TZETZES, CHILIADES 3

CHILIADES BOOK 3, TRANSLATED BY GARY BERKOWITZ

3.1 CONCERNING TRITANAECHMES, THE SON OF ARTABAZES (STORY 62)

[1] In a loose manner, the entire story of Tritanaechmes
You have, lying precisely in the little letter:
“In so far as the Babylonian son of Artabazes
That high-minded Tritanaechmes, used to pride himself in
Extraordinary cattle-keeping, and income of money.
For he had grazing horses, apart from all of the other animals,
Being counted at sixteen thousand,
Eight hundred stallions apart from the ones used in wars,
Dogs hardly able to be maintained in four districts,
[10] A day’s income from the rest of the districts
Constituting a whole medimnus, full of golden coins.”

3.2 CONCERNING ERICHTHONIUS (STORY 63)

Let Homer himself now recount the story of Erichthonius:
“Moreover, cloud-gathering Zeus begot Dardanus first;
And Dardanus founded Dardania, when sacred Ilium not yet
Had been built as a city in the plain, a city of articulate people;
But they were still living within the foot of Ida with its many springs.
Dardanus, moreover, begot a son, king Erichthonius;
His three thousand horses used to graze throughout the meadow-land,
All female, and foals were under many of them.
[20] Even the North Wind loved them as they were feeding themselves.”

3.3 CONCERNING JOB (STORY 64)

Job was an Ausite man and foremost among prophets,
God-fearing, truthful, just, without blame,
Having large fields and much property,
Both camels and cattle, both oxen and donkeys,
Five hundred roaming donkeys, only females,
And five hundred yoked pairs of ploughing oxen,
And seven thousand cattle within a herd
And three thousand camels, and many other animals with them,
As the book of this man Job teaches all of these things.

3.4 CONCERNING PYTHIUS THE LYDIAN (STORY 65)

[30] You also have the entire story of Pythius
Lying narrowly in the little letter of mine; writing loosely
I omitted to say this before, but I said it in other places.
The day’s feeding for the entire army of Xerxes
Cost four hundred talents for those being fed inexpensively.
But Pythius, entertaining Xerxes, then, with the whole army
Illustriously feasted all of them at the most splendid tables.
The things that he gave to Darius, and later to Xerxes,
The little letter has, though they are written in a loose manner.

3.5 CONCERNING HERACLIUS (STORY 66)

Chosroes was lord of the Persians in the times of Heraclius.
[40] In his palaces around Persia,
He had the sky fabricated on the roofs,
Out of which thunder and lightning bolts and rain storms, all contrived,
Used to burst forth to the amazement of ambassadors who were being feasted.
Now Heraclius, in seven seasons of wars with the Persians,
Digging into and kindling and burning the entirety of Persia,
Also burned down that fire-bearing sky
Together with the entirety of Chosroes’ palaces which I spoke of;
And Heraclius quenched the fire of the Persians, which was reverential,
A fire that on the one hand first came up out of a lightning bolt because of Perseus long ago,
[50] With firebrands always succeeding that illumination,
And with fires that were continuous, flame coloured, large, and very violent,
A fire that was being guarded carefully until that time,
When it was quenched by Heraclius, a great grief to the Persians.
The chroniclers say these things, and along with them Pisida.
Pisida himself even related, somewhere, that sky,
Writing In Templum with iambic verses, of which I will pass over the majority.
But I would like to say some of the verses from there, so that there can be plunder for you:
“And to what end do you use machines
To rain dew on the very sky of Chosroes
[60] Old contemporary Syracusan, land measurer,
Who draws up the earth with the three-pulley machine,
Shouting, ‘Where should I go and shake the land?’
Let him draw aside the unshaken boundaries,
Less than a woman with his well-mechanized machines.”

3.6 CONCERNING PTOLEMY (STORY 67)

The Chian Theocritus writes that Ptolemy,
The son of Ptolemy (the son of Lagus) and Berenice,
Happened to be king, at the same time, of
Thirty three thousand four hundred and eighteen cities.
And what is more, learn, from here, even the words, according to what is stated:
[70] “He rules over many lands, and many seas.
There are both countless infinities and countless nations of men.
Three hundred cities have been subdued,
Then three thousand in addition to thirty thousand
And six, and among them thirty three.
Of them all, proud Ptolemy is king.

3.7 CONCERNING GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR (STORY 68)

Gaius Julius Caesar, the Roman,
Within a span of twenty years being at the prime of his lifetime,
Increased the boundaries of Rome and the sceptre of the Romans
Upon enslaving the barbarians as far as even the islands of the British.
[80] Wherefore Julius was called divine by the Romans,
Having gained this fine surname from his deeds.
The Diodoruses and Dios and others in addition say these things.

3.8 CONCERNING SESOSTRIS (STORY 69)

That Sesostris, king of the Assyrians,
With the name Sesoosis according to Diodorus,
Being a monarch of the Assyrians, ruled the entire earth.
Yoking the kings to his chariot,
And being drawn by them, just as other men are drawn by horses,
Sesostris was called both ruler of the world and divine by the people of that time.
Once, one of the yoked kings restrained Sesostris’ vanity,
[90] Using riddles to show by example the lack of cohesion in fortune.
For although he himself was drawing the chariot, he was seeing the tracks made by the wheels.
And as he was looking in this way, he slowed the progress of the chariot.
And when Sesostris said to this man,
“Why are you working adversely in the face of the road, man? Say it quickly!”
That man, looking at the turning around of the wheels, says, “I am not running.” ¹
Sesostris, therefore, knowing what that man was revealing,
Draws in his arrogance, and loosens the kings from the yoke.
And, within the remainder of his reign, to everyone he was both mild and moderate.
Ctesias and Herodotus, Diodorus and Dio,
[100] And Callisthenes with them, as well as Simocatus and others
Recall the story narrowly, but some also recall it loosely.

