Essays on the Greek Romances

  V THE ADVENTURES OF LEUCIPPE AND CLITOPHON _BY ACHILLES TATIUS_

  "Every romance," says Aristide Calderini in writing of the Greek novels,"represents successively a new advance or a new type in its genre. Nowthe closest affiliation is with history, now with pastoral poetry, nowwith philosophy. While certain common elements persist, the generalpattern of the whole changes; often the content is varied; often thelimits."[135]

  The variation within this new form of literature is richly illustratedby the novel we are now to study, the one which was probably writtenlast of the extant Greek Romances as Chariton's was the first. This is_The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon_ of Achilles Tatius.

  We know little of the author. Suidas, the lexicographer of the tenthcentury, wrote his brief biography:

  "Achilles Statius" (note the incorrect form of the name 'Tatius') "of Alexandria: the writer of the story of Leucippe and Clitophon, as well as other episodes of love, in eight books. He finally became a Christian and a bishop. He also wrote a treatise on the sphere, and works on etymology, and a mixed narration telling of many great and marvellous men. His novel is in all respects like that of the other writers of love-romances."[136]

  Now though Suidas used earlier material and essayed accuracy, twostatements in this biography are manifestly incorrect. There is nothingwhatever in the romance to indicate that Tatius was ever a Christian andthe story about his conversion and bishopric probably duplicates thesimilar tradition about his predecessor, Heliodorus, who was identifiedwith a bishop of Tricca who bore his name. Moreover Tatius' novel isvery different in many particulars from all the romances which are nowknown. And it is these contrasts rather than the similarities which makehim in our studies so excellent a foil for Chariton.

  The date of about A.D. 300 is probably right for the novel because theauthor seems to imitate the style of certain romancers of the thirdcentury and because a recently discovered papyrus fragment[137] showsthat for palaeographical reasons this earliest manuscript could not havebeen written later than the first half of the fourth century. Thisevidence about the lateness of Achilles Tatius we shall find borne outby a deterioration in style from Chariton's simplicity to anover-elaboration and exaggeration and a change in spirit from sincerityto ironic parody.[138]

  One important reason for knowing Achilles Tatius is "his contributionsto Elizabethan prose fiction and, through this, to the making of themodern novel."[139] The first Greek text was not published until 1601but before this he was made known to the sixteenth century bytranslations in Latin, Italian and French. And in 1597 the first Englishtranslation, that of William Burton, appeared. Todd succinctly stateshis resulting influence:

  "With Heliodorus, though in less measure, he furnished structure and material for Sidney's Arcadia, and thus was among the influences that formed the novels of Richardson and Walter Scott; of Greene, as Dr. S. L. Wolff puts it, he was the 'first and latest love'; in Lyly himself, and not only in him, we recognize Tatius as one of the sources of English Euphuism."[140]

  My plan in taking up Achilles Tatius is first to analyze briefly hisplot and then summarize its similarities to _Chaereas and Callirhoe_ andthe other Greek novels. Then I shall discuss more in detail the uniquefeatures in Tatius and his special characteristics.

  An epigram in the Palatine Anthology, attributed to Photius, patriarchof Constantinople, but by some to Leon the philosopher gives a bird'seye view of the story.[141]

  "The story of Clitophon reveals to the eyes, as it were, a bitter love but a virtuous life. The very virtuous life of Leucippe puts all in ecstasy, (for the story tells) how she was beaten and shorn of her hair and clothed pitiably, and--the greatest point--having died three times she endured to the end. And if you too wish to be virtuous, friend, do not consider the side issues of the plot, but learn first the outcome of the story, for it joins in marriage those who love sanely."

  For the expansion of this epitome it is necessary to have before us alist of the many characters in the romance.

  Chief characters:

  _Clitophon_, a Greek of Tyre, son of Hippias _Leucippe_, daughter of Sostratus of Byzantium, the uncle of Clitophon _Clinias_ of Sidon, cousin of Clitophon _Chaereas_ of Pharos, a fisherman _Melitte_, a woman of Ephesus _Thersander_, the husband of Melitte _Callisthenes_ of Byzantium _Calligone_, the half-sister of Clitophon

  Minor characters:

  _Sostratus_, of Byzantium, father of Leucippe _Panthea_, his wife _Hippias_, a Tyrian, father of Clitophon and Calligone _Charicles_, the _amicus_ of Clinias _Menelaus_, an Egyptian _Sosthenes_, the bailiff of Thersander _Satyrus_, a slave of Clitophon _Clio_, Leucippe's chambermaid, in love with Satyrus _Charmides_, an Egyptian general _Gorgias_, an Egyptian soldier

  For the plot I condense Phillimore's well-written summary.[142] Theauthor begins with a description of Sidon. He has reached Sidon in histravels and is touring the city, looking at the temples. He describes apainting of Zeus and Europa, also a statue of Eros. He was reflecting onthe Eros: "Think of such a brat being lord of earth and sea!" When ayoung man near testifies to Eros' power which he has felt, the authorinvites him to tell his story. In a Platonic scene under a plane-treenear a stream they sit down.

