Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  2. The whole day long then we carried our baggage up and down the ship, running, as it were, a long distance race a thousand times, with the expectation of death ever before our eyes. Nor did it seem far off, for about mid-day or a little after the sun totally disappeared, and we could see one another no better than by moonlight. Lightning flashed from the sky, the heaven bellowed with thunder so that the whole air rang with the din; this was answered from below by the turmoil of the waves, and between sky and sea whistled the noise of contending winds. In this manner the air seemed to be turned into one vast trumpet; the ropes beat against the sail, creaking as they crossed one another, and there was every reason to fear for the broken planks of the ship that the rivets would no longer keep together and that the whole would fall asunder. The wicker bulwarks were actually under water the whole ship round. For much rain fell too, washing over the decks, so we crept under the wattlings as if into a cave, and there we waited, trusting to luck but giving up all hope. Great waves came from every quarter; some from the bows, some dashed against one another at the ship’s stern. The vessel rose first as the wave heaved beneath it, and then sank deep as it retired and sank low down; the billows were now like mountains, now like valleys. More terrifying still were those which struck us athwart from either side. For the water rose up, rolled over the bulwarks, and deluged the whole vessel; even from a distance the wave could be seen lifting its head on high so as almost to touch the clouds, and threatening the ship, as large as [a mountain]; and when one saw it as it approached nearer, one would think that it would swallow it up altogether. It was a fight between wind and water: we could never keep still in one spot owing to the shocks imparted to the vessel. A confused noise of all kinds arose — roaring of waves, whistling of wind, shrieking of women, shouting of men, the calling of the sailors’ orders; all was full of wailing and lamentation. Then the helmsman ordered the jettison of the cargo. No difference was made between gold and silver and the cheapest stuff, but we hurled all alike from the ship’s sides; many of the merchants themselves seized their goods, on which all their hopes were centred, and hastened to pitch them overboard. Now the ship was stripped of all its contents; but the storm was still unabated.

  [1] Τέλος ὁ κυβερνήτης ἀπειπὼν ῥίπτει μὲν τὰ πηδάλια ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν, ἀφίησι δὲ τὸ σκάφος τῇ θαλάσσῃ καὶ εὐτρεπίζει ἤδη τὴν ἐφολκίδα καὶ τοῖς ναύταις ἐμβαίνειν κελεύσας τῆς ἀποβάθρας ἦρχεν: οἱ δὲ εὐθὺς κατὰ πόδας ἐξήλλοντο. [2] Ἔνθα δὴ καὶ τὰ δεινὰ ἦν καὶ ἦν μάχη χειροποίητος. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιβάντες ἤδη τὸν κάλων ἔκοπτον, ὃς συνέδει τὴν ἐφολκίδα τῷ σκάφει: τῶν δὲ πλωτήρων ἕκαστος ἔσπευδον μεταπηδᾶν ἔνθα καὶ τὸν κυβερνήτην ἑωράκεσαν, ἐφείλκοντό τε τὸν κάλων: οἱ δ̓ ἐκ τῆς ἐφολκίδος μεταβαίνειν οὐκ ἐπέτρεπον: [3] εἶχον δὲ καὶ πελέκεις καὶ μαχαίρας, καὶ πατάξειν ἠπείλουν, εἴ τις ἐπιβήσεται: οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῆς νεὼς ὁπλισάμενοι τὸ δυνατόν, ὁ μὲν κώπης παλαιᾶς τρύφος ἀράμενος, ὁ δὲ τῶν τῆς νεὼς σελμάτων, ἠμύνοντο. Θάλασσα γὰρ εἶχε νόμον τὴν βίαν καὶ ἦν ναυμαχίας καινὸς τρόπος. [4] Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἐφολκίδος δέει τοῦ καταδῦναι τῷ τῶν ἐπεμβαινόντων ὄχλῳ πελέκεσι καὶ μαχαίραις τοὺς ἐξαλλομένους ἔπαιον: οἱ δὲ σκυτάλαις καὶ κώπαις ἅμα τῷ πηδήματι τὰς πληγὰς κατέφερον: [5] οἱ δὲ καὶ ἄκρου ψαύοντες τοῦ σκάφους ἐξωλίσθανον: ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ ἐπιβαίνοντες τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐφολκίδος ἤδη διεπάλαιον: φιλίας γὰρ ἢ αἰδοῦς οὐκέτι θεσμὸς ἦν, ἀλλὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἕκαστος σκοπῶν ἀσφαλές, τὸ πρὸς τοὺς ἑτέρους εὔγνωμον οὐκ ἐλογίζετο. Οὕτως οἱ μεγάλοι κίνδυνοι καὶ τοὺς τῆς φιλίας λύουσι νόμους.

