i^HB*iKP^ssi^»« ^ 'jfci. «^ ^1? »P*ff^^? >> γ^ικρ:^ χ HERODOTUS. IRANSLATED BV THE REV. WILLTAM BELOE. VOL. I. LONDON : PRINTED BY A. J. VALPY, M. A. HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEV NEW BURMNGTON STREET. 1830. mm9s 5i)I5S52 CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. PAGE BlOCRAPHICAI. SkETCH OF HeRODOTUS . . . VU Argument ....... χνίι Book I.— CLIO .1 - II.- EUTERPE 160 ' It w'oiild confer but small honor on Mr. Bei.oe to say that his Translation is very superior to any which has made its appearance in our language. It is written in easy, perspicu- ous, and occasionally in elegant language.' — Ενχ-υοιορϊπιλ ΑΙετκοροι.ιτλνλ. ' A very excellent work, with learned, useful, and amusing no^es.'— BiBi.iooRAnncAL IMiscei.t.anv. I BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH HERODOTUS. Herodotus, the oldest of the Greek historians, and called by Cicero the * Father of History,' was born at Halicarnassus in Caria, an extensive town of Asia Minor, 484 years before Christ. His fa- ther's name was Lyxes, and that of his mother Dryo : he was of an illustrious family, originally Dorian, and both his parents were of high estate, according to Strabo, who also mentions that he had an only brother named Theodorus. The celebrated historians Hellanicus and Thu- cydides florished nearly at the same time, which was about four years before Xerxes invaded Greece. Herodotus, when grown up, was driven from his native city, and fixed his abode in Samos, on ac- Vlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH count of the tyranny and oppression of Lygdamis, who had caused his uncle Panyasis to be put to death ; but it does not appear whether he Avas ex- pelled or .voluntarily retired from Halicarnassus. During his exile he travelled through Greece, Egypt, Asia, Scythia, Thrace and Macedonia; and during his sojourn at Samos he found leisure to arrange his materials and to form the plan for \vriting his history. Halicarnassus was not at this time wanting in citizens discontented with the ty- ranny of Lygdamis, and Herodotus having received intelligence of a patriotic design to expel the tyrant, left Samos and hastened to join the conspiracy. On his arrival he dedicated his talents and experi- ence to the cause ; and succeeded, at the head of a formidable party, in dethroning the tyrant. Ha- licarnassus was again free, and the people restored to that liberty which, independently of revenging his uncle's death, was the chief object of our histo- rian's constant wishes. Faction and cabal however soon disgraced the cause he had espoused, and he was obliged to leave his country a second time, and to seek protection in Greece, which soon be- came the noble theatre of his glory. Having attained his thirty-ninth year, a generous desire of fame led him publicly to recite a portion OF HERODOTUS. IX of his history to the people, then assembled at the Olympic games, and which was received with such universal applause, that the names of the nine Muses were unanimously given to the nine books into which it is divided. The history, according to Dionysius Halicarnas- sensig, contains the most remarkable occurrences within a period of 240 years, from the reign of Cyrus, the first king of Persia, to that of Xerxes, when the historian was living. The work, as we have intimated, is divided into nine books, named after the nine Muses. The first book, Clio, treats of the transfer of the kingdom of Lydia from Gyges into the hands of Croesus ; the minority of Cyrus, and his subsequent overthrow of the unwieldy Ly- dian empire : it also notices the rising greatness of the powerful republics of Athens and Lacediemon. The second book, the Euterpe, gives a copious and judicious account of Egypt; of Egyptian customs and manners, and a long dissertation on the suc- cession of their kings. The third, the Thalia, con- tains an account of the exploits and achievements of Cambyses, and particularly of the subjugation of the whole of Egypt by that capricious and tyran- nical monarch ; and finally, records the election of χ BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Darius Hystaspes to the Persian throne, which was vacant by the death of Smerdis the impostor. The fourth, the Melpomene, gi\^es a detailed narra- tive of the unfortunate and calamitous expeditions of the Persians, during the reign of Darius Hystas- pes, against the Scythians. The fifth, the Terpsi- chore, mentions the republics of Athens, Lacedae- mon and Corinth, in their progress to stability and fame ; gives a concise view of their resources and strength, as they existed in the time of the Persian emperor Darius, and concludes with the expulsion of the tyrant Hippias from Athens. The sixth, the Erato, records the origin of the Lacedivmonian kings ; the causes which induced Darius to declare war against tiie Greeks; the first invasion of Greece by the Persians ; and finishes with the memorable battle of Marathon. The seventh, the Polyhymnia, contains a full narration of the formidable expedi- tion of Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspes, into Greece, and concludes with an animated account of the battle which took place between the Greeks and Persians at the Straits of Thermopyla?. The eighth, the Urania, narrates the farther progress of the arms of Xerxes ; the taking and burning of Athens by the Persians ; together with the events OF HERODOTUS. XI which took place at the sea- fight of Salamis, a battle which eventually led to the utter overthrow of the Persian power in (ireece. The ninth, the Calliope, treats of the battle of Platea, the fight of the Promontory of Mycale, and the subsequent retreat of the Persians in consequence of these engagements. Herodotus doubtless selected particular portions which were peculiarly interesting, and showed some well connected series of history combined with a striking character of genius. On this occasion the interesting anecdote of Thucydides took its rise. This youth, about fifteen years of age, while listen- ing with the most composed and serious attention to the Father of History, burst into tears. Herodotus, observing his emotion, exclaimed to Olorus, * Your son burns with an ardor for science.' Twelve years afterwards he read a continuation of his work to the Athenians at the feast of the Panathenaea; and so delighted were the people with him, that not satisfied with heaping praises on him, they presented him with ten talents ; which gift was solemnly ra- tified by a decree of the people. It was considered remarkable that Herodotus, by birth a Dorian, should have written his history ?;U BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ill the Ionic dialect. He is considered among his- torians what Homer is among poets, and Demo- sthenes among orators. His style, says one of his biographers, has always been admired for its flow- ing ease and sweetness. Cicero compared its course to that of the waters of a still river. It excels chiefly in narration, and wants force and concise- ness for sentiment and remark ; but the greatest inconvenience attending the perusal of his history results from his method, which is the most irregular and discursive that can be conceived. Notwith- standing all his faults he is the most pleasing wri- ter of antiquity. Quintilian says that ' many have written well, but every body owns that there are two historians preferable to the rest, though extremely diff'erent from each other. Thucydides is close, concise, and even sometimes crowded in his sentences : Herodotus is sweet, copious, and exuberant. Thucydides is more J)roper for men of warm passions ; Herodotus for those of a sedater turn. The former is more forci- ble ; the latter more agreeable.' The reputation of our historian was now in its zenith ; but unable to remain at Athens, he con- nected himself with a band of adventurers, who OF HERODOTUS. XUl founded a colony at Thurium, in the south of Italy. Among these was Lysias, who afterwards became so renowned an orator. Herodotus was at this time about forty years of age ; and in this colony, from all accounts, he passed the remainder of his days, which he spent in making improvements in his history. There are, however, some authorities who assert that he died at Pella in Macedonia. There is an argument which is at variance with the account of his death at Thurium, resting on a passage which occurs in the life of Thucydides, by Marcellinus, who affirms that the tomb of Herodotus was to be seen at Athens among the monuments of Cimon. The President Bouhier has from this concluded that he died at Athens. On the other hand, Stephen of Byzantium gives an inscription, said to be found at Thurium, which positively asserts, * This earth contains Herodotus, son of Lyxes, a Dorian by birth, but the most illustrious of the Ionian histo- rians.' It perhaps ought not to be omitted, that many eminent writers, both ancient and modern, accuse Herodotus of not having paid a sufficient regard to the sacred obligation of historic truth. Plutarch, in particular, has opposed many of his assertions ; but the unjust tract of Plutarch on the XIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Malignity of Herodotus has been carefully exam- ined, and satisfactorily refuted, by the Abbe Gei- noz, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscrip- tions and Belles Lettres. He has not wanted defenders in A. Manutius, J. Camerarius, and H. Stephens, who have very justly observed, that he seldom relates any thing of doubtful credit, without producing his authority, or using terms of caution ; and some events narrated by him have been confirmed by modern voya2,ers and discoveries. Independent of this, the personal character of Herodotus would successfully repel every insinuation thrown out against him. It must however be evident to the admirers of Herodotus that very few accounts of the life of this great and excellent man are to be found amongst the writings of the ancients up to the pre- sent period. We mention this circumstance, inas- much as it ought to be known by what system of education, together with the occurrences in human life, this historian Λvas induced to combine the sacred obligations of religion with the extensive faculty which he possessed of penetrating into the depths of human affairs. Herodotus had written another history of Assyria and Arabia, which is not extant. The life of Homer has been ascribed OF HERODOTUS. XV to Iiira ; but it is evideut, that in perusing the style of the poet, that the peculiar suavity of the Ionic dialect, so remarkable in his history, is altogether omitted. There is another circumstance which tends to show, that of all the ancient writers who have recited the fortunes or the poems of Homer, not one has made the slightest allusion to the work bearing the name of Herodotus. ARGUMENT. BOOK I.— CLIO. Chap. 1 Review of the causes of hostility between the Greeks and the Phoenicians : forcible abduction of lo — 2 Of Europa and Medea — 3 Of Helen — 4 Statements made by the Persians — 5 by the Phoenicians— 6 Croesus of Lydia first subdued the -^Eolians and lonians — 7 Review of the Lydian history : the kings of Lydia — 8 Candaules the last of the Heraclidae ; the second dynasty of Lydian kings — 9 — 11 His afi'ection for his wife ; their domestic history — 12 Candaules killed by Gyges, who succeeds him in his em- pire, and thus commences the dynasty of the INfemnadae — 13, 14 History of Gyges — 15 History of his successor, Ar- dys — 16 of Sadyattes and Alyattes : expulsion of the Cim- merians from Asia — 17, 18 His wars with the Milesians — 19 Destruction of the Assessian temple, dedicated to Mi- nerva — 20 — 24 Digressions relating to Thrasybulus of Mi- letus, Periander of Corinth, and their contemporary Arion, who was saved from drowning by a dolphin — 25 Death of Alyattes — 26,27 Succession of Croesus : his subjugation of the Asiatic Greeks under the Lydian authority — 28 List of the nations subdued by him — 29 — 33 Interview between Croesus and Solon, the Athenian lawgiver— 34 Atys, son of Croesus — 35 His marriage — 36 — 45 Accidentally killed in hunting by Adrastus, a Phrygian exile — ^16—52 Croesus alarmed at the growing power of the Persians, who under Cyrus have already conquered 3Iedia, sends agents to Greece to make trial of the oracles — o3 — 56 Croesus, favor- ably interpreting an ambiguous answer of the Delphic ora- cle, undertakes an expedition against Cyrus ; first endeavor- ing 10 secure the alliance of the principal Grecian states — 57, 58 Review of the origin and condition of these states — 59 — 64 Government of the Athenians by Pisistratus— 65 Laws given to the Lacedaemonians by Lycurgus — 66 — 68 Their conquest of the Tegeans— ^9 Alliance entered into HER. VOL. I. b 'CVIU ARGUMENT. by them with Croesus— 70 — 74 Preparations and commence- ment of the expedition — 75 Passage of the River Halys — 76 Indecisive engagement with Cyrus in the Pterian plain — 7? His return to Sardis, and negotiations for assistance from the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Lacedaemonians — 78 Mysterious prodigy, and its explanation — ^79 Advance of Cyrus to Sardis — 80 Engagement and defeat of the Lydian army — 81 — 85 Siege and capture of Sardis — 86 — 92 Con- tinuation of the history of Croesus — 93,94 Brief A'^iew of the manners and customs of the Lydians — 95 The author now proceeds to the reA''iew of Cyrus, and the kingdoms of As- syria and Media : revolt of the Medes from the Assyrian yoke — 96 — 98 After a long period of anarchy the Medes choose Deioces to be their king — 99 — 101 Sketch of his reign — 102 His death, and the succession of his son Phra- ortes : his conquests and death — 103 — 106 His son and suc- cessor Cyaxares having repelled the incursions of the Scy- thians, subjugates Assyria : his death — 107—121 His son Astyages on succeeding to the throne gave his daughter Mandane in marriage to Cambyses, a Persian ; but in- fluenced by a dream, he delivers their first-born child, Cy- rus, to Harpagus, a person in his confidence, with orders that it should be destroyed : his orders are evaded, and the child is brought up by a herdsman, but is recognised by bis grandfather Astyages when in his tenth year, and is by him sent to Persia in safety : cruel punishment of Harpa- gus for his conduct in sparing the child — 122 — 124 Harpa- gus, indignant at the injuries heaped on him by Astyages, prompts Cyrus to rebel against his grandfather's authority —125,126 Cyrus excites the Persians to rebel— 127, 128 Cy- rus defeats the Medes, and takes Astyages prisoner — 129, ISO Deposition and imprisonment of Astyages : Cyrus subdues Croesus as described in chapters 79 — 85—131 — 140 Descrip- tion of the manners and customs of the Persians — 141 Reply of Cyrus to the overtures of the lonians and v^Coliana — 142 Sketch of Ionia — 143— 11β Account of tlie origin, man- ners, and institutions of the lonians— 149— 151 Sketch of Jioliat — 152 The lonians and ^EoHans make an unsuccessful attempt to enlist the Lacedaemonians in tlieir cause— 153 Careful preparations by Cyrus — 154 — 161 He again quells another revolt of the Lydians— 162— 170 He sends Harpa- ARGUMENT. XIX gus against the lonians : to him they submit, except the Phocajans and Teians, who desert their towns and form a distant settlement — I7i — 176 Subjection of Lycia and Caria — 177 Reduction of Upper Asia by Cyrus in person — 178 — 183 Description of Babylon— 184— 187 History of Nitocris and Semiramis — 188 — 191 Capture of Babylon by stratagem — 192 — 200 Review of the territory of the Babylonians, their laws, manners, and institutions — 201 — 226 Attack of Cyrus on the Massagetae : passage of the Araxes ; his defeat and death. BOOK II.— EUTERPE. Chap. 1 Succession of Cambyses— 2— 36 A'iew of the country of Egypt, and a dissertation on the nature of the Nile — 37 — 98 Description of the inhabitants, their rites, manners, and mode of living — 99 — 150 Review of the succession of the kings of Egypt— 151 — 157 Succession of Psammitichus, and admission of strangers into the country — 158 Succes- sion of Kecos— 160 of Psammis— 161 of Apries— 162— 172 he is deposed and succeeded by Amasis : description of the seven castes of the Egyptians. BOOK III.— THALIA. Chap. 1 — 9 Origin of the war between Cambyses and the Egyptians~10 — 12 Defeat of Psammenitus, son of Amasis, near Pelusium— 13 The inhabitants of JMemphis, the Cy- reneans and Barcseans, voluntarily surrender — 14, 15 Psam- menitus put to death for his intrigues — 19 Refusal of the Phoenicians to serve under Cambyses against the Cartha- ginians — 20 Spies sent from the Icthyophagi to the Ethio- pians : the army of Cambyses, on their march to attack the Ethiopians, compelled by famine to retreat — 26 Destruc- tion of the army sent to attack the Ammonians — 27 — 29 Displeasure of Cambyses towards the Egyptian priests — 30 Cruelty and insanity of Cambyses — 39 — 48 Digression relative to the history of Polycrates, tyrant of the Samians, and on the expedition against him undertaken by the Lace- dpemonians — 49 — 60 Assistance in the expedition rendered by the Corcyreans : reason of their hatred of the Samians — 61 Seizure of the throne of Persia by Smerdis — C4 — 67 Ac- count of the accident by which Cambyses met his death — • 68—77 Conspiracy formed against Smerdis, the usurper— XX ARGUMENT. 78 The magi are put to deatli— 80— 88 Choice of Darius for the succession to the throne— 89— 96 Subdivision and regulation of the empire— 98~10i Account of the Indians, their manners and customs— 107 — 113 Advantages of Arabia enumerated— 114 — 117 also of Ethiopia, and the distant parts of Europe— 118, 119 Intaphernes, one of the seven conspirators, put to death by order of Darius— 120— 128 Punishment of Oroetes, who ])ad perfidiously caused the death of Polycrates of Samos : Mitrobates, a noble Persian, and his son Crassaspes — 129, 130 Democedes, a physician of Croton, cures the king of a dangerous malady — 131 — 137 narrative of his adventures — 139 — 149 Capture of Samos by the Persians— 150— 160 Siege and subduction of Babylon by the contrivance of Zopyrus. BOOK IV.— MELPOMENE, Chap. 1 March of Darius to attack the Scythians — 2 — 4 The customs of the Scythians described — 5 — 36 Account of the country and origin of the Scythians— 37— 46 On the three divisions of the world, Libya, Asia, and Europe — 47 — 58 On the riA'-ers of Scythia — 59 — 82 Farther particulars concern- ing the Scythians and their country — 83 — 98 Dariias crosses the Thracian Bosphorus by a bridge of boats, and subdues the Thracians : he crosses the Ister, and leaving tlie lonians to guard the bridge, marches up the country — 99 — 117 Si- tuation and dimensions of Scythia : its various tribes— 118 — 134 The Scythians elude the eiforts of Darius — 135 He returns from the pursuit of the Scythians and recrosses the Ister, from whence he passes over into Asia — 145 — 164 Attack by another army of Persians on Barce, to avenge the death of Arcesilaus, king of the Cyreneans : history of Cyrene from the first settlement of a colony in Libya by the Minyae of the island of Thera — 168 — 199 Description of the tribes of Libya— 200— 205 The BarciEi taken by the perfidy of the Persians : tlie Persians, after making a futile attempt on Cyrene, return into Egypt, but are much ha- rassed on their march by the Africans. BOOK λ^— TERPSICHORE. Chap. 1, 2 Megabazus, who had been left in command by Da- rius in Europe, subjects the Perinthians and Thracians — ARGUMENT. XXI 3 — 10 Description of Thrace— 11 Darius goes to Sardis — 12 — 16 The Pseonians are removed into Asia — 17^21 Sub- mission of tlie Macedonians — 23 — 25 Darius, after appoint- ing Artaphernes satrap of Sardis, returns to Susa — 2d, 27 Megabazus succeeded by Otanes, who subjects the city of Byzantium and the islands of Lemnos and Irabros — 30 A party of the chief men of Naxos being expelled from thence, go over to Aristagoras, the vice-governor of JMiletus, and request his assistance — 31 — 34 An attempt on Naxos and the Cyclades fails from a quarrel between the two com- manders of the expedition— 35 — 37 Aristagoras excites the lonians to rebellion — 38 He goes to Sparta and Athens to solicit assistance— 39— 96 Review of the state of Sparta and Athens from the time of Pisistratus — 97, 98 Aristagoras receives assistance from the Athenians and Eretrians — 99 — 102 Seizure of the city of Sardis by the lonians, who in their retreat are routed by the Persians near Ephesus — 103, 104 Return of the Athenians to Greece : the lonians continue their revolt, with the assistance of Cyprus and Caria — 105 — 124 The Persian leaders, after reducing Cy- prus, Caria, and the towns of the Hellespont, attack Ionia . and ^Eolis — 125, 126 Aristagoras slain by the Thracians. BOOK VI.— ERATO. Chap. 1 — 5 Histiaeus, sent by Darius to Sardis, takes refuge in the island of Chios— 6 — 25 Defeat of the Ionian fleet off Lada, seizure of JMiletus, and reduction of Ionia — 26 — 30 HistisBus crossing over to the main land for forage is taken and put to death by Artaphernes— 35— 40 Subjection of the European side of the Hellespont by the Persians : digres- sion concerning the Thracian Chersonesus, and the domi- nions of jMiltiades, son of Cypselus, and Miltiades, son of Cymon — 41 JMiltiades, son of Cymon,fliesto Athens, dread- ing the resentment of Darius — 42 Good order restored in Ionia— 43 — 45 JMardonius advances with immense forces against the Athenians and Eretrians, but in consequence of the wreck of his fleet, and the defeat of his land-army, is compelled to retreat — 48 Darius sends an imperious mes- sage to Greece— 49 — 51 The ^iJginatie and other islanders submit, for which the Athenians and Lacedsemonians pre- pare to punish them, but owing to intrigues are unable — XXll ARGUMENT. 52 — 60 Digression concerning the Spartan kings— 61 — 70 Abdication and flight into Asia of Demaratus, one of the Spartan kings— 71, 72 Reign of Leutychides— 73— 75 Cleo- menes seizes and confines the chief inhabitants of JEgina : he subsequently falls mad, and lays violent hands on him- self— 76 — 84 Causes of his malady — 85 — 93 The yEginatae after claiming to no purpose their citizens from the Athe- nians, levy war on Attica — 94 — 120 The Persian generals Datis and Artaphernes after subjecting the Grecian islands, talie Eretria by treachery ; they pass over into Attica, but being routed by Miltiades at Marathon retire into Asia — 121 — 131 Defence of the Alcmeeonidai against the charge of connivance with the Persians — 132 — 136 Miltiades attacks Paros, but owing to an accident is compelled to raise the siege; for this he is impeached at Athens and subjected to a fine : death of Miltiades — 137 — 140 Account of the Pe- lasgi, the inhabitants of Lemnos. BOOK VII.— POLYHYMNIA. Chap. 1 — 1 Preparations by Darius for another invasion of Greece : rebellion of Egypt : death of Darius, and succes- sion of Xerxes — 5 — 7 He subdues Egypt — 8 — 19 Xerxes decides on another invasion of Greece— 20— 25 His pre- parations — 26 — 60 With his army he commences his march, and passes the Hellespont by a bridge of boats — 61 — 99 Enumeration of the tribes forming the army — 100 — 104 Ke- view of the army by Darius — 105 — 131 Description of his march, and the nature of the countries he crosses — 132 Se- veral of the Greek nations submit though threatened by the others with punishment for their pusillanimity — 133 — 139 Courage and firmness shown by the Athenians— 140 — 143 They take the advice of an oracle — 144 and resolve to for- sake their city and go on board their vessels — 145 — 147 Preparations on both sides— 148— 152 Refusal of the Ar- gives to join the confederacy — 153 — 164 Ambassadors sent by the Greeks to Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse : his history : they leave, considering it imprudent to accept his services according to his own conditions — 165 — 167 Reasons alleged by the Sicilians for the refusal of assistance — 168 — 174 Farther unsuccessful negotiations for assistance — 175, 17() The Greeks make choice of the pass of Thermopylee and ARGUMENT. XXIU the roadstead of Artemisium, as the most favorable places to receive the invaders — 177 — 195 Destruction of the invading fleet by a storm off the coast of Magnesia — 196 — ΰΟΟ Xerxes advances to Thermopylai : description of the country in his route — 202 — 239 Choice of the band for the defence of the pass by the Greeks : gallant behavior and final destruction of this body. BOOK VIII.— URANIA. Chap. 1 — 23 Indecisive engagements off Artemisium : the Greeks, hearing of the discomfiture of their companions in arms at Thermopylae, retire — 24 — 34 Xerxes having passed through Phocis, enters Bocotia — 35 — 39 An unsuccessful attempt on the temple of Delphi by part of his army — 35 — 41 The Greek fleet, after quitting Artemisium, makes for Salamis : the Athenians abandon that city — 43 — 49 Enu- meration of the nations of Greece who sent ships to Sala- mis : their origin briefly described — 50 — 55 Irruption of the barbarians into Attica : capture and destruction of the ca- pital — 56 — 63 A timid resolution of the Greek admirals to go to the Isthmus of Corinth overruled by the arguments and threats of Themistocles — 64 — 72 Explanation of the . movements contemplated by the Persian host — 73 — 76 De- ception practised on Xerxes by Themistocles — 77 — 83 The Greeks make ready for battle — 84 — 96 Engagement and de- struction of the Persians — 97 — 107 Xerxes, by the advice of IMaidonius, orders the fleet to stand for the Hellespont — 108 — 112 The eagerness of the Greeks to pursue the scat- tered fleet restrained by Eurybiades and Themistocles — 113 — 120 Xerxes, leaving iMardonius with three hundred thousand men, retreats towards the Hellespont ; but the bridges being destroyed by a tempest he is compelled to pass in a vessel— 121 — 125 Offerings and thanksgivings given by the Greeks to the gods : division of the spoil : honors paid to Themistocles — 126 — 129 Artabazus falls on the Olynthiuns, but is completely discomfited in an attack on the Potidaeatffi — 130 — 132 Surveillance of the lonians by the Persian fleet : the Greeks unable to render them effec- tual assistance — 133 — 136 Mardonius sends to consult the Grecian oracles, and tenders proposals of peace at Athens, through Alexander of Macedonia — 137 — 139 Origin and genealogy of the IMacedonian kings— 140— 144 The Athe- XXIV ARGUMENT. nians refuse the conditions offered by IMardonius, and ex- hort the Spartans to render them assistance. BOOK IX.— CALLIOPE. Chap. 1 — 3 Mardonius again enters Athens, although now deserted — 4 — 11 He renews his pacific overtures to the Athenians, to Λvhom the Spartans at last send assistance — 12 — 15 Mardonius retires into Bceotia, and establishes him- self in the Theban territory — 16 — 19 The Greeks advance and pitch their camp at Erythra? — 20 — 25 after a skirmish of cavalry they remove to the Plataian territory — 26 — 42 The armies remain for some time stationary and immediately opposite to each other : Mardonius, impatient at the delay, prepares for battle— 43, 44 His designs are communicated to the Greeks by Alexander of Macedonia — 45 — 69 The Greeks, \A'anting water and victuals, resolve to shift their station, but are attacked by the enemy : an engagement en- sues, in Avhich IMardonius is slain, and the Persian army driven back : Artabazus escapes with forty thousand men into Phocis — 70—87 The Greeks storm tlie camp of the barbarians, and a dreadful slaughter ensues — 88, 89 The movers of the Theban defection to the Medes delivered up to Pausanias, the leader of the Spartans, and put to death — 90 — 92 The naval forces of the Greeks, by the invitation of the Samnians, take their departure from Delos — 93 — 95 A digression concerning Evenius of Apollonia, father of Dei- phonus, the divine of the Greeks — 96 — 107 The Persians, informed of the advance of the Greek fleet, haul up their ships on the strand of IMycale, and fortify them with a wall : the Greeks overcome the Persians in a sharp engagement, capture the camp and burn the ships : Ionia again secedes from Persia — 114—122 the Peloponnesians return into Greece, and the Athenians also, after capturing Sestos. HERODOTUS. BOOK I.— CLIO. Chap. I.' To rescue from oblivion the memory of former incidents, and to render a just tribute of renown to the many great and wonderful actions, both of Greeks and barbarians,^ Herodotus^ of Halicaruassus produces this historical essay. 1 The simplicity with which Herodotus commences his history, and enters immediately on his subject, has been much and deservedly admired, and exhibits a striking con- trast to the elaborate introductions of modern writers. It is not, however, peculiar to Herodotus ; it was the beautiful distinction of almost all the more ancient authors. — Translator. 2 As this word so frequently occurs in the progress of our work, it may be necessary, once for all, to advertise the English reader, that the ancients used it in a much milder sense than we do. Much as has been said of the pride of the old Romans, the word in question may tend to prove that they were in some instances less tenacious of their national dignity than the Greeks. The appellation of barbarians was given by the Greeks to all tlie world but themselves ; the Romans gave it to all the world but the Greeks.— T. 3 It has been suggested as a doubt by many of the learned whether it ought not to be written Erodotus. For my own part, as I am able to remember no proper name terminating in dorus and dotus, as Diodorus, Diodotus, Heliodorus, &c. which is not derived from the name of a divinity, I have no scruple in asserting my belief that it must be Herodotus, compounded of dotus and the Greek name of Juno. — T. There is hardly any author, ancient or modern, who has been more warmly commended, or more vehemently censured HER. VOL. I. A 2 HERODOTUS. Among other things, it will be necessary to investi- gate the sources of the hostilities Λvhich subsisted be- tween these people. The more learned of the Persians assert the Phoenicians to have been the original exciters of contention. This nation migrated from the borders of the Red Sea ' to the place of their present settle- ment, and soon distinguished themselves by their long and enterprising voyages.^ They exported to Argos, amongst other places, the produce of Egypt and As- syria. Argos, at that period, was the most famous of all those states which are ηοΛν comprehended under than this eminent historian ; but even the severe Dionysiiis declares he is one of those enchanting writers whom you peruse to the hist syllable with pleasure, and still wish for more. Plutarch himself, who has made the most violent attack on his veracity, allows him all the merit of beautiful composition. — Hay ley. 1 When Herodotus speaks, for the first time, of any people, he always goes to their original source. Some authors make the Phoenicians to have originated from the Persian Gulf; Avhich opinion, though reported, is not believed by Strabo. Voltaire, taking it for granted that they migrated by sea, ridicules the idea of their coming from the Red Sea to Phanicia ; as well he might. Larcher proves, in the most satisfactory manner, that his misconception arose from his ignorance of Greek. It is evident from another passage in Herodotus (book vii. chap. 89.) that the Phoeni- cians, when they changed their place of residence, passed over by land. — Larcher (principally). 2 The first among the Greeks who undertook long voyages were the lonians. On this people Mr. Wood, in his Essay on Homer, has the following remark: 'From the general character by which Homer constantly distinguishes the Phoenicians, as a commercial and seafaring people, it has been naturally supposed that he was indebted to that nation for much of his information with regard to distant voyages. 1 think we cannot be at a loss to account for the poet's acquiring, at home, all the knowlego of this kind which we meet with in his works. We know the lonians were among the earliest navigators, particularly the I'hoca^ans and Milesians. The former are expressly called the dis- coverers of Adria, Hieria, Tuscany, and Tartessus,' — Wucd on Homer. BOOK I. — CLIO. 3 the general appellation of Greece.' On their arrival here, the Phoenicians exposed their merchandise to sale : after remaining about six days, and Λvhen they had almost disposed of their dilFerent articles of com- merce, the king's daughter, Avhom both nations agree in calling lo, came, among a great number of other women, to visit them at their station. AVhilst these females, standing near the stern of the vessel, amused themselves with bargaining for such things as attracted their curiosity, the Phoenicians, in conjunction, made an attempt to seize their persons. The greater part of them escaped ; but lo remained a captive Λνΐίΐι many others. They carried them on board, and directed their course for Egypt. II. The relation of the Greeks diiiers essentially : bnt this, according to the Persians, was the cause of io's arrival in Egypt, and the first act of violence which was committed. In process of time, certain Grecians, concerning whose country Avriters disagree, but Λvho were really of Crete, are reported to have touched at Tyre, and to have carried away Europa, the daughter of the prince. Thus far the Greeks had only retaliated f but they were certainly guilty of the 1 The region known by the name of Hellas or Greece, in the time of Herodotus, was, previous to the Trojan war, and indeed long afterwards, only discriminated by tlie names of its different inhabitants. Homer speaks of the Danaans, Argives, Achaians, &c. but never gives these people the general name of Greeks. — Lurcher. 2 The editor is in possession of a translation of the two first books of Herodotus, published in London so early as the year 1584•. It is in black letter, and may be considered as a great curiosity. The above passage is thus rendered : ' It chaunced afterward, that certaine Greekes, whose names they knew not, taking shore and landing at Tyrus, in like man- ner carried off the kinges daughter, named Europa. These were the people of Crete, otherwise called the Cretenses. By which meanes yt was cardes and cardes betweene them, 4 HERODOTUS. second provocation. They made a voyage in a vessel of war * to JEn, a city of Colclios, near the river Pha- sis ; and, after having accomplished the more imme- diate object of their expedition, they forcibly carried oiFthe king's daughter Medea. The king of Colchos despatched a herald to demand satisfaction for the aifront, and tlie restitution of the princess ; but the Greeks replied, that they should make no reparation in the present instance, as the violence formerly offered to lo remained still - unexpiated. III. In the age wliich followed, Alexander, the son of Priam, encouraged by the memory of these events, determined on obtaining a wife from Greece by means of similar violence ; fully persuaded that this, like former wrongs, would ne\ er be avenged. On the loss of Helen, the Greeks at first employed messengers to demand her person, as well as a com- pensation for the affront. All the satisfaction they re- ceived was reproach for the injury which had been offered to Medea ; and they Avere farther asked, how, under circumstances intirely alike, they could reason- ably require what they themselves had denied. IV. Hitherto the animosity betwixt the two nations extended no farther than to acts of personal and pri- fhe one beyng full meete and quit with the other,'— The first Booke of Clio, London, lo84. 1 Literally, in a long vessel. — The long vessels were Λ^essels of Avar, the round vessels, mercbantmen and transports. — T. 2 It may be urged tliat the king of (Jolchos had nothing to do with the violence oftered to lo ; she was carried off" by the I'ha-nicians. But, according to the Persians, all the nations of Asia composed but one body, of wliich they were the head. An injury therefore oifered to one of the mem- bers was considered as an hostility against the whole. Thus, as we see in a succeeding paragraph, the Persians considered the Greeks as their enemies from the time of the destruction of Troy. — Larcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. φ vate violence. But, at this period, continue the Per- sians, the Greeks certainly laid the foundation of sub- sequent contention ; who, before the Persians ever in- vaded Europe, doubtless made military incursions into Asia. The Persians appear to be of opinion that they >vho offer violence to women must be insensible to the impressions of humanity and justice, but that such provocations are as much beneath revenge, as the women themselves are undeserving of regard : it being obvious that all the females thus circumstanced must have been more or less accessary to the fact.' They asserted also, that although women had been forcibly carried away from Asia, they had never re- sented the affront. The Greeks, on the contrary, to avenge the abduction of a Lacedaemonian woman, had assembled a mighty fleet, entered Asia in a hostile man- ner, and had totally overthrown the empire of Priam. Since wliich event tliey had esteemed themselves justi- fied in considering the Greeks as tlie public enemies of their nation. It is to be observed, that the Per- sians esteem Asia, with all its various and barbarous inhabitants, as their own peculiar possession, consider- 1 Plutarch, who has written an essay expressly to convict Herodotus of malignity, introduces this as the first argument of the truth of his accusation. The Greeks, says he, unani- mously affirm that To had divine honors paid her by the bar- barians ; that many seas and capacious harbors were called after her name; that to her many illustrious families owe their original : yet this celebrated writer does not hesitate to say of her, that she yielded herself to a Phoenician mariner, with whom she fled, from the fear of being disgraced by the publication of her crime. lie afterwards endeavors to throw an odium on the most illustrious actions of his countrymen, by intimating that the Trojan war was undertaken on account of a profligate woman. ' For it is evident,' says he, * that these women would have been never carried away except with their own consent.' — Plutarch on the Blalignity of Hero- dotus. 6 HERODOTUS. i«g Europe and Greece as totally distinct and uncon- nected. V. The aboΛ'e is the Persian tradition; Λνΐιο date the cause and origin of their enmity to Greece from the destruction of Troy. What relates to lo is denied by the Phcenicians ; who affirm that she Avas never forcibly carried into Egypt. They assert, that during their continuance at Argos she yielded to the pilot of their vessel/ and proving pregnant, she voluntarily ac- companied them to Egypt, to avoid the detection of her crime and the indignation of her parents. Having now stated the diti'erent representations of the Persians and Phoenicians, I shall not detain the reader by an investi- gation of the truth of either narrative. I shall com- mence with an account of that personage, of whose first attacks on Greece there exists the most un- questionable testimony. I shall, as I proceed, de- scribe Avith some minuteness the smaller cities and larger communities : for many of these, at present pos- sessed neither of opulence nor power, Avere formerly splendid and illustrious ; others have, even within my remembrance, risen from humility to grandeur. From my conviction therefore of the precarious nature of human felicity,^ these shall all be respectively de- scribed. 1 1 make no apology for inserting the follo-ning singular translation of the above passage: 'With whose assertions the PhaMiices agree not aboute the hicly lo ; wliom they flatly denye to hnve beene caryed by lliem into yKgipt in manner of a rape : shewinge howe that in their al)0(le at Argos, shee fortuned to close with the mayster of a shippe, and fearynge and doubtinge greatly e the se verity e and cruell tyrannie of her parentes, and tlie detection of her owne follye, shee wil- linglye toke shippe and fledde strayght avvaye.' — Firste Booke of Clifl. 2 This moral reflection of Herodotus cannot fail of bringing to mind the consolatory letter written from (Jreece, by Sulpi- cius to Cicero, on the death of TuUia tlie oiator's daughter. BOOK I. — CLIO. 7 VI. Crcesus, by descent a Lyclian, was the son of Alyattes, and sovereign of those countries Avhich lie on this side the river Halys. This stream, in its passage from the south* towards the north, passes through Syria ^ and Paphlagonia,^ and finally empties itself into the Euxiue. Crcesus, we have reason to belie\e, was the first of the barbarian princes who exacted tribute from some nations of Greece, and en- tered into leagues of amity Λvith others. Before his time the Greeks were universally free : he, however, subdued the ^Eolians, and the lonians, with such of the Dorians as are situate in Asia, whilst he formed a friendly alliance with the Lacedaemonians. It appears At the distance of more than four hundred years from the time of Herodotus, Sulpicius thus expresses himself on a similar occasion : ' On my return from Asia, as I was sailing from ^ugina towards Megara, I could not help looking round on the circumjacent country. Behind me was .igina, before me Megara, Piraius on my right band, Corinth on my left ; all which places, formerly florisbing and happy, now lay before my eyes prostrate and in ruins,' &c. The whole letter is eminently beautiful, and I lament that it is beyond our limits to transcribe it. — T. 1 There are different opinions concerning the course of this river. Arrian says that it does not flow from the south, but from the east. This author, having in his mind the place of tbe sun's rising in the winter, accuses Herodotus of a mis- take in the passage before us. Wesseling bad tbe same idea, who nevertheless bas not solved tbe difficulty. Tbe truth is, there were two rivers of this name, tbe one rising from tbe south, tbe other from tbe east. Herodotus speaks of tbe first, Arrian of tbe last. D'Anville is of the same opinion. — Larcher. 2 Syria was at that time the name of Cappadocia. See chap. Ixxvi. — T, 3 It may appear matter of surprise to some that Herodotus should make tbe Syrians border on tbe Papblagonians. But by tbe Syrians, Herodotus here means the Cappadocians, called by tbe Greeks Leuco-or White-Syrians. Tbis is ob- vious from Strabo, as well as from Herodotus himself, in his second book. — Palmerius, 8 HERODOTUS. that the incursion of the Cimtnerians' into Ionia was before the time of Croesus ; but their sole object \vas plunder, and none of the cities were molested. VII. The family of Croesus were named the Merm- nadte ; and it may be proper to relate by Avhat means the empire descended to them from the Heraclidie. Candaules, whom the Greeks call Myrsilus, Avas king of Sardis, and of the family of Alcseus the son of Her- cules.^ The first of the Heraclid^ was Agron,^ who reigned also at Sardis : he Avas the son of Niuus, the grandson of Belus, the great-grandson of Alceeus. Candaules, the son of Myrsus, was the last of tliis race. The people of this district were in ancient times called Mteonians ; they Avere afterwards named Ly- dians, from Lydus, the son of Atys. From him, be- fore the time of Agron, the princes of the country de- 1 Straho dates this incursion of the Cimmerians about the time of Homer, or somewhat before. Wesseling thinks, and with reason, the authority of the geographer of less weight than that of our historian, who supposes it to have been in the reign of Ardyis. See chap, χ v. of this book ; and chap. xii. of book iv. For my own part, I am of opinion that the two authors speak of two distinct incursions. Hero- dotus refers to the last. At the time of the first there were no Greek cities in Asia INIinor ; and it was liis intention to intimate that the last had no operation injurious to the liberties of Greece. — Larcher. 2 Concerning the name of the son of Hercules by the female slave of Jardanus, Diodorus Siculus and our historian are at variance. Herodotus calls liim AIckus, Diodorus says bis name was Cleolaus. But it is by no means surprising that in matters of such remote antiquity writers sliould dis- agree. Apollodorus contradicts both Herodotus and Diodo-^ rus, and makes Croesus not one of the Mermnadae, but one of the HeraclidcC, born of Agelaus, son of Hercules by Omphale. Diodorus calls the son of Hercules by Omphale Lacon. I presume not to decide in this controversy, but with me the authority of Herodotus has the greatest weight. — Palmer'ius. S Thus the best manuscripts spell this name. Julius Pollux says that Ninus, son of Belus, called his son Agron because he was born in the country. — Larcher. ΒσΟΚ I.^CLIO. Ό rived their ori^n. The Heraclida?, descended from Hercules and a female slave of Jardaniis,' enjoyed a delegated authority from these princes, and afterwards obtained the supreme dignity from the declaration of an oracle. They retained their power in regular and uninterrupted succession, from father to son, to the time of Candaules, a period equal to twenty-two ages of man,^ being no less than five hundred and five years. VIII. Candaules^ was attached to his wife beyond the common limits of affection, and conceived, in the ardor of his passion, that her beauty was beyond all 1 In contradiction botb to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, Palitphatus de Incredibilibus writes Jordanus. — T. 2 For twenty-two, Larcher reads fifteen ages. — That it ought to be so we are ready enough to believe, and bis argu- ments on the subject are clear, ingenious, and convincing ; but having no authority for this reading in any edition which we have had the opportunity of consulting, it was thought proper literally to tianslate the text. — T. 3 The story of Rosamond, queen of the Lombards, as recited by jMr. Gibbon, bears so exact a resemblance to this of Candaules, that we are unable to forego the pleasure of transcribing it. — * The queen of Italy stooped from her throne to the arms of a subject ; and Helmichis, the king's armor- bearer, was the secret minister of her pleasure and revenge. Against the proposal of the murder he could no longer urge the scruples of fidelity or gratitude ; but Helmichis trembled Λvhen he revolved the danger, as well as the guilt. He pressed, and obtained, that one of the bravest champions of the Lom- bards should be associated to the enterprise ; but no more than a promise of secrecy could be drawn from the gallant Perideus. The mode of seduction employed by Rosamond betrays her shameless insensibility both to honor and to love. She supplied the place of one of her female attendants who was beloved by Perideus, and contriA-ed some excuse for darkness and silence, till she could inform her companion that he had lived with the queen of the Lombards, and that his own death, or the death of the king must be the consequence of such treasonable adultery. In this alternative he chose rather to be the accomplice than the victim of Rosamond, whose undaunted spirit was incapable of fear or remorse.' — Gibbon. 10 HERODOTUS. competition. Among those Λνΐιο attended near his person, Gyges, the son of Dascylus, had rendered him essential service, and Avas honored by his particular confidence. To him he frequently extolled the beauty of his wife in exaggerated terms. Under the influence of a most fatal delusion, he took an opportunity of thus addressing him : ' Gyges, I am satisfied that we receive less conviction from what Λve hear than from what Ave see,' and as you' do not seem to credit all I tell you of my wife's personal accomplishments, I am determined that you shall see her naked. ^ ' Suffer 1 Dionysius Halicarnassensis remarks on this passage, that Herodotus here introducing a barbarian to notice, makes use of a figurative expression peculiarly appropriate to bar- barians ; substituting the ears and the eyes for the discourse and the sight of objects. Segnius irritant animos demissa per atirem Quam quai sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. Hor. Ars Poet. 180. Polybius coincides in part with our historian, when he ad- vances, that nature having provided us with two instruments, if they may be so termed, of the senses, hearing and sight, the latter, according to Heraclitus, is the most certain, the eyes being more decisive evidences than the ears. This is in many respects true ; but Theophrastus has sagaciously re- marked, according to Plutarch, that of all the senses the ear is that by which the passions may be the most easily excited. — Larclier. Our veneration for the ancients, however, must not prevent us from perceiving that both the above remarks want solidity. The truth is, that we do not more implicitly believe our eyes than our ears, or the contrary, except in those cases which respectively demand the testimony of either organs. It should be remembered that Avhen any thing is related to us our ears give no kind of testimony concerning tlie fact ; they inform us only that such words are spoken to us : after which, if what is related be an object of sight, Ave Avish to appeal to our eyes for proof; if an object of hearing, to our ears ; if of taste, smell, or touch, to tlie organs formed for such decision : and this is the sole ground of preference in any case. The remark of Horace rests on a different foundation, and is very just.— Ϊ'. BOOK I. — CLIO. 11 me/ replied Gyges, ' to remonstrate against "the im- prudence of your proposal. Remember, sir, that Λν ith her clothes a woman puts off her modesty.' Many are the precepts recorded by the sages for our instruction, but there is none more intitled to our regard than that * it becomes a man to look into those things only which concern himself.' I give implicit confidence to your assertions ; I am willing to believe my mistress the most beautiful of her sex ; but I beg you not to repeat a request with which it Avill be criminal to complj^' IX. Gyges, from apprehension of the event, would have persevered in his refusal ; but the king could not be dissuaded from his purpose. ' Gyges,' he re- sumed, ' you have nothing to fear from me or from your mistress ; I do not Λvant to make experiment of your fidelity, and I shall render it impossible for the queen to detect you. I myself will place you behind an open door of the apartment in which we sleep. As soon as I enter my Avife Avill make her appearance : it is her custom to undress herself at leisure, and to place her garments one by one in a chair near the entrance. You will have the fairest opportunity of contemplating her person. As soon as she approaches the bed, and her face is turned from you, you must be careful to leave the room without being discovered.' 1 We can by no means, says Plutarch, in his Conjugal Precepts, allow this saying of Herodotus to be true : for surely, at this time, a modest woman is most effectually veiled by bashfulness, when tlie purest but most diffident afiection proves, in the privacy of matrimonial retirement, the surest testimony of reciprocal love. — T. Timajus in Athenaeus affirms that the Tyrrhenians accus- tomed themselves to be waited on by naked women : and Theopompus, in the same author, adds, that in the above- mentioned nation it was by no means disgraceful for women to appear naked amongst men. — Lurcher. 12 ' HERODOTUS. X. Gygei^'tiad no alternative but compliance. At the time of retiring to rest he accompanied Candaules to his chamber, and the queen soon afterwards ap- peared. He saw her enter, and gradually disrohe herself. She approached the bed ; and Gyges endea- vored to retire, but the queen saw and knew him. She instantly conceived her husband to be the cause of her disgrace, and determined on revenge. She had the presence of mind to restrain the emotions of her wounded delicacy, and to seem intirely ignorant of what had happened ; although, among all the barba- rian nations,* and among the Lydians in particular, for a man to be seen naked even is deemed a matter of the greatest turpitude. XI. The queen persevered in the strictest silence ; and, having instructed some confidential servants for the occasion, she sent in the morning for Gyges. He,. not at all suspicious of the event, complied instantly with the message, as he was accustomed to do at other times, and appeared before his mistress.^ As soon as 1 Plato informs us that the Greeks had not long considered it as a thing equally disgraceful and ridiculous for a man to be seen naked ; an opinion, says he, Avhich still exists amongst the greater part of the barbarians. — Lurcher. To the above remark of Larcher may be added, that ac- cording to Plutarch, it was amongst the institutes of Ly- curgus, that the young women of Sparta should dance naked at their solemn feasts and sacrifices ; at which time also they were accustomed to sing certain songs, whilst the young men stood in a circle about them to see and hear them. — T. 2 The wife of Candaules, whose name Herodotus forbears to mention, was, according to Ilephaistion, called Ts'yssia. Authors are divided in their account of this (Jyges, and of tlie manner in which he slew Caiuiaules. Plato makes him a shepherd in the service of the Lydian king, who was pos- sessed of a ring which he found on the finger of a dead man inclosed within a horse of bronze. The shepherd, learning tiie property which this ring had to render him invisible when the seal was turned to the inside of his hand, got him- BOOK I. — CLIO. 13 he came into lier presence, she thus addressed him : * Gyges, I submit two proposals to your choice ; you must either destroy Candaules, and take possession of rae and of the kingdom, or expect immediate death. Your unqualified obedience to your master may prompt you to be once again a spectator of what modesty for- bids : the king has been the author of my disgrace ; you also, in seeing me naked, have violated decorum ; and it is necessary that one of you should die.' Gyges, after he had somewhat recovered from his astonishment, im- plored her not to compel him to so delicate and diffi- cult an alternative. But when he found that all ex- postulations were in vain, and that he must either put Candaules to death or die himself, he chose rather to be the survivor. ' Since my master must perish,^ he replied, ' and, notwithstanding my reluctance, by my hands, by what means can your purpose be accom- plished V ' The deed,' she answered, ' shall be per- petrated in that very place which Λvas the scene of my disgrace. You shall kill my husband in his sleep.' XII.' Their measures Λvere accordingly concerted : Gyges had no opportunity of escape, nor of evading the alternative before proposed. At the approach of night the queen conducted him to her chamber, and placed him behind the same door, with a dagger in his self deputed to the court by his fellows, where he seduced the queen, and assassinated Candaules. Xenophon says be was a slave ; but this is not inconsistent with the account of Plato, were it in other respects admissible. Plutarch pre- tends that Gyges took up arms against Candaules, assisted by the Milesians. The opinion of Herodotus seems pre- ferable to the rest : born in a city contiguous to Lydia, no person cou.d be better qualified to represent what relates to that kingdom. — Lurcher. 1 On the event recorded in this chapter the first book of Clio has tliis curious remark in the margin : * The Divil in old tyme a disposer of kingdomes, and since the Pope.'— Γ. 14 HERODOTUS. hand. Candaules was murdered in his sleep, and Gyges took immediate possession of his wife and of the empire. Of the above eΛ^ent, Archilochus ^ of Paros, who lived about the same period, has made mention in some Iambic verses. XIII. A declaration of the Delphic oracle confirmed Gyges in his possession of the sovereignty. The Ly- dians resented the fate of Candaules, and had recourse to arms. A stipulation was at length made betwixt the different parties, that if the oracle decided in favor of Gyges he should continue on the throne ; if other- wise, it should revert to the Heraclidie. Although Gyges retained the supreme authority the words of the oracle expressly intimated that the Heraclidae should be avenged in the person of the fifth de- scendant of Gyges. To this prediction, until it was ultimately accomplished, neither princes nor people paid the smallest attention. Thus did the Mermnadas 1 As without these concluding lines the sense would be complete, many have suspected them to have been inserted by some copyist. Scaliger has reasoned on them, as if Hero- dotus meant to intimate, tliat because Archiloclius makes men- tion of Gyges in his verses, he must have lived at the same period ; but this by no means follows. Of Archiloclius, Quintilian remarks that he was one of the first wi-iters of Iambics ; that his verses were remarkable for their ingenuity, their elegant style, and nervous sentiment. Book X. chap. i. — He is also honorably mentioned by Horace, who confesses that he imitates him. See 19th Epistle, book I. Ovid, if the Ibis be liis, speaks too of the Parian poet. Cicero, in liis Tusculan Questions, says tliat he lived in the time of Pvomulus. His compositions were so extremely licentious, that the Lacedaemonians ordered tliem to be re- moved from their city, and Archilochus himself to be ba- nished. He was afterwards killed in some military ex- cursion, by a person of the name of Coracus. Whoever wishes to have a more particular account of Archilochus may consult Lilius Gyraldus de Poetar, llistor, dialog, ix. chap. 14, BOOK I. — CLIO. 15 obtain the empire, to the injurious exclusion of the Heraclida?. XrV. Gyges, as soon as he was established in his authority, sent various presents to Delphi,* a con- siderable quantity of which were of silver. Among other marks of his liberality, six golden goblets,^ which Aveighed no less than thirty talents, deserve particular attention. These now stand in the treasury of Corinth ; though, in strict truth, that treasure Λvas not given by the people of Corinth, but by Cypselus the son of Eetion.^ This Gyges was the first of the barbarians whose history we know, who made votive 1 Amongst the subjects of literary controvei'sy betwixt Boyle and Bentley , this was one : Boyle defended Delphos, principally from its being the common usage ; Bentley rejects Delphos as a barbarism, it being merely the accusative case of Delphi. He tells a story of a popish priest, who for thirty years had read mumpsimus in his breviary, instead of sumpsimus ; aad when a learned man told him of his blunder, replied, ' I will not change my old mumpsimus for your new sumpsimus.' From a similar mistake in the old editions of the Bible in Henry the Eighth's time, it was printed Asson and ]\Iileton ; under Queen Elizabeth, it was changed into Asson and Miletum ; but in the reign of James the First it was rectified to Assos and Miletus. — Γ. — See Bentley on Pha- laris. 2 In the time of Herodotus, the proportion of silver to gold was as one to thirteen : these six goblets therefore were equivalent to 2,106,000 livres. The calculations of Hero- dotus differ in some respects from those of Diodorus Siculus. — Voyage de Jeune Aiiacharsis. Alyattes and Croesus obtained their wealth from some mines in Lydia situated between Acarna and Pergamos. The riches of Gyges were proverbial, and were mentioned in the verses of Archilochus : those of Croesus eflfectually sur- passed them. Divitis audita est cui non opulentia Croesi. — Ovid. Lurcher. 3 In the temple at Delphi were certain different apart- ments or chapels, belonging to different cities, princes, or opulent individuals. The offerings which these respectively made to the deity were here deposited. — Lurcher. 1€ HERODOTUS. offerings to the oracle, after Midas the son of Gor- dius/ king of Phrygia. Midas consecrated to this purpose his own royal tlirone, a most beautiful speci- men of art, from Avhich he himself was accustomed to administer justice. This was deposited in the same place with the goblets of Gyges, to whose oiTerings of gold and silver the Delphians assigned the name of the donor. Gyges, as soon as he succeeded to the throne, carried his arms against Miletus and Smyrna, and took the city Colophon. Although he reigned thirty-eight years, he performed no other remarkable exploit : we shall proceed tlierefore to speak of his son and successor, Ardys. XV. This prince vanquished the Prienians, and attacked Miletus. During his reign the Cimmerians, being expelled their country by the Nomades of Scy- thia, passed over into Asia, and possessed themselves of all Sardis, except the citadel. XVI. After reigning forty-nine years, he was suc- ceeded by his son Sadyattes, who reigned twelve years. After him, his son Alyattes possessed the throne. He carried on war against Cyaxares,^ the grandson of Deioces, drove the Cimmerians out of Asia, took Smyrna, which Colophon ^ had built, and 1 There were in Phrygia a number of princes called after these names, as is sufficiently proved by Bouhier. — Lurcher. 2 This is perfectly consistent. Phraortes, the father of Cy- axares, reigned in Media at tlie same time that Ardys, grand- father of Alyattes, sat on the throne of Sardis.— /.«ίτΛίτ. 3 Gyges had taken Colophon, about which time doubtless a colony deserted it, and settled at Smyrna. Κτιξω, as VVea- seling properly observes, is continually used for,. to send out a colony. In chap. xl. it is said that some Colophonians, banished for sedition, liad settled at Smyrna. If he alludes to the same emigrants, their sedition Avas probably against Gyges, after his conquest; but these could hardly be nu- merous or respectable enough to deserve the name of a colony. — T, BOOK I. — CLIO. 17 invaded Clazomenae. In Ids designs on this place he was disappointed ; but he performed in the course of his reign many very memorable actions. XVII. He resumed against the Milesians the war Avhich his father had commenced ; and he conducted it in this manner: — As the time of harvest approached, he marched an army into their country, to the sound of the pastoral pipe, harp, and flutes masculine and feminine.^ On his arrival in their territories he nei- ther burned, nor in any respect injured their edifices which stood in the fields ; but he totally destroyed the produce of their lands, and then returned. As the Milesians were securely situated near the sea, all attack on their city would probably have proved iu- eiFectual. His motive for not destroying their build- ings was, that they might be induced again to cultivate their lands, and that on every repetition of his incur- sions he might be secure of plunder. XVIII. In this manner λ\^8 the war protracted during a period of eleven years ; in Avhicli time the Milesians received two remarkable defeats ; one in a pitched battle at Limeneium, within their own terri- tories, another on the plains of Meander. Six of these eleven years Sadyattes, the son of Ardys, reigned over the Lydians : he commenced the Milesian war, which his son Alyattes afterwards continued with in- crease of ardor. The Milesians in this contest re- ceived no assistance from any of their neighbors, except from Chios. The inhabitants of Chios offered their support, in return for the aid which they had 1 Aulus Gellius says that Alyattes had in his army female players on the liute. Larcber is of opinion that Herodotus alludes only to the different kinds of flutes mentioned in Terence, or perhaps to the Lydian and Phrygian flutes, the sound of one of which was grave, of the other acute. — T. HER. VOL. I. Β 18 HERODOTUS.• formerly received from the Milesians in a war with the Erythraeans. XIX. In the twelfth year of the Avar the following event happened, in consequence of the corn being set on fire by the enemy's army. A sndden wind directed the progress of the flames against the temple of the Assesian Minerva/ and intirely consumed it. It was not at first considered as a matter of any importance ; but after the return of the army to Sardis Alyattes Avas seized with a severe and lingering disease. From the impulse of his OAvn mind, or from the persuasion of his friends, he sent to make inquiries of the oracle concerning his recovery. On the arrival of his mes- sengers they were informed that till the temple of the Assesian Minerva, which they had consumed by fire should be restored, no answer would be given them. XX. Of this circumstance I myself Avas informed at Delphi : but the Milesians add more. They inform us that Periander, the son of Cypselus, Avhen he heard the answer given to Alyattes, despatched an emissary to Thrasybulus, king of Miletus, with whom he Avas intimately connected, desiring him to pay suitable attention to the present emergence. This is the Mile- sian narrative. XXI. Alyattes, on the return of his messengers, despatched an herald to Miletus, whose commission 1 Assesos was a small town dependent on Miletus. Mi- nerva here had a temple, and hence took the name of the Assesian Minerva. This deity was then called the Minerva of Assesos, as we say, at the present day, the Virgin of Lo- retto. — Ijorclter. The Virgin in the Romish church certainly resembles in all respects a heathen tulelary divinity, and affords one of tliose instances of similarity hetv\'een one worship and the other so well illustrated in Middleton's celebrated Letter from Rome. — T. BOOK I. — CLIO. 19 was to make a truce with Thras\ bulus for such time as might be re quired to repair the temple. Thrasy- bulus, in consequence of the intimation he had re- ceived, Λ\ as aware of the intentions of Alyattes, and conducted himself in this manner : all the corn which was found, or could be procured at Miletus, was, by his direction, collected in the most public place of the city ; he then ordered the Milesians, at an appointed period, to commence a scene of feasting and convivial mirth.' XXII. Thrasybulus intended the Sardian ambassa- dor should inform his master of the scene of festivity, and of the abundance of provisions he had beheld. He was not disappointed : tJie herald Avitnessed the above- mentioned spectacle, delivered his message, and re- turned to Sardis. This, as I have been informed, was the sole occasion of the peace which ensued. Alyattes had imagined that the Milesians suifered exceedingly from the scarcity of corn, and were re- duced to extreme distress. The return of his mes- senger convinced him he had been mistaken. A strict alliance was immediately formed betwixt the tvvo na- tions : instead of one, Alyattes erected two temples to Minerva, and vvas soon afterwards restored to health. The above is a faithful account of the war betwixt Alyattes and the ^lilesians. XXIII. Periander, the son of Cypselus, vvho com- municated to Thrasybulus the reply of the oracle, was king of Corinth. A most Avonderful incident is said by the Corinthians to have happened in his time, and the story is confirmed by the Lesbians. It is asserted that Arion the Methymnaean was carried to Tajnarus 1 Many stratagems of a similar natirre with this of Thrasy- bulus may be found in the Stratagemeta of Polyaenus| a book not so well known as it merits.— Γ. " ■■■■Λ,^ΐι^ι^ 20 HERODOTUS. on the back of a dolphin. 'He excelled* all his con- temporaries in his exquisite performance on the harp ; and Ave have reason to suppose he was the first who invented, named, and taught at Corinth the dithyram- bic measure.^ XXIV. After residing for a considerable time at the court of Periander he was desirous of visiting Italy and Sicily. Acquiring there considerable wealth, he Avished to return with it to Corinth : with this view he embarked at Tarentum in a Corinthian vessel, pre- ferring the mariners of that nation. As soon as they stood out to sea the sailors determined to destroy Arion for the sake of his riches. He discerned their intentions, and offered them his money to preserve his life. The men were obdurate, and insisted that he should either kill himself, that they might bury him on shore, or leap instantly into the sea. Reduced to this extremity, he entreated, that if they would not spare his life, they would at least suffer him to decorate himself in his most valuable clothes, and to give them a specimen of his art ia singing ; promising that as soon as he had finished he would destroy himself. They were anxious to hear a man reputed the greatest performer in the world, and, in compliance with his request, retired from him to the centre of their vessel. He accordingly dressed himself sumptuously, and, <» 1 Arion it seems was a citharaidus, which differed from the citbaristes in this : the former accompanied his instru- ment with his voice, the latter did not. 2 This Avas a kind of verse or hymn in lionor of Bacchus, or in praise of drinking : itwas a rude and perplexed composition, replete with figurative and obscure expressions. — Bellanger. Clemens of Alexandria affirms that the inventor of the dithyrambic was Lassus or Lasus of llenuione. Tt should seem however from Pindar and his sclioliust that this species of poetry is so very ancient that its original inventor cannot be ascertained.— Larc/ier» BOOK I. — CLIO. 21 standing on the side of the ship with his harp in his hand, he sang to them a species of song• termed Or- thian.' As soon as he had finished he threw himself dressed as he Avas into the sea. The mariners pursued their course to Corinth ; but he, it is affirmed,^ was taken up by a dolphin and carried to Tienarus. As soon as he got on shore he went, without changing his dress, to Corinth, and on his arrival told what had befallen him. Periander disbelieved his story ; and, keeping him in close custody, endeavored to find out the crew. As soon as he had met with them he in- quired if they could give him any intelligence of Arion ; they replied, that his excursion to Italy had been successful, and that they had left him well at Tarentum. Arion then appeared, dressed as they had seen him leap into the sea : overcome with terror at the circumstance, they confessed their crime. This event is related both by the Corinthians and the Les- bians ; and there remains at Tienarus a small figure in brass of a man seated on a dolphin's back, the votive oifering of Arion himself. 1 The Ortliian hymn was an air performed either on a flute or cithara, in an elevated key and quick time. It was there- fore peculiarly adapted to animate combatants. See Aulus Gellius. By this species of song Timotheus so inflamed the ardor of Alexander that he instantly leaped up and called for his arms. See Eustathius. See also Uryden's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. INlaximus Tyrius says that to excite military ardor the Orthian song was peculiarly adapted, as that called Parsenion was for social and convivial occasions. See also lUomer, book xi. .i: Thence the black fury through the Grecian throng With horror sounds the loud Orthian song. — T. ?•, 2 Λ^oltaiΓe abuses Herodotus for telling this story, as con- ^aidering it true ; but surely without reason, as he by no fiaeans vouches for its truth. Gibbon however calls the story-telling tone of Herodotus half sceptical and half superstitious. — T, 22 HERODOTUS. ΧΧΛ^. When he had put an end to the Milesian war, and after a reign of fifty-seven years, Alyattes died. He was the second of his family who made an offering at Delphi, which he did in consequence of his recovery from illness. He presented a large silver gohlet, with a saucer of iron,^ curiously inlaid : it was of surprising workmanship, and as worthy of observation as any of the things preserved at Delphi. The name of the maker was Glaucus, an inhabitant of Chios, and the inventor of this art of inlaying iron. XXVI. On the death of his father, Croesus suc- ceeded to the throne : he began to reign at the age of thirty-five, and he immediately commenced hostilities with the Ephesians. Whilst he besieged Ephesus^ with an army, the inhabitants made a solemn dedica- tion of their city to Minerva, connecting by some liga- ture^ their wall to the temple of the goddess. This temple is at a distance of about seven stadia from the old town. Soon afterwards he attacked every state, both of the lonians and the ^olians : the motives which he assigned were various, important in some instances, but, when such could not be found, frivolous pretexts sufficed. XXVII. Not satisfied with compelling the Asiatic Greeks to render him tribute, he determined on build- 1 This basin is mentioned in Pausanias, book x. ; where also Glauciis is spoken of as the original inventor of the art. Λ farther account of Glaucus may be found in Junius de Pictura Veterum. — T. 2 The prince of Ephesus, at tliis time, was Pindar the nephew of Croesus : the story is told at length by ^lian, book iii. chap. 26.— T. 3 The object of the ancients, by thus consecrating their towns, was to detain the deities by a kind of force, and pre- vent their departure. It was believed that when a city was on the point of being taken the deities abandoned it.— X-ar- ther. BOOK 1. — CLIO. 23 ing a fleet to attack those who lived in the islands. From this purpose, although he had made great pre- parations, he was deterred by the memorable reply of Bias' of Priene, who was at that time in Sardis ; or, as others say, of Pittacus- of Mitylene. Of this person the king was inquiring whether there was any intelli- gence from Greece : ' The islanders, sir,' he replied, '. are about to form a body of ten thousand horse, with the intention of attacking you at Sardis.' The king, supposing him serious, said, that nothing would be more agreeable to him than to see the islanders invad- ing the continent of Lydia with cavalry. The other thus interrupted him : ' Your wish to see the inha- bitants of the islands pursue such measures is cer- tainly reasonable ; but do you not imagine that the circumstance of your building a fleet to attack the islanders must give them equal satisfaction? They can ^\ash for no better opportunity of revenging the cause of these Greeks on the continent, reduced by you to servitude, than by meeting the Lydians on the ocean.' The wisdom of the remark was a(;ceptable to 1 Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, and A^alerius Maximus, severally give an account of Bias. He was one of the seven wise men of Greece. Some fishermen found a golden tripod, on which was inscribed, * To the wisest :' it was given to Bias, who sent it to Delphi. When his vanquished country- men fled before the enemy each took with him the most valuable part of his property. Bias took nothing : on being asked why, ' I always carry,' he replied, ' my most valuable things with me,' meaning his learning and abilities. — T. 2 Pittacus of -Mitylene was another of the seven wise men. His life is written by Diogenes Laertius. In a war betwixt the Athenians and the people of JMitylene he challenged the enemy's general to single combat, and with a net which he secretly brought he entangled and easily conquered his adversary. From this circumstance the contest of the retiarii and mirmillones are said first to have arisen. His most memorable saying was — ' Endeavor to prevent calamity : if it happen^ bear it with equanimity.