Megasthenes

“ With regard to opinions on physical phenomena, they display, says Megasthenes, great simplicity, their actions being better than their reasoning, for their belief is chiefly founded on fables. On many subjects their sentiments are the same as those of the Greeks. According to the Brachmanes, the world was created, and is liable to corruption ”

“ Megasthenes concurs in this opinion; he advises persons not to credit the ancient histories of India, for, except the expeditions of Hercules, of Bacchus, and the later invasion of Alexander, no army was ever sent out of their country by the Indians, nor did any foreign enemy ever invade or conquer it. Sesostris the Egyptian (he says) , and Tearco the Ethiopian, advanced as far as Europe; and Nabocodrosor, who was more celebrated among the Chaldæans than Hercules among the Greeks, penetrated even as far as the Pillars,309 which Tearco also reached ”

“ The most difficult to catch are those which roll - the stones. Some are said to have been brought, though with difficulty and after long intervals, to the F r a s i i, but these were either suffering from diseases or were females heavy with young, the former being too weak to escape, and the latter being impeded by the burden of the womb. — Conf. PUn. Hist. If at. VII. 2. 17. Fragm. XVI. PUny, Hist. Nat VIII. 14. 1. Of the Boa-Constrictor. According to Megasthen^s, serpents in India grow to such a size that they swallow stags and bulls whole. ”

“ Hence the expedition produced quite a crop of narratives and memoirs relating tolndia, such as those of Baeto, Diogṅetos, Nearchos, Onesikritos, Arisťoboulos, Kallisthe- nês, and others. These works are all lost, but their substance is to be found condensed in Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian. Subsequent to these writers were some others, who made considerable additions to the stock of information regarding India, among whom may be mentioned Dêimachos, who re- sided for a long time in Palibothra, whither he was sent on an embassy by Seleukos to Allitro- chadês, the successor of Sandrakottos ”

“ Alexander accordingly did not put forth his hand to violence, knowing the man to be of an independent spirit. He is said, however, to have won over Kalanos, one of the sophists of that place, whom MegasthenSs re- presents as a man utterly wanting in self-control, while the sophists themselves spoke opprobriously of Kalanos, because that, having left the happiness enjoyed among them, he went to serve another master than God. Digitized by Google 117 DOUBTFUL FRAGMENTS. Fragm. ”

“ This they declared was the prison of Prometheus, whither Hera- kles had come to effect his deliverance, and that this was the Kaukasos, to which the Greeks represent Prometheus as having been bound. J Ohind, which he takes to be the Embolima of the ancients. " RA^lgat," he says, " or the Qneen's rock, is a large upright block on the north edge of the fort, on which B&ja V a r a's rM is said to have seated herself daily. ”

“ Fbaqm. XLVIII. C. Zonar. ed. Basil. 1557> T. L p. 87^ Among the many old historians who mention Nabouchodonosor, Jdsephos enumerates B^r6* 80S, Megasthends, and Diokl&s. Fragm. XLVIII. D. G. Syncell. T. I. p. 419, ed. Benn. (p. 221 ed. Paris, p. 17^ edw Venet.) . Megasthends, in his fourth booh of the Indika^ represents Nabouchodonosor as mightier than H^rakles, because with great courage and enter- prise he conquered the greater part of Libya and Iberia. Fragm. XLIX. Abyden. ap. ”

“ Whoever reads attentively the oration delivered by Demosthenes in the Athenian assembly (about ten years after this period) respecting the propriety of sending an armed force to defend Megalopolis against the threats of Sparta—will see, I think, that Athens can never before have sent any military assistance to Megalopolis. Both the arguments which Demosthenes urges, and those which he combats as having been urged by opponents, exclude the reality of any such previous proceeding. ”

“ Lying toward Megalopolis, also a beneficiary of Epaminondas, it seemed to reunite in a new hope the old Arcadia and the old Messenia whose friendship had been so futile. To-day, still a strangely impressive monument, it may serve as a symbol of Messenia’s share in the spirit of Greece. Impotent in literature and art and unsuccessful even in war, the men of this country conserved through many generations and vicissitudes that intense national feeling which existed at the core of every Greek state, shaping Greek history and penetrating Greek literature. ”

