Complete Works of Achilles Tatius

by Achilles Tatius

  [1] Μέλλοντος δὲ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ καὶ τῆς Μελίτης ἀνδρὸς οὐκ ἀδόξου μὲν ῥήτορος, ὄντος δὲ τῆς βουλῆς, λέγειν, φθάσας ῥήτωρ ἕτερος, ὄνομα Σώπατρος, Θερσάνδρου συνήγορος, ‘ἀλλ̓ ἐμὸς’ εἶπεν ‘ἐντεῦθεν ὁ λόγος κατὰ τούτων τῶν μοιχῶν, ὦ βέλτιστε Νικόστρατε （τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν ὄνομα τὠμῷ ῥήτορι）, εἶτα σός: ὁ γὰρ Θέρσανδρος ἃ εἶπε, πρὸς τὸν ἱερέα μόνον ἀπετείνατο, ὀλίγον ἁψάμενος ὅσον ἐπιψαῦσαι καὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν δεσμώτην μέρους. [2] Ὅταν οὖν ἀποδείξω δυσὶ θανάτοις ἔνοχον ὄντα, τότε ἂν εἴη καὶ σοὶ καιρὸς ἀπολύσασθαι τὰς αἰτίας.’ Ταῦτα εἰπὼν καὶ τερατευσάμενος καὶ τρίψας τὸ πρόσωπον ‘τῆς μὲν τοῦ ἱερέως κωμῳδίας’ ἔφη ‘ἠκούσαμεν, πάντα ἀσελγῶς καὶ ἀναισχύντως ὑποκριναμένου τὰ εἰς τὸν Θέρσανδρον προσκρούσματα.’ [3] Καὶ τοῦ λόγου τὸ προοίμιον μέμψεις εἰς Θέρσανδρον ἐφ̓ οἷς εἰς αὐτὸν εἶπεν. Ἀλλὰ Θέρσανδρος μὲν οὐδὲν ὧν εἶπεν εἰς τοῦτον ἐψεύσατο: καὶ γὰρ δεσμώτην ἔλυσε καὶ πόρνην ὑπεδέξατο καὶ συνέγνω μοιχῷ: ἃ δὲ αὐτὸς μᾶλλον ἀναιδῶς ἐσυκοφάντησε διασύρων τὸν Θερσάνδρου βίον, οὐδεμιᾶς ἀπήλλακται συκοφαντίας. [4] Ἱερεῖ δὲ ἔπρεπεν, εἴπερ ἄλλο, καὶ τοῦτο, καθαρὰν ἔχειν τὴν γλῶτταν ὕβρεως （χρήσομαι γὰρ τοῖς αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν:） ἃ δὲ μετὰ τὴν κωμῳδίαν ἐτραγῴδησεν ἤδη οὕτω φανερῶς καὶ οὐκέτι δἰ αἰνιγμάτων, σχετλιάζων εἰ μοιχόν τινα λαβόντες ἐδήσαμεν, ὑπερτεθαύμακα τί τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσε πρίασθαι πρὸς τὴν τοσαύτην σπουδήν. [5] Ὑπονοεῖν γὰρ τἀληθὲς ἔστιν. Εἶδε γὰρ τῶν ἀκολάστων τούτων τὰ πρόσωπα, τοῦ τε μοιχοῦ καὶ τῆς ἑταίρας. Ὡραία μὲν γὰρ αὕτη καὶ νέα, ὡραῖον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ μειράκιον καὶ οὐδέπω τὴν ὄψιν ἀργαλέον, ἀλλ̓ ἔτι χρήσιμον πρὸς τὰς τοῦ ἱερέως ἡδονάς. [6] Ὁποτέρα σε τούτων ἐωνήσατο; κοινῇ γὰρ πάντες ἐκαθεύδετε καὶ ἐμεθύετε κοινῇ, καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς ὑμῶν οὐδεὶς γέγονε θεατής. Φοβοῦμαι μὴ τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν Ἀφροδίτης πεποιήκατε, καὶ περὶ ἱερωσύνης κρινοῦμεν, εἰ δεῖ σε τὴν τιμὴν ταύτην ἔχειν. [7] Τὸν δὲ Θερσάνδρου βίον ἴσασι πάντες καὶ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας μετὰ σωφροσύνης κόσμιον, καὶ ὡς εἰς ἄνδρας ἐλθὼν ἔγημε κατὰ τοὺς νόμους, σφαλεὶς μὲν εἰς τὴν περὶ τῆς γυναικὸς κρίσιν （οὐ γὰρ εὗρεν ἣν ἤλπισε）, τῷ δὲ ταύτης γένει καὶ τῇ οὐσίᾳ πεπιστευκώς. [8] Εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτὴν καὶ πρὸς ἄλλους τινὰς ἡμαρτηκέναι τὸν πρόσθεν χρόνον, λανθάνειν δὲ ἐπ̓ ἐκείνοις χρηστὸν ἄνδρα. Τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον τοῦ δράματος πᾶσαν ἀπεκάλυψε τὴν αἰδῶ, [9] πεπλήρωται δὲ ἀναισχυντίας. Τοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς στειλαμένου τινὰ μακρὰν ἀποδημίαν, καιρὸν τοῦτον νενόμικεν εὔκαιρον μοιχείας, καὶ νεανίσκον εὑροῦσα πόρνον （τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ μεῖζον ἀτύχημα, ὅτι τοιοῦτον εὗρε τὸν ἐρώμενον, ὃς πρὸς μὲν γυναῖκας ἄνδρας ἀπομιμεῖται, γυνὴ δὲ γίνεται πρὸς ἄνδρας） οὕτως μετὰ ἀδείας οὐκ ἤρκεσεν ἐπὶ τῆς ξένης αὐτῷ συνοῦσα φανερῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἤγαγε διὰ τοσούτου πελάγους συγκαθεύδουσα κἀν τῷ σκάφει φανερῶς ἀσελγαίνουσα πάντων ὁρώντων. [10] Ὢ μοιχείας γῇ καὶ θαλάττῃ μεμερισμένης: ὢ μοιχείας ἀπὸ Αἰγύπτου μέχρις Ἰωνίας ἐκτεταμένης. Μοιχεύεταί τις, ἀλλὰ πρὸς μίαν ἡμέραν: ἂν δὲ καὶ δεύτερον γένηται τὸ ἀδίκημα, κλέπτει τὸ ἔργον καὶ πάντας ἀποκρύπτεται: αὕτη δὲ οὐχ ὑπὸ σάλπιγγι μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ κήρυκι μοιχεύεται. [11] Ἔφεσος ὅλη τὸν μοιχὸν ἔγνωκεν: ἡ δὲ οὐκ ᾐσχύνετο τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς ξένης ἐνεγκοῦσα τὸ ἀγώγιμον κάλλος, μοιχὸν ἐμπεπορευμένη. ‘Ἀλλ̓ [12] ᾤμην̓ φησὶ ‘τὸν ἄνδρα τετελευτηκέναι.’ Οὐκοῦν εἰ μὲν τέθνηκεν, ἀπήλλαξαι τῆς αἰτίας: οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔστιν ὁ τὴν μοιχείαν παθών, οὐδὲ ὑβρίζεται γάμος οὐκ ἔχων ἄνδρα: εἰ δὲ ὁ γάμος τῷ τὸν γήμαντα ζῆν οὐκ ἀνῄρηται, τὴν γαμηθεῖσαν διαφθείραντος ἄλλου λῃστεύεται. Ὥσπερ γὰρ μὴ μένοντος ὁ μοιχὸς οὐκ ἦν, μένοντος δὴ μοιχός ἐστιν.’