* — T, 34 HERODOTUS. Croesus: he not only declined all thoughts of con- structing a fleet, but entered into an amicable alliance with the lonians of the islands. ΧΧΛ^ΙΙΙ. He afterΛvards progressively subdued almost all the nations which are situate on this side the river Halys. The Cilicians and the Lycians alone were not brought under his yoke ; but he totally van- quished the Lydians, Phrygians, Mysians, Marian- dynians, Chalybians, Paphlagonians, Thracians, Thy- nians, Bithynians, Carians, lonians, Dorians, ^olians. and Pamphylians. XXIX. After Croesus had obtained all these vic- tories, and extended the power of the Lydians, Sardis became the resort of the great and the affluent, as Avell as of such as were celebrated in Greece for their talents and their wisdom. Among these was Solon 'J at the request of the Athenians he had formed a code of laws for their use. He had then engaged in a course of travels, Avhich was to be of ten years' con- tinuance : his avowed purpose was of a philosophical nature ; but his real object was to avoid the necessity of abrogating the laws he had enacted. The Athenians were of themselves unable to do this, having bound themselves by the most solemn oaths to preserve in- violate for ten years the institutions of Solon. XXX. During his absence Solon had visited Amasis in ^gypt, and came now to Croesus- at Sardis. He 1 To give a particular accoTint of Solon n-ould exceed our limits. He was one of the seven \vise men of Greece, born at Salamis ; and according to Aulus Gellius ilorished at Athens when Tarquinius Priscus reigned at liome. Jle was a wise, but severe legislator, rescuing his countrymen from superstition, ignorance, and vice. His life is given at length by Plutarch.— 2'. 2 It is doubted by some authors whether the interview which is here described ever took place. The sagacious BOOK I. — CLIO. 25 was received on his arrival with the kindest hospi- tality, and entertained in the palace of Croesus. In a few days the king directed his servants to attend Solon to the diiferent repositories of his Avealth, and to show him their splendid and valuable contents. When he had observed them all, Croesus thus ad- dressed him : — ' My Athenian guest, the voice of fame speaks loudly of your Avisdom. I have heard much of your travels ; that you have been led, by a truly philosophic spirit, to visit a considerable portion of the globe. I am hence induced to inquire of you what man, of all you have beheld, has seemed to you most truly happy V The expectation of being himself esteemed the happiest of mankind prompted his in- quiry. Solon proved by his reply his attachment to truth and abhorrence of flattery. ' I think,' said he, ' Ο king ! that Tellus the Athenian best deserved the appellation of happy.' Croesus Λvas astonished. ' On what,' he asked, ' were the claims of Tellus to this distinction founded V * Because,' answered Solon, ' under the protection of a most excellent form of government, Tellus had many virtuous and amiable children ; he saw their offspring, and they all survived reply of Solon to Croesus has been introduced in a variety of compositions ancient and modern. See Juvenal, Sat. x. verse S73. See Ausonius also, and Ovid. The dying speech of Julian, as given by Mr. Gibbon, from Libanius, (vol. iv. p. 200, octavo edition) contains many sentiments similar to these of Solon. ' I have learned,' says Julian, ' from reli- gion, that an early death has often been the reward of piety.' On which, after commending this story of Cleobis and Bito, in Herodotus, our English historian adds, ' Yet the Jupiter (in the 16th Book of the Iliad) who laments with tears of blood the death of Sarpedon his son, had a very imperfect notion of happiness or glory beyond the graA'e.' Pausanias relates that the history is represented in a marble monument at Argos.— Γ. < ^. i.^. ^ HERODOTUS. him : at the close of a prosperous life we celebrated his funeral with every circumstance of honor. In a contest with some of their neighbors at Eleusis he flew to the assistance of his countrymen : he contri- buted to the defeat of the enemy, and met death in the field of glory. The Athenians publicly buried him in the place where he fell ; and his funeral pomp was magnificently attended.' XXXI. Solon Avas continuing to make respectful mention of Tellus when Croesus anxiously interrupted him, and desired to know whom, next to Tellus, he esteemed most happy ; not doubting but the answer would now be favorable to himself. * Cleobis and Bito,' replied Solon: 'they were Argives by birth, fortunate in their circumstancea, and so remarkable for their bodily prowess, that they had both of them been croAvned as conquerors in their public games. It is farther related of them that on a certain festival of Juno their mother was to have been carried to the temple in a chariot draΛvn by oxen. The beasts Avere not ready for the purpose ; but the young men in- stantly took the yokes on themselves and drew their mother in the carriage to the temple, through a space of forty-five furlongs. Having performed this in the presence of innumerable spectators, they terminated their lives in a manner which was singularly fortunate. In this event the deity made it appear that death is a greater blessing to mankind than life. The surround- ing multitude proclaimed their praise : the men com- mended their prowess : the women envied their mo- ther ; Avho was delighted with the deed itself, and the glory which attended it. Standing before the shrine, she implored the divinity, in Avhose honor her sons' exertions had been made, to grant them the greatest blessing man could receive. After her prayers, and BOOK I.— CLIO. 27 when the succeeding sacrifice and festival Avere ended, the young men retired to rest within the temple ; but they rose no more. The Argives have preserved at Delphi the figures of Cleobis and Bito, as of men deserving superior distinction.' This, according to Solon's estimate, was happiness in the second de- gree. XXXII. Croesus was still dissatisfied : * Man of Athens !' he resumed, ' think you so meanly of my prosperity, as to place me even beneath men of private and obscure condition V ' Crcesus,' he replied, ' you inquire of me my sentiments of human nature : of me, who consider the divine beings as viewing us men with invidious and malignant aspects.* In the space of a protracted life, how many things occur Avhich we see with reluctance and support with anguish ! I will suppose the term of human life to extend to seventy years : this period, if Λνβ except the intercalatory months, will amount to twenty-five thousand tAvo hun- dred days : to make our computation regular and exact, suppose we add this month to each alternate year, we shall then have thirty-five additional months, or one thousand two hundred and fifty days. The Λvhole seventy years will therefore consist of twenty-six thousand two hundred and fifty days ; yet of this number will every day be productive of some new incident. Thus, Croesus, does our nature appear a continued series of calamity. I see you as the sove- reign of many nations, and possessed of extraordinary affluence and power. But I shall not be able to give a satisfactory answer to the question you propose till I 1 This is one of the passages in which the malignity of ^..Herodotus, according to Plutarch, is most conspicuous. , Thus, says Plutarch, attributing to Solon what he himself *^ thinks of the gods, he adds malice to blasphemy. — Γ, ^iu 28 HERODOTUS. know that your scene of life shall have closed with tranquillitjr. The man of aiflnence is not, in fact, more happy than the possessor of a bare sufficiency ; unless, in addition to his Λvealth, his end of life be fortunate.• We often discern misery in the midst of splendid plenty, whilst real happiness is found in humbler sta- tions. The rich man, who knows not happiness, sur- passes but in two things the humbler but more fortu- nate character with which we compare him. Yet there are a variety of incidents in which the latter excels the former. The rich man can gratify his passions, and has little to apprehend from accidental injuries. The poor man's condition exempts him intirely from these sources of affliction. He moreover possesses strength and health : a stranger to misfortune, he is blessed in his children and amiable in himself. If at the end of such a life his death be fortunate, this, Ο king ! is the truly happy man, the object of your curious inquiry. Call no man happy till you know the nature of his death : he is at best but fortunate. All these requisites for happiness it is in no man's power to obtain, for no one region can supply them ; it alFords perhaps the enjoyment of some, but it is remarkable for the absence of others. That which yields the more numerous sources of gratification is so. far the best : such also is the imperfection of man, excellent in some respects, weak and defective in others. He who possesses the most advantages, and afterwards leaves the world with composure, he alone, Ο Croesus ! is intitled to our ad^ miration. It is the part of wisdom to look to the event of things ; for the Deity often overwhelms with misery 1 This sentence of Solon is paraphrased by Sophocles ift his GEdipus Tyranmis. It was indeed a very favorite senti- ment with the Greeks in general. — Larcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 29 those who have formerly been placed at the summit of felicity.' XXXIII. To these words of Solon Croesus refused both his esteem and praise, and he after\vards dis- missed the philosopher Avith indifference.^ The senti- ment which prompts us not to be elated with temporary bliss, but to look beyond the present moment, appeared to Crojsus neither wise nor just. XXXIV. Solon was no sooner departed than, as if to punish Croesus for his arrogance, in esteeming him- self the happiest of mankind, a \vonderful event befell him, Avhich seemed a visitation from heaven. He saw in his sleep a vision, menacing the calamity Avhich afterwards deprived him of his son. Croesus had two sons : the one marked by natural defect, being dumb : the other, whose name was Atys, was distinguished by his superior accomplishments. The intimation of the vision which Croesus saw was, that this Atys should .die by the point of an iron spear. Roused and terri- fied by this dream, he revolved the matter seriously in his mind. His first step was to settle his son in marriage : he then took from him the command of the Lydian troops whom he before conducted in their war- like expeditions : the spears and darts, with every other kind of hostile weapon, he removed in a heap to 1 At this period the celebrated ^sop was also at the court of Croesus, and much respected. He was afflicted with the disgrace of Solon ; and. conversing with him as a friend — ' You see, Solon,' said he, ' that we must either not come nigh kings, or we must entertain them with things agreeable to them.' * That is not the point,' replied Solon ; ' you should either say nothing to them, or tell them ΛvL•at is use- ful.' — ' I must confess,' says Bayle, after relating the above, ' that this caution of ^Έβορ argues a man well acquainted with the court and great men ; but Solon's answer is the true lesson of divines, who direct the consciences of princes.' — Γ. 30 HERODOTUS. the female apartments, that his son might not suffer injury from the fall of them. XXXV. Whilst the nuptials of this son employed his attention an unfortunate homicide arrived at Sar- dis, a Phrygian by nation, and of the royal family. He presented himself at the palace of Croesus, from whom he required and received expiation' with the usual ceremonies. The Lydian mode of expiation nearly resembles that in use among the Greeks. When Crccsus had performed what custom exacted he in- quired who and whence he was : ' From what part,' said he, * of Phrygia do you come ? why are you a suppliant to me ? what man or woman have you slain V ' Ο king!' replied the stranger, ' I am the son of Gor- dius, who was the son of Midas. My name is Adras- tus :- umvillingly I have killed my brother, for which I am banished by my father, and rendered intirely destitute.' ' You come,' replied Croesus, ' of a family 1 It was the office of the priests to expiate for crimes committed either from accident or design, and they were therefore called kathartai, purifiers : hut it should appear from the ahove, and other similar incidents, that kings an- ciently exercised the functions of the priesthood. — T. 2 There is a passage in Photius relative to this Adrastus, which two learned men, Palmerius and Larcher, have under- stood and applied very difterently. The passage is this : Photius, in his Bihliotheca, giving an account of the histo- rical work of Ptolemaius son of Hepha?stioji, says thus : ' He also relates that the name of the person who, in the first book of Herodotus, is said to have been killed by Adrastus son of Gordius, was Agathon, and that it was in consequence of some dispute about a quail.' The above, and as it should seem with greater probability, Palmerius applies to the brother of Adrastus ; Larcher un- derstands it of tlie son of Cncsus. With respect to the quail, some of our readers may probably tliank us for informing them that the ancients had their quail as the moderns have their cock-fights. — T. BOOK 1. — CLIO. 31 Avhom I esteem my friends. My protection shall, in return, be extended to you. You shall reside in my palace, and be provided with every necessary. You will do well not to suffer your misfortune to distress you too much.' Croesus then received him into his family. XXXVI. There appeared about this time, near Olympus in Mysia, a wild boar * of an extraordinary size, >vhich, issuing from the mountain, did great in- jury to the Mysians. They had frequently attacked it ; but their attempts to destroy it, so far from proving successful, had been attended with loss to themselves. In the extremity therefore of their dis- tress they sent to Croesus a message of the folloAving import : ' There has appeared among us, Ο king ! a wild boar of a most extraordinary size, injuring us much ; but to destroy which all our most strenuous endeavors have proved ineffectual. We intreat you therefore to send to us your son, at the head of a chosen band, with a number of dogs, to relieve us from this formidable animal.' Croesus, remembering his dream, answered them thus: ' Of my son you must forbear to make mention : him I cannot send : he is lately married, and his time and attention sufficiently employed. But a chosen band of Lydians, hunters and dogs, shall attend you ; and I shall charge them to take every possible means of relieving you, as soon as possible, from the attacks of the boar.' XXXVII. This answer of Croesus satisfied the 1 It should seem, from the accounts of ancient authors, that the ravages of the wild boar were considered as more for- midable than those of the other savage animals. The con- qnest of the Erymanthian boar was one of the fated labors of Hercules ; and the story of the Caledonian boar is one of the most beautiful in Ovid. — Γ. 3» HERODOTUS. Mysians ; but the young man hearing of the matter, and that his father had refused the solicitations of the Mysians for him to accompany them, hastened to the presence of the king, and spoke to him as follows : ' It was formerly, sir, esteemed in our nation both excellent and Iionorable to seek renown in war, or in the hunting of wild beasts : but you now deprive me of both these opportunities of signalising myself, with- out having reason to accuse me either of cowardice or sloth. Whenever I am now seen in public, how mean and contemptible shall I appear ! How will my fellow- citizens or my new wife esteem me ? what can be her opinion of the man Avhom she has married? Sufter me then, sir, either to proceed on this expedition, or con- descend to convince me that the motives of your re- fusal are reasonable and sufficient.' XXXVIII. ' My son,' replied Croesus, ' I do not in any respect think unfavorably of your courage or your conduct. My behavior towards you is influenced by a vision, Λvhich has lately warned me that your life will be short, and that you must perish from the Avound of an iron spear. This has first of all induced me to accelerate your nuptials, and also to refuse your pre- sence in the proposed expedition, mshing, by my caution, to preserve you at least as long as I shall live. I esteem you as my only son ; for your brother, on account of his infirmity, is in a manner lost to me.' XXXIX. ' Having had such a vision,' returned Atys to his father, ' I can easily forgive your anxiety concerning me : but as you apparently misconceive tlie matter, sufler me to explain what seems to have escaped you. The vision, as you affirm, intimated that my death should be occasioned by the point of a spear: but what arms or spear has a wild boar that you should dread ? If indeed it had been told you that I was to BOOK I. — CLIO. 33 perish by a tusk, or something of a similar nature, your conduct ΛνουΜ have been strictly proper ; but, as a spear's point is the object of your alarm, and Ave are not going to contend with men, I hope for your permission to join this party.' XL. ' Son,' answered Crcesus, * your reasoning concerning my dream has induced me to alter my opinion, and I accede to your Λvishes.' XLI. The king then sent for Adrastus the Phrygian ; whom, on his appearing, he thus addressed : ' I do not mean to remind you of your former calamities ; but you must have in memory that I relieved you in your distress, took you into my family, and supplied all your necessities. I have now therefore to solicit that return of kindness Λvhich my conduct claims. In this proposed hunting excursion you must be the guardian of my son : preserve him on the way from any secret treachery which may threaten your common security. It is consistent that you should go where bravery may be distinguished and reputation gained : valor has been the distinction of your family, and with personal vigor has descended to yourself.' XLII. * At your request, Ο king '/ replied Adrastus, * I shall comply with what I should otherAvise have re- fused. It becomes not a man like myself, oppressed by so great a calamity, to appear among my more fortunate equals: I have never Avished, and I have frequently avoided it. My gratitude in the present instance impels me to obey your commands. I will therefore engage to accompany and guard your son, and promise, as far as ray care can avail, to restore him to you safe.' XLtll. Immediately a band of youths were selected, the dogs of chase prepared, and the train departed. HER. VOL. I. C 'jin 34, HERODOTUS. Arrived in the vicinity of Olympus, they sought the beast ; and having found his haunt, they surrounded it in a body, and attacked him with their spears. It so happened that the stranger Adrastus, who had been purified for murder, directing a blow at the boar, missed his aim, and killed the son of Croesus. Thus he was destroyed by the point of a spear, and the vision proved to be prophetic. A messenger immediately hastened to Sardis, informing Croesus of the event which oc- casioned the death of his son. XLIV, Croesus, much as he was afflicted with his domestic loss, bore it the less patiently because it Avas inflicted by him whom he had himself purified and protected. He broke into violent complaints at his misfortune, and invoked Jupiter, the deity of expia- tion, in attestation of the injury he had received. He invoked him also as the guardian of hospitality and friendship :' of hospitality, because, in receiving a stranger, he had received the murderer of his son ; of friendship, because the man whose aid he might have expected had proved his bitterest enemy. XLV. Whilst his thoughts were thus occupied the 1 Jupiter was adored under different titles, according to the place and circumstance of his different worshippers. — LarcJier. The sky was tlie department of Jupiter : hence he was deemed the god oi" tempests. The following titles were given him : Pluvius, Pluviosus, Fulgurator, Fulgurum Effector, Descensor, Tonans. Other epithets were given him, relative to the wants of men, for which he was tliought to provide. See Bos (Seager's abridged translation), and Robinson's Antiquities of Greece. The above observation is confined to the Greeks. — Ihe epithets of the Roman Jupiter were almost without number; and there Avas hardly, as Spence observes, a town, or even hamlet, in Italy, that had not a Jupiter of its own.— Γ. BOOK I. — CLIO. 35 Lydians appeared with the body of his son:' behind followed the homicide. He advanced towards Crcesus, and, vrith extended hands, implored that he might sutler death on the body of him whom he had slain. He recited his former calamities ; to which was now to be added that he was the destroyer of the man who had expiated him : he was consequently no longer fit to live. Croesus listened to him witb attention; and, although oppressed by his own paternal grief, he could not refuse his compassion to Adrastus ; to Avhora he spake as follows : ' My friend, I am sufficiently re- venged by your voluntary condemnation of yourself.' You are not guilty of this event, ^ for you did it with- out design. The offended deity, who warned me of the evil, has accomplished it.' Croesus therefore buried his son Λvith the proper ceremonies : but the unfortunate descendant of Midas, \vho had killed his brother and his friend, retired at the dead of night to the place where Atys was buried, and, confessing him- self to be the most miserable of mankind, slew himself on the tomb. XLVI. The two years which succeeded the death of his son were passed by Crcesus in extreme affliction. His grief was at length suspended by the increasing greatness of the Persian empire, as well as by that of 1 This solemn procession of the Lydians, bearing to the presence of the father the dead body of his son, followed mournfully by the person who had killed him, would, it is presumed, aflford no mean subject for an historical painting. —T. 2 Diodorus Siculus relates that it was the first intention of of Croesus to have burned Adrastus alive ; but his voluntary offer to submit to death deprecated his anger.— Γ. 3 See Homer's Iliad, book iii., where Priam thus addresses Helen : No crime of thine our present sufferings draws ; Not thou, but Heaven's disposing will, the cause. — Papc, 96 HERODOTUS. \^ Cyrus, son of Cambyses, who had deprived Astyages, son of Cyaxares, of his dominions. To restrain the power of Persia, before it should become too great and too extensive, was the object of his solicitude. Listening to these suggestions, he determined to con- sult the diiferent oracles 1 On the subject of oracles, it may not be improper, once for all, to inform the English reader that the Apollo of Del- phi was, to use Mr. Bayle's words, the judge without appeal; the greatest of the heathen gods not preserving, in relation to oracles, his advantage or superiority. The oracles of Tro- phonius, Dodona, and Ammon, had not so mucli credit as that of Delphi, nor did they equal it either in esteem or duration. The oracle at Abas was an oracle of Apollo ; but, from the little mention that is made of it by ancient writers, it does not appear to have been held in the extremest veneration. At Dodona, as we describe it from Montfaucon, there were sounding kettles ; from whence came the provei'b of the Dodonean brass ; which, according to Menander, if a man touched but once, would continue ringing the whole day. Others speak of the doves of Dodona, which spoke and de- livered the oracles ; of two doves, according to Statins, one flew to Libya, to pronounce the oracles of Jupiter ; the other stayed at Dodona : of which the more rational explanation is, tliat two females established religious ceremonies at the same time, at Dodona, and in Libya ; for, in the ancient lan- guage of the people of Epirus, the same word signifies a dove and an old woman. At the same place also was an oak, or, as some say, a beech-tree, hallowed by the prejudices of the people from the remotest antiquity. The oracle of Trophonius' cave, from its singularity, de- serves minuter mention. He, says Pausnnias, who desired to consult it, was obliged to undergo various preparatory ceremonies, which continued for seA^eral days : he was to purify himself by various methods, to offer sacrifices to many different deities ; he was then conducted by night to a neigh- boring river, where he was anointed and washed ; he after- wards drank of the water of forgetfulness, that his former cares might be buried ; and of the water of remembrance, that he might forget nothing of what he was to see. The cave was surrounded by a wall ; it resembled an oven ; wns four cubits wide, and eight deep : it was descended by a ladder; and he who went doA\'n carried with him cakes made of honey : when he was got doviTi he was made ac- BOOK I. — CLIO. 37 Libya ; and for this purpose sent messengers to Delphi, the Phocian Abas, and to Dodona : he sent also to Am- phiaraus, Trophonius, and the Milesian Branchidse. The above-mentioned are the oracles Avhich Croesus consulted in Greece : he sent also to the Libyan Ammon. His motive in these consultations was to form an idea of the truth of the oracles respectively, meaning after- wards to obtain from them a decisive opinion con- cerning the propriety of an expedition against the Persians. XLVII. He took this method of proving the truth of their different communications. He computed with bis Lydian messengers that each should consult the ditferent oracles on the hundredth day of their de- parture from Sardis, and respectively ask what Croesus, the son of Alyattes, was doing : they were to write down and communicate to Croesus the reply of each quainted with futurity. For more particulars concerning this oracle, consult Montfaucon, Voyage de Jeune Anacharsis, in which the different descriptions of antiquity, concerning this and other oracles, are collected and methodised. See also \'an Dale. Of the above a classical and correct descrip- tion may also be found in Glover's Aihenaid. Amphiuraus was one of the seven warriors who fought against Thebes ; he performed on that occasion the functions of a priest, and was supposed on that account to communi- cate oracles after his death. They who consulted him were to abstain from wine for three days, and from all nourish- ment for twenty-four hours. They then sacrificed a ram before his statue, on the skin of which, spread in the vesti- bule, they retired themselves to sleep. The deity was sup- posed to appear to them in a vision, and answer their ques- tions. The temple of Branchidae was afterwards, according to Pliny, named the temple of Didymean Apollo. It was burned by Xerxes, but afterΛvards built with such extraordinary magnificence, that, according to A'itruvius, it was one of the four edifices which rendered the names of their architects immortal. Some account may be found of this temple in Chishull's Asiatic Antiquities.— Γ. 38 HERODOTUS. particular oracle.' Of the oracular answers in general we have no account remaining ; but the Lydians had no sooner entered the temple of Delphi, and proposed their questions, than the Pythian^ answered thus, in heroic verse : I count the sand, I measure out the sea ; The silent and the dumb are heard by me : E'en now the odors to my sense that rise, A tortoise boiling with a lamb supplies, Where brass below and brass above it lies. XLVIII. They wrote down the communication of the Pythian, and returned to Sardis. Of the ansΛvers which his other messengers brought with them on their return, Croesus found none which Λvere satisfactory. But a fervor of gratitude and piety Λν33 excited in him as soon as he was informed of the reply of the Py- thian ; and he exclaimed, without reserve, that there was no true oracle but at Delphi, for this alone had explained his employment at the stipulated time. It seems that on the day appointed for his servants to 1 Lucian makes Jupiter complain of the great trouble the deities undergo on account of mankind. ' As for Apollo,' says he, ' he has undertaken a troublesome office : he is obliged to be at Delphi this minute, at Colopboia the next, here at Delos, there at Branchidaj, just as his ministers choose to require him : not to mention the tricks which are played to make trial of his sagacity, when people boil toge- ther the flesh of a lamb and a tortoise ; so that if he had not had a very acute nose, Croesus would have, gone away and abused him.' — T. 2 The Pythian Apollo, if we may credit the Greeks them- selves, was not always on the best terms with the Muses. — Lowth on the poetry of the Hebrews. Van Dale, in his book De Oraculis, observes that at Delphi the priestess had priests and poets to take down and ex- plain and mend her gibberish ; which sei'ved to justify Apollo from the imputation of making bad verses ; for, if they were defective, the fault was laid on the amanuensis.— Sort in. BOOK I. — CLIO. 39 consult the different oracles, determining to do what it would be equally difficult to discover or explain, he had cut in pieces a tortoise and a lamb, and boiled them together in a covered vessel of brass. XLIX. We have before related what was the an- swer of the Delphic oracle to Crcesus : Λvhat reply the Lydians received from Amphiaraus after the usual re- ligious ceremonies, I am not able to affirm ; of this it is only asserted that its answer was satisfactory to Croesus. L. Croesus, after these things, determined to con- ciliate the divinity of Delphi by a great and magni- ficent'sacrifice. He offered up three thousand chosen victims ; he collected a great number of couches de- corated Avith gold and silver,^ many goblets of gold, and vests of purple ; all these he consumed together on one immense pile, thinking by these means to render the deity more auspicious to his hopes : he persuaded his subjects also to offer up in like manner the proper objects of sacrifice they respectively possessed. As, at the conclusion of the above ceremony, a consider- able quantity of gold had run together, he formed of it a number of tiles. The larger of these were six palms long, the smaller three ; but none of them were less than a palm in thickness, and they were one hun- dred and seventeen in number: four were of the purest gold, weighing each one talent and a half; the rest were of inferior quality, but of the Λveig•ht of ίΛνο 1 Prodigal as the munificence of Croesus appears to have been on this occasion, the funeral pile of the Emperor Se\'e- rus, as described by Herodian, was neither less splendid nor less costly. • He tells us that there was not a province, city, or grandee throughout the wide circuit of the Roman empire which did not contribute to decorate this superb edifice. When the whole was completed, after many days of prepa- ratory ceremonies, the next successor to the empire with a torch set fire to the pile, and in a little time every thing was consumed.— Γ. 40 HERODOTUS. talents. He constructed also a lion of pure gold,' which weighed ten talents. It was originally placed at the Delphian temple, on the aboΛ'e gold tiles ; but when this edifice was burned it fell from its place, and now stands in the Corinthian treasury : it lost, howeyer, by the fire three talents and a half of its former weight. LI. Croesus, moreover, sent to Delphi two large cisterns, one of gold and one of silver : that of gold was placed on the right hand in the vestibule of the temple ; the silver one on the left. These also were removed when the temple was consumed by fire : the golden goblet weighed eight talents and a half and twelve minae, and was afterwards placed in the Clazo- menian treasury : that of silver is capable of holding six hundred amphoree ; it is placed at the entrance of the temple, and used by the inhabitants of Delphi in their Theophanian festival : they assert it to have been the work of Theodorus of Samos ;- to which opinion, as it is evidently the production of no mean artist, I am inclined to accede. The Corinthian treasury also possesses four silver casks, which were sent by Croesus, in addition to the above, to Delphi. His munificence did not yet cease : he presented also two basins, one of gold, another of silver. An inscription on that of gold asserts it to have been the gift of the Lacede- monians ; but it is not true, for this also was the gift 1 These tiles, this lion, and the statue of the breadmaker of Croesus, were all of them at a subsequent period seized by the Phocians, to defray tlie expenses of the holy war. — Lurcher. 2 He was the first statuary on record. 'i"he following men- tion is made of him by Pliny : — Theodorus, who constructed the labyrinth at Samos, made a cast of himself in brass, which, independent of its being a perfect likeness, was an ex- traordinary effort of genius. He had in his right hand a file ; with three fingers of his left he held a carriage drawn by four horses: the carriage, the horses, and the driver, were so minute, that the whole was covered by the wings of ally.— T. BOOK I. — CLIO. 41 of Croesus. To gratify the LacedaemoiHans, a certain Delphian wrote this inscription : although I am able, I do not think proper to disclose his name.^ The boy through whose hand the water flows Λvas given by the Lacedaemonians ; the basins undoubtedly were not. Many other smaller presents accompanied these ; among which ΛΥβΓβ some silver dishes, and the figure of a woman in gold, three cubits high, who, according to the Delphians, Λvas the person who made the bread for the family of Croesus.^ This prince, besides all that we have enumerated, consecrated at Delphi his wife's necklace and girdles. LII. To Amphiaraus, having heard of his valor and misfortunes, he sent a shield of solid gold, with a strong spear made intirely of gold, both shaft and head. These were all, within my memory, preserved at Thebes, in the temple of the Ismenian Apollo. LIII. The Lydians Avho \vere intrusted with the care of these presents were directed to inquire whether Croesus might auspiciously undertake an expedition against the Persians, and whether he should procure any confederate assistance. On their arrival at the destijied places tliey deposited their presents, and made the inquiries of the oracles precisely in the 1 If Ptolemieus may be credited in Pholius, his name was ^thus.— 7\ 2 CrcEsus, says Plutarch, honored the woman who made his bread with a statue of gold, from an honest emotion of gratitude. Alyattes, the father of Croesus, married a second wife, by which he had other children. This woman wished to remove Crccsus out of the way, and gave the female baker a dose of poison, charging her to put it into the bread which she made for Croesus. The woman informed Croesus of this, and gave the poisoned bread to the queen's children. By these means Croesus succeeded his father, and acknowleged the fidelity of the woman, by thus making the god himself an evidence of his gratitude. — Γ. 42 HERODOTUS. following terms : — ' Croesus, soΛ^ereign of Lydia, and Qf various nations, esteems these the only genuine oracles ; in return for the sagacity which has marked your declarations he sends these proofs of his libe- rality : he finally desires to know whether he may proceed against the Persians, and whether he shall require the assistance of any allies/ The ansAvers of the oracles tended to the same purpose ; both of them assuring Croesus that if he prosecuted a war Λvith Persia he should overthrow a mighty empire ; and l>oth recommending him to form an alliance with those whom he should find to be the most powerful states of Greece. LIV. The report of these communications trans- ported Croesus with excess of joy : elated with the idea of becoming the conqueror of Cyrus, he sent again to Delphi, inquired the number of inhabitants there, and presented each with two golden staters. In acknowlegement for this repeated liberality the Del- phians assigned to Croesus and the Lydians the privi- lege of first consulting the oracle, in preference to other nations ; a distinguished seat in their temple ; together with the immutable right, to such of them as pleased to accept it, of being inrolled among the citi- zens of Delphi. LV. After the above-mentioned marks of his muni- ficence to the Delphians Croesus consulted their oracle a third time. His experience of its veracity increased the ardor of his curiosity : he was now anxious to be informed Avhether his power would ever sufler diminu- tion. The following was the answer of the Pythian ; When o'er the Medes a mule shall sit on high, O'er pebbly Hermus, then, soft Lydian, fly ; Fly with all haste ; for safety scorn thy fame, Nor scruple to deserve a coward's name. BOOK I. — CLIO. 43 LVI. When the above verses were communicated to Croesus he was more delighted than ever ; confident that a mule would never be sovereign of the Medes, and that consequently he could have nothing to fear for himself or his posterity. His first object Avas to discover which were the most poΛverful of the Grecian states, and to obtain their alliance. The Lacedae- monians of Doric, and the Athenians of Ionian origin, seemed to claim his distinguished preference. These nations, always eminent, were formerly known by the appellation of Pelasgians and Hellenians.* The former had never changed their place of residence ; the latter often. Under the reign of Deucalion the Hellenians possessed the region of Phthiotis ; but under Dorus, the son of Hellenus, they inhabited the country called Istieotis, which borders on Ossa and Olympus. They were driven from hence by the Cadmfeans, and fixed themselves in Macednum, near mount Pindus : mi- grating from hence to Dryopis, and afterΛvards to the Peloponnesus, they were known by the name of Do- rians. LVII. What language the Pelasgians used I cannot positively affirm : some probable conclusion may per- haps be formed by attending to the dialect of the rem- nant of the Pelasgians who now inhabit Crestona' beyond the Tyrrhenians,^ but who formerly dAvelt in the country now called Thessaliotis, and were neigh- bors to those whom we at present name Dorians. 1 On this passage Mr. Bryant remarks that the whole is exceedingly confused, and that by it one would imagine Herodotus excluded the Athenians from being Pelasgic. See Bryant's Mythol. vol. iii. 397".— Γ. 2 It appears tliat Count Caylus has confounded Crestona of Thrace with Crotona of Magna Grecia ; but as he has ad- duced no argument in proof of his opinion I do not consider it of any importance. — Lurcher, 44 HERODOTUS. Considering• these \vith the above, who founded the cities of Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont, but once lived near the Athenians, together with the people of other Pelasgian towns who have since changed their names, we are on the Avhole justified in our opinion that they formerly spoke a barbarous lan- guage. The Athenians therefore, who Λvere also of Pelasgian origin, must necessarily, when they came amongst the Hellenians, have learned their language. It is observable that the inhabitants of Crestona and Placia speak in the same tongue, but are neither of them understood by the people about them. These circumstances induce me to believe that their language has experienced no change. LVIII. I am also of opinion that the Hellenian tongue is not at all altered. When first they se- parated themselves from the Pelasgians they were neither numerous nor powerful. They have since pro- gressively increased ; having incorporated many na- tions, barbarians and others, with their ΟΛνη. The Pelasgians have always avoided this mode of increas- ing their importance ; which may be one reason pro- bably why they never have emerged from their ori- ginal and barbarous condition. LIX. Of these nations Croesus had received infor- mation that Athens suifered much from the oppression of Pisistratus, the son of Hippocrates, who at this time possessed there the supreme authority. The father of this man, Λvhen he was formerly a private spectator of the Olympic games, beheld a wonderful prodigy. Having sacrificed a victim, the brazen vessels, which were filled with the flesh and with water, boiled up and overflowed without the intervention of fire. Chilon the Lacedaemonian, who was an accidental witness of the fact, advised Hippocrates, first of all, not to marry BOOK I. — CLIO. 45 a woman likely to produce him children : secondly, if he was already married, to repudiate his wife ; but if he had then a son, by all means to expose him. He who received this counsel was by no means disposed to follow it, and had afterwards this son Pisistratus. A tumult happened betwixt tliose who dwelt on the sea- coast and those who inhabited the plains : of the former Megacles, the son of Alcmaeon, was leader ; Ly- curgus, son of Aristolaides, Λvas at the head of the latter. Pisistratus took this opportunity of accom- plishing the Λ'iews of his ambition. Under pretence of defending those of the mountains he assembled some factious adherents, and put in practice the fol- lowing stratagem : he not only Λvounded himself, but his mules, ^ which he drove into the forum, aiFecting to have made his escape from the enemy, Avho had attacked him in a country excursion. He claimed therefore the protection of the people, in return for the services Λvhich he had performed in his command against the Megareans,^ by his capture of Nistea, and by other memorable exploits. The Athenians were deluded by his artifice, and assigned some of their chosen citizens as his guard, ^ armed Λνΐίΐι clubs in- 1 Ulysses, Zopyrus, and others, availed themselves of si- milar artifices for the advantage of their country ; but Pisis- tratus practised his to depress and enslave bis fellovr- citi- zens. This occasioned Solon to say to him, ' Son of Hippo- crates, you ill apply the stratagem of Homer's Ulysses : he wounded his body to delude the public enemies ; you wound yours to beguile your countrymen.' — Larcher. 2 The particulars of this affair are related by Plutarch in bis life of Solon. — T. ."3 The people being assembled to deliberate on the ambus- cade which Pisistratus pretended was concerted against him, assigned him fifty guards for the security of his person. Ariston proposed the decree ; but when it was once passed the people acquiesced in bis taking as many guards as he thought proper. Solon, in a letter to Epimenides, preserved 46 HERODOTUS. stead of spears. These seconded the purpose of Pi- sistratus, and seized the citadel. He thus obtained the supreme power ; but he neither changed the magis- trates nor altered the laws: he suffered every thing to be conducted in its ordinary course ; and his go- vernment was alike honorable to himself and useful to the city. The factions of Megacles and Lycurgus afterwards united, and expelled him from Athens. LX. By these means Pisistratus became for the first time master of Athens, and obtained an authority which Avas far from being secure. The parties however which effected his expulsion presently disagreed. Megacles, being hard pressed by his opponent, sent proposals to Pisistratus, offering him the supreme power, on condition of his marrying his daughter. Pisistratus acceded to the terms ; and a method was concerted to accomplish his return, which to me seems exceedingly preposterous. The Grecians, from the remotest times, were distinguished above the barbarians by their acuteness ; and the Athe- nians, on whom this trick was played, were of all the Greeks the most eminent for their sagacity. There was a Pfeaniean woman, whose name was Phya ; she Avanted but three digits of being four cubits high, and was moreover uncommonly beautiful. She was dressed in a suit of armor, placed in a chariot, and de- in Diogenes Laertius, but which seems to be spurious, says that Pisistratus required four hundred guards ; Avhich, not- withstanding Solon's remonstrances, were granted him. Po- lyeenus says they assigned him three hundred. — Lurcher. 1 Pisistratus, says Plutarch, was not only observant of the laws of Solon himself, but obliged liis adherents to be so too. ^Vhilst in the enjoyment of the supreme authority he was summoned before the areopagus to answer for the crime of murder. lie appeared with modesty to plead his cause : his accuser did not think proper to appear. The same fact is related by Aristotle.— Larc/ter. BOOK I. — CLIO. 47 corated with the greatest imaginable splendor. She was conducted towards the city ; heralds Λvere sent before, who, as soon as they arrived Λvithin the walls of Athens, were instructed to exclaim aloud — 'Athenians, receive Pisistratus again, and with good- will ; he is the favorite of Minerva, and the goddess herself comes to conduct him to her citadel.' The rumor soon spread amongst the multitude that Mi- nerva was bringing back Pisistratus. Those in the city being told that this woman was their goddess, prostrated themselves before her, and admitted Pi- sistratus.' LXI. By these means the son of Hippocrates re- covered his authority, and fulfilled the terms of his agreement with Megacles, by marrying his daughter.^ But, as he had already sons grown up, and as the Alcmaeonides were stigmatised by some imputed con- tamination,^ to avoid having children by this marriage he refused to live with his wife. This incident, which the woman for a certain time concealed, she afterwards revealed to her mother, in consequence perhaps of her inquiries. The father wasr soon informed of it, who, exasperated by the affront, forgot his ancient resentments, and entered into a league with those whom he had formerly opposed. Pisistratus, seeing the danger which menaced him, hastily left the coun- 1 The ambitious in all ages have made religion an instru- ment of their designs, and the people, naturally superstitious and weak, have always been the dupes. — Lurcher. 2 Her name was Ciesyra, as appears from the Scholiast to the Nubes of Aristophanes. — Palmerius. 3 Megacles, who was archon in the time of the conspiracy of Cylon, put the conspirators to death at the foot of the altars where they had taken refuge. All those who had any concern in the perpetration of murder were considered a» detestable.— La?-c/ier. W$ HERODOTUS. try, and, retiring to Eretria, there deliberated witli his sons concerning their future conduct. The' senti- ments of Hippias, which were for attempting the re- covery of their dignity, prevailed. They met with no difficulty in procuring assistance from the neighboring states, amongst whom a prejudice in their favor gene- rally prevailed. Many cities assisted them largely with money ; but the Thebans were particularly liberal. Not to protract the narration, every preparation was made to facilitate their return. A band of Argive mercenaries came from the Peloponnesus ; and an in- habitant of Naxos, named Lygdamis, gave new ala- crity to their proceedings by his unsolicited assistance both Avith money and with troops. LXII. After an absence of eleven years they ad- vanced to Attica from Eretria, and seized on Mara- thon, in the vicinity of which they encamped. They were soon visited by throngs of factious citizens* from Athens, and by all those who preferred tyranny'* to freedom. Their number was thus soon and conside- rably increased. Whilst Pisistratus was providing himself with money, and even when he was stationed 1 The whole account given by Herodotus of the conduct of Pisistratus and liis party bears no small resemblance to many circumstances of the Catilinarian conspirators, as described by Cicero and others. Two or three instances aie neverthe- less recorded of the moderation of Pisistratus, which well deserve our praise. His daughter assisted at some religious festival : a young man who violently loved lier embraced her publicly, and afterwards endeavored to carry her oiF. His friends excited him to vengeance. ' H",' said he in reply, 'we hate those who love us, what shall we do to tliose who hate usl' — Some young men, in a drunken frolic, insulted his wife : the next day they came in tears to solicit, forgiveness. * You must have been mistaken,' said Pisistratus ; ' my wife did not go abroad yesterday.'— T. 2 Tliis word tyranny means the government of one person ; that is, a monarchy. BOOK I. — CLIO. 49 at Marathon the Athenians of the city appeared to be under no alarm : but when they heard that he had left his post, and was advancing towards them, they began to assemble their forces and to think of obstructing his return. Pisistratus continued to approach with his men in one collected body : he halted at the temple of the Pallenian Minerva, opposite to which he fixed his camp. Whilst he remained in this situation Am- phylitus, a priest of Acarnania, approached him, and, as if by divine inspiration,^ thus addressed him in he- roic verse : The cast is made ; the net secures the way ; And night's pale gleams will bring the scaly prey. LXIII. Pisistratus considered the declaration as prophetic, and prepared his troops accordingly. The Athenians of the city were then engaged at their dinner ; after which they retired to the amusement of dice, or to sleep. ^ The party of Pisistratus then mak- ing the attack, soon compelled them to fly. Pisis- tratus, in the course of the pursuit, put in execution the following sagacious stratagem to continue their confusion and prevent their rallying : he placed his sons on horseback, and -directed them to overtake the fugitives; they were commissioned to bid them all remove their apprehensions, and pursue their ac- customed employments. LXIV. The Athenians took him at his word, and Pisistratus thus became a third time master of Athens."^ 1 On this passage Mr. Bryant has some observations much too abstruse for our purpose, but well worthy the considera- tion of the curious. See Jiis Mythology, vol. i. page 259. — 2'. 2 In all the warmer climates of the globe the custom of sleeping after dinner is invariably preserved. 3 Pisistratus, tyrant as he was, loved letters, and favored those who cultivated them. He it was who first collected HER. VOL. I. D 60 HERODOTUS. He by no means neglected to secure his authority by retaining many confederate troops, and providing pe- cuniary resources, partly from Attica itself, and partly from the river Strymon.* The children of those citi- zens who, instead of retreating from his arms, had opposed his progress, he took as hostages, and sent to the island of Naxos ; Λvhich place he had before sub- dued, and given up to Lygdamis. In compliance also Avith an oracular injunction he purified Delos :^ all the dead bodies which lay %vithin a certain distance of the temple were, by his orders, dug up and removed to another part of the island. By the death of some of the Athenians in battle, and by the flight of others with the Alcmaeonides, he remained in undisturbed possession of the supreme authority. LXV. Such was the intelligence which Croesus re- ceived concerning the situation of Athens. With re- spect to the Lacediemonians, after suiFering many important defeats, they had finally vanquished the Homer's works, and presented the public with the Iliad and Odyssey in their present form. — Bellanger. Cicero, in one of his letters to Atticus, subsequent to the battle of Pharsalia, thus expresses himself: * We are not yet certain whether we shall groan under a Phalaris or enjoy our- selves under a Pisistratus.' — T. 1 This river is very celebrated in classical story : there are few of the ancient writers who have not made mention of it : at the present day it is called, at that part where it empties itself into the Aegean, Golfo di Contessa. On the banks of this river A^irgil beautifully describes Orpheus to have la- mented liis Eurydice. Amongst the other rivers memorable in antiquity for their production of gold were the Pactolus, Hermus, Ganges, Tagus, Iber, Indus, and Arimaspus, — T. 2 Montfaucon, but without telling us his authority, says, that the whole island of Delos was consecrated by the birth of Apollo and Diana, and that it was not allowable to bury a dead body in any part of it. It should seem from the passage before us that this must be understood with some restric- tion.— Γ. BOOK I. — CLIO. 51 Tegeans. Whilst Sparta was under the government of Leon and Hegesicles, the Lacedfemonians, suc- cessful in other contests, had been inferior to the Tegeans alone : of all the Grecian states, they had formerly the worst laΛVS ; bad with regard to their own internal government, and to strangers intolerable. They obtained good laws by means of the following circumstance: Lycurgus,* a man of distinguished cha- racter at Sparta, happened to visit the Delphic oracle. As soon as he had entered the vestibule the Pythian exclaimed aloud, Thou comest, Lycurgus, to this honor'd shrine, Favor'd by Jove, and ev'ry pow'r divine. Or god or mortal ! how shall I decide 1 Doubtless to Heav'n most dear and most allied. It is farther asserted by some that the priestess dic- tated to him those institutes which are now observed at Sparta : but the Lacedaemonians themseh es affirm that Lycurgus brought them from Crete while he was guardian to his nephew Leobotus, king of Sparta. In consequence of this trust, having obtained the direc- tion of the legislature, he made a total change in the constitution, and took eifectual care to secure a strict observance ^ of whatever he introduced : he neΛV-mo- delled the military code, appointing the enomotias, the triacades, and the syssitia ; he instituted also the ephori,^ and the senate. • 1 For an account of the life and character of Lycurgus we refer the reader, once for all, to Plutarch. His institutes are admirably collected and described by the Abbe Barthelemy, in his Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis, vol. iv. 110. — T. 2 There were some Lacediemonians who, deeming the laws of Lycurgus too severe, chose rather to leave their country than submit to tbem. These passed over to the Sabines in Italy ; and when these people were incorporated with the Romans, communicated to them a portion of their Lacedae- monian manners. — Lurcher. 3 Of the enomotise and triacades we have been able to 52 HERODOTUS. LXVI. The manners of the people became thus more polished and improved : they after his death revered Lyciirgus as a divinity, and erected a sacred edifice to his memory.^ From this period, having a find no account sufficiently perspicuous to satisfy ourselves, or inform the reader : that of Cragius is perhaps the best ; Larclier has along and elaborate note on the subject, in which he says, that if any person be able to remove the obscurity in which the subject is involved, it must be the Abbe Bar- thelemy, to whose study and deliberation it must of neces- sity occur in his intended work on Greece. That work has vsince appeared 3 but we find in it little mention of the eno- motia3, &c. The following account of the ephori, as collected and com- pressed from the ancient Greek writers, we give from the Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis : ' Aristotle, Plutarch, Cicero, Valerius Maximus, and Dion Chrysostom, were of opinion that the ephori were first insti- tuted by Theopompus, who reigned almost a hundred years after the time of Lycurgus. Herodotus, Plato, and another ancient author named Satyrus, ascribe the institution to Ly- curgus. The ephori were an intermediate body betwixt the kings and the senate. They were called ephori or inspectors, because their attention was extended to every part of the machine of government. They were five in number ; and, to prevent any abuse of their authority, they were chosen an- nually by the people, the defenders of whose rights they were. They superintended the education of the youth. Every day they appeared in public to decide causes, to arbitrate differences, and to prevent the introduction of any thing which might tend to the corruption of youth. They could oblige magistrates to render an account of their administra- tion ; tliey might even suspend them from their functions, and drag them to prison. The kings themselves were com- pelled to obey tlie tliird summons to appear before the ephori and answer for any imputed fault. The whole executive power was vested in their hands : they received foreign am- bassadors, levied troops, and gave the general his orders, Λvhom they could recall at pleasure. So many privileges se- cured them a veneration, which they justified from the re- wards they bestowed on merit, by their attachment to ancient maxims, and by the firmness with which, on several occa- sions, they broke the force of conspiracies which menaced the tranquillity of the state.' — T. 1 The Lnceda?monians having bound themselves by an oath not to abrogate any of the laws of Lyourgus before his BOOK I. — CLIO. 53 good and populous territory, they rapidly rose to prosperity and power. Dissatisfied \vith the languor and inactivity of peace, and conceiving themselves in all respects superior to the Tegeans, they sent to con- sult the oracle concerning the intire conquest of Ar- cadia. The Pythian thus answered them : Ask ye Arcadia ? 'tis a bold demand ; A rough and hardy race defend the land. Repulsed by them, one only boon you gain, With frequent foot to dance on Tegea's plain. And o'er her fields the meas'ring-cord to strain. No sooner had the Lacedemonians received this re- ply than, leaving the other parts of Arcadia unmo- lested, they proceeded to attack the Tegeans, carry- ing a quantity of fetters Λvith them. They relied on the evasive declaration of the oracle, and imagined that they should infallibly reduce the Tegeans to ser- vitude. They engaged them, and were defeated :' as many as were taken captive were loaded with the fetters which themselves had brought, and thus em- ployed in laborious service in the fields of the Te- return to Sparta, the legislator went to consult the oracle at Sparta. He was told by the Pythian that Sparta would be happy as long as his laws were observed. On this he re- solved to return no more, that he might thus be secure of the observance of these institutions, to which they were so so- lemnly bound : he went to Crisa, and there slew himself. The Lacedaemonians, hearing of this, in testimony of his former virtue, as well as of that which he discovered in his death, erected to him a temple, with an altar, at which tliey annually offered sacrifice to his honor as to a hero. The above fact is mentioned both by Pausanias and Plutarch.— Larcher. 1 This incident happened during the reign of Charillus. The women of Tegea took up arms; and placing themselves in ambuscade at the foot of I\Iount Phylactris, they rushed on the Lacedaemonians, who were already engaged vrith tlie Tegeans, and put them to flight. The above is from Pau- sanias. — Larcher. 54 HERODOTUS. geans. These cliains yvere preserved, even in my remembrance, in Tegea, hung round the temple of the Alean Minerva.' LXVII. In the origin of their contests Avith the Tegeans they were uniformly unsuccessful : but in the time of Croesus, when Anaxandrides and Ariston had the government of Sparta, they experienced a favorable change of fortune ; which is thus to be ex- plained : Having repeatedly been defeated by the Tegeans, they sent to consult the Delphic oracle, what particular deity they had to appease to become victorious over their adversaries. The Pythian assured them of suc- cess if they brought back the body of Orestes, son of Agamemnon. Unable to discover his tomb, they sent a second time to inquire concerning the place of his interment. The following was the oracular communi- cation : A plain 2 within th' Arcadian land I know, Where double winds with forced exertion blow, AYhere form to form with mutual strength replies, And ill by other ills supported lies : That earth contains the great Atrides' son ; Take him, and conquer : Tegea then is won. 1 This custom of suspending in sacred buildings the spoils taken from the enemy, commencing in the most remote and barbarous ages, has been continued to the present period. See 2 Sam. chap. viii. 'And David took the shields of gold which were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem ; which King David did dedicate unto the Lord, with the silver and gold of all nations which he subdued.' These fetters taken from the Lacedaemonians were seen also in this temple in the time of Pausanias. — It is usual also with the moderns to suspend in churches the colors taken from the enemy. — T. 2 Ετηταρροθο5 i. singularly used here : it means, I presume, * then you may have to defend Tegea^ having by victory be- come proprietor of it. '— T, BOOK I. — CLIO. 55 After the above, the search for the body was Avithout intermission continued : it Avas at length discovered by Lichas/ one of those Spartans distinguished by the name of agathoergoi ; which title was usually con- ferred after a long period of service among the ca- valry. Of these citizens, five Avere every year per- mitted to retire; but were expected during the first year of their discharge to visit diifereut countries on the business of the public. LXVIII. Lichas, when in this situation, made the wished-for discovery, partly by good fortune, and partly by his own sagacity. They had at this time a commercial intercourse with the Tegeans ; and Lichas happening to visit a smith at his forge, observed Λvith particular curiosity the process ofAvorking the iron. The man took notice of his attention, and desisted from his labor. * Stranger of Sparta,' said he, 'you seem to admire the art which you contemplate ; but how much more would your wonder be excited if you knew all that I am able to communicate ! Near this place, as I was sinking a Λνβΐΐ, I found a coffin seven cubits long. I never believed that men were formerly of larger dimensions than at present;^ but when I opened it, 1 In honor of this Lichas the Lacedaemonians struck a me- dal : on one side was a head of Hercules ; on the reverse a head with a long beard, and a singular ornament. — Lurcher. 2 On this subject of the degeneracy of the human race, whoever wishes to see what the greatest ingenuity can urge, will receive no small entertainment from the works of Lord Monboddo. If in the time of Herodotus this seemed-matter of complaint, what conclusions must an advocate of this theory draw concerning the stature of his brethren in the progress of an equal number of succeeding centuries ! — T. In the perusal of history traditions are to be found of a pretended race of giants in every country of the globe, and even among the savages of Canada. Bones of an extraordi- nary size, found in different regions, have obtained such opi- 56 HERODOTUS. I discovered a body equal in length to the coffin : Ϊ correctly measured it, and placed it where I found it/ Lichas, after hearing• his relation, Λvas induced to be- lieve that this might be the body of Orestes, concern- ing Avhich the oracle had spoken. He was farther persuaded, when he recollected that the bellows of the smitli might intimate the two Avinds ; the anvil and the hammer might express one form opposing another ; the iron also, which Avas beaten, might signify ill suc- ceeding ill, rightly conceiving that the use of iron operated to the injury of mankind. With these ideas in his mind he returned to Sparta, and related the matter to his countrymen ; who immediately, under pretence of some imputed crime, sent him into banish- ment. He returned to Tegea, told his misfortune to him, and hired of him the ground, Avhich he at first refused positively to part with. He resided there for a certain space of time, when, digging up the body, he collected the bones, and returned with them to Sparta. The Lacedaemonians had previously obtained possession of a great part of the Peloponnesus ; and after the above-mentioned event their contests Avith the Tegeans were attended Avith uninterrupted suc- cess. LXIX. Croesus A\'as duly informed of all these cir- cumstances : he accordingly sent messengers to Sparta Avith presents, at the same time directing them to form an offensive alliance with the people. They delivered nions credit. Some of these, in the time of Augustus, were exhibited at Caprea, formerly the resort of many savage and monstrous aninivils : these, it Avas pretended, AA'ere the bones of those giants who had fought against the gods. In 1ϋΐ3 they shoAved tlirough Europe the bones of tlie giant Teuto- bachus : unluckily, a naturalist proved them to be the bones of an elephant. — Larcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 57 their message in these terms: * Croesus, sovereign of Lydia, and of various nations, thus addresses himself to Sparta : — I am directed by the oracles to form a Grecian alliance ; and as I know you to be pre-emi- nent above all the states of Greece, I, without collu- sion of any kind, desire to become your friend and ally.' The Lacedaemonians having heard of the ora- cular declaration to Croesus, were rejoiced at his dis- tinction in their favor, and instantly acceded to his proposed terms of confederacy. It is to be observed that Croesus had formerly rendered kindness to the Lacedaemonians: they had sent to Sardis to purchase some gold for the purpose of erecting the statue of Apollo, which is still to be seen at Mount Thornax : Croesus presented them with all they wanted. LXX. Influenced by this consideration, as well as by his decided partiality to them, they entered into all his views : they declared themselves ready to give such assistance as he Avanted ; and, farther to mark their attachment, they prepared as a present for the king a brazen vessel, capable of containing three hun- dred amphoree, and ornamented round the brim with the figures of various animals. This, however, never reached Sardis ; the occasion of which is thus diiferently explained : — The Lacedasmonians affirm that their vessel was intercepted near Samos, on its Avay to Sardis, by the Samians, who had fitted out some ships of war for this particular purpose. The Samians, on the con- trary, assert that the Lacedaemonians employed on this business did not arrive in time ; but hearing that Sardis was lost, and Croesus in captivity, they dis- posed of their charge to some private individuals of Samos, Λvho presented it to the temple of Juno. They who acted this part might perhaps, on their return to 5S HERODOTUS. Sparta, declare that the vessel had been violently taken from them by the Samians. LXXI. Croesus in the mean time, deluded by the words of the oracle, prepared to lead his forces into Cappadocia, in full expectation of becoming conqueror of Cyrus and of Persia. Whilst he was employed in providing for his expedition, a certain Lydian, named Sardanis, who had always among his countrymen the reputation of wisdom, and became still more memo- rable from this occasion, thus addressed Croesus : * You meditate, Ο king ! an attack on men who are clothed with the skins of animals ;* Avho, inhabiting a country but little cultivated, live on what they c^n procure, not on what they Avisli : strangers to the taste of Avine, they drink Λvater only;"^ even figs are a deli- cacy with which they are unacquainted, and all our luxuries are intirely unknown to them. If you con- quer them, what can you take from them, who have nothing? But if you shall be defeated, it becomes you to think of Avhat you on your part will be de- prived. When they shall once have tasted our deli- cacies, we shall never again be able to get rid of them. I indeed am thankful to the gods for not inspiring the Persians with the wish of invading Lydia.' Croesus 1 Dresses made of the skins of animals are of the highest antiquity. Not to mention those of Adam and Eve, the Scy- thians and otlier northern nations used tliem as a defence against the cold. Even the inhabitants of warmer climates wore them before they became civilised. — Bellnnger. 2 Xenophon, as well as Herodotus, informs us that the Persians drank only water : nevertheless our historian, in another place, says that the Persians were addicted to wine. In this there is no contradiction : when these Persians were poor, a little satisfied them : rendered rich by the conquests of Cyrus and his successors, luxury and all its concomitant vices was introduced among them. — Larclier, BOOK I. — CLIO. 59 disregarded this admonition. It is nevertlieless cer- tain that the Persians, before their conquest of Lydia, were strangers to every species of luxuiy. LXXII. The Cappadocians are by the Greeks called Syrians. Before the empire of Persia existed they were under the dominion of the Medes, though now in subjection to Cyrus. The diflerent empires of the Lydians and the Medes were divided by the river Halys;' Avhich, rising in a mountain of Armenia, passes through Cilicia, leaving in its progress the Matienians on its right, and Phrygia on its left ; then stretching towards the north, it separates the Cap- padocian Syrians from Paphlagonia, which is situated on the left of the stream. Thus the river Halys sepa- rates all the lower parts of Asia from the sea which flows opposite to Cyprus, as far as the Euxine, a space over Avhich an active man could not travel in less than five days.^ LXXIII. Croesus continued to advance towards Cappadocia : he Avas desirous of adding the country to his dominions ; but he was principally influenced by his confidence in the oracle, and his zeal for revenging on Cyrus the cause of Astyages. Astyages was son of Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and brother-in-law to Croesus : he was now vanquished, and detained in captivity by Cyrus, son of Cambyses. The affinity 1 The stream of this river was colder than any in Ionia, and celebrated for that quality by the elegiac poets. — Cheing himself a mortal, he had condemned to a cruel death by fire a man formerly not inferior to himself. He feared the anger of the gods, and reflecting that all human affairs are precarious and uncertain, he commanded the fire to be instantly extinguished, and Croesus U) be saved with his companions. The flames, however, repelled the efforts of the ministers of Cyrus. LXXXVII. In this extremity, the Lydians affirm that Croesus, informed of the cliange of the king's sentiments in his favor by seeing the officious efforts soner, he was bound, and about to be burned on a pile ; then he remembered the words of Solon, and three times pro- nounced his name. The explanation given at tlie request of Cyrus preserved the life of Cra\sus, and obtained him respect and honor with his conqueror. Thus Solon had the glory, by tlie same saying, to instruct one prince and preserve another. — Plutarch's life of Solon* BOOK I. — CLIO. 73 of the multitude to extinguish the flames, which seemed likely to be ineffectual, implored the assistance of Apollo, entreating, that if he had ever made him any- acceptable oftering, he would noAv interpose and deliver him from the impending danger. ΛVhen Croesus with tears had thus invoked the god, the sky, Avhich before was serene and tranquil, suddenly became dark and gloomy, a violent storm of rain succeeded, and the fire of the pile Λvas extinguished. This event satisfied Cyrus that Croesus was both a good man in himself, and a favorite of Heaven : causing him to be taken down from the pile — ' Croesus/ said he, addressing him, ' what could induce you to invade my territories, and become my enemy rather than my friend?' ' Ο king!' replied Croesus, ' it Λvas the prevalence of your good and of my evil fortune Avhich prompted my at- tempt. I attacked your dominions, impelled and de- luded by the deity of the Greeks. No one can be so infatuated as not to prefer tranquillity to war. In peace children inter their parents ; Avar violates the order of nature, and causes parents to inter their chil- dren. It must have pleased the gods that these things should so happen.' LXXXVIII. Cyrus immediately ordered him to be unbound, placed him near his person, and treated him Avith great respect ; indeed he excited the admiration of all who were present. After an interval of silent meditation, Croesus observed the Persians engaged in the plunder of the city. ' Does it become me, Cyrus,' said he, ' to continue silent on this occasion, or to speak the sentiments of my heart?' Cyrus entreated him to speak Avithout apprehension or reserve. ' About what,' he returned, ' is that multitude so eagerly em- ployed ?' ' They are plundering your city,' replied Cyrus, ' and possessing themselves of your Avealth.' 74 HERODOTUS. ' No/ answered Croesus, ' they do not plunder my city, nor possess themselves of my Avealth ; I haΛ^e no concern with either ; it is your property which they are thus destroying.' LXXXIX. These words disturbed Cyrus ; desiring therefore those who were present to withdraw, he asked Croesus what measures he would recommend in the present emergence. ' The gods,' answered Croesus, * have made me your captive, and you are therefore justly intitled to the benefit of my reflections. Nature has made the Persians haughty, but poor. If you per- mit them to indulge without restraint this spirit of devastation, by which they may become rich, it is probable that your acquiescence may thus foster a spirit of rebellion against yourself. I would recom- mend the following mode to be adopted, if agreeable to your wisdom : station some of your guards at each of the gates ; let it be their business to stop the plun- derers with their booty, and bid them assign as a rea- son that one-tenth part must be consecrated to Jupiter. Thus you will not incur their enmity by any seeming violence of conduct ; they λυΙΙΙ even accede Avithout reluctance to j^our views, under the impression of your being actuated by a sense of duty.' XC. Cyrus Avas delighted with the advice, and im- mediately adopted it : he stationed guards in the man- ner recommended by Croesus, whom he soon after thus addressed : ^ Croesus, your conduct and your words mark a princely character, I desire you there- fore to request of me whatever you please, and your Avish shall he instantly gratified.' ' Sir,' replied Croe- sus, ' you will materially oblige me by your permis- sion to send these fetters to the god of Greece, whom, above all others, I have honored ; and to inquire of him whether it be his rule to delude those BOOK I. — CLIO. 75 who have claims on his kindness.' When Cyrus expressed a wish to know tlie occasion of this im- plied reproach, Croesus ingenuously explained each particular of his conduct, the oracles he had re- ceived, and the gifts he had presented ; declaring that these induced him to make war on the Per- sians. He finished his narratiA e with again soliciting permission to send and reproach the divinity Λvhich had deceived him. Cyrus smiled: ' I will not only grant this,' said he, ' but whatever else you shall require.^ Croisus accordingly despatched some Ly- dians to Delphi, who Λvere commissioned to place his fetters on the threshold of the temple, and to ask if the deity were not ashamed at having by his oracles induced Croesus to make Avar on Persia, Avith the ex- pectation of overturning the empire of Cyrus, of which war these chains were the first fruits ; and they Avere farther to inquire if the gods of Greece were usually ungrateful. XCI. The Lydians proceeded on their journey, and executed their commission : they are said to have re- ceived the folloAving reply from the Pythian priestess : * That to avoid the determination of destiny was im- possible even for a divinity : that Croesus in his per- son expiated the crimes of his ancestor in the fifth descent;' who, being a guardsman of the Heraclidae, 1 ' Such, you say, is the power of the gods, that if death shall deliver an individual from the punishment due to his crimes, vengeance shall still be satisfied on his children, his grandchildren, or some of his posterity. Wonderful as may be the equity of Providence, will any city sufter a law to be introduced, which shall punish a son or a grandson for the crimes of his father or his grandfather?' Cicero de Natiira Deorum.