Ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἰταλῇ Ἡρακλείᾳ παιδὸς διαφόρου τὴν ὄψιν ʽἹππαρῖνος αὐτῷ ὄνομἀ τῶν πάνυ δοκίμων Ἀντιλέων ἠράσθη, ὃς πολλὰ μηχανώμενος οὐδαμῆ δυνατὸς ἦν αὐτὸν ἁρμόσασθαι. περὶ δὲ γυμνάσια διατρίβοντι πολλὰ τῷ παιδὶ προσρυεὶς ἔφη τοσοῦτον αὐτοῦ πόθον ἔχειν, ὥστε πάντα πόνον ἀνατλῆναι, καὶ ὅ τι ἂν κελεύῃ μηδενὸς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτήσεσθαι.
Ὁ δὲ ἄρα κατειρωνευόμενος προσέταξεν αὐτῷ ἀπό τινος ἐρυμνοῦ χωρίου, ὃ μάλιστα ἐφρουρεῖτο ὑπὸ τοῦ τῶν Ἡρακλεωτῶν τυράννου, τὸν κώδωνα κατακομίσαι, πειθόμενος μὴ ἄν ποτε τελέσειν αὐτὸν τόνδε τὸν ἆθλον. Ἀντιλέων δὲ κρύφα τὸ φρούριον ὑπελθὼν καὶ λοχήσας τὸν φύλακα τοῦ κώδωνος κατακαίνει, κἀπειδὴ ἀφίκετο πρὸς τὸ μειράκιον ἐπιτελέσας τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν, ἐν πολλῇ αὐτῷ εὐνοίᾳ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐκ τοῦδε μάλιστα ἀλλήλους ἐφίλουν.
Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ τύραννος τῆς ὥρας ἐγλίχετο τοῦ παιδὸς καὶ οἷός τε ἦν αὐτὸν βίᾳ προσάγεσθαι, δυσανασχετήσας ὁ Ἀντιλέων ἐκείνῳ μὲν παρεκελεύσατο μὴ ἀντιλέγειν κινδυνεύειν, αὐτὸς δὲ οἴκοθεν ἐξιόντα τὸν τύραννον προσδραμὼν ἀνεῖλεν· καὶ τοῦτο δράσας δρόμῳ ἵετο καὶ διέφυγεν ἄν, εἰ μὴ προβάτοις συνδεδεμένοις ἀμφιπεσὼν ἐχειρώθη.
Διὸ τῆς πόλεως εἰς τἀρχαῖον ἀποκαταστάσης, ἀμφοτέροις παρὰ τοῖς Ἡρακλεώταις ἐτέθησαν εἰκόνες χαλκαῖ, καὶ νόμος ἐγράφη, μηδένα ἐλαύνειν τοῦ λοιποῦ πρόβατα συνδεδεμένα.
From Phanias of Eresus
1. In the Italian city of Heraclea there lived a boy of surpassing beauty— Hipparinus was his name—and of noble parentage. Hipparinus was greatly beloved by one Antileon, who tried every means but could never get him to look kindly upon him. He was always by the lad’s side in the wrestling-schools, and he said that he loved him so dearly that he would undertake any labour for him, and if he cared to give him any command, he should not come short of its fulfilment in the slightest degree. 2. Hipparinus, not intending his words to be taken seriously, bade him bring away the bell from a strong-room over which a very close guard was kept by the tyrant of Heraclea, imagining that Antileon would never be able to perform this task. But Antileon privily entered the castle, surprised and killed the warder, and then returned to the boy after fulfilling his behest. This raised him greatly in his affections, and from that time forward they lived in the closest bonds of mutual love. 3. Later on the tyrant himself was greatly struck by the boy’s beauty, and seemed likely to take him by force. At this Antileon was greatly enraged; he urged Hipparinus not to endanger his life by a refusal, and then, watching for the moment when the tyrant was leaving his palace, sprang upon him and killed him. 4. As soon as he had done the deed, he fled, running; and he would have made good his escape if he had not fallen into the midst of a flock of sheep tied together, and so been caught and killed. When the city regained its ancient constitution, the people of Heraclea set up bronze statues to both of them, and a law was passed that in future no one should drive sheep tied together.
