reputation among the Persians deprived of nose and ears and smeared over
with blood from scourging, supposing assuredly that he was speaking the
truth and had come to be their helper, were ready to put in his power
that for which he asked them, and he asked them that he might command
a certain force. Then when he had obtained this from them, he did that
which he had agreed with Dareios that he would do; for he led out on
the tenth day the army of the Babylonians, and having surrounded the
thousand men whom he had enjoined Dareios first to set there, he slew
them. The Babylonians accordingly, perceiving that the deeds which he
displayed were in accordance with his words, were very greatly rejoiced
and were ready to serve him in all things: and after the lapse of the
days which had been agreed upon, he again chose men of the Babylonians
and led them out and slew the two thousand men of the troops of Dareios.
Seeing this deed also, the Babylonians all had the name of Zopyros upon
their tongues, and were loud in his praise. He then again, after the
lapse of the days which had been agreed upon, led them out to the place
appointed, and surrounded the four thousand and slew them. When this
also had been done, Zopyros was everything among the Babylonians, and he
was appointed both commander of their army and guardian of their walls.
158. But when Dareios made an attack according to the agreement on every
side of the wall, then Zopyros discovered all his craft: for while
the Babylonians, having gone up on the wall, were defending themselves
against the attacks of the army of Dareios, Zopyros opened the gates
called the gates of Kissia and of Belos, and let in the Persians within
the wall. And of the Babylonians those who saw that which was done fled
to the temple of Zeus Belos, but those who did not see remained each in
his own appointed place, until at last they also learnt that they had
been betrayed.
159. Thus was Babylon conquered for the second time: and Dareios when he
had overcome the Babylonians, first took away the wall from round their
city and pulled down all the gates; for when Cyrus took Babylon before
him, he did neither of these things: and secondly Dareios impaled the
leading men to the number of about three thousand, but to the rest of
the Babylonians he gave back their city to dwell in: and to provide that
the Babylonians should have wives, in order that their race might be
propagated, Dareios did as follows (for their own wives, as has been
declared at the beginning, the Babylonians had suffocated, in provident
care for their store of food):—he ordered the nations who dwelt round to
bring women to Babylon, fixing a certain number for each nation, so that
the sum total of fifty thousand women was brought together, and from
these women the present Babylonians are descended.
160. As for Zopyros, in the judgment of Dareios no one of the Persians
surpassed him in good service, either of those who came after or of
those who had gone before, excepting Cyrus alone; for to Cyrus no man of
the Persians ever yet ventured to compare himself: and Dareios is said
to have declared often that he would rather that Zopyros were free
from the injury than that he should have twenty Babylons added to his
possession in addition to that one which he had. Moreover he gave him
great honours; for not only did he give him every year those things
which by the Persians are accounted the most honourable, but also he
granted him Babylon to rule free from tribute, so long as he should
live; and he added many other gifts. The son of this Zopyros was
Megabyzos, who was made commander in Egypt against the Athenians and
their allies; and the son of this Megabyzos was Zopyros, who went over
to Athens as a deserter from the Persians.
—————
NOTES TO BOOK III
1 [ See ii. 1.]
2 [ {'Amasin}. This accusative must be taken with {eprexe}. Some Editors
adopt the conjecture {'Amasi}, to be taken with {memphomenos} as in ch.
4, "did this because he had a quarrel with Amasis."]
3 [ See ii. 152, 154.]
4 [ {Suron}: see ii. 104.]
5 [ {keinon}: most MSS. and many editions have {keimenon}, "laid up."]
6 [ {demarkhon}.]
7 [ {exaireomenos}: explained by some "disembarked" or "unloaded."]
8 [ Or "Orotal."]
9 [ {dia de touton}.]
10 [ {trion}: omitted by some good MSS.]
11 [ See ii. 169.]
12 [ {alla kai tote uathesan ai Thebai psakadi}.]
13 [ The so-called {Leukon teikhon} on the south side of Memphis: cp.
ch. 91.]
