THE RETREAT FROM SCYTHIA.
B.C. 513
Motive for Darius's invasion.--The foundation of government.--Darius
without justification in invading Scythia.--Alarm of the
Scythians.--Condition of the tribes.--Men metamorphosed into
wolves.--Story of the Amazons.--Adventures of the Amazons.--Two of
them captured.--The corps of cavaliers.--Their maneuvers.--Success
of the cavaliers.--Matrimonial alliances.--The Amazons rule their
husbands.--They establish a separate tribe.--The Scythians send an
embassy to the neighboring tribes.--Habits of the Scythians.--Their
mode of warfare.--Message to Indathyrsus.--His reply.--The Scythian
cavalry.--Their attacks on the Persians.--Braying of the Persian
asses.--Scythians sent to the bridge.--Agreement with the
Ionians.--The Scythians change their policy.--The Scythians' strange
presents.--Various interpretations.--Opinions of the Persian
officers.--The Scythians draw up their forces.--The armies prepare
for battle.--Hunting the hare.--The Persians resolve to
retreat.--Stratagem and secret flight.--Surrender of the
camp.--Difficulties of the retreat.--The bridge partially
destroyed.--Darius arrives at the Danube.--The bridge repaired.--The
army returns to Asia.
The motive which dictated Darius's invasion of Scythia seems to have
been purely a selfish and domineering love of power. The attempts of a
stronger and more highly civilized state to extend its dominion over a
weaker and more lawless one, are not, however, necessarily and always
of this character. Divine Providence, in making men gregarious in
nature, has given them an instinct of organization, which is as
intrinsic and as essential a characteristic of the human soul as
maternal love or the principle of self-preservation. The right,
therefore, of organizations of men to establish law and order among
themselves, and to extend these principles to other communities around
them, so far as such interpositions are really promotive of the
interests and welfare of those affected by them, rests on precisely
the same foundation as the right of the father to govern the child.
This foundation is the existence and universality of an instinctive
principle implanted by the Creator in the human heart; a principle
which we are bound to submit to, both because it is a fundamental and
constituent element in the very structure of man, and because its
recognition and the acknowledgment of its authority are absolutely
essential to his continued existence. Wherever law and order,
therefore, among men do not exist, it may be properly established and
enforced by any neighboring organization that has power to do it, just
as wherever there is a group of children they may be justly controlled
and governed by their father. It seems equally unnecessary to invent a
fictitious and wholly imaginary _compact_ to justify the jurisdiction
in the one case as in the other.
If the Scythians, therefore, had been in a state of confusion and
anarchy, Darius might justly have extended his own well-regulated and
settled government over them, and, in so doing, would have promoted
the general good of mankind. But he had no such design. It was a
desire for personal aggrandizement, and a love of fame and power,
which prompted him. He offered it as a pretext to justify his
invasion, that the Scythians, in former years, had made incursions
into the Persian dominions; but this was only a pretext. The
expedition was a wanton attack upon neighbors whom he supposed unable
to resist him, simply for the purpose of adding to his own already
gigantic power.
When Darius commenced his march from the river, the Scythians had
heard rumors of his approach. They sent, as soon as they were aware of
the impending danger, to all the nations and tribes around them, in
order to secure their alliance and aid. These people were all
wandering and half-savage tribes, like the Scythians themselves,
though each seems to have possessed its own special and distinctive
mark of barbarity. One tribe were accustomed to carry home the heads
of the enemies which they had slain in battle, and each one, impaling
his own dreadful trophy upon a stake, would set it up upon his
house-top, over the chimney, where they imagined that it would have
the effect of a charm, and serve as a protection for the family.
Another tribe lived in habits of promiscuous intercourse, like the
lower orders of animals; and so, as the historian absurdly states,
being, in consequence of this mode of life, all connected together by
the ties of consanguinity, they lived in perpetual peace and good
will, without any envy, or jealousy, or other evil passion. A third
occupied a region so infested with serpents that they were once driven
wholly out of the country by them. It was said of these people that,
once in every year, they were all metamorphosed into wolves, and,
after remaining for a few days in this form, they were transformed
again into men. A fourth tribe painted their bodies blue and red, and
a fifth were cannibals.
