34

When these die, darkness does not receive them, but the Isles of the Blessed and the Elysian field. Elysian is the name of a place, as if a place of no grief and of release, not of punishment. He says, therefore, that the righteous among them will dwell in these places after death. The name of the asphodel is the name of a plant, having a not unpleasant smell and a delightful flower. 43.15 The fifteenth story is the one about Gadeira. Gadeira is a place in the western parts. And this place is the end of the sea and like an outflow from the sea towards us to the Atlantic sea. It is said, therefore, that beyond Gadeira that sea is no longer sailed because it is rocky and dark. Gadeira was named from "ge" (earth) and "deire" (neck). And "deire" is what the neck is called. Therefore, from there being a kind of neck of the earth there, it was named Gadeira. 43.16 The sixteenth story is the one about the horse that broke its bond. It is this. Homer the poet, wishing to express the sharpness and passion of Diomedes concerning the war, likens the hero through a parable, adding this verse: As when a stabled horse, having fed its fill at the manger. 43.17 The seventeenth story is the one about the giants who were sown and grew on the same day. It is this. In Thebes of Boeotia it is said that Cadmus or someone else, having taken the teeth of the Delphinian dragon, sowed them into the earth. And armed men were brought forth. And they were brought forth from the thighs upward, and thus standing they warred against one another and against others. 43.18 The eighteenth story is the one about the seven-gated Thebes and the Egyptian one. It is this. And the divine Gregory wishes to tell us here about spectacles. The seven-gated Thebes are of Greece, founded by Amphion and Zethus by means of a kithara. But the Egyptian Thebes are hundred-gated. It was very great in ancient times, and so great as to have a hundred gates. And the Babylonian walls are said to be very strong. For they were built from baked brick and molten asphalt, and having great width and length, and a great circumference. The tomb of Mausolus the Carian is also very great. For Mausolus was tyrant of Caria, who built for himself a very costly tomb on a certain mound and situated within a marshy lake. And it is also written "the Carian tomb," so that it is a possessive. And it is also written "of the Carian," so that it is an ethnic name, of Mausolus the Carian. And the Pyramids, these too worthy of seeing, were built in Egypt at great cost, which Christians say are the granaries of Joseph, but the Greeks say are the tombs of certain kings, of whom Herodotus is one. And concerning the Colossus set up in Rhodes he says, that the statue is very great and worthy of admiration.

