Deipnosophistae

But Ptolemy the son of Agesarchus, in his History of

Philopator, giving a list of the mistresses of the different kings, says—

Philip the Macedonian promoted Philinna, the dancing woman, by whom he had Aridæus, who was king of Macedonia after Alexander. And Demetrius Poliorcetes, besides the women who have already been mentioned, had a mistress named Mania; and Antigonus had one named Demo, by whom he had a son named Alcyoneus; and Seleucus the younger had two, whose names were Mysta and Nysa.

But Heraclides Lenebus, in the thirty-sixth book of his History, says that Demo was the mistress of Demetrius; and that his father Antigonus was also in love with her: and that he put to death Oxythemis as having sinned a good deal with Demetrius; and he also put to the torture and executed the maidservants of Demo.

But concerning the name of Mania, which we have just mentioned, the same Machon says this:—

1. Some one perhaps of those who hear this now,
2. May fairly wonder how it came to pass
3. That an Athenian woman had a name,
4. Or e'en a nickname, such as Mania.
5. For 'tis disgraceful for a woman thus
6. To bear a Phrygian name; she being, too,
7. A courtesan from the very heart of Greece.
8. And how came she to sink the city of Athens,
9. By which all other nations are much sway'd?
10. The fact is that her name from early childhood
11. Was this—Melitta. And as she grew up
12. A trifle shorter than her playfellows,
13. But with a sweet voice and engaging manners,
14. And with such beauty and excellence of face
15. As made a deep impression upon all men,
16. She 'd many lovers, foreigners and citizens.
17. So that when any conversation
18. Arose about this woman, each man said,
19. The fair Melitta was his madness (μανία.) Aye,
20. And she herself contributed to this name;
21. For when she jested she would oft repeat
22. This word μανία; and when in sport she blamed
23. Or praised any one, she would bring in,
24. In either sentence, this word μανία.
25. So some one of her lovers, dwelling on
26. The word, appears to have nicknamed the girl
27. Mania; and this extra name prevailed
28. More than her real one. It seems, besides,
29. That Mania was afflicted with the stone.

And that Mania was also excellent in witty repartee, Machon tells us in these verses about her,—

1. There was a victor in the pancratium,
2. Named Leontiscus, who loved Mania,
3. And kept her with him as his lawful wife;
4. But finding afterwards that she did play
5. The harlot with Antenor, was indignant:
6. But she replied,—"My darling, never mind;
7. I only wanted just to feel and prove,
8. In a single night, how great the strength might be
9. Of two such athletes, victors at Olympia."
10. They say again that Mania once was ask'd,
11. By King Demetrius, for a perfect sight
12. Of all her beauties; and she, in return,
13. Demanded that he should grant her a favour.
14. When he agreed, she turned her back, and said,—
15. "O son of Agamemnon, now the Gods
16. Grant you to see what you so long have wish'd for."[*](These are the second and third lines of the Electra of Sophocles.)
17. On one occasion, too, a foreigner,
18. Who a deserter was believed to be,
19. Had come by chance to Athens; and he sent
20. For Mania, and gave her all she ask'd.
21. It happen'd that he had procured for supper
22. Some of those table-jesters, common buffoons,
23. Who always raise a laugh to please their feeders;
24. And wishing to appear a witty man,
25. Used to politest conversation,
26. While Mania was sporting gracefully,
27. As was her wont, and often rising up
28. To reach a dish of hare, he tried to raise
29. A joke upon her, and thus spoke,—"My friends,
30. Tell me, I pray you by the Gods, what animal
31. You think runs fastest o'er the mountain-tops?"

32. Why, my love, a deserter,

    answer'd Mania.
33. Another time, when Mania came to see him,
34. She laugh'd at the deserter, telling him,
35. That once in battle he had lost his shield.
36. But this brave soldier, looking somewhat fierce,
37. Sent her away. And as she was departing,
38. She said," My love, don't be so much annoy'd;
39. For 'twas not you, who, when you ran away,
40. Did lose that shield, but he who lent it you."
41. Another time they say a man who was
42. A thorough profligate, did entertain
43. Mania at supper; and when he question'd her,

44. Do you like being up or down the best

45. She laugh'd, and said, "I'd rather be up, my friend,
46. For I'm afraid, lest, if I lay me down,
47. You'd bite my plaited hair from off my head."

