Xenophon of Ephesus, An Ephesian Tale 2.4.4 · 2.4.4
His soul stays free
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Ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν μου τοῦ σώματος, τὴν ψυχὴν δὲ ἐλευθέραν ἔχω. Ἀπειλείτω νῦν, εἰ θέλει, Μαντὼ ξίφη καὶ βρόχους καὶ πῦρ καὶ πάντα ὅσα δύναται σῶμα ἐνεγκεῖν οἰκέτου· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε πεισθείην ἑκὼν Ἄνθειαν ἀδικῆσαι.
"They have power over my body, but my soul I keep free. Let Manto threaten me now, if she wants, with swords and nooses and fire and everything a slave's body can bear: for I would never willingly be persuaded to wrong Anthia."
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The setting
Book 2, chapter 4. Habrocomes goes on; he and Anthia are now the slaves of the pirate chief Apsyrtus.
A note on this passage
Habrocomes divides himself in two: his masters own his body, and his soul (ψυχή) stays free. Epictetus, a philosopher who had himself been a slave, made the same division: "You will chain my leg, but not even Zeus can overpower my choice" (Discourses 1.1.23). The last sentence has the shape of his boast in the first chapter, that no one would ever (οὐκ ἄν ποτε) fall in love unwilling (1.1.5). Then he trusted his will against Eros; now he trusts it to keep the oath, and says he would never wrong Anthia ἑκών, "willingly."
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