μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον βασιλεῦσαι Αἰγύπτου Μυκερῖνον ἔλεγον Χέοπος παῖδα· τῷ τὰ μὲν τοῦ πατρὸς ἔργα ἀπαδεῖν, τὸν δὲ τά τε ἱρὰ ἀνοῖξαι καὶ τὸν λεὼν τετρυμένον ἐς τὸ ἔσχατον κακοῦ ἀνεῖναι πρὸς ἔργα τε καὶ θυσίας, δίκας δέ σφι πάντων βασιλέων δικαιότατα κρίνειν.
κατὰ τοῦτο μέν νυν τὸ ἔργον ἁπάντων ὅσοι ἤδη βασιλέες ἐγένοντο Αἰγυπτίων αἰνέουσι μάλιστα τοῦτον. τά τε ἄλλα γάρ μιν κρίνειν εὖ, καὶ δὴ καὶ τῷ ἐπιμεμφομένῳ ἐκ τῆς δίκης παρʼ ἑωυτοῦ διδόντα ἄλλα ἀποπιμπλάναι αὐτοῦ τὸν θυμόν.
ἐόντι δὲ ἠπίῳ τῷ Μυκερίνῳ κατὰ τοὺς πολιήτας καὶ ταῦτα ἐπιτηδεύοντι πρῶτον κακῶν ἄρξαι τὴν θυγατέρα ἀποθανοῦσαν αὐτοῦ, τὴν μοῦνόν οἱ εἶναι ἐν τοῖσι οἰκίοισι τέκνον. τὸν δὲ ὑπεραλγήσαντά τε τῷ περιεπεπτώκεε πρήγματι, καὶ βουλόμενον περισσότερόν τι τῶν ἄλλων θάψαι τὴν θυγατέρα, ποιήσασθαι βοῦν ξυλίνην κοίλην, καὶ ἔπειτα καταχρυσώσαντά μιν ταύτην ἔσω ἐν αὐτῇ θάψαι ταύτην δὴ τὴν ἀποθανοῦσαν θυγατέρα.
After him, they said, Mykerinos became king over Egypt, who was the son of Cheops; and to him his father’s deeds were displeasing, and he both opened the temples and gave liberty to the people, who were ground down to the last extremity of evil, to return to their own business and to their sacrifices;: also he gave decisions of their causes juster than those of all the other kings besides. In regard to this then they commend this king more than all the other kings who had arisen in Egypt before him; for he not only gave good decisions, but also when a man complained of the decision, he gave him recompense from his own goods and thus satisfied his desire. But while Mykerinos was acting mercifully to his subjects and practising this conduct which has been said, calamities befell him, of which the first was this, namely that his daughter died, the only child whom he had in his house: and being above measure grieved by that which had befallen him, and desiring to bury his daughter in a manner more remarkable than others, he made a cow of wood, which he covered over with gold, and then within it he buried this daughter who, as I said, had died.
αὕτη ὦν ἡ βοῦς γῇ οὐκ ἐκρύφθη, ἀλλʼ ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἦν φανερή, ἐν Σάι μὲν πόλι ἐοῦσα, κειμένη δὲ ἐν τοῖσι βασιληίοισι ἐν οἰκήματι ἠσκημένῳ· θυμιήματα δὲ παρʼ αὐτῇ παντοῖα καταγίζουσι ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέρην, νύκτα δὲ ἑκάστην πάννυχος λύχνος παρακαίεται.
ἀγχοῦ δὲ τῆς βοὸς ταύτης ἐν ἄλλῳ οἰκήματι εἰκόνες τῶν παλλακέων τῶν Μυκερίνου ἑστᾶσι, ὡς ἔλεγον οἱ ἐν Σάι πόλι ἱρέες· ἑστᾶσι μὲν γὰρ ξύλιναι κολοσσοί, ἐοῦσαι ἀριθμὸν ὡς εἴκοσι μάλιστά κῃ, γυμναὶ ἐργασμέναι· αἵτινες μέντοι εἰσί, οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν πλὴν ἢ τὰ λεγόμενα.