  3. At length the helmsman threw up his task. He dropped the steering oars from his hands and left the ship to the mercy of the sea; he then had the jolly-boat got ready, and bidding the sailors follow him, was the first to descend the ladder and enter her. They jumped in close after him, and then was confusion worse confounded and a hand-to-hand fight ensued. They who were already in the boat began to cut the rope which held her to the ship, while all the passengers made preparations to jump where they saw the helmsman holding on to the rope; the boat’s crew objected to this, and, being armed with axes and swords, threatened to attack any who leaped in; many, on the other hand, of those still on the ship armed themselves as best they might, one picking up a piece of an old oar, another taking a fragment of one of the ship’s benches, and so began to defend themselves. At sea might is right, and there now followed a novel kind of sea-fight; those already in the jolly-boat, fearing she would be swamped by the number of those desiring to enter her, struck at them as they jumped with their axes and swords, while the passengers returned the blows as they jumped with planks and oars. Some of them merely touched the edge of the boat and slipped into the sea; some effected their entry and were now struggling with the crew already there. Every law of friendship and pity (αiδώs, Latin pittas. The dutiful affection felt by children to their parents, or between relations generally; or the respect due from a younger to an older man.) disappeared, and each man, regarding only his own safety, utterly disregarded all feelings of kindliness towards his neighbours. Great dangers do away with all bonds, even the most dear.

  [1] Ἔνθα δή τις ἀπὸ τῆς νεὼς νεανίσκος εὔρωστος λαμβάνεται τοῦ κάλω καὶ ἐφέλκεται τὴν ἐφολκίδα, καὶ ἦν ἐγγὺς ἤδη τοῦ σκάφους, ηὐτρεπίζετο δὲ ἕκαστος ὡς εἰ πελάσειε πηδήσων ἐς αὐτήν. [2] Καὶ δύο μὲν ἢ τρεῖς ηὐτύχησαν οὐκ ἀναιμωτί, πολλοὶ δὲ ἀποπηδᾶν πειρώμενοι ἐξεκυλίσθησαν τῆς νεὼς κατὰ τῆς θαλάσσης. Ταχὺ γὰρ τὴν ἐφολκίδα ἀπολύσαντες οἱ ναῦται, πελέκει κόψαντες τὸν κάλων τὸν πλοῦν εἶχον ἔνθα αὐτοὺς ἦγε τὸ πνεῦμα: οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς νεὼς ἐπηρῶντο καταδῦναι τὴν ἐφολκίδα. [3] Τὸ δὲ σκάφος ἐκυβίστα περὶ τοῖς κύμασιν ὀρχούμενον, λανθάνει δὲ προσενεχθὲν ὑφάλῳ πέτρᾳ καὶ ῥήγνυται πᾶν: ἀπωσθείσης δὲ τῆς νεὼς ὁ ἱστὸς ἐπὶ θάτερα πεσὼν τὸ μέν τι κατέκλασε, τὸ δέ τι κατέδυσεν αὐτῆς. [4] Ὁπόσοι μὲν οὖν παραχρῆμα τῆς ἅλμης πιόντες κατεσχέθησαν, οὗτοι μετριωτέραν ὡς ἐν κακοῖς ἔσχον τὴν συμφοράν, οὐκ ἐνδιατρίψαντες τῷ τοῦ θανάτου φόβῳ. [5] Ὁ γὰρ ἐν θαλάττῃ θάνατος βραδὺς προαναιρεῖ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν: ὁ γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸς πελάγους γεμισθεὶς ἀόριστον ἐκτείνει τὸν φόβον, ὡς καὶ διὰ τούτων θάνατον δυστυχεῖν πλείονα: ὅσον γὰρ τῆς θαλάσσης τὸ μέγεθος, τοσοῦτος καὶ ὁ τοῦ θανάτου φόβος. [6] Ἔνιοι δὲ κολυμβᾶν πειρώμενοι, προσραγέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ κύματος τῇ πέτρᾳ διεφθείροντο: πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ ξύλοις ἀπερρ�
�γόσι συμπεσόντες ἐπείροντο δίκην ἰχθύων: οἱ δὲ καὶ ἡμιθνῆτες ἐνήχοντο.