The most remarkable, however, of all the tales related about these
northern savages was the story of the Sauromateans and their Amazonian
wives. The Amazons were a nation of masculine and ferocious women, who
often figure in ancient histories and legends. They rode on horseback
astride like men, and their courage and strength in battle were such
that scarcely any troops could subdue them. It happened, however, upon
one time, that some Greeks conquered a body of them somewhere upon the
shores of the Euxine Sea, and took a large number of them prisoners.
They placed these prisoners on board of three ships, and put to sea.
The Amazons rose upon their captors and threw them overboard, and thus
obtained possession of the ships. They immediately proceeded toward
the shore, and landed, not knowing where they were. It happened to be
on the northwestern coast of the sea that they landed. Here they
roamed up and down the country, until presently they fell in with a
troop of horses. These they seized and mounted, arming themselves, at
the same time, either with the weapons which they had procured on
board the ships, or fabricated, themselves, on the shore. Thus
organized and equipped, they began to make excursions for plunder, and
soon became a most formidable band of marauders. The Scythians of the
country supposed that they were men, but they could learn nothing
certain respecting them. Their language, their appearance, their
manners, and their dress were totally new, and the inhabitants were
utterly unable to conceive who they were, and from what place they
could so suddenly and mysteriously have come.
At last, in one of the encounters which took place, the Scythians took
two of these strange invaders prisoners. To their utter amazement,
they found that they were women. On making this discovery, they
changed their mode of dealing with them, and resolved upon a plan
based on the supposed universality of the instincts of their sex.
They enlisted a corps of the most handsome and vigorous young men that
could be obtained, and after giving them instructions, the nature of
which will be learned by the result, they sent them forth to meet the
Amazons.
The corps of Scythian cavaliers went out to seek their female
antagonists with designs any thing but belligerent. They advanced to
the encampment of the Amazons, and hovered about for some time in
their vicinity, without, however, making any warlike demonstrations.
They had been instructed to show themselves as much as possible to the
enemy, but by no means to fight them. They would, accordingly, draw as
near to the Amazons as was safe, and linger there, gazing upon them,
as if under the influence of some sort of fascination. If the Amazons
advanced toward them, they would fall back, and if the advance
continued, they would retreat fast enough to keep effectually out of
the way. Then, when the Amazons turned, they would turn too, follow
them back, and linger near them, around their encampment, as before.
The Amazonians were for a time puzzled with this strange demeanor, and
they gradually learned to look upon the handsome horsemen at first
without fear, and finally even without hostility. At length, one day,
one of the young horsemen, observing an Amazon who had strayed away
from the rest, followed and joined her. She did not repel him. They
were not able to converse together, as neither knew the language of
the other. They established a friendly intercourse, however, by looks
and signs, and after a time they separated, each agreeing to bring one
of their companions to the place of rendezvous on the following day.
A friendly intercommunication being thus commenced, the example spread
very rapidly; matrimonial alliances began to be formed, and, in a
word, a short time only elapsed before the two camps were united and
intermingled, the Scythians and the Amazons being all paired together
in the most intimate relations of domestic life. Thus, true to the
instincts of their sex, the rude and terrible maidens decided, when
the alternative was fairly presented to them, in favor of husbands and
homes, rather than continuing the life they had led, of independence,
conflict, and plunder. It is curious to observe that the means by
which they were won, namely, a persevering display of admiration and
attentions, steadily continued, but not too eagerly and impatiently
pressed, and varied with an adroit and artful alternation of advances
and retreats, were precisely the same as those by which, in every age,
the attempt is usually made to win the heart of woman from hatred and
hostility to love.
