Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  10. When the night had come on, and we lay, bound as we were, and our guards were asleep, I began, as indeed I might, to mourn Leucippe’s fate, and, counting up how great were her woes of which I was the cause, to bewail them deep in my soul, while hiding inwardly the sound of my grief. “O all ye gods and guardian angels,” said I, “if really ye exist and can hear me, what great wrong have we done to be plunged in such a sea of troubles in so short a space of time? Now have you also delivered us over into the hands of Egyptian robbers, so that we have not even a chance of pity. A Greek buccaneer might be moved by the human voice, prayer might soften him: for speech is often the go-between of compassion; the tongue, ministering to him that is in anguish of soul by helping him to express supplication, subdues the fury of the listener’s mind. But, as things are, in what language are we to make our prayers? What oaths can we pour out? I might be more persuasive than the Sirens, but the murderer would not listen to me; I can only make my supplications by signs and explain my prayers for mercy by the gestures of my hands. Alack for my mishaps; already, in dumb show, I shall begin my funeral dirge. For my own woes, intolerable as they are, I care less; but yours, Leucippe — how can my lips deplore them, my eyes weep for them? Faithful you were when love’s stress came upon you, gentle and good to your unhappy lover: and here are fine trappings for your wedding! A prison is your bridal chamber, the earth your marriage bed, ropes and cords your necklaces and bracelets, a robber sleeps without as your bridesman, a dirge is your marriage-hymn. Ah, all in vain. O sea, did we give you thanks: now I blame your mercy; you were kinder to those whom you destroyed, and you have destroyed us yet more grievously by keeping us alive; you grudged us death save by a robber’s hand.”

  [1] Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐθρήνουν ἡσυχῆ, κλάειν δὲ οὐκ ἠδυνάμην: τοῦτο γὰρ ἴδιον τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις κακοῖς. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ ταῖς μετρίαις συμφοραῖς ἀφθόνως τὰ δάκρυα καταρρεῖ καὶ ἔστι τοῖς πάσχουσιν εἰς τοὺς κολάζοντας ἱκετηρία καὶ τοὺς ἀλγοῦντας ὥσπερ οἰδοῦντος τραύματος ἐκένωσεν: ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὑπερβάλλουσι δεινοῖς φεύγει τὰ δάκρυα καὶ προδίδωσι τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. [2] Ἐντυχοῦσα γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἀναβαίνουσιν ἡ λύπη ἵστησί τε τὴν ἀκμὴν καὶ μετοχετεύει καταφέρουσα σὺν αὑτῇ κάτω: τὰ δὲ ἐκτρεπόμενα τῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁδοῦ εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν καταρρεῖ καὶ χαλεπώτερον αὐτῆς ποιεῖ τὸ τραῦμα. Λέγω οὖν πρὸς τὴν Λευκίππην πάντα σιγῶσαν ‘τί σιγᾷς, φιλτάτη, καὶ οὐδέν μοι λαλεῖς;’ ‘Ὅτι μοι’ ἔφη ‘πρὸ τῆς ψυχῆς, Κλειτοφῶν, τέθνηκεν ἡ φωνή.’

  11. Thus did I silently lament, but I could not weep — a peculiarity of the eyes in excessive sorrows. For when disasters are but moderate, tears flow freely, and serve for the sufferer as intercessions addressed to him that inflicts the suffering; they relieve an aching; heart like the draining of a swollen wound. But when misfortunes are overwhelming, even tears fail and are traitors to the eyes; grief meets them as they well up, depresses their rise, conducts them away into other channels, and takes them back again below with itself, and then, diverted from the path of the eyes they flow back upon the soul and aggravate its wound. So I whispered to Leucippe, who lay speechless; “Why do you keep silence, my darling, and say no word to me?”— “Because, Clitophon,” said she, “my voice is dead, even before the departure of my soul.”

  [1] Ταῦθ̓ ἡμᾶς διαλεγομένους ἔλαθεν ἕως γενομένη: καί τις ἵππον ἐπελαύνων ἔρχεται, κόμην ἔχων πολλὴν καὶ ἀγρίαν: ἐκόμα δὲ καὶ ὁ ἵππος. Γυμνὸς ἦν ὁ ἵππος ἄστρωτος καὶ οὐκ εἶχε φάλαρα: τοιοῦτοι γὰρ τοῖς λῃσταῖς εἰσιν οἱ ἵπποι. Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ λῃστάρχου παρῆν καὶ ‘εἴ τις’ ἔφη ‘παρθένος ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς εἰλημμένοις, ταύτην ἀπάγειν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἱερεῖον [2] ἐσομένην καὶ καθάρσιον τοῦ στρατοῦ.’ Οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Λευκίππην εὐθὺς τρέπονται, ἡ δὲ εἴχετό μου καὶ ἐξεκρέματο βοῶσα. Τῶν δὲ λῃστῶν οἱ μὲν ἀπέσπων, οἱ δὲ ἔτυπτον: ἀπέσπων μὲν τὴν Λευκίππην, ἔτυπτον δὲ ἐμέ. Ἀράμενοι οὖν αὐτὴν μετέωρον ἀπάγουσιν, ἡμᾶς δὲ κατὰ σχολὴν ἦγον δεδεμένους.

