Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  6. When the evening came, the women went first to bed, and we followed their example after a short interval. The others had taken their pleasure by the satisfying of their appetite, but all my feast was through my eyes: so that I retired to rest gorged with the vision of the maiden’s face and sated with undiluted gazing upon her. Indeed, I was drunk with love; but when I reached the chamber where I always lay I was unable to get to sleep. For Nature will have it that diseases and bodily wounds are worse at night: while we are at rest they obtain more power to attack us and aggravate the pain that they cause; for when the body is still, the wound has the more leisure to hurt. In like manner the wounds of the soul are far more painful when the body is at rest: for during the daytime the eyes and ears have plenty of occupation and so turn the edge of the disease, distracting the soul so that it has less leisure for its grief; but when the body is bound fast by bodily rest, the soul has the greater freedom to be tossed about by its woe: all the sensations which were lately at rest are then aroused; mourners feel their grief anew, the anxious their cares, those in danger their fears, and lovers their consuming flame. Hardly about daybreak did sleep of a kind take pity upon me and give me a little respite: but not even then could I banish the maiden from my mind; Leucippe was all my dreams — I spoke with her, I sported with her, I ate with her, I touched her; yes, I obtained a greater degree of happiness than in the daytime; for I kissed her, and it was a real kiss: the natural result was that when my servant came to wake me, I upbraided him bitterly for his untimely coming, so that I thus lost so sweet a dream. I arose therefore, and determined to walk up and down somewhere in the house, into my sweetheart’s presence. I took a book, and bent over it, and pretended to read; but every time that I came opposite the door, I peeped below the book at her. So making several journeys, and drawing in fresh draughts of love every time I saw her, I returned with my heart in ill case indeed. And those flames went on burning up in me for the next three days.

  [1] Ἦν δέ μοι Κλεινίας ἀνεψιός, ὀρφανὸς καὶ νέος, δύο ἀναβεβηκὼς ἔτη τῆς ἡλικίας τῆς ἐμῆς, ἔρωτι τετελεσμένος: μειρακίου δὲ ὁ ἔρως ἦν. Οὕτω δ̓ εἶχε φιλοτιμίας πρὸς αὐτό, ὥστε καὶ ἵππον πριάμενος, ἐπεὶ θεασάμενον τὸ μειράκιον ἐπῄνεσεν, εὐθὺς ἐχαρίσατο φέρων αὐτῷ τὸν ἵππον. [2] Ἔσκωπτον οὖν αὐτὸν ἀεὶ τῆς ἀμεριμνίας, ὅτι σχολάζει φιλεῖν καὶ δοῦλός ἐστιν ἐρωτικῆς ἡδονῆς: ὁ δέ μοι μειδιῶν καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπισείων ἔλεγεν ‘ἔσῃ ποτὲ καὶ σύ μοι δοῦλος [3] ταχύ.’ Πρὸς τοῦτον ἀπιὼν καὶ ἀσπασάμενος καὶ παρακαθισάμενος ‘ἔδωκα’ ἔφην ‘ὦ Κλεινία, σοι δίκην τῶν σκωμμάτων: δοῦλος γέγονα κἀγώ.’ Ἀνακροτήσας οὖν τὰς χεῖρας ἐξεγέλασε καὶ ἀναστὰς κατεφίλησέ μου τὸ πρόσωπον ἐμφαῖνον ἐρωτικὴν ἀγρυπνίαν, καὶ ‘ἐρᾷς’ εἶπεν ‘ἐρᾷς ἀληθῶς: οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου λέγουσιν.’ Ἄρτι δὲ λέγοντος αὐτοῦ Χαρικλῆς εἰστρέχει （τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὄνομα τῷ μειρακίῳ） τεθορυβημένος [4] ‘οἴχομαί σοι’ λέγων ‘Κλεινία.’ Καὶ συνεστέναξεν ὁ Κλεινίας, ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου ψυχῆς κρεμάμενος, καὶ τῇ φωνῇ τρέμων ‘ἀποκτενεῖς’ εἶπε ‘σιωπῶν: τί σε λυπεῖ; τίνι δεῖ μάχεσθαι;’ Καὶ ὁ Χαρικλῆς ‘γάμον’ εἶπεν ‘ὁ πατήρ μοι προξενεῖ, καὶ γάμον ἀμόρφου κόρης, ἵνα διπλῷ συνοικῶ κακῷ: πονηρὸν μὲν γὰρ γυνή, κἂν εὔμορφος ᾖ: ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀμορφίαν δυστυχῇ, τὸ κακὸν διπλοῦν. [5] Ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν πλοῦτον ὁ πατὴρ ἀποβλέπων σπουδάζει τὸ κῆδος: ἐκδίδομαι ὁ δυστυχὴς τοῖς ἐκείνης χρήμασιν, ἵνα γήμω πωλούμενος.’

