Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.4.7 · 1.4.7
A girl kept under guard
Read the full text in our reader
Καὶ τίς ἔσται ὁ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ὅρος καὶ τί τὸ πέρας τοῦ κακοῦ; Σοβαρὸς οὗτος ἐρώμενος, παρθένος ἐγὼ φρουρουμένη· τίνα βοηθὸν λήψομαι; τίνι τἀμὰ κοινώσομαι; ποῦ δ’ Ἁβροκόμην ὄψομαι;
"And what will be the limit of my desire, and what the end of this trouble? The one I love is haughty; I am a girl kept under guard. Whom shall I take as a helper? With whom shall I share my secret? And where shall I see Habrocomes?"
Word by word
The setting
Book 1, chapter 4. Anthia, awake in the night, goes on speaking to herself.
A note on this passage
Her last questions are practical ones. φρουρουμένη, "kept under guard," is the verb of sentries and garrisons, and a girl of a good family did live at home under watch: in Xenophon of Athens a husband says that his bride had been brought up "to see as little as possible and hear as little as possible" (Oeconomicus 7.5). At the festival, the narrator says, young men and girls came together (1.3.1), and it was the custom there for brides and husbands to be found (1.2.3).
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.4.7 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 1.4.7 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/ephesiantale/1.4.7/