when it was day the men left behind perceived that Darius had betrayed them, and they held out their hands to the Scythians and explained the circumstances. They, when they heard this, assembled their power in haste, the two divisions of their horde and the one division that was with the Saromate and Boudini and Galani, and made straight for the Easter in pursuit of the Persians. And as the Persian army was for the most part infantry and did not know the roads, which were not marked, while the Scythians were horsemen and knew the shortcuts, they went wide of each other, and the Scythians reached the bridge long before the Persians. There, perceiving that the Persians had not yet come, they said to the Ionians, who were in their ships, Ionians, the days have exceeded the number, and you are wrong to be here still. Since it was fear that kept you here, now break the bridge in haste and go, free and happy men, thanking the gods and the Scythians. The one that was your master we shall impress in such a way that he will never lead an army against any one again. Then the Ionians held a council. Miltiades, the Athenian, general and sovereign of the Chersoneates of the Hellespont, advised that they do as the Scythians said and set Ionia free. But Hestaius of Miletus advised the opposite. He said, It is owing to Darius that each of us is sovereign of his city. If Darius's power is overthrown, we shall no longer be able to rule, I in Miletus or any of you elsewhere, for all the cities will choose democracy rather than despotism. When Hestaius explained this, all of them at once inclined to his view, although they had at first sided with Miltiades. Those high in Darius's favour who gave their vote were Daphnis of Abidos, Hippoclos of Lemsakis, Hierophantus of Perium, Metrodorus of Proconesius, Aristogorus of Cisacus, Aristan of Byzantium, all from the Hellespont and sovereign of cities there, and from Ionia, Stratus of Chios, Echius of Samos, Laudamus of Phocia, and Hestaius of Miletus who opposed the plan of Miltiades. As for the Iolians, their only notable man present was Aristogorus of Cime. When these accepted Hestaius's view, they decided to act upon it in the following way. To break as much of the bridge on the Scythian side as a bow-shot from there carried, so that they seemed to be doing something when in fact they were doing nothing, and that the Scythians not tried to force their way across the bridge over the Easter, to say, while they were breaking the portion of the bridge on the Scythian side, that they would do all the Scythians desired. This was the plan they adopted, and then Hestaius answered for them all and said, You have come with good advice, Scythians, and your urgency is timely. You guide us well, and we will do you a convenient service, for as you see we are breaking the bridge, and will be diligent about it as we want to be free. But while we are breaking the bridge, this is your opportunity to go and find the Persians, and when you have found them, punish them as they deserve, on our behalf and on your own. So the Scythians, trusting the Ionian's word once more, turned back to look for the Persians, but they missed the way by which their enemies returned. The Scythians themselves were to blame for this because they had destroyed the horses' pastures in that region and blocked the wells. Had they not done, they could, if they had wished, easily have found the Persians. But as it was, that part of their plan which they had thought the best was the very cause of their going astray. So the Scythians went searching for their enemies through the parts of their own country where there was forage for the horses and water, supposing that they too were heading for such places in their flight. But the Persians kept to their own former tracks, and so with much trouble they found the crossing. But as they arrived at night and found the bridge broken, they were in great alarm lest the Ionians had abandoned them. There was an Egyptian with Darius whose voice was the loudest in the world. Darius had this man stand on the bank of the Istur and call to Histaeus the Militian. This the Egyptian did. Histaeus heard and answered the first shout, and sent all the ships to ferry the army over and repaired the bridge. Thus the Persians escaped. The Scythians sought the Persians but missed them again. Their judgment of the Ionians is that if they are regarded as free men they are the basest and most craven in the world, but if they are reckoned as slaves none love their masters more or desire less to escape. Thus have the Scythians taunted the Ionians. This marched through Thrace to Sestos on the Chersonesis. From there he crossed over with his ships to Asia, leaving Megabasus as his commander in Europe, a Persian whom he once honored by saying among the Persians what I note here. Darius was about to eat pomegranates, and no sooner had he opened the first of them than his brother, Artebannus, asked him what he would like to have as many of as there were seeds in his pomegranate. Then Darius said that he would rather have that many men like Megabasus than make all Hellas subject to him. By speaking thus among the Persians the king honored Megabasus, and now he left him behind at the head of eighty thousand of his army. This Megabasus is forever remembered by the people of the Hellas Pont for replying, when he was told at Byzantium that the people of Calcadon had founded their town seventeen years before the Byzantines had founded theirs, that the Calcadonians must at that time have been blind, for had they not been they would never have chosen the worst sight for their city when they might have had the better. This Megabasus, now left his commander in the country, subjugated all the people of the Hellas Pont who did not take the side of the Persians. At the same time that he was doing this another great force was sent against Libya for the reason that I shall give after I finish the story that I am going to tell now. The descendants of the crew of the Argo were driven out by the Pelagacians who carried off the Athenian women from Boron. After being driven out of Lemnos by them, they sailed away to Lachidamen, and there they camped on Tugetum and Kindle to fire. Seeing it, the Lachidimonians sent a messenger to inquire who they were and where they came from. They answered the messenger that they were Minyre, descendants of the heroes who had sailed in the Argo and put in at Lemnos, and there begot their race. Hearing the story of the lineage of the Minyre, the Lachidimonians sent a second time and asked why they had come into Laconia and Kindle to fire. They replied that, having been expelled by the Pelagacians, they had come to the land of their fathers, as was most just, and their wish was to live with their fathers' people, sharing in their rights and receiving a lot of pieces of land. The Lachidimonians were happy to receive the Minyre on the terms which their guests desired. The chief cause of their consenting was that Tindiride had been in the ship's company of the Argo, so they received the Minyre and gave them land and distributed them among their own tribes. The Minyre immediately married and gave in marriage to others the women they had brought from Lemnos. But in no time these Minyre became imperious, demanding an equal right to the kingship and doing other impious things. Hence the Lachidimonians resolved to kill them, and they seized them and cast them into prison. When the Lachidimonians execute, they do it by night, never by day. Now when they were about to kill the prisoners, the wives of the Minyre, who were natives of the country, daughters of leading Spartans, asked permission to enter the prison and each converse with her husband. The Lachidimonians granted this, not expecting that there would be any treachery from them. But when the wives came into the prison, they gave their husbands all their own garments, and themselves put on the men's clothing, so the Minyre passed out in the guise of women dressed in women's clothing, and thus escaping, once more camped on the Tugitum. Now, about this same time, Therus, a descendant of Polonicus through Thezander, Tisaminus, and Autisian, was preparing to lead out colonists from Lachidimon. This Therus was of the line of Cadmus, and was an uncle on their mother's side to Aristodemus' sons Eurysthanes and Procles, and while these boys were yet children he held the royal power of Sparta as his regent. But when his nephews grew up and became kings, then Therus could not endure to be a subject when he had had a taste of supreme power, and said he would no longer stay in Lachidimon, but would sail away to his family. On the island now called Thera, but then called Kelesdae, there were descendants of Memblieris, the son of Pioseles, a Phoenician, for Cadmus, the son of Egonor, had put in at the place now called Thera during his search for Europa, and having put in, either because the land pleased him or because for some other reason he desired to do so, he left on this island his own relation, Memblierius, together with other Phoenicians. These dwelt on the island of Kelesdae for eight generations before Therus came from Lachidimon. It was these that Therus was preparing to join, taking with him a company of people from the tribes. His intention was to settle among the people of Kelesdae and not drive them out, but claim them as, in fact, his own people. So when the Minye escaped from prison and camped on Tegetum, and the Lachidimonians were planning to put them to death, Therus interceded for their lives, that there might be no killing, promised to lead them out of the country himself. The Lachidamans consented this, and Therus sailed with three thirty-ord ships to join the descendants of Memblierius, taking with him not all the Minye but only a few, for the greater part of them made their way to the lands of the Therurite and the Cacones, and after having driven these out of their own country, they divided themselves into six companies and established the cities of Lepreum, Machistus, Frixae, Fyrgis, Epium and Nudium in the land they had won. Most of these were in my time taken and sacked by the Elians. As for the island Kelesdae, it was called Thera after its colonist. But as Thera's son would not sail with him, his father said that he would leave him behind as a sheep among wolves, after which saying the boy got the nickname of Olykus, and it so happened that this became his customary name. He had a son, Aegeus, from whom the Agaday, a great Spartan clan, take their name. The men of this clan, finding that none of their children lived, set up a temple of the avenging spirits of Leus and Oedipus by the instruction of an oracle after which their children lived. It faired thus, too, with the children of the Agaday at Thera. So far in the story the Lacodamian and Therian records agree, for the rest we have only the word of the Therians. Grinnus, son of Asinius, king of Thera, descendant of this same Therus, came to Delphi bringing a headache home from his city. Among others of his people, Batus, son of Polymnestus, came with him. A descendant of Euphemus of the Minion clan. When Grinnus, king of Thera, asked the oracle about other matters, the priestess's answer was that he should found a city in Libya. Lord, I am too old and heavy to stir. Command one of these younger men to do this," answered Grinnus, pointing to Batus as he spoke. No more was said then, but when they departed they neglected to obey the oracle, since they did not know where Libya was, and were afraid to send a colony out to an uncertain destination. For seven years after this there was no rain in Thera. All the trees in the island except one withered. The Therians inquired