10. When the dinner was over Satyrus came up to me and said: “Now is the time to play the man. Your sweetheart’s mother, as you know, is not in good health and is gone to rest alone: while Leucippe will take a stroll, before retiring to sleep, with no other escort than her maid Clio, her regular attendant: I will fall into conversation with Clio and lead her apart.” Acting on this suggestion, we lay in wait for them, I devoting my energies to the maiden, and he to Clio: and all turned out well; Clio disappeared, and Leucippe was left walking in the court. I thus bided my time until the greater part of the sun’s light was obscured, and then advanced to the attack, a bolder man since the success of my first onslaught, like a soldier that has already gained the victory and made light of war: for the arms that gave me such confidence were not a few — wine, love, hope, solitude: so that I uttered never a word, but without other preliminaries, as if all had been arranged between us beforehand, I threw my arms round her and kissed her. I was even beginning to make further advances, when we suddenly heard a noise behind us, and in our anxiety jumped apart: she retired to her chamber and I to the other part of the house, very angry at the spoiling of such a good beginning, and cursing the noise. While so engaged Satyrus met me with a smiling face: it appeared that he had seen all our proceedings, hiding behind some bushes in case anybody should come; and it was he that had made the noise, because he had seen someone approaching.
[1] Ὀλίγων δὲ ἡμερῶν διελθουσῶν, ὁ πατήρ μοι τοὺς γάμους συνεκρότει θᾶττον ἢ διεγνώκει. Ἐνύπνια γὰρ αὐτὸν διετάραττε πολλά. Ἔδοξεν ἄγειν ἡμῶν τοὺς γάμους, ἤδη δὲ ἅψαντος αὐτοῦ τὰς δᾷδας ἀποσβεσθῆναι τὸ πῦρ ᾗ καὶ μᾶλλον ἠπείγετο συναγαγεῖν ἡμᾶς. [2] Τοῦτο δὲ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν παρεσκευάζετο. Ἐώνητο δὲ τῇ κόρῃ πρὸς τὸν γάμον: περιδέραιον μὲν λίθων ποικίλων, ἐσθῆτα δὲ τὸ πᾶν μὲν πορφυρᾶν, ἔνθα δὲ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐσθῆσιν ἡ χώρα τῆς πορφύρας, ἐκεῖ χρυσὸς ἦν. Ἤριζον δὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους οἱ λίθοι. [3] Ὑάκινθος μὲν ῥόδον ἦν ἐν λίθῳ: ᾿μέθυστος δὲ ἐπορφύρετο τοῦ χρυσοῦ πλησίον: ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τρεῖς ἦσαν λίθοι, τὴν χρόαν ἐπάλληλοι: συγκείμενοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ τρεῖς: μέλαινα μὲν ἡ κρηπὶς τοῦ λίθου, τὸ δὲ μέσον σῶμα λευκὸν τῷ μέλανι συνεφαίνετο, ἑξῆς δὲ τῷ λευκῷ τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπυρρία κορυφούμενον: ὁ λίθος δὲ τῷ χρυσῷ στεφανούμενος, [4] ὀφθαλμὸν ἐμιμεῖτο χρυσοῦν. Τῆς δὲ ἐσθῆτος οὐ πάρεργον εἶχεν ἡ πορφύρα τὴν βαφήν, ἀλλ̓ οἵαν μυθολογοῦσι Τύριοι τοῦ ποιμένος εὑρεῖν τὸν κύνα, ᾗ καὶ μέχρι τούτου βάπτουσιν Ἀφροδίτης τὸν πέπλον. Ἦν γὰρ χρόνος ὅτε τῆς πορφύρας ὁ κόσμος ἀνθρώποις ἀπόρρητος ἦν: μικρὸς δὲ αὐτὴν ἐκάλυπτε κόχλος ἐγκύκλῳ μυχῷ. [5] Ἁλιεὺς ἀγρεύει τὴν ἄγραν ταύτην: καὶ ὁ μὲν ἰχθὺν προσεδόκησεν, ὡς δὲ εἶδε τοῦ κόχλου τὴν τραχύτητα, ἐλοιδόρει τὴν ἄγραν καὶ ἔρριψεν ὡς θαλάσσης σκύβαλον. Εὑρίσκει δὲ κύων τὸ ἕρμαιον καὶ καταθραύει τοῖς ὀδοῦσι, καὶ τῷ στόματι τοῦ κυνὸς περιρρεῖ τοῦ ἄνθους τὸ αἷμα καὶ βάπτει τὸ αἷμα τὴν γένυν καὶ ὑφαίνει τοῖς χείλεσι τὴν πορφύραν. [6] Ὁ ποιμὴν ὁρᾷ τὰ χείλη τοῦ κυνὸς ᾑμαγμένα καὶ τραῦμα νομίσας τὴν βαφὴν πρόσεισι καὶ ἀπέπλυνε τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα