"After this had been carried by, there walked sixteen hundred boys clad

in white tunics, and crowned some with ivy, and some with pine, of whom

two hundred and fifty carried golden choes, and four hundred carried

silver ones; and of the rest three hundred and twenty carried golden

wine-coolers, and some carried silver ones. And after them other boys

carried jars, for the purpose of drinking sweet wine out of; twenty of

which were gold, and fifty silver, and three hundred were painted with

every kind of colour and hue; and all the spectators who were present in

the stadium took a moderate draught of the sweet wine, which was mixed

in these ewers and firkins."

31. After these things he enumerates tables four cubits high, on which

were many things worth looking at, which were all carried round for the

spectators to see, being beautifully wrought. "And among them was a

representation of the bed-chamber of Semele, in which were seen statues

clad in golden tunics, inlaid with precious stones of the greatest

value. And it would not be right to pass over this four-wheeled wagon,

of the length of twenty-two cubits and of the breadth of fourteen, drawn

by five hundred men. And on it was a cave exceedingly deep, overgrown

with ivy and yew, and out of it flew doves, and pigeons, and

turtle-doves, all along the road as the wagon proceeded, having their

feet tied with slight threads, so as to be easily caught by the

spectators. And out of the cave there also rose two fountains, one of

milk and one of wine, and around it all the nymphs had garlands of gold,

and Mercury had a golden herald's wand, and very superb raiment. And on

another four-wheeled wagon, on which the return of Bacchus from the

Indians was represented, there was a figure of Bacchus twelve cubits

high, riding upon an elephant, clad in a purple robe, and having on a

crown of vine-leaves, and ivy-leaves of gold, and bearing in his hands a

spear like a thyrsus, made also of gold; and he wore sandals embroidered

with golden figures. And there sat before him, on the neck of the

elephant, a Satyr five cubits in height, crowned with a chaplet of

golden pine-leaves, and holding in his right hand a goat's horn made of

gold, with which he appeared to be blowing signals. And the elephant had

golden furniture; and on his neck he had a crown of ivy-leaves made of

gold; and he was followed by five hundred maidens dressed in purple

tunics, with golden girdles; and those who went first, to the number of

a hundred and twenty, wore crowns of pine-leaves made of gold; and they

were succeeded by a hundred and twenty Satyrs clad in complete armour,

some of silver and some of brass. And after them there marched five

troops of asses, on which rode Sileni and Satyri, all wearing crowns.

And of the asses some had gold and some silver frontlets and furniture.

32. "And after them came twenty-four chariots drawn by four elephants

each, and sixty chariots each drawn by a pair of goats, and twelve

chariots by antelopes, and seven by oryxes, and fifteen by buffaloes,

eight by pairs of ostriches, and seven by gnus, and four by pairs of

zebras, and four chariots also drawn each by four zebras. And on all

these animals rode boys wearing the garments of charioteers, and the

broad hats called petasi; and besides them were smaller boys still,

armed with little peltæ, and thyrsi-spears, and they also were dressed

in golden-broidered garments; and the boys who were acting as

charioteers were crowned with pine-leaf chaplets, and the smaller boys

with ivy-leaves. And besides this there were three pair of camels, on

either side three, and they were followed by cars drawn by mules; and

these had on them barbaric palanquins, on which sat women from India and

other countries, habited as prisoners. And of the camels, some bore

three hundred minæ weight of frankincense, and three hundred of myrrh,

and two hundred of saffron, and cassia, and cinnamon, and iris, and two

hundred of other spices. And next to them came some Æthiopians bearing

presents, some of whom carried six hundred elephant's tusks, and others

carried two thousand fagots of ebony, and others carried sixty gold and

silver goblets, and a quantity of gold-dust. And after them came two

huntsmen, having hunting-spears with golden points; and twenty-four

hundred dogs were led in the procession, some Indian dogs, and others

Hyrcanian and Molossian hounds, and hounds of other breeds too.

"After them came a hundred and fifty men carrying trees from which were

suspended birds and beasts of every imaginable country and description;

and then were carried a lot of cages, in which were parrots, and

peacocks, and guinea-fowls, and pheasants, and other Æthiopian birds in

great numbers."

And when he had mentioned many other things, and enumerated herds of

animals, he continued, "A hundred and thirty Æthiopian sheep, three

hundred Arabian sheep, twenty Euboean sheep, some white hornless

cattle, six-and-twenty Indian cows, eight Æthiopian oxen, one immense

white bear, fourteen leopards, sixteen panthers, four lynxes, three

arceti, one cameleopard, and one rhinoceros from Æthiopia.

33. "And after these beasts came an image of Bacchus flying to the altar

of Rhea when he was pursued by Juno, having on a golden crown, Priapus

standing by him crowned with a crown of ivy-leaves of gold, and the

statue of Juno had also a golden crown on its head. And there were

images of Alexander and of Ptolemy, crowned with chaplets of ivy-leaves

made of gold. And the statue of Virtue, which stood by the side of that

of Ptolemy, had a golden crown of olive-leaves. And Priapus was with

them, having a crown of ivy-leaves made of gold. And the city of Corinth

had a large image there, standing by the side of Ptolemy, and that also

wore a golden diadem; and by all these lay a large golden beaufet full

of articles of gold plate, and a golden goblet containing five measures.

And this wagon was followed by women having very sumptuous dresses and

ornaments, and they bore the names of cities, some of cities of Ionia,

and other Grecian towns, as many as, occupying the islands, and the

coast of Asia, were made subject to the Persians; and they all wore

golden crowns. And on other chariots there was borne a golden thyrsus

ninety cubits long, and a silver spear sixty cubits long; and on another

a golden phallus, a hundred and twenty cubits long, chased all over, and

wreathed with golden garlands, having on the end a golden star, the

circumference of which was six cubits.

"Now in all the numerous things which we have enumerated as forming part

of this procession, we have selected those only in which gold and silver

were contained. But there were numerous other articles and parts of the

exhibition well worth seeing, and vast numbers of beasts and of horses,

and twenty-four enormous lions. There were also other four-wheeled

wagons in great numbers, bearing not only statues of kings, but also

full of images of the gods. And after them proceeded a band of six

hundred men, among whom were three hundred harp-players playing on their

instruments, having harps made entirely of gold, and golden crowns on

their heads; and after them came two thousand bulls all of the same

colour, with gilded horns, and having frontlets of gold, and crowns in

the middle of their foreheads, and necklaces and breastplates on their

necks and chests, and these were all made of gold.

34. "And after this came a procession in honour of Jupiter and of many

other gods; and after all these, came a procession in honour of

Alexander, who had a golden statue borne on a chariot drawn by real

elephants, having Victory and Minerva on each side of him. And numbers

of thrones were borne in the procession, made of ivory and gold, on one

of which lay a crown of gold; on another a pair of horns made of gold;

on another was a golden chaplet; and on another a single horn made of

solid gold. And on the throne of Ptolemy Soter lay a crown which had

been made of ten thousand pieces of gold money. And there were also

carried in the procession three hundred and fifty golden incense

burners, and golden altars, all crowned with golden crowns, on one of

which were firmly placed four golden lamps ten cubits high. There were

also carried twelve stoves with golden tops, one of which was twelve

cubits in circumference, and forty cubits in height; and another was

fifteen cubits high. There were also carried nine Delphic tripods made

of gold, each four cubits high, and eight others six cubits high;

another thirty cubits high, on which were figures of animals carved in

gold, four cubits high, and a crown of vine-leaves of gold going all

round. There were also carried in the procession seven palm-trees

overlaid with gold, eight cubits high, and a golden herald's staff

forty-five cubits long, and a thunderbolt overlaid with gold forty

cubits in size, and a gilt shrine, the circumference of which was forty

cubits; and besides all this, a pair of horns eight cubits long. And an

immense number of gilded figures of animals was also exhibited, the

greater part of which were twelve cubits high; and beasts of enormous

size, and eagles twenty cubits high. And golden crowns were also

exhibited to the number of three thousand and two hundred. And there was

a separate mystic crown made of gold studded with valuable stones,

eighty cubits high. This was the crown which was placed at the door of

the temple of Berenice; and there was also an ægis of gold. There were

also exhibited a vast number of golden chaplets, which were borne by

young maidens sumptuously attired, one of which was two cubits high, and

sixteen cubits in circumference.

