2. Book 6
2.1 Context & Narrative Timeline
Bks. 1-2 of L&C are concerned with the elaboration of Clitophon’s erotic strategy for Leucippe’s seduction; Bks. 3-4 narrate a travelogue of spine-chilling adventures; Bks. 5-6 recount an adulterous comedy of errors; Bks. 7-8 feature a forensic focus, seguing from legal to supernatural trials, with only a perfunctory epilogue for their marriage. The division of L&C’s eight books into thematic pairs is not a new premise;86 yet, Hägg (1971: 77 n. 2), for instance, finds the failure of the end of the Books to coincide with significant fictional time breaks (especially the flash-forward at 5.8.1) as reason to be suspicious of the Books as a
“compositional unit in the author’s planning”. While strictly we cannot say if this was the case or not, it is very attractive to judge that the Book divisions are “(probably) the choice of the author”.87 The final scenes of Bks. 5 and 6 offer a natural dramatic culmination of their main concerns – the seduction of Clitophon and Leucippe’s claims to virginity respectively.88 Bk. 6 opens somewhat bathetically – the act of sex between Clitophon and Melite having already happened – and yet ends on a rhetorical climax, with Leucippe defending herself from Thersander’s sexual assault. With the parallel action in Bk. 6 the narrative reaches the point where it most represents a staged theatrical performance (see Intro. 2.4.2), capitalising on the amorous entanglements set up by the cross-currents of the combined couples – Melite/Clitophon, Thersander/Leucippe, Melite/Thersander, and Leucippe/Clitophon.
The following analysis outlines the fictional time of Bk. 6 and owes much to Hägg’s (1971) seminal study on narrative technique in the novels of Chariton, Xenophon, and AT, where he adumbrates the narrative chronologies of the novels in precise detail. Here, the focus is on Bk. 6 and how it fits into the overall time configuration of L&C, as well as the manifold narrative threads that interweave through Bk. 6 itself. The fictional time covered within the novel is structured around “consecutive days of continuous action, interrupted by short
86 See Sedelmeier 1959: 113; cf. Nimis 1998: 107-9.
87 Whitmarsh 2001: xxxiv; cf. Morales 2004: 41; Whitmarsh 2009a: 44 n. 32.
88 Cf. Fusillo 1997: 225-6: “AT uses book divisions to stress the dissonance in the relations of his leading couple”.
intervals of a specified number of days”.89 The actual narrative covers approximately four months with the interruption of a six month flashforward about half way through the novel, when Clitophon is mourning Leucippe in Alexandria (5.8.1), giving a total time estimate of 10 months.90 Shortly after Melite and Clitophon’s arrival in Ephesus the fictional time decelerates as the remainder of the novel spans a period of around nine days (5.17.1-8.19.1). Nonetheless, there is an increase of narrative tempo on account of the contemporaneous nature of the unfolding events and more time is spent on the intricacies of simultaneous intrigue. Parallelism of narrative action is ubiquitous in the novels as the main action centres around the separation and reunion of the hero and heroine (often multiple times). As a result of Clitophon’s role as first-person narrator (Intro. 2.2), Leucippe’s experiences are naturally focalised through his own recounting and her point of view remains largely unexplored. In Bk. 6, however, due to the emphasis on contemporaneous action, we are given a unique narratorial window into Leucippe’s experiences. Previously, when the couple had been separated, Clitophon relates what happens to Leucippe from afar – such as with her ‘disembowelment’ (3.15), or her
‘beheading’ (5.7) – and her actual experience of the event is given in a later recounting by others (3.19-22), or herself (8.16). Naturally this delay in information also serves to heighten the suspense and dramatic effect of these gruesome episodes.91 In Bk. 6, however, Leucippe’s experiences while away from Clitophon are related simultaneous to his own, that is, in current fictional time, with Clitophon’s knowledge of these events explained later (8.15). Thus, in Bk.
6 we are given a uniquely concurrent view of Leucippe’s experiences, marking a shift to more narratively “equivalent conditions” between our hero and heroine, and bringing into focus the affirmation of her virginity, a topos that increases with importance as the novel progresses.92
The narrative synchronism in Bk. 6 is not merely a case of alternating between the hero and heroine, but extends to various secondary characters as well, whose paths converge and diverge on several occasions over the same night/day period of fictional time. Through a series of temporal and transitional markers, AT maintains a sense of logical progression in his
89 Hägg 1971: 66. Cf. Bakhtin (1981: 86-91) who argues that, on account of the lack of character development, the fictional time in the Greek novels “lacks any natural, everyday cyclicity”, terming this unchanging, “extratemporal” period, “adventure time”.
