BOOK X.

We have now said sufficient about Syene, which, from the brink of

danger, was at once restored to security and happiness, by one man's

clemency.

Hydaspes, having sent the greater part of his army forward, proceeded

in person towards Ethiopia, followed by the applauses and blessings

both of Persians and Syenæans. At first he marched along the Nile, or

the parts bordering upon that river; but when he reached the cataracts,

having sacrificed to the river, and to the gods of the boundaries, he

turned aside, and travelled through the inland country.

When he arrived at Philœ, he rested, and refreshed his army there for

two days; and then as before, sending part of it forward, together with

the captives, he stayed some little time behind them, to direct the

repair of the walls, and to place a garrison, and soon afterwards set

out himself. He dispatched an express consisting of two troopers, who

changing their horses at every station, and using all speed, were to

announce his victory at Meröe.[1]

He sent the following message to the wise men of his country, who are

called Gymnosophists, and who are the assessors and privy councillors

of the Ethiopian kings in affairs of moment.

"Hydaspes to the most holy Council.

"I acquaint you with my victory over the Persians. I do not boast of

my success, for I know and fear the mutability of fortune; but I would

greet your holy order, which I have always found wise and faithful. I

invite and command your attendance at the usual place, in order that

the thanksgiving sacrifices for victory, may, by your presence, be

rendered more august and solemn in the sight of the Ethiopian people."

To his consort, Persina, he wrote as follows:--

"Know that I am returning a conqueror, and, what you will still

more rejoice at, unhurt. Make therefore preparations for the most

sumptuous processions and sacrifices, that we may give thanks to the

gods, for the blessings which they have bestowed. In accordance with

my letters, assist in summoning the Gymnosophists; and hasten to

attend, with them, in the consecrated field before the city, which is

dedicated to our country's gods--the Sun, the Moon, and Bacchus."

When this letter was delivered to Persina--"I now see," said she,

"the interpretation of a dream which I had last night. Methought I

was pregnant, and in labour, and that I brought forth a daughter in

the full bloom of youth and beauty. I see, that by my throes, were

signified the travails of war; and by my daughter, this victory."

"Go," continued she, "and fill the city with these joyful tidings."

The expresses obeyed her commands; and mounting their horses, having

crowned their heads with the lotus of the Nile, and waving branches

of palm in their hands, rode through the principal parts of the city,

disclosing by their very appearance, the joyous news.

Meröe resounded with rejoicings; night and day the inhabitants,

in every family, and street, and tribe, made processions, offered

sacrifices, and suspended garlands in the temples; not more out of

gratitude for the victory, than for the safety of Hydaspes; whose

justice and clemency, mildness and affability, had made him beloved,

like a father, by his subjects. The queen, on her side, collected

together from all parts, quantities of sheep and oxen, of horses and

wild asses, of hippogriffs,[2] and all sorts of animals, and sent

them into the sacred field, partly to furnish a hecatomb of each, for

sacrifice, partly to provide from the remainder, an entertainment for

all the people.

She next visited the Gymnosophists, who inhabit the grove of Pan, and

exhorted them to obey the summons of their king, as also to gratify her

by adorning and sanctifying the solemnity with their presence. They,

entreating her to wait a few moments, while they consulted the gods, as

they are used to do on any new undertaking, entered their temple, and

after a short time returned, when Sisimithres, their president, thus

addressed her:--"Ο queen! we will attend you, the gods order us to do

so; but, at the same time, they signify to us, that this sacrifice

will be attended with much disturbance and tumult, which, however, will

have an agreeable and happy end. A limb of your body, or a member of

the state, seems to have been lost; which will be restored by fate."

"Your presence," said Persina, "will avert every threatening presage,

and change it into good; I will take care to inform you when Hydaspes

arrives."

"You will have no occasion to do that," replied Sisimithres: "he will

arrive to-morrow, and you will presently receive letters to that

effect." His prediction was fulfilled. Persina, on her return to the

palace, found a messenger with letters from the king, announcing his

intended arrival for the following day.

The heralds dispersed the news through the city, and at the same time,

made proclamation, that the men alone should be suffered to go out

and meet him, but that the women should keep within their houses;

for, as the sacrifice was destined to be offered to the purest of all

deities--the Sun and Moon--the presence of females was forbidden, lest

the victims should acquire even an involuntary contamination.

The priestess of the Moon was the only woman suffered to attend

the ceremony, and she was Persina; for by the law and custom of

the country, the queens of Ethiopia are always priestesses of that

divinity, as the kings are of the Sun. Chariclea, also was to be

present at the ceremonial, not as a spectatress, but as a victim to the

Moon.

The eagerness and curiosity of the citizens was incredible. Before they

knew the appointed day, they poured in multitudes out of the city,

crossed the river Astabora, some over the bridge; some who dwelt at a

distance from it, in boats made of canes, many of which lay near the

banks, affording an expeditious means of passage.

These little skiffs are very swift, both on account of the materials of

which they are composed, and the slight burden which they carry, which

never exceeds two or three men: for one cane is split in two, and each

section forms a boat.[3]

Meröe, the metropolis of Ethiopia, is situated in a sort of triangular

island, formed by the confluence of three navigable rivers; the Nile,

the Astabora, and the Asasoba. The former flows towards it from above,

where it forms two branches; the others, flowing round it on either

side, unite their waters, and hasten to mingle their stream, and lose

their names, in the channel of the Nile.

This island, which is almost a continent, (being in length three

thousand furlongs, in width one thousand), abounds in animals of every

kind, and, among the rest, with elephants. It is especially fertile

in producing trees. The palm trees rise to an unusual height, bearing

dates of large size and delicious flavour. The stalks of wheat and

barley are so tall, as to cover and conceal a man when mounted on a

horse or camel, and they multiply their fruit three hundred fold. The

canes are of the size which I have before mentioned.

All the night were the inhabitants employed in crossing the river; they

met, received, and congratulated Hydaspes, extolling him as a god. They

had gone a considerable way to meet him. The Gymnosophists went only a

little beyond the sacred field, when, taking his hand, they kissed him.

Next appeared Persina at the vestibule, and within the precincts of the

temple.

After worshipping the gods, and returning thanks for his victory and

safety, they left the precincts, and prepared to attend the approaching

sacrifice, repairing for that purpose to a tent, which had been erected

for them on the plain. Four canes, newly cut down, were fixed in the

ground, one at each corner, serving as a pillar, supported the vaulted

roof, which was covered with the branches of palm and other trees. Near

this another tent was erected, raised considerably from the ground,

in which were placed the images of the gods of the country--Memnon,

Perseus, and Andromeda--whom the kings of Ethiopia boasted to be

the founders of their race: under these, on a lower story, having

their gods above them, sat the Gymnosophists. A large portion of the

ground was surrounded by the soldiers; who in close order, and with

their shields joined, kept off the multitude, and afforded a clear

space sufficient for the priests to perform their sacrifice, without

confusion or disturbance.

Hydaspes, after speaking briefly upon the victory which he had gained,

and the advantages obtained by it to the state, commanded the sacred

ministers to begin their rites.

Three lofty altars were erected, two in close proximity to the Sun and

Moon; a third, at some distance, to Bacchus: to him they sacrificed

animals of every kind, as being a common deity, gracious and bountiful

to all. To the Sun they offered four white horses, the swiftest of

animals to the swiftest of the gods;[4] to the Moon, a yoke of oxen,

consecrating to her, as being nearest the earth, their assistants in

agriculture.

While these things were transacting, a loud confused murmur began to

rise as among a promiscuous multitude; "Let our country's rites be

performed--let the appointed sacrifice be made--let the first-fruits of

war be offered to our gods."

Hydaspes understood that it was a human victim whom they demanded,

which it was customary to offer from among the prisoners taken only in

a foreign war. Making a motion for silence, with his hand, he intimated

to them, by gestures, that they should soon have what they required,

and ordered those who had the charge of the captives to bring them

forward. They obeyed, and led them forth, guarded, but freed from their

chains.

The generality were, as may be imagined, dejected and sorrowful.

Theagenes, however, appeared much less so than the others; but the

countenance of Chariclea was cheerful and elate. She fixed her eyes

upon Persina with a fixed and steady glance, so as to cause in her

considerable emotion; she could not help sighing, as she said--"Ο

husband! what a maiden have you destined for sacrifice! I never

remember to have seen such beauty. How noble is her presence! with what

spirit and fortitude does she seem to meet her impending fate! How

worthy is she of compassion, owing to the flower of her age. If my only

and unfortunately lost daughter were living, she would be about the

same age. Ο that it were possible to save this maiden from destruction;

it would be a great satisfaction to me to have her in my service. She

is probably Grecian, for she has not at all the air of an Egyptian."

"She is from Greece," replied Hydaspes: "who are her parents she will

presently declare; shew them she cannot, though such has been her

promise. To deliver her from sacrifice is impossible: were it in my

power, I should be very glad to do so; for I feel, I know not why,

great compassion and affection for her. But you are aware that the law

requires a male to be offered to the Sun, and a female to the Moon; and

she being the first captive presented to me, and having been allotted

for the sacrifice, the disappointment of the people's wishes would

admit of no excuse. One only chance can favour her escape, and that is,

if she should be found when she ascends the pile, not to have preserved

her chastity inviolate; for the law demands a pure victim to be offered

to the goddess as well as to the god--the condition of those offered on

the altar of Bacchus is indifferent. But should she be found unchaste,

reflect whether it would be proper that she should be received into

your family."

"Let her," replied Persina, "be found unchaste, provided only

she be preserved. Captivity and war, absence from friends, and a

wandering life, furnish an excuse for guilt, particularly in her,

whose transcendent beauty must have exposed her to more than common

temptations."

While she was weeping and striving to conceal her weakness from the

people, Hydaspes ordered the fire-altar[5] to be prepared, and brought

out. A number of young children, collected by the officials from among

the multitude, brought it from the temple (they alone being permitted

to touch it), and placed it in the midst. Each of the captives was then

ordered to ascend it. It was furnished with golden bars of such mystic

virtue, that whenever any unchaste or perjured person placed his foot

upon it, it burnt him immediately, and he was obliged to retire: the

pure, on the contrary, and the uncontaminated, could mount it uninjured.

The greatest part of the prisoners failed in the trial, and were

destined as victims to Bacchus, and the other gods--save two or three

Grecian maidens whose virginity was found intact. Theagenes at length

ascended it, and was found pure. It raised great admiration in the

assembly, that with his beauty, stature, and in the flower of youth, he

should be a stranger to the power of love--accordingly he was destined

as an offering to the Sun. He said softly to Chariclea--"Is death then,

and sacrifice, the reward which the Ethiopians bestow upon purity and

integrity? But why, my dearest life, do you not discover yourself? How

long will you delay? Until the sacrificer's knife is at your throat?

Speak, I beseech you, and disclose your condition. Perhaps when you

are known, your intercession may preserve me; but if that should

not happen, you will be safe, and then I shall die with comfort and

satisfaction."

"Our trial," said Chariclea, "now approaches--our fate trembles in the

balance."[6]--So saying, and without awaiting any command, she drew

from out of a scrip which she had with her, and put on, her sacred

Delphic robe, interwoven and glittering with rays of light. She let her

hair fall dishevelled upon her shoulders, and as under the influence

of inspiration, leaped upon the altar, and remained there a long time,

unhurt.