— On the above Larcher remarks that Cicero speaks like a wise, Herodotus like a superstitious, man. It is true that it is the divinity who speaks ; but it is the historian who makes him, and who approves of what he says. Croesus was the fifth descendant of Gyges. The genealogy 76 HERODOTUS. was seduced by the artifice of a woman to assassinate his master, and without the remotest pretensions suc- ceeded to his dignities : that Apollo was desirous to have this destruction of Sardis fall on the descendants of Croesus, but Avas unable to counteract the decrees of fate : that he had really obviated them as far as was possible ; and, to show his partiality to Croe- sus,* had caused the ruin of Sardis to be deferred for the space of three years : that of this Croesus might be assured, that if the will of the fates had been punc- tually fulfilled, he Avould have been three years sooner a captive : neither ought he to forget, that Avhen in danger of being consumed by fire, Apollo had afforded him his succor : that Λνΐίΐι respect to the declaration of the oracle, Croesus was not justified in his complaints; for Apollo had declared, that if he made war against the Persians, a mighty empire would be overthrown ; the real purport of which communication, if he had been anxious to understand, it became him to have inquired whether the god alluded to his empire, or the empire of Cyrus ; but that not understanding the reply Avhicli had been made, nor condescending to was this : Gyges, Ardys, Sadyattes, Alyattes, Croesus. — 1 In the remoter ages of ignorance and superstition, the di- vinities, or their symbols, did not always experience from their worshippers the same nniform \-eneration. \\ hen things succeeded contrary to their Λvishes or their prayers, they sometimes changed their gods, sometimes beat them, and often reproached them. So that it seems difficult to account for those qualities of the human mind, which acknoΛvleging tlie inclination to hear petitions, Avitli the power to grant them, at one time expressed themselves in the most abject and unmanly superstition, at another indulged resentments equally preposterous and unnatural. To a mind but the least; enlightened, the very circumstance of a deity's apologising to a fallen mortal for his predictions and their effects, seems to have but little tendency to excite in future an awe of bis power, a reverence for his wisdom, or a confidence in his justice.— 2'. BOOK I. — CLIO. 77 make a second inquiry, he had been himself the cause of his own misfortune : that he had not at all compre- hended the last ansΛver of the oracle, Λvhich related to the mule ; for that this mule was Cyrus, Avho was born of two parents of two diiferent nations, of whom the mother was as noble as the father was mean ; his mo- ther was a Mede, daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes ; his father was a Persian, and tributary to the Medes, λ\^ιο, although a man of the very meanest rank, had married a princess, who was his mistress.* — This ansAver of the Pythian the Lydians on their return communicated to Croesus. Croesus having heard it, exculpated the deity, and acknowleged himself to be reprehensible. Such however was the termination of the empire of Croesus, and this the recital of the first conquest of Ionia. XCII. Besides the sacred offerings of Croesus which we have before enumerated, many others are extant in Greece. In the Boeotian Thebes there is a golden tripod,^ consecrated by him to the Ismenian Apollo :* there are also at Ephesus ^ some golden heifers, and a 1 We must not confound the tripods of the ancients with the utensils known by us at present under a similar name (in French trepieds corresponding with the kitchen utensil called in English footman). The tripod was a vessel standing on three feet, of which there were tΛvo kinds : the one was ap- propriated to festivals, and contained wine mixed with water ; the others were placed on the fire, in which water was made warm. — Larcher. 2 Ismenus was a river in Boeotia, not far from Aulis. Is- meniuswas synonymous with Thebanus, and therefore the Is- menian Apollo is the same with the Theban Apollo. — Γ. 3 Pocock says that the place ηοΛν called Aiesalouk is ancient Ephesus. Chandler says otherwise. The two cities of Ephesus and Smyrna have been termed the eyes of Asia Minor : they were distant from each other three "hundred and twenty stadia, or forty miles, in a straight line.— Γ. 78 HERODOTUS. number of columns. He gave also to the Pronean Minerva a large golden shield, Avhich is still to be seen at Delphi. All the above remained Avithin my remembrance ; many others have been lost. He pre- sented also, as it appears, to the Milesian Branchid£B gifts equal in weight and value to what he sent to Del- phi. Tlie presents which he made to Delphi, as well as those Avhich he sent to Amphiaraus, were given for sacred purposes, from his own private or hereditary possessions. His other donations were formerly the property of an adversary, who had shoAvn himself hostile to Croesus before he succeeded to the throne, attaching himself to Pantaleon,' and favoring his views on the imperial dignity. Pantaleon was also the son of Alyattes, and brother of Croesus, but not by the same mother : Alyattes had Croesus by a Carian and Pantaleon by an Ionian wife. But when, agreeably to the will of his father, Croesus took pos- session of the throne, he destroyed, in a fuller's mill, this man, who had opposed him : his wealth he distri- buted in the manner we have before related, in com- pliance with a vow Avhich he had formerly made. Such is the history of the offerings of Croesus. XCIII. If we except the gold-dust which descends from Mount Tmolus,^ Lydia can exhibit no curiosity 1 When Cropsus mounted the Lydian throne he divided the kingdom with his brother. A Lydian remarked to him that the sun obtains to mankind all the comforts which the earth produces, and tliat, depri\^ed of its influence, it would cease to he fruitful, liut if there were two suns, it were to be feared that every thing would be scorched and perish. For this reason the Lydians have hut one king ; him they regard as their protector, but tliey will not allow of two. — S'tobctus. 2 The country about JMount Tmolus, which comprehended the plain watered by the Ilermus, was always remarkable for its fertility and beauty ; and whoever will be at the pains to consult Chandler's Travels Avill find that it has lost but little of its ancient claims to admiration.— T. BOOK I. — CLIO. 79 which may vie with those of other countries. It boasts however of one monument of art, second to none but those of the Egyptians and Babylonians. It is the sepulchre of Alyattes,^ father of Croesus. The groundwork is composed of immense stones ; the rest of the structure is a huge mound of earth. The edi- fice was raised by men of mean and mercenary occu- pations, assisted by young women. On the summit of this monument there remained, within my remem- brance, five termini, on which were inscriptions to ascertain the performance of each, and to intimate that the women accomplished the greater part of tlie work. All the young Λvomen of Lydia sell them- selves, by which they procure their marriage-portion ; this they afterwards dispose of as they think proper. The circumference of the tomb is six furlongs and two plethra, the breadth thirteen plethra; it is terminated by a large piece of water, which the Lydians aifirm to be inexhaustible, and is called the Gygean lake.^ XCIV. The manners and customs of the Lydians do not essentially vary from those of Greece, except in this sale of the young women. They are the first people on record who coined gold and silver^ into money, and traded in retail. They claim also the in- vention of certain games, Avhich hare since been prac- tised among the Grecians, and which, as they say, 1 The remains of this barrow are still conspicuous within five miles of Sardis, now called Sart. The industrious Dr. Chandler informs us that the mould which has been washed down conceals the basement ; but that and a considerable treasure might be discovered, if the barrow were opened. — See Chandler's Travels. 2 Still remains. — T. 3 Who were really the first people that coined gold money, is a question not to be decided. According to some, it was Phidon, king of Argos ; according to others, Demodice, the wife of Midas. — Larcher. 80 HERODOTUS. were first discovered at the time of their sending a colony into Tyrrhenia. The particulars are thus re- lated : — In the reign of Atys, the son of Menes, all Lydia was reduced to the severest extremity by a scarcity of corn. Against this they contended for a considerable time by patient and unremitted industry. This not proving' effectual, they sought other re- sources, each one exerting his own genius. On this occasion they invented bowls, and dice, with many other games : of chess however the Lydians do not claim the discovery. These they applied as an alter- native against the effects of the famine.^ One day they gave themselves so totally to their diversions as to abstain intirely from food : on the next they refrained from their games, and took their necessary repasts. They lived thus for the space of eighteen years : but when their calamity remitted nothing of its violence, but rather increased, the king divided the whole nation by lot into two parts, one of which was to continue at home, tlie other to migrate elsewhere. They Λνΐιο stayed behind retained their ancient king ; the emigrants placed themselves under the conduct of his son, whose name was Tyrrhenus. These leaving their country, as had been determined, Avent to Smyr- na, Avhere building themselves vessels for the purpose of transplanting their property and their goods, they removed in search of another residence. After visiting different nations, they arrived at length in Umbria. Her^ they constructed cities, and have continued to the pre- 1 Tliat the Lydians may have been the inventors of games 13 very probable ; that under the pressure of famine, they might detach half their nation to seek their fortune else- ΛvhθΓe, is not unlikely ; out that to soften their miserable situation, and to get rid of the sensations of hunger, they should eat only every other day, and that for the space of eighteen years, appears perfectly absurd. — Lurcher, BOOK I. — CLIO. ^1 sent period, changing their ancient appellation of Ly- dians, for that of Tyrrhenians,* after the son of their former sovereign. XCV. We have before related how these Lydians were reduced under the dominion of Persia. It now becomes necessary for us to explain who this Cyrus, the conqueror of Croesus, was, and by what means the Per- sians obtained the empire of Asia. I shall follow the authority of those Persians who seem more influenced by a regard to truth, than any partiality to Cyrus; not ignorant however that there are three other narratives^ of this monarch. — The Assyrians had been in posses- sion of Upper Asia for a period of five hundred and twenty years. The Medes first of all revolted from their authority, and contended with such obstinate braΛ'ery against their masters, that they were ulti- mately successful, and exchanged servitude for free- dom. Other nations soon followed their example, who, after living for a time under the protection of their own laws, were again deprived of their freedom on the following occasion. XCVI. There was a man among the Medes, of the name of Deioces, of great reputation for his Λvisdom, 1 It was these Tyrrhenians, or Etruscans, who taught the Romans their games and combats, in which they excelled, especially in racing with chariots. For the same reason^ most of the great number of Etruscan monuments found in Italy relate to sport and games ; which confirms what authors say of the Lydians, and of the Etruscans who are sprung from them. — Moritfaucon. 2 Ctesias, in the fragments of his Persian history, pre- served by Photius, differs from Herodotus in his account of the origin and exploits of Cyrus. What Xenophon relates in his Cyropaedia is familiar to every one. .Eschylus, an author of great antiquity, who fought at JNIarathon against the troops of Darius, and who was also in the battles of Salamis and Platea, has in his tragedy intitled the Persians followed a different tradition from them all. — Lurcher, HER. VOL. I. F 82 HERODOTUS. whose ambitious views were thus disguised and exer- cised : — The Medes were divided into diiferent dis- tricts, and Deioces was distinguished in his own by his vigilant and impartial distribution of justice. This he practised in opposition to the general depravity and weakness of the government of his country, and not unconscious that the profligate and the just must ever be at war with each other. The Medes who lived nearest him, to signify their approbation of his in- tegrity, made him their judge. In this situation, having one more elevated in view, he conducted him- self with the most rigid equity. His behavior ob- tained the highest applause of his countrymen ; and his fame extending to the neighboring districts, the people contrasted his just and equitable decisions with the irregularity of their own corrupt rulers, and unanimously resorted to his tribunal, not suffering any one else to determine their litigations. XCVII. The increasing fame of his integrity and Avisdom constantly augmented the number of those who came to consult him. But when Deioces saw the pre-eminence which he was so universally allowed, he appeared no more on his accustomed tribunal, and de- clared that he should sit as a judge no longer ; inti- mating that it was inconsistent for him to regulate the aifairs of otliers, to the intire neglect and injury of his own. After this, as violence and rapine prevailed more than ever in the different districts of the Medes, they called a public assembly to deliberate on national affairs. As far as I have been able to collect, they who were attached to Deioces delivered sentiments to this effect : — * Our present situation is really intolerable ; let us therefore elect a king, that we may have the advantage of a regular government, and continue our usual occupations, without any fear or danger of mo- BOOK I. — CLIO. 83 lestation/ In conformity to these sentiments, the Medes determined to have a king. XCVIII. After some consultation about Λvhat per- son they should choose, Deioces was proposed and elected with universal praise. On his elevation he re- quired a palace to be erected for him suitable to his dignity, and to have guards appointed for the security of his person. The Medes, in compliance with his request, built him a strong and magnificent edifice ' in a situation which he himself chose, and suft'ered him to appoint his guards from among the whole nation. Deioces, as soon as he possessed the supreme autho- rity, obliged the Medes to build a city, which, with respect to its ornament and strength, was to have a pre-eminence above all the rest. They obeyed him in this also, and constructed what we now call Ecba- tana. Its walls were strong and ample, built in circles one Avithin another, rising each above each by the height of their respective battlements. This mode of building was favored by the situation of the place, Avhich was a gently rising ground. They did yet more : the city being thus formed of seven circles, within the last stood the king's palace and the royal treasury. The largest of these walls is nearly equal in extent to the circumference of Athens ; this is of a white color, the next to it is black, the next purple, the fourth blue, the fifth orange : thus the battle- ments of each were distinguished by a difierent color. The two innermost walls are diiferently ornamented, one having its battlements plated with silver, the other with gold. 1 This palace was at the foot of the citadel, and about seven furlongs in circumference. The wood work was of cedar or cypress wood : the beams, the ceilings, the columns of the porticos, and the peristyles, were plated with either gold or silver ; the roofs were covered with silver tiles. The whole was plundered about the time of Alexander. — Lurcher. 64 HERODOTUS. XCIX. Such were the fortifications and the palace which were erected under the direction of Deioces, who commanded the body of the people to fix their habitations beyond the Avails Avhich protected his re- sidence. After which he was the first Avho instituted that kind of pomp which forbids access to the royal person, and only admits communication with him by intermediate agents, the king himself being never publicly seen. His edict also signified that to smile or to spit in the king's presence, or in the presence of each other, was an act of indecency. His motive for this conduct was the security of his power ; thinking, that if he were seen familiarly by those who were educated with him, born with equal pretensions, and not his inferiors in sdrtue, it might excite their regret and proA'^oke them to sedition. On the contrary, by his withdrawing himself from observation, he thought their respect for him would be increased. C. When Deioces had taken these measures to in- crease the splendor of his situation and the security of his power, he became extremely rigorous in his ad- ministration of justice. They who had causes to de- termine sent them to him in writing, by his official servants, which, with the decisions on each, he re- gularly returned. This was the form which he ob- served in judiciary matters. His proceeding with regard to penal offences was thus : Whenever he heard of any injury being perpetrated, and for this purpose he appointed spies and informers in difl'erent parts of his dominions, the offender was first brought to his presence, and then punished according to his offence. CI. Deioces thus collected tlie Medes into one nation, over which he ruled: the)'• consisted of the Busae, the Paretaceni, the Struchates, the Arizanti, the Budii, and the Magi. BOOK I. — CLIO. 85 CII. Deioces reigned fifty-three j^ears, and at his decease his son Phraortes succeeded to the throne. Not satisfied Λvith his hereditary dominions, he singled out the Persians as the objects of his ambitious views, and reduced them first of all under the dominion of the Medes. Supreme of these tΛvo great and power- ful nations, he overran Asia, alternately subduing the people of whom it Avas composed. He came at length to the Assyrians, and proceeded to attack that part of them which inhabited Nineveh.* These were formerly the first power in Asia: their allies at this period had separated from them ; but they were still, with regard to their internal strength, respectable. In the twenty-second year of his reign Phraortes,^ in an ex- cursion against this people, perished, Avith the greater part of his army. cm. He was succeeded by his son Cyaxares, grandson of Deioces. He is reported to have been superior to his ancestors in valor, and was the first who regularly trained the Asiatics to military service, dividing them Avho had before been promiscuously con- founded, into companies of spearmen, cavalry, and archers. He it was who was carrying on war \vith the Lydians Avhen the engagement which happened in the day was suddenly interrupted by nocturnal darkness. Having formed an amicable connexion with the diiFe- reut nations of Asia beyond the Halys, he proceeded with all his forces to the attack of Nineveh, being equally desirous of avenging his father, and becoming master of the city. He vanquished the Assyrians in battle ; but Avhen he was engaged in the siege of Nineveh he Avas surprised by an army of Scythians, 1 Supposed to be the modern JMousul. — Pococke. 2 According to Herodotus, the reign of Deioces was .53 years, of Phraortes 22, of Cyaxares 12, of the Scythians 28, of Astyages So 3— total 150 years. 86 HERODOTUS. commanded by Madyas, son of Protothyas. Having expelled the Cimmerians from Europe, the Scythians had fotind their way into Asia, and, continuing to pursue the fugitives, had arrived at the territories of the Medes. CIV. From the lake Moeotis an expeditious traveller may pass to the river Phasis, amongst the Colchians, in the space of thirty days : it requires less time to pass from Colchis into Media, which are only separated by the nation of the Saspirians. The Scythians however did not come by this way, but, leaving Mount Cau- casus on their right, passed through the high country by a much longer route. Here they met with the Medes, who, in a fixed battle, lost not only the victory, but the empire of Asia. CV. The Scythians having obtained the intire pos- session of Asia, advanced towards Egypt. Psammiti- chus, king of Egypt, met them in Palestine of Syria, and, by presents and importunity united, prevailed on them to return. The Scythians, on their march home- Avards, came to Ascalon, a Syrian city : the greater part of their body passed through without molesting it ; but some of them remaining behind, plundered the temple of the celestial Venus. Of all the sacred buildings erected to this goddess, this, according to my authorities, \vas far the most ancient. The Cy- prians themselves acknowlege that their temple Avas built after the model of this, and that of Cythera was constructed by certain Phoenicians, Avho came from this part of Syria. On the Scythians who plundered this temple, and indeed on all their posterity, the deity entailed a fatal punishment : they Avere afflicted with the female disease.' The Scythians themselves confess that their countrymen suffer this malady in 1 The catamenia, or nervous disorders. BOOK I. — CLIO. 87 consequence of the above crime : their condition also may be seen by those who visit Scythia, where they are called Enare^e. CVI. After possessing the dominion of Asia for a space of twenty-eight years, the Scythians lost all they had obtained by their licentiousness and neglect. The extravagance of their public extortions could only be equalled by the rapacity with which they plun- dered individuals. At a feast to which they Avere invited by Cyaxares and the Medes, the greater part of them were cut oif Avhen in a state of intoxication . The Medes thus recovered their possessions, and all their ancient importance ; after which they took Ni- neveh ; the particulars of which incident I shall here- after relate. They moreover subdued the Assyrians, those only excepted which inhabited the Babylonian district. Cyaxares reigned forty years, and then died ; but in this period is to be included the time in which the Scythians possessed the empire. CVII. His son Astyages succeeded to the throne : he had a daughter Λvhom he called Mandane ; she, in a dream, seemed to produce so great a quantity of water, that not only his principal city, but all Asia was overflowed. The purport of this vision, Avhen explained in each particular by the magi, the usual interpreters, terrified him exceedingly. Under this im- pression, he refused to marry his daughter, when she arrived at a suitable age, to any Mede Λvhose rank jus- tified pretensions to her. He chose rather to give her to Cambyses, a Persian, whom he selected as being of a re- spectable family, but of a very pacific disposition, though inferior in his estimation to the lowest of the Medes. CVIII. The first year after the marriage of his daughter Astyages saw another vision. A vine ap- peared to spring from his daughter, which overspread 88 HERODOTUS. all Asia. On this occasion also he consulted his interpreters : the result was, that he sent for his daughter from Persia, when the time of her delivery approached. On her arrival he kept a strict watch over her, intending to destroy her child. The magi had declared the vision to intimate that the child of his daughter should supplant him on his throne. Astyages, to guard against this, as soon as Cyrus was born sent for Harpagus, a person whose intimacy he used, on whose confidence he depended, and who indeed had the management of all his aifairs. He addressed him as follows : * Harpagus, I am ahout to use you in a business in which if you either abuse my confidence or employ others to do what I am anxious you should do yourself, you will infallibly lament the consequence. You must take the boy of Λνΐιοηι Man- dane has been delivered, remove him to your own house, and put him to death : you will afterwards bury him as you shall think proper.' * Sir,' he re- plied, ' you have hitherto never had occasion to cen- sure my conduct ; neither shall my future behavior give you cause of oiTence : if the accomplishment of this matter be essential to your peace, it becomes me to be faitliful and obedient.' CIX. On this reply of Harpagus the infant was delivered to his arms in rich apparel, and consigned to destruction. Returning home, he sought with tears the presence of his wife, to whom he related his con- ference with Astyages. When she inquired what it was his intention to do ; ' By no means,' he answered, ' the deed which Astyages enjoins. If he become still more infatuated, more mad than he at present appears, I will not comply Avith his desires, nor be accessary to this murder. The child is my relation : Astyages is old, and has no male offspring ; if, at his BOOK I. — CLIO. 89 decease, the sovereign autliority shall descend to this daughter, whose child he orders me to destroy, what extreme danger shall I not incur? It is expedient nevertheless, for my security, that the cbild should die, not however by the hands of any of my family, but by some other of his servimts/ ex. He instantly sent for a herdsman belonging to Astyages, who, as he knew, pursued his occupation in a place adapted to the purpose, amongst mountains frequented by savage beasts. His name was Mitri- dates ; his wife and fellow-servant was, in the Greek tongue, called Cyno, by the Medes Spaco;^ and Spaca is the name by which the Medes call a bitch. The place which he frequented with his herds was the foot of those mountains which lie to the north of Ecbatana, near the Euxine. This part of Media, to- wards the Saspires, is high and mountainous, and abounding with forests ; the rest of the country is a spacious plain. As soon as he arrived in his presence, Harpagus thus addressed him : ' Astyages commands you to take this infant,^ and expose him in the most unfrequented part of the mountains, that his death may be speedy and unaA^oidable. I am farther ordered 1 It is not certain whether the dialect of the Medes and Persians was the same. In such remains as we have of the Persian lan:i,nase, Burton and Reland have not been able to discover any term like this. jNeveriheless LeFevre assure^ ys that the Hyrcanians, a people in suhjeciion to the Per- sians, call, even at the present time, a dog by the word Spac. — Larcher. 2 Various passages in this part of our work will neces- sarily bring to the mind of the reader the ^V inter's Tale of Shakspeave. The speech of the king to Antigonus minutely resembles this : Take it up straight. Within this hour bring me word 'tis done. And by good testimony, or I'll seize thy life, &c.— -Γ. 90 HERODOTUS. to assure you, that if you evade this injunction, and are by any means accessary to his preservation, you must expect torture and death. I am myself com- manded to see the child exposed.' CXI. When the herdsman had received his orders, lie took the child, and returned to his cottage. His wife, who had been in labor all the preceding part of the day, was providentially delivered in his absence. Both had been in a state of solicitude : the sitviation of his Λvife gave alarm to the husband ; and the wo- man, on her part, feared for him, from the unusual circumstance of his being sent for to Harpagus. His return was sudden and unexpected, and his Avife dis- covered much anxiety to know why Harpagus had sent for him in such haste. * As soon,' said he, ' as I got into the city, I both saw and heard what I could wish had never befallen the families of our masters : I found the house of Harpagus in extreme affliction ; entering which with the greatest terror, I saw an infant panting and screaming on the ground, dressed in rich and splendid clothing. Harpagus, the moment he saw me, commanded me to take the child, and without any hesitation expose it on such part of our mountains as is most frequented by wild beasts ; tell- ing me, moreover, that Astyages himself had assigned this office to me, and threatening the severest punish- ment in case of disobedience. I took the child, con- ceiving it to belong to one of the domestics, never supposing who it really was. The richness, however, of its dress excited my astonishment, which was in- creased by the sorrow that prevailed in the family of Harpagus. But on my return, the servant who, co;a7 ducting me out of the city, gave the infant to my hand, explained each particular circumstance. He informed me that it is the oiFspring of Mandane, the daughter of BOOK I. — CLIO. 91 Astyages, and of Cambyses, son of Cyrus. This is the infant Avhose death Astyages commands.' CXII. The herdsman finished, and produced the child to his Avife. Struck Avith his appearance of beauty and of strength, she embraced the knees of her husband, and conjured him not to expose the child. He observed, that it Λvas impossible to comply with her request, as Harpagus would send to see that his orders were executed, and had menaced him with a most cruel death if he failed in his obedience. The woman not succeeding by this, took another method. * Since,' she replied, 'you are determined in your purpose, and there will be witnesses to see that the child is in reality exposed, attend to what I propose : I have been delivered of a dead child : let this be ex- posed, and let us preserve and bring up the grand- child of Astyages as our own. You will thus appear faithful to your superiors, without any injury to our- selves ; the child which is dead will be honored Avith a sumptuous funeral, and that which survives will be preserved.' CXIII. The man approved of the pertinent proposal of his Λvife, with Λvhich he immediately complied. The infant whom he was to have destroyed he gave to the care of his wife : his own child, which was dead, he placed in the cradle in which the other had been brought, dressed it in the other's costly clothing, and exposed it on a desert mountain. After three days he left one of his domestics to guard the body, and went again to the house of Harpagus in the city, signifying himself ready to show that the child Avas dead. Har- pagus sent some on whose fidelity he could depend to examine into the matter : they confirmed the report of the herdsman, and the child was buried. The herdsman's child was thus interred ; the other, who 92 HERODOTUS. was afterwards called Cyrus, was Lrouglit up carefully by the wife of the herdsman, and called by some other name. CXIV. When he arrived at the age of ten years the foΠoΛviΏg accident discovered who he was : — He was playing in the village, Avhere Λvere the herds of his supposed father, with other boys of the same age with himself. Though reputed to be the son of the herdsman, his playmates chose him for their king. He, in consequence, assigned them their difi'erent sta- tions : some were to superintend buildings, others were to be guards ; one was to be his principal minister, another his master of the ceremonies ; and each had his particular office. Among these children happened to be the son of Artembaris, who was a Mede of considerable distinction. He, refusing to obey the commands of Cyrus, was, at his orders, seized by his playfellows, and severely beaten. The pride of the boy was vehemently ofl'ended ; and the moment he was at liberty he hastened to the city to inform his father how much he had suiFered from the insolence of Cyrus. He did not indeed call him Cyrus, which was not then his name ; but he described him as the son of the herdsman of Astyages. Artem- baris went immediately in great rage to Astyages, taking his son with him. He complained of the in- dignity Avhich had been offered, and showed what marks of violence his son had received. ' Thus, sir,' said he, ' have we been insulted by the son of a herds- man, your slave.' CXV. Astyages, on receiving this complaint, which he observed to be justly founded, was anxious to punish the insult which Artembaris had received ; he accordingly sent for the herdsman and his reputed child. On their appearance, Astyages, looking at BOOK I. — CLIO. 93 Cyrus, * Do you,* said he, * meanly descended as you are, dare to inflict stripes on the son of one of my nohles V ' My lord,' said he, in reply, ' Λvhat I have done I am able to justify ; the boys among whom I live, and this with the rest, did, in play, elect me their king, because, as I suppose, I seemed to them the most proper for this situation. Our other playfelloΛvs obeyed my commands ; this boy refused, and was punished : if on this account you deem me worthy of chastisement, I am here to receive it.'» CXVI. As soon as the boy had spoken, Astyages conjectured who he was ; every thing concurred to confirm his suspicions; his resemblance of himself; his ingenuous countenance and manners, and the seeming correspondence of his age. Struck by the force of these incidents, Astyages was a long time silent. He recovered himself with difficulty, and wishing to dismiss Artembaris, for the purpose of examining the herdsman Avithout witnesses, ' Artem- baris,' said he, ' I will take care that neither you nor your son shall have just reason of complaint,* When Artembaris retired Cyrus was conducted by attendants into some inner room, and the herdsman being left alone with the king, was strictly interro- gated whence and from whom he had the child. He replied, that he was his own child, and that his mother was yet alive : Astyages told him that his indiscretion would only involve him in great dangers. Saying this, he ordered his guards to seize him. Reduced to this extremity, he explained every particular of the 1 None of these particulars of the early life of Cyrus, previous to his being sent to his parents in Persia, are re- lated by Xenophon. — T. 94 HERODOTUS. business, and concluded with earnest entreaties for mercy and forgiveness. CXVII. Astyages, convinced that his herdsman had spoken the truth, felt but little with respect to him ; but he was violently incensed against Harpagus, whom he sent for to his presence. As soon as he appeared, ' Harpagus,' said he, ' by what kind of death did you destroy the son of my daughter?' Harpagus saw the herdsman present, and was therefore conscious that unless he spoke the truth he should be certainly de- tected. ' Sir,' he replied, * as soon as I received the infant, I revolved in my mind the best method of satisfying your wishes, and of preserving myself inno- cent of the crime of murder, both with respect to your daughter and yourself : I determined therefore to send for this herdsman, and delivering to him the child, I informed him that it was your command that he should put him to death ; in this I used no false- hood, for such were your commands. I farther en- joined him to expose the infant on a desert mountain, and to be himself the witness of his death, threatening him with the severest punishment in case of dis- obedience. When he had fulfilled his commission, and tlie child was dead, I sent some of my confidential ser- vants to witness the fact, and to bury the body. This, sir, is the real truth, and the child Λvas thus destroyed.' CXVin. Harpagus related the fact without pre- varication ; but Astyages, dissembling the anger which he really felt, informed him of the confession of the herdsman, and finisiied his narration iu these words : ' The child is alive, and all is well : I was much af- flicted concerning the fate of the boy, and but ill could bear the reproaches of my daughter. But as the matter has turned out well, you must send your son to our young stranger, and attend me yourself at supper. I BOOK I. — CLIO. 95 have determined, in gratitude for the child's preserva- tion, to celebrate a festival in honor of those deities who interposed to save him/ CXIX. Harpagus, on hearing this, made his obei- sance to the king, and returned cheerfully to his house, happy in the reflection that he Avas not only not pu- nished for his disobedience, but honored by an invita- tion to the royal festival. As soon as he arrived at his house, he hastily called for his only son, a boy of about thirteen, ordering him to hasten to the palace of Asty- ages, and to comply with Avhatever was commanded him. He then related to his wife, with much exulta- tion, all that had happened. As soon as the boy ar- rived Astyages commanded him to be cut in pieces, and some part of his flesh to be roasted, another part boiled, and the whole made ready to be served at table. At the hour of supper, among other guests, Harpagus also attended. Before the rest, as Avell as before Asty- ages himself, dishes of mutton were placed, but to Harpagus all the body of his son was served, except the head and the extremities, which were kept apart in a covered basket. After he seemed well satisfied with what he had eaten, Astyages asked him how he liked his fare : Harpagus expressing himself greatly delighted, the attendants brought him the basket which contained the head and extremities of his child, and desired him to help himself to what he thought proper. Harpagus complied, uncovered the vessel, and beheld the remains of his son.' He continued hoAvever master of himself, and discovered no unusual emotions. AVhen 1 A similar example of revenge occurs in Titus xVndro- nicus. Titus. Why, there they are, both baked in that pie, Whereof their mother daintily hath fed ; Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.— T. 9β HERODOTUS. Astyages inquired if he knew of what flesh and of what Avild beast he had eaten, he acknowleged that he did, and that the king's ΛνίΠ was always pleasing to him.* Saying this, he took the remnants of the body and returned to his house, meaning, as I suppose, to bury them together. CXX. Astyages thus revenged himself on Harpa- gus ; but deliberating about the destiny of Cyrus, he sent for the magi who had before interpreted his dreams. On their appearance, he requested to know their sentiments of the vision he had formerly ex- plained to them. They persevered in their former declaration, that if the boy survived he would infalli- bly be king. ' The boy is alive and Avell,' returned Astyages : ' the children of the village Λvhere he lived elected him their king, and he has actually performed all the essential duties of the regal office. He ap- pointed his guards, his messengers, and different at- tendants, and in all respects exercised kingly autho- rity : concerning this, what do you determine V * If,' answered the magi, ' the boy really survives, and has reigned as a monarch, in the accidental manner you describe, rely on this, and dissipate your fears; de- pend on it he ΛνΙΙΙ reign no more : things of trifling moment frequently accomplish what we seriously fore- tell, and dreams in particular will often prove of littio 1 This reply of Harpagus, worthy of a servile courtier, brings to mind one of an English nobleman no less despi- cable. Edgar, king of England, liaving killed Etbelwold in the forest of Ilarewood, the son of that nobleman arrived soon afterwards on the spot ; the king, showing him the body of his fatlier, asked him how he found the game? The young man replied with perfect indifterence, ' Tliat wliatever was agreeable to tlie prince could not possibly displease him.' The above anecdote is related by Larcher from William of Malmsbury. :dvi BOOK I. — CLIO. 97 or no importance.' — Ί confess/ replied Astyages, 'that I am of the same opinion ; the boy having been nomi- nally a king, has fulfilled the purport of my dream, and I need alarm myself no more about him. Do not you, however, remit your assiduity, but consult both for my security and your own.' — ' Sir,' answered the magi, * it is of particular importance to us that your authority sliould continue ; it might otherwise descend to this boy, who is a Persian : in that case we, who are Medes, shall be reduced to servitude; the Persians would despise us as foreigners ; but whilst you, who are our countryman, reign over us, Λve enjoy some de- gree of authority ourselves, independent of the honors we receive from you : for these reasons we are particu- larly bound to consult for your safety and the perma- nence of your poAver. If any thing excited our appre- hension of the future, we would certainly disclose it : btit as your dream has had tliis trifling termination, •we feel great confidence ourselves, and recommend you to send the child from your presence to his parents in Persia.' CXXI. On hearing this Astyages was rejoiced ; and sending for Cyrus — ' My child,' said he, ' I was formerly induced, by the cruel representation of a dream, to treat you injuriously; but your better genius preserved you. Go therefore in peace to Persia, whither I shall send proper persons to conduct you ; there you Λνίΐΐ see your parents, who are of a very different rank from the herdsman Mitridates and his wife.' , CXXII. Astyages having thus spoken, sent Cyrus away : on his being restored to the house of his parents, they, who had long since thought him dead, received l|im with tenderness and transport. They inquired by what means he had been preserved : he told them in HER. VOL. I. G 99 HERODOTUS. reply, that he was iutirely ignorant of his birth, and had been involved in much perplexity ; but that every thing had been explained to him on his journey to them. He had really believed himself the son of the herdsman of Astyages before his conductors explained to him the particulars of his fortune. He related with what tenderness he had been brought up by the wife of the herdsman, whose name, Cyno, he often repeated with the Λvarmest praise. The circumstance of her name his parents laid hold of to persuade the Persians that Providence had, in a particular manner, interposed to save Cyrus, who, Λvhen exposed, had been preserved and nourished by a bitch ; which opinion afterwards prevailed. CXXIII. As Cyrus grcAv up, he excelled all the young men in strength and gracefulness of person. Harpagus, λυΙιο was anxious to be revenged on Asty- ages, was constantly endeavoring to gain an interest with him, by making him presents. In his own private situation he could have but little hope of obtaining the vengeance he desired ; but seeing Cyrus a man, and one whose fortunes bore some resemblance to his own, he much attached himself to him. He had some time before taken the following measure : — Asty- ages having treated the Medes with great asperity, Harpagus took care to communicate with the men of the greatest consequence among them, endeavoring by his insinuations to promote the elevation of Cyrus, and the deposition of his master. Having thus pre- pared the way, he contrived the following method of acquainting Cyrus in Persia with liis own private senti- ments, and the state of aH'airs. The communication betwixt the two countries being strictly guarded, he took a liare, opened its paunch, in which he inserted a letter, containing tlie information he Avished to give. BOOK I. — CLIO. 99 and then dexterously sewed it up again. The hare, with some hunting nets, he intrusted to one of his servants of the chase, on whom he could depend. The man was sent into Persia, and ordered to deliver the hare to Cyrus himself, who was entreated, to open it with his own hands, and without witnesses. CXXIV. The man executed his commission: Cyrus received the hare, which having opened as directed, he found a letter to the following purport : ' Son of Cam- byses, Heaven evidently favors you, or you never could have risen thus superior to fortune. Astyages meditated your death, and is a just object of your vengeance ; he certainly determined that you should perish ; the gods and my humanity preserved you. With the incidents of your life I believe you are acquainted, as well as with the injuries which I have received from Astyages for delivering you to the herdsman, instead of putting you to death. Listen but to me, and the authority and dominions of Astyages shall be yours : having preA^ailed on the Persians to revolt, undertake an ex- pedition against the Medes. If I shall be appointed by Astyages the leader of the forces which oppose you, our object will be instantly accomplished, which I may also venture to affirm of each of our first nobility ; they are already favorable to your cause, and wait but the opportunity of revolting from Astyages. All things being thus prepared, execute what I advise without delay.' CXXV. Cyrus, on receiving this intelligence, re- 1 volved in his mind what would be the most effectual weans of prevailing on the Persians to revolt. After mucli deliberation, he determined on the following stra- tagem. He dictated the terms of a public letter, and called an assembly of his countrymen. Here it was pro- duced and read, and it appeared to contain his appoint- 100 HERODOTUS. ment by Astyages to be general of the Persians : ' And now, Ο Persians !' he exclaimed, ' I must expect each of you to attend me with a hatchet.' This command he issued aloud to the Persians, of Λvhom there are various tribes. Of those Avhom Cyrus assembled, and per- suaded to revolt from the Medes, the following are the principal : the Arteatfe, the Pers«, Pasargadae, Mara- phii, and Maspians : of these, the Pasargadas are the most considerable ; the Achaemenidae are those from wdiom the Persian monarchs are descended. The Pan- thialcei, Derusiaei, and Germanians,' follow lab©*ious employments ; the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, and Sargar- tians, are feeders of cattle. CXXVI. They all assembled in the manner they were commanded, and Cyrus directed them to clear, in the space of a day, a certain woody inclosure, which Λvas eighteen or twenty furlongs in extent. When they had executed their task, they were desired to attend the following day to feast and make merry : for this purpose Cyrus collected and sIcav all the goats, sheep, and oxen, w hich were the property of his father ; and farther to promote the entertainment of the Per- sians, he added rich wines and abundance of delicacies. The next day, when they were met, he desired them to recline on the grass and enjoy themselves. When they were satisfied he inquired of them which day's fare delighted them the most : they replied, the con- trast betwixt the tAvo was strong indeed, as on the first day they had nothing but Avhat was bad, on the second 1 The Germanians are the same as the Caramanians. Some authors affirm the ancient Germans to have been descended from tliis people. Cluvier has %\-ith mucli politeness ex- plained their mistake. ' 13ut,' adds JM. ^^ esseling, • there are some individuals of such wayward tempers, who, since the discovery of corn, still prefer the feeding on acorns.' — Larcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 101 every thing that was good. On receiving this answer Cyrus no longer hesitated to explain the purpose wJiich he had iu view: ' Men of Persia !' he exclaimed, ' you are the arbiters of your own fortune ; if you obey me, you will enjoy these and greater advantages, with- out any servile toils : if you are hostile to my projects, you must prepare to encounter Λvorse hardships than those of yesterday. My voice is the voice of freedom ; Providence appears to have reserved me to be the in- strument of your prosperity : you are doubtless equal to the Medes in every thing, and most assuredly are as brave : this being the case, decline all future obedience to Astyages.' CXXVII. The Persians, who had long spurned at the yoke imposed on them by the Medes, were glad of such a leader, and ardently obeyed the call of liberty. Astyages was soon informed of the proceedings of Cyrus, and commanded his attendance. He returned for answer that he should probably anticipate the wish of Astyages to see him. Astyages on this collected his Medes, and urged by some fatal impulse, appointed Harpagus to command his forces, not remembering the injury he formerly had done him. His army was em- bodied ; the Medes met and engaged the Persians : they who were not privy to the plot fought with valor, the rest Avent over to the Persians : the greater part discovered no inclination to continue the combat, and hastily retreated. CXXVIII. Astyages hearing of the ignominious de- feat of his army, continued to menace Cyrus ; and ex- claimed, that he should still have no reason to exult. The first thing he did was to crucify the magi,' the 1 It appears from the sacred writings, that when the magi either were not able to interpret dreams or explain difficulties 102 HERODOTUS. interpreters of dreams, Λvho had prevailed on him to send Cyrus away. He then armed all his citizens, young and old, Avithout distinction. He led them against the Persians, and was vanquished : he himself was taken prisoner, and the greater part of his army destroyed. CXXIX. In his captivity Harpagus was present to insult and reproach him. Among other thing-s, he asked him what was his opinion of that supper, in which he had compelled a father to feed on the flesh of his child, a supper w^hich had reduced him from a monarch to a slave. In reply, Astyages requested to know if he imputed to himself the success of Cyrus. He confessed that he did, explained the means, and justified his conduct. Astyages told him that he was then the most foolish and wicked of mankind ; — most foolish, in acquiring for another the authority he might have enjoyed himself; most Avicked, for reducing his countrymen to servitude, to gratify his private revenge. If he thought a change in the government really neces- sary, and was still determined not to assume the supreme authority himself, justice should have induced him to have elevated a Mede to that honor rather than a Per- sian. The Medes, who were certainly not accessary to the provocation given, had exchanged situations with their servants ; the Persians, who were formerly the servants, were now the masters. CXXX. After a reign of thirty-five years, Asty- ages was thus deposed. To his asperity of temper the Medes owed the loss of their power, after possess- ing, for the space of one hundred and twenty-eight to the satisfaction of their tyrant masters, they were with little compunction condemned to die. See in particular the book of Daniel. The cruelty of Astyages is spoken of by Uiodorus Siculus, in his book De Virtutibus et Vitus.— T. BOOK I. — CLIO. 103 years, all that part of Asia which lies beyond the Halys, deducting from this period the short interval of the Scythian dominion. In succeeding times, from a disdain of their abased situation, they took up arms against Darius : their attempt proved unsuccessful, and they Λvere a second time reduced to servitude. From this period the Persians, who, under the conduct of Cyrus, had shaken off the power of the Modes, re- mained in undisturbed possession of Asia. Cyrus de- tained Astyages in captivity for the remainder of his life, but in no other instance ^ treated him with severity. — Such is the history of the birth, education, and suc- cess of Cyrus. He afterwards, as we have before re- lated, subdued Croesus, Λvho had attacked him unpro- voked : from which time he remained v.ithout competi- tion soΛ'ereign of Asia. CXXXI. My attention to the subject has enabled me to make the following observations on the manners and customs of the Persians. They have among them neither statues,^ temples, nor altars ; the use of Λvhich they censure as impious, and a gross violation of reason, probably because, in opposition to the Greeks, they do not believe tliat the gods partake of our human nature. Their custom is to offer from the summits of 1 Isocrates, in his funeral oration on Evagoras, king of Salainis, in Cyprus, says that Cyrus put Astyages to death. I do not find that this fact has been asserted by any other author. — Lurcher. 2 It is proper to remark here that the more ancient nations were not worshippers of images. Lucian tells us that the ancient Egyptians had no statues in their temples. Accord- ing to Eusebius the Greeks were not worshippers of images before the time of Cecrops, who first of all erected a statue to INIinerva And Plutarch tells us that Numa forbade the Romans to represent the deity under the form of a man or an animal ; and for seventy years this people had not in their temples any statue or painting of the deity. — Larcher, 104 HERODOTUS. the highest mountains^ sacrifices to Jove, distinguish- ing by that appellation all the expanse of the firma- ment. They also adore the sun, the moon, earth, fire, %vater, and the winds, which may be termed their ori- ginal deities. In aftertimes, from the examples of the Assyrians and Arabians, they added Urania^ to this number. The name of the Assyrian Venus is Mylitta, whom the Arabians call Alitta, and the Persians Mi- thra. CXXXII. Their mode of paying thqir deAotions to the above-mentioned deities, confirmed by undeviating custom, is to sacrifice to them Avithout altars or fire libations or instrumental music, garlands or conse- crated cakes ; but every individual, as he wishes to sacrifice to any particular divinity, conducts his Λάctim to a place made clean for the purpose, and makes his invocation or his prayers with a tiara enriched gene- rally with myrtle. The supplicant is not permitted to implore blessings on himself alone ; his Λvhole nation, and particularly his sovereign, have a claim to his prayers, himself being necessarily comprehended with the rest. He proceeds to divide his victim into several minute parts, which, when boiled, he places on the most delicate verdure he can find, giving the prefer- ence to trefoil. When things are thus prepared, one of the magi, without whose presence no sacrifice is 1 Λ"αη Dale remarks that the oracular temples were for the most part situated in moiinlainous places. 'J'he Scriptures also intimate that mountains and high phices Avere chosen as the properest theatres lor the display of religious enthusiasm. See Deuteronomy, chap. xii. ver. 2, 3. ' Ye shall utterly de- stroy the places Avherein the nations served their gods on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every tree,' &c. &ic. — T. 2 That is, the Uranian or celestial Venus, not the muse Urania. — 7'. BOOK I. — CLIO. lOS deemed lawful, stands up and chants the primeval origin of the gods, which they suppose to haΛ'e a sacred and mysterious influence. The worshipper after this takes with him, for his own use, such parts of the flesh as he thinks proper. CXXXIII. Among all their festivals each individual pays particular regard to his birthday, when they in- dulge themselves with better fare than usual. The more rich among them prepare on this day an ox, a horse, a camel, or an ass, which is roasted whole ; the poorer sort are satisfied Avith a lamb or a sheep : they eat but sparingly of meat, but are fond of the after dishes, Λvhich are separately introduced. From hence the Persians take occasion to say that the Grecians do not leave their tables satisfied, having nothing good to induce them to continue there — if they had they would eat more. Of wine they drink profusely: but they may not vomit before any one ; which customs they still observe. They are accustomed to deliberate on matters of the highest moment Avhen warm with wine ; but whatever they in this situation may determine is again proposed to them on the mor- row, in their cooler moments, by the person in Λvhose house they had before assembled. If at this tim.e also it meet their approbation, it is executed, otherwise it is rejected. Whatever also they discuss Avhen sober, is always a second time examined after they have been drinking. CXXXIV. If they meet at any time by accident, the rank of each party is easily discovered : if they are of equal dignity, they salute each other on the mouth ; if one is an inferior, they only kiss the cheek ; if there be a great difference in situation, the inferior falls prostrate on the ground. They treat with most respect those who live nearest to them ; as they be- 106 HERODOTUS. come more and more remote their esteem of each other diminishes ; for those Λvho live very distant from them tliey entertain not the smallest regard: esteeming themselves the most excellent of mankind, they think that the value of others must diminish in proportion to their distance. During the empire of the Medes there was a regular gradation of authority ; the Medes governed all as well as their neighbors, but these also were superior to those contiguous to them, who again held the next nation in subjection ; Avhich example the Persians followed Λvhen their dominions became ex- tended, and their authority increased. CXXXV. The Persians are of all men most in- clined to adopt foreign manners : thinking the dress of the Medes more becoming than their own, they wear it in preference. They use also, in their armies, the Egyptian breastplate ; they discover an ardor for all pleasures of which they have heard ; and each man has many wives, but many more concubines. CXXXVI. Next to valor in the field, a man is es- teemed in proportion to the number of his offspring ; to him who has the greater number of children the king every year sends presents ; their national strength depending, as they suppose, on their numbers. From their fifth to their twentieth year they instruct their children in three things only, the art of the bow, horsemanship,' and a strict regard to truth. Till hie 1 This in the time of Cyrus did not constitute a part of Persian education. The Persians at that period inhabiting a country mountainous, and Λvithout pasturage, could not breed horses ; but as soon as tliey had conquered a country suitable to this purpose, they learned the art of horseman- ship ; and Cyrus made it be considered as a disgraceful thing that any person to whom he liad presented a horse should go any where on foot, even to the smallest distance.— Ixircher, BOOK I. — CLIO. 107 fifth year a boy is kept in the female apartments, and not permitted to see his father : the motive of which is, that if the chikl die before this period, his death may give no uneasiness to the father. CXXXVII. This custom appears commendable: I cannot but think highly of that custom also, which does not allow even the sovereign to put any one to death for a single offence ; neither from any one provocation is a Persian permitted to exercise extreme severity in his family. Severity is there only lawful when, after careful examination, the offences are found to exceed the merits. They will not believe that any one ever killed his parent : when such accidents have ap- parently happened, they assert their belief that the child would, on inquiry, be found either to have been the produce of adultery, or spurious ; conceiving it altogether impossible that any real parent can be killed by his own offspring. CXXXVIII. Whatever they may not act with im- punity, they cannot mention without guilt. They hold falsehood in the greatest abhorrence ; next to which they esteem it disgraceful to be in debt, as well for other reasons, as for the temptations to falsehood, which they think it necessarily introduces. A leprous' Persian must neither enter the city, nor have communication with any of his countrymen ; this disease they always think occasioned by some offence committed against the sun.* 1 See the Mosaical prohibition concerning lepers, Xum- bers, chap. v. xer. 4. — T. 2 When.i^schines touched at Delos, on his way to Rhodes, the inhabitants of that island were greatly incommoded by a species of leprosy called the white leprosy. They imputed it to the anger of Apollo, because in contradiction to the custom of the place they had interred there the body of a man of rank.— La rc/ier. 108 HERODOTUS. If a foreigner is afflicted with it, he is tumultiicusly expelled the country. They have also, for the same reason, an aversion to white pigeons. To all rivers they pay extreme veneration ;^ they Avill neither spit, wash their hands, nor throw any filth in any of them ; and a violation of this custom may not happen with im- punity. CXXXIX. They have one peculiarity, Λvhich, though they are not aware of it themselves, is noto- rious to us ; all those Λvords Avhich are expressive of personal or of any other distinction, terminate in the Doric san, which is the same with the Ionic sigma: and attentive observation will farther discover that all the names of Persians end without exception alike. CXL. The above remarks are delivered without hesitation, as being the result of my own positive knowlege. They have other customs, concerning which, as they are of a secret natvire, I wi]l not pre- tend to express myself decisively : as to what relates to their dead, I will not affirm it to be true that these jiever are interred till some bird or dog has discovered a propensity to piey on them. This, however, is un- questionably certain of the magi, Avho publicly ob- serve this custom. The Persians first inclose the dead body in wax, and afterwards place it in the ground. Their magi are a distinct body of men, haΛing many peculiarities, which distinguish them from others, and from the Egyptian priests in particular. These last think it essential to their sanctity to destroy no ani-, mals but the victims of sacrifice. The magi except a,/: 1 The ancient Cuthites, and tlie Persians after them, had a g.reat veneration for fountains and streams, which also pre- vailed among other nations, so as to have been at one time almost universal. If these rivers were attended with any nitrous or saline quality, or with any fiery eruption, they were adjudged to be still more sacred. — Bnjatit, BOOK I. — CLIO. 100 man and a dog, but put other animals without com- punction to death. They even think it an action highly meritorious to destroy serpents, ants,' and the different species of reptiles. — After this digression I return to my former subject. CXLI. The lonians and .^olians, after the con- quest of Lydia by the Persians, immediately de- spatched ambassadors to Sardis, requesting Cyrus to receive them under his allegiance, on the terms \vhich Croesus formerly had granted them. Cyrus gave them audience, and made the following reply : ' A certain piper, observing some fishes sporting in the sea, began to play to them, in hopes that they would voluntarily throw themselves on shore ; disappointed in his ex- pectations, he threw his nets, inclosed a great number, and brought them to land ; seeing them leap about, ' You may be quiet now,* said he, ' as you refused to come out to me Λvhen I played to you.' Cyrus Avas induced to return this answer to the lonians and jilolians, because the lonians had formerly disre- garded his solicitations to withdraw their assistance from Crcesus, refusing all submission to Cyrus, till they were compelled by necessity to make it. This reply therefore of Cyrus Λvas evidently dictated by resentment ; which, as soon as the lonians had re- ceived, they fortified their towns, and assembled all of them at Panionium, except the Milesians : Cyrus had received these into his alliance on the conditions Avhich they had formerly enjoyed from Crossus. The general determination of the lonians Λvas to send am- bassadors to Sparta, who were in their common name to supplicate assistance. 1 This, says Larcher, is a precept of tiie Sadder. The learned Dr. Hyde considers the Sadder as fragments of the works of Zoroaster, the great Persian legislator. 110 HERODOTUS. CXLII. These loiiians, who are members of the Paiiionium, enjoy beyond all whom I have known purity of air and beauty of situation ; the country above and beloΛv them, as well as those parts which lie to the east and west, being in every respect less agreeable. Some of them are both cold and moist ; others parched by the extremity of the heat. Their language possesses four several distinctions. Miletus' is their first city towards the south, next to which are Myus and Priene ; all these are situate in Caria, and use the same language. In Lydia are the cities of Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Clazo- menae, Phoca?, which have a dialect peculiar to them- selves. There are three other cities properly called Ionian : two of these, Samos and Chios, are situated in islands ; the other, Erythraet, is on the continent. The Chians and Erythrteans speak alike ; the Samian tongue is materially difterent. These are the four discriminations of language to which we alluded. CXLIII. Of these lonians, the Milesians were in- duced to court the friendship of Cyrus, from appre- hensions of his power. The islanders had but little cause of fear, for the Persians had not yet subdued the Phoenicians, and were themselves ignorant of ma- ritime affairs. The general imbecility of Greece, and the small importance of the lonians in particular, were their motives for separating themselves from the body of that nation, of Avhich they constituted a part ; Athens, of all the Grecian cities, being the only one of any distinction. The appellation of lonians was 1 For a particular account of the modern names and cir- cumstances of these louian cities consult Chandler and Po- cocke. ^liletus Avas the birthplace of Tliales, Clazomenai of An- axagoras, Ephesus of Parrhasius, Colophon of Xenophanes, Teos of Anacreon. — T. BOOK I. — CLIO. Ill for this reason disdained by the Athenians, and some other lonians, which prejudice does not yet appear to be obliterated. In opposition to this, the above twelve cities are proiid of the name, and have in consequence erected a sacred edifice, Λvhich they call the Panio- niura.* They determined to admit no other of the Ionian cities to this temple, and the privilege was desired by those of Smyrna alone. CXLIV. The Dorians now inhabiting Pentapolis, which was formerly called Hexapolis, instituted a similar exemption ; not admitting the neighboring Do- rians, nor indeed some of their own people, Λνΐιο had violated a sacred and established custom, to the temple of Triope.^ The prize of these games, which were celebrated in honor of the Triopean Apollo, Λvas for- merly a tripod of brass, which the victor was not expected to carry aΛvay,^ but to leave as a votive offering in the temple of the deity. A man of Hali- carnassus, whose name was Agasicles, having ob- tained the victory, in violation of this custom carried the tripod to his own house, where it was openly sus- 1 About sixteen miles to the south of Scala Nuova there is a Christian village called Changlee. It is supposed to be the ancient Panionium, where the meeting of the twelve cities of Ionia was held, and a solemn sacrifice performed to Xeptune Heliconius, in which the people of Priene presided. — Ρσ- cocke. 2 Triopium was a city of Caria, founded by Triopas, son of Erisichthon. Hence the Triopean promontory took its name, where was a temple known under the name of the Triopean temple, consecrated to Apollo. The Dorians here celebrated games in honor of that god, but without joining with him Neptune and the nymphs. In this temple was held a general assembly of the Dorians of Asia, on the model of that of Thermopylie. — Larcher. 3 In the games in honor of Apollo and Bacchus the victor was not permitted to carry the prize aΛvay with him : it re- mained in the temple of the deity, with an inscription signi- fying the names of the persons at whose cost the games were celebrated, with that of the victorious tribe. — Larcher. 112 HERODOTUS. peiided. In punishment of this offence Halicarnassus was excluded from the participation of their religious ceremonies by the five cities of Lindus, Jalyssus, Ca- rairus, Cos/ and Cnidus.^ CXLV. It appears to me that the lonians divided themselves into twelve states, and were unwilling to connect themselves with more, simplj' because in Pe- loponnesus they Avere originally so circumstanced as are the Achceans at present, by whom the lonians were expelled. The first of these is Pellene near Sicyon, then ^^gira and yEgie, through which the Crathis flows with a never-failing stream, giving its name to a well-known river of Italy. Next to tliese is Bura, then Helice, to which place the lonians fled after being vancjuished in battle by the Achasans. Next follow yEgium,^ Rliypa?, Patras, Pharie, and Olenus, 1 Cos was the birthplace of Hippocrates. — T. 2 Cnidus was celebrated for being the birthplace of the historian Ctesias, and of the astronomer Eudoxus, and no less so from being possessed of the beautiful \'enus of Praxi- teles.— Γ. The medals struck at Cnidus in the times of -the Roman emperors represent, as may be presumed, the Venus of Prax- iteles. The goddess witli her right hand conceals her sex ; with her left she holds some linen over a vessel of perfumes. — Voyage du Jeiine Anacharsis. It is not perhaps unworthy of remark, that the celebrated Venus de Medici conceals with her left hand the distinction of her sex, Avhilst her riglit is elevated to her bosom. — T. 3 The inliabitants of this place having vanquished the -^tolians in a naval fight, and taken from them a vessel of fifty oars, they made an offering of the tenth part to the tem- ple of Delphi, at the same time they demanded of the god who were the bravest of the Greeks 1 The Pythian answered thus : ' The best cavalry are those of Thessaly ; the loveliest women are those of Sparta ; they who drink the water of the fair fountain of Arethusa are valiant ; but the Argives, who inhabit betwixt Terinthus and Arcadia, abounding in flocks, are more so. — As for you, Ο -i?>gians ! you are neither the third, nor the fourth, nor even the twelfth ; you inspire no rospect, nor are of the smallest importance.' — Lurcher , BOOK I. — CLIO. 113 which is vratered by Pirus, a considerable river. The last are Dyme, and Tritsea, the only inland city. CXLVI, These are the twelve states of the Achaeans, to which the lonians formerly belonged, Λvho, for this reason, constructed an equal number of cities in the country- Avhich they afterwards inliabited. That these are more properly lonians than the rest, it would be absurd to assert or to imagine. It is certain that the Abantes* of Euboea, who have neither name nor any thing else in common with Ionia, form a considerable part of them. They are, moreover, mixed with the Minyan-Orchomenians, the Cadmeans, Dryopians, Phocidians, Molossians, the Pelasgians of Arcadia, the Dorians of Epidaurus, and various other nations. Even those who, migrating from the Prytaneum of Athens, esteem themselves the most noble of all the lonians, on their first settling in the country brought no wives, but married a number of Carian women, whose parents they put to death. In consequence of this violence the women made a compact amongst themselves, which they delivered to their daughters, never to sit at meals with their husbands, nor to call them by their appropriate names ; which resolution was provoked by the murder of their parents, their husbands, and their children, and by their being after- wards compelled to marry the assassins. The above happened at Miletus. CXLVII. Of those chosen by these lonians for their kings, some Λvere Lydians, descended of Glaucus, the sou of Hippolochus, and others Caucon-Pylians, of 1 This people cut off their hair before, and suffered it to grow behind ; being a valiant race, they did this to prevent the enemy, whom they always boldly fronted, seizing them by the hair. For the same reason Alexander the Great ordered his generals to make the troops cut off their hair. — Letrchntqr.ii: :;.>: HEKV"^'^'^-^ VOL. I. Η 114 HERODOTUS. the race of Codrus, son of Melanthus. Of their Io- nian name these were more tenacious than the rest of their countrymen ; they are without question true and genuine lonians : but this name may, in fact, be ap- plied to all those of Athenian origin who celebrate the Apaturian festival;' from which it is to be ob- served that the Ephesians and Colophonians are alone excluded, who had been guilty of the crime of murder. CXLVIII. Panionium is a sacred place- on My- cale, situate towards the north, which by the universal consent of the lonians is consecrated to the Heliconian Neptune.^ Mycale is a promontory, projecting itself 1 This was first introduced at Athens, and thence derived to the rest of the lonians, Colophon and Ephesus alone ex- cepted. It continued three days: the first was called Dor- pia, from Dorpos, a supper ; on the evening of this day each tribe had a separate meeting, at which a sumptuous enter- tainment was prepared. The second day was named Anar- rusis. A'^ictims were oflfered to Jupiter and to Minerva, in whose sacrifices, as in all that were oftered to the celestial gods, it was usual to turn the head of the victims upwards towards heaven. The tliird day was called Koureotis, from Kouros, a youth, or Koura, shaving. The young men who presented themselves to be inrolled amongst the citizens had then tlieir hair cut oft'. At this time their fathers were obliged to swear that both themselves and the mothers of the young men were freehorn Athenians. For farther particulars on this subject consult Archbishop Potter's Antiquities of Greece. — T. 2 Ampelus and Omphalus were the same term originally, however varied afterwards, and diff"erently appropriated. They are each a compound from Omphe, and relate to the oracular deity. Ampelus, at Mycale in Ionia, was con- fessedly so denominated from its being a sacred place, and abounding with waters, by which people who. drank them were supposed to be inspired. — Bryant. 3 The lonians had a great veneration for Neptune ; they had erected to him a temple at Helice, a city of Achaia, when that country belonged to them. From tliis place the deity took his name of Heliconius. Homer calls him Heliconian BOOK 1. — CLIO. 115 westward towards Samos. On this moimtain the lonians assemble from their diiFerent cities to cele- brate the Panionia. Not only the proper names of these religious ceremonies, but those of all the other Greeks terminate, like the Persian proper names, in the same letter. CXLIX. The above are the cities of Ionia. Those of ^Eolia are Cyme, sometimes called Phryconis, Larissas, Neontichus, Temnos, Cilia, Notium, ^giro- essa, Pitane, ^Egaea, Myrina, and Grynia ; these were the original cities of TEolia. They were formerly twelve in number on the continent ; but Smyrna, which was one of them, the lonians divided from them. The country possessed by the yEolians is in itself more excellent than Ionia, though much inferior in the temperature of the air. CL. The loss of Smyrna was occasioned by the following incident. Some inhabitants of Colophon, who had raised a sedition, and had been driven from their country, were received into Smyrna. They watched their opportunity, and whilst the citizens Avere engaged in celebrating the rites of Bacchus Avithout the town, they secured the gates and took possession of the place. All the ^Eolians assembled for its relief. They afterwards came to terms, and it was agreed that the lonians should retain the city, restoring to the former inhabitants their household goods. The Smyrneans Avere in consequence divided king. The lonians giving place to the Achaians, carried with them to Athens, where they took refuge, the worship of Nep- tune : afterwards fixing in Asia, they constructed in honor of this divinity a temple, on the model of that at Helice. This temple was in the territories of Priene, to which place he who presided at the sacrifices was obliged to belong, its inhabitants giving out that they came from Plelice.