Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  [1] Ταῦτα εἰπόντος τοῦ Κλεινίου, τοῖς μὲν πολλοῖς ἐδόκει πιθανὸς ὁ λόγος, οἱ δὲ τοῦ Θερσάνδρου ῥήτορες καὶ ὅσοι τῶν φίλων συμπαρῆσαν, ἐπεβόων ἀνελεῖν τὸν ἀνδροφόνον τὸν αὑτοῦ κατειπόντα θεοῦ προνοίᾳ. [2] Μελίτη δὲ τὰς θεραπαινίδας ἐδίδου καὶ Θέρσανδρον ἠξίου διδόναι Σωσθένην: τάχα γὰρ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Λευκίππην ἀνῃρηκότα: καὶ οἱ συναγορεύοντες αὐτῇ ταύτην μάλιστα προεφέροντο πρόκλησιν. [3] Ὁ δὲ Θέρσανδρος φοβηθεὶς λάθρα τινὰ τῶν παραστατῶν εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν ἀποστέλλει πρὸς τὸν Σωσθένην, κελεύσας τὴν ταχίστην ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι, πρὶν τοὺς ἐπ̓ αὐτὸν πεμφθέντας ἥκειν: ὃς δὴ ἐπιβὰς ἵππου σπουδῇ μάλα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔρχεται καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον λέγει καὶ ὡς, εἰ ληφθείη, εἰς βασάνους ἀπαχθήσεται. [4] Ὁ δὲ ἔτυχε μὲν ἐν τῷ τῆς Λευκίππης δωματίῳ παρών, κατεπᾴδων αὐτῆς: κληθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ παρόντος σὺν βοῇ καὶ ταραχῇ πολλῇ προέρχεται, καὶ ἀκούσας τὰ ὄντα, μεστὸς γενόμενος δέους καὶ ἤδη νομίζων τοὺς δημίους ἐπ̓ αὐτὸν παρεῖναι, ἐπιβὰς ἵππου σπυδῇ μάλα ἐλαύνει τὴν ἐπὶ Σμύρνης: ὁ δὲ ἄγγελος πρὸς τὸν Θέρσανδρον ἀναστρέφει. Ἀληθὴς δέ ἐστιν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὁ λόγος, ὅτι μνήμην ἐκπλήσσειν πέφυκε φόβος. [5] Ὁ γοῦν Σωσθένης περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φοβηθείς, ἁπαξαπάντων ἐξελάθετο τῶν ἐν ποσὶν ὑπ̓ ἐκπλήξεως, ὡς μηδὲ τοῦ τῆς Λευκίππης δωματίου κλεῖσαι τὰς θύρας. Μάλιστα γὰρ τὸ τῶν δούλων γένος ἐν οἷς ἂν φοβηθῇ σφόδρα δειλόν ἐστιν.

  10. When Clinias had finished this speech, the majority of those present were convinced by his argument; but Thersander’s counsel, and those of his friends who were present in court with him, shouted for the sentencing of the murderer, who had been brought by God’s providence to become his own accuser. Melitte offered her serving-maids to be questioned, and required Thersander to produce Sosthenes, for perhaps it was he who had murdered Leucippe; her advocates indeed laid great stress on this challenge (One of the most essential institutions of Greek litigation; one side would put forward a salient point to be tested, the refusal by the other side to accept it as a test bringing the ease to an end. πρόκnησις may mean either a challenge or an offer, or something between the two; it is very often indeed (as here) an offer to produce one’s own slaves to be questioned under torture as to the veracity of one’s own evidence, or a challenge to the other party to produce his slaves to be treated in the same way, with the hope of shaking his evidence.) which they put forward. Thersander was much alarmed at it, and privately sent one of his supporters to Sosthenes at his country place, advising him to make himself scarce at once, before the messengers sent for him could reach him; the envoy took horse with all speed, and when he had reached him, explained the danger that he was in; if he stayed where he was, he said, and were there arrested, he would certainly be put to the torture. Sosthenes happened to be at Leucippe’s hut, trying his blandishments upon her; when the messenger called out his name with much shouting and noise, he came out, heard the state of affairs, and was overcome by fear; and thinking that the police were already on his heels, he took horse and rode off at full gallop for Smyrna, while the other returned to Thersander. True it is, it seems, that fear paralyses the memory; at any rate Sosthenes, in his fright for his own skin, utterly forgot all his immediate duties in the momentary shock, and did not remember even to lock the doors of Leucippe’s hut. The whole tribe of slaves is greatly inclined to cowardice in any circumstances where there is the slightest room for fear.

