---
title: "Alexander the False Prophet · Ἀλέξανδρος ἢ Ψευδόμαντις"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Austin Morris Harmon"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 1 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-alexander-the-false-prophet/1/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Austin Morris Harmon, Alexander the False Prophet · Ἀλέξανδρος ἢ Ψευδόμαντις, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-alexander-the-false-prophet/1/"
---

# Alexander the False Prophet · Ἀλέξανδρος ἢ Ψευδόμαντις

*Lucian, tr. Austin Morris Harmon*

The career of Alexander of Abonoteichus, who founded an oracle with a tame snake wearing a human mask, and Lucian’s war with him.

> Greek: ed. Austin Morris Harmon, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg038, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Austin Morris Harmon, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg038.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 1. Sections 1–27

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-alexander-the-false-prophet/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-alexander-the-false-prophet/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. No doubt, my dear Celsus, you think it a slight and trivial matter to bid me set down in a book and send you the history of Alexander, the impostor of Abonoteichus, including all his clever schemes, bold emprises, and sleights of hand; but in point of fact, if one should aim to examine each detail closely, it would be no less a task than to record the exploits of Philip’s son Alexander. The one was as great in ' villainy as the other in heroism. Nevertheless, if it should be your intention to overlook faults as you read, and to fill out for yourself the gaps in my tale, I will undertake the task for you and will essay to clean up that Augean stable, if not wholly, yet to the extent of my ability, fetching out some few basketsful, so that from them you may judge how great, how inexpressible, was the entire quantity of filth that three thousand head of cattle were able to create in many years.

> Greek: 1. σὺ μὲν ἴσως, ὦ φίλτατε Κέλσε, μικρόν τι καὶ φαῦλον οἴει τὸ πρόσταγμα, προστάττειν τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου σοι τοῦ Ἀβωνοτειχίτου γόητος βίον καὶ ἐπινοίας αὐτοῦ καὶ τολμήματα καὶ μαγγανείας εἰς βιβλίον ἐγγράψαντα πέμψαι· τὸ δέ, εἴ τις ἐθέλοι πρὸς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἕκαστον ἐπεξιέναι, οὐ μεῖόν ἐστιν ἢ τὰς Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Φιλίππου πράξεις ἀναγράψαι· τοσοῦτος εἰς κακίαν οὗτος, ὅσος εἰς ἀρετὴν ἐκεῖνος. ὅμως δὲ εἰ μετὰ συγγνώμης ἀναγνώσεσθαι μέλλοις καὶ τὰ ἐνδέοντα τοῖς ἱστορουμένοις προσλογιεῖσθαι„ ὑποστήσομαί σοι τὸν ἆθλον, καὶ τὴν Αὐγέου βουστασίαν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πᾶσαν, ἀλλʼ εἰς δύναμίν γε τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἀνακαθάρασθαι πειράσομαι, ὀλίγους ὅσους τῶν κοφίνων ἐκφορήσας, ὡς ἀπʼ ἐκείνων τεκμαίροιο πόση πᾶσα καὶ ὡς ἀμύθητος ἦν ἡ κόπρος ἣν τρισχίλιοι βόες ἐν πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ποιῆσαι ἐδύναντο.

[¶1] 2. I blush for both of us, I confess, both for you and for myself—for you because you want a consummate rascal perpetuated in memory and in writing, and for myself because I am devoting my energy to such an end, to the exploits of a man who does not deserve to have polite people read about him, but rather to have the motley crowd in a vast amphitheatre see him being torn to pieces by foxes or apes. Yet if anyone brings this reproach against us, we shall be able to refer to an apt precedent. Arrian, the disciple of Epictetus, a Roman of the highest distinction, and a life-long devotee of letters, laid himself open to the same charge, and so can plead our cause as well as his own; he thought fit, you know, to record the life of Tillorobus, the brigand. In our own case, however, we shall commemorate a far more savage brigand, since our hero plied his trade not in forests and mountains, but in cities, and instead of infesting just Mysia and Mount Ida and harrying a few of the more deserted districts of Asia, he filled the whole Roman Empire, I may say, with his brigandage.

> Greek: 2. αἰδοῦμαι μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν, ὑπέρ τε σοῦ καὶ ἐμαυτοῦ· σοῦ μέν, ἀξιοῦντος μνήμῃ καὶ γραφῇ παραδοθῆναι ἄνδρα τρισκατάρατον, ἐμαυτοῦ δέ, σπουδὴν ποιουμένου ἐπὶ τοιαύτῃ ἱστορίᾳ καὶ πράξεσιν ἀνθρώπου, ὃν οὐκ ἀναγιγνώσκεσθαι πρὸς τῶν πεπαιδευμένων ἦν ἄξιον, ἀλλʼ ἐν πανδήμῳ τινὶ μεγίστῳ θεάτρῳ ὁρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ πιθήκων ἢ ἀλωπέκων σπαραττόμενον. ἀλλʼ ἤν τις ἡμῖν ταύτην ἐπιφέρῃ τὴν αἰτίαν, ἕξομεν καὶ αὐτοὶ εἰς παράδειγμά τι τοιοῦτον ἀνενεγκεῖν. καὶ Ἀρριανὸς γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Ἐπικτήτου μαθητής, ἀνὴρ Ῥωμαίων ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ παιδείᾳ παρʼ ὅλον τὸν βίον συγγενόμενος, ὅμοιόν τι παθὼν ἀπολογήσαιτʼ ἂν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· Τιλλορόβου γοῦν τοῦ λῃστοῦ κἀκεῖνος βίον ἀναγράψαι ἠξίωσεν. ἡμεῖς δὲ πολὺ ὠμοτέρου λῃστοῦ μνήμην ποιησόμεθα, ὅσῳ μὴ ἐν ὕλαις καὶ ἐν ὄρεσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐν πόλεσιν οὗτος ἐλῄστευεν, οὐ Μυσίαν μόνην οὐδὲ τὴν Ἴδην κατατρέχων οὐδὲ ὀλίγα τῆς Ἀσίας μέρη τὰ ἐρημότερα λεηλατῶν, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν ὡς εἰπεῖν τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἐμπλήσας τῆς λῃστείας τῆς αὑτοῦ.

[¶2] 3. First I shall draw you a word-picture of the man himself, making as close a likeness as I can, although I am not particularly good at drawing. As regards his person—in order that I may exhibit this also to ou—he was tall and handsome in appearance, and really godlike; his skin was fair, his beard not very thick; his long hair was in part natural, in part false, but very similar, so that most people did not detect that it was not his own. His eyes shone with a great glow of fervour and enthusiasm; his voice was at once very sweet and very clear; and in a word, no fault could be found with him in any respect as far as all that went.

> Greek: 3. πρότερον δέ σοι αὐτὸν ὑπογράψω τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τὸ ὁμοιότατον εἰκάσας, ὡς ἂν δύνωμαι, καίτοι μὴ πάνυ γραφικός τις ὤν. τὸ γὰρ δὴ σῶμα, ἵνα σοι καὶ τοῦτο δείξω, μέγας τε ἦν καὶ καλὸς ἰδεῖν καὶ θεοπρεπὴς ὡς ἀληθῶς, λευκὸς τὴν χρόαν, τὸ γένειον οὐ πάνυ λάσιος, κόμην τὴν μὲν ἰδίαν, τὴν δὲ καὶ πρόσθετον ἐπικείμενος εὖ μάλα εἰκασμένην καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς ὅτι ἦν ἀλλοτρία λεληθυῖαν· ὀφθαλμοὶ πολὺ τὸ γοργὸν καὶ ἔνθεον διεμφαίνοντες, φώνημα ἥδιστόν τε ἅμα καὶ λαμπρότατον· καὶ ὅλως οὐδαμόθεν μεμπτὸς ἦν ταῦτά γε.

