70.

SCYTHIANS AFTER A BATTLE.

FROM AN ELECTRON VASE OF GREEK WORKMANSHIP, FOUND IN THE ROYAL TOMB AT KERTCH (ANCIENT PANTICAPEON).

arms of their enemies, and make of the skin which is stripped off with the nails hanging to it " (as we do of lions' and tigers' skins), "a covering for their quivers." Such things are entirely foreign and, one would think, repugnant to Greek culture, which is generally mild and temperate; yet Herodotus merely observes that "the skin of a man is thick and glossy, and would in whiteness surpass almost all other hides!" Nor does he express any horror at their way of using their enemies' skulls as drinking-cups, at feasts, receptions of guests, and other solemn occasions, after casing them on the outside with leather, and—if rich enough-lining the inside with gold. True, he remarks in one place, that “their customs are not such as he admires,”—a blame which probably is meant to cover these traits, and some others far more objectionable, because implying cruelty to the living. Such were their human sacrifices and especially the funerals of their kings. Not only they put to death and burned with him at least one of his wives and all his chief body-servants together, with his favorite horse or horses, but after a year had elapsed, strangled fifty more youths from among his best attendants, and as many of the finest horses, and disposed them around the mound, the men astride of the horses, in ghastly imitation of a mounted guard of honor. Stakes passed through the bodies maintain them in the required position.

7. Such were the country and nation which Dareios, surely somewhat lightly, determined to invade, never doubting but that he would, without any very uncommon difficulty, add it to his empire.

71.

He would on the same occasion make sure of Thracia and the Greek cities on both sides of the Bosporus and Hellespont, as well as of several Greek islands. It is said that one of his brothers entreated him to desist, and tried to make him realize the great difficulties he was going to encounter. But his mind

was made up, and he sent messengers to all the Greek cities of Asia Minor, with orders to equip and man six hundred ships with three rows of oars (trieres), which were to sail up to the Bosporus and there to build a bridge of ships across the straits, while he himself collected the contingents of the several Asiatic nations. His army numbered 700,000 when he led it from Susa. He found all done and the fleet assembled when he arrived at the Bosporus, which he immediately crossed, leaving the bridge in the charge of part of the fleet and the Greek cities along both sides on the Bosporus, although they had but recently been conquered and annexed. He had no difficulty with the Thracians: they either submitted as he passed or had given "earth and water" to his envoys before. Only one nation, close to the Danube, attempted resistance, but was crushed by numbers. Besides, he did not go very far inland, but skirted-at a distance the sweep of the Black Sea, accompanied and supported by the fleet. The trysting-place was the mouths of the Danube, which the ships entered, while the land army stopped, until the river was bridged, just behind the Delta, i. e., the place where it separates into several branches. The ships sent by the Ionian cities were commanded by the respective tyrants of

these cities, and to them Dareios entrusted the keeping of the bridge during his absence, appointing a certain time during which they were to keep faithful watch, and after which they might, if they did not see him or his army, give him up for lost and return to their homes.

8. From the moment that Dareios had crossed the Danube and plunged into the land of Scythia, which began at once on the opposite bank, every thing about his movements becomes uncertain. The detailed account of his marches and countermarches in all possible directions, as given by Herodotus, lacks consistency, or rather common-sense, and can easily be seen to come through the magnifying medium of Scythian legends, not improved by Greek rendering. What we can gather with certainty is that the Scythians, after sending their families away to distant pastures and to various neighbors for safekeeping, immediately engaged in their own peculiar mode of warfare—that warfare which Herodotus so highly admires (see p. 419), and which consisted in drawing the enemy farther and farther into the country, never actually fighting, but always harassing him, so as to wear and starve him out, without ever staking their fate on the issue of a battle. Detachments of their light infantry—and in fact they were all light infantry-began to show themselves three days' march from the Danube. The ponderous Persian host at once prepared for an engagement, and followed, expecting that the enemies were showing them the way to a convenient battle-ground. Thus Dareios committed his one and fatal mistake: he al