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a spirited shout, with the barbarians sounding together and clashing their cymbals, so that the whole place seemed to shake and be thrown into confusion by the cry. 71.2 Then after that indistinct and most dreadful sound, they began to unload the cargo onto the land, dividing the adjacent place into portions according to the number of the ships, where they brought out the cargo of each one, whatever it was, divided and separated from each other, so that the property of each might be kept unmixed and completely unmingled with what belonged to the others. 71.3 They therefore spent that entire day on the unloading. 71.4 On the next day the commanders of the ships came from the sea to divide again into other portions both the multitude of the captives and the great mass of the spoils, the quantity of which astonished the Cretans, who had no example with which to compare what they were seeing. 71.5 And when the barbarians first decided this, that the host of the unfortunate should be mingled together, so that those who had some kinship might recognize each other again, then indeed a certain dreadful and tumultuous lament was heard from all, as if letting loose streams of tears from a single source, and whispering anxiously whether they might have the good fortune to find one of their loved ones, and that the allotted time for finding them might not pass them by, and that they might remain, having hoped for solace concerning them on no firm basis. 71.6 The unfortunate women therefore went about, with their hair unbound, looking everywhere around them and casting their tear-soaked eyes about, to see which of their children they would first meet. 71.7 And the children, as many as escaped the terrors of the sea, just as some tender calves low mournfully when taken from the teat, so also did these weep piteously and pathetically, being in one part or another of that dispersion and calling out for their mothers; 71.8 whom the wretched mothers, often encountering, showed their natural compassion for them, embracing their necks and kissing all their limbs and washing them with tears, considering this alone a great and wondrous consolation in their troubles: that their beloved ones were saved beyond hope and restored to them alive again. 71.9 But these things concerned those who already had their children in their hands and knew from actual experience that they were safe; 71.10 but what could we say about the others, whose infants had perished in the waters and what had happened was unknown to them, how they were seized by natural grief, 71.11 how they tore their tunics, unable to endure the storm within their heart, 71.12 how they would not stand anywhere, but were carried about in vain by the irrational impulse of their grief, turning their eyes this way and that, in case they might see one of their longed-for ones or hear from someone who had seen them clearly, so that upon him she might pour out the inflammation of her soul? 71.13 And they did these things for often two or even three days, until, when they were much wearied, some others of their acquaintances declared the end of those they were seeking, their beloved ones having often become the work of hunger or thirst; 71.14 from which indeed, their grief having grown more savage, with louder laments and other forms of sorrow they mourned for the departed. 71.15 But why do I attempt in vain to write about these things, being able to represent not even the smallest part of what was done then? 71.16 For it was necessary for that very man to be present, Jeremiah, who recorded the lamentations of Jerusalem, so that he might let fall an inconsolable tear over so great a people worn down by so many pains. 71.17 For Rachel in Ramah did not so raise a voice, when she lamented the loss of her children, as Scripture says, as did that valley in which these things were taking place, intensifying the pains of the captured. 72.1 For what an evil was again done after these things by the god-haters! 72.2 For as we said before, when they had first considered that if the multitude of the captives should be mingled with each other according to kinship, and of the

