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[9]

Next follows Zephyrium,1 of the same name as that near Calycadnus; then Anchiale, a little above the sea, built by Sardanapalus, according to Aristobulus. (According to the same author) the tomb of Sardanapalus is here, and a stone figure representing him with the fingers of his right hand brought together as in the act of snapping them, and the following inscription in Assyrian letters: ‘SARDANAPALUS, THE SON OF ANACYNDARAXES, BUILT ANCHIALE AND TARSUS IN ONE DAY. EAT, DRINK, BE MERRY; EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOT WORTH2 THAT’—the snapping of the fingers.

Chœrilus mentions this inscription, and the following lines are everywhere known: “‘Meat and drink, wanton jests, and the delights of love, these I have enjoyed; but my great wealth I have left behind.’$$4”

1 Cape Zafra.

2 What better inscription, said Aristotle, could you have for the tomb, not of a king, but of an ox? Cicero, Tusc. Quæs. iii. 35.

The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.

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