Book 6

1.1. When the King was to give judgment the next day whether Callirhoe ought to be the wife of Chaereas or of Dionysius, all Babylon was in suspense; both in their houses, as they spoke to one another, and in the streets, those who met would say: "Tomorrow are Callirhoe's nuptials.

1.2. Who, then, is the more fortunate?" The city was divided. Those who took Chaereas's part would say: "He was the first husband; he married her a maiden, a lover loving one who loved him; her father gave her to him, his country buried her; he did not abandon the marriage, he was deprived of it. But Dionysius bought her, he did not marry her; pirates sold her; and it is not lawful to buy a free woman."

1.3. Those who took Dionysius's part argued back in turn: "He rescued her from pirates when she was on the very point of being murdered; he gave a talent for her safety; first he saved her, then he married her; but Chaereas, having married her, killed her. Callirhoe ought to remember the marriage. And Dionysius has this further advantage toward winning,

1.4. that they also have a child in common." So spoke the men. The women not only made speeches, but also gave advice as if she were present: "Callirhoe, do not abandon your first love; choose the one who first kissed you, your fellow-citizen, so that you may see your father again; otherwise you will live in a foreign land as an exile."

1.5. But others said: "Choose your benefactor, the one who saved you, not the one who killed you. What if Chaereas should grow angry again? Again a tomb. Do not betray your son; honour the father of your child." Such things one might hear them saying, so that anyone would have said all Babylon was a courtroom.

1.6. That last night before the trial had come. The royal pair lay down with thoughts that were not alike: the queen prayed for day to come more quickly, that she might lay aside the charge entrusted to her as a burden — for the beauty of the woman, set in close comparison, weighed upon her; and she had begun to suspect the King's frequent visits and his ill-timed attentions.

1.7. For before this he rarely went into the women's quarter; but ever since he had Callirhoe within, he came continually. She watched him too in their conversations, quietly stealing glances at Callirhoe, and his eyes pretending to look away but of their own accord drawn there.

1.8. So Statira awaited a pleasant day, but the King not such a one. All night long he lay awake, now on his side, now on his face, pondering within himself and saying: "The trial is at hand; for in my rashness I set a short interval. What, then, are we to do at dawn? Callirhoe will go off henceforth, either to Miletus or to Syracuse.

1.9. Unhappy eyes, you have one hour left to enjoy the fairest of sights; then a slave of mine will become more fortunate than I. Consider what you must do, my soul; come to yourself; you have no other counsellor. Love himself is love's counsellor.

1.10. First, then, answer your own self: who are you? Callirhoe's lover or her judge? Do not deceive yourself. You deny it, but you are in love; you will be convicted all the more when you no longer see her. What then? Do you wish to grieve yourself? The Sun, your forefather, has singled out for you this living being, the fairest of those on which he himself looks down; and will you drive away the god's gift?

1.11. As if I greatly cared about Chaereas and Dionysius, my own obscure slaves, that I should arbitrate their marriage, and that I, the Great King, should perform the work of an old matchmaking woman! But I have already undertaken the case, and everyone knows it.

1.12. Most of all I feel shame before Statira. So do not make your love public, nor bring the trial to its conclusion. It is enough for you even to look at Callirhoe; postpone the judgment — for this much is permitted even to a private judge."

2.1. So when day appeared, the attendants made ready the royal court; and the multitude came running to the palace, and all Babylon was in a stir. Just as at the Olympic games one may watch the athletes coming to the stadium with an escort, so it was with these men too. The most distinguished body of the Persians escorted Dionysius, and the common people Chaereas.

2.2. There were countless joint prayers and shouts from those who took the side of each, acclaiming them: "You are the better; you will win." But the prize was no wild-olive wreath, no apples, no pine garland, but beauty in the first rank, over which even the gods might justly have contended. The King called the eunuch Artaxates, who stood highest with him, and said: "The gods of the royal house appeared to me in a dream demanding sacrifice, and I must first fulfil the duties of piety.

2.3. Proclaim, then, a sacred month of thirty days' festival for all Asia, free of lawsuits and business." The eunuch announced the order, and at once everything was full of people sacrificing, garlanded.

