Anthologia Palatina
Agathias of Myrina, 560
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The Byzantine Emperor Zeno, who reigned from 475 to 491, played at Tabula (τάβλην) with 3 dice and a dice tower.
This is recounted in epigram 482 of the Anthologia Palatina (Book IX), contained in the Constantinople manuscript Cod. Pal. graec. 23, dated to the mid-10th century (c. 940 AD) and kept at the Heidelberg University Library in Germany.
Οὐτιδανοὶ μερόπων, εἰ καὶ μέγα ῥέξαμεν ἔργον,
οὔτινος εἰς μνήμην δηρὸν ἐπερχόμεθα:
οἱ δ᾽ ἀγαθοί, κἢν μηδέν, ἀναπνεύσωσι δὲ μοῦνον,
ὡς Λίβυς εἶπεν ἀνήρ, τοῦτ᾽ ἀδάμαντι μένει.
We Mortals of no account, even if we perform great deeds,
do not survive long in the memory of anyone ;
but as for the great, if they do nothing, if they only breathe,
as Aesop (the Libyan) said, it is engraved in adamant.
δήποτε γὰρ Ζήνωνα πολισσοῦχον βασιλῆα,
παίγνιον ἀφράστων ἐκτελέοντα κύβων,
τοίη ποικιλότευκτος ἕλεν θέσις, εὖτ᾽ ἀπὸ λευκοῦ,
For instance Zeno, the king and protector of the city,
while in the middle of a game, after some fickle dice rolls
found himself in a complicated situation.
τοῦ καὶ ὀπισθιδίην εἰς ὁδὸν ἐρχομένου,
ἑπτὰ μὲν ἕκτος ἔχεν, μίαν εἴνατος: αὐτὰρ ὁ σοῦμμος
δισσὰς ἀμφιέπων ἶσος ἔην δεκάτῳ:
ὅς τε πέλει μετὰ σοῦμμον ἔχεν δύο, μουνάδα δ᾽ ἄλλην
ψῆφον τὴν πυμάτην ἀμφιέπεσκε δίβος.
He was playing the white pieces:
7 on point 6, 1 on point 9, on point 19 (at the top)
2 like on point 10,
2 on point 20 (the one following the top),
And finally, the last one on point 23 (the divine point).
ἀλλὰ μέλας δισσὰς μὲν ἐν ὀγδοάτῳ λίπε χώρῳ
καὶ τόσσας ἑτέρας ἐς θέσιν ἑνδεκάτην
ἀμφὶ δυωδέκατον δὲ διέπρεπον εἴκελοι ἄλλαι,
καὶ τρισκαιδεκάτῳ ψῆφος ἔκειτο μία:
δίζυγες Ἀντίγονον διεκόσμεον ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῷ
ἶσος ἔμιμνε τύπος πεντεπικαιδεκάτῳ,
ὀκτωκαιδεκάτῳ πανομοίιος: εἰσέτι δ᾽ ἄλλας
εἶχεν διχθαδίας τέτρατος ἐκ πυμάτου.
The black pieces: 2 on point 8,
2 on point 11,
2 on point 12,
1 on point 13,
2 on point 14 (Antigone),
2 on point 15,
2 on point 18,
and 2 on point 21 (the 4th point from the end).
αὐτάρ ἄναξ λευκοῖο λαχὼν σημήια πεσσοῦ,
καὶ τὴν ἐσσομένην οὐ νοέων παγίδα,
τριχθαδίας ἀδόκητα βαλὼν ψηφῖδας ἀπ᾽ ἠθμοῦ,
πύργου δουρατέου κλίμακι κευθομένῃ],
δοιὰ καὶ ἓξ καὶ πέντε κατήγαγεν αὐτίκα δ᾽ ὀκτὼ
ἄζυγας εἶχεν ὅλας πρόσθε μεριζομένας,
But the sovereign, playing the white pieces,
and failing to see the trap ahead,
cast 3 dice
into the dice tower:
2-6-5, and he found himself with 8
single pieces (blots).
τάβλην φεύγετε πάντες, ἐπεὶ καὶ κοίρανος αὐτὸς
κείνης τὰς ἀλόγους οὐχ ὑπάλυξε τύχας.
Flee all from the game of tables, for the sovereign himself
did not escape the irrational fates of this game.
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