  7. Now I had a cousin called Clinias. Both his parents were dead, and he was young, two years older than myself; one of Love’s adepts. But the object of his affections was a youth; and so strong were his feelings towards him that once when he had bought a horse, and the boy saw it and admired it, he at once sent it to him as a present. So I used constantly to be laughing at him for neglecting all his proper pursuits and having leisure for nought but his affections, a slave to love and pleasure; but he always used to smile, wagging his head and saying: “Mark my words, some day you will be a slave too.” To him then I went, and greeted him, and said: “At last, Clinias, I have been paid out for all my scoffing: I too have become a slave.” He clapped his hands and burst out laughing; then he rose and kissed me — my face bore every sign of a lover’s sleeplessness — and, “Yes,” he said, “you are really in love: your tell-tale eyes shew it.”

  He was still speaking, when Charicles (that was the name of his dear youth) burst in, greatly disordered, crying: “It is all over with me, Clinias.” Clinias gave a deep groan, as though his life hung on his friend’s, and murmured with a trembling voice: “You will kill me if you do not tell me at once; what is your trouble? What have we to fight against?”

  “Marriage!” Charicles answered, “which my father is arranging for me, and a marriage with an ugly girl, to give me double agony. Any woman is bad enough, however fair; but if she has the bad luck to be ugly, the business is twice as bad. But she has a fortune; that is what my father looks at in arranging the match: so that I am unhappy enough to be bartered for her money: I am to be sold into marriage.”