at Delphi again, and the priestess mentioned the colony they should send to Libya. So, since there was no remedy for their ills, they sent messengers to Crete to find any Cretan or traveller there who had travelled to Libya. In their travels about the island, these came to the town of Itanus, where they met a Murex fisherman named Corobius, who told them that he had once been driven off course by winds to Libya, to an island there called Plataea. They hired this man to come with them to Thera. From there just a few men were sent aboard ship to spy out the land first, guided by Corobius to the aforesaid island Plataea. These left him there with provisions for some months, and themselves sailed back with all speed to Thera to bring news of the island. But after they had been away for longer than the agreed time, and Corobius had no provisions left, a Sammian ship sailing for Egypt, whose captain was Coleus, was driven off her course to Plataea, where the Sammians heard the whole story from Corobius and left him provisions for a year. They then put out to sea from the island and would have sailed to Egypt, but an easterly wind drove them from their course, and did not abate until they had passed through the pillars of Hercules, and came providentially to Tartesus. Now this was at that time an untapped market, hence the Sammians, of all the Greeks whom we know with certainty, brought back from it the greatest prophet on their wares except Sostratus of Agina, son of Laodemus. No one could compete with him. The Sammians took six talents, a tenth of their prophet, and made a bronze vessel with it, like an argolic cauldron, with griffons' heads projecting from the rim all around. They set this up in their temple of Hera, supporting it with three colossal kneeling figures of bronze each twelve feet high. What the Sammians had done was the beginning of a close friendship between them and the men of Cyrene and Thera. As for the Therians, when they came to Thera after leaving Corobias on the island, they brought word that they had established a settlement on an island off Libya. The Therians determined to send out men from their seven regions, taking by lot one of every pair of brothers, and making Batas leader and king of all. Then they manned two fifty-ord ships and sent them to Plataea. Volume 2 Part 7 This is what the Therians say, and now begins the part in which the Therian and Cyrenean stories agree, but not until now, for the Cyreneans tell a wholly different story about Batas, which is this. There is a town and creek called Oaxus, of which one Etarchus became ruler. He was a widower with a daughter whose name was Fronmine, and he married a second wife. When the second wife came into his house, she thought fit to be the proverbial stepmother of Fronheim, ill-treating her and devising all sorts of evil against her. At last she accused the girl of lewdness, and persuaded her husband that the charge was true. So Etarchus was persuaded by his wife and contrived a great sin against his daughter. There was, at Oaxus, a Therian trader, one Themison. Etarchus made this man his guest and his friend, and got him to swear that he would do him whatever service he desired. Then he gave the man his own daughter, telling him to take her away and throw her into the sea. But Themison was very angry at being thus tricked on his oath and renounced his friendship with Etarchus. Presently he took the girl and sailed away, and so as to fulfill the oath that he had sworn to Etarchus, when he was on the high seas he bound her with ropes and let her down into the sea, and drew her up again, and presently arrived at Thera. There Polymnestus, a notable Therian, took Fronmine and made her his concubine. In time a son of weak and stammering speech was born to him, but whom he gave the name Badus, as the Therians and Serenians say. But in my opinion the boy was given some other name, and changed it to Badus on his coming to Libya, taking this new name because of the oracle given to him at Delphi and the honourable office which he received. For the Libyan word for king is Badus, and this, I believe, is why the Pythian priestess called him so in her prophecy, using a Libyan name because she knew that he was to be king in Libya. For when he grew to adulthood he went to Delphi to inquire about his voice, and the priestess in answer gave him this. Badus, you have come for a voice, but Lord Phoebus Apollo sends you to found a city in Libya, nurse of sheep. Just as if she addressed him using the Greek word for king, Basilius, you have come for a voice, etc. But he answered, Lord, I came to you to ask about my speech, but you talk of other matters, things impossible to do. You tell me to plant a colony in Libya, where shall I get the power or strength of hand for it? Badus spoke thus, but as the God would not give him another oracle and kept answering as before, he departed while the priestess was still speaking and went away to Thera. But afterwards things turned out badly for Badus and the rest of the Therians, and when ignorant of the cause of their misfortunes they sent to Delphi to ask about their present ills, the priestess declared that they would fare better if they helped Badus plant a colony at Cyrene in Libya. Then the Therians sent Badus with two fifty-ord ships, these sail to Libya, but not knowing what else to do presently returned to Thera. There the Therians shot at them as they came to land and would not let the ship put in, telling them to sail back, which they did under constraint of necessity, and planted a colony on an island off the Libyan coast called, as I have said already, Platia. This island is said to be as big as the city of Cyrene is now. Here they lived for two years, but as everything went wrong, the rest sailed to Delphi leaving one behind, and on their arrival questioned the oracle, and said that they were living in Libya, but that they were no better off for that. Then the priestess gave them this reply. If you know Libya, nurse of sheep, better than I, though I have been there and you have not, then I am very much astonished at your knowledge. Hearing this, Badus and his men sailed back again, for the God would not let them do anything short of colonizing Libya itself, and having come to the island and taken aboard the one whom they had left there, they made a settlement at a place in Libya itself opposite the island which was called Azeris. This is a place enclosed on both sides by the ferris of groves, with a river flowing along one side of it. Here they dwelt for six years, but in the seventh the Libyans got them to leave the place, saying that they would lead them to a better, and they brought the Greeks from Azeris and led them west, so calculating the hours of daylight that they led the Greeks past the ferris place in their country, called Erasa at night, lest the Greeks see it in their journey. Then they brought the Greeks to what is called the Fountain of Apollo, and said to them, Here, Greeks, it is suitable for you to live, for here the sky is torn. Now in the time of Badus the founder of the colony, who ruled for forty years, and of his son Arceleus, who ruled for sixteen, the inhabitants of Cyrene were no more in number than when they had first gone out to the colony. But in the time of the third ruler, Badus, who was called the fortunate, the Pythian priestess warned all Greeks by an oracle to cross the sea and live in Libya with the Cyrenians. For the Cyrenians invited them, promising a distribution of land, and this was the oracle. Whoever goes to beloved Libya after the fields are divided, I say shall be sorry afterward. So a great multitude gathered at Cyrene, and cut out great tracts of land from the territory of the neighboring Libyans. Robbed of their lands and treated violently by the Cyrenians, these sent to Egypt together with their king, whose name was Edikrin, and put their affairs in the hands of Aprius, the king of that country. Aprius mustered a great force of Egyptians and sent it against Cyrene. The Cyrenians marched out to Eresa and the Thestus Spring, and there fought the Egyptians and beat them, for the Egyptians had as yet no experience of Greeks, and despised their enemy, and as a result of which they were so utterly destroyed that few of them returned to Egypt. Because of this misfortune, and because they blamed him for it, the Egyptians revolted from Aprius. This baddest had a son, Archicillus, and on his first coming to reign he quarreled with his brothers until they left him and went away to another place in Libya, where they founded a city for themselves which was then and is now called Barse, and while they were founding it they persuaded the Libyans to revolt from the Cyreneans. Then Archicillus led an army into the country of the Libyans who had received his brothers and had also revolted, and they fled in fear of him to the Eastern Libyans. Archicillus pursued them until he came in his pursuit to Lucan in Libya, where the Libyans resolved to attack him. They engaged, and so wholly overcame the Cyrenean that seven thousand Cyrenean soldiers were killed there. After this disaster, Archicillus, being worn down and having taken a drug, was strangled by his brother Larchus. Larchus was deftly killed by Archicillus's wife, Irixo. Archicillus's kingship passed to his son Batus, who was lame and infirm in his feet. The Cyreneans, in view of the affliction that had overtaken them, sent to Delphi to ask what political arrangement would enable them to live best. The priestess told them to bring a mediator from Mantania in Arcadia. When the Cyreneans sent their request, the Mantanians gave them their most valued citizen, whose name was Demenax. When this man came to Cyrene and learned everything, he divided the people into three tribes, of which the Tharians and dispossessed Libyans were one, the Peloponnesians and Cretans the second, and all the islanders the third. Furthermore, he set apart certain domains and priesthoods for their king Batus, but all the rest, which had belonged to the kings, were now to be held by the people in common. During the life of this Batus these ordinances held good, but in the time of his son Archicillus much contention arose about the king's rights. Archicillus, son of the lame Batus and phariteam, would not abide by the ordinances of Demenax, but demanded back the prerogatives of his forefathers, and made himself head of affaction, but he was defeated and banished to Samos, and his mother fled to Salamis in Cyprus. Now Salamis at this time was ruled by Evelthon, who dedicated that marvelous censor at Delphi which stands in the treasury of the Corinthians. Phariteim came to him, asking him for an army to bring her and her son back to Cyrene. Evelthon was willing to give her everything else, only not an army, and when she accepted what he gave her she said that it was fine, but it would be better to give her an army as she asked. This she said whatever the gift, until at last Evelthon sent her a golden spindle and distaff, and wool, and when Phariteim uttered the same words as before, he answered that these and not armies were gifts for women. Meanwhile Archicillus was in Samos, collecting all the men that he could, and promising them a new division of land, and while a great army was thus gathering, he made a journey to Delphi to ask the oracle about his return. The priestess gave him this answer. For the lifetimes of four Batuses and four Archicilluses, eight generations of men, Luxius grants to your house the kingship of Cyrene. More than this he advises you not even to try. But you, return to your country and live there in peace. But if you find the oven full of amphora, do not bake the amphora, but let them go