  The stranger, Clitophon, a Greek of Tyre, tells his story in the firstperson. Clitophon has been unwillingly betrothed at nineteen to hishalf-sister, Calligone. Now his uncle, Sostratus, writes that he issending his daughter Leucippe and her mother from their home inByzantium to Tyre for safety during a war. Clitophon at once falls inlove with Leucippe. He makes his cousin, Clinias, his confidant. Cliniasis sympathetic because he had a tragic love affair with a youth who waskilled by a fall from a horse which Clinias gave him. (Here isintroduced a purple patch on the driving accident.)

  Encouraged by Clinias, Clitophon makes love constantly. Various scenesof his wooing, for example a garden, are described in detail. Finallythe lovers elope, find a ship at Berytus, embark and start toAlexandria. They meet an Egyptian fellow-passenger, Menelaus. Therecomes a great storm. Hero and heroine are cast on shore at Pelusium nearthe temple of Zeus Casius. Enter black brigands. Soldiers rescueClitophon, but Leucippe is kidnapped. Clitophon joins in an attempt tosave her, but it is baulked by a deep, impassable canal between therescuing party and the ten thousand brigands. Across it Clitophonwatches the bandits perform a human sacrifice by disembowelling thevictim before an altar. It is Leucippe. The body is put in a coffin.

  The next day the canal is diked and crossed. Clitophon resolves to dieon Leucippe's body, but suddenly he meets his slave Satyrus andMenelaus, both saved from the wreck, who assure him that Leucippe isalive. On the coffin being opened, she comes out--"Gashed open and minusall viscera." But the murderers had been deceived by a sheepskin full ofanimal entrails attached to her and by a stage sword which neverpenetrated her body. Clinias too was saved from the wreck. Now apunitive expedition under Charmides, the Egyptian, starts, butunfortunately he falls in love with Leucippe and has a philtre given herwhich drives her insane. On her recovery they go to Alexandria. There anew rival, Chaereas, abducts Leucippe. Clitophon pursues on a ship ofwar, but has to endure seeing Leucippe beheaded on the deck of theenemy's vessel. Clitophon recovers the head from the sea and gives itburial.

  Six months later Clitophon meets Clinias again. Clinias who had beenhome in Sidon reports that "the cruel parent had actually betrothed theloving cousins" so Clitophon and Leucippe might have married in peace.Clitophon who naturally believes Leucippe dead is pursued by Melitte, alovely, wealthy and amorous widow of Ephesus. He finally yields to her;they are betrothed in the temple of Isis and are to be married when theyreach Ephesus. On their arrival, Melitte drives Clitophon around hergreat estates. There he has the overwhelming surprise of encounteringLeucippe who is working in the garden as a miserable slave. Thisdifficult situation is made more complicated by the sudden reappearanceof Melitte's husband, Thersander, who had be
en falsely reported drownedat sea. Thersander beats up Clitophon as an adulterer with his wife andhas him imprisoned.

  Sosthenes, the bailiff of Thersander, interests his master in Leucippe,so he tries to seduce her, but unsuccessfully. Clitophon in prison istold a false story that both Leucippe and Melitte are faithless to him.Clitophon resolves to denounce Melitte as an accomplice in a plot forthe murder of Leucippe and then to die. He is tried for adultery andself-confessed murder, but Clinias foils his attempt by telling thewhole truth in court. Sosthenes departs, leaving Leucippe free.Leucippe's father, Sostratus, by good fortune arrives in Ephesus on asacred embassy just in time to assist his daughter. The trial ofClitophon is resumed in a long court scene in which finally Thersanderchallenges Leucippe and Melitte to tests of chastity by the magic pipesof Pan and the magic spring of Rhodopis. Both pass the ordeals.Thersander, since everything is going against him, for his slave,Sosthenes, has been captured and will be forced to confess the truth,flees. Sosthenes confesses. Clitophon is acquitted. Leucippe tells herwhole story: how the bandits beheaded another woman dressed in herclothes to prevent Clitophon from following; how a quarrel over herarose among them in which Chaereas was slain; then she was sold by theother pirates to Sosthenes, who bought her for Thersander. Sostratusthen relates the secondary romance of Callisthenes and Calligone. Thenovel ends with a happy reunion of all at Tyre where prayers andsacrifices are offered in behalf of the lasting felicity of Clitophonand Leucippe, of Callisthenes and Calligone.