14 [ {omoios kai} omitting {a}.]
15 [ {pentakosias mneas}.]
16 [ {aneklaion}: perhaps {anteklaion}, which has most MS. authority,
may be right, "answer their lamentations."]
17 [ See ch. 31.]
18 [ {egeomenon}: some Editors adopt the conjecture {agomenon}, "was
being led."]
19 [ {sphi}: so in the MSS.: some editions (following the Aldine) have
{oi}.]
20 [ {to te}: a correction for {tode}: some Editors read {tode, to}, "by
this, namely by the case of," etc.]
21 [ "gypsum."]
22 [ {epi}, lit. "after."]
23 [ {leukon tetragonon}: so the MSS. Some Editors, in order to bring
the statement of Herodotus into agreement with the fact, read {leukon ti
trigonon}, "a kind of white triangle": so Stein.]
24 [ {epi}: this is altered unnecessarily by most recent Editors to
{upo}, on the authority of Eusebius and Pliny, who say that the mark was
under the tongue.]
25 [ {ekeino}: some understand this to refer to Cambyses, "that there
was no one now who would come to the assistance of Cambyses, if he were
in trouble," an office which would properly have belonged to Smerdis,
cp. ch. 65: but the other reference seems more natural.]
26 [ Epilepsy or something similar.]
2601 [ Cp. note on i. 114.]
27 [ {pros ton patera [telesai] Kuron}: the word {telesai} seems to be
corrupt. Stein suggests {eikasai}, "as compared with." Some Editors omit
the word.]
28 [ {nomon panton basilea pheras einai}: but {nomos} in this fragment
of Pindar is rather the natural law by which the strong prevail over the
weak.]
29 [ {iakhon}: Stein reads by conjecture {skhon}, "having obtained
possession."]
30 [ {mede}: Abicht reads {meden} by conjecture.]
31 [ {alla}, under the influence of the preceding negative.]
32 [ {prosson} refers grammatically only to {autos}, and marks the
reference as being chiefly to himself throughout the sentence.]
33 [ {prorrizos}, "by the roots."]
34 [ {toi tesi pathesi}: the MSS. mostly have {toi autaisi} or
{toiautaisi}.]
35 [ See i. 51.]
36 [ {es Aigupton epetheke}, "delivered it (to a messenger to convey) to
Egypt."]
37 [ The island of Carpathos, the modern Scarpanto.]
38 [ {to thulako periergasthai}: which is susceptible of a variety of
meanings. In a similar story told of the Chians the Spartans are made to
say that it would have been enough to show the empty bag without saying
anything. (Sext. Empir. ii. 23.) Probably the meaning here is that if
they were going to say so much, they need not have shown the bag, for
the words were enough without the sight of the bag: or it may be only
that the words {o thulakos} were unnecessary in the sentence {o thulakos
alphiton deitai}.]
39 [ See i. 70.]
40 [ {genee}. To save the chronology some insert {trite} before {genee},
but this will be useless unless the clause {kata de ton auton khronon
tou kreteros te arpage} be omitted, as it is also proposed to do.
Periander is thought to have died about 585 B.C.; but see v. 95.]
41 [ The MSS. add {eontes eoutoisi}, and apparently something has been
lost. Stein and others follow Valckenär in adding {suggenees}, "are ever
at variance with one another in spite of their kinship."]
42 [ {noo labon}: the MSS. have {now labon kai touto}.]
43 [ {iren zemien}.]
44 [ {tauta ta nun ekhon presseis}: the form of sentence is determined
by its antithesis to {ta agatha ta nun ego ekho}.]
45 [ {basileus}, because already destined as his father's successor.]
46 [ {sphea}: the MSS. have {sphe} here, and in the middle of the next
chapter.]
4601 [ The Lacedemonians who were not Dorians had of course taken part
in the Trojan war.]
47 [ {leuka genetai}.]
48 [ {prutaneia}.]
49 [ {lokhon}.]
