e country.

But as soon as the libation was ended and they had sung the hymn, up
got first some Thracians, who performed a dance under arms to the
sound of a pipe, leaping high into the air with much nimbleness, and
brandishing their swords, till at last one man struck his fellow, and
every one thought he was really wounded, so skilfully and artistically 6
did he fall, and the Paphlagonians screamed out. Then he that gave the
blow stripped the other of his arms, and marched off chanting the
"Sitalcas (1)," whilst others of the Thracians bore off the other, who
lay as if dead, though he had not received even a scratch.

(1) I.e. the national Thracian hymn; for Sitalcas the king, a national
hero, see Thuc. ii. 29.

After this some Aenianians (2) and Magnesians got up and fell to
dancing the Carpaea, as it is called, under arms. This was the manner
of the dance: one man lays aside his arms and proceeds to drive a yoke
of oxen, and while he drives he sows, turning him about frequently, as
though he were afraid of something; up comes a cattle-lifter, and no
sooner does the ploughman catch sight of him afar, than he snatches up
his arms and confronts him. They fight in front of his team, and all
in rhythm to the sound of the pipe. At last the robber binds the
countryman and drives off the team. Or sometimes the cattle-driver
binds the robber, and then he puts him under the yoke beside the oxen,
with his two hands tied behind his back, and off he drives.

(2) The Aenianians, an Aeolian people inhabiting the upper valley of
the Sperchius (the ancient Phthia); their capital was Hypata.
These men belonged to the army collected by Menon, the Thessalian.
So, doubtless, did the Magnesians, another Aeolian tribe occupying
the mountainous coast district on the east of Thessaly. See
Kiepert's "Man. Anct. Geog." (Macmillan's tr.), chap. vi.. 161,
170.

After this a Mysian came in with a light shield in either hand and
danced, at one time going through a pantomime, as if he were dealing
with two assailants at once; at another plying his shields as if to
face a single foe, and then again he would whirl about and throw
somersaults, keeping the shields in his hands, so that it was a
beautiful spectacle. Last of all he danced the Persian dance, clashing
the shields together, crouching down on one knee and springing up
again from earth; and all this he did in measured time to the sound of
the flute. After