  Such is the story which Phillimore characterizes as "a breathlesssuccession of improbable incident."[143] The settings move with the samecinematic rapidity which Chariton employed: from Sidon to Berytus, tothe sea and shipwreck, to Pelusium and Alexandria, to Ephesus and thegreat court scene, to Byzantium and back again to Tyre.

  In one point particularly the structure of the plot differs fromChariton's and indeed from the plots of all the other Greek Romances.The author in the beginning hands over the story to a narrator, thehero, Clitophon, who then tells the events in the first person. Verysoon, however, the reader has forgotten this device: so many othercharacters are given the floor to relate their own tales. And at the endthe author too has forgotten this beginning, for Clitophon does notround up his narrative with a polite farewell. He does not even explainhow he happened to be at Sidon where he started the tale. And the authordoes not express his appreciation of the entertainment Clitophon hasgiven him.[144]

  The chief interests of the romance are again love, adventure andreligion. There are two love-stories of primary interest instead of one.Yet the bulk of the plot turns on adventure rather than on sex orworship. And delight in adventure adds to the typical travellers' talesa flaming curiosity which demands description of many strange novelties.

  In general the technical devices common to all the romances are used.There is much conversation. There are many soliloquies. Clitophonupbraids himself for swerving from Calligone to Leucippe.[145] Later hebemoans Leucippe's fate when she has been kidnapped by the blacks.[146]Leucippe, sold as a slave, laments her whole sad love-story whilelustful Thersander is eavesdropping outside the door.[147] Clitophon, onhearing in prison the false story that Leucippe has been murdered byMelitte, voices his horror over her death and over the fact that he hadkissed her slayer.[148] These soliloquies are employed to reveal theintense feelings of hero and heroine at emotional crises.

  Three letters are used. The first is a brief business letter whichserves to develop the plot, for in it Sostratus writes to his brotherHippias that he is sending his daughter Leucippe and his wife Panthea tohim for safe-keeping until the war between the Byzantines and theThracians is over.[149] The other two are love-letters. One isLeucippe's to Clitophon telling him that she has been sold as a slave,begging for ransom money, wishing him happiness in his coming nuptialswith Melitte, and assuring him she is still a virgin. The other isClitophon's answer declaring that he has "imitated her virginity, ifthere be any virginity in men," begging her not to judge him until hecan explain all, but to pity him.[150] Leucippe's letter is found byMelitte and helps motivate the plot in its emotional aspects, for itworks Melitte up through jealousy and despair to such passionate ardorthat she persuades Clitophon to sleep one night with her.[151]

  Oaths are not important in the structure of the plot. Once Leucippeswears to her father by Artemis that she has told him a true story aboutbeing still a maid.[152] Dreams are frequent and are significant. Fourare reported which are vital factors in the plot. Clitophon's fatherdreams that while he is conducting the wedding ceremonies of his son andCalligone the torches are extinguished. This dream leads him to hastenthe marriage so distasteful to Clitophon and it would have beenconsummated at once had not Calligone been kidnapped by Callisthenesunder the impression that she was Leucippe.[153] Then Clitophon hadpersuaded Leucippe to let him spend the night with her and with the aidof Satyrus was already in her bedroom. Leucippe's mother who had justhad a dream that a robber with a naked sword was playing the part ofJack the Ripper with her daughter, rushed in and interrupted theamour.[154] Later on, Leucippe and Clitophon on the same night havesimilar dreams. A goddess appears and warns each that their love mustnot be consummated until the goddess decks the bride and opens hertemple to the bridegroom. This apparition makes them postpone the ritesof Aphrodite.[155] In Book VII Sostratus, Leucippe's father, sees in adream an apparition of Artemis who tells him that he will find Leucippeand Clitophon in Ephesus. He goes to Ephesus then on a sacred embassyand finds that Artemis does not lie.[156]

  This tendency to a repeated use of the same device for forwarding theplot is seen in greater extravagance and exaggeration in the use ofapparent deaths. Leucippe is supposed to meet violent death three times,twice before the eyes of her lover, once in vivid narrative told to himin prison. First she is sacrificed by brigands by being disembowelledbefore an altar. Second she is beheaded on the deck of a ship by blackpirates and her head tossed into the ocean. Third she is murdered by anassassin hired by Melitte.[157] In the first two cases ghastly detailsmake the executions seem real, but Leucippe always survives andreappears with a plausible but exotic story. Surely in this exaggerationAchilles Tatius is using thinly veiled satire of the device ofimprobable reappearances in the Greek romance.

