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Graffiti and Sacrifice
THE BOOK OF DAYS
EXTRACT FROM THE LAY OF METIE TEITHURNA
AULE TULUMNES’ WAR WITH THE HELLENES
Said the Cumaeots, the men of the land of visions, “O strong-armed Aule Tulumnes, our sympathy for our countrymen, our fellow firm-helmed Hellenes, knows no bounds. O fierce king, the pain of our motherlands being given over to foreign kings rends our hearts, makes us gnaw our teeth, makes us pull our hair, makes us weep. But of the ten thousand cities of the Hellenes, from Athenae to Focaea, there is room for all the wailing warriors who flee from high-crowned Xerxes! Why must all the wailing warriors come to Italia, where already the Fifty Tribes bake their bread and sharpen their swords? We have not the wheat to feed them, nor the power to stay their recklessness. For among them come thrifty Corinthioe and savage Lacedaemonians, who will not respect the sanctity of the oracle in Cumae, the land of visions. Will you not help us, O fierce king, O wise king, O pious king? Even against our own brothers would we beg your help.”
Said the Carthadastimes, the men of the East, “We too, endless and redoubtable friends of the Rasna, ask of you thick-shielded aid against the firm-helmed Hellenes, for their feud against our great ports is a tale of a thousand years. They do seek to descend upon the isle of Icania, the island of long wheat, they do seek to humble the city of Carthadast and its great ports, they do seek to drive we the men of the East away from the wine-dark seas that all of our ancestors traditionally shared between them, as sworn to Tinia, Uni, and Menrva. And have we not stood with our long spears and black-sailed ships against those who would similarly humble the Rasna, even the lofty city of Veia? Have we not made congress, the signs of peace, and mixed our soils? So then do we ask you to battle against the firm-helmed Hellenes.”
Said strong-armed Aule Tulumnes, “O Cumaeots, o Carthadastimes, my red heart is set to following you to battle, to swear by Tinia, Uni, and Menvra to aid you in your struggles with the firm-helmed Hellenes, for though the Hellenes and their ten thousand cities be very great, the bread of Italia will not feed their hundred thousand hungry mouths. But I follow the laws of the lofty city of Veia, I do not take the men of Veia to war without being told that this is our fate, nor will the rest of the Rasna follow unless they know that the pious course of action has been taken. The priests shall read the entrails, and give their warnings, and we shall wear to the Gods who honour such things as these.”
So the fierce king went to the priests, and he asked of them whether it was fated that the firm-helmed Hellenes be fought, whether it was fated that Cumae and Carthadast would survive, whether high Veia and the Rasna were fated to survive such a clash of arms as this. The entrails spoke thus to the priests, and thus did they speak to Aule Tulumnes:
“Thou art a man of two fates, o red-hearted king. Thy choice is between these two things, whether to decline the battle, preserve thy life as the fierce king of ancient Veia, or whether to join the battle, and sacrifice thyself in thy cause. But if thou should choose the latter, if thou should choose to fate thy doom, then high Veia will be raised above even sacred Ulvmpus.”
Aule Tulumnes was given this choice, and told none others that it had been uttered in this manner, but instead made his choice.
Said Aule Tulumnes to fiery Laran, “I will indeed throw myself on thy pyre, O god, if thou will speak for the fate of Veia and the Rasna, if thy will ensure that their fate shall honour, and righteous power, and bread everlasting. I plunge willingly into the pool of fur-caped Aita if this is the fate that is chosen.” And upon saying those words, the braziers in the room all spontaneously lit themselves, in the middle of the day, and strong-armed Aule Tulumnes knew that Laran would speak for the fate of the men of high Veia and the Rasna.
