Phlegon

1[1]. . . . . . . . into the guest-room [the nurse] went to the doors and, since the lamp was lit, saw the woman sitting beside Machates. [2] Unable to endure staying any longer because of the wondrous nature of the apparition, she ran to the mother and cried out in a loud voice “Charito and Demostratus,” intending them to get up and go to the daughter with her: for she had appeared, alive, and was through some divine purpose with the guest in the guest-room. [3] When Charito heard the incredible account, it happened that at first her spirit was panic-stricken. Though faint through the magnitude of the news and the disturbed state of the nurse, after a short time she recollected her daughter and wept, and finally accused the old woman of madness and ordered her to depart from her with all speed. [4] But, the nurse having chided her and said freely that she was in her right mind and healthy, and that [Charito] was reluctant to see her own daughter, Charito with difficulty – forced into it by the nurse, yet also wishing to see what had occurred – went towards the doors of the guest-room. Because much time had passed, so that the news might have been announced twice over, it was late when Charito arrived. [5] Because of this, it happened that they had already gone to sleep. And so raising her head the mother considered that, while she recognised the clothes and the general impression of the apparition, she was by no means able to examine the truth; she thought it fit to keep her peace, for she hoped by getting up early to catch the woman, or if she was late, to question Machates thoroughly about everything – for he could never lie about such a matter when questioned. For this reason, she went away in silence.

[6] When day-break came, it happened, either through divine plan or by chance, that [the woman] had left unobserved, but when [Charito] came she was cross with the youth because of the departure, and telling everything from the beginning to the guest, wrapped herself around the knees of Machates, requesting him to tell the truth and keep nothing hidden. [7] And the youth, distressed to begin with and utterly confused, then reluctantly clarified the name, that it had been Philinnion; and he went through the beginning of her entry and made clear her desire; when she came, she said that she had come to him unnoticed by her parents. And wishing to make the matter credible, opening the chest he took out the things left behind by the woman – the gold finger-ring which he had got from her, and the breast-band which she had left behind on the previous night. [8] When Charito recognised these signs, she cried out and, rending her clothes and cloak and flinging the hair-net from her head, falling to the ground and embracing the tokens of recognition, she expressed her grief afresh. [9] The guest, seeing what was happening and that everyone was grievously afflicted and lamenting as if they were only now about to bury the woman, he was troubled and beseeching, pleading with them to stop, promising that if she came he would show her. And [Charito], persuaded and enjoining him to give thought in no superficial way to what he had promised, left towards her own [quarters].

[10] When night fell, and the hour at which Philinnion was wont to come to him, they kept watch, wishing to see her arrival, and she came. As she came in at the customary time and sat on the couch Machates pretended nothing, wishing to examine the matter closely. He did not believe, for the most part, that the woman with whom he was having sex, who came so carefully at the same time [each night], was dead. And while she dined and drank with him, he held himself in disbelief of the things that they had announced before; indeed, he thought some body-snatchers had dug up the grave and sold the garments and the gold things to the woman’s father. So wishing to know exactly, he sent his slaves secretly to call them. [11] Demostratus and Charito came swiftly, and when they had seen her and become at first speechless and stricken by terror because of the strangeness of the sight, afterwards cried out loudly and fell on their daughter. Then Philinnion spoke as follows to them: “O mother and father, how unjustly you have envied my being with the guest for three days in my father’s house, causing no harm: wherefore you will lament afresh because of your meddling, and I will go back to the appointed place: for it was not without divine plan that I came in respect of these matters.” [12] Thus saying, she immediately became dead and her body was there in plain sight, stretched out on the couch. With her mother and father embracing her and great disturbance and lamentation throughout the house on account of the incident – a spectacle without remedy and at the same time an unbelievable occurrence – the affair quickly became noised abroad throughout the city and announced to me.

So that night, I kept in check the crowd thronging at the house, taking precautions lest some revolutionary movement might come about with such a rumour being spread abroad. [14] At morning twilight, the theatre was full. When everyone had spoken in turn, it seemed right to us first to go to the tomb, open it, and see whether the body was lying on the bier or whether we would find the place empty: for it was not six months since the death of the woman. [15] When we had opened the vault, in which all the household members who died had been placed, on the other biers the bodies lay visible – or the bones of those who had been dead the longest – but on that one alone on which Philinnion had been placed and buried, we found lying upon it the iron ring, which was the guest’s, and the gilded drinking-cup, which she got from Machates on the first day. [16] Marvelling and terrified we straight away went to Demostratus, into the guest-room, to view the dead woman, if she was in truth visible. Seeing her lying on the floor, we gathered in the assembly chamber: for the things that had happened were great and incredible.

[17] There was a vigorous uproar in the assembly and almost nobody was able to decide the matter. The first speaker was Hyllus – who was considered by us to be not only the best seer, but also a skilled augur, and in other matters to be exceptionally clear-sighted in his craft – stood up and ordered that the woman be burned outside the boundaries (for it was no longer beneficial to put her in the earth within the boundaries), and that an apotropaic sacrifice be made to Hermes Chthonios and the Eumenides, then that everyone be entirely purged, and to purify the sanctuaries, and ordered the customary rites to be pperformed to the chthonian gods. And he told to me in private about the king and the matters, and to sacrifice to Hermes, Zeus Xenios and Ares, and to carry this out in no facile way. [18] On foot of this declaration we did what we had been ordered; but the guest Machates, to whom the spectre had appeared, through despondency released himself from living.

[19] So if it seems to you that you should write to the king about these things, send a letter to me too, so that I might dispatch one of those investigating the particulars of the whole affair to you. Farewell.