§ 3.1  Read the History of Nonnosus, containing a description of his embassy to the Aethiopians, Amerites, and Saracens, then a most powerful nation, as well as to other Eastern peoples. At this time Justinian was emperor of the Romans, and Caisus chief of the Saracens. This Caisus was the grandson of Arethas, himself a chief, to whom Nonnosus's grandfather was sent as ambassador, during the reign of Anastasius, to conclude a treaty of peace. Nonnosus's father Abrames had in like manner been sent on an embassy to Alamundarus, chief of the Saracens, during the reign of Justin, and was successful in procuring the release of Timostratus and John, two Roman generals who were prisoners of war. Caisus, to whom Nonnosus was sent, was chief of two of the most illustrious Saracen tribes, the Chindeni and Maadeni. Before Nonnosus was appointed ambassador, his father had been sent to this same Caisus by Justinian, and had concluded a treaty of peace, on condition that Caisus's son Mavias should be taken as a hostage to Byzantium. After this, Nonnosus was entrusted with a threefold mission: to Caisus, to induce him, if possible, to visit the emperor, to Elesbaas, king of the Axumites, and to the Amerites. Axumis is a very large city, and may be considered the capital of Aethiopia; it lies more south and east than the Roman empire. Nonnosus, in spite of the treacherous attacks of tribesmen, perils from wild beasts, and many difficulties and dangers on the journey, successfully accomplished his mission, and returned in safety to his native land.

§ 3.2  He relates that Caisus, after Abrames had been sent to him a second time, set out for Byzantium, having previously divided his chieftaincy between his brothers Ambrus and Yezid. He brought a large number of his subjects with him, and was appointed administrator of Palestine by the emperor.

§ 3.3  He tells us that the ancient name for what are now called σανδάλια (sandals) was ἀρβύλαι, and that φακιόλιον (turban) was called φασῶλις.

§ 3.4  He tells us that most of the Saracens, those who live in Phoenicon as well as beyond it and the Taurenian mountains, have a sacred meeting-place consecrated to one of the gods, where they assemble twice a year. One of these meetings lasts a whole month, almost to the middle of spring, when the sun enters Taurus; the other lasts two months, and is held after the summer solstice. During these meetings complete peace prevails, not only amongst themselves, but also with all the natives; even the animals are at peace both with themselves and with human beings. Other strange, more or less fabulous information is also given.

§ 3.5  He tells us that Adulis is fifteen days' journey from Axumis. On his way there, he and his companions saw a remarkable sight in the neighbourhood of Aue (Ave), midway between Axumis and Adulis; this was a large number of elephants, nearly 5000. They were feeding in a large plain, and the inhabitants found it difficult to approach them or drive them from their pasture. This was what they saw on their journey.

§ 3.6  We must also say something about the climatic contrarieties of summer and winter between Ave and Axumis. When the sun enters Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, it is summer as far as Ave, as with us, and the atmosphere is extremely dry; but from Ave to Axumis and the rest of Aethiopia, it is severe winter, not throughout the day, but beginning from midday, the sky being covered with clouds and the country flooded with violent rains. At that time also the Nile, spreading over Egypt, overflows and irrigates the land. But when the sun enters Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces, the atmosphere, conversely, floods the country of the Adulites as far as Ave, while it is summer from Ave to Axumis and the rest of Aethiopia, and the fruits of the earth are ripe.

§ 3.7  During his voyage from Pharsan, Nonnosus, on reaching the last of the islands, had a remarkable experience. He there saw certain creatures of human shape and form, very short, black-skinned, their bodies entirely covered with hair. The men were accompanied by women of the same appearance, and by boys still shorter. All were naked, women as well as men, except for a short apron of skin round their loins. There was nothing wild or savage about them. Their speech was human, but their language was unintelligible even to their neighbours, and still more so to Nonnosus and his companions. They live on shell-fish and fish cast up on the shore. According to Nonnosus, they were very timid, and when they saw him and his companions, they shrank from them as we do from monstrous wild beasts.

§ 61.1  [Aeschines]
Read the three orations of Aeschines, Against Timarchus (the first of his speeches), On the False Embassy, and Against Ctesiphon (the third and last). These three speeches and nine letters are said to be his only genuine works; for which reason the orations were sometimes called the three Graces, from their number and the charm of their style, and the letters the nine Muses. Another oration, the Delian law, was known under his name; but Caecilius denies its genuineness and ascribes it to another Aeschines, an Athenian and contemporary.

§ 61.2  Aeschines was one of the "ten" Attic orators. He was accused by Demosthenes of having misconducted an embassy, but was not convicted, since the demagogue Eubulus, in whose service Aeschines had formerly been, sided with him against Demosthenes, and caused the jury to rise before Demosthenes had finished his speech. Subsequently, when he attacked the proposal of Ctesiphon on behalf of Demosthenes as illegal, having himself settled the amount of the fine he was prepared to pay if he did not make good the charge, he failed to do so, and left his country. He first set out for Asia, intending to seek refuge with Alexander, the son of Philip, who was then on his Asiatic expedition, but when he heard of his death and that his successors were quarrelling amongst themselves, he sailed to Rhodes, where he remained for some time, giving young men lessons in rhetoric. When his admirers were at a loss to understand how so great an orator could have been defeated by Demosthenes, he replied, "If you had heard that beast (meaning Demosthenes), you would not be surprised." He is said to have been the first to compose imaginary speeches and what are called "declamations" in his leisure hours. In his old age he removed to Samos, where he died. He was of humble origin; his father was Atrometus; his mother Glaucothea, a priestess. He had two brothers, Aphobetus and Philochares. At first, being possessed of a loud voice, he became a third-rate actor; then he was copying-clerk to the Council; and soon afterwards came forward as a public speaker. He belonged to the philippizing party at Athens, and was consequently a political opponent of Demosthenes. He is said to have attended Plato's lectures, and to have been the pupil of Antalcidas, statements which are supported by the grandeur of his language and the dignity of his inventions. The sophist Dionysius, when he came across the oration Against Timarchus, after he had read the opening----"I have never yet publicly indicted a citizen nor harassed him when he was rendering an account of his office"----is reported to have said, "Would that you had indicted or harassed many, that so you might have left us more speeches of the kind," so delighted was he with this orator's style.

§ 61.3  His language appears natural and extemporaneous, and does not create so much admiration for the writer's art as for his natural gifts. Abundant proofs of his cleverness and ability are to be found in his orations. In his choice of words he aims at simplicity and distinctness, and in the structure of his periods he is neither so feeble as Isocrates, nor so compressed and concise as Lysias, while in verve and energy he is not inferior to Demosthenes. He employs figures of thought and speech, not to create the impression of using artistic language, but in conformity with the necessities of the subject. Hence his style appears direct and straightforward, well adapted for speaking in public and for private conversation; for he does not make constant use of proofs and arguments, and is not over elaborate.

§ 61.4  Aeschines, the son of Lysanias, called Socraticus, is reckoned by Phrynichus and others one of the greatest orators, and his speeches as models of Attic style, only second to those of its best representatives.

§ 72.1  Ctesias, Persica
I read the Persica of Ctesias of Cnidus in twenty-three books. In the first six he treats of Assyrian affairs and of events before the foundation of the Persian empire, and only begins to treat of Persian affairs in the seventh book. In books 7-13 he gives an account of Cyrus, Cambyses, the Magian, Darius, and Xerxes, in which he differs almost entirely from Herodotus, whom he accuses of falsehood in many passages and calls an inventor of fables. Ctesias is later than Herodotus, and says that he was an eyewitness of most of what he describes, and that, where this was not the case, he obtained his information directly from Persians, and in this manner he composed his history. He not only disagrees with Herodotus, but also in some respects with Xenophon the son of Gryllus. Ctesias flourished in the time of Cyrus, son of Darius and Parysatis, brother of Artoxerxes who succeeded to the throne.

§ 72.2  He begins by stating that Astyages (whom he also calls Astyigas) was not related to Cyrus; that he fled from him to Agbatana, and hid himself in the. vaults of the royal palace with the aid of his daughter Amytis and her husband Spitamas; that Cyrus, when he came to the throne, gave orders that not only Spitamas and Amytis, but also their sons Spitaces and Megabernes should be put to the torture for assisting Astyigas; that the latter, to save his grandchildren from being tortured on his account, gave himself up and was taken and loaded with chains by Oebaras; that shortly afterwards he was set free by Cyrus and honoured as his father; that his daughter Amytis was treated by him as a mother and afterwards became his wife. Her husband Spitamas, however, was put to death, because, when asked, he had falsely declared that he did not know where Astyigas was. In his account of these events Ctesias differs from Herodotus. He adds that Cyrus made war upon the Bactrians, without obtaining a decisive victory; but that when they learnt that Astyigas had been adopted by Cyrus as his father, and Amytis as his mother and wife, they voluntarily submitted to Amytis and Cyrus.

§ 72.3  He also relates how Cyrus made war on the Sacae, and took prisoner their king Amorges, the husband of Sparethra, who after her husband was captured collected an army of 300,000 men and 200,000 women, made war upon Cyrus and defeated him. Amongst the large number of prisoners taken by the Sacae were Parmises, the brother of Amytis, and his three sons, who were subsequently released in exchange for Amorges.

§ 72.4  Cyrus, assisted by Amorges, marched against Croesus and the city of Sardes. By the advice of Oebaras he set up wooden figures representing Persians round the walls, the sight of which so terrified the inhabitants that the city was easily taken. Before this, the son of Croesus was handed over as a hostage, the king himself having been deceived by a divine vision. Since Croesus was evidently meditating treachery, his son was put to death before his eyes; his mother, who was a witness of his execution, committed suicide by throwing herself from the walls. After the city was taken Croesus fled for refuge to the temple of Apollo; he was three times put in chains, and three times loosed invisibly from his bonds, although the temple was shut and sealed, and Oebaras was on guard. Those who had been prisoners with Croesus had their heads cut off, on suspicion of having conspired to release him. He was subsequently taken to the palace and bound more securely, but was again loosed by thunder and lightning sent from heaven. Finally Cyrus, against his will, set him free, treated him kindly from that time, and bestowed upon him a large city near Agbatana, named Barene, in which there were 5000 horsemen and 10,000 peltasts, javelin-throwers, and archers.

§ 72.5  Cyrus then sent Petisacas the eunuch, who had great influence with him, to Persia to fetch Astyigas from the Barcanians, he and his daughter Amytis being anxious to see him. Oebaras then advised Petisacas to leave Astyigas in some lonely spot, to perish of hunger and thirst; which he did. But the crime was revealed in a dream, and Petisacas, at the urgent request of Amytis, was handed over to her by Cyrus for punishment. She ordered his eyes to be dug out, had him flayed alive, and then crucified. Oebaras, afraid of suffering the same punishment, although Cyrus assured him that he would not allow it, starved himself to death by fasting for ten days. Astyigas was accorded a splendid funeral; his body had remained untouched by wild beasts in the wilder-ness, some lions having guarded it until it was removed by Petisacas.

§ 72.6  Cyrus marched against the Derbices (Derbikes), whose king was Amoraeus. The Derbices suddenly brought up some elephants which had been kept in ambush, and put Cyrus's cavalry to flight. Cyrus himself fell from his horse, and an Indian wounded him mortally with a javelin under the thigh. The Indians fought on the side of the Derbices and supplied them with elephants. Cyrus's friends took him up while he was still alive and returned to camp. Many Persians and Derbices were slain, to the number of 10,000 on each side.

§ 72.7  Amorges, when he heard of what had happened to Cyrus, in great haste went to the assistance of the Persians with 20,000 Sacan cavalry. In a subsequent engagement, the Persians and Sacae gained a brilliant victory, Amoraeus, the king of the Derbices, and his two sons being slain. Thirty thousand Derbicans and 9000 Persians fell in the battle. The country then submitted to Cyrus.

§ 72.8  Cyrus, when near his death, declared his elder son Cambyses king, his younger son Tanyoxarces (Tanyoxarkes) governor of Bactria, Choramnia, Parthia, and Carmania, free from tribute. Of the children of Spitamas, he appointed Spitaces satrap of the Derbices, Megabernes of the Barcanians, bidding them obey their mother in everything. He also endeavoured to make them friends with Amorges, bestowing his blessing on those who should remain on friendly terms with one another, and a curse upon those who first did wrong. With these words he died, three days after he had been wounded, after a reign of thirty years. This is the end of the eleventh book.

§ 72.9  The twelfth book begins with the reign of Cambyses. Immediately after his accession he sent his father's body by the eunuch Bagapates to Persia for burial, and in all other respects carried out his father's wishes. The men who had the greatest influence with him were Artasyras the Hyrcanian, and the eunuchs Izabates, Aspadates, and Bagapates, who had been his father's favourite after the death of Petisacas. Bagapates was in command of the expedition against Egypt and its king Amyrtaeus, whom he defeated, through the treachery of his chief counsellor Combaphis the eunuch, who betrayed the bridges and other important secrets, on condition that Cambyses made him governor of Egypt. Cambyses first made this arrangement with him through Izabates, the cousin of Combaphis, and afterwards confirmed it by his personal promise. Having taken Amyrtaeus alive he did him no harm, but merely removed him to Susa with 6000 Egyptians chosen by himself. The whole of Egypt then became subject to Cambyses. The Egyptians lost 50,000 men in the battle, the Persians 7000.

§ 72.10  In the meantime a certain Magian called Sphendadates, who had been flogged by Tanyoxarces for some offence, went to Cambyses and informed him that his brother was plotting against him. In proof of this he declared that Tanyoxarces would refuse to come if summoned. Cambyses thereupon summoned his brother, who, being engaged on another matter, put off coming. The Magian thereupon accused him more freely. His mother Amytis, who suspected the Magian, advised Cambyses not to listen to him. Cambyses pretended not to believe him, while in reality he did. Being summoned by Cambyses a third time, Tanyoxarces obeyed the summons. His brother embraced him, but nevertheless determined to put him to death, and, unknown to his mother Amytis, took measures to carry out his plan. The Magian made the following suggestion. Being himself very like Tanyoxarces, he advised the king publicly to order that his head should be cut off as having falsely accused the king's brother; that in the meantime Tanyoxarces should secretly be put to death, and he (the Magian) should be dressed in his clothes, so that Tanyoxarces should be thought alive. Cambyses agreed to this. Tanyoxarces was put to death by being forced to drink bull's blood; the Magian put on his clothes and was mistaken for him by the people. The fraud was not known for a long time except to Artasyras, Bagapates, and Izabates, to whom alone Cambyses had entrusted the secret.

§ 72.11  Then Cambyses, having summoned Labyzus, the chief of Tanyoxarces's eunuchs, and the other eunuchs, showed them the Magian seated and dressed in the guise of his brother, and asked them whether they thought he was Tanyoxarces. Labyzus, in astonishment, replied, "Whom else should we think him to be?" the likeness being so great that he was deceived. The Magian was accordingly sent to Bactria, where he played the part of Tanyoxarces. Five years later Amytis, having learnt the truth from the eunuch Tibethis, whom the Magian had flogged, demanded that Cambyses should hand over Sphendadates to her, but he refused. Whereupon Amytis, after heaping curses upon him, drank poison and died.

§ 72.12  On a certain occasion, while Cambyses was offering sacrifice, no blood flowed from the slaughtered victims. This greatly alarmed him, and the birth of a son without a head by Roxana increased this alarm. This portent was interpreted by the wise men to mean that he would leave no successor. His mother also appeared to him in a dream, threatening retribution for the murder he had committed, which alarmed him still more. At Babylon, while carving a piece of wood with a knife for his amusement, he accidentally wounded himself in the thigh, and died eleven days afterwards, in the eighteenth year of his reign.

§ 72.13  Bagapates and Artasyras, before the death of Cambyses, conspired to raise the Magian to the throne, as they afterwards did. Izabates, who had gone to convey the body of Cambyses to Persia, finding on his return that the Magian was reigning under the name of Tanyoxarces, disclosed the truth to the army and exposed the Magian. After this he took refuge in a temple, where he was seized and put to death.

§ 72.14  Then seven distinguished Persians conspired against the Magian. Their names were Onophas, Idernes, Norondabates, Mardonius, Barisses, Ataphernes, and Darius Hystaspis. After they had given and taken the most solemn pledges, they admitted to their counsels Artasyras and Bagapates, who kept all the keys of the palace. The seven, having been admitted into the palace by Bagapates, found the Magian asleep. At the sight of them he jumped up, but finding no weapon ready to hand (for Bagapates had secretly removed them all) he smashed a chair made of gold and defended himself with one of the legs, but was finally stabbed to death by the seven. He had reigned seven months.

§ 72.15  Darius was chosen king from the seven conspirators in accordance with a test agreed upon, his horse being the first to neigh after the sun had risen, the result of a cunning stratagem. The Persians celebrate the day on which the Magian was put to death by a festival called Magophonia. Darius ordered a tomb to be built for himself in a two-peaked mountain, but when he desired to go and see it he was dissuaded by the soothsayers and his parents. The latter, however, were anxious to make the ascent to it, but the priests who were dragging them up, being frightened at the sight of some snakes, let go the ropes and they fell and were dashed to pieces. Darius was greatly grieved and ordered the heads of the forty men who were responsible to be cut off.

§ 72.16  Darius ordered Ariaramnes, satrap of Cappadocia, to cross over into Scythia, and carry off a number of prisoners, male and female. He went over in thirty penteconters, and among others took captive Marsagetes, the Scythian king's brother, who had been imprisoned by his own brother for certain offences. The ruler of the Scythians (Scytharkes), being enraged, wrote an abusive letter to Darius, who replied in the same tone. Darius then collected an army of 800,000 men and crossed the Bosporus and the Ister by a bridge of boats into Scythian territory in fifteen days. The two kings sent each other a bow in turn. Darius, seeing that the bow of the Scythians was stronger, turned back and fled across the bridges, destroying some of them in his haste before the entire army had crossed. Eighty thousand of his men, who had been left behind in Europe, were put to death by the ruler of the Scythians. Darius, after he had crossed the bridge, set fire to the houses and temples of the Chalcedonians, because they had attempted to break down the bridges which he had made near their city and had also destroyed the altar erected by him, when crossing, in honour of Zeus Diabaterios.

§ 72.17  Datis, the commander of the Persian fleet, on his return from Pontus, ravaged Greece and the islands. At Marathon he was met by Miltiades; the barbarians were defeated and Datis himself slain, the Athenians afterwards refusing to give up his body at the request of the Persians.

§ 72.18  Darius then returned to Persia, where, after having offered sacrifice, he died after an illness of thirty days, in the seventy-second year of his age and the thirty-first of his reign. Artasyras and Bagapates also died, the latter having been for seven years the keeper of the tomb of Darius.

§ 72.19  Darius was succeeded by his son Xerxes, over whom Artapanus the son of Artasyras had as great influence as his father had had over Darius. His other confidential advisers were the aged Mardonius and Matacas the eunuch. Xerxes married Amestris, the daughter of Onophas, who bore him a son, Dariaeus, two years afterwards Hystaspes and Artoxerxes, and two daughters, one named Rhodogune and another called Amytis after her grandmother.

§ 72.20  Xerxes decided to make war upon Greece, because the Chalcedonians had attempted to break down the bridge as already stated and had destroyed the altar which Darius had set up, and because the Athenians had slain Datis and refused to give up his body. But first he visited Babylon, being desirous of seeing the tomb of Belitanes, which Mardonius showed him. But he was unable to fill the vessel of oil, as' had been written.

§ 72.21  Thence he proceeded to Agbatana, where he heard of the revolt of the Babylonians and the murder of Zopyrus their satrap. Ctesias's account is different from that of Herodotus. What the latter relates of Zopyrus is attributed by Ctesias, with the exception of his mule giving birth to a foal, to Megabyzus, the son-in-law of Xerxes and the husband of his daughter Amytis. Babylon was taken by Megabyzus, upon whom Xerxes bestowed, amongst other rewards, a golden hand-mill, weighing six talents, the most honourable of the royal gifts. Then Xerxes, having collected a Persian army, 800,000 men and 1000 triremes without reckoning the chariots, set out against Greece, having first thrown a bridge across at Abydos. Demaratus the Spartan, who arrived there first and accompanied Xerxes across, dissuaded him from invading Sparta. His general Artapanus, with 10,000 men, fought an engagement with Leonidas, the Spartan general, at Thermopylae; the Persian host was cut to pieces, while only two or three of the Spartans were slain. The king then ordered an attack with 20,000, but these were defeated, and although flogged to the battle, were routed again. The next day he ordered an attack with 50,000, but without success, and accordingly ceased operations. Thorax the Thessalian and Calliades and Timaphernes, the leaders of the Trachinians, who were present with their forces, were summoned by Xerxes together with Demaratus and Hegias the Ephesian, who told him that the Spartans could never be defeated unless they were surrounded. A Persian army of 40,000 men was conducted by the two leaders of the Trachinians over an almost inaccessible mountain-path to the rear of the Lacedemonians, who were surrounded and died bravely to a man.

§ 72.22  Xerxes sent another army of 120,000 men against Plataea under the command of Mardonius, at the instigation of the Thebans. He was opposed by Pausanias the Spartan, with only 300 Spartiates, 1000 perioeci, and 6000 from the other cities. The Persians suffered a severe defeat, Mardonius being wounded and obliged to take to flight. He was afterwards sent by Xerxes to plunder the temple of Apollo, where he is said to have died from injuries received during a terrible hailstorm, to the great grief of Xerxes.

§ 72.23  Xerxes then advanced against Athens itself, the inhabitants of which manned 110 triremes and took refuge in Salamis; Xerxes took possession of the empty city and set fire to it, with the exception of the Acropolis, which was defended by a small band of men who had remained; at last, they also made their escape by night, and the Acropolis was fired. After this, Xerxes proceeded to a narrow strip of land in Attica called Heracleum, and began to construct an embankment in the direction of Salamis, intending to cross over on foot. By the advice of the Athenians Themistocles and Aristides archers were summoned from Crete. Then a naval engagement took place between the Greeks with 700 ships and the Persians with more than 1000 under Onophas. The Athenians were victorious, thanks to the advice and clever strategy of Aristides and Themistocles; the Persians lost 500 ships, and Xerxes took to flight. In the remaining battles 12,000 Persians were killed.

§ 72.24  Xerxes, having crossed over into Asia and advanced towards Sardes, despatched Megabyzus to plunder the temple at Delphi. On his refusing to go, the eunuch Matacas was sent in his place, to insult Apollo and plunder the temple. Having carried out his orders he returned to Xerxes, who in the meantime had arrived in Persia from Babylon. Here Megabyzus accused his wife Amytis (the daughter of Xerxes) of having committed adultery. Xerxes severely reprimanded her, but she declared that she was not guilty. Artapanus and Aspamitres the eunuch, the confidential advisers of Xerxes, resolved to kill their master. Having done so, they persuaded Artoxerxes that his brother Dariaeus had murdered him. Dariaeus was taken to the palace of Artoxerxes, and, although he vehemently denied the accusation, he was put to death.

§ 72.25  Thus Artoxerxes became king, thanks to Artapanus, who entered into a conspiracy against him with Megabyzus (who was bitterly aggrieved at the suspicion of adultery against his wife), each taking an oath to remain loyal to the other. Nevertheless, Megabyzus revealed the plot, the guilty conduct of Artapanus came to light, and he met the death which he had intended for Artoxerxes. Aspamitres, who had taken part in the murders of Xerxes and Dariaeus was cruelly put to death, being exposed in the trough. After the death of Artapanus there was a battle between his fellow-conspirators and the other Persians, in which the three sons of Artapanus were killed and Megabyzus severely wounded. Artoxerxes, Amytis, and Rhodogune, and their mother Amestris were deeply grieved, and his life was only saved by the skill and attention of Apollonides, a physician of Cos.

§ 72.26  Bactra and its satrap, another Artapanus, revolted from Artoxerxes. The first battle was indecisive, but in a second, the Bactrians were defeated because the wind blew in their faces, and the whole of Bactria submitted.

§ 72.27  Egypt, under the leadership of Inarus a Libyan, assisted by a native of the country, also revolted, and preparations were made for war. At the request of Inarus the Athenians sent forty ships to his aid. Artoxerxes himself was desirous of taking part in the expedition, but his friends dissuaded him. He therefore sent Achaemenides his brother with 400,000 infantry and eighty ships. Inarus joined battle with Achaemenides, the Egyptians were victorious, Achaemenides being slain by Inarus and his body sent to Artoxerxes. Inarus was also successful at sea. Charitimides, the commander of the forty Athenian ships, covered himself with glory in a naval engagement, in which twenty out of fifty Persian ships were captured with their crews, and the remaining thirty sunk.

§ 72.28  The king then sent Megabyzus against Inarus, with an additional army of 200,000 men and 300 ships commanded by Oriscus; so that, not counting the ships' crews, his army consisted of 500,000. For, when Achaemenides fell, 100,000 of his 400,000 men perished. A desperate battle ensued, in which the losses were heavy on both sides, although those of the Egyptians were heavier. Megabyzus wounded Inarus in the thigh, and put him to flight, and the Persians obtained a complete victory. Inarus fled to Byblus, an Egyptian stronghold, accompanied by those of the Greeks who had not been killed in battle. Then all Egypt, except Byblus, submitted to Megabyzus. But since this stronghold appeared impregnable, he came to terms with Inarus and the Greeks (6000 and more in number), on condition that they should suffer no harm from the king, and that the Greeks should be allowed to return home whenever they pleased.

§ 72.29  Having appointed Sarsamas satrap of Egypt, Megabyzus took Inarus and the Greeks to Artoxerxes, who was greatly enraged with Inarus because he had slain his brother Achaemenides. Megabyzus told him what had happened, how he had given his word to Inarus and the Greeks when he occupied Byblus, and earnestly entreated the king to spare their lives. The king consented, and the news that no harm would come to Inarus and the Greeks was immediately reported to the army.

§ 72.30  But Amestris, aggrieved at the idea that Inarus and the Greeks should escape punishment for the death of her son Achaemenides, asked the king [to give them up to her], but he refused; she then appealed to Megabyzus, who also dismissed her. At last, however, through her constant importunity she obtained her wish from her son, and after five years the king gave up Inarus and the Greeks to her. Inarus was impaled on three stakes; fifty of the Greeks, all that she could lay hands on, were decapitated. Megabyzus was deeply grieved at this, and asked permission to retire to his satrapy, Syria. Having secretly sent the rest of the Greeks thither in advance, on his arrival he collected a large army (150,000 not including cavalry) and raised the standard of revolt. Usiris with 200,000 men was sent against him; a battle took place, in which Megabyzus and Usiris wounded each other. Usiris inflicted a wound with a spear in Megabyzus's thigh two fingers deep; Megabyzus in turn first wounded Usiris in the thigh and then in the shoulder, so that he fell from his horse. Megabyzus, as he fell, protected him, and ordered that he should be spared. Many Persians were slain in the battle, in which Zopyrus and Artyphius, the sons of Megabyzus, distinguished themselves, and Megabyzus gained a decisive victory. Usiris received the greatest attention and was sent to Artoxerxes at his request.

§ 72.31  Another army was sent against him under Menostanes the son of Artarius, satrap of Babylon and brother of Artoxerxes. Another battle took place, in which the Persians were routed; Menostanes was shot by Megabyzus, first in the shoulder and then in the head, but the wound was not mortal. However, he fled with his army and Megabyzus gained a brilliant victory. Artarius then sent to Megabyzus, advising him to come to terms with the king. Megabyzus replied that he was ready to do so, but on condition that he should not be obliged to appear at court again, and should be allowed to remain in his satrapy. When his answer was reported to the king, the Paphlagonian eunuch Artoxares and Amestris urged him to make peace without delay. Accordingly, Artarius, his wife Amytis, Artoxares (then twenty years of age), and Petisas, the son of Usiris and father of Spitamas, were sent for that purpose to Megabyzus. After many entreaties and solemn promises, with great difficulty they succeeded in persuading Megabyzus to visit the king, who finally pardoned him for all his offences.

§ 72.32  Some time afterwards, while the king was out hunting he was attacked by a lion, which Megabyzus slew as it reared and was preparing to rush upon him. The king, enraged because Megabyzus had slain the animal first, ordered his head to be cut off, but owing to the entreaties of Amestris, Amytis, and others his life was spared and he was banished to Curtae, a town on the Red Sea. Artoxares the eunuch was also banished to Armenia for having often spoken freely to the king in favour of Megabyzus. After having passed five years in exile, Megabyzus escaped by pretending to be a leper, whom no one might approach, and returned home to Amytis, who hardly recognized him. On the intercession of Amestris and Amytis, the king became reconciled to him and admitted him to his table as before. Megabyzus died at the age of seventy-six, deeply mourned by the king.

§ 72.33  After his death, his wife Amytis, like her mother Amestris before her, showed great fondness for the society of men. The physician Apollonides of Cos, when Amytis was suffering from a slight illness, being called in to attend her, fell in love with her. For some time they carried on an intrigue, but finally she told her mother. She in turn informed the king, who left her to do as she would with the offender. Apollonides was kept in chains for two months as a punishment, and then buried alive on the same day that Amytis died.

§ 72.34  Zopyrus, the son of Megabyzus and Amytis, after the death of his father and mother revolted against the king. He visited Athens, where he was well received owing to the services his mother had rendered to the Athenians. From Athens he sailed with some Athenian troops to Caunus and summoned it to surrender. The inhabitants expressed themselves ready to do so, provided the Athenians who accompanied him were not admitted. While Zopyrus was mounting the wall, a Caunian named Alcides hit him on the head with a stone and killed him. The Caunian was crucified by order of his grandmother Amestris. Some time afterwards, Amestris died at a great age, and Artoxerxes also died after having reigned forty-two years. Here the seventeenth book ends.

§ 72.35  Artoxerxes was succeeded by his son Xerxes, his only legitimate son by Damaspia, who died on the same day as her husband. The bodies of the king and queen were conveyed by Bagorazus to Persia. Artoxerxes had seventeen illegitimate sons, amongst them Secydianus by Alogune the Babylonian, Ochus (afterwards king) and Arsites by Cosmartidene, also a Babylonian. Besides these three, he also had a son Bagapaeus and a daughter Parysatis by Andria, also a Babylonian, who became the mother of Artoxerxes and Cyrus. During his father's lifetime, Ochus was made satrap of Hyrcania, and given in marriage to Parysatis, the daughter of Artoxerxes and his own sister.

§ 72.36  Secydianus, having won over the eunuch Pharnacyas, who had the greatest influence over Xerxes next to Bagorazus, Menostanes, and some others, entered the palace after a festival, while Xerxes was lying in a drunken sleep and put him to death, forty-five days after the death of his father. The bodies of both father and son were conveyed together to Persia, for the mules which drew the chariot in which was the father's body, refused to move, as if waiting for that of the son; and when it arrived, they at once went on rapidly.

