1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

 10

 11

 12

 13

 14

 15

 16

 17

 18

 19

 20

 21

 22

 23

 24

 25

 26

 27

 28

 29

 30

 31

 32

 33

 34

 35

 36

 37

 38

 39

 40

 41

34

wishing to purchase some specified women, whom the barbarians quickly brought out from the ships and sold, receiving much gold for them. 67.6 And putting to sea again from there we landed near the ends of the island called Pallene; 67.7 and having rested there a little, as the wind was favorable, the sails were again unfurled towards evening, which, being filled by the most violent rush of the wind, carried us onward forcefully, until at the beginning of the following day we found ourselves in a certain place named Diadromoi by sailors, having two long islands opposite one another, and in the middle of these the sea running past like a river and separating the islands from each other by about a stade only. 67.8 And having arrived there, we came upon an unfortunate ship laden with grain, and so suddenly that those on board were not able, due to the unexpectedness of the encounter, to devise anything beforehand for their safety. 67.9 For although they seemed to run the ship aground on the nearby island and turn to flight, yet they gained nothing from this; 67.10 for the barbarians, disembarking more quickly, rounded them up and, with the exception of only one, put them all to death. 67.11 And setting sail again from there for two days and nights we sailed past the great island of Euboea, and steering the sails towards its more northern sea, we reached the area at the foot of Andros with a most violent roaring sound. 67.12 For we were not making our voyage in a straight line, nor toward any determined place, but as it seemed best to the leaders of the ships, we made our passages and turns here and there. 67.13 For they were afraid that the Roman fleet might happen to be present somewhere and might secretly execute some wicked design against them. 67.14 For this reason, like some wanderers, we went around different islands at different times. 68.1 And being carried along in this way, we arrived at a certain island called Patmos; where indeed we remained for six days, enduring the trial of every hardship upon it. 68.2 For since the place was waterless, thirst ravaged the prisoners. 68.3 For we were not given enough water to sustain life, but only so much as would delay death, though it was present; 68.4 and he who partook of it, if he did not hold his sense of smell during the tasting so as not to perceive its stench at first, would not be permitted to partake of it at all, as nature was distressed even if it only wished to look upon it, and before the experience of swallowing. 68.5 And our food was only a morsel of bread, and that spoiled, working destruction rather than sustenance for those who partook of it. 68.6 For what the enemy had happened to take from home many days before for their own use, this, being left over and having reached a state of complete decay, and what not even any of the irrational animals could have so much as looked at, was brought to us for consumption, full of unspeakable stench and unpleasantness, and rife with worms and mixed with much rot, and completely ineffective for the condition of our bodies. 68.7 For one could estimate an infinite number from these being driven to death each day, as a secondary effect of thirst and hunger, and the bodies of the dying being cast from the ship into the sea and for a long time convulsing in the waves, and of these especially the wretched infants, due to the imperfection of their nature, being filled with more of the pains than the others, while the living, in turn, were not far from what lay before them, but looking toward the same end. 68.8 From all these things, we especially, who were bound in shackles, struggled with greater torments. 68.9 For like lifeless sacks sitting upon each other on the benches, and being both wounded and crushed by the stocks to which we were fastened, we endured a certain indescribable and unutterable distress, not being permitted to turn at all or give ourselves any rest, but only lifting our heads a little, if

