Me liketh what men seyn of the seyntuarye
that acorden fulle wel to hem of Grece,that demen the
goddesse Iuno and the seyntuarye mad of Bachus,
Semeles sone. For withouten doubte Bachus cam
to Surrye in that passage in the whiche he wente to
Ethiope. And in the temple ben manye tokenes of
Bachus foundour, as namely foreyne garnements and
precious stones of Ynde and olifauntes hornes, that
Bachus broght from Ethiope. And two yerdes, or
pileres, stont in the entree, passynge highe, on the
whiche is writen this scripture : “I Bachus presentede


 

thise yerdes to Iuno my step moder.” Phallic pillars, further described below, cc. 28-29. The inscription is much too pointed to be genuine ; it is a hoax like that in the True Story 1, 7 (vol. i, p. 255). Pillars were an ordinary feature of Semitic “high places,” both of wood (asherim) and of stone (masseboth) ; see Frazer, Folklore, iii, 62 sqq. In the case of the asherim I know of no direct evidence that they were phallic, but the masseboth, many of which still survive, are sometimes clearly of that nature (Cook, 14, 28 ; see also le Strange, Palestine wnder the Moslems, p. 294, for a curious survival of this significance). The pillars at Hieropolis were made of wood, since cleats were nailed to them; they were therefore asherim, and form a further bond between Ashera (Astarte) and Atargatis. Whether originally phallic or not, they were in Lucian’s day themselves used as “high places” ; see below. Now to
me this sufficeth, natheles I schalle seye you another
thing that is in the temple, that longeth to ceremonyes of Bachus. Men of Grece formen yerdes
for worschipe of Bachus that beren on hem litylle
men made of wode that han grete membres, the
whiche men thei nempnen Popets. See Herodotus 2, 48, on Egyptian puppets (ἀγάλματα νευρόσπαστα). And in the
temple ther is this same thing; on the righte syde
sitt a lityl man of brasse that hath a gret membre.
 
So seyn thei of the foundours of the holy place.
And now I schalle speke of the temple, wher that it
was sett and who that leet bylden it. Men seyn,
the temple that stont now is not that oon the
whiche was bylded atte firste, but that was beten
doun sithen som tyme, and the temple that stont
now is the werk of Stratonice, wyf to the Kyng
of Assurye. Stratonice was daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes and wife of Seleucus Nicator; she was subsequently surrendered by him to his son Antiochus I, Soter, by a former wife, Apama. The famous tale which follows (in Lucian a pure digression, but quite in the Herodotean manner) is rehearsed at length by Plutarch also (Demetrius 38). Rohde has made it pretty clear that, though possible enough (Galen claimed to have detected hidden love in the same way), as far as Antiochus is concerned it is fiction (Griech. Roman, p. 52.) 
I trowe, this is thilke Stratonice that hir step
sone lovede, that was betraysed by the phisicyens Erasistratus (Plutarch, l.c.), 
invencioun, For whan the infortune oppressed him,






 

he mighte not susteyne the mysese that semede
him schamful, and so he stille (quietly) felle into syknesse,
and lay withouten ony peyne; and his hewe
chaunged outerly, and his bodye feblede eech
day. But whan the phisicyen saughe that he
was wayk withouten pleyne cause, he iugged that
the syknesse was love. For of derne (secret) love ther
ben manye signes, as waike eyen, voyce, hewe,
teeres. And whan that he perceyved it, he did
thus. With his righte honde he kepte the yonge
mannes herte, and thanne he sent after all tho that
weren in the house. And whan everyche of the
othere entrede, this was in gret ese, but whan his
step moder cam, he chaunged his hewe and swatte
and schoke and his herte stirte (leaped). Thise thinges
scheweden his love to, the phisicyen, that helede
him thus.
 After that he hadde clepede the yonge
mannes fader, that was sor adrad, “This syknesse,”
quod he, “wherof thy child is wayk nis not syknesse
but synne, for verrayly he soffreth of no peyn, but
of love and wodenesse (frenzy). And he coveyteth that
he may not have in no wyse, lovynge my wyf
that I wil not forgon.” So that oon lyde in gyle.
And anon that other besoghte him: “Be thy
conynge and thy phisik, destroie me not my sone ;
for he is not in this cas of his owne wille but hath
the syknesse mawgree himself. Therfore do thou not
thorghe despyt make sorwe in alle the rewme, ne
thou that art phisicyen brynge manslaughtre in to
phisik.” Thus preyde he, al unwar. And_ that
oon answerde: “Thou forthrest wykked dedis,
revynge me from my mariage and destreyninge a
pore leche. What woldestow thiself have don and
he coveytede thy wyf, thou that axest suche bones (boons)