§ 72.37  Secydianus thus became king and appointed Menostanes his azabarites. After Bagorazus returned to court, Secydianus, who cherished a long-standing enmity against him, on the pretext that he had left his father's body in Persia without his permission, ordered him to be stoned to death. The army was greatly grieved, and, although Secydianus distributed large sums amongst the soldiers, they hated him for the murder of his brother Xerxes and now for that of Bagorazus.

§ 72.38  Secydianus, then summoned Ochus to court, who promised to present himself but failed to do so. After he had been summoned several times, he collected a large force with the obvious intention of seizing the throne. He. was joined by Arbarius, commander of the cavalry, and Arxanes, satrap of Egypt. The eunuch Artoxares also came from Armenia and placed the crown on the head of Ochus against his will.

§ 72.39  Thus Ochus became king and changed his name to Dariaeus. At the suggestion of Parysatis, he endeavoured by trickery and solemn promises to win over Secydianus. Menostanes did all he could to prevent Secydianus from putting faith in these promises or coming to terms with those who were trying to deceive him. In spite of this Secydianus allowed himself to be persuaded, was arrested, thrown into the ashes, and died, after a reign of six months and fifteen days.

§ 72.40  Ochus (also called Dariaeus) thus became sole ruler. Three eunuchs, Artoxares, Artibarzanes, and Athous had the greatest influence with him, but his chief adviser was his wife. By her he had had two children before he. became king, a daughter Amestris and a son Arsaces, afterwards called Artoxerxes. After his accession she bore him another son, called Cyrus from the sun. A third son was named Artostes, who was followed by several others, to the number of thirteen. The writer says that he obtained these particulars from Parysatis herself. Most of the children soon died, the only survivors being those just mentioned and a fourth named Oxendras. Arsites, his own brother by the same father and mother, revolted against the king together with Artyphius the son of Megabyzus. Artasyras was sent against them, and, having been defeated in two battles, gained the victory in a third, after he had bribed the Greeks, who were with Artyphius, so that only three Milesians remained faithful to him. At length Artyphius, finding that Arsites did not appear, surrendered to the king, after Artasyras had solemnly promised him that his life should be spared. The king was anxious to put Artyphius to death, but Parysatis advised him not to do so at once, in order to deceive Arsites and induce him also to submit; when both had surrendered, she said they could both be put to death. The plan succeeded, Artyphius and Arsites surrendered, and were thrown into the ashes. The king wished to pardon Arsites, but Parysatis by her importunity persuaded him to put him to death. Pharnacyas, who had assisted Secydianus to kill Xerxes, was stoned to death. Menostanes was also arrested and condemned, but anticipated his fate by suicide.

§ 72.41  Pissuthnes also revolted, and Tissaphernes, Spithradates, and Parmises were sent against him. Pissuthnes set out to meet them with Lycon the Athenian and a body of Greeks, who were bribed by the king's generals to desert him. Pissuthnes then surrendered, and, after having received assurances that his life should be spared, accompanied Tissaphernes to the court. But the king ordered him to be thrown into the ashes and gave his satrapy to Tissaphernes. Lycon also received several towns and districts as the reward of his treachery.

§ 72.42  Artoxares the eunuch, who had great influence with the king, desiring to obtain possession of the throne himself, plotted against his master. He ordered his wife to make him a false beard and moustache, that he might look like a man. His wife, however, betrayed him; he was seized, handed over to Parysatis, and put to death. Arsaces the king's son, who afterwards changed his name to Artoxerxes, married Statira, daughter of Idernes, whose son Teritukhmes, who had been appointed to his father's satrapy after his death, married the king's daughter Amestris. Teritukhmes had a half-sister Roxana, of great beauty and very skilful in bending the bow and hurling the spear. Teritukhmes having fallen in love with her and conceived a hatred of his wife Amestris, in order to get rid of the latter, resolved to put her into a sack, where she was to be stabbed to death by 300 accomplices, with whom he had entered into a conspiracy to raise a revolt. But a certain Udiastes, who had great influence with Teritukhmes, having received letters from the king promising to reward him generously if he could save his daughter, attacked and murdered Teritukhmes, who courageously defended himself and slew (it is said) thirty-seven of his assailants.

§ 72.43  Mitradates, the son of Udiastes, the armour-bearer of Teritukhmes, took no part in this affair, and when he learnt what had happened, he cursed his father and seized the city of Zaris to hand over to the son of Teritukhmes. Parysatis ordered the mother of Teritukhmes, his brothers Mitrostes and Helicus, and his sisters except Statira to be put to death. Roxana was hewn in pieces alive. The king told his wife Parysatis to inflict the same punishment upon the wife of his son Arsaces. But Arsaces by his tears and lamentations appeased the wrath of his father and mother. Parysatis having relented, Ochus spared Statira's life, but at the same time told Parysatis that she would one day greatly regret it.

§ 72.44  In the nineteenth book the author relates how Ochus Dariaeus fell sick and died at Babylon, having reigned thirty-five years. Arsaces, who succeeded him, changed his name to Artoxerxes. Udiastes had his tongue cut out and torn out by the roots behind; and so he died. His son Mitradates was appointed to his satrapy. This was due to the instigation of Statira, whereat Parysatis was greatly aggrieved. Cyrus, being accused by Tissaphernes of designs on the life of his brother Artaxerxes, took refuge with his mother, by whose intervention he was cleared of the charge. Disgraced by his brother, he retired to his satrapy and laid his plans for revolt. Satibarzanes accused Orontes of an intrigue with Parysatis, although her conduct was irreproachable; Orontes was put to death, and his mother was greatly enraged against the king, because Parysatis had poisoned the son of Teritukhmes. The author also mentions him who cremated his father contrary to the law, Hellanicus and Herodotus being thus convicted of falsehood.

§ 72.45  Cyrus having revolted against his brother collected an army composed of both Greeks and barbarians. Clearchus was in command of the Greeks; Syennesis, king of Cilicia, assisted both Cyrus and Artoxerxes. The author then reports the speeches of the two princes to their troops. Clearchus the Spartan, who was in command of the Greeks, and Menon the Thessalian, who accompanied Cyrus, were always at variance, because Cyrus took the advice of Clearchus in everything, while Menon was disregarded. Large numbers deserted from Artoxerxes to Cyrus, none from Cyrus to Artoxerxes. For this reason Artabarius, who meditated desertion, was accused and thrown into the ashes. Cyrus attacked the king's army and gained the victory, but lost his life by neglecting the advice of Clearchus. His body was mutilated by Artoxerxes, who ordered his head and the hand with which he had struck him to be cut off, and carried them about in triumph. Clearchus the Spartan withdrew during the night with his Greeks, and after he had seized one of the cities belonging to Parysatis, the king made peace with him.

§ 72.46  Parysatis set out for Babylon, mourning for the death of Cyrus, and having with difficulty recovered his head and hand sent them to Susa for burial. It was Bagapates who had cut off his head by order of Artoxerxes. Parysatis, when playing at dice with the king, won the game and Bagapates as the prize, and afterwards had him flayed alive and crucified. At length she was persuaded by the entreaties of Artoxerxes to give up mourning for her son. The king rewarded the soldier who brought him Cyrus's cap, and the Carian who was supposed to have wounded him, whom Parysatis afterwards tortured and put to death. Mitradates having boasted at table of having killed Cyrus, Parysatis demanded that he should be given up to her, and having got him into her hands, put him to death with great cruelty. Such is the contents of the nineteenth and twentieth books.

§ 72.47  The twenty-first, twenty-second, and twenty-third books conclude the history. Tissaphernes began to plot against the Greeks, with the assistance of Menon the Thessalian, whom he had won over. In this manner, by cunning and solemn promises, he got Clearchus and the other generals in his power, although Clearchus suspected and was on his guard against treachery and endeavoured to avert it; but the soldiers, being deceived by the words of Menon, compelled the unwilling Clearchus to visit Tissaphernes. Proxenus the Boeotian, who had been already deceived, also advised him to go. Clearchus and the other generals were sent in chains to Artoxerxes at Babylon, where all the people flocked to see Clearchus. Ctesias himself, Parysatis's physician, bestowed every attention upon Clearchus while he was in prison and did all he could to mitigate his lot. Parysatis would have given him his freedom and let him go, had not Statira persuaded the king to put him to death. After his execution, a marvellous thing happened. A strong wind sprang up and heaped a quantity of earth upon his body, which formed a natural tomb. The other Greeks who had been sent with him were also put to death, with the exception of Menon.

§ 72.48  The author next tells us of the insults heaped by Parysatis on Statira, and the poisoning of Statira, which was brought about in the following manner, although she had long been on her guard against this kind of death. A table knife was smeared with poison on one side. One of the little birds, about the size of an egg, called rhyndace, was cut in half by Parysatis, who herself took and ate the portion which had not been touched by the poison, at the same time offering Statira the poisoned half. Statira, seeing that Parysatis was eating her own portion, had no suspicions, and took the fatal poison. The king, enraged with his mother, ordered her eunuchs to be seized and tortured, including her chief confidant Ginge. The latter, being accused and brought to trial, was acquitted by the judges, but the king condemned her and ordered her to be tortured and put to death, which caused a lasting quarrel between mother and son.

§ 72.49  The tomb of Clearchus, eight years afterwards, was found covered with palm-trees, which Parysatis had had secretly planted by her eunuchs.

§ 72.50  The author next states the cause of the quarrel of Artoxerxes with Evagoras, king of Salamis. The messengers sent by Evagoras to Ctesias about the receiving of letters from Abuletes. The letter of Ctesias to Evagoras concerning reconciliation with Anaxagoras prince of the Cyprians. The return of the messengers of Evagoras to Cyprus and the delivery of the letters from Ctesias to Evagoras. The speech of Conon to Evagoras about visiting the king; and the letter of Evagoras on the honours he had received from him. The letter of Conon to Ctesias, the agreement of Evagoras to pay tribute to the king, and the giving of the letters to Ctesias. Speech of Ctesias to the king about Conon and the letter to him. The presents sent by Evagoras delivered to Satibarzanes; the arrival of the messengers in Cyprus. The letters of Conon to the king and Ctesias. The detention of the Spartan ambassadors to the king. Letter from the king to Conon and the Spartans, delivered to them by Ctesias himself. Conon appointed commander of the fleet by Pharnabazus.

§ 72.51  The visit of Ctesias to Cnidus, his native city, and to Sparta. Proceedings against the Spartan ambassadors at Rhodes, and their acquittal. The number of stations, days, and parasangs from Ephesus to Bactria and India. The work concludes with a list of the Assyrian kings from Ninus and Semiramis to Artoxerxes. This writer's style is clear and very simple, which makes the work agreeable to read. He uses the Ionic dialect, not throughout, as Herodotus does, but only in certain expressions, nor does he, like Herodotus, interrupt the thread of his narrative by ill-timed digressions. Although he reproaches Herodotus for his old wives' tales, he is not free from the same defect, especially in his account of India. The charm of his history chiefly consists in his manner of relating events, which is strong in the emotional and unexpected, and in his varied use of mythical embellishment. The style is more careless than it should be, and the phraseology often descends to the commonplace, whereas that of Herodotus, both in this and other respects as far as vigour and art are concerned, is the model representative of the Ionic dialect.

§ 77.1  [Eunapius, Chronicle] Read the new edition of the continuation of the Chronicle of Dexippus by Eunapius, in fourteen books. It begins with the reign of Claudius Caesar, when the history of Dexippus ends, and goes down to the time of Honorius and Arcadius, the sons of Theodosius. The work actually ends at the time when Arsacius, after the banishment of John Chysostom, was raised to the archbishopric of Constantinople, and the wife of Arcadius died of a miscarriage. This Eunapius was a native of Sardes in Lydia, and an impious heathen. He slanders and abuses in every way and without restraint all who have adorned the empire by their piety, especially Constantine the Great; on the other hand, he extols the impious, above all Julian the Apostate. Indeed, it almost seems as if the work was written as an elaborate panegyric upon him.

§ 77.2  His style is elegant, if one cuts out terms and expressions such as "fowl-like," "more deer-like," "more swine-like," "hawk-like," "crow-like," "ape-like," "a tear like a river," and so on, which vitiate and debase the nobility of the rest of the language. He also makes use of figures of speech capriciously, a fault which the rule of historical writing forbids, but in general his forcible style combined with urbanity palliates the offence. His method of composition, his clearness and his use of periods are exactly suited, and appropriate to historical narrative; sometimes, however, the style is wordy with a tendency towards forensic rather than historical language. In construction he introduces numerous innovations, but not so as to cause unpleasantness nor to afford an excuse for attacking his methods.

§ 77.2  He wrote two volumes, covering the same period. In the first, he bespatters with abuse the pure faith of us Christians, glorifies the heathen superstition, and attacks many pious emperors. In the second volume, which he calls a "new edition," he has cut out the insults and brutal abuse which he had showered upon Christian piety, and, having connected the rest of the body of the work, calls it, as we have said, a "new edition," although it still shows considerable traces of the original frenzy. We have come across old copies of both editions, both in separate volumes and combined, and, having read both, are in a position to estimate the difference. The result is that in the new edition many passages, owing to the omissions, are mutilated and obscure, although generally the author shows a great regard for clearness. Somehow or other in this second edition he has not connected the narrative with due regard to the omissions, and so has spoiled the meaning.

§ 78.1  [Malchus, Byzantine History] Read the Byzantine History of Malchus the sophist in seven books. It begins with the final illness and death of the emperor Leo in the seventeenth year of his reign. The author gives an account of the proclamation and accession of Zeno, his expulsion from the throne and life as a private individual, the accession and abdication of the usurper Basiliscus. The restoration of Zeno to the throne and the murder of Basiliscus, his wife and children being unjustly put to death at the same time. Harmatius, who had restored Zeno, met with a similar recompense, being put to death by Onulphus. The author also gives an account of the rebellion of Theodoric the son of Triarius; the friendship of Theodoric the son of Malamir, and his war with Theodoric the son of Triarius; the second revolt against Zeno, the rebellion of Marcian, the conspiracy of Zeno's mother-in-law, and the banishment of Marcian for life. Verina's plot against Illus, the treacherous seizure of Epidamnus by Theodoric the son of Malamir. Having described these events the author then touches upon Roman affairs. The seventh book ends with the death of Nepos, who, having driven out Glycerius, assumed the imperial power, ordered Glycerius's hair to be cut like a cleric's and made him chief priest instead of emperor. Nepos himself was subsequently slain at the instigation of Glycerius. These seven books show that the author had already written an account of preceding events, as also appears from the beginning of the first book of the seven. The end of the seventh book further shows that he had intended to continue the history, if his life had been spared. Malchus, a native of Philadelphia, is a most admirable historian. His style is pure, free from redundancies and easy to understand; the language is ornate and explicit, if somewhat pompous; he does not hesitate to employ unfamiliar expressions characterized by emphasis, euphony, and sublimity. Speaking generally, his language is a model for the historian. A sophist by profession, and one of the greatest of rhetoricians, he appears to have been a member of the Christian Church.

§ 79.1  [Candidus, History] Read the History by Candidus in three books. It begins with the accession of Leo, a native of Dacia in Illyria, military tribune and in command of the troops in Selymbria, who obtained the throne by the aid of Aspar. Aspar was an Alan and a soldier from his early years. He had been three times married, and had three sons, Ardaburius, Patricius, and Ermenarichus. The narrative goes down to the proclamation of Anastasius as emperor. The author was a native of Isauria Tracheia, as he himself tells us, and by profession clerk to certain influential Isaurians. By religion he was an orthodox Christian, as appears from his eulogy of the fourth synod and his well-justified attack on innovators. His style is not suited for history. He makes use of poetical expressions that are insipid and childish; the composition is harsh and discordant, inclined to dithyrambic bombast or degenerating into carelessness and inelegance. He introduces new constructions, which do not, as in the case of other writers, lend additional smoothness and charm to the work, but make it disagreeable to read and utterly unattractive. While here and there his style shows improvement, his history is obviously a medley of most different materials. He maintains that the name Isauria is derived from Esau.

§ 79.2  The first book describes the influence of Aspar and his sons, the election of Leo to the throne by Aspar, the great fire that broke out in Constantinople, and Aspar's measures for the general welfare. Of Tatian and Vivian; the dispute of Aspar and the emperor concerning them, and what they said to one another. How this led to an alliance of the emperor with the Isaurians through Tarasicodissas, the son of Rusumbladeotes, whose name was changed to Zeno when he became Leo's son-in-law, after the death of his first wife. How Ardaburius, to oppose the emperor, also endeavoured to win over the Isaurians. How a certain Martin, the friend of Ardaburius, informed Tarasicodissas of Ardaburius's plot against the emperor; how mutual suspicion was aggravated until finally the emperor Leo decided to put to death Aspar and his sons Ardaburius and Patricius the Caesar. Aspar was killed; Patricius, however, unexpectedly recovered from his wounds, and Aspar's other son Ermenarichus, who happened not to be with his father at the time, also escaped. Leo gives Tarasicodissas the hand of his daughter Ariadne in marriage, changes his name to Zeno, and appoints him general of the East. The successes and reverses of Basiliscus in Africa. How Leo desired and schemed to secure the election of his son-in-law Zeno as emperor, but could not prevail upon his subjects to consent. A little before his death, however, he proclaimed his grandson Leo, the son of Ariadne, who, after his grandfather's death, with the assent of the senate placed the crown upon the head of his father. Then follows a detailed genealogy of the Isaurians, in which the author does his best to prove that they were descendants of Esau. How Zeno, deceived by Verina, fled with his wife and mother, abandoning the city and the throne. How Verina, hoping that Patricius the magister would marry her and make himself emperor, by treachery drove out her son-in-law, but was deceived in her hopes, for those in authority raised her brother Basiliscus to the throne. The terrible massacre of Isaurians in Constantinople. Nepos, the emperor of Rome, succeeded by Augustulus, the son of Orestes. Such is the contents of the first book.

§ 79.3  The second book relates how Patricius the magister, who had carried on an intrigue with Verina, was slain by her indignant brother Basiliscus. How Verina conceived a hatred of her brother on this account, assisted Zeno with money to recover the throne, was persecuted by her brother, and, had not Armatus secretly got her away from the church, would probably have lost her life. Armatus, who had carried on an intrigue with the wife of Basiliscus, obtained great influence and was entrusted with the conduct of the war against Zeno; but subsequently entered into an agreement with Illus and went over to Zeno. Armatus was held in great esteem by Zeno, and his son was raised to the rank of Caesar. Nevertheless, he was afterwards put to death, and his son, deprived of the rank of Caesar, became one of the readers at Blachernae. Basiliscus before this had declared his son Marcus Caesar and afterwards emperor. Illus, having become reconciled to Zeno, prepared to help him to recover the throne. Basiliscus, against whom his own adherents revolted, fled with his children and his wife Zenonis, was treacherously induced by Armatus to leave the church in which he had taken refuge, and banished to Cappadocia, where he was put to death with all his family. When the impious Peter was disturbing the Churches of the East, Zeno sent Calandion to be consecrated patriarch of Antioch. The emperor being in want of money succeeded in obtaining some by methods suggested to him. Many who conspired against him were seized and put to death. Illus rendered great services to the empire by his valour in war and military successes, by his ambitious political measures and by his just dealings. After the death of the Roman emperor Nepos and the expulsion of his son Augustulus, Odoacer obtained possession of Italy and the city of Rome itself. But the western Gauls rebelled against him, and both they and Odoacer sent ambassadors to Zeno, who rather favoured Odoacer. A certain Alan who attempted to kill Illus, after he had wounded him, declared that he had been bribed by Epinicius, an intimate of Verina. Epinicius was handed over, to Illus, and after obtaining a promise that he should be forgiven and rewarded, disclosed Verina's designs against Illus. Zeno hands Verina over to Illus, who banished her to a fortress in Cilicia, and thus secured his safety. Illus, who had become very intimate with the impious Pamprepius, to whom he had been introduced by Marsus, gradually became ruined. Civil war against Zeno begun by Marcian and Procopius, sons of the Roman emperor Anthe-mius. After they had been defeated, Marcian was ordained a priest, and Procopius took refuge with Theodoric in Thrace. Marcian, in banishment in Cappadocia, escaped and stirred up revolt in Ancyra in Galatia until at length he was captured and banished to Isauria. The origin of the emperor's increasing hatred of Illus. This is the contents of the second book. The third book, amongst other things, relates how Illus rose in open revolt against Zeno, declared Leontius emperor and Verina empress; how the revolt failed, and Illus and Leontius were besieged, captured, and beheaded. It also contains an account of events to the death of Zeno.

§ 80.1  [OLYMPIODORUS, HISTORIES]
Read the Histories of Olympiodorus, in twenty-two books. They begin with the seventh consulship of the emperor Honorius [407 CE] and the second of Theodosius, and go down to the time when Valentinian, the son of Placidia and Constantius, was proclaimed emperor of the Romans [425 CE]. The author, a heathen, was a native of Thebes in Egypt, a poet by profession, according to his own account. His style is clear but loose and wanting in vigour, and sometimes degenerates into commonplace vulgarity, so that the work does not deserve to be considered a history. Perhaps that is the reason why the author himself, conscious of these defects, declares that his work is not a history, but a collection of materials for a history, so destitute of regular form did he himself consider his style and phraseology. He is not distinguished for form, except so far as one might assert that he now and again approaches simplicity; but even in this, owing to the excessive meanness and paltriness of his diction, he is unsuccessful and gradually descends to vulgar mannerism. He calls his work Silva, but divides it into books and strives to embellish it with prefaces. It is dedicated to the emperor Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, and nephew of Honorius and Placidia.

§ 80.2  The rise of Stilicho to power; his appointment by Theodosius the Great to the guardianship of his children Arcadius and Honorius, his marriage to Serena, betrothed to him by her uncle the emperor himself. Marriage of his daughter Thermantia to Honorius, and his rise to the height of his power. His many successful foreign wars. His death at the hands of the cruel and inhuman Olympius, whom he had himself recommended to the emperor.

§ 80.3  Alaric, chieftain of the Goths, whom Stilicho had previously sent for that he might retain Illyricum for Honorius (to whom that prefecture had been assigned by his father Theodosius), in consequence of the murder of Stilicho, and because the promises made to him had not been kept, besieges and sacks Rome. He carries off an enormous amount of booty together with Placidia, the sister of Honorius, who was in the city at the time. Before its capture he declares emperor a distinguished citizen named Attalus, the city prefect. Another reason for Alaric's conduct was that Sarus, also a Goth, captain of a small band, not more than or in number, and a brave and invincible warrior, had been offered an alliance by the Romans as being hostile to Alaric, who thus became their irreconcilable enemy.

§ 80.4  During the siege of Rome the inhabitants were reduced to cannibalism. Alaric, while Stilicho was still alive, received pounds of gold for the expenses of his expedition. After the death of Stilicho his widow Serena is strangled, it being thought that she might haye been responsible for Alaric's attack on the city. His son Eucherius had already been put to death.

§ 80.5  During the reign of Honorius the name Bucellarii was given not only to Roman, but also to foreign soldiers; and similarly, the name Foederati to a mixed and irregular body of troops.

§ 80.6  Olympius, who intrigued against Stilicho, appointed master of the offices, but afterwards deprived of his post. He recovers it and is again deprived of it. He is beaten to death by order of Constantius, the husband of Placidia, after his ears have first been cut off. Thus the impious wretch meets with due punishment at last.

§ 80.7  The chief men of the Goths with Radagaisus, about 12,000 in number, called Optimati, are defeated by Stilicho, who enters into an alliance with Radagaisus.

§ 80.8  Illness and death of Alaric, who is succeeded by his wife's brother Ataulf.

§ 80.9  The author says that dry bread was called bucellatum, and jestingly suggests that the soldiers were called bucellarii for this reason.

§ 80.10  Constantine, having made himself tyrant in Gaul, sends ambassadors to Honorius, excusing himself on the ground that he had been forced to assume the purple by the soldiers, and asking forgiveness and recognition as his colleague. Honorius, being in great straits, agrees to his request. This Constantine had been declared emperor during a revolt of the soldiers in Britain, where, before the seventh consulship of Honorius, they had proclaimed a certain Marcus emperor. He was soon removed by them and Gratian appointed in his stead. After four months, they grew tired of him also, and put him to death, Constantine being promoted to the rank and title of Augustus. Having appointed Justin and Neobigastes to the command of his forces, he left Britain and crossed over to Bononia, a town on the coast, the first in Gallic territory. There he spent some time, gaining over all the soldiery of Gaul and Aquitaine, and occupied the whole of Gaul as far as the Alps which separate Italy and Gaul. He had two sons, Constans and Julian, the former of whom he raised to the rank of Caesar and bestowed the dignity of Nobilissimus upon the latter.

§ 80.11  Attalus, created rival emperor to Honorius, marches towards Ravenna, where Jovian, praetorian prefect and patrician, Valens, magister utriusque militiae, Potamius the quaestor, and Julian primicerius notariorum, are sent to him as envoys by Honorius. They inform Attains that they have been sent by Honorius to discuss the question of admitting him to a partnership in the empire. He refuses, but offers to allow Honorius to retire unharmed to some island or anywhere else he pleased. Jovian gladly accepts this proposal, further proposing that Honorius should be mutilated. Attalus rebukes Jovian, saying that there is no reason for mutilating Honorius, if he voluntarily abdicates. Jovian, after several unsuccessful embassies, remains with Attalus as his patricius. Meanwhile, the command of Ravenna devolves upon the praepositus Eusebius, who, soon afterwards, by the cruelty of Allobich and by public decree is flogged to death in the sight of the emperor. After a considerable time, Attalus, who does not remain loyal to Alaric (chiefly owing to Jovian, who had betrayed the ambassadors of Honorius), is deprived of the throne, and afterwards joins the suite of Alaric as a private individual. He is subsequently restored, but again compelled to abdicate. Finally, he sets out for Ravenna, is captured, and, after the thumb and forefinger of his right hand have been cut off, is banished.

§ 80.12  Soon afterwards, Allobich pays the penalty for the murder of the praepositus Eusebius, and is put to death before the emperor. The tyrant Constantine, when informed of the death of Allobich, sets out in haste for Ravenna, to make a treaty with Honorius, but being alarmed, turns back.

§ 80.13  Rhegium was the chief town of Bruttii, whence the historian says Alaric intended to cross over to Sicily, but was prevented from doing so by a sacred statue. This statue is said to have been consecrated by the ancients as a protection against the fires of Aetna and the passage of barbarians from over seas. In one foot it contained a fire that was never extinguished, in the other a supply of water that never failed. When it was subsequently destroyed by Asclepius, the manager of Constantius and Placidia's Sicilian property, the inhabitants suffered greatly from Aetna and the barbarians.

§ 80.14  The tyrant Constantine and his son Constans, who was first Caesar and afterwards Augustus, having been defeated and put to flight, his general, Gerontius, gladly makes peace with the barbarians and proclaims Maximus, one of the domestics and his own son, emperor. He then pursues Constans, puts him to death, and sets out after Constantine. While these events are taking place, Constantius and Ulphilas are sent by Honorius against Constantine; having reached Arelate, where Constantine was living with his son Julian, they lay siege to it. Constantine takes refuge in a church and is ordained priest, having been solemnly promised that his life should be spared. The city gates are thrown open to the besiegers, and Constantine and his son taken to Honorius. But the emperor, bearing a grudge against them for the murder of his cousins by Constantine, orders them to be put to death in violation of his oath, thirty miles from Ravenna. Gerontius, on the arrival of Constantius and Ulphilas, takes to flight, and is seized by his mutinous troops, who resented his severe discipline. The house where he seeks refuge is set on fire, but he offers a brave resistance to the mutineers, together with one of his servants, an Alan by birth. At last, he slays the Alan and then his wife, at their earnest request, and then stabs himself. His son Maximus, on hearing of this, takes refuge with friendly barbarians.

§ 80.15  Jovinus, meanwhile, is proclaimed emperor at Moguntiacum in upper Germany, with the aid of Goar the Alan and Guntiar, a Burgundian chieftain. On the advice of Attalus, Ataulf joins him with his forces. But Jovinus, being offended at the presence of Ataulf, in mysterious language blames Attalus who had advised Ataulf to join him. Sarus also is on the way to join Jovinus, but Ataulf, hearing of this, collects a force of 10,000 men and waylays Sarus, whose followers numbered only twenty-eight. Sarus fights with marvellous heroism, and is with difficulty taken alive by a soldier, who threw a bag over his head, and afterwards slain. Sarus had revolted from Honorius, who had treated the murder of Sarus's servant, Bellerides, as a matter of indifference and had refused to find out and punish his murderer.

§ 80.16  Donatus and the Huns, and the skilfulness of their kings in shooting with the bow. The author relates that he himself was sent on a mission to Donatus, and gives a tragic account of his wanderings and perils by sea. How Donatus, being deceived by an oath, was unlawfully put .to death. How Charaton, the first of the kings, being incensed at the murder, was appeased by gifts from the emperor. Such are the events of the first decade of the history.

§ 80.17  The second begins as follows. Jovinus, contrary to the advice of Ataulf, proclaims his own brother Sebastian Augustus. Ataulf, deeply offended, thereupon sends envoys to Honorius, promising to send him the heads of the tyrants and offering to make peace. Oaths having been exchanged, the envoys return, and the head of Sebastian is sent to the emperor. Jovinus, besieged by Ataulf, surrenders, is sent to the emperor and executed by the praetorian prefect Dardanus with his own hand. Both heads are exposed outside Carthage, where those of Constantine and Julian, of Maximus and Eugenius, who had aspired to the throne during the reign of the great Theodosius and had met with the same fate, had already been exposed.

§ 80.18  The restoration of Placidia to her brother Honorius is urgently demanded from Ataulf by Constantius, who afterwards became her husband. But as the promises made to him remain unfulfilled, especially in regard to the supply of corn, he refuses to give her back and prepares for war instead of peace.

§ 80.19  Ataulf, when requested to restore Placidia, asks for the corn promised him. Although those who had promised it are unable to supply it, they agree to do so if Placidia is restored; the barbarian makes a similar pretence of complying. In the meantime he sets out for Massilia, hoping to capture it by treachery. But having been severely, almost mortally, wounded by the most noble Boniface, he returns to his own quarters, abandoning the city which joyfully acclaims and extols Boniface.

§ 80.20  Ataulf, determined to marry Placidia, in spite of the request of Constantius for her restitution, raises his demands so that, if they are not granted, he may appear to have a good excuse for detaining her.

