§1.63.1τούτου δὲ τελευτήσαντος ἐπὶ γενεὰς ἑπτὰ διεδέξαντο τὴν ἀρχὴν βασιλεῖς ἀργοὶ παντελῶς καὶ πρὸς ἄνεσιν καὶ τρυφὴν ἅπαντα πράττοντες.
After this king died, for seven generations kings succeeded to the rule who were altogether indolent and did everything for relaxation and luxury.
διόπερ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἀναγραφαῖς οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἔργον πολυτελὲς οὐδὲ πρᾶξις ἱστορίας ἀξία παραδέδοται πλὴν ἑνὸς Νειλέως, ἀφʼ οὗ συμβαίνει τὸν ποταμὸν ὀνομασθῆναι Νεῖλον, τὸ πρὸ τοῦ καλούμενον Αἴγυπτον·
Therefore, in the sacred records no costly work of theirs nor any deed worthy of history is handed down, except for one Neileus, from whom it happens that the river was named Nile, which before was called Aegyptus.
οὗτος δὲ πλείστας εὐκαίρους διώρυχας κατασκευάσας καὶ πολλὰ περὶ τὴν εὐχρηστίαν τοῦ Νείλου φιλοτιμηθεὶς αἴτιος κατέστη τῷ ποταμῷ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας.
This man, having constructed many well-situated canals and having been very zealous for the utility of the Nile, became the cause of this name for the river.
§1.63.2ὄγδοος δὲ βασιλεὺς γενόμενος Χέμμις ὁ Μεμφίτης ἦρξε μὲν ἔτη πεντήκοντα, κατεσκεύασε δὲ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν τριῶν πυραμίδων τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ τοῖς ἐπιφανεστάτοις ἔργοις ἀριθμουμένων.
The eighth king, Chemmis of Memphis, ruled for fifty years and constructed the greatest of the three pyramids, which are numbered among the seven most famous works.
§1.63.3αὗται δὲ κείμεναι κατὰ τὴν Λιβύην τῆς Μέμφεως ἀπέχουσι σταδίους ἑκατὸν καὶ εἴκοσι, τοῦ δὲ Νείλου πέντε πρὸς τοῖς τετταράκοντα, τῷ δὲ μεγέθει τῶν ἔργων καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν χειρουργίαν τέχνῃ θαυμαστήν τινα κατάπληξιν παρέχονται τοῖς θεωμένοις.
These, situated on the Libyan side, are a hundred and twenty stadia distant from Memphis, and forty-five from the Nile, and by the magnitude of the works and the skill in their execution they afford a certain wonderful astonishment to those who behold them.
§1.63.4ἡ μὲν γὰρ μεγίστη τετράπλευρος οὖσα τῷ σχήματι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς βάσεως πλευρὰν ἑκάστην ἔχει πλέθρων ἑπτά, τὸ δʼ ὕψος πλέον τῶν ἓξ πλέθρων· συναγωγὴν δʼ ἐκ τοῦ κατʼ ὀλίγον λαμβάνουσα μέχρι τῆς κορυφῆς ἑκάστην πλευρὰν ποιεῖ πηχῶν ἕξ.
For the greatest, being four-sided in shape, has each side at the base seven plethra long, and its height is more than six plethra; and taking a gradual contraction up to the top, it makes each side six cubits.
§1.63.5πᾶσα δὲ στερεοῦ λίθου κατεσκεύασται, τὴν μὲν ἐργασίαν ἔχοντος δυσχερῆ, τὴν δὲ διαμονὴν αἰώνιον· οὐκ ἐλαττόνων γὰρ ἢ χιλίων ἐτῶν, ὥς φασι, διεληλυθότων εἰς τὸν καθʼ ἡμᾶς βίον, ὡς δὲ ἔνιοι γράφουσι, πλειόνων ἢ τρισχιλίων καὶ τετρακοσίων, διαμένουσι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν οἱ λίθοι τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς σύνθεσιν καὶ τὴν ὅλην κατασκευὴν ἄσηπτον διαφυλάττοντες.
The whole is constructed of hard stone, difficult in its execution but eternal in its duration; for although not less than a thousand years, as they say, have elapsed until our time, and as some write, more than three thousand four hundred, the stones remain until now, preserving their original composition and the entire structure uncorrupted.
§1.63.6λέγεται δὲ τὸν μὲν λίθον ἐκ τῆς Ἀραβίας ἀπὸ πολλοῦ διαστήματος κομισθῆναι, τὴν δὲ κατασκευὴν διὰ χωμάτων γενέσθαι, μήπω τῶν μηχανῶν εὑρημένων κατʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους· §1.63.7καὶ %5τὸ θαυμασιώτατον, τηλικούτων ἔργων κατεσκευασμένων καὶ τοῦ περιέχοντος τόπου παντὸς ἁμμώδους ὄντος οὐδὲν ἴχνος οὔτε τοῦ χώματος οὔτε τῆς τῶν λίθων ξεστουργίας ἀπολείπεσθαι, ὥστε δοκεῖν μὴ κατʼ ὀλίγον ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων ἐργασίας, ἀλλὰ συλλήβδην ὥσπερ %5ὑπὸ θεοῦ τινος τὸ κατασκεύασμα τεθῆναι πᾶν εἰς τὴν περιέχουσαν ἅμμον.
And it is said that the stone was brought from Arabia from a great distance, and that the construction was made by means of ramps, since machines had not yet been invented in those times; and what is most wonderful, although works of such size were constructed and the surrounding place is entirely sandy, no trace remains either of the ramp or of the dressing of the stones, so that the whole structure seems not to have been put together gradually by the work of men, but to have been placed all at once by some god into the surrounding sand.
§1.63.8ἐπιχειροῦσι δέ τινες τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τερατολογεῖν ὑπὲρ τούτων, λέγοντες ὡς ἐξ ἁλῶν%5 καὶ νίτρου τῶν χωμάτων γεγονότων ἐπαφεθεὶς ὁ ποταμὸς ἔτηξεν αὐτὰ καὶ παντελῶς ἠφάνισεν ἄνευ τῆς χειροποιήτου πραγματείας.
But some of the Egyptians attempt to tell marvelous tales about these things, saying that since the ramps were made of salt and natron, the river was let in and dissolved them and completely vanished them without human labor.
§1.63.9οὐ μὴν καὶ τἀληθὲς οὕτως ἔχει, διὰ δὲ τῆς πολυχειρίας τῆς τὰ χώματα βαλούσης πάλιν τὸ πᾶν ἔργον εἰς τὴν προϋπάρχουσαν ἀποκατεστάθη τάξιν· τριάκοντα μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἓξ μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν, ὥς φασι, ταῖς τῶν ἔργων λειτουργίαις προσήδρευσαν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν κατασκεύασμα τέλος ἔσχε μόγις ἐτῶν εἴκοσι διελθόντων
Yet the truth is not so, but by the multitude of hands that threw up the ramps, the whole place was restored again to its former state; for thirty-six ten-thousands of men, as they say, attended to the services of the works, and the whole structure reached its end with difficulty after twenty years had elapsed.