τῆς δὲ Ἀθηνᾶς τὸ ἄγαλμα τῆς Ἀλέας τὸ ἀρχαῖον, σὺν δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ ὑὸς τοῦ Καλυδωνίου τοὺς ὀδόντας ἔλαβεν ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Αὔγουστος, Ἀντώνιον πολέμῳ καὶ τὸ Ἀντωνίου νικήσας συμμαχικόν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ οἱ Ἀρκάδες πλὴν Μαντινέων ἦσαν οἱ ἄλλοι.
φαίνεται δὲ οὐκ ἄρξας ὁ Αὔγουστος ἀναθήματα καὶ ἕδη θεῶν ἀπάγεσθαι παρὰ τῶν κρατηθέντων, καθεστηκότι δὲ ἐκ παλαιοῦ χρησάμενος. Ἰλίου τε γὰρ ἁλούσης καὶ νεμομένων τὰ λάφυρα Ἑλλήνων, Σθενέλῳ τῷ Καπανέως τὸ ξόανον τοῦ Διὸς ἐδόθη τοῦ Ἑρκείου· καὶ ἔτεσιν ὕστερον πολλοῖς Δωριέων ἐς Σικελίαν ἐσοικιζομένων, Ἀντίφημος ὁ Γέλας οἰκιστὴς πόλισμα Σικανῶν Ὀμφάκην πορθήσας μετεκόμισεν ἐς Γέλαν ἄγαλμα ὑπὸ Δαιδάλου πεποιημένον.
βασιλέα τε τῶν Περσῶν Ξέρξην τὸν Δαρείου, χωρὶς ἢ ὅσα ἐξεκόμισε τοῦ Ἀθηναίων ἄστεως, τοῦτο μὲν ἐκ Βραυρῶνος καὶ ἄγαλμα ἴσμεν τῆς Βραυρωνίας λαβόντα Ἀρτέμιδος, τοῦτο δὲ αἰτίαν ἐπενεγκὼν Μιλησίοις, ἐθελοκακῆσαι σφᾶς ἐναντία Ἀθηναίων ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ναυμαχήσαντας, τὸν χαλκοῦν ἔλαβεν Ἀπόλλωνα τὸν ἐν Βραγχίδαις· καὶ τὸν μὲν ὕστερον ἔμελλε χρόνῳ Σέλευκος καταπέμψειν Μιλησίοις, Ἀργείοις δὲ τὰ ἐκ Τίρυνθος ἔτι καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ τὸ μὲν παρὰ τῇ Ἥρᾳ ξόανον, τὸ δὲ ἐν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνός ἐστιν ἀνακείμενον τοῦ Λυκίου·
Κυζικηνοί τε, ἀναγκάσαντες πολέμῳ Προκοννησίους γενέσθαι σφίσι συνοίκους, Μητρὸς Δινδυμήνης ἄγαλμα ἔλαβον ἐκ Προκοννήσου· τὸ δὲ ἄγαλμά ἐστι χρυσοῦ, καὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀντὶ ἐλέφαντος ἵππων τῶν ποταμίων ὀδόντες εἰσὶν εἰργασμένοι. βασιλεὺς μὲν δὴ Αὔγουστος καθεστηκότα ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ ὑπό τε Ἑλλήνων νομιζόμενα καὶ βαρβάρων εἰργάσατο· Ῥωμαίοις δὲ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς τὸ ἄγαλμα τῆς Ἀλέας ἐς τὴν ἀγορὰν τὴν ὑπὸ Αὐγούστου ποιηθεῖσαν, ἐς ταύτην ἐστὶν ἰόντι.
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ἐνταῦθα ἀνάκειται ἐλέφαντος διὰ παντὸς πεποιημένον, τέχνη δὲ Ἐνδοίου· τοῦ δὲ ὑὸς τῶν ὀδόντων κατεᾶχθαι μὲν τὸν ἕτερόν φασιν οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς θαύμασιν, ὁ δʼ ἔτι ἐξ αὐτῶν λειπόμενος ἀνέκειτο ἐν βασιλέως κήποις ἐν ἱερῷ Διονύσου, τὴν περίμετρον τοῦ μήκους παρεχόμενος ἐς ἥμισυ μάλιστα ὀργυιᾶς.
The ancient image of Athena Alea, and with it the tusks of the Calydonian boar, were carried off by the Roman Emperor Augustus, after he had defeated Antony and his allies, among whom were all the Arcadians except the Mantineans.
It is known that Augustus was not the first to carry off votive offerings and images of the gods from his vanquished foes, but that he only followed a long-established precedent. For when Ilium was taken and the Greeks were dividing the spoils, the wooden image of Zeus of the Courtyard was given to Sthenelus, son of Capaneus. And many years afterwards, when the Dorians were migrating into Sicily, Antiphemus, the founder of Gela, sacked Omphace, a town of the Sicanians, and carried off to Gela an image which had been made by Daedalus. And we know that Xerxes, son of Darius, king of Persia, besides what he carried off from the city of Athens, took from Brauron an image of Brauronian Artemis; and moreover, accusing the Milesians of wilfully playing the coward in the sea-fights with the Athenians in Greek waters, he took the bronze Apollo of Branchidae. The latter image was afterwards restored to the Ephesians by Seleucus. But down to my time the Argives still preserve the images they took from Tiryns: one of them, a wooden image, stands beside the image of Hera, the other is preserved in the sanctuary of Elean Apollo. When the people of Cyzicus compelled the people of Proconnesus by force of arms to settle in Cyzicus, they took from Proconnesus an image of Mother Dindymene: the image is of gold, and the face is made of the teeth of hippopotamuses instead of ivory. Thus the Emperor Augustus merely practised an ancient custom, which is observed by Greeks and barbarians alike. The image of Athena Alea at Rome is as you go to the Forum of Augustus. There it stands, an image made wholly of ivory, the work of Endoeus. As to the boar’s tusks, the keepers of the curiosities say that one of them is broken; but the remaining one is preserved in the imperial gardens, in a sanctuary of Dionysus, and is just half a fathom long.
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