The Golden Ass by Apuleius

Author:Apuleius
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2010-11-03T16:00:00+00:00

BOOK 8

Tragic deaths of Charite and Tlepolemus – their slaves decamp in panic with the animals – misadventures on the way – Lucius sold to the priests of Atargatis – their scandalous activities – another death sentence

1 That night at cockcrow a young man arrived from the city who looked to me like a slave of Charite’s, the girl who had suffered along with me at the hands of the robbers. He brought strange and dreadful news: she was dead and her whole house destroyed. He told his tale sitting by the fire with all his fellow slaves clustered around him: ‘Grooms, shepherds, cowherds: our mistress Charite is no more; the poor child has perished by the cruellest of fates, but when she went down to the realm of ghosts it was not alone. But so that you may know the whole story, let me tell you everything that happened from the beginning; it deserves to be written down and shaped into a formal narrative by some scholar on whom Fortune has conferred the gift of writing.

‘There lived in the city next to ours a young man of very distinguished family, a prominent figure on that account and very wealthy, but a confirmed debauchee, gourmandizing, whoring and drinking all day. This life-style had led him into bad company, and he was in league with gangs of robbers, and his hands were stained with human blood. Thrasyllus was his name, and he lived

2

up to his reputation. When Charite came of marriageable age, he was one of her principal suitors, and he put everything he knew into his wooing. However, though he outranked all his noble competitors and tried to win over her parents by rich gifts, they objected to his character, and he had to suffer the humiliation of being turned down. And even after my masters’ daughter had been wedded to the excellent Tlepolemus, Thrasyllus, still obviously nursing the love that had been brought so low and brooding resentfully on the marriage that had been denied him, never ceased to watch for the chance of a bloody revenge. Finally he hit on a convenient opportunity of being on the spot, and made his preparations for the crime that he had been planning for so long. On the day when Charite had been rescued from the deadly swords of the robbers by her astute and valiant husband, he drew attention to himself by his exuberant behaviour as he mingled with the crowd who had come to offer their congratulations, expressing his delight at seeing the newly-married couple safely rescued, and at the prospect of children to come. In honour of his distinguished family, he was received into our house as one of the principal guests and treacherously masqueraded as a faithful friend while all the time dissembling his wicked purpose. He constantly frequented their society and was often invited to dine and drink with the family; so he had become by degrees ever more dear to them and had gradually and insensibly plunged into a deep abyss of desire.

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