Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.13.8 · 2.13.8
Anthia asks for thirty days
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Ἡ δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ἀντεῖχεν, οὐκ ἔχουσα δὲ ὅ τι ποιήσειε βιαζομένῳ καὶ πολλῷ ἐγκειμένῳ, δείσασα μὴ καί τι τολμήσῃ βιαιότερον, συγκατατίθεται μὲν τὸν γάμον, ἱκετεύει δὲ αὐτὸν ἀναμεῖναι χρόνον ὀλίγον ὅσον ἡμερῶν τριάκοντα, καὶ ἄχραντον τηρῆσαι· καὶ σκήπτεται *** ὁ δὲ Περίλαος πείθεται καὶ ἐπόμνυται τηρήσειν αὐτὴν γάμων ἁγνὴν εἰς ὅσον ἂν ὁ χρόνος διέλθῃ.
At first she held out. But she did not know what she could do with a man who was forcing her and pressing her hard, and she was afraid that he might even dare something more violent; so she agreed to the marriage, but begged him to wait a short time, about thirty days, and to keep her untouched, and she gave as her excuse (words lost). Perilaus was persuaded, and swore to keep her pure of marriage until the time had passed.
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The setting
Book 2, chapter 13. On the voyage from Ephesus Anthia swore to Habrocomes that she would accept no other man (1.11.4–1.11.5).
A note on this passage
Here the oath sworn on the voyage is tested again, this time by a man of rank who wants to marry her. Habrocomes asked Anthia to stay ἁγνή, "chaste," for him and to submit to no other man (1.11.4); pressed by force and afraid of worse, she consents to the marriage and asks for time, and the oath's own word comes back in his promise to keep her γάμων ἁγνήν, "pure of marriage." Her excuse is lost in a gap in the only manuscript. In Egypt, when she puts off Psammis, the narrator uses the same verb, σκήπτεται, and there the excuse survives: her father, she says, dedicated her to Isis at birth until she was old enough to marry (3.11.4). At the reunion she names "Perilaus in Cilicia" among the men who could not persuade her to do wrong (5.14.2).
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