CHAPTER II.

INVASION OF SCYTHIA BY DARIUS.

Whilst Darius was making preparations against the Scythians, and sending messages to command some to contribute land forces, and others a fleet, and others to bridge over the Thracian Bosphorus, Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, and brother of Darius, entreated him on no account to make an expedition against the Scythians, representing the poverty of Scythia; but he could not persuade him. At that time Œobazus, 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 had 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 at Darius' command the proper officers put all the sons of Œobazus to death, and left them on the spot.

When Darius, marching from Susa, reached Chalcedon on the Bosphorus, a bridge was already laid across. There, sitting in the temple, he took a view of the Euxine Sea, which is worthy of admiration, for of all seas it is by nature the most wonderful.

Darius, pleased with the bridge, presented its architect, Mandrocles the Samian, with ten of every thing, and he painted a picture of the whole junction of the Bosphorus, with King Darius seated on a throne, and his army crossing over, and dedicated it as first fruits in the temple of Juno.

When Darius reached the river Tearus he was so delighted with it that he erected a pillar with this 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.

Before he reached the Ister, he subdued the Getæ, who think themselves immortal, supposing that they themselves do not die, but that the deceased go to the deity Zalmoxis. Every fifth year they dispatch 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 who are appointed hold three javelins; whilst others take 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 is transfixed and dies, they think the god is propitious to them; if he does not die, they blame the messenger himself, saying that he is a bad man, and dispatch another.

When Darius and his land forces reached the Ister and all had crossed, Coes, general of the Mitylenians, advised the king to let the bridge remain over it, leaving the men who constructed it as its guard. "Not," said he, "that I am 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." "Lesbian friend," replied Darius, "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." Tying sixty knots in a thong, he summoned the Ionian commanders to his presence, and said: "Men of Ionia, I have changed my resolution concerning the bridge; so take this thong, and as soon as you see me march against the Scythians, untie one of these knots every day; and if I return not until the days numbered by the knots have passed, sail away to your own country. Till that time, since I have changed my determination, guard the bridge, and apply the utmost care to preserve and secure it."

The Scythians determined to fight no battle in the open field, because their allies did not come to their assistance; but to retreat and draw off covertly, and fill up the wells and the springs as they passed by, and destroy the herbage on the ground. They sent forward the best of their cavalry as an advanced guard; but the wagons, in which all their children and wives lived, they left behind.

Advancing with his army as quick as possible, he fell in with the Scythian divisions and pursued them, but they kept a day's march before him. The Scythians, for Darius did not relax his pursuit, fled, as had been determined, toward those nations that had refused to assist them. When this had continued for a considerable time, Darius sent a horseman to Indathyrsus, king of the Scythians, with the following message: "Most miserable of men, why dost thou continually fly, when it is in thy power to do one of these two other things? For if thou thinkest thou art able to resist my power, stand, and having ceased thy wanderings, fight; but if thou art conscious of thy inferiority, in that case also cease thy hurried march, and bringing earth and water as presents to thy master, come to a conference." To this Indathyrsus, the king of the Scythians, answered: "This is the case with me, O Persian; I never yet fled from any man out of fear, nor do I now so flee from thee; nor have I done any thing different now from what I am wont to do, even in time of peace; but why I do not forthwith fight thee, I will explain. We have no cities nor cultivated lands, for which we are under any apprehension lest they should be taken or ravaged. Yet, if it is by all means necessary to come to battle at once, we have the sepulchres of our ancestors, come, find these, and attempt to disturb them, then you will know whether we will fight for our sepulchres or not; but before that, unless we choose, we will not engage with thee. The only masters I acknowledge are Jupiter my progenitor, and Vesta, queen of the Scythians; but to thee, instead of presents of earth and water, I will send such presents as are proper to come to thee. And in answer to thy boast, that thou art my master, I bid thee weep." (This is a Scythian saying.) The herald therefore departed carrying this answer to Darius.

When the kings of the Scythians heard the name of servitude, they were filled with indignation; whereupon they sent the division united with the Sauromatæ, which Scopasis commanded, with orders to confer with the Ionians, who guarded the bridge over the Ister. Those who were left resolved no longer to lead the Persians about, but to attack them whenever they were taking their meals; accordingly, observing the soldiers of Darius taking their meals, they put their design in execution. The Scythian cavalry always routed the Persian cavalry, but the Persian horsemen in their flight fell back on the infantry, and the infantry supported them. The Scythians, having beaten back the cavalry, wheeled around through fear of the infantry. A very remarkable circumstance, that was advantageous to the Persians and adverse to the Scythians, when they attacked the camp of Darius, was the braying of the asses and the appearance of the mules, for Scythia produces neither ass nor mule; there is not in the whole Scythian territory a single ass or mule, by reason of cold. The asses, then, growing playful, put the Scythian horses into confusion; and frequently, as they were advancing upon the Persians, when the horses heard, midway, the braying of the asses, they wheeled round in confusion, and were greatly amazed, pricking up their ears, as having never before heard such a sound, nor seen such a shape; and this circumstance in some slight degree affected the fortune of the war.