"There was also exhibited a golden breastplate twelve cubits broad, and

another breastplate of silver eighteen cubits broad, having on it two

golden thunderbolts of the size of ten cubits each, and a garland of

oak-leaves studded with precious stones; and twenty golden shields, and

sixty-four suits of complete armour also of gold, and two golden greaves

three cubits in height, and twelve golden dishes, and a most countless

number of flagons, and thirty-six vessels for wine, and ten large

anointing vessels, and twelve ewers, and fifty large dishes for barley

loaves, and tables of different sorts, and five repositories for gold

plate, and a horn thirty cubits long made of solid gold. And all these

articles of gold plate were exclusive of those carried in the procession

of Bacchus. Then there were four hundred wagons of silver plate, and

twenty wagons of gold plate, and eight hundred of perfumes and spices.

35. "And after all these things came a procession of troops, both

cavalry and infantry, all armed and appointed in a most superb manner:

infantry to the number of fifty-seven thousand six hundred; and cavalry

to the number of twenty-three thousand two hundred. And all these

marched in the procession, all clad in suitable apparel, and all having

their appropriate armour; and there were also great numbers of suits of

armour besides lying for inspection, too numerous for any one to count,

(but Callixenus has made a catalogue of them;) and they were also

crowned in the assembly with twenty golden crowns. And first of all

Ptolemy and Berenice were crowned with twenty-three, standing on golden

chariots, in the sacred precincts of Dodona. And the expense of money

which was incurred on this occasion, amounted to two thousand two

hundred and thirty-nine talents, and fifty minæ; and this was all

counted by the clerks of the treasury, owing to the eagerness[323:1] of

those who had given the crowns, before the spectacle came to an end. But

Ptolemy Philadelphus, their son, was crowned with twenty golden crowns,

two of them on golden chariots, and one six cubits high on a pillar, and

five five cubits high, and six four cubits high."

36. Now my friends and fellow-banqueters, what kingdom ever possessed

such quantities of gold as this? For Egypt did not acquire all this by

taking money from the Persians and from Babylon, or by working mines, or

by having a river Pactolus, bearing down gold-dust in its waters. For

its only river is that which can really be called the Golden Stream--the

Nile, which together with its boundless supplies of food does bring down

gold without alloy, which is dug up out of the soil without danger, in

quantities sufficient for all men, diffused over the whole soil like the

gifts of Triptolemus. On which account the Byzantine poet, who had the

name of Parmeno given to him, says--

O god of Egypt, mighty Nile.

But king Philadelphus surpassed most kings in riches; and he pursued

every kind of manufacturing and trading art so zealously, that he also

surpassed every one in the number of his ships. Now the largest ships

which he had were these:--two of thirty banks of oars, one of twenty,

four of thirteen, two of twelve, fourteen of eleven, thirty of nine,

thirty-seven of seven, five of six, seventeen of five. And from

quadriremes down to light half-decked triremes, for purposes of war, he

had twice as many as all these put together. And the vessels which were

sent to the different islands and to the other cities under his

dominion, and to Libya, amounted to more than four thousand. And

concerning the numbers of his books, and the way in which he furnished

his libraries, and the way in which he collected treasures for his

Museum, why need I speak? for every one remembers all these things.

37. But since we have mentioned the subject of the building of ships,

let us speak (for it is worth hearing of) of the ships which were built

also by Ptolemy Philopator, which are mentioned by the same Callixenus

in the first book of his Account of Alexandria, where he speaks as

follows:--"Philopator built a ship with forty ranks of rowers, being two

hundred and eighty cubits long and thirty-eight cubits from one side to

the other; and in height up to the gunwale it was forty-eight cubits;

and from the highest part of the stern to the water-line was fifty-three

cubits; and it had four rudders, each thirty cubits long; and oars for

the thranitæ, the largest thirty-eight cubits in length, which, from

having lead in their handles, and because they were very heavy in the

part inside the ship, being accurately balanced, were, in spite of their

bulk, very handy to use. And the ship had two heads and two sterns, and

seven beaks, one of which was longer than all the rest, and the others

were of smaller size; and some of them were fixed to the ears of the

ship; and it had twelve undergirths to support the keel, and each was

six hundred cubits in length. And it was well proportioned to a most

extraordinary degree; and all the appointments of the vessel were

admirable, for it had figures of animals on it not less than twelve

cubits in size, both at the head and at the stern, and every part of it

was inlaid and ornamented with figures in wax; and the space between the

oars down to the very keel had a running pattern of ivy-leaves and

thyrsi; and there was a great store of every kind of equipment to supply

all parts of the ship that might require any.[325:1] And when it put to

sea it held more than four thousand rowers, and four hundred

supernumeraries; and on the deck were three thousand marines, or at

least two thousand eight hundred and fifty. And besides all these there

was another large body of men under the decks, and a vast quantity of

provisions and supplies. And the vessel was launched originally from a

sort of framework, which they say was erected and made out of the wood

of fifty ships of five ranks of oars; and it was launched by the

multitude with great acclamations and blowing of trumpets. But after

that a Phoenician devised a new method of launching it, having dug a

trench under it, equal to the ship itself in length, which he dug close

to the harbour. And in the trench he built props of solid stone five

cubits deep, and across them he laid beams crosswise, running the whole

width of the trench, at four cubits' distance from one another; and then

making a channel from the sea he filled all the space which he had

excavated with water, out of which he easily brought the ship by the aid

of whatever men happened to be at hand; then closing the entrance which

had been originally made, he drained the water off again by means of

engines; and when this had been done the vessel rested securely on the

before-mentioned cross-beams.

38. "Philopator also built a vessel for the river which he called

Thalamegus, or the Carrier of his Bed-chamber, in length half a stadium,

and in width at the broadest part thirty cubits; and the height together

with the frame for the awning was little short of forty cubits. And its

appearance was not exactly like ships of war, nor merchant vessels

either, but it was something different from both, on account of the

necessity imposed by the depth of the river. For below it was flat and

broad; but in its main hull it was high. And the parts at the extremity,

and especially at the head, extended a sufficient length, so as to

exhibit a very pretty and elegant sweep. This ship also had two heads

and two sterns. And it rose to a considerable height above the water, as

was necessary, because the waves in the river often rise very high. And

in the middle of its hull were constructed banqueting-rooms and

sleeping-rooms, and everything else which may be convenient for living

in. And round the ship were double corridors running about three sides,

each of which was not less than five plethra in circumference. And the

arrangement of the lower one was like a peristyle, and that in the upper

part was covered in, and surrounded with walls and windows on all sides.

And when you first came into the vessel by the stern your eye was met by

a colonnade, open in front, and surrounded by pillars. And opposite to

it in the bow of the vessel there was a sort of propylæum constructed,

made of ivory and most expensive woods. And after you had passed through

that, then you came to something like a proscenium, covered in overhead.

And again in the same way in the middle of the vessel was another

colonnade, open behind, and an entrance of four folding-doors led to it.

And both on the right hand and on the left there were windows, admitting

a pleasant breeze.

"To these was joined a room of very large size, and that was adorned

with pillars all round, and it was capable of containing twenty couches.

And the greater part of it was made of split cedar, and of Milesian

cypress. And the doors which were round it, being twenty in number, were

put together with beams of citron wood, having ivory ornaments. And all

the nails and fastenings which were visible were made of red brass,

which had taken a polish like that of gold from the fire. And of the

pillars the bodies were of cypress-wood, but the capitals were of

Corinthian workmanship, adorned with ivory and gold. The whole of the

capitals of the pillars were of gold; and there was a sort of girdle on

them having figures of animals beautifully carved in ivory, more than a

cubit high, of which the workmanship was not so conspicuous as the

exquisite beauty of the materials. There was a beautiful roof to the

banqueting-room, square, and made of cypress wood. And its ornaments

were all carved, having a golden face. Next to this banqueting-chamber

was a sleeping-chamber holding seven couches; and to that there was

joined a narrow passage, which separated the woman's chamber from this

one by the width of the hold. And by the passage was a banqueting-room

holding nine couches, very like the large one in the sumptuousness of

its furniture; and a bed-chamber holding five couches. As to the rooms

then on the first deck this was the general appearance presented.

39. "But when you had ascended by the stairs which were close to the

before-mentioned sleeping chamber, there was another chamber capable of

containing five couches, having a vaulted oblong roof. And near to it

was a temple of Venus, in form like a rotunda, in which was a marble

statue of the goddess. And opposite to this was another banqueting-room,

very sumptuous, adorned all round with columns: for the columns were all

made of Indian stone. And near to this banqueting-room were more

sleeping-chambers, with furniture and appointments corresponding to what

has been already mentioned. And as you went on towards the head of the

vessel was another apartment dedicated to Bacchus, capable of holding

thirteen couches, surrounded with pillars, having its cornices all gilt

as far down as the epistyle which ran round the room, but the roof

corresponded to the character of the god. And in it there was on the

right hand a large cave constructed, the colour of which was stone, for

in fact it was made of real stone and gold; and in it images were placed

of all the relations of the king, made of the stone called lychnites.

