Ἀντώνιος δὲ Λιβύης ἁψάμενος καὶ Κλεοπάτραν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐκ Παραιτονίου προπέμψας αὐτὸς ἀπέλαυεν ἐρημίας ἀφθόνου, σὺν δυσὶ φίλοις ἀλύων καὶ πλανώμενος, Ἕλληνι μὲν Ἀριστοκράτει ῥητορικῷ, Ῥωμαίῳ δὲ Λουκιλλίῳ, περὶ οὗ δι’ ἑτέρων γεγράφαμεν ὡς ἐν Φιλίπποις, ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαφυγεῖν Βροῦτον, αὐτὸς αὑτόν, ὡς δὴ Βροῦτος ὤν, ἐνεχείρισε τοῖς διώκουσι, καὶ διασωθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντωνίου διὰ τοῦτο, πιστὸς αὐτῷ καὶ βέβαιος ἄχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων καιρῶν παρέμεινεν.
After Antony had reached the coast of Libya and sent Cleopatra forward into Egypt from Paraetonium, he had the benefit of solitude without end, roaming and wandering about with two friends, one a Greek, Aristocrates a rhetorician, and the other a Roman, Lucilius, about whom I have told a story elsewhere. He was at Philippi, and in order that Brutus might make his escape, pretended to be Brutus and surrendered himself to his pursuers. His life was spared by Antony on this account, and he remained faithful to him and steadfast up to the last crucial times.
ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐν Λιβύνͅ δύναμιν ὁ πεπιστευμένος ἀπέστησεν, ὁρμήσας ἑαυτὸν ἀνελεῖν καὶ διακωλυθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων καὶ κομισθεὶς εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν εὗρε Κλεοπάτραν ἐπιτολμῶσαν ἔργῳ παραβόλῳ καὶ μεγάλῳ. τοῦ γὰρ εἴργοντος ἰσθμοῦ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς κατʼ Αἴγυπτον θαλάσσης καὶ δοκοῦντος Ἀσίαν καὶ Λιβύην ὁρίζειν, ᾗ σφίγγεται μάλιστα τοῖς πελάγεσι καὶ βραχύτατος εὖρός ἐστι, τριακοσίων σταδίων ὄντων, ἐνεχείρησεν ἄρασα τὸν στόλον ὑπερνεωλκῆσαι,
When the general to whom his forces in Libya had been entrusted brought about their defection, Antony tried to kill himself, but was prevented by his friends and brought to Alexandria. Here he found Cleopatra venturing upon a hazardous and great undertaking. The isthmus, namely, which separates the Red Sea from the Mediterranean Sea off Egypt and is considered to be the boundary between Asia and Libya, in the part where it is most constricted by the two seas and has the least width, measures three hundred furlongs.
καὶ καθεῖσα τὰς ναῦς εἰς τὸν Ἀραβικὸν κόλπον μετὰ χρημάτων πολλῶν καὶ δυνάμεως ἔξω κατοικεῖν, ἀποφυγοῦσα δουλείαν καὶ πόλεμον. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς πρώτας ἀνελκομένας τῶν νεῶν οἱ περὶ τὴν Πέτραν Ἄραβες κατέκαυσαν, ἔτι δὲ Ἀντώνιος τὸν ἐν Ἀκτίῳ στρατὸν ᾤετο συμμένειν, ἐπαύσατο, καὶ τὰς ἐμβολὰς ἐφύλαττεν.
Here Cleopatra undertook to raise her fleet out of water and drag the ships across, and after launching them in the Arabian Gulf with much money and a large force, to settle in parts outside of Egypt, thus escaping war and servitude. But since the Arabians about Petra burned the first ships that were drawn up, and Antony still thought that his land forces at Actium were holding together, she desisted, and guarded the approaches to the country.
Ἀντώνιος δὲ τὴν πόλιν ἐκλιπὼν καὶ τὰς μετὰ τῶν φίλων διατριβάς, οἴκησιν ἔναλον κατεσκεύαζεν αὑτῷ περὶ τὴν Φάρον, εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν χῶμα προβαλών· καὶ διῆγεν αὐτόθι φυγὰς ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὸν Τίμωνος ἀγαπᾶν καὶ ζηλοῦν βίον ἔφασκεν, ὡς δὴ πεπονθὼς ὅμοια· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀδικηθεὶς ὑπὸ φίλων καὶ ἀχαριστηθείς, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀπιστεῖν καὶ δυσχεραίνειν.
