herodotus

other, for Idanthyrsos was the son of Saulios, and Saulios was hewho killed Anacharsis. 77. However I have heard also another story,told by the Peloponnesians, that Anacharsis was sent out by the kingof the Scythians, and so made himself a disciple of Hellas; and thatwhen he returned back he said to him that had sent him forth, that theHellenes were all busied about every kind of cleverness except theLacedemonians; but these alone knew how to exchange speech sensibly.This story however has been invented[78] without any ground by theHellenes themselves; and however that may be, the man was slain in theway that was related above.78. This man then fared thus badly by reason of foreign customs andcommunication with Hellenes; and very many years afterwards Skyles theson of Ariapeithes suffered nearly the same fate as he. ForAriapeithes the king of the Scythians with other sons had Skyles bornto him: and he was born of a woman who was of Istria, and certainlynot a native of Scythia; and this mother taught him the language andletters of Hellas. Afterwards in course of time Ariapeithes wasbrought to his end by treachery at the hands of Spargapeithes the kingof the Agathyrsians, and Skyles succeeded to the kingdom; and he tooknot only that but also the wife of his father, whose name was Opoia:this Opoia was a native Scythian and from her was born Oricos toAriapeithes. Now when Skyles was king of the Scythians, he was by nomeans satisfied with the Scythian manner of life, but was much moreinclined towards Hellenic ways because of the training with which hehad been brought up, and he used to do somewhat as follows:--When hecame with the Scythians in arms to the city of the Borysthenites (nowthese Borysthenites say that they are of Miletos),--when Skyles cameto these, he would leave his band in the suburbs of the city and gohimself within the walls and close the gates. After that he would layaside his Scythian equipments and take Hellenic garments, and wearingthem he would go about in the market-place with no guards or any otherman accompanying him (and they watched the gates meanwhile, that noneof the Scythians might see him wearing this dress): and while in otherrespects too he adopted Hellenic manners of life, he used also toperform worship to the gods according to the customs of the Hellenes.Then having stayed a month or more than that, he would put on theScythian dress and depart. This he did many times, and he both builtfor himself a house in Borysthenes and also took to it a woman of theplace as his wife. 79. Since however it was fated that evil shouldhappen to him, it happened by an occasion of this kind:--he formed adesire to be initiated in the rites of Bacchus-Dionysos, and as he wasjust about to receive[79] the initiation, there happened a very greatportent. He had in the city of the Borysthenites a house of great sizeand built with large expense, of which also I made mention a littlebefore this, and round it were placed sphinxes and griffins of white