§ 80.21  Constantius, who was formerly consul elect, is created consul at Ravenna, Constans being at the same time made consul at Constantinople. Sufficient gold was found among the property of Heraclian, who had been put to death as aspiring to the throne, to defray the expenses of the consulship, although the amount was not so great as had been expected. The amount in gold which was found was about £4600, and the value of the real estate litrae (£92,000). All this was made over to Constantius by Honorius "at one asking." Constantius, as he rode along, had a dejected and sullen appearance, with his great eyes and neck and broad head; his whole body was bent over his horse and he looked askance on either side, in order as the old expression has it, "to appear worthy of empire."27 At feasts and banquets, however, he was agreeable and sociable, and often even condescended to vie with the mimes who performed at table.

§ 80.22  On the advice and with the assistance of Candidian the marriage of Ataulf with Placidia was celebrated at the beginning of January in the city of Narbo (Narbonne), in the house of Ingenius, one of the most distinguished citizens. Placidia sat in the inner apartment dressed in Roman style and in royal robes, with Ataulf by her side, wearing a woollen tunic and Roman costume. Amongst other wedding presents Ataulf gave his bride fifty beautiful youths dressed in silk, each bearing in his hands two very large dishes, one filled with gold, the other with precious, or rather priceless, stones, the spoils of Rome when it was sacked by the Goths. Then wedding-songs were sung, Attalus leading the chorus, accompanied by Rusticius and Phoebadius. The ceremony ended with great demonstrations of joy and games, in which Romans and barbarians alike took part.

§ 80.23  After the capture of Rome by the Goths, Albinus, the city prefect, when the normal condition of things was restored, reported to the emperor that the amount of corn distributed to the people was insufficient, since their number was increasing, as many as 14,000 strangers having passed, through in one day.

§ 80.24  Ataulf, after Placidia had borne him a son whom he called Theodosius, courted the friendship of the Romans still more, but the opposition of Constantius and his supporters made his and Placidia's efforts vain. The son soon died and his parents, deeply grieved, buried him in a silver coffer in a church near Barcino (Barcelona). Soon afterwards Ataulf himself was murdered, while looking after his horses in the stable, as he had been in the habit of doing. He was slain by a certain Goth in his service, named Dubius, who had long been on the watch for an opportunity to satisfy an old-standing hatred. Dubius's master, chief of a Gothic tribe, had been killed by Ataulf, who had taken Dubius into his own household. Dubius, to avenge his first master, slew his second. Ataulf, before he died, ordered his brother to give back Placidia and, if possible, to cultivate the friendship of Rome. He was succeeded by Singeric, the brother of Sarus, who secured the throne by violence and intrigue rather than legally or on the score of relationship. He put to death Ataulf's children by a former marriage, tearing them from the arms of bishop Sigesarus, and by way of insult compelled Placidia to walk in procession in front of his horse with other captives as far as the twelfth milestone from the city. After he had reigned seven days Singeric was slain and succeeded by the Gothic chieftain Walia.

§ 80.25  The historian relates that he heard from a person of distinction named Valerius about certain silver statues that were consecrated to keep off the barbarians. In the reign of Constantius, when Valerius was governor of Thrace, he received information of the whereabouts of a treasure. He proceeded to the spot and learnt from the inhabitants that it was regarded as sacred, and that certain statues had been consecrated there in accordance with ancient rites. Valerius reported this to the emperor, who gave him written permission to remove them. The spot was excavated, and three statues of solid silver were found, lying in barbaric guise, with arms akimbo, clothed in parti-coloured barbaric raiment, with long hair, turned towards the north, the country of the barbarians. When these statues were removed, the Goths a few days afterwards first overran and ravaged Thrace, and a little later Huns and Sarmatians made inroads into Illyricum and Thrace itself; for these consecrated districts lay between Thrace and Illyricum, and from the number of the statues consecrated, they appear to have been intended as a protection against these barbarous nations.

§ 80.26  The historian tells us of the sufferings and perils of his voyage. He says also that he landed at Athens, and that by his support and efforts Leontius was appointed to the chair of sophistic, although he did not desire it. Concerning the philosopher's cloak, he says that no one in Athens, particularly a stranger, was allowed to wear it, unless permitted to do so by the general vote of the sophists, and unless his right had been confirmed by their rules and regulations. The following were the rites on such occasions. All newcomers (novices), young and old, were taken to the public baths. Those who were by age fit to wear the cloak were brought forward by the scholastics who escorted them; then, while some ran in front and pushed them back, others, running behind, pushed them forward and resisted them, amid shouts of "Stop, stop, he must not wash." Those who pushed back those who tried to hinder the progress of the novice were considered to be victorious in the contest. After a considerable time, and after a long disputation had taken place in accordance with custom, he who was being escorted was taken into a warm room and washed. Having dressed himself, he received permission to wear the cloak on his way from the bath, being accompanied by a numerous and distinguished throng. Large sums are voted for the presidents of the schools, who are called Acromitae.

§ 80.27  The Vandals call the Goths Truli, because, when they were hard pressed by famine, they bought a trula of wheat from the Vandals for a gold coin. The trula does not contain more than a third of a pint.

§ 80.28  When the Vandals were ravaging Spain, the Romans who took refuge in the fortified cities were so destitute of food that they were driven to cannibalism. A woman who was the mother of four children ate them all, in each case pretending that she did so to provide some food for the rest and save their lives, but when she had eaten them all she was stoned to death by the people.

§ 80.29  Euplutius the chamberlain is sent to Walia, king of the Goths, to make a treaty of peace with him and to recover Placidia. Walia receives him kindly and on receipt of 600,000 measures of corn, Placidia is released and handed over to Euplutius to be escorted to her brother Honorius.

§ 80.30  When a discussion arose in Athens how books could be fastened together and people wanted to know how much glue should be used, Philtatius, the writer's companion, who was well acquainted with all matters connected with literature, showed them what to do. A statue was erected in his honour by the grateful citizens.

§ 80.31  About the oasis the author relates much that appears incredible. First, the climate is so healthy, that not only do none of the inhabitants suffer from epilepsy, but those who come from other parts are cured of it. Next, he speaks of the vast tracts of sand, and the wells, dug 200, 300, sometimes even cubits deep, which spurt up a stream of water, from which the husbandmen who have taken part in the work in turn draw water to irrigate their fields. The trees bear fruit perpetually, and the corn which grows there is finer than any other and whiter than snow. There are sometimes two crops of barley in a year and three of millet. The inhabitants water their little plots of land every third day in summer, every sixth day in winter, which makes the soil very fertile. Clouds are rarely, if ever, seen. About the clocks made there. The author says that the oasis was formerly an island, which had been detached from the mainland, and that it is called by Herodotus the islands of the blest, but that Herodorus (who wrote the lives of Orpheus and Musaeus) calls it Phaeacis. He argues that it was an island, first, from the fact that sea shells are found adhering to stones upon the mountain which leads to the oasis from the Thebaid, and, secondly, because of the vast quantity of sand, which fills three oases. For he tells us that the oases are three in number, two large, an outer and an inner, opposite each other but a hundred miles apart, while the third is small and a great distance from the other two. A further argument that it was an island is that fish are often found that have been carried there by birds, and the remains of fish that have been eaten, so that one may conjecture that the sea was not far off. The author says also that Homer's family belonged to the Thebaid.

§ 80.32  During the eleventh consulship of Honorius and the second of Constantius, the marriage of Placidia was arranged. She herself was greatly opposed to it, which incensed Constantius against her household. Nevertheless, on the first day of his consulship, her brother the emperor Honorius took her by the hand and, although she protested, delivered her over to Constantius, and the wedding was celebrated with great magnificence. They had two children, a daughter Honoria and a son Valentinian, who at the urgent request of Placidia received the title Nobilissimus during the lifetime of Honorius. After the death of the latter and the suppression of the usurper John, he became emperor. Honorius unwillingly agreed to accept Constantius as his partner in the empire, and Placidia received the title of Augusta from her brother and her husband. Theodosius the cousin of Honorius and emperor of the East, to whom an embassy was sent to inform him of the elevation of Constantius, refused to receive it. Constantius soon became tired of the throne, since he could no longer come and go when and where he pleased, and his dignity forbade him to indulge in his customary amusements. This seriously affected his health and, after he had been on the throne six months, a vision appeared to him and addressed him with the words, "Six are gone, the seventh begins." He died of pleurisy, and with him died the indignation aroused by the refusal to acknowledge his accession. The projected attack on the East abandoned. Walia, king of the Goths, dies and is succeeded by Theodoric.

§ 80.33  The author relates various perils at sea from which he barely escaped with his life. While talking of a marvellous star (called Urania by the sailors), he was leaning heavily against the mast, which nearly gave way and precipitated him into the water. He also tells of a parrot, with which he himself lived twenty years, which mimicked nearly all the acts of a human being. It used to dance and sing, call people by their names and the like. He also relates that, when he was staying at Thebes and Soene for the sake of gathering information, the chiefs and prophets of the barbarians at Talmis, called Blemmyes, were eager to meet him owing to his reputation. "They took me as far as Talmis," he says, "that I might examine the country, which is distant five days' journey from Philae as far as the city called Prima. This was the nearest city of the Thebaid to barbarian soil, and was hence called by the Romans Prima (first), the name being still preserved although it has long been in possession of the barbarians with four other cities, Phoenicon, Chiris, Thapis, and Talmis." In this district he heard that there were emerald mines, which furnished an abundant supply of those precious stones for the Egyptian kings. The prophets of the barbarians invited him to inspect them, but this was impossible without the king's permission.

§ 80.34  He tells a wonderful story about a certain Libanius, an Asiatic, who appeared at Ravenna during the reign of Honorius and Constantius, a most consummate magician. He declared that he could work wonders and promised to perform them against the barbarians without the aid of soldiers. After his promise had been put to the test, the report reached the ears of Placidia, who threatened to apply for a divorce against Constantius, unless the magician and infidel were removed. Libanius was accordingly put to death. Constantius was an Illyrian from Naisus in Dacia, who, having served in numerous campaigns from the time of Theodosius the Great, was afterwards raised to the throne. In many respects he was worthy of praise and of a generous disposition, until his marriage with Placidia, when he became grasping and covetous. After his death, numerous petitions against him from those who had been financially injured by him were presented at Ravenna. But the indifference of Honorius and Placidia's intimacy with him made these petitions useless and thwarted the power of justice.

§ 80.35  After the death of Constantius, Honorius lavished the greatest affection upon his sister, which, however, soon turned to mistrust and hatred, aggravated by the intrigues of Spadusa and Elpidia (Placidia's nurse), in whom she had the greatest confidence, and Leontius her steward. There were frequent riots in Ravenna, where a large number of barbarians, who sided with her in consequence of her marriage with Ataulf and with Constantius, frequently came to blows with the imperial guards. At length the quarrel became so bitter that, as the result of the hatred instead of love which her brother now felt for her, Placidia, finding herself unable to resist, retired with her children to Constantinople. Boniface alone remained loyal to her, sent her money when he was able from Africa where he was governor, and rendered her every service in his power. He also subsequently assisted her to regain the throne.

§ 80.36  Honorius died of dropsy on the 27th of August, and an announcement of the news was sent to the East. In the meantime, a certain John seized the throne. While his inauguration was taking place, a voice was heard, as if proceeding from some oracle uttering the words, "He falls, he does not stand," whereupon the people, as if to break the spell, shouted, "He stands, he does not fall."

§ 80.37  Boniface was an heroic soldier, who often distinguished himself against the barbarians, sometimes with large, sometimes with small forces, sometimes even in single combat; in a word, he entirely freed Africa from many barbarous nations. He was a lover of justice and despised wealth.

§ 80.38  The author says that each of the large houses in Rome contained all the conveniences of a well-arranged city----a hippodrome, fora, temples, fountains, and baths. This leads him to exclaim : "One house is a town; a city has ten thousand towns." There were also public baths of great size; those called Antoninianae had seats for the convenience of bathers, made of polished marble; those called Diocletianae twice as many. The wall of Rome, according to the measurement of Ammon the geometrician, at the time when it was first overrun by the Goths, was twenty-one miles in circumference.

§ 80.39  Many Roman families received yearly incomes from their property to the amount of about forty centenarii of gold (£160,000), not mentioning the corn and wine and other produce, which, if sold, would equal a third of the above amount. Families next in rank enjoyed an income of fifteen or ten centenarii (£60,000-£40,000). Probus, the son of Olympius, who was prefect of the city during the tyranny of John, spent twelve centenarii of gold (£48,000). Before the taking of Rome, Symmachus the orator, a senator of moderate rank, and a certain Maximus, one of the wealthy citizens, spent twenty (£80,000) and forty (£160,000) centenarii respectively on their sons' praetorships. The shows given by the praetors lasted a week.

§ 80.40  The author says that the scene of the wanderings of Odysseus was not the coast of Sicily, but the farthest shores of Italy; that, after crossing the ocean, he descended into Hades and made many perilous voyages over that sea; an opinion which he attempts to confirm by various arguments. I have read many other writers who agree with him.

§ 80.41  Placidia is sent back with her children from Constantinople by Theodosius to oppose the tyrant John. She is confirmed in her title of Augusta, and Valentinian in that of Nobilissimus. They set out accompanied by an army, both horse and foot, under the command of Ardaburius, his son Aspar, and Candidian. At Thessalonica Helion, the master of offices, who had been sent by Theodosius, put the royal robes on Valentinian, then only five years old. On his way home, Ardaburius is captured by the soldiers of John and taken to the tyrant, with whom he becomes on friendly terms. His son Aspar and Placidia were meanwhile overwhelmed by grief and anxiety; but Candidian, by capturing many towns and winning great renown, dispelled their grief and raised their spirits. The tyrant John was put to death, and Placidia with the Caesar her son entered Ravenna. Helion, the master of offices and a patrician, took possession of Rome, and in the midst of a vast throng of people arrayed the seven-year-old Valentinian in the royal robes. At this point the history ends.

§ 96.1  [George of Alexandria, Life of St. Chrysostom] Read the work by George, bishop of Alexandria, entitled The Life of St. Chrysostom. Who the author is, I cannot state with certainty. The style is simple, at times degenerating into meanness and vulgarity, and the proper construction of nouns and verbs, usually observed even by the grammarians, is neglected. The author says that he has compiled his history from material taken from bishop Palladius, who has written an admirable and careful life of Chrysostom in the form of a dialogue, from Socrates, and other writers.

§ 96.2  According to the author, the great John was born at Antioch of noble parents, Secundus and Anthusa. Meletius the Armenian, then head of the Church at Antioch, initiated them into the rites of Christianity and prepared them to receive the saving grace of baptism, having first initiated and baptized their son. At an early age, John went to school. From boyhood he was distinguished for his modesty, showed none of the effeminacy common to wealthy and high-born children, and would not even ride on horseback. At Antioch he attended the lectures of Libanius on grammar and rhetoric, and of Andragathius on philosophy. After his father's death, he was the comfort of his mother, and, abstaining from all pleasures and amusements, devoted himself entirely to study.

§ 96.3  He visited Athens to improve his knowledge, and in a short time showed himself so superior to all other students that Anthemius, the priest of the temple of Athena, who was reputed the wisest man in Athens, was jealous of him. Demosthenes, the prefect of the city, sent a most complimentary summons to him, in answer to which John presented himself with great humility. In a discussion that took place between them, John showed himself superior in learning, intelligence, and piety. A marvellous result of this was, that Anthemius, finally convinced by John's divine eloquence and prayers, was baptized with all his household by the bishop of the city. The prefect, who had been already baptized, received instruction in the doctrines of Christianity, together with a large number of heathen. The bishop of the city wanted to ordain John and to leave him bishop of the city in his place, but John, when he became aware of this, secretly set sail in haste for his own country.

§ 96.4  His friends and acquaintances wished him to enter the legal profession, but he was himself inclined to a monastic life, although only eighteen years of age. Two of his fellow-students, Theodore, afterwards bishop of Mopsuestia, and Maximus, afterwards bishop of Seleucia, rejected a public and mercenary career and chose a private and simple lifer He was very intimate with Basil the Great (not the other Basil, as some assert), who was ordained deacon by Meletius and whom John esteemed more highly than any other of his friends. Basil took farewell of John and tried to persuade him to adopt the same kind of life, but for the time his mother stood in the way. Bishop Zeno came from Jerusalem and appointed John reader in the church at Antioch. Soon afterwards his mother died, John distributed his father's property amongst the poor, left the city, entered a monastery in the neighbourhood, and showed himself a model and pattern monk.

§ 96.5  Hesychius, a Syrian monk, who was reputed to have a knowledge of the future, saw two men in white raiment, the one holding a book and the other some keys, both of which they gave to John. The latter declared that he was the apostle Peter, the former that he was John the theologian. Hesychius told this to the inmates of the monastery, having taken care that it should not reach the ears of John, for fear lest, owing to his great modesty, he might leave the monastery. John also went through severe religious exercises and composed several monastic treatises.

§ 96.6  He also wrought miracles while in the monastery. One of the citizens had such a pain on one side of his head that his right eye hung out, but when he consulted John he was immediately cured. A certain Archelaus, a wealthy and distinguished person, suffering from leprosy in the face, was ordered to wash in the pool out of which the brethren drank, and became well; after this, he distributed his wealth, said farewell to the world, and entered the monastery, his example being followed by many others. Another person named Eucleus, who had lost his right eye through the influence of an evil spirit, applied to the monastery for admission; his head was shaved while the man of God prayed, and he recovered his sight. A woman also who had an issue of blood seven years was healed. A lion, which was said to have carried off a number of travellers, after John had impressed the sign of the cross upon others, was killed by its influence.

§ 96.7  After four years, owing to the number of people who applied to him, he left the monastery, and spent two years in a cave seldom sleeping and not lying down during the whole of the time. Having contracted a chill in the stomach and kidneys, he was compelled to return to Antioch, where he was ordained deacon by Meletius and looked after the altar. At that time he wrote the three treatises to Stagirius and those On the Priesthood and On the Incomprehensible. After the death of Meletius at Constantinople, the holy John returned to the monastery. Flavian, who had succeeded Meletius, in consequence of a divine revelation brought him back to the city from the monastery and ordained him priest. A command had been given to Flavian in a vision that John should be ordained and that Flavian himself should ordain him. A dove that hovered over his head during the ceremony was abundant proof of the divine grace with which he was to be filled. He spent twelve years in the sanctuary. From his early years, owing to his zeal for virtue he was harsh and severe, and rather given to wrath than to consideration for others. He wrote several commentaries while at Antioch, and at the bishop's urgent request addressed the people extemporaneously in the pulpit.

§ 96.8  The son of a woman named Euclaea, suffering from a violent fever, whose life had been despaired of, was healed by being sprinkled with some water which John had blessed. A certain woman belonging to the sect of the Marcionists, 9 whose husband held some office in the city, was in a desperate condition from dysentery; but having been healed by John, she, her husband, and all her household, with several other Marcionists, returned to the true faith.

§ 96.9  On the death of Nectarius, archbishop of Constantinople, John was sent for from Antioch, in spite of the opposition of the inhabitants, who claimed him as their own special blessing. But the emperor's command prevailed; John was consecrated by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, who was reluctant to perform the ceremony, but was forced to do so, certain papers containing charges against him being held over him as a threat if he did not consent. While John was being consecrated amid general approval, a man possessed was freed by him from an evil spirit.

§ 96.10  The great Chrysostom then immediately abolished the custom of receiving spiritual sisters and delivered long discourses against the unjust, the gluttonous, and the pleasure-loving. He was very charitable, so that many called him the Almsgiver. In a word, he taught all virtue and dissuaded from all vice. He also sent monks to Phoenicia to redeem from error those who were given over to idolatry; these monks, armed with the imperial authority, overthrew the idolatrous temples, the expenses being defrayed by certain pious women. A band of Celts, infected by Arianism, was brought back to the true faith by missionaries who spoke their language. He also brought back the nomad Scythians voluntarily to Christianity. He utterly rooted out the Marcionite heresy which was raising its head again in the East. He increased the number of nightly services with chanting. He took his food alone for three reasons; he was a total abstainer from wine because it affected his head (except when he drank it flavoured with roses in summer), he suffered from a weak stomach so that he often could not eat the food put before him, but asked for something else, and when at leisure he often refrained from food all day. The clergy considered him very harsh and austere. His deacon Serapion was also the cause of great hatred against him. John expelled several clergy from the Church for various reasons. Serapion also quarrelled with Severian, bishop of Gabala, who conceived a great and lasting hatred of John. John was greatly loved by the people owing to his discourses. He himself was very fond of commenting upon the epistles of St. Paul, who, according to John's friend Proclus, visited him for three nights and inspired him with the interpretation of his epistles.

§ 96.11  John also offended the empress in the case of Theodoric the patrician, whom he had succeeded in freeing from her unjust exactions. Theodoric gave the greater part of his property to the Church poorhouse as a thankoffering to God, which inflamed Eudoxia with anger and malice. Eutropius introduced a law that criminals who fled for refuge to the churches should not enjoy the privilege of asylum. But when, soon afterwards, he himself took refuge there, he reaped the fruits of his own legislation. While he lay prostrate at the altar, the great John delivered a speech full of reproach, which set many against him, who thought that he rebuked the unhappy wretch too cruelly. He deprived the Arians of their churches and with the emperor's consent drove them out of the city. Since they had composed antiphons to deceive the simple-minded he outdid them, with the assistance of the empress, by displaying silver crosses while the antiphons were being sung. It is said that the God-inspired Ignatius first introduced antiphons, in imitation of the angels who in this manner sang the praises of God. The influential Arian Gainas demanded a church from the emperor, but John who was present expressed his disapproval with great freedom, and persuaded the emperor to refuse. Soon afterwards, when Gainas rebelled, John, without delay, at the general request, went on an embassy to the barbarian, and repressed the revolt.

§ 96.12  Eusebius, who succeeded Celbianus as bishop of Valentinopolis, presented a document containing seven charges against Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus. The three first accused him of sacrilege; the fourth was that he had retained in his service without rebuking him a youth who had committed murder; the fifth, that he had taken possession of and sold some land which had been left by Basilina, the mother of Julian, to the Church; the sixth, that he had resumed intercourse with his wife after he had said farewell to the world, and that he had had a child by her; the seventh, that he accepted fees for consecration. The last charge, being regarded as the most serious, was investigated. The trial was protracted to great length, since the accuser himself purposely neglected his duty, and Antoninus died before it ended. John therefore went to Ephesus, and removed from their sees six bishops who had paid fees to secure consecration and confessed their guilt. He also deposed six others in Asia for the same offence. In place of Antoninus he consecrated Heraclides his own deacon, which created a disturbance. In place of the six bishops others were appointed who were distinguished by greater piety and virtue. When Chrysostom was banished all these were deprived of their sees, while those who had been ejected were restored.

§ 96.13  Severian, bishop of Gabala, having heard that Antiochus was in Constantinople and had obtained considerable sums of money by his discourses went there himself. John, when he set out for Ephesus, recommended him as his deputy in the pulpit, and in this manner Severian became known to the emperor and all the people.

§ 96.14  Callitrope, the widow of a shipmaster, had been unjustly taxed, and Paulacius, the prefect of Alexandria, harshly pressed the poor woman for the amount (500 gold pieces). She appealed to the empress, who fined Paulacius pounds of gold, of which the sorely afflicted woman only received thirty-six pieces. She accordingly took refuge with the general "port in a storm," the great John, who brought an action against Paulacius for the payment of pieces to the widow. This roused the hostility of Eudoxia, who was anxious for Paulacius to be let off. She was not listened to, however, and the just man claimed and restored to the ill-treated woman that of which she had been unjustly defrauded. Then a wonderful thing happened. When Eudoxia sent to rescue Paulacius in despite of John, an angel appeared bearing a spear and frightened her messengers, so that their mission was unsuccessful. In consequence of these and similar acts of John, Acacius of Beroea, Theophilus, Antiochus, and Severian, and many others, whom he had offended by his reproaches, with the assistance and at the instigation of Eudoxia, began to plot against him. Theophilus accused Peter, chief presbyter of Alexandria, of having administered the sacrament to a woman who was a Manichaean; his defence was that she had been converted and that it was by his permission that she had been admitted by him to the communion. In proof of this he called to witness Isidore the presbyter and hospitaller of Alexandria. This Isidore, owing to his blameless character, had formerly been sent to Damasus by Theophilus, and had brought from Rome to Flavian an offer of friendship and alliance, after the two Churches had been at variance for twenty years. The evidence of Isidore roused the anger of Theophilus, who expelled Peter from the Church and falsely accused Isidore of gross immorality. When the falsehood was discovered, Theophilus was roused to further villainy, which was increased by the following incident. A certain rich woman named Theodota had given Isidore pieces of money to distribute amongst the poor without consulting Theophilus, which Isidore had done. To avoid the wrath of Theophilus he fled to the mountain of Nitria, where he had formerly lived in a cell. The chief of the Egyptian monks were Dioscorus, Ammonius, Euthymius, and Eusebius, four brothers, called "the long" from the height of their stature. At that time a quarrel had broken out with the Anthro.po-morphite heretics. When some ignorant and coarse monks created a disturbance in Egypt, Theophilus, apparently alarmed when they abused him, attempted to deceive them by flattery, saying, "I have seen your faces as the face of God." But when they further demanded that Origen, because he asserted that the divinity was without human form, should be anathematized, he consented, and so escaped death. Seizing hold of this pretext against the "long brethren" (since they would no longer associate with him as before, and denied that God had a human form), he accused them to the monks and stirred up that ignorant herd against them and also against Isidore, on whose account he was the more hostile to them. At last; after having been the victims of intrigue and ill-treatment, and their cells having been set fire to, they fled to Constantinople. John received them kindly and sympathetically, but did not admit them to communion for fear of offending Theophilus, to whom he wrote a letter proposing reconciliation, but Theophilus paid no attention. In the meantime the "long brethren" presented documents containing charges against Theophilus, and were in turn accused by others at his instigation. When these latter were unable to prove anything they were thrown into prison and flogged, some of them died and the rest were condemned to banishment in the island of Proconnesus. John informed Theophilus of the charges against him, to which Theophilus angrily replied : "I believe you are acquainted with the canons of the council of Nicaea, by which it is ordained that no bishop shall exercise jurisdiction beyond his own province. If you are not, then make yourself acquainted with them and do not interfere with the charges against me." Notwithstanding, the same Theophilus who wrote these words afterwards condemned John, although he belonged to another diocese. As the monks did not desist from their accusations against Theophilus, the emperor ordered him to present himself for trial. But the animosity against John increased to such a degree that, on his arrival, Theophilus was appointed judge of John himself.

§ 96.15  The wife of the senator Theognostus, who had been proscribed and died in exile, had been deprived by the empress of a field that had been left her. She accordingly had recourse to John, the champion of widows, but although he spoke with great freedom on her behalf his efforts were unsuccessful and only roused the hatred of the empress. He accordingly ordered that, on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross (the 14th of September), when the unjust empress was about to enter the church, the gates should be shut against her. His order was carried out, and the empress retired in shame and anger, and from that time began to plot John's deposition, banishment, and every other degradation that her indignation suggested. When, as she drew near, she found the gates of the church being closed, one of her suite drew his sword against those who were shutting them; whereupon his hand suddenly withered, but was afterwards restored on his doing homage to John.

§ 96.16  The great Epiphanius, whom Theophilus had beguiled and stirred up against John, on his arrival in Constantinople created a disturbance. He ordained a deacon at Hebdomon in St. John's Church contrary to the law, performed the service without the permission of Chrysostom, and demanded that he should condemn the writings of Origen. Our author relates (as is also stated in the life of Epiphanius), that he by no means approved of the deposition of Chrysostom, as others believed he did, in spite of the empress's importunity. He also mentions their prediction to each other, that neither should see his throne again. Before his condemnation John, having heard that Eudoxia was angry with him, delivered a lengthy discourse against women generally, which the people interpreted as an attack on the empress. On the arrival of Theophilus, the intrigues against the great combatant John began. When he did not appear at the synod, Theophilus and his party pronounced sentence against him, although he loudly protested that he was ready to appear and defend himself, if his avowed enemies were removed from the council. Forty bishops were ready to support John against Theophilus and his party, but when they loudly protested he comforted them, and begged them not to cause dissension in the Church. After his deposition, he was banished to Hieron on the Bosporos, but, in consequence of a severe shock of earthquake which was ascribed to the divine wrath, he was brought back to the city and again seated, against his will, on the episcopal throne. He declared that he did not wish to resume his pastoral office until the unjust sentence against him had been submitted to investigation. Soon afterwards, Eudoxia being again enraged because John had attacked her in reference to the statue which had been erected in her honour near his church and was the cause of disturbance inside, intrigues were again set on foot against him. Theophilus, although this was an unexpected piece of good fortune for him, being afraid of the hatred of the citizens, did not appear. The cause of their hatred against him was that, after the deposition of John, he had communicated with the "long brethren," by whose means he had plotted against him, and that he did not himself abstain from reading the writings of Origen, on account of which he had accused John. He did not, therefore, attend in person, but sent others to declare that John ought not even to be brought to trial, since after his deposition he had ventured to perform the services of the Church, whereas the synod of Antioch left no room for defence to one who did so after he had been deprived of office. Those who sided with John declared that both the canon and the synod were tainted with Arianism, and that the canon had been aimed at Athanasius; that the council of Sardica repudiated the validity of the synod, and not only allowed Athanasius to defend himself but also to perform the duties of the priesthood with Marcellus.

§ 96.17  Chrysostom was accordingly prohibited from officiating in the church and even from entering it. The festival of the Birth of Christ was at hand, and until the feast of Pentecost and for five days afterwards he took no part in the services. He was then finally expelled from the city and the church and was banished to Koukousos. At that time a fire broke out in the pulpit and spread to the rest of the building. Many of the enemies of John were made an example, being carried off by filthy diseases or heaven-sent calamities. John, after he was deported to Koukousos, both lectured in public and consecrated several bishops, priests, and deacons. He also performed many miracles during his banishment and after his death, which Basiliscus, bishop of Comana and martyr, having appeared to him, foretold. He was buried in the same grave as the martyr.

§ 96.18  Theophilus and his party condemned Heraclides, bishop of Ephesus, in his absence, and, after suffering cruel indignities, Serapion was deprived of the bishopric of Heraclea, to which he had been consecrated by John after his first return from exile. A eunuch of the tribune Victor, a man of disgraceful character, was elected in his stead. Other bishops, about twenty in number, were driven from their sees, together with a large number of priests, deacons, and laymen, who were accused of favouring John, including some pious women, the most distinguished of whom were Olympias, Pentadia, Procle, and Silvane.

