Lonchates replied: “Swear that you will keep the agreement, and will not go back on your word then, when the thing is done.”” When the king lifted his hands toward Heaven and was in purpose to swear, the other said: “Not here, for fear that some onlooker may suspect the reason of our oath. No, let us enter the sanctuary of Ares yonder and lock the doors before we swear; and let nobody hear us! If Arsacomas should get any knowledge of this, I am afraid that he may initiate the war by making a victim of me, as he is already surrounded by a large band.” “Let us enter,’ responded the king. ‘Gentlemen, withdraw as far as possible, and let no one present himself in the temple who is not summoned by me.”
When they had entered and the guardsmen had withdrawn, Lonchates drew his sword, clapped one hand over the king’s mouth, that he might not cry out, and stabbed him in the breast. Then he cut off his head and carried it out (ith him under his cloak, keeping up, as he did so, a pretended conversation with him and saying that he would return speedily, as if he had been sent by the king to fetch something. Getting in this way to the place where he had left his horse tied, he mounted and rode off to Scythia. There was no pursuit of him, since the Bosporans remained long in ignorance of what had happened, and when they did find out about it, they fell to squabbling over the throne.