Ὅτε δὲ οἱ Γαλάται κατέδραμον τὴν Ἰωνίαν καὶ τὰς πόλεις ἐπόρθουν, ἐν Μιλήτῳ Θεσμοφορίων ὄντων καὶ συνηθροισμένων γυναικῶν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, ὃ βραχὺ τῆς πόλεως ἀπέχει, ἀποσπασθέν τι μέρος τοῦ βαρβαρικοῦ διῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Μιλησίαν καὶ ἐξαπιναίως ἐπιδραμὸν εἷλεν τὰς γυναῖκας.
Ἔνθα δὴ τὰς μὲν ἐρρύσαντο πολὺ ἀργύριόν τε καὶ χρυσίον ἀντιδόντες, τινὲς δὲ τῶν βαρβάρων αὐταῖς οἰκειωθέντων ἀπήχθησαν, ἐν δὲ αὐταῖς καὶ Ἡρίππη, γυνὴ Ξάνθου, ἀνδρὸς ἐν Μιλήτῳ πάνυ δοκίμου γένους τε τοῦ πρώτου, παιδίον ἀπολιποῦσα διετές.
Ταύτης πολὺν πόθον ἔχων ὁ Ξάνθος ἐξηργυρίσατο μέρος τῶν ὑπαργμάτων, καὶ κατασκευασάμενος χρυσοῦς δισχιλίους τὸ μὲν πρῶτον εἰς Ἰταλίαν ἐπεραιώθη, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ὑπὸ ἰδιοξένων τινῶν κομιζόμενος εἰς Μασσαλίαν ἀφικνεῖται κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν Κελτικήν· καὶ προσελθὼν τῇ οἰκίᾳ, ἔνθα αὐτοῦ συνῆν ἡ γυνὴ ἀνδρὶ τῶν μάλιστα παρὰ Κελτοῖς δοξαζομένων, ὑποδοχῆς ἐδεῖτο τυχεῖν.
Τῶν δὲ διὰ φιλοξενίαν ἑτοίμως αὐτὸν ὑποδεξαμένων, εἰσελθὼν ὁρᾷ τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκείνη τὼ χεῖρε ἀμφιβαλοῦσα μάλα φιλοφρόνως προσηγάγετο. Παραχρῆμα δὲ τοῦ Κελτοῦ παραγενομένου, διεξῆλθεν αὐτῷ τήν τε ἄλην τἀνδρὸς ἡ Ἡρίππη, καὶ ὡς αὐτῆς ἕνεκα ἥκοι λύτρα καταθησόμενος· ὁ δὲ ἠγάσθη τῆς ψυχῆς τὸν Ξάνθον, καὶ αὐτίκα συνουσίαν ποιησάμενος τῶν μάλιστα προσηκόντων ἐξένιζεν αὐτόν.
παρατείνοντος δὲ τοῦ πότου, τὴν γυναῖκα συγκατακλίνει αὐτῷ καὶ δι’ ἑρμηνέως ἐπυνθάνετο πηλίκην οὐσίαν εἴη κεκτημένος τὴν σύμπασαν· τοῦ δὲ εἰς ἀριθμὸν χιλίων χρυσῶν φήσαντος, ὁ βάρβαρος εἰς τέσσαρα μέρη κατανέμειν αὐτὸν ἐκέλευε, καὶ τὰ μὲν τρία ὑπεξαιρεῖσθαι αὑτῷ, γυναικί, παιδίῳ, τὸ δὲ τέταρτον ἀπολείπειν ἄποινα τῆς γυναικός.
Ὡς δὲ ἐς κοῖτόν ποτε ἀπετράποντο, πολλὰ κατεμέμφετο τὸν Ξάνθον ἡ γυνὴ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχοντα τοσοῦτο χρυσίον ὑποσχέσθαι τῷ βαρβάρῳ, κινδυνεύσειν τε αὐτόν, εἰ μὴ ἐμπεδώσειε τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν· τοῦ δὲ φήσαντος ἐν ταῖς κρηπῖσι τῶν παίδων καὶ ἄλλους τινὰς χιλίους χρυσοῦς κεκρύφθαι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐλπίζειν ἐπιεικῆ τὸν βάρβαρον καταλήψεσθαι, δεήσειν δὲ πολλῶν λύτρων, ἡ γυνὴ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ τῷ Κελτῷ καταμηνύει τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ παρεκελεύετο κτεῖναι τὸν Ξάνθον, φάσκουσα πολὺ μᾶλλον αἱρεῖσθαι αὐτὸν τῆς τε πατρίδος καὶ τοῦ παιδίου, τὸν μὲν γὰρ Ξάνθον παντάπασιν ἀποστυγεῖν.
