Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  20. “When I was brought by force to the robbers’ camp,” said Satyrus, continuing the story, “I wept, master, and lamented when I heard about Leucippe, and implored Menelaus to save the maiden, and some kindly deity assisted us. On the day before the sacrifice we happened to be sitting on the seashore and thinking how we could effect this end, when some of the robbers seeing a ship wandering and ignorant of her course, attacked her; those on board, realising the character of their assailants, tried to put her about, but the robbers being too quick for them, they made preparations to resist. Now there was among the passengers one of those actors who recite Homer in the public theatres: he armed himself with his Homeric gear and did the same for his companions, and did his best to repel the invaders. Against the first comers of the attacking party they made a good fight, but several of the pirate boats coming up, the enemy sank the ship and murdered the passengers as they jumped off. They did not notice that a certain chest fell from the boat and this, after the ship had gone to pieces, was washed ashore near us by the tide. Menelaus found it, and retiring with it — I was with him — expected that there might be something of value in it, and opened it. We saw there a cloak and a dagger; the latter had a handle about a foot (Literally, “four palm-breadths,” which may be taken roughly as three inches each, though perhaps in reality a little more. The δάκτυλος or breadth of the finger (transversus pollex) may in the same way be taken as an inch.) long with a very short blade fitted to it not more than three inches in length. Menelaus took out the dagger and casually turned it over, blade downwards, when the blade suddenly shot out from the handle so that handle and blade were now of equal size; and when turned back again, the blade sank back to its original length. This had doubtless been used in the theatre by that unlucky actor for sham murders.

  [1] ‘λέγω οὖν πρὸς τὸν Μενέλαον ‘θεὸς ἡμῖν, ἂν θέλῃς χρηστὸς γενέσθαι, συναγωνιεῖται: δυνησόμεθα γὰρ καὶ τὴν κόρην σῶσαι καὶ τοὺς λῃστὰς λαθεῖν: [2] ἄκουσον δὲ ποίῳ τρόπῳ. Δέρμα προβάτου λαβόντες ὡς ὅτι ῥαδινώτατον συρράψωμεν εἰς σχῆμα βαλαντίου, μέτρον ὅσον γαστρὸς ἀνθρωπίνης, εἶτ̓ ἐμπλήσαντες θηρείων σπλάγχνων καὶ αἵματος, τὴν πλαστὴν ταύτην γαστέρα ῥάψωμεν, ὡς ἂν μὴ ῥᾳδίως τὰ σπλάγχνα διεκπίπτοι, καὶ ἐνσκευάσαντες τὴν κόρην τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον καὶ στολὴν ἔξωθεν περιβαλόντες μίτραις τε καὶ ζώμασιν ἐνδεδεμένῃ τὴν σκευὴν ταύτην ἐπικρύψωμεν. [3] Πάντως δὲ καὶ ὁ χρησμὸς ἡμῖν εἰς τὸ λαθεῖν χρήσιμος. Ὁλοκλήρως γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐσταλμένην δἰ αὐτῆς ἀνατμηθῆναι μέσην τῆς ἐσθῆτος λέγει ὁ χρησμός. Ὁρᾷς τοῦτο τὸ ξίφος ὡς ἔχει μηχανῆς. [4] Ἂν γὰρ ἐρείσῃ τις ἐπί τινος σώματος, φεύγει πρὸς τὴν κώπην ὥσπερ εἰς κουλεόν: καὶ οἱ μὲν ὁρῶντες δοκοῦσι βαπτίζεσθαι τὸν σίδηρον κατὰ τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ εἰς τὸν χηραμὸν τῆς κώπης ἀνέδραμε, μόνην δὲ καταλείπει τὴν αἰχμήν, ὅσον τὴν πλαστὴν γαστέρα τεμεῖν καὶ τὴν κώπην ἐν χρῷ τοῦ σφαζομένου τυχεῖν: κἂν ἀποσπάσῃ τις τὸν σίδηρον ἐκ τοῦ τραύματος, καταρρεῖ πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ χηραμοῦ τὸ ξίφος, ὅσον τῆς κώπης ἀνακουφίζεται τὸ μετέωρον καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἀπατᾷ. [5] Δοκεῖ γὰρ τοσοῦτον καταβῆναι ἐν τῇ σφαγῇ, ὅσον ἄνεισιν ἐκ τῆς μηχανῆς. Τούτων οὖν γενομένων, οὐκ ἂν εἰδεῖεν οἱ λῃσταὶ τὴν τέχνην. Τά τε γὰρ δέρματα ἀποκέκρυπται, τά τε σπλάγχνα τῇ σφαγῇ προπηδήσεται, ἅπερ ἡμεῖς ἐξελόντες ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ θύσομ [6] Καὶ τοὐντεῦθεν οὐκέτι προσίασιν οἱ λῃσταὶ τῷ σώματι, ἀλλ̓ ἡμεῖς εἰς τὴν σορὸν καταθήσομεν. Ἀκήκοας τοῦ λῃστάρχου μικρῷ πρόσθεν εἰπόντος δεῖν τι τολμηρὸν ἐπιδείξασθαι πρὸς αὐτούς, ὥστε ἔστι σοι προσελθεῖν αὐτῷ καὶ ὑποσχέσθαι ταύτην τὴν ἐπίδειξιν.’ Ταῦτα λέγων ἐδεόμην Δία Ξένιον καλῶν καὶ κοινῆς ἀναμιμνήσκων τραπέζης καὶ κοινῆς ναυαγίας.’

