§4.18.1μετὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀνταίου θάνατον παρελθὼν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀνεῖλε Βούσιριν τὸν βασιλέα ξενοκτονοῦντα τοὺς παρεπιδημοῦντας.
After the death of Antaeus, Heracles passed over into Egypt and slew Busiris the king, who was murdering the strangers who visited his land.
διεξιὼν δὲ τὴν ἄνυδρον τῆς Λιβύης, καὶ περιτυχὼν χώρᾳ καταρρύτῳ καὶ καρποφόρῳ, πόλιν ἔκτισε θαυμαστὴν τῷ μεγέθει, τὴν ὀνομαζομένην Ἑκατόμπυλον, ᾗ ἔθετο τὴν προσηγορίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν κατʼ αὐτὴν πυλῶν.
And traversing the waterless part of Libya, and happening upon a well-watered and fruitful region, he founded a city marvelous for its size, which was called Hecatompylos, to which he gave this name from the multitude of its gates.
διαμεμένηκε δὲ ἡ ταύτης τῆς πόλεως εὐδαιμονία μέχρι τῶν νεωτέρων καιρῶν, ἐν οἷς Καρχηδόνιοι δυνάμεσιν ἀξιολόγοις καὶ στρατηγοῖς ἀγαθοῖς στρατεύσαντες §4.18.2ἐπʼ αὐτὴν κύριοι κατέστησαν.
And the prosperity of this city continued until more recent times, in which the Carthaginians, having campaigned with notable forces and good generals, became masters of it.
ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς πολλὴν τῆς Λιβύης ἐπελθὼν παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸν πρὸς Γαδείροις ὠκεανόν, καὶ στήλας ἔθετο καθʼ ἑκατέραν τῶν ἠπείρων.
But Heracles, having traversed much of Libya, arrived at the ocean near Gadeira, and set up pillars on each of the two continents.
συμπαραπλέοντος δὲ τοῦ στόλου διαβὰς εἰς τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, καὶ καταλαβὼν τοὺς Χρυσάορος υἱοὺς τρισὶ δυνάμεσι μεγάλαις κατεστρατοπεδευκότας ἐκ διαστήματος, πάντας τοὺς ἡγεμόνας ἐκ προκλήσεως ἀνελὼν καὶ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν χειρωσάμενος ἀπήλασε τὰς διωνομασμένας τῶν βοῶν ἀγέλας.
And while his fleet sailed along with him, having crossed over into Iberia, and having found the sons of Chrysaor encamped with three great forces at a distance from one another, he slew all their commanders in single combat, and having subdued Iberia, he drove away the celebrated herds of cattle.
§4.18.3διεξιὼν δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἰβήρων χώραν, καὶ τιμηθεὶς ὑπό τινος τῶν ἐγχωρίων βασιλέως, ἀνδρὸς εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ διαφέροντος, κατέλιπε μέρος τῶν βοῶν ἐν δωρεαῖς τῷ βασιλεῖ.
And traversing the land of the Iberians, and being honored by one of the native kings, a man outstanding in piety and justice, he left a portion of the cattle as a gift to the king.
ὁ δὲ λαβὼν ἁπάσας καθιέρωσεν Ἡρακλεῖ, καὶ κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκ τούτων ἔθυεν αὐτῷ τὸν καλλιστεύοντα τῶν ταύρων· τὰς δὲ βοῦς τηρουμένας συνέβη ἱερὰς διαμεῖναι κατὰ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν μέχρι τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς καιρῶν.
And he, having received them all, dedicated them to Heracles, and every year sacrificed to him from these the most beautiful of the bulls; and it happened that these cattle, being kept, remained sacred in Iberia until our own times.
§4.18.4ἡμεῖς δʼ ἐπεὶ περὶ τῶν Ἡρακλέους στηλῶν ἐμνήσθημεν, οἰκεῖον εἶναι νομίζομεν περὶ αὐτῶν διελθεῖν.