2.4. The pipe sounded, the syrinx shrilled, the song's melody was heard; incense smoked at the doorways, and every alley was a banquet; "and the savour of the offering rose to heaven, wreathed about with smoke." The King set magnificent sacrifices upon the altars. Then for the first time he sacrificed also to Love, and earnestly entreated Aphrodite to help him with her son.

2.5. While all were in good cheer, three alone were grieving: Callirhoe, Dionysius, and before them both Chaereas. Callirhoe could not grieve openly in the palace, but quietly and unseen she sighed and cursed the festival. Dionysius grieved at himself, because he had left Miletus. "Bear," he said, "wretched man, your self-chosen misfortune; for you yourself are the cause of these things.

2.6. You might have kept Callirhoe even while Chaereas was alive. You were master in Miletus, and not even the letter would then have been given to Callirhoe against your will. Who would have seen it? Who would have approached her? But you took yourself and flung yourself into the midst of your enemies.

2.7. And would that you had thrown yourself alone; but now you have flung in too the possession dearer to you than your own soul. For this reason war has been stirred up against you from every side. Why do you go to law, fool? You have Chaereas as your opponent; you have made for yourself a master to be your rival in love. Now the King even sees dreams, and the very gods to whom he sacrifices daily demand sacrifices of him.

2.8. Oh, the shamelessness! Someone drags out the trial while keeping another man's wife within, and such a man claims to be a judge." So Dionysius lamented. But Chaereas would not touch food, and had no wish at all to live. When his friend Polycharmus tried to keep him from starving himself, "You," he said, "are to me of all men the most hostile under the guise of a friend; for you hold me back while I am being tortured, and you look on with pleasure while I am punished.

2.9. If you were a friend, you would not begrudge me freedom when I am tyrannized over by an evil spirit. How many chances of good fortune have you destroyed for me? I would have been happy, had I been buried together with Callirhoe when she was buried in Syracuse; but even then you held me back, though I wished to die, and robbed me of a fair companionship; for perhaps she would not have left the tomb, abandoning the dead man.

2.10. But suppose I had lain there — afterward I would have gained this much: the sale, the pirates' den, the chains, and a King harder than the cross. O fair death, after which I heard of Callirhoe's second marriage! What an opportunity for starving myself you destroyed again — the one after the trial!

2.11. I saw Callirhoe and did not go to her, did not kiss her. Oh, a strange and incredible thing — Chaereas is on trial as to whether he is Callirhoe's husband! But the spiteful spirit will not allow even the trial, such as it is, to be brought to completion. Both in dreams and waking the gods hate me." Saying this, he rushed for his sword, but Polycharmus held back his hand, and all but binding him, kept guard over him.

3.1. The King called the eunuch, who was the most trusted of all to him, but at first felt shame even before him. Seeing him full of blushes and wishing to speak, Artaxates said: "Why do you hide it, master, from your slave, who is loyal to you and able to keep silence? What so dreadful thing has happened? How anxious I am, lest some plot..." The King said: "Yes, and the greatest plot, but not by men — by a god.

3.2. Who Love is, I had heard before in tales and poems — that he rules over all the gods and over Zeus himself; yet I did not believe that anyone could become, in my presence, more powerful than I. But the god is here; he has taken up his dwelling in my soul, mighty and overwhelming. I love — it is shameful to confess, but truly I have been taken captive."

3.3. As he said this he filled with tears, so that he could add nothing more to his words. When he fell silent, Artaxates at once understood from where he had been wounded; for he had not been without suspicion before, but had perceived the fire smouldering; and indeed it was neither doubtful nor unclear that, with Callirhoe present, he would have loved no other.

3.4. Yet he pretended ignorance and said: "What beauty can master your soul, my lord, to which all fair things are slaves? Gold, silver, raiment, horses, cities, nations; countless beautiful women, but Statira above all, the fairest under the sun, whom you alone enjoy. Power dissolves love — unless some other Thetis has come down from heaven above or risen from the sea.

3.5. For I believe that even gods desire your company." The King answered: "Perhaps what you say is true, that this woman is one of the gods; for her beauty is not human. Yet she does not admit it. She pretends to be a Greek of Syracuse. And this too is a sign of her deceit.

