Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.12.4 · 1.12.4
Habrocomes dreams of a woman in crimson
Read the full text in our reader
Τῷ δὲ Ἁβροκόμῃ ἐν τούτῳ ἐφίσταται γυνὴ ὀφθῆναι φοβερά, τὸ μέγεθος ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον, ἐσθῆτα ἔχουσα φοινικῆν· ἐπιστᾶσα δὲ τὴν ναῦν ἐδόκει κάειν καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους ἀπόλλυσθαι, αὐτὸν δὲ μετὰ τῆς Ἀνθείας διανήχεσθαι. Ταῦτα ὡς εὐθὺς εἶδεν ἐταράχθη καὶ προσεδόκα τι δεινὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὀνείρατος· καὶ τὸ δεινὸν ἐγίνετο.
Meanwhile a woman stood over Habrocomes, fearsome to look at, more than human in size, wearing a crimson robe. Standing over him, she seemed to set the ship on fire; the others seemed to perish, while he himself swam to safety with Anthia. As soon as he saw this he was troubled, and he expected something terrible from the dream. And the terrible thing was coming to pass.
Word by word
The setting
Book 1, chapter 12. In the calm at sea, Habrocomes has a dream.
A note on this passage
The woman's robe is φοινικῆν, "crimson," an adjective made from φοῖνιξ, which is also the Greek word for a Phoenician: the Greeks credited the Phoenicians with the purple-red dye. The pirates who attack in the next chapter are Phoenicians (1.13.1), and the verb of the dream comes back with them. The woman ἐφίσταται, "stands over" Habrocomes; the pirates ἐφίστανται, "come upon" the people on board (1.13.4), and then they set the ship on fire (1.14.1).
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.12.4 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.12.4 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/ephesiantale/1.12.4/