But Ctesias
says that he went to war with him, and collected a great army, and then
that Sardanapalus, being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself
alive in his palace, having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in
extent, on which he placed 150 golden couches.
says that he went to war with him, and collected a great army, and then
that Sardanapalus, being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself
alive in his palace, having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in
extent, on which he placed 150 golden couches.
Byron
.
[Te/rpn' e)/pathon' ta\ de\ polla\ kai\ o)/lbia kei~na le/leiptai. ]
"What once I gorged I now enjoy,
And wanton Lusts me still employ;
All other things by Mortals prized
Are left as dirt by me despised. "
--_The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian_, made English by G.
Booth, of the City of Chester, Esquire, 1700, p. 65.
"Another king of the sort was Sardanapalus. . . . And so, when Arbaces, who
was one of the generals under him, a Mede by birth, endeavoured to
manage by the assistance of one of the eunuchs, whose name was
Sparamizus, to see Sardanapalus: and when . . . he saw him painted with
vermilion, and adorned like a woman, sitting among his concubines,
carding purple wool, and sitting among them with his feet up, wearing a
woman's robe, and with his beard carefully scraped, and his face
smoothed with pumice stone (for he was whiter than milk, and pencilled
under his eyes and eyebrows; and when he saw Arbaces he was putting a
little more white under his eyes). Most historians, of whom Duris is
one, relate that Arbaces, being indignant at his countrymen being ruled
over by such a monarch as that, stabbed him and slew him.
But Ctesias
says that he went to war with him, and collected a great army, and then
that Sardanapalus, being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself
alive in his palace, having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in
extent, on which he placed 150 golden couches. "--_The Deipnosophistae_
. . . of Athenaeus, bk. xii. c. 38, translated by C. D. Yonge, 1854, iii.
847. ]
[5] {13}[This prince surpassed all his predecessors in effeminacy,
luxury, and cowardice. He never went out of his palace, but spent all
his time among a company of women, dressed and painted like them, and
employed like them at the distaff. He placed all his happiness and glory
in the possession of immense treasures, in feasting and rioting, and
indulging himself in all the most infamous and criminal pleasures. He
ordered two verses to be put upon his tomb, signifying that he carried
away with him all he had eaten, and all the pleasures he had enjoyed,
but left everything else behind him,--_an epitaph_, says Aristotle, _fit
for a hog_. Arbaces, governor of Media, having found means to get into
the palace, and having with his own eyes seen Sardanapalus in the midst
of his infamous seraglio, enraged at such a spectacle, and not able to
endure that so many brave men should be subjected to a prince more soft
and effeminate than the women themselves, immediately formed a
conspiracy against him.
[Te/rpn' e)/pathon' ta\ de\ polla\ kai\ o)/lbia kei~na le/leiptai. ]
"What once I gorged I now enjoy,
And wanton Lusts me still employ;
All other things by Mortals prized
Are left as dirt by me despised. "
--_The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian_, made English by G.
Booth, of the City of Chester, Esquire, 1700, p. 65.
"Another king of the sort was Sardanapalus. . . . And so, when Arbaces, who
was one of the generals under him, a Mede by birth, endeavoured to
manage by the assistance of one of the eunuchs, whose name was
Sparamizus, to see Sardanapalus: and when . . . he saw him painted with
vermilion, and adorned like a woman, sitting among his concubines,
carding purple wool, and sitting among them with his feet up, wearing a
woman's robe, and with his beard carefully scraped, and his face
smoothed with pumice stone (for he was whiter than milk, and pencilled
under his eyes and eyebrows; and when he saw Arbaces he was putting a
little more white under his eyes). Most historians, of whom Duris is
one, relate that Arbaces, being indignant at his countrymen being ruled
over by such a monarch as that, stabbed him and slew him.
But Ctesias
says that he went to war with him, and collected a great army, and then
that Sardanapalus, being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself
alive in his palace, having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in
extent, on which he placed 150 golden couches. "--_The Deipnosophistae_
. . . of Athenaeus, bk. xii. c. 38, translated by C. D. Yonge, 1854, iii.
847. ]
[5] {13}[This prince surpassed all his predecessors in effeminacy,
luxury, and cowardice. He never went out of his palace, but spent all
his time among a company of women, dressed and painted like them, and
employed like them at the distaff. He placed all his happiness and glory
in the possession of immense treasures, in feasting and rioting, and
indulging himself in all the most infamous and criminal pleasures. He
ordered two verses to be put upon his tomb, signifying that he carried
away with him all he had eaten, and all the pleasures he had enjoyed,
but left everything else behind him,--_an epitaph_, says Aristotle, _fit
for a hog_. Arbaces, governor of Media, having found means to get into
the palace, and having with his own eyes seen Sardanapalus in the midst
of his infamous seraglio, enraged at such a spectacle, and not able to
endure that so many brave men should be subjected to a prince more soft
and effeminate than the women themselves, immediately formed a
conspiracy against him.
