156. Croesus, I say, suggested to him this, perceiving that this was better for the Lydians than to be reduced to slavery and sold; for he knew that if he did not offer a sufficient reason, he would not persuade Cyrus to change his mind, and he feared lest at some future time, if they should escape the present danger, the Lydians might revolt from the Persians and be destroyed. And Cyrus was greatly pleased with the suggestion made and slackened from his wrath, saying that he agreed with his advice. Then he called Mazares a Mede, and laid charge upon him to proclaim to the Lydians that which Croesus suggested, and moreover to sell into slavery all the rest who had joined with the Lydians in the expedition to Sardis, and finally by all means to bring Pactyas himself alive to Cyrus.

157. Having given this charge upon the road, he continued his march to the native land of the Persians; but Pactyas hearing that an army was approaching to fight against him was struck with fear and fled away forthwith to Kyme. Then Mazares the Mede marched upon Sardis with a certain portion of the army of Cyrus, and as he did not find Pactyas or his followers any longer at Sardis, he first compelled the Lydians to perform the commands of Cyrus, and by his commands the Lydians changed the whole manner of their life. After this Mazares proceeded to send messengers to Kyme bidding them give up Pactyas: and the men of Kyme resolved to refer to the god at Branchidai the question what counsel they should follow. For there was there an Oracle established of old time, which all the Ionians and Aiolians were wont to consult; and this place is in the territory of Miletos above the port of Panormos.

158. So the men of Kyme sent messengers to the Branchidai 159 to inquire of the god, and they asked what course they should take about Pactyas so as to do that which was pleasing to the gods. When they thus inquired, the answer was given them that they should deliver up Pactyas to the Persians: and the men of Kyme, having heard this answer reported, were disposed to give him up. Then when the mass of the people were thus disposed, Aristodicos the son of Heracleides, a man of repute among the citizens, stopped the men of Kyme from doing so, having distrust of the answer and thinking that those sent to inquire were not speaking the truth; until at last other messengers were sent to the Oracle to ask a second time about Pactyas, and of them Aristodicos was one.

159. When these came to Branchidai, Aristodicos stood forth from the rest and consulted the Oracle, asking as follows: Lord, 160 there came to us a suppliant for protection Pactyas the Lydian, flying from a violent death at the hands of the Persians, and they demand him from us, bidding the men of Kyme give him up. But we, though we fear the power of the Persians, yet have not ventured up to this time to deliver to them the suppliant, until thy counsel shall be clearly manifested to us, saying which of the two things we ought to do." He thus inquired, but the god again declared to them the same answer, bidding them deliver up Pactyas to the Persians. Upon this Aristodicos with deliberate purpose did as follows:—he went all round the temple destroying the nests of the sparrows 161 and of all the other kinds of birds which had been hatched on the temple: and while he was doing this, it is said that a voice came from the inner shrine directed to Aristodicos and speaking thus: "Thou most impious of men, why dost thou dare to do this? Dost thou carry away by force from my temple the suppliants for my protection?" And Aristodicos, it is said, not being at all at a loss replied to this: "Lord, dost thou thus come to the assistance of thy suppliants, and yet biddest the men of Kyme deliver up theirs?" and the god answered him again thus: "Yea, I bid you do so, that ye may perish the more quickly for your impiety; so that ye may not at any future time come to the Oracle to ask about delivering up of suppliants."

160. When the men of Kyme heard this saying reported, not wishing either to be destroyed by giving him up or to be besieged by keeping him with them, they sent him away to Mytilene. Those of Mytilene however, when Mazares sent messages to them, were preparing to deliver up Pactyas for a price, but what the price was I cannot say for certain, since the bargain was never completed; for the men of Kyme, when they learnt that this was being done by the Mytilenians, sent a vessel to Lesbos and conveyed away Pactyas to Chios. After this he was dragged forcibly from the temple of Athene Poliuchos by the Chians and delivered up: and the Chians delivered him up receiving Atarneus in , (now this Atarneus is a region of Mysia 162 opposition Lesbos). So the Persians having received Pactyas kept him under guard, meaning to produce him before Cyrus. And a long time elapsed during which none of the Chians either used barley-meal grown in this region of Atarneus, for pouring out in sacrifice to any god, or baked cakes for offering of the corn which grew there, but all the produce of this land was excluded from every kind of sacred service.

161. The men of Chios had then delivered up Pactyas; and after this Mazares made expedition against those who had joined in besieging Tabalos: and first he reduced to slavery those of Priene, then he overran the whole plain of the Maiander making spoil of it for his army, and Magnesia in the same manner: and straightway after this he fell sick and died.

162. After he was dead, Harpagos came down to take his place in command, being also a Mede by race (this was the man whom the king of the Medes Astyages feasted with the unlawful banquet, and who helped to give the kingdom to Cyrus). This man, being appointed commander then by Cyrus, came to Ionia and proceeded to take the cities by throwing up mounds against them: for when he had enclosed any people within their walls, then he threw up mounds against the walls and took their city by storm; and the first city of Ionia upon which he made an attempt was Phocaia.

163. Now these Phocaians were the first of the Hellenes who made long voyages, and these are they who discovered the Adriatic and Tyrsenia and Iberia and Tartessos: and they made voyages not in round ships, but in vessels of fifty oars. These came to Tartessos and became friends with the king of the Tartessians whose name was Arganthonios: he was ruler of the Tartessians for eighty years and lived in all one hundred and twenty. With this man, I say, the Phocaians became so exceedingly friendly, that first he bade them leave Ionia and dwell wherever they desired in his own land; and as he did not prevail upon the Phocaians to do this, afterwards, hearing from them of the Mede how his power was increasing, he gave them money to build a wall about their city: and he did this without sparing, for the circuit of the wall is many furlongs 163 in extent, and it is built all of large stones closely fitted together.

164. The wall of the Phocaians was made in this manner: and Harpagos having marched his army against them began to besiege them, at the same time holding forth to them proposals and saying that it was enough to satisfy him if the Phocaians were willing to throw down one battlement of their wall and dedicate one single house. 164 But the Phocaians, being very greatly grieved at the thought of subjection, said that they wished to deliberate about the matter for one day and after that they would give their answer; and they asked him to withdraw his army from the wall while they were deliberating. Harpagos said that he knew very well what they were meaning to do, nevertheless he was willing to allow them to deliberate. So in the time that followed, when Harpagos had withdrawn his army from the wall, the Phocaians drew down their fifty-oared galleys to the sea, put into them their children and women and all their movable goods, and besides them the images out of the temples and the other votive offerings except such as were made of bronze or stone or consisted of paintings, all the rest, I say, they put into the ships, and having embarked themselves they sailed towards Chios; and the Persians obtained possession of Phocaia, the city being deserted of the inhabitants.

165. But as for the Phocaians, since the men of Chios would not sell them at their request the islands called Oinussai, from the fear lest these islands might be made a seat of trade and their island might be shut out, therefore they set out for Kyrnos: 165 for in Kyrnos twenty years before this they had established a city named Alalia, in accordance with an oracle, (now Arganthonios by that time was dead). And when they were setting out for Kyrnos they first sailed to Phocaia and slaughtered the Persian garrison, to whose charge Harpagos had delivered the city; then after they had achieved this they made solemn imprecations on any one of them who should be left behind from their voyage, and moreover they sank a mass of iron in the sea and swore that not until that mass should appear again on the surface 166 would they to Phocaia. However as they were setting forth to Kyrnos, more than half of the citizens were seized with yearning and regret for their city and for their native land, and they proved false to their oath and sailed back to Phocaia. But those of them who kept the oath still, weighed anchor from the islands of Oinussai and sailed.

166. When these came to Kyrnos, for five years they dwelt together with those who had come thither before, and they founded temples there. Then, since they plundered the property of all their neighbours, the Tyrsenians and Carthaginians 167 made expedition against them by agreement with one another, each with sixty ships. And the Phocaians also manned their vessels, sixty in number, and came to meet the enemy in that which is called the Sardinian sea: and when they encountered one another in the sea-fight the Phocaians won a kind of Cadmean victory, for forty of their ships were destroyed and the remaining twenty were disabled, having had their prows bent aside. So they sailed in to Alalia and took up their children and their women and their other possessions as much as their ships proved capable of carrying, and then they left Kyrnos behind them and sailed to Rhegion.

167. But as for the crews of the ships that were destroyed, the Carthaginians and Tyrsenians obtained much the greater number of them, 168 and these they brought to land and killed by stoning. After this the men of Agylla found that everything which passed by the spot where the Phocaians were laid after being stoned, became either distorted, or crippled, or paralysed, both small cattle and beasts of burden and human creatures: so the men of Agylla sent to Delphi desiring to purge themselves of the offence; and the Pythian prophetess bade them do that which the men of Agylla still continue to perform, that is to say, they make great sacrifices in honour of the dead, and hold at the place a contest of athletics and horse-racing. These then of the Phocaians had the fate which I have said; but those of them who took refuge at Rhegion started from thence and took possession of that city in the land of Oinotria which now is called Hyele. This they founded having learnt from a man of Poseidonia that the Pythian prophetess by her answer meant them to found a temple to Kyrnos, who was a hero, and not to found a settlement in the island of Kyrnos. 169

168. About Phocaia in Ionia it happened thus, and nearly the same thing also was done by the men of Teos: for as soon as Harpagos took their wall with a mound, they embarked in their ships and sailed straightway for Thrace; and there they founded the city of Abdera, which before them Timesios of Clazomenai founded and had no profit therefrom, but was driven out by the Thracians; and now he is honoured as a hero by the Teians in Abdera.

