THE LOVES OF
CLITOPHO
AND LEUCIPPE.
Scriptori Erotici Graeci
SCRIPTORES EROTICI GRÆCI
THE GREEK ROMANCES
OF
HELIODORUS, LONGUS,
AND
ACHILLES TATIUS,
COMPRISING
THE ETHIOPICS; OR, ADVENTURES OF THEAGENES
AND CHARICLEA;
THE PASTORAL AMOURS OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE;
AND
THE LOVES OF CLITOPHO AND LEUCIPPE.
Translated from the Greek, with notes.
By the REV. ROWLAND SMITH, M. A.
FORMERLY OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET
COVENT GARDEN.
1901.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE
Summaries:
HELIODORUS.
LONGUS.
ACHILLES TATIUS.
THE ADVENTURES OF THEAGENES AND CHARICLEA.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
BOOK V.
BOOK VI.
BOOK VII.
BOOK VIII.
BOOK IX.
BOOK X.
THE LOVES OF DAPHNIS AND CHLOE, A PASTORAL NOVEL.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
THE LOVES OF CLITOPHO AND LEUCIPPE.
BOOK I.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
BOOK V.
BOOK VI.
BOOK VII.
BOOK VIII.
PREFACE
By no reader of classical antiquity will any of its remains be regarded
as entirely devoid of worth. The "fine gold" will naturally stand
first in estimation, but the "silver and brass and iron," nay even
the "iron mingled with miry clay," will each possess its respective
value. Accordingly, while the foremost place will ever be assigned to
its Historians, Philosophers, Orators, and Poets, the time will not be
esteemed thrown away which makes him acquainted with those authors who
struck out a new vein of writing, and abandoning the facts of history
and the inventions of mythology, drew upon their own imagination and
sought for subjects in the manners and pursuits of domestic life.
The publication of a revised translation of Heliodorus and Longus, and
of a new translation of Achilles Tatius, calls for some brief prefatory
observations upon the origin of fictitious narrative among the Greeks;
that department of literature which, above any other, has been prolific
in finding followers, more especially in modern times; and which,
according to the spirit in which it is handled, is capable of producing
some of the best or worst effects upon society.
Works of fiction may, as we know, administer a poisoned cup, but
they may also supply a wholesome and pleasing draught; they may be
the ministers of the grossest immorality and absurdity, but they may
likewise be the vehicles of sound sense and profitable instruction.
"As real _History_," says Bacon, "gives us not the success of things
according to the deserts of vice and virtue _Fiction_ connects it,
and presents us with the fates and fortunes of persons, rewarded or
punished according to merit. "
"It is chiefly in the fictions of an age," says Dunlop, "that we can
discover the modes of living, dress, and manners of the period;" and he
goes on to say--"But even if the utility which is derived from Fiction
were less than it is, how much are we indebted to it for pleasure and
enjoyment! It sweetens solitude and charms sorrow--it occupies the
attention of the vacant, and unbends the mind of the philosopher. Like
the enchanter, Fiction shows us, as it were in a mirror, the most
agreeable objects; recalls from a distance the forms which are dear to
us, and soothes our own grief by awakening our sympathy for others. By
its means the recluse is placed in the midst of society; and he who is
harassed and agitated in the city is transported to rural tranquillity
and repose. The rude are refined by an introduction, as it were, to the
higher orders of mankind, and even the dissipated and selfish are, in
some degree, corrected by those paintings of virtue and simple nature,
which must ever be employed by the novelist, if he wish to awaken
emotion or delight. "
Huet, Bishop of Avranches, was the first who wrote a regular and
systematic treatise on the origin of fictitious narrative--"De origine
Fabularum Romanensium. "
He gives it as his opinion, that "not in Provence (Provincia
Romanorum), nor yet in Spain, are we to look for the fatherland of
those amusing compositions called Romances; but that it is among the
people of the East, the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Persians, and the
Syrians, that the germ and origin is to be found, of this species
of fictitious narrative, for which the peculiar genius and poetical
temperament of those nations particularly adapt them, and in which they
delight to a degree scarcely to be credited; for even their ordinary
discourse is interspersed with figurative expressions, and their maxims
of theology and philosophy, and above all of morals and political
science, are invariably couched under the guise of allegory or
parable. " In confirmation of this opinion he remarks, that "nearly all
those who in early times distinguished themselves as writers of what
are now called _Romances_, were of Oriental birth or extraction;"--and
he instances "Clearchus, a pupil of Aristotle, who was a native
of Soli, in Cilicia,--Iamblicus, a Syrian--Heliodorus and Lucian,
natives, the one of Emessa, the other of Samosata--Achilles Tatius, of
Alexandria. "
This statement of Huet's is admitted to hold good, _generally_, by the
author of a very interesting Article on the "_Early Greek Romances_,"
in No. CCCXXXIII. of Blackwood's Magazine; who however differs from the
learned Bishop in some particulars.
"While fully admitting," he says, "that it is to the vivid fancy and
picturesque imagination of the Orientals that we owe the origin of all
those popular legends, which have penetrated under various changes
of costume, into every corner of Europe, we still hold, that the
invention of the Romance of ordinary life, on which the interest of the
story depends upon occurrences in some measure within the bounds of
probability, and in which the heroes and heroines are neither invested
with superhuman qualities, nor extricated from their difficulties by
supernatural means, must be ascribed to a more _European_ state of
society than that which produced those tales of wonder, which are
commonly considered as characteristic of the climes of the East. "
This difference of opinion he fortifies, by remarking that "the authors
enumerated by the Bishop of Avranches himself were all denizens of
Greek cities of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, and consequently, in all
probability, _Greeks_ by descent; and though the scene of their works
is frequently laid in Asia, the costumes and characters introduced are
almost invariably on the Greek model. "
He concludes this part of his subject by saying; "these writers,
therefore, may fairly be considered as constituting a distinct class
from those more strictly Oriental--not only in birth but in language
and ideas; and as being in fact the legitimate forerunners of modern
novelists. "
The first to imbibe a love for fictitious narrative from the Eastern
people among whom they dwelt, were the Milesians, a colony of Greeks,
and from them this species of narrative derived the name of "Sermo
Milesius. "[1] A specimen of the Milesian tale may be seen in the
Stories of _Parthenius_, which are chiefly of the amatory kind, and not
over remarkable for their moral tendency. From the Greek inhabitants
of Asia Minor, especially from the Milesians, it was natural that a
fondness for _Fiction_ should extend itself into Greece, and that
pleasure should produce imitation. But it was not until the conquests
of Alexander, that a greater intercourse between Greece and Asia became
the means of conveying the stores of fiction from the one continent to
the other.
The Romance writers, who flourished previous to Heliodorus, are known
only from the summary of their compositions preserved to us by Photius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, in the ninth century. We subjoin their
names and the titles of their works:--
Antonius Diogenes wrote "The incredible things in Thule;" Iamblicus,
the "Babylonica," comprising the formidable number of sixteen books; in
addition to which there is the "Ass" of Lucian, founded chiefly upon
the "Metamorphoses of Lucius. "
The palm of merit, in every respect, especially "in the arrangement
of his fable," has been universally assigned to Heliodorus, Bishop of
Tricca in Thessaly, who flourished A. D. 400; "whose writing," says
Huet, "the subsequent novelists of those ages constantly proposed to
themselves as a model for imitation; and as truly may they all be said
to have drunk of the waters of this fountain, as all the Poets did of
the Homeric spring. "
The writers of Romance, posterior to Heliodorus, who alone are worthy
of note, are Achilles Tatius, who is allowed to come next to him
in merit; Longus, who has given the first example of the "Pastoral
Romance;" and Xenophon, of Ephesus.