unscathed. And if you bake them in the oven, do not go into the tidal place, for if you do, then you shall be killed yourself, and also the bull that is the fairest of the herd. This was the oracle given by the priestess to Archicillus. But he returned to Cyrene, with the men from Samos, and having made himself master of it he forgot the oracle, and demanded justice upon his enemies for his banishment. Some of these left the country altogether, others Archicillus seized and sent away to Cyprus to be killed there. These were carried off their course to Snyttus, where the Snyttians saved them and sent them to Thera. Others of the Cyrenians fled for refuge into a great tower that belonged to one Aglomachus, a private man, and Archicillus piled wood around it and burnt them there. Then, perceiving too late that this was the meaning of the Delphic oracle which forbade him to bake the amphora if he found them in the oven, he deliberately refrained from going into the city of the Cyreneans, fearing the death prophesied and supposing the tidal place to be Cyrene. Now he had a wife who was a relation of his, a daughter of Alizair, king of the Barsians, and Archicillus went to Alizar, but men of Bars and some of the exiles from Cyrene were aware of him and killed him as he walked in the town, and Alizair his father, too. So Archicillus, whether with or without meaning to, missed the meaning of the oracle and fulfilled his destiny. While Archicillus was living in Bars, accomplishing his own destruction, his mother Faratime held her son's prerogative at Cyrene, where she administered all his business and sat with others in council. But when she learned of her son's death at Bars, she made her escape to Egypt, trusting to the good service which Archicillus had done to Cambysus the son of Cyrus, for this was the Archicillus who gave Cyrene to Cambysus and agreed to pay tribute. So on her arrival in Egypt Faratime sublocated Ariandes, asking that he avenge her on the plea that her son had been killed for allying himself with the Medes. This Ariandes had been appointed Viceroy of Egypt by Cambysus. At a later day he was put to death for making himself equal to Darius. For, learning and seeing that Darius desired to leave a memorial of himself such as no king ever had, Ariandes imitated him, until he got his reward, for Darius had coined money out of gold refined to an extreme purity, and Ariandes, then ruling Egypt, made a similar silver coinage. And now there is no silver money so pure as is the Ariandic. But when Darius heard that Ariandes was doing so, he put him to death, not on this charge, but as a rebel. At this time Ariandes took pity on Faratime and gave her all the Egyptian land and sea forces, appointing Amasus, Amarafean, general of the army, and Badres of the tribe of the Pasigarde, admiral of the fleet. But before dispatching the troops, Ariandes sent a herald to Bars to ask who it was who had killed Arcellus. The Barcaians answered that it was the deed of the whole city, for the many wrongs that Arcellus had done them. When he heard this, Ariandes sent his troops with Faratime. This was the pretext, but I myself think that the troops were sent to subjugate Libya. For the Libyan tribes are many and of different kinds, and though a few of them were the king's subjects, the greater part cared nothing for Darius. Now concerning the lands inhabited by Libyans, the Adermakide are the people that live nearest to Egypt. They follow Egyptian customs for the most part, but dress like other Libyans. Their women wear twisted bronze ornaments on both legs, their hair is long, each catches her own lice, then bites and throws them away. They are the only Libyans that do this, and who show the kings all virgins that are to be married. The king then takes the virginity of whichever of these pleases him. These Adermakide extend from Egypt to the harbor called Pleinus. Next to them are the Guligame, who inhabit the country to the west as far as the island of Aphrodisius. In between lies the island of Platia, which the Serenians colonize, and on the mainland is the harbor called Menelus, and the Aziris which was a settlement of the Serenians. Here the country of Silphium begins, which reaches from the island of Platia to the entrance of the Sirtis. This people is like the others in its customs. The next people west of the Guligame are the Aspiste, who live inland of Cyrene, not coming down to the coast, for that is Cyrenean territory. These drive four horse chariots to the greater extent than any other Libyans, it is their practice to imitate most of the Cyrenean customs. Next west of the Aspite are the Ausice, dwelling inland of Bars, and touching the coast at Euchasperidae. Out the middle of the land of the Ausice lives the little tribe of the Bacalis, whose territory comes down to the sea at Taucherra, a town in the Barsian country. Their customs are the same as those of the dwellers inland of Cyrene. Next west of these Ausice is the populous country of Nassimonis, who in summer leave their flocks by the sea and go up to the land called Aguila to gather dates from the palm trees that grow there in great abundance and all bear fruit. They hunt locusts, which they dry in the sun, and after grinding them sprinkle into milk and drink it. It is their custom for every man to have many wives. Their intercourse with women is promiscuous, as among the Masugete, a staff is placed before the dwelling, and then they have intercourse. When a man of the Nassimonis weds, on the first night the bride must by custom lie with each of the whole company in turn, and each man after intercourse gives her whatever gift he has brought from his house. As for their manner of swearing in divination, they lay their hands on the graves of the men reputed to have been the most just and good among them, and by these men they swear. Their practice of divination is to go to the tombs of their ancestors, where after making prayers they lie down to sleep, and take for oracles whatever dreams come to them. They give and receive pledges by each drinking from the hand of the other party, and if they have nothing liquid they take the dust of the earth and lick it up. On the borders of the Nassimonis is the country of the Silly, who perished in this way. The force of the South Wind dried up their water-tanks, and all their country, lying in the region of the Sirtis, was waterless. After deliberating together, they marched south, I tell the story as it is told by the Libyans, and when they came into the sandy desert a strong South Wind buried them, so they perished utterly, and the Nassimonis have their country. End of these to the South the Garamantes live in wild-beast country. They shun the side and fellowship of men, and have no weapons of war, nor know how to defend themselves. These live inland of the Nassimonis, the neighboring seaboard to the west is the country of the Macke, who shave their hair to a crest, leaving that on the top of their heads to grow, and shaving clean off what is on either side. In war they carry shields made of ostrich skins. The Synaps River empties into their sea through their country from a hill called the Hill of the Graces. This hill is thickly wooded, while the rest of Libya, of which I have spoken, is bare of trees. It is twenty-five miles from the sea. Next to these Macke are the Ghendanis, where every woman wears many leather anklets, because, so it is said, she puts on an anklet for every man with whom she has had intercourse, and she who wears the most is reputed to be the best, because she has been loved by the most men. There is a headland jutting out onto the sea from the land of the Ghendanis. On it live the Lotus-eaters, whose only fare is the Lotus. The Lotus fruit is the size of a mastic berry. It has a sweet taste like the fruit of a date-palm. The Lotus-eaters not only eat it, but make wine of it. Next to these along the coast are the Macleys, who also use the Lotus, but less than the aforesaid people. Their country reaches to a great river called the Triton, which empties into the great Tritonian lake, in which is an island called Fla. It is said that the Lackadimonians were told by an oracle to plant a settlement on this island. The following story is also told. It is said that Jason, when the Argo had been built at the foot of Pellion, put aboard, besides a Hedakome, a bronze tripod, and set out to sail around the Peloponnes to go to Delphi. But when he was off Malia, a north wind caught and carried him away to Libya, and before he saw land he came into the shallows of the Tritonian lake. There, while he could find no way out yet, Triton, the story goes, appeared to him and told Jason to give him the tripod, promising to show the sailors the channels and send them on their way unharmed. Jason did, and Triton then showed them the channel out of the shallows and set the tripod in his own temple. But first he prophesied over it, declaring the whole matter to Jason's comrades, namely, that should any descendant of the Argos crew take away the tripod, then a hundred Greek cities would be founded on the shores of the Tritonian lake. Hearing this, it is said, the Libyan people of the country hid the tripod. CHAPTER VIII. Next to these Macliés are the Ossians. These and the Macliés, separated by the Triton, live on the shores of the Tritonian lake. The Macliés wear their hair long behind, the Ossians in front. They celebrate a yearly festival of Athena, where their maidens are separated into two bands and fight each other with stones and sticks. Thus they say, honouring in the way of their ancestors that native goddess whom we call Athena. Maidens who die of their wounds are called false virgins. Before the girls are set fighting, the whole people choose the ferris maid and arm her with a Corinthian helmet and a Greek peniply, to be then mounted on a chariot and drawn all along the lakeshore. With what armor they equipped their maidens before the Greeks came to live near them, I cannot say, but I suppose the armor was Egyptian, for I maintain that the Greeks took their shield and helmet from Egypt. As for Athena, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake, and that, being for some reason angry at her father, she gave herself to Zeus, who made her his own daughter. Such is their tale. The intercourse of men and women there is promiscuous. They do not cohabit but have intercourse like cattle. When a woman's child is well grown, the men assemble within three months and the child is a judge to be that man's whom it is most like. I have now described all the nomadic Libyans who live on the coast. Farther inland than these is that Libyan country which is haunted by wild beasts, and beyond this wild beast-hunt runs a ridge of sand that stretches from Thebes of Egypt to the pillars of Heracles. At intervals of about ten days' journey along this ridge there are masses of great lumps of salt and hills. On the top of every hill a fountain of cold sweet water shoots up from the midst of the salt. Men live around it who are furthest away toward the desert and inland from the wild beast's country. The first on the journey from Thebes, ten days distant from there, are the Ammonians who follow the worship of the Zeus of Thebes. For as I have said before, the image of Zeus at Thebes has the head of a ram. They have another spring of water besides, which is warm at dawn and colder at market time and very cold at noon, and it is then that they water their gardens as the day declines the coldness abates until at sunset the water grows warm. It becomes ever hotter and hotter until midnight, and then it boils and bubbles. After midnight it becomes ever cooler until dawn. This spring is called the Spring of the