men of the seven gave their assent to the last. So when Otanes, who was
desirous to give equality to the Persians, found his opinion defeated,
he spoke to those assembled thus: "Partisans, it is clear that some
one of us must become king, selected either by casting lots, or by
entrusting the decision to the multitude of the Persians and taking him
whom it shall choose, or by some other means. I therefore shall not be a
competitor with you, for I do not desire either to rule or to be ruled;
and on this condition I withdraw from my claim to rule, namely that I
shall not be ruled by any of you, either I myself or my descendants in
future time." When he had said this, the six made agreement with him on
those terms, and he was no longer a competitor with them, but withdrew
from the assembly; and at the present time this house remains free alone
of all the Persian houses, and submits to rule only so far as it wills
to do so itself, not transgressing the laws of the Persians.
84. The rest however of the seven continued to deliberate how they
should establish a king in the most just manner; and it was resolved by
them that to Otanes and his descendants in succession, if the kingdom
should come to any other of the seven, there should be given as special
gifts a Median dress every year and all those presents which are
esteemed among the Persians to be the most valuable: and the reason why
they determined that these things should be given to him, was because
he first suggested to them the matter and combined them together. These
were special gifts for Otanes; and this they also determined for all in
common, namely that any one of the seven who wished might pass in to the
royal palaces without any to bear in a message, unless the king happened
to be sleeping with his wife; and that it should not be lawful for the
king to marry from any other family, but only from those of the men who
had made insurrection with him: and about the kingdom they determined
this, namely that the man whose horse should first neigh at sunrise
in the suburb of the city when they were mounted upon their horses, he
should have the kingdom.
85. Now Dareios had a clever horse-keeper, whose name was Oibares. To
this man, when they had left their assembly, Dareios spoke these words:
"Oibares, we have resolved to do about the kingdom thus, namely that the
man whose horse first neighs at sunrise, when we are mounted upon our
horses he shall be king. Now therefore, if thou hast any cleverness,
contrive that we may obtain this prize, and not any other man." Oibares
replied thus: "If, my master, it depends in truth upon this whether thou
be king or no, have confidence so far as concerns this and keep a good
heart, for none other shall be king before thee; such charms have I at
my command." Then Dareios said: "If then thou hast any such trick, it
is time to devise it and not to put things off, for our trial is
to-morrow." Oibares therefore hearing this did as follows:—when night
was coming on he took one of the mares, namely that one which the horse
of Dareios preferred, and this he led into the suburb of the city and
tied her up: then he brought to her the horse of Dareios, and having for
some time led him round her, making him go so close by so as to touch
the mare, at last he let the horse mount.
86. Now at dawn of day the six came to the place as they had agreed,
riding upon their horses; and as they rode through by the suburb of the
city, when they came near the place where the mare had been tied up on
the former night, the horse of Dareios ran up to the place and neighed;
and just when the horse had done this, there came lightning and
thunder from a clear sky: and the happening of these things to Dareios
consummated his claim, for they seemed to have come to pass by some
design, and the others leapt down from their horses and did obeisance to
Dareios.
87. Some say that the contrivance of Oibares was this, but others say
as follows (for the story is told by the Persians in both ways), namely
that he touched with his hands the parts of this mare and kept his hand
hidden in his trousers; and when at sunrise they were about to let
the horses go, this Oibares pulled out his hand and applied it to the
nostrils of the horse of Dareios; and the horse, perceiving the smell,
snorted and neighed.
88. So Dareios the son of Hystaspes had been declared king; and in Asia
all except the Arabians were his subjects, having been subdued by
Cyrus and again afterwards by Cambyses. The Arabians however were never
obedient to the Persians under conditions of subjection, but had become
guest-friends when they let Cambyses pass by to Egypt: for against the
will of the Arabians the Persians would not be able to invade Egypt.