3.9 CONCERNING CATO (STORY 70)

Drawing his roots from Italian sons of Aeneas,
The Ausonian Romans, this renowned Cato
Was a very distinguished consul and a general of the Romans,
Bringing home both triumphs and countless trophies.
This man rears his own son well for everything,
He himself teaching accurately and putting all things in his son’s mind,
As much as will be beneficial towards the soul, towards the state,
Towards strength, towards courage, and towards every graceful movement.
[110] Cato was his son’s teacher in subjects
Greek and Roman, and, simply, in every form of rearing,
Although he also owned countless slaves who were scholars,
Among them even Salonius, a man who was renowned in letters.
For he did not think his son was worthy of being insulted by slaves,
Though when being taught by them he was even struck many times.
Nor was Cato willing to have any large debt to them;
And with good reason, for how truly is the teaching of letters a great thing;
And Cato himself, as I said, was a teacher of letters,
Of running, of wrestling and boxing, and of the discus and the double pipe,
[120] Of exercises, horsemanship, and every type of armed fighting.
Cato used to teach his son to endure burning heat and freezing cold,
And to carry himself across great flooding rivers;
To cling to all good things, to hate all paltry things;
Being a guard of the child as far as even where words were concerned.
For in this way Cato was guarding him, as if he was a priestly virgin daughter,
A priestess honoured with awe, a Vestal virgin,
So that never yet did the child speak a paltry word,
Nor did any member of Cato’s staff, be they free or enslaved,
When this child was present, speak any shameful word.
[130] In this way Cato was rearing his son decently in all things,
So that later, the general Paulus, in a state of wonder,
Made him the son-in-law for his daughter Tertia.
For when the entire army of the Romans was put to flight,
Cato’s son, with sword unsheathed, continued to cut down the barbarians.
But when, from continuous sword fighting, his blade fell,
He did not choose to flee with the rest of the Romans,
But first started to earnestly entreat some of his friends,
So that, after they turned around with him, he could find his sword.
And what is more, powerlessly driving with them against the barbarians,
[140] He made victory doubtful for the Romans;
But he did not stop searching for the blade before
He found it in the middle of countless corpses.
Wherefore he has even become son-in-law, as we said, of Paulus.
The above story pertains to the son of Cato. Now there were two Catos,
Both philosophers and generals of the Romans.
But the above Cato was the elder, in the times of Antiochus
(The man who held the kingdom after Alexander).
The other Cato, the younger, who took his own life,
Giving his wife to his friend Hortensius,
[150] Was a brother of Capito and friend of Pompaedius.
Even more philosophical than the first Cato,
The younger Cato lived in the times of Caesar and Sulla the tyrant,
Having a son (yes, even this Cato), but not rearing him in the same way.
Plutarch, Dionysius, Diodorus and Dio
Write the details of the Catos and of the Scipios.

Just as that Cato the Elder,
Even my father was a teacher of all things for me,
Making me ready for teachers at small intervals.
Within one day of my father’s teaching, an issue about letters
[160] Used to lift me up and push me forward more
Than a month’s time of the other teachers; but in an incomparable way
Through his words making me grow, after the fashion of the Aloadae,
A living fire, fortifying me, towering me over my adversaries,
Making me a Bellerophon, a winged-horse horseman,
Or a winged Perseus, slayer of Gorgons,
Free of woodland savages and monsters that turn things into earth,
Of leaders, of reputation, of prerogative, and of love of money,
Things that constrain all people who are not free.
So my father rears me, as Cato reared his son.
[170] But if anyone even wants to understand what sort of man Cato was,
Let him look at me, an animate painting of Cato
And wise Palamedes, the son of Nauplius.
For they were both of good stature, with respect to their age,
Lean, grey eyed, of pale complexion, with hair red and thick,
Just as I am in all things. But if Palamedes
Should never be made angry, so let the accounts show it;
He had only this difference in comparison with us,
Being the same as me in all things pertaining to body and soul,
As to even acquire dry hair like us.
[180] This dryness had met with both of us because of a lack of washing;
For we have hair that is beautiful and delicate by nature,
But Cato differed from us in not being made angry,
If up to this time the accounts of the prose writers are not untrue.
For such combinations are both hot and cold.
From us, at any rate, as we said, he differed in this,
By being both most loving of gain and thrifty;
But in all other things we happen to resemble one another,
In terms of the body, as I revealed, and in terms of things most pertaining to the soul.

It belongs to me, more than the man Cato,
[190] To not be overpowered by money, and I am attended by a fire breathing spirit
For just things, just as the spirit that used to attend the younger Cato.
Indeed, for the younger Cato, having been acquainted
With Sulla the tyrant, came to his house
With Sarpedon, his entirely wise pedagogue.
When Cato saw the heads of illustrious men being carried out,
And the men carrying those heads lamenting quietly,
He spoke to his pedagogue: “How is it that someone does not kill this man?”
And when the pedagogue said, “They are all scared of him,”
Cato said: “Therefore, let some sword be given to me,
[200] And I will deliver the fatherland of cruel tyrants.”
Even for me there is some such a spirit for just things,
And a great zeal for the sun, burning my heart,
As even I now would kill priests for their dishonour,
If it had been possible for me, looking at such misdeeds:
At leading-priests willingly being slaves to the leaders
(Both living as captives in ways that love gain,
And tyrannically making secular slaves),
And again, at dishonourable priests, or, indeed, even at deacons
(Destroyed together by dishonourable deeds, just as if by gangrene),
[210] And at the Cretan abomination, whose absolute ugliness
(Utterly tearing, with a fleshy crowbar, all of the floor marble up from
The very house) gives to the noble man
Both every other most beautiful thing and a countless amount of money,
So that the impure man and the polluted man
Alienate from the sufferings of the night-battle
Their leading priesthood, which is compensation for those sufferings.
For the Goth in Gothia acts as their mediator,
Although he is full of an ill odour, and has never read more than thirty pages,
The one-eyed Cyclops, or rather, a man without eyes,
[220] Who, being blind like Aman, makes all things blind.
For when justice is made blind, all things are blinded at the same time.
And how straightly would the affairs regarding a city be managed,
Where the blind man is a guide for those seeing?
As the man who has never read more than thirty pages is for the entire assembly,
Drawing and guiding and dragging it where he wishes,
So once Orion, being blind, acted with regard to Cedalion.
But, O highest power looking at all things,
Send vivid lightning bolts, kindle and set on fire,
And do not anywhere overlook divine things being insulted,
[230] Especially sacred leaders being bought by impure men,
As if the impure men coexist as their helpers.

3.10-12 CONCERNING CATO, SOLON AND THEODORUS (STORIES 71-73)

How Cato reared his son, I was just now saying.
Solon, I was saying in the beginning, spoke these things to Croesus:
“Do not pride yourself in wealth and money and the rest;
The end, which distinguishes lives, is still unclear.”
Now the physician Theodorus, sent by Maurice,
Made a friend of Chaganus, who was of the Romans by race.
Theodorus was saying the story of Sesostris, which I spoke of,
And through it, most wisely riddled Chaganus
[240] The unclear and pliant nature of fortune, and persuaded him.
Theodorus immediately changed that man to friendship and libations.

3.13 CONCERNING HECUBA (STORY 74)

The story of Hecuba is very clear to all,
That being queen of the Trojans and wife of Priam,
She becomes a captive to the Greeks and a slave.
Seeing many misfortunes even after being taken,
In the end she is even stoned to death, while dogs are rabid over her fate.
Wherefore she cursed the Greeks with curses due to murderers;
For this very reason, they formed the myth that she had become a dog.

3.14 CONCERNING POLYMESTOR (STORY 75)

Polymestor was king of all of the Thracians,
[250] Whom the strong flowing Hellespont used to shut within.
Now being a disaffected friend, when Troy was destroyed,
Polymestor killed Polydorus, the son of Hecuba.
Since, according to Pindar, no one does anything without being observed,
The great eye of justice, not overlooking the defilement,
Reveals the sinister deed to Hecuba by way of dreams.
And she, doing something sinister in return, summons Polymestor
Together with his children, his descendants, whom she kills with the help of Trojan women.
Hecuba blinds Polymestor, using weaving shuttles to deprive him of his eyes.
Euripides uses tragedy to write both these events.

