Book 3
It is for this sand that the Indians set forth into the desert. They harness three camels apiece, males on either side sharing the drawing, and a female in the middle: the man himself rides on the female, that when harnessed has been taken away from as young an offspring as may be. Their camels are as swift as horses, and much better able to bear burdens besides.
I do not describe the camel's appearance to Greeks, for they know it; but I shall tell them something that they do not know concerning it: the hindlegs of the camel have four thighbones and four knee-joints; its genitals are turned towards the tail between the hindlegs.
Thus and with teams so harnessed the Indians ride after the gold, being careful to be engaged in taking it when the heat is greatest; for the ants are then out of sight underground.
Now in these parts the sun is hottest in the morning, not at midday as elsewhere, but from sunrise to the hour of market-closing. Through these hours it is much hotter than in Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Hellas at noon, so that men are said to sprinkle themselves with water at this time.
At midday the sun's heat is nearly the same in +India [77,20] (nation), Asia India as elsewhere. As it goes to afternoon, the sun of +India [77,20] (nation), Asia India has the power of the morning sun in other lands; as day declines it becomes ever cooler, until at sunset it is exceedingly cold.
So when the Indians come to the place with their sacks, they fill these with the sand and drive back as fast as possible; for the ants at once scent them out, the Persians say, and give chase. They say nothing is equal to them for speed, so that unless the Indians have a headstart while the ants were gathering, not one of them would get away.
They cut loose the male trace-camels, which are slower than the females, as they begin to lag, one at a time; the mares never tire, for they remember the young that they have left. Such is the tale. Most of the gold (say the Persians) is got in this way by the Indians; they dig some from mines in their country, too, but it is less abundant.
The most outlying nations of the world have somehow drawn the finest things as their lot, exactly as Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Greece has drawn the possession of far the best seasons.
As I have lately said, +India [77,20] (nation), Asia India lies at the world's most distant eastern limit; and in +India [77,20] (nation), Asia India all living creatures four-footed and flying are much bigger than those of other lands, except the horses, which are smaller than the Median horses called Nesaean; moreover, the gold there, whether dug from the earth or brought down by rivers or got as I have described, is very abundant.
There, too, wool more beautiful and excellent than the wool of sheep grows on wild trees; these trees supply the Indians with clothing.
Again, Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia is the most distant to the south of all inhabited countries: and this is the only country which produces frankincense and myrrh and casia and cinnamon and gum-mastich. All these except myrrh are difficult for the Arabians to get.
They gather frankincense by burning that storaxA kind of gum, producing an acrid smoke when burnt, and therefore used as a disinfectant. which Phoenicians carry to Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Hellas ; they burn this and so get the frankincense; for the spice-bearing trees are guarded by small winged snakes of varied color, many around each tree; these are the snakes that attack Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt . Nothing except the smoke of storax will drive them away from the trees.
The Arabians also say that the whole country would be full of these snakes if the same thing did not occur among them that I believe occurs among vipers.
Somehow the forethought of God (just as is reasonable) being wise has made all creatures prolific that are timid and edible, so that they do not become extinct through being eaten, whereas few young are born to hardy and vexatious creatures.
On the one hand, because the hare is hunted by every beast and bird and man, therefore it is quite prolific; alone of all creatures it conceives during pregnancy; some of the unborn young are hairy, some still naked, some are still forming in the womb while others are just conceived.
On the one hand there is this sort of thing, but on the other hand the lioness, that is so powerful and so bold, once in her life bears one cub; for in the act of bearing she casts her uterus out with her cub. The explanation of this is that when the cub first begins to stir in the mother, its claws, much sharper than those of any other creature, tear the uterus, and the more it grows the more it scratches and tears, so that when the hour of birth is near seldom is any of the uterus left intact.
So too if the vipers and the winged serpents of Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia were born in the natural manner of serpents life would be impossible for men; but as it is, when they copulate, while the male is in the act of procreation and as soon as he has ejaculated his seed, the female seizes him by the neck, and does not let go until she has bitten through.
The male dies in the way described, but the female suffers in return for the male the following punishment: avenging their father, the young while they are still within the womb gnaw at their mother and eating through her bowels thus make their way out.
Other snakes, that do no harm to men, lay eggs and hatch out a vast number of young. The Arabian winged serpents do indeed seem to be numerous; but that is because (although there are vipers in every land) these are all in Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia and are found nowhere else.
The Arabians get frankincense in the foregoing way, and casia in the following way: when they go after it they bind oxhides and other skins all over their bodies and faces except for the eyes. Casia grows in a shallow lake; around this and in it live winged creatures, very like bats, that squeak similarly and make a fierce resistance; these have to be kept away from the eyes in order to take the casia.
