§16.4.21πρῶτοι δʼ ὑπὲρ τῆς Συρίας Ναβαταῖοι καὶ Σαβαῖοι τὴν εὐδαίμονα Ἀραβίαν νέμονται, καὶ πολλάκις κατέτρεχον αὐτῆς πρὶν ἢ Ῥωμαίων γενέσθαι· νῦν δὲ κἀκεῖνοι Ῥωμαίοις εἰσὶν ὑπήκοοι καὶ Σύροι.
First, above Syria, the Nabataeans and the Sabaeans occupy Happy Arabia, and they often used to overrun it before it became Roman; but now both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans.
μητρόπολις δὲ τῶν Ναβαταίων ἐστὶν ἡ Πέτρα καλουμένη· κεῖται γὰρ ἐπὶ χωρίου τἆλλα ὁμαλοῦ καὶ ἐπιπέδου, κύκλῳ δὲ πέτρᾳ φρουρουμένου τὰ μὲν ἐκτὸς ἀποκρήμνου καὶ ἀποτόμου τὰ δʼ ἐντὸς πηγὰς ἀφθόνους ἔχοντος εἴς τε ὑδρείαν καὶ κηπείαν.
The metropolis of the Nabataeans is the city called Petra; for it lies on a site which is otherwise smooth and level, but fortified all around by a rock, which on the outside is precipitous and abrupt, but on the inside has abundant springs for watering and gardening.
ἔξω δὲ τοῦ περιβόλου χώρα ἔρημος ἡ πλείστη καὶ μάλιστα ἡ πρὸς Ἰουδαίᾳ· ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ ἐγγυτάτω ἐστὶ τριῶν ἢ τεττάρων ὁδὸς ἡμερῶν εἰς Ἱερικοῦντα, εἰς δὲ τὸν φοινικῶνα πέντε.
Outside the enclosure, the country is mostly desert, especially the part towards Judaea; and here it is nearest, a journey of three or four days to Jericho, and five to the palm-grove.
βασιλεύεται μὲν οὖν ὑπό τινος ἀεὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ γένους, ἔχει δʼ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπίτροπον τῶν ἑταίρων τινὰ καλούμενον ἀδελφόν· σφόδρα δʼ εὐνομεῖται· γενόμενος γοῦν παρὰ τοῖς Πετραίοις Ἀθηνόδωρος, ἀνὴρ φιλόσοφος καὶ ἡμῖν ἑταῖρος, διηγεῖτο θαυμάζων· εὑρεῖν γὰρ ἐπιδημοῦντας ἔφη πολλοὺς μὲν Ῥωμαίων πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ξένων· τοὺς μὲν οὖν ξένους ὁρᾶν κρινομένους πολλάκις καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους, τῶν δʼ ἐπιχωρίων οὐδένας ἀλλήλοις ἐγκαλοῦντας, ἀλλὰ τὴν πᾶσαν εἰρήνην ἄγοντας πρὸς ἑαυτούς.
The state is ruled by some king always chosen from the royal family, but the king has a regent from among his companions who is called "brother." It is exceedingly well governed; at any rate, Athenodorus, a philosopher and a companion of ours, who had been among the Petraeans, used to relate with admiration that he found many Romans and many other strangers residing there; and he said that he saw the strangers frequently engaged in lawsuits both with one another and with the locals, but that none of the locals ever brought charges against one another, but lived in complete peace among themselves.
§16.4.22πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἄραβας στρατεία νεωστὶ γενηθεῖσα ἐφʼ ἡμῶν, ὧν ἡγεμὼν ἦν Αἴλιος Γάλλος, διδάσκει τῶν τῆς χώρας ἰδιωμάτων.
Much, also, of the peculiarities of the country is taught to us by the expedition of the Romans against the Arabs which recently took place in our time, of which Aelius Gallus was the leader.
τοῦτον δʼ ἔπεμψεν ὁ Σεβαστὸς Καῖσαρ διαπειρασόμενον τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τῶν τόπων τούτων τε καὶ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν, ὁρῶν τήν τε Τρωγλοδυτικὴν τὴν προσεχῆ τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ γειτονεύουσαν τούτοις, καὶ τὸν Ἀράβιον κόλπον στενὸν ὄντα τελέως τὸν διείργοντα ἀπὸ τῶν Τρωγλοδυτῶν τοὺς Ἄραβας· προσοικειοῦσθαι δὴ διενοήθη τούτους ἢ καταστρέφεσθαι·
Him Augustus Caesar sent to make trial of these tribes and places, as well as those of the Ethiopians, seeing that Troglodytica, which is adjacent to Egypt, borders on these, and that the Arabian Gulf, which separates the Arabs from the Troglodytes, is exceedingly narrow; and so he intended either to conciliate these people or to subdue them.
ἦν δέ τι καὶ τὸ πολυχρημάτους ἀκούειν ἐκ παντὸς χρόνου, πρὸς ἄργυρον καὶ χρυσὸν τὰ ἀρώματα διατιθεμένους καὶ τὴν πολυτελεστάτην λιθείαν, ἀναλίσκοντας τῶν λαμβανομένων τοῖς ἔξω μηδέν· ἢ γὰρ φίλοις ἤλπιζε πλουσίοις χρήσεσθαι ἢ ἐχθρῶν κρατήσειν πλουσίων·
There was also the fact that he had heard from all time that they were extremely wealthy, since they exchanged their aromatics and most costly stones for silver and gold, but spent none of what they received on outsiders; for he hoped either to use them as wealthy friends or to master them as wealthy enemies.