3.15 CONCERNING AJAX THE SON OF TELAMON (STORY 76)

[260] Ajax was the son of Telamon and Eriboea,
The husband of Lysidice and the father of Philius,
And the father of Eurysaces by the captive woman
Tecmessa, the daughter of Teuthras. Ajax (the tower of the Greeks,
Sensible, understanding, numbering among those who were firmly established,
Correcting and causing everyone to understand just by the sight of him)
Was deprived of the arms of Achilles because of an unjust decision.
Boiled over in his heart, Ajax was utterly deprived of his wits,
And thinking they were animals, he slaughters Greek people.
In the end, recovering just a little and recognizing the symptoms of madness,
[270] Ajax himself becomes murderer for himself.
Sophocles, the son of Sophilus, writes the events concerning Ajax.

3.16-22 CONCERNING AGAMEMNON, DIOMEDES, IDOMENEUS, AMPHIARAUS, PELEUS, THESEUS, THE SONS OF CLEOPATRA, THE SON OF PERSEUS THE MACEDONIAN, THE MISFORTUNES OF MAURICE, PHOCAS THE MOST HONOURABLE KING, GELIMER THE MAURETANIAN AND BELISARIUS THE GENERAL (STORIES 77-83 ²)

The nameless, storyless story of these people
Is rather both abounding in names and abounding in stories,
But when told jointly, the story seems to belong to the nameless variety.
For after Polymestor with Ajax and Hecuba,
You would find other countless numbers of people who changed in life;
Passing over the majority of which, let us run over just a few.

Agamemnon turned out as king of all Greeks.
After the erection of the trophies for Troy, and his return to his fatherland
[280] (As though Clytemnestra, his wife, was being adulterous),
Agamemnon is killed, along with a certain number of the best of men, near the table,
By the contrivances of Aegisthus and his deceitful wife Clytemnestra.
Seven years later, Agamemnon’s son Orestes would kill these murderers,
Who had possession of his paternal sceptre.

Even Diomedes has drunk a drink of secret marriage:
For after the erection of trophies for Troy and the exercise of manly virtues,
Diomedes puts off going through life with his wife Aegialeia
And the adulterer Cometes, and instead flees to Daunia.
And there, doing things in a heroic manner that resulted in many trophies
[290] He was fortunate to have a foreign tomb, a man foreign to his own fatherland.

That Idomeneus, king of the Cretans,
Even himself, returning to Crete from Troy
(Upon finding many misfortunes in his own house:
His wife, Meda, and daughter Cleisithyra
With throats cut in a temple by the hands of the foster child
Leucus, the son of Talos, bloodthirsty Leucus),
Even himself flees somewhere far, flees the island of Crete.
He was pursued, though, by this Leucus, who was exceedingly powerful.

I keep secret Amphiaraus and the old man Peleus,
[300] The former, in mad after gold Thebes, dead from his wife,
In a mad after gold city, from his wife, his own Eriphyle;
And moderate Peleus, great, once, with trophies,
But later ruined by sharp allotments of bad luck.
For in trembling old age, he lamented much for
The eminent man among heroes, Achilles, his famous son,
Destroyed treacherously by Paris in Troy.
After a little while Peleus cried to the goddess in her own person
That even Achilles’ cub was cut into pieces
In Delphi by the hands and swords and tricks of Orestes.
[310] I am leaving alone Aegeus’ son Theseus, who was once blessed,
But later entirely ill fated as his own son was destroyed;
I am leaving alone all of the people written in the parchments of the tragic poets.

3.23 CONCERNING THE CAPTIVITY OF THE CHILDREN OF CLEOPATRA AND THE SON OF PERSEUS (STORY 84)

I am leaving alone the act of delineating both the children of Cleopatra,
And the son of Perseus (I mean of Perseus the Macedonian),
How, brought up nobly with both sceptres and the purple
They look at Rome with the bad luck of captives.

3.24 CONCERNING THE DESTRUCTION OF MAURICE, AND THOSE DEAREST TO HIM (STORY 85)

I am leaving alone the act of declaiming tragically the misfortunes of Maurice,
How (with wife and children) by Phocas, who as acting as tyrant,
He was extirpated root and branch in the midst of a chariot race.
[320] I am leaving alone the act of telling how Phocas was destroyed,
And all of the people, as many as the chroniclers and tragic poets celebrate.
Gelimer was a king of the Mauretanian nations,
Who, defeated by Belisarius and all of his strength,
For a considerable number of days with wife and children
Was hiding in the mountains, hunting after deliverance.
But as hunger was unbearably squeezing them,
And a tear was trying to pour forth from the eyes like a fountain,
Gelimer writes some sort of passionate letter to Belisarius:
“Send me, Belisarius, a harp, a sponge, and a loaf of bread,
[330] The former, so that I can represent in tragedy my heavy misfortune,
A sponge, as I am wiping away the floods of tears,
And a loaf of bread, as I would observe even the mere sight of it;
For already, much time flowed past me being without food.
For the spindle of the Fates constrained me to this,
To prevail completely over all of the heaviest of misfortunes.”
Gelimer, brought as a captive to the city of Constantine
And standing at the hippodrome with the prisoners,
Said the phrase, “the vanity of vanities is everything.”

3.25 CONCERNING BELISARIUS THE GENERAL (STORY 88 ³)

This Belisarius, the great general,
[340] Being a commander in Justinian times,
Having spread victories into every quadrant of the world,
Later blinded by jealously (O unstable fortune!),
Holding a wooden drinking cup, he used to shout to be heard by a mile,
“Give an obol to Belisarius the commander,
Whom fortune magnified, and jealousy makes quite blind.”
Some of the chroniclers say that Belisarius was not blinded,
But, from those having civic rights, became utterly deprived of those rights,
And, in turn, came into a restoration of his former magnificence.

3.26-28 CONCERNING DARIUS WHOM ALEXANDER DEFEATED, REGULUS THE ROMAN, AND XANTHIPPUS THE SPARTIATE (STORIES 89-91)

The nameless story of things long ago is as follows:
[350] Darius the Second ⁴, being king of Persia,
Whom Macedonian Alexander the Great defeated,
Died at the hands of Bessus and Ariobarzanes,
Persian men, whom the Macedonian killed by crucifixion.
This was the end for Darius the Persian,
In return for the honour he had previously, in return for his kingdom.

For Marcus Regulus, the Roman commander
Detained by the Sicilians, learn what an end there was:
Cutting off the lids of the eyes with a knife,
They left the eyes of that man open.
[360] Then shutting him in a small, very narrow cabin,
And maddening a wild beastly elephant,
They were moving this animal against him, so that it pulled him down and scraped him.
Being pursued in this way, the great general
Exhaled his life in an end that was made miserable.
Even Xanthippus the Spartiate dies at the hands of the Sicilians.
For around the Sicilian city of Lilybaeum
A war was being hammered by both Romans and Sicilians,
And for about twenty four years the war was a match for both parties.
The Sicilians, defeated many times in the battles
[370] By the Romans, were trying to hand over the city into slavery.
Now the Romans did not in any way believe that this attempt to surrender was real,
But told the Sicilians to go out of the city unarmed;
Meanwhile, the Spartiate Xanthippus, coming from Sparta
With one hundred soldiers (or alone, according to some,
And according to others having fifty soldiers),
Even approached the Sicilians, though they were shut in,
And through an interpreter had many conversations with them.
He finally emboldens them against the enemies; and crushing the Romans in a battle,
He, together with the Sicilians, cuts down the entire army of the Romans.
[380] For his good deeds, Xanthippus receives the compensation
That is worthy and appropriate for the Sicilians’ ill condition:
For the bloodstained men, putting Xanthippus on an unsound vessel,
Plunge him under the circling currents of the Adriatic sea,
Beguiling the hero and his nobility.
This story and that of Regulus are related by
Diodorus Siculus; and the story of Darius is written
By Callisthenes the prose writer, along with many others.

