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bound him fast by the hands until the old man, having denied it, became a corpse and was freed from his bonds. I was a spectator of this bloody murder; for I knew Antiochus. 58 This deed, then, was for the Cappadocian the most moderate of all, and would that he alone had been vigilant in injustices. But just as the Briareus of myth is said by the poets to have a myriad hands, so too that Avenging Spirit, having innumerable ministers of evil, did not work only at the court of the emperor, but sent men like himself to every place and region, like a hawk drawing up the obol that was until then hidden everywhere. But from among the many I will recall one, for a demonstration of the loathsomeness of the rest. There was a certain man with the same name as him, a close relative, a man beyond all conception of heaven-sent evil, a Cappadocian himself, and one who revealed the loathsomeness of his soul by the very constitution of his body. For he was very fleshy and excessive in appearance; with a shapeless breadth and excesses of flesh his jaws were swollen, and by the weight of his flesh he had suspended jowls from his face like a mantle; the people called him Maxilloplumbakion. This jagged-toothed Cerberus was the common ruin of all, and my own Philadelphia 224 he so chewed into fine pieces that after him it became desolate not only of money but of people as well, admitting no future opportunity for a change for the better. For having heard it echoed around, that infernal demon, as Euripides said, that "the gold-rich lands" belong to "the Lydians," leading a throng of beasts and an army of Cappadocians, he swoops down on the region, with nothing common, nothing middling, but styling himself praetorian prefect. Then, while staying there, he left to none of the wretched inhabitants of the land any possession whatsoever, not a wife, not a maiden, not a youth unharmed and free from ruin, continuing in the punishments of the innocent like Phalaris, in the murdering of strangers like Busiris, and in indolence and luxuries like Sardanapalus. 59 And would that it had stopped at this, and that he had not also become the greatest cause of toils and fears beyond tragedy for his subjects. So then, shuddering to narrate most of his pollutions—for they are countless, such that they alone could make up very large, mournful books—I will for now dramatize in my account one of his deeds done for the sake of money. A certain Petronius in my Philadelphia, a man noteworthy in birth and property and distinguished in speech—this man was the ancestral owner of a precious stone, very valuable and also, on account of its beauty and size, too conspicuous for a private individual. Seizing this man, the Cyclops put him in irons and, naked, had him flayed with rods by barbarians unsparingly, having shut him up in the stable of the mules in the courtyard—a stabulum, as