Herodotus
(Any writing in Bold Type, in Parenthesis, & in Italics is added by me, R. Brown, not the author!)
(gods in blue)
I.201: When Cyrus had achieved the conquest of the Babylonians,
he conceived the desire of bringing the Massagetai under his dominion.
Now the Massagetai are said to be a great and warlike nation,
dwelling eastward, toward the rising of the sun,
beyond the river Araxes, and opposite the Issedonians.
By many they are regarded as a Scythian race.
I.215: In their dress and mode of living the Massagetai resemble the Scythians.
They fight both on horseback and on foot, neither method is strange to them:
they use bows and lances, but their favorite weapon is the battle-ax.
Their arms are all either of gold or brass.
For their spear-points, and arrow-heads, and for their battle-axes,
they make use of brass; for head-gear, belts, and girdles, of gold.
So too with the caparison of their horses, they give them breastplates of brass,
but employ gold about the reins, the bit, and the cheek-plates.
They use neither iron nor silver, having none in their country;
but they have brass and gold in abundance.
I.216: The following are some of their customs:
Each man has but one wife, yet all the wives are held in common;
for this is a custom of the Massagetai and not of the Scythians,
as the Hellenes wrongly say.
Human life does not come to its natural close with this people;
but when a man grows very old,
all his kinsfolk collect together and offer him up in sacrifice;
offering at the same time some cattle also.
After the sacrifice they boil the flesh and feast on it;
and those who thus end their days are reckoned the happiest.
If a man dies of disease they do not eat him, but bury him in the ground,
bewailing his ill-fortune that he did not come to be sacrificed.
They sow no grain, but live on their herds, and on fish,
of which there is great plenty in the Araxes.
Milk is what they chiefly drink.
The only god they worship is the sun, and to him they offer the horse in sacrifice;
under the notion of giving to the swiftest of the gods
the swiftest of all mortal creatures.
I.205: At this time the Massagetai were ruled by a queen,
named Tomyris, who at the death of her husband, the late king,
had mounted the throne.
To her Cyrus sent ambassadors, with instructions to court her on his part,
pretending that he wished to take her to wife.
Tomyris, however, aware that it was her kingdom,
and not herself, that he courted, forbade the men to approach.
Cyrus, therefore, finding that he did not advance his designs by this deceit,
marched towards the Araxes, and openly displaying his hostile intentions;
set to work to construct a bridge on which his army might cross the river,
and began building towers upon the boats which were to be used in the passage.
I.206: While the Persian leader was occupied in these labors,
Tomyris sent a herald to him, who said,
“King of the Medes, cease to press this enterprise,
for you cannot know if what you are doing will be of real advantage to you.
Be content to rule in peace your own kingdom,
and bear to see us reign over the countries that are ours to govern.
As, however, I know you will not choose to hearken to this counsel,
since there is nothing you less desirest than peace and quietness,
come now, if you are so mightily desirous of meeting the Massagetai in arms,
leave your useless toil of bridge-making;
let us retire three days’ march from the river bank,
and do you come across with your soldiers;
or, if you like better to give us battle on your side the stream,
retire yourself an equal distance.”
Cyrus, on this offer, called together the chiefs of the Persians,
and laid the matter before them,
requesting them to advise him what he should do.
All the votes were in favor of his letting Tomyris cross the stream,
and giving battle on Persian ground.
I.207: But Croesus the Lydian,
who was present at the meeting of the chiefs, disapproved of this advice;
he therefore rose, and thus delivered his sentiments in opposition to it:
“Oh! my king! I promised you long since,
that, as Zeus had given me into your hands,
I would, to the best of my power, avert impending danger from your house.
Alas! my own sufferings, by their very bitterness,
have taught me to be keen-sighted of dangers.
If you deem yourself an immortal, and your army an army of immortals,
my counsel will doubtless be thrown away upon you.
But if you feel yourself to be a man, and a ruler of men,
lay this first to heart, that there is a wheel on which the affairs of men revolve,
and that its movement forbids the same man to be always fortunate.
“Now concerning the matter in hand,
my judgment runs counter to the judgment of your other counselors.
For if you agree to give the enemy entrance into your country,
consider what risk is run!
Lose the battle, and therewith your whole kingdom is lost.
For, assuredly, the Massagetai, if they win the fight,
will not return to their homes,
but will push forward against the states of your empire.
Or, if you win the battle, why,
then you win far less than if you were across the stream,
where you might follow up your victory.
For against your loss, if they defeat you on your own ground,
must be set theirs in like case.
Rout their army on the other side of the river,
and you may push at once into the heart of their country.
Moreover, were it not disgrace intolerable for Cyrus the son of Cambyses
to retire before and yield ground to a woman?
“My counsel, therefore, is that we cross the stream,
and pushing forward as far as they shall fall back,
then seek to get the better of them by stratagem.
I am told they are unacquainted with the good things on which the Persians live,
and have never tasted the great delights of life.
Let us then prepare a feast for them in our camp;
let sheep be slaughtered without stint,
and the wine cups be filled full of noble liquor,
and let all manner of dishes be prepared:
then leaving behind us our worst troops, let us fall back towards the river.
