Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.3.1 · 2.3.1
Manto falls in love with Habrocomes
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Καὶ οἱ μὲν περὶ τὸν Ἁβροκόμην ἐν τούτοις ἦσαν· ἡμερῶν δὲ διαγενομένων ὀλίγων ὁ μὲν Ἄψυρτος ἐπ’ ἄλλην ἐμπορίαν εἰς Συρίαν ἀπῆλθε, θυγάτηρ δὲ αὐτοῦ, Μαντὼ ὄνομα, ἠράσθη τοῦ Ἁβροκόμου· ἦν δὲ καλὴ καὶ ὡραία γάμων ἤδη, πολὺ δὲ τοῦ Ἀνθείας κάλλους ἀπελείπετο.
This was how things stood with Habrocomes and his companions. A few days later Apsyrtus went off to Syria on another trading trip, and his daughter, whose name was Manto, fell in love with Habrocomes. She was beautiful and already of an age for marriage, but she fell far short of Anthia's beauty.
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The setting
Book 2, chapter 3. At Tyre the pirate chief Apsyrtus keeps Habrocomes, Anthia and their two slaves, Leucon and Rhode, in his house, meaning to sell them for a high price.
A note on this passage
Manto is measured against the heroine as soon as she appears: she is beautiful, but she "fell far short" of Anthia. ὡραία γάμων, "of an age for marriage," is built on ὥρα, "season": she has reached the season for a husband. Her father's journey matters to the plot. Manto acts while Apsyrtus is away in Syria, and he will come back from there bringing her a husband, Moeris (2.5.6).
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