having channels dug above, she made so winding that in its course it touches three times at one and the same village in Assyria: the name of this village at which the Euphrates touches is Arderica; and to this day, those who go from our sea to Babylon, if they travel by the Euphrates, come three times to this village on three successive days. She also raised on either bank of the river a mound, astonishing for its magnitude and height. At a considerable distance above Babylon, she had a reservoir for a lake dug, carrying it out some distance from the river, and in depth digging down to water, and in width making its circumference of four hundred and twenty stades: she consumed the soil from this excavation by heaping it up on the banks of the river, and when it was completely dug, she had stones brought, and built a casing to it all round. She had both these works done, the river made winding, and the whole excavation a lake, in order that the current, being broken by frequent turnings, might be more slow, and the navigation to Babylon tedious, and that after the voyage a long march round the lake might follow. All this was done in that part of the country where the approach to Babylon is the nearest, and where is the shortest way for the Medes, in order that the Medes might not, by holding intercourse with her people, become acquainted with her affairs. 186. She inclosed herself, therefore, with these defenses by digging, and immediately afterward made the following addition. As the city consisted of two divisions, which were separated by the river, during the reign of former kings, when any one had occasion to cross from one division to the other, he was obliged to cross in a boat; and this, in my opinion, was very troublesome. She therefore provided for this; for, after she had dug the reservoir for the lake, she left this other monument, built by similar toil. She had large blocks of stone cut, and when they were ready, and the place was completely dug out, she turned the whole stream of the river into the place she had dug: while this was filled, and the ancient channel had become dry, in the first place, she lined with burned bricks the banks of the river throughout the city, and the descents that lead from the gates to the river, in the same manner as the walls. In the next place, about the middle of the city she built a bridge with the stones she had prepared, and bound them together with plates of lead and

iron. Upon these stones she laid, during the day, square planks of timber, on which the Babylonians might pass over; but at night these planks were removed, to prevent people from crossing by night and robbing one another. When the hollow that was dug had become a lake filled by the river, and the bridge was finished, she brought back the river to its ancient channel from the lake. And thus, the excavation having been turned into a marsh, appeared to answer the purpose for which it was made, and a bridge was built for the use of the inhabitants.

187. This same queen also contrived the following deception. Over the most frequented gate of the city she prepared a sepulchre for herself, high up above the gate itself; and on the sepulchre she had engraved, SHOULD ANY ONE OF MY SUCCESSORS, KINGS OF BABYLON, FIND HIMSELF IN WANT OF MONEY, LET HIM OPEN THIS SEPULCHRE, AND TAKE AS MUCH AS HE CHOOSES; BUT IF HE BE NOT IN WANT, LET HIM NOT OPEN IT, FOR THAT WERE NOT WELL. This monument remained undisturbed until the kingdom fell to Darius; but it seemed hard to Darius that this gate should be of no use, and that when money was lying there, and this money inviting him to take it, he should not do so; but no use was made of this gate for this reason, that a dead body was over the head of any one who passed through it. He therefore opened the sepulchre, and instead of money, found only the body, and these words written: HADST THOU NOT BEEN INSATIABLY COVETOUS, AND GREEDY OF THE MOST SORDID GAIN, THOU WOULDST NOT HAVE OPENED THE CHAMBERS OF THE DEAD.

Such, then, is the account given of this queen.

188. Cyrus made war against the son of this queen, who bore the name of his father Labynetus, and had the empire of Assyria. Now when the great king leads his army in person, he carries with him from home provisions well prepared and cattle; and he takes with him water from the river Choaspes, which flows past Susa, of which alone, and no other, the king drinks. A great number of four-wheeled carriages, drawn by mules, carry the water of this river, after it has been boiled in silver vessels, and follow him from place to place wherever he marches. 189. When Cyrus, in his march against Babylon, arrived at the river Gyndes, whose fountains are in the Matianian mountains, and which flows through the

