Who does not know, Volusius of Bithynia, what kind of monsters demented Egypt worships?
§15.3pars haec, illa pavet saturam serpentibus ibin; §15.4effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci, §15.5dimidio magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae §15.6atque vetus Thebe centum iacet obruta portis, §15.7illic aeluros, hic piscem fluminis, illic §15.8oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Dianam,
This part adores the crocodile, that part fears the ibis sated with serpents; the golden image of a sacred long-tailed monkey shines where the magic chords resound from the halved Memnon and ancient Thebes lies ruined with its hundred gates; there they venerate cats, here a river fish, there entire towns worship a dog, but no one Diana.
§15.9porrum et caepe nefas violare et frangere morsu; §15.10o sanctas gentes quibus haec nascuntur in hortis
It is a sin to violate leek and onion, and to break them with a bite; O holy nations, for whom these divinities grow in gardens!
§15.11numina! lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis §15.12mensa, nefas illic fetum iugulare capellae: §15.13carnibus humanis vesci licet, attonito cum
Every table abstains from woolly animals, there it is a sin to slit the throat of a kid of a she-goat: it is permitted to feed on human flesh.
§15.14tale super cenam facinus narraret Vlixes §15.15Alcinoo, bilem aut risum fortasse quibusdam §15.16moverat ut mendax aretalogus.
When astonished Ulysses related such a crime over dinner to Alcinous, he had perhaps moved anger or laughter in some as a lying storyteller.
‘in mare nemo §15.17hunc abicit saeva dignum veraque Charybdi, §15.18fingentem inmanes Laestrygonas atque Cyclopas?
'Does no one cast into the sea this man, worthy of a savage and real Charybdis, who invents monstrous Laestrygonians and Cyclopes?
§15.19nam citius Scyllam vel concurrentia saxa §15.20Cyaneis plenos et tempestatibus utres §15.21crediderim aut tenui percussum verbere Circes §15.22et cum remigibus grunnisse Elpenora porcis.
For I would more quickly believe in Scylla, or the clashing rocks of the Cyanean islands, and skins full of tempests, or Elpenor struck by the thin wand of Circe, grunting with his fellow rowers as pigs.
§15.23tam vacui capitis populum Phaeaca putavit?’ §15.24sic aliquis merito nondum ebrius et minimum qui §15.25de Corcyraea temetum duxerat urna. §15.26solus enim haec Ithacus nullo sub teste canebat;
Did he think the Phaeacian people were of so empty a head?' Thus someone might deservedly say, not yet drunk, and who had drawn the least wine from the Corcyraean urn; for the Ithacan was singing these things alone with no witness present.
§15.27Nos miranda quidem, set nuper consule Iunco §15.28gesta super calidae referemus moenia Copti, §15.29nos volgi scelus et cunctis graviora cothurnis; §15.30nam scelus, a Pyrra quamquam omnia syrmata volvas,
We, indeed, shall relate wonderful things, but lately performed when Juncus was consul, beyond the walls of warm Coptos; we shall relate the crime of the populace, and graver than any buskins of tragedy; for though you turn over all the tragic robes from Pyrrha's time, no entire populace commits a crime among the tragic poets.
§15.31nullus aput tragicos populus facit, accipe, nostro §15.32dira quod exemplum feritas produxerit aevo.
Hear, what example of dreadful savagery our age has produced.
§15.33Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas, §15.34inmortale odium et numquam sanabile vulnus, §15.35ardet adhuc Ombos et Tentyra.
An ancient and long-standing feud between neighbors, an immortal hatred and a wound never to be healed, still burns between Ombos and Tentyra.
summus utrimque §15.36inde furor volgo, quod numina vicinorum §15.37odit uterque locus, cum solos credat habendos
On both sides, there is the highest fury among the populace, because each place hates the deities of its neighbors, since it believes those alone to be held as gods which it worships itself.
§15.38esse deos quos ipse colit, sed tempore festo §15.39alterius populi rapienda occasio cunctis §15.40visa inimicorum primoribus ac ducibus, ne §15.41laetum hilaremque diem, ne magnae gaudia cenae §15.42sentirent positis ad templa et compita mensis §15.43pervigilique toro, quem nocte ac luce iacentem §15.44septimus interdum sol invenit, horrida sane
But at a festival time of the other people, an opportunity to be seized seemed to all the chiefs and leaders of the enemies, lest they should feel a joyful and cheerful day, and the pleasures of a great feast, with tables placed at temples and crossroads and the couch of vigil, which, lying day and night, the seventh sun sometimes found.
