13. Sosthenes’ tone then changed to earnest. “I suppose you are joking?” said he. “What could be my object in joking?” she cried. “Leave me alone, fellow, with my ill-fortune and the fate that constrains me; I know now that I have fallen among pirates.”
“You seem to me,” he replied, “to be mad; and incurably mad. Is this what you call falling among pirates — wealth, marriage, luxury, when you get from Fortune a husband such as Thersander, whom the gods love so dearly that they saved him from the very gates of death?” And he went on to relate to her the story of his shipwreck, making his escape a matter of divine providence, and embroidering it with more miracles than Arion and his dolphin. Leucippe made no answer to him as he was recounting his marvels; so he went on: “You had better regard your own interests, and not indulge in any of this kind of talk to Thersander, in case you should anger a naturally amiable man; for once roused to fury, there is no stopping him. Amiability grows and multiplies if it meets with gratitude, while if it meets with contempt it is irritated into anger; the more a man is naturally inclined to friendliness, the more forward is he to avenge a slight.” So much then for Leucippe’s plight.
[1] Τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ Λευκίππην εἶχεν οὕτως: Κλεινίας δὲ καὶ ὁ Σάτυρος πυθόμενοί με ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ καθεῖρχθαι （διηγγέλκει γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἡ Μελίτη） τῆς νυκτὸς εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὸ οἴκημα σπουδῇ παρῆσαν. Καὶ ἤθελον μὲν αὐτοῦ καταμεῖναι σὺν ἐμοί, ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν δεσμῶν οὐκ ἐπέτρεπεν, ἀλλ̓ ἐκέλευεν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι αὐτοὺς τὴν ταχίστην. [2] Ὁ μὲν δὴ τούτους ἀπήλασεν ἄκοντας, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐντειλάμενος αὐτοῖς περὶ τῆς Λευκίππης, εἰ παραγένοιτο, περὶ τὴν ἕω σπουδῇ πρός με ἥκειν, καὶ τὰς τῆς Μελίτης διηγησάμενος ὑποσχέσεις, τὴν ψυχὴν εἶχον ἐπὶ τρυτάνης ἐλπίδος καὶ φόβου, καὶ ἐφοβεῖτό μου τὸ ἐλπίζον καὶ ἤλπιζε τὸ φοβούμενον.
14. Clinias and Satyrus learning, by the information of Melitte, that I was shut up in gaol, at once came hurriedly by night to the prison, and were anxious to stay there with me; but the gaoler refused and bade them begone about their business as quick as might be. They were thus driven away by him, though greatly against their will, after I had conjured them to come to me without delay in the morning to tell me if Leucippe had reappeared; I also related to them all Melitte’s promises, and then I had to stay with my heart on the balance between hope and fear, my hopes afraid and my terrors with a vestige of hope.
[1] Ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης ὁ μὲν Σωσθένης ἐπὶ τὸν Θέρσανδρον ἔσπευδεν, οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὸν Σάτυρον ἐπ̓ ἐμέ. Ὡς δὲ εἶδεν ὁ Θέρσανδρος τὸν Σωσθένην, ἐπυνθάνετο πῶς ἔχει τὰ κατὰ τὴν κόρην εἰς πειθὼ πρὸς αὐτόν. [2] Ὁ δὲ τὸν μὲν ὄντα λόγον οὐ λέγει, σοφίζεται δέ τι μάλα πιθανῶς. ‘Ἀρνεῖται μὲν γὰρ’ εἶπεν, ‘οὐ μὴν ἡγοῦμαι τὴν ἄρνησιν αὐτῆς οὕτως ἔχειν ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ̓ ὑπονοεῖν μοι δοκεῖ σε χρησάμενον ἅπαξ ἀφήσειν, [3] καὶ ὀκνεῖ τὴν ὕβριν.’ ‘Ἀλλὰ τούτου γε ἕνεκεν’ εἶπεν ὁ Θέρσανδρος ‘θαρρείτω: τὸ γὰρ ἐμὸν οὕτως ἔχει πρὸς αὐτήν, ὡς ἀθάνατον εἶναι. Ἓν δὲ μόνον φοβοῦμαι καὶ ἐπείγομαι μαθεῖν περὶ τῆς κόρης, εἰ τῷ ὄντι γυνὴ τυγχάνει τοῦ νεανίσκου γενομένη, ὡς ἡ Μελίτη μοι διηγήσατο.’ [4] Ταῦτα διαλεγόμενοι παρῆσαν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς Λευκίππης δωμάτιον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πλησίον ἐγένοντο τῶν θυρῶν, ἀκούουσιν αὐτῆς ποτνιωμένης. Ἔστησαν οὖν ἀψοφητὶ κατόπιν τῶν θυρῶν.