And there was another banqueting-room, very pleasant, above the roof of

the greatest apartment, having an arrangement like that of a tent, so

that some of it had no actual roof; but there were arched and vaulted

beams running along the top at intervals, along which purple curtains

were stretched whenever the vessel was in motion. And after this there

was an open chamber occupying the same room above that was occupied by

the portico before mentioned as being below. And a winding ladder

joined on to it, leading to the secret walk, and a banqueting-room

capable of containing nine couches, constructed and furnished in the

Egyptian style. For round pillars were run up in it, with alternate

tambours of white and black, all placed in parallel lines. And their

heads were of round shape; and the whole of the figures round them were

engraved like roses a little expanded. And round that part which is

called the basket there were not tendrils and rough leaves, as is the

case in Grecian pillars, but calyxes of the river-lotus, and the fruit

of newly budding dates. And sometimes many other kinds of flowers were

also represented. And under the roof of the capital which lies upon the

tambour, where it joins on to the head, there were ornaments like the

flower leaves of the Egyptian bean intertwined together. This then is

the way in which the Egyptians construct and ornament their pillars, and

this is the way in which they variegate their walls with black and white

bricks: and sometimes also they employ the stone which is called

alabaster. And there were many other ornaments all over the main hull of

the vessel, and over the centre, and many other chambers and divisions

in every part of it.

"And the mast of this vessel was seventy cubits in height, and it had a

linen sail, adorned with a purple fringe. And the whole of the wealth

which had been so carefully preserved by king Philadelphus was

dissipated by the last Ptolemy, who also excited the war against

Gabinius, who was not a man, but a mere flute-player and conjuror."

40. But concerning the ship built by Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse,

which also Archimedes the geometrician superintended, I do not think it

right to be silent, since a certain man named Moschion has given a

description of it, which I read over with great care very lately.

Moschion, then, writes as follows:--"Diocles, a citizen of Abdera,

speaks with great admiration of the engine called Helepolis, which was

brought by Demetrius against the city of the Rhodians, and applied to

their walls. And Timæus extols highly the funeral pile made for

Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. And Hieronymus lavishes his admiration

on the building and adorning of the chariot in which the body of

Alexander was borne to the tomb. And Polycletus speaks in high terms of

the candlestick which was made for the king of Persia. But Hiero, the

king of the Syracusans, who was in every respect a friend to the Romans,

was very attentive to the furnishing of temples and gymnasia; and was

also very earnest in ship-building, having built a great number of

vessels to carry corn; the construction of one of which I will describe.

For the wood, he caused such a number of trees to be cut down on Mount

Ætna as would have been sufficient for sixty triremes, and when this was

done he prepared nails, and planks for the sides and for the inside, and

wood for every other purpose that could be required, some from Italy and

some from Sicily. And for ropes he provided cordage from Spain, and

hemp, and pitch from the river Rhone; and he collected great quantities

of useful things from all quarters. And he collected also shipwrights

and other artisans. And having appointed Archias the Corinthian the

superintendent of them all, and the principal architect, he bade them

labour at the construction with zeal and earnestness, he himself also

devoting his days to watching its progress. And in this way he finished

half the ship in six months; and every part of the vessel as soon as it

was finished was immediately covered over with plates of lead. And there

were three hundred workmen employed in working up the timber, besides

the subordinate journeymen whom they had to assist them. And it was

arranged to draw this portion that was done so far down to the sea, that

it might receive the last finishing strokes there. And when there was a

great inquiry as to the best method of launching it into the sea,

Archimedes the mechanician launched it by himself with the aid of a few

persons. For having prepared a helix he drew this vessel, enormous as it

was, down into the sea. And Archimedes was the first person who ever

invented this helix. But after the remainder of the ship had also been

completed in six months more, and it had been surrounded all round with

brazen nails, the greater part of which weighed ten minæ, and the rest

were half as big again--(and they were driven in through holes made

beforehand by gimlets, so as to hold the planks firm; and they were

fastened to the wood with leaden plugs; pieces of cloth being put under,

impregnated with pitch)--after, I say, Hiero had completed the external

figure of the vessel, he laboured at the interior.

41. "And the vessel was constructed with twenty banks of oars, and

three entrances, having the lowest entrance leading to the hold, to

which the descent was by two ladders of many steps each: and the next

was contrived for those who wished to go down to the eating-rooms: and

the third was for the armed men. And on each side of the middle entrance

were apartments for the men, each with four couches in them, thirty in

number. And the supper-room for the sailors was capable of holding

fifteen couches, and it had within it three chambers, each containing

three couches; and the kitchen was towards the stern of the ship. And

all these rooms had floors composed of mosaic work, of all kinds of

stones tesselated. And on this mosaic the whole story of the Iliad was

depicted in a marvellous manner. And in all the furniture and the

ceilings and the doors everything was executed and finished in the same

admirable manner. And along the uppermost passage was a gymnasium and

walks, having their appointments in all respects corresponding to the

size of the vessel. And in them were gardens of all sorts of most

wonderful beauty, enriched with all sorts of plants, and shaded by roofs

of lead or tiles. And besides this there were tents roofed with boughs

of white ivy and of the vine, the roots of which derived their moisture

from casks full of earth, and were watered in the same manner as the

gardens. And the tents themselves helped to shadow the walks. And next

to these things was a temple devoted to Venus, containing three couches,

with a floor of agate and other most beautiful stones, of every sort

which the island afforded. And its walls and its roof were made of

cypress-wood, and its doors of ivory and citron-wood. And it was

furnished in the most exquisite manner with pictures and statues, and

with goblets and vases of every form and shape imaginable.

42. "And next to that was a drawing-room capable of containing five

couches, with its walls and doors made of box-wood, having a book-case

in it, and along the roof a clock, imitated from the dial at Achradina.

And there was also a bath-room, capable of containing three couches,

having three brazen vessels for holding hot water, and a bath containing

five measures of water, beautifully variegated with Tauromenian marble.

And many rooms were also prepared for the marines, and for those who

looked to the pumps. And besides all this there were ten stalls for

horses on each side of the walls; and by them the fodder for the horses

was kept, and the arms and furniture of the horsemen and of the boys.

There was also a cistern near the head of the ship, carefully shut, and

containing two thousand measures of water, made of beams closely

compacted with pitch and canvass. And next to the cistern there was a

large water-tight well for fish, made so with beams of wood and lead.

And it was kept full of sea-water, and great numbers of fish were kept

in it. And on each side of the walls there were also projecting beams,

placed at well-proportioned intervals; and to these were attached stores

of wood, and ovens, and baking places, and mills, and many other useful

offices. And all round the outside of the ship ran atlases six cubits

high, which supported the weight which was placed above them, and the

triglyph, all being placed at convenient distances from one another. And

the whole ship was adorned with suitable pictures.

43. "And in the vessel were eight towers of a size proportioned to the

burden of the ship, two at the stem, and as many at the head, and the

rest in the middle of the ship. And to each of these were fastened two

large beams, or yards, from which port-holes were fixed, through which

stones were let down upon any enemy who might come against the ship. And

on each of the towers stood four young men fully armed, and two archers.

And the whole of the interior of the towers was full of stones and

darts. And a wall, having buttresses and decks, ran all through the

ship, supported on trestles; and on these decks was placed a catapult,

which hurled a stone weighing three talents, and an arrow twelve cubits

long. And this engine was devised and made by Archimedes; and it could

throw every arrow a furlong. And besides all this, there were mats

composed of stout ropes[331:1] suspended by brazen chains; and as there

were three masts, from each of them were suspended two large yards

bearing stones, from which hooks and leaden weights were let down upon

any enemy which might attack the vessel. And there was also a palisade

all round the ship, made of iron, as a defence against those who might

attempt to board it; and iron ravens, as they were called, all round the

ship, which, being shot forth by engines, seized on the vessels of the

enemy, and brought them round so as to expose them to blows. And on

each of the sides of the ship stood sixty young men clad in complete

armour; and an equal number stood on the masts, and on the yards which

carried the stones; and they were also on the masts, up at the

mast-head, which was made of brass. On the first there were three men,

and on the second two, and on the third one. And they had stones brought

up to them in wicker baskets by means of pulleys, and arrows were

supplied to them by boys, within the defended parts of the mast-heads.

And the vessel had four wooden anchors and eight iron ones. And of the

masts, the second and third were easily found; but the first was

procured with difficulty among the mountains of the Bruttii, and was

discovered by a swineherd. And Phileas, a mechanic of Tauromenium,

brought it down to the seaside. And the hold, although of a most

enormous depth, was pumped out by one man, by means of a pulley, by an

engine which was the contrivance of Archimedes. And the name of the ship

was 'The Syracusan;' but when Hiero sent it to sea, he altered its name

and called it 'The Alexandrian.'