Having alluded to the various writers of fictitious narrative, our
farther remarks may be confined to Heliodorus, Longus, and Achilles
Tatius. With the work of the author of the "Ethiopics" are connected
some curious circumstances, which shall be given in the words of an
Ecclesiastical Historian, quoted by the writer of the article in
Blackwood.
Nicephorus, B. xii. c. 34, says--"This Heliodorus, Bishop of Tricca,
had in his youth written certain love stories, called 'Ethiopics,'
which are highly popular, even at the present day, though they are
now better known by the title of 'Chariclea;' and it was by reason
thereof that he lost his see. For inasmuch as many of the youths were
drawn into peril of sin by the perusal of these amorous tales, it was
determined by the Provincial Synod, that either these books, which
kindled the fire of love, should themselves be consumed by fire,
or that the author should be deposed from his episcopal functions;
and this choice being propounded to him, he preferred resigning his
bishoprick to suppressing his writings. --Heliodorus," continues the
reviewer, "according to the same authority, was the first Thessalian
Bishop who had insisted on the married clergy putting away their wives,
which may probably have tended to make him unpopular; but the story of
his deposition, it should be observed, rests solely on the statement of
Nicephorus, and is discredited by Bayle and Huet, who argue that the
silence of Socrates, (Eccles. Hist. B. v. c. 22), in the chapter where
he expressly assigns the authority of the 'Ethiopics' to the '_Bishop_'
Heliodorus, more than counterbalances the unsupported assertion of
Nicephorus;--'an author,' says Huet, 'of more credulity than judgment. '
If Heliodorus were, indeed, as has been generally supposed, the
same to whom several of the Epistles of St. Jerome were addressed,
this circumstance would supply an additional argument against the
probability of his having incurred the censures of the Church; but
whatever the testimony of Nicephorus may be worth on this point, his
mention of the work affords undeniable proof of its long continued
popularity, as his Ecclesiastical History was written about A. D. 900,
and Heliodorus lived under the reign of the sons of Theodosius, fully
500 years earlier. "
Of the popularity of his work in more recent times, the following
instances may be given. "Tasso," says Ghirardini, "became acquainted
with this Romance when it was introduced at the Court of Charles the
IXth of Prance, where it was read by the ladies and gentlemen in the
translation made by Amiot. The poet promised the courtiers that they
should soon see the work attired in the most splendid vestments of
Italian poetry, and kept his promise, by transferring to the heroine
Clorinda (in the tenth canto of the 'Gerusalemme') the circumstances
attending the birth and early life of the Ethiopian maiden Chariclea. "
"The proposed sacrifice and subsequent discovery of the birth of
Chariclea have likewise," observes Dunlop, "been imitated in the Pastor
Fido of Guarini, and through it, in the Astrea of D'Urfé.
"Racine had at one time intended writing a drama on the subject of
this Romance, a plan which has been accomplished by Dorat, in his
Tragedy of Theagenes and Chariclea, acted at Paris in the year 1762. It
also suggested the plot of an old English tragi-comedy, by an unknown
author, entitled the 'Strange Discovery. '"
Hardy, the French poet, wrote eight tragedies in verse on the same
subject, without materially altering the ground-work of the Romance;
"an instance of literary prodigality"--remarks Dunlop truly--"which is
perhaps unexampled. "
Nor have authors only availed themselves of the work of Heliodorus.
Artists likewise have sought from his pages subjects for their canvass.
"Two of the most striking incidents have been finely delineated by
Raphael in separate paintings, in which he was assisted by Julio
Romano. In one he has seized the moment when Theagenes and Chariclea
meet in the temple of Delphi, and Chariclea presents Theagenes with
a torch to kindle the sacrifice. In the other he has chosen for his
subject, the capture of the Tyrian ship, in which Calasiris was
conducting Theagenes and Chariclea to the coast of Sicily. The vessel
is supposed to have already struck to the Pirates, and Chariclea is
exhibited, by the light of the moon, in a suppliant posture, imploring
Trachinus that she might not be separated from her lover and Calasiris. "
Heliodorus, as has already been remarked, is allowed to be far superior
to any of his predecessors in "the disposition of the fable;" as also,
"in the artful manner in which the tale is disclosed;" and Tasso
praises him for the skill which he displays in keeping the mind of his
reader in suspense, and in gradually clearing up what appeared confused
and perplexed. His style is, in many parts, highly poetical, abounding
in expressions and turns of thought borrowed from the Greek poets, to
which, indeed, it is quite impossible to do justice when translating
them into another language.
The chief defects in the composition of his work, are the
digressions--for instance, the adventures of Cnemon and the siege of
Cyene; together with certain critical and philosophical discussions,
which, while they take up considerable space distract the attention of
the reader, without adding to his interest.
He has also been blamed for making a _third_ person--Calasiris--recount
the adventures of the hero and heroine; instead of letting them tell
their own story. As regards the two principal characters, it must be
allowed that the hero, like many heroes in modern novels, is "insipid. "
Upon certain occasions, it is true that Theagenes "comes out:" he does
battle boldly with the pirate lieutenant; distances his rival, in good
style, in the running match; effectually cools the courage of the
Ethiopian bully; and gives proof of the skill of reasoning man over the
strength of the irrational brute in the scene of the _Taurocathapsia_;
but with these exceptions, he is remarkable chiefly for his resistance
to temptations, and for the constancy of his affections--no slight
merits, however, especially in a heathen, and like other "quiet
virtues," of greater intrinsic value than more sparkling and showy
qualities.
Of Chariclea, on the other hand, it has with justice been observed,[2]
that "her character makes ample amends for the defects in that of her
lover. The masculine firmness and presence of mind which she evinces in
situations of peril and difficulty, combined at all times with feminine
delicacy; and the warmth and confiding simplicity of her love for
Theagenes, attach to her a degree of interest which belongs to none of
the other personages. "
"The course of true love never did run smooth," says the Poet; and
however defective may be the work of Heliodorus, in other respects,
none of its readers will deny that the author has exemplified the words
of the Bard in the perils, and escapes, separations, and unexpected
reunion of the hero and heroine of the "Ethiopics. "
None there are, we trust but will rejoice, when at the conclusion, they
find--
"How Fate to Virtue paid her debt,
And for their troubles, bade them prove
A lengthened life of peace and love. "
The forte of Heliodorus lies especially in descriptions; his work
abounds in these, and apart from the general story, the most
interesting portions are, the account of the haunts of the Buccaneers;
the procession at Delphi, with the respective retinues and dresses of
Theagenes and Chariclea; the wrestling match, and the bull fight--all
these are brought before the reader with picturesque effect, and in
forcible and vivid language; nor should we omit what is very curious
and valuable in an antiquarian point of view, his minute description of
the panoply worn by man and horse composing the flower of the Persian
army, which paints to the life, the iron-clad heroes of the Crusades,
so many centuries before they appeared upon the scene.
With reference to the writers of Greek Romance, in general, there is
one particular point which deserves mention; the more prominent manner
in which they bring forward that sex, whose influence is so powerful
upon society, but whose seclusion in those early times banished
them from a participation in the every day affairs of life. "The
Greek Romances," says Dunlop, "may be considered as almost the first
productions, in which woman is in any degree represented as assuming
her proper station of the friend and companion of man. Hitherto she
had been considered almost in the light of a slave, ready to bestow
her affections on whatever master might happen to obtain her; but in
Heliodorus and his followers, we see her an affectionate guide and
adviser. We behold an union of hearts painted as a main spring of our
conduct in life--we are delighted with pictures of fidelity, constancy,
and chastity. "
The same writer sums up his observations upon the Greek Romances, by
saying: "They are less valuable than they might have been, from giving
too much to adventure, and too little to manners and character; but
these have not been altogether neglected, and several pleasing pictures
are delineated of ancient customs and feelings. In short, these early
fictions are such as might have been expected at the first effort, and
must be considered as not merely valuable in themselves, but as highly
estimable in pointing out the method of awaking the most pleasing
sympathies of our nature, and affecting most powerfully the fancy
and heart. " The popularity of Heliodorus has found translators for
his Romance in almost every European language--France, Spain, Italy,
Poland, Germany, and Holland have contributed their versions.
Four Translations have appeared in English, by Thomas Underdowne,
Lond. , 1587; W. Lisle, Lond. , 1622; N. Tate and another hand, 1686;
lastly, the translation upon which the present one is based, 1791.
Among these, _Lisle_, who favoured the world with a _Poetical_ version
of the _Prose_ Romance, affords us an example of an adventurous and ill
fated wight.
"Carmina qui scripsit Musis et Apolline nullo. "
"Apollo and the Nine; their heavy curse
On him did lay;--they bid him--_go, write verse_. "
The Reviewer in Blackwood designates his production, as "one of the
most precious specimens of balderdash in existence; a perfect literary
curiosity in its way. " Of the truth of which any one, who will be at
the trouble of turning over his pages, may satisfy himself.
The worthy man, at starting, prays earnestly for "A sip of liquor
Castaline," and having done this, he mounts and does his best to get
Pegasus into a canter; but it is all in vain--whip and spurs avail not;
the poor jade, spavined and galled, will not budge an inch; however,
nothing daunted, the rowels and scourge are most unmercifully applied;
the wretched brute gets into a kind of hobbling trot, which enables the
rider to say at the end of his journey--
"This have I wrought with day and nightly swinke
. . . . . .
That after-comers know, when I am dead,
I, some good thing in life endeavoured;--
. . . . . .
To keep my name undrown'd in Lethe pool;
In vain (may seem) is wealth or learning lent
To man that leaves thereof no monument. "
The version upon which the present one is founded, is in many places
more of a paraphrase than a translation. Several passages are entirely
omitted, while of others the sense has been mistaken; it has been the
endeavour of the translator to remedy these defects, and to give the
meaning of his author as literally as is consistent with avoiding
stiffness and ruggedness of style.
* * * * *
With regard to Longus nothing is known of his birthplace, nor is it
certain at what period he flourished; he is generally supposed however
to have lived during the reign of Theodosius the Great, in the fourth
century. Photius and Suidas, who have preserved the names of various
Greek Romance writers, and have likewise given us summaries of their
works, make no mention of him.
An extract from the work of Mr. Dunlop, on the "History of Fiction,"
will form a suitable Introduction to this Pastoral Romance, the first
of its kind, and one which is considered to have had much influence
upon the style of subsequent writers of Romance, in ancient times,
as also among those of the moderns who have chosen for their theme a
Pastoral subject.
After reviewing the Ethiopics of Heliodorus, Mr. Dunlop goes on to
say:---
"We now proceed to the analysis of a romance different in its nature
from the works already mentioned; and of a species which may be
distinguished by the appellation of Pastoral Romance.
"It may be conjectured with much probability, that pastoral
composition sometimes expressed the devotion, and sometimes formed
the entertainment of the first generations of mankind. The sacred
writings sufficiently inform us that it existed among the eastern
nations during the earliest ages. Rural images are everywhere scattered
through the Old Testament; and the Song of Solomon in particular
beautifully delineates the charms of a country life, while it paints
the most amiable affections of the mind, and the sweetest scenery of
nature. A number of passages of Theocritus bear a striking resemblance
to descriptions in the inspired pastoral; and many critics have
believed that he had studied its beauties and transferred them to his
eclogues. Theocritus was imitated in his own dialect by Moschus and
Bion; and Virgil, taking advantage of a different language copied, yet
rivalled the Sicilian. The Bucolics of the Roman bard seem to have
been considered as precluding all attempts of the same kind; for,
if we except the feeble efforts of Calpurnius and his contemporary
Nemesianus, who lived in the third century, no subsequent specimen of
pastoral poetry was, as far as I know, produced till the revival of
literature.
"It was during this interval that Longus, a Greek sophist, who is said
to have lived soon after the age of Tatius, wrote his pastoral romance
of Daphnis and Chloe, which is the earliest, and by far the finest
example that has appeared of this species of composition. Availing
himself of the beauties of the pastoral poets who preceded him, he has
added to their simplicity of style, and charming pictures of Nature,
a story which possesses considerable interest. In some respects a
prose romance is better adapted than the eclogue or drama to pastoral
composition. The eclogue is confined within narrow limits, and must
terminate before interest can be excited. A series of Bucolics, where
two or more shepherds are introduced contending for the reward of a
crook or a kid, and at most descanting for a short time on similar
topics, resembles a collection of the first scenes of a number of
comedies, of which the commencement can only be listened to as
unfolding the subsequent action. The drama is, no doubt, a better form
of pastoral writing than detached eclogues, but at the same time does
not well accord with rustic manners and descriptions.
"In dramatic composition, the representation of strong passions is
best calculated to produce interest or emotion, but the feelings of
rural existence should be painted as tranquil and calm. In choosing a
prose romance as the vehicle of pastoral writing, Longus has adopted
a form that may include all the beauties arising from the description
of rustic manners, or the scenery of nature, and which, as far as the
incidents of rural life admit, may interest by an agreeable fable, and
delight by a judicious alternation of narrative and dialogue. Longus
has also avoided many of the faults into which his modern imitators
have fallen, and which have brought this style of composition into
so much disrepute; his characters never express the conceits of
affected gallantry, nor involve themselves in abstract reasoning; he
has not loaded his romance with those long and constantly recurring
episodes, which fatigue the attention, and render us indifferent to the
principal story. Nor does he paint that chimerical state of society,
termed the golden age, in which the characteristic traits of rural life
are erased, but attempts to please by a genuine imitation of Nature,
and by descriptions of the manners, the rustic occupations, or rural
enjoyments of the inhabitants of the country where the scene of the
pastoral is laid.
"The pastoral is in general very beautifully written;--the style,
though it has been censured on account of the reiteration of the same
forms of expression, and as betraying the sophist in some passages
by a play on words, and affected antithesis, is considered as the
purest specimen of the Greek language produced in that late period;
the descriptions of rural scenery and rural occupations are extremely
pleasing, and if I may use the expression, there is a sort of amenity
and calm diffused over the whole romance. This, indeed, may be
considered as the chief excellence in a pastoral; since we are not
so much allured by the feeding of sheep as by the stillness of the
country. In all our active pursuits, the end proposed is tranquillity,
and even when we lose the hope of happiness, we are attracted by that
of repose; hence we are soothed and delighted with its representation,
and fancy we partake of the pleasure.
"There can be no doubt that the pastoral of Longus had a considerable
influence on the style and incidents of the subsequent Greek romances,
particularly those of Eustathius and Theodorus Prodromus; but its
effects on modern pastorals, particularly those which appeared in Italy
during the sixteenth century, is a subject of more difficulty. --Huet
is of opinion, that it was not only the model of the Astrea of D'Urfé,
and the Diana of Montemayor, but gave rise to the Italian dramatic
pastoral. This opinion is combated by Villoison, on the grounds that
the first edition of Longus was not published till 1598, and that Tasso
died in the year 1595. It is true that the first Greek edition of
Longus was not published till 1598, but there was a French translation
by Amyot, which appeared in 1559, and one in Latin verse by Gambara
in 1569, either of which might have been seen by Tasso. But although
this argument, brought forward by Villoison, be of little avail, he
is probably right in the general notion he has adopted that Daphnis
and Chloe was not the origin of the pastoral drama. The Sacrificio of
Agostino Beccari, which was the earliest specimen of this style of
composition, and was acted at Ferrara in 1554, was written previous to
the appearance of any edition or version of Longus. Nor is there any
similarity in the story or incidents of the Aminta to those in Daphnis
and Chloe, which should lead us to imagine that the Greek romance had
been imitated by Tasso.
"It bears, however, a stronger likeness to the more recent dramatic
pastorals of Italy. These are frequently founded on the exposure of
children who, after being brought up as shepherds by reputed fathers,
are discovered by their real parents by means of tokens fastened to
them when they were abandoned. There is also a considerable resemblance
between the story of Daphnis and Chloe and that of the Gentle Shepherd:
the plot was suggested to Ramsay by one of his friends, who seems to
have taken it from the Greek pastoral. Marmontel, too, in his Annette
and Lubin, has imitated the simplicity and inexperience of the lovers
of Longus. But of all modern writers the author who has most closely
followed this romance is Gessner. In his Idylls there is the same
poetical prose, the same beautiful rural descriptions, and the same
innocence and simplicity in the rustic characters. In his pastoral of
Daphnis, the scene of which is laid in Greece, he has painted, like
Longus, the early and innocent attachment of a shepherdess and swain,
and has only embellished his picture by the incidents that arise from
rural occupations and the revolutions of the year. "
To these observations we may add, that Longus is supposed by some
to have furnished to Bernardin de St. Pierre the groundwork for his
beautiful tale of Paul and Virginia. Many points of resemblance may
certainly be traced between the hero and heroine of the respective
works; the description of their innocence--their simple and rustic
mode of life, and their occupation and diversions. Among the rest may
be mentioned the descriptions of the sensations of love when first
arising in Virginia; and the pantomimic dance in which she and Paul
take part.
An anonymous and "select" translation of Longus, published at Truro, in
1803, has been taken as the basis of the present version. The passages
(and there are many) omitted by the former translator are here given,
together with a considerable fragment, first discovered by M. Paul
Louis Courier, in 1810, in the Laurentian Library at Florence. It
has been the endeavour of the present translator to make his version
convey the sense of the original as faithful as possible, except in
some few passages ("egregio inspersos corpore nævos") where it has been
considered advisable to employ the veil of a learned language.
In reading the work of Longus, we must bear in mind that he was most
probably a heathen, or at any rate, that he describes the heathen state
of morals.
The following passage from Dr. Nott's Preface to his translation
of Catullus will illustrate the principle upon which the present
translator has gone, in presenting in an English dress passages
entirely omitted in the anonymous version, before referred to:--
"When an ancient classic is translated and explained, the work may be
considered as forming a link in the chain of history. --History should
not be falsified, we ought therefore to translate him somewhat fairly,
and when he gives us the manners of his own day, however disgusting to
our sensations and repugnant to our natures they may oftentimes prove,
we must not, in translation, suppress or even too much gloss them over,
through a fastidious regard to delicacy. "[3]
* * * * *
Achilles Tatius was a native of Alexandria, commonly assigned to the
second or third century of the Christian æra, but considered by the
best critics to have flourished after Heliodorus, to whom he is looked
upon as next in point of literary merit, and whom he has more or less
imitated in various parts of his works, like him frequently introducing
into the thread of his narrative the Egyptian buccaneers. According
to Suidas, he became, towards the end of his life, a Christian and a
Bishop; a statement which is however considered doubtful, as no mention
is made by that lexicographer of his Episcopal see, and Photius, who
mentions him in three different places, is silent upon the subject.
In point of style, Achilles Tatius is considered to excel Heliodorus
and the other writers of Greek Romance. Photius says of him,--"With
regard to diction and composition, Tatius seems to me to excel when he
employs figurative language: it is clear and natural; his sentences are
precise and limpid, and such as by their sweetness greatly delight the
ear. "
Like Heliodorus, one of his principal excellences lies in descriptions;
and though these, as Mr. Dunlop observes, "are too luxuriant, they are
in general beautiful, the objects being at once well selected, and so
painted as to form in the mind of the reader a distinct and lively
image. As an example of his merit in this way, may be mentioned his
description of a garden, and of a tempest followed by a shipwreck; also
his accounts of the pictures of Europa, Andromeda, and Prometheus,
in which his descriptions and criticisms are executed with very
considerable taste and feeling. " The same writer, however, justly notes
"the absurd and aukward manner in which the author, as if to show his
various acquirements, drags in without the slightest necessity, some
of those minute descriptions, viz. , those of the necklace, and of
different zoological curiosities, in the Second Book, together with the
invention of purple-dying, and the accounts drawn from natural history,
which are interspersed in the Fourth Book. "
In his discussions upon the passions of love, and its power over human
nature, however we may object to the warmth of his description, we
cannot but allow the ability with which the colours are laid on.
THE LOVES OF CLITOPHO AND LEUCIPPE.
BOOK I.
BOOK II.
BOOK III.
BOOK IV.
BOOK V.
BOOK VI.
BOOK VII.
BOOK VIII.
PREFACE
By no reader of classical antiquity will any of its remains be regarded
as entirely devoid of worth. The "fine gold" will naturally stand
first in estimation, but the "silver and brass and iron," nay even
the "iron mingled with miry clay," will each possess its respective
value. Accordingly, while the foremost place will ever be assigned to
its Historians, Philosophers, Orators, and Poets, the time will not be
esteemed thrown away which makes him acquainted with those authors who
struck out a new vein of writing, and abandoning the facts of history
and the inventions of mythology, drew upon their own imagination and
sought for subjects in the manners and pursuits of domestic life.
