Leukippe and Kleitophon

by Achilles Tatius

Book I

Introduction.

The romance begins with information about Sidon, where the first narrator has put in after barely escaping from a violent storm. After making an offering to Astarte, he goes site-seeing, and comes to a picture of Zeus abducting Europa, which receives a vivid ecphrasis. As the narrator comments aloud concerning the power of Eros (here depicted as a child), a young man says "How well I know it, -- for all the indignities Eros has made me endure." Intrigued, the narrator invites the young man, who in fact is Kleitophon, the hero of the romance, to sit down and tell him his story. Achilles Tatius never returns to this frame narrative.

Kleitophon first tells how he was born in Tyre; his father was Hippias and his half-sister was Kalligone. His uncle Sostratos lived in Byzantium. Hippias had planned for Kleitophon to wed Kalligone now that he was nineteen years old, but clearly the fates had different plans, which they perhaps signaled to Kleitophon by a dream in which he and his prospective bride, whose bodies were grown together, were separated by a sickle-wielding woman who looked rather like a fury.

Soon Sostratos sends his wife Pantheia and his daughter Leukippe to his brother Hippias, so that they will be safe; a war with Thrace has put Byzantium in danger. Kleitophon falls in love with Leukippe at first glance; there is no sense that she fall in love with him at this moment, however. During that evening's dinner party and after going to bed, the flames of love grow ever greater within the tormented Kleitophon.

The next morning Kleitophon visits his cousin Kleinias, two years older and somewhat more expert in love. He is enamored of a youth, Charikles, to whom he had just given a horse. While he and Kleitophon are discussing Kleitophon's situation, Charikles comes up and tells Kleinias that his father has arranged a marriage for him with a unattractive woman for the sake of money. At this Kleinias delivers a diatribe against women. Since there are some days left before the appointed marriage, they take consolation in the fact that there is still time to stop it, and Charikles goes off to ride his new horse.

After Kleitophon further describes his desperate situation, Kleinias gives him some pointers concerning how to go about winning Leukippe. Since they live in the same house, Kleitophon certainly has some initial advantages.

But, before the conversation is finished, a slave runs up and tells, in pathetic detail, how Charikles has just been killed while riding the horse that Kleinias had bought him.

After Charikles' funeral Kleitophon begins his pursuit of Leukippe. He finds her in the garden (which is given a lavish description with erotic overtones), and begins his task by giving the house slave Satyros (with Leukippe in earshot, of course) a lecture about the power of love among birds (peacock), minerals (magnetite), plants (the palm), waters (the Alpheios loves Arethousa) and even between different species (the viper and the eel). Leukippe gives silent indications that she was not unpleased by Kleitophon's sophistic (and erotic) discourse. At this point Leukippe returns to the women's quarters for her music lesson.

Book Two.

Kleitophon listens to her sing while indulging in fantasy. Soon it is time for dinner. [In some manuscripts the myth of the invention of wine is inserted here.] At dinner the wine further inflames Kleitophon's love. For ten more days Kleitophon tries similar indirect measures, until he confides his whole predicament to Satyros (his trusty slave), who, as it turns out, has Kleio, Leukippe's trusted maid, as his lover. Satyros will use his influence with her to help Kleitophon, whom he encourages to be bolder.

Soon, finding himself unexpectedly alone with Leukippe in the garden, Kleitophon quick-wittedly pretends to have been stung by a bee on his face, having seen Leukippe earlier cure Kleio's bee sting with a Egyptian spell mumbled in close proximity to the sting. Leukippe is willing to do the same for Kleitophon, which leads to their first kisses and embraces.

In Kleitophon's narrative of that night's dinner he retells the myth of the Tyrian festival of Dionysos, as well as a vivid description of a crystal wine bowl. Meanwhile Satyros has arranged for the wine glasses to be so arranged that Kleitophon is able to kiss the glass from which Leukippe has drunk, and Leukippe responds similarly. After dinner, with Satyros having diverted Kleio, Kleitophon is able to get a passionate kiss from Leukippe before being interrupted.

But, a few days later, Kleitophon's father begins preparing for the planned marriage of Kleitophon and Kalligone. Amid his description of Kalligone's lavish wedding attire the narrator tells the myth of how the Tyrians discovered their famous purple dye. The wedding itself is delayed a few days due to a bad omen which makes Kleitophon's father wait until he can consult priests and interpreters, who tell him he must go to the seaside at night and offer sacrifice to Zeus.

