text:  The _denouement_ is inevitably foreseen from the moment Clitophon is made aware that Leucippe is still alive and in his neighbourhood and the arrival of Thersander almost immediately afterwards disposes of the obstacle of his engagement to Melissa; but the reader is acquainted with all these circumstances before the end of the fifth book; the three remaining books being entirely occupied by the proceedings in the judicial assembly the recriminations of the high-priest and the absurd ordeal to which Leucippe is subjected--all apparently introduced for no other purpose than to show the author's skill in declamation