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enduring and not being permitted to die, he pursued death by a stratagem. So taking the executioners and promising under compulsion to give them twenty gold pieces if they would accompany him to his lodging, when he arrived there, he went in, while the guards waited outside, and fastening a noose to his neck, he departed from life. When he did not come out after a time, they rushed in and, seeing him hanging, they threw his corpse into the marketplace, trampling upon it, as if they had been deceived, and they plundered his possessions, not even deeming him worthy of a pitiful scrap for burial. 61 Engaged in such exploits, the Laestrygonian, or rather “the child-smiting destroyer of my country,” as that 228 Lycophron says, prolonged the sack of the Lydians for a whole year. Considering it paltry and mean if he subjected only the formerly prosperous Lydia to his injustices, he contrived to extend his impiety over the whole administration of the Asian spine. A law from of old prevailed that a broad and a swift post be established in the provinces, of which the broad one used wagons, and the swift one used relays of horses—the rulers called them veredoi, and we know the reason for it having set it down in our work On the Months—for since almost the entire continent was not under their rule, it was not easy to report events in the East to the masters of the state as quickly as possible, since at times they even subjected the Ocean itself to their arms. With the swift post, therefore, news arrived before rumor. And this invention, so salutary for the state, this Flat-jaw contrived to abolish by his own information, persuading the prefect, who was of like mind and soul in his loathsomeness, having decided that the service of the public horses was superfluous, not perceiving, being more stony than Niobe herself, the usefulness of the matter. But the prefect, with the emperor ignorant—for how could he have consented to the public misfortunes?—abolished this aspect of the state as well. Thence, with the goods rotting unsold on the estates, since the Asian province is almost landlocked, the taxpayer was ruined, being forced by the tax-collectors to pay gold instead of goods, being unable to sell the goods, being settled far from the sea, nor being permitted, as before, to expend them for the public service. To these things followed also the transfer of the troops stationed in those places to where they were needed, made by the state, so that from this circumstance too the produce remained in the country, and the taxes were converted into gold, and the produce went to waste year after year. And would that he alone had been devouring only that 230 province, and that not in every city and country, men like him, and others worse than him, had passed through, dragging up whatever buried obol they could find, dragging behind them an army of avenging spirits and bands of Cappadocians. 62 An infinite amount of wealth was therefore collected by the most just prefect, so that it even incited him to tyranny, as the more audacious part of the populace sided with him and joined his undertakings. Courting it, therefore, and winning it over, he did not think he could persuade them that he was a lover of their faction unless, crossing to the East, he himself, putting on a robe blooming with a greenish color, should become visible to all. What things he did concerning the Cilicians and with what burdens he aggravated the taxes, against the emperor's benevolence, is unknown to no one at all. But returning to us, when he saw oceans of money flowing around him, having made all his own, he even snatched up his cooks to the highest dignities of the state, so that not even one of his purchased slaves was left bare, outside of deep wealth and honor desirable to senators, but he himself lived in luxury, bathing with smooth-faced boys not yet virile in the sleekness of their body and with licentious prostitutes, and being dissolute by both doing and suffering, “pale from either disease,” and draining unmixed wine over his fevers so unsparingly, as to be carried out prostrate by the