λαμπρότερον ἐπορφύρετο: ὡς δὲ καὶ ταῖς χερσὶν ἔθιγε, τὴν πορφύραν εἶχε καὶ ἡ χείρ. [7] Συνῆκεν οὖν τοῦ κόχλου τὴν φύσιν ὁ ποιμήν, ὅτι φάρμακον ἔχει κάλλους πεφυτευμένον: καὶ λαβὼν μαλλὸν ἐρίου καθῆκεν εἰς τὸν χηραμὸν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔριον, ζητῶν τοῦ κόχλου τὰ μυστήρια: τὸ δὲ κατὰ τὴν γένυν τοῦ κυνὸς ᾑμάσσετο: καὶ τότε τὸν οἶκον τῆς πορφύρας ἐδιδάσκετο. [8] Λαβὼν δή τινας λίθους περιθραύει τὸ τεῖχος τοῦ φαρμάκου καὶ τὸ ἄδυτον ἀνοίγει τῆς πορφύρας, καὶ θησαυρὸν εὑρίσκει βαφῆς.
11. A few days later, my father began to push on the preparations for my marriage with more haste than he had originally intended, because he was being troubled by frequent dreams. He thought that he was conducting our marriage ceremonies, and had already lit the torches, when the fire was suddenly put out [and, what disturbed him even more deeply, both Calligone and I vanished]. This made him in the greater hurry to unite us, and preparations were made for the wedding to be on the following day. All the bridal ornaments had been bought for the maiden: she had a necklace of various precious stones and a dress of which the whole ground was purple; where, on ordinary dresses there would be braidings of purple, on this they were of gold. In the necklace the gems seemed at rivalry with one another; there was a jacinth that might be described as a rose crystallized in stone (This does not refer to the shape of the gem, but to its colour.) and an amethyst that shone so brightly that it seemed akin to gold; in between were three stones of graded colours, all mounted together, forming a gem black at the base, white streaked with black in the middle, and the white shaded off into red at the top: the whole jewel was encircled with gold and presented the appearance of a golden eye. As for the dress, the purple with which it was dyed was no casual tint, but that kind which (according to the story the Tyrians tell) was discovered by the shepherd’s dog, with which they dye Aphrodite’s robe to this day. There was once a time, you must know, when purple was still an ornament forbidden to men; it lay concealed in the round cavity of a tiny shell. A fisherman captured some of these; he at first thought that he had obtained some fish, but when he saw that the shell was rough and hard, he was vexed with what he had caught, and threw it away as the mere offal of the sea. A dog found this windfall, and crunched it with its teeth; the blood of the dye streamed all over the dog’s mouth, staining its muzzle and indelibly imprinting the purple on its lips. The* shepherd, seeing his dog’s lips thus blood-stained, thought that the colour arose from a wound, and went and washed it in sea-water; but the blood only shone the brighter, and when he touched it with his hands, some of the purple appeared on the hand. He then realised the character of the shell, how it contained within it a medicament of great beauty; he took a fleece of wool and pressed it into the interior of the shell, trying to find out its secret; and the wool too appeared as though blood-stained, like the dog’s muzzle; thence he learned the appearance of the dye. He therefore took some stones and broke the outer shell which hid the substance, opened the hiding-place of the purple, and thus discovered what was a very treasury of dye.
