§14.5.14ἄνδρες δʼ ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγόνασι τῶν μὲν στωικῶν Ἀντίπατρός τε καὶ Ἀρχέδημος καὶ Νέστωρ, ἔτι δʼ Ἀθηνόδωροι δύο, ὧν ὁ μὲν Κορδυλίων καλούμενος συνεβίωσε Μάρκῳ Κάτωνι καὶ ἐτελεύτα παρʼ ἐκείνῳ, ὁ δὲ τοῦ Σάνδωνος, ὃν καὶ Κανανίτην φασὶν ἀπὸ κώμης τινός, Καίσαρος καθηγήσατο καὶ τιμῆς ἔτυχε μεγάλης, κατιών τε εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἤδη γηραιὸς κατέλυσε τὴν καθεστῶσαν πολιτείαν κακῶς φερομένην ὑπό τε ἄλλων καὶ Βοήθου, κακοῦ μὲν ποιητοῦ κακοῦ δὲ πολίτου, δημοκοπίαις ἰσχύσαντος τὸ πλέον.
From Tarsus there have arisen, among the Stoics, Antipater and Archedemus and Nestor, and also two Athenodoruses, of whom the one called Cordylion lived with Marcus Cato and died in his house; the other, the son of Sandon, whom they also call Cananites from some village, was the teacher of Caesar and obtained great honor. Returning to his homeland when he was already an old man, he dissolved the established constitution, which was being badly administered by others and especially by Boethus, a bad poet and a bad citizen, who had gained power chiefly through demagoguery.
ἐπῆρε δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ Ἀντώνιος κατʼ ἀρχὰς ἀποδεξάμενος τὸ γραφὲν εἰς τὴν ἐν Φιλίπποις νίκην ἔπος, καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἡ εὐχέρεια ἡ ἐπιπολάζουσα παρὰ τοῖς Ταρσεῦσιν ὥστʼ ἀπαύστως σχεδιάζειν παρὰ χρῆμα πρὸς τὴν δεδομένην ὑπόθεσιν· καὶ δὴ καὶ γυμνασιαρχίαν ὑποσχόμενος Ταρσεῦσι τοῦτον ἀντὶ γυμνασιάρχου κατέστησε, καὶ τὰ ἀναλώματα ἐπίστευσεν αὐτῷ.
Antony also had puffed him up at the beginning by accepting his epic poem written on the victory at Philippi, and still more so did the facility prevalent among the Tarsians for improvising endlessly on any given subject on the spot; indeed, having promised the Tarsians a gymnasiarchy, Antony appointed this man gymnasiarch and entrusted the expenses to him.
ἐφωράθη δὲ νοσφισάμενος τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τοὔλαιον· ἐλεγχόμενος δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν κατηγόρων ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀντωνίου παρῃτεῖτο τὴν ὀργήν, σὺν ἄλλοις καὶ ταῦτα λέγων ὅτι
ὥσπερ Ὅμηρος ἐξύμνησεν Ἀχιλλέα καὶ Ἀγαμέμνονα καὶ Ὀδυσσέα, οὕτως ἐγὼ σέ· οὐ δίκαιος οὖν εἰμι εἰς τοιαύτας ἄγεσθαι διαβολὰς ἐπὶ σοῦ. παραλαβὼν οὖν ὁ κατήγορος τὸν λόγον
ἀλλʼ Ὅμηρος μέν
ἔφη
ἔλαιον Ἀγαμέμνονος οὐκ ἔκλεψεν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ Ἀχιλλέως, σὺ δέ· ὥστε δώσεις δίκην. διακρουσάμενος δʼ οὖν θεραπείαις τισὶ τὴν ὀργὴν οὐδὲν ἧττον διετέλεσεν ἄγων καὶ φέρων τὴν πόλιν μέχρι τῆς καταστροφῆς τοῦ Ἀντωνίου.
But he was detected embezzling other things and especially the oil; and when convicted by his accusers before Antony, he tried to deprecate his anger, saying among other things: "Just as Homer praised Achilles and Agamemnon and Odysseus, so did I praise you; it is therefore not just that I should be brought under such slanders before you." Whereupon the accuser, taking up the word, said: "But Homer did not steal the oil of Agamemnon, nor that of Achilles, whereas you did; therefore you shall pay the penalty." However, having warded off the anger by some flatteries, he nevertheless continued plundering the city until the downfall of Antony.
