not yet ended. After the death of Tomyris discord broke out among the
Massagetae. Two claimants for the crown appeared; half our nation fought
for the one, half for the other, and our hosts were thinned, first by
this fearful civil war and then by the pestilence which followed in its
track. We can no longer resist your power, and therefore come with heavy
loads of pure gold as the price of peace."

"Ye submit then without striking a blow?" asked Cambyses. "Verily, I had
expected something else from such heroes; the numbers of my host, which
waits assembled on the plains of Media, will prove that. We cannot go to
battle without an enemy. I will dismiss my troops and send a satrap. Be
welcome as new subjects of my realm."

The red blood mounted into the cheeks of the Massagetan warrior
on hearing these words, and he answered in a voice trembling with
excitement: "You err, O King, if you imagine that we have lost our old
courage, or learnt to long for slavery. But we know your strength; we
know that the small remnant of our nation, which war and pestilence have
spared, cannot resist your vast and well-armed hosts. This we admit,
freely and honestly as is the manner of the Massagetae, declaring
however at the same time, that we are determined to govern ourselves
as of yore, and will never receive laws or ordinances from a Persian
satrap. You are wroth, but I can bear your angry gaze and yet repeat my
declaration."

"And my answer," cried Cambyses, "is this: Ye have but one choice:
either to submit to my sceptre, become united to the kingdom of Persia
under the name of the Massagetan province, and receive a satrap as my
representative with due reverence, or to look upon yourselves as my
enemies, in which case you will be forced by arms to conform to those
conditions which I now offer you in good part. To-day you could secure
a ruler well-affected to your cause, later you will find in me only a
conqueror and avenger. Consider well before you answer."

"We have already weighed and considered all," answered the warrior,
"and, as free sons of the desert, prefer death to bondage. Hear what the
council of our old men has sent me to declare to you:--The Massageta;
have become too weak to oppose the Persians, not through their own
fault, but through the heavy visitation of our god, the sun. We know
that you have armed a vast host against us, and we are ready to buy
peace and liberty by a yearly tribute. But if you persist in comp