[1] Ἔθυεν οὖν τότε ὁ πατὴρ τὰ προτέλεια τῶν γάμων. Ὡς δὲ ἤκουσα, ἀπωλώλειν καὶ ἐζήτουν μηχανήν, δἰ ἧς ἂν ἀναβαλέσθαι δυναίμην τὸν γάμον. Σκοποῦντος δέ μου θόρυβος ἐξαίφνης γίνεται κατὰ τὸν ἀνδρῶνα: [2] ἐγεγόνει δέ τι τοιοῦτον. Ἐπειδὴ θυσάμενος ὁ πατὴρ ἔτυχε καὶ τὰ θύματα ἐπέκειτο τοῖς βωμοῖς, ἀετὸς ἄνωθε�
� καταπτὰς ἁρπάζει τὸ ἱερεῖον: σοβούντων δὲ πλέον οὐδὲν ἦν, ὁ γὰρ ὄρνις ᾤχετο φέρων τὴν ἄγραν. Ἐδόκει τοίνυν οὐκ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι. Καὶ δὴ ἐπέσχον ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν τοὺς γάμους: καλεσάμενος δὲ μάντεις ὁ πατὴρ καὶ τερατοσκόπους τὸν οἰωνὸν διηγεῖται. [3] Οἱ δὲ ἔφασαν δεῖν καλλιερῆσαι Ξενίῳ Διὶ νυκτὸς μεσούσης ἐπὶ θάλασσαν ἥκοντας: ὁ γὰρ ὄρνις ἔτυχεν ἱπτάμενος ἐκεῖ. Ἐγὼ δὲ ταῦτα ὡς ἐγένετο τὸν ἀετὸν ὑπερεπῄνουν καὶ δικαίως ἔλεγον ἁπάντων ὀρνίθων εἶναι βασιλέα: οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν δὲ ἀπέβη τοῦ τέρατος τὸ ἔργον.
12. My father then began to perform the sacrifices which are the necessary preliminaries to a wedding; and when I heard of this, I gave myself up for lost and began to look for some excuse to defer it, While I was thus engaged, a sudden tumult arose throughout the men’s part of the house: and this was what had occurred. My father was in the act of sacrificing, and had just placed the victims upon the altar, when an eagle swooped down from above and carried off the offering. It was of no avail that those present tried to scare him away; he flew off carrying away his prey. Now this seemed to bode no good, so that they postponed the wedding for that day: my father called in soothsayers and augurs and related the omen to them; and they answered that he must perform a sacrifice at midnight to Zeus as god of strangers upon the sea-shore, for that was the direction in which the bird had flown. [And that was the end of the matter: for it had indeed so chanced that the eagle had flown seaward and appeared no more.] At all this I was greatly delighted with the eagle, and I remarked that it was certainly true that the eagle was the king of all birds. Nor was it long before the event followed the prodigy which had foreshadowed it.
[1] Νεανίσκος ἦν Βυζάντιος, ὄνομα Καλλισθένης, ὀρφανὸς καὶ πλούσιος, ἄσωτος δὲ καὶ πολυτελής. Οὗτος ἀκούων τῷ Σωστράτῳ θυγατέρα εἶναι καλήν, ἰδὼν δὲ οὐδέποτε, ἤθελεν αὑτῷ ταύτην γενέσθαι γυναῖκα. Καὶ ἦν ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἐραστής: τοσαύτη γὰρ τοῖς ἀκολάστοις ὕβρις, ὡς καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν εἰς ἔρωτα τρυφᾶν καὶ ταὐτὰ πάσχειν ὑπὸ ῥημάτων, ἃ τῇ ψυχῇ τρωθέντες διακονοῦσιν ὀφθαλμοί. [2] Προσελθὼν οὖν τῷ Σωστράτῳ πρὶν τὸν πόλεμον τοῖς Βυζαντίοις ἐπιπεσεῖν, ᾐτεῖτο τὴν κόρην: ὁ δὲ βδελυττόμενος αὐτοῦ τοῦ βίου τὴν ἀκολασίαν ἠρνήσατο. Θυμὸς ἴσχει τὸν Καλλισθένην καὶ ἠτιμάσθαι νομίσαντα ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωστράτου καὶ ἀδόλως ἐρῶντα: ἀναπλάττων γὰρ ἑαυτῷ τῆς παιδὸς τὸ κάλλος καὶ φανταζόμενος τὰ ἀόρατα ἔλαθε σφόδρα κακῶς διακείμενος. [3] Ἐπιβουλεύει δὴ καὶ τὸν Σώστρατον ἀμύνασθαι τῆς ὕβρεως καὶ αὑτῷ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τελέσαι: νόμου γὰρ ὄντος Βυζαντίοις, εἴ τις ἁρπάσας παρθένον φθάσειεν ποιήσας γυναῖκα, γάμον ἔχειν ζημίαν, προσεῖχε τούτῳ τῷ νόμῳ. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐζήτει καιρὸν πρὸς τὸ ἔργον.
