The Scythian or Consul (9)

Would you like me to complete my story so that it should not roam about in a headless condition? It’s high time to find out what Anacharsis and Toxaris from Scythia are still doing here at this time in Macedon bringing old Solon with them from Athens.

Well, my own situation is like that of Anacharsis—and please do not resent my likening myself to a man of regal stature, for he too was a barbarian, and no one could say that we Syrians are inferior to Scythians. It isn’t on grounds of royalty that I compare my situation with his, but rather because we are both barbarians. For when I first came to live in your city, I was utterly terrified as soon as I saw its size, its beauty, its high population, its power and general splendour. For a long time I was struck with wonder at these things and could not take in the spectacle—just as when the young man from the islands [*] came to the house of Menelaus. How could I help feeling like this when I saw the city at such a peak of excellence and, as the poet says,

“Blossoming with all good things whereby a city

flourisheth.”