And now Antony forsook the city and the society of his friends, and built for himself a dwelling in the sea at Pharos, by throwing a mole out into the water. Here he lived an exile from men, and declared that he was contentedly imitating the life of Timon, since, indeed, his experiences had been like Timon’s; for he himself also had been wronged and treated with ingratitude by his friends, and therefore hated and distrusted all mankind.
ὁ δὲ Τίμων ἦν Ἀθηναῖος, καὶ γέγονεν ἡλικίᾳ μάλιστα κατὰ τὸν Πελοποννησιακὸν πόλεμον, ὡς ἐκ τῶν Ἀριστοφάνους καὶ Πλάτωνος δραμάτων λαβεῖν ἔστι. κωμῳδεῖται γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνοις ὡς δυσμενὴς καὶ μισάνθρωπος· ἐκκλίνων δὲ καὶ διωθούμενος ἅπασαν ἔντευξιν, Ἀλκιβιάδην, νέον ὄντα καὶ θρασύν, ἠσπάζετο καὶ κατεφίλει προθύμως. Ἀπημάντου δὲ θαυμάσαντος καὶ πυθομένου τὴν αἰτίαν, φιλεῖν ἔφη τὸν νεανίσκον εἰδὼς ὅτι πολλῶν Ἀθηναίοις κακῶν αἴτιος ἔσοιτο.
Now, Timon was an Athenian, and lived about the time of the Peloponnesian War, as may be gathered from the plays of Aristophanes and Plato. For he is represented in their comedies as peevish and misanthropical; but though he avoided and repelled all intercourse with men, he was glad to see Alcibiades, who was then young and headstrong, and showered kisses upon him. And when Apemantus was amazed at this and asked the reason for it, Timon said he loved the youth because he knew that he would be a cause of many ills to Athens.
τὸν δὲ Ἀπήμαντον μόνον ὡς ὅμοιον αὐτῷ καὶ ζηλοῦντα τὴν δίαιταν ἔστιν ὅτε προσίετο· καί ποτε τῆς τῶν Χοῶν οὔσης ἑορτῆς εἱστιῶντο καθʼ αὑτοὺς οἱ δύο, τοῦ δʼ Ἀπημάντου φήσαντος, ὡς καλόν, ὦ Τίμων, τὸ συμπόσιον ἡμῶν, εἴγε σύ, ἔφη, μὴ παρῆς. λέγεται δὲ Ἀθηναίων ἐκκλησιαζόντων ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα ποιῆσαι σιωπὴν καὶ προσδοκίαν μεγάλην διὰ τὸ παράδοξον·
This Apemantus alone of all men Timon would sometimes admit into his company, since Apemantus was like him and tried sometimes to imitate his mode of life; and once, at the festival of The Pitchers, the two were feasting by themselves, and Apemantus said: Timon, what a fine symposium ours is! It would be, said Timon, if thou wert not here. We are told also that once when the Athenians were holding an assembly, he ascended the bema, and the strangeness of the thing caused deep silence and great expectancy;
εἶτα εἰπεῖν· ἔστι μοι μικρὸν οἰκόπεδον, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ συκῆ τις ἐν αὐτῷ πέφυκεν, ἐξ ἧς ἤδη συχνοὶ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀπήγξαντο. μέλλων οὖν οἰκοδομεῖν τὸν τόπον ἐβουλήθην δημοσίᾳ προειπεῖν, ἵνα, ἂν ἄρα τινὲς ἐθέλωσιν ὑμῶν, πρὶν ἐκκοπῆναι τὴν συκῆν, ἀπάγξωνται. τελευτήσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ταφέντος Ἁλῆσι παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν ὤλισθε τὰ προὔχοντα τοῦ αἰγιαλοῦ, καὶ τὸ κῦμα περιελθὸν ἄβατον καὶ ἀπροσπέλαστον ἀνθρώπῳ πεποίηκε τὸν τάφον.
then he said: I have a small building lot, men of Athens, and a fig-tree is growing in it, from which many of my fellow citizens have already hanged themselves. Accordingly, as I intend to build a house there, I wanted to give public notice to that effect, in order that all of you who desire to do so may hang yourselves before the fig-tree is cut down. After he had died and been buried at Halae near the sea, the shore in front of the tomb slipped away, and the water surrounded it and made it completely inaccessible to man.