[¶3] 4. Such, then, was his outward appearance; but his soul and his mind—O Heracles Forfender! O Zeus, Averter of Mischief! O Twin Brethren, our Saviours! may it be the fortune of our enemies and ill-wishers to encounter and have to do with the like of him! In understanding, quick-wittedness, and penetration he was far beyond everyone else; and activity of mind, readiness to learn, retentiveness, natural aptitude for studies—all these qualities were his, in every case to the full. But he made the worst possible use of them, and with these noble instruments at his service soon became the most perfect rascal of all those who have been notorious far and wide for villainy, surpassing the Cercopes, surpassing Eurybatus, or Phrynondas, or Aristodemus, or Sostratus. _ He himself, writing to his son-in-law Rutilianus once upon a time and speaking of himself with the greatest reserve, claimed to be like Pythagoras; but— with all due respect to Pythagoras, a wise man of more than human intelligence—if he had been this man’s contemporary, he would have seemed a child, I am very sure, beside him! In the name of the Graces, do not imagine that I say this to insult Pythagoras, or in the endeavour to bring them into connection with one another by likening their doings. On the contrary, if all that is worst and most opprobrious in what is said of Pythagoras to discredit him (which I for my part cannot believe to be true) should nevertheless be brought together for comparison, the whole of it would be but an infinitesimal part of Alexander’s knavery. In sum, imagine, please, and mentally configure a highly diversified soul-blend, made up of lying, trickery, perjury, and malice; facile, audacious, venturesome, diligent in the execution of its schemes, plausible, convincing, masking as good, and wearing an appearance absolutely opposite to its purpose. Indeed, there is nobody who, after meeting him for the first time, did not come away with the idea that he was the most honest and upright man in the world—yes, and the most simple and unaffected. And on top of all this, he had the quality of magnificence, of forming no petty designs but always keeping his mind upon the most important objects.

> Greek: 4. τοιόσδε μὲν τὴν μορφήν· ἡ ψυχὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ γνώμη — ἀλεξίκακε Ἡράκλεις καὶ Ζεῦ ἀποτρόπαιε καὶ Διόσκουροι σωτῆρες, πολεμίοις καὶ ἐχθροῖς ἐντυχεῖν γένοιτο καὶ συγγενέσθαι τοιούτῳ τινί. συνέσει μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀγχινοίᾳ καὶ δριμύτητι πάμπολυ τῶν ἄλλων διέφερεν, καὶ τό τε περίεργον καὶ εὐμαθὲς καὶ μνημονικὸν καὶ πρὸς τὰ μαθήματα εὐφυές, πάντα ταῦτα εἰς ὑπερβολὴν ἑκασταχοῦ ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ. ἐχρῆτο δὲ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὸ χείριστον, καὶ ὄργανα ταῦτα γενναῖα ὑποβεβλημένα ἔχων αὐτίκα μάλα τῶν ἐπὶ κακίᾳ διαβοήτων ἀκρότατος ἀπετελέσθη, ὑπὲρ τοὺς Κέρκωπας, ὑπὲρ τὸν Εὐρύβατον ἢ Φρυνώνδαν ἢ Ἀριστόδημον ἢ Σώστρατον. αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ τῷ γαμβρῷ Ῥουτιλιανῷ ποτε γράφων καὶ τὰ μετριώτατα ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ λέγων Πυθαγόρᾳ ὅμοιος εἶναι ἠξίου. ἀλλʼ ἵλεως μὲν ὁ Πυθαγόρας εἴη, σοφὸς ἀνὴρ καὶ τὴν γνώμην θεσπέσιος, εἰ δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον ἐγεγένητο, παῖς ἂν εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶναι ἔδοξε. καὶ πρὸς Χαρίτων μή με νομίσῃς ἐφʼ ὕβρει ταῦτα τοῦ Πυθαγόρου λέγειν ἢ συνάπτειν πειρώμενον αὐτοὺς πρὸς ὁμοιότητα τῶν πράξεων· ἀλλʼ εἴ τις τὰ χείριστα καὶ βλασφημότατα τῶν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου λεγομένων, οἷς ἔγωγε οὐκ ἂν πεισθείην ὡς ἀληθέσιν οὖσιν, ὅμως συναγάγοι εἰς τὸ αὐτό, πολλοστὸν ἂν μέρος ἅπαντα ἐκεῖνα γένοιτο τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου δεινότητος. ὅλως γὰρ ἐπινόησόν μοι καὶ τῷ λογισμῷ διατύπωσον ποικιλωτάτην τινὰ ψυχῆς κρᾶσιν ἐκ ψεύδους καὶ δόλων καὶ ἐπιορκιῶν καὶ κακοτεχνιῶν συγκειμένην, ῥᾳδίαν, τολμηράν, παράβολον, φιλόπονον ἐξεργάσασθαι τὰ νοηθέντα, καὶ πιθανὴν καὶ ἀξιόπιστον καὶ ὑποκριτικὴν τοῦ βελτίονος καὶ τῷ ἐναντιωτάτῳ τῆς βουλήσεως ἐοικυῖαν. οὐδεὶς γοῦν τὸ πρῶτον ἐντυχὼν οὐκ ἀπῆλθε δόξαν λαβὼν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ὡς εἴη πάντων ἀνθρώπων χρηστότατος καὶ ἐπιεικέστατος καὶ προσέτι ἁπλοϊκώτατός τε καὶ ἀφελέστατος. ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ τούτοις τὸ μεγαλουργὸν προσῆν καὶ τὸ μηδὲν μικρὸν ἐπινοεῖν, ἀλλʼ ἀεὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις ἐπέχειν τὸν νοῦν.

[¶4] 5. While he was still a mere boy, and a very handsome one, as could be inferred from the sere and yellow leaf of him, and could also be learned by hearsay from those who recounted his story, he trafficked freely in his attractiveness and sold his company to those who sought it. Among others, he had an admirer who was a quack, one of those who advertise enchantments, miraculous incantations, charms for your love-affairs, “sendings” for your enemies, disclosures of buried treasure, and successions to estates. As this man saw that he was an apt lad, more than ready to assist him in his affairs, and that the boy was quite as much enamoured with his roguery as he with the boy’s beauty, he gave him a thorough education and constantly made use of him as helper, servant, and acolyte. He himself was professedly a public physician, but, as Homer says of the wife of Thon, the Egyptian, he knew
Many a drug that was good in a compound, and many a bad one,
all of which Alexander inherited and took over. This teacher and admirer of his was a man of Tyana by birth, one of those who had been followers of the notorious Apollonius, and who knew his whole bag of tricks. You see what sort of school the man that I am describing comes from!

> Greek: 5. μειράκιον μὲν οὖν ἔτι ὢν πάνυ ὡραῖον, ὡς ἐνῆν ἀπὸ τῆς καλάμης τεκμαίρεσθαι καὶ ἀκούειν τῶν διηγουμένων, ἀνέδην ἐπόρνευε καὶ συνῆν ἐπὶ μισθῷ τοῖς δεομένοις. 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. 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. 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. ἦν δὲ ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐκεῖνος καὶ ἐραστὴς τὸ γένος Τυανεύς, τῶν Ἀπολλωνίῳ τῷ πάνυ συγγενομένων καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τραγῳδίαν εἰδότων. ὁρᾷς ἐξ οἵας σοι διατριβῆς ἄνθρωπον λέγω.

[¶5] 6. Alexander was just getting his beard when the death of the Tyanean put him in a bad way, since it coincided with the passing of his beauty, by which he might have supported himself. So he abandoned petty projects for ever. He formed a partnership with a Byzantine writer of choral songs, one of those who enter the public competitions, far more abominable than himself by nature—Cocconas, I think, was his nickname,—and they went about the country practising quackery and sorcery, and “trimming the fatheads”—for so they style the public in the traditional patter of magicians. Well, among these they hit upon a rich Macedonian woman, past her prime but still eager to be charming, and not only lined their purses fairly well at her expense, but went with her from Bithynia to Macedon. She came from Pella, a place once flourishing in the time of the kings of Macedon but now insignificant, with very few inhabitants.

> Greek: 6. ἤδη 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. 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. Πελλαία δὲ ἦν ἐκείνη, πάλαι μὲν εὐδαίμονος χωρίου κατὰ τοὺς τῶν Μακεδόνων βασιλέας, νῦν δὲ ταπεινοῦ καὶ ὀλιγίστους οἰκήτορας ἔχοντος.

[¶6] 7. There they saw great serpents, quite tame and gentle, so that they were kept by women, slept with children, let themselves be stepped upon, were not angry when they were stroked, and took milk from the breast just like babies. There are many such in the country, and that, probably, is what gave currency in former days to the story about Olympias; no doubt a serpent of that sort slept with her when she was carrying Alexander. So they bought one of the reptiles, the finest, for a few coppers;

> Greek: 7. ἐνταῦθα 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.