50 [ {prosiskhon}: some read {proseskhon}, "had put in."]
51 [ {kai ton tes Diktunes neon}: omitted by some Editors.]
52 [ {orguias}.]
53 [ {stadioi}.]
54 [ {kai}: the MSS. have {kata}.]
55 [ {en te gar anthropeie phusi ouk enen ara}.]
56 [ Or possibly, "the most necessary of those things which remain to be
done, is this."]
57 [ {apistie polle upekekhuto}, cp. ii. 152.]
58 [ Or perhaps Phaidymia.]
59 [ {Gobrues} or {Gobrues}.]
60 [ {'Intaphrenea}: this form, which is given by at least one MS.
throughout, seems preferable, as being closer to the Persian name
which it represents, "Vindafrana," cp. v. 25. Most of the MSS. have
{'Intaphernea}.]
61 [ {phthas emeu}.]
62 [ {ti}: some MSS. have {tis}, "in order that persons may trust
(themselves) to them more."]
63 [ i.e. "let him be killed on the spot."]
64 [ {ta panta muria}, "ten thousand of every possible thing," (or, "of
all the usual gifts"; cp. ch. 84 {ten pasan doreen}).]
65 [ {dethen}.]
66 [ {oideonton ton pregmaton}: "while things were swelling," cp. ch.
127: perhaps here, "before things came to a head."]
6601 [ {andreona}, as in ch. 121.]
67 [ {ana te edramon palin}, i.e. they ran back into the room out of
which they had come to see what was the matter; with this communicated a
bedchamber which had its light only by the open door of communication.]
6701 [ {magophonia}.]
68 [ Or, "after it had lasted more than five days," taking {thorubos}
as the subject of {egeneto}. The reason for mentioning the particular
number five seems to be contained in the passage quoted by Stein from
Sextus Empiricus, {enteuphen kai oi Person kharientes nomon ekhousi,
basileos par' autois teleutesantos pente tas ephexes emeras anomian
agein}.]
69 [ See vi. 43.]
70 [ {isonomie}, "equal distribution," i.e. of civil rights.]
71 [ {ouden oikeion}: the MSS. have {ouden oud' oikeion}, which might be
translated "anything of its own either."]
72 [ {to lego}: the MSS. have {ton lego}, "each of the things about
which I speak being best in its own kind." The reading {to logo}, which
certainly gives a more satisfactory meaning, is found in Stobæus, who
quotes the passage.]
73 [ {kakoteta}, as opposed to the {arete} practised by the members of
an aristocracy.]
74 [ {okto kaiebdomekonta mneas}: the MSS. have {ebdomekonta mneas}
only, and this reading seems to have existed as early as the second
century of our era: nevertheless the correction is required, not only by
the facts of the case, but also by comparison with ch. 95.]
75 [ {nomos}, and so throughout.]
76 [ or "Hygennians."]
77 [ i.e. the Cappadokians, see i. 6.]
7701 [ See ii. 149.]
78 [ {muriadas}: the MSS. have {muriasi}. With {muriadas} we must supply
{medimnon}. The {medimnos} is really about a bushel and a half.]
79 [ {Pausikai}: some MSS. have {Pausoi}.]
80 [ {tous anaspastous kaleomenous}.]
81 [ {Kaspioi}: some read by conjecture {Kaspeiroi}, others {Kasioi}.]
82 [ {ogdokonta kai oktakosia kai einakiskhilia}: the MSS. have
{tesserakonta kai pentakosia kai einakiskhilia} (9540), which is
irreconcilable with the total sum given below, and also with the sum
obtained by adding up the separate items given in Babylonian talents,
whether we reduce them by the proportion 70:60 given by the MSS. in ch.
89, or by the true proportion 78:60. On the other hand the total
sum given below is precisely the sum of the separate items (after
subtracting the 140 talents used for the defence of Kilikia), reduced
in the proportion 78:60; and this proves the necessity of the emendation
here ({thop} for {thphm}) as well as supplying a strong confirmation of
that adopted in ch. 89.]
