§10.1Ὁ δὴ Κίμων οἷα κατὰ πόλιν ἑκάστην καὶ αἰγιαλὸν ἡμᾶς δέδρακεν, οὐκ ἔθους, οὐ νόμου φειδόμενος οὐδενός.
Indeed, what Cimon has done to us in every city and on every shore is such that he spares no custom and no law whatsoever.
κατὰ θέαν εἰς ʼʼΙλιον ἀφικόμην τῆς τε γῆς καὶ θαλάττης.
I arrived in Ilion for a sightseeing of the land and sea.
καὶ ἂ μὲν εἶδον αὐτόθι, γράφειν ἐπεὶ δοκεῖ ὕλην ἀφθονον ἔχειν, σιωπήσω· δέδοικα γάρ, μὴ ποιητικῆς λαβόμενος φλυαρίας ἀπειροκαλεύεσθαι δόξω.
And as for what I saw there, since it seems to have abundant material to write about, I shall remain silent; for I fear lest, by taking up poetic nonsense, I might seem to show bad taste.
τὰ δὲ Κίμωνος ἔργα καὶ τὴν ἀκρασίαν, οὐδʼ εἴ μοι δέκα μὲν γλῶσσαἰ, δυναίμην ἂν ἀρκέσαι λέγων.
But as for Cimon’s deeds and his licentiousness, not even if I had ten tongues would I be able to suffice in telling of them.
§10.2διατριβόντων γὰρ ἡμῶν πολλὰς ἡμέρας ἐν Ἰλίῳ καὶ μὴ πληρουμένων τῆς θέας τῶν τάφων (ἦν δέ μοι γνώμη μένειν, ἕως ἅπαντα ἐπεξέλθω τὰ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι ἔπη πρὸς αὐτοῖς ἑκάστοις, ὑπὲρ ὧν τὰ ἔπη ἐστὶ γιγνόμενα), ἐμπίπτει ἡμέρα, ἐν ᾗ πειρῶνται τοὺς γάμους οἱ Ἰλιεῖς τῶν θυγατέρων, ὅσων ἐπιτρέπει ποιεῖν ἡ ὥρα.
For while we were spending many days in Ilion and could not get enough of viewing the tombs (and it was my intention to remain until I should go through all the verses in the Iliad in relation to the very places about which the verses are composed), a day arrived on which the Ilians perform the marriages of their daughters, as many of them as their age permits to do so.
§10.3ἐγένοντο δὲ συχναὶ αἱ γαμούμεναι.
Now those being married were numerous.
νενόμισται δὲ ἐν τῇ Τρῳάδι γῇ τὰς γαμουμένας παρθένους ἐπὶ τὸν Σκάμανδρον ἔρχεσθαι, καὶ λουσαμένας ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔπος τοῦτο ὥσπερ ἱερόν τι ἐπιλέγειν,
λαβέ μου, κάμανδρε, τὴν παρθενίαν
ἐν δὴ ταῖς ἄλλαις Καλλιρρόη ὄνομα παρθένος μεγάλη, πατρὸς δὲ οὐ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἧκε λουσομένη.
It is customary in the Troad that the virgins about to be married go to the Scamander river, and having bathed in it, pronounce this verse as if it were some sacred formula: "Receive, Scamander, my virginity." Among the others, indeed, a tall virgin named Callirhoe, whose father was not of the illustrious citizens, came to the river to bathe.
§10.4καὶ ἡμεῖς ἄμα τοῖς τε οἰκείοις τῶν γαμουμένων καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὄχλοις πόρρωθεν τὴν ἑορτὴν καὶ τὰ λουτρὰ τῶν παρθένων, ᾗ θέμις αὐτὰ ἐξωτέρω ὁρᾶν, ἐθεώμεθα.
And we, together with the relatives of the brides and the other crowds, were watching the festival and the bathing of the virgins from a distance, where it was lawful to look at them from further off.
ὁ δὲ καλὸς κἀγαθὸς Κίμων ἐγκρύπτεται εἰς θάμνον τοῦ καμάνδρου, καὶ στέφει ἑαυτὸν δόναξιν· ἦν δὲ αὐτῷ δηλαδὴ τὸ στρατήγημα τοῦτο καὶ ὁ λόχος ἐξ ἡμέρας ἐπὶ τὴν Καλλιρρόην εὐτρεπής.