  The same exuberance appears in the use of the forensic speeches, oflong, mythological narratives and of wordy descriptions. All these willbe considered in the study of the style of the romance. Two moretechnical devices of the plot must be mentioned here: the use of resumesand the usual happy ending. Book VIII is crowded with resumes: Clitophontells all his adventures to Sostratus and the priest of Artemis.Leucippe relates to Sostratus how the pirates decapitated another womanin her place. Finally Sostratus relates to his daughter and to Clitophonthe romance of Callisthenes and Calligone.[158] The romances of bothpairs of lovers, Clitophon and Leucippe, Callisthenes and Calligone, areconcluded by happy weddings. And among the leading characters onlyMelitte suffers final disappointment. Achilles Tatius ironically grantsher at least one memorable embrace on a prison floor!

  The character drawing is much less elaborate than the plot. While plotand counterplot of the two romances interplay, the young hero Clitophonand the beautiful Leucippe are more or less conventional figures whomove glamorously, weeping, fainting, dreaming, voyaging, throughpreposterous adventures. But Callisthenes, the secondary hero, is farmore interesting than Clitophon because his character shows startlingdevelopment. And Melitte, though she plays the part of temptress, is agreat human creation.

  In Book II Callisthenes first appears as a wealthy orphan, who isnotoriously dissipated and extravagant. Wishing to marry beauty andhaving a strange streak of romanticism he asked Sostratus for the handof the beautiful Leucippe although he had never seen her. Rejected bySostratus as a suitor because of his bad reputation he plotted vengeancein his willful and violent way. He journeyed to Tyre, saw Calligone at afestival, mistook her for Leucippe, fell in love at first sight, hiredsome gangsters to kidnap her and sailed off wit
h his prize.[159]Callisthenes does not reappear until in the end of Book VIII Sostratustells the story of his reform.[160] On the voyage Callisthenes foundhimself madly in love with Calligone, revealed to her that he was nopirate but a wealthy Byzantine noble, offered her honorable marriage anda large dowry, and promised to respect her chastity as long as shedesired. At Byzantium, love transformed him so that he appearedcourteous, virtuous, self-controlled. He showed great respect for hiselders. He was no longer extravagant, but became philanthropic. He gavelarge contributions to the state. He trained for military service andwon distinction in actual warfare. In this changed guise he securedSostratus as an advocate to persuade Hippias to give him the hand ofCalligone, whose chastity he had scrupulously respected. Eros thussalvaged Callisthenes and then rewarded him.

  Melitte the widow of Ephesus is the most elaborately drawn character inthe romance. There is even a long personal description of her: she is asbeautiful as a statue with skin like milk, cheeks roses, hair thick,long, golden, and about her the radiance of Aphrodite. Clitophon admitshe saw her with pleasure. Indeed she is so magnetic that the kisses shewas pleased to bestow on him stirred him.[161] She knew what she wantedand how to get it. During four months she had to woo Clitophon thoughshe was rich and young and her husband has been lost at sea. Finallysince Clitophon was convinced that Leucippe was really dead, he yieldedand agreed to marry her, though on condition that they should not beunited until they arrived at Ephesus. She was as passionate as Clitophonwas cold. On the ship she made ardent love to him while he begged her tophilosophize on love's nature. After Clitophon secretly receivedLeucippe's letter, he had to pretend illness to postpone the fulfillmentof her desires. Then Melitte sent for her so-called Thessalian slaveLacaena (really Leucippe) and begged her to concoct a philtre that wouldarouse Clitophon's feeling. She is very outspoken about the fact thatClitophon seems made of iron or wood; that indeed she seemed to love astatue.[162] And she had the ability to express to Clitophon everyfeeling she had without inhibition and in most picturesque language. Ather wedding breakfast in Alexandria she punned merrily about thepostponement of their union. "I've heard of a cenotaph but never beforeof a cenogam."[163] The bellying sail on the ship she compared to apregnant woman's body; indeed she converted the whole ship into symbolsof marriage.[164] She also compared herself to thirsty Tantalus standingby a river but not allowed to drink. She could match Clitophon'sarguments and his quibbles did not deceive her: "You are playing thesophist, dearest!" she commented. When from the discovery of Leucippe'sletter to Clitophon and her husband's safe return she knew that she hadlost Clitophon, she visited him secretly in prison and poured out on himall her wrath and all her passion. Her denunciation of him as eunuch,hermaphrodite, senile nonentity shifted to adoration; and passionfinally concentrated into so ardent and well argued an appeal for oneembrace that she was victorious. Clitophon admitted ironically that lovehad taught her rhetoric and that he was vanquished, so he gave theremedy to a sick soul and even on the prison floor enjoyed her![165]

