A Greek Dossier from the Stratagems

This dossier gathers the Scythian and steppe-frontier passages in Polyaenus' Stratagems where the source speaks directly of Scythians, Saka, Massagetae, Taurians, Maeotians, Sarmatians, Chersonesites, and Bosporan rulers.

Polyaenus was a second-century Greek writer who dedicated the Stratagems to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus during the Roman-Parthian war. His examples are brief, tactical, and often shaped by earlier literary tradition, but they preserve a compact chain of frontier memory: Darius' Scythian retreat, Darius and the Saka, Siraces' self-sacrifice, Scythian battle ruses, Tomyris, Tirgatao, and Amage.

The English below was newly translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Greek text of Polyaenus, using the Attalus transcription of the Woelfflin and Melber 1887 edition. Existing English controls were checked only as controls; they are not the translation base.

Translation

Darius and the Hare before the Scythian Line

Darius was drawn up against the Scythians. A hare ran through beside the Scythian phalanx, and the Scythians began chasing the hare.

Darius said, "It is right to flee from Scythians who despise us so much that they leave the Persians and chase a hare."

Then he sounded the recall and began to deliberate about retreat.

Darius' Empty Camp in Scythia

Darius had driven against the Scythians, but he was not able to catch the Scythians and he had no abundance of food. He began to consider flight.

So that the Scythians would not notice, he left the camp standing in place just as it was. There were many wounded men in it, and donkeys, mules, and dogs. He also ordered many fires to be kindled through the night.

When the Scythians saw these things, heard the noise of the animals, and saw the tents whole, they thought the Persians were present. But they had already fled long before. When the Scythians learned of the escape late, they tried to pursue, but it was no longer possible for them to overtake them.

Darius and the Three Divisions of the Saka

Darius was at war with the Saka, who were divided into three parts. He overcame one part. When ten thousand of the Saka had been taken alive, he put their clothing, adornment, and weapons on Persians and brought them against the second part of the Saka, walking quietly as if under the custom of friendship.

The Saka were deceived by the appearance of the clothes and weapons, came forward kindly, and greeted them as their own people. But the Persians had their order, and they killed them all.

Then they moved against the third part of the Saka and overcame them without battle, for they did not resist after the first two parts had already been defeated.

Siraces the Saka Horse-Keeper

Darius made an expedition against the Saka. The kings of the Saka, Sacesphares, Amorges, and Thamyris, were deliberating in a desert place about the crisis before them.

A horse-keeper named Siraces came to them and promised to destroy the army of the Persians if they would swear to give houses and wealth to his children and descendants. They swore. Then he drew his side-knife, cut off his own nose and ears, and terribly mutilated the rest of his body.

He deserted to Darius and said that he had suffered these things from the kings among the Saka. Darius believed him because of the greatness of the injury.

Siraces called on immortal fire and sacred water and said, "I am eager to receive vengeance from the Persians. This is the way: the Saka intend to move camp on the coming night. If we take a shorter road and reach before them the country to which they are setting out, we will catch them all as in a trap. I am a horse-keeper and have knowledge of the whole country. I will lead the way. Let us bring food and drink for seven days."

So he led the way. After leading the soldiers forward for seven days, he brought them into the middle of the waterless land. When the water and food had run out, the chiliarch Rhanosbates said, "What made you decide to deceive so great a king and so great a multitude of Persians, and to lead them into a waterless land where we see neither bird nor beast, and where it is possible neither to go forward nor turn back?"

Siraces clapped his hands, laughed loudly, and said, "I have won. Because I wanted to save the Saka, my own citizens, I have destroyed the Persians by thirst and hunger."

The chiliarch at once cut off Siraces' head. But Darius climbed a high hill, set his kandys and tiara around his scepter, bound the royal diadem around it, fixed it in the ground, and, since it was sunrise, prayed to Apollo that if the Persians were fated to be saved, he would give them water from heaven.

