The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [138]
3. ‘Sire, you are about to attack a country no part of which is cultivated, and in which there is not a single inhabited city.
4. ‘Keep this bridge as it is, and leave those who built it to guard it. So if we succeed against the Scythians, we can return by this route;
5. ‘But if we fail to find them, our retreat will still be secure.
6. ‘For though I have no doubt that we will vanquish the Scythians in battle,
7. ‘My dread is that we will be unable to find them, for they will withdraw and hide;
8. ‘And then we will suffer much loss while we wander about their territory.’
9. The advice of Coes pleased Darius highly, who replied, ‘When I am safe home again in my palace, be sure to come to me, and with good deeds I will recompense you for this good advice.’
10. Having so said, the king took a leather thong, and tying sixty knots in it, called together the Ionian leaders and said,
11. ‘My former commands to you concerning the bridge are now withdrawn.
12. ‘Look at this thong: from the time that I leave you to march into Scythia, untie one of the knots each day.
13. ‘If I do not return before the last knot is untied, sail home. Meanwhile, understand that you are to guard the bridge with all care.’
Chapter 42
1. The Scythians, apprehending the approach of such a mighty army under the command of the famous Darius, knew they were not strong enough by themselves to fight him.
2. So they sent envoys to the neighbouring nations, and summoned together the kings of the Tauri, the Agathyrsi, the Neuri, the Androphagi, the Melanchaeni, the Geloni, the Budini and the Sauromatae.
3. Each of these tribes had their distinctive customs and histories, of which the most notable are those of the Sauromatae.
4. It is reported that when the Greeks fought with the Amazons in former times, defeating them at the battle of Thermodon,
5. They took all those they had captured and sailed with them, intending to return with them to Greece.
6. But these warrior women, whom the Scythians call ‘manslayers’, rose up against the crews of the ships and massacred them.
7. But not knowing anything of ships and the sea, of rudders, oars or sails, the Amazons were carried where the wind and waves directed,
8. Beaching at last on the shores of Palus Maeotis, the country of the free Scythians.
9. Here they went ashore, and after finding horses, they mounted them and fell to plundering the Scythian territory.
10. The Scythians could not tell what to make of them; their dress, language, the nation itself were wholly unknown to them;
11. Nor where they had come from. Imagining that they were young men all of the same age, the Scythians went out against them and fought a battle.
12. Some of the bodies of the slain fell into their hands, whereupon they discovered the truth.
13. Accordingly they deliberated, and decided not to kill any more of them, but to send a detachment of their youngest men in about equal numbers to the Amazons,
14. With orders to camp near them, and do as they saw them do; but not to give battle, instead retreating when the Amazons attacked, and following them when they moved off.
15. This they did on account of a strong desire to obtain children from such notable women.
16. The Amazons soon found that the Scythians had not come to do them any harm; and so they on their part ceased to offer them any molestation.
17. And now day after day the camps approached nearer to one another; both parties led the same life,
18. Neither having anything but their arms and horses, so that they were forced to support themselves by hunting.
19. At last an incident brought two of them together; the man easily gained the good graces of the woman,
20. Who bade him by signs (for they did not understand each other’s language) to bring a friend the next day to the spot where they had met, promising on her part to bring with her another woman.
21. He did so, and the woman kept her word. When the rest of the youths heard what had taken place, they also