  [1] Ἐν τούτῳ δὲ ὁ Θέρσανδρος πρὸ τῆς προκλήσεως ἀπὸ τῆς Μελίτης οὕτω γενομένης παρελθὼν ‘ἱκανῶς μὲν’ εἶπεν ‘οὗτος, ὅστις ποτέ ἐστι, κατελήρησε μυθολογῶν: ἐγὼ δὲ ὑμῶν τεθαύμακα τῆς ἀναλγησίας εἰ φονέα ἐπ̓ αὐτοφώρῳ λαβόντες （μεῖζον δὲ τῆς φωράσεως τὸ αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ κατειπεῖν） οὐ δὴ κελεύετε τῷ δημίῳ, καθέζεσθε δὲ γόητος ἀκούοντες πιθανῶς μὲν ὑποκρινομένου, πιθανῶς δὲ δακρύοντος, ὃν νομίζω καὶ αὐτὸν κοινωνὸν γενόμενον τοῦ φόνου περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φοβεῖσθαι, ὥστ̓ οὐκ οἶδα τί δεῖ βασάνων ἔτι περὶ πράγματος οὕτω σαφῶς ἐληλεγμένου. [2] Δοκοῦσι δὲ καὶ ἄλλον τινὰ ἐργάσασθαι φόνον. Ὁ γὰρ Σωσθένης οὗτος, ὃν αἰτοῦσι παῤ ἐμοῦ, τρίτην ταύτην ἡμέραν γέγονεν ἀφανής, καὶ ἔστιν οὐ πόρρω τινὸς ὑπονοίας μὴ ἄρα τῆς τούτων ἐπιβουλῆς γέγονεν ἔργον: αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν ὁ τὴν μοιχείαν μοι κατειπών: ὥστε εἰκότως ἀποκτεῖναί μοι δοκοῦσιν αὐτόν: καὶ τοῦτ̓ εἰδότες ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἔχοιμι παρασχεῖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, πρόκλησιν περὶ αὐτοῦ πεποίηνται πάνυ κακούργως. [3] Εἴη μὲν οὖν κἀκεῖνον φανῆναι καὶ μὴ τεθνάναι: τί δὲ καί, εἰ παρῆν, ἔδει παῤ αὐτοῦ μαθεῖν; Εἴ τινα κόρην ἐωνήσατο; τοιγαροῦν ἐωνημένος ἔστω: καὶ εἰ ταύτην ἔσχε Μελίτη; λέγει καὶ τοῦτο δἰ ἐμοῦ. Ἀπήλλακται μὲν δὴ Σωσθένης ταῦτα εἰπών: τοὐντεῦθεν δὲ ὁ λόγος μοι πρὸς Μελίτην καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα. [4] Τί μου τὴν δούλην λαβόντες πεποιήκατε; δούλη γὰρ ἦν ἐμὴ Σωσθένους αὐτὴν ἐωνημένου, καὶ εἰ περιῆν καὶ μὴ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐπεφόνευτο, [5] πάντως ἂν ἐδούλευεν ἐμοί.’ Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν λόγον ὁ Θέρσανδρος πάνυ κακοήθως παρενέβαλεν, ἵνα κἂν ὕστερον ἡ Λευκίππη φωραθῇ ζῶσα, πρὸς δουλείαν αὐτὴν ἀγάγῃ. Εἶτα προσετίθει ‘Κλειτοφῶν μὲν οὖν ὡμολόγησεν ἀνῃρηκέναι καὶ ἔχει τὴν δίκην, Μελίτη δὲ ἀρνεῖται. Πρὸς ταύτην αἱ τῶν θεραπαινίδων εἰσὶ βάσανοι. [6] Ἂν γὰρ φανῶσι παρὰ ταύτης λαβοῦσαι τὴν κόρην, εἶτα οὐκέτι πάλιν ἀγαγοῦσαι, τί γέγονε; τί δὲ ὅλως ἐξεπέμπετο καὶ πρὸς τίνα; Ἆῤ οὐκ εὔδηλον τὸ πρᾶγμα, ὡς συσκευασάμενοι ἦσάν τινας ὡς κτενοῦντας; [7] Αἱ δὲ θεράπαιναι τούτους μέν, ὡς εἰκός, οὐκ ᾔδεσαν, ἵνα μὴ μετὰ πλειόνων μαρτύρων γενόμενον τὸ ἔργον κίνδυνον ἔχῃ μείζονα: κατέλιπον δὲ αὐτὴν ἔνθα ἦν ὁ τῶν λῃστῶν λόχος λανθάνων, ὥστε ἐνεχώρει μηδὲ ἐκείνας τὸ γενόμενον ἑωρακέναι. Ἐλήρησε δὲ καὶ περὶ δεσμώτου τινός, ὡς εἰπόντος περὶ τοῦ φόνου. [8] Καὶ τίς ὁ δεσμώτη�
� οὗτος, ὃς τῷ στρατηγῷ μὲν οὐδὲν εἶπε, τούτῳ δὲ μόνῳ τὰ ἀπόρρητα διελέγετο τοῦ φόνου, πλὴν εἰ μὴ κοινωνοῦντα ἐγνώρισεν; Οὐ παύσεσθε φληνάφων ἀνεχόμενοι κενῶν καὶ τηλικοῦτον ἔργον τιθέμενοι παιδιάν; Οἴεσθε χωρὶς θεοῦ τοῦτον ἑαυτοῦ κατειπεῖν;’

  11. While all this was happening, Thersander appeared to answer the challenge thus put forward by Melitte. “We have surely had enough,” said he, “of the raving moonshine put forward by this fellow”, whoever he is. I am really astonished at your callousness; you have caught a murderer in the act — a man’s own accusation of himself is even stronger than a capture in flagrante, and yet you do not call upon the officer to lead him away to death, but sit there listening to this charlatan with his plausible acting and his plausible tears. I rather suspect that he too, being an accomplice in the murder, is afraid for his own skin, and so I see no need for the process of torturing slaves for further evidence in a case so clearly proved as this. Nay more, I fancy that they have committed a second murder; this Sosthenes, whom they call upon me to produce, has now been missing for more than two full days, and there is every ground for suspicion that his disappearance is due to their plotting; he it was that informed me of the adultery. So I think that they have made away with him, and now, certain that I cannot produce the fellow, have most craftily put forward the challenge for him. Now suppose for a moment that he were not dead, and had appeared here in court: whatever could be learned from his presence? If he once bought a certain girl? It is granted at once that he bought her. If Melitte was at one time in possession of her? That too he acknowledges, by my lips. When he has given this evidence, Sosthenes is dismissed τrpós and τrpo are written very nearly alike in MSS., and the change of case would naturally follow the change of the former preposition into the latter. from the case; from this point begins my arraignment of Melitte and Clitophon. What have you done with my slave, whom you took from me? For my slave she was, as Sosthenes had bought her, and if she were still alive and had not been murdered by them, she would still be my slave.”