The god heard him, and much rain broke out. The Persians caught it in hides and vessels and were saved until they reached the river Bactrus, giving thanks to the god for their rescue. As far as the horse-keeper's deception went, they all would have been destroyed. Later Zopyrus imitated this horse-keeper, mutilated his face, deceived the Babylonians, and subdued them.

The Scythians against the Triballi

When the Scythians were about to draw up against the Triballi, they ordered the farmers and horse-keepers, as soon as they perceived that the Scythians had joined battle with the enemy, to appear from far away, driving the herds of horses forward.

They appeared. The Triballi saw a great mass of men and horses from a distance, saw dust rising and heard shouting lifted up. Thinking that the upper Scythians had come as allies to the others, they became frightened and fled.

The Scythians and the Slaves

The Scythians were overrunning Asia. The Scythian women married the household slaves and had children by them. When the masters returned, the slaves did not receive them. There was war.

The household slaves advanced in phalanx order, armed. But a Scythian man, afraid of the fight that might come from their desperation, advised the Scythians to put down their weapons and bows, lift up whips, and march against the household slaves.

They lifted the whips and rushed forward. The slaves could not bear the consciousness of slavery and immediately fled away.

The Taurians

The Taurians, a Scythian people, whenever they were about to draw up for battle, always dug up the roads behind them and made them impassable. Then they fought, so that, unable to flee, they would either conquer or die.

Tomyris

When Cyrus campaigned against Tomyris, she pretended to be afraid of the enemy. The Massagetic army fled; the Persian army came on and found in the camp a great abundance of wine, food, and sacrificial animals. The Persians used these without restraint and lavishly through the whole night, as if they had won.

When they lay asleep after much wine and luxury, Tomyris came upon the Persians while they could scarcely move and destroyed them, Cyrus himself included.

Tirgatao of Maeotis

Tirgatao, a Maeotian woman, was married to Hecataeus, king of the Sindi, who live a little above the Bosporus. Satyrus, tyrant of the Bosporus, restored Hecataeus after he had been driven out of his rule and gave him his own daughter in marriage, requiring him to kill his former wife.

Because Hecataeus loved the Maeotian woman, he could not bear to kill her. Instead, he shut her in a strong fortress and ordered her to live there under guard. But Tirgatao escaped without the guards noticing.

Hecataeus and Satyrus searched for her with great urgency, because they feared she would stir the Maeotians to war. They were not able to find her. The Maeotian woman crossed deserted and harsh roads, hiding in the woods by day and walking by night, until at last she came to the people called Ixomatae, where the royal house of her family was.

She found that her father had died. She married the man who had succeeded to the rule and stirred the Ixomatae to war. She brought over many of the warlike peoples around Maeotis, and she especially ravaged the Sindic land of Hecataeus and damaged the rule of Satyrus.

Both men sent suppliant branches and gave Metrodorus, the son of Satyrus, as a hostage, begging to obtain peace. She made an agreement, but the men who had made the agreement did not keep the oaths. Satyrus persuaded two friends to flee to her as suppliants and plot against her.

They fled to her, and Satyrus demanded them back. Honoring the law of supplication, she wrote back many times, seeking safety for the suppliants. But they attacked her. One spoke with her as if about important matters; the other drew his sword and missed the plot, because her belt received the blow.

Her spear-bearers ran together and tortured them both. They confessed the plot of the tyrant who had sent them. Then Tirgatao renewed the war, killed the hostage, and filled the country with every terrible thing, plunder and murder, until Satyrus himself died from despondency. Gorgippus, his son, succeeded to the rule, came as a suppliant himself, gave her very great gifts, and ended the war.

Amage of the Sarmatians

Amage was the wife of Medosaccus, king of the Sarmatians who reach down to the Pontic coast. Seeing that her husband was devoted to luxury and drunkenness, she judged most cases herself, set the guards of the country herself, held back the attacks of enemies, and fought as an ally for the neighboring peoples who were wronged.

