10

Then indeed that deed, worthy of many lamentations and tears, was done. For having taken the whole city, as we have said, and having rushed upon us like grievous wolves, they hastened to plunder everything according to the promise of the ruler; for he said during the war that, if the city should be taken and he should see his own desire brought to fulfillment, each man should have with authority whatever he might take, and it would be impossible for anyone to take it from him. They were dragging away, therefore, mixed together, men, women, children, every age together, bound, like irrational animals, and they led them all out to the camp outside the city. And I am silent about the fallen, who were beyond number, both along the walls and the streets, not even deemed worthy of burial, "lying as prey for dogs and all birds" according to Homer, not only men but also women, and of these especially the older and weaker ones. For each of the enemies, hastening for fear of the number he had seized, to quickly lead them outside and hand them over to his tent-mates, lest the prize become another's who was stronger, whenever he saw one of the captives who, on account of old age or perhaps some sickness, was not able to walk like the others, he cut off his head and considered it the least loss. Then for the first time children from parents, wives from husbands, and friends from friends, and blood-relatives from their kin were piteously separated. And it was suspected that we would die unjustly. And the city was thrown into confusion, and a commingled cry was raised from all, and all things were full of clamor and wailing. For some, leading, were bringing out the unfortunate in bonds, while others poured in, hastening to seize what had escaped the first ones. But the profit did not come equally to all; for they were so great in number, that a part of them emptied the city of its people and their belongings, and especially that part which first entered on foot by the ladders.] [So when these things thus proceeded, and they had encompassed us, numbering about seven thousand together with women and children, having brought us all into the camp, they made us live in the tents, bound there also, and they were counting out the prices for each, and there were wailings and tears everywhere. For infants, as many as were lying in their mothers' arms and at the breast, whimpering piteously, were seeking them; and the women, going about beating their breasts and showing their bloody cheeks, were searching for them. And men, seeing their own wives taken by others, moved by the love of their very union and life together, were bewailing the separation; and women, seeking their husbands, with countless tears, asking about them, went about the tents. And children, deprived of their parents, could not endure the solitude in any way at all; and the parents, searching for them, as natural affection stirred them, filled the air with laments, and their groaning was continuous and their weeping inconsolable. Then also many maidens, never before seen by men nor having dared to go out of their paternal home, but being kept for lawful marriage and unknown to the many, were seized by the hands of men and lived together with them in the tents. And you might have seen in each tent women mixed with citizen men and likewise men with the captured women; for since the plundering became general, equally among spouses and children and relatives, one man seized the wife, another the husband, and another the children, and for the rest they were all mixed together and unknown to one another. And monks being dragged along with women, a matter full of shame it seemed, and for those dragging them this was a source of broad laughter; for knowing or having learned that they lived as monks and had completely renounced cohabitation with women, they considered it a private delight seeing them sharing the terrible fate with them and living together with them out of necessity.]

10

τότε δὴ τὸ θρήνων πολλῶν ἐκεῖνο καὶ δακρύων ἄξιον πρᾶγμα ἐπράττετο. ∆ιαλαβόντες γὰρ τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν, ὥσπερ εἰρήκειμεν, καὶ οἷα λύκοι βαρεῖς ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἐφορμήσαντες, ἁρπάζειν ἅπαντα ἔσπευδον κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κρατοῦντος ὑπόσχεσιν· ἔφη γὰρ ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν ὡς, εἴ γε ἡ πόλις ληφθείη καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εἰς πέρας ἀχθεῖσαν ἴδοι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, ἔχειν μετ' ἐξουσίας ἕκαστον, εἴ τι ἂν λάβοι καὶ παρὰ παντὸς ἀναφαίρετον. Εἷλκον οὖν ἀναμεὶξ ἄνδρας, γυναῖκας, παιδία, πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ ἡλικίαν, δεδεμένους, ὥσπερ ἄλογα ζῶα καὶ πρὸς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἔξω τῆς πόλεως πάντας ἐξῆγον. Καὶ σιωπῶ τοὺς πεσόντας, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἀριθμὸν ὄντας, κατά τε τὰ τείχη καὶ τὰς ἀγυιάς, μηδὲ ταφῆς ἠξιωμένους, «ἑλώρια δὲ κειμένους κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι» καθ' Ὅμηρον, οὐκ ἄνδρας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκας, καὶ τούτων μάλιστα τοὺς γηραιοτέρους τε καὶ ἀσθενεστέρους. Σπεύδων γὰρ ἕκαστος τῶν πολεμίων δέει τοῦ πλήθους, οὓς ἐκράτησε, τὸ τάχος ἀγαγεῖν ἔξω καὶ τοῖς συσκήνοις αὑτοῦ παραδοῦναι, μή τινος ἰσχυροτέρου τὸ κέρδος γένηται, ὅπερ ἂν εἶδε τῶν ἀνδραπόδων ὑπὸ γήρως ἢ καὶ νόσου τάχα τινὸς οὐκ ἔχον τοῖς ἄλλοις βαίνειν παραπλησίως, τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπέτεμνε τούτου καὶ ζημίαν ἥκιστα ἐλογίζετο. Τότε πρῶτον παῖδες μὲν γονέων, γυναῖκες δὲ ἀνδρῶν καὶ φίλοι φίλων καὶ οἱ καθ' αἷμα τῶν ὁμοίων ἐλεεινῶς ἐχωρίζοντο. Καὶ τὸ θανεῖν ἡμᾶς ἀδίκως ἐν ὑποψίαις ἐτύγχανε. Καὶ συνεχύθη μὲν ἡ πόλις καὶ βοὴ παρὰ πάντων σύμμεικτος ἦρτο καὶ θορύβου πάντα καὶ γόων μεστά. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄγοντες ἐξήρχοντο τοὺς δυστυχεῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς, οἱ δ' εἰσεχέοντο, σπουδάζοντες ἁρπάσαι τοὺς προτέρους, ἅπερ διέφυγε. Πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐξ ἴσης πᾶσιν ἧκε τὸ κέρδος· τοσοῦτο γὰρ ἦσαν τὸ πλῆθος, ὅτι μέρος αὐτῶν τὴν πόλιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκένωσε καὶ τῶν αὐτοῖς προσόντων χρημάτων καὶ μάλισθ' ὅσον τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰσῄει διὰ τῶν κλιμάκων πεζόν.] [Ὡς οὖν οὕτω ταῦτα προβαίη καὶ περιέσχον ἡμᾶς εἰς ἑπτακισχιλίους ἀριθμουμένους ἅμα γυναιξὶ καὶ παιδίοις, πάντας εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀγαγόντες ταῖς σκηναῖς ἐνδιάγειν παρέσχον, δεδεμένους κἀκεῖ καὶ τὰ τιμήματ' ἀπηρίθμουν ἑκάστων, οἰμωγαὶ δὲ καὶ δάκρυα πανταχοῦ. Νήπια μὲν γάρ, ὅσα ταῖς μητρῴαις ἐναποκείμενα ἦσαν ἀγκάλαις καὶ ὑποτίτθια, ἐλεεινῶς κλαυθμυρίζοντα, ταύτας ἐζήτουν· αἱ δὲ περιιοῦσαι κοπτόμεναι καὶ τὰς παρειὰς ἐξαίμους δεικνῦσαι ταῦτ' ἀνηρεύνων. Καὶ ἄνδρες μὲν τὰς ἑαυτῶν παρ' ἄλλων ληφθείσας γυναῖκας ὁρῶντες, τῷ τῆς συζυγίας αὐτῆς καὶ συμπνοίας κινούμενοι φίλτρῳ, τὸν χωρισμὸν ἀπωδύροντο· γυναῖκες δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας ἀναζητοῦσαι δάκρυσιν ἀμυθύτοις περὶ αὐτῶν ἐρωτῶσαι τὰς σκηνὰς περιῄεσαν· Καὶ τέκνα μὲν τοὺς τεκόντας ἀφῃρημένα τὴν μόνωσιν οὐκ εἶχον ὑπομένειν οὐδ' ὁπωσοῦν· οἱ τεκόντες δὲ περὶ τούτων ἀνερευνῶντες τῆς φυσικῆς αὐτοὺς διεγειρούσης στοργῆς, τὸν ἀέρα θρήνων ἐπλήρουν καὶ στεναγμὸς ἦν αὐτοῖς διηνεκὴς καὶ ἀπαρηγόρητον δάκρυον. Τότε καὶ κόραι πολλαί, μήπω πρότερον ἀνδράσιν ὀφθεῖσαι μηδὲ τῆς πατρικῆς οἰκίας ἐξιέναι καταθαρρήσασαι, γάμοις δὲ νομίμοις τηρούμεναι καὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀγνοούμεναι, χερσὶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκρατοῦντο καὶ ταῖς σκηναῖς μετ' αὐτῶν συνδιῆγον. Καὶ εἶδες ἂν ἐν ἑκάστῃ σκηνῇ γυναῖκας συμμειγεῖς ἀνδράσι πολίταις καὶ ἄνδρας ὁμοίως γυναιξὶ τῶν ἁλόντων· τῆς γὰρ ἁρπαγῆς κοινῆς γενομένης, ὁμοίως ἐν ὁμοζύγοις καὶ τέκνοις καὶ συγγενέσιν, ἄλλος μὲν ἥρπασε τὴν γυναῖκα, ἕτερος δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ ἄλλος τὰ τέκνα καὶ λοιπὸν ἦσαν ἀναμεὶξ οἱ καθόλου καὶ ἀγνοούμενοι παρ' ἀλλήλων. Μοναχοὶ δὲ γυναιξὶ συνελκόμενοι, πρᾶγμα γέμον αἰσχύνης ἐδόκει καὶ τοῖς ἕλκουσι τοῦτο γέλως ὑπῆρχε πλατύς· εἰδότες γὰρ ἢ πυθόμενοι μοναχῶς αὐτοὺς βιοτεύοντας καὶ τὴν μετὰ γυναικῶν παντελῶς ἀπειπαμένους συνοίκησιν, τέρψιν ἰδίαν ἡγοῦντο τούτους ὁρῶντες συνδιαφέροντας αὐταῖς τὸ δεινὸν καὶ συνδιάγοντας ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὁμοῦ.]