  This last remark was interjected by Thersander with wicked cunning, so that if later on it were detected that Leucippe were still alive, he would be able to keep her in slavery to him. Then he went on “Clitophon has acknowledged that he murdered her, and the verdict is settled on his case: Melitte denies it; well, her serving-maids may be tortured to refute her denial. Supposing it is established that they received the girl from her, but never brought her back again, what is the conclusion? — Why was she ever sent off into the country? To whom? Is not the whole affair perfectly clear, that the conspirators had suborned men to do away with her? About them, naturally enough, no information was given to the serving-maids — the greater the number of those privy to the scheme, the greater danger would it involve; the maids left her near the spot where the robber-band was lying in hiding, and it was so quite possible that they did not even see what happened. Then this fellow uttered some frantic nonsense about some prisoner, who is supposed to have spoken of the murder. Who is this prisoner, who has said nothing to the magistrate, but has related to Clitophon alone all the secrets of the murder, which he certainly would not have done if he had not recognised him as a participator in it? It is surely time that you ceased to pay any attention to these empty babblings, making this serious business a matter of ridicule; can you think that this fellow would ever have brought this accusation against himself without the direct interposition of Providence?”

  [1] Ταῦτα λέγοντος τοῦ Θερσάνδρου καὶ διομνυμένου περὶ τοῦ Σωσθένους οὐκ εἰδέναι τί γέγονεν, ἔδοξε τῷ προέδρῳ τῶν δικαστῶν （ἦν δὲ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ γένους καὶ τὰς μὲν φονικὰς ἐδίκαζε δίκας, κατὰ δὲ τὸν νόμον συμβούλους ἐκ τῶν γεραιτέρων εἶχεν, οὓς ἐπιγνώμονας ἐλάμβανε τῆς γνώσεως） ἔδοξεν οὖν αὐτῷ διασκοπήσαντι σὺν τοῖς παρέδροις αὐτοῦ θάνατον μὲν ἐμοῦ καταγνῶναι κατὰ τὸν νόμον, ὃς ἐκέλευσε τὸν αὑτοῦ κατειπόντα φόνον τεθνάναι, περὶ δὲ Μελίτης κρίσιν γενέσθαι δευτέραν ἐν ταῖς βασάνοις τῶν θεραπαινίδων, Θέρσανδρον δὲ ἐπομόσαι περὶ τοῦ Σωσθένους ἐν γράμμασιν, ἦ μὴν οὐκ εἰδέναι τί γέγονε, κἀμὲ δέ, ὡς ἤδη κατάδικον, βασανισθῆναι περὶ τοῦ Μελίτην τῷ φόνῳ συνεγνωκέναι. [2] Ἄρτι δέ μου δεθέντος καὶ τῆς ἐσθῆτος τοῦ σώματος γεγυμνωμένου μετεώρου τε ἐκ τῶν βρόχων κρεμαμένου, καὶ τῶν μὲν μάστιγας κομιζόντων τῶν δὲ πῦρ καὶ τροχόν, ἀνοιμώξαντος δὲ τοῦ Κλεινίου καὶ ἐπικαλοῦντος τοὺς θεούς, ὁ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερεὺς δάφνην ἐστεμμένος προσιὼν ὁρᾶται. [3] Σημεῖον δὲ τοῦτο ἐστὶν ἡκούσης θεωρίας τῇ θεῷ: τοῦτο δὲ ὅταν γένηται, πάσης εἶναι δεῖ τιμωρίας ἐκεχειρίαν ἡμερῶν τοσούτων, ὅσων οὐκ ἐπετέλεσαν τὴν θυσίαν οἱ θεωροί. Οὕτω μὲν δὴ τότε τῶν δεσμῶν ἐλύθην. Ἦν δὲ ὁ τὴν θεωρίαν ἄγων Σώστρατος, ὁ τῆς Λευκίππης πατήρ. [4] Οἱ γὰρ Βυζάντιοι, τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἐπιφανείσης ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τῷ πρὸς τοὺς Θρᾷκας, νικήσαντες ἐλογίσαντο δεῖν αὐτῇ θυσίαν ἀποστέλλειν τῆς συμμαχίας ἐπινίκιον: ἦν δὲ καὶ ἰδίᾳ τῷ Σωστράτῳ νύκτωρ ἡ θεὸς ἐπιστᾶσα. Τὸ δὲ ὄναρ ἐσήμαινε τὴν θυγατέρα εὑρήσειν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ καὶ τἀδελφοῦ τὸν υἱόν.