15. As soon as it was day Satyrus and his friends returned to me, while Sosthenes hurried to Thersander. Directly that Thersander saw him, he began to question him as to what progress was being made in the attempt to win Leucippe for him; to which question he did not reply the truth, but contrived an ingenious and plausible story. “She still refuses,” he said, “but I do not think that her refusal is genuine and final; I fancy she suspects that after once enjoying her favours you will cast her off, and she shrinks from the insult that is thus offered to her.”
“As far as that goes,” said Thersander, “she need have no apprehensions; my feelings towards her are of such a nature that they can never die. There is only one thing about her of which I am really afraid, and I am exceedingly anxious to know the truth about it — whether she is really that young man’s wife, as Melitte told me.” As they thus talked, they arrived at the cottage where Leucippe was, and as they approached the door, they heard her deliriously murmuring to herself; they therefore took up their position behind the door without making any noise.
[1] ‘Οἴμοι Κλειτοφῶν’ （τοῦτο γὰρ ἔλεγε πολλάκις） ‘οὐκ οἶδας ποῦ γέγονα καὶ ποῦ καθεῖργμαι: οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγὼ τίς σὲ κατέχει τύχη, ἀλλὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἄγνοιαν δυστυχοῦμεν. [2] Ἆρα μή σε κατέλαβε Θέρσανδρος ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας; ἆρα μὴ καὶ σύ τι πέπονθας ὑβριστικόν; Πολλάκις ἠθέλησα πυθέσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Σωσθένους, ἀλλ̓ οὐκ εἶχον ὅπως πύθωμαι. Εἰ μὲν ὡς περὶ ἀνδρὸς ἐμαυτῆς, ἐφοβούμην μή τί σοι κινήσω κακόν, παροξύνασα Θέρσανδρον ἐπὶ σέ: εἰ δὲ ὡς περὶ ξένου τινός, ὑπόνοια καὶ τοῦτο ἦν. [3] Τί γὰρ μέλει γυναικὶ περὶ τῶν οὐχ ἑαυτῆς; Ποσάκις ἐμαυτὴν ἐβιασάμην, ἀλλ̓ οὐκ ἔπειθον τὴν γλῶσσαν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μόνον ἔλεγον ‘ἄνερ Κλειτοφῶν, Λευκίππης μόνης ἄνερ, ἄνερ πιστὲ καὶ βέβαιε, ὃν οὐδὲ συγκαθεύδουσα πέπεικεν ἄλλη γυνή, κἂν εἰ ἡ ἄστοργος ἐγὼ πεπίστευκα, [4] μετὰ τοσοῦτον ἰδοῦσά σε χρόνον ἐν τοῖς ἀγροῖς οὐ κατεφίλησα.’ Νῦν οὖν ἂν Θέρσανδρος ἔλθῃ πυνθανόμενος, τί πρὸς αὐτὸν εἴπω; Ἆρα ἀποκαλύψασα τοῦ δράματος τὴν ὑπόκρισιν διηγήσομαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν; Μή με νομίσῃς ἀνδράποδον εἶναι, [5] Θέρσανδρε. Στρατηγοῦ θυγάτηρ εἰμὶ Βυζαντίων, πρώτου Τυρίων γυνή: οὐκ εἰμὶ Θετταλή: οὐ καλοῦμαι Λάκαινα: ὕβρις αὕτη ἐστὶ πειρατική: λελῄστευμαι καὶ τοὔνομα. [6] Ἀνήρ μοι Κλειτοφῶν, πατρὶς Βυζάντιον, Σώστρατος πατήρ, μήτηρ Πάνθεια. Ἀλλ̓ οὐδὲ πιστεύσεις ἐμοὶ λεγούσῃ. Φοβοῦμαι δὲ καὶ ἐὰν πιστεύσῃς περὶ Κλειτοφῶντος, μὴ τὸ ἄκαιρόν μου τῆς ἐλευθερίας τὸν φίλτατον ἀπολέσῃ. Φέρε πάλιν ἐνδύσωμαί μου τὸ δρᾶμα: φέρε πάλιν περίθωμαι τὴν Λάκαιναν.’