At this point we are told about a certain Kallisthenes, a young, dissolute man of Byzantium who had fallen in love with Leukippe just by hearing about her, without even seeing her. Sostratos had rebuffed him, and, soon afterward, had sent Leukippe to Tyre for safety. Kallisthenes had kept track of Leukippe's whereabouts and had decided to try to kidnap her. Having received and then debated the meaning of an oracle, the Byzantines decide to send offerings to Tyrian Heracles, and Kallisthenes joins the embassy.

When the embassy arrives at Tyre, Kalligone goes to watch it with Leukippe's mother. Leukippe and Kleitophon's mother stay at home. Kallisthenes, thinking that Kalligone must be Leukippe, orders men who he had prepared for the purpose to kidnap Kalligone and take her away by boat. The operation goes as planned and Kleitophon is saved from a unwanted marriage.

Soon Kleitophon begins to pressure Leukippe to indulge him in more than kisses, and Sostratos gets him a duplicate of the key to Leukippe's room. But there is slave named Konops ( = Nat) who, suspecting Kleitophon's plan, has been staying up late and keeping watch. Finally, one night Satyros manages to drug his wine. This allows Kleitophon to go into Leukippe's room, where it seems they are about to physically consummate their relationship. But before they can Leukippe's mother is awakened by a terrible dream about her daughter with strong sexual overtones, and she runs into the room only to see somebody departing. Her mother faints, sure that her daughter has been unchaste.

Kleitophon and Satyros plan to get out of house, fearing that Kleio, put to the torture, will reveal in the morning what Kleitophon had tried to do. They go to Kleinias' house, and soon discover that Kleio has decided to run away. Kleinias arranges for Kleio to aboard a ship with one of his servants, and Kleitophon and Satyros return home, planning on ask Leukippe to elope. The next day Leukippe, humiliated by her mother's attitude, herself suggests that they elope. Using the same sleeping drug that had worked on Nat, they put Leukippe's mother and maid to sleep, and leave the house and take a carriage for Beirut, where they board a ship bound for Alexandria in Egypt.

During the journey they strike up a friendship with a young man from Egypt named Menelaus, who tells them the story of how the young man he was in love with had died by his own javelin cast during a hunting accident. Although during the trial Menelaus had demanded the death penalty for himself (at standard scene in ancient romances), he had instead been sentenced to three years of exile, and now was returning home. Kleinias weeps, thinking of his own Charikles. To change the subject, Kleitophon initiates a debate about the merits of boy-love vs. girl-love (allowing Achilles Tatius, of course to make a sophistic display).

Book three.

After three days of sailing their vessel runs into a terrible storm, and the description of the storm and the actions of the crew and the passengers as they finally suffer shipwreck gets a full sophistic treatment. Leukippe and Kleitophon manage to float to safety to Pelusium, where, as they make dedications in memory of their friends, whom they believe drowned, at the temple of Zeus Kasios, they see a depiction of Andromeda and Prometheus, which receive an elaborate description. After two days they decide to sail for Alexandria, but are captured by the dreaded Boukoloi, bandits that inhabit the Nile delta. The next day Leukippe is separated from Kleitophon. Later, as Kleitophon is walking with the rest of the chained captives, the bandits are attacked by infantry, and Kleitophon and the other prisoners manage to escape toward the soldiers. After the battle, Kleitophon is invited to join the force as a solider, and he soon gains the commander's admiration for his horsemanship. The infantry is unable to move against the larger force of bandits due to a great trench that protects their camp, which they work to fill in. Thus unable to move forward, the army and Kleitophon must watch, without being able to act, the bandits take a young woman, -- who Kleitophon realizes Leukippe -- tie her to a tree, disembowel her and cook and eat her entrails and put her body in a coffin, which the army is able to recover after it has filled in the trench and moved forward.

Kleitophon, in deep despair, decides that night to go outside the camp and kill himself upon the coffin which he believes holds the dead Leukippe. But as he prepares to stab himself, Menelaus and Satyros, whom Kleitophon had supposed to be drowned, run up and stop him. To his amazement, they summon a living Leukippe out of the coffin! Kleitophon then learns how Menelaus and Satyros, using stage props (a sword with a retractable blade, a false stomach) found in the wreckage had simulated Leukippe's death, pretending to be recruits wanting to prove their boldness to the bandits. On a darker note, they report that it appeared that Kleinias did in fact drown.

The next day Kleitophon learn that reinforcements needed to attack main force of the bandits would not arrive for another five days, because the sacred phoenix has arrived -- which leads to a sophistic disquisition that ends the book.

