report had spread through the city, that Aristeas was dead, a certain Cyzicenian, arriving from Artace, fell into a dispute with those who made the report, affirming that he had met and conversed with him on his way to Cyzicus; and he vehemently disputed the truth of the report, but the relatives of the deceased went to the fuller's shop, taking with them what was necessary, for the purpose of carrying the body away, but when the house was opened, Aristeas was not to be seen either dead or alive. They say that afterward, in the seventh year, he appeared in Proconnesus, composed those verses, which by the Greeks are now called Arimaspian, and having composed them, disappeared a second time. Such is the story current in these cities. But these things I know happened to the Metapontines in Italy, three hundred and forty years after the second disappearance of Aristeas, as I discovered by computation in Proconnesus and Metapontium. The Metapontines say that Aristeas himself, having appeared in their country, exhorted them to erect an altar to Apollo, and to place near it a statue bearing the name of Aristeas the Proconnesian; for he said that Apollo had visited their country only of all the Italians, and that he himself, who was now Aristeas, accompanied him; and that when he accompanied the god, he was a crow; and after saying this, he vanished; and the Metapontines say they sent to Delphi to inquire of the god what the apparition of the man meant; but the Pythian bade them obey the apparition, and if they obeyed, it would conduce to their benefit: they accordingly, having received this answer, fulfilled the injunctions. And now a statue bearing the name of Aristeas is placed near the image of Apollo, and around it laurels are planted: the image is placed in the public square. Thus much concerning Aristeas.

No one knows with certainty what is beyond the country about which this account proceeds to speak; for I have not been able to hear of any one who says he has seen them with his own eyes; nor even did Aristeas, of whom I have just now made mention, say in his poems that he went farther than the Issedones, but of the parts beyond he spoke by hearsay, stating that the Issedones gave him his information. But as far as we have been able to arrive at the truth with accuracy from hearsay, the whole shall be related. From the port of the Borysthenitæ, for this is the most central part of the seacoast of all Scythia, the first people are the Callipidæ, being Greek-Scythians; beyond these is another nation, called Alazones. These and the Callipidæ, in other respects, follow the usages of the Scythians, but they both sow and feed on wheat,

onions, garlic, lentils, and millet; but beyond the Alazones dwell husbandmen, who do not sow wheat for food, but for sale. Beyond these the Neuri dwell; and to the north of the Neuri the country is utterly uninhabited, as far as I know. These nations are by the side of the river Hypanis, to the west of the Borysthenes. But if one crosses the Borysthenes, the first country from the sea is Hylæa; and from this higher up live Scythian agriculturists, where the Greeks settled on the river Hypanis, called Borysthenitæ, but they call themselves Olbiopolitæ. These Scythian husbandmen, then, occupy the country eastward, for three days' journey, extending to the river whose name is Panticapes; and northward a passage of eleven days up the Borysthenes. Beyond this region the country is desert for a great distance; and beyond. the desert Androphagi dwell, who are a distinct people, and not in any respect Scythian. Beyond this is really desert, and no nation of men is found there, as far as we know. The country eastward of these Scythian agriculturists, when one crosses the river Panticapes, nomads occupy, who neither sow at all, nor plough; and all this country is destitute of trees, except Hylæa. These nomads occupy a tract eastward for fourteen days' journey, stretching to the river Gerrhus. Beyond the Gerrhus are the parts called the Royal, and the most valiant and numerous of the Scythians, who deem all other Scythians to be their slaves. These extend southward to Taurica, and eastward to the trench, which those sprung from the blind men dug, and to the port on the Lake Mæotis, which is called Cremni, and some of them reach to the river Tanais. The parts above to the north of the Royal Scythians, the Melanchlani inhabit, a distinct race, and not Scythian. But above the Melanchlani are lakes, and an uninhabited desert, as far as we know.

After one crosses the river Tanais, it is no longer Scythian, but the first region belongs to the Sauromatæ, who, beginning from the recess of the Lake Mæotis, occupy the country northward, for a fifteen days' journey, all destitute both of wild and cultivated trees. Above these dwell the Budini, occupying the second region, and possessing a country thickly covered with all sorts of trees. Above the Budini, toward the north, there is first a desert of seven days' journey, and next to the desert, if one turns somewhat toward the east, dwell the Thyssagetæ, a numerous and distinct race, and they live by hunting. Contiguous to these, in the same regions, dwell those who are called Iyrcæ, who also live by hunting in the following manner: The huntsman, having climbed a tree, lies

in ambush (and the whole country is thickly wooded), and each man has a horse ready, taught to lie on his belly, that he may not be much above the ground, and a dog besides. When he sees any game from the tree, having let fly an arrow, and mounted his horse, he goes in pursuit, and the dog keeps close to him. Above these, as one bends toward the east, dwell other Scythians, who revolted from the Royal Scythians, and so came to this country. As far as the territory of these Scythians, the whole country that has been described is level and deep-soiled; but after this it is stony and rugged. When one has passed through a considerable extent of the rugged country, a people are found living at the foot of lofty mountains, who are said to be all bald from their birth, both men and women alike, and they are flat-nosed, and have large chins; they speak a peculiar language, wear the Scythian costume, and live on the fruit of a tree: the name of the tree on which they live is called ponticon, about the size of a fig tree; it bears fruit like a bean, and has a stone. When this is ripe they strain it through a cloth, and a thick and black liquor flows from it; the name of what flows from it is aschy; this they suck, and drink mingled with milk: from the thick sediment of the pulp they make cakes, and feed on them; for they have not many cattle in these parts, as the pastures there are not good. Every man lives under a tree in the winter, when he has covered the tree with a thick white woollen covering; but in summer, without the woollen covering. No man does any injury to this people, for they are accounted sacred; nor do they possess any warlike weapon. And in the first place, they determine the differences that arise among their neighbours; and in the next place, whoever takes refuge among them is injured by no one. They are called Argippæi.