34

τούτους ἀποθανόντας οὐχὶ δέχεται σκότος ἀλλ' αἱ Μακάρων νῆσοι καὶ τὸ Ἠλύσιον πεδίον. ὄνομα δὲ τόπου τὸ Ἠλύσιον, οἱονεὶ ἀλύσιον καὶ ἀπο λύσιον, οὐ κολάσεως. φησὶν οὖν ἐν τούτοις οἱ παρ' αὐτῶν δικαίοι μετὰ θάνατον αὐλισθήσονται. τὸ δὲ τοῦ ἀσφοδέλου ὄνομα, φυτοῦ ἐστιν ὄνομα, ἔχοντος ὀσμὴν οὐ φαύλην καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐπιτερπές. 43.15 Πεντεκαιδεκάτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῶν Γαδείρων. Γάδειρα τόπος ἐστὶ περὶ τὰ Ἑσπέρια μέρη. ὁ τόπος δὲ οὗτος ἀποτελεύτησίς ἐστι θαλάττης καὶ οἱονεὶ ἐκροή τις οὖσα ἀπὸ τῆς ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς θαλάττης ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀτλαντίδα θάλατταν. λέγεται οὖν μηκέτι μετὰ τὰ Γάδειρα πλέεσθαι τὴν θάλατταν ἐκείνην διὰ τὸ εἶναι βραχώδη καὶ σκοτεινήν. Γάδειρα δὲ ἤκουσε παρὰ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν δειρήν. δειρὴ δὲ καλεῖται ὁ τράχηλος. παρὰ οὖν τὸ τῆς γῆς εἶναί τινα τράχηλον ἐκεῖσε ἤκουσε Γάδειρα. 43.16 Ἑξκαιδεκάτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τοῦ ἵππου τοῦ διαρρήξαντος τὸν δεσμόν. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ὅμηρος ὁ ποιητὴς βουλόμενος τὴν ∆ιομήδους ὀξύτητα καὶ θερμότητα τὴν περὶ τὸν πολεμὸν ἐκφράσαι διὰ παραβολῆς εἰκάζει τὸν ἥρωα, ἐπειπὼν τόδε τὸ ἔπος· Ὡς δ' ὅτε τις στατὸς ἵππος, ἀκοστήσας ἐπὶ φάτνῃ. 43.17 Ἑπτακαιδεκάτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῶν σπαρέντων καὶ φυέντων αὐθημερὸν γιγάντων. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ἐν Θήβαις ταῖς τῆς Βοιωτίας λέγεται ὅτι Κάδμος ἢ ἄλλος τις λαβὼν τοὺς τοῦ ∆ελφινίου δράκοντος ὀδόντας ἔσπειρεν εἰς τὴν γῆν. καὶ ἀνεδόθησαν ἔνοπλοι ἄνδρες. ἀνεδόθησαν δὲ ἀπὸ μηρῶν ἄχρι ἄνω, καὶ οὕτως ἱστάμενοι ἐπολέμουν ἀλλήλους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους. 43.18 Ὀκτωκαιδεκάτη ἐστὶν ἱστορία ἡ περὶ τῶν ἑπταπύλων Θηβῶν καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ὁ δὲ θεῖος Γρηγόριος περὶ θεαμάτων βούλεται εἰπεῖν ἡμῖν ἐνταῦθα. Αἱ ἑπτάπυλοι Θῆβαί εἰσι τῆς Ἑλλάδος, αἱ ὑπὸ Ἀμφίονος καὶ Ζήθου κτισθεῖσαι διὰ κιθάρας. αἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιαι Θῆβαί εἰσιν ἑκατοντάπυλοι. μεγίστη δὲ πάλαι γέγονε, καὶ οὕτως μεγίστη ὥστε ἑκατὸν ἔχειν τὰς πύλας. Τὰ δὲ τείχη τὰ Βαβυλώνια λέγεται εἶναι ἰσχυρότατα. ἀπὸ γὰρ πλίνθου ὀπτῆς καὶ ἀσφάλτου λυομένης ἐκτίσθησαν, καὶ τὸ πλάτος ἔχοντα πολὺ καὶ τὸ μῆκος, καὶ τὴν περιφέρειαν πολλήν. Ὁ τάφος Μαυσώλου τοῦ Καρὸς μέγιστός ἐστι καὶ αὐτός. Μαύσωλος γὰρ Καρίας γέγονε τύραννος, ὃς ἔκτισεν ἑαυτῷ τάφον πολυανάλωτον ἐν χώματί τινι καὶ ἐν λιμναζούσῃ λίμνῃ ἔνδον κείμενον. γράφεται δὲ καὶ ὁ Καρικὸς τάφος ἵν' ᾖ κτητικόν. γράφεται δὲ καὶ Καρὸς ἵν' ᾖ ἐθνικὸν τοῦ Μαυσώλου τοῦ Καρός. Αἱ δὲ Πυραμίδες καὶ αὔται θεάματος ἄξιαι ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ εἰσὶν ἐκτισμέναι πολυανάλωτοι, ἅστινας Χριστιανοὶ μὲν λέγουσιν εἶναι τὰ ὡρεῖα τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, Ἕλληνες δὲ τάφους βασιλέων τινῶν, ὧν ἐστι καὶ Ἡρόδοτος. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ Κολοσσοῦ λέγει τοῦ ἐν Ῥόδῳ ἀνακειμένου, ὄτι μέγιστός ἐστιν ὁ ἀνδριὰς καὶ ἀξιοθαύμαστος.