90 Hägg 1971: 76-82.
91 Reardon 1994: 83.
92 Hägg 1971: 182-5; cf. Reardon 1994: 87; see further Intro. 2.3.2.
narrative thread, which might otherwise appear disjointed as a result of the sudden multiple points of view in what is ostensibly a first-person story. Bk. 6 opens on the evening of the day that began with Melite sending Leucippe in search of a love-potion to cure Clitophon’s seeming lack of sexual appetite (5.22). Nightfall is heralded (ἦν δὲ πρὸς ἑσπέραν, 5.25.1) when Thersander (newly returned) leaves to visit a friend, and Melite seizes the opportunity to visit Clitophon in the chamber where he is being held. This evening phase runs continuously from the end of Bk. 5 into the beginning of Bk. 6 with only a brief interlude that decorously omits the act of sex between Melite and Clitophon. Clitophon then makes his escape with the aid of Melite’s servant Melantho (6.2), but once he is left at the backdoor the narrative continues with Melantho returning to Melite and the guard’s subsequent surprise at their ruse, which is an
“organic [narrative] transition but [a] neglect of first-person view”.93 The narrative switches back to Clitophon, who hints at his unexpected encounter with Thersander and Sosthenes that is to come (6.3.1-2), but then breaks off to recount the latter duo’s plotting and abduction of Leucippe (6.3.3-6.4.4). Thus, Leucippe’s kidnapping and Clitophon’s escape (and subsequent re-capture) occur on that same evening, events made possible (and plausible) by the all-night festival of Artemis (ἦν δὲ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερομηνία, 6.3.2; παννυχίδος οὔσης, 6.4.4). Clearly, we are meant to understand that Sosthenes and Thersander’s scheming occurred concurrently with Melite and Clitophon’s tryst and breakout, allowing for their narratives to converge naturally with their coincidental meeting in the street (ἐν τούτῳ, 6.5.1). After their altercation in the streets, the narrative thread leaves Clitophon in jail and follows Thersander to Leucippe (6.6.1), where he is so overcome by her display of grief that he leaves Sosthenes to commend him to Leucippe, instructing his steward to call upon him at daybreak (ἕωθεν δὲ ἧκε πρός με κατορθώσας, 6.7.9).
Following this, but still on the same evening (ἐν ᾧ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπράττετο, 6.8.1), we take a brief step back in time to follow what has occurred with Melite since her encounter with Clitophon (μετὰ τὴν πρός με ὁμιλίαν εὐθύς, 6.8.1). The narrative remains with her as Thersander arrives home (ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ Θέρσανδρος εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, 6.9.1), having left Leucippe with Sosthenes. When Melite’s attempt at convincing Thersander fails, he retires to bed, and she to her worry (6.11.2). Although ostensibly mid-section, another break allows the narrative to resume with Sosthenes (ὁ δὲ Σωσθένης…, 6.11.3), who now endeavours to fulfil his instructions from Thersander to woo Leucippe on his behalf (6.7.9). The abrupt change in
93 Hägg 1971: 183.
narrative perspective in the middle of 6.11, from Thersander and Melite (6.11.1-2) to Sosthenes and Leucippe (6.11.3-4), shows how “the subdivisions are at times fairly arbitrary”.94 Night, nonetheless, is not yet over, as the focus switches from Leucippe and Sosthenes (τὰ μὲν δὴ κατὰ Λευκίππην εἶχεν οὕτως, 6.13.4) to Clinias and Satyrus on their way to visit Clitophon (Κλεινίας δὲ καὶ ὁ Σάτυρος… τῆς νυκτὸς εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τὸ οἴκημα σπουδῇ παρῆσαν, 6.14.1). The μέν… δέ construction that bridges these two sections allows for a clear link and “retrospective summary” to be established between the two narrative phases, while still remaining non- specific as to the exact timing of each event (cf. 6.2.6n., 6.5.5n.).95 Clinias and Satyrus also receive instruction from Clitophon to return at dawn (περὶ τὴν ἕω, 6.14.2), a reiteration of the same temporal marker given to Sosthenes (6.7.9). Thus, when day finally breaks (ἡμέρας δὲ γενομένης, 6.15.1), the separate narratives are primed to set off simultaneously once more (ὁ μὲν Σωσθένης ἐπὶ τὸν Θέρσανδρον… οἱ δὲ ἀμφὶ τὸν Σάτυρον ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ, 6.15.1). Here, finally, the rapid simultaneity is relinquished (for this Book at least) as the narrative leaves Clitophon incarcerated but in the company of his friends and instead follows Sosthenes and Thersander to eavesdrop on Leucippe and eventually confront her (6.16-20). Bk. 6 breaks off directly after Leucippe’s defence of her virginity (6.21-22), and no time passes between Bk. 6 and 7, which opens with Thersander’s emotional reaction to her impassioned speech (ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Θέρσανδρος παντοδαπὸς ἦν, 7.1.1). The new day, which began at 6.15.1, continues into Bk. 7 with Thersander’s plan to deceive Clitophon and concludes with Clinias visiting Clitophon once more (ἐκείνην μὲν οὖν τὴν ἡμέραν…, 7.6.6). The following day begins with Clitophon being led to court and the ensuing courtroom drama (τῇ δ’ ὑστεραίᾳ ἀπηγόμην ἐπὶ τὸ δικαστήριον, 7.7.1).