  21. “‘We shall have the help of Heaven,’ said I to Menelaus, ‘if you will shew yourself a good fellow: we shall be able to trick the robbers and save the girl. Listen to my plan. We must take a sheep’s skin, as thin a one as we can get, and sew it into the form of a pouch, about the size of a man’s belly; then we must fill it with some animal’s entrails and blood, sew up this sham stomach so that its contents cannot easily leak out, and fit her to it; by putting a dress outside and fastening it with bands and girdles we can thus hide the whole contrivance. The oracle is extremely useful to us for our stratagem, as it has ordered that she is to be fully adorned and must thus be ripped up through her clothes. You see the mechanism of this dagger; if it is pressed against a body, the blade retreats into the handle, as into a sheath; all those who are looking on think that it is actually plunged into the flesh, whereas it has really sprung back into the hollow of the handle, leaving only this point exposed, which is just enough to slit the sham stomach, and the handle will be flush with the thing struck: when it is withdrawn from the wound, the blade leaps forth from its cavity in proportion as the hilt is raised and deceives the spectators just as when it was plunged in: they think that so much of it penetrated at the stroke as now springs out by its mechanism. This being so, the robbers cannot perceive the trick, for the sheepskin is hidden away: at the blow the entrails will gush forth and we will take them and sacrifice them on the altar. After that the robbers will not approach the body, and we will put it into the coffin. You heard the robber-chief say a little while ago that you must give them some proof of your courage, so that you can now go to him and undertake this service as the proof required.’ After these words I prayed, calling upon Zeus the god of strangers, remembering before him the common table at which we had eaten and our common shipwreck.

