A History of Sanskrit Literature c24.s5.11

c24.s5.11

When Theagenes and Chariklea see each other for the first time, they seem to recognize each other as if they had known each other before; this is not merely a common feeling among modern people, but Plato had a doctrine of recollection which was far more likely to be present to a Greek author than an Indian romance *motif*. In the general purpose of the romances there is absolutely nothing un-Greek. On the contrary, the *Aithiopika* justifies the trials of its hero by the doctrine that he and his beloved had to be brought almost to death in order that the Aithiopians might cease to practice human sacrifice. The fate that elsewhere governs the progress of events is essentially Greek, more Greek than Indian, and it is most significant that nothing is said of the misfortunes which fall on the heroes being due to evil deeds done in past lives. Moreover, it is striking that in all the complex adventures recounted in the Greek romances we do not have Indian scenes or episodes, though there was abundant room for them, and the authors of the romances were largely themselves Orientals, not natives of Greece proper.