But since we have made mention of the pillars of Heracles, we deem it appropriate to discuss them.
Ἡρακλῆς γὰρ παραβαλὼν εἰς τὰς ἄκρας τῶν ἠπείρων τὰς παρὰ τὸν ὠκεανὸν κειμένας τῆς τε Λιβύης καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἔγνω τῆς στρατείας θέσθαι στήλας ταύτας.
For Heracles, having put in at the extremities of the continents lying by the ocean, both of Libya and of Europe, decided to set these up as pillars of his expedition.
βουλόμενος δʼ ἀείμνηστον ἔργον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ συντελέσαι, §4.18.5φασὶ τὰς ἄκρας ἀμφοτέρας ἐπὶ πολὺ προχῶσαι· διὸ καὶ πρότερον διεστηκυίας ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων πολὺ διάστημα, συναγαγεῖν τὸν πόρον εἰς στενόν, ὅπως ἁλιτενοῦς καὶ στενοῦ γενομένου κωλύηται τὰ μεγάλα κήτη διεκπίπτειν ἐκ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἐντὸς θάλατταν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἔργων μένῃ ἀείμνηστος ἡ δόξα τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος· ὡς δέ τινές φασι, τοὐναντίον τῶν ἠπείρων ἀμφοτέρων συνεζευγμένων διασκάψαι ταύτας, καὶ τὸν πόρον ἀνοίξαντα ποιῆσαι τὸν ὠκεανὸν μίσγεσθαι τῇ καθʼ ἡμᾶς θαλάττῃ.
And wishing to accomplish in connection with it an work ever to be remembered, they say that he extended both of the extremities far out; wherefore, though they were formerly separated from one another by a great distance, he narrowed the passage into a strait, so that, the passage having become shallow and narrow, the great sea-monsters might be prevented from passing out of the ocean into the inner sea, and at the same time that, through the magnitude of the works, the glory of the one who constructed it might remain ever-remembered; but as some say, on the contrary, the two continents having been joined together, he cut through them, and having opened the passage, made the ocean mingle with our sea.
ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐξέσται σκοπεῖν ὡς ἂν ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν πείθῃ.
But concerning these matters, it shall be permitted to investigate as each man may persuade himself.
§4.18.6τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ τούτοις ἔπραξε πρότερον κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα.
And he did something very similar to this previously in Greece.
περὶ μὲν γὰρ τὰ καλούμενα Τέμπη τῆς πεδιάδος χώρας ἐπὶ πολὺν τόπον λιμναζούσης διέσκαψε τὸν συνεχῆ τόπον, καὶ κατὰ τῆς διώρυχος δεξάμενος ἅπαν τὸ κατὰ τὴν λίμνην ὕδωρ ἐποίησε τὰ πεδία φανῆναι τὰ κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν παρὰ τὸν Πηνειὸν ποταμόν· §4.18.7ἐν δὲ τῇ Βοιωτίᾳ τοὐναντίον ἐμφράξας τὸ περὶ τὸν Μινύειον Ὀρχομενὸν ῥεῖθρον ἐποίησε λιμνάζειν· τὴν χώραν καὶ φθαρῆναι τὰ κατʼ αὐτὴν ἅπαντα.
For in the region of the so-called Tempe, when the plain country was flooded over a great space, he cut through the continuous land, and having received through the trench all the water of the lake, he made the plains in Thessaly along the river Peneus appear; but in Boeotia, on the contrary, having dammed the stream around the Minyan Orchomenus, he made the land a lake and destroyed everything in it.
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν Θετταλίαν ἔπραξεν εὐεργετῶν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὴν Βοιωτίαν τιμωρίαν λαμβάνων παρὰ τῶν τὴν Μινυάδα κατοικούντων διὰ τὴν τῶν Θηβαίων καταδούλωσιν.
But the deeds in Thessaly he performed to benefit the Greeks, whereas those in Boeotia he did to take vengeance on the inhabitants of Minyas because of their enslavement of the Thebans.