en agreed upon by
Darius, he gained another victory, destroying, on this occasion, twice
as many Persians as before. These exploits gained the pretended
deserter unbounded fame and honor within the city. The populace
applauded him with continual acclamations; and the magistrates invited
him to their councils, offered him high command, and governed their
own plans and measures by his advice. At length, on the twentieth day,
he made his third sally, at which time he destroyed and captured a
still greater number than before. This gave him such an influence and
position within the city, in respect to its defense, that he had no
difficulty in getting intrusted with the keys of certain gates--those,
namely, by which he had agreed that the army of Darius should be
admitted.

When the time arrived, the Persians advanced to the attack of the city
in that quarter, and the Babylonians rallied as usual on the walls to
repel them. The contest had scarcely begun before they found that the
gates were open, and that the columns of the enemy were pouring in.
The city was thus soon wholly at the mercy of the conqueror. Darius
dismantled the walls, carried off the brazen gates, and crucified
three thousand of the most distinguished inhabitants; then
establishing over the rest a government of his own, he withdrew his
troops and returned to Susa. He bestowed upon Zopyrus, at Susa, all
possible rewards and honors. The marks of his wounds and mutilations
could never be effaced, but Darius often said that he would gladly
give up twenty Babylons to be able to efface them.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE INVASION OF SCYTHIA.

B.C. 513

Darius's authority fully established throughout his
dominions.--The Scythians.--Ancient account of them.--Pictures of
savage life.--Their diversity.--Social instincts of man.--Their
universality.--Moral sentiments of mankind.--Religious
depravity.--Advice of Artabanus.--Emissaries sent forward.--The
petition of Oebazus.--Darius's wanton cruelty.--Place of
rendezvous.--The fleet of galleys.--Darius's march through Asia
Minor.--Monuments.--Arrival at the Bosporus.--The bridge of
boats.--Reward of Mandrocles.--The group of statuary.--The Cyanean
Islands.--Darius makes an excursion to them.--The two
monuments.--Inscriptions on them.--The troops cross the
bridge.--Movements of the fleet.--The River Tearus.--Its wonderful
sources.--The cairn.--Primitive mode of census-taking.--Instinctive
feeling of dependence on a s