  12. Thus conversing, we did not notice the approach of dawn, when a man arrived on horseback, with long and wild hair; his horse too had a full mane and tail, and was without harness or trappings, after the manner of robbers’ horses. He came from the robber chief, and “If there chance to be a virgin among the captives,” said he, “I am to take (This sentence is, in the Greek, a mixture of the Oratio Recta and Obliqua. I have, for convenience, put all the English into the former mode of speech.) her away for the god, to be a propitiatory and cleansing sacrifice for the host.” They at once rushed upon Leucippe, who clung to me and hung upon me screaming; the guards, some dragging her away and some raining blows upon me, (A good example of the over-elaboration of antithesis, which is intolerable in English. Literally translated, the sentence is; “Of the guards, some dragged and some beat: while they dragged Leucippe, they beat me.”) took her up and carried her off on their shoulders; (Or perhaps “on horseback.”) us they conveyed, bound, with no such speed.

  [1] Καὶ ἐπεὶ δύο σταδίους τῆς κώμης προήλθομεν, ἀλαλαγμὸς ἀκούεται πολὺς καὶ σάλπιγγος ἦχος καὶ ἐπιφαίνεται φάλαγξ στρατιωτική, πάντες ὁπλῖται. Οἱ δὲ λῃσταὶ κατιδόντες, ἡμᾶς μέσους διαλαβόντες ἔμενον ἐπιόντας, ὡς αὐτοὺς ἀμυνούμενοι. [2] Καὶ μετ̓ οὐ πολὺ παρῆσαν πεντήκοντα τὸν ἀριθμόν, πάντες ὁπλῖται, οἱ μὲν ποδήρεις ἔχοντες τὰς ἀσπίδας, οἱ δὲ πέλτας: οἱ δὲ λῃσταὶ πολλῷ πλείους ὄντες, βώλους ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς λαμβάνοντες τοὺς στρατιώτας ἔβαλλον. [3] Παντὸς δὲ βώλου χαλεπώτερος βῶλος Αἰγύπτιος, βαρύς τε καὶ τραχὺς καὶ ἀνώμαλος: τὸ δ̓ ἀνώμαλόν εἰσιν αἱ αἰχμαὶ τῶν λίθων: ὥστε βληθεὶς διπλοῦν ποιεῖ ἐν ταὐτῷ τὸ τραῦμα, καὶ οἴδημα ὡς ἀπὸ λίθου, [4] καὶ τομὰς ὡς ἀπὸ βέλους. Ἀλλὰ ταῖς γε ἀσπίσιν ἐκδεχόμενοι τοὺς λίθους ὀλίγον τῶν βαλλόντων ἐφρόντιζον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἔκαμον οἱ λῃσταὶ βάλλοντες, ἀνοίγουσι μὲν οἱ στρατιῶται τὴν φάλαγγα, ἐκθέουσι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων ἄνδρες κούφως ἐσταλμένοι, φέρων αἰχμὴν ἕκαστος καὶ ξίφος, καὶ ἀκοντίζουσιν ἅμα, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἦν ὃς οὐκ ἐπέτυχεν. [5] Εἶτα οἱ ὁπλῖται προσέρρεον: καὶ ἦν ἡ μάχη στερρά, πληγαὶ δὲ παῤ ἀμφοτέρων καὶ τραύματα καὶ σφαγαί. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔμπειρον παρὰ τοῖς στρατιώταις ἀνεπλήρου τοῦ πλήθους τὸ ἐνδεές: ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅσοι τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἦμεν, ἐπιτηρήσαντες τὸ πονοῦν τῶν λῃστῶν μέρος, ἅμα συνελθόντε
ς διακόπτομέν τε αὐτῶν τὴν φάλαγγα καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους ἐκτρέχομεν. [6] Οἱ δὲ δτρατιῶται τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἐπεχείρουν ἀναιρεῖν, οὐκ εἰδότες, ὡς δὲ εἶδον γυμνοὺς καὶ δεσμὰ ἔχοντας, ὑπονοήσαντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν δέχονται τῶν ὅπλων εἴσω καὶ ἐπ̓ οὐρὰν παραπέμψαντες εἴων ἡσυχάζειν. [7] Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καὶ ἱππεῖς προσέρρεον, καὶ ἐπεὶ πλησίον ἐγένοντο, κατὰ κέρας ἑκάτερον ἐκτείναντες τὴν φάλαγγα περιίππευον αὐτοὺς κύκλῳ, κἀν τούτῳ συναγαγόντες αὐτοὺς εἰς ὀλίγον κατεφόνευον. Καὶ οἱ μὲν ἔκειντο τεθνηκότες, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἡμιθνῆτες ἐμάχοντο: τοὺς δὲ λοιποὺς ἐζώγρησαν.

