Of those nations which were reputed wild and ignorant in ancient times, the Scythians may be brought, next, to the Greeks and Romans, as an instance to elucidate the opinion of the Quakers still farther on this subject.  The speech of the Scythian Ambassadors to Alexander the Great, as handed down to us by Quintus Curtius, has been often cited by writers, not only on account of its beauty and simplicity, but to show us the moral sentiments of the Scythians in those times.  I shall make a few extracts from it on this occasion.

“Had the Gods given thee, says one of the Ambassadors to Alexander, a body proportionable to thy ambition, the whole Universe would have been too little for thee.  With one hand thou wouldest touch the East, and with the other the West; and not satisfied with this, thou wouldest follow the Sun, and know where he hides himself.”——­

“But what have we to do with thee?  We never set foot in thy country.  May not those who inhabit woods be allowed to live without knowing who thou art, and whence thou comest?  We will neither command nor submit to any man.”——­

“But thou, who boastest thy coming to extirpate robbers, thou thyself art the greatest robber upon earth.”——­

“Thou hast possessed thyself of Lydia, invaded Syria, Persia, and Bactriana.  Thou art forming a design to march as far as India, and thou now contest hither, to seize upon our herds of cattle.  The great possessions which thou hast, only make thee covet more eagerly what thou hast not.”——­

“We are informed that the Greeks speak jestingly of our Scythian deserts, and that they are even become a proverb; but we are fonder of our solitudes, than of thy great cities.”——­

“If thou art a god, thou oughtest to do good to mortals, and not to deprive them of their possessions.  If thou art a mere man, reflect on what thou art.”——­

“Do not fancy that the Scythians will take an oath in their concluding of an alliance with thee.  The only oath among them is to keep their word without swearing.  Such cautions as these do indeed become Greeks, who sign their treaties, and call upon the Gods to witness them.  But, with regard to us, our religion consists in being sincere, and in keeping the promises we have made.  That man, who is not ashamed to break his word with men, is not ashamed of deceiving the Gods.”

To the account contained in these extracts, it may be added, that the Scythians are described by Herodotus, Justin, Horace, and others, as a moral people.  They had the character of maintaining justice.  Theft or robbery was severely punished among them.  They believed infidelity after the marriage-engagement to be deserving of death.  They coveted neither silver nor gold.  They refused to give the name of goods or riches to any but estimable things, such as health, courage, liberty, strength, sincerity, innocence, and the like.  They received friends as relations, or considered friendship as so sacred an alliance, that it differed but little from alliance by blood.