The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [140]
11. ‘All the tribes of the Thracians have been brought under his sway, and among them even our next neighbours, the Getae.’
12. The assembled princes, after hearing the Scythians, deliberated. At the end opinion was divided: the kings of the Geloni, Budini and Sauromatae were of accord, and pledged assistance to the Scythians;
13. But the Agathyrsian and Neurian princes, together with the sovereigns of the Androphagi, the Melanchaeni and the Tauri, replied as follows:
14. ‘If you had not been the first to wrong the Persians, and begin the war, we should have thought the request you make just; we should then have complied with your wishes, and joined our arms with yours.
15. ‘Now, however, the case stands thus: you, independently of us, invaded the land of the Persians, and so long as you could, lorded it over them:
16. ‘Now that they have power, they are come to do to you the like.
17. ‘We, on our part, did no wrong to these men in the former war, and will not be the first to commit wrong now.
18. ‘If they invade our land, and begin aggressions upon us, we will not suffer them; but, till we see this come to pass, we will remain at home.
19. ‘For we believe that the Persians are not come to attack us, but to punish those who are guilty of first injuring them.’
20. On hearing this reply the Scythians resolved that they would not openly venture any pitched battles with the Persians,
21. But would retire before them, driving off their herds, choking up all the wells and springs as they retreated, and leaving the whole country bare of forage.
22. They divided themselves into three bands, one of which, commanded by Scopasis, was joined by the Sauromatae,
23. And if the Persians advanced in the direction of the Tanais, they planned to retreat along the shores of the Palus Maeotis and make for that river; while if the Persians retired, they should at once pursue and harass them.
24. The two other divisions, the principal one under the command of Idanthyrsus, and the third, of which Taxacis was king, were to unite in one,
25. And joined by the detachments of the Geloni and Budini, were similarly to keep a distance of one day’s march from the Persians, falling back as they advanced, and doing the same as the others.
26. And first, they were to take the direction of the nations which had refused to join the alliance, and were to draw the war upon them:
27. So that, if they would not of their own free will engage in the struggle, they would by these means be drawn into it.
28. Afterwards, it was agreed that they should retire into their own land, and, should it on deliberation appear to them expedient, join battle with the enemy.
29. When these measures had been decided, the Scythians went out to meet the army of Darius, sending out in front the fleetest of their horsemen as scouts.
30. Their waggons with their women and children, and all their cattle, were made to precede them in their retreat, and departed, with orders to keep marching, without change of course, to the north.
Chapter 44
1. The scouts of the Scythians found the Persian host three days’ march from the Ister,
2. And immediately took the lead of them at the distance of a day’s march, encamping from time to time, and destroying all that grew on the ground.
3. The Persians no sooner caught sight of the Scythian horse than they pursued them, while the enemy retired before them.
4. The pursuit of the Persians was directed towards the single division of the Scythian army, and thus their line of march was eastward towards the Tanais.
5. The Scythians crossed that river and the Persians pursued them. In this way they passed through the country of the Sauromatae, and entered that of the Budini.
6. As long as the march of the Persian army lay through the countries of the Scythians and Sauromatae, there was nothing they could damage, the land being waste and barren;
7. But on entering the territories of the Budini, they came upon a wooden fortress,