  10. An advocate., who was a speaker of considerable merit and also a member of the council was just rising on behalf of Melitte and myself, when another lawyer, called Sopater, who was counsel for Thersander, jumped up before him. “No,” he cried, “it is now my turn to address the court against this adulterous couple, good Sir Nicostratus” (that was my counsel’s name) “and then your turn will come; what Thersander said was directed against the bishop alone, and he did nothing more than touch upon that part of the case which deals with the gaol-bird. When I have finished shewing that he is twice over liable to the capital punishment, it will then be your business to attempt to palliate the charges brought against him.” Thus he spoke with frantic gesticulation and wiping his face: then he went on, “We have all been hearers of the bishop’s farcical ribaldry while he indulged in the most brutal, shameless, trumped-up accusations against Thersander, and all the first part of his speech, which was nothing but calling Thersander back the same names that Thersander had called him. Yet every word that Thersander said was true; the bishop did actually release a criminal from his chains, receive and entertain a harlot, and consort with an adulterer; and as for the shameless false charges he brought when he represented in the worst light Thersander’s way of life, he refrained from no calumny in the course of them. (I doubt whether the text is here sound. Sopater is more likely to say: “As for the complaints that the bishop made that he was being falsely accused by Thersander — the bishop’s own speech simply teemed with false accusations.”) I should have thought the most necessary priestly quality of all was a pair of lips clean of guile, to use his own expression against himself. As for the high-flown rhetoric of his speech, after the farcical part was over, when he began to speak openly and no longer in riddles, so grievously angered that we had caught a lecher and thrown him into chains, I was very greatly astonished, and wondered what the price could be that was high enough to arouse in him this excess of zeal. But I fear one may suspect the truth: he had taken note of the faces of this scandalous pair, the adulterer and his punk: she is young and pretty, and he is a prett
y stripling too, with his cheeks still soft, and one still available for the bishop’s pleasures. Which (όποτέρα, feminine, is a subtlety that cannot be rendered into English.) of them was it, reverend sir, whose charms won you over? You slept all in the same place, you tippled all together, and there was no spectator of how you passed your night. I greatly fear that Artemis’ temple has been made by you into the temple of Aphrodite, and we shall have to sit in judgement on your priesthood, to decide if you are worthy of your cloth.

