Η αρχή από τον βίο του Ιούλιου Καίσαρα σύμφωνα με τον Πλούταρχο:
[1] Τὴν Κίννα τοῦ μοναρχήσαντος θυγατέρα Κορνηλίαν ὡς ἐπεκράτησε Σύλλας οὔτ’ ἐλπίσιν οὔτε φόβῳ δυνηθεὶς ἀποσπάσαι Καίσαρος, ἐδήμευσε τὴν φερνὴν αὐτῆς. αἰτία δὲ Καίσαρι τῆς πρὸς Σύλλαν ἀπεχθείας ἡ πρὸς Μάριον οἰκειότης ἦν· Ἰουλίᾳ γὰρ πατρὸς ἀδελφῇ Καίσαρος ὁ πρεσβύτερος συνῴκει Μάριος, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεγόνει Μάριος ὁ νεώτερος, ἀνεψιὸς ὢν Καίσαρος. ὡς δ’ ὑπὸ πλήθους φόνων ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ δι’ ἀσχολίας ὑπὸ Σύλλα παρορώμενος οὐκ ἠγάπησεν, ἀλλὰ μετιὼν ἱερωσύνην εἰς τὸν δῆμον προῆλθεν οὔπω πάνυ μειράκιον ὤν, ταύτης μὲν ἐκπεσεῖν αὐτὸν ὑπεναντιωθεὶς Σύλλας παρεσκεύασε· περὶ δ’ ἀναιρέσεως βουλευόμενος, ἐνίων λεγόντων ὡς οὐκ ἔχοι λόγον ἀποκτιννύναι παῖδα τηλικοῦτον, οὐκ ἔφη νοῦν ἔχειν αὐτούς, εἰ μὴ πολλοὺς ἐν τῷ παιδὶ τούτῳ Μαρίους ἐνορῶσι. ταύτης τῆς φωνῆς ἀνενεχθείσης πρὸς Καίσαρα, συχνὸν μέν τινα χρόνον πλανώμενος ἐν Σαβίνοις ἔκλεπτεν ἑαυτόν· ἔπειτα δι’ ἀρρωστίαν εἰς οἰκίαν ἑτέραν μετακομιζόμενος κατὰ νύκτα, περιπίπτει στρατιώταις τοῦ Σύλλα διερευνωμένοις ἐκεῖνα τὰ χωρία καὶ τοὺς κεκρυμμένους συλλαμβάνουσιν. ὧν τὸν ἡγεμόνα Κορνήλιον πείσας δυσὶ ταλάντοις, ἀφείθη, καὶ καταβὰς εὐθὺς ἐπὶ θάλατταν ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Βιθυνίαν πρὸς Νικομήδην τὸν βασιλέα. παρ’ ᾧ διατρίψας χρόνον οὐ πολύν, εἶτ’ ἀποπλέων, ἁλίσκεται περὶ τὴν Φαρμακοῦσσαν νῆσον ὑπὸ πειρατῶν, ἤδη τότε στόλοις μεγάλοις καὶ σκάφεσιν ἀπλέτοις κατεχόντων τὴν θάλατταν.
