TZETZES, CHILIADES 12

CHILIADES BOOK 12, TRANSLATED BY NIKOLAOS GIALLOUSIS

12.1 ON THE FACT THAT GALEN LIVED NOT AT THE TIMES OF THE SAVIOUR'S INCARNATION BUT MUCH EARLIER, AROUND THE TIMES OF ANTONINUS CARACALLA. AND PROOF OF THIS FACT FROM THE THERIACA OF ANDROMACHUS ADDRESSED TO NERO (STORY 397)

Galen the doctor, about whom the word buzzes
Originated from Pergamos, a town close to Troy.
He peaked at the times of Antoninus Caracalla.
He was the son of a man of architecture and geometry,
I think named Nicon, but I cannot say for sure.
[10] Please don't let me be accused by those looking for blemishes.
For Tzetzes is not a daemon, and he's writing without books,
And even so, as fast as the lightning he's attentive
Not to leave out a single name, a place, a dot or a tittle.

So Galen was the child of a father architect
And geometer. And his mentor
In the art of medicine was Pelops the doctor.
You now have the times of Galen clearly verified.
If you want to test these ventriloquists who foolishly
Maintain that Galen lived at the time of Christ,
[20] You may refer to Andromachus' epic lines found in the Theriaca
And show them talking nonsense, prove them wrong rigorously.
For Galen cites the Andromachus' epics
As if Andromachus was prior to himself.
But Andromachus lived by the times of Nero,
Those times which also Peter and Paul witnessed.
The epics will even better set the time,
So now listen and learn from me.
"Hear about the might of this pharmacist's strong remedy,
Caesar, donor of fearless freedom,
[30] Hear, Nero, for they enclose merry calmness."
You learned that Andromachus lived by the time of Nero
And that Nero was more ancient than Jesus.
Therefore you have learned that Galen came later than Nero
From remembering that the epics of Andromachus
Were written prior to Galen. So you can fill in the blanks.

12.2 CONCERNING PALAMEDES INVENTING THE ALPHABET. AND TZETZES’ PROOF THAT LETTERS EXISTED EVEN BEFORE PALAMEDES AND CADMUS (STORY 398)

I have talked against the common belief which is alleged among all
That Palamedes invented the alphabet.
So everybody says that Palamedes invented it.
But not the whole twenty-four letters and marks,
[40] But only sixteen of them; which exactly you alone will learn.
We will right away cite which are their names
And who were the ones that invented them.
They say that sixteen were introduced by Palamedes.
The three aspirated ones, theta, phi, and chi,
Are said to be invented by Cadmus from Miletus.
Not the Phoenician from Tyros by the same name, who lived in Thebes.
As for the inventor of the three doubles, zeta, xi and psi,
They claim it was Epicharmus from Syracuse.
The two prolonged ones eta and omega, are said to
[50] Be established by Simonides,
Either that Samian who lived in Amorgos,
Or the son of Leoprepes the Ceian, I don't know.
It seems to me they overlooked the fact that Simonides
Is name common among many people, not just one's.

Thus, the sixteen letters and marks
Were invented by Palamedes according to some.
The other eight by the three men I talked about,
Cadmus, Epicharmus and Simonides.

But the twenty four letters and marks
[60] Conjoined together in one body first appeared -
I was the first to find – among the Samians,
Introduced by a scholar named Callistratus,
Initially using sixteen of the letters
And then using overall nineteen elements,
And kept expanding the alphabet up to the twenty-four.

Thus, for the invention of the letters others credit Palamedes,
Others that Phoenician mentor of Achilles,
And others cite other ones, but the most say Cadmus,
Being prior to all the rest, was the one to do it.
[70] I made these errors myself, persuaded by what was said,
Being myself occupied with other things and studies,
Thinking that they were the ancient technicians of writing
I did not conduct Tzetzes' unique investigations
In which always the truth emerges from chaos.

But in Tzetzes research it is now shown
That neither Palamedes was the one to invent the letters,
Nor Phoenix before him, not even Cadmus before them.
Because before Palamedes and Phoenix, Homer talks
About Proetus in the voice of Bellerophon
[80] "To slay him he forbear, for his soul had awe of that;
But he sent him to Lycia, and gave him baneful tokens,
Graving in a folded tablet many signs and deadly,
And bade him show these to his own wife's father, that he might be slain."
So you know that there were letters before Palamedes
And even before Phoenix, from the poems of Homer,
By the time of the Trojan war.
And from Bellerophon Hippolochus was born,
And from Hippolochus Glaucus, the friend of Diomedes.
Thus we proved them to be wrong, those who claim
[90] Either Palamedes or Phoenix was the inventor of the alphabet.

All of you that claim that Cadmus invented the letters,
Learn now that you lie, Tzetzes says,
The uneducated and unknowing, the poor in words
Who is in no position to put people to the proof.
Neither those liars nor the truth-speaking ones
Even if he years ago happened to earn six thousand
And then six hundred and by the time less yet.
[100] About this Cadmus Tzetzes says
That he initially came to Greece from Phoenice
And consulted the oracle about his sister Europe
The oracle offered the following divination
That he will have Greek acquaintances and language.
And let's assume that I'll be lenient and forgive that.
The message to Cadmus was then given in the Phoenician language
And was then translated into Greek.
Then again you will be in error. There were divinations and letters
Even before Cadmus, and in Greek language, for that matter.
[110] But will the oracle's message itself fully expose the error?
So listen the oracular response that was given to Cadmus:
"Say the word Cadmus son of Agenor
Awake before dawn, leave the divine city of Pythos and come here
Wearing a worn-out mantle, with the hunting spear in your hands."
And other things about the response, one needs to know,
And everything else one may want to learn about it.
If I am able to recite something by heart, I will definitely try,
But I'll not write everything, to spare the paper.
Thus we've shown them liars already with these glorious hints
[120] All those talking about the originators of the letters
Palamedes, Phoenix, Cadmus and all the others.
About them I also spoke foolishly once, being persuaded,
As I am in everything else that I have not inquired
With flawless reasoning and in Tzetzes own way.

