Verae historiae

Lucian of Samosata

Selections from Lucian. Smith, Emily James, translator. New York; Harper Brothers, 1892.

He was greatly astonished, and in turn gave us an account of his own fortunes. "By birth, friends, I am a Cypriote. Being engaged

p.159
in commerce, I set out from my native land with my boy, whom you see, and a number of slaves as well, and sailed for Italy, carrying a cargo of all sorts of wares in a large ship, which you perhaps saw lying in fragments at the whale's mouth. Well, as far as Sicily we had a favorable voyage, but there a tempest fell upon us and drove us three days out to sea, where we fell in with the whale and were swallowed bodily. We two alone were saved; all the others perished. We buried our comrades and built the temple to Poseidon, and then we fell into our present mode of life, tilling our kitchen-garden, and eating fish and fruits. The forest, as you see, is extensive, and there are actually quantities of grapes in it, which make the sweetest wine. The spring, too, which perhaps you know, gives very clear and cold water. We make our bed of leaves; we have no lack of fire; we capture the birds that fly in; we take alive the fish that find their way into the monster's gills; and there, too, we bathe when we wish. There is a salt lake, also, not far off, more than two miles in circumference, stocked with fish of all sorts. There we swim and sail, too, in a small skiff that I built myself. This is the twenty-seventh year since we were swallowed.

As far as these things go, our life was perhaps tolerable; but our neighbors, the people who live near us, are extremely rough and violent, for they are savages

p.160
who have never had commerce with civilization." "What!" said I, "are there, then, still other men in the whale ?" "Numbers of them," said he, "inhospitable and barbarous in their manners. The western territory towards the tail is inhabited by the Driedherring folk, an eel-eyed, lobster-faced race, warlike, fierce, and eaters of raw flesh. On the other side, towards the right, are the Triton-weasels, who are like men above but like weasels below. However, they are less unruly than the others. On the left are the Crabclaws and the Tunnyheads, who have made a friendly alliance between themselves. The country between is inhabited by the Crayfish and the Skaitfeet, a warlike race and very swift in running. The eastern part towards the mouth consists of waste deserts washed by the sea. But this region I hold, paying the Skaitfeet a yearly tribute of five hundred oysters.

Such is the nature of the country; it is for you to see to it that we may be able to hold our own in war with so many tribes and get our living." "What are their numbers in all ?" said I. "More than a thousand," he replied. "And what arms have they?" "None," said he, "except fish-bones." "Very well, then," I said; "it would be best to engage them in battle, for they are unarmed and

p.161
we are armed. If we overcome them we shall dwell without fear of molestation for the future." This course was determined on, and we went back to the ship and made ourselves ready. The day for paying the tribute was at hand, and we were going to make a refusal to pay it the ground of war. Sure enough, the savages sent messengers to demand the tribute, but our friends answered them scornfully and chased them away. The Skaitfeet and the Crayfish were the first to advance, furious with Skintharos-for that was his name—and making a great noise.

But we had suspected their attack, and awaited them fully armed, having sent forward an ambuscade of twenty-five men. The order given to the men in ambush was that when they perceived the enemy had passed by they should spring out, and this is what they did. Springing out, they fell upon them from the rear; and we ourselves, who were also twenty-five in number (for Skintharos and his son fought with us), met them in front and joined battle, fighting desperately with might and main ; and finally we put them to flight and chased them to their caves. The enemy lost one hundred and seventy men; we lost one, and the pilot was wounded in the back with the rib of a mullet.

That day and night we encamped on the battle-field, and raised a trophy by fixing the dried spine of a dolphin upright. But the next day all

p.162
the others who had learned what was going on presented themselves. The Dried-herrings were on the right wing, with Pelamos in command, the Tunnyheads were on the left, and the Crab-claws occupied the centre. The Triton-weasels remained neutral, not choosing to join either side. We took the initiative, advanced to meet them, and engaged with a great shout close by the temple of Poseidon. The hollow chamber echoed our cry as if it had been a cavern. We routed them, unarmed as they were, and chasing them into the depths of the forest, made ourselves masters of the rest of the country.

Soon after they sent messengers, who gathered up their dead and discussed an alliance; but we decided not to treat with them. On the contrary, we marched against them next day, and literally cut them to pieces, with the exception of the Triton-weasels. These, when they saw what had happened, rushed out through the gills and threw themselves into the sea. We marched into the country, stripped already of enemies, and dwelt securely thereafter, instituting exercises of various sorts and hunting; and we cultivated the vines, and gathered the fruits from the trees, and were in every respect like well-fed prisoners left at large in a great prison, from which escape was impossible. We lived in this fashion for a year and eight months;

