Orosius: HISTORIARUM ADVERSUM PAGANOS LIBRI VII

[Prologus] Praeceptis tuis parui, beatissime pater Augustine; atque utinam tam efficaciter quam libenter. quamquam ego in utramuis partem parum de explicito mouear, rectene an secus egerim:

[Prologue] I have obeyed your precepts, most blessed Father Augustine; and would that I had done so as efficaciously as willingly. although I, in either direction, am little moved about the outcome, whether I have acted rightly or otherwise:

2 tu enim iam isto iudicio laborasti, utrumne hoc, quod praeciperes, possem; ego autem solius oboedientiae, si tamen eam uoluntate conatuque decoraui, testimonio contentus sum.

2 for you have already taken pains with that judgment, whether I could do this which you were commanding; but I am content with the testimony of obedience alone, if indeed I have adorned it with will and endeavor.

3 nam et in magna magni patrisfamilias domo cum sint multa diuersi generis animalia adiumento rei familiaris commoda, non est tamen canum cura postrema; quibus solis natura insitum est, uoluntarie ad id quod praeparantur urgueri et per ingenitam quandam oboedientiae formulam sola disciplinati timoris exspectatione suspendi, donec ad peragendi licentiam nutu signoue mittantur.

3 for even in the great house of a great paterfamilias, since there are many animals of diverse kinds advantageous as an aid to the household estate, nevertheless the care of dogs is not the least; to whom alone it is implanted by nature to be voluntarily urged toward that for which they are prepared, and, through a certain inborn formula of obedience, to be held in suspense by the expectation of disciplined fear alone, until by a nod or a sign they are sent to the license to carry it through.

4 habent enim proprios appetitus, quantum brutis excellentiores tantum rationabilibus propinquantes, hoc est discernere amare seruire.

4 for they have proper appetites; inasmuch as they are more excellent than brutes, by so much do they approach rational beings, that is, to discern, to love, to serve.

5 nam discernentes inter dominos atque extraneos non eos quos insectantur oderunt sed iis quos amant zelant, et amantes dominum ac domum non quasi ex natura apti corporis uigilant sed ex conscientia solliciti amoris inuigilant.

5 for, discerning between masters and strangers, they do not hate those whom they harry, but they are zealous for those whom they love; and, loving the master and the house, they keep watch not as if from the nature of an apt body, but they keep vigilant watch out of the consciousness of solicitous love.

6 unde etiam mystico sacramento in Euangeliis, quod edant micas catelli sub mensa dominorum, et Chananaea non erubuit dicere et Dominus non fastidiuit audire.

6 whence also, by a mystical sacrament in the Gospels, that the little dogs eat crumbs under the table of their lords, and the Canaanite woman did not blush to say it and the Lord did not disdain to hear it.

7 beatus etiam Tobias, ducem angelum sequens, canem comitem habere non spreuit.

7 blessed also Tobias, following the angel as leader, did not spurn to have a dog as companion.

8 igitur generali amori tuo speciali amore conexus uoluntati tuae uolens parui. nam cum subiectio mea praecepto paternitatis tuae factum debeat totumque tuum sit, quod ex te ad te redit, opus meum, hoc solo meo cumulatius reddidi, quod libens feci.

8 therefore, connected to your general love by a special love, I willingly obeyed your will. for since my subjection, at the precept of your paternity, ought to have the deed done, and since my work—which from you returns to you—be wholly yours, in this alone did I render it more amply mine: that I did it gladly.

9 Praeceperas mihi, uti aduersus uaniloquam prauitatem eorum, qui alieni a ciuitate Dei ex locorum agrestium conpitis et pagis pagani uocantur siue gentiles quia terrena sapiunt, qui cum futura non quaerant, praeterita autem aut obliuiscantur aut nesciant, praesentia tamen tempora ueluti malis extra solitum infestatissima ob hoc solum quod creditur Christus et colitur Deus, idola autem minus coluntur, infamant: -

9 You had instructed me to set myself against the vain-loquacious pravity of those who, alien from the City of God, from the cross-roads and the villages of rustic places are called pagani, or gentiles because they savor earthly things; who, although they do not seek the things to come, and either forget or do not know the things past, yet the present times, as if beyond the usual most infested by evils, for this sole reason—that Christ is believed and God is worshiped, while idols are worshiped less—they defame: -

10 praeceperas ergo, ut ex omnibus qui haberi ad praesens possunt historiarum atque annalium fastis, quaecumque aut bellis grauia aut corrupta morbis aut fame tristia aut terrarum motibus terribilia aut inundationibus aquarum insolita aut eruptionibus ignium metuenda aut ictibus fulminum plagisque grandinum saeua uel etiam parricidiis flagitiisque misera per transacta retro saecula repperissem, ordinato breuiter uoluminis textu explicarem.

10 You had therefore commanded that, from all the fasti—registers of histories and annals—which can at present be had, whatever I had found through the ages gone by either grievous with wars, or corrupted by diseases, or sorrowful with famine, or terrible with earthquakes, or unusual with inundations of waters, or to be feared by eruptions of fires, or savage with smitings of thunderbolts and with blows of hail, or even wretched with parricides and flagitious crimes, I should unfold, the text of the volume briefly ordered.

11 maxime cum reuerentiam tuam perficiendo aduersum hos ipsos paganos undecimo libro insistentem - quorum iam decem orientes radii mox ut de specula ecclesiasticae claritatis elati sunt toto orbe fulserunt -

11 especially since your Reverence, pressing on in completing against these very pagans in the eleventh book - whose ten rays already, rising, as soon as they were lifted up from the watchtower of ecclesiastical brightness, have shone over the whole world -

12 leui opusculo occupari non oporteret et sanctus filius tuus, Iulianus Carthaginiensis, seruus Dei, satisfieri super hac re petitioni suae eadem fiducia qua poposcit exigeret:

12 it would not be fitting to be occupied with a slight opusculum, and your holy son, Julian of Carthage, a servant of God, would demand that his petition concerning this matter be satisfied with the same confidence with which he demanded it:

13 dedi operam et me ipsum in primis confusione pressi, cui plerumque reputanti super modum exaestuauisse praesentium clades temporum uidebantur.

13 I took pains, and I, myself, especially, pressed myself with confusion; to me, very often reconsidering, the calamities of the present times seemed to have surged beyond measure.

14 nanctus sum enim praeteritos dies non solum aeque ut hos graues, uerum etiam tanto atrocius miseros quanto longius a remedio uerae religionis alienos: ut merito hac scrutatione claruerit regnasse mortem auidam sanguinis, dum ignoratur religio quae prohiberet a sanguine; ista inlucescente, illam constupuisse; illam concludi, cum ista iam praeualet; illam penitus nullam futuram, cum haec sola regnabit:

14 for I have found the days gone by not only as grievous as these, but even by so much more atrociously wretched, the farther they were alienated from the remedy of true religion: so that by this scrutation it has deservedly become clear that death, greedy for blood, used to reign, while the religion was unknown which would forbid from blood; with this one shining forth, that one has been stupefied; that one is concluded, when this one already prevails; that one will be altogether nothing, when this one alone will reign:

15 exceptis uidelicet semotisque illis diebus nouissimis sub fine saeculi et sub apparitione Antichristi uel etiam sub conclusione iudicii, quibus futuras angustias, quales ante non fuerint, dominus Christus per scripturas sanctas sua etiam contestatione praedixit,

15 excepting, namely, and set apart those latest days under the end of the age and under the apparition of Antichrist, or even under the conclusion of the judgment, in which the Lord Christ through the holy Scriptures, by his own attestation also, predicted future distresses such as had not been before,

16 cum secundum ipsum quidem qui et nunc et semper est modum, uerum apertiore ac grauiore discrimine, per intolerabiles tribulationes temporum illorum sanctos probatio, impios perditio consequetur.

16 when, according to that very mode which both now and always is, yet with a more open and more grievous crisis, through the intolerable tribulations of those times, probation will follow for the saints, perdition for the impious.

[1] Et quoniam omnes propemodum tam apud Graecos quam apud Latinos studiosi ad scribendum uiri, qui res gestas regum populorumque ob diuturnam memoriam uerbis propagauerunt, initium scribendi a Nino Beli filio, rege Assyriorum, fecere -

[1] And since almost all men studious for writing, both among the Greeks and among the Latins, who have propagated by words the deeds of kings and peoples for long-enduring memory, have made the beginning of writing from Ninus, son of Belus, king of the Assyrians, -

2 qui cum opinione caeca mundi originem creaturamque hominum sine initio credi uelint, coepisse tamen ab hoc regna bellaque definiunt,

2 who, although with blind opinion they wish the origin of the world and the creation of humans to be believed without a beginning, nevertheless define that kingdoms and wars began from this man,

3 quasi uero eatenus humanum genus ritu pecudum uixerit et tunc primum ueluti ad nouam prouidentiam concussum suscitatumque uigilarit -:

3 as if indeed up to that point the human race had lived in the manner of cattle, and then for the first time, as though shaken to a new providence and roused, had kept vigil -:

4 ego initium miseriae hominum ab initio peccati hominis ducere institui, paucis dumtaxat isdemque breuiter delibatis.

4 I have set myself to draw the beginning of the misery of men from the beginning of man’s sin, touching only a few points, and those briefly.

5 sunt autem ab Adam primo homine usque ad Ninum 'magnum' ut dicunt regem, quando natus est Abraham, anni III:CLXXXIIII, qui ab omnibus historiographis uel omissi uel ignorati sunt.

5 there are, moreover, from Adam, the first man, up to Ninus the 'great' king, as they say, when Abraham was born, years 3:184, which by all historiographers have either been omitted or ignored.

6 a Nino autem uel Abraham usque ad Caesarem Augustum id est usque ad natiuitatem Christi, quae fuit anno imperii Caesaris quadragesimo secundo, cum facta pace cum Parthis Iani portae clausae sunt et bella toto orbe cessarunt, colliguntur anni II:XV, in quibus se inter actores scriptoresque omnium otia negotiaque triuerunt.

6 from Ninus or Abraham up to Caesar Augustus, that is up to the Nativity of Christ, which was in the forty-second year of Caesar’s imperium, when, peace having been made with the Parthians, the gates of Janus were closed and wars ceased throughout the whole world, there are collected years 2,015, in which, among all actors and writers, both leisures and businesses were spent.

7 quapropter res ipsa exigit ex his libris quam breuissime uel pauca contingere, qui originem mundi loquentes praeteritorum fidem adnuntiatione futurorum et post subsequa probatione fecerunt:

7 wherefore the matter itself demands, from these books, to touch upon things as briefly as possible, or at least a few, which, speaking of the origin of the world, established the faith of past things by the annunciation of future things and afterward by subsequent proof:

8 non quo auctoritatem eorum cuiquam uideamur ingerere, sed quo operae pretium sit de opinione uulgata quae nobis cum omnibus communis est commonere:

8 not so that we may seem to thrust their authority upon anyone, but so that it may be worth the effort to remind about the vulgar (common) opinion which is common to us with all:

9 primum quia, si diuina prouidentia, quae sicut bona ita et iusta est, agitur mundus et homo, hominem autem, qui conuertibilitate naturae et libertate licentiae et infirmus et contumax est, sicut pie gubernari egenum opis oportet ita iuste corripi inmoderatum libertatis necesse est,

9 first, because, if by divine providence, which is as good as it is just, the world and man are governed, and man, who by the convertibility of his nature and the liberty of license is both infirm and contumacious, just as, being needy of help, he ought to be piously governed, so, being immoderate in liberty, it is necessary that he be justly corrected,

10 iure ab initio hominis per bona malaque alternantia, exerceri hunc mundum sentit quisquis per se atque in se humanum genus uidet;

10 rightly, from the beginning of mankind, through alternating good and ill, whoever sees the human race by himself and in himself perceives that this world is exercised;

11 deinde cum ab ipso primo homine peccatum punitionemque peccati coepisse doceamur; porro autem cum etiam isti de mediis temporibus inchoantes, quamuis superiorum nusquam meminerint, nihil nisi bella cladesque descripserint -

11 then, since we are taught that from the very first man sin and the punishment of sin began; furthermore, since even these men, beginning from the middle times, although they have nowhere made mention of the former things, have described nothing except wars and disasters—

12 quae bella quid aliud dicenda sunt, nisi uergentia in alterutrum mala; mala autem huiusmodi quae tunc erant, sicut et nunc sunt in quantum sunt, sine dubio aut manifesta peccata sunt aut occultae punitiones peccatorum -:

12 what else are these wars to be called, except evils verging to either side; but evils of this kind which then were, just as also now they are, insofar as they are, are without doubt either manifest sins or occult punishments of sinners -:

13 quid impedimenti est nos eius rei caput pandere, cuius illi corpus expresserint, et priora illa saecula, quae multo numerosiora monstramus, uel tenuissimo testari relatu similes miserias pertulisse ?

13 what impediment is there for us to lay open the head of that matter, of which they have expressed the body, and to attest by a most tenuous relation that those earlier ages, which we show to be much more numerous, have borne similar miseries ?

14 Dicturus igitur ab orbe condito usque ad urbem conditam, dehinc usque ad Caesaris principatum natiuitatemque Christi ex quo sub potestate urbis orbis mansit imperium, uel etiam usque ad dies nostros, in quantum ad cognitionem uocare suffecero,

14 Therefore, intending to speak from the world’s founding up to the City’s founding, then up to Caesar’s Principate and the Nativity of Christ, from which time the empire of the world remained under the power of the City, or even up to our own days, insofar as I shall have been able to call it to cognition,

15 conflictationes generis humani et ueluti per diuersas partes ardentem malis mundum face cupiditatis incensum e specula ostentaturus necessarium reor,

15 I reckon it necessary, being about to display from a watchtower the conflictations of the human race and, as it were, the world blazing with evils across diverse parts, inflamed by the torch of cupidity,

16 ut primum ipsum terrarum orbem quem inhabitat humanum genus, sicut est a maioribus trifariam distributus deinde regionibus prouinciisque determinatus, expediam;

16 that first I may expound the very orb of lands which the human race inhabits, as it has been by the ancestors divided threefold, then delimited by regions and provinces;

17 quo facilius, cum locales bellorum morborumque clades ostentabuntur, studiosi quique non solum rerum ac temporum sed etiam locorum scientiam consequantur.

17 so that the more easily, when the local calamities of wars and diseases are displayed, the studious may obtain knowledge not only of things and times but also of places.

[2] Maiores nostri orbem totius terrae, oceani limbo circumsaeptum, triquadrum statuere eiusque tres partesAsiam Europam et Africam uocauerunt, quamuis aliqui duas hoc est Asiam ac deinde Africam in Europam accipiendam putarint.

[2] Our ancestors established the orb of the whole earth, enclosed by the border of the ocean, as three-cornered, and they called its three partsAsia Europe and Africa, although some thought it to be two—that is, Asia, and then Africa to be taken into Europe.

2 Asia tribus partibus oceano circumcincta per totam transuersi plagam orientis extenditur.

2 Asia, surrounded by the ocean on three sides, extends across the entire transverse region of the Orient.

3 haec occasum uersus a dextra sui sub axe septentrionis incipientem contingit Europam, a sinistra autem Africam dimittit, sub Aegypto uero et Syria mare nostrum quod Magnum generaliter dicimus habet.

3 this, toward the occident, on its right side touches Europe beginning under the axis of the North, while on the left it leaves Africa; and beneath Egypt and Syria it has our sea, which we generally call the Great.

4 Europa incipit ut dixi sub plaga septentrionis, a flumine Tanai, qua Riphaei montes Sarmatico auersi oceano Tanaim fluuium fundunt,

4 Europe begins, as I said, under the septentrional quarter, from the river Tanais, where the Riphaean mountains, turned away from the Sarmatian Ocean, pour forth the river Tanais,

5 qui praeteriens aras ac terminos Alexandri Magni in Rhobascorum finibus sitos Maeotidas auget paludes, quarum inmensa exundatio iuxta Theodosiam urbem Euxinum Pontum late ingreditur.

5 which, passing by the altars and boundary-marks of Alexander the Great set in the borders of the Rhobasci, swells the Maeotian marshes, whose immense inundation, near the city of Theodosia, widely enters the Euxine Pontus.

6 inde iuxta Constantinopolim longae mittuntur angustiae, donec eas mare hoc quod dicimus Nostrum accipiat.

