14. Meanwhile the war broke out and the maiden came to live with us, but his knowledge of these facts did not restrain him from his plotting. He was assisted by the following circumstance; an oracle was current among the Byzantines to this effect: —
“There is an island city: they who dwell
Therein are named from trees. It makes as well
An isthmus on the sea, a bay on shore, Where, to Hephaestus’ joy, for evermore Consorts with him Athene, grey-eyed maid.
There let your rites to Hercules be paid.”
Now they had no idea what the oracle meant; but Sostratus, who was, as I said, (A mistake of the writer: we only know (from I. iii.) that Sostratus lived all his life at Byzantium, and sent his wife and daughter to Tyre on the outbreak of hostilities.) one of the generals in the war, spoke as follows: “It is time,” said he, “to send to Tyre and sacrifice to Hercules: the particulars of the oracle all agree with that spot. The god called it ‘named from trees,’ because it is an island belonging to the Phoenicians, and the phoenix-palm is a tree. It is a subject of contention to both land and sea, the sea striving for it in one direction, the land in the other; but it partakes of both, for it is founded in the sea and is yet not disconnected with the shore: there is a narrow strip of land which joins it to the mainland, forming a kind of neck to the island. (Pliny, Natural History, v. 19: “Then followeth the noble city Tyrus, in old time an Island, lying almost 3 quarters of a mile within the deepe sea: but now, by the great travaile and devises wrought by Alexander the Great at the siege thereof, joyned to the firme ground.”) Nor is it rooted to the bottom of the sea, but the water flows beneath it, and also beneath the isthmus, so that it presents the curious spectacle of a city in the sea and an island on land. As for the expression of ‘Hephaestus consorting with Athene,’ the riddling allusion is to the connection of the olive with fire, which are also found in company in our own country. There is there a sacred piece of ground walled in, where the olive grows with its gleaming foliage, and there is also fire in the ground which sends up a great blaze among the branches, the soot of which manures the trees. (Volcanic ground suits the olive, as it does the vine.) This is the affection existing between the fire and the plant, and it may thus be said that Athene flees not from Hephaestus.” Chaerephon, who was a fellow-general with Sostratus of superior rank, was a native of Tyre on his father’s side, and congratulated him on his interpretation. “You have explained the whole oracle admirably,” said he: “but it is not fire only, but water as well, which has properties not unworthy of wonder. I myself have seen some of these miraculous sights: there is, for example, a spring in Sicily which has fire mixed with its waters; if you look down you can see the flame shooting up from beneath, and yet if you touch the water it is as cold as snow: the fire is not put out by the water, nor is the water heated by the fire, but a truce reigns in the spring between the two elements. Then there is a river in Spain which does not seem at first sight different from any other river; but if you wish to hear the water talking, open your ears and wait a little: for if a gentle breeze strikes its eddies, the water thrills like a string: the wind acts as a plectrum upon the water, and the water sings like a lyre. Again, there is in Libya a lake ( — Was Bishop Heber thinking of some such story when he wrote of places “Where Afric’s sunny fountains Roll down their golden sand”? Perhaps he was referring to the colour of the soil alone. This account seems to be taken, with some modifications, from Herodotus iv. 195, who relates how the maidens of the island of Cyrannis, on the east coast of Africa, obtain gold from a lake by means of feathers smeared with pitch. He had also mentioned (iii. 102) that the sand, or soil, of parts of India is gold-bearing.) which may be compared to the soil of India: the Libyan maidens know its secret, that its water contains a store of wealth; this is preserved below as in a treasury, being intermingled with the mud of the lake, which is a very spring of gold. So they smear with pitch the end of a pole and thrust it down beneath the water: thus they open its concealed store-house, the pole being with respect to the gold what the hook is to a fish, for it does the fishing, while the pitch acts as bait; since all the gold which touches it (and nothing else) sticks to it and thus the pitch draws its capture to the land. That is the manner of the gold fisheries in this Libyan stream.”
