25. “What bird is that,” said I, “which is so greatly honoured? And what is this sepulchre that he carries?”
“The bird is called the Phoenix was the answer,” he comes from Ethiopia, and is of about a peacock’s size, but the peacock is inferior to him in beauty of colour. His wings are a mixture of gold and scarlet; he is proud to acknowledge the Sun as his lord, and his head is witness of his allegiance, which is crowned with a magnificent halo — a circular halo is the symbol of the sun. It is of a deep magenta colour, like that of the rose, of great beauty, with spreading rays where the feathers spring. The Ethiopians enjoy his presence during his life-time, the Egyptians at his death; when he dies — and he is subject to death after a long period of years — his son makes a sepulchre for him and carries him to the Nile. He digs out with his beak a ball of myrrh of the sweetest savour and hollows it out in the middle sufficiently to take the body of a bird; the hollow that he has dug out is employed as a coffin for the corpse. He puts the bird in and fits it into the receptacle, and then, after sealing up the cavity with clay, flies to the Nile, carrying with him the result of his labours. An escort of other birds accompanies him, as a bodyguard attends a migrating king, and he never fails to make straight for Heliopolis, the dead bird’s last destination. Then he perches upon a high spot and awaits the coming of the attendants of the god (The Sun — worshipped in Heliopolis, the Sun’s City. Pliny’s account is very similar, except that he makes the dying bird construct his own coffin, and be carried by his offspring to a city of the Sun in the direction of Panchaea (Socotra?), an Arabian spice-island in the Red Sea.); an Egyptian priest goes out, carrying with him a book from the sacred shrine, and assures himself that he is the genuine bird from his likeness to the picture which he possesses. The bird knows that he may be doubted, and displays every part, even the most private, of his body. Afterwards he exhibits the corpse and delivers, as it were, a funeral panegyric on his departed father; then the attendant-priests of the Sun take the dead bird and bury him. It is thus true that during life the Phoenix is an Ethiopian by right of nurture, but at his death he becomes an Egyptian by right of burial.”
BOOK IV.
[1] Ἔδοξεν οὖν τῷ στρατηγῷ μαθόντι τήν τε τῶν ἐναντίων παρασκευὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν συμμάχων ἀναβολὴν εἰς τὴν κώμην ἀναστρέψαι πάλιν, ὅθενπερ ἐξωρμήσαμεν, ἔστ̓ ἂν οἱ σύμμαχοι παραγένωνται: ἐμοὶ δέ τις οἶκος ἀπετέτακτο ἅμα τῇ Λευκίππῃ μικρὸν ἀνωτέρω τῆς τοῦ στρατηγοῦ καταγωγῆς. [2] Καὶ ὡς εἴσω παρῆλθον, περιπτυξάμενος αὐτὴν οἷός τε ἤμην ἀνδρίζεσθαι. Ὡς δ̓ οὐκ ἐπέτρεπε ‘μέχρι πότε’ [3] εἶπον ‘χηρεύομεν τῶν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ὀργίων; οὐχ ὁρᾷς οἷα ἐκ παραλόγου γίνεται, ναυαγία καὶ λῃσταὶ καὶ θυσίαι καὶ σφαγαί; ἀλλ̓ ἕως ἐν γαλήνῃ τῆς τύχης ἐσμέν, ἀποχρησώμεθα τῷ καιρῷ, πρίν τι χαλεπώτερον ἡμᾶς ἐπισχεῖν.’ Ἡ δὲ ‘ἀλλ̓ οὐ θέμις’ [4] ἔφη ‘τοῦτο ἤδη γενέσθαι. Ἡ γάρ μοι θεὸς Ἄρτεμις ἐπιστᾶσα πρῴην κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους, ὅτε ἔκλαον μέλλουσα σφαγήσεσθαι ‘μὴ νῦν’ ἔφη ‘κλᾶε: οὐ γὰρ τεθνήξῃ: βοηθὸς γὰρ ἐγώ σοι παρέσομαι: μενεῖς δὲ παρθένος, ἔστ̓ ἄν σε νυμφοστολήσω: ἄξεται δέ σε [5] ἄλλος οὐδεὶς ἢ Κλειτοφῶν.’’ Ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν μὲν ἀναβολὴν ἠχθόμην, ταῖς δὲ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἐλπίσιν ἡδόμην: ὡς δ̓ ἤκουσα τὸ ὄναρ, ἀναμιμνήσκομαι προσόμοιον ἰδὼν ἐνύπνιον. [6] Ἐδόκουν γὰρ τῇ παρελθούσῃ νυκτὶ νεὼν Ἀφροδίτης ἰδεῖν καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα ἔνδον εἶναι τῆς θεοῦ: ὡς δὲ πλησίον ἐγενόμην προσευξόμενος, [7] κλεισθῆναι τὰς θύρας. Ἀθυμοῦντι δέ μοι γυναῖκα ἐκφανῆναι κατὰ τὸ ἄγαλμα τὴν μορφὴν ἔχουσαν, καὶ ‘νῦν’ εἶπεν ‘οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι παρελθεῖν εἴσω τοῦ νεώ: ἢν δὲ ὀλίγον ἀναμείνῃς χρόνον, οὐκ ἀνοίξω σοι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἱερέα σε ποιήσω τῆς [8] θεοῦ.’ ‘καταλέγω δὴ τοῦτο τῇ Λευκίππῃ τὸ ἐνύπνιον καὶ οὐκέτι ἐπεχείρουν βιάζεσθαι. Ἀναλογιζόμενος δὲ τὸν τῆς Λευκίππης ὄνειρον, οὐ μετρίως ἐταραττόμην.’