But our "fine gentleman" Cimon hid himself in a thicket of the Scamander, and crowned himself with reeds; clearly this stratagem and ambush had been prepared by him since earlier in the day against Callirhoe.
§10.5λουομένης δὲ καὶ τὸ εἰωθὸς ἔπος, ὡς μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπυθόμην, λεγούσης,
λαβέ μου, Σκάμανδρε, τὴν παρθενίαν
, ἐκθορὼν ἐκ τῶν θάμνων ὁ Σκάμανδρος Κίμων
ἡδέως
ἔφη
δέχομαι καὶ λαμιβάνω Καλλιρρόην Σκάμανδρος ὥν, καὶ πόλλʼ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσω σοι
. ταῦτα ἄμα λέγων καὶ ἁρπάσας τὴν παῖδα αφανὴς γίγνεται.
While she was bathing and saying the customary verse (as I learned afterwards): "Receive, Scamander, my virginity," Cimon, leaping out of the bushes as the "Scamander," said: "Gladly do I accept and receive Callirhoe, being Scamander, and I will do many good things for you." Saying this and at the same time snatching the girl, he vanished.
§10.6οὐ μὴν καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀφανὲς γίγνεται, ἀλλὰ τέτταρσιν ὕστερον ἡμέραις πομπὴ μὲν ἦν Ἀφροδίτης, ἐπόμπευον δὲ αἱ νεωστὶ γεγαμημέναι, καὶ ἡμεῖς τὴν πομπὴν ἐθεώμεθα.
Indeed, the matter did not remain hidden, but four days later there was a procession of Aphrodite, and the newly married women were marching in it, and we were watching the procession.
ἡ δὲ νύμφη ἴδοῦσα τὸν Κίμωνα ὡς μηδὲν αὐτῷ κακὸν συνειδότα ἄμα ἐμοὶ θεώμενον, προσεκύνησε, καὶ ἀποβλέψασα εἰς τὴν τροφόν,
ὁρᾷς εἶπε, τίτθη, τὸν Σκάμανδρον, ῴ τὴν παρθενίαν ἔδωκα; καὶ ἡ τίτθη ἀκούσασα ἀνέκραγε, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἔκπυστον γίγνεται.
And the bride, seeing Cimon watching along with me as if he were conscious of no wrongdoing, prostrated herself before him, and looking away towards her nurse, said: "Do you see, nurse, the Scamander to whom I gave my virginity?" And the nurse, having heard this, cried out, and the matter became known to all.
§10.7ὡς δὲ οἴκαδε εἶσέρχομαι, καταλαμβάνω τὸν Κίμωνα, καὶ οἷα ἥν εἶκὸς ἐργάζομαι, καλῶν ἀνόσιον καὶ διʼ αὐτὸν ἀπολωλέναι λέγων ἡμᾶς.
When I returned home, I caught Cimon and treated him as was natural, calling him impious and saying that we were ruined because of him.
ὁ δὲ οὐδὲν διʼ αὐτὸ ἔδεισεν, οὐδὲ ᾐσχύνθη τοῖς πεπραγμένοις, ἀλλὰ μύθους ἐπεβάλλετο λέγειν μακρούς, τοὺς ἁπανταχόθι τροχῶν ἄξια εἰργασμένους καταριθμούμενος.
But he was not at all afraid because of this, nor was he ashamed of his deeds, but undertook to tell long stories, enumerating those who everywhere had done things worthy of the wheel.
§10.8καὶ γὰρ ἐν Μαγνησίᾳ ταὐτὸ τοῦτο περὶ Μαίανδρον τὸν ποταμὸν ἔφη γεγονέναι ὑπό τινος τῶν ἐκεῖ νέων, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ ἔτι σήμερον Ἄτταλον τὸν ἀθλητὴν ὁ πατήρ, ἔφη, αὐτοῦ οὐχ ἑαυτοῦ υἱόν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Μαιάνδρου εἶναι πείθεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν οὕτω πάνυ νομίζει σαρκῶν τε καὶ ῥώμης εὗ ἔχειν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ πολλὰς λαβὼν πληγὰς καὶ ἀπειπάμενος ἐξίῃ, τὸν ποταμὸν αὐτῷ νεμεσῆσαῖ λέγει, ὅτι νικήσας οὐ πατέρα ἀνηγόρευεν αὐτόν.
