6. At Pelusium is the holy statue of Zeus of Mount Casius; in it the god is represented so young that he seems more like Apollo. He has one hand stretched out and holds a pomegranate in it, and this pomegranate has a mystical signification. After adoring the deity and asking for an oracle about Clinias and Satyrus (we were told that the god was willing to give prophetic answers) we went round the temple, and near the postern door we saw a double picture, signed by the artist; it had been painted by Evanthes, and represented first Andromeda, then Prometheus, both of them in chains — and this was the reason, I suppose, why the artist had associated the two subjects. In other respects too the two works were akin. In both, the chains were attached to a rock, and in both, beasts were the torturers (Lit. “executioners.”) — his from the air, and hers from the sea; their deliverers were Argives of the same (Perseus was the great-grandfather of Hercules. The former’s son, Electryon, was the father of the latter’s mother, Alcmena.) family, his Hercules and hers Perseus; the one shooting Zeus’s eagle and the other contending with the sea-beast of Posidon. The former was represented aiming with his arrow on land, the latter suspended in the air on his wings.
[1] Ὀρώρυκται μὲν οὖν εἰς τὸ μέτρον τῆς κόρης ἡ πέτρα: θέλει δὲ τὸ ὄρυγμα λέγειν, ὅτι μή τις αὐτὸ πεποίηκε χείρ, ἀλλ̓ ἔστιν αὐτόχθον: ἐτράχυνε γὰρ τοῦ λίθου τὸν κόλπον ὁ γραφεύς, ὡς ἔτεκεν αὐτὸν ἡ γῆ. [2] Ἡ δὲ ἐνίδρυται τῇ σκέπῃ, καὶ ἔοικε τὸ θέαμα, εἰ μὲν εἰς τὸ κάλλος ἀπίδοις, ἀγάλματι καινῷ, εἰ δὲ εἰς τὰ δεσμὰ καὶ τὸ κῆτος, αὐτοσχεδίῳ τάφῳ. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν προσώπων αὐτῆς κάλλος κεκέρασται καὶ δέος. [3] Ἐν μὲν γὰρ ταῖς παρειαῖς τὸ δέος κάθηται, ἐκ δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἀνθεῖ τὸ κάλλος. Ἀλλ̓ οὔτε τῶν παρειῶν τὸ ὠχρὸν τέλεον ἀφοίνικτον ἦν, ἠρέμα δὲ τῷ ἐρεύθει βέβαπται, οὔτε τὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἄνθος ἐστὶν ἀμέριμνον, ἀλλ̓ ἔοικε τοῖς ἄρτι μαραινομένοις ἴοις. Οὕτως αὐτὴν ἐκόσμησεν ὁ ζωγράφος εὐμόρφῳ φόβῳ. [4] Τὰς δὲ χεῖρας εἰς τὴν πέτραν ἐξεπέτασεν, ἄγχει δὲ ἄνω δεσμὸς ἑκατέραν συνάπτων τῇ πέτρᾳ: οἱ καρποὶ δὲ ὥσπερ ἀμπέλου βότρυες κρέμανται. Καὶ αἱ μὲν ὠλέναι τῆς κόρης ἄκρατον ἔχουσαι τὸ λευκὸν εἰς τὸ πελιδνὸν μετέβαλον, ἐοίκασι δὲ ἀποθνήσκειν οἱ δάκτυλοι. [5] Δέδεται μὲν οὖν οὕτω τὸν θάνατον ἐκδεχομένη, ἕστηκε δὲ νυμφικῶς ἐστολισμένη, ὥσπερ Ἀιδωνεῖ νύμφη κεκοσμημένη: ποδήρης ὁ χιτών, λευκὸς ὁ χιτών: τὸ ὕφασμα λεπτόν, ἀραχνίων ἐοικὸς πλοκῇ, οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν προβατείων τριχῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐρίων τῶν λεπτοΐνων, οἷον ἀπὸ δένδρων ἕλκουσαι νήματα γυναῖκες ὑφαίνουσιν Ἰνδαί. [6] Τὸ δὲ κῆτος ἀντιπρόσωπον τῆς κόρης κάτωθεν ἀναβαῖνον ἀνοίγει τὴν θάλατταν: καὶ τὸ μὲν πολὺ τοῦ σώματος περιβέβληται τῷ κύματι, μόνῃ δὲ τῇ κεφαλῇ τὴν θάλατταν ἀποδύεται. Ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἅλμην τοῦ κύματος ἡ τῶν νώτων ἐγέγραπτο φαινομένη σκιά, τὰ τῶν φολίδων ἐπάρματα, τὰ τῶν αὐχένων κυρτώματα, ἡ λοφιὰ τῶν ἀκανθῶν, οἱ τῆς οὐρᾶς ἑλιγμοί. [7] Γένυς πολλὴ καὶ μακρά: ἀνέῳκτο δὲ πᾶσα μέχρι τῆς τῶν ὤμων συμβολῆς, καὶ εὐθὺς ἡ γαστήρ. Μεταξὺ δὲ τοῦ κήτους καὶ τῆς κόρης ὁ Περσεὺς ἐγέγραπτο καταβαίνων ἐξ ἀέρος: καταβαίνει δ̓ ἐπὶ τὸ θηρίον γυμνὸς τὸ πᾶν: χλαμὺς ἀμφὶ τοῖς ὤμοις μόνον καὶ πέδιλον περὶ τὼ πόδε πλησίον τοῦ πτεροῦ: πῖλος δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν καλύπτει: ὁ πῖλος δὲ ὑπῃνίττετο τὴν Ἄιδος κυνέην: τῇ λαιᾷ τὴν τῆς Γοργοῦς κεφαλὴν κρατεῖ καὶ προβέβληται δίκην ἀσπίδος. [8] Ἡ δέ ἐστι φοβερὰ κἀν τοῖς χρώμασι: τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξεπέτασεν, ἔφριξε τὰς τρίχας τῶν κροτάφων, ἤγειρε τοὺς δράκοντας: οὕτως ἀπειλεῖ κἀν τῇ γραφῇ. Ὅπλον μὲν τοῦτο τῇ λαιᾷ τῷ Περσεῖ: ὥπλισται δὲ καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν διφυεῖ σιδήρῳ εἰς δρέπανον καὶ ξίφος ἐσχισμένῳ. [9] Ἄρχεται μὲν γὰρ ἡ κώπη κάτωθεν ἀμφοῖν ἐκ μιᾶς, καί ἐστιν ἐφ̓ ἡμίσει τοῦ σιδήρου ξίφος, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἀπορραγὲν τὸ μὲν ὀξύνεται, τὸ δὲ ἐπικάμπτεται. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀπωξυσμένον μένει ξίφος, ὡς ἤρξατο, τὸ δὲ καμπτόμενον δρέπανον γίνεται, ἵνα μιᾷ πληγῇ τὸ μὲν ἐρείδῃ τὴν σφαγήν, τὸ δὲ κρατῇ τὴν τομήν. Τὸ μὲν τῆς Ἀνδρομέδας δρᾶμα τοῦτο.