169. These alone of all the Ionians left their native cities because they would not endure subjection: but the other Ionians except the Milesians did indeed contend in arms with Harpagos like those who left their homes, and proved themselves brave men, fighting each for his own native city; but when they were defeated and captured they remained all in their own place and performed that which was laid upon them: but the Milesians, as I have also said before, had made a sworn agreement with Cyrus himself and kept still. Thus for the second time Ionia had been reduced to subjection. And when Harpagos had conquered the Ionians on the mainland, then the Ionians who dwelt in the islands, being struck with fear by these things, gave themselves over to Cyrus.

170. When the Ionians had been thus evilly entreated but were continuing still to hold their gatherings as before at the Panionion, Bias a man of Priene set forth to the Ionians, as I am informed, a most profitable counsel, by following which they might have been the most prosperous of all the Hellenes. He urged that the Ionians should set forth in one common expedition and sail to Sardinia, and after that found a single city for all the Ionians: and thus they would escape subjection and would be prosperous, inhabiting the largest of all islands and being rulers over others; whereas, if they remained in Ionia, he did not perceive, he said, that freedom would any longer exist for them. This was the counsel given by Bias of Priene after the Ionians had been ruined; but a good counsel too was given before the ruin of Ionia by Thales a man of Miletos, who was by descent of Phenician race. He advised the Ionians to have one single seat of government, 170 and that this should be at Teos (for Teos, he said, was in the centre of Ionia), and that the other cities should be inhabited as before, but accounted just as if they were demes.

These men 171 set forth to them counsels of the kind which I have said:

171. but Harpagos, after subduing Ionia, proceeded to march against the Carians and Caunians and Lykians, taking also Ionians and Aiolians to help him. Of these the Carians came to the mainland from the islands; for being of old time subjects of Minos and being called Leleges, they used to dwell in the islands, paying no tribute, so far back as I am able to arrive by hearsay, but whenever Minos required it, they used to supply his ships with seamen: and as Minos subdued much land and was fortunate in his fighting, the Carian nation was of all nations by much the most famous at that time together with him. And they produced three inventions of which the Hellenes adopted the use; that is to say, the Carians were those who first set the fashion of fastening crests on helmets, and of making the devices which are put onto shields, and these also were the first who made handles for their shields, whereas up to that time all who were wont to use shields carried them without handles and with leathern straps to guide them, having them hung about their necks and their left shoulders. Then after the lapse of a long time the Dorians and Ionians drove the Carians out of the islands, and so they came to the mainland. With respect to the Carians the Cretans relate that it happened thus; the Carians themselves however do not agree with this account, but suppose that they are dwellers on the mainland from the beginning, 172 and that they went always by the same name which they have now: and they point as evidence of this to an ancient temple of Carian Zeus at Mylasa, in which the Mysians and Lydians share as being brother races of the Carians, for they say that Lydos and Mysos were brothers of Car; these share in it, but those who being of another race have come to speak the same language as the Carians, these have no share in it.

172. It seems to me however that the Caunians are dwellers there from the beginning, though they say themselves that they came from Crete: but they have been assimilated to the Carian race in language, or else the Carians to the Caunian race, I cannot with certainty determine which. They have customs however in which they differ very much from all other men as well as from the Carians; for example the fairest thing in their estimation is to meet together in numbers for drinking, according to equality of age or friendship, both men, women, and children; and again when they had founded temples for foreign deities, afterwards they changed their purpose and resolved to worship only their own native gods, and the whole body of Caunian young men put on their armour and made pursuit as far as the borders of the Calyndians, beating the air with their spears; and they said that they were casting the foreign gods out of the land. Such are the customs which these have.

173. The Lykians however have sprung originally from Crete (for in old time the whole of Crete was possessed by Barbarians): and when the sons of Europa, Sarpedon and Minos, came to be at variance in Crete about the kingdom, Minos having got the better in the strife of parties drove out both Sarpedon himself and those of his party: and they having been expelled came to the land of Milyas in Asia, for the land which now the Lykians inhabit was anciently called Milyas, and the Milyans were then called Solymoi. Now while Sarpedon reigned over them, they were called by the name which they had when they came thither, and by which the Lykians are even now called by the neighbouring tribes, namely Termilai; but when from Athens Lycos the son of Pandion came to the land of the Termilai and to Sarpedon, he too having been driven out by his brother namely Aigeus, then by the name taken from Lycos they were called after a time Lykians. The customs which these have are partly Cretan and partly Carian; but one custom they have which is peculiar to them, and in which they agree with no other people, that is they call themselves by their mothers and not by their fathers; and if one asks his neighbour who he is, he will state his parentage on the mother's side and enumerate his mother's female ascendants: and if a woman who is a citizen marry a slave, the children are accounted to be of gentle birth; but if a man who is a citizen, though he were the first man among them, have a slave for wife or concubine, the children are without civil rights.

174. Now the Carians were reduced to subjection by Harpagos without any brilliant deed displayed either by the Carians themselves or by those of the Hellenes who dwell in this land. Of these last there are besides others the men of Cnidos, settlers from Lacedemon, whose land runs out into the sea, 173 being in fact the region which is called Triopion, beginning from the peninsula of Bybassos: and since all the land of Cnidos except a small part is washed by the sea (for the part of it which looks towards the North is bounded by the Gulf of Keramos, and that which looks to the South by the sea off Syme and Rhodes), therefore the men of Cnidos began to dig through this small part, which is about five furlongs across, while Harpagos was subduing Ionia, desiring to make their land an island: and within the isthmus all was theirs, 174 for where the territory of Cnidos ends in the direction of the mainland, here is the isthmus which they were digging across. And while the Cnidians were working at it with a great number of men, it was perceived that the men who worked suffered injury much more than might have been expected and in a more supernatural manner, both in other parts of their bodies and especially in their eyes, when the rock was being broken up; so they sent men to ask the Oracle at Delphi what the cause of the difficulty was. And the Pythian prophetess, as the men of Cnidos themselves report, gave them this reply in trimeter verse:—

"Fence not the place with towers, nor dig the isthmus through; Zeus would have made your land an island, had he willed."

When the Pythian prophetess had given this oracle, the men of Cnidos not only ceased from their digging but delivered themselves to Harpagos without resistance, when he came against them with his army.

175. There were also the Pedasians, who dwelt in the inland country above Halicarnassos; and among these, whenever anything hurtful is about to happen either to themselves or to their neighbours, the priestess of Athene has a great beard: this befell them three times. These of all about Caria were the only men who held out for any time against Harpagos, and they gave him trouble more than any other people, having fortified a mountain called Lide.

176. After a time the Pedasians were conquered; and the Lykians, when Harpagos marched his army into the plain of Xanthos, came out against him 175 and fought, few against many, and displayed proofs of valour; but being defeated and confined within their city, they gathered together into the citadel their wives and their children, their property and their servants, and after that they set fire to this citadel, so that it was all in flames, and having done so and sworn terrible oaths with one another, they went forth against the enemy 176 and were slain in fight, that is to say all the men of Xanthos: and of the Xanthians who now claim to be Lykians the greater number have come in from abroad, except only eighty households; but these eighty households happened at that time to be away from their native place, and so they escaped destruction. Thus Harpagos obtained possession of Caunos, for the men of Caunos imitated in most respects the behaviour of the Lykians.

177. So Harpagos was conquering the coast regions of Asia; and Cyrus himself meanwhile was doing the same in the upper parts of it, subduing every nation and passing over none. Now most of these actions I shall pass over in silence, but the undertakings which gave him trouble more than the rest and which are the most worthy of note, of these I shall make mention.

178. Cyrus, so soon as he had made subject to himself all other parts of the mainland, proceeded to attack the Assyrians. Now Assyria has doubtless many other great cities, but the most famous and the strongest, and the place where the seat of their monarchy had been established after Nineveh was destroyed, was Babylon; which was a city such as I shall say.—It lies in a great plain, and in size it is such that each face measures one hundred and twenty furlongs, 177 the shape of the whole being square; thus the furlongs of the circuit of the city amount in all to four hundred and eighty. Such is the size of the city of Babylon, and it had a magnificence greater than all other cities of which we have knowledge. First there runs round it a trench deep and broad and full of water; then a wall fifty royal cubits in thickness and two hundred cubits in height: now the royal cubit is larger by three fingers than the common cubit. 178

179. I must also tell in addition to this for what purpose the earth was used, which was taken out of the trench, and in what manner the wall was made. As they dug the trench they made the earth which was carried out of the excavation into bricks, and having moulded enough bricks they baked them in kilns; and then afterwards, using hot asphalt for mortar and inserting reed mats at every thirty courses of brickwork, they built up first the edges of the trench and then the wall itself in the same manner: and at the top of the wall along the edges they built chambers of one story facing one another; and between the rows of chambers they left space to drive a four-horse chariot. In the circuit of the wall there are set a hundred gates made of bronze throughout, and the gate-posts and lintels likewise. Now there is another city distant from Babylon a space of eight days' journey, of which the name is Is; and there is a river there of no great size, and the name of the river is also Is, and it sends its stream into the river Euphrates. This river Is throws up together with its water lumps of asphalt in great abundance, and thence was brought the asphalt for the wall of Babylon.