  13. We had progressed about a quarter of a mile from the village, when there came to our ears loud shouting and the sound of trumpets, and a regiment of soldiers appeared, all heavily armed. When the robbers saw them, they placed us in the middle of their band and waited for their advance, with the intention of resisting them. Soon they came on, about fifty in number, some with long shields and some with small targets; the robbers, who were far their superior in numbers, picked up clods from the ground and began hurling them at the soldiers. The Egyptian clod is more effective for this purpose than any other, being heavy, jagged, and unlike others, in that the jagged points of it are stones, so that when it is thrown and strikes, it can inflict a double sort of wound — a swelling, as from the blow of a stone, and an actual cut, like that of an arrow. The soldiers, however, received the stony clods on their shields and seemed to make light of the easting of their adversaries; and when the robbers began to tire by reason of their efforts in throwing, they opened their massed ranks, and from behind the shields out ran men lightly armed, each carrying a javelin and a sword, and as they hurled their javelins there was none that failed in his aim. Then the heavy-armed soldiers came in a flood; the battle was severe, with plenty of blows, wounds, and slaughter on both sides: the experience of the soldiers compensated for their inferiority in numbers. We prisoners, seeing that one flank of the robbers was weakening, made a concerted rush, broke through their line, and ran to join the enemy; they at first did not realise the position, and were ready to slay us, but when they saw that we were unarmed and bound, they suspected the truth, received us within the protection of their lines, and sent us to the rear and allowed us to remain there quietly. Meanwhile a large body of horse charged up; on their approach they spread out their wings and completely surrounded the robbers, and thus herding them together into a narrow space began to butcher them. Some were lying killed, some, half-dead, went on fighting; the rest they took alive.

  [1] Ἦν δὲ περὶ δείλην ὁ καιρός: καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς διαλαβὼν ἡμῶν ἕκαστον ἐπυνθάνετο τίνες εἴημεν καὶ πῶς ληφθείημεν: διηγεῖτο δὲ ἄλλος ἄλλο τι, κἀγὼ τἀμὰ εἶπον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἅπαντα ἔμαθεν, ἐκέλευσεν ἀκολουθεῖν, αὐτὸς δὲ ὅπλα δώσειν ὑπέσχετο: διεγνώκει γὰρ ἀναμείνας στρατιὰν ἐπελθεῖν τῷ μεγάλῳ λῃστηρίῳ: ἐλέγοντο δὲ ἀμφὶ τοὺς μυρίους εἶναι. [2] Ἐγὼ δὲ ἵππον ᾔτουν, σφόδρα γὰρ ἤμην ἱππεύειν γεγυμνασμένος. Ὡς δέ τις παρῆν, περιάγων τὸν ἵππον ἐπεδεικνύμην ἐν ῥυθμῷ τὰ τῶν πολεμούντων σχήματα, ὥστε καὶ τὸν στρατηγὸν σφόδρα ἐπαινέσαι. Ποιεῖται δή με ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν ὁμοτράπεζον καὶ παρὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐπυνθάνετο τἀμὰ καὶ ἀκούων ἠλέει. [3] Συμπαθὴς δέ πως εἰς ἔλεον ἄνθρωπος ἀκροατὴς ἀλλοτρίων κακῶν, καὶ ὁ ἔλεος πολλάλις φιλίαν προξενεῖ: ἡ γὰρ ψυχὴ μαλαχθεῖσα πρὸς τὴν ὧν ἤκουσε λύπην, συνδιατεθεῖσα κατὰ μικρὸν τῇ τοῦ πάθους ἀκροάσει τὸν οἶκτον εἰς φιλίαν καὶ τὴν λύπην εἰς ἔλεον συλλέγει. [4] Οὕτως οὖν διέθηκα τὸν στρατηγὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀκροάσεως, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν εἰς δάκρυα προαγαγεῖν: πλέον δὲ ποιεῖν εἴχομεν οὐδέν, τῆς Λευκίππης ὑπὸ τῶν λῃστῶν ἐχομένης. Ἔδωκε δέ μοι καὶ θεράποντα τὸν ἐπιμελησόμενον Αἰγύπτιον.