  “As for Thersander’s way of life, all here know how that from his first youth it was elegant and discreet; and how, when he came to years of manhood, he married in accordance with the direction of the law, but unfortunately made a mistake in his estimation of the character of his wife, for he found her not what he had hoped, but had put too much trust in her birth and material position. It is like enough that earlier in her married life she misconducted herself with several lovers, but was able to conceal her relations with them from her excellent husband; but at the end of her career she threw off even the pretence of modesty and filled up the cup of impudence. Her husband had to go abroad for a long stay, and she considered this a suitable opportunity for unfaithfulness. She found a youth who may be described as a sort of male prostitute — perhaps the most wretched part of the business is that the lover she selected is one of those who ape manhood when they are among women, while they count as women among men. Well; it was not enough for her to put aside all fear and live openly with him in a foreign country, but she must needs bring him here over that wide stretch of sea, sleeping with him and exposing her unseemly lust on the boat for all to see. Oh, think of an adulterous intercourse with its shares both on sea and land, drawn out all the way from Egypt to Ionia! Does a woman fall? Then it is but for a single day: or, if the sin be repeated, she hides what she has done and conceals it from the eyes of all: but Melitte does not merely proclaim her unfaithfulness in the market place (Literally, “to the sound of the trumpet.”); she has it put abroad by the town-crier! All Ephesus knew of her gallant; she had thought no shame to import him hither from abroad, trafficking in a lover as though he were merchandise, buying him and bringing him hither as a pretty bit of cargo! ‘But I thought,’ says she, ‘that my husband had perished.’ Certainly; if he is dead, you are quit of the charge against you. In that case there is nobody to be injured by the adultery, nor can a marriage be outraged when there is no husband. But if the marriage has not come to an end, owing to the fact that the husband is still alive, then an act of robbery is committed upon it by the corruption of the wife by a third party. Exactly as much as if the marriage did not exist there would be no adulterer, so, as it does exist, an adulterer there must be.”

  [1] Ἔτι τοῦ Σωπάτρου λέγοντος ὑποτεμὼν αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον ὁ Θέρσανδρος ‘ἀλλ̓ οὐκ’ ἔφη ‘δεῖ λόγων. Δύο γὰρ προκαλοῦμαι προκλήσεις Μελίτην τε ταύτην καὶ τὴν δοκοῦσαν εἶναι τοῦ θεοπρόπου θυγατέρα, [2] τῷ δὲ ὄντι δούλην ἐμήν:’ καὶ ἀνεγίνωσκε ‘προκαλεῖται Θέρσανδρος Μελίτην καὶ Λευκίππην, τοῦτο γὰρ ἤκουσα τὴν πόρνην καλεῖσθαι: Μελίτην μέν, εἰ μὴ κεκοινώνηκεν εἰς Ἀφροδίτην τῷδε τῷ ξένῳ παῤ ὃν ἀπεδήμουν χρόνον, εἰς τὸ τῆς ἱερᾶς Στυγὸς ὕδωρ εἰσβᾶσαν καὶ ἐπομοσαμένην ἀπηλλάχθαι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων: τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, εἰ μὲν τυγχάνει γυνή, δουλεύειν τῷ δεσπότῃ: δούλαις γὰρ μόναις γυναιξὶν ἔξεστιν εἰς τὸν τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος νεὼν παριέναι: εἰ δέ φησιν εἶναι παρθένος, ἐν τῷ τῆς σύριγγος ἄντρῳ [3] κλεισθῆναι.’ Ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν εὐθὺς ἐδεξάμεθα τὴν πρόκλησιν: καὶ γὰρ ᾔδειμεν αὐτὴν ἐσομένην: ἡ δὲ Μελίτη θαρρήσασα τῷ παῤ ὃν ἀπεδήμει χρόνον ὁ Θέρσανδρος μηδέν μοι κοινὸν πρὸς αὐτὴν γεγονέναι πλὴν λόγων ‘ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔγωγε’ ἔφη ‘ταύτην δέχομαι τὴν πρόκλησιν, καὶ ἔτι πλέον αὐτὴ προστίθημι: τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, οὐδὲ εἶδον τὸ παράπαν οὔτε ξένον οὔτε πολίτην ἥκειν εἰς ὁμιλίαν παῤ ὃν λέγεις καιρόν σε δεῖ παθεῖν, [4] ἂν συκοφάντης ἁλῷς;’ ‘Ὅ τι ἂν’ ἔφη ‘δόξῃ προστιμῆσαι τοῖς δικασταῖς.’ Ἐπὶ τούτοις διελύθη τὸ δικαστήριον, καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίαν διώριστο τὰ τῆς προκλήσεως ἡμῖν γενέσθαι.

  11. Sopater was still speaking, but his speech was interrupted by Thersander, who cried: “There is no need of further talk. I make two challenges: one to Melitte here, and one to that girl who professes to be the daughter of the sacred ambassador, [with no further question of the torture which I mentioned a little time ago], but is really my slave.” And he began to read out: