Narrationes Amatoriae

Translated by Thothica

47 min

Contents. The following are contained in this work:

Of Lyrcus
Of Polymele
Of Euippe
Of Oenone
Of Leucippus
Of Pallene
Of Hipparinus
Of Herippe
Of Polycrite
Of Leucone
Of Byblis
Of Calchus
Of Harpalyce
Of Antheus
Of Daphne
Of Laodice
Of the mother of Periander
Of Neaera
Of Pancrato
Of Aëro
Of Pisidice
Of Nanis
Of Ionis
Of Hipparinus
Of Phaÿllus
Of Apriate
Of Alcinoe
Of Cleite
Of Daphnis
Of Celtine
Of Dimoetes
Of Antippe
Of Aesaon
Of Corythus
Of Eulimene
Of Arganthone

Dedication. PARTHENIUS TO CORNELIUS GALLUS, GREETING. Believing, Cornelius Gallus, that this collection of the sufferings of love would be especially suited to you, I have selected and sent it to you in the most compact form possible. For the stories that lie scattered among certain of the poets, where they are not told in full, you will for the most part gather from these; and you yourself will be able to work up into epic and elegiac verse whatever of them is most fitting. Do not, because there is in them none of that elaboration which you yourself pursue, think the worse of them: I have gathered them together after the manner, as it were, of a notebook, and now, it seems, they will be of a like use to you.