"And it had some small launches attached to it, the first of which was

one of the light galleys called cercurus, able to hold a weight of three

thousand talents; and it was wholly moved by oars. And after that came

many galleys and skiffs of about fifteen hundred talents burthen. And

the crew also was proportionably numerous; for besides the men who have

been already mentioned, there were six hundred more, whose post was at

the head of the ship, always watching for the orders of the captain. And

there was a tribunal instituted to judge of all offences which might be

committed on board the ship, consisting of the captain and the pilot,

and the officer of the watch; and they decided in every case according

to the laws of the Syracusans.

44. "And they put on board the ship sixty thousand measures of corn, and

ten thousand jars of Sicilian salt-fish, and twenty thousand talents

weight of wool, and of other cargo twenty thousand talents weight also.

And besides all this, there were the provisions necessary for the crew.

And Hiero, when he had understood that there was no harbour in Sicily

large enough to admit this ship, and, moreover, that some of the

harbours were dangerous for any vessel, determined to send it as a

present to Alexandria to Ptolemy the king of Egypt. For there was a

great dearth of corn in Egypt. And he did so; and the ship came to

Alexandria, where it was put in port. And Hiero honoured Archimelus,

also, the epigrammatic poet, who wrote an epigram on the ship, with a

thousand bushels of wheat, which he also sent at his own expense to the

Piræus; and the epigram runs thus--

Who placed this monstrous mass upon the earth;

What master led it with untiring cables,

How was the deck nail'd to the mighty beams,

And with what axe did men the vessel form?

Surely it equals Ætna in its height,

Or any isle which rises from the sea

Where the Ægean wave entwined foams

Amid the Cyclades; on either side

Its breadth is equal, and its walls alike.

Sure 'twas the giants' work, who hoped to reach

By such vast ladder to the heights of heaven.

Its topmast reaches to the stars; and hides

Its mighty bulwarks 'mid the endless clouds.

It holds its anchors with untiring cables,

Like those with which proud Xerxes bound the strait

Which between Sestos and Abydos foams.

A deftly carved inscription on the side

Shows what strong hand has launch'd it on the deep;

It says that Hiero, Hierocles' son,

The king of Sicily, pride of Dorian race,

Sends it a wealthy messenger of gifts

To the Ægean islands; and the God

Who rules the sea, great Neptune, convoys it

Safe o'er the blue and foaming waves to Greece.

And I intentionally pass over the sacred trireme built by Antigonus,

which defeated the commanders of Ptolemy off Leucolla, a city under the

dominion of Cos; and after that, Antigonus consecrated it to Apollo; but

it was not one-third, or perhaps not even one-fourth part of the size of

the Syracusan or Alexandrian vessel."

45. All this, then, we have said about the catalogue of the ships,

not beginning with the Boeotians,[333:1] but with the shows and

processions exhibited at public assemblies. And since I know that my

excellent friend Ulpian will attack us again, and ask what that thing is

which Callixenus calls =engythêkê=, we tell him that there is a

speech which is attributed to Lysias the orator, written about the

=engythêkê=, which begins with these words--"If, O judges, Lysimanes had

said anything reasonable or moderate." And going on a little, he

proceeds to say--"I should not have been eager to plead in an action

about this chest (=engythêkê=), which is not worth thirty drachmæ." And

presently he tells us that the chest was a brazen one--"But when I

wished last year to repair it I gave it to a brazier; for it is well put

together, and has the faces of Satyrs and large heads of oxen carved

upon it. There is also another coffer of the same size; for the same

workman made many such articles of the same size, and alike in many

particulars." In these words Lysias, having said that the chest was made

of brass, shows plainly enough, as Callixenus also said, that they

were things that might be used as stands for kettles. For so Polemo

Periegetes said, in the third of those books of his which are addressed

to Adæus and Antigonus, where he explains the subject of the picture

which is at Phlius, in the portico of the polemarchs, painted by Sillax

the Rhegian, who is mentioned by Epicharmus and Simonides. And his words

are--"=Engythêkê=, and a large goblet on it." And Hegesander the

Delphian, in his book entitled a Commentary on Statues and Images, says

that the pedestal dedicated by Glaucus the Chian at Delphi is like an

iron =engythêkê=, the gift of Alyattes. And that is mentioned by

Herodotus, who calls it =hypokrêtêridion= (a stand for a goblet). And

Hegesander uses the same expression. And we ourselves have seen that

lying at Delphi, a thing really worth looking at, on account of the

figures of animals which are carved upon it, and of other insects, and

living things, and plants. . . . . . . . can be put upon it, and

goblets, and other furniture.

But the thing which is called by the Alexandrians =angothêkê= is a

triangular vessel, hollow in the middle, capable of receiving an earthen

wine-jar inside of it. And poor men have this made of wood, but rich men

have it of brass or of silver.

46. Having said this much about the =engythêkê=, let us now go on to

speak of those kings who are and have been fond of good cheer. For the

king, who is the namesake of the above-mentioned Antiochus, and the son

of Demetrius, according to the account of Posidonius, used to entertain

a great crowd of people every day, and in addition to what they ate on

the spot, he would give every one of the guests large heaps, consisting

of entire joints of meat of beasts, and birds, and fishes, undivided and

ready dressed, enough to fill a wagon. And besides all this, he gave

them heaps of honey-cakes, and of garlands, of myrrh, and frankincense,

with large fillets and bandages of golden embroidery as long as a man.

And another king, Antiochus, when celebrating the games at Daphne,

himself also made very sumptuous entertainments, as Posidonius himself

relates; and he was the first person who ever made a distribution among

the guests of whole joints of meat; and also of geese, and hares, and

antelopes alive. And golden chaplets were also given to the guests, and

a great quantity of silver plate, and of slaves, and horses, and camels.

And each man was bound to get on the camel and drink a draught of wine,

and then to accept of the camel and of the boy who stood by it. "And,"

says he, "all the natives and inhabitants of Syria, on account of the

fertility of the land, are accustomed to make frequent feasts after

their necessary labours, in order that they may rejoice together, using

their gymnasia as baths, and anointing themselves with expensive oil and

perfumes; and at their grammatea (for that is the name which they give

to their public entertainments) living as if in their own houses, and

gratifying their stomachs the greater part of the day with wine and

meat, and also carrying away a quantity of the same to their own homes,

they thus spend the day, listening also to the music of the loud lyre

made of the tortoise shell, so that whole cities resound with noises of

this kind."

47. And I, my friends, praise very much the entertainment which was

given by Alexander the king of Syria. And this Alexander was a

supposititious son of Antiochus Epiphanes, substituted on account of the

hatred which all men bore to Demetrius, concerning whom our companion

Athenæus has spoken in his treatise on the Kings who have reigned in

Syria. Now that entertainment was conducted as nearly as may be in this

fashion.

Diogenes the Epicurean, having a very tolerable acquaintance with the

doctrines of the sect which he professed, was by birth a native of

Seleucia, in the district of Babylon. And he was kindly received by the

king, although the monarch rather inclined to the doctrines of the Stoic

school. Accordingly, Alexander treated him with great distinction,

although a man of anything but a reputable course of life, and so given

to calumny and envy, that if he could raise a laugh by it, he could not

abstain from even the king himself. And when he preferred to the king a

request that had no great connexion with philosophy--namely, that he

might be allowed to wear a purple robe and a golden crown, having a face

of Virtue in the centre of it, as he claimed to be addressed as the

priest of Virtue, he agreed to it all, and besides that, made him a

present of the crown. And these ornaments Diogenes, being in love with a

woman who was one of the Bacchanalian singers, gave to her. But

Alexander, hearing of this, collected a banqueting party of philosophers

and eminent men, and among them he invited Diogenes. And when he arrived

he begged him to take his seat with his crown and his purple robe on.

And when he replied that that would be unseemly, the king nodded to his

servants to introduce the musicians, among whom this singing woman

appeared, crowned with the crown of Virtue, and clothed also in the

purple robe. So when every one burst into laughter at this, the

philosopher kept quiet, and never stopped praising the singing woman.

But Antiochus, who succeeded Alexander in the kingdom, could not

tolerate the abusive language of this Diogenes, and accordingly ordered

him to be put to death. But Alexander was at all times, and in all

circumstances, of a gentle disposition, and affable to every one in

conversation, and not at all like Athenion the Peripatetic philosopher,

who had a philosophical school at Athens, and at Messene, and also at

Larissa in Thessaly, and who subsequently became tyrant of Athens;

concerning whom Posidonius of Apamea gives a very particular account,

which I, even though it is rather long, will quote, in order that we may

come to a thorough understanding and appreciation of those men who

profess to be philosophers, and that we may not be taken in by their

ragged cloaks and unshaven chins. For, as Agatho says--

If I do tell the truth I shall not please you;

And if I please you, I shall speak no truth.