6 thence, near Constantinople, long straits extend, until this sea which we call Ours receives them.

7 Europae in Hispania occidentalis oceanus termino est, maxime ubi apud Gades insulas Herculis columnae uisuntur et Tyrrheni maris faucibus oceani aestus inmittitur.

7 For Europe, in Spain, the western Ocean is the boundary, especially where at the islands of Gades the Columns of Hercules are seen and, through the straits of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the surge of the Ocean is sent in.

8 Africae principium est a finibus Aegypti urbisque Alexandriae, ubi Parethonio ciuitas sita est, super mare hoc Magnum, quod omnes plagas terrasque medias interluit.

8 Africa’s beginning is from the borders of Egypt and the city of Alexandria, where the city Parethonium is situated, on this Great Sea, which bathes all regions and the middle lands.

9 unde per loca quae accolae Catabathmon uocant haud procul a castris Alexandri Magni et super lacum Chalearzum, deinde iuxta superiorum fines Auasitarum missa in transuersum per Aethiopica deserta meridianum contingit oceanum.

9 whence, through the places which the inhabitants call Catabathmon, not far from the camp of Alexander the Great and above Lake Chalearzus, then near the borders of the Upper Avasitae, sent transversely through the Ethiopian deserts, it touches the meridian ocean.

10 termini Africae ad occidentem idem sunt qui et Europae, id est fauces Gaditani freti.

10 the boundaries of Africa to the west are the same as those of Europe, that is, the narrows of the Gaditan strait.

11 ultimus autem finis eius est mons Athlans et insulae quas Fortunatas uocant.

11 but its ultimate limit is Mount Atlas and the islands which they call the Fortunate.

12 Et quia breuiter generales tripertiti orbis diuisiones dedi, ipsarum quoque partium regiones, sicut pollicitus sum, significare curabo.

12 And since I have briefly given the general divisions of the tripartite world, I will also take care to indicate the regions of those parts, as I have promised.

13 Asia ad mediam frontem orientis habet in oceano Eoo ostia fluminis Gangis, a sinistra promunturium Caligardamana, cui subiacet ad Eurum insula Taprobane, ex qua oceanus Indicus uocari incipit;

13 Asia at the midmost face of the Orient has, in the Eoan Ocean, the mouths of the river Ganges; on the left, the promontory Caligardamana, beneath which toward Eurus lies the island Taprobane, from which the Ocean begins to be called Indicus;

14 a dextra habet Imaui montis - ubi Caucasus deficit - promunturium Samarae, cui ad aquilonem subiacent ostia fluminis Ottorogorrae, ex quo oceanus Sericus appellatur.

14 on the right it has the promontory of Samara of Mount Imaus—where the Caucasus ends—, to the north of which lie the mouths of the river Ottorogorra, from which the ocean is called the Seric.

15 In his finibus India est, quae habet ab occidente flumen Indum, quod Rubro mari accipitur, a septentrione montem Caucasum; reliqua ut dixi Eoo et Indico oceano terminatur.

15 Within these borders is India, which has on the west the river Indus, which is received by the Red Sea, on the north the Caucasus mountain; the rest, as I said, is bounded by the Eoan and the Indian ocean.

16 haec habet gentes XLIIII, absque insula Taprobane, quae habet decem ciuitates, et absque reliquis insulis habitabilibus plurimis.

16 this has 44 peoples, apart from the island Taprobane, which has ten cities, and apart from the remaining very many habitable islands.

17 A flumine Indo, quod est ab oriente, usque ad flumen Tigrim, quod est ad occasum, regiones sunt istae: Arachosia Parthia Assyria Persida et Media, situ terrarum montuoso et aspero.

17 From the river Indus, which is to the east, up to the river Tigris, which is to the west, these are the regions: Arachosia Parthia Assyria Persia and Media, in a mountainous and rugged situation of the lands.

18 hae a septentrione habent montem Caucasum, a meridie mare Rubrum et sinum Persicum, in medio autem sui flumina praecipua Hydaspem et Arbim. in his sunt gentes XXXII.

18 these have to the north Mount Caucasus, to the south the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and in the middle of themselves the principal rivers Hydaspes and Arbis. in these are 32 peoples.

19 sed generaliter Parthia dicitur, quamuis Scripturae Sanctae uniuersam saepe Mediam uocent.

19 but generally it is called Parthia, although the Holy Scriptures often call the whole Media.

20 A flumine Tigri usque ad flumen Euphraten Mesopotamia est, incipiens a septentrione inter montem Taurum et Caucasum.

20 From the river Tigris up to the river Euphrates is Mesopotamia, beginning from the north between Mount Taurus and the Caucasus.

21 cui ad meridiem succedit Babylonia, deinde Chaldaea, nouissime Arabia Eudaemon, quae inter sinum Persicum et Arabicum angusto terrae tractu orientem uersus extenditur.

21 to the south of which succeeds Babylonia, then Chaldaea, and finally Arabia Eudaemon, which, between the Persian and the Arabian gulf, by a narrow tract of land, is extended toward the east.

22 in his sunt gentes XXVIII.

22 in these there are 28 nations.

23 A flumine Euphrate, quod est ab oriente, usque ad mare Nostrum, quod est ab occasu, deinde a septentrione id est a ciuitate Dagusa, quae in confinio Cappadociae et Armeniae sita est haud procul a loco ubi Euphrates nascitur, usque ad Aegyptum et extremum sinum Arabicum,

23 From the river Euphrates, which is on the Orient, as far as Our Sea, which is on the Occident, then from the north, that is, from the city Dagusa, which is situated on the confine of Cappadocia and Armenia, not far from the place where the Euphrates is born, as far as Egypt and the farthest Arabian gulf,

24 qui ad meridiem longo angustoque sulco saxis insulisque creberrimo a Rubro mari id est ab oceano occasum uersus extenditur, Syria generaliter nominatur, habens maximas prouincias Commagenam Phoeniciam et Palaestinam, absque Saracenis et Nabathaeis quorum gentes sunt XII.

24 which to the south, by a long and narrow channel, very crowded with rocks and islands, from the Red Sea, that is from the Ocean, extends toward the west, Syria is generally named, having as its greatest provinces Commagene, Phoenicia, and Palestine, apart from the Saracens and Nabataeans, whose peoples are 12.

25 In capite Syriae Cappadocia est, quae habet ab oriente Armeniam, ab occasu Asiam, ab aquilone Themiscyrios campos et mare Cimmericum, a meridie Taurum montem, cui subiacet Cilicia et Isauria usque ad Cilicium sinum, qui spectat contra insulam Cyprum.

25 At the head of Syria Cappadocia is, which has on the east Armenia, on the west Asia, on the north the Themiscyrian fields and the Cimmerian Sea, on the south the Taurus mountain, at the foot of which lie Cilicia and Isauria up to the Cilician Gulf, which looks toward the island of Cyprus.

26 Asia Regio uel, ut proprie dicam, Asia minor absque orientali parte qua ad Cappadociam Syriamque progreditur undique circumdata est mari: a septentrione Ponto Euxino, ab occasu Propontide atque Hellesponto, ad meridiem mari Nostro. ibi est mons Olympus.

26 Region of Asia or, to speak properly, Asia Minor, except for the eastern part where it advances toward Cappadocia and Syria, is on all sides surrounded by sea: on the north by the Pontus Euxinus, on the west by the Propontis and the Hellespont, to the south by Our Sea. there is Mount Olympus.

27 Aegyptus Inferior ab oriente habet Syriam Palaestinam, ab occasu Libyam, a septentrione mare Nostrum, a meridie montem, qui appellatur Climax, et Aegyptum superiorem fluuiumque Nilum,

27 Lower Egypt has on the east Syria Palaestina, on the west Libya, on the north the Mediterranean Sea, on the south the mountain which is called Climax, and Upper Egypt and the river Nile,

28 qui de litore incipientis maris Rubri uidetur emergere in loco, qui dicitur Mossylon emporium, deinde diu ad occasum profluens, faciens insulam nomine Meroen in medio sui, nouissime ad septentrionem inflexus, tempestiuis auctus incrementis plana Aegypti rigat.

28 which from the shore of the beginning of the Red Sea seems to emerge at a place which is called the Mossylon emporium, then for a long time flowing toward the west, making an island named Meroe in the midst of itself, finally bent toward the north, increased by seasonal increments, waters the flatlands of Egypt.

29 hunc aliqui auctores ferunt haud procul ab Athlante habere fontem et continuo harenis mergi,

29 some authors report that it has its fount not far from Atlas and is straightway submerged by sands,

30 inde interiecto breui spatio uastissimo lacu exundare atque hinc oceano tenus orientem uersus per Aethiopica deserta prolabi rursusque inflexum ad sinistram ad Aegyptum descendere.

30 thence, a brief space intervening, it overflows from a very vast lake, and from here, eastward as far as the Ocean, it glides through the Ethiopian deserts, and again, bent to the left, it descends to Egypt.

31 quod quidem uerum est esse huiusmodi fluuium magnum, qui tali ortu talique cursu sit et re uera omnia Nili monstra gignat; quem utique prope fontem barbari Dara nominant; ceteri uero accolae Nuhul uocant;

31 what indeed is true is that there exists a great fluvial river of this kind, which has such an origin and such a course and in very truth begets all the Nile’s monsters; which, at any rate, the barbarians near the source call Dara; but the other inhabitants call Nuhul;

32 sed hic in regione gentium, quae Libyoaegyptiae uocantur, haud procul ab illo fluuio, quem a litore maris Rubri prorumpere diximus, inmenso lacu acceptus absumitur;

32 but this one, in the region of the peoples who are called the Libyo-Egyptians, not far from that river which we said bursts forth from the shore of the Red Sea, received into an immense lake, is swallowed up;

33 nisi forte occulto meatu in alueum eius, qui ab oriente descendit, eructat.

33 unless perhaps by a hidden meatus it belches forth into its channel, which descends from the east.

34 Aegyptus Superior in orientem per longum extenditur. cui est a septentrione sinus Arabicus, a meridie oceanus. nam ab occasu ex inferiore Aegypto incipit, ad orientem Rubro mari terminatur.

34 Upper Egypt extends in length toward the Orient. To it on the north is the Arabian Gulf, on the south the Ocean. For it begins on the Occident from Lower Egypt, and to the east it is bounded by the Red Sea.

ibi sunt gentes XXIIII.

there are 24 peoples.

35 Et quoniam meridianam partem uniuersae Asiae descripsimus, superest ut ab oriente ad septentrionem pars quae restat expediatur.

35 And since we have described the meridian part of the whole of Asia, it remains that the part which is left be set forth from the east to the north.

36 Mons Caucasus inter Colchos, qui sunt super Cimmericum mare, et inter Albanos, qui sunt ad mare Caspium, primum attollitur. cuius quidem usque in ultimum orientem unum uidetur iugum, sed multa sunt nomina;

36 Mount Caucasus first rises between the Colchians, who are above the Cimmerian Sea, and the Albani, who are by the Caspian Sea. Of it, indeed, the ridge appears one all the way to the farthest Orient, yet the names are many;

37 et multi hoc ipsum iugum Tauri montis credi uolunt, quia re uera Parcohatras mons Armeniae inter Taurum et Caucasum medius continuare Taurum cum Caucaso putatur;

37 and many want this very ridge to be believed to be of Mount Taurus, because in truth the Parcohatras mountain of Armenia, lying between Taurus and Caucasus as a middle, is thought to continue Taurus with the Caucasus;

38 sed hoc ita non esse discernit fluuius Euphrates, qui, radice Parcohatrae montis effusus, tendens in meridiem, ipsum ad sinistram, Taurum excludit ad dextram.

38 but that this is not so is discerned by the river Euphrates, which, poured out from the root of Mount Parcohatras, tending southward, excludes that very mountain on the left, and Taurus on the right.

39 itaque ipse Caucasus inter Colchos et Albanos, ubi et portas habet, mons Caucasus dicitur;

39 therefore the Caucasus itself, between the Colchians and the Albanians, where it also has gates, is called the Caucasus mountain;

40 a portis Caspiis usque ad Armenias pylas uel usque ad fontem Tigridis fluminis inter Armeniam et Hiberiam montes Acrocerauni dicuntur;

40 from the Caspian gates as far as the Armenian gates, or as far as the source of the river Tigris, between Armenia and Hiberia, they are called the Acroceraunian mountains;

41 a fonte Tigridis usque ad Carras ciuitatem inter Massagetas et Parthos mons Ariobarzanes;

41 from the source of the Tigris up to the city of Carrhae, between the Massagetae and the Parthians, Mount Ariobarzanes;

42 a Carris ciuitate usque ad oppidum Cathippi inter Hyrcanos et Bactrianos mons Memarmali, ubi amomum nascitur; a quo proximum iugum mons Parthau dicitur;

42 from the city of Carras as far as the town of Cathippa, between the Hyrcanians and the Bactrians, is Mount Memarmalus, where amomum grows; from which the next ridge is called Mount Parthau;

43 ab oppido Cathippi usque ad uicum Safrim inter Dahas Sacaraucas et Parthyenas mons Oscobares, ubi Ganges fluuius oritur et laser nascitur;

43 from the town of Cathippi up to the village Safrim, between the Dahae Sacaraucae and the Parthyenae, Mount Oscobares, where the Ganges river originates and laser grows;

44 a fonte fluminis Gangis usque ad fontes fluminis Ottorogorrae qui sunt a septentrione, ubi sunt montani Paropanisadae, mons Taurus;

44 from the source of the river Ganges up to the sources of the river Ottorogorra, which are to the north, where the Paropanisadae mountaineers are, Mount Taurus;

45 a fontibus Ottorogorrae usque ad ciuitatem Ottorogorram inter Chunos Scythas et Gandaridas mons Caucasus.

45 from the sources of the Ottorogorra up to the city Ottorogorra, between the Chuni Scythians and the Gandaridae, Mount Caucasus.

46 ultimus autem inter Eoas et Passyadras mons Imauus, ubi flumen Chrysorhoas et promunturium Samara orientali excipiuntur oceano.

46 but the last between the Eoans and the Passyadras is Mount Imaus, where the river Chrysorhoas and the promontory Samara are received by the eastern Ocean.

47 igitur a monte Imauo, hoc est ab imo Caucaso et dextra orientis parte qua oceanus Sericus tenditur, usque ad promunturium Boreum et flumen Boreum, inde tenus Scythico mari quod est a septentrione, usque ad mare Caspium quod est ab occasu, et usque ad extentum Caucasi iugum quod est ad meridiem, Hyrcanorum et Scytharum gentes sunt XLII, propter terrarum infecundam diffusionem late oberrantes.

47 therefore from Mount Imaus, that is from the lowest Caucasus and the right-hand part of the east where the Seric Ocean stretches, up to the Boreum promontory and the Boreum river, thence as far as the Scythic Sea which is to the north, up to the Caspian Sea which is to the west, and up to the extended ridge of the Caucasus which is toward the south, there are 42 peoples of the Hyrcanians and the Scythians, widely wandering because of the barren diffusion of the lands.

48 Mare Caspium sub Aquilonis plaga ab oceano oritur, cuius utraque circa oceanum litora et loca deserta incultaque habentur. inde meridiem uersus per longas angustias tenditur, donec per magna spatia dilatatum Caucasi montis radicibus terminetur.

48 Caspian Sea under the quarter of the North arises from the Ocean, the shores and places of which on either side around the Ocean are held to be deserted and uncultivated. Thence toward the south it stretches through long narrows, until, dilated over great expanses, it is terminated at the roots of Mount Caucasus.

49 itaque a mari Caspio quod est ad orientem, per oram oceani septentrionalis usque ad Tanaim fluuium et Maeotidas paludes quae sunt ad occasum, per litus Cimmerici maris quod est ab Africo, usque ad caput et portas Caucasi quae sunt ad meridiem, gentes sunt XXXIIII.

49 and so from the Caspian Sea, which is to the east, along the shore of the northern Ocean as far as the river Tanais and the Maeotian marshes, which are to the west; along the shore of the Cimmerian Sea, which is from the Africus (southwest); up to the head and gates of the Caucasus, which are to the south, there are 34 peoples.

50 sed generaliter regio proxima Albania, ulterior sub mari et monte Caspio Amazonum nominatur.

50 but generally, the region nearest to Albania, the farther one lying under the Caspian Sea and Mountain, is named the land of the Amazons.

