CHAP. 107-110.

THE SAUROMATÆ.

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Budini and took up their abode with them. They still speak a language half Greek, half Scythian.

109. The Budini, however, do not speak the same language as the Gelôni, nor is their mode of life the same. They are the aboriginal people of the country, and are nomads; unlike any of the neighbouring races, they eat lice. The Gelôni, on the contrary, are tillers of the soil, eat bread, have gardens, and both in shape and complexion are quite different from the Budini. The Greeks notwithstanding call these latter Gelôni, but it is a mistake to give them the name.5 Their country is thickly planted with trees of all manner of kinds. In the very woodiest part is a broad deep lake, surrounded by marshy ground with reeds growing on it. Here otters are caught, and beavers, with another sort of animal which has a square face. With the skins of this last the natives border their capotes: and they also get from them a remedy, which is of virtue in diseases of the womb.

8

110. It is reported of the Sauromatæ, that, when the Greeks fought with the Amazons," whom the Scythians call Oior-pata

It has been conjectured that the name Budini is a religious title, and marks that the people who bore it were Buddhists. (Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 25.) But as Buddha or Sakya did not begin to spread his doctrines till about B. C. 600, and then taught in India and Thibet, it is extremely improbable that his religion could have reached European Scythia by the days of Herodotus. Perhaps the name is best connected with the ethnic appellative Wend, which is from wenda, "water," Sclav. woda, Phryg. Bédu, &c. (See Smith's Dict. of Gr. and R. Geography, s. v. BUDINI.

This part of the description seems to fix the locality of the Budini to the region about Zadonsk and Woronetz, which offers so remarkable a contrast to the rest of Russia. (Clarke, x. p. 196.) The mention, however, of the lake, containing otters and beavers, and especially of the "square-faced animals "-if these are seals, would seem to require a position further to the east. There are no lakes in the Woronetz country, and though seals are found in the Caspian, at the mouths of the Wolga, and in some of the Siberian lakes (Heeren, As. Nat. ii. p. 291, note, E. T.), they do not mount the Wolga, nor are they found in the Tanais. It may be doubted whether seals are really intended.

6

7

A border of fur is commonly seen to edge the coat worn by the Scythians on the sepulchral vases and other remains. See woodcuts in notes and on chs. 46 and 59. It is also frequent at the present day. (Pallas, vol. ii. pl. 23; Dubois, vol. v. p. 202.)

Horum è testiculis remedium obtinent, quod in morbis uterinis usui est." This has been thought by some to show that Castor oil was in the pharmacopeia of these nations. Herodotus might have been misinformed as to which of the three animals furnished the remedy, and the other mistake prevailed till comparatively modern times. Mr. Blakesley, however, supposes that the "bags of the musk-deer" are meant (note ad loc.).

Some Amazons were supposed to live in Asia, others in Africa. Diodorus (iii. 51) says the latter were much the most ancient, having lived many ages before the Trojan war (those of the Thermodou only a little before it), and their queen, Myrina, was the friend of Horus the son of Isis. The numerous body-guard of the king of the Behrs, on the White Nile, is to this day composed entirely of womeu (his ministers only having access to him when he is about to die, to prevent his leaving the world by a vulgar natural death); and a similar custom may have been the origin

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STORY OF THE AMAZONS.

Book IV.

or "man-slayers," as it may be rendered, Oior being Scythic for "man," and pata for "to slay"-it is reported, I say, that the Greeks after gaining the battle of the Thermôdon, put to sea, taking with them on board three of their vessels all the Amazons whom they had made prisoners; and that these women upon the voyage rose up against the crews, and massacred them to a man. As however they were quite strange to ships, and did not know how to use either rudder, sails, or oars, they were carried, after the death of the men, where the winds and the waves listed. At last they reached the shores of the Palus Mæotis and came to a place called Cremni or "the Cliffs," which is in the country of the free Scythians. Here they went ashore, and proceeded by land towards the inhabited regions; the first herd of horses which they fell in with they seized, and mounting upon their backs, fell to plundering the Scythian territory.

