Letter 631: What outrages have been committed — not on the Danube near the Scythians, nor at the ends of Libya, but in...

To Anatolius. (361) What a deed has been dared, not by the Ister [the Danube] near the Scythians, nor in the farthest parts of Libya, but in Phoenicia, the most civilized region of all, where there are laws, where magistrates are set in authority, where the emperor lives under arms, that every act of violence may be far away. A certain Lucianus, a man of some small office, while exacting money from certain farmers, as though he were Dionysius, the master of Sicily, or that famous Gelon who held great power, made a drunken revel into the marriage of this Eustathius here, a poor man living together with a poor wife; but the chastity of the woman was a comfort to him, whom he takes in marriage now that his own city has been destroyed for him -- and she is a Nicomedian -- and for a dowry the woman brought her character. But while he, at the bidding of Elpidius, had gone off to fetch men who were to render an account, Lucianus, having looked upon the woman with unjust eyes as she dwelt nearby, did not dare to send to her and make mention of love to her -- for he knew he would not persuade her -- but ordered his daughter to keep company with the woman. And they came to be on familiar terms, and many times did this man's daughter go to her, knowing for what purpose these things were being done; for such were the lessons in which he was schooling his daughter. So at length the other woman [Lucianus's daughter] invites her too to her own house, claiming the right to receive equal treatment in return; and she -- for she stood so far apart from those deeds that she did not even think it right to suspect -- both obeyed and was within the doors, or rather within the net. For that insolent man, having shut her up in a chamber and declared that she must do homage to Fortune, if, earning her living by her own hands, she would lie down together with the man who had the power to give -- since he found her well armed with chastity, and could neither persuade her by promising nor strike her with terror by threatening -- brought to bear his hands and his strength. But she thrust him off, and her character made her show herself greater than her nature. Thereupon Lucianus bared a sword, O gods. But she praised this alone, if she should die before any shameful thing. And when he perceived that she was even departing from her life, he summons his household slaves and ordered them to bring ropes; and she was upon a couch in bonds, and as she cried out her body was violated. Now if, having wrought these things, he had cast the wronged woman into a well -- as the Spartans at Leuctra did to the women they had forced -- he would have been wicked in his adultery, but in trying to make away with what had been done he would have seemed to fear the laws; but as it is, as though making a display that, even if you, even if Modestus, even if Elpidius, even if all men should learn of the crime, there is nothing to fear, he sends the woman away, laughing. And she, going to her husband -- for he too had arrived straightway, as it chanced -- telling him the whole, begged him to kill her, for that she could not honorably go on living after having met with such misfortunes. But he handed her over to those who will guard her, that she may not slay herself; and coming here, knowing that I loved Nicomedia even while it stood and weep for it now that it lies in ruins, he begged me both to instruct and to urge on Modestus by a letter, intending to prosecute the adulterer there. But I send him to you, reckoning that the one course involves much toil, while the other gives equal precision without toils. But, O most temperate and most just of men, you who yourself live together with a wife and rear legitimate children, show that there is one who will prevent such things from being dared.

