of Scythia; but when he found that although he gave him good counsel he could not persuade him, he desisted: Darius therefore, when every thing was prepared, marched his army from Susa. 84. At that time obazus, a Persian, who had three sons all serving in the army, besought Darius that one might be left at home for him. The king answered him, as a friend, and one who made a moderate request, that he would leave him all his sons; he therefore was exceedingly delighted, hoping that his sons would be discharged from the army. But Darius commanded the proper officers to put all the sons of Eobazus to death; and they, being slain, were left on the spot.

85. When Darius, marching from Susa, reached Chalcedon on the Bosphorus, where a bridge was already laid across, from thence going on board a ship he sailed to those called the Cyanean islands, which the Grecians say formerly floated. There, sitting in the temple, he took a vew of the Euxine Sea, which is worthy of admiration; for of all seas it is by nature the most wonderful: its length is eleven thousand one hundred stades, and its width, in the widest part, three thousand three hundred stades. The mouth of this sea is four stades in width, and the length of the mouth, that is, the neck, which is called the Bosphorus, where the bridge was laid across, amounts to about a hundred and twenty stades; and the Bosphorus extends to the Propontis. The Propontis, which is five hundred stades in breadth, and one thousand four hundred in length, discharges itself into the Hellespont, which in the narrowest part is seven stades, and in length four hundred; the Hellespont falls into an expanse of the sea, which is called the Egean. 86. These seas have been measured as follows: a ship commonly makes in a long day about seventy thousand orgyæ, and in a night about sixty thousand. Now, from the mouth to the Phasis (for this is the greatest length of the Pontus) is a voyage of nine days and eight nights; these make one million one hundred and ten thousand orgyæ, and these orgyæ are equal to eleven thousand one hundred stades. From Sindica to Themiscyra, on the river Thermodon, (for here is the broadest part of the Pontus,) is a voyage of three days and two nights; these make three hundred and thirty thousand orgyæ, or three thousand three hundred stades. The Pontus, therefore, and the Bosphorus, and the Hellespont, have been thus measured by me, and are such as I have described. Moreover this

Pontus possesses a lake, that discharges itself into it, not much less than itself; it is called Mæotis, and the mother of the Pontus.

87. Darius, when he had viewed the Pontus, sailed back to the bridge, of which Mandrocles, a Samian, was the architect. And having also viewed the Bosphorus, he erected two columns of white marble on the shore, engraving on one in Assyrian characters, and on the other in Grecian, the names of all the nations he had in his army, and he had some from all whom he ruled over; of these, besides the navy, seven hundred thousand were reckoned, including cavalry; and six hundred ships were assembled. Now these columns the Byzantians some time afterwards removed into their city, and used in building the altar of the Orthosian Diana, except one stone; this was left near the temple of Bacchus in Byzantium, covered with Assyrian letters. The spot of the Bosphorus which king Darius caused the bridge to be laid over, was, as I conjecture, mid-way between Byzantium and the temple at the mouth. 88. Darius after this, being pleased with the bridge, presented its architect, Mandrocles the Samian, with ten of every thing; from these then Mandrocles, having painted a picture of the whole junction of the Bosphorus, with king Darius seated on a throne, and his army crossing over, having painted this, he dedicated it as firstfruits in the temple of Juno, with this inscription : "Mandrocles, having thrown a bridge across the fishy Bosphorus, dedicated to Juno a memorial of the raft; laying up for himself a crown, and for the Samians glory, having completed it to the satisfaction of king Darius." This, then, was the memorial of the man who constructed the bridge.

89. Darius, having rewarded Mandrocles, crossed over into Europe, having commanded the Ionians to sail by the Pontus as far as the river Ister; and when they should have reached the Ister, to throw a bridge over the river and there wait his arrival: for the Ionians, Æolians, and Hellespontines conducted the naval armament. The fleet accordingly, having sailed through the Cyanean islands, stood direct for the Ister; and having sailed up the river a two days' voyage from the sea, they joined the neck of the river with a bridge, at the point where the several mouths of the Ister are separated. But Darius, when he had passed over

the Bosphorus by the bridge of boats, marched through Thrace, and having arrived at the sources of the river Tearus, encamped there three days. 90. The Tearus is said by the inhabitants of the country to be the best of all rivers, both for its other healing qualities, and especially for curing the itch, in men and horses. Its springs are thirty-eight, flowing from the same rock, and some of them are cold, others hot. The distance to them is the same from Heræopolis, near Perinthus, and from Apollonia on the Euxine Sea, each a two days' journey. This Tearus empties itself into the river Contadesdus, the Contadesdus into the Agrianes, the Agrianes into the Hebrus, and this last into the sea near the city of Enus. 91. Darius, then, having reached this river, when he had encamped, was so delighted with the river, that he erected a pillar here also, with the following inscription: THE SPRINGS OF THE TEARUS YIELD THE BEST AND FINEST WATER OF ALL RIVERS; AND A MAN, THE BEST AND FINEST OF ALL MEN, CAME TO THEM, LEADING AN ARMY AGAINST THE SCYTHIANS, DARIUS, SON OF HYSTASPES, KING OF THE PERSIANS, AND OF THE WHOLE CONTINENT. 92. Darius, having set out from thence, came to another river, the name of which is Artiscus, which flows through the Odrysæ; when he arrived at this river, he did as follows: having marked out a certain spot of ground to the army, he commanded every man as he passed by to place a stone on this spot that was marked out; and when the army had executed his order, having left vast heaps of stones there, he continued his march.

