Mnesippos Very tragical and romance-like.
But may the Sword and the Wind, by whom you
swore, have mercy on me; for I do not think a
man would be much to blame if he should disbelieve your tales. Toxaris Beware, my friend, lest your doubt be
envy. Doubt as you will, you will not keep me
from telling other such deeds of Scythians that I
know of. Mnesippos Only not at great length, my dear
fellow, nor using such unbridled words. You
abused my silence to run up and down through
Scythia and Machlyëne, and off to the Bosporos
and back again. Toxaris I must obey your commands even in
this, and speak briefly lest you weary of following me about with your ears. But hear what
services I myself received from a friend named
Sisinnes. When I left home and went to Athens,
through my desire for a Greek education, I put
in at Amastris, on the Pontos; for ships from
Scythia call there, the city being not far from
Karambis. Sisinnes accompanied me, my friend
from childhood. We spied a sort of lodginghouse near the harbor, and, removing our luggage
into it from the ship, we went out to stroll in the
market-lace, suspecting no evil. But in the
mean time some thieves forced the bolt and carried off everything, leaving us not even enough to


 



get through the day with.
Now when we came
home and found what had happened, we felt it
would not do to accuse the neighbors, for there
were many of them, or the landlord, for we were
afraid most people would think us sharpers if we
said that some one had robbed us of fifteen hundred dollars, a great deal of clothing, some rugs,
and everything else we had. We considered our
circumstances and what we should do, utterly without resources in a foreign country, and my opinion
was that we had better thrust our swords between
our ribs then and there and die, rather than submit to be shamefully destroyed by hunger and
thirst. But Sisinnes tried to encourage me, and
implored me to do nothing of the sort, for he had
a plan by which we should get food enough. And
for the nonce he took to carrying wood from the
harbor, and returned with provisions bought with
his wages. But early next morning, as he was
walking about the market-place, he saw a kind
of procession, as he said, of noble and beautiful
youths. They were enlisted to fight in single
combat for pay, and the contest was to come off
in three days. He made full inquiries about
them, and then came to me and said, "Don't call
yourself poor any longer, Toxaris, for in three days
I shall prove you rich." 
That was all he told me, and we managed to
eke out a wretched existence in the interval.


 


When the games were about to begin we also
were among the spectators, for Sisinnes dragged
me out, persuading me that it would be a pleasure to see the wonderful Greek games, and
brought me to the theatre. Sitting there we first
saw wild beasts infuriated with darts and then
chased by dogs, or let loose upon bound men,
who, we concluded, were criminals. Then the
single fighters entered, and the herald, bringing
forward a well-grown youth, said that whoever
wished to fight him was to come into the arena
and get two thousand dollars, the wages for fighting. At this Sisinnes rose, and, leaping into the
arena, offered to fight, and asked for weapons.
When he received the money he brought it to
me and gave it into my hands. "If I should
win, Toxaris," he said, "we will go off together
with plenty of money, but if I fall, bury me and
go back to Scythia." Thereupon I cried out, but
he took the armor and put it all on except the
helmet. This he did not wear, but fought bareheaded. The first thing that happened was that
he was wounded, cut under the knee with a
curved sword, so that the blood ran plentifully.
I was already dead in advance with fear. But,
watching his adversary, who came on too boldly,
he struck him on the breast and drove home so
that he went down in an instant between Sisinnes's feet.


 



Sisinnes was exhausted himself by his wound,
so that he sat down on the body and almost gave
up his own ghost. But I ran forward, raised
him up and comforted him, and when they had
dismissed him as already the victor I lifted him
and carried him home. After he had been nursed
a long time he survived, it is true, and lives to this
day in Scythia, married to my sister. But, nevertheless, he is lame from his wound. This, Mnesippos, took place neither in Machlyëne nor in
Alania, so as to be unsupported by evidence and
open to disbelief, but many of the folk of Amastris are at hand who remember the contest of
Sisinnes.