Dazzling every beholder with more than ever resplendent beauty; visible

to all from this elevated place, and with her peculiar dress, she

resembled an image of the goddess, more than a mere mortal maiden. An

inarticulate murmur of applause ran through the multitude, expressive

of their surprise and admiration, that with charms so superhuman,

she should have preserved her honour, enhancing her beauty by her

chastity.[7] Yet they were almost sorry that she was found a pure

and fitting victim for the goddess. Notwithstanding their religious

reverence they would have been glad could she by any means escape. But

Persina felt more for her than all the rest. She could not help saying

to Hydaspes--"How miserable and ill-fated is this poor maiden! To no

purpose giving token of her purity! Receiving for her many virtues only

an untimely death! Can nothing be done to save her?"

"Nothing, I fear," replied the king: "your wishes and pity are

unavailable. It seems that the gods have from the beginning selected

by reason of her very excellence this perfect victim for themselves."

And then directing his discourse to the Gymnosophists: "Sages,"

said he, "since every thing is ready, why do you not begin the

sacrifice?"--"Far be it from us," said Sisimithres (speaking in

Greek, that the multitude might not understand him) "to assist at such

rites; our eyes and ears have already been sufficiently wounded by the

preparations. We will retire into the temple, abhorring ourselves the

detestable offering of a human victim, and believing too that the gods

do not approve it. Would that the sacrifices even of brute animals

might cease; those consisting of prayers and incense being, to our

mind, sufficient.[8] Do you, however, remain; for the presence of a

ruler is sometimes necessary to stay the turbulence of the multitude.

Go on with this unhallowed sacrifice, since the inveterate custom

of the people has made it unavoidable; remembering that when it is

performed, yourself will stand in need of expiation, though perhaps,

you will not need it, for I think this rite will never be brought to

consummation. I judge from various divine tokens, and particularly

from a kind of glory shed around these strangers, signifying that they

are under the peculiar protection of the gods;"--having said this, he

arose, and was about to retire with his brethren.

At this instant Chariclea leapt down from the altar; rushed towards

Sisimithres, and fell at his feet. The officials would have hindered

her, supposing that she was deprecating death, but she exclaimed "Stay,

Sages, I beseech you! I have a cause to plead before the king and

queen; you are the only judges, in such a presence; you must decide in

this, the trial for my life. You will find that it is neither possible

nor just that I should be sacrificed to the gods." They listened to

her readily, and addressing the king, said,--"Do you hear, Ο king, the

challenge and averment of this foreign maiden."

Hydaspes smiling, replied, "What controversy can she have with me?

From what pretext, or from what right, can it arise?"--"That, her

own relation will discover," said Sisimithres.--"But will it not be

an indignity, rather than an act of justice," rejoined the monarch,

"for a king to enter into a judicial dispute with a slave?"--"Equity

regards not lofty rank," said the sage. "He is king in judgment

who prevails by strength of arguments."--"But," returned Hydaspes,

"your office gives you a right of deciding only when a controversy

arises between the king and his own subjects, not between him and

foreigners."--"Justice," said Sisimithres, "is weighed among the wise,

not by mere appearances, but by facts."--"It is clear that she can have

nothing serious to advance," said the king, "but some mere idle pretext

to delay her fate, as is the case with those who are in fear of their

lives. Let her, however, speak, since Sisimithres would have it so."

Chariclea, who had always been sanguine, in expecting her deliverance,

was now inspired with additional confidence when she heard the name of

Sisimithres. He was the person to whose care she had been committed

ten years before, and who delivered her to Charicles at Catadupa, when

he was sent ambassador to Oroondates in the matter of the emerald

mines--he was then one of the ordinary Gymnosophists: but now, he

was their president. Chariclea did not call to mind his face (having

been parted from him when only seven years' old), but recollected and

rejoiced at hearing his name, trusting that she should find in him a

support and an advocate. Stretching out then her hands towards heaven,

and speaking audibly,--"O Sun!" she exclaimed, "author of my family;

and you, ye gods and heroes who adorn my race! I call you to witness

the truth of what I say. Be you my supporters and assistants in the

trial which I am about to undergo--my cause is just, and thus I enter

upon it:--Does the law, Ο king, command you to sacrifice natives or

foreigners?"

"Foreigners only," replied Hydaspes.--"You must then seek another

victim," said she, "for you will find me a native." The king seemed

surprised, declaring it to be a figment. "Do you wonder at this?" said

she; "you will hear much stranger things. I am not only a native, but

closely allied to the royal family." This assertion was received with

contempt, as so much idle speech: when she added--"Cease, my father, to

despise and reject your daughter!"

By this time the king began to appear not only contemptuous, but

indignant, taking the matter as a personal insult to himself. He said,

therefore, to Sisimithres,--"Behold the reward of my endurance! Is

not the maiden downright mad! Endeavouring with wild and incredible

fictions to escape the fate awaiting her! desperately feigning herself

to be my daughter, as in some sudden appearance and discovery upon

the stage--mine, who was never so fortunate as to have any offspring.

Once, indeed, I heard of a daughter's birth, only, however, to learn

her death. Let then some one lead her away, that the sacrifice may be

no longer deferred."--"No one shall lead me away," cried out Chariclea,

"till the judges have given sentence. You are in this affair a party,

not a judge; the law perhaps permits you to sacrifice foreigners, but

to sacrifice your children, neither law nor nature allows; and the

gods shall this day declare you to be my father, however unwilling

you appear to own me. Every cause, Ο king, which comes for judgment,

leans principally upon two kinds of proof, written evidence, and that

of living witnesses: both these will I bring forward to prove myself

your child. I shall appeal to no common witness, but to my judge

himself (the consciousness of the judge is the prisoner's best ground

of confidence); as to my written evidence it shall be a history of my

own and your misfortunes." So saying, she loosened from her waist the

fillet[9] which had been exposed with her, unrolled, and presented it

to Persina. She, as soon as it met her sight, appeared struck dumb with

astonishment; she continued a considerable time casting her eyes first

on the writing, then again on the maiden. A cold sweat bedewed her

limbs, and convulsive tremblings shook her frame.

Her first emotions were those of joy and hope; but anxiety and doubt

succeeded. Dread of the suspicions of Hydaspes followed; of his

incredulity, and perhaps of his anger and vengeance.

The king observing her agitation and astonishment, said to her,

"Persina! what is it which ails you? from what cause has this writing

such effect upon you?"--"My king, my lord, and my husband!" she

replied, "I know not what to answer you: take and read it yourself:

let this fillet explain everything." She gave it him, and remained

trembling, in anxious silence.

He took the fillet, and began to read it, calling to the Gymnosophists

to read it with him. As he proceeded, he was struck with doubt

and amazement; but Sisimithres was still more astonished: his

ever-changing colour betrayed the various emotions of his mind: he

fixed his eyes now on the fillet, and now on Chariclea.

At length Hydaspes, when he came to the account of the exposing of the

infant, and the cause of it, broke silence, and said, "I know that I

had once a daughter born to me, having been told that it died almost as

soon as it was born. This writing now informs me that it was exposed:

but who took it up, who preserved, who educated it? who brought it into

Egypt? Was that person, whoever he were, taken captive at the same

time with her? How shall I be satisfied that this is the real child

that was exposed? May she not have perished? May not these tokens have

fallen into the hands of some one, who takes advantage of this chance?

May not some evil genius be paltering with my desire of offspring, and

clothed with the person of this maiden, be endeavouring to pass off a

supposititious birth as my successor,--overshadowing the truth with

this fillet, as with a cloud?"

But now Sisimithres replied, "I can clear up some of your doubts; for I

am the person who took her up, who educated and carried her into Egypt,

when you sent me thither on an embassy. You know me too well to suspect

me of asserting what is untrue. I perfectly recollect the fillet,

which is inscribed with the royal characters of the kings of Ethiopia,

which you cannot suspect to have been counterfeited elsewhere; for you

yourself must recognize the handwriting of Persina. But there were

other tokens exposed with her, which I delivered at the same time

to him who received the damsel from me, who was a Grecian, and, in

appearance, an honest and worthy man."

"I have preserved them likewise," said Chariclea, and immediately

shewed the necklace and the bracelet. Persina was yet more affected

when she saw these.

Hydaspes still inquiring what all this agitation could mean, and

whether she had anything to discover which might throw light upon

this matter; she answered, "that she certainly had, but it was an

examination more proper to be made in private than in public."

Hydaspes was more than ever perplexed, and Chariclea proceeded--"These

are the tokens of my mother; but this ring is a present of your own;"

and produced the stone Pantarbè.

The king instantly recollected it as a present which he had made to his

wife during the time of their betrothment; and he said, "Maiden, these

tokens were certainly mine; but how does it appear that you possess

them as my child, and have not obtained them by some other means?

Besides, in addition to my other doubts, your complexion is totally

different from that of an Ethiopian."

Here Sisimithres interposed, and said, "The child whom I took up

was perfectly white: and farther, the time when I found her seems

very closely to coincide with the age of the maiden, for it is just

seventeen years since this happened. The colour of her eyes too

occurred to me as being the same; in short, I recognize in her the

general expression of her features, and in her surpassing beauty a

resemblance with what I recollect of the child then exposed."

"This is all very well," replied Hydaspes, "you speak with the fervour

of the advocate more than as the judge; but take care lest while you

are clearing up one doubt, you do not raise another, and that a more

serious one; throwing suspicions upon the virtue of my consort; as we

are both Ethiopians, how could we for our offspring have a white child?"

Sisimithres, with rather a sarcastic smile, replied, "I know not why

you should object to me, that I am an advocate for this maiden. He is

the best judge who inclines to the side of right: may I not rather

be called an advocate for you, while I am endeavouring, with the

assistance of the gods, to establish your right to be called a father;

and neglecting no means to restore to you, in the bloom of her youth,

that daughter whom I preserved in swathing bands? However, deem of me

as you please, I do not esteem it necessary to make any apology; we do

not shape our lives so as to please others: we endeavour to follow the

dictates of truth and virtue, and think it sufficient if we can approve

our conduct to ourselves: yet, as to the doubt which you entertain

concerning her complexion, the writing clears this up, explaining how

Persina, from her contemplation of Andromeda, might have received an

impression upon her mind agreeing with the subject of the picture.

If you wish for farther proof, the original is at hand; examine the

Andromeda, the likeness between the picture and the maiden will be

found unmistakeably exact."

The king complied: and had the picture brought; when being placed near

Chariclea, an instant cry of surprise, admiration, and joy, was raised

throughout the assembly, at the striking likeness; those who were near

enough to understand what was passing, spreading the intelligence among

the rest.

Hydaspes could no longer doubt, and he stood for some time motionless,

between wonder and pleasure. But Sisimithres added, "One thing is

still necessary to complete the proof; for recollect the succession to

the kingdom, and the truth itself is now in question. Bare your arm,

my child; there was a black mark upon it, a little above the elbow.

There is nothing unseemly in doing this, in order to establish the

evidence of your birth and family." Chariclea obeyed, and uncovered her

left arm, when there appeared, as it were, an ebon ring, staining the

ivory[10] of her arm.