— larc/ie/•. 116 HERODOTUS. among the other cities, with enjoyment of the different privileges annexed to each. CLI. The above are the ^olian cities on the con- tinent, among which we have not enumerated those of Mount Ida, which can hardly be said to make a part of their body. They have also in Lesbos * five to\vns ; there is a sixth, named Arisba, but this was subdued by the Methymneans, although allied to them by blood. They moreover possess a city in Tenedos,^ and another in the Hundred Islands. The inhabitants of Lesbos and Tenedos, as well as those of the Ionian islands, were, from their situation, secure from danger : the others indiscriminately agreed to folloΛv the direc- tion and example of the lonians. CLII. The lonians and ^Eolians made no delay in de- spatching ambassadors to Sparta, who, Avlien there, se- lected for their common orator a man of Phocaea, whose nan:;e Λvas Pythermus. Habited in purple,^ as a means of getting a greater number of Spartans together, he stood forth in the midst of them, and exerted all his 1 The names of Aiion and Terpander, of Pittacus, of Al- ciEus, and of Sappho, and, in aftertimes, of Theophanes the historian, concur in making the island of Lesbos a just object of classical curiosity. Arion and Terpander excelled all their contemporaries in the science and practice of music ; Pittacus was eminent for his wisdom ; and of AlciBus and Sappho little more need be said than that they have ever been considered as the founders of lyric poetry. A proper opportunity seems here to present itself of informing the English reader tliat what has been said of the dissolute manners of Sappho is only to be found in the works of those who lived a long time after her. The wines of l^esbos Avere esteemed the finest in Greece : it, is now called Mitylene, which was the name of the ancient capital of the island. — T. 2 The Grecian fleet Avhich proceeded against Troy lay here. It retains its name, is inhabited by Greeks and Turks, andj.^ according to Pococke, exports good wine and brandy. — 7', ' ;\i 3 This dress whs the most likely to make liim conspicuous>iI r as being particularly affected by women. — Lurcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 117 |)owers to ptevail on them to communicate their assist- ance. The Lacedaemonians paid no attention to him, and publicly resolved not to assist the lonians. On the departure of the ambassadors they nevertheless despatched a vessel of fifty oars to Avatch the proceed- ings of Cyrus, as well as of the lonians. Arriving at Phocsea, they sent forwards to Sardis one Lacrines, the principal man of the party, who was commissioned to inform Cyrus that the Lacedaemonians would resent whatever injury might be offered to any of the Grecian cities. CLIII. Cyrus gaA^e audience to Lacrines ; after which he inquired of the Grecians arour.«d him who these Lacediemonians were, and what effective poAver they possessed, to justify this lofty language. When he was satisfied in these particulars, he told the Spar- tan, ' That men who had a large void space in their city, Avhere they assembled for the purpose of defraud- ing each other, could never be to him objects of terror :' he farther observed, ' that if he continued but in health, he would take care that their concern for the Ionian troubles should be superseded by the greatness of their own.' Cyrus made this reflection on the Greeks from the circumstance of their having large public squares ' for the convenience of trade : the Persians have nothing of the kind. The care of Sardis Cyrus afterwards intrusted to Tabalus, a Persian ; the dispo- sition of the Lydian treasures he intrusted to Pactyas, a Lydian : Cyrus himself proceeded to Ecbatana, taking Croesus with him. The lonians he held in 1 I have my doubts whether Herodotus was not misinformed in this particular. Xenophon properly distinguishes the public square which was occupied by the houses of the magis- trates, and those appropriated to the education of youth, from those places in which provisions and merchandise were sold. — Lurcher, 118 HERODOTUS. trifling estimation, compared with what he expected in his views on Babylon and the Bactrians. He was prepared also for more serious resistance from the Sacians and Egyptians : he therefore resolved to take the command in these expeditions himself, and to in- trust one of his officers with the conduct of the Ionian war. CLIV. As soon as Cyrus had left Sardis Pactyas excited the Lydians to revolt. He proceeded towards the sea, and having all the wealth of Sardis at com- mand, he procured a band of mercenaries, and pre- vailed on the inhabitants of the coast to enlist under his banners ; he then encamped before Sardis, and besieged Tabalus in the citadel. CLV. Intelligence of this was brought to Cyrus on his march, who thus addressed Croesus on the subject: ' What will, in your opinion, Croesus, be the event of these disturbances ? The Lydians seem inclined to provide sufficient employment for me, and trouble for themselves. I am in doubt whether it will not be better to reduce them altogether to servitude. I ap- pear to myself in the situation of a man who, destroy- ing the parent, has spared the child. You, who were in every sense the parent of the Lydians, remain in captivity ; and yet I am surprised that they, to whom I have restored their city, rebel against my power.* Croesus, on hearing these sentiments of Cyrus, was alarmed for the safety of Sardis. * Sir,* he replied, ' your remarks are certainly reasonable ; but do not in your anger destroy an ancient city, which cannot Justly be accused of the former or present commotions. Of its preceding troubles I was the occasion, the pe- nalty of Λvhich I suffer in my own person. Pactyas, who has abused your confidence, is the author of the present ; let him therefore be the object of your BOOK I. — CLIO. 119 resentment ; but let the Lydians be forgiven, who may- be easily prevented from giving you trouble or alarm hereafter. Let their arms be taken from them ; let them be commanded to wear tunics under their cloaks, and buskins about their legs ; suffer them to instruct their children in dancing, music, and other feminine accomplishments; you will soon see them lose the dig- nity of manhood,* and be effectually delivered from all future apprehensions of their revolt/ CLVI. These suggestions Croesus was induced to make because he thought that even this situation would be better for his country than a state of actual servi- tude. He was well assured, that unless what he had urged was forcible, Cyrus would not be prevailed on to alter his determination. He reflected also on the probability of the Lydians revolting in future, if they escaped the present danger, and their consequent and unavoidable destruction. Cyrus took in good part the remonstrance of Croesus, with which, forgetting his resentment, he promised to comply. He in con- sequence despatched Mazares the Mede, who was commissioned to enforce these observances among the Lydians which Croesus had recommended. He farther ordered all those to be sold as slaves who had been active in the Lydian revolt, excepting Pactyas, whom he desired to be brought a prisoner to his presence. CLVII. These commands he issued in his progress, 1 These people became so effeminate, that the word hidi- zein signified to dance : the Romans also called dances and pantomimes ludiones and ludii, which words are derived, not from Indus, but from the Lydians ; for the Latins used Ludus, Surus, Suri, for Lydus, Syrus, and Syria. Xerxes compelled the Babylonians who had revolted from him to adopt a similar conduct. He forbade their carrying arms, and obliged them to learn the practice of music, to have in their cities places of debauch, and to wear long tunics.— Lurcher, 120 HERODOTUS. and he marched without delay to Persia. As soon as Pactyas was informed that an army was marching to oppose him, he fled in affright to Cyme. Mazares pro- ceeded instantly to Sardis, with a small division of the army of Cyrus. When he heard of the flight of Pac- tyas, his first step Avas to compel the Lydians to the observance of what Cyrus had commanded. This proved so eff'ectual that it produced a total change in the manners of the Lydians. Mazares then despatched messengers to Cyme, demanding the person of Pac- tyas : with this the Cymeans hesitated to comply, and first of all sent persons to consult the oracle of Bran- chidas for directions how to act. This oracle was of the greatest antiquity, and consulted both by the lo- nians and ^olians : it is in the territories of Miletus, beyond the port of Panormus.^ CLVIII. Their messengers were directed to in- quire what coriduct, with respect to Pactyas, would be most conformable to the will of the gods : they were in answer commanded to deliver him up to the Per- sians ; which step, on their return, was about to be followed. In contradiction to the general inclination, Aristodicus, son of Heraclides, a man exceedingly popular, distrusted the interpretation of the oracle and the fidelity of the messengers. He proposed there- fore that a second message of inquiry should be sent to the oracle, and he himself was among the persons appointed for this purpose. CLIX. On their arrival at Branchidae Aristodicus Λvas the person who addressed the oracle, Avhich he did thus : ' To avoid a cruel death from the Persians, Pactyas, a Lydian, fled to us for refuge ; the Persians 1 It will he proper to remeinber here that there were two places of this name, and tliat this must not he confounded with the port of Panormus in the vicinity of Ephesus. — Γ. BOOK I. — CLIO. 121 required us to deliver him into their hands : much as Λνβ are afraid of their power, we fear still more to Avithdraw our protection from a suppliant, till we know your immutable opinion of such conduct/ He nevertheless received the same answer ; and they were ordered to deliver up Pactyas. To give greater force to what he had said, Aristodicus made a circle round the temple, and from such nests as were huilt on the outside he took the young. In consequence of his doing this a voice is said to have exclaimed from the innermost recesses of the temple — ' Impious man ! how darest thou to injure those Λvho have sought my protection V In answer to this, Aristodicus replied vrith perfect composure — ' Are you attentive to those Avho have sought your protection, and do you command us to abandon those who have sought ours?' ' Yes,' returned the oracle, ' I do command it, that such im- pious men as you may perish the sooner, and that you may never more trouble me about delivering up suppliants.' CLX. The Cymeans, deliberating on this answer, resolved to take a middle step, that they might neither offend heaven by abandoning one who had sought their protection, nor expose themselves to the indigna- tion of Cyrus by refusing his request. Pactyas there- fore was privately despatched to Mitylene. From hence also Mazares demanded him, and for a certain com- pensation the inhabitants of Mitylene agreed to deliver him. This, however, as the matter Avas never brought to an issue, I pretend not positively to assert. The Cymeans, hearing the danger of Pactyas, sent a vessel to Lesbos, in which he was conveyed to Chios. He here took refuge in the temple of Minerva.* The 1 Minerva Poliouchos, the protectress of the citadel. All 122 HERODOTUS. Chians were prevailed on by tlie offer of Atarneus, a place in Mysia opposite to Lesbos, to take him forcibly from hence, and surrender him^ to his enemies. The Persians thus obtained the means of complying with the wish of Cyrus to have Pactyas delivered alive into his hands. Long hoAvever after this event the Chians refused to use any part of the produce of Atar- neus in any of their sacred ceremonies ; they ap- peared to hold it in particular detestation, and it was not in any form introduced in their temples. CLXI. After Pactyas had been given up by the Chians Mazares proceeded to reduce those to obedi- ence who had opposed Tabalus. The Prienians Λvere subdued and sold for slaves ; the plains of the Mean- der and the city of Magnesia were given up for plun- der to the soldiers : after these events Mazares fell a victim to a sudden disease. CLXII. Harpagus the Mede was appointed to suc- ceed him : this was the man whom Astyages had en- tertained with so unnatural a feast, and who had as- sisted Cyrus in obtaining the kingdom : him Cyrus appointed to the command of his army. On his arri- val in Ionia he blockaded the different towns by throwing up intrenchments before them : Phocasa \vas the first city of Ionia Λvhich thus fell into his hands. citadels were supposed to be under the protection of this goddess, where also she had usually a temple. Soon as to Ilion's topmost tower they come, And awful reach the high Palladian dome.— Pope, II. vi. 1 Charon the Lampsacenian, says Plutarch, a more ancient writer than Herodotus, relating this matter concerning Pac- tyas, charges neither the Mitylenians nor Chians with any such action. These are his Λvords : ' Pactyas, on hearing of the approach of the Persian army, fled first to Mitylene, then to C;hios, and fell into the hands of Cyrus.' — Plutarch on the malignity of Herodotus. BOOK I. — CLIO. 123 CLXIII. The Phocaeans were the first of the Greeks who made long voyages. The Adriatic and the Tyr- rhene seas, Iberia and Tartessus, were first of all ex- plored by them. Their vessels were not round, but of fifty oars. On their toiiching at Tartessus they con- ciliated the favor of Arganthonius, sovereign of the place; he had then governed the Tartessians for the space of eighty years, and he lived to the age of one hundred and twenty. On that occasion he formed such a regard for the Phocaeans, that, soliciting them to leave Ionia, he gave them permission to choose within his territories whatever situation they might prefer. On their refusal of his offer, and when he heard from them that the power of the Mede was continually in- creasing, he supplied them with money to build ΛvalIs to their city. The extent of the walls, which were of many furlongs, the size of the stones, with the skill of the workmanship, suflBciently attest the donor's libe- rality. CLXIV. The Phocaeans being thus provided with Λvalls, Harpagus advanced and attacked their city. He offered them terms, and engaged to leave them unmolested, if they would suffer one of their t0Λvers to be demolished, and give up some one edifice * for a sacred purpose. From their aversion to servitude, the inhabitants requested a day to deliberate on his 1 This passage is involved in some obscurity. The com- mentators understand a temple; M. Reiske wishes to make an addition of the word mitbre. But the Persians did not con- fine the deity within walls. Perhaps, says Wesseling, Har- pagus was satisfied with their consecrating one single build- ing, in token of subjection. For my own part, I think that the king, having a palace in every large town of his domi- nions, the building which Harpagus demanded was probably intended for his residence, whenever he might happen to visit Phocaja ; or it might perhaps be intended for the gover- nor, his representative.— Larc/ier, 124 HERODOTUS. proposal, desiring him in that interval to withdraw his forces. Harpagus avowed himself conscious of their intentions, but granted their request. Imme- diately on his retiring from their walls the Phocaeans prepared their fifty-oared galleys, in which they placed their families and effects. They collected also the statues and votive offerings from their temples, leaving only paintings, and such works of iron or of stone as could not easily be removed. With these they embarked, and directed their course to Chios. Thus deserted by its inhabitants, the Persians took possession of Phocaea. CLXV. On their arrival at Chios they made pro- positions for the purchase of the ^Enussae islands ; not succeeding in their object, as the Chians were afraid of being by these means injured in their commerce, the Phocasans proceeded to Cyrnus.^ In this place, twenty years before, they had, under some oracular direction, built a toAvn, to which they gave the name of Alalia. Arganthonius in the meanwhile had died, and the Phocieans in their way to Cyrnus touched at Phocaga, where they put to death every one of the garrison which had been left by Harpagus for the de- fence of the place. After this they bound themselves under solemn curses never to desert each other. They farther agreed by an oath never to return to Phoca?a till a red-hot ball which they threw into the sea should rise again. Notwithstanding these engage- ments, the greater part of them were, during the voyage, seized with so tender and such affectionate regret for their ancient residence, tliat they returned to Phocaea. Such of them as adhered to their former solemn resolutions proceeded in their course froK^, yEnussaa to Cyrnus. ^ 1 This is Corsica.— Γ. BOOK I. — CLIO. 125 CLXVI. Here they settled, lived in peace with th^f ancient inhabitants for the space of five years, and erected some temples. In consequence however of their committing depredations on all their neighbors, the Tyrrhenians and Carthaginians collected a fleet of sixty vessels to oppose them. The Phoceeans on their part were not inactive ; they also fitted out sixty ves- sels, and advanced to meet their adversaries on the Sardinian sea. The fleets engaged ; the Phocaeans conquered, but obtained what might be termed a Cad- mean victory.^ They lost forty of their vessels, and the twenty Λvhich remained were unfit for all service. Returning therefore to Alalia, they got together their families and eftects, loaded their ships with all that they could carry, and abandoning' Cyrnus, directed their course to Rhegium. CLXVII. On board the vessels Avhich were taken by the enemy were a number of prisoners, most of whom were carried on shore and stoned to death. After Λvhich enormity it happened that all the men, cattle, and diff"erent animals belonging to Agylla,^ which approached this spot, were seized with convul- sions, and deformity of one kind or other. This cir- cumstance, and a wish to atone for their crime, in- duced the people of Agylla to consult the Delphi-c oracle. The Pythian directed them to perform what is still observed as a custom among them : they insti- tuted magnificent funeral rites in honor of those who 1 The origin of this proverb is variously related. Suidas says, amongst other things, that it became a proverb, because Cadmus having destroyed the dragon M-hich guarded a foun- tain sacred to JMars, lived afterwards for the space of eight years in servitude to Mars. It was applied universally to those whose ostensible superiority was accompanied with real disadvantage. — T, 2 This was Caere in Etruria. 126 HERODOTUS. had been slain, and they introduced in their honor gymnastic and equestrian exercises. Such was the fate of this portion of the Phoceeans. They who re-^ tired to Rhegium took possession of a part of JEno^ tria, and built a city called Hyela. To this they were persuaded by a man of Posidonia, who instructed them that the oracle really intended them to build a mausoleum to the hero Cyrnus, and not a city in the island of that name. — Such is the history of the Pho- casans of Ionia. CLXVIII. The fortune of the Teians was nearly similar ; Harpagus having taken their city by blockade, they embarked, and passed over into Thrace ; here they built Abdera,' the foundations of which were ori- ginally laid by Timesius ^ of Clazomenae. He enjoyed no advantage from his labors, but was banished by the 1 Of this place many singularities are related by Lucian and Pliny. The grass of the country was so strong, that such horses as ate of it ran mad. The inhabitants were afflicted with a fever, which so disturbed their imaginations, that they fancied themselves actors, and were, during the delirium, eternally repeating some verses from the Andro- meda of Euripides. It produced however many famous men. It was the birthplace of Democritus, of Protagoras, Anaxarchus, Hecata^us, and others. — T. 2 Larcher, on the authority of Plutarch and ^lian, reads Timesias. The reading in all the manuscripts and editions of Herodotus is Timesius. Timesias was governor of Clazomenae, a man of great in- tegrity. Envy, which always persecutes such chai-acters, ultimately effected his disgrace. He was for a time regard- less of its consequences ; but it at length banished him from his country. He Avas passing by a school, before which the boys, dismissed by their master, were playing. Two of them were quarrelling about a piece of string. ' I wish,' said one of them, ' I might so dash out the brains of Timesias.* Hear- ing this, he concluded that if he was thus hated by boys as well as men, the dislike of his person miist be universal in- deed ; he therefore voluntarily banished himself. — Mlian. BOOK I. — CLIO. 127 Thracians, though now venerated by the Teians of Abdera as a hero. CLXIX. These lonians alone, through a warm attachment to liberty, thus abandoned their native country. The rest of these people, excepting the Milesians, met Harpagus in the field, and like their friends, who had sought another residence, fought like men and patriots. On being conquered, they con- tinued in their several cities, and submitted to the %nlls of their new masters. The Milesians, who, as I have before mentioned, had formed a league of amity with Cyrus, lived in undisturbed tranqviillity. Thus was Ionia reduced a second time to servitude. Awed by the fate of their countrymen on the continent, the lonians of the islands, Λvithout any resistance, sub- mitted themselves to Harpagus and Cyrus. CLXX. The lonians, though thus depressed, did not omit assembling at Panionium, where, as I have been informed, Bias of Priene gave them advice so full of wisdom, that their compliance with it would have rendered them the happiest of the Greeks. He recommended them to form one general fleet, to pro- ceed with this to Sardinia, and there erect one city capable of receiving all the lonians. Thus they might have lived in enjoyment of their liberties, and possessing the greatest of all the islands, might have been secure of the dependence of the rest. On the contrary, their continuance in Ionia rendered every expectation of their recovering their independ- ence altogether impossible. This, in their fallen con- dition, Avas the advice of Bias ; but before their cala- mities Thales the Milesian, who was in fact of Phoe- nician origin, had vvisely counselled them to have one general representation of the lonians at Teos, this being a central situation ; of which the other cities, 128 HERODOTUS. Still using their own customs and laws, might be con- sidered as so many different tribes. Such Λvere the different suggestions of these two persons. CLXXI. On the reduction of Ionia Harpagus in- corporated the lonians and ^Eolians Avith his forces, and proceeded against the Carians, Caunians, and Lycians. The Carians formerly were islanders, in subjection to Minos, and called Leleges. But I do not, after the strictest examination, find that they ever paid tribute. They supplied Minos, as often as he requested, with a number of vessels, and at the period of his great prosperity and various victories were distinguished above their neighbors by their ingenuity. Three im- provements now in use among the Greeks are im- puted to them. The Carians were the first who added crests to their helmets and ornaments to their shields. They were also the first Λvho gave the shield its handle.* Before their time, such as bore shields had no other means of using them but by a piece of lea- ther suspended from the neck over the left shoulder. At a long interval of time, the Dorians and lonians expelled the Carians, who, thus driven from the islands, settled on the continent. The above informa- tion concerning the Carians we receive from Crete ; they themselves contradict it altogether, and affirm that they are original natives of the continent, and had never but one name. In confirmation of this they 1 It appears from Homer that in the time of tbe Trojan war tbe buckler had two handles of wood, one tbrougb wbich tbe arm was passed ; tbe other Avas grasped by tbe band, to regulate its movement. See Iliad, b. viii. 193. This particu- larity is omitted by Mr. I'ope, wbo contents himself with saying, shield of gold. Tbe original is, the sbield is intirely of gold, bandies and all. — T. Sophocles therefore bas been guilty of an anachronism, in giving the sbield of Ajax a handle of leather. — Larcher, BOOK I. — CLIO, 12Q show at Mylassa,* a very ancient structure, built in honor of the Carian Jove, to the privileges of which the Lydians and Mysians are also admitted, as being of the same origin. According to their account Lydus, Misus and Cares were brothers ; the use of the above temple is therefore granted to their de- scendants, but to no other nation, though distinguished by the use cf the same language. CLXXII. The Caunians are in my opinion the ab- origines of the country, notwithstanding they assert themselves to have come from Crete, I am not able to speak with decision on the subject ; but it is certain, that they either adopted the Carian language, or the Carians accommodated themselves to theirs. Their laws and customs differ essentially from those of other nations, and no less so from the Carians, Among them it is esteemed highly meritorious to make drink- ing parties,, to which they resort in crowds, both men, women, and children, according to their diflerent ages and attachments. In earlier times they adopted the religious ceremonies of foreign nations ; but deter- mining after\vards to have no deities but those of their own country, they assembled of all ages in arms, and rushing forwards, brandishing their spears as in the act of pursuit, they stopped not until they came to the mountains of Calynda, crying aloud that they were expelling their foreign gods. CLXXIII, The Lycians certainly derive their origin t jS^ow called Melasso. Besides the temple here men- tioned there was another of great antiquity, in honor of Jupiter Osogus. In aftertimes a beautiful temple was con- structed here, sacred to Augustus and to Rome. It is at the present day remarkable for producing the best tobacco in Turkey.— Γ. HER. VOL. I. I 130 HERODOTUS. from Crete.' The whole of this island was formerly possessed l3y barbarians ; but a contest for the su- preme power arising between Sarpedon and Minos, the sons of Europa, Minos prevailed, and expelled Sarpedon and his adherents. These, in leaving their country, came to that part of Asia Λvhich is called Milyas. The country of the Lycians was formerly called Milyas, and the Milyans Avere anciently knoAvn by the name of Solymi. Here Sarpedon governed ; his subjects retained the names they brought, and indeed they are now by their neighbors called Ter- milians. Lj^cus, the son of Pandion, being also driven from Athens by his brother ^Egeus, Avent to Sarpedon, at Termilse ; in process of time the nation w^as, after him, called Lycians. Their laws are partly Cretan and partly Carian. They have one distinction from which they never deviate, which is peculiar to themselves ; they take their names from their mo- thers,^ and not from their fathers. If any one is asked concerning his family, he proceeds immediately 1 ΝοΛν called Candia. For an account of its precise cir- cnmstances consult Pococke. — T. 2 Belleroplion slew η wild boar, which destroyed all the cattle and fruits of the Xanthians, but for his services he re- ceived no compensation. He tberefore prayed to Neptune, and obtained from him, that all the fields of the Xantliians sliould exhale a salt dew, and be universally corrupted. This continued till, regarding the supplications of the women, he prayed a second time to Neptune to remove this eftect of his indignation from them. Hence a law was instituted amongst the Xanthians, that they should derive their names from their Tuothers, and not from their fathers. — Plutarch on the Virtues of Women. The country of the Xanthians was in Lycia. If this custom commenced with the Xanthians, the Lycians doubtless adopted it. Amongst these people the inheritance descended to the daughters, the sons Λvere excluded.— Larc/ier. BOOK I. — CLIO. 131 to give an account of his descent, mentioning the female branches only. If any free woman marries a slave, the children of such marriage are reputed free ; but if a man Λvho is a citizen, and of authority among them, marry a concubine, or a foreigner, his children can never attain any dignity in the state. CLXXIV. On this occasion the Carians made no remarkable exertions, but aiforded an easy victory to Harpagus. The Carians, indeed, were not less pusil- lanimous tlian all the Greeks inhabiting this district ; among whom are the Cnidians, a Lacedfemonian colony, \vhose territories, called Triopium, extended to the sea. The whole of this country, except the By- bassian peninsula, is surrounded Avith water ; on tlie north by the bay of Ceramus, and on the west by that sea which flows near Syme and Rhodes. Through this peninsula, which was only five furlongs in ex- tent, the Cnidians endeavored to make a passage, wliilst the forces of Harpagus were employed against Ionia. The Avhole of this country lying beyond the isthmus being their own, they meant thus to reduce it into the form of an island. Whilst they were engaged in this emplojment the laborers Λvere wounded in different parts of the body, and particularly ip the eyes, by small pieces of flint, which seemed to fly about in so Λvonderful a manner as to justify their apprehensions that sonje supernatural power had in- terfered. They sent therefore to make inquiries at Delphi what power it was which thus opposed their eflOrts ? The Pythian,' according to their ΟΛνη tradi- tion, answered them thus : 1 This answer of the oracle brings to mind an historica,! 'anecdote, which we may properly introduce here : — The Dutch offered Charles the Second of Spain to make the Tagus navigable as far as Lisbon, at tlieir own expense, provided 132 HERODOTUS. Nor build, nor dig ; for wiser Heaven Had, were it best, an island given. On this the Cnidians desisted from their purpose, and on the approach of the enemy surrendered themselves without resistance to Harpagus. CLXXV. The inland country beyond Halicarnassus was inhabited by the Pedasians. Of them it is af- firmed, that Λvhenever they or their neighbors are menaced by any calamity, a prodigious beard grows from the chin of the priestess of Minerva : this, they say, has happened three several times. They having fortified mount Lida, were the only people of Caria who discovered any resolution in opposing Harpagus. After many exertions of bravery, tliey were at length subdued. CLXXVI. When Harpagus led his army towards Xanthus, the Lycians boldly advanced to meet him, and though inferior in number, behaved with the greatest bravery. Being defeated, and pursued into their city, they collected their wives, children, and valuable effects, into the citadel, and there consumed the whole in one immense fire. They afterwards uniting themselves under the most solemn curses, made a private sally on the enemy, and Λvere every he would suffer them to exact, for a certain number of years, a stipulated duty on merchandise which should pass that way. It was their intention to make the Manz?anarez navi- gable fro?n INladrid to the place Avhere it joins the 'I'agus, After a sage deliberation, the council of Castile returned this re- markable answer : ' If it had pleased God to make these rivers navigable, the intervention of human industry would not have been necessary : as they are not so already, it does not appear that Providence intended them to be so. Such an undertaking would be seemingly to violate the decrees of Heaven, and to attempt the amendment of these apparent imperfections visible in its works.' — Translated by Lurcher, from Clarke's Letters on the Spanish Nation, BOOK I. — CLIO. 133 man put to death. Of those who now inhabit Lycia, calling• themselves Xanthians, the whole are foreigners, eighty families excepted: these survived the calamity of their country, being at that time absent on some foreign expedition. Thus Xanthus fell into the hands of Harpagus ; as also did Caunus, whose people imi- tated, almost in every respect, the example of the Lycians. CLXXVII. Whilst Harpagus was thus engaged in the conquest of the Lower Asia, Cyrus himself con- ducted an army against the upper regions, of every part of which he became master. The particulars of his victories I shall omit ; expatiating only on those \vhich are more memorable in themselves, and which Cyrus found the most difficult to accomplish. When he had reduced the whole of the continent he com- menced his march against the Assyrians. CLXXVIII. The Assyrians are masters of many capital towns ; but their place of greatest strength and fame is Babylon,^ where, after the destruction of Nineveh, Avas the royal residence. It is sitviated on a large plain, and is a perfect square : each side, by every approach, is in length one hundred and tAventy furlongs ; the space therefore occupied by the whole is four hundred and eighty furlongs. So extensive is the ground Avhicli Babylon occupies ; its internal beauty and magnificence exceed whatever has come within my knowlege. It is surrounded by a trench, very wide, deep, and full of water : the wall beyond this is two hundred royal cubits high, and fifty 1 The greatest cities of Europe give but a faint idea of that grandeur which all historians unanimously ascribe to the famous city of Babylon. — Dutens. ■ * Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chal- dees excellency.' — Isaiah, 134 HERODOTUS. wide : the royal exceeds the common cubit by three digits. CLXJXIX. It will not be foreign to my purpose to describe the use to Λvhich the earth dug out of the trench was converted, as well as the particular manner in which they constructed the wall. The earth of the trench was first of all laid in heaps, and when a suffi- cient quantity Avas obtained, made into square bricks, and baked in a furnace. They used as cement a com- position of heated bitumen, Avliicb, mixed with the tops of reeds, was placed betwixt every thirtieth course of bricks. Having thus lined the siiles of the trench, they proceeded to build the Λvall in the same manner ; on the summit of which, and fronting each other, they erected small watch-towers of one story, leaving a space betwixt them through which a chariot and four horses might pass and turn. In the circumference of the wall, at different distances, Λvere a hundred massy gates of brass, ^ whose hinges and frames Avere of the same metal. Within an eight days' journey from Babylon is a city called Is ; near Avhich floAvs a river of the same name, which empties itself into the Eu- phrates. With the current of this river particles of bitumen descend towards Babylon, by the means of which its Avails were constructed. CLXXX. The great river Euphrates, Avhich, with its deep and rapid streams, rises in the Armenian mountains, and pours itself into the Red Sea,^ divides Babylon into two parts. The walls meet and form an 1 'Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus : I will go before thee ; I will break in pieces the gates of brass.'— Isaiiih. 2 The original Erythrean or Red Sea was that part of the Indian ocean Avhich forms the peninsula of Arabia ; the Per- »iau and Arabian gulfs being only branches of it. — T. ^ .,:<.: BOOK I. — CLIO. 135 angle with the river at each extremity of the town, where a breastwork of burnt bricks begins, and is continued along each bank. The city, which abounds in houses from three to four stories in height, is regu- larly divided into streets. Through these, Λvhich are parallel, there are transverse avenues to the river, opened through the w^all and breastwork, and secured by an equal number of little gates of brass. *CLXXXI. The first wall is regularly fortified ; the interior one, though less in substance, is of almost equal strength. Besides these, in the centre of each division of the city, there is a circular space sur- rounded by a Avail. In one of these stands the royal palace, Avhich fills a large and strongly defended space. The temple of Jupiter Belus^ occupies the other, whose huge gates of brass may still be seen. It is a, square building, each side of Avhich is of the length of twO furlongs. In the midst a tower rises of the solid depth and height of one furlong ; on Avhich, resting as a base, seven other turrets are built in regular suc- cession. The ascent on the outside, Avhich, winding from the ground, is continued to the highest tow er ; and in the middle of the whole structure there is a convenient resting-place. In the last tower is a large 1 It is necessary to have in mind that the temples of the ancients were essentially different from our churches. A large space was inclosed by walls, in which were courts, a grove, pieces of water, apartments sometimes for the priests : and lastly the temple, properly so called, and where most frequently it was permitted the priests alone to enter. The whole inclosure was named το lepov : the temple properly so called, or the residence of the deity, was called vaos (naos) or the cell. It is obvious that this last is the place particu- larly alluded to. — Lurcher. Bel or Belus was a title bestowed on many persons. It was particularly given to Nimrod, who built the city of Babel or Babylon. — Bryant. 136 HERODOTUS. chapel, in wliich is placed a coucli magnificently adorned, and near it a table of solid gold ; but there is no statue in the place. No man is suifered to sleep here ; but the apartment is occupied by a female, whom the Chaldiean priests* affirm that their deity selects from the Λvhole nation as the object of his plea- sures. CLXXXII. They themselves have a tradition Λvhich cannot easily obtain credit, that their deity enters this temple, and reposes by night on this couch. A similar assertion is also made by the Egyptians of Thebes ; for, in the interior part of the temple of the Theban Jupiter, a woman in like manner sleeps. Of these two women it is presumed that neither of them are ever introduced to the other sex. In Avhich predica- ment the priestess of the temple of Pataras in Lycia is also placed. Here is no regular oracle f but when- ever a divine communication is expected the priestess is obliged to pass the preceding night in the temple. CLXXXIII. In this temple there is also a small chapel, lower in the building, which contains a figure of Jupiter in a sitting posture, with a large table before him ; these, with the base of the table and the seat of the throne, are all of the purest gold, and are estimated by the Chaldfeans to be worth eight hundred talents. On the outside of this chapel there are two altars; one is of gold, the other is of immense size, 1 Belus came originally from Egypt. lie went, accom- panied by otlier Egyptians, to Babylon : there he established priests ; these are the personages called by tlie Babylonians Chalda'ans. The Chakheans carried to I^abylon the science of astrology, which they learned from the Egyptian priests.— Lurcher. 2 According to Servius, Apollo communicated his oracles at Patarai during the six winter months, at Delos in the six months of summer. — Lurcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 137 and appropriated to the sacrifice of full-grown ani- mals : those only which have not left their dams may be oiFered on the altar of gold. On the larger altar, at the time of the anniversary festival in honor of their god, tlie Chaldgeans regwlarly consume incense to the amount of a thousand talents. There Avas formerly in this temple a statue of solid gold, twelve cubits high; this, however, I mention from the information of the Chalda?ans, and not from my own knoΛvleg•e. Darius the son of Hystaspes' endeavored by sinister means to get possession of this, not daring openly to take it ; but his son Xerxes afterwards seized it, putting the priest to death λ\ ho endeavored to prevent its removal. The temple, besides those ornaments Avhich I have described, contains many oiFerings of individuals. CLXXXIl'. Among the various sovereigns of Ba- bylon who contributed to the strength of its w^alls and the decoration of its temples, and of Λvhom I shall make mention when I treat of the Assyrians, there were two females : the former of these Avas named Semiramis,^ who preceded the other by an interval of 1 The only Babylonish and Persian princes found in the Bible are Nebuchadnezzar, Evil Merodach, Belshazzar, Aha- suerus, Darius the Mede, Coresh, and Darius tbe Persian; Artaxerxes also is mentioned in Xeliemiab. Ahasuerus has been the subject of much etymological investigation. Arch- bishop Usher supposes him to be Darius Hystaspes ; Scaliger, Xerxes ; Joseph us, the Septuagint, and Dr. Hyde, Artaxerxes Longimanus. — Richardsivi. 2 It may be worth while to observe the diiFerent opinions of authors about the time when Semiramis is supposed to have lived. Years. According to Syncellus, she lived before Christ . 2177 Petavius makes the term 2060 Helvicus 2248 Eusebius 1984 :Μγ. Jackson 1964 Archbishop Usher 1215 138 HERODOTUS. five generations. This queen raised certain mounds, which are indeed admirable Avorks ; till then the whole plain was subject to violent inundations from the river. CLXXXV. The other queen was called Nitocris : she being• a woman of superior understanding, not only left many permanent Avorks, Avhicli I shall here- after describe, but also having observed the increasing poAver and the restless spirit of the Medes, and that Ni- neveh, with other cities, had fallen a prey to their am- bition, put her dominions in the strongest posture of defence. To effect this she sunk a number of canals above Babylon, which by their disposition rendered the Euphrates, which before flowed to the sea in an almost even line, so complicated by its windings, that in its passage to Babylon it arrives three times at Ardericca, an Assyi'ian village : and to this hour they Λvho wish to go from the sea up the Euphrates to Ba- bylon are compelled to touch at Ardericca three times on three dift'erent days. The banks, also, which she raised to restrain the river on each side, are really wonderful, from their enormous height and substance. At a considerable distance above Babylon, turning aside a little from the stream, she ordered an immense lake to be dug, sinking it till they came to the water : its circumference was no less than four hundred and tAventy furlongs. The earth of this was applied to the embankments of the river ; and the sides of the trench or lake Avere strengthened and lined with stones, brought thither for that purpose. She had in view by these works, first of all to break the violence of the Years. Philo Biblius, from Sanchoniathon, about . . 1200 Herodotus about 713 What credit can be given to the history of a person, the time of whose life cannot bo ascertained within 1535 years "?— Brtjant. BOOK I. — CLIO. 18^ current by the number of circumflexions, and also to render the navigation to Babylon as difficult and te- dious as possible. These things were done in that part of her dominions Λvhich was most accessible to the Medes ; and with the farther view of keeping them in ignorance of her afl'airs, by giving them no com- mercial encouragement. CLXXXVI. Having rendered both of these works strong and secure, she proceeded to execute the fol- lowing project. The city being divided by the river into two distinct parts, wlioever Avanted to go from one side to the other was obliged, in the time of the former kings, to pass the water in a boat. For this, which was a matter of general inconvenience, she pro- vided this remedy ; and the immense lake which she had before sunk became the farther means of extend- ing her fame : — Having procured a number of large stooes, she changed the course of the river, directing it into the canal prepared for its reception. When this was full, the natural bed of the river became dry, and the embankments on each side, near those smaller gates which led to the water, were lined with bricks hardened by fire, similar to those which had been used in the construction of the wall. She afterwards, nearly in the centre of the city, with the stones above mentioned, strongly compacted with iron and Avith lead, erected a bridge ; ' over this the inhabitants 1 Diodorus Siculus represents this bridge as five furlongs in length ; but as Strabo assures us that the Euphrates was no more than one furlong wide, Rollin is of opinion that the bridge could not be so long as Diodorus describes it. Al- though the Euphrates was, generally speaking, no more than one furlong in breadth, at the time of a flood it was probably more ; and doubtless the length of the bridp,e was propor- tioned to the extremest possible width of the river. This circumstance M. KoUin does not seem to have considered. 140 HERODOTUS. passed in the day-time b}^ a square platform, which was removed in the eΛ'elling to prevent acts of mutual depredation. When the above canal Λvas thoroughly filled Avith Avater, and the bridge completely finished and adorned, the Euphrates was sutFered to return to its original bed: thus both the canal and the bridge were confessedly of the greatest utility to the public. CLXXX\'II. The above queen was also celebrated for another instance of ingenuity : she caused her tomb' to be erected over one of the principal gates of the city, and so situated as to be obvious to universal inspection : it was thus inscribed — ' If any of the so- vereigns, my successors, shall be in extreme want of money, let him open my tomb, and take what money he may think proper ; if his necessity be not great, let him forbear ; the experiment will perhaps be dan- gerous.' The tomb remained without injury till the time and reign of Darius. He Avas equally offended at the gate's being rendered useless, and that the invita- tion thus held out to become affluent should have been so long neglected. The gate, it is to be observed, was of no use, from the general aversion to pass through a place over Avhich a dead body was laid. Darius opened the tomb ; but instead of finding riches, he saw only the dead body, Avith a label of this import : ' If your The INIanzanarez, which washes one of the extremities of INIadrid, is but a small stream : but as, in the time of a flood, it spreads itselfover the neighboring fields, Philip the Second built a bridge eleven hundred feet long. The bridge of Semi- ramis, its length -alone excepted, must have been very in- ferior to these of ours. It consisted only of large masses of stone, piled on each other at regular distances, without arches; they were made to communicate by pieces of wood thrown over each pile. — Larcher. 1 It appears from Plutarch, that the tomb of Cyrus, and of many of the princes of the East, were within the precincts of their cities. — Bryant. BOOK I.— CLIO. MX avarice had not been equally base and insatiable, you would not have intruded on the repose of the dead.' — Such are the traditions concerning this queen. CLXXXYIII. Against her son Labynetus, who, with the name of his father, enjoyed the empire of Assyria, Cyrus conducted his army. The great king,' in his warlike expeditions, is provided from home with cattle, and all other necessaries for his table. There is also carried Λvith him water of the river Choaspes, which flows near Susa, for the king drinks of no other ; wherever he goes he is attended by a number of four-Avheeled carriages, drawn by mules, in which the water of Choaspes, being first boiled, is disposed in vessels of silver. CLXXXIX. Cyrus, in his march to Babylon, ar^ rived at the river Gyndes, which, rising in the moun- tains of Matiene, and passing through the country of the Darneans, loses itself in the Tigris : and this, after flowing by Opis, is finally discharged into the Red Sea. Whilst Cyrus Λvas endeavoring to pass this river, which could not be performed Avithout boats, one of the white consecrated horses boldly entering the stream, in his attempts to cross it was borne away by the rapidity of the current, and totally lost. Cy- rus exasperated by the accident, made a vow that he would render this stream so very insignificant, that women should hereafter be able to cross it without so 1 This was the title by which the Greeks always distin- guished the monarchs of Persia. The emperor of Constanti- nople is at the present day called the grand signior. — Lurcher. Lofty titles have always been, and still continue to be con- ferred on the oriental princes. ' Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia : The Lord God of heaven hath giA-^en me all the king- doms of tlie earth.' Ezra i. 2. ' For I never hurt any that was willing to serve Nabucho- donosor, king of all the earth.' Judith si. 1. 142 HERODOTUS. mucli as wetting their feet. He accordingly sus- pended his designs on Babylon, and divided his forces into two parts : he then marked out with a line on each side the river one hundred and eighty trenches ; these were dug according to his orders ; and so great a number of men were employed, that he accomplished his purpose ; but he thus wasted the Avhole of that summer. CXC. Cyrus having thus satisfied his resentment with respect to the Gyndes, on the approach of spring prepared to march towards Babylon : the Babylonians awaited him in arms : as he advanced they met and gave him battle, but were defeated, and chased into the town. The inhabitants Avere well acquainted with the restless and ambitious temper of Cyrus, and had guarded against this event, by collecting provi- sions and other necessaries sufficient for many years' support, Avhicli induced them to regard a siege as a matter of but small importance ; and Cyrus, after much time lost, without having made the smallest pro- gress, was reduced to great perplexity. CXCI. Whilst in this state of anxiety he adopted the following expedient, either from the suggestions of others, or from the deliberation of his own judg- ment : — He placed one detachment of his forces where the river first enters the city, and another where it leaves it, directing them to enter the channel, and attack the town Avhenever a passage could be efiected. After this disposition of his men, he withdrew Avith the less efi'ective of his troops to the marshy ground which we have before described. Here he pursued in every respect the example of the Babylonian princess : he pierced the bank, and introduced the river into the lake, by Avhich means the bed of the Euphrates became sufficiently shallow for the object in view. The Per- BOOK I. — CLIO. i^ sians in their station watched the proper opportunity, and wlien the stream had so far retired as not to be higher than their thighs, they entered I3a1)ylon with- out difficulty. If the besieged had either been aware of the designs of Cyrus, or had discovered the project before its actual accomplishment, they might have effected the total destruction of these troops. They had only to secure the little gates which led to the river, and to have manned the embankments on either side, and they might have inclosed the Persians in a net from Avhich they could never have escaped : as it happened, they were taken by surprise ; and such is the extent of that city that, as the inhabitants them- selves affirm, they who lived in the extremities were made prisoners before any alarm was communicated ^ to the centre of tlie place. It was a day of festivity among them, and whilst the citizens were engaged in dance and merriment, Babylon was, for the first time, thus taken. CXCII. The following exists, amongst many other proofs \A'hich I shall hereafter produce, of the power and greatness of Babylon. Independent of those sub- sidies which are paid monthly to the Persian monarch, the whole of his dominions are obliged throughout the year to provide subsistence for him and for his army. Babylon alone raises a supply for four months, eight being proportioned to all the rest of Asia ; so that the resources of this region are considered as adequate to a third part of Asia, The government also of this 1 They who were in the citadel did not know of the cap- ture of the place till break of day, which is not at all impro- bable : hut it exceeds belief what Aristotle affirms, that even cm the third day it was not known in some quarters of the town that Babylon was taken. — Larcher. 144 HERODOTUS. country, which the Persians call a satrapy, is deemed by much the noblest in the empire. When Tritan- teechmes, son of Artabazus, was appointed to this prin- cipality by the king, he received every day an artaby of silver. The artaby is a Persian measure Λvhich exceeds the Attic medimnus by about three choenices. Besides his horses for military service, this province maintained for the sovereign's use a stud of eight hun- dred stallions, and sixteen thousand mares ; one horse to twenty mares. He had moreover so immense a number of Indian dogs,^ that four great toAvns in the vicinity of Babylon were exempted from all other tax but that of maintaining them. CXCIII. The Assyrians have but little rain ; the lands however are fertilised, and the fruits of the earth nourished by means of the river. This does not,^ like the Egyptian Nile, enrich the country by overflowing its banks, but is dispersed by manual la- bor, or by hydraulic engines. The Babylonian dis- trict, like Egypt, is intersected by a number of ca- nals, the largest of which, continued with a south-east course from the Euphrates to that part of the Tigris where Nineveh stands, is capable of receiving vessels of burden. Of all countries Avhich have come within my observation, this is far the most fruitful in corn. Fruit-trees, sucli as the vine, the olive, and the fig, 1 These were very celebrated. The ancients in general believed them to he produced from tigers. The first and second race tliey deem to be remarkably fierce ; they bring up also the third. — Larcher. 2 The Euphrates occasionally overflows its banks, but its inundations do not, like those of the Nile, communicate fet- tility. The streams of the Euphrates and the 'J'igris do noi, says Pliny, leave behind them the mud which the !Nile dpiB^ in Egypt. — Larcher. BOOK I. — CLIO. 145 they do not even attempt to cultivate ; Ibut the soil is so particularly well adapted for corn, that it never produces less than two hundred fold ; in seasons which are remarkably favorable, it will sometimes rise to three hundred : the ear of their wheat as well as bar- ley is four digits in size. The immense height to which millet and sesamum ' will grow, although I have witnessed it myself, I know not how to mention. I am well aware that they who have not visited this country will deem whatever I may say on the subject a violation of probability. They have no oil but what they extract from the sesamum. The palm is a very common plant in this country, and generally fruitful : this they cultivate like fig-trees, and it produces them bread, wine, and honey. The process observed is this : they fasten the fruit of that which the Greeks term the male tree to the one which produces the date ; by this means the worm which is contained in the former entering the fruit, ripens and prevents it from dropping immaturely. The male palms bear insects in their fruit, in the same manner as the v,iW fig-trees. CXCIV. Of all that I saw in this country, next to Babylon itself, what to me appeared the greatest curi- osity, were the boats. These, which are used by those who come to the city, are of a circular form, and made of skins. They are constructed in Armenia, in the 1 Of this plant there are three species ; the orientale, the indicum, and the trifelictum : it is the first which is here meant. It is an annual herbaceous plant ; its flowers are of a dirty white, and not unlike the fox- glove ; it is cultivated in the Levant as a pulse, and indeed in all the eastern coun- tries ; it has of late years been introduced into Carolina, and with success : an oil is expressed from its seed ; it is tlie seed which is eaten •, they are first parched over the fire, and then stewed with other ingredients in water. — T. HER. VOL. I. Κ 146 HERODOTUS. parts above Assyria, where the sides of the vessels being formed of willow,' are covered externally Mith skins, and having no distinction of head or stern, are modelled into the shape of a shield. Lining the bot- toms of these boats with reeds, they take on board tlieir merchandise, and thus commit themselves to the stream. The principal article of their commerce is palm-wine, which they carry in casks. The boats have two oars, one man to each ; one pulls to him, the other pushes from him. These boats are of very different dimensions ; some of them are so large as to bear freights to the value of five thousand talents: the smaller of them has one ass on board ; the larger, se- veral. On their arrival at Babylon, they dispose of all their cargo, selling the ribs of their boats, the mat- ting, and every thing but the skins which cover them ; these they lay on their asses, and with them return to Armenia. The rapidity of the stream is too great to render their return by water practicable. This is perhaps the reason which induces them to make their boats of skin, rather than of wood. On their return Avith their asses to Armenia they make other vessels in the manner we have before described. CXCV. Their clothing is of this kind: they have two vests, one of linen, which falls to the feet, another over this which is made of wool ; a white sash con- nects the whole. The fashion of their shoes ^ is pecu- 1 The bending willow into barks they twine. Then line the work with skins of slaughter'd kine ; Such are the floats \^enetian fishers know, Where in dull marshes stands the settling Po : On sucli to neighboring Gaul, allured by gain. The bolder 13ritons cross the swelling main. Like these, when fruitful Egypt lies afloat. The Memphian artist builds his reedy boat. Ruwe's Lucan. 2 Tlie Ba^otian shoes were made of wood, and came up BOOK I. — CLIO. 147 liar to themselves, though somewhat resembling those worn by the Thebans. Their hair they wear long, and covered with a turban, and are lavish in their use of perfumes. Each person has a seal-ring, and a cane, or walking-stick, on the top of Avhich is carved an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or some figure or other ; for to have a stick without a device is unlaAvful. CXCVI. In my description of their laΛVS, I have to mention one, the wisdom of which I must admire ; and which, if I am not misinformed, the Eneti, who are of lllyrian origin, use also. In each of their seve- ral districts this custom was every year observed : such of their virgins as were marriageable were at an appointed time and place assembled together. Here the men also came, and some public officer sold by auction the young women one by one, beginning with the most beautiful. When she was disposed of, and as may be supposed for a considerable sum, he proceeded to sell the one Λνΐιο Λvas next in beauty, taking it for granted that each man married the maid he purchased. The more affluent of the Babylonian youths contended with much ardor and emulation to obtain the most beautiful ; those of the common people w^ho were desirous of marrying, as if they had but part of the leg. The dresses for the feet and legs amongst the Greeks and Romans were nearly the same : they had both shoes and sandals ; the fonner covered the whole foot, the last consisted of one or more soles, and were fastened with thongs above the foot. In the simplicity of primitive manners the feet were only protected by raw hides. It is said in Dion Cassius that Julius Caesar gave offence at Rome by wearing high-heeled shoes of a red color. The shoes of the Roman senators were distinguished by a crescent. A particular form of shoe or sandal was appropriated to the army ; and a description of thirty different kinds, as used by the Romans and such nations as they deemed barbarous, may be found in jNIontfaucon.— Γ. 148 HERODOTUS. little occasion for personal accomplishments, Λvere content to receive the more homely maidens, with a portion annexed to them : for the crier, when he had sold the fairest, selected also the most ugly, or one that was deformed ; she also was put up to sale, and assigned to whoever would take her with the least money. This money was what the sale of the beautiful maidens produced, who were thus obliged to portion out those Λvho were deformed, or less lovely than themselves. No man was permitted to provide a match for his daughter, nor could any one take away the ΛVoman whom he purchased without first giving security to make her his wife. To this if he did not assent his money was returned him. There were no restrictions with respect to residence ; those of another village might also become purchasers. This, although the most wise of all their institutions, has not been preserved to our time. One of their later ordinances was to punish violence offered to women, and to prevent their being carried away to other parts ; for after the city had been taken, and the inhabitants plundered, the lower people were reduced to great extremities. CXCVII. They have also another institution, the good tendency of Λvhich claims our applause. Such as are diseased' among them they carry into some public square : they have no professors of medicine ; but the passengers in general interrogate the sick person con- cerning his malady ; that if any person has either been afflicted with a similar disorder himself, or seen 1 We may from hence observe the first rude commence- ment of the science of medicine. Syrianus is of opinion that this science originated in Egypt, from those persons who liad been disordered in any part of their bodies writing down the remedies from which they received benefit.— Lorc/jer. BOOK 1. — CLIO. 149 its operation on another, he may communicate the process by which his own recovery Λvas eifected, or by which, in any other instance, he knew the disease to be removed. No one may pass by the afflicted person in silence, or without inquiry into the nature of his complaint. CXCVIII. Previous to their interment, their dead are anointed with honey, and like the Egyptians, they are fond of funeral lamentations. Whenever a man marries, he sits over a consecrated vessel, containing burning perfumes ; the ΛVoman does the same. In the morning both of them go into the bath ; till after which application they will neither of them touch any domestic utensil. This custom is also observed in Arabia. CXCIX. The Babylonians have one custom in the highest degree abominable. Every woman Avho is a native of the country is obliged once in her life to •attend at the temple of Venus, Such women as are of superior rank do not omit even this opportunity of separating themselves from their inferiors ; these go to the temple in splendid chariots, accompanied by a nu- merous train of domestics, and place themselves near the entrance. This is the practice with many ; whilst the greater part, crowned with garlands, seat them- selves in the vestibule ; and there are always numbers coming and going. The seats have all of them a rope or string annexed to them, by which each stranger may determine his choice. A woman having once taken this situation, is not allowed to return home till some stranger throws her a piece of money, and leads her to a distance from the temple. It is usual for the man, Λvhen he gives the money, to say, ' May the goddess Mylitta be auspicious to thee !' Mylitta being the Assyrian name of Venus. The money given is 150 HERODOTUS. applied to sacred uses, and must not be refused, how- ever small it may be. The woman is not suffered to make any distinction. She afterAvards makes some conciliatory oblation to the goddess, and returns to her house, never afterwards to be subjected to similar forms. Such as are eminent for their elegance and beauty do not continue long, but those who are of less nigaging appearance have sometimes been known to remain from three to four years, unable to ac- complish the terms of the law. It is to be remarked that the inhabitants of Cyprus have a similar ob- servance. CC. In addition to the foregoing account of Baby- lonian manners, we may observe, that there are three tribes of this people \vhose only food is fish. They prepare it thus : having dried it in the sun, they beat it very small in a mortar, and afterwards sift it through a piece of fine cloth ; they then form it into cakes, or bake it as bread. CCI. After his conquest of this people Cyrus ex- tended his ambitious views to the Massagetee, a great and powerful nation, whose territories extend beyond the river Araxes to the extreme parts of the East. They are opposite to the Issedonians, and are by some esteemed a Scythian nation. ecu. Concerning the magnitude of the Araxes there are various representations ; some pronouncing it less, others greater, than the Danube. There are many islands scattered up and down in it, some of which are nearly equal to Lesbos in extent. The people who inhabit these subsist during the summer on such roots as they dig out of the earth, preserving for their winter's provision the ripe produce of their fruit- trees. They have amongst them a tree whose fruit has a most singular property. Assembled round a fire, BOOK I. — CLIO. 151 ^vhicli they make for this purpose, they throw into the midst of it the ahove fruit, and the same inehriation is communicated to them from the smell as the Greeks experience from excess of wine. As they become more exhilarated, they throAv on a greater quantity of fruit, and are at length so far transported as to leap up, dance, and sing. This is what I huxe heard of the customs of this people. The Araxes, like the Gyndes, which Cyrus divided into three hundred and sixty rivulets, rises among the Matienian hills. It separates itself into forty mouths,^ all of which, except one, lose themselves in bogs and marshes, among which a people are said to dwell Λνΐιο feed on raw fish, and clothe themselves with the skins of sea-calves. The larger stream of the Araxes continues its even course to the Caspian. CCIII. The Caspian is an ocean by itself, and com- municates with no other. The sea frequented by the Greeks, the Red Sea, and that beyond the Pillars, called the Atlantic, are all one ocean. The Caspian forms one unconnected sea : a swift-oared boat would in fifteen days measure its length, its extreme breadth in eight. It is bounded on the west by Mount Cau- casus, the largest and perhaps the highest mountain in the Avorld. Caucasus is inhabited by various nations, - many of whom are said to subsist on what the soil spontaneously produces. They have trees ivhose leaves possess a most singular property : they beat 1 What Herodotus says of the Araxes is in a great mea- sure true of the \'Olga, which empties itself into the Caspian by a number of channels in which many considerable islands are scattered. But this river does not, nor indeed can it come from the Matienian mountains. — Larcher. 2 Of these the principal were the Colchians, of the excel- lent produce and circumstances of whose country a minute and entertaining account is given by Strabo. — T, 152 HERODOTUS. them to powder, and then steep them in water : this forms a dye/ with which they paint on their garments figures of animals. The impression is so very strong that it cannot be washed out ; it appears to be inter- woven in the cloth, and wears as long as the garment. The sexes live promiscuously, like brutes. CCIV. Caucasus terminates that part of the Cas- pian which extends to the west : it is bounded on the east by a plain of prodigious extent, a considerable part of Λvhich forms the country of the Massagetae, against whom Cyrus meditated an attack. He Λν33 invited and urged by many strong incentives. When he con- sidered the peculiar circumstances of his birth, he believed himself more than human. He reflected also on the prosperity of his arms, and that wherever he had extended his incursions he had been foUoAved by success and victory. CCV. The Massagetae were then governed by a queen : she was a widow, and her name Tomyris. Cyrus sent ambassadors to her with overtures of mar- riage: the queen, concluding that his real object was the possession, not of her person, but her kingdom, forbade his approach. Cyrus, on finding these mea- sures ineffectual advanced to the Araxes, openly dis- covering his hostile designs on the Massagetae. He accordingly threw a bridge of boats over the river for the passage of his forces, which he also fortified with turrets. CCVI. Whilst he was engaged in this difficult un- dertaking Tomyris sent by her ambassadors this mes- sage : ' Sovereign of the Medes ! uncertain as you insist be of the event, we advise you to desist from 1 By the discovery of cochineal we fur surpass the colors of antiquity. Their royal purple had a strong smell, and a dark cast, as deep as bull's blood. BOOK I. — CLIO. 153 your present purpose. Be satisfied with the dominion of your own kingdom, and sufi'er us to retain what is certainly our own. You will not, however, listen to this salutary counsel, loving any thing rather than peace : if, then, you are really impatient to encounter the Massagetae, give up your present labor of con- structing a bridge; we will retire three days' march into our country, and you shall pass over at your leisure ; or, if you had rather receive us in your own territories, do you as much for us.' On hearing this Cyrus called a council of his principal ofiicers, and laying the matter before them, desired their advice how to act. They were unanimously of opinion that he should retire, and expect Tomyris in his own do- minions. CCVII. Croesus the Lydian, who assisted at the meeting, was of a diiferent sentiment, which he de- fended in this manner : * I have before remarked, Ο king! that since Providence has rendered me your captive it becomes me to exert all my abilities in ob- viating whatever menaces you with misfortune. I have been instructed in the severe but useful school of adversity. If you were immortal yourself, and commanded an army of immortals, my advice might be justly thought impertinent ; but if you confess yourself a human leader of forces that are human, it becomes you to remember that sublunary events have a circular motion, and that their revolution does not permit the same man always to be fortunate. On this present subject of debate I dissent from the majority. If you await the enemy in your own dominions, a a defeat may chance to lose you all your empire ; the victorious Massagetae, instead of retreating to their own, will make farther inroad into your territories. If you shall conquer, you will still be a loser by that 154 HERODOTUS. interval of time and place which must be necessarily employed in the pursuit. I will suppose that after victory you will instantly advance into the dominions of Tomyris ; yet can Cyrus the son of Cambyses, without disgrace and infamy, retire one foot of ground from a female adversary ? I would therefore recom- mend that having passed over with our army, we pro- ceed on our marcli till we meet the enemy ; then let us contend for victory and honor. I have been in- formed the Massagetae lead a life of the meanest poverty, ignorant of Persian fare, of Persian deli- cacies. Let these therefore be left behind in our camp : let there be abundance of food prepared, costly viands, and flowing goblets of wine. With these let us leave the less efiective of the troops, and with the rest again retire towards the river. If I err not, the foe will be allured by the sight of our luxurious pre- parations, and afford us a noble occasion of victory and glory.' CCVIII. The result of the debate was, that Cyrus preferred the sentiments of Croesus : he therefore re- turned for answer to Tomyris that he would advance the space into her dominions which she had proposed. She was faithful to her engagement, and retired ac- cordingly. Cyrus then formally delegated his au- thority to his son Cambyses:^ and above all, recom- mended Croesus to his care, as one whom, if the projected expedition should fail, it would be his in- terest to distinguish by every possible mark of re- verence and honor. He then dismissed them into Persia, and passed the river with his forces. 1 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. — Lurcher. BOOK 1. — CLIO. 155 CCIX. As soon as he had advanced beyond the Araxes into the land of the Massagetse, he saw in the night this vision : he beheld the eldest son of Hystaspea having wings on his shoulders ; one of which over- shadowed Asia, the other Europe. Hystaspes was the son of Arsamis, of the family of the Achaemenides ; 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, ' Hys- taspes,' 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, Λvhose favor I enjoy, disclose to me all those events which menace my security. In the night just passed I beheld your eldest son having wings on his shoulders, one of whicK 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 re- turn victorious from my present expedition your son may give me a satisfactory explanation of his con- duct.' 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, Ο king !' said Hystaspes in reply, ' from any man of Persian origin to form conspiracies against his sovereign : if such tliere be, let immediate death be his portion. You have raised the Persians from slavery to freedom ; from subjects, you have 156 HERODOTUS. 