The Loves of Chærcas and Callirrhoe. Written Originally in Greek, by Chariton of Aphrodisios. Now First Translated Into English ...

Chariton

Jan 1764 · T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt

Ratings and reviews

(Review 1) “The Loves of Chaereas and Callirrhoe.” Written originally in Greek by Chariton of Aphrodisios. Now first translated into English. In two Volumes. Pr. 6s. Becket and De Hondt. (Reviewed in “The Critical Review or Annals of Literature,” Vol. 17, 1764.) In the preface to this elaborate performance we are informed that the original Greek manuscript of Chaereas and Callirrhoe is supposed to have been transcribed in the thirteenth century, after the discovery of it in the celebrated abbey at Florence; that Salvini and Cocchi transcribed it about forty years since, with an intent to publish it ; that it was delivered by Cocchi into the hands of Mons. D'Orville, who published it at Amsterdam in the year 1750. The incidents in this work are supposed to have happened about 400 years before the birth of Christ, and the romance to have been written by Chariton of Aphrodisios. Who this Chariton was we know not; it is indeed, most probable, as our translator hints in the preface, that both the name and country of the author are feigned, to accommodate them to the subject of his work. After all the learned parade made about this performance and its author, we can find no merit in it, except its being originally written in Greek must be considered as such, as neither the circumstances related nor the manner and style of it are in the least degree interesting, instructive, or agreeable. A parcel of strange and improbable events are thrown together, and the narrative interrupted by long dialogues and tedious soliloquies; a disgusting formality and stiffness runs through it, and renders it, upon the whole, one of the most flat and insipid performances we have dragged through for some time past: a very short extract will suffice to prove the justice of our censures. Callirrhoe, the heroine of the tale, after being buried alive, and released from the sepulchre by pyrates, is sold to a rich Milesian, when the lady being left alone and at full liberty to bewail her sad misfortunes, cries thus: “Behold me now shut up, by Theron, in a sepulchre, still more lonely than the other: for to that my father and mother would have come; and Chaereas had bedewed it with his tears; of which I, though dead, should have been senfible. But who can I here invoke? Thou knowest (O envious Fortune!) that thou art not yet satisfied with persecuting the wretched Callirrhoe, both by sea and land. First thou didst induce my lover to kill me. That very Chaereas who never beat a slave, gave me, who loved him to distraction, a deadly blow. Thou didst afterwards deliver me up to robbers of tombs; and, from the Mausolaeum, didst drag me to the ocean, where I was under the yoke of pyrates, more tremendous than even the billows. Was I then so greatly celebrated for beauty, only that Theron, the pyrate, might receive an extraordinary price for it? I was sold in a solitary place; and not taken, like other things of that kind, to the city. Thou didst fear (O Fortune!) that had anyone seen me, I should have been supposed a person of noble birth and liberal education. For this I have been sold, like a mute; like a blind and insensible piece of furniture, to I know not whom: whether to Greeks, to Barbarians, or again to pyrates, I cannot say. Then beating her breast, she saw, in her ring, the picture of her dear husband; when kissing it, she cried : O my Chaereas! Thou art utterly lost, since so dire a catastrophe has severed us. Thou now dost weep; dost repent; and sittest in the empty monument; doing justice, after my death, to my virtue: while I, the daughter of Hermocrates and thy wife, have this day been sold. — Amid these moanings, she, with great difficulty, fell asleep.” Thus ends the first book; let those amongst our readers who have a great fund of curiosity, and a passion for everything that comes from Greece, divert themselves, if they please, with reading the other seven. (Review 2) Monthly Review Vol 30, p. 61 The Loves of Chaereas and Callirrhoe. Written originally in Greek by Chariton