§ 96.19  Innocent, bishop of Rome, strongly supported the cause of John, although without success. He sent messengers who were dismissed with contumely and wrote letters, but his efforts were unavailing. Subsequently, Arsacius was with difficulty induced to enter his name on the diptychs. Some time afterwards, Proclus transported his remains to Constantinople.

§ 96.20  This writer appears to relate much that is contrary to the truth of history, but there is nothing to prevent the reader from picking out what is useful and passing over the rest.

§ 97.1  Read the Collection of Chronicles and List of Olympian Victors by Phlegon of Tralles, a freedman of the emperor Hadrian. The work is dedicated to a certain Alcibiades, one of the emperor's bodyguards. It begins with the 1st Olympiad, because, as nearly all other writers affirm, there are no careful or accurate accounts of preceding periods, but different writers make different statements, and even those who have been eager to obtain the credit of writing about them contradict themselves. For this reason, as we have said, the author begins with the 1st Olympiad, and goes down, as he himself says, to the times of Hadrian.

§ 97.2  I have read as far as the 177th Olympiad [72-69 BCE], in which Hecatomnus of Miletus was victor in the stadium and diaulos, and in the race of men in armour three times; Hypsicles the Sikyonian and Gaius of Rome in the long race; Aristonymidas of Cos in the pentathlon; Isidore of Alexandria in wrestling; Aptotus in the periodos; Atyanas the son of Hippocrates, a native of Adramyttium, in boxing; Sphodrias the Sikyonian in the pancratium. Among the youths Sosigenes of Asia in the race; Apollonius of Cyparissus in the wrestling-match; Sotericus of Elis in the boxing-match; Galas of Elis in the pancratium; Hecatomnus of Miletus in the armoured race (he was crowned three times in the same day. in the stadium, the diaulos, and the armoured race); Aristolochus of Elis in the four-horsed chariot race; Hagemon of Elis with his race-horse; Hellanicus of Elis with his pair of horses, and his four-horsed chariot; Cletias of Elis with his pair; and Callippus of Pelion with his race-horse.

§ 97.3  At that time Lucullus was besieging Amisus, but having left Murena with two legions to carry on the siege, he himself set out with three others against the territory of the Cabiri, where he went into winter quarters. He also ordered Hadrianus to make war against Mithradates, who was defeated. An earthquake in Rome did much damage, and many other events happened during this Olympiad. In its third year the population according to the census was 910,000. Sinatruces, king of the Parthians, was succeeded by Phraates the so-called Theos, and Phaedrus the Epicurean by Patron. Virgilius Maro was born on the Ides of October in this year. In the fourth year of this Olympiad Tigranes and Mithradates, having collected an army of 40,000 foot and 30,000 horse, who were drawn up in the Roman order of battle, engaged Lucullus and were defeated; Tigranes lost 5000 killed, a large number of prisoners, besides a promiscuous rabble. Catulus dedicated the Capitol at Rome. Metellus set out against Crete with three legions and occupied the island; having defeated Laosthenes and shut up the inhabitants within their walls, he was rewarded with the title of imperator. The pirate Athenodorus enslaved the people of Delos and defiled the xoana of the so-called gods; but Gaius Triarius having repaired the damaged parts of the city, fortified the island.

§ 97.4  We have read five books as far as this Olympiad. The author's style, though not too mean and ordinary, does not always preserve the Attic character. But his ill-timed, if laborious, diligence in reckoning the Olympiads, his lists of names of the victors and their achievements, and his accounts of the oracles, not only disgust the reader, since they do not allow a glimpse of anything else to appear, but also make the language disagreeable and rob it of all charm. He also attaches undue importance to oracles of all kinds.

§ 166.01  [Antonius Diogenes, Read by Antonius Diogenes The incredible wonders beyond Thule, in twenty-four books. The work is a novel; the style is clear and of such a purity that the clarity never leaves anything to be desired, even in the digressions. In the thought, it is most agreeable as, so close to the myths and incredible wonders, it gives to the material of the story a fashion and arrangement which is absolutely believable.

§ 166.1  The story begins with a man called Dinias who, during a voyage of exploration, is cast away with his son Demochares, far from his country. They crossed Pontus, passed by the edges of the Caspian or Hyrcanian Sea, and arrived at the Riphaean mountains and the sources of the Tanais. Then because of the great cold they make a half-turn towards the Scythian Sea and travel East; they arrive in the land where the sun rises; from there, they make a tour of the exterior sea spending much time and often getting lost; during which they meet Carmanians, Meniscians and Azoulians.

§ 166.2  They arrive in the island of Thule which they consider at the time a stage on their journey. In this island of Thule, Dinias forms a relationship with a woman called Dercyllis with whom he falls in love; she came from Tyre and was the daughter of a notable family; she lived with her brother called Mantinias. Dinias, in his discussions with her, learns that the wanderings of the brother and the sister and all their misfortunes are caused by Paapis, an Egyptian priest. His country had been devastated and he had emigrated to Tyre; received by the parents of the brother and sister, Dercyllis and Mantinias, he appeared initially full of good intentions towards his benefactors and all their house; but then he did much evil to this house, the children and their parents. After misfortune which struck them, the girl was taken to Rhodes along with her brother; from there, she went away, wandering, in Crete, then to the land of the Tyrrhenians, then, from there, to those called Cimmerians; there, she saw Hades and learned enormous amounts about what occurs there; she was instructed by Myrto, her own maidservant, who was long dead and returned from to death to teach her mistress.

§ 166.3  Then begins the account given by Dinias to a certain Cymbas, originally from Arcadia, whom the Arcadian League had sent to Tyre to ask Dinias to return with him to his country. But, as the weight of age prevented this, he recounts instead all he has seen himself in his journeys, what he has learned from other witnesses and that which he knows from the account of Dercyllis in Thule, i.e. her travels which have been mentioned, and how, after her return from Hades with Ceryllos and Astraios, since she was already separated from her brother, she had arrived with them at the tomb of the Siren; she tells how she herself, in her turn, heard what was said by Astraios about Pythagoras and Mnesarch, that which Astraios himself had heard said by Philotis and the fabulous spectacle which appeared before their eyes and finally what Dercyllis, returned from her own peregrinations, told him. By chance she arrived in a town in Spain whose inhabitants could see at night, but were blind each day; she reports what Astraios, while playing the flute, did to the enemies of those people. Relaxed and careless, they fell to the Celts, a cruel and stupid tribe; they escaped by horse; she relates the adventures which happened to them with these horses which changed color. They arrived in Aquitania and the honors are reported which were given to Dercyllis and Ceryllos but especially to Astraios, because of his eyes which, dilating and narrowing, announced the phases of the moon; it put an end to the quarrel of the kings of this country in this matter: they were two and they followed one another mutually according to the phases of the moon. This is why the people of this country were delighted by the presence of Astraios and his friends.

§ 166.4  Then follows the account of all that Dercyllis saw and endured further. She lived among the Artabres, a people where the women fight while the men keep house and deal with womans' work. Then follows what happened to them, to her and Ceryllos, among the people of Astures and the adventures of Astraios in particular; while, beyond any hope, Ceryllos and Dercyllis escaped many dangers, at Astures, Astraios did not avoid the punishment which was owed him for an old fault; but without delay he was first saved from danger, then cut up.

§ 166.5  Then is told what she saw in her journey in Italy and Sicily; arrived at Eryx, the chief town of Sicily, she was stopped and led to Enesidemus, then head of the Leontins. There she found once more this thrice-detestable Paapis who lived with the tyrant and, in this unexpected misfortune, she found an unexpected consolation: her brother Mantinias. He had wandered much; he had seen incredible spectacles concerning men and other beings, the sun itself and the moon, the planets and the islands especially. He told them to her, thus providing her with an inexhaustible matter of marvellous accounts which she will tell later to Dinias, who reunites them and who is supposed to tell this to the Arcadian, Cymbas.

§ 166.6  Then, Mantinias and Dercyllis, on their departure from the Leontins, stole the leather bag of Paapis and the books which it contained, and his box of herbs; they embarked for Rhegium and from there for Metaponte, where Astraios found them and announced to them that Paapis followed them closely. They passed among the Thracians and Massagetes with Astraios, who returned to his friend Zamolxis; the account details all that happens during this voyage, how Astraios met Zamolxis among the Getae, who already regarded him as a god, and what Dercyllis and Mantinias requested Astraios to say and obtain for them. There, an oracle announced to them that their destiny was to go to Thule; they would return to their country later. But, before, they would know misfortune and, to requite their impiety however involuntary towards their parents, their existence would be shared between life and death: they would live during the night, but would be corpses every day. After having received this oracle, they left the country and left Astraios with Zamolxis, honoured by the Getae. The account reports all the wonders in the North which they saw and heard.

§ 166.7  All these journeys Dinias heard told at Thule by Dercyllis; now are presented the stories recounted by the Arcadian Cymbas. Then it reports that Paapis, following the trail of the companions of Dercyllis, caught up with them in the isle by an artifice of magic and cursed them with a glamour to die during the day and live again the night following. He afflicted this torment on their publicly spitting in his face. Throuscan, an inhabitant of Thule, ardently taken with Dercyllis, when he saw his lobe fall under the stroke of torment inflicted by Paapis, was very angry; he brutally attacked the priest and in a moment killed him with a blow of his sword; this was the only way he could find to put a limit to these innumerable misfortunates. And as Dercyllis appeared dead, Throuscan killed himself over her body.

§ 166.8  All these adventures and many others which are like them, the funerals of the dead, their exit from the tomb, the love-affairs of Mantinias and what followed from them as well as the other similar journeys which happened in the isle of Thule, Dinias, who learned them from the mouth of Dercyllis, is now presented in the process of retelling them for the Arcadian Cymbas. And so closes the twenty-third book of Antonius Diogenes on the marvels to be found beyond Thule without the work offering anything about Thule except the little information furnished at the beginning.

§ 166.9  The twenty-fourth book presents Azoulis as narrator and Dinias reunites the stories of Azoulis to the fables recounted above by Cymbas. He tells how Azoulis discovered the type of enchantment by which Paapis had ensorcelled Dercyllis and Mantinias to make them live during the day and be corpses at night, how he delivered them from the spell after having discovered the secret of this punishment and of the cure at the same time in Paapis' own bag which Mantinias and Dercyllis carried with them. He discovers, moreover, how Dercyllis and Mantinias delivered their parents from the terrible evil; Paapis had led them, by tricks and under a pretext that it would benefit them, to make them remain a long time extended as if dead.

§ 166.10  Following this discovery, Dercyllis and Mantinias hurry home to resuscitate and save their parents. Dinias, with Carmanes and Meniscos (Azoulis goes elsewhere), continues his course towards the regions situated beyond Thule; it is during this that he sees the unbelievable marvels which happen beyond Thule and which he now is supposed to tell to Cymbas. He says he has seen what the astronomers teach, for example that it is possible that some people live under the artic pole, where a night lasts a month, or much shorter or longer, a night of six months and, what is most extraordinary, a night of a year; that it is not only the night which reaches these durations, but the day knows an analogous phenomenon.

§ 166.11  He pretends to have seen other strangeness of the same genre and he makes an extraordinary story about some men and about certain wonders of another sort which he saw and which no-one, he says, could have seen nor heard tell of nor imagined. But what is most incredible than all is that in journeying toward the north, they arrived near the moon, which resembled a shining land; arrived there, they saw what must normally be seen by those who imagine such exaggerated inventions.

§ 166.12  He then says that the Sibyl performed a divination with Carmanes. He recounts after that how each made personal prayers; each of the others saw their dreams come true. For him, when he woke up after his prayer, he was discovered at Tyre in the temple of Heracles. He got up, found that Dercyllis and Mantinias had completed their adventure happily; they had delivered their parents from their long sleep or rather from death and, as for the rest, they were happy.

§ 166.13  See what Dinias says to Cymbas; he presented him with tablets of cypress and made them ready in a manner learned from Erasinides of Athens, the companion of Cymbas, who knew the art of letters. He also showed them to Dercyllis — it was her, in fact, who brought the tablets — and he ordered Cymbas to tell his story twice: he would keep one copy and the other, when they died, Dercyllis would place in a coffer and deposit it in her tomb.

§ 166.14  And, in fact, Diogenes, who was also called Antonius and who has told the story of Dinias recounting all these marvels to Cymas, wrote at the same time to Faustinus that he was in the process of composing a work on the marvels to be found beyond Thule, and that he dedicated his romance to his sister Isidora, who loved this sort of book. On the other hand, he is called the narrator of an ancient intrigue and even while inventing these incredible and untrue stories, he pretends to use the testimony of older authors on the fables he tells; it is on these witnesses he would throw the responsibility for all the mischief in the story he wrote; he even cites at the head of each book the authors who have treated the subject before him so that his incredible stories do not lack the air of witnesses.

§ 166.15  At the head of his book, he writes a letter to his sister Isidora; there he attests that it is to her that he dedicated these works; but at the same time he introduces Balagros, who writes to his wife, named Phila, daughter of Antipater; he writes that, when Tyre was taken by Alexander, the king of Macedon, and much of it destroyed by fire, a soldier came to find Alexander to reveal to him, he says, a strange marvel visible in the town. The king took along with him Hephaestion and Parmenion; they followed the soldier and discovered stone coffins in some underground chambers. One carried as epitaph: "Lysilla lived thirty-five years"; another: "Mnason, son of Mantinias, lived sixty-six years, then seventy-one"; another: "Aristion, son of Philocles, lived forty-seven years, then fifty-two"; another: "Mantinias, son of Mnason, lived forty-two years and seven hundred and six nights"; another: "Dercyllis, daughter of Mnason, lived thirty-none years and seven hundred and sixty nights"; the sixth coffin said: "Dinias the Arcadian lived one hundred and twenty-five years".

§ 166.16  After standing perplexed before these inscriptions, apart from that of the first tomb which was plain, they found near a wall a small coffer of cypress wood carrying the inscription: "Stranger, whoever you are, open to learn what astonished you". The companions of Alexander opened therefore the box and found the tablets of cypress which Dercyllis, no doubt, had deposited there following the instructions of Dinias.

§ 166.17  This is what Balagros wrote in the letter to his wife where he says that he transcribed the tablets of cypress to send them to her. From this the text passes to the reading and transcription of the tablets of cypress, one sees Dinias recounting to Cynibas what was said above. See therefore in what manner and on what subject Antonius Diogenes has composed and invented this romance.

§ 166.18  According to all appearance, he is earlier in time than the authors who have imagined fictions of this kind, i.e. Lucian, Lucius, Iamblicus, Achilles Tatius, Heliodorus and Damascius. In fact this story seems to have been the source of the True History of Lucian, of the Metamorphoses of Lucius and even for the histories of Sinonis and Rhodanes, of Leucippe and Clitophon, of Chariclea and Theagenes, for the inventions in their wandering journeys, their loves, their departures, their dangers, Dercyllis, Ceryllos, Throuscan and Dinias seem to have furnished the models.

§ 166.19  At what era to situate the career of the father of similar inventions, Antonius Diogenes, I can say nothing more certain; all the same it may be conjectured that he is not far from the era of king Alexander. He cites himself an author more ancient than himself, a certain Antiphanes who, he says, also was involved with marvelous stories of the same genre.

§ 166.20  In the story, particularly, as in fabulous fictions of the same kind, there are two considerations most useful to notice. The first is that they show that evildoers, even if they seem to escape a thousand times, always get their punishment; the second, that they show many innocents placed in great danger often saved against all hope. [Translated from Henry]

§ 176.01  [Theopompus, Philippica] Read a work of history by Theopompus. Fifty-three of his books are preserved Some of the ancients have said also that books 6, 7, 29 2 and 30 have disappeared. But I did not read these books either; on the other hand, a certain Menophanes, who mentions Theopompus (he is an ancient writer not to be taken lightly) 3 says that book 12 is likewise lost, yet we read it along with the others.

§ 176.1  And this twelfth book contains the history of Akoris, the king of Egypt (he deals with the barbarians 5 and labours on behalf of Evagoras against the Persians); it relates the unexpected way in which he mounted the throne in Cyprus after being captured by Abdymon of Citium, who governed the land; the manner in which the Greeks of Agamemnon took Cyprus, after driving out the subjects of Kinnyras. The remnants of these form the inhabitants of Amathus. How the king (of Persia) was persuaded to make war on Evagoras, with Antophradates, satrap of Lydia, as general and Hecatomnos as admiral. The author talks of the peace which the king arranged in Greece; he says how the war against Evagoras was managed with much vigour and talks of the naval battle of Cyprus. The Athenian state tried to remain faithful to its treaties with the king, but the Spartans, full of pride, wanted to break the treaty.

§ 176.2  The author relates in what way the peace of Antalcidas was made and the war which Tiribazos managed and how he plotted against Evagoras and how Evagoras accused him before the king and concluded an arrangement with Orontes. He says that when Nectanebo was raised to the throne in Egypt, Evagoras sent ambassadors to the Spartans. He reports how the war in Cyprus ended. He speaks of Nicocreon, who conspired, was unmasked in a surprising fashion and fled. He recounts how Evagoras and his son Pnytagoras both slept with Nicocreon's surviving daughter, without knowing the other had done so. This was thanks to the offices that the eunuch Thrasydaios of Elis who managed in turn their liason with the girl. This was the cause of their death: Thrasydaios assassinated both of them. The historian reports then how Akoris the Egyptian made alliance with the Pisidians.

§ 176.3  He talks of their country and that of Aspendos. He talks of the doctors of Cos and Cnidos which are called the Asclepiadae; the first of these came from Syrnos, the descendants of Podalirios. He speaks also of the prophet Mopsus and his daughters, Rhode, Melias and Pamphylia, from whom Mopsuestia and Rhodia, in Lycia, and the country called Pamphilia take their names. He reports how Pamphilia was colonised by the Greeks and their civil war; the Lycians, under the command of their king Pericles make war against Telmessos and did not stop fighting until they had cornered the citizens within their walls and forced them to negotiate. This is thus the content of the 12th book which Menophanes considered had disappeared.

§ 176.4  Theopompus came from Chios and was the son of Damostratos. It is said that he was exiled from his country with his father, who was condemned for supporting the Spartans. He was allowed back home after the death of his father; his return was obtained thanks to a letter from king Alexander of Macedon to the people of Chios. Theopompus was then 45 years old. After the death of Alexander, threatened with exile from everywhere, he arrived in Egypt. Ptolemy, king of the country, did not want to receive the writer, but would have put him to death as an intriguer if certain of his friends had not saved him by interceding for him.

§ 176.5  He says that he was the contemporary of the Athenian Isocrates, of Theodectes of Phaselis and of Naucrates of Erythrai; they held the first place in eloquence with him among the Greeks. But because of their lack of resources, Isocrates and Theodectes wrote their discourses for money, becoming sophists to teach the young and made their living this way. He and Naucrates had enough to consecrate their time to philosophy and study. And there would be nothing abnormal in his claim to the first place after he composed not only discourses on oratory which ran to more than 20,000 lines, but also more than 150,000 lines in which can be found the story of the facts and deeds of the Greeks and barbarians down to his own times.

§ 176.6  He says also that there was no place in Greece nor any town of any importance where he had not stayed and given some public lectures from his discourses without having left there a souvenir of great glory and of his talent as an orator.

§ 176.7  While talking about himself thus, he shows that those who occupy the first places in the course of earlier epochs were well inferior to the authors of his times, after whom they merit not even the second place; this is evident, he says, from the books which one or another have composed and left to us, because this kind of study has undergone great development in his time. But who are the authors of earlier times of whom he speaks? I cannot determine this clearly, because I suppose that he did not dare strike against Herodotus and Thucydides, to whom he was much inferior in more than one way. No doubt it is the historians Hellanicos and Philistos which he has in mind, or perhaps he alludes to Gorgias, to Lysias and to other authors of that kind which were a little before his time and which are not so inferior in every way to him in their writings. But these are the opinions of Theopompus.

§ 176.8  It is said, on the other hand, that Ephoros and he had been pupils of Isocrates. Their works themselves show this, because, in the writings of Theopompus, the form imitated from Isocrates is frequent, even if it is inferior in precision of work. The subjects of history were suggested to them by their master: ancient times to Ephoros, events in Greece after Thucydides to Theopompus. The task was divided in a manner appropriate to the temperament of each. This is why the prefaces of their histories have a great resemblance to each other in the thought and their other elements, as if both were starting the career of history from the same base.

§ 176.9  Very numerous digressions on every sort of topic lengthen the historical writings of Theopompus. This is why Philip, who made war against the Romans, extracted and grouped together the acts of Philip, which were only taken from Theopompus, and so reduced the whole to 6 books only without adding anything of his own and without really omitting anything except the digressions.

§ 176.10  Douris of Samos 22, in book 1 of his histories, says thus, "Ephorus and Theopompus are much inferior to other writings. They possess, in fact, neither fidelity in reporting nor charm in their manner of expression and they are themselves only concerned with simply writing." But however Douris is himself much inferior in this respect to the writers which he criticises. Is this accusation made in reply to the pretentious judgement of Theopompus, which did not even assign the second rank to writers before himself? I cannot say, but I can affirm that neither of the two authors have been judged fairly.

§ 176.11  Cleochares of Myrlea 23 considering, I think, the complete discourses of Isocrates (or his point of view, in the comparison which he makes with Demosthenes, is that we must not assign these a place too far below him), says that the discourses of Demosthenes resemble a division of soldiers and those of Isocrates a bunch of athletes. It is clear however that in his writings Theopompus is not inferior to any work by Isocrates 24.

§ 176.12  This is what I have to say about the family of Theopompus, his education, his master, his contemporaries, his writings, his public life, his literary style and purpose 6 (all briefly summarised), the times when he lived and the vicissitudes of his existence.

§ 189.01  From Henry's French translation, translated by Pearse
Sotion, Strange Stories about water — Nicolaus of Damascus, Strange customs — Acestorides, Urban Fables] Read Sotion, on the strange stories which are given in various places about rivers, springs and lakes. This little work is itself of the same genre as the sixth book of Protagoras and as the collection of Alexander, except that in this particular book, he only reports marvellous stories about springs and lakes while in the others there are a fair number on other subjects. The style is close to that of those works.

§ 189.1  Likewise I read in the same volume a work of Nicolaus dedicated to Herod, king of the Jews, which contains a collection of strange customs. It agrees precisely with some of the strange stories collected by Alexander and adds a number of details to the legends collected by Conon; all the same, he omits some because he reports them elsewhere. In style he is equally sober and lacks nothing in clarity, but he is more concise and has more talent than those preceding.

§ 189.2  He reports certain facts which, while very strange, are admitted by many people and some others which are not known, but which are not in flagrant opposition to those which are believable, because these are most often customs he assigns to certain peoples, but one can find among them some of which the unreality is evident. This Nicolaus, I think, is Nicolaus of Damascus who achieved the peak of his career under Augustus and who was considered as his friend; it is for that reason that the emperor called a type of cake "nicolai" 3, which Nicolaus had sent him; he wanted to honour someone who had shown him this courtesy. This author has also left us, if my memory of past reading is right, a voluminous History of Assyria.

§ 189.3  In the same volume, I have also read in four books a work by Acestorides on Urban Fables. This author appears to me to have had much more ability than many others in the choice of his title. In fact the histories which others have transmitted, the more moderate among them without comment, the others asserting that these are true, by him in his desire to be accurate are called fables and are assembled as a collection or even a book of legends, as he is happy to call it.

§ 189.4  Among these stories, one may find many which are in the collection of Conon and which Apollodorus has recounted in his Library, which have been collected by Alexander, dedicated to Augustus by Nicolaus, and treated earlier by Protagoras. But this Acestorides has included many which the others have omitted; indeed in many of the stories handled by himself and others, one can see that the versions diverge.

§ 189.5  This author relates in his own writings many facts which are attested in famous accounts. He is one of those who could demonstrate their truth clearly and it seems that he has entitled them as fables not to criticise the character of their composition, but to emphasise their agreeableness and charm. But in my opinion one may recognise his wisdom because, in proposing to join together carefully fables and real facts, he avoids blame by the ambiguity of his title. In styles he resembles likewise the preceding authors.

§ 190.1  Read Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History, intended for scholarship in six books, a work really useful for those who undertake to attempt erudition in history; it can, in fact, give the method to know in a short time connected elements, whereas a long life would be consumed in the effort of locating them in the books through which they are scattered. It abounds in extraordinary and badly imagined information; and the peak of absurdity is that he attempts, for certain trivial fables, to explain the reasons for their appearance.

§ 190.2  As for the collector who has assembled these stories, he is a somewhat credulous spirit, inclined to boastfulness and who has no other distinction in his language. He dedicates his work to a certain Tertulla whom he celebrates as his "lady" and whose love for letters and scholarship he praises. He attacks some of his detractors whom he accuses of having approached the subject in an unhealthy way. In any case, the majority of his stories which are free of things impossible to believe, offer a knowledge above the ordinary, but which is not unpleasing.

§ 190.3  The first book contains a story on the death of Sophocles and, before this, one on that of Protesilas. Then comes that of Heracles, who killed himself by fire because he was unable at the age of fifty to draw his bow (?); a story about Croesus saved from the pyre, one on the death of Achilles, and on the courtesan Lais, who choked on an olive-stone. In treating each of these subjects, he pretends that his detractors have committed errors when they learned them and passed them on.

§ 190.4  He then recounts concerning king Alexander that when he saw at Ephesus a picture which represented Palamedes assassinated by a ruse, he was troubled because the victim resembled Aristonicus, the partner of Alexander when playing ball-games; such was in fact the character of Alexander, full of goodwill and kindness for his companions. He then pretends that the sense of the passage discussed by Euphorion in his Hyacinth, "Only Cocytus washed the wounds of Adonis", was as follows: Cocytus was the name of a pupil to whom Chiron had taught medicine and who cared for Adonis when he was wounded by the wild boar.

§ 190.5  He says that the person in the first book of Herodotus' Histories who was killed by Adrastus, son of Gordias, was called Agathon and that he was killed in the course of a quarrel about a quail. He says that Cadmus and Harmonia were changed into lions and that Tiresias underwent seven metamorphoses, and he explains why the Cretans call him daughter of Phorbas. Erymanthos, son of Apollo, was punished because he had seen Aphrodite after her union with Adonis and Apollo, irritated, changed himself into a wild boar and killed Adonis by striking through his defenses.

§ 190.6  He explains why the poet made doves the servants of the gods at their meals, and he reports what king Alexander and Aristotle said to each other above; he speaks also of Homer and the doves. He says that the poet Epicharmus was descended from Achilles, son of Peleus. Homer calls Patroclus the first horseman because he learned from Poseidon, who loved him, the art of riding horses.

§ 190.7  Odysseus was first called "Outis" because he had large ears, but, he says, during a day of rain his mother who carried him was unable to stop him lying down at the side of the road and that is the reason why he was given the name of Odysseus.

§ 190.8  An Arcadian named Peritanos committed adultery with Helen when she lived with Alexander in Arcadia; Alexander, to punish him for this adultery emasculated him and it is since then that the Arcadians call eunuchs "peritanoi".

§ 190.9  Aristonicus of Tarentum said that Achilles, when he lived among the young girls at the house of Lycomedes, was called Cercysera; he was also called Issa and Pyrrha and Aspetos and Prometheus. Botryas of Myndos says that all the children of Niobe were killed by Apollo. The father of Odysseus gave him a monitor called Muiscos, a Cephallenian, to accompany him. Achilles was also accompanied by a monitor called Noemon, of Carthaginian origin, and Patrocles had Eudorus. And Antipater of Acanthus says that Dares, who wrote the Iliad before Homer, was the monitor of Hector and got him to promise not to kill the companion of Achilles. He says that the monitor of Protesilas was Dardanus, of Thessalian origin, and that for Antilochus Chalcon was appointed adjutant and monitor by his father Nestor. These are the subjects treated in the first book.

§ 190.10  The second book treats of Heracles who after his spell of madness was cured with hellebore by Anticyreus who had discovered the remedy for this in Phocis, where it was abundant; others each give a different version of this cure. He says that Nestor was loved by Heracles; that it was not Philoctetes but the Trachinian Morsimos who lit the pyre of Heracles; that Heracles, after the Nemean lion had bitten off one of his fingers had only nine and that there exists a tomb erected for this detached finger; other authors say that he lost his finger following a blow by a dart of a stingray and one can see at Sparta a stone lion erected on the tomb of the finger and which is the symbol of the power of the hero. It is since then that stone lions have likewise been erected on the tombs of other important people; other authors give different explications of the lion statues. From the pyre of Heracles a swarm of locusts flew out which ravaged the countryside like a plague before they were destroyed.

§ 190.11  It was Aphrodite who, because of Adonis whom both she and Heracles loved, taught Nessus the centaur the trap with which to snare Heracles. Nireus of Syme, who was loved by Heracles, helped him to beat down the lion of Helicon; others say that Nireus was the son of Heracles.

§ 190.12  Who are the Charites referred to by the poet to whom he compared the hair of Euphorbus? Heracles, says the author, was called Nilos at his birth; then, when he saved Hera in killing the nameless giant with the fiery breath who attacked her, he changed his name because he had warded off Hera's war. Abderos, beloved of Heracles, was killed by Theseus when he came to announce the episode of the pyre.

§ 190.13  Aristonicus of Tarentum says that the middle head of the hydra was of gold. Alexander of Mindos says that a serpent born of earth fought alongside Heracles against the Nemean lion; fed by Heracles, it accompanied him to Thebes and stayed in a tent; it was this that ate small sparrows and was changed to stone.

§ 190.14  The Argo was constructed by Heracles on Ossa in Thessaly; her name was given because of Argos, son of Jason, who was loved by Heracles; it is because of him that he undertook the voyage with Jason to Scythia. He recounts that Hera who fought on the side of Geryon was wounded on her right by Heracles and all that followed him. Corythos, an Iberian, who was also beloved of Heracles, was the first to manufacture a helmet; it is from this, says the author, that this piece of armour takes its name.

§ 190.15  The tomb which passes for that of Zeus in Crete is that of Olympos of Crete, who received Zeus son of Cronos, raised him and taught divine things to him; but Zeus, he says, struck down his foster-parent and master because he had pushed the giants to attack him in his turn; but when he had struck, before his body he was full of remorse and, since he could appease his sorrow in no other way, he gave his own name to the tomb of his victim.

§ 190.16  Of which author of verse did Alexander son of Philip say: "Proteus, well, drink wine now that you have eaten human flesh"? And he spoke justly of Proteus. Which song was Alexander accustomed to sing and whose were the words? On who did the same Alexander son of Philip write a funeral chant? Such are the chapters of the second book.