3.6. For she does not wish to be exposed by naming a city among those subject to us, but sends the tale of herself out beyond the Ionian Sea and the wide ocean. On the pretext of a lawsuit she came to me, and she contrived this whole drama. I wonder at you, how you dared to call Statira fairest of all, while you look at Callirhoe.

3.7. We must consider, then, how I might be rid of this distress. Search everywhere, in case some remedy can be found." "A remedy has been found, King," he said, "the very one you seek, both among Greeks and barbarians. For there is no other remedy for Love than the beloved himself; this too is the oracle that is sung, that the one who wounds shall himself heal." The King felt shame at the words and said: "Do not say any such thing — that I should corrupt another man's wife.

3.8. I remember the laws I myself laid down, and the justice I practise in all things. Do not condemn me for any incontinence. I am not so far taken." Afraid that he had spoken something rash, Artaxates turned his speech into praise. "You think nobly, King," he said. "Do not bring to Love the same treatment as other men do, but the higher, the royal kind — contending against your own self; for you alone, master,

3.9. are able to master even a god. Lead your soul away into every pleasure. Above all you delight especially in hunting. For I know that, for the pleasure of it, you pass whole days without eating or drinking. To linger in the hunt is better than to be in the palace and near the fire."

4.1. This was pleasing, and a magnificent hunt was proclaimed. Out rode horsemen in their finery, the best of the Persians and the chosen flower of the rest of the army. And though all were a sight worth seeing, the most resplendent among them was the King.

4.2. For he sat upon a Nisaean horse, the most beautiful and the largest, with a golden bridle, golden cheek-pieces, frontlet and breastplate; he was clothed in Tyrian purple — the weaving was Babylonian — and a tiara dyed with hyacinth. Girt with a golden scimitar, he held two javelins, and a quiver and bow hung at his side, the most costly work of the Chinese.

4.3. He sat there in his pride; for love of finery is proper to love. He wished to be seen by Callirhoe in their midst, and as he rode out through the whole city he looked around to see whether she too was anywhere watching the procession. Quickly the mountains were filled with men shouting, running, dogs barking, horses neighing, beasts being driven.

4.4. That eagerness and tumult would have unsettled even Love himself; for there was delight mixed with struggle, joy mixed with fear, and danger that was sweet. But the King saw no horse, though so many galloped beside him, no wild beast, though so many were being chased, heard no dog, though so many were baying, nor men, though all were shouting.

4.5. He saw only Callirhoe, who was not present, and heard her, who was not speaking. For Love had gone out to the hunt with him, and — being a contentious god — seeing himself opposed and well guarded against, as the King supposed, turned the stratagem against him to the opposite effect, and through the very treatment inflamed his soul, being present within and saying: "What it would be to see Callirhoe here, her legs girded up and her arms bared, her face flushed,

4.6. her breast full of panting. Truly: 'As Artemis goes down the mountain, the showerer of arrows, over towering Taygetus or Erymanthus, delighting in boars and swift deer.'" Painting and shaping these images, he burned more fiercely.

4.7. As he was saying these things, Artaxates broke in: "You have forgotten, master, what has happened. For Callirhoe has no husband, but awaits the judgment of whom she is to marry. Remember, then, that you love a widow; and feel shame neither before the laws — for they are laid down for marriages — nor before adultery, since the man wronged must first be a husband,

4.8. and then the wrongdoer an adulterer." The argument pleased the King, for it was to his pleasure, and taking the eunuch by the hand he kissed him and said: "Justly, then, do I prefer you above all; for you are most loyal to me and a good guardian. Go and bring Callirhoe. Two things I lay upon you: not against her will, and not openly; for I wish you both to persuade her and to escape notice."

4.9. At once, then, the signal to recall the hunt was passed along, and all turned back; and the King, buoyed up by hope, rode into the palace rejoicing as though he had hunted down the fairest quarry.

4.10. And Artaxates too rejoiced, thinking that he had undertaken a service, and that he would henceforth steer a royal chariot, with both grateful to him — but Callirhoe more. He supposed the task an easy one, being a eunuch, a slave, a barbarian. He did not know the noble Greek spirit, and least of all that of Callirhoe, the chaste and husband-loving.