Book Four

At this point, since they have some spare time, Kleitophon begins to press Leukippe to consummate their relationship while luck still gives them a chance. But Leukippe tells him that on the previous day, when she still thought she was going to be killed, Artemis appeared to her and told her that she would remain a virgin until Artemis herself gave her away as a bride. At his point Kleitophon remembers a dream he had, in which he had tried to enter the temple of Aphrodite, but the doors had slammed in his face. A woman, who looked just like the temple's image of Aphrodite, told him that he was not allowed to enter right then, but if he waited, she would not only open the doors for him but make him a high priest of the goddess of love. He makes no further attempt on her chastity, although he worries that the dream my have a darker significance.

Another problem soon arises. The commander, Charmides, falls in love with Leukippe when he invites the couple to view a captured hippopotamus; here Achilles inserts a sophistic digression on hunting hippos and upon the elephant and the reason for its sweet breath.

After this meeting the general implores Menelaus to use his influence to obtain Leukippe for him. When Menelaus informs Kleitophon of this, they decide it would be too risky to refuse the general outright; rather Menelaus makes tells him that Leukippe is willing, but adds an excuse that persuades Charmides to wait a few days to fully consummate the relationship, although he insists on having at least a kiss immediately.

When Menelaus returns tells Kleitophon this, he is enraged at the prospect of Leukippe kissing him -- and in the process delivers a sophistic praise of the mouth. While they are trying to figure out some way of putting off Charmides, a messenger arrives and tells them that Leukippe has collapsed in a fit of madness and has had to be tied up.

A doctor is called and Kleitophon spends a night watching over her, but in the morning Leukippe is still besides herself. At this point a message comes commanding the general to immediately engage the Boukoloi. Achilles gives us a detailed description of the area in which these bandits live. When the army advances, the Boukoloi trick them into falling into an ambush and the general and his men are defeated.

After Leukippe has been in a state of delirium for ten days, she is heard to call out that she has been destroyed because of "Gorgias". The next day, while Kleitophon and Menelaus are searching through the village for a Gorgias, a certain Chaireas comes up to them and tells them he can save Leukippe. Chaireas had learned from Gorgias' attendant that he had fallen in love with Leukippe too, and had managed to drug her cup with an aphrodisiac, but with too strong a dose, which has caused her madness. Gorgias was killed during the battle, but his attendant is willing to sell them the cure for four gold pieces. The cure works, and soon Leukippe is in her right mind, remembering nothing.

A new army arrives and finally defeats the Boukoloi. The book ends with some sophistic digressions on the appearance of the Nile, the taste of its wonderful water , and the crocodile.

Book Five

They then go to Alexandria, accompanied by Chaireas, and Kleitophon is struck by the beauty of the city. Despite the supplications they make in the temples, a new conspiracy soon arises -- Chaireas is now deeply in love with Leukippe, and, when he learns that she will not consider giving up Kleitophon, rounds up some seamen who will help him kidnap her. Chaireas then invites Clitophon and company to go to his home on the island of Pharos, but an two unlucky omens stop them; a hawk pursuing a swallow collides with Leukippe, and then they immediately see a picture of Tereus and the rape of Philomela, which receives a vivid description. They decide not to go, and Chaireas leaves and says he will come back the next day. After he has left, Leukippe asks Kleitophon what the painting is about, and he gives her a fulsome description (For this sort of rhetorical description of a painting, see the Imagines of Philostratus).

On the next day Chaireas comes back and they go with him to Paros, where they see the famous lighthouse. That evening, when Chaireas goes outside for a moment, men break into the house and wound Kleitophon and seize Leukippe and take her away by boat. Kleitophon and some local forces commandeer a boat and go after them. As it looks like Kleitophon's ship is getting closer, the pirates appear to bring Leukippe on deck, cut off her head, and toss her body into the sea, while Kleitophon looks on in horror. The crew of Kleitophon's ship stop long enough to collect the torso (but not the head) and are soon forced to give up the chase when another ship comes to help the pirates

After lamentations Kleitophon buries the body and returns to Alexandria. At this point the story leaps forward six months. Kleitophon has been living in Alexandria, in no small part due to the efforts of Menelaus. Kleitophon's grief for Leukippe has begun to fade. One day, while he is in the marketplace, he meets Kleinias, whom he had believed dead. Kleitophon tells him all about what happened to Leukippe, and Kleinias tells him his story. After the shipwreck Kleinias had made it back to Tyre before he was even missed. It turns out that the families had planned on letting Kleitophon and Leukippe wed, and the elopement was unnecessary. Now the family is looking for them and in fact Kleitophon's father is on the way to Alexandria!