§ 190.17  The third is devoted to Hyllos son of Heracles; he had a little horn on the right side of his face and Epopeus of Sikyon seized it after having killed Hyllos in single combat; he filled it with water of the Styx and became king of the country. Concerning the water of the Styx in Arcadia he recounts the following: while Demeter was mourning for her daughter, Poseidon intruded on her sorrow and she in anger metamorphosed into a mare; she arrived at a fountain in this form and detesting it she made the water black.

§ 190.18  Hecale and all those who took this name. Alexander's father was not Philip but a man called Draco and of Arcadian origin; this was the origin of the legend of the serpent. He speaks of Ptolemy's dog; it fought by the side of its master; it was opened when it died and found to have a hairy heart; it was of the Molossian race and was called Briareus.

§ 190.19  This concerns Polydamas. What do these words of the poet mean: "Daughter of Pandareus, 'la chanteuse verdiere'...(?)", etc? He speaks of the Palladium which Diomedes and Odysseus went together to steal, of the reed which repeated that Midas had the ears of an ass, of the Acestalian birds which were sought in Stesichorus, of the raft of Gigo which is at the edge of the Ocean, which can only be moved with an asphodel and remains immovable by force. Rhopalus was the son of Heracles; the same day, he rendered to his father the honours due to a hero and sacrificed to him as a god. Amphiarus received this name because the parents of his mother had both prayed that she would give birth without grief.

§ 190.20  Who wrote the hymn which is chanted at Thebes in honour of Heracles and where he is called son of Zeus and Hera? Then those who composed hymns in different cities are discussed. He says that the poet Philostephanos of Mantinea never used a coat since he was born and that Matris the Theban, an author of hymns, lived all his life on myrtle leaves. Eupompus of Samos raised a wild serpent; this son of Eupompus was called Draco and had very piercing sight and could easily see at twenty stades; he placed it in the service of Xerxes for a thousand talents and, sat with him under the golden plane tree it described to him what it saw of the naval combat between the Greeks and barbarians and the courage of Artemisia. Plesirrhous the Thessalian, author of hymns, was loved by Herodotus and was his heir; it is he who composed the introduction of the first book of Herodotus of Halicarnassus; the authentic beginning of the Histories of Herodotus is in fact: "Those of the Persians who are knowledgeable say that the Phoenicians were the cause of the conflict". Polyzelus of Cyrene never laughed, from which his surname of Agelastus. The man who overrode everyone with his piety was, according to some, Antigonus of Ephesus, according to others Lycias of Hermione, of whom Theophrastus speaks in his letters. Achilles and Deidamia had two children: Neoptolemus and Oneiros; Oneiros was killed by Orestes, who didn't recognise him, while fighting with him in Phokis for a place to pitch a tent.

§ 190.21  The author then deals with coincidence in history. At the tomb of Amycus there grows a red laurel and those who have tasted it have taken prizes in boxing; Antodoros, who had eaten some, gained thirteen crowns; all the same he was conquered by Dioscorus of Thera in his fourteenth combat, just as Amycus himself, it is said, had fallen to one of the Dioscurides. Croesus, it is said, was conceived during a festival of Aphrodite, during which the Lydians have a procession for her decorating the goddess with all their wealth. The father of Themistocles sacrificed a bull when the birth of his son was announced; he drank the blood of the victim and died. Darius, son of Hytaspes, exposed by his mother, was fed on mares' milk by a horse-guardian, Spargapises, and he became king thanks to the 'hennissement' of a horse. A servitor of the lyric poet Ibycos, who was called Heracles, was burned alive for conspiring with brigands against his master.

§ 190.22  Orestes came into the world during the festival of Demeter Erinys. Philip as an child attempted in the evenings to strike shooting stars with his arrows and the seer Diognetus predicted that the infant would become master of many peoples; Aster was also the name of the man who put out Philip's eye with an arrow. Marsyas the flutist, the one who was flayed, was born during a festival of Apollo, where the skins of all those victims one has flayed are offered to the god.

§ 190.23  The author speaks of Tityos, who attempted to ambush Alexander. The mother of Claudius, while pregnant, desired some of those mushrooms called boletus and ate some, and Claudius died from eating some of the same which had been poisoned. He speaks of the centaur Lamios who, caught in adultery, was murdered according to some by the eunuch Peirithos, according to others by Theseus; such are the numerous effects of coincidence in these stories. Thus ends the third book.

§ 190.24  The fourth recounts that Helen was the first to imagine drawing lots with the fingers and that she won at chance with Alexander; she was the daughter of Aphrodite. There was born of Helen and Achilles in the fortunate isles a winged child named Euphorion after the fertility of this land; Zeus caught him and with a blow knocked him to earth in the isle of Melos, where he continued the pursuit and changed the nymphs there into frogs because they had given him burial. Some say that Helen was taken away by Alexander when she hunted on the mount of the Virgin (Parthenion); struck by his beauty, she followed him like a dog.

§ 190.25  The author speaks of the embroidered belt which Hera received from Aphrodite and gave to Helen: it was stolen by Helen's servant, Astyanassa and recovered from her by Aphrodite.

§ 190.26  What is the significance of what Helen says in Homer: "Each imitating the voice of their spouse"? Helen was the daughter of Helios and Leda and she was called Leonte; this was, it is said, following the resentment of Aphrodite against Menelaus who had arranged the abduction of Helen: he had promised a hecatomb to Aphrodite as the price of the marriage, and didn't offer it.

§ 190.27  The Helen-flower grows in Rhodes; it received its name from her, because it grew under the tree on which Helen hanged herself; those who ate of it inevitably come to quarrel. It was Helen who was taken by Menelaus and so married him.

§ 190.28  Some authors report that Helen, arrived in Scythian Tauris with Menelaus in search of Orestes, was immolated to Artemis with Menelaus by Iphigenia; others say that she was removed during the voyage of the Greeks home by Thetis, metamorphosed into a seal.

§ 190.29  It is said that Helen was called by her real name Echo because of her ability to imitate voices; her name of Helen came from the fact that Leda brought her into the world in a marshy place. The place called Sandalion at Sparta takes its name from the sandal of Helen who fell in this place while Alexander pursued here. Helen had a daughter by Alexander; they disagreed about the name to give her; he wanted to call her Alexandra, she wanted to call her Helen; Helen prevailed in a game of knucklebones and the infant received the same name as her mother; this daughter was killed, it is said, by Hecuba when Troy was taken.

§ 190.30  In the time of the Trojan War, there were many celebrated Helens: the daughter of Aegistheus and Clytemnestra that Orestes killed; the one who assisted Aphrodite in her union with Adonis, the daughter of an inhabitant of Epidamnos, whom the people of that town honour under the attributes of Aphrodite because she distributed silver during a famine; the daughter of Faustulus who was the foster-father of Remus and Romulus. The woman who ate three kids a day was also called Helen, as well as the sister of Dicearcus, son of Telesinos, and eighteen others; of which the Helen before Homer, daughter of the Athenian Musaeus and who recounted the war of Troy; it is of her, it is said, that Homer obtained the subject of his poem and it is she who had the two-tongued lamb; also among them, the daughter of the Aitolian Tityrus: she challenged Achilles to single combat and gave him a head-wound which was nearly fatal, but it was she who fell under his blows.

§ 190.31  Helen the female painter also belongs to the list; she was the daughter of Timon the Egyptian: she painted the battle of Issus at the time when she was at the height of her powers; the picture was displayed in the Temple of Peace under Vespasian. Archelaus of Cyprus says that there was a Helen of Himera who was the love of the poet Stesichorus; she was the daughter of Micythos; she left Stesichorus and went to live with Boupalos. The poet, wishing to defend himself from being a fool, wrote that Helen had left at his own wish, and the story about being disabled is false.

§ 190.32  The plant "moly" of which Homer speaks; this plant had, it is said, grown from the blood of the giant killed in the isle of Circe; it has a white flower; the ally of Circe who killed the giant was Helios; the combat was hard (molos) from which the name of this plant.

§ 190.33  Dionysus was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations. The author speaks of the "Taraxippos" of Olympus and of the Myrtilloi, father and son. Neoptolemus the Makiotes was the only one to learn from a certain Aithos, a Delphian, the oracle of Phemonoe. It is of this Aithos that Herodotus says, in the first book of his Histories: "although I know his name I will not quote him".

§ 190.34  The author speaks of double appellations in Homer; one is that used among the gods, the other current among men; the Xanthus is the only river which is a son of Zeus. He treats of other double names. There is, he says, in the Tyrrhenian country a tower called Tower of Halos ("salt sea"), and to be named "Halos" a Tyrrhenian poisoner; she worked for Circe and fled from her mistress. It was to her, says the author, that Odysseus came; with the aid of her drugs, she changed him into a horse and kept him with her until he died of old age. Thanks to this anecdote, the difficulty of the Homeric text is resolved: "Then Halos will send you the softest of deaths". Thus ends the fourth book.

§ 190.35  It is said in the fifth book that it was Jason and not Polydeuces who fought against Amycus and the place they fought witnesses this by its name, "Spear of Jason", and a spring appears near there which is called Helen. Thanks to these facts, the sense of an epigram of Crinagoras is clarified. "And the mares of Proclus will eat the green psalacanthus", a verse unknown to Callimachus, is by the comic poet Eubulus in the Dionysian comedy. And concerning the parody of this verse. As for the "psalacanthus", it is an Egyptian plant that brings health and victory when used to decorate horses. It is said, on the other hand, that PsalacanthaIcaros who, loved by Dionysus, helped him to in his dealing with Ariadne on the condition that he should also be with her; and since Dionysus refused, PsalacanthaAriadne and the irritated god turned her into a plant; then, feeling remorse, he wanted to honour this plant by placing it in the crown of Ariadne he placed among the celestial constellations. As for the plant, some say it resembles wormwood, others clover.

§ 190.36  He reports that Athenodorus of Eretria, in the eighth book of his commentaries, says that Thetis and Medea had a dispute in Thessaly as to which was the most beautiful; their judge was Idomeneus, who gave the victory to Thetis; Medea in anger said that the Cretans were always liars and in revenge she made the curse that he would never speak the truth, just as he had lied in his judgement; it is from that, he says, that Cretans pass as liars. Athenodorus cites as author of this story Antiochus in his second book of legends of the cities.

§ 190.37  Ilus, the father of Laomedon, had, he says, a plume of horsehair and, among the sons of Priam, Melanippos and Idaios likewise. Xanthe and Balios, the horses of Achilles, once belonged to giants and they were the only ones to fight alongside the gods against their brothers. When Odysseus had a shipwreck close to Thyla in Sicily, the shield of Achilles washed ashore near the monument of Ajax; placed next to the tomb, it was struck by lightning the next day.

§ 190.38  Heracles did not wear the skin of the Nemean lion, but that of a certain Leon, one of the giants killed by Heracles whom he had challenged to single combat. The dragon that guarded the golden apples was the brother of the Nemean lion. Irus, who appears in Homer, was a Boeotian. The wife of Candaulus, whose name isn't mentioned in Herodotus, was called Nysia; she acquired double pupils and a very piercing sight when she obtained the stone of the serpent; it was thanks to this gift that she saw Gyges leaving through the door; others say that she was called Toudo, and others Clytia; Abas says that she was called Abro. The wife's name was, it is said, passed over in silence by Herodotus because Plesirrhous, whom Herodotus loved, was taken with a woman called Nysia and who was of a family of Halicarnassus, and that he hanged himself when he was unsuccessful with her. It is for this reason that Herodotus does not mention the name of Nysia, which was odious to him.

§ 190.39  The centaurs who fled from Heracles through Tyrsenia perished of hunger, ensnared by the soft song of the Sirens. Abderos, who was loved by Heracles, was the brother of Patroclus. Epipole of Carystos, daughter of Traction, hid her sex to go on campaign with the Greeks; denounced by Palamedes, she was stoned by the Greeks. When Alexander abducted Helen, Menelaus offered a hecatomb to Zeus at Gortyna in Crete. Palamedes commanded the Greeks in place of Agamemnon, in fact, at his arrival at Aulis, Agamemnon shot with an arrow a wild goat sacred to Artemis; the Greeks finding it impossible to set sail, Calchas predicted that the prodigy would cease if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Poseidon; when he refused, the angry Greeks removed his command and nominated Palamedes king.

§ 190.40  Philoctetes died bitten by a serpent and Alexander was killed by Menelaus with a blow of the spear in his thigh. After the death of Demetrius of Scepsis, next to his head was found the book of Tellis, and the Swimmers of Alcman were found, it is said, next to the head of Tyronichos of Chalcis; the Violaters of Justice of Eupolis next to the head of Ephialtes and the Eunides of Cratinus next to that of Alexander king of Macedon, and the Works and Days of Hesiod next to that of Seleucus Nicator. And the legislator of Arcadia, Cercidas, ordered that books I and II of the Iliad should be buried with him. And Pompey the Great never went to war without reading book XI of the Iliad because he was an admirer of Agamemnon. And the Roman Cicero was beheaded while being carried in his litter where he was reading Euripides Medea.

§ 190.41  Diognetus the Cretan boxer, winner in a competition, did not receive the crown but was even attacked by the Eleans because the adversary whom he had defeated and killed was called Heracles like the hero. This Diognetus is honoured as a hero by the Cretans. The line of Homer, when Menelaus is about to be wounded: "You neither, Menelaus, you are not forgotten by the blessed immortals", has been parodied by Pythios, who substituted Menedemus for Menelaus. During a dinner given by the emperor Augustus, the riddle was proposed: "Which verse of Homer was parodied by the oracle, and who is the personage of whom this oracle spoke?" Menedemus the Elean, son of Bounias, showed to Heracles how to clean the stables of Augias by diverting a river; it is said also that he fought alongside Heracles in his fight with Augias; he was killed and buried in Lepreon close to a pine. Heracles instituted games in his honour and he fought against Theseus; as the combat was equal, the spectators declared that Theseus was a second Heracles.

§ 190.42  Phantasia, a woman of Memphis, daughter of Nicarchus, composed before Homer a tale of the Trojan War and of the adventures of Odysseus. The books were deposited, it is said, at Memphis; Homer went there and obtained copies from Phanites, the temple scribe, and he composed under their inspiration. Adonis, having become androgynous, behaved as a man for Aphrodite and as a woman for Apollo.

§ 190.43  As a homage to the river Alpheus, after a victory at Olympia, Heracles called with his name the letter "alpha" which he placed at the head of the alphabet.

§ 190.44  Our mythographer, in emitting his twaddle, says that Moses the legislator of the Hebrews was called Alpha because he had a white leprous scab on his body. Galerius Crassus, who was a military tribune under Tiberius, was called Beta because he liked to eat white beet which the Romans called "betacium". Horpyllis, the courtesan of Cyzicus, was called Gamma and Antenor, author of the History of Crete, was called Delta because he was good and loved his city, because the Cretans called the good "Delton". And Apollonius, who made himself famous in the time of Philopator for his knowledge of astronomy, was called Epsilon because the form of this letter matched that of the moon, in the knowledge of which he was very exact. Satyros the friend of Aristarchus was called Zeta because of his insistent seeking, and Aesop, it is said, was called Theta by Idmon, his master, because he was of a servile and changing character; indeed slaves are called thetes. The mother of Cypselos, who was lame, was called Lambda by the god of Delphi. And Democydos says that Pythagoras, who described all the numbers, was designated by the third letter. Such is the content of the fifth book.

§ 190.45  The sixth contains the following chapters. Achilles, killed by Penthesileus, was resuscitated at the request of his mother Thetis, to return to Hades once he had killed Penthesileus. In the Alexandra which Lycophron wrote: "What sterile nightingale killer of centaurs...", these are the sirens who he called killers of centaurs. Helenus, son of Priam, was beloved of Apollo and received from him the ivory bow with which he wounded Achilles in the hand.

§ 190.46  It was with Andromache and her sons that Priam came to beg Achilles for the bones of Hector. Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt ankle-bone and confided him to Chiron. The latter exhumed the body of the giant Damysos who was buried at Pallene — Damysos was the fastest of all the giants — removed the ankle-bone and incorporated it into Achilles' foot using drugs. This ankle-bone fell when Achilles was pursued by Apollo and it was thus that Achilles, fallen, was killed. It is said, on the other hand, that he was called Podarkes by the Poet, because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arce and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arce. And Arce was the daughter of Thaumas and her sister was Iris; both had wings, but, during the struggle of the gods against the Titans, Arce flew out of the camp of the gods and joined the Titans. After the victory Zeus removed her wings before throwing her into Tartarus and, when he came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings as a gift for Thetis. Peleus, it is said, received on the occasion of his marriage a knife from Hephaestus, from Aphrodite a bowl with an embossed Eros, from Poseidon the horses Xanthe and Balios, from Hera a chlamys, from Athena a flute, from Nereus a basket of the salt called 'divine, which has an irresistible virtue for overeating, appetite and digestion, explaining the expression "...she poured the divine salt".

§ 190.47  The author speaks of the earthborn Achilles and of all the Achilleses who have been celebrated since the Trojan events; it is this son of the earth who, when Hera fled from having sex with Zeus, received her in his cave and persuaded her to join with Zeus, and it is said that this was the first intercourse between Zeus and Hera, and Zeus promised Achilles that he would make famous all who bore his name. It is for that reason that Achilles son of Thetis is famous. The teacher of Chiron was called Achilleus and it of him that the name came which Chiron gave to the son of Peleus. The inventer of ostracism at Athens was called Achilleus, this was the son of Lyson; it is said that Achilles the son of Zeus and the Lamia was of an irresistible beauty and won a beauty contest judged by Pan. Aphrodite was irritated and placed in the heart of Pan the love of Echo and she made him become as ugly and unattractive as he had been beautiful. And the son of a certain Galatian was called Achilles and the author says that he had grey hair from birth; and there are still fourteen other Achilles who were famous and two among them were dogs and their behaviour as dogs was astonishing.

§ 190.48  Priam was beloved by Zeus and received from him the golden vine plant of which he made a gift to Eurypyles, son of Telephos, as the price of his alliance. Aesop, killed by the people of Delphi, revived and fought alongside the Greeks at Thermopylae. Philoctetes, at Lemnos, was cured by Pylios son of Hephaestus, from whom he learned archery; the river Scamander had a son, Melos (apple), who was beautiful; it is said that Hera, Athena and Aphrodite quarrelled over whose priest he would be; Alexander judged that Aphrodite won; this is why the fable of the apple circulates. Hypermenes, in his History of Chios, says that Homer had a servitor called Skindapsos; he was fined a thousand drachmas by the people of Chios because he hadn't burned the body of his master; and the man who invented an instrument with the name of this person, the skindapsos, was a man of Eretria, son of the flute-player Poiciles. Such is the sixth book.

§ 190.49  In the seventh, it is found that Theodore of Samothrace says that Zeus, after his birth, didn't stop laughing for seven days and that this is the reason why the number seven is considered perfect. Achilles, because he was saved from the fire that his mother had lit to burn him, was called Pyrisoos ("saved from fire") and it is because one of his lips was burned that he was called Achilles by his father. Telemachus was put to death by the Sirens when they learned that he was the son of Odysseus. Odysseus, in the land of the Tyrrhenians, took part in the flute-playing competition which he won; he played the Fall of Ilium by Demodocos. Stichios the Aitolian, who was beloved of Heracles, was opened and found to have a hairy heart; he had been killed by Heracles himself when, in his madness, he killed his own children and it is said that he was the only one the hero lamented.

§ 190.50  Hermes, beloved of Polydeuces, one of the Dioscuri, made him a gift of Dotor, the Thessalian horse. Apollo organised funeral games in honour of Python; Hermes and Aphrodite competed; she won and accepted as prize a cithara which she gave as a gift to Alexander. It is of her that Homer says: "But what could help bring your cythera to you..." In Bacchylides, what is the word attributed to Silenus and to whom did he address it?

§ 190.51  The rock of Leucas received its name from Leucos, the companion of Odysseus, who was originally from Zacynthos and who was, says the Poet, killed by Antiphos; this is the person, it is said, who founded the sanctuary of Apollo Leucate. Thus those who dive from the top of the rock were, it is said, freed from their love and for this reason: after the death of Adonis, Aphrodite, it is said, wandered around searching for him. She found him in Argos, a town of Cyprus, in the sanctuary of Apollo Erithios and took him up for burial after having told Apollo the secret of her love for Adonis. And Apollo led her to the rock of Leucade and ordered her to throw herself from the top of the rock; she did so and was freed from her love. When she sought the reason of this, Apollo told her, it is said, in his capacity as a soothsayer, he knew that Zeus, every time he fell in love with Hera, used to sit on this rock and be delivered from his love.

§ 190.52  And many others, men and women, suffering from the evil of love, were delivered from their passion in jumping from the top of the rock, such as Artemisia, daughter of Lygdamis, who fought alongside the Persians; enamored of Dardanus of Abydos and scorned, she scratched out his eyes while he slept but as her love increased under the influence of divine anger, she came to Leucas at the instruction of an oracle, threw herself from the top of the rock, killed herself and was buried. Hippomedon of Epidamnos, says the author, was enamored of a young boy of his land and, unable to obtain any success as the boy had a penchant for another, he killed him, then went to Leucas, jumped and killed himself. And the comic poet Nicostratus, in love with Tetigidaia of Myrinaia, jumped and was cured of his love. Maces of Buthrotum was, it is said, surnamed "Whiterock" because he had four times been cured of the evils of love after he jumped from the rock.

§ 190.53  A crowd of other people pass to be relieved in this way. Boulagoras the Phanagorite, enamoured of the flutist Diodorus, threw himself from the rock and was killed at an advanced age. Rhodope the Amisene killed herself also in jumping for the love of two twin lads who belonged to the guards of king Antiochus and were called Antiphon and Cyrus. And Charinus, a iambic poet, was in love with the eunuch Eros, Eupator's butler; trusting the legend of the rock he jumped, broke his leg, and died of pain while making these iambics:

§ 190.54  To the devil with you, deceptive and murderous rock of Leucas! Charinus, alas! alas! this iambic muse, You have turned to cinders by your vain words of hope. Can Eupator suffer so much for Eros?"

§ 190.55  And Nireus of Catana, in love with Athena of Athens, came to the rock and jumped and was delivered of his pain. In jumping he fell into the net of a fisherman in which when he was pulled out was also found a box filled with gold. He went to law with the fisherman for the gold, but Apollo appeared to him in the night in a dream and told him to desist since he should give thanks for his safety and he threatened him; it was not right in addition to try to appropriate gold which belonged to others.

§ 190.56  The pan is, it is said, a monstrous sea fish whose appearance reminds one of Pan; in his body is found a stone, the "asterite" which, exposed to the sun, catches fire; it is useful otherwise to make a potion. Helen was in possession of this stone, which carried graven on it the image of the pan fish itself, and she used it as a seal.
Among which are the chapters of the seventh book of Ptolemy son of Hephaestion regarding the knowledge of New History.

§ 224.0.1  [Memnon of Heraclea, History of Heraclea ] Read the historical work of Memnon from the ninth book to the sixteenth book. This history sets out to describe the noteworthy things which happened in Heracleia Pontica. It lists the tyrants of Heracleia, their character and deeds, the lives of the other [distinguished citizens], the manner of their death, and the sayings which were associated with them.

§ 224.1.1  [Memnon] says that Clearchus was the first to attempt to make himself tyrant of the city. Clearchus had received an education in philosophy; he was one of the pupils of Plato, and for four years he had been a pupil of the rhetorician Isocrates. But he turned out to be truly savage and bloodthirsty towards his subjects, and reached the peak of arrogance, so that he called himself the son of Zeus, and tinged his face with unnatural dyes, adorning it in all kinds of different ways to make it appears glistening or ruddy to those who saw him; and varied his clothing to appear fearsome or elegant.

§ 224.1.2  This was not his only vice; he showed no gratitude to his benefactors, was extremely violent, and ventured to carry out the most appalling deeds. He ruthlessly destroyed those he attacked, not only amongst his own people but whenever he perceived a threat elsewhere. However he was the first of those who were called tyrants to establish a library.

§ 224.1.3  Because of his murderous, cruel and arrogant character many plots were formed against him, but he escaped them all until eventually Chion the son of Matris, a high-minded man who was a blood relation of Clearchus, formed a conspiracy with Leon, Euxenon and many others. They gave Clearchus a fatal blow, and he died miserably from his wound.

§ 224.1.4  When the tyrant was making a public sacrifice, Chion and his associates thought that this would be an opportunity for action, and Chion plunged a sword into the side of their common enemy. Clearchus was racked by a great and piercing pain, and he was tormented by horrible visions (these visions were the ghosts of those he had cruelly murdered). Two days later he expired, after living for 58 years, of which he was tyrant for 12 years. At that time Artaxerxes was king of Persia, and after him his son Ochus. Clearchus sent many embassies to them during his lifetime.

§ 224.1.5  However almost all the tyrant's assassins were killed. Some were cut down by the bodyguard at the time of the attack, fighting bravely. Others were captured later and subjected to terrible tortures.

§ 224.2.1  Satyrus the brother of Clearchus took over the government, acting as guardian of the tyrant's sons, Timotheus and Dionysius. Satyrus exceeded not only Clearchus but all the other tyrants in his cruelty. Not only did he take vengeance on those who had plotted against his brother, but he inflicted equally intolerable harm on their children, who had taken no part in what their parents had done, and he punished many innocent people as if they were criminals.

§ 224.2.2  He was completely uninterested in learning, philosophy and all the other liberal arts. His only passion was for murder, and he did not want to learn about or practice anything which was humane or civilised. He was evil in every way, even if time lessened his [desire to] sate himself with murders and the blood of his countrymen; but he did show a conspicuous affection towards his brother.

§ 224.2.3  He kept [the succession to] the leadership of the state safe for the children of his brother, and valued the welfare of the boys so highly that, although he had a wife and loved her dearly, he was determined not to have a child, and used every possible device to render himself childless, in order that he should not leave behind anyone who could be a rival to his nephews.

§ 224.2.4  While he was still alive, but weighed down by old age, Satyrus passed on control of the state to Timotheus, the elder son of his brother, and shortly afterwards he was afflicted by a severe and untreatable illness. A cancerous growth spread underneath between his groin and his scrotum, and irrupted painfully towards his inwards. An opening formed in his flesh and discharges ran out with a foul and unbearable smell, so that his retinue and his doctors could no longer conceal the all-pervading stench of the putrefaction. Continual sharp pains racked his whole body, consigning him to sleeplessness and convulsions, until eventually the disease spread to his internal organs, and deprived him of his life.

§ 224.2.5  Like Clearchus, Satyrus gave to those who saw him when he was dying the impression that he was paying the penalty for his savage and lawless abuse of the citizens. They say that often during his illness he would vainly pray for death, and after he had been consumed by this harsh and grievous affliction for many days, he finally paid his due. He had lived for 65 years, and was tyrant for seven years, while Archidamus was king of Sparta.

§ 224.3.1  Timotheus took over the government and reformed it to a milder and more democratic regime, so that his subjects no longer called him a tyrant, but a benefactor and saviour. He paid off their debts to the moneylenders from his own resources, and gave interest-free loans to the needy for their trade and for the rest of their living expenses. He released innocent men, and even the guilty, from the prisons. He was a strict but humane judge, and in other respects he had a good and trustworthy nature. So he cared for his brother Dionysius like a father in every way, making him joint ruler at the start, and then appointing him to be his successor.

§ 224.3.2  He also showed a brave spirit in matters of war. He was magnanimous and noble in body and in mind, and he was fair and gracious in the settlement of wars. He was skilful at grasping an opportunity, and vigorous in achieving what he contemplated; he was merciful and just in character, and relentless in his boldness; he was moderate, kind and compassionate. Therefore in his lifetime he was an object of great fear to his enemies, who all dreaded and hated him; but to his subjects he was agreeable and gentle, so that when he died he was much missed, and his death aroused grief mixed with longing.

§ 224.3.3  His brother Dionysius cremated his body magnificently, pouring out tears from his eyes and groans from his heart. He held horse races in his honour; and not only horse races, but theatrical and choral and gymnastic contests. He held some of the contests immediately and others, yet more splendid, later on.That, in brief, is what is related in books nine and ten of Memnon's history.

§ 224.4.1  Dionysius became the next ruler [of Heracleia ] and increased its power; Alexander's victory over the Persians at the river Granicus had opened the way for those who wanted to increase their power, by cutting down the strength of the Persians, which had previously been an obstacle to them all. But later he experienced many dangers, especially when the exiles from Heracleia sent an embassy to Alexander, who had by then completely conquered Asia, asking him to grant their return and to restore the city to its traditional democracy. Because of this Dionysius was almost removed from power, and he would have been removed if he had not been very clever and quick-witted, earning the goodwill of his subjects and courting the favour of Cleopatra. And so he resisted the enemies who threatened him; sometimes he yielded to their demands, mollifying their anger and putting them off with delays, and at other times he took measures against them.

§ 224.4.2  When Alexander died at Babylon from [? poison] or disease, Dionysius set up a statue of Joy after hearing the news. In his great delight when the message first arrived, he suffered the same effect which extreme grief might produce: he almost collapsed with the shock, and seemed to have become senseless.

§ 224.4.3  The exiles from Heracleia urged Perdiccas, who had taken over the government, to follow the same policy but Dionysius, though on a knife's edge, by similar methods escaped all the dangers which were facing him. Perdiccas was a poor leader and was killed by his men; the hopes of the exiles were extinguished, and Dionysius enjoyed prosperity in all his undertakings.

§ 224.4.4  The greatest good fortune came to him from his second marriage. He married Amastris, the daughter of Oxathres; this Oxathres was the brother of Dareius, whose daughter Stateira Alexander took as his wife after killing her father. So the two women were cousins, and also they had been brought up together, which gave them a special affection for each other. When he married Stateira, Alexander gave this Amastris to Craterus, one of his closest friends. After Alexander departed from this world, Craterus turned to Phila the daughter of Antipater, and with the agreement of her former husband Amastris went to live with Dionysius.

§ 224.4.5  From this time onwards, his realm flourished greatly, because of the wealth which the marriage brought to him and his own love of display. He decided to buy the entire royal outfit of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, who had been removed from power.

§ 224.4.6  It was not only this that strengthened his power, but also the success and goodwill of his subjects, including many who had not previously been under his control. He gave outstanding aid to Antigonus the ruler of Asia when he was besieging (?) Cyprus, and as a reward received Antigonus' nephew Ptolemaeus, the general of the forces by the Hellespont, to be his daughter's husband; this was his daughter from his previous marriage. After achieving such distinction, he disdained the title of tyrant and called himself a king.

§ 224.4.7  Now that he was free from all fear and worry, he gave himself up to a life of continual luxury, so that he grew fat and unnaturally bloated. As a result, not only did he pay less attention to governing the state, but also when he went to sleep he was only with difficulty roused from his soporific state by being pierced with large needles, which was the only remaining way of reviving him from his unconscious torpor.