But Persina could now no longer contain herself--she leapt from her

throne, burst into tears, rushed into her daughter's embrace, and could

express her transports only by an inarticulate murmur. For excess of

joy will sometimes beget grief. They had nearly fainted and fallen on

the ground.

Hydaspes felt for his consort, affected as she was, and a kindred

emotion was gaining possession of himself; yet he gazed upon the

spectacle with eyes as unmoved[11] as though they were of iron,

struggling against his tears, his mind contending between fatherly

feeling and manly fortitude, and tossed to and fro as by opposing

tides. At last he was overpowered by all conquering nature; he not

only believed himself to be a father, but was sensible of a father's

feelings. Raising Persina, he was seen to embrace his daughter, pouring

over her the paternal libation of his tears.

He was not, however, driven from that propriety which the circumstances

demanded. Recollecting himself a little, and observing the multitude

equally affected, shedding tears of pleasure and compassion at the

wonderful events which had taken place, and not heeding the voices

of the heralds, who were enjoining silence, he waved his hand, and

stilling the tumult, thus addressed them:--"You see me, by the favour

of the gods, and beyond all my expectations, entitled at length to the

name of a father. This maiden is shewn to be my daughter by proofs

which are infallible: but[12] my love for you, and for my country,

is so great, that disregarding the continuance of my race, and the

succession to my throne, and the new and dear appellation which I

have just acquired, I am ready to sacrifice her to the gods for your

advantage. I see you weep; I see you moved by the feelings of humanity;

you pity the age of this maiden, immature for death; you pity my

vainly cherished hope of a successor, yet even against your wills, I

must obey the customs of my country, and prefer the public weal to any

private feelings of my own. Whether it be the will of the gods just

to shew me a daughter, and then take her away again (shewing her to

me at her birth, taking her away now that she is found),[13] I leave

you to judge: I am unable to determine. As little can I decide whether

they will permit her to be sacrificed, when, after driving her from

her native land to the extremest ends of the earth, they have, as by a

miracle, brought her back again a captive; but if it be expedient that

I sacrifice her whom I slew not as an enemy, nor injured as a prisoner,

at the instant when she is recognized to be my daughter I will not

hesitate, nor yield to affections which might be pardonable in any

other father. I will not falter nor implore your compassion to acquit

me of obedience to the law, out of regard to the feelings of nature

and affection, nor even suggest that it is possible the deity may be

appeased and satisfied by another victim; but as I see you sympathize

with me, and feel my misfortunes as your own, even so much more does

it become me to prefer your good to every other consideration, little

regarding this sore grief, little regarding the distress of my poor

Queen, made a mother and at the same moment rendered childless. Dry

then your tears, repress your ineffectual grief for ever, and prepare

for this necessary sacrifice: and, thou, my daughter! (now first and

now last do I address thee by this longed-for name,) beauty is to no

purpose, and in vain discovered to thy parents! thou who hast found

thy native land more cruel than any foreign region! who hast found

a strange land thy preserver, but wilt find thy native country thy

destroyer! do not thou break my heart, by mournful tears; if ever thou

hast shewed a high and royal spirit, shew it now. Follow thy father,

who is unable to adorn thee as a bride; who leads thee to no nuptial

chamber; but who decks thee for a sacrifice; who kindles, not torch of

marriage, but the altar torch, and now offers as a victim this thine

unrivalled loveliness. Do you too, Ο ye gods! be propitious, even if

anything unbecoming or disrespectful has escaped me, overcome as I am,

by grief, at calling this maiden daughter, and at the same time being

her destroyer!" So saying, he made a show of leading Chariclea to

the pyre, with palpitating heart, and deprecating the success of the

speech, which he had made in order to steal away the people's wills.

The whole multitude was strongly excited by these words--they would not

suffer her to be led a step towards the altar; but loudly and with one

voice cried out---"Save the maiden! Preserve the royal blood! Deliver

her whom the gods evidently protect! We are satisfied; the custom has

been sufficiently complied with. We acknowledge thee our king: do

thou acknowledge thyself a father; may the gods pardon the seeming

disobedience; we shall be much more disobedient by thwarting their

will; let no one slay her who has been preserved by them. Thou who art

the father of thy country, be also the father of thy family!" These,

and a thousand such like exclamations, were heard from every side. At

length they prepared to prevent by force the sacrifice of Chariclea,

and demanded steadily that the other victims alone should be offered to

the gods.

Gladly and readily did Hydaspes suffer himself to be persuaded, and to

submit to this seeming violence: he heard with pleasure the cries and

congratulations of the assembly, and allowed them the indulgence of

their wills, waiting till the tumult should spontaneously subside.

Finding himself near Chariclea, he said:--"My dear daughter (for the

tokens you have produced, the wise Sisimithres, and the benevolence of

the gods declare you to be such), who is this stranger who was taken

with you, and is now led out to be sacrificed? How came you to call him

your brother, when you were first brought into my presence at Syene?

He is not likely to be found my son, for Persina had only one child,

yourself."

Chariclea, casting her eyes on the ground, blushed, and said:--"He is

not, I confess, my brother: necessity extorted that fiction from me.

Who he is, he will better explain than I can."

Hydaspes not readily comprehending what she meant, replied:--"Forgive

me, my child, if I have asked a question concerning this young man

which it seems to hurt your maiden modesty to answer. Go into the tent

to your mother, cause her more rejoicing now, than you caused her pain

when she gave you birth; add to her present enjoyment, by relating

every particular about yourself. Meanwhile, we will proceed with the

sacrifice, selecting, if possible, a victim worthy to be offered with

this youth instead of you."

Chariclea was nearly shrieking at mention of sacrificing the young man;

hardly could she for ultimate advantage, check her frenzied feelings,

so as to wind her way covertly towards the end she had in view. "Sire,"

said she, "perhaps there needs not to seek out another maiden, since

the people remitted in my person the sacrifice of any female victim?

But if they insist that a pair of either sex should be sacrified, see

if it be not necessary for you to find out another youth, as well as

another maiden; or, if that be not done, whether I must not still be

offered."

"The gods forbid!" replied Hydaspes; "but why should you say this?"

"Because," said she, "the gods have decreed that he is to live with me,

or die with me."

"I commend your humanity," replied the king, "in that having so hardly

escaped yourself, you are desirous of saving a foreigner, a Greek, a

fellow-prisoner, and of the same age, with whom, from a communion in

misfortunes, you must have contracted some degree of familiarity and

friendship: but he cannot be exempted from the sacrifice; religion will

not permit our country's custom to be in everything curtailed, neither

would the people suffer it, who have with difficulty been persuaded by

the goodness of the deities to spare you."

"Ο king!" said Chariclea, "for perhaps I may not presume to call you

father, since the mercy of the gods has saved my body, let me implore

their and your clemency to preserve my soul:[14] they know with how

much justice I call him so, since they have so closely interwoven

the web of my destiny with his. But if his fate is irretrievably

determined; as if a foreigner he must necessarily suffer, I ask only

one favour---Let me with my own hand perform the sacrifice; let me

grasp the sword--even like a precious treasure--and signalize my

fortitude before the Ethiopians."

Hydaspes was astonished and confounded at this strange request. "I know

not what to make," said he, "of this sudden change in your disposition:

but a moment ago you were anxious to save this stranger, and now you

desire permission to destroy him as an enemy with your own hands; but

there is nothing either honourable or becoming your sex or age in such

a deed: granting that there were, it is impossible; it is an office

exclusively belonging to the priests and priestesses of the Sun and

Moon, the one must be a husband; the other is required to be a wife; so

that even the fact of your virginity would be sufficient to preclude

this unaccountable request."

"There need be no obstacle here," rejoined Chariclea, blushing, and

whispering her mother, she said, "give but your consent and I already

have one who answers to the name of husband."--"We will consent,"

replied Persina, smiling, "and will bestow your hand at once, if we

can find a match worthy of yourself and us."--"Then," said Chariclea,

raising her voice, "your search need not be long, it is already found."

She was proceeding (for the imminent danger of Theagenes made her bold,

and caused her to break through the restraints of maiden modesty),

when Hydaspes, becoming impatient, said--"How do ye, Ο gods, mingle

blessings and misfortunes! and mar the happiness ye have bestowed

upon me! ye restore, beyond all my hopes, a daughter, but ye restore

her frenzy-stricken! for is not her mind frenzied when she utters

such inconsistencies? She first calls this stranger her brother, who

is no such thing; next, when asked who the stranger is, she says she

knows not; then she is very anxious to preserve him, as a friend,

from suffering; and, failing in this, appears desirous of sacrificing

him with her own hands; and when we tell her that none but one who is

wedded can lawfully perform this office, then she declares herself

a wife but does not name her husband. How can she indeed? She whom

the altar proves never to have had a husband; unless the unfailing

ordeal of chastity among the Ethiopians has, in her case only, proved

fallacious, dismissing her unscathed, and bestowing upon her the

spurious reputation of virginity; upon her, who with one breath calls

the same person her friend and enemy, and invents a brother and a

husband who have no existence? Do you, then, my Queen, retire into your

tent, and endeavour to recall this maiden to her senses: for either

she is frenzied by the deity, who is approaching the sacrifices, or

else she is distraught through her unexpected preservation. I will

have search made for the victim, due to the gods, as an offering

in her stead; meanwhile I will give audience to the ambassadors of

the different nations, and will receive the presents brought in

congratulation of my victory." So saying, he seated himself in a

conspicuous place near the tent, and commanded the ambassadors to be

introduced, and to bring what gifts they had to offer.

Harmonias, the lord in waiting,[15] inquired whether they should all

approach without distinction, or a few selected from every nation; or

whether he should introduce each separately.

"Let them come separately in turn," said the king, "that each may be

questioned according to his deserts."

"Your nephew, then, Merœbus," said Harmonias, "must first appear; he is

just arrived, and is waiting outside the troops for his introduction."

"You silly, stupid fellow," replied Hydaspes, "why did you not announce

him instantly? Do you not know that he is not a mere ambassador, but a

king, the son of my own brother (not long deceased), placed by me on

his father's throne, and adopted by me as my own son?"

"I was aware of it, my lord," replied Harmonias; "but I considered that

the duty of a lord in waiting required him above all things, to observe

a proper time and season. Pardon me, therefore, if when I saw you

speaking with the royal ladies, I felt averse to drawing your attention

from matters of such delight."

"Let him enter now, then," replied the king. The master of the

ceremonies hastened out, and soon returned with him.

Merœbus was a handsome youth, just past the season of boyhood, his age

being about seventeen; but he exceeded in stature almost all those who

surrounded him, and his suite was splendid and numerous. The Ethiopian

guards opened on either side to let him pass, and regarded him with

wonder and respect.

Hydaspes himself rose from his throne to meet him, embraced him with

fatherly affection, placed him by his side, and taking him by the

hand said, "Nephew, you are come very seasonably both to assist at a

triumphal sacrifice, and a nuptial ceremony; for the gods, the authors

and protectors of our family, have restored to me a daughter, and

provided, as it seems, for you a wife. The particulars you shall hear

hereafter; at present if you have any business relating to the nation

which you govern, make me acquainted with it."