  [1] ‘Ὁ δὲ χρηστὸς οὗτος ‘μέγα μὲν’ ἔφη ‘τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλ̓ ὑπὲρ φίλου, κἂν ἀποθανεῖν δεήσῃ, καλὸς ὁ κίνδυνος, γλυκὺς ὁ θάνατος.’ ‘Νομίζω δὲ’ ἔφην ‘ζῆν καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα. [2] Ἡ γὰρ κόρη πυθομένῳ μοι καταλιπεῖν αὐτὸν εἶπε παρὰ τοῖς ἑαλωκόσι τῶν λῃστῶν δεδεμένον, οἱ δὲ τῶν λῃστῶν πρὸς τὸν λῄσταρχον ἐκφυγόντες ἔλεγον πάντας τοὺς ὑπ̓ αὐτῶν εἰλημμένους τὴν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον μάχην ἐκπεφευγέναι: ὥστε ἀποκείσεταί σοι παῤ αὐτῷ ἡ χάρις καὶ ἅμα [3] ἐλεῆσαι κόρην ἀθλίαν ἐκ τοσούτου κακοῦ.’ Ταῦτα λέγων πείθω, καὶ συνέπραξεν ἡ Τύχη. Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὴν τοῦ μηχανήματος ἤμην σκευήν: ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ Μενελάου μέλλοντος τοῖς λῃσταῖς περὶ τῆς θυσίας λέγειν, ὁ λῄσταρχος φθάσας κατὰ δαίμονα ‘νόμος ἡμῖν̓ ἔφη ‘τοὺς πρωτομύστας τῆς ἱερουργίας ἄρχεσθαι, μάλιστα ὅταν ἄνθρω
πον καταθύειν δέῃ. [4] Ὥρα τοίνυν εἰς αὔριον σοὶ παρασκευάζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν: δεήσει δὲ καὶ τὸν σὸν οἰκέτην ἅμα σοὶ μυηθῆναι.’ ‘καὶ μάλα’ οὗτος ἔφη ‘προθυμησόμεθα μηδενὸς ὑμῶν χείρους γενέσθαι. [5] Στεῖλαι δὲ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς δεήσει τὴν κόρην ὡς ἁρμοδίως πρὸς τὴν ἀνατομήν.’ ‘Υμῶν’ ὁ λῄσταρχος ἔφη ‘τὸ ἱερεῖον.’ [6] Στέλλομεν δὴ τὴν κόρην τὸν προειρημένον τρόπον καθ̓ ἑαυτούς, καὶ θαρρεῖν παρεκελευσάμεθα, διεξελθόντες ἕκαστα καὶ ὡς μένειν εἴσω τῆς σοροῦ χρή, κἂν θᾶττον αὐτὴν ὁ ὕπνος ἀφῇ, τὴν ἡμέραν ἔνδον μένειν. ‘Ἤν δέ τι ἡμῖν ἐμποδὼν γένηται, σῶζε σαυτὴν ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον.’ Ταῦτα εἰπόντες ἐξάγομεν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὸν βωμόν. Καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ οἶδας.’’

  22. “‘It is a great undertaking,’ said this good fellow, ‘but for a friend — even if one must perish — danger is noble and death sweet.” I think,’ I added, ‘that Clitophon also is still alive: the maiden told me that she had left him in bonds among the robbers’ captives, and those of the band who had escaped to the robber-chief mentioned that their prisoners had all slipped out of the battle and reached the enemy’s camp: — you will thus be earning his warmest gratitude and at the same time rescue a poor girl from so cruel a fate.’ He agreed with what I said, and Fortune favoured us. So I set about making the preparations for our stratagem, while Menelaus was just about to broach the subject of the sacrifice to the robbers, when the robber-chief by the instigation of Providence anticipated him, saying: ‘It is a custom among us that those who are being initiated into our band should perform the sacred rites; particularly when there is a question of sacrificing a human being. It is time therefore to get yourself ready for to-morrow’s sacrifice, and your servant will have to be initiated at the same time as yourself.’ ‘Certainly,’ said Menelaus, ‘and we shall try to show ourselves as good men as any of you. But it must be our business to arrange the maiden as may be most convenient for the operation.” Yes,’ said the robber-chief, ‘the victim is wholly your charge.’ We therefore dressed her up in the manner I have previously described, apart from the others, and told her to be of good courage; we went through all the details with her, telling her to stay inside the coffin, and even if she awoke early from sleep, to wait inside until day appeared. ‘If anything goes amiss with us,’ we said, ‘take flight to the hostile camp.’ With these injunctions we led her out to the altar, and the rest you know.”

