Cambyses; and above all recommended Croesus | to Persia, fully intending to watch over his son, and deliver him to Cyrus. to his care, as one whom, if the projected expedition should fail, it would be his interest to distinguish by every possible mark of reverence and honour. He then dismissed them into Persia, and passed the river with his forces. CCIX. As soon as he had advanced beyond the Araxes into the land of the Massagetæ, he saw in the night this vision: He beheld the eldest son of Hystaspes having wings upon his shoulders; one of which overshadowed Asia, the other Europe. Hystaspes was the son of Arsamis, of the family of the Achæmenides; the name of his eldest son was Darius, a youth of about twenty, who had been left behind in Persia as not yet of an age for military service. Cyrus awoke, and revolved the matter in his mind: as it appeared to him of serious importance, he sent for Hystaspes to his presence, and, dismissing his attendants, " Hystaspes," said the king, I will explain to you my reasons, why I am satisfied beyond all dispute that your son is now engaged in seditious designs against me and my authority. The gods, whose favour I enjoy, disclose to me all those events which menace my security. In the night just passed, I beheld your eldest son having wings upon his shoulders, one of which overshadowed Asia, the other Europe; from which I draw certain conclusions that he is engaged in acts of treachery against me. Do you therefore return instantly to Persia; and take care, that when I return victorious from my present expedition, your son may give me a satisfactory explanation of his conduct." CCX. The strong apprehension of the treachery of Darius induced Cyrus thus to address the father; but the vision in reality imported that the death of Cyrus was at hand, and that Darius should succeed to his power. "Far be it, O king!" said Hystaspes in reply, "from any man of Persian origin to form conspiracies against his sovereign: if such there be, let immediate death be his portion. You have raised the Persians from slavery to freedom; from subjects, you have made them masters: if a vision has informed you that my son designs any thing against you, to you and to your disposal I shall deliver him." Hystaspes, after this interview, passed the Araxes on his return 1 His son Cambyses.]-When the Persian kings went on any expedition, it was customary with them to name their successor, in order to prevent the confusion unavoidably arising from their dying without having done this.-Larcher. CCXI. Cyrus, advancing a day's march from the Araxes, followed, in all respects, the counsel of Croesus; and leaving behind him the troops upon which he had less dependence, he returned with his choicest men towards the Araxes. A detachment of about the third part of the army of the Massagetæ attacked the Persians whom Cyrus had left, and, after a feeble conflict, put them to the sword. When the slaughter ceased, they observed the luxuries which had artfully been prepared; and yielding to the allurement, they indulged themselves in feasting and wine, till drunkenness and sleep overcame them. In this situation the Persians attacked them: several were slain, but the greater part were made prisoners, among whom was Spargapises, their leader, the son of Tomyris. I CCXII. As soon as the queen heard of the defeat of her forces, and the capture of her son, she despatched a messenger to Cyrus with these words: "Cyrus, insatiable as you are of blood, be not too elate with your recent success. When you yourself are overcome with wine, what follies do you not commit? By entering your bodies, it renders your language more insulting. By this poison you have conquered my son, and neither by your prudence nor your valour. venture a second time to advise what it will be certainly your interest to follow. Restore my son to liberty, and, satisfied with the disgrace you have put upon a third part of the Massagetæ, depart from these realms unhurt. If you will not do this, I swear by the Sun, the great god of the Massagetæ, that, insatiable as you are of blood, I will give you your fill of it."2 CCXIII. These words made but little impression upon Cyrus. The son of Tomyris, when, recovering from his inebriated state, he knew the misfortune which had befallen him, intreated Cyrus to release him from his bonds: he obtained his liberty, and immediately destroyed himself. CCXIV. On the refusal of Cyrus to listen to her counsel, Tomyris collected all her forces : 2 Fill of blood.]-With this story of Cyrus that of the Roman Crassus nearly corresponds. The wealth of Crassus was only to be equalled by his avarice. He was taken prisoner in an expedition against the Parthians, who poured liquefied gold down his throat, in order, as they said, that he whose thirst of gold could never be satisfied when he was alive, might be filled with it when dead.-T. a battle ensued, and of all the conflicts which ever took place amongst the barbarians, this was I believe by far the most obstinately disputed. According to such particulars as I have been able to collect, the engagement began by a shower of arrows poured on both sides, from an interval of some distance; when these were all spent, they fought with their swords and spears, and for a long time neither party gained the smallest advantage: the Massagetæ were at length victorious, the greater part of the Persians were slain, Cyrus himself also fell; and thus terminated a reign of twenty-nine years. When after diligent search his body was found, Tomyris directed his head to be thrown into a vessel filled with human blood, and having insulted and mutilated the dead body, exclaimed, “Survivor and conqueror as I am, thou hast ruined my peace by thy successful stratagem against my son; but I will give thee now, as I threatened, thy fill of blood.”