12.3 CONCERNING THE YEARS OF METON THE ASTRONOMER, THE SON OF PAUSANIAS (STORY 399)

Meton was an Athenian, son of Pausanias.
He was alive during the 87th Olympiad;
An excellent astronomer performing above all others.
He was said to be the first among all other astronomers.
He wrote on everything, another source of misconceptions,
[130] The Enneadecaeteris and other works.
What is said about him is also inaccurate.
Let's examine this first and then everything else.
Pay attention to the reproofs that Tzetzes presents
With which he has shown many times that they've erred.
He says that Atlas was the first to become an astronomer
Around the times of Osiris, Noah, Dionysus,
When also a Heracles, an Egyptian in origin, lived.
He learned the science of the stars from Atlas.
Let that be the same old Atlas
[140] Who was among the Greeks, the Libyan astronomer
From whom the Greek Heracles acquired the knowledge.
Weren't they prior to Meton?
Haven't they both written on astronomy?
Even if we let them go for not writing about these people,
The great Orpheus, who was concurrent with Heracles,
Had written Ephemeridae and Dodecaiteridae
And on other topics; Which again, rigorously, proves them wrong.
And Orpheus begins the Ephemeridae thusly:
"You learned everything, prophetic Musaeus, but even you are driven
[150] By anger, which is called after the moon, to sing as is your due
I tell you to lightly blow through thine midriff"

And the beginning of Dodecaeteridae is like this:
"Hither I am now with my ears open to clear hearings
Attentive to all order assigned by God
To a single night, and to a single day, all the same".

But even if we leave Orpheus aside, if they prefer so,
Wasn't the wise Homer among the astronomers?
Hasn't he written in thousands of passages about these things,
Saying exactly the words I will now recite?
[160] "Therein he wrought the earth, therein the heavens therein the sea ...
And therein all the constellations where with heaven is crowned,
The Pleiades, and the Hyades and the mighty Orion".

Hesiod who was prior to Homer,
Or concurrent according to others, or even posterior,
But according to Tzetzes' own calculations
A bit later, about four-hundred years.
Hasn't he written a book about the stars, the beginning of which I don't know?
And in the middle of the book these poems can be found?
"There is Faesyle, Coronis, and Cleeia with the beautiful wreath
[170] And the charming Phaeo and Eudora with her flowing robe
The Nymphs that are called Hyades among human races."
And how much he writes on astronomy in his Works and Days.
How come then Meton invent astronomy before them all?
Before the ancient Atlas, the prior to the other,
Who came 46 generations later
While Atlas the earlier, the one prior to Heracles,
Was only three generations past him, how can they be concurrent?
And how can he also be seen as his mentor?

And Orpheus was concurrent to Heracles
[180] A hundred years earlier than the Trojan War.
As Orpheus himself tells me in his Lithica
That he lived short after Helenus.
And Homer comes one generation later.
According to Dionysius, the man who traced circles,
He was concurrent to the battle between the two armies
The one from Thebes and one of Greeks, for the sake of Helen.
Diodorus again agrees with Dionysius,
And thousand others, together with whom Tzetzes also,
Who has heard also that Orpheus
[190] Lived a bit earlier than the war of Troy.

When the descent of the Heraclids occurred.
And during the first Olympiad after the descent
The year was 328.
And during the eleventh Olympiad
Hesiod apparently was at his peak,
374 years later
Than Homer, minus two months.
[200] Thus much was he posterior to Homer. And let Homer
Not being coeval to the two armies, the Theban and the Trojan,
But rather say he was concurrent to the Heraclids descent.
If you locate Homer around these two events,
And add another one hundred and fifty years,
Then Hesiod should have lived even more earlier.

Hearing that Hesiod was concurrent to Homer
I rather think of Homer from Phocea the son of Euphron;
Or the Byzantine, the son of Andromachus,
The child of the two poets, Andromachus and Myro.

[210] By that much then is Hesiod posterior to Homer,
But prior to Meton by many years,
About 316, minus eight months.
How is it then possible Meton who lived later than all of them
To be considered the first to write on astronomy?
Everyone suggesting this speaks foolishly.

“He was the best among astronomers
Observing the hours rigorously, keeping records of the stars”,
With which he even talked about the end of the world.
But even the life of a long-lived man is too short,
[220] To suffice for counting – if one sees fit to count
In how many thousand years will the world reach its end.
This joyful, beautiful world,
Which, anyway, will terminate when the seven planets
All align to the house of the Aquarius, together with Saturn.
This is what Meton the son of Pausanias said.

The wise men then made a proverb out of it,
Calling the years after Meton
That is to say more concisely: since his time,
The uneducated scum, the foolish-speaking calculating ones,
[230] The very same who ruined the art of the scholar
Not attending to the books, where the wealth of knowledge lies
But feeding on the reeking dunghill as if it was nectar,
(Because swine don't want to have the angels food)
Thus writing nonsense and enjoying patter.
I now spend my pleasant and sweet days sitting
To be abroad in imbros which is not Jiber-jaber
And, friends, my five enemies are alive.
The sleep, the smoke, and other nonsensical things.
The uneducated scum, the dunghill eaters,
[240] When asked by the children who study with them
What is the Meton cycle and all,
Because they hate the diphthongs and the triphthongs
And the mid vowels and all grammar rules whatsoever,
As well as the reading of any book,
They respond to the little kids
Whatever occurs to their savage soul; And the kids, misled,
Write down those savages sermons in books,
Creating as much dung as the livestock of Augeas,
About Meton and many others all the same.
[250] And even though wise men can be briefly confused,
From these barbarians out comes filth, full with stink.

But I now have written on Meton's cycle
And I have written metrically the history of the world,
In skilful iambic meter, which I even left imperfect,
Seeing that people resent skill,
While adoring anything savage. Awe, the ultimate disaster.
Now we will conclude the lines about Meton.
Diodorus and Ephoros and all chroniclers
Who excel among the rest
[260] Were quite tentative about which civilization was earlier
The Greek or the barbarians'
But I, having shown rigorously that barbarians were earlier
I address these very words to Diodorus.

