958), and as follows by
Athenaeus
(lib.
Byron
A monument
representing Sardanapalus was found there, warranted by an inscription
in Assyrian characters, of course in the old Assyrian language, which
the Greeks, whether well or ill, interpreted thus: 'Sardanapalus, son of
Anacyndaraxes, in one day founded Anchialus and Tarsus. Eat, drink,
play; all other human joys are not worth a fillip. ' Supposing this
version nearly exact (for Arrian says it was not quite so), whether the
purpose has not been to invite to civil order a people disposed to
turbulence, rather than to recommend immoderate luxury, may perhaps
reasonably be questioned. What, indeed, could be the object of a king of
Assyria in founding such towns in a country so distant from his capital,
and so divided from it by an immense extent of sandy deserts and lofty
mountains, and, still more, how the inhabitants could be at once in
circumstances to abandon themselves to the intemperate joys which their
prince has been supposed to have recommended, is not obvious. But it may
deserve observation that, in that line of coast, the southern of Lesser
Asia, ruins of cities, evidently of an age after Alexander, yet barely
named in history, at this day astonish the adventurous traveller by
their magnificence and elegance amid the desolation which, under a
singularly barbarian government, has for so many centuries been daily
spreading in the finest countries of the globe. Whether more from soil
and climate, or from opportunities for commerce, extraordinary means
must have been found for communities to flourish there; whence it may
seem that the measures of Sardanapalus were directed by juster views
than have been commonly ascribed to him. But that monarch having been
the last of a dynasty ended by a revolution, obloquy on his memory would
follow of course from the policy of his successors and their partisans.
The inconsistency of traditions concerning Sardanapalus is striking in
Diodorus's account of him. "--MITFORD's _Greece_, 1820, ix. 311-313, and
note 1.
[The story of the sepulchral monument with its cynical inscription rests
on the authority of Aristobulus, who served under Alexander, and wrote
his history. The passage is quoted by Strabo (lib. xiv. ed. 1808, p.
958), and as follows by Athenaeus (lib. xii. cap. 40) in the
_Deipnosophistae_: "And Aristobulus says, 'In Anchiale, which was built
by Sardanapalus, did Alexander, when he was on his expedition against
the Persians, pitch his camp. And at no great distance was the monument
of Sardanapalus, on which there is a marble figure putting together the
fingers of its right hand, as if it were giving a fillip. And there was
on it the following inscription in Assyrian characters:--
Sardanapalus
The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,
In one day built Anchiale and Tarsus:
Eat, drink, and love, the rest's not worth e'en this. '
By '_this_' meaning the fillip he was giving with his fingers. "
"We may conjecture," says Canon Rawlinson, "that the monument was in
reality a stele containing the king [Sennacherib] in an arched frame,
with the right hand raised above the left, which is the ordinary
attitude, and an inscription commemorating the occasion of its erection"
[the conquest of Cilicia and settlement of Tarsus]. --_The Five Great
Monarchies, etc. _, 1871, ii. 216. ]
[11] {25}[Compare "Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
creatures else to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots. "--_Hamlet_.
act iv. sc. 3, lines 21-23.
representing Sardanapalus was found there, warranted by an inscription
in Assyrian characters, of course in the old Assyrian language, which
the Greeks, whether well or ill, interpreted thus: 'Sardanapalus, son of
Anacyndaraxes, in one day founded Anchialus and Tarsus. Eat, drink,
play; all other human joys are not worth a fillip. ' Supposing this
version nearly exact (for Arrian says it was not quite so), whether the
purpose has not been to invite to civil order a people disposed to
turbulence, rather than to recommend immoderate luxury, may perhaps
reasonably be questioned. What, indeed, could be the object of a king of
Assyria in founding such towns in a country so distant from his capital,
and so divided from it by an immense extent of sandy deserts and lofty
mountains, and, still more, how the inhabitants could be at once in
circumstances to abandon themselves to the intemperate joys which their
prince has been supposed to have recommended, is not obvious. But it may
deserve observation that, in that line of coast, the southern of Lesser
Asia, ruins of cities, evidently of an age after Alexander, yet barely
named in history, at this day astonish the adventurous traveller by
their magnificence and elegance amid the desolation which, under a
singularly barbarian government, has for so many centuries been daily
spreading in the finest countries of the globe. Whether more from soil
and climate, or from opportunities for commerce, extraordinary means
must have been found for communities to flourish there; whence it may
seem that the measures of Sardanapalus were directed by juster views
than have been commonly ascribed to him. But that monarch having been
the last of a dynasty ended by a revolution, obloquy on his memory would
follow of course from the policy of his successors and their partisans.
The inconsistency of traditions concerning Sardanapalus is striking in
Diodorus's account of him. "--MITFORD's _Greece_, 1820, ix. 311-313, and
note 1.
[The story of the sepulchral monument with its cynical inscription rests
on the authority of Aristobulus, who served under Alexander, and wrote
his history. The passage is quoted by Strabo (lib. xiv. ed. 1808, p.
958), and as follows by Athenaeus (lib. xii. cap. 40) in the
_Deipnosophistae_: "And Aristobulus says, 'In Anchiale, which was built
by Sardanapalus, did Alexander, when he was on his expedition against
the Persians, pitch his camp. And at no great distance was the monument
of Sardanapalus, on which there is a marble figure putting together the
fingers of its right hand, as if it were giving a fillip. And there was
on it the following inscription in Assyrian characters:--
Sardanapalus
The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,
In one day built Anchiale and Tarsus:
Eat, drink, and love, the rest's not worth e'en this. '
By '_this_' meaning the fillip he was giving with his fingers. "
"We may conjecture," says Canon Rawlinson, "that the monument was in
reality a stele containing the king [Sennacherib] in an arched frame,
with the right hand raised above the left, which is the ordinary
attitude, and an inscription commemorating the occasion of its erection"
[the conquest of Cilicia and settlement of Tarsus]. --_The Five Great
Monarchies, etc. _, 1871, ii. 216. ]
[11] {25}[Compare "Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
creatures else to fat us; and we fat ourselves for maggots. "--_Hamlet_.
act iv. sc. 3, lines 21-23.