The publication of a revised translation of Heliodorus and Longus, and
of a new translation of Achilles Tatius, calls for some brief prefatory
observations upon the origin of fictitious narrative among the Greeks;
that department of literature which, above any other, has been prolific
in finding followers, more especially in modern times; and which,
according to the spirit in which it is handled, is capable of producing
some of the best or worst effects upon society.
Works of fiction may, as we know, administer a poisoned cup, but
they may also supply a wholesome and pleasing draught; they may be
the ministers of the grossest immorality and absurdity, but they may
likewise be the vehicles of sound sense and profitable instruction.
"As real _History_," says Bacon, "gives us not the success of things
according to the deserts of vice and virtue _Fiction_ connects it,
and presents us with the fates and fortunes of persons, rewarded or
punished according to merit. "
"It is chiefly in the fictions of an age," says Dunlop, "that we can
discover the modes of living, dress, and manners of the period;" and he
goes on to say--"But even if the utility which is derived from Fiction
were less than it is, how much are we indebted to it for pleasure and
enjoyment! It sweetens solitude and charms sorrow--it occupies the
attention of the vacant, and unbends the mind of the philosopher. Like
the enchanter, Fiction shows us, as it were in a mirror, the most
agreeable objects; recalls from a distance the forms which are dear to
us, and soothes our own grief by awakening our sympathy for others. By
its means the recluse is placed in the midst of society; and he who is
harassed and agitated in the city is transported to rural tranquillity
and repose. The rude are refined by an introduction, as it were, to the
higher orders of mankind, and even the dissipated and selfish are, in
some degree, corrected by those paintings of virtue and simple nature,
which must ever be employed by the novelist, if he wish to awaken
emotion or delight. "
Huet, Bishop of Avranches, was the first who wrote a regular and
systematic treatise on the origin of fictitious narrative--"De origine
Fabularum Romanensium. "
He gives it as his opinion, that "not in Provence (Provincia
Romanorum), nor yet in Spain, are we to look for the fatherland of
those amusing compositions called Romances; but that it is among the
people of the East, the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Persians, and the
Syrians, that the germ and origin is to be found, of this species
of fictitious narrative, for which the peculiar genius and poetical
temperament of those nations particularly adapt them, and in which they
delight to a degree scarcely to be credited; for even their ordinary
discourse is interspersed with figurative expressions, and their maxims
of theology and philosophy, and above all of morals and political
science, are invariably couched under the guise of allegory or
parable. " In confirmation of this opinion he remarks, that "nearly all
those who in early times distinguished themselves as writers of what
are now called _Romances_, were of Oriental birth or extraction;"--and
he instances "Clearchus, a pupil of Aristotle, who was a native
of Soli, in Cilicia,--Iamblicus, a Syrian--Heliodorus and Lucian,
natives, the one of Emessa, the other of Samosata--Achilles Tatius, of
Alexandria. "
This statement of Huet's is admitted to hold good, _generally_, by the
author of a very interesting Article on the "_Early Greek Romances_,"
in No. CCCXXXIII. of Blackwood's Magazine; who however differs from the
learned Bishop in some particulars.
"While fully admitting," he says, "that it is to the vivid fancy and
picturesque imagination of the Orientals that we owe the origin of all
those popular legends, which have penetrated under various changes
of costume, into every corner of Europe, we still hold, that the
invention of the Romance of ordinary life, on which the interest of the
story depends upon occurrences in some measure within the bounds of
probability, and in which the heroes and heroines are neither invested
with superhuman qualities, nor extricated from their difficulties by
supernatural means, must be ascribed to a more _European_ state of
society than that which produced those tales of wonder, which are
commonly considered as characteristic of the climes of the East. "
This difference of opinion he fortifies, by remarking that "the authors
enumerated by the Bishop of Avranches himself were all denizens of
Greek cities of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, and consequently, in all
probability, _Greeks_ by descent; and though the scene of their works
is frequently laid in Asia, the costumes and characters introduced are
almost invariably on the Greek model. "
He concludes this part of his subject by saying; "these writers,
therefore, may fairly be considered as constituting a distinct class
from those more strictly Oriental--not only in birth but in language
and ideas; and as being in fact the legitimate forerunners of modern
novelists. "
The first to imbibe a love for fictitious narrative from the Eastern
people among whom they dwelt, were the Milesians, a colony of Greeks,
and from them this species of narrative derived the name of "Sermo
Milesius. "[1] A specimen of the Milesian tale may be seen in the
Stories of _Parthenius_, which are chiefly of the amatory kind, and not
over remarkable for their moral tendency. From the Greek inhabitants
of Asia Minor, especially from the Milesians, it was natural that a
fondness for _Fiction_ should extend itself into Greece, and that
pleasure should produce imitation. But it was not until the conquests
of Alexander, that a greater intercourse between Greece and Asia became
the means of conveying the stores of fiction from the one continent to
the other.
The Romance writers, who flourished previous to Heliodorus, are known
only from the summary of their compositions preserved to us by Photius,
Patriarch of Constantinople, in the ninth century. We subjoin their
names and the titles of their works:--
Antonius Diogenes wrote "The incredible things in Thule;" Iamblicus,
the "Babylonica," comprising the formidable number of sixteen books; in
addition to which there is the "Ass" of Lucian, founded chiefly upon
the "Metamorphoses of Lucius. "
The palm of merit, in every respect, especially "in the arrangement
of his fable," has been universally assigned to Heliodorus, Bishop of
Tricca in Thessaly, who flourished A. D. 400; "whose writing," says
Huet, "the subsequent novelists of those ages constantly proposed to
themselves as a model for imitation; and as truly may they all be said
to have drunk of the waters of this fountain, as all the Poets did of
the Homeric spring. "
The writers of Romance, posterior to Heliodorus, who alone are worthy
of note, are Achilles Tatius, who is allowed to come next to him
in merit; Longus, who has given the first example of the "Pastoral
Romance;" and Xenophon, of Ephesus.
Having alluded to the various writers of fictitious narrative, our
farther remarks may be confined to Heliodorus, Longus, and Achilles
Tatius. With the work of the author of the "Ethiopics" are connected
some curious circumstances, which shall be given in the words of an
Ecclesiastical Historian, quoted by the writer of the article in
Blackwood.
