Anthologia Palatina

Why then speak of Zeno, the king protecting the city,

when the games of Fortune pour out a shifting work?

A bold throw of the dice has destroyed a hope of gain;

for, pursued by adversaries close at hand,

they perished, their hearts afflicted by their own fate.

A white piece was there, travelling on the highest path,

the sixth, which descended onto the fifth point it did not occupy;

and two others around another point, the seventh; and all the rest then,

eighteen men were in the middle, no longer naked or isolated;

three on the eighth, two on the twentieth, and three after it [the 21st];

and three on the second [the 22nd].

Thus Zeno saw all his own pieces,

but he saw the foreign taurei (opposing pieces) descending:

two on the third, two near it on the sixth,

and two on the seventh, and two encircling the eighth;

and he held others after these: two on the fifteenth,

and two on the eighteenth, and two men on the twenty‑fourth [the 24th].

But when, having taken the tower [the dice‑cup], which resounded after being shaken,

he brought a triple double on the throw:

a two, a five, and a four… his whole band then fled;

for there was no single spot left to escape to, but from the tower

they all went away, falling into the hands of the strangers.

Flee, players, from the unforeseen fall of Zeno,

who, even holding the sceptre, did not escape from the gaming‑board.