So then Aule Tulumnes, proud hearted, called the call of the king of Veia, summoning the men of the Rasna. They came from Arretim rich in orchards, hallowed Caisra, thick-walled Perusna, Clevsin seat of kings, Turan’s city Velch, orderly Tarchna, ancient Fufluna, gold-rich Vetluna , Voltumna’s sanctuary Velzna, and impregnable Velathri, and mighty Curtun. The northern allies came from riverine Manthava, from Mother Cel’s city Ceisna, from shaded Misa. They marched with their thick shields and their blinding bronze to their appointed fate. Fierce Aule Tulumnes led them, on black-sailed ships, to the south, to the splendid plains of Capeva, across the briny breakers of the sea. There they were joined by the hardy men of Capeva, and by the blood-loving men of Irna, and also by some of the foreign men of seven-hilled Ruma, and by foreign men from dazzling Herclena, and by foreign men of Anth where egrets roost. So great and mighty was the host that fierce Aule Tulumnes raised for war.
So great and mighty was the host that fierce Aule Tulumnes took to battle that the city of Pumpai, Pumpai that sits under Sethlans’ cap, surrendered without giving battle. That was the fate of Pumpai. Then the firm-helmed Hellenes gave battle on the plain of Hercle; they came from once-decadent Subaris, they came from magnificent Croton, they came from Taras where the dolphins swim, and as allies to the Hellenes came the Messapi of the magnificent mares. The Hellenes were led by the silver-tongued Pericle, the son of Chanthipus, whose spear was straight. He had vanquished many, oh so many, and when the Rasna realised that Pericle was leader of the army of the Hellenes they became afraid for their fate. But not red-hearted Aule Tulumnes, he was not afraid for his fate or the fate of the Rasna. He stood tall and firm, and his warriors stood tall with him. Ten thousand tall Hellenes set against ten thousand tall Rasna. Before the horns of battle were sounded, the two mighty commanders sallied forth without fear of betrayal but with little hope of a negotiated solution.
Said fierce Aule Tulumnes, “O Pericle, son of Chanthipus, we are called here by the men of Cumae of the land of visions, will you not depart these lands in peace? Are there not ten thousand cities of the Hellenes? Why must you come to this peninsula, why must your wandering be to these parts of the world?”
Said straight speared Pericle, “O Aule Tulumnes, king of Veia, why do you forbear to allow us to settle in lands where Hellenes have settled for generations? I would heed your righteous presence were my people descending as locusts upon the ancient lands of the Rasna, but we settle exclusively in those lands where Hellene after Hellene has met their fate, and the fate of this land is bound to the fate of the Hellenes. Why ought we not to settle in these fair lands, among others of our people? We are chased out from our own houses and farms by the Medoe, do we not deserve rich fields and strong walls wherever we can make them, for to recover our power and to reconquer our ancient lands. We are barred from our fields with strong, guarded walls- are we not entitled to take a few apples from our neighbour’s garden to replenish our strength?”
Said King Aule Tulumnes, “But are Hellenes not grasping, and strewn with momentary passions of a thousand kinds? The race of Hellas rarely keeps to a few apples, and more often takes every last fruit, cuts down the tree for firewood, and plants a sapling in their own garden when they return home. You come to these lands with tens of thousands of firm-helmed Hellenes in your wake, and not even your fellow Hellenes trust to the state of affairs that will result. We are called here by Cumaeots and Carthadastimes by sacred oaths and treaties that lie heavily upon these lands, and we fate ourselves to follow divine obligation placed by us. What fate brings you to battle with us, what calls the Hellenes forward?”
Said Pericle, general of the Athenae, “It is not in our nature to doubt our passions, for rich have the Hellenes grown, are we not the Hellenes of the ten-thousand cities? Are we not the bringers of knowledge to the Rasna, your friends and your tutors? Why do you distrust our spears when they fly so far from your own lands? Jealousy lies heavily upon the Carthadastimes, and so it has ever been, so we are not surprised when the gold-eating Carthadastimes launch their warships and unsheathe their swords. Trust not to their envy at our every success, nay our survival.”