§ 224.4.8  He had three children by Amastris: Clearchus, Oxathres, and a daughter with the same name as her mother. When he was about to die, he left Amastris in charge of the government, acting as guardian along with some others for the children, who were still quite young. He had lived for 55 years, out of which he was ruler for about 30 years. He was, it was said, a very mild ruler and earned the epithet "the Good" from his character; his subjects were deeply saddened by his death.

§ 224.4.9  Even after his departure from this world, the city still flourished, while Antigonus carefully protected the interests of the children of Dionysius and their citizens. But when Antigonus' interest turned elsewhere, Lysimachus again took charge of Heracleia and the children, and even made Amastris his wife. To start with, he was very much in love with her, but when the pressure of events demanded it, he left her at Heracleia and went off to deal with urgent business. When he was free from his many troubles, he soon sent for her to join him at Sardis, where he showed her equal affection. But later he transferred his affection to the [daughter] of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, who was called Arsinoe, and this caused Amastris to part from him. After leaving him, she took control of Heracleia; she revived the city by her presence, and created the new city of Amastris.

§ 224.5.1  Clearchus had now reached adult age, and became ruler of the city; he fought in many wars, sometimes as an ally of others, and sometimes resisting attacks against himself. In one of these wars, he went as an ally of Lysimachus against the Getae, and was captured along with him. Lysimachus was released from captivity, and later secured Clearchus' release as well.

§ 224.5.2  Clearchus and his brother were established as rulers of the city in succession to their father, but the way they treated their subjects was far different from his mild benevolence. They carried out the foulest of crimes; for they caused their mother, who had not particularly interfered in their affairs, to be drowned in the sea when she was on board a ship, by a terrible and evil device.

§ 224.5.3  Lysimachus, whom we have mentioned many times before, was now king of Macedonia, and though his relationship with Arsinoe had caused Amastris to leave him, he still felt some glow of his former passion for her. He was not prepared to ignore her cruel murder; but he hid his feelings very carefully, and pretended to show the same friendship towards Clearchus as before. By many devices and tricks of deception (for he was the cleverest of men at hiding his intentions) he arrived at Heracleia as if to approve the succession. Though he put on a mask of fatherly love towards Clearchus, he killed the matricides, first Clearchus and then Oxathres, making them pay the penalty for the murder of their mother. He put the city under his protection, and carried away much of the treasure which the tyrants had accumulated. After allowing the citizens to establish a democracy, which was what they wanted, he set off back to his own kingdom.

§ 224.5.4  When he arrived there, he was full of praise for Amastris; he marvelled at her character and the way she ruled, how she had built up her realm in size and importance and strength. He exalted Heracleia, and included praise for Tius and Amastris, the city which she had founded in her name. By saying all this, he aroused in Arsinoe a desire to be mistress of the places which he was praising, and she asked him to grant her wish. To begin with he refused, saying that it was too much to give, but later as she continued to entreat him, he let her have it; for Arsinoe was not easily put off and old age had made Lysimachus more malleable.

§ 224.5.5  When she gained possession of Heracleia she sent there Heracleides of Cyme, a man who was well-disposed towards her, but otherwise ruthless and cunning, a skilful and quick-witted planner. When he arrived at Heracleia, he governed the city strictly, bringing accusations against many of the citizens and handing out punishments, so that they were deprived again of the good fortune which they had just acquired.

§ 224.5.6  Under Arsinoe's influence, Lysimachus killed Agathocles, the oldest and best of his sons, who was the offspring of his previous marriage. First he tried to poison him secretly, but when Agathocles discovered this and spat out the poison, he disposed of him in the most shameless way; he threw him into prison and ordered him to be cut down, on the pretended charge that he was plotting against Lysimachus. Ptolemaeus, who carried out this outrage, was the brother of Arsinoe, and because of his folly and recklessness was given the name Ceraunus ["thunderbolt"].

§ 224.5.7  By murdering his son, Lysimachus justly earned the hatred of his subjects. So Seleucus, on learning about this and how easily the kingdom could be overthrown, now that the cities had revolted against Lysimachus, joined battle against him. Lysimachus died in this war, after being struck by a spear which was thrown by a man from Heracleia called Malacon, who was fighting for Seleucus. After Lysimachus' death, his kingdom was merged as part of Seleucus' kingdom. At this point, the 12th book of Memnon finishes.

§ 224.6.1  In the 13th book Memnon says that the Heracleians, when they heard that Lysimachus had been killed by a man from Heracleia, recovered their confidence, and bravely sought the independence which they had been deprived of for 84 years, first by their native tyrants and then by Lysimachus.

§ 224.6.2  First of all, they went to Heracleides and urged him to leave the city, for which they would not only let him go unharmed but would send him on his way with splendid gifts, if only he let them regain their freedom. But far from being persuaded, he became angry and sent some of them off for punishment, so the citizens made a pact with the leaders of the garrison, promising that the garrison would receive equal rights of citizenship and would continue to receive the same pay as before. Then they seized Heracleides and held him as prisoner for a while. This freed them from all fear. They pulled down the acropolis walls to their foundations, appointed Phocritus to be governor of the city, and sent an embassy to Seleucus.

§ 224.6.3  But Zipoetes, the ruler of the Bithynians, who was hostile to Heracleia on account of both Lysimachus and Seleucus (for he was the enemy of both of them), attacked the city's territory and laid it waste. Nor did his own soldiers escape without similar injuries to those they perpetrated, because they suffered almost as much harm as they did to others.

§ 224.7.1  Meanwhile, Seleucus sent Aprodisius to administer the cities of Phrygia and the upper parts of Pontus. He carried out his business, and on his return he praised the other cities, but accused the Heracleians of being hostile towards Seleucus. Irritated by this, Seleucus used threats to disparage and scare the envoys who came to him, but one of the envoys called Chamaeleon was not frightened by the threats, and said "Heracles is karron, Seleucus" ("karron" means "stronger" in the Doric dialect). Seleucus did not understand this, but remained angry, and turned away from them. The envoys could see no advantage either in returning home or in remaining where they were.

§ 224.7.2  When the Heracleians heard about this, amongst other preparations they gathered allies, sending envoys to Mithridates the king of Pontus and to the cities of Byzantium and Chalcedon.

§ 224.7.3  Then Nymphis, who was one of the remaining exiles from Heracleia, urged the others to return home, and said that this could easily be achieved if they did not seem to be pressing for the restoration of the property which was taken away from their parents. He very easily persuaded the other exiles, and their return took place as he predicted. The returning exiles and the city which received them felt equal pleasure and delight, as the people in the city warmly welcomed them and ensured that nothing was missing that might contribute to their welfare.

§ 224.7.4  In this way the Heracleians regained their traditional nobility and constitution.

§ 224.8.1  Seleucus, encouraged by his success against Lysimachus, set out to cross over to Macedonia. He longed to return to his fatherland, from which he had set out with Alexander, and he intended to spend the rest of his life there (he was already an old man), after handing over the government of Asia to his son Antiochus.

§ 224.8.2  But Ptolemaeus Ceraunus, because the kingdom of Lysimachus had come under Seleucus' control, was himself accompanying Seleucus; he was not despised like a prisoner, but given the honour and consideration due to the son of a king. His hopes were raised by the promises which Seleucus made to establish him back in Egypt as the rightful heir to the kingdom, when his father Ptolemaeus died.

§ 224.8.3  However, though he was honoured with so much attention, these favours failed to improve the disposition of an evil man. He formed a plot, fell upon his benefactor and killed him. Then he jumped on a horse and rushed to Lysimachia, where he put on a diadem, and escorted by a splendid bodyguard went out to meet the army; they were forced to accept him and call him king, though they had previously served under Seleucus.

§ 224.8.4  When he heard what had happened, Antigonus the son of Demetrius tried to cross over to Macedonia with an army and a fleet, in order to forestall Ptolemaeus; and Ptolemaeus went to confront him with Lysimachus' fleet.

§ 224.8.5  In this fleet were some ships which had been sent from Heracleia, six-bankers and five-bankers and transports and one eight-banker called the lion-bearer, of extraordinary size and beauty. It had 100 rowers on each line, so there were 800 men on each side, making a total of 1,600 rowers. There were also 1,200 soldiers on the decks, and 2 steersmen.

§ 224.8.6  When battle was joined, the victory went to Ptolemaeus who routed the fleet of Antigonus, with the ships from Heracleia fighting most bravely of all; and of the ships from Heracleia, the prize went to the eight-banker "lion-bearer". After this defeat at sea, Antigonus retreated to Boeotia, and Ptolemaeus crossed over to Macedonia, which he put securely under his control.

§ 224.8.7  Immediately he showed his wickedness by marrying his sister Arsinoe (this was traditional amongst the Egyptians) and murdering the sons she had by Lysimachus. Then after disposing of them, he banished Arsinoe herself from the kingdom.

§ 224.8.8  He committed many other crimes over a period of two years, until a band of Gauls left their country because of famine and invaded Macedonia. He joined battle with these Gauls, and was killed in a manner befitting his own cruelty, being torn apart by the Gauls, who had captured him alive after the elephant on which he was riding was injured and threw him off. Antigonus the son of Demetrius, who had been defeated in the naval battle, became ruler of Macedonia after the death of Ptolemaeus.

§ 224.9.1  Antiochus the son of Seleucus, who had through many wars recovered his father's kingdom with difficulty and even so not completely, sent his general Patrocles with a detachment of his army to this side of the Taurus [mountains]. Patrocles appointed Hermogenes, whose family came from Aspendus, to lead attacks against Heracleia and the other cities.

§ 224.9.2  When the Heracleians sent an embassy to Hermogenes, he made a pact with them and withdrew from their territory, and instead marched through Phrygia to Bithynia. But Hermogenes was ambushed by the Bithynians, and was killed together with his whole army, though he himself fought bravely against the enemy.

§ 224.9.3  As a result of this, Antiochus decided to mount an expedition against the Bithynians, and their king Nicomedes sent envoys to Heracleia to ask for an alliance, which he quickly obtained, promising in return to help the city when it was in a similar plight.

§ 224.9.4  Meanwhile by spending a great deal of money the Heracleians recovered Cierus and Tius and the Thynian territory, but they did not succeed in regaining Amastris (which had been taken away from them along with the other cities), though they tried hard by war and by offering money. Eumenes, who held Amastris, was swayed by an unreasonable anger, and preferred to hand over the city for free to Ariobarzanes the son of Mithridates, rather than to accept payment for it from the Heracleians.

§ 224.9.5  At about the same time, the Heracleians entered into a war with Zipoethes the Bithynian, who ruled over Thynia in Thrace. In this war many of the Heracleians were killed after performing acts of true bravery, and Zipoetes utterly defeated them; but when an allied army came to the rescue of the Heracleians, he disgraced his victory by running away. Though defeated, the Heracleians were able to recover and cremate the bodies of their dead without hindrance. Then, having achieved that they went to war for, they took the bones of their dead back to the city, where they gave them a splendid burial in the monument of the heroes.

§ 224.10.1  At about the same time, a war arose between Antiochus the son of Seleucus and Antigonus the son of Demetrius. Large forces were ranged on either side, and the war lasted for a long time. Nicomedes the king of Bithynia fought as an ally of Antigonus, and many others fought on the side of Antiochus.

§ 224.10.2  So after clashing with Antigonus, Antiochus undertook a war against Nicomedes. Nicomedes gathered together forces from various places, and sent envoys to the Heracleians to ask for assistance; they sent 13 triremes to help him. Then Nicomedes went out to oppose Antiochus' fleet, and for a while they remained confronting each other, but neither side started a battle, and they returned without achieving anything.

§ 224.11.1  When the Gauls came to Byzantium and ransacked most of its territory, the Byzantines were worn down by the war and asked their allies for help. All the allies provided such help as they could, and the Heracleians gave four thousand gold pieces (this is what the envoys had asked for).

§ 224.11.2  Not long after, Nicomedes made a pact with the Gauls who were attacking Byzantium, and arranged for them to cross over to Asia; the Gauls had tried to cross over many times before, but had always failed, because the Byzantines would not allow it. The terms of the pact were as follows: the barbarians should always support Nicomedes and his children, and should not enter into alliance with any other state which requested it without the permission of Nicomedes. They should be allies of his allies, and enemies of his enemies. They should serves as allies of the Byzantines, if necessary, and of the inhabitants of Tius and Heracleia and Calchedon and Cierus, and of some other rulers.

§ 224.11.3  On these terms, Nicomedes brought the multitude of Gauls over to Asia. The Gauls had 17 eminent leaders, of whom the most important and distinguished were Leonnorius and Luturius.

§ 224.11.4  At first this crossing of the Gauls to Asia seemed to cause only trouble for the inhabitants, but in the end it inclined to their benefit. The kings tried to put an end to the democracies in the cities, but the Gauls strengthened them, by repelling the cities' oppressors.

§ 224.11.5  Nicomedes, after arming the Gauls, started by conquering the land of Bithynia and slaughtering the inhabitants, with the assistance of the Heracleians. The Gauls shared the rest of the loot amongst themselves.

§ 224.11.6  After advancing over much of the country, the Gauls withdraw and chose a section of the land to keep for themselves, which is now called Galatia. They split this land into three parts, for the tribes of the Trogmi, Tolostobogii, and Tectosages.

§ 224.11.7  They each founded cities, the Trogmi at Ancyra, the Tolostobogii at Tabia, and the Tectosages at Pessinus.

§ 224.12.1  Nicomedes enjoyed great prosperity, and founded a city named after himself opposite Astacus.

§ 224.12.2  Astacus was founded by settlers from Megara at the beginning of the 17th Olympiad 712/11 B.C.] and was named as instructed by an oracle after one of the so-called indigenous Sparti (the descendants of the Theban Sparti), a noble and high-minded man called Astacus.

§ 224.12.3  The city endured many attacks from its neighbours and was worn out by the fighting, but after the Athenians sent settlers there to join the Megarians, it was rid of its troubles and achieved great glory and strength, when Doedalsus was the ruler of the Bithynians.

§ 224.12.4  Doedalsus was succeeded by Boteiras, who lived for 76 years, and was in turn succeeded by his son Bas. Bas defeated Calas the general of Alexander, even though Calas was well equipped for a battle, and kept the Macedonians out of Bithynia. He lived for 71 years, and was king for 50 years.

§ 224.12.5  He was succeeded by his son Zipoetas, an excellent warrior who killed one of the generals of Lysimachus and drove another general far away out of his kingdom. After defeating first Lysimachus, the king of the Macedonians, and then Antiochus the son of Seleucus, the king of Asia, he founded a city under Mount (?) Lyparus, which was named after himself. Zipoetas lived for 76 years and ruled the kingdom for 48 years; he was survived by four children.

§ 224.12.6  He was succeeded by the eldest of the children, Nicomedes, who acted not like a brother but like an executioner to his brothers. However he strengthened the kingdom of the Bithynians, particularly by arranging for the Gauls to cross over to Asia, and as was said before, he founded the city which bears his name.

§ 224.13.1  Not long afterwards, a war broke out between the Byzantines and the inhabitants of Callatis (a colony of Heracleia) and of Istria. The war was caused by the trading post at Tomis, which the inhabitants of Callatis wanted to run as a monopoly. Both sides sent envoys to the Heracleians to ask for assistance; the Heracleians gave no military aid to either side, but sent arbitrators to each of them to arrange a truce, though at the time they did not accomplish this. After suffering greatly at the hands of their enemies, the inhabitants of Callatis agreed to a truce, but by that time they were almost incapable of recovering from the disasters which had struck them.

§ 224.14.1  After a short interval of time, Nicomedes the king of Bithynia, who was close to death, named the sons of his second wife Etazeta as his heirs; they were still very young, so he appointed Ptolemaeus, Antigonus, and the peoples of Byzantium, Heracleia, and Cius to be their guardians. Zeilas, his son by his previous marriage, had been forced out by the scheming of his step-mother Etazeta and was in exile with the king of the Armenians.

§ 224.14.2  But Zeilas returned to claim the kingdom with a force which was boosted by the Tolostobogian Gauls. The Bithynians wanted to preserve the kingdom for the younger children, and arranged for the brother of Nicomedes to marry the children's mother. The Bithynians collected an army from the guardians who were mentioned above, and withstood Zeilas' attack though there were many battles and changes of fortune, until the two sides agreed on a truce. The Heracleians fought heroically in the battles, and ensured that there was a favourable treaty.

§ 224.14.3  Therefore the Gauls, regarding Heracleia as an enemy, ravaged its territory as far as the river Calles, and returned home with a great quantity of booty.

§ 224.15.1  When the Byzantines were at war with Antiochus, the Heracleians supported them with 40 triremes, but the war did not proceed beyond threats.

§ 224.16.1  Not long afterwards, Ariobarzanes departed from this world, while he was in the middle of a dispute with the Gauls. His son Mithridates was still young; so the Gauls treated the son with disdain and devastated his kingdom.

§ 224.16.2  The subjects of Mithridates suffered much hardship, but they were rescued by the Heracleians, who sent corn to Amisus so that they could feed themselves and meet their basic needs. Because of this the Gauls made another expedition against the territory of Heracleia, and laid it waste until the Heracleians sent an embassy to them.

§ 224.16.3  The historian Nymphis was the head of the embassy; by paying out 5,000 gold pieces to the Gauls' army as a whole, and 200 pieces each to their leaders, he persuaded them to withdraw from the country.

§ 224.17.1  Ptolemaeus the king of Egypt had reached the height of prosperity, and decided to favour the cities with magnificent gifts. To the Heracleians he gave (?) 500 artabae of corn, and he built a temple of Heracles, made from Proconnesian marble, on their acropolis.

§ 224.18.1  Having brought his account down to this point, the author makes a digression about the Romans' rise to power: what race they came from, how they settled in Italy, what happened before and during the foundation of Rome. He gives an account of their rulers and the peoples they fought against, the appointment of kings, the change from monarchy to rule by consuls, and how the Romans were defeated by the Gauls and their city would have been captured by the Gauls, if Camillus had not come to its aid and rescued it.

§ 224.18.2  Then he describes how Alexander wrote to them, when he crossed over to Asia, that they should either conquer others, if they were capable of ruling over them, or yield to those who were stronger than them; and the Roman sent him a crown, containing many talents of gold. Then he describes their war against the Tarentines and their ally Pyrrhus of Epirus, in which after both suffering reverses and inflicting defeats on their enemies, they forced the Tarentines into subjection and drove Pyrrhus out of Italy.

§ 224.18.3  Then he describes the Romans' wars against the Carthaginians and Hannibal, and their successes in Spain under Scipio and other leaders; how Scipio was proclaimed king by the Spaniards but refused the title, and how Hannibal was finally defeated and fled.

§ 224.18.4  Then he describes how the Romans crossed over the Ionian Sea, and how Perseus the son of Philippus when he became king of the Macedonians impetuously broke the treaty which his father had made with the Romans, and was overthrown after being defeated by Paullus.

§ 224.18.5  And then he describes how they defeated Antiochus the king of Syria, Commagene, and Judaea in two battles, and drove him out of Europe.

§ 224.18.6  Resuming after this account of the Romans' conquests, the author says that envoys were sent by the Heracleians to the Roman generals who had crossed over to Asia; the Romans welcomed them warmly and treated them with kindness. Publius (?) Aemilius granted them a letter, in which he assured them of the friendship of the senate towards them, and said that they would receive whatever care and attention they needed.

§ 224.18.7  Later they sent envoys to Cornelius Scipio, who had conquered Africa for the Romans, in order to confirm the alliance which had previously been agreed.

§ 224.18.8  After this, they sent envoys to Scipio again, because they wanted king Antiochus to be reconciled with the Romans; and they also addressed a decree to Antiochus, calling on him to lay aside his enmity towards the Romans. Cornelius wrote back to the Heracleians, beginning as follows: "Scipio, general and proconsul of the Romans, to the senate and people of the Heracleians, greetings". In the letter he confirmed the goodwill of the Romans towards the Heracleians, and that they were willing to put an end to the war with Antiochus. Lucius' brother Publius Cornelius Scipio, who commanded the fleet, gave a similar reply the envoys of the Heracleians.

§ 224.18.9  Not long afterwards, Antiochus renewed the war with the Romans; he was completely defeated, and ended the hostilities by agreeing to a treaty which expelled him from the whole of Asia, and deprived him of his elephants and fleet. Commagene and Judaea were left under his control.

§ 224.18.10  The city of Heracleia sent envoys with a similar message to the next generals were sent out by the Romans, and these were received with the same goodwill and kindness as before. In the end a treaty came about between the Romans and the Heracleians, in which they agreed not only to remain as friends, but also to fight as allies for or against other states, as either of them required. Identical copies of the treaty were inscribed on two bronze tablets, one of which was set up at Rome in the Capitoline temple of Zeus, and the other at Heracleia, also in the temple of Zeus.

§ 224.19.1  After narrating all this in the 13th and 14th books of his history, the author describes at the start of the 15th book how Prusias, the vigorous and very active king of the Bithynians, by making war brought Cierus (which belonged to the Heracleians) under his control, along with some other cities. He changed the name of the city to Prusias, instead of Cierus. He also captured Tius, another city of the Heracleians, so that his territory surrounded Heracleia on both sides up to the sea.

§ 224.19.2  After these cities, he subjected Heracleia itself to a severe siege, and killed many of those who were besieged. The city was close to being captured, but while climbing a ladder Prusias was hit by a stone which was thrown from the battlements. He broke his leg, and because of this injury the siege was lifted.

§ 224.19.3  The stricken king was carried away by the Bithynians in a litter, not without difficulty, and he returned to his own country, where he lived on for a few years before he died, being named (because of his injury) "the lame".

§ 224.20.1  Before the Romans crossed over to Asia, the Gauls who lived in the upper part of Pontus, wanting to have access to the sea, tried to capture Heracleia, which they thought would not be a difficult task because the city had lost much of its former strength, so that they regarded it with contempt. They marched against it with all their forces, and the Heracleians themselves called upon whatever assistance they could arrange at the time.

§ 224.20.2  So the city was subjected to a siege, which went on for some time, until the Gauls began to suffer from lack of provisions; for the Gauls are accustomed to waging war with passion rather than by making the necessary preparations. When they had left their camp and were foraging for provisions, the defenders of the city made a sally and fell upon them unexpectedly. They captured the camp and killed many of the Gauls there, and they caught the others who were scattered in the countryside without difficulty, so that less than a third of the Gauls' army escaped back to Galatia.

§ 224.20.3  This success induced the Heracleians to hope that they would be restored to their former glory and prosperity.

§ 224.21.1  When the Romans were fighting against the Marsi and Paeligni and Marrucini (these are tribes who live in the north of Africa, near to Gades), the Heracleians went with two decked triremes to assist the Romans. After helping to win the war and earning much praise for their valour, the Heracleians returned home in the 11th year after they had left.

§ 224.22.1  After this, the grievous war between the Romans and Mithridates king of Pontus broke out; the apparent cause of this war was the seizure of Cappadocia. Mithridates gained control of Cappadocia when he captured his nephew Arathes after breaking his oath concerning a truce, and then killed him with own hands. This Arathes was the son of Ariarathes and of the sister of Mithridates.

§ 224.22.2  Mithridates was a persistent murderer since his childhood. He had become king at the age of 13 years, and soon afterwards he imprisoned his mother, whom his father had left as joint ruler with him, and eventually put an end to her by violence; he also killed his brother.

§ 224.22.3  He increased his realm by subduing the kings around the river Phasis in war as far as the regions beyond the Caucasus, and grew extremely boastful.

§ 224.22.4  On account of this the Romans regarded his intentions with suspicion, and they passed a decree that he should restore to the kings of the Scythians their ancestral territory. He obeyed this order without resistance, but gathered as his allies the Parthians, the Medes, Tigranes the Armenian, the kings of the Phrygians and [the king of] the Iberians.

§ 224.22.5  He provided other pretexts for war. For instance, after the Roman senate had appointed Nicomedes, the son of Nicomedes and Nysa, to be king of Bithynia, Mithridates set up [Socrates] called Chrestus as a rival to Nicomedes. However the Romans' wishes prevailed, despite the opposition of Mithridates.

§ 224.22.6  Later, when Sulla and Marius were engaged in fighting for control of the Roman state, Mithridates gave 40,000 foot-soldiers and 10,000 cavalry to his general Archelaus, and ordered him to march against the Bithynians. When they met in battle, Archelaus was victorious, and Nicomedes escaped with only a few companions. After hearing this news, Mithridates, who now had his allied forces with him, set off from the plain of Amaseia and marched through Paphlagonia, leading an army of 150,000 men.

§ 224.22.7  Manius confronted (?) Menophanes the general of Mithridates with just a few Roman soldiers, because the soldiers of Nicomedes who were with him ran away as soon as they heard of the approach of Mithridates; Manius was defeated and fled, losing all his army.

§ 224.22.8  Then Mithridates invaded Bithynia with impunity and captured the cities and countryside without a battle. Some of the other cities in Asia were captured and others allied themselves with Mithridates, so that there was a complete transformation in the state of affairs. The Rhodians alone maintained their alliance with the Romans. Therefore Mithridates waged war with them by land and by sea, though the Rhodians had the better of the contests, and Mithridates himself came close to being captured in a naval battle.

§ 224.22.9  Then Mithridates, because he had heard that the Romans who were scattered throughout the cities were hindering his designs, wrote to all the cities instructing them to kill the Romans in their midst on a specific day. And many obeyed these instructions, making such a slaughter that on that one day 80,000 people were killed by the sword.

§ 224.22.10  When Eretria, Chalcis and the whole of Euboea had gone over to Mithridates, along with other cities, and the Spartans had been defeated, the Romans sent out Sulla against him with a suitable army.

§ 224.22.11  On his arrival, Sulla won over some cities which changed sides of their own will, and captured others by force, and he routed a large army from Pontus in battle. He also captured Athens, and the city would have been destroyed, if the senate had not quickly put a stop to Sulla's intentions.

§ 224.22.12  There were many skirmishes, in most of which the men of Pontus had the upper hand, and the situation changed as a result of their successes. But the royal troops suffered from a lack of supplies, because they used up what they held recklessly and did not know how to preserve what they had acquired. They would have been in desperate trouble, if Taxiles had not captured Amphipolis, after which the rest of Macedonia went over to his side, and he was able to provide plentiful supplies.

§ 224.22.13  Taxiles and Archelaus joined up their armies, so that they had over 60,000 men, and they took up position in the territory of Phocis, awaiting Sulla. Sulla received reinforcements from Lucius Hortensius, who brought more than 6,000 men from Italy, and camped opposite them at a considerable distance. While Archelaus' men were carelessly foraging, Sulla unexpectedly attacked his enemies' camp. He immediately killed the men whom he captured if they were strong, but he placed those from whom he had nothing to fear around the camp and told them to light fires, so as to receive those returning from foraging without giving them any suspicion of what had happened. This turned out as he planned, and Sulla's men won a brilliant victory.

§ 224.23.1  Mithridates accused the Chians of aiding the Rhodians, and sent Dorylaus against them. Dorylaus captured the city with some difficulty. Then he allotted the land to men from Pontus, and he transported the Chians by sea to Pontus.

§ 224.13.2  The Heracleians, who were allies of the Chians, attacked the Pontic ships carrying the captives as they sailed past and brought them back to the city without resistance, because the ships were not equipped to defend themselves. The Heracleians promptly revived the Chians by providing them unstintingly with everything they needed, and later restored them to their fatherland, after offering generous gifts to them.

§ 224.24.1  The senate sent Valerius Flaccus and Fimbria to fight against Mithridates. It ordered them to share with Sulla in the war, if he co-operated with the senate, but if not, to make war against him first.

§ 224.24.2  Flaccus suffered various misfortunes to start with (such as lack of food and losses in battle) but mostly he was successful. He crossed over to Bithynia with the help of the Byzantines, and from there he went to Nicaea, where he halted. Likewise Fimbria crossed over with his troops.

§ 224.24.3  Flaccus was annoyed because most of the army preferred to be led by Fimbria, because he was a considerate commander. While Flaccus was bitterly rebuking Fimbria and the most distinguished soldiers, two of them, who were roused to greater fury than the others, murdered him. The senate was angry with Fimbria for this; but it disguised its anger, and arranged for him to be elected consul. Fimbria, thus becoming commander of the whole force, won over some cities by agreement and captured others by force.

§ 224.24.4  Mithridates' son, accompanied by the generals Taxiles, Diophantus and Menander, confronted Fimbria with a large force. To start with the barbarians had the upper hand; and Fimbria decided to use a stratagem to repair his defeats in battle (the enemy army was much larger than his). When both armies arrived at a certain river, with the river in between them, and a storm broke out at dawn, the Roman general unexpectedly crossed the river. He fell on the enemy while they were still asleep, and killed most of them before they knew what was happening. A few of the leaders and the cavalry escaped the slaughter, including Mithridates the son of Mithridates, who rode off and escaped to his father in Pergamum along with some others.

§ 224.24.5  After the king's army had suffered this overwhelming defeat, most of the cities went over to the Romans.

§ 224.25.1  After Marius, one of the opposite faction, had been restored to Rome from his exile, Sulla was afraid that he might be forced into a similar exile because of his harsh treatment of Marius; so he sent envoys to Mithridates, proposing a truce between him and the Romans. Mithridates, who gladly accepted the proposal, asked to meet to agree the terms. Sulla set out eagerly,

§ 224.25.2  and after advancing towards each other, they met at Dardanus to discuss the treaty. When their attendants had withdrawn, they came to an agreement, that Mithridates would surrender Asia to the Romans, that the Bithynians and Cappadocia would be ruled by their native kings, that Mithridates would be confirmed as king of all of Pontus, as long as he provided 80 triremes and 3,000 talents to Sulla personally for his return for Rome, and that the Romans would not punish the cities for their support of Mithridates. In fact the Romans did not abide by this last part of the treaty, and they afterwards forced many of the cities into slavery.

§ 224.25.3  So Sulla returned in glory to Italy, and Marius again withdrew from Rome. Mithridates went back home, and set about subduing many of the nations which had revolted from his rule after the disaster which he suffered.

§ 224.26.1  Murena was sent out as commander by the senate, and Mithridates sent envoys to him, reminding him of the treaty which Sulla had made and asking him to abide by it. But Murena took no notice of the envoys (they were mostly Greeks and philosophers, and disparaged Mithridates instead of supporting him) and he set off against Mithridates. He established Ariobarzanes as king of Cappadocia, and founded the city of Licinia by the border of Mithridates' kingdom.