2

111. The Scyths could not tell what to make of the attack upon them-the dress, the language, the nation itself, were alike unknown-whence the enemy had come even, was a marvel. Imagining, however, that they were all men of about the same age, they went out against them, and fought a battle. Some of the bodies of the slain fell into their hands, whereby they discovered the truth. Hereupon they deliberated, and made a resolve to kill no more of them, but to send against them a detachment of their youngest men, as near as they could guess equal to the women in number, with orders to encamp in their neighbourhood, and do as they saw them do-when the Amazons advanced against them, they were to retire, and avoid a fight-when they halted, the young men were to approach and pitch their camp near the camp of the enemy. All this they did on account of their strong desire to obtain children from so notable a race.

112. So the youths departed, and obeyed the orders which they had been given. The Amazons soon found out that they had not come to do them any harm, and so they on their part

of the fable of the Amazons. It is found again in Western Africa. The name is probably African, not Greek. V. note, ch. 191.-[G. W.]

1 Vide supra, ch. 20. This place appears to have been a Greek port, and was probably a colony from Panticapæum. Its name is clearly Greek, and marks that it was in the neighbourhood of some high cliffs, which are difficult to find on the shores of the Sea of Azof. Perhaps the most probable site is near Marianpol (see Ptol. iii. 5), where the coast attains some elevation. Cremnisci is not to be confounded with Cremni. It was on the Euxine, between the Dniestr and the Danube. (Anon. Peripl. P. E. p. 153; Plin. H. N. iv. 12.)

2 That is to say, as they were all alike beardless, they took them for an army of youths.

CHAP. 111-116.

STORY OF THE AMAZONS.

81

ceased to offer the Scythians any molestation. And now day after day the camps approached nearer to one another; both parties led the same life, neither having anything but their arms and horses, so that they were forced to support themselves by hunting and pillage.

113. At last an incident brought two of them togetherthe man easily gained the good graces of the woman, 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. He did so, and the woman kept her word. When the rest of the youths heard what had taken place, they also sought and gained the favour of the other Amazons.

114. The two camps were then joined in one, the Scythians living with the Amazons as their wives; and the men were unable to learn the tongue of the women, but the women soon caught up the tongue of the men. When they could thus understand one another, the Scyths addressed the Amazons in these words:-"We have parents, and properties, let us therefore give up this mode of life, and return to our nation, and live with them. You shall be our wives there no less than here, and we promise you to have no others." But the Amazons said— "We could not live with your women- -our customs are quite different from theirs. To draw the bow, to hurl the javelin, to bestride the horse, these are our arts-of womanly employments we know nothing. Your women, on the contrary, do none of these things; but stay at home in their wagons, engaged in womanish tasks, and never go out to hunt, or to do anything. We should never agree together. But if you truly wish to keep us as your wives, and would conduct yourselves with strict justice towards us, go you home to your parents, bid them give you your inheritance, and then come back to us, and let us and you live together by ourselves."

115. The youths approved of the advice, and followed it. They went and got the portion of goods which fell to them, returned with it, and rejoined their wives, who then addressed them in these words following:-" We are ashamed, and afraid to live in the country where we now are. Not only have we stolen you from your fathers, but we have done great damage to Scythia by our ravages. As you like us for wives, grant the request we make of you. Let us leave this country together, and go and dwell beyond the Tanais." Again the youths complied.

116. Crossing the Tanais they journeyed eastward a distance

VOL. III.-6

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4

CUSTOMS OF THE SAUROMATÆ.

BOOK IV

of three days' march from that stream, and again northward a distance of three days' march from the Palus Mæotis.3 Here they came to the country where they now live, and took up their abode in it. The women of the. Sauromatæ have continued from that day to the present, to observe their ancient customs,5 frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands, sometimes even unaccompanied; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men.

6

117. The Sauromatæ speak the language of Scythia, but have never talked it correctly, because the Amazons learnt it imperfectly at the first. Their marriage-law lays it down, that no girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle. Sometimes it happens that a woman dies unmarried at an advanced age, having never been able in her whole lifetime to fulfil the condition.

