rbarians might naturally have ceased to fear the arms and
discipline of the South. Moreover the circumstances of the time
scarcely left them a choice. Pressed on continually more and more by the
newly-arrived Su and Yue-chi, the old inhabitants of the Transoxianian
regions were under the necessity of seeking new settlements, and could
only attempt to find them in the quarter towards which they were driven
by the new-comers. Strengthened, probably, by daring spirits from among
their conquerors themselves they crossed the rivers and the deserts
by which they had been hitherto confined, and advancing against the
Parthians, Bactrians, and Arians, threatened to carry all before them.
We have seen how successful they were against the Bactrians. In Ariana,
they passed the mountains, and, proceeding southwards, occupied the
tract below the great lake wherein the Helmend terminates, which took
from them the name of Saeastane ("land of the Saka," or Scyths)--a name
still to be traced in the modern "Seistan." Further to the east they
effected a lodgment in Kabul, and another in the the southern portion of
the Indus valley, which for a time bore the name of Indo-Scythia. They
even crossed the Indus and attempted to penetrate into the interior of
India, but here they were met and repulsed by a native monarch, about
the year B.C. 56.

The people engaged in this great movement are called, in a general way,
by the classical writers, Sacse, or Scythse--i.e. Scyths. They consisted
of a number of tribes, similar for the most part in language, habits,
and mode of life, and allied more or less closely to the other nomadic
races of Central and Northern Asia. Of these tribes the principal were
the Massagetse ("great Jits, or Jats"), who occupied the country on
both sides of the lower course of the Oxus; the Dahse, who bordered the
Caspian above Hyrcania, and extended thence to the latitude of Herat;
the Tochari, who settled in the mountains between the upper Jaxartes and
the upper Oxus, where they gave name to the tract known as Tokhar-estan;
the Asii, or Asiani, who were closely connected with the Tochari,
and the Sakarauli (Saracucse?), who are found connected with both the
Tochari and the Asiani. Some of these tribes contained within them
further sub-divisions; e.g. the Dahse, who comprised the Parni (or
Apariii), the Pissuri, and the Xanthii; and the Massagetse, who included
among them Chorasmii, Attasii, and others.

The general charact