Passage 2: Girl and Boy Meet (1.1.4-1.1.7)

[1.1.4, cont.] Ἀφροδίτης ἑορτὴ δημοτελής, καὶ πᾶσαι σχεδὸν αἱ γυναῖκες ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὸν νεών. [1.1.5] τέως δὲ μὴ προϊοῦσαν τὴν Καλλιρόην προήγαγεν ἡ μήτηρ, <πατρὸς> κελεύσαντος προσκυνῆσαι τὴν θεόν. τότε δὲ Χαιρέας ἀπὸ τῶν γυμνασίων ἐβάδιζεν οἴκαδε στίλβων ὥσπερ ἀστήρ· ἐπήνθει γὰρ αὐτοῦ τῷ λαμπρῷ τοῦ προσώπου τὸ ἐρύθημα τῆς παλαίστρας ὥσπερ ἀργύρῳ χρυσός. [1.1.6] ἐκ τύχης οὖν περί τινα καμπὴν στενοτέραν συναντῶντες περιέπεσον ἀλλήλοις, τοῦ θεοῦ πολιτευσαμένου τήνδε τὴν <συνοδίαν> ἵνα ἑκά<τερος ὑφ’ ἑτέρου> ὀφθῇ. ταχέως οὖν πάθος ἐρωτικὸν ἀντέδωκαν ἀλλήλοις …

[1.1.7] Ὁ μὲν οὖν Χαιρέας οἴκαδε μετὰ τοῦ τραύματος μόλις ἀπῄει καὶ ὥσπερ τις <ἀρισ>τεὺς ἐν πολέμῳ τρωθεὶς καιρίαν καὶ καταπεσεῖν μὲν αἰδούμενος, στῆναι δὲ μὴ δυνάμενος. ἡ δὲ παρθένος τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τοῖς ποσὶ προσέπεσε καὶ καταφιλοῦσα, “σύ μοι, δέσποινα” εἶπε, “δὸς ἄνδρα τοῦτον ὃν ἔδειξας.”

    Eros arranges an unexpected meeting of Callirhoe and Chaereas, both of whom are profoundly affected by their brief encounter.

    1.1.4, cont.

    Ἀφροδίτης ἑορτὴ δημοτελής: supply an existential ἦν, “there was.”

    νεών: > ναός, ὁ “temple” rather than ναῦς, ἡ “ship.”

    1.1.5

    τέως δὲ μὴ προϊοῦσαν: “since she had never gone out before.” Up till now (τέως) Callirhoe has been continuously not (μὴ) going out (προϊοῦσαν). The present participle signals the repeated (non-) action. Her isolation is indicative of her status and wealth as well as signaling her sexual purity.

    <πατρὸς>: the subject of this genitive absolute is missing in our sole manuscript of Chariton. While πατρός is a good guess based on the apparent length of the hole in the text, other possibilities include ἀνδρὸς (“her husband”), Ἔρωτος (“Eros”), or ὀνείρου (“a dream”).

    στίλβων ὥσπερ ἀστήρ: after workouts in the gymnasium, Greek men often cleansed themselves with oil, leaving their skin moisturized and shiny. The following γάρ clause also highlights the attractiveness conferred by Chareas’ workout.

    ἐπήνθει: “was blooming,” “was shining” > ἐπανθέω. The verb is emphasized by being placed first in the sentence. The subject is τὸ ἐρύθημα.

    τῷ λαμπρῷ τοῦ προσώπου: “the brilliance of his face.” A neuter adjective with an article often functions as an abstract noun. Thus “the brilliant [thing]” becomes “the brilliance” (S 1023).

    1.1.6

    ἐκ τύχης: “by chance”

    καμπὴν: “bending” of a street, perhas an alley

    συναντῶντες περιέπεσον ἀλλήλοις: “stumbled upon each other”, literally “meeting face to face, encountered each other.” συναντῶντες > συναντάω. περιέπεσον > περιπίπτω.

    τοῦ θεοῦ … <συνοδίαν>: “with the god making arranging the meeting.” πολιτεύω in the middle can often mean “to arrange” (LSJ, B.VI.b) but the logic and connection with the πόλις is worth spelling out. Eros arranges this meeting in the course of his duty as a magistrate supervising love and lovers. Given their parents, the relationship is also inherently “political,” that is, of concern to the whole polis. Chariton’s position as ῥήτορος ὑπογραφεύς may help explain his unusual use of this technical word here. <συνοδίαν> is in brackets because here again, it is a good guess at the word that belonged at this part of the damaged manuscript.

    ἀλλήλοις …: after ἀλλήλοις, there is a gap in our mansuscript. Though we can make out a genitive absolute (τοῦ κάλλους … συνελθόντος) after the gap, this construction contains another gap. Rather than let the reader struggle with these gaps, I have decided to leave these words out.

    1.1.7

    τοῦ τραύματος: “wound.” The painful longing of new love is often described in violent bodily terms and is implicit in Eros’ common depiction with bow and arrows.

    μόλις ἀπῄει: “barely went away,” “staggered away.” Chaereas was almost so done in by his wound that he couldn’t even walk away.

    <ἀρισ>τεὺς: assuming this word is what Chariton wrote—here again we have damage to the manuscript—its use is unusual. The word is mostly Homeric and usually used in the plural. The effect of this archaic word is to give a humorously Homeric coloring to the passage, as at 1.1.14, where Homer is quoted directly.

    τρωθεὶς καιρίαν: “wounded in a vital spot” or “mortally wounded.” The aorist passive participle from τιτρώσκω, sharing the root with τραύμα, just above. The adjective καιρίος is formed from the noun καιρός, “the proper time or place” and probably should be interpreted as modifying an omitted πληγή “stroke, blow.” It acts as a kind of internal accusative (G 536) but requires an idiomatic translation.

    μὴ δυνάμενος: participles are usually negated by οὐ except when they have conditional force, but μή is used here to indicate the conditions under which the verb takes place (S 2731).

    τῆς Ἀφροδίτης … καταφιλοῦσα: the statue of the goddess stands in for the goddess herself. ποσί > πούς ποδός ὁ, “foot.” προσέπεσε > προς-πίπτω. With καταφιλοῦσα understand τοὺς πόδας τῇς Ἀφροδίτης, which need not be repeated in such close proximity.

    ἔδειξας: aorist active < δείκνυμι.