Aelian
IA
1. Ὅτι Ὀρίκαδμος πάλης ἐγένετο νομοθέτης, καθ᾿ ἑαυτὸν ἐπινοήσας τὸν Σικελὸν τρόπον καλούμενον <τοῦ>1 παλαίειν.
2. Ὅτι ἦν Ὀροιβαντίου <τοῦ>2 Τροιζηνίου ἔπη πρὸ Ὁμήρου, ὥς φασιν οἱ Τροιζήνιοι λόγοι. καὶ τὸν Φρύγα δὲ Δάρητα, οὗ Φρυγίαν Ἰλιάδα ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἀποσῳζομένην οἶδα, πρὸ Ὁμήρου καὶ τοῦτον γενέσθαι λέγουσι. Μελήσανδρος ὁ Μιλήσιος Λαπιθῶν καὶ Κενταύρων μάχην ἔγραψεν.
3. Ὅτι Ἴκκος ὁ Ταραντῖνος παλαιστὴς3 ὑπήρξατο σωφρονέστερον τὸν τῆς ἀθλήσεως χρόνον διαζῆν4 καὶ κεκολασμένῃ τροφῇ διαβιώσας καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ἀμαθὴς διατελέσας.
4. Ἀγαθοκλέα φασὶ τὸν Σικελίας τύραννον γελοιότατα <περὶ>5 τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀσχημονεῖν. ψιλουμένης
Book 11
Book Eleven
1. Note that Oricadmus fixed the rules for wrestling, and devised by himself what is called the Sicilian style.1
2. Note that the poems of Oroebantius of Troezen were earlier than Homer, as Troezenian tradition reports. Dares the Phrygian, whose Iliad is to my knowledge still preserved, is also said to have lived before Homer. Melesander of Miletus wrote on the battle of Lapiths and Centaurs.2
3. Note that Iccus the wrestler from Tarentum began the practice of living soberly during the period of training; he existed on a strict diet and remained without experience of sex.3
4. They say Agathocles the tyrant of Sicily behaved most ridiculously over his head, which became bald as his
- 1It is not clear what is meant by the Sicilian style of wrestling.
- 2The authors mentioned in this ch. are all fictitious (compare FGrH 607 F 2, 51 F 6).We do not know if Aelian had read works ascribed to Oroebantius or Melesander; as to Dares, a Latin text, Historia de excidio Troiae, circulated under his name and is still extant (ed. F. Meister, Leipzig, 1873); it is thought to be a product of the fifth century and to derive from a Greek original, presumably the text known to Aelian.
- 3This athlete is mentioned in N.A. 6.1, from which it emerges that Aelian’s source is Plato, Laws 839 e–840 a.