Nicephorus, B. xii. c. 34, says--"This Heliodorus, Bishop of Tricca,
had in his youth written certain love stories, called 'Ethiopics,'
which are highly popular, even at the present day, though they are
now better known by the title of 'Chariclea;' and it was by reason
thereof that he lost his see. For inasmuch as many of the youths were
drawn into peril of sin by the perusal of these amorous tales, it was
determined by the Provincial Synod, that either these books, which
kindled the fire of love, should themselves be consumed by fire,
or that the author should be deposed from his episcopal functions;
and this choice being propounded to him, he preferred resigning his
bishoprick to suppressing his writings. --Heliodorus," continues the
reviewer, "according to the same authority, was the first Thessalian
Bishop who had insisted on the married clergy putting away their wives,
which may probably have tended to make him unpopular; but the story of
his deposition, it should be observed, rests solely on the statement of
Nicephorus, and is discredited by Bayle and Huet, who argue that the
silence of Socrates, (Eccles. Hist. B. v. c. 22), in the chapter where
he expressly assigns the authority of the 'Ethiopics' to the '_Bishop_'
Heliodorus, more than counterbalances the unsupported assertion of
Nicephorus;--'an author,' says Huet, 'of more credulity than judgment. '
If Heliodorus were, indeed, as has been generally supposed, the
same to whom several of the Epistles of St. Jerome were addressed,
this circumstance would supply an additional argument against the
probability of his having incurred the censures of the Church; but
whatever the testimony of Nicephorus may be worth on this point, his
mention of the work affords undeniable proof of its long continued
popularity, as his Ecclesiastical History was written about A. D. 900,
and Heliodorus lived under the reign of the sons of Theodosius, fully
500 years earlier. "
Of the popularity of his work in more recent times, the following
instances may be given. "Tasso," says Ghirardini, "became acquainted
with this Romance when it was introduced at the Court of Charles the
IXth of Prance, where it was read by the ladies and gentlemen in the
translation made by Amiot. The poet promised the courtiers that they
should soon see the work attired in the most splendid vestments of
Italian poetry, and kept his promise, by transferring to the heroine
Clorinda (in the tenth canto of the 'Gerusalemme') the circumstances
attending the birth and early life of the Ethiopian maiden Chariclea. "
"The proposed sacrifice and subsequent discovery of the birth of
Chariclea have likewise," observes Dunlop, "been imitated in the Pastor
Fido of Guarini, and through it, in the Astrea of D'Urfé.
"Racine had at one time intended writing a drama on the subject of
this Romance, a plan which has been accomplished by Dorat, in his
Tragedy of Theagenes and Chariclea, acted at Paris in the year 1762. It
also suggested the plot of an old English tragi-comedy, by an unknown
author, entitled the 'Strange Discovery. '"
Hardy, the French poet, wrote eight tragedies in verse on the same
subject, without materially altering the ground-work of the Romance;
"an instance of literary prodigality"--remarks Dunlop truly--"which is
perhaps unexampled. "
Nor have authors only availed themselves of the work of Heliodorus.
Artists likewise have sought from his pages subjects for their canvass.
"Two of the most striking incidents have been finely delineated by
Raphael in separate paintings, in which he was assisted by Julio
Romano. In one he has seized the moment when Theagenes and Chariclea
meet in the temple of Delphi, and Chariclea presents Theagenes with
a torch to kindle the sacrifice. In the other he has chosen for his
subject, the capture of the Tyrian ship, in which Calasiris was
conducting Theagenes and Chariclea to the coast of Sicily. The vessel
is supposed to have already struck to the Pirates, and Chariclea is
exhibited, by the light of the moon, in a suppliant posture, imploring
Trachinus that she might not be separated from her lover and Calasiris. "
Heliodorus, as has already been remarked, is allowed to be far superior
to any of his predecessors in "the disposition of the fable;" as also,
"in the artful manner in which the tale is disclosed;" and Tasso
praises him for the skill which he displays in keeping the mind of his
reader in suspense, and in gradually clearing up what appeared confused
and perplexed. His style is, in many parts, highly poetical, abounding
in expressions and turns of thought borrowed from the Greek poets, to
which, indeed, it is quite impossible to do justice when translating
them into another language.
The chief defects in the composition of his work, are the
digressions--for instance, the adventures of Cnemon and the siege of
Cyene; together with certain critical and philosophical discussions,
which, while they take up considerable space distract the attention of
the reader, without adding to his interest.
He has also been blamed for making a _third_ person--Calasiris--recount
the adventures of the hero and heroine; instead of letting them tell
their own story. As regards the two principal characters, it must be
allowed that the hero, like many heroes in modern novels, is "insipid. "
Upon certain occasions, it is true that Theagenes "comes out:" he does
battle boldly with the pirate lieutenant; distances his rival, in good
style, in the running match; effectually cools the courage of the
Ethiopian bully; and gives proof of the skill of reasoning man over the
strength of the irrational brute in the scene of the _Taurocathapsia_;
but with these exceptions, he is remarkable chiefly for his resistance
to temptations, and for the constancy of his affections--no slight
merits, however, especially in a heathen, and like other "quiet
virtues," of greater intrinsic value than more sparkling and showy
qualities.
Of Chariclea, on the other hand, it has with justice been observed,[2]
that "her character makes ample amends for the defects in that of her
lover. The masculine firmness and presence of mind which she evinces in
situations of peril and difficulty, combined at all times with feminine
delicacy; and the warmth and confiding simplicity of her love for
Theagenes, attach to her a degree of interest which belongs to none of
the other personages. "
"The course of true love never did run smooth," says the Poet; and
however defective may be the work of Heliodorus, in other respects,
none of its readers will deny that the author has exemplified the words
of the Bard in the perils, and escapes, separations, and unexpected
reunion of the hero and heroine of the "Ethiopics. "
None there are, we trust but will rejoice, when at the conclusion, they
find--
"How Fate to Virtue paid her debt,
And for their troubles, bade them prove
A lengthened life of peace and love. "
The forte of Heliodorus lies especially in descriptions; his work
abounds in these, and apart from the general story, the most
interesting portions are, the account of the haunts of the Buccaneers;
the procession at Delphi, with the respective retinues and dresses of
Theagenes and Chariclea; the wrestling match, and the bull fight--all
these are brought before the reader with picturesque effect, and in
forcible and vivid language; nor should we omit what is very curious
and valuable in an antiquarian point of view, his minute description of
the panoply worn by man and horse composing the flower of the Persian
army, which paints to the life, the iron-clad heroes of the Crusades,
so many centuries before they appeared upon the scene.
With reference to the writers of Greek Romance, in general, there is
one particular point which deserves mention; the more prominent manner
in which they bring forward that sex, whose influence is so powerful
upon society, but whose seclusion in those early times banished
them from a participation in the every day affairs of life. "The
Greek Romances," says Dunlop, "may be considered as almost the first
productions, in which woman is in any degree represented as assuming
her proper station of the friend and companion of man. Hitherto she
had been considered almost in the light of a slave, ready to bestow
her affections on whatever master might happen to obtain her; but in
Heliodorus and his followers, we see her an affectionate guide and
adviser. We behold an union of hearts painted as a main spring of our
conduct in life--we are delighted with pictures of fidelity, constancy,
and chastity. "
The same writer sums up his observations upon the Greek Romances, by
saying: "They are less valuable than they might have been, from giving
too much to adventure, and too little to manners and character; but
these have not been altogether neglected, and several pleasing pictures
are delineated of ancient customs and feelings. In short, these early
fictions are such as might have been expected at the first effort, and
must be considered as not merely valuable in themselves, but as highly
estimable in pointing out the method of awaking the most pleasing
sympathies of our nature, and affecting most powerfully the fancy
and heart. " The popularity of Heliodorus has found translators for
his Romance in almost every European language--France, Spain, Italy,
Poland, Germany, and Holland have contributed their versions.
Four Translations have appeared in English, by Thomas Underdowne,
Lond. , 1587; W. Lisle, Lond. , 1622; N. Tate and another hand, 1686;
lastly, the translation upon which the present one is based, 1791.
Among these, _Lisle_, who favoured the world with a _Poetical_ version
of the _Prose_ Romance, affords us an example of an adventurous and ill
fated wight.