  [1] Ὡς οὖν ταῦτα ἤκουσεν ὁ Κλεινίας, ὠχρίασεν. Ἐπιπαρώξυνεν οὖν τὸ μειράκιον ἀπωθεῖσθαι τὸν γάμον, τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γένος λοιδορῶν. ‘Γάμον’ εἶπεν ‘ἤδη σοι δίδωσιν ὁ πατήρ; τί γὰρ ἠδίκηκας, [2] ἵνα πεδηθῇς; Οὐκ ἀκούεις τοῦ Διὸς λέγοντος ‘τοῖς δ̓ ἐγὼ ἀντὶ πυρὸς δώσω κακόν, ᾧ κεν ἅπαντες τέρπωνται κατὰ θυμόν, ἑὸν κακὸν ἀμφαγαπῶντες;’ Αὕτη γυναικῶν ἡδονή, καὶ ἔοικε τῇ τῶν Σειρήνων φύσει: [3] κἀκεῖναι γὰρ ἡδονῇ φονεύουσιν ᾠδῆς. Ἔστι δέ σοι συνιέναι τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ κακοῦ καὶ ἀπ̓ αὐτῆς τῆς τοῦ γάμου παρασκευῆς. Βόμβος αὐλῶν, δικλίδων κτύπος, πυρσῶν δᾳδουχία. Ἐρεῖ τις ἰδὼν τοσοῦτον κυδοιμόν: ‘Ἀτυχὴς ὁ μέλλων γαμεῖν: ἐπὶ πόλεμον, [4] δοκῶ μοι, πέμπεται.’ Ἀλλ̓ εἰ μὲν ἰδιώτης ἦσθα μουσικῆς, ἠγνόεις ἂν τὰ τῶν γυναικῶν δράματα: νῦν δὲ κἂν ἄλλοις λέγοις ὅσων ἐνέπλησαν μύθων γυναῖκες τὴν σκηνήν. Ὅρμος Ἐριφύλης, Φιλομήλας ἡ τράπεζα, Σθενεβοίας ἡ διαβολή, Ἀερόπης ἡ κλοπή, Πρόκνης ἡ σφαγή. [5] Ἂν τὸ Χρυσηίδος κάλλος Ἀγαμέμνων ποθῇ, λοιμὸν τοῖς Ἕλλησι ποιεῖ: ἂν τὸ Βρισηίδος κάλλος Ἀχιλλεὺς ποθῇ, πένθος αὑτῷ προξενεῖ: ἐὰν ἔχῃ γυναῖκα Κανδαύλης καλήν, φονεύει Κανδαύλην ἡ γυνή. [6] Τὸ μὲν γὰρ Ἑλένης τῶν γάμων πῦρ ἀνῆψε κατὰ τῆς Τροίας ἄλλο πῦρ, ὁ δὲ Πηνελόπης γάμος τῆς σώφρονος πόσους νυμφίους ἀπώλεσεν; Ἀπέκτεινεν Ἱππόλυτο
ν φιλοῦσα Φαίδρα, [7] Κλυταιμνήστρα δὲ Ἀγαμέμνονα μὴ φιλοῦσα. Ὦ πάντα τολμῶσαι γυναῖκες: κἂν φιλῶσι, φονεύουσι: κἂν μὴ φιλῶσι, φονεύουσιν. Ἀγαμέμνονα ἔδει φονευθῆναι τὸν καλόν, οὗ κάλλος οὐράνιον ἦν, ὄμματα καὶ κεφαλὴν ἴκελος Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ: καὶ ταύτην ἀπέκοψεν, ὦ Ζεῦ, τὴν κεφαλὴν γυνή. [8] Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῶν εὐμόρφων ἂν εἴποι τις γυναικῶν, ἔνθα καὶ μέτριον τὸ ἀτύχημα: τὸ γὰρ κάλλος ἔχει παρηγορίαν τῶν κακῶν, καὶ τοῦτ̓ ἔστιν ἐν ἀτυχήμασιν εὐτύχημα: εἰ δὲ μηδὲ εὔμορφος, ὡς φῄς, ἡ συμφορὰ διπλῆ. Καὶ πῶς ἄν τις ἀνάσχοιτο, καὶ ταῦτα μειράκιον οὕτω καλόν; [9] Μή, πρὸς θεῶν, Χαρίκλεις, μήπω μοι δοῦλος γένῃ, μηδὲ τὸ ἄνθος πρὸ καιροῦ τῆς ἥβης ἀπολέσῃς. Πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ τοῦτ̓ ἔστι τοῦ γάμου τὸ ἀτύχημα: μαραίνει τὴν ἀκμήν. Μή, δέομαι, Χαρίκλεις, μήπω μοι μαρανθῇς: μὴ παραδῷς εὔμορφον τρυγῆσαι ῥόδον ἀμόρφῳ [10] γεωργῷ.’ Καὶ ὁ Χαρικλῆς ‘ταῦτα μὲν’ ἔφη ‘θεοῖς κἀμοὶ μελήσει: καὶ γὰρ εἰς τὴν προθεσμίαν τῶν γάμων χρόνος ἐστὶν ἡμερῶν, πολλὰ δ̓ ἂν γένοιτο κἀν νυκτὶ μιᾷ. [11] Τὸ δὲ νῦν ἔχον ἐφ̓ ἱππασίαν ἄπειμι. Ἐξὅτου γάρ μοι τὸν ἵππον ἐχαρίσω τὸν καλόν, οὔπω σου τῶν δώρων ἀπέλαυσα. Ἐπικουφιεῖ δέ μοι τὸ γυμνάσιον τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ λυπούμενον.’ Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀπῄει τὴν τελευταίαν ὁδόν, ὕστατα καὶ πρῶτα μελλήσων ἱππάζεσθαι.