[¶7] 8. and, in the words of Thucydides: ‘Here beginneth the war!” As you might have expected of two consummate rascals, greatly daring, fully prepared for mischief, who had put their heads together, they readily discerned that human life is swayed by two great tyrants, hope and fear, and that a man who could use both of these to advantage would speedily enrich himself. For they perceived that both to one who fears and to one who hopes, foreknowledge is very essential and very keenly coveted, and that long ago not only Delphi, but Delos and Clarus and Branchidae, had become rich and famous because, thanks to the tyrants just mentioned, hope and fear, men continually visited their sanctuaries and sought to learn the future in advance, and to that end sacrificed hecatombs and dedicated ingots of gold. By turning all this round and round in conference.with one another and keeping it astir, they concocted the project of founding a prophetic shrine and oracle, hoping that if they should succeed in it, they would at once be rich and prosperous—which, in fact, befell them in greater measure than they at first expected, and turned out better than they hoped.

> Greek: 8. καὶ κατὰ τὸν Θουκυδίδην ἄρχεται ὁ πόλεμος ἐνθένδε ἤδη. 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· 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. ταῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους στρέφοντες καὶ κυκῶντες μαντεῖον συστήσασθαι καὶ χρηστήριον ἐβουλεύοντο· 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.

[¶8] 9. Then they began planning, first about the place, and next, what should be the commencement and the character of the venture. Cocconas thought Chalcedon a suitable and convenient place, close to Thrace and Bithynia, and not far, too, from Asia and Galatia and all the peoples of the interior. Alexander, on the other hand, preferred his own home, saying—and it was true—that to commence such a venture they needed “fat-heads”’ and simpletons to be their victims, and such, he said, were the Paphlagonians who lived up above Abonoteichus, who were for the most part superstitious and rich; whenever a man but turned up with someone at his heels to play the flute or the tambourine or the cymbals, telling fortunes with a sieve, as the phrase goes, they were all agog over him on the instant and stared at him as if he were a god from heaven.

> Greek: 9. τοὐντεῦθεν τὴν σκέψιν ἐποιοῦντο, πρῶτον μὲν περὶ τοῦ χωρίου, δεύτερον δὲ ἥτις ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ὁ τρόπος ἂν γένοιτο τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κοκκωνᾶς τὴν Καλχηδόνα ἐδοκίμαζεν ἐπιτήδειον εἶναι καὶ εὔκαιρον χωρίον, τῇ τε Θρᾴκῃ καὶ τῇ Βιθυνίᾳ πρόσοικον, οὐχ ἑκὰς οὐδὲ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ Γαλατίας καὶ τῶν ὑπερκειμένων ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων· ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἔμπαλιν τὰ οἴκοι προὔκρινεν, λέγων ὅπερ ἀληθὲς ἦν, πρὸς τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ἀρχὴν καὶ ἐπιχείρησιν ἀνθρώπων δεῖν παχέων καὶ ἠλιθίων τῶν ὑποδεξομένων, οἵους τοὺς Παφλαγόνας εἶναι ἔφασκεν ὑπεροικοῦντας τὸ τοῦ Ἀβώνου τεῖχος, δεισιδαίμονας τοὺς πολλοὺς καὶ πλουσίους, καὶ μόνον εἰ φανείη τις αὐλητὴν ἢ τυμπανιστὴν ἢ κυμβάλοις κροτοῦντα ἐπαγόμενος, κοσκίνῳ τὸ τοῦ λόγου μαντευόμενος, αὐτίκα μάλα πάντας κεχηνότας πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ τῶν ἐπουρανίων προσβλέποντας.

[¶9] 10. There was no slight difference of opinion between them on that score, but in the end Alexander won, and going to Chalcedon, since after all that city seemed to them to have some usefulness, in the temple of Apollo, which is the most ancient in Chalcedon, they buried bronze tablets which said that very soon Asclepius, with his father Apollo, would move to Pontus and take up his residence at Abonoteichus. The opportune discovery of these tablets caused this story to spread quickly to all Bithynia and Pontus, and to Abonoteichus sooner than anywhere else. Indeed, the people of that city immediately voted to build a temple and began at once to dig for the foundations. Then Cocconas was left behind in Chalcedon, composing equivocal, ambiguous, obscure oracles, and died before long, bitten, I think, by a viper.

> Greek: 10. οὐκ ὀλίγης δὲ τῆς περὶ τοῦτο στάσεως αὐτοῖς γενομένης τέλος ἐνίκησεν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, καὶ ἀφικόμενοι εἰς τὴν Χαλκηδόνα — χρήσιμον γάρ τι ὅμως ἡ πόλις αὐτοῖς ἔχειν ἔδοξε — ἐν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερῷ, ὅπερ ἀρχαιότατόν ἐστι τοῖς Χαλκηδονίοις, κατορύττουσι δέλτους χαλκᾶς, λεγούσας ὡς αὐτίκα μάλα ὁ Ἀσκληπιὸς σὺν τῷ πατρὶ Ἀπόλλωνι μέτεισιν εἰς τὸν Πόντον καὶ καθέξει τὸ τοῦ Ἀβώνου τεῖχος. αὗται αἱ δέλτοι ἐξεπίτηδες εὑρεθεῖσαι διαφοιτῆσαι ῥᾳδίως τὸν λόγον τοῦτον εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν Βιθυνίαν καὶ τὸν Πόντον ἐποίησαν, καὶ πολὺ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων εἰς τὸ τοῦ Ἀβώνου τεῖχος· κἀκεῖνοι γὰρ καὶ νεὼν αὐτίκα ἐψηφίσαντο ἐγεῖραι καὶ τοὺς θεμελίους ἤδη ἔσκαπτον. κἀνταῦθα ὁ μὲν Κοκκωνᾶς ἐν Χαλκηδόνι καταλείπεται, διττούς τινας καὶ ἀμφιβόλους καὶ λοξοὺς χρησμοὺς συγγράφων, καὶ μετʼ ὀλίγον ἐτελεύτησε τὸν βίον, ὑπὸ ἐχίδνης, οἶμαι, δηχθείς.

[¶10] 11. It was Alexander who was sent in first; he now wore his hair long, had falling ringlets, dressed in a parti-coloured tunic of white and purple, with a white cloak over it, and carried a falchion like that of Perseus, from whom he claimed descent on his mother’s side. And although those miserable Paphlagonians knew that both his parents were obscure, humble folk, they believed the oracle when it said: “Here in your sight is a scion of Perseus, dear unto Phoebus; This is divine Alexander, who shareth the blood of the Healer!” Podaleirius, the Healer, it would appear, was so passionate and amorous that his ardour carried him all the way from Tricca to Paphlagonia in quest of Alexander’s mother! An oracle by now had turned up which purported to be a prior prediction by the Sibyl:
On the shores of the Euxine sea, in the neighbourhood of Sinope,
There shall be born, by a Tower, in the days of the Romans, a prophet;
After the foremost unit and three times ten, he will shew forth
Five more units besides, and a score told three times over,
Matching, with places four, the name of a valiant defender!

> Greek: 11. προεισπέμπεται δὲ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, κομῶν ἤδη καὶ πλοκάμους καθειμένος καὶ μεσόλευκον χιτῶνα πορφυροῦν ἐνδεδυκὼς καὶ ἱμάτιον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λευκὸν ἀναβεβλημένος, ἅρπην ἔχων κατὰ τὸν Περσέα, ἀφʼ οὗ ἑαυτὸν ἐγενεαλόγει μητρόθεν· καὶ οἱ ὄλεθροι ἐκεῖνοι Παφλαγόνες, εἰδότες αὐτοῦ ἄμφω τοὺς γονέας ἀφανεῖς καὶ ταπεινούς, ἐπίστευον τῷ χρησμῷ λέγοντι
Περσείδης γενεὴν Φοίβῳ φίλος οὗτος ὁρᾶται,
δῖος Ἀλέξανδρος, Ποδαλειρίου αἷμα λελογχώς.
οὕτως ἄρα ὁ Ποδαλείριος μάχλος καὶ γυναικομανὴς τὴν φύσιν, ὡς ἀπὸ Τρίκκης μέχρι Παφλαγονίας στύεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου μητέρα. εὕρητο δὲ χρησμὸς ἤδη, ὡς Σιβύλλης προμαντευσαμένης·
Εὐξείνου Πόντοιο παρʼ ᾐόσιν ἄγχι Σινώπης
ἔσται τις κατὰ Τύρσιν ὑπʼ Αὐσονίοισι προφήτης,
ἐκ πρώτης δεικνὺς μονάδος τρισσῶν δεκάδων τε
πένθʼ ἑτέρας μονάδας καὶ εἰκοσάδα τρισάριθμον,
ἀνδρὸς ἀλεξητῆρος ὁμωνυμίην τετράκυκλον.

