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[Prousias] the king.[1] This man, after defeating Attalos[2] and after arriving at Pergamon, prepared a lavish sacrifice and brought it to the sanctuary of Asklepios. Sacrificing oxen and getting good omens, he then returned to his encampment. But on the next day, setting his force against the Nikephorion,[3] he destroyed all the temples and robbed the gods' sanctuaries of their statues[4] and the sculptures made of stone. Finally he lifted the statue of Asklepios, skilfully created by Phylomachos,[5] and carried it away for himself -- the very god to whom on the previous day he was pouring libations, sacrificing oxen, and offering prayers asking him, naturally, to become in every way propitious and kindly unto himself. Such dispositions are those of a maniac.[6] For at one moment to sacrifice and placate the deity, doing obeisance and anointing the altars in a special way, as Prousias usually did while bending his knee and playing the woman, and yet at the same moment to violate these things and, by their destruction, to evince your arrogance towards the deity -- how could one not say these were the deeds of a crazed spirit, a soul that has departed from reason?

*prousi/as o( basileu/s: ou(=tos meta\ to\ nikh=sai to\n *)/attalon, meta\ to\ parelqei=n pro\s to\ *pe/rgamon, paraskeuasa/menos qusi/an polutelh= prosh/gage pro\s to\ te/menos tou= *)asklhpiou= kai\ bouquth/sas kai\ kallierh/sas to/te me\n e)panh=lqen ei)s th\n parembolh/n, kata\ de\ th\n e)piou=san katasth/sas th\n du/namin e)pi\ to\ *nikhfo/rion tou/s te new\s a(/pantas die/fqeire kai\ ta\ teme/nh tw=n qew=n e)su/lhse kai\ tou\s a)ndria/ntas kai\ ta\ li/qina tw=n a)galma/twn. to\ de\ teleutai=on kai\ to\ tou= *)asklhpiou= basta/sas a)/galma, perittw=s u(po\ *fuloma/xou kateskeuasme/non, a)ph/negken w(s au)to/n, w(=| th=| pro/teron h(me/ra| kataspe/ndwn e)bouqu/tei kai\ kathu/xeto, deo/menos, o(/per ei)ko/s, i(/lewn au)tw=| gene/sqai kai\ eu)menh= kata\ pa/nta tro/pon. ai( de\ toiau=tai diaqe/seis manikai/: to\ ga\r a(/ma me\n qu/ein kai\ e)cila/skesqai to\ qei=on, proskunou=nta kai\ liparou=nta tou\s bwmou\s e)ca/llws, o(/per ei)/wqe *prousi/as poiei=n gonupetw=n kai\ gunaikizo/menos, a(/ma de\ tau=ta kai\ lumai/nesqai kai\ dia\ th=s tou/twn katafqora=s th\n ei)s to\ qei=on u(/brin diati/qesqai, pw=s ou)k a)\n ei)/poi tis qumou= luttw=ntos e)/rga kai\ yuxh=s e)cesthkui/as kai\ logismw=n;

[1] Prousias II of Bithynia (reigned 182-149 BCE). This passage is part of Polybios 32.15, on events of 156/5. For Prousias see already pi 2913 (also Polybian).
[2] Attalos II of Pergamon (reigned 220-138 BCE).
[3] A sanctuary-complex, nominally of Athena, outside the city itself.
[4] i.e. bronze statues as opposed to stone.
[5] Cross-referenced at phi 841. Nevertheless, the name is more authentically PhyRomachos.
[6] The fuller text of Polyb. 32.15 reads 'At an earlier point, discussing Philip, I have described these dispositions as those of a maniac'.

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