Said red-hearted Aule Tulumnes, “Must all concern at the behaviour of firm-helmed Hellenes be provoked by jealousy? You displease divine Nurtia with your arrogance, that all quarrel must be generated by envy, as though the Carthadastimes or Rasna were a brood of bright-eyed brigands. You feel as though your fate is merely steered by your nobility and how this angers your neighbours, as though the jewels that line your scabbard are the source of the quarrel and not instead where the jewels were taken from. Hellas is a house of wisdom, and we have learned much from it, but we have learned more greatly than the reach of your lessons, and understood the tutoring more clearly than the tutor. We distrust your spears for we have seen how far the hands of the Hellenes would clasp onto the earth, how the Hellenes are drunkards for land. If ever you possessed wisdom, O son of Chanthipus, then turn your firm-helmed warriors around, and sail your people over to other lands of the Hellenes, where jewels run like rivers down snow topped mountains, and where grain fills granaries like endless rain. My fate is known, and knowing what that fate is I will face your ten thousand men with no fear.”
Said Pericle this, “We shall not be kept from the lands that we are owed, and the Hellenes shall not be kept from mastery of the Great Sea. Battle shall be fought, and we shall fight for our fate.”
The two commanders returned to their army, and the horns of battle sounded. The Hellenes advanced with cries and clamour, as a gathering storm batters upon sailors sheltering in strong ships so was the clamour of the firm-helmed Hellenes. But the Etruscans in their serried ranks held firm, as great cliffs in the bays of Kampania hold fast when battered with all the endless power of the sea so the Etruscans withstood the onset of the Hellenes. Laran urged on the Hellenes, and the Mari of the Vanquished were soon among both Hellenes and Rasna, guiding the souls of dying men onward to Aita’s pool deep in the underworld. They met in fury, the firm-helmed Hellenes and the thick-shielded Rasna, with a thunderous clash, two great clouds of lightning disgorging at one another with a fearful din of shields, spears, swords, axes, armour, victorious shouts, and dying wails. As a school of fish darts about in the bright sunlit sea, hither and thither to avoid predators, gleaming brightly in the light and pressing together for protection against dolphins and birds, so the two great armaments pressed at and around one another. Then, Laran let up his guard of the Rasna right flank, for the men of Clevsin were stationed there, and they had not given sufficient offering to the gods, sealing their fate. This is when the Messapi cavalry, with their crushing and thunderous galloping, charged at the the serried ranks of Rasna. The men of noble Clevsin were felled, as cormorants dive into the wine-dark sea, disappearing in flocks to the depths of the waters, so the men of Clevsin fell. Then, hurling his great form at the attack, there was Aule Tulumnes in his shining linen armour, standing strong with his thick shield. As the arm of a staunch, experienced fisherman grabs the fish from the deck and fills the crates with the bounty of the sea, so the arm of red-hearted Aule Tulumnes struck out with his spear, felling firm-helmed Hellenes and wild Messapi horsemen. But then Laran appeared to Clevsin, and Aule Tulumnes felt the fire rising within him; he knew that the fated time had come.
Said Aule Tulumnes, “O Laran, marcher of men, I am ready to meet my fate. My son, lucky Larth Tulumnes, is ready for the leadership of Veia and of the armies of the Rasna, he will lead them to victories and prosperity. It is as you showed to me? Though my final fate be bloody, though I be hewed at by shaft and spear, the Rasna will thrive, the Rasna shall live, Veia shall rule?”
And Laran nodded his assent.
Aule Tulumnes gave into the fire just as the wing of the Rasna army was about to give way. He gave orders for an ordered retreat to Pumpai, and for Cneve Vipina to take command of the army, and then he flung himself at the Hellenes; as a spar, by time and tide, crashes down headlong onto a beach, showering all in dust and rock and broaching no resistance, so red-hearted Aule Tulumnes attacked the Hellenes with the cries of wolves. The advance of the firm-helmed Hellenes was halted, for all around fierce Aule Tulumnes was death, with Vanth rising from the earth to gently guide the unthered souls to their resting places. None could overcome the king of Veia single-handedly, and fourscore men lay dead at his hands. At last the Hellenes sent thirty men at once to overcome the fierce king, and this he was unable to withstand. He fell with sword and spear piercing both of his elbow pits, and with his final breath his fate had been met, and the rest of the army had been saved without any further rout or slaughter. Thus perished the red-hearted King of Veia Aule Tulumnes.