180. Babylon then was walled in this manner; and there are two divisions of the city; for a river whose name is Euphrates parts it in the middle. This flows from the land of the Armenians and is large and deep and swift, and it flows out into the Erythraian sea. The wall then on each side has its bends 179 carried down to the river, and from this point the walls stretch along each bank of the stream in the form of a rampart of baked bricks: and the city itself is full of houses of three and four stories, and the roads by which it is cut up run in straight lines, including the cross roads which lead to the river; and opposite to each road there were set gates in the rampart which ran along the river, in many in number as the ways, 180 and these also were of bronze and led like the ways 181 to the river itself.

181. This wall then which I have mentioned is as it were a cuirass 182 for the town, and another wall runs round within it, not much weaker for defence than the first but enclosing a smaller space. 183 And in each division of the city was a building in the midst, in the one the king's palace of great extent and strongly fortified round, and in the other the temple of Zeus Belos with bronze gates, and this exists still up to my time and measures two furlongs each way, 184 being of a square shape: and in the midst of the temple 185 is built a solid tower measuring a furlong both in length and in breadth, and on this tower another tower has been erected, and another again upon this, and so on up to the number of eight towers. An ascent to these has been built running outside round about all the towers; and when one reaches about the middle of the ascent one finds a stopping-place and seats to rest upon, on which those who ascend sit down and rest: and on the top of the last tower there is a large cell, 186 and in the cell a large couch is laid, well covered, and by it is placed a golden table: and there is no image there set up nor does any human being spend the night there except only one woman of the natives of the place, whomsoever the god shall choose from all the woman, as say the Chaldeans who are the priests of this god.

182. These same men say also, but I do not believe them, that the god himself comes often to the cell and rests upon the couch, as happens likewise in the Egyptian Thebes according to the report of the Egyptians, for there also a woman sleeps in the temple of the Theban Zeus (and both these women are said to abstain from commerce with men), and as happens also with the prophetess 187 of the god in Patara of Lykia, whenever there is one, for there is not always an Oracle there, but whenever there is one, then she is shut up during the nights in the temple within the cell.

183. There is moreover in the temple at Babylon another cell below, wherein is a great image of Zeus sitting, made of gold, and by it is placed a large table of gold, and his footstool and seat are of gold also; and, as the Chaldeans reported, the weight of the gold of which these things are made is eight hundred talents. Outside this cell is an altar of gold; and there is also another altar of great size, where full-grown animals 188 are sacrificed, whereas on the golden altar it is not lawful to sacrifice any but young sucklings only: and also on the larger altar the Chaldeans offer one thousand talents of frankincense every year at the time when they celebrate the feast in honour of this god. There was moreover in these precincts still remaining at the time of Cyrus, 189 a statue twelve cubits high, of gold and solid. This I did not myself see, but that which is related by the Chaldeans I relate. Against this statue Dareios the son of Hystaspes formed a design, but he did not venture to take it: it was taken however by Xerxes the son of Dareios, who also killed the priest when he forbade him to meddle with the statue. This temple, then, is thus adorned with magnificence, and there are also many private votive-offerings.

184. Of this Babylon, besides many other rulers, of whom I shall make mention in the Assyrian history, and who added improvement to the walls and temples, there were also two who were women. Of these, the one who ruled first, named Semiramis, who lived five generations before the other, produced banks of earth in the plain which are a sight worth seeing; and before this the river used to flood like a sea over the whole plain.

185. The queen who lived after her time, named Nitocris, was wiser than she who had reigned before; and in the first place she left behind her monuments which I shall tell of; then secondly, seeing that the monarchy of the Medes was great and not apt to remain still, but that besides other cities even Nineveh had been captured by it, she made provision against it in so far as she was able. First, as regards the river Euphrates which flows through the midst of their city, whereas before this it flowed straight, she by digging channels above made it so winding that it actually comes three times in its course to one of the villages in Assyria; and the name of the village to which the Euphrates comes is Ardericca; and at this day those who travel from this Sea of ours to Babylon, in their voyage down the river Euphrates 18901 arrive three times at this same village and on three separate days. This she did thus; and she also piled up a mound along each bank of the river, which is worthy to cause wonder for its size and height: and at a great distance above Babylon, she dug a basin for a lake, which she caused to extend along at a very small distance from the river, 190 excavating it everywhere of such depth as to come to water, and making the extent such that the circuit of it measured four hundred and twenty furlongs: and the earth which was dug out of this excavation she used up by piling it in mounds along the banks of the river: and when this had been dug by her she brought stones and set them all round it as a facing wall. Both these two things she did, that is she made the river to have a winding course, and she made the place which was dug out all into a swamp, in order that the river might run more slowly, having its force broken by going round many bends, and that the voyages might be winding to Babylon, and after the voyages there might succeed a long circuit of the pool. These works she carried out in that part where the entrance to the country was, and the shortest way to it from Media, so that the Medes might not have dealings with her kingdom and learn of her affairs.

186. These defences she cast round her city from the depth; and she made the following addition which was dependent upon them:—The city was in two divisions, and the river occupied the space between; and in the time of the former rulers, when any one wished to pass over from the one division to the other, he had to pass over in a boat, and that, as I imagine, was troublesome: she however made provision also for this; for when she was digging the basin for the lake she left this other monument of herself derived from the same work, that is, she caused stones to be cut of very great length, and when the stones were prepared for her and the place had been dug out, she turned aside the whole stream of the river into the place which she had been digging; and while this was being filled with water, the ancient bed of the river being dried up in the meantime, she both built up with baked bricks after the same fashion as the wall the edges of the river, where it flows through the city, and the places of descent leading from the small gateways to the river; and also about the middle of the city, as I judge, with the stones which she had caused to be dug out she proceeded to build a bridge, binding together the stones with iron and lead: and upon the top she laid squared timbers across, to remain there while it was daytime, over which the people of Babylon made the passage across; but at night they used to take away these timbers for this reason, namely that they might not go backwards and forwards by night and steal from one another: and when the place dug out had been made into a lake full of water by the river, and at the same time the bridge had been completed, then she conducted the Euphrates back into its ancient channel from the lake, and so the place dug out being made into a swamp was thought to have served a good purpose, and there had been a bridge set up for the men of the city.

187. This same queen also contrived a snare of the following kind:—Over that gate of the city through which the greatest number of people passed she set up for herself a tomb above the very gate itself. And on the tomb she engraved writing which said thus: "If any of the kings of Babylon who come after me shall be in want of wealth, let him open my tomb and take as much as he desires; but let him not open it for any other cause, if he be not in want; for that will not be well." 191 This tomb was undisturbed until the kingdom came to Dareios; but to Dareios it seemed that it was a monstrous thing not to make any use of this gate, and also, when there was money lying there, not to take it, considering that the money itself invited him to do so. Now the reason why he would not make any use of this gate was because the corpse would have been above his head as he drove through. He then, I say, opened the tomb and found not indeed money but the corpse, with writing which said thus: "If thou hadst not been insatiable of wealth and basely covetous, thou wouldest not have opened the resting-places of the dead."

188. This queen then is reported to have been such as I have described: and it was the son of this woman, bearing the same name as his father, Labynetos, and being ruler over the Assyrians, against whom Cyrus was marching. Now the great king makes his marches not only well furnished 192 from home with provisions for his table and with cattle, but also taking with him water from the river Choaspes, which flows by Susa, of which alone and of no other river the king drinks: and of this water of the Choaspes boiled, a very great number of waggons, four-wheeled and drawn by mules, carry a supply in silver vessels, and go with him wherever he may march at any time.

189. Now when Cyrus on his way towards Babylon arrived at the river Gyndes,—of which river the springs are in the mountains of the Matienians, and it flows through the Dardanians and runs into another river, the Tigris, which flowing by the city of Opis runs out into the Erythraian Sea,—when Cyrus, I say, was endeavouring to cross this river Gyndes, which is a navigable stream, then one of his sacred white horses in high spirit and wantonness went into the river and endeavoured to cross, but the stream swept it under water and carried it off forthwith. And Cyrus was greatly moved with anger against the river for having done thus insolently, and he threatened to make it so feeble that for the future even women could cross it easily without wetting the knee. So after this threat he ceased from his march against Babylon and divided his army into two parts; and having divided it he stretched lines and marked out straight channels, 193 one hundred and eighty on each bank of the Gyndes, directed every way, and having disposed his army along them he commanded them to dig: so, as a great multitude was working, the work was completed indeed, but they spent the whole summer season at this spot working.

190. When Cyrus had taken vengeance on the river Gyndes by dividing it into three hundred and sixty channels, and when the next spring was just beginning, then at length he continued his advance upon Babylon: and the men of Babylon had marched forth out of their city and were awaiting him. So when in his advance he came near to the city, the Babylonians joined battle with him, and having been worsted in the fight they were shut up close within their city. But knowing well even before this that Cyrus was not apt to remain still, and seeing him lay hands on every nation equally, they had brought in provisions beforehand 194 for very many years. So while these made no account of the siege, Cyrus was in straits what to do, for much time went by and his affairs made no progress onwards.