For he said that this very same thing had happened in Magnesia near the river Meander, by one of the young men there, as a result of which, he said, even today the father of Attalus the athlete is convinced that he is not his own son, but the son of Meander, and for this reason believes him to be so very well endowed with flesh and strength; and whenever, having received many blows and giving up, he leaves the arena, his father says that the river is angry with him because, when he won, he did not proclaim him as his father.
οὐκ ἄρʼ ἀπορεῖ γε ἡττώμενος προφάσεως.
Thus, even when defeated, he is not at all at a loss for an excuse.
§10.9καὶ περὶ Ἐπίδαμνον δʼ ὁμοίως πάλιν κατιὼν δὲ ἔφη μουσικὸν ὑπʼ εὐηθείας πεπεῖσθαι, ὅτι ρακλέους εἴη τὸ ἐκ μοιχοῦ γεγονὸς αὐτῷ παιδίον.
And similarly again, on going down to Epidamnus, he said that a musician, out of simplicity, had been convinced that his child born from an adulterer was the child of Heracles.
ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἐπαιδοποιησάμην, ἔφη, ἅπαξ δὲ διελέχθην παιδὶ ὑπερώρῳ τε ἤδη, καὶ λουομένην αὐτὴν μετὰ μιᾶς γραὸς ἰδών.
"I, however, did not father a child," he said, "but only once had intercourse with a girl who was already past her prime, having seen her bathing with a single old woman.
καὶ ἄλλως δʼ ἐδόκει μοι, ἔφη, ὡς μὴ παντάπασι τὰ ἐν Ἰλίῳ τραγικά τε καὶ φοβερὰ ᾖ, παίζειν δεῖν τι καὶ ἡμᾶς καὶ οἷον ἐν κωμῳδίαις περὶ τὸν Σκάμανδρον ἐργάσασθαι. §10.10κἀγὼ μὲν ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἢ ποῖ λήξει ἡ τοσαύτη ἀναισχυντία προσμένων, λίθινος ὑπʼ ἀπιστίας ἐγεγόνειν·
And besides," he said, "it seemed to me, lest the events in Ilion be altogether tragic and terrible, that we too ought to play a little and perform something like a comedy around the Scamander." And I, waiting for nothing else than where such great shamelessness would end, had become like stone from disbelief.
ὁ δὲ ἐῴκει καὶ τρίτην Ἀπόλλωνός μοι δοκῶ καὶ Διονύσου μοιχείαν ἐπάξειν, ἕως ἰδὼν ἐγὼ ὄχλον προσιόντα τῇ θύρᾳ,
τοῦτʼ ἐκεῖνο
ἔφην,
καταπρήσοντες ἡμᾶς πάρεισι
, καὶ διʼ ὀπισθοδόμου τινὸς εὐθέως πρὸς Μελανιππίδην φεύγων ᾠχόμην, ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἑσπέρας ἐπὶ θάλατταν, εἶτα εἰς τοὔμπροσθεν.
He seemed likely to bring in even a third adultery of Apollo or Dionysus, as I think, until, seeing a crowd approaching the door, I said: "This is it; they are here to burn us down," and through some back room I immediately fled away to Melanippides, and from there in the evening to the sea, and then onwards.
εἶτα ἀξένῳ καὶ ὤστῃ ἀνέμῳ κατήχθημεν, ὄν μηδεὶς ἄν ἄλλως ἢ φεύγων τὸ Κιμώνειον ἄγος ὑπομείναι πλέων.
Then we were brought down by an inhospitable and violent wind, which no one would have endured in sailing unless fleeing the Cimonian pollution.
τοιαῦτα μὲν παθὼν δεῖν σοι γράφειν, ὡς σχετλιάσοντι καὶ ἐμοῦ μᾶλλον, ᾤμην· σὺ δὲ ἄν ἱκανῶς οἶμαι γελάσειαῇ.
Having suffered such things, I thought I ought to write to you, as one who would be indignant even more than myself; but you, I think, would laugh sufficiently.