the Italians call it. When this became known, "the cowering city arose and shielded its eyes with its hands," and the people wailed, daring neither to help the one being torn apart nor to persuade the Avenging Spirit. But the one overseeing the city, with all the consecrated men, taking up also the divine scriptures, ran to 226 him, intending to persuade him by means of them. But that Salmoneus, seeing God on a par with men, ordered them to get on stage and perform their parts, holding back none of the wanton expressions with which licentiousness is practiced in the so-called brothels. And the tokens of God were present, uncovered and visible to all, and the priest, being insulted along with them, wept bitterly, seeing the divine thus dishonorably overlooked. But Petronius, valuing God above his own property, sent to his house and brought everything he owned, including those stones, and threw it down in the courtyard of the Cyclops; and borrowing gold at interest, he paid it to his torturers, as if they had grown weary over him, for the sake of 'sportulae'—for that is what the Romans call such a contribution. 60 But as this seemed too moderate, Cerberus contrived to commit murders as well. So a certain Proclus, a veteran of the local military force, he pressured to contribute twenty gold pieces which he did not have, and he blunted all the instruments of torture on the sinews of the wretched poor man, who for the rest not even to live

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στιβαροῖς ἀνέδησεν ἐκ χειροῖν ἕως ἔξαρνος γενόμενος ὁ γέρων νεκρὸς τῶν δεσμῶν ἠλευθερώθη. ταύτης ἐγὼ τῆς μιαιφονίας γέγονα θεωρός· ἠπιστάμην γὰρ τὸν Ἀντίοχον. 58 Πρᾶξις μὲν οὖν αὕτη τῷ Καππαδόκῃ πασῶν μετριωτάτη καὶ εἴθε γ' οὖν μόνος ταῖς ἀδικίαις ἐνηγρύπνει. Βριάρεως δὲ καθάπερ ὁ τοῦ μύθου μυρίας χεῖρας ἔχειν τοῖς ποιηταῖς λέγεται, οὕτως καὶ ἐκεῖνος Ἀλάστωρ ἀπείρους ὑπουργοὺς τῶν κακῶν ἔχων οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλέως μόνον εἰργάζετο, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πάντα τόπον τε καὶ χώραν ἀπέστελλε τοὺς ὁμοίους αὐτῷ, δίκην ἐξιπωτῆρος τὸν ἁπανταχοῦ λανθάνοντα τέως ὀβολὸν ἀνιμώμενος. ἐκ δὲ τῶν πολλῶν ἑνὸς πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τῆς τῶν λοιπῶν βδελυρίας ἀναμνησθήσομαι. ὁμώνυμός τις ἦν αὐτῷ, πρὸς γένος ἐγγύς, ἀνὴρ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἐπίνοιαν θεηλάτου κακίας, Καππαδόκης μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ ἐκ μόνης τῆς τοῦ σώματος διασκευῆς τὸ βδελυρὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκκαλύπτων. ἦν μὲν γάρ τις πολύσαρκος καὶ περιττὸς τὴν ὄψιν· πλάτει μὲν ἀμόρφῳ καὶ κρεῶν περιττώμασι τὰς σιαγόνας ἐξοιδημένος καὶ τῷ βάρει τῶν σαρκῶν οἷα μανδύην ἀποκρεμάσας τοῦ προσώπου τῶν θυλάκων· Μαξιλλοπλουμβάκιον αὐτὸν ὁ δῆμος ἀπεκάλει. οὗτος ὁ Κέρβερος ὁ καρχαρόδους κοινὸς μὲν ἐτύγχανεν ἁπάντων ὄλεθρος, τὴν δ' ἐμὴν Φιλαδέλφειαν 224 οὕτως εἰς λεπτὸν ἀπεμασήσατο, ὡς