51 Expliciti sunt quam breuissime fines Asiae. nunc Europam in quantum cognitioni hominis conceditur stilo peruagabor.

51 The bounds of Asia have been explicated as most briefly as possible. Now I will range through Europe with the pen, insofar as it is conceded to human cognition.

52 Incipit a montibus Riphaeis ac flumine Tanai Maeotidisque paludibus quae sunt ad orientem, per litus septentrionalis oceani usque ad Galliam Belgicam et flumen Rhenum quod est ab occasu descendens, deinde usque ad Danuuium quem et Histrum uocant, qui est a meridie et ad orientem directus Ponto accipitur.

52 It begins from the Rhipaean mountains and the river Tanais and the Maeotian marshes, which are to the east, along the shore of the northern ocean up to Belgic Gaul and the river Rhine, which descends from the west, then up to the Danube, which they also call the Hister, which, directed from the south and toward the east, is received by the Pontus.

53 ab oriente Alania est, in medio Dacia ubi et Gothia, deinde Germania est ubi plurimam partem Suebi tenent. quorum omnium sunt gentes LIIII.

53 on the east is Alania, in the middle Dacia, where also Gothia; then Germania, where the Suebi hold the greater part. Of all these there are 54 peoples.

54 Nunc quidquid Danuuius a barbarico ad mare Nostrum secludit expediam.

54 Now I will expound whatever the Danube secludes from the Barbaricum to Our Sea.

55 Moesia ab oriente habet ostia fluminis Danuuii, ab euro Thraciam, a meridie Macedoniam, ab Africo Dalmatiam, ab occasu Histriam, a circio Pannoniam, a septentrione Danuuium.

55 Moesia from the east has the mouths of the river Danube, from the southeast Thrace, from the south Macedonia, from the southwest Dalmatia, from the west Histria, from the northwest Pannonia, from the north the Danube.

56 Thracia habet ab oriente Propontidis sinum et ciuitatem Constantinopolim quae Byzantium prius dicta est, a septentrione partem Dalmatiae et sinum Euxini ponti, ab occasu et Africo Macedoniam, a meridie Aegaeum mare.

56 Thrace has on the east the bay of the Propontis and the city Constantinople, which earlier was called Byzantium, on the north a part of Dalmatia and a bay of the Euxine Sea, on the west and southwest Macedonia, on the south the Aegean Sea.

57 Macedonia habet ab oriente Aegaeum mare, a borea Thraciam, ab euro Euboeam et Macedonicum sinum, a meridie Achaiam, a fauonio montes Acrocerauniae in angustiis Hadriatici sinus, qui montes sunt contra Apuliam atque Brundisium, ab occasu Dalmatiam, a circio Dardaniam, a septentrione Moesiam.

57 Macedonia has on the east the Aegean sea, on the north Thrace, on the southeast Euboea and the Macedonian gulf, on the south Achaea, on the west the Acroceraunian mountains at the narrows of the Adriatic gulf, which mountains are opposite Apulia and Brundisium, on the west Dalmatia, on the northwest Dardania, on the north Moesia.

58 Achaia undique propemodum cincta est mari; nam ab oriente habet Myrtoum mare, ab euro mare Creticum, a meridie Ionium mare, ab Africo et occasu Cephaleniam et Cassiopam insulas, a septentrione sinum Corinthium, ab aquilone angustum terrae dorsum, quo Macedoniae coniungitur uel potius Atticae; qui locus Isthmos uocatur, ubi est Corinthus, habens in Attica ad boream non longe Athenas ciuitatem.

58 Achaia is on almost every side encircled by the sea; for from the east it has the Myrtoan Sea, from the southeast the Cretan Sea, from the south the Ionian Sea, from the southwest and the west the islands Cephallenia and Cassiopa, from the north the Corinthian Gulf, from the north wind a narrow back of land, by which it is joined to Macedonia, or rather to Attica; which place is called the Isthmus, where Corinth is, having in Attica to the north, not far off, the city Athens.

59 Dalmatia habet ab oriente Macedoniam, ab aquilone Dardaniam, a septentrione Moesiam, ab occasu Histriam et sinum Liburnicum et insulas Liburnicas, a meridie Hadriaticum sinum.

59 Dalmatia has on the east Macedonia, from the north Dardania, from the north Moesia, from the west Histria and the Liburnian gulf and the Liburnian islands, from the south the Adriatic gulf.

60 Pannonia Noricus et Raetia habent ab oriente Moesiam, a meridie Histriam, ab Africo Alpes Poeninas, ab occasu Galliam Belgicam, a circio Danuuii fontem et limitem qui Germaniam a Gallia inter Danuuium Galliamque secernit, a septentrione Danuuium et Germaniam.

60 Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia have on the east Moesia, on the south Histria, on the southwest the Poenine Alps, on the west Belgic Gaul, on the northwest the source of the Danube and the boundary which separates Germany from Gaul between the Danube and Gaul, on the north the Danube and Germany.

61 Italiae situs a circio in eurum tenditur, habens ab Africo Tyrrhenum mare, a borea Hadriaticum sinum; cuius ea pars, qua continenti terrae communis et contigua est, Alpium obicibus obstruitur.

61 ITALY's situation stretches from the northwest to the southeast, having on the southwest the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the north the Adriatic Gulf; of which that part, where it is shared with and contiguous to the continent, is obstructed by the barriers of the Alps.

62 quae a Gallico mari super Ligusticum sinum exsurgentes, primum Narbonensium fines, deinde Galliam Raetiamque secludunt, donec in sinu Liburnico defigantur.

62 which, rising from the Gallic sea above the Ligustine gulf, first shut off the frontiers of the Narbonensians, then seclude Gaul and Raetia, until they are fixed in the Liburnian gulf.

63 Gallia Belgica habet ob oriente limitem fluminis Rheni et Germaniam, ab euro Alpes Poeninas, a meridie prouinciam Narbonensem, ab occasu prouinciam Lugdunensem, a circio oceanum Britannicum, a septentrione Britanniam insulam.

63 Gallia Belgica has on the east the boundary of the river Rhine and Germany, on the southeast the Pennine Alps, on the south the Narbonensian province, on the west the Lugdunensian province, on the northwest the British Ocean, on the north the island of Britain.

64 Gallia Lugdunensis, ducta per longum et per angustum inflexa, Aquitanicam prouinciam semicingit.

64 Gallia Lugdunensis, drawn out lengthwise and bent through a narrowness, half-encircles the province Aquitanica.

65 haec ab oriente habet Belgicam, a meridie partem prouinciae Narbonensis, qua Arelas ciuitas sita est et mari Gallico Rhodani flumen accipitur.

65 this has on the east Belgica, on the south a part of the province Narbonensis, where the city Arles is situated and in the Gallic Sea the river Rhone is received.

66 Narbonensis Provincia, pars Galliarum, habet ab oriente Alpes Cottias, ab occidente Hispaniam, a circio Aquitanicam, a septentrione Lugdunensem, ab aquilone Belgicam Galliam, meridie mare Gallicum quod est inter Sardiniam et insulas Baleares, habens in fronte, qua Rhodanus fluuius in mare exit, insulas Stoechadas.

66 Narbonensian Province, a part of Gaul, has on the east the Cottian Alps, on the west Spain, on the northwest Aquitanica, on the north Lugdunensis, on the northeast Belgic Gaul, to the south the Gallic sea which is between Sardinia and the Balearic islands, having in front, where the river Rhone goes out into the sea, the Stoechades islands.

67 Aquitanica Provincia obliquo cursu Ligeris fluminis, qui ex plurima parte terminus eius est, in orbem agitur.

67 Aquitanian Province is led in a circuit by the oblique course of the river Liger, which for the greatest part is its boundary.

68 haec a circio oceanum qui Aquitanicus sinus dicitur, ab occasu Hispanias habet, a septentrione et oriente Lugdunensem, ab euro et meridie Narbonensem prouinciam contingit.

68 this, on the northwest, has the Ocean which is called the Aquitanian Gulf; on the west it has the Spains; on the north and east, Lugdunensis; on the southeast and south, it touches the Narbonensian province.

69 Hispania uniuersa terrarum situ trigona est et circumfusione oceani Tyrrhenique pelagi paene insula efficitur.

69 Hispania as a whole, in the situation of the lands, is triangular, and by the circumfusion of the Ocean and the Tyrrhenian pelagus it is made almost an island.

70 huius angulus prior, spectans ad orientem, a dextris Aquitanica prouincia, a sinistris Balearico mari coartatus, Narbonensium finibus inseritur.

70 the foremost angle of this, looking toward the east, with the Aquitanian province on the right, and on the left constricted by the Balearic sea, is inserted into the boundaries of the Narbonensians.

71 secundus angulus circium intendit; ubi Brigantia Gallaeciae ciuitas sita altissimam pharum et inter pauca memorandi operis ad speculam Britanniae erigit.

71 the second angle aims toward the north-west; where Brigantia, a city of Gallaecia, situated, erects a very lofty pharos (lighthouse) and, among the few memorable works, as a lookout toward Britain.

72 tertius angulus eius est, qua Gades insulae, intentae in Africum, Athlantem montem interiecto sinu oceani prospiciunt.

72 its third angle is where the islands of Gades, extended toward the Africus, look out upon Mount Atlas, with a gulf of the ocean interposed.

73 Hispaniam citeriorem ab oriente incipientem Pyrenaei saltus a parte septentrionis usque ad Cantabros Asturesque deducit atque inde per Vaccaeos et Oretanos, quos ab occasu habet, posita in Nostri maris litore Carthago determinat.

73 Nearer Spain, beginning from the east, the passes of the Pyrenees on the septentrional side conduct as far as the Cantabri and the Astures; and thence Carthage, set on the shore of Our Sea, demarcates it through the Vaccaei and the Oretani, whom it has toward the Occident.

74 Hispania ulterior habet ab oriente Vaccaeos, Celtiberos et Oretanos, a septentrione oceanum, ab occasu oceanum, a meridie Gaditanum oceani fretum; unde mare Nostrum, quod Tyrrhenum uocatur, inmittitur.

74 Further Spain has to the east the Vaccaei, the Celtiberi, and the Oretani; to the north the Ocean, to the west the Ocean, to the south the Gaditan strait of the Ocean; whence Our Sea, which is called the Tyrrhenian, is admitted.

75 Et quoniam oceanus habet insulas, quas Britanniam et Hiberniam uocant, quae in auersa Galliarum parte ad prospectum Hispaniae sitae sunt, breuiter explicabuntur.

75 And since the Ocean has islands, which they call Britain and Hibernia, which are situated in the far side of the Gauls, facing toward the prospect of Spain, they will be briefly explained.

76 Britannia oceani insula per longum in boream extenditur; a meridie Gallias habet. cuius proximum litus transmeantibus ciuitas aperit, quae dicitur Rutupi portus; unde haud procul a Morinis in austro positos Menapos Batauosque prospectat.

76 Britain, an island of the ocean, stretches along its length into the north; on the south it has the Gauls. whose nearest shore, for those crossing over, a city opens, which is called the Port of Rutupi; whence, not far from the Morini, it looks out upon the Menapii and the Batavi set in the south.

77 haec insula habet in longo milia passuum DCCC, in lato milia CC.

77 this island has in length 800 miles, in breadth 200 miles.

78 A tergo autem, unde oceano infinito patet, Orcadas insulas habet, quarum XX desertae sunt, XIII coluntur.

78 At the back, however, where it lies open to the infinite ocean, it has the islands of the Orcades, of which 20 are uninhabited, 13 are inhabited.

79 Deinde insula Thyle, quae per infinitum a ceteris separata, circium uersus medio sita oceani, uix paucis nota habetur.

79 Then the island Thule, which, separated from the rest through an infinite expanse, set toward the north-west in the middle of the ocean, is held to be known scarcely to a few.

80 Hibernia insula inter Britanniam et Hispaniam sita longiore ab Africo in boream spatio porrigitur.

80 Hibernia, an island situated between Britain and Hispania, extends in a longer expanse from the Africus toward the north.

81 huius partes priores intentae Cantabrico oceano Brigantiam Gallaeciae ciuitatem ab Africo sibi in circium occurrentem spatioso interuallo procul spectant, ab eo praecipue promunturio, ubi Scenae fluminis ostium est et Velabri Lucenique consistunt. haec propior Britanniae, spatio terrarum angustior, sed caeli solique temperie magis utilis, a Scottorum gentibus colitur.

81 of this the fore parts, stretched out toward the Cantabrian Ocean, behold far off at a spacious interval Brigantia, a city of Gallaecia, facing them from the Africus toward the Circius, especially from that promontory where the mouth of the river Scena is and where the Velabri and the Luceni consist. this, nearer to Britain, narrower in the expanse of lands, but more useful by the temper of sky and soil, is inhabited by the peoples of the Scotti.

82 Huic etiam Mevania insula proxima est et ipsa spatio non parua, solo commoda. aeque a Scottorum gentibus habitatur.

82 To this, the island Mevania is also near, and it too is not small in extent, commodious in soil. It likewise is inhabited by the peoples of the Scots.

Hi sunt fines totius Europae.

These are the boundaries of all Europe.

83 Africam ut dixi cum tertiam orbis partem maiores nostri accipiendam descripserint, non spatiorum mensuras sed diuisionum rationes secuti sunt.

83 Africa, as I said, when our ancestors described it as to be taken as the third part of the world, did not follow the measures of spaces but the reasons of divisions.

84 mare hoc siquidem Magnum, quod ab occasu ex oceano oritur, in meridiem magis uergens angustiorem inter se et oceanum coartatae Africae limitem fecit.

84 indeed this Great Sea, which from the West rises out of the Ocean, verging more toward the south, has made, between itself and the Ocean, the narrower limit of contracted Africa.

85 unde etiam aliqui quamuis eam longitudine parem tamen multo angustiorem intellegentes, inuerecundum arbitrati tertiam uocare partem sed potius in Europam Africam deputantes, hoc est secundae portionem appellare maluerunt.

85 whence also some, although understanding it to be equal in length yet much narrower, having adjudged it immodest to call it a third part, but rather assigning Africa to Europe—that is, they preferred to call it a portion of the second.

86 praeterea cum multo amplius terrae in Africa ardore solis quam in Europa rigore frigoris incultum atque incognitum sit - quippe cum omnia paene animantia uel germinantia patientius et tolerabilius ad summum frigoris quam ad summum caloris accedant - ea scilicet causa est, Africam per omnia situ et populis minorem uideri: quia et natura sui minus habeat spatii et caeli inclementia plus deserti. cuius descriptio per prouincias et gentes haec est:

86 moreover, since much more of the land in Africa, by the ardor of the sun, than in Europe, by the rigor of cold, is uncultivated and unknown - for indeed almost all things either living or germinating approach the extreme of cold more patiently and tolerably than the extreme of heat - this, to be sure, is the cause that Africa seems in all respects lesser in situation and in peoples: because both by its own nature it has less of space and by the inclemency of the sky more of desert. whose description through provinces and nations is as follows:

87 Libya Cyrenaica et Pentapolis post Aegyptum in parte Africae prima est.

87 Libya Cyrenaica and the Pentapolis is first, after Egypt, in the part of Africa.

88 haec incipit a ciuitate Parethonio et montibus Catabathmon, inde secundo mari usque ad aras Philaenorum extenditur. post se habet usque ad oceanum meridianum gentes Libyoaethiopum et Garamantum.

88 this begins at the city Parethonium and the Catabathmus mountains, and thence, following the sea, extends as far as the Altars of the Philaeni. behind it, up to the southern Ocean, it has the peoples of the Libyo-Ethiopians and the Garamantes.

89 huic est ab oriente Aegyptus, a septentrione mare Libycum, ab occasu Syrtes maiores et Trogodytae - contra quos insula Calypso est -, a meridie Aethiopicus oceanus.

89 To this, on the east is Egypt, on the north the Libyan Sea, on the west the Greater Syrtes and the Troglodytes - opposite whom the island of Calypso is -, on the south the Aethiopian Ocean.

90 Tripolitana prouincia, quae et Subuentana uel regio Arzugum dicitur, ubi Leptis Magna ciuitas est, quamuis Arzuges per longum Africae limitem generaliter uocentur, habet ab oriente aras Philaenorum inter Syrtes maiores et Trogodytas, a septentrione mare Siculum uel potius Hadriaticum et Syrtes minores, ab occasu Byzacium usque ad lacum Salinarum, a meridie barbaros Gaetulos Nathabres et Garamantas usque ad oceanum Aethiopicum pertingentes.