5.1. So, watching for an opportunity, he came to her, and, finding her alone, said: "I have brought you, woman, a treasure of great blessings; only remember my kindness, for I believe you are grateful." At the beginning of his speech Callirhoe became overjoyed; for by nature a person believes that what he wishes is also so.

5.2. She thought, perhaps, that she was to be given back to Chaereas, and was eager to hear this, promising to repay the eunuch for his good news. But he, taking up his preamble again, began: "You, woman, have had the good fortune of a divine beauty, but you have reaped from it nothing great or honourable.

5.3. Your name, glorious and renowned through all the earth, has found to this day neither a husband worthy of it nor a lover, but has fallen to two men, a poor islander, and the other, the King's slave.

5.4. What great and splendid thing has come to you from these? What fruitful land do you possess? What costly adornment? What cities do you rule? How many slaves do homage to you? Babylonian women have maidservants richer than you. Yet you have not been neglected in everything; rather the gods care for you.

5.5. For this reason they brought you here, finding the lawsuit as a pretext, that the Great King might behold you. And this is the first good news you have: he has looked on you with pleasure. And I remind him of you, and praise you in his presence." He added this; for every slave is accustomed, when he speaks to anyone about his master, to recommend himself as well, seeking his own profit from the conversation.

5.6. But Callirhoe's heart was at once struck as though by a sword at his words. She pretended, however, not to understand, and said: "May the gods remain gracious to the King, and he to you, that you pity an unfortunate woman. I beg you, let him quickly free me from my anxiety by bringing the trial to its conclusion, so that I may no longer trouble even the queen." The eunuch, thinking that he had spoken his meaning unclearly and that the woman had not understood, began to speak more plainly.

5.7. "This very thing is your good fortune, that you no longer have slaves and poor men as lovers, but the Great King, who is able to give you Miletus itself and all Ionia and Sicily and other nations greater still. Sacrifice, then, to the gods and count yourself blessed, and see that you please him the more,

5.8. and when you are rich, remember me." Callirhoe at first felt the impulse, if it were possible, even to tear out the eyes of the man who was corrupting her; but, like an educated and sensible woman, quickly reckoning both the place and who she was and who the speaker was, she changed her anger and thereafter played the ironist with the barbarian.

5.9. "May I not be so mad," she said, "as to be persuaded that I am worthy of the Great King. I am like the maidservants of the Persian women. Do not, I beg you, mention me again to your master. For even if at the moment he be not angry, afterward he will be harsh with you, reckoning that you cast the lord of all the earth beneath a slave-woman of Dionysius.

5.10. I wonder that, being most intelligent, you are ignorant of the King's humanity — that he does not love an unfortunate woman, but pities her. Let us cease talking, then, lest someone slander us to the queen." And she ran off, while the eunuch stood agape; for, reared in a great despotism, he supposed nothing impossible, not for the King only, but not even for himself.

6.1. Left behind and not even granted an answer, he went off full of a thousand feelings: angry at Callirhoe, grieved at himself, afraid of the King. For perhaps he would not even believe that he had spoken, however unsuccessfully; and he would seem to be betraying his service to gratify the queen.

6.2. He was afraid, too, lest Callirhoe should report his words to her, and lest Statira, growing indignant, should devise some great evil for him, as one who was not only serving the love but contriving it. So the eunuch considered how he might safely report to the King what had happened; while Callirhoe, being by herself, said: "I foretold this.

6.3. I have you as witness, Euphrates. I declared that I would never cross you again. Farewell, father, and you, mother, and Syracuse my homeland; for I shall see you no more. Now in truth Callirhoe is dead. From the tomb I came out, but henceforth not even Theron the pirate will bring me out of this.

6.4. O treacherous beauty, you are the cause of all my evils. Because of you I was killed, because of you I was sold, because of you I married after Chaereas, because of you I was brought to Babylon, because of you I stood before a tribunal. To how many you have handed me over — to pirates, to the sea, to the tomb, to slavery, to trial! But heaviest of all to me is the King's love.

6.5. And I do not yet speak of the King's anger; more fearful, I think, is the queen's jealousy, which Chaereas, a Greek and a man, could not bear. What will a woman do, and a barbarian mistress? Come then, Callirhoe, resolve on something noble, worthy of Hermocrates: cut your own throat. But not yet; for so far this is only a first conversation, and from a eunuch. If something more violent should happen, then is the time to show Chaereas, when he is present, your faithfulness."