  [1] Ὡς οὖν ἤκουσα, παντοδαπὸς ἐγινόμην καὶ διηπόρουν ὅ τι ποιήσω πρὸς τὸν Μενέλαον ἀντάξιον. Τὸ δ̓ οὖν κοινότατον, προσπεσὼν κατησπαζόμην καὶ προσεκύνουν ὡς θεὸν καί μου κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀθρόα κατεχεῖτο ἡδονή. [2] Ὡς δὲ τὰ κατὰ Λευκίππην εἶχέ μοι καλῶς, ‘ὁ δὲ Κλεινίας’ εἶπον ‘τί γέγονεν;’ ὁ δὲ Μενέλαος ‘οὐκ οἶδα’ ἔφη: （μετὰ γὰρ τὴν ναυαγίαν εὐθὺς εἶδον μὲν αὐτὸν τῆς κεραίας λαβόμενον, ὅποι [3] δὲ κεχώρηκεν οὐκ οἶδα.） Ἀνεκώκυσα οὖν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ χαρᾷ: ταχὺ γὰρ ἐφθόνησέ μοι δαίμων τις τῆς καθαρᾶς ἡδονῆς: [4] τὸν δἰ ἐμὲ φαινόμενον οὐδαμοῦ, τὸν μετὰ Λευκίππην ἐμὸν δεσπότην, τοῦτον ἐκ πάντων κατέσχεν ἡ θάλασσα, ἵνα μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν μόνον ἀπολέσῃ, [5] ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ταφήν. ‘Ὦ θάλαττα ἄγνωμον, ἐφθόνησας ἡμῖν ὁλοκλήρου τοῦ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας σου δράματος.’ Ἄπιμεν οὖν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον κοινῇ καὶ τῆς σκηνῆς εἴσω παρελθόντες τῆς ἐμῆς τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς νυκτὸς διετρίψαμεν, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα οὐκ ἔλαθε τοὺς πολλούς.

  23. On hearing this story I felt almost out of my senses, and was utterly at a loss how I could make any recompense to Menelaus for his great services to me. I adopted the commonest form of gratitude, falling at his feet, embracing him, and worshipping him as a god, while my heart was inundated with a torrent of joy. But now that all was well in the matter of Leucippe, “What has happened,” I asked, “to Clinias?”

  “I do not know,” said Menelaus. “Directly after the shipwreck I saw him clinging to the yard-arm, but I do not know whither he was carried.” I gave a cry of sorrow even in the midst of my joy; for some god quickly grudged me unalloyed happiness; and now he that was lost through my doing, he who was everything to me after Leucippe, he of all men was in the clutches of the sea, and had lost not only his life, (It is usual to explain this passage by referring to the belief common in the ancient world that the souls of those drowned at sea do not find a rest in the next world, but remain wandering about the waves. But ψυχή can mean life, as well as sold, so that the explanation suggested is not absolutely necessary.) but any hope of burial. “Unkindly ocean,” I cried, “thus to deprive us of the full measure of the mercy thou hast shewn us!” We then returned all together to the camp, and entering my tent passed the rest of the night there, and our adventures soon became the common property of the army.

  [1] Ἅμα δὲ τῇ ἕῳ προσάγω τὸν Μενέλαον τῷ στρατηγῷ καὶ ἅπαντα λέγω, ὁ δὲ συνήδετο καὶ τὸν Μενέλαον ποιεῖται φίλον, πυνθάνεται δὲ πόση δύναμίς ἐστι τοῖς ἐναντίοις. Ὁ δὲ ἔλεγε πᾶσαν ἐμπεπλῆσθαι τὴν ἑξῆς κώμην ἀνδρῶν ἀπονενοημένων καὶ πολὺ συνηθροῖσθαι λῃστήριον, ὡς εἶναι μυρίους. [2] Λέγει οὖν ὁ στρατηγὸς ‘ἀλλ̓ ἡμῖν αὗται αἱ πέντε χιλιάδες ἱκαναὶ πρὸς εἴκοσι τῶν ἐκείνων: ἀφίξονται δὲ ὅσον οὐδέπω πρὸς τούτοις ἕτεροι δισχίλιοι τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸ Δέλτα καὶ τὴν Ἡλίου πόλιν τεταγμένων [3] ἐπὶ τοὺς βαρβάρους.’ Καὶ ἅμα λέγοντος αὐτοῦ παῖς εἰστρέχει τις λέγων ἀπὸ τοῦ Δέλτα πρόδρομον ἥκειν τοὐκεῖθεν στρατοπέδου καὶ πέντε λέγειν ἄλλων ἡμερῶν διατρίβειν τοὺς δισχιλίους: τοὺς γὰρ βαρβάρους κατατρέχοντας πεπαῦσθαι: μελλούσης δὲ ἥκειν τῆς δυνάμεως τὸν ὄρνιν αὐτοῖς ἐπιδημῆσαι τὸν ἱερὸν φέροντα τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν ταφήν: ἀνάγκην δ̓ εἶναι τὴν ἔξοδον ἐπισχεῖν τοσούτων ἡμερῶν.