[1] Ταῦτα εἰπὼν τὴν θυσίαν ἐπὶ τὴν Τύρον ἔπεμπε, καὶ τῇ πόλει συνδοκοῦν. Ὁ οὖν Καλλισθένης διαπράττεται τῶν θεωρῶν εἶς γενέσθαι: καὶ ταχὺ καταπλεύσας εἰς τὴν Τύρον καὶ ἐκμαθὼν τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς οἰκίαν ἐφήδρευε ταῖς γυναιξίν: αἱ δὲ ὀψόμεναι τὴν θυσίαν ἐξῄεσαν: [2] καὶ γὰρ ἦν πολυτελής. Πολλὴ μὲν ἡ τῶν θυμιαμάτων πομπή, πολλὴ δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀνθέων συμπλοκή. Τὰ θυμιάματα κασία καὶ λιβανωτὸς καὶ κρόκος: τὰ ἄνθη νάρκισσος καὶ ῥόδα καὶ μυρρίναι: ἡ δὲ τῶν ἀνθέων ἀναπνοὴ πρὸς τὴν τῶν θυμιαμάτων ἤριζεν ὀδμήν: τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ἀναπεμπόμενον εἰς τὸν ἀέρα τὴν ὀδμὴν ἐκεράννυ, καὶ ἦν ἄνεμος ἡδονῆς. [3] Τὰ δὲ ἱερεῖα πολλὰ μὲν ἦν καὶ ποικίλα, διέπρεπον δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς οἱ τοῦ Νείλου βόες. Βοῦς γὰρ Αἰγύπτιος οὐ τὸ μέγεθος μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν χρόαν εὐτυχεῖ: τὸ μὲν γὰρ μέγεθος πάνυ μέγας, τὸν αὐχένα παχύς, τὸ νῶτον πλατύς, τὴν γαστέρα πολύς, τὸ κέρας οὐχ ὡς ὁ Σικελικὸς εὐτελὴς οὐδ̓ ὡς ὁ Κύπριος δυσειδής, ἀλλ̓ ἐκ τῶν κροτάφων ὄρθιον ἀναβαῖνον, κατὰ μικρὸν ἑκατέρωθεν κυρτούμενον τὰς κορυφὰς συνάγει τοσοῦτον, ὅσον αἱ τῶν κεράτων διεστᾶσιν ἀρχαί: καὶ τὸ θέαμα κυκλουμένης σελήνης ἐστὶν εἰκών: ἡ χρόα δὲ οἵαν Ὅμηρος ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Θρᾳκὸς ἵπποις ἐπαινεῖ. [4] Βαδίζει δὲ ταῦρος ὑψαυχενῶν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐπιδεικνύμενος ὅτι τῶν ἄλλων βοῶν ἐστι βασιλεύς. Εἰ δὲ ὁ μῦθος Εὐρώπης ἀληθής, Αἰγύπτιον βοῦν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐμιμήσατο.
15. After thus speaking, Chaerephon gave his opinion in favour of sending the sacrifice to be performed at Tyre, and the city also agreed. Callisthenes was successful in getting himself appointed one of the envoys, (The θβωρυί were strictly the quasi-sacred messengers sent by Athens to the Delphic Oracle and the great Hellenic games. But in later Greek the word came to be used for any kind of ambassador.) and at once, after arriving at Tyre by sea and finding out where my father lived, laid his snares for the women. They had gone out to see the sacrifice, which was indeed a very sumptuous affair: there was a great variety of different kinds of burnt perfumes, and many different nosegays of flowers; of the former, cinnamon, frankincense, and saffron; of the latter, jonquil, rose, and myrtle; the smell of the flowers competed with the scent of the perfumes, and the breeze as it travelled up into the air mingled the two together, so that it formed a gale of delight. The victims were many in number and various in kind: conspicuous among them were the cattle from the Nile.
For the Egyptian ox is especially favoured, both in bulk and in colouring: he is of very great size, with a brawny neck, a broad back, a great belly, horns neither small like those of the Sicilian cattle, nor ugly like those from Cyprus; but they spring up straight from the forehead, bending outward a little on either side, and their tips are the same distance apart as their roots, giving the appearance of the moon coming to the full: their colour is like that for which Homer so greatly commends the horses of the Thracian. The bull paces with
neck well lifted up, as though he would shew that he was the king of all other cattle. If the story of Europa be true, Zeus put on the appearance of an Egyptian bull.
