of Ida, descended into the valley of the Scamander.  Some losses were incurred from the effects of a violent thunderstorm amid the mountains; but they cannot have been of a any great consequence.  On reaching the Scamander the army found its first difficulty with respect to water.  That stream was probably low, and the vast host of men and animals were unable to obtain from it a supply sufficient for their wants.  This phenomenon, we are told, frequently recurred afterwards; it surprises the English reader, but is not really astonishing, since, in hot countries, even considerable streams are often reduced to mere threads of water during the summer.

Rounding the hills which skirt the Scamander valley upon the east, the army marched past Rhoeteum, Ophrynium, and Dardanus to Abydos.  Here Xerxes, seated upon a marble throne, which the people of Abydos had erected for him on the summit of a hill, was able to see at one glance his whole, armament, and to feast his eyes with the sight.  It is not likely that any misgivings occurred to him at such a moment.  Before him lay his vast host, covering with its dense masses the entire low ground between the hills and the sea; beyond was the strait, and to his left the open sea, white with the sails of four thousand ships; the green fields of the Chersonese smiled invitingly a little further on; while, between him and the opposite shore, the long lines of his bridges lay darkling upon the sea, like a yoke placed upon the neck of a captive.  Having seen all, the king gave his special attention to the fleet, which he now perhaps beheld in all its magnitude for the first time.  Desirous of knowing which of his subjects were the best sailors, he gave orders for a sailing-match, which were at once carried out.  The palm was borne off by the Phoenicians of Sidon, who must have beaten not only their own countrymen of Tyre, but the Greeks of Asia and the islands.

On the next day the passage took place.  It was accompanied by religious ceremonies.  Waiting for the sacred hour of sunrise, the leader of the host, as the first rays appeared, poured a libation from a golden goblet into the sea, and prayed to Mithra that he might effect the conquest of Europe.  As he prayed he cast into the sea the golden goblet, and with it a golden bowl and a short Persian sword.  Meanwhile the multitude strewed all the bridge with myrtle boughs, and perfumed it with clouds of incense.  The “Immortals” crossed first, wearing garlands on their heads.  The king, with the sacred chariot and horses passed over on the second day.  For seven days and seven nights the human stream flowed on without intermission across one bridge, while the attendants and the baggage-train made use of the other.  The lash was employed to quicken the movements of laggards.  At last the whole army was in Europe, and the march resumed its regularity.