16. “Alas, Clitophon,” she was saying over and over again, “you do not know what has become of me and where I am imprisoned; and I know not either what has befallen you: the same ignorance is the unhappy lot of both of us. Did Thersander come upon you at the house? Have you too su
ffered insult and violence? Many is the time that I have desired to ask Sosthenes about you, but knew not how to inquire. If I asked of you as of my own husband, I was afraid that I might bring some new trouble upon you by embittering Thersander’s rage against you; if as of a stranger, that too would have been a matter of suspicion: for what should a woman care about others than those of her own family? How often did I try to force myself to ask, but could not persuade my tongue to speak! I could only keep on saying this: ‘My husband Clitophon, husband of Leucippe alone, faithful and steadfast! Another woman could not persuade you to be her own, no, not though she slept by your side, though I, heartless I, believed that you were hers! When I saw you in the garden after so long an interval of time, I would not even kiss you.’ And now if Thersander comes again to ask me about myself, what shall I answer him? Shall I strip off the whole make-up and pretence of the long story and declare the truth? Think not, Thersander, that I am some servile chattel! I am the daughter of the commander-in-chief of the Byzantines, the wife of the first in rank among the people of Tyre; no Thessalian I, and my name is not Lacaena: this is but another instance of pirates’ violence; my very name too has been stolen from me. My husband is Clitophon, my fatherland Byzantium: Sostratus is my father, Panthea my mother. But you will hardly believe my words — and if you did, I should be afraid for Clitophon’s sake; my untimely frankness might be the ruin of him who is dearest to me. Come, let me play my part once more: let me once again assume the character of Lacaena!”
[1] Ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Θέρσανδρος μικρον ἀναχωρήσας λέγει πρὸς τὸν Σωσθένην ‘ἤκουσας ἀπίστων ῥημάτων γεμόντων ἔρωτος, ὅσα εἶπεν, ὅσα ὠδύρατο, οἷα ἑαυτὴν κατεμέμψατο; ὁ μοιχός μου κρατεῖ πανταχοῦ: δοκῶ, ὁ λῃστὴς καὶ φαρμακεύς ἐστι. Μελίτη φιλεῖ, Λευκίππη φιλεῖ. [2] Ὄφελον, ὦ Ζεῦ, γενέσθαι Κλειτοφῶν.’ ‘Ἀλλ̓ οὐ μαλακιστέον’ ὁ Σωσθένης ἔφη ‘δέσποτα, πρὸς τὸ ἔργον, ἀλλ̓ ἐπὶ τὴν κόρην ἰτέον αὐτήν. [3] Καὶ γὰρ ἂν νῦν ἐρᾷ τοῦ καταράτου τούτου μοιχοῦ, μέχρι μὲν αὐτὸν οἶδε μόνον καὶ οὐ κεκοινώνηκεν ἑτέρῳ, πάσχει τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπ̓ αὐτοῦ: ἂν δ̓ ἅπαξ εἰς ταὐτὸν ἔλθῃς ‘πολλῷ δὲ διαφέρεις ἐκείνου εἰς εὐμορφίαν’, ἐπιλήσεται τέλεον αὐτοῦ. [4] Παλαιὸν γὰρ ἔρωτα μαραίνει νέος ἔρως: γυνὴ δὲ καὶ μάλιστα τὸ παρὸν φιλεῖ, τοῦ δ̓ ἀπόντος, ἕως καινὸν οὐχ εὗρε, μνημονεύει: προσλαβοῦσα δὲ ἕτερον, τὸν πρότερον τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπήλειψε.’ [5] Ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Θέρσανδρος ἠγέρθη: λόγος γὰρ ἐλπίδος εἰς τὸ τυχεῖν ἔρωτος ἐς πειθὼ ῥᾴδιος: τὸ γὰρ ἐπιθυμοῦν σύμμαχον ὃ θέλει λαβὸν ἐγείρει τὴν ἐλπίδα.
17. When he had heard this Thersander drew away a little, and said to Sosthenes;— “Did you hear her love-sick words, almost incredible as they were? What things she uttered! How she wailed! How she reproached herself! That leeher has the better of me everywhere; I think the cut-purse must be a wizard too. Melitte loves him, Leucippe loves him; would God that I might become Clitophon!”— “No,” said Sosthenes, “you must not weaken in your task, my master: you must once more approach the girl yourself. Even if now she is in love with this damned spark, it is only that as long as she has known him alone, and has no experience of others, she feeds her heart with love of him; once you step into his place — you are a far more handsome figure than he is — she will utterly forget him. A new love makes an old passion wither away; a woman is best pleased with things present before her, and only remembers the absent as long as she has failed to find something new: when she takes a new lover, she wipes off the impression of the old from her heart.” When Thersander heard this exhortation, he roused himself; for words containing the prediction of success in love are efficacious in their power of persuasion: desire takes its own object as its ally, and so awakes the sentiment of hope.