Moreover Dareios made the most noble marriages possible in the
estimation of the Persians; for he married two daughters of Cyrus,
Atossa and Artystone, of whom the one, Arossa, had before been the
wife of Cambyses her brother and then afterwards of the Magian, while
Artystone was a virgin; and besides them he married the daughter of
Smerdis the son of Cyrus, whose name was Parmys; and he also took to
wife the daughter of Otanes, he who had discovered the Magian; and all
things became filled with his power. And first he caused to be a carving
in stone, and set it up; and in it there was the figure of a man on
horseback, and he wrote upon it writing to this effect: "Dareios son of
Hystaspes by the excellence of his horse," mentioning the name of it,
"and of his horse-keeper Oibares obtained the kingdom of the Persians."
89. Having so done in Persia, he established twenty provinces, which the
Persians themselves call satrapies; and having established the provinces
and set over them rulers, he appointed tribute to come to him from them
according to races, joining also to the chief races those who dwelt on
their borders, or passing beyond the immediate neighbours and assigning
to various races those which lay more distant. He divided the provinces
and the yearly payment of tribute as follows: and those of them
who brought in silver were commanded to pay by the standard of the
Babylonian talent, but those who brought in gold by the Euboïc talent;
now the Babylonian talent is equal to eight-and-seventy Euboïc pounds.
74 For in the reign of Cyrus, and again of Cambyses, nothing was fixed
about tribute, but they used to bring gifts: and on account of this
appointing of tribute and other things like this, the Persians say that
Dareios was a shopkeeper, Cambyses a master, and Cyrus a father; the
one because he dealt with all his affairs like a shopkeeper, the second
because he was harsh and had little regard for any one, and the other
because he was gentle and contrived for them all things good.
90. From the Ionians and the Magnesians who dwell in Asia and the
Aiolians, Carians, Lykians, Milyans and Pamphylians (for one single
sum was appointed by him as tribute for all these) there came in four
hundred talents of silver. This was appointed by him to be the first
division. 75 From the Mysians and Lydians and Lasonians and Cabalians
and Hytennians 76 there came in five hundred talents: this is the second
division. From the Hellespontians who dwell on the right as one sails
in and the Phrygians and the Thracians who dwell in Asia and the
Paphlagonians and Mariandynoi and Syrians 77 the tribute was three
hundred and sixty talents: this is the third division. From the
Kilikians, besides three hundred and sixty white horses, one for every
day in the year, there came also five hundred talents of silver; of
these one hundred and forty talents were spent upon the horsemen which
served as a guard to the Kilikian land, and the remaining three hundred
and sixty came in year by year to Dareios: this is the fourth division.
91. From that division which begins with the city of Posideion, founded
by Amphilochos the son of Amphiaraos on the borders of the Kilikians and
the Syrians, and extends as far as Egypt, not including the territory
of the Arabians (for this was free from payment), the amount was
three hundred and fifty talents; and in this division are the whole of
Phenicia and Syria which is called Palestine and Cyprus: this is the
fifth division. From Egypt and the Libyans bordering upon Egypt, and
from Kyrene and Barca, for these were so ordered as to belong to
the Egyptian division, there came in seven hundred talents, without
reckoning the money produced by the lake of Moiris, that is to say from
the fish; 7701 without reckoning this, I say, or the corn which was
contributed in addition by measure, there came in seven hundred talents;
for as regards the corn, they contribute by measure one hundred and
twenty thousand 78 bushels for the use of those Persians who are
established in the "White Fortress" at Memphis, and for their foreign
mercenaries: this is the sixth division. The Sattagydai and Gandarians
and Dadicans and Aparytai, being joined together, brought in one hundred
and seventy talents: this is the seventh division. From Susa and the
rest of the land of the Kissians there came in three hundred: this is
the eighth division.
92. From Babylon and from the rest of Assyria there came in to him a
thousand talents of silver and five hundred boys for eunuchs: this is
the ninth division. From Agbatana and from the rest of Media and the
Paricanians and Orthocorybantians, four hundred and fifty talents: this
is the tenth division. The Caspians and Pausicans 79 and Pantimathoi and
Dareitai, contributing together, brought in two hundred talents: this
is the eleventh division. From the Bactrians as far as the Aigloi
the tribute was three hundred and sixty talents: this is the twelfth
division.
