2. I was admiring the whole of the picture, but — a lover myself — paid particular attention to that part of it where love was leading the bull; and “Look,” I said, “how that imp dominates over sky and land and sea!” As I was speaking, a young man standing by me broke in: “I may term myself a living example of it,” he said; “I am one who has suffered many buffets from the hand of Love.”
“How is that?” said I. “What have your sufferings been, my friend? I can see by your looks that you are not far from being one of the god’s initiates.”
“You are stirring a whole swarm of stories,” said he; “my adventures are really like fiction.”
“I hope, Sir,” said I, “in the name of Zeus and that very god Love, that you will not hesitate to give me all the same the pleasure of hearing them, even if they are like fiction”: and while I was speaking I took him by the hand and led him to a grove at no great distance, where many thick plane-trees were growing, and a stream of water flowing through, cool and translucent, as if it came from freshly melted snow. There I bade him sit down on a low bench, and I sat by him, and said: “Now is the time to hear your tale; and the surroundings are pleasant and altogether suitable for listening to a love-story.”
[1] Ὁ δ̓ ἄρχεται τοῦ λέγειν ὧδε”ἐμοὶ Φοινίκη γένος, Τύρος ἡ πατρίς, ὄνομα Κλειτοφῶν, πατὴρ Ἱππίας, ἀδελφὸς πατρὸς Σώστρατος, οὐ πάντα δὲ ἀδελφός, ἀλλ̓ ὅσον ἀμφοῖν εἷς πατήρ: αἱ γὰρ μητέρες τῷ μὲν ἦν Βυζαντία, τῷ δὲ ἐμῷ πατρὶ Τυρία. Ὁ μὲν οὖν τὸν πάντα χρόνον εἶχεν ἐν Βυζαντίῳ: πολὺς γὰρ ὁ τῆς μητρὸς κλῆρος ἦν αὐτῷ: ὁ δὲ ἐμὸς πατὴρ ἐν Τύρῳ κατῴκει. [2] Τὴν δὲ μητέρα οὐκ οἶδα τὴν ἐμήν: ἐπὶ νηπίῳ γάρ μοι τέθνηκεν. Ἐδέησεν οὖν τῷ πατρὶ γυναικὸς ἑτέρας, ἐξ ἧς ἀδελφή μοι Καλλιγόνη γίνεται. Καὶ ἐδόκει μὲν τῷ πατρὶ συνάψαι μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς γάμῳ: αἱ δὲ Μοῖραι τῶν ἀνθρώπων κρείττονες ἄλλην ἐτήρουν μοι γυναῖκα. Φιλεῖ δὲ τὸ δαιμόνιον πολλάκις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸ μέλλον νύκτωρ λαλεῖν οὐχ ἵνα φυλάξωνται μὴ παθεῖν （οὐ γὰρ εἱμαρμένης δύνανται κρατεῖν）, ἀλλ̓ ἵνα κουφότερον πάσχοντες φέρωσι. [3] Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀθρόον καὶ ἀπροσδόκητον ἐκπλήσσει τὴν ψυχὴν ἄφνω προσπεσὸν καὶ κατεβάπτισε, τὸ δὲ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν προσδοκώμενον προκατηνάλωσε κατὰ μικρὸν μελετώμενον τοῦ πάθους τὴν ἀκμήν. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ εἶχον ἔνατον ἔτος ἐπὶ τοῖς δέκα, καὶ παρεσκεύαζεν ὁ πατὴρ εἰς νέωτα ποιήσων τοὺς γάμους, ἤρχετο τοῦ δράματος ἡ τύχη. [4] Ὄναρ ἐδόκουν συμφῦναι τῇ παρθένῳ τὰ κάτω μέρη μέχρις ὀμφαλοῦ, δύο δὲ ἐντεῦθεν τὰ ἄνω σώματα: ἐφίσταται δέ μοι γυνὴ φοβερὰ καὶ μεγάλη, τὸ πρόσωπον ἀγρία, ὀφθαλμὸς ἐν αἵματι, βλοσυραὶ παρειαί, ὄφεις αἱ κόμαι: ἅρπην ἐκράτει τῇ δεξιᾷ, δᾷδα τῇ λαιᾷ. Ἐπιπεσοῦσα οὖν μοι θυμῷ καὶ ἀνατείνασα τὴν ἅρπην καταφέρει τῆς ἰξύος, ἔνθα τῶν δύο σωμάτων ἦσαν αἱ συμβολαί, καὶ ἀποκόπτει μου τὴν παρθένον. [5] Περιδεὴς οὖν ἀναθορὼν ἐκ τοῦ δείματος φράζω μὲν πρὸς οὐδένα, κατ̓ ἐμαυτὸν δὲ πονηρὰ ἐσκεπτόμην.