But "let truth," as the saying is, "be one's friend." At all events, I

will quote the account given of the man.

48. "In the school of Erymneus the Peripatetic there was a certain man

of the name of Athenion, who applied himself very perseveringly to

philosophical discussions. He, having bought an Egyptian female slave,

made her his mistress. And when she became a mother, either by him or by

some one else, the child was bred up by Athenion, and received the same

name as his master. And having been taught literature, he became

accustomed to lead his master about when he became an old man, in

company with his mother; and when he died he succeeded him as his heir,

and became a citizen of Athens, being enrolled under the name of

Athenion. And having married a very beautiful girl, after that he betook

himself to the profession of a sophist, hunting out for boys to come to

his school. And having pursued his profession of sophist at Messene and

at Larissa in Thessaly, and having amassed a considerable fortune, he

returned to Athens. And having been appointed an ambassador by the

Athenian people, when the chief power in all that district was lodged in

the hands of Mithridates, he insinuated himself into the good graces of

the king, and became one of his friends, being held by him in the

greatest honour; in consequence of which he wrote letters to the

Athenians to raise their spirits, as one who had the greatest influence

with the king of Cappadocia, leading them to hope that they should be

discharged of all their existing debts, and live in peace and concord

with him; and also that they should recover their democratic

constitution, and receive great presents both publicly and privately.

And the Athenians boasted of all these promises which were made to them,

feeling sure that the supremacy of the Romans would be put an end to.

49. "Now when all Asia had revolted to the King, Athenio set out to

return to Athens; and being tossed about by a storm he was driven to

Carystus. And when the Cecropidæ heard this, they sent some ships of war

to conduct him back, and a litter with silver feet. And now he is

entering the city; and almost the whole of the citizens has poured out

to meet him; and many other spectators came together, marvelling at this

preposterous freak of fortune, that this intrusive citizen, Athenion,

foisted into Athens in such a manner, should be conducted into the city

on a litter with silver feet, and lying on purple clothes, a man who had

never before seen even a purple patch on his ragged cloak; when no one,

not even of the Romans, had ever exhibited such pomp and insulting show

in Attica before. So there ran to this spectacle men, women, children,

all expecting some glorious honours from Mithridates. While Athenio,

that ancient beggar, who gave lectures for trifling sums of money, was

now making a procession through the country and through the city,

relying on the king's favour, and treating every one with great

insolence. There met him also the artisans of the spectacles of Bacchus,

calling him a messenger of the young Bacchus, and inviting him to the

common altar, and to the prayers and libations which were to be offered

at it; and he, who had formerly come out of a hired house, into the * *

* * * * was conducted into a mansion adorned with couches, and pictures,

and statues, and a display of silver plate. And from it he issued forth,

dragging on the ground a bright cloak, and with a golden ring on his

finger, having on it a carved portrait of Mithridates. And numbers of

attendants went before him and followed him in procession. And in the

plot of ground belonging to the artisans, sacrifices were performed in

honour of the return of Athenio, and libations made with formal

proclamation by a herald. And the next day many people came to his house

and awaited his appearance; and the whole Ceramicus was full of citizens

and foreigners, and there was a voluntary thronging of the whole

population of the city to the assembly. And at last he came forth, being

attended by all who wished to stand well with the people, as if they had

been his body-guards, every one hastening even to touch his garment.

50. "He then having ascended the tribunal which had been erected for the

Roman generals in front of the portico of Attalus, standing on it, and

looking round on all the people in a circle, and then looking up, said,

'O men of Athens, the state of affairs and the interests of my country

compel me to relate to you what I know. But the greatness of the affairs

that must be mentioned, owing to the unexpected character which

circumstances have assumed, hinders me from doing so.' And when all the

bystanders called out to him with one accord to be of good cheer, and to

tell them, 'I tell you, then,' said he, 'of things which have never been

hoped for, nor even imagined by any one in a dream. The king Mithridates

is master of Bithynia, and of Upper Cappadocia; and he is master of the

whole of Asia, without any break, as far as Pamphylia and Cilicia: and

the kings of the Armenians and Persians are only his guards; and he is

lord of all the nations which dwell around the Palus Mæotis, and the

whole of Pontus, so that his dominions are upwards of thirty thousand

furlongs in circumference. And the Roman commander in Pamphylia, Quintus

Oppius, has been surrendered to him, and is following him as a prisoner,

but Manius Aquillius, a man of consular rank, who has celebrated a

triumph for his victory over the Sicilians, is fastened by a long chain

to Bastarna, a man of gigantic stature, and is dragged by him on foot at

the tail of his horse. And of the other Roman citizens in Asia some have

fallen down at the images of the gods, and the rest have put on square

cloaks and acknowledge again the claims of their original country. And

every city honouring him with more than human honours, calls the king a

god; and oracles everywhere promise him the dominion over the whole

world, on which account he is now sending large armies against Thrace

and Macedonia, and every part of Europe is coming over bodily to his

side. For ambassadors are coming to him, not only from the Italian

tribes, but also from the Carthaginians, begging him to enter into

alliance with them for the destruction of the Romans.'

51. "Having stopped a little after saying this, and having given time

for the multitude to converse together about the news thus unexpectedly

announced to them, he wiped his face, and went on, 'What then do I

advise?--Not to bear this state of anarchy any longer, which the Roman

senate makes continue, while it is deciding what constitution you are to

enjoy for the future. And do not let us be indifferent to our temples

being closed, to our gymnasia being left in the dirt, to our theatre

being always empty, and our courts of justice mute, and the Pnyx,

consecrated by the oracles of the gods, being taken from the people. Let

us not, O Athenians, be indifferent to the sacred voice of Bacchus being

reduced to silence, to the holy temple of Castor and Pollux being

closed, and to the schools of the philosophers being silenced as they

are.' And when this slave had said all this and a good deal more, the

multitude conversing with one another and running together to the

theatre elected Athenio general over the entire army. And then, the

Peripatetic coming into the orchestra, walking like Pythocles, thanked

the Athenians, and said, 'Now you yourselves are your own generals, and

I am the commander-in-chief: and if you exert all your strength to

co-operate with me I shall be able to do as much as all of you put

together.' And he, having said this, appointed others to be his

colleagues in the command, proposing whatever names he thought

desirable.

52. "And a few days afterwards, the philosopher having thus appointed

himself tyrant, and having proved how much weight is to be attached to

the doctrine of the Pythagoreans about plots against others, and what

was the practical effect of the philosophy which the admirable

Pythagoras laid down, as Theopompus has related in the eighth book of

his Philippics, and Hermippus, the Callimachean, has corroborated the

account, he immediately removed all the citizens who were right-thinking

and of a good disposition (contrary to the sentiments of, and rules laid

down by, Aristotle and Theophrastus; showing how true is the proverb

which says, Do not put a sword into the hand of a child); and he placed

sentinels at the gates, so that many of the Athenians, fearing what he

might be going to do, let themselves down over the walls by night, and

so fled away. And Athenio sending some horsemen to pursue them slew some

of them, and brought back some in chains, having a number of body-guards

about his person of the kind called phractici. And often he convened

assemblies, pretending great attachment to the side of the Romans; and

bringing accusations against many as having kept up communications with

the exiles, and aiming at a revolution, he put them to death. And he

placed thirty guards at each gate, and would not allow any one to go

either in or out. And he seized on the property of many of the people,

and collected such a quantity of money as to fill several wells; and he

also sent all over the country people to lie in wait, as it were, for

every one who was travelling, and they brought them to him; and he put

them to death without any trial, torturing and racking them into the

bargain. And he also instituted prosecutions for treason against several

people, saying that they were co-operating with the exiles to effect

their return. And some of the parties prosecuted fled out of fear before

the trials came on, and some were condemned before the tribunals, he

himself giving his own vote and collecting those of the others. And he

brought about in the city a scarcity of the things necessary for life,

stinting the citizens of their proper quantity of barley and wheat. He

also sent out heavy-armed soldiers over the country, to hunt out any of

those who had fled and who could be found within the borders of the

land, or any of the Athenians who were escaping beyond the borders. And

whoever was detected he beat to death; and some of them he exhausted

beforehand with tortures; and he caused proclamation to be made, that

all must be in their houses by sunset, and that no one should presume to

walk abroad with a lantern-bearer.