Rude indeed is Egypt, but in luxury, as far as I myself have noted, the barbarian crowd does not yield to the infamous Canopus.
Add that victory is also easy over those who are wet, stuttering, and staggering with unmixed wine.
inde virorum §15.49saltatus nigro tibicine, qualiacumque §15.50unguenta et flores multaeque in fronte coronae: §15.51hinc ieiunum odium, sed iurgia prima sonare §15.52incipiunt, animis ardentibus haec tuba rixae;
On that side, there were dances of men with a black piper, and whatever ointments and flowers, and many garlands on their foreheads; on this side, there was fasting hatred. But first the brawls begin to sound, their minds burning; this is the trumpet of the fight.
§15.53dein clamore pari concurritur, et vice teli §15.54saevit nuda manus, paucae sine vulnere malae; §15.55vix cuiquam aut nulli toto certamine nasus §15.56integer, aspiceres iam cuncta per agmina vultus §15.57dimidios, alias facies et hiantia ruptis §15.58ossa genis, plenos oculorum sanguine pugnos.
Then they run together with equal clamor, and in place of a weapon the bare hand rages; few cheeks are without a wound; scarcely anyone, or none in the whole contest, has a whole nose; you might already see through all the ranks faces halved, different countenances, and bones gaping from broken cheeks, and fists full of the blood of eyes.
Yet they believe themselves to be playing and practicing boyish battles, because they trample upon no corpses.
And indeed, what is the purpose of so many thousands of a brawling crowd, if all remain alive?
§15.63saxa inclinatis per humum quaesita lacertis §15.64incipiunt torquere, domestica seditioni §15.65tela: nec hunc lapidem, qualis et Turnus et Aiax, §15.66vel quo Tydides percussit pondere coxam §15.67Aeneae, sed quem valeant emittere dextrae §15.68illis dissimiles et nostro tempore natae.
Therefore, the attack is fiercer, and now they begin to hurl stones sought on the ground with bent arms, the customary weapons for civil strife; yet not such a stone as Turnus or Ajax hurled, or with what weight the son of Tydeus struck the hip of Aeneas, but such as right hands unlike theirs, born in our time, are strong enough to throw.
§15.69nam genus hoc vivo iam decrescebat Homero; §15.70terra malos homines nunc educat atque pusillos; §15.71ergo deus quicumque aspexit, ridet et odit.
For this race of men was already decreasing when Homer was alive; the earth now breeds bad and small men; therefore, whatever god has looked upon them, laughs and hates.
§15.72A deverticulo repetatur fabula, postquam
Let the story be repeated from the digression.
§15.73subsidiis aucti, pars altera promere ferrum §15.74audet et infestis pugnam instaurare sagittis, §15.75terga fugae celeri praestant instantibus Ombis §15.76qui vicina colunt umbrosae Tentyra palmae,
When, increased by reinforcements, one party dares to draw the sword and renew the fight with hostile arrows, those who inhabit Tentyra of the shady palm, near to them, turn their backs in swift flight as the Ombites press on.
Here, a certain man, headlong in his course from too much fear, slips and is captured.
ast illum in plurima sectum §15.79frusta et particulas, ut multis mortuus unus §15.80sufficeret, totum corrosis ossibus edit §15.81victrix turba, nec ardenti decoxit aeno §15.82aut veribus: longum usque adeo tardumque putavit §15.83expectare focos, contenta cadavere crudo.
But the victorious crowd, having cut him into very many pieces and particles, so that one dead man might suffice for many, eats him whole, gnawing his bones; nor did they cook him in a burning cauldron or on spits; they thought it so very long and slow to wait for fires, being content with the raw corpse.
§15.84Hic gaudere libet quod non violaverit ignem, §15.85quem summa caeli raptum de parte Prometheus §15.86donavit terris; elemento gratulor, et te §15.87exultare reor.
Here we may rejoice that they did not violate the fire, which Prometheus, snatched from the highest part of heaven, gave to the earth; I congratulate the element, and I think you exult.
sed qui mordere cadaver
But he who bit the corpse...