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to be carried by naked women, while he poured wine on the dishes set before him. Neither the strait lying below the city, nor the entire Hellespont, sufficing for his luxury, and when finally no variety of comb-fish, or elops, or fish worth its weight in gold was left in the sea, the servants of his luxury turned to the Euxine, allowing no fish to the sea, no bird to the mountains or groves, the entire Phasis not being enough for his feasts, so that the comb-fish, it seemed, took flight, 232 not entrusting themselves to their natural flight from place to place, but into the air, using their shells as if they were wings, to escape the gluttony of the Cappadocians. 63 And since by chance the memory of the elops fish has come up, I shall set down what is known to me about it. It is a delicate, transparent fish, so that its flesh seems to be jellied and crystalline, not solid and fibrous; it is viviparous and brings up a kind of cud. It is its nature to frequent prosperous places; for which reason it was served to the Romans with flutes and cymbals, as Athenaeus says. And while swimming it covers its eyes with the fins that have grown beside them. And Aristotle and all the naturalists call it elops, as does Aristophanes of Byzantium in his Epitome of the Physics of Fish, but the Romans call it *acipenser*, for reasons they themselves have written. But Cornelius Nepos and Laberius the poet, both Romans, say that a certain Optatus, captain of the Carpathian fleet, a kinsman of the emperor Claudius, brought elops from the lower sea and scattered them in the sea between Ostia and Campania. 64 Let these things have been said for the sake of the fish. But during the journey up, or rather the conveyance, of the Cappadocian, girls appeared to him in rows, their limbs draped in *sandyx*, openly revealing those parts which "ought to be hidden from the eyes of men." But leaving the subject at hand for a moment, I will try to explain what *sandyx* is and what kind of garment it was for the Lydians of old. The gold-rich Lydians of old, through their abundance of gold which the Pactolus after the Hermus supplied them, were eager to work tunics of golden thread, and Peisander is a witness, saying: "gold-tunicked Lydians," and not only these but also the ones called *sandykes*—which were tunics invented by them 234—of the most transparent linen, which they would dip in the juice of the *sandyx* plant. The color of the plant is flesh-like, and when the women of the Lydians veiled their naked bodies with these, they seemed to be clothed in nothing but air, but with a beauty beyond what is fair and modest, they allured those who watched them. Omphale, having once wrapped Heracles, who was shamefully in love, in such a tunic, unmanned him. By this Heracles was also called Sandon, as Apuleius the Roman philosopher in the work entitled *Eroticus* and Tranquillus before him in his *On Famous Prostitutes* have recorded, whence I think that even now *sandones* are spoken of in derision, which the common people, from the make of fine linen (*sindones*), think are called *sandones* as if *sindones*. 