  8. When Clinias heard this, he grew suddenly pale; and then he urged the youth to refuse the marriage absolutely, abusing the whole female sex. “Marriage!” he said, “is that what your father is arranging for you already? What have you done, to be so fettered? Do you not remember the words of Zeus:

  ‘The stolen fire must be avenged, and so Men must seem joyful and hug close their woe? (Hesiod, Works and Days, 57. The punishment sent to men for the fire stolen for them by Prometheus was the gift of woman.)

  Such is the pleasure of woman; she is like the Sirens, who kill men by the charm of their song. Why, the magnitude of the evil can be conjectured from the very preparations for a marriage, the whistling of the flutes, the banging of doors, the carrying of torches; anyone who sees all this disturbance would naturally say: ‘How wretched is a bridegroom — he looks to me like one being sent off to the wars.’ If you were one that were uninstructed in the examples of poetry, you might perhaps be unaware of women’s doings; but, as it is, you know enough even to teach others the kind of stories with which women have filled the stage — Eriphyle’s necklace, Philomela’s feast, Sthenoboea’s false accusation, (The Potiphar’s wife of Greek mythology: Proteus was Potiphar, Bellerophon Joseph.) Aerope’s wicked stratagem, (The wicked wife of Atreus, who sinned with her husband’s brother Thyestes.) Procne’s murder. When Agamemnon desires the beauty of Chryseis; he brings destruction upon the Greek army; when Achilles desires Briseis’ beauty, he makes sorrow for himself. If Candaules (Herodotus, i. 12. Candaules, king of Lydia, was so infatuated with the beauty of his wife, that he must needs shew her naked to his friend Gyges: in revenge for the insult, she plotted with Gyges to kill him and seize his throne.) has a fair wife, his wife murders Candaules. The fire of Helen’s marriage-torches lit another fire for Troy. But Penelope’s marriage, chaste creature, how many suitors did that destroy? Phaedra destroyed Hippolytus by loving him, Clytemnestra Agamemnon because she loved him not. O women, women, that stay at nothing! If they love, they kill: and if they do not love, they kill all the same. Agamemnon was fated to be murdered — Agamemnon whose beauty was described to be as of heaven.

  ‘In eyes and head like thunder-hurling Zeus,’ (Homer, Iliad, ii. 478.) and, O Zeus, a woman lopped off that very head. And all these are the accusations which can be brought against fair women, where the ill-fortune of having to do with them is moderated; for beauty is some consolation in distress; and a certain amount of good luck amid the bad; but if the woman is not even fair, as you tell me, the misfortune is double. No one could tolerate such a thing — least of all a youth as fair as you. I pray you, Charicles, by all that you hold holy, do not allow yourself to become a slave, do not throw away untimely the flower of your youth; in addition to all its other disadvantages marriage has this, that it does away with the bloom of vigour and beauty. Do not wither yet, Charicles, I implore you; do not hand over a lovely rose to be plucked by an ill-favoured rustic clown.”

  “This whole affair,” said Charicles, “must be left to providence and to me; I have, after all, a certain number of days before the day ordained. A great deal can happen even in a single night; and we must think over all this at our leisure. Now, at any rate, I am going riding. I have never made use of your present since you gave me that splendid horse; the exercise will lighten the grief on my mind.” So with this he went away, on what was to be his first and last ride.

