Polymnia   

After crossing the dry channel of the Lissus, Xerxes passed the
Grecian cities of Maroneia, Dicaea, and Abdera, and likewise the
famous lakes which are in their neighbourhood, Lake Ismaris between
Maroneia and Stryme, and Lake Bistonis near Dicaea, which receives the
waters of two rivers, the Travus and the Compsatus. Near Abdera
there was no famous lake for him to pass; but he crossed the river
Nestus, which there reaches the sea. Proceeding further upon his
way, he passed by several continental cities, one of them possessing a
lake nearly thirty furlongs in circuit, full of fish, and very salt,
of which the sumpter-beasts only drank, and which they drained dry.
The name of this city was Pistyrus. All these towns, which were
Grecian, and lay upon the coast, Xerxes kept upon his left hand as
he passed along.
The following are the Thracian tribes through whose country he
marched: the Paeti, the Ciconians, the Bistonians, the Sapaeans, the
Dersaeans, the Edonians, and the Satrae. Some of these dwelt by the
sea, and furnished ships to the king's fleet; while others lived in
the more inland parts, and of these all the tribes which I have
mentioned, except the Satrae, were forced to serve on foot.
The Satrae, so far as our knowledge goes, have never yet been
brought under by any one, but continue to this day a free and
unconquered people, unlike the other Thracians. They dwell amid
lofty mountains clothed with forests of different trees and capped
with snow, and are very valiant in fight. They are the Thracians who
have an oracle of Bacchus in their country, which is situated upon
their highest mountain-range. The Bessi, a Satrian race, deliver the
oracles; but the prophet, as at Delphi, is a woman; and her answers
are not harder to read.
When Xerxes had passed through the region mentioned above, he came
next to the Pierian fortresses, one of which is called Phagres, and
another Pergamus. Here his line of march lay close by the walls,
with the long high range of Pangaeum upon his right, a tract in
which there are mines both of gold and silver, some worked by the
Pierians and Odomantians, but the greater part by the Satrae.
Xerxes then marched through the country of the Paeonian tribes-
the Doberians and the Paeoplae- which lay to the north of Pangaeum,
and, advancing westward, reached the river Strymon and the city
Eion, whereof Boges, of whom I spoke a short time ago, and who was
then still alive, was governor. The tract of land lying about Mount
Pangaeum is called Phyllis; on the west it reaches to the river
Angites, which flows into the Strymon, and on the south to the Strymon
itself, where at this time the Magi were sacrificing white horses to
make the stream favourable.
After propitiating the stream by these and many other magical
ceremonies, the Persians crossed the Strymon, by bridges made before
their arrival, at a place called "The Nine Ways," which was in the
territory of the Edonians. And when they learnt that the name of the
place was "The Nine Ways," they took nine of the youths of the land
and as many of their maidens, and buried them alive on the spot.
Burying alive is a Persian custom. I have heard that Amestris, the
wife of Xerxes, in her old age buried alive seven pairs of Persian
youths, sons of illustrious men, as a thank-offering to the god who is
supposed to dwell underneath the earth.
From the Strymon the army, proceeding westward, came to a strip of
shore, on which there stands the Grecian town of Argilus. This
shore, and the whole tract above it, is called Bisaltia. Passing this,
and keeping on the left hand the Gulf of Posideium, Xerxes crossed the
Sylean plain, as it is called, and passing by Stagirus, a Greek
city, came to Acanthus. The inhabitants of these parts, as well as
those who dwelt about Mount Pangaeum, were forced to join the
armament, like those others of whom I spoke before; the dwellers along
the coast being made to serve in the fleet, while those who lived more
inland had to follow with the land forces. The road which the army
of Xerxes took remains to this day untouched: the Thracians neither