Here Lollianos screwed two boys.
Perikles speaks forth winged words.
Suffer your shrewish Athenian wife if you must, but spare us your foreplay.
A reply to the previous graffito.
If you are tired of the Pythagoreans, nothing keeps them away better than a priest or the smell of a roasted sausage.
Gylkeria loves another, and my heart is broken.
Adgennoriks.
(Sic)
Numphis is loved by both pretty boys and pretty girls.
Numphis promises a hard screwing, but he finishes too quickly.
A reply to the previous graffito.
Platon I know that you are jealous of my success, there’s no need to make it more obvious.
A reply to the previous graffito.
Mnesagoras is a coward.
The Ephoros Puthippos recommends that all sensible people of Taras avoid the food here, otherwise you won’t leave the toilet for hours.
Whoever returns my copper pan that was stolen will be rewarded five silver drachmai.
Aristogoras is a bad publik xpeaker.
(Sic)
But Philomenes is a really bad scholar.
Reply to the above.
Talaris has had no finer companion in life than his wonderful dog.
May Zeus strike down these infernal Pythagoreans, who wail in the streets and wake me up during naps.
Here Tarsas screwed.
If any doubt Hephaistos, then gaze upon the wondrous works of Epharmostos in silver and iron two streets to the south. The girl Iole in the house next door is an excellent lover!
Dadagos got me pregnant.
There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.
If only she came nearer and took my soft hand, immediately I would become her suppliant.
Damagoras loves Persians more than his fellow Hellenes, and departs back to Hellas in the hope of better company.
I miss you, Kora.
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 2:EIMI! or VARTAIYAIY!
THE BOOK OF DAYS
EXTRACT FROM THE LAY OF METIE TEITHURNA
AULE TULUMNES’ WAR WITH THE HELLENES
Said the Cumaeots, the men of the land of visions, “O strong-armed Aule Tulumnes, our sympathy for our countrymen, our fellow firm-helmed Hellenes, knows no bounds. O fierce king, the pain of our motherlands being given over to foreign kings rends our hearts, makes us gnaw our teeth, makes us pull our hair, makes us weep. But of the ten thousand cities of the Hellenes, from Athenae to Focaea, there is room for all the wailing warriors who flee from high-crowned Xerxes! Why must all the wailing warriors come to Italia, where already the Fifty Tribes bake their bread and sharpen their swords? We have not the wheat to feed them, nor the power to stay their recklessness. For among them come thrifty Corinthioe and savage Lacedaemonians, who will not respect the sanctity of the oracle in Cumae, the land of visions. Will you not help us, O fierce king, O wise king, O pious king? Even against our own brothers would we beg your help.”
Said the Carthadastimes, the men of the East, “We too, endless and redoubtable friends of the Rasna, ask of you thick-shielded aid against the firm-helmed Hellenes, for their feud against our great ports is a tale of a thousand years. They do seek to descend upon the isle of Icania, the island of long wheat, they do seek to humble the city of Carthadast and its great ports, they do seek to drive we the men of the East away from the wine-dark seas that all of our ancestors traditionally shared between them, as sworn to Tinia, Uni, and Menrva. And have we not stood with our long spears and black-sailed ships against those who would similarly humble the Rasna, even the lofty city of Veia? Have we not made congress, the signs of peace, and mixed our soils? So then do we ask you to battle against the firm-helmed Hellenes.”
