AMAZONS. hind the temple of the Moses, fell upon them; and that this is true, the graves of those that were slain, to be seen in the streets that lead to the gate Piraica, by the temple of the hero Chalcoduce, are a sufficient proof. And here it was that the Athenians were routed, and shamefully turned their backs to women, as far as to the temple of the Furies. But fresh supplies coming in from Palladium, Ardetus, and Lyceum, charged their right wing, and beat them back into their very tents; in which action a great number of the Amazons were slain." In another place he says, "It appears that the passage of the Amazons through Thessaly was not without opposition; for there are yet to be seen many of their sepulchres near Scotusica and Cynocephale." And in his life of Pompey, speaking of the Amazons, Plutarch says, "They inhabit those parts of Mount Caucasus that look towards the Hyrcanian sea (not bordering upon the Albanians, for the territories of the Getæ and the Lægæ lie betwixt): and with these people do they yearly, for two months only, accompany and cohabit, bed and board, near the river Thermodon. After that they retire to their own habitations, and live alone all the rest of the year."
Quintus Curtius says, "The nation of the Amazons is situated upon the borders of Hyrcania, inhabiting the plains of Thermiscyra, near the river Thermodon. Their queen was named Thalestris, and she had under her subjection all the country that lies between Mount Caucasus and the river Phasis. This queen came out of her dominions, in consequence of an ardent desire she had conceived to see Alexander; and being advanced near the place where he was, she previously sent messengers to acquaint him, that the queen was come to have the satisfaction of seeing and conversing with him. Having obtained permission to visit him, she advanced with 300 of her Amazons, leaving the rest of her troops behind. As soon as she came within sight of the king, she leaped from her horse, holding two javelins in her right hand. The apparel of the Amazons does not cover all the body, for their left side is naked down to the stomach; nor do the skirts of their garments, which they tie up in a knot, reach below their knees. They preserve their left breast entire, that they may be able to suckle their female offspring; and they cut off and fear their right, that they may draw their bows, and cast their darts, with the greater ease. Thalestris looked at the king with an undaunted countenance, and narrowly examined his person; which did not, according to her ideas, come up to the fame of his great exploits: For the barbarians have a great veneration for a majestic person, esteeming those only to be capable of performing great actions on whom nature has conferred a dignified appearance. The king having asked her whether she had any thing to desire of him, she replied, without scruple or hesitation, that she was come with a view to have children by him, she being worthy to bring him heirs to his dominions. Their offspring, if of the female sex, she would retain herself; and if of the male sex, it should be delivered to Alexander. He then asked her, whether she would accompany him in his wars? But this she declined, alleging, That she had left nobody to take care of her kingdom. She continued to solicit Alexander, that he would not send her back without conforming to
her wishes; but it was not till after a delay of 13 days AMAZONS. that she complied. She then returned to her own kingdom."
Justin also repeatedly mentions this visit of Thalestris to Alexander; and in one place he says, that she made a march of 25 days, in order to obtain this meeting with him. The interview between Alexander and Thalestris is likewise mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. The learned Goropius, as he is quoted by Dr Petit, laments, in very pathetic terms, the hard fate of Thalestris, who was obliged to travel so many miles, and to encounter many hardships, in order to procure this interview with the Macedonian prince; and, from the circumstances, is led to consider the whole account as incredible. But Dr Petit, with equal erudition, with equal eloquence, and with superior force of reasoning, at length determines, that her journey was not founded upon irrational principles, and that full credit is due to those grave and venerable historians by whom this transaction has been recorded.
The Amazons are represented as being armed with bows and arrows, with javelins, and also with an axe of a particular construction, which was denominated the axe of the Amazons. According to the elder Pliny, this axe was invented by Penthelea, one of their queens. On many ancient medals are representations of the Amazons, armed with these axes. They are also said to have had bucklers in the shape of a half moon.
The Amazons are mentioned by many other ancient authors, besides those which have been enumerated; and if any credit be due to the accounts concerning them, they subsisted through several ages. They are represented as having rendered themselves extremely formidable; as having founded cities, enlarged the boundaries of their dominions, and conquered several other nations.
That at any period there should have been women, who, without the assistance of men, built cities and governed them, raised armies and commanded them, administered public affairs, and extended their dominion by arms, is undoubtedly so contrary to all that we have seen and known of human affairs, as to appear in a very great degree incredible; but that women may have existed sufficiently robust, and sufficiently courageous, to have engaged in warlike enterprises, and even to have been successful in them, is certainly not impossible, however contrary to the usual course of things. In support of this side of the question, it may be urged, that women who have been early trained to warlike exercises, to hunting, and to a hard and laborious mode of living, may be rendered more strong, and capable of more vigorous exertions, than men who have led indolent, delicate, and luxurious lives, and who have seldom been exposed even to the inclemencies of the weather. The limbs of women, as well as of men, are strengthened and rendered more robust by frequent and laborious exercise. A nation of women, therefore, brought up and disciplined as the ancient Amazons are represented to have been, would be superior to an equal number of effeminate men, though they might be much inferior to an equal number of hardy men, trained up and disciplined in the same manner.
