Click on a word to bring up parses, dictionary entries, and frequency statistics
λέγει μὲν οὖν Ὅμηρος χαλεποὶ δὲ θεοὶ φαίνεσθαι ἐναργεῖς. οὐκοῦν ἔχει τι καὶ δράκων ὁ ἐν ταῖς ἁγιωτάταις τιμαῖς θειότερον, καὶ ἰδεῖν οὐ λυσιτελὲς αὐτόν. καὶ ὅ γε λέγω τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν. ἐν Μετήλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου δράκων ἐστὶν ἱερὸς ἐν πύργῳ, καὶ τετίμηται καὶ ἔχει θεραπευτὰς καὶ ὑπηρέτας, καὶ κεῖταί οἱ τράπεζα καὶ κρατήρ. ἐς τοῦτον οὖν ἀνὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν ἄλφιτα ἀναδεύσαντες μελικράτῳ εἶτα ἀπίασι, καὶ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ὑποστρέψαντες κενὸν τὸν κρατῆρα εὑρίσκουσιν. οὐκοῦν ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶνδε τῶν ὑπηρετῶν ἵμερον δριμύτατον ἔσχε θεάσασθαι [p. 280] τὸν δράκοντα, καὶ παρελθὼν μόνος καὶ ποιήσας τὰ εἰθισμένα ἀπέστη: ὃ δὲ ἀνελθὼν ἐπὶ τὴν τράπεζαν ὁ δράκων εἱστιᾶτο. καὶ τὰς θύρας ὁ πολυπράγμων ἀνοίξας ῾ἔτυχε γὰρ κατὰ τὰ εἰθισμένα ἐπικλείσασ᾽ ψόφον εἰργάσατο ἰσχυρόν. ὁ δράκων δὲ ἠγανάκτησε καὶ ἀνεχώρησεν, ὃ δὲ ἰδὼν ὃν ἐπόθει σὺν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ κακῷ, γίνεται μὲν ἔκφρων, εἰπὼν δὲ ὅσα εἶδε καὶ ὡς ἠσέβησεν ὁμολογήσας, ἦν ἄφωνος, εἶτα οὐ μετὰ μακρὸν πεσὼν ἀπέθανεν.
Claudii Aeliani de natura animalium libri xvii, varia historia, epistolae, fragmenta, Vol 1. Aelian. Rudolf Hercher. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1864. Keyboarding.
Google Digital Humanities Awards Program provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.