We speak of the Amazonians as having been won; but they were, in fact,
themselves the conquerors of their captors, after all; for it
appeared, in the end, that in the future plans and arrangements of the
united body, they ruled their Scythian husbands, and not the Scythians
them. The husbands wished to return home with their wives, whom, they
said, they would protect and maintain in the midst of their countrymen
in honor and in peace. The Amazons, however, were in favor of another
plan. Their habits and manners were such, they said, that they should
not be respected and beloved among any other people. They wished that
their husbands, therefore, would go home and settle their affairs, and
afterward return and join their wives again, and then that all
together should move to the eastward, until they should find a
suitable place to settle in by themselves. This plan was acceded to by
the husbands, and was carried into execution; and the result was the
planting of a new nation, called the Sauromateans, who thenceforth
took their place among the other barbarous tribes that dwelt upon the
northern shores of the Euxine Sea.
Such was the character of the tribes and nations that dwelt in the
neighborhood of the Scythian country. As soon as Darius had passed the
river, the Scythians sent embassadors to all their people, proposing
to them to form a general alliance against the invader. "We ought to
make common cause against him," said they; "for if he subdues one
nation, it will only open the way for an attack upon the rest. Some of
us are, it is true, more remote than others from the immediate danger,
but it threatens us all equally in the end."
The embassadors delivered their message, and some of the tribes
acceded to the Scythian proposals. Others, however, refused. The
quarrel, they said, was a quarrel between Darius and the Scythians
alone, and they were not inclined to bring upon themselves the
hostility of so powerful a sovereign by interfering. The Scythians
were very indignant at this refusal; but there was no remedy, and they
accordingly began to prepare to defend themselves as well as they
could, with the help of those nations that had expressed a willingness
to join them.
The habits of the Scythians were nomadic and wandering, and their
country was one vast region of verdant and beautiful, and yet, in a
great measure, of uncultivated and trackless wilds. They had few towns
and villages, and those few were of little value. They adopted,
therefore, the mode of warfare which, in such a country and for such a
people, is always the wisest to be pursued. They retreated slowly
before Darius's advancing army, carrying off or destroying all such
property as might aid the king in respect to his supplies. They
organized and equipped a body of swift horsemen, who were ordered to
hover around Darius's camp, and bring intelligence to the Scythian
generals of every movement. These horsemen, too, were to harass the
flanks and the rear of the army, and to capture or destroy every man
whom they should find straying away from the camp. By this means they
kept the invading army continually on the alert, allowing them no
peace and no repose, while yet they thwarted and counteracted all the
plans and efforts which the enemy made to bring on a general battle.
As the Persians advanced in pursuit of the enemy, the Scythians
retreated, and in this retreat they directed their course toward the
countries occupied by those nations that had refused to join in the
alliance. By this artful management they transferred the calamity and
the burden of the war to the territories of their neighbors. Darius
soon found that he was making no progress toward gaining his end. At
length he concluded to try the effect of a direct and open challenge.
He accordingly sent embassadors to the Scythian chief, whose name was
Indathyrsus, with a message somewhat as follows:
"Foolish man! how long will you continue to act in this absurd and
preposterous manner? It is incumbent on you to make a decision in
favor of one thing or the other. If you think that you are able to
contend with me, stop, and let us engage. If not, then acknowledge me
as your superior, and submit to my authority."
The Scythian chief sent back the following reply:
"We have no inducement to contend with you in open battle on the
field, because you are not doing us any injury, nor is it at present
in your power to do us any. We have no cities and no cultivated fields
that you can seize or plunder. Your roaming about our country,
therefore, does us no harm, and you are at liberty to continue it as
long as it gives you any pleasure. There is nothing on our soil that
you can injure, except one spot, and that is the place where the
sepulchres of our fathers lie. If you were to attack that spot--which
you may perhaps do, if you can find it--you may rely upon a battle. In
the mean time, you may go elsewhere, wherever you please. As to
acknowledging your superiority, we shall do nothing of the kind. We
defy you."