Ἐν δὲ τούτῳ συμβαίνει τοιάδε. Ἦν ἀδελφός, ὡς ἔφην, τοῦ πατρὸς Σώστρατος. Παρὰ τούτου τις ἔρχεται κομίζων ἐπιστολὰς ἀπὸ Βυζαντίου, καὶ ἦν τὰ γεγραμμένα τοιάδε:
Ἱππίᾳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν Σώστρατος.
[6]
ἥκουσι πρὸς σὲ θυγάτηρ ἐμὴ Λευκίππη καὶ Πάνθεια
γυνή: πόλεμος γὰρ περιλαμβάνει Βυζαντίους Θρᾳκικός.
Σῶζε δή μοι τὰ φίλτατα τοῦ γένους μέχρι τῆς τοῦ πολέμου τύχης.”
3. This is how he began: I am a Phoenician by nation, my country is Tyre; my name is Clitophon, my father is called Hippias, my uncle Sostratus; but he was only my father’s half-brother, on the father’s side, for my grandfather was twice married: my uncle’s mother was a Byzantine woman, my father’s a Tyrian. My uncle has lived all his life at Byzantium, having inherited there a very considerable property from his mother; my father stayed in Tyre. My mother I never knew, as she died when I was a baby; and then my father took a second wife, who was the mother of my sister Calligone. To this sister my father determined to unite me in marriage (Marriage was allowed in ancient Greece between half-brother’s and half-sisters descended from the same father: but not between uterine half-brothers and half-sisters.); but Fate, stronger than the will of man, was reserving another to be my wife.
Providence sometimes foreshows the future to men in dreams, not so that they may be able to avoid the sufferings fated for them, for they can never get the better of destiny, but in order that they may bear them with the more patience when those sufferings come: for when disasters come all together and unexpectedly, they strike the spirit with so severe and sudden a blow that they overwhelm it; while if they are anticipated, the mind, by dwelling on them beforehand, is able little by little to turn the edge of sorrow. Well, I was nineteen years of age, and my father was making preparations to celebrate my marriage in the following year, when Fate began the drama of my fortunes. I had a dream, in which I seemed to have grown into one with Calligone from the belly downwards, while above we had two separate bodies: then there stood over me a tall woman of fearful appearance; she had a savage countenance, blood-shot eyes, grim, rough cheeks, and snakes for hair; in her right hand she held a sickle, and in her left a torch. She advanced angrily upon me, brandishing the sickle: and then struck with it at my waist, where the two bodies joined, and so cut the maiden away from me. In mortal fear I jumped up, terrified: I told nobody the dream, but revolved inwardly the most gloomy forebodings.
Meanwhile, the following events were happening. My father’s brother, as I told you, was Sostratus; and a messenger came from him bringing letters from Byzantium. This was the purport of them: —
Sostratus, to his brother Hippias, greeting.
My daughter Leucippe and my wife Panthea are on their way to you: war has been declared by the Thracians against the Byzantines. Keep safe these, the dearest of my family, until the war is decided one may or the other.
