Λέγεται δὲ καὶ ὅτε Ἀχιλλεὺς πλέων τὰς προσεχεῖς τῇ ἠπείρῳ νήσους ἐπόρθει, προσσχεῖν αὐτὸν Λέσβῳ. Ἔνθα δὴ καθ’ ἑκάστην τῶν πόλεων αὐτὸν ἐπιόντα κεραΐζειν.
Ὡς δὲ οἱ Μήθυμναν οἰκοῦντες μάλα καρτερῶς ἀντεῖχον, καὶ ἐν πολλῇ ἀμηχανίᾳ ἦν διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἑλεῖν τὴν πόλιν, Πεισιδίκην τινὰ Μηθυμναίαν, τοῦ βασιλέως θυγατέρα, θεασαμένην ἀπὸ τοῦ τείχους τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἐρασθῆναι αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὕτως τὴν τροφὸν διαπεμψαμένην ὑπισχνεῖσθαι ἐγχειρίσειν αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν, εἴ γε μέλλοι αὐτὴν γυναῖκα ἕξειν.
Ὁ δὲ τὸ μὲν παραυτίκα καθωμολογήσατο· ἐπεὶ μέντοι ἐγκρατὴς τῆς πόλεως ἐγένετο, νεμεσήσας ἐπὶ τῷ δρασθέντι, προὐτρέψατο τοὺς στρατιώτας καταλεῦσαι τὴν κόρην.
Μέμνηται τοῦ πάθους τοῦδε καὶ ὁ τὴν Λέσβου κτίσιν ποιήσας ἐν τοῖσδε· ἔνθα δὲ Πηλείδης κατὰ μὲν κτάνε Λάμπετον ἥρω, ἐκ δ’ Ἱκετάονα πέφνεν, ἰθαιγενέος Λεπετύμνου υἱέα Μηθύμνης τε, καὶ ἀλκηέστατον ἄλλων, αὐτοκασίγνητον Ἑλικάονος, ἔνδοθι πάτρης τηλίκον ὑψίπυλον. θαλερὴ δέ μιν ἄασε Κύπρις. ἡ γὰρ ἐπ’ Αἰακίδῃ κούρης φρένας ἐπτοίησε Πεισιδίκης, ὅτε τόν γε μετὰ προμάχοισιν Ἀχαιῶν χάρμῃ ἀγαλλόμενον θηέσκετο, πολλὰ δ’ ἐς ὑγρὴν ἠέρα χεῖρας ἔτεινεν ἐελδομένη φιλότητος.
εἶτα μικρὸν ὑποβάς δέκτο μὲν αὐτίκα λαὸν Ἀχαιικὸν ἔνδοθι πάτρης παρθενική, κληῖδας ὑποχλίσσασα πυλάων, ἔτλη δ’ οἷσιν ἰδέσθαι ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖσι τοκῆας χαλκῷ ἐληλαμένους καὶ δούλια δεσμὰ γυναικῶν ἑλκομένων ἐπὶ νῆας ὑποσχεσίῃς Ἀχιλῆος, ὄφρα νυὸς γλαυκῆς Θέτιδος πέλοι, ὄφρα οἱ εἶεν πενθεροὶ Αἰακίδαι, Φθίῃ δ’ ἔνι δώματα ναίοι ἀνδρὸς ἀριστῆος πινυτὴ δάμαρ· οὐ δ’ ὅ γ’ ἔμελλε τὰ ῥέξειν, ὀλοῷ δ’ ἐπαγάσσατο πατρίδος οἴτῳ· ἔνθ’ ἥ γ’ αἰνότατον γάμον εἴσιδε Πηλείδαο Ἀργείων ὑπὸ χερσὶ δυσάμμορος, οἵ μιν ἔπεφνον πανσυδίῃ θαμινῇσιν ἀράσσοντες λιθάδεσσιν.
1. THERE is a story that Achilles, when he was sailing along and laying waste the islands close to the mainland, arrived at Lesbos, and there attacked each of its cities in turn and plundered it. 2. But the inhabitants of Methymna held out against him very valiantly, and he was in great straits because he was unable to take the city, when a girl of Methymna named Pisidice, a daughter of the king, saw him from the walls and fell in love with him. Accordingly she sent him her nurse, and promised to put the town into his possession if he would take her to wife. 3. At the moment, indeed, he consented to her terms; but when the town was in his power he felt the utmost loathing for what she had done, and bade his soldiers stone her. The poet of the founding of Lesbos relates this tragedy in these words:—
Achilles slew the hero Lampetus / And Hicetaon (of Methymna son / And Lepetymnus, born of noble sires) / And Helicaon’s brother, bold like him, / Hypsipylus, the strongest man alive. / But lady Venus laid great wait for him: / For she set poor Pisidice’s young heart / A-fluttering with love for him, whenas / She saw him revelling in battle’s lust / Amid the Achaean champions; and full oft / Into the buxom air her arms she flung / In craving for his love.
4. Then, a little further down, he goes on:—
Within the city straight the maiden brought / The whole Achaean hosts, the city gates / Unbarring stealthily; yea, she endured / With her own eyes to see her aged sires / Put to the sword, the chains of slavery / About the women whom Achilles dragged / —So had he sworn—down to his ships: and all / That she might sea-born Thetis’ daughter be, / The sons of Aeacus her kin, and dwell / At Phthia, royal husband’s goodly spouse. / But it was not to be: he but rejoiced / To see her city’s doom, while her befell / A sorry marriage with great Peleus’ son, / Poor wretch, at Argive hands; for her they slew, / Casting great stones upon her, one and all.
Ἔφασαν δέ τινες καὶ τὴν Σαρδίων ἀκρόπολιν ὑπὸ Κύρου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως ἁλῶναι προδούσης τῆς Κροίσου θυγατρὸς Νανίδος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐπολιόρκει Σάρδεις Κῦρος καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ εἰς ἅλωσιν τῆς πόλεως προὔβαινεν, ἐν πολλῷ τε δέει ἦν μὴ ἀθροισθὲν τὸ συμμαχικὸν τοῦ Κροίσου διαλύσειεν αὐτῷ τὴν στρατιάν, τότε τὴν παρθένον ταύτην ἔχει λόγος περὶ προδοσίας συνθεμένην τῷ Κύρῳ, εἰ κατὰ νόμους Περσῶν ἕξει γυναῖκα αὐτήν, κατὰ τὴν ἄκραν, μηδενὸς φυλάσσοντος δι’ ὀχυρότητα τοῦ χωρίου, εἰσδέχεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους, συνεργῶν αὐτῇ καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν γινομένων· τὸν μέντοι Κῦρον μὴ ἐμπεδῶσαι αὐτῇ τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν.
From the lyrics of Licymnius of Chios and from Hermesianax
1. The story has been told that the citadel of Sardis was captured by Cyrus, the king of the Persians, through its betrayal by Nanis, the daughter of Croesus. Cyrus was besieging Sardis, and none of the devices he employed resulted in the capture of the city: he was indeed in great fear that Croesus would get together again an army of allies and would come and destroy his blockading force. 2. Then (so the story went) this girl, Nanis, made an agreement to betray the place to Cyrus if he would take her to wife according to the customs of the Persians; she got together some helpers and let in the enemy by the extreme summit of the citadel, a place where no guards were posted owing to its natural strength. Cyrus, however, refused to perform the promise which he had made to her.
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