 

of me?” Therwith he replyede that he him self
wolde never have ben ialous over his wyf ne grucched (begrudged)
his sone deliveraunce, if so be he hadde coveyted his
step moder; for it was not the lyke infortune to
lese awyfasasone. Compare the famous story in Herodotus (3, 119) of the wife of Intaphrenes, who preferred brother to husband and sons. _ And whan the phisicien herde
that, “Wherfore than,” quod he, “dostow beseche
me? Parfey, he loveth thy wyf, and alle that I
seyde was fausse!” Than was the fader overcomen, and yold bothe wyf and rewme (realm) to his sone,
and goyinge himself to the contree of Babyloyne leet
make a cytee nyghe Eufrate that was cleped after
his owne name, ther as his dethe befel. The known facts are that Seleucus made Antiochus joint-ruler in 293 B.c.; that the marriage of Stratonice to Antiochus may have taken place at that time, but the date is not known; and that in 281, on becoming master of the whole realm of Alexander through the defeat of Lysimachus, he planned to entrust, and perhaps actually did entrust, all Asia to his son, intending himself to assume the throne of Macedonia. But within a few months he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus near Lysimachia in Thrace. He built many cities named after him; this Seleucia, 15 miles below Baghdad, is generally called “on the Tigris,” but it lay between the two rivers, which at that point are only 25 miles apart, and the canal Naarmalcha, connecting the Euphrates with the Tigris, flowed by it. Thus did
the phisicien bothe knowe and hele love.
 

Now, I seye you, why] yit that Stratonice duellede
with her formere housbond, hir mette a dreme how
that Iuno bade hir to bylde the temple for hir in the
Holy Cytee, and if sche sholde not obeye, sche
manaced hir with manye harmes. Atte first, sche
ne took no fors (note) of it ; but after, whan a grete sykness
hent hir, sche told the dreme to hir housbond and
enforced hir to apayen (appease) Iuno, and behight (promised) to bylde
the temple. Anon sche becam hool, and thanne hir
housbond wolde sende hir to the Holy Cytee, and
with hir a gret tresor and a gret hoost, some for to
bylden and other some for here seurtee. Therfore
he sompned oon of his frendes, a right fayr yong man




 

that highte Combabe, The name Kombabos, which does not occur elsewhere in Greek, has been identified as that of the opponent of Gilgamesh in the Gilgamesh-Epic, Hu(m)-ba-ba (Schrader- Zimmern, p. 570, and note 2), Clay has shown (pp. 49-53) that this name is not Elamite, but Amorite or West Semitic ; he holds that it was borne by a historical personage who lived in a cedar district of the West and humiliated Babylonia at the time of Gilgamesh, about 4000 B.c. However that may be, Kombabos is Humbaba, and in this story, which is the temple-legend, the name of Kombabos is the significant part ; Stratonice has taken the place of an earlier female. I believe her immediate predecessor was Semiramis, from Ammianus Marcellinus, 14, 6, 17, and her general connection with this site; she in her turn probably ousted an earlier Sima or Ata, with whom Kombabos may have been brought into connection through building or rebuilding the temple (cf. Clay, p. 51, note 22). and seyde: “For thou art
noble, Daun Combabe, I love thee most of alle mine
frendes, and I preyse thee gretli for thy coninge and
for thy gode wille to me, that thou hast discovered
beforn. And now me nedeth of grete feyth,
wherfore I wole that thou folwe my wyf, for to
acomplisshe the werke in my name, and to perfourme the sacrifises, and to reule the hoost ; and
whan thou retornest thou schalt gete highe worschipe
fro me.”
Therwith anon Combabe gan preye and beseche
him ful besily that he scholde not send him forth ne
betaken (entrust) him nouther that tresor, that was moche to en:rust
gret for him, ne his wyf, ne the holy werk. For he
was adrad lest that ialousie scholde assayle him
afterwardes as touching to Stratonice, that he moste
lede forthe allone.

 

But sithe the kyng wolde not
herknen in no kynde, he assayde an other requeste,
for to graunte him seven dayes space, and than sende
him forth, whan he hadde don a thing thereof he
hadde most nede. And whan he obteyned this
bone lightely, he wente to his owne house and caste
himself adoun and pleyned right so: ‘Allas wrecche,
what have I to don with this feythe, what have I to
don with this viage, whereof I seighe now the ende ?
I am yong, and schal folwen a fayre womman. This
schalle be gret meschief to me, but if I putte awey



 

al cause of evylle ; therfore most I perfourme a gret
dede that schal hele me of alle fere.”
 
Thus he seyde, and thanne he marrede him self ;
and whan he hadde kutte offe his genitours he put
hem into a lityl pot, and bawme with alle, and hony
and othere thinges of swete smelle. Thanne he
selede it with a signet that he bar, and helede his
wounde. And after, whan him wel semede for to
don iorneye, goynge to the kyng, beforn manye men
that ther weren he toke (gave) him the pot, seyinge thus :
“O sire, this grete tresor I was wont for to kepe
prevely, and I lovede it wel ; but now, for als moche
as I schal gon a fer weye, I wole betaken it to you.
Kepeth it sikkerly ; for this to me is bettre than
gold, this to me is als dereworth as my lyf. Whan
I retorne, I schal bere it home ayen saf and sound.”
So the kyng resceyved it and seelede it with an
other signet and bad his stywardes for to kepen it
curyously.