[1] Ταῦτα ὁ πατὴρ ἀναγνοὺς ἀναπηδᾷ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν θάλατταν ἐκτρέχει καὶ μικρὸν ὕστερον αὖθις ἐπανῆκεν. Εἵποντο δὲ αὐτῷ κατόπιν πολὺ πλῆθος οἰκετῶν καὶ θεραπαινίδων, ἃς συνεκπέμψας ὁ Σώστρατος ἔτυχε ταῖς γυναιξίν: ἐν μέσοις δὲ ἦν γυνὴ μεγάλη καὶ πλουσία τῇ στολῇ. [2] Ὡς δὲ ἐνέτεινα τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπ̓ αὐτήν, ἐν ἀριστερᾷ παρθένος ἐκφαίνεταί μοι, καὶ καταστράπτει μου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῷ προσώπῳ. [3] Τοιαύτην εἶδον ἐγώ ποτε ἐπὶ ταύρῳ γεγραμμένην Σελήνην: ὄμμα γοργὸν ἐν ἡδονῇ: κόμη ξανθή, τὸ ξανθὸν
οὖλον: ὀφρὺς μέλαινα, τὸ μέλαν ἄκρατον: λευκὴ παρειά, τὸ λευκὸν ἐς μέσον ἐφοινίσσετο καὶ ἐμιμεῖτο πορφύραν, οἵαν εἰς τὸν ἐλέφαντα Λυδία βάπτει γυνή: τὸ στόμα ῥόδων ἄνθος ἦν, ὅταν ἄρχηται τὸ ῥόδον ἀνοίγειν τῶν φύλλων τὰ χείλη. [4] Ὡς δὲ εἶδον, εὐθὺς ἀπωλώλειν: κάλλος γὰρ ὀξύτερον τιτρώσκει βέλους καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐς τὴν ψυχὴν καταρρεῖ: ὀφθαλμὸς γὰρ ὁδὸς ἐρωτικῷ τραύματι. [5] Πάντα δέ με εἶχεν ὁμοῦ, ἔπαινος, ἔκπληξις, τρόμος, αἰδώς, ἀναίδεια: ἐπῄνουν τὸ μέγεθος, ἐκπεπλήγμην τὸ κάλλος, ἔτρεμον τὴν καρδίαν, ἔβλεπον ἀναιδῶς, ᾐδούμην ἁλῶναι: τοὺς δὲ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀφέλκειν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς κόρης ἐβιαζόμην, οἱ δὲ οὐκ ἤθελον, ἀλλ̓ ἀνθεῖλκον ἑαυτοὺς ἐκεῖ τῷ τοῦ κάλλους ἑλκόμενοι πείσματι, καὶ τέλος ἐνίκησαν.
4. Directly my father had read these words, he jumped up and hurried down to the sea-shore. He was not long in returning, and then there followed him a great number of men-servants and maidservants, sent by Sostratus to accompany his ladies: in the middle of them walked a tall woman richly dressed; and as I gazed at her, I suddenly saw a maiden on her left, who blinded my eyes, as with a stroke of lightning, by the beauty of her face. She was like that picture of Europa on the bull which I saw but just now: an eye at once piercing and voluptuous; golden hair in golden curls; black eyebrows — jet black; pale cheeks, the pallor shading in the centre into a ruddy hue, like that stain wherewith the Lydian women tint ivory; and a mouth that was a rose — a rose-bud just beginning to uncurl its petals. Directly I saw her, I was lost: for beauty wounds deeper than any arrow and strikes down through the eyes into the soul; the eye is the passage for love’s wound. All manner of feelings took possession of me at once — admiration, stupefaction, fear, shame, shamelessness. I admired her tall form, I was stupefied by her beauty, I shewed my fear by the beating of my heart; I stared shamelessly at her, but I was ashamed to be caught doing so. Try as I would to drag my eyes away from gazing upon her, they would not obey me, but remained fixed upon her by the force of her beauty, and at length they won the day against my will.