90 Tripolitan province, which is also called Subventana or the region of the Arzuges, where the city Leptis Magna is, although “Arzuges” is generally the name used for those along Africa’s long frontier, has on the east the Altars of the Philaeni between the Greater Syrtes and the Trogodytes, on the north the Sicilian Sea, or rather the Adriatic, and the Lesser Syrtes, on the west Byzacium as far as the Lake of the Salt-pans, on the south the barbarous Gaetuli, the Nathabres, and the Garamantes, reaching as far as the Ethiopian Ocean.

91 Byzacium Zeugis et Numidia. Zeugis autem prius non unius conuentus, sed totius prouinciae generale nomen fuisse inuenimus.

91 Byzacium, Zeugis, and Numidia. Moreover, we find that Zeugis formerly was not the name of a single district, but the general name of the whole province.

92 Byzacium ergo ubi Hadrumetus ciuitas, Zeugis ubi Carthago Magna, Numidia ubi Hippos regius et Rusiccada ciuitates sunt, habent ab oriente Syrtes minores et lacum Salinarum, a septentrione mare Nostrum quod spectat ad Siciliam et Sardiniam insulas, ab occasu Mauretaniam Sitifensem, a meridie montes Uzarae et post eos Aethiopum gentes peruagantes usque ad oceanum Aethiopicum.

92 Byzacium therefore, where the city Hadrumetus is, Zeugis where Great Carthage is, Numidia where the cities Hippo Regius and Rusiccada are, have on the east the Lesser Syrtes and the Lake of the Salt-pans; on the north Our Sea, which looks toward the islands of Sicily and Sardinia; on the west Mauretania Sitifensis; on the south the Uzara mountains, and after them the nations of the Aethiopes ranging as far as the Aethiopic Ocean.

93 Sitifensis et Caesariensis Mauretania habet ab oriente Numidiam, a septentrione mare Nostrum, ab occasu flumen Maluam, a meridie montem Astrixim, qui diuidit inter uiuam terram et harenas iacentes usque oceanum, in quibus oberrant Gangines Aethiopes.

93 Mauretania Sitifensis and Caesariensis has on the east Numidia, on the north Our Sea, on the west the river Malva, on the south Mount Astrixis, which divides between the living land and the sands lying as far as the Ocean, in which the Gangine Ethiopians wander.

94 Tingitana Mauretania ultima est Africae. haec habet ab oriente flumen Maluam, a septentrione mare Nostrum usque ad fretum Gaditanum quod inter Abennae et Calpes duo contraria sibi promunturia coartatur, ab occidente Athlantem montem et oceanum Athlanticum, sub Africo Hesperium montem, a meridie gentes Autololum, quas nunc Galaules uocant, usque ad oceanum Hesperium contingentes.

94 Tingitanian Mauretania is the farthest part of Africa. This has on the east the river Malva, on the north Our Sea up to the Gaditan Strait, which is narrowed between Abennae and Calpes, two promontories opposite to each other, on the west Mount Atlas and the Atlantic Ocean, under Africus the Hesperian mountain, on the south the peoples of the Autololes, whom they now call Galaules, reaching as far as the Hesperian Ocean.

95 Hic est uniuersae terminus Africae. nunc insularum, quae in Nostro mari sunt, loca nomina et spatia dimetiar.

95 This is the terminus of all Africa. Now, of the islands which are in Our Sea, I shall measure out their places, names, and extents.

96 Insula Cypros ab oriente mari Syrio, quem Issicum sinum uocant, ab occidente mari Pamphylico, a septentrione Aulone Cilicio, a meridie Syriae et Phoenices pelago cingitur. cuius spatium in longo tenet milia passuum CLXXV, in lato milia passuum CXXV.

96 Island Cyprus on the east is by the Syrian sea, which they call the Issic gulf; on the west by the Pamphylian sea; on the north by the Cilician Aulon; on the south it is girded by the sea of Syria and of Phoenicia. Its extent in length holds 175 miles, in breadth 125 miles.

97 Insula Creta finitur ab oriente Carpathio mari, ab occasu et septentrione mari Cretico, a meridie mari Libyco, quod et Hadriaticum uocant. habet in longo milia passuum CLXXII, in lato L.

97 Island Crete is bounded on the east by the Carpathian Sea, on the west and north by the Cretan Sea, on the south by the Libyan Sea, which they also call the Adriatic. it has in length 172 miles of paces, in breadth 50.

98 Insulae Cyclades - quarum est ab oriente prima Rhodos, a septentrione Tenedos, a meridie Carpathos, ab occasu Cythera - ab oriente finiuntur litoribus Asiae, ab occidente mari Icario, a septentrione mari Aegaeo, a meridie mari Carpathio. sunt autem omnes Cyclades numero LIIII. hae tenent a septentrione in meridiem milia passuum D, ab oriente in occasum milia CC.

98 The Cyclades Islands - of which on the east the first is Rhodes, on the north Tenedos, on the south Carpathos, on the west Cythera - are bounded on the east by the shores of Asia, on the west by the Icarian Sea, on the north by the Aegean Sea, on the south by the Carpathian Sea. Moreover, all the Cyclades are in number 54. These extend from north to south 500 miles, from east to west 200 miles.

99 Sicilia insula tria habet promunturia, unum quod dicitur Pelorum et aspicit ad aquilonem, cui Messana ciuitas proxima est; secundum quod dicitur Pachynum, sub quo ciuitas Syracusana, respicit ad euronotum; tertium quod appellatur Lilybaeum, ubi et ciuitas eiusdem nominis sita est, dirigitur in occasum.

99 Sicily the island has three promontories: one which is called Pelorum and looks toward the north, to which the city Messana is nearest; the second which is called Pachynum, under which the Syracusan city lies, looks toward the Euronotus; the third which is named Lilybaeum, where also a city of the same name is situated, is directed toward the west.

100 haec habet a Peloro in Pachynum milia passuum CLVIIII, a Pachyno in Lilybaeum CLXXXVII. haec ab oriente cingitur mari Hadriatico, a meridie mari Africo quod ; est contra Subuentanos et Syrtes minores, ab occidente et septentrione habet mare Tyrrhenum, a borea usque subsolanum fretum Hadriaticum quod diuidit Tauromenitanos Siciliae et Bruttios Italiae.

100 this has from Pelorum to Pachynum 159 miles, from Pachynum to Lilybaeum 187. This is girded on the east by the Adriatic sea, on the south by the African sea, which is opposite the Subuentani and the Lesser Syrtes, on the west and north it has the Tyrrhenian sea, from the north as far as the east wind the Adriatic strait, which divides the Tauromenitans of Sicily and the Bruttians of Italy.

101 Sardinia et Corsica insulae paruo fretu hoc est milium XX diuiduntur. ex quibus Sardinia habet a meridie contra Numidiam Caralitanos, contra Corsicam insulam hoc est septentrionem uersus habet Ulbienses.

101 Sardinia and Corsica the islands are divided by a small strait, that is of 20 miles. Of these, Sardinia has on the south, opposite Numidia, the Caralitans; opposite the island Corsica, that is toward the north, it has the Ulbienses.

102 cuius in longo spatium tenet milia passuum CCXXX, in lato milia LXXX. haec habet ab oriente et borea Tyrrhenicum mare quod spectat ad portum urbis Romae, ab occasu mare Sardum, ab Africo insulas Baleares longe positas, a meridie Numidicum sinum, a septentrione ut dixi Corsicam.

102 whose expanse in length holds 230 miles, in breadth 80 miles. This has on the east and north the Tyrrhenian sea, which looks toward the port of the city of Rome; on the west the Sardinian sea; on the southwest the Balearic islands set far off; on the south the Numidian gulf; on the north, as I said, Corsica.

103 Corsica Insula multis promunturiis angulosa est. haec habet ab oriente Tyrrhenicum mare et portum Urbis, a meridie Sardiniam, ab occasu insulas Baleares, a circio et septentrione Ligusticum sinum. tenet autem in longo milia passuum CLX, in lato milia XXVI.

103 Corsica Island is angular with many promontories. It has on the east the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Port of the City, on the south Sardinia, on the west the Balearic islands, on the northwest and north the Ligurian Gulf. It holds in length 160 miles, in breadth 26 miles.

104 Insulae Baleares duae sunt, maior et minor, quibus insunt bina oppida, maior Tarraconam Hispaniae ciuitatem, minor Barcilonam septentrionem uersus contra se habent. maiori subiacet insula Ebusos. deinde ab oriente Sardiniam, ab aquilone mare Gallicum, a meridie et Africo Mauretanicum pelagus, ab occasu Hibericum pelagus spectant.

104 Balearic Islands there are two, the greater and the lesser, in which there are two towns apiece; the greater has Tarraco, a city of Hispania, the lesser Barcelona, facing toward the north over against them. Beneath the greater lies the island Ebusus. Then they look upon on the east Sardinia, on the north the Gallic Sea, on the south and Africus (the southwest) the Mauretanian sea, on the west the Iberian sea.

105 Hae sunt insulae ab Hellesponto usque ad oceanum per totum Magnum pelagus constitutae, quae et cultu et memoria magis celebres habentur.

105 These are the islands, from the Hellespont as far as the Ocean, situated throughout the whole Great Sea, which are held more celebrated both in cultivation and in memory.

106 Percensui breuiter ut potui prouincias et insulas orbis uniuersi. nunc locales gentium singularum miserias, sicut ab initio incessabiliter exstiterunt et qualiter quibusque exortae sunt, in quantum suffecero proferam.

106 I have reviewed briefly, as I could, the provinces and the islands of the whole world. Now the local miseries of individual peoples, just as from the beginning they have incessantly existed and in what manner they have arisen for each, in so far as I shall suffice, I will proffer.

[3] Cum post fabricam ornatumque mundi huius homo, quem rectum atque inmaculatum fecerat Deus, ac perinde humanum genus libidinibus deprauatum peccatis obsorduisset, continuo iniustam licentiam iusta punitio consecuta est.

[3] When, after the fabrication and adornment of this world, man—whom God had made straight and immaculate—and likewise the human race, depraved by lusts, had become sordid with sins, immediately a just punishment followed the unjust license.

2 sententiam creatoris Dei et iudicis peccanti homini ac terrae propter hominem destinatam semperque dum homines terram habitauerint duraturam omnes inuiti licet aut probamus negando aut confitendo toleramus, obstinatisque mentibus testis sibi infirmitas sua inurit, quibus fideliter scriptura non suaserit.

2 the sentence of the Creator God and Judge, destined for the sinning man and for the earth on account of man, and to endure always so long as men shall have inhabited the earth, we all, albeit unwilling, either approve by denying or, by confessing, we tolerate; and upon obstinate minds—for whom Scripture has not faithfully urged—their own weakness brands itself as a witness.

3 deinde refuso in omnem terram mari inmissoque diluuio, cum toto orbe contecto unum spatium caeli esset ac pelagi, deletum fuisse uniuersum humanum genus, paucis in arca fidei suae merito ad substituendam originem reseruatis, euidentissime ueracissimi scriptores docent.

3 then, after the sea had been poured back over all the land and a deluge had been sent in, when, with the whole orb covered, there was one expanse of sky and of sea, the most veracious writers teach most evidently that the entire human race was destroyed, a few, by the merit of their faith, being reserved in the ark for the restoration of origin.

4 fuisse tamen etiam illi contestati sunt, qui praeterita quidem tempora ipsumque auctorem temporum nescientes, tamen ex indicio et coniectura lapidum, quos in remotis montibus conchis et ostreis scabros, saepe etiam cauatos aquis uisere solemus, coniciendo didicerunt.

4 yet even those have attested that it existed, who, not knowing the times past nor the very author of times, nevertheless from the indication and conjecture of stones—which in remote mountains we are wont to behold rough with conchs and oysters, often even hollowed by waters—have learned by conjecture.

5 et quamuis huiusmodi adhuc et relatu digna et fide certa proferri a nobis queant, tamen haec ueluti principalia duo de praeuaricatione primi hominis et condemnatione generationis uitaeque eius ac deinde de perditione totius generis humani dicta sufficiant,

5 and although things of this sort, still both worthy of recounting and of certain credence, can be brought forward by us, nevertheless let these two, as it were principal matters, that have been said—concerning the prevarication of the first man and the condemnation of his generation and life, and then concerning the perdition of the whole human race—suffice,

6 tantum ut, si qua gentiles historici de nostris aliquo ordine contigerunt, haec plenius cum ceteris ipso quo incurrerint ordine proferantur.

6 only so that, if any Gentile historians have touched upon our matters in some order, these may be brought forward more fully with the others in the very order in which they have occurred.

[4] Ante annos urbis conditae MCCC Ninus rex Assyriorum 'primus' ut ipsi uolunt propagandae dominationis libidine arma foras extulit cruentamque uitam quinquaginta annis per totam Asiam bellis egit;

[4] 1300 years before the founding of the City, Ninus, king of the Assyrians, 'the first,' as they themselves wish, with a lust for the propagation of domination, carried arms abroad and for fifty years led a blood-stained life in wars throughout all Asia;

2 a meridie atque a Rubro mari surgens, sub ultimo septentrione Euxinum pontum uastando perdomuit, Scythicamque barbariem, adhuc tunc inbellem et innocentem, torpentem excitare saeuitiam, uires suas nosse, et non lacte iam pecudum sed sanguinem hominum bibere, ad postremum uincere dum uincitur edocuit.

2 rising from the south and from the Red Sea, beneath the farthest north he thoroughly subdued the Euxine Sea by laying waste, and he taught Scythic barbarism—then still unwarlike and innocent, torpid—to rouse savagery, to know its own forces, and to drink not now the milk of herds but the blood of men; at last, he taught it to conquer while it is being conquered.

3 nouissime Zoroastrem Bactrianorum regem eundemque magicae ut ferunt artis repertorem pugna oppressum interfecit. post ipse, dum deficientem a se oppugnat urbem, sagitta ictus interiit.

3 lastly he killed Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, and the same man, as they report, the discoverer of the magical art, overborne in battle. Afterwards he himself, while he was assaulting a city defecting from him, struck by an arrow, perished.

4 huic mortuo Samiramis uxor successit, uirum animo, habitu filium gerens, auidosque iam usu sanguinis populos per duos et quadraginta annos caedibus gentium exercuit.

4 upon his death, Semiramis his wife succeeded, bearing a man in spirit, a son in appearance, and exercised the peoples, now avid for blood by use, with the slaughters of nations for forty-two years.

5 non contenta terminis mulier, quos a uiro suo tunc solo bellatore in quinquaginta annis adquisitos susceperat, Aethiopiam bello pressam, sanguine interlitam, imperio adiecit. Indis quoque bellum intulit, quo praeter illam et Alexandrum Magnum nullus intrauit.

5 not content with the boundaries which she had received from her husband—then the sole warrior—acquired in fifty years, she added Ethiopia, pressed by war and spattered with blood, to the imperium. Upon the Indians also she brought war, into which, besides her and Alexander the Great, no one entered.

6 quod eo tempore ideo crudelius grauiusque erat quam nunc est, persequi et trucidare populos in pace uiuentes, quia tunc apud illos nec foris erant ulla incendia bellorum, nec domi tanta exercitia cupiditatum.

6 which at that time, for that reason, was more cruel and more grievous than it is now: to pursue and butcher peoples living in peace, because then among them there were neither any conflagrations of wars abroad, nor at home such great exercises of cupidity.

7 haec, libidine ardens, sanguinem sitiens, inter incessabilia et stupra et homicidia, cum omnes quos regie arcessitos, meretricie habitos concubitu oblectasset occideret, tandem filio flagitiose concepto, impie exposito, inceste cognito priuatam ignominiam publico scelere obtexit.

7 she, burning with libido, thirsting for blood, amid incessant debaucheries and homicides, since she killed all whom, regally summoned and treated in a harlot’s fashion, she had entertained with intercourse, at last, with a son shamefully conceived, impiously exposed, and incestuously known, covered her private ignominy with a public crime.

8 praecepit enim, ut inter parentes ac filios nulla delata reuerentia naturae de coniugiis adpetendis ut cuique libitum esset liberum fieret.

8 for she decreed that, between parents and children, with no reverence of nature being accorded, in the seeking of conjugal unions it should be made free as it pleased each one.