7. In the picture of Andromeda, there was a hollow in the rock of about the size of the maiden, but it was of a sort that would indicate that it was not artificially made, but natural, for the painter had made its surface rough, just as nature had fashioned it. She rested within its embrace, and while, if one gazed upon her beauty, one would compare her to a newly carven statue, anybody seeing the chains and the approaching beast would think the rock a hastily contrived tomb. Upon her face was a mixture of beauty and fear; fear sat upon her cheeks, and beauty shone from her eyes. Even so, the pallor of her cheeks was not utterly without colour, but there was a gentle flush upon them; nor was the flower of beauty in her eyes without care, but was rather to be compared to violets that have just begun to fade. The painter had depicted her with the terror that did but enhance her charms. Her hands were stretched out on the surface of the rock, a bond holding both of them fast to it above her head, so that her fingers hung like bunches of fruit from a vine; the arms of spotless white verging towards the livid, and the fingers white with the pallor of death. Thus was she bound, waiting for her fate, adorned for a bridal as one who was to be the bride of the King of Death. She wore a tunic reaching to her feet, and white, of the thinnest woof like a spider’s web; not like that woven of the hair of sheep but of the produce of that winged insect which Indian women spin into thread from trees and weave into silk. (Such seems to be the meaning of this obscure sentence. The silk-worm, from the fact that it afterwards changes into a moth or butterfly, is represented as itself winged.) The beast is just coming up and opening the surface of the water, facing the maiden; most of its body was still enveloped in the waves, its head alone being above the surface, but beneath the foam the outline of its back was represented as apparent, as well as its knotted scales, its arched neck, its pointed prickles, and its twisting tail. Its mouth was wide and deep, and gaped open to where its neck joined its shoulders, and straightway there is the belly. Painted between the beast and the maiden was Perseus descending from the air; he was advancing to attack the monster, quite naked except for his mantle thrown about his shoulders, his winged sandals upon his feet, and a cap on his head, which signified Pluto’s helmet. (The “cap of darkness,” which made the wearer invisible. It was a gift from the Cyclopes to Pluto at the same time that they
forged Zeus his thunderbolts.) In his left hand he bore the Gorgon’s head and held it before him like a shield; it was frightful, even in the artist’s representation, with its staring, protruding eyes, its bristling hair about the temples, its waving snakes; even as painted it seemed to threaten evil. That was the armament of Perseus’s left hand, in his right he held an iron weapon of double shape, something between a sickle and a sword; it began below as one, but half way up it split; half was pointed, and that half remained a sword, as it began; the other half was curved, thus becoming like a sickle, so that in a single blow one might with one portion kill by piercing and with the other by cutting. (The description of the weapon is not easy to understand, but it was presumably not unlike a mediaeval halberd. Perseus is traditionally represented with a falcatus ensis, a ferrum curvo hamo instructum; cp. Ovid, Met iv. 720, 727.) So much for the episode of Andromeda.