Sun. At a distance of ten days' journey again from the Ammonians along the sandy ridge there is a hill of salt like that of the Ammonians and springs of water where men live. This place is called Aguila. It is to this that the Nassimonis come to gather palm fruit. After ten days' journey again from Aguila there is yet another hill of salt and springs of water and many fruit-bearing palms, as at the other places men live there called Garamantes, an exceedingly great nation who sow in earth which they have laid on the salt. The shortest way to the lotus-eaters' country is from there, thirty days' journey distant. Among the Garamantes are the cattle that go backward as they graze, the reason being that their horns curve forward. Therefore not being able to go forward since the horns would stick in the ground they walk backward grazing. Otherwise they are like other cattle except that their hide is thicker and harder to the touch. These Garamantes go in their four-horse chariots chasing the cave-gwelling Ethiopians, for the Ethiopian cave-dwellers are swifter foot than any men of whom tales are brought to us. They live on snakes and lizards and such like creeping things. Their speech is like no other in the world. It is like the squeaking of bats. After ten days' journey from the Garamantes there is again a salt hill and water where men live called the Aterantes. These are the only men whom we know who have no names, for the whole people are called Aterantes, but no man has a name of his own. When the sun is high they curse and very foully revile him, because his burning heat afflicts their people and their land. After another ten days' journey there is again a hill of salt and water and men living there. Similar to this salt is a mountain called Atlas, whose shape is slender and conical, and it is said to be so high that its heights cannot be seen, for clouds are always on them winter and summer. The people of the country call it the Pillar of Heaven. These men get their name, which is Atlantis, from this mountain. It is said that they eat no living creature and see no dreams in their sleep. I know and can tell the names of all the peoples that live on the ridge as far as the Atlantis, but no farther than that. But I know this, that the ridge reaches as far as the pillars of Heracles and beyond them. There is a mine of salt on it every ten days' journey and men live there. Their houses are all built of blocks of the salt, for these are parts of Libya where no rain falls, for the walls being of salt could not stand firm if there were rain. The salt there is both white and purple. Beyond this ridge the southern and inland parts of Libya are desolate and waterless. There are no wild beasts, no rain, no forests. This region is wholly without moisture. Thus from Egypt to the Tritonian Lake the Libyans are nomads that eat meat and drink milk. For the same reason as the Egyptians, too, profess, they will not touch the flesh of cows, and they rear no swine. The women of Cyrene, too, consider it wrong to eat cows' flesh because of the Isis of Egypt, and they even honor her with fasts and festivals, and the Barcian women refuse to eat swine, too, as well as cows. Thus it is with this region. But west of the Tritonian Lake the Libyans are not nomads. They do not follow the same customs or treat their children as the nomads do. For the practice of many Libyan nomads, I cannot say absolutely whether it is the practice of all, is to take their children, when they are four years old, and to burn the veins of their scalps or sometimes of their temples with the grease of sheep's wool, so that the children may never afterward be afflicted by phlegm draining from the head. They say that this makes their children quite healthy. In fact, the Libyans are the healthiest of all men whom we know. Whether it is because of this practice, I cannot absolutely say, but they certainly are healthy. When the children smart from the pain of the burning, the Libyans have found a remedy. They soothe them by applications of goat's urine. This is what the Libyans themselves say. The nomads' way of sacrificing is to cut a piece from the victim's ear for first fruits and throw it over the house. Then they ring the victim's neck. They sacrifice to no gods except the sun and moon. That is, this is the practice of the whole nation, but the dwellers by the Tritonian Lake sacrifice to Athena chiefly, and next to Triton and Poseidon. It would seem that the robe and ages of the images of Athena were copied by the Greeks from the Libyan women, for except that Libyan women dress in leather, and that the tassels of their goat-skin cloaks are not snakes, but thongs of hide, in everything else their equipment is the same. And in fact the very name betrays that the attire of the statues of Pallas has come from Libya, for Libyan women wear the hairless tassled ajiya over their dress, colored with matter, and the Greeks have changed the name of these aji to their ajitas. Furthermore, in my opinion, the ceremonial chant first originated in Libya, for the women of that country chant very tunefully, and it is from the Libyans that the Greeks have learned to drive four-horse chariots. The dead are buried by the nomads in Greek fashion, except by the Nazimonis. They bury their dead sitting, being careful to make the dying man sit when he releases his spirit, and not die lying supine. Their dwellings are constructed of asphodel stalks, twined about reeds. They can be carried here and there. Such are the Libyan customs. Most of the Triton River and next to the Essians begins the country of Libyans who cultivate the soil and possess houses. They are called the Maxis. They wear their hair long on the right side of their heads and shave the left, and they paint their bodies with vermilion. These claim descent from the men who came from Troy. Their country, and the rest of the western part of Libya, is much fuller of wild beasts and more wooded than the country of the nomads. For the eastern region of Libya, which the nomads inhabit, is low-lying and sandy as far as the Triton River. But the land west of this, where the farmers live, is exceedingly mountainous and wooded and full of wild beasts. In that country are the huge snakes and the lions, and the elephants and bears and asses, the horned asses, the dog-headed and the headless men that have their eyes in their chests as the Libyans say, and the wild men and women, besides many other creatures, not fabulous. But in the nomads' country there are none of these. But there are others, white-rumped antelopes, gazelles, heart-beasts, asses, not the horned asses, but those that are called undrinking, for they never drink. The oryx, whose horns are made the horns of the lyre, this is a beast the size of a bull, foxes, hyenas, porcupines, wild rams, the dictees, jackals, panthers, the boris, land crocodiles, sixty inches long, berry-like lizards, and ostriches and little one-horned serpents. All these beasts, besides those that are elsewhere, too, except deer and wild boar. Of these two kinds there are none at all in Libya. There are in this country three kinds of mice, two-footed, the Zagaries, this is a Libyan word, meaning in our language hills, and the bristly-haired as they are called. There are also weasels found in the Sophilum, very like to the weasels of Tartesis. So many are the wild creatures of the nomads' country, as far as by our utmost inquiry we have been able to learn. Next to the Maxis of Libya are the Zagaries, whose women drive their chariots to war. Next to these are the Ghazantes, where much honey is made by bees, and much more yet, so it is said, by craftsmen. It is certain that they all paint themselves with vermilion and eat apes, with which their mountains swarm. Off their coasts, the Carthaginians say, lies an island called Andreas, twenty-five miles long and narrow across, accessible from the mainland. It is full of olives and vines. It is said that there is a lake on this island, from which the maidens of the country draw gold dust out of the mud on feathers smeared with pitch. I do not know whether this is true. I just write what is said. But all things are possible, for I myself saw pitch drawn from the water of a pool in Zacanthus. The pools there are enormous. The greatest of them is seventy feet long and broad, and twelve feet deep. Into this they drop a pole with a myrtle branch fastened to its end, and bring up pitch on the myrtle, smelling like asphalt, and for the rest better than the pitch of Peria. Then they pour it into a pit that they have dug near the pool, and when a fair amount is collected there they fill their vessels from the pit. Whatever falls into the pool is carried under the ground and appears again in the sea, which is about half a mile distant from the pool. So then, the story that comes from the island lying off the Libyan coast is like the truth, too. Another story is told by the Carthaginians. There is a place in Libya, they say, where men live beyond the pillars of Heracles. They come here and unload their cargo. Then having laid it in order along the beach, they go aboard their ships and light a smoking fire. The people of the country see the smoke, and coming to the sea they lay down gold to pay for the cargo, and withdraw from the wares. Then the Carthaginians disembark and examine the gold. If it seems to them a fair price for their cargo, they take it and go away. But if not, they go back aboard and wait, and the people come back and add more gold until the sailors are satisfied. In this transaction it is said, neither party defrauds the other. The Carthaginians do not touch the gold until it equals the value of their cargo, nor do the people touch the cargo until the sailors have taken the gold. These are all the Libyans whom we can name, and the majority of their kings cared nothing for the king of the Medes at the time of which I write, nor do they care for him now. I have this much further to say of this country. Four nations and no more, as we know it, inhabited it. Two of which are aboriginal and two not. The Libyans in the north and the Ethiopians in the south of Libya are aboriginal. The Phoenicians and Greeks are later settlers. In my opinion there is in no part of Libya any great excellence for which it should be compared to Asia or Europe, except in the region which is called by the same name as its river, Synaps. But this region is a match for the most fertile farmland in the world, nor is it at all like the rest of Libya. For the soil is black and well watered by springs, and has no fear of drought, nor is it harmed by drinking excessive showers. There is rain in this part of Libya. Its yield of grain is of the same measure as in the land of Babylon. The land inhabited by the Eusphirite is also good. It yields at the most a hundredfold, but the land of the Synaps region yields three hundredfold. The country of Cyrene, which is the highest part of Libya that nomads inhabit, has the marvellous advantage of three harvest seasons. The fruits of the earth are ripe for reaping and picking on the coast first. When these have been gathered, the middle region above the coast, which they call the hills, is ripe for gathering, and no sooner has this yield of the middle country been gathered than the highest line crops are mellow and ripe, so that the latest fruits of the earth are coming in when the earliest are already spent by way of food and drink. Thus the Cyreneans have a harvest lasting eight months. Enough of these matters, then. Now when the Persians that Ariandes sent from Egypt to avenge Faratime came to Barse, they laid siege to the city, demanding the surrender of those who were guilty of the murder of Arcusillus, but the