[1] Ἔτυχεν οὖν ἡ μὲν ἐμὴ μήτηρ τότε μαλακῶς ἔχουσα: σκηψαμένη δὲ καὶ ἡ Λευκίππη νοσεῖν, ἔνδον ὑπέμεινε （συνέκειτο γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐς ταὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν, ὡς ἄν τῶν πολλῶν ἐξιόντων）, ὥστε συνέβη τὴν ἀδελφὴν τὴν ἐμὴν μετὰ τῆς Λευκίππης μητρὸς προελθεῖν. [2] Ὁ δὲ Καλλισθένης τὴν μὲν Λευκίππην οὐχ ἑωρακώς ποτε, τὴν δὲ Καλλιγόνην ἰδὼν τὴν ἐμὴν ἐμὴν ἀδελφήν, νομίσας Λευκίππην εἶναι （ἐγνώρισε γὰρ τοῦ Σωστράτου τὴν γυναῖκα）, πυθόμενος οὐδὲν （ἦν γὰρ ἑαλωκὼς ἐκ τῆς θέας） δείκνυσιν ἑνὶ τῶν οἰκετῶν τὴν κόρην, ὃς ἦν αὐτῷ πιστότατος, καὶ κελεύει λῃστὰς ἐπ̓ αὐτὴν συγκροτῆσαι, καταλέξας τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἁρπαγῆς. Πανήγυρις δὲ ἐπέκειτο, καθ̓ ἣν ἠκηκόει πάσας τὰς παρθένους ἀπαντᾶν ἐπὶ θάλατταν.
16. It so happened that at that time my mother (i.e. his step-mother.) was in delicate health: and Leucippe also pretended that she was ill and remained indoors, for by such means it was arranged by us to contrive to meet, while the others were away: the result of this was my sister went out to the spectacle with Leucippe’s mother alone. Callisthenes, who had never set eyes on Leucippe, when he saw my sister Calligone, thought that she was Leucippe, because he recognized Sostratus’ wife; without asking any questions, for he was carried away by the sight of her, he pointed her out to his most trusty servant, bidding him get together a band of robbers to carry her off, and instructed him how the attempt was to be made: a holiday was near at hand, on which, he had heard, it was customary for all the maidens of the place to come together on the sea-shore.
After giving these instructions, and after performing the sacrifice for which he had formed part of the embassy, he retired.
[1] Ὁ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα εἰπὼν καὶ τὴν θεωρίαν ἀφωσιωμένος ἀπῆλθε: ναῦν δὲ εἶχεν ἰδίαν, τοῦτο προκατασκευάσας οἴκοθεν εἰ τύχοι τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως. Οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι θεωροὶ ἀπέπλευσαν, αὐτὸς δὲ μικρὸν ἀπεσάλευε τῆς γῆς, ἅμα μὲν ὡς ἂν δοκοίη τοῖς πολίταις ἕπεσθαι, ἅμα δὲ ἵνα μὴ πλησίον τῆς Τύρου τοῦ σκάφους ὄντος, κατάφωρος γένοιτο μετὰ τὴν ἁρπαγήν. [2] Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐγένετο κατὰ Σάραπτα κώμην Τυρίων ἐπὶ θαλάττῃ κειμένην, ἐνταῦθα προσπορίζεται λέμβον, δίδωσι δὲ τῷ Ζήνωνι: τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὄνομα τῷ οἰκέτῃ ὃν ἐπὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν παρεσκευάκει. [3] Ὁ δὲ （ἦν γὰρ καὶ ἄλλως εὔρωστος τὸ σῶμα καὶ φύσει πρακτικὸς） ταχὺ μὲν ἐξεῦρε λῃστὰς ἁλιεῖς ἀπὸ τῆς κώμης ἐκείνης καὶ δῆτα ἀπέπλευσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Τύρον. Ἔστι δὲ μικρὸν ἐπίνειον Τυρίων, νησίδιον ἀπέχον ὀλίγον τῆς Τύρου ‘Ῥοδώπιδος αὐτὸ τάφον οἱ Τύριοι λέγουσιν:’ ἔνθα ὁ λέμβος ἐφήδρευε.
17. He had a vessel of his own — he had made all these preparations at home, in case he should succeed in such an attempt: so when the rest of the envoys sailed off, he weighed anchor and rode a little off the land, waiting in order that he might seem to be accompanying his fellow-citizens on their homeward journey, and that after the carrying off of the girl his vessel might not be too close to Tyre and so himself be taken in the act. When he had arrived at Sarepta, a Tyrian village on the sea-board, he acquired a small boat and entrusted it to Zeno; that was the name of the servant in whose charge he had placed the abduction — a fellow of a robust body and the nature of a brigand. Zeno picked up with all speed some fishermen from that village who were really pirates as well, and with them sailed away for Tyre: the boat came to anchor, waiting in ambush, in a little creek in a small island not far from Tyre, which the Tyrians call Rhodope’s Tomb.