93. But before he reached the Ister, he subdued the Getæ first, who think themselves immortal; for the Thracians who occupy Salmydessus, and those who dwell above the cities of Apollonia and Mesambria, who are called Scyrmiadæ and Nypsæi, surrendered themselves to Darius without resistance; but the Getæ, having recourse to obstinate resistance, were soon reduced to slavery, though they are the most valiant and the most just of the Thracians. 94. They think themselves immortal in this manner. They imagine that they themselves do not die, but that the deceased goes to the deity Zalmoxis, and some of them think that he is the same with Gebeleizis. Every fifth year they despatch one of themselves, taken by lot, to Zalmoxis, with orders to let him know on each occasion what they want. Their mode of sending

him is this. Some of them who are appointed hold three javelins; whilst others, having taken up the man who is to be sent to Zalmoxis by the hands and feet, swing him round, and throw him into the air, upon the points. If he should die, being transfixed, they think the god is propitious to them; if he should not die, they blame the messenger himself, saying, that he is a bad man; and having blamed him, they despatch another, and they give him his instructions while he is yet alive. These same Thracians, in time of thunder and lightning, let fly their arrows toward heaven, and threaten the god, thinking that there is no other god but their own. 95. But, as I am informed by the Greeks who dwell about the Hellespont and the Pontus, this Zalmoxis was a man, and lived in slavery at Samos; he was slave to Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus; and after that, having procured his liberty, he acquired great riches, and having acquired them, he returned to his own country: but finding the Thracians lived wretchedly and in a very uncivilized manner, this Zalmoxis, being acquainted with the Ionian way of living, and with manners more polite than those of Thrace, in that he had been familiar with Greeks, and with Pythagoras, who was not the meanest sage in Greece, had a hall built, in which, receiving and entertaining the principal persons of the country, he taught them, that neither he nor any of his guests, nor their posterity for ever, would die, but would go into a place where they should live eternally, and have every kind of blessing. While he did and said as above described, he, in the mean time, had a subterraneous habitation made, and when the building was completed, he disappeared from among the Thracians; and having gone down to the subterraneous habitation, he abode there three years. But they both regretted him, and lamented him as dead; but in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians: and thus what Zalmoxis said became credible to them. Thus they say that he acted. 96. For my own part, I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the account of this person and the subterraneous habitation; but I am of opinion that this Zalmoxis lived many years beforo Pythagoras. Yet, whether Zalmoxis were a man or a native deity among the Getæ, I take my leave of him. These people, then, who observe such a custom, when they were subdued by the Persians, followed the rest of the army.

97. When Darius and his land forces with him reached the Ister, all crossed over the river, and Darius commanded the Ionians to loose the bridge, and follow him on the continent with the forces from the ships. But as they were about to loose the bridge and execute his orders, Coes, son of Erxandrus, general of the Mitylenians, spoke as follows to Darius, having first inquired whether it would be agreeable to him to hear an opinion from one who wished to give it: "O king, since you are about to invade a country in which no cultivated land will be seen, nor any inhabited city, do you let this bridge remain where it is, leaving these men who constructed it as its guard; and if, having met with the Scythians, we succeed according to our wishes, we have a way to return; but if we should not be able to meet with them, we shall at least have a secure retreat. For I am not at all afraid that we shall be conquered in battle by the Scythians; but rather, that, being unable to find them, we may suffer somewhat in our wanderings. Perhaps some one may think I say this for my own sake, that I may remain here; but, O king, I advance the opinion which I think is best for you; nevertheless, I will follow you myself, and would by no means be left behind." Darius was much pleased with the advice, and answered him as follows: "Lesbian friend, when I am safe back in my own palace, fail not to present yourself to me, that I may requite you for good advice with good deeds." 98. Having spoken thus and tied sixty knots in a thong, and having summoned the Ionian commanders to his presence, he addressed them as follows: "Men of Ionia, I have changed my former resolution concerning the bridge; therefore, take this thong and do thus: as soon as you see me march against the Scythians, beginning from that time, untie one of these knots every day; and if I return not within that time, but the days numbered by the knots have passed, do you sail away to your own country. Till that time, since I have changed my determination, do you guard the bridge, and apply the utmost care to preserve and secure it; and if you do this, you will oblige me exceedingly." Darius, having spoken thus, hastened forward.

99. Thrace, in the part next the sea, projects before the Scythian territory; and where a bay is formed in this country Scythia begins, and the Ister discharges itself, having its mouth turned towards the east. But beginning from the Ister,