1. When the general heard of the amount and equipment of his adversaries’ forces as well as the delay of his own succours, he decided to turn back to the village whence we had set out until the reinforcements should appear. Leucippe and I had a house assigned to us a little beyond the general’s lodging. After entering it, I took her in my arms and desired to exercise the rights of a husband; but as she would not allow me to do so, “How long,” said I, “are we to be deprived of the rites of Aphrodite? Do you take no account of all our mishaps and adventures, shipwrecks, robbers, sacrifices, murders? While we are now in Fortune’s calm, let us make good use of our opportunity, before some other more cruel fate impedes us.”
“No,” said she, “this cannot be now at once. Yesterday, when I was weeping at the thought of my coming sacrifice, the goddess Artemis stood before me in a dream and said, ‘Weep no more; thou shalt not die, for I will be thy helper, but thou must remain a virgin, until I deck thee as bride, and none other than Clitophon shall be thy spouse.’ I was disappointed to hear that our happiness must thus be postponed, but glad for the hopes of the future.” Hearing her dream, I remembered that I too had had a similar vision; during the night just past I thought I saw before me Aphrodite’s temple and the goddess’s image within it; but when I came near to make my prayers, the doors were shut. I was distressed at this, but then a woman appeared exactly like the statue, saying; “At present you cannot enter the temple, but if you wait for a short time, I will not only open it to you but make you a priest of the goddess.” I related this dream to Leucippe and did not continue my attempts to constrain her, and yet, when I considered and compared Leucippe’s own dream, I was not a little disturbed.
[1] ‘Ἐν τούτῳ δὴ Χαρμίδης （τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὄνομα τῷ στρατηγῷ） ἐπιβάλλει τῇ Λευκίππῃ τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, ἀπὸ τοιαύτης ἀφορμῆς αὐτὴν ἰδών. Ἔτυχον ποτάμιον θηρίον ἄνδρες τεθηρακότες θέας ἄξιον: ἵππον δὲ αὐτὸν τοῦ Νείλου καλοῦσιν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι. [2] Καὶ ἔστι μὲν ἵππος, ὡς ὁ λόγος βούλεται, τὴν γαστέρα καὶ τοὺς πόδας, πλὴν ὅσον εἰς χηλὴν σχίζει τὴν ὁπλήν: μέγεθος δὲ κατὰ τὸν βοῦν τὸν μέγιστον: οὐρὰ βραχεῖα καὶ ψιλὴ τριχῶν: [3] κεφαλὴ περιφερὴς οὐ σμικρά: ἐγγὺς ἵππου παρειαί: μυκτὴρ ἐπὶ μέγα κεχηνὼς καὶ πνέων πυρώδη καπνὸν ὡς ἀπὸ πηγῆς πυρός: γένυς εὐρεῖα, ὅση καὶ παρειά: μέχρι τῶν κροτάφων ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα: ἔχει δὲ καὶ κυνόδοντας καμπύλους κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἰδέαν καὶ τὴν θέσιν ὡς συός, τὸ δὲ μέγεθος εἰς τριπλάσιον.’