“ Sparta, favoured by the depression of Thebes in the Phocian War, was threatening Megalopolis. Both Sparta and Megalopolis sent embassies to Athens. Demosthenes supported Megalopolis. The ruin of Megalopolis would mean, he argued, the return of Spartan domination in the Peloponnesus. Athenians must not favour the tyranny of any one city. They must respect the rights of all the cities, and thus promote unity based on mutual confidence. ”

“ In 232 B. C., Megalopolis joined the Achaian league, and was taken and ruined by Cleomenes. At that period it was as large a city as Sparta. Its most valuable paintings and sculptures were conveyed to the Laconian capital, and great part of the city destroyed.
The Athenians, soon after, beginning to see the impropriety of not keeping up the balance of power in Greece, Demosthenes signalised himself greatly in endeavouring to persuade them to take part with the Megalopolitans. "It has been a perpetual maxim with us," said he, "to assist the oppressed against the oppressor. ”

“ Yet it is in the highest degree probable that the Athenians were indebted for the earliest form of their comic poetry to the Megarians. The Megarian comedy is ridiculed by Ecphantides, one of the early comic poets of Athens, as rude and unpolished, which circumstance alone makes its higher antiquity probable.1633 Ecphantides, whom Aristophanes, Cratinus, and others, ridicule as rough and unpolished,1634 looks down in his turn on those who had introduced comedy from Megara, and claims the merit of first seasoning the uncouth Megarian productions with Attic salt. ”

“ They immediately mounted the walls on each side, every man as he came in, with little thought of order, to drive off or destroy the Peloponnesian guards; who, taken by surprise, and fancying that the Megarians generally were in concert with the enemy against them,—confirmed, too, in such belief by hearing the Athenian herald proclaim aloud that every Megarian who chose might take his post in the line of Athenian hoplites, [600] —made at first some resistance, but were soon discouraged, and fled into Nisæa. ”

“ The terrified people assembled, and voted to exile Megacles and all his family, the Alc-mæ-on ́i-dæ. Such was the fury of the Athenians against the archon whose crime had brought misfortunes upon them, that they even dug up the bones of his ancestors, and had them carried beyond the boundary of Attica.
The city had been defiled by the crime which Megacles had committed, and the people felt that they would never be prosperous again until Athens had been purified; [Pg 90] but the great question was to find a man holy enough to perform the ceremony. ”

“ O Megalena! if yet one spark of thy former love lingers in thy breast, oh! believe one who swears that he must be thine even till the particles which compose the soul devoted to thee, become annihilated."—He paused.
Megalena heard his wildly enthusiastic expressions in sullen silence. She looked upon him with a stern and severe gaze:—he yet lay at her feet, and, hiding his face upon the earth, groaned deeply. "What proof," exclaimed Megalena, impatiently, "what proof will Wolfstein, the deceiver, bring to satisfy me that his love is still mine?" ”

“ Most of the citizens escaped to Messene under the leadership of the brave Philopœmen, and the city was afterwards rebuilt, taking a leading part in the Achæan League, until the supremacy of Roman arms could no longer be disputed. Among its citizens at the beginning of the second century B.C., Megalopolis could boast of two of the greatest Greeks of their time, the gallant soldier just mentioned, who humbled the pride of Sparta and extorted the admiration of his Roman adversaries, and his young friend Polybius, the famous historian. ”

“ The lad who effects wonders by knowing the language of beasts, is in Greece named Melampus; the giant, whose life-token is a lock of his hair, becomes Nisus of Megara; his daughter, who loves the adventurer, and cuts the giant's lock, purple or golden, so that he is defeated, becomes Scylla; and Minos, who answers to the giant of fairy tale in the Theseus Attic legend, in the Megarian fable is himself the adventurer aided by the giant's daughter. ”

“ From his death, eternal glory accrued to Codrus, and victory to the Athenians. Who can help admiring a man that sought for death with the same stratagems with which, by those of meaner spirit, life is wont to be sought? His son Medon was the first archon at Athens; from whom his descendants were called by the Athenians Medontidæ; and these, as well as the following archons, down to the time of Charops, held their office during life. The Peloponnesians, on retiring from the Athenian territory, founded Megara, a city equally distant from Corinth and Athens. ”