65 Such things one might say as in a digression, but I shall return to the Cappadocian. Prostitutes drew him to them, as he was being carried by other half-naked prostitutes, with wanton kisses forcing him to immediate intercourse. But he, overwhelmed by the dishes and drinks set before him, was received by other catamites; and these things were so many and so soft that they induced vomiting in him, his mouth no longer having room, and like a torrent it furrowed the hearth and brought no small danger to the flatterers slipping on the polished mosaics. Thus he continued in his corruption, joining nights to days, so that for him while feasting the morning star became the end, and the evening star the beginning of business. And so that no hindrance should by chance arise for his indolence, he renounced once and for all the Precinct of Justice—they call it the *Secretum* in the law-courts—, enduring to appear in it only when, carried away by the excess of his feasting, he exposed the most eminent of the order to penalties. And he appoints as judges over the

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γυμνῶν ἀναβαστάζεσθαι, πρὸς ἀντιβολὴν ὄψων ἐπιχωννύντος τὸν οἶνον. οὐκ ἐξαρκοῦντος τῇ τρυφῇ οὐ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου τῇ πόλει πορθμοῦ, οὐχ Ἑλλησπόντου σύμπαντος, τὸ λοιπὸν οὐ κτενός, οὐκ ἔλοπος, οὐ χρυσοστάθμου ἰχθύων ποικιλίας καταλειφθείσης τῷ πελάγει, ἐπὶ τὸν Εὔξεινον οἱ τῆς τρυφῆς ὑπηρέται ἐτρέποντο, μὴ τῇ θαλάττῃ ἰχθύος, μὴ τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἢ τοῖς ἄλσεσιν ὀρνέου συγχωρουμένου, μὴ Φάσιδος ὅλου ταῖς εὐωχίαις ἀποχρῶντος, ὡς ἀφίστασθαι τοὺς κτένας, 232 μὴ τῇ κατὰ φύσιν ἐκ τόπου εἰς τόπον πτήσει καταπιστεύοντας ἑαυτούς, ἀλλ' εἰς ἀέρα, τοῖς ὀστράκοις ὡς εἰ πτέρυξι χρωμένους, δοκεῖν ἐκκλίνειν τὴν Καππαδοκῶν ἀδηφαγίαν. 63 Ὅτι δὲ τυχὸν ἔλοπος τοῦ ἰχθύος μνήμη παρῆλθεν, περὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ γνωσθέντα μοι παραθήσομαι. ἰχθύς ἐστιν ἁπαλός, διαυγής, ὡς ὡς εἰ πηκτὴν καὶ κρυσταλλώδη ἀλλ' οὐ ναστὴν καὶ ἰνώδη δοκεῖν ἔχειν τὴν σάρκα· ζῳοτόκος μὲν καὶ μηρυκισμόν τινα ἀνάγων. πέφυκε δὲ τοῖς εὐτυχέσιν ἐνδιατρίβειν τόποις· ὅθεν μετ' αὐλῶν καὶ κυμβάλων τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις παρετίθετο, ὥς φησιν Ἀθήναιος. ἐν δὲ τῷ νήχεσθαι σκέπει τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ταῖς παραπεφυκυίαις αὐτῷ πτέρυξιν. καὶ ἔλοπα μὲν αὐτὸν Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ πάντες οἱ φυσικοὶ καλοῦσιν καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ ὁ Βυζάντιος ἐν τῇ Ἐπιτομῇ τῶν ἐν ἰχθύσι Φυσικῶν, οἱ δὲ Ῥωμαῖοι ἀκυιπήνσερα, δι' ἃς αὐτοὶ γεγράφασιν αἰτίας. Κορνήλιος δὲ Νέπως καὶ Λαβέριος ὁ ποιητής, ἄμφω Ῥωμαῖοι, φασὶν Ὀπτᾶτόν τινα ναύκληρον τοῦ Καρπαθίου στόλου, οἰκεῖον Κλαυδίου βασιλέως, ἐνεγκόντα ἐκ τῆς κάτω θαλάσσης ἔλοπας ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς Ὀστίας καὶ Καμπανῆς περισπεῖραι θαλάσσης. 