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really what was at issue, so much as the means by which the inevitable outcome would be accomplished, and it is precisely those means which are problematized by the riddle structure. As usual, the answer is provided retrospectively and within the dramatic frame, but in this case the solution involves the introduc tion of new ‘facts’ of which the reader has hitherto been quite unaware. That night, in their prison cell, Theagenes and Charikleia talk over the day’s remarkable events. Charikleia suddenly remem bers a dream vision of her now dead mentor Kalasiris that had visited her the previous night and delivered this prophecy: If you wear pantarbe fear-all, fear not the power of flame Miracles may come to pass; for Fate ’tis easy game. (8.11.2) The solution to the riddle is itself a riddle, which Charikleia elucidates for her sceptical beloved: thinking she was about to die, she had secreted about herself the recognition tokens left her by her mother, including a ring set with the jewel called pantarbe and engraved with mystic characters. This, she surmises, protected her from the fire (8.11.7-8). Heliodoros’ manipulation of his narrative is obvious. Any ‘honest’ writer would have narrated this self-evidently important dream in its proper chronological place. The postponement is half heartedly explained within the dramatic frame by the suggestion that Charikleia simply forgot about it, but this is only for form’s sake.8 Heliodoros is deliberately withholding information, to induce puzzlement and speculation, to encourage the reader to take, in Umberto Eco’s notorious phrase, ‘inferential walks’. In comparison with the other riddles we have discussed, this one may seem adversarial rather than collaborative. Rather than slowly releasing material which will guide the reader safely to the correct solution, Heliodoros’ aim appears to be to keep us in the dark until such time as it suits him to tell us something we could not have otherwise known. But, although the author is playing more roughly here, he is still observing the rules: the clues are there, though probably their significance is realized only in retrospect. As Charikleia goes to face trial, intending to denounce herself and find release from the torment of her existence, Helio doros duly records that she wore her recognition tokens ‘as a kind of burial shroud, fastened around her waist beneath her clothes’ (8.9.8). And this reference to the tokens takes us back, across half
DOI link for really what was at issue, so much as the means by which the inevitable outcome would be accomplished, and it is precisely those means which are problematized by the riddle structure. As usual, the answer is provided retrospectively and within the dramatic frame, but in this case the solution involves the introduc tion of new ‘facts’ of which the reader has hitherto been quite unaware. That night, in their prison cell, Theagenes and Charikleia talk over the day’s remarkable events. Charikleia suddenly remem bers a dream vision of her now dead mentor Kalasiris that had visited her the previous night and delivered this prophecy: If you wear pantarbe fear-all, fear not the power of flame Miracles may come to pass; for Fate ’tis easy game. (8.11.2) The solution to the riddle is itself a riddle, which Charikleia elucidates for her sceptical beloved: thinking she was about to die, she had secreted about herself the recognition tokens left her by her mother, including a ring set with the jewel called pantarbe and engraved with mystic characters. This, she surmises, protected her from the fire (8.11.7-8). Heliodoros’ manipulation of his narrative is obvious. Any ‘honest’ writer would have narrated this self-evidently important dream in its proper chronological place. The postponement is half heartedly explained within the dramatic frame by the suggestion that Charikleia simply forgot about it, but this is only for form’s sake.8 Heliodoros is deliberately withholding information, to induce puzzlement and speculation, to encourage the reader to take, in Umberto Eco’s notorious phrase, ‘inferential walks’. In comparison with the other riddles we have discussed, this one may seem adversarial rather than collaborative. Rather than slowly releasing material which will guide the reader safely to the correct solution, Heliodoros’ aim appears to be to keep us in the dark until such time as it suits him to tell us something we could not have otherwise known. But, although the author is playing more roughly here, he is still observing the rules: the clues are there, though probably their significance is realized only in retrospect. As Charikleia goes to face trial, intending to denounce herself and find release from the torment of her existence, Helio doros duly records that she wore her recognition tokens ‘as a kind of burial shroud, fastened around her waist beneath her clothes’ (8.9.8). And this reference to the tokens takes us back, across half
really what was at issue, so much as the means by which the inevitable outcome would be accomplished, and it is precisely those means which are problematized by the riddle structure. As usual, the answer is provided retrospectively and within the dramatic frame, but in this case the solution involves the introduc tion of new ‘facts’ of which the reader has hitherto been quite unaware. That night, in their prison cell, Theagenes and Charikleia talk over the day’s remarkable events. Charikleia suddenly remem bers a dream vision of her now dead mentor Kalasiris that had visited her the previous night and delivered this prophecy: If you wear pantarbe fear-all, fear not the power of flame Miracles may come to pass; for Fate ’tis easy game. (8.11.2) The solution to the riddle is itself a riddle, which Charikleia elucidates for her sceptical beloved: thinking she was about to die, she had secreted about herself the recognition tokens left her by her mother, including a ring set with the jewel called pantarbe and engraved with mystic characters. This, she surmises, protected her from the fire (8.11.7-8). Heliodoros’ manipulation of his narrative is obvious. Any ‘honest’ writer would have narrated this self-evidently important dream in its proper chronological place. The postponement is half heartedly explained within the dramatic frame by the suggestion that Charikleia simply forgot about it, but this is only for form’s sake.8 Heliodoros is deliberately withholding information, to induce puzzlement and speculation, to encourage the reader to take, in Umberto Eco’s notorious phrase, ‘inferential walks’. In comparison with the other riddles we have discussed, this one may seem adversarial rather than collaborative. Rather than slowly releasing material which will guide the reader safely to the correct solution, Heliodoros’ aim appears to be to keep us in the dark until such time as it suits him to tell us something we could not have otherwise known. But, although the author is playing more roughly here, he is still observing the rules: the clues are there, though probably their significance is realized only in retrospect. As Charikleia goes to face trial, intending to denounce herself and find release from the torment of her existence, Helio doros duly records that she wore her recognition tokens ‘as a kind of burial shroud, fastened around her waist beneath her clothes’ (8.9.8). And this reference to the tokens takes us back, across half
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ABSTRACT
J. R. MORGAN