13. Up to this point, such is the universal account; but thenceforward, one and the same story is not told by all, but different accounts are reported and made up by different people, both of those present at the battle, and those not present; for some say that he was hit by a dart from the Persians, when engaged in a disorderly skirmish, as he was running hither and thither in his consternation; and the same fate befell him as it did to Cyrus, son of Parysatis, who went up with the Ten Thousand against his brother Artaxerxes, and by fighting inconsiderately threw away the victory through his rashness.⁹ Others, however, tell some such story as this respecting his end: that he had gone up upon a lofty hill to take a view of his army and ascertain how much was left him for carrying on the war; and that when he saw the number considerable and superior to his expectation, he exclaimed, "What a dreadful thing if we shall bring back all these fellows to the land of the Eomans!" as though he begrudged them a safe return. Whereupon one of his officers, being indignant and not able to repress his rage, ran him through the bowels, without caring for his own life. Others tell that the deed was done by a barbarian jester, such as follow the camp, "for the purpose of driving away ill humour and for amusing the men when they are drinking." This tale about the jester is borrowed from Lampridius, who gives it as one of the many current respecting the death of Alexander Severus. The "Historia Augusta," a recent compilation, was then in everybody's hands. At any rate, he receives a wound truly seasonable (or mortal) ¹⁰ and salutary for the whole world, and by a single cut from his slaughterer he pays the penalty for the many entrails of victims to which he had trusted (to his own destruction); but what surprises me, is how the vain man that fancied he learnt the future from that means, knew nothing of the wound about to be inflicted on his own entrails! The concluding reflection is for once very appropriate: the liver of the victim was the approved means for reading the Future, and it was precisely in that organ that the arch-diviner received the fatal thrust.

ΙΓʹ. Τὰ μὲν δὴ μέχρι τούτου τοιαύτα: τὰ δὲ ἐντεῦθεν οὐχ εἷς λέγεται λόγος, ἄλλος δὲ ἄλλῳ συμφέρεται καὶ συντίθεται, τῶν τε παρόντων ὁμοίως τῇ μάχῃ: καὶ τῶν ἀπόντων. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ Περσῶν αὐτὸν κατηκοντίσθαι φασὶν ἀτάκτοις ἐκδρομαῖς χρώμενον, καὶ ἄττοντα τῇδε κἀκεῖσε σὺν ἐμπληξίᾳ: καὶ ὅμοιόν τι περὶ αὐτὸν συμβῆναι τῷ Κύρου τοῦ Παρυσάτιδος, ὃς, τοῖς μυρίοις συνανελθὼν ἐπὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν Ἀρταξέρξην, καὶ νεανικῶς μαχόμενος, θράσει τὴν νίκην διέφθειρεν: οἱ δὲ τοιοῦτόν τινα ἐπ' αὐτῷ διηγοῦνται λόγον: Ἐπί τινα λόφον τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἀνελθὼν, ὡς ἐκ περιωπῆς τὸν στρατὸν ὄψει λαβεῖν, καὶ ὅσος ὑπελείφθη τῷ πολέμῳ μαθεῖν, ἐπειδή οἱ φανῆναι πολὺ τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἀφθονώτερον: Ὡς δεινὸν, εἰπεῖν, εἰ πάντας τῇ Ῥωμαίων γῇ τούτους ἐπανάξομεν: ὡς ἄν τις βασκαίνων αὐτοῖς τῆς σωτηρίας. Ἐφ' ᾧ τινα τῶν στρατιωτῶν χαλεπῄναντα, καὶ οὐ κατασχόντα τὴν ὀργὴν, ὦσαι κατὰ τῶν σπλάγχνων, ἀλογήσαντα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. Ὡς δὲ ἄλλοι, τῶν γελοιαστῶν βαρβάρων τινὰ τοῦτο τολμῆσαι (οἳ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἕπονται, λύπης τε ψυχαγωγία καὶ πότοις ἥδυσμα). Εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ καὶ Σαρακηνῶν τινι τὸ κλέος τοῦτο διδόασι. Πλὴν δέχεται πληγὴν καιρίαν ὄντως, καὶ παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ σωτήριον, καὶ μιᾷ τομῇ σφαγέως, πολλῶν σπλάγχνων ἀπαιτεῖται δίκην κακῶς πιστευθέντων. Ὃ καὶ θαυμάζω, πῶς, πάντα γινώσκειν ὁ μάταιος ἐντεῦθεν οἰόμενος, ἓν τοῦτο τὴν κατὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ σπλάγχνων πληγὴν ἠγνόησεν.