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 to Persia, fully intending to watch over his son, and deliver him to Cyrus. CCXI. Cyrus, advancing a day's march from the Araxes, followed in all respects the counsel of Croe- sus ; and leaving behind him the troops on which he had least dependence, he returned with his choicest men towards the Araxes. A detachment of about the third part of the army of the Massagetae attacked the Persians whom Cyrus had left, and after a feeble con- flict 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 drunken- ness and sleep overcame them. In this situation the Persians attacked them : several Avere slain, but the greater part were made prisoners, among whom was Spargapises, their leader, the son of Tomyris. CCXII. As soon as the queen heard of the defeat of her forces, and the capture of her son, she de- spatched 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 com- mit? By entering your bodies, it renders your lan- guage more insulting. By this poison you have con- quered my son, and neither by your prudence nor your valor. I 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 on a third part of the Massagetag, depart from these realms unhurt. If you will not do this, BOOK I. — CLIO. 157 I swear by the Sun, the great god of the Massagetae, that, insatiable as you are of blood, I will give you your fill of it/ CCXIII. These words made but little impression on Cyrus. The son of Tomyris, when, recovering from his inebriated state, he knew the misfortune which had befallen him, entreated Cyrus to release him from his bonds : he obtained his liberty, and im- mediately destroyed himself. CCXIV. On the refusal of Cyrus to listen to her counsel, Tomyris collected all her forces : 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 parti- culars 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 Massagetae Λvere at length victorious, the greater part of the Persians were slain ; Cyrus himself also fell ; and thus terminated a reign of twenty-nine years. AVhen 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, ex claimed, ' Survivor and conqueror as I am, thou hast ruined my peace by thy successful stratagem against my son ; but I will give thee ηοΛν, 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 diftereut relations.' 1 Xenophon makes Cyrus die peaceably in his bed 3 Strabo 158 HERODOTUS. CCXV. The Massagetse 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 battle-axes. 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, Λvhose 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 ob- serve, that though each man marries but one wife, she does not always remain with her husband : for what the Greeks assert in general of the Scythians, is true only of the Massagetas. When a man of this country Λvishes to be introduced to a woman, he hangs up his quiver before his waggon. To speak of the number of years to which they live is impossible. As soon as any one becomes infirm through age, his as- sembled relations put him to death,' boiling along with inclines to this opinion ; Lucian makes him live beyond the age of a hundred.— Larc/ier. The MassagetfE are by some authors confounded with the Scythians. Uiodorus Siculus calls Tomyris queen of the Scythians.— Lii?-c/ie/•. 1 Hellanicus, speaking of the Hyperboreans, who live be- yond the Rhipean mountains, observes, that they learn jus- tice, that they do not eat meat, but live intirely on fruit. Those of sixty years they carry out of the town and put to death. Tima^us says that in Sardinia, when a man has passed the age of seventy years, his sons, in honor of Saturn, and with seeming satisfaction, beat his brains out with clubs, and throw him from some frightful precipice. The inhabi- BOOK I. — CLIO. 159 thp body the flesh of sheep and other animals, on 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 intirely subsist on cattle, and on the fish Λvhich the river Araxes abundantly supplies; milk also consti- tutes 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 im- mortal beings. tants of lulls, in the isle of Ceos, oblige those who are past the age of sixty years to drink hemlock, ike. This custom, so contrary to our manners, will doubtless appear fabulous to those who are no friends to antiquity, and whose judgments are regulated intirely by modern manners. It is practised nevertheless at the present day in the king- dom 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, 1 This was a very ancient custom : it was practised in Per- sia in the time of Cyrus, and was probably anterior to that prince. Horses were also sacrinced 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 honor of Neptune, whose son he professed himself to be. — Larcher. 160 HERODOTUS. BOOK II.— EUTERPE. Chap. I. Cambyses the son of Cyrus, by Cassandane, daughter of Pharnaspes, succeeded his father. The wife of Cyrus had died before him ; he had lamented her loss himself Avith the sincerest grief, and com- manded all his subjects to exhibit public marks of sorr row. Cambyses thus descended, considered the lo- nians and JEolians as his slaves by right of inheri- tance : he undertook therefore an expedition against Egypt, and assembled an army for this purpose, com- posed as well of his other subjects as of those Greeks who acknowleged 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 considerable pains to investigate the truth of this matter : the result was, that they believe the Phrygians more ancient than themselves, and themselves than the rest of mankind. Whilst Psam- mitichus 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 Avas to know what word they would first pronounce articulately. The experiment succeeded to his Avish ; the shepherd com- plied with each particular of his directions, and at the BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 161 end of two years, on his oue day opening the door of their apartment, both the children extended their arms towards him, as if in supplication, and pronounced the word Becos.^ It did not at first excite his attention, but on tlieir repeating the same expression whenever he appeared, he related the circumstance to his master, and at his command brought the children to his pre- sence. When Psammitichus had heard them repeat tliis same word, he endeavored to discover among what people it Λvas in use: he found it was the Phrygian name for bread. ^ From seriously revolving this inci- dent, the Egyptians were induced to allow the Phry- gians to be of greater antiquity than themselves. III. That this Λvas 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 Λvomen Avhose tongues were previously cut out. During my residence at Memphis the same priests informed me of many other curious particulars : but to be better satisfied how well the narrative which I have given on their authority was supported, I made it my business to A'isit Thebes and Heliopolis, the inhabitants of which latter place are deemed the most ingenious of all the Egyptians. Except to specify the names of their divinities, I shall be miAvilling to mention their religious customs, unless my subject demand it ; this being a matter con- cerning Λvhich men in general are equally well in- formed. IV. In all \vhich they related of human aiFairs, they 1 ITiese infants in all probability pronounced the word Bee, the cry of the animals which they imitated, os being a termination appropriate to the Greek language. — Larcher. 2 Hipponax, speaking of the people of Cyrus, uses this word as signifying bread. — Larcher, -. α•.•*ν,'^ HER. VOL. I. L ItSa? HERODOTUS. were uniform and consistent λ\ itli 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 sa- gacious than that of the Greeks, Avho 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 : hy adding five days to every year they have an uniform revolution of time. The people of this coun- try first invented the names of the twelve gods, and from them the Grecians borrowed them. They were the first also who erected altars, shrines, and temples; and none before them ever engraved the figures of ani- mals on stone ; the truth of all which they sufficiently autlienticate. The name of their first king was Me- nes,' in whose reign the whole of Egypt, except the province of Thebea, was one extended marsh. No part of all that district which is now situate beyond the lake of Mceris M'as then to be seen, the distance between which lake and the sea is a journey of seven days. V. The account Λvhich they give of their country appears just and reasonable. It must be obvious to the inspection of any one of common sagacity, even though he knew it not before, that the part of Egypt to which the Greeks now sail, formerly constituted a part of the bed of the river ;^ which thing may always 1 Diodorus Siculus agrees with Herodotus in making Me- nes reign in Egypt immediately after the gods and the lieroes. — Lurcher . 2. This sentiment was adopted hy all the ancients, and a great part of tlie moderns. If it he true, all the country from Memphis to the sea must liave heen formerly a gulf of the Mediterranean parallel to the Arabian gulf. The mud must BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 169 be observed of all that tract of country beyond the lake, to pass over wliich would employ a journey of three days ; but this the Egyptians themselves do not assert. Of this fact there exists another proof : if from a vessel bound to Egypt the lead be thrown at the distance of a day's sailing from the shore/ it Λνϋΐ come up the depth of eleven fathoms covered with mud, plainly indicating that it was brought there by the water. VI. According to our limitation of Egypt, which is from the bay of PHnthene to Lake Serbonis, near Mount Casius, the whole extent of the coast is sixty schoeni,^ It may not be improper to remark that they who have smaller portions of land measure them by orgyias, they who have larger by stadia, such as have considerable tracts by parasangs. The schoenus, which 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. 1 For seven or eight leagues from the land they know by the sounding plummet if they are near Egypt, as ΛvitL•iu 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 oft". — Pococke. The majority of travellers inform us that on an average the water usually rises every year to tlie height of twenty-two cubits. In 1102 it rose to twenty-tliree cubits four inches ; in the year preceding it rose to twenty-tΛvo cubits eighteen inches : according to these travellers, the favorable heightis from twenty-two to twenty -three cubits ; according to Hero- dotus, from fifteen to sixteen. The difference is seven. — Larcher. 2 The Greeks, whose territories were not extensive, mea- sured them by stadia : the Persians, whose region was still greater, used parasangs. The Egyptians, whose country was more spacious than Persia, properly so called, applied in- their mensuration schocni. Herodotus, when he observes that this last is an Egyptian measure, indirectly informs ns that the stadium and parasang were not there used.— Larc/icr, 164 HERODOTUS. is an Eg-yptian measure, used in tlie mensuration of more extensive domains, is equivalent to sixty stadia, as the parasang is to thirty. Agreeably to such mode of compuiation, the coast of Egypt towards the sea is in length three thousand six hundred stadia. VII. From hence inland to Heliopolis,' the country of Egypt is a spacious plain, which, though Λvithout water, and. on a declivity, is a rich and slimy ^ soil. The distance betAvixt Heliopolis and the sea is nearly the same as from the altar of the twelve deities,^ at Athens, to the shrine of Jupiter Olympus at Pisa. Whoever will be at the trouble to ascertain this point, ΛΥΪΙΙ not find the difference to exceed fifteen stadia : the distance from Pisa to Athens wants precisely fif- teen stadia of one thousand five hundred, Avhich is the exact number of stadia betwixt Heliopolis and the sea. VIII. From Heliopolis to the higher parts of Egypt* the country becomes more narrow, and is confined on one part by a long chain of Arabian mountains, which from the north stretch south and south-west in a re- 1 Now called Matanea. It was probably the On of the Scriptures, and, according to Strabo, celebrated for the wor-. ship of the sun. There are but inconsiderable remains of this city. — T. There were in Egypt two cities of this name. — T. 2 Tlie soil of Egypt, except what it has received from the overflowings of the Nile, is naturally sandy. It is full of nitre or salt, which occasions nitrous vapors, making the nights cold and dangerous. It is this and the rich quality of the earth, which is the sediment of the Avater of the Nile, wliich makes Egypt so fertile, that sometimes they are obliged to temper the rich soil by bringing sand to it. — Pococke. 3 This was in the Pytliic place of Athens. Pisistratus, son of Hippias the tyrant, dedicated it to the twelve gods when he was archon. — Larcher. 4 Egypt, in proportion as it recedes from the Mediterra- nean, is regularly elevated. — Larcher. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 165 giilar inclination to the Red Sea. The pyramids of Memphis' were built Λ^πίΐι stones drawn from these mountains, Λvhich from hence have a winding direc- tion towards the places we have before described. I have been informed, that to travel along this range of hills, from east to west, which is the extreme length of the country, will employ a space of two months : they add that the eastern parts abound in aromatics. On that side of Egypt Avhich lies towards Libya there is another steep and sandy mountain, in which cer- tain pyramids have been erected : this extends itself like those Arabian hills which stretch towards the south. Thus the country beyond Heliopolis differs exceedingly from the rest of Egypt, and may be passed in a journey of four days. The intermediate space betwixt these mountains is an open plain, in its nar- rowest part not more in extent than two hundred sta- dia, measuring from the Arabian to what is called the Libyan mountain, from whence Egypt becomes again vvider. IX. From Heliopolis to Thebes'^ is a voyage of 1 The description here given by Herodotus is confirmed by Norden and by Savary. — Γ. 2 According to Norden, ancient Thebes was probably in the place where Luxor and Carnac now stand. A better idea of the magnificence and extent of Thebes cannot perliaps be given than by the following lines translated from Homer : Not all proud Thebes' unrivall'd walls contain. The world's great empress on the Egyptian plain. That spreads her conquests o'er a thousand states, And pours her heroes through a hundred gates ; Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars. From each wide portal issuing to the Avars. — Pope. Diodorus Siculus and Strabo both speak in the most exalted terms of its opulence and power. * Never was there a city,' observes the former of these writers, ' which received so many offerings in silver, gold, ivory, colossal statues, and obelisks,' There were in particular four temples greatly ad- 166 HERODOTUS. about nine days, or a space of four tho«sa»d eigbt hundred and sixty stadia, equivalent to eighty-OBe schoeni. I have before observed that the length of the Egyptian coast is three thousand six hundred sta- dia ; from the coast to Thebes is six thousand one hundred and twenty stadia ; from Thebes to Elephan- tine ' eight hundred and twenty. X. The greater part of the country described above, as I was informed by the priests, (and my own obser- vation induced me to be of the same opinion,) has been a gradual acquisition to the inhabitants. The coun- try above Memphis, between the hills before men- tioned, seems formerly to have been an arm of the sea, and is not unlike the region about Ilium, Teu- thrania, Ephesus, and the plain of the Meander, if we may be allowed to compare small things with great. It must certainly be allowed that none of the streams which water the above country may in depth or in magnitude compare with any one of the five arms of the Nile. I could mention other rivers, which, though inferior to the Nile, have produced many ΛVonderful effects; of these, the river Achelous- is by no means mired. Near this place stood the celebrated vocal statue of Memnon. Its eastern part only was called Diospolis, accord- ing to Pococke. This writer, without citing his authority, remarks, that in the opinion of some writers, Thebes was the Sheba of the Scriptures ; and that the Greeks, having no way of writing this word, altered it to Thebai. — T. 1 Is now called Ell-Sag. In this place was a temple of Cnuphis, and a nilometer. — T. When Herodotus speaks of the length of Egypt, he reckons from the Sehennitic mouth. — Larcher. '2, This river, from its violence and rapidity, was anciently called Thoas. Homer calls it the king of rivers. Its present name is Aspro Potamo. Hercules, by checking the inunda- tions of this river by mounds, was said to have broken oiF one of his horns ; whence the cornucopia. — T, Tb« sea and the continent may be considered as two great BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 167 the least considerable. This flows through Acarnania, and losing itself in the sea which washes the Echi- uades,' has connected one half of those islands with the continent. XI. In Arabia, at no great distance from Egypt, there is a long but narrow bay, diverging from the Red Sea, which I shall more minutely describe. Its extreme leng-th, from the straits where it commences to where it communicates with the main, will employ a bark witli oars a voyage of forty days, but its breadth in the widest parts may be sailed over in half a day. In this bay the tide daily ebbs and flows ; and I con- ceive that Egypt itself Λvas a gulf formerly of similar appearance, and that, issuing from the Northern Ocean, it extended itself towards Ethiopia ; in the same manner the Arabian one so described, rising in the south, flowed towards Syria ; and that the two were only separated from each other by a small neck of land. If the Nile should by any means have an issue into the Arabian giilf, in the course of tiventy thousand years it might be totally choked up witJi earth brought there by the passage of the river. I am of opinion that this might take place even within ten thousand years : why then might not a gulf still greater than this be choked up with mud in the space of time empires, whose places are fixed, but which sometimes dis- pute the possession of some of the smaller adjacent coun- tries. Sometimes tlie sea is compelled to contract its limits by the mud and the sands which the rivers force along with them ; sometimes these limits are extended by the action of the waters of the ocean. — Voyage da Jeune Anacliarsis. 1 These islands, according to the old Greek historians, are so close on the coast of Elis, that many of them had been joined to it by means of the AcJielous, which still continues to connect them with the continent by the rubbish which that river deposits at its mouth, as I have had an opportu- nity of observing. — Wood on Homer. 168 HERODOTUS. Avhich has passed before our age, by a stream so greal and ροΛνβΓίιιΙ as the Nile ? XII. All therefore that I heard from the natives oonceriiing Egypt was confirmed by my own observa- tions. I remarked also that this country gains on the region which it joins ; that shells* are found on the mountains; and that an acrid matter^ exudes from the soil, Λvhich has proved injurious even to the py- ramids f and that the only mountain in Egypt Avhich produces sand is the one situate above Memphis. Neitlier does Egypt possess the smallest resemblance to Arabia, on \vhich it borders, nor to Libya and Syria, for the sea-coast of Arabia is possessed by 1 It is very certain that shells are found on the mountains of Egypt, but this by no means proves the existence of the Egyptian gulf. Shells also are found on mountains much higher than those of Egypt, in Europe, Asia, and America. This only proves that all those regions have in part been covered by the \vateis of tlie sea ; some at one time and some at another. I say in part, because it is certain, from the ob- ser\'-ation of the most skilful naturalists, that the highest mountains have not been covered with water. These, in the times of such general inundations, appeared like so many islands. — Lurcher. 2 In every part of Egypt, on digging, a brackish water is found, containing natrum, marine salt, and a little nitre. Even when the gardens are OΛ^erfloΛved for the sake of water- ing them, the surface of the ground, after the evaporation and absorption of the water, appears glazed over with salt. 3 Mr. Norden informs us that the stones of the great py-• ramid on the north side are rotten ; but he assigns for this phenomenon no cause. — T. It appears from experiment tliat the water of the Nile leaves a precipitation of nitre ; and all travellers, of all ages, make mention of the nitrous quality of the atmosphere. To tliis cause Pococke and Savary agree in imputing those diseases of the eyes, so common and so fatal in Egypt. Eight tJiousand blind people, according to this latter author, are decently maintained in the groat mosque of Grand Cairo. It may seem a little remarkable, tliat of tliis quality and proba- ble effect of the air, Ilerotlotus should make no mention. — T, BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. Ιθθ Syrians. It has a black and crumbling soil, composed of such substances as the river in its course brings down from Ethiopia. The soil of Africa we know to be red and sandy; and the earth, both of Arabia and Syria, is strong and mixed with clay. XIII. The information of the priests confirmed the account which I haAC already given of this country. In the reign of Moeris, as soon as the river rose to eight cubits, all the lands above Memphis were over- flowed ; since which a period of about hine hundred years has elapsed : but at present, unless the river rises to sixteen, or at least fifteen cubits, its waters do not reach those lands. If the ground should con- tinue to elevate itself as it has hitherto done, by the river's receding from it, the Egyptians below the lake Moeris, and those who inhabit the Delta, Λνϋΐ be re- duced to the same perplexity Avhich they themselves afiirm menaces the Greeks : for as they understand that Greece is fertilised and refreshed by rain, and not by rivers like their ΟΛνη, they predict that the in- habitants, trusting to their usual supplies, will proba- bly sufter^ the miseries of famine; meaning, that as they have no resource, and only such water as the clouds supply, they must inevitably perish if disap- pointed of rain at the proper seasons. XIV. Such being the not unreasonable prejudice of the Egyptians with respect to Greece, let us inquire hoAv they themselves are circumstanced. If, as I be- 1 It follows therefore that the Egyptians had no knowlege of those seven years of famine which afflicted their country during the administration of Josepli. These however were the more remarkable, as occasioning an intire change in the constitution of the state. The people at first gave their gold and their silver to the prince in excliange for corn; they afterwards resigned to him their flocks and their herds, and ultimately became his slaves. — Lurcher. 170 HEilODOTUS. fore remarked, the country below Memphis, which is that Λvhere the water has receded, should prog-ressively from the same cause continue to extend itself, the Egyptians λ\ ho inhabit it might have still juster appre- hensions of suffering• from famine : for in that case their lands, whicli are never fertilised by rain,^ could not receive benefit from the overflowings of the river* The people who possess that district, of all mankind, and even of all the Egyptians, enjoy the fruits of the earth with the smallest labor. They have no occasion for the process northe instruments of agriculture usual and necessary in other countries. As soon as the river has spread itself over their lands and returned to its bed, each man scatters the seed over his ground, and waits patiently for the harvest, w ithout any other care than that of turning some swine ^ into the fields to tread down the grain. These are at the proper season 1 In Upper Egypt they have sometimes a little rain ; and I was told that in eight years it had been known to rain hut twice very hard for about half an hour. — Pococke. 2 Plutarch, Eudoxus, and Pliny, relate the same fact. A^alckenaer does not hesitate to consider it a fable invented by Herodotus ; and the sagacious Wesseling seems to be of the same opinion, though he has not rejected the expression. Gale, not thinking swine adapted to tread down the grain, has substituted oxen, because in Ilesychius and Phavorinus the word tis seems to signify an ox. They are at present made use of in some of our provinces to iind out troutBes, with a kind of muzzle to prevent their devouring them. My own opinion on this matter is, that Herodotus is mistaken only with regard to the time when they were admitted into the fields. It was probably before the corn was sown, that they might eat the roots of the aquatic plants, which might prove ol injury to the grain. — See Diodorus Sicnlus. It has been objected that the Egyptians considered swine as unclean animals, and that therefore probably they had not a sufficient number of them for the purposes here specified- To this I reply, thfit as they sacrificed them at the time of every full moon to the Moon and to Bacchus, they had pro- bably a great abundance of these animals. — Lurcher, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 171 again let loose to shake the corn from the ear, %vhich is then gathered. XV. If we follow the tradition of the lonians, it will appear that all which may be properly denominated Egypt is limited to the Delta. This region, from the watch-toAver erected by Perseus, extends along the coast to the salt-pits of Pehisiura, to the length of forty schceni. From the coast inland it stretches to the city of Cercasora, \vhere the Nile diA ides itself into two branches ; one of which is termed Pelusium, the other Canopus. Of the rest of Egypt, they affirm that part of it belongs to Libya, and part to Arabia ; which, if it be true, we shall be obliged to conclude that for- merly the Egyptians had no country at all. The Delta, as they assert themselves, and as I myself was couA'inced by observation, is still liable to be over- floAved, and was formerly covered with water.* Under these circumstances their curiosity to examine whether they were the most ancient of the human race^ must seem preposterous, and their experiment of the two children to discover what language they should first speak, wsls absurd and unnecessary. For my own part, I am of opinion that the Egyptians did not com- mence their origin Avith the Delta, but from the first existence of the human race. That as their country became more extensive some remained in their primi- 1 Diodorus Siculus is also of opinion that Egypt formerly was one extended sea, and that the land was formed by the mud brought down from Ethiopia by the Nile. — T. 2 Diodorus Siculus informs us that the Ethiopians consider the Egyptians as one of their colonies, at the head of which Avas Osiris. He observes also in another place that the inha- bitants of the Thebaid consider themselves as the most an- cient of mankind. This historian doubtless has a view to the traditions of the two people, without giving us his ΟΛνη opi- nion. — Larcher, 172 HERODOTUS. tive places of residence, Λνΐιϋβΐ others migrated to a lower situation. Hence it Avas tliat Thebes, comprising a tract of land Avhich is six thousand one hundred and twenty stadia in circumference, \vent formerly under the name of Egypt. X\"I. If our opinion concerning Egypt be true, that of the lonians must certainly be wrong ; if, on the contrary, the lonians are right in their conjecture, it will not be difficult to prove the Greeks, not excepting the lonians, mistaken in their account of the earth; of which they affirm that Europe, Asia, and Libya, con- stitute the proper division ; but if the Delta belong neither to Asia nor Africa, it makes by itself necessa- rily a fourth and distinct portion of the globe ; for, according to the above mode of reasoning, the Nile cannot completely form the division between Asia and Africa ; at the extremity of the Delta it is separated into two branches, and the country lying between can- not properly belong either to Asia or Africa. XVII. Avoiding farther comment on the sentiments of the lonians, I myself am of opinion that all the tract of country inhabited by Egyptians is properly called Egypt, as the countries inhabited by the Cili- cians and Assyrians are respectively denominated Cili- cia and Assyria : and I must think that the land of Egypt alone constitutes the natural and proper limits of Asia and Africa. If we adhere to the opinion re- ceived amongst the Greeks, we are to consider the whole of Egypt commencing from the cataract, and the city Elephantine as divided into two parts, with distinct appellations ; the one belonging to Libya, the other to Asia : the Nile, beginning at the cataract, flows through the centre of Egypt, and empties itself into the sea. As far as the city Cercasora it proceeds in one undivided channel, but it there separates itself BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 173 into three brandies ; that Avhich directs itself towards the east is called the Pelusian mouth, the Canopic in- clines to the west ; the third in one continued line meets the point of the Delta, Λvhich diA'iding- in two, it finally pours itself into the sea ; this arm is equally celebrated, and not inferior in the depth of its waters: it is called the Sebennitic mouth ; and this again divides itself into tΛvo branches ; one is called the Saitic, and one the Mendesian channel ; both empty themselves into the sea. There are two other mouths, the Bolbi- tinian and the Bucolic ; these are not produced by na- ture, but by art. XVIII. My opinion concerning the extent of Egypt receiΛ'es farther confirmation from the oracle of Am- mon ; of Avhich, howevei:, I had no knowlege till my mind Λvas already satisfied on the subject. The peo- ple of Marea and Apis, Λvho inhabit the borders of Libya, thinking themselves to be not Egyptians but Libyans, both of them disliked the religious ceremo- nies of the country, and that particular restriction which did not permit them to kill heifers for food : they sent therefore with this impression to Ammon, declaring that they had no connexion Λvith the Egyp- tians ; for they liΛ'ed beyond the Delta, had their opi- nions and prejudices as distinct as possible, and wished to have no restriction in the article of food. The deity signified his disapprobation of their conduct, and inti- mated that every part of that region Avhich was watered by the Nile was strictly to be denominated Egypt; and that all Λvho dwelt below Elephantine and drank of this stream ^ were Egyptians. XIX. In its more extensive inundations the Nile 1 The ancients, says Strabo, confined the appellation of Egypt to the inhabited country watered by the jSile, from, the environs of Syene to the sea. 174 HERODOTUS. does not overflow the Delta only, but part of that ter- ritory which is called Libyan, and sometimes the Ara- bian frontier, and extends about the space of two days' journey on each side, speaking on an average. Of the nature of this river' I could obtain no certain in- formation from the priests or from others. It was nevertheless my particular desire to know why the Nile, beginning at the summer solstice,- continues gradually to rise for the space of a hundred days ; and after which, for the same space, it as gradually re- cedes, remaining throughout the winter, and till the return of the summer solstice, in its former low and quiescent state : but all my inquiries of the inhabi- tants proved ineffectual, and I Avas unable to learn why the Nile was thus distinguished in its properties from other streams. I was equally unsuccessful in my wishes to be informed why this river alone wafted no breeze from its surface. XX. From a desire of gaining a reputation for sa- gacity, tliis subject has employed the attention of many among the Greeks. There have been three different modes ^ of explaining it, tAvo of which merit no farther attention than barely to be mentioned ; one of them afHrms the increase of the Nile to be owing to the Etes'an winds, which, by blowing in an opposite direc- 1 The Nile was considered by the natives as a tutelar deity. 2 The inundation commences regularly about the month of July, or tliree weeks after the rains have began to fall in EtJiiopia.— Larc/ier. The JS'ile is not the only river which increases its waters in the summer season ; it has this property in common with many otliers, both of Africa and India. — Larclwr. S Diodorus Siculus allows only two of tliese hypotheses to be Grecian ; the one by Thales, tlie otlier by Anaxagoras ; the third, concerning the ocean, he makes of Egyptian ex- traction amongst the priests. — IS'orden. BOOK ΤΓ. — EUTERPE. 175 tiott, impeded the river's entrance to the sea. But it has often happened that no Avinds have blown from this quarter, and the phenomenon of the Nile has stilt been the same. It may also be remarked, that were this the real cause, the same events would happen to other rivers Avhose currents are opposed to the Etesian winds;' which, indeed, as having a less body of water» and a weaker current, would be capable of still less resistance : but there are many streams, both in Syria and Africa, none of which exhibit the same appear- ances with the Nile. XXI. The second opinion is still less agreeable to reason, though more calculated to excite wonder. This affirms that the Nile has these qualities, as ilowing from the ocean, which intirely surrounds the earth. XXII. The third opinion, though more plausible in appearance, is still more false in reality. It simply intimates that the body of the Nile is formed from the dissolution of snow, which, coming from Libya through the regions of Ethiopia, discharges itself on Egypt. But how can this river, descending from a very Λvarm to a much colder climate, be possibly composed of melted snow? There are many other reasons concur- ring to satisfy any person of good understanding that this opinion is contrary to fact. The first and the strongest argument may be drawn from the winds, which are in these regions invariably hot : it may also be observed that rain and ice are here intirely un- 1 Of these ν, -inds the following account is given by Pliny : in the hottest part of the summer the dog-star rises ; this is usually the fifteenth day preceding the calends of August, when the sun enters Leo. About eight days before this star riees the north east Avinds rise, which the Greeks call Pro- dromi (fore-runners) : about two days afterwards these winds increase in force, and continuje for the space of forty days j these are called the Etesian winds. — Γ. 176 HERODOTUS. known. ^ Now if in five days ^ after a fall of snow it must necessarily rain, which is indisputably the case, it follows that if there were snow in those countries, there would certainly be rain. The third proof is taken from the color of the natives, Avho from excessive heat are universally black ; moreover, the kites and the swallows are η6Λ er known to migrate ^ from this coun- try : the cranes, also, flying from the severity of a Scythian winter, pass that cold season here. If there- fore it snowed, although but little, in those places through which the Nile passes, or in those Λvhere it takes its rise, reason demonstrates that none of the above-mentioned circumstances could possibly happen. XXIII. The argument which attributes to the ocean these phenomena of the Nile seems rather to partake of fable, than of truth or sense. For my own part, I know no river of the name of Oceanus ; and I am inclined to believe that Homer, or some other poet of former times, first invented and afterwards intro- duced it in his compositions. XXIV. But as I have mentioned the preceding opi- 1 Nonnus reports, in the history of liis embassy, that during the period when the jNile inundates Egypt there are very violent storms in tlie different parts of Ethiopia. The at- mosphere is exceedingly cloudy, and the rains fall in such torrents as to inundate the country. The Portuguese missionaries inform us, that from June to September there does not pass a day in Abyssinia without rain, and that the Nile receives all the rivers, streams, and torrents, which fall from the mountains. — I.archer. 2 Herodotus had probably remarked, tliat at Halicarnassus or at Thurium, where he lived, snow was in tlie space of a few days succeeded by rain. — Wesseling. 3 The kites and swallows of tliose regions through which the Nile flows continue tliere througliout the year without injury : differing in this respect from those of our climate, it may ])e reasonably concluded that those regions are of a warm temperature. — lieiske. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 177 nions only to censure and confute them, I may be ex- pected perhaps to ^ve my owi\ sentiments on this in- tricate subject. — It is my opinion that the Nile over- floAvs ^ in the summer season, because in the winter the sun, driven by the storms from his usual course, ascends into the higher regions of the air above Libya. My reason may be explained without difficulty ; for it may be easily supposed that to whatever region this power more nearly approaches, the rivers and streams of that country will be proportionably dried up and diminished. XXV. If I were to go more at length into the argu- ment, I should say that the whole is occasioned by the sun's passage through the higher parts of Libya. For as the air is invariably serene, and the heat always tempered by cooling breezes, the sun acts there as it does in the summer season, when his place is in the centre of the heavens. The solar rays absorb the aqueous particles, which their influence forcibly ele- vates into the higher regions ; here they are received, separated, and dispersed by the winds. And it may be observed that the south and south-west, which are the most common winds in this quarter, are of all others most frequently attended Avith rain : it does not how ever appear to me that the sun remits all the w^ater w^hich he every year absorbs from the Nile ; some is probably withheld. As winter disappears he returns to the middle place of the heaΛ ens, and again by eva- poration draAvs to him the waters of the rivers, all of 1 This explanation of the overflowing of the Nile in the summer, which seemed probable to Herodotus, is not only obscure but absurd, not to say false. This is sufficiently proved by Aristides, in his oration on the causes of the in- crease of the Xile. — Reiske. This hypothesis of Herodotus is completely refuted, by Diodorus Siculus, book n. 19, 20. 2-i. — T. ■»-fcir7;iiJuLiwJ.• HER. VOL. I. Μ 178 HERODOTUS. which are then found considerably increased by the rains, and rising- to their extreme heights. But in summer, from the want of rain, and from the attrac- ti\e power of the sun, tliey are again reduced : but the Nile is differently circumstanced ; it never has the benefit of rains, Avhilst it is constantly acted on by the sun ; a suflicient reason why it should in the winter season be proportionably loAver than in summer. In winter the Nile alone ' is diminished by the influence of the sun, which in summer attracts the Avater of the rivers indiscriminately ; I impute therefore to the sun the remarkable properties of the Nile. XXVI. To the same cause is to be ascribed, as I suppose, the state of the air in that country, Avhicli from the effect of the sun is always extremely rarefied, so that in the higher parts of Africa there prevails an eternal summer. If it were possible to produce a change in the seasons, and to place the regions of the north in those of the south, and those of the south in the north, the sun, driven from his place by the storms of the north, would doubtless affect the higher parts of Europe, as it now does those of Libya. It would also, I imagine, then act on the waters of the Ister, as it now does on those of the Nile. XXVII. That no breeze ^ blows from the surface of the river, may I think be thus accounted for. Where 1 If the sun attracted moisture from the Nile during the winter season, it would do tlie same with respect to the other rivers of Libya, and in like manner diminish the force of their currents. As this is not the fact, tlie reasoning of this author fiiUs to the ground. Tlie rivers of Greece are increased during the winter, not on account of their distance from the sun, hut from the frequency of the rains. — IJiodirrus Siculus, 2 An immense body of water, from wliich no breeze is ex- haled, naturally excites an idea of pestilence and putridity. Tlie waters of the Ni^^, on the contrary, are not only whole- some, but extremely delicious. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 179 the air is in a very warm and rarefied state, wind can hardly be expected, this generally rising• in places that are cold. On this subject I shall attempt no farther illustration, but leave it in the state in Avhich it has so long remained. XXVIII. In all my intercourse Avith Egyptians, Libyans, and Greeks, I have only met Avith one person who pretended to have any knowlege of the sources of the Nile. This was the priest who had the care of the sacred treasures in the temple of MinerAa at Sais, He assured me that on this subject he possessed the most unquestionable intelligence, though his asser- tions never obtained my serious confidence. He in- formed me that betwixt Syene, a city of the Thebais, and Elephantine, there were two mountains, respect- ively terminating in an acute summit: the name of the one Λvas Crophi, of the other Mophi. He affirmed that the sources of the Nile, which were fountains of unfathomable depth, flowed from the centres of these mountains ; that one of these streams divided Egypt, and directed its course to the north ; the other in like manner flowed towards the south, through Ethiopia. To confirm his assertion that those springs Avere unfa- thomable, he told me that Psammitichus, sovereign of the country, had ascertained it by experiment : he let doAvn a rope of the length of several thousand orgyise, but could find no bottom. This was the priest's infor- mation, on the truth of which ^ I presume not to deter- mine. If such an experiment was really made, there 1 Herodotus could not have told us more explicitly that he disbelieved the whole of this narrative. On tliis occasion Strabo speaks contemptuously of Herodotus, as a retailer of fables. But the geographer had not always so bad an opinion of him, for he frequently copies him without acknowleging it. — Larcher. 180 HERODOTUS. might perhaps in these springs be certain vortices oc- casioned by the reverberation of the water from the mountains, of force sufficient to bnoy up the sounding- line, and prevent its reaching the bottom. XXIX. Any other intelligence than the above I was not able to procure, though I so far carried my inquiry, that, with a view of making observation, I proceeded myself to Elephantine : of the parts which lie beyond that city I can only speak from the infor- mation of others. Beyond Elephantine this country becomes rugged : in advancing up the stream it will be necessary to hale the vessel on each side by a rope, such as is used for oxen. If this should give way, the impetuosity of the stream forces the vessel vio- lently back again. To this place from Elephantine is a four days' voyage ; and here, like the Meander, the Nile becomes winding, and for the space of twelve schoeni there is no mode of proceeding but that above mentioned. Afterwards you come to a wide and spa- cious plain, and meet an island Avhich stands in the centre of the river, and is called Tachompso. The higher part beyond Elephantine is possessed by the Ethiopians, who also inhabit half of this island ; the other half belongs to the Egyptians. In the vicinity of the island is an extensive lake, near which some Ethiopian shepherds reside : passing over this, you again enter into the channel of the Nile, which flows into the above lake. Beyond this^ it is necessary, for the space of about forty days, to travel on the banks of the river, which is here so impeded with rocks, as 1 Tills passage is mentioned by Longimis in terms of admi- ration.— T. The above is also imitated by Lucian, in his Essay on Writing True History :—' Having passed these islands, you will come to a great continent,' &c. — Lurcher. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 181 to render the passage in a vessel impossible. At the end of these forty days the traveller enters a second vessel, and after a voyage of twelve days will arrive at Meroe, a very considerable town, and as some say the capital of the rest of Ethiopia. The inhabitants pay divine honors to Jupiter and Bacchus' only, but these they worship with the extremest veneration. At this place is an oracle of Jupiter, whose declarations, with the most implicit obedience, they permit to regu- late all their martial expeditions. XXX. Leaving this city at about the same distance as from hence to Elephantine, your bark will arrive at the country of the Automoli, who are also known by the name of Asraach. This \vord translated into our lan- guage, signifies those Λvho stand on the left hand of the sovereign. This people, to the amount of two hundred and forty thousand individuals, were formerly Egyp- tian warriors, and migrated to these parts of Ethiopia on the following occasion : in the reign of Psaramiti- chus they Λvere by his command stationed in different places ; some were appointed for the defence of Ele- phantine against the Ethiopians ; some at the Pelusian Daphne ; others were detached to prevent the incur- sions of the Arabians and Assyrians ; and to awe Libya there Λvas a garrison also at Marea : at this present period the military stations are regulated by the Persians, as they were under king Psammitichus ; for there are Persian garrisons now stationed at Ele- 1 Strabo, in describing the manners of the Ethiopians, makes no mention of either Jupiter or Bacchus. Ελ^θγ\ thing therefore must have been changed from the age of Herodotus to that of Strabo, or these two authors must have received very different impressions with respect to the two countries. — Larcher, 182 HERODOTUS. phantine and Dapline. When these Egyptians had remained for the space of three years in the above situation, Avithout being relieved, they determined by general consent to revolt from Psammitichus* to the Ethiopians ; on intelligence of Avhich event they Avere immediately followed by Psammitichns, who, on his coming up Avith them, solemnly adjured them not to desert the gods of their country, their Avives and their children. One of them is said to have replied, that wherever they Avent they would doubtless ob- tain both wives and children. On their arrival in Ethiopia, the Automoli^ devoted themselves to the service of the monarch, who in recompense for their conduct assigned them a certain district of Ethiopia possessed by a people in rebellion against him, whom he ordered them to expel for that purpose. After the establishment of the Egyptians among them, the tinc- ture which they imbibed of Egyptian manners had a very sensible effect in civilising the Ethiopians. XXXI. Thus, without computing that part of it which iioAvs through Egypt, the course of the Nile is known to the extent of four months' journey, partly by land and partly by water ; for it will be found on experience, that no one can go in a less time from Ele- phantine to the Automoli. It is certain that the Nile rises in the west ; but beyond the Automoli all is un- certainty, this part of the country being, from the excessive heat, a rude and uncultivated desert. 1 Diodorus Siculus assigns a very different reason for the revolt oftliese Egyptians. * Psamniitichus,' says tliat histo- rian, ' having meditated an expedition against Syria, gave the place of honor in his army to strangers, and discovered on all occasions a preference to them, to the prejudice of his natural subjects.' 2 Deserters. BOOK II.— EUTI-RPE. 1-8$ XXXII. It may not be improper to relate an account which I received from certain Cyreiieans : on an expedition Avhich they made to the oracle of Amnion, they said they had an opportunity of con- versing with Etearchus, the sovereign of the country : among other topics the Nile was mentioned, and it was observed that the particulars of its source were hitherto intirely unknown : Etearchus informed them that some Nassamonians once visited his court ; (tiiese are a people of Africa who inhabit the Syrtes, and a tract of land which from thence extends towards the east ;) on his making inquiry of them concerning the deserts of Africa, they related the foiloΛving incident : some young men, Λvho Avere sons of persons of dis- tinction, had on their coming to man's estate signa- lised themselves by some extravagance of conduct. Among other things, they deputed by lot five of their companions to explore the solitudes of Africa, and to endeavor at extending their discoveries beyond all preceding adventurers. All that part of Libya to- wards the Northern Ocean, from Egypt to the pro- montory of Soloeis, which terminates the third divi- sion of the globe, is inhabited by the diflerent nations of the Libyans, that district alone excepted in pos- session of the Greeks and Phoenicians. The remoter parts of Libya beyond the sea-coast, and the people who inhabit its borders, are infested by various beasts of prey ; the country yet more distant is a parched and immeasurable desert. The young men left their companions Avell provided Avith water and with food, and first proceeded through the region which Avas in- habited ; they next came to that which Avas infested by wild beasts, leaving which, they directed their course westwar I through the desert. After a journey of many days, over a barren and sandy soil, they at 184 HERODOTUS. levgth discerned some trees growing in a plain ; these they approached, and seeing fruit on them, they ga- thered it. Whilst they were thus employed, some men of dwarfish stature * came Avhere they w ere, seized their persons, and carried them away. They were mutually ignorant of each other's language ; but the Nassamonians were conducted over many marshy grounds to a city, in which all the inhabitants were of the diminutive appearance, and of a black color. This city was washed by a great river which flowed from %vest to east, and abounded in crocodiles. XXXIII. Such was the conversation of Etearchus, as related to me ; he added, as the Cyreneans farther told me, that the Nassamonians returned to their own country, and reported the men whom they had met to be all of them magicians. The river which washed their city, according to the conjecture of Etearchus, which probability confirms, was the Nile. The Nile certainly rises in Libya, which it divides ; and if it be allowable to draw^ conclusions from things which are well known, concerning those which are uncertain and obscure, it takes a similar course with the Ister. This 1 The pigmies are as old as Homer. They were not con- fined to Ethiopia, tliey were believed to exist also in India. Homer thus mentions them : So when inclement winters vex the plain "With piercing frosts, or thick descending rain, To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly. With noise and order through the midway sky ; To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring. And all the war descends upon the wing. — Pope. Mention also is made of them by Pliny and Sti-abo. Pompo- nius Mela places them in a certain part of Arabia. P. Jovius says they are found in the extremities of the northern regions. The circumstance of their hostilities with the cranes is men- tioned by Oppian, in his first book of Halieutics ; by Juvenal, sat. 13. ; by Ovid, Fast, book vi. Mr. Gibbon, properly enough, treats the whole as a contemptible fable. — T. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 185 river, commencing at tlie city of Pyrene, amonsj the Celtae, flows through the centre of Europe.' These Celtic are found beyond the Columns of Hercules ; they border on the Cynesians, the most remote of all the nations who inhabit the Avestern parts of Europe. At that point which is possessed by the Istrians, a Milesian colony, the Ister empties itself into the Euxine. XXXIV. The sources of the Ister, as it passes through countries Avell inhabited, are sufficiently noto- rious ; but of the fountains of the Nile, washing as it does the rude and uninhabitable deserts of Libya, no one can speak Λvith precision. All the knowlege which I have been able to procure from the most diligent and extensive inquiries, I have before communicated. Through Egypt it directs its course to%vards the sea. Opposite to Egypt are the mountains of Cilicia, from whence to Sinope, on the Euxine, a good traveller may pass in five days : on the side immediately oppo- site to Sinope the Ister is poured into the sea. Thus the Nile, as it traverses Africa, may properly enough be compared to the Ister. But on this subject I have said all that I think necessary. XXXV. Concerning Egypt itself I shall speak more at large ; it claims our admiration beyond all other countries, and the wonderful things Avhich it exhibits demand a very copious description. — The Egyptians, born under a climate to which no other can be com- pared, possessing a river diiFerent in its nature and properties from all the rivers in the Avorld, are them- 1 This is not quite true. He means the same as when he observes, a little before, that the Nile divides Libya in the midst. But this mistake will not justify our following the example of Bouhier, who accuses Herodotus of confounding the Nile with the Niger. — Lurcher. 1S6 HERODOTUS. selves distinguished from the rest of mankind by the singularity of their institutions and their manners. In this country the women leaΛ e to the men the manage- ment of the loom, in the retirement of the house, whilst tliey themselves are engaged abroad in the business of commerce. Other nations in weaving shoot the Λνοοί above, the Egyptians beneath : here the men carry burdens on their heads, women on their shoulders. Tlieir meals are eaten publicly in the streets. The office of the priesthood is in every instance confined to the men ; there are no priestesses in Egypt in the ser- vice either of male or female deities ; the men are under no obligation ' to support their parents, if un- willing to do so, but the women are. XXXVI. The priests of the gods, who in other places wear their hair long, in Egypt wear it short. It is elsewhere customary, ^ in case of death, for those who are most nearly aflected to cut oif their hair in testimony of sorrow ; but the Egyptians, who at other times have their heads closely shorn, sutler the hair on this occasion to grow. Other nations will not suiFer animals to approach the place of their repast, but in Egypt they live promiscuously with the people. Wheat and barley is a common article of food in other coun- tries, but it is in Egypt thought mean and disgraceful ; 1 The law of wLich Herodotus speaks liad probably this foundation. The priests and the military having duties to perform wliich did not suiier them to take care of their pa- rents, these in their sons' absence ΛνοηΚΙ probably have ex- perienced neglect. It is well known that the priests were also judges, and that they were despatclied to difterent places to administer justice, and that of consequence they must often have been absent from their families. — Lurcher. 2 Amongst the Greeks, when any sad calamity befalls them, the women cut tlieir hair close, the men Avear it long ; in feneral, the women wear their hair long, the men short. — *lutarch. BOOK II. — El'TERPE. 187 the diet here consists principally of spelt, a kind of corn which some call zea. Their dough they knead Avith their feet ; \vhilst in the removal of mud and dung they do not scruple to use their hands. Male children, except in those places which have borrowed the custom from hence, are left in otlier nations as nature formed tliem : in Egypt they are circumcised. The men have two vests, the Λvomen only one. In opposition to the customs of other nations, the Egyp- tians fix the ropes to their sails on the inside. The Greeks, when they write or reckon with counters, go from the left to the right, the Egyptians from right to left ; notwithstanding which they persist in affirming that the Greeks write to the left, but they themselves always to the right. They have two sorts of letters ;* one of which is appropriated to sacred subjects, the other used on common occasions. XXXVII. Their veneration of their deities is su- perstitious to an extreme : of their customs, one is to drink out of brazen goblets, which it is an universal practice among them to cleanse every day. They are so regardful of neatness that they wear only linen, and that always newly washed ; and it is from the idea of cleanliness, which they regard much beyond comeliness, that they use cir-cumcision. Their priests' 1 Diodorus Siculus agrees in this respect with Herodotus. Clemens Alexandrinus and Porphyry remark, that the Egyp- tians used three sorts of letters : the first is called epistolary, the second the sacerdotal, the third the hieroglyphic. War- burton, in his Divine Legation of Moses, attributes to the Egyptians four sorts of letters. Although I am ignorant of the time when the Egyptians first began to have an alphabet, I am satisfied it must have been long before the invasion of Cambyses. — Larcher. 2 For a more particular account of the particiilarities ob- served by the Egyptian priests, see Porphyrins de Abstinen- 188 HERODOTUS. every third day shave every part of their bodies, to prevent vermin ' or any species of impurity from ad- hering to those Avho are engaged in the service of the gods ; the priesthood is also confined to one particular mode of dress ; they have one vest of linen, and their shoes are made of the byblus ; they wash themselves in cold water twice in the course of the day, and as often in the night : it would, indeed be difficult to enumerate their religious ceremonies, all of which they practise with superstitious exactness. The sacred ministers possess in return many and great advantages : they are not obliged to consume any part of their domestic property ; each has a moiety of the sacred viands ready dressed assigned him, besides a large and daily allowance of beef and of geese ; they have also wine, but are not permitted to feed on fish.^ Beans are sown in no part of Egypt ; neither will the inhabitants eat them, either boiled or raw: the priests will not even look at this pulse, esteeming it exceedingly unclean. Every god has several attendant priests, and one of superior dignity, λυΙιο presides over tia, lib. iii. ; from whom it appears that their whole time was divided betwixt study and acts of devotion. — T. 1 In this respect the Jews were in like manner tenacious : if a Jewish priest found any dirt or dead vermin betwixt his inner garments and his skin, he might not perform the duties of his office. See Maimonides. — T. 2 Tlie reason of this, according to Plutarch, was their ex- cessive enmity to the sea, which they considered as an ele- ment inimical to man : the same reasoning they extended to the produce of the Nile, which they thought corrupted by its connexion with the sea. — T. Various motives are assigned why the Pythagoreans, in imitation of the Egyptians, abstained from beans, by Plutarch, Cicero, and others. ' Tlie Pythagoreans,' observes Cicero, ' abstained from beans, as if that kind of food inflated the mind rather than the belly ; but there is nothing so absurd which has not been affirmed by some one of the philoso- phers.'— Ϊ'. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 189 the rest; when any one dies he is succeeded by his son.' XXXVIII. They esteem bulls as sacred to Epa- phus;2 Avhich, previously to sacrifice, are thus carefully examined : if they can but discover a single black hair in his body, he is deemed impure ; for this pur- pose a priest is particularly appointed, who examines the animal as it stands, and as reclined on its back : its tongue is also drawn out, and he observes whether it be free from those blemishes Λvhich are specified in their sacred books, and of which I shall speak here- after. The tail also undergoes examination, every hair of which must grow in its natural and proper form : if in all these instances the bull appears to be unblemished, the priest fastens the byblus round his horns ; he then applies a preparation of earth, which receives the impression of his seal, and the animal is led away : this seal is of so great importance that to sacrifice a beast Avhich has it not is deemed a capital offence. XXXIX. I proceed to describe their mode of sacri- fice. Having led the animal destined and marked for the purpose to the altar, they kindle a fire : a libation of wine is poured on the altar ; the god is solemnly invoked, and the victim then is killed ; they after- wards cut off his head, and take the skin from the carcass ; on the head they heap many imprecations : such as have a market-place at hand carry it there, and sell it to the Grecian traders ; if they have not this opportunity, they throw it into the river. They 1 Amongst the Egyptians the priests composed a distinct class, as the Levites amongst the Jews, and the Brarhmans Λvith the Indians. — Larcher. 2 It was doubtless from the circumstance of this idolatry that Aaron erected the golden calf in the wilderness, and Jeroboam in Dan and Bethel.— Γ. 190 HERODOTUS. imprecate the head, by wishing that whatever evil me- naces those who sacrifice, or Egypt in general, it may fall on that head. This ceremony respecting the head of the animal, and this mode of pouring a libation of wine on the altar, is indiscriminately observed by all the Egyptians: in consequence of the above, no Egyp- tian will on any account eat of the head of a beast. As to the examination of the victims, and their cere- mony of burning them, they have different methods as their different occasions of sacrifice require. XL. Of that goddess whom they esteem the first of all their deities, and in whose honor their greatest festival is celebrated, I shall now make more particu- lar mention. After the preΛdous ceremony of prayers, they sacrifice an ox : they then strip off the skin, and take out the intestines, leaving the fat and the paunch ; they afterwards cut off the legs, the shoulders, the neck, and the extremities of the loin ; the rest of the body is stuffed with fine bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and various aromatics ; after this process they burn it, pouring on the flame a large quantity of oil : whilst the victim is burning the spec- tators flagellate themselves, having fasted before the ceremony ; the Avhole is completed by their feasting on the residue of the sacrifice. XLI. All the Egyptians sacrifice bulls without ble- mish, and calves ; the females are sacred to Isis, and may not be used for this purpose. This divinity is represented under the form of a Avoman, and as the Greeks paint lo, \vith horns on her head ; for tliis reason the Egyptians venerate cows far beyond all other cattle, neither will any man or woman among them kiss a Grecian, nor use a knife, or spit on any domestic utensil belonging to a Greek ; nor will they eat even the flesh of such beasts as by their law are BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 191 pure, if it has been cut with a Grecian knife. If any of these cattle die, they thus dispose of their carcasses ; tlie females are thrown into the river, the males they bury in the vicinity of the city, and by way of mark, one, and sometimes both of the horns are left project- ing from tlie ground ; they remain thus a stated time, and till they begin to putrify, when a vessel appointed for this particular purpose is despatched from Proso- pitis, an island of the Delta, nine schoeni in extent, and containing several cities. Atarbechis, one of these cities, in which is a temple of Venus, provides the vessels for this purpose, w hich are sent to the dif- ferent parts of Egypt : these collect and transport the bones of the animals, \vhich are all buried in one ap- pointed place. This law and custom extends to what- ever cattle may happen to die, as the Egyptians them- selves put none to death. XLII. Those who worship in the temple of the Theban Jupiter, or belong to the district of Thebes, abstain from sheep, and sacrifice goats. The same deities receive in Egypt different forms of worship : the ceremonies of Isis and of Osiris, w ho they say is no other than the Grecian Bacchus, are alone un- varied : in the temple of Mendes, and in the whole Mendesian district, goats are preserved and sheep sacrificed. Why the Thebans, and all Λνΐιο are under their influence abstain from sheep, is thus explained : Jupiter, they say, was long aΛ■erse to the earnest soli- citations of Hercules to see his person ; but in con- sequence of his repeated importunity the god, in compliance, used the following artifice : he cut off the head of a ram, and covering himself with its skin, show ed himself in that form to Hercules : from this incident the Egyptian statues of Jupiter represent 192 HERODOTUS. that dmnity with the head of a ram. This custom was borrowed of the Egyptians by the Ammonians, who are composed partly of Egyptians and partly of Ethiopians, and whose dialect is formed promiscuously of both those languages. The Egyptians call Jupiter, Ammoun, and I should think this was the reason why the above people named themselves Ammonians. From this however it is that the Thebans esteem the ram as sacred, and except on the annual festival of Jupiter, never put one to death. On this solemnity they kill a ram, and placing its skin on the image of the god, they introduce before it a figure of Her- cules ; the assembly afterwards beat the ram, and conclude the ceremony by enclosing the body in a sacred chest. XLIII. This Hercules, as I have been informed, is one of the twelve great gods ; but of the Grecian Her- cules I could in no part of Egypt procure any know- lege : that this name Avas never borrowed by Egypt from Greece, but certainly communicated by the Egyptians to the Greeks, and to those in particular who assign it to the son of Amphitryon, is among other arguments sufficiently evident from this, that both the reputed parents of this Hercules, Amphitryon and Alcmena, were of Egyptian origin. The Egyp- tians also disclaim all knowlege both of Neptune and the Dioscuri, neither of Avhom are admitted among the number of their gods : if they had ever borrowed the name of a deity from Greece, the remembrance of these, so far from being less, must have been stronger than of any other ; for if they then made voyages, and as I have great reason to believe there w^ere at that time Greek sailors, they would rather have been acquainted with the names of the other deities, than BOOK II. — EUTFRPE. 193 with that of Hercules. Hercules is certainly one of tlie most ancient deities of Egypt ;' and as they them- selves affirm, is one of the twelve who were produced from the eight gods, seventeen thousand years before the reign of Amasis. XLIV. From my great desire to obtain information on this subject, I made a voyage to Tyre, in Phoenicia, where is a temple of Hercules held in great venera- tion. Among the various oiFerings which enriched and adorned it, I saw two pillars ; the one was of the purest gold, the other of emerald, which in the night diffused an extraordinary splendor. I inquired of the priests how long this temple had been erected, but I found that they also diifered in their relation from the Greeks. This temple, as they affirmed, had been standing ever since the first building of the city, a period of two thousand three hundred years. I saw also at Tyre another temple consecrated to the Thasian Hercules. At Thasus, which I visited, I found a temple erected to this deity by the Plioenicians, Λvho built Thasus \vhile they were engaged in search of Europa ; an event Avhich happened five generations before Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, was knoAvn in Greece. From all these circumstances I Avas con- vinced that Hercules must be a very ancient deity. Such therefore of the Greeks as have erected two temples to the deity of this name, have, in my opinion, acted very wisely : to the Olympian Hercules they ofl'er as to an immortal being ; to the other they pay the rites of a hero. 1 The remark that the Egyptian is a very distinct person- age from the Grecian Hercules, is not peculiar to Herodotus j it is affirmed by all the authors who liave had occasion to speak on the subject : Cicero gives him the Nile as his father : Nile genitus. — Lurcher . HER, VOL. 1. Ν 194 HERODOTUS. XLV. Among the manj'^ preposterous fables current in Greece, the one concerning Hercules is not the least ridiculous. He arrived, they say, in Egypt, where the inhabitants bound him Avith the sacred fillet, and the usual ornaments of a \ ictim, and made pre- parations to sacrifice him to Jupiter. For a Avhile he restrained himself; but on his being conducted Avith the usual solemnities to the altar, he exerted his strength, and put all his opponents to death. This story of the Greeks demonstrates the extremest igno- rance of the Egyptian manners ; for how can it be reasonable to suppose that they will offer human be- ings in sacrifice, who Avill not for this purpose destroy even animals ; except swine, bulls, male calves Avith- out blemish, and geese? Or how could Hercules, an individual, and as they themselves affirm, a mortal, be able to destroy many thousands of meji ? I hope however that what I have introduced on this subject will give no offence either to gods or heroes. XLVI. The Meudesians, of Avhom I have before spoken, refuse to sacrifice goats of either sex, out of re- verence to Pan, whom their traditions assert to be one of the eight deities, whose existence preceded that of the twelve. Like the Greeks, they always represent Pan in his images Avith the countenance of the she-goat and legs of the male ; not that they believe this has any resemblance to his person, or that he in any respect differs from the rest of the deities : the real motive which they assign for this custom I do not choose to relate. The veneration of the Mendesians for tliese animals, and for the males in particular, is equally great and universal : this is also extended to goat- herds. There is one he-goat more particularly ho- nored than the rest, Avhose death is seriously lamented by the whole district of the Mendesians. In the BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 195 Egyptian language the λνοτά Mendes is used in com- mon for Pan and for a goat. It happened in this country within my remembrance, and Avas indeed universally notorious, that tlie most indecent practices were tolerated. XLVII. The Egyptians regard the hog as an un- clean animal,* and if they casually touch one they immediately jjlunge themsehes, clothes and all, into the water. This prejudice operates to the exclusion of all swine-herds, although natives of Egypt, from the temples ; with people of this description a con- nexion by marriage is studiously avoided, and they are reduced to the necessity of intermarrying among those of their ΟΛνη profession. Tlie only deities to whom the Egyptians oifer swine are Bacchus and Luna ; to these they sacrifice swine when the moon is at the full, after Avhich they eat the flesh. Why they oifer swine at this particular time, and at no other, the Egyptians have a tradition among themselves, Avhich delicacy forbids me to explain. The following is the mode in Avhich they sacriiice this animal to Luna : as soon as it is killed they cut off the extremity of the tail, Avhich, with the spleen and the fat, they in- close in the cawl, and burn ; on the remainder, which at any other time they would disdain, they feast at the full moon, when the sacrifice is performed. They who are poor make the figures of swine with meal, which having first baked, they off'er on the altar. 1 The abhorrence of the Jews to the flesh of swine is gene- rally supposed to have been imitated from, the Egyptians; tliey differed in this, the Jews would never eat it, the Egyp- tians occasionally did. The motives assigned by Plutarch for the prejudice of both these nations in tliis particular in- stance is curious enough : ' the milk of the soav,' says he, ' occasioned leprosies, which was the reason why the Egyp- tians entertained so great an aversion for this animal.' 1.96 HERODOTUS. XLVIII. On the clay of the feast of Bacchus, at the hour of supper, every person before the door of his house oifers a hog in sacrifice. The swine-herd of whom they purchased it is afterwards at liberty to take it aΛvay. Except this sacrifice of the sAvine, the Egyptians celebrate the feast of Bacchus in the same manner as the Greeks. XLIX. I am of opinion that Melampus,* son of Amytheon, was acquainted Avith this ceremony. It was Melampus who first taught the Greeks the name and the sacrifice of Bacchus, and introduced the pro- cession of the phalli ; the mysterious purport of which he did not sufficiently explain ; but since his time it has recei\^ed from different sages adequate illustra- tions. It is unquestionable that the use of the phalli in the sacrifice of Bacchus, with the other ceremonies \vhich the Greeks ηολν know and practise, were first taught them by Melampus. I therefore without hesi- tation pronounce him to have been a man of wisdom, and of skill in the «rt of divination. Instructed by the Egyptians^ in various ceremonies,' and particularly in those which relate to Bacchus, with some few trifling changes he brought them into Greece. I can by no 1 So called because, being exposed when a child by his mother Rliodope, bis whole person was covered, excepting his feet ; these the rays of tlie sun turned black. He was a famous soothsayer : he was also, according to Pausanias, a physician, and had a temple and statues, and solemn games instituted in his honor. — 1\ 2 As Egypt was then famctis for the sciences and arts, the Greeks, who were beginning to emerge from barbarism, tra- velled thither to obtain knowlege, which they miglit after- wards communicate to their countrymen. With this view the folloAving illustrious characters visited tliis country : ' Orpheus, IMusieus, jNlelampus, Daidalus, Homer, Lycurgus the Spartan, Solon of Athens, Plato the philosopher, Pytha- goras of Samos, Eudoxus, Democritus of Abdera, .Enopis of Cnios, &c, &c.' — Lurcher. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 1ί>7 means impute to accident the resemblance Λvhicll exists in the rites of Bacchus in Egypt, and in Greece ; in this case they would not have diftered so essentially from the Grecian manners, and they might have been traced to more remote antiquity : neitlier will I affirm that these, or that any other religious ceremonies Avere borrowed of Greece by the Egyptians; I rather think that Melampus learned all these particulars which relate to the Λvorship of Bacchus from Cadmus and his Tyrian companions, when they came from Phoe- nicia to what is now called Boeotia. L. Egypt has certainly communicated to Greece the names of almost all the gods ; that they are of bar- barian origin, I am convinced by my different re- searches. The names of Neptune and the Dioscuri I mentioned before ; with these, if we except Juno, Vesta, Themis, the Graces, and the Nereids, the names of all the other deities have always been fami- liar in Egypt. In this instance I do but repeat the opinions of the Egyptians. Those names of which they disclaim any knowlege are all, except Neptune, of Pelasgiau derivation ; for their acquaintance Λvith this deity they are indebted to Africa, where indeed he was first of all known, and has always been greatly honored. The Egyptians do not pay any religious ceremonies to heroes. LI. With the above, the Greeks have derived many other circumstances of religious Avorship from Egypt, which I shall hereafter relate ; they did not hoΛvever learn from hence, but from the Pelasgi, to construct the figure of Mercury erect, Avhich custom was first introduced by the Athenians, and communicated from them to others. At that period the Athenians were ranked among the nations of Greece, and had the Pe- lasgians for their neighbors ; from which incident this Ι9δ HERODOTUS. people also began to be esteemed as Greeks. Of the truth of this whoever has been initiated in the Cabirian mysteries,' Avhich the Samothracians use, and learned of the Pelasgi, ΛνΐΠ be necessarily convinced ; for the Pelasgians before they lived near the Athenians for- merly inhabited Samothracia, and taught the people of that country their mysteries. By them the Athenians were first of all instructed to make the figure of Mer- cury upright. For this the Pelasgians have a sacred tradition, which is explained in the Samothracian mys- teries. LII. The Pelasgians, as I Avas informed at Dodona, formerly offered all things indiscriminately to the gods. They distinguished them by no name or surname, for they were hitherto unacquainted with either ; but they called them gods, which by its etymology means disposers, from observing the orderly disposition and distribution of the various parts of the universe. They learned, but not till a late period, the names of the 1 The Cabiri, says Monti'aucon, were a sort of deities about ΛνΗοιη the ancients differ much. The Cabiri, tlie Cu- rette, the Corybantes, the Idean Dactyli, and sometimes the Telchinii, yvere taken for the same : they were sometimes taken for the Dioscuri. With regard to their functions, and the places in which they exercised, opinions equally various are held : some call them the sons of Vulcan, others of Jupi- ter. — Montfancon. Who these Cabirim might be, lias been a matter of unsuc- cessful inquiry to many learned men. The utmost that is known with certainty is, that they were originally three, and were called by way of eminence, The Great, or Mighty Ones, for that is the import of the Hebrew name. Of the like import is the Latin appellation Penates: Dii per quos penitus, spira- nius, &c. Thus rho joint worship of Jupiter, .Tuno, and Minerva, the triad of the lloman capitol, is traced to that of The Three Mighty Ones in Samothrace, which was established in that island, at Avliat precise time it is impossible to determine ; but earlier, if Eusebius may be credited, than the days of Abraham. — Bishop Hovsley's Charge to the Clergy, ^c. BOOK II. — ELTERPE. 1ΘΦ divinities from the Egyptians, and Bacchus was the last whom they knew. On this subject they after- Λvards consulted the oracle of Dodona, by far the most ancient oracle of Greece, and at the period of which \ve speak, the only one. They desired to know whe- ther the}^ might with propriety adopt the names which they had learned of the barbarians, and were answered that they might ; they have accordingly used them ever since in their rites of sacrifice, and from the Pelasgi they were communicated to the Greeks. LIII. Of the origin of each deity, Λvhether they have all of them always existed, as also of their form, their knowlege is Λ^ery recent indeed. The invention of the Grecian theogony, ' the names, the honors, the forms, and the functions of the deities, may Λvith pro- priety be ascribed to Hesiod and to Homer,- Λvho I 1 To suppose Homer to have been the author of the theo- logy and mythology contained in his poems would be as un- reasonable as to imagine that he first taught the Greeks to read and write. We find that, in the following ages, when wise men began to reason more on these subjects, they cen- sured Homer's theology, as highly injurious to the gods, if it were understood in the literal sense. But Avhen Homer Avrote, he had sufficient excuse and authority for the fables which he delivered : and he introduced into his poems, by way of machinery, and with some decorations, theological legends, contrived in more rude and ignorant times, and sanctified by hoary age and venerable tradition. Ti-adition had preserved some memory of the things which the gods had done and had sufi'ered when they were men. — Jortin'n Dissertation, 207. This evidence of Herodotus must be esteemed early, and his judgment valid. What can aftbrd us a more sad account of the doubt and darkness in which mankind were enveloped than tliese words of the historian? How plainly does he show the necessity of divine interposition, and of revelation in consequence of it. — Bryant's Mythology, i. 307. 2 To me it seems certain that the life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus, was not written by our historian. This 1 think might very easily be proved, but it would require a disserta- tion, and much exceed the limits of a note. — Larcher, 200 HERODOTUS. believe lived four hundred years, and not more before myself. If I may give my opinion, the poets who are reported to have been before these, were certainly after them. AVhat I have said of the names and origin of the gods has been on the authority of the priests of Podona ; of Hesiod and of Homer I have delivered my own sentiments. LIV. Of. the two oracles of Greece and Libya, the Egyptians speak as follows : I was told by the mi- nisters of the Theban Jupiter that the Phoenicians had violently carried oiF from Thebes two priestesses, one of whom had been sold into Africa, the other into Greece ; they added that the commencement of the above oracles must be assigned to these two women. On my requesting to know their authority for these asser- tions, they answered, that after a long and ineflectual search after these priestesses, they had finally learned what they had told me. LV. I have related the intelligence which I gained from the priests at Thebes : the priestesses of Dodona' assert, that two black pigeons flew from Thebes in Egypt, one of which settled in Africa, the other among them- selves ; which latter resting on the branch of a beech- tree, declared with a human voice that here by divine appointment was to be an oracle of Jove. The inha- bitants fully impressed that this was a divine commu- 1 There is an account given by Palrephatus, of one JMetra, or Meestra, who could change herself into various forms. The story is very plain : Egypt was frequently called Mestra and JNlestiaia, and by the person here called JMestra we are certainly to understand a woman of the country. Slie was sometimes simply mentioned as a cahen or priestess, which the Greeks have rendered κυνα, a dog. Women in this sacred character attended at the shrine oi'Apis and JMnenis, and of the sacred heifer at unuphis. Some of tliem in ditlerent coun- tries were styled Cygneans, and also Peleiadie, of whom the principal were the women at uodona.— £ri/a«i. BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 201 hication, instantly com])lied with the injunction. The dove which flew to Africa in like manner commanded the people to fix there an oracle of Amnion, which also is an oracle of'Jiipiter. Such was the informa- tion I received from the priestesses of Dodona, the eldest of whom was called Promenea, the second Ti- marete, the youngest Nicandre ; the other ministers employed in the service of the temple agreed with these in every particular. LVI. My opinion of the matter is this: if the Phoe- nicians did in reality carry away these two priestesses, and sell one to Africa, the other to Greece, this latter must have been carried to the Thesproti, which coun- try, though part of what is now termed Greece, was formerly called Pelasgia.' That although in a state of servitude, she erected under the shade of a beech- tree a sacred edifice to Jupiter, which she might very naturally be prompted to do from the remembrance of the temple of Jupiter at Thebes, Avhence she was taken. Thus she instituted the oracle, and having learned the Greek language, might probably relate that by the same Phoenicians her sister was sold for a slave to Africa. LVII. The name of doves was probably given them because, being strangers, the sound of their voices might to the people of Dodona seem to resemble the tone of those birds. When the woman having learned the language, delivered her thoughts in Avords Avhich were generally understood, the dove might be said to have spoken \vith a human voice. Before she had thus accomplished herself, her voice might appear like 1 The people who then composed the body of the Helle- nistic nation in those ancient times gave their names to the countries which tliey occupied. The Pelasgians were widely dispersed, — Lurcher. «0S5 HERODOTUS. that of a dove. It certainly cannot be supposed tliat a dove should speak Avith a human voice ; and the cir- cumstance of her being black explains to us her Egyptian origin. LVIII. The two oracles of Egyptian Thebes and of Dodona have an intire resemblance to each other. The art of divination, as now practised in our temples, is thus derived from Egypt ; at least the Egyptians were the first Λνΐιο introduced the sacred festivals, proces- sions, and supplications, and from them the Greeks Avere instructed. Of this it is to me a sufficient testi- mony that these r-eligious ceremonies are in Greece but of modern date, whereas in Egypt they have been in use from the remotest antiquity. LIX. In the course of the year the Egyptians cele- brate various public festivals ; but the festival in honor of Diana, at the city Bubastos, is the first in dignity and importance. The second is held in honor of Isis, at the city Busiris, Avhich is situated in the middle of the Delta, and contains the largest temple of that goddess. Isis is called in the Greek tongue Demeter or Ceres. The solemnities of Minerva, ob- served at Sais,* are the third in consequence; the fourth are at Heliopolis, and sacred to the sun ; the fifth are those of Latona, at Butos ; the next those of Mars, solemnised at Papremis. LX. They who meet to celebrate the festival at Bubastos - embark in vessels a great number of men 1 This place is by some supposed to be the Sin of the Scriptures. — T, 2 Savary has translated this passage in liis Letters on Egypt. From a comparison of liis version with mine, it is painful to observe he has given to Herodotus what the histo- rian never imagined. — Larcher. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 20S and women promiscuously mixed. During the pas- sage some of the Avomeu ' strike their tabors, accom- panied by men playing on flutes. The rest of both sexes clap their hands, and join in chorus. \Miatever city they approach, the vessels are brought to shore : of the Λvomen some continue their instrumental music, others call aloud to the females of the place, provoke them by injurious language, dance about, and inde- cently throw aside their garments. This they do at every place near which they pass. On their arrival at Bubastos, the feast commences by the sacrifice of many victims, and on this occasion a greater quantity of wine - is consumed than in all the rest of tlie year. The natives report, that at this solemnity seven hun- dred thousand^ men and women assemble, not ίο mention children. LXI. I have before related in what manner the rites of Isis are celebrated at Busiris. After the cere- monies of sacrifice the Λvhole assembly, to the amount of many thousands, flagellate themselves ; but in whose honor they do tliis I am not at liberty to dis- close. The Carians of Egypt treat themselves at this solemnity with unparalleled severity : they cut them- selves in the face with swords, and by this distinguish themselves from the Egyptian natives. LXII. At the sacrifice solemnised at Sais the as- 1 These no doubt are the Almai, which were not then more decent than now. The Egyptians since Herodotus have been governed by various nations, and at length are sunk deep in ignorance and slavery ; but their true character has undergone no change. The frantic ceremonies the pagan religion authorised are nov\' renewed around the sepulchres of" Santons, before the churches of tlie Copts, and in the fairs I mentioned. — Savary. 2 In the (Jreek it is wine of the vine, to distinguish it from beer, which he calls barley-wine. — Larcher. 3 Some read only seventy thousand.—!'. 204 HERODOTUS. sembly is held by night; they suspend before their houses in the open air lamps which are filled with oil mixed with salt ;^ a Λvick floats at the top, which λυΙΙΙ burn all night ; the feast itself is called the feast of lamps. ^ Such of the Egyptians as do not attend the ceremony think themselves obliged to obserA^e the evening of the festival, and in like manner burn lamps before their houses : thus on this night not Sais only, but all Egypt is illuminated. A religious motive is assigned for the festival itself, and for the illumina- tions by Avhich it is distinguished. LXIII. At Heliopolis and Butos sacrifices alone are oiFered, but at Papremis, as at other places, in addition to the ofi*ering of victims, other religious ceremonies are observed. At the close of the day a small number of priests are in immediate attendance on the statue of Mars ; a great number, armed with clubs, place themselves at the entrance of the temple ; opposite to these may be seen more than a thousand men tumultuously assembled with clubs also in their hands to perform their religious vows. The day be- fore the festival they remove the statue of the god, 1 Salt was constantly used at all entertainments, both of the gods and men, whence a particular sanctity was believed to fee lodged in it : it is hence called divine salt by Homer. —Potter. 2 This feast, which much resembles the feast of lamps ob- served from time immemorial in China, seems to confirm the opinion of M. de Guignes, who has been the first to intimate that China was a colony from Egypt. — Larcher. In Egypt there is no rejoicing, no festival of any conside- ration at all, imaccompaiiied with illumination. For this pur- pose they make use of earthen lamps, which they put into XQVY deep vessels of glass, in such a manner as that the glass is two-thirds, or at least one half of its height higher than the lamp, in order to preserve the light, and prevent its ex- tinction by the wind. The Egyptians have carried this art to the highest perfection, &c. — Maillet. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 205 which is kept in a small case decorated Avith gold, to a different apartment. The priests attendant on the statue place it, together with its case, on a four- wheeled carriage, and begin to draw it along. Those at the entrance of the temple endefivor to prevent its admission : but the votaries above-mentioned come to the succor of the god, and a combat ensues between the two parties, in which many heads are broken, and I should suppose many lives lost, though this the Egyptians positively deny. LXIV. The motive for this ceremony is thus ex- plained by the natives of the country : — this temple, they say, was the residence of the mother of Mars : the god liii)iself, who had been brought up at a dis- tance from his parent, on his arrival at man's estate, came hither to visit his mother. The attendants, who had never seen him before, not only refused to ad- mit him, but roughly drove him from the place. Obtaining proper assistance, he returned, severely chastised those who had opposed him, and obtained admission to his parent. From this circumstance the above mode of fighting was ever after practised on the festival of Mars : and these people Λvere also the first Avho made it a point of religion not to communi- cate with a woman in a temple, or enter any conse- crated place without having first washed. Except the Egyptians and the Greeks, all other nations without scruple live witli women in their temples, nor think it necessary to wash themselves previous to paying their devotions. In this instance they rank man indiscri- minately with other animals ; for observing that birds as well as beasts betake themselves to shrines and temples, they conclude that it cannot be offensive to the deity. Such a mode of reasoning does not by any means obtain my approbation. 206 HERODOTUS. LXV. The superstition of the Egyptians is conspi- cuous in various instances, but in this more parti- cularly : notAvithstanding the vicinity of their country to Africa, the niimber of beasts is comparatively small, but all of them, both those which are Avild and those which are domestic, are regarded as sacred. If I were to explain the reason of this prejudice I should be led to the discussion of those sacred subjects which I particularly wish to avoid,* and which but from necessity I should not have discussed so fully as I have. Their laws compel them to cherish animals ; a certain number of men and women are appointed to this office, Λvhich is esteemed so honorable, that it descends in succession from father to son. In the presence of these animals the inhabitants of the cities perform their vows. They address themselves as sup- plicants to the divinity, \vho is supposed to be repre- sented by the animal in whose presence they are ; they then cut off their children's hair, sometimes the whole of it, sometimes half, at other times only a third part ; this they weigh in a balance against a piece of silver ; as soon as the silver preponderates, thej- give it to the woman who keeps the beast ; she in return feeds the beast with pieces of fisli, Avhich is their constant food. It is a capital oifence designedly to kill any one of these animals;^ to destroy one accidentally is punished 1 The ancients were remarkably scrupuloxis in every thing which regarded religion ; but in the time ofUiodorus Siculus strangers did not pay the same reverence to the religious rites of the Egyptians. This historian wds not afraid to ac- quaint us with tlie motives whicli induced the Egyptians to pay divine honors to animals. — Lurcher. 2 Tlie cat was also held in tlie extremest veneration by the ancient Egyptians : and IJiodorus Siculus relates that a Roman having by accident killed a cat, the common people instantly surrounded his house with every demonstration of fury. The king's guards were instantly de.spatched to rescue BOOK II. EUTERPE. 307 by a fine, determiued by the priests ; but λ\ lioever, hovveA^er involuntarily, kills an ibis ' or a hawk,- can- not by any means escape death. LXVI. The number of domestic animals in Egypt is very great, and ΛνουΜ be much greater if the in- crease of cats were not thus frustrated : the female cats, when delivered of their young•, carefully aAoid the company of the males, who, to approach them again, contrive and execute this stratagem : they steal the young from the mother, which they destroy, but do not eat. This animal, which is very fond of its young from its desire to have more, again covets the com- pany of the male. In every accident of fire, the cats seem to be actuated by some supernatural impulse ; for the Egyptians surrounding the place Avhich is burn- ing, appear to be occupied Avith no thought but that of preserving their cats. These, however, by stealing between the legs of the spectators, or by leaping over their heads, endeavor to dart into the flames. This circumstance whenever it happens, diffuses universal sorrow.^ In Λvhatever family a cat by accident hap- him from tlieir rage, but in vain : bis authority and the Ro- man name were equally ineffectual. — In the most extreme necessities of famine, they rather chose to feed on human flesh than on these animals. — T. 1 The Egyptians thus venerated the ibis, because they were supposed to devour the serpents which bred in the ground after tlie ebbing of the Nile. — T. 2 They have a kind of domestic large brown hawk, with a tine eye. One may see the pigeons and hawks standing close to one another. The Turks never kill them, and seem to have a sort of veneration for these birds and for cats, as well as their ancestors. The ancient Egyptians in this animal worshipped the sun or Osiris, of which the brightness of its eyes was an emblem, — Pocoche. 3 One method of mourning prevalent in the East was to assemble in multitudes, and bewail aloud. In a manuscript of Sir John Chardin, part of wliich has been given in the work of Mr. Harmer, we have this remark j ' it is the genius 20S HERODOTUS. pens to die, every individual cuts off his eyebrows ;' but on the death of a dog^ they shave their heads and every part of their bodies. LXVII. The cats Avhen dead are carried to sacred buildings, and after being salted^ are buried in the city Bubastis. Of the canine species, the females are buried in consecrated chests wherever they may happen to die, which ceremony is also observed with respect to the ichneumons.^ The shrew-mice and hawks are of the people of Asia to express their sentiments of joy and grief aloud. These their transports are ungoverned, exces- sive, and truly outrageous.' See Harmer, λόΙ. ii. p. 136. 1 The custom of cutting off the hair in mourning appears to have obtained in the East in the prophetic times. Among the ancient Greeks it was sometimes laid on the dead body, sometimes cast into the funeral pile, and some- times placed on the grave. Maillet says that in the East the women that attend a corpse to the grave generally have their hair hanging loose about their ears. 2 In this respect Plutarch differs from Herodotus. He allows that these animals were at one time esteemed holy, but it was before the time of Cambyses. From the era of his reign they were held in another light ; for when this king killed the sacred Apis, the dogs fed so liberally on his en- trails, without making a proper distinction, that they lost all their sanctity. But they were certainly of old looked on as sacred ; and it was perhaps with a view to this, and to pre- vent the Israelites retaining any notion of this nature, that a dog was not suffered to come within the preujincts of the temple of Jerusalem.— Er?/o?ii. At the present day dogs are considered in the East as defil- ing : they do not suff"er them in their houses, and ever with care avoid touching tliem in the streets. i3y the ancient Jews, as remarked before, they Λvere considered in a disa- greeable light. ' Am I a dogV says the Philistine to David. ' What, is thy servant a dog ?' says Hazael, &c. See Har- mer, Λ'οΐ. i. p. 220. It may indeed be observed that in most countries and languages the word dog is a term of contempt. ' I took by the throat tlie uncircumcised dog.'• — T. 3 Diodorus Siculus says the same tiling, and he also de- scribes the process used on the occasion. — T. 4 The ichneumon is found both in Upper and Lower Egypt. BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 209 always removed to Biitos ; the ibis to Herinopolis ; the bears, an animal rarely seen in Egypt, and the wolves,' which are not much bigger than foxes, arc buried in whatever place they die. • LXVni. I proceed now to describe the r.ature of the crocodile,^ which during the four severer months It creeps slowly along, as if ready to seize its prey ; it feeds on plants, eggs, and fowls. In Upper Egypt it searches for the eggs of the crocodile, which lie hid in the sand, and e ts them, thereby preventing the increase of that animal. It may be easily tamed, and goes about the houses like a cat. It makes a growling noise and barks when it is very angry. The French in Egypt have called this rat de Pharaon. ^Upinus and Bellonius, following this, have called it mus Pharaonic. The resemblance it has to a mouse in color and I.air, might have induced people ignorant of natural history to call it a mouse ; but why Pharaoh's mouse ? The Egyptians were in the time of Pharaoh too intelligent to call it a mouse : nor is it at this day called phar by the Arabs, which is the name for mouse ; they call it nems. What is related concerning its entering the jaws of the crocodile is fabulous. — Hasselfjnift. 1 Hasselquist did not meet with either of these animals in Egypt. Wolves were honored in Egypt, says Eusebius, probably from their resemblance to the dog. Some relate that the Ethiopians having made an expedition against Egypt, were put to flight by a vast number of wolves, which occasioned the place where the incident happened to be called Lyco- polis. 2 The general nature and properties of the crocodile are sufficiently known. I shall therefore be contented Λ^ -ith giving the reader, from different authors, such particulars of this ex- traordinary animal as are less notorious. The circumstance of their eating nothing during the four severe winter months seems to be untrue. Under the shoulder of the old crocodile is a folliculus con- taining a thick matter, which smells like musk, a perfume much esteemed in Egypt. The fat of the crocodile is used by the Egyptians against the rheumatism. The gall is thought good for the eyes, and for barrenness in woman. The eyes are an aphrodisiac, and as Hasselquist affirms, esteemed by the Arabs superior even to ambergris. When the ancient prophets in the Old Testament speak of HER. VOL I. Ο 210 HERODOTUS. in winter eats nothing: it is a quadruped, but amphi- bious ; it is also oviparous, and deposits its eggs in the sand ; the greater part of the day it spends on shore, but all the night in the water, as being warmer than the external air,' whose cold is increased by the dew. No animal that I have seen or known, from being at first so remarkably diminutive grows to so vast a size. The eggs are not larger than those of geese : on leaving the shell the young is proportion- ably small, but when arrived at its full size it is some- times more than seventeen cubits in length : it has eyes like a hog,'* teeth large and prominent, in propor- a dragon, a crocodile is generally to he understood. ' Am I a sea or a janninl' See Job vii. 12 ; where, according to Har- Kier, a crocodile alone can be meant. The animal is of most extraordinary strength. ' One of twelve feet/ says Maillet, * after a long fast threw down with the stroke of his tail five or six men and a bale of coffee.' They sleep in the sun, but not soundly. They seldom descend below the Thebais, and never below Grand Cairo. Some have been seen fifty feet long. Herodotus says it has no tongue, but it has a fleshy substance like a tongue, which serves it to turn its meat : it is said to move only the upper jaw ; and to lay fifty eggs. It is not a little remarkable that the ancient name being champsa, the Egyptians now call it timsah. — T. 1 Water exposed to violent heat during the day preserves its warmth in the night, and is then much less cold than the external air. — Larcher. From consulting modern travellers we find the remarks of Herodotus on the crocodile, excepting only the paiticularitiea which we have pointed out, con- firmed. — T. 2 The leviathan of Job is variously understood by critics for the whale and the crocodile. Both these animals are re- markable for the smallness of their eyes, in proportion to the bulk of their bodies : those of the crocodile are said to be extremely piercing out of the water ; in which sense there- fore the poet's expression, ' its eyes are like the eyelids of the morning,' can only be applicable. Dr. Young, in hi» paraphrase on this part of Job, describing the crocodile a^ the animal intended in the original, has given the image an BOOK II. — EUTERPE. !3Ϊ1 tion to the dimensions of its body ; but^ unlike ait other animals, it has no tongue. It is farther and most singularly distinguished by only moving its upper jaw. Its feet are armed with strong fangs ; the skin is protected by hard scales regularly divided. In the open air its sight is remarkably acute, but it cannot see at all in the water ; living in the water, its throat is always full of leeches ; beasts and birds uni- versally avoid it, the trochilus alone excepted, which, from a sense of gratitude, it treats with kindness. When the crocodile leaves the water it reclines itself on the sand, and generally t0Λvards the west, with its mouth open : the trochilus entering its throat destroys the leeches ; in acknowlegement for which service it never does the trochilus injury. LXIX. This animal, by many of the Egyptians is esteemed sacred,' by others it is treated as an enemy. ^ They who live near Thebes, and the lake Moeris, hold erroneous reference to the magnitude rather than the bright- ness of its eye. Large is his front, and when his burnish'd eyes Lift their broad lids, the morning seems to rise. Dr. Aikin, Poetical Use of Nat. Hist. 1 On this subject we have the following singular story in Maximus Tyrius. An Egyptian woman brought up the young one of a crocodile. The Egyptians esteemed her singularly fortunate, and revered her as the nurse of a deity. The woman had a son about the same age with the crocodile, and they grew up and played together. No hai-m ensued whilst the crocodile was gentle from being weak ; but when it got its strength it devoured the child. The woman exulted in the death of her son, and considered her fate as blessed in the extreme, in thus becoming the victim of their domestic god.— Γ. 2 These were the people of Tentyra in particular, now called Dendera ; they were famous for their intrepidity as well as art in overcoming crocodiles. For a particular ac- count of their manner of treating them, see Pliny, viii. 25. 213 HERODOTUS. the crocodile in religious veneration ; they select one, Avhich they render tame and docile, suspending golden ornaments from it ears,' and sometimes gems of value ; the fore-feet are secured by a chain. They feed it with the flesh of the sacred victims, and with other appointed food. While it lives they treat it with un- ceasing attention, and when it dies it is first embalmed, and afterwards deposited in a sacred chest. They who live in or near Elephantine, so far from consi- dering these beasts as sacred, make them an article of food : they call them not crocodiles, but champsae.^ The name of crocodiles was first imposed by the lonians, from their resemblance to lizards, so named by them, which are produced in the hedges. LXX. Among the various methods that are used to take the crocodile,^ I shall only relate one which most deserves attention : they fix on a hook a piece of 1 This seems to suppose that the crocodile has ears exter- nally : nevertheless those Avhich the Sultan sent to Louis the Fourteenth, and which the Academy of Sciences dissected, had none. They found in them indeed apertures of the ears placed below the eyes, but concealed and covered with skin, which had the appearance of two eyelids intirely closed. When the animal was alive, and out of the water, these lids probably opened. However this may be, it was, as may be presumed, to these membranes that the ear-rings were fixed. — Larcher. 2 The crocodile had many names, such as carmin, souchus, campsa. This last signified an ark or receptacle. — Bryant. 3 The most common way of killing the crocodile is by shooting it. The ball must be directed towards the belly, Avhere the skin is soft, and not armed with scales like the back. Yet they give an account of a method of catching them something like that which Herodotus relates. They make some animal cry at a distance fVom the river, and when the crocodile comes out they thrust a spear into his body, to which a rope is tied : they then let him go into the water to spend himself; and afterwards drawing him out, run a pole into his mouth, and jumping on his back tie his jaws toge- ther. — Pococke. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 2l3 swine's flesh, and suiFer it to float into the middle of the stream ; on the banks they ha\-e a live hog, Avhich they beat till it cries out. The crocodile hearing the noise makes towards it, and in the Avay encounters and devours the bait. They then draw it on shore, and the first thing they do is to fill its eyes Λvith clay ; it is thus easily manageable, which it otherwise would not be. LXXI. The hippopotamus^ is esteemed sacred in the district of Papremis, but in no other part of Egypt. 1 It is to be observed that the hippopotamus and crocodile were symbols of the same purport : both related to the deluge ; and however the Greeks might sometimes represent them, they Λvere both in different places reverenced by the ancient Egyptians. — Bryant ; who refers his reader on this subject to the Isis and Osiris of Plutarch. The hippopotamus is generally supposed to be the behemoth of Scripture. Muillet says his skin is two fingers thick ; and that it is so much the more difficult to kill it as there is only a small place in its forehead where it is vulnerable. Hassel- quist classes it not with the amphibia but quadrupeds. It is an inveterate enemy to the crocodile, and kills it wherever it meets it. It never appears below the cataracts. The hide is a load for a camel ; Maillet speaks of one which would have been a heavy load for four camels. He does great injury to the Egyptians, destroying in a very short time an intire field of corn or clover. Their manner of destroying it is too curious to be omitted : they place in his way a great quantity of pease ; the beast filling himself with these, they occasion an intolerable thirst. On these he drinks large draughts of water, and the Egyptians afterwards find him dead on the shore, blown up as if killed with the strongest poison. Pennant relates, in his Synopsis of Animals, other and more plausible means of taking this animal. Its voice is between the roaring of a bull and ihe braying of an elephant. It is at first inter- rupted with frequent short pauses, but may be heard at a great distance. The oftener he goes on shore the better hopes have the Egyptians of a sufficient increase of the Nile. Pococke calls it a fish, and says that he was able to obtain little information concerning it. The above particulars are compiled chiefly from Hassel- quist, ^laillet, and Pennant. — Γ. 214 HERODOTUS. I shall describe its nature and properties: it is a quadruped, its feet are cloven, and it has hoofs like an ox ; the nose is short, but turned up, the teeth pro- minent ; it resembles a horse in its mane, its tail, and its voice : it is of the size of a very large ox, and it has a skin so remarkably thick, that when dried it is made into offensive weapons. LXXII. The Nile also produces otters, which the Egyptians venerate, as they also do the fish called lepitodus, and the eel:^ these are sacred to the Nile, as among the birds is one called the chenalopex.^ LXXIII. They have also another sacred bird, which, except in a picture, I have never seen : it is called the phoenix.^ It is very uncommon even among themselves ; for according to the Heliopolitans, it comes there but once in the course of five hundred ^ears, and then only at the decease of the parent bird. 1 Antiphanes in Athen2eus, addressing himself to the Egyptians, says, ' You adore the ox : I sacrifice to the gods. You reverence the eel as a very powerful deity : we consider it as the daintiest of food.' Antiphanes and the Greek writers, who amused themselves with ridiculing the religious ceremonies of Egypt, were doubtless ignorant of the motive which caused this particular fish to be proscribed. The flesh of the eel, and some other fish, thickened the blood, and by checking the perspiration, excited all those maladies con- nected with the leprosy. The priests forbade the people to eat it ; and to render their prohibition more effectual, they pretended to regard these fish as sacred. M. Paw pretends that the Greeks have been in an error in placing the eel amongst the sacred fish ; but I have always to say to that learned man, where are your proofs'? — Larchei-. 2 This bird in figure greatly resembles the goose, but it has all the art and cunning of the fox.— Lurcher. 3 From what is related of this bird the Phoenicians gave the name phcEnix to the palm-tree, because, when burnt down to the ground, it springs up again fairer and stronger than ever. The ancient Christians also refer to the phoenix as a type of the resurrection.—!'. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 215 If it bear any resemblance to its picture, the wings are partly of a gold and partly of a ruby color, and its form and size perfectly like the eagle. They relate one thing of it which surpasses all credibility : they say that it comes from Arabia to the temple of the sun, bearing the dead body of its parent inclosed in myrrh, which it buries. It makes a ball of myrrh shaped like an egg, as large as it is able to carry, Λvhich it proves by experiment. This done, it excavates the mass, into which it introduces the body of the dead bird ; it again closes the aperture with myrrh, and the whole becomes the same \veight as when composed intirely of myrrh ; it then proceeds to Egypt to the temple of the sun. LXXIV. In the vicinity of Thebes there are also sacred serpents,' not at all troublesome to men: they are very small, but have two horns on the top of the head. When they die they are buried in the temple of Jupiter, to whom they are said to belong. LXXV. There is a place in Arabia, near the city Butos, which I visited for the purpose of obtaining information concerning the winged serpent.^ I saw 1 The symbolical worship of the serpent was in the first ages very extensive, and was introduced into all the myste- ries wherever celebrated. It is remarkable that wherever the Amonians founded any places of worship there was generally some story of a serpent. There was a legend about a serpent at Colchis, at Thebes, at Delphi, &c. — Bryant. We have already observed that the serpent was a symbol of the sun, to which the Egyptians gave a place in their sa- cred tables. Nor did they content themselves with placing the serpent with their gods, but often represented even the gods themselves with the body and tail of a serpent joined to their own head. — Moiitfancon. 2 We ought not to be too prompt either to believe, or the contrary, things which are uncommon. Although I have never seen winged serpents, I believe that they exist ; for a Phrygian brought into Ionia a scorpion which had winga like those of the grasshopper. — Pausanias. 216 HERODOTUS. '■ here a prodigious quantity of serpents' bones and ribs placed on heaps of different heights. The place itself is a strait betwixt two mountains ; it opens on a Avide plain which communicates Λvith Egypt. They affirm, that in the commencement of every spring these winged serpents fly from Arabia towards Egypt, but that the ibis' here meets and destroys them. The Arabians say, that in acknowlegement of this service the Egyp- tians hold the ibis in great reverence, which is not contradicted by that people. LXXVI. One species of the ibis is intirely black, its beak remarkably crooked, its legs as large as those of a crane, and in size it resembles the crex : this is the enemy of the serpents. The second species is the most common : these have the head and the whole of the neck naked ; the plumage is white, except that on the head, the neck, the extremities of the wings, and the tail ; these are of a deep black color ; but the legs and tJie beak resemble in all respects those of the other species. The form of the flying and of the aquatic serpents is the same : the wings of the former 1 The ibis was a bird with a long neck and a crooked beak, not much unlike the stork ; his legs Λvere long and stift"; and Avhen he put his head and neck imder his wing, the figure he made, as Elian says, was something like a man's heart. It is said that the use of clysters was first found out from obser- vations made of this bird's applying that remedy to himself, by the help of his long neck and beak. It is reported of it that it could live nowhere but in Egypt, but would pine itself to death if transported to another country. — Mont- fancon. In contradiction to the above, M. Larcher informs us that one was kept for several years in the Menagerie at Ver- sailles. — T. Hasselquist calls the Ardea ibis the ibis of the ancient Egyp- tians, because it is very common in Egypt, and almost peculiar to tliat country : because it eats and destroys serpents ; and because the urns found in sepulchres contain a bird of this size : it is of the size of a raven hen. BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 217 are not feathered, but intirely like those of the bats. And thus I have finished my account of the sacred animals. LXXVII. Those Egyptians who live in the culti- vated parts of the country are, of all whom I have seen, the most ingenious, being attentive to the im- provement of the memory^ beyond the rest of man- kind. To give seme idea of their mode of life : for three days successively in every month they use purges, vomits, and clysters ; this they do out of attention to their health,^ being persuaded that the diseases of the body are occasioned by the different elements received as food. Besides this, we may ven- ture to assert, that after the Africans, there is no peo- ple in health and constitution ^ to be compared with 1 The invention of local memory is ascribed to Simonides. ' Much,' says Cicero, * do I thank Simonides of Chios, who first of all invented the art of memory.' Simonides is by some authors affirmed to have taken medicines to acquire this accomplishment. — See Bayle, article Simonides. BIr. Hume remarks, that the faculty of memory was much more valued in ancient times than at present ; that there is scarce any great genius celebrated in antiquity, who is not celebrated for this talent ; and it is enumerated by Cicero amongst the sublime qualities of Ciesar. — T. 2 This assertion was true previous to the time of Herodo- tus, and a long time afterwards ; but when they began to neglect the canals, the water putrified, and the vapors which were exhaled rendering the air of Egypt very unhealthy, malignant fevers soon began to appear : these became epi- demical ; and these vapors concentrating and becoming every day more pestilential, finally caused that dreadful malady known by the name of the plague. It was not so before canals were sunk at all, or as long as they were kept in good order : but probably that part of Lo\ver Egypt which inclines to Elearchis has never been healthy. — Larcher. 3 It is of this country, which seems to have been regarded by nature with a favorable eye, that the gods have made a sort of terrestrial paradise. — The air there is more pure and excellent than in any other part of the world ; the women, and the females of other species, are more fruitful than any 218 HERODOTUS. the Egyptians. To this advantage the climate, which is here subject to no variations, may essentially con- tribute : changes of all kinds, and those in particular of the seasons, promote and occasion the maladies of the body. To their bread, which they make with spelt, they give the name of cyllestis: they have no vines* in the country, but they drink a liquor fermented from where else ; the lands are more productive. As the men there commonly enjoy perfect health, the trees and plants never lose their verdure, and the fruits are always delicious, or at least salutary. It is true that tliis air, good as it is, is subject to he corrupted in some proportion to other climates. It is even bad in those parts where, when the inundations of the Nile have been very great, this river in returning to its channel, leaves marshy places, which infect the country round about : the dew is also very dangerous in Egypt. — Quoted from Maillet, by Harmer in his Observations on Scripture. Pococke says that the dew of Egypt occasions very dan- gerous disorders in the eyes •, but he adds, that they have the plague very rarely in Egypt, unless brought by infection to Alexandria, where it does not commonly spread. Some suppose that this distemper breeds in temperate weather, and that excessive cold and heat stops it : so that they have it not in Constantinople in winter, nor in Egypt in summer. The air of Cairo in particular is not thought to be whole ; some; the people are much subject to fluxes, and troubled with ruptures ; the small-pox also is common, but not dan- gerous ; pulmonary diseases are unknown. Savary speaks in high terms of the healthiness of the climate ; but allows that the season from February to the end of May is unhealthy. Volney, who contradicts Savary in many of his assertions, confirms what he says of the climate of Egypt. — T. 1 That there must have been vines in some part of Egypt, is evident from the following passage in the book of Num- bers : ' And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place 1 it is no place of seed or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates ; neither is there any w-ater to drink.' 'Larcher therefore supposes He- rodotus to speak only of that part of Egypt where corn was cultivated. Again, in the Psalms, we have this p&asage : • He destroyed their vines with hail-stones.' Egypt, how- ever, certainly never was a wine country, nor is it now pro* ductive of a quantity adequate to the wants of the inhabi- tants. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 2^ barley :' they live principally on fish, either salted' or dried in the sun : they eat also quails,^ ducks, and some smaller birds, without other preparation than first salting them : but they roast and boil such other In the time of Homer the vine grew wild in the island of Sicily, but it was not improved by the skill, nor did it aiFord a liquor grateful to the taste of the savage inhabitants. — Gibbon. Of the small quantity of wine made anciently in Egypt, some was carried to Rome, and according to Maillet, was the third in esteem of their wines. 1 See a Dissertation on I3arley Wine, before alluded to, where, amongst a profusion of witty and humorous remarks, much real information is communicated on this subject. — Γ. The most vulgar people make a sort of beer of barley, without being malted : they put something in it to make it intoxicate, and call it bouny : they make it fei-ment: it is thick and sour, and will not keep longer than three or four days. — Pococke. The invention of this liquor of barley is universally attri- buted to Osiris. — T. An Englishman may in this place be excused, if he assert with some degree of pride, that the ' wine of barley ' made in this country, or in other words British beer, is superior to what is made in any other part of the world : the beer of Bre- men is however deservedly famous. It has been asserted by some that our brewers throw dead dogs flayed into the wort, and boil them till the flesh is all consumed. * Others,' say the authors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'more equitable, attribute the excellency of our beer to the quality of our malt and water, and skill of our brewers.' 2 A distinction must here be observed betwixt sea-salt and fossil salt : the Egyptians abhorred the former, but made no scruple of using the latter. 3 ' The quails of Egypt are esteemed a great delicacy, are of the size of a turtle-dove, and called by Hasselquist, Te- trao Israelitarum.' A dispute however has arisen ftmongst the learned, whether the food of the Israelites in the desert was a bird : many suppose that they fed on locusts. Their immense quantities seem to form an argument in favor of this latter opinion, not easily to be set aside ; to which may be added, that the Arabs at the present day eat locusts when fresh, and ^steem them when salted a great delicacy.— Γ. 220 HERODOTUS. birds and fishes as they have, excepting those which are preserved for sacred purposes. LXXVIII. At the entertainments of the rich, just as the company is about to rise from the repast, a small coffin is carried round, containing a perfect re- presentation of a dead body : it is in size sometimes of one, but never more than two cubits, and as it is shown to the guests in rotation, the bearer exclaims, * Cast your eyes on this figure ; after death you your- self will resemble it : drink then, and be happy. '^ — Such are the customs they observe at entertainments. LXXIX. They contentedly adhere to the customs of their ancestors, and are averse to foreign manners.' Among other things which claim our approbation, they have a song,- which is also used in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and other places, where it is differently named. Of all the things which astonished me in Egypt, nothing more perplexed me than my curiosity to know whencp the Egyptians learned this song, so ihtirely resembling the Linus of the Greeks : it is of the remotest anti- quity among them, and they call it Maneros. They 1 The attachment of the Egyptians to their country has been a frequent subject of remark : it is nevertheless singu- lar that great numbers of them anciently lived as servants in other lands. Mr. Harmer observes that Hagar was an Egyp- tian, with many others ; and that it will not be easy to pick out from the Old Testament accounts an equal number of ser- vants of other countries that lived in foreign lands men- tioned there. — T. Ά Linus, says Diodorus Siculus, was the first inventor of melody amongst the Greeks. We are told by Athenaius that the strain called Linus was very melancholy. Linus was supposed to have been tlie first lyric poet in Greece, and was the master of Orpheus, Thamyris, and Hercules. Plutarch, from Ileraclides of Pontus, mentions certain dirges as composed by Linus : his death gave rise to a num•' her of songs in honor of his memory. ;■« BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 221 have a tradition that Maneros was the only son of their first monarch ; and that having prematurely died, they instituted these melancholy strains in his honor, con- stituting- their first and in earlier times their only song. LXXX. The Egyptians surpass all the Greeks, the Lacedaemonians excepted, in the reverence ' which they pay to age : if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him ; if a senior enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats: this ceremony is observed by no otlier of the Greeks. When the Egyptians meet they do not speak, but make a profound reverence, bowing Λvith the hand down to the knee. LXXXI. Their habit, which they call calasiris,^ is 1 The following story is related by Valerius IMasimus : an old Athenian going to the theatre was not ahle to find a place amongst his countrymen : coming by accident where the am- bassadors from Sparta were sitting, tliey all respectfully rose, and gave him the place of honor amongst them. The people were loud in their applause, which occasioned a Spartan to remark that the Athenians were not ignorant of virtue, though they forebore to practise it. Savary tells his readers that reverence is at this day in Egypt exhibited on every occasion to those advanced in years. Λ^arious modes of testifying respect are adopted amongst different nations, but this of rising from the seat seems to be in a manner instinctive, and to prevail every where. 2 This calasiris they wore next the skin, and it seems to have served them both for shirt and habit, it being the cus- tom of the Egyptians to go lightly clothed ; it appears also to have been in use amongst the Greeks. — See Montfaucon. Pococke, with other modern travellers, informs us that the dress of the Egyptians seems to have undergone very little change ; the most simple dress being only a long shirt with wide sleeves, tied about the middle. When they performed any religious offices, we find from Herodotus they were clothed only in linen ; and at this day when the Egyptians enter a mosque they put on a white garment ; which circum- stance, Pococke remarks, might probably give rise to the use of the surplice. To this simplicity of the dress in the men. 222 HERODOTUS. made of linen, and fringed at the bottom ; over this they throw a kind of shaAvl made of white wool ; but in these vests of Λνοοΐ they are forbidden by their re- ligion either to be buried or to enter any sacred edifice : this is a peculiarity of those ceremonies which are called Orphic ' and Pythagorean :^ whoever has been initiated in these mysteries can never be interred in a vest of wool, for Avhich a sacred reason is assigned. LXXXII. Of the Egyptians it is farther memorable, that they first imagined what month or day was to be consecrated to each deity ; they also, from observing the days of nativity,^ venture to predict the particular it appears that the dress of the females, in costliness and magnificence, exhibits a striking contrast. 1 Those initiated into Orpheus' mysteries were called Or- pheolelestai, who assured all admitted into their society of certain felicity after death : which when Philip, one of that order, bn.t miserably poor and indigent, boasted of, Leotychi- das the Spartan replied : ' Why do you not die then, you fool, and put an end to your misfortunes together ^\ath your life V At their initiation little else was required of them be- sides an oath of secrecy.— Poiier. So little do we know about Orpheus, that Aristotle does not scruple to question his existence. The celebrated Orphic verses cited by Justin are judged by Dr. Jortin to be for- geries. 2 To be minute in our account of the school of Pythagoras would perhaps be trifling with the patience of some readers, whilst to pass it over without any notice might give oft'ence to others. Born at Samos, he travelled to various countries; but Egypt was the great source from which he derived his knovvlege. On his return to his country, he was followed by numbers of his disciples ; from hence came a crowd of le- gislators, philosophers, and scholars, the pride of Greece. To the disciples of Pythagoras the world is doubtless in- debted for the discovery of numbers, of the principles of music, of physics, and of morals. — 7'. 3 Many illustrious characters have in all ages and coun- tries given way to this weakness ; but that such a man as Dryden should place confidence in such prognostications, BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 223 circumstances of a man's life and death : this is done by the poets of Greece ; but the Egyptians have cer- tainly discovered more things that are wonderful than all the rest of mankind. AVhenever any unusual cir- cumstance occurs, they commit the particulars to writing, and mark the events which follow it : if they afterwards observe any similar incident, they conclude that the result will be similar also. LXXXIII. The art of divination' in Egypt is con- fined to certain of their deities. There are in this country oracles of Hercules, of Apollo, of Minerva and Diana, of Mars, and of Jupiter ; but the oracle of Latona at Butos is held in greater estimation than any of the rest : the oracular communication is regu- lated by no fixed system, but is difierently obtained in different places. LXXXIV. The art of medicine 2 in Egypt is thus cannot fail to impress the mind with conviction of the melan- choly truth that the most exalted talents are seldom without their portion of infirmity. Casting their nativity, or by calculation seeking to know how long the queen should live, was made felony by act of the 23d of Elizabeth. Sully also was marked by this weakness ; and Richelieu and Mazarin kept an astrologer in pay. — See an ingenious Essay on the Dsmon of Socrates. 1 Of such high importance was this art anciently esteemed, that no military expedition was undertaken without the pre- sence of one or more of these diviners. 2 It is remarkable, with regard to medicine, that none of the sciences sooner arrived at perfection ; for in the space of two thousand years, elapsed since the time of Hippocrates, there has scarcely been added a new aphorism to those of thi^t great man, notwithstanding all the care and application of so many ingenious men as have since studied that science. — Duiens. With respect to the state of chirurgery amongst the ancients, a perusal of Homer alone will be sufficient 10 satisfy every candid reader that their knowlege and skill was far from con- 224 HERODOTUS. exercised : one physician is confined to the study and management of one disease : there are of course a great number Avho practise this art ; some attend to disorders of the eyes, others to those of the head ; some take care of the teeth, others are conversant Avith all diseases of the bowels ; Avhilst many attend to the cure of maladies which are less conspicuous. LXXXV. \Vith respect to their funerals and cere- monies of mourning ; whenever a man of any impor- tance dies, the females of his family,' disfiguring their heads and faces with dirt, leave the corpse in the house, and run publicly about, accompanied by their female relations, with their garments in disorder, their breasts exposed, and beating themselves severely : the men on their parts do the same, after which the body is carried to the embalmers.^ temptible. Celsus gives an exact account and description of the operation for the stone, ΛνΙαίσΗ implies both a knowlege of anatomy, and some degree of perfection in the art of instru- ment making. The three qualities, says Bayle, of a good physician, are probity, learning, and good fortune ; and whoever peruses the oath which anciently every professor of medicine was obliged to take, must both acknowlege its merits as a compo- sition, and admire the amiable disposition which it incul- cates. 1 ' I was awakened before day-break by the same troop of women ; their dismal cries suited very well with the lonely hour of the night. This mourning lasts for the space of seven .days, during which interΛ'al the female relations of the de- ceased make a tour through the town morning and night, beating their breasts, throwing ashes on their heads, and dis- playing every artificial token of sorrow.' — Irwin. The assembling together of multitudes to the place where persons have lately expired, and bewailing them in a noisy manner, is a custom still retained in the East, and seems to be considered as an honor done to the deceased. — Harmer. 2 The following remarks on the subject of embalming are compiled from different writers. The Jews embalmed their dead ; but instead of embowel- BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 225 LXXXVI. There are certain persons legally ap- pointed to the exercise of this profession. When a deau body is brought them, they exhibit to the friends of the deceased diflerent models highly finished in wood. The most perfect of these they say resembles one whom I do not think it religious to name in such a matter ; the second is of less price, and inferior in point of execution : another is still more mean ; they then inquire after which model the deceased shall be represented : when the price is determined, the rela- tions retire, and the embalmers thus proceed : — In the most perfect specimens of their art, they draw the brain through the nostrils, partly Λvith a piece of crooked iron, and partly by the infusion of drugs ; ling, were contented with an external unction. The present way in Egypt, according to Maillet, is to wash the body re- peatedly Λ^■itL• rose-Avater. A modern Jew has made an objection to the history of the New Testament, that the quantity of spices used by Joseph and Nicodemus on the body of Christ, was enough for two hundred dead bodies. Diodorus Siculus is very minute on this subject : after describing the expense and ceremony of embalming, he adds that the relations of the deceased, till the body Avas buried, used neither the baths, wine, delicate food, nor fine clothes. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1704, a particular ac- count is i^iven of the examination of a mummy. Diodorus Siculus describes three methods of embalming, with the first of which our author does not appear to Lave been acquainted. The form and appearance of the whole body was so well preserved, that the deceased might be known by their features. The Romans had the art of embalming as well as the Egyp- tians ; and if what is related of them be true, this art had arrived to greater perfection in Rome than in Egypt. — See Montfuucon. A modern author remarks that the numberless mummies which still endure, after so long a course of ages, ought to ascertain to the Egyptians the glory of having carried chemis- try to a degree of perfection attained but by £qw. Some moderns have attempted by certain preparations to preserve dead bodies intire, but to no purpose. HER. VOL. I. Ρ 226 HERODOTUS. they then, "vvith an Ethiopian stone, make an incision in the side, through which they extract the intestines; these they cleanse thoroughly, washing them with palm- wine, and afterΛvards covering them with pounded aro- matics : they then fill the body with powder of pure myrrh,' casia, and other perfumes, except frankin- cense. Having sown up the body, it is covered with nitre ^ for the space of seventy days,^ which time they may not exceed ; at the end of this period it is washed, closely wrapped in bandages of cotton,'* dipped in a gum ^ Avhich the Egyptians use as glue : it is then re- turned to the relations, who enclose the body in a case of wood made to resemble a human figure, and place it against the wall in the repository of their dead. The above is the most costly mode of embalming. LXXXVII. They who wish to be less expensive adopt the following method : they neither draw out the intestines nor make any incision in the dead body, but inject an unguent made from the cedar ; after taking proper means to secure the injected oil within 1 Instead of myrrh and casia, the Jews in embalming used myrrh and aloes. a Larcher says this was not of the nature of our nitre, but a fixed alkaline salt. 3 ' If the nitre or natrum had been suffered,' says Larcher, * to remain for a longer period, it Avould have attacked the solid or fibrous parts, and dissolved them; if it had been a neutral salt, like our nitre, this precaution would not have been necessary.' 4 By the byssus cotton seems clearly to be meant, * which,' says Larcher, * was probably consecrated by their religion to the purpose of embalming.' JMr. Greaves asserts that these bandages in which the mummies were involved Avere of linen ; but he appears to be mistaken. There are two species of this plant, annual and perennial ; it was the latter which was culti- vated in Egypt. 5 This was gum arabic. Pococke says it is produced from the acacia, which is very common in Egypt, the same as the acacia called cyale in Arabia Petra^a : in Egypt it is called sount. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 227 the body, it is covered with nitre for the time above specified : ' on the last day they withdraw the liquor before introduced, which brings with it all the bowels and intestines ; the nitre eats away the flesh, and the skin and bones only remain : the body is returned in this state, and no further care taken concerning it. LXXXVIII. There is a third mode of embalming appropriated to the poor. A particular kind of ablu- tion is made to pass through the body, which is after- wards left in nitre for the above seventy days, and then returned. LXXXIX. The wives of men of rank, and such females as have been distinguished by their beauty or importance, are not immediately on their decease de- livered to the embalmers : they are usually kept for three or four days, which is done to prevent any inde- cency being offered to their persons. XC. If an Egyptian or a foreigner be found, either destroyed by a crocodile or drowned in the water, the city nearest Avhich the body is discovered is obliged to embalm and pay it every respectful attention, and afterwards deposit it in some consecrated place ; no friend or relation is suffered to interfere ; the whole process is conducted by the priests of the Nile,^ who 1 According to Irwin, the time of mourning of the modern Egyptians is only seven days : the Jews in the time of Moses mourned thirty days. The mourning for Jacob, we find from Genesis, chap. 1. 3, was the time here prescribed for the pro- cess of embalming ; but how are we to explain the preceding verses ? 5 That the Nile was esteemed and worsliipped as a god, having cities, priests, festivals, and sacrifices consecrated to it, is sufficiently evident. — ' No god,' says Plutarch, * is more solemnly worshipped than the Nile.' — 'The grand festival of the Nile,' says Heiiodorus, ' was the most solemn festival of the Egyptians : they regard him as the rival of heaven, since without clouds or rain he waters the lands,' 2S0 HERODOTUS. bury it themselves Λνίίΐι a respect to \vliich a lifeless corpse would hardly seem entitled. XCI. To the customs of Greece they express aver- sion ; and, to say the truth, to those of all other na- tions. This remark applies, with only one exception, to every part of Egypt. Chemmis is a place of consi- derable note in the Thebaid ; it is near Neapolis, and remarkable for a temple of Perseus the son of Danae. This temple is of a square figure, and surrounded with palm-trees. The vestibule, which is very spacious, is constructed of stone, and on the summit are placed two large marble statues. Within the consecrated in- closure stand the shrine and statue of Perseus ; Λνΐιο, as the inhabitants aflirm, often appears in the country and the temple. They sometimes find one of his san- dals, Λvhich are of the length of two cubits ; and whenever this happens, fertility reigns through Egypt. Public games, «after the manner of the Greeks, are celebrated in his honor. On this occasion they have every variety of gymnastic exercise. The rewards of the conquerors are cattle, vests, and skins. I Avas once induced to inquire why Perseus made his appear- ance to them alone, and why they were distinguished from the rest of Egypt by the celebration of gymnastic exercises ? ^ They informed me in return that Perseus The memory of these ancient superstitions is still prsi- served, and is seen in the great pomp with which the canal of Grand Cairo is opened every year. It appears also from the representation of modern travellers, that tJie Egyptian women bathe in the Nile at the time of its beginning to rise, to express their A'eneration for the benefits it confers on their country. Irwin tells us that a sacred procession along the banks of the Nile is annually made by women on the first visible rise of the river. 1 These were five in number. They began with the foot race, which was the most ancient. The second was leaping with weights in the hands ; and mention is made in Pausanias, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 339 was a native of their country ; as were also Danaus and Lynceus, Λνΐιο made a voyage into Greece, and from wliom, in regular succession, they related how Perseus was descended. This hero visited Egypt for the purpose, as the Greeks also affirm, of carrying from Africa the Gorgon's head.' Happening to come among them, he saw and was known to his relations. The name of Chemmis he had previously known from his mother, and himself instituted the games which they continued to celebrate. XCII. These which I have described are the man- ners of those Egyptians avIio live in the higher parts of the country. They Avho inhabit the marshy grounds differ in no material instance. Like the Greeks, they confine themselves to one wife.^ To procure thera- of a man who leaped fifty-two feet. The third was wrestling : the victor was required to throw his adversary three times. The fourth was the disk ; and the fifth boxing. This last was sometimes with the naked fist, and sometimes with the caestus. 1 The Gorgons were three in number, sisters, the daughters of Phorcys, a sea-god, and Ceto, of whom IMedusa was the chief, or according to some authors the only one who was mortal. Her story is this : independent of her other accom- plishments, her golden hair was so very beautiful that it cap- tivated the god Meptune in the temple of Minerva. The goddess in anger changed her hair into snakes, the sight of which transformed the spectators into stones. From the union of Medusa with Xeptune Pegasus was born ; but after that, no one with impunity could look at Medusa. Perseus, borrowing the wings of Mercury, and the shield of Minerva, came suddenly on her when she and her snakes were asleep, and cut oflf her hi^ad. But in every circumstance of the mythology of the Gor- gons, there is great disagreement in different ancient au- thors : according to some the blood of Medusa alone produced Pegasus. The head of Medusa frequently exercised the skill of the more ancient artists, who, notwithstanding what is men- tioned above, sometimes represented it as exceedingly beau- tiful. 2 Modern travellers inform us that although the Mahome- 23θ HERODOTUS. selves more easily the means of sustenance, they make use of the following- expedient : when the Λvaters have risen to their extremest height, and all their fields are overflowed, there appears above the surface an im- mense quantity of plants of the lily species, which the Egyptians call the lotos :* these having cut doAvn, they dry in the sun. The seed of the flower, which resem- bles that of the poppy, they bake, and make into a kind of bread ; they also eat the root of this plant, which is round, of an agreeable flavor, and about the size of an apple. There is a second species of the tan law allows every man to have four wives, many are satis- fied with oiie. ' The equality in the number of males and females born into the Avorld intimates,' says Mr. Paley, ' the intention of God, that one woman should be assigned to one man.' * From the practice of polygamy permitted amongst the Turks,' says A^olney, ' the men are enervated Λ -ery early. But still it is no new remark, that the conversion of infidels is retarded by the proliibition of" more wives than one.' That the Greeks did not always confine themselves to one wife we learn irom certain authority. Euripides was known to be a woman-hater, * but,' says flume, ' it was because he was coupled to two noisy vixens.' The reader will find many ingenious remarks and acute reasonings in Hume's 19th Essay on polygamy and divorces. 1 The lotos is an aquatic plant peculiar to Egypt, which grows in rivulets, and by the side of lakes. There are two species, tlie one hearing a Avhite, the otlier a blueish flower. The root of the first species is round, resembling a potatoe, and is eaten by the inhabitants who live near the lake IMen- zala. — Savarif. The lotos "is of the lily species. — T. The byblus or papyrus tlie ancients converted to a great variety of uses, for particulais of which consult Pliny and Strabo. It is a rush, and grows to tlie height of eight or nine feet ; it is now very scarce in Egypt, for llasselquist makes no mention of it. Tlie use of the papyrus for books was not found out till after the building of Alexandria. As anciently books were rolled up, the nature of the papyrus made it very convenient for this purpose. They were on the inner skins of the stalk, frQin papyrus comes our English word paper. it BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 231 lotos, which grows in the Nile, and which is not unlike a rose. The fruit, which grows from the bottom of the root, resembles a wasp's nest : it is found to con- tain a number of kernels of the size of an olive stone, which are very grateful, either fresh or dried. Of tlie byblus, which is an annual plant, after taking it from a marshy place, where it grows, they cut oif the tops, and apply them to various uses : they eat or sell what remains, which is nearly a cubit in length. To make this a still greater delicacy there are many who previ- ously roast it. \Vith a considerable part of this peo- ple fish constitutes the principal article of food ; they dry it in the sun, and eat it Avithout other preparation. XCIII. Those fishes which are gregarious seldom multiply in the Nile ; they usually propagate in the lakes. At the season of spawning they move in vast multitudes towards the sea : the males lead the way, and emit the ingendering principle in their passage ; this the females absorb as they follow, and in conse- quence conceive. As soon as the seminal matter has had its proper operation, they leave the sea, return up the river, and endeavor to regain their accustomed haunts. The mode however of their passage is re- 1 ersed ; the females lead the way, whilst the males follow. The females do now what the males did be- fore ; they drop their spawn, resembling small grains of millet, which the males eagerly devour. Every particle of this contains a small fish ; and each Λvhich escapes the males regularly increases till it becomes a fish. Of these fish, such as are taken in their passage tOΛvards the sea are observed to have the left part of their heads depressed, which on their return is ob- served of their right. The cause of this is obvious : as they pass to the sea they rub themselves against the banks on the left side ; as they return they keep 7Sm HERODOTUS. closely to the same bank, and in both instances press against it, that they may not be obliged to deviate from their course by the current of the stream. As the Nile gradually rises, the Avater first fills those cavities of the land which are nearest the river. As soon as ever they are saturated, an abundance of small fry may be discovered. The cause of their increase may perhaps be thus explained : when the Nile ebbs, the fish, which in the preceding season had deposited their spawn in the mud, retreat reluctantly with the stream ; but at the proper season, when the river flows, this spawn is matured into fish. XCIV. The inhabitants of the marshy grounds make use of an oil which they term the kiki, expressed from the Sillicyprian plant. In Greece this plant springs spontaneously, without any cultivation ; but the Egyp- tians sow it on the banks of the river, and of the canals ; it there produces fruit in great abundance, but of a very strong odor : when gathered they ob- tain from it, either by friction or pressure, an unctu- ous liquid, which diffuses an oifensive smell, but for burning is equal in quality to the oil of olives. XCV. The Egyptians are provided with a remedy against gnats, of which there are a surprising number. As the wind will not suffer these insects to rise far from the ground, the inhabitants of the higher part of the country usually sleep in turrets. They who live in the marshy grounds use this substitute ; each per- son has a net, with which they fish by day, and which they render useful by night. They cover their beds ivith their nets, and sleep securely beneath them. If they slept in their common habits, or under linen, the gnats would not fail to torment them, which they do not even attempt through a net. XCVI. Their vessels of burden are constructed of BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 233 a species of thorn which resembles the lotos of Cyrene, and which distils a gum. From this thorn they cut planks about two cubits square : after disposing• these in the form of bricks, and securing them strongly together, they place from side to side benches for the rowers. They do not use timber artificially carved, but force the planks together Avith the bark of the byblus made into ropes. They have one rudder, which goes through the keel of the vessel ; their mast is made of the same thorn, and the sails are formed from the byblus. These vessels are haled along by land ; for unless the wind be very favorable they can make no way against the stream. When they go Avitli the cur- rent, they throw from the head of the vessel a hurdle made of tamarisk, fastened together with reeds ; they have also a perforated stone of the weight of two ta- lents ; this is let fall at the stern, secured by a rope. The name of this kind of bark is baris,* Avhich the above hurdle, impelled by the tide, draws swiftly along. The stone at the stern regulates its motion. They have immense numbers of these vessels, and some of them of the burden of many thousand talents. XCVII. During the inundation of the Nile, the cities only are left conspicuous, appearing above the waters like the islands of the ^gean sea. As long as the flood continues, vessels do not confine themselves to the channel of the river, but traverse the fields and the plains. They who then go from Naucratis to 1 Part of the ceremony in most of the ancient mysteries consisted in carrying about a kind of ship or boat ; which custom, on due examination, will be found to relate to nothing else but Noah and the deluge. The ship of Isis is well knoR-n. The name of this, and of all the navicular shrines, was Baris ; which is very remarkable, for it was the very name of the mountain, according to Nicolas Damascenus, on which the ark of Noah rested. — Bryant, 234 HERODOTUS. Mempliis pass by the pyramids ; this however is not the usual course, which lies through the point of the Delta and the city of Cercasorus. If from the sea and the town of Canopus the traveller desires to go by the plains to Naucratis, he must pass by Anthilla ' and Archandros. XCVIII. Of these places Anthilla is the most con- siderable : whoever may be sovereign of Egypt, it is assigned perpetually as part of the revenues of the queens, and appropriated to the particular purpose of providing them with sandals; this has been observed ever since Egypt was tributary to Persia. I should suppose that the other city derives its name from Archander, the son of Pthius, son-in-law of Danaus, and grandson of Acha?us. There may probably have been some other Archander, for the name is certainly not Egyptian. XCIX. All that I have hitherto asserted has been the result of my own personal remarks and diligent inquiry. I shall now proceed to relate Avhat I learned from conversing Λvith Egyptians, to which I shall oc- casionally add what I myself have witnessed. — Menes, the first sovereign of Egypt, as I was informed by the priests, eifectually detached the ground on which Memphis ^stands from the water. Before his time the river flowed intirely along the sandy mountain on the 1 Anthilla was probably the same place with Gynsecopolis ; the superior excellence of its wines made it in after-times celebrated. — Larclier. 