Statues of Solon and Seleucus and the Career of Seleucus — Pausanias, Description of Greece Book 1 (1.16.1–1.16.3), Greek & English

§1.16.1

ἀνδριάντες δὲ χαλκοῖ κεῖνται πρὸ μὲν τῆς στοᾶς Σόλων ὁ τοὺς νόμους Ἀθηναίοις γράψας, ὀλίγον δὲ ἀπωτέρω Σέλευκος, ᾧ καὶ πρότερον ἐγένετο ἐς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τὴν μέλλουσαν σημεῖα οὐκ ἀφανῆ.¹ Σελεύκῳ γάρ, ὡς ὡρμᾶτο ἐκ Μακεδονίας σὺν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, θύοντι² ἐν Πέλλῃ τῷ Διὶ τὰ ξύλα τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ βωμοῦ κείμενα προύβη τε αὐτόματα πρὸς τὸ ἄγαλμα καὶ ἄνευ πυρὸς ἥφθη. τελευτήσαντος δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου Σέλευκος Ἀντίγονον ἐς Βαβυλῶνα ἀφικόμενον δείσας καὶ παρὰ Πτολεμαῖον φυγὼν τὸν Λάγου κατῆλθεν αὖθις ἐς Βαβυλῶνα, κατελθὼν δὲ ἐκράτησε μὲν τῆς Ἀντιγόνου στρατιᾶς καὶ αὐτὸν ἀπέκτεινεν Ἀντίγονον, εἷλε δὲ ἐπιστρατεύσαντα ὕστερον Δημήτριον τὸν Ἀντιγόνου.

In front of the portico stand bronze statues: on the one hand, Solon, who wrote the laws for the Athenians, and a little further off, Seleucus, for whom even earlier there had occurred no obscure omens pointing to his future prosperity. For when Seleucus set out from Macedonia with Alexander, as he was sacrificing to Zeus at Pella, the wood lying upon the altar advanced of its own accord towards the image and caught fire without any spark. After the death of Alexander, Seleucus, fearing Antigonus who had arrived in Babylon, fled to Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, and later returned again to Babylon; having returned, he defeated the army of Antigonus and killed Antigonus himself, and later captured Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, when the latter marched against him.

§1.16.2

ὡς δέ οἱ ταῦτα προκεχωρήκει καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον τὰ Λυσιμάχου κατείργαστο, τὴν μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν παρέδωκεν Ἀντιόχῳ τῷ παιδί, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐς Μακεδονίαν ἠπείγετο. στρατιὰ μὲν καὶ Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων ἦν παρὰ Σελεύκῳ· Πτολεμαῖος δὲ ἀδελφὸς μὲν Λυσάνδρας καὶ παρὰ Λυσιμάχου παρʼ αὐτὸν πεφευγώς, ἄλλως δὲ τολμῆσαι πρόχειρος καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ Κεραυνὸς καλούμενος, οὗτος ὁ Πτολεμαῖος, ὡς προσιὼν ὁ Σελεύκου στρατὸς ἐγένετο κατὰ Λυσιμάχειαν, λαθὼν Σέλευκον κτείνει, διαρπάσαι δὲ ἐπιτρέψας τὰ χρήματα τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν³ ἐβασίλευσε Μακεδονίας, ἐς ὃ Γαλάταις πρῶτος ὧν ἴσμεν βασιλέων ἀντιτάξασθαι τολμήσας ἀναιρεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων· τὴν δὲ ἀρχὴν Ἀντίγονος ἀνεσώσατο ὁ Δημητρίου.

When these things had succeeded for him, and shortly after the affairs of Lysimachus had been subdued, he handed over the entire empire in Asia to his son Antiochus, and he himself hastened to Macedonia. While Seleucus had an army of both Greeks and foreigners, Ptolemy—the brother of Lysandra, who had fled from Lysimachus to him, and who was moreover ready for bold deeds, for which reason he was called Ceraunus (Lightning)—this Ptolemy, when the advancing army of Seleucus reached the neighborhood of Lysimacheia, murdered Seleucus by stealth, and, having allowed the commanders to plunder the treasures, became king of Macedonia, until he was slain by the foreigners, being the first of the kings we know to dare to range himself against the Galatians; and the empire was recovered by Antigonus, the son of Demetrius.

§1.16.3

Σέλευκον δὲ βασιλέων ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα πείθομαι καὶ ἄλλως γενέσθαι δίκαιον καὶ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβῆ. τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ Σέλευκός ἐστιν ὁ Μιλησίοις τὸν χαλκοῦν καταπέμψας Ἀπόλλωνα ἐς Βραγχίδας, ἀνακομισθέντα ἐς Ἐκβάτανα τὰ Μηδικὰ ὑπὸ Ξέρξου· τοῦτο δὲ Σελεύκειαν οἰκίσας ἐπὶ Τίγρητι ποταμῷ καὶ Βαβυλωνίους οὗτος ἐπαγόμενος ἐς αὐτὴν συνοίκους ὑπελίπετο μὲν τὸ τεῖχος Βαβυλῶνος, ὑπελίπετο δὲ. τοῦ Βὴλ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ περὶ αὐτὸ τοὺς Χαλδαίους οἰκεῖν.⁴

I believe that Seleucus was especially among the kings both otherwise just and pious towards the divine. For, on the one hand, it was Seleucus who sent back to the Milesians at Branchidae the bronze Apollo which had been carried away to Median Ecbatana by Xerxes; and on the other hand, when he founded Seleucia on the river Tigris and brought the Babylonians into it as fellow-settlers, he left the wall of Babylon standing, and also left the temple of Bel and allowed the Chaldaeans to dwell around it.

Syntax notes4 items

1.16.1ᾧ καὶ πρότερον ἐγένετο ἐς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τὴν μέλλουσαν σημεῖα οὐκ ἀφανῆ
The relative pronoun in the dative ᾧ is used with the intransitive verb ἐγένετο to express possession or occurrence ("for whom there occurred"). The prepositional phrase ἐς τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν τὴν μέλλουσαν ("towards his future prosperity") either acts as an adjectival modifier of the noun σημεῖα ("signs pointing towards...") or depends on the verb ἐγένετο to indicate the outcome of the omens.
1.16.1Σελεύκῳ γάρ... θύοντι
The dative proper noun Σελεύκῳ and its agreeing participle θύοντι, though not grammatically agreeing with the subject of the main clause (τὰ ξύλα), are placed at the beginning of the sentence as a dative of interest or reference to set the scene: "for Seleucus, as he was sacrificing...".
1.16.2τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν
The plural dative of βασιλεύς ("kings", "rulers"). In this historical context, it refers to the "military commanders" or "officers" whom Ptolemy Ceraunus won over by allowing them to plunder. While some scholars propose a corruption of "soldiers" (στρατιώταις), the translation adheres to the traditional text, understanding it as the high-ranking leaders under Seleucus.
1.16.3ὑπελίπετο δὲ τοῦ Βὴλ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ περὶ αὐτὸ τοὺς Χαλδαίους οἰκεῖν
The verb ὑπελίπετο ("left behind", "allowed to remain") governs both a direct object in the accusative (τοῦ Βὴλ τὸ ἱερὸν) and an accusative with infinitive construction (τοὺς Χαλδαίους οἰκεῖν) in parallel. The single verb thus covers both physically preserving the temple and institutionally permitting the Chaldaeans to dwell around it.

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-25) · Revision history (1, latest 2026-09-21)

2026-09-21 AI review — translation 1

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:1.16.1-1.16.3