Barseans, those whose whole people were accessory to the deed, would not yield. The Persians besieged Barse for nine months, digging underground passages leading to the walls and making violent assaults. As for the tunnels, a blacksmith discovered them by the means of a bronze shield, and this is how he found them. Carrying the shield around the inner side of the walls, he struck it against the ground of the city. All the other places which he struck returned a dull sound, but where there were tunnels, the bronze of the shield rang clear. Here the Barseans made a counter-tunnel and killed those Persians who were digging underground. Thus the tunnels were discovered, and the assaults were repelled by the townsfolk. When much time had been spent, and many on both sides, not less of the Persians than their enemies slain, Amassus the general of the footshoulders devised a plot, knowing that Barse would not be taken by force, but might be taken by guile. He dug by night a wide trench and laid frail planks across it, which he then covered over with a layer of earth level with the ground about it. Then when day came he invited the Barseans to confer with him, and they readily consented, at last all agreed to conditions of peace. This was done thus. Standing on the hidden trench they gave and accepted a sworn assurance that their treaty would hold good while the ground where they stood was unchanged. The Barseans promised to pay a due sum to the king and the Persians to do the Barseans no harm. When the sworn agreement was made, the townsfolk, trusting in it and opening all their gates, themselves came out of the city and let all their enemies who so desired to enter within the walls. But the Persians broke down the hidden bridge and ran into the city. They broke down the bridge that they had made so that they might keep the oath which they had sworn to the Barseans, namely, that this treaty would hold good for as long as the ground remained as it was, but if they broke the bridge the treaty held good no longer. When they were delivered to her by the Persians, Ferritime took the most guilty of the Barseans and set them impaled around the top of the wall. The breasts of their women she cut off and planted around the wall in like manner. As for the rest of the Barseans she told the Persians to take them as their booty, except those who were of the house of Batas and not accessory to the murder. To these she turned over the city. The Persians thus enslaved the rest of the Barseans and went home. When they appeared before the city of Cyrene the Cyreneans let them pass through their city so that a certain oracle might be fulfilled. As the army was passing through, Badres the Admiral of the Fleet was for taking the city, but Amasas the general of the land army would not consent, saying that he had been sent against Barse and no other Greek city. At last they passed through Cyrene and camped on the hill of Lycaean Zeus. There they regretted not having taken the city and tried to enter it again, but the Cyreneans would not let them. Then although no one attacked them, panic seized the Persians and they fled to a place seven miles distant and camped there, and while they were there a messenger from Ariandes came to the camp asking them to return. The Persian asked and received from the Cyreneans provisions for their march, after which they left to go to Egypt, but then they fell into the hands of the Libyans who killed the laggards and stragglers of the army for the sake of their garments and possessions, until at last they came to Egypt. This Persian force advanced as far as Eusphyridae and Libya and no farther. As for the Barsians whom they had taken for slaves, they carried them from Egypt into banishment and brought them to the king, and Darius gave them a town of Bactria to live in. They gave this town the name Bars, and it remained an inhabited place in Bactria until my own lifetime. But Faratime did not end well either, for as soon as she had revenged herself on the Barchians and returned to Egypt she met an awful death. For while still alive she teamed with maggots, thus does overbrutal human revenge invite retribution from the gods. That of Faratime, daughter of Batas against the Barsians, was revenge of this nature and this brutality. End of Volume 2, Part 8. Volume 2, Part 9 of Herodotus' Histories. This is a Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org. Recording by David Leeson. Histories Volume 2 by Herodotus of Halecarnassus, translated by A.D. Godly. Volume 2, Part 9. Those Persians whom Darius had left in Europe under the command of Megabasus, finding the Perentians unwilling to be Darius subjects, subdued them before any others of the people of the Helispont. These Perentians had already been roughly handled by the Peonians. For the Oracle of the God ordered the Peonians from the Strymon to march against Perentus, and if the Perentians, who were encamped opposite them, should call to them, crying out their name, then to attack them. If, however, there were no such call, they were not to attack. The Peonians acted accordingly. When the Perentians set up camp in front of their city, the Perentians then challenged each other to a three-fold duel in which man was matched against man, horse against horse, and dog against dog. The Perentians were victorious in two of the combats and raised the cry of Peon in their joy. The Peonians reasoned that this was what the Oracle had spoken of, and must have said to each other, this is surely the fulfilment of the prophecy, now is the time for us to act. Finally the Peonians set upon the Perentians and won a great victory, leaving few of their enemies alive. This then is what the Perentians had previously suffered at the hands of the Peonians. Now they fought like brave men for their liberty, but Megabasus and the Persians overcame them by weight of numbers. When Perentus had been taken, Megabasus marched his army through Thrace, subduing to the king's will every city and every people of that region. For this the conquest of Thrace was the charge given him by Darius. The Thraceans are the biggest nation in the world next to the Indians. If they were under one ruler or united, they would, in my judgment, be invincible and the strongest nation on earth. Since however there is no way or means to bring this about, they are weak. The Thraceans have many names, each tribe according to its region, but they are very similar in all their customs, save the Getti, the Trozi, and those who dwell above the Crestoneans. As for the Getti, who claim to be immortal, I have already given an account of their practices. The Trozi, who in all else conform to the customs of other Thraceans, do, as I will show, at the times of birth and death. When a child is born, the kinsmen sit around it and lament all the ills that it must endure from its birth onward, recounting all the sorrows of men. The dead, however, they bury with celebration and gladness, asserting that he is rid of so many ills and has achieved a state of complete blessedness. Those who dwell above the Crestoneans have yet other practices. Each man has many wives, and at his death there is both great rivalry among his wives and eager contention on their friend's part to prove which wife was best loved by her husband. She to whom the honor is adjudged is praised by men and women alike, and then slain over the tomb by her nearest of Kent. After the slaying she is buried with the husband. The rest of the wives are greatly displeased by this, believing themselves to be deeply dishonored. Among the rest of the Thraceans it is the custom to sell their children for export and to take no care of their maidens, allowing them to have intercourse with any man they wish. Their wives, however, they strictly guard, and buy them for a price from the parents. To be tattooed is a sign of noble birth, while to bear no such marks is for the baser sort. The idler is most honored, the tiller of the soil most scorned. He is held in highest honor, who lives by war and robbery. These are the most notable of their usages. They worship no gods but Ares, Dionysus, and Artemis. Their princes, however, unlike the rest of their countrymen, worship Hermes above all gods, and swear only by him, claiming him for their ancestor. The wealthy have the following funeral practices. First they lay out the dead for three days, and after killing all kinds of victims and making lamentation, they feast. After that they do away with the body either by fire or else by burial in the earth, and when they have built a barrow they initiate all kinds of contests, in which the greatest prizes are offered for the hardest type of single combat. Such are the Thracian funeral rites. As for the region which lies north of this country, none can tell with certainty what men dwell there, but what lies beyond the ester is a desolate and infinitely large tract of land. I can learn of no men dwelling beyond the ester, save certain that are called Sagini, and wear Median dress. Their horses are said to be covered all over with shaggy hair, five fingers breadth long, and to be small, blunt-nosed, and unable to bare men on their backs, but very swift when yoked to chariots. It is for this reason that driving chariots is the usage of the country. These men's borders, it is said, reach almost as far as the Annetti on the Adriatic Sea. They call themselves columnists from media. While this has come about, I myself cannot understand. But all is possible in the long passage of time. However that may be, we know that the Ligaius, who dwell inland of Masalia, use the word Sagini for hucksters, and the Cyprians use it for spears. According to the Thracians, all the land beyond the ester is full of bees, and that by reason of these none can travel there. This, to my mind, is not a credible tale, for those creatures are ill able to bear cold. It appears to me rather that it is by reason of the cold that the northern lands are not inhabited. Such then are the stories about this region. Whatever the truth may be, Megabazus made its coastal area subject to the Persians. As soon as Darius had crossed the Hellespont and came to Sardis, he remembered the good service done him by Histius of Miletus and the Council of Keys, the Middle Aenean, and after sending for them to come to Sardis, he offered them a choice of whatever they wanted. Histius, seeing that he was tyrant of Miletus, desired no further sovereignty than that, but asked for Mercinus in the Edonian land so that he might build a city there. This then was Histius' choice, but Keys, in as much as he was no tyrant but a plain citizen, asked that he might be made tyrant of Medellin. When the wishes of each had been granted, they made their way to the places of their choice. But Darius, as it fell out, saw a sight which put it in his mind to bid Megabazus take the Peonians and take them from their homes out of Europe into Asia. There were two Peonians, Pygres and Mantayes, who themselves desired to be rulers of their countrymen. When Darius had crossed into Asia, they came to Sardis, bringing with them their sister, a tall and beautiful woman. There, waiting till Darius should be sitting in state in the suburb of the Lydian city, they put on their sister the best adornment they had and sent her to draw water, bearing a vessel on her head, leading a horse by the bridle and spinning flax at the same time. Darius took note of the woman as she passed by him, for what she did was not in the manner of the Persians or Lydians or any of the peoples of Asia. Having taken note of this, he sent some of his guards, bidding them watch what the woman would do with the horse. They, accordingly, followed behind her, and she, coming to the