98 THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS.

examined. This pile - city of Prasias is thus de- scribed : " Platforms supported on tall piles were fixed in the midst of the lake, approached from the land by a single narrow bridge. Originally all the citizens in com- mon drove the piles for the platform, but afterwards every man drove three piles for every wife he married, and they had each several wives. Each man had his own hut on the platform, and his trap-door opening through the scaffolding on the lake below. They tied the little children by the leg to prevent their rolling into the water." (The proportionate number of chil- dren's bones found in the Swiss lakes would argue that this custom was but negligently observed in those regions.) " They fed their horses and other cattle upon fish, of which there was such an abundance that they had only to let down a basket through the trap- door into the water, and draw it up full." What was the ultimate fate of this amphibious colony we do not learn; but very many of the cor- responding settlements in central Europe bear traces of having been destroyed by fire. For the present these lake-people were impregnable, and Megabazus turned his attention to Macedonia, sending first to the court of King Amyntas an embassy of seven noble Persians to demand earth and water. Amyntas enter- tained them at a feast ; but when their attentions to the ladies of the court began to be offensive, his son Alex- ander, indignant at the insult, dressed up some Mace- donian youths to personate the ladies, whom he had managed to withdraw under promise of their return, and assassinated the Persian envoys when heavy with wine. An expedition was afterwards sent to inquire