"Carmina qui scripsit Musis et Apolline nullo. "
"Apollo and the Nine; their heavy curse
On him did lay;--they bid him--_go, write verse_. "
The Reviewer in Blackwood designates his production, as "one of the
most precious specimens of balderdash in existence; a perfect literary
curiosity in its way. " Of the truth of which any one, who will be at
the trouble of turning over his pages, may satisfy himself.
The worthy man, at starting, prays earnestly for "A sip of liquor
Castaline," and having done this, he mounts and does his best to get
Pegasus into a canter; but it is all in vain--whip and spurs avail not;
the poor jade, spavined and galled, will not budge an inch; however,
nothing daunted, the rowels and scourge are most unmercifully applied;
the wretched brute gets into a kind of hobbling trot, which enables the
rider to say at the end of his journey--
"This have I wrought with day and nightly swinke
. . . . . .
That after-comers know, when I am dead,
I, some good thing in life endeavoured;--
. . . . . .
To keep my name undrown'd in Lethe pool;
In vain (may seem) is wealth or learning lent
To man that leaves thereof no monument. "
The version upon which the present one is founded, is in many places
more of a paraphrase than a translation. Several passages are entirely
omitted, while of others the sense has been mistaken; it has been the
endeavour of the translator to remedy these defects, and to give the
meaning of his author as literally as is consistent with avoiding
stiffness and ruggedness of style.
* * * * *
With regard to Longus nothing is known of his birthplace, nor is it
certain at what period he flourished; he is generally supposed however
to have lived during the reign of Theodosius the Great, in the fourth
century. Photius and Suidas, who have preserved the names of various
Greek Romance writers, and have likewise given us summaries of their
works, make no mention of him.
An extract from the work of Mr. Dunlop, on the "History of Fiction,"
will form a suitable Introduction to this Pastoral Romance, the first
of its kind, and one which is considered to have had much influence
upon the style of subsequent writers of Romance, in ancient times,
as also among those of the moderns who have chosen for their theme a
Pastoral subject.
After reviewing the Ethiopics of Heliodorus, Mr. Dunlop goes on to
say:---
"We now proceed to the analysis of a romance different in its nature
from the works already mentioned; and of a species which may be
distinguished by the appellation of Pastoral Romance.
"It may be conjectured with much probability, that pastoral
composition sometimes expressed the devotion, and sometimes formed
the entertainment of the first generations of mankind. The sacred
writings sufficiently inform us that it existed among the eastern
nations during the earliest ages. Rural images are everywhere scattered
through the Old Testament; and the Song of Solomon in particular
beautifully delineates the charms of a country life, while it paints
the most amiable affections of the mind, and the sweetest scenery of
nature. A number of passages of Theocritus bear a striking resemblance
to descriptions in the inspired pastoral; and many critics have
believed that he had studied its beauties and transferred them to his
eclogues. Theocritus was imitated in his own dialect by Moschus and
Bion; and Virgil, taking advantage of a different language copied, yet
rivalled the Sicilian. The Bucolics of the Roman bard seem to have
been considered as precluding all attempts of the same kind; for,
if we except the feeble efforts of Calpurnius and his contemporary
Nemesianus, who lived in the third century, no subsequent specimen of
pastoral poetry was, as far as I know, produced till the revival of
literature.
"It was during this interval that Longus, a Greek sophist, who is said
to have lived soon after the age of Tatius, wrote his pastoral romance
of Daphnis and Chloe, which is the earliest, and by far the finest
example that has appeared of this species of composition. Availing
himself of the beauties of the pastoral poets who preceded him, he has
added to their simplicity of style, and charming pictures of Nature,
a story which possesses considerable interest. In some respects a
prose romance is better adapted than the eclogue or drama to pastoral
composition. The eclogue is confined within narrow limits, and must
terminate before interest can be excited. A series of Bucolics, where
two or more shepherds are introduced contending for the reward of a
crook or a kid, and at most descanting for a short time on similar
topics, resembles a collection of the first scenes of a number of
comedies, of which the commencement can only be listened to as
unfolding the subsequent action. The drama is, no doubt, a better form
of pastoral writing than detached eclogues, but at the same time does
not well accord with rustic manners and descriptions.
"In dramatic composition, the representation of strong passions is
best calculated to produce interest or emotion, but the feelings of
rural existence should be painted as tranquil and calm. In choosing a
prose romance as the vehicle of pastoral writing, Longus has adopted
a form that may include all the beauties arising from the description
of rustic manners, or the scenery of nature, and which, as far as the
incidents of rural life admit, may interest by an agreeable fable, and
delight by a judicious alternation of narrative and dialogue. Longus
has also avoided many of the faults into which his modern imitators
have fallen, and which have brought this style of composition into
so much disrepute; his characters never express the conceits of
affected gallantry, nor involve themselves in abstract reasoning; he
has not loaded his romance with those long and constantly recurring
episodes, which fatigue the attention, and render us indifferent to the
principal story. Nor does he paint that chimerical state of society,
termed the golden age, in which the characteristic traits of rural life
are erased, but attempts to please by a genuine imitation of Nature,
and by descriptions of the manners, the rustic occupations, or rural
enjoyments of the inhabitants of the country where the scene of the
pastoral is laid.
"The pastoral is in general very beautifully written;--the style,
though it has been censured on account of the reiteration of the same
forms of expression, and as betraying the sophist in some passages
by a play on words, and affected antithesis, is considered as the
purest specimen of the Greek language produced in that late period;
the descriptions of rural scenery and rural occupations are extremely
pleasing, and if I may use the expression, there is a sort of amenity
and calm diffused over the whole romance. This, indeed, may be
considered as the chief excellence in a pastoral; since we are not
so much allured by the feeding of sheep as by the stillness of the
country. In all our active pursuits, the end proposed is tranquillity,
and even when we lose the hope of happiness, we are attracted by that
of repose; hence we are soothed and delighted with its representation,
and fancy we partake of the pleasure.
"There can be no doubt that the pastoral of Longus had a considerable
influence on the style and incidents of the subsequent Greek romances,
particularly those of Eustathius and Theodorus Prodromus; but its
effects on modern pastorals, particularly those which appeared in Italy
during the sixteenth century, is a subject of more difficulty. --Huet
is of opinion, that it was not only the model of the Astrea of D'Urfé,
and the Diana of Montemayor, but gave rise to the Italian dramatic
pastoral. This opinion is combated by Villoison, on the grounds that
the first edition of Longus was not published till 1598, and that Tasso
died in the year 1595. It is true that the first Greek edition of
Longus was not published till 1598, but there was a French translation
by Amyot, which appeared in 1559, and one in Latin verse by Gambara
in 1569, either of which might have been seen by Tasso. But although
this argument, brought forward by Villoison, be of little avail, he
is probably right in the general notion he has adopted that Daphnis
and Chloe was not the origin of the pastoral drama. The Sacrificio of
Agostino Beccari, which was the earliest specimen of this style of
composition, and was acted at Ferrara in 1554, was written previous to
the appearance of any edition or version of Longus. Nor is there any
similarity in the story or incidents of the Aminta to those in Daphnis
and Chloe, which should lead us to imagine that the Greek romance had
been imitated by Tasso.