83 [ The reckoning throughout is in round numbers, nothing less than the
tens being mentioned.]
84 [ {oi peri te Nusen}: perhaps this should be corrected to {oi te peri
Nusen}, because the {sunamphoteroi} which follows seem to refer to two
separate peoples.]
85 [ The passage "these Ethiopians—dwellings" is marked by Stein as
doubtful on internal grounds. The Callantian Indians mentioned seem to
be the same as the Callantians mentioned in ch. 38.]
86 [ {khoinikas}.]
87 [ {dia penteteridos}.]
88 [ i.e. the Indus.]
89 [ Either {auton tekomenon} is to be taken absolutely, equivalent to
{autou tekomenou}, and {ta krea} is the subject of {diaphtheiresthai};
or {auton} is the subject and {ta krea} is accusative of definition,
"wasting away in his flesh." Some MSS. have {diaphtheirein}, "that he is
spoiling his flesh for them."]
90 [ {gar}: some would read {de}, but the meaning seems to be, "this is
done universally, for in the case of weakness arising from old age, the
same takes place."]
91 [ {pros arktou te kai boreo anemou}.]
92 [ This clause indicates the manner in which the size is so exactly
known.]
93 [ {autoi}, i.e. in themselves as well as in their habits. Some MSS.
read {to} for {autoi}, which is adopted by several Editors; others adopt
the conjecture {autois}.]
94 [ i.e. two in each hind-leg.]
95 [ {kai paraluesthai}: {kai} is omitted in some MSS. and by some
Editors.]
96 [ {ouk omou}: some Editors omit {ouk}: the meaning seems to be that
in case of necessity they are thrown off one after another to delay the
pursuing animals.]
97 [ The meaning of the passage is doubtful: possibly it should be
translated (omitting {kai}) "the male camels, being inferior in speed to
the females, flag in their course and are dragged along, first one and
then the other."]
9701 [ See ii. 75.]
98 [ {metri}: the MSS. have {metre}, "womb," but for this Herod. seems
to use the plural.]
99 [ {metera}: most MSS. have {metran}.]
100 [ Most of the MSS. have {auton} before {ta melea}, which by some
Editors is omitted, and by others altered to {autika}. If {auton} is to
stand it must be taken with {katapetomenas}, "flying down upon them,"
and so it is punctuated in the Medicean MS.]
101 [ {elkea}. There is a play upon the words {epelkein} and {elkea}
which can hardly be reproduced in translation.]
102 [ {Kassiteridas}.]
103 [ {o kassiteros}.]
104 [ cp. iv. 13.]
105 [ {akinakea}.]
106 [ This is the second of the satrapies mentioned in the list, see
ch. 90, named from its chief town. Oroites also possessed himself of the
first satrapy, of which the chief town was Magnesia (ch. 122), and then
of the third (see ch. 127).]
107 [ The satrapy of Daskyleion is the third in the list, see ch. 90.]
108 [ {su gar en andron logo}.]
109 [ Or, "banqueting hall," cp. iv. 95.]
110 [ {apestrammenon}: most of the MSS. have {epestrammenon}, "turned
towards (the wall)."]
11001 [ "whenever he (i.e. Zeus) rained."]
111 [ This clause, "as Amasis the king of Egypt had foretold to him," is
omitted in some MSS. and by some Editors.]
112 [ {oideonton eti ton pregmaton}: cp. ch. 76.]
113 [ i.e. satrapies: see ch. 89, 90.]
114 [ {apikomenon kai anakomisthenton}: the first perhaps referring to
the slaves and the other to the rest of the property.]
115 [ i.e. the art of evasion.]
116 [ {es tou khrosou ten theken}: {es} is not in the MSS., which
have generally {tou khrusou sun theke}: one only has {tou khrusou ten
theken}.]
117 [ {stateras}: i.e. the {stater Dareikos} "Daric," worth about £1;
cp. note on vii. 28.]