Her fame was bright among all the Scythians. Therefore the Chersonesites who lived in Taurica, suffering badly under the king of the neighboring Scythians, begged her to become their ally.

At first she sent a letter ordering him to keep away from Chersonesus. When the Scythian despised her command, she took one hundred and twenty men, the strongest in soul and body, gave three horses to each, and ran through twelve hundred stadia in one night and day.

Arriving suddenly at the royal house, she killed all the men at the doors. The Scythians were shaken by the unexpected danger and thought that the attackers coming upon them were not only the ones they saw but many more. With the force she had, Amage rushed into the royal house, killed the Scythian and the relatives and friends who were with him, restored the land to the Chersonesites, and handed the kingdom over to the son of the slain man, charging him to rule justly and keep away from the neighboring Greeks and barbarians, looking at his father's end.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from selected Greek passages in Polyaenus, Stratagems 7.11.1, 7.11.4, 7.11.6, 7.12.1, 7.44.1-2, 7.46.1, 8.28.1, 8.55.1, and 8.56.1. The Greek source was inspected from the Attalus transcription of the E. Woelfflin and J. Melber 1887 edition.

The adapted Shepherd English pages on Attalus and the ToposText presentation of Polyaenus were used only as controls and source-route confirmation. This dossier is not a complete translation of the Stratagems; it is a Scythian frontier source selection.

Compiled and translated for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Πολυαίνου Στρατηγήματα

Greek source text from the Attalus transcription of the Woelfflin and Melber 1887 edition of Polyaenus, presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

7.11.1

Δαρεῖος παρετάσσετο Σκύθαις. λαγὼς διήιξε παρὰ τὴν Σκυθικὴν φάλαγγα. Σκύθαι μὲν ἐδίωκον τὸν λαγωόν. Δαρεῖος δὲ 'ἄξιον' ἔφη 'Σκύθας φεύγειν, οἳ τοσοῦτον ἡμῶν καταφρονοῦσιν, ὥστε Πέρσας καταλιπόντες τὸν λαγωὸν διώκουσι'. καὶ δὴ τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν σημήνας περὶ ἀναχωρήσεως ἐβουλεύσατο.

7.11.4

Δαρεῖος ἐπὶ Σκύθας ἐλάσας οὔτε Σκύθας ἑλεῖν οἷός τε ἦν οὔτε σιτίων ηὐπόρει. περὶ δρασμοῦ σκέψις ἦν. ὅπως οὖν λάθοι τοὺς Σκύθας, τὸ στρατόπεδον ὡς εἶχεν ἐᾷ κατὰ χώραν μένειν ‑ ἦσαν ἐν αὐτῷ τραυματίαι πολλοὶ, ὄνοι, ἡμίονοι, κύνες ‑ , ἀλλὰ καὶ πυρὰ πολλὰ διὰ νυκτὸς ἐκέλευσεν ἀνακαῦσαι. ταῦτα δὴ ὁρῶντες οἱ Σκύθαι, ἀκούοντες τοῦ ταράχου τῶν ζῴων καὶ τὰς σκηνὰς ἀκεραίους ὁρῶντες ᾤοντο παρεῖναι τοὺς Πέρσας. οἱ δὲ ἄρα ἦσαν πρὸ πολλοῦ πεφευγότες. Σκύθαι δὲ ὀψὲ τὴν ἀπόδρασιν μαθόντες ἐπεχείρουν διώκειν, οὓς καταλαβεῖν αὐτοῖς δυνατὸν ἦν οὐκέτι.

