MELITTA
I can’t tell you the whole story. But the other day, when he came back from the Piraeus—his father had sent him there to recover some debt, I believe—he didn’t look at me when he came in, or take me in his arms when I ran over to him in my usual way, but he pushed me away when I tried to embrace him, and he said, “Go off with you to Hermotimus, the shipowner, or read what’s written on the walls at the Ceramicus, The Potters’ Quarter and the burial area of Athens. where your names are scribbled on a tombstone.” “What Hermotimus?” I said, “Who’s he? What tombstone do you mean?” He wouldn’t answer or take anything to eat, and then went to bed with his back turned to me. You can imagine all the tricks I tried in this situation. I tried to hug him, and to turn him to me, and kissed his back, though he kept turned away from me. He didn’t soften a bit, but said, “If you bother me any more, I’ll leave this instant, even though it is midnight.”
MELITTA
May you see me in a more miserable state than at present, my dear, if I know any shipowner called Hermotimus. But next morning, as soon as the cock crowed, he was up and away, but I remembered his saying that the name was written on some wall in the Ceramicus, and I sent Acis to look, but all she could find was this, written near the Dipylon Gate on the right as you go in; “Melitta loves Hermotimus”, and again, a little lower down, “The shipowner Hermotimus loves Melitta.”
