THE

· HISTORY OF HERODOTUS.

THE FOURTH BOOK, ENTITLED MELPOMENE.

1. AFTER the taking of Babylon, an expedition was led by Darius into Scythia.1 Asia abounding in men, and vast sums flowing into the treasury, the desire seized him to exact vengeance from the Scyths, who had once in days gone by invaded Media, defeated those who met them in the field, and so begun the quarrel. During the space of eight-and-twenty years, as I have before mentioned, the Scyths continued lords of the whole of Upper Asia. They entered Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians, and overthrew the empire of the Medes, who till they came possessed the sovereignty. On their return to their homes after the long absence of twenty-eight years,3 a task awaited them little less troublesome than their struggle with the Medes. They found an army of no small size prepared to oppose their entrance. For the Scythian women, when they saw that time went on, and their husbands did not come back, had intermarried with their slaves.

It has been supposed that the notice in the Behistun Inscription (col. v. par. 4), of an expedition of Darius against the Sacæ (Saka), refers to this invasion (Blakesley, not. ad loc.). But the scanty fragments of the text, which alone remain, and the representation of the leader in the train of captured rebels, lead rather to the conclusion that Asiatic Scythsold subjects of the Persian monarchy

VOL. III.

(Beh. Ins. col. i. par. 6, and col. ii. par. 2) are intended.

2 Vide supra, i. 103-106.

3 Some writers ascribed this war with the slaves to quite a different occasion. It was, they said, after the Scythians had been engaged in a long struggle with the Thracians and other tribes south of the Danube (Callistrat. Fr. 3.)

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BLIND SLAVES OF THE SCYTHIANS.

Book IV.

2. Now the Scythians blind all their slaves, to use them in preparing their milk. The plan they follow is to thrust tubes made of bone, not unlike our musical pipes, up the vulva of the mare, and then to blow into the tubes with their mouths, some milking while the others blow. They say that they do this because when the veins of the animal are full of air, the udder is forced down. The milk thus obtained is poured into deep wooden casks, about which the blind slaves are placed, and then the milk is stirred round.5 That which rises to the top is drawn off, and considered the best part; the under portion is of less account. Such is the reason why the Scythians blind all those whom they take in war; it arises from their not being tillers of the ground, but a pastoral race.6

3. When therefore the children sprung from these slaves and the Scythian women, grew to manhood, and understood the circumstances of their birth, they resolved to oppose the army which was returning from Media. And, first of all, they cut off a tract of country from the rest of Scythia by digging a broad dyke' from the Tauric mountains to the vast

4 Niebuhr the traveller (Description de l'Arabie, p. 146) relates that a somewhat similar practice obtains in Arabia :-" J'entendis et vis moi-même à Basra," he says, que lorsqu'un Arabe trait la femelle du bufle, un autre lui fourre la main, et le bras jusqu'au coude, dans le vulva, parcequ'on prétend savoir par expérience qu'étant chatouillée de la sorte, elle donne plus de lait. Cette méthode," he observes, "ressemble beaucoup à celle des Scythes." [In India, while they milk the buffaloes, the tail is generally coiled up, and thrust into the vulva for the same purpose.H. C. R.]

Mares' milk constituted the chief food of the ancient Scythians, who are therefore called γαλακτοφάγοι and inημоλyol by Homer (Il. xiii. 5) and other writers (Callim. Hymn. ad Dian. 252; Nic. Dam. Frag. 123, &c.). It is still the principal support of the

Calmuck hordes which wander over the vast steppes north and west of the Caspian.

5 It is apparent from this circumstance that it was koumiss, and not cream, on which the Scythians lived. Koumiss is still prepared from mares' milk by the Calmucks and Nogais, who during the process of making it keep the milk in constant agitation (Clarke's Travels, vol. i. p. 313; De Hell, p. 274, E. T.).

6 That is, eyesight which is requisite for agricultural pursuits is not needed for the offices which a pastoral people requires of its slaves. The Scythians, therefore, being a pastoral people, could manage with blind slaves; and by blinding their slaves they rendered it impossible for them either to revolt or to run away.

7 On the position of this dyke, vide infra, ch. 20.

CHAP. 2, 3. THEY DISPUTE THE RETURN OF THE SCYTHIANS.

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lake of the Mæotis. Afterwards, when the Scythians tried to force an entrance, they marched out and engaged them. Many battles were fought, and the Scythians gained no advantage, until at last one of them thus addressed the remainder: "What are we doing, Scythians? We are fighting our slaves, diminishing our own number when we fall, and the number of those that belong to us when they fall by our hands. Take my advice-lay spear and bow aside, and let each man fetch his horsewhip, and go boldly up to them. So

The spear and the bow were the national weapons of the European Scyths (see note on ch. 70), the bow on the whole being regarded as the more essential (infra, ch. 46; Æsch. P. V. 730.). Arrow-heads are found in almost all the Scythian tombs in

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Southern Russia, while spear-heads have been found only occasionally. The spear used was short, apparently not more than five feet in length, whence in ch. 70 Herodotus terms it a javelin (akóvтiov). According to the Greeks, the bow was made in a

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ORIGIN OF THE SCYTHS-NATIVE ACCOUNT.