ἦν δʼ ἐπιγεγραμμένον· ἐνθάδʼ ἀπορρήξας ψυχὴν βαρυδαίμονα κεῖμαι. / τοὔνομα δʼ οὐ πεύσεσθε, κακοὶ δὲ κακῶς ἀπόλοισθε. / καὶ τοῦτο μὲν αὐτὸν ἔτι ζῶντα πεποιηκέναι λέγουσι, τὸ δὲ περιφερόμενον Καλλιμάχειόν ἐστι· Τίμων μισάνθ ρωπος ἐνοικέω. ἀλλὰ πάρελθε, / οἰμώζειν εἴπας πολλὰ πάρελθε μόνον. /
The inscription on the tomb was: Here, after snapping the thread of a wretched life, I lie. / Ye shall not learn my name, but my curses shall follow you. / This inscription he is said to have composed himself, but that in general circulation is by Callimachus: Timon, hater of men, dwells here; so pass along; / Heap many curses on me, if thou wilt, only pass along. /
ταῦτα μὲν περὶ Τίμωνος ἀπὸ πολλῶν ὀλίγα. τῷ δὲ Ἀντωνίῳ Κανίδιός τε τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν ἐν Ἀκτίῳ δυνάμεων αὐτάγγελος ἦλθε, καὶ τὸν Ἰουδαῖον Ἡρώδην ἔχοντά τινα τάγματα καὶ σπείρας ἤκουσε Καίσαρι προσκεχωρηκέναι, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ὁμοίως δυνάστας ἀφίστασθαι καὶ μηδὲν ἔτι συμμένειν τῶν ἐκτός.
These are a few things out of many concerning Timon. As for Antony, Canidius in person brought him word of the loss of his forces at Actium, and he heard that Herod the Jew, with sundry legions and cohorts, had gone over to Caesar, and that the other dynasts in like manner were deserting him and nothing longer remained of his power outside of Egypt.
οὐ μὴν διετάραξέ τι τούτων αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ ὥσπερ ἄσμενος τὸ ἐλπίζειν ἀποτεθειμένος, ἵνα καὶ τὸ φροντίζειν, τὴν μὲν ἔναλον ἐκείνην δίαιταν, ἣν Τιμώνειον ὠνόμαζεν, ἐξέλιπεν, ἀναληφθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας εἰς τὰ βασίλεια πρὸς δεῖπνα καὶ πότους καὶ διανομὰς ἔτρεψε τὴν πόλιν, ἐγγράφων μὲν εἰς ἐφήβους τὸν Κλεοπάτρας παῖδα καὶ Καίσαρος,
However, none of these things greatly disturbed him, but, as if he gladly laid aside his hopes, that so he might lay aside his anxieties also, he forsook that dwelling of his in the sea, which he called Timoneum, and after he had been received into the palace by Cleopatra, turned the city to the enjoyment of suppers and drinking-bouts and distributions of gifts, inscribing in the list of ephebi the son of Cleopatra and Caesar,
τὸ δὲ ἀπόρφυρον καὶ τέλειον ἱμάτιον Ἀντύλλῳ τῷ ἐκ Φουλβίας περιτιθείς, ἐφʼ οἷς ἡμέρας πολλὰς συμπόσια καὶ κῶμοι καὶ θαλίαι τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν κατεῖχον. αὐτοὶ δὲ τὴν μὲν τῶν ἀμιμητοβίων ἐκείνην σύνοδον κατέλυσαν, ἑτέραν δὲ συνέταξαν οὐδέν τι λειπομένην ἐκείνης ἁβρότητι καὶ τρυφαῖς καὶ πολυτελείαις, ἣν συναποθανουμένων ἐκάλουν. ἀπεγράφοντο γὰρ οἱ φίλοι συναποθανουμένους ἑαυτούς, καὶ διῆγον εὐπαθοῦντες ἐν δείπνων περιόδοις.
and bestowing upon Antyllus the son of Fulvia the toga virilis without purple hem, in celebration of which, for many days, banquets and revels and feastings occupied Alexandria. Cleopatra and Antony now dissolved their famous society of Inimitable Livers, and founded another, not at all inferior to that in daintiness and luxury and extravagant outlay, which they called the society of Partners in Death. For their friends enrolled themselves as those who would die together, and passed the time delightfully in a round of suppers.