7.11.6

Δαρεῖος ἐπολέμει Σάκαις τριχῆ διῃρημένοις. μιᾶς ἐκράτησε μοίρας· τῶν δὲ Σακῶν μυρίων ζώντων ἁλόντων τὰς ἐσθῆτας καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ὅπλα περιέθηκε τοῖς Πέρσαις καὶ προσῆγεν αὐτοὺς τῇ δευτέρᾳ μοίρᾳ τῶν Σακῶν νόμῳ φιλίας ἠρέμα βαδίζοντας. οἱ δὲ Σάκαι τῷ σχήματι τῶν ἐσθήτων καὶ τῶν ὅπλων ἐξαπατώμενοι φιλοφρόνως προσελθόντες ὡς οἰκείους ἠσπάζοντο. Πέρσαι δὲ, ἦν γὰρ αὐτοῖς παράγγελμα, πάντας ἐφόνευσαν καὶ μεταβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν τρίτην μοῖραν Σακῶν ἀμαχεὶ τούτων ἐκράτησαν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀντέστησαν τῶν δύο μοιρῶν προηττημένων.

7.12.1

Δαρεῖος ἐπὶ Σάκας ἐστράτευσεν. οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν Σακῶν, Σακεσφάρης, Ἀμόργης, Θάμυρις ἐβουλεύοντο ἐν ἐρήμῳ χωρίῳ περὶ τῶν παρόντων. ἱπποφορβὸς ἀνὴρ, Σιράκης, προσῆλθεν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγελλόμενος διαφθείρειν τὸ Περσῶν στράτευμα, ἐὰν τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἐγγόνοις δώσειν οἴκους καὶ χρήματα ὀμόσωσιν. οἱ μὲν ὤμοσαν, ὁ δὲ σπασάμενος τὴν παραξιφίδα ἀφεῖλεν αὑτοῦ ῥῖνα καὶ ὦτα καὶ τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα δεινῶς ἐλωβήσατο· καὶ αὐτομολήσας πρὸς Δαρεῖον ταῦτα ἔφη παθεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Σάκαις βασιλέων. Δαρεῖος ἐπίστευσε τῷ μεγέθει τῆς συμφορᾶς, ὁ δὲ Σιράκης ἐπικαλούμενος πῦρ ἀθάνατον καὶ ἱερὸν ὕδωρ 'τιμωρίαν παρὰ Περσῶν' ἔφη 'λαβεῖν ἐσπούδακα. ὁ δὲ τρόπος· Σάκαι τῆς ἐπιούσης νυκτὸς ἀπαίρειν μέλλουσιν· εἰ δὲ ἡμεῖς διὰ συντομωτέρας ὁδοῦ προλάβοιμεν τὴν χώραν, ἐφ' ἣν ἐκεῖνοι στέλλονται, ὥσπερ ἐν πάγῃ πάντας αἱρήσομεν. ἐγὼ δὲ ἱπποφορβὸς ὢν καὶ τὴν ἐπιστήμην τῆς χώρας ἁπάσης ἔχων ἡγήσομαι· σιτία δὲ καὶ ποτὰ ἑπτὰ ἡμερῶν ἐπαγώμεθα.' ὁ μὲν ἡγήσατο τῆς ὁδοῦ, προάγων δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ καὶ καταστήσας ἐς μέσην τὴν ἄνυδρον, ἐπιλιπόντος τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τῶν σιτίων, τοῦ χιλιάρχου Ῥανοσβάτου 'τί σοι ἔδοξεν' εἰπόντος 'ἐξαπατῆσαι τηλικοῦτον βασιλέα καὶ τοσοῦτο πλῆθος Περσῶν καὶ ἀγαγεῖν ἐς χώραν ἄνυδρον, ἐν ᾗ μήτε ὄρνεον ὁρῶμεν μήτε θηρίον καὶ οὔτε προϊέναι δυνατὸν οὔτε ἀναχωρεῖν;' ὁ δὲ συγκροτήσας τὼ χεῖρε καὶ μεγάλα ἀναγελάσας 'ἐγὼ' ἔφη 'νενίκηκα· βουλόμενος γὰρ σῶσαι Σάκας τοὺς ἐμοὺς πολίτας δίψει καὶ λιμῷ Πέρσας ἀπολώλεκα.' ὁ μὲν χιλίαρχος τοῦ Σιράκου παραχρῆμα τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπέκοψε, Δαρεῖος δ' ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ λόφον ὑψηλὸν, τὸν κάνδυν καὶ τὴν τιάραν τῷ σκήπτρῳ περιθεὶς καὶ τὸ διάδημα τὸ βασιλικὸν περιδήσας κατέπηξεν ἐπὶ γῆς· καὶ ‑ ἦν γὰρ ἐπιτολὴ τοῦ ἡλίου ‑ ηὔξατο τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι, εἰ χρεὼν σωθῆναι Πέρσας, ὕδωρ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ παρασχεῖν. ὁ θεὸς ἐπήκουσε· καὶ ὄμβρος κατερράγη πολύς. τοῦτον ὑποδεξάμενοι δέρμασι καὶ ἀγγείοις οἱ Πέρσαι διεσώθησαν ἐπὶ Βάκτρον ποταμὸν τῷ θεῷ χάριν ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας εἰδότες· ὅσον δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπάτῃ τοῦ ἱπποφορβοῦ πάντες [ἂν] διεφθάρησαν. τοῦτον τὸν ἱπποφορβὸν ὕστερον καὶ Ζώπυρος μιμησάμενος καὶ ἀκρωτηριάσας τὸ πρόσωπον Βαβυλωνίους ἐξαπατήσας ἐχειρώσατο.