3.29 CONCERNING THE WOODEN CORPSE (STORY 92)

The prose writer Herodotus, the son of Oxyles,
Records that at the meals of the Egyptians this was performed:
[390] A household slave, bringing around a wooden corpse at the meals,
Enlightens all of those reclining in this way, somehow,
Shouting, “It is necessary to eat and drink while looking at this.”

3.30 CONCERNING THE DRUNKENNESS OF THE LACONIAN HOUSEHOLD SLAVES (STORY 93)

The Laconians, making their household slaves drunk
And introducing them to their own children,
Even though the slaves were ridiculous from unmixed wine and drunkenness,
Used to turn their children away from everything unseemly and base.
To say precisely the prose writer for this story,
Whether it is Herodotus, Plutarch, or another, I do not know.

3.31 CONCERNING DARIUS THE FATHER OF XERXES (STORY 94)

In a loose manner, the content of a letter diagrams
[400] The entire story of Darius clearly for you.
About Darius, the father of Xerxes, let this letter say to you:
“For Darius, the king, going to Babylon,
Being a shield-bearer, not a king, in those times,
Received a gift from Syloson, a flame coloured upper-garment
(Syloson was a brother of Polycrates of Samos).
When afterwards, he was in possession of the kingdom,
The barbarian Darius was not forgetful of the gift.
But after an investigation, he makes Syloson the king of Samos,
Saying, ‘Darius never forgets favours.’”
[410] The prose writer Herodotus writes the story.

3.32 CONCERNING BELESYS THE BABYLONIAN AND ARSACES THE MEDE AND THE TAKING DOWN OF SARDANAPALUS THE ASSYRIAN (STORY 95)

Belesys was Babylonian in race,
A man wise and understanding, quick to decide what needed to be done.
This man, seeing that Sardanapalus was like a woman,
Sumptuously, carelessly, and light-heartedly incapacitated,
Ruling the empire of the Assyrians in a totally bad way
(Indeed, for shut inside his palace
He was seen only by eunuchs and concubines,
Working in wool, having himself shaved and made up with rogue,
Both refining his voice by imitation of the woman,
[420] And wearing the clothing that women also wear,
Happening, aside from his manly sex, to be a whole woman.
Once within the year, from on high as a god, to everyone
He used to hold out, from a lofty tower, the loose sleeve,
Before which kings and all great men used to prostate themselves,
But all of the other things in the remaining times of the year were steered
By the orders of eunuchs, whether there was a war or something else),
Looking at such things, Belesys did not endure the insolence.
Fashioning together sayings of oracles and prophecy,
He was rousing Arsaces the Mede for insurrection.
[430] And in the first assault, they were defeated immediately;
But in the second assault, Sardanapalus, learning
That the Nile was overflowing (for this was an omen),
Takes refuge in the palace and sets it on fire,
Burning up, together, himself and the concubines and the treasuries.
Arsaces, marching in with Belesys,
Held the kingdom with a clear victory;
Wherefore the power of the Assyrians fell to the Medes.
Arsaces even gives a gift to his accomplice Belesys,
Even the very gift which Belesys asked for: the ashes of everything that was burned.
[440] Belesys,—receiving the ashes to the disadvantage of Arsaces, who was needy,
(For Arsaces had it merely stripped of its treasuries, the kingdom stripped of its treasuries)—
According to some, is only said to have been denounced,
As if after receiving all of the money with crafty intent
He gives nothing to Arsaces, who had no benefit from the money;
And according to others, Belesys is also said to be punished by that man.
But as he won his case, Arsaces acquitted him, saying
That Belesys helped him more than the deeds over which he grieved him.
Diodorus Siculus writes the story
And with him even other story writers.
[450] Diodorus Siculus even writes the epigram of Sardanapalus,
Which is, by nature, written in Assyrian,
Also translated into Greek, it reveals these words:
“Knowing well that you are mortal, bless your soul,
Delighting in festivities, there is not any profit for you when you are dead.
Indeed, for I am embers, though I was king of great Ninus,
I have these delights, as many as I ate and I revelled in and, amid love,
I felt. But the majority of things, even those happy things, have been left behind.”