93. From Pactyïke and the Armenians and the people bordering upon them
as far as the Euxine, four hundred talents: this is the thirteenth
division. From the Sagartians and Sarangians and Thamanaians and Utians
and Mycans and those who dwell in the islands of the Erythraian Sea,
where the king settles those who are called the "Removed," 80 from all
these together a tribute was produced of six hundred talents: this is
the fourteenth division. The Sacans and the Caspians 81 brought in two
hundred and fifty talents: this is the fifteenth division. The Parthians
and Chorasmians and Sogdians and Areians three hundred talents: this is
the sixteenth division.
94. The Paricanians and Ethiopians in Asia brought in four hundred
talents: this is the seventeenth division. To the Matienians and
Saspeirians and Alarodians was appointed a tribute of two hundred
talents: this is the eighteenth division. To the Moschoi and Tibarenians
and Macronians and Mossynoicoi and Mares three hundred talents were
ordered: this is the nineteenth division. Of the Indians the number is
far greater than that of any other race of men of whom we know; and
they brought in a tribute larger than all the rest, that is to say three
hundred and sixty talents of gold-dust: this is the twentieth division.
95. Now if we compare Babylonian with Euboïc talents, the silver is
found to amount to nine thousand eight hundred and eighty 82 talents;
and if we reckon the gold at thirteen times the value of silver, weight
for weight, the gold-dust is found to amount to four thousand six
hundred and eighty Euboïc talents. These being all added together,
the total which was collected as yearly tribute for Dareios amounts to
fourteen thousand five hundred and sixty Euboïc talents: the sums which
are less than these 83 I pass over and do not mention.
96. This was the tribute which came in to Dareios from Asia and from
a small part of Libya: but as time went on, other tribute came in also
from the islands and from those who dwell in Europe as far as Thessaly.
This tribute the king stores up in his treasury in the following
manner:—he melts it down and pours it into jars of earthenware, and when
he has filled the jars he takes off the earthenware jar from the
metal; and when he wants money he cuts off so much as he needs on each
occasion.
97. These were the provinces and the assessments of tribute: and
the Persian land alone has not been mentioned by me as paying a
contribution, for the Persians have their land to dwell in free from
payment. The following moreover had no tribute fixed for them to pay,
but brought gifts, namely the Ethiopians who border upon Egypt, whom
Cambyses subdued as he marched against the Long-lived Ethiopians, those
84 who dwell about Nysa, which is called "sacred," and who celebrate the
festivals in honour of Dionysos: these Ethiopians and those who dwell
near them have the same kind of seed as the Callantian Indians, and they
have underground dwellings. 85 These both together brought every other
year, and continue to bring even to my own time, two quart measures 86
of unmelted gold and two hundred blocks of ebony and five Ethiopian boys
and twenty large elephant tusks. The Colchians also had set themselves
among those who brought gifts, and with them those who border upon them
extending as far as the range of the Caucasus (for the Persian rule
extends as far as these mountains, but those who dwell in the
parts beyond Caucasus toward the North Wind regard the Persians no
longer),—these, I say, continued to bring the gifts which they had fixed
for themselves every four years 87 even down to my own time, that is to
say, a hundred boys and a hundred maidens. Finally, the Arabians brought
a thousand talents of frankincense every year. Such were the gifts which
these brought to the king apart from the tribute.
98. Now this great quantity of gold, out of which the Indians bring in
to the king the gold-dust which has been mentioned, is obtained by them
in a manner which I shall tell:—That part of the Indian land which is
towards the rising sun is sand; for of all the peoples in Asia of which
we know or about which any certain report is given, the Indians dwell
furthest away towards the East and the sunrising; seeing that the
country to the East of the Indians is desert on account of the sand. Now
there are many tribes of Indians, and they do not agree with one another
in language; and some of them are pastoral and others not so, and some
dwell in the swamps of the river 88 and feed upon raw fish, which they
catch by fishing from boats made of cane; and each boat is made of one
joint of cane. These Indians of which I speak wear clothing made of
rushes: they gather and cut the rushes from the river and then weave
them together into a kind of mat and put it on like a corslet.