118. The envoys of the Scythians, on being introduced into the presence of the kings of these nations, who were assembled to deliberate, made it known to them, that the Persian, after subduing the whole of the other continent, had thrown a bridge over the strait of the Bosphorus, and crossed into the continent of Europe, where he had reduced the Thracians, and was now

9 Here we have an indication of the belief of Herodotus, that the Palus Mæotis extended some considerable distance eastward of the place where the Tanais fell into it. It has been already observed that a great portion of what is now the government of the Caucasus, as well as part of the country of the Don Cossacks, was prob ably once under water, and included in the sea of Azof. Vide supra, ch. 86, note 3, and infra, Appendix, Essay ii.

4 According to this description the country of the Sauromatæ did not touch the Mæotis, but began about the 48th parallel. Compare however the statement in ch. 21. In later times, as we find by the Periplus of Scylax (p. 74), they certainly reached to the sea.

5 This is of course the origin of the myth narrated above. That the Sarmatian women had these habits seems to be a certain fact. (Compare Nic. Damasc. Fr. 122; Hippocr. De Aer. Aq. et Loc. § 42; Ephor. Frag. 78; Scylax. Peripl. p. 74.) Yet Niebuhr (Researches, p. 68, note 78, E. T.) regarded the whole matter as a tale without foundation. For modern instances of Amazoniau habits, vide supra, ch. 26, note, and ch. 110, note ".

That the Sauromate of Herodotus are the Sarmatians of later times does not appear to admit of a doubt. Niebuhr (Researches, pp. 74-81) traces their gradual progress from the steppes of the Don to the rich plains of Hungary. Thence, under the name of Slaves they overspread Poland and Russia. In them we seem to have a link, elsewhere desiderated, between the Arian and the modern European races. Their name, Sauromatæ (Sauro-Medes, or Northern Medes), as well as their locality and language (Boeckh. Corp. Inscr. part xi. pp. 107-117), connect them with the Median nation, and their identity with the Slaves is a matter of historic certainty. Whether we may presume from the declaration of Herodotus, that the Sauromatæ spoke bad Scythian, to regard the Scyths as Slaves is a distinct question. analysis of the Scythian language leads to a different result. See Appendix, Essay iii.

An

Nicolas of Damascus repeats this statement (Fr. 122), but it is not certain that he does more than follow Herodotus.

CHAP. 117-119.

CONFERENCE OF THE PRINCES.

66

83

making a bridge over the Ister, his aim being to bring under his sway all Europe also. Stand ye not aloof then from this contest," they went on to say, "look not on tamely while we are perishing but make common cause with us, and together let us meet the enemy. If ye refuse, we must yield to the pressure, and either quit our country, or make terms with the invaders. For what else is left for us to do, if your aid be withheld from us? The blow, be sure, will not light on you more gently upon this account. The Persian comes against you no less than against us and will not be content, after we are conquered, to leave you in peace. peace. We can bring strong proof of what we here advance. Had the Persian leader indeed come to avenge the wrongs which he suffered at our hands when we enslaved his people, and to war on us only, he would have been bound to march straight upon Scythia, without molesting any nation by the way. Then it would have been plain to all, that Scythia alone was aimed at. But now, what has his conduct been? From the moment of his entrance into Europe, he has subjugated without exception every nation that lay in his path. All the tribes of the Thracians have been brought under his sway, and among them even our next neighbours, the Geta."

8

119. The assembled princes of the nations, after hearing all that the Scythians had to say, deliberated. At the end opinion was divided-the kings of the Gelôni, Budini, and Sauromata were of accord, and pledged themselves to give assistance to the Scythians; but the Agathyrsian and Neurian princes, together with the sovereigns of the Androphagi, the Melanchlani, and the Tauri, replied to their request as follows:-"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. Now, however, the case stands thus-you, independently of us, invaded the land of the Persians, and so long as God gave you the power, lorded it over them: raised up now by the same God, they are come to do to you the like. We, on our part, did no wrong to these men in the former war, and will not be the first to commit wrong now. 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. For we believe that the Persians are not come to attack us, but to punish those who are guilty of first injuring them.”

Alluding to the Scythian invasion of Asia in the time of Cyaxares. See Book i. chs. 103-5, and supra, ch. 1.