orce of
seventy thousand troops for so distant an expedition, and possessed of
sufficient science and skill to bridge the Bosporus and the Danube,
could have been under any necessity of adopting so childish a method
as this as a real reliance in regulating their operations. It must be
recollected, however, that, though the commanders in these ancient
days were intelligent and strong-minded men, the common soldiers were
but children both in intellect and in ideas; and it was the custom of
all great commanders to employ outward and visible symbols to
influence and govern them. The sense of loneliness and desertion which
such soldiers would naturally feel in being left in solitude on the
banks of the river, would be much diminished by seeing before them a
marked and definite termination to the period of their stay, and to
have, in the cord hanging up in their camp, a visible token that the
remnant of time that remained was steadily diminishing day by day;
while, in the mean time, Darius was fully determined that, long before
the knots should be all untied, he would return to the river.

CHAPTER IX.

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. T