When the Scythians saw the Persians in great commotion, to detain them longer in Scythia they left some of their own cattle in the care of the herdsmen and withdrew to another spot; and the Persians coming up, took the cattle and exulted in what they had done. When this had happened several times, Darius at last was in a great strait, and the kings of the Scythians, having ascertained this, sent a herald, bearing as gifts to Darius, a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The Persians asked the bearer of the gifts the meaning of this present; but he answered that he had no other orders than to deliver them and return immediately; and he advised the Persians, if they were wise, to discover what the gifts meant. Darius' opinion was that the Scythians meant to give themselves up to him, as well as earth and water; forming his conjecture thus: since a mouse is bred in the earth, and subsists on the same food as a man; a frog lives in the water; a bird is very like a horse; and the arrows they deliver up as their whole strength. But Gobryas, one of the seven who had deposed the magus, did not coincide with this; he conjectured that the presents intimated: "Unless, O Persians, ye become birds and fly into the air, or become mice and hide yourselves beneath the earth, or become frogs and leap into the lakes, ye shall never return home again, but be stricken by these arrows." And thus the other Persians interpreted the gifts.

The rest of the Scythians, after they had sent the presents to Darius, drew themselves up opposite the Persians with their foot and horse, as if they intended to come to an engagement; and as the Scythians were standing in their ranks, a hare started in the midst of them; and each went in pursuit of it. The Scythians being in great confusion, and shouting loudly, Darius asked the meaning of the uproar in the enemy's ranks; but when he heard that they were pursuing a hare, he said to those he was accustomed to address on such occasions: "These men treat us with great contempt; and I am convinced that Gobryas spoke rightly concerning the Scythian presents. I feel that we have need of the best advice, how our return home may be effected in safety." To this Gobryas answered: "O king, I was in some measure acquainted by report with these men; but I have learned much more since I came hither, and seen how they make sport of us. My opinion is, that as soon as night draws on we should light fires, as we are accustomed to do, and having deceived and left behind those soldiers who are least able to bear hardships, and having tethered all the asses, should depart before the Scythians direct their march to the Ister, for the purpose of destroying the bridge, or the Ionians take any resolution which may occasion our ruin." Darius acted on this opinion: the infirm amongst the soldiers, and those whose loss would be of the least consequence, he left on the spot in the camp. And he left the asses, that they might make a noise; and the men were left on this pretext, that he with the strength of his army was about to attack the Scythians, and they, during that time, would defend the camp. So Darius laid these injunctions on those he was preparing to abandon, caused the fires to be lighted, and marched away with all speed toward the Ister. The asses, deserted by the multitude, began to bray much louder than usual; so that the Scythians, hearing them, supposed of course that the Persians were still at their station. When day appeared, the men that were abandoned, discovering that they had been betrayed by Darius, extended their hands to the Scythians, and told them what had occurred; when they heard this the divisions of the Scythians joined forces as quickly as possible and pursued the Persians straight toward the Ister. But as a great part of the Persian army consisted of infantry, and they did not know the way, there being no roads cut, and as the Scythian army consisted of cavalry, and knew the shortest route, they missed each other, and the Scythians arrived at the bridge much before the Persians. Finding that the Persians were not yet arrived, they spoke to the Ionians who were on board the ships in these terms: "Men of Ionia, the number of days appointed for your stay is already passed, and you do not as you ought in continuing here; but if you remained before through fear, now break up the passage and depart as quickly as possible, rejoicing that you are free, and give thanks to the gods and the Scythians. As for the man who before was your master, we will so deal with him that he shall never hereafter make war on any people."

Upon this the Ionians held a consultation. The opinion of Miltiades the Athenian, who commanded and reigned over the Chersonesites on the Hellespont, was, that they should comply with the request of the Scythians, and restore liberty to Ionia. But Histiæus the Milesian was of a contrary opinion, and said, "that every one reigned over his own city through Darius; and if Darius' power should be destroyed, neither would he himself continue master of Miletus, nor any of the rest of other places; because every one of the cities would choose to be governed rather by a democracy than a tyranny." Histiæus had no sooner delivered this opinion, than all went over to his side, who had before assented to that of Miltiades. Approving of the opinion of Histiæus, they determined to add to it the following acts and words. To break up the bridge on the Scythian side, as far as a bow-shot might reach, that they might seem to do something, when in effect they did nothing; and that the Scythians might not attempt to use violence and purpose to cross the Ister by the bridge; and to say, while they were breaking up the bridge on the Scythian side, they would do every thing that might be agreeable to the Scythians. And, Histiæus delivered the answer in the name of all, saying as follows: "Men of Scythia, you have brought us good advice, and urge it seasonably; you, on your part, have pointed out the right way to us, and we on ours readily submit to you; for, as you see, we are breaking up the passage, and will use all diligence, desiring to be free. But while we are breaking it up, it is fitting you should seek for them, and having found them, avenge us and yourselves on them, as they deserve." The Scythians, believing a second time that the Ionians were sincere, turned back to seek the Persians; but entirely missed the way they had taken. The Scythians themselves were the cause of this, as they had destroyed the pastures for the horses in this direction, and filled in the wells; for if they had not done this, they might easily have found the Persians; but now they erred in the very thing which they thought they had contrived for the best. For the Scythians sought the enemy by traversing those parts of the country where there was forage and water for the horses, thinking that they too would make their retreat by that way. But the Persians carefully observing their former track, returned by it, and thus with difficulty found the passage. As they arrived in the night, and perceived the bridge broken off, they fell into the utmost consternation, lest the Ionians had abandoned them. There was with Darius an Egyptian, who had an exceedingly loud voice. This man Darius commanded to stand on the bank of the Ister, and called Histiæus the Milesian. He did so, and Histiæus, having heard the first shout, brought up all the ships to carry the army across, and joined the bridge. Thus the Persians escaped.