"It bears, however, a stronger likeness to the more recent dramatic
pastorals of Italy. These are frequently founded on the exposure of
children who, after being brought up as shepherds by reputed fathers,
are discovered by their real parents by means of tokens fastened to
them when they were abandoned. There is also a considerable resemblance
between the story of Daphnis and Chloe and that of the Gentle Shepherd:
the plot was suggested to Ramsay by one of his friends, who seems to
have taken it from the Greek pastoral. Marmontel, too, in his Annette
and Lubin, has imitated the simplicity and inexperience of the lovers
of Longus. But of all modern writers the author who has most closely
followed this romance is Gessner. In his Idylls there is the same
poetical prose, the same beautiful rural descriptions, and the same
innocence and simplicity in the rustic characters. In his pastoral of
Daphnis, the scene of which is laid in Greece, he has painted, like
Longus, the early and innocent attachment of a shepherdess and swain,
and has only embellished his picture by the incidents that arise from
rural occupations and the revolutions of the year. "
To these observations we may add, that Longus is supposed by some
to have furnished to Bernardin de St. Pierre the groundwork for his
beautiful tale of Paul and Virginia. Many points of resemblance may
certainly be traced between the hero and heroine of the respective
works; the description of their innocence--their simple and rustic
mode of life, and their occupation and diversions. Among the rest may
be mentioned the descriptions of the sensations of love when first
arising in Virginia; and the pantomimic dance in which she and Paul
take part.
An anonymous and "select" translation of Longus, published at Truro, in
1803, has been taken as the basis of the present version. The passages
(and there are many) omitted by the former translator are here given,
together with a considerable fragment, first discovered by M. Paul
Louis Courier, in 1810, in the Laurentian Library at Florence. It
has been the endeavour of the present translator to make his version
convey the sense of the original as faithful as possible, except in
some few passages ("egregio inspersos corpore nævos") where it has been
considered advisable to employ the veil of a learned language.
In reading the work of Longus, we must bear in mind that he was most
probably a heathen, or at any rate, that he describes the heathen state
of morals.
The following passage from Dr. Nott's Preface to his translation
of Catullus will illustrate the principle upon which the present
translator has gone, in presenting in an English dress passages
entirely omitted in the anonymous version, before referred to:--
"When an ancient classic is translated and explained, the work may be
considered as forming a link in the chain of history. --History should
not be falsified, we ought therefore to translate him somewhat fairly,
and when he gives us the manners of his own day, however disgusting to
our sensations and repugnant to our natures they may oftentimes prove,
we must not, in translation, suppress or even too much gloss them over,
through a fastidious regard to delicacy. "[3]
* * * * *
Achilles Tatius was a native of Alexandria, commonly assigned to the
second or third century of the Christian æra, but considered by the
best critics to have flourished after Heliodorus, to whom he is looked
upon as next in point of literary merit, and whom he has more or less
imitated in various parts of his works, like him frequently introducing
into the thread of his narrative the Egyptian buccaneers. According
to Suidas, he became, towards the end of his life, a Christian and a
Bishop; a statement which is however considered doubtful, as no mention
is made by that lexicographer of his Episcopal see, and Photius, who
mentions him in three different places, is silent upon the subject.
In point of style, Achilles Tatius is considered to excel Heliodorus
and the other writers of Greek Romance. Photius says of him,--"With
regard to diction and composition, Tatius seems to me to excel when he
employs figurative language: it is clear and natural; his sentences are
precise and limpid, and such as by their sweetness greatly delight the
ear. "
Like Heliodorus, one of his principal excellences lies in descriptions;
and though these, as Mr. Dunlop observes, "are too luxuriant, they are
in general beautiful, the objects being at once well selected, and so
painted as to form in the mind of the reader a distinct and lively
image. As an example of his merit in this way, may be mentioned his
description of a garden, and of a tempest followed by a shipwreck; also
his accounts of the pictures of Europa, Andromeda, and Prometheus,
in which his descriptions and criticisms are executed with very
considerable taste and feeling. " The same writer, however, justly notes
"the absurd and aukward manner in which the author, as if to show his
various acquirements, drags in without the slightest necessity, some
of those minute descriptions, viz. , those of the necklace, and of
different zoological curiosities, in the Second Book, together with the
invention of purple-dying, and the accounts drawn from natural history,
which are interspersed in the Fourth Book. "
In his discussions upon the passions of love, and its power over human
nature, however we may object to the warmth of his description, we
cannot but allow the ability with which the colours are laid on.
"The rise and progress of the passion of Clitopho for Leucippe,"
observes Mr. Dunlop, "is extremely well executed,--of this there is
nothing in the romance of Heliodorus. Theagenes and Chariclea, are at
first sight violently and mutually enamoured; in Tatius we have more of
the restless agitation of love and the arts of courtship. Indeed this
is by much the best part of the Clitopho and Leucippe, as the author
discloses very considerable acquaintance with the human heart. This
knowledge also appears in the sentiments scattered through the work,
though it must be confessed, that in many of his remarks he is apt to
subtilize and refine too much. "
In the hero of his work, Achilles Tatius is more unfortunate even
than Heliodorus. --"Clitopho," says a reviewer, "is a human body,
uninformed with a human soul, but delivered up to all the instincts
of nature and the senses. He neither commands respect by his courage,
nor affection by his constancy. " As in the work of Heliodorus so in
that of Achilles Tatius, it is the heroine who excites our sympathy
and interest:--"Leucippe, patient, high-minded, resigned and firm,
endures adversity with grace; preserving throughout the helplessness
and temptations of captivity, irreproachable purity and constancy
unchangeable. "
In concluding these remarks upon one of the three chief writers of
Greek Romance, one more observation of Mr. Dunlop will not be out of
place. --"Tatius," he says, "has been much blamed for the immorality
of his Romance, and it must be acknowledged that there are particular
passages which are extremely exceptionable; yet, however odious some
of these may be considered, the general moral tendency of the story is
good; a remark which may be extended to all the Greek Romances. Tatius
punishes his hero and heroine for eloping from their father's house,
and afterwards rewards them for their long fidelity. "
* * * * *
Several French translations of Achilles Tatius have appeared; an
Italian one by Coccio; also an English one published at Oxford in 1638,
which the present writer, after many inquiries, has been unable to
procure a sight of.
R. S.
_October_, 1855.
[Footnote 1: In the opening of his celebrated novel, the "_Golden
Ass_," Apuleius says--"At ego tibi _sermone isto Milesio_ varias
fabulas conseram," &c. ]
[Footnote 2: Author of article in Blackwood. ]
[Footnote 3: N. B. --There have been two other English versions of the
work of Longus, one by George Thornley, in 1657, another by James
Craggs, in 1764.
There are translations in Italian by Caro and Gozzi, and a French one
by Amyot; the first version of the Romance into a modern language,
which gives the sense of the original with fidelity, and at the same
time with great spirit and quaintness. ]
HELIODORUS.
ETHIOPICS: OR, ADVENTURES OF THEAGENES AND CHARICLEA.
SUMMARY.
As the thread of the story in the Ethiopics is rather entangled,
through the author's method of telling it, the following summary from
Dunlop's "History of Fiction," will be useful.
"The action of the romance is supposed to take place previous to the
age of Alexander the Great, while Egypt was tributary to the Persian
monarchs.