Ἀνατολίῳ. (361) Οἴα τετόλμηται οὐ περὶ τὸν Ἴστρον ἐγγὺς Σκυθῶν οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις Λιβύης, ἀλλ’ ἐν Φοινίκη, τῷ πάντων ἡμε- ρωτάτῳ χωρίῳ, νόμων ὄντων, ἀρχόντων ἐφεστηκότων, βασι- λέως ζῶντος ἐν ὅπλοις, ὅπως ἅπαν ἀπείη βίαιον. Λου- κιανός τις, ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ μικροῦ τινος σχήματος, χρήματα εἰσπράττων γεωργούς τινας, ὥσπερ Διονύσιος ὤν, ὁ Σικελίας δεσπότης, ἢ Γέλων ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὴν μεγάλην δύναμιν ἔχων, ἐκώ- μασεν εἰς τὸν γάμον Εὐσταθίου τουτουί, πένητος μὲν καὶ πένητι συνοικοῦντος, παρεμυθεῖτο δὲ αὐτὸν ἡ σωφροσύνη τῆς γυναικός, ἣν ἀπολωλυίας αὐτῷ τῆς πόλεως, ἔστι δὲ Νικομη- δεύς, ἄγεται, προῖκα δὲ εἰσέφερεν ἡ γυνὴ τὸν τρόπον. ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν Ἐλπιδίου κελεύοντος ᾤχετο ἄξων ἀνθρώπους ὡς ὑφέ- ξοντας λόγον, Λουκιανὸς δὲ τὴν ἄνθρωπον ἰδὼν ἀδίκοις ὄμ- μασι πλησίον οἰκοῦσαν προσπέμψαι μὲν καὶ μνησθῆναι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἔρωτος οὐκ ἐτόλμησεν, ᾔδει γὰρ οὐ πείσων, τὴν θυγα- τέρα δὲ ἐκέλευε χρῆσθαι τῇ γυναικί. καὶ ἦσαν ἐν συνη- θείᾳ καὶ πολλάκις ἦλθε παρ’ ἐκείνην ἡ τούτου θυγάτηρ εἰ- δυῖα, ὅτου χάριν ταῦτα ἐπράττετο τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἐπαίδευε τὴν θυγατέρα. καλεῖ δή ποτε καὶ ταύτην ἐκείνη παρ’ αὑτὴν ἀξιοῦσα τῶν ἴσων τυχεῖν, ἡ δέ, ὧν γὰρ ἀφειστήκει τοῖς ἔρ- γοις, οὐδὲ ὑποπτεύειν ἠξίου, καὶ ὑπήκουσε καὶ ἦν εἴσω θυ- ρῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν δικτύῳ. κατακλείσας γὰρ αὐτὴν ὁ ὑβρι- στὴς ἐκεῖνος ἐν δωματίῳ καὶ φήσας δεῖν προσκυνεῖν τὴν Τύ- χην, εἰ τὸν βίον ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ποιουμένη συγκατακλίνοιτο τῷ δοῦναι δυναμένῳ, ἐπειδὴ καλῶς εὕρισκεν ὡπλισμένην τῇ σωφροσύνῃ καὶ οὔτε ὑπισχνούμενος ἔπειθεν οὔτε ἀπειλῶν κατέπληττε, χεῖρας προσῆγε καὶ ἰσχύν. ἡ δὲ ἀπεωθεῖτο καὶ ὁ τρόπος αὐτὴν ἐποίει μείζω τῆς φύσεως δεικνύειν. ξίφος ἐνταῦθα ἐγύμνωσε Λουκιανός, ὦ θεοί. ἡ δὲ τοῦτο ἐπῄνεσε μόνον, εἰ ἀποθανεῖται πρὸ αἰσχροῦ τινος. ὡς δὲ ἔγνω καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφισταμένην, οἰκέτας καλεῖ καὶ σχοινία κομίζειν ἐκέλευεν, ἡ δὲ ἦν ἐπὶ κλίνης ἐν δεσμοῖς καὶ βοώσης ὑβρίζετο τὸ σῶμα. εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα εἰργασμένος εἰς φρέαρ ἐνέβαλε ἠδικημένην, ὥσπερ ἐν Λεύκτροις Λάκωνες ἃς ἐβιάσαντο, πονηρὸς μὲν ἂν ἦν τῇ μοιχείᾳ, πειρώμενος δὲ ἀφανίζειν τὸ πραχθὲν ἐδόκει ἂν φοβεῖσθαι τοὺς νόμους· νῦν δ’ ὥσπερ ἐν- δεικνύμενος ὅτι, κἂν σύ, κἂν Μόδεστος, κἂν Ἐλπίδιος, κἂν ἅπαντες γνῶσιν ἄνθρωποι τὸ ἀδίκημα, δέος οὐδέν, ἐκπέμπει τὴν ἄνθρωπον καταγελῶν. ἡ δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ γὰρ εὐθὺς ἀφῖκτο κατὰ τύχην, ἐποῦσα τὸ πᾶν ἐδεῖτο αὑτὴν ἀπο- κτεῖναι, μηδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἀτυχησάσῃ τὰ τοιαῦτα ζῆν ἔχειν καλῶς. ὁ δὲ τὴν μὲν παρέδωκεν, οἳ φυλάξουσιν, ὅπως μὴ αὑτὴν ἀποσφάξῃ δεῦρο δὲ ἥκων εἰδὼς ὅτι Νικομήδειαν καὶ οὖσαν ἐφίλουν καὶ κειμένην δακρύω, ἐδεῖτό μου καὶ διδάξαι καὶ παροξῦναι διὰ γραμμάτων Μόδεστον ὡς ἐκεῖ γραψόμενος τὸν μοιχόν. ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν πέμπω παρὰ σὲ νομίσας τὸ μὲν ἔχειν πολὺν πόνον, τὸ δὲ ἴσην τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἄνευ πόνων. ἀλλ’, ὦ σωφρονέστατε καὶ δικαιότατε καὶ γυναικὶ συνοικῶν καὶ παῖδας γνησίους τρέφων, δεῖξον ὡς ἔστιν ὁ κωλύσων ταῦτα τολμᾶσθαι.