3.33 CONCERNING HISTIAEUS THE MILESIAN (STORY 96)

This Histiaeus was Milesian by race.
Together with Darius the Persian—marching against the Scythians
[460] With seven hundred thousand fighting men within the army,
And six hundred ships, and all according to what is appropriate,
When he even crossed the Bosporus, having bridged it
By the hands of Mandrocles, the Samian carpenter—
(Since everyone was subject to the kingdom of the Persians),
They were marching out (with Darius, mentioned above):
Both this Histiaeus and Coes the son of Orexander,
A man most trustworthy in all things, from Mitylene with respect to race,
And Attic Miltiades, a man clever in deliberations,
And Byzantine Ariston, not a lesser man than Miltiades;
[470] When, therefore, Darius already arrived, both facing the Danube,
And he crossed this by a bridge, facing the Scythians,
He immediately gave the command to dismantle that bridge.
But Coes, the son of Orexander, was not allowing this, saying:
“Look, king Darius, even good fortunes are ill-omened,
Lest somehow flight, un-hoped for by us, should fall to the Scythians,
Even we should fill the Danube with the Persian camp.”
After Coes said these things, Darius, allowing the bridge to remain,
Promises gifts to that man for his judgement,
Whenever they should withdraw back to Persia;
[480] But Darius himself, attacking Scythia, is defeated mightily.
The Scythians, leaving him in the middle of Scythia,
Marched to the bridge and arrived at the area by the Danube,
Which the above-mentioned Greek men were guarding,
Whom the Scythians said should run away after they had dismantled the bridge:
For as there was no cause for a battle between Greeks and Scythians,
The Greeks should allow Darius to make amends to the Scythians.
Among the Greeks, Miltiades, persuaded by the Scythians, said
It would be good to dismantle the bridge, and to allow the Persians
To be utterly extirpated by the Scythians in the land of the Scythians.
[490] But Histiaeus, giving heed to his relationship with the Persian race,
Was standing aloof, at that time, from the judgement of Miltiades.
Although, while the Scythians are standing near, he begins to dismantle the bridge.
As the length of travel by the Persians who where riding back was somewhat short,
Histiaeus gave heed to their crossing over the bridge.
And Darius, having fled in the middle of the night, defeated,
Marched towards the bridge, and speaks to Artachaees,
A man five fore-arms tall, but stentorian in his voice;
And Artachaees, shouting most loudly from the other bank of the Danube
Shrieked at Histiaeus, and everyone crosses.
[500] Wherefore Darius gives gifts to the men:
Coes, on account of his former advice,
He made, from being a private man, into the tyrant of Mitylene;
To Histiaeus, he gives the privilege of founding Myrcinus.
Indeed, for they asked to receive these things from Darius.
Now the Persian Megabyzus, upon returning from Paionia,
Finds Darius in Sardis and persuades him
To restrain Histiaeus from founding the city of Myrcinus
(Myrcinus, a city that used to be called Hedonus).
Darius, accordingly, summons Histiaeus back,
[510] And brings him away with him to the land of Susa.
But Histiaeus is longing for his fatherland:
Taking a household slave, from one of those who were trustworthy, and shaving his head,
Both writing tattooed letters on it, and allowing him to grow his hair long again,
Histiaeus sends him to Miletus, to Aristagoras himself,
Who was both a son-in-law and cousin of Histiaeus.
Aristagoras himself, both shaving the household slave,
And reading the letters, started to make the Greek cities,
According to their power, hateful to Darius.
At last, Aristagoras persuaded the people of Attica to destroy Sardis.
[520] Learning of this, Darius was very angry.
Now some satrap of the Persians speaks in such a manner to Darius:
“Histiaeus stitched this shoe,
And Aristagoras put on the very thing that was stitched;” ⁵
That is, Histiaeus gave the proposal,
And in the end, Aristagoras accomplished it.
As all of the remaining things were therefore confounded in this way,
Histiaeus himself is sent by Darius
For a joint attack of the cities that were thrown into confusion.
Indeed, for in this way, that man deceived Darius.
[530] Having caused more confusion to the cities that were never at rest,
And seeming to wander past both Persia and the land of the Susans,
Histiaeus subsequently reconciled himself with his friends in his fatherland.
After a little while, in the plane of Caicus, within the land of the Mysians,
Harpagus takes Histiaeus captive and brings him to Artaphernes,
The brother of Darius and a subordinate governor at Sardis.
And there, these men subsequently crucify Histiaeus;
His head they send to Susa for Darius.
Upon seeing it, Darius cried immeasurably,
Boiled over in rage against the men who crucified Histiaeus.
[540] At last, having cried excessively, Darius tells the Persians
To wash that head and bury it with honours,
On the grounds that he was very much a benefactor of the Persians.
Herodotus, the son of Oxyles, writes the story.

3.34 CONCERNING DEMOCEDES THE PHYSICIAN OF CROTON (STORY 97)

Democedes was a physician from Croton,
Being a son-in-law of that Milo the nobleman.
Democedes, along with Polycrates, the king of Samos,
Went into Persia, to the Persian Oroetes.
When Oroetes subsequently killed Polycrates by crucifying him,
Democedes became a captive, one of those who were wearing rags.
[550] Now at one time, Darius, strangled in a hunting incident,
Was not able to be cured by the Persian physicians.
But when Democedes cured him with his physician’s skill,
Darius sent him to his own wives
And his concubines, making clear proclamations
That he was the saviour of Darius’ soul.
And the women, subsequently contending to exceed one another with gifts,
Were pouring gold over Democedes with golden goblets,
So that his attendant, a man called Sciton,
Who was collecting the fallen gold, became one of those who were wealthy.
[560] Herodotus writes even this story.

3.35 CONCERNING CYRUS THE SON OF MANDANE AND CAMBYSES (STORY 98)

Persian Cyrus, the son of Cambyses and Mandane
(As Xenophon, the son of Gryllus, writes in the Cyropaedia),
Was in physique: most ripe, in beauty: prominent,
In soul: most philanthropic and one of those who are fond of myths,
Pleasant and ambidextrous and one of those who make great gifts.
In judgements: a judge, a model for a direct trial,
Whole, most moderate, a summit of all good things.
This Cyrus, at one time joining a war against the Assyrians,
With both his grandfather Astyages and maternal uncle Cyaxares,
[570] (For reasons which I spoke of previously), when the battle was made to break out,
Though still a young man, what deeds does he show himself accomplishing!
For having mightily defeated the Assyrians
(And—by them, as on account of them—even Croesus the Lydian),
As one who was judicious, he would deal with everyone philanthropically
(See how many men he compensated with what sort of honours and gifts),
To some, owing compensations for a small good deed,
But to most, making the beginning of a king’s thanks,
Even thanking those people from whom thanks did not fall to him,
Because they ask for the gifts that they receive from him.
[580] For to begin with, to Cyaxares, the king and his uncle...
(Because Cyaxares provided the entire generalship to Cyrus,
While he himself was getting drunk with those tenting with him),
Cyrus said that out of those things taken from the battle against the Assyrians
Everything best be gathered and sent to Cyaxares.
And so, laughing, the Medes were saying to Cyrus,
“It is necessary to send beautiful women, Cyrus, women to that man,”
Cyrus therefore said, “Choose women,
And if some other thing seems good to you and Cyaxares.”
Many things, at any rate, as much as pertains to luxury, and countless sums of money,
[590] As much as satisfies a soul, even a most insatiable soul,
He sent to Cyaxares in return for the generalship.
But when things were chosen even for Cyrus himself by the army,
Both the most beautiful of the tents and music making women,
And Pantheia of Susa, a wife of Abradatas,
Who surpasses, in her beauty, all of the women throughout Asia,
And in her judicious ways, all women, as many as the morning star sees.
Bestowing thanks on the army on account of the gifts,
“With pleasure,” Cyrus said, “I receive the things given by you,
But the one among you who has need for these things will use them.”
[600] But some Mede, a lover of music, upon hearing this, had said:
“If you should give one of these music-making women to me, O Cyrus,
It will seem sweeter to me to march than to stay at home.”
And Cyrus said, “I am giving her, thanking you,
That you sought out gifts, as opposed to you thanking me on the grounds that you are receiving gifts.
In this way, I am thirsty to give thanks to those needing to receive.”
And to this man, who is asking, he gives the music-making woman,
While the tent and Pantheia, a wife of Abradatas,
He gave to Araspas, a Median general, to guard her.
But when he said, “Have you even seen, O Cyrus, the woman?”
[610] “By Zeus,” Cyrus said, “I have in no way seen her.”
Being such a man, Cyrus compensated all men in these ways.
Now Gobryas the Assyrian, as a man coming to Cyrus
And needing that he help, as he was being bitterly wronged,
Cyrus neither sent away as an enemy, nor as one of the Assyrians
(But he reduced all of the Assyrians to utter slavery),
Because Gobryas’ son, after killing a lion and a bear,
Was mortally impaled by the son of the Assyrian king
(Because the Assyrian king wanted to have young Gobryas’ son for his daughter),
For, though striking the beasts first, the Assyrian king’s son did not kill them.
[620] Even Gadatas (another young man in the prime of life,
Much more like a king than the son of Gobryas)
While drinking with the Assyrian king’s son, was castrated by him
Because the concubine of the king’s son praised the young man
And blessed the woman about to marry him.
The king’s son said it was on the grounds that Gadatas tried to seduce the concubine.
In these ways, Cyrus was good not just to those asking,
Nor did he pay back thanks just to those initiating thanks.
But he was thankful to everyone, and more to those dear to him:
But when he gave gifts even to the latter, he was expecting to receive.
[630] Cyrus even spoke to Croesus, always at the same time relating these things:
“I, making my friends wealthy, Croesus,
Believe I have acquired them as treasures and guards.”
And again, adorning his friends with illustrious clothes
And urging them to do the same to their friends;
Cyrus himself was never adorned in such a way.
So someone said to him, “Will you ever adorn yourself?”
He says, “You suppose that though adorning all of you, I am not adorning myself.
If, then, I should be able to do much good to you, my friends,
Whatever sort of garment I have, in this I will look good.”
[640] And why do I say to you that Cyrus remembered thanks?
Some Persian common custom is against thankless people,
Strongly rectifying and punishing all of those who are able
To return thanks, and are not giving it.
Indeed, for they think that thankless people are most unholy
To their fatherland and to their ancestors and to God.
Xenophon writes the story of Cyrus, but that of the Persian custom
Ctesias and Herodotus write.

