Terpsichore

BOOK VThe Persians left behind by King Darius in Europe, who had Megabazus fortheir general, reduced, before any other Hellespontine state, the people of Perinthus, who had no mind to become subjects of the king. Now thePerinthians had ere this been roughly handled by another nation, thePaeonians. For the Paeonians from about the Strymon were once biddenby an oracle to make war upon the Perinthians, and if these latter, whenthe camps faced one another, challenged them by name to fight, then toventure on a battle, but if otherwise, not to make the hazard. ThePaeonians followed the advice. Now the men of Perinthus drew out tomeet them in the skirts of their city; and a threefold single combat wasfought on challenge given. Man to man, and horse to horse, and dog todog, was the strife waged; and the Perinthians, winners of two combatsout of the three, in their joy had raised the paean; when the Paeoniansstruck by the thought that this was what the oracle had meant, passedthe word one to another, saying, "Now of a surety has the oracle beenfulfilled for us; now our work begins." Then the Paeonians set upon thePerinthians in the midst of their paean, and defeated them utterly, leavingbut few of them alive. Such was the affair of the Paeonians, whichhappened a long time previously. At this time the Perinthians, after abrave struggle for freedom, were overcome by numbers, and yielded toMegabazus and his Persians. After Perinthus had been brought under,Megabazus led his host through Thrace, subduing to the dominion of the

king all the towns and all the nations of those parts. For the king'scommand to him was that he should conquer Thrace. The Thracians arethe most powerful people in the world, except, of course, the Indians; andif they had one head, or were agreed among themselves, it is my belief that their match could not be found anywhere, and that they would veryfar surpass all other nations. But such union is impossible for them, andthere are no means of ever bringing it about. Herein therefore consiststheir weakness. The Thracians bear many names in the different regionsof their country, but all of them have like usages in every respect,excepting only the Getae, the Trausi, and those who dwell above thepeople of Creston. Now the manners and customs of the Getae, whobelieve in their immortality, I have already spoken of. The Trausi in allelse resemble the other Thracians, but have customs at births and deathswhich I will now describe. When a child is born all its kindred sit roundabout it272in a circle and weep for the woes it will have to undergo now that it iscome into the world, making mention of every ill that falls to the lot of humankind; when, on the other hand, a man has died, they bury him withlaughter and rejoicings, and say that now he is free from a host of sufferings, and enjoys the completest happiness. The Thracians who liveabove the Crestonaeans observe the following customs. Each man amongthem has several wives; and no sooner does a man die than a sharpcontest ensues among the wives upon the question which of them all thehusband loved most tenderly; the friends of each eagerly plead on herbehalf, and she to whom the honour is adjudged, after receiving thepraises both of men and women, is slain over the grave by the hand of her next of kin, and then buried with her husband. The others are sorelygrieved, for nothing is considered such a disgrace. The Thracians who donot belong to these tribes have the customs which follow. They sell theirchildren to traders. On their maidens they keep no watch, but leave themaltogether free, while on the conduct of their wives they keep a moststrict watch. Brides are purchased of their parents for large sums of money. Tattooing among them marks noble birth, and the want of it lowbirth. To be idle is accounted the most honourable thing, and to be a tillerof the ground the most dishonourable. To live by war and plunder is of allthings the most glorious. These are the most remarkable of their customs.The gods which they worship are but three, Mars, Bacchus, and Dian.Their kings, however, unlike the rest of the citizens, worship Mercurymore than any other god, always swearing by his name, and declaringthat they are themselves sprung from him. Their wealthy ones are buriedin the following fashion. The body is laid out for three days; and during

this time they kill victims of all kinds, and feast upon them, after firstbewailing the departed. Then they either burn the body or else bury it inthe ground. Lastly, they raise a mound over the grave, and hold games of all sorts, wherein the single combat is awarded the highest prize. Such isthe mode of burial among the Thracians. As regards the region lying northof this country no one can say with any certainty what men inhabit it. Itappears that you no sooner cross the Ister than you enter on aninterminable wilderness. The only people of whom I can hear as dwellingbeyond the Ister are the race named Sigynnae, who wear, they say, adress like the Medes, and have horses which are covered entirely with acoat of shaggy hair, five fingers in length. They are a small breed, flat-nosed, and not strong enough to bear men on their backs; but whenyoked to chariots, they are among273the swiftest known, which is the reason why the people of that countryuse chariots. Their borders reach down almost to the Eneti upon theAdriatic Sea, and they call themselves colonists of the Medes; but howthey can be colonists of the Medes I for my part cannot imagine. Stillnothing is impossible in the long lapse of ages. Sigynnae is the namewhich the Ligurians who dwell above Massilia give to traders, while amongthe Cyprians the word means spears. According to the account which theThracians give, the country beyond the Ister is possessed by bees, onaccount of which it is impossible to penetrate farther. But in this theyseem to me to say what has no likelihood; for it is certain that thosecreatures are very impatient of cold. I rather believe that it is on accountof the cold that the regions which lie under the Bear are withoutinhabitants. Such then are the accounts given of this country, the sea-coast whereof Megabazus was now employed in subjecting to thePersians. King Darius had no sooner crossed the Hellespont and reachedSardis, than he bethought himself of the good deed of Histiaeus theMilesian, and the good counsel of the Mytilenean Coes. He therefore sentfor both of them to Sardis, and bade them each crave a boon at hishands. Now Histiaeus, as he was already king of Miletus, did not makerequest for any government besides, but asked Darius to give himMyrcinus of the Edonians, where he wished to build him a city. Such wasthe choice that Histiaeus made. Coes, on the other hand, as he was amere burgher, and not a king, requested the sovereignty of Mytilene. Bothalike obtained their requests, and straight-way betook themselves to theplaces which they had chosen. It chanced in the meantime that KingDarius saw a sight which determined him to bid Megabazus remove thePaeonians from their seats in Europe and transport them to Asia. Therewere two Paeonians, Pigres and Mantyes, whose ambition it was to obtain