34

ῥητάς τινας γυναῖκας ὠνήσασθαι θέλοντες, ἃς τὸ τάχος οἱ βάρβαροι τῶν νηῶν ἐξενεγκόντες ἀπέδοντο, πολὺ χρυσίον ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν κομισάμενοι. 67.6 ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πάλιν ἀναχθέντες κατήραμεν περὶ τὰ τέλη τῆς νήσου τῆς καλουμένης Παλλήνης· 67.7 καί τι μικρὸν ἐκεῖσε καθησυχάσαντες, τοῦ πνεύματος ἐπιτηδείου ὑπάρχοντος καὶ αὖθις πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἐσπάσθησαν τὰ ἱστία, ἃ καὶ διαπρησθέντα τῇ σφοδροτάτῃ ῥύμῃ τοῦ πνεύματος ἦγον ἡμᾶς φερομένους βιαίως, ἕως τῆς ἐφεξῆς κατ' ἀρχὰς ἡμέρας εὑρέθημεν εἴς τινα τόπον ∆ιαδρόμους παρὰ τῶν ναυτιλλομένων ὀνομαζόμενον, δύο μὲν ἔχοντα νήσους ἀμφιμήκεις ἐξ ἐναντίας ἀλλήλων, μέσον δὲ τούτων ποταμοῦ δίκην τὴν θάλασσαν παραθέουσαν καὶ τὰς νήσους ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίου καὶ μόνον ἐξ ἀλλήλων διείργουσαν. 67.8 ἔνθα δὴ καὶ γενόμενοι νηός τινος δυστυχοῦς σίτου πεφορτισμένης περιετύχομεν, καὶ οὕτως ἀθρόον ὡς μηδὲ δυνηθῆναι τῷ αἰφνιδίῳ τῆς συμβάσεως τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ σωτηρίας ἐχόμενόν τι προεξευρεῖν. 67.9 εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἔδοξαν πρὸς τὴν παρακειμένην νῆσον τὴν ναῦν ἐποκεῖλαι καὶ πρὸς φυγὴν ἐκτραπῆναι, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἐκ τούτου ἀπώναντο· 67.10 θᾶττον γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐξελθόντες οἱ βάρβαροι συνελέξαντο καὶ χωρὶς ἑνὸς μόνου πάντας πρὸς θάνατον ὑπηγάγοντο. 67.11 ἐκεῖθεν δὲ πάλιν ἀπάραντες ἐπὶ δυσὶ νυχθημέροις τὴν μεγάλην νῆσον παρεπλέομεν τῆς Εὐβοίας, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ βορειοτέρου ταύτης πελάγους ἰθύναντες τὰ ἱστία, τὰ παρὰ πόδας τῆς Ἄνδρου μετά τινος σφοδροτάτου ῥοιζήματος κατελάβομεν. 67.12 οὐ γὰρ ἐποιούμεθα κατ' εὐθεῖαν τὸν πλοῦν, οὐδὲ κατά τινος ὡρισμένου τόπου, ἀλλ' ὡς ἂν ἔδοξε τοῖς τῶν νηῶν ἀρχηγοῖς, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε τὰς μεταβάσεις καὶ ἀντιστροφὰς ἐποιούμεθα. 67.13 καὶ γὰρ ἐδεδίησαν μή που τύχοι παρὼν ὁ τῶν Ῥωμαίων στόλος καὶ λάθοι κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπίνοιάν τινα μοχθηρὰν ἐργασάμενος. 67.14 διὰ τοῦτο ἄλλοτε ἄλλας νήσους καθάπερ τινὲς πλανῆται περιηρχόμεθα. 68.1 Οὕτω δὲ φερόμενοι κατηντήσαμεν εἴς τινα νῆσον Πάτμον καλουμένην· ἔνθα δὴ καὶ προσεμείναμεν ἓξ ἡμέρας, παντὸς χαλεποῦ πεῖραν ἐν αὐτῇ καθυπομένοντες. 68.2 ἀνύδρου γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ τόπου ἐληΐζετο τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἡ δίψα. 68.3 οὐ γὰρ ἐδίδοτο ἡμῖν ὕδωρ ὅσον πρὸς σύστασιν τῆς ζωῆς ἐπήρκει, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἐμβραδύνειν ἐποίει καίπερ παρόντα τὸν θάνατον· 68.4 οὗπερ ὁ μετέχων, εἰ μὴ τὴν ὄσφρησιν κατὰ τὴν γεῦσιν ἐπεῖχεν ὡς μὴ κατ' ἀρχὰς τῆς αὐτοῦ δυσωδίας ἐπαισθανθῆναι, οὐδ' ὅλως τούτου παρεχωρεῖτο μεταλαβεῖν, τῆς φύσεως ἀνιωμένης καὶ εἰ μόνον ἀπιδεῖν ἠβουλήθη τοῦτο, καὶ πρὸ τῆς πείρας τῆς καταπόσεως. 68.5 ἡ τροφὴ δὲ ἡμῶν ἄρτου τρύφος ἦν μόνον, καὶ τοῦτο διεφθορός, κατάλυσιν μᾶλλον ἢ σύστασιν τοῖς μετέχουσιν ἐργαζόμενον. 68.6 ἃ γὰρ ἔτυχον λαβόντες οἴκοθεν πρὸ πολλῶν ἡμερῶν πρὸς χρείαν ἑαυτῶν οἱ πολέμιοι, ταῦτα περιττεύσαντα καὶ πρὸς τελείαν σηπεδόνα χωρήσαντα, καὶ οἷς οὐκ ἄν τι τῶν ἀλόγων ἐδυνήθη κἂν ἀπιδεῖν, εἰς μετάληψιν ἡμῖν προσεφέροντο, ἀφάτου μὲν δυσωδίας καὶ ἀηδίας πλήρη, μεστὴν δὲ σκωλήκων καὶ πολλῇ σαπρίᾳ συμπεφυρμένην, πρός τε τὴν ἕξιν τῶν σωμάτων παντελῶς ἀνενέργητον 68.7 καὶ γὰρ ἦν εἰκάσαι πλῆθος ἄπειρον ἐκ τούτων ἐφ' ἑκάστης τῆς ἡμέρας τῷ θανάτῳ συνελαυνόμενον, πάρεργον τῆς δίψης καὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ, τά τε σώματα τῶν θνησκόντων ἀκοντιζόμενα τῆς νηὸς ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ τοῖς κύμασιν ἐπισπαίροντα, καὶ τούτων μάλιστα τὰ δείλαια βρέφη τῷ ἀτελεῖ τῆς φύσεως πλείω τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἀλγεινῶν ἐμφορούμενα, τοὺς ζῶντας δὲ πάλιν οὐ πόρρω τῶν προκειμένων ὑπάρχοντας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον βλέποντας πέρας. 68.8 ἐξ ὧν ἁπάντων μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς, ὅσοι ταῖς στρέβλαις ἦμεν πεπεδημένοι, πλείοσι βασάνοις προσεπαλαίομεν. 68.9 καὶ γὰρ θυλάκων ἀψύχων δίκην ταῖς σελίσιν ἀλλήλοις ἐπικαθήμενοι, καὶ τοῖς ξύλοις, οἷς ἐνηρτήμεθα, τιτρωσκόμενοί τε καὶ συνθλιβόμενοι, ἀνεκδιήγητόν τινα καὶ ἄρρητον ὑφιστάμεθα τὴν ἀνάγκην, οὐδ' ὁπωσοῦν συστραφῆναι ἤ τινος ἑαυτοῖς μεταδοῦναι σχολῆς συγχωρούμενοι, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον τὰς κεφαλὰς ὑψοῦντες μικρόν, εἴ