tian lake where Cremnoi stands; now Cremnoi is in
the land of the free Scythians. 109 There the Amazons disembarked from
their ships and made their way into the country, and having met first
with a troop of horses feeding they seized them, and mounted upon these
they plundered the property of the Scythians.

111. The Scythians meanwhile were not able to understand the matter,
for they did not know either their speech or their dress or the race to
which they belonged, but were in wonder as to whence they had come and
thought that they were men, of an age corresponding to their appearance:
and finally they fought a battle against them, and after the battle
the Scythians got possession of the bodies of the dead, and thus
they discovered that they were women. They took counsel therefore and
resolved by no means to go on trying to kill them, but to send against
them the youngest men from among themselves, making conjecture of the
number so as to send just as many men as there were women. These were
told to encamp near them, and do whatsoever they should do; if however
the women should come after them, they were not to fight but to retire
before them, and when the women stopped, they were to approach near and
encamp. This plan was adopted by the Scythians because they desired to
have children born from them.

112. The young men accordingly were sent out and did that which had been
commanded them: and when the Amazons perceived that they had not come
to do them any harm, they let them alone; and the two camps approached
nearer to one another every day: and the young men, like the Amazons,
had nothing except their arms and their horses, and got their living, as
the Amazons did, by hunting and by taking booty.

113. Now the Amazons at midday used to scatter abroad either one by one
or by two together, dispersing to a distance from one another to ease
themselves; and the Scythians also having perceived this did the same
thing: and one of the Scythians came near to one of those Amazons who
were apart by themselves, and she did not repulse him but allowed him
to lie with her: and she could not speak to him, for they did not
understand one another's speech, but she made signs to him with her hand
to come on the following day to the same place and to bring another with
him, signifying to him that there should be two of them, and that she
would bring another with her. The young man therefore, when he returned,
reported this to the o