Notwithstanding the refusal of the Scythians to give the Persians
battle, they yet made, from time to time, partial and unexpected
onsets upon their camp, seizing occasions when they hoped to find
their enemies off their guard. The Scythians had troops of cavalry
which were very efficient and successful in these attacks. These
horsemen were, however, sometimes thrown into confusion and driven
back by a very singular means of defense. It seems that the Persians
had brought with them from Europe, in their train, a great number of
asses, as beasts of burden, to transport the tents and the baggage of
the army. These asses were accustomed, in times of excitement and
danger, to set up a very terrific braying. It was, in fact, all that
they could do. Braying at a danger seems to be a very ridiculous mode
of attempting to avert it, but it was a tolerably effectual mode,
nevertheless, in this case at least; for the Scythian horses, who
would have faced spears and javelins, and the loudest shouts and
vociferations of human adversaries without any fear, were appalled and
put to flight at hearing the unearthly noises which issued from the
Persian camp whenever they approached it. Thus the mighty monarch of
the whole Asiatic world seemed to depend for protection against the
onsets of these rude and savage troops on the braying of his asses!
* * * * *
While these things were going on in the interior of the country, the
Scythians sent down a detachment of their forces to the banks of the
Danube, to see if they could not, in some way or other, obtain
possession of the bridge. They learned here what the orders were which
Darius had given to the Ionians who had been left in charge, in
respect to the time of their remaining at their post. The Scythians
told them that if they would govern themselves strictly by those
orders, and so break up the bridge and go down the river with their
boats as soon as the two months should have expired, they should not
be molested in the mean time. The Ionians agreed to this. The time was
then already nearly gone, and they promised that, so soon as it should
be fully expired, they would withdraw.
The Scythian detachment sent back word to the main army acquainting
them with these facts, and the army accordingly resolved on a change
in their policy. Instead of harassing and distressing the Persians as
they had done, to hasten their departure, they now determined to
improve the situation of their enemies, and encourage them in their
hopes, so as to protract their stay. They accordingly allowed the
Persians to gain the advantage over them in small skirmishes, and they
managed, also, to have droves of cattle fall into their hands, from
time to time, so as to supply them with food. The Persians were quite
elated with these indications that the tide of fortune was about to
turn in their favor.
While things were in this state, there appeared one day at the Persian
camp a messenger from the Scythians, who said that he had some
presents from the Scythian chief for Darius. The messenger was
admitted, and allowed to deliver his gifts. The gifts proved to be a
bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The Persians asked the bearer
of these strange offerings what the Scythians meant by them. He
replied that he had no explanations to give. His orders were, he said,
to deliver the presents and then return; and that they must,
accordingly, find out the meaning intended by the exercise of their
own ingenuity.
When the messenger had retired, Darius and the Persians consulted
together, to determine what so strange a communication could mean.
They could not, however, come to any satisfactory decision. Darius
said that he thought the three animals might probably be intended to
denote the three kingdoms of nature to which the said animals
respectively belonged, viz., the earth, the air, and the water; and as
the giving up of weapons was a token of submission, the whole might
mean that the Scythians were now ready to give up the contest, and
acknowledge the right of the Persians to supreme and universal
dominion.
The officers, however, did not generally concur in this opinion. They
saw no indications, they said, of any disposition on the part of the
Scythians to surrender. They thought it quite as probable that the
communication was meant to announce to those who received it threats
and defiance, as to express conciliation and submission. "It may
mean," said one of them, "that, unless you can fly like a bird into
the air, or hide like a mouse in the ground, or bury yourselves, like
the frog, in morasses and fens, you can not escape our arrows."
There was no means of deciding positively between these contradictory
interpretations, but it soon became evident that the former of the two
was very far from being correct; for, soon after the present was
received, the Scythians were seen to be drawing up their forces in
array, as if preparing for battle. The two months had expired, and
they had reason to suppose that the party at the bridge had withdrawn,
as they had promised to do. Darius had been so far weakened by his
harassing marches, and the manifold privations and sufferings of his
men, that he felt some solicitude in respect to the result of a
battle, now that it seemed to be drawing near, although such a trial
of strength had been the object which he had been, from the beginning,
most eager to secure.
