talents of silver; of these a hundred and forty were expended on the cavalry that guarded the Cilician territory, and the remaining three hundred and sixty went to Darius; this was the fourth division. 91. From the city of Poseideium, which Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus, founded on the confines of the Cilicians and Syrians, beginning from this down to Egypt, 'except a district belonging to Arabians, which was exempt from taxation, was paid a tribute of three hundred and fifty talents; and in this division is included all Phoenicia, Syria which is called Palæstine, and Cyprus; this was the fifth division. From Egypt, and the Libyans bordering on Egypt, and from Cyrene and Barce, (for these were annexed to the Egyptian division,) accrued seven hundred talents, besides the revenue arising from lake Moris, which was derived from the fish: in addition, then, to this money, and the fixed supply of corn, there accrued seven hundred talents; for they furnish in addition 120,000 measures of corn for the Persians who occupy the white fortress at Memphis, and their allies: this was the sixth division. The Sattagydæ, Gandarians, Dadicæ, and Aparytæ, joined together, contributed one hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh division. From Susa, and the rest of the country of the Cissians, three hundred talents; this was the eighth division. 92. From Babylon and the rest of Assyria, there accrued to him a thousand talents of silver, and five hundred young eunuchs; this was the ninth division. From Ecbatana and the rest of Media, and the Paricanians and Orthocorybantes, four hundred and fifty talents; this was the tenth division. The Caspians, Pausica, Pantimathians, and Daritæ, contributing together, paid two hundred talents; this was the eleventh division. From the Bactrians as far as the Æglæ, was a tribute of three hundred and sixty talents; this was the twelfth division. 93. From Pactyica, and the Armenians, and the neighbouring people as far as the Euxine Sea, four hundred talents; this was the thirteenth division. From the Sagartians, Sarangeans, Thamanæans, Utians, Mycians, and those who inhabit the islands on the Red Sea, in which the king settles transported convicts; from all these came a tribute of six hundred talents; this was the fourteenth division. The Saca and Caspians paid two hundred and fifty talents; this was the fifteenth division. The Parthians, Chorasmians,

Sogdians, and Arians, three hundred talents; this was the -sixteenth division. 94. The Paricanians and Asiatic Ethiopians paid four hundred talents; this was the seventeenth division. The Matienians, Saspires, and Alarodians, were taxed at two hundred talents; this was the eighteenth division. From the Moschians, Tibarenians, Macronians, Mosynœcians, and Marsians three hundred talents were demanded; this was the nineteenth division. Of the Indians the population is by far the greatest of all nations whom we know of, and they paid a tribute proportionably larger than all the rest, three hundred and sixty talents of gold dust; this was the twentieth division. 95. Now the Babylonian standard, compared with the Euboic talent, makes the total nine thousand five hundred and forty talents; and the gold estimated at thirteen times the value of silver, the gold dust will be found to amount to four thousand six hundred and eighty Euboic talents. Therefore, if the total of all these are computed together, fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty Euboic talents were collected by Darius as an annual tribute; and passing over less sums than these, I do not mention them. 96. This tribute accrued to Darius from Asia, and a small part of Libya; but in the course of time another tribute accrued from the islands, and the inhabitants of Europe as far as Thessaly. This tribute the king treasures up in the following manner: having melted it, he pours it into earthen jars, and having filled it he takes away the earthen mould; and when he wants money he cuts off so much as he has occasion for from time to time.

97. These, then, were the governments and the imposts on each. The Persian territory alone has not been mentioned as subject to tribute; for the Persians occupy their land free from taxes. They indeed were not ordered to pay any tribute, but brought gifts. The Ethiopians bordering on Egypt, whom Cambyses subdued when he marched against the Macrobian Ethiopians, and who dwell about the sacred city of Nysa, and celebrate festivals of Bacchus,-these Ethiopians, and their neighbours, use the same grain as the Calantian Indians, and live in subterraneous dwellings ;-both these bring every third year, and they continued to do so to my time, two chonices of unmolten gold, two hundred blocks of ebony, five Ethiopian boys, and twenty large elephants' tusks. The Colchians numbered themselves among those who gave presents,

as well as the neighbouring nations, as far as Mount Caucasus; for to this mountain the dominions of Persia extend. But the people to the north side of the Caucasus pay no regard to the Persians. These, then, for the gifts they imposed on themselves, furnished, even to my time, every five years one hundred boys, and one hundred virgins. The Arabians also furnished every year a thousand talents of frankincense. These, then, brought to the king the above gifts besides the tribute.