53. "And he not only plundered the property of the citizens, but that of

foreigners also, laying his hands even on the property of the god which

was laid up at Delos; sending Apellicon into the island, who was a Scian

by birth, but who had become a citizen of Athens, and who lived a most

whimsical and ever-changing course of life. For at one time he was a

philosopher, and collected all the treatises of the Peripatetics, and

the whole library of Aristotle, and many others; for he was a very rich

man; and he had also stolen a great many autograph decrees of the

ancients out of the temple of the Mighty Mother, and whatever else there

was ancient and taken care of in other cities; and being detected in

these practices at Athens he would have been in great danger if he had

not made his escape; and a short time afterwards he returned again,

having paid his court to many people, and he then joined himself to

Athenion, as being a man of the same sect as he was. And Athenion,

having embraced the doctrines of the Peripatetics, measured out a

choenix of barley, as four days' allowance for the ignorant Athenians,

giving them what was barely food enough for fowl, and not the proper

nutriment for men. And Apellicon, coming in great force to Delos, and

living there more like a man exhibiting a spectacle than a general with

soldiers, and placing guards in a very careless manner on the side of

Delos, and leaving all the back of the island unguarded, and not even

putting down a palisade in front of his camp, went to rest. And Orobius,

the Roman general, hearing of this, who was at that time in command at

Delos, watching for a moonless night, led out his troops, and falling on

Apellicon and his soldiers, who were all asleep and drunk, he cut the

Athenians and all those who were in the army with them to pieces, like

so many sheep, to the number of six hundred, and he took four hundred

alive. And that fine general, Apellicon, fled away without being

perceived, and came to Delos; and Orobius seeing that many of those who

fled with him had escaped to the farmhouses round about, burnt them in

the houses, houses and all; and he destroyed by fire also all the

engines for besieging cities, together with the Helepolis which

Apellicon had made when he came to Delos. And Orobius having erected in

that place a trophy and an altar, wrote this inscription on it--

This tomb contains the foreigners here slain,

Who fought near Delos, and who fell at sea,

When the Athenians spoil'd the holy isle,

Aiding in war the Cappadocian king."

54. There was also at Tarsus an Epicurean philosopher who had become the

tyrant of that city, Lysias by name; who having been created by his

countrymen Stephanephoros, that is to say, the priest of Hercules, did

not lay down his command, but seized on the tyranny.[342:1] He put on a

purple tunic with a white centre, and over that he wore a very superb

and costly cloak, and he put on white Lacedæmonian sandals, and assumed

also a crown of golden daphne leaves. And he distributed the property of

the rich among the poor, and put many to death who did not surrender

their property willingly.

55. These are the commanders who became such from having been

philosophers; concerning whom Demochares said,--"Just as no one could

make a spear out of a bulrush, so no one could make a faultless general

out of Socrates." For Plato says that Socrates served in three military

expeditions, one to Potidæa, and another to Amphipolis, and another

against the Boeotians, in which last it was that the battle of Delium

took place. And though no one has mentioned this circumstance, he

himself says that he gained the prize of the most eminent valour, since

all the other Athenians fled, and many were slain. But all this is an

erroneous statement. For the expedition against Amphipolis took place in

the archonship of Alcæus, when Cleon was the general; and it was

composed entirely of picked men, as Thucydides relates. Socrates then, a

man who had nothing but his ragged cloak and his stick, must have been

one of these picked men. But what historian or poet has mentioned this

fact? Or where has Thucydides made the slightest mention of Socrates,

this soldier of Plato's? And what is there in common between a shield

and a philosopher's staff? And when was it that Socrates bore a part in

the expedition against Potidæa, as Plato has said in his Charmides,

where he states that he then yielded the prize of preeminent valour to

Alcibiades? though Thucydides has not mentioned it, nor has Isocrates in

his Oration on the Pair-horse Chariot. And what battle ever took place

when Socrates gained the prize of preeminent valour? And what eminent

and notorious exploit did he perform; for indeed there was actually no

battle at all at that time, as Thucydides tells us.

But Plato not being content with all these strange stories, introduces

the valour which was displayed, or rather which was invented by him at

Delium. For if Socrates had even taken Delium, as Herodicus the

Cratetian has reported in his Treatise to Philosocrates, he would have

fled disgracefully as all the rest did, when Pagondas sent two squadrons

of cavalry unperceived round the hill. For then some of the Athenians

fled to Delium, and some fled to the sea, and some to Oropus, and some

to Mount Parnes. And the Boeotians, especially with their cavalry,

pursued them and slew them; and the Locrian cavalry joined in the

pursuit and slaughter. When then this disorder and alarm had seized upon

the Athenians, did Socrates alone, looking proud and casting his eyes

around, stand firm, turning aside the onset of the Boeotian and

Locrian cavalry? And yet does Thucydides make no mention of this valour

of his, nor even any poet either. And how was it that he yielded to

Alcibiades the prize of preeminent valour, who had absolutely never

joined in this expedition at all? But in the Crito, Plato, that

favourite of Memory, says that Socrates had never once gone out of

Attica, except when he once went to the Isthmian games. And Antisthenes,

the Socratic philosopher, tells the same tale as Plato about the

Aristeia; but the story is not true. For this Dog flatters Socrates in

many particulars, on which account we must not believe either of them,

keeping Thucydides for our guide. For Antisthenes even exaggerates this

false story, saying,--"'But we hear that you also received the prize of

preeminent valour in the battle which took place against the

Boeotians.' 'Be quiet, my friend, the prize belongs to Alcibiades, not

to me.' 'Yes, but you gave it to him as we are told.'" But Plato's

Socrates says that he was present at Potidæa, and that he yielded the

prize of preeminent valour to Alcibiades on that occasion. But by the

universal consent of all historians the expedition against Potidæa, in

which Phormio commanded, was previous to the one against Delium.

56. In every respect then the philosophers tell lies; and they are not

aware that they commit numbers of anachronisms in the accounts which

they give. And even the admirable Xenophon is not free from this error.

For he in his Banquet introduces Callias, the son of Hipponicus, as the

lover of Autolycus, the son of Lycon, and making an entertainment in his

honour when he gained the victory in the Pancratium. And he represents

himself as being present with the rest of the guests, when he perhaps

was either not born, or at all events not out of childhood. And this is

the time when Aristion was archon. For it was in his archonship that

Eupolis exhibited the comedy Autolycus, in which, in the character of

Demostratus, he ridicules the victory of Autolycus. And again Xenophon

makes Socrates say at this banquet--"And Pausanias, indeed, the lover of

Agathon the poet, when speaking in excuse of those who allow themselves

to indulge in intemperance, said that a most valiant army might be

composed of boys and their lovers: for that of all the men in the world

they would be the most ashamed to desert one another. Saying a very

strange thing,--if men who are accustomed utterly to disregard all

blame, and to behave with utter shamelessness to one another, would be

the men above all others ashamed to do anything disgraceful." But that

Pausanias never said anything of the sort we may see from the Banquet of

Plato. For I know of no book at all which is written by Pausanias. Nor

is he introduced by any one else as speaking of lovers and boys, but

only by Plato. But whether Xenophon has absolutely invented this story,

or whether he fell in with any edition of Plato's Banquet which reports

what happened in a different manner, is of no importance; still we must

take notice of the blunder as far as the time is concerned. Aristion,

in whose time this banquet is represented as having taken place, was

archon four years before Euphemus, in whose archonship Plato places the

banquet given in honour of the victory of Agathon, at which banquet

Pausanias said these things about lovers. So that it is a marvellous and

incredible thing that Socrates when supping with Callias should find

fault with things as having been said erroneously, which had not yet

been said at all, and which were not said till four years afterwards at

the banquet of Agathon.

57. But altogether Plato's Banquet is mere nonsense. For when Agathon

got the victory Plato was fourteen years old. For the former was crowned

at the Lenæa in the archonship of Euphemus. But Plato was born in the

year of the archonship of Apollodorus, who succeeded Euthydemus. And

when he was eighty-two years old he died in the archonship of

Theophilus, who succeeded Callimachus; for he is the eighty-second

archon after Apollodorus. But from the archonship of Apollodorus and the

birth of Plato, Euphemus is the fourteenth archon; and it is in his

archonship that the banquet was given in honour of the victory of

Agathon. And Plato himself shows that this entertainment had taken place

a long time before, saying in the Banquet . . . . "'Do you think then

that this entertainment has taken place but lately, so that I could have

been present at it?' 'Indeed I do,' said he. 'How could that be,' said

I, 'O Glaucon? Do you not know that Agathon has not been in the city for

many years?'" And then a little while after he says--"'But tell me, when

did this entertainment take place?' And I replied, 'When we were still

children, when Agathon gained the prize in tragedy.'" But that Plato

makes many blunders in his chronology is plain from many circumstances.

