, _Bucoli_ or buccaniers,
as those who figure so conspicuously in the adventures of _Chariclea_
and _Theagenes_. The robbers are at this juncture in expectation of an
attack from the royal troops; and, having been ordered by their
priests to propitiate the gods by the sacrifice of a virgin, are
greatly at a loss for a victim, when chance throws Leucippe in their
way. She is forthwith torn from her lover, and sent off to the
headquarters of the banditti; and Clitophon is on his way to another
of their retreats, when his captors are attacked and cut to pieces by
a detachment of troops, whose commander, Charmides, commiserates the
misfortunes of our hero, and hospitably entertains him in his tent.

[2] The laws of Athens permitted the marriage of a brother
with his sister by the father's side only--thus Cimon married
his half sister Elpinice; and several marriages of the same
nature occur in the history of the Egyptian Ptolemies.

[3] Fair hair, probably from its rarity in southern climates,
seems to have been at all times much prized by the ancients;
witness the [Greek: Xanthos Menelaos] of Homer, and the "Cui
_flavam_ religas comam?" of Horace. The style of Leucippe's
beauty seems to have resembled that of Haidee--

"Her hair, I said, was auburn; but her eyes
Were black as night, their lashes the same hue."

[4] One incident, where Clitophon pretends to have been stung
on the lip by a bee, and to be cured by a kiss from Leucippe,
has been borrowed by Tasso in the Aminta, (Act I. Scene 2.)
"Che fingendo ch'un ape avesse morso il mio labbro di sotto,"
&c., whence the idea has been again copied by a host of later
poetasters. This is not Tasso's only obligation to the Greek
romances, as we have already seen that he was indebted to
Heliodorus for the hint of his story of Clorinda.

A general attack on the buccanier force is projected for the next day,
but the advance of the troops is found to be barred by a trench so
wide and deep as to be impassable; and while preparations are made for
filling it up, Leucippe is brought to the opposite brink by two
officiating priests, sheathed in armor; and there, to the horror of
Clitophon, apparently ripped up alive before the altar. After
completing the sacrifice, and depositing the body in a sarcophagus,
the robbers disperse; the passage of the trench is at length effected;
and Clitophon is prepar