98. The Indians obtain the great quantity of gold, from which they supply the before-mentioned dust to the king, in the manner presently described. That part of India towards the rising sun is all sand; for of the people with whom we are acquainted, and of whom any thing certain is told, the Indians live the furthest towards the east and the sun-rise of all the inhabitants of Asia; for the Indians' country towards the east is a desert, by reason of the sands. There are many nations of Indians, and they do not speak the same language as each other; some of them are nomades, and others not. Some inhabit the marshes of the river, and feed on raw fish, which they take going out in boats made of reeds; one joint of the reed makes a boat. These Indians wear a garment made of rushes, which, when they have cut the reed from the river and beaten it, they afterwards plait like a mat and wear it as a corselet. 99. Other Indians, living to the east of these, are nomades, and eat raw flesh; they are called Padæans. They are said to use the following customs. When any one of the community is sick, whether it be a woman or a man, if it be a man the men who are his nearest connexions put him to death, alleging that if he wasted by disease his flesh would be spoilt; but if he denies that he is sick, they, not agreeing with him, kill and feast upon him. And if a woman be sick, in like manner the women who are most intimate with her do the same as the men. And whoever reaches to old age, they sacrifice and feast upon; but few among them attain to this state, for before that, they put to death every one that falls into any distemper. 100. Other Indians have the following different custom; they neither kill any thing that has life, nor sow any thing, nor are they wont to have houses, but they live upon herbs, and they have a grain of the size of millet in a pod, which springs spontaneously from the earth, this they

gather, and boil it and eat it with the pod. When any one of them falls into any disorder, he goes and lies down in the desert, and no one takes any thought about him, whether dead or sick. 101. The intercourse of all these Indians whom I have mentioned takes place openly as with cattle; and all have a complexion closely resembling the Ethiopians. The seed they emit is not white, as that of other men, but black as their skin; the Ethiopians also emit similar seed. These Indians are situated very far from the Persians, towards the south, and were never subject to Darius.

102. There are other Indians bordering on the city of Caspatyrus and the country of Pactyica, settled northward of the other Indians, whose mode of life resembles that of the Bactrians. They are the most warlike of the Indians, and these are they who are sent to procure the gold; for near this part is a desert by reason of the sand. In this desert then, and in the sand, there are ants in size somewhat less indeed than dogs, but larger than foxes. Some of them are in the possession of the king of the Persians, which were taken there. These ants, forming their habitations under ground, heap up the sand, as the ants in Greece do, and in the same manner; and they are very like them in shape. The sand that is heaped up is mixed with gold. The Indians therefore go to the desert to get this sand, each man having three camels, on either side a male one harnessed to draw by the side, and a female in the middle, this last the man mounts himself, having taken care to yoke one that has been separated from her young as recently born as possible; for camels are not inferior to horses in swiftness, and are much better able to carry burdens. 103. What kind of figure the camel has I shall not describe to the Greeks, as they are acquainted with it; but what is not known respecting it I will mention. A camel has four thighs and four knees in his hinder legs, and his private parts are turned between the hinder legs to the tail. 104. The Indians then, adopting such a plan and such a method of harnessing, set out for the gold, having before calculated the time, so as to be engaged in their plunder during the hottest part of the day, for during the heat the ants hide themselves under ground. Amongst these people the sun is hottest in the morning, and not, as amongst others, at midday, from the time that it has risen some way, to the break

ing up of the market; during this time it scorches much more than at mid-day in Greece; so that, it is said, they then refresh themselves in water. Mid-day scorches other men much the same as the Indians; but as the day declines, the sun becomes to them as it is in the morning to others; and after this, as it proceeds it becomes still colder, until sun-set, then it is very cold. 105. When the Indians arrive at the spot, having sacks with them, they fill these with the sand, and return with all possible expedition. For the ants, as the Persians say, immediately discovering them by the smell, pursue them, and they are equalled in swiftness by no other animal, so that if the Indians did not get the start of them while the ants were assembling, not a man of them could be saved. Now the male camels (for they are inferior in speed to the females) slacken their pace, dragging on, not both equally; but the females, mindful 'of the young they have left, do not slacken their pace. Thus the Indians, as the Persians say, obtain the greatest part of their gold; and they have some small quantity more that is dug in the country.

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106. The extreme parts of the inhabited world somehow possess the most excellent products; as Greece enjoys by far the best tempered climate. For in the first place, India is the farthest part of the inhabited world towards the east, as I have just observed: in this part then all animals, both quadrupeds and birds, are much larger than they are in other countries, with the exception of horses; in this respect they are surpassed by the Medic breed called the Nysæan horses. In the next place, there is abundance of gold there, partly dug, partly brought down by the rivers, and partly seized in the manner I have described. And certain wild trees there bear wool instead of fruit, that in beauty and quality excels that of sheep; and the Indians make their clothing from these trees. 107. Again, Arabia is the farthest of inhabited countries towards the south; and this is the only region in which grow frankincense, myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and ledanum. All these, except myrrh, the Arabians gather with difficulty. The frankincense they gather by burning styrax, which the Phoenicians import into Greece; they take it by burning this; for winged serpents, small in size, and various

• For the various modes of translating this difficult passage, see Baehr's Note, or Cary's Lexicon.