most people raised their eyes as to mountains, to the acropolis, where they eagerly awaited help would be for them. But what especially accuses the great destruction of the evil here was this, that a heap of irrational animals was also placed next to the piles of corpses. For since the people who had flocked upward could not be contained by one gate, and while they were forcing their way to press through in order to be saved, but each one was not able to slip by, both those on foot and those on horseback, the heavy crowd running behind pushed the one leading, and he, suffering the same thing from the impact of those pressing on from further back, who were not themselves free from suffering thus in succession, the disaster culminated in a hill of the dead, all mixed together, men, horses, mules, donkeys, on which the necessities for the many had been loaded. And that hill of such a kind rose up opposite the fortification of the city there, almost resembling the mounds raised before walls, which war itself sometimes contrives. And these things were at the gate of the acropolis, at least the visible one. But as for those whom the inner gate also held fast, when the useless general inopportunely smashed it down, having slipped in while fleeing, these were another tragedy of a new kind. For as if those who had fallen otherwise were not enough, he increased the evil, he who was small in good things, but great in wickedness, and he himself put a kind of finishing touch to the misfortune, not enduring not to also harm with his own hand by murder those whom he had out-generaled with bad counsel, and especially, to tell the truth, by his remissness in battle and guard duty, as the account proceeding will clearly describe, so that, I suppose, he might make the enemy well-disposed toward him 10 and placate them, if indeed he both let such a great city fall thus and became a perpetrator of murders, himself sacrificing in addition those whom the occasion allotted. For he did not order others to have that secret gate be let down, which was raised high by a machine, but he himself, having released the device in haste, brought it down and, closing it upon those slipping in, he ensnared those who had happened to run under it to their doom, who exchanged life for a crushing death and lay a pitiful sight, with one half of their body jutting into the inside, and with the other half showing to those outside, so as to be lamented. And he was so brave in destroying the whole city that he was at once at the tower, which rises above the gates there, and at the same time let himself down by a rope to the enemies who had rushed up, allowing the soldiers on the tower to practice in vain for the defense and to trace his accursed path and this rope and to sing chants about it. At this point, being moved by passion, I am led to say something to the man and to ask him: Why on earth, O best of generals, having allowed the lower city to be slaughtered, did you take to the upper part and in your haste hide inside, if it was necessary for you so quickly to leave it also subject to the enemy? And why did you not cry out your ignoble plea to be pitied, before also suffocating those caught in the gate and the rest? How is it not ridiculous to run into the acropolis as if for a defense and to leap up onto a tower as if for the good of those stationed up there and immediately to grab a rope and get down faster than a bucket in a well-rope down a well? O the ridicule of this, that the brilliant leader, drawn up before the eastern gates as if for a brilliant battle, then, seeing one enemy who was lightly armed and had appeared above the battlements, let loose the reins for his horse to run, rushing ahead of the entire throng of the army and trampling those found in his path and running up, then also harming many by means of the gate, which we described before, some by that very gate being brought down from on high, others with whom they were shut outside, he quickly went up to fight from the tower, but more quickly came down to be enslaved, having shown manliness in this alone, that he was not let down more slowly in a basket, but all but flew down, as if a pasturing bird to its feeding ground; for surely not as if some eagle-like creature for a noble prey. And it was not necessary for a man, long ago

τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς οἱ πλείους ὡς εἰς ὄρη τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, ἔνθα βοήθειαν ἐκαραδόκουν αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι. Ὃ δὲ μάλιστα τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ πολυφθορίαν ἐνταῦθα κατηγορεῖ, τοῦτ' ἦν ὅτι ταῖς νεκρικαῖς θημωνίαις καὶ ἀλόγων ζῴων σώρευμα παρετέθειτο. Ἀχωρήτου γὰρ ὄντος μιᾷ πύλῃ τοῦ συνερρευκότος ἄνω λαοῦ καὶ βιαζομένων μὲν παραβύεσθαι ὥστε σῴζεσθαι, μὴ ἐχόντων δὲ παραδύεσθαι ἑκάστων, τῶν τε πεζῶν τῶν τε καθ' ἵππους, ὁ κατόπιν θέων βαρὺς ὄχλος τὸν προάγοντα καὶ τῇ ἐπιπτώσει πάσχων ἐκεῖνος τὸ ὅμοιον ὑπὸ τῶν ὀπισθαίτερον ἐγκειμένων, οὐδ' αὐτῶν ἀπηλλαγμένων τοῦ καθ' εἱρμὸν οὕτω πάσχειν, εἰς κολωνὸν θανατουμένων ἐκορύφου τὸ σύμπτωμα, πάντων ὁμοῦ πεφυρμένων, ἀνθρώπων, ἵππων, ἡμιόνων, ὄνων, οἷς ἐπισεσαγμένα ἦσαν τὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀναγκαῖα. Καὶ βουνὸς ἐκεῖνος τοιοῦτος ἀντανίστατο τῷ τῆς πόλεως ἐκεῖσε πυργώματι, μικροῦ παρεοικὼς τοῖς ἐγειρομένοις πρὸ τειχέων χώμασιν, ἃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὰ σκευωρεῖ ποτε πόλεμος. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν πρὸς τῇ πύλῃ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως, τῇ γε προφαινομένῃ. Οὓς δὲ συνέσχε καὶ ἡ ἐνδοτέρω, ὅτε ὁ ἀχρεῖος αὐτὴν ἀκαίρως κατήραξε στρατηγός, παρεισφθαρεὶς ἐν τῷ φεύγειν, ἄλλη τραγῳδία οὗτοι καινότροπος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ μὴ ἀρκούντων τῶν ἄλλως πεπτωκότων, προσεπηύξησε τὸ κακὸν ἐκεῖνος, ὁ μικρὸς μὲν τὰ καλά, μέγας δὲ τὴν πονηρίαν, καὶ οἷόν τινα κορωνίδα καὶ αὐτὸς τῷ δυστυχήματι ἐκεφαλαιώσατο, οὐκ ἀνασχόμενος μὴ καὶ αὐτόχειρι φόνῳ προσεπιβλάψαι οὓς δυσβουλίαις κατεστρατήγησε, μάλιστα δ', εἰπεῖν τἀληθές, ταῖς εἰς μάχην καὶ φυλακὴν καθυφέσεσιν, ὡς ὁ λόγος προβαίνων ἐκφανῶς διαγράψεται, ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, τοὺς πολεμίους πρὸς ἑαυτοῦ ποιησά 10 μενος ἐκμειλίξαιτο, εἴ γε καὶ πόλιν τοσαύτην ἀφῆκεν οὕτω πεσεῖν καὶ φόνων δὲ γέγονεν αὐτουργός, ἐπικαταθύσας καὶ αὐτὸς οὓς ἐπεμέτρησεν ὁ καιρός. Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλοις ἐπέταξε χαλασθῆναι τὴν κρυφαίαν ἐκείνην πύλην, μετέωρον ἠρμένην ἐκ μηχανῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τὸ τέχνασμα σχάσας κατὰ σπουδὴν κατήνεγκε καὶ κατὰ τῶν παρεισδυομένων συγκλείσας ἐπαγίδευσε τοὺς ὑποτρέχειν λαχόντας εἰς ὄλεθρον, σφιγκτῷ θανάτῳ μετηλλαχότας τὸ ζῆν καὶ κειμένους οἰκτρὸν θέαμα, τῷ μὲν ἡμίσει τοῦ σώματος προκύπτοντας ἐπὶ τὰ ἐντός, τῷ δὲ λοιπῷ προφαινομένους τοῖς ἐκτός, ὥστε κλαίεσθαι. Ὁ δὲ καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἦν ἀνδρεῖος διολέσαι τὴν ὅλην πόλιν, ὡς ἅμα τε τοῦ πύργου γενέσθαι, ὃς ὑπερανίσταται τῶν ἐκεῖσε πυλῶν, καὶ ἅμα διὰ σχοίνου καθεῖναι εἰς τοὺς ἐπιδραμόντας πολεμίους ἑαυτόν, ἐάσαντα τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ πύργου στρατιώτας κενὰ μελετᾶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐρύματος καὶ τὴν τρίβον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σχοῖνον ταύτην ἐπαράτους ἐξιχνιάζεσθαι καὶ περιᾴδεσθαι. Ἐνταῦθα παθαινόμενος προάγομαί τι λαλῆσαι πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ πυθέσθαι αὐτοῦ· Τί δήποτε, ὧ βέλτιστε στρατηγέ, τὴν κάτω πόλιν κατακόπτεσθαι ἀφείς, ἐγένου τῆς ἄνω μοίρας καὶ σπεύδων ἐκρύβης ἐντός, εἰ οὕτω ταχὺ ἐχρῆν σε καὶ αὐτὴν ἀφεῖναι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὑποχείριον; Τί δὲ μὴ τὴν ἀγεννῆ φωνήν, τὴν τοῦ ἐλεηθῆναί σε, προέκρωξας, πρὶν ἢ καὶ καταπνῖξαι τοὺς ἐν τῇ πύλῃ σχεθέντας καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς; Πῶς οὐ γελοῖον εἰσδραμεῖν τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ὡς ἄμυναν καὶ ἀναπηδῆσαι εἰς πύργον ὡς ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ τῶν ἄνω ἑστώτων καὶ αὐτίκα δράξασθαι σχοίνου καὶ θᾶττον κάτω γενέσθαι ἤπερ καδδίον ἐν ἱμονιᾷ κατὰ φρέατος; Ὦ γέλωτος τούτου, ὅτι παρατεταγμένος ὁ λαμπρὸς ἡγεμὼν πρὸ τῶν ἑῴων πυλῶν ὡς ἐπὶ μάχῃ λαμπρᾷ, εἶτα ἰδὼν ἕνα τινὰ πολέμιον ἐλαφρισθέντα καὶ ὑπερφανέντα κατὰ τῶν ἐπάλξεων, ἀνῆκε τὸν ῥυτῆρα τῷ ἵππῳ θέειν προτρέχων τοῦ παντὸς ὁμίλου τῆς στρατιᾶς καὶ συμπατήσας τοὺς παρευρημένους καὶ εἰσδραμὼν ἄνω, εἶτα καὶ βλάψας πολλοὺς διὰ πύλης, ἣν προεξεθέμεθα, τοὺς μὲν ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἐκείνης κατενεχθείσης ἐκ μετεώρου, τοὺς δὲ καὶ οἷς ἔξω συνεκλείσθησαν, ταχὺ μὲν ἀνέβη πυργομαχήσων, τάχιον δὲ κατέβη δουλωσόμενος, τοῦτο καὶ μόνον ἀνδρισάμενος, ὅτι μὴ διὰ σαργάνης ἐχαλάσθη σχολαίτερον, ἀλλὰ μικροῦ κατεπετάσθη, ὡσεὶ καὶ βοσκηματῶδες πτηνὸν ἐπὶ νομήν· οὐ γὰρ δήπου ὡσεὶ καί τι ἀετῶδες ἐπὶ ἄγραν εὐγενῆ. Καὶ οὐκ ἐχρῆν μὲν ἄνδρα, πάλαι