[2] Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν αἰτηθεὶς ὑπ’ αὐτῶν λύτρα εἴκοσι τάλαντα, κατεγέλασεν ὡς οὐκ εἰδότων ὃν ᾑρήκοιεν, αὐτὸς δ’ ὡμολόγησε πεντήκοντα δώσειν· ἔπειτα τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἄλλον εἰς ἄλλην διαπέμψας πόλιν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν χρημάτων πορισμόν, ἐν ἀνθρώποις φονικωτάτοις Κίλιξι μεθ’ ἑνὸς φίλου καὶ δυοῖν ἀκολούθοιν ἀπολελειμμένος, οὕτω καταφρονητικῶς εἶχεν, ὥστε πέμπων ὁσάκις ἀναπαύοιτο προσέταττεν αὐτοῖς σιωπᾶν. ἡμέραις δὲ τεσσαράκοντα δυεῖν δεούσαις, ὥσπερ οὐ φρουρούμενος ἀλλὰ δορυφορούμενος ὑπ’ αὐτῶν, ἐπὶ πολλῆς ἀδείας συνέπαιζε καὶ συνεγυμνάζετο, καὶ ποιήματα γράφων καὶ λόγους τινὰς ἀκροαταῖς ἐκείνοις ἐχρῆτο, καὶ τοὺς μὴ θαυμάζοντας ἄντικρυς ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ βαρβάρους ἀπεκάλει, καὶ σὺν γέλωτι πολλάκις ἠπείλησε κρεμᾶν αὐτούς· οἱ δ’ ἔχαιρον, ἀφελείᾳ τινὶ καὶ παιδιᾷ τὴν παρρησίαν ταύτην νέμοντες. ὡς δ’ ἧκον ἐκ Μιλήτου τὰ λύτρα καὶ δοὺς ἀφείθη, πλοῖα πληρώσας εὐθὺς ἐκ τοῦ Μιλησίων λιμένος ἐπὶ τοὺς λῃστὰς ἀνήγετο, καὶ καταλαβὼν ἔτι πρὸς τῇ νήσῳ ναυλοχοῦντας, ἐκράτησε τῶν πλείστων. καὶ τὰ μὲν χρήματα λείαν ἐποιήσατο, τοὺς δ’ ἄνδρας ἐν Περγάμῳ καταθέμενος εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, αὐτὸς ἐπορεύθη πρὸς τὸν διέποντα τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἴουγκον, ὡς ἐκείνῳ προσῆκον ὄντι στρατηγῷ κολάσαι τοὺς ἑαλωκότας. ἐκείνου δὲ καὶ τοῖς χρήμασιν ἐποφθαλμιῶντος (ἦν γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγα), καὶ περὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων σκέψεσθαι φάσκοντος ἐπὶ σχολῆς, χαίρειν ἐάσας αὐτὸν ὁ Καῖσαρ εἰς Πέργαμον ᾤχετο, καὶ προαγαγὼν τοὺς λῃστὰς ἅπαντας ἀνεσταύρωσεν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς δοκῶν παίζειν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ προειρήκει πολλάκις.
Σε αγγλική μετάφραση (από εδώ):
1 The wife of Caesar was Cornelia, the daughter of the Cinna who had once held the sole power at Rome, and when Sulla became master of affairs, he could not, either by promises or threats, induce Caesar to put her away, and therefore confiscated her dowry. Now, the reason for Caesar's hatred of Sulla was Caesar's relationship to Marius. For Julia, a sister of Caesar's father, was the wife of Marius the Elder, and the mother of Marius the Younger, who was therefore Caesar's cousin. Moreover, Caesar was not satisfied to be overlooked at first by Sulla, who was busy with a multitude of proscriptions, but he came before the people as candidate for the priesthood, although he was not yet much more than a stripling. To this candidacy Sulla secretly opposed himself, and took measures to make Caesar fail in it, and when he was deliberating about putting him to death and some said there was no reason for killing a mere boy like him, he declared that they had no sense if they did not see in this boy many Mariuses. When this speech was reported to Caesar, he hid himself for some time, wandering about in the country of the Sabines. Then, as he was changing his abode by night on account of sickness, he fell in with soldiers of Sulla who were searching those regions and arresting the men in hiding there. Caesar gave their leader, Cornelius, two talents to set him free, and at once went down to the sea and sailed to King Nicomedes in Bithynia. With him he tarried a short time, and then, on his voyage back, was captured, near the island Pharmacusa, by pirates, who already at that time controlled the sea with large armaments and countless small vessels.