7.44.1-2

Σκύθαι Τριβαλλοῖς παρατάσσεσθαι μέλλοντες παρήγγειλαν τοῖς γεωργοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἱπποφορβοῖς, ἐπειδὰν αἴσθωνται συμβαλόντας αὐτοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις, ἐπιφανῆναι πόρρωθεν τὰς ἀγέλας τῶν ἵππων ἐπελαύνοντας. οἱ μὲν ἐπεφάνησαν, οἱ δὲ Τριβαλλοὶ πολὺ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἵππων πόρρωθεν ἰδόντες κονιορτὸν ἐγειρόμενον, βοὴν αἰρομένην, νομίσαντες τοὺς ἄνω Σκύθας ἥκειν αὐτοῖς συμμάχους ἔφυγον φοβηθέντες.

Σκύθαι τὴν Ἀσίαν κατέτρεχον. αἱ Σκυθίδες γημάμεναι τοῖς οἰκέταις ἐπαιδοποιήσαντο. ἐπανελθόντας οἱ δοῦλοι τοὺς δεσπότας οὐκ ἐδέξαντο. πόλεμος ἦν. οἱ μὲν οἰκέται φαλαγγηδὸν ἐπῄεσαν ὡπλισμένοι· Σκύθης δὲ ἀνὴρ δείσας αὐτῶν τὴν ἐξ ἀπονοίας μάχην συνεβούλευσεν ὅπλα μὲν καὶ τόξα καταβαλεῖν, μάστιγας δὲ ἀνατειναμένους ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας βαδίζειν. οἱ μὲν ἀνατεινάμενοι τὰς μάστιγας ἐφώρμησαν, οἱ δὲ τὸ συνειδὸς τῆς δουλείας οὐ φέροντες αὐτίκα φεύγοντες ᾤχοντο.

7.46.1

Ταῦροι Σκυθικὸν γένος ἀεὶ παρατάττεσθαι μέλλοντες τὰς ὄπισθεν ὁδοὺς ἀνασκάπτουσιν καὶ ποιήσαντες ἀβάτους οὕτως ἀγωνίζονται, ἵνα μὴ δυνάμενοι φυγεῖν ἢ κρατοῖεν ἢ ἀποθνήσκοιεν.

