Greek and Roman Parallel Stories (21-23)

Cyanippus, a Thessalian by birth, used continually to go forth to hunt, but his wife, whom he had but lately wed, suspected him of intimacy with another woman, because of his habit of frequently passing the night in the forest, and she followed on the track of Cyanippus. Hiding herself in a thicket,

she awaited events. But some branches were shaken by her movements, and the dogs, thinking that she was a wild animal, rushed upon her and tore to pieces the loving wife like a brute beast. Cyanippus was a witness of this unexpected event and slew himself.[*] So the poet Parthenius.[*]

In Sybaris a city of Italy, a young man Aemilius, greatly admired for his beauty, was very fond of hunting. But his wife, whom he had but lately wed, thought that he was consorting with another woman and entered the dell. The trees were shaken by her movements and the dogs rushed upon her and tore her to pieces; and her husband slew himself. So Cleitonymus in the second book of his History of Sybaris.

Through the wrath of Aphroditê, Smyrna, the daughter of Cinyras, fell in love with her father, and revealed to her nurse the all-compelling force of her love. The nurse led on her master by a trick; for she declared that a neighbouring maiden was in love with him and was too modest to approach him openly; and Cinyras consorted with her. But on one occasion, wishing to learn the identity of his mistress, he called for a light; but when he saw her, sword in hand he pursued this most wanton woman. But by the foresight of Aphroditê she was changed into the tree that bears her name.[*] So Theodorus in his Metamorphoses.

Through the wrath of Venus, Valeria Tusculanaria

fell in love with her father Valerius, and imparted her secret to her nurse. The nurse deceived her master by a trick, saying that there was someone who was too modest to consort with him openly, but that she was a maiden of the neighbourhood. The father, sodden with wine, kept calling for a light; but the nurse was quick enough to wake the daughter, who went to the country, since she was with child. Once on a time she threw herself down from a cliff, but the child still lived. Returning home, she found her pregnancy inescapable, and in due time gave birth to Aegipan, called in the Roman tongue Silvanus. But Valerius, in a fit of despair, hurled himself down from the same cliff. So Aristeides the Milesian in the third book of his Italian History.

After the sack of Troy Diomedes was cast up on the Libyan coast where Lycus was king, whose custom it was to sacrifice strangers to his father Ares. But Callirrhoe, the king’s daughter, fell in love with Diomedes and betrayed her father: loosing Diomedes from his bonds, she saved him. But he, without regard for his benefactor, sailed away, and she ended her life with a halter. So Juba in the third book of his Libyan History.

Calpurnius Crassus, one of the noblemen who had campaigned with Regulus, was dispatched against the Massylians to sack a certain stronghold by name Garaetium, a place difficult to capture. He was taken captive and was destined to be sacrificed to Saturn; but Bisaltia, daughter of the king, fell in love with him, betrayed her father, and gave her lover the

victory. But when he returned home, the maiden slew herself. So Hesianax in the third book of his Libyan History.