  12. This was Thersander’s speech, and he followed it by his oath that he knew nothing of what had become of Sosthenes. The president of the judges then delivered his sentence: he was of the royal house, and it was his business to sit in capital charges; but he had, as the law provided, assessors chosen from the elders of the town, whom he had selected as experts in jurisprudence. After consultation with the assessors, his sentence was that I was to be put to death, in accordance with the law which provided that a murderer (A good example of the injustice which may occur in the absence of the excellent rule requiring production of the body for the success of a charge of murder.) admitting his crime was to be condemned, but that as concerning Melitte, there must be a second trial, the result of which would depend upon the evidence given by the serving-maids when put to the question; that Thersander was to make an additional affidavit in writing that he did not know what had become of Sosthenes, and that I, already judged guilty, was to be questioned under torture as to the connivance of Melitte in my crime. I was therefore at once fettered, stripped naked of my clothes, and shing up on the cords, the attendants were some of them bringing the scourges, some the fire and wheel; Clinias was crying aloud and calling upon the gods for help, when Artemis’ bishop was descried approaching, crowned with bay. This is the indication that a sacred embassy to the goddess has arrived, and when such an event occurs, there is bound to be a respite from all judicial punishments until the ambassadors have completed the sacrifice which they have come to perform: I was therefore temporarily released from my chains. Now the head of the sacred embassy was Sostratus, Leucippe’s father; for Artemis had appeared to the Byzantines during their war against the Thracians, and after their consequent victory, they decided that they must send her a sacrifice as a recognition of her aid during t
he war. Nay more, the goddess had appeared to Sostratus separately by night, and his dream foretold him that he would find his daughter and his brother’s son at Ephesus.

  [1] Παρὰ δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν χρόνον καὶ ἡ Λευκίππη τὰς μὲν τοῦ δωματίου θύρας ἀνεῳγμένας ὁρῶσα, τὸν δὲ Σωσθένην μὴ παρόντα περιεσκόπει μὴ πρὸ θυρῶν εἴη. Ὡς δ̓ ἦν οὐδαμοῦ, θάρσος αὐτὴν καὶ ἐλπὶς ἡ συνήθης εἰσέρχεται: μνήμη γὰρ αὐτῇ τοῦ πολλάκις παρὰ δόξαν σεσῶσθαι πρὸς τὸ παρὸν τῶν κινδύνων τὴν ἐλπίδα προὐξένει ἀποχρῆσθαι τῇ Τύχῃ. [2] Καὶ （ἦν γὰρ τῶν ἀγρῶν πλησίον τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν） ἐκτρέχει τε ἐπ̓ αὐτὸ καὶ ἔχεται τοῦ νεώ. Τὸ δὲ παλαιὸν ἄβατος ἦν γυναιξὶν ἐλευθέραις οὗτος ὁ νεώς, [3] ἀνδράσι δὲ ἐπετέτραπτο καὶ παρθένοις. Εἰ δέ τις εἴσω παρῆλθε γυνή, θάνατος ἦν ἡ δίκη, πλὴν εἰ μὴ δούλη τις ἦν ἐγκαλοῦσα τῷ δεσπότῃ. Ταύτῃ δὲ ἐξῆν ἱκετεύειν τὴν θεόν, οἱ δὲ ἄρχοντες ἐδίκαζον αὐτῇ τε καὶ τῷ δεσπότῃ: καὶ εἰ μὲν ὁ δεσπότης οὐδὲν ἔτυχεν ἀδικῶν, αὖθις τὴν θεράπαιναν ἐλάμβανεν, ὀμόσας μὴ μνησικακήσειν τῆς καταφυγῆς: εἰ δὲ ἔδοξεν ἡ θεράπαινα δίκαια λέγειν, ἔμενεν αὐτοῦ δούλη τῇ θεῷ. [4] Ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ Σωστράτου τὸν ἱερέα παραλαβόντος καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ δικαστήρια παρελθόντος, ὡς ἂν ἐπισχοίη τὰς δίκας, εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἡ Λευκίππη παρῆν, ὥστε μικροῦ τινος ἀπελείφθη τοῦ μὴ τῷ πατρὶ συντυχεῖν.