2 Autliors are exceedingly divided about the site of ancient Memphis. ' Is it not astonishing,' remarks Savary, • that the site of the ancient metropolis of Egypt, a city near seven leagues in circumference, containing magnificent temples and palaces, which art labored to render eternal, should at present be a subject of dispute among the learned, Pliny,' continues !Sa- BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 23.5 side of Africa. But this prince, by constructing a bank at the distance of a hundred stadia from Mem- phis, towards the south, diverted the course of the Nile,' and led it by means of a new canal through the centre of the mountains. And even at the present period, under the dominion of the Persians, this arti- ficial channel is annually repaired, and regularly de- fended. If the river \vere here once to break ita banks, the ίοΛνη of Memphis would be inevitably ruined. It was the same Menes who, on the solid ground thus rescued from the water, first built the town ηοΛν known by the name of Memphis, which is situate in the narrowest part of Egypt. To the north and the west of Memphis he also sunk a lake, commu- nicating with the river, Avhich, from the situation of the Nile, it was not possible to eft'ect towards the east. He moreover erected on the same spot a magnificent temple in honor of Vulcan. C. The priests afterwards recited to me from a book the names of three hundred and thirty sovereigns (suc- vary, ' removes the difficulty past doubt. The three grand pyramids seen by the watermen from all parts stand on a barren and rocky hill, between INIemphis and the Delta, one league from the Nile, two from JMemphis, and near the vil- lage of Busiris,' Mr. Gibbon does not speak of the situation of ancient Memphis with his usual accuracy and decision. * On the western side of the Nile, at a small distance to the east of the pyramids, and at a small distance to the south of the Delta, Memphis, one hundred and fifty furlongs in cir- cumference, displayed the magnificence of ancient kings.' D'Anville, the most accurate of all geographers, places it fifteen miles above the point of the Delta, which he says cor- responds exactly with the measurement of three schajni. — T. 1 The course of this ancient bed is not unknown at pre- present: it may be traced across the desert, passing west of the lakes of Natroun, by petrified Avood, masts, and lateen yards, the wrecks of vessels by which it was anciently navi- gated. — Savarij, %9β HERODOTrS. cessors of Menes) ; in this continued series eighteen were Ethiopians/ and one a female native of the coun- try : all the rest were men and Egyptians. The female was called Nitocris, which was also the name of the Bahylonian princess. They affirm that the Egyptians having slain her brother, who was their sovereign, she was appointed his successor ; and that afterwards, to avenge his death, she destroyed by artifice a great number of Egyptians. By her orders a large subter- raneous apartment Λvas constructed, professedly for festivals, but in reality for a diiFerent purpose. She invited to this place a great number of those Egyptians whom she knew to be the principal instruments of her brother's death, and then by a private canal introduced the river amongst them. They added, that to avoid the indignation of the people, she suffocated herself in an apartment filled with ashes. CI. None of these monarchs, as my informers re- lated, were distinguished by any acts of magnificence or renown, except Moeris, who was the last of them. Of this prince various monuments remain. He built the north entrance of the temple of Vulcan, and sunk a lake, the dimensions of which I shall hereafter de- scribe. Near this he also erected pyramids, whose magnitude, when I speak of the lake, I shall particu- larise. These are lasting monuments of his fame ; but as none of the preceding princes performed any thing memorable, I shall pass them by in silence. CII. The name of Sesostris,^ wlio lived after them> 1 These eighteen Ethiopian princes prove that the throne was not always hereditary in Egypt. — iMrcher. '■2, See Bouliier's Chronological Account of the Kings of Egypt from iMucris to Cambyses, according to which MoBris died in the year of the world 3360, and was succeeded by Se- sostris in 3361. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 237 claims our attention. According to the priests, he %vas the first Λν^ο, passing the Arabian gulf in a fleet of long vessels, reduced under his authority the inhabi- tants bordering on the Red Sea. He proceeded yet farther, till he came to a sea, which on account of the number of shoals was not navigable. On his return to Egypt, as I learned from tlie same authority, he levied a mighty army, and made a martial progress by land, subduing all the nations whom he met Λvith on his march. Whenever he was opposed by a people who proved themselves brave, and Avho discovered an ardor for liberty, he erected columns in their country, on which he inscribed his name, and that of his nation, and how he had here conquered by the force of his arms ; but where he met with little or no opposition, on similar columns which he erected, he added marks expressive of the pusillanimity of the people. cm. Continuing his progress, he passed over from Asia to Europe, and subdued the countries of Scythia and Thrace. Here I believe he stopped, for monu- ments of his victory are discovered thus far, but no farther. On his return he came to the river Phasis ; but I am by no means certain whether he left ^ a de- tachment of his forces as a colony in this district, or whether some of his men, fatigued with their laborious service, remained here of their own accord. CIV. The Colchians certainly appear to be of Egyp- Diodorus Siculus makes this prince posterior to Moeris by seven generations ; but, as Larcher justly observes, this writer cannot be intitled to an equal degree of credit with Herodotus. Sesostris has been differently named. Tacitus calls him Ehampses ; Scaliger, both llhamesses and .ugyp- tus. He is named Sesostris in Diodorus Siculus j Sesosis in Pliny, &c.— Γ. 1 Pliny assures us, though I know not on what authority, that Sesostris was defeated by the Colchians.— Larc/ie/•, 238 HERODOTUS. tian origin : which indeed, before I had conversed with any one on the subject, I had always believed. But as I was desirous of being satisfied, I interrogated the people of both countries: the result was, that the Col- chians seemed to have better remembrance of the Egyp- tians, than the Egyptians of the Colchians. The Egyp- tians were of opinion that the Colchians were descended of part of the troops of Sesostris. To this I myself was also inclined, because they are black, and have hair short and curling,^ Λvhich latter circumstance may not, however, be insisted on as evidence, because it is com- mon to many other nations. But a second and better argument is, that the inhabitants of Colchos, Egypt, and Ethiopia, are the only people who from time im- memorial have used circumcision. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine ^ acknowlege that they borrowed this custom from Egypt. Those Syrians Λνΐιο live near the riΛ ers Thermodpn and Parthenius, and their neighbors the Macrones, confessed that they learned it, and that too recently, from the Colchians. These are the only people who use circumcision, and 1 ' That is,' says Volney, in his remark on this passage, ' that the ancient Egyptians were real negroes, of the same species with all the natives of Africa ; and though, as might be expected, after mixing so many ages with the Greeks and Komans, they have lost the intensity of their first color, yet they still retain strong marks of iheir original conforma- tion.' 2 Mr. Gibbon takes the opportunity of this passage to make it appear that, under the Assyrian and Persian monarchies, the Jews languished for many ages the most despised portion of their slaves. * Herodotus,' says the Englisli historian, ' who visited Asia Avhilst it obeyed the Persian empire, slightly mentions the Jews of Palestine.' But this seems to be a partial quotation ; for taking into consideration the whole of the context, Herodotus seems precluded from men- tioning the Syrians of Palestine in this place otherwise tiiaa slightly.—!'. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 239 who use it precisely like the Egyptians. As tliis prac- tice can be traced both in Egypt and Ethiopia to the remotest antiquity, it is not possible to say which first introduced it. The Egyptians certainly communicated it to the other nations by means of their commercial intercourse. The Phoenicians, who are connected with Greece, do not any longer imitate the Egyptians in this particular, their male children not being cir- cumcised. CV. But the Colchians have another mark of re- semblance to the Egyptians. Their manufacture of linen is alike and peculiar to those two nations ; they have similar manners, and the same language. The linen Λvhich comes from Colchis the Greeks call Sar- donian ; the linen of Egypt, Egyptian. CVI. The greater part of the pillars Avhich Sesos- tris erected in the places which he conquered are no longer to be found. Some of them I myself have seen in Palestine of Syria, with the inscriptions \vhich I have before mentioned. In Ionia there are two figures of this king formed out of a rock ; one is in the Avay from Ephesus to Phocaea, the other betwixt Sardis and Smyrna. Both of them represent a man, five palms in height; the right hand holds a javelin, the left a bow ; the rest of his armor is partly Egyp- tian and partly Ethiopian. Across his breast, from sboulder to shoulder, there is this inscription in the sacred characters of Egypt. ' I conquered this coun- try by the force of my arms.' Who the person is, here represented, or of what country, are not specified : both are told elsewhere. Some have been induced, on examination, to pronounce this the figure of Mem- non, but they must certainly be mistaken. CVII. The same priests informed me that Sesostris returned to Egypt with an immense number of captives 240 - HERODOTUS. of the diiferent nations which he had conquered. On his arrival at the Peliisian Daphne, his brother, to whom he had confided the government in his absence, invited him and his family to take up their abode with hira ; which, Λvhen they had done, he surrounded their apartments with combustibles, and set fire to the building-.^ As soon as Sesostris discovered the vil- lany, he deliberated with his wife, Λνΐιο happened to be \vith him, wliat measures to pursue ; she advised him to place two of their six children across the parts which were burning, that they might serve as a bridge for the preservation of themselves and the rest. This Sesostris executed ; two of the children consequently perished ; the remainder Λvere saved with their father. CVIII. Sesostris did not omit to avenge himself on his brother : on his return to Egypt, he employed the captives of the different nations he had vanquished to collect those immense stones which were employed in the temple of Vulcan. They were also compelled to make those vast and numerous canals^ by which 1 Diodorus Siculus relates the matter differently. The brother of Sesostris made him and his attendants drunk, and in the night set fire to liis apartment. The guards being in- toxicated, were unable to assist their master; but Sesostris, imploring the interposition of the gods, fortunately escaped. He expressed his gratitude to the deities in general, and to \''ulcan in particular, to whose kindness principally he thought himself indebted. — T. 2 Probably one reason why Sesostris opened canals, was to prevent these hurtful inundations, as well as to convey water to those places where they might think proper to have vil- lages built, and to water the lands more conveniently, at such times as the waters might retire early ; for tliey might find by experience, after the canals were opened, that instead of apprehending inundations, they had great reason, as at pre- sent, to fear a want of water. — Fococke. There are still eighty canals in Egypt like rivers, several of which are twenty, thirty, and forty leagues ia length. — Savory, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 241 Egypt is intersected. In consequence of their invo- luntary labors, Egypt, which Avas before conveniently adapted to those who travelled on horseback or in carriages, became unfit for both. The canals occur so often, and in so many ivinding directions, that to journey on horseback is disagreeable, in carriages im- possible. The. prince however was influenced by a patriotic motive : before his time those who inhabited the inland parts of the country, at a distance from the river, on the ebbing of the Nile suffered great distress from the want of water, of which they had none but from muddy wells. CIX. The same authority informed me that Sesos- tris made a regular distribution of the lands of Egypt. He assigned to each Egyptian a square piece of ground ; and his revenues were drawn from the rent which every individual annually paid him. Whoever was a sufterer by the inundation of the Nile was permitted to make the king acquainted with his loss. Certain officers were appointed to inquire into the particulars of the injury, that no man might be taxed beyond his ability. It may not be improbable to suppose that this was the origin of geometry,' and that the Greeks The same author adds that the chain buckets used in Egypt to disperse the water over the high lands gave to Archimedes, during his voyage in Egypt, the idea of his ingenious screw, which 15 still in use. A country where nothing is so seldom met with as a spring, and where rain is an extraordinary phenomenon, could only have been fertilised by the Nile. Accordingly, from times of the most remote antiquity, fourscore considerable canals were digged at the entrance of the kingdom, besides a great number of small ones, which distributed these waters all over Egypt. — Raynal. 1 The natives of Thebes, above all others, were renowned for their great wisdom. Their improvements in geometry are thought to have been owing to the nature of their country ; for the land of Egypt being annually overflowed, and all HER. VOL. 1. Q 342 HERODOTUS. learned it from hence. As to the pole, the gnomon,^ and the division of the day^ into twelve parts, the Greeks received them from the Babylonians. ex. Except Sesostris, no monarch of Egypt was ever master of Ethiopia. This prince placed as a monument some marble statues before the temple of Vulcan : two of these were thirty cubits in height, and represented him and his queen ; four others of twenty cubits each, represented his four children. A lo-ng• time afterwards Darius, king• of Persia, was de- sirous of placing before these a statue of himself,^ but the high-priest of Vulcan violently opposed it, urging that the actions of Darius were far less splendid than those of the Egyptian Sesostris. This latter prince had vanquished as many nations as Darius, and property confounded, they were obliged, on the retreat of the waters, to have recourse to geometrical decision, in order to determine the limits of their possessions. — Bryant. 1 The text is a literal translation of the original, to Λvhich as it stands it will not be very easy to annex any meaning. My own opinion, from reflecting on the context, is, that it signifies a dial with its index. — T. 2 From this passage it appears that in the time of Herodo- tus the day was divided into twelve parts : at the same time we may not conclude, witli Leon, Allatius, and Wesseling, that to these twelve parts the name οι hours was given. It is by no means certain when the twenty-four parts of the day were first distinguislied by the name of hours, but it was doubtless very late ; and the passages cited from Anacreon and Xenophon to prove the contrary ought not to be inter- preted by what we call hours. S After a series of ages, when Egypt was reduced under the power of Persia, Darius, the father of Xerxes, was de- sirous of placing an image of himself at iMemphis, before the statue of Sesostris. This was strenuously opposed by the chief priest, in an assembly of his order, who asserted that the acts of Darius had not yet surpassed those of Sesostris. The king did not take this freedom amiss, but was rather pleased with it; saying, that if he lived as long as Sesostris, he would endeavor to equal him,— Diodonts Siculus. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 243 had also subdued the Scythians, who had never yielded to the arms of Darius. Therefore, says lie, it can never be just to place before the statues of Sesostris the figure of a prince, whose exploits have not been equally illustrious. They told nie that Darius forgave this remonstrance.* CXI. On the death of Sesostris, his son Pheron,- as the priests informed me, succeeded to his throne. This prince undertook no military expedition ; but by the action I am going to relate he lost the use of liis eyes : — Avhen the Nile was at its extreme height of eighteen cubits, and had overflowed the fields, a sud- den wind arose which made the waters impetuously swell; at this juncture the prince hurled a javelin into the vortex of the stream : he was in a moment deprived of sight, and continued blind for the space of ten years ; in the eleventh an oracle w as communi- cated to him from Butos, intimating that the period of his punishment was expired, and that he should re- cover his sight by having his eyes washed by a vir- tuous Λvoman. Pheron first made the experiment with his own wife, and when this did not succeed he applied to other women indiscriminately. Having at length recovered his sight, he assembled all the women, ' except her who was the cause of the removal of his jSalaraity, in a city wiiich is to this day called Ery- 1 It does not however appear from hence that Darius was ever in Egypt. The resistance of" the chief priest might probably be told him, and he might forgive it. It appears by a passage in Aristotle that Darius attacked and conquered this country ; if so, the priest of Vulcan might personally oppose Darius. The authority of Aristotle is of no weight compared with that of our historian ; and probably, in that writer, instead of Darius we should read Xerxes. — Larcher. 2 This prince is supposed to be the first Egyptian Pha- raoh. — T. 244 HERODOTUS. threbolos ;' all these, with the toAvn itself, he destroyed by tire, but he married the female who had deserved his gratitude. On his recoΛ'eΓy he sent magnificent presents to all the more celebrated temples ; to that of the sun he sent two obelisks too remarkable to be unnoticed : each was formed of one solid stone one hundred cubits high, and eighty broad. CXII. The successor of Pheron, as the same priests informed me, was a citizen of Memphis, Avhose name in the Greek tongue was Proteus.^ His shrine is still to be seen at Memphis ; it is situated to the south of the temple of Vulcan, and is very magnificently deco- rated. The Phoenicians of Tyre dwell in its vicinity, and indeed the whole of the place is denominated the Tyrian camp. In this spot, consecrated to Proteus^ there is also a small temple, dedicated to Venus the stranger: this Venus I conjecture is no other than Helen, the daughter of Tyndaris, because she, I was told, resided for some time at the court of Proteus, and because this building is dedicated to Venus the 1 Diodorus Siculus calls this place Heliopolis ; and says that the woman, through whose means Pheron was cured of his blindness, was the wife of a gardener. — T. 2 Proteus was an Egyptian title of the deity, under which he was worshipped, both in the Pharos and at Memphis. He was the same as Osiris and Canopus, and particularly the god of mariners, who confined his department to the sea. Prom hence I think we may unravel the mystery about the pilot of Menelaus, who is said to have been named Canopus, and to have given name to the principal sea-port in Egypt. — Bryant, No antique figure has yet been met with of Proteus : on this circumstance Mr. Spence remarks, that his character was far more manageable for poets than for sculptors or painters. The former might very well describe all the variety of shapes that he could put on, and point out tlie transition from one to the other, but the artists must have been content to show iiim either in his own natural shape, or in some one alone of all his various forms. Of this deity the best description is given in the Georgics of Virgil.— 7\ BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 24δ stranger ; no other temple of Venus is distinguished by this appellation. CXIII. To my inquiries on the subject' of Helen, these priests answered as folloΛvs ; Paris having carried oif Helen from Sparta, was returning home, but meet- ing with contrary winds in the vEgean, he was driven into the Egyptian sea. As the winds continued un- favorable, he proceeded to Egypt, and Avas driven to the Canopian mouth of the Nile, and to Tarichea; in that situation was a temple of Hercules, which still remains ; to this if any slave fled for refuge, and in testimony of his consecrating himself to the service of the god, submitted to be marked with certain sacred characters, no one was suiFered to molest him. This custom has been strictly observed from its first insti- tution to the present period. The servants of Paris, aware of the privileges of this temple, fled thither from their master, and with the view of injuring Paris, became the suppliants of the divinity. They pub- lished many accusations against their master, dis- closing the whole aff'air of Helen, and the \vrong done to Menelaus : this they did not only in the presence of the priests, but also before Thonis,^ the governor of the district. CXIV. Thonis instantly despatched a messenger to 1 On no subject, ancient or modern, have writers been more divided than about the precise period of the Trojan war. Larcher, after discussing this matter very fully, in his Essay on Chronology, is of opinion, and his arguments ap- pear to me at least satisfactory, that it took place about 1263 years before the vulgar era. — T. 2 Some writers pretend that Thonis was prince of the Ca- nopian mouth of the Nile, and that he was the inventor of medicine in Egypt. Before he saw Helen he treated Mene- laus with great respect : when he had seen her he made his court to her. The city of Thonis, and Thoth, the first Egyp- tian month, take their names from him. 24β HERODOTUS. Memphis, with orders to say thus to Proteus : * There is arrived here a Trojan, who has perpetrated an atrocious crime in Greece ; he lias seduced the Λ\άίβ of his host, and has carried her away with a great quan- tity of treasure : adverse winds have forced him hi- ther: shall I suffer him to depart without molestation, or shall I seize his person and property?' The an- swer which Proteus sent was thus conceived : ' Who- ever that man is who has violated the rights of hos- pitality seize and bring him before me that I may examine him/ CXV. Thonis on this seized Paris, and detaining his vessels, instantly sent him to Proteus, with Helen ' and all his wealth : on their arrival Proteus inquired of Paris who he was, and whence he came : Paris faithfully related the name of his family and country, and from whence he last set sail... But when Proteus proceeded to make inquiries concerning Helen, and how he obtained possession of her person, Paris hesi- tated in his answers : his slaves who had deserted him explained and proved the particulars of his guilt : in consequence of which Proteus made this determina- tion : ' If I did not esteem it a very heinous crime to put any stranger to death, whom unfavorable winds have driven to my coasts, I would assuredly, thou most abandoned man, avenge that Greek whose hos- pitality thou hast treacherously violated. Thou hast not only seduced his wife, but having violently taken 1 This incident of the detention of Helen by Proteus is the argument of" one of the tragedies of Euripides. The poet supposes that Helen never was at Troy, but that Paris carried thitl)er a cloud in her form. — On the death of Proteus, his son Theoclymenus prepared to make Helen his wife : at this juncture Menelaus was driven on the coast, saw Helen again, and with her concerted and accomplished their return to Greece. — 2'. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 247 her away, still criminally detainest her ; and as if this Avere not enough, thou hast robbed and plundered him ! But as I can by no means prevail on myself to put a stranger to death, you I shall suffer to depart ; the woman and your Λvealth I shall detain till the Greek himself thinks proper to demand her. Do you and your companions depart within three days from my coast, or expect to be treated as enemies.' CXVI. Thus, according to the narrative of the priests, did Helen come to the court of Proteus. I conceive that this circumstance could not be unknown to Homer ; but as he thought it less ornamental to his poem, he forbore to use it. That he actually did know it, is evident from that part of the Iliad where he de- scribes the voyage of Paris : this evidence he has no where retracted. He informs us that Paris, after various Avanderings, at length arrived at Sidon in Phoenicia : it is in the Bravery of Diomed : ' the pas- sage is this : There lay the vestures of no vulgar art, Sidonian maids embroider'd every part ; When from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore. With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore. II. vi. 390. 1 The different parts of Homer's poems were known an- ciently by names taken from the subjects treated in them : thus the fifth book of the Iliad was called the Bravery of Dio- med ; and in like manner the eleventh the Bravery of Agamem•' non ; the tenth the Night-Watch, or the Death of Dolon, Occ. ; all of which titles are prefixed to ihe respective books in Clarke's and other editions from Eustathius. — See also .Elian, \άτ. Hist. b. xiii. c. 14. This division Λν33 more ancient than that into books, and therefore does not always coincide with it : thus the second Iliad has two names, the Dream or the Triai, and the Catalogue; whereas four or five books of the Odyssey are supposed to be comprised under the name of the Story of Alcinous. Valckenaer erroneously supposed this tx> be a later division of the grammarians, and therefore endea- vored to explain away the expression of Herodotus, which evidently refers to it. — T. 248 HERODOTUS. He again introduces this subject in the Odyssey: These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life. Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife ; Who sway'd the sceptre where prolific Nile With various simples clothes the fatten'd soil, With wholesome herhage mix'd, the direful bane Of vegetable venom taints the plain. Od. iv. 315. Menelaus also says thus to Telemachus : Long on the Egyptian coast by calms confined, Heaven to my fleet refused a prosperous wind : IVo vows had we preferred, no victim slain. For this the gods each favoring gale restrain. Od. iv. 473. In these passages Homer confesses himself acquainted Avith the voyage of Paris to Egypt ; for Syria borders on Egypt, and the Phoenicians, to whom Sidon belongs, inhabit part of Syria. CXVII. Of these the last passage confirms suffi- ciently the argument, which may be deduced from the former, that the Cyprian verses ^ Λvere never written 1 On the subject of these verses the following sentence occurs in Athenseus : ' The person who composed the Cyprian verses, whether he was some Cyprian or Stasinus, or by whatever name he chooses to be distinguished,' &c. From which it appears that Athenajus had no idea of their being written by Homer. But we are told by JElian, in his Various History, that Ho- mer certainly did compose these verses, and gave them as a marriage portion with his daughter. — See yElian, b. ix. c. 15, in the note to which this subject is amply discussed. The subject of this poem was tlie Trojan war after the birth of Helen. Venus caused this princess to be born, that she might be able to promise Paris an accomplished beauty : to tliis Jupiter, by the advice of Momus, had consented in o^i'der to destroy the human race again by the war of Troy, which was to take place on her account. As the author of this poem refers all the events of this war to Venus, goddess of Cyprus, the work was called by her name. ' It is evi- dent,' says M. Larcher in continuation, ' that Herodotus would have told the name of the author had he known it.* BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 240 by Homer. These relate that Paris, in company with Helen, assisted by a favorable Λvind and sea, passed in three days from Sparta to Troy : on the contrary, it is asserted in the Iliad that Paris, after carrying away Helen, \vandered about to various places. CXVIII. I Λvas desirous of knowing whether all that the Greeks relate concerning Troy had any foundation in truth ; and the same priests instructed me in the fol- lowing particulars, which they learned from Meuelaus himself. After the loss of Helen, the Greeks assembled in great numbers at Teucris, to assist Menelaus : they disembarked and encamped : they then despatched ambassadors to Troy, whom Menelaus himself accom- panied. On their arrival they made a formal de- mand of Helen, and of the wealth Λvhich Paris had at the same time clandestinely taken, as well as general satisfaction for the injury. The Trojans then and afterwards uniformly persisted in declaring that they had among them neither the person nor the wealth of Helen, but that both Avere in Egypt ; and they thought it hard that they should be made responsible for Avhat Proteus king of Egypt certainly possessed. The G reeks believing themselves deluded, laid siege to Troy, and persevered till they took it. But when Helen was not to be found in the captured town, and the same asser- tions concerning her were continued, they at length obtained credit, and Menelaus himself was despatched to Proteus. CXIX. As soon as he arrived in Egypt he pro- ceeded up the Nile to Memphis. On his relating the object of his journey, he was honorably entertained; Helen, vaho had been treated with respect, was re- stored to him, and Avith her all his treasures. Inatten- tive to these acts of kindness, Menelaus perpetrated a great enormity against the Egyptians : the winds pre- 25() HERODOTUS. venting his departure, he took two children* of the people of the country, and with great barbarity offered them in sacrifice. As soon as the circumstance was known universal indignation was excited against him, and he was pursued ; but he tied by sea into Africa, and the Egyptians could trace him no farther. Of the above facts, some they knew as having happened among themselves, and others were the result of much diligent inquiry. CXX. This intelligence concerning Helen I received from the Egyptian priests, to which I am inclined to add, as my opinion, that if Helen had been actually in Troy, they would certainly have restored her to the Greeks, with or without the consent of Paris. Priam and his connexions could never have been so infa- tuated, as to endanger the preservation of themselves and their children, merely that Paris might retain Helen ; but even if such had been their determination at first, still after having lost in their different contests with the Greeks many of their countrymen, and among these, if the poets may be believed, several of their king's own sons, 1 cannot imagine but that Priam, even if he had married her himself, would 1 This was doubtless to appease the winds. This kind of sacrifice was frequent in Greece, but detestable in Egypt.— Lurcher. , In the early times of all religions, when nations were yet barbarous and savage, there was ever an aptness or tendency tow-ards the dark part of superstition, wliich among many other horrors produced that oi' human sacrifice, — Lord Shaftes- bury. That the custom of human sacrifice, alike cruel and absurd, gives Avay but very slowly to the voice of nature and of rea- son, is evident from its having been practised at so late a period by the enlightened people of Greece. Porphyry also informs us, that even in his time, who lived 233 years after the Christian era, human sacrifices were common in Arcadia and at Carthage.— T. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 251 have reslored Helen, if no other means had existed of averting these calamities. We may add to this, that Paris vi^as not the immediate heir to the ΟΓΟΛνη, for Hector was his superior both in age and virtue : Paris therefore could not have possessed any remark- able influence in the state, neither Avould Hector have countenanced the misconduct of his brother, from which he himself, and the rest of his countrymen, had experienced so many and such great calamities. But the restoration of Helen Λvas not in their poΛver, and the Greeks placed no dependence on their assertions, which Avere indisputably true ; but all tliis, with the subsequent destruction of Troy, might be ordained by Providence to instruct mankind that the gods pro- portioned punishments to crimes. CXXI. The same instructors farther told me that Proteus was succeeded by Rhampsinitus : he built the west entrance of the temple of Vulcan ; in the same situation he also erected two statues, twenty-five cubits in height. That Avhich faces the north the Egyptians call summer, the one to the south winter : this latter is treated with no manner of respect, but they worship the former, and make offerings before it. This prince possessed such abundance of wealth, that so far from surpassing, none of his successors ever equalled him in affluence. For the security of his riches, he constructed a stone edifice, connected with his palace by a wall. The man whom he employed, with a dishonest view so artfully disposed one of the stones, that two or even one person might remove it from its place. In this building, Avhen completed, the king deposited his treasures. Some time afterwards the artist found his end approaching ; and having two sons, he called them both before him, and informed tliem in what manner, Avith a view to their future emo- 252 HERODOTUS. lumeiit and prosperity, lie had built the king's trea- sury. He then explained the particular circumstance and situation of the stone, gave them minutely its dimensions, by observance of which they might be- come the managers of the king's riches. On the death of tlie father, the sons Λvere not long before they availed themselves of their secret. Under the ad- vantage of the night, they visited the building, dis- covered and removed the stone, and carried away with them a large sum of money. As soon as the king entered the apartment he saw the vessels which con- tained his money materially diminished : he was asto- nished beyond measure, for as the seals \vere unbroken, and every entrance properly secured, he could not possibly direct his suspicion against any one. This was several times repeated ; the thieves continued their visits, and the king as regularly saw his money decrease. To effect a discovery, he ordered some traps to be placed round the vessels which contained his riches. The robbers came as before : one of them proceeding as usual directly to the vessels was caught in the snare : as soon as he was sensible of his situa- tion he called his brother, and acquainted him with it; he withal entreated him to cut off his head without a moment's delay, as the only means of preventing his own detection and consequent loss of life : he ap- proved and obeyed his advice, and replacing properly the stone, he returned home with the head of his brother. As soon as it was light the king entered the apartment, and seeing the body secured in the snare without a head, the building in no part disturbed, nor the smallest appearance of any one having been there, he was more astonished than ever. In this perplexity he commanded the body to be hanged from the wall, and having stationed guards on the spot, he directed BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 2-33 them to seize and bring- before him whoever should discover any symptoms of compassion or sorrow at sight of the deceased. The mother being much ex- asperated at this exposure of her son, threatened the surviving brother, that if he did not contrive and ex- ecute some means of removing the body, she would immediately go to the king, and disclose all the cir- cumstances of the robbery. The young man in vain endeavored to alter the woman's determination ; he therefore put in practice the following expedient : — He got together some asses, which he loaded with flasks of Λvine ; he then drove them near the place where the guards were stationed to \vatch the body of his brother ; as soon as he approached, he secretly removed the pegs from the mouths of two or three of the skins, and when he saw the wine running about, he began to beat his head, and to cry out vehemently, with much pretended confusion and distress. The soldiers, perceiving the accident, instantly ran with vessels, and such wine as they were able to catch they considered as so much gain to themselves. At first, Λvith great apparent anger, he reproached and abused them, but he gradually listened to their endeavors to console and pacify him : he then proceeded at leisure to turn his asses out of the road, and to secure his flasks. He soon entered into conversation with the guards, and afiOCting to be pleased with the drollery of one of them, he gave them a flask of wine : they accordingly sat down to drink, and insisted on his bearing them company : he complied with their solicitations, and a second flask was presently the efi'ect of their civility to him. The wine had soon its eftect, the guards be- came exceedingly drunk, and fell fast asleep ; under the advantage of the night, the young man took down the body of his brother, and in derision shaved the 254 HERODOTUS. right cheeks of the guards : he placed the body on one of the asses, and returned home, having thus satisfied his mother. When the king heard of what had happened he was enraged beyond measure ; but still determined on the detection of the criminal, he contrived tliis, which to me seems a most improbable ' part of the story : — he commanded his daughter to entertain indiscriminately every comer, on condition tliat each should tell her the most artful as well as the most Avicked thing he had ever done ; if any one should disclose the circumstance of which he wished to be informed, she was to seize him, andpreveut his escape. The daughter obeyed the injunction of her father: the thief, knoAving what was intended, prepared still farther to disappoint and deceive the king. He cut off the arm near the shoulder from a body recently dead, and concealing it under his cloak, he visited the king's daughter : when he was asked the same question as the rest, he replied, * That the most wicked thing he had ever done Avas the cutting off the head of his brother, who was caught in a snare in the king's treasury ; the most artful tiling, was his making the guards drunk, and by that means eifecting the removal of his bro- ther's body.' On hearing this she endeavored to ap- prehend him ; but he, favored by the night, put out to her the dead arm, which she seizing, was thus deluded, Avhilst he made his escape. On hearing this also, the king^ was equally astonished at the art and audacity of the man : he was afterwards induced to make a ])roclamation through the diiferent parts of his do- 1 Herodotus, we may perceiv6 from this passage, did not implicitly credit all that the priests told him. JMany other passages occur in the process of tlie work to proA'e that our liistorian was by no means so credulous as has been generally imagined. — Lurcher, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 255 minions, that if the oiFender would appear before him lie Avould not only pardon but reward him liberally. The thief trusting to his word, appeared ; Rhampsi- nitus was delighted with the man, and thinking his ingenuity beyond all parallel, gave him his daughter. The king conceiA^ed the Egyptians superior in subtlety to all the world, but he thought this man superior even to Egyptians. CXXII. After this event, they told me that the same king' descended alive beneath the earth, to Avhat the Greeks call the infernal regions, where he played at dice with the goddess Ceres, and alternately won and lost. On his return she presented him Λvith a napkin embroidered Avith gold. This period of his return \vas observed by the Egyptians as a solemn festival,, and has continued to the time of my remem- brance : Avhether the above, or some other incident was the occasion of this feast, I will not take on me to determine. The ministers of this solemnity have a vest woven within the space of the day ; this is worn by a priest whose eyes are covered Avith a bandage. They conduct him to the path Avhich leads to the temple of Ceres, and there leave him. They assert, that two wolves meet the priest thus blinded, and lead 1 The Icings of Egypt had many names and titles ; these names and titles have been branched out into persons, and inserted in the lists of the real monarchs. I have mentioned of Osiris, that he was exposed in an ark, and for a long time in a state of death : the like is said of Orus, Adonis, Thamuz, and Talus, Tulus, orThoulos. Lastly, it is said of Rhame- ses, whom Herodotus calls Rhampsinitus, that he descended to the mansions of death, and after some stay returned to light. I mention these things to show that the whole is one and the same history, and that all these names are titles of tli€ same person. They have however been otherwise es- teemed, and we find them accordingly inserted in the list of kings, by wliich means the chronology of Egypt has been greatly embarrassed. — Bryant. 256 HERODOTUS. him to the temple, though at the distance of twenty stadia from the city, and afterwards conduct him back again to the place where they found him. CXXIII. Every reader must determine for himself with respect to the credibility of what I have related : for my ΟΛνη part, I heard these things from the Egyp- tians, and think it necessary to transcribe the result of my inquiries. The Egyptians esteem Ceres and Bac- chus as the great deities of the realms beloAV ; they are also the first of mankind who have defended the im- mortality of the soul.^ They believe that on the dis- solution of the body the soul immediately enters some other animal, and that after using as vehicles every species of terrestrial, aquatic, and winged creatures, it finally enters a second time into a human body. They 1 The doctrine of the resurrection was first entertained by the Egyptians ; and their mummies were embalmed, their pyramids were constructed to preserve the ancient mansion of the soul during a period of three thousand years. But the attempt is partial and unavailing ; and it is with a more phi- losophic spirit that JVIahomet relies on the omnipotence of the Creator, whose word can reanimate the breathless clay, and collect the innumerable atoms that no longer retain their form or substance. The intermediate state of the soul it is hard to decide ; and those who most firmly believe her im- material nature are at a loss to understand how slie can think or act without the agency of the organs of sense. — Gibbon. The Platonic doctrine esteemed the body a kind of prison with respect to the soul. Somewhat similar to this was the opinion of the Mai'cionites, who called the death of the body the resurrection of the soul. — T. To enumerate the various opinions which have prevailed concei-ning the soul of man, would be an undertaking alike arduous and unprofitable. Some of the ancients considered it as part of the substance of God : the doctrine of the pro- pagation of souls prevailed, according to Bayle, or rather subsisted, to a very late period of the Christian era. Aver- hoes affirmed its mortality, and most of the pagan philoso- phers believed it to be material ; but the arguments for its immortality which are afforded us in the wortl of God, at tht» same time animate our piety, and satisfy our reason.— Ϊ'. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 257 affirm that it undergoes all these changes in the space of three thousand years. This opinion some amongst the Greeks ' have at different periods of time adopted as their own ; but I shall not, though I am able, specify their names. CXXIV. I was also informed by the same priests, that till the reign of Rhampsinitus, Egypt was not only remarkable for its abundance, but for its excellent laws. Cheops, who succeeded this prince, degene- rated into the extremest profligacy of conduct.^ He 1 He doubtless means to speak of Pherecydes of Syros, and Pythagoras.— Larr?!??•. Plierecydes was the disciple of Pittacus, and the master of Pythagoras, and also of Thales the Milesian. He lived in the time of Servius Tullus, and, as Cicero tells us, first taught that the souls of men were immortal. His life is given at some length by Diogenes Laertius. — T. 2 It is not easy to see what could induce jM. de Paw to attempt the vindication of this prince, and to reject as fabu- lous what Herodotus relates of his despotism-, as if this were not the infirmity of these princes, and as if they did not at all endeavor to establish it within their dominions. Egypt enjoyed good laws at the first ; they were observed during some ages, and the people were consequently happy ; but their princes endeavored to free themselves from the re- straints imposed on them, and by degrees they succeeded. M. de A'oltaire was justified in considering the construction of the pyramids as a proof of the slavery of the Egyptians ; and it is with much justice he remarks, that it would not be possible to compel the English to erect similar masses, who are far more powerful than the Egyptians at that rime were. This is perfectly true, and ]M. de Paw, in attacking A'oltaire, has wandered from the question. He ought to have proved that the kings of England were really able to compel their subjects to raise similar monuments, as Herodotus positively asserts of the princes of Egypt. He ought, I say, to have proved this, and not to have advanced that the cultivation of their lands cost the English nine times more labor than it does in Egypt ; and that their marine in one year occasions the destruction of more people than the construction of all the pyramuh nould Γωνβ done in a long series of ages. M. de Par/ would not see that a spirit of ambition, a desire of wealth, &c. induce the English eagerly to undertake the most laborious HER. VOL. I. R 258 HERODOTUS. barred the avenues to every temple, and forbade the Egyptians to oiFer sacrifices ; he proceeded next to make them labor servilel}^ for himself. Some he com- pelled to hew stones in the quarries of the Arabian mountains, and drag them to the banks of the Nile ; others were appointed to receive them in vessels, and transport them to a mountain of Libya. For this ser- vice a hundred thousand men were employed, λ\^ο were relieved every three months. Ten years Avere consumed in the hard labor of forming the road through which these stones were to be drawn ; a work, in my estimation, of no less fatigue and difficulty than the pyramid itself.' This causeway- is five stadia in enterprises ; that they are not obliged to do this ; and in one word, that it is optional with them : on the contrary, the Egyptians were compelled by their sovereigns to labors the most painful, humiliating, and servile. — Larcher. 1 For the satisfaction of the English reader I shall in few words enumerate the different uses for which the learned have supposed the pyramids to have been erected. Some have imagined that by hieroglyphics inscribed on their ex- ternal surface, the Egyptians Avished to convey to the re- motest posterity their national history, as well as their im- provements in sciences and the arts. This, however in- genious, seems but little probable ; for the ingenuity which was equal to contrive, and the industry which persevered to execute structures like the pyramids, could not but foresee, that however the buildings themselves might from their so- lidity and form defy the effects of time, the outward surface, in such a situation and climate, could not be proportionably permanent : add to this, that the hieroglyphics were a sacred language, and obscure in themselves, and revealed but to a select number, might to posterity afford opportunity of in- genious conjecture, but were a very inadequate vehicle of historical facts. Others have believed them intended merely as observa- tories to extend pliilosophic and astronomical knowlege ; but in defence of this opinion little can be said: the adjacent country is a flat and even surface ; buildings therefore of such height were both absurd and unnecessary ; besides that, for such a purpose, it would have been very preposterous to BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 259 length, forty cubits wide, and its extreme height thirty-two cubits : the whole is of polished marble, have constructed such a number of costly and massy piles, differing so little in altitude. To this may be added, that it does not appear, from an ex- amination of the pyramids, that access to the summit was ever practicable during their perfect state. By some they have been considered as repositories for corn, erected by Joseph, and called the granaries of Pharaoh. The argument against this is very convincing, and is afforded us by Pliny. ' In the building the largest of the pyramids three hundred and sixty-six thousand men,' says he, ' were employed twenty years together.' This therefore will be found but ill to correspond with the Scriptural history of Joseph. The years of plenty which he foretold were only seven : which fact is of itself a sufficient answer to the above. It remains therefore to mention the more popular and the more probable opinion, which is, that they were intended for the sepulchres of the Egyptian monarchs. Instead of useful works, like Nature, great. Enormous cruel wonders crush'd the land, And round a tyrant's tomb, who none deserved. For one vile carcass perish'd countless lives. — Thomson. When we consider the religious prejudices of the Egyp- tians, their opinion concerning the soul, the pride, the despo- tism, and the magnificence of their ancient princes, together with the modern discovei-ies with respect to the interior of these enormous piles, there seems to remain but little occasion for argument, or reason for doubt. — T. 2 The stones might be conveyed by the canal that runs about two miles north of the pyramids, and from thence part of the way by this extraordinary causeway : for at this time there is a causeway from that part, extending about a thou- sand yards in length, and tAventy feet wide, built of hewn stone. The length of it agreeing so well with the account of Herodotus, is a strong confirmation that this causeway has been kept up ever since, though some of the materials of it may have been changed, all being now built with freestone. It is strengthened on each side with semicircular buttresses, about fourteen feet diameter, and thirty feet apart : there are sixty-one of these buttresses, beginning from the north. Sixty feet farther it turns to the west for a little way ; then there is a bridge of about twelve arches, twenty feet wide, 260 HERODOTUS. adorned with tlie figures of animals. Ten years, as I remarked, were exhausted in forming this causeway, not to mention the time employed in the vaults * of the hill ^ on Avhich the pyramids are erected. These he intended as a place of burial for himself, and were in an island which he formed by introducing the waters of the Nile. The pyramid itself was aAvork of twenty years : it is of a square form ; every front is eighty plethra^ long, and as many in height; the stones are built on piers that are ten feet wide. Above one hundred yards farther there is such another bridge, beyond which the causeway continues about one hundred yards to the south, ending about a mile from the pyramids, where the ground is higher. The country over which the causeway is built, being low, and the water lying on it a great while, seems to be the reason for building this causeway at first, and conti- nuing to keep it in repair. — Pococke. The two bridges described by Pococke are also mentioned particularly by Norden. The two travellers differ essentially in the dimensions which they give of the bridges they seve- rally measured ; which induces M. Larcher reasonably to suppose that Pococke described one bridge, and Norden the other.— T. 1 The second pyramid has a fosse cut in the rock to the north and west of it, which is about ninety feet wide, and thirty feet deep. There are small apartments cut fx-om it into the rock, &c. 2 The pyramids are not situated in plains, but on the rock that is at the foot of the high mountains which accompany the Nile in its course, and which make the separation be- twixt Egypt and Libya. It may have fourscore feet of per- pendicular elevation above the horizon of the ground, that is always overflowed by the Nile. It is a Danish league in circumference . — A'orden . 3 To this day the dimensions of the great pyramid are pro- blematical. Since the time of Herodotus many travellers and men of learning have measured it ; and the difference of their calculations, far from removing, have but augmented doubt. I will give you a table of their admeasurements, which at least will serve to prove how difficult it is to come ^t truth. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 261 very skilfully cemented, and none of them of less dimensions than thirty feet. CXXV. The ascent of the pyramid was regularly graduated by what some call steps, and others altars. Having• finished the first flight, they elevated the stones to the second by the aid of machines ' constructed of Height of the Width of great pyramid. one side. Ancients Feet Feet Herodotus . . 800 .. . . 800 Strabo . , . 625 .. . . 600 Diodorus 600 some inches . . 700 Pliny . . . 708 Moderns Le Brun . 616 .. . . 704 Prosp. Alpinus . 625 . 750 Thevenot . 520 .. . . 612 Niebubr . 440 .. . . 710 Greaves . 444 .. . . 648 Number of tbe layers or steps. Greaves .... 207 Maillet 208 Albert Lewenstein . . 260 Pococke . . . .212 Belon 250 Thevenot . . . .208 To me it seems evident that Greaves and Niebuhr are pro- digiously deceived in the perpendicular height of tbe great pyramid. All travellers agree it contains at least two hun- dred and seven layers, which layers are from four to two feet higb. Tbe highest are at the base, and they decrease insen- sibly to tbe top. I measured several, which were more than three feet higb, and I found none that were less than two ; therefore tbe least mean lieight that can be allowed tliemis two feet and a half, which, according to the calculation of Greaves himself, who counted two hundred and seven, will give five hundred and seventeen feet six; inches in perpen- dicular height. — Sa va ry . 1 Mr. Greaves thinks that this account of Herodotus is full of difficulty. ' How, in erecting and placing so many machines, charged with such massy stones, and those continually pass- ing over the lower degrees, could it be avoided, but that they must either unsettle them, or endanger the breaking of some 262 HERODOTUS. short pieces of wood ; from the second, by a similar engine, they were raised to the third, and so on to the summit. Thus there Avere as many machines as there \vere regular divisions in the ascent of the pyramid, though in fact there might only be one, Avhich being easily manageable, might be removed from one range of the building to another as often as occasion made it necessary: both modes have been told me, and I know not which best deserves credit. The summit of the pyramid was first of all finished ;' descending thence, they regularly completed the whole. On the outside were inscribed, in Egyptian characters,^ the portions of them 1 Which mutilations would have been like scars in the face of so magnificent a building.' I own that I am of a different opinion from Mr. Greaves ; for such massy stones as Herodotus has described would not he discomposed by an engine resting on them, and which, by the account of Herodotus, I take to be only the pulley. The account that Diodorus gives of raising the stones by imagi- nary heaps of earth, engines not being then, as he supposes, invented, is too absurd to take notice of. And the descrip- tion that Herodotus has given, notwithstanding all tlie objec- tions that have been raised to it, and which have arisen principally from misrepresenting him, appears to me A^ery clear and sensible. — Dr. Tempieman s Nates to Norden. 1 Great doubts have arisen amongst traA'^ellers and the learned whether the pyramid was coated or not. Pliny tells us that at Busiris people lived who had the agility to mount to the top of the pyramid. If it was graduated by steps, little agility would be requisite to do this ; if regularly coated, it is hard to conceive how any agility could accom- plish it. Norden says that there is not the least mark to be per- ceived to prove that the pyramid has been coated with marble. Savary is of a contrary opinion : * That it was coated,' says lie, ' is an incontestible fact, proved by the remains of mortar, still found in several parts of the steps, mixed with fragments of white marble.' On the whole it seems more reasonable to conclude that it was coated.— T. 2 Probably in common characters, and not in hierogly• phic&. — Larcher, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 263 various suras of money expended in the progress of the Avork, for the radishes, onions, and garlic con- sumed by the artificers. This, as I well remember, my interpreter informed me amounted to no less a sum than one thousand six hundred talents. If this be true, how much more must it have necessarily cost for iron tools, food, and clothes for the Avorkmen, particularly when we consider the length of time they were employed in the building itself, adding what was spent in the hewing and conveyance of the stones, and the construction of the subterraneous apartments ? CXXVI. Cheops, having exhausted his wealth, was so flagitious, that he ordered his daughter to find him money. She complied with her father's injunctions, but I was not told what sum she procured: at the same time she took care to perpetuate the memory of her- self; Avith which view she solicited every one of her lovers to present her Λvith a stone. With these it is reported the middle of the three pyramids, fronting the larger one, was constructed, the elevation of Λvhich on each side is one hundred and fifty feet. CXXVII. According to the Egyptians, this Cheops reigned fifty years. His brother Chephren succeeded to his throne, and adopted a similar conduct. He also built a pyramid ; but this was less than his brother's, for I measured them both ; it has no subterraneous chambers, nor any channel for the admission of the Nile, Avhich in the other surrounds an island, where the body of Cheops is said to be deposited.' Of this 1 The kings designed these pyramids for their sepulchres ; yet it happened that their remains were not here deposited. The people were so exasperated against them, by the severe labors they bad been compelled to endure, and were so en- raged at the oppressive cruelty of their princes, that they threatened to take their bodies from their tombs, and cast them to the dogs. Both of ihem therefore, when dying, ,j|64 HERODOTUS. latter pj^amid, tlie first ascent is intirely of Ethiopian marble of clivers colors, but it is not so high as the larger pyramid, near Λvhich it stands, by forty feet. This Chephren reigned fifty-six years ; the pyramid he built stands on the same hill Λvith that erected by his brother ; the hill itself is near one hundred feet high. CXXVIII. Thus for the space of one hundred and six years Λvere the Egyptians exposed to every species of oppression and calamity, not having in all this pe- riod permission to worship in their temples. For the memory of these two monarchs they have so extreme an aversion, that they are not very willing to mention their names. ^ They call their pyramids by the name of the shepherd Philitis, who at that time fed his cattle in those places. CXXIX. Mycerinus, the son of Cheops, succeeded Chephren : as he evidently disapproved of his father's conduct, he commanded the temples to be opened, and the people, who had been reduced to the extremest afiliction, were again permitted to offer sacrifice at the shrine of their gods. He excelled all that went before him in his administration of justice. The Egyptians revere his memory beyond that of all his predecessors, not only for the equity of his decisions,^ but because ordered their attendants to bury them in some secret place. — Diodorus Siculus. 1 Part of the punishment annexed in France to high trea- son, and other enormous offences, is the irrevocable extinction of the family name of the convicted persons. This is probably the reason, observes M. Larcher, why his- torians are so much divided in opinion concerning the names* of the princes who erected the pyramids. 2 It appears as well from this paragraph as the remainder of the cliapter, tliat tlie kings administered justice to their subjects in person. It is not therefore very easy to see what could induce M. Paw to assert tliat the sovereigns of Egypt had not the power of deciding in any civil ci^use. — Larcher, BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 2β5 ν if complaint Avas ever made of his conduct as a judge, lie condescended to remove and redress the injury.* Whilst Myceriniis thus distinguished himself by his exemplary conduct to his subjects he lost his daughter and only child, the first misfortune he experienced. Her death excessively afflicted him ; and wishing to honor her funeral \vith more than ordinary splendor, he enclosed her body in a heifer made of wood, and richly ornamented with gold. CXXX. The heifer Λvas not buried ; it remained even to my time in the palace of Sais, placed in a superb hall. Every day costly aromatics Avere burnt before it ; and every night it was splendidly illumi- nated : in an adjoining apartment are deposited sta- tues of the different concubines of Mycerinus, as the priests of Sais informed me. These are to the number of twenty ; they are colossal figures, made of wood, and in a naked state ; but what women they are in- tended to represent I presume not to determine : I merely relate what I was told. CXXXI. Of this heifer, and these colossal figures, there are some who speak thus : Mycerinus, they say, offered violence to his daughter. She having, in the anguish of her mind, strangled herself, her father buried her in the manner we have described. The mother cut off the hands of those female attendants who assisted the king in his designs on his daughter, and therefore these figures are marked by the same imperfections as distinguished the persons they repre- sent when alive. The Mhole of this story, and that in particular which relates to the hands of these figures, to me seems very preposterous. I myself saw the 1 Diodorus Siculus relates the same fact ; and says that he expended large sums of money in making compensation to fjiich as he thought injured by judicial decisions.— Γ. 266 HERODOTUS. hands lying on the groimd ; merely, as I thought, from the eftect of time. CXXXII. The body of this heifer is covered with a purple cloth, whilst the head and neck are very richly gilt : betwixt the horns there is a golden star ; it is made to recline on its knees, and is about the size of a large cow. Every year it is brought from its apart- ment : at the period when the Egyptians flagellate themselves in honor of a certain god, Avhom it does not become me to name, this heifer is produced to the light : it Avas the request, they say, of the dying prin- cess to her father that she might once every year behold the sun. CXXXIII. Mycerinus, after the above, met with a second calamity : an oracle from the city Butos in- formed him that he should live six years, but die in the seventh : the intelligence astonished him, and he sent a message in return to reproach the goddess with injustice ; for that his father and his uncle, who had been injurious to mankind, and impious to the gods, had enjoyed each a lengtli of life of which he Avas to be deprived, who was distinguished for his piety. The reply of the oracle told him, that his early death Avas the consequence of the conduct for which he com- mended himself; he had not fulfilled the purpose of the fates, who had decreed, tliat for the space of one hundred and fifty years Egypt should be oppressed ; of which determination tlie two preceding monarchs had been aware, but he had not. As scon as Myce- rinus knew that his destiny Avas immutable, he caused an immense number of lamps to be made ; by the light of which, when evening approached, he passed his hours in the festivity of the banquet: he frequented by day and by night the groves and streams, and whatever place he thought productive of delight : by BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 367 this method of changing night into day, and apparently multiplying his six years into tAvelve, he thought to convict the oracle of falsehood. CXXXIV. This prince also built a pyramid/ but it was not by twenty feet so high as his father's : it was a regular square on every side, three hundred feet in height, and as far as the middle of Ethiopian stone. Some of the Greeks erroneously believe this to have been erected by Rhodopis^ the courtesan, but they do not seem to me even to knoAv Avho this Rhodo- pis was : if they had, they never could have ascribed to her the building of a pyramid produced at the ex- pense of several thousand talents :^ besides this, Rho- 1 * If,' says Diodorus Siculus, speaking of this pyramid, ' it is less in size and extent than the others, it is superior to them in the costliness of the materials and excellence of the workmanship.' 2 The following account of this Rhodopis is from Strabo. It is said that this pyramid was erected by tlie lovers of Rhodopis, by Sappho called Doricha : she was the mistress of her brother Charaxus, who carried to Nnucratis Lesbian wine, in which article he dealt ; others call her Rhodope. It is reported of her, that one day when she was in the bath an eagle snatched one of her slippers from an attendant, and carried it to Memphis. The king Avas then sitting in his tri- bunal : the eagle, settling above his head, let fall the slipper into his bosom : the prince, astonished at this singular event, and at the smallness of the slipper, ordered a search to be made through tlie country for the female to whom it belonged. Having found her at A'aucratis, she Avas presented to the king, Avho made her his wife : when she died she was buried in the manner we have described. Diodorus Siculus says that this pyramid was believed to have been erected to the memory of Rhodopis, at the expense of some governors who had been her admirers. — T. 3 Demetrius Poliorcetes compelled the Atlienians to raise him immediately the sum of two hundred and fifty talents, which he sent to his mistress Lamia, saying it was for soap. When I inform the reader that slie spent this immense sum in a feast given to her lord, what is here related of Rhodopis may seem less incredible.— 2'. 2Θ8 HERODOTUS. dopis lived at a different period, in the time, not of Mycerinus, but Amasis, and many years after the monarchs who erected the pyramids. Rhodopis was born in Thrace, the slave of ladmon, the son of He- phaestopolis the Samian : she Λvas the fellow-servant of ^sop, Λνΐιο Λvrote fables,* and Avas also the slave of 1 This name is so familiar, that it may at first sight seem superfluous and inconsistent to say any thing on the subject ; but possibly eA^ery English reader may not know that the fables which go under his name were certaiidy not of his composition ; indeed but little concerning him can be ascer- tained as fact. Plutarch assures us that Croesus sent ^iisop to the oracle of Delphi ; that .^sop and Solon were together at the court of Cra'sus ; that the inhabitants of Delphi put him to death, and afterwards made atonement to his memory ; and finally, Socrates A^ersified his fables. Plato, who would not admit Homer into his Commonwealth, gave ^-Esop an honorable place in it ; at least such is the expression of Fon- taine. It remains to do away one absurd and vulgar prejudice con- cerning him. JModern painters and artists have thought pro- per to represent Bacchus as a gross, vulgar, and bloated personage : on the contrary, all the ancient poets and artists represented him as a youth of most exquisite beauty. A similar error has prevailed Avith respect to .Έβορ : that it is an error, Bentley's reasoning must be very satisfactory to whoever gives it the attention which it merits. ' In Plato's feast,' says he, ' they are very merry on Socrates' face, which resembled old Silenus. ^'Esop was one of the guests, but nobody presumes to jest on his ugliness.' Philostratus has given in two books a description of a gallery of pictures ; one is yEsop, with a chorus of animals about him ; he is painted smiling and looking thoughtfully on the ground ; but not a word on his deformity : the Athenians erected a statue in his honor. If he had been deformed, continues Bentley, a statue had been no more than a monument of his ugliness ; it would have been kinder to Ids memory to have let it alone. But, after all, the strongest argument to prove that he was not of a disagreeable form is, that he must have been sold into Samos by a trader in slaves. It is well known that these people brought up the most handsome youths they could procure. If we may judge of liim from his companion and contubernalis, we must believe him a comely person. Rbo- dopis was the greatest beauty of her age, even to a proverb. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 263 ladmon ; all of which may be thus easily proved : the Delphians, in compliance with the directions of the oracle, had desired publicly to know if any one required atonement to be made for the deatli of ^Esop; but none appeared to do this, except a grandson of ladraon, bearing the same name. CXXXV. Rhodopis was first carried to Egypt by Xanthus of Samos, whose view was to make money by her. Her liberty was purchased for an immense sum by Charaxus of Mitylene, son of Scamandrony- mus, and brother of Sappho tlie poetess : thus be- coming free, she afterwards continued in Egypt, where her beauty procured her considerable wealth, though by no means adequate to the construction of such a pyramid : the tenth part of her riches whoever pleases may even now ascertain, and they will not be found so great as has been represented. AVishing to perpetuate her name in Greece, she contrived what had never be- fore been imagined, as an ottering for the Delphic temple : she ordered a tenth part of her property to be expended in making a number of iron spits, each large enough to roast an ox: they were sent to Delphi, where they are now to be seen behind the altar pre- sented by the Chians. The women of Naucratis are generally beautiful ; she of whom we speak was so universally celebrated, that her name is familiar to every Greek. There was also another, named Archi- dice, well known in Greece, though of less repute than Rhodopis. Charaxus, after giving Rhodopis her li- berty, returned to Mitylene, and was severely handled by Sappho in some satirical verses : — but enough has been said on this subject. The compilers of the Encyclopiedia Britannica have given into the vulgai- error, and scruple not to pronounce -lEsop a person of striking deformity. — Γ. 270 HERODOTUS. CXXXVI. After Mycerinus, as the priests informed me, Asychis reigned in Egypt : he erected the east entrance to the temple of Vulcan, which is far the greatest and most magnificent. Each of the above- mentioned vestibules is elegantly adorned with sculp- ture, and with paintings, but this is superior to them all. In this reign, when commerce was checked and injured from the extreme want of money, an ordinance passed, that any one might borrow money, giving the body of his father as a pledge : by this law the se- pulchre of the debtor became in the power of the cre- ditor ; for if the debt was not discharged he could neither be buried with his family nor in any other vault, nor was he suffered to inter one of his descend- ants. This prince, desirous of surpassing all his pre- decessors, left as a monument of his fame a pyramid of brick, with this inscription on a piece of marble : — ' Do not disparage my worth by comparing me to those pyramids composed of stone ; I am as much su- perior to them as Jove is to the rest of the deities : I am formed of bricks^ Λνΐύΰΐι were made of mud ad- hering to poles drawn from the bottom of tlie lake.' 1 Mr. Greaves asserts that all the pyramids ^vere made of stone : of course he did not penetrate far enough into Egypt to see the one here mentioned ; it is situated about four leagues from Cairo, and is noticed both by Norden and Pococke. — T. As to what concerns the works on which the Israelites were employed in Egypt, I admit that I have not been able to find any ruins of bricks burnt in the fire. There is indeed a wall of til at kind which is sunk very deep in the ground, and is very long, near to the pyramids, and adjoining to the bridges of the Saracens, that are-situated in the plain ; but it appears too modern to think tl^at the bricks of which it is formed were made by the Israelites. All that I have seen elsewhere of brick building is composed of the large kind of bricks hardened in the sun, such as those of the brick pyramid. — Konlen. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 271 This was the most memorable of this king's ac- tions. CXXXVII. He was succeeded by an inhabitant of Anysis, whose name was Anysis, and who Λvas blind. In his reign Sabacus king of Ethiopia overran Egypt with a numerous army. Anysis fled to the morasses, and saved his life ; but Sabacus continued master of Egypt for the space of fifty years. Whilst he retained his authority, he made it a rule not to punish any crime with death, but according to the magnitude of the oifence he condemned the criminal to raise the ground near the place to Λvhich he belonged ; by which means the situation of the different cities became more and more elevated ; they were somewhat raised under the reign of Sesostris by the digging of the canals, but they became still more so under the reign of the Ethio- pian. This was the case with all the cities of Egypt, but more particularly with the city of Bubastis. There is in this city a temple wliich well deserves our atten- tion : there may be others larger as Avell as more splendid, but none which have a more delightful situa- tion. Bubastis, in Greek, is synonymous Avith Arte- mis or Diana.' CXXXVIII. This temple, taking away the entrance, forms an island ; two branches of the Nile meet at the entrance of the temple, and then separating, flow on each side intirely round it : each of these branches is one hundred feet wide, and regularly shaded Avith 1 Bubastis was a virgin, presided at childbirths, and was the symbol of the moon. This resemblance with their Diana caused the Greeks to name her the Diana of the Egyptians : yet the similitude was far from perfect ; for with the latter she was not the goddess of the mountains, the woods, and the chace. This difference probably caused Juvenal to say : Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam.— Larc/ie?•. 272 HERODOTUS. trees ; the vestibule is forty cubits high, and orna- mented with various figures, none of which are less than six cubits. The temple is in the centre of the tOΛvn, and in every part a conspicuous object ; its situation has never been altered, though every other part of the city has been elevated : a Avail ornamented with sculpture surrounds the building: in the interior part a grove of lofty trees shades the temple, in the centre of which is the statue of the goddess : the length and breadth of the temple each Avay is one stadium. There is a paved Avay which leads through the public square of the city, from the entrance of this temple to that of Mercury,* which is about thirty sta- dia in length. C XXXIX. The deliverance of Egypt from the Ethiopian Avas, as they told me, etFected by a vision, Avhich induced him to leave the country : a person ap- peared to him in a dream, advising him to assemble all the priests of Egypt, and afterwards cut them in pieces. This vision to him seemed to demonstrate, that in con- sequence of some act of impiety Avhicli he Avas thus tempted to perpetrate, his ruin Avas at hand, from heaven or from man. Determined not to do this deed, he conceived it more prudent to withdraw himself; 1 The Egyptian JNIercuvy Avas named Thoth or Theuth. Thoth with the Egyptians was the inventor of the sciences ; and as JMercury with the Greeks presided over the sciences, this last people called Thoth in their tongue by the name of" Hermes or Mercury : they had also given the name of Mer- cury to 7\nubis, on account of some fancied similitude be- twixt those deities. ' It is not,' says Plutarch, ' a dog pro- perly so called, which tliey revere under the name of Mer- cury, it is his vigilance and iidelity, the instinct which teaches him to distinguish a friend from an enemy, that which (to use the expression of Plato) makes this animal a suitable emblem to the god the immediate patron of reason. Servius on Virgil has a remark to the same effect. — Lurcher. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 273f particularly as the time of his reigning over Egypt \vas, according to the declaration of the oracles, now to terminate. During his former residence in Ethio- pia, the oracles of his country' had told him that he should reign fifty years over Egypt : this period being accomplished, he Λvas so terrified by the vision that he voluntarily Avithdrew himself. CXL. Immediately on his departure from Egypt the blind prince quitted his place of refuge, and re- sumed the government : he had resided for the period of fifty years in a solitary island, which he himself had formed of ashes and of earth. He directed those Egyptians, who frequented his neighborhood for the purpose of disposing of their corn, to bring with them, unknown to their Ethiopian master, ashes for his use. Amyrtajus Avas the first person who discovered this island, which all the princes who reigned during the space of seven hundred years^ before Amyrtaeus Avere unable to do : it is called Elbo, and is on each side ten stadia in length. CXLI. The successor of this prince was Sethos, a priest of Vulcan :^ he treated the military of Egypt 1 The oracles in Ethiopia were the oracles of Jupiter. — T. 2 M. Larcher is of opinion that tliis is a mistake, crept into the manuscript of Herodotus from a confusion of the numeral letters by copyists.'— T. 3 The' following account is given by M. Larcher, from Plato, Plutarch, and Diodorus Siculus. A prince cannot reign in Egypt if he be ignorant of sacred affairs. If an indiΛndual of any other class comes accidentally to the crown, he must be immediately admitted of the sacer- dotal order. ' The kings,' says Plutarch, ' must be either of the order of priests or soldiers, these two classes being dis- tinguished, the one by their wisdom, the other by their valor. When they have chosen a warrior for king, he is instantly admitted into the order of priests, who instruct him in their mysterious philosophy. The priests may censure the prince, HER. VOL. I. S 274 HERODOTUS. with extreme contempt, and as if he had no occasion for their services. Among other indignities, he de- prived them of their arurie, or fields of fifty feet square ; which, hy way of reward, his predecessors had given each soldier : the result was, that when Sennacherib, king of Arabia and Assyria, attacked Egypt Λvith a mighty army, the warriors whom he had thus treated refused to assist him. In this perplexity the priest retired to the shrine of his god, before which he lamented his danger and misfortunes : here he sunk into a profound sleep, and his deity promised him in a dream, that if he marched to meet the Assyrians he should experience no injury ; for that he Avould fur- nish him with assistance : the vision inspired him with confidence : he put himself at the head of his adhe- rents, and marched to Pelusium, the entrance of Egypt : not a soldier accompanied the party, which was intirely composed of tradesmen ' and artisans. On their arrival at Pelusium, so immense a number of mice infested by night the enemy's camp, that their quivers and bows, together with what secured their shields to their arms, were gnawed in pieces. In the morning the Arabians, finding themselves without give him advice, and regulate his actions. By them is fixed the time when he may walk, bathe, or visit his wife. * Such privileges as the above,' says M. Larcher, ' must necessarily inspire them with contempt for the rest of the nation, and must have excited a spirit of disgust in a people not blinded by superstition.' Sethos however experienced how dangerous it was to follow the maxims of the priesthood only. 1 The Egyptians were divided into three classes ; those of rank, who with the priests occupied the most distinguished honors of tlie state ; the military, who were also husband- men ; and artisans, who exercised the meaner employments. The above is from Diodorus Siculus, wlio speaks probably oi' the three principal divisions. Ilerodotus mentions seven classes.— Larc/icr. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 275 arms, fled in confusion, and lost great numbers of their men. There is now to be seen in the temple of Vulcan a marble statue of this king, having a mouse in his hand, and with this inscription: 'Whoever thou art, learn from ray fortune to reverence the gods.* CXLII. Thus, according to the information of the Egyptians and their priests, from the first king to this last, who was priest of Vulcan, a period of three hun- dred and forty-one generations had passed, in which there had been as many high-priests, and the same number of kings. Three generations are equal to one hundred years, and therefore three hundred genera- tions are the same as ten thousand years ; the forty- one generations that remain make one thousand three hundred and forty years. During the above space of eleven thousand three hundred and forty years they assert that no divinity appeared in a human form ; but they do not say the same of the time anterior to this account, or of that of the kings who reigned after- wards. During the above period of time the sun, they told me, had four times deviated from his ordinary course, having twice risen where he uniformly goes άοΛνη, and twice gone down Λvhere he uniformly rises. This, however, had produced no alteration in the cli- mate of Egypt ; the fruits of the earth, and the pheno- mena of the Nile, had always been the same, nor had any extraordinary or fai«l diseases occurred. CXLIII. When the historian Hecatieus ^ was at 1 Athenffius relates the same circumstance as from Heca- tieus, which may serve to confirm the assertion of Porphyry, that Herodotus took great part of his second book, with very slight alteration, from Hecatseus. If this fact be once al- lowed, Herodotus Λνΐΐΐ lose the character that he has long stapported, of an honest man, and a faithful historian. But it appears from Athen?eus himself, that the work which in later ages passed under the name of liacataeus the Milesian, was 276 HERODOTUS. Thebes lie recited to the priests of Jupiter the parti- culars of his descent, and endeavored to prove that he was the sixteenth in a right line from some god. They addressed him in reply, as they afterwards did myself, who had said nothing on the subject of my family. They introduced me into a spacious temple, and dis- played to me a nvimber of figures in Λvood ; this num- ber I have before specified, for every high-priest places here dviring his life a wooden figure of himself. The priests enumerated them before me; and proved, as they ascended from the last to the first, that the son folloΛved the father in regular succession. When He- cat^us, in the explanation of his genealogy, ascended not universally acknowleged for genuine ; and Callimachus, who employed much of his time and pains in distinguishing genuine from spurious authors, attributes tlie supposed Λνοιίε of Hecatffius to another and a later writer. But wliat is per- haps even a stronger proof in our author's favor is, that he is never charged with the crime of theft by Phitarch, whose knowlege of this plagiarism, if it had CA'^er existed, cannot be questioned, Avhen we consider his extensive and accurate learning ; and whose zeal to discover it cannot be doubted, when we reflect that he has written a treatise expressly to prove the malignity of Herodotus, though in fact it only proves his own. Could Plutarch miss such an opportunity of taxing Herodotus ? Could he have failed of saying, that this historian was at once so malicious and so ungrateful as to speak with disrespect and contempt of the author to whom he was obliged for a considerable portion of his own history 1 Our materials for an account of Hecatseus are at best but scanty. lie was a native of Miletus, and son of one ^gi- sander : he was one of the very first writers of prose, with Cadmus and Pherecydes of Scyros. Salmasius contends that he was older than Pherecydes but younger than Eumelus. The most ample account of him is found in Λ^ossius. He certainly wrote a book of genealogies ; and the sentence with which he commences his history is preserved in Demetrius Phalercus : it is to this eft'ect : ' What follows is the recital of Hecatvrus of JMiletus- I write what seems to me to be true.. The Greeks in my opinion have related many things contra-^^ dictorv and ridiculous.' BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 277 regularly, and traced his descent in the sixteenth line from a god, they opposed a similar mode of reasoning to his, and absolutely denied the possibility of a human being's descent from a god. They informed him that each of these colossal figures was a Piromis, descended from a Piromis ; and they farther proved, that without any variation this had uniformly occurred to the num- ber of three hundred and forty-one ; but in this whole series there was no reference either to a god or a hero. Piromis in the Egyptian language means one ' beauti- ful and good.' CXLIV. From these priests I learned that the in- dividuals whom these figures represented, so far from possessing any divine attributes, had all been what we have described : but in the times which preceded, im- mortal beings ' had' reigned in Egypt ; that they had communication with men, and had uniformly one su- perior ; that Orus,^ whom the Greeks call Apollo, was 1 M. Larcher says that all governments were at first theo- cratic, and afterwards became monarchic and democratic. In the theocratic form the priests governed alone, who also pre- served a considerable influence in monarchies and republics. What prevents our supposing that Egypt was governed many thousand years by priests ; and that this gOA'ernment, in reality theocratic, was named from that deity to whom the high-priest who enjoyed the sovereign authority attached himself? 2 According to Plutarch, the Egyptians held two princi- ples, one good, the other evil. The good principle consisted of three persons, father, mother and son : Osiris was the father, Isis the mother, and Orus the son. The bad principle was Typhon : Osii-is, strictly speaking, was synonymous with reason ; Typhon the passions, without reason. — T. The notion of a Trinity, more or less removed from the, purity of the Christian faith, is found to have been a leading principle in all the ancient schools of philosophy, and in the religions of almost all nations ; and traces of an early popular belief of it appear even in the abominable rites of idolatrous worship. The worship of a Trinity is traced to an earlier age 278 HERODOTUS. the last of these ; he wa^ the son of Osiris, and, after he had expelled Typhon,^ himself succeeded to the throne : it is also to he observed, that in the Greek tongue Osiris is synonymous Avith Bacchus. CXLV. The Greeks consider Hercules, Bacchus, and Pan, as the youngest of their deities : hut Egypt esteems Pan as the most ancient of the gods, and even of those eight who are accounted the first. Hercules was among those of the second rank in point of anti- quity, and one of those called the twelve gods. Bac- chus was of the third rank, and among those whom the twelve produced. I have before specified the number of years which the Egyptians reckon from the time of Hercules to the reign of Amasis : from the time of Pan a still more distant period is reckoned ; from Bacchus, the youngest of all, to the time of Amasis, is a period, they say, of fifteen thousand years. On this subject the Egyptians have no doubts, for they profess to have always computed the years, and kept Λvritten accounts of them \vith the minutest than that of Plato or Pythagoras, or even of Moses. — Bishop Horsley. 1 Typhon, as the principle of evil, was always inclined to it ; all bad passions, ditieases, tempests, and earthquakes, were imputed to him. Like the untutored Indians and savages, the Egyptians paid adoration to Typhon from fear ; they consecrated to him tlie hippopotamus, the crocodile, and the ass. According to Jahlonski, the word Typhon is de- rived from Then a wind, and phou pernicious. To Osiris is ascribed the introduction of tlie vine ; * and where,' says Mr. Bryant, ' that was not adapted to the soil, he showed the people the way to make wine of barley.' — Γ. The Greeks considered Osiris the same person as Bacchus, because they discovered a great resemblance between the fables related of Bacchus and the traditions of the Egyptians concerning Osiris. Learned men of modern times have be- lieved that Isuren, one of the three divinities to whom the Indians now pay adoration, is the ancient Osiris ; but this remains to be proved. — Lurcher, BOOK Π. — EUTERPE. 279 accuracy. From Bacclius, Λvho is said to be the son of Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, to the present time is one thousand six hundred years ; from Her- cules, the reputed son of Alcmena, is nine hundred years ; and from Pan, Λvhom the Greeks call the son of Penelope and Mercury, is eight hundred years, before which time was the Trojan war. CXLVI. On this subject I have given my own opi- nion, leaving it to my readers to determine for them- selves. If these deities had been known in Greece, and then grown old, like Hercules the son of Amphi- tryon, Bacchus the son of Semele, and Pan the son of Penelope, it might have been asserted of them, that although mortals, they possessed the names of those deities known in Greece in the times which preceded. Of Bacchus the Greeks affirm, that as soon as he was born Jove inclosed him in his thigh, and carried hifti to Nysa, a town of Ethiopia bej'ond Egypt : with re- gard to the nativity of Pan they have no tradition among them ; from all which I am convinced that these deities Λvere the last knoAvn among the Greeks, and that they date the period of their nativity from the precise time'that their names came amongst them : — the Egyptians are of the same opinion. CXLVII. I shall now give some account of the internal history of Egypt ; to what I learned from the natives themselves, and the information of strangers, I shall add what I myself beheld. At the death of their sovereign, the priest of Vulcan, the Egyptians recovered their freedom ; but as they could not live without kings, they chose twelve, among whom they divided the different districts of Egypt. These princes connected themselves with each other by intermar- riages, engaging solemnly to promote their common interest, and never to engage in any acts of separate 280 HERODOTUS. policy. The principal raotive of their union was to guard against the declaration of an oracle, which had said, that whoever among- them should offer in the temple of Vulcan a libation from a brazen vessel, should be sole sovereign of Egypt ; and it is to be remembered that they assembled indifferently in every temple. CXLVIII. It was the resolution of them all to leave b€hind them a common monument of their fame : — with this view, beyond the lake Moeris, near the city of crocodiles,^ they constructed a labyrinth, ^ 1 We are ignorant of the real name of this city ; it is very probable that it was called from the word Cliampsis, which according to our author tvas the Egyptian term for crocodile. — Larcher. -^ 2 Diodorus says this was built as a sepulchre for Mendes ; Strabo, that it was near the sepulchre of the king that built it, which was probably Imandes. Pomponius Mela speaks of it as built by Psammitichus ; but as Menes or Imandes is mentioned by several, possibly he might be one of the twelve kings of greatest influence and authority, who might have the chief ordering and direction of this great building, and as a peculiar honor might have his sepulchre apart from the others. It was such an extraordinary building, that it is said Dae- dalus came to Egypt on purpose to see it, and built the labyrinth in Crete for King Minos on the model of this. See a minute description of the labyrinth and temple of the laby- rinth by Pococke. Amidst the ruins of the town of Caroun, the attention is particularly fixed hy several narrow, low, and very long cells, which seem to have had no other use than of containing the bodies of the sacred crocodiles : these remains can only cor- respond with the labyrinth. Strabo, Herodotus, I'tolemy, all agree in placing the labyrinth beyond the city Arsinoe to- wards Libya, and on the bank of tlie Lake Moeris, which is the precise situation of these ruins. Strabo's account of this place does not exactly accord with that of Herodotus, but it confirms it in general. Strabo de- scribes winding and various passages so artfully contrived, that it was impossible to enter any one of the palaces, or to leave it when entered, without a guide. — Savury. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. "281 which exceeds, I can truly say, all that has been said of it : whoever will take the trouble to compare them, will find all the works of Greece much inferior to this, both in regard to the workmanship and expense. The temples of Ephesus and Samos may justly claim admiration, and the pyramids may individually be compared to many of the magnificent structures of Greece ; but even these are inferior to the labyrinth. It is composed of twelve courts, all of which are covered ; their entrances are opposite to each other, six to the north and six to the south ; one Avail incloses the whole ; the apartments are of two kinds ; there are fifteen hundred above the surface of the ground, and as many beneath ; in all three thousand. Of the for- mer I speak from my own knoAvlege and observation ; of the latter from the information I received. The Egyptians who had the care of the subterraneous apartments would not suffer me to see them, and the The architect who should he employed to make a plan of the labyrinth, from the description of Herodotus, would find himself greatly embarrassed. We cannot form an idea of the parts which composed it ; and as the apartments were then so differently formed from ours, what was not obscure in the time of our author, is too much so for us at present. M. Lar- cher proceeds in an attempt to describe its architecture ; and informs the reader that he conceiA^es tlie courts must have been in the style of" the hotel de Soubise. There were anciently four celebrated labyrinths ; one in Egypt, a second in Crete, a third at Lemnos, and a fourth erected by Porsenna in Tuscany. That at Lemnos is described in very high tenns by Pliny. Labyrinth, in its original sense, means any perplexed and twisted place. In its figuratiΛ^e sense it is applied to any obscure or complicated question, or to any argument which leaves us where we first set out. The construction of the labyrinth has been imputed to many different persons, on which account the learned have supposed that there were more labyrinths than one. That this was not the case is satisfactorily proved by Larcher in a very elaborate note.— T. 282 HERODOTUS. reason they alleged was, that in these were preserved the sacred crocodiles, and the bodies of the kings who constructed the labyrinth : of these therefore I pre- sume not to speak ; but the upper apartments I myself examined, and I pronounce them among the greatest efforts of human industry and art. The almost infi- nite number of Avinding passages through the different courts excited my Avarmest admiration : from spacious halls I passed through smaller apartments, and from them again to large and magnificent courts, almost without end. The ceilings and walls are all of marble, the latter richly adorned with the finest sculpture ; around each court are pillars of the whitest and most polished marble : at the point where the labyrinth ter- minates stands a pyramid one hundred and sixty cubits high, having large figures of animals engraved on its out- side, and the entrance to it is by a subterraneous path. CXLIX. Wonderful as this labyrinth is, the lake Moeris,^ near which it stands, is still more extraor- dinary ; the circumference of this is three thousand 1 That the reader may compare what modern writers and travellers have said on this subject, I shall place before him, from Larcher, Pococke, Norden, Savary, &c. what to me seems most worthy of attention. I shall first remark, that Herodotus, Diodorus, and Pompo- nius Mela, differ hut little in opinion concerning its extent : according to the former it was four hundred and fifty miles in circumference, the latter says it was five hundred : the for- mer assert also that in some places it was three hundred feet deep. The design of it was probably to hinder the ]\ile from overflowing the country too much, which was effected by drawing off such a quantity of water, when it was appre- hended that there might be an inundation sufficient to hurt the land. The water, Pococke observes, is of a disagreeable muddy taste, and almost as salt as the sea, which quality it probably contracts from the nitre that is in the earth, and the salt which is every year left in the mud. The circumference of the lake at present is no more than fifty leagues. Larcher says we must distinguish betwixt the BOOK II. — EUriRPE. 5283 six hundred stadia, or sixty schoeni, which is the length of Egypt about the coast. This lake stretches itself from north to south, and in its deepest parts is two hundred cubits ; it is intirely the produce of human industry, which indeed the work itself testifies, for in its centre may be seen two pyramids, each of which is two hundred cubits above and as many beneath the water ; on the summit of each is a colossal statue of marble in a sitting attitude. The precise altitude of these pyramids is consequently four hundred cubits : these four hundred cubits, or one hundred orgyiae, are adapted to a stadium of six hundred feet ; an orgyia is six feet, or four cubits, for a foot is four palms, and a cubit six. The waters of the lake are not supplied by springs : the ground which it occupies is of itself remarkably dry, but it communicates by a secret channel Λ^'ith the Nile: for six months the lake empties itself into the lake itself and the canal of communication from the Nile ; that the former was the work of nature, the latter of art. This canal, a most stupendous effort of art, is still intire ; it is called Bahr Yousoph, the river of Joseph, according to Savary forty leagues in length. There were two other canals with sluices at their mouths, from the lake to the river, which were alternately shut and opened when the Nile increased or decreased. This work united every ad\'antage, and sup- plied the deficiencies of a low inundation, by retaining water which would uselessly have been expended in the sea. It was still more beneficial when the increase of the Nile was too great, by receiving that superfluity which would have prevented seed-time. Were the canal of Joseph cleansed, the ancient mounds re- paired, and the sluices restored, this lake might again serve the same purposes. — The pyramids described by Herodotus no longer subsist, neither are they mentioned by Strabo. When it is considered that this was the work of an indivi- dual, and that its object was the advantage and comfort of a numerous people, it must be agreed, Λvith M. Savary, that INIceris, who constructed it, performed a far more glorious work than either the pyramids or the labyrinth. — Γ. 284 HERODOTUS. Nile, and the remaining six the Nile supplies the lake. During- the six months in which the Avaters of the lake ebb, the iishcry ^ which is here carried on furnishes the royal treasury whh a talent of silver^ every day ; but as soon as the Nile begins to pour its waters into the lake, it produces no more than twenty minas. CL. Of this lake the inhabitants affirm, that it has a subterraneous passage inclining inland towards the west to the mountains above Memphis, Avhere it dis- charges itself into the Libyan sands. I was anxious to know what became of the earth, ^ which must some- where have necessarily been heaped up in the digging this lake : as my search after it was fruitless, I made inquiries concerning it of those who lived nearer the lake. I was the more willing to believe, Avhen they told me where it was carried, as I had before heard of a similar expedient used at Nineveh, an Assyrian city. Some robbers, who were solicitous to get possession of the immense treasures of Sardanapalus king of Ni- 1 Diodorus Siculus informs us, that in this lake were found twenty-two different sorts of fish, and that so great a quan- tity were caught, that the immense number of hands perpe- tually employed in salting them were liardly equal to the work. — T. 2 The silver which the fishery of this lake produced was appropriated to find the queen with clothes and perfumes. — Larcher. 3 Herodotus, when he viewed tliis lalie, might well be sur- prised at the account they gave him, that it ΛΛ'as made by art; and had reason to ask them Avhat they did with the earth they dug out. But he seems to liave too much credu- lity, in being satisfied when they told him that they carried tlie earth to the Nile, and so it was washed away by the river ; for it was very extraordinary to carry such a vast quantity of earth above ten miles from the nearest part of the lake, and fifty or sixty from tlie farther parts, even though they might contrive water carriage for a great part of the way. This 1 should imagine a thing beyond belief, even if the lake Avere no larger than it is at present ; that is, it may be fifty miles long and ten hroud.— Pococke, BOOK 11. — EUTERPE. 285 neveh, which ΛνθΓβ deposited in subterraneous apart- ments, began from the place where they lived to dig under ground, in a direction towards them. HaΛ'ing taken the most accurate measurement, tliey continued their mine to the palace of the king : as night ap- proached they regularly emptied the earth into the Tigris, which flows near Nineveh, and at length ac- complished their purpose. A plan intirely similar was executed in Egypt, except that the Avork was here carried on not by night but by day ; the Egyptians threw the earth into the Nile, as they dug it from the trench; thus it Avas regularly dispersed, and this, as they told me, was the process of the lake's formation. CLI. These twelve kings were eminent for the jus- tice of their administration. On a certain occasion they were offering sacrifice in the temple of Vulcan, and on the last day of the festival were about to make the accustomed libation ; for this purpose the chief priest handed to them the golden cups used on these solemnities ; but he mistook the number, and instead of tAvelve ga\"e only elcAcn. Psammitichus, \vho Avas the last of them, not having a cup, took off his helmet,^ which happened to be of brass, and from this poured his libation. The other princes wore helmets in com- mon, and had them on the present occasion, so that the circumstance of this one king having and using his Avas accidental and innocent. Observing, however, this action of Psammitichus, they remembered the prediction of the oracle, ' that he among them who 1 It is certain that the ancients made use of their helmets on various occasions ; whenever any thing was to be decided by lots, the lots were cast into a helmet ; and as they appear very obvious for such a purpose, so many instances in ancient writers occur of soldiers drinking out of them. HERODOTUS. should pour a libation from a brazen vessel should be sole monarch of Egypt.' They minutely investigated the matter, and being satisfied that this action of Psammitichus was intirely the effect of accident, they could not think him worthy of death ; they neverthe- less deprived him of a considerable part of his power, and confined him to the marshy parts of the country, forbidding him to leave this situation, or to commu- nicate with the rest of Egypt. CLII. This Psammiticlnis had formerly fled to Syria, from Sabacus the Ethiopian, who had killed his father Necos : when the Ethiopian, terrified by the vision, had abandoned his dominions, those Egyptians who lived near Sais had solicited Psammitichus to return. He was now a second time driven into exile amongst the fens, by the eleven kings, from this cir- cumstance of the brazen helmet. He felt the strongest resentment for the injury, and determined to avenge himself on his persecutors ; he sent therefore to the oracle of Latona, at Butos, which has among the Egyptians the highest character for veracity. He was informed that the sea should avenge his cause by pro- ducing brazen figures of men. He was little inclined to believe that such a circumstance could ever occur ; but some time afterwards, a body of lonians and Carians, who had been engaged in a voyage of plun- der, were compelled by distress to touch at Egypt : they landed in brazen armor. Some Egyptians has- tened to inform Psammitichus in his marshes of this incident ; and as the messenger had never before seen persons so armed, he said, that some brazen men had arisen from the sea, and were plundering the country. He instantly conceived this to be the accomplishment of the oracle's prediction, and entered into alliance' BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 2β7 with the strangers, engaging them by splendid pro- mises to assist him : Avith them and his Egyptian ad- herents he vanquished the eleven kings. CLIII. After he thus became sole sovereign of Egypt, he built at Memphis the vestibule of the tem- ple of Vulcan, which is towards the south; opposite to this he erected an edifice for Apis, in which he is kept when publicly exhibited : it is supported by colossal figures twelve cubits high, which serve as columns ; the whole of the building is richly deco- rated with sculpture. Apis in the language of Greece is Epaphus. CLIV. In acknowlegement of the assistance he had received, Psammitichus conferred on the lonians and Carians certain lands, which were termed the Camp, immediately opposite to each other, and separated by the Nile : he fuffilled also his other engagements with them, and intrusted to their care some Egyptian chil- dren, to be instructed in the Greek language, from whom come those Λvho in Egypt act as interpreters. This district, which is near the sea, someΛvhat below Bubastis, at the Pelusiau mouth of the Nile, was in- habited by the lonians and Carians for a considerable time. At a succeeding period Amasis, to avail himself of their assistance against the Egyptians, removed them to Memphis. Since the time of their first set- tlement in Egypt they have preserved a constant com- munication with Greece, so that we have a perfect knowlege of Egyptian affairs from the reign of Psam- mitichus. They were the first foreigners whom the Egyptians received among them : within my remem- brance, in the places which they formerly occupied, the docks for their ships, and vestiges of their build- ings might be seen. CLV. Of the Egyptian oracle I have spoken al- 288 HERODOTUS. ready, but it so well deserves attention, that I shall expatiate still farther on the subject. It is sacred to Latona, and, as I haΛe before said, in a large city called Butos, at the Sebennitic mouth of the Nile, as approached from tlie sea. In this city stands a temple of Apollo and Diana ; that of Latona, whence the oracular communications are made, is very magni- ficent, having porticos forty cubits high. What most excited my admiration was the shrine of the goddess ;' it was of one solid stone, having equal sides ; tlie length of each was forty cubits ; the roof is of another solid stone, no less than four cubits in substance. CLVI. Of all the things which here excite atten- tion, this shrine is, in my opinion, the most to be admired. Next to this is the island of Chemmis, Avhich is near the temple of Latona, and stands in a deep and spacious lake ; the Egyptians affirm it to be a floating island :^ I did not witness the fact, and was 1 This enormous rock, two hundred and forty feet in cir- cumference, Avas brouglit from a quarry in the isle of Phila;, near the cataracts, on rafts, for the space of two hundred leagues, to its destined place, and Avithout contradiction was the heaviest weiglit ever moved by human power. Many thousand workmen, according to liistory, Avere three years employed in taking it to its place of destination. — Savary. The grand and sublime ideas which the ancients enter- tained on subjects of architectuie, and other monuments of art, almost exceed our powers of description. Tliis before us is a most extraordinary effort of human industry and power; but it appears minute and trifling, compared with an under- taking of a man named Stesicrates, proposed to Alexander, and recorded by Tlutarch. lie offered to convert Mount Athos into a statue of that prince. This would liave been in circumference no less than one liundred and twenty miles, in height ten. Tlie left arm of Alexander was to be the base of a city, capable of containing ten thousand inliabitants. Tlie right Irand was to hold an urn, from which a river was to empty itself into the sea. — T. 2 1 am ignorant whether Chemmis has ever been a floating island. The Greeks pretend that Delos floated. I am per- BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 289 astonished to hear that such a thing existed. In this island is a large edifice sacred to Apollo, having• three altars, -and surrounded by palms, the natural produce of the soil. There are also great varieties of other plants, some of which produce fruit, others are barren. The circumstance of this island's floating the Egyp- tians thus explain : it was once fixed and immovable, Avhen Latona, who has ever been esteemed one of the eight primary divinities, dwelt at Butos. Having receiA^ed Apollo in trust from Isis, she consecrated and preserved him in this island, which, according to their account, now floats. This happened when Ty- phon, earnestly endeavoring to discover the son of Osiris, came here. Their tradition says, that Apollo and Diana were the off"spring of Bacchus and Isis, and that Latona was their nurse and preserver. Apollo, Ceres, and Diana, the Egyptians respectively call Orus, Isis, and Bubastis. From this alone, ^schy- lus,' son of Euphorion, took his account, the first poet who represented Diana as the daughter of Ceres, and referred to this the circumstance of the island's floating. CLVII. Psammitichus reigned in Egypt fifty-four suaded they only invented that fable from the recital of Egyptians settled amongst them ; and that they attributed to Delos, the birthplace of Apollo, what the Egyptians related of Chemmis, the place of retreat to their Apollo. A rock two thousand toises long could not float on the waves ; but the Greeks, who dearly loved the marvellous, did not examine things so closely.— Lurcher. 1 This was doubtless in some piece not come down to us. Pausanias says also, that .-^i^schylus, son of Euphorion, was the first who communicated to the Greeks the Egyptian his- tory; that Diana was the daughter of Ceres, and not of La- tona. — Larcher. The same remark is made by Valckenaer, in AVesseling's edition of Herodotus. But all are united in the opinion, that Pausanias made his remark from this passage of Herodotus. — T. HER. VOL. I. Τ 290 HERODOTUS. years, twenty-nine of which he consumed in the siege of a great city of Syria, which he afterwards took ; the name of this place was Azotiis. I know not that any tOΛvn ever sustained so long and obstinate a siege. CLVIII. Psammitichus had a son, whose name was Necos, by whom he was succeeded in his authority. This prince first commenced that canaP leading to the Red Sea, which Darius, king of Persia, afterwards continued. The length of this canal is equal to a four days' voyage, and it is wide enough to admit two tri- remes abreast. The w^ater enters it from the Nile, a little above the city Bubastis : it terminated in the Red Sea, not far from Patumos, an Arabian town. They began to sink this canal in that part of Egypt which is nearest Arabia. Contiguous to it is a moun- tain Avhich stretches towards Memphis, and contains quarries of stone. Commencing at the foot of this, it extends from west to east, through a considerable tract of country, and where a mountain opens to the south is discharged into the Arabian gulf. From the northern 1 The account given by Diodorus Siculus is this : — The canal reaching from the Pelusian mouth of the Nile to the Sinus Arabicus and the Red Sea Avas made by hands. Necos, the son of" Psammitichus, was the first that attempted it, and after him Darius the Persian carried on the work something farther, but left it at length unfinished ; for he was informed by some, that in thus digging through the isthmus he would cause Egypt to be deluged, for they showed him that the Red Sea was higher than the land of Egypt. Afterwards Ptolemy the Second finished the canal, and in the most proper place contrived a sluice for confining the water, which Avas opened when they wanted to sail through, and was immediately closed again, the use of it answering extremely well the de- sign. The river floAA'ing through this canal is called the Pto- lema'an, from the name of its author. Where it discharges itself into tlje sea it has a city named Arsinoe. Of this canal Norden remarks that he was unable to discover the smallest trace, either in the town of Kieni, or the adjacent parts. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 291 to the southern, or, as it is generally called, the Red Sea, the shortest passage is over Mount Cassius, which divides Egypt from Syria, from whence to the Arabian gulf are a thousand stadia. The way by the canal, on account of the dilferent circumflexions, is considerably longer. In the prosecution of tliis work, under Necos, no less than one hundred and twenty thousand Egyp- tians perished. He at length desisted from his under- taking, being admonished by an oracle that all liis labor would turn to the advantage of a barbarian ; and it is to be observed that the Egyptians term all barbarians who speak a language different from their own. CLIX. As soon as Necos discontinued his labors with respect to the canal, he turned all his thoughts to military enterprises. He built vessels of war, both on the Northern Ocean, and in that part of the Arabian gulf which is near the Red Sea. Vestiges of his naval undertakings are still to be seen. His fleets were oc- casionally employed, but he also by land conquered the Syrians in an engagement near the town of Mag- dolum, and after his victory obtained possession of Cadytis,' a Syrian city. The vest which he wore when he got this victory he consecrated to Apollo, and sent to the Milesian Branchidse. After a reign of seven- teen years, he died, leaAing the kingdom to his son Psammis. 1 The city of Cadytis could be no other than Jerusalem. Herodotus afterwards describes this to be a mountainous city in Palestine, of the bigness of Sardis. There could be no other equal to Sardis but Jerusalem. It is certain from Scrip- ture, that after this battle Xecos did take Jerusalem, for he was there when he made Jehoiakim king.— 5ee Prideaux, Con- nect, i. 56, 57. D'Anville also considers Cadytis as Jerusalem, though some authors dissent. 292 HERODOTUS. CLX. During tlie reign of this prince some ambas- sadors arrived in Egypt from the Eleans. This people boasted that the establishment of the Olympic games possessed every excellence, and was not surpassed even by the Egyptians, though the wisest of mankind. On their arrival, they explained the motives of their journey ; in consequence of which the prijice called a meeting of the wisest of his subjects : at this assembly the Eleans described the particular regulations they had established ; and desired to know if the Egyptians could recommend any improvement, i^fter some de- liberation, the Egyptians inquired whether their fel- low-citizens were permitted to contend at these games. They were informed in reply, that all the Greeks without distinction Λvere suffered to contend. The Egyptians observed, that this must of course lead to injustice, for it was impossible not to favor their fellow-citizens in preference to strangers. If there- fore the object of their voyage to Egypt was to render their regulations perfect, they should suffer only stran- gers to contend in their games^, and particularly ex- clude the Eleans. CLXI. Psammis reigned but six years ; he made an expedition to Ethiopia, and died soon afterwards. He was succeeded by his son Apries, who, next to his grandfather Psammitichus, was fortunate beyond all his predecessors, and reigned five and twenty years. He made war on Sidon, and engaged the king of Tyre in battle by sea. I. shall briefly mention in this place tlie calamities \vhich afterwards befell him ; but shall discuss them more fully when I treat of the Libyan aflairs. Apries having sent an army against the Cy- reneans, received a severe check. This misfortune the Egyptians ascribed to his own want of conduct ; and imagining themselves marked out for destruction, re- BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 293 volted from his authority. They supposed his views were, by destroying them, to secure his tyranny over the rest of their country. The friends therefore of such as had been slain, with those who returned in safety, openly rebelled. CLXII. On discovery of this Apries sent Amasis to soothe the malcontents. AVhilst this officer was per- suading them to desist from their purpose, an Egyptian standing behind him placed a helmet on his head,' saying that by this act he had made him king. The sequel proved that Amasis was not averse to the deed ; for as soon as the rebels had declared him king, he prepared to march against Apries : on intelligence of this event, the king sent Patarbemis, one of the most faithful of those who yet adhered to him, Avith direc- tions to bring Amasis alive to his presence. Arriving where he was, he called to Amasis, desiring him to obey the king ; this, Amasis replied he had long de- termined to do, that Apries should have no reason to complain of him, for he would soon be Avith him, and bring others also. Of the purport of this answer Patarbemis was well aAvare ; taking therefore parti- cular notice of the hostile preparations of the rebels, he returned, intending instantly to inform the king of his danger. Apries, when he saw him, Λvithout hear- ing him speak, as he did not bring Amasis, ordered his nose and ears to be cut off. The Egyptians of his party, incensed at this treatment of a man much and deservedly respected, immediately went over to Amasis. CLXIII. Apries on this put himself at the head of his Ionian and Carian auxiliaries, who were with him to the amount of thirty thousand men, and marched 1 The helmet in Egypt was the distinction of royalty. 294 HERODOTUS. against the Egyptians. Departing from Sais, where he had a magnificent palace, he proceeded against his subjects ; Amasis also prepared to meet his master and the foreign mercenaries. The two armies met at Mo- memphis, and made ready for battle. CLXIV. The Egyptians are divided into seven classes.* These are the priests, the military, herds- men, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and pilots. They take their names from their professions. Egypt is divided into provinces, and the soldiers, from those which they inhabit, are called Calasiries and Hermo- tybies. CLXV. The Hermotybian district contains Busiris, Sais, Chemmis, Papremis, the island of Prosopis, and part of Natho ; which places, at the highest calcula- tion, furnish one hundred and sixty thousand Hermo- tybians. These, avoiding all mercantile employments, follow the profession of arms.^. 1 The Indians are divided into four principal castes, each of which is again subdivided. — Bramins, the military, laborers and artisans. — T. It is observable of the Iberians, that they were divided into different castes, each of which had its proper function. The rank and office of every tribe were hereditary and unchange- able. This rule of invariable distinction prevailed nowhere else except in India and in Egypt. — Bryani. 2 With the following remark of M. Larcher the heart of every Englishman must be in unison. To hear a native of France avoAv an abhorrence of despotism, and a warm attach- ment to liberty, has, till within a late period, been a most unusual circumstance. On tlie subject of standing armies, nothing perhaps has been Avritten with greater energy and effect than by Mr. Moyle. * Every country,' says ]\I. Larcher, ' which encourages a standing army of foreigners, and where the profession of arms is the road to the higlic-st honors, is either enslaved, or on the point of being so. Foreign soldiers in arms are never so much the defenders of the citizens, as the attendants of the despot. Patriotism, that passion of elevated souls, which prompts us to noble actions, weakens and expires. The interest which BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 295 . CLXVI. The Calasirians inhabit Thebes, Bubastis, Apthis, Tanis, Mendes, Sebennis, Athribis, Phar- baethis, Thmuis, Oimphis, Anysis, and Mycephoris, which is an island opposite to Bubastis. In their most perfect state of population these places furnish two hundred and fifty thousand men. Neither must these follow mechanic employments, but the son regularly succeeds the father^ in a military life. forms a union betwixt the prince and his subjects, ceases to be the same, and the real defence of tlie state can no longer be vigorous. Of this Egypt is a proof : irs despots, not satis- fied with the national troops, always ready for service, had recourse to foreign mercenaries. They were depressed, and passed with little difficulty under the dominion of the Per- sians, afterwards under that of Greece and of Rome, of the Mamelukes, and the Turks. The tyrant could not be loved by his slaves, and without the love of his subjects, the prince totters on his throne, and is ready to fall when he thinks his situation the most secure.' * Amongst men,' says yEschines, ' there are three sorts of governments, monarchic, oligarchic, and republican. Monar- chies and oligarchies are governed by the caprice of those who have the management of affairs, republics by established laws. Know then, Ο Athenians! that a free people preserve their liberty and lives by the laws, monarchies and oligarchies by tyranny and a standing army.' To the above I cannot resist the inclination 1 have to add from ^Ir. Moyle the underwritten : ' The Israelites, Athenians, Corinthians, Achaians, Lace- deemonians, Thebans, Samnites, and Romans, none of them, when they kept their liberty, were ever known to maintain any soldier in constant pay within their cities, or ever suf- fered any of their subjects to make war their profession, well knowing that the sword and sovereignty always march hand in hand.' — T. 1 We know Λ -ery well that nothing is more injurious to the police or municipal constitution of any city or colony, than the forcing of a particular trade ; nothing more dangerous than the overpeopling any manufacture, or multiplying the traders and dealers of whatever vocation, beyond their natural pro- portion, and the public demand. Noav it happened of old in Egypt, the mother land of superstition, that the sons of cer- tain artists were by law obliged always to follow the same call- 2^ HERODOTUS. CLXVII. I am not able to decide whether the Greeks borrowed this last-mentioned custom from the Egyptians, for I have also seen it observed in various parts of Thrace, Scythia, Persia, and Lydia.. It seems indeed to be an established prejudice, even among na- tions the least refined, to consider mechanics and their descendants in the lowest rank of citizens, and to e steem those as the most noble who were of no pro- fession ; annexing the highest degrees of honor to the exercise of arms. This idea prevails throughout Greece, but more particularly at Lacedaemon ; the Corinthians however do not hold mechanics in dis- esteem. CLXVIII. The soldiers and the priests are the only ranks in Egypt who are honorably distinguished ; these, each of them, receive from the public a portion of ground of twelve acres, free from all taxes. Each acre contains a hundred Egyptian cubits, Λvhich are the same as so many cubits of Samos. Besides this, the military enjoy in their turns other advantages: one thousand Calasirians and as many Hermotybiaiis are every year on duty as the king's guards ; Avhilst on this service, in addition to their assignments of land, each man has a daily allowance of five pounds of bread, two of beef, with four arusteres' of wine. CLXIX. Apries with his auxiliaries, and Amasis at the head of the Egyptians, met and fought at Momem- ing with their father. — See Lord Shaftesbury's Miscellaneous Reflections. 13eibre the invention of letters, mankind may he said to have been perpetually in their infancy, as the arts of one age or country generally died with their possessors. Whence arose the policy which still continues in Indostan, of obliging the son to practise the profession of his father. — See notes to a poem, called The Loves of the Plants, p. 58. 1 Uesychius makes the measure somewhat less than a pint. — T. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. ^97 phis. The mercenaries displayed great valor ; but being much inferior in number, were ultimately de- feated. Of the permanence of his authority Apries is said to have entertained so high an opinion, that he conceived it not to be in the power even of a deity to ethrone him. He was however conquered and taken prisoner ; after his captivity he was conducted to Sais, to what was formerly his own, but then the palace of Amasis. He was here confined for some time, and treated by Amasis v^ith much kindness and attention. But the Egyptians soon began to reproach him for preserving a person who was their common enemy, and he was induced to deliver up Apries to their power. They strangled * and afterwards buried him in the tomb of his ancestors, which stands in the tem- ple of Minerva, on the left side of the vestibule. In this temple the inhabitants of Sais buried all the princes who were of their province, but the tomb of Amasis is more remote from the building than that of Apries and his ancestors. CLXX. In the area before this temple stands a large marble edifice magnificently adorned with obe- lisks in the shape of palm trees, with various other 1 It is to this prince, whom, as I before mentioned, the Scriptures denote by the name of Pharaoh Hophra, that the following passages allude. ' The land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste, and they shall know that I am the Lord : because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. ' Behold, therefore, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate.' — Ezekiel, xxix. 9, 10. ' Thus saith the Lord, I will give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life.' — Jeremiah, xliv. 9. See also Jeremiah, xliii, xliv, xlv ; Ezekiel, xxix, xxx, xxxi, xxxii. In the person of Apries all these prophecies were accomplished.— See also Prideaux Connect, i. 39. 298 HERODOTUS. ornaments ; in this are two doors, forming an entrance to the monument. They have also at Sals the tomb of a certain personage whom I do not think myself permitted to specify. It is behind the temple of Mi- nerva, and is continued the whole length of the wall of that building. Around this are many large obe- lisks, near Avhich is a lake, whose banks are lined Avith stone ; it is of a circular form, and, as I should think, as large as that of Delos, which is called Trochoeides. CLXXI. On this lake are represented by night the accidents which happened to him Avhom I dare not name : the Egyptians call them their mysteries. Con- cerning these, at the same time that I confess myself sufficiently informed, I feel myself compelled to be silent. Of the ceremonies also in honor of Ceres, which the Greeks call Thesmophoria,^ I may not ven- ture to speak farther than the obligations of religion Λνϋΐ allow me. They were brought from Egypt by the daughters of Danaus, and by them revealed to the Pelasgian women : but when the tranquillity of the 1 These mysteries were celebrated at stated seasons of the year, with solemn shows, and a great pomp of" machinery, which drew a mighty concourse to them from all countries. L. Crassus, the great orator, happened to come two days after they were over, and would gladly have persuaded the magistrates to renew them ; but not being able to prevail, left the city in disgust. This shows how cautious they were of making them too cheap. The shows are supposed to have represented heaven, hell, elysium, purgatory, and all that related to the future state of the dead : being contrived to inculcate more sensibly, and exemplify the doctrines de- livered to tlie initiated. As they yvere a proper subject for poetry, so they are frequently alluded to by the ancient poets. This confirms also the probability of that ingenious comment which tlie author of the UiAdne Legation has given in the sixth book of the ^Eneid, where A'irgil, as he observes, in describing the descent into liell, is but tracing out in their genuine order the several scenes of the Eleusinian shows. — iMiddleton's Life of Cicero. BOOK η. — EUTERPE. 299 Peloponnesus was disturbed by the Dorians, and the ancient inhabitants expelled, these rites were insen- sibly neglected or forgotten. The Arcadians, who re- tained their original habitations, were the only people who preserved them. CLXXII. Such being the fate of Apries, Amasis, who was of the city of Siuph, in the district of Sals, succeeded to the throne. At the commencement of his reign the Egyptians, remembering his plebeian origin,' held him in contempt ; but his mild conduct and political sagacity afterwards conciliated their affec- tions. Among other valuables which he possessed Λvas a gold vessel, in \vhich he and his guests ΛΛ^ere accus- tomed to spit, and Avash their feet : of the materials of this he made a statue of some god, Λvh^ch he placed in ihe most conspicuous part of the city. The Egyptians, assembling before it, paid it divine honors ; on hear- ing which the king called them together, and informed them that the image they thus venerated was made of a vessel of gold which he and they had formerly used for the most unseemly purposes. He afterwards ex- plained to them the similar circumstances of his own fortune ; who, though formerly a plebeian was now their sovereign, and intitled to their reverence. By such means he secured their attachment, as well as their submissive obedience to his authority. CLXXIII. The same prince thus regulated his time : from the dawn of the day to such time as the public square of the city was filled with people, he gave audience to whoever required it. The rest of 1 We are told in Atlienaeus, that the rise of Amasis was owing to his having presented Apries on his birth-day with a beautiful chaplet of flowers. The king was so delighted with this mark of his attention that he invited him to the feast, and received him amongst the number of his friends. —T, 300 HERODOTUS. the day he spent at the table ; where he drank, laughed, and diverted himself Avith his guests, indulg- ing in every species of licentious conversation. On this conduct some of his friends remonstrated :— ' Sir,' they observed, ' do you not dishonor your rank by these excessive and unbecoming levities ? From your awful throne you ought to employ yourself in the administration of public affairs, and by such conduct increase the dignity of your name, and the veneration of your subjects. Your present life is most unworthy of a king.' — ' They,' replied Amasis, ' who have a bow, bend it only at the time they want it ; when not in use, they suft'er it to be relaxed ; it ΛνοηΜ otherwise break and not be of service when exigence required. It is precisely the same Avith a man ; if without some in- tervals of amusement, he applied himself constantly to serious pursuits, he would imperceptibly lose his vigor both of mind and body. It is the conviction of this truth which influences me in the division of my time.' CLXXIV. Of this Amasis it is asserted, that whilst he was in a private condition he avoided every serious avocation, and gave himself intirely up to drinking and jollity. If at any time he wanted money for his expensive pleasures, he had recourse to robbery. By those who suspected him as the author of their loss, he was frequently, on his protesting himself innocent, carried before the oracle, by \vhieh he was frequently condemned, and as often acquitted. As soon as he obtained the supreme authority, such deities as had pronounced him innocent he treated with the greatest contumely, neglecting their temjjles, and never offer- ing them either presents or sacrifice ; this he did by way of testifying his dislike of their false declarations. Such however as decided on his guilt, in testimony of BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 301 their truth and justice, he reverenced as true gods, with every mark of honor and esteem. CLXXV. In honor of Minerva this prince erected at Sais a magnificent portico, exceeding every thing of the kind in size and grandeur. The stones of Λvhich it was composed were of a very uncommon size and quality, and decorated with a numher of colossal sta- tues and androsphynges ^ of enormous magnitude. To repair this temple he also collected stones of an amazing thickness, part of which he brought from the quarries of Memphis, and part from the city of Ele- phantine, which is distant from Sais a journey of about twenty days. « But Avhat, in my opinion, is most of all to be admired, was an edifice Λvhich he brought from Elephantine, constructed of one intire stone. The carriage of it employed two thousand men, all of whom were pilots, an intire period of three years. The length of this structure on the outside is twenty-one cubits ; it is fourteen wide, and eight high : in the inside the length of it is twenty-two cubits and twenty digits ; twelve cubits wide, and five high. It is placed 1 This was a monstrous figure, with the body of a lijon, and face of a man. The artists of Egypt however commonly re- presented the sphinx with the body of a lion, and the face of a young woman. These were generally placed at the entrance of temples, to serve as a type of the enigmatic nature of the Egyptian theology.— Liirc/ie?•. Opposite the second pyramid, eastward, is the enormous sphinx, the whole body of which is buried in the sand," the top of the back only to be seen, vrhich is above a hundred feet long, and is of a single stone, making part of the rock on which the pyramids rest. Its head rises about seveu-and- twenty feet above the sand. JMahomet has taught the Arab to hold all images of men or animals in detestation, and they have disfigured the face with their arrows and lances. M. Paw says, these sphinxes, the body of which is ha-lf a virgin, half a lion, are images of the deity, whom they repre- sent as an hermaphrodite. — Savary. 302 HERODOTUS. at the entrance of the temple ; the reason it was carried no farther is this : the architect, reflecting on his long and continued fatigue, sighed deeply, Avhicli incident Amasis construed as an omen, and obliged him to de- sist. Some however affirm that one of those employed to move it by levers was crushed by it, for which rea- son it was advanced no farther. CLXXVI. To other temples, also, Amasis made many and magnificent presents. At Memphis, before the temple of Vulcan, lie placed a colossal recumbent figure, which was seventy-five feet long. On the same pediment are two other colossal figures, formed out of the same stone, and each twenty feet high. Of the same size, and in the same attitude, another colossal statue may be seen at Sais. This prince built also at Memphis the temple of Isis, the grandeur of which excites universal admiration. CLXXVII. AVith respect to all those advantages which the river confers on the soil, and the soil on the inhabitants, the reign of Amasis Λvas fortunate for the Egyptians ; who, under this prince, could boast of twenty thousand cities * Avell inhabited. Amasis is 1 This country was once the most populous of the known world, and now it does not appear inferior to any. In an- cient times it had eighteen thousand as well considerable towns as cities, as may be seen by the sacred registers. In the time of Ptolemy Lagus there were three thousand, which still remain. In a general account once taken of the inhabi- tants, they amounted to seven millions, and there are no less than three millions at present. — Dkulorus SiciUus. Ancient Egypt supplied food to eiglit millions of inhabi- tants, and to Italy and the neighboring provinces likewise. At present the estimate is not one half. I do not think, with Herodotus and Pliny, that this kingdom contained twenty thousand cities in tlie time of Amasis : but the astonishing ruins every where to be found, and in uninhabited places, prove they must have been thrice as numerous as they are. — Savary. It is impracticable to form a just estimate of the popula- BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 303 farther remarkable for having instituted that law which obliges every Egyptian once in the year to explain to the chief magistrate of his district the means by which he obtains his subsistence. The refusal to comply with this ordinance, or the not being able to prove that a livelihood was procured by honest m.eans, Avas a capital offence. This law Solon' borrowed from Egypt, and established at Athens, where it still re- mains in force, experience having proΛ^ed its wisdom. CLXXVIII. This king was very partial to the Greeks, and favored them on every occasion. Such as wished to have a regular communication with Egypt he permitted to have a settlement at Naucratis. To others, who did not require a fixed residence, as being only engaged in occasional commerce, he assigned certain places for the construction of altars, and the performance of their religious rites. The most spa- cious and celebrated temple which the Greeks have they call Hellenium. It was built at the joint expense of the lonians of Chios, Teos, Phocea, and Clazo- menae ; of the Dorians of Rhodes, Cnidus, Halicq^r- nassus, and Phaselis ; of the ^olians of Mitylene only. Hellenium is the common property of all these cities, who also appoint proper officers for the regula- tion of their commerce : the claims of other cities to these distinctions and privileges is absurd and false. The .Eginetae, it must be observed, constructed by tion of Egypt. Nevertheless, as it is known that the number of towns and villages does not exceed two thousand three hundred, and the number of inhabitants in each of them, -one with another, including Cairo itself, is not more than a thou- sand, the total cannot be more than two millions three hun- dred thousand. — Volney. 1 It should rather seem that this law was established in Athens by Draco, and that Solon comm-uted the punishment of death to that of infamy, against all those who had thrice offended. 304 HERODOTUS. themselves a temple to Jupiter, as did the Samians to Juno, and the Milesians to Apollo. CLXXIX. Formerly Naucratis was the sole empo- rium of Egypt ; whoever came to any other than the Canopian mouth of the Nile, was compelled to swear that it was intirely accidental, and was in the same vessel obliged to go thither. Naucratis Λvas held in such great estimation, that if contrary winds prevente a passage the merchant was obliged to move his goods on board the common boats of the river, and carried them round the Delta to Naucratis. CLXXX. By some accident the ancient temple of Delphi was once consumed by fire, and the amphic- tyons voted a sum of three hundred talents to be levied for the purpose of rebuilding it. A fourth part of this was assigned to the Delphians : who, to collect their quota, went about to diiFerent cities, and obtained a very considerable sum from Egypt. Amasis presented them' with a thousand talents of alum. The Greeks who resided in Egypt made a collection of tAventy minEe. CLXXXI. This king made a strict and amicable confederacy Avith the Cyreneans ; to cement which he determined to take a wife of that country, either to show his particular attachment to the Cyreneans, or his partiality to a woman of Greece. She Λvhom he married is reported by some to have been the daughter 1 Different species of animals were tlie deities of the diffe- rent sects amorig the Egyptians ; and the deities being in continual war, engaged tlicir votaries in the same contention. The Avorsliippcrs of dogs could not long remain in peace witli the adorers of cats and wolves. But where that reason took not place, the Egyptian superstition was not so incompatible as is commonly imagined, since we learn from Herodotus that very large contributions were given by Amasis towards rebuilding the temple of Delphi.— /iiiwie. BOOK II. — EUTERPE. 306 of Battus, by others of Arcesilaus, or, as some say, of Critobulus. She Avas certainly descended of an honor- able family, and her name was Ladice. When the nuptials came to be celebrated the king• found himself afflicted with imbecility. The continuance of this in- duced him thus to address his wife : ' You have cer- tainly practised some charm to my injury ; expect not therefore to escape, but prepare to undergo the most cruel deatli.' When the Avoman found all expostula- tions ineflectual, she vowed, in the temple of A^'enus, • that if her husband should be restored, she would present a statue to her at Cyrene.' Her wishes were accomplished ; Amasis found his vigor restored, and ever afterwards distinguished her by the kindest affec- tion. Ladice pei'formed her vow, and sent a statue to Venus : it has remained to my time, and may be seen •near the city of Cyrene. This same Ladice, when Cambyses afterwards conquered Egypt, Avas, as soon as he discovered Avho she was, sent back without in- jury to Cyrene. CLXXXII. Numerous Avere the marks of liberality which Amasis bestowed on Greece. To Cyrene he sent a golden statue of Minerva, with a portrait of himself.' To the temple of Minerva at Lindus he gave two marble statues, with a linen corslet, which 1 The art of painting was probably known in Egypt in the first ages, but they do not seem to have succeeded in this art better than in sculpture. Antiquity does not mention any painter or sculptor of Egypt who had acquired celebrity.— Sacary. At what period we may venture to date the first origin of painting, is a subject involved in great difficulty. Perhaps we are not extravagant in saying that it was known in the time of the Trojan war. The following note is to be found in Servius, Annot. ad ^Eneid. ii. ver. 392. ' Scutis Griecorum Neptunus, Trojanorum fuit Minerva depicta.' With respect to the Egyptians, it is asserted by Tacitus HER. VOL. I. U 306 HERODOTUS. well deserves inspection. Τλνο figures of himself, carved in wood, he presented to the temple of Juno at Samos : they were placed immediately behind the gates, where they still remain. His kindness to Samos that they knew the art of designing before they were ac- quainted with letters. It is ingeniously remarked by Webb, in favor of the anti- quity of painting, that when the Spaniards first arrived in America, the news was sent to the emperor in painted ex- presses, they not having at that time the use of letters. ]\Ir. Norden says that in the higher Egypt to this day may be seen amongst the ruins of superb edifices, marbles arti- ficially stained, so exquisitely fresh in point of color, that they seem recently dismissed from the hand of the artist. Winckelmann says that in the Egyptian mummies which have been minutely examined, there are apparent the six distinct colors of white, black, blue, red, \ellow, and green ; but these, in point ofeflfect, are contemptible, compared with the columns alluded to above, seen and described by Norden. Pococke also tells us that in the ruins of the palaces of the kings of Thebes the picture of the king is painted at full length on stone. Both the sides and ceilings of the room in which this is to be seen are cut with hieroglyphics of birds and beasts, and some of them painted, being as fresh as if they were but just finished, though they must be above two thousand years old. The ancient heathens were accustomed to paint their idols of a red color, as appears from the following extract from the Wisdom of Solomon : * The carpenter carved it diligently when he had nothing else to do, and fori^ied it by the skill of his understanding, and fashioned it to the image of a man, or made it like some vile beast, laying it over with vermilion, and with paint coloring it red, and covering every spot therein.' It seems rather a far-fetched explanation to say that this was done because the first statues were set up in memory of warriors remarkable for sliedding much blood. Yet it is so interpreted in Harmer's Observations on Passages of Scrip- ture. Of ancient painting the relics are indeed but few ; but those extolled by Pococke and Norden, and the beautiful specimens which have at different times been dug up at Her- culaneum, are sufficient to show that tlie artists possessed extraordinary excellence. That in particular of Chiron and Achilles, which many ingenious men have not scrupled to ascribe to Parrhasius, is said to be remarkably beautiful. BOOK II.— EUTERPE. 307 λν as owing to the hospitality ' which subsisted between him and Polycrates, the son of JEax. He had no such motive of attachment to Lindus, but was moved by the report tliat the temple of Minerva there was erected by the daughters of Danaus, when they fled from the sons of Egyptus. Such was the munificence of Amasis, who was also the first person that conquered Cyprus, and compelled it to pay him tribute. 1 That tie among the ancients, which was ratified by parti- cular ceremonies, and considered as the most sacred of all engagements : nor dissolved except with certain solemn forms, and for weighty reasons. END OF VOL. I. ^^^ϊ^^*^ ^^mm ^mm^m^ mi ^^^fe w^ -^^^^ ■^*k^^ \D: ''mWf^