As far, then, as these bald people, our knowledge respecting the country and the nations before them is very good, for some Scythians frequently go there, from whom it is not difficult to obtain information, as also from Greeks belonging to the port of the Borysthenes, and other ports in Pontus. The Scythians who go to them transact business by means of seven interpreters and seven languages. So far, then, is known; but beyond the bald men no one can speak with certainty, for lofty and impassable mountains form their boundary, and no one has ever crossed them; but these bald men say, what to me is incredible, that men with goats' feet inhabit these mountains! and when one has passed beyond them, other men are found, who sleep six months at a time; but this I do not at all admit. However, the country eastward of the bald

men is well known, being inhabited by Issedones, though the country above to the north, either of the bald men or the Issedones, is utterly unknown, except only such things as these people relate. The Issedones are said to observe these customs: When a man's father dies all his relations bring cattle, and then having sacrificed them, and cut up the flesh, they cut up also the dead parent of their host, and having mingled all the flesh together, they spread out a banquet; then having made bare and cleansed his head, they gild it; and afterward they treat it as a sacred image, performing grand annual sacrifices to it. A son does this to his father, as the Greeks celebrate the anniversary of their father's death. These people are likewise accounted just; and the women have equal authority with the men. These, then, are well known.

Among them, the Issedones affirm, are the men with only one eye, and the gold-guarding griffins. The Scythians repeat this account, having received it from them; and we have adopted it from the Scythians, and call them, in the Scythian language, Arimaspi; for Arima, in the Scythian language, signifies one, and Spou, the eye. All this country which I have been speaking of is subject to such a severe winter that for eight months the frost is so intolerable that if you pour water on the ground you will not make mud, but if you light a fire you will make mud. Even the sea freezes, and the whole Cimmerian bosphorus; and the Scythians who live within the trench, lead their armies and drive their chariots over the ice to the Sindians, on the other side. Thus winter continues eight months, and during the other four it is cold there. And this winter is different in character from the winters in all other countries; for in this no rain worth mentioning falls in the usual season, but during the summer it never leaves off raining. At the time when there is thunder elsewhere there is none there, but in summer it is violent: if there should be thunder in winter, it is accounted a prodigy to be wondered at. So should there be an earthquake, whether in summer or winter, in Scythia it is accounted a prodigy. Their horses endure this cold, but their asses and mules can not endure it at all; but in other places horses that stand exposed to frost become frost-bitten in the cold, waste away; but asses and mules endure it. On this account also the race of beeves appears to me to be defective there, and not to have horns; and the following verse of Homer, in his "Odyssey," confirms my opinion, "And Libya, where the lambs soon put forth their horns"; rightly observing that in warm climates horns shoot out quickly; but in very severe cold, the cattle

either do not produce them at all, or if they do produce them they do so with difficulty. Here, then, such are the effects of the cold. I am surprised (for my narrative has from its commencement sought for digressions) that in the whole territory of Elis no mules are able to breed, though neither is the climate cold nor is there any other visible cause. The Eleans themselves say that mules do not breed with them in consequence of a curse; therefore, when the time for the mares' breeding approaches, they lead them to the neighbouring districts, and there put the he-asses with them until they are in foal; then they drive them home again. With respect to the feathers, with which the Scythians say the air is filled, and that on account of them it is not possible either to see farther upon the continent, or to pass through it, I entertain the following opinion: In the upper parts of this country it continually snows, less in summer than in winter, as is reasonable; now, whoever has seen snow falling thick near him will know what I mean; for snow is like feathers and on account of the winter being so severe, the northern parts of this continent are uninhabited. I think, then, that the Scythians and their neighbours call the snow feathers, comparing them together. These regions, therefore, which are said to be the most remote, have been sufficiently described.

Concerning the Hyperboreans, neither the Scythians say anything, nor any people of those parts, except the Issedones; and, as I think, neither do they say anything, for then the Scythians would mention it, as they do the one-eyed people. Hesiod, however, has made mention of the Hyperboreans, and Homer, in the "Epigoni," if indeed Homer was in reality the author of that poem. But the Delians say very much more than any others about them, affirming that sacred things, wrapped in wheat-straw, were brought from the Hyperboreans and came to the Scythians; and from the Scythians each contiguous nation receiving them in succession, carried them to the extreme west as far as the Adriatic; that being forwarded thence toward the south, the Dodonæans, the first of the Greeks, received them; that from them they descended to the Maliac Gulf, and passed over into Euboea, and that one city sent them on to another as far as Carystus; that after this Andros was passed by, for the Carystians conveyed them to Tenos, and the Tenians to Delos: in this manner they say these sacred things reach Delos. They add that the Hyperboreans first sent two virgins, whom they called by the names of Hyperoche and Laodice, to carry these sacred things; and