  14. It was now late afternoon, and the general took each of us separately aside, enquiring of us who we were and how we had been captured; each related his own story, and I mine. So when he had heard all, he bade us follow him, and said that he would give us arms. His intention was to wait for the rest of his forces and then attack the great robbers’ stronghold; there were said to be about ten thousand of them there. I asked for a horse, being well versed in the art of riding, and when one came, I rode him about and went through the various evolutions of cavalry fighting, so that the general was greatly pleased with me; on that same day he made me a companion of his own table, and at dinner he asked me about my story, and, when he heard it, was moved with pity. When a man hears of another’s misfortunes, he is inclined towards pity, and pity is often the introduction to friendship; the heart is softened by grief for what it hears, and gradually feeling the same emotions at the mournful story converts its commiseration into friendship and the grief into pity. So much did I move the general by my recital that I forced him to weep. More we could not do, Leucippe being in the robbers’ power. He also gave me an Egyptian servant to attend to me.

  [1] Τῇ δ̓ ὑστεραίᾳ πρὸς τὴν διάβασιν παρεσκευάζετο καὶ ἐπεχείρει τὴν διώρυχα χῶσαι, ἥτις ἦν ἐμποδών. Καὶ γὰρ ἑωρῶμεν τοὺς λῃστὰς μετὰ πλείστης δυνάμεως ἐπὶ θάτερα τῆς διώρυχος ἑστῶτας ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις: βωμὸς δέ τις αὐτοῖς αὐτοσχέδιος ἦν πηλοῦ πεποιημένος καὶ σορὸς τοῦ βωμοῦ πλησίον. [2] Ἄγουσι δή τινες δύο τὴν κόρην ὀπίσω τὼ χεῖρε δεδεμένην. Καὶ αὐτοὺς μὲν οἵτινες ἦσαν οὐκ εἶδον, ἦσαν γὰρ ὡπλισμένοι, τὴν δὲ κόρην Λευκίππην οὖσαν ἐγνώρισα. [3] Εἶτα κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς σπονδὴν καταχέαντες, περιάγουσι τὸν βωμὸν κύκλῳ καὶ ἐπηύλει τις αὐτῇ, καὶ ὁ ἱερεύς, ὡς εἰκός, ᾖδεν ᾠδὴν Αἰγυπτίαν: τὸ γὰρ σχῆμα τοῦ στόματος καὶ τῶν προσώπων τὸ διειλκυσμένον ὑπέφαινεν ᾠδήν. [4] Εἶτα ἀπὸ συνθήματος πάντες ἀναχωροῦσι τοῦ βωμοῦ μακράν, τῶν δὲ νεανίσκων ὁ ἕτερος ἀνακλίνας αὐτὴν ὑπτίαν ἔδησεν ἐκ παττάλων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐρηρεισμένων, οἷον ποιοῦσιν οἱ κοροπλάθοι τὸν Μαρσύαν ἐκ τοῦ φυτοῦ δεδεμένον: εἶτα λαβὼν ξίφος βάπτει κατὰ τῆς καρδίας καὶ διελκύσας τὸ ξίφος εἰς τὴν κάτω γαστέρα ῥήγνυσι: [5] τὰ σπλάγχνα δὲ εὐθὺς ἐξεπήδησεν, ἃ ταῖς χερσὶν ἐξελκύσαντες ἐπιτιθέασι τῷ βωμῷ: καὶ ἐπεὶ ὠπτήθη, κατατεμόντες ἅπαντες εἰς μοίρας ἔφαγον. Ταῦτα δὲ ὁρῶντες οἱ στρατιῶται καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς καθ̓ ἓν τῶν πραττομ�
�νων ἀνεβόων καὶ τὰς ὄψεις ἀπέστρεφον τῆς θέας, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκ παραλόγου καθήμενος ἐθεώρουν. [6] Τὸ δὲ ἦν ἔκπληξις: μέτρον γὰρ οὐκ ἔχον τὸ κακὸν ἐνεβρόντησέ με. Καὶ τάχα ὁ τῆς Νιόβης μῦθος οὐκ ἦν ψευδής, ἀλλὰ κἀκείνη τι τοιοῦτον παθοῦσα ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν παίδων ἀπωλείᾳ δόξαν παρέσχεν ἐκ τῆς ἀκινησίας ὡσεὶ λίθος γενομένη. [7] Ἐπεὶ δὲ τέλος εἶχεν, ὥς γε ᾤμην, τὸ ἔργον, τὸ σῶμα ἐνθέντες τῇ σορῷ καταλείπουσι, πῶμα ἐπ̓ αὐτῆς ἐπιθέντες, τὸν δὲ βωμὸν καταστρέψαντες φεύγουσιν ἀμεταστρεπτί. Οὕτω γὰρ αὐτοῖς ποιεῖν ἔτυχε μεμαντευμένος ὁ ἱερεύς.