Κλεοπάτρα δὲ φαρμάκων θανασίμων συνῆγε παντοδαπὰς δυνάμεις, ὧν ἑκάστης τὸ ἀνώδυνον ἐλέγχουσα προὔβαλλε τοῖς ἐπὶ θανάτῳ φρουρουμένοις. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἑώρα τὰς μὲν ὠκυμόρους τὴν ὀξύτητα τοῦ θανάτου δι’ ὀδύνης ἐπιφερούσας, τὰς δὲ πρᾳοτέρας τάχος οὐκ ἐχούσας, τῶν θηρίων ἀπεπειρᾶτο, θεωμένης αὐτῆς ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ προσφερόντων.
Moreover, Cleopatra was getting together collections of all sorts of deadly poisons, and she tested the painless working of each of them by giving them to prisoners under sentence of death. But when she saw that the speedy poisons enhanced the sharpness of death by the pain they caused, while the milder poisons were not quick, she made trial of venomous animals, watching with her own eyes as they were set one upon another.
ἐποίει δὲ τοῦτο καθʼ ἡμέραν· καὶ σχεδὸν ἐν πᾶσι μόνον εὕρισκε τὸ δῆγμα τῆς ἀσπίδος ἄνευ σπασμοῦ καὶ στεναγμοῦ κάρον ὑπνώδη καὶ καταφορὰν ἐφελκόμενον, ἱδρῶτι μαλακῷ τοῦ προσώπου, καὶ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἀμαυρώσει παραλυομένων ῥᾳδίως καὶ δυσχεραινόντων πρὸς τὰς ἐξεγέρσεις καὶ ἀνακλίσεις, ὥσπερ οἱ βαθέως καθεύδοντες.
She did this daily, and tried them almost all; and she found that the bite of the asp alone induced a sleepy torpor and sinking, where there was no spasm or groan, but a gentle perspiration on the face, while the perceptive faculties were easily relaxed and dimmed, and resisted all attempts to rouse and restore them, as is the case with those who are soundly asleep.
ἅμα δὲ καὶ πρὸς Καίσαρα πρεσβεις ἔπεμπον εἰς Ἀσίαν, ἡ μὲν αἰτουμένη τὴν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τοῖς παισὶν ἀρχήν, ὁ δὲ ἀξιῶν Ἀθήνησιν, εἰ μὴ δοκοίη περὶ Αἴγυπτον, ἰδιώτης καταβιῶναι. φίλων δὲ ἀπορίᾳ καὶ ἀπιστίᾳ διὰ τὰς αὐτομολίας ὁ τῶν παίδων διδάσκαλος ἐπέμφθη πρεσβεύων Εὐφρόνιος.
At the same time they also sent an embassy to Caesar in Asia, Cleopatra asking the realm of Egypt for her children, and Antony requesting that he might live as a private person at Athens, if he could not do so in Egypt. But owing to their lack of friends and the distrust which they felt on account of desertions, Euphronius, the teacher of the children, was sent on the embassy.
καὶ γὰρ Ἀλεξᾶς ὁ Λαοδικεύς, γνωρισθεὶς μὲν ἐν Ῥώμῃ διὰ Τιμαγένους καὶ πλεῖστον Ἑλλήνων δυνηθείς, γενόμενος δὲ τῶν Κλεοπάτρας ἐπʼ Ἀντώνιον ὀργάνων τὸ βιαιότατον καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ Ὀκταουίας ἱσταμένων ἐν αὐτῷ λογισμῶν ἀνατροπεύς, ἐπέμφθη μὲν Ἡρώδην τὸν βασιλέα τῆς μεταβολῆς ἐφέξων,
For Alexas the Laodicean, who had been made known to Antony in Rome through Timagenes and had more influence with him than any other Greek, who had also been Cleopatra’s most effective instrument against Antony and had overthrown the considerations arising in his mind in favour of Octavia, had been sent to keep Herod the king from apostasy;
αὐτοῦ δὲ καταμείνας καὶ προδοὺς Ἀντώνιον ἐτόλμησεν εἰς ὄψιν ἐλθεῖν Καίσαρος, Ἡρώδῃ πεποιθώς. ὤνησε δὲ αὐτὸν οὐδὲν Ἡρώδης, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς εἱρχθεὶς καὶ κομισθεὶς εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα δέσμιος ἐκεῖ Καίσαρος κελεύσαντος ἀνῃρέθη. τοιαύτην μὲν Ἀλεξᾶς ἔτι ζῶντι δίκην Ἀντωνίῳ τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐξέτισε.