Τῷ δὲ ἄρα οὐ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἦν τὰ λεχθέντα, ἐν νῷ δὲ εἶχεν αὐτὴν τίσασθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ Ξάνθος ἐσπούδαζεν ἀπιέναι, μάλα φιλοφρόνως προὔπεμπεν ὁ Κελτὸς ἐπαγόμενος καὶ τὴν Ἡρίππην. ὡς δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅρους τῆς Κελτῶν χώρας ἀφίκοντο, θυσίαν ὁ βάρβαρος ἔφη τελέσαι βούλεσθαι πρὶν αὐτοὺς ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων χωρισθῆναι, καὶ κομισθέντος ἱερείου, τὴν Ἡρίππην ἐκέλευεν ἀντιλαβέσθαι·
τῆς δὲ κατασχούσης, ὡς καὶ ἄλλοτε σύνηθες αὐτῇ, ἐπανατεινάμενος τὸ ξίφος καθικνεῖται καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς ἀφαιρεῖ, τῷ τε Ξάνθῳ παρεκελεύετο μὴ δυσφορεῖν, ἐξαγγείλας τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν αὐτῆς, ἐπέτρεπέ τε τὸ χρυσίον ἅπαν κομίζειν αὑτῷ.
From the first book of the Stories of Aristodemus of Nysa: but he there alters the names, calling the woman Euthymia instead of Herippe, and giving the barbarian the name of Cavaras
1. During the invasion of Ionia by the Gauls and the devastation by them of the Ionian cities, it happened that on one occasion at Miletus, the feast of the Thesmophoria was taking place, and the women of the city were congregated in the temple a little way outside the town. At that time a part of the barbarian army had become separated from the main body and had entered the territory of Miletus; and there, by a sudden raid, it carried off the women. 2. Some of them were ransomed for large sums of silver and gold, but there were others to whom the barbarians became closely attached, and these were carried away: among these latter was one Herippe, the wife of Xanthus, a man of high repute and of noble birth among the men of Miletus, and she left behind her a child two years old. 3. Xanthus felt her loss so deeply that he turned a part of his best possessions into money and, furnished with two thousand pieces of gold, first crossed to Italy: he was there furthered by private friends and went on to Marseilles, and thence into the country of the Celts; 4. and finally, reaching the house where Herippe lived as the wife of one of the chief men of that nation, he asked to be taken in. The Celts received him with the utmost hospitality: on entering the house he saw his wife, and she, flinging her arms about his neck, welcomed him with all the marks of affection. 5. Immediately the Celt appeared, Herippe related to him her husband’s journeyings, and how he had come to pay a ransom for her. He was delighted at the devotion of Xanthus, and, calling together his nearest relations to a banquet, entertained him warmly; and when they had drunk deep, placed his wife by his side, and asked him through an interpreter how great was his whole fortune. “It amounts to a thousand pieces of gold,” said Xanthus; and the barbarian then bade him divide it into four parts—one each for himself, his wife, and his child, and the fourth to be left for the woman’s ransom. 6. After he had retired to his chamber, Herippe upbraided Xanthus vehemently for promising the barbarian this great sum of money which he did not possess, and told him that he would be in a position of extreme jeopardy if he did not fulfil his promise: 7. to which Xanthus replied that he even had another thousand gold pieces which had been hidden in the soles of his servants’ boots, seeing that he would scarcely have hoped to find so reasonable a barbarian, and would have been likely to need an enormous ransom for her. The next day she went to the Celt and informed him of the amount of money which Xanthus had in his possession, advising him to put him to death: she added that she preferred him, the Celt, far above both her native country and her child, and, as for Xanthus, that she bitterly abhorred him. 8. Her tale was far from pleasing to the Celt, and he decided to punish her: and so, when Xanthus was anxious to be going, he most amiably accompanied him for the first part of his journey, taking Herippe with them; and when they arrived at the limit of the Celts’ territory, he announced that he wished to perform a sacrifice before they separated from one another. 9. The victim was brought up, and he bade Herippe hold it: she did so, as she had been accustomed to do on previous occasions, and he then drew his sword, struck with it, and cut off her head. He then explained her treachery to Xanthus, telling him not to take in bad part what he had done, and gave him all the money to take away with him.
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