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ἐμπιόντες δὲ τοῦ αἵματος. For the blood pledge among the Scyths cf. iv. 70. Stein conjectures that this ‘brotherhood of the sword’ was connected with the worship of the Carian Zeus Στράτιος. For a similar ghastly pledge among desperate men cf. Sall. Cat. 22. For human sacrifices before a battle cf. the doubtful story of Themistocles before Salamis (from Phaneas, Plut. Them. c. 13); for the whole subject of human sacrifices among the Greeks cf. vii. 197 n.

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