"Now the Scythians put out the eyes of all their slaves because of the milk which they drink; and they do as follows:—they take blow-pipes of bone just like flutes, and these they insert into the vagina of the mare and blow with their mouths, and others milk while they blow: and they say that they do this because the veins of the mare are thus filled, being blown out, and so the udder is let down. When they had drawn the milk they pour it into wooden vessels hollowed out, and they set the blind slaves in order about the vessels and agitate the milk. Then that which comes to the top they skim off, considering it the more valuable part, whereas they esteem that which settles down to be less good than the other. For this reason the Scythians put out the eyes of all whom they catch; for they are not tillers of the soil but nomads."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Herodotus, Histories 4.2.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Scythians
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Scythians
4 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Scythians →
Related Quotes
"The Scythians then take the seed of this hemp and creep under the felt coverings, and then they throw the seed upon t…"
"… The barbarous Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite, …"
"Are not the Scythians of men the wisest? Who when their children are first born do give them The milk of mares and co…"
"If Zoroastrian and idolatrous women are taken prisoner, they are coerced into Islam; if they embrace it, sexual relat…"
"We have also seen that according to the prevalent view of the traditionists, a female polytheist must be converted to…"
"The prevalent view of the jurisprudents is that sexual intercourse of any kind is not permissible with Zoroastrian or…"
"Shafi‘i's treatment of the issue is slightly different. Speaking of grown-up Zoroastrian or polytheist women taken in…"
"There is nothing wrong in a man having sexual relations with his Zoroastrian slave-girl."
"But the one remarkable achievement was the mixing of races that set the example for the cosmopolitan civilization of …"
"[The milieu of the Persian court was one in which intellectual and artistic intercourse between representatives of th…"