art from them, and going regularly to war, and wearing the same dress
as the men.

117. And the Sauromatai make use of the Scythian tongue, speaking it
barbarously however from the first, since the Amazons did not learn it
thoroughly well. As regards marriages their rule is this, that no maiden
is married until she has slain a man of their enemies; and some of them
even grow old and die before they are married, because they are not able
to fulfil the requirement of the law.

118. To the kings of these nations then, which have been mentioned
in order, the messengers of the Scythians came, finding them gathered
together, and spoke declaring to them how the Persian king, after having
subdued all things to himself in the other continent, had laid a bridge
over the neck of the Bosphorus and had crossed over to that continent,
and having crossed over and subdued the Thracians, was making a bridge
over the river Ister, desiring to bring under his power all these
regions also. "Do ye therefore," they said, "by no means stand aloof and
allow us to be destroyed, but let us become all of one mind and oppose
him who is coming against us. If ye shall not do so, we on our part
shall either be forced by necessity to leave our land, or we shall stay
in it and make a treaty with the invader; for what else can we do if ye
are not willing to help us? and for you after this 110 it will be in
no respect easier; for the Persian has come not at all less against you
than against us, nor will it content him to subdue us and abstain from
you. And of the truth of that which we say we will mention a strong
evidence: if the Persian had been making his expedition against us
alone, because he desired to take vengeance for the former servitude,
he ought to have abstained from all the rest and to have come at once to
invade our land, and he would thus have made it clear to all that he
was marching to fight against the Scythians and not against the rest.
In fact however, ever since he crossed over to this continent, he has
compelled all who came in his way to submit to him, and he holds under
him now not only the other Thracians but also the Getai, who are our
nearest neighbours."

119. When the Scythians proposed this, the kings who had come from the
various nations took counsel together, and their opinions were divided.
The kings of the Gelonians, of the Budinoi and of the Sauromatai agreed
together and accepted the proposal that they should help th