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θυμήρη φωνὴν τῶν βαρβάρων συνυπηχούντων καὶ τοῖς κυμβάλοις κτυπούντων, ὡς πάντα δοκεῖν δονεῖσθαι τὸν τόπον καὶ πρὸς τὴν κραυγὴν ἐκταράττεσθαι. 71.2 εἶτα μετὰ τὴν ἄσημον ἐκείνην καὶ φοβερωτάτην ἠχὴν ἐπεχείρουν πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἀποφορτίζειν τὸν γόμον, διελόντες εἰς μερίδας κατὰ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν νηῶν τὸν παρακείμενον τόπον, ὅπου μιᾶς ἑκάστης φόρτον, ὅστις ποτὲ ἦν, διῃρημένως καὶ ἀποκεκριμένως ἀλλήλων ἐξεκομίζοντο, ὡς ἂν ἀμιγῆ τηρεῖσθαι τὴν ἑκάστης περιουσίαν καὶ τῶν προσόντων ταῖς ἄλλαις παντελῶς ἀνεπίμικτον. 71.3 πᾶσαν οὖν ἐκείνην ἀνάλωσαν εἰς τὴν ἀποσκευὴν τὴν ἡμέραν. 71.4 τῇ δ' ἑξῆς ἐξῆλθον τῆς θαλάσσης οἱ τῶν νηῶν ἀρχηγοὶ διελεῖν πάλιν εἰς ἄλλας μερίδας τό τε πλῆθος τῶν αἰχμαλώτων καὶ τὴν πολλὴν τῶν σκύλων ὕλην, ἧς ἐξίσταντο τὴν πληθὺν οἱ Κρῆτες, οὐδενὶ παραδείγματι συγκρίνειν ἔχοντες τὰ βλεπόμενα. 71.5 ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο πρῶτον ἔδοξε τοῖς βαρβάροις, ἀναμιχθῆναι τῶν δυστυχῶν τὸν δῆμον, ὅπως τὸν ἀναγνωρισμὸν καὶ αὖθις οἱ συγγενείας τινὸς μετέχοντες ἐν ἀλλήλοις ποιήσωνται, τότε δὴ φοβερός τις ἠκούετο καὶ ταραχώδης θρῆνος πάντων ὡς ἀπὸ μιᾶς πηγῆς ἀφιέντων τοὺς κρουνοὺς τῶν δακρύων, καὶ θρυλλουμένων, εἴ πού τινος εὐτυχήσοιεν τῶν φιλτάτων, καὶ μὴ λάθοι παρελθοῦσα ἡ προθεσμία τῆς ἀνευρέσεως καὶ μείνωσιν ἐπ' οὐδενὶ βεβαίῳ τὴν περὶ αὐτοὺς ψυχαγωγίαν ἐλπίσαντες. 71.6 περιήρχοντο γοῦν αἱ δυστυχεῖς γυναῖκες, τὰς κόμας ἔχουσαι λελυμένας, πανταχοῦ περισκοποῦσαι καὶ διαβρόχους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς περιάγουσαι, τίνι τῶν τέκνων πρῶτον ἐντύχωσιν. 71.7 οἱ δὲ δὴ παῖδες, ὅσοι τὰ δεινὰ τῆς θαλάσσης διέφυγον, καθάπερ τινὲς ἁπαλοὶ μόσχοι γοερὸν μυκῶνται τῆς θηλῆς ἀφαιρούμενοι, οὕτω δὴ καὶ οὗτοι ἐλεεινόν τι καὶ συμπαθὲς ἐκλαυθμύριζον, ἄλλος κατ' ἄλλο μέρος τῆς διασπορᾶς ἐκείνης γενόμενοι καὶ τὰς μητέρας ἀνακαλούμενοι· 71.8 οἷς καὶ περιτυγχάνουσαι πολλάκις αἱ δείλαιαι μητέρες τὴν φυσικὴν ἐκίνουν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς συμπάθειαν, περιπλεκόμεναι τοῖς αὐχέσι καὶ πάντα αὐτῶν καταφιλοῦσαι τὰ μέλη καὶ δάκρυσι πλύνουσαι, τοῦτο μόνον ἡγούμεναι μέγα τι καὶ θαυμαστὸν ὡς ἐν δεινοῖς παρηγόρημα τὸ παρ' ἐλπίδα σωθῆναι καὶ ζῶντας αὐταῖς καὶ αὖθις τοὺς φιλτάτους ἀποδοθῆναι. 71.9 ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐχούσαις ἐν χερσὶν ἤδη τοὺς παῖδας καὶ τὸ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀσφαλὲς ἐκ τῆς πείρας αὐτῆς γνωριζούσαις· 71.10 τί δ' ἂν εἴποιμεν περὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὧν καθ' ὑδάτων τὰ βρέφη διόλωλε καὶ ἄδηλον ἦν αὐταῖς τὸ συμβάν, πῶς τῷ φυσικῷ συνείχοντο πάθει, 71.11 πῶς διεσπάραττον τοὺς χιτῶνας, τὸν ἔνδον τῆς καρδίας μὴ ὑπομένουσαι κλύδωνα, 71.12 πῶς οὐκ ἤθελον οὐδαμοῦ στῆναι, ἀλλὰ περιήγοντο φερόμεναι μάτην ὑπὸ τῆς ἀλόγου τοῦ πάθους ὁρμῆς, τῇδε κἀκεῖσε τὰ ὄμματα περιστρέφουσαι, εἴ πού τινα τῶν ποθουμένων θεάσοιντο ἤ τινος περὶ αὐτῶν ἀκριβῶς ἰδόντος ἀκούσοιντο, ἵν' ἐκείνῳ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς φλεγμαῖνον κενώσειε; 71.13 καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἔπραττον ἐπὶ δυσὶ πολλάκις ἢ καὶ τρισὶν ἡμέραις, ἕως πολλὰ καμούσαις ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν γνωρίμων τὸ περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων ἐδήλωσαν πέρας, λιμοῦ πολλάκις ἢ δίψης ἔργον τοὺς φιλτάτους αὐτῶν γεγενημένους· 71.14 ἐξ οὗ δὴ καὶ μᾶλλον τὸ πάθος ἐξαγριάνασαι, γεγωνοτέροις θρήνοις καὶ ἄλλοις θλιβερῶν εἴδεσι τοὺς ἀποιχομένους ἐφιλοφρόνουν. 71.15 ἀλλὰ τί μάτην τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐπιχειρῶ συγγραφήν, οὐδὲ τὸ πολλοστὸν μέρος τῶν τότε πεπραγμένων ἱκανὸν παραστήσασθαι; 71.16 ἐκεῖνον γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔδει παρεῖναι τὸν τοὺς θρήνους τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀναγραφόμενον Ἰερεμίαν, ἵν' ἐπαφῇ δάκρυον ἀπαρηγόρητον ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον λαὸν τοσαύταις ἀλγηδόσι κατατρυχόμενον. 71.17 οὐ γὰρ οὕτω φωνὴν ἀφῆκε Ῥαχὴλ ἐν Ῥαμᾷ, ὅτε τὴν στέρησιν τῶν τέκνων ἀπωλοφύρετο, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, ὡς ἡ κοιλὰς ἐκείνη καθ' ἣν ἐτελεῖτο ταῦτα τὰς ἀλγηδόνας τῶν ἁλόντων συνεπιτείνουσα. 72.1 Οἷον γὰρ πάλιν ἀπὸ τούτων παρὰ τῶν μισοθέων ἐπράχθη κακόν! 72.2 καθὸ γὰρ φθάσαντες ἔφημεν, λογισαμένων αὐτῶν πρῶτον ὡς εἰ κατὰ συγγένειαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ τοῦ πλήθους ἀναμιχθῶσι τῶν αἰχμαλώτων, καὶ τῶν