“ If, on the other hand, Megalopolis makes alliance frankly with us, and the Spartans then refuse to keep the peace, it will surely be clear to all that what the Spartans desire so eagerly is not the re-establishment of Thespiae, but an opportunity of subduing the Peloponnese while the Thebans are involved in the war. [13] 29 And I am surprised to find that there are some who are alarmed at the prospect of the enemies of Sparta becoming allies of Thebes, and yet see nothing to fear in the subjugation of these enemies by Sparta herself ”

“ Then the men of Crete fought stoutly against the men of Megara, and day after day the tide of battle surged around the walls of the town. But strive as they might the men of Crete won no inch of ground, but the men of Megara drove their foes before them like sheep.
At length the warriors of King Minos began to murmur among themselves and to repeat the words that King Nisus had spoken to the herald.
"If the city of Megara is indeed defended by the deathless gods," said they, "what avails it to fight and to strive?" ”

“ MEGARA 1.39.4 Next to Eleusis is the district called Megaris. This too belonged to Athens in ancient times, Pylas the king having left it to Pandion. My evidence is this; in the land is the grave of Pandion, and Nisus, while giving up the rule over the Athenians to Aegeus, the eldest of all the family, was himself made king of Megara and of the territory as far as Corinth. Even at the present day the port of the Megarians is called Nisaea after him. Subsequently in the reign of Codrus the Peloponnesians made an expedition against Athens. ”

“ Megalena is within."—"Oh! if you wish to see me expire in horrible torments at your feet, inhuman Wolfstein, call for Megalena! and then will your purpose be accomplished."—"Dearest Lady Olympia, compose yourself, I beseech you," said Wolfstein: "what, what agitates you?"—"Oh! pardon, pardon me," she exclaimed, with maniac wildness: "pardon a wretched female who knows not what she does! Oh! resistlessly am I impelled to this avowal; resistlessly am I impelled to declare to you, that I love you! adore you to distraction!—Will you return my affection? ”

“ For, honestly, where can we expect to reach an end, when we permit the annihilation of existing cities, and require the restoration of those that have been annihilated?
27 It is demanded by those whose speeches display the strongest appearance of fairness, that the Megalopolitans shall take down the pillars [12] which commemorate their alliance with Thebes, if they are to be trustworthy allies of Athens. The Megalopolitans reply that for them it is not pillars, but interest, that creates friendship; and that it is those who help them, that they consider to be their allies. ”

“ A number of young men sailed with Pisistratus to Colias, and taking the dress of women, whom they there seized while sacrificing to Ceres, a spy was despatched to Salamis, to inform the Megarian guard that many of the principal Athenian matrons were at Colias, and might be easily captured. The Megarians were decoyed, despatched a body of men to the opposite shore, and beholding a group in women's attire dancing by the strand, landed confusedly to seize the prize. The pretended females drew forth their concealed weapons, and the Megarians, surprised and dismayed, were cut off to a man. ”

“ Isocrates praised in Megara a domestic prosperity finer than the lust for empire which had ruined Athens and Sparta.
The Megarians shared the Greek lot at Chæronea. 199The later fate of the city is summed up in the reflections of the Roman governor, Sulpicius, who, coming from Ægina, gazed at its ruins from his vessel’s prow and argued from them the brevity of human glory.
In antiquity travellers by land made their way from Megara to Corinth either over the difficult heights of Geraneia or close along the shore of the Saronic Gulf. ”

“ Now the second type, the “megaron” arrangement, characterizes peculiarly the palaces discovered in the north of the Aegean area, at Mycenae, Tiryns and Hissarlik, where up to the present no signs of the first type, so characteristic of Crete, have been observed. These northern “megara” are all of late date, none being prior to Minoan III. 1. At Phylakope, a “megaron” appears only in the uppermost Aegean stratum, the underlying structures being more in conformity with the earlier Cretan. At the same epoch a notable change took place in the Aegean script. ”