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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §17.28.1-17.28.5

Resistance of the Marmarians and Their Escape by Night

Passage 633 of 723 · Greek

Summary

The Marmarians of Lycia attack Alexander's rearguard, prompting a fierce siege. Refusing to surrender, the Marmarian youth set fire to their houses with their families inside and break through the Macedonian lines by night to escape.

§17.28.1τῆς γὰρ Λυκίας περὶ τὰς ἐσχατιὰς πέτραν μεγάλην ὀχυρότητι διαφέρουσαν ᾤκουν οἱ Μαρμαρεῖς ὀνομαζόμενοι, οἵτινες παριόντος Ἀλεξάνδρου τὸ χωρίον ἐπέθεντο τοῖς κατὰ τὴν οὐραγίαν Μακεδόσι καὶ συχνοὺς ἀνελόντες πολλὰ τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τῶν ὑποζυγίων ἀφήρπασαν.
For near the borders of Lycia, a great rock outstanding for its strength was inhabited by the people called Marmarians, who, as Alexander was passing by the place, attacked the Macedonians in the rearguard, and having slain many, carried off many of the captives and the beasts of burden.
§17.28.2ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις ὁ βασιλεὺς παροξυνθεὶς συνεστήσατο πολιορκίαν καὶ πᾶσαν εἰσεφέρετο σπουδὴν βίᾳ κρατῆσαι τοῦ χωρίου.
Exasperated by this, the king set up a siege and applied every effort to capture the place by force.
οἱ δὲ Μαρμαρεῖς ἀνδρείᾳ διαφέροντες καὶ τῇ τῶν τόπων ἐρυμνότητι πιστεύοντες ὑπέμενον εὐρώστως τὴν πολιορκίαν.
But the Marmarians, outstanding in courage and trusting in the ruggedness of the terrain, stoutly withstood the siege.
ἐπὶ μὲν οὖν ἡμέρας δύο συνεχεῖς ἐγίνοντο προσβολαὶ καὶ φανερὸς ἦν ὁ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἀποστησόμενος ἕως ἂν ἕλῃ τὴν πέτραν.
For two consecutive days, assaults took place, and it was clear that the king would not withdraw until he had captured the rock.
§17.28.3οἱ δὲ πρεσβύτεροι τῶν Μαρμαρέων τὸ μὲν πρῶτον συνεβούλευον τοῖς νέοις παυσαμένοις τῆς βίας ἐφʼ οἷς ἦν δυνατὸν συλλυθῆναι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα· οὐ πειθομένων δʼ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ πάντων φιλοτιμουμένων συναποθανεῖν τῇ τῆς πατρίδος ἐλευθερίᾳ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτοὺς τέκνα μὲν καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τοὺς γεγηρακότας ἀνελεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς δυναμένους διὰ τῆς ἀλκῆς σώζεσθαι νυκτὸς διὰ μέσων τῶν πολεμίων διεκπεσεῖν καὶ καταφυγεῖν εἰς τὴν πλησίον ὀρεινήν.
The older men among the Marmarians at first advised the young men to stop the violence and come to terms with the king on whatever conditions were possible; but when they did not comply, but were all eager to die together for the freedom of their motherland, they urged them to kill the children, wives, and the aged, and for those who were able to save themselves through their strength to break through the midst of the enemy by night and flee to the neighboring mountainous country.
§17.28.4συγκαταθεμένων δὲ τῶν νέων καὶ προσταξάντων κατʼ οἰκίαν ἑκάστους μετὰ τῆς συγγενείας ἀπολαύσαντας τῶν προσηνεστάτων βρωτῶν τε καὶ ποτῶν ὑπομεῖναι τὸ δεινὸν ἔδοξε τοῖς νέοις, οὖσιν ὡς ἑξακοσίοις, τοῦ μὲν φονεύειν τοὺς προσήκοντας ἀποσχέσθαι, τὰς δʼ οἰκίας ἐμπρῆσαι καὶ διὰ τῶν πυλῶν ἐκχυθέντας εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν ἀποχωρῆσαι.
When the young men agreed and ordered everyone to enjoy the most pleasant food and drink at home with their relatives and await the terrible fate, it seemed best to the young men, who were about six hundred, to abstain from killing their relatives, but to set fire to the houses and, pouring out through the gates, to escape into the mountainous country.
§17.28.5οὗτοι μὲν οὖν τὰ δεδογμένα συντελέσαντες ταῖς ἰδίαις ἑστίαις ἑκάστους ἐποίησαν ἐνταφῆναι, αὐτοὶδὲ διὰ μέσων τῶν περιεστρατοπεδευκότων ἔτι νυκτὸς οὔσης διεκπεσόντες ἔφυγον εἰς τὴν πλησίον ὀρεινήν.
These men, having executed these decisions, caused everyone to be buried in their own hearths, while they themselves, having broken through the midst of those who had encamped around them while it was still night, fled to the neighboring mountainous country.
ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐπράχθη κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν.
These things, then, were done in the course of this year.

Notes

  1. 17.28.1σωμάτων — The word σώματα, literally "bodies," is frequently used in Hellenistic Greek, especially in Diodorus, to refer to "captives" or "slaves" rather than corpses. Here it means captured people.
  2. 17.28.3ἐφʼ οἷς ἦν δυνατόν — The preposition ἐπί followed by the relative pronoun in the dative plural. The phrase means "on whatever terms were possible" or "on the best possible conditions."
  3. 17.28.4συγκαταθεμένων δὲ τῶν νέων καὶ προσταξάντων — A genitive absolute construction with "the young men" as the implied subject. Although the subject overlaps with the dative of the main clause (τοῖς νέοις), the genitive absolute is used to set the background of the action.
  4. 17.28.4τοῦ μὲν φονεύειν ... ἀποσχέσθαι — The verb ἀπέχομαι (to abstain from) takes the genitive; hence the articular infinitive τοῦ φονεύειν is in the genitive case. It indicates that the young men shrank from slaughtering their own relatives with their own hands.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §17.28.1-17.28.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc4:17.28.1-17.28.5

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