When Io, the daughter of the Argive, had been carried off by pirates, her father Inachus sent out various searchers and trackers, and among them Lyrcus, the son of Phoroneus, who, after running over very much land and crossing very much sea, at last, when he could not find her, gave up the labour. Through fear of Inachus he did not much care to go back to Argos, but coming to Caunus, to Aegialus, he married his daughter Heilebie; for they say that the girl, on seeing Lyrcus, fell in love and earnestly begged her father to keep him. And he, parcelling out to him no small share of his kingdom and of his other possessions, kept him as his son-in-law.
As a long time went on and no children were born to Lyrcus, he came to the oracle of Apollo at Didyma to consult it about the begetting of offspring; and the god prophesied to him that he would beget children by the first woman with whom he should lie after parting from the temple. He, greatly rejoicing, hurried toward his wife, persuaded that the oracle would turn out as he wished.
But when, sailing, he reached Bybassus and came to Staphylus the son of Dionysus, that man, receiving him with great kindness, urged him to much wine; and when he was overcome by deep drunkenness, he laid beside him his daughter Hemithea. This he did because he had learned beforehand of the oracle and wished children to be born to him from her.
There arose, indeed, a strife between Rhoeo and Hemithea, the daughters of Staphylus, as to which of them should lie with the stranger: so great a longing seized them both. But Lyrcus, when on the next day he understood what he had done, seeing Hemithea lying beside him, was vexed and reproached Staphylus much, as having become his deceiver. Afterward, having nothing else to do, he took off his belt and gave it to the girl, bidding her keep it for the child when he should come to manhood, so that he might have a token whenever he should come to his own father at Caunus; and he sailed away.
Aegialus, when he perceived what had happened at the oracle and concerning Hemithea, drove him from the land. Thereupon there was continual fighting between those who had attached themselves to Lyrcus and those who held with Aegialus; and Heilebie above all became his helper, for she did not renounce Lyrcus.
After this, the son of Hemithea and Lyrcus, whose name was Basilus, when he had grown to manhood, came to the Caunian land; and Lyrcus, who was now an old man, recognizing him, made him leader of his peoples.
Odysseus, wandering about Sicily and the Tyrrhenian and the Sicilian sea, came to Aeolus on the island of Meligunis, who, marvelling at him for the fame of his wisdom, kept him in much regard; he questioned him closely about the capture of Troy and in what way their ships had been scattered as they were carried home from Ilium, and he entertained him and kept him a long time.
And to Odysseus too this stay was pleasant; for Polymele, one of the daughters of Aeolus, falling in love with him, was secretly his companion. But when, having received the winds shut up, he had sailed away, the girl was caught holding some of the Trojan spoils and wallowing among them with many tears.
Thereupon Aeolus reviled Odysseus, though he was not present, and had it in mind to punish Polymele. But it chanced that her brother Diores was in love with her, and he begged her off and persuaded his father to give her to him in marriage.
Not only did Odysseus offend in the matter of Aeolus, but also after his wandering, when he had slain the suitors, going into Epirus on account of certain oracles, he seduced Euippe, the daughter of Tyrimmas, who had received him hospitably and entertained him with all eagerness. And a son was born to him from her, Euryalus.
When this son came to manhood, his mother sent him off to Ithaca, giving him certain tokens sealed up in a tablet.
As Odysseus chanced at that time not to be present, Penelope, finding these out and having otherwise learned beforehand of his love for Euippe, persuaded Odysseus, when he came home, before he could know anything of how the matter stood, to kill Euryalus as one plotting against him.
And Odysseus, through not being self-controlled by nature, nor otherwise fair-minded, became the slayer of his own son; and not long after he had accomplished this, wounded by the spine of a sting-ray at the hands of his own offspring, he died.
Alexander the son of Priam, while herding cattle on Ida, fell in love with Oenone, the daughter of Cebren. It is said that she, possessed by some one of the gods, used to prophesy of things to come, and that otherwise too she was greatly renowned for her good sense.
Alexander, then, having brought her from her father to Ida, where his steadings were, kept her as his wife, and, showing her affection, swore that he would never leave her, but would hold her in still greater honour. She said that for the present she understood that he loved her exceedingly, but that a time would come in which, deserting her, he would cross over to Europe, and there, struck with passion for a foreign woman, would bring war upon his own people.
She foretold, too, that he must be wounded in the war, and that no one would be able to make him whole save herself; but he, each time she said this, would not let her speak of it. As time went on, when he had married Helen, Oenone, blaming Alexander for what he had done, withdrew to Cebren, whence her family came; and he, when the war was now drawing to its close, while exchanging shots with Philoctetes, was wounded.
Calling to mind the saying of Oenone, that he could be healed by her alone, he sent a herald to beg her to hasten and heal him and to make forgetfulness of the past, since these things had come about by the will of the gods. But she answered rather haughtily that he must go to Helen and beg of her. Yet she herself hurried to where she had learned he lay.
When the herald reported the words of Oenone too quickly, Alexander in despair breathed his last; and Oenone, when she came and saw him already a corpse lying upon the ground, broke into a wail, and with much lamentation made an end of herself.
Leucippus, the son of Xanthius, of the race descended from Bellerophon, surpassing all his contemporaries in strength, practised the arts of war. Therefore there was much talk of him among the Lycians and their neighbours, since they were being harried and suffering every kind of hardship.
This man, by the wrath of Aphrodite, fell in love with his own sister, and for a while held out, thinking that he would most easily be rid of the malady; but when, as time passed, the passion did not abate even a little, he made it known to his mother and besought her much not to look on while he perished; for if she would not help him, he threatened to slay himself.
When she said she would at once fulfil his desire, he became easier; and, calling the girl, she laid her beside her brother, and from then on they were together, not greatly fearing anyone, until someone disclosed the matter to the suitor to whom the girl was betrothed.
He, taking his own father and some of his kinsmen, went to Xanthius and informed him of the deed, not revealing the name of Leucippus. Xanthius, vexed at what was reported, set great store on catching the seducer, and charged the informer, whenever he should see them together, to tell him.
The man readily obeyed, and at once led the old man to the chamber; but the girl, when a sudden noise arose, darted through the doors, thinking to escape the one coming in; and her father, taking her to be the seducer, struck her with his sword and laid her low.
When she cried out in her great pain, Leucippus, coming to her defence and, through being startled, not seeing beforehand who it was, killed his father. For this cause he left his home and led the Thessalians to Crete on account of what had happened, and being driven thence by his neighbours, he came to the Ephesian land, where he settled a place called the Cretinaeum.
It is said that the daughter of Mandrolytus, Leucophrye, falling in love with this Leucippus, betrayed her city to the enemy, of whom Leucippus happened to be the leader, having been chosen by oracle to lead the men dedicated as a tithe from Pherae by Admetus.
It is said that Sithon also, king of the Odomanti, begot a daughter Pallene, beautiful and full of grace, and that on this account the fame of her spread very widely, and suitors came not only from Thrace itself, but also some from still farther off, from Illyria, of those settled on the river Tanais. Sithon at first used to bid the suitors who came fight with him for the girl, and if any proved the weaker, to die; and in this way he had slain very many.
But afterward, when his greater strength had failed him, and it was resolved by him to give the girl in marriage, two suitors having arrived, Dryas and Cleitus, he bade them, the girl being set up as the prize, fight one another, and that one should die, while the survivor should have both the kingdom and the maiden.
When the appointed day came, Pallene—for it chanced that she was in love with Cleitus—was greatly afraid for him, and dared not signify anything to any of her attendants, but many tears poured down her cheeks, until her foster-father, an old man, inquiring and learning of her passion, bade her take heart, since the matter would turn out as she wished.
He himself secretly approached the charioteer of Dryas, and, promising him much gold, persuaded him not to put the linchpins through the wheels of the chariot. Then, when they went out to battle and Dryas drove against Cleitus, the wheels rolled off his chariot; and as he fell, Cleitus ran up and slew him.
Sithon, perceiving both the love and the plot of his daughter, heaped up a very great pyre, and, setting Dryas upon it, was about to slaughter Pallene also upon it. But when a divine portent appeared and suddenly much water broke from heaven, he changed his mind, and, content with the marriage, in the presence of the assembled throng of the Thracians, granted Cleitus to take the girl to wife.
In the Italian Heraclea, Antileon fell in love with a boy of surpassing beauty, Hipparinus by name, of the most esteemed family; and though he contrived much, he was in no way able to win him. But to the boy, as he was spending his time at the gymnasium, he came up and said that he had so great a longing for him that he would endure every toil, and whatever he should command, he would fail in nothing.
The boy, mocking him, ordered him to bring down a bell from a certain strong place that was most carefully guarded by the tyrant of the Heracleans, supposing that he would never accomplish this feat. But Antileon, secretly making his way into the fort and lying in wait, killed the guard of the bell, and when he came to the youth, having fulfilled his promise, he was held by him in great affection, and from then on they loved one another exceedingly.
When the tyrant grew eager for the bloom of the boy and was about to take him by force, Antileon, indignant, charged him not to put himself in danger by resisting, while he himself, running up to the tyrant as he came out of his house, slew him; and having done this, he set off at a run and would have escaped, had he not, falling among some sheep bound together, been caught.
Therefore, when the city was restored to its former state, bronze images were set up to them both among the Heracleans, and a law was written that no one thereafter should drive sheep bound together.
When the Gauls overran Ionia and were sacking the cities, the Thesmophoria being held at Miletus and the women gathered together in the temple, which is a little way from the city, a part of the barbarian force, breaking off, passed into the Milesian land, and, rushing upon it suddenly, seized the women.
Thereupon some of them they ransomed for much silver and gold, but some, the barbarians having grown attached to them, were carried off; and among these was Herippe, the wife of Xanthus, a man at Miletus of very high repute and of the first family, leaving behind a child of two years.
Xanthus, having much longing for her, turned part of his possessions into money, and, providing himself with two thousand gold pieces, first crossed over to Italy, and thence, conveyed by certain private friends, came to Massalia and from there into the Celtic land; and approaching the house where his wife dwelt with a man of those most honoured among the Celts, he asked to be given lodging.
When they, out of hospitality, readily received him, going in he saw his wife, and she, throwing her two arms about him, drew him to her very affectionately. Presently, when the Celt arrived, Herippe related to him the wandering of her husband, and how he had come for her sake to lay down a ransom; and he admired Xanthus for his spirit, and at once, making a gathering of those nearest to him, entertained him.
As the drinking went on, he laid his wife beside him, and through an interpreter asked how large the whole property was that he possessed; and when he said it came to a thousand gold pieces, the barbarian bade him divide it into four parts, and take three for himself, his wife, and his child, but leave the fourth as ransom for the woman.
When at last they turned to bed, the woman reproached Xanthus much, because, not having so much gold, he had promised it to the barbarian, and he would be in danger if he did not make good his pledge. And when he said that another thousand gold pieces too were hidden in the shoes of the servants, because he had not expected to find the barbarian reasonable, but that much ransom would be needed, the woman on the next day disclosed to the Celt the amount of the gold, and urged him to kill Xanthus, saying that she far preferred the Celt to her country and her child, for Xanthus she utterly loathed.
But to him what was said gave no pleasure, and he had it in mind to punish her. When Xanthus was eager to depart, the Celt very kindly escorted him on his way, bringing Herippe also. And when they came to the borders of the Celtic country, the barbarian said that he wished to perform a sacrifice before they should part from one another; and when a victim was brought, he bade Herippe take hold of it.
As she held it, as also at other times had been her custom, raising his sword he struck and took off her head, and charged Xanthus not to be distressed, disclosing to him her plot, and gave him leave to carry off all the gold for himself.
At the time when the Milesians marched against the Naxians with auxiliaries, and, building a wall before the city, ravaged the land and shut in and besieged the Naxians, a maiden was then left behind by some divine chance in the temple of Delian Apollo, which lies near the city—Polycrite was her name—and she captivated Diognetus, the leader of the Erythraeans, who with his own force was fighting on the side of the Milesians.
Held by much longing, he sent messages to her; for it was not lawful to do violence to her, a suppliant in the temple. For a while she would not admit those who came; but when he pressed hard, she said she would not be persuaded by him unless he should swear to do for her whatever she might wish.
Diognetus, suspecting nothing of this kind, very eagerly swore by Artemis that he would grant her whatever she chose; and when he had bound himself by oath, Polycrite, taking hold of his hand, reminded him of the betrayal of the place, and besought him much to take pity both on herself and on the misfortunes of the city.
Diognetus, hearing her words, was beside himself, and, drawing his sword, rushed to make away with the girl. Yet, taking to mind her good sense, and at the same time mastered by love—for it was needful, it seems, that there should come about for the Naxians a change of their present evils—he then made no answer, considering what should be done; but on the next day he agreed to betray.
And meanwhile, on the third day, the festival of the Thargelia was coming on for the Milesians, in which they take their fill of much strong wine and consume their most precious things; at that time he prepared to betray the place. And straightway, through Polycrite, putting into a loaf a leaden letter for her brothers—who happened to be leaders of the city—he bade them, having made ready, come on that night; and he said that he himself would raise a torch as a signal to them.
And Polycrite bade the one who carried the loaf tell her brothers not to hesitate, since the affair would be brought to its end if they did not hesitate. The messenger having come quickly into the city, Polycles, the brother of Polycrite, was in much anxiety whether to be persuaded by what was sent or not;
but at last, as it seemed good to all to obey, and the night came on in which they had been appointed to come, having prayed much to the gods, with the men of Diognetus admitting them, they fell upon the wall of the Milesians—some by the opened postern, some also passing over the wall—and, all together having got inside, they slew the Milesians. There by mischance Diognetus too died.
On the next day all the Naxians had great longing to gaze upon the girl; and some bound her with headbands, others with girdles, by which the girl, weighed down through the multitude of the things thrown upon her, was smothered. And they buried her publicly in the plain, sacrificing every kind of offering to her; and some say that Diognetus too was burned on the same spot as the girl, the Naxians being zealous for it.
In Thessaly, Cyanippus, the son of Pharax, coming into desire for a very beautiful girl, Leucone, asked her of her parents and took her to wife. He was a lover of hunting; by day he was carried after lions and boars, but by night he came down to the girl utterly worn out, so that sometimes, not even exchanging a word with her, he fell into deep sleep.
She, then, beset by vexation and pains, was in much helplessness, and set about spying out Cyanippus, what he did to take pleasure in his life upon the mountain; and at once, girding herself to the knee, secretly from the maidservants she slipped into the wood.
But the dogs of Cyanippus were chasing a deer, and being not at all tame, since they had long been made wild, when they scented the girl, were brought against her, and, no one being present, tore her all to pieces. So she, through longing for her wedded husband, in this way came to her end.
Cyanippus, when he came up and found Leucone mangled, was filled with great grief, and, calling his men, heaped up a pyre and set her upon it; and he himself first slaughtered the dogs upon the pyre, then, after much lamentation for the girl, made away with himself.
Of Caunus and Byblis, the children of Miletus, the story is told in different ways. For Nicaenetus says that Caunus, falling in love with his sister, when he could not be rid of the passion, left his home and, journeying far from his own land, founded a city and settled there the Ionians who were then scattered abroad. He says it in these verses:

But he, going farther on, the Oecusian town founded, and to Tragasia, the daughter of Celaeneus, he clung, who bore to him Caunus, ever a lover of right; and she bore, like to the slender junipers, Byblis, with whom, against his will, Caunus fell in love. He set forth, fleeing, far from snake-haunted Cyprus, and from forest-born Capros and the holy baths of Caria; there, indeed, he built a stronghold, first of the Ionians. But she, his own sister, holding the doom of the wailing bird, Byblis, far before the gates, lamented the going of Caunus.

But the greater number say that Byblis, falling in love with Caunus, brought words to him and begged him not to look on while she came to every extremity of evil; and that Caunus, loathing this, crossed over to the land then held by the Leleges, where is the spring Echeneïs, and founded the city called after him Caunus; but that she, not relieved of her passion, and besides thinking that she had become to Caunus the cause of his departure, tied her headband to a certain oak and put her neck in it. And it is told among us too thus:

And she, when she knew the mind of her deadly brother, wept more thickly than the nightingales' brood, that in the glens wail without end about the Sithonian boy; and straightway, fastening her headband to a rugged oak, she put her neck within, and over her the Milesian maidens rent their robes.

And some say that from her tears a spring flowed forth, called by her own name Byblis.

It is said that a certain Daunian, Calchus, falling in love with Circe—to whom Odysseus came—made over to her the kingdom of the Daunians and offered many other allurements; but she, being inflamed for Odysseus—for at that time he chanced to be present—loathed Calchus and forbade him to set foot on the island.
When, however, he did not cease coming and having Circe ever on his lips, she, greatly vexed, plotted against him, and at once, calling him in and setting before him a table filled with every kind of feast, presented it to him; but the food was full of drugs, and Calchus, having eaten, was at once struck out of his senses, and she drove him into the pigsties. After a time, when a Daunian army came against the island making search for Calchus, she released him, having first bound him by oaths never to come to the island again, either for wooing or for any other cause.
Clymenus, the son of Teleus, marrying Epicaste at Argos, begot sons, Idas and Theragrus, and a daughter, Harpalyce, far surpassing in beauty the maidens of her age.
Coming into love of her, for a time he held out and got the better of the passion; but when the malady flowed over him much more, then, working upon the girl through her nurse, he secretly lay with her.
When, however, the time of marriage came, and Alastor, one of the Neleids, was present to take her—the one to whom she had been betrothed—he at once gave her into his hands, holding a very splendid wedding-feast; but repenting not long after, through being out of his senses, he pursued Alastor, and when they were now in the middle of the road, he took the girl away, and, bringing her to Argos, openly consorted with her.
She, thinking she had suffered dreadful and lawless things at her father's hands, cut up her younger brother, and, when a certain festival and sacrifice was being celebrated among the Argives, in which all feast publicly, then, dressing the flesh of the boy, she set it before her father.
And having done this, she herself, having prayed to the gods to be removed from among men, was changed in form into a bird, the chalcis; and Clymenus, when he took thought of his calamities, made away with himself.
From Halicarnassus, a boy Antheus, of royal stock, was a hostage with Phobius, one of the Neleids, then ruler of the Milesians. Of him Cleoboea—whom some called Philaechme—the wife of Phobius, falling in love, contrived many things to win the boy; but when he repulsed her, now saying that he feared lest he should be found out, now putting forward Zeus the god of guests and their common table, Cleoboea, ill at ease, had it in mind to punish him, calling him pitiless and overweening.
So, as time went on, she pretended to be rid of her love, and, having chased a tame partridge down into a deep well, begged Antheus to go down and bring it up. When he readily obeyed, suspecting nothing, Cleoboea hurled down a heavy stone upon him; and he died at once, while she, reflecting that she had done a dreadful deed, and besides burning with violent passion for the boy, hanged herself.
Phobius, indeed, for this cause, as one polluted, gave up the rule to Phrygius. And some said it was not a partridge, but a golden vessel, that had been cast into the well, as Alexander the Aetolian too records in these verses:

The son of Hippocles, Phobius, of the line of Neleus, shall be true-born from genuine fathers; and to him a wedded wife shall come to his house, while she, yet a bride, plies fair the distaff in her chamber, there shall come the offspring of the king of Assesus, Antheus, calling on the faithful oaths of his hostage-pledge— in his first youth, more blooming than the spring (nor to Melissus shall the water of Peirene nurse so dear a son, a great one, from whom shall be great joy to Corinth and grief to the mighty Bacchiadae)— Antheus, dear to swift Hermes, for whom the bride, maddened, shall straightway conceive a stoning love; and, clasping his knees, she shall press him to accomplish lawless things; but he, in awe of Zeus the god of guests and of the libations in the house of Phobius and the shared salt of the feast, shall wash off the unseemly word in springs and rivers. And she, when glorious Antheus refuses the wretched union, then, indeed, shall frame against him a cunning snare, deceiving him with words; and this shall be her speech: 'A golden pail of mine, from the bottom of the well, even now as it was being drawn up, broke through the wicked rope, and itself went off to the water-Nymphs; by the gods I beg you—if for me, since I hear that for all the path of this mouth is easy— you would go straight down and bring it up, then you would be most dear to me.' Thus shall the wife of Phobius the Neleid speak; and he, not perceiving, shall lay aside the Lelegian garment, the work of his mother Hellamenes, and himself, in haste, shall go down into the hollow gulf of the well; and she, planning evil against him, with both hands shall let fall a millstone; and then he, far the most ill-fated of guests, shall heap up the fated mound, and she, fastening about her neck, shall go down with him into Hades.