The youth,[16] at the mention of a wife, was seen to blush through his

dark complexion from mingled pleasure and modesty (the red rushing,

as it were, to the surface of the black). After an interval he said,

"The other ambassadors, my Father, in honour of your splendid victory,

bring you the choicest productions of their several countries: I, as

a suitable compliment to a brave and first-rate warrior, make you an

offering after your own heart, a champion who is invincible; not to

be matched either in wrestling, or boxing, or in the race;" and so,

saying, he motioned to the man alluded to, to advance.

He came forward and made his adoration to Hydaspes. So vast and "old

world[17]" was his stature, that when kissing the king's knees, his

head nearly equalled those who sat on raised seats above him; and,

without waiting for any orders, he stripped and challenged any one

to engage with him, either with skill of arms, or with strength of

hands. And when, after many proclamations made, no antagonist appeared

to oppose him--"You shall have," said Hydaspes, "a reward quite in

character;" and he ordered an old and very bulky elephant to be brought

out and given to him.

The man was pleased with, and vain of the present; but the people

burst into a shout of laughter; delighted at the humour of the king;

consoling themselves by their derision of his boastfulness, for the

inferiority which they had virtually expressed.

The ambassadors of the Seres came next. They brought spun and woven

garments, both white and purple; the materials of which were the

produce of an insect,[18] which is bred in their country. These gifts

being accepted, they begged and obtained the release of certain

prisoners who had been condemned.

After them, the envoys from Arabia the Happy approached. They presented

many talents worth of fragrant leaves, lavender, cinnamon, and other

productions, with which that land of perfume abounds; all which filled

the air around with an agreeable odour.

Then appeared the Troglodites. They brought gold dust (which is turned

up by the ant-eater[19]), also a pair of hippogriffs guided by golden

reins.

The ambassadors of the Blemmyæ offered bows and arrows, formed of

serpents' bones, and disposed into the form of a crown.

"These our presents," said they, "in value fall far behind those of

others; nevertheless, they did good service against the Persians, at

the river, as you yourself can testify."

"They are of more value," said Hydaspes, "than other costly gifts, and

are the cause of my now receiving other presents;"--at the same time he

bid them declare their wishes. They requested some diminution of their

tributes, and obtained a full remission of them for ten years. When

almost all the ambassadors had been admitted, and had been presented,

some with rewards equal to their gifts, others with such as were far

greater, at last the ambassadors of the Axiomitæ appeared. These were

not tributaries, but allies: they came to express their satisfaction

at the king's success, and brought with them their presents; and among

the rest there was an animal of a very uncommon and wonderful kind:

his size approached to that of a camel! his skin was marked over with

florid spots: his hind-quarters were low and lionshaped: but his fore

legs, his shoulders, and breast, were far higher in proportion than

his other parts; his neck was slender, towering up from his large body

into a swanlike throat, and his head, like that of a camel, was about

twice as large as that of a Lybian ostrich; his eyes were very bright

and rolled with a fierce expression; his manner of moving was different

from that of every other land or water animal; he did not use his

legs alternately, one on each side at once, but moved both those on

the right together, and then, in like manner, both those on the left;

one side at a time being raised before the other; and yet so docile

in movement and gentle in disposition was he, that his keeper led

him by a thin cord fastened round his neck; his master's will having

over him the influence of an irresistible chain. At the appearance

of this animal the multitude were astonished; and extemporising his

name[20] from the principal features in his figure, they called him a

camelopard.[21] He was, however, the occasion of no small confusion

in the assembly. There happened to stand near the altar of the Moon a

pair of bulls, and by that of the Sun four white horses, prepared for

sacrifice. At the sudden sight of this strange outlandish beast, seen

for the first time, terrified as if they had beheld some phantom, one

of the bulls, and two of the horses, bursting from the ropes of those

who held them, galloped wildly away. They were unable to break through

the circle of the soldiery, fortified as it was with a wall of locked

shields; but running in wild disorder through the middle space, they

overturned vessels and victims--everything, in short, that came in

their way; so that mingled cries arose, some of fear in those towards

whom the animals were making; some of mirth for the accidents which

happened to others whom they saw fallen and trampled upon. Persina and

her daughter, upon this, could not remain quiet in their tent; but

gently drawing aside the curtain they became spectators of what was

done.

But now Theagenes, whether excited by his own courageous spirit, or

by the inspiration of the gods, observing the keepers who were placed

around him dispersed in the tumult, rose from his knees, in which

which posture he had placed himself before the altar, awaiting his

approaching sacrifice; and seizing a piece of cleft wood, many of which

lay prepared for the ceremony, he leaped upon one of the horses who had

not burst his bands; and grasping the mane with one hand, and using it

for a bridle, with his heel (as with a spur) and the billet he urged on

the courser, and pursued, on full speed, one of the flying bulls.

At first, those present supposed it an attempt of Theagenes to escape

in the confusion, and called out not to let him pass the ring of

soldiers; but they soon had reason to be convinced that it was not

the effect of fear or dread of being sacrificed. He quickly overtook

the bull and followed him for some time close behind, fatiguing him,

and urging on his course, pursuing him in all his doublings, and if

he endeavoured to turn and make at him, avoiding him with wonderful

dexterity. When he had made the animal a little familiar with his

presence and his movements, he galloped up close by his side, actually

touching him, mingling the breath and sweat of both animals, and so

equalizing their courses, that they who were at a distance might

imagine their heads had grown together. Every one extolled Theagenes

who had found means to join together this strange hippotaurine

pair.[22] While the multitude was intent upon, and diverted with this

spectacle, Chariclea was agitated, and trembled. She knew not what was

the object of Theagenes; should he fall and be wounded it would be

death to her; her emotion, in short, was such that it could not escape

the observation of Persina.

"My child," said she, "what is the matter with you? You seem very

anxious about this stranger. I feel some concern for him myself, and

pity his youth. I hope he will escape the danger to which he has

exposed himself, and be preserved for the sacrifice; lest all the

honours which we meant to pay the gods, should be found failing and

deficient."

"Yours is strange compassion," replied Chariclea, "to wish that he may

avoid one death, in order that he may suffer a worse. But if it be

possible, Ο my mother! save this young man for my sake."

Persina not understanding the real case, but suspecting that love had

some share in it, said, "This is impossible; but let me know the nature

of your connection with this youth, in whom you seem to take so great

an interest. Open your mind with freedom and confidence, and recollect

that you are speaking to a mother. Even if giving way to any youthful

weakness, you have felt more for this stranger than perhaps a maiden

ought to own, a parent knows how to excuse the failings of a daughter;

and a woman can throw a cloak over the frailties of her sex."

"This too is my additional misfortune," replied Chariclea; "I am

speaking[23] to those of understanding, yet I am not understood. While

speaking of my own misfortunes, I am not supposed to speak of them. I

must enter then upon a 'plain unvarnished' accusation of myself." She

was preparing to declare everything which related to her situation

and connections, when she was interrupted by a sudden and loud shout

from the multitude; for Theagenes, after urging his horse at its

swiftest speed and getting even with the bull's head, suddenly leaping

from the animal (which he allowed to run loose) threw himself on the

bull's neck. He placed his face between his horns, closely embraced

his forehead with his arms (as with a chaplet), clasped his fingers

in front, and letting his body fall on the beast's right shoulder,

sustained his bounds, and shocks with little hurt. When he perceived

him to be fatigued with his weight, and that his muscles began to be

relaxed and yield, just as he passed by the place where Hydaspes sat,

he shifted his body to the front, entangled his legs with those of the

bull, continuously kicking him and hindering his progress. The beast

being thus impeded, and borne down at the same time by the weight

and force of the youth, trips and tumbles upon his head, rolls upon

his back, and there lies supine, his horns deeply imbedded in the

ground, and his legs quivering in the air, testifying to his defeat.

Theagenes kept him down with his left hand, and waved his right towards

Hydaspes and the multitude, inviting them, with a smiling and cheerful

countenance, to take part in his rejoicing, while the bellowings of the

bull served instead of a trumpet to celebrate his triumph. The applause

of the multitude was expressed not so much by articulate words, as by

a shout, giving open-mouthed token of their wonderment, and with its

sounds extolling him to the very skies. By order of Hydaspes, Theagenes

was brought before him, and the bull, by a rope tied over his horns,

was led back weak and dispirited towards the altar, where they again

fastened him, together with the horse which had escaped. The king

was preparing to speak to Theagenes, when the multitude, interested

in him from the first, and now delighted with this instance of his

strength and courage, but still more moved with jealousy towards the

foreign wrestler, called out with one voice--"Let him be matched with

Marœbus's champion. Let him who has received the elephant contend,

if he dare, with him who has subdued the bull." They pressed and

insisted on this so long, till at length they extorted the consent of

Hydaspes. The fellow was called out: he advanced, casting around fierce

and contemptuous looks, stepping haughtily, dilating his chest, and

swinging his arms with insolent defiance.[24] When he came near the

royal tent, Hydaspes looking at Theagenes, said to him in Greek--"The

people are desirous that you should engage with this man, you must

therefore do so."

"Be it as they please," replied Theagenes. "But what is to be the

nature of the contest?"--"Wrestling," said the king.--"Why not with

swords, and in armour?" returned the other, "that either by my fall

or by my victory I may satisfy Chariclea, who persists in concealing

everything which relates to our connection, or perhaps at last has cast

me off."

"Why you thus bring in the name of Chariclea," replied Hydaspes, "you

best know; but you must wrestle, and not fight with swords, for no

blood must be shed on this day, but at the altar." Theagenes perceived

the king's apprehension lest he should fall before the sacrifice, and

said, "You do well, Ο king, to reserve me for the gods; they too, you

may be assured, will watch over my preservation." So saying, taking up

a handful of dust, he sprinkled it over his limbs, already dripping

with sweat, from his exertions in pursuit of the bull. He shook off all

which did not adhere; and stretching out his arms, planting his feet

firmly, bending his knees a little, rounding his back and shoulders,

throwing back his neck, and contracting all his muscles, he stood

anxiously waiting the gripe of his antagonist. The Ethiopian seeing

him, grimly smiled, and by his contemptuous gestures seemed to slight

his adversary.

Making a rush he let fall his arm, like some mighty bar, upon the

neck of Theagenes--at the echo which it made the braggart laughed

exultingly. Theagenes, trained in the wrestling-school tricks from

his youth, and familiar with all the tricks of the Mercurial art,[25]

determined to give ground at first, and having made trial of his

adversary, not to stand up against such tremendous weight and savage

ferocity, but to elude his undisciplined strength by skill and

subtlety. Staggering back, then, a little from his place he affected to

suffer more than he really did, and exposed the other side of his neck

to his opponent's blow; and when the African planted another hit in

that quarter, purposely giving way, he pretended almost to be falling

upon his face. But when waxing stronger in contempt and confidence,

his antagonist was now a third time, unguardedly rushing on, and

about to let fall his upraised arm, Theagenes got within his guard,

eluding his blow by a sudden twist, and with his right elbow struck up

the other's left arm, and dashed him to the earth, already impelled

downwards by the sway of his own missed blow; then slipping his hand

under his armpits, he got upon his back, and with difficulty spanning

his brawny waist, incessantly kicked his feet and ancles, and compelled

him to rise upon his knees, strode over him, pressed him in the groin

with his legs, struck from under him the support of his hands, and

twining his arms about his temples, dragged his head back upon his

shoulders, and so stretched him with his belly on the ground.[26]

An universal shout of applause, greater than before, now burst from the

multitude; nor could the king contain himself, but springing from his

throne--"Ο hateful necessity," he cried, "what a hero of a man are we

compelled to sacrifice!" and calling him to him he said, "Young man,

it now remains for you to be crowned for the altar, according to our

custom. You have deserved a crown too for your glorious but useless

victory, and transitory triumph; and though it be out of my power,

however willing I may be, to preserve your life, whatever I can do for

you I will. If therefore there is any thing you wish to have done,

either before or after your death, ask it freely." So saying he took a

crown of gold, set with precious stones, and put it on his head; and,

while he placed it there, was seen to shed tears.

