Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 1.9.7 · 1.9.7
Anthia speaks to his eyes
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Φιλοῦσα δὲ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὦ φησὶ πολλάκις με λυπήσαντες ὑμεῖς, ὦ τὸ πρῶτον ἐνθέντες τῇ ἐμῇ κέντρον ψυχῇ, οἱ τότε μὲν σοβαροί, νῦν δὲ ἐρωτικοί, καλῶς μοι διηκονήσατε, καὶ τὸν ἔρωτα τὸν ἐμὸν καλῶς εἰς τὴν Ἁβροκόμου ψυχὴν ὡδηγήσατε.
Kissing his eyes, she said, "O you who have often grieved me, O you who first put a goad in my soul, haughty then and loving now: you served me well, and you guided my love well into the soul of Habrocomes."
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The setting
Book 1, chapter 9. Anthia kisses Habrocomes' eyes and speaks to them.
A note on this passage
Anthia gives his eyes two parts in her love: first they put a κέντρον, a goad, in her soul, and then they guided her love into his. Plato's Phaedrus describes the same passage: beauty enters through the eyes, "the way it naturally goes to the soul," and flows back to the beloved, who comes to love in return (255c–d). σοβαροί, "haughty," is what she called him in her own lament, σοβαρὸς οὗτος ἐρώμενος, "the one I love is haughty" (1.4.7).
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