—This account of the end of Cyrus seems to me most consistent with probability, although there are many other and different relations." CCXV. The Massagetæ in their clothes and food resemble the Scythians; they fight on horseback and on foot, and are both ways formidable. They have spears, arrows, and battleaxes. They make much use both of gold and brass. Their spears, the points of their arrows, and their battle-axes, are made of brass; their helmets, their belts, and their breast-plates are decorated with gold. They bind also a plate of brass on the chests of their horses, whose reins, bits, and other harness, are plated with gold. They use neither iron nor silver, which indeed their country does not produce, though it abounds with gold and brass. CCXVI. Concerning their manners we have to observe, that though each man marries but one wife, she is considered as common pro 3 Different relations.]—Xenophon makes Cyrus die peaceably in his bed; Strabo inclines to this opinion; Lucian makes him live beyond the age of an hundred.— Larcher. The Massagetæ are by some authors confounded with the Scythians. Diodorus Siculus calls Tomyris queen of the Scythians.-Larcher. perty. For what the Greeks assert in general of the Scythians, is true only of the Massagetze. When a man of this country desires to have communication with a woman, he hangs up his quiver before his waggon, and enjoys her without fear of interruption. To speak of the number of years to which they live, is impossible. As soon as any one becomes infirm through age, his assembled relations put him to death,* boiling along with the body the flesh of sheep and other animals, upon which they feast: esteeming universally this mode of death the happiest. Of those who die from any disease, they never eat; they bury them in the earth, and esteem their fate a matter to be lamented, because they have not lived to be sacrificed. They sow no grain, but entirely subsist upon cattle, and upon the fish which the river Araxes abundantly supplies; milk also constitutes a part of their diet. They sacrifice horses to the sun, their only deity, thinking it right to offer the swiftest of mortal animals, to the swiftest of immortal beings. 4 Put him to death.]—Hellanicus, speaking of the Hyobserves, that they learn justice, that they do not eat perboreans, who live beyond the Rhipean mountains, meat, but live entirely on fruit. Those of sixty years they carry out of the town, and put to death. Timæus says, that in Sardinia, when a man has passed the age of seventy years, his sons, in honour of Saturn, and with seeming satisfaction, beat his brains out with clubs, and throw him from some frightful precipice. The inhabitants of Iulis, in the isle of Ceos, oblige those who are past the age of sixty years to drink hemlock, &c. This custom, so contrary to our manners, will, doubtless, appear fabulous to those who are no friends to antiquity, and whose judgments are regulated entirely by It is practised nevertheless at the modern manners. present day in the kingdom of Aracan; the inhabitants of this country accelerate the death of their friends and relations, when they see them afflicted by a painful old age, or incurable disease; it is with them an act of piety. -Larcher. 5 Sacrifice horses.]-This was a very ancient custom: it was practised in Persia in the time of Cyrus, and was probably anterior to that prince. Horses were also sacrificed to Neptune, and the deities of the rivers, being precipitated into the sea or into rivers. Sextus Pompeius threw into the sea horses and live oxen, in honour of Neptune, whose son he professed himself to be.-Larcher. Placat equo Persis radiis Hyperiona cinctum I HERODOTUS. BOOK II. EUTERPE. themselves than the rest of mankind. Whilst Psammitichus was engaged in this inquiry, he contrived the following as the most effectual means of removing his perplexity. He procured two children just born, of humble parentage, and gave them to a shepherd to be brought up among his flocks. He was ordered never to speak before them; to place them in a sequestered hut, and at proper intervals to bring them goats, whose milk they might suck whilst he was attending to other employments. His object was to know what word they would first pronounce articulately. The experiment succeeded to his wish; the shepherd.complied with each particular of his directions, and at the I. CAMBYSES the son of Cyrus, by Cassandana, daughter of Phanaspe, succeeded his father. The wife of Cyrus had died before him; he had lamented her loss himself with the sincerest grief, and commanded all his subjects to exhibit public marks of sorrow.' Cambyses thus descended, considered the Ionians and Eolians as his slaves by right of inheritance: -He undertook therefore an expedition against Egypt, and assembled an army for this purpose, composed as well of his other subjects as of those Greeks who acknowledged his authority. II. Before the reign of their king Psammitichus, the Egyptians esteemed themselves the most ancient of the human race; but when this prince came to the throne he took consid-end of two years, on his one day opening the erable pains to investigate the truth of this matter; the result was, that they believe the Phrygians more ancient than themselves, and 3 door of their apartment, both the children ex- Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis; Et tunicæ manicas et habent redimicula mitræ. This citation from Virgil implies, that these were instru- According to Justin, the Scythians believed themselves proverb, Phryx plagis emendatur (see Erasmus Adag.), to be more ancient than the Egyptians. 3 Phrygians.]-The volumes of Greece and Rome abound with records of the Phrygians. Arrian tells us, that the Phrygians were the oldest of mankind, λeyovta Φρυγες παλαιοτατοι ανθρωπων, cited by Eustathius in Dion. Their religious madness in the worship of their goddess Cybele renders them very remarkable in classic story. They were remarkable for their effeminacy, and we have their character beautifully drawn by Virgil, in the contrast which he gives us in the ninth Æneid, betwixt them and the ancient Tuscans: was contemptuously applied to all this nation. 