Greeks, of whom I already wrote, and the kin of the Trojans
I have shown to be posterior to barbarians.
And, Diodorus, therefore dares to say
That the Egyptians and Phoenicians were not barbarians,
Those who resisted to start off discussions for years
Whereas myself, finding myself in great doubt
[270] I am in need of Archimedes' machines
And the nerves of Psamtik even more,
When discussing the Chaldean kin,
As well as the breed of the Egyptians.
There is a lot of debate about them both, and it agitates reactions
Regarding the antiquity of them.
And they called me in as a judge, and I have to reckon.
But only because it is difficult and distressing
To speak the truth and think correctly;
As they did not consult none of the straightforward exhibits
[280] They believe what seems plausible and
They calculate the times of Meton
By years that one cannot count on both hands,
As if he was certainly the first who wrote on stars,
And observing the hours and recording the stars,
He predicted the whole creation will decay
When the seven wandering stars
Will run together into the house of the cold and destructive Saturn,
But no man will live as long
[290] As the number of years they speak of.
Similarly now, about Egyptians and Chaldeans,
About any meaningful system of kins
That can be defended against criticism,
They invent immeasurable years.
And they come up with estimations of their own choosing.
That was all we had to say about Meton's cycle.

12.4 CONCERNING HOW IKETERIA IS DIFFERENT FROM IKESIA, AS WELL AS AITEIN AND AITEISTHAI (STORY 400)

Iketeria is used when someone performs entreaties
Bearing a statue in his hands, or branches or candles
Or even a paper were the entreaty is written
[300] While ikesia is plainly pleading, in words.

What follows is the difference between aiteisthai and aitein.
Aitein is “asking for”, mostly used in cases of things not given back
Such as a gift or a loan, which are not recurring.
But aiteisthai is used for recurring things
We don't say aito for fire, nor the rest, prefer aitoumai.

12.5 CONCERNING THE SAD LIFE OF HAPPY PEOPLE (STORY 401)

There is nothing sad about the lives of the happy ones
Since if there was anything sad, they would not be happy.
Instead of that, I don't want a bittersweet life
Let's say more loosely, begging,
[310] I don't want to have a sad life and be a happy man
Euripides as well says this in his drama Medea
"Let not happen this to me, a sad happy life
Nor bliss that would be a gash to my mind".

12.6 CONCERNING VASANOS AND THE GOLD FROM COLOPHON (STORY 402)

Vasanos is a black stone used to scrutiny a piece of gold
And colophon is the gold originating from an Asian mountain
In Colophon, that is the name of this mountain of Asia,
Excellent gold is found, better than any found in all Greek lands.
Hence colophon is used to imply anything that is the best of its kind.

12.7 CONCERNING PIRITHOUS AND THESEUS (STORY 403)

The full story of Pirithous and Theseus
[320] Was written for you before in greater length.
It is the eighth passage in the second table.

12.8 THE STORY ABOUT SILVER FROM ALYBE AND GOLD FROM INDIA, EGYPT AND ANTS, THREE STORIES IN ONE (STORY 404)

Alybe is a town that produces excellent silver
As the golden Homer has said, in Boeotia
"From far away, Alybe, the birthplace of silver"
But Alybas is a name of Metapontum, a town in Italy.
And even if the Colophon gold bests all Greek ones
The Egyptian gold is even better
It is found not only in the form of sand and rubs
But also chunks of the size of peas.

[330] The Indian ant can bear all of them.
There are gold-finding ants, big like foxes
Which keep piles of gold in their pits
The Indians then take sacks and dromedary camels
Who have young foals which they abandon.
They lead the camel there alone
Travelling by night and repelling the griffins.
When they fill up their sacks and lead the camels back home
They leave, chased by said ants.
But the camels, who long to see their foals,
[340] Run even more intensely and elude them.

12.9 STORY ABOUT THE WOODEN TABLETS IN THE AGORA (STORY 405)

Before paper was invented the lawmakers
Used to write on matriciae, which are wooden tablets
And they hang those in the centre of the market place
As the prefects now do with the goods for sale.

Then Aristarchus, a secretary of Ptolemy
Was the first to argue to sent letters to Rome in paper.
And later the secretary of Attalus, supposedly inspired by this,
Came up with the papers from parchment.

12.10 CONCERNING WRITING WHAT PERTAINS TO PSYCHE ON GOLDEN TRIANGULAR TABLETS (STORY 406)

Axons were square, and curbae triangular.
[350] And axons contained the laws pertaining to private matters
And curbae the ones pertaining to the public
Such as the authorities, the army generals and religious festivals
And this is how the public ones were, more or less:
Even though axons were still made of wood
Curbae were of bronze, rather than wood
And were invented by Korybantes hence they were named curbae.
Theopompos wrote that it stems from their piteousness
Because they stand tall and look upwards.

12.11 HOW THE HELLANODICES BROKE THE OLYMPIC LAW ONLY FOR ARISTOPATIRA. AND WHO THE HELLANODICES WERE (STORY 407)

You have the full story of Aristopatira
[360] Written for you in length in my previous book of stories
You will find it in passage twenty three.
Now learn well who were the Hellanodices
I think the Hellanodices were the ones once arranging
The festivals of Olympia and the respective games.
The Olympic games were a spectacle attended by all Greeks.
The supervisors of the decisions relevant to these games
Were all called Hellanodice, as I said.
As Hellanodice served men from Amphictyons
Aetolians above all and also Elians
[370] There were Aetolians Hellanodice such as
The great Heracles who was lifted above the humans
Left Oxylos the Aetolian to attend to the bookkeeping
Directing and judging everything about the game.
Thus happened that Aetolians had a claim on this authority.

12.12 HOW THE LACEDAEMONIANS BROKE THE RULE ABOUT “DROPPING ONE'S SHIELD” SOLELY FOR BRASIDAS SAKE (STORY 408)

Whoever drops their shield or deserts their post should be executed
That was the law among Lacedaemonians, set I think by Lycurgus.
Due to this law the mother of some Damatris
Who had fled his division killed her own son herself.
Thus for him this epigraph was written
[380] "Damatris who broke our laws was executed by his own mother
The Lacedaemonian from Lacedaemonia"
Thus the Laconian law was to execute the deserters
And all craven men. But in the case of Brasidas
The opposite happened, which I have to tell.

About Amphipolis or Sphacteria
The opponents were developed across the land
Brasidas then had promised the governor
That he would brandish his trireme up to the half of its length
Into the land, dashing the enemy together.
[390] But during the bloodbath and the cuttings of swords
Because he fainted and fell on his side
His shield fell from his shoulder and was washed into the sea.
The Lacedaemonians not only they did not execute this man
But they also rewarded him with wreaths and prizes.