191. Therefore, whether it was some other man who suggested it to him when he was in a strait what to do, or whether he of himself perceived what he ought to do, he did as follows:—The main body of his army 195 he posted at the place where the river runs into the city, and then again behind the city he set others, where the river issues forth from the city; and he proclaimed to his army that so soon as they should see that the stream had become passable, they should enter by this way into the city. Having thus set them in their places and in this manner exhorted them he marched away himself with that part of his army which was not fit for fighting: and when he came to the lake, Cyrus also did the same things which the queen of the Babylonians had done as regards the river and the lake; that is to say, he conducted the river by a channel into the lake, which was at that time a swamp, and so made the former course of the river passable by the sinking of the stream. When this had been done in such a manner, the Persians who had been posted for this very purpose entered by the bed of the river Euphrates into Babylon, the stream having sunk so far that it reached about to the middle of a man's thigh. Now if the Babylonians had had knowledge of it beforehand or had perceived that which was being done by Cyrus, they would have allowed 196 the Persians to enter the city and then destroyed them miserably; for if they had closed all the gates that led to the river and mounted themselves upon the ramparts which were carried along the banks of the stream, they would have caught them as it were in a fish-wheal: but as it was, the Persians came upon them unexpectedly; and owing to the size of the city (so it is said by those who dwell there) after those about the extremities of the city had suffered capture, those Babylonians who dwelt in the middle did not know that they had been captured; but as they chanced to be holding a festival, they went on dancing and rejoicing during this time until they learnt the truth only too well.

Babylon then had thus been taken for the first time:

192, and as to the resources of the Babylonians how great they are, I shall show by many other proofs and among them also by this:—For the support of the great king and his army, apart from the regular tribute the whole land of which he is ruler has been distributed into portions. Now whereas twelve months go to make up the year, for four of these he has his support from the territory of Babylon, and for the remaining eight months from the whole of the rest of Asia; thus the Assyrian land is in regard to resources the third part of all Asia: and the government, or satrapy as it is called by the Persians, of this territory is of all the governments by far the best; seeing that when Tritantaichmes son of Artabazos had this province from the king, there came in to him every day an artab full of silver coin (now the artab is a Persian measure and holds more than the medimnos of Attica 197 by three Attic choinikes); and of horses he had in this province as his private property, apart from the horses for use in war, eight hundred stallions and sixteen thousand mares, for each of these stallions served twenty mares: of Indian hounds moreover such a vast number were kept that four large villages in the plain, being free from other contributions, had been appointed to provide food for the hounds.

193. Such was the wealth which belonged to the ruler of Babylon. Now the land of the Assyrians has but little rain; and this little gives nourishment to the root of the corn, but the crop is ripened and the ear comes on by the help of watering from the river, not as in Egypt by the coming up of the river itself over the fields, but the crop is watered by hand or with swing-buckets. For the whole Babylonian territory like the Egyptian is cut up into channels, and the largest of the channels is navigable for ships and runs in the direction of the sunrising in winter from the Euphrates to another river, namely the Tigris, along the bank of which lay the city of Nineveh. This territory is of all that we know the best by far for producing corn: 198 as to trees, 199 it does not even attempt to bear them, either fig or vine or olive, but for producing corn it is so good that it s as much as two-hundred-fold for the average, and when it bears at its best it produces three-hundred-fold. The leaves of the wheat and barley there grow to be full four fingers broad; and from millet and sesame seed how large a tree grows, I know myself but shall not record, being well aware that even what has already been said relating to the crops produced has been enough to cause disbelief in those who have not visited the Babylonian land. They use no oil of olives, but only that which they make of sesame seed; and they have date-palms growing over all the plain, most of them fruit-bearing, of which they make both solid food and wine and honey; and to these they attend in the same manner as to fig-trees, and in particular they take the fruit of those palms which the Hellenes call male-palms, and tie them upon the date-bearing palms, so that their gall-fly may enter into the date and ripen it and that the fruit of the palm may not fall off: for the male-palm produces gall-flies in its fruit just as the wild-fig does.

194. But the greatest marvel of all the things in the land after the city itself, to my mind is this which I am about to tell: Their boats, those I mean which go down the river to Babylon, are round and all of leather: for they make ribs for them of willow which they cut in the land of the Armenians who dwell above the Assyrians, and round these they stretch hides which serve as a covering outside by way of hull, not making broad the stern nor gathering in the prow to a point, but making the boats round like a shield: and after that they stow the whole boat with straw and suffer it to be carried down the stream full of cargo; and for the most part these boats bring down casks of palm-wood 200 filled with wine. The boat is kept straight by two steering-oars and two men standing upright, and the man inside pulls his oar while the man outside pushes. 201 These vessels are made both of very large size and also smaller, the largest of them having a burden of as much as five thousand talents' weight; 202 and in each one there is a live ass, and in those of larger size several. So when they have arrived at Babylon in their voyage and have disposed of their cargo, they sell by auction the ribs of the boat and all the straw, but they pack the hides upon their asses and drive them off to Armenia: for up the stream of the river it is not possible by any means to sail, owing to the swiftness of the current; and for this reason they make their boats not of timber but of hides. Then when they have come back to the land of the Armenians, driving their asses with them, they make other boats in the same manner.

195. Such are their boats; and the following is the manner of dress which they use, namely a linen tunic reaching to the feet, and over this they put on another of wool, and then a white mantle thrown round, while they have shoes of a native fashion rather like the Boeotian slippers. They wear their hair long and bind their heads round with fillets, 203 and they are anointed over the whole of their body with perfumes. Each man has a seal and a staff carved by hand, and on each staff is carved either an apple or a rose or a lily or an eagle or some other device, for it is not their custom to have a staff without a device upon it.

196. Such is the equipment of their bodies: and the customs which are established among them are as follows, the wisest in our opinion being this, which I am informed that the Enetoi in Illyria also have. In every village once in each year it was done as follows:—When the maidens 204 grew to the age for marriage, they gathered these all together and brought them in a body to one place, and round them stood a company of men: and the crier caused each one severally to stand up, and proceeded to sell them, first the most comely of all, and afterwards, when she had been sold and had fetched a large sum of money, he would put up another who was the most comely after her: and they were sold for marriage. Now all the wealthy men of the Babylonians who were ready to marry vied with one another in bidding for the most beautiful maidens; those however of the common sort who were ready to marry did not require a fine form, but they would accept money together with less comely maidens. For when the crier had made an end of selling the most comely of the maidens, then he would cause to stand up that one who was least shapely, or any one of them who might be crippled in any way, and he would make proclamation of her, asking who was willing for least gold to have her in marriage, until she was assigned to him who was willing to accept least: and the gold would be got from the sale of the comely maidens, and so those of beautiful form provided dowries for those which were unshapely or crippled; but to give in marriage one's own daughter to whomsoever each man would, was not allowed, nor to carry off the maiden after buying her without a surety; for it was necessary for the man to provide sureties that he would marry her, before he took her away; and if they did not agree well together, the law was laid down that he should pay back the money. It was allowed also for any one who wished it to come from another village and buy. This then was their most honourable custom; it does not however still exist at the present time, but they have found out of late another way, in order that the men may not ill-treat them or take them to another city: 205 for since the time when being conquered they were oppressed and ruined, each one of the common people when he is in want of livelihood prostitutes his female children.

197. Next in wisdom to that, is this other custom which was established 206 among them:—they bear out the sick into the market-place; for of physicians they make no use. So people come up to the sick man and give advice about his disease, if any one himself has ever suffered anything like that which the sick man has, or saw any other who had suffered it; and coming near they advise and recommend those means by which they themselves got rid of a like disease or seen some other get rid of it: and to pass by the sick man in silence is not permitted to them, nor until one has asked what disease he has.

198. They bury their dead in honey, and their modes of lamentation are similar to those used in Egypt. And whenever a Babylonian man has intercourse with his wife, he sits by incense offered, and his wife does the same on the other side, and when it is morning they wash themselves, both of them, for they will touch no vessel until they have washed themselves: and the Arabians do likewise in this matter.

199. Now the most shameful of the customs of the Babylonians is as follows: every woman of the country must sit down in the precincts 207 of Aphrodite once in her life and have commerce with a man who is a stranger: and many women who do not deign to mingle with the rest, because they are made arrogant by wealth, drive to the temple with pairs of horses in covered carriages, and so take their place, and a large number of attendants follow after them; but the greater number do thus,—in the sacred enclosure of Aphrodite sit great numbers of women with a wreath of cord about their heads; some come and others go; and there are passages in straight lines going between the women in every direction, 208 through which the strangers pass by and make their choice. Here when a woman takes her seat she does not depart again to her house until one of the strangers has thrown a silver coin into her lap and has had commerce with her outside the temple, and after throwing it he must say these words only: "I demand thee in the name of the goddess Mylitta": 209 now Mylitta is the name given by the Assyrians to Aphrodite: and the silver coin may be of any value; whatever it is she will not refuse it, for that is not lawful for her, seeing that this coin is made sacred by the act: and she follows the man who has first thrown and does not reject any: and after that she departs to her house, having acquitted herself of her duty to the goddess 210, nor will you be able thenceforth to give any gift so great as to win her. So then as many as have attained to beauty and stature 211 are speedily released, but those of them who are unshapely remain there much time, not being able to fulfil the law; for some of them remain even as much as three or four years: and in some parts of Cyprus too there is a custom similar to this.