river, watered the horse. When she had done this and had filled her vessel with water, she passed back again by the same way, bearing the water on her head, leading the horse on her arm, and plying her disstaff. Marvelling at what he heard from his watchers and what he saw for himself, Darius bade the woman be brought before him. When she had been brought, her brothers, who watched all this from a place nearby, came too. Darius asked of what nation she was, and the young man told him that they were Peonians and that she was their sister. But who, he answered, are the Peonians, and where do they dwell, and with what intent have you come to Sardis? They told him that they had come to be his men, that the towns of Peonia lay on the Strymon, a river not far from the Hellespont, and that they were colonists from the Tukrians of Troy. So they told him all this, and the king asked them if all the women of their country were so industrious. To this too they very readily answered, for it was for this very purpose that they had come, that it was indeed so. Then Darius wrote a letter to Megabasus, whom he had left as his general in Thrace, bidding him take the Peonians from their houses and bring them to him, men, women, and children. Immediately a horseman sped with this message to the Hellespont, and upon crossing it gave the letter to Megabasus, who, after reading it, took guides from Thrace and led his army to Peonia. When the Peonians learned that the Persians were coming against them, they gathered together and marched away to the sea, thinking that the Persians would attempt to attack them by that way. Although the Peonians were ready to withstand the onset of Megabasus army, but the Persians, learning that the Peonians had gathered their forces and were guarding the coast route into their country, got guides and marched instead by the Highland Road. They accordingly took the Peonians unaware and won entrance into their cities, which were left without men, and finding these empty at their attack, they easily gained them. The Peonians, learning that their towns had been taken, straightway disbanded, each going his own way, and surrendered themselves to the Persians. Thus of the Peonians, the Serio-Peonians and Piopli, and all who lived as far as the Prasiat Lake, were taken away from their homes and led into Asia. But those near the Pangean Mountains and the country of the Dobaris, and the Agriyanis, and the Adomanti, and the Prasiat Lake itself were never subdued at all by Megabasus. He did, in fact, try to take the lake dwellers, and did so, in the following manner. There is set in the midst of the lake a platform made fast on tall piles to which one bridge gives a narrow passage from the land. In olden times all the people working together set the piles which support the platform there, but they later developed another method of setting them. The men bring the piles from a mountain called Orbelus, and every man plants three for each of the three women that he weds. Each man has both a hut on the platform and a trapped door in the platform leading down into the lake. They make a cord fast to the feet of their little children out of fear that they will fall into the water. They give fish as fodder to their horses and beasts of burden, and there is such an abundance of fish that a man can open his trapped door, let down an empty basket by a line into the lake, and draw it up after a short time full of fish. There are two kinds of these, some called Paprikes and some Tillanese. So those of the Peonians who had been captured were taken into Asia. Then Megabasis, having made the Peonians captive, sent as messengers into Macedonia, the seven Persians who, after himself, were the most honorable in his army. These were sent to Amintas to demand earth and water for Darius the king. Now there is a very straight way from the Prasiyad lake to Macedonia. First there is, near the lake, that mine from which Alexander later drew a daily revenue of a talent of silver, and when a person has passed the mine he need only cross the mountain called Dysorum to be in Macedonia. The Persians who had been sent as envoys came to Amintas and demanded earth and water for Darius the king. He readily gave to them what they asked, and invited them to be his guests, preparing a dinner of great splendor and receiving them hospitably. After dinner, the Persians said to Amintas as they sat drinking together, Macedonian, our host, it is our custom in Persia to bring in also the concubines and wedded wives to sit by the men after the giving of any great banquet. We ask you, then, since you have received us heartily, are entertaining us nobly, and are giving Darius our king, earth and water, to follow our custom. To this Amintas replied, we have no such custom Persians, among us men and women sit apart, but since you are our masters and are making this request it shall be as you desire. With that Amintas sent for the women. Upon being called the women entered and sat down in a row opposite the Persians. Then the Persians, seeing beautiful women before them, spoke to Amintas and said that there was no sense in what he had done. It would be better if the women had never come at all than that they should come and not sit beside the men, but sit opposite them to torment their eyes. Amintas, now feeling compelled to do so, bade the women sit beside them. When the women had done as they were bidden, the Persians, flushed as they were with excess of wine, at once laid hands on the women's breasts, and one or another tried to kiss them. This Amintas saw, but held his peace despite his anger because he greatly feared the Persians. Amintas' son Alexander, however, because of his youth and ignorance of ill deeds, could not bear it longer and said to Amintas in great wrath, my father, do as your age demands. Leave us and take your rest, do not continue drinking, I will stay here and give our guests all that is needful. But this Amintas saw that Alexander had some wild deed in mind and said, my son, you are angered, and if I guess you are meaning correctly you are sending me away so that you may do some violent deed. I, for my part, for fear that you will bring about our undoing, entreat you not to act rashly against these men, but to bear patiently the sight of what they do. If you want me to leave, to that I consent. When Amintas made this request and had gone his way, Alexander said to the Persians, Sirs, you have full freedom to deal with these women and may have intercourse with all or any of them. As to that you may make your own decision. But now, since the hour of your rest is drawing near, and I see that you are all completely drunk, allow these women to depart and wash, if this is your desire. When they have washed, wait for them to come to you again. When he had said this and the Persians had given their consent, he sent the women out and away to their apartments. Alexander then took as many beardless men as there were women, dressed them in the women's clothes, and gave them daggers. These he brought in, and said to the Persians, I believe, men of Persia, that you have feasted to your heart's content. All that we had, and all besides that we could find to give you, has been set before you, and now we make you a free gift of our best and most valued possession, our own mothers and sisters. Be aware that in so doing we are giving you all the honor that you deserve, and tell your king who sent you how his Greek viceroy of Macedonia has received you hospitably, providing food and bed- fellows. With that, Alexander seated each of his Macedonians next to a Persian as though they were women, and when the Persians began to lay hands on them, they were killed by the Macedonians. This was the way in which they perished, they and all their retinue. Carriages too had come with them, and servants, and all the great train they had. The Macedonians made away with all that, as well as with all the envoys themselves. No long time afterwards the Persians made a great search for these men, but Alexander had cunning enough to put an end to it by the gift of a great sum, and his own sister Gagia to Bubaris, a Persian and the general of those who were looking for the slain men. It was in this way, then, that the death of these Persians was kept silent. Now that these descendants of Perdikas are Greeks as they themselves say, I myself chance to know and will prove it in the later part of my history. Furthermore, the Hellenautiki who managed the contest at Olympia determined that it is so, for when Alexander chose to contend and entered the lists for that purpose, the Greeks who were to run against him wanted to bar him from the race, saying that the contest should be for Greeks and not for foreigners. Alexander, however, proving himself to be an Argyve, was judged to be a Greek. He accordingly competed in the Furlong race and tied step for first place. This, then, is approximately what happened. Megabasus, bringing with him the Peonians, came to the Hellespont, and after crossing it from there he came to Sardis. Histius, the Milesian, was by this time fortifying the place which he had asked of Darius as his reward for guarding the bridge, a place called Mercinus, by the river Strymon. Megabasus discovered what he was doing, and upon his arrival at Sardis with the Peonians, he said to Darius, Sire, what is this that you have done? You have permitted a clever and cunning Greek to build a city in Thrace, where there are abundant forests for shipbuilding, much wood for oars, mines of silver, and many people, both Greek and foreign dwelling around, who, when they have a champion to lead them, will carry out all his orders by day or by night. Stop this man, then, from doing these things, so that you will not be entangled in a war with your own subjects, but use gentle means to do so. When you have him in your grasp, see to it that he never returns to Hellas. Megabasus easily persuaded Darius, who believed that his vision of the future was correct. Presently the king sent a message to Mercinus, which read as follows. Histius, these are the words of Darius the king. My thoughts can show me no man who is more devoted to me and my affairs. Not words but deeds have proven this to me. Now, therefore, let nothing prevent you from coming to me, so that I may inform you of certain great purposes which I have in mind. Trusting these words, and proud, moreover, that he would be the king's counselor, Histius came to Sardis. When he had come, Darius said to him, Histius, I will tell you the reason why I sent for you. As soon as I returned from Scythia, and you were gone from my sight, there was nothing which I longed for so much as seeing you and speaking with you, for I knew that the most precious of all possessions is a wise and loyal friend, that you are such I can bear witness to as regards my affairs. Now, since you have done well in coming here, I make you this proposal. Leave my Lytus and your newly founded Thracian city and follow me to Susa, where you will have all that is mine, sharing my table and my counsels. This, then, is what Darius said, and after appointing Artaphranese, his father's son, to be Viceroy of Sardis, he wrote away to Susa, taking Histius with him. First, however, he made Otani's governor of the people on the coast. Otani's father's Tisamnese had been one of the royal judges, and Cambyses had cut his throat and flayed off all his skin, because he had been bribed to give an unjust judgment. Then he cut leather strips of the skin which had been torn away, and with these he covered the seat upon which Tisamnese had sat to give judgment. After doing this, Cambyses appointed the son of this slain and flayed Tisamnese to be judge in his place, admonishing him to keep in mind the nature of the throne on which he was sitting. This Otani's, then, who sat upon that seat, was now made successor to Megabasis in his governorship. He captured Byzantium, Calcedon, and Tandris in the Troad, and Lamponium, and with ships he had taken from the lesbians, he took Lemnos and Embros, both of which were still inhabited by Pelasgians. The Lemnians fought well and defended themselves, till at last they were brought to evil plight, and the Persians set as governor over those that were left of them, Lycoridus, the brother of Meandrius, who had been king of Samos. This Lycoridus met his end while ruling in Lemnos, because he tried to enslave and subdue all the people, accusing some of shunning service against the Scythians, and others of plundering Darius' army on its way back from Scythia. End of Volume 2, Part 9. Volume 2, Part 10 of Herodotus' Histories. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by David Leeson. Histories Volume 2 by Herodotus of Halecarnassus, translated by A.D. Godly. Volume 2, Part 10. All this Otanis achieved when he had been made governor. After only a short period of time without evils, trouble began once more to come on the Ionians, and this from Naxos and Miletus. Naxos surpassed all the other islands in prosperity, and at about the same time Miletus, at the height of her fortunes, was the glory of Ionia. Two generations before this, however, she had been very greatly troubled by factional strife, till the Parians, chosen out of all the Greeks by the Miletians for this purpose, made peace among them. The Parians reconciled them in the following manner. Their best men came to Miletus, and seeing the Miletian households sadly wasted, they said that they desired to go about the country. They then made their way through all the territory of Miletus, and whenever they found any well-tilled farm in the desolation of the land, they wrote down the name of the owner of that farm. After traveling over the whole country and finding only a few such men, they assembled the people immediately upon their return to the city and appointed as rulers of the state those whose lands they had found well-tilled. This they did in the belief that these men were likely to take as good care of public affairs as they had of their own, and they ordained that the rest of the Miletians who had been found at Feud should obey these men. It was in this way that the Parians made peace in Miletus, but now these cities began to bring trouble upon Ionia. Certain men of substance who had been banished by the common people went in exile to Miletus. Now it chanced that the deputy ruling Miletus was Aristagoras, son of Mopagoras, son-in-law and cousin of that Hisgius, son of Lysagoras, whom Darius kept with him at Susa. Hisgius was tyrant of Miletus, but was at Susa when the Naxians, who had been his guests and friends, arrived. When the Naxians came to Miletus, they asked Aristagoras if he could give them enough power to return to their own country. Knowing that he would become ruler of Naxos if they were restored to their city with his help, and using as a pretext their friendship with Hisgius, he made them this proposal, I myself do not have the authority to give you such power as will restore you against the will of the Naxians who hold your city, for I know that the Naxians have eight thousand men that bear shields and many ships of war. Nevertheless I will do everything I can to realize your request. This is my plan. Bartafranes is my friend, and he is not only Istaspi's son and brother to Darius the king, but also governor of all the coastal peoples of Asia. He accordingly has a great army and many ships at his disposal. This man then will, I think, do whatever we desire. Hearing this, the Naxians left the matter for Aristagoras to deal with as best he could, asking him to promise gifts and the costs of the army, for which they themselves would pay, since they had great hope that when they should appear off Naxos the Naxians would obey all their commands. The rest of the islanders they expected would do likewise, since none of those Cycladic islands was as yet subject to Darius. Aristagoras came to Sardis and told Artafranes that Naxos was indeed an island of no great size, but that it was otherwise a beautiful and noble island lying near Ionia. Furthermore it had a store of wealth and slaves. Therefore send an army against that country, he said, and bring back the men who have been banished from there. If you so do, I have a great sum of money at your disposal over and above the costs of the force, for it is only fair that we who bring you should furnish that. Furthermore you will win new dominions for the king, Naxos itself and the islands which are its dependents, Paros, Andros, and the rest of those that are called Cyclades. Making these your starting point you will easily attack Ubia, which is a great and wealthy island, no smaller than Cyprus and very easy to take. A hundred ships suffice for the conquest of all these. This plan which you set forth, Artafranes answered, is profitable for the king's house, and all your advice is good, except as regards the number of the ships. Not one hundred but two hundred ships will be ready for you when the spring comes. The king, too, however, must himself consent to this. When Aristagoras heard that, he went away to Miletus in great joy. Artafranes sent a messenger to Susa with the news of what Aristagoras said, and when Darius himself, too, had consented to the plan, he equipped two hundred triremes and a very great company of Persians and their allies in addition. For their general he appointed Megabatis, a Persian of the Achaemenid family, cousin to himself and to Darius. This was he whose daughter, if indeed the tale is true, Poesanias, the Lacedemonian, son of Cleombrotus, at a later day betrothed to himself, since it was his wish to possess the sovereignty of Helus. After appointing Megabatis general, Artafranes sent his army away to Aristagoras. Then Megabatis, bringing Aristagoras from Miletus, the Ionian army, and the Naxians, pretended to be sailing to the Helispont, but when he came to Chios, he put in with his ships at Caucasus, so that he might cross with the North Wind to Noxos. Since it was not fated that the Naxians were to be destroyed by this force, the following things took place. As Megabatis was making his rounds among the ship's watches, it chanced that there was no one on the ship of Mindus. He was very angry at this, ordered his guards to find the captain of this ship, whose name was Skylax, and thrust him partly through an ore-hole of the ship, and bound him there so that his head was outside the ship and his body inside. When Skylax had been bound, someone brought word to Aristagoras that his Mindian friend was bound and being disgracefully treated by Megabatis. Aristagoras then went and pleaded with the Persian force of the Nax, but since he obtained nothing that he requested, he went and released the man himself. When Megabatis learned this, he took it very badly and was angry at Aristagoras. Aristagoras, however, said, But you, what have you to do with these matters? Did not our tavernies send you to obey me and to sail wherever I bid you? Why are you so meddlesome? This response on the part of Aristagoras enraged Megabatis, who, when night fell, sent men in a boat to Naxos to tell the Naxians of the trouble in store for them. Now the Naxians had no suspicion at all that it was they who were to be attacked by that force, however, when they learned the truth, they immediately brought inside their walls all that was in their fields, stored both meat and drink in case of a siege, and strengthened their walls. The Naxians then made all preparations to face the onset of war. When their enemies had brought their ships over from Kios to Naxos, it was a fortified city that they attacked, and for four months they besieged it. When the Persians had exhausted all the money with which they had come, and Aristagoras himself had spent much beside, they built a stronghold for the banished Naxians and went off to the mainland in poor spirits since still more money was needed for the siege. Aristagoras had no way of fulfilling his promise to Artafranes, and he was hard-pressed by demands for the costs of the force. Furthermore, he feared what might come of the failure of the army and Megabati's displeasure against him. It was likely, he thought, that his lordship of Miletus would be taken away from him. With all these fears in his mind he began to plan revolt, for it chanced that at that very time there came from Susa, hisgeous messenger, the man with the marked head, signifying that Aristagoras should revolt from the king, since hisgeous desired to give word to Aristagoras that he should revolt and had no other safe way of doing so because the roads were guarded. He shaved and branded the head of his most trustworthy slave. He waited till the hair had grown again, and as soon as it was grown he sent the man to Miletus with no other message except that when he came to Miletus he must bid Aristagoras shave his hair and examine his head. The writing branded on its signified revolt as I have already said. This hisgeous did because he greatly disliked his detention at Susa and fully expected to be sent away to the coast in the case that there should be a revolt. If however Miletus remained at peace he calculated that he would never return there. With this intent then hisgeous sent his messenger, and it chanced that all these things came upon Aristagoras at one and the same time. He accordingly took counsel with the members of his faction, stating his own opinion as well as the message which had come to him from Histius. All the rest spoke their minds to the same effect, favoring revolt, with the exception of a cateus the historian who, listing all the nations subject to Darius and all his power, advised them that they should not make war on the king of Persia. When however he failed to persuade them he counseled them that their next best plan was to make themselves masters of the sea. This, he said, could only be accomplished in one way Miletus he knew was a city of no great wealth, namely if they took away from the temple at Broncadie the treasure which Cresus the Lydian had dedicated there. With this at their disposal he fully expected them to gain the mastery of the sea. They would then have the use of that treasure and their enemies would not be able to plunder it. The treasure was very great as I have shown in the beginning of my account. This plan was not approved, and they resolved that they would revolt. One out of their number was to sail to Mayas, to the army which had left Naxos and was there, and attempt to seize the generals who were aboard the ships. Yatragoras, who had been sent for this very purpose, craftily seized Oliatus of Melasa, son of Ibnullus, Histius of Tirmera, son of Temniz, keys son of Erxandras to whom Darius gave Mitalene, Aristagoras of Simei, son of Heraclides, and many others besides. Then Aristagoras revolted openly, devising all he could to harm Darius. First he made the pretense of giving up his tyranny and gave Miletus equality of government so that the Milisians might readily join in his revolt. Then he proceeded to do the same things in the rest of Ionia. Some of the tyrants he banished, and as for those tyrants whom he had taken out of the ships that sailed with him against Naxos he handed them each over to their respective cities which he wished to please. Keys, when the Mitaleneians received him, was taken out and stoned, but the Simeians as well as most of the others let their own man go. In this way then an end was made of tyrants in the