  Melitte was no less subtle and plausible in the speech in which she madeher peace with her enraged husband Thersander: Clitophon was only one ofmany refugees whom she aided in memory of her husband lost at sea;indeed she had helped Clitophon to find his wife.[166] When Thersanderchallenged her by the ordeal of the water of the Styx, Melitte at onceaccepted the test on a quibble because her husband had demanded from heran oath that she had not fulfilled the rites of Aphrodite with thestranger _during the time while he himself was abroad_. And it was justthat unfortunate stipulation which makes her last appearance in theromance unforgettable. She is led out of the water of the Styx by thejudge, proved by indisputable ordeal a chaste woman! Achilles Tatius haswon his readers by this time to rejoice in Melitte's vindication. Forbesides charm and cleverness he has given her humanity and generosity.She was always merciful to her slaves and was kindness itself toLacaena-Leucippe.[167] After she had won her desire, she contrived theescape of Clitophon from prison dressed in her clothes, and financed byher. She did not even forget the jailer, but gave him money to go awayfor a time to avoid punishment.[168] Clitophon omitted in his finalnarrative of his adventures his succumbing to Melitte[169] but he hadthe grace to admit to himself her charms.

  It is clear that in the ethics of the romance there is a new point ofview. Achilles Tatius is definitely less idealistic than Chariton in histreatment of the erotic theme. As Rattenbury has pointed out:

  "Achilles Tatius seems to have felt that the fetish of chastity in theaverage romance was absurd, and tries to humanize romance by creatingcharacters that are reasonably, not unreasonably, moral.... Leucippecomes through safe and sound, it is true, but it was by good luck ratherthan by good intention." Clitophon is chaste as far as men can be andsuccumbs to Melitte only once. "Achilles Tatius," continues Rattenbury,"did not exactly parody his predecessors, but it is suggested that byattempting to humanize romance he not only showed up the absurdities ofthe usual stories, but was also responsible for the overthrow of theliterary form.... Achilles Tatius seems to have been to Greek Romancewhat Euripides was to Greek Tragedy. He broke down the conventions, anddrove the essential and permanent elements to seek refuge elsewhere. Theerotic element did not die, but found an outlet in 'Love-Letters,' acontemporary literary form of which Aristaenetus was an exponent in thefifth century, but the idealized love story of a superhumanly modesthero and heroine vanished, and Greek Romance hibernated until it wasrevived some centuries later by the Byzantine writers."[170]

  Not inconsistent with Tatius' slightly ironic treatment of amours is hisemphasis on the virtue of pity and his tendency to introduce longphilosophical discussions of conduct or the nature of love. Clitophon'sstory moves an Egyptian general to pity, tears and aid, for

  "When a man hears of another's misfortune, 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."[171]

  In the midst of Thersander's attempt to rape the weeping Leucippe, thereis a long digression on tears and the pity they arouse.[172] Cliniasappeals to the court not to put to death "a man who deserves pity ratherthan punishment."[173] Leucippe, disguised as a slave, begs Melitte as awoman to pity a woman and to pity one once free, now through Fortune'swill a slave.[174]