[1] Διαλιπὼν οὖν ὀλίγον ἐφ̓ οἷς πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐλάλησεν ἡ Λευκίππη, ὡς ἂν μὴ δοκοίη τι κατακοῦσαι τῶν ὑπ̓ αὐτῆς εἰρημένων, εἰσέρχεται σχηματίσας ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ ἐπαγωγότερον πρὸς θέαν, ὡς ᾤετο. Ἐπεὶ δὲ εἶδε τὴν Λευκίππην, ἀνεφλέγη τὴν ψυχήν, [2] καὶ ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ τότε καλλίων γεγονέναι. Θρέψας γὰρ ὅλης τῆς νυκτὸς τὸ πῦρ, ὅσον χρόνον ἀπελείφθη τῆς κόρης, ἀνεζωπύρησεν ἐξαίφνης ὕλην λαβὼν εἰς τὴν φλόγα τὴν θέαν, καὶ μικροῦ μὲν προσπεσὼν περιεχύθη τῇ κόρῃ. Καρτερήσας δ̓ οὖν καὶ παρακαθίσας διελέγετο ἄλλοτε ἄλλα ῥήματα συνάπτων οὐκ ἔχοντα νοῦν. [3] Τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οἱ ἐρῶντες, ὅταν πρὸς τὰς ἐρωμένας ζητήσωσι λαλεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπιστήσαντες τὸν λογισμὸν τοῖς λόγοις, ἀλλὰ τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς τὸ ἐρώμενον ἔχοντες τῇ γλώττῃ μόνον χωρὶς ἡνιόχου τοῦ λογισμοῦ λαλοῦσιν. [4] Ἅμα οὖν συνδιαλεγόμενος καὶ ἐπιθεὶς τὴν χεῖρα τῷ τραχήλῳ περιέβαλεν, ὡς μέλλων φιλήσειν: ἡ δὲ προϊδοῦσα τῆς χειρὸς τὴν ὁδὸν νεύει κάτω καὶ εἰς τὸν κόλπον κατεδύετο. [5] Ὁ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον περιβαλὼν ἀνέλκειν τὸ πρόσωπον ἐβιάζετο: ἡ δὲ ἀντικατεδύετο καὶ ἀπεκρούετο τὰ φιλήματα. Ὡς δὲ χρόνος ἐγίνετο τῇ τῆς χειρὸς πάλῃ, φιλονεικία λαμβάνει τὸν Θέρσανδρον ἐρωτική, καὶ τὴν μὲν λαιὰν ὑποβαλὼν τῷ προσώπῳ κάτω, τῇ δὲ δεξιᾷ τῆς κόμης λαβόμενος τῇ μὲν εἷλκεν εἰς τοὐπίσω, τῇ δὲ τὸν ἀνθερεῶνα ὑπερείδων ἀνεώθει. [6] Ὡς δέ ποτε ἐπαύσατο τῆς βίας ἢ τυχὼν ἢ μὴ τυχὼν ἢ καμών, λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ Λευκίππη ‘οὔτε ὡς ἐλεύθερος ποιεῖς οὔτε ὡς εὐγενής: καὶ σὺ μιμῇ Σωσθένην: ἄξιος ὁ δοῦλος τοῦ δεσπότου. Ἀλλὰ ἀπέχου τοῦ λοιποῦ, μηδὲ ἐλπίσῃς τυχεῖν, πλὴν εἰ μὴ γένῃ Κλειτοφῶν.’
18. He therefore waited for a little while after Leucippe had finished her soliloquy, so that he might not seem to have been listening to it, and then, composing himself to an expression which he thought would make him more acceptable in her sight, went into the hut. At the sight of Leucippe, his heart burned up into fresh love: she seemed to him at that moment to have become more beautiful than ever. All night long — the whole time that he had been absent from her — he had been nursing the fire of his passion; and now, the sight of her adding fresh fuel to its flames, it suddenly burst out, and he was all but falling upon her and embracing her. But he mastered himself and sat down by her side, beginning to converse with her and stringing together remarks with no particular meaning. This is characteristic of lovers, when they try to talk with the women they love; they put no sense into what they say, but, their whole heart fixed on the object of its love, they let their tongue prattle on without the guidance of reason. As he conversed with her and put his hand on her shoulder, he began to embrace her, making as though he would
kiss her; but she, seeing the course which his hand was about to make, bent her head down and let it drop on her bosom; at which he did but encircle her neck the more, trying to compel her to lift up her face, while she in return still bent down and tried to avoid his kisses. Some time passing in this wrestling against the force of his hand, Thersander was overcome by love’s anger and strife: he put his left hand beneath her face, while with the right he took hold of her hair; and pulling her head backward with the one and pushing upward beneath her chin with the other, he made her lift up her head. When he presently desisted from the force he was employing, either because he had been successful in his object, or because he had been unsuccessful in it, or because he was tired, Leucippe exclaimed to him, “You are not acting as a free man or as one that is noble; you behave like Sosthenes; the man is worthy of his master. Stop now, and know that you can never attain your wishes, unless you become Clitophon.”