But Machon has also collected the witty sayings of other courtesans too; and it will not be unseasonable to enumerate some of them now. Accordingly he mentions Gnathæna thus:—

1. Diphilus once was drinking with Gnathæna.
2. Said he,

   Your cup is somewhat cold, Gnathæna;

3. And she replied, "'Tis no great wonder, Diphilus,
4. For we take care to put some of your Plays in it."
5. Diphilus was once invited to a banquet
6. At fair Gnathæna's house, as men do say,
7. On the holy day of Venus' festival—
8. (He being a man above her other lovers
9. Beloved by her, though she conceal'd her flame).
10. He came accordingly, and brought with him
11. Two jars of Chian wine, and four, quite full,
12. Of wine from Thasos; perfumes, too, and crowns
13. Sweetmeats and venison; fillets for the head;
14. Fish, and a cook, and a female flute-player.
15. In the meantime a Syrian friend of hers
16. Sent her some snow, and one saperdes; she
17. Being ashamed lest any one should hear
18. She had received such gifts, and, above all men,
19. Fearing lest Diphilus should get at them,
20. And show her up in one of his Comedies,
21. She bade a slave to carry off at once
22. The salt fish to the men who wanted salt,
23. As every one did know; the snow she told him
24. To mix with the wine unseen by any one.
25. And then she bade the boy to fill the cup
26. With ten full cyathi of wine, and bear it
27. At once to Diphilus. He eagerly
28. Received the cup, and drain'd it to the bottom,
29. And, marvelling at the delicious coolness,
30. Said—"By Minerva, and by all the gods,
31. You must, Gnathæna, be allow'd by all
32. To have a most deliciously cool well."

33. Yes,

    said she, "for we carefully put in,
34. From day to day, the prologues of your plays."
35. A slave who had been flogg'd, whose back was mark'd
36. With heavy weals, was once, as it fell out,
37. Reposing with Gnathæna:—then, as she
38. Embraced him, she found out how rough all over
39. His back did feel.

    Oh wretched man,

    said she,

40. In what engagement did you get these wounds?

41. He in a few words answered her, and said,
42. "That when a boy, once playing with his playmates,
43. He'd fallen backwards into the fire by accident."

44. Well,

    said she, "if you were so wanton then,
45. You well deserved to be flogg'd, my friend."
46. Gnathæna once was supping with Dexithea,
v.3.p.927
47. Who was a courtesan as well as she;
48. And when Dexithea put aside with care
49. Nearly all the daintiest morsels for her mother,
50. She said, "I swear by Dian, had I known
51. How you went on, Dexithea, I would rather
52. Have gone to supper with your mother than you"
53. When this Gnathæna was advanced in years,
54. Hastening, as all might see, towards the grave,
55. They say she once went out into the market,
56. And look'd at all the fish, and ask'd the price
57. Of every article she saw. And seeing
58. A handsome butcher standing at his stall,[*](The Kids was a constellation rising about the beginning of October, and supposed by the ancients to bring storms. Theocritus says— χὥταν ἐφʼ ἑσπερίοις ἐρίφοις νότος ὑγρὰ διώκῃκύματα. —vii. 53.)
59. Just in the flower of youth,—"Oh, in God's name,
60. Tell me, my youth, what is your price (πῶς ἴστης) to-day?"
61. He laugh'd, and said,

    Why, if I stoop, three obols.

62. But who,

    said she, "did give you leave, you wretch,
63. To use your Carian weights in Attica?"
64. Stratocles once made all his friends a present
65. Of kids and shell-fish greatly salted, seeming
66. To have dress'd them carefully, so that his friends
67. Should the next morning be o'erwhelm'd with thirst,
68. And thus protract their drinking, so that he
69. Might draw from them some ample contributions.
70. Therefore Gnathæna said to one of her lovers,
71. Seeing him wavering about his offerings,

72. After the kids Stratocles brings a storm.

73. Gnathæna, seeing once a thin young man,
74. Of black complexion, lean as any scarecrow,
75. Reeking with oil, and shorter than his fellows,
76. Called him in jest Adonis. When the youth
77. Answer'd her in a rude and violent manner,
78. She looking on her daughter who was with her,
79. Said,

    Ah! it serves me right for my mistake.