2 To begin with, then, when the pirates demanded twenty talents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not knowing who their captive was, and of his own accord agreed to give them fifty. In the next place, after he had sent various followers to various cities to procure the money and was left with one friend and two attendants among Cilicians, most murderous of men, he held them in such disdain that whenever he lay down to sleep he would send and order them to stop talking. For eight and thirty days, as if the men were not his watchers, but his royal body-guard, he shared in their sports and exercises with great unconcern. He also wrote poems and sundry speeches which he read aloud to them, and those who did not admire these he would call to their faces illiterate Barbarians, and often laughingly threatened to hang them all. The pirates were delighted at this, and attributed his boldness of speech to a certain simplicity and boyish mirth. But after his ransom had come from Miletus and he had paid it and was set free, he immediately manned vessels and put to sea from the harbour of Miletus against the robbers. He caught them, too, still lying at anchor off the island, and got most of them into his power. Their money he made his booty, but the men themselves he lodged in the prison at Pergamum, and then went in person to Junius, the governor of Asia, on the ground that it belonged to him, as praetor of the province, to punish the captives. But since the praetor cast longing eyes on their money, which was no small sum, and kept saying that he would consider the case of the captives at his leisure, Caesar left him to his own devices, went to Pergamum, took the robbers out of prison, and crucified them all, just as he had often warned them on the island that he would do, when they thought he was joking.
Από τη Βικιπαίδεια (λήμμα Φαρμακονήσι):
Η Φαρμακούσα συνέδεσε το όνομά της με μια μεγάλη μορφή της ιστορίας, τον Ιούλιο Καίσαρα, ο οποίος το 74 μ.Χ. σε νεαρή ηλικία αιχμαλωτίστηκε από Κίλικες πειρατές, «περί την Φαρμακούσαν νήσον». Όταν οι πειρατές, όπως παραδίδεται από τον Πλούταρχο, εζήτησαν ως λύτρα είκοσι τάλαντα, αυτός «κατεγέλασεν» διότι δεν γνώριζαν ποιον συνέλαβαν, τους υποσχέθηκε πενήντα και έστειλε ανθρώπους του να τα συγκεντρώσουν. Παρέμεινε στη Φαρμακούσσα αιχμάλωτος 38 ημέρες, χρησιμοποιώντας τους πειρατές ως ακροατές όσων έγραφε. Μόλις ήλθαν τα λύτρα από τη Μίλητο και ελευθερώθηκε, ο Καίσαρ αμέσως ναύλωσε πλοία από το λιμάνι της Μιλήτου, κυνήγησε τους πειρατές, και αφού τους συνέλαβε, τους έστειλε στο δεσμωτήριο της Περγάμου, όπου και τους σταύρωσε όλους.
[1] Τὴν Κίννα τοῦ μοναρχήσαντος θυγατέρα Κορνηλίαν ὡς ἐπεκράτησε Σύλλας οὔτ’ ἐλπίσιν οὔτε φόβῳ δυνηθεὶς ἀποσπάσαι Καίσαρος, ἐδήμευσε τὴν φερνὴν αὐτῆς. αἰτία δὲ Καίσαρι τῆς πρὸς Σύλλαν ἀπεχθείας ἡ πρὸς Μάριον οἰκειότης ἦν· Ἰουλίᾳ γὰρ πατρὸς ἀδελφῇ Καίσαρος ὁ πρεσβύτερος συνῴκει Μάριος, ἐξ ἧς ἐγεγόνει Μάριος ὁ νεώτερος, ἀνεψιὸς ὢν Καίσαρος. ὡς δ’ ὑπὸ πλήθους φόνων ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ δι’ ἀσχολίας ὑπὸ Σύλλα παρορώμενος οὐκ ἠγάπησεν, ἀλλὰ μετιὼν ἱερωσύνην εἰς τὸν δῆμον προῆλθεν οὔπω πάνυ μειράκιον ὤν, ταύτης μὲν ἐκπεσεῖν αὐτὸν ὑπεναντιωθεὶς Σύλλας παρεσκεύασε· περὶ δ’ ἀναιρέσεως βουλευόμενος, ἐνίων λεγόντων ὡς οὐκ ἔχοι λόγον ἀποκτιννύναι παῖδα τηλικοῦτον, οὐκ ἔφη νοῦν ἔχειν αὐτούς, εἰ μὴ πολλοὺς ἐν τῷ παιδὶ τούτῳ Μαρίους ἐνορῶσι. ταύτης τῆς φωνῆς ἀνενεχθείσης πρὸς Καίσαρα, συχνὸν μέν τινα χρόνον πλανώμενος ἐν Σαβίνοις ἔκλεπτεν ἑαυτόν· ἔπειτα δι’ ἀρρωστίαν εἰς οἰκίαν ἑτέραν μετακομιζόμενος κατὰ νύκτα, περιπίπτει στρατιώταις τοῦ Σύλλα διερευνωμένοις ἐκεῖνα τὰ χωρία καὶ τοὺς κεκρυμμένους συλλαμβάνουσιν. ὧν τὸν ἡγεμόνα Κορνήλιον πείσας δυσὶ ταλάντοις, ἀφείθη, καὶ καταβὰς εὐθὺς ἐπὶ θάλατταν ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς Βιθυνίαν πρὸς Νικομήδην τὸν βασιλέα. παρ’ ᾧ διατρίψας χρόνον οὐ πολύν, εἶτ’ ἀποπλέων, ἁλίσκεται περὶ τὴν Φαρμακοῦσσαν νῆσον ὑπὸ πειρατῶν, ἤδη τότε στόλοις μεγάλοις καὶ σκάφεσιν ἀπλέτοις κατεχόντων τὴν θάλατταν.