13. There was a certain youth of Byzantium, named Callisthenes. His father and mother were dead; he was rich, but profligate and extravagant. He, hearing that Sostratus had a beautiful daughter, wished, although he had never seen her, to make her his wife, and became her lover by hearsay; for such is the lack of self-control in the lewd, that they are led into the passion of love by means of their ears, and report has the same effect upon them as the ministry of the love-smitten eyes, acting upon the mind, has upon others. Before, then, the war broke out in which the Byzantines were engaged, he approached Sostratus, and asked him for his daughter’s hand, but Sostratus refused it because he loathed Callisthenes’ loose life. This enraged him, not only because he considered himself slighted by Sostratus, but because he actually was in love: for he pictured in his imagination the beauty of the maiden, conceiving inwardly that which he had never seen, and in this manner he fell, before he knew where he was, into a very bitter state of mind. The result was that he began to plot how he might at the same time be revenged upon Sostratus for the injury and accomplish his own desires; and to this end he purposed to have recourse to a law of the Byzantines, to the effect that if a man carried off a virgin and instantly made her his wife, the penalty exacted was simply the fact of the marriage itself: so that he began to look about for an occasion to accomplish his ends.
[1] Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τοῦ πολέμου περιστάντος καὶ τῆς παιδὸς εἰς ἡμᾶς ὑπεκκειμένης μεμαθήκει μὲν ἕκαστα τούτων, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς εἴχετο: καὶ τοιοῦτό τι αὐτῷ συνήργησε. Χρησμὸν ἴσχουσιν οἱ Βυζάντιοι τοιόνδε Νῆσός τις πόλις ἐστὶ φυτώνυμον αἷμα λαχοῦσα, ἰσθμὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ πορθμὸν ἐπ̓ ἠπείροιο φέρουσα. ἔνθ̓ Ἥφαιστος ἔχων χαίρει γλαυκῶπιν Ἀθήνην κεῖθι θυηπολίην σε φέρειν κέλομαι Ἡρακλεῖ. [2] Ἀπορούντων δὲ αὐτῶν τί λέγει τὸ μάντευμα, Σώστρατος ‘τοῦ πολέμου γάρ, ὡς ἔφην, στρατηγὸς ἦν οὗτος.’ ‘ὥρα πέμπειν ἡμᾶς θυσίαν εἰς Τύρον’ εἶπεν ‘Ἡρακλεῖ: τὰ γὰρ τοῦ χρησμοῦ ἐστι πάντ̓ ἐνταῦθα. Φυτώνυμον γὰρ ὁ θεὸς εἶπεν αὐτήν, ἐπεὶ Φοινίκων ἡ νῆσος, ὁ δὲ φοίνιξ φυτόν. Ἐρίζει δὲ περὶ ταύτης γῆ καὶ θάλασσα, καὶ ἕλκει μὲν ἡ θάλασσα, [3] ἕλκει δὲ ἡ γῆ, ἡ δὲ εἰς ἀμφότερα αὑτὴν ἥρμοσε. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν θαλάσσῃ κάθηται καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκε τὴν γῆν: συνδεῖ γὰρ αὐτὴν πρὸς τὴν ἤπειρον στενὸς αὐχήν, [4] καὶ ἔστιν ὥσπερ τῆς νήσου τράχηλος. Οὐκ ἐρρίζωται δὲ κατὰ τῆς θαλάσσης, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπορρεῖ κάτωθεν, ὑπόκειται δὲ πορθμὸς τῷ ἰσθμῷ: καὶ γίνεται τὸ θέαμα καινόν, πόλις ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ νῆσος ἐν γῇ. Ἀθηνᾶν δὲ Ἥφαιστος ἔχει: εἰς τὴν ἐλαίαν ᾐνίξατο καὶ τὸ πῦρ, ἃ παῤ ἡμῖν ἀλλήλοις συνοικεῖ. [5] Τὸ δὲ χωρίον ἱερὸν ἐν περιβόλῳ: ἐλαία μὲν ἀναθάλλει φαιδροῖς τοῖς κλάδοις, πεφύτευται δὲ σὺν αὐτῇ τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἀνάπτει περὶ τοὺς πτόρθους πολλὴν τὴν φλόγα: ἡ δὲ τοῦ πυρὸς αἰθάλη τὸ φυτὸν γεωργεῖ. [6] Αὕτη πυρὸς φιλία καὶ φυτοῦ: οὕτως οὐ φεύγει τὸν Ἥφαιστον Ἀθηνᾶ.’ Καὶ ὁ Χαιρεφῶν συστράτηγος ὢν τοῦ Σωστράτου μείζων, ἐπεὶ πατρόθεν ἦν Βυζάντιος, ἐκθειάζων αὐτὸν ‘πάντα μὲν τὸν χρησμὸν’ εἶπεν ‘ἐξηγήσω καλῶς: μὴ μέντοι θαύμαζε τὴν τοῦ πυρὸς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος φύσιν. [7] Ἐθεασάμην γὰρ ἐγὼ τοιαῦτα μυστήρια. Τὸ γοῦν Σικελικῆς πηγῆς ὕδωρ κεκερασμένον ἔ
χει πῦρ: καὶ φλόγα μὲν ὄψει κάτωθεν ἀπ̓ αὐτῆς ἁλλομένην ἄνω: θιγόντι δέ σοι τὸ ὕδωρ ψυχρόν ἐστιν οἷόνπερ χιών, καὶ οὔτε τὸ πῦρ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος κατασβέννυται οὔτε τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρὸς φλέγεται, ἀλλ̓ ὕδατός εἰσιν ἐν τῇ κρήνῃ καὶ πυρὸς σπονδαί. [8] Ἐπεὶ καὶ ποταμὸς Ἰβηρικός, εἰ μὲν ἴδοις αὐτὸν εὐθύς, οὐδενὸς ἄλλου κρείττων ἐστὶ ποταμοῦ: ἢν δὲ ἀκοῦσαι θέλῃς τοῦ ὕδατος λαλοῦντος, μικρὸν ἀνάμεινον ἐκπετάσας τὰ ὦτα. Ἐὰν γὰρ ὀλίγος ἄνεμος εἰς τὰς δίνας ἐμπέσῃ, τὸ μὲν ὕδωρ ὡς χορδὴ κρούεται, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τοῦ ὕδατος πλῆκτρον γίνεται, [9] τὸ ῥεῦμα δὲ ὡς κιθάρα λαλεῖ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ λίμνη Λιβυκὴ μιμεῖται γῆν Ἰνδικήν, καὶ ἴσασιν αὐτῆς τὸ ἀπόρρητον αἱ Λιβύων παρθένοι, ὅτι τὸ ὕδωρ ἔχει πλούσιον. Ὁ δὲ πλοῦτος αὐτῇ κάτω τεταμίευται τῇ τῶν ὑδάτων ἰλύι δεδεμένος, καὶ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ χρυσοῦ πηγή. Κοντὸν οὖν εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ βαπτίζουσι πίσσῃ πεφαρμαγμένον, ἀνοίγουσί τε τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ κλεῖθρα. [10] Ὁ δὲ κοντὸς πρὸς τὸν χρυσὸν οἷον πρὸς ἰχθὺν ἄγκιστρον γίνεται, ἀγρεύει γὰρ αὐτόν: ἡ δὲ πίσσα δέλεαρ γίνεται τῆς ἄγρας: ὅ τι γὰρ ἂν εἰς αὐτὴν ἐμπέσῃ τῆς τοῦ χρυσοῦ γονῆς, τὸ μὲν προσήψατο μόνον, ἡ πίσσα δὲ εἰς τὴν ἤπειρον ἥρπασε τὴν ἄγραν. Οὕτως ἐκ ποταμοῦ Λιβυκοῦ χρυσὸς ἁλιεύεται.’
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 52