Book 8
7
I am aware, too, that Posidonius the Stoic males this statement about the abundance of the fish:—When Tryphon of Apamea, who seized upon the kingdom of Syria, was attacked by Sarpedon, the general of Demetrius, near the city of Ptolemais, and when Sarpedon, being defeated, retired into the inland parts of the country with his own troops, but the army of Tryphon, having been victorious in the battle, were marching along the shore, on a sudden, a wave of the sea, rising to a great height, came over the land, and overwhelmed them all, and destroyed them beneath the waters, and the retreating wave also left an immense heap of fish with the corpses. And Sarpedon and his army heating of what had happened, came up, and were delighted at the sight of the corpses of their enemies, and carried away an enormous quantity of fish, and made a sacrifice to Neptune who puts armies to flight, near the suburbs of the city.