4 Whose milk.]-Claudian has an allusion to this historical fact. See his Poem in Eutropium, ii. 250: Dat cuncta vetustas Principium Phrygibus, nec rex Ægyptius ultra Restitit humani postquam puer uberis expers In Phrygiam primum laxavit murmura vocem. 5 Becos.]-These infants, in all probability, pronounced the word Bec, the cry of the animals which they imitated, os being a termination appropriated to the Greek language.-Larcher. ever engraved the figures of animals on stone; thetruth of a which they sufficiently authenticate. The name of their first king was Menes,5 in whose reign the whole of Egypt, except the province of Thebes, was one extended marsh. No part of all that district which is now situate beyond the lake of Mœris, was then to be seen, the distance between which lake and the sea is a journey of seven days. V. The account which they give of their voured to discover among what people it was | They were the first also who erected altars, in use: he found it was the Phrygian name for shrines, and temples; and none before them bread.1 From seriously revolving this incident, the Egyptians were induced to allow the Phrygians to be of greater antiquity than themselves. III. That this was really done, I myself heard at Memphis from the priests of Vulcan. The Greeks, among other idle tales, relate, that Psammitichus gave the children to be nursed by women whose tongues were previously cut out. During my residence at Memphis, the same priests informed me of many other curious particulars: but to be bet-country appears just and reasonable. It must ter satisfied how well the narrative which I be obvious to the inspection of any one of comhave given on their authority was supported, I mon sagacity, even though he knew it not bemade it my business to visit Thebes and Helio- fore, that the part of Egypt to which the Greeks polis, the inhabitants of which latter place are now sail formerly constituted a part of the bed deemed the most ingenious of all the Egyptians. of the river; which thing may always be obExcept to specify the names of their divinities, served of all that tract of country beyond the I shall be unwilling to mention their religious lake, to pass over which would employ a journey customs, unless my subject demand it; this be- of three days, but this the Egyptians themselves ing a matter concerning which men in general do not assert. Of this fact there exists another are equally well informed. proof: if from a vessel bound to Egypt, the lead be thrown at the distance of a day's sailing from the shore, it will come up the depth of IV. In all which they related of human affairs, they were uniform and consistent with each other; they agree that the Egyptians first defined the measure of the year, which they divided into twelve parts; in this they affirm the stars to have been their guides. Their mode of computation is in my opinion more sagacious than that of the Greeks, who for the sake of adjusting the seasons accurately add every third year an intercalary month. The Egyptians divide their year into twelve months, giving to each month thirty days: by adding five days to every year they have an uniform revolution of time. The people of this country first invented the names of the twelve gods, and from them the Grecians borrowed them.* 1 Bread.]—Hipponax, speaking of the people of Cyprus, uses this word as signifying bread.-Larcher. 2 Heliopolis.]-This place was not only celebrated for being in a manner the school of Herodotus: Plato here studied philosophy, and Eudoxus astronomy.-There were in Egypt two cities of this name.-T. A barbarous Persian has overthrown her temples, a fanatic Arab burned her books, and one solitary obelisk overlooking her ruins, says to passengers, this once was Heliopolis.-Savary. 3 First invented.]-Larcher in a note vindicates the expression of first invented, but this was already done to his hands by Bentley, in his preface to Dissertation on Phalaris.-T. 4 Grecians borrowed them.]—At the same time that Plato confesses that the Grecian mythology was of foreign original, he derives Artemis from a Greek word signifying integrity; Poseidon, from oσ dɛoμa, chains for the feet; Pallas, from λλ, to vibrate, &c.-T. If the Egyptian year had consisted of three hundred 7 and sixty-five entire days, the seasons would be far from 5 Menes.]-Diodorus Siculus agrees with Herodotus in 6 Bed of the river.]-This sentiment was adopted by all the ancients, and a great part of the moderns. If it have been formerly a gulf of the Mediterranean, parallel to the Arabian gulf. The earth must have been raised up by little and little, from a deposit of the mud which the waters of the Nile carry away with them.-Larcher. be true, all the country from Memphis to the sea must 7 Day's sailing from the shore.]-For seven or eight leagues from the land they know by the sounding plummet if they are near Egypt, as within that distance it brings up the black slimy mud of the Nile, that settles at the bottom of the sea, which is often of great use in navigation, the low land of this country not being seen afar off-Pococke. I know not whether it has ever before been remarked, but it should seem, from the descriptions of modern travellers, that the approach to Alexandria in Egypt greatly resembles the approach to Madras in the bay of Bengal.-T. It appears from Norden, that the Nile forms every year new islands in its course, for the possession of which the petty princes inhabiting the banks of the river eagerly contend.-T. The majority of travellers inform us, that upon an average the water usually rises every year to the height of twenty-two cubits. In 1702 it rose to twenty-three cubits four inches; in the year preceding it rose to twenty-two cubits eighteen inches: according to these travellers, the favourable height is from twenty-two to twenty-three cubits: according to Herodotus, from fifteen to sixteen.The difference is seven.-Larcher. |