[¶11] 12. Well, upon invading his native land with all this pomp and circumstance after a long absence, Alexander was a man of mark and note, affecting as he did to have occasional fits of madness and causing his mouth to fill with foam. This he easily managed by chewing the root of soapwort, the plant that dyers use; but to his fellow-countrymen even the foam seemed supernatural and awe-inspiring. Then, too, they had long ago prepared and fitted up a serpent’s head of linen, which had something of a human look, was all painted up, and appeared very lifelike. It would open and close its mouth by means of horsehairs, and a forked black tongue like a snake’s, also controlled by horsehairs, would dart out. Besides, the serpent from Pella was ready in advance and was being cared for at home, destined in due time to manifest himself to them and to take a part in their show—in fact, to be cast for the leading role.

> Greek: 12. εἰσβαλὼν οὖν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος μετὰ τοιαύτης τραγῳδίας διὰ πολλοῦ εἰς τὴν πατρίδα περίβλεπτός τε καὶ λαμπρὸς ἦν, μεμηνέναι προσποιούμενος ἐνίοτε καὶ ἀφροῦ ὑποπιμπλάμενος τὸ στόμα· ῥᾳδίως δὲ τοῦτο ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ, στρουθίου τῆς βαφικῆς βοτάνης τὴν ῥίζαν διαμασησαμένῳ· τοῖς δὲ θεῖόν τι καὶ φοβερὸν ἐδόκει καὶ ὁ ἀφρός. ἐπεποίητο δὲ αὐτοῖς πάλαι καὶ κατεσκεύαστο κεφαλὴ δράκοντος ὀθονίνη ἀνθρωπόμορφόν τι ἐπιφαίνουσα, κατάγραφος, πάνυ εἰκασμένη, ὑπὸ θριξὶν ἱππείαις ἀνοίγουσά τε καὶ αὖθις ἐπικλείουσα τὸ στόμα·, καὶ γλῶττα οἵα δράκοντος διττὴ μέλαινα προέκυπτεν, ὑπὸ τριχῶν καὶ αὐτὴ ἑλκομένη. καὶ ὁ Πελλαῖος δὲ δράκων προϋπῆρχεν καὶ οἴκοι ἐτρέφετο, κατὰ καιρὸν ἐπιφανησόμενος αὐτοῖς καὶ συντραγῳδήσων, μᾶλλον δὲ πρωταγωνιστὴς ἐσόμενος.

[¶12] 13. When at length it was time to begin, he contrived an ingenious ruse. Going at night to the foundations of the temple which were just being excavated, where a pool of water had gathered which either issued from springs somewhere in the foundations themselves or had fallen from the sky, he secreted there a goose-egg, previously blown, which contained a snake just born; and after burying it deep in the mud, he went back again. In the morning he ran out into the market-place naked, wearing a loin-cloth-(this too was gilded), carrying his falchion, and tossing his unconfined mane like a devotee of the Great Mother in the frenzy. Addressing the people from a high altar upon which he had climbed, he congratulated the city because it was at once to receive the god in visible presence. The assembly—for almost the whole city, including women, old men, and boys, had come running— marvelled, prayed and made obeisance. Uttering a few meaningless words like Hebrew or Phoenician, he dazed the creatures, who did not know what he was saying save only that he everywhere brought in Apollo and Asclepius.

> Greek: 13. ἤδη δὲ ἄρχεσθαι δέον, μηχανᾶται τοιόνδε τι· νύκτωρ γὰρ ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ τοὺς θεμελίους τοῦ νεὼ τοὺς ἄρτι ὀρυττομένους — συνειστήκει δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὕδωρ ἢ αὐτόθεν ποθὲν συλλειβόμενον ἢ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεσόν — ἐνταῦθα κατατίθεται χήνειον ᾠὸν προκεκενωμένον, ἔνδον φυλάττον ἑρπετόν τι ἀρτιγέννητον, καὶ βυθίσας τοῦτο ἐν μυχῷ τοῦ πηλοῦ ὀπίσω αὖθις ἀπηλλάττετο. ἕωθεν δὲ γυμνὸς εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν προπηδήσας, διάζωμα περὶ τὸ αἰδοῖον ἔχων, κατάχρυσον καὶ τοῦτο, καὶ τὴν ἅρπην ἐκείνην φέρων, σείων ἅμα τὴν κόμην ἄνετον ὥσπερ οἱ τῇ μητρὶ ἀγείροντές τε καὶ ἐνθεαζόμενοι, ἐδημηγόρει ἐπὶ βωμόν τινα ὑψηλὸν ἀναβὰς καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐμακάριζεν αὐτίκα μάλα δεξομένην ἐναργῆ τὸν θεόν. οἱ παρόντες δέ — συνδεδραμήκει γὰρ σχεδὸν ἅπασα ἡ πόλις ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ γέρουσι καὶ παιδίοις — ἐτεθήπεσαν καὶ εὔχοντο καὶ προσεκύνουν. ὁ δὲ φωνάς τινας ἀσήμους φθεγγόμενος, οἷαι γένοιντο ἂν Ἑβραίων ἢ Φοινίκων, ἐξέπληττε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐκ εἰδότας ὅ τι καὶ λέγοι, πλὴν τοῦτο μόνον, ὅτι πᾶσιν ἐγκατεμίγνυ τὸν Ἀπόλλω καὶ τὸν Ἀσκληπιόν.

[¶13] 14. Then he ran at full speed to the future temple, went to the excavation and the previously improvised fountain-head of the oracle, entered the water, sang hymns in honour of Asclepius and Apollo at the top of his voice, and besought the god, under the blessing of Heaven, to come to the city. Then he asked for a libationsaucer, and when somebody handed him one, deftly slipped it underneath and brought up, along with water and mud, that egg in which he had immured the god; the joint about the plug had been closed with wax and white lead. Taking it in his hands, he asserted that at that moment he held Asclepius! They gazed unwaveringly to see what in the world was going to happen; indeed, they had already marvelled at the discovery of the egg in the water. But when he broke it and received the tiny snake into his hollowed hand, and the crowd saw it moving and twisting about his fingers, they at once raised a shout, welcomed the god, congratulated their city, and began each of them to sate himself greedily with prayers, craving treasures, riches, health, and every other blessing from him. But Alexander went home again at full speed, taking with him the new-born Asclepius, “born twice, when other men are born but once,” whose mother was not Coronis, by Zeus, nor yet a crow, but a goose! And the whole population followed, all full of religious fervour and crazed with expectations.

> Greek: 14. εἶτʼ ἔθει δρόμῳ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐσόμενον νεών· καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρυγμα ἐλθὼν καὶ τὴν προῳκονομημένην τοῦ χρηστηρίου πηγήν, ἐμβὰς εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ ὕμνους τε ᾖδεν Ἀσκληπιοῦ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος μεγάλῃ τῇ φωνῇ καὶ ἐκάλει τὸν θεὸν ἥκειν τύχῃ τῇ ἀγαθῇ εἰς τὴν πόλιν. εἶτα φιάλην αἰτήσας, ἀναδόντος τινός, ῥᾳδίως ὑποβαλὼν ἀνιμᾶται μετὰ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ πηλοῦ τὸ ᾠὸν ἐκεῖνο ἐν ᾧ ὁ θεὸς αὐτῷ κατεκέκλειστο, κηρῷ λευκῷ καὶ ψιμυθίῳ τὴν ἁρμογὴν τοῦ πώματος συγκεκολλημένον· καὶ λαβὼν αὐτὸ εἰς τὰς χεῖρας ἔχειν ἔφασκεν ἤδη τὸν Ἀσκληπιόν. οἱ δὲ ἀπενὲς ἀπέβλεπον ὅ τι καὶ γίγνοιτο, πολὺ πρότερον θαυμάσαντες τὸ ᾠὸν ἐν τῷ ὕδατι εὑρημένον. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ κατάξας αὐτὸ εἰς κοίλην τὴν χεῖρα ὑπεδέξατο τὸ τοῦ ἑρπετοῦ ἐκείνου ἔμβρυον καὶ οἱ παρόντες εἶδον κινούμενον καὶ περὶ τοῖς δακτύλοις εἰλούμενον, ἀνέκραγον εὐθὺς καὶ ἠσπάζοντο τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐμακάριζον καὶ χανδὸν ἕκαστος ἐνεπίμπλατο τῶν εὐχῶν, θησαυροὺς καὶ πλούτους καὶ ὑγιείας καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἀγαθὰ αἰτῶν παρʼ αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ δρομαῖος αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκίαν ἵετο φέρων ἅμα καὶ τὸν ἀρτιγέννητον Ἀσκληπιόν, δὶς τεχθέντα, ὅτε ἄλλοι ἅπαξ τίκτοντʼ ἄνθρωποι, οὐκ ἐκ Κορωνίδος μὰ Δίʼ οὐδέ γε κορώνης, ἀλλʼ ἐκ χηνὸς γεγεννημένον. ὁ δὲ λεὼς ἅπας ἠκολούθει, πάντες ἔνθεοι καὶ μεμηνότες ὑπὸ τῶν ἐλπίδων.