[5] Ante annos urbis conditae MCLX confinem Arabiae regionem quae tunc Pentapolis uocabatur arsisse penitus igne caelesti inter alios etiam Cornelius Tacitus refert, qui sic ait:

[5] Before the year 1160 from the founding of the city, the region bordering on Arabia, which was then called the Pentapolis, burned utterly with a heavenly fire, as among others also Cornelius Tacitus reports, who thus says:

2 Haud procul inde campi, quos ferunt olim uberes magnisque urbibus habitatos fulminum iactu arsisse; sed manere uestigia, terramque ipsam, specie solidam, uim frugiferam perdidisse.

2 Not far from there, the fields—which they report once to have been fertile and inhabited by great cities—were burned by the cast of thunderbolts; but the vestiges remain, and the earth itself, solid in appearance, has lost its frugiferous force.

3 et cum hoc loco nihil de incensis propter peccata hominum ciuitatibus quasi ignarus expresserit, paulo post uelut oblitus consilii subicit et dicit:

3 and although in this place he has expressed nothing about cities burned on account of the sins of men, as if ignorant, a little later, as though forgetful of his plan, he subjoins and says:

4 Ego sicut inclitas quondam urbes igne caelesti flagrasse concesserim, ita halitu lacus infici terram et corrumpi reor.

4 I, just as I would concede that illustrious cities once blazed with celestial fire, so I reckon the land to be infected and corrupted by the lake’s exhalation.

5 quo dicto inuitus licet de exustis urbibus, quae procul dubio peccatorum noxa conflagrauerunt, et scisse se et concessisse confessus palam prodidit non sibi cognitionis fidem defuisse sed exprimendae fidei uoluntatem. quod nunc a me plenius proferetur.

5 By this remark, albeit unwilling, concerning the burned cities—which beyond doubt conflagrated through the guilt of sins—he confessed that he both knew it and conceded it, and by confessing openly he revealed that it was not the credit of cognition that had failed him but the will to express the faith; which will now be set forth more fully by me.

6 In confinio Arabiae et Palaestinae, qua dimissi altrinsecus montes subiectis campis excipiuntur, quinque ciuitates fuere Sodoma Gomorra Adama Seboim et Segor.

6 On the confines of Arabia and Palestine, where the mountains, set apart on either side, are received by the subjacent plains, there were five cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar.

7 sed Segor ex his parua, illae amplae et magnae, quippe quibus et soli fecunditas suberat et Iordanes fluuius, per plana diffusus ac per opportuna diuisus, augmentis ubertatis inpendebatur.

7 but Segor among these was small, the others ample and great, since for them both the fertility of the soil was present and the River Jordan, diffused across the plains and divided into favorable channels, was being devoted to augmentations of abundance.

8 huic uniuersae regioni, bonis male utenti, abundantia rerum causa malorum fuit. ex abundantia enim luxuria, ex luxuria foedae libidines adoleuere, adeo ut masculi in masculos operantes turpitudinem ne consideratis quidem locis condicionibus aetatibusque proruerent.

8 For this whole region, using its goods badly, the abundance of things was a cause of evils. From abundance, indeed, came luxury; from luxury, foul lusts grew, to such a degree that males toward males, practicing turpitude, rushed headlong, with the places, conditions, and ages not even considered.

9 itaque iratus Deus pluit super hanc terram ignem et sulphur totamque regionem cum populis atque urbibus exustam, testem iudicii sui futuram, aeterna perditione damnauit,

9 therefore, an irate God rained upon this land fire and sulphur, and he condemned the whole region, burned up with the peoples and the cities, destined to be a witness of his judgment, to eternal perdition,

10 ut nunc quoque adpareat quidem forma regionis sed inueniatur regio cineris mediamque conuallem, quam Iordanes inrigauerat, nunc mare superfusum tegat.

10 so that even now the form of the region does indeed appear, but a region of ash is found, and the middle valley, which the Jordan had irrigated, now a sea poured over covers.

11 tantumque de rebus ut putatur paruis diuinae indignationis accensum est, ut propter hoc, quod illi, male utentes bonis, fructus misericordiarum nutrimenta libidinum fecerant, terra quoque ipsa, quae has habuerat ciuitates, primum exusta ignibus, post oppressa aquis, in aeternam damnationem communi periret adspectui.

11 and so greatly, as it is thought, over small matters was the divine indignation kindled, that because of this—that they, using good things badly, had made the fruits of mercies into nourishments of lusts—the earth itself also, which had held these cities, first burned by fires, afterwards overwhelmed by waters, might perish into eternal damnation for the common view.

[6] Itaque nunc si placet hi, qui in Christum, quem nos iudicem saeculorum ostendimus, quantum in ipsis est sputa coniciunt, inter Sodomam et Romam discernant causas et conferant poenas; quae a me uel maxime ob hoc retractandae non sunt, quia omnibus notae sunt.

[6] Therefore now, if it pleases, let those who, so far as in them lies, hurl spittle upon Christ—whom we have shown to be the judge of the ages—discern the causes between Sodom and Rome and compare the penalties; which are not to be reconsidered by me, especially for this reason, because they are known to all.

2 et tamen quam libenter sententias eorum acciperem, si illi fideliter ita ut sentiunt faterentur.

2 and yet how willingly I would accept their opinions, if they would faithfully confess just as they think.

3 quamquam quia de temporibus Christianis rari et hoc in angulis murmurent, non usque adeo moleste accipiendum putem, cum totius populi Romani consona uoce parique iudicio sensus ac sermo sit cognitus.

3 although, since about the Christian times only a few—and that in the corners—mutter, I think it ought not to be taken all that grievously, since by the concordant voice and equal judgment of the entire Roman people the sentiment and the discourse are known.

4 adeo autem paruo quodam et leui motu haesitasse erga se parumper consuetudinem uoluptatum indubitatissime contestatus est, ut libere conclamaret, Si reciperet circum, nihil esse sibi factum, hoc est, nihil egisse Romae Gothorum enses, si concedatur Romanis spectare circenses.

4 and moreover he most indubitably attested that by a certain small and light stirring the custom of pleasures had for a little hesitated toward himself, so that he freely cried out, If the Circus were recovered, nothing had been done to him, that is, the swords of the Goths had accomplished nothing at Rome, if it be conceded to the Romans to watch the circus-games.

5 nisi forte, ut se habet apud plerosque hoc praecipue tempore, qui ex longa requie uel paruam obortam sollicitudinem intolerabilem laborem putant, hasce clementissimas admonitiones quibus omnes aliquando perstringimur aliorum punitionibus auditis lectisque praeponunt.

5 unless perhaps—as it stands among very many especially at this time—who, from a long repose, deem even a small solicitude that has arisen an intolerable labor, they prefer these most clement admonitions, by which we are all at times pricked, to the punishments of others, heard and read.

6 quos saltem de hoc ipso exitu Sodomorum et Gomorraeorum moneo, ut discere atque intellegere queant, qualiter Deus peccatores punierit, qualiter punire possit, qualiter puniturus sit.

6 I admonish them at least by this very outcome of Sodom and Gomorrah, that they may be able to learn and to understand how God has punished sinners, how he can punish, how he is going to punish.

[7] Ante annos urbis conditae MLXX Telchises et Caryatii peruicax proelium aduersus Foroneum, regem Argiuorum, et Parrhasios ancipiti spe sine fructu uictoriae gesserunt.

[7] 1070 years before the founding of the City, the Telchines and the Caryatians waged a pervicacious battle against Phoroneus, king of the Argives, and the Parrhasians, with doubtful hope and without the fruit of victory.

2 idemque Telchises post paululum bello uicti, patria profugi ignarique rerum, credentes quia se penitus a congressu totius humanae habitationis abstraherent, Rhodum insulam quae Offiussa antea uocabatur quasi tuta possessione ceperunt.

2 and these same Telchises, after a little while, defeated in war, fugitives from their fatherland and ignorant of affairs, believing that they were withdrawing themselves utterly from the congress of the whole human habitation, took the island of Rhodes, which was formerly called Offiussa, as if in safe possession.

3 Ante annos urbis conditae MXL in Achaia saeuum diluuium uastatione plurima totius paene prouinciae fuit. quod quia Ogygii, qui tunc Eleusinae conditor et rex erat, temporibus effusum est, nomen loco ac tempori dedit.

3 1040 years before the founding of the City, in Achaea a savage deluge was, with very great devastation of almost the whole province. And because it was poured out in the times of Ogyges, who then was the founder and king of Eleusis, it gave a name to the place and to the period.

[8] Anno ante urbem conditam MVIII fuisse apud Aegyptum primum insolitam fastidiendamque ubertatem deinde iugem atque intolerabilem famem, cui Ioseph uir iustus et sapiens diuina prouisione subuenerit, Pompeius historicus eiusque breuiator Iustinus docet, qui inter cetera sic ait:

[8] In the year 1008 before the city was founded, there was in Egypt first an unusual and fastidious (to-be-spurned) abundance, then a continual and intolerable famine, to which Joseph, a just and wise man, by divine provision came to the aid, as the historian Pompeius and his abbreviator Justin relate, who among other things says thus:

2 Minimus aetate inter fratres Ioseph fuit; cuius excellens ingenium fratres ueriti, interceptum peregrinis mercatoribus uendiderunt.

2 Joseph was youngest in age among his brothers; whose excellent genius, feared by the brothers, they sold him—once intercepted—to foreign merchants.

3 a quibus deportatus in Aegyptum, cum magicas ibi artes sollerti ingenio percepisset, breui ipsi regi percarus fuit. nam et prodigiorum sagacissimus erat et somniorum primus intellegentiam condidit, nihilque diuini iuris humanique ei incognitum uidebatur:

3 by whom carried off to Egypt, when he had grasped the magical arts there with skillful ingenuity, in a short time he became most dear to the king himself. For he was most sagacious about prodigies and was the first to establish the understanding of dreams, and nothing of divine and human law seemed unknown to him:

4 adeo ut etiam agrorum sterilitatem futuram ante multos annos prospiciens fruges congregrasset; tantaque experimenta eius fuerunt, ut non ab homine, sed a Deo responsa uiderentur.

4 so much so that, even foreseeing the sterility of the fields that would be in the future many years beforehand, he had gathered up the crops; and so great were his proofs that the responses seemed not from a man, but from God.

5 filius Ioseph Moyses fuit, quem praeter paternae scientiae hereditatem etiam formae pulchritudo commendabat. Sed Aegyptii cum scabiem et uitiliginem paterentur, responso moniti eum cum aegris, ne pestis ad plures serperet, terminis Aegypti pellunt. haec Iustinus.

5 the son of Joseph was Moses, whom, besides the inheritance of his father’s knowledge, the beauty of his form also commended. But the Egyptians, as they were suffering from scabies and vitiligo, admonished by an oracle, drive him, together with the sick, from the borders of Egypt, lest the pestilence creep to more. so Justin.

6 sed quoniam haec idem Moyses, quem isti sapientem scientemque fuisse adtestantur, plenius ueriusque tamquam per se suosque gesta conscripsit, primum fide eius atque auctoritate quam etiam isti probant horum ignorantia supplenda,

6 but since this same Moses, whom those men attest to have been wise and knowing, has written these things more fully and more truly, as deeds done by himself and his own, first, by his faith and authority, which even they approve, their ignorance is to be supplied,

7 dehinc sacerdotum Aegyptiorum fallax malitia confutanda est, qui uel astu, quod manifestius est, euidentem iram misericordiamque ueri Dei memoriae subtrahere conati sunt, particulatim expositione confusa, ne in contumeliam idolorum suorum eum colendum merito ostenderent, cuius consilio adnuntiata haec mala et auxilio euitata docuissent; uel forte, ut indulgentius accipiamus, obliti sunt.

7 thereafter the fallacious malice of the Egyptian priests must be confuted, who either by artifice—which is more manifest—attempted to withdraw from memory the evident wrath and mercy of the true God, by a piecemeal, confused exposition, lest they should deservedly show him to be worshiped, to the contumely of their idols, seeing that by his counsel these evils were announced and by his aid avoided; or perhaps, to take it more indulgently, they forgot.

8 illius enim nostri Ioseph, qui fuit ueri Dei seruus et pro creatura domini sui pie intenteque sollicitus, prouisione ipsi abundabant frugibus quasi sacerdotes; sed, quia falsi sacerdotes erant, cum ceteris esurientibus non dolebant.

8 for by that our Joseph, who was a servant of the true God and piously and attentively solicitous for his Lord’s creature, by his provision they themselves abounded in grain as priests; but, because they were false priests, they did not grieve with the rest who were hungering.

9 enimuero cui placet, obliuiscitur: cui dolet, meminit. quamquam huius temporis argumentum historiis fastisque reticentibus ipsa sibi terra Aegypti testis pronuntiat: quae tunc redacta in potestatem regiam restitutaque cultoribus suis, ex omni fructu suo usque ad nunc quintae partis incessabile uectigal exsoluit.

9 indeed, he whom it pleases forgets; he whom it pains remembers. although, with histories and annals keeping silent about the proof of this time, the land of Egypt itself proclaims itself as witness: which, then reduced into royal power and restored to its cultivators, out of all its produce up to now pays an incessant tax of the fifth part.

10 fuit itaque haec fames magna sub rege Aegyptiorum Diopolita, cui nomen erat Amosis, quo tempore Baleus Assyrios, Argiuos Apis regebat.

10 therefore this famine was great under the king of the Egyptians, the Diopolite, whose name was Amosis, at which time Baleus was ruling the Assyrians, Apis the Argives.

11 fuerunt autem ante annos famis septem praecedentes alii septem ubertatis anni. quorum affluentiam tanto neglegentius perituram quanto uberius natam Joseph noster sollertia sua collegit et condidit totamque Aegyptum conseruauit.

11 there had been, moreover, before the seven years of famine, another seven years of fertility. The affluence of which, destined to perish all the more negligently the more abundantly it had been born, our Joseph by his own ingenuity collected and stored, and he conserved all Egypt.

12 adquisiuit uniuersam Pharaoni pecuniam et Deo gloriam, reddens dispensatione iustissima cui uectigal, uectigal, cui honorem, honorem, omniumque pecora terras censusque collegit; ipsos autem, qui semet cum terris suis accipiendae stipis taxatione uendiderant, statuta quintae partis pactione laxauit.

12 he acquired all the money for Pharaoh and glory for God, rendering, with most just dispensation, to whom the tax, the tax; to whom the honor, the honor, and he gathered the herds, the lands, and the assessments of all; but those who had sold themselves with their lands under an assessment for the receiving of a dole, he released by the established pact of the fifth part.

13 hunc Ioseph, quem constituit Deus Aegyptiis conseruatae salutis auctorem, quis credat ita in breui eorum excidisse memoriae, ut filios eius atque uniuersam cognationem paulo post seruitio addixerint, laboribus adfecerint, internecionibus profligarint?

13 who would believe that this Joseph, whom God appointed for the Egyptians as the author of their preserved salvation, had so quickly fallen out of their memory, that a little afterward they consigned his sons and the whole kindred to servitude, afflicted them with labors, and routed them by exterminations?

14 quamobrem non est mirandum, si nunc quoque aliqui reperiuntur, qui cum a ceruicibus suis inpendentem gladium praetento Christiano nomine auerterint, ipsum nomen Christi, quo solo salui sunt, aut dissimulent aut infament grauarique se eorum temporibus adserant, quorum meritis liberantur.

14 wherefore it is not to be marveled at, if even now there are found some who, when by holding forth the Christian name they have averted from their necks the impending sword, either dissimulate or defame the very name of Christ, by which alone they are saved, and assert that they are burdened by the times of those by whose merits they are delivered.

[9] Anno DCCCX ante urbem conditam Amphictyon Athenis tertius a Cecrope regnauit. cuius temporibus aquarum inluuies maiorem partem populorum Thessaliae absumpsit paucis per refugia montium liberatis, maxime in monte Parnaso, in cuius circuitu Deucalion tunc regno potiebatur,

[9] In the year 810 before the city was founded, Amphictyon at Athens reigned, the third after Cecrops. In his times a deluge of waters consumed the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a few being freed through the refuges of the mountains, especially on Mount Parnassus, in whose circuit Deucalion then was in possession of the kingdom,

2 qui tunc ad se ratibus confugientes susceptos per gemina Parnasi iuga fouit aluitque; a quo propterea genus hominum reparatum ferunt.