99. Others of the Indians, dwelling to the East of these, are pastoral
and eat raw flesh: these are called Padaians, and they practise the
following customs:—whenever any of their tribe falls ill, whether it be
a woman or a man, if a man then the men who are his nearest associates
put him to death, saying that he is wasting away with the disease and
his flesh is being spoilt for them: 89 and meanwhile he denies stoutly
and says that he is not ill, but they do not agree with him; and after
they have killed him they feast upon his flesh: but if it be a woman
who falls ill, the women who are her greatest intimates do to her in the
same manner as the men do in the other case. For 90 in fact even if a
man has come to old age they slay him and feast upon him; but very few
of them come to be reckoned as old, for they kill every one who falls
into sickness, before he reaches old age.
100. Other Indians have on the contrary a manner of life as
follows:—they neither kill any living thing nor do they sow any crops
nor is it their custom to possess houses; but they feed on herbs, and
they have a grain of the size of millet, in a sheath, which grows of
itself from the ground; this they gather and boil with the sheath, and
make it their food: and whenever any of them falls into sickness, he
goes to the desert country and lies there, and none of them pay any
attention either to one who is dead or to one who is sick.
101. The sexual intercourse of all these Indians of whom I have spoken
is open like that of cattle, and they have all one colour of skin,
resembling that of the Ethiopians: moreover the seed which they emit is
not white like that of other races, but black like their skin; and the
Ethiopians also are similar in this respect. These tribes of Indians
dwell further off than the Persian power extends, and towards the South
Wind, and they never became subjects of Dareios.
102. Others however of the Indians are on the borders of the city of
Caspatyros and the country of Pactyïke, dwelling towards the North 91 of
the other Indians; and they have a manner of living nearly the same as
that of the Bactrians: these are the most warlike of the Indians, and
these are they who make expeditions for the gold. For in the parts where
they live it is desert on account of the sand; and in this desert and
sandy tract are produced ants, which are in size smaller than dogs but
larger than foxes, for 92 there are some of them kept at the residence
of the king of Persia, which are caught here. These ants then make their
dwelling under ground and carry up the sand just in the same manner as
the ants found in the land of the Hellenes, which they themselves
93 also very much resemble in form; and the sand which is brought up
contains gold. To obtain this sand the Indians make expeditions into the
desert, each one having yoked together three camels, placing a female in
the middle and a male like a trace-horse to draw by each side. On this
female he mounts himself, having arranged carefully that she shall be
taken to be yoked from young ones, the more lately born the better. For
their female camels are not inferior to horses in speed, and moreover
they are much more capable of bearing weights.
103. As to the form of the camel, I do not here describe it, since the
Hellenes for whom I write are already acquainted with it, but I shall
tell that which is not commonly known about it, which is this:—the camel
has in the hind legs four thighs and four knees, 94 and its organs of
generation are between the hind legs, turned towards the tail.
104. The Indians, I say, ride out to get the gold in the manner and with
the kind of yoking which I have described, making calculations so that
they may be engaged in carrying it off at the time when the greatest
heat prevails; for the heat causes the ants to disappear underground.
Now among these nations the sun is hottest in the morning hours, not
at midday as with others, but from sunrise to the time of closing the
market: and during this time it produces much greater heat than at
midday in Hellas, so that it is said that then they drench themselves
with water. Midday however has about equal degree of heat with the
Indians as with other men, while after midday their sun becomes like the
morning sun with other men, and after this, as it goes further away, it
produces still greater coolness, until at last at sunset it makes the
air very cool indeed.