118 [ {ekaton mneon}, "a hundred minae," of which sixty go to the
talent.]
119 [ This passage, from "for this event happened" to the end of the
chapter, is suspected as an interpolation by some Editors, on internal
grounds.]
120 [ Tarentum. Italy means for Herodotus the southern part of the
peninsula only.]
121 [ {restones}: so one inferior MS., probably by conjectural
emendation: the rest have {krestones}. The Ionic form however of
{rastone} would be {reistone}. Some would read {khrestones}, a word
which is not found, but might mean the same as {kresmosunes} (ix. 33),
"in consequence of the request of Demokedes."]
122 [ {kat' emporien strateuomenoi}: some MSS. read {kat' emporien, oi
de strateuomenoi}, "some for trade, others serving in the army."]
123 [ {prothura}.]
124 [ {e tis e oudeis}.]
125 [ {isonomien}: see ch. 80, note.]
126 [ {all' oud' axios eis su ge}. Maiandrios can claim no credit or
reward for giving up that of which by his own unworthiness he would in
any case have been deprived.]
127 [ {ou de ti}: some read {oud' eti} or {ou de eti}, "no longer kept
the purpose."]
128 [ {en gorgure}: the word also means a "sewer" or "conduit."]
129 [ {prosempikraneesthai emellon toisi Samioisi}.]
130 [ {tous diphrophoreumenous}: a doubtful word: it seems to be a sort
of title belonging to Persians of a certain rank, perhaps those who were
accompanied by men to carry seats for them, the same as the {thronoi}
mentioned in ch. 144; or, "those who were borne in litters."]
131 [ {sageneusantes}: see vi. 31. The word is thought by Stein to have
been interpolated here.]
132 [ Or, "are very highly accounted and tend to advancement."]
133 [ "opposite to."]
134 [ The words "and to the Persians" are omitted in some MSS.]
BOOK IV. THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIES, CALLED MELPOMENE
1. After Babylon had been taken, the march of Dareios himself 1 against
the Scythians took place: for now that Asia was flourishing in respect
of population, and large sums were being gathered in as revenue, Dareios
formed the desire to take vengeance upon the Scythians, because they
had first invaded the Median land and had overcome in fight those
who opposed them; and thus they had been the beginners of wrong. The
Scythians in truth, as I have before said, 2 had ruled over Upper Asia
3 for eight-and-twenty years; for they had invaded Asia in their pursuit
of the Kimmerians, and they had deposed 4 the Medes from their rule, who
had rule over Asia before the Scythians came. Now when the Scythians had
been absent from their own land for eight-and-twenty years, as they were
returning to it after that interval of time, they were met by a contest
5 not less severe than that which they had had with the Medes, since
they found an army of no mean size opposing them. For the wives of the
Scythians, because their husbands were absent from them for a long time,
had associated with the slaves.
2. Now the Scythians put out the eyes of all their slaves because of the
milk which they drink; and they do as follows:—they take blow-pipes of
bone just like flutes, and these they insert into the vagina of the mare
and blow with their mouths, and others milk while they blow: and they
say that they do this because the veins of the mare are thus filled,
being blown out, and so the udder is let down. When they had drawn the
milk they pour it into wooden vessels hollowed out, and they set the
blind slaves in order about 6 the vessels and agitate the milk. Then
that which comes to the top they skim off, considering it the more
valuable part, whereas they esteem that which settles down to be less
good than the other. For this reason 7 the Scythians put out the eyes of
all whom they catch; for they are not tillers of the soil but nomads.