Concerning the daughter of Amyclas the following is told, Daphne. She did not at all go down into the city, nor mingle with the other maidens; but, providing herself with dogs, she would hunt, sometimes in Laconia, and sometimes ranging over the other mountains of the Peloponnese. For this cause she was very dear to Artemis, who made her shoot well.
As she was roaming about the Elean country, Leucippus, the son of Oenomaus, came into desire of her, and gave up trying her in any other way; but, putting on women's clothing and likening himself to a maiden, he hunted with her.
And it chanced somehow that he became to her mind, and she would not let him go, embracing him and hanging on him at every hour. But Apollo too, himself burning with longing for the girl, was held by anger and envy at the company of Leucippus, and put it into her mind, with the other maidens, when they came to a spring, to bathe.
There, when they came and were stripping and saw Leucippus unwilling, they tore his clothes off him; and learning the deceit and how he had plotted against them, they all let fly their spears at him.
He, by the will of the gods, became invisible; but Daphne, seeing Apollo coming upon her, fled very strongly; and as she was pursued, she asked of Zeus to be removed from among men, and they say she became the tree called after her the laurel.
The following story too is told of Laodice: that, when Diomedes and Acamas came to demand back Helen, she had great desire to lie with Acamas, who was altogether young; and for a while she was held back by shame, but afterward, overcome by passion, she made it known to the wife of Perseus—Philobie was her name—and begged her, as one all but undone, to help her.
Pitying the misfortune of the girl, Philobie begged Perseus to become her helper, and bade him establish a guest-friendship and friendship with Acamas. Perseus, partly wishing to be agreeable to his wife, and partly pitying Laodice, by every device persuaded Acamas to come to Dardanus—for he was set as governor of the place—and Laodice came too, as if to some festival, with other Trojan women, being still a maiden.
There, having prepared a feast of every kind, he laid Laodice beside him, saying that she was one of the king's concubines. And Laodice thus satisfied her desire; and as time went on, a son, Munitus, was born to Acamas, whom, reared by Aethra, he conveyed home after the capture of Troy; and as he was hunting at Olynthus in Thrace, a snake killed him.
It is said that Periander the Corinthian was at first reasonable and gentle, but afterward became most bloodthirsty for the following cause. His mother, while he was quite young, was held by great love of him, and for a time satisfied her desire by embracing the boy; but as time went on, the passion grew greater, and she was no longer able to contain the malady, until, daring it, she brought words to the boy, that a certain woman of the very beautiful was in love with him, and begged him not to look on while she wasted away further.
He at first said he would not seduce a woman bound by laws and customs; but as his mother pressed earnestly upon him, he gave his consent. And when the night came on for which the boy was appointed, she made it plain to him beforehand that he should neither show lamps in the chamber, nor put upon her any compulsion to converse, for that she was held back by shame.
When Periander had agreed to do everything according to his mother's directing, having adorned herself as best she could, she went in to the boy, and before dawn began to appear, secretly went out.
On the next day, when she inquired of him whether it had been to his liking, and whether he wished her to come to him again, Periander said he was eager and was pleased beyond measure. As she did not cease coming to the boy at this, and a certain love crept over Periander, he now set about learning who the woman was.
And for a while he begged his mother to entreat her that she might come to speech with him, and, when she had brought him into much longing, that she should some day reveal herself; but now he was suffering an altogether unkind thing in that he was not allowed to see the woman who had so long been with him. When his mother held him off, alleging the woman's shame, he ordered one of the servants about him to hide a lamp.
When she came as was her custom and was about to lie down, Periander, springing up, caught up the light, and, recognizing his mother, rushed to make away with her; but, held back by some divine apparition, he turned aside, and from this he was struck out of his mind and reason, and fell into savagery and slaughtered many of the citizens; while his mother, lamenting much her own evil fortune, made away with herself.
Hypsicreon the Milesian and Promedon the Naxian were the closest of friends. So when once Promedon came to Miletus, the wife of the other, Neaera, is said to have fallen in love with him. And while Hypsicreon was present, she did not dare to speak to the stranger;
but after a time, when Hypsicreon chanced to be abroad and Promedon came again, by night, as he slept, Neaera crept in, and at first tried to persuade him; but when he would not yield, in awe of Zeus the god of comradeship and of hospitality, Neaera ordered the maidservants to bar the chamber, and so, as she did many alluring things, he was forced to lie with her.
On the next day, however, thinking what had been done a dreadful thing, he sailed off to Naxos. Thither also Neaera, fearing Hypsicreon, sailed across to Naxos; and when Hypsicreon sought her, she sat as a suppliant at the hearth in the Prytaneum.
The Naxians, when Hypsicreon entreated them, said they would not give her up, but bade him persuade her and take her. Hypsicreon, thinking himself wronged in his rights, persuaded the Milesians to make war on the Naxians.
Scellis and Cassamenus, sons of Cetor of Thrace, setting out from the island formerly called Strongyle but afterward Naxos, plundered the Peloponnese and the islands round about; and, putting in at Thessaly, they carried off many other women, and among them the wife of Aloeus, Iphimede, and her daughter Pancrato. Both of them, coming into love of her, killed one another.
It is said that of Oenopion and the Nymph Helice a girl Aëro was born; and that Orion the son of Hyrieus, falling in love with her, asked her of her father, and for her sake cleared the island, which was then full of wild beasts, and, driving in much booty from the neighbours, gave it as bride-gifts.
But Oenopion each time put off the marriage, because he loathed having such a son-in-law; and Orion, becoming frenzied through drunkenness, broke down the chamber where the girl slept, and as he was offering violence, had his eyes burned out by Oenopion.
It is said also that when Achilles, sailing, was sacking the islands near the mainland, he put in at Lesbos. There, attacking each of the cities, he laid them waste.
As the inhabitants of Methymna held out very stoutly, and he was in much perplexity through not being able to take the city, a certain Pisidice, a Methymnaean, the king's daughter, gazing from the wall at Achilles, fell in love with him, and so, sending her nurse, promised to put the city into his hands, if he would take her to wife.
He for the moment agreed; but when he had got control of the city, indignant at what had been done, he urged the soldiers to stone the girl.
He who wrote the Foundation of Lesbos mentions this suffering in these verses:

There the son of Peleus slew the hero Lampetus, and slaughtered Hicetaon, the son of true-born Lepetymnus and of Methymna, and the mightiest of all the rest, the own brother of Helicaon, within his fatherland, so great, of the high gates. But blooming Cypris undid him. For she fluttered the wits of the maiden over the son of Aeacus, Pisidice, when she gazed at him among the foremost fighters of the Achaeans, exulting in the battle, and many times to the moist air she stretched out her hands, longing for his love.

Then, a little further on:

Straightway the maiden received the Achaean host within her fatherland, having slid back the bolts of the gates, and endured to see with her own eyes her parents driven through by bronze, and the slavish bonds of the women dragged to the ships by the promises of Achilles, that she might be the daughter-in-law of grey-eyed Thetis, that she might have the sons of Aeacus for her kin, and dwell in a house in Phthia as the prudent wife of a champion man. But he was not about to do this, and abhorred the deadly doom of her fatherland; there she beheld the most dreadful wedding of the son of Peleus, ill-fated, under the hands of the Argives, who slew her all together, pelting her with thick stones.

