Volume 1

The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned, of Athenæus / literally translated by C.D. Yonge, B.A. ; with an appendix of poetical fragments, rendered into English verse by various authors, and a general index.

Athenaeus

Date:: 1854

Credit: The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned, of Athenæus / literally translated by C.D. Yonge, B.A. ; with an appendix of poetical fragments, rendered into English verse by various authors, and a general index. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$0. 53.] asked him what had become of him, he aiiswcred, ‘ He was sold by that wound of his.’ And when Philip laughed at him, and took it good-humouredly, he said, ‘ Is it not then worth my while to keep you V ” And Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, makes this mention of Cleisojihus:—“ When Philip the king said that writings had been brought to him from Cotys, king of Thrace, Cleisoj)hus, who was present, said, ‘ It is well, by the gods.’ And when Philip said, ‘ Put what do 3'ou know of the subjects mentioned in these writings V lie said, ‘By the great Jupiter, j-ou have reproved me with admirable judgment.’” 54. But Satyrus, in his Life of Philip, saj's, “ When Philip lost his eye, Cleisophus came forth with him, with bandages on the stime eye as the king; and again, when his leg was hurt, he came out limping, along with the king. And if ever Philip ate any harsh or sour food, he would contract his featm-es, as if he, too, had the siime ta.ste in his mouth. But in the countiy of the Arabs they used to do these things, not out of flattery, but in obedience to some law; so that when- ever the king had anything the matter with any one of his limbs, the courtiers pretended to be suffering the same incon- venience : for they think it ridiculous to be willing to be buried with him when he dies, but not to pay him tlie com- pliment of appearing to be subject to the same suft'erings as lie is while alive, if he .smstains any injury.” But Nicolaus of Damascus,—and he was one of the Peripatetic school,—in his ver}' voluminous history' (for it consisted of a hundred and fort^'-four books), in the hundred and eleventh book 6ix\’s, that Adiatonms the king of the Sotiani (and that is a Celtic tribe) had six hundred picked men about him, who were called by the Gauls, in their national language, Siloduri— which word means in Greek, Bound under a vow. “ And tlie king has them as companions, to live with him and to die with him; as that is the vow which thej' all take. In return for which, they also share his power, and wear the same ch-css, and cat the same food; and tlicy die when he dies, as a matter of absolute necessity, if the king dies of any disease; or it he dies in war, or in any other manner. And no one can even say that any of them has shown aiy fear of death, or has in the least sought to evade it when the king is dead.” 55. But Thcopompus saj’s, in the forty-fourth book of his$