[1] Ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Θέρσανδρος οὐκ εἶχεν ὅστις γένηται: καὶ γὰρ ἤρα καὶ ὠργίζετο. Θυμὸς δὲ καὶ ἔρως δύο λαμπάδες. Ἔχει γὰρ καὶ ὁ θυμὸς ἄλλο πῦρ, καὶ ἔστι τὴν μὲν φύσιν ἐναντιώτατον, τὴν δὲ βίαν ὅμοιον. [2] Ὁ μὲν γὰρ παροξύνει μισεῖν, ὁ δὲ ἀναγκάζει φιλεῖν: καὶ ἀλλήλων πάροικος ἡ τοῦ πυρός ἐστι πηγή. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἰς τὸ ἧπαρ κάθηται, ὁ δὲ τῇ καρδίᾳ περιμαίνεται. [3] Ὅταν οὖν ἄμφω τὸν ἄνθρωπον καταλάβωσι, γίνεται μὲν αὐτοῖς ἡ ψυχὴ τρυτάνη, τὸ δὲ πῦρ ἑκατέρου ταλαντεύεται. Μάχονται δὲ ἄμφω περὶ τῆς ῥοπῆς: καὶ τὰ πολλὰ μὲν ὁ ἔρως εἴωθε νικᾶν, ὅταν εἰς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν εὐτυχῇ: ἢν δὲ αὐτὸν ἀτιμάσῃ τὸ ἐρώμενον, αὐτὸς τὸν θυμὸν εἰς συμμαχίαν καλεῖ. [4] Κἀκεῖνος ὡς γείτων πείθεται, καὶ ἀνάπτουσιν ἄμφω τὸ πῦρ. Ἂν δὲ ἅπαξ ὁ θυμὸς τὸν ἔρωτα παῤ αὑτῷ λάβῃ καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἕδρας ἐκπεσόντα κατάσχῃ, φύσει τε ὢν ἄσπονδος οὐχ ὡς φίλῳ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν συμμαχεῖ, ἀλλ̓ ὡς δοῦλον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πεδήσας κρατεῖ, οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει δὲ αὐτῷ σπείσασθαι πρὸς τὸ ἐρώμενον, κἂν θέλῃ. [5] Ὁ δὲ τῷ θυμῷ βεβαπτισμένος καταδύεται, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀρχὴν ἐκπηδῆσαι θέλων οὐκέτι ἐστὶν ἐλεύθερος, ἀλλὰ μισεῖν ἀναγκάζεται τὸ φιλούμενον. Ὅταν δὲ ὁ θυμὸς καχλάζων γεμισθῇ, καὶ τῆς ἐξουσίας ἐμφορηθεὶς ὑπερβλύσῃ, κάμνει μὲν ἐκ τοῦ κόρου, καμὼν δὲ παρίεται, καὶ ὁ ἔρως ἀμύνεται καὶ ὁπλίζει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν ἤδη καθεύδοντα νικᾷ. [6] Ὁρῶν δὲ τὰς ὕβρεις, ἃς κατὰ τῶν φιλτάτων ἐπαρῴνησεν, ἀλγεῖ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐρώμενον ἀπολογεῖται, καὶ εἰς ὁμιλίαν παρακαλεῖ, καὶ τὸν θυμὸν ἐπαγγέλλεται καταμαλάττειν ἡδονῇ. [7] Τυχὼν μὲν οὖν ὧν ἠθέλησεν, ἵλεως γίνεται: ἀτιμούμενος δὲ πάλιν εἰς τὸν θυμὸν καταδύεται. Ὁ δὲ καθεύδων ἐξεγείρεται καὶ τὰ ἀρχαῖα ποιεῖ: ἀτιμίᾳ γὰρ ἔρωτος σύμμαχός ἐστι θυμός.
Complete Works of Achilles Tatius Page 77