3.36 CONCERNING ABRADATAS THE GENERAL AND KING OF THE SUSANS (STORY 99)

Abradatas, a general, the king of the Susans,
The husband of Pantheia, who was mentioned a little before this,
[650] Was being an ally to the Assyrians against Cyrus.
But when, along with his wife, the camp of the Assyrians
Was taken by the army of Cyrus,
Abradatas himself was still serving as an ambassador to the king of the Bactrians,
So that the Bactrian king might send out an army allied with the Assyrians.
For, to the king of the Bactrians, Abradatas was known and a friend.
Now when Araspas, who was guarding Pantheia
In the army of Cyrus, fell into love for her,
He was advancing upon something more forceful and towards intercourse;
But the woman revealed all of these things to Cyrus,
[660] As Araspas was about to be dead from shame;
Secretly having sent for him, Cyrus speaks to him:
“The time now is at hand, beloved Araspas,
That you become a spy in the army of the enemy
(For without any eyewitness, of course, the suspicion appears to be),
Alleging as a pretext this clear reason,
That the entire armament is striking you with slanderous words.
Without further ado, taking those trustworthy to you, advance to those opposing us,
And, once you perceive everything being done by them, return again.”
In this way, by the deliberations of Cyrus, the general Araspas,
[670] In the exact word, becomes numbered among the spies,
But in the apparent word, he was fastening upon all the appearance of flight.
From there, Cyrus began to imitate someone grieving,
As though submitting to the loss of such a commander.
In these times, then, Pantheia reveals these things to Cyrus:
“I know, O king Cyrus, what happened to you on account of me.
But be relieved a little from the pain presently holding you:
A much more trustworthy slave than Araspas,
And a more noble friend, I know well, I will join with you.”
In this way, the woman spoke; and at that very time she writes
[680] To Abradatas, her husband, the whole affair of Cyrus.
And he, practically at once, and not delaying,
Comes with two thousand riders, choice men.
Immediately, he is sent to Pantheia by Cyrus.
And the holiness and judiciousness of Cyrus,
And as many things as were achieved by him, she narrates to Abradatas.
And he says, “What shall we do, woman, that is worthy of Cyrus
And such beneficence towards us from him?”
“That you” (she said) “become the same to this man,
As that man is concerning you;” these were the words of Pantheia.
[690] Now Abradatas goes at once to Cyrus,
And, in thanks, takes hold of his right hand.
But seeing Cyrus making very great haste
About his scythed chariots and equipped horses,
Abradatas, being thankful to that man, began to hasten towards these things.
And from his own cavalry, a hundred chariots
He at once marshalled together, joining them fittingly with Cyrus’ cavalry.
And he himself, as if about to lead those chariots,
Was fittingly equipping himself on his own chariot.
The chariot was four poled from eight horses.
[700] And from her most beautiful feminine adornment,
Pantheia then made for Abradatas
A breastplate and armlets, both golden,
And a helmet set with precious stones, something flashing much grace.
Now when Cyrus was actually near the enemy,
Araspas came to him with his household slaves
(The man whom Cyrus recently sent out beforehand as an eyewitness of the enemy),
And Araspas relates the entire view of the enemy to this man.
For together with Croesus, Araspas was marshalling together their whole army.
On the next day, after offering sacrifices, Cyrus
[710] Was marshalling together the army for the onslaught of war,
Having given to Araspas the right horn,
The left to Hystaspas, who had half
Of the riders of the race of Persians, riders applauded in battles,
Cyrus ordered the rest of the commanders-of-ten-thousand to do the other things.
Abradatas was being the leader of machines and chariots,
Daduchus: baggage carriers, covered carriages: Carduchus.
Of infantry, Artaozus and Artagersas were being leaders.
Pharnuchus, and, together with that man, Asiadatas
Were leaders-of-ten-thousand of choice riders.
[720] The entire plane was flashing with brazen fire then
As the army was equipping itself for an outbreak of war,
The equipment of Cyrus was shining even more than mirrors.
Pantheia herself was equipping Abradatas by hand,
And she was inciting him for war, secretly shedding a tear.
But Abradatas, being well worth seeing even previously,
Adorned with such equipment was shining out even more.
Now the reins-holder, taking the reins from him
(He was good looking), ascended at once to the chariot.
On this chariot, Pantheia orders all of those standing by
[730] To advance from there, and says to Abradatas:
“I swear, Abradatas, I tell you, by your and my friendship,
That more would I want to be buried in the earth with you,
A man appearing good and clever in battle,
Than to live full of shame with a man being shamed.”
Pantheia said these things; and in wonder, Abradatas,
Touching her head, said while looking to the sky:
“Zeus, grant that I appear as a man worthy of Pantheia,
And a friend worthy of Cyrus, who has honoured us.”
Saying these things under the door of the chariot’s board,
[740] He at once ascended onto his chariot.
As, after Abradatas ascended, the rein-holder shut in the board,
Pantheia did not know how she could still embrace him.
But kissing the board, she sends forth that man.
The chariot was advancing from there, and that woman began to follow along,
Until, upon turning around and seeing her, Abradatas said:
“Have courage and farewell, Pantheia, and now go back!”
From there, as the horrible war broke out,
Cyrus was advancing on horseback (as thunder broke out),
Having acquired, on his right, the cavalry leader Chrysantas,
[750] And on his left, Arisbas and the body of infantry.
When they collided simultaneously (both riders and heavily armed men,
Bowmen, both pelta bearers and the scythe bearing chariots),
Abradatas was bloodying his horses with his goad
While driving towards the war, and was inciting his friends.
And breaking out against the face of the Egyptians,
Abradatas himself, together with his people, were crushing and rubbing together those men.
In that indescribable instance of circumstance,
As the wheels were leaping out from under the heaping up of corpses,
Abradatas fell, together with many others.
[760] And these men died there, chopped up,
Though seeming to have been brave; but victorious Cyrus,
Both driving against Sardis, and destroying it,
Questioned on the next day some of those standing by:
“Regularly coming to us lately,
How now is Abradatas not to be seen?” Some attendant says:
“O master, he is not living, he has died in the battle,
Throwing his chariot on the army of Egyptians.
And now his wife, taking up the corpse,
And setting it upon the covered carriage, in which she herself was going,
[770] Is said to convey it here to you, Cyrus,
Towards the river Pactolus which flows by this place.
They assert that his eunuchs and attendants
Are digging a tomb for the dead man in a ridge;
But they are saying that the woman, having adorned the man,
Is sitting down on the ground upon the earth, a sight worthy of lamentation,
Holding down the head of that man on her lap.”
When Cyrus heard these things, striking his thigh he at once
Mounted his horse, and with one thousand riders
Rode to the suffering. And having come there first,
[780] Crying and weeping much, he spoke to the woman:
“Even you will not be destitute, but I will honour you,
Both on account of your judiciousness and the rest of your goodness,
And I will marry you also to a man to whom you wish to be married.
Only reveal to me someone to whom you wish to be married.”
And Pantheia says to him, “Have courage, O Cyrus,
I will not conceal from you whom I wish to go to.”
After speaking, Cyrus departed, pitying the woman,
For what sort of man she was being deprived of; and again, pitying the man,
For what sort of woman, whom, abandoning, he will no longer look at.
[790] Now she (telling the eunuchs to stand just a little bit away,
So that she could weep for her husband, as it was something that she wished for,
But ordering her nurse both to remain there beside her,
And, when the nurse should see her dead together with Abradatas,
To help in covering them and to conceal them with one garment)
Lays hands on herself, taking up a sword;
And she dies, having set her head on the chest of her husband.
But the nurse, bawling as she concealed them completely,
Even killed herself in her grief for her masters,
And three eunuchs with her, all by their own hands
[800] Measured out their lives in their longing for their mistress,
In the very place in which they saw that terrible suffering.
And Cyrus, upon learning of this misfortune and arriving there,
Both adoring the little woman and lamenting in excess,
Buried them with shrouds that were fitting,
Sacrifices, statues, and a proper precinct.