[1] Αἱ μὲν δὴ κατήγοντο πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ αὐταῖς ὁ πατὴρ μέρος τι τῆς οἰκίας ἀποτεμόμενος εὐτρεπίζει δεῖπνον. Καὶ ἐπεὶ καιρὸς ἦν, συνεπίνομεν κατὰ δύο τὰς κλίνας διαλαχόντες, οὕτω γὰρ ἔταξεν ὁ πατήρ: αὐτὸς κἀγὼ τὴν μέσην, αἱ μητέρες αἱ δύο τὴν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ, [2] τὴν δεξιὰν εἶχον αἱ παρθένοι. Ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς ταύτην ἤκουσα τὴν εὐταξίαν, μικροῦ προσελθὼν κατεφίλησα τὸν πατέρα, ὅτι μοι κατ̓ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀνέκλινε τὴν παρθένον. [3] Τί μὲν οὖν ἔφαγον, μὰ τοὺς θεούς, ἔγωγε οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἐῴκειν γὰρ τοῖς ἐν ὀνείροις ἐσθίουσιν: ἐρείσας δὲ κατὰ τῆς στρωμνῆς τὸν ἀγκῶνα καὶ ἐγκλίνας ἐμαυτόν, ὅλοις ἔβλεπον τὴν κόρην τοῖς προσώποις, κλέπτων ἅμα τὴν θέαν: τοῦτο γάρ μοι ἦν τὸ δεῖπνον. [4] Ὡς δὲ ἦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ δείπνου, παῖς εἰσέρχεται κιθάραν ἁρμοσάμενος, τοῦ παρὸς οἰκέτης, καὶ ψιλαῖς τὸ πρῶτον διατινάξας ταῖς χερσὶ τὰς χορδὰς ἔκρουε καί τι κρουμάτιον λιγήνας ὑποψιθυρίζουσι τοῖς δακτύλοις, μετὰ τοῦτο ἤδη τῷ πλήκτρῳ τὰς χορδὰς ἔκρουε, καὶ ὀλίγον ὅσον κιθαρίσας συνῇδε τοῖς κρούμασι. [5] Τὸ δὲ ᾆσμα ἦν Ἀπόλλων μεμφόμενος τὴν Δάφνην φεύγουσαν καὶ διώκων ἅμα καὶ μέλλων καταλαμβάνειν καὶ γινομένη φυτὸν ἡ κόρη καὶ Ἀπόλλων τὸ φυτὸν στεφανούμενος. Τοῦτό μοι μᾶλλον τὴν ψυχὴν ἐξέκαυσεν: [6] ὑπέκκαυμα γὰρ ἐπιθυμίας λόγος ἐρωτικός: κἂν εἰς σωφροσύνην τις ἑαυτὸν νουθετῇ, τῷ παραδείγματι πρὸς τὴν μίμησιν ἐρεθίζεται, μάλισθ̓ ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ κρείττονος ᾖ τὸ παράδειγμα: ἡ γὰρ ὧν ἁμαρτάνει τις αἰδὼς τῷ τοῦ βελτίονος ἀξιώματι παρρησία γίνεται. [7] Καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἔλεγον ‘ἰδοὺ καὶ Ἀπόλλων ἐρᾷ, κἀκεῖνος παρθένου, καὶ ἐρῶν οὐκ αἰσχύνεται, ἀλλὰ διώκει τὴν παρθένον: σὺ δὲ ὀκνεῖς καὶ αἰδῇ καὶ ἀκαίρως σωφρονεῖς; μὴ κρείττων εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ;’
5. Such was the manner of their arrival. My father then set aside for their use a part of the house, and ordered dinner to be made ready. When the hour for it came, we sat down two on each couch my father arranged that he and I should occupy the middle one, the two mothers that on the left, and the two maidens the right-hand one. I was overjoyed when I heard of this arrangement, (drinking, the expressions left and right in the text, describing the benches on which the ladies of the party reclined, must be from the point of view of a spectator looking up towards the middle bench occupied by the two men.) and I could hardly restrain myself from publicly embracing my father for thus putting the girl under my very eyes. I swear that I have not the slightest idea what I ate — I was like a man eating in a dream. I rested myself firmly on my elbow on the couch, and, leaning forward, devoured the maiden with my eyes, sometimes intercepting a glance on her part; for that was my dinner. After it was over, a young slave (one of my father’s servants) came in with a lute ready tuned; first of all he played it with his hands alone, sweeping over the strings and producing a subdued tone by twanging them with his fingers; then he struck the strings with the plectrum, and having played a short prelude he sang in concert with the music. The subject of his song was the chiding of Apollo as Daphne fled from him; his pursuit, and how he all but caught her; and then how the maid became a tree, and how Apollo made himself a crown out of its leaves. This story, as he sang it, at last set my heart more fiercely ablaze: for love stories are the very fuel of desire; and however much a man may school himself to continence, by the force of example he is stimulated to imitate it, especially when that example proceeds from one in a higher position than himself: for that shame, which prevents a man going astray, is converted into boldness by the approval of one of higher rank. So I said to myself: “Look, here is Apollo in love, and like you in love with a maiden; and when he is in love, he feels no shame about it, but pursues his maiden, while you hesitate and profess to be ashamed, and encourage a most untimely continence: do you put yourself above a god?”
