Diodorus of Sicily
εὐχερέστερον γὰρ πολλῷ διαγωνιεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ταῖς τε χορηγίαις ὑπερέχοντα καὶ τόπων 7ὀχυρότητι πιστεύοντα. διὸ καὶ κρίνας ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν Συρίαν κατέσκαψε τὰς ἀξιολογωτάτας τῶν κεκρατημένων πόλεων, Ἄκην μὲν τῆς Φοινίκης Συρίας, Ἰόππην δὲ καὶ Σαμάρειαν καὶ Γάζαν τῆς Συρίας, αὐτὸς δὲ τὴν δύναμιν ἀναλαβὼν καὶ τῶν χρημάτων ὅσα δυνατὸν ἦν ἄγειν ἢ φέρειν ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον.
94. Ἀντίγονος δ᾿ ἀκινδύνως ἀνακτησάμενος τήν τε Συρίαν πᾶσαν καὶ Φοινίκην ἐπεβάλετο στρατεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν τῶν Ἀράβων τῶν καλουμένων Ναβαταίων. κρίνας γὰρ τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πραγμάτων ἀλλότριον εἶναι, προεχειρίσατο τῶν αὑτοῦ φιλων Ἀθήναιον, δοὺς δ᾿1 αὐτῷ πεζοὺς μὲν εὐζώνους τετρακισχιλίους, ἱππεῖς δὲ τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους εἰς δρόμον ἑξακοσίους συνέταξεν ἐπιθέσθαι τοῖς βαρβάροις ἄφνω καὶ τὴν λείαν πᾶσαν ἀποτεμέσθαι.
2Χρήσιμον δ᾿ ἐστὶ τῶν ἀγνοούντων ἕνεκα διελθεῖν τὰ νόμιμα τῶν Ἀράβων τούτων, οἷς χρώμενοι δοκοῦσι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν διαφυλάττειν. ἔχουσι τοίνυν τὸν βίον ὑπαίθριον, πατρίδα καλοῦντες τὴν ἀοίκητον τὴν μήτε ποταμοὺς ἔχουσαν μήτε κρήνας δαψιλεῖς ἐξ ὧν δυνατὸν στρατόπεδον πολέμιον 3ὑδρεύσασθαι. νόμος δ᾿ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς μήτε σῖτον σπείρειν μήτε φυτεύειν μηδὲν φυτὸν καρποφόρον μήτε οἴνῳ χρῆσθαι μήτε οἰκίαν κατασκευάζειν· ὃς δ᾿ ἂν παρὰ ταῦτα ποιῶν εὑρίσκηται, θάνατον αὐτῷ
Book XIX
be much easier for him to settle the war in Egypt 312 b.c. where he had plenty of supplies and could trust to the difficulty of the terrain. Deciding, therefore, to leave Syria, he razed the most noteworthy of the cities that he had captured: Akê in Phoenician Syria, and Ioppê, Samaria, and Gaza in Syria; then he himself, taking the army and what of the booty it was possible to drive or carry, returned into Egypt.1
94. Now that Antigonus without a fight had gained possession of all Syria and Phoenicia, he desired to make a campaign against the land of the Arabs who are called Nabataeans.2 Deciding that this people was hostile to his interests, he selected one of his friends, Athenaeus, gave him four thousand light foot-soldiers and six hundred horsemen fitted for speed, and ordered him to set upon the barbarians suddenly and cut off all their cattle as booty.
For the sake of those who do not know, it will be useful to state in some detail the customs of these Arabs, by following which, it is believed, they preserve their liberty. They live in the open air, claiming as native land a wilderness that has neither rivers nor abundant springs from which it is possible for a hostile army to obtain water. It is their custom neither to plant grain, set out any fruit-bearing tree, use wine, nor construct any house; and if anyone is found acting contrary to this, death is his penalty.3
- 1Cp. Pausanias, 1. 6. 5.
- 2This was clearly a preliminary step to the invasion of Egypt itself which he already had in mind. Cambyses before invading Egypt made terms with the Arabs (Herodotus, 3. 4-9). For these Arabs cp. Strabo, 16. 4 passim (particularly § 26); and also Diodorus’ own earlier description of them (Book 2. 48).
- 3Cp. the description of the Rechabites in Jeremiah, 35. 6–10.