[3]
There were other like words also spoken, seemingly divinely inspired,
which forecast the king's death.At the state banquet, Philip
ordered the actor Neoptolemus, matchless in the power of his voice and in his popularity, to
present some well-received pieces, particularly such as bore on the Persian campaign. The
artist thought that his piece would be taken as appropriate to Philip's crossing and intended
to rebuke the wealth of the Persian king, great and famous as it was, (suggesting) that it
could some day be overturned by fortune. Here are the words that he first sang:“
Your thoughts reach higher than the air;
You dream of wide fields' cultivation.
The homes you plan surpass the homes
That men have known, but you do err,
Guiding your life afar.
But one there is who'll catch the swift,
Who goes a way obscured in gloom,
And sudden, unseen, overtakes
And robs us of our distant hopes—
Death, mortals' source of many woes.
”1 He continued with the
rest of the song, all of it dealing with the same theme.
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Contents of the Sixteenth Book of Diodorus
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 71chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95
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1 Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. （2）, Adesp. 127; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. （2） 3.744-745. The ode has been thought Aeschylean. Lines 8-9 are quoted, with slight grammatical change, by Philodemus, De Morte, col. 38.12-14 (D. Bassi, Papiri Ercolanesi, 1; Milan, 1914).
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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