"I have but one thing to ask," said Theagenes, "and this I earnestly

beseech you that I may obtain. If it be impossible for me to avoid

being sacrificed, grant that I may suffer by the hands of this your

newly recovered daughter."

Hydaspes was annoyed at this reply, and called to mind the conformity

of this request to that made just before by Chariclea; but, as the time

pressed, he did not think it necessary to inquire particularly into

the reasons of it, and only said, "Whatever is possible, Stranger! I

encouraged you to ask, and promised that you should obtain; but she,

who performs the sacrifice the law distinctly declares, must be one who

has a husband, not a maiden."

"Chariclea has a husband," said Theagenes.--"These are the words,"

replied Hydaspes, "of one who trifles and is about to die. The altar

has declared her unmarried and a virgin--unless indeed you call this

Merœbus her husband (having somehow heard the rumour); he however is

not yet her husband--he is yet in accordance with my will, only her

intended."

"Nor will he ever be her husband," said Theagenes, "if I know aught of

Chariclea's sentiments; and, if being a victim, credit is due to me

as inspired by prophecy."--"But, fair Sir," said Merœbus, "it is not

living but slaughtered victims which afford knowledge to the Seers. You

are right, Sire, in saying that the stranger talks folly, and like one

just about to die. Command, therefore, that he be led to the altar; and

when you shall have finished all your business, begin the rites, I pray

you."

Theagenes was being led away; and Chariclea, who had breathed again

when he was victorious, was once more plunged into grief, when she saw

it had profited him nothing. Persina observed her tears, and feeling

for her affliction, said--"It is possible I may yet have power to save

this Grecian, if you will explain more clearly all the particulars

relating to yourself."

Chariclea, who saw that there was not a moment to be lost, was a second

time preparing to own everything; when Hydaspes inquiring from the lord

in waiting whether any ambassadors remained who had not had audience,

was told only those from Syene, who were that instant arrived, with

letters from Oroondates, and presents. "Let them too approach, and

execute their commission," said the monarch. They were introduced, and

delivered letters to this effect:--

"Oroondates, Viceroy of the Great King, to Hydaspes, the king of

Ethiopia.

"Since conqueror in fight, you are yet more conqueror in magnanimity,

in restoring to me a viceroyalty unasked, I have little doubt that I

shall obtain a slight request. A young maiden who was being conducted

from Memphis to my camp, became involved in the perils of war, and as

I am informed, was sent by you into Ethiopia. This I have learnt from

those who were with her and who escaped: I beg she may be sent to me,

both on account of the maiden herself, as well as for her father's

sake, who, after having wandered over half the globe, in search of his

daughter, came at last to Elephantine, and was taken prisoner by the

garrison. When reviewing those of my soldiers who survived, I saw him

and he earnestly desired to be sent to your clemency. He is among the

ambassadors, his manners and bearing show him to be of noble birth,

and his very countenance and looks speak strongly in his favour.

Dismiss him then, Ο king, I beseech you, happy and contented from your

presence. Send back to me one who is a father not merely in name but

in reality."

Hydaspes, having read the letter, inquired who it was, who was come in

quest of his daughter. When he was pointed out to him, he said, "I am

ready, stranger, to do every thing which Oroondates requests of me. Out

of the ten captive maidens whom we have brought hither, one assuredly

is not your daughter; examine the rest, and if she be found among them

take her."

The old man, falling down, kissed his feet. The maidens were

brought, and passed in review before him; but when he saw not her

whom he sought, he said sorrowfully--"None of these, Ο king, is my

daughter."--"You have my good will in your behalf," replied Hydaspes.

"You must blame Fortune if you have not discovered your child. It is in

your power to search, if you will, through the camp; and to ascertain

that none else has been brought hither besides these."

The old man smote his forehead, and wept; and, then after raising

his eyes, and looking round him, he suddenly sprang forward, like

one distracted; and upon coming to the altar, he twisted the end of

his long robe into the form of a halter, threw it over the neck of

Theagenes, and pulled him towards him, crying out--"I have found you,

my enemy! I have found you, man of blood, detested wretch!"--The guards

interposed, and endeavoured to resist and pull him away, but keeping

a firm hold and clinging closely to him, he succeeded in bringing him

before Hydaspes and the council.

"This, Ο king," said he, "is the man who stole away my daughter. This

is he who has rendered my house childless and desolate; who, after

ravishing away my daughter from the midst of Apollo's altar, now sits

as though he were holy beside the altars of the gods."

The assembly was thrown into commotion at what was taking place. They

did not understand what he said, but wondered at what they saw him do;

and Hydaspes commanded him to explain himself more plainly, and say

what he would have; when the old man (it was Charicles), concealing the

true circumstances of the birth and exposure of Chariclea, lest, if

she should have perished in her flight or journey, he might come into

some collision with her real parents, explained briefly such matters as

could produce ηo ill results.

"I had a daughter, Ο king! and had you seen her various and uncommon

perfections, both of mind and person, you would say I have good cause

for speaking as I do. She lived the life of a virgin, a priestess of

Diana, in the temple at Delphi. This noble Thessalian, forsooth, who

was sent by his country to preside over a solemn embassy and sacrifice

to be celebrated in our holy city, stole her away from the very shrine,

I say, of Apollo.

"Justly may he be considered to have insulted you by profaning your

national deity Apollo and his temple, Apollo being identical with the

Sun. His assistant in this impious outrage was a pretended priest of

Memphis. In my pursuit, I came to Thessaly; and the Thessalians offered

to give him up should he be found as one accursed and deserving death.

Thinking it probable that Calasiris might have chosen Memphis as a

place of refuge, I hastened thither. Calasiris, I found, was dead; but

I learnt all particulars concerning my daughter from his son Thyamis,

who told me that she had been sent to Oroondates at Syene. After being

disappointed at not finding the latter at Syene, and having been

myself detained prisoner at Elephantis, I now appear before you as a

suppliant, to seek my child. You will, then, deeply oblige me, a man of

many griefs, and will also gratify your own self, by not disregarding

the Viceroy's intercession." He ceased, and burst into tears.

The king asked Theagenes what reply he had to make to all this. "The

whole charge," said he, "is true. To this man I have been a ravisher,

unjust, and violent; but to you I have been a benefactor."--"Restore,

then, another's daughter," said Hydaspes. "You have been dedicated to

the gods; let your death be a holy and glorious sacrifice--not the just

punishment of crime."

"Not he who committed the violence," said Theagenes; "but he who reaps

the fruits of it, is bound to make restitution. Do you then restore

Chariclea, for she is in your possession. The old man, you shall see,

will own your daughter to be her whom he seeks."

None could repress their emotion: all were in confusion. But

Sisimithres, who had hitherto kept silence, though long since

understanding all that was being said and done, yet waiting till the

circumstances should become yet clearer, now ran up and embraced

Charicles. "Your adopted child," said he, "she whom I formerly

delivered into your hands, is safe: she is, and has been acknowledged

to be, the daughter of those whom you know."

Upon this Chariclea rushed out of the tent, and overlooking all

restraints of sex or maidenly reserve, flung herself at the feet of

Charicles, and cried out, "O my father! Ο not less revered than the

authors of my birth, punish me, your cruel and ungrateful daughter, as

you think fit, regardless of my only excuse, that what has been done

was ordained by the irresistible will and appointment of the gods."

Persina, on the other side, threw her arms round Hydaspes, and said,

"My dear husband, be assured that all this is truth, and that this

stranger Greek is her betrothed." The people, on the other hand, leaped

and danced for joy; every age and condition were, without exception,

delighted--not understanding, indeed, the greater part of what was

said, but conjecturing the facts from what had taken place with

Chariclea. Perhaps, too, they were brought to a comprehension of the

truth by some secret influence of the deity, who had ordered all these

events so dramatically, producing out of the greatest discords the most

perfect harmony: joy out of grief; smiles from tears; out of a stern

spectacle a gladsome feast; laughter from weeping; rejoicing out of

mourning; the finding[27] of those who were not sought; the losing[28]

of those who were in imagination found; in one word, a holy sacrifice

out of an anticipated[29] slaughter.

At length Hydaspes said to Sisimithres, "Ο sage! what are we to do? To

defraud the gods of their victims is not pious; to sacrifice those who

appear to be preserved and restored by their providence is impious. It

needs that some expedient be found out."

Sisimithres, speaking, not in the Grecian, but in the Ethiopian tongue,

so as to be heard by the greatest part of the assembly, replied: "Ο

king! the wisest among men, as it appears, often have the understanding

clouded through excess of joy, else, before this time, you would have

discovered that the gods regard not with favour the sacrifice which you

have been preparing for them. First they, from the very altar, declared

the all-blessed Chariclea to be your daughter; next they brought her

foster-father most wonderfully from the midst of Greece to this spot;

they struck panic and terror into the horses and oxen which were being

prepared for sacrifice, indicating, perhaps, by that event, that those

whom custom considered as the more perfect and fitting victims were to

be rejected. Now, as the consummation of all good, as the perfection of

the piece,[30] they show this Grecian youth to be the betrothed husband

of the maiden. Let us give credence to these proofs of the divine and

wonder-working will; let us be fellow workers with this will; let us

have recourse to holier offerings; let us abolish, for ever, these

detested human sacrifices."

When Sisimithres had uttered this, in a loud voice, Hydaspes, speaking

also in the Ethiopian tongue, and taking Theagenes and Chariclea by the

hand, thus proceeded:--

"Ye who are this day assembled! since these things have been thus

brought to pass by the will of the deities, to oppose them would be

impious. Wherefore, calling to witness those who have woven these

events into the web of destiny, and you whose minds appear to be in

concert with them, I sanction the joining together of this pair in

wedlock and procreative union. If you approve, let a sacrifice confirm

this resolution, and then proceed we with the sacred rites."

The assembly signified their approval by a shout, and clapped their

hands, in token of the nuptials being ratified. Hydaspes approached

the altar, and, in act to begin the ceremony, said, "Ο lordly Sun and

queenly Moon! since by your wills Theagenes and Chariclea have been

declared man and wife, they may now lawfully be your ministers." So

saying, he took off his own and Persina's mitre, the symbol of the

priesthood, and placed his own upon the head of the youth, that of his

consort upon the maiden's head.

Upon this Charicles called to mind the oracle which had been given to

them in the temple before their flight from Delphi, and acknowledged

its fulfilment.