80. They say that one fine day a youth from Pontus
81. Was sleeping with Gnathæna, and at morn
82. He ask'd her to display her beauties to him.
83. But she replied, "You have no time, for now
84. It is the hour to drive the pigs to feed."

He also mentions the following sayings of Gnathænium, who was the grand-daughter of Gnath$ena:—

1. It happen'd once that a very aged satrap,
2. Full ninety years of age, had come to Athens,
3. And on the feast of Saturn he beheld
4. Gnathænium with Gnathæna going out
5. From a fair temple sacred to Aphrodite,
6. And noticing her form and grace of motion,
v.3.p.928
7. He just inquired

   How much she ask'd a night?

8. Gnathæna, looking on his purple robe,
9. And princely bodyguard, said, "A thousand drachmæ."
10. He, as if smitten with a mortal wound,
11. Said, "I perceive, because of all these soldiers,
12. You look upon me as a captured enemy;
13. But take five mince, and agree with me,
14. And let them get a bed prepared for us."
15. She, as the satrap seem'd a witty man,
16. Received his terms, and said, "Give what you like,
17. O father, for I know most certainly,
18. You'll give my daughter twice as much at night."
19. There was at Athens once a handsome smith,
20. When she, Gnathænium, had almost abandon'd
21. Her trade, and would no longer common be,
22. Moved by the love of the actor Andronicus;
23. (But at this moment he was gone away,
24. After she'd brought him a male child;) this smith
25. Then long besought the fair Gnathænium
26. To fix her price; and though she long refused,
27. By long entreaty and liberality,
28. At last he won her over to consent.
29. But being but a rude and ill-bred clown,
30. He, one day sitting with some friends of his
31. In a leather-cutter's shop, began to talk
32. About Gnathænium to divert their leisure,
33. Narrating all their fond love passages.
34. But after this, when Andronicus came
35. From Corinth back again, and heard the news,
36. He bitterly reproach'd her, and at supper
37. He said, with just complaint, unto Gnathænium,
38. That she had never granted him such liberties
39. As this flogg'd slave had had allow'd to him.
40. And then they say Gnathænium thus replied:
41. That she was her own mistress, and the smith
42. Was so begrimed with soot and dirt that she
43. Had no more than she could help to do with him.
44. One day they say Gnathænium, at supper,
45. Would not kiss Andronicus when he wish'd,
46. Though she had done so every day before;
47. But she was angry that he gave her nothing.
48. Said he, on this, "Gnathena, don't you see
49. How haughtily your daughter's treating me?"
50. And she, indignant, said, "You wretched girl,
51. Take him and kiss him if he wishes it."
52. But she replied, "Why should I kiss him, mother,
53. Who does no good to any one in the house,
54. But seeks to have his Argos all for nothing "
55. Once, on a day of festival, Gnathænium
56. Went down to the Piræus to a lover,
57. Who was a foreign merchant, riding cheaply
v.3.p.929
58. On a poor mule, and having after her
59. Three donkeys, three maidservants, and one nurse.
60. Then, at a narrow spot in the road, they met
61. One of those knavish wrestlers, men who sell
62. Their battles, always taking care to lose them;
63. And as he could not pass by easily,
64. Being crowded up, he cried—"You wretched man,
65. You donkey-driver, if you get not quickly
66. Out of my way, I will upset these women,
67. And all the donkeys and the mule to boot."
68. But quick Gnathænium said, "My friend, I pray you,
69. Don't be so valiant now, when you have never
70. Done any feat of spirit or strength before."

And afterwards, Machon gives us the following anec- dotes:—

1. They say that Lais the Corinthian,
2. Once when she saw Euripides in a garden,
3. Holding a tablet and a pen attach'd to it,
4. Cried out to him, "Now, answer me, my poet,
5. What was your meaning when you wrote in your play,
6. 'Away, you shameless doer"' And Euripides,
7. Amazed, and wondering at her audacity,
8. Said, "Why, you seem to me to be yourself
9. A shameless doer." And she, laughing, answer'd,

10. How shameless, if my partners do not think so I

11. Glycerium once received from some lover
12. A new Corinthian cloak with purple sleeves,
13. And gave it to a fuller. Afterwards,
14. When she thought he'd had time enough to clean it,
15. She sent her maidservant to fetch it back,
16. Giving her money, that she might pay for it.
17. But, said the fuller, "You must bring me first
18. Three measures full of oil, for want of that
19. Is what has hindered me from finishing."
20. The maid went back and told her mistress all.

