Tisandros and Melantha (F)

Only recently fragments attributed to Quintus Smyrnaeus, also known as Quintus Calaber, have led to the previously unknown version of how Sisyphus was released from his eternal punishment when he allowed in one moment a sort of proud man’s confession: I can no longer do this.

The fragments were located nearly within the borders of Shushan, which was named for the lilies that flourished in the surrounding valley. Early on Shushan was part of Babylonia in the time of Daniel, but then Babylon came under the rule of Persia when Cyrus conquered the city.  

With the release of Sisyphus from his torment, according to the translation recently provided by Dr. Willis Woods, Professor of Classical Antiquities and working under the auspices of both Cambridge and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the black rock of Zeus was again put to use.

The tale, not previously mentioned in other sources, is centered on the story of Tisandros, a simple young goatherd, and Melantha, a dark-eyed beauty, whose father is a renowned warrior who lost one arm in battle. How the two meet is uncertain, but several experts have conjectured that Tisandros tends to a herd for Melantha’s father.

In fact, from one fragment, Professor Woods translates the line as “Tisandros would necessarily yield to the command of his master, the general”. In context, the discussion seems to be focused on where the herd should be relocated as winter approaches.

One of the smaller extant fragments details a short conversation between Tisandros and Melantha wherein he proclaims his love for the girl. The two have crossed paths before apparently, and this time the two are at a spring where Melantha has come to cool her feet.

Professor Woods has it that Tisandros, nearly in tears, tells Melantha that “Your black eyes have peered into my heart and nested there as if two eagles”. (Author’s Note: While I am unable to read the fragments myself, I feel certain that experts will challenge how Woods renders the phrase to be “two eagles”.)

Not unexpectedly, Melantha replies “I cannot be your betrothed” and runs from the spring, sandals in hand, a very specific detail that may be more Woods than myth. Shortly after this encounter, young Tisandros is told by a village priest to make his plea to Anteros so that the God of Requited Love should intercede and even take his request to Aphrodite, who would have the ear of the mighty Zeus himself.

And, as it would happen, the goatherd’s cry does touch the god so that “Anteros, his heart moved, implores Aphrodite to take action on behalf of Tisandros and Melantha”. Aphrodite, perhaps as much distracted by her own affairs as out of sympathy for the two young lovers, whispers a request to Zeus that he bring the two young lovers together.

Again, Woods translates: “Zeus, not inclined to trouble himself with circumstances beyond the natural order of relationships between men and women that do not suit his desires, allows Tisandros to be given a task which if done in timely fashion would bring a goatherd together with a general’s daughter”.

As ordered by Aphrodite, Anteros takes Tisandros, who is asleep in a field, to the rock of Sisyphus. “There, Anteros passes on the command from Zeus Almighty that if Tisandros should cleave the rock, he would be united with Melantha” and in that moment hands Tisandros a simple ladle made of applewood, sacred to Aphrodite.

Of course, “Tisandros sees immediately that his ladle would break with the first blow against the rock and it would wear out long before the rock if he would choose to use it as a file”. As he mourned his apparent fate—not recognizing the subtleties of the gods—two girls with baskets of flowers came by. Tisandros asked them where they were headed, and they replied that “for our young mistress, we take these flowers to the spring”.

Professor Woods notes that because of a chip in a fragment, he is unable to ascertain whether the spring is either .4 or 4 kilometers from the rock. What is clear is that Tisandros does follow the girls to the spring and then carefully holding the ladle filled with water, and yet trying to walk at a brisk pace, brings back the serving to pour onto the rock.

In this manner, “Tisandros returns again and again to the spring from which he hopes a power to break open the black rock will be manifested”. On the ninth return trip, Tisandros feels his throat becoming drier and drier—pausing, even desiring the water he carries.

He cries out, “Forgive me, Melantha.”  The fragment then is fractured on the diagonal, but the phrase “and in this fashion did he show himself”, according to Woods, may be read.

The final section details how Anteros binds him with sleep and carries the goatherd back into the field where he was fast asleep before.  Woods reads the final line on what appears to be the last fragment in the sequence as “now for Tisandros, what the gods would allow was clear to him in his mind and so reflected in his heart.” Woods notes that the translation could be “was made clear” or as he chose, “was clear”.

No other fragments have been located to date.

We, however, despite the gods, despite the odds, as we wish, may choose to imagine Tisandros and Melantha happy.  Ladson 2014