Epigram on the Story of Clitophon and Leucippe · §1 · Photius of Constantinople

The story shows bitter love but a chaste life

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

The 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

ΦΩΤΙΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΟΥ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ, ἄλλοι δέ φασιν ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ Ἔρωτα πικρόν, ἀλλὰ σώφρονα βίον ὁ Κλειτοφῶντος ὥσπερ ἐμφαίνει λόγος· ὁ Λευκίππης δὲ σωφρονέστατος βίος ἅπαντας ἐξίστησι, πῶς τετυμμένη κεκαρμένη τε καὶ κατηχρειωμένη, τὸ δὴ μέγιστον, τρὶς θανοῦσ' ἐκαρτέρει. εἴπερ δὲ καὶ σὺ σωφρονεῖν θέλῃς, φίλος, μὴ τὴν πάρεργον τῆς γραφῆς σκόπει θέαν, τὴν τοῦ λόγου δὲ πρῶτα συνδρομὴν μάθε· νυμφοστολεῖ γὰρ τοὺς ποθοῦντας ἐμφρόνως.

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.