BOOK IV.

long as they see us with arms in our hands, they imagine themselves our equals in birth and bravery; but let them behold us with no other weapon but the whip, and they will feel that they are our slaves, and flee before us."

4. The Scythians followed this counsel, and the slaves were so astounded that they forgot to fight, and immediately ran away. Such was the mode in which the Scythians, after being for a time the lords of Asia, and being forced to quit it by the Medes, returned and settled in their own country. This inroad of theirs it was that Darius was anxious to avenge, and such was the purpose for which he was now collecting an army to invade them.

5. According to the account which the Scythians themselves give, they are the youngest of all nations.1 Their tradition is as follows. A certain Targitaüs was the first man who ever lived in their country, which before his time was a desert without inhabitants. He was a child-I do not believe the tale, but it is told nevertheless-of Jove and a daughter of the Borysthenes. Targitaüs, thus descended, begat three sons, Leipoxais, Arpoxais, and Colaxais, who was the youngest born of the three. While they still ruled the land, there fell from the sky four implements, all of gold,-a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe, and a drinking-cup. The eldest of the brothers perceived them first, and approached to pick

a round flat piece of leather at the end (see the woodcuts on preceding page). How universally it was carried is indicated by the fact that a whip was buried in the tomb of the Scythian king, with his other arms and implements. (See below, ch. 71.)

1 Justin's assertion, so directly contradictory of this ("Scytharum gentem semper habitam fuisse antiquissimam," ii. 1), is remarkable. We must understand, however, by the Scyths of Herodotus in this place, the single nation of European Scyths with which the Greeks of the Pontus were acquainted. Justin intends the Scythic or Turanian race generally, which was

really older than either the Semitic or the Indo-European. (See vol. i. Essay xi. § 3-5)

2 The conjectures which would identify Targitaüs, the mythic progenitor of the Scythians, with Togarmah, the son of Comer, and grandson of Japhet (Gen. x. 3), are even more fanciful than the ordinary run of Biblicohistorical speculations. (See Rennell's Geograph. of Herod. p. 410; and Von Hammer's Gesch. v. Osm. i. p. 1.) Were they admitted, the further identification of these two words with the ethnic appellative "Turk" might still be questioned.

CHAP. 3-7.

DESCENT OF THE FOUR TRIBES.

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them up; when lo! as he came near, the gold took fire, and blazed. He therefore went his way, and the second coming forward made the attempt, but the same thing happened again. The gold rejected both the eldest and the second brother. Last of all the youngest brother approached, and immediately the flames were extinguished; so he picked up the gold, and carried it to his home. Then the two elder agreed together, and made the whole kingdom over to the youngest born.

6. From Leipoxais sprang the Scythians of the race called Auchatæ; from Arpoxais, the middle brother, those known as the Catiari and Traspians; from Colaxais, the youngest, the Royal Scythians, or Paralatæ. All together they are named Scoloti, after one of their kings: the Greeks, however, call them Scythians.1

7. Such is the account which the Scythians give of their origin. They add that from the time of Targitaüs, their first king, to the invasion of their country by Darius, is a period of one thousand years, neither less nor more.5 The Royal Scythians guard the sacred gold with most especial care, and year by year offer great sacrifices in its honour. At this feast, if the man who has the custody of the gold should fall asleep in the open air, he is sure (the Scythians say) not to outlive

3 Nothing is known of these names, though they afford an ample field for speculation. Dr. Donaldson recognises in the Scoloti, the "Asa-Galata" or "Celts of Asia" (Varronian. p. 41) -a possible, but scarcely a probable derivation. In "Traspians" it may be conjectured that we have the root arpa, horse; while Paralatæ (Παραλάται) recalls the Paralasa mountain-chain. Mere speculation, however, is in etymology worse than futile. It is apt to be misleading.

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4 The Greek work Ekvens is probably nothing but the Asiatic Saka (Záka) with an ethnic adjectival ending -Ons, equivalent to the ordinary -Tos or Tns found in so many names of peoplese. g. Κελτός, Γαλάτης,

Σπαρτιάτης, Θεσπρωτός, Βισάλτης, Φθιώτης, κ.τ.λ. The first vowel has been dropt, and Zakάons contracted into Σkúons. Whether Saka is connected with the Old Norse skyta, Swedish skjuta, German schützen, and English shoot, it is quite impossible to say. The connexion is at any rate open to very great doubt.

5 It is curious to find this assertion made the foundation of serious chronological calculations. (Larcher, Table Chronologique; Bähr ad loc.) The number of 1000 represents, palpably enough, an indefinite period; and indeed it is impossible that a nation in the condition of the Scythians should have had more than a vague notion of its origin, and the time it had lasted.