2 who then, having taken in those fleeing to him by rafts, fostered and nourished them along the twin ridges of Parnassus; from whom, therefore, they say the race of humankind was restored.

3 tunc etiam in Aethiopia pestes plurimas dirosque morbos paene usque ad desolationem exaestuauisse Plato testis est.

3 then also in Ethiopia very many plagues and dire diseases seethed almost to desolation, Plato is witness.

4 et ne forte diuisa tempora esse credantur irae Dei furorisque bellici, ea tempestate subactam Indiam Liber pater sanguine madefecit, caedibus oppleuit, libidinibus polluit, gentem utique nulli umquam hominum obnoxiam, uernacula tantum quiete contentam.

4 and lest perhaps the times be believed to have been divided between the wrath of God and the martial fury, at that season Father Liber, having subjugated India, drenched it with blood, heaped it with slaughters, polluted it with lusts—a people indeed subject to no man ever, content only with native quiet.

[10] Anno autem ante urbem conditam DCCCV infanda Aegyptiis mala atque intolerabiles plagas incubuisse Pompeius Corneliusque testantur: qui quidem, cum haec ambo de Iudaeis referenda proponant, aliquantulum me pro sui diuersitate mouerunt.

[10] But in the year 805 before the City was founded, unspeakable evils and intolerable plagues are attested to have fallen upon the Egyptians by Pompeius and Cornelius: who indeed, since both propose these things to be reported concerning the Jews, have somewhat moved me by reason of their own diversity.

2 ait enim Pompeius siue Iustinus hoc modo: Aegyptii cum scabiem ac uitiliginem paterentur, responso moniti Moysen cum aegris, ne pestis ad plures serperet, terminis Aegypti pellunt. dux igitur exulum factus sacra Aegyptiorum furto abstulit; quae armis repetentes Aegyptii domum redire tempestatibus conpulsi sunt.

2 for Pompeius or Justin says in this way: When the Egyptians were suffering scabies and vitiligo, warned by an oracle’s response, they drive Moses with the sick beyond the borders of Egypt, lest the pestilence creep to more. Therefore, made leader of the exiles, he stole away the sacred things of the Egyptians by theft; and the Egyptians, seeking to recover them by arms, were driven by storms to return home.

3 at uero Cornelius de eadem re sic ait: Plurimi auctores consentiunt orta per Aegyptum tabe, quae corpora foedaret, regem Bocchorim adito Hammonis oraculo remedium petentem purgare regnum et id genus hominum ut inuisum deis alias in terras auehere iussum.

3 but indeed Cornelius on the same matter says thus: Very many authors agree that, a wasting-plague having arisen throughout Egypt, which defiled bodies, King Bocchoris, having approached the oracle of Hammon and seeking a remedy, was ordered to purge the kingdom and to carry away that kind of people, as odious to the gods, into other lands.

4 sic conquisitum collectumque uulgus postquam uastis locis relictum sit, ceteris per lacrimas torpentibus Moysen, unum exulum, monuisse, ne quam deorum hominumue opem exspectarent sed sibimet duci caelesti crederent, primo cuius auxilio praesentes miserias pepulissent.

4 thus, after the rabble, searched out and collected, had been left in waste places, while the rest were torpid with tears, Moses, one of the exiles, is said to have advised that they should not expect any help of gods or men, but should trust for themselves in a celestial leader, by whose aid they would first drive away their present miseries.

5 itaque Cornelius dicit, quod ipsis Aegyptiis cogentibus Iudaei in deserta propulsi sint, et postea subiungit incaute, quia ope Moysi ducis in Aegypto miserias propulissent. quare ostenditur quaedam quae per Moysen strenue acta sunt fuisse celata.

5 therefore Cornelius says that, with the Egyptians themselves compelling, the Jews were driven into the deserts; and afterwards he incautiously subjoins that by the aid of Moses the leader they had repelled the miseries in Egypt. Wherefore it is shown that certain things which were strenuously done through Moses were to have been concealed.

6 item Iustinus adserit pulsum aeque cum populo Moysen sacra Aegyptiorum fuisse furatum, quae Aegyptios armis recipere molientes, coactos tempestatibus ac repulsos, domum redisse. et hic aliquid amplius etsi non totum prodidit quod ille celauit.

6 likewise Justinus asserts that Moses, driven out along with the people, stole the sacred things of the Egyptians; and that the Egyptians, striving to recover them by arms, having been compelled by storms and driven back, returned home. And this man too disclosed something more, though not the whole, which that one concealed.

7 quapropter, quia Moysi magno illi duci testimonium ambo dixerunt, ab ipso sicut per eum et gesta et dicta sunt proferantur.

7 wherefore, because both gave testimony to Moses, that great leader, let both the deeds and the sayings be proffered from him himself, just as through him they were done and said.

8 Cum populum Dei hoc est genus Joseph Aegyptii, cuius ope salui erant, seruitio oppressum labore cruciarent, insuper etiam ad necandam subolem suam crudeli imperio cogerent, dimitti Deus populum suum liberum ad seruiendum sibi per Moysen nuntium iubet;

8 When the Egyptians, by whose help they had been saved, were cruciating with labor the people of God—that is, the race of Joseph—oppressed by servitude, and moreover were compelling them by a cruel command to kill their own offspring, God orders that his people be dismissed free, to serve himself, through Moses the envoy;

9 contemptusque durissimis contumaces suppliciis agit, qui decem plagis onerati ac protriti, tandem quos dimittere noluerant, etiam festinare coegerunt.

9 and, being contemned, he drives the contumacious with the hardest punishments; who, burdened and crushed by ten plagues, at last compelled those whom they had been unwilling to dismiss even to hasten.

10 post aquas in sanguinem uersas ardentibus siti grauiora adferentes poenarum remedia quam poenas, post horridos ranarum squalores per omnia munda inmundaque reptantes, post ignitas sciniphes et nusquam, toto aere uibrante, uitabiles,

10 after the waters turned into blood, bringing to those burning with thirst remedies of punishments more grievous than the punishments, after the horrid squalors of frogs crawling over all things clean and unclean, after the fiery gnats and, with the whole air vibrating, nowhere avoidable,

11 post muscas caninas etiam per interiora membrorum horridis motibus cursitantes acerbeque inferentes tam grauia tormenta quam turpia, post omnium pecorum et iumentorum repentinam ruinam stragemque generalem, post uesicas efferuescentes ulceraque manantia et, ut ipsi dicere maluerunt, 'scabiem ac uitiliginem' totis corporibus erumpentem,

11 after dog-flies even darting through the innermost parts of the limbs with horrid motions and bitterly inflicting torments as grievous as they were shameful, after the sudden collapse of all cattle and beasts of burden and a general slaughter, after effervescing vesicles and oozing ulcers, and, as they themselves preferred to say, ‘scabies and vitiligo,’ bursting forth over their whole bodies,

12 post grandinem cum igne permixtam, passim homines armenta atque arbores proterentem, post lucustarum nubes, exhaustis omnibus ipsas quoque radices seminum persequentes, post tenebras imaginibus diras, crassitudine palpabiles, diuturnitate ferales,

12 after hail commixed with fire, everywhere trampling down men, herds, and trees, after clouds of locusts, with everything exhausted, pursuing even the very roots of the seeds, after darkness dire with apparitions, palpable in thickness, deadly in duration,

13 postremo post uniformem in tota Aegypto primitiuae subolis necem paremque per uniuersos orbitatum tempestatem - qui iubenti Deo non cesserant cessere punienti, sed mox pessima paenitentia dimissos persequi ausi, ultima nefandae peruicaciae expendere supplicia.

13 finally after the uniform slaughter of the first-born offspring in all Egypt and an equal tempest of bereavement throughout all - those who had not yielded to God when he commanded yielded to him when he punished, but soon, with the worst penitence, having dared to pursue those dismissed, they paid the ultimate penalties of their nefarious obstinacy.

14 nam rex eorum uniuersum Aegypti exercitum curribus atque equitibus instructum in circumerrantes egit, cuius numerum hoc solo uel maxime argumento conicere possumus, quod eum sescenta milia uirorum timuerunt atque fugerunt.

14 for their king drove the entire army of Egypt, equipped with chariots and horsemen, against those wandering about, whose number we can conjecture by this argument alone—or most especially by this: that 600,000 men feared it and fled.

15 sed protector depressorum et ultor contumacium Deus diuisit subito Rubrum mare ac dilatatis utrimque marginibus rigentium undarum in montis faciem latera erecta suspendit, ut inoffensi spe limitis prouocati, pii uiam desperatae salutis, impii foueam insperatae mortis intrarent.

15 but God, the protector of the down-pressed and avenger of the contumacious, suddenly divided the Red Sea and, the margins of the rigid waves dilated on both sides, suspended the sides, raised up, into the face of a mountain, so that, unhindered, provoked by the hope of a limit (boundary-path), the pious might enter the way of desperate salvation, the impious the pit of unhoped-for death.

16 itaque Hebraeis tuto per sicca gradientibus, refusis a tergo aquarum adstantium molibus, obruta est et interfecta cum rege suo uniuersa Aegypti multitudo, totaque prouincia plagis ante cruciata hac postrema interfectione uacuata est.

16 And so, as the Hebrews were safely walking across the dry ground, with the masses of the standing waters poured back behind them, the entire multitude of Egypt, together with its king, was overwhelmed and slain, and the whole province, earlier tormented by plagues, was emptied by this final slaughter.

17 exstant etiam nunc certissima horum monumenta gestorum. nam tractus curruum rotarumque orbitae non solum in litore sed etiam in profundo, quousque uisus admittitur, peruidentur et, si forte ad tempus uel casu uel curiositate turbantur, continuo diuinitus in pristinam faciem uentis fluctibusque reparantur:

17 there exist even now the most certain monuments of these deeds. for the tracks of the chariots and the wheel-ruts are clearly seen not only on the shore but even in the deep, as far as sight admits, and, if by chance for a time they are disturbed either by accident or by curiosity, they are forthwith, by divine agency, restored by winds and waves to their pristine appearance:

18 ut, quisque non docetur timorem Dei propalatae religionis studio, ira eius transactae ultionis terreatur exemplo.

18 so that whoever is not taught the fear of God by zeal for the proclaimed religion may be terrified by the example of his wrath in the vengeance that has been accomplished.

19 His etiam temporibus adeo iugis et grauis aestus incanduit, ut sol per deuia transuectus uniuersum orbem non calore affecisse sed igne torruisse dicatur, inpressumque feruorem et Aethiops plus solitum et insolitum Scytha non tulerit; ex quo etiam quidam dum non concedunt Deo ineffabilem potentiam suam, inanes ratiunculas conquirentes ridiculam Phaethontis fabulam texuerunt.

19 In these same times as well, so continual and grievous a heat incandesced, that the sun, borne along devious paths, is said not to have affected the entire orb with mere heat but to have scorched it with fire; and the impressed fervor was borne neither by the Ethiopian beyond his wont nor by the unaccustomed Scythian; whence also certain men, while they do not concede to God his ineffable potency, collecting vain little rationalizations, wove the ridiculous fable of Phaethon.

[11] Item anno ante urbem conditam DCCLXXV inter Danai atque Aegypti fratrum filios quinquaginta parricidia una nocte commissa sunt. ipse deinde tantorum scelerum fabricator Danaus regno, quod tot flagitiis adquisiuerat, pulsus Argos concessit ibique indigne persuasis in facinus Argiuis Sthenelan qui eum profugum egentemque exceperat regno expulit atque ipse regnauit.

[11] Likewise, in the year 775 before the founding of the City, among the sons of the brothers Danaus and Aegyptus fifty parricides were committed in one night. Danaus himself then, the fabricator of such great crimes, driven from the kingdom which he had acquired by so many flagitious deeds, withdrew to Argos; and there, with the Argives disgracefully persuaded into the crime, he expelled Sthenelus, who had received him as a fugitive and needy, from the kingship, and he himself reigned.

2 Busiridis in Aegypto cruentissimi tyranni crudelis hospitalitas et crudelior religio tunc fuit; qui innocentum hospitum sanguinem diis scelerum suorum participibus propinabat: quod exsecrabile sine dubio hominibus uiderim an ipsis etiam diis exsecrabile uideretur.

2 In Egypt, there then was the cruel hospitality and the crueller religion of Busiris, the bloodiest tyrant; who proffered as a libation the blood of innocent guests to the gods, participants in his crimes: which I would, without doubt, deem execrable to men, whether it would seem execrable even to the gods themselves.

3 tunc etiam Terei Procnae et Philomelae incesto parricidium adiunctum atque exsecrabilius utroque conuiuium per infandos cibos additum, cum propter sororis pudicitiam ereptam praecisamque linguam filium paruulum mater occidit, pater comedit.

3 then also, to the incest of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela, parricide was adjoined, and—more execrable than either—a banquet was added with unspeakable viands, when, on account of her sister’s pudicity being snatched away and her tongue cut off, the mother killed her little son, the father ate him.

4 isdem temporibus Perseus a Graecia in Asiam transuectus est, ibi barbaras gentes graui diuturnoque bello domuit et nouissime uictor nomen subiectae genti dedit: namque a Perseo Persae sunt uocitati.

4 in the same times Perseus was conveyed from Greece into Asia; there he subdued the barbarous peoples by a grave and long-continued war, and at the very last, as victor, he gave a name to the subjected nation: for from Perseus the Persians have been called.

[12] At ego nunc cogor fateri, me prospiciendi finis commodo de tanta malorum saeculi circumstantia praeterire plurima, cuncta breuiare. nequaquam enim tam densam aliquando siluam praetergredi possem, nisi etiam crebris interdum saltibus subuolarem.

[12] But I am now forced to confess that, for the convenience of looking ahead to the end, in treating of so great a circumstance of the age’s evils, I pass by very many things and shorten all; for by no means could I ever get past so dense a forest, unless I also sometimes were to fly upward by frequent leaps.

2 nam cum regnum Assyriorum per MCLX annos usque ad Sardanapallum per quinquaginta propemodum reges actum sit et numquam paene uel inferendis uel excipiendis usque ad id tempus quieuerit, quis finis reperietur, si ea commemorare numerando, ut non dicam describendo, conemur?

2 for since the kingdom of the Assyrians was conducted for 1160 years up to Sardanapalus, through almost fifty kings, and hardly ever rested, up to that time, either in inflicting or in receiving wars, what limit will be found, if we attempt to commemorate them by numbering, not to say by describing?

3 praesertim cum et Graecorum praetereunda non sunt et Romanorum uel maxime recensenda sint. nec mihi nunc enumerare opus est Tantali et Pelopis facta turpia, fabulas turpiores. quorum Tantalus rex Frygiorum Ganymedem,

3 especially since the things of the Greeks are not to be passed over and those of the Romans are to be most especially reviewed. nor is it needful for me now to enumerate the turpid deeds of Tantalus and Pelops, the yet more turpid fables. of whom Tantalus, king of the Phrygians, Ganymede,

4 Troi Dardaniorum regis filium, cum flagitiosissime rapuisset, maiore conserti certaminis foeditate detinuit, sicut Fanocles poeta confirmat, qui maximum bellum excitatum ob hoc fuisse commemorat;

4 the son of Tros, king of the Dardanians—when he had most flagitiously abducted him—he kept them occupied by a greater foulness of close-joined contest, just as the poet Fanocles confirms, who commemorates that the greatest war was stirred up on account of this;

5 siue quia hunc ipsum Tantalum utpote adseculam deorum uideri uult raptum puerum ad libidinem Iouis familiari lenocinio praeparasse, qui ipsum quoque filium Pelopem epulis eius non dubitaret inpendere.

5 either because he wants this very Tantalus, as indeed a hanger-on of the gods, to seem to have prepared the abducted boy for the lust of Jove by familiar lenocinium (pandering), he who would not hesitate to expend even his own son Pelops for Jove’s banquets.

6 taedet etiam ipsius Pelopis contra Dardanum atque Troianos quamlibet magna referre certamina, quae quia in fabulis celebrari solita sunt, neglegentius audiuntur.

6 it is also tiresome to recount the contests of Pelops himself against Dardanus and the Trojans, however great, which, because they are accustomed to be celebrated in fables, are heard more negligently.

7 illa quoque praetereo, quae de Perseo Cadmo Thebanis Spartanisque per inextricabiles alternantium malorum recursus Palefato scribente referuntur.