  24. At early dawn I took Menelaus to the general and told him the whole story; he was delighted to hear it, and made him one of his companions. To his enquiry as to the size of the enemy’s forces, Menelaus replied that the whole of the village before us was full of desperate fighters, and that the robber-camp was so thickly manned that they must amount to ten thousand. “But these five thousand of ours,” replied the general, are a match for twenty of theirs, and besides that, very shortly another two thousand will arrive of the troops stationed in the Delta and about Heliopolis ready to fight against these savages.” While he was still speaking, a courier arrived, saying that a messenger had arrived from the camp in the Delta with the news that the two thousand would have to wait for five more days; they had been successful in repelling the incursions of the savages, b
ut just as the force was ready to start, their Sacred Bird had arrived, bearing with him the sepulchre of his father, and they had therefore been compelled to delay their march for that space of time.

  [1] ‘Καὶ τίς ὁ ὄρνις οὗτος, ὅστις’ ἔφην ‘τοσαύτης τιμῆς ἠξίωται; ποίαν δὲ καὶ κομίζει ταφήν;’ ‘Φοίνιξ μὲν ὁ ὄρνις ὄνομα, τὸ δὲ γένος Αἰθίοψ, μέγεθος κατὰ ταών: [2] τῇ χρόᾳ ταὼς ἐν κάλλει δεύτερος. Κεκέρασται μὲν τὰ πτερὰ χρυσῷ καὶ πορφύρᾳ, αὐχεῖ δὲ τὸν Ἥλιον δεσπότην: καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ μαρτυρεῖ, ἐστεφάνωσε γὰρ αὐτὴν κύκλος εὐφεγγής: ἡλίου δέ ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ κύκλου στέφανος εἰκών. [3] Κυάνεός ἐστιν, ῥόδοις ἐμφερής, εὐειδὴς τὴν θέαν, ἀκτῖσι κομᾷ, καί εἰσιν αὗται πτερῶν ἀνατολαί: μερίζονται δὲ αὐτοῦ Αἰθίοπες μὲν τὴν ζωήν, Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ τὴν τελευτήν. [4] Ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἀποθάνῃ ‘σὺν χρόνῳ δὲ τοῦτο πάσχει μακρῷ’, ὁ παῖς αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν Νεῖλον φέρει, σχεδιάσας αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ταφήν. Σμύρνης γὰρ βῶλον τῆς εὐωδεστάτης, ὅσον ἱκανὸν πρὸς ὄρνιθος ταφήν, ὀρύττει τε τῷ στόματι καὶ κοιλαίνει κατὰ μέσον, καὶ τὸ ὄρυγμα θήκη γίνεται τῷ νεκρῷ. [5] Ἐνθεὶς δὲ καὶ ἐναρμόσας τὸν ὄρνιν τῇ σορῷ καὶ κλείσας τὸ χάσμα γηίνῳ χώματι ἐπὶ τὸν Νεῖλον οὕτως ἵπταται τὸ ἔργον φέρων. Ἕπεται δὲ αὐτῷ χορὸς ἄλλων ὀρνίθων ὥσπερ δορυφόρων καὶ ἔοικεν ὁ ὄρνις ἀποδημοῦντι βασιλεῖ καὶ τὴν πόλιν οὐ πλανᾶται τὴν Ἡλίου. [6] Ὄρνιθος αὕτη μετοικία νεκροῦ. Ἕστηκεν οὖν ἐπὶ μετεώρου σκοπῶν καὶ ἐκδέχεται τοὺς προπόλους τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἔρχεται δή τις ἱερεὺς Αἰγύπτιος, βιβλίον ἐξ ἀδύτων φέρων, καὶ δοκιμάζει τὸν ὄρνιν ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς. [7] Ὁ δὲ οἶδεν ἀπιστούμενος καὶ τὰ ἀπόρρητα φαίνει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὸν νεκρὸν ἐπιδείκνυται καὶ ἔστιν ἐπιτάφιος σοφιστής. Ἱερέων δὲ παῖδες Ἡλίου τὸν ὄρνιν τὸν νεκρὸν παραλαβόντες θάπτουσι. Ζῶν μὲν οὖν Αἰθίοψ ἐστὶ τῇ τροφῇ, ἀποθανὼν δὲ Αἰγύπτιος γίνεται τῇ ταφῇ.’