Epigram on the Story of Clitophon and Leucippe

Name: Epigram on the Story of Clitophon and Leucippe
Author: Photius of Constantinople

Epigramma

Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893 AD) · PG 101-104

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Contents4 passages

1The story shows bitter love but a chaste life
2The story of Clitophon shows bitter love but a chaste life
3Leucippe's chaste endurance amazes all
4The reader's task: attend to the story's movement, not the writing's spectacle

Author

Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893 AD) — Patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century and one of the great scholars of Byzantium. His Bibliotheca summarises hundreds of books, many of which are otherwise lost.

All works by Photius of Constantinople

About this text

A short verse by Photius commending the romance of Clitophon and Leucippe to readers who want to live chastely, for Leucippe's endurance.

This epigram is attributed to Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), the ninth-century patriarch, though the manuscript tradition notes that others assign it to Leo the Philosopher, a Byzantine scholar. It is addressed to a friend who wishes to live chastely, and it serves as a verse preface commending the novel Leucippe and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius to such a reader.

The poem presents the story of Clitophon as displaying bitter love but a chaste life. It singles out Leucippe, whose most chaste life amazes everyone because she endured beating, shearing, abuse, and three deaths. The speaker urges the reader not to dwell on the incidental spectacle of the writing but to attend first to the movement of the story, which escorts those who love wisely to the bridal chamber.

A reader should know that the key term rendered here as chaste translates the Greek word for self-controlled or temperate, and it is the central virtue the epigram celebrates. The word story translates the Greek term for the narrative or plot, as distinct from the writing, whose incidental spectacle the reader is told not to dwell on. No biblical citations or scriptural conventions are used in this epigram.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 101 – 104 (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.

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The story shows bitter love but a chaste life§1

The author opens the epigram by attributing it to Photius or Leo and then states what the story of Clitophon displays.

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1The story of Clitophon displays bitter love, but a chaste life. Leucippe's most chaste life amazes everyone: beaten, shorn, abused, and—greatest of all—having died three times, she endured. If you too wish to live chastely, my friend, do not dwell on the incidental spectacle of the writing, but attend first to the movement of the story. For it escorts those who love wisely to the bridal chamber.

Greek · §1

The Greek is on each section page: §1

The story of Clitophon shows bitter love but a chaste life§2

The author opens the epigram by stating what the story of Clitophon displays.

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2The story of Clitophon, as it were, displays bitter love but a chaste life.

Greek · §2

The Greek is on each section page: §2

Leucippe's chaste endurance amazes all§3

The author is praising Leucippe, the female protagonist of the novel, whose supremely chaste life astonishes everyone through her endurance of suffering.

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3Leucippe's most chaste life amazes everyone: beaten, shorn, abused, and—greatest of all—having died three times, she endured.

Greek · §3

The Greek is on each section page: §3

The reader's task: attend to the story's movement, not the writing's spectacle§4

The author is addressing the reader directly, urging him to look past the incidental spectacle of the writing and learn the story's movement first, because the work escorts wise lovers to the bridal chamber.

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4And if you too, my friend, wish to live chastely, do not dwell on the incidental spectacle of the writing; learn first the movement of the story. For it escorts those who love wisely to the bridal chamber.

Greek · §4

The Greek is on each section page: §4

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