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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §3.31.1-3.31.4

The Cynamolgi and Their Hunting of Cattle with Dogs

Passage 192 of 406 · Greek

Summary

Describes the life of the Cynamolgi (Agrioi) living in the extreme south. They hunt Indian cattle, which migrate in massive numbers every year, and other animals using wild dogs to sustain their meat-eating lifestyle.

§3.31.1τὰς δʼ ἐσχατιὰς τῶν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν μερῶν κατοικοῦσιν ἄνδρες ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Ἑλλήνων καλούμενοι Κυναμολγοί, κατὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν πλησιοχώρων βαρβάρων διάλεκτον Ἄγριοι.
The outermost parts of the southern regions are inhabited by men who are called Cynamolgi by the Greeks, but in the language of the neighboring barbarians, Agrioi.
οὗτοι δὲ πώγωνας μὲν φέρουσι παμμεγέθεις, κυνῶν δὲ τρέφουσιν ἀγρίων ἀγέλας πρὸς τὴν τοῦ βίου χρείαν εὐθέτους.
These men wear very large beards, and they breed packs of wild dogs well-suited for the needs of life.
§3.31.2ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτων τροπῶν τῶν θερινῶν μέχρι μέσου χειμῶνος Ἰνδικοὶ βόες ἀμύθητοι τὸ πλῆθος ἐπιφοιτῶσιν αὐτῶν τὴν χώραν, ἀδήλου τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης· οὐδεὶς γὰρ οἶδεν εἴθʼ ὑπὸ ζῴων πολλῶν καὶ σαρκοφάγων πολεμούμενοι φεύγουσιν, εἴτε διʼ ἔνδειαν τροφῆς ἐκλείποντες τοὺς οἰκείους τόπους εἴτε διʼ ἄλλην περιπέτειαν, ἣν ἡ μὲν πάντα τὰ παράδοξα γεννῶσα φύσις κατασκευάζει, τὸ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἀδυνατεῖ τῷ νῷ συνιδεῖν.
For from the first summer solstice until the middle of winter, Indian cattle, countless in number, visit their country, the cause being unclear; for no one knows whether they are fleeing because they are attacked by many carnivorous beasts, or whether they are leaving their own places because of a lack of food, or because of some other turn of fortune, which nature, who generates all marvelous things, brings about, but the human race is unable to understand with the mind.
§3.31.3οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοῦ πλήθους οὐ κατισχύοντες διʼ ἑαυτῶν περιγενέσθαι τοὺς κύνας ἐπαφιᾶσι, καὶ μετὰ τούτων ποιούμενοι τὴν θήραν πολλὰ πάνυ τῶν ζῴων χειροῦνται· τῶν δὲ ληφθέντων ἃ μὲν πρόσφατα κατεσθίουσιν, ἃ δὲ εἰς ἅλας συντιθέντες ἀποθησαυρίζουσι.
Nevertheless, since they are unable to overcome the multitude by themselves, they set the dogs upon them, and making their hunt with these, they master very many of the beasts; and of those that are captured, some they eat fresh, and others they store up after preserving them in salt.
πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων διὰ τῆς τῶν κυνῶν ἀλκῆς θηρεύοντες ἀπὸ κρεοφαγίας τὸν βίον ἔχουσι.
And hunting many of the other animals as well through the strength of the dogs, they have their livelihood from eating meat.
§3.31.4τὰ μὲν οὖν τελευταῖα γένη τῶν πρὸς μεσημβρίαν οἰκούντων ἐν μορφαῖς ἀνθρώπων τὸν βίον ἔχει θηριώδη· λείπεται δὲ διελθεῖν ὑπὲρ δύο ἐθνῶν, τῶν τε Αἰθιόπων καὶ τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν.
Thus the last nations of those who live towards the south have, in the forms of men, a life that is beast-like; and it remains to go through the history of two nations, namely the Ethiopians and the Troglodytes.
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν Αἰθιόπων ἀναγεγράφαμεν ἐν ἄλλοις, περὶ δὲ τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν νῦν ἐροῦμεν.
But about the Ethiopians we have written in other books, and about the Troglodytes we shall speak now.

Notes

  1. 3.31.1τὰς δʼ ἐσχατιὰς ... κατοικοῦσιν ἄνδρες — The transitive verb κατοικέω takes a direct accusative of place (τὰς ἐσχατιάς) as its object, with the subject ἄνδρες placed late in the clause, forming a hyperbaton.
  2. 3.31.2ἀδήλου τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης — A genitive absolute construction where the two-ending adjective ἀδήλου (genitive feminine singular) agrees with the noun τῆς αἰτίας and the present participle οὔσης, with the adjective placed first for emphasis.
  3. 3.31.3τοῦ πλήθους οὐ κατισχύοντες διʼ ἑαυτῶν περιγενέσθαι — The infinitive περιγενέσθαι (aorist infinitive of περιγίγνομαι, 'to overcome') governs the genitive case because of its comparative sense of superiority; thus, τοῦ πλήθους at the beginning is the object of this infinitive, which in turn complements the participle κατισχύοντες.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §3.31.1-3.31.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:3.31.1-3.31.4

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