but on the fifth day of the ninth month

p.163
I rose at about the second yawning of the whale -for he opened his mouth once in every hour, so that we reckoned our time by it—well, about the second yawning, as I said, a sudden great uproar was heard, and what sounded like the commands of officers and the rhythmic cry of rowers. Startled, as you may suppose, we crept up to the very mouth of the monster, and standing inside the teeth, we beheld the most amazing sight I ever saw-namely, giants a hundred yards tall, sailing towards one another on huge islands as if they were triremes. Now I know that what I am going to recount will seem highly incredible, nevertheless I shall tell it. The islands were long, but not particularly high, and each was as much as twelve miles in circumference. About twenty-eight of the giants sailed on each, part of them seated in order on either side, and rowing with great pine-treesbranches, leaves and all—for oars. Aft, as if on the poop, stood the pilot on a high hill, handling a bronze rudder five hundred yards long. At the prow stood as many as forty in armor, fighting. They were like men in all respects save their hair, but that was of flaming fire, so that they had no need of helmets. They had no sails, but the wind, striking against the trees, which grew in forests on each, filled them, and drove the island whithersoever the pilot wished. A boatswain
p.164
stood over the rowers to give them their time, and the islands moved quickly at his order like so many great ships.

At first we saw only two or three islands, but afterwards as many as six hundred appeared, ranged themselves in opposition, and began a naval battle. Many dashed against each other's prows, many were run into and sunk, but some grappled and fought vigorously, and could not easily be shaken off, for the warriors at the prow showed the greatest spirit in boarding the other vessel and killing her men, but no one took a prisoner alive. Instead of grappling-irons they threw great polyps, fastened one to another. These entangled themselves in the trees and so held the island itself. Their missiles and weapons were oysters large enough to fill a cart and sponges thirty yards round.

The commander on one side was Fleet-foot, on the other Sea-Drinker. The cause of the battle appeared to be a dispute about plunder, for Sea-Drinker was said to have driven off many herds of dolphins belonging to Fleetfoot, as we could hear from what they shouted to one another, and in the same way we learned the names of the kings. Finally, Fleet-foot and his party were victorious, and they sank about a hundred and fifty of the enemy's islands and captured three more with their crews, but the others backed water and

p.165
fled. The victors gave chase for a while, but when evening had fallen they returned to where the débris floated, took possession of most of the enemies' belongings and recovered their own; for not less than eighty of their own islands had sunk. They also raised a trophy in honor of the victory on the whale's head, by setting one of the enemy's islands on a post. That night they encamped round the whale, floating close by, having fastened their hawsers and anchors to him, for they had anchors, too-large ones made of glass and very strong. The next day they sacrificed on the whale, buried their comrades on him, and sailed off rejoicing and apparently singing a song of victory. Such are the details of the island engagement.

From this time our life in the whale became insupportable to me; I chafed against our imprisonment, and sought some device that would make escape possible. My first idea was to dig through the right side and make our way out, and we began the excavation. But when we had advanced as much as a thousand yards and accomplished nothing, we gave over digging, and decided to set fire to the forest, for this would kill the

p.166
whale, and if he should die we could easily get out. Accordingly, we set fire to it, beginning from the tail, and for seven days and as many nights he paid no attention to the burning. But on the eighth and ninth days we saw he felt ill—at least he opened his mouth more languidly, and when he did open it, shut it again on the instant. On the tenth and eleventh days he grew rigid, and began to smell.

On the twelfth we perceived just in time that, unless we propped his teeth open when he yawned so that they could not close again, we were in danger of being shut up in the corpse and perishing with him. When we had accordingly propped the mouth open with great beams we got the ship ready, and put in as much water as we could and the other provisions. Skintharos was to be captain. Next day the whale died. We dragged the ship up, guided it through the openings between the teeth, and lowering it by ropes attached to them, sank gently into the sea. We disembarked on the whale's back, sacrificed to Poseidon, and encamped there three days beside the trophy, for there was no wind. On the third day we sailed away. In the neighborhood we fell in with a number of bodies from the sea-fight. We pushed our way through them, and took their measure with amazement. For some days we sailed with a temperate wind;

p.167
but then it came on to blow violently from the north, a great frost prevailed, and the whole sea froze, not on the surface only, but to a depth of four hundred fathoms, so that we could disembark and run on the ice. But as the wind continued and we were no longer able to endure it, we devised the following plan-Skintharos was the author of it: We dug a great cave in the ice, and there we dwelt for thirty days, building a fire and living on fish, which we found by digging. When at last our food failed we came out, and hauled the frozen ship out of the ice. Then we spread the sails and swept along as if we were sailing, gliding smoothly and gently over the ice. On the fifth day it grew warm, the ice melted, and everything became water again.