  [1] Ἐγὼ δὲ πρὸς τὸν Κλεινίαν καταλέγω μου τὸ δρᾶμα πῶς ἐγένετο: πῶς ἴδοιμι, πῶς πάθοιμι, τὴν καταγωγήν, τὸ δεῖπνον, τὸ κάλλος τῆς κόρης. Τελευτῶν δὲ τῷ λόγῳ συνίειν ἀσχημονῶν ‘οὐ φέρω’ λέγων ‘Κλεινία, τὴν ἀνίαν: ὅλος γάρ μοι προσέπεσεν ὁ ἔρως, καὶ αὐτόν μου διώκει τὸν ὕπνον τῶν ὀμμάτων: [2] πάντοτε Λευκίππην φαντάζομαι. Οὐ γέγονεν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τοιοῦτον ἀτύχημα: τὸ γὰρ κακόν μοι καὶ συνοικεῖ.’ Καὶ ὁ Κλεινίας ‘ληρεῖς’ εἶπεν ‘οὕτως εἰς ἔρωτα εὐτυχῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπ̓ ἀλλοτρίας θύρας ἐλθεῖν σε δεῖ οὐδὲ διάκονον παρακαλεῖν: αὐτήν σοι δέδωκε τὴν ἐρωμένην ἡ τύχη καὶ φέρουσα ἔνδον ἵδρυσεν. [3] Ἄλλῳ μὲν γὰρ ἐραστῇ καὶ τὸ βλέμμα μόνον ἤρκεσε τῆς ἐρωμένης παρθένου, καὶ μέγιστον τοῦτο ἀγαθὸν νενόμικεν ἐραστὴς ἐὰν καὶ μέχρι τῶν ὀμμάτων εὐτυχῇ, οἱ δὲ εὐδαιμονέστεροι τῶν ἐραστῶν ἂν τύχωσι κἂν ῥήματος μόνον: σὺ δὲ καὶ βλέπεις ἀεὶ καὶ ἀκούεις ἀεὶ καὶ συνδειπνεῖς καὶ συμπίνεις. [4] Καὶ ταῦτα εὐτυχῶν ἐγκαλεῖς; ἀχάριστος εἶ πρὸς ἔρωτος δωρεάν. Οὐκ οἶδας οἷόν ἐστιν ἐρωμένη βλεπομένη: μείζονα τῶν ἔργων ἔχει τὴν ἡδονήν. Ὀφθαλμοὶ γὰρ ἀλλήλοις ἀντανακλώμενοι ἀπομάττουσιν ὡς ἐν κατόπτρῳ τῶν σωμάτων τὰ εἴδωλα, ἡ δὲ τοῦ κάλλους ἀπορροὴ δἰ αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν καταρρέουσα ἔχει τινὰ μίξιν ἐν ἀποστάσει: [5] καὶ γλυκίων ἐστὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων μίξεως: καινὴ γάρ ἐστι σωμάτων συμπλοκή. Ἐγὼ δέ σοι καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἔσεσθαι ταχὺ μαντεύομαι: μέγιστον γάρ ἐστιν ἐφόδιον εἰς πειθὼ συνεχὴς πρὸς ἐρωμένην ὁμιλία. Ὀφθαλμὸς γὰρ φιλίας πρόξενος καὶ τὸ σύνηθες τῆς κοινωνίας εἰς χάριν �
��νυσιμώτερον. [6] Εἰ γὰρ τὰ ἄγρια τῶν θηρίων συνηθείᾳ τιθασεύεται, πολὺ μᾶλλον ταύτῃ μαλαχθείη καὶ γυνή. Ἔχει δέ τι πρὸς παρθένον ἐπαγωγὸν ἡλικιώτης ἐρῶν: τὸ δὲ ἐν ὥρᾳ τῆς ἀκμῆς ἐπεῖγον εἰς τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὸ συνειδὸς τοῦ φιλεῖσθαι τίκτει πολλάκις ἀντέρωτα. Θέλει γὰρ ἑκάστη τῶν παρθένων εἶναι καλὴ καὶ φιλουμένη χαίρει καὶ ἐπαινεῖ τῆς μαρτυρίας τὸν φιλοῦντα: κἂν μὴ φιλήσῃ τις αὐτήν, [7] οὔπω πεπίστευκεν εἶναι καλή. Ἓν οὖν σοι παραινῶ μόνον, ἐρᾶσθαι πιστευσάτω, καὶ ταχέως σε μιμήσεται.’ ‘Πῶς ἂν οὖν’ εἶπον ‘γένοιτο τοῦτο τὸ μάντευμα; δός μοι τὰς ἀφορμάς: σὺ γὰρ ἀρχαιότερος μύστης ἐμοῦ καὶ συνηθέστερος ἤδη τῇ τελετῇ τοῦ θεοῦ. Τί λέγω; τί ποιῶ; πῶς ἂν τύχοιμι τῆς ἐρωμένης; Οὐκ οἶδα γὰρ τὰς ὁδούς.’