§ 224.26.2  Meanwhile Murena and Mithridates both sent envoys to the Heracleians, each calling on them to become their allies. The Heracleians considered the power of the Romans to be formidable, but were afraid of Mithridates because he was their neighbour. Therefore they replied to the envoys that when such great wars were breaking out, they could scarcely protect their own territory, let alone come to the assistance of others.

§ 224.26.3  Some of Murena's advisers said that he should attack Sinope and start a war for control of the king's capital, because if he captured that city, he would easily win over the other places. But Mithridates protected Sinope with a large force and prepared for open war.

§ 224.26.4  in the opening skirmishes the king's forces had the advantage, but the subsequent battle was evenly balanced, and this battle blunted the two sides' enthusiasm for war. Mithridates went away to the regions around the river Phasis and the Caucasus, while Murena returned to Asia; and they both looked after their own affairs.

§ 224.27.1  Soon afterwards Sulla died at Rome, and the senate sent Aurelius Cotta to Bithynia and Lucius Lucullus to Asia, both of them with orders to fight against Mithridates.

§ 224.27.2  Mithridates assembled another large army and 400 triremes, together with a considerable number of smaller ships, including fifty-oar ships and kerkouroi. He sent Diophantus (?) Mitharus with a force to Cappadocia, to establish garrisons in the cities and, if Lucullus marched towards Pontus, to confront him and prevent him from advancing further.

§ 224.27.3  Mithridates took with him an army of 150,000 foot-soldiers, 12,000 cavalry and 120 scythed chariots, as well as an equal number of workmen. He advanced through Paphlagonia Timonitis into Galatia, and nine days later arrived in Bithynia

§ 224.27.4  Lucullus ordered Cotta to sail to the harbour of Chalcedon with all his ships.

§ 224.27.5  Mithridates' navy sailed past Heracleia; it was not admitted into the city, but the Heracleians provided supplies when they were asked for them. While the sailors and inhabitants were mingling together, as was natural, Archelaus, the commander of the navy, seized Silenus and Satyrus, two distinguished Heracleians, and did not release them until he had persuaded them to provide five triremes to assist in the war against the Romans. As a result of this action, as Archelaus had contrived, the people of Heracleia were regarded as enemies by the Romans. Therefore the Romans, who were exacting requisitions from the other cities, demanded contributions from Heracleia as well.

§ 224.27.6  When the money-collectors arrived in the city, they disregarded the laws of the state, and their demands for money distressed the citizens, who regarded this as the beginning of slavery. They wanted to send a delegation to the senate to ask to be released from the requisitions, but they were persuaded by the one of the most audacious men in the city to make away with the money-collectors in secret, in such a way that no-one was sure how they died.

§ 224.27.7  The navies of Rome and Pontus met in battle by the city of Chalcedon, and a battle also broke out on land between the king's army and the Romans; the generals of the two sides were Mithridates and Cotta. In the land battle the Bastarnae routed the Italians, and slaughtered many of them. There was a similar outcome in the naval battle, and on one and the same day the land and sea were covered with the bodies of dead Romans. In the naval battle 8,000 men were killed and 4,500 were captured; in the land battle 5,300 of the Italians were killed, and out of Mithridates' army about 30 Bastarnae, and 700 others. Everyone was cowed by this success of Mithridates.

§ 224.27.8  But Lucullus, who was camped by the river Sangarius when he heard of the disaster, spoke to his soldiers and encouraged them not to be despondent.

§ 224.28.1  Mithridates confidently moved on to Cyzicus and decided to besiege the city. Lucullus followed him and in the ensuing fighting he utterly defeated the Pontic army. In a short time he killed many tens of thousands, and he took 13,000 prisoners.

§ 224.28.2  The Fimbrian soldiers were concerned that their leaders would regard them as disloyal because of their crime against Flaccus, and they secretly sent to Mithridates, promising to desert to him. Mithridates though this message was a stroke of luck, and when night came he sent Archelaus to confirm the agreement and to bring the deserters over to him. But when Archelaus arrived, the Fimbrian soldiers seized him and killed his companions.

§ 224.28.3  On top of this misfortune, the king's army was gripped by famine and many of them died. Despite suffering all these setbacks, Mithridates did not desist from the siege; but later, after inflicting and receiving many losses, he withdrew from the city without capturing it. He appointed Hermaeus and (?) Marius to lead the foot-soldiers, with an army of over 30,000 men, while he made his way back by sea. Various disasters occurred as he boarded the triremes, because the men who were still waiting to board them grasped the ships and hung onto them, both the ships which were already full and the ones which remained. So many men did this that some of the ships were sunk and others were capsized.

§ 224.28.4  When the citizens of Cyzicus saw this, they attacked the Pontic camp, slaughtered the exhausted troops who were left there and pillaged everything that had been left in the camp. Lucullus pursued the army as far as the river Aesepus, where he surprised it and killed a great number of the enemy. Mithridates recovered as best he could and besieged Perinthus, but failed to take it and crossed back over to Bithynia.

§ 224.28.5  Then (?) Barba arrived at the head of a large force of Italians and Triarius the Roman general advanced and started to besiege Apameia; the citizens of Apameia resisted as much as they could, but finally they opened their gates and let the Romans in.

§ 224.28.6  The Roman army also captured the city of Prusa, which lies at the foot of the Asian Mount Olympus.

§ 224.28.7  From there Triarius took his army to the city of Prusias by the sea. In ancient times Prusias was called Cierus, which is the scene of many stories, such as the arrival of the Argo, the disappearance of Hylas and Heracles' wanderings in search of Hylas. When Triarius arrived there, the inhabitants of Prusias drove out the Pontic soldiers and willingly let him in.

§ 224.28.8  From there Triarius went on to Nicaea, where Mithridates had placed a garrison. But the Pontic soldiers realised that the inhabitants of Nicaea were inclining towards the Romans, and so they withdrew at night towards Mithridates at Nicomedeia; after that the Romans gained control of the city without a fight.

§ 224.28.9  The city of Nicaea took its name from a Naiad (river nymph) called Nicaea, and it was established by the men of Nicaea who fought in Alexander's army. After Alexander's death they founded and settled this city in memory of their homeland. The nymph Nicaea is said to have been the daughter of Cybele and Sangarius, who was the ruler of the country. Preferring virginity to cohabitation with a man, she spent her life hunting in the mountains. Dionysus fell in love with her, but she rejected his advances. After his rejection Dionysus tried to achieve his desire by a trick. He filled the spring, from which Nicaea used to drink when she was worn out from hunting, with wine instead of water. She suspected nothing and, acting as normal, took her fill of the deceptive liquid. Then drunkenness and sleep took hold of her, and she submitted to the wishes of her lover, even against her will. Dionysius had intercourse with her, and fathered Satyrus and other sons by her. 10. The men who founded and settled the city of Nicaea originally came from the Nicaea which is next to Phocis. They had often fought against the Phocians, who eventually deprived them of their homeland, subduing it and obliterating it with great zeal. 11 That is how Nicaea was named and founded, and how it went over to the Romans.

§ 224.29.1  Cotta wanted to make amends for his earlier failures, and advanced from Chalcedon, where he had been defeated, to Nicomedeia, where Mithridates was staying. He camped 150 stades from the city, but was reluctant to join battle. Without waiting to be summoned, Triarius hastened to join Cotta, and when Mithridates withdrew inside the city the Roman army prepared to besiege it from both sides.

§ 224.29.2  But the king heard that the Pontic navy had been defeated in two sea battles, which it had fought with Lucullus near Tenedos and in the Aegean, and he did not think that he was strong enough to withstand the Roman amry which confronted him. Therefore he (?) embarked his forces and sailed up the river. He lost some of his triremes in a violent storm, but he reached the river Hypios with most of his ships.

§ 224.29.3  There he spent the winter, and with many promises and gifts of money he urged Lamachus of Heracleia, an old friend of his who he heard was a leader of the state, to arrange for him to be received into the city. Lamachus agreed to the request. He prepared a magnificent feast for the citizens outside of the city, and plied the people with drink, after instructing that the city gates should be left open during the feast. But he had arranged beforehand that Mithridates should come up secretly on the same day, and in this way Mithridates gained control of the city before the Heracleians even realised that he had arrived.

§ 224.29.4  On the next day, Mithridates assembled the people and greeted them with conciliatory words. He advised them to maintain their goodwill towards him, and established a garrison of 4,000 men, with Connacorex as commander of the garrison, on the pretext that if the Romans decided to attack them, the garrison would defend the city and save the inhabitants. Then he distributed money to the residents, especially to those in positions of authority, and sailed off to Sinope.

§ 224.29.5  Lucullus, Cotta and Triarius, the commanding generals of the Romans, came together at Nicomedeia, and set off to invade Pontus. But when they heard about the capture of Heracleia — they did not know it had been betrayed, but thought that the whole city had changed allegiance — they decided that Lucullus should march with most of the army through the inland districts into Cappadocia, in order to attack Mithridates and his entire kingdom; that Cotta should attack Heracleia; and that Triarius should gather the naval forces around the Hellespont and Propontis, and lie in wait for the return of the ships which Mithridates had sent to Crete and Spain.

§ 224.29.6  When Mithridates heard of their plans, he made his own preparations, and sent envoys to the kings of the Scythians, to the king of Parthia and to his son-in-law Tigranes the king of Armenia. The others gave him no help, but Tigranes, after ignoring many entreaties from Mithridates' daughter, eventually agreed to an alliance with him.

§ 224.29.7  Mithridates sent different generals to fight against Lucullus. When they came to battle, they had varying success, but on most occasions the Romans had the upper hand.

§ 224.29.8  The king was disheartened by this, but nevertheless he assembled 40,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry, and sent them out in addition to the previous army, with Diophantus and Taxiles as their generals. After they had joined up with the others, at first the two sides tested each other in skirmishes almost every day, and then there were two cavalry battles, in the first of which the Romans were victorious, and in the second the men of Pontus won.

§ 224.29.9  As the war dragged on, Lucullus sent some men to Cappadocia to fetch supplies, and when Taxiles and Diophantus heard of this, they sent off a force of 4,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to attack and plunder the men who were bringing back the supplies. But when the two forces clashed, the Romans had the upper hand, and after Lucullus sent reinforcements to his side, it turned into a complete rout of the barbarians. In their pursuit of the fleeing barbarians the Roman army reached the camp of Diophantus and Taxiles, and proceeded to mount a fierce assault on them. The Pontic army withstood the attack for a while, but then they all gave way, with their generals being the first to turn to flight. The generals went to Mithridates as the messengers of their own defeat; and a large number of the barbarians were killed.

§ 224.30.1  After he had suffered this manifest disaster, Mithridates ordered that the princesses of the royal house should be killed, and decided to escape from Cabeira, where he was staying, without the knowledge of his subjects. But he was pursued by some Gauls, who did not realise who he was, and he would have been captured, if they had not come across a mule which was carrying Mithridates' gold and silver, and they stopped to plunder this treasure. Mithridates himself reached Armenia,

§ 224.30.2  though Lucullus sent Marcus Pompeius in pursuit of him. Then Lucullus advanced to Cabeira with his entire army, and surrounded the city; he gained control of the walls after the barbarians agreed to surrender under a truce.

§ 224.30.3  From there he went to Amisus, and tried to persuade the inhabitants to come to terms with the Romans, but as they did not listen to him, he moved away and began to besiege Eupatoria. There he pretended to conduct [the siege] negligently, in order that he might lull the enemy into the same attitude of negligence, and then achieve his object by mounting a sudden attack. The result was as he expected, and he captured the city by this stratagem. Lucullus suddenly ordered his soldiers to bring up ladders, when the defenders were paying little attention because they expected nothing of the sort, and he sent the soldiers up the ladders to the top of the walls. In this way Eupatoria was captured, and it was immediately destroyed.

§ 224.30.4  Shortly afterwards Amisus was captured in a similar fashion — the enemy mounted its walls with ladders. Many of the citizens of Amisus were slaughtered immediately, but then Lucullus put an end to the killing. He restored the city and its territory to the remaining citizens, and treated them considerately.

§ 224.31.1  Mithridates was now staying in the territory of his son-in-law [Tigranes], who refused to meet him, but gave him a bodyguard and all the other marks of hospitality.

§ 224.31.2  Lucullus sent Appius Claudius as an ambassador to Tigranes, to demand the surrender of Mithridates, but Tigranes refused to hand him over, saying that he would incur universal censure if he betrayed the father of his wife; therefore, though he knew the worthless character of Mithridates, he would respect their ties of kinship.

§ 224.31.3  Tigranes wrote a letter to Lucullus, containing the same message, but the letter only irritated the Roman, because it did not address him as "general", in response to his own letters which had not addressed Tigranes as "king of kings". At this point, the 15th book of the history comes to an end.

§ 224.32.1  The contents of the next part of the history are as follows. Cotta marched with the Roman army against Heracleia, but first he led it to Prusias. Prusias had previously been called Cierus, from the river which flows by it, but the king of Bithynia renamed it after himself when he took it away from the Heracleians. From there he went down to the [Euxine] sea; he marched along the shore, and stationed his men by the highest point of the walls.

§ 224.32.2  The Heracleians were made confident by the natural strength of the site, and when Cotta pressed the attack they fought back along with the garrison. A large number of the Roman soldiers were killed, though the Heracleians received many wounds from missiles. Therefore Cotta drew back his army from attacking the walls, and camped a short distance away. He turned his attention to preventing supplies from reaching the besieged inhabitants. When the citizens ran short of basic necessities, they sent envoys to their colonies, asking them to provide supplies in return for money, which the colonies readily agreed to.

§ 224.33.1  Shortly afterward Triarius set off from Nicomedeia with the Roman fleet to confront the Pontic triremes which, as has been said previously, had been sent out to Crete and Spain. He learnt that they were withdrawing to Pontus, after losing many ships which had been sunk in storms and in various battles. He intercepted the remaining ships and fought a battle against them near Tenedos, in which he had 70 triremes and the Pontic navy had just under 80.

§ 224.33.2  When the two sides met, the king's ships offered some resistance to start with, but later they were completely routed and the Roman navy won a decisive victory. And so the entire naval force, which had sailed out to Asia with Mithridates, was destroyed.

§ 224.34.1  Cotta, who was encamped near Heracleia, did not attack the city with his whole army, but sent forward detachments, some from the Romans, and many from the Bithynians. But as many of his men were injured or killed, he constructed various siege engines, including the Tortoise, which rather alarmed the defenders of the city. He brought this forward in full force against a certain tower which seemed susceptible to damage; however after one or two blows, not only did the tower remain standing, but the head of the battering ram was broken off. This restored the spirits of the Heracleians, but disheartened Cotta, who worried that the city would never be captured.

§ 224.34.2  The next day Cotta brought up the siege engine again, but without success; so he burnt the engine, and beheaded the men who had made it. Leaving a guard by the walls, he decamped with the rest of his army to the so-called plain of Lycaea, which gave him a plentiful supply of provisions. From there he laid waste the entire territory of Heracleia, causing great hardship to the citizens.

§ 224.34.3  So they sent another embassy, to ask the inhabitants of the Scythian Chersonesus and Theodosia and the kings of the Bosporus for an alliance, but the embassy returned without achieving anything.

§ 224.34.4  The citizens suffered almost as much from ill-treatment inside as they did from the enemy's attacks outside, because the garrison were not content with the same provisions as the populace survived on, and by assaulting the citizens they forced them to provide what they could not easily afford. Connacorex, the commander of the garrison, was even more brutal than his men; instead of restraining their violence, he encouraged it.

§ 224.34.5  After ravaging the countryside, Cotta again attacked the walls. But he saw that the soldiers were reluctant to press the siege, so he led them away again from the walls, and sent to Triarius, asking him to come quickly with his triremes and prevent food reaching the city by sea.

§ 224.34.6  Triarius took the ships which he had with him and 20 Rhodian ships, making a total of 43 ships. He crossed into the [Euxine ] sea and informed Cotta of the date when he would arrive. On the same day as Triarius' squadron of ships appeared, Cotta brought his army up to the walls.

§ 224.34.7  The Heracleians were alarmed by the sudden arrival of the ships. They put 30 of their own ships out to sea, though even these were not fully manned, and the rest of the men turned to defending the city. The Heracleian ships sailed out to confront the approaching squadron of the enemy, and the Rhodians (who were reputed to be braver and more experienced sailors than the others) were the first to attack them. Three Rhodian and five Heracleian ships were sunk immediately. Then the Romans joined in the fighting; both sides suffered heavy losses, but the Romans inflicted the most damage on their enemies. Eventually the ships from Heracleia were routed and they were forced to flee back to the city; 14 of their ships were lost, and the ones which escaped were placed in the great harbour.

§ 224.34.8  Cotta also moved up the land army to renew the siege. Triarius' ships took up station on each side of the harbour, so as to prevent supplies of food reaching those inside the city, and the city was gripped by such a severe famine, that a choinix of corn was sold for 80 Attic [drachmas].

§ 224.34.9  On top of these other evils, a plague struck the citizens, caused either by a change in climate or by their poor diet. The plague consumed its victims with many different kinds of suffering, including Lamachus, who endured a particularly slow and painful death. The garrison suffered most of all from the disease, which killed one thousand out of their three thousand men; and their affliction was obvious to the Romans.

§ 224.35.1  Connacorex was dismayed by these disasters and decided to betray the city to the Romans, purchasing his own safety by the ruin of the Heracleians. He was joined in this undertaking by a Heracleian called Damopheles, an adherent of Lamachus' party who had been chosen to be a leader of the city guards after the death of Lamachus.

§ 224.35.2  Connacorex did not approach Cotta, whom he regarded as oppressive and untrustworthy, but he made an arrangement with Triarius, which Damopheles readily consented to. After agreeing terms which they hoped would assure their well-being, they prepared to betray the city.

§ 224.35.3  The nature of the traitors' plans became known to the people of the city, who rapidly met in assembly and summoned the leader of the garrison. Brithagoras, one of the leading citizens, went to see Connacorex. He described the situation in Heracleia, and implored him, if he wished, to negotiate with Triarius for the common safety of them all. After Brithagoras had delivered this request with much lamentation, Connacorex stood up and refused to arrange such a treaty, pretending that he was upholding their freedom and had great expectations. He said that he had learnt through letters that the king [Mithridates] had received a friendly reception from his son-in-law Tigranes, and he expected sufficient assistance to arrive from there before long. Connacorex had invented all of this, but the Heracleians were deceived by his words, and believed his fabrications as if they were true; for men always choose to believe what they really wish for.

§ 224.35.4  Connacorex, realising that he had successfully deceived them, quietly embarked his army onto the triremes in the middle of the night, and sailed away; for the pact with Triarius stipulated that his men could leave unharmed, and take with them any booty which they had acquired. Damopheles then opened the gates, and Triarius and the Roman army poured into the city; some of them entered through the gates, and others climbed over the top of the walls.

§ 224.35.5  It was only then that the Heracleians realised that they had been betrayed. Some of them surrendered, and others were killed. Their valuables and their other possessions were looted, and the citizens were subjected to all kinds of brutality, as the Romans remembered their losses in the sea battle, and the hardships they had endured during the siege. The Romans did not even spare those who had fled into the temples, but cut them down by the altars and the images of the gods.

§ 224.35.6  Therefore many of the Heracleians, fearing inevitable death, escaped over the walls and scattered around the surrounding countryside, and some of them were forced to give themselves up to Cotta. From them Cotta learnt about the capture of the city, the slaughter of the citizens and the looting of their property. He was filled with anger, and immediately proceeded to the city. His army shared in his anger, not only because they had been robbed of the glory of victory, but also because all the wealth of the city had already been plundered by the other soldiers. They would have started a fight with their fellow soldiers, and the two armies would have proceeded to kill each other, if Triarius had not realised what they intended. By making many conciliatory speeches, and promising to make the booty available for them all to share, he averted the outbreak of internal strife.

§ 224.35.7  But when they realised that Connacorex had captured Tius and Amastris, Cotta immediately sent Triarius to take the cities away from him. Meanwhile Cotta seized the men who had surrendered to him and the prisoners of war, and he treated them all with the utmost cruelty. In his search for treasure he did not even spare the contents of the temples, but removed from them many fine statues and images.

§ 224.35.8  He removed the statue of Heracles from the market-place, along with its equipment from the pyramid; which in preciousness and size, as well as harmony, grace and artistry, was not inferior to the most famous [works of art]. It included a club beaten out of refined gold, with a large lion skin engraved on it, and a quiver fashioned from the same material, filled with arrows and a bow. He loaded onto his ships many other beautiful and remarkable offerings which he had carried away from the temples and the city. Lastly he ordered the soldiers to set fire to the city, and burnt down many parts of it.

§ 224.35.9  The city had withstood the siege for two years before it was captured.

§ 224.36.1  When Triarius arrived at the cities to which he had been sent, he allowed Connacorex, who was trying to conceal his betrayal of Heracleia by holding on to the other cities, to withdraw unharmed, and he took possession of the cities without opposition. Cotta, after acting as described above, sent the infantry and cavalry to Lucullus, dismissed the allies to their homelands, and set off home with the fleet. Some of the ships which were carrying the spoils from Heracleia were sunk by their weight not far from the city, and others were forced into the shallows by a northerly wind, so that much of their cargo was lost.

§ 224.37.1  Leonippus, whom Mithridates had put in charge of Sinope along with Cleochares, gave up hope of resistance, and sent a message to Lucullus promising to betray the city. Cleochares and Seleucus, who was another general of Mithridates of equal standing to the other two, found out about the treachery of Leonippus, and denounced him at an assembly of the people. But the people did not believe them, because he seemed to be an upright man. Therefore Cleochares and his associates, alarmed at the favour which the people showed towards Leonippus, ambushed him and killed him during the night. This incident annoyed the populace, but Cleochares and his associates took control of the government and ruled in a tyrannical fashion, hoping by this means to escape punishment for the murder of Leonippus.

§ 224.37.2  Meanwhile Censorinus, the Roman admiral in command of 15 triremes which were bringing corn from the Bosporus to the Roman army, halted near Sinope. Cleochares, Seleucus and their associates sailed out against him with the triremes at Sinope. In the ensuing naval battle, under the command of Cleochares, they defeated the Italians and seized the transport ships for their own use.

§ 224.37.3  Cleochares and his associates were encouraged by this success, and became even more tyrannical in their government of the city. They murdered the citizens indiscriminately, and acted cruelly in every other way.

§ 224.37.4  A dispute broke out between Cleochares and Seleucus: Cleochares wanted to persist in the war, but Seleucus wanted to slaughter all the citizens of Sinope and hand over the city to the Romans in return for a large reward. As neither of them prevailed over the other, they secretly put their possessions on boards cargo ships and sent them off to Machares the son of Mithridates, who at that time was staying in the neighbourhood of Colchis.

§ 224.37.5  Meanwhile Lucullus, the Roman general, arrived at Sinope and vigorously besieged the city.

§ 224.37.6  Machares the son of Mithridates sent envoys to Lucullus, asking for friendship and an alliance. Lucullus readily agreed, saying that he would regard the alliance as confirmed, if Machares did not send any supplies to the inhabitants of Sinope. Machares not only complied with this, but even sent to Lucullus the supplies which had been prepared for Mithridates' forces.

§ 224.37.7  When Cleochares and his associates perceived this, they gave up all hope. They loaded a large amount of treasure onto their ships during the night, and at the same time allowed their soldiers to loot the city. After burning the ships which they did not need, they sailed off to the inner side of the [Euxine ] sea, to the territory of the Sanegae and Lazi.

§ 224.37.8  When the flames had grown high, Lucullus realised what was happening and ordered his soldiers to bring up ladders to the walls. The soldiers mounted the walls, and to begin with there was a considerable slaughter [of the citizens]; but Lucullus took pity on them, and put an end to the killing.

§ 224.37.9  That was how Sinope was captured. Amaseia still held out, but not long afterwards it too yielded to the Romans.

§ 224.38.1  Mithridates had stayed in the region of Armenia for a year and eight months, and still had not come into the presence of Tigranes. Then Tigranes felt obliged to grant him an audience; he met him in a splendid parade and gave him a royal welcome. After they had spent three days in secret talks, Tigranes entertained Mithridates at a magnificent banquet, and sent him back to Pontus with 10,000 cavalrymen.

§ 224.38.2  Advancing through Cappadocia, whose ruler Ariobarzanes was his ally, Lucullus unexpectedly crossed the river Euphrates and brought his army up to the city in which he had heard that Tigranes kept his concubines, along with many valuable possessions. Lucullus also sent a detachment of his men to besiege Tigranocerta, and another force to attack the other important settlements.

§ 224.38.3  Tigranes, seeing many parts of Armenia under siege in this way, recalled Mithridates and sent an army to the city in which his concubines were kept. When this army arrived at the city, the archers prevented the Romans from leaving their camp and they sent away the concubines and the most valuable items during the night. But at daybreak the Romans and Thracians attacked bravely, and there was a widespread slaughter of the Armenians. The number of Armenians captured was no less than the number killed; but the convoy which they had sent ahead reached Tigranes safely.

§ 224.38.4  Tigranes collected an army of 80,000 men and went down to Tigranocerta, in order to lift the siege and drive away the enemy. When he arrived there and saw how small the Roman camp was, he said in contempt, "If they have come as ambassadors, there are too many of them; if they have come to fight, there are too few." After saying this, he camped next to the Romans.

§ 224.38.5  Lucullus drew up his army for battle carefully and skilfully, and he addressed his men with encouraging words. Immediately he routed the enemy's right wing; and then the troops next to them gave way, and so on until the whole army was in flight. A dreadful and unstoppable panic seized the Armenians, and inevitably this was followed the destruction of their army. Tigranes handed over his diadem and emblems of power to his son, and fled to one of his fortresses.

§ 224.38.6  Lucullus returned to Tigranocerta and pressed the siege more intently, until Mithridates' generals in the city gave up all hope and surrendered the city to him in return for their own safety.

§ 224.38.7  However Mithridates went to Tigranes and restored his spirits, reclothing him in royal apparel, no less splendid than before. Mithridates already had a considerable force, and he encouraged Tigranes to collect another army, so that he could once again strive for victory. Then Tigranes put Mithridates in overall command, trusting in his nobleness and intelligence, because he seemed most capable of maintaining a war against the Romans.

§ 224.38.8  Tigranes himself sent an embassy to the Parthian [king] Phraates, offering to yield Mesopotamia, Adiabene and the Great Glen to him. At the same time envoys from Lucullus approached the Parthian, who privately pretended to the Romans that he was their friend and ally, and privately entered into a similar agreement with the Armenians.

§ 224.39.1  When Cotta arrived at Rome, he was honoured by the senate with the title of "Ponticus imperator", because he had captured Heracleia. But then the accusation reached Rome, that he had destroyed the great city merely for his personal gain, and his enormous wealth aroused envy, so that he became an object of public hatred. In an attempt to avoid the jealousy which his wealth provoked, he handed over much of the plunder from the city to the treasury, but this did not mollify the others, who assumed that he was giving up just a little and keeping the most part for himself. They immediately voted to release the prisoners from Heracleia.

§ 224.39.2  Thrasymedes, one of the Heracleians, accused Cotta in the assembly. He described the goodwill of the city towards the Romans, and said that if the city had acted in any way contrary to this goodwill, it was not done by the common consent of the citizens, but they were either deceived by those who had been put in charge of affairs, or coerced by the enemies who attacked them. He complained about the devastation which the burning of Heracleia had caused, and how Cotta had taken away the statues as booty and had ransacked the temples, and all the other atrocities he had committed after he entered the city. Thrasymedes also described the immense quantity of the city's gold and silver, and the other treasures of Heracleia which Cotta had taken away for himself.

§ 224.39.3  The Roman leaders were moved by this speech, which Thrasymedes delivered with wailing and tears, while a crowd of captives stood nearby, both men and women with their children, dressed in mourning clothes and sorrowfully holding forth olive branches in supplication. In reply, Cotta gave a short speech in his language [Latin] and then sat down. Carbo stood up and exclaimed, "Cotta, we instructed you to capture the city, not to destroy it", and afterwards often speakers censured Cotta in a similar way. Therefore many people thought that Cotta should be sent into exile; but instead they expelled him from the senate, as a lesser punishment. They restored to the Heracleians their territory on land and sea, and their harbours; they also voted that none of the Heracleians should be made a slave.

§ 224.40.1  After achieving this, Thrasymedes sent most of the Heracleians back home. He himself stayed behind for longer with Brithagoras and Propylus (Propylus was the son of Brithagoras) in order to attend to other urgent matters; several years later, he returned to Heracleia in three light boats.

§ 224.40.2  Upon his arrival, he tried in every way to resettle the city, so as to bring about its regeneration; but for all his efforts, he was only able to collect only about 8,000 settlers, together with the members of his own household.

§ 224.40.3  When the condition of the city improved, Brithagoras began to hope that he could restore the liberty of the citizens. Many years had passed, and the government of the Romans had come under the control of a single man, Gaius Julius Caesar. Brithagoras set out on an embassy to Caesar, and developed a friendship with him, but he was not able immediately to win freedom for his city, because Gaius did not stay in Rome, but left on expeditions to other places. However Brithagoras did not give up, but he and Propylus accompanied Caesar all over the world, and were seen his presence, as if the dictator was indicating that he approved of their petition.

§ 224.40.4  After he had been in attendance on Caesar for 12 years, and just as Caesar was planning to return to Rome, Brithagoras died, worn out by old age and by his continual exertions. His death caused great sadness in his homeland. At this point, the sixteenth book of Memnon's history comes to an end.

§ 224.41.1  This history is intelligent and written in a plain style, with attention to clarity. It avoids digressions, except if its purpose necessitates the inclusion of some external events; and even then, the digression does not last for long, but concentrating on what is essential it returns neatly to the main course of the narrative. It uses a conventional vocabulary, though there are a few unusual words. We have not found a copy to read of the first eight books, or of anything after the sixteenth book.
Translated by Andrew Smith from Jacoby's text (FGrH. 434), and placed by him in the public domain.

§ i239  Photios, Bibliotheca, 239: Proclus’ “Grammatical Chrestomathy”, translated by Ryan Baumann" under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and online at https://ryanfb.github.io/photios-bibliotheca/239.html, with the Greek text as well.
Translator’s Note: As this work frequently deals with etymology, many translated words are parenthesized and quoted in the original Greek where the Greek will be helpful to understanding the argument.

§ 239.318  Read from a book of Proclus entitled Select Information About Literature. The book is divided into four parts. In the first part he speaks about what the virtues themselves of prose and poetry are, and how they differ in greater and lesser degrees. And that of affected style there is a stronger and a weaker style. The stronger is the most striking and more constructed and appears beautifully poetic. The weaker is figurative and follows a combination which is fond of elaborate diction, having neglected the more synthesized, thus it is somehow altogether fitting for the most distressful things. As for the middle style, the name makes clear that the middle is made from both. The especially flowery style is not an affected style itself, but carries things out together with the other styles and is united by those things which are said, and suits the descriptions of places and of meadows or groves. And he speaks of things said having deviated from these styles, either going away from the stronger into difficulty and excited delights, or away from the weaker into poverty, or away from the middle into brilliance and looseness.