After we had sailed as much as thirty-four miles we touched at a small uninhabited island, where we took in water-for ours had already given out-and shot two wild bulls, and set sail again. These bulls did not have their horns on their foreheads but beneath their eyes, as Momos thought they ought to be. Shortly after we entered a sea, not of water, but of milk, and we sighted a white island in it covered with vines. This island was an enormous cheese, very compact, as we learned later by eating of it. It was three miles in circumference. The vines were full of grapes; but it was milk, not wine, that we squeezed from them and drank.

p.168
There was a temple in the middle of the island erected to Galatea the Nereid, as we learned from the inscription. As long as we stayed there the earth supplied us with food, both substantial and light, and for drink we had the milk from the grapes. Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, was said to be queen of these parts, having been thus honored by Poseidon after her death.

We stayed five days in the island, and set sail on the sixth with a favorable wind and a smooth sea. On the eighth day, when we had sailed out of the milk and into salt, blue water, we perceived a number of persons running on the sea, like ourselves in every detail of body and stature, except only their feet, for these were of cork. I suppose that is why they were called Corkfeet. We were astonished when we saw they did not sink, but skimmed over the waves and serenely pursued their course. They approached us and even greeted us, and told us in Greek that they were hurrying to Cork, their native land. Accordingly, they accompanied us some distance, running alongside; then they turned from our course and went off, wishing us a fair voyage. Shortly after we sighted a number of islands, among them Cork, whither they were hastening. It was near us on the left hand, and was a city set on a high round cork. Farther on, and more to the right, were

p.169
five very large, high islands, with great fires blazing up from them.

But off our bow there lay a single island, broad and low, not less than sixty miles in extent. As soon as we came near it a wonderful air breathed about us, sweet and fragrant, such an odor as the historian Herodotus says comes from Araby the Blest. It was like the fragrance of roses and narcissus and hyacinths and lilies and violets, with myrtle and laurel and grape-blossoms added, such a sweetness it was that fell upon us. As this fragrance reached our senses and raised in us hopes of the best of fortune after our long distresses, we drew little by little nearer to the island. Then we perceived that it was girt with harbors where no waves broke, and that great, clear rivers rolled quietly into the sea. We saw meadows, too, and woods, and tuneful birds, some singing on the beach and many more in the branches. And the land was steeped in a light, gentle-breathing air. Certain sweet breezes blew softly through the wood and shook it, and even the branches as they moved gave forth a pleasant, continuous sound like the strains of flutes left hanging in the trees. There was a sound, too, of many mingled voices, not discordant, but such as you would hear at a banquet when the flutes are heard and some of the guests speak out their praise, and some applaud with their

p.170
hands, in accord with the flute or the cither.

Enchanted by all this we ran our ship in, anchored her, and went ashore, leaving Skintharos and two of our comrades aboard. As we were advancing through the flowery meadows we came upon the sentinels and coastguards, who bound us with garlands of roses for these are the heaviest bonds they use-and led us before the ruler. On the road we learned from them that this was called the Island of the Blest, ruled by Rhadamanthos of Krete. When we were brought into his presence our case was the fourth in order for decision.

The first was that of Telamonian Ajax, to decide whether or not it was fitting for him to dwell with the heroes. The charge against him was that he had slain himself in frenzy. At last, after much debate, Rhadamanthos decided thus: for the present he was to be handed over to Hippokrates of Kos, the doctor, to drink hellebore, and afterwards, when he should have regained his senses, he was to be admitted to the feasts of the heroes.

The second was a sentimental case, in which Theseus and Menelaos disputed which had a right to Helen. Rhadamanthos decided that she belonged to Menelaos, because he had undergone such toils and dangers on account of his marriage with her. And he pointed out that Theseus.

p.171
on the other hand, had other wives, the Amazon and the daughters of Minos.

The third case was a question of precedence between Alexander, son of Philip, and Hannibal the Carthaginian. It was decided that the pas belonged to Alexander, and a chair was set for him beside Cyros the Elder, of Persia.

As the fourth case we were brought forward. He asked what circumstances had brought us, still living men, within sacred precincts, and we told him the whole story in order. He then sent us aside for some time and considered our case, discussing it with his colleagues; for many others were on the bench with him, and among them Aristides the Just, of Athens. He announced his decision as follows: we were to pay, after death, the penalty for our curiosity and our voyage; but for the period fixed by him we might stay in the island and dwell with the heroes, and then take ourselves off. He set the day of our departure at not more than seven months' distance.

Thereupon the garlands fell from us of their own accord, leaving us free, and we were led into the city, and to the banquet-hall of the blest. The city itself is all of gold, but the wall around it is of emerald. There were seven gates, each a single piece of cinnamon. But the streets of the city and the ground within the walls were ivory. The temples of all the gods were built of beryll

p.172
stone, and the great altars in them, on which hecatombs are offered, are single amethysts. Around the city flows a river of the sweetest unguents, fifty yards broad and twenty-five deep, so that one may swim in it pleasantly. The baths of this country are great buildings of crystal filled with the fragrance of burning cinnamon. But, instead of water, there is warm dew in the pools.