land of the Dardanians, and falls into another river, the Tigris; which latter, flowing by the city of Opis, discharges itself into the Red Sea: now, when Cyrus was endeavoring to cross this river Gyndes, which can be passed only in boats, one of the sacred white horses, through wantonness, plunged into the stream, and attempted to swim over, but the stream having carried him away and drowned him, Cyrus was much enraged with the river for this affront, and threatened to make his stream so weak that henceforth women should easily cross it without wetting their knees. After this menace, deferring his expedition against Babylon, he divided his army into two parts; and having so divided it, he marked out by lines one hundred and eighty channels, on each side of the river, diverging every way; then having distributed his army, he commanded them to dig. His design was indeed executed by the great numbers he employed, but they spent the whole summer in the work. 190. When Cyrus had avenged himself on the river Gyndes by distributing it into three hundred and sixty channels, and the second spring began to shine, he then advanced against Babylon. But the Babylonians, having taken the field, awaited his coming; and when he had advanced near the city, the Babylonians gave battle, and, being defeated, were shut up in the city. But as they had been long aware of the restless spirit of Cyrus, and saw that he attacked all nations alike, they had laid up provisions for many years, and therefore were under no apprehensions about a siege. On the other hand, Cyrus found himself in difficulty, since much time had elapsed, and his affairs were not at all advanced. 191. Whether, therefore, some one else made the suggestion to him in his perplexity, or whether he himself devised the plan, he had recourse to the following stratagem. Having stationed the bulk of his army near the passage of the river where it enters Babylon, and again having stationed another division beyond the city, where the river makes its exit, he gave orders to his forces to enter the city as soon as they should see the stream fordable. Having thus stationed his forces and given these directions, he himself marched away with the ineffective part of his army; and having come to the lake; Cyrus did the same with respect to the river and the lake as the queen of the Babylonians had done; for having diverted the river, by means of a canal,

into the lake, which was before a swamp, he made the ancient channel fordable by the sinking of the river. When this took place, the Persians who were appointed to that purpose close to the stream of the river, which had now subsided to about the middle of a man's thigh, entered Babylon by this passage. If, however, the Babylonians had been aware of it beforehand, or had known what Cyrus was about, they would not have suffered the Persians to enter the city, but would have utterly destroyed them; for, having shut all the little gates that lead down to the river, and mounting the walls that extend along the banks of the river, they would have caught them as in a net; whereas the Persians came upon them by surprise. It is related by the people who inhabited this city, that, by reason of its great extent, when they who were at the extremities were taken, those of the Babylonians who inhabited the centre knew nothing of the capture (for it happened to be a festival); but they were dancing at the time, and enjoying themselves, till they received certain information of the truth. And thus Babylon was taken for the first time.7

192. How great was the power of the Babylonians I can prove by many other circumstances, and especially by the following. The whole territory over which the great king reigns is divided into districts, for the purpose of furnishing subsistence for him and his army, in addition to the usual tribute ; now, whereas there are twelve months in the year, the Babylonian territory provides him with subsistence for four months, and all the rest of Asia for the remaining eight. Thus the territory of Assyria amounts to a third part of the power of all Asia, and the government of this region, which the Persians call a satrapy, is considerable, since it yielded a full artabe of silver every day to Tritachmes, son of Artabazus, who held this district from the king. The artabe is a Persian measure, containing three Attic chonices more than the Attic medimnus. And he had a private stud of horses, in addition to those used in war, of eight hundred stallions, and sixteen thousand mares; for each stallion served twenty mares. He kept, too, such a number of Indian dogs, that four considerable towns in the plain were exempted from all other taxes, and appointed to find food for the dogs. Such were the advantages accruing 'It was again taken by Darius. See Book III. chap. 159.

to the governor of Babylon. 193. The land of Assyria is but little watered by rain, and that little nourishes the root of the corn; however, the stalk grows up, and the grain comes to maturity by being irrigated from the river, not, as in Egypt, by the river overflowing the fields, but it is irrigated by the hand and by engines. For the Babylonian territory, like Egypt, is intersected by canals, and the largest of these is navigable, stretching in the direction of the winter sunrise ;8 and it extends from the Euphrates to another river, the river Tigris, on which the city of Nineveh stood. This is, of all lands with which we are acquainted, by far the best for the growth of corn; but it does not carry any show of producing trees of any kind, neither the fig, nor the vine, nor the olive; yet it is so fruitful in the produce of corn, that it yields continually two hundred-fold, and when it produces its best, it yields even three hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley grow there to full four fingers in breadth; and though I well know to what a height millet and sesama grow, I shall not mention it; for I am well assured that, to those who have never been in the Babylonian country, what has been said concerning its productions will appear to many incredible. They use no other oil than such as is drawn from sesama. They have palm-trees growing all over the plain; most of these bear fruit, from which they make bread, wine, and honey. These they cultivate as fig-trees, both in other respects, and they also tie the fruit of that which the Grecians call the male palm about those trees that bear dates, in order that the fly, entering the date, may ripen it, lest otherwise the fruit fall before maturity; for the males have flies in the fruit, just like wild fig-trees.

194. The most wonderful thing of all here, next to the city itself, is what I now proceed to describe: their vessels that sail down the river to Babylon are circular, and made of leather; for when they have cut the ribs out of willows that grow in Armenia above Babylon, they cover them with hides extended on the outside, by way of a bottom; neither making any distinction in the stern, nor contracting the prow, but making them circular like a buckler; then having lined this vessel throughout with reeds, they suffer it to be carried down by the river, freighted with merchandise; bat they chiefly That is, southeast.