[1] Πρὸ δὲ τῆς πανηγύρεως, ἣν ὁ Καλλισθένης προσεδόκα, γίνεται δὴ τὰ τοῦ ἀετοῦ καὶ τῶν μάντεων: καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν παρεσκευαζόμεθα νύκτωρ, ὡς θυσόμενοι τῷ θεῷ. Τούτων δὲ τὸν Ζήνωνα ἐλάνθανεν οὐδέν: ἀλλ̓ ἐπειδὴ καιρὸς ἦν βαθείας ἑσπέρας, ἡμεῖς μὲν προήλθομεν, ὁ δὲ εἵπετο. [2] Ἄρτι δὲ γενομένων ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῷ χείλει τῆς θαλάσσης, ὁ μὲν τὸ συγκείμενον ἀνέτεινε σημεῖον, ὁ δὲ λέμβος ἐξαίφνης προσέπλει, καὶ ἐπεὶ πλησίον ἐγένετο, [3] ἐφάνησαν ἐν αὐτῷ νεανίσκοι δέκα. Ὀκτὼ δὲ ἑτέρους ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔτυχε προλοχίσας, οἳ γυναικείας μὲν εἶχον ἐσθῆτας καὶ τῶν γενείων ἐψίλωντο τὰς τρίχας, ἔφερον δὲ ἕκαστος ὑπὸ κόλπῳ ξίφος, ἐκόμιζον δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ θυσίαν, ὡς ἂν ἥκιστα ὑποπτευθεῖεν: ἡμεῖς δὲ ᾠόμεθα γυναῖκας εἶναι. [4] Ἐπεὶ δὲ συνετίθεμεν τὴν πυράν, ἐξαίφνης βοῶντες συντρέχουσι καὶ τὰς μὲν δᾷδας ἡμῶν ἀποσβεννύουσι, φευγόντων δὲ ἀτάκτως ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκπλήξεως, τὰ ξίφη γυμνώσαντες ἁρπάζουσι τὴν ἀδελφὴν τὴν ἐμὴν καὶ ἐνθέμενοι τῷ σκάφει, [5] ἐπεμβάντες εὐθὺς ὄρνιθος δίκην ἀφίπτανται. Ἡμῶν δὲ οἱ μὲν ἔφευγον οὐδὲν οὔτ̓ εἰδότες οὔτε ἑωρακότες, οἱ δὲ ἅμα τε εἶδον καὶ ἐβόων ‘λῃσταὶ Καλλιγόνην ἄγουσι:’ τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἤδη μέσην ἐπέραινε τὴν θάλασσαν. Ὡς δὲ τοῖς Σαράπτοις προσέσχον, πόρρωθεν ὁ Καλλισθένης τὸ σημεῖον ἰδὼν ὑπηντίασεν ἐπιπλεύσας καὶ δέχεται μὲν τὴν κόρην, πλεῖ δὲ εὐθὺς πελάγιος. [6] Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀνέπνευσα μὲν οὕτω διαλυθέντων μοι τῶν γάμων παραδόξως, ἠχθόμην δ̓ ὅμως ὑπὲρ ἀδελφῆς περιπεσούσης τοιαύτῃ συμφορᾷ.
18. However, the omen of the eagle and the soothsayers happened before the holiday for which Callisthenes was waiting, and for the next day we made the prescribed preparations at night for sacrificing to the god. Nothing of all this escaped Zeno’s notice: when evening was now far advanced, we went forth, and he was following us. Hardly had we arrived at the water’s edge, when he hoisted the preconcerted signal; the boat rapidly sailed toward the shore, and when it had come close, it was apparent that it contained ten youths. They had already secretly posted eight others on land, dressed like women and with their faces closely shaved of all hair; each was wearing under his gown a sword, and they too carried a sacrifice in order to avoid all suspicion: we thought that they were women. No sooner had we raised our pyre, when they suddenly gave a shout, ran all together upon us, and put out our torches; and as we fled, all in disorder from the sudden surprise, they drew their swords, seized my sister, put her aboard the boat, quickly embarked themselves, and were off like a bird. Some of our party were flying, kno
wing and seeing nothing; others did see, and cried out, “Calligone has been carried off by brigands.” Their boat, however, was already far out at sea. When they began to approach Sarepta, Callisthenes observed their signal from a distance; he sailed to meet them, put the girl on board his ship, and quickly sailed for the open sea. I felt a great relief at my wedding being thus all unexpectedly made impossible, and yet at the same time I was of course much distressed at the way this great disaster had befallen my sister.
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 53