ξὺν τῷ Σαρπηδόνι. πότερον οὖν ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντες τηλικοῦτον ἔργον βασιλέως εὐλαβησόμεθα τὸν ἀγῶνα, μή ποτε ἄρα μικρὰ μεγάλοις καὶ φαῦλα σπουδῆς ἀξίοις μείζονος παρατιθέναι δόζωμεν, [C] ἢ τολμήσομεν καὶ πρὸς τηλικοῦτον ἔργον ἁμιλλᾶσθαι; οὐκοῦν ἐκεῖνο μὲν ἦν τὸ τεῖχος ὑπὲρ τῆς ᾐόνος, ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλῳ τῷ πρὸ μεσημβρίας χρόνῳ συντελεσθέν, ὁποίους ἡμῖν τοὺς χάρακας ἔννομον κατασκευάζεσθαι· τὸ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἄλπεων τεῖχος παλαιόν τε ἦν φρούριον, καὶ αὐτῷ χρῆται μετὰ τὴν φυγὴν ὁ τύραννος, ὥσπερ ἔρυμά τι νεουργὲς ἀποφήνας καὶ ἀξιόλογον φρουρὰν ἀπολιπὼν ἐρρωμένων ἀνδρῶν. [D] οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὡς πορρωτάτω πορεύεται, ἔμενε δὲ ἐν τῇ πλησίον πόλει. ἔστι δὲ Ἰταλῶν ἐμπόριον πρὸς θαλάττῃ μάλα εὔδαιμον καὶ πλούτῳ βρύον, φέρουσι γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν φορτία Μυσοὶ καὶ Παίονες καὶ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ὁπόσοι τὴν μεσόγαιαν κατοικοῦσιν, Ἑνετοὶ δὲ οἶμαι τὸ πρόσθεν ὠνομάζοντο. νῦν δὲ ἤδη Ῥωμαίων τὰς πόλεις ἐχόντων τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὄνομα σώζουσι βραχείᾳ προσθήκῃ γράμματος ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ἐπωνυμίας· ἔστι δὲ αὐτοῦ σύμβολον χαρακτὴρ εἷς, [72] ὀνομάζουσι δὲ αὐτὸν οὔ, καὶ χρῶνται ἀντὶ τοῦ βῆτα πολλάκις προσπνεύσεως οἶμαι τινὸς ἕνεκα καὶ ἰδιότητος τῆς [pg 192] γλώττης. τὸ μὲν δὴ ξύμπαν ἔθνος ὦδε ἐπονομάζεται· τῇ πόλει δὲ ἀετός, ὥς φασιν, οἰκιζομένῃ δεξιὸς ἐκ Διὸς ἱπτάμενος τὴν αὑτοῦ φήμην χαρίζεται. οἰκεῖται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῖς ποσὶ τῶν Ἄλπεων· ὄρη δέ ἐστι ταῦτα παμμεγέθη[330] καὶ ἀπορρῶγες ἐν αὐτοῖς πέτραι, μόλις ἁμάξῃ μιᾷ καὶ ὀρικῷ ζεύγει τὴν ὑπέρβασιν βιαζομένοις ξυγχωροῦντα, [B] ἀρχόμενα μὲν ἀπὸ θαλάττης, ἣν δὴ τὸν Ἰόνιον εἶναί φαμεν, ἀποτειχίζοντα δὲ τὴν νῦν Ἰταλίαν ἀπό τε Ἰλλυριῶν καὶ Γαλατῶν καὶ ἐς τὸ Τυρρηνὸν πέλαγος ἀναπαυόμενα. Ῥωμαῖοι γὰρ ἐπειδὴ τῆς χώρας ἁπάσης ἐκράτουν· ἔστι δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ τό τε τῶν Ἑνετῶν ἔθνος καὶ Λίγυές τινες καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Γαλατῶν οὐ φαύλη μοῖρα· τὰ μὲν ἀρχαῖα σφῶν ὀνόματα σώζειν οὐ διεκώλυσαν, τῷ κοινῷ δὲ τῶν Ἰταλῶν ξυγχωρεῖν κατηνάγκασαν. καὶ νῦν ὁπόσα μέν εἴσω τῶν Ἄλπεων κατοικεῖται, [C] ἔστε ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον καὶ τὸν Τυρρηνὸν καθήκοντα, ταύτῃ κοσμεῖται τῇ προσωνυμίᾳ· τὰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἄλπεων τῶν πρὸς ἑσπέραν Γαλάται νέμονται, καὶ Ῥαιτοὶ δὲ τὰ ὑπὸ τῆν ἄρκτον, ἵνα Ῥήνου τέ εἰσιν αἱ πηγαὶ καὶ αἱ τοῦ Ἴστρου πλησίον παρὰ τοῖς γείτοσι βαρβάροις· τὰ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἕω ταῦτα δὴ τὰς Ἄλπεις ὀχυροῦν ἔφαμεν, ἵναπερ ὁ τύραννος τὴν φρουρὰν κατεσκευάσατο. οὕτω δὴ τῆς Ἰταλίας ἁπανταχόθεν ὄρεσὶ [D] τε συνεχομένης λίαν δυσβάτοις καὶ θαλάσσῃ τεναγώδει, ἅτε ἐσρεόντων ποταμῶν μυρίων, οἳ ποιοῦσιν ἕλος προσεοικὸς τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἕλεσι, τὸ ξύμπαν [pg 194] τῆς ἐκείνῃ θαλάττης πέρας βασιλεὺς ὑπὸ σοφίας ἔλαβε καὶ ἐβιάσατο τὴν ἄνοδον.