Said strong-armed Aule Tulumnes, “O Cumaeots, o Carthadastimes, my red heart is set to following you to battle, to swear by Tinia, Uni, and Menvra to aid you in your struggles with the firm-helmed Hellenes, for though the Hellenes and their ten thousand cities be very great, the bread of Italia will not feed their hundred thousand hungry mouths. But I follow the laws of the lofty city of Veia, I do not take the men of Veia to war without being told that this is our fate, nor will the rest of the Rasna follow unless they know that the pious course of action has been taken. The priests shall read the entrails, and give their warnings, and we shall wear to the Gods who honour such things as these.”
So the fierce king went to the priests, and he asked of them whether it was fated that the firm-helmed Hellenes be fought, whether it was fated that Cumae and Carthadast would survive, whether high Veia and the Rasna were fated to survive such a clash of arms as this. The entrails spoke thus to the priests, and thus did they speak to Aule Tulumnes:
“Thou art a man of two fates, o red-hearted king. Thy choice is between these two things, whether to decline the battle, preserve thy life as the fierce king of ancient Veia, or whether to join the battle, and sacrifice thyself in thy cause. But if thou should choose the latter, if thou should choose to fate thy doom, then high Veia will be raised above even sacred Ulvmpus.”
Aule Tulumnes was given this choice, and told none others that it had been uttered in this manner, but instead made his choice.
Said Aule Tulumnes to fiery Laran, “I will indeed throw myself on thy pyre, O god, if thou will speak for the fate of Veia and the Rasna, if thy will ensure that their fate shall honour, and righteous power, and bread everlasting. I plunge willingly into the pool of fur-caped Aita if this is the fate that is chosen.” And upon saying those words, the braziers in the room all spontaneously lit themselves, in the middle of the day, and strong-armed Aule Tulumnes knew that Laran would speak for the fate of the men of high Veia and the Rasna.
So then Aule Tulumnes, proud hearted, called the call of the king of Veia, summoning the men of the Rasna. They came from Arretim rich in orchards, hallowed Caisra, thick-walled Perusna, Clevsin seat of kings, Turan’s city Velch, orderly Tarchna, ancient Fufluna, gold-rich Vetluna , Voltumna’s sanctuary Velzna, and impregnable Velathri, and mighty Curtun. The northern allies came from riverine Manthava, from Mother Cel’s city Ceisna, from shaded Misa. They marched with their thick shields and their blinding bronze to their appointed fate. Fierce Aule Tulumnes led them, on black-sailed ships, to the south, to the splendid plains of Capeva, across the briny breakers of the sea. There they were joined by the hardy men of Capeva, and by the blood-loving men of Irna, and also by some of the foreign men of seven-hilled Ruma, and by foreign men from dazzling Herclena, and by foreign men of Anth where egrets roost. So great and mighty was the host that fierce Aule Tulumnes raised for war.
So great and mighty was the host that fierce Aule Tulumnes took to battle that the city of Pumpai, Pumpai that sits under Sethlans’ cap, surrendered without giving battle. That was the fate of Pumpai. Then the firm-helmed Hellenes gave battle on the plain of Hercle; they came from once-decadent Subaris, they came from magnificent Croton, they came from Taras where the dolphins swim, and as allies to the Hellenes came the Messapi of the magnificent mares. The Hellenes were led by the silver-tongued Pericle, the son of Chanthipus, whose spear was straight. He had vanquished many, oh so many, and when the Rasna realised that Pericle was leader of the army of the Hellenes they became afraid for their fate. But not red-hearted Aule Tulumnes, he was not afraid for his fate or the fate of the Rasna. He stood tall and firm, and his warriors stood tall with him. Ten thousand tall Hellenes set against ten thousand tall Rasna. Before the horns of battle were sounded, the two mighty commanders sallied forth without fear of betrayal but with little hope of a negotiated solution.
Said fierce Aule Tulumnes, “O Pericle, son of Chanthipus, we are called here by the men of Cumae of the land of visions, will you not depart these lands in peace? Are there not ten thousand cities of the Hellenes? Why must you come to this peninsula, why must your wandering be to these parts of the world?”