For as the poet said--"The man has a tongue which pays no regard to

seasons;" so he writes without sufficient discernment. For he never

spoke at random, but always with great consideration.

58. As for instance, writing in the Gorgias, he says--"'Archelaus, then,

according to your definition, is a miserable man.' 'Yes, my friend, if,

at least, he is an unjust one.'" And then, after expressly stating that

Archelaus was possessed of the kingdom of the Macedonians, he goes on to

say, "that Pericles also was lately dead." But if Pericles had only

lately died, Archelaus was not yet in the enjoyment of his dominions at

all; and if Archelaus was king at the time, then Pericles had been dead

a long time. Now Perdiccas was king before Archelaus, according to the

statement of Nicomedes of Acanthus; and he reigned forty-one years. But

Theopompus says he reigned thirty-five years; Anaximenes, forty;

Hieronymus, twenty-eight. But Marsyas and Philochorus say that he

reigned only twenty-three years. Now, as these all vary so much in their

accounts, we will take the smallest number, and say twenty-three. But

Pericles died in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, in the

archonship of Epameinon, in which year also Alexander died, and

Perdiccas succeeded him in the kingdom. And he reigned till the

archonship of Callias, in whose year Perdiccas died, and Archelaus

succeeded to the kingdom. How, then, can Pericles have died lately, as

Plato phrases it? And in the same Gorgias Plato represents Socrates as

saying--"And last year, when I drew the lot to be one of the council,

when my tribe was the presiding tribe, and I had to put the question to

the vote, I caused the people to laugh, as I did not know how to put the

question to the vote." Now Socrates did not fall into this error out of

ignorance, but out of his firm principles of virtue; for he did not

choose to violate the laws of the democracy. And Xenophon shows this

plainly in the first book of his Hellenics, where he gives the following

account:--"But when some of the prytanes said that they would not put

the question contrary to the laws, Callixenus again mounts the tribunal

and inveighs against them; and they cried out that he should impeach

those who refused. And the prytanes being alarmed, all agreed to put the

question except Socrates the son of Sophroniscus; and he said that he

would not, but that he would do everything according to the laws."

This was the question which was put to the vote against the generals,

Erasinides and his colleagues, because they did not pick up the men who

were lost in the naval battle at Arginusæ. And this battle took place in

the archonship of Callias, twenty-four years after the death of

Pericles.

59. But the dialogue in the Protagoras, which took place after the death

of Hipponicus, when Callias had entered upon his patrimonial

inheritance, says that Protagoras had arrived in Athens for the second

time not many days previously. But Hipponicus, in the archonship of

Euthydemus, was a colleague of Nicias in the generalship against the

Tanagreans and against those Boeotians who acted as their allies; and

he defeated them in a battle. And he died before Eupolis exhibited the

Flatterers, which took place in the archonship of Alcæus, but probably

not any long time before. For the play proves that the succession of

Callias to his patrimonial inheritance was still quite recent. Now in

this play Eupolis introduces Protagoras as living at Athens. And

Ameipsias, in his Connus, which was exhibited two years before, does not

enumerate him among the band of sophists. So it is plain that this

happened in the interval between those two periods. But Plato represents

Hippias the Elian also, in the Protagoras, as present with some of his

own fellow-citizens, men who it is not likely could have remained long

in Athens with safety, before the truce for a year was made in the

archonship of Isarchus, in the month Elaphebolion. But he represents

this dialogue as having taken place, not about the time when the truce

had recently been made, but a long time after that; at all events he

says--"For if they were savage men, such as Pherecrates the poet

exhibited last year at the Lenæan festival." But the play of The Savage

Men was exhibited in the archonship of Aristion, who was succeeded as

archon by Astyphilus, (being the fifth after Isarchus,) in whose

archonship the truce was made; for Isarchus came first, then Ameinias,

then Aristion, then Astyphilus: so that it is contrary to history that

Plato in his dialogue brings to Athens Hippias and his companions, who

were enemies at the time, when this truce had not yet any existence.

60. And among other things Plato says that Chærephon asked the Pythian

priestess whether any one was wiser than Socrates? and that she replied,

No one. But Xenophon does not agree with all this; but says--"For when

Chærephon once asked at Delphi about me, Apollo replied, in the presence

of many witnesses, that no man was either more just or more temperate

than I was." And how can it be either reasonable or probable that

Socrates, who confessed that he knew nothing, should allege that he had

been called the wisest of all men by God who knows everything? For if

knowing nothing be wisdom, then to know everything must be folly. And

what was the need of Chærephon bothering the god, and asking him about

Socrates? for he himself might have been believed in his own case,

saying that he was not wise. For he must be a stupid man who would put

such a question to the god, as if he were to ask him such a question as

this, Whether any wool is softer than the Attic wool; or, Whether there

are any more powerful nations than the Bactrians and the Medes; or,

Whether any one has a more complete pug-nose than Socrates. For people

who ask such questions as these have a very neat slap in the face given

them by the god, as when a man asked him (whether it is a fable of

Æsop's or of some one else),

O mighty son of Leto and of Jove,

Tell me by what means I may rich become:

he, ridiculing him, answered--

If you acquire all the land that lies

Between the tow'rs of Sicyon and Corinth.

61. But indeed, no one even of the comic poets has said such things as

Plato has said about Socrates, neither that he was the son of a very

fierce-looking nurse, nor that Xantippe was an ill-tempered woman, who

even poured slops over his head; nor that Alcibiades slept with him

under the same cloak; and yet this must have been divulged with

boisterous laughter by Aristophanes, as he was present at the banquet

according to Plato's account; for Aristophanes would never have

suppressed such a circumstance as that, which would have given such a

colour to the charge that he corrupted the youth.

Aspasia, indeed, who was the clever preceptress of Socrates in rhetoric,

in these verses which are attributed to her, which Herodicus the

Cratetian has quoted, speaks thus--

_As._ O Socrates, most clearly do I see

How greatly you're inflamed by tender love

For the young son of Clinias and Dinomache;

But if you wish to prosper list to me,

And do not scoff at my advice, but follow it,

And it shall be the better for your suit.

_Soc._ I when I heard your speech was so o'erjoy'd

That straightway sweat did overflow each limb;

And tears unbidden pour'd forth from my eyes.

_As._ Restrain yourself, and fill your mind with strains

Such as the Muse who conquers men will teach you,

And you will charm him by your dulcet songs.

They the foundation lay of mutual love.

And thus will you o'ercome him, fettering

His mind with gifts with which his ears are charm'd.

The admirable Socrates then goes a hunting, having the Milesian woman

for his tutor in love. But he himself is not hunted, as Plato says,

having nets spread for him by Alcibiades. And indeed, he laments without

ceasing, being, as I suppose, unsuccessful in his love. For Aspasia,

seeing in what a condition he was, says--

Why weep you, my dear Socrates? does love

For that impracticable boy which dwells

Within thy breast, and shoots from out his eyes,

So far thy heart subdue? Did I in vain

Engage to make him docile to thy suit?

And that he really did love Alcibiades Plato shows plainly in the

Protagoras, although he was now little less than thirty years of age;

for he speaks in this manner, "'Whence are you come from, O Socrates? It

seems to me you are come from your pursuit of Alcibiades's beauty. And,

indeed, the man, when I saw him the other day, appeared to me to be a

handsome man; a man, indeed, O Socrates, as he may well be called, just

as much so as we are; and he has a firmly grown beard.' 'Well, what of

that? are not you an admirer of Homer, who said that the most beautiful

season of life was that of a young man who began to have a beard? and

that is just the age of which Alcibiades is now.'"

62. But most philosophers are of such a disposition that they are more

inclined to evil speaking than the Comic writers. Since both Æschines,

the pupil of Socrates, in his Telauges, attacks Critobulus the son of

Crito as an ignorant man, and one who lives in a sordid manner; and he

attacks Telauges himself for wearing a cloak borrowed of a clothes'

cleaner by the day for half an obol; and for being girt about with a

skin, and for having his sandals fastened with rotten pieces of string.

And as for Lysias the orator, he laughs immoderately at him; and in his

Aspasia, he calls Hipponicus, the son of Callias, a blockhead; and

taking all the women of Ionia in a lump he calls them lascivious and

covetous. But his Callias dwells upon the quarrel of Callias with his

own father, and the absurd jokes of the sophist Prodicus and

Anaxagoras. For he says that Prodicus had Theramenes for a pupil to

finish his education; and that the other had Philoxenus, the son of

Eryxis, and Ariphrades, the brother of Arignotus, the harp-player,

wishing from the notorious impurity of life of the men who have been

named and their general want of respectability and intemperance to leave

the sort of education they received from their tutors to be inferred.