[¶14] 15. For some days he remained at home, expecting what actually happened—that as the news spread, crowds of Paphlagonians would come running in. When the city had become over-full of people, all of them already bereft of their brains and sense, and not in the least like bread-eating humans, but different from beasts of the field only in their looks, he seated himself on a couch in a certain chamber, clothed in apparel well suited to a god, and took into his bosom his Asclepius from Pella, who, as I have said, was of uncommon size and beauty. _ Coiling him about his neck, and letting the tail, which was long, stream over his lap and drag part of its length on the floor, he concealed only the head by holding it under his arm—the creature would submit to anything—and showed the linen head at one side of his own beard, as if it certainly belonged to the creature that was in view.

> Greek: 15. ἡμέρας μὲν οὖν τινας οἴκοι ἔμεινεν ἐλπίζων ὅπερ ἦν, ὑπὸ τῆς φήμης αὐτίκα μάλα παμπόλλους τῶν Παφλαγόνων συνδραμεῖσθαι. ἐπεὶ δὲ ὑπερεπέπληστο ἀνθρώπων ἡ πόλις, ἁπάντων τοὺς ἐγκεφάλους καὶ τὰς καρδίας προεξῃρημένων οὐδὲν ἐοικότων σιτοφάγοις ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλὰ μόνῃ τῇ μορφῇ μὴ οὐχὶ πρόβατα εἶναι διαφερόντων, ἐν οἰκίσκῳ τινὶ ἐπὶ κλίνης καθεζόμενος μάλα θεοπρεπῶς ἐσταλμένος ἐλάμβανεν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τὸν Πελλαῖον ἐκεῖνον Ἀσκληπιόν, μέγιστόν τε καὶ κάλλιστον, ὡς ἔφην, ὄντα, καὶ ὅλον τῷ αὑτοῦ τραχήλῳ περιειλήσας καὶ τὴν οὐρὰν ἔξω ἀφείς — πολὺς δὲ ἦν — ἐν τῷ προκολπίῳ προκεχύσθαι αὐτοῦ καὶ χαμαὶ τὸ μέρος ἐπισύρεσθαι, μόνην τὴν κεφαλὴν ὑπὸ μάλης ἔχων καὶ ἀποκρύπτων, ἀνεχομένου πάντα ἐκείνου, προὔφαινεν τὴν ὀθονίνην κεφαλὴν κατὰ θάτερον τοῦ πώγωνος, ὡς δῆθεν ἐκείνου τοῦ φαινομένου πάντως οὖσαν.

[¶15] 16. Now then, please imagine a little room, not very bright and not admitting any too much daylight; also, a crowd of heterogeneous humanity, excited, wonder-struck in advance, agog with hopes. When they went in, the thing, of course, seemed to them a miracle, that the formerly tiny snake within a few days had turned into so great a serpent, with a human face, moreover, and tame! They were immediately crowded towards the exit, and before they could look closely were forced out by those who kept coming in, for another dovr had been opened on the opposite side as an exit. That was the way the Macedonians did, they say, in Babylon during Alexander’s illness, when he was in a bad way and they surrounded the palace, craving to see him and say good-bye. This exhibition the scoundrel gave not merely once, they say, but again and again, above all if any rich men were newly arrived.

> Greek: 16. εἶτά μοι ἐπινόησον οἰκίσκον οὐ πάνυ φαιδρὸν οὐδὲ εἰς κόρον τοῦ φωτὸς δεχόμενον καὶ πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων συγκλύδων, τεταραγμένων καὶ προεκπεπληγμένων καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐπαιωρουμένων, οἷς εἰσελθοῦσι τεράστιον ὡς εἰκὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐφαίνετο, ἐκ τοῦ τέως μικροῦ ἑρπετοῦ ἐντὸς ἡμερῶν ὀλίγων τοσοῦτον δράκοντα πεφηνέναι, ἀνθρωπόμορφον καὶ ταῦτα καὶ τιθασόν. ἠπείγοντο δὲ αὐτίκα πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον, καὶ πρὶν ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν, ἐξηλαύνοντο ὑπὸ τῶν ἀεὶ ἐπεισιόντων· ἐτετρύπητο δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀντίθυρον ἄλλη ἔξοδος. οἷόν τι καὶ τοὺς Μακεδόνας ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ποιῆσαι ἐπʼ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ νοσοῦντι λόγος, ὅτε ὁ μὲν ἤδη πονήρως εἶχεν, οἱ δὲ περιστάντες τὰ βασίλεια ἐπόθουν ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ προσειπεῖν τὸ ὕστατον. τὴν δὲ ἐπίδειξιν ταύτην οὐχ ἅπαξ ὁ μιαρός, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις ποιῆσαι λέγεται, καὶ μάλιστα εἴ τινες τῶν πλουσίων ἀφίκοιντο νεαλέστεροι.

[¶16] 17. In that matter, dear Celsus, to tell the truth, we must excuse those men of Paphlagonia and Pontus, thick-witted, uneducated fellows that they were, for being deluded when they touched the serpent— Alexander let anyone do so who wished—and besides saw in a dim light what purported to be its head opening and shutting its mouth. Really the trick stood in need of a Democritus, or even Epicurus himself or Metrodorus, or someone else with a mind as firm as adamant toward such matters, so as to disbelieve and guess the truth-— one who, if he could not discover how it went, would at all events be convinced beforehand that though the method of the fraud escaped him, it was nevertheless all sham and could not possibly happen.

> Greek: 17. ἐνταῦθα, ὦ φίλε Κέλσε, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθῆ λέγειν, συγγνώμην χρὴ ἀπονέμειν τοῖς Παφλαγόσι καὶ Ποντικοῖς ἐκείνοις, παχέσι καὶ ἀπαιδεύτοις ἀνθρώποις, εἰ ἐξηπατήθησαν ἁπτόμενοι τοῦ δράκοντος — καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο παρεῖχεν τοῖς βουλομένοις ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος — ὁρῶντές τε ἐν ἀμυδρῷ τῷ φωτὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν δῆθεν αὐτοῦ ἀνοίγουσάν τε καὶ συγκλείουσαν τὸ στόμα, ὥστε πάνυ τὸ μηχάνημα ἐδεῖτο Δημοκρίτου τινὸς ἢ καὶ αὐτοῦ Ἐπικούρου ἢ Μητροδώρου ἤ τινος ἄλλου ἀδαμαντίνην πρὸς τὰ τοιαῦτα τὴν γνώμην ἔχοντος, ὡς ἀπιστῆσαι καὶ ὅπερ ἦν εἰκάσαι, καὶ εἰ μὴ εὑρεῖν τὸν τρόπον ἐδύνατο, ἐκεῖνο γοῦν προπεπεισμένου, ὅτι λέληθεν αὐτὸν ὁ τρόπος τῆς μαγγανείας, τὸ δʼ οὖν πᾶν ψεῦδός ἐστι καὶ γενέσθαι ἀδύνατον.

[¶17] 18. Little by little, Bithynia, Galatia, and Thrace came pouring in, for everyone who carried the news very likely said that he not only had seen the god born but had subsequently touched him, after he had grown very great in a short time and had a face that looked like a man’s. Next came paintings and statues and cult-images, some made of bronze, some of silver, and naturally a name was bestowed upon the god. He was called Glycon in consequence of a divine behest in metre; for Alexander proclaimed:
Glycon am I, the grandson of Zeus, bright beacon to mortals!