6.6. The eunuch, coming to the King, concealed the truth of what had happened, and pleaded as his excuse the queen's constant occupations and her close watch, so that he could not even approach Callirhoe. "And you ordered me, master, to take care to escape notice.

6.7. And you ordered rightly; for you have taken up the most august character of a judge, and you wish to be well thought of among the Persians. For this reason all sing your praises. But the Greeks are fault-finders and chatterers. They themselves will make the matter notorious — Callirhoe out of vanity, because the King loves her, and Dionysius and Chaereas out of jealousy.

6.8. Nor is it worth grieving even the queen, whom the trial has made seem more beautiful." With these things he mixed in his recantation, in case he could somehow turn the King away from his love and free himself from a troublesome service.

7.1. For the moment, then, he persuaded him; but when night came on again the King kindled once more, and love reminded him what eyes Callirhoe had, how beautiful her face. He praised her hair, her walk, her voice; how she had entered the court, how she had stood, how she had spoken, how she had been silent, how she had rejoiced, how she had wept.

7.2. Lying awake the greater part of the night, and sleeping only so long as even in his dreams to see Callirhoe, at dawn he called the eunuch and said: "Go and watch all day long; for you will surely find some opportunity, however brief, for an unobserved conversation. If I had wished to overcome my desire openly and by force,

7.3. I have my guards." The eunuch did homage and promised; for it is permitted to no one to gainsay the King when he commands. But knowing that Callirhoe would give no opportunity, but would deliberately ward off the conversation by staying with the queen, and wishing to remedy this, he turned the blame not on the one guarded but on the one guarding.

7.4. "If it seem good to you, master," he said, "send for Statira, as though wishing to discuss something privately with her; for her absence will give me access to Callirhoe." "Do so," said the King.

7.5. So Artaxates came and, doing homage to the queen, said: "Your husband calls you, mistress." On hearing this Statira did homage and went off in haste to him. The eunuch, seeing Callirhoe left alone, took her right hand and, as though he were some lover of Greeks and friend to all, led her away from the throng of maidservants.

7.6. She understood, and at once grew pale and speechless, yet followed nonetheless. When they were alone, he said to her: "You saw how the queen, on hearing the King's name, did homage and went off running; but you, a slave, cannot bear good fortune, nor are you content that he should entreat you when he could command.

7.7. But I — for I honour you — did not report your madness to him; on the contrary, I made promises on your behalf. Two roads, then, lie before you. Which do you wish to take? I will tell you both. If you obey the King, you will receive the fairest gifts and a husband of your choice; for he surely does not mean to marry you himself, but you will grant him a passing favour. But if not, you will suffer against your will what the King's enemies suffer; for they alone are not even permitted to die when they wish."

7.8. Callirhoe laughed at the threat and said: "This is not the first time I shall suffer something dreadful; I am experienced in misfortune. What can the King do to me harsher than what I have suffered? I was buried alive; the tomb is narrower than any prison.

7.9. I was handed over to the hands of pirates. Now I suffer the greatest of evils: Chaereas is present, and I do not see him." This word betrayed her; for the eunuch, being clever by nature, understood that she was in love. "Oh," he said, "most foolish of all women, do you prefer the slave of Mithridates to the King?" Callirhoe was indignant at Chaereas being insulted, and said: "Speak no ill, man.

7.10. Chaereas is well-born, of a leading city, which not even the Athenians defeated — those who at Marathon and Salamis defeated your Great King." As she said this she let fall springs of tears; but the eunuch pressed her the harder and said: "You are the cause of your own delay.

7.11. How, then, will you have the judge favourable, so as to recover your husband too? Perhaps Chaereas would not even learn what had been done; but even if he learned it, he would not be jealous of his superior;

7.12. rather he would think you the more honoured, as having pleased the King." He added this not for her sake but because he himself thought so; for all the barbarians are awestruck and reckon the King a manifest god. But Callirhoe would not have welcomed marriage even with Zeus himself, nor would she have preferred immortality to a single day with Chaereas.