[1] Ἑξῆς δὲ τὸ τοῦ Προμηθέως ἐγεγόνει. Δέδεται μὲν ὁ Προμηθεὺς σιδήρῳ καὶ πέτρᾳ, ὥπλισται δὲ Ἡρακλῆς τόξῳ καὶ δόρατι. Ὄρνις ἐς τὴν τοῦ Προμηθέως γαστέρα τρυφᾷ: ἕστηκε γὰρ αὐτὴν ἀνοίγων, [2] ἤδη μὲν ἀνεῳγμένην: ἀλλὰ τὸ ῥάμφος ἐς τὸ ὄρυγμα καθεῖται, καὶ ἔοικε διορύττειν τὸ τραῦμα καὶ ζητεῖν τὸ ἧπαρ: τὸ δὲ ἐκφαίνεται τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἀνέῳξεν ὁ γραφεὺς τὸ διόρυγμα τοῦ τραύματος: ἐπερείδει δὲ τῷ μηρῷ τῷ τοῦ Προμηθέως τὰς τῶν ὀνύχων ἀκμάς. [3] Ὁ δὲ ἀλγῶν πάντη συνέσταλται καὶ τὴν πλευρὰν συνέσπασται καὶ τὸν μηρὸν ἐγείρει καθ̓ αὑτοῦ: εἰς γὰρ τὸ ἧπαρ συνάγει τὸν ὄρνιν: ὁ δὲ ἕτερος αὐτῷ τοῖν ποδοῖν τῷ σπασμῷ ὄρθιος ἀντιτείνεται κάτω καὶ εἰς τοὺς δακτύλους ἀποξύνεται. [4] Τὸ δ̓ ἄλλο σχῆμα δείκνυσι τὸν πόνον: κεκύρτωται τὰς ὀφρῦς, συνέσταλται τὸ χεῖλος, φαίνει τοὺς ὀδόντας. Ἠλέησας ἂν ὡς ἀλγοῦσαν καὶ τὴν γραφήν. [5] Ἀναφέρει δὲ λυπούμενον Ἡρακλῆς. Ἕστηκε γὰρ τοξεύων τοῦ Προμηθέως τὸν δήμιον: ἐνήρμοσται τῷ τόξῳ τὸ βέλος, τῇ λαιᾷ προβέβληται τὸ κέρας ὠθῶν, ἐπὶ μαζὸν ἕλκει τὴν δεξιάν, ἕλκων τὸ νεῦρον κεκύρτωται κατόπιν τὸν ἀγκῶνα. [6] Πάντα οὖν ὁμοῦ πτύσσεται, τὸ τόξον, τὸ νεῦρον, ἡ δεξιά. Συνάγεται μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ νεύρου τὸ τόξον, διπλοῦται δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς χειρὸς τὸ νεῦρον, [7] κλίνεται δὲ ἐπὶ μαζὸν ἡ χείρ. Ὁ δὲ Προμηθεὺς μεστός ἐστιν ἐλπίδος ἅμα καὶ φόβου: πῇ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ ἕλκος, πῇ δὲ εἰς τὸν Ἡρακλέα βλέπει, καὶ θέλει μὲν αὐτὸν ὅλοις τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν, ἕλκει δὲ τὸ ἥμισυ τοῦ βλέμματος ὁ πόνος.