cities. After doing away with the tyrants, Aristagoras of Miletus ordered all the peoples to set up governors in each city. Then he went on an embassy in a trireme to Lassa Demon, for it was necessary for him to find some strong ally. At Sparta, Anaxandrides the son of Leon, who had been king, was now no longer alive but was dead, and Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides held the royal power. This he had won not by manly merit but by right of birth. Anaxandrides had as his wife his own sister's daughter, and although he was content with her, no children were born to him. Since this was the case, the Ephors called him to them and said, even if you have no interest in caring for yourself, we cannot allow the house of Eurysthanes to perish. Therefore send away the wife that you have, seeing that she bears you no children, and wed another. If you do this, you will please the Spartans, and Anaxandrides, however, said in response that he would do neither of these things and that they were not giving him good advice in bidding him to get rid of his present wife, who was blameless, and to marry another. Then the Ephors and the Elders took counsel and placed this proposal before Anaxandrides. Since as we see you cling to the wife that you have, carry out our command and do not hold out against it, bearing in mind that the Spartans will certainly find some other way of dealing with you. As for the wife that you have, we do not ask that you send her away. Keep providing her with all that you give her now, and marry another woman in addition who can give you children. So they spoke, and Anaxandrides consented. Presently he had two wives and kept two households, a thing which is not at all customary in Sparta. After no long time the second wife gave birth to Cleomenes. She then gave the Spartans an heir to the royal power, and as luck would have it, the first wife, who had been barren before, conceived at that very time. When the friends of the new wife learned that the other woman was pregnant, they began to make trouble for her. They said that she was making an empty boast so that she might substitute a child. The Ephors were angry, and when her time drew near, they sat around to watch her in childbirth because of their skepticism. She gave birth first to Dorjeus, then straightway to Leonidas, and right after him to Cleombratus. Some however say that Cleombratus and Leonidas were twins. As for the later wife, the mother of Cleomenes and the daughter of Prenetatus, son of Demarminus, she bore no more children. Now Cleomenes, as the story goes, was not in his right mind and really quite mad, while Dorjeus was first among all of his peers, and fully believed that he would be made king for his manly worth. Since he was of this opinion, Dorjeus was very angry when at Anaxangrides' death the Lacedemonians followed their custom and made Cleomenes king by right of age. Since he would not tolerate being made subject to Cleomenes, he asked the Spartans for a group of people whom he took away as colonists. He neither inquired of the oracle at Delphi in what land he should establish his settlement, nor did anything else that was customary, but set sail in great anger for Libya with men of Thera to guide him. When he arrived there, he settled by the Sinips River in the fairest part of Libya, but in the third year he was driven out by the Machi, the Libyans, and the Carcadonians, and returned to the Peloponnesus. There, Antichories, a man of Elion, advised him on the basis of the oracles of Laos to plant a colony at Heracleia in Sicily, for Heracles himself, said Antichories, had won all the region of Erics, which accordingly belonged to his descendants. When Dorjeus heard that, he went away to Delphi to inquire of the oracle if he should seize the place to which he was preparing to go. The priestess responded that it should be so, and he took with him the company that he had led to Libya and went to Italy. Now at this time, as the Siborites say, they and their king Telus were making ready to march against Croton, and the men of Croton, who were very much afraid, entreated Dorjeus to come to their aid. Their request was granted, and Dorjeus marched with them to Siborus, helping them to take it. This is the story which the Siborites tell of Dorjeus and his companions, but the Crotoniates say that they were aided by no stranger in their war with Siborus, with the exception of Collius, an Ilean diviner of the Yamed clan. About him there was a story that he had fled to Croton from Telus, the tyrant of Siborus, because as he was sacrificing for victory over Croton, he could obtain no favourable omens. This is their tale, and both cities have proof of the truth of what they say. The Siborites point to a precinct on a temple beside the dry bed of the Crathus, which they say Dorjeus founded in honour of Athena of Crathus after he had helped to take their city and find their strongest proof in his death. He perished through doing more than the oracle bade him, for if he had accomplished no more than that which he had set out to do, he would have taken and held the Erosine region without bringing about the death of himself and his army. The Crotoniates, on the other hand, show many plots of land which had been set apart for and given to Colleus of Aelis, and on which Colleus' posterity dwelt even to my time but show no gift to Dorjeus and his descendants. They claim, however, that if Dorjeus had aided them in their war with Siborus, he would have received a reward many times greater than what was given to Colleus. This then is the evidence brought forward by each party, and each may side with that which seems to him to deserve more credence. Your Spartans, too, sailed with Dorjeus to found his colony, namely Thessalus, Paribates, Celyus, and Eurylion. When these men had come to Sicily with all their company, they were all overcome and slain in battle by the Phoenicians and Egestans, all that is, except Eurylion, who was the only settler that survived this disaster. He mustered the remnant of his army and took Minoa, the colony from Celyus, and aided in freeing the people of Celyus from their monarch Pythagoras. After deposing this man, he himself attempted to become tyrant of Celyus, but was monarch there for only a little while, since the people of the place rose against him and slew him at the altar of Zeus of the Marketplace, to which he had fled for refuge. Philippus of Crotan, son of Butacides, was among those who followed Dorjeus and were slain with him. He had been betrothed to the daughter of Telus of Sibaris, but was banished from Crotan. Cheated out of his marriage, he sailed away to Cyrene, from where he set forth and followed Dorjeus, bringing his own trireme and covering all expenses for his men. This Philippus was a victor at Olympia and the fairest Greek of his day. For his physical beauty he received from the Egestans honors accorded to no one else. They built a hero's shrine by his grave and offer him sacrifices of propitiation. Such then was the manner of Dorjeus' death. Had he endured Cleomenes' rule and stayed at Sparta he would have been king of Vlasidiman, for Cleomenes reigned no long time and died leaving no son but one only daughter whose name was Gorgo. It was in the reign of Cleomenes that aristogorist the tyrant of Miletus came to Sparta. When he had an audience with the king, as the Lacedemonians report, he brought with him a bronze tablet on which the map of all the earth was engraved and all the sea and all the rivers. Having been admitted to converse with Cleomenes, our aristogorists spoke thus to him. Do not wonder, Cleomenes, that I have been so eager to come here, for our present situation is such that the sons of the Ionians are slaves and not free men, which is shameful and grievous particularly to ourselves but also of all others to you, in as much as you are the leaders of Helus. Now therefore we entreat you by the gods of Helus to save your Ionian kinsmen from slavery. This is a thing which you can easily achieve, for the strangers are not valiant men, while your valour in war is preeminent. As for their manner of fighting, they carry bows and short spears and they go to battle with trousers on their legs and turbans on their heads. Accordingly they are easy to overcome. Furthermore the inhabitants of that continent have more good things than all other men together, gold first but also silver, bronze, coloured cloth, beasts of burden and slaves. All this you can have to your heart's desire. The lands in which they dwell lie next to each other, as I shall show. Next to the Ionians are the Lydians, who inhabit a good land and have a great store of silver, this, he said, pointing to the map of the earth which he had brought engraved on the tablet. Next to the Lydians, said Aristogorus, you see the Phrygians to the east, men that have all known to me are the richest in flocks and in the fruits of the earth. Both by them are the Cappadocians, whom we call Syrians, and their neighbours are the Cilicians, whose land reaches to the sea over there, in which you see the island of Cyprus lying. The yearly tribute which they pay to the king is five hundred talents. Next to the Cilicians are the Armenians, another people rich in flocks, and after the Armenians the Mattiani, whose country I show you. Adjoining these you see the Cician land, in which on the Coaspis lies that Sousa, where the great king lives and where the storehouses of his wealth are located. Take that city, and you need not fear to challenge Zeus for riches. You should suspend your war, then, for strips of land of no great worth, for that fight with Messinians, who are matched in strength with you, and Arcadians and Argives, men who have nothing in the way of gold or silver, for which things many are spurred by zeal to fight and die. Yet, when you can readily be masters of all Asia, will you refuse to attempt it? Thus spoke Aristogorus, and Cleomenes replied, Mylesian, my guest, wait till the third day for my answer. At that time, then, they got so far. When, on the day appointed for the answer, they came to the place upon which they had agreed, Cleomenes asked Aristogorus how many days' journey it was from the Ionian Sea to the king. Until now, Aristogorus had been cunning and fooled the Spartan well, but here he made a false step. If he desired to take the Spartans away into Asia, he should never have told the truth, but he did tell it, and said that it was a three month's journey inland. At that, Cleomenes cut short Aristogorus' account of the prospective journey. He then bade his Mylesian guest depart from Sparta before sunset, or never, he said, would the Lacedaemonians listen to the plan if Aristogorus desired to lead them a three month's journey from the sea. Cleomenes went to his house after this exchange, but Aristogorus took a suppliance garb and followed him there. Upon entering, he used a suppliance right to beg Cleomenes to listen to him. He first asked Cleomenes to send away the child, his daughter Gorgo, who was standing by him. She was his only child, and was about eight or nine years of age. Cleomenes bade him say whatever he wanted and not let the child's presence hinder him. Then Aristogorus began to promise Cleomenes from ten talents upwards if he would grant his request. When Cleomenes refused, Aristogorus offered him ever more and more. When he finally promised fifty talents, the child cried out, Father, the stranger will corrupt you unless you leave him and go away. Cleomenes was pleased with the child's counsel and went into another room while Aristogorus departed from Sparta, finding no further occasion for telling of the journey inland to the king's palace. End of Volume 2, Part 10.