Said straight speared Pericle, “O Aule Tulumnes, king of Veia, why do you forbear to allow us to settle in lands where Hellenes have settled for generations? I would heed your righteous presence were my people descending as locusts upon the ancient lands of the Rasna, but we settle exclusively in those lands where Hellene after Hellene has met their fate, and the fate of this land is bound to the fate of the Hellenes. Why ought we not to settle in these fair lands, among others of our people? We are chased out from our own houses and farms by the Medoe, do we not deserve rich fields and strong walls wherever we can make them, for to recover our power and to reconquer our ancient lands. We are barred from our fields with strong, guarded walls- are we not entitled to take a few apples from our neighbour’s garden to replenish our strength?”
Said King Aule Tulumnes, “But are Hellenes not grasping, and strewn with momentary passions of a thousand kinds? The race of Hellas rarely keeps to a few apples, and more often takes every last fruit, cuts down the tree for firewood, and plants a sapling in their own garden when they return home. You come to these lands with tens of thousands of firm-helmed Hellenes in your wake, and not even your fellow Hellenes trust to the state of affairs that will result. We are called here by Cumaeots and Carthadastimes by sacred oaths and treaties that lie heavily upon these lands, and we fate ourselves to follow divine obligation placed by us. What fate brings you to battle with us, what calls the Hellenes forward?”
Said Pericle, general of the Athenae, “It is not in our nature to doubt our passions, for rich have the Hellenes grown, are we not the Hellenes of the ten-thousand cities? Are we not the bringers of knowledge to the Rasna, your friends and your tutors? Why do you distrust our spears when they fly so far from your own lands? Jealousy lies heavily upon the Carthadastimes, and so it has ever been, so we are not surprised when the gold-eating Carthadastimes launch their warships and unsheathe their swords. Trust not to their envy at our every success, nay our survival.”
Said red-hearted Aule Tulumnes, “Must all concern at the behaviour of firm-helmed Hellenes be provoked by jealousy? You displease divine Nurtia with your arrogance, that all quarrel must be generated by envy, as though the Carthadastimes or Rasna were a brood of bright-eyed brigands. You feel as though your fate is merely steered by your nobility and how this angers your neighbours, as though the jewels that line your scabbard are the source of the quarrel and not instead where the jewels were taken from. Hellas is a house of wisdom, and we have learned much from it, but we have learned more greatly than the reach of your lessons, and understood the tutoring more clearly than the tutor. We distrust your spears for we have seen how far the hands of the Hellenes would clasp onto the earth, how the Hellenes are drunkards for land. If ever you possessed wisdom, O son of Chanthipus, then turn your firm-helmed warriors around, and sail your people over to other lands of the Hellenes, where jewels run like rivers down snow topped mountains, and where grain fills granaries like endless rain. My fate is known, and knowing what that fate is I will face your ten thousand men with no fear.”
Said Pericle this, “We shall not be kept from the lands that we are owed, and the Hellenes shall not be kept from mastery of the Great Sea. Battle shall be fought, and we shall fight for our fate.”
The two commanders returned to their army, and the horns of battle sounded. The Hellenes advanced with cries and clamour, as a gathering storm batters upon sailors sheltering in strong ships so was the clamour of the firm-helmed Hellenes. But the Etruscans in their serried ranks held firm, as great cliffs in the bays of Kampania hold fast when battered with all the endless power of the sea so the Etruscans withstood the onset of the Hellenes. Laran urged on the Hellenes, and the Mari of the Vanquished were soon among both Hellenes and Rasna, guiding the souls of dying men onward to Aita’s pool deep in the underworld. They met in fury, the firm-helmed Hellenes and the thick-shielded Rasna, with a thunderous clash, two great clouds of lightning disgorging at one another with a fearful din of shields, spears, swords, axes, armour, victorious shouts, and dying wails. As a school of fish darts about in the bright sunlit sea, hither and thither to avoid predators, gleaming brightly in the light and pressing together for protection against dolphins and birds, so the two great armaments pressed at and around one another. Then, Laran let up his guard of the Rasna right flank, for the men of Clevsin were stationed there, and they had not given sufficient offering to the gods, sealing their fate. This is when the Messapi cavalry, with their crushing and thunderous galloping, charged at the the serried ranks of Rasna. The men of noble Clevsin were felled, as cormorants dive into the wine-dark sea, disappearing in flocks to the depths of the waters, so the men of Clevsin fell. Then, hurling his great form at the attack, there was Aule Tulumnes in his shining linen armour, standing strong with his thick shield. As the arm of a staunch, experienced fisherman grabs the fish from the deck and fills the crates with the bounty of the sea, so the arm of red-hearted Aule Tulumnes struck out with his spear, felling firm-helmed Hellenes and wild Messapi horsemen. But then Laran appeared to Clevsin, and Aule Tulumnes felt the fire rising within him; he knew that the fated time had come.