As for cinnamon, they gather it in an even stranger way. Where it comes from and what land produces it they cannot say, except that it is reported, reasonably enough, to grow in the places where Dionysus was reared.
There are great birds, it is said, that take these dry sticks which we have learned from the Phoenicians to call cinnamon and carry them off to nests stuck with mud to precipitous cliffs, where man has no means of approach.
The Arabian solution to this is to cut dead oxen and asses and other beasts of burden into the largest possible pieces, then to set these near the eyries and withdraw far off. The birds then fly down (it is said) and carry the pieces of the beasts up to their nests, while these, not being able to bear the weight, break and fall down the mountain side, and then the Arabians come and gather them up. Thus is cinnamon said to be gathered, and so to come from Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia to other lands.
But ledanon, which the Arabians call ladanon, is produced yet more strangely than this. For it is the most fragrant thing produced in the most malodorous; for it is found in he-goats' beards, forming in them like gum among timber. This is used in the manufacture of many perfumes; there is nothing that the Arabians burn so often as incense.
Enough of marvels, and yet the land of Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), Asia Arabia gives off a scent as sweet as if divine. They have besides two marvellous kinds of sheep, found nowhere else. One of these has tails no less than nine feet long. Were the sheep to trail these after them they would suffer by the chafing of the tails on the ground;
but every shepherd there knows enough of carpentry to make little carts which they fix under the tails, binding the tail of each sheep on its own cart. The other kind of sheep has a tail a full three feet broad.
Where south inclines westwards, the part of the world stretching farthest towards the sunset is Ethiopia [39,8] (nation), Africa Ethiopia ; this produces gold in abundance, and huge elephants, and all sorts of wild trees, and ebony, and the tallest and handsomest and longest-lived people.
These then are the most distant lands in Asia (continent) Asia and Libya [17,25] (nation), Africa Libya . But concerning those in Europe (continent) Europe that are the farthest away towards evening, I cannot speak with assurance; for I do not believe that there is a river called by foreigners +Po [12.5,44.966] (river), Italy, Europe Eridanus issuing into the northern sea, where our amber is said to come from, nor do I have any knowledge of Tin Islands, where our tin is brought from.
The very name +Po [12.5,44.966] (river), Italy, Europe Eridanus betrays itself as not a foreign but a Greek name, invented by some poet; nor for all my diligence have I been able to learn from one who has seen it that there is a sea beyond Europe (continent) Europe . All we know is that our tin and amber come from the most distant parts.
But in the north of Europe (continent) Europe there is by far the most gold. In this matter again I cannot say with assurance how the gold is produced, but it is said that one-eyed men called Arimaspians steal it from griffins.
But I do not believe this, that there are one-eyed men who have a nature otherwise the same as other men.
The most outlying lands, though, as they enclose and wholly surround all the rest of the world, are likely to have those things which we think the finest and the rarest.
There is a plain in Asia (continent) Asia shut in on all sides by mountains through which there are five passes.All this description appears to be purely imaginative. But “the idea of the chapter” (say How and Wells) “is quite correct; the control of irrigation is in the East one of the prerogatives of government, and great sums are charged for the use of water.” This plain was once the Chorasmians', being at the boundaries of the Chorasmians, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanaei, but since the Persians have held power it has been the king's.
Now from the encircling mountains flows a great river whose name is the Aces. Its stream divides into five channels and formerly watered the lands of the above-mentioned peoples, going to each through a different pass, but since the beginning of the Persian rule
the king has blocked the mountain passes, and closed each passage with a gate; with the water barred from outlet, the plain within the mountains becomes a lake, seeing that the river pours into it and finds no way out.
Those therefore who before were accustomed to use the water endure great hardship in not being able to use it; for during the winter, god rains for them just as for the rest of mankind, but in the summer they are in need of the water for their sown millet and sesame.
So whenever no water is given to them, they come into Iran [53,32] (nation), Asia Persia with their women, and cry and howl before the door of the king's palace, until the king commands that the river-gate should be opened for those whose need is greatest;
then, when this land has drunk its fill of water, that gate is shut, and the king has another opened for those of the rest who most require it. I know by hearsay that he gets a lot of money, over and above the tribute, for opening the gates. So much for these matters.
Of the seven men who revolted against the Magus, one, Intaphrenes, got his death through his own violence immediately after the rebellion. He wanted to enter the palace and speak with the king; and in fact the law was, that the rebels against the Magus could come into the king's presence unannounced, if the king were not having intercourse with one of his wives.
Intaphrenes, as one of the seven, claimed his right to enter unannounced; but the gatekeeper and the messenger forbade him, telling him that the king was having intercourse with one of his wives. Intaphrenes thought that they were lying; drawing his scimitar he cut off their noses and ears, then strung these on his horse's bridle and hung it around the men's necks, and so let them go.