[2] Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν αἰτηθεὶς ὑπ’ αὐτῶν λύτρα εἴκοσι τάλαντα, κατεγέλασεν ὡς οὐκ εἰδότων ὃν ᾑρήκοιεν, αὐτὸς δ’ ὡμολόγησε πεντήκοντα δώσειν· ἔπειτα τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἄλλον εἰς ἄλλην διαπέμψας πόλιν ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν χρημάτων πορισμόν, ἐν ἀνθρώποις φονικωτάτοις Κίλιξι μεθ’ ἑνὸς φίλου καὶ δυοῖν ἀκολούθοιν ἀπολελειμμένος, οὕτω καταφρονητικῶς εἶχεν, ὥστε πέμπων ὁσάκις ἀναπαύοιτο προσέταττεν αὐτοῖς σιωπᾶν. ἡμέραις δὲ τεσσαράκοντα δυεῖν δεούσαις, ὥσπερ οὐ φρουρούμενος ἀλλὰ δορυφορούμενος ὑπ’ αὐτῶν, ἐπὶ πολλῆς ἀδείας συνέπαιζε καὶ συνεγυμνάζετο, καὶ ποιήματα γράφων καὶ λόγους τινὰς ἀκροαταῖς ἐκείνοις ἐχρῆτο, καὶ τοὺς μὴ θαυμάζοντας ἄντικρυς ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ βαρβάρους ἀπεκάλει, καὶ σὺν γέλωτι πολλάκις ἠπείλησε κρεμᾶν αὐτούς· οἱ δ’ ἔχαιρον, ἀφελείᾳ τινὶ καὶ παιδιᾷ τὴν παρρησίαν ταύτην νέμοντες. ὡς δ’ ἧκον ἐκ Μιλήτου τὰ λύτρα καὶ δοὺς ἀφείθη, πλοῖα πληρώσας εὐθὺς ἐκ τοῦ Μιλησίων λιμένος ἐπὶ τοὺς λῃστὰς ἀνήγετο, καὶ καταλαβὼν ἔτι πρὸς τῇ νήσῳ ναυλοχοῦντας, ἐκράτησε τῶν πλείστων. καὶ τὰ μὲν χρήματα λείαν ἐποιήσατο, τοὺς δ’ ἄνδρας ἐν Περγάμῳ καταθέμενος εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, αὐτὸς ἐπορεύθη πρὸς τὸν διέποντα τὴν Ἀσίαν Ἴουγκον, ὡς ἐκείνῳ προσῆκον ὄντι στρατηγῷ κολάσαι τοὺς ἑαλωκότας. ἐκείνου δὲ καὶ τοῖς χρήμασιν ἐποφθαλμιῶντος (ἦν γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγα), καὶ περὶ τῶν αἰχμαλώτων σκέψεσθαι φάσκοντος ἐπὶ σχολῆς, χαίρειν ἐάσας αὐτὸν ὁ Καῖσαρ εἰς Πέργαμον ᾤχετο, καὶ προαγαγὼν τοὺς λῃστὰς ἅπαντας ἀνεσταύρωσεν, ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς δοκῶν παίζειν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ προειρήκει πολλάκις.
