The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
35. And we must not wonder at people having on some occasions fallen
in love with others from the mere report of their beauty, when Chares
of Mitylene, in the tenth book of his History of Alexander, says
that some people have even seen in dreams those whom they have never
beheld before, and fallen in love with them so. And he writes as
follows:—"Hystaspes had a younger brother whose name was Zariadres:
and they were both men of great personal beauty. And the story told
concerning them by the natives of the country is, that they were the
offspring of Venus and Adonis. Now Hystaspes was sovereign of Media,
and of the lower country adjoining it; and Zariadres was sovereign of
the country above the Caspian gates as far as the river Tanais. Now the
daughter of Omartes, the king of the Marathi, a tribe dwelling on the
other side of the Tanais, was named Odatis. And concerning her it is
written in the Histories, that she in her sleep beheld Zariadres, and
fell in love with him; and that the very same thing happened to him
with respect to her. And so for a long time they were in love with one
another, simply on account of the visions which they had seen in their
dreams. And Odatis was the most beautiful of all the women in Asia; and
Zariadres also was very handsome. Accordingly, when Zariadres sent to
Omartes and expressed a desire to marry the damsel, Omartes would not
agree to it, because he was destitute of male offspring; for he wished
to give her to one of his own people about his court. And not long
afterwards, Omartes having assembled all the chief men of his kingdom,
and all his friends and relations, held a marriage-feast, without
saying beforehand to whom he was going to give his daughter. And as the
wine went round, her father summoned Odatis to the banquet, and said,
in the hearing of all the guests,—'We, my daughter Odatis, are now
celebrating your marriage-feast; so now do you look around, and survey
all those who are present, and then take a golden goblet and fill it,
and give it to the man to whom you like to be married; for you shall be
called his wife.' And she, having looked round upon them all, went away
weeping, being anxious to see Zariadres, for she had sent him word that
her marriage-feast was about to be celebrated. But he, being encamped
on the Tanais, and leaving the army encamped there without being
perceived, crossed the river with his charioteer alone; and going by
night in his chariot, passed through the city, having gone about eight
hundred stadia without stopping. And when he got near the town in which
the marriage festival was being celebrated, and leaving, in some place
near, his chariot with the charioteer, he went forward by himself,
clad in a Scythian robe. And when he arrived at the palace, and seeing
Odatis standing in front of the side-board in tears, and filling the
goblet very slowly, he stood near her and said, 'O Odatis, here I am
come, as you requested me to,—I, Zariadres.' And she, perceiving a
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