> Greek: 18. κατʼ ὀλίγον οὖν καὶ ἡ Βιθυνία καὶ ἡ Γαλατία καὶ ἡ Θρᾴκη συνέρρει, ἑκάστου τῶν ἀπαγγελλόντων κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς λέγοντος ὡς καὶ γεννώμενον ἴδοι τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὕστερον ἅψαιτο μετʼ ὀλίγον παμμεγέθους αὐτοῦ γεγενημένου καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπῳ ἐοικότος. γραφαί τε ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ εἰκόνες καὶ ξόανα, τὰ μὲν ἐκ χαλκοῦ, τὰ δὲ ἐξ ἀργύρου εἰκασμένα, καὶ ὄνομά γε τῷ θεῷ ἐπιτεθέν· Γλύκων γὰρ ἐκαλεῖτο ἔκ τινος ἐμμέτρου καὶ θείου προστάγματος. ἀνεφώνησε γὰρ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος Εἰμὶ Γλύκων, τρίτον αἷμα Διός, φάος ἀνθρώποισιν.

[¶18] 19. When it was time to carry out the purpose for which the whole scheme had been concocted—that is to say, to make predictions and give oracles to those who sought them—taking his cue from Amphilochus in Cilicia, who, as you know, after the death and disappearance of his father Amphiaraus at Thebes, was exiled from his own country, went to Cilicia, and got on very well by foretelling the future, like his father, for the Cilicians and getting two obols for each prediction—taking, as I say, his cue from him, Alexander announced to all comers that the god would make prophecies, and named a date for it in advance. He directed everyone to write down in a scroll whatever he wanted and what he especially wished to learn, to tie it up, and to seal it with wax or clay or something else of that sort. Then he himself, after taking the scrolls and entering the inner sanctuary—for by that time the temple had been erected and the stage set—proposed to summon in order, with herald and priest, those who had submitted them, and after the god told him about each case, to give back the scroll with the seal upon it, just as it was, and the reply to it endorsed upon it; for the god would reply explicitly to any question that anyone should put.

> Greek: 19. καὶ ἐπειδὴ καιρὸς ἦν, οὗπερ ἕνεκα τὰ πάντα ἐμεμηχάνητο, καὶ χρᾶν τοῖς δεομένοις καὶ θεσπίζειν, παρʼ Ἀμφιλόχου τοῦ ἐν Κιλικίᾳ τὸ ἐνδόσιμον λαβών — καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς τελευτὴν τοῦ Ἀμφιάρεω καὶ τὸν ἐν Θήβαις ἀφανισμὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκπεσὼν τῆς οἰκείας εἰς τὴν Κιλικίαν ἀφικόμενος, οὐ πονήρως ἀπήλλαξεν, προθεσπίζων καὶ αὐτὸς τοῖς Κίλιξι τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ δύʼ ὀβολοὺς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ χρησμῷ λαμβάνων — ἐκεῖθεν οὖν τὸ ἐνδόσιμον λαβὼν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος προλέγει πᾶσι τοῖς ἀφικομένοις ὡς μαντεύσεται ὁ θεός, ῥητήν τινα ἡμέραν προειπών. ἐκέλευσεν δὲ ἕκαστον, οὗ δέοιτο ἂν καὶ ὃ μάλιστα μαθεῖν ἐθέλοι, εἰς βιβλίον ἐγγράψαντα καταρράψαι τε καὶ κατασημήνασθαι κηρῷ ἢ πηλῷ ἢ ἄλλῳ τοιούτῳ. αὐτὸς δὲ λαβὼν τὰ βιβλία καὶ εἰς τὸ ἄδυτον κατελθὼν — ἤδη γὰρ ὁ νεὼς ἐγήγερτο καὶ ἡ σκηνὴ παρεσκεύαστο — καλέσειν ἔμελλε κατὰ τάξιν τοὺς δεδωκότας ὑπὸ κήρυκι καὶ θεολόγῳ, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀκούων ἕκαστα τὸ μὲν βιβλίον ἀποδώσειν σεσημασμένον ὡς εἶχε, τὴν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸ ἀπόκρισιν ὑπογεγραμμένην, πρὸς ἔπος ἀμειβομένου τοῦ θεοῦ περὶ ὅτου τις ἔροιτο.

[¶19] 20. As a matter of fact, this trick, to a man like you, and if it is not out of place to say so, like myself also, was obvious and easy to see through, but to those drivelling idiots it was miraculous and almost as good as incredible. Having discovered various ways of undoing the seals, he would read all the questions and answer them as he thought best. Then he would roll up the scrolls again, seal them, and give them back, to the great astonishment of the recipients, among whom the comment was frequent: “Why, how did he learn the questions which I gave him very securely sealed with impressions hard to counterfeit, unless there was really some god that knew everything?”

> Greek: 20. ἦν δὲ τὸ μηχάνημα τοῦτο ἀνδρὶ μὲν οἵῳ σοί, εἰ δὲ μὴ φορτικὸν εἰπεῖν, καὶ οἵῳ ἐμοί, πρόδηλον καὶ γνῶναι ῥᾴδιον, τοῖς δὲ ἰδιώταις καὶ κορύζης μεστοῖς τὴν ῥῖνα τεράστιον καὶ πάνυ ἀπίστῳ ὅμοιον. ἐπινοήσας γὰρ ποικίλας τῶν σφραγίδων τὰς λύσεις ἀνεγίγνωσκέν τε τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἑκάστας καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα πρὸς αὐτὰς ἀπεκρίνετο, εἶτα κατειλήσας αὖθις καὶ σημηνάμενος ἀπεδίδου μετὰ πολλοῦ θαύματος τοῖς λαμβάνουσιν. καὶ πολὺ ἦν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὸ πόθεν γὰρ οὗτος ἠπίστατο ἃ ἐγὼ πάνυ ἀσφαλῶς σημηνάμενος αὐτῷ ἔδωκα ὑπὸ σφραγῖσιν δυσμιμήτοις, εἰ μὴ θεός τις ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁ πάντα γιγνώσκων ἦν·

[¶20] 21. “What were his discoveries, then?” perhaps you will ask. Listen, therefore, in order to be able to show up such impostors. The first, my dear Celsus, was a well-known method; heating a needle, he removed the seal by melting through the wax underneath it, and after reading the contents he warmed the wax once more with the needle, both that which was under the thread and that which contained the seal, and so stuck it together without difficulty. Another method was by using what they call plaster; this is a compound of Bruttian pitch, asphalt, pulverized gypsum, wax, and gum Arabic. Making his plaster out of all these materials and warming it over the fire, he applied it to the seal, which he had previously wetted with saliva, and took a mould of the impression. Then, since the plaster hardened at once, after easily opening and reading the scrolls, he applied the wax and made an impression upon it precisely like the original, just as one would with a gem. Let me tell you a third method, in addition to these. Putting marble-dust into the glue with which they glue books and making a paste of it, he applied that to the seal while it was still soft, and then, as it grows hard at once, more solid than horn or even iron, he removed it and used it for the impression. There are many other devices to this end, but they need not all be mentioned, for fear that we might seem to be wanting in taste, especially in view of the fact that in the book which you wrote against the sorcerers, a very good and useful treatise, capable of preserving common-sense in its readers, you cited instances enough, and indeed a great many more than I have.

