“ Her birth is made known, and the lovers are happily married. The rapid succession of events, the variety of the characters, the graphic descriptions of manners and of natural scenery, the simplicity and elegance of the style, give the Aethiopica great charm. As a whole it offends less against good taste and morality than others of the same class. ”

“ Homer and Euripides were the favourite authors of Heliodorus, who in his turn was imitated by French, Italian and Spanish writers. The early life of Clorinda in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (canto xii. 21 sqq.) is almost identical with that of Chariclea; Racine meditated a drama on the same subject; and it formed the model of the Persiles y Sigismunda of Cervantes. According to the ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. eccles. v. 22) , the author of the Aethiopica was a certain Heliodorus, bishop of Tricca in Thessaly. ”

“ HELIODORUS, of Emesa in Syria, Greek writer of romance. According to his own statement his father’s name was Theodosius, and he belonged to a family of priests of the sun. He was the author of the Aethiopica, the oldest and best of the Greek romances that have come down to us. ”