Thalia   

allowed to trail on the ground, would be bruised and fall into
sores. As it is, all the shepherds know enough of carpentering to make
little trucks for their sheep's tails. The trucks are placed under the
tails, each sheep having one to himself, and the tails are then tied
down upon them. The other kind has a broad tail, which is a cubit
across sometimes.
Where the south declines towards the setting sun lies the
country called Ethiopia, the last inhabited land in that direction.
There gold is obtained in great plenty, huge elephants abound, with
wild trees of all sorts, and ebony; and the men are taller, handsomer,
and longer lived than anywhere else.
Now these are the farthest regions of the world in Asia and Libya.
Of the extreme tracts of Europe towards the west I cannot speak with
any certainty; for I do not allow that there is any river, to which
the barbarians give the name of Eridanus, emptying itself into the
northern sea, whence (as the tale goes) amber is procured; nor do I
know of any islands called the Cassiterides (Tin Islands), whence
the tin comes which we use. For in the first place the name Eridanus
is manifestly not a barbarian word at all, but a Greek name,
invented by some poet or other; and secondly, though I have taken vast
pains, I have never been able to get an assurance from an
eye-witness that there is any sea on the further side of Europe.
Nevertheless, tin and amber do certainly come to us from the ends of
the earth.
The northern parts of Europe are very much richer in gold than any
other region: but how it is procured I have no certain knowledge.
The story runs that the one-eyed Arimaspi purloin it from the
griffins; but here too I am incredulous, and cannot persuade myself
that there is a race of men born with one eye, who in all else
resemble the rest of mankind. Nevertheless it seems to be true that
the extreme regions of the earth, which surround and shut up within
themselves all other countries, produce the things which are the
rarest, and which men reckon the most beautiful.
There is a plain in Asia which is shut in on all sides by a
mountain-range, and in this mountain-range are five openings. The
plain lies on the confines of the Chorasmians, Hyrcanians,
Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanaeans, and belonged formerly to the
first-mentioned of those peoples. Ever since the Persians, however,
obtained the mastery of Asia, it has been the property of the Great
King. A mighty river, called the Aces, flows from the hills
inclosing the plain; and this stream, formerly splitting into five
channels, ran through the five openings in the hills, and watered
the lands of the five nations which dwell around. The Persian came,
however, and conquered the region, and then it went ill with the
people of these lands. The Great King blocked up all the passages
between the hills with dykes and flood gates, and so prevented the
water from flowing out. Then the plain within the hills became a
sea, for the river kept rising, and the water could find no outlet.
From that time the five nations which were wont formerly to have the
use of the stream, losing their accustomed supply of water, have
been in great distress. In winter, indeed, they have rain from
heaven like the rest of the world, but in summer, after sowing their
millet and their sesame, they always stand in need of water from the
river. When, therefore, they suffer from this want, hastening to
Persia, men and women alike, they take their station at the gate of
the king's palace, and wail aloud. Then the king orders the
flood-gates to be opened towards the country whose need is greatest,
and lets the soil drink until it has had enough; after which the gates
on this side are shut, and others are unclosed for the nation which,
of the remainder, needs it most. It has been told me that the king
never gives the order to open the gates till the suppliants have
paid him a large sum of money over and above the tribute.
Of the seven Persians who rose up against the Magus, one,
Intaphernes, lost his life very shortly after the outbreak, for an act