7 I likewise pass over those things which are referred about Perseus, Cadmus, the Thebans and Spartans, through the inextricable recurrences of alternating evils, as Palefatus writes.

8 taceo flagitia Lemniadum, praetermitto Pandionis Atheniensium regis flebilem fugam, Atrei et Thyestis odia stupra et parricidia caelo quoque inuisa dissimulo.

8 I am silent about the flagitious deeds of the Lemniads, I pass over the tearful flight of Pandion, king of the Athenians, I dissemble the hatreds, defilements, and parricides of Atreus and Thyestes, hateful to heaven as well.

9 omitto Oedipum interfectorem patris, matris maritum, filiorum fratrem, vitricum suum. sileri malo Eteoclen atque Polynicen mutuis laborasse concursibus, ne quis eorum parricida non esset.

9 I omit Oedipus, the slayer of his father, the husband of his mother, the brother of his sons, his own stepfather. I would rather have it kept silent that Eteocles and Polynices strove with mutual charges, lest any of them not be a parricide.

10 nolo meminisse Medeae, 'amore saeuo sauciae' et pignorum paruulorum caede gaudentis, et quidquid illis temporibus perpetratum. conici datur, qualiter homines sustinuerint, quod etiam astra fugisse dicuntur.

10 I do not wish to remember Medea, “wounded by savage love,” and rejoicing in the slaughter of her tiny pledges, and whatever in those times was perpetrated. One may conjecture how men endured, since even the stars are said to have fled.

[13] Anno ante urbem conditam DLX atrocissimum inter Cretenses atque Athenienses certamen fuit, ubi populis utrimque infeliciter profligatis cruentiorem uictoriam Cretenses exercuerunt;

[13] In the year 560 before the founding of the city, there was a most atrocious contest between the Cretans and the Athenians, where, with the peoples on both sides disastrously overthrown, the Cretans achieved a more blood-stained victory;

2 qui nobilium Atheniensium filios Minotauro, utrum fero homini an humanae bestiae aptius dicam nescio, deuorandos crudeliter addicebant atque informe prodigium effossis Graeciae luminibus saginabant.

2 who cruelly consigned the sons of the noble Athenians to the Minotaur—to be devoured—whether I should more aptly call it a wild man or a human beast, I do not know, and they stuffed that shapeless prodigy with the lights of Greece gouged out.

3 isdem diebus Lapithae et Thessali famosis nimium certauere conflictibus.

3 in the same days the Lapiths and the Thessalians contended in conflicts all too notorious.

4 sed Thessalos Palefatus in libro primo Incredibilium prodit ipsos a Lapithis creditos dictosque fuisse Centauros eo, quod discurrentes in bello equites ueluti unum corpus equorum et hominum uiderentur.

4 but Palefatus, in the first book of the Incredible Things, brings forward that the Thessalians themselves were believed by the Lapiths and were called Centaurs for this reason, that, as horsemen running to and fro in war, they seemed as though a single body of horses and men.

[14] Anno ante urbem conditam CCCCLXXX Vesozes rex Aegypti meridiem et septentrionem, diuisas paene toto caelo ac pelago plagas, aut miscere bello aut regno iungere studens, Scythis bellum primus indixit missis prius legatis, qui hostibus parendi leges dicerent.

[14] In the year 480 before the City was founded, Vesozes, king of Egypt, striving either to commingle by war or to unite by dominion the Meridian and the Septentrion—quarters nearly divided across the whole heaven and sea—was the first to declare war on the Scythians, having first sent legates to lay upon the enemies the laws of obedience.

2 ad quae Scythae legatis respondent, stolide opulentissimum regem aduersus inopes sumpsisse bellum, quod timendum ipsi magis uersa uice fuerit propter incertos belli euentus nulla praemia et damna manifesta. porro sibi non exspectandum, dum ad se ueniatur, sed ultro praedae obuiam ituros.

2 to which the Scythians reply to the legates, that the most opulent king has stupidly undertaken a war against the destitute—a thing which, the turn being reversed, would be more to be feared by himself, because of the uncertain events of war: no rewards, and losses manifest. Moreover, that they must not wait until it be come to them, but that they would of their own accord go to meet booty.

3 nec mora, nam dicta factis insequuntur. primum ipsum Vesozen territum refugere in regnum cogunt, destitutum uero exercitum inuadunt omnemque belli apparatum capessunt, uniuersam quoque Aegyptum populauissent, ni paludibus inpediti repellerentur.

3 no delay; for words are followed by deeds. first they force Vesozes himself, terrified, to flee back into his kingdom; then they attack the deserted army and seize the entire apparatus of war, and they would have ravaged all Egypt as well, had they not, hindered by marshes, been driven back.

4 inde continuo reuersi perdomitam infinitis caedibus Asiam uectigalem fecere; ubi per XV annos sine pace inmorati tandem uxorum flagitatione reuocantur denuntiantibus, ni redeant subolem se a finitimis quaesituras.

4 thence, immediately returning, they made Asia—thoroughly subdued by countless slaughters—tributary; where for 15 years, remaining without peace, at length they are called back by the insistence of their wives, who give notice that, unless they return, they will seek offspring from the neighboring peoples.

[15] Medio autem tempore apud Scythas duo regii iuuenes Plynos et Scolopetius, per factionem optimatium domo pulsi, ingentem iuuentutem secum traxere et in Cappadociae Ponticae ora iuxta amnem Thermodontem consederunt campis Themiscyriis sibi subiectis; ubi diu proxima quaeque populati conspiratione finitimorum per insidias trucidantur.

[15] In the meantime, among the Scythians two royal youths, Plynos and Scolopetius, driven from home by the faction of the Optimates, drew a vast band of youth with them and settled on the coast of Pontic Cappadocia near the river Thermodon, with the Themiscyrian plains subject to them; where, after long ravaging everything nearest, they are butchered by a conspiracy of the neighbors through an ambush.

2 horum uxores exilio ac uiduitate permotae arma sumunt et, ut omnibus par ex simili condicione animus fieret, uiros qui superfuerant interficiunt atque accensae in hostem sanguine suo ultionem caesorum coniugum finitimorum excidio consequuntur.

2 the wives of these, moved by exile and widowhood, take up arms, and, so that a spirit equal for all might arise from a similar condition, they put to death the men who had survived; and, accensed against the enemy by their own blood, they obtain vengeance for their slain husbands by the destruction of their neighbors.

3 tunc pace armis quaesita externos concubitus ineunt, editos mares mox enecant, feminas studiose nutriunt inustis infantium dexterioribus mammillis, ne sagittarum iactus impedirentur; unde Amazones dictae.

3 then, with peace sought by arms, they enter into intercourse with foreigners; the males born they soon slay, they assiduously nourish the females, with the right breasts of the infants seared, lest the casting of arrows be impeded; whence they are called Amazons.

4 harum duae fuere reginae, Marpesia et Lampeto, quae agmine diuiso in duas partes uicissim curam belli et domus custodiam sortiebantur.

4 Of these there were two queens, Marpesia and Lampeto, who, with the host divided into two parts, in turn by lot took the care of war and the guardianship of the house.

5 igitur cum Europam maxima e parte domuissent, Asiae uero aliquantis ciuitatibus captis, ipsae autem Ephesum aliasque urbes condidissent, praecipuam exercitus sui partem onustam opulentissima praeda domum reuocant, reliquae ad tuendum Asiae imperium relictae cum Marpesia regina concursu hostium trucidantur.

5 therefore, when they had tamed Europe for the greatest part, and in Asia, with several cities taken, and they themselves had founded Ephesus and other cities, they call back home the principal part of their army, laden with most opulent spoil; the rest, left to guard Asia’s dominion, together with Queen Marpesia, are slaughtered by the onrush of the enemies.

6 huius locum Sinope filia capessit, quae singularem uirtutis gloriam perpetua uirginitate cumulauit.

6 Her place is taken by Sinope, her daughter, who accumulated a singular glory of virtue by perpetual virginity.

7 hac fama excitas gentes tanta admiratio et formido inuaserat, ut Hercules quoque cum iussus fuisset a domino suo exhibere arma reginae quasi ad ineuitabile periculum destinatus, uniuersam Graeciae lectam ac nobilem iuuentutem contraxerit, nouem longas naues praepararit, nec tamen contentus examine uirium ex inprouiso adgredi et insperatas circumuenire maluerit.

7 At this fame, such admiration and dread had seized the roused nations that Hercules too, when he had been ordered by his master to exhibit the queen’s arms, as if destined for unavoidable peril, gathered the entire selected and noble youth of Greece, prepared nine long ships, and yet, not content with an examination of forces, preferred to attack by surprise and to circumvent the unsuspecting.

8 duae tunc sorores regno praeerant, Antiope et Orithyia. Hercules mari aduectus incautas inermesque et pacis incuria desides oppressit. inter caesas captasque complurimas duae sorores Antiopae, Melanippe ab Hercule, Hippolyte a Theseo retentae.

8 At that time two sisters were presiding over the kingdom, Antiope and Orithyia. Hercules, borne by sea, overwhelmed them—incautious, unarmed, and slothful through the carelessness of peace. Among the very many slain and captured, two sisters of Antiope were detained: Melanippe by Hercules, Hippolyte by Theseus.

9 sed Theseus Hippolyten matrimonio adsciuit, Hercules Melanippen sorori reddidit et arma reginae pretio redemptionis accepit.

9 but Theseus took Hippolyte into marriage, Hercules gave back Melanippe to her sister and received the queen’s arms for the price of redemption.

10 post Orithyiam Penthesilea regno potita est, cuius Troiano bello clarissima inter uiros documenta uirtutis accepimus.

10 after Orithyia, Penthesilea got possession of the kingdom, of whom in the Trojan War we have received the most illustrious evidences of valor among men.

[16] Pro dolor, pudet erroris humani. mulieres patria profugae Europam atque Asiam, id est plurimas fortissimasque mundi partes, intrauerunt peruagatae sunt deleuerunt, centum paene annis euertendo urbes plurimas atque alias constituendo tenuerunt: nec tamen miseriae hominum pressura temporum deputata est.

[16] Alas, grief, shame at human error. Women, exiles from their fatherland, entered Europe and Asia—that is, the very many and most stalwart parts of the world—ranged far and wide, and wiped them out; for almost 100 years, by overthrowing very many cities and establishing others, they held them: nor, however, was it reckoned among the miseries of men as an oppression of the times.

2 modo autem Getae illi qui et nunc Gothi, quos Alexander euitandos pronuntiauit, Pyrrhus exhorruit, Caesar etiam declinauit, relictis uacuefactisque sedibus suis ac totis uiribus toti Romanas ingressi prouincias simulque ad terrorem diu ostentati societatem Romani foederis precibus sperant, quam armis uindicare potuissent;

2 but just now those Getae, who are now also Goths—whom Alexander pronounced to be avoided, Pyrrhus shuddered at, and even Caesar declined—having left and made empty their own seats, and with all their forces having entered the whole Roman provinces, and likewise long displayed for terror, by entreaties hope for the fellowship of a Roman federal treaty, which they could have vindicated by arms;

3 exiguae habitationis sedem non ex sua electione sed ex nostro iudicio rogant, quibus subiecta et patente uniuersa terra praesumere, quam esset libitum, liberum fuit; semet ipsos ad tuitionem Romani regni offerunt, quos solos inuicta regna timuerunt.

3 they ask for a seat of modest habitation not by their own election but by our judgment, for whom, with the whole earth subject and lying open, it was free to occupy whatever it had been pleasing; they offer themselves for the protection of the Roman kingdom, they whom alone unconquered kingdoms have feared.

4 et tamen caeca gentilitas cum haec Romana uirtute gesta non uideat, fide Romanorum inpetrata non credit nec adquiescit, cum intellegat, confiteri, beneficio Christianae religionis - quae cognatam per omnes populos fidem iungit - eos uiros sine proelio sibi esse subiectos, quorum feminae maiorem terrarum partem inmensis caedibus deleuerunt.

4 and yet blind gentility, since it does not see that these things were accomplished by Roman virtue, though the pledge of the Romans having been obtained, does not believe nor acquiesce, although it understands that it must confess that, by the beneficence of the Christian religion - which joins a cognate faith through all peoples - those men have been subjected to itself without battle, whose women have destroyed the greater part of the lands with immense slaughters.

[17] At uero ante urbem conditam CCCCXXX anno raptus Helenae, coniuratio Graecorum et concursus mille nauium, dehinc decennis obsidio ac postremo famosum Troiae excidium praedicatur.

[17] But indeed, before the city was founded, in the year 430, the rape of Helen, the conjuration of the Greeks and the concourse of a thousand ships, then a decennial siege, and finally the famous destruction of Troy, are proclaimed.

2 in quo bello per decem annos cruentissime gesto quas nationes quantosque populos idem turbo inuoluerit atque adflixerit, Homerus poeta in primis clarus luculentissimo carmine palam fecit, nec per ordinem nunc retexere nostrum est, quia et operi longum et omnibus notum uidetur.

2 in which war, conducted most bloodily for ten years, what nations and how many peoples that same whirlwind has involved and afflicted, Homer, a poet famous among the foremost, has made plain in a most luculent song; nor is it ours now to reweave it in order, because it seems both long for the work and known to all.

3 uerumtamen qui diuturnitatem illius obsidionis, euersionis atrocitatem caedem captiuitatemque didicerunt, uideant, si recte isto qualiscumque est praesentis temporis statu offenduntur quos hostes occulta misericordia Dei cum per omnes terras instructis copiis bello persequi possint, pacis gratia praetentis obsidibus per omnia maria sequuntur; et, ne forte haec quietis amore facere credantur, se ipsos ac pericula sua pro Romanorum pace aduersum alias gentes offerunt.

3 nevertheless, those who have learned the long duration of that siege, the atrocity of the overthrow, the slaughter and the captivity, let them see, if they are rightly offended at the condition, such as it is, of the present time, that those enemies whom, by the hidden mercy of God, although they could pursue with war, with forces drawn up through all lands, they follow across all the seas for the sake of peace, with hostages held out; and, lest perhaps they be believed to do these things from a love of quiet, they offer themselves and their own perils for the peace of the Romans against other nations.

[18] Paucis praeterea annis interuenientibus, Aeneae Troia profugi aduentus in Italiam quae arma commouerit, qualia per triennium bella exciuerit, quantos populos inplicuerit odio excidioque adflixerit, ludi litterarii disciplina nostrae quoque memoriae inustum est.

[18] Moreover, with a few years intervening, the advent into Italy of Aeneas, a fugitive from Troy—what arms it set in motion, what sorts of wars it excited for a three-year span, how many peoples it implicated and afflicted with hatred and destruction—has been branded into our memory as well by the discipline of the school of letters.

2 horum praeterea temporum medio interiacent exilia naufragiaque Graecorum, Peloponnensium clades Codro moriente fractorum, ignoti Thraces noua in bella surgentes et generalis tunc per totam Asiam Graeciamque commotio.

2 moreover, in the midst of these times there lie the exiles and shipwrecks of the Greeks, the defeat of the Peloponnesians, broken when Codrus was dying, unknown Thracians rising into new wars, and a general commotion then throughout all Asia and Greece.

[19] Anno ante urbem conditam LXIIII nouissimus apud Assyrios regnauit Sardanapallus, uir muliere corruptior: qui inter scortorum greges feminae habitu purpuram colo tractans a praefecto suo Arbato, qui tunc Medis praeerat, visus atque exsecrationi habitus, mox etiam excitis Medorum populis ad bellum provocatus et victus ardenti pyrae se iniecit. exin regnum Assyriorum in Medos concessit.

[19] In the year before the city was founded 64 the last to reign among the Assyrians was Sardanapal(l)us, a man more corrupted than a woman: who, amid bands of harlots, in a female habit, handling purple with a distaff, having been seen by his own prefect Arbatus, who at that time presided over the Medes, and held in execration, was soon also—with the peoples of the Medes stirred up—provoked to war, and, defeated, he threw himself onto a burning pyre. Thereafter the kingdom of the Assyrians passed over to the Medes.

2 deinde multis proeliis undique scatescentibus, quae per ordinem disserere nequaquam aptum uidetur, per uarios prouentus ad Scythas Chaldaeosque et rursus ad Medos parili uia rediit.

2 Then, with many battles bubbling up on every side—which to set forth in order seems by no means apt—through various outcomes it returned to the Scythians and Chaldaeans, and again to the Medes by a like way.