Unless I very much mistake, when they see the good fare set out,
they will forget all else and fall to.
Then it will remain for us to do our parts manfully.”
I.208: Cyrus, when the two plans were thus placed in contrast before him,
changed his mind, and preferring the advice which Croesus had given,
returned for answer to Tomyris that she should retire,
and that he would cross the stream.
She therefore retired, as she had engaged;
and Cyrus, giving Croesus into the care of his son Cambyses
(whom he had appointed to succeed him on the throne),
with strict charge to pay him all respect and treat him well,
if the expedition failed of success;
and sending them both back to Persia, crossed the river with his army.
I.209: The first night after the passage,
as he slept in the enemy’s country, a vision appeared to him.
He seemed to see in his sleep the eldest of the sons of Hystaspes,
with wings upon his shoulders,
shadowing with the one wing Asia, and Europe with the other.
Now Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, was of the race of the Achaimenidai,
and his eldest son, Darius, was at that time scarce twenty years old;
wherefore, not being of age to go to the wars,
he had remained behind in Persia.
When Cyrus woke from his sleep, and turned the vision over in his mind,
it seemed to him no light matter.
He therefore sent for Hystaspes, and taking him aside said,
“Hystaspes, your son is discovered to be plotting against me and my crown.
I will tell you how I know it so certainly.
The gods watch over my safety, and warn me beforehand of every danger.
Now last night, as I lay in my bed,
I saw in a vision the eldest of your sons with wings upon his shoulders,
shadowing with the one wing Asia, and Europe with the other.
From this it is certain, beyond all possible doubt,
that he is engaged in some plot against me.
Return you then at once to Persia, and be sure,
when I come back from conquering the Massagetai,
to have your son ready to produce before me, that I may examine him.”
I.210: Thus Cyrus spoke, in the belief that he was plotted against by Darius;
but he missed the true meaning of the dream,
which was sent by God to forewarn him, that he was to die then and there,
and that his kingdom was to fall at last to Darius.
Hystaspes made answer to Cyrus in these words: “Heaven forbid, sire,
that there should be a Persian living who would plot against you!
If such an one there be, may a speedy death overtake him!
You found the Persians a race of slaves, you have made them free men:
you found them subject to others, you have made them lords of all.
If a vision has announced that my son is practicing against you,
I resign him into your hands to deal with as you will.”
Hystaspes, when he had thus answered,
recrossed the Araxes and hastened back to Persia,
to keep a watch on his son Darius.
I.211: Meanwhile Cyrus, having advanced a day’s march from the river,
did as Croesus had advised him, and,
leaving the worthless portion of his army in the camp,
drew off with his good troops towards the river.
Soon afterwards, a detachment of the Massagetai,
one-third of their entire army, led by Spargapises, son of the queen Tomyris,
coming up, fell upon the body which had been left behind by Cyrus,
and on their resistance put them to the sword.
Then, seeing the banquet prepared, they sat down and began to feast.
When they had eaten and drunk their fill,
and were now sunk in sleep, the Persians under Cyrus arrived,
slaughtered a great multitude, and made even a larger number prisoners.
Among these last was Spargapises himself.
I.212: When Tomyris heard what had befallen her son and her army,
she sent a herald to Cyrus, who thus addressed the conqueror:
“You bloodthirsty Cyrus, pride not yourself on this poor success:
it was the grape-juice—which, when you drink it, makes you so mad,
and as you swallow it down brings up to your lips such bold and wicked words—
it was this poison by which you ensnared my child,
and so overcame him, not in fair open fight.
Now hear what I advise, and be sure I advise you for your good.
Restore my son to me and get you from the land unharmed,
triumphant over a third part of the host of the Massagetai.
Refuse, and I swear by the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetai,
bloodthirsty as you are, I will give you your fill of blood.”
I.213: To the words of this message Cyrus paid no manner of regard.
As for Spargapises, the son of the queen, when the wine went off,
and he saw the extent of his calamity,
he made request to Cyrus to release him from his bonds;
then, when his prayer was granted, and the fetters were taken from his limbs,
as soon as his hands were free, he destroyed himself.
I.214: Tomyris, when she found that Cyrus paid no heed to her advice,
collected all the forces of her kingdom, and gave him battle.
Of all the combats in which the barbarians have engaged among themselves,
I reckon this to have been the fiercest.
The following, as I understand, was the manner of it:
First, the two armies stood apart and shot their arrows at each other;
then, when their quivers were empty,
they closed and fought hand-to-hand with lances and daggers;
and thus they continued fighting for a length of time,
neither choosing to give ground.
At length the Massagetai prevailed.
The greater part of the army of the Persians was destroyed
and Cyrus himself fell, after reigning nine and twenty years.
Search was made among the slain by order of the queen for the body of Cyrus,
and when it was found she took a skin, and, filling it full of human blood,
she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore,
saying, as she thus insulted the corpse,
“I live and have conquered you in fight, and yet by you am I ruined,
for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat,
and give you your fill of blood.”
Of the many different accounts which are given of the death of Cyrus,
this which I have followed appears to me most worthy of credit.