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St Photius the Great, tr. Freese, 1920; selections
Codex 87: Achilles Tatius, Adventures of Clitophon and Leucippe
Read the Adventures of Clitophon and Leucippe by Achilles Tatius, of Alexandria,1 in eight books. It is a dramatic work, introducing some unseemly love episodes. The diction and composition are excellent, the style distinct, and the figures of speech, whenever they are employed, are well adapted to the purpose. The periods as a rule are aphoristic, clear and agreeable, and soothing to the ear. But the obscenity and impurity of sentiment impair his judgment, are prejudicial to seriousness, and make the story disgusting to read or something to be avoided altogether. Except for the names of the characters and his abominable indecency, the story, in method of treatment and invention, has a great resemblance to the Aethiopica of Heliodorus.
Notes
- Probably lived in the third century A.D. The complete work is extant.