4.95.2
then, after being freed and gaining great wealth, he returned to his own country. Now the Thracians were a poor and backward people, but this Salmoxis knew Ionian ways and a more advanced way of life than the Thracian; for he had consorted with Greeks, and moreover with one of the greatest Greek teachers, Pythagoras;
4.95.3
therefore he made a hall, where he entertained and fed the leaders among his countrymen, and taught them that neither he nor his guests nor any of their descendants would ever die, but that they would go to a place where they would live forever and have all good things.
4.95.4
While he was doing as I have said and teaching this doctrine, he was meanwhile making an underground chamber. When this was finished, he vanished from the sight of the Thracians, and went down into the underground chamber, where he lived for three years,
4.95.5
while the Thracians wished him back and mourned him for dead; then in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians, and thus they came to believe what Salmoxis had told them. Such is the Greek story about him.
ch. 96
4.96.1
Now I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the tale about Salmoxis and his underground chamber; but I think that he lived many years before Pythagoras;
4.96.2
and as to whether there was a man called Salmoxis or this is some deity native to the Getae, let the question be dismissed.
ch. 97
4.97.1
Such were the ways of the Getae, who were subdued by the Persians and followed their army. When Darius and the land army with him had come to the Ister, and all had crossed, he had the Ionians break the bridge and follow him in his march across the mainland, together with the men of the fleet.
4.97.2
So the Ionians were preparing to break the bridge and do Darius' bidding; but Cöes son of Erxander, the general of the Mytilenaeans, after first asking if Darius were willing to listen to advice from one who wanted to give it, said,
4.97.3
“Since, O King, you are about to march against a country where you will not find tilled lands or inhabited cities, let this bridge stay where it is, leaving those who made it to guard it.
4.97.4
Thus, if we find the Scythians and do what we want, we have a way of return; and even if we do not find them, at least our way back is safe; for my fear has never been that we shall be overcome by the Scythians in the field, but rather that we may not be able to find them, and so go astray to our harm.
4.97.5
Now it may perhaps be said that I say this for my own sake, because I want to remain behind; but it is not so; I only declare publicly the opinion that I think best for you, and I will follow you and do not want to be left here.”
4.97.6
Darius was very pleased with this advice, and he answered Cöes thus: “My friend from Lesbos, do not fail to show yourself to me when I return to my house safe, so that I may make you a good return for your good advice.”
ch. 98
4.98.1
After saying this, he tied sixty knots in a thong, and summoning the Ionian sovereigns to an audience said to them:
4.98.2
“Gentlemen of Ionia, I take back the decision which I delivered before about the bridge; now, take this thong and do as follows. Begin to reckon from the day when you see me march away against the Scythians, and untie one knot each day: and if the days marked by the knots have all passed and I have not returned, embark for your own homes.
4.98.3
But until then, since the plan is changed, guard the bridge, making every effort to keep and watch it. You will please me very much if you do this.” Having said this, Darius hastened to march further.
ch. 99
4.99.1
Thrace runs farther out into the sea than Scythia; and Scythia begins where a bay is formed in its coast, and the mouth of the Ister, facing southeast, is in that country.
4.99.2
Now I am going to describe the coast of the true Scythia from the Ister, and give its measurements. The ancient Scythian land begins at the Ister and faces south and the south wind, as far as the city called Carcinitis.