At this point Satyros shows up, and tells Kleinias that there is a rich, young and pretty Ephesian widow called Melite who wants to marry Kleitophon, and is willing to give up everything to him, but Kleitophon has been ignoring her.

Under their combined pressure Kleitophon agrees to wed Melite, with the proviso that Melite cease urging him to have sex, since he has vowed to never have sex in the region where Leukippe died. Melite, when she hears the news, is elated and, at dinner that night, can barely eat. The next day they meet at the temple of Isis and exchange vows as a formal engagement, the preliminary to their future marriage at Ephesus.

The next day Melite and Kleitophon begin their sea voyage under a fair wind to Ephesus, and in route Kleitophon has to fend off the eager Melite. Finally, after five days of sailing they reach Ephesus and proceed to Melite's estate. When they arrive, a wretched slave girl throws herself at Kleitophon's feet. When asked who she is, and how she got into this situation (for it clear, despite her dirtiness, that she was not born a slave) she claims to be Lakaina, and the victim of the Melite's bailiff Sosthenes, who has been punishing her because she will not give in to him. Apparently Sosthenes paid two thousand gold pieces for her.

Melite orders the girl unchained and promises to send her home. When Sosthenes is summoned, he tells Melite that a merchant called Kallisthenes sold her to him, who claimed to have bought her from pirates. Sosthenes is relieved of his duties and Lakaina is given over to the house servants to be washed and dressed properly.

At dinner Satyros in secret gives Kleitophon a letter -- from Leukippe, who was the Lakaina they met earlier. She asks Kleitophon to help her get home, since she is sure that he now is husband of Melite. Kleitophon is overjoyed but also very worried. What can he do? He is technically married, although he has yet to consummate the union with Melite. Kleitophon sends back a letter to Leukippe, proclaiming his love and claiming that he is still a virgin too -- if the term has any meaning for men.

That night, which Melite thought would bring their total union, Kleitophon again refuses to make love to her, but promises soon all would be well. The next day Melite summons Lakaina (not knowing who she) and tells her that Kleitophon has been unwilling to have sex with her, although they have slept together. Since Melite thinks that Lakaina/Leukippe is Egyptian, and Egyptians are known to have secret magical knowledge, she begs her assistance in making Kleitophon fully love her. Leukippe, happy that in fact Kleitophon has been chaste, agrees to go outside the estate and gather the magic herbs needed for the cure.

That evening, as they sit down to drink, a huge commotion arises. Thersandros, Melite's presumably dead husband, has come home! Thersandros comes into the room, shoves Melite aside, and begins beating up Kleitophon, who is finally tied up and locked away. As he is being taken away, Leukippe's letter to Kleitophon falls out of his garments. Melite picks it up and reads it, and realizes, in a welter of mixed feelings, who Lakaina really is and what is going on. However her love for Kleitophon prevails. That night, since Thersandros is away in town, Melite visits Kleitophon, berates him for how he has ruined her, and begs, with considerable rhetoric, the consolation of just one act of intimacy. Kleitophon, deeply moved, and knowing that Leukippe is safe, assents. They make love in his cell and the book ends.

Book Six.

After their intimate moment, Melite tries to smuggle Kleitophon out in her clothes, but just as he is about to leave the house, Thersandros comes home and recognizes him. Further, we learn that Sosthenes, who had a grudge against Melite, had been the one who told Thersandros about Kleitophon, and further, told him that he had bought the beautiful Leukippe for him. Thersandros likes the news, and Sosthenes then kidnaps Leukippe and takes her to a small cabin to await Thersandros. Meanwhile Thersandros, who has recognized Kleitophon, has him hauled off to jail and locked up as an adulterer. Then he head off to the cabin where Leukippe has been put by Sosthenes. When he enters the cabin the grief and tears of Leukippe -- which are given a sophistical description - so overwhelm Thersandros that he can take no action save to tell Sosthenes to take care of her and to persuade her on his behalf.

The next morning Melite learns that Leukippe is missing, and, in a confrontation with Thersandros, pretends not to know about her disappearance, and also claims that Kleitophon is simply a young man in distress she helped, and that Leukippe was in fact his wife. But Thersandros, who now hates Kleitophon all the more, merely goes away, claiming he would look into the matter.