200. These customs then are established among the Babylonians: and there are of them three tribes 212 which eat nothing but fish only: and when they have caught them and dried them in the sun they do thus,—they throw them into brine, and then pound them with pestles and strain them through muslin; and they have them for food either kneaded into a soft cake, or baked like bread, according to their liking.

201. When this nation also had been subdued by Cyrus, he had a desire to bring the Massagetai into subjection to himself. This nation is reputed to be both great and warlike, and to dwell towards the East and the sunrising, beyond the river Araxes and over against 213 the Issedonians: and some also say that this nation is of Scythian race.

202. Now the Araxes is said by some to be larger and by others to be smaller than the Ister: and they say that there are many islands in it about equal in size to Lesbos, and in them people dwelling who feed in the summer upon roots of all kinds which they dig up and certain fruits from trees, which have been discovered by them for food, they store up, it is said, in the season when they are ripe and feed upon them in the winter. Moreover it is said that other trees have been discovered by them which yield fruit of such a kind that when they have assembled together in companies in the same place and lighted a fire, they sit round in a circle and throw some of it into the fire, and they smell the fruit which is thrown on, as it burns, and are intoxicated by the scent as the Hellenes are with wine, and when more of the fruit is thrown on they become more intoxicated, until at last they rise up to dance and begin to sing. This is said to be their manner of living: and as to the river Araxes, it flows from the land of the Matienians, whence flows the Gyndes which Cyrus divided into the three hundred and sixty channels, and it discharges itself by forty branches, of which all except one end in swamps and shallow pools; and among them they say that men dwell who feed on fish eaten raw, and who are wont to use as clothing the skins of seals: but the one remaining branch of the Araxes flows with unimpeded course into the Caspian Sea.

203. Now the Caspian Sea is apart by itself, not having connection with the other Sea: for all that Sea which the Hellenes navigate, and the Sea beyond the Pillars, which is called Atlantis, and the Erythraian Sea are in fact all one, but the Caspian is separate and lies apart by itself. In length it is a voyage of fifteen days if one uses oars, 214 and in breadth, where it is broadest, a voyage of eight days. On the side towards the West of this Sea the Caucasus runs along by it, which is of all mountain-ranges both the greatest in extent and the loftiest: and the Caucasus has many various races of men dwelling in it, living for the most part on the wild produce of the forests; and among them there are said to be trees which produce leaves of such a kind that by pounding them and mixing water with them they paint figures upon their garments, and the figures do not wash out, but grow old with the woollen stuff as if they had been woven into it at the first: and men say that the sexual intercourse of these people is open like that of cattle.

204. On the West then of this Sea which is called Caspian the Caucasus is the boundary, while towards the East and the rising sun a plain succeeds which is of limitless extent to the view. Of this great plain then the Massagetai occupy a large part, against whom Cyrus had become eager to march; for there were many strong reasons which incited him to it and urged him onwards,—first the manner of his birth, that is to say the opinion held of him that he was more than a mere mortal man, and next the success which he had met with 215 in his wars, for whithersoever Cyrus directed his march, it was impossible for that nation to escape.

205. Now the ruler of the Massagetai was a woman, who was queen after the death of her husband, and her name was Tomyris. To her Cyrus sent and wooed her, pretending that he desired to have her for his wife: but Tomyris understanding that he was wooing not herself but rather the kingdom of the Massagetai, rejected his approaches: and Cyrus after this, as he made no progress by craft, marched to the Araxes, and proceeded to make an expedition openly against the Massagetai, forming bridges of boats over the river for his army to cross, and building towers upon the vessels which gave them passage across the river.

206. While he was busied about this labour, Tomyris sent a herald and said thus: "O king of the Medes, cease to press forward the work which thou art now pressing forward; for thou canst not tell whether these things will be in the end for thy advantage or no; cease to do so, I say, and be king over thine own people, and endure to see us ruling those whom we rule. Since however I know that thou wilt not be willing to receive this counsel, but dost choose anything rather than to be at rest, therefore if thou art greatly anxious to make trial of the Massagetai in fight, come now, leave that labour which thou hast in yoking together the banks of the river, and cross over into our land, when we have first withdrawn three days' journey from the river: or if thou desirest rather to receive us into your land, do thou this same thing thyself." Having heard this Cyrus called together the first men among the Persians, and having gathered these together he laid the matter before them for discussion, asking their advice as to which of the two things he should do: and their opinions all agreed in one, bidding him receive Tomyris and her army into his country.

207. But Croesus the Lydian, being present and finding fault with this opinion, declared an opinion opposite to that which had been set forth, saying as follows: "O king, I told thee in former time also, that since Zeus had given me over to thee, I would avert according to my power whatever occasion of falling I might see coming near thy house: and now my sufferings, which have been bitter, 216 have proved to be lessons of wisdom to me. If thou dost suppose that thou art immortal and that thou dost command an army which is also immortal, it will be of no use for me to declare to thee my judgment; but if thou hast perceived that thou art a mortal man thyself and dost command others who are so likewise, then learn this first, that for the affairs of men there is a revolving wheel, and that this in its revolution suffers not the same persons always to have good fortune. I therefore now have an opinion about the matter laid before us, which is opposite to that of these men: for if we shall consent to receive the enemy into our land, there is for thee this danger in so doing:—if thou shalt be worsted thou wilt lose in addition all thy realm, for it is evident that if the Massagetai are victors they will not turn back and fly, but will march upon the provinces of thy realm; and on the other hand if thou shalt be the victor, thou wilt not be victor so fully as if thou shouldest overcome the Massagetai after crossing over into their land and shouldest pursue them when they fled. For against that which I said before I will set the same again here, and say that thou, when thou hast conquered, wilt march straight against the realm of Tomyris. Moreover besides that which has been said, it is a disgrace and not to be endured that Cyrus the son of Cambyses should yield to a woman and so withdraw from her land. Now therefore it seems good to me that we should cross over and go forward from the crossing as far as they go in their retreat, and endeavour to get the better of them by doing as follows:—The Massagetai, as I am informed, are without experience of Persian good things, and have never enjoyed any great luxuries. Cut up therefore cattle without stint and dress the meat and set out for these men a banquet in our camp: moreover also provide without stint bowls of unmixed wine and provisions of every kind; and having so done, leave behind the most worthless part of thy army and let the rest begin to retreat from the camp towards the river: for if I am not mistaken in my judgment, they when they see a quantity of good things will fall to the feast, and after that it remains for us to display great deeds."

208. These were the conflicting opinions; and Cyrus, letting go the former opinion and choosing that of Croesus, gave notice to Tomyris to retire, as he was intending to cross over to her. She then proceeded to retire, as she had at first engaged to do, but Cyrus delivered Croesus into the hands of his son Cambyses, to whom he meant to give the kingdom, and gave him charge earnestly to honour him and to treat him well, if the crossing over to go against the Massagetai should not be prosperous. Having thus charged him and sent these away to the land of the Persians, he crossed over the river both himself and his army.

209. And when he had passed over the Araxes, night having come on he saw a vision in his sleep in the land of the Massagetai, as follows:—in his sleep it seemed to Cyrus that he saw the eldest of the sons of Hystaspes having upon his shoulders wings, and that with the one of these he overshadowed Asia and with the other Europe. Now of Hystaspes the son of Arsames, who was a man of the Achaimenid clan, the eldest son was Dareios, who was then, I suppose, a youth of about twenty years of age, and he had been left behind in the land of the Persians, for he was not yet of full age to go out to the wars. So then when Cyrus awoke he considered with himself concerning the vision: and as the vision seemed to him to be of great import, he called Hystaspes, and having taken him apart by himself he said: "Hystaspes, thy son has been found plotting against me and against my throne: and how I know this for certain I will declare to thee:—The gods have a care of me and show me beforehand all the evils that threaten me. So in the night that is past while sleeping I saw the eldest of thy sons having upon his shoulders wings, and with the one of these he overshadowed Asia and with the other Europe. To judge by this vision then, it cannot be but that he is plotting against me. Do thou therefore go by the quickest way back to Persia and take care that, when I thither after having subdued these regions, thou set thy son before me to be examined."

210. Cyrus said thus supposing that Dareios was plotting against him; but in fact the divine powers were showing him beforehand that he was destined to find his end there and that his kingdom was coming about to Dareios. To this then Hystaspes replied as follows: "O king, heaven forbid 217 that there should be any man of Persian race who would plot against thee, and if there be any, I pray that he perish as quickly as may be; seeing that thou didst make the Persians to be free instead of slaves, and to rule all nations instead of being ruled by others. And if any vision announces to thee that my son is planning rebellion against thee, I deliver him over to thee to do with him whatsoever thou wilt."

211. Hystaspes then, having made answer with these words and having crossed over the Araxes, was going his way to the Persian land to keep watch over his son Dareios for Cyrus; and Cyrus meanwhile went forward and made a march of one day from the Araxes according to the suggestion of Croesus. After this when Cyrus and the best part of the army 218 of the Persians had marched back to the Araxes, and those who were unfit for fighting had been left behind, then a third part of the army of the Massagetai came to the attack and proceeded to slay, not without resistance, 219 those who were left behind of the army of Cyrus; and seeing the feast that was set forth, when they had overcome their enemies they lay down and feasted, and being satiated with food and wine they went to sleep. Then the Persians came upon them and slew many of them, and took alive many more even than they slew, and among these the son of the queen Tomyris, who was leading the army of the Massagetai; and his name was Spargapises.