  Tatius has presented also in Callisthenes a picture of a noble younghero who was converted from the wildness of youth to self-control,respect, patriotism and service by chivalrous love.[175] And thisportrait of Callisthenes becomes an embodiment of an ideal latent in thephilosophical discussions of love which flavor the romance. "Love," saysClitophon, "inspired by beauty enters the heart through the eyes."[176]Later Clinias tells Clitophon that he is greatly fortunate in being ableto see his lady, for when eyes of lovers meet, the emanations of theirbeauty wed in a spiritual union that transcends bodily embrace.[177]Clitophon, wooing Leucippe in a fair garden, discourses to her on thepower of love over birds, creeping things, plants, even iron whichresponds to the magnet, over water (for Arethusa and Alpheus wed).[178]To cheer up Menelaus and Clinias on ship-board and divert them fromtheir sorrows, Clitophon starts a philosophic discussion on love ofwomen compared with love of men, untranslatable in its openness.[179]Menelaus takes up the cudgels for the love of men, probably much toClinias' satisfaction for he had previously denounced to his dearCharicles the love of women who, if they love, kill and had arraignedfor his indictment Eriphyle, Philomela, Sthenoboea, Chryseis, Briseis,Candaules' wife, Helen, Penelope, Phaedra, Clytemnestra![180]

  The worship of the kiss is featured in an enchanting story of a magiccharm breathed on the lover's lips[181] and a fantastic assertion thatif a maiden's kiss is stolen, the maid is raped.[182] Moreover a code oflove is presented, almost as detailed as Ovid's _Ars Amatoria_, ininstructions given by Clinias to Clitophon,[183] by the slave Satyrus toClitophon,[184] by Clitophon in discussion wit
h Menelaus.[185] Adelightful part of this Art of Love is telling the Lady love-stories,for all womankind is fond of myths.[186] Magic too plays its part in thetechnique of love, for incantation works a charm for a lover;[187]philtres may bewitch the indifferent;[188] and ordeals testchastity.[189]

  Closely akin to the philosophical discussions of love, its power, itsart, its magic is the worship of Aphrodite, the mother of Eros. Yetthere are few references to her cult. Her dominance is hinted:initiation into love makes Aphrodite the most powerful of gods.[190]Melitte wishes to have her nuptials on the sea, for Aphrodite is thesea's daughter and she wishes to propitiate her as the goddess ofmarriage by thus honoring the sea, her mother.[191] Clitophon at the endof his separation from Leucippe prays to Lady Aphrodite to forgive thelong delay in their union, for it was due to no insult to her and hebegs her blessing on their marriage.[192] The story of the ordeal by thewater of the Styx[193] is a merry tale of rivalry between Artemis andAphrodite for a young girl's worship in which Aphrodite made youngRhodopis break her oath of chastity but Artemis changed her into aspring in the very cave where she lost her virginity. Yet AchillesTatius presents no such deep-seated reverence for the goddess of Love asthat which permeates Chariton's romance.

  Artemis of Ephesus is rather the deity who dominates Tatius' story. Sheappears in dreams to the heroine and to Leucippe's father.[194] In hername Leucippe rebukes Thersander for insulting a virgin in the city ofthe Virgin Goddess.[195] Sostratus arrives at Ephesus as the head of asacred embassy in honor of Artemis and so finds his daughter.[196]Leucippe has taken refuge in the temple of Artemis and in that temple atlast she and Clitophon are reunited.[197] Here the villain of the pieceThersander brutally attacks Clitophon.[198] Thersander's lawyer in courtmakes insulting slanders about the fact that Clitophon and Leucippeprobably defiled the temple by an amour there.[199] But Artemis isproved to be no liar, and there is implicit recognition of herprotection of Leucippe though Achilles Tatius does not end withthanksgiving to her. Her cult forms an objective background of religioustradition for the action. No deep religious feeling for her ismanifested.

  There is no more aspiration to god in the other cults which arementioned incidentally: of Apollo, Hercules of Tyre, the god of thelower world, Pan. And the cruel goddess Fortune is berated onlyoccasionally. Superstition recognizes omens in the world of nature: theeagle stealing the sacrifice, the hawk pursuing the swallow.[200]Oracles are respected.[201] And the ordeals of Pan's pipes and theStyx's water receive general credence. Festivals to the gods arecelebrated.[202] But religion seems rather a matter of scrupulous regardfor ritual than communion with god or relief to the soul.

  As we compare the romances of Chariton and Achilles Tatius we find thatnot only has the main interest shifted from love and worship toincidents and adventures. An even greater change has come about in thestyle. Homeric simplicity has given way to rhetorical elaboration.Tatius may well have been a {rhetor} as the scholiast Thomas Magisterstates, for his whole style is dyed in the rhetoric of the schools andthe speeches delivered in the various lawsuits in the plot aremasterpieces of rhetoric.