7.13. So the eunuch, able to accomplish nothing, said: "I grant you, woman, time for reflection. But consider not about yourself alone, but also about Chaereas, who is in danger of perishing by the most piteous death; for the King will not endure to be outdone in love." And with that he departed; but this last word of the conversation struck Callirhoe.

8.1. But Fortune quickly changed all reflection and all amorous converse, finding occasion for newer events; for messengers came to the King reporting that Egypt had revolted with a great force.

8.2. The Egyptians had killed the King's satrap, had chosen a king from among the natives, and he, setting out from Memphis, had crossed Pelusium and was already overrunning Syria and Phoenicia, so that the cities could no longer hold out, as though some torrent or fire had suddenly poured over them.

8.3. At the report the King was troubled, and the Persians were dismayed; and dejection seized all Babylon. Then too the King's interpreters of dreams and the seers declared that they had foretold what was coming; for the gods, in demanding sacrifices, were signifying danger, but also victory.

8.4. All the things that usually happen, and all that is to be expected in an unforeseen war, were both said and came to pass; for a great commotion seized Asia. So the King, summoning the Persian peers and as many leaders of the nations as were present — those with whom he was accustomed to transact great matters — took counsel about the situation, and one advised one thing and another another.

8.5. But it pleased all to make haste and not to delay even a single day if possible, for two reasons: both to check the enemy from growing greater, and to make their friends more cheerful by showing them help close at hand. If they delayed, everything would turn out the opposite way: the enemy would grow contemptuous, as of men afraid, and their own people would give way, as of men neglected.

8.6. And it was the greatest good fortune for the King that he had been caught not in Bactra, nor in Ecbatana, but in Babylon, near Syria; for once he had crossed the Euphrates he would have the rebels at once in his hands. So it was resolved to lead out the force already about him, and to send everywhere orders for the army to gather at the river Euphrates. The mustering of the force is very easy for the Persians.

8.7. For it has been ordained by Cyrus, the first to reign over the Persians, which of the nations must furnish cavalry for war and how many in number, which infantry and how many, which archers, and how many chariots each — both unarmed and scythe-bearing — and elephants from where and how many, and money from whom and how much. And all is made ready by all in just so much time as a single man takes to make ready.

9.1. On the fifth day after the news the King marched out of Babylon, with everyone of military age following him by a general command. Among these Dionysius too went out; for he was an Ionian, and none of the subjects was permitted to remain.

9.2. Adorning himself with the finest armour, and forming a not contemptible company from those about him, he placed himself among the foremost and most conspicuous, and was plainly going to do something noble, as a man naturally ambitious and one who did not count valour a secondary thing,

9.3. but held himself worthy of the noblest deeds. And then he had a light hope as well, that if he proved useful in the war he would receive from the King, even without trial, the woman as the prize of his valour.

9.4. As for Callirhoe, the queen did not wish to take her along; for this reason she did not even mention her to the King, nor ask what he commanded to be done about the foreigner. And Artaxates too kept silent, ostensibly not daring, while his master was in danger, to make mention of an amorous diversion, but in truth glad to be rid of her as of a wild beast; he seemed all but to feel gratitude to the war for cutting short the King's desire, which had been nourished by idleness.

9.5. Yet the King had not forgotten Callirhoe; rather, in that indescribable confusion a certain memory of her beauty came over him. But he was ashamed to say anything about her, lest he should seem altogether childish, making mention of a beautiful woman in so great a war. As his impulse pressed him, he said nothing to Statira herself, nor even to the eunuch, since he knew that the eunuch was aware of his love; but he devised something of this kind.

9.6. It is the custom for the King himself and for the noblest of the Persians, when they go out to war, to take along their wives and children and gold and silver and clothing and eunuchs and concubines and dogs and tables and costly wealth and luxury.

9.7. So calling the steward in charge of these things, the King, after first saying much and arranging all the rest as each thing was to be done, mentioned Callirhoe last, with a face of credible indifference, as though she did not concern him at all. "And let that foreign woman too," he said, "about whom I undertook the trial, follow along with the other women."

9.8. And so Callirhoe left Babylon not unwillingly, for she hoped that Chaereas too would go out; and that war brings much that is uncertain, and changes for the better to those in misfortune; and that perhaps the trial too would reach its end there, once a swift peace had come about.