In regions torrid shall arrive at last,

There shall the gods reward their pious vows,

And snowy chaplets bind their dusky brows.[31]

The youthful pair then, crowned by Hydaspes with white mitres, and

invested with the dignity of priesthood, sacrificed under propitious

omens; and, accompanied by lighted torches and the sounds of pipes and

flutes, Theagenes and Hydaspes, Charicles and Sisimithres, in chariots

drawn by horses, Persina and Chariclea, in one drawn by milk white

oxen, were escorted, into Meröe (amidst shouts, clapping of hands, and

dances), there to celebrate with greater magnificence the more mystic

portions of the nuptial rites.

Thus ends the Romance of the "Ethiopics," or Adventures of Theagenes

and Chariclea, written by a Phœnician of Emesa, in Phœnicia, of the

race of the Sun--Heliodorus, the son of Theodosius.

[Footnote 1: In. Bk. viii., 98, Herodotus gives an account of the

Persian system of estafette--comparing it to the torch race:--"Kατάπερ

Ἔλλησι ἡ λαμπαδηφορίη, τὴν τῷ Ἡφαίστῳ επιτέλεουσι." See also, Xen.

Cyrop. viii. 6, 17.]

[Footnote 2: Solinus describes these fabulous creatures as "alites

ferocissimæ et ultra omnem rabiem sævientes;" others speak of them as

resembling an eagle in the upper part, a horse in the lower.--See Æsch.

P. V., 395 and 803.]

[Footnote 3: See Blakesley's edit. of Herod. iii. 98: where mention

is made of boats made of bamboo, used by the Indians, of which Pliny

says, that the length of the boats, made of the internodal wood, often

exceeded five cubits, and that they would hold three persons.]

[Footnote 4: Herod. i. 216, states the same concerning the Massagetæ,

and assigns the same cause:--"Τῶν θεῶν τῴ ταχίστῳ πάντων τῶν θνητῶν τὸ

τάχιστον δατέονται."]

[Footnote 5: Τὴν ἐσχάρα.]

[Footnote 6: Taλaντεύει καθ' ἡμας ἡ μοῖρα.]

[Footnote 7:

"Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpora virtus."

Virg. Æn. v. 344.

]

[Footnote 8:

"Immunis aram si tetigit manus,

Non sumptuosa blandior hostia

Mollivit aversos penates

Farre pio et saliente micâ."

Hor. III. Od. xxiii. 17.

]

[Footnote 9: See Book IV.]

[Footnote 10: In the version printed in 1717 is a curious blunder in

the word ἐλέφαντα--"a spot black as ebony, resembling an elephant."]

[Footnote 11: Tὸ ὄμμα δὲ οἱονεί κέρας ἥ σίδηρον εἰς τὰ ὁρώμενα τείνας.

... "ille--immota tenebat

Lumina, et obnixus curam sub corde premebat."--Æn. iv. 331.

]

[Footnote 12: See the speech of Agamemnon, in the Iphigenia in Aulis,

1242.]

[Footnote 13:

"Ostendent terris hunc tantùm fata, neque ultrà

Esse sinent."--Virg. Æn. vi. 870.

]

[Footnote 14: "Et serves animæ dimidium meæ."--Hor. I. Od. iii. 8.]

[Footnote 15: εἱσαγγιλεὺς. See Herod. III. 84.]

[Footnote 16: It would be unfair to deprive the reader of the very

quaint rendering of this passage in the version of 1717: "Merœbus,

young and bashful, and wonderfully tickled at the thoughts of a bride,

blushed through his black skin, his face looking _like a ball of soot

that had taken fire_."]

[Footnote 17: Οὔτως ὠγύγιος. See the description and bearing of

Dares.--Virg. Æn. v. 368, 385.]

[Footnote 18: Τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀραχνιών--literally, of spiders, see

Tatius, B. iii.]

[Footnote 19: In the original it is "ant-gold" χρυσόν μυρμηκιαν, turned

up by the "myrmex," an animal between a dog and fox in size, supposed

to be the ant-eater. See note vol. i. p. 378, of Blakesley's Herodotus.

William Lisle, the poet, thus improves upon the "ant-gold:"--

"A yoke of gryphons chain'd with that fine gold

Which emmots, nigh as big as Norfolke sheepe,

At sand-hill side are said to gath'r and keepe."

The reader will of course remember Milton's allusion to the _gryphons_.

Paradise Lost, B. ii. 945.]

[Footnote 20: αυτοσχεδίως κατηγορηθέν.]

[Footnote 21: This animal was among the number of those, in the

destruction of which the Emperor Commodus exhibited his skill in the

arena.--See Gibbon, i. 153, (_note_).]

[Footnote 22: Suetonius mentions an exploit similar to this of

Theagenes, and performed by a Thessalian, as he was (Claud. cap. 21).

"Præterea _Thessalos_ equites qui feros tauros per spatia circi agunt,

insiliuntque defessos, et ad terram cornibus detrahunt." The above

exploit was called ταυροκαθαίρια. It is represented in one of the

Arundel marbles.]

[Footnote 23: Τοῖς συνετοῖς ἀσύνετα φθέγγομαι.]

[Footnote 24:

... "caput altum in prælia tollit,

Ostenditque humeros latos, alternaque jactat,

Brachia protendens, et verberat ictibus auras."

Virg. Æn. v. 375.

]

[Footnote 25:

"Mercuri, facunde nepos Atlantis,

Qui feros cultus hominum recentum

Voce formasti catus, et _decoræ_."

_More palestræ._--Hor. I. Od. X. 1-4.

]

[Footnote 26: A wood-cut, in some degree illustrative of this

description, will be found at p. 708 of Greek and Roman Antiquities,

under the article "Pancratium."]

[Footnote 27: By Hydaspes.]

[Footnote 28: By Charicles.]

[Footnote 29:

"Time and tide had thus their sway,

Yielding, like an April day,

Smiling noon for sullen morrow,

Years of joy for hours of sorrow."--Scott.

]

[Footnote 30: Literally, the torch of the drama, Λαμπάδων δράματος.

"φαίνετε τοίνυν υμεῖς τούτῳ

λαμπάδας ἱερὰς χάμα προπέμπετε

τοῖσιν τούτου τοῦτον μέλεσιν

καὶ μολπᾶσιν κελαδοῦντες."--Aristoph. Bat. 1493.

See similar allusions in the Eumenides of Æschylus, 959, 979. (Müller's

Edit.)]

[Footnote 31: See Book II.]

THE END.

THE LOVES OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE, A PASTORAL NOVEL, BY LONGUS.

MOTTO.

Ah! what a life were this! how sweet, how lovely!

Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade

To shepherds looking on their silly sheep,

Than doth a rich embroidered canopy

To kings, that fear their subjects' treachery?

Oh yes it doth; a thousand-fold it doth.

Shakspeare

PREFACE.

While hunting in Lesbos I saw in a grove, sacred to the Nymphs, the

most beautiful sight which had ever come before my eyes--an historical

painting,[1] which represented the incidents of a love-story. The grove

itself was beautiful, abounding with trees and flowers, which received

their nourishment from a single fountain. More delightful, however,

than these was the painting, displaying, as it did, great skill, and

representing the fortunes of Love. Because of the fame of this picture,

many strangers resorted thither to pay their adorations to the Nymphs,

and to view the painting. The subjects of it were women in the throes

of child-birth; nurses wrapping the new-born babes in swathing clothes;

infants exposed; animals of the flock giving them suck; shepherds

carrying them away; young people pledging their mutual troth; an attack

by pirates; an inroad by a hostile force.

As I viewed and admired these and many other things, all containing

love allusions, I conceived the desire of writing an illustration

of the piece, and having sought out a person to explain the various

allusions, I at length completed four books,--an offering to the God

of Love, to the Nymphs, and to Pan; a work, moreover, which will be

acceptable to every one, for it will remedy disease, it will solace

grief, it will refresh the memory of him who has once loved, it will

instruct him who is as yet ignorant of love. No one, assuredly, has

ever escaped, or will escape, the influence of this passion, so long as

beauty remains to be seen, and eyes exist to behold it.

May the Deity grant me, undisturbed myself, to describe the emotions of

others![2]

[Footnote 1: Compare the description of the picture representing the

story of Europa, in Achilleus Tatius.--B. i., and those of Andromeda

and Prometheus in B. ii.]

[Footnote 2:

"Suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri

Per campos instructa, _tuâ_ sine parte pericli."

Lucret. 11, 5.

]

THE LOVES OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE.

In the island of Lesbos there is an extensive city called Mitylene,

the appearance of which is beautiful; the sea intersects it by various

canals, and it is adorned with bridges of polished white stone. You

might imagine you beheld an island rather than a city.

About twenty-four miles from Mitylene, were the possessions of a rich

man, which formed a very fine estate. The mountains abounded with game,

the fields produced corn, the hills were thick with vines, the pastures

with herds, and the sea-washed shore consisted of an extent of smooth

sand.

As Lamon, a goatherd, was tending his herds upon the estate, he found

a child suckled by a she-goat. The place where it was lying was an oak

coppice and tangled thicket, with ivy winding about it, and soft grass

beneath; thither the goat continually ran and disappeared from sight,

leaving her own kid in order to remain near the child. Lamon watched

her movements, being grieved to see the kid neglected, and one day

when the sun was burning in his meridian heat he follows her steps and

sees her standing over the infant with the utmost caution, lest her

hoofs might injure it, while the child sucked copious draughts of her

milk as if from its mother's breast. Struck with natural astonishment,

he advances close to the spot and discovers a lusty and handsome

male-child, with far richer swathing clothes than suited its fortune

in being thus exposed; for its little mantle was of fine purple, and

fastened by a golden clasp, and it had a little sword with a hilt of

ivory.

At first Lamon resolved to leave the infant to its fate, and to carry

off only the tokens; but feeling afterwards ashamed at the reflection,

that in doing so, he should be inferior in humanity, even to a goat,

he waited for the approach of night, and then carried home the infant

with the tokens, and the she-goat herself to Myrtale his wife.

Myrtale was astonished, and thought it strange if goats could produce

children, upon which her husband recounts every particular; how he

found the infant exposed; how it was suckled; and how ashamed he felt

at the idea of leaving it to perish. She shared his feelings, so

they agreed to conceal the tokens, and adopt the child as their own,

committing the rearing of it to the goat; and that the name also might

be a pastoral one they determined to call it Daphnis.

Two years had now elapsed, when Dryas, a neighbouring shepherd, tending

his flock, found an infant under similar circumstances.

There was a grotto[1] sacred to the Nymphs; it was a spacious rock,

concave within, convex without. The statues of the Nymphs themselves

were carved in stone. Their feet were bare, their arms naked to the

shoulder, their hair falling dishevelled upon their shoulders, their

vests girt about the waist, a smile[2] sat upon their brow; their whole

semblance was that of a troop of dancers. The dome[3] of the grotto

rose over the middle of the rock. Water, springing from a fountain,

formed a running stream, and a trim meadow stretched its soft and

abundant herbage before the entrance, fed by the perpetual moisture.

Within, milk-pails, transverse-flutes, flageolets and pastoral

pipes[4] were suspended--the offerings of many an aged shepherd.

An ewe of Dryas's flock which had lately lambed had frequently resorted

to this grotto, and raised apprehensions of her being lost. The

shepherd wishing to cure her of this habit, and to bring her back to

her former way of grazing, twisted some green osiers into the form of

a slip knot, and approached the rock with the view of seizing her.