  Among his acknowledged literary debts, however, he credits most to epic,for he quotes Homer once[203] and alludes to him five times[204] and herefers to Hesiod twice.[205] The messenger speeches in tragedyundoubtedly suggested the slave's dramatic narrative of the death ofCharicles in a riding accident.[206] Both the New and the Old AtticComedy contributed much to his humor: the New in the comic literarycontest of the slaves Conops and Satyrus who deride each other undercover of fables;[207] and the Old in the Aristophanic priest of Artemiswho "was no poor hand at speaking, and as good at quip and gibe as theplays of Aristophanes."[208] But the training of the rhetorical schoolsoutweighs all other influences. About half of Books VII and VIII isdevoted to the trial of Clitophon for adultery and self-confessedmurder. The court sits in Ephesus with a jury and a presiding judge, buttheir functions are vague. The prosecution speaks first, Thersander andhis ten lawyers, whose speeches fortunately are not reported. Clitophonanswers them by a false narrative accusing himself of the murder ofLeucippe and involving Melitte. Clinias gets the floor and tells thetrue story: that Clitophon desires only to die, that he deserves pityrather than condemnation and must be regarded as insane.

  In the wild confusion that follows, Thersander's counsel shouts for asentence of murder, Melitte offers her slaves to be questioned on herinnocence and demands that her husband produce Sosthenes who is probablythe murderer. Thersander in a long speech answers Melitte's challengeabout Sosthenes with the result that the presiding officer pronouncessentence of death on Clitophon but postpones Melitte's case. Clitophonis just on the point of being tortured for evidence when the arrival ofa sacred embassy to Artemis postpones the case of Melitte and theexecution of Clitophon.

  Only after the work of the embassy is finished is the case resumed. ThenThersander speaks first, demanding the execution of the sentence. Hecondemns the priest who has released Clitophon and says he has usurpedthe function of giving refuge to criminals which belongs to Artemis. Headds foul personal abuse. He presents a second charge against Melittefor adultery and a third against his slave girl Leucippe and her father.The priest in his reply deserves the epithet "Aristophanic" which he haswon, for he pays Thersander back in his own coin of abuse only clothingit in the wit of Aristophanes with all his double-meaning of words, hisbiting attack. And his own arguments point the irony of the situation:Thersander clapped Clitophon in jail before he was allowed to defendhimself. He charged him with murdering Leucippe but the young lady isalive!

  Sopater, counsel for Thersander, next hurls insulting invective at thepriest and whitewashes his noble client who has been betrayed by afaithless wife. Thersander then presents a formal challenge to Melitteand Leucippe to prove their chastity and on their acceptance of it, thecourt adjourns. Next day all reassemble at the cave of Pan and thespring of the Styx. The ladies are proved innocent. Thersander flees andthen is sentenced to banishment. Clitophon--and Melitte--are acquitted.

  This summary of the procedure of the court in Ephesus shows whatopportunity Achilles Tatius made for presenting the rhetorical speecheswhich he cherished. They are many. They are full of specious argument,personal attack, appeal to the emotions, attempted pathos which becomesbathos and genuine {ethos}. The speakers are true to type: theimpassioned lover, the leal friend, the haughty, imperious, lustfulnoble, his sophistical lawyer, the Aristophanic priest. Such agonisticscenes must have entertained the reader of the time as much as they didthe author. Actually this same favorite rhetorical style is alsoassigned to the characters in private life: Melitte in her impassionedspeech to Clitophon in prison talks like a sophist, for Eros teacheseven arguments![209]

  Long mythological narratives are another feature of Tatius' style. Thesight of a painting makes it necessary for him to relate the whole storyof Procne and Philomela to Leucippe.[210] The stories of the origins ofthe two ordeals to prove chastity are told with equal detail. Thediscovery of wine is elaborately related in the Tyrian version on theoccasion of the festival of Dionysus.[211] These are a few out of manyillustrations.

  Descriptive writing is employed as much as, perhaps more than, forensicor narrative. Indeed the purple patches almost overbalance plot,conversation and oratory. Works of art, setting for scenes, naturalphenomena, the wonders of the world are introduced in highly coloreddigressions which are clearly the ekphraseis which the students ofrhetoric were taught to compose and deliver.