> Greek: 21. τίνες οὖν αἱ ἐπίνοιαι, ἴσως γὰρ ἐρήσῃ με. ἄκουε τοίνυν, ὡς ἔχοις ἐλέγχειν τὰ τοιαῦτα. ἡ πρώτη μὲν ἐκείνη, ὦ φίλτατε Κέλσε· βελόνην πυρώσας τὸ ὑπὸ τὴν σφραγῖδα μέρος τοῦ κηροῦ διατήκων ἐξῄρει καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῇ βελόνῃ αὖθις ἐπιχλιάνας τὸν κηρόν, τόν τε κάτω ὑπὸ τῷ λίνῳ καὶ τὸν αὐτὴν τὴν σφραγῖδα ἔχοντα, ῥᾳδίως συνεκόλλα. ἕτερος δὲ τρόπος ὁ διὰ τοῦ λεγομένου κολλυρίου· σκευαστὸν δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐκ πίττης Βρεττίας καὶ ἀσφάλτου καὶ λίθου τοῦ διαφανοῦς τετριμμένου καὶ κηροῦ καὶ μαστίχης. ἐκ γὰρ τούτων ἁπάντων ἀναπλάσας τὸ κολλύριον καὶ θερμήνας πυρί, σιάλῳ τὴν σφραγῖδα προχρίσας ἐπετίθει καὶ ἀπέματτε τὸν τύπον. εἶτα αὐτίκα ξηροῦ ἐκείνου γενομένου, λύσας ῥᾳδίως καὶ ἀναγνούς, ἐπιθεὶς τὸν κηρὸν ἀπετύπου ὥσπερ ἐκ λίθου τὴν σφραγῖδα εὖ μάλα τῷ ἀρχετύπῳ ἐοικυῖαν. τρίτον ἄλλο πρὸς τούτοις ἄκουσον· τιτάνου γὰρ εἰς κόλλαν ἐμβαλὼν ᾗ κολλῶσι τὰ βιβλία, καὶ κηρὸν ἐκ τούτου ποιήσας, ἔτι ὑγρὸν ὄντα ἐπετίθει τῇ σφραγῖδι καὶ ἀφελών — αὐτίκα δὲ ξηρὸν γίγνεται καὶ κέρατος, μᾶλλον δὲ σιδήρου παγιώτερον — τούτῳ ἐχρῆτο πρὸς τὸν τύπον. ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ πρὸς τοῦτο ἐπινενοημένα, ὧν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον μεμνῆσθαι ἁπάντων, ὡς μὴ ἀπειρόκαλοι εἶναι δοκοίημεν, καὶ μάλιστα σοῦ ἐν οἷς κατὰ μάγων συνέγραψας, καλλίστοις τε ἅμα καὶ ὠφελιμωτάτοις συγγράμμασιν καὶ δυναμένοις σωφρονίζειν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας, ἱκανὰ παραθεμένου καὶ πολλῷ τούτων πλείονα.

[¶21] 22. Well, as I say, Alexander made predictions and gave oracles, employing great shrewdness in it and combining guesswork with his trickery. He gave responses that were sometimes obscure and ambiguous, sometimes downright unintelligible, for this seemed to him in the oracular manner. Some people he dissuaded or encouraged as seemed best to him at a guess. To others he prescribed medical treatments and diets, knowing, as I said in the beginning, many useful remedies. His “cytmides” were in highest favour with him—a name which he had coined for a restorative ointment compounded of bear’s grease. Expectations, however, and advancements and successions to estates he always put off to another day, adding: “It shall all come about when I will, and when Alexander, my prophet, asks it of me and prays for you.”

> Greek: 22. ἔχρη οὖν καὶ ἐθέσπιζε, πολλῇ τῇ συνέσει ἐνταῦθα χρώμενος καὶ τὸ εἰκαστικὸν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ προσάπτων, τοῖς μὲν λοξὰ καὶ ἀμφίβολα πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἀποκρινόμενος, τοῖς δὲ καὶ πάνυ ἀσαφῆ· χρησμῳδικὸν γὰρ ἐδόκει αὐτῷ τοῦτο. τοὺς δὲ ἀπέτρεπεν ἢ προὔτρεπεν, ὡς ἄμεινον ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ εἰκάζοντι· τοῖς δὲ θεραπείας προὔλεγεν καὶ διαίτας, εἰδώς, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἔφην, πολλὰ καὶ χρήσιμα φάρμακα. μάλιστα δὲ εὐδοκίμουν παρʼ αὐτῷ αἱ κυτμίδες, ἀκόπου τι ὄνομα πεπλασμένον, ἐκ λίπους ἀρκείου συντεθειμένου. τὰς μέντοι ἐλπίδας καὶ προκοπὰς καὶ κλήρων διαδοχὰς εἰσαῦθις ἀεὶ ἀνεβάλλετο, προστιθεὶς ὅτι ἔσται πάντα ὁπόταν ἐθελήσω ἐγὼ καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ προφήτης μου δεηθῇ καὶ εὔξηται ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν.

[¶22] 23. A price had been fixed for each oracle, a drachma and two obols. Do not think that it was low, my friend, or that the revenue from this source was scanty! He gleaned as much as seventy or eighty thousand a year, since men were so greedy as to send in ten and fifteen questions each. What he received he did not use for himself alone nor treasure up to make himself rich, but since he had many men about him by this time as assistants, servants, collectors of information, writers of oracles, custodians of oracles, clerks, sealers, and expounders, he divided with all, giving each one what was proportionate to his worth.

> Greek: 23. ἐτέτακτο δὲ ὁ μισθὸς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῳ χρησμῷ δραχμὴ καὶ δύʼ ὀβολώ. μὴ μικρὸν οἰηθῇς, ὦ ἑταῖρε, μηδʼ ὀλίγον γεγενῆσθαι τὸν πόρον τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ εἰς ἑπτὰ ἢ ὀκτὼ μυριάδας ἑκάστου ἔτους ἤθροιζεν, ἀνὰ δέκα καὶ πεντεκαίδεκα χρησμοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπὸ ἀπληστίας ἀναδιδόντων. λαμβάνων δὲ οὐκ αὐτὸς ἐχρῆτο μόνος οὐδʼ εἰς πλοῦτον ἀπεθησαύριζεν, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἤδη περὶ αὑτὸν ἔχων συνεργοὺς καὶ ὑπηρέτας καὶ πευθῆνας καὶ χρησμοποιοὺς καὶ χρησμοφύλακας καὶ ὑπογραφέας καὶ ἐπισφραγιστὰς καὶ ἐξηγητάς, ἅπασιν ἔνεμεν ἑκάστῳ τὸ κατʼ ἀξίαν.

[¶23] 24. By now he was even sending men abroad to create rumours in the different nations in regard to the oracle and to say that he made predictions, discovered fugitive slaves, detected thieves and robbers, caused treasures to be dug up, healed the sick, and in some cases had actually raised the dead. So there was a hustling and a bustling from every side, with sacrifices and votive offerings—and twice as much for the prophet and disciple of the god. For this oracle also had come out:
Honour I bid you to give my faithful servant, the prophet;
No great store do I set upon riches, but much on the prophet.

> Greek: 24. ἤδη δέ τινας καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλλοδαπὴν ἐξέπεμπεν, φήμας ἐμποιήσοντας τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μαντείου καὶ διηγησομένους ὡς προείποι καὶ ἀνεύροι δραπέτας καὶ κλέπτας καὶ λῃστὰς ἐξελέγξειε καὶ θησαυροὺς ἀνορύξαι παράσχοι καὶ νοσοῦντας ἰάσαιτο, ἐνίους δὲ καὶ ἤδη ἀποθανόντας ἀναστήσειεν. δρόμος οὖν καὶ ὠθισμὸς ἁπανταχόθεν ἐγίγνετο καὶ θυσίαι καὶ ἀναθήματα, καὶ διπλάσια τῷ προφήτῃ καὶ μαθητῇ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ γὰρ αὖ καὶ οὗτος ἐξέπεσεν ὁ χρησμός· Τιέμεναι κέλομαι τὸν ἐμὸν θεράπονθʼ ὑποφήτην· οὐ γάρ μοι κτεάνων μέλεται ἄγαν, ἀλλʼ ὑποφήτου·

[¶24] 25. When at last many sensible men, recovering, as it were, from profound intoxication, combined against him, especially all the followers of Epicurus, and when in the cities they began gradually to detect all the trickery and buncombe of the show, he issued a promulgation designed to scare them, saying that Pontus was full of atheists and Christians who had the hardihood to utter the vilest abuse of him; these he bade them drive away with stones if they wanted to have the god gracious. About Epicurus, moreover, he delivered himself of an oracle after this sort; when someone asked him how Epicurus was doing in Hades, he replied:
With leaden fetters on his feet in filthy mire he sitteth.
Do you wonder, then, that the shrine waxed great, now that you see that the questions of its visitors were intelligent and refined? In general, the war that he waged upon Epicurus was without truce or parley, naturally enough. Upon whom else would a quack who loved humbug and bitterly hated truth more fittingly make war than upon Epicurus, who discerned the nature of things and alone knew the truth in them? The followers of Plato and Chrysippus and Pythagoras were his friends, and there was profound peace with them; but “the impervious Epicurus ’—for that is what he called him—was rightly his bitter enemy, since he considered all that sort of thing a laughingmatter and a joke. So Alexander hated Amastris most of all the cities in Pontus because he knew that the followers of Lepidus and others like them were numerous in the city; and he would never deliver an oracle to an Amastrian. Once when he did venture to make a prediction for a senator’s brother, he acquitted himself ridiculously, since he could neither compose a clever response himself nor find anyone else who could do it in time. The man complained of colic, and Alexander, wishing to direct him to eat a pig’s foot cooked with mallow, said:
Mallow with cummin digest in a sacred pipkin of piglets.