8. Next to it was that of Prometheus. Rock and iron form his bonds, and Hercules is armed with bow and spear. The bird was feasting upon his belly, and standing just ripping it open, or rather had already ripped it open, its beak dipped into the wound, and it seemed to be digging about in it, looking for the sufferer’s liver, which could just be seen, by the depth to which the painter had depicted the wound as being open, and it was pressing the sharp points of its claws into Prometheus’ thigh. He, in agony, is all drawn up, twisting himself on to his side, and lifts up his thigh; but to his own harm, for this does but bring the bird nearer to his liver. The other leg is stretched out straight right down to his feet, and the tension of it can be seen actually into the toes. His torture is shewn by the rest of the representation of him; his eyebrows are arched, his lips drawn up, his teeth shewn; you cannot help feeling pity even for what you know is only a picture. Then Hercules is coming to bring help to him in his distress; he stands just about to shoot at his torturer; the arrow is fitted to the bow; with his left hand he is drawing it to its full extent, while he holds his right hand back against his breast, and as he draws the string his arm, viewed from behind, appears somewhat foreshortened. All seem in motion at once — the bow, the string, the arrow, the hand which holds it; the bow is bent by means of the string, the string is made to run double by means of the hand, the hand is at rest upon the hero’s breast. The countenance of Prometheus has a mixed look of hope and fear; he looks partly at his wound, partly at Hercules; he would like to fix all his gaze upon the hero, but his agony robs him of half of the sight of him. (Because the other half is distracted by the wound, from which he cannot wholly turn his eyes away.)
[1] Ἐνδιατρίψαντες οὖν ἡμερῶν δύο καὶ ἀναλαβόντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐκ τῶν κακῶν, ναῦν Αἰγυπτίαν μισθωσάμενοι （εἴχομεν δὲ ὀλίγον χρυσίον, ὅπερ ἐτύχομεν ἐζωσμένοι） διὰ τοῦ Νείλου τὸν πλοῦν ἐπ̓ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἐποιούμεθα, μάλιστα μὲν ἐκεῖ διεγνωκότες ποιήσασθαι τὴν διατριβὴν καὶ νομίζοντες ταύτῃ τάχα τοὺς φίλους εὑρήσειν προσενεχθέντας. [2] Ἐπεὶ δ̓ ἐγενόμεθα κατά τινα πόλιν, ἐξαίφνης βοῆς ἀκούομεν πολλῆς. Καὶ ὁ ναύτης εἰπὼν ‘ὁ βουκόλος’ μεταστρέφει τὴν ναῦν, ὡς ἐπαναπλεύσων εἰς τοὐπίσω, καὶ ἅμα πλήρης ἦν ἡ γῆ φοβερῶν καὶ ἀγρίων ἀνθρώπων: μεγάλοι μὲν πάντες, μέλανες δὲ τὴν χρόαν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν Ἰνδῶν τὴν ἄκρατον, ἀλλ̓ οἷος ἂν γένοιτο νόθος Αἰθίοψ, ψιλοὶ τὰς κεφαλάς, λεπτοὶ τοὺς πόδας, τὸ σῶμα παχεῖς: ἐβαρβάριζον δὲ πάντες. [3] Καὶ ὁ κυβερνήτης εἰπὼν ‘ἀπολώλαμεν’ ἔστησε τὴν ναῦν, ὁ γὰρ ποταμὸς ταύτῃ στενώτατος: καὶ ἐπεμβάντες τῶν λῃστῶν τέσσαρες πάντα μὲν τὰ ἐν τῇ νηὶ λαμβάνουσι, καὶ τὸ χρυσίον ἡμῶν ἀποφέρουσιν, ἡμᾶς δὲ δήσαντες καὶ κατακλείσαντες εἴς τι δωμάτιον ἀπηλλάττοντο, φύλακας ἡμῖν καταλιπόντες, ὡς εἰς τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἄξοντες ἡμᾶς ὡς τὸν βασιλέα: τούτῳ γὰρ ἐκάλουν τῷ ὀνόματι τὸν λῃστὴν τὸν μείζονα. Καὶ ἦν ὁδὸς ἡμερῶν δύο, ὡς παρὰ τῶν σὺν ἡμῖν ἑαλωκότων ἠκούσαμεν.