This cow was not covered up in the ground, but it might be seen even down to my own time in the city of Saïs, placed within the royal palace in a chamber which was greatly adorned; and they offer incense of all kinds before it every day, and each night a lamp burns beside it all through the night. Near this cow in another chamber stand images of the concubines of Mykerinos, as the priests at Saïs told me; for there are in fact colossal wooden statues, in number about twenty, made with naked bodies; but who they are I am not able to say, except only that which is reported.
οἳ δὲ τινὲς λέγουσι περὶ τῆς βοὸς ταύτης καὶ τῶν κολοσσῶν τόνδε τὸν λόγον, ὡς Μυκερῖνος ἠράσθη τῆς ἑωυτοῦ θυγατρὸς καὶ ἔπειτα ἐμίγη οἱ ἀεκούσῃ·
μετὰ δὲ λέγουσι ὡς ἡ παῖς ἀπήγξατο ὑπὸ ἄχεος, ὁ δέ μιν ἔθαψε ἐν τῇ βοῒ ταύτῃ, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ αὐτῆς τῶν ἀμφιπόλων τῶν προδουσέων τὴν θυγατέρα τῷ πατρὶ ἀπέταμε τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ νῦν τὰς εἰκόνας αὐτέων εἶναι πεπονθυίας τά περ αἱ ζωαὶ ἔπαθον.
ταῦτα δὲ λέγουσι φλυηρέοντες, ὡς ἐγὼ δοκέω, τά τε ἄλλα καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς χεῖρας τῶν κολοσσῶν· ταύτας γὰρ ὦν καὶ ἡμεῖς ὡρῶμεν ὅτι ὑπὸ χρόνου τὰς χεῖρας ἀποβεβλήκασι, αἳ ἐν ποσὶ αὐτέων ἐφαίνοντο ἐοῦσαι ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμέ.
Some however tell about this cow and the colossal statues the following tale, namely that Mykerinos was enamoured of his own daughter and afterwards ravished her; and upon this they say that the girl strangled herself for grief, and he buried her in this cow; and her mother cut off the hands of the maids who had betrayed the daughter to her father; wherefore now the images of them have suffered that which the maids suffered in their life. In thus saying they speak idly, as it seems to me, especially in what they say about the hands of the statues; for as to this, even we ourselves saw that their hands had dropped off from lapse of time, and they were to be seen still lying at their feet even down to my time.
ἡ δὲ βοῦς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα κατακέκρυπται φοινικέῳ εἵματι, τὸν αὐχένα δὲ καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν φαίνει κεχρυσωμένα παχέι κάρτα χρυσῷ· μεταξὺ δὲ τῶν κερέων ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου κύκλος μεμιμημένος ἔπεστι χρύσεος.
ἔστι δὲ ἡ βοῦς οὐκ ὀρθὴ ἀλλʼ ἐν γούνασι κειμένη, μέγαθος δὲ ὅση περ μεγάλη βοῦς ζωή. ἐκφέρεται δὲ ἐκ τοῦ οἰκήματος ἀνὰ πάντα ἔτεα, ἐπεὰν τύπτωνται Αἰγύπτιοι τὸν οὐκ ὀνομαζόμενον θεὸν ὑπʼ ἐμεῦ ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ πρήγματι·
τότε ὦν καὶ τὴν βοῦν ἐκφέρουσι ἐς τὸ φῶς· φασὶ γὰρ αὐτὴν δεηθῆναι τοῦ πατρὸς Μυκερίνου ἀποθνήσκουσαν ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἅπαξ μιν τὸν ἥλιον κατιδεῖν.
The cow is covered up with a crimson robe, except only the head and the neck, which are seen, overlaid with gold very thickly; and between the horns there is the disc of the sun figured in gold. The cow is not standing up but kneeling, and in size it is equal to a large living cow. Every year it is carried forth from the chamber, at those times, I say, the Egyptians beat themselves for that god whom I will not name upon occasion of such a matter; at these times, I say, they also carry forth the cow to the light of day, for they say that she asked of her father Mykerinos, when she was dying, that she might look upon the sun once in the year.