212. She then, when she heard that which had come to pass concerning the army and also the things concerning her son, sent a herald to Cyrus and said as follows: "Cyrus, insatiable of blood, be not elated with pride by this which has come to pass, namely because with that fruit of the vine, with which ye fill yourselves and become so mad that as the wine descends into your bodies, evil words float up upon its stream,—because setting a snare, I say, with such a drug as this thou didst overcome my son, and not by valour in fight. Now therefore receive the word which I utter, giving thee good advice:—Restore to me my son and depart from this land without penalty, triumphant over a third part of the army of the Massagetai: but if thou shalt not do so, I swear to thee by the Sun, who is lord of the Massagetai, that surely I will give thee thy fill of blood, insatiable as thou art."

213. When these words were reported to him Cyrus made no account of them; and the son of the queen Tomyris, Spargapises, when the wine left him and he learnt in what evil case he was, entreated Cyrus that he might be loosed from his chains and gained his request, and then so soon as he was loosed and had got power over his hands he put himself to death.

214. He then ended his life in this manner; but Tomyris, as Cyrus did not listen to her, gathered together all her power and joined battle with Cyrus. This battle of all the battles fought by Barbarians I judge to have been the fiercest, and I am informed that it happened thus:—first, it is said, they stood apart and shot at one another, and afterwards when their arrows were all shot away, they fell upon one another and engaged in close combat with their spears and daggers; and so they continued to be in conflict with one another for a long time, and neither side would flee; but at last the Massagetai got the better in the fight: and the greater part of the Persian army was destroyed there on the spot, and Cyrus himself brought his life to an end there, after he had reigned in all thirty years wanting one. Then Tomyris filled a skin with human blood and had search made among the Persian dead for the corpse of Cyrus: and when she found it, she let his head down into the skin and doing outrage to the corpse she said at the same time this: "Though I yet live and have overcome thee in fight, nevertheless thou didst undo me by taking my son with craft: but I according to my threat will give thee thy fill of blood." Now as regards the end of the life of Cyrus there are many tales told, but this which I have related is to my mind the most worthy of belief.

215. As to the Massagetai, they wear a dress which is similar to that of the Scythians, and they have a manner of life which is also like theirs; and there are of them horsemen and also men who do not ride on horses (for they have both fashions), and moreover there are both archers and spearmen, and their custom it is to carry battle-axes; 220 and for everything they use either gold or bronze, for in all that has to do with spear-points or arrow-heads or battle-axes they use bronze, but for head-dresses and girdles and belts round the arm-pits 221 they employ gold as ornament: and in like manner as regards their horses, they put breast-plates of bronze about their chests, but on their bridles and bits and cheek-pieces they employ gold. Iron however and silver they use not at all, for they have them not in their land, but gold and bronze in abundance.

216. These are the customs which they have:—Each marries a wife, but they have their wives in common; for that which the Hellenes say that the Scythians do, is not in fact done by the Scythians but by the Massagetai, that is to say, whatever woman a man of the Massagetai may desire he hangs up his quiver in front of the waggon and has commerce with her freely. They have no precise limit of age laid down for their life, but when a man becomes very old, his nearest of kin come together and slaughter him solemnly 222 and cattle also with him; and then after that they boil the flesh and banquet upon it. This is considered by them the happiest lot; but him who has ended his life by disease they do not eat, but cover him up in the earth, counting it a misfortune that he did not attain to being slaughtered. They sow no crops but live on cattle and on fish, which last they get in abundance from the river Araxes; moreover they are drinkers of milk. Of gods they reverence the Sun alone, and to him they sacrifice horses: and the rule 223 of the sacrifice is this:—to the swiftest of the gods they assign the swiftest of all mortal things.

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NOTES TO BOOK I

1 [ {'Erodotou 'Alikarnesseos istories apodexis ede, os k.t.l.} The meaning of the word {istorie} passes gradually from "research" or "inquiry" to "narrative," "history"; cp. vii. 96. Aristotle in quoting these words writes {Thouriou} for {'Alikarnesseos} ("Herodotus of Thurii"), and we know from Plutarch that this reading existed in his time as a variation.]

2 [ Probably {erga} may here mean enduring monuments like the pyramids and the works at Samos, cp. i. 93, ii. 35, etc.; in that case {ta te alla} refers back to {ta genomena}, though the verb {epolemesan} derives its subject from the mention of Hellenes and Barbarians in the preceding clause.]

3 [ Many Editors have "with the Phenicians," on the authority of some inferior MSS. and of the Aldine edition.]

4 [ {arpages}.]

401 [ "thus or in some other particular way."]

5 [ {Surion}, see ch. 72. Herodotus perhaps meant to distinguish {Surioi} from {Suroi}, and to use the first name for the Cappadokians and the second for the people of Palestine, cp. ii. 104; but they are naturally confused in the MSS.]

6 [ {ex epidromes arpage}.]

7 [ {tes anoigomenes thures}, "the door that is opened."]

8 [ Or "because she was ashamed."]

9 [ {phoitan}.]

10 [ {upeisdus}: Stein adopts the conjecture {upekdus}, "slipping out of his hiding-place."]

11 [ This last sentence is by many regarded as an interpolation. The line referred to is {Ou moi ta Gugeo tou polukhrosou melei}.]

12 [ See v. 92.]

13 [ i.e. like other kings of Lydia who came after him.]

14 [ {Kolophonos to astu}, as opposed apparently to the acropolis, cp. viii. 51.]

15 [ See ch. 73.]

16 [ {o kai esballon tenikauta es ten Milesien ten stratien}: an allusion apparently to the invasions of the Milesian land at harvest time, which are described above. All the operations mentioned in the last chapter have been loosely described to Alyattes, and a correction is here added to inform the reader that they belong equally to his father. It will hardly mend matters much if we take {o Audos} in ch. 17 to include both father and son.]

17 [ {didaxanta}.]

18 [ This name is applied by Herodotus to the southern part of the peninsula only.]

19 [ Tarentum.]

20 [ {en toisi edolioisi}: properly "benches," but probably here the raised deck at the stern.]

21 [ {ou mega}: many of the MSS. have {mega}.]

22 [ {stadioi}: furlongs of about 606 English feet.]

23 [ {to epilogo}.]

24 [ This list of nations is by some suspected as an interpolation; see Stein's note on the passage.]

25 [ {sophistai}: cp. ii. 49, and iv. 95.]

26 [ {etheto}.]

27 [ {olbiotaton}.]

28 [ {stadious}.]

29 [ {romen}: many of the MSS. have {gnomen}, "good disposition."]

30 [ i.e. their mother: but some understand it to mean the goddess.]

31 [ {en telei touto eskhonto}.]

32 [ {anolbioi}.]

33 [ {eutukhees}.]

34 [ {aperos}: the MSS. have {apeiros}.]

35 [ {aikhme sideree blethenta}.]

36 [ "in the house of Croesus."]

37 [ {'Epistion}.]

38 [ {'Etaireion}.]

39 [ {suggrapsamenous}, i.e. have it written down by the {propsetes} (see vii. 111 and viii. 37), who interpreted and put into regular verse the inspired utterances of the prophetess {promantis}.]

40 [ {es to megaron}.]

41 [ {oida d' ego}: oracles often have a word of connection such as {de} or {alla} at the beginning (cp. ch. 55, 174, etc.), which may indicate that they are part of a larger connected utterance.]

42 [ Cp. vii. 178 and ix. 91 ("I accept the omen.")]

43 [ See viii. 134.]

44 [ {kai touton}, i.e. Amphiaraos: many Editors retain the readings of the Aldine edition, {kai touto}, "that in this too he had found a true Oracle."]

45 [ {emiplinthia}, the plinth being supposed to be square.]

46 [ {exapalaiota}, the palm being about three inches, cp. ii. 149.]

47 [ {apephthou khrusou}, "refined gold."]

48 [ {triton emitalanton}: the MSS. have {tria emitalanta}, which has been corrected partly on the authority of Valla's translation.]

49 [ "white gold."]

50 [ Arranged evidently in stages, of which the highest consisted of the 4 half-plinths of pure gold, the second of 15 half-plinths, the third of 35, the fourth of 63, making 117 in all: see Stein's note.]

51 [ {elkon stathmon einaton emitalanton kai eti duodeka mneas}. The {mnea} (mina) is 15.2 oz., and 60 of them go to a talent.]

52 [ {epi tou proneiou tes gonies}, cp. viii. 122: the use of {epi} seems to suggest some kind of raised corner-stone upon which the offerings stood.]

53 [ The {amphoreus} is about 9 gallons.]

54 [ Cp. iii. 41.]

55 [ {perirranteria}.]

56 [ {kheumata}, which some translate "jugs" or "bowls."]

57 [ {umin}, as if both Oracles were being addressed together.]

58 [ i.e. Delphi.]

59 [ {enephoreeto}, "he filled himself with it."]