ἐπῇρε δʼ αὐτὸν καὶ ἡ παρὰ τῶν Ναβαταίων ἐλπὶς φίλων ὄντων καὶ συμπράξειν ἅπανθʼ ὑπισχνουμένων.
He was further encouraged by the hope of help from the Nabataeans, who were friendly and promised to cooperate in everything.
§16.4.23ἐπὶ τούτοις μὲν οὖν ἔστειλε τὴν στρατείαν ὁ Γάλλος.
For these reasons, then, Gallus dispatched the expedition.
ἐξηπάτησε δʼ αὐτὸν ὁ τῶν Ναβαταίων ἐπίτροπος Συλλαῖος, ὑποσχόμενος μὲν ἡγήσεσθαι τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ χορηγήσειν ἅπαντα καὶ συμπράξειν, ἅπαντα δʼ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς πράξας, καὶ οὔτε παράπλουν ἀσφαλῆ μηνύων οὔθʼ ὁδόν, ἀλλὰ ἀνοδίαις καὶ κυκλοπορίαις καὶ πάντων ἀπόροις χωρίοις ἢ ῥαχίαις ἀλιμένοις παραβάλλων ἢ χοιράδων ὑφάλων μεσταῖς ἢ τεναγώδεσι· πλεῖστον δὲ αἱ πλημμυρίδες ἐλύπουν ἐν τοιούτοις καὶ ταῦτα χωρίοις καὶ αἱ ἀμπώτεις.
But he was deceived by the Nabataean regent Syllaeus, who, though he had promised to guide the way, to supply everything, and to cooperate, did everything treacherously, pointing out neither a safe coastal voyage nor a safe road, but leading them through trackless places, circuitous paths, and utterly impassable regions, or along harborless rocky coasts, or places full of sunken reefs or shallow marshes; and in such places, and that too under such conditions, the flood tides and the ebbs caused them the greatest distress.
πρῶτον μὲν δὴ τοῦθʼ ἁμάρτημα συνέβη τὸ μακρὰ κατασκευάσασθαι πλοῖα, μηδενὸς ὄντος μηδʼ ἐσομένου κατὰ θάλατταν πολέμου. οὐδὲ γὰρ κατὰ γῆν σφόδρα πολεμισταί εἰσιν ἀλλὰ κάπηλοι μᾶλλον οἱ Ἄραβες καὶ ἐμπορικοί, μήτι γε κατὰ θάλατταν·
First of all, then, this mistake occurred, that he constructed long ships, although there was no war at sea, nor was there going to be; for the Arabs are not at all warlike even on land, but rather peddlers and merchants, to say nothing of their being so at sea.
ὁ δʼ οὐκ ἔλαττον ὀγδοήκοντα ἐναυπηγήσατο δίκροτα καὶ τριήρεις καὶ φασήλους κατὰ Κλεοπατρίδα τὴν πρὸς τῇ παλαιᾷ διώρυγι τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ Νείλου.
Yet Gallus built no fewer than eighty biremes, triremes, and light vessels at Cleopatris, near the old canal leading from the Nile.
γνοὺς δὲ διεψευσμένος ἐναυπηγήσατο σκευαγωγὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ τριάκοντα, οἷς ἔπλευσεν ἔχων περὶ μυρίους πεζοὺς τῶν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν συμμάχων, ὧν ἦσαν Ἰουδαῖοι μὲν πεντακόσιοι Ναβαταῖοι δὲ χίλιοι μετὰ τοῦ Συλλαίου.
When he realized he had been deceived, he built one hundred and thirty baggage-carrying vessels, on which he sailed with about ten thousand infantry of the Romans from Egypt and of their allies, among whom were five hundred Jews and one thousand Nabataeans with Syllaeus.
πολλὰ δὲ παθὼν καὶ ταλαιπωρηθεὶς πεντεκαιδεκαταῖος ἧκεν εἰς Λευκὴν κώμην τῆς Ναβαταίων γῆς, ἐμπόριον μέγα, πολλὰ τῶν πλοίων ἀποβαλὼν (ὧν ἔνια καὶ αὔτανδρα) ὑπὸ δυσπλοίας, πολεμίου δʼ οὐδενός·
Having suffered much and endured hardships, on the fifteenth day he arrived at Leuke Kome in the Nabataeans' land, a great emporium, after losing many of his ships (some of them with all hands) because of difficult navigation, but none because of any enemy.
τοῦτο δʼ ἀπειργάσατο ἡ τοῦ Συλλαίου κακία τοῦ πεζῇ φήσαντος ἀνόδευτα εἶναι στρατοπέδοις εἰς τὴν Λευκὴν κώμην, εἰς ἣν καὶ ἐξ ἧς οἱ καμηλέμποροι τοσούτῳ πλήθει ἀνδρῶν καὶ καμήλων ὁδεύουσιν ἀσφαλῶς καὶ εὐπόρως εἰς Πέτραν ἐκ Πέτρας, ὥστε μὴ διαφέρειν μηδὲν στρατοπέδου.
This was caused by the wickedness of Syllaeus, who said that the journey to Leuke Kome by land was impassable for armies, although the camel-traders travel to Petra from Petra in safety and with ease with such a multitude of men and camels that it differs in no way from an army.