in form, guard the trees that bear frankincense, a great number round each tree. These are the same serpents that invade Egypt. They are driven from the trees by nothing else but the smoke of the styrax. 108. The Arabians say this also, that the whole land would be filled by these serpents, if some such thing did not take place with regard to them, as I know happens to vipers. And the providence of God, as was likely, proves itself wise: whatever creatures are timid, and fit for food, have been made very prolific, lest the species should be destroyed by constant consumption; but such as are savage and noxious, unprolific. For instance, the hare, which is hunted by all, beasts, birds, and men, is so prolific that it alone of all beasts conceives to superfetation, having in its womb some of its young covered with down, others bare, others just formed, and at the same time conceives again. Such then is the case. Whereas a lioness, which is the strongest and fiercest of beasts, bears only one once in her life; for in bringing forth she ejects her matrix with the whelp; and this is the cause: when the whelp begins to move in the womb, he, having claws, much sharper than those of any other beast, lacerates the womb; and as he increases in strength, he continues tearing it much more; and when the birth approaches, not a single part of it remains sound. 109. So also if vipers and the winged serpents of Arabia multiplied as fast as their nature admits, men could not possibly live. But now when they couple together, and the male is in the very act of impregnating, as he emits the seed, the female seizes him by the neck, and clinging to him, never lets him go until she has gnawed through him. In this manner the male dies, and the female pays the following retribution to the male: the offspring, while yet in the womb, avenging their father, eat through the matrix; and having gnawed through her bowels, thus make their entrance into the world. But other serpents, which are not hurtful to men, lay eggs, and hatch a vast number of young. Now vipers are found in all parts of the world; but flying serpents are abundant in Arabia, and no where else, there they appear to be very numerous.

110. The Arabians obtain the frankincense in the manner I have described; and the cassia as follows: when they have covered their whole body and face, except the eyes, with hides

7 See Book II. chap. 75.

and other skins, they go to the cassia; it grows in a shallow lake; and around the lake and in it lodge winged animals, very like bats, and they screech fearfully, and are exceedingly fierce. These they keep off from their eyes, and so gather the cassia. 111. The cinnamon they collect in a still more wonderful manner. Where it grows and what land produces it, they are unable to tell; except that some, giving a probable account, say that it grows in those countries in which Bacchus was nursed. And they say that large birds bring those rolls of bark, which we, from the Phoenicians, call cinnamon, the birds bring them for their nests, which are built with clay, against precipitous mountains, where there is no access for man. The Arabians, to surmount this difficulty, have invented the following artifice: having cut up into large pieces the limbs of dead oxen, and asses, and other beasts of burden, they carry them to these spots, and having laid them near the nests, they retire to a distance. But the birds flying down carry up the limbs of the beasts to their nests, which not being strong enough to support the weight, break and fall to the ground. Then the men, coming up, in this manner gather the cinnamon, and being gathered by them it reaches other countries. 112. But the ledanum, which the Arabians call ladanum, is still more wonderful than this; for though it comes from a most stinking place, it is itself most fragrant. For it is found sticking like gum to the beards of he-goats, which collect it from the wood. It is useful for many ointments, and the Arabians burn it very generally as a perfume. 113. It may suffice to have said thus much of these perfumes; and there breathes from Arabia, as it were, a divine odour. They have two kinds of sheep worthy of admiration, which are seen no where else. One kind has large tails, not less than three cubits in length, which, if suffered to trail, would ulcerate, by the tails rubbing on the ground. But every shepherd knows enough of the carpenter's art to prevent this, for they make little carts and fasten them under the tails, binding the tail of each separate sheep to a separate cart. The other kind of sheep have broad tails, even to a cubit in breadth. 114. Where the meridian declines towards the setting sun, the Ethiopian territory reaches, being the extreme part of the habitable world. It produces much gold, huge elephants, wild 8 That is, "south-west."

trees of all kinds, ebony, and men of large stature, very handsome, and long-lived.

115. These, then, are the extremities of Asia and Libya. Concerning the western extremities of Europe I am unable to speak with certainty, for I do not admit that there is a river, called by barbarians Eridanus, which discharges itself into the sea towards the north, from which amber is said to come; nor am I acquainted with the Cassiterides islands, from whence our tin comes. For in the first place, the name Eridanus shows that it is Grecian and not barbarian, and feigned by some poet; in the next place, though I have diligently inquired, I have never been able to hear from any man who has himself seen it, that there is a sea on that side of Europe. However, both tin and amber come to us from the remotest parts. 116. Towards the north of Europe there is evidently a very great quantity of gold, but how procured I am unable to say with certainty; though it is said that the Arimaspians, a oneeyed people, steal it from the griffins. Neither do I believe this, that men are born with one eye, and yet in other respects resemble the rest of mankind. However, the extremities of the world seem to surround and enclose the rest of the earth, and to possess those productions which we account most excellent and rare.