μετὰ δὲ τῆς θυγατρὸς τὸ πάθος δεύτερα τούτῳ τῷ βασιλέι τάδε γενέσθαι· ἐλθεῖν οἱ μαντήιον ἐκ Βουτοῦς πόλιος ὡς μέλλοι ἓξ ἔτεα μοῦνον βιοὺς τῷ ἑβδόμῳ τελευτήσειν.
τὸν δὲ δεινὸν ποιησάμενον πέμψαι ἐς τὸ μαντήιον τῷ θεῷ ὀνείδισμα, ἀντιμεμφόμενον ὅτι ὁ μὲν αὐτοῦ πατὴρ καὶ πάτρως, ἀποκληίσαντες τὰ ἱρὰ καὶ θεῶν οὐ μεμνημένοι ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους φθείροντες, ἐβίωσαν χρόνον ἐπὶ πολλόν, αὐτὸς δʼ εὐσεβὴς ἐὼν μέλλοι ταχέως οὕτω τελευτήσειν.
ἐκ δὲ τοῦ χρηστηρίου αὐτῷ δεύτερα ἐλθεῖν λέγοντα τούτων εἵνεκα καὶ συνταχύνειν αὐτὸν τὸν βίον· οὐ γὰρ ποιῆσαί μιν τὸ χρεὸν ἦν ποιέειν· δεῖν γὰρ Αἴγυπτον κακοῦσθαι ἐπʼ ἔτεα πεντήκοντά τε καὶ ἑκατόν, καὶ τοὺς μὲν δύο τοὺς πρὸ ἐκείνου γενομένους βασιλέας μαθεῖν τοῦτο, κεῖνον δὲ οὔ.
ταῦτα ἀκούσαντα τὸν Μυκερῖνον, ὡς κατακεκριμένων ἤδη οἱ τούτων, λύχνα ποιησάμενον πολλά, ὅκως γίνοιτο νύξ, ἀνάψαντα αὐτὰ πίνειν τε καὶ εὐπαθέειν, οὔτε ἡμέρης οὔτε νυκτὸς ἀνιέντα, ἔς τε τὰ ἕλεα καὶ τὰ ἄλσεα πλανώμενον καὶ ἵνα πυνθάνοιτο εἶναι ἐνηβητήρια ἐπιτηδεότατα.
ταῦτα δὲ ἐμηχανᾶτο θέλων τὸ μαντήιον ψευδόμενον ἀποδέξαι, ἵνα οἱ δυώδεκα ἔτεα ἀντὶ ἓξ ἐτέων γένηται, αἱ νύκτες ἡμέραι ποιεύμεναι.
After the misfortune of his daughter it happened, they said, secondly to this king as follows:—An oracle came to him from the city of Buto, saying that he was destined to live but six years more, in the seventh year to end his life: and he being indignant at it sent to the Oracle a reproach against the god, making complaint in reply that whereas his father and uncle, who had shut up the temples and had not only not remembered the gods, but also had been destroyers of men, had lived for a long time, he himself, who practised piety, was destined to end his life so soon: and from the Oracle there came a second message, which said that it was for this very cause that he was bringing his life to a swift close; for he had not done that which it was appointed for him to do, since it was destined that Egypt should suffer evils for a hundred and fifty years, and the two kings who had risen before him had perceived this, but he had not. Mykerinos having heard this, and considering that this sentence had been passed upon him beyond recall, procured many lamps, and whenever night came on he lighted these and began to drink and take his pleasure, ceasing neither by day nor by night; and he went about to the fen-country and to the woods and wherever he heard there were the most suitable places for enjoyment. This he devised (having a mind to prove that the Oracle spoke falsely) in order that he might have twelve years of life instead of six, the nights being turned into days.
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