Section 1 & 2

[As] a young man I set out from Miletus

for the Olympic Games,

since I also wanted to visit these areas

of the famous province

Having travelled through the whole of Thessaly

I arrived at Larissa

And while wandering through the city

with my travelling allowance diminished

I was looking for remedies

for my poverty

I caught sight of an old man

in the middle of the forum

He was standing on a stone

and was proclaiming in a loud voice

[that] if anyone was willing

to guard a dead man

he would receive a great reward

And I said

to a certain somebody passing by

"what's this I hear?"

"Do the dead usually run away around here?

"Be quiet," he replied

"For you are a boy"

"and a mere stranger"

"and naturally you don't know [that] you are in Thessaly"

"where witches always bite pieces out of the faces of the dead"

"which are extra-ingredients for them in their magic art"

In reply I said

"What sort of protection is needed?"

"To begin with" he replied

"the whole night you must stay fully awake"

"with eyes open and sleepless"

"directed always at the corpse"

"Your glance must not be turned away anywhere else"

"since those very wicked witches"

"creep up secretly"

"with their shape changed into any kind of animal"

"for they take the form of"

"both birds, and dogs and mice"

"and indeed even flies"