Upon arriving there, however, he beheld a sight far contrary to his

expectation. He found his ewe affectionately offering from her udder

copious draughts of milk to an infant, which without any wailing,

eagerly turned from one teat to the other its clean and glossy face,

the animal licking it, as soon as it had had its fill.

This child was a female: and had beside its swathing garments, by way

of tokens, a head-dress wrought with gold, gilt sandals, and golden[5]

anklets.

Dryas imagining that this foundling was a gift from the Deity, and

instructed by his sheep to pity and love the infant, raised her in his

arms, placed the tokens in his scrip, and prayed the Nymphs that their

favour might attend upon him in bringing up their suppliant; and when

the time was come for driving his cattle from their pasture, he returns

to his cottage, relates what he had seen to his wife, exhibits what he

had found, urges her to observe a secrecy, and to regard and rear the

child as her own daughter.

Nape (for so his wife was called) immediately became a mother to the

infant, and felt affection towards it, fearing perhaps to be outdone in

tenderness by the ewe, and to make appearances more probable, gave the

child the pastoral name of Chloe.

The two children grew rapidly, and their personal appearance exceeded

that of ordinary rustics. Daphnis was now fifteen and Chloe was his

junior by two years, when on the same night Lamon and Dryas had the

following dream. They thought that they beheld the Nymphs of the

Grotto, in which the fountain was and where Dryas found the infant,

presenting Daphnis and Chloe to a very saucy looking and handsome

boy, who had wings upon his shoulders, and a little bow and arrows in

his hand. He lightly touched them both with one of his shafts, and

commanded them henceforth to follow a pastoral life. The boy was to

tend goats, the girl was to have the charge of sheep.

The Shepherd and Goat-herd having had this dream, were grieved to think

that these, their adopted children, were like themselves to have the

care of flocks. Their dress had given promise of a better fortune,

in consequence of which their fare had been more delicate, and their

education and accomplishments superior to those of a country life.

It appeared to them, however, that in the case of children whom the

gods had preserved, the will of the gods must be obeyed; so each having

communicated to the other his dream, they offered a sacrifice to the

"WINGED BOY, THE COMPANION OF THE NYMPHS," (for they were unacquainted

with his name) and sent forth the young people to their pastoral

employments, having first instructed them in their duties; how to

pasture their herds before the noon-day heat, and when it was abated;

at what time to lead them to the stream, and afterwards to drive them

home to the fold; which of their sheep and goats required the crook,

and to which only the voice was necessary.

They, on their part, received the charge as if it had been some

powerful sovereignty, and felt an affection for their sheep and goats

beyond what is usual with shepherds: Chloe referring her preservation

to a ewe, and Daphnis remembering that a she-goat had suckled him when

he was exposed.

It was the beginning of spring, the flowers were in bloom throughout

the woods, the meadows, and the mountains; there were the buzzings of

the bee, the warblings of the songsters, the frolics of the lambs.

The young of the flock were skipping on the mountains, the bees flew

humming through the meadows, and the songs of the birds resounded

through the bushes. Seeing all things pervaded with such universal

joy, they, young and susceptible as they were, imitated whatever

they saw or heard. Hearing the carol of the birds, they sang; seeing

the sportive skipping of the lambs, they danced; and in imitation of

the bees they gathered flowers. Some they placed in their bosoms, and

others they wove into chaplets and carried them as offerings to the

Nymphs.

They tended their flocks in company, and all their occupations were in

common. Daphnis frequently collected the sheep, which had strayed, and

Chloe drove back from a precipice the goats which were too venturesome.

Sometimes one would take the entire management both of goats and sheep,

while the other was intent upon some amusement.

Their sports were of a pastoral and childish kind. Chloe sometimes

neglected her flock and went in search of stalks of asphodel, with

which she wove traps[6] for locusts; while Daphnis devoted himself to

playing till nightfall upon his pipe, which he had formed by cutting

slender reeds, perforating the intervals between the joints, and

compacting them together with soft wax. Sometimes they shared their

milk and wine, and made a common meal upon the provision which they

had brought from home; and sooner might you see one part of the flock

divided from the other than Daphnis separate from Chloe.

While thus engaged in their amusements Love contrived an interruption

of a serious nature.[7] A she-wolf from the neighbourhood had often

carried off lambs from other shepherds' flocks, as she required a

plentiful supply of food for her whelps. Upon this the villagers

assembled by night and dug pits in the earth, six feet wide and

twenty-four feet deep. The greater part of the loose earth, dug out of

these pits, they carried to a distance and scattered about, spreading

the remainder over some long dry sticks laid over the mouth of the

pits, so as to resemble the natural surface of the ground. The sticks

were weaker than straws, so that if even a hare ran over them they

would break and prove that instead of substance there was but a show

of solid earth. The villagers dug many of these pits in the mountains

and in the plains, but they could not succeed in capturing the wolf,

which discovered the contrivance of the snare. They however caused the

destruction of many of their own goats and sheep, and very nearly, as

we shall see, that of Daphnis.

Two angry he-goats engaged in fight. The contest waxed more and more

violent, until one of them having his horn broken ran away bellowing

with pain. The victor followed in hot and close pursuit. Daphnis,

vexed to see that his goat's horn was broken, and that the conqueror

persevered in his vengeance, seized his club and crook, and pursued

the pursuer.[8] In consequence of the former hurrying on in wrath,

and the latter flying in trepidation, neither of them observed what

lay in their path, and both fell into a pit, the goat first, Daphnis

afterwards. This was the means of preserving his life, the goat serving

as a support in his descent. Poor Daphnis remained at the bottom

lamenting his sad mishap with tears, and anxiously hoping that some one

might pass by, and pull him out. Chloe, who had observed the accident,

hastened to the spot, and finding that he was still alive, summoned a

cowherd from an adjacent field to come to his assistance. He obeyed the

call, but upon seeking for a rope long enough to draw Daphnis out, no

rope was to be found: upon which Chloe undoing her head-band,[9] gave

it to the cowherd to let down; they then placed themselves at the brink

of the pit, and held one end, while Daphnis grasped the other with both

hands, and so got out.

They then extricated the unhappy goat, who had both his horns broken by

the fall, and thus suffered a just punishment for his revenge towards

his defeated fellow-combatant. They gave him to the herdsman as a

reward for his assistance, and if the family at home inquired after

him, were prepared to say that he had been destroyed by a wolf. After

this they returned to see whether their flocks were safe, and finding

both goats and sheep feeding quietly and orderly, they sat down on the

trunk of a tree and began to examine whether Daphnis had received any

wound. No hurt or blood was to be seen, but his hair and all the rest

of his person were covered with mud and dirt. Daphnis thought it would

be best to wash himself, before Lamon and Myrtale should find out what

had happened to him; proceeding with Chloe to the Grotto of the Nymphs,

he gave her his tunic and scrip in charge.[10]

He then approached the fountain and washed his hair and his whole

person. His hair was long and black, and his body sun-burnt; one might

have imagined that its hue was derived from the overshadowing of his

locks. Chloe thought him beautiful, and because she had never done so

before, attributed his beauty to the effects of the bath. As she was

washing his back and shoulders his tender flesh yielded to her hand,

so that, unobserved, she frequently touched her own skin, in order

to ascertain which of the two was softer. The sun was now setting,

so they drove home their flocks, the only wish in Chloe's mind being

to see Daphnis bathe again. The following day, upon returning to the

accustomed pasture, Daphnis sat as usual under an oak, playing upon his

pipe and surveying his goats lying down and apparently listening to his

strains. Chloe, on her part, sitting near him, looked at her sheep,

but more frequently turned her eyes upon Daphnis; again he appeared to

her beautiful as he was playing upon his pipe, and she attributed his

beauty to the melody, so that taking the pipe she played upon it, in

order, if possible, to appear beautiful herself. She persuaded him to

bathe again, she looked at him when in the bath, and while looking at

him, touched his skin: after which, as she returned home, she mentally

admired him, and this admiration was the beginning of love. She knew

not the meaning of her feelings, young as she was, and brought up in

the country, and never having heard from any one, so much as the name

of love. She felt an oppression at her heart, she could not restrain

her eyes from gazing upon him, nor her mouth from often pronouncing

his name. She took no food, she lay awake at night, she neglected

her flock, she laughed and wept by turns; now she would doze, then

suddenly start up; at one moment her face became pale, in another

moment it burnt with blushes. Such irritation is not felt even by

the breeze-stung heifer.[11] Upon one occasion, when alone, she thus

reasoned with herself.--"I am no doubt ill, but what my malady is I

know not; I am in pain, and yet I have no wound; I feel grief, and yet

I have lost none of my flock; I burn, and yet am sitting in the shade:

how often have brambles torn my skin, without my shedding a single

tear! how often have the bees stung me, yet I could still enjoy my

meals! Whatever it is which now wounds my heart, must be sharper than

either of these. Daphnis is beautiful, so are the flowers; his pipe

breathes sweetly, so does the nightingale; yet I take no account either

of birds or flowers. Would that I could become a pipe, that he might

play upon me! or a goat, that I might pasture under his care! Ο cruel

fountain, thou madest Daphnis alone beautiful; my bathing has been all

in vain! Dear Nymphs, ye see me perishing, yet neither do ye endeavour

to save the maiden brought up among you! Who will crown you with

flowers when I am gone? Who will take care of my poor lambs? Who will

attend to my chirping locust, which I caught with so much trouble, that

its song might lull me to rest in the grotto; but now I am sleepless,

because of Daphnis, and my locust chirps in vain!"

Such were the feelings, and such the words of Chloe, while as yet

ignorant of the name of love. But Dorco the cowherd (the same who had

drawn Daphnis and the goat out of the pit), a young fellow who already

boasted of some beard upon his chin, and who knew not merely the name

but the realities of love, had become enamoured of Chloe, from the

first time of meeting her. Feeling his passion increase day by day, and

despising Daphnis, whom he looked upon as a mere boy, he determined to

effect his purpose either by gifts or by dint of force. At first he

made presents to them both; he gave Daphnis a shepherd's pipe, having

its nine reeds[12] connected with metal in lieu of wax. He presented

Chloe with a fawn skin, spotted all over, such as is worn by the

Bacchantes. Having thus insinuated himself into their friendship, he by

degrees neglected Daphnis, but every day brought something to Chloe,

either a delicate cheese, or a chaplet of flowers, or a ripe apple. On

one occasion he brought her a mountain calf, a gilt drinking cup, and

the nestlings[13] of a wild bird. She, ignorant as she was of love's

artifices, received his gifts with pleasure;[14] chiefly pleased,

however, at having something to give Daphnis. One day it happened that

Dorco and he (for he likewise was destined to experience the pains and

penalties of love) had an argument on the subject of their respective

share of beauty. Chloe was to be umpire, and the victor's reward was to

be a kiss from her. Dorco, thus began--

"Maiden," said he, "I am taller than Daphnis, I am also a cowherd,

he, a goatherd, I therefore excel him as far as oxen are superior to

goats; I am fair as milk, and my hair brown as the ripe harvest field;

moreover, I had a mother to bring me up, not a goat. He, on the other

hand is short, beardless as a woman, and has a skin as tawny as a wolf;

while, from tending he-goats, he has contracted a goatish smell; he is

also so poor, that he cannot afford to keep even a dog; and if it be

true that a nanny gave him suck, he is no better[15] than a nanny's

son."