105. When the Indians have come to the place with bags, they fill them
with the sand and ride away back as quickly as they can, for forthwith
the ants, perceiving, as the Persians allege, by the smell, begin to
pursue them: and this animal, they say, is superior to every other
creature in swiftness, so that unless the Indians got a start in their
course, while the ants were gathering together, not one of them would
escape. So then the male camels, for they are inferior in speed of
running to the females, if they drag behind are even let loose 95 from
the side of the female, one after the other; 96 the females however,
remembering the young which they left behind, do not show any slackness
in their course. 97 Thus it is that the Indians get most part of the
gold, as the Persians say; there is however other gold also in their
land obtained by digging, but in smaller quantities.
106. It seems indeed that the extremities of the inhabited world had
allotted to them by nature the fairest things, just as it was the lot
of Hellas to have its seasons far more fairly tempered than other lands:
for first, India is the most distant of inhabited lands towards the
East, as I have said a little above, and in this land not only the
animals, birds as well as four-footed beasts, are much larger than in
other places (except the horses, which are surpassed by those of Media
called Nessaian), but also there is gold in abundance there, some got
by digging, some brought down by rivers, and some carried off as I
explained just now: and there also the trees which grow wild produce
wool which surpasses in beauty and excellence that from sheep, and the
Indians wear clothing obtained from these trees.
107. Then again Arabia is the furthest of inhabited lands in the
direction of the midday, and in it alone of all lands grow frankincense
and myrrh and cassia and cinnamon and gum-mastich. All these except
myrrh are got with difficulty by the Arabians. Frankincense they collect
by burning the storax, which is brought thence to the Hellenes by the
Phenicians, by burning this, I say, so as to produce smoke they take
it; for these trees which produce frankincense are guarded by winged
serpents, small in size and of various colours, which watch in great
numbers about each tree, of the same kind as those which attempt to
invade Egypt: 9701 and they cannot be driven away from the trees by any
other thing but only the smoke of storax.
108. The Arabians say also that all the world would have been by this
time filled with these serpents, if that did not happen with regard to
them which I knew happened with regard to vipers: and it seems that the
Divine Providence, as indeed was to be expected, seeing that it is wise,
has made all those animals prolific which are of cowardly spirit and
good for food, in order that they may not be all eaten up and their race
fail, whereas it has made those which are bold and noxious to have small
progeny. For example, because the hare is hunted by every beast and bird
as well as by man, therefore it is so very prolific as it is: and this
is the only one of all beasts which becomes pregnant again before the
former young are born, and has in its womb some of its young covered
with fur and others bare; and while one is just being shaped in the
matrix, another is being conceived. Thus it is in this case; whereas
the lioness, which is the strongest and most courageous of creatures,
produces one cub once only in her life; for when she produces young
she casts out her womb together with her young; and the cause of it is
this:—when the cub being within the mother 98 begins to move about, then
having claws by far sharper than those of any other beast he tears the
womb, and as he grows larger he proceeds much further in his scratching:
at last the time of birth approaches and there is now nothing at all
left of it in a sound condition.
109. Just so also, if vipers and the winged serpents of the Arabians
were produced in the ordinary course of their nature, man would not be
able to live upon the earth; but as it is, when they couple with one
another and the male is in the act of generation, as he lets go from
him the seed, the female seizes hold of his neck, and fastening on to
it does not relax her hold till she has eaten it through. The male then
dies in the manner which I have said, but the female pays the penalty of
retribution for the male in this manner:—the young while they are still
in the womb take vengeance for their father by eating through their
mother, 99 and having eaten through her belly they thus make their way
out for themselves. Other serpents however, which are not hurtful to
man, produce eggs and hatch from them a very large number of offspring.
Now vipers are distributed over all the earth; but the others, which are
winged, are found in great numbers together in Arabia and in no other
land: therefore it is that they appear to be numerous.
110. This frankincense then is obtained thus by the Arabians; and cassia
is obtained as follows:—they bind up in cows'-hide and other kinds of
skins all their body and their face except only the eyes, and then go to
get the cassia. This grows in a pool not very deep, and round the pool
and in it lodge, it seems, winged beasts nearly resembling bats, and
they squeak horribly and are courageous in fight. These they must keep
off from their eyes, and so cut the cassia.