12.13 CONCERNING THE WINGED MYTHICAL MEN, DAEDALUS, PERSEUS, BOREAS, BELLEROPHON (STORY 409)

The myth about Daedalus and Icarus
Says that they crafted wooden wings and fled from Crete and Minos
And that Daedalus had skilfully used the wings
And he arrived safe in Camiros a town in Sicily.
Icarus though did not use the wings well
[400] And fell into the sea and died
Which is still hence called the Icarian sea.

That is what the myths say. But the truth is the following:
Daedalus having been disfavoured by Minos, not slightly
Having been an accomplice of Pasiphae, Minos’ wife,
To her Eros, the general, to the Taurus, and her intercourse with him
They fled together with his son Icarus in boats.
And because they were both in boats the rows were like wings.
And because Daedalus had a good ride he reached well in Sicily,
But Icarus wrecked his boat due to nausea and drowned,
[410] They said that Daedalus flew skilfully
And Icarus did not handle the wings well
And fell and drowned into the sea, as I said.

Similar to those, they say also Perseus was winged
Also because he accomplished gloriously his labours
With a trireme whose rows were seen as wings.
And they say he acquired the sandals of Hermes
Because he was fast both in the feet and the words.

And Pegasus was the steed of Bellerophon
Which the myths depict as bearing wings,
[420] With which he laboriously earned his trophies.
It was a towed trireme, happening to have wing rows
And sailed through the waters that sprung from the sea.
But are you going to say, Tzetzes, how he did ascend to the sky
Whence he fell and became blind?
So hear about this and learn exactly what happened.
While he boasted because of the trophies and
And the other pleasures he gained, he was carried by the typhoon
Higher than the clouds in the sky.
But his luck changed and he went through bad times
[430] And he fell down under due to cruel mishaps.
He was deprived by his two eyes, namely his beloved children.
For Isandrus was murdered at war with Solyme.
His daughter after she was given in marriage and while pregnant
Was hit by a disease who killed her. These were the fall of the steed.
Blindness stands for the loss of his children,
Or even the infatuation of the nerves due to his mourning.
That is why he wandered in the wilderness.
For it is the mind, according to Epicharmus, that sees and hears,
And all the rest is blind. So much about this issue.

[440] Finally the sons of Boreas the king of Thrace
Who took the names Zetes and Calais
It is said that they flew with their hair, that is their graceful curls
And boasting about them they were very uplifted.

12.14 CONCERNING LOOKING DOWN THE SUN'S SPHERE, PASSING BY MARS' AND DRIVING BY JUPITER'S (STORY 410)

They say that the heavenly spheres are eight, and the zones
The one that lacks stars and planets, and the seven of the planets,
Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, the Sun, Venus
Hermes and the moon, the lowest of all.
Thus the number of the spheres is eight.
Proclus the philosopher says they are nine, I think
[450] Because he counts the Earth among the stars, as others do also.

12.15 CONCERNING PYTHAGORAS SPENDING FIVE MONTHS NEAR PHALARIS (STORY 411)

Phalaris, that tyrant of Akragas
In Tzetzes opinion the “justest and wisest in existence”
Originated from Astypalea, a region of Samos
He was the son of Leodamas and husband of Erythea
The father of somebody named Paurolas.
What happened to him, I have narrated elsewhere.
You will find everything documented in length
In this book, passage thirty one.
So Phalaris being bitter, thinking everything was futile
[460] Showed that glory is to come for the chatterer.
To prove that, he kept with him for five months
The great philosopher Pythagoras
Who waited for a particular day to come.

12.16 ON EPAMINONDAS BOASTING ABOUT HIS VICTORIES IN LEUCTRA AND MANTINEIA (STORY 412)

Epaminondas was a general of Thebes with great authority
Who was passionately mourned by the Thebans when he died.
Epaminondas, they say, you die, with you dies Thebes
Having left no living children, no breed from your own kin.
And with his dying words he responded
"Thebans, I don't die childless, but blessed with children
[470] Because I leave behind my two daughters
The victory at Leuctra and the one in Mantineia".

12.17 STORY ABOUT WHERE THE “STONE IN THE THROAT” COMES FROM. THE STONE THAT PAUSANIAS MOTHER CARRIED (STORY 413)

After Pausanias was disgraced acquiring the Persian customs
And delivering to the Persians everything about Greece,
And being certain we would be executed for all these,
He sought asylum in the temple. Then everybody hesitated
On what is to be done with him. Take him out or not?
Pausanias mother lifted a rock
And placed it in the temple's door-way.
Laconians hearing that, walled up the temple.
[480] Pausanias, risking death by famine,
Gave up. He cut a short segment of a beam
From the roof and trying to get to a higher place he died.
Now because when one laughs alone at some stupidity
Pretends to put a stone in his mouth so that he makes no sound,
Tzetzes who hates all hypocrites and mischievous men
Says this stone stands for
The rock I just said Pausanias mother placed at the temple.
That is, his mouth should also be shut,
And thusly he should be left to live miserably.

12.18 “BUT IF YOU ARE NOT ASHAMED OF THE MORTAL BREEDS, THEN RESPECT THE EVER-TENDING FLAME OF THE SUN, WHICH WILL HAVE TO FEED THIS UNCOVERED BURDEN” (STORY 414)

[490] This is something that Sophocles somewhere says about Oedipus
After he had blinded himself with his own hands.
If the mankind is at all ashamed
Respect then the sun, and hide a man like him
And don't let him appear in plain sight
For he is a pollution for the nation and the homeland.

12.19 HOW XERXES WAS PLEASED WITH HIS UNCOUNTABLE ARMY AND HIS EYES FILLED WITH TEARS (STORY 415)

This story you have in full length
In my first book passage thirty two.

12.20 ON THERAMENES' NATURE (STORY 416)

Theramenes was a student of Euripides
Devious, knavish, and always switching sides,
[500] Hence he was officially called cothornos.
Cothorn was a type of shoe
That could fit both in the right and the left feet,
Of both men and women, equally well.
He had authorities by the time of the thirty tyrants
From time to time he agitated them against the Athenians
And at times he did the same to Athenians against the tyrants,
Being at the same time a friend and foe to both sides.

12.21 CONCERNING WHY HE WHO IS BORN OF THE FOURTH MONTH SUFFERS OTHER PEOPLE'S TROUBLES (STORY 417)

They say Heracles was born on the fourth month
And that is why he suffered so much in his life
[510] Working the labours following the orders of Eurystheus
Hence a proverb was established
That is said with respect to other's troubles.