But in his Axiochus he runs Alcibiades down with great bitterness, as a

drunkard, and a man always running after other men's wives.

63. But Antisthenes, in the second of his treatises called Cyrus,

abusing Alcibiades, says that he is a breaker of the laws, both with

respect to women and with respect to every other part of his conduct in

life; for he says that he had intrigued with a mother, and daughter, and

sister, after the fashion of the Persians. And his Political Dialogue

runs down the whole of the Athenian demagogues: and his Archelaus

attacks Gorgias, the rhetorician; and his Aspasia attacks Xanthippus and

Paralus, the sons of Pericles. For, as for one of them, he says that he

is a companion of Archestratus, who is no better than a frequenter of

houses of the worst possible fame; and the other he calls an

acquaintance and intimate friend of Euphemus, who abused every one he

met with vulgar and ill-mannered abuse. And nicknaming Plato Satho, in a

witless and vulgar manner, he published a dialogue against him, to which

he gave the same name as its title.

For these men believe that there is no such thing as an honest

counsellor, or a conscientious general, or a respectable sophist, or a

poet worth listening to, or a reasonable people: but Socrates, who spent

his time in loose houses with the flute-playing women of Aspasia, and

who was always chatting with Piston the armourer, and who gave lessons

to Theodote the courtesan, how she ought to make the most of her lovers,

as Xenophon tells us in the second book of his Memorabilia, is the only

wise man according to them; for they represent him as giving Theodote

such rules as neither Nico the Samian, nor Callistrate the Lesbian, nor

Philænis the Leucadian, nor even Pythonicus the Athenian, were ever

acquainted with as charms to conciliate affection. And yet those people

paid much attention to such things. And time would fail me if I were to

be inclined to quote the attacks which philosophers have made on

people; for, as the same Plato says, a regular crowd of Gorgons and

Pegasi, and other monsters, keeps flowing in upon me in immense numbers,

and of preposterous appearance, so that I will keep silence.

64. When Masurius had said this, and when all had admired his wisdom,

after silence was restored Ulpian said,--You seem to me, O guests, to be

overwhelmed with impetuous speeches which come upon you unexpectedly,

and to be thoroughly soaked in unmixed wine;--

For a man drinking wine, as a horse does water,

Speaks like a Scythian, not knowing even koppa,

But voiceless, lies immersed in a cask,

And sleeps as if he'd drunk medicinal poppy;

as says Parmeno the Byzantian. Have you been all turned into stone by

the before-mentioned Gorgons? Concerning whom, that there really have

been some animals who were the causes of men being turned into stone,

Alexander the Myndian speaks at length, in the second book of his

History of Beasts, saying--"The Nomades in Libya (where it is born) call

the animal named the Gorgon, 'The Looking-down:' and it is as most

people say, conjecturing from its skin, something like a wild sheep; but

as some say, it is like a calf. And they say that it has such a breath

that it destroys every one who meets it; and that it has a mane let down

from its forehead over its eyes, and when it has shaken it aside, which

it does with difficulty by reason of its weight, and then looks out

through it, it slays the man who is beheld by it, not by its breath, but

by some natural violence which proceeds from its eyes. And it was

discovered in this way: Some of the soldiers of Marius, in his

expedition against Jugurtha, having beheld the Gorgon, thought because

it held its head down, and moved slowly, that it was a wild sheep, and

in consequence they rushed upon it, intending to kill it with the swords

which they had about them; but it, being disturbed, shaking aside the

mane which hung down over its eyes, immediately caused the death of

those who were rushing upon it. And when others again and again did the

same thing, and lost their lives by so doing, and when all who proceeded

against it were invariably killed, some of the soldiers inquired the

nature of the animal from the natives; and by the command of Marius some

Nomad horsemen laid an ambush against it from a distance, and shot it

with darts, and returned to the camp, bringing the dead monster to the

general." And that this account is the true one, the skin and the

expedition of Marius both prove. But the statement made by the historian

is not credible, namely, that there are in Libya some oxen which are

called Opisthonomi,[352:1] because they do not advance while feeding,

but feed constantly returning backwards, for their horns are a hindrance

to their feeding in the natural manner, inasmuch as they are not bent

upwards, as is the case with all other animals, but they bend downwards

and overshadow the eyes; for this is incredible, since no other

historian testifies to such a circumstance.

65. When Ulpian had said this, Laurentius bearing witness to the truth

of his statement, and adding something to his speech, said, that Marius

sent the skins of these animals to Rome, and that no one could

conjecture to what animal they belonged, on account of the singular

appearance which they presented; and that these skins were hung up in

the temple of Hercules, in which the generals who celebrate a triumph

give a banquet to the citizens, as many poets and historians of our

nation have related. You then, O grammarians, as the Babylonian

Herodicus says, inquiring into none of these matters--

Fly ye to Greece along the sea's wide back,

Pupils of Aristarchus, all more timid

Than the pale antelope, worms hid in holes,

Monosyllabic animals, who care

For =sphin= and =sphôin=, and for =min=, and =nin=,

This shall be your lot, grumblers--but let Greece

And sacred Babylon receive Herodicus.

For, as Anaxandrides the comic writer says--

'Tis sweet when one has plann'd a new device,

To tell it to the world. For those who are

Wise for themselves alone have, first of all,

No judge to criticise their new invention.

And envy is their portion too: for all

That seems to be commended by its novelty,

Should be imparted freely to the people.

And when this conversation had terminated, most of the guests took their

departure secretly, and so broke up the party.

FOOTNOTES:

[287:1] Odyss. iv. 3.

[287:2] Iliad, vi. 174.

[289:1] Iliad, ii. 404.

[289:2] Op. et Di. 341.

[289:3] Iliad, viii. 324.

[290:1] Iliad, ii. 408.

[292:1] Iliad, ii. 588.

[292:2] Ib. i. 225.

[293:1] Odyss. viii. 449.

[293:2] Ib. iv. 48.

[293:3] Ib. iv. 43.

[293:4] Ar. Vesp. 1208.

[293:5] Odyss. ix. 201.

[294:1] Iliad, ix. 219.

[294:2] Odyss. xiv. 464.

[296:1] Hes. Scut. Herc. 205.

[296:2] Iliad, xviii. 590.

[296:3] Ib. xvi. 617.

[297:1] Iliad, xvi. 603.

[297:2] Odyss. viii. 264.

[297:3] Ib. 154.

[298:1] Odyss. iv. 160.

[298:2] Ib. 193.

[299:1] Iliad, iii. 196.

[300:1] Odyss. iv. 60.

[301:1] The reading is--

=Zênos pou toiauta domois en ktêmata keitai=

for which Aristarchus wished to read--

=Zênos pou toiêde g' Olympiou endothen aulê=.

I have given here, as elsewhere, Pope's version in the translation.

[302:1] Iliad, xi. 733.

[302:2] Ib. xxiv. 640.

[302:3] Odyss. xxii. 375.

[303:1] Odyss. iv. 78.

[303:2] Ib. 95.

[304:1] Iliad, iii. 385.

[305:1] Odyss. iv. 123.

[305:2] Odyss. xv. 125.

[305:3] Iliad, iii. 125.

[305:4] Odyss. iv. 294.

[305:5] Ib. iii. 332.

[306:1] Odyss. x. 84.

[307:1] Odyss. ix. 5.

[307:2] Iliad, iv. 262.

[308:1] Odyss. i. 131; vii. 175.

[308:2] =Epiphanês=, illustrious. =Epimanês=, mad.

[316:1] =Eniautos=, a year.

[316:2] =Pentetêois=, a period of five years.

[318:1] This word is probably corrupt; some editors propose to read

=amphôtoi=.

[323:1] There is a great dispute among the commentators as to the exact

reading of this passage, or its meaning. Palmer says the crowns were

given by different cities and tribes; and that what the king, and queen,

and prince wore were not the crowns themselves, but a model of them in

papyrus, with an inscription on each, stating its weight, and what city

had given it.

[325:1] There is great uncertainty as to the meaning of this passage;

some commentators consider that there is some corruption in the text.

[331:1] I have adopted here Casaubon's conjectural emendation, and his

interpretation of it. The text of the MSS. seems undoubtedly corrupt.

[333:1] This is an allusion to the first line of Homer's Catalogue--

=Boiôtôn men Pêneleôs kai Lêitos êrchon.=

[342:1] The Greek here is =ex himatiou tyrannos ên=, the meaning of

which is very much disputed. Casaubon thinks it means that there was a

great resemblance between the priestly and royal robes. Schweighauser

thinks it means, after having worn the robe of a philosopher he became a

tyrant.

[352:1] =Opisthe=, behind; =nemô=, to feed.