§ 239.319a  He also treats the judgement of poetry, by teaching some differences of custom (ἦθος) and quality (πάθος). He says that of the poetic there is both the narrative and mimetic. And the narrative is produced through epic, iambic, elegiac, and lyric, and the mimetic through tragedy, Satyr-plays, and comedy.
He says that epic was first discovered by Phemonoe, prophetess of Apollo, by making hexameter oracles; and since things followed (εἵπετο) the oracles and were harmonious with them, anything in the meter was called epic (ἔπος). But others say that because of the technical style and amazing superiority seen in hexameters, hexameter verse claims the common name of every word as its own and is called “epos” (ἔπος, “word”), just as “the poet” Homer and “the rhetorician” Demosthenes claimed those words as their own, and some also called trimeter “epe” (ἔπη, “words”, plural of ἔπος). And the most excellent epic poets who came into being were Homer, Hesiod, Pisander, Panyasis, and Antimachus. He goes through these, as far as possible, and their kin and fatherlands and what sort of special things they did.
He also discusses the so-called “epic cycle”, which began from Uranus and Gaia’s mythological intercourse, from which three hundred-handed children and three Cyclopes were born to him. Proclus details both other myths about the gods told by the Greeks and whether if there is somehow any true history in them. The epic cycle ends with being finished by different poets, up until the escape of Odysseus into Ithaca, in which he is killed by his unrecognizing son Telegonus. He says how the poems of the epic cycle have been preserved and are studied by many not so much for its virtue as for its sequence of events. He also talks of the names and fatherlands of those who worked on the epic cycle.

§ 239.319b  And he speaks of certain Cyprian verses (Κυπρίων ποιημάτων), which some attribute to Stasinus of Cyprus, and which others say are by Hegesinus of Salamis, and others say Homer might have written them, in order to give them on behalf of his daughter as a dowry to Stasinus and through his fatherland the work is called the Cypria (Κύπρια). But Proclus does not agree with this explanation: for the poem’s title is never written “Cypria” (Κύπρια) with a proparoxytone accent.
He says that elegy is composed out of hexameter and pentameter lines, and is suited to the dead. And the name is perhaps for this reason: that the ancients called a lament an “elegy” (ἔλεγον) and through this they eulogized (εὐλόγουν) those having died. At any rate later people were satisfied by different purposes for elegy. He also says that the best in this metre are both Callinus of Ephesus and Mimnermus of Colophon, but also Philetas of Cos son of Telephus and Callimachus son of Battos (this being the Cyrenian one).
But for “iambic” verse (ἴαμβον), some in olden times used them for reproach (λοιδορίας); since “to lampoon” (ἰαμβίζειν) according to a certain dialect was called “to reproach” (λοιδορεῖν). But others say it’s from a certain enslaved Iambe (Ἰάμβης), of Thracian origin; this one, he says, when Demeter was grieving the kidnapping of her daughter, went to the area around Eleusis and sat upon the rock which is now called “Agelastos” (“unlaughing”), and through some kind of mockery persuaded the goddess to laugh. But it seemed that in olden times “iambic” was used for things written for censure as well as praise alike; and since some went too far in abusive verses, as a result “to lampoon” (ἰαμβίζειν) became “to insult” (ὑβρίζειν) out of customary use, just as from comedians (κωμικῶν) came “to treat something like a comedian” (κωμῳδεῖσθαι).
Of the iambic poets Archilochus of Paros was best, and then Simonides of Amorgos (or, according to some, of Samos), and then Hipponax of Ephesus; the first of these was from Gyges’ time, the next was in the time of Amyntas of Macedon, and Hipponax was in his prime under Darius.
Concerning lyric poetry he says that this has the most different kinds and many different sections. For these were divided with some for the gods, some for humans, some for both gods and humans, and some for various occasions. And those “for the gods” refer to hymn, processional (prosodion), paean, dithyramb, nome (nomos), Adonis-poems (adonidion), Bacchus-hymn (iobacchos), and songs accompanied by movements (hyporchema).

§ 239.320a  And those “for humans” are encomia, victory-song (epinikion), crooked songs (skolia), erotic songs, bridal songs, wedding songs, satirical poems, dirges, and funeral songs. And those “for both gods and humans” are maiden-songs (partheneion), laurel-carrying songs (daphnephorikon), tripod processionals (tripodephorikon), grape-carrying songs (oskophorikon), and prayer songs. For these things written for the gods also embrace people’s approval.
And those things “for various occasions” are not different kinds of lyric, but the divisions are attempted by the poets themselves: and these are pragmatic, commercial, going-away songs, sententious, agricultural, and epistolary. And he says that the hymn (ὕμνον) gets its name from being something “enduring” (ὑπόμονόν) and in this way leads to remembering and to a reminder of the deeds of the hymns; or instead it gets its name from “to name” (ὕδειν) itself, which is like “to speak”. And they generally called all those things which were well-written “hymns”; and on account of this the processional (prosodion) and everything else named before appears contrasted to the hymn like a species to a genus—for we hear of things written like “processional hymn”, “encomium hymn”, “paean hymn” and similar. The processional (προσόδιον) was recited whenever there was a procession (προσίωσι) to altars or temples, and in being sung was accompanied by the aulos; but the hymn was properly sung by those standing still with a lyre.
The paean is a form of song written now to all the gods, but in the past was specifically allocated to Apollo and Artemis, and sung to stop plagues and sickness. But some people mistakenly say paeans are processionals.
The dithyramb (διθύραμβος) is written to Dionysus, and gets its name from him, either through the two-entranced (διθύρῳ) cave of Nysa in which Dionysus was raised or through the releasing of the stitches (ῥαμμάτων) of Zeus by which he was found, or because he is reputed to have been born twice (δὶς), first from Semele, and second from the thigh. And he says the dithyramb was discovered by Pindar in Corinth; and Aristotle says Arion is the founder of this song, who first lead the circular chorus.
The nome is written to Apollo, and gets its name from him; for Apollo is called Nomimos, and he was called Nomimos because the establishment of choruses and the melody (nomos) of singing was arranged towards the aulos or lyre.

§ 239.320b  Chrysothemis the Cretan first conceived of dressing brilliantly and taking up the cithara in imitation of Apollo sang nome above all others, and the high esteem of his way of contest perseveres; but he thinks Terpander was the first to perfect the nome, having used hexameter verse, and thereafter Arion of Methymna augmented it in no small amount, having been a poet and citharode himself. But Phrynis of Mitylene instituted it anew; he combined hexameter with free verse and conceived of using more than seven strings. Timotheus later arranged it as it is now. The dithyramb is full of motion and much enthusiasm with the displaying of dance, being made into this state most of all by its proper god (Dionysus), since he is excited by rhythms and the simplest words. Nome in contrast was set free properly and magnificently through its god (Apollo), and is relaxed in its rhythms and made up of complex words. But each of these two is furnished by its own specific harmonies; for dithyramb is suited by the Phrygian and hypo-Phrygian, but nome by the Lydian metre of the citharodes. And the dithyramb seemed to be invented out of rural festivals and by happy drunken carousing. But nome seemed to be a branch off from paean (for one is more common, in being written as a supplication against evils, while the other is a private prayer to Apollo); from this it doesn’t have divine inspritation, like the dithyramb. One is for drunkenness and festivals, while the other is for supplication and orderliness; since the god himself is arranged with order and organization, and he encompasses the music.
Adonidia are said to be those offered up to Adonis. The Bacchus-hymn (iobacchos) was sung at festivals and sacrifices to Dionysus, and was outrageously wine-soaked. Hyporchema (ὑπόρχημα) was said to be sung with (μετά) dance (ὀρχήσεως) accompanying the music; for the ancients often used “hypo” (ὑπό) instead of “meta” (μετά). And the inventors of these are said by some to be the Curetes, and by others Pyrrhus (Πύρρος) son of Achilles; since they also say a Pyrrhike war-dance (πυρρίχην) is a certain kind of dancing (ὀρχήσεως).

§ 239.321a  The victory-song (ἐπίνικος, epinikion) was written in celebration of victory (νίκης) itself and for those winning in contests.
The crooked song (skolion) is a song sung alongside drunken carousing; so it is also called wine-song (παροίνιος)—it is relaxed in construction and very simple. It is not called “skolion”, as some think, according to antiphrase (for that which is according to antiphrase aims at euphemism, and does not exchange the well-spoken for the poorly-spoken), but according to those listeners whose senses are already overpowered and relaxed by wine, who then brought in the lyre to the symposia and each of the Dionysyizing party-goers clashed together unsteadily concerning the progress of the song. So on account of their having fallen into this drunken turning in song, it’s most simply called a “skolion”.
It’s clear that erotic (ἐρωτικά) songs are those sung revolving around the loves (ἐρωτικάς) of women, boys, and girls. And bridal songs (ἐπιθαλάμια, epithalamium) are those sung together by unmarried young boys and girls upon (ἐπὶ) the bridal chambers (θαλάμων) just as the brides are being led into the chambers (θαλαμευομένοις). Proclus says that wedding songs (ὑμέναιον) are to be sung at weddings expressing longing and searching for Hymen (Ὑμήν) son of Terpsichore, who is said by some to become invisible after having married, but according to others this is in honor of the Athenian Hymen—for he says that this one once took back Athenian girls from pirates after having pursued them. But I think the song lays down the preface of a successful life and joins together in prayer those engaged in a marriage in communion with love, weaving the prayer with an Aeolic dialect, something fit for “wedding-song-singing” (ὑμεναίειν) and “agreeing” (ὁμονοεῖν)—these are always dwelling together in the same place.
The satirical poem cautiously holds reproaches and ridicules for men. The dirge differs from the funeral-song, as the funeral-song is sung at the funeral itself, with the body still laid out—but the dirge is not limited to a specific time. He said that maiden-songs (παρθένια) are sung by choruses of young girls (παρθένων). And the “laurel-carrying songs” (δαφνηφορικά) he puts into the same category as these; for every nine years in Boeotia, priests bring in laurels (δάφνας) to the sacred places of Apollo, singing to him with a chorus of young girls.

§ 239.321b  And the reason is this: the Aeolians who lived in Arne and the surrounding areas left there in response to an oracle, and invading Thebes were destroying that place which was formerly occupied by the Pelasgians. They made truces for the establishment of a festival of Apollo which they both held in common, and with some cutting up laurel on Helicon, others offered it to Apollo near the Melas river. But Polematas, leader of the Boeotians, dreamed of a young man giving him his armor and ordering him to make prayers to Apollo by bringing laurels every nine years. And after three days of fighting he prevailed over his enemies and performed the laurel-bringing himself; and afterwards this custom is still observed.
The laurel-bringing (δαφνηφορία) is this: an olive branch is wrapped with laurels and flowers of various colors and a bronze sphere is attached to the tip of the branch, with smaller ones hanging off of it; around the middle of the branch they put smaller balls than the tip and fasten purple garlands; the ends of the branch they wrap with a saffron-colored robe. By these it is meant for the top-most sphere to represent the sun (which they ascribe to Apollo), the one below represents the moon, the attached balls represent the constellations and stars, and the garlands represent the course of a year: for they make 365 of these. The laurel-bringing is lead by a child with both parents living, and their closest relative carries the garlanded branch, which they call the “kopo” (κώπω). The laurel-carrier follows them holding the laurel, with their hair let down, carrying a golden crown and wearing a bright robe down to their feet which are both bound with bandages; a chorus of young girls follows closely after, holding olive-branches and singing. And they sent the laurel-carrier to [the sanctuary of] Apollo Ismenius and Chalazios. And the tripod-processional (τριποδηφορικὸν) song is sung by the Boeotians with a tripod leading the way.
Proclus held that the reason goes like this: some of the Pelasgians attacked the Boeotian fortress Panakton, and the Thebans were defending it; and they sent into Dodona to consult an oracle concerning victory in the battle. And the oracle’s response to the Thebans was this: if they committed a huge sacrilege, they would win.

§ 239.322a  So it seemed to them that a huge sacrilege would be for them to kill the priestess who had delivered the oracular response, and they killed her. But the other priestesses in the surrounding lands demanded justice for the Thebans’ murder. The Thebans could not entrust women alone to be worthy of administering their justice; so a jury of women and men together was established and the white pebbles of the men acquitted the Thebans. The Thebans later understood what the oracle had ordered them to do, and having removed one of the sacred tripods in Boeotia and covering it up like sacrilegious temple-robbers they sent it to Dodona. Since they flourished after this they made the act a festival.
And grape-carrying songs (Ὠσχοφορικὰ) are sung by the Athenians. A chorus of two young men dressed like women lead the festival carrying a grape-vine full of blooming grapes (they call this the “oschen” (ὤσχην), from which the name of the song is derived). They say that Theseus first began this deed; since by voluntarily sailing to Crete he released his homeland from the misfortune of paying tribute, and giving thank-offerings to Athena and Dionysus, they appeared to him on the island of Dia, and he had done this with two veiled young men as attendants to the sacrifice. This procession by the Athenians was from the sanctuary of Dionysus into the temenos of Athena Skiras. And the chorus follows the youths and sings the song. All of the ephebes from each tribe contend with each other in a race; and the winner of these gets a taste from the so-called “five-fold” bowl, which mixes together olive-oil, wine, honey, cheese, and barley.
Prayer-songs are written by those asking for something to be done by a god. Pragmatic songs are any of those which concern practical affairs. Commercial songs are those written in relation to going abroad and commerce being done. And going-away songs are those made of people being sent away. It is clear that sententious songs have advice for moral character. And agricultural songs are suited to the country and the care and seasons of plants. And epistolary songs are those in relation to orders sent off to people to do things. These are the two parts read from Proclus’ Select Information About Literature.

§ 265.1  [265] Demosthenes, Discourses Read almost all the discourses of Demosthenes; 65 authentic ones are attributed to him among which most people think the best composed are the harangues to the people.

§ 265.2  Some say that the discourse 'On the Halonnesus' — which is also entitled 'Second discourse against Philip',2 because the orator there responds to the letter of Philip — some say that thus this is not an authentic discourse of Demosthenes; and allege, in support of their opinion, the expressions, the vocabulary, and the harmony of the construction; these elements are much above the manner of Demosthenes; in the fact the style, here, is relaxed and without consistency, much inferior to the skill of the orator in this domain. Those who remove it from Demosthenes attribute it to Hegesippus. I myself think that, often, the works of different authors show great resemblance and that writings of different character derive from the same author. Because human resource isn't always inalterable or immutable, no more in letters than in other areas of life. Above all, considering a difference which does not hold even on the most essential characteristics of the diction of the orator, but on very little, I would not know how to decide with assurance that the discourse 'On the Halonnesus' is a work of Hegesippus or a moment of fallibility in the talent of Demosthenes.

§ 265.3  Likewise the discourse which is entitled On the treaty with Alexander is attributed to Hyperides instead of Demosthenes because the latter, among the many points where he overpassed other orators, outclassed them above all in his choice of words, while the present discourse even contains some little-liked expressions such as 'nouveau riche' and 'conduct oneself in an odious manner' and some others of the same kind.

§ 265.4  There are also those who reject the two discourses Against Aristogiton as not authentic. But such people leave them like orphans, unable to name their parents. Dionysius of Halicarnassus appears among these, who does not subject his conjecture to any valid proof; he has even refused to see a fact which has much more weight than his denial, which is that Aristogiton himself agreed that Demosthenes wrote against him, because he is seen to defend himself, not in passing but in the course of a detailed polemic, in the discourse entitled Apology against the prosecutions against Lycurgus and Demosthenes.

§ 265.5  The discourses Against Midias and Against Aeschines have been equally accused of lacking in some points the quality which characterises the style of Demosthenes. In these two discourses, in fact, at certain intervals he seems in taking to himself the same ideas, to combat himself, like someone who practises and not like someone who is really polemicising. This is why some say that the two discourses have been left in the state of drafts, without having been cleaned up for publication; yet the discourses in question use the incriminating process with much discretion.

§ 265.6  But what would those who put them on trial say about Aristides, who is seen to abuse this stylistic trick to the limit, just as he pushes his effort beyond what is reasonable and uses comparisons, not in the proportion necessary for the elaboration, but beyond? It is above all the Discourse against Aeschines which has left itself open to the reproach of being left in a draft state, of not having received the final touches, for the reason that everything that is very confused and irrelevant to the accusation was left at the end of the discourse, a thing that the orator would not have let slip if he had carried out an attentive review of his works. In fact the discourse of Lysias Against Mnesiptolemus is not thus developed, and, in all the parts that demand it, he has retained pathos without ever relaxing his momentum, but rather accentuated it, and without failing to keep his listeners in suspense, even at the end. However, according to some, the discourse On the false embassy has been left in outline and has not been written for publication in so far as the editing had proceeded. Why? Because after the elements of the peroration which are numerous and which hold almost the largest place, the author, who has already given many antitheses returns again to antitheses, which is a lack of organisation and a disorder.

§ 265.7  As for the discourse For Satyros on guardianship, against Charidemos, those of sure judgement say that it is by Demosthenes, but Callimachus, who is not even capable of judging, thinks that it is by Dinarchus. Some attribute it to Lysias, in which they go against the chronological facts as well as all the character of the work, the subject and the style. Witnessing in favour of the attribution to Demosthenes is the use of oblique cases, the sustained character of the periods and their vigour because, from the exordium, the discourse is strewn with these characteristics. And certainly the choice of words is excellent and the construction almost perfection. Witness also the figures: they are compact, with vivacity and asyndeton, which Demosthenes liked to use above all. But the construction above all is neat and the decorations do not obstruct clarity; the periods are finished to perfection and keep to a just measure throughout.

§ 265.8  Thus the fact that no type of construction is lacking, but that everything is contained in its periods, connects Isocrates to Demosthenes as well as Lysias. But what differentiates them is the very different length in composition of the parts of a phrase in the periods. Most of the time Isocrates draws them out, and Lysias abbreviates them, while Demosthenes preserves the just measure between the two.

§ 265.9  As for the discourse On peace, many, and notably the sophist Libanius, are of the opinion that it was written but never spoken. In fact the orator in his prosecution against Aeschines does not reproach him less for having advised the Athenians to pass a decree that Philip would be one of the Amphictyons. Thus, how could be dare himself to give this advice on a point where he had violently criticised the other? Because the discourse On peace suggests clearly that Philip become an Amphictyon.

§ 265.10  The discourse Against Neaera, accused of platitude, is excluded by certain critics of the writings of Demosthenes, together with the discourse On love which is attributed to him, as well as the Funeral oration.

§ 265.11  It is said that at the age of 24 Demosthenes worked on the discourse On the [tax] exemptions or Against Leptines, the exordium of which is considered as combative by the critic Longinus. Longinus lived under Claudius and he often did legal business for Zenobia, queen of Osrohene, who reigned after the death of her husband Odenathus. An old tradition reports that she adopted Jewish customs and abandoned pagan superstition. However Longinus gave the opinion on the exordium that I mentioned. Others have wrongly said that the exordium is of a moralising type. To many other critics still, this discourse has given difficulty: such as the rhetor Aspasios, for example, because he had not even advanced his knowledge of the discourse to the point of precision.

§ 265.12  It is the same with the discourse Against Midias, because it has preoccupied many people and furnished them with materials for numerous controversies. Some say that it belongs to the genre of pathos, and uses exaggeration. Others say that it is of the practical genre. In sum, the vocabulary has vigour, the construction harmony; he adapts a style of pathos to reasonings and arguments of pathos, and to those of a practical character he adapts the form that suits them. The author keeps a balance, not only in this discourse but also in many others. However, it is difficult for a combative author to keep his balance from bout to bout against his antagonist, above all when one is naturally lively and passionate, traits of character lacking in neither Demosthenes nor Aristides. This is why they often allow themselves to be carried away: their intention is derailed by their temperament, because art cannot regulate the will unless it is aided by a trait of temperament.

§ 265.13  At the age of 38 the orator convinced the people by a speech to send help against Philip to the Olynthians, who had asked for it by an embassy.

§ 265.14  This Demosthenes was the son of Demosthenes and Cleoboule, of the deme of Paeania. His father died when he was seven, with a sister two years younger than himself. He lived with his mother and followed the teaching of the rhetor Isocrates and, according to most people, of Isaeus of Chalcis, who taught at Athens. Isaeus himself was the disciple of Isocrates and the rival of Thucydides and the philosopher Plato. Everyone reports different facts about the education of Demosthenes and his masters. On attaining his majority, he only received from his guardians a truncated patrimony, and he instituted proceedings against them for their mismanagement; they were three; Aphobos, Therippides and Demophon — some give Demeas instead of Demophon — claiming ten talents from them in each prosecution. All the same, he took nothing from them once he had obtained a conviction; he reached a settlement with some and forgave others out of charity. Chosen as choregus, he was struck in the theatre by Midias of Anagyrous during the exercise of his duties; he prosecuted him and allowed it to lapse when the other gave him three thousand drachmas.

§ 265.15  It is said that he corrected many natural defects by much exercise. In his youth he shut himself up in a cave and spent his time there philosophising, after shaving part of his head so that his appearance would prevent him leaving even if he wanted to. Then it is said that he slept on a narrow bed so that he could get up rapidly; being unable to pronounce the letter rho, he achieved this by hard work. As in the course of his rhetorical exercises, he moved his shoulders in a less than graceful way, he suspended a spit, or as some say, a small sword, from the ceiling while he was exercising so as to constrain himself to immobility for fear of injuring himself, and he was thus freed of this disgrace.

§ 265.16  As the noise of the crowd troubled him, he went to Phalerum so as to suffer no more and made his rhetorical exercises while confronted with the noise of the waves, to correct nature through practise. He even had a full-length mirror made, and used to look at himself in it to check himself so that, if there was anything careless in his posture when he spoke, he could come to correct it by studying himself.

§ 265.17  He had too little wind to speak very long periods without drawing breath, so he gave ten thousand drachmas to the actor Neoptolemus, to train him in the control of breathing. The narrow passages through which we draw air across the palate so that we refresh and warm the thoraz as by breaths of air and from which vapour comes out were for him too narrow for his profession; for this is an important factor for the clarity of the voice. He enlarged their natural diameter by filling his mouth with oil while going up a steep slope; by the force of movement, it worked itself into the nostrils, rendering the natural narrowness of the passages effective for normal use.

§ 265.18  When he entered politics and saw that some citizens supported Philip, while others addressed the people in favour of the freedom of the city, he ranged himself with the good party and worked with Hyperides, Nausicles, Polyeuctes and Diotimos. It is thus that he gained for the Athenians the alliance with Thebes and also with Euboea, Corcyra, Corinth, Boeotia and many other Hellenes also.

§ 265.19  One day when addressing the people he was chased out of the theatre and went home discouraged. Eunomos of Thria, who was already very old, found him on the way, learned the cause of his discouragement, exhorted him to encourage him and restored his confidence. Even more than Eunomos, the actor Andronicus told him that his discourses were good, and even excellent, and that he only lacked the art of an actor. Demosthenes put himself in the hands of Andronicus and learned from him the technique of oratorical movement. That is why, to someone who asked him what is the first element of oratory, he replied, "'Movement'; and the second, 'movement', and the third, 'movement'," showing by this that movement is an important element in the art of swaying the public. He swore an oath, according to Demetrius of Phalerum, "by earth, by springs, by streams and rivers." One day, when he had made an oath in these terms, he provoked a riot among the people, as he also did in swearing an oath by Asclepius and putting the accent on the antepenultimate syllable. All the same, after he had been the pupil of Euboulides of Miletus who was second to none in the art of eloquence, he corrected every habit that could be used to criticise him.

§ 265.20  It is reported that Philip of Macedon, when he had received and read the speeches of Demosthenes composed against him, admired them greatly and said, "I myself, if I had heard Demosthenes speak against me, would have chosen the man to make war on me." One of his friends asked him which speeches were the most persuasive and the most effective, those of Demosthenes or those of Isocrates: he replied that the speeches of Demosthenes resembled soldiers because their power is strong and warlike; those of Isocrates resembled athletes because they give pleasure to those hearing.

§ 265.21  When Aeschines was condemned to banishment, Demosthenes followed him on horseback, offering him various consolations and giving him a talent of silver, while Aeschines was expecting the opposite. In fact when he saw Demosthenes following his trail, Aeschines believed that he wanted to follow in order to do him harm, and had already thrown himself down with his head covered, imploring his safety; and Demosthenes, as has been said, behaved to him in a manner more like a philosopher than an orator. When he encouraged him to bear his exile with courage, Aeschines said, "How can I, being separated from such a city, where one's enemies surpass in kindness and nobility those whom elsewhere we consider as friends?"

§ 265.22  Appointed to administer the corn supply and accused of theft, Demosthenes was acquitted. Philip having seized Elateia, he went himself to the war with those who were beaten at Chaeroneia; it came out that he there abandoned his post. As he fled, a thorn-bush snagged his coat; he was accused of turning to it and saying, "Take me alive." His shield showed Fortune as its device.15

§ 265.23  He honoured those who had fallen in combat with a funeral oration; he made it in a manner which was undoubtedly adequate in the circumstances but which fell far short of his ability as an orator. Later he repaired the ramparts of the city; being appointed to maintain them, he met the expense, which was 100 minae of silver, from his personal fortune. He gave 10,000 drachmas for the delegates to religious festivals. He embarked on a trireme and made a tour in order to collect money from the allies. For his services, he was several times honoured with a golden crown, firstly by Demoteles, Aristonicus and Hyperides, lastly by Ctesiphon; this latter decree was alleged to be illegal by Diodotus and Aeschines; he spoke for the defence and carried the day.

§ 265.24  Later, when Alexander had crossed into Asia and Harpalus had fled to Athens with his money, at first Demosthenes spoke out against receiving the man into the city; but once Harpalus had arrived and, it is said, Demosthenes had received 1,000 darics, he went over to those who supported Harpalus and, when the Athenians wanted to deliver Harpalus to Antipater, he opposed this and had it decreed that Harpalus' money should be deposited on the Acropolis without even having told the people how much it amounted to. Harpalus claimed to have brought 700 talents which he deposited on the Acropolis, and only 308 or a little more could be found there. From his prison Harpalus escaped, some say to Crete, others to Taenarum in Laconia; Demosthenes faced a charge of corruption.

§ 265.25  Brought to trial on this charge by Hyperides, Pytheas, Menesaichmos, Himeraeus and Procles, who influenced the Areopagus to condemn him, he was found guilty, after which he went into exile because he could not pay five times the sum he received: he was accused of allowing himself to be bribed with 30 talents. There exists another version of the story which says that, without awaiting the sentence, he went into exile which those who were to judge him were making their preparations.

§ 265.26  A little later, the Athenians sent Polyeuctes as ambassador to the Arcadian league to detach them from the Macedonian alliance. When Polyeuctes was unable to obtain anything, Demosthenes appeared, spoke in the same sense, and convinced the Arcadians. This action won him the admiration of the Athenians and obtained his recall; a decree was passed and a trireme sent to him. It was decreed that, instead of paying the 30 talents he owed, he should restore the altar of Zeus at Piraeus. He returned to political activity as before.

§ 265.27  But when Antipater had destroyed Pharsalus, threatening to beseige Athens if the orators were not delivered over to him, Demosthenes quitted the city which could not protect itself and went into exile. He first went to Aigina, then, fearing the anger of Antipater there too, he moved on to Calauria. The Athenians having voted to hand over the orators, he took refuge in the sanctuary of Poseidon. Archias, nicknamed the hound of the proscribed, followed him and attempted to convince him to leave the sanctuary and trust Antipater. "But my dear chap," he said, "you didn't convince me by your tragedies, and you won't convince me now by your advice." When Archias attempted to seize him by force, the people of the town prevented him. And Demosthenes said, with much nobility and spirit, "I did not flee to Calauria through fear for my safety, but because I wanted to prove that the Macedonians are capable of fouling themselves by violence against the gods." He asked for a tablet and, it is said, wrote on it the elegiac couplet destined for his statue, which the Athenians later had engraved there: "O Demosthenes, if you had had strength equal to your resolution, the Macedonian Ares would never have ruled over the Greeks." This is what Demetrius of Magnesia says; others say that the tablet was found to have nothing on it except the words, "Demosthenes to Antipater, greeting." Some say that the orator died by swallowing a poisoned drink, others by sucking poison which was in his pen, because it was to hand while writing. Others give him a bracelet on his arm in which the poison was hidden. Another version reports that he died by holding his breath, yet another thanks to poison which was hidden in the seal of his ring.

§ 265.28  He lived for 70 years according to the opinion of most; for 67 years according to a few. He was politically active for 22 years. He left two children, by the same wife who was from a distinguished family. There is a statue of him in the Prytaneum, carrying a sword, because that is how, it is said, he spoke to the people against Antipater when the latter wanted to force the orators to leave Athens. Later the city accorded free meals at the Prytaneum to the relatives of the orator; other posthumous honours were conferred on him and his statue was set up in the public square.

§ 265.29  A great number of jokes and witty remarks are attributed to him, each suited to the needs of the occasion, and which his hearers treasured in memory or wrote down.

§ 265.30  One day, when the Athenians were opposed to what he was saying at the assembly, he declared that he only wanted to say a few words to them. They agreed. "A young man," he said, "one summer day had hired an ass to go from Athens to Megara. When around mid-day the heat was very oppressive, the owner of the ass and the young man both wanted to be in the shadow of the ass; one saying that the other had hired the ass but not its shadow; the hirer asserting that since the fee made him master of the body of the ass, he also had the right to the enjoyment of that which resulted from the existence of this body." At this point he went out, leaving after he had roused their interest in hearing the rest of the story. And when the Athenians stopped him and demanded that he finish his story, he replied, "So, you want to hear about the shadow of an ass, but not about matters serious and useful to the city."

§ 265.31  He was called Batalos, some say, because in his youth he wore women's clothes to parties; others say in order to do him injury that he took this nickname from the diminutive of his nurse's name. Others still, followed by the sophist Libanius, say that in his youth he was feeble and sickly and that, for this reason, he did not frequent the palaestra as all the children of Athens were accustomed to do; this is why, when he grew up, he was mocked by his enemies for his softness and nicknamed Batalos. In fact an Ephesian fluter-player called Batalos was the first to wear women's shoes on stage and to employ soft melodies; he made his performance completely effeminate; it is since then that dissolute and effeminate men are nicknamed Batalos.