Histories

To be tattooed is a sign of noble birth, while to bear no such marks is for the baser sort. The idler is most honored, the tiller of the soil most scorned; he is held in highest honor who lives by war and robbery.

These are most notable of their usages. They worship no gods but Ares, Dionysus, and Artemis.[*](Herodotus as usual identifies foreign with Greek deities: v. How and Wells ad loc.) Their princes, however, unlike the rest of their countrymen, worship Hermes above all gods and swear only by him, claiming him for their ancestor.