(together with Sarpedon. Shall I therefore shrink from competition as though I could not cite on behalf of the Emperor any such exploit, and must therefore avoid seeming to compare the trivial with the important and things of little account with what deserves more serious consideration, or shall I venture to enter the lists even against an achievement so famous? Now that wall was to protect the beach, and was a palisade such as we are wont to construct, and was completed in less than a morning. But the wall that was on the Alps was an ancient fort, and the usurper used it after his flight, converting it into a defence as strong as though it had been newly built, and he left there an ample garrison of seasoned troops. But he did not himself march all the way there, but remained in the neighbouring city.[331] This is a trading centre of the Italians on the coast, very prosperous and teeming with wealth, since the Mysians and Paeonians and all the Italian inhabitants of the interior procure their merchandise thence. These last used, I think, to be called Heneti in the past, but now that the Romans are in possession of these cities they preserve the original name, but make the trifling addition of one letter at the beginning of the word. Its sign is a single character[332] and they call it “oo,” and they often use it instead of “b,” to serve, I suppose, as a sort of breathing, and to represent some peculiarity of their pronunciation. The nation as a whole is called by this name, but at the time of the founding of the city an eagle from Zeus flew past on the right, and so bestowed on the place the omen derived from the bird.[333] It is situated at the foot of the Alps, which are very high mountains with precipices in them, and they hardly allow room for those who are trying to force their way over the passes to use even a single waggon and a pair of mules. They begin at the sea which we call Ionian, and form a barrier between what is now Italy and the Illyrians and Galatians, and extend as far as the Etruscan sea. For when the Romans conquered the whole of this country, which includes the tribe of the Heneti and some of the Ligurians and a considerable number of Galatians besides, they did not hinder them from retaining their ancient names, but compelled them to acknowledge the dominion of the Italian republic. And, in our day, all the territory that lies within the Alps and is bounded by the Ionian and the Etruscan seas has the honour of being called Italy. On the other side of the Alps, on the west, dwell the Galatians, and the Rhaetians to the north where the Rhine and the Danube have their sources hard by in the neighbouring country of the barbarians. And on the east, as I said, the Alps fortify the district where the usurper stationed his garrison. In this way, then, Italy is contained on all sides, partly by mountains that are very hard to cross, partly by a shallow sea into which countless streams empty and form a morass like the marshlands of Egypt. But the Emperor by his skill gained control of the whole of that boundary of the sea, and forced his way inland.)