12.22 CONCERNING WHY OLD MEN SAY HE WHO HAS NO DEMON BUYS A LITTLE PIG (STORY 418)

To the muse of the crossroads, some myth says
Someone, having no demon, he bought a pig.

12.23 CONCERNING THE LACONIANS BREVITY OF SPEECH AND HOW DID THEY COPY AIKA (STORY 419)

About the Laconian briefness of speech and the word aika
I have written in the fourth story of this book.

12.24 CONCERNING EUROTAS THE RIVER, AND THE MILITARY UNIT LOCHOS AND THE CITY OF SPARTA (STORY 420)

Eurotas is a river in the land of the Laconians
Named after an ancient Laconian
Lochos can stand for the ambush, for anything concealed
[520] But also is a unit of men in the military
This lochos is also called a line and dekania
Consisting of eight or ten men
Which is the best arrangement and stronger than all other units.
Some units have up to twelve and sixteen men
When the number of the army is big enough.
Sparta finally can mean the rope, but also the city
The city of Sparta in the land of Argives.

12.25 ON SPEAKING CLEARLY, EVEN WITH FEW WORDS (STORY 421)

Homer brings in Antenor in the third book
Talking to Menelaus about Helen.
[530] "Menelaus in truth spoke fluently, with few words,
But very clearly, seeing he was not a man of lengthy speech".

12.26 CONCERNING THE PHRASE “I THINK ABOUT THE SYMMORIA AND THE TRITTYS” (STORY 422)

Phyle is a one-tenth fraction of a city
And in particular, the city of Athens. For it had ten kins,
Initially, even though they later became sixteen and twelve
Aeschines writes that the kin is the one-tenth.
Trittis was one-third of a kin. And symmoria
Was the number of sixty bodies, and no more,
As Demosthenes writes somewhere talking about taxation-groups.
Hence one has to bring together twenty taxation-groups
[540] Of which each one should have sixty bodies.
Try and find all the exact details on taxation-groups.
Thus this is the definition, strictly, of phyle, trittis and symmoria
But we now use trittis and symmoria
For smaller gatherings of people, more loosely.

12.27 ON DASHING OUT THE LAST DROPS OF WINE (STORY 423)

What is propelakismos, and what paroinia,
Latage and cottabus, and eolokrasia,
I wrote in length before. You turn and find those
In this book, passage eighty five.

12.28 CONCERNING THE STRICT MEANING OF ANEPSIOI (STORY 424)

In the fiftieth passage of this book
[550] You will find nephews and cousins
And yidous, and yionous and thygatridous
And even anepsiadous. Learn everything concisely on them in that passage.

12.29 WHAT IS CRESPHEGETON (STORY 425)

A crooked place of refugee, from where it is hard to tear one away
From the Cretan labyrinth was named cresphegeton.

12.30 CONCERNING THE RULE OF POLYKLEITOS (STORY 426)

The rule of Polykleitos was written earlier
See passage one hundred and ninety one.

12.31 CONCERNING THE STATUES OF PHIDIAS AND THE HORSE THAT MICON DREW (STORY 427)

Right after the story of Polykleitos there is the one of Phidias
So we will now say the story of Micon instead of that.
Micon, or according to others Polygnotus, was a painter
[560] Who has drawn a horse in the Stoa Poikile
But he has overdrawn the eyelashes on the lower eyelid
And just because of this he was disgraced among everyone.
All the rest was so accurately crafted
That not even Momos could find something to put his finger on.

12.32 ON THE GLORIOUS, BEAUTIFUL, CONCISE AND PLAUSIBLE (STORY 428)

Four are the virtues of rhetorical speech, as it is being said
By Isocrates the orator and Alcidamas
And Theodectes together with Minucian
And along with them Dionysius from Halicarnassus,
[570] Philostratus and a thousand other orators.
Clarity, concise magnificence, plausibility
Together with the beauty of the rhetorical figures.
Empedocles above all, the great philosopher
Says that obscurity bears black fruit,
And Sophocles somewhere says that anger has a black face.
But everybody says prudence has a gleaming face
And Aeschines somewhere says that obscurity is perishable.

They also say in this wise about Demosthenes
That he once held his head too high when given a speech to Philip
[580] With an overly obscure and perishable prologue.
These are the virtues of speech according to the wise men
Clarity, magnificence, brevity and plausibility.
Leaving magnificence aside, Aphthonius says
Clarity, brevity, plausibility and Hellenism.
And Tzetzes says Hellenism and the strict usage of words
Are the instruments in the reserve of the clear speaker
No different from clarity, as he thinks.
And if other things were included, they were redundant
If clear things were included, that was adding Hellenism.

12.33 CONCERNING HERMES AND THE MOULDS IN THE MARKETPLACE (STORY 429)

[590] Hermes was the son of Maia, but it also stands for reason,
As well as all men statues and the piles of stones.
Hermes is also the translator and the scholar
It is also a cast or pitch one can find in the market
Which is of use to jewellers who imprint on it animals
And then pour on it the silver or the gold.
But the foot of the bed ermis, that is spelled with iota.

12.34 ON THE STATUE OF AMORGE (STORY 430)

Amorge is, I think, the oil not yet fermented
Orge among Ionians is the clay and the tar as well.
Hence orgasai is called the softening of the clay.
[600] We will thus say that amorge is the new, unfermented oil.
During the fermentation the sediment forms, that is the clay or orge.
The unfermented oil is like clay, useful in fastening
As in the verb apto, from which derives ammorge
And it is written with a double mu, according to the general rule.
But among Ionians it is written with one mu and psili.

12.35 CONCERNING WHAT HERMES ASSEMBLED IN A MUCH-LOVED CAVE (STORY 431)

Orpheus in his teaching in Lithica somewhere says
Lauding wisdom, words and the habit of attending to books.
"He who is ordered by his conscious heart
To enter the beloved cave of Hermes
[610] Where he has assembled of all kinds of goods with his own hands
Immediately providing him with great advantage,
And returns home evading tears and woe."
Thus naming the books as the cave of Hermes.