Said Aule Tulumnes, “O Laran, marcher of men, I am ready to meet my fate. My son, lucky Larth Tulumnes, is ready for the leadership of Veia and of the armies of the Rasna, he will lead them to victories and prosperity. It is as you showed to me? Though my final fate be bloody, though I be hewed at by shaft and spear, the Rasna will thrive, the Rasna shall live, Veia shall rule?”
And Laran nodded his assent.
Aule Tulumnes gave into the fire just as the wing of the Rasna army was about to give way. He gave orders for an ordered retreat to Pumpai, and for Cneve Vipina to take command of the army, and then he flung himself at the Hellenes; as a spar, by time and tide, crashes down headlong onto a beach, showering all in dust and rock and broaching no resistance, so red-hearted Aule Tulumnes attacked the Hellenes with the cries of wolves. The advance of the firm-helmed Hellenes was halted, for all around fierce Aule Tulumnes was death, with Vanth rising from the earth to gently guide the unthered souls to their resting places. None could overcome the king of Veia single-handedly, and fourscore men lay dead at his hands. At last the Hellenes sent thirty men at once to overcome the fierce king, and this he was unable to withstand. He fell with sword and spear piercing both of his elbow pits, and with his final breath his fate had been met, and the rest of the army had been saved without any further rout or slaughter. Thus perished the red-hearted King of Veia Aule Tulumnes.
A Selection of Graffito from 5th Century BC Taras
Here Lollianos screwed two boys.
Perikles speaks forth winged words.
Suffer your shrewish Athenian wife if you must, but spare us your foreplay.
A reply to the previous graffito.
If you are tired of the Pythagoreans, nothing keeps them away better than a priest or the smell of a roasted sausage.
Gylkeria loves another, and my heart is broken.
Adgennoriks.
(Sic)
Numphis is loved by both pretty boys and pretty girls.
Numphis promises a hard screwing, but he finishes too quickly.
A reply to the previous graffito.
Platon I know that you are jealous of my success, there’s no need to make it more obvious.
A reply to the previous graffito.
Mnesagoras is a coward.
The Ephoros Puthippos recommends that all sensible people of Taras avoid the food here, otherwise you won’t leave the toilet for hours.
Whoever returns my copper pan that was stolen will be rewarded five silver drachmai.
Aristogoras is a bad publik xpeaker.
(Sic)
But Philomenes is a really bad scholar.
Reply to the above.
Talaris has had no finer companion in life than his wonderful dog.
May Zeus strike down these infernal Pythagoreans, who wail in the streets and wake me up during naps.
Here Tarsas screwed.
If any doubt Hephaistos, then gaze upon the wondrous works of Epharmostos in silver and iron two streets to the south. The girl Iole in the house next door is an excellent lover!
Dadagos got me pregnant.
There is no place for grief in a house which serves the Muse.
If only she came nearer and took my soft hand, immediately I would become her suppliant.
Damagoras loves Persians more than his fellow Hellenes, and departs back to Hellas in the hope of better company.
I miss you, Kora.
TELEO or AKUNAVAM: END OF CHAPTER 2
- Daeres
- Word Count: 2.8k