117. There is a plain in Asia shut in on every side by a range of mountains, and there are five defiles in the mountain. This plain formerly belonged to the Chorasmians, situated on the confines of these Chorasmians, of the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangæans, and Thamanæans; but since the Persians have had the empire it belongs to the king. From this range of mountains then, that shuts in this plain, there flows a great river, the name of which is Aces; it formerly, being divided into five several channels, used to irrigate the lands of the nations before mentioned, being conducted to each nation through each separate defile. But since they have become subject to the Persian, they have suffered the following calamity. The king, having caused the clefts of the mountains to be blocked up, placed gates at each cleft, and the passage of the water being stopped, the plain within the mountains has become a sea, as the river continued to pour in, and had no where any exit. The people, therefore, who before were in the habit of using the water, not being able to use it any longer, were reduced to

great extremities; for though in winter heaven supplies them with rain, as it does other men, yet in summer, when they sow millet and sesame, they stood in need of water. When, therefore, no water was allowed them, they and their wives going to the Persians, and standing before the king's palace, raised a great outcry. But the king gave order that the gates should be open towards those lands that were most in need; and when their land was satiated by imbibing water, these gates were shut, and he ordered others to be opened to those who were next in greatest need. And as I have been informed, he opens them after he has exacted large sums of money, in addition to the tribute. Now these things are so.

118. Of the seven men that conspired against the magus, it happened that one of them, Intaphernes, having committed the following act of insolence, lost his life shortly after the revolution. He wished to enter the palace in order to confer with Darius; for the law was so settled among those who had conspired against the magus, that they should have access to the king without a messenger, unless the king should happen to be in bed with one of his wives. Intaphernes, therefore, determined that no one should announce him; but, because he was one of the seven, chose to enter; the door-keeper, however, and the messenger, would not let him pass, saying, that the king was then in bed with one of his wives but Intaphernes, suspecting they told a falsehood, did as follows: having drawn his scimetar, he cut off their ears and noses, and having strung them to the bridle of his horse, he hung them round their necks, and so dismissed them. 119. They presented themselves to the king, and told him the cause for which they had been so treated. Darius, fearing lest the six had done this in concert, sent for them, one by one, and endeavoured to discover their opinions, whether they approved of what had been done. But when he discovered that Intaphernes had not done this with their privity, he seized Intaphernes himself, and his children, and all his family, having many reasons to suspect that he, with his relations, would raise a rebellion against him. And having seized them, he bound them as for death: but the wife of Intaphernes, going to the gates of the palace, wept and lamented aloud; and having done this continually, she prevailed on Darius to have compassion on her. He therefore, having sent a messenger, spoke

as follows: "Madam, king Darius allows you to release one of your relations who are now in prison, whichever of them all you please." But she, having deliberated, answered as follows: "Since the king grants me the life of one, I choose my brother from them all." Darius, when he heard this, wondering at her choice, having sent again, asked, “Madam, the king inquires the reason why, leaving your husband and children, you have chosen that your brother should survive; who is not so near related to you as your children, and less endeared to you than your husband?" She answered as follows: "O king, I may have another husband if God will, and other children if I lose these; but as my father and mother are no longer alive, I cannot by any means have another brother; for this reason I spoke as I did.” The woman appeared to Darius to have spoken well, and he granted to her the one whom she asked, and her eldest son, he was so pleased with her: all the rest he put to death. Of the seven, therefore, one very soon perished in the manner now mentioned.

120. Near about the time of Cambyses' illness, the following events took place. Orœtes, a Persian, had been appointed governor of Sardis by Cyrus; this man conceived an impious project; for without having sustained any injury, or heard a hasty word from Polycrates the Samian, and without having seen him before, he conceived the design of seizing him and putting him to death; as most people say, for some such cause as this. Oroetes and another Persian, whose name was Mitrobates, governor of the district of Dascylium, were sitting together at the palace gates, and fell into a dispute. As they were quarrelling about valour, Mitrobates said to Orotes tauntingly : "Are you to be reckoned a brave man, who have not yet acquired for the king the island of Samos, that lies near your government, and is so easy to be subdued? which one of its own inhabitants, having made an insurrection with fifteen armed men, obtained possession of, and now reigns over?" Some say, that he, having heard this, and being stung with the reproach, conceived a desire, not so much to revenge himself on the man who said it, as of utterly destroying Polycrates, on whose account he had been reproached. 121. A fewer number say, that Orotes sent a herald to Samos, to make some demand which is not mentioned, and that Polycrates happened to be reclining in the men's apartment, and