Ephesiaca

Books

• 1
  Book 1

  Habrocomes and Anthia, both impossibly beautiful, fall in love at a festival in Ephesus. An oracle predicts terrible sufferings before their happiness. They marry and set sail.

  102 lines
• 2
  Book 2

  Pirates capture the ship. The lovers are separated. Habrocomes is sold to a woman who falls in love with him; Anthia is threatened with forced marriage.

  80 lines
• 3
  Book 3

  Each lover endures further separations and dangers: bandits, prisons, false deaths. Both remain faithful despite endless temptation and coercion.

  86 lines
• 4
  Book 4

  Anthia escapes a brothel. Habrocomes travels through Egypt and Italy searching for her. Both nearly die and both are mourned by the other.

  36 lines
• 5
  Book 5

  The lovers are reunited in Rhodes. They share their stories, return to Ephesus in triumph, and live happily as the oracle finally promised.

  116 lines