ances began to be formed, and, in a
word, a short time only elapsed before the two camps were united and
intermingled, the Scythians and the Amazons being all paired together
in the most intimate relations of domestic life. Thus, true to the
instincts of their sex, the rude and terrible maidens decided, when
the alternative was fairly presented to them, in favor of husbands and
homes, rather than continuing the life they had led, of independence,
conflict, and plunder. It is curious to observe that the means by
which they were won, namely, a persevering display of admiration and
attentions, steadily continued, but not too eagerly and impatiently
pressed, and varied with an adroit and artful alternation of advances
and retreats, were precisely the same as those by which, in every age,
the attempt is usually made to win the heart of woman from hatred and
hostility to love.

We speak of the Amazonians as having been won; but they were, in fact,
themselves the conquerors of their captors, after all; for it
appeared, in the end, that in the future plans and arrangements of the
united body, they ruled their Scythian husbands, and not the Scythians
them. The husbands wished to return home with their wives, whom, they
said, they would protect and maintain in the midst of their countrymen
in honor and in peace. The Amazons, however, were in favor of another
plan. Their habits and manners were such, they said, that they should
not be respected and beloved among any other people. They wished that
their husbands, therefore, would go home and settle their affairs, and
afterward return and join their wives again, and then that all
together should move to the eastward, until they should find a
suitable place to settle in by themselves. This plan was acceded to by
the husbands, and was carried into execution; and the result was the
planting of a new nation, called the Sauromateans, who thenceforth
took their place among the other barbarous tribes that dwelt upon the
northern shores of the Euxine Sea.

Such was the character of the tribes and nations that dwelt in the
neighborhood of the Scythian country. As soon as Darius had passed the
river, the Scythians sent embassadors to all their people, proposing
to them to form a general alliance against the invader. "We ought to
make common cause against him," said they; "for if he subdues one
nation, it will only open the way for an attack upon the rest. Some of
us are, it is true, more re