12.36 CONCERNING THE FARMER WHO OFFERED WATER TO ARTAXERXES IN HIS CUPPED HANDS (STORY 432)

Artaxerxes the king of Persia when he came to authority
He toured through some farming fields.
The farmer there, because he was grateful to him
When he saw the king approaching
And having nothing available to welcome him
He cupped his hands and he drew off water
[620] From a nearby river and brought it to him.
The king admiring the man's benevolence
He accepted it happily and drank with pleasure,
Even though he didn't need water, nor was thirsty at the time.

12.37 CONCERNING WHERE THE WORD ORRODEIN COMES FROM (STORY 433)

The word orrodein means to be afraid of
From the tail of the pigeon also called the os sacrum
Which trembles when the pigeon is held by fear
Either because the tail is the part of the body, also called taurus,
That tends to sweat when one is terrified
Or better, because of the terror of the horses
[630] Which when they are afraid condense the tail between their legs.
Or from oro, to rush forward and deo, to bind
(Because one is paralysed when held back by fear)
Or even from oro, seeing, and deo.
(Because when terrified the vision is also paralysed).
The Aeolians, who tend to use psili and double rho in words
Similarly write this with psili and double rho.

12.38 WHO ARE THE ASCLEPIADES (STORY 434)

Asclepiades are called in the strict sense
Those who descended from Asclepius'
But now it refers more loosely to all medicine men.

12.39 STORY ABOUT FAULOS WHO ALLEGEDLY JUMPED TOO FAR (STORY 435)

[640] Some Faulos from Croton was a champion in pentathlon
Having won in wrestling and boxing, discus and running
And otherwise in how winning writes off ones debts.
Now learn this line related to jump and throw
"Six time fifty feet jumped Faulos
And pitched the quoit to a hundred and five left off lenders".

12.40 CONCERNING PERSEUS, THE SONS OF BOREAS AND BELLEROPHON, BEETLES AND SCARABS (THE FORMER HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ALREADY, THE LATTER NOT) (STORY 436)

About Perseus earlier and Boreas' children
And Bellerophon I have written sufficiently.
Listen now about the scarabs and the beetles.
Greece was suffering due to the wars among Greeks
With the battles between the Athenians and the Laconians.
Aristophanes who was a comedian at the time
[650] Was also a skilful orator. He saw Athenians
Were not persuaded at all by those advocating peace
But by the warlike and the loudest.
Being himself a passionate lover of peace
He let aside the effort to advise them openly,
Since they refused to comply, and tried another way.
Employing a skilful method, as he should
He sweetened the message with playful comedy
[660] And he wrote on peace and many other things,
Lysistrata, Acharnians and other comedies,
All-wisely advising with efficient position
And similarly undertaking a very skilful declamation.
Instead of saying that it is not right to fight with our neighbours
Listen how he sweetens the message with fictions and words,
Alleviating the anger and most easily accomplishing everything:

He brings in the farmers frustrated by the perpetual wars
And yearning after their fields
The groves and the grapes and all the other fruit,
[670] Longing to find a way to make peace. And since this was not possible on earth
They considered to lead her down from the sky.
After they found a scarab, the dung-eating animal
They first put him in a stable, as if he was the new Pegasus.
They provided two servants to attend to it,
And they fattened it with human excrements,
Probably the most moist of toddlers and infants.
Then the scarab, having feasted like that
Flies up to the sky together with a servant
Who spotted, airborne, a man easing himself on the ground
[680] "Watch out, man", he shouts, "dig, hide them"
And rinse them with perfume, for the beetle will
Smell his favourite odour and he will lead down to them.

Having reached the skies he finds the din of battle
Threatening doom upon mankind, very seriously.
After they find a cave walled up with rocks
They dig into it and find Peace,
A beautiful maiden, young, and fattened
The servant seeing her buns being of good size
He overly admires her good condition,
[690] Supposedly to juxtapose Peace to the thinness of the battle
Thus having found her they led her back to earth.

Now you learned how skilfully he joked and excellently advised
The great comedian and orator, without openly advising,
That they should end the war and choose peace.
You will also find in every chapter of this book
What is natural, legitimate and right at the same time
Profitable and possible, glorious and effective.

And often times he achieves this in a single chapter.
Thus they become real rhetorical speeches, like Demosthenes'
[700] Whose speeches about Olynthus appeal to the profitable
According to others the legitimate, and others yet the just
That he develops in two, three, four or more chapters.

12.41 ON THE WINGS OF DAEDALUS AND ICARUS (STORY 437)

About Daedalus and Icarus you will find my account
Right here five pages back
Also in passage nineteen of my previous book
About Minos' bull which causes me to proclaim
I wrote back there all these about Minos in length.

12.42 CONCERNING THE EAGLES' OFFSPRING (STORY 438)

The young of the eagles, just like the other vultures
Are born from eggs, which are conceived
[710] By intercourse between male and female
And when the young are born the eagle trains them.
He makes them stand towards the sun beams
And if they look steadily towards the sun
He judges them to be his genuine breed, he keeps them and feeds them.
But if they don't he thrusts them out of the nest.
Then Fene, the compassionate vulture takes them and feeds them.

The crocodile does the same as the eagles.
I wrote about this in my iambic chronicles:
"He makes eggs and it seems as if he expects eagerly.
[720] As soon as their shell cracks
The beast judges the offspring
If immediately the young captures a bug
A mosquito, a fly, or something of the locust
He judges it not to be a bastard
And he feeds them to maintain his breed.
But if he sees that it is lazy and stands still
He kills it immediately, as he thinks it is bastard."
The same holds for eagles and their eggs.

12.43 CONCERNING FEMALE VULTURES CONCEIVING WIND-EGGS (STORY 439)

Gypai, the vultures, are said to reproduce inconsiderately
[730] Having breasts and milk and all.
But I think, just as I consider the kin of tigers as all-masculine
I also think the kin of vultures all are females.
For five days they fly with their bottoms against the wind
And they conceive wind-eggs.
They give birth one hundred and twenty days later.
And another hundred and twenty yet, until they set
The young free from their shells.
Then, after another 120 days
They feed the offspring until it is ready to fly alone.
[740] You now know of vultures, the female conceiving wind-eggs.
If a vulture appears in a dream it stands for one year
As I explained to you in detail, following the Egyptians.

12.44 CONCERNING THEION – WITHOUT FIRE, AND WHAT ELSE IS CALLED THEION (STORY 440)

Theion you should clearly think that it means sulphur
But it also means incense, thunder,
And everything bewildering, as well as the stars.
The soul and the angels are also called theion.

