As to the enemy, on the left were the Ant
Dragoons, with whom was Phaethon. They are very
large beasts with wings, like the ants that we have,
except in size: the largest one was two hundred feet
long.
 Herodotus (3, 102) tells of ants bigger than foxes. 
They themselves fought, as well as their
riders, and made especially good use of their feelers.
They were said to number about fifty thousand. On
their right were posted the Sky-mosquitoes,
numbering also about fifty thousand, all archers
riding on large mosquitoes. Next to them were the
Sky-dancers, a sort of light infantry, formidable
however, like all the rest, for they slung radishes at
long range, and any man that they hit could not hold
out a moment, but died, and his wound was
malodorous. They were said to anoint their missiles
with mallow poison. Beside them were posted the
Stalk-mushrooms, heavy infantry employed at close
quarters, ten thousand in number. They had the
name Stalk-mushrooms because they used mushrooms
for shields and stalks of asparagus for spears. Near
them stood the Puppycorns, who were sent him by
the inhabitants of the Dog-star, five thousand dogfaced men who fight on the back of winged acorns.

 Herodotus (4, 191) tells of dog-headed men and of
headless men with eyes in their breasts. 


 

It was said that there were tardy allies in Phaethon’s
tase, too—the slingers whom he had summoned from
the Milky Way, and the Cloud-centaurs. The latter
to be sure, arrived just after the battle was over
(if only they had not!); but the slingers did not put
in an appearance at all. On account of this, they
say, Phaethon was furious with them and afterwards
ravaged their country with fire.

 

This, then, was the array with which Phaethon
came on. Joining battle when the flags had been
flown and the donkeys on both sides had brayed (for
they had donkeys for trumpeters), they fought. The -
left wing of the Sunites fled at. once, without even
receiving the charge of the Vulture Horse, and we
pursued, cutting them down. But their right wing got
the better of the left on our side, and the Sky-mosquitoes advanced in pursuit right up to the infantry.
Then, when the infantry came to the rescue, they
broke and fled, especially as they saw that the forces
on their left had been defeated. It was a glorious
victory, in which many were taken alive and many
were slain; so much blood flowed on the clouds that
they were dyed and looked red, as they do in our
country when the sun is setting, and so much also
dripped down on the earth that I wonder whether
something of the sort did not take place in the sky
long ago, when Homer supposed that Zeus had sent
a rain of blood on account of the death of Sarpedon.1
 Il. 16, 459. 
 

When we had returned from.the pursuit we set up
two trophies, one on the spider-webs for the infantry
battle and the other, for the sky battle, on the clouds.



 

We were just doing this when the scouts reported
that the Cloud-centaurs, who should have come to
Phaethon’s aid before the battle, were advancing on
us. Before we knew it, they were coming on in
plain sight, a most unparalleled spectacle, being a
combination of winged horses and men. In size the
men were as large as the Colossus of Rhodes from
_ the waist up, and the horses were as large as a great
merchantman. Their number, however, I leave
unrecorded for fear that someone may think it
incredible, it was so great. Their leader was the
Archer from the Zodiac. When they saw that their
friends had been defeated, they sent word to
Phaethon to advance again, and then, on their own
account, in regular formation fell on the disordered
Moonites, who had broken ranks and scattered to
pursue and to plunder. They put them all to flight,
pursued the king himself to the city and killed most
of his birds; they plucked up the trophies and overran the whole plain woven by the spiders, and they
captured me with two of my comrades. By this
time Phaethon too was present, and other trophies
were being set up by their side.
As for us, we were taken off to the sun that day,
our hands tied behind our backs with a section of
spider-web.

 

The enemy decided not to lay siege
to the city, but on their way back they built a
wall through the air, so that the rays of the sun
should no longer reach the moon. The wall was
double, made of cloud, so that a genuine eclipse of the
moon took place, and she was completely enshrouded


 

in unbroken night. Hard pressed by this, Endymion
sent and begged them to pull down the construction
and not let them lead their lives in darkness. He
promised to pay tribute, to be an ally and not to
make war again, and volunteered to give hostages
for all this. Phaethon and his people held two
assemblies; on the first day they did not lay aside a
particle of ‘their anger, but on the second day they
softened, and the peace was made on these terms:
 Compare the Athenian-Spartan treaty, Thuc. 5, 18. 

 


On the following conditions the Sunites and their
allies make peace with the Moonites and Heir allies,
to wit:
That the Sunites tear down the dividing- wall and
do not invade the moon again, and that they make
over the prisoners of war, each at a set ransom;
 That the Moonites permit the stars tu be autonomous, and do not make war on the Sunites; 
That each country aid the other if it be attacked; 
That in yearly tribute the King of the Moonites
pay the King of the Sunites ten thousand gallons of
dew, and that he give ten thousand of his people as
hostages; 
That the colony on the Morning Star be planted
in common, and that anyone else who so desires may
take part in it; 
That the treaty be inseribed on a slab of electrum
and set up in mid-air, on the common confines.
Attested under hand and seal. 
(For the Sunites) Firebrace 
Parcher 
Burns (For the Moonites) 
Darkling 
Moony 
Allbright