3 in qua breuitate pensandum est: quantae ruinae cladesque gentium fuere, quanta bella fluxerunt ubi totiens tot et talia regna mutata sunt.

3 in which brevity it is to be weighed: how great were the ruins and disasters of nations, how many wars flowed forth where so often so many and such realms were changed.

4 post haec Medis Fraortes imperitauit, qui creberrimis Assyriorum Persarumque bellis XXII regni sui annos consumpsit.

4 after these things Fraortes ruled the Medes, who spent 22 years of his reign in very frequent wars of the Assyrians and Persians.

5 post hunc Diocles regnauit, uir armis experientissimus semperque bellis immoratus: qui auctum late imperium moriens Astyagi dedit.

5 after him Diocles reigned, a man most experienced in arms and ever engaged in wars: who, dying, gave the empire, broadly augmented, to Astyages.

6 Astyages, uirili prole uacuus, Cyrum nepotem apud Persas genitum habuit. sed Cyrus mox ut adoleuit congregata Persarum manu auo certamen indixit.

6 Astyages, void of male progeny, had his grandson Cyrus, born among the Persians. But Cyrus, as soon as he had grown up, with a band of Persians congregated, declared a contest against his grandfather.

7 porro Astyages oblitus sceleris sui quod in Harpalum dudum admiserat, cum filium eius unicum et paruulum interfecit epulandumque patri adposuit ac, ne quid infelicissimae orbitati felix ignorantia subtraheret, infames epulas ostensis patri cum capite manibus inproperauit, -

7 furthermore Astyages, forgetful of his own crime which he had long ago perpetrated against Harpalus, when he killed his only and very small son and served him up to the father for feasting, and, lest happy ignorance should subtract anything from the most ill‑fated bereavement, after the infamous dishes had been shown to the father, with the head in his hands, he upbraided him, -

8 huius ergo facti immemor, ipsi Harpalo summam belli committit, qui acceptum exercitum statim Cyro per proditionem tradit. quo conperto Astyages raptis secum copiis in Persas ipse proficiscitur acriusque certamen instaurat, proposito suis, metu si quis e proelio cedere moliretur, ferro exciperetur.

8 therefore, forgetful of this deed, he entrusts to Harpalus himself the supreme command of the war, who, having received the army, immediately hands it over to Cyrus through treachery. When this was discovered, Astyages, with forces snatched up to accompany him, himself sets out against the Persians and more fiercely renews the engagement, setting before his men that, if anyone from fear should try to withdraw from the battle, he would be met by steel.

9 qua necessitate instanter Medis pugnantibus pulsa iterum Persarum acies cum paulatim cederet, matres et uxores eorum obuiam occurrunt, orant in proelium reuertantur; cunctantibus sublata ueste obscena corporis ostendunt quaerentes, num in uteros matrum uel uxorum uellent refugere.

9 with this necessity, as the Medes fought instantly, the battle‑line of the Persians, routed again as it was little by little giving way, their mothers and wives ran to meet them, begging that they return into the battle; as they hesitated, lifting their garment they showed the obscene parts of the body, asking whether they wished to flee back into the wombs of their mothers or their wives.

10 quo facto erubescentes in proelium redeunt et facta inpressione quos fugiebant fugere conpellunt. ibi tunc Astyages capitur, cui Cyrus nihil aliud quam regnum abstulit, eumque maximae Hyrcanorum genti praeposuit. in Medos uero reuerti ipse noluit.

10 With this done, ashamed, they return to battle, and, a press having been made, they compel to flee those whom they had been fleeing. There then Astyages is captured, from whom Cyrus took away nothing other than the kingdom, and he set him over the very great nation of the Hyrcanians. But he himself did not wish to return to the Medes.

is finis imperii Medorum fuit.

This was the end of the empire of the Medes.

11 sed ciuitates, quae tributariae Medorum erant, a Cyro defecerunt: quae res Cyro multorum bellorum causa et origo exstitit.

11 but the cities which were tributary to the Medes defected from Cyrus: which thing proved for Cyrus the cause and origin of many wars.

[20] Ea tempestate Phalaris Siculus Agrigentinos arrepta tyrannide populabatur.

[20] At that time Phalaris the Sicilian, having seized tyranny, was devastating the Agrigentines.

2 qui crudelis mente, commentis crudelior, omnia nefarie in innocentes agens, inuenit aliquando quem iuste puniret iniustus.

2 who, cruel in mind, crueller in contrivings, doing all things nefariously against the innocents, at length found someone whom, unjust, he might punish justly.

3 nam Perillus quidam aeris opifex adfectans tyranni amicitiam, aptum munus crudelitati illius ratus, taurum aeneum fecit, cui fabre ianuam e latere conposuit, quae ad contrudendos damnatos receptui foret: ut cum inclusus ibidem subiectis ignibus torreretur, sonum uocis extortae capacitas concaui aeris augeret pulsuque ferali conpetens imagini murmur emitteret, nefarioque spectaculo mugitus pecudis, non hominis gemitus uideretur.

3 for a certain Perillus, an artificer in bronze, aspiring to the tyrant’s friendship, thinking a gift apt to that cruelty, made a brazen bull, to which he skillfully fitted a door in the flank, which was to serve as a receptacle for shoving in the condemned: so that, when one shut up therein was being roasted with fires set beneath, the capacity of the hollow bronze would augment the sound of the extorted voice and, with a funereal pulse matching the image, would emit a murmur, and by the nefarious spectacle the bellowing of a beast would seem, not the groan of a man.

4 sed Phalaris, factum amplexus factorem exsecratus, et ultioni materiam praebuit et crudelitati: nam ipsum opificem sua inuentione puniuit.

4 but Phalaris, embracing the deed, execrating the doer, furnished both matter for vengeance and for cruelty: for he punished the artisan himself by his own invention.

5 Fuerat etiam paulo superiore tempore apud Latinos rex Aremulus, qui per annos XVIII flagitiis inpieatibusque crescens, ad postremum diuino iudicio fulmine interceptus matura supplicia inmatura aetate dissoluit.

5 There had also, at a somewhat earlier time, been among the Latins King Aremulus, who for 18 years, growing in flagitious deeds and impieties, at last, by divine judgment, intercepted by a thunderbolt, discharged mature punishments in an immature age.

6 Eligant nunc, si uidetur, Latini et Siculi, utrum in diebus Aremuli et Phalaridis esse maluissent innocentum uitas poenis extorquentium, an his temporibus Christianis, cum imperatores Romani, ipsa in primis religione conpositi, post comminutas reipublicae bono tyrannides ne ipsorum quidem iniurias exigunt tyrannorum.

6 Let the Latins and the Sicilians now choose, if it seems good, whether they would have preferred to be in the days of Aremulus and Phalaris, who were extorting the lives of innocents by punishments, or in these Christian times, when the Roman emperors, governed above all by religion itself, after tyrannies shattered for the commonwealth’s good, do not exact even the wrongs of the tyrants themselves.

[21] Anno ante urbem conditam XXX Peloponnensium Atheniensiumque maximum bellum totis uiribus animisque commissum est: in quo mutuis caedibus ad hoc coacti sunt, ut uelut uicti se ab alterutro subtraherent bellumque desererent.

[21] In the year 30 before the city was founded, the greatest war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians was engaged with all forces and spirits: in which, by mutual slaughters, they were compelled to this point, that, as if conquered, they withdrew themselves from one another and deserted the war.

2 tunc etiam Amazonum gentis et Cimmeriorum in Asiam repentinus incursus plurimam diu late uastationem stragemque edidit.

2 then also the sudden incursion into Asia of the nation of the Amazons and of the Cimmerians wrought very great devastation and slaughter far and wide for a long time.

3 Anno XX ante urbem conditam Lacedaemonii contra Messenios propter spretas uirgines suas in sollemni Messeniorum sacrificio, per annos uiginti indefesso furore bellantes, ruinae suae totas Graeciae uires inplicuerunt.

3 In the year 20 before the city was founded, the Lacedaemonians, against the Messenians on account of their own maidens having been spurned at the Messenians’ solemn sacrifice, warring for 20 years with indefatigable fury, implicated the forces of all Greece in their own ruin.

4 qui cum se magnis exsecrationibus deuouissent sacramentisque obstrinxissent domum nisi Messena expugnata numquam esse redituros, ac per decem annos longa fatigati obsidione nec tamen aliquem uincendi fructum adepti, porro autem et querellis uxorum super longa uiduitate et periculo sterilitatis contestantium permoti reuocarentur,

4 who, when they had devoted themselves with great execrations and had bound themselves by sacraments that they would never return home unless Messene were stormed, and, wearied by a long siege for ten years yet having obtained no fruit of victory, furthermore were recalled, moved also by the complaints of their wives protesting about the long widowhood and the danger of sterility,

5 consultatione habita ueriti, ne intercepta spe subolis sibi magis hac perseuerantia quam Messeniis perditio nutriretur, selectos in exercitu eos qui post iusiurandum in supplementum militiae uenerant Spartam remittunt, quibus promiscuos omnium feminarum concubitus permisere, infami satis nec tamen utili licentia.

5 after a consultation was held, fearing lest, with the hope of offspring intercepted, by this perseverance a perdition be nourished for themselves rather than for the Messenians, they send back to Sparta, selected from the army, those who had come after the oath as a supplement to the soldiery, to whom they permitted the promiscuous intercourse of all the women—a license sufficiently infamous and yet not useful.

6 ipsi autem proposito insistentes expugnant fraude Messenios, uictos seruitio premunt. at illi, diu cruentam dominationem inter uerbera et uincla perpessi, iugum excutiunt, arma sumunt, bellum instaurant.

6 they themselves, however, persisting in their purpose, capture the Messenians by fraud, and press the conquered with servitude. But they, having long endured a bloody domination amid beatings and chains, shake off the yoke, take up arms, renew the war.

7 Lacedaemonii Tyrreum, Atheniensem poetam, ducem proelio legunt. qui tribus conflictibus fusi, amissum exercitum uocata in libertatem seruorum manu suppleuerunt.

7 The Lacedaemonians choose Tyrtaeus, an Athenian poet, as leader for the battle. They, routed in three conflicts, replenished the lost army by calling a band of slaves into liberty.

8 sed cum sic quoque desistendum certamine propter metum periculi arbitrarentur, Tyrrei poetae et ducis conposito carmine et pro contione recitato rursus accensi mox in certamen ruunt; tanta autem ui animorum concursum est, ut raro umquam cruentius proelium exarserit; ad postremum tamen uictoria Lacedaemoniorum fuit.

8 but when they judged that even thus they must desist from the contest because of fear of peril, by the composed song of Tyrtaeus, poet and leader, and recited before the assembly, again inflamed they soon rush into the contest; and with such force of spirits was the encounter joined, that rarely ever has a bloodier battle blazed; in the end, however, the victory was the Lacedaemonians’.

9 tertio Messenii reparauere certamen. nec Lacedaemoniis mora. multas in auxilium copias utrimque duxerunt.

9 for the third time the Messenians renewed the contest. nor was there delay for the Lacedaemonians. many forces in support were brought on both sides.

Athenienses uero Lacedaemonios alibi intentos e diuerso adgredi parant.

But the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians intent elsewhere, prepare to attack from the opposite direction.

10 nec Lacedaemonii quieuere: nam ipsi in Messenios occupati Peloponnenses inmiserunt, qui Athenienses proelio exciperent. Athenienses autem, missa in Aegyptum parua classe inpares uiribus, nauali congressu facile uincuntur. dehinc recepta classe, aucti etiam militum robore, uictores in proelium uocant.

10 nor did the Lacedaemonians keep quiet: for they themselves, occupied with the Messenians, let loose the Peloponnesians to receive the Athenians in battle. The Athenians, however, with a small fleet sent to Egypt and unequal in forces, are easily conquered in a naval engagement. Then, the fleet having been recovered, and their strength of soldiers also increased, they call to battle and are the victors.

11 Lacedaemonii quoque omissis Messeniis in Athenienses arma conuertunt. diu uariae et graues pugnae et anceps uictoriae status ac postremum pendente euentu utrimque discessum est.

11 The Lacedaemonians too, the Messenians set aside, turned their arms against the Athenians. For a long time there were varied and grave battles and a doubtful poise of victory, and at last, with the outcome hanging in the balance, there was withdrawal on both sides.

12 sciendum tamen est maxime, ipsam esse Spartam quam et Lacedaemonam ciuitatem, atque inde Lacedaemonios Spartanos dici.

12 it must, however, be known most of all, that Sparta itself is the very city which is also called Lacedaemon, and from that the Lacedaemonians are called Spartans.

13 igitur inde reuocati Lacedaemonii ad Messeniorum bellum, ne medium tempus otiosum Atheniensibus relinquerent, cum Thebanis paciscuntur, ut Boeotiorum imperium eis restituerent, quod temporibus belli Persici amiserant, si illi Atheniensium bella susciperent.

13 therefore, having been recalled from there to the war of the Messenians, the Lacedaemonians, lest they leave the intervening time idle to the Athenians, make terms with the Thebans, that they would restore to them the dominion of the Boeotians—which they had lost in the times of the Persian War—if those would undertake wars against the Athenians.

14 tantus furor Spartanorum erat, ut duobus bellis inpliciti suscipere tertium non recusarent, dummodo inimicis suis hostes adquirerent.

14 so great was the fury of the Spartans that, implicated in two wars, they did not refuse to undertake a third, provided that they might acquire enemies for their enemies.

15 Athenienses tanta bellorum tempestate permoti duo duces deligunt Periclen spectatae uirtutis uirum et Sophoclen scribtorem tragoediarum: qui diuiso exercitu et Spartanorum fines late populati sunt et multas Asiae ciuitates Atheniensium imperio adiecerunt.

15 The Athenians, moved by so great a tempest of wars, choose two leaders, Pericles, a man of proven virtue, and Sophocles, a writer of tragedies: who, with the army divided, both extensively devastated the confines of the Spartans and added many cities of Asia to the Athenians’ imperium.

16 hinc porro per annos quinquaginta incerta semper uictoria terra marique pugnatum est, donec Spartani, et opibus inminutis et fide profligata, sociis quoque probro fuere.

16 From here furthermore, for fifty years, with victory always uncertain, it was fought on land and sea, until the Spartans, with resources diminished and their fidelity prostrated, were even a reproach to their allies.

17 Sed haec per tot aetatum uolumina incubuisse Graeciae parui penditur. nunc autem interpellari interdum uoluptates et impediri parumper libidines non sustinetur.

17 But that these things have lain heavy upon Greece through so many volumes of ages is held of little account. Now, however, it is not endured that pleasures be sometimes interrupted and that libidos be impeded for a short while.

18 quamquam inter illius temporis homines atque istius hoc interest, quod illi aequo animo haec intoleranda tolerabant, quia in his nati uel enutriti erant et meliora non nouerant: isti autem, perpetuo in uita sua tranquillitatum et deliciarum sereno adsuefacti, ad omne uel modicum obductae sollicitudinis nubilum commouentur.

18 although between the men of that time and of this there is this difference, that those men with equanimity used to tolerate these things intolerable, because in these they had been born or even nurtured and did not know better things: whereas these men, habituated to the perpetual serene of tranquillities and delights in their life, are stirred at every, even a slight, cloud of solicitude drawn over.

19 atque utinam ipsum depulsorem huius uel modicae inquietudinis precarentur, cuius munere hanc ignoratam aliis temporibus iugitatem pacis habuerunt.

19 and would that they would beseech the very dispeller of this even slight disquiet, by whose gift they have had this continuity of peace unknown in other times.

20 et quoniam spopondisse memini, cum ueluti articulis quibusdam dicendi ordinem definirem, dicturum me esse ab orbe condito usque ad urbem conditam,

20 and since I remember to have promised, when I was defining the order of speaking, as it were by certain articles, that I would speak from the world founded up to the city founded,

21 huic uolumini quod ab orbe condito explicuimus finis hic sit, ut ab urbe condita sequens libellus incipiat, qui contextiora illorum temporum mala, exercitatioribus quippe ad nequitiam atque eruditioribus hominibus, continebit.

21 let this be the end for this volume, which we have explicated from the founding of the world, so that from the founding of the City the following little book may begin, which will contain the more tightly interwoven evils of those times, indeed, since the men were more exercised toward wickedness and more erudite.