Pausanias Analysis

Passage 4.16.10

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Passage 4.16.10: Aristomenes slays drunken attackers and ransoms captive maidens, keeping them virgins

Mythic Skeptical

Greek Text

ἐνταῦθα ὑπὸ μέθης οἱ νεανίσκοι δοκεῖν ἐμοὶ καὶ ἄλλως ἀκρατῶς ἔχοντες λογισμοῦ πρὸς βίαν ἐτρέποντο τῶν παρθένων, Ἀριστομένους δὲ ἀπείργοντος οὐ νομιζόμενα Ἕλλησι δρῶντας οὐδένα ἐποιοῦντο λόγον, ὥστε ἠναγκάσθη καὶ ἀποκτεῖναι τοὺς παροινοῦντας μάλιστα ἐξ αὐτῶν. τὰς δὲ αἰχμαλώτους λαβὼν ἀπέλυσε χρημάτων πολλῶν, παρθένους ὥσπερ γε καὶ εἷλεν.

English Translation

Here, it seems to me, the young men, driven by drunkenness and otherwise losing self-restraint, resorted violently to assault the maidens. Aristomenes prevented them, protesting that they were acting in ways not customary among Greeks; but they paid no heed whatsoever to him, so that he was forced even to slay those among them who were most consumed by drink. The captive maidens, whom he had taken, he later released for a large ransom, preserving them as virgins just as when he had captured them.

Proper Nouns

Hellenes (Ἕλληνες) people
Aristomenes (Ἀριστομένης) person
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