> Greek: 25. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἤδη πολλοὶ τῶν νοῦν ἐχόντων ὥσπερ ἐκ μέθης βαθείας ἀναφέροντες συνίσταντο ἐπʼ αὐτόν, καὶ μάλιστα ὅσοι Ἐπικούρου ἑταῖροι ἦσαν, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπεφώρατο ἠρέμα ἡ πᾶσα μαγγανεία καὶ συσκευὴ τοῦ δράματος, ἐκφέρει φόβητρόν τι ἐπʼ αὐτούς, λέγων ἀθέων ἐμπεπλῆσθαι καὶ Χριστιανῶν τὸν Πόντον, οἳ περὶ αὐτοῦ τολμῶσι τὰ κάκιστα βλασφημεῖν· οὓς ἐκέλευε λίθοις ἐλαύνειν, εἴ γε θέλουσιν ἵλεω ἔχειν τὸν θεόν. περὶ δὲ Ἐπικούρου καὶ τοιοῦτόν τινα χρησμὸν ἀπεφθέγξατο· ἐρομένου γάρ τινος τί πράττει ἐν Ἅιδου ὁ Ἐπίκουρος; Μολυβδίνας ἔχων, ἔφη, πέδας ἐν βορβόρῳ κάθηται. εἶτα θαυμάζεις εἰ ἐπὶ μέγα ἤρθη τὸ χρηστήριον, ὁρῶν τὰς ἐρωτήσεις τῶν προσιόντων συνετὰς καὶ πεπαιδευμένας; ὅλως δὲ ἄσπονδος καὶ ἀκήρυκτος αὐτῷ ὁ πόλεμος πρὸς Ἐπίκουρον ἦν· μάλα εἰκότως. τίνι γὰρ ἂν ἄλλῳ δικαιότερον προσεπολέμει γόης ἄνθρωπος καὶ τερατείᾳ φίλος, ἀληθείᾳ δὲ ἔχθιστος, ἢ Ἐπικούρῳ ἀνδρὶ τὴν φύσιν τῶν πραγμάτων καθεωρακότι καὶ μόνῳ τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀλήθειαν εἰδότι; οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀμφὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα καὶ Χρύσιππον καὶ Πυθαγόραν φίλοι, καὶ εἰρήνη βαθεῖα πρὸς ἐκείνους ἦν· ὁ δὲ ἄτεγκτος Ἐπίκουρος — οὕτως γὰρ αὐτὸν ὠνόμαζεν — ἔχθιστος δικαίως, πάντα ταῦτα ἐν γέλωτι καὶ παιδιᾷ τιθέμενος. διὸ καὶ τὴν Ἄμαστριν ἐμίσει μάλιστα τῶν Ποντικῶν πόλεων, ὅτι ἠπίστατο τοὺς περὶ Λέπιδον καὶ ἄλλους ὁμοίους αὐτοῖς πολλοὺς ἐνόντας ἐν τῇ πόλει· οὐδὲ ἐχρησμῴδησε πώποτε Ἀμαστριανῷ ἀνδρί. ὁπότε δὲ καὶ ἐτόλμησεν ἀδελφῷ συγκλητικοῦ χρησμῳδῆσαι, καταγελάστως ἀπήλλαξεν, οὐχ εὑρὼν οὔτε αὐτὸς πλάσασθαι χρησμὸν δεξιὸν οὔτε τὸν ποιῆσαι πρὸς καιρὸν αὐτῷ δυνησόμενον. μεμφομένῳ γὰρ αὐτῷ στομάχου ὀδύνην προστάξαι βουλόμενος ὕειον πόδα μετὰ μαλάχης ἐσκευασμένον ἐσθίειν οὕτως ἔφη· Μάλβακα χοιράων ἱερῇ κυμίνευε σιπύδνῳ.

[¶25] 26. Again and again, as I said before, he exhibited the serpent to all who requested it, not in its entirety, but exposing chiefly the tail and the rest of the body and keeping the head out of sight under his arm. But as he wished to astonish the crowd still more, he promised to produce the god talking—delivering oracles in person without a prophet. It was no difficult matter for him to fasten cranes’ windpipes together and pass them through the head, which he had so fashioned as to be lifelike. Then he answered the questions through someone else, who spoke into the tube from the outside, so that the voice issued from his canvas Asclepius. These oracles were called autophones, and were not given to everybody promiscuously, but only to those who were noble, rich, and free-handed.

> Greek: 26. πολλάκις μὲν οὖν, ὡς προεῖπον, ἔδειξε τὸν δράκοντα τοῖς δεομένοις, οὐχ ὅλον, ἀλλὰ τὴν οὐρὸν μάλιστα καὶ τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα προβεβληκώς, τὴν κεφαλὴν δὲ ὑπὸ κόλπου ἀθέατον φυλάττων. ἐθελήσας δὲ καὶ μειζόνως ἐκπλῆξαι τὸ πλῆθος, ὑπέσχετο καὶ λαλοῦντα παρέξειν τὸν θεόν, αὐτὸν ἄνευ ὑποφήτου χρησμῳδοῦντα. εἶτα οὐ χαλεπῶς γεράνων ἀρτηρίας συνάψας καὶ διὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐκείνης τῆς μεμηχανημένης πρὸς ὁμοιότητα διείρας, ἄλλου τινὸς ἔξωθεν ἐμβοῶντος, ἀπεκρίνετο πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις, τῆς φωνῆς διὰ τοῦ ὀθονίνου ἐκείνου Ἀσκληπιοῦ προπιπτούσης. ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ οἱ χρησμοὶ οὗτοι αὐτόφωνοι, καὶ οὐ πᾶσιν ἐδίδοντο οὐδὲ ἀνέδην, ἀλλὰ τοῖς εὐπαρύφοις καὶ πλουσίοις καὶ μεγαλοδώροις.

[¶26] 27. For example, the oracle given to Severianus in regard to his invasion of Armenia was one of the autophones. Alexander encouraged him to the invasion by saying:
Under your charging spear shall fall Armenians and Parthi;
Then you shall fare to Rome and the glorious waters of Tiber
Wearing upon your brow the chaplet studded with sunbeams.
Then when that silly Celt, being convinced, made the invasion and ended by getting himself and his army cut to bits by Osroes, Alexander expunged this oracle from his records and inserted another in its place:
Better for you that your forces against Armenia march not,
Lest some man, like a woman bedight, despatch from his bowstring
Grim death, cutting you off from life and enjoyment of sunlight.

> Greek: 27. ὁ γοῦν Σευηριανῷ δοθεὶς ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Ἀρμενίαν εἰσόδου τῶν αὐτοφώνων καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν. προτρέπων γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν εἰσβολὴν οὕτως ἔφη·
Πάρθους Ἀρμενίους τε θοῷ ὑπὸ δουρὶ δαμάσσας
νοστήσεις Ῥώμην καὶ Θύβριδος ἀγλαὸν ὕδωρ
στέμμα φέρων κροτάφοισι μεμιγμένον ἀκτίνεσσιν.
εἶτʼ ἐπειδὴ πεισθεὶς ὁ ἠλίθιος ἐκεῖνος Κελτὸς εἰσέβαλε καὶ ἀπήλλαξεν αὐτῇ στρατιᾷ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὀσρόου κατακοπείς, τοῦτον μὲν τὸν χρησμὸν ἐξαιρεῖ ἐκ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων, ἐντίθησιν δʼ ἄλλον ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ·
μὴ σύ γʼ ἐπʼ Ἀρμενίους ἐλάαν στρατόν, οὐ γὰρ ἄμεινον,
μή σοι θηλυχίτων τις ἀνὴρ τόξου ἄπο λυγρὸν
πότμον ἐπιπροϊεὶς παύσῃ βιότοιο φάους τε.