  Achilles Tatius apparently was enamored of wall-paintings. He describeswith gusto five and alludes to another. The subjects of all are myths.Two are familiar types in the frescoes found at Pompeii: Perseus andAndromeda, Achilles in women's clothes among the daughters of KingLycomedes. One description of a painting opens the romance, a votivepainting of Europa in the temple of Astarte at Sidon.[212] Sidon is thefirst word of the novel and this story is introduced as a tribute to thecity where the first scene was laid, for the stemma on the coins ofSidon is Europa
on the bull, pictured almost as Tatius presents her. Thepicture is described in vivid detail even to the flowers in the meadowand the shifting colors of the sea. Posture and garb of Europa arevividly sketched in words for he sees her "seated on the bull like avessel under way, using the veil as a sail." The keynote of the pictureand the point of its application for Tatius is the little flying Eroswho leads the bull and laughs back at the transformed Zeus. "Look," saidClitophon, "how that imp dominates over land and sea." A young manstanding by exclaims that he too has suffered much from love. Theseexclamations are the point of departure for the recounting of loveadventures.

  In Book III there is an equally long description of a painting byEvanthes in the temple of Zeus Casius.[213] The subjects are Andromedaand Prometheus and they seem to have been paired because both werechained to rocks, menaced by beasts and rescued by Argive heroes,Perseus and Hercules. Design, color, emotion are all described vividlyand charmingly, but there is no point in the introduction of thepaintings. The description of them is simply a purple patch of finewriting.

  In Book V the description of a painting in a studio depicting the rapeof Philomela had "a hidden significance."[214] The whole story wasrepresented: "the rape of Philomela, the violence employed by Tereus,and the cutting out of her tongue ... the tapestry, Tereus himself, andthe fatal table." Ugly realism, terror, insane laughter characterize thetreatment. The hidden meaning is that the sudden sight of the picture isa bad omen threatening disaster which makes Clitophon postpone hisjourney to Pharos. The delay gives him a chance to tell the whole storyof Philomela to Leucippe, for all women love myths.

  Small works of art also are described lovingly and minutely: arock-crystal goblet carved in a grape-vine,[215] a jewellednecklace.[216] These enrich the setting as scattered flowers enrich thebackgrounds of Renaissance tapestries. It is as though Achilles Tatiuslike Corinthian potters or Renaissance artists had such an _horrorvacui_ that empty spaces in design were intolerable and interstices hadto be crowded with beautiful small objects. This is due in part to anobservant eye that saw and recorded detail. The specific and the graphicare his tools for clarity. The story of the attempted amour of Clitophonand Leucippe is vivified by a plan of the house as clear as the drawnplans in many modern detective stories.[217] The garden in whichClitophon's love-making is once set is described elaborately with itsporticoes, trees, vines, flowers, spring and birds.[218] The storm atsea in its violence and coloring is as lurid as a Turner, and itseffects on the shipwrecked passengers are described with a truepsychology of terror and panic.[219]

  The long description of the storm is justified by the vital significanceof the shipwreck for the plot, but what of the write-ups of the wondersof the world which are constantly introduced? The beautiful descriptionof Alexandria with its pharos is brief and pardonable as this was thebirthplace of the author. But only the love of novelty of the times andbad taste seem to explain the perpetrations of wordy descriptions of theNile, the phoenix, the hippopotamus, the elephant and thecrocodile![220] The romance at times tends to become a natural history.Wolff becomes so out of patience with "the damnable iteration" ofirrelevancies in _Clitophon and Leucippe_ that he can hardly calmhimself to analyze them in suggestive groups: irrelevancies of plot, ofcharacterization, of setting, of science and pseudo-science. The onlyjustification for such irrelevancies Wolff finds in "a common basis withparadox. Both defeat expectation.... In both its phases,--irrelevancyand paradox--this element of _the unexpected_, prominent in the form asin the matter of the Greek Romances, deserves attention. To turn asideto the irrelevant; to strain suspense by retarding the expected outcome;to introduce by the way--all unlooked for--as many bizarre, ironical,paradoxical situations and dazzling phrases as possible; and finally to'spring' an issue which is itself a surprising combination ofopposites--all these would seem to be consistent results of adopting theunexpected as the principle of the genre."[221]

  After all this is said in criticism of Achilles Tatius' exuberant styleand unlimited digressions, we go back to his fundamentals: a clear plot,living human beings, vivid settings for them, and exciting adventures.Achilles Tatius knew his age and for its disillusions he wrote withironic tolerance of human frailty and for its weariness he emphasizedthe excitement of adventure and the stimulus of the unexpected. To mehis successes chalk up to a longer list than his failures and I end withPhillimore:

  "What a strange thought--that an Alexandrian with the names of Achilles Tatius (what a pair!), atticizing _con furore_ in the reign of Diocletian, should write a story which delighted the Byzantine Middle Ages and can still be read with interest and amusement!"[222]