XI explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Deception and Appearance

  Bellephoron's tale of wax prosthetics and the trial where corpses are revealed as bladders highlight the theme of deceptive appearances.

• Violence and Cruelty

  The witches' mutilation of Bellephoron and Lucius's violent killing of the three men underscore the brutality present in the chapter.

• Folly and Wisdom

  Lucius's rash actions and the comic punishment of the corpse-guard illustrate the folly of hasty judgments and misplaced confidence.

Characters to notice

• Lucius

  Dines with Byrrhena, hears Bellephoron's tale, kills three men he mistakes for thieves, and is put on trial for murder.

• Byrrhena

  Hosts a supper for Lucius and urges him to participate in the festival of the god Risus.

• Fotis

  Lucius consults her before going to supper; she warns him about dangerous rovers in the streets.

• Milo

  His house is the scene of the attempted break-in by the three men Lucius kills.

Key passages

• “Beware that you tarry not long at supper there, for there is a rabblement of common barretors and disturbers of the public peace, that rove about in the streets and murder all such as they may take, neither can law nor justice redress them in any case.”

  Fotis warns Lucius not to stay out late because violent gangs roam the streets and commit murder with impunity.

  Fotis expresses concern for Lucius's safety due to lawless thugs in the city.

• “Then they did call me by my name, and never did cease till as the cold members of my body began by little and little and little to revive. Then he being of more lively soul, howbeit buried in sleep, in that he and I were named by one name, and because he knew not that they called me, rose up first, and as one without sense or perseverance passed by the door fast closed, unto a certain hole, whereas the witches cut off first his nose, and then his ears, and so that was done to him which was appointed to be done to me.”

  The witches called out the name 'Bellephoron,' and the man who shared that name, still half-asleep, rose and went to a hole where they cut off his nose and ears, mistaking him for the intended victim.

  Bellephoron explains how the witches accidentally mutilated a man with the same name instead of him.

• “Whereupon I by and by drew out my sword which I carried for that purpose under my cloak, and ran in amongst them, and wounded them in such sort that they fell down dead before my face.”

  Lucius drew his sword and attacked the three men breaking into Milo's house, killing them all.

  Lucius recounts his violent confrontation with the supposed thieves.