8.28.1

Τόμυρις Κύρου στρατεύσαντος ἐπ' αὐτὴν προσεποιήσατο δεδοικέναι τοὺς πολεμίους. ἔφυγε μὲν τὸ Μασσαγετικόν, ἐπῆλθε δὲ τὸ Περσικὸν καὶ κατέλαβεν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ πλῆθος οἴνου, τροφῶν, ἱερείων, οἷς ἀνέδην ἐχρήσαντο καὶ δαψιλῶς διὰ νυκτὸς ὅλης ὥσπερ νενικηκότες. ἐπεὶ δὲ [μετὰ] πολὺν οἶνον καὶ τρυφὴν ἔκειντο καθεύδοντες, ἐπελθοῦσα Τόμυρις δυσκινήτως ἔχοντας Πέρσας αὐτῷ Κύρῳ διέφθειρεν.

8.55.1

Τιργαταὼ Μαιῶτις ἐγήματο Ἑκαταίῳ βασιλεῖ Σίνδων, οἳ νέμονται μικρὸν ἄνω Βοσπόρου. τοῦτον τὸν Ἑκαταῖον ἐκπεσόντα τῆς ἀρχῆς κατήγαγε Σάτυρος ὁ Βοσπόρου τύραννος καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα πρὸς γάμον ἐξέδωκεν ἀξιώσας τὴν προτέραν ἀποκτεῖναι. ὁ δὲ τὴν Μαιῶτιν στέργων ἀνελεῖν μὲν οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν, ἐς ὀχυρὸν δὲ φρούριον καθείρξας ἐκέλευσε διάγειν φρουρουμένην· ἡ δὲ Τιργαταὼ λαθοῦσα τοὺς φύλακας διέδρα. τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἑκαταῖον καὶ τὸν Σάτυρον πολλῇ σπουδῇ ζητούντων ‑ ἐδεδοίκεσαν γὰρ, μὴ κινήσῃ τοὺς Μαιώτας ἐς πόλεμον ‑ οὐ μὴν εὑρεῖν δυνηθέντων, ἡ Μαιῶτις ἐρήμους καὶ τραχείας ὁδοὺς ὑπερβάλλουσα καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν μὲν ἐν ταῖς ὕλαις κρυπτομένη, ταῖς δὲ νυξὶ βαδίζουσα τέλος ἧκεν εἰς τοὺς καλουμένους Ἰξομάτας, ἔνθα ἦν αὐτῆς τὰ βασίλεια τῶν οἰκείων. τὸν μὲν δὴ πατέρα τετελευτηκότα κατέλαβε, τῷ δὲ διαδεξαμένῳ τὴν ἀρχὴν συνοικήσασα τοὺς Ἰξομάτας εἰς πόλεμον ἐκίνησε. καὶ πολλὰ μὲν τῶν περὶ Μαιῶτιν μαχίμων ἐθνῶν προσήγετο, μάλιστα δὲ τὴν Ἑκαταίου Σινδικὴν κατέτρεχε καὶ Σατύρου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐλυμαίνετο, ὥστε ἱκετηρίας ἀμφότεροι πέμψαντες καὶ ὅμηρον δόντες παῖδα Σατύρου Μητρόδωρον ἐδεήθησαν εἰρήνης τυχεῖν. ἡ δὲ συνέθετο μὲν, οὐ μὴν οἵ γε συνθέμενοι τοὺς ὅρκους ἐφύλαξαν. ὁ γὰρ δὴ Σάτυρος ἔπεισε δύο φίλους ἱκέτας καταφυγόντας πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπιβουλεῦσαι. οἱ μὲν κατέφυγον, ὁ δὲ Σάτυρος ἐξῄτει· ἡ δὲ τὸν τῆς ἱκεσίας νόμον τιμῶσα πολλάκις ἀντέγραφε σωτηρίαν πράττουσα τοῖς ἱκέταις. οἱ δὲ ἐπέθεντο, ὁ μὲν ὡς περὶ μεγάλων αὐτῇ διαλεγόμενος πραγμάτων, ὁ δὲ σπασάμενος τὸ ξίφος ἀπέτυχε τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς τοῦ ζωστῆρος ἀποδεξαμένου τὴν πληγήν. οἱ δορυφόροι συνδραμόντες ἀμφοτέρους ἐβασάνισαν. οἱ δὲ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν ὡμολόγησαν τοῦ καθεικότος τυράννου. πάλιν ἡ Τιργαταὼ τὸν πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκε τὸν ὅμηρον ἀποκτείνασα καὶ πάντων τῶν δεινῶν ἁρπαγῆς καὶ φόνου πληροῦσα τὴν χώραν, ἕως αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ Σάτυρος ἀθυμήσας ἐτελεύτησε, Γόργιππος δὲ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν διαδεξάμενος ἱκέτης αὐτὸς ἐλθὼν καὶ δῶρα δοὺς αὐτῇ μέγιστα τὸν πόλεμον διελύσατο.