9. Having waited therefore two days and somewhat refreshed ourselves after our troubles, we hired an Egyptian boat (we had just a little money which we happened to have kept in our belts), and started by the Nile towards Alexandria; there we purposed to make some stay and thought it was just possible that we might find that some of our shipwrecked friends had arrived there. We had arrived at a certain town, when suddenly we heard a great shouting. “The herdsmen,” cried the skipper, and tried to put the boat about and sail back; but already the place was full of terrifying savage men, all tall, dark-coloured (yet not absolutely black like an Indian, but more like a bastard Ethiopian), with shaven heads, small feet, and gross bodies: all spoke an outlandish jargon. “We are done for,” cried the helmsman, and brought the boat to a standstill, for the river is there very narrow; and four of the robbers boarded her, took all that there was in her, and snatched our money from us; then tying us up they shut us into a little hut and went away, setting a guard ove
r us, with the intention of taking us before their king the following day: “king” is the name they gave to the robber-chief, and it would be a journey of two days, as we learned from those who had been made prisoners along with us.
[1] Ἐπεὶ οὖν νὺξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐκείμεθα, ὡς ἦμεν, δεδεμένοι καὶ ἐκάθευδον οἱ φρουροί, τότε, ὡς ἐξὸν ἤδη, κλάειν ἦρχον τὴν Λευκίππην. Καὶ δὴ λογισάμενος ὅσων αὐτῇ γέγονα κακῶν αἴτιος, κωκύσας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ βύθιον, τῷ δὲ νῷ κλέψας τοῦ κωκυτοῦ τὸν ψόφον ‘ὦ θεοὶ καὶ δαίμονες’ ἔφην ‘εἴπερ ἐστέ που καὶ ἀκούετε, τί τηλικοῦτον ἠδικήκαμεν, ὡς ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις τοσούτῳ πλήθει βαπτισθῆναι κακῶν; [2] Νῦν δὲ καὶ παραδεδώκατε ἡμᾶς λῃσταῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, ἵνα μηδὲ ἐλέου τύχωμεν. Λῃστὴν γὰρ Ἕλληνα καὶ φωνὴ κατέκλασε, καὶ δέησις ἐμάλαξεν: ὁ γὰρ λόγος πολλάκις τὸν ἔλεον προξενεῖ: τῷ γὰρ πονοῦντι τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ γλῶττα πρὸς ἱκετηρίαν διακονουμένη τῆς τῶν ἀκουόντων ψυχῆς ἡμεροῖ τὸ θυμούμενον. [3] Νῦν δὲ ποίᾳ μὲν φωνῇ δεηθῶμεν; τίνας δὲ λόγους προτείνωμεν; Κἂν Σειρήνων τις γένηται πιθανώτερος, ὁ ἀνδροφόνος οὐκ ἀκούει. Μόνοις ἱκετεύειν με δεῖ τοῖς νεύμασι καὶ τὴν δέησιν δηλοῦν ταῖς χειρονομίαις. Ὢ τῶν ἀτυχημάτων: ἤδη τὸν θρῆνον ὀρχήσομαι. [4] Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐμά, κἂν ὑπερβολὴν ἔχῃ συμφορᾶς, ἧττον ἀλγῶ, τὰ δὲ σά, Λευκίππη, ποίῳ στόματι θρηνήσω; ποίοις ὄμμασι δακρύσω; Ὦ πιστὴ μὲν πρὸς ἀνάγκην ἔρωτος, χρηστὴ δὲ πρὸς ἐραστὴν δυστυχοῦντα. [5] Ὡς καλά σου τῶν γάμων τὰ κοσμήματα. Θάλαμος μὲν τὸ δεσμωτήριον, εὐνὴ δὲ ἡ γῆ, ὅρμοι δὲ καὶ ψέλια κάλοι καὶ βρόχος, καί σοι νυμφαγωγὸς λῃστὴς παρακαθεύδει, ἀντὶ δὲ ὑμεναίων τίς σοι τὸν θρῆνον ᾄδει. [6] Μάτην σοι, ὦ θάλασσα, τὴν χάριν ὡμολογήσαμεν: μέμφομαί σου τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ: χρηστοτέρα γέγονας πρὸς οὕς ἀπέκτεινας, ἡμᾶς δὲ σώσασα μᾶλλον ἀπέκτεινας. Ἐφθόνησας ἡμῖν ἀλῃστεύτοις ἀποθανεῖν.’
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 59