The two armies were encamped at a moderate distance from each other,
with a plain, partly wooded, between them. While in this position, and
before any hostile action was commenced by either party, it was
observed from the camp of Darius that suddenly a great tumult arose
from the Scythian lines. Men were seen rushing in dense crowds this
way and that over the plain, with shouts and outcries, which, however,
had in them no expression of anger or fear, but rather one of gayety
and pleasure. Darius demanded what the strange tumult meant. Some
messengers were sent out to ascertain the cause, and on their return
they reported that the Scythians were hunting a hare, which had
suddenly made its appearance. The hare had issued from a thicket, and
a considerable portion of the army, officers and soldiers, had
abandoned their ranks to enjoy the sport of pursuing it, and were
running impetuously, here and there, across the plain, filling the air
with shouts of hilarity.
"They do indeed despise us," said Darius, "since, on the eve of a
battle, they can lose all thoughts of us and of their danger, and
abandon their posts to hunt a hare!"
That evening a council of war was held. It was concluded that the
Scythians must be very confident and strong in their position, and
that, if a general battle were to be hazarded, it would be very
doubtful what would be the result. The Persians concluded unanimously,
therefore, that the wisest plan would be for them to give up the
intended conquest, and retire from the country. Darius accordingly
proceeded to make his preparations for a secret retreat.
He separated all the infirm and feeble portion of the army from the
rest, and informed them that he was going that night on a short
expedition with the main body of the troops, and that, while he was
gone, they were to remain and defend the camp. He ordered the men to
build the camp fires, and to make them larger and more numerous than
common, and then had the asses tied together in an unusual situation,
so that they should keep up a continual braying. These sounds, heard
all the night, and the light of the camp fires, were to lead the
Scythians to believe that the whole body of the Persians remained, as
usual, at the encampment, and thus to prevent all suspicion of their
flight.
Toward midnight, Darius marched forth in silence and secrecy, with all
the vigorous and able-bodied forces under his command, leaving the
weary, the sick, and the infirm to the mercy of their enemies. The
long column succeeded in making good their retreat, without exciting
the suspicions of the Scythians. They took the route which they
supposed would conduct them most directly to the river.
When the troops which remained in the camp found, on the following
morning, that they had been deceived and abandoned, they made signals
to the Scythians to come to them, and, when they came, the invalids
surrendered themselves and the camp to their possession. The Scythians
then, immediately, leaving a proper guard to defend the camp, set out
to follow the Persian army. Instead, however, of keeping directly upon
their track, they took a shorter course, which would lead them more
speedily to the river. The Persians, being unacquainted with the
country, got involved in fens and morasses, and other difficulties of
the way, and their progress was thus so much impeded that the
Scythians reached the river before them.
They found the Ionians still there, although the two months had fully
expired. It is possible that the chiefs had received secret orders
from Darius not to hasten their departure, even after the knots had
all been untied; or perhaps they chose, of their own accord, to await
their sovereign's return. The Scythians immediately urged them to be
gone. "The time has expired," they said, "and you are no longer under
any obligation to wait. Return to your own country, and assert your
own independence and freedom, which you can safely do if you leave
Darius and his armies here."
The Ionians consulted together on the subject, doubtful, at first,
what to do. They concluded that they would not comply with the
Scythian proposals, while yet they determined to pretend to comply
with them, in order to avoid the danger of being attacked. They
accordingly began to take the bridge to pieces, commencing on the
Scythian side of the stream. The Scythians, seeing the work thus going
on, left the ground, and marched back to meet the Persians. The
armies, however, fortunately for Darius, missed each other, and the
Persians arrived safely at the river, after the Scythians had left it.
They arrived in the night, and the advanced guard, seeing no
appearance of the bridge on the Scythian side, supposed that the
Ionians had gone. They shouted long and loud on the shore, and at
length an Egyptian, who was celebrated for the power of his voice,
succeeded in making the Ionians hear. The boats were immediately
brought back to their positions, the bridge was reconstructed, and
Darius's army recrossed the stream.
The Danube being thus safely crossed, the army made the best of its
way back through Thrace, and across the Bosporus into Asia, and thus
ended Darius's great expedition against the Scythians.