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and having quickly brought them by some couriers from where they were hiding, and having counted them among the barbarians, they thus saved the city from the conflagration. 65.1 But when this too had reached its end, and nothing was left which had not become a source of gold for those insatiable eyes, and it was necessary not to remain long in the place, but to think also of the mishaps of the voyage, which were more likely to happen to sailors at that time of year, then indeed, when the sun was around midday on the tenth day of the capture, we departed from the harbor and were moved to the aforementioned Roman gate, spending the rest of the day there. 65.2 So we five, as we had been captured, were on a certain ship of the commander of the Egyptian fleet, whom my father had begged through an interpreter (for he did not know how to speak our language) to order his bodyguards to bring our close relatives from wherever they might have been scattered. 65.3 And this would have been accomplished, but for a little, if the multitude of our woes had not become an obstacle in this too and made the ones sent out shrink from the search. 65.4 For they quickly brought to us my mother and one of my other brothers, those not captured with us at the beginning, and also my brother's wife, from where they were; 65.5 but my wife with three infants and our younger sister, along with a multitude of other relatives, they neither wished to find, nor, having perhaps found them, did they desire to bring them to us, but they were, one here, another there, struck by the common suffering and by the blizzards of our separation. 65.6 Nevertheless we endured, as 65.6 one does in terrible circumstances, even the severing from one another, although our situation surpassed the experience of every grief. 66.1 And when they were about to begin the voyage, the barbarians put some shackles on the feet of all of us, and thus they packed us one by one into the ships like some lifeless matter, not allowing us even to breathe the air freely, but shutting this off too by the constant suffocation. 66.2 For they bound us together in such a way that the entire multitude was seen as one indivisible body, not at all separated or broken off from that continuous compression. 66.3 But when the sun was in the west and the light of day was ending in the darkness of night, having struck up a victory song with cymbals and drums, and having flashed the air over their heads with the brandishing of their swords, thus late in the evening, letting loose some indistinct and harsh war-cry and having raised the anchors of the ships, they fled the land. 66.4 And one could hear how we, the multitude, only quietly groaned for our fatherland, and each of us somewhere in the secret of his soul sent up a voice to God, that having met with whatever corrective trials He willed, we might be given back again to her who nurtured us and, not being utterly abandoned, have an unhoped-for release from our sorrows. 67.1 When we began to sail, as night was already turning to dawn, the necessity of many other hardships also held us: of hunger, of thirst, the bruising from the confinement (for on our ship alone there was a number of eight hundred captive souls, apart from the barbarians on it, who were themselves two hundred), and in addition to these, the piteous cry of the very small infants, who could in no way bear the intensity of the afflictions, but it hastened an untimely death for them. 67.2 But greater than all was the need of the belly, for which it was not possible to devise any method, as natural necessity pressed for relief; 67.3 for many, preferring the shame of the matter and not having the strength to endure the force of it, were often in peril. 67.4 However, at the beginning of the day, having sailed past the cape of the aforementioned Ekbolos, we were brought late in the afternoon to a certain place called Bolbos, where some horsemen appeared, coming from the land towards us. 67.5 And these were the ones who had also previously arrived in the city,