2. Meanwhile Charmides (that was the general’s name) cast his eyes upon Leucippe, and this is how the business began. It so happened that some men were chasing a river-beast that is well worth seeing — the Nile-horse, (The whole of this
chapter is of course a distorted picture of the hippopotamus.) as the Egyptians call it. It is like a horse, or so the account of it runs, as regards its belly and its feet, except that it has cloven hooves; it is about the size of the largest kind of ox; and it has a tail both short and hairless, as is indeed the rest of its body. Its head is round, and of considerable size, with its cheeks like those of a horse; its nostrils wide and breathing out hot vapour, (Compare Job xli. 19 sqq with this passage.) as from a spring of fire; its jaws enormous as its cheeks, and its mouth gaping open right up to its temples; its eyeteeth crooked, in shape and position like those of a horse, but about three times as big.
[1] ‘καλεῖ δὴ πρὸς τὴν θέαν ἡμᾶς ὁ στρατηγός: καὶ ἡ Λευκίππη συμπαρῆν. Ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ θηρίον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς εἴχομεν, ἐπὶ τὴν Λευκίππην δὲ ὁ στρατηγός: [2] καὶ εὐθὺς ἑαλώκει. Βουλόμενος οὖν ἡμᾶς παραμένειν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, ἵν̓ ἔχοι τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὑτοῦ χαρίζεσθαι, περιπλοκὰς ἐζήτει λόγων, πρῶτον μὲν τὴν φύσιν τοῦ θηρίου καταλέγων, εἶτα καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ἄγρας, ὡς ἔστι μὲν ἀδηφαγώτατον καὶ ποιεῖται τροφὴν ὅλον λήιον, ἀπάτῃ δὲ πάσχει τὴν ἄγραν. [3] Ἐπιτηρήσαντες γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰς διατριβάς, ὄρυγμα ποιησάμενοι ἐπικαλύπτουσιν ἄνωθεν καλάμοις καὶ χώματι: ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν τῶν καλάμων μηχανὴν ἱστάναι κάτω ξύλινον οἴκημα τὰς θύρας ἀνεῳγμένον εἰς τὸν ὄροφον τοῦ βόθρου καὶ τὴν πτῶσιν τοῦ θηρίου λοχᾶν: [4] τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἐπιβάντα φέρεσθαι εὐθύς, καὶ τὸ οἴκημα φωλεοῦ δίκην ὑποδέχεσθαι, καὶ τοὺς κυνηγέτας ἐκθορόντας εὐθὺς ἐπικλείειν τοῦ πώματος τὰς θύρας καὶ ἔχειν οὕτω τὴν ἄγραν, ἐπεὶ πρός γε τὸ καρτερὸν οὐδεὶς ἂν αὐτοῦ κρατήσειε βίᾳ. [5] Τά τε γὰρ ἄλλα ἐστὶν ἀλκιμώτατος καὶ τὸ δέρμα, ὡς ὁρᾶτε, φέρει παχὺ καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλει πείθεσθαι σιδήρου τραύματι, ἀλλ̓ ἐστίν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἐλέφας Αἰγύπτιος. Καὶ γὰρ δεύτερος φαίνεται εἰς ἀλκὴν ἐλέφαντος Ἰνδοῦ.’
3. The general called us to watch the spectacle, and Leucippe was with us. We kept our eyes fixed on the animal, the general kept his on Leucippe, and he was straightway Love’s prisoner. Desiring to keep us by him as long as possible, in order thus to feast his eyes, he span out his conversation about the beast; first he described its appearance and character, and then the way it is captured. It is the greediest of all animals, sometimes taking a whole field of corn at a meal, and it is caught by strategy. “The huntsmen,” he said, “observe its tracks, and then dig a pit, roofing it in with straw and earth; under this arrangement of thatch they place at the bottom a wooden box with its cover open up to the top of the pit, and wait for the beast to fall in. When it arrives, in it tumbles, and the box’ receives it like a trap; the huntsmen then rush out and close the lid and thus gain possession of their prey, since he is so strong that no one can master him by mere force. Not only is he extremely strong, but his hide, as you may see, is of great thickness, and cannot be penetrated by the steel. (“I shoot the hippopotamus with bullets made of platinum,
Because, if I use leaden ones, his hide is sure to flatten ’em.”
The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts.) He is, so to speak, the elephant of Egypt, and indeed in strength he is only second to the Indian elephant.”
