Peony

Darius asked of what nation she was, and the young men told him that they were Paeonians, and that she was their sister.

"But who," he answered, "are the Paeonians, and where do they dwell, and with what intent have you come to Sardis?" They told him that they had come to be his men; that the towns of Paeonia lay on the Strymon, a river not far from the Hellespont; and that they were colonists from the Teucrians of Troy.

So they told him all this, and the king asked them if all the women of their country were so industrious.

To this, too, they very readily answered—for it was for this very purpose that they had come—that it was indeed so.

Then Darius wrote a letter to Megabazus, whom he had left as his general in Thrace, bidding him take the Paeonians from their houses and bring them to him, men, women, and children.

Immediately a horseman sped with this message to the Hellespont, and upon crossing it gave the letter to Megabazus, who, after reading it, took guides from Thrace and led his army to Paeonia.

When the Paeonians learned that the Persians were coming against them, they gathered together and marched away to the sea, thinking that the Persians would attempt to attack them by that way.

So the Paeonians were ready to withstand the onset of Megabazus' army.