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καὶ θᾶττον ἀγαγόντες διά τινων ταχυδρόμων, ὅθεν ἐκρύπτοντο, καὶ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἐναριθμήσαντες, οὕτως τὴν πόλιν τῆς πυρκαϊᾶς διεσώσαντο. 65.1 Ἀλλ' ὅτε δὴ καὶ τοῦτο πέρας εἰλήφει, καὶ οὐκ ἐνέλιπεν οὐδὲν ὃ τοῖς ἀκορέστοις ἐκείνοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑπόθεσις χρυσίου μὴ ἐγεγόνει, ἔδει δὲ μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ καρτερεῖν τῷ τόπῳ, ἀλλὰ φροντίζειν καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν συμπτωμάτων μᾶλλον τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ τοῖς πλωτῆρσιν ἐγγινομένων, τότε δὴ περὶ μεσημβρίαν ὄντος τοῦ ἡλίου τῇ δεκάτῃ τῆς ἁλώσεως ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ λιμένος ἐξωρμήσαμεν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ῥηθεῖσαν Ῥωμαίαν πύλην μετήχθημεν, τὸ λοιπὸν ἐκεῖσε τελέσαντες τῆς ἡμέρας. 65.2 ἦμεν οὖν ἡμεῖς οἱ πέντε, καθὼς ἐχειρώθημεν, εἴς τινα ναῦν τοῦ ἀρχηγοῦ τοῦ κατ' Αἴγυπτον στόλου, οὗ καὶ προσδεηθεὶς ἦν ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ διά τινος ἑρμηνέως (οὐδὲ γὰρ ᾔδει λαλεῖν καθ' ἡμᾶς) προστάξαι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτὸν δορυφόροις ἀγαγεῖν ὅθεν ἂν ἦσαν διασπαρέντες οἱ κατὰ συγγένειαν ἡμῖν πλησιάζοντες. 65.3 ὃ δὴ καὶ παρὰ μικρὸν ἐτελεῖτο ἄν, εἰ μὴ κἀν τούτῳ παρεμποδὼν γέγονε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἡμετέρων κακῶν καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἔρευναν ἀποκνῆσαι τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πεποίηκε. 65.4 τὴν γὰρ μητέρα τὴν ἐμὴν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀδελφῶν ἕνα, τῶν μὴ κατ' ἀρχὰς μεθ' ἡμῶν ληφθέντων, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν τἀδελφοῦ γαμετὴν τὸ τάχος, ὅθεν ὑπῆρχον, πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἠγάγοντο· 65.5 ὁμόζυγα δὲ τὴν ἐμὴν σὺν τρισὶ νηπίοις καὶ τὴν ὑποβεβηκυῖαν κατὰ τὴν γέννησιν ἡμῶν ἀδελφὴν μετὰ καὶ ἄλλου πλήθους τῶν προσηκόντων οὔτε ἀνευρεῖν ἠθέλησαν, οὔτε δὲ ἀνευρόντες ἴσως ἀγαγεῖν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐβουλήθησαν, ἀλλ' ἦσαν ἄλλος ἀλλαχῇ τῷ κοινῷ πάθει καὶ ταῖς νιφάσι τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν βαλλόμενοι διαιρέσεως. 65.6 ὅμως ἐκαρτεροῦμεν ὡς 65.6 ἐν δεινοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀλλήλων κατατομήν, εἰ καὶ ὅτι παντὸς ἀνιαροῦ πεῖραν τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπερέβαλλεν. 66.1 Ἤδη δὲ τοῦ πλοὸς ἄρχεσθαι μέλλουσι στρέβλας τινὰς τοῖς ποσὶ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν ἐπιθέντες οἱ βάρβαροι, οὕτως καθ' ἕνα ταῖς ναυσὶν ὥσπερ ἄψυχόν τινα διεστοίβασαν ὕλην, μὴ ἐνδιδόντες κἂν ἐλεύθερον ἀναπνεῖν τὸν ἀέρα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτον τῇ συνεχείᾳ τοῦ πνιγμοῦ συναπείργοντες. 66.2 οὕτω γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀλλήλοις ἐπισυνῆψαν ὡς ἓν ἀδιάσπαστον ὁρᾶσθαι σῶμα τὴν πληθὺν ἅπασαν, μηδ' ὅλως διισταμένην ἢ ἀπερρηγμένην τῆς συνεχοῦς ἐκείνης πιλήσεως. 66.3 ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κατὰ δύσιν ὁ ἥλιος ἦν καὶ πρὸς τὸν νυκτερινὸν γνόφον ἔληγε τὸ φῶς τῆς ἡμέρας, ἐπινίκιόν τι μέλος τοῖς τε κυμβάλοις καὶ τυμπάνοις ἀποκρουσάμενοι, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἀέρα ταῖς διὰ τῶν ξιφῶν ῥιπίσεσι περιαστράψαντες, οὕτως μετὰ βαθεῖαν ἑσπέραν ἄσημόν τινα καὶ τραχὺν ἀλαλαγμὸν ἐπαφέντες καὶ τὰς ἀγκύρας τῶν νηῶν ἀνασπάσαντες τῆς γῆς ἀπεδίδρασκον. 66.4 ἦν δὲ ἀκούειν ὅπως ἡσυχῇ μόνον τὸ πλῆθος κατεστενάζομεν τῆς πατρίδος, καί πού τινα πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ ἀφανεῖ τῆς ψυχῆς ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἠφίει φωνήν, ὅσοις ἂν αὐτὸς βούλοιτο, παιδευτικοῖς πειρασμοῖς ὁμιλήσαντας καὶ πάλιν ἀποδοθῆναι τῇ θρεψαμένῃ καὶ μὴ εἰς τέλος ἐγκαταλειφθέντας ἀνέλπιστον ἔχειν τὴν ἐκ τῶν λυπούντων ἀπαλλαγήν. 67.1 Ὡς δὲ τοῦ πλεῖν ἤδη πρὸς ὄρθρον οὔσης τῆς νυκτὸς ἀπηρξάμεθα, εἶχε μὲν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄλλων δυσχερῶν ἀνάγκη πολλῶν, τοῦ λιμοῦ, τῆς δίψης, τῆς συνεχείας ὁ ὑπωπιασμός (καὶ γὰρ κατὰ μόνην τὴν ναῦν ἔνθα ἦμεν ἡμεῖς ὀκτακοσίων αἰχμαλώτων ψυχῶν ἀριθμὸς ἦν, δίχα τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ βαρβάρων, διακοσίων καὶ αὐτῶν ὄντων), πρὸς τούτοις δὲ καὶ τῶν κομιδῇ νηπίων ἡ ἐλεεινὴ βοὴ μηδαμῶς δυναμένων φέρειν τῶν μοχθηρῶν τὴν ἐπίτασιν, ἀλλὰ θάνατον αὐτοῖς ἐπισπεύδουσαν ἄωρον. 67.2 πλείω δὲ πάντων ἡ κατὰ τὴν γαστέρα χρεία, ἧς οὐκ ἦν οὐδεμίαν μέθοδον ἐφευρεῖν, τῆς φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης κατεπειγούσης πρὸς τὴν διέξοδον· 67.3 τὴν γὰρ αἰδῶ τοῦ πράγματος πολλοὶ προτιμῶντες καὶ καρτερεῖν τὴν βίαν μὴ σθένοντες συχνῶς ἐκινδύνευον. 67.4 πλὴν τῆς ἡμέρας ἀρχομένης τὸν ἀγκῶνα παραπλεύσαντες τοῦ προρρηθέντος Ἐκβόλου, κατήχθημεν περὶ δείλην βαθεῖαν εἴς τινα τόπον Βολβὸν καλούμενον, ἔνθα τινὲς ἱππεῖς ἐφάνησαν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἐρχόμενοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς. 67.5 οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ καὶ πρῴην ἐν τῇ πόλει παραγενόμενοι,