Καὶ ἵνα μὴ διατρίβειν δοκῶ αὖθίς τε ὑπὲρ τῶν δυσχωριῶν διαλεγόμενος, καὶ ὡς οὔτε στρατόπεδον ἦν οὐδὲ χάρακα πλησίον καταβαλέσθαι, οὔτε ἐπάγειν μηχανὰς καὶ ἑλεπόλεις, ἀνύδρου δεινῶς ὄντος καὶ οὐδὲ μικρὰς λιβάδας ἔχοντος [73] τοῦ πέριξ χωρίου, ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν εἶμι τὴν αἵρεσιν. καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε τὸ κεφάλαιον ἀθρόως ἑλεῖν τοῦ λόγου, ὑπομνήσθητε τῆς τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἰνδοὺς πορείας, οἳ τὴν πέτραν ἐκείνην κατῴκουν, ἐφ᾽ ἣν οὐδὲ τῶν ὀρνίθων ἦν τοῖς κουφοτάτοις ἀναπτῆναι, ὅπως ἑάλω, καὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ἀκούειν ἐπιθυμήσετε· πλὴν τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν ἀπέβαλε πολλοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐξελὼν τὴν πέτραν, ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος ἄρχων καὶ στρατηγὸς οὐδὲ χιλίαρχον ἀποβαλὼν ἢ λοχαγόν τινα, [B] ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ὁπλίτην τῶν ἐκ καταλόγου, καθαρὰν καὶ ἄδακρυν περιεποιήσατο τὴν νίκην. Ἕκτωρ δὲ οἶμαι καὶ Σαρπηδὼν πολλοὺς ἐκ τοῦ τειχίσματος κατέβαλον,[334] ἐντυχόντες δὲ ἀριστεύοντι Πατρόκλῳ ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν νεῶν κτείνεται, ὁ δὲ ἔφευγεν αἰσχρῶς οὐδὲ ἀνελόμενος τὸ σῶμα τοῦ φίλου. οὕτως οὐδενὶ ξὺν νῷ, ῥώμῃ δὲ μᾶλλον σωμάτων θρασυνόμενοι τὴν ἐς τὸ τεῖχος πάροδον ἐτόλμων. βασιλεὺς δὲ οὗ μὲν ἀλκῆς ἔργον ἐστι καὶ θυμοῦ χρῆται τοῖς ὅπλοις καὶ κρατεῖ ξὺν εὐβουλίᾳ,[335] [C] οὗ δὲ μόνον [pg 196] ἐδέησε γνώμης, ταύτῃ κυβερνᾷ καὶ κατεργάζεται πράγματα τοσαῦτα, ὁπόσα οὐδ᾽ ἄν ὁ σίδηρος ἐξελεῖν ἰσχύσειεν.[336]
(I will now relate how the city was actually taken, lest you should think I am wasting time by describing once more the difficulties of the ground, and how it was impossible to plant a camp or even a palisade near the city or to bring up siege-engines or devices for storming it, because the country all about was terribly short of water, and there were not even small pools. And if you wish to grasp the main point of my narrative in a few words, remember the Macedonian's[337] expedition against those Indians who lived on the famous rock[338] up to which not even the lightest birds could wing their flight, and how he took it by storm, and you will be content to hear no more from me. However I will add this merely, that Alexander in storming the rock lost many of his Macedonians, whereas our ruler and general lost not a single chiliarch or a captain, nay not even a legionary from the muster-roll, but achieved an unsullied and “tearless”[339] victory. Now Hector and Sarpedon, no doubt, hurled down many men from the wall, but when they encountered Patroclus in all his glory Sarpedon was slain near the ships, while Hector, to his shame, fled without even recovering the body of his friend. Thus without intelligence and emboldened by mere physical strength they ventured to attack the wall. But the Emperor, when strength and daring are required, employs force of arms and good counsel together, and so wins the day, but where good judgment alone is necessary it is by this that he steers his course, and thus achieves triumphs such as not even iron could ever avail to erase.[340])
Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ καθ᾽ αὑτὸν ὁ λόγος φερόμενος ἥκει πάλαι ποθῶν τὴν ξύνεσιν ἐπαινεῖν καὶ τὴν εὐβουλίαν, ἀποδοτέον. καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων ὀλίγα πάλαι[341] διεληλύθαμεν· ὁπόσα δὲ ἡμῖν ἐφαίνετο [D] πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἡρώων ἐκείνων ἔχειν ξυγγένειαν, μεγάλα μικροῖς εἰκάζοντες, δι᾽ ὁμοιότητα διήλθομεν.[342] δῆλον δὲ ἀποβλέψαντι πρὸς τὸ τῆς παρασκευῆς μέγεθος καὶ τῆς δυνάμενως τὴν περιουσίαν. τότε γὰρ ἥ τε Ἑλλὰς ἐκεκίνητο ξύμπασα καὶ Θρᾳκῶν μοῖρα καὶ Παιόνων τό τε τοῦ Πριάμου ξύμπαν ὑπήκοον,
(But since my speech has of its own accord reached this point in its course and has long been eager to praise the Emperor's wisdom and wise counsel, I allow it to do so. And in fact I spoke briefly on this subject some time ago, and all the cases where there seemed to me to be any affinity between the heroes of Homer and the Emperor, I described because of that resemblance, comparing great things with small. And indeed if one considers the size of their armaments, the superiority of his forces also becomes evident. For in those days all Greece was set in motion,[343] and part of Thrace and Paeonia, and all the subject allies of Priam,)
Ὅσσον Λέσβος ἔσω Μάκαρος ἕδος ἐντὸς ἐέργει
Καὶ Φρυγίη καθύπερθε καὶ Ἑλλήσποντος ἀπείρων.
(“All that Lesbos, the seat of Makar, contains within, and Phrygia on the north and the boundless Hellespont.”[344])
[74] τὰ δὲ νῦν ἔθνη συνιόντα βασιλεῖ καὶ συμπολεμοῦντα τὸν πόλεμον καὶ τοὺς ἀντιταξαμένους καταριθμεῖν μὴ λῆρος ᾖ καὶ φλυαρία περιττὴ καὶ λίαν ἀρχαῖον.[345] ὅσῳ δὲ μείζους αἱ συνιοῦσαι δυνάμεις, τοσούτῳ τὰ ἔργα προφέρειν εἰκός· ὥστε ἀνάγκη καὶ ταῦτα ἐκείνων ὑπεραίρειν. πλήθει γε μὴν ποῦ ποτε ἄξιον συμβαλεῖν; οἱ μὲν γὰρ περὶ [pg 198] μιᾶς ἐμάχοντο πόλεως ξυνεχῶς, καὶ οὔτε Τρῶες[346] ἀπελάσαι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς ἐπικρατοῦντες ἠδύναντο, οὔτε ἐκεῖνοι νικῶντες ἐξελεῖν καὶ ἀνατρέψαι τῶν Πριαμιδῶν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἴσχυον, δεκαέτης δὲ αὐτοῖς ἀναλώθη χρόνος. [B] βασιλεῖ δὲ πολλοὶ μέν εἰσιν ἀγῶνες· καὶ γὰρ[347] ἀνεγράφη Γερμανοῖς τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ῥήνου πολεμῶν, τά τε ἐπὶ τῷ Τίγρητι ζεύγματα καὶ τῆς Παρθυαίων δυνάμεως καὶ τοῦ φρονήματος ἔλεγχος οὐ φαῦλος, ὅτε οὐχ ὑπέμενον ἀμῦναι τῇ χώρᾳ πορθουμένῃ, ἀλλὰ περιεῖδον ἅπασαν τμηθεῖσαν τὴν εἴσω Τίγρητος καὶ Λύκου, [C] τῶν γε μὴν πρὸς τὸν τύραννον πραχθέντων ὅ τε ἐπὶ Σικελίαν ἔκπλους καὶ ἐς Καρχηδόνα, Ἠριδανοῦ τε αἱ προκαταλήψεις τῶν ἐκβολῶν ἁπάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ δυνάμεις ἀφελόμεναι, καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ τρίτον πάλαισμα περὶ ταῖς Κοττίαις Ἄλπεσιν, ὃ δὴ βασιλεῖ μὲν παρέσχεν ἀσφαλῆ καὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀδεᾶ τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς νίκης ἡδονήν, τὸν δὲ ἡττηθέντα δίκην ἐπιθεῖναι δικαίαν αὑτῷ καὶ τῶν ἐξειργασμένων [D] πάνυ ἀξίαν κατηνάγκασε.