But another version, less favourable to his vanity and his hopes, was suggested by one of his courtiers, and it ran thus : " Unless you can fly like a bird, or burrow like a mouse, or swim the marshes like a frog, you cannot escape our arrows". "Whichever interpretation was the true one, it needed no message from the enemy to perceive the truth of the sentiment expressed in this unpleasant interpretation. Darius yielded to imperative necessity, and hastened his escape from the formidable situation in which he had placed himself, and through great good fortune succeeded in effecting it. He crossed the sea just in time; for the Scythians came down in pursuit, as far as the coast, and returned home laden with booty.
This is pretty much all that is definitely recorded in history of the ancient Tartars. Alexander, in a later age, came into conflict 'with them in the region called Sogdiana, which lies at the foot of that high plateau of central and eastern Asia, which I have designated as their proper home. But he was too prudent to be entangled in extended expeditions against them, and having made trial of their formidable strength, and made some demonstrations of the superiority of his own, he left them in possession of their wildernesses.
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