[39] These people were called Dacians by the Romans. They were Thracians, and are said by Herodotus and Thucydides to have lived south of the Danube, near its mouths. They subsequently migrated north of this river, and were driven further west by the Sarmatians. They were very formidable to the Romans in the reigns of Augustus and Domitian. Dacia was conquered by Trajan; but ultimately abandoned by Aurelian, who made the Danube the boundary of the Roman Empire. About the Getae holding the doctrine of immortality, see _Herodotus_ (iv. 94). Cf. Horace (_Carm._, iii. 6, 13; _Sat._, ii. 6, 53). [40] The Scythians are said by Herodotus to have inhabited the south of Russia. His supposition that they came from Asia is doubtless correct. He gives ample information about this race in the fourth book of his History. [41] Herodotus (iv. 47) says the Danube had five mouths; but Strabo (vii. 3) says there were seven. At the present time it has only three mouths. The Greeks called the Black Sea πόντος εὔξεινος, _the sea kind to strangers_. Cf. Ovid (_Tristia_, iv. 4, 55):—“Frigida me cohibent Euxini litora Ponti, Dictus ab antiquis Axenus ille fuit.” [42] The _sarissa_, or more correctly _sarisa_, was a spear peculiar to the Macedonians. It was from fourteen to sixteen feet long. See Grote’s _Greece_, vol. xi. ch. 92, Appendix. [43] Son of Parmenio and brother of Philotas. [44] The parasang was a Persian measure, containing thirty stades, nearly three and three-quarter English miles. It is still used by the Persians, who call it _ferseng_. See _Herodotus_ (vi. 42) and Grote’s _History of Greece_, vol. viii. p. 316. [45] Son of Neoptolemus. After Alexander’s death Meleager resisted the claim of Perdiccas to the regency, and was associated with him in the office. He was, however, soon afterwards put to death by the order of his rival. [46] Son of Machatas, was an eminent general, slain in India. See vi. 27 infra. [47] The Macedonian kings believed they were sprung from Hercules. See _Curtius_, iv. 7. [48] The Adriatic Sea. [49] Cf. Aelian (_Varia Historia_, xii. 23); _Strabo_, vii. p. 293; Aristotle (_Nicom. Ethics_, iii. 7; _Eudem. Eth._, iii. 1):—οἷον οἱ Κελτοὶ πρὸς τὰ κύματα ὅπλα ἀπαντῶσι λαβόντες; _Ammianus_, xv. 12. [50] The Paeonians were a powerful Thracian people, who in early times spread over a great part of Thrace and Macedonia. In historical times they inhabited the country on the northern border of Macedonia. They were long troublesome to Macedonia, but were subdued by Philip the father of Alexander, who, however, allowed them to retain their own chiefs. The Agrianians were the chief tribe of Paeonians, from whom Philip and Alexander formed a valuable body of light-armed troops. [51] Bardylis was a chieftain of Illyria who carried on frequent wars with the Macedonians, but was at last defeated and slain by Philip, B.C. 359. Clitus had been subdued by Philip in 349 B.C.