μετ' αὐτὸν ἔρημον οὐ χρημάτων μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνθρώπων γενομένην μηδεμίαν ἐπιδέχεσθαι τὸ λοιπὸν ἀφορμὴν τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολῆς. περιηχηθεὶς γὰρ ὁ μηδὲν ἢ νερτέριος δαίμων, ὡς Εὐριπίδης εἶπεν, «Λυδῶν» ὑπάρχειν «τὰς πολυχρύσους γαίας,» στῖφος θηρίων καὶ Καππαδοκῶν στρατὸν ἐπαγόμενος ἐνσκήπτει τῇ χώρᾳ, οὐδὲν κοινόν, οὐδὲν μέσον, ἀλλ' ἔπαρχος πραιτωρίων χρηματίζων. εἶτα διατρίβων ἐν αὐτῇ οὐδενὶ τῶν δειλαίων τῆς χώρας οἰκητόρων οὐ σκεῦος οἷον οὖν, οὐ γαμετήν, οὐ παρθένον, οὐ μειράκιον ἀπήμαντον καὶ φθορᾶς ἔξω καταλέλοιπεν, ταῖς μὲν ποιναῖς τῶν ἀναιτίων ὡς Φάλαρις, ταῖς δὲ ξενοκτονίαις ὡς Βούσιρις, ταῖς δὲ ῥᾳθυμίαις καὶ τρυφαῖς ὡς Σαρδανάπαλος διατελῶν. 59 Καὶ εἴθε ἄχρι τούτων, καὶ μὴ καὶ πόνων καὶ φόβων ὑπὲρ τραγῳδίαν ἐγένετο τοῖς ὑπηκόοις αἰτιώτατος. τὰ πλεῖστα δὴ οὖν τῶν αὐτοῦ μιασμάτων ἐξηγεῖσθαι φρίττων ἄπειρα δέ ἐστιν, ὡς δὴ αὐτὰ καὶ μόνα μεγίστας βίβλους πενθήρεις ἀποτελεῖν, μίαν αὐτοῦ πρᾶξιν τέως χρημάτων ἕνεκα τραγῳδήσω τῷ λόγῳ. Πετρώνιός τις ἐπὶ τῆς ἐμῆς Φιλαδελφείας, ἀνὴρ ἀξιόλογος γένει τε καὶ περιουσίᾳ καὶ λόγοις διαπρεπής-οὗτος ἐκ προγόνων κύριος ἦν λίθου τιμίας πολλῆς ἅμα καὶ διὰ κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος τοῖς ἰδιώταις ἀπόπτως. τοῦτον ἁρπάσας ὁ Κύκλωψ σίδηρά τε περιθεὶς γυμνὸν ῥάβδοις ἔξαινε διὰ βαρβάρων ἀφειδῶς, ἐνείρξας αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐπαύλεως τῶν ἡμιόνων στάβλον αὐτὸν Ἰταλοὶ λέγουσιν. οὗ δὴ γνωσθέντος, «ὦρτο πόλις πτήξασα καὶ ὄμμασι πήξατο χεῖρας,» ἀνεκώκυέ τε ὁ δῆμος, μηδὲ βοηθεῖν τῷ διασπωμένῳ μηδὲ πείθειν τολμῶν τὸν Ἀλάστορα. ὅ γε μὴν τὴν πόλιν ἐπισκοπῶν σὺν τοῖς ἱερωμένοις ἅπασιν ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τὰ θεῖα λόγια ἔδραμεν ὡς 226 αὐτόν, πείθειν δι' αὐτῶν ἐννοήσας. ὁ δὲ Σαλμωνεύς, ἴσα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ θεὸν ὁρῶν, ἐκέλευσεν ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ἐλθόντας πράττειν τὰ ἑαυτῶν, μηδὲν ὑποστελλόμενος τῶν ὅσα ἐν πορνείοις κεκλημένοις τοῖς ἀκολάστοις λόγοις ἀσελγαίνεσθαι. καὶ ἀσκεπῆ καὶ πᾶσι κάτοπτα παρῆν τὰ θεοῦ γνωρίσματα καὶ ὁ ἱερεὺς μετ' αὐτῶν ὑβριζόμενος ἐθρήνει πικρῶς, οὕτως ὁρῶν τὸ θεῖον περιορώμενον ἀτίμως. ὁ δὲ Πετρώνιος, τῆς οἰκείας περιουσίας πρῶτον ὁρῶν τὸν θεόν, πέμψας εἰς οἶκον πάντα ὅσα ἦν αὐτῷ σὺν καὶ τοῖς λίθοις ἐκείνοις ἐνεγκὼν ἔρριψεν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐλείου τοῦ Κύκλωπος· καὶ τὸ δὲ χρυσίον λαβὼν ἐπὶ τόκῳ κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ τοὺς τιμωρούς, ὡς δὴ κεκμηκότας ἐπ' αὐτῷ, σπορτούλων ἕνεκα οὕτω δὲ τὸν ἔρανον οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι προσαγορεύουσιν. 60 Μετρίου δὲ τούτου δόξαντος εἶναι, συνεῖδεν ὁ Κέρβερος καὶ μιαιφονίας ἐργάσασθαι. Πρόκλον οὖν τινα, ἀπόμαχον τῆς ἐπιχωρίου στρατιᾶς, εἴκοσι χρυσίνους ἀπαιτῶν εἰσφέρειν αὐτῷ συνώθει οὐκ ἔχοντα, καὶ πάντα τὰ τῶν ποινῶν ὄργανα ἀπήμβλυνε τοῖς νεύροις τοῦ ἀθλίου πένητος, ὃς τὸ λοιπὸν μηδὲ ζῆν