64 Τοιαῦτα μέν τινα τοῦ ἰχθύος χάριν εἰρήσθω. περὶ δὲ τὴν ἄνοδον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνακομιδήν, τοῦ Καππαδόκου στιχηδὸν αὐτῷ παρεφαίνοντο κόραι σάνδυξι περικεχυμέναι τὰ μέλη, προφανῶς ἐκκαλύπτουσαι ὅσα «καλύπτειν ὄμματ' ἀρσένων ἐχρῆν.» πρὸς βραχὺ δὲ τὸ προκείμενον ἀφείς, ὅ τι τυγχάνει σάνδυξ καὶ ποῖον εἶδος ἐσθήματος γέγονε Λυδοῖς τὸ πάλαι, ἑρμηνεῦσαι πειράσομαι. σπουδὴ γέγονε τοῖς πολυχρύσοις τὸ πάλαι Λυδοῖς εὐπορίᾳ χρυσίου, ὅσον αὐτοῖς ὁ Πακτωλὸς μετὰ τὸν Ἕρμον ἐχορήγει, καὶ χρυσοστήμονας διεργάζεσθαι χιτῶνας καὶ μάρτυς ὁ Πείσανδρος εἰπών· «Λυδοὶ χρυσοχίτωνες», καὶ οὐκ αὐτοὺς μόνους ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς καλουμένους σάνδυκας χιτῶνες δὲ ἦσαν ὑπ' αὐτῶν 234 εὑρημένοι, λινῶν μὲν οἱ διειδέστατοι, σάνδυκος δὲ χυλῷ τῆς βοτάνης καταβάπτοντες αὐτούς· σαρκοειδὴς δὲ ὁ χρὼς τῆς βοτάνης, οἷς αἱ γυναῖκες τῶν Λυδῶν γυμνῷ τῷ σώματι ἐπισκιάζουσαι οὐδὲν μὲν ἐδόκουν ἢ ἀέρα μόνον περικεῖσθαι, κάλλει δὲ ἔξω τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ σώφρονος ἐφείλκοντο τοὺς θεωμένους. τοιούτῳ τὸν Ἡρακλέα χιτῶνι περιβαλοῦσα Ὀμφάλη ποτὲ αἰσχρῶς ἐρῶντα παρεθήλυνεν· ταύτῃ καὶ Σανδὼν Ἡρακλῆς ἀνηνέχθη, ὡς Ἀπουλήϊος ὁ Ῥωμαῖος φιλόσοφος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ Ἐρωτικῷ καὶ Τράγκυλλος δὲ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἐπισήμων Πορνῶν ἀνενηνόχασιν, ἔνθεν οἶμαι σανδόνας ἔτι καὶ νῦν πρὸς διασυρμοῦ λέγεσθαι, οὓς τὸ πλῆθος ἀπὸ τῆς κατασκευῆς τῶν σινδόνων σανδόνας ὡς ἂν εἰ σινδόνας οἴεται χρηματίζειν. 65 Τοιαῦτα μὲν ἄν τις ὡς ἐν παρεκβάσει λέγοι, ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τὸν Καππαδόκην ἐπάνειμι. ἐπεσπῶντο δὲ αὐτὸν πόρναι ὑπ' ἄλλων πορνῶν γυμνοφανῶν βασταζόμενον φιλήμασιν ἐκλύτοις πρὸς μίξιν αὐτίκα βιαζομένοις. ὁ δὲ κεχυμένος ἐκ τῶν προτεινομένων ὄψων τε καὶ ποτῶν πρὸς κιναίδων ἄλλων ἐλάμβανεν· τοσαῦτα δὲ ἦν καὶ οὕτω μαλακά, ὡς ἔμετον αὐτῷ κινεῖν, μηκέτι χωροῦντος τοῦ στόματος, χειμάρρου δὲ δίκην ἐξαυλακίζοντος τὴν ἑστίαν καὶ κίνδυνον οὐ μικρὸν ἐξολισθαίνουσι τοῖς κόλαξι τῷ στιλπνῷ τῶν ψηφολογημάτων ἐπιφέροντος. οὕτω διετέλει σηπόμενος, συνάπτων ταῖς νυξὶ τὰς ἡμέρας, ὥστε πέρας μὲν αὐτῷ ἑστιωμένῳ τὸν φωσφόρον, ἀρχὴν δὲ πραγμάτων τὸν ἕσπερον γίνεσθαι. ὅπως δὲ μὴ τυχὸν ἐμπόδισμα ταῖς ῥᾳθυμίαις ἐγγένοιτο, ἀπολέγει καθ' ἅπαξ τῷ Τεμένει τῆς ∆ίκης Σήκρητον αὐτὸ καλοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις, φαίνεσθαι μόνον ὑπομένων ἐν αὐτῷ ὅτε περιφερόμενος τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ τῶν σιτίων τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους τῆς τάξεως ταῖς ποιναῖς ἐξέθετο. δικαστὰς δὲ προβάλλεται ἐπὶ τῆς