Now this is the reason incense is called theion:
It is thought to come and go as the immortals breathe.
And theion is also sulphur because it resembles thunder,
[750] As the thunder gives out an intense smell like sulphur's.
I had myself experienced the thunder's bitter smell.
I had no idea about it until recently.
What happened terrified me hilariously beyond reason.
I was heading towards the city of Trianon
When I saw a thunderbolt heading towards my right side
I thought that I would lose my hair and my shoulder
[760] And I neither could see anything in my right.
I was expecting my shoulder, thunder-stroke to fall off
But if I survived the hit I was expecting.
I hardly survived the smell of the thunder.
The thunder finally missed my shoulder and hit a rock.
The smell that came out from the crack was such
That evading the hit I almost died from the smell.
There was a well-seated mule nearby
That was so terrified it broke free from its yoke.
[770] Thus the smell of thunders I bitterly have known.

Theion is also a name for the thunder
For it is considered divine fire, produced by the clouds collision
Not from woods, oil and the such.

Everything worth seeing and amazing is also called theion
And the stars from theo, to see
Or for theo, the one meaning to run
Thus the soul and the angels are called theion
Either from seeing, perceiving and knowing everything,
[780] Or due to being ever-moving, from theo, to run.

12.45 STORY SAYING “IF HE WANTS TO CURE ME, NOBODY ELSE” (STORY 441)

Homer presents the Cyclops in the Odyssey
Saying to Ulysses after he blinded him:
"Ulysses, I am the son of Neptune,
If he wants to cure me, nobody else."

12.46 CONCERNING MOVING AROUND ALL EARTH AND WOOD (STORY 442)

After the war against Persians in Marathon
An oracular response was given to one of the Athenians
His name though has eluded my memory.
And the response was to move all wood and all stones.
He did exactly this, and moving around everything
[790] He became very rich, as the Persians rewarded him.

12.47 STORY ABOUT THE GARMENTS OF THE SEA (STORY 443)

Eima is a military garment of the navy
Which is called kavades from a Persian named Cavas
Enyalios is a military god
According to some, Ares himself, the child of Enyo or Hera.
For others, he is a son of Ares, for others yet, his assistant.
Arrianos though is somebody else, who was slain by Mars.

12.48 CONCERNING WHAT YPOULON IS, AND WHY IT IS CALLED SO, AND HOW MANY MEANINGS OULON HAS (STORY 444)

Ypoulon is called the knavish and crooked
From the wound that externally seems to heal
But inside is full of reeking pain, devouring.

[800] Oulon among the olden means four things:
Healthy, whole, disastrous and curly.
But Tzetzes has added another two to these old meanings.
The part of the body which we call oulon
And everything soft alike. He can also cite usage
Of its meaning as part of the body from Aeschylus.
And from Homer, the usage of “soft”:
"You sucked out from the gums the nutritious milk”.
"When she had filled it well with tunics, and cloaks to keep off the wind, and woollen rugs."

12.49 CONCERNING KERDALEON AND WHY IT IS CALLED SO (STORY 445)

From kerdos, profit, stems kerdaleon, everything profitable
[810] Or alternatively from the fox, which we also call kerdo,
Because it is the most knavish among the animals.

12.50 CONCERNING MEGAERA AND WHO IS SHE (STORY 446)

Megaera is the ill-will and the malign influence
From a demon Megaera, which is most vicious.

12.51 CONCERNING VASKANIA, ERINYES, ALASTORES AND TELCHINES (STORY 447)

You should consider all vaskania as damage inflicted through the eyes
Travelling with the light and the act of staring.
Because for many the eye is capable of causing harm.

Among the Greeks Erinyes were three demons
Tisiphone, Megaera and Alecto
And the etymologists say that they were named so
[820] For dwelling inside the era
Or for concluding the ara that is the grudges;
Therefore the “ri” syllable should be spelled with eta
From the “eri” particle and nysso Tzetzes says,
For being always awake, or wakening others.
Then truly it should be Eridonyes and hence yet Erinnys
For being match-makers for quarrels, or nymphs of discord
Or rather for piercing the fleece and provoking strife
Hence the iota should also be lengthened.

From tiein, to punish, the phoneis, the murderers, stems Tisiphone
[830] Megaera was called so due to viciously megairein
And Alecto for being aliktos in revenge.

Alastores are those supervising the sea and the damages
According to Tzetzes though, those who tame the damages in the seas
From teiro, toros, to tame, just as in fero, foros.

Telchines were some of the vicious demons
Aktaios, Megalesius, Ormenos and Lycos
Minon and with them Nicon, perhaps others as well.
Due to them having stings and being rough as the echinoid
Tzetzes derives their names teliochinous
[840] That is “having a poisonous telos like an echinoid”.

12.52 ABOUT THE SAYING “I AM KIMERIAN AND SUNLESS” (STORY 448)

The Kimerians are a nation according to some,
Living near Scythean Taurus and Maeotis lake
Who live without light and don't see the sun.
They live in darkness and in the dark night
For forty days. And their period of darkness
Is when the sun rises from the Sagittarius,
When the sun rises from the Cancer
They enjoy sunlight for another forty days.

But others speak all falsely about this.
[850] Homer places the Kimerians near Italy
And says that they have darkness at all times
And this has caused great ordeal among the physicists.
But Kmerioi is a place and a municipal
Of some Italian nation. Their residences
Are build in canyons and places full of forests
And thus the sunlight never reaches them.
There is supposedly a lake there as well, Siaha
Whither the leaves from the trees sink.

12.53 ABOUT PALAMNAEOS AND THE ALITIRIOS DEMON (STORY 449)

Everyone who commits murder with his own palms and hands
[860] Or works on and builds something, is called palamnaeos.
Now learn about the word alitirios.
Once a great plague had broken out in Athens
The loudest ones from the kin of robbers
Were observing carefully the sound of windmills
In order to break into the salt-cellars and steal the wheat.
Hence we call all the vicious with the name alitirioi.

But Tzetzes, just as paustirios stems from pauw
He similarly says alitirios stems from alito.
That is, the one whose acts are sinister and unjust.
[870] Daemon for some means the expert
Daeemon is also a word for an expert, as we said
But daemon is the murderous, who bears knife, according to Tzetzes.
This in turn stems from daizo.