but after remaining there and betraying Antony he had the audacity to come into Caesar’s presence, relying on Herod. Herod, however, could not help him, but the traitor was at once confined and carried in fetters to his own country, where he was put to death by Caesar’s orders. Such was the penalty for his treachery which Alexas paid to Antony while Antony was yet alive.
Καῖσαρ δὲ τοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ Ἀντωνίου λόγους οὐκ ἠνέσχετο, Κλεοπάτραν δὲ ἀπεκρίνατο μηδενὸς ἁμαρτήσεσθαι τῶν ἐπιεικῶν ἀνελοῦσαν Ἀντώνιον ἢ ἐκβαλοῦσαν. συνέπεμψε δὲ καὶ παρʼ αὑτοῦ τινα τῶν ἀπελευθέρων Θύρσον, οὐκ ἀνόητον ἄνθρωπον οὐδὲ ἀπιθάνως ἂν ἀφʼ ἡγεμόνος νέου διαλεχθέντα πρὸς γυναῖκα σοβαρὰν καὶ θαυμαστὸν ὅσον ἐπὶ κάλλει φρονοῦσαν.
Caesar would not listen to the proposals for Antony, but he sent back word to Cleopatra that she would receive all reasonable treatment if she either put Antony to death or cast him out. He also sent with the messengers one of his own freedmen, Thyrsus, a man of no mean parts, and one who would persuasively convey messages from a young general to a woman who was haughty and astonishingly proud in the matter of beauty.
οὗτος ἐντυγχάνων αὐτῇ μακρότερα τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τιμώμενος διαφερόντως ὑπόνοιαν τῷ Ἀντωνίῳ παρέσχε, καὶ συλλαβὼν αὐτὸν ἐμαστίγωσεν, εἶτα ἀφῆκε πρὸς Καίσαρα γράψας ὡς ἐντρυφῶν καὶ περιφρονῶν παροξύνειεν αὐτόν, εὐπαρόξυντον ὑπὸ κακῶν ὄντα. σὺ δὲ εἰ μὴ φέρεις τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἔφη, μετρίως, ἔχεις ἐμὸν ἀπελεύθερον Ἵππαρχον. τοῦτον κρεμάσας μαστίγωσον, ἵνα ἴσον ἔχωμεν.
This man had longer interviews with Cleopatra than the rest, and was conspicuously honoured by her, so that he roused suspicion in Antony, who seized him and gave him a flogging, and then sent him back to Caesar with a written message stating that Thyrsus, by his insolent and haughty airs, had irritated him, at a time when misfortunes made him easily irritated. But if thou dost not like the thing, he said, thou hast my freedman Hipparchus; hang him up and give him a flogging, and we shall be quits.
ἐκ τούτου Κλεοπάτρα μὲν ἀπολυομένη τὰς αἰτίας καὶ ὑπονοίας ἐθεράπευεν αὐτὸν περιττῶς· καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς γενέθλιον ταπεινῶς διαγαγοῦσα καὶ ταῖς τύχαις πρεπόντως, τὴν ἐκείνου πᾶσαν ὑπερβαλλομένη λαμπρότητα καὶ πολυτέλειαν ἑώρτασεν, ὥστε πολλοὺς τῶν κεκλημένων ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον πένητας ἐλθόντας ἀπελθεῖν πλουσίους. Καίσαρα δὲ Ἀγρίππας ἀνεκαλεῖτο πολλάκις ἀπὸ Ῥώμης γράφων ὡς τῶν ἐκεῖ πραγμάτων τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ ποθούντων.
After this, Cleopatra tried to dissipate his causes of complaint and his suspicions by paying extravagant court to him; her own birthday she kept modestly and in a manner becoming to her circumstances, but she celebrated his with an excess of all kinds of splendour and costliness, so that many of those who were bidden to the supper came poor and went away rich. Meanwhile Caesar was being called home by Agrippa, who frequently wrote him from Rome that matters there greatly needed his presence.
Cite This Text