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



 


 
On those terms peace was made, and then the wall
was torn down at once and we prisoners were restored.
When we reached the moon we were met and tearfully
welcomed by our comrades and by Endymion himself. He wanted me to stay with him and join the
colony, promising to give me his own son in
marriage—there are no women in their country.
But I was not to be persuaded; I asked him to let
me go down to the sea. When he perceived that he
could not prevail on me, he let us go after
entertaining us for seven days.