Some said that the citadel of Sardis was taken by Cyrus the king of the Persians through the betrayal of Nanis, the daughter of Croesus. For when Cyrus was besieging Sardis and was making no progress toward the capture of the city, and was in much fear lest the gathered force of Croesus's allies should break up his army, then this maiden, the story has it, agreeing with Cyrus about the betrayal, on condition that he should have her to wife according to the customs of the Persians, admitted the enemy by way of the citadel, no one keeping guard there on account of the strength of the place, with certain others working with her. Cyrus, however, did not make good his promise to her.
Cleonymus the Lacedaemonian, being of royal stock and having achieved many things for the Lacedaemonians, married Chilonis, who was related to him by birth. Though Cleonymus was strongly set upon her and bore his love not quietly, she despised him and was wholly bent on Acrotatus, the son of the king;
for the youth too was openly inflamed for her, so that all had their intimacy on their lips. For this cause Cleonymus, ill at ease and otherwise displeased with the Lacedaemonian customs, crossed over to Pyrrhus in Epirus and persuaded him to make an attempt on the Peloponnese, as one likely, if they took hold of the war vigorously, easily to reduce by siege the cities in it; and he said that something had already been worked out for him beforehand, so that faction had even arisen in some of the cities.
Hipparinus, the tyrant of the Syracusans, came into desire of a very beautiful boy, Achaeus by name. Drawing him on with many gifts, he persuaded him to leave his home and stay with him; and as time went on, when some onset of enemies was reported against one of the places held by him, and it was necessary to bring help quickly, Hipparinus, as he set out, charged the boy, if anyone should force his way within the court, to kill him with the sword which he had given him as a gift.
When he had engaged the enemy and overcome them by force, he turned to much wine and revelry; and, inflamed by drunkenness and longing for the boy, he rode off to Syracuse, and, coming to the house where he had charged the boy to remain, did not make plain who he was, but, disguising his voice in the Thessalian manner, said that he had killed Hipparinus. The boy, in his great indignation, it being dark, struck Hipparinus a mortal blow; and he, living three days more and clearing Achaeus of the murder, died.
Phaÿllus the tyrant fell in love with the wife of Ariston, who was the leader of the Oetaeans. He, sending to her, promised to give much gold and silver, and bade her say if she needed anything else, since she would not fail to obtain it.
But great longing held her for a necklace which then lay in the temple of Athena Pronoia, which was said to have been Eriphyle's, and she asked to obtain this gift.
Phaÿllus, plundering from Delphi the other offerings as well, took also the necklace; and when it had been brought to the house of Ariston, for a time the woman wore it, being much talked of, but after this a suffering like that which had befallen Eriphyle came upon her.
For the younger of her sons, going mad, set fire to the house, and burned up both his mother and most of the possessions.
In Lesbos, Trambelus the son of Telamon, falling in love with a girl Apriate, did much to win her; but when she would not at all yield, he planned to get the better of her by trick and deceit. So once, as she was going with her maidservants to one of her father's farms that lay near the sea, he lay in wait and seized her.
As she fought back all the more for her maidenhood, Trambelus in anger flung her into the sea; and it chanced to be deep close to shore. So she perished in this way; though some say that, being pursued, she threw herself in.
Trambelus, however, not long after, vengeance from the gods overtook. For when Achilles, having cut off much booty from Lesbos, was carrying it away, this man, the inhabitants having called him in as a helper, stood against him.
There, struck in the breast, he fell at once; and Achilles, admiring his valour, while he was yet breathing, questioned him who he was and whence; and when he learned that he was the son of Telamon, lamenting much, he heaped up a great mound on the shore. This is even now called the hero-shrine of Trambelus.
There is a story too that Alcinoe, the daughter of Polybus the Corinthian and wife of Amphilochus the son of Dryas, by the wrath of Athena went mad for a Samian stranger.
Xanthus was his name. For she, having engaged for hire a working woman, Nicandre, and, after she had worked a year, having driven her from the house without paying the full wage, the woman called much upon Athena to take vengeance on her for the unjust deprivation; whence she came to such a pass that she left both house and children already born to her, and sailed away with Xanthus.
But when she was in mid-passage, she took thought of what she had done, and at once shed many tears and called now upon her wedded husband, now upon her children; and at last, though Xanthus comforted her much and said he would have her to wife, not being persuaded, she threw herself into the sea.
Concerning Cyzicus, the son of Aeneus, the story is told in different ways. For some said that, having married Larissa, the daughter of Piasus—whom her father had lain with before her marriage—he died fighting; but some say that, having lately married Cleite, he fell in, through ignorance, with those who were sailing with Jason on the Argo, and so, falling, cast a grievous longing into all others, but most of all into Cleite; for seeing him cast down, she flung herself about him and lamented much, and by night, escaping the notice of her maidservants, hanged herself from a tree.
In Sicily, Daphnis was born, the son of Hermes, skilful in the use of the pipe and surpassing in form. He did not go down among the great throng of men, but, herding cattle on Aetna, lodged in the field both winter and summer. Of him they say that a Nymph, Echenais, falling in love, charged him not to come near any woman; for if he did not obey, it would befall him to lose his sight.
He for a time held out stoutly, although not a few were mad for him; but afterward one of the queens in Sicily, having ruined him with much wine, brought him into desire to lie with her; and so from this, like Thamyras the Thracian, through folly he was blinded.
It is said that Heracles also, when he brought the cattle of Geryon from Erytheia, wandering through the Celtic land, came to Bretannus; and that he had a daughter, Celtine by name. She, falling in love with Heracles, hid the cattle and would not give them back unless he should first lie with her; and Heracles, partly being eager to recover the cattle, but much more struck by the beauty of the girl, lay with her, and when time came round, a son was born to them, Celtus, from whom the Celts were named.
It is said too that Dimoetes married Euopis, the daughter of his brother Troezen; but, perceiving that she was lying, through a violent love, with her own brother, he disclosed it to Troezen; and she, through fear and shame, hanged herself, having first laid many baleful curses upon the author of her calamity.
Thereupon Dimoetes, not long after, lighted upon a woman of very beautiful aspect cast up by the waves, and, coming into desire of her, lay with her; but when the body, through length of time, gave way, he heaped up a great tomb for her, and so, not being relieved of his passion, slaughtered himself upon it.
Among the Chaones, a certain youth of the very esteemed fell in love with Antippe. Approaching her, by every device he persuaded her to be his; and she too, indeed, was not outside the longing for the boy; and from this, escaping the notice of their parents, they satisfied their desire.
Once, when a festival was held among the Chaones at the public charge and all were feasting, they, slipping away, were shut up in a certain thicket. And it chanced that the king's son Cichyrus, pursuing a leopard, when it was driven together into that thicket, let fly his javelin at it. And he missed it, but hit the girl;
and, supposing he had brought down the beast, he drove his horse nearer; and, perceiving the youth holding his two hands upon the girl's wound, he went out of his senses, and, wheeling about, slipped from his horse into a precipitous and rocky place.
There he died; and the Chaones, honouring their king, threw walls round that same spot and called the city Cichyrus.
Some say that that thicket belonged to Epirus, the daughter of Echion, who, migrating from Boeotia, journeyed with Harmonia and Cadmus, carrying the remains of Pentheus, and, dying near that thicket, was buried there; whence the land too was named Epirus after her.
The story of Niobe too is told by most in different ways. For they say she was not the daughter of Tantalus, but the daughter of Assaon and the wife of Philottus; and that, coming into strife with Leto over the beauty of their children, she paid the following penalty: that Philottus was destroyed in the hunt, and that Assaon, held by longing for his daughter, sought to marry her himself;
and when Niobe would not yield, that he invited her children to a feast and burned them up. And she, through this calamity, threw herself from a very high rock; but Assaon, taking thought of his own crimes, made away with himself.
Of Oenone and Alexander a son was born, Corythus. He, coming to Ilium as an ally, fell in love with Helen, and she received him very kindly; he was in form most excellent; but his father, discovering him, slew him.
Nicander, however, says that Corythus was the son not of Oenone but of Helen and Alexander, saying in these words:

And the tomb in Hades of Corythus who is gone below, whom, subdued by stolen wedlock, the daughter of Tyndareus, grievously sorrowing, bore—an evil offspring of the herdsman.

In Crete, Lycastus fell in love with Eulimene, the daughter of Cydon, whom her father had betrothed to Apterus, then the first man among the Cretans; consorting secretly with her, he was undetected. But when some of the Cretan cities rose up against Cydon and were greatly prevailing, he sent men to inquire of the god what he should do to get the better of the enemy.
And it was prophesied to him to sacrifice a maiden to the heroes of the country. When Cydon heard the oracle, he cast lots among all the maidens, and by mischance his daughter was chosen.
Lycastus, fearing for her, disclosed her seduction and how for a long time he had been with her; but the great throng all the more held it right that she should die.
When she had been sacrificed, Cydon bade the priest cut open the part about her navel, and so she was found to be with child. Apterus, thinking he had suffered dreadful things at the hands of Lycastus, lay in wait and killed him, and for this cause fled to Xanthus at Termera.
It is said too that Rhesus, before he came to Troy as an ally, went over much land, winning it over and imposing tribute. Thence he came also to Cius on account of the fame of a beautiful woman; Arganthone was her name.
She loathed the household life and staying at home, but, gathering many dogs, she would hunt, admitting hardly anyone to her. So Rhesus, coming to that place, did not take her by force, but said that he wished to hunt together with her; for he too, like her, hated the company of men. When he said this, she assented, believing that he spoke the truth.
But as much time went by, she fell into a great love of Rhesus; and at first she kept quiet, held by shame; but when her passion grew more violent, she ventured to come to speech with him, and so, being willing, he took her to wife.
Afterward, when war came upon the Trojans, the kings sought him out as an ally; and Arganthone, whether through love, which lay deep in her, or otherwise divining the future, would not let him go.
But Rhesus, being much reproached for his staying at home, could not endure it, but went to Troy, and, fighting at the river now called Rhesus after him, was struck by Diomedes and died.
She, when she perceived that he was dead, withdrew again to the place where she had first lain with him, and, wandering about it, often cried aloud the name of Rhesus; and at last, sitting in silence by the river, through grief she was removed from among men.

The end of the work of Parthenius of Nicaea, On the Sufferings of Love.