3.37 A STORY, WHICH, NARRATING ALL BARBARIANS GENERALLY, ENCOMPASSES AN ANTHILL OF STORIES. BUT WE, PASSING OVER THE UNTIMELY LENGTH OF THE NARRATIVE, WILL SPEAK BRIEFLY. CONCERNING LYCUS THE MYSIAN, A SON OF DEIPYLUS, AND THE NAME OF THRACIAN HERACLEA, ALSO CALLED PERINTHUS (STORY 100)

With one ship, Heracles (sailing to the Amazons
So that he might bring the girdle of Hippolyta to Admete),
In the coasting voyage destroys all of Bebrycia together,
And gives the land to Mysian Lycus, the son of Deipylus,
[810] But only after Heracles was victorious over the brothers Mygdon and Amycus.
Lycus calls the city of these people Heraclea
(Thracian Perinthus, long ago called Mygdonia),
Honouring Heracles, the one who cheerfully gave the place.
Apollodorus says this story;
And in the little book about islands, cities, and peoples,
Stephen of Byzantium does not write about this,
But he does write about the Heraclea in Pontus.

3.38 CONCERNING HORATIUS COCLES (STORY 101)

Horatius Cocles was Roman in race.
This man (when the army of the Romans at one time was put to flight,
[820] As there was danger that enemies would seize Rome)
Alone stood against everyone together on a wooden bridge,
While Marcus Minucius was cutting it behind him.
And when it is cut, even Cocles crosses the Tiber
Having saved himself and Rome by the cutting of the bridge.
In his swimming, he could have been hit by a spear of the enemy;
To Cocles the Senate bequeaths land on account of his manly virtue,
As much as he could write on with a plough during a day, taking his cattle;
He was called Cocles in the tongue of the Romans,
Since he lost one eye in a previous battle.

3.39-48 CONCERNING MARCUS MANLIUS AND ABOUT GEESE, A STORY ALSO COMPLETE BY ITSELF (STORIES 102-111)

[830] Now Marcus, a Manlian man (when Rome was plundered
By Gauls, at the time when Brennus was ruling them,
As the Gauls were about to have even the Capitoline,
Secretly going up to the acropolis within the night)
Awoken, since there was a loud shouting of the geese
There, he saw the enemy creeping up.
Even driving away some of the Gauls with a shield, and killing others with his sword,
He thrust all of them away and rescues the Romans;
Wherefore they have named him with the name Capitolinus.
Even honouring doorkeepers, the Romans make them geese,
[840] Guards in the Palatines on account of the guarding that took place then,
Just as even previously the Greeks in Athens called
A wall Stork (Pelargikon) and a mountain range Crane (Geraneian) on account of such animals. ⁶
This Marcus Manlius, also called Capitoline
(Once even ruined by the accusation of tyranny,
And about to be destroyed by the vote of all of the judges),
Was saved because the judges were looking straight at the Capitoline,
Where he himself performed his famous manly virtues,
Until someone speaking against him, perceiving the causes for the acquittal,
Transfers the assembly to another court of justice,
[850] From where the Capitoline was not at all seen,
As it was a reminder of the trophies of that man.
And then they kill him. But even so, in turn,
The people of Rome were wearing black for the entire time,
Giving thanks for his manly virtue
And goodness in inimitable ways.

I am leaving alone the act of recounting Marcus Coriolanus, a noble man,
And with Marcus himself Marcus Corvinus,
One of whom, Coriolanus, destroying a city alone,
For which the name was Coriolanus, and burning this city
[860] (Although the whole entire army of the Romans was put to flight),
Was named Coriolanus. But it would be tedious to recount the rest.

Marcus Corvinus was surnamed Corvinus,
Since at one time, fighting in single combat with some barbarian,
He had a wild raven assisting him in the battle,
Flying at the eyes of that barbarian,
Until the time this Marcus killed him.
I am leaving alone even Curtius and the lacus of that man,
Who, on behalf of the Romans, fell, together with a horse, in the lacus.

I am leaving alone Calandus, and Nonnus, and Idus with him,
[870] Whose kindness was written beside days.
For in the times of Antoninus, when the Romans were overcome
And shut up in rather old Rome itself,
And everyone was in danger of being destroyed by famine,
These men were feeding the people of Rome at their own expense,
Monthly: Calandus for eighteen days,
Nonnus for eight days, and Idus for four.
Hesychius the Illustrious, both Plutarch and Dio,
And Dionysius together with them write all of these things.

I am passing over the kindness of Battus towards the Cyrenians,
[880] And their bringing the silphium plant to him,
And the recompense of this man, in turn, towards the Cyrenians
When, in a mark of a coin, he carved them
Presenting the silphium plant for the sake of his honour.
Pindar the lyric poet somewhere writes this story.

