herodotus

esolved to die and to be laid in their own land, and not to flee withthe mass of the people, considering the many goods of fortune whichthey had enjoyed, and the many evils which it might be supposed wouldcome upon them, if they fled from their native land. Having resolvedupon this, they parted into two bodies, and making their numbers equalthey fought with one another: and when these had all been killed byone another's hands, then the people of the Kimmerians buried them bythe bank of the river Tyras (where their burial-place is still to beseen), and having buried them, then they made their way out from theland, and the Scythians when they came upon it found the land desertedof its inhabitants. 12. And there are at the present time in the landof Scythia Kimmerian walls, and a Kimmerian ferry; and there is also aregion which is called Kimmeria, and the so-called KimmerianBosphorus. It is known moreover that the Kimmerians, in their flightto Asia from the Scythians, also made a settlement on that peninsulaon which now stands the Hellenic city of Sinope; and it is known toothat the Scythians pursued them and invaded the land of Media, havingmissed their way; for while the Kimmerians kept ever along by the seain their flight, the Scythians pursued them keeping Caucasus on theirright hand, until at last they invaded Media, directing their courseinland. This then which has been told is another story, and it iscommon both to Hellenes and Barbarians.13. Aristeas however the son of Caÿstrobios, a man of Proconnesos,said in the verses which he composed, that he came to the land of theIssedonians being possessed by Phœbus, and that beyond the Issedoniansdwelt Arimaspians, a one-eyed race, and beyond these the gold-guardinggriffins, and beyond them the Hyperboreans extending as far as thesea: and all these except the Hyperboreans, beginning with theArimaspians, were continually making war on their neighbours, and theIssedonians were gradually driven out of their country by theArimaspians and the Scythians by the Issedonians, and so theKimmerians, who dwelt on the Southern Sea, being pressed by theScythians left their land. Thus neither does he agree in regard tothis land with the report of the Scythians.14. As to Aristeas who composed[15] this, I have said already whencehe was; and I will tell also the tale which I heard about him inProconnesos and Kyzicos. They say that Aristeas, who was in birthinferior to none of the citizens, entered into a fuller's shop inProconnesos and there died; and the fuller closed his workshop andwent away to report the matter to those who were related to the deadman. And when the news had been spread abroad about the city thatAristeas was dead, a man of Kyzicos who had come from the town ofArtake entered into controversy with those who said so, and declaredthat he had met him going towards Kyzicos and had spoken with him: and