[1] Καὶ ὁ Μενέλαος （ἦ γὰρ ἐλέφαντα） ἔφη ‘ἤδη τεθέασαί ποτε;’ ‘Καὶ μάλα’ ὁ Χαρμίδης εἶπεν, ‘καὶ ἀκήκοα παρὰ τῶν ἀκριβῶς εἰδότων τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ [2] τὸν τρόπον ὡς παράδοξος.’ ‘Ἀλλ̓ ἡμεῖς γε οὐκ εἴδομεν εἰς ταύτην’ ἔφην ἐγὼ ‘τὴν ἡμέραν, ὅτι μὴ γραφῇ.’ ‘Λέγοιμ̓ ἂν ὑμῖν’ εἶπε, （καὶ γὰρ ἄγομεν σχολήν. Κύει μὲν αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ χρονιώτατον: δέκα γὰρ ἐνιαυτοῖς πλάττει τὴν σποράν, μετὰ δὲ τοσαύτην ἐτῶν περίοδον τίκτει, ὅταν ὁ τόκος γέρων γένηται. [3] Διὰ τοῦτο, οἶμαι, καὶ γίνεται μέγας τὴν μορφήν, ἄμαχος τὴν ἀλκήν, πολὺς τὴν βιοτήν, βραδὺς τὴν τελευτήν: βιοῦν γὰρ αὐτὸν λέγουσιν ὑπὲρ τὴν Ἡσιόδου κορώνην. [4] Τοιαύτη δέ ἐστιν ἐλέφαντος ἡ γένυς, οἵα τοῦ βοὸς ἡ κεφαλή. Σὺ μὲν γὰρ ἂν ἰδὼν εἴποις κέρας ἔχειν αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα διπλοῦν: ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο ἐλέφαντος καμπύλος ὀδούς. Μεταξὺ δὲ τῶν ὀδόντων ἀνίσταται αὐτῷ προβοσκίς, κατὰ σάλπιγγα μὲν καὶ τὴν ὄψιν καὶ τὸ μέγεθος, εὐπειθὴς δὲ τῶν πρὸς τὸν ἐλέφαντα. [5] Προνομεύει γὰρ αὐτῷ τὰς βοσκὰς καὶ πᾶν ὅ τι ἂν ἐμποδὼν εὕρῃ σιτίον. Ἐὰν μὲν γὰρ ᾖ ὄψον ἐλέφαντος, ἔλαβέ τε εὐθὺς καὶ ἐπιπτυχθεῖσα κάτω πρὸς τὴν γένυν τῷ στόματι τὴν τροφὴν διακονεῖ: ἂν δέ τι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἴδῃ, τούτῳ περιβάλλει, κύκλῳ τὴν ἄγραν περισφίγξας, καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἀνεκούφισε καὶ ὤρεξεν ἄνω δῶρον δεσπότῃ: [6] ἐπικάθηται γάρ τις αὐτῷ ἀνὴρ Αἰθίοψ, καινὸς ἱππεὺς ὤν: καὶ κολακεύει καὶ φοβεῖται καὶ τῆς φωνῆς αἰσθάνεται καὶ μαστίζοντος ἀνέχεται: ἡ δὲ μάστιξ αὐτῷ πέλεκυς σιδηροῦς. [7] Εἶδον δέ ποτε καὶ θέαμα καινόν. Ἀνὴρ Ἕλλην ἐνέθηκε τὴν κεφαλὴν κατὰ μέσην τοῦ θηρίου τὴν κεφαλήν: ὁ δὲ ἐλέφας ἐκεχήνει καὶ περιῄσθμαινε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐγκείμενον. Ἀμφότερα οὖν ἐθαύμαζον, καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῆς εὐτολμίας καὶ τὸν ἐλέφαντα τῆς φιλανθρωπίας. [8] Ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἔλεγεν ὅτι καὶ μισθὸν εἴη δεδωκὼς τῷ θηρίῳ: προσπνεῖν γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἀρωμάτων Ἰνδικῶν: εἶναι δὲ κεφαλῆς νοσούσης φάρμακον. Οἶδεν οὖν τὴν θεραπείαν ὁ ἐλέφας καὶ προῖκα οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα, ἀλλ̓ ἐστὶν ἰατρὸς ἀλαζὼν καὶ τὸν μισθὸν πρῶτον αἰτεῖ. Κἂν δῷς, πείθεται καὶ παρέχει τὴν χάριν καὶ ἁπλοῖ τὴν γένυν καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀνέχεται κεχηνώς, ὅσον ὁ ἄνθρωπος βούλεται. Οἶδε γὰρ ὅτι πέπρακε τὴν ὀδμήν.）
4. “Why,” said Menelaus, “have you ever seen an elephant?”
“Certainly,” replied Charmides, “and I have heard from experts the extraordinary circumstances connected with its birth.”
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 63