1. Herodotus, Histories, 1.135 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 1.135. But the Persians more than all men welcome foreign customs. They wear the Median dress, thinking it more beautiful than their own, and the Egyptian cuirass in war. Their luxurious practices are of all kinds, and all borrowed: the Greeks taught them pederasty. Every Persian marries many lawful wives, and keeps still more concubines. |
|
2. Polybius, Histories, 10.18-10.19 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 10.18. 1. After this he set apart Mago and the Carthaginians who were with him, two of them being members of the council of elders and fifteen members of the senate.,2. He committed these to the custody of Laelius, ordering him to pay them due attention.,3. Next he invited the hostages, over three hundred in number, to visit him, and calling the children to him one by one and caressing them bade them be of good cheer, as in a few days they would see their parents.,4. He also bade the rest take heart and asked them all to write to their relations at home, firstly, that they were safe and well, and secondly, that the Romans were willing to restore them all in safety to their homes if their relatives chose to become allies of Rome.,6. After speaking thus, having reserved from the booty the most suitable objects for this purpose, he gave them such gifts as became their sex and age, presenting the girls with earrings and bracelets and the young men with poniards and swords.,7. When one of the captive women, the wife of Mandonius, who was the brother of Andobales, king of the Ilergetes, fell at his feet and entreated him with tears to treat them with more proper consideration than the Carthaginians had done, he was touched and asked her what they stood in need of.,8. The lady was indeed of advanced age, and bore herself with a certain majestic dignity.,9. Upon her making no reply he sent for the officials appointed to attend on the women.,10. When they presented themselves and informed him that they kept the women generously supplied with all they required, the lady again clasped his knees and addressed him in the same words, upon which Scipio was still more puzzled, and conceiving the idea that the officials who attended on the women were neglecting them and had now made a false statement,,11. he bade the ladies be of good cheer, for he said he would himself appoint other attendants who would see to it that they were in want of nothing.,12. The old lady after some hesitation said, "General, you do not take me rightly if you think that our present situation is about our food.",13. Scipio then understood what the lady meant, and noticing the youth and beauty of the daughters of Andobales and other princes he was forced to tears, recognizing in how few words she had pointed out to him the danger to which they were exposed.,14. So now he made it clear to her that he had taken her meaning, and grasping her by the right hand bade her and the rest be of good cheer,,15. for he would look after them as if they were his own sisters and children and would accordingly appoint trustworthy men to attend on them. 10.19. 1. After this he handed over to the quaestors all the public funds of the Carthaginians which had been captured.,2. There were more than six hundred talents, so that when these were added to the four hundred he had brought from Rome, the total sum at his disposal was more than a thousand talents.,3. It was at this time that some young Romans came across a girl of surpassing bloom and beauty, and being aware that Scipio was fond of women brought her to him and introduced her, saying that they wished to make a present of the damsel to him.,4. He was overcome and astonished by her beauty, but he told them that had he been in a private position, no present would have been more welcome to him, but as he was the General it would be the least welcome of any,,5. giving them to understand, I suppose, by this answer that sometimes, during seasons of repose and leisure in our life, such things afford young men most delightful enjoyment and entertainment, but that in times of activity they are most prejudicial to the body and the mind alike of those who indulge in them.,6. So he expressed his gratitude to the young men, but called the girl's father and delivering her over to him at once bade him give her in marriage to whomever of the citizens he preferred.,7. The self-restraint and moderation he displayed on this occasion secured him the warm approbation of his troops.,8. Having arranged these matters and handed over the rest of the prisoners to the tribunes, he dispatched Laelius on a quinquereme to Rome, to convey the news, placing under his charge the Carthaginians and the most distinguished among the other prisoners.,9. For as the Romans had for the most part regarded the situation in Spain as desperate he knew that this intelligence would revive their spirits and that they would redouble their efforts to support him. |
|
3. Lucan, Pharsalia, 8.72-8.85, 8.88-8.105, 8.132-8.133, 8.189, 8.281, 8.283-8.288, 8.335, 8.422-8.424, 8.426-8.447, 8.465, 8.473, 8.477-8.478, 8.485-8.487, 8.498, 8.525-8.526, 8.539, 8.542-8.549, 8.553, 8.559, 8.576, 8.584-8.586, 8.589-8.592, 8.597-8.601, 8.605-8.606, 8.609, 8.615-8.616, 8.619, 8.627-8.631, 8.639-8.661, 8.663-8.711, 8.713-8.742, 9.1061 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
|
4. Silius Italicus, Punica, 10.504-10.506, 10.565-10.567, 13.714-13.716 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
|
5. Strabo, Geography, 15.1.59
| 15.1.59. Megasthenes divides the philosophers again into two kinds, the Brachmanes and the Garmanes. The Brachmanes are held in greater repute, for they agree more exactly in their opinions. Even from the time of their conception in the womb they are under the care and guardianship of learned men, who go to the mother, and seem to perform some incantation for the happiness and welfare of the mother and the unborn child, but in reality they suggest prudent advice, and the mothers who listen to them most willingly are thought to be the most fortunate in their offspring. After the birth of the children, there is a succession of persons who have the care of them, and as they advance in years, masters more able and accomplished succeed.The philosophers live in a grove in front of the city within a moderate-sized enclosure. Their diet is frugal, and they lie upon straw pallets and on skins. They abstain from animal food, and from sexual intercourse with women; their time is occupied in grave discourse, and they communicate with those who are inclined to listen to them; but the hearer is not permitted to speak or cough, or even to spit on the ground; otherwise, he is expelled that very day from their society, on the ground of having no control over himself. After living thirty-seven years in this manner, each individual retires to his own possessions, and lives with less restraint, wearing robes of fine linen, and rings of gold, but without profuseness, upon the hands and in the ears. They eat the flesh of animals, of those particularly which do not assist man in his labour, and abstain from hot and seasoned food. They have as many wives as they please with a view to numerous offspring, for from many wives greater advantages are derived.As they have no slaves, they require more the services, which are at hand, of their children.The Brachmanes do not communicate their philosophy to their wives, for fear they should divulge to the profane, if they became depraved, anything which ought to be concealed or lest they should abandon their husbands in case they became good (philosophers) themselves. For no one who despises alike pleasure and pain, life and death, is willing to be subject to the authority of another; and such is the character of a virtuous man and a virtuous woman.They discourse much on death, for it is their opinion that the present life is the state of one conceived in the womb, and that death to philosophers is birth to a real and a happy life. They therefore discipline themselves much to prepare for death, and maintain that nothing which happens to man is bad or good, for otherwise the same things would not be the occasion of sorrow to some and of joy to others, opinions being merely dreams, nor that the same persons could be affected with sorrow and joy by the same things, on different occasions.With regard to opinions on physical phenomena, they display, says Megasthenes, great simplicity, their actions being better than their reasoning, for their belief is chiefly founded on fables. On many subjects their sentiments are the same as those of the Greeks. According to the Brachmanes, the world was created, and is liable to corruption; it is of a spheroidal figure; the god who made and governs it pervades the whole of it; the principles of all things are different, but the principle of the world's formation was water; in addition to the four elements there is a fifth nature, of which the heavens and the stars are composed; the earth is situated in the centre of the universe. Many other peculiar things they say of the principle of generation and of the soul. They invent fables also, after the manner of Plato, on the immortality of the soul, and on the punishments in Hades, and other things of this kind. This is the account which Megasthenes gives of the Brachmanes. |
|
6. Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds And Sayings, 6.1.1
|