I am leaving alone the act of delineating Meroitic Candace,
Whom Callisthenes writes holds down Alexander,
And, after giving him extraordinary gifts, sends him away,
Since he makes her sons friends to one another,
Throwing aside the hatred that they used to have against one another.
[890] I am leaving alone the act of chattering, in addition, about countless Greeks and barbarians
Who were mindful of a good deed, as I am fleeing the length of the narratives.

3.49 CONCERNING OSYMANDYAS, THE SON EVEN OF OSYMANDANEUS, KING OF THE ASSYRIANS (STORY 112)

Now the little letter contains the entire
Story of Osymandyas, written in this way:
“Osymandyas, the great king of the Syrians,
Used to have a wild lion, a comrade in wars,
Because Osymandyas raised him, he was mindful of the favour.”

3.50 CONCERNING A SNAKE OF PTOLEMY (STORY 113)

Not only was this Ptolemy fond of learning,
But he was even a seeker of everything good, and fond of spectacles,
Always seeking to look at rather strange kinds of animals,
[900] Even bathing with gifts the people bringing him those animals.
Wherefore even those hunting used to hunt for rather strange animals.
Now finding even a snake, very long in length,
Thirty-five fore-arms long, they hunt in such a way:
Observing the lair of the beast and even the feeding
(And when it is setting out from the lair for both feeding and drinking),
When it has withdrawn from the lair for both feeding and drinking,
The hunters, after making a net of thick ropes that closes itself,
Ropes that are even tightened from afar by very large cords,
Set it at the foot of the lair of the above-mentioned beast.
[910] And previously, pursuing the beast heedlessly,
Two or so of the hunters were eaten by it.
But as the munificence of Ptolemy was prevailing,
Standing prepared, they hunt for it again.
For as it was hurrying for drinking, the hunters (anointing the lair with fencing,
And setting the rope net, which we mentioned)
Both on horseback and on foot together, with a clash of the shields,
Were turning the snake away from its irrigation and towards the location of its lair.
The hunters were not standing aloof from afar, so that it would not (fleeing in safety
And beholding the fenced in lair) hurry away.
[920] But they were not following near its side, lest even they be eaten up;
But with a small distance of separation, bewildering the beast,
They were earnestly driving it, in flight, to the lair.
It was raising its neck higher than those on horseback,
And was crushing together with its movement the woodland found at its side;
It was rubbing fire out of its eyes, with hissings it was thundering.
But by the hunters’ earnest pursuits, it falls in the net,
And tightened together, the net was raised high with large beams.
But the snake was cutting up that line with its teeth,
Sending out a very furious fire by the rubbing of its teeth.
[930] Therefore, hardly bringing this beast at that time to Ptolemy,
From a lack of grain that was extraordinary and an abstention from food
They tamed the snake so much, it being so much in length,
That later, wherever foods were set,
Upon being called, it went forth to feed on them.
And even obeying in every way the tame-animal keeper,
It was easily led by the words and the voice of that man,
So that once, when ambassadors were coming to Ptolemy,
The snake, upon being called, went forth to the amazement of those looking.
Diodorus wrote this story.
[940] Aelian says that Onesicritus relates,
That Aposisares the Indian reared two snakes,
One being one hundred forty fore-arms in length,
And the other, eighty fore-arms, not beyond these.
These snakes Alexander the Great set his heart upon seeing.
Now ordering the army to pass through slowly
(As the Indian instructed him and said in advance,
Lest in some way they make the snakes wild with their advance),
Alexander saw that the snakes’ eyes were equal in size
To a Macedonian circular shield, from one of those shields that were well rounded.

3.51 CONCERNING THE DOG OF NICOMEDES, IT HAS TEN STORIES INSTEAD OF ONE (STORY 115 ⁷)

[950] The son of Zipoetes, that Nicomedes,
The founder of Nicomedia, the father of Prusias...
(Prusias, who had all of his teeth in the form of one bone,
Just as Aeschylus, in his writings, says about the daughters of Phorcys,
And Herodotus, about Leon, a king of Sardis,
Julius, in turn, that Pyrrhus the Epirotan
Had this bone, imprinted with outlines of teeth;
The Chian, Ion, says that even Heracles
Had a set of teeth in three rows that was completely unbroken;
As even Scylla did, according to Homer in the Odyssey.
[960] Many include even the crocodile, and some even sea-monsters;
Aristotle wrote that Timarchus, the father
Of Cyprian Nicocles, had, for teeth, a set in two rows).

This father of that one-toothed Prusias
(Prusias, the founder of the city of Prusa beside Olympus),
Nicomedes, mentioned above, used to have the largest dog,
Being from the race of Molossians, very loyal to that man.
This dog, once (with regard to the queen, wife of Nicomedes,
And mother of Prusias, Zielas and Lysandra,
Ditizela by name, from the race of Phrygians,
[970] While she was playing with the king), considering her an enemy,
Tore with his bite her right shoulder,
Rubbing together both her flesh and bones with his teeth.
She, having died in the very arms of the king,
Was honoured with entombment, most magnificently, in Nicomedia,
In a tomb of stone, but gilded.
This tomb was extant even up to the time of Theophilus.
But in the times of Michael, a son of Theophilus,
Some grave robbers, breaking it open,
Found the corpse of this woman preserved,
[980] Wrapped completely in a garment made of gold.
Taking this garment, and putting it in fire and then a cast,
They took away about three hundred thirty⁸ pounds of gold.
These are the details about both the death and the tomb of the woman.
Now with regard to the dog, getting out of the king’s sight
Both from affection for him and grief for the woman,
Report is given by many that he exhaled his life.
Arrian writes the story in his Bithynica.

3.52 CONCERNING THE HORSE OF ARTYBIUS THE PERSIAN (STORY 116)

The details about Artybius are found
In the little letter, written in the narrative, word by word, in this way:
[990] “Artybius the Persian, having brought up the horse,
Had it both joining him in war and helping him.
But when Artybius sailed away to Cyprus
And waged a fight with Cyprian Onesilus,
As Artybius fell before Onesilus,
The horse, seeing his master fallen,
Standing straight up began to fight with Onesilus,
Striking the man’s shield with his front feet,
He almost killed the king of Cyprus,
If the shield-bearers did not cut his feet with scythes.”

1. Perhaps crucial to understanding this story is the shared root in the words for “track made by the wheels” (trochia, line 91), “wheel” (trochos, line 95), and “run” (trecho, line 95).
2. The original seems to have as a small typo here, mentioning 77-88, instead of 77-83.
3. Following the (incorrect) numbering of the original.
4. The passage is about Darius the Third, but “Second” seems to be the best way to translate the adjective husteros.
5. The English translation does not show the wordplay, in that the word for “shoe,” hupodema, literally means “that which is bound under,” and the word for “put on,” upodesato, literally means “he bound under.”
6. “Stork” and “Crane” are translations of “Pelargikon” and “Geraneian” respectively. The Pelargikon would have been a wall on the Athenian Acropolis, and the Geraneia is a mountain range.
7. Numbering from the original version.
8. The Greek text reads “hekaton tris deka,” which, preserving the word order, would be translated “hundred thrice ten.” The adverbial “thrice” could be used for either number (three hundred ten, one hundred thirty), or for both numbers (three hundred thirty).