  4. At that point one of the passengers, a sturdy young man, seized the cable and drew up the jolly-boat until it was quite close to the ship’s side, and everybody made ready to jump into it directly it should be close enough. Two or three were successful, though they effected their object not unscathed, and many made the attempt to leap only to fall from the ship into the sea; for the crew cut the rope with an axe, cast the boat off, and set sail wherever the wind was driving them, while the passengers did their best to sink it. Our vessel, after much plunging and tossing upon the waves, drove unexpectedly on to a rock hidden under water, and was utterly broken in pieces; as she slipped off’ the rock the mast fell on one side, breaking up part of her and carrying the rest beneath the water. Those who instantly perished, their lungs full of salt water, experienced the most tolerable fate in our general evil plight, because they were not kept in suspense by the fear of death. For a slow death at sea lets a man suffer all its pangs before the actual moment of dissolution. The eye, satiated with the waste expanse of the waters, prolongs the agony of fear, so that perishing in these circumstances is far more wretched than in any other: the terror of such a death is great in proportion to the size of the ocean. Some tried to swim, and were killed by being dashed by the waves on to the rock: many others fell upon broken pieces of wood and were spitted upon them like fishes; others were swimming about already half dead.

  [1] Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὸ πλοῖον διελύθη, δαίμων τις ἀγαθὸς περιέσωσεν ἡμῖν τῆς πρῴρας μέρος, ἔνθα περικαθίσαντες ἐγώ τε καὶ ἡ Λευκίππη κατὰ ῥοῦν ἐφερόμεθα τῆς θαλάσσης: ὁ δὲ Μενέλαος καὶ ὁ Σάτυρος σὺν ἄλλοις τῶν πλωτήρων ἐπιτυχόντες τοῦ ἱστοῦ καὶ ἐπιπεσόντες ἐνήχοντο. [2] Πλησίον δὲ καὶ τὸν Κλεινίαν ἑωρῶμεν περινηχόμενον τῇ κεραίᾳ καὶ ταύτην ἠκούσαμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν βοήν ‘ἔχου τοῦ ξύλου, Κλειτοφῶν:’ ἅμα δὲ λέγοντα κῦμα ἐπεκάλυπτε κατόπιν: [3] καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐκωκύσαμεν. Κατὰ ταὐτὸ καὶ ἡμῖν ἐπεφέρετο τὸ κῦμα: ἀλλὰ τύχῃ τινὶ πλησίον γενόμενον ἡμῶν κάτωθεν παρατρέχει, ὥστε ὑψούμενον μετέωρον τὸ ξύλον κατὰ τὸν αὐχένα τοῦ κύματος καὶ τὸν Κλεινίαν ἰδεῖν αὖθις. [4] Ἀνοιμώξας οὖν ‘ἐλέησον’ ἔφην ‘δέσποτα Πόσειδον, καὶ σπεῖσαι πρὸς τὰ τῆς ναυαγίας σου λείψανα. Πολλοὺς ἤδη τῷ φόβῳ θανάτους ὑπεμείναμεν: εἰ δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀποκτεῖναι θέλεις, μὴ διαστήσῃς ἡμῶν τὴν τελευτήν: ἓν ἡμᾶς κῦμα καλυψάτω: εἰ δὲ καὶ θηρίων ἡμᾶς βορὰν πέπρωται γενέσθαι, εἷς ἡμᾶς ἰχθὺς ἀναλωσάτω, μία γαστὴρ χωρησάτω, [5] ἵνα καὶ ἐν ἰχθύσι κοινῇ ταφῶμεν.’ Μετὰ μικρὸν δὲ τῆς εὐχῆς τὸ πολὺ τοῦ πνεύματος περιεπέπαυτο, τὸ δὲ ἄγριον ἐστόρεστο τοῦ κύματος. Μεστὴ δὲ ἦν ἡ θάλαττα νεκρῶν σωμάτων. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν ἀμφὶ τὸν Μενέλαον θᾶττον προσάγει τῇ γῇ τὸ κῦμα: καὶ ἦν ταῦτα τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὰ παράλια: κατεῖχον δὲ τότε λῃσταὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐκεῖ χώραν: [6] ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ δείλην ἑσπέραν τύχῃ τινὶ τῷ Πηλουσίῳ προσίσχομεν καὶ ἄσμενοι γῆς λαβόμενοι τοὺς θεοὺς ἀνευφημοῦμεν: εἶτα ὠλοφυρόμεθα τὸν Κλεινίαν καὶ τὸν Σάτυρον, νομίζοντες αὐτοὺς ἀπολωλέναι.