Sosthenes goes to Leukippe to try to persuade her to give herself to her master, but, despite his implied threats, she rejects his proposals soundly. That night, Kleinias and Satyros visit Kleitophon in jail and tell him about the disappearance of Leukippe and Melite's promises of help. The next morning Sosthenes tells Thersandros that Leukippe said 'no', but that was simply a result of her suspicions concerning his good faith. But, as they are about to enter the hut, Thersandros overhears Leukippe make an impassioned lament for Kleitophon (a staple of the ancient novels). Sosthenes then tells Thersandros that that he, due to his greater handsomeness, wealth and power will be able to turn her heart to him. So, after waiting a moment, Thersandros comes into the cottage. When he tries to kiss her, she resists, and, his anger roused, she laps her and threatens her with torture. She defies all his threats and surprises him with her claim to virginity.

Book Seven.

Thersandros, confused by an combination of love, anger and shame, runs out of the cabin and goes to the jail where Kleitophon is housed. When the jailer refuses to murder him outright, he puts Thersandros' accomplice in the same cell with Kleitophon. The accomplice then tells Kleitophon a false story of how he met a man who claimed to have been paid a hundred gold pieces by the jealous Melite to murder Leukippe. Of course Kleitophon believes the story totally. This, by the way, is the third time Kleitophon believes Leukippe dead. Such false deaths are a staple of the ancient romance, which, perhaps in a spirit of parody Achilles Tatius multiples here. Note that when Kleinias comes to visit Kleitophon in prison and hears the story, he tells Kleitophon not to be too sure about Leukippe's death; hasn't she died and been resurrected many times before? But, instead of waiting to learn the truth, Kleitophon plans to confess to adultery and claim that Melite and he killed Leukippe to get her out of the way of their love. (The self-confessed defendant is another staple of the romances).

The next day Kleitophon goes to court. Courtroom scenes too are common in the romance, and here they offer a chance for rhetorical display. Thersandros comes in with no less than ten rhetors, and Melite's side is equally prepared. After they have spoken, Kleitophon throws the room into a turmoil by his confession. Kleinias then tells the court the reason for Kleitophon's confession, how Sosthenes had tried to force Leukippe, and asks where is the body of this supposedly murdered Leukippe, and where is the prisoner that was with Kleitophon. The court seems to incline toward believing Kleinias, and Melite offers up her servants for interrogation (through torture) and demands Thersandros do the same with Sosthenes. Thersandros sends a messenger to Sosthenes telling him to make sure he cannot be found. Since Sosthenes is with Leukippe when he gets the message, he leaves in such fear and haste that he leaves the door of the cottage opened and unlocked.

Meanwhile, back the courtroom Thersandros dismisses Kleinias' explanation and suggests that Kleitophon may be responsible for Sosthenes' murder too, since he is now missing. Thersandros is willing to swear and sign a document to the effect that he does not know what has become of Sosthenes. The president of the court then declares Kleitophon guilty and condemns him to death, but orders him to be tortured first to find out the extent of Melite's involvement in the supposed murder as part of her trial.

Kleitophon is stripped and hung up for torture. But before the torture begins, the garlanded priest of Artemis (whose temple Ephesus was famous for) enters proclaiming that an embassy has arrived in honor of the goddess. And thus, due to custom, all punishments must be postponed for the duration of the embassy. The leader of this embassy is Sostratos, Leukippe's father, who has had a dream that he would find his daughter and his brothers' son (Kleitophon) in Ephesus. While this is going on Leukippe flees the cottage and takes refuge in the temple of Artemis. It is forbidden for free women who are not virgins to enter the temple. Back at courthouse, Kleitophon is freed and Sostratos recognizes him. He attacks Kleitophon when he hears the substance of his confession, but Kleinias then stops him, and tries to console him. At this point a messenger comes declaring that a beautiful foreign woman has taken sanctuary in the temple, and that her name was Leukippe.

A tumult ensues; Kleitophon is attacked by the guards who think he is trying to escape. Finally Kleitophon is released into the custody of the high priest of Artemis and they all head to the temple, where Kleitophon looks upon Leukippe.

Book Eight.

At that point Thersandros runs up, claiming that the woman in the temple is his slave. He attacks Kleitophon, and comically hurts his hand in the process. Kleitophon, blood pouring from his nose, makes an impassioned condemnation of Thersandros and his violence. The priest and the crowd rally against Thersandros and he is dragged from the temple, saying that the flute would punish Leukippe.