Σε αγγλική μετάφραση (από εδώ):
1 The wife of Caesar was Cornelia, the daughter of the Cinna who had once held the sole power at Rome, and when Sulla became master of affairs, he could not, either by promises or threats, induce Caesar to put her away, and therefore confiscated her dowry. Now, the reason for Caesar's hatred of Sulla was Caesar's relationship to Marius. For Julia, a sister of Caesar's father, was the wife of Marius the Elder, and the mother of Marius the Younger, who was therefore Caesar's cousin. Moreover, Caesar was not satisfied to be overlooked at first by Sulla, who was busy with a multitude of proscriptions, but he came before the people as candidate for the priesthood, although he was not yet much more than a stripling. To this candidacy Sulla secretly opposed himself, and took measures to make Caesar fail in it, and when he was deliberating about putting him to death and some said there was no reason for killing a mere boy like him, he declared that they had no sense if they did not see in this boy many Mariuses. When this speech was reported to Caesar, he hid himself for some time, wandering about in the country of the Sabines. Then, as he was changing his abode by night on account of sickness, he fell in with soldiers of Sulla who were searching those regions and arresting the men in hiding there. Caesar gave their leader, Cornelius, two talents to set him free, and at once went down to the sea and sailed to King Nicomedes in Bithynia. With him he tarried a short time, and then, on his voyage back, was captured, near the island Pharmacusa, by pirates, who already at that time controlled the sea with large armaments and countless small vessels.
2 To begin with, then, when the pirates demanded twenty talents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not knowing who their captive was, and of his own accord agreed to give them fifty. In the next place, after he had sent various followers to various cities to procure the money and was left with one friend and two attendants among Cilicians, most murderous of men, he held them in such disdain that whenever he lay down to sleep he would send and order them to stop talking. For eight and thirty days, as if the men were not his watchers, but his royal body-guard, he shared in their sports and exercises with great unconcern. He also wrote poems and sundry speeches which he read aloud to them, and those who did not admire these he would call to their faces illiterate Barbarians, and often laughingly threatened to hang them all. The pirates were delighted at this, and attributed his boldness of speech to a certain simplicity and boyish mirth. But after his ransom had come from Miletus and he had paid it and was set free, he immediately manned vessels and put to sea from the harbour of Miletus against the robbers. He caught them, too, still lying at anchor off the island, and got most of them into his power. Their money he made his booty, but the men themselves he lodged in the prison at Pergamum, and then went in person to Junius, the governor of Asia, on the ground that it belonged to him, as praetor of the province, to punish the captives. But since the praetor cast longing eyes on their money, which was no small sum, and kept saying that he would consider the case of the captives at his leisure, Caesar left him to his own devices, went to Pergamum, took the robbers out of prison, and crucified them all, just as he had often warned them on the island that he would do, when they thought he was joking.
Από τη Βικιπαίδεια (λήμμα Φαρμακονήσι):
Η Φαρμακούσα συνέδεσε το όνομά της με μια μεγάλη μορφή της ιστορίας, τον Ιούλιο Καίσαρα, ο οποίος το 74 μ.Χ. σε νεαρή ηλικία αιχμαλωτίστηκε από Κίλικες πειρατές, «περί την Φαρμακούσαν νήσον». Όταν οι πειρατές, όπως παραδίδεται από τον Πλούταρχο, εζήτησαν ως λύτρα είκοσι τάλαντα, αυτός «κατεγέλασεν» διότι δεν γνώριζαν ποιον συνέλαβαν, τους υποσχέθηκε πενήντα και έστειλε ανθρώπους του να τα συγκεντρώσουν. Παρέμεινε στη Φαρμακούσσα αιχμάλωτος 38 ημέρες, χρησιμοποιώντας τους πειρατές ως ακροατές όσων έγραφε. Μόλις ήλθαν τα λύτρα από τη Μίλητο και ελευθερώθηκε, ο Καίσαρ αμέσως ναύλωσε πλοία από το λιμάνι της Μιλήτου, κυνήγησε τους πειρατές, και αφού τους συνέλαβε, τους έστειλε στο δεσμωτήριο της Περγάμου, όπου και τους σταύρωσε όλους.