12.54 CONCERNING THE AMAZONS, AND THE WOMEN OF THE SCYTHIANS AND SAUROMATES (STORY 450)

The warlike nation of Amazons
Homer shall show me that was neglected by all scholars.
"Thirdly he slew the Amazons, women the peers of men"

And Scythian women in all occasions suffered together with their men
Both in their battles and their works and everything else,
And we could even say that all their works were achieved by women.

[880] Also the women of Sauromates I think
Were offspring of Scythians and Amazons,
As Dionysius also says in his geographical description:
"They descendent from the attractiveness of the Amazons
Who mated with Sauromates men"
Sauromates are then Scythians, who you will call perantadas.
I will omit writing that story in length
For I fear greatly, that the scarcity of paper
Will make as leave aside lots of stories,
Hence I judged it was better to mention all stories briefly,
[890] Than to expand overly on a few stories
Thus we have to think that less is better.

12.55 ABOUT THE SAKIAN AND THE MASSAGETIAN WOMEN (STORY 451)

Now learn that Sakes was a nation which invented the sakos
And their women also fought on the side of their men
This was also said by Ctesias, and thousand others
"The women of the Sakians truly fight from the horseback
And again, there was a Stryalios, a Persian man,
Whom a Sakian woman dropped off his horse".

Massagetas stands for the Abkhazians.
[900] Their women also in the more recent years
Were anticipating the battles as much as their men
And learn this very well, and make no mistake,
That Abasgoe, Alanoe, Sakae, Dakoe
Ros, Sauromatae and Scythians proper,
Every kin that lives near the north wind's blow
They are all called Scythians collectively.

12.56 ON SEMIRAMIS BEING CONSIDERED A MONSTER AMONG ASSYRIANS (STORY 452)

The whole story of Semiramis
We wrote in passage two hundred and seventy five
Now we will talk about the Assyrians, Syrians and their lands
[910] And how Semiramis waged wars.
All people of Mesopotamia are called Assyrians
But Syrians are only those living between Casius and Lebanon.
Their cities are Antioch, Gaza, Elais
Marafis, Askalon, Tripolis and Iope,
Azotos and many others.
Now you know Assyrians, and among them Syrians as well.
But everybody calls Sinope Assyria
And according to some etymologists it has the same boundaries as Syria
[920] And the land of Assyrians they call Assyria
Together with Syria but not the hollow part of it.

As for the way Semiramis conquered Bactra
You know from her extended story.
And how she used knavery to repel Staurobates
The Indian who once bore a wreath, after she disguised oxen as elephants.
When he learned this from a deserter,
That she sew together the skins of dark-coloured oxen
To create the images of elephants,
And that they had rigged them on camels,
[930] They counter-attacked projecting spears
And wounded Semiramis severely in the arm,
An event that averted the outcome of the battle.

12.56 CONCERNING THE STORY OF THE HUNTRESS ATALANTA, AMONG GREEKS (STORY 453)

Among the Greeks there have been two people names Atalanta
The first was an Arcadian woman and a hunter, the mother of Parthenopeus.
The other was a wrestler and among the fastest runners.
Who raced against Peleas in wrestling,
After she beats everyone in the speed of her running
She loses to Melanion, who threw golden apples,
[940] And she, while trying to gather them all, was defeated thusly.
The fact made her fall madly in love with her
As it happened with Hero and Leander, as Musaeus wrote,
And she lost to Hippomedon, which Musaeus says not.
As Theocritus writes exactly,
So now listen word by word what Theocritus says:
"Hippomenes when he was certain he wanted to marry this maiden
Taking apples into his hands, he won in running.
Atalanta as soon as she saw this, she was enraged, and she fell deeply in love.

12.57 TO MYSIANS AMAZEMENT, HIERA WAS FIGHTING (STORY 454)

I have told you already that there were two Mysians.
[950] Now you will learn about those Mysians that reside by Olympus
Hiera was the wife of Telephus
Who fought in a chariot and all the others fought with her.

12.58 AND ARTEMISIA OF CARIA, THE HALICARNASSIAN WIFE OF MAUSOLUS (STORY 455)

One person called Artemisia was from Halicarnassus
The wife of Mausolus from Caria, and also his sister
Who fought on the side of Xerxes in the naval battle,
When her Persian boat inclined, and she was on the run
She sank a Phoenician boat with all his crew with her dash.
After the Athenians who were after her saw that
Decided she was an ally and quit the chase
[960] But Xerxes thought the ship was the enemy's
And after he sank it he saw it was Artemisia
And cried out tremendously on the Aegaleo mountain.
Men became women in this particular battle.
And the women, in turn, became men through their glorious acts.
So this Artemisia, of Mausolus, was one
The other was of Ekatomnos.
They both were brave generals, and valiant women.

12.59 CONCERNING THE NATURE OF NOVELTIES, AS XERXES THE BARBARIAN THOUGHT (STORY 456)

You will find the whole history of Xerxes in length
In my first book passage thirty two.

12.60 CONCERNING THE LIFE AND WORKS OF ARCHIMEDES, WHO IS STILL EFFICIENT WITH HIS BOOKS (STORY 457)

[970] The story of Archimedes you will find in passage thirty five
Some people say Archimedes wrote one book
But I have read several books of his
Based on which Heron, Anthemius and every engineer
Wrote on hydraulics and pneumatics,
About all types of lifting-screws and ship's logs.
Archimedes had written many books of this kind.
But I hear that he wrote only one
[980] Which makes me suffer, so I will write about this.
Archimedes had a wife named Thecla and a son named “Paul”
When he found an adulterer sleeping with Thecla
He was surprised with what he saw and wondered to himself.
Whether that man was himself or someone else.
Standing there thinking and talking to himself about this
He saw, “there!, little Paul, the child, is in the house.
And this is the child's mother by the name of Thecla.
Therefore I am me. But then who am I?”
That is what I say myself regarding those books of Archimedes.
[990] There, there are his children, the little “Pauls”!
And Thecla, their mother, that is the authorship of those texts.
And those saying that Archimedes only wrote one book
They are respectively me. Then who am I?
And what about the books I read? Did I dream about them?
I also judged that the texts had the Doric character
And every singular trait of Archimedes writing.

12.61 CONCERNING CASTOR AND POLYDEUCES (STORY 458)

The story of Castor and Polydeuces
Can be found in my first book passage forty eight.