140

Bok,

Agathlar: Tlre Hlrtorlar

entitled to their opinions on thie mtter however mueh they may difier:, ltrr
my prt I must resume the thread of my earlier naffotive.

5. The tremors continued for several clays and though they had lost mont
of their initial fury and were of mudr shorter duration they were still sufliciently violent to disrupt any remaining semblance of :rder. z Fantastie
stories and extraordinary predictions to the efiect that the end of the worlel
was at hand began to circulate among the people. Charlatans and sel["
appointed prophets roamed the streets prophesying whatever came iutrt
their heads and terrifying still more the majority of the people who wcre
particularly impressionable because they had already become demoralizetl,
Still more ominous were the prognostications of those who pretended to be
seized by a prophetic ftenzy rid possessed by some supernatural power,
claiming that they had learned the future from the spirits that consortecl
with them and bragging about their demonic possession. 3 Others, ns
might have been expected, pondering over the motions and aspects of the
stars, hinted darkly at greater calamities and at v/hat mounted almost to a
cosmic disaster. Society in fact never fails to throw up a bewildering variety
of sudr persons in times of misfortune. Luckily both predictions provel
wrong. In my opinion these dabblers in the occult who sought to encroaclr
on the intellectual preserve of the Deity ought to have been prosecuted for
impiety. 4 But there was nobody at the time who was not in "a state of
abject fear and terror. Consequently prayers and hymns of supplication \v'er
heard in every quarter as the entire people gatherecl together for this purpose.
The ideals to whidr people constantly pay lipservice but rarely put into
practice ril/ere then eage pursued. Everybody suddenly became just in his
dealings towards his neighbour, so mudr so that even the magistrates gave
up all thoughts of personal gain and began to administer justice in accordance
with the laws ancl those who were influential in some other way lived quietly
and peacefully, refraining from the most shame{ul abuses and leading generally virtuous lives. 5; Some even completely c}anged theit mode of life
and embraced a solitary existence in the hills, renouncing property and
privilege and all that is most pleasing to mankind. Many donations were
brought to the drurches and ptominent citizens walked the streets at night
distributing free gifts of blankets and food in abundance to the helpless and
pitiful wrecks who lay maimed and mutilated in great numbers on the
ground, keeping body and soul together by begging for their bread. 6 All
these good deeds, however, rvere performed for a limited period of time, as
long as the terror was still fresh in people's minds. As soon, in fact, as there
were signs that the danger had receded most people revertd to their old ways.
This type of response could not properly be called justice or firm and active
piety of the sort rvhich stamps itself on the mind tlirough the operation of
sound convictions steadfastly and zealously held; no, it might with more

141

truth b termd en lmeguler xpdlnt and a hlghly pmilour form of trafiic

almcd at eocaping and avertlng a paoalng criala, It ia in fact only urnder the
atimulus of sudden fear and for as long as the emergency lasts that we make
a few reluctant and petfunctory concessions to the ideal of drarity.
6. During this period the debate on the subject of exhalations \vs
reopened. The name of the Stagilite e was frequently bandied about. One
minute it was asserted that he had given an accurate explanation of the
nature of earthquakes and their causes, the ne:<t it was afiirmed that he was
altogether wide of the mark. z Some cited, in support of his theory that
a dense nd smoky vapour imprisoned in subterranean cavities is responsible
for suih upheavals, the device invented previously by Anthemius. j anth.'
mius of Tralles ras by profession an engineer or ardritect, one o{ those people
who apply geometrical speculation to material objects and make models or
imitations of the natural world. 4 Anthemius was absolutely outstanding in
his eld and was afrrst-rate mathematician enjoying a similarpre-eminence to
that enjoyed, mutatis mutandis, by his brother Metrodorus in the sphere of
gtammat. 5 Their mothersras, I think, particularly fortunate to have given
birth to sudr talented drildren. In addition, moreovel, to these two she was
also the mother of. that eminent lawyer and accomplished advocate Olympius
and of Dioscorus and Alexander, both of them extrernely skilled in the art of
medicine. Of the latter pair Dioscorus spent his life in his ativecity, where
he practised his profession with remadcable distinction and success, whereas
Aiexander took up residence in Rome, whither he had been summoned to
occupy a position of great distinction. The fame of Anthemius and Metrodorus spread fat andwide until it readred no less a pefson than the Emperor.
6 Accordingly they were summoned to Constantinople where they spnt the
rest of their lives, exhibiting, eadr of them, signal proof of their own parti
cular excellence, the one by educating many of the young sons of the nobility
and imparting the knowledge of that sublime and beautiful discipline in suclr
a way as to fire the imaginations of all with the love of eloquence, the other
by designing the most wonderful artistic creations in the capital and in many
other places, indeed so wonderful that as long as they were standing their
sheer beauty would suffice, without a single word being spoken about them,

to perpetuate the glory of his memory. 7 But the whole incident whidr
caused me to mention this man shall nour be related without further delay:
There was in Constantinople a man calledZeno, a professional rhetorician,
who besides his other distinctions was a close acquaintance of the Emperor.
He was next-door neighbour of Anthemius, their two houses being. 1'oined
to one another and built on the same re of groufld. 8 In the course of
time rather strained relations and a cefiain amounr of ill will developed bet'ween them, either because of some possibly unprecedented piece of prying

%f. Artrt"tl",

Meterologica, 2,365b,35 sqq.