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ὑπομένων μηδὲ τελευτᾶν συγχωρούμενος τέχνῃ μετῆλθε τὸν θάνατον. λαβὼν οὖν τοὺς ποινουργοὺς καὶ δοῦναι τοὺς εἴκοσι χρυσοῦς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐπαγγειλάμενος εἰ τυχὸν ἕψονται ἐπὶ τὸ καταγώγιον αὐτῷ γινομένῳ, ὡς ἦλθεν ἐκεῖ, παρελθών, τῶν φυλάκων ἔξωθεν προστηρούντων, βρόχον ἐνάψας τῷ τραχήλῳ τῆς ζωῆς ἀπηλλάγη. ὡς δὲ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐ προῆλθεν, εἰσφρήσαντες ἐκεῖνοι καὶ ἐξηρτημένον αὐτὸν ἰδόντες τὸν μὲν νεκρὸν αὐτοῦ ἔρριψαν ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς συμπατοῦντες, ὡς δῆθεν ἠπατημένοι, τὰ δὲ ὄντα αὐτῷ διήρπασαν, μηδὲ πρὸς ταφὴν οἰκτροῦ τινος ἐπιρρίμματος ἀξιώσαντες. 61 Τοιούτοις κατορθώμασιν ἐνασχολούμενος ὁ Λαιστρυγών, ἢ μᾶλλον «ὁ τεκνοραίστης λυμεὼν ἐμῆς πάτρης,» ὥς φησιν ὁ 228 Λυκόφρων ἐκεῖνος, ἐφ' ὅλον ἔτους τὴν πόρθησιν τῶν Λυδῶν διέτεινεν. γλίσχρον δὲ καὶ φαῦλον ἡγούμενος εἰ μόνην τὴν πρόσθεν εὐδαίμονα Λυδίαν ὑπάγοι τοῖς ἀδικήμασιν, ἐφ' ὅλην ὁμοῦ τὴν τῆς Ἀσιανῆς ῥάχεως διοίκησιν συνεῖδεν ἐκτεῖναι τὴν ἀσέβειαν. νόμος ἄνωθεν ἐκράτησε πλατὺν ἅμα καὶ ὀξὺν δρόμον ἐνιδρῦσθαι ταῖς ἐπαρχίαις, ὧν ὁ μὲν πλατὺς ὀχήμασιν ἐχρῆτο, ὁ δὲ ὀξὺς ὑποζυγίοις ἵπποις βεραίδους αὐτοὺς οἱ κρατοῦντες ὠνόμασαν καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐν τοῖς Περὶ Μηνῶν ἴσμεν ἀποθέμενοι· τῆς γὰρ ἠπείρου σχεδὸν ἁπάσης μὴ τελούσης ὑπ' αὐτοῖς, οὐκ ἦν εὐχερὲς τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἕω συμβαίνοντα ἐπὶ τοὺς κυρίους τοῦ πολιτεύματος ὡς θᾶττον ἀναφέρειν, ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ αὐτὸν ὠκεανὸν τοῖς ὅπλοις ὑπάγοντας. τῷ γ' οὖν ὀξεῖ δρόμῳ τὰ τῆς μηνύσεως πρὸ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἐγίνετο· καὶ ταύτην τὴν οὕτω σωτηριώδη τοῖς πράγμασιν ἐπίνοιαν συνεῖδεν ὁ Πλατύγναθος ἀπαλεῖψαι δι' οἰκείας μηνύσεως, ἀναπείσας τὸν ὁμόγνιον καὶ ὁμόψυχον τῆς αὐτοῦ βδελυρίας ὕπαρχον, περιττὴν εἶναι διαγνοὺς τὴν τῶν δημοσίων ἵππων ὑπηρεσίαν, οὐ συνορῶν ὁ Νιόβης αὐτῆς λιθωδέστερος τὸ τοῦ πράγματος χρήσιμον. ὁ δὲ ὕπαρχος, ἀγνοούσης τῆς βασιλείας πῶς γὰρ ἐνεδίδου τοῖς κοινοῖς ἀτυχήμασιν;, καὶ ταύτην τὴν ὄψιν τῆς πολιτείας ἠφάνισεν. ἔνθεν, τῶν εἰδῶν ἀπράτων ἐνσηπομένων ταῖς κτήσεσιν, ἐξαλίου σχεδὸν τῆς Ἀσιανῆς τυγχανούσης, ὁ συντελεστὴς ἀπώλετο, χρυσίον πρὸς τῶν δασμολογούντων ἀντὶ τῶν εἰδῶν εἰσπραττόμενος, μηδὲ διαπωλεῖν τὰ εἴδη δυνάμενος, πόρρω θαλάσσης ἀπῳκισμένος, μηδὲ δαπανᾶν, ὡς πάλαι, τῷ δημοσίῳ συγχωρούμενος. τούτοις ἠκολούθησε καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐνιδρυμένων τοῖς τόποις στρατευμάτων μετάθεσις πρὸς τὸ χρειῶδες ὑπὸ τῶν κοινῶν γενομένη, ὡς κἀκ τούτου τοῦ συγκυρήματος τῶν καρπῶν ἐναπομενόντων τῇ χώρᾳ καὶ τοὺς μὲν φόρους εἰς χρυσίον μεταβληθῆναι, τοὺς δὲ καρποὺς ἀπογεοῦσθαι κατ' ἔτος. καὶ εἴθε μόνος αὐτὸς καὶ μόνην ἐκείνην τὴν 230 ἐπαρχίαν ἔτυχε διατρώγων καὶ μὴ καθ' ἑκάστην πόλιν τε καὶ χώραν, οἷος αὐτός, ἄλλοι καὶ χείρους αὐτοῦ τὸν ὁποῖα δ' ἂν κατορωρυγμένον ὀβολὸν ἀνασπῶντες παρῆλθον, στρατὸν ἀλαστόρων καὶ στίφη Καππαδοκῶν ἐπισυρόμενοι. 62 Συνήχθη οὖν πλοῦτος ἄπειρος τῷ δικαιοτάτῳ ὑπάρχῳ, ὥστε αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς τυραννίδα παρακαλεῖν, τῆς αὐθαδεστέρας μοίρας τοῦ δήμου συνούσης αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἐγχειρουμένοις συναπτομένης. θεραπεύων οὖν καὶ προσοικειούμενος αὐτὴν οὐκ ᾤετο πείθειν ὡς ἐραστὴς εἴη τοῦ κατ' αὐτὴν κόμματος, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἕω διαβαίνων αὐτὸς καὶ στολὴν ἀνθηρῷ χλοάζουσαν χρώματι περιθέμενος διαφανὴς ἅπασι γένοιτο. οἷα μὲν οὖν ἔπραξε περὶ Κίλικας καὶ ὅσοις τοὺς δασμοὺς ἐπέβρισεν ἄχθεσι παρὰ τὴν βασιλέως εὐμένειαν, οὐδενὶ τῶν πάντων ἠγνόηται. ἐπανελθὼν δὲ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὡς εἶδεν ὠκεανοὺς χρημάτων περιρρέοντας αὐτόν, πάντας μὲν ᾠκειωμένους αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς ὀψοποιούς γε μὴν ἐπὶ τὰ πρῶτα τῶν τῆς πολιτείας ἀξιωμάτων ἀνήρπασεν, ὡς μηδένα καὶ τῶν ἀργυρωνήτων αὐτοῦ ἔξω πλούτου βαθέος καὶ τιμῆς βουλευταῖς εὐκταίας ἀφεθῆναι γυμνόν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐτρύφα, μειρακίοις ψιλοῖς καὶ μήπω τῷ λείῳ τοῦ σώματος ἀρρενοφανέσι καὶ πορνῶν ταῖς ἀκολάστοις συμβαλανευόμενος καὶ ἀκολασταίνων τῷ πράττειν ἅμα καὶ πάσχειν, «ἐξ ἑκατέρας ὠχριῶν νόσου,» ἕλκων τε ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμπύρων τὸν ἄκρατον οὕτως ἀφειδῶς, ὡς φοράδην ἐκκεχυμένον ὑπὸ τῶν