Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/294

 276 HISTORY OF GREECE. ing the Paeonians, and reducing the Macedonians under Amyn- las to tribute. A considerable number of the Paeonians were transported across into Asia, by express order of Darius ; whose fancy had been struck by seeing at Sardis a beautiful Paeonian woman carrying a vessel on her head, leading a horse to water, and spinning flax, all at the same time. This woman had been brought over, we are told, by her two brothers, Pigres and Man tyes, for the express purpose of arresting the attention of the Great King. They hoped by this means to be constituted des- pots of their countrymen, and we may presume that their scheme succeeded, for such part of the Paeonians as Megabazus could subdue were conveyed across to Asia and planted in some vil- lages in Phrygia. Such violent transportations of inhabitants were in the genius of the Persian government. 1 From the Paeonian lake Prasias, seven eminent Persians were sent as envoys into Macedonia, to whom Amyntas readily gave the required token of submission, inviting them to a splendid banquet. When exhilarated with wine, they demanded to seo the women of the regal family, who, being accordingly introduced, were rudely dealt with by the strangers. At length, the son of Amyntas, Alexander, resented the insult, and exacted for it t signal vengeance. Dismissing the women, under pretence that they should return after a bath, he brought back in their place youths in female attire, armed with daggers : the Persians, pro- ceeding to repeat their caresses, were all put to death. Their retinue and splendid carriages and equipment which they had brought with them disappeared at the same time, without any tidings reaching the Persian army. And when Bubares, another eminent Persian, was sent into Macedonia to institute researches, Alexander contrived to hush up the proceeding by large bribes, and by giving him his sister Gygaea in marriage. 2 Meanwhile Megabazus crossed over into Asia, carrying with him the Paeonians from the river Strymon. Having been in 1 Herodot. v, 13-16. Nlkolaus Damaskenus (Fragm. p. 36, ed. Orcll.) tells a similar story about the means by which a Mysian woman attr.v;*-ri| the notice of the Lydian king Alyatte's. Such repetition of a striking story, in reference to different people and times, has many parallels ii ancient history.
 * Herodot. v, 20. 21