§5μειράκιον μὲν οὖν ἔτι ὢν πάνυ ὡραῖον, ὡς ἐνῆν ἀπὸ τῆς καλάμης τεκμαίρεσθαι καὶ ἀκούειν τῶν διηγουμένων, ἀνέδην ἐπόρνευε καὶ συνῆν ἐπὶ μισθῷ τοῖς δεομένοις.
While he was still a very handsome youth—as could be inferred from the stubble and heard from those who told the story—he prostituted himself without restraint and associated for hire with those who wanted him.
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις λαμβάνει τις αὐτὸν ἐραστὴς γόης τῶν μαγείας καὶ ἐπῳδὰς θεσπεσίους ὑπισχνουμένων καὶ χάριτας ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐρωτικοῖς καὶ ἐπαγωγὰς τοῖς ἐχθροῖς καὶ θησαυρῶν ἀναπομπὰς καὶ κλήρων διαδοχάς.
Among others, a certain lover took him up, a sorcerer of the class of those who promise magic and divine incantations, charms for love affairs, bringing down curses on enemies, digging up treasures, and successions to estates.
οὗτος ἰδὼν εὐφυᾶ παῖδα καὶ πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πράξεων ἑτοιμότατον, οὐ μεῖον ἐρῶντα τῆς κακίας τῆς αὐτοῦ ἢ αὐτὸς τῆς ὥρας τῆς ἐκείνου, ἐξεπαίδευσέ τε αὐτὸν καὶ διετέλει ὑπουργῷ καὶ ὑπηρέτῃ καὶ διακόνῳ χρώμενος.
This man, seeing a boy of natural talent and most ready for the service of his own deeds, loving his own wickedness no less than he himself loved the boy's beauty, educated him and continued to employ him as an assistant, servant, and minister.
ὁ δʼ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος δημοσίᾳ μὲν ἰατρὸς δῆθεν ἦν, ἠπίστατο δὲ κατὰ τὴν Θῶνος τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου γυναῖκα
"φάρμακα πολλὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ μεμιγμένα, πολλὰ δὲ λυγρά· "
ὧν ἁπάντων κληρονόμος καὶ διάδοχος οὗτος ἐγένετο.
That same man was publicly a doctor in pretense, but knew, like the wife of Thon the Egyptian, "many drugs, some good when mixed, and many harmful;" of all of which this man became the heir and successor.
ἦν δὲ ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἐραστὴς τὸ γένος Τυανεύς, τῶν Ἀπολλωνίῳ τῷ πάνυ συγγενομένων καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τραγῳδίαν εἰδότων.
That teacher and lover was by birth a Tyanean, one of those who had been associates of the famous Apollonius and knew all his play-acting.
ὁρᾷς ἐξ οἵας σοι διατριβῆς ἄνθρωπον λέγω.
You see from what school I am describing a man to you.
§6ἤδη δὲ πώγωνος ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος πιμπλάμενος καὶ τοῦ Τυανέως ἐκείνου ἀποθανόντος ἐν ἀπορίᾳ καθεστώς, ἀπηνθηκυίας ἅμα τῆς ὥρας, ἀφʼ ἧς τρέφεσθαι ἐδύνατο, οὐκέτι μικρὸν οὐδὲν ἐπενόει, ἀλλὰ κοινωνήσας Βυζαντίῳ τινὶ χορογράφῳ τῶν καθιέντων εἰς τοὺς ἀγῶνας, πολὺ καταρατοτέρῳ τὴν φύσιν — Κοκκωνᾶς δέ, οἶμαι, ἐπεκαλεῖτο — περιῄεσαν γοητεύοντες καὶ μαγγανεύοντες καὶ τοὺς παχεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων — οὕτως γὰρ αὐτοὶ τῇ πατρίῳ τῶν μάγων φωνῇ τοὺς πολλοὺς ὀνομάζουσιν — ἀποκείροντες.
But when Alexander was already getting a full beard, and on the death of that Tyanean found himself in straits, his beauty—by which he had been able to support himself—having faded, he no longer devised anything on a small scale, but having partnered with a certain Byzantine chorus-trainer of those who enter contestants into the games, a man far more cursed by nature—Coconnas, I believe, he was called—they went about playing the sorcerer and trickster, shearing the "fat fellows" (for so they, in the native tongue of magicians, call the vulgar crowd).
ἐν δὴ τούτοις καὶ Μακέτιν γυναῖκα πλουσίαν, ἔξωρον μέν, ἐράσμιον δὲ ἔτι εἶναι βουλομένην, ἐξευρόντες ἐπεσιτίσαντό τε τὰ ἀρκοῦντα παρʼ αὐτῆς καὶ ἠκολούθησαν ἐκ τῆς Βιθυνίας εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν.
