προνοίας δὲ τὸ μηδέποτε. ἐν γοῦν ταῖς τοσαύταις γραφαῖς,
αἷς καταλέλοιπεν ὁ ἀνήρ, μίαν οὐκ ἂν εὕροι τις σελίδα
συγκειμένην εὐτυχῶς. ἔοικεν δὴ ταῦτα ὑπολαβεῖν ἐκείνων
κρείττω καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς αὐτὰ ποιεῖν, εἰς ἃ δι’ ἀνάγκην ἄν
τις ἐμπεσὼν ἐν λόγῳ σχεδίῳ δι’ αἰσχύνης θεῖτο φρόνημα ἔχων 5
ἀνήρ. θήσω δὲ καὶ τούτου λέξιν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας, ἵνα σοι
γένηται δῆλον ἐκ τῆς ἀντιπαραθέσεως, ὅσην μὲν ἀξίωσιν ἔχει
τὸ εὐγενὲς ἐν ῥυθμοῖς, ὅσην δ’ αἰσχύνην τὸ ἀγεννές. ἔστιν δ’
ὃ λαμβάνει πρᾶγμα ὁ σοφιστὴς τοιόνδε. Ἀλέξανδρος πολιορκῶν
Γάζαν χωρίον τι τῆς Συρίας πάνυ ἐχυρὸν τραυματίας 10
τε γίνεται κατὰ τὴν προσβολὴν καὶ τὸ χωρίον αἱρεῖ χρόνῳ.
φερόμενος δ’ ὑπ’ ὀργῆς τούς τ’ ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἀποσφάττει
πάντας, ἐπιτρέψας τοῖς Μακεδόσι τὸν ἐντυχόντα κτείνειν, καὶ
τὸν ἡγεμόνα αὐτῶν αἰχμάλωτον λαβών, ἄνδρα ἐν ἀξιώματι
καὶ τύχης καὶ εἴδους, ἐξ ἁρματείου δίφρου δῆσαι κελεύσας 15
ζῶντα καὶ τοὺς ἵππους ἐλαύνειν ἀνὰ κράτος ἐν τῇ πάντων
ὄψει διαφθείρει. τούτων οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι τις εἰπεῖν δεινότερα
πάθη οὐδ’ ὄψει φοβερώτερα. πῶς δὴ ταῦτα ἡρμήνευκεν ὁ
σοφιστής, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν, πότερα σεμνῶς καὶ ὑψηλῶς ἢ ταπεινῶς
καὶ καταγελάστως. 20
“ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἔχων τὸ σύνταγμα προηγεῖτο. καί πως
never does. At all events, in the host of writings which the man has left behind him, you will not find one single page successfully put together. He seems, indeed, to have regarded his own methods as better than those of his predecessors, and to have followed them with enthusiasm; and yet anybody else, if he were to be driven into such errors in an impromptu speech, would blush for them, were he a man of any self-respect. Well, I will quote a passage from him also, taken from his History, in order to make clear to you, by means of a comparison, how splendid noble rhythms are, and how disgraceful are their opposites. The following is the subject treated by the sophist. Alexander when besieging Gaza, an unusually strong position in Syria, is wounded during the assault and takes the position after some delay. In a transport of anger he massacres all the prisoners, permitting the Macedonians to slay all who fall in their way. Having captured their commandant, a man of distinction for his high station and good looks, he gives orders that he should be bound alive to a war-chariot and that the horses should be driven at full speed before the eyes of all; and in this way he kills him. No one could have a story of more awful suffering to narrate, nor one suggesting a more horrible picture. It is worth while to observe in what style our sophist has represented this scene—whether with gravity and elevation or with vulgarity and absurdity:—
“The King advanced, at the head of his division. It seems
2 αἷς F: ἃς PMV 3 δὴ F: δε P, MV 4 ἄν τις ἐμπεσὼν PMV: ἐμπεσὼν ἄν τις F 5 θεῖτο F: ἔθετο PMV 6 ἐκ τῆς F: ἐξ PMV 8 ἔστιν δ’ F: τί δὲ PMV 10 ἐχυρὸν] εὐχερῶς F 11 χρόνῳ φερόμενος δ’ F: χρόνῳ φερόμενος ὁ δ’ PMV 12 τε ἐγκαταληφθέντας PMV: τε καταλειφθέντας F 14 αὐτὸν PMV 16 ἐλαύνων MV 17 τούτων F: τοῦτον PMV 18 οὐδὲ ὄψεις φοβεροτέρας (-ωτ- M) PMV 19 πότερα F: πότερον PMV 21 καὶ πῶς F
1-3. Cp. Dryden Mac Flecknoe ll. 19, 20, “The rest to some faint meaning make pretence, | But Shadwell never deviates into sense.” The wilfulness and malice prepense (πρόνοια) of Hegesias’ stupidity may be illustrated by Dr. Johnson’s remark about Thomas Sheridan: “Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, Sir, is not in nature” (Boswell’s Life of Johnson i. 453).
4. The reading of PMV seems preferable, since ἄν is not infrequently attached to adverbs or adverbial phrases such as δι’ ἀνάγκην.
5. θεῖτο: τίθεμαι used for ἡγοῦμαι, as in [208] 13 and [232] 25.—Contrast the active θήσω in the next line.
9. Arrian (Exped. Alexandri ii. 25. 4) thus describes the commencement of Alexander’s siege, and Batis’ defence, of Gaza (332 B.C.): Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἐπ’ Αἰγύπτου ἔγνω ποιεῖσθαι τὸν στόλον. καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα τῆς Παλαιστίνης καλουμένης Συρίας προσκεχωρηκότα ἤδη· εὐνοῦχος δέ τις, ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Βάτις, κρατῶν τῆς Γαζαίων πόλεως, οὐ προσεῖχεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, ἀλλὰ Ἄραβάς τε μισθωτοὺς ἐπαγόμενος καὶ σῖτον ἐκ πολλοῦ παρεσκευακὼς διαρκῆ ἐς χρόνιον πολιορκίαν καὶ τῷ χωρίῳ πιστεύων, μήποτε ἂν βίᾳ ἁλῶναι, ἔγνω μὴ δέχεσθαι τῇ πόλει Ἀλέξανδρον. In continuing and completing (cc. 26, 27) his narrative of the siege, Arrian makes no mention of the fate of Batis. On this point Plutarch, too, is silent (Vit. Alex. c. 25), and so is Diodorus Siculus xvii. 48. 7. The obviously rhetorical cast of Hegesias’ narrative, and of that of Curtius (Histor. Alexandri Magni iv. 6, 7-30), should cause it to be accepted with greater reserve than Grote (xi. 469 n. 1) thinks needful to maintain.—For the probable share of Cleitarchus in propagating this story about Alexander see C. Müller Scriptores Rerum Alexandri Magni pp. 75, 142; and for his bombast cp. Long. de Sublim. iii. 2 and Demetr. de Eloc. § 304.