"The residuum of truth, or at any rate the important conviction of the ancient writers, which remains after their stories are sifted, is the character of the . On this point, Strabo, , and Arrian are agreed. The manners of the Parthians had, they tell us, much that was Scythic in them. ... Their language was half-Scythic, half-. ... They armed themselves in the Scythic fashion. ... They were, in fact, Scyths in descent, in habits, in character."