HKB
incendium'; Valerius Maximus has a similar story, lib. iii. c. 2. ext. 8; cf. Orosius, iv. 13. 3. Chaucer has already alluded to this story; see note to B. 4553.
alle; Valerius Maximus merely says--'dextra laeuaque communes filios trahens.'
Jerome says:--'Ad Romanas foeminas transeam, et primam ponam Lucretiam; quae uiolatae pudicitiae pudens superuiuere, maculam corporis cruore deleuit'; p. 50. In the margin of E. we find:--'primo ponam Lucretiam ... deleuit'; with the reading nolens for pudens. See also the legend of Lucretia in the Legend of Good Women.
Jerome says:--'Quis ualeat silentio praeterire septem Milesias uirgines, quae Gallorum impetu cuncta uastante, ne quid indecens ab hostibus sustinerent, turpitudinem morte fugerunt; exemplum sui cunctis uirginibus relinquentes, honestis mentibus magis pudicitiam curae esse, quam uitam'; p. 50. MS. E. quotes this as far as 'Gallorum.' As Miletus is in Caria, perhaps Galli refers here to the Gallograeci or Galatae. [397]
'Xenophon in Cyri maioris scribit infantia, occiso Abradote uiro, quem Panthea uxor miro amore dilexerat, collocasse se iuxta corpus lacerum; et confosso pectore, sanguinem suum mariti infudisse uulneribus'; p. 50. MS. E. cites the first eight words of this, with the spelling Abradate; whence Chaucer's Habradate. Chaucer's account of Panthea's exclamation is evidently imaginary. The story is told at length in Xenophon's Cyropaedia, bk. vii. Abradates, king of the Susi, was killed in battle against the Egyptians. His wife Panthea slew herself with a dagger, and fell with her head upon his breast.
'Demotionis Areopagitarum principis uirgo filia, audito sponsi Leosthenis interitu, qui bellum Lamiacum concitarat, se interfecit: asserens quanquam intacta esset corpore, tamen si alterum accipere cogeretur, quasi secundum acciperet, cum priori mente nupsisset'; p. 48. E. quotes the first five words of this.
'Quo ore laudandae sunt Scedasi filiae in Leuctris Boeotiae, quas traditum est absente patre duo iuuenes praetereuntes iure hospitii suscepisse. Qui multum indulgentes uino, uim per noctem intulere uirginibus. Quae amissae pudicitiae nolentes superuiuere, mutuis conciderunt uulneribus'; p. 48. E. quotes the first six words, with the spelling Cedasii. The story of Scedasus ([Greek: Skedasos]) and his daughters is told at length by Plutarch, being the third story in his Amatoriae Narrationes ([Greek: erôtikai diêgêseis]).
'Nicanor uictis Thebis atque subuersis, unius uirginis captiuae amore superatus est. Cuius coniugium expetens, et uoluntarios amplexus, quod scilicet captiua optare debuerat, sensit pudicis mentibus plus uirginitatem esse quàm regnum; et interfectam propria manu, flens et lugens amator tenuit'; p. 49. E. cites a few words of this, with the spelling Nichanor. The reference is to the taking of Thebes by Alexander, B.C. 336. Nicanor was one of his officers.
This story, in Jerome, immediately follows the former:--'Narrant scriptores Graeci et aliam Thebanam uirginem, quam hostis Macedo corruperat, dissimulasse paulisper dolorem, et uiolatorem uirginitatis suae iugulasse postea dormientem; seque interfecisse gladio, ut nec uiuere uoluerit post perditam castitatem, nec ante mori, quàm sui ultrix existeret.' E. quotes a few words of this.
Chaucer has translated here very literally. For Jerome has:--'Quid loquar Nicerati coniugem? quae impatiens iniuriae uiri, mortem sibi ipsa consciuit; ne triginta tyrannorum, quos Lysander uictis Athenis imposuerat, libidinem substineret'; p. 49. Compare Plutarch's Life of Lysander. Niceratus, son of Nicias, was put to death by the Thirty Tyrants, who were imposed upon Athens by Lysander, B.C. 404.
'Alcibiades ille Socraticus, uictis Atheniensibus, fugit ad Pharnabacum [i. e. Pharnabazum]. Qui accepto precio à Lysandro principe Lacedaemoniorum, iussit eum interfici. Cumque suffocato caput esset ablatum, et missum Lysandro in testimonium caedis expletae, reliqua pars corporis iacebat insepulta. Sola igitur concubina [398] contra crudelissimi hostis imperium inter extraneos et imminente discrimine, funeri iusta persoluit; mori parata pro mortuo, quem uiuum dilexerat'; pp. 49, 50. E. quotes the first four words. See Plutarch's Life of Alcibiades; or the extracts from it in my edition of 'Shakespeare's Plutarch,' p. 304. The woman's name was Timandra; cf. Timon of Athens, iv. 3.