In the course of this, having found also a rich Macedonian woman, past her prime but still wishing to be desirable, they supplied themselves with sufficient provisions from her and followed her from Bithynia to Macedonia.
Πελλαία δὲ ἦν ἐκείνη, πάλαι μὲν εὐδαίμονος χωρίου κατὰ τοὺς τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλέας, νῦν δὲ ταπεινοῦ καὶ ὀλιγίστους οἰκήτορας ἔχοντος.
She was from Pella, which was in old times a prosperous place under the kings of the Macedonians, but now is humble and has very few inhabitants.
§7ἐνταῦθα ἰδόντες δράκοντας παμμεγέθεις, ἡμέρους πάνυ καὶ τιθασούς, ὡς καὶ ὑπὸ γυναικῶν τρέφεσθαι καὶ παιδίοις συγκαθεύδειν καὶ πατουμένους ἀνέχεσθαι καὶ θλιβομένους μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν καὶ γάλα πίνειν ἀπὸ θηλῆς κατὰ ταὐτὰ τοῖς βρέφεσι — πολλοὶ δὲ γίγνονται παρʼ αὐτοῖς τοιοῦτοι, ὅθεν καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος μῦθον διαφοιτῆσαι πάλαι εἰκός, ὁπότε ἐκύει τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον, δράκοντός τινος, οἶμαι, τοιούτου συγκαθεύδοντος αὐτῇ — ὠνοῦνται τῶν ἑρπετῶν ἓν κάλλιστον ὀλίγων ὀβολῶν.
There, having seen snakes of enormous size, very gentle and tame, so that they were fed by women, slept with children, tolerated being trodden on, did not get angry when squeezed, and drank milk from the teat just like infants—for many such snakes are bred among them, whence also it is likely that the myth about Olympias spread of old, when she was pregnant with Alexander, some such snake, I suppose, sleeping with her—they bought one of the finest of these reptiles for a few obols.
§8καὶ κατὰ τὸν Θουκυδίδην ἄρχεται ὁ πόλεμος ἐνθένδε ἤδη.
And, in the words of Thucydides, the war begins from this very point.
ὡς γὰρ ἂν δύο κάκιστοι καὶ μεγαλότολμοι καὶ πρὸς τὸ κακουργεῖν προχειρότατοι εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ συνελθόντες, ῥᾳδίως κατενόησαν τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον ὑπὸ δυοῖν τούτοιν μεγίστοιν τυραννούμενον, ἐλπίδος καὶ φόβου, καὶ ὅτι ὁ τούτων ἑκατέρῳ εἰς δέον χρήσασθαι δυνάμενος τάχιστα πλουτήσειεν ἄν·
For when two most wicked men, daring in great enterprises and most ready for wrongdoing, had come together, they easily perceived that human life is tyrannized by these two greatest forces, hope and fear, and that anyone who could make proper use of either of these would very quickly become rich.
ἀμφοτέροις γάρ, τῷ τε δεδιότι καὶ τῷ ἐλπίζοντι, ἑώρων τὴν πρόγνωσιν ἀναγκαιοτάτην τε καὶ ποθεινοτάτην οὖσαν, καὶ Δελφοὺς οὕτω πάλαι πλουτῆσαι καὶ ἀοιδίμους γενέσθαι καὶ Δῆλον καὶ Κλάρον καὶ Βραγχίδας, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀεὶ διʼ οὓς προεῖπον τυράννους, τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τὸν φόβον, φοιτώντων εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ προμαθεῖν τὰ μέλλοντα δεομένων, καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ ἑκατόμβας θυόντων καὶ χρυσᾶς πλίνθους ἀνατιθέντων.
For they saw that for both, the one who fears and the one who hopes, foreknowledge was most necessary and most desired, and that Delphi had in this way grown rich and famous in old times, as had Delos, Claros, and Branchidae, since men—because of the tyrants I mentioned before, hope and fear—were always flocking to the sanctuaries and desiring to know the future beforehand, and on this account sacrificing hecatombs and dedicating golden ingots.
ταῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους στρέφοντες καὶ κυκῶντες μαντεῖον συστήσασθαι καὶ χρηστήριον ἐβουλεύοντο·
Turning these things over and mixing them together in discussions with one another, they planned to establish an oracle and a seat of prophecy.
εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο προχωρήσειεν αὐτοῖς, αὐτίκα πλούσιοί τε καὶ εὐδαίμονες ἔσεσθαι ἤλπιζον — ὅπερ ἐπὶ μεῖζον ἢ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην προσδοκίαν ἀπήντησεν αὐτοῖς καὶ κρεῖττον διεφάνη τῆς ἐλπίδος.
For if this should succeed for them, they hoped they would immediately become rich and prosperous—which indeed turned out for them on a larger scale than their first expectation, and proved better than their hope.