This same Cyrus, then, in the course of the following period, made war on the Scythians. Tomyris, the queen who then ruled that nation, though she could have prevented him from crossing the river Araxes, allowed him to cross: first out of confidence in herself, and then for the advantage of having the enemy shut in by the barrier of the river.1
1 Igitur idem Cyrus proximi temporis successu Scythis bellum intulit. quem Thamyris regina quae tunc genti praeerat cum prohibere transitu Araxis fluminis posset, transire permisit, primum propter fiduciam sui, dehinc propter opportunitatem ex obiectu fluminis hostis inclusi.
1Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae in Herodotus (1.205–214); Orosius calls her Thamyris and, like Justin, makes her people Scythians.
Cyrus, therefore, having entered Scythia, pitched his camp far from the river he had crossed, and then, by a stratagem, abandoned it, stocked with wine and banquets, as if he had fled in terror. Learning of this, the queen sent a third of her forces and her young son to pursue Cyrus.
2 Cyrus itaque Scythiam ingressus, procul a transmisso flumine castra metatus, insuper astu eadem instructa uino epulisque deseruit, quasi territus refugisset. hoc conperto regina tertiam partem copiarum et filium adulescentulum ad persequendum Cyrum mittit.
The barbarians, as though invited to a feast, were first overcome by drunkenness; then, when Cyrus returned, they were all cut down together with the youth.
3 barbari ueluti ad epulas inuitati primum ebrietate uincuntur, mox reuertente Cyro uniuersi cum adulescente obtruncantur.
Tomyris, having lost her army and her son, prepared to wash away her grief, whether as mother or as queen, with the blood of the enemy rather than with her own tears. She feigned want of confidence, as if in despair after the disaster she had suffered, and, giving way little by little, lured the proud enemy into an ambush.
4 Thamyris exercitu ac filio amisso uel matris uel reginae dolorem sanguine hostium diluere potius quam suis lacrimis parat. simulat diffidentiam desperatione cladis inlatae paulatimque cedendo superbum hostem in insidias uocat.
There, with an ambush laid among the mountains, she destroyed two hundred thousand Persians together with the king himself; and, to crown it all, there was this marvel besides: that not even a messenger of so great a disaster survived.
5 ibi quippe conpositis inter montes insidiis ducenta milia Persarum cum ipso rege deleuit, adiecta super omnia illius rei admiratione, quod ne nuntius quidem tantae cladis superfuit.
The queen ordered the head of Cyrus to be cut off and thrown into a wineskin filled with human blood, taunting him in no womanly fashion: “Glut yourself,” she said, “with the blood you have thirsted for, and of which for thirty years you have been insatiable.”
6 regina caput Cyri amputari atque in utrem humano sanguine oppletum coici iubet non muliebriter increpitans: Satia te, inquit, sanguine quem sitisti, cuius per annos triginta insatiabilis perseuerasti.