21. Wretch that I am!

    Glycerium said, "for he
22. Is going to fry my cloak like any herring."
23. Demophoon once, the friend of Sophocles,
24. While a young man, fell furiously in love
25. With Nico, called the Goat, though she was old:
26. And she had earn'd this name of Goat, because
27. She quite devour'd once a mighty friend of hers,
28. Named Thallus,[*](θάλλος means a young twig. ) when he came to Attica
29. To buy some Chelidonian figs, and also
30. To export some honey from th' Hymettian hill.
31. And it is said this woman was fair to view.
32. And when Demophoon tried to win her over,

33. A pretty thing,

    said she, "that all you get
34. From me you may present to Sophocles."
v.3.p.930
35. Callisto once, who was nicknamed the Sow,
36. Was fiercely quarrelling with her own mother,
37. Who also was nicknamed the Crow. Gnathæna
38. Appeased the quarrel, and when ask'd the cause of it,
39. Said, "What else could it be, but that one Crow
40. Was finding fault with the blackness of the other "
41. Men say that Hippe once, the courtesan,
42. Had a lover named Theodotus, a man
43. Who at the time was prefect of the granaries
44. And she on one occasion late in th' evening
45. Came to a banquet of King Ptolemy,
46. And she'd been often used to drink with him
47. So, as she now was very late, she said,
48. "I'm very thirsty, papa Ptolemy,
49. So let the cup-bearer pour me four gills
50. Into a larger cup." The king replied,
51. "You must have it in a platter, for you seem
52. Already, Hippe,[*](There is a pun here on her name,—῞ἵππηmeaning a mare.) to have had plenty of hay."
53. A man named Morichus was courting Phryne,
54. The Thespian damsel. And, as she required
55. A mina,

    'Tis a mighty sum,

    said Morichus,
56. "Did you not yesterday charge a foreigner
57. Two little pieces of gold?"

    Wait till I want you,

58. Said she,

    and I will take the same from you.

59. 'Tis said that Nico, who was call'd the Goat,
60. Once when a man named Pytho had deserted her,
61. And taken up with the great fat Euardis,
62. But after a time did send again for her,
63. Said to the slave who came to fetch her, "Now
64. That Pytho is well sated with his swine,
65. Does he desire to return to a goat?"

Up to this point we have been recapitulating the things mentioned by Macho. For our beautiful Athens has produced such a number of courtesans (of whom I will tell you as many anecdotes as I can) as no other populous city ever produced. At all events, Aristophanes the Byzantian counted up a hundred and thirty-five, and Apollodorus a still greater number; and Gorgias enumerated still more, saying that, among a great many more, these eminent ones had been omitted by Aristophanes—namely, one who was surnamed Paroinos, and Lampyris, and Euphrosyne: and this last was the daughter of a fuller. And, besides these, he has omitted Megisto, Agallis, Thaumarium, Theoclea (and she was nicknamed the Crow), Lenætocystos, Astra, Gnathæna, and her grand-daughter Gnathænium, and Sige, and Synoris (who was nicknamed the Candle), and Euclea, and

Grymæa, and Thryallis, and Chimæra, and Lampas. But Diphilus the comic poet was violently in love with Gnathæna, (as has been already stated, and as Lynceus the Samian relates in his Commentaries;) and so once, when on the stage he had acted very badly, and was turned out (ἠρμένος) of the theatre, and, for all that, came to Gnathæna as if nothing had happened; and when he, after he had arrived, begged Gnathæna to wash his feet,

Why do you want that?

said she;

were you not carried (ἠρμένος) hither?

And Gnathæna was very ready with her repartees. And there were other courtesans who had a great opinion of themselves, paying attention to education, and spending a part of their time on literature; so that they were very ready with their rejoinders and replies.

Accordingly, when on one occasion Stilpo, at a banquet, was accusing Glycera of seducing the young men of the city, (as Satyrus mentions in his Lives,) Glycera took him up and said, "You and I are accused of the same thing, O Stilpo; for they say that you corrupt all who come to you, by teaching them profitless and amorous sophistries; and they accuse me of the same thing: for if people waste their time, and are treated ill, it makes no difference whether they are living with a philosopher or with a harlot." For, according to Agathon,

1. It does not follow, because a woman's body
2. Is void of strength, that her mind, too, is weak.

And Lynceus has recorded many repartees of Gnathæna. There was a parasite who used to live upon an old woman, and kept himself in very good condition; and Gnathæna, seeing him, said,

My young friend, you appear to be in very good case.