60 [ {Krestona}: Niebuhr would read {Krotona} (Croton or Cortona in Etruria), partly on the authority of Dionysius: see Stein's note. Two of the best MSS. are defective in this part of the book.]

61 [ See ii. 51 and vi. 137.]

62 [ {auxetai es plethos ton ethneon pollon}: "has increased to a multitude of its races, which are many." Stein and Abicht both venture to adopt the conjecture {Pelasgon} for {pollon}, "Pelasgians especially being added to them, and also many other Barbarian nations."]

6201 [ {pros de on emoige dokeei}: the MSS. have {emoi te}. Some Editors read {os de on} (Stein {prosthe de on}) for {pros de on}. This whole passage is probably in some way corrupt, but it can hardly be successfully emended.]

63 [ i.e. as it is of the Hellenic race before it parted from the Pelasgian and ceased to be Barbarian.]

64 [ {katekhomenon te kai diespasmenon... upo Peisistratou}. Peisistratos was in part at least the cause of the divisions.]

65 [ {paralon}.]

66 [ {uperakrion}.]

67 [ {toutous}: some read by conjecture {triekosious}, "three hundred," the number which he actually had according to Polyaenus, i. 21.]

68 [ {doruphoroi}, the usual word for a body-guard.]

69 [ {perielaunomenos de te stasi}: Stein says "harassed by attacks of his own party," but the passage to which he refers in ch. 61, {katallasseto ten ekhthren toisi stasiotesi}, may be referred to in the quarrel made with his party by Megacles when he joined Peisistratos.]

70 [ More literally, "since from ancient time the Hellenic race had been marked off from the Barbarians as being more skilful and more freed from foolish simplicity, (and) since at that time among the Athenians, who are accounted the first of the Hellenes in ability, these men devised a trick as follows."]

71 [ The cubit is reckoned as 24 finger-breadths, i.e. about 18 inches.]

72 [ So Rawlinson.]

73 [ See v. 70.]

74 [ {dia endekatou eteos}. Not quite the same as {dia evdeka eteon} ("after an interval of eleven years"); rather "in the eleventh year" (i.e. "after an interval of ten years").]

75 [ {thein pompe khreomenos}.]

76 [ For {'Akarnan} it has been suggested to read {'Akharneus}, because this man is referred to as an Athenian by various writers. However Acarnanians were celebrated for prophetic power, and he might be called an Athenian as resident with Peisistratos at Athens.]

77 [ Or "for that part of the land from which the temple could be seen," but cp. Thuc. iii. 104. In either case the meaning is the same.]

7701 [ {enomotias kai triekadas kai sussitia}. The {enomotia} was the primary division of the Spartan army: of the {triekas} nothing is known for certain.]

78 [ {kibdelo}, properly "counterfeit": cp. ch. 75.]

79 [ {skhoino diametresamenoi}: whether actually, for the purpose of distributing the work among them, or because the rope which fastened them together lay on the ground like a measuring-tape, is left uncertain.]

80 [ Cp. ix. 70.]

81 [ {epitarrothos}. Elsewhere (that is in Homer) the word always means "helper," and Stein translates it so here, "thou shalt be protector and patron of Tegea" (in the place of Orestes). Mr. Woods explains it by the parallel of such phrases as {Danaoisi makhes epitarrothoi}, to mean "thou shalt be a helper (of the Lacedemonians) in the matter of Tegea," but this perhaps would be a form of address too personal to the envoy, who is usually addressed in the second person, but only as representative of those who sent him. The conjectural reading {epitarrothon exeis}, "thou shalt have him as a helper against Tegea," is tempting.]

82 [ {agathoergon}.]

83 [ This was to enable him the better to gain his ends at Tegea.]

84 [ Cp. ch. 51, note.]

85 [ See ch. 6.]

86 [ {euzono andri}: cp. ch. 104 and ii. 34. The word {euzonos} is used of light-armed troops; Hesychius says, {euzonos, me ekhon phortion}.]

87 [ {orgen ouk akros}: this is the reading of all the best MSS., and it is sufficiently supported by the parallel of v. 124, {psukhen ouk akros}. Most Editors however have adopted the reading {orgen akros}, as equivalent to {akrakholos}, "quick-tempered."]

88 [ It has been suggested by some that this clause is not genuine. It should not, however, be taken to refer to the battle which was interrupted by the eclipse, for (1) that did not occur in the period here spoken of; (2) the next clause is introduced by {de} (which can hardly here stand for {gar}); (3) when the eclipse occurred the fighting ceased, therefore it was no more a {nuktomakhin} than any other battle which is interrupted by darkness coming on.]

89 [ See ch. 188. Nabunita was his true name.]

90 [ See ch. 107 ff.]

91 [ Not "somewhere near the city of Sinope," for it must have been at a considerable distance and probably far inland. Sinope itself is at least fifty miles to the west of the Halys. I take it to mean that Pteria was nearly due south of Sinope, i.e. that the nearest road from Pteria to the sea led to Sinope. Pteria no doubt was the name of a region as well as of a city.]

92 [ {anastatous epoiese}.]

93 [ This is the son of the man mentioned in ch. 74.]

94 [ {us en autou xeinikos}. Stein translates "so much of it as was mercenary," but it may be doubted if this is possible. Mr. Woods, "which army of his was a foreign one."]

95 [ {Metros Dindumenes}, i.e. Kybele: the mountain is Dindymos in Phrygia.]

96 [ i.e. the whole strip of territory to the West of the peninsula of Argolis, which includes Thyrea and extends southwards to Malea: "westwards as far as Malea" would be absurd.]

97 [ {outos}: a conjectural emendation of {autos}.]

98 [ {autos}: some MSS. read {o autos}, "this same man."]

99 [ {aneneikamenon}, nearly equivalent to {anastemaxanta} (cp. Hom. Il. xix. 314), {mnesamenos d' adinos aneneikato phonesen te}. Some translate it here, "he recovered himself," cp. ch. 116, {aneneikhtheis}.]

100 [ {ubristai}.]

101 [ {proesousi}: a conjectural emendation of {poiesousi}, adopted in most of the modern editions.]

102 [ {touto oneidisai}: or {touton oneidisai}, "to reproach the god with these things." The best MSS. have {touto}.]

103 [ {to kai... eipe ta eipe Loxias k.t.l.}: various emendations have been proposed. If any one is to be adopted, the boldest would perhaps be the best, {to de kai... eipe Loxias}.]

104 [ {oia te kai alle khore}, "such as other lands have."]

105 [ {stadioi ex kai duo plethra}.]

106 [ {plethra tria kai deka}.]

107 [ {Gugaie}.]

108 [ Or "Tyrrhenia."]

109 [ Or "Umbrians."]

110 [ {tes ano 'Asies}, i.e. the parts which are removed from the Mediterranean.]

111 [ i.e. nature would not be likely to supply so many regularly ascending circles. Stein alters the text so that the sentence runs thus, "and whereas there are seven circles of all, within the last is the royal palace," etc.]

112 [ i.e. "to laugh or to spit is unseemly for those in presence of the king, and this last for all, whether in the presence of the king or not." Cp. Xen. Cyrop. i. 2. 16, {aiskhron men gar eti kai nun esti Persais kai to apoptuein kai to apomuttesthai}, (quoted by Stein, who however gives a different interpretation).]

113 [ {tauta de peri eouton esemnune}: the translation given is that of Mr. Woods.]

114 [ {allos mentoi eouton eu ekontes}: the translation is partly due to Mr. Woods.]

115 [ i.e. East of the Halys: see note on ch. 95.]

116 [ See iv. 12.]

117 [ Cp. ch. 72.]

118 [ {ten katuperthe odon}, i.e. further away from the Euxine eastwards.]

119 [ {o theos}.]

120 [ {khoris men gar phoron}: many Editors substitute {phoron} for {phoron}, but {phoron} may stand if taken not with {khoris} but with {to ekastoisi epeballon}.]

121 [ Cp. ch. 184, "the Assyrian history."]

122 [ {uperthemenos}, a conjectural emendation of {upothemenos}, cp. ch. 108 where the MSS. give {uperthemenos}, (the Medicean with {upo} written above as a correction).]

123 [ Or "expose me to risk," "stake my safety."]

124 [ Or "thou wilt suffer the most evil kind of death": cp. ch. 167.]

12401 [ {tas aggelias pherein}, i.e. to have the office of {aggeliephoros} (ch. 120) or {esaggeleus} (iii. 84), the chamberlain through whom communications passed.]

125 [ {dialabein}. So translated by Mr. Woods.]

126 [ {es tas anagkas}, "to the necessity," mentioned above.]

127 [ Or "to celebrate good fortune."]

128 [ {akreon kheiron te kai podon}: cp. ii. 121 (e), {apotamonta en to omo ten kheira}.]

129 [ {esti te o pais kai periesti}. So translated by Mr. Woods.]

130 [ {erkhe}: a few inferior MSS. have {eikhe}, which is adopted by several Editors.]

131 [ {para smikra... kekhoreke}, "have come out equal to trifles."]

132 [ {kuon}: cp. ch. 110.]

133 [ {su nun}, answering to {se gar theoi eporeousi}: the MSS. and some Editors read {su nun}.]

134 [ i.e. of the race of Perses: see vii. 61.]

135 [ "how his change from a throne to slavery was as compared with that feast, etc.," i.e. what did he think of it as a retribution.]