That evening, after Kleitophon has cleaned himself up, there is a rather quiet dinner party. Everybody is rather embarrassed about what has happened. After their tongues have been loosened by drinking, Sostratos and then Kleitophon tell their stories (of course Kleitophon leaves out the full story of his relations with Melite). Then Kleitophon asks what Thersandros meant about the flute. The priest relates the myth of the syrinx and how those who are accused of having entered the temple while no longer virgin are proved innocent or guilty by the test of the flute. A woman is locked up in a cave and, if she is a virgin, the flute magically plays. If not, a scream is heard inside and the priest leave the woman in the cave for three days, after which, when they reenter the cave, only the flute is present. Leukippe earnestly proclaims her willingness to take the test. Later, Leukippe has a word with her obviously worried father, insisting that she is really, despite all that has happened, a virgin still.

The next day is involved with the embassy and the honors given to Artemis. The next day they meet again in court. Thersandros gives an long speech attacking all parties concerned and what he sees as an outrageous violation of the laws. The high priest, who is apparently rather expert in Aristophanic comedy (which is often quite personal and obscene in its attacks) steps forward for the defense, and attacks the personal habits, history and degeneracy of Thersandros with Aristophanic energy. This speech is answered in turn by one of Thersandros' rhetors. But his full speech is cut short as Thersandros offers a challenge to Leukippe and Melite; Leukippe must enter the cave of the syrinx to take the virginity test. Melite must swear that she never had sex with Kleitophon (which would constitute legal proof of adultery) while Thersandros was absent, and enter the waters of the Styx to prove the validity of her oath. Both Melite and Leukippe accept the challenge. The court declares that they will take the challenge the next day. Kleitophon then narrates the myth of Rhodopis, who had declared perpetual virginity, dressed like a man and hunted with Artemis. Her declaration of virginity angered Aphrodite, who arranges for a handsome Ephesian, Euthynikos, who likewise was committed to hunting and chastity, to encounter Rhodopis while hunting. At this meeting Eros hits them both with love-inducing arrows. Enflamed with love, they eventually are guided by Eros into a cave where they make love. Artemis, angry because Rhodopis broke her oath, turned the young woman into a small spring at the place where she lost her virginity. In this ordeal, the woman enter the calf-high waters with a tablet on which the oath is written tied around her next. If she has lied, the water rises to her neck.

The next day Leukippe appears for the virginity test wearing a religious robe. Thersandros is likewise sure that he will win. Leukippe enters the cave and the doors are shut. Kleitophon comically worries about the lustful Pan violating her. Soon they hear sweet music coming from the cave and the doors open and Leukippe comes out. The crowd then insults Thersandros. They then go to the waters of the Styx and to Melite's ordeal, which she passes on a technicality, since she only had sex with Kleitophon after her husband's absence. Thersandros runs away when he sees men come dragging Sosthenes with them.

The following day, under threat of torture, Sosthenes confesses and tells all the crimes committed by Thersandros and himself. He his tossed into jail and Thersandros convicted and condemned to exile in absentia.

At a dinner party that evening Leukippe explains how it only appeared that she had been beheaded by Chaireas' men. The pirates had brought on board a woman and dressed her in Leukippe's clothes and then cut off her head in Kleitophon's view and tossed the body into the sea. When Chaireas had refused to sell Leukippe to make up for the financial loss the pirates suffered by having to kill the other woman, they cut off his head too. Two days later they sold Leukippe to a merchant, who sold her to Sosthenes. It is now the turn of Leukippe's father to tell what had happened to Kalligone, the sister of Kleitophon who had been kidnapped by Kallisthenes, who had thought she was Leukippe.

When Kallisthenes had realized his mistake, he found that he was deeply in love with Kalligone and, on bended knee, declared himself her slave and promised to reform his life, which he did, turning himself into a highly respected young gentleman. After the end of the war, Kallisthenes had declared he would go to Tyre and ask Kleitophon's father for permission to marry Kalligone, whom he had not yet slept with.

After a three day delay to deal with the final legalities concerning Thersandros, they sail to Byzantium (where Leukippe is from) and there Kleitophon and Leukippe celebrate their marriage. Then they sail to Tyre, where they planned to participate in the marriage of Kalligone and Kallisthenes. They intend to spend the winter in Tyre and then go back to Byzantium.

At this point the novel ends. We are never returned to the original frame story, nor the narrator of the first part of the romance.

The End

Hit Counter hits since August 8, 1999

Back to Petronian Society Ancient Novel Page