3. From these their slaves then, I say, and from their wives had been
born and bred up a generation of young men, who having learnt the manner
of their birth set themselves to oppose the Scythians as they were
returning from the Medes. And first they cut off their land by digging
a broad trench extending from the Tauric mountains to the Maiotian
lake, at the point where 8 this is broadest; then afterwards when the
Scythians attempted to invade the land, they took up a position against
them and fought; and as they fought many times, and the Scythians were
not able to get any advantage in the fighting, one of them said: "What a
thing is this that we are doing, Scythians! We are fighting against our
own slaves, and we are not only becoming fewer in number ourselves by
being slain in battle, but also we are killing them, and so we shall
have fewer to rule over in future. Now therefore to me it seems good
that we leave spears and bows and that each one take his horse-whip
and so go up close to them: for so long as they saw us with arms in our
hands, they thought themselves equal to us and of equal birth; but when
they shall see that we have whips instead of arms, they will perceive
that they are our slaves, and having acknowledged this they will not
await our onset."
4. When they heard this, the Scythians proceeded to do that which he
said, and the others being panic-stricken by that which was done forgot
their fighting and fled. Thus the Scythians had ruled over Asia; and
in such manner, when they were driven out again by the Medes, they had
returned to their own land. For this Dareios wished to take vengeance
upon them, and was gathering together an army to go against them.
5. Now the Scythians say that their nation is the youngest of all
nations, and that this came to pass as follows:—The first man who ever
existed in this region, which then was desert, was one named Targitaos:
and of this Targitaos they say, though I do not believe it for my part,
however they say the parents were Zeus and the daughter of the river
Borysthenes. Targitaos, they report, was produced from some such origin
as this, and of him were begotten three sons, Lipoxaïs and Arpoxaïs
and the youngest Colaxaïs. In the reign of these 9 there came down from
heaven certain things wrought of gold, a plough, a yoke, a battle-axe,
10 and a cup, and fell in the Scythian land: and first the eldest saw
and came near them, desiring to take them, but the gold blazed with fire
when he approached it: then when he had gone away from it, the second
approached, and again it did the same thing. These then the gold
repelled by blazing with fire; but when the third and youngest came up
to it, the flame was quenched, and he carried them to his own house.
The elder brothers then, acknowledging the significance of this thing,
delivered the whole of the kingly power to the youngest.
6. From Lixopaïs, they say, are descended those Scythians who are called
the race of the Auchatai; from the middle brother Arpoxaïs those who are
called Catiaroi and Traspians, and from the youngest of them the "Royal"
tribe, 11 who are called Paralatai: and the whole together are called,
they say, Scolotoi, after the name of their king; 12 but the Hellenes
gave them the name of Scythians.
7. Thus the Scythians say they were produced; and from the time of their
origin, that is to say from the first king Targitaos, to the passing
over of Dareios against them, they say that there is a period of a
thousand years and no more. Now this sacred gold is guarded by the
kings with the utmost care, and they visit it every year with solemn
sacrifices of propitiation: moreover if any one goes to sleep while
watching in the open air over this gold during the festival, the
Scythians say that he does not live out the year; and there is given him
for this so much land as he shall ride round himself on his horse in one
day. Now as the land was large, Colaxaïs, they say, established three
kingdoms for his sons; and of these he made one larger than the rest,
and in this the gold is kept. But as to the upper parts which lie on the
North side of those who dwell above this land, they say one can neither
see nor pass through any further by reason of feathers which are poured
down; for both the earth and the air are full of feathers, and this is
that which shuts off the view.
8. Thus say the Scythians about themselves and about the region
above them; but the Hellenes who dwell about the Pontus say as
follows:—Heracles driving the cattle of Geryones came to this land, then
desert, which the Scythians now inhabit; and Geryones, says the tale,
dwelt away from the region of the Pontus, living in the island called
by the Hellenes Erytheia, near Gadeira which is outside the Pillars of
Heracles by the Ocean.—As to the Ocean, they say indeed that it flows
round the whole earth beginning from the place of the sunrising, but
they do not prove this by facts.—From thence Heracles came to the land
now called Scythia; and as a storm came upon him together with icy cold,
he drew over him his lion's skin and went to sleep. Meanwhile the mares
harnessed in his chariot disappeared by a miraculous chance, as they
were feeding.