Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.14.1 · 1.14.1
Corymbus burns the ship
Read the full text in our reader
Ἀκούσας ὁ Κόρυμβος εὐθὺς μὲν ἐκέλευσε φείσασθαι φονεύοντας, μεταθέμενος δὲ τὰ τιμιώτερα τῶν φορτίων καὶ τὸν Ἁβροκόμην καὶ τὴν Ἄνθειαν ἄλλους τε τινὰς τῶν οἰκετῶν ὀλίγους ἐνέπρησε τὴν ναῦν, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες κατεφλέχθησαν· τὸ γὰρ πάντας ἄγειν οὔτε ἐδύνατο οὔτε ἀσφαλὲς ἑώρα.
On hearing this, Corymbus at once ordered those who were doing the killing to spare them. Then he moved the more valuable part of the cargo across to his own ship, with Habrocomes and Anthia and a few other servants, and set fire to their ship, and all the rest were burned to death. For he could not take them all, nor did he think it safe.
Word by word
The setting
Book 1, chapter 14. Phoenician pirates have boarded the ship, and Habrocomes and Anthia have begged their leader, Corymbus, to spare their lives.
A note on this passage
Corymbus answers the plea of 1.13.6 in the couple's own words. They begged him φεῖσαι, "spare us," and μηκέτι φόνευε, "kill no more"; he orders the men who are φονεύοντας, "killing," φείσασθαι, "to spare." Then the ship burns, as in Habrocomes' dream at 1.12.4, where a woman taller than any human seemed to set it on fire and all the others died.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.14.1 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 1.14.1 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/ephesiantale/1.14.1/