Such was Dorco's speech; it was next the turn of Daphnis--

"It is true," said he, "that a she-goat suckled me, and so did a

she-goat suckle Jove; I tend he-goats and will bring them into better

condition than his oxen, but I smell of them no more than Pan does,

who has in him more of a goat than any thing else. I am content with

cheese, coarse bread,[16] and white wine, the food suitable for

country folk. I am beardless, so is Bacchus; I am dark complexioned,

so is the hyacinth; yet Bacchus is preferred before the satyr and the

hyacinth[17] before the lily. Now look at him, he is as sandy haired

as a fox, bearded as a goat, and smock-faced as any city wench. If you

have to bestow a kiss, it will be given to my mouth, whereas it will

be thrown away upon his bristles. Remember also, maiden, that you owe

_your_ nurture to a sheep, and yet this has not marred your beauty."

Chloe could restrain herself no longer, but partly from pleasure at

his praising her, partly from a desire of kissing him, she sprang

forward and bestowed upon him the prize; an artless and unsophisticated

kiss,[18] but one well calculated to set his heart on fire. Upon this,

Dorco, in great disgust, took himself off, determined to seek some

other way of wooing. Daphnis, as though he had been stung instead of

kissed, became suddenly grave, felt a shivering all over, and could not

control the beating of his heart. He wished to gaze upon Chloe, but at

the first glance his face was suffused with blushes. For the first time

he admired her hair, because it was auburn; and her eyes, because they

were large[19] and brilliant; her countenance, because it was fairer

than even the milk of his own she-goats. One might have supposed that

he had just received the faculty of sight, having had till then, "no

speculation" in his eyes.[20]

From this moment, he took no food beyond the merest morsel, no drink

beyond what would just moisten his lips. Formerly more chattering than

the locusts, he became mute; he was now dull and listless, whereas

he had been more nimble than the goats. His flock was neglected, his

pipe was thrown aside; his face became paler than the summer-parched

herbage. Chloe alone could rouse his powers of speech; whenever he was

absent from her, he would thus fondly soliloquize:--

"What will be the result of this kiss of Chloe? her lips are softer

than rose-buds, and her mouth is sweeter than the honeycomb, but

this kiss has left a sting sharper than the sting of a bee!--I have

frequently kissed the kids, and the young puppies, and the calf which

Dorco gave me, but this kiss of Chloe is something quite new and

wonderful! My breath is gone, my heart pants, my spirit sinks within me

and dies away; and yet I wish to kiss again![21] My victory has been

the source of sorrow and of a new disease, which I know not how to

name. Could Chloe have tasted poison before she permitted me to kiss

her? If so, how is it that she survives? How sweetly the nightingales

sing, while my pipe is mute! How gaily the kids skip and play, while

I sit listlessly by! The flowers are in full beauty, yet I weave no

garlands! The violets and the hyacinths are blooming, while Daphnis

droops and fades away. Alas! shall Dorco ever appear more beautiful in

Chloe's eyes, than I do!"

Such were the sensations of the worthy Daphnis, and thus he vented

his feelings. He now first felt the power, and now first uttered the

language of--LOVE.

In the mean time Dorco, the cowherd, who entertained a passion for

Chloe, watched an opportunity of addressing Dryas on the subject;

and finding him one day employed in planting a tree near one of his

vines, he approached carrying with him some fine cheeses.[22] First

of all he begged Dryas to accept of the cheeses as a present from an

old acquaintance and fellow herdsman; and then informed him of the

affection which he cherished towards his daughter Chloe. He promised

that, if he should be so happy as to obtain her for his wife, he was

prepared to offer him gifts, many and handsome, as a cowherd could

bestow,--a yoke of oxen fit for the plough, four hives of bees, fifty

young apple trees for planting, the hide of an ox, suitable for shoe

leather, and a weaned calf annually.

Dryas was almost tempted by these promises to give his assent to

the marriage; but on the other hand, reflecting that the maiden was

deserving of a better match, and fearing lest if ever discovered, he

might get himself into great trouble, he refused his assent, at the

same time intreating Dorco not to be affronted, and declining to accept

the gifts which he had enumerated.

Dorco being thus a second time disappointed of his hope, and having

given his cheese away to no purpose, conceived a plan of attacking

Chloe by force, whenever he should find her alone; and having observed

that she and Daphnis, on alternate days, conducted the herds to drink,

he contrived a scheme, worthy of a neatherd's brain. A large wolf had

been killed by his bull, who fought in defence of the herd; Dorco[23]

threw this wolf's skin over him, so that it completely covered his

back, reaching to the ground, and he adjusted it in such a manner, that

the skins of the fore feet were fitted over his hands, while those of

the hind feet spread down his legs to the very heels. The head, with

its gaping jaws, encased him as completely as a soldier's helmet.

Having thus "be-wolfed" himself as much as possible, he withdrew to

the spring, where the sheep and goats usually drank as they returned

from pasture. The spring was in a hollow, and around it the furze,

brambles, junipers, and thistles were so thick, that a real wolf

might easily choose it as a lair. Here Dorco concealed himself, and

anxiously waited for the time when the flocks should come to drink,

and when Chloe, as he hoped, would be so startled and terrified by his

appearance that he might easily seize her.

He had not remained long, when Chloe conducted the flock to the spring,

leaving Daphnis employed in cutting green leaves as fodder for the

kids in the evening. The dogs (the guardians of the sheep and goats)

accompanied Chloe, and scenting[24] about with their usual sagacity,

discovered Dorco, who was in the act of moving. Taking him for a wolf

they burst into full cry, rushed upon him, and seizing him before he

could recover from his astonishment, fixed their teeth in the skin.

This covering for a time protected him, and the shame of a discovery

operated so strongly that he lay quiet in the thicket; but when Chloe,

in her alarm at the first onset of the dogs, had called Daphnis to her

aid, and when the skin was torn off by his assailants, so that they

at length seized his flesh, he bawled out, entreating the assistance

of the maiden and of Daphnis, who had now arrived at the spot. The

dogs were easily appeased by the well-known voices of their master and

mistress, who took Dorco and conveyed him to the spring (soundly bitten

in the thighs and shoulders), where they washed his wounds, and chewing

some fresh elm bark spread it as a salve. Innocent themselves, and

totally ignorant of the desperate enterprizes of lovers, they imagined

that Dorco's disguise was a mere piece of rustic sport, and, so far

from being angry with him, they did their best to comfort him, led him

by the hand, part of the way home--and bade him farewell.

Dorco, after his narrow escape from the dog's, and not (according to

the old adage) from the wolf's mouth, retired home to nurse his wounds.

Daphnis and Chloe had great trouble during the remainder of the day in

collecting their sheep and goats, which, terrified at the sight of the

wolf, and by the barking of the dogs, had fled in different directions:

some had climbed the rocks, others had run down to the shore. They had,

indeed, been instructed to obey their master's call; in any alarm the

pipe was usually sufficient to soothe them, and if they were scattered,

a clapping of the hands would collect them; but the late sudden alarm

had made them forget their former discipline, so that Daphnis and

Chloe were compelled to track them, as they do hares; and with much

difficulty and trouble they brought them back to their cottages. That

night only the young man and maiden enjoyed sound sleep, their fatigue

furnishing a remedy for the pains of love. But with the morning their

usual sensations returned. When they met,--they rejoiced; when they

parted,--they were sad. They pined with grief. They wished for a

something, but they knew not what. This only they were aware of, that

the one had lost peace of mind by a kiss, the other by a bath.

The season,[25] moreover, added fuel to their fire; it was now the end

of spring; the summer had begun, and all things were in the height of

their beauty. The trees were covered with fruit; the fields with corn.

Charming was the chirp of the grasshoppers; sweet was the smell of the

fruit; and the bleating of the flocks was delightful. You might fancy

the rivers[26] to be singing, as they gently flowed along, the winds

to be piping, as they breathed[27] through the pines; and the apples

to be falling to the ground, sick of love; and that the sun, fond of

gazing upon natural beauty, was forcing every one to throw off their

garments. Daphnis felt all the warmth of the season, and plunged into

the rivers; sometimes he only bathed himself; sometimes he amused

himself with pursuing the fish, which darted in circles around him;

and sometimes he drank of the stream, as if to extinguish the flame

which he felt within. Chloe, when she had milked the goats and the

sheep, had great difficulty in setting her cream, for the flies were

very troublesome, and if driven away, they would bite her; after her

work was done, she washed her face, crowned herself with a garland of

pine-leaves, put on her girdle of fawn-skin, and filled a pail with

wine and milk as a beverage for herself and Daphnis. As mid-day heat

came on, the eyes of both were fascinated; she, beholding the naked

and faultless figure of Daphnis, was ready to melt with love; Daphnis,

on the other hand, beholding Chloe in her fawn-skin girdle and with

the garland of pine-leaves on her head, holding out the milk-pail

to him, fancied he beheld one of the Nymphs of the Grot, and taking

the garland from her head, he placed it on his own, first covering

it with kisses; while she, after often kissing it, put on his dress,

which he had stripped off in order to bathe. Sometimes they began in

sport to pelt[28] each other with apples, and amused themselves with

adorning each other's hair, carefully dividing it. She compared the

black hair of Daphnis to myrtle-berries; while he likened her cheeks to

apples,[29] because the white was suffused with red. He then taught her

to play on the pipe;--when she began to breathe into it, he snatched it

from her, ran over the reeds with his own lips, and under pretence of

correcting her mistakes, he in fact kissed her through the medium of

his pipe.

While he was thus playing in the heat of the noon-day, and their

flocks around them were reposing in the shade, Chloe imperceptibly

fell asleep. Daphnis laid down his pipe, and while gazing upon her

whole person with insatiable eyes, there being no one to inspire him

with shame; he thus murmured, directing his words to her:--"What eyes

are those, which are now closed in sleep! what a mouth is that, which

breathes so sweetly! no apples, no thickets, exhale so delicious a

scent! Ah! but I fear to kiss her! a kiss consumes me, and like new

honey,[30] maddens me! besides, a kiss would wake her! A plague upon

those chirping grasshoppers, their shrill notes will disturb my Chloe!

those vexatious goats, too, are clashing their horns together; surely

the wolves are grown more cowardly than foxes, that they do not come

and seize them!"

As he was thus soliloquizing, he was interrupted by a grasshopper,

which in springing from a swallow which pursued it, fell into Chloe's

bosom. The swallow was unable to take its prey, but hovered over

Chloe's cheek and touched it with its wings. The maiden screamed and

started; but seeing the swallow still fluttering near her, and Daphnis

laughing at her alarm, her fear vanished, and she rubbed her eyes,

which were still disposed to sleep. The grasshopper chirped from her

bosom, as if in gratitude for his deliverance. At the sound Chloe

screamed again; at which Daphnis laughed, and availing himself of the

opportunity, put his hand into her bosom and drew the happy chirper

from its place, which did not cease its note even when in his hand;

Chloe was pleased at seeing the innocent cause of her alarm, kissed it,

and replaced it, still singing, in her bosom.