τοιαύτην δὲ τὴν πόλιν καταλαβὼν ὁ Ἀθηνόδωρος τέως μὲν ἐπεχείρει λόγῳ μετάγειν κἀκεῖνον καὶ τοὺς συστασιώτας· ὡς δʼ οὐκ ἀπείχοντο ὕβρεως οὐδεμιᾶς, ἐχρήσατο τῇ δοθείσῃ ὑπὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ ἐξέβαλεν αὐτοὺς καταγνοὺς φυγήν.
Having found the city in such a condition, Athenodorus for a time attempted to reform both him and his partisans by argument; but when they did not abstain from any insolence, he used the authority given to him by Caesar and banished them, condemning them to exile.
οἱ δὲ πρῶτον μὲν κατετοιχογράφησαν αὐτοῦ τοιαῦτα
"
ἔργα νέων, βουλαὶ δὲ μέσων, πορδαὶ δὲ γερόντων. "
ἐπεὶ δʼ ἐκεῖνος ἐν παιδιᾶς μέρει δεξάμενος ἐκέλευσε παρεπιγράψαι
βρονταὶ δὲ γερόντων,
καταφρονήσας τις τοῦ ἐπιεικοῦς εὔλυτον τὸ κοιλίδιον ἔχων προσέρρανε πολὺ τῇ θύρᾳ καὶ τῷ τοίχῳ νύκτωρ παριὼν τὴν οἰκίαν·
And they at first wrote on his walls such lampoons as: "The deeds of young men, the counsels of the middle-aged, the farts of old men." But when he, taking it as a joke, ordered them to write beside it: "And the thunders of old men," someone, despising his leniency and having his bowels loose, bespattered the door and the wall of his house abundantly as he passed by at night.
ὁ δὲ τῆς στάσεως κατηγορῶν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ
τὴν νόσον τῆς πόλεως
ἔφη
καὶ τὴν καχεξίαν πολλαχόθεν σκοπεῖν ἔξεστι, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐκ τῶν διαχωρημάτων. οὗτοι μὲν στωικοὶ ἄνδρες· ἀκαδημαϊκὸς δὲ Νέστωρ ὁ καθʼ ἡμᾶς, ὁ Μαρκέλλου καθηγησάμενος τοῦ Ὀκταουίας παιδός, τῆς Καίσαρος ἀδελφῆς.
Athenodorus, accusing this faction in the assembly, said: "The disease of the city and its bad habit of body can be seen from many signs, and indeed from its excrements." These, then, were the Stoic men; and Nestor of the Academy was a contemporary of ours, who was the teacher of Marcellus, the son of Caesar's sister Octavia.
καὶ οὗτος δὲ προέστη τῆς πολιτείας διαδεξάμενος τὸν Ἀθηνόδωρον, καὶ διετέλεσε τιμώμενος παρά τε τοῖς ἡγεμόσι καὶ ἐν τῇ πόλει.
He also presided over the state, succeeding Athenodorus, and continued to be honored both by the governors and in the city.
§14.5.15τῶν δʼ ἄλλων φιλοσόφων
"
οὕς κεν ἐὺ γνοίην καί τʼ οὔνομα μυθησαίμην,
"
Πλουτιάδης τε ἐγένετο καὶ Διογένης τῶν περιπολιζόντων καὶ σχολὰς διατιθεμένων εὐφυῶς· ὁ δὲ Διογένης καὶ ποιήματα ὥσπερ ἀπεφοίβαζε τεθείσης ὑποθέσεως, τραγικὰ ὡς ἐπὶ πολύ·
Of the other philosophers, "whom I well might know and tell their names," there were Plutiades and Diogenes, of those who travelled about and delivered lectures with natural talent; and Diogenes even used to pour forth poems, as if inspired, when a subject was proposed, for the most part tragedies.
γραμματικοὶ δὲ ὧν καὶ συγγράμματα ἔστιν, Ἀρτεμίδωρός τε καὶ Διόδωρος· ποιητὴς δὲ τραγῳδίας ἄριστος τῶν τῆς Πλειάδος καταριθμουμένων Διονυσίδης.
Of grammarians whose writings are extant, there are Artemidorus and Diodorus; and the best tragic poet among those numbered in the Pleiad was Dionysides.
μάλιστα δʼ ἡ Ῥώμη δύναται διδάσκειν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐκ τῆσδε τῆς πόλεως φιλολόγων· Ταρσέων γὰρ καὶ Ἀλεξανδρέων ἐστὶ μεστή.
Rome is best able to show the multitude of philologists from this city, for it is full of Tarsians and Alexandrians.
τοιαύτη μὲν ἡ Ταρσός.
Such is Tarsus.