Cimon and Lysimachus’s Wedding-Day Raid

Cimon and Lysimachus’s Wedding-Day Raid turns two impending arranged marriages into a coordinated armed rescue, joining the lovers Cimon and Lysimachus in a common cause. On the day Pasimondas and Ormisdas celebrate their weddings, the two men seize Iphigenia and Cassandra from the feast and escape by ship. The raid kills both brothers, but its final reversal is not permanent exile: after friends and relatives arrange a settlement, Cimon and Iphigenia return to Cyprus, and Lysimachus and Cassandra to Rhodes, where both couples live happily together.

Causes and Stakes

Cimon and his companions are prisoners condemned to perpetual confinement. Their lives have been spared because they previously gave freedom to young Rhodians, but Pasimondas has done all he can to have them put to death. Their imprisonment therefore hangs over Cimon’s renewed hope of recovering Iphigenia, the woman he loves.

That hope is imperiled by Pasimondas’s preparations to marry Iphigenia. Seeking to make a single occasion serve for both brothers, Pasimondas revives negotiations with Cassandra’s parents and arranges for Ormisdas to marry her on the same day. The shared wedding plan makes the danger immediate for both lovers: Lysimachus sees that if Ormisdas marries Cassandra, the hope he has cherished of winning her will be lost.

Lysimachus has authority that would make carrying Cassandra off relatively easy, but he considers such conduct more dishonorable because he holds office. He nevertheless concludes, after long deliberation, that love outweighs that scruple. He approaches Cimon in secret, presenting the proposed escape as a joint undertaking: each man can recover the woman he loves, but only if they act together and use force against anyone who resists.

The Plan

Cimon accepts without prolonged consideration, pledging to be Lysimachus’s trustworthy companion. Lysimachus sets the action for the third day, when the brides are to enter their husbands’ houses for the first time. He proposes that Cimon and his companions, armed, enter with Lysimachus and trusted friends near nightfall, take the women from among the guests, and carry them to a ship he has secretly prepared. Cimon remains quiet in prison until the appointed day.

The preparations are organized around controlling both the house and the escape route. Lysimachus divides Cimon’s companions and his own friends into three armed groups, concealing their weapons beneath their clothes. One group is sent secretly to the harbor so that the party will be able to board without obstruction. Lysimachus takes the other two groups to Pasimondas’s house: one is left at the door to prevent the raiders from being shut inside or cut off, while he and Cimon lead the remaining men upstairs.

The Raid and Escape

The wedding feast fills the brothers’ house with celebration. The brides are seated at a meal in the hall with other women when Lysimachus and his party rush in. The raiders overturn the tables, take each man’s intended beloved, and pass the women to their companions with orders to carry them immediately to the waiting ship. The feast’s public order collapses into crying and shrieking: the brides weep, as do the other women and servants, and the house fills with clamor and lamentation.

Cimon, Lysimachus, and their companions draw their swords and make for the stairs. Those in their way give ground until Pasimondas appears, summoned by the uproar and carrying a large cudgel. Cimon strikes him on the head and kills him. Ormisdas runs to his brother’s aid and is likewise killed by one of Cimon’s blows. The companions beat off and wound others who approach, then leave the house behind them full of blood, noise, weeping, and distress.

They reach the ship with the women and escape without being stopped. Armed men have now gathered on the shore to rescue the brides, but the raiders thrust their oars into the water and depart. The successful escape thus depends on the plan’s timing: one group has secured access to the vessel while the others maintain an opening through the house and down to the harbor.

Exile, Settlement, and Outcome

The two couples reach Crete, where friends and relatives receive them joyfully. There they marry their beloveds with great ceremony and live in the happiness they have sought. Their actions provoke prolonged outcry and disputes in Cyprus and Rhodes, so the escape does not immediately settle the consequences of the raid.

Eventually, friends and relatives intervene in both places and find a way to resolve the conflict. After a period of exile, Cimon returns joyfully to Cyprus with Iphigenia, while Lysimachus returns to Rhodes with Cassandra. Each couple lives happily for a long time in its own country. The ending converts a violent seizure at a wedding into a lasting pair of unions, while making reconciliation through kin and friends the means by which the lovers can return home.