That much of what is said of the Amazons is fabulous, there can be no reasonable doubt; but it does not therefore
Amazon. therefore follow, that the whole is without foundation. The ancient medals and monuments on which they are represented are very numerous, as are also the testimonies of ancient writers. It seems not rational to suppose that all this originated in fiction, though it be much blended with it. The abbé Guyon speaks of the history of the Amazons as having been regarded by many persons as fabulous, "rather from prejudice than from any real and solid examination;" and it must be acknowledged, that the arguments in favour of their existence, from ancient history, and from ancient monuments, are extremely powerful. The fact seems to be, that truth and fiction have been blended in the narrations concerning these ancient heroines.
Instances of heroism in women have occasionally occurred in modern times, somewhat resembling that of the ancient Amazons. The times and the manners of chivalry, in particular, by bringing great enterprizes, bold adventurers, and extravagant heroism, into fashion, inspired the women with the same taste. The women, in consequence of the prevailing passion, were now seen in the middle of camps and of armies. They quitted the soft and tender inclinations, and the delicate offices of their own sex, for the toils and the toilsome occupations of ours. During the crusades, animated by the double enthusiasm of religion and of valour, they often performed the most romantic exploits; obtained indulgencies on the field of battle, and died with arms in their hands, by the side of their lovers or of their husbands.
In Europe, the women attacked and defended fortifications; princesses commanded their armies, and obtained victories. Such was the celebrated Joan de Montfort, disputing for her duchy of Bretagne, and fighting herself. Such was that still more celebrated Margaret of Anjou, that active and intrepid general and soldier, whose genius supported a long time a feeble husband; which taught him to conquer; which replaced him upon the throne; which twice relieved him from prison; and, oppressed by fortune and by rebels, which did not bend till after she had decided in person twelve battles.
The warlike spirit among the women, consistent with ages of barbarism, when every thing is impetuous because nothing is fixed, and when all excess is the excess of force, continued in Europe upwards of 400 years, showing itself from time to time, and always in the middle of convulsions, or on the eve of great revolutions. But there were eras and countries in which that spirit appeared with particular lustre. Such were the displays it made in the 15th and 16th centuries in Hungary, and in the islands of the Archipelago and the Mediterranean, when they were invaded by the Turks.
Among the striking instances of Amazonian conduct in modern ladies, may be mentioned that of Jane of Belleville, widow of Monf. de Clisson, who was beheaded at Paris, in the year 1343, on a suspicion of carrying on a correspondence with England and the count de Montfort. This lady, filled with grief for the death of her late husband, and exasperated at the ill treatment which she considered him as having received, sent off "her son secretly to London; and when her apprehensions were removed with respect to him, she sold her jewels, fitted out three ships, and put to sea, to
avenge the death of her husband upon all the French with whom she should meet. This new corsair made several descents upon Normandy, where she stormed castles; and the inhabitants of that province were spectators more than once, whilst their villages were all in a blaze, of one of the finest women in Europe, with a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, urging the carnage, and eyeing with pleasure all the horrors of war."
We read in Mezeray (under the article of the Croisade, preached by St Bernard in the year 1147), "That many women did not content themselves with taking the cross, but that they also took up arms to defend it, and composed squadrons of females, which rendered credible all that has been said of the prowess of the Amazons."
In the year 1590, the League party obtained some troops from the king of Spain. Upon the news of their being disembarked, Barri de St Aunez, Henry IV.'s governor at Leucate, set out to communicate a scheme to the duke de Montmorency, commander in that province. He was taken in his way by some of the troops of the League, who were also upon their march with the Spaniards towards Leucate. They were persuaded, that by thus having the governor in their hands, the gates of that place would be immediately opened to them, or at least would not hold out long. But Constantia de Cecelli, his wife, after having assembled the garrison, put herself so resolutely at their head, pike in hand, that she inspired the weakest with courage; and the besiegers were repulsed wherever they presented themselves. Shame, and their great loss, having rendered them desperate, they sent a messenger to this courageous woman, acquainting her that if she continued to defend herself, they would hang her husband. She replied, with tears in her eyes, "I have riches in abundance: I have offered them, and I do still offer them, for his ransom; but I would not ignorantly purchase a life which he would reproach me with, and which he would be ashamed to enjoy. I will not dishonour him by treason against my king and country." The besiegers having made a fresh attack without success, put her husband to death, and raised the siege. Henry IV. afterwards sent to this lady the brevet of governor of Leucate, with the reversion for her son.
The famous maid of Orleans, also, is an example known to every reader.
The Abbé Arnaud, in his memoirs, speaks of a countess of St Balmont, who used to take the field with her husband, and fight by his side. She sent several Spanish prisoners of her taking to Marshal Fenouillers; and, what was not a little extraordinary, this Amazon at home was all affability and sweetness, and gave herself up to readings and acts of piety.
Dr Johnson seems to have given some credit to the accounts which have been transmitted down to us concerning the ancient Amazons; and he has endeavoured to show, that we ought not hastily to reject ancient historical narrations because they contain facts repugnant to modern manners, and exhibit scenes to which nothing now occurring bears a resemblance. "Of what we know not (says he) we can only judge by what we know. Every novelty appears more wonderful, as it is more remote from any thing with which experience