Amasis, the leader of the infantry, employed the following stratagem :-being convinced that the Barceans were not to be overcome by any open attacks, he sunk in the night a large and deep trench: the surface of this he covered with some slight pieces of wood, then placing earth over the whole, the ground had uniformly the same appearance. At the dawn of the morning he invited the Barceans to a conference; they willingly assented, being very desirous to come to terms. Accordingly they entered into a treaty, of which these were the conditions: it was to remain valid as long as the earth on which the agreement was made should retain its present appearance: The Barceans were to pay the Persian monarch a certain reasonable tribute; and the Persians engaged themselves to undertake nothing in future to the detriment of the Barceans. Relying on these engagements, the Barceans, without hesitation, threw open the gates of their city; going out and in themselves without fear of consequences, and permitting without restraint such of the enemy as pleased to come within their walls. The Persians, withdrawing the artificial support of the earth where they had sunk a trench, entered the city in crowds; they imagined by this artifice that they had fulfilled all they had undertaken, and were brought back to the situation in which they were mutually before: for, in reality, this support of the earth being taken away, the oath they had taken became void.

CCII. The Persians seized and surrendered to the power of Pheretime such of the Barceans as had been instrumental in the death of her son. These she crucified on different parts of the walls; she cut off also the breasts of their wives, and suspended them in a similar situation. She permitted the Persians to plunder the rest of the Barceans, except the Battiada,

and those who were not concerned in the murder. These she suffered to retain their situations and property.

CCIII. The rest of the Barceans being reduced to servitude, the Persians returned home. Arriving at Cyrene, the inhabitants of that place granted them a free passage through their territories, from reverence to some oracle. Whilst they were on their passage Bares, commander of the fleet, solicited them to plunder Cyrene; which was opposed by Amasis, leader of the infantry, who urged that their orders were only against Barce. When, passing Cyrene, they had arrived at the hill of the Lycean Jupiter,' they expressed regret at not having plundered it. They accordingly returned, and endeavored a second time to enter the place, but the Cyreneans would not suffer them. Although no one attempted to attack them, the Persians were seized with such a panic, that returning in haste, they encamped at the distance of about sixty stadia from the city. Whilst they remained here a messenger came from Aryandes, ordering them to return. On this the Persians made application to the Cyreneans for a supply of provisions; which being granted, they returned to Egypt. In their march they were incessantly harassed by the Libyans for the sake of their clothes and utensils. In their progress to Egypt whoever was surprised or left behind was instantly put to death.

CCIV. The farthest progress of this Persian army was to the country of the Euesperida. Their Barcean captives they carried with them from Egypt to King Darius, who assigned them for their residence a

1 Lycaon erected a temple to Jupiter in Parrhasia, and instituted games in his honor. No one was permitted to enter this temple; he who did was stoned.-Larcher.

portion of land in the Bactrian district, to which they gave the name of Barce; this has within my time contained a greater number of inhabitants.

CCV. The life however of Pheretime had by no means a fortunate termination. Having gratified her revenge on the Barceans she returned from Libya to Egypt, and there perished miserably. Whilst alive, her body was the victim of worms: thus it is that the gods punish those who have provoked their indignation; and such also was the vengeance which Pheretime, the wife of Battus, exercised on the Barceans.

BOOK V. TERPSICHORE.

CHAP. I. THE Persians who had been left in Europe by Darius, under the conduct of Megabyzus, commenced their hostilities on the Hellespont with the conquest of the Perinthii, who had refused to acknowlege the authority of Darius, and had formerly been

1 This passage, with the reasoning of Herodotus on it, cannot fail to bring to the mind of the reader the miserable end of Herod, surnamed the Great.

'And he went down to Cæsarea, and there abode: and on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.'-See Lardner's observations on the above historical incident.-T.

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vanquished by the Pæonians. This latter people, inhabiting the banks of the Strymon, had been induced by an oracle to make war on the Perinthians : if the Perinthians on their meeting offered them battle, provoking them by name, they were to accept the challenge; if otherwise, they were to decline all contest. It happened accordingly that the Perinthians marched into the country of the Pæonians, and encamping before their town, sent them three specific challenges, a man to encounter with a man, a horse with a horse, a dog with a dog. The Perinthians having the advantage in the two former contests, sung with exultation a song of triumph; this the Pæonians conceived to be the purport of the oracle: Now,' they exclaimed, the oracle will be fulfilled; this is the time for us.' They attacked therefore the Perinthians, whilst engaged in their imaginary triumph, and obtained so signal a victory that few of their adversaries escaped.

II. Such was the overthrow which the Perinthians received in their conflict with the Pæonians: on the present occasion they fought valiantly in defence of their liberties against Megabyzus, but were overpowered by the superior numbers of the Persians. After the capture of Perinthus, Megabyzus overran Thrace with his forces, and reduced all its cities and

1 Larcher renders this passage sung the Pæon,' and subjoins this note: Of this song there were two kinds, one was chaunted before the battle, in honor of Mars; the other after the victory, in honor of Apollo: this song commenced with the words Io Pæon.' The allusion of the word Pæon to the name of the Pæonians is obvious, to preserve which I have rendered it' sung the Pæon.'-The usage and application of the word Pæon, amongst the ancients, was various and equivocal: the composition of Pindar, in praise of all the gods, was called Pæan; and Pæan was also one of the names of Apollo. To which it may be added, that Pæan being originally a hymn to Apollo, from his name Pæan, became afterwards extended in its use to such addresses to other gods.'

inhabitants under the power of the king: the conquest of Thrace had been particularly enjoined him by Darius.

III. Next to India, Thrace is of all nations the most considerable if the inhabitants were either under the government of an individual, or united amongst themselves, their strength would in my opinion render them invincible; but this is a thing impossible, and they are of course but feeble. Each different district has a different appellation; but except the Getæ, the Trausi, and those beyond Crestona, they are marked by a general similitude of manners.

IV. Of the Getæ, who pretend to be immortal, I have before spoken. The Trausi have a general uniformity with the rest of the Thracians, except in what relates to the birth of their children, and the burial of their dead. On the birth of a child, he is placed in the midst of a circle of his relations, who lament aloud the evils which, as a human being, he must necessarily undergo, all of which they particularly enumerate; but whenever any one dies, the body is committed to the ground with clamorous joy, for the deceased, they say, delivered from his miseries, is then supremely happy.

V. Those beyond the Crestonians have these observances each person has several wives: if the husband dies, a great contest commences amongst his wives, in which the friends of the deceased interest themselves exceedingly, to determine which of them had been most beloved. She to whom this honor is ascribed is gaudily decked out by her friends, and then sacrificed by her nearest relation on the tomb of her husband,' with whom she is afterwards buried: his

1 This custom was also observed by the Getæ: at this day,