Now of all the nations, the Persians showed the greatest splendour of ornament and were themselves the best men, and they were conspicuous for the great quantity of gold they used. The Medes and Persians wore tunics and trousers, for which the Greeks always felt the greatest contempt because they were worn by the Barbarian and not the Greek, and soft felt caps on their heads. They carried {140} wicker shields and had short spears and daggers and bows and arrows. Besides these a host of nations followed the Great King: there were Assyrians, famous throughout all ancient history as a great fighting race, with bronze helmets, linen breastplates, and wooden clubs studded with iron; there were Bactrians with bows of reed and short spears; Scythians with their pointed sheepskin caps, and their battle axes; there were Caspians dressed in skins and wielding short swords; there were men of strange and savage appearance, some wearing dyed garments, with high boots, others dressed in skins, and all bearing bows and arrows, daggers and short spears. Arabians came too, with their loose robes caught up ready for action and long bows in their hands; and dark Ethiopians, fearful to look upon in their garments made of the skins of the leopard and the lion; these fought with long bows with sharp pointed arrows, and with spears and clubs, and when they went in to battle, each man painted half his body white and half of it red. And other Ethiopians there were, who wore upon their heads horses' scalps with the ears and manes still attached. Many more nations and tribes were represented in this mighty army. Some carried small shields and small spears and daggers, others wore bronze helmets to which the ears and horns of an ox were attached. All these and many more made up the army of the Great King; they came from North and South, from East and West, and from the islands of the sea, and they marched in magnificent array from Sardis to the shores of the Hellespont, where the fleet was to {141} meet them. When Xerxes reached the strait, he had a throne of white marble built for him and there he took his seat and gazed upon his army and his ships. Now Xerxes had given orders that a bridge should be built across the Hellespont over which his army should pass into Europe. But when the strait had been bridged over, a great storm arose which destroyed the bridge. When Xerxes heard of it, he was exceedingly enraged and bade his soldiers scourge the Hellespont with three hundred strokes of the lash, and he let down into the sea a pair of fetters. Whilst this was being done, the sea was thus addressed: Thou bitter water, thy master lays on thee this penalty, because thou didst wrong him, though never having suffered any wrong from him; and Xerxes the King will pass over thee, whether thou be willing or no.