136 [ See ch. 106. The actual duration of the Median supremacy would be therefore a hundred years.]

13601 [ This is by some altered to "Alilat," by comparison of iii. 8.]

137 [ {stemmasi}, i.e. the chaplets wound round with wool which were worn at Hellenic sacrifices.]

138 [ {oulesi}.]

13801 [ Cp. vii. 61.]

139 [ {sitoisi}: perhaps "plain dishes."]

140 [ {proskuneei}, i.e. kisses his feet or the ground.]

141 [ {ton legomenon}, a correction of {to legomeno}. (The Medicean MS. has {toi legomenoi} like the rest, not {toi legomeno}, as stated by Stein.)]

142 [ {ekhomenon, kata ton auton de logon}: the MSS. and most Editors have {ekhomenon}. {kata ton auton de logon}; "and this same rule the Persians observe in giving honour." This, however, makes it difficult (though not impossible) to refer {to ethnos} in the next clause to the Medes, and it can hardly be referred to the Persians, who certainly had not the same system of government. Perhaps however we may translate thus, "for each race extended forward thus their rule or their deputed authority."]

143 [ Cp. vii. 194.]

144 [ {polloi}: omitted, or corrected variously, by Editors. There is, perhaps, something wrong about the text in the next clause also, for it seems clear that white doves were not objected to by the Persians. See Stein's note.]

145 [ See ch. 95.]

146 [ These words, "neither those towards the East nor those towards the West" have perhaps been interpolated as an explanation of {ta ano} and {ta kato}. As an explanation they can hardly be correct, but the whole passage is vaguely expressed.]

147 [ {tropous tesseras paragogeon}.]

148 [ i.e. the Asiatic Ionians who had formed a separate confederacy. Some understand it to mean the Milesians, but this would give no satisfactory connection with what follows.]

149 [ {pentapolios}.]

150 [ {exapolios}.]

151 [ {mesogaioi}. Several of the other cities are at some distance from the coast, but the region is meant in each case rather than the city (hence such forms as {Tritaiees}).]

152 [ {'Elikonio}.]

153 [ This is condemned as an interpolation by some Editors.]

154 [ {oreon de ekousan ouk omoios}.]

155 [ {katastas}: cp. iii. 46.]

156 [ {ktesamenoi}: Stein reads {stesamenoi} by conjecture: cp. vi. 58.]

157 [ {phrontizo me ariston e}. The translation is Rawlinson's.]

158 [ {kephale anamaxas}: cp. Hom. Od. xix. 92.]

159 [ {es tous Bragkhidas}, i.e. the priests of the temple. The name of the place {Bragkhidai} is feminine, cp. ch. 92.]

160 [ {onax}, addressing Apollo.]

161 [ {exaipee tous strouthous k.t.l.} The verb is one which is commonly used of the destruction and depopulation of cities, cp. ch. 176. (Stein.)]

162 [ {tou de 'Atarneos toutou esti khoros tes Musies}.]

163 [ {ouk oligoi stadioi}.]

164 [ {katirosai}, i.e. dedicate it to the king as a token of submission.]

165 [ i.e. Corsica.]

166 [ {anaphanenai}: the MSS. have {anaphenai}, which can only be translated by supplying {ton ponton} from {katepontosan}, "till the sea produced it again," but this is hardly satisfactory.]

167 [ {Karkhedonioi}.]

168 [ {elakhon te auton pollo pleious}. Several Editors suppose that words have been lost or that the text is corrupt. I understand it to mean that many more of them fell into the hands of the enemy than were rescued by their own side. Some translate "divided most of them by lot"; but this would be {dielakhon}, and the proceeding would have no object if the prisoners were to be put to death at once. For {pleious} Stein reads {pleistous}.]

169 [ {ton Kurnon... ktisai eron eonta, all' ou ten neson}.]

170 [ {bouleuterion}.]

171 [ {outoi}: the MSS. have {outo}.]

172 [ {autokhthonas epeirotas}.]

173 [ Many Editors insert {oi} before {tes khores tes spheteres} and alter the punctuation accordingly.]

174 [ Or "all their land came within the isthmus."]

175 [ {epexiontes}: the MSS. have {upexiontes}, which Mr. Woods explains to mean "coming forth suddenly."]

176 [ {epexelthontes}: the MSS. have {upexelthontes}.]

177 [ {stadion}, and so throughout.]

178 [ The "royal cubit" appears to have measured about twenty-one inches.]

179 [ {tous agkhonas}, the walls on the North and South of the city, called so because built at an angle with the side walls.]

180 [ {laurai}, "lanes."]

181 [ {kai autai}, but perhaps the text is not sound.]

182 [ {thorex}, as opposed to the inner wall, which would be the {kithon} (cp. vii. 139).]

183 [ {steinoteron}: Mr. Woods says "of less thickness," the top of the wall being regarded as a road.]

184 [ {duo stadion pante}, i.e. 404 yards square.]

185 [ {tou irou}, i.e. the sacred precincts; cp. {en to temenei touto}.]

186 [ {neos}, the inner house of the temple.]

187 [ {promantis}.]

188 [ {ta telea ton probaton}.]

189 [ "at that time."]

18901 [ {katapleontes ton Euphreten}: the MSS. have {katapleontes es ton E}. (It is not true, as stated by Abicht, that the Medicean MS. omits {es}.)]

190 [ {oligon ti parateinousa apo tou potamou}.]

191 [ {ou gar ameinon}, an Epic phrase, cp. iii. 71 and 82.]

192 [ {eskeuasmenos}, a conjectural emendation of {eskeuasmenoisi}, "with provisions well prepared."]

193 [ {kateteine skhoinoteneas upodexas diorukhas}. Stein understands {kateteine ten stratien} (resumed afterwards by {diataxas}), "he extended his army, having first marked out channels straight by lines."]

194 [ {proesaxanto}, from {proesago}: it may be however from {prosatto}, "they had heaped together provisions for themselves beforehand."]

195 [ {ten stratien apasan}. Stein thinks that some correction is needed.]

196 [ {oi d' an perudontes k.t.l.}: the MSS. have {oud' an perudontes}, "they would not even have allowed them to enter the city (from the river)," but the negative is awkward referring to the participle alone, and the admission of the enemy to the river-bed within the city would have been an essential part of the scheme, not to be omitted in the description.]

197 [ The Attic medimnos (= 48 choinikes) was rather less than 12 gallons.]

198 [ {ton tes Demetros karpon}.]

199 [ Stein supposes that words have fallen out before {ta gar de alla dendrea}, chiefly because some mention of the palm-trees might have been expected here.]

200 [ {phoinikeious}: some Editors (following Valla) have altered this to {phoinikeiou} ("casks of palm-wine"), but it is not likely that palm-wine would have been thus imported, see ch. 193.]

201 [ {kai o men eso elkei to plektron o de exo otheei}. I take it to mean that there is one steering-oar on each side, and the "inside" is the side nearer to the bank of the river. The current would naturally run faster on the "outside" and consequently would tend to turn the boat round, and therefore the inside oarsman pulls his oar constantly towards himself and the outside man pushes his oar from himself (i.e. backs water), to keep the boat straight. Various explanations are given. Stein takes {eso, exo} with the verbs, "one draws the boat towards himself, the other pushes it from himself." Mr. Woods understands that only one oar is used at a time and by two men looking different ways, of whom {o men eso} is he who stands nearest to the side of the boat.]

202 [ If the talents meant are Euboic, this would be about 170 tons.]

203 [ {mitresi}: cp. vii. 62.]

204 [ {os an ai parthenoi ginoiato}, equivalent to {osai aei parthenoi ginoiato}, which Stein suggests as a correction.]

205 [ This sentence, "in order that—city," is thought by Stein to be either interpolated or misplaced.]

206 [ {katestekee}: some Editors adopt the correction {katesteke}, "is established."]

207 [ {iron}, afterwards called {temenos}.]

208 [ {panta tropon odon}: some MSS. have {odon} for {odon}, and {odon ekhousi} might perhaps mean "afford a passage." (The reading of the Medicean MS. is {odon}.)]

209 [ "I call upon Mylitta against thee"; or perhaps, "I call upon Mylitta to be favourable to thee."]

210 [ {aposiosamene te theo}.]

211 [ {eideos te epammenai eisi kai megatheos}.]

212 [ {patriai}.]

213 [ {antion}.]

214 [ That is perhaps, "if one rows as well as sails," using oars when the wind is not favourable, cp. ii. 11.]

215 [ {genomene}, or {ginomene}, "which he met with."]

216 [ {eonta akharita}: most of the MSS. have {ta eonta akharita}, with which reading the sentence would be, "the sufferings which I have, have proved bitter lessons of wisdom to me."]

217 [ {me eie}.]

218 [ {tou katharou stratou}, perhaps "the effective part," without the encumbrances, cp. iv. 135.]

219 [ {alexomenous}.]

220 [ {sagaris nomizontes ekhein}: cp. iv. 5.]

221 [ {maskhalisteras}.]

222 [ {thuousi}.]

223 [ {nomos}: the conjecture {noos}, "meaning," which is adopted by many Editors, may be right; but {nomos} seems to mean the "customary rule" which determines this form of sacrifice, the rule namely of "swift to the swift."]