[1] Ὡς δὲ ἦν ἑσπέρα, πρότεραι μὲν πρὸς ὕπνον ἐτράπησαν αἱ γυναῖκες, μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον καὶ ἡμεῖς, οἱ μὲν δὴ ἄλλοι τῇ γαστρὶ μετρήσαντες τὴν ἡδονήν, ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν εὐωχίαν ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς φέρων, τῶν τε τῆς κόρης προσώπων γεμισθεὶς καὶ ἀκράτῳ θεάματι καὶ μέχρι κόρου προελθὼν ἀπῆλθον μεθύων ἔρωτι. [2] Ὡς δὲ εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον παρῆλθον, ἔνθα μοι καθεύδειν ἔθος ἦν, οὐδὲ ὕπνου τυχεῖν ἠδυνάμην
. Ἔστι μὲν γὰρ φύσει καὶ τἆλλα νοσήματα καὶ τὰ τοῦ σώματος τραύματα ἐν νυκτὶ χαλεπώτερα, καὶ ἐπανίσταται μᾶλλον ἡμῖν ἡσυχάζουσι καὶ ἐρεθίζει τὰς ἀλγηδόνας: [3] ὅταν γὰρ ἀναπαύηται τὸ σῶμα, τότε σχολάζει τὸ ἕλκος νοσεῖν: τὰ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τραύματα μὴ κινουμένου τοῦ σώματος, πολὺ μᾶλλον ὀδυνᾷ. Ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ ὦτα πολλῆς γεμιζόμενα περιεργίας ἐπικουφίζει τῆς νόσου τὴν ἀκμήν, ἀντιπερισπῶντα τὴν ψυχὴν τῆς εἰς τὸ πονεῖν σχολῆς: ἐὰν δὲ ἡσυχίᾳ τὸ σῶμα πεδηθῇ, καθ̓ ἑαυτὴν ἡ ψυχὴ γενομένη τῷ κακῷ κυμαίνεται. [4] Πάντα γὰρ ἐξεγείρεται τότε τὰ τέως κοιμώμενα: τοῖς πενθοῦσιν αἱ λῦπαι, τοῖς μεριμνῶσιν αἱ φροντίδες, τοῖς κινδυνεύουσιν οἱ φόβοι, τοῖς ἐρῶσι τὸ πῦρ. Περὶ δὲ τὴν ἕω μόλις ἐλεήσας μέ τις ὕπνος ἀνέπαυσεν ὀλίγον. [5] Ἀλλ̓ οὐδὲ τότε μου τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπελθεῖν ἤθελεν ἡ κόρη: πάντα γὰρ ἦν: μοι Λευκίππη τὰ ἐνύπνια: διελεγόμην αὐτῇ, συνέπαιζον, συνεδείπνουν, ἡπτόμην, πλείονα εἶχον ἀγαθὰ τῆς ἡμέρας. Καὶ γὰρ κατεφίλησα, καὶ ἦν τὸ φίλημα ἀληθινόν: ὥστ̓ ἐπειδή με ἤγειρεν ὁ οἰκέτης, ἐλοιδορούμην αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκαιρίας, ὡς ἀπολέσας ὄνειρον οὕτω γλυκύν. [6] Ἀναστὰς οὖν ἐβάδιζον ἐξεπίτηδες εἴσω τῆς οἰκίας κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς κόρης βιβλίον ἅμα κρατῶν, καὶ ἐγκεκυφὼς ἀνεγίνωσκον: τοῖς δὲ ὀφθαλμοῖς, εἰ κατὰ τὰς θύρας γενοίμην, ἐπίλλιζον κάτωθεν, καί τινας περιπατήσας διαύλους καὶ ἐποχετευσάμενος ἐκ τῆς θέας ἔρωτα σαφῶς ἀπῄειν ἔχων τὴν ψυχὴν κακῶς. Καὶ ταῦτά μοι τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐπυρσεύετο.
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 46