  5. The ship thus broken up, some favouring deity kept whole for us that part of the prow on which Leucippe and I were seated astride, and we floated as the sea carried us. Menelaus and Satyrus, together with some others of the passengers, happened upon the mast, and swam, using it as a support. Close by we saw Clinias swimming with his hands on the yardarm, and we heard him cry; “Keep hold of your piece of wood, Clitophon.” As he spoke, a wave overwhelmed him from behind. We cried out at the sight, and at the same time the wave bore down upon us too; but by good fortune when it came near it only heaved us up and passed by beneath us, and we once again saw the spar lifted up on high on the crest of the billow, with Clinias upon it. “Have-pity,” I wailed and cried, “Lord Poseidon, and make a truce with us, the remnants of your shipwreck. We have already undergone many deaths through fear; if you mean to kill us, do not put off longer our end; let one wave overwhelm us. If our fate is to become food for sea-beasts, let one fish destroy us and one maw swallow us, that even in the fish we may have a common tomb.” It was but a short time after I had uttered this prayer that the wind dropped and the savagery of the waves subsided; the sea was full of the corpses of the dead; and the tide rapidly brought Menelaus and his servants to land. (This land was the coast of Egypt, then wholly infested by robbers.) We, towards evening, chanced to come ashore at Pelusium; in joy at our safe arrival we first gave thanks to the gods and then bewailed Clinias and Satyrus, thinking that they had both perished.

  [1] Ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῷ Πηλουσίῳ Διὸς ἱερὸν ἄγαλμα Κασίου: τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμα νεανίσκος, Ἀπόλλωνι μᾶλλον ἐοικώς: οὕτω γὰρ ἡλικίας εἶχε: προβέβληται δὲ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ ἔχει ῥοιὰν ἐπ̓ αὐτῇ: τῆς δὲ ῥοιᾶς ὁ λόγος μυστικός. [2] Προσευξάμενοι δὴ τῷ θεῷ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Κλεινίου καὶ τοῦ Σατύρου σύμβολον ἐξαιτήσαντες （καὶ γὰρ ἔλεγον μαντικὸν εἶναι τὸν θεόν） περιῄειμεν τὸν νεών. [3] Κατὰ δὲ τὸν ὀπισθόδομον ὁρῶμεν εἰκόνα διπλῆν, καὶ ὁ γραφεὺς ἐπεγέγραπτο: Εὐάνθης μὲν ὁ γραφεύς, ἡ δὲ εἰκὼν Ἀνδρομέδα καὶ Προμηθεύς, δεσμῶται μὲν ἄμφω ‘διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτούς, οἶμαι, εἰς ἓν συνήγαγεν ὁ ζωγράφος’, ἀδελφαὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τύχην αἱ γραφαί. [4] Πέτραι μὲν ἀμφοῖν τὸ δεσμωτήριον, θῆρες δὲ κατ̓ ἀμφοῖν οἱ δήμιοι, τῷ μὲν ἐξ ἀέρος, τῇ δὲ ἐκ θαλάττης: ἐπίκουροι δὲ αὐτοῖς Ἀργεῖοι δύο συγγενεῖς, τῷ μὲν Ἡρακλῆς, τῇ δὲ Περσεύς: ὁ μὲν τοξεύων τὸν ὄρνιν τοῦ Διός, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ κῆτος τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος ἀθλῶν. Ἀλλ̓ ὁ μὲν ἵδρυται τοξαζόμενος ἐν γῇ, ὁ δὲ ἐξ ἀέρος κρέμαται τῷ πτερῷ.