8.56.1

Ἀμάγη γυνὴ Μηδοσάκκου βασιλέως Σαρματῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν Ποντικὴν παραλίαν καθηκόντων ὁρῶσα τὸν ἄνδρα τρυφῇ προσέχοντα καὶ μέθῃ αὐτὴ μὲν τὰ πολλὰ ἐδίκαζεν, αὐτὴ δὲ καὶ τὰς φυλακὰς τῆς χώρας καθίστατο καὶ τὰς ἐπιδρομὰς τῶν πολεμίων ἀνέστελλε καὶ τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις τῶν προσοίκων συνεμάχει. καὶ τὸ κλέος αὐτῆς λαμπρὸν ἦν ἀνὰ πάντας τοὺς Σκύθας, ὥστε καὶ οἱ [τὴν] Ταυρικὴν κατοικοῦντες Χερρονησῖται κακῶς πάσχοντες ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν παρακειμένων Σκυθῶν ἐδεήθησαν αὐτῆς γενέσθαι σύμμαχοι. ἡ δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπέστειλεν ἀπέχεσθαι Χερρονήσου κελεύουσα, ὡς δὲ κατεφρόνησεν ὁ Σκύθης, παραλαβοῦσα ἑκατὸν εἴκοσιν ἄνδρας τοὺς ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀλκιμωτάτους, τρεῖς ἵππους ἑκάστῳ παραδοῦσα διέδραμε νυκτὸς μιᾶς καὶ ἡμέρας χίλια καὶ διακόσια στάδια καὶ τοῖς βασιλείοις ἐξαίφνης ἐπιστᾶσα τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ θυρῶν ἅπαντας ἀπέκτεινε, τῶν δὲ Σκυθῶν ὡς ἐν ἀπροσδοκήτῳ δεινῷ ταραχθέντων καὶ νομισάντων οὐχ ὅσους ἔβλεπον ἥκειν, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ πλείονας εἶναι τοὺς ἐπερχομένους, Ἀμάγη μεθ' ἧς εἶχεν ὁρμῆς ἐς τὸ βασίλειον ἐμπεσοῦσα τὸν Σκύθην καὶ τοὺς συνόντας αὐτῷ συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλους ἀποκτείνασα Χερρονησίταις μὲν ἀπέδωκε τὴν χώραν, τῷ δὲ παιδὶ τοῦ πεφονευμένου τὴν βασιλείαν ἐνεχείρισε παρεγγυήσασα δικαίως ἄρχειν καὶ ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν προσοικούντων Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων ὁρῶντα τὸ τέλος τοῦ πατρός.

Source Colophon

Source route: https://www.attalus.org/greek/polyaenus7.html and https://www.attalus.org/greek/polyaenus8B.html. The local source captures are saved under Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/. The Attalus Greek pages identify their source as the E. Woelfflin and J. Melber 1887 edition of Polyaenus.

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