What then do you think,

said he,

that I should be if I slept by myself?

Why, I think you would starve,

said she. Once, when Pausanius, who was nicknamed Laccus,[*](λάκκος, a cistern; a cellar.) was dancing, he fell into a cask.

The cellar,

says Gnathæna,

has fallen into the cask.

On one occasion, some one put a very little wine into a wine-cooler, and said that it was sixteen years old.

It is very Little of its age,

said she,

to be as old as that.

Once at a dinking party, some young men were fighting about her, and seating one another, and she said to the one who was worsted,

Be of

v.3.p.932

good cheer, my boy; for it is not a contest to be decided by crowns, but by guineas.

There was a man who once gave her daughter a mina, and never brought her anything more, though he came to see her very often.

Do you think, my boy,

said she,

that now you have once paid your mina, you are to come here for ever, as if you were going to Hippomachus the trainer?

On one occasion, when Phryne said to her, with some bitterness,

What would become of you if you had the stone?

I would give it to you,

said she,

to sharpen your wit upon.

For it was said that Gnathæna was liable to the stone, while the other certainly wanted it as Gnathæna hinted. On one occasion, some men were drinking in her house, and were eating some lentils dressed with onions (βολβοφάκη); as the maidservant was clearing the table, and putting some of the lentils in her bosom (κόλπον), Gnathæna said,

She is thinking of making some κολποφάκη.

Once, when Andronicus the tragedian had been acting his part in the representation of the Epigoni with great applause, and was coming to a drinking party at her house, and sent a boy forward to bid her make preparation to receive him, she said—

1. O cursed boy, what word is this you've spoken?

And once, when a chattering fellow was relating that he was just come from the Hellespont,

Why, then,

said she,

did you not go to the first city in that country?

and when he asked what city,

To Sigeum,

[*](This is a pun on the similarity of the name σίγειον to σιγὴ, silence.) said she. Once, when a man came to see her, and saw some eggs on a dish, and said,

Are these raw, Gnathæna, or boiled?

They are made of brass, my boy,

said she. On one occasion, when Chærephon came to sup with her without an invitation, Gnathæna pledged him in a cup of wine.

Take it,

said she,

you proud fellow.

And he said,

I proud?

Who can be more so,

said she,

when you come without even being invited?

And Nico, who was nicknamed the Goat (as Lynceus tells us), once when she met a parasite, who was very thin in consequence of a long sickness, said to him,

How lean you are.

No wonder,

says he;

for what do you think is all that I have had to eat these three days?

Why, a leather bottle,

says she,

or perhaps your shoes.

There was a courtesan named Metanira; and when

Democles the parasite, who was nicknamed Lagynion fell down in a lot of whitewash, she said,

Yes, for you have devoted yourself to a place where there are pebbles.

And when he sprung upon a couch which was near him,

Take care,

said she,

lest you get upset.

These sayings are recorded by Hegesander. And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Laughable Records, says that Gnathæna was hired by two men, a soldier and a branded slave; and so when the soldier, in his rude manner, called her a cistern,

How can I be so?

said she;

is it because two rivers, Lycus and Eleutherus, fall into me?

On one occasion, when some poor lovers of the daughter of Gnathæna came to feast at her house, and threatened to throw it down, saying that they had brought spades and mattocks on purpose;

But,

said Gnathæna,

if you had those implements, you should have pawned them, and brought some money with you.

And Gnathæna was always very neat and witty in all she said; and she even compiled a code of laws for banquets, according to which lovers were to be admitted to her and to her daughters, in imitation of the philosophers, who had drawn up similar documents. And Callimachus has recorded this code of hers in the third Catalogue of Laws which he has given; and he has quoted the first words of it as follows:—

This law has been compiled, being fair and equitable; and it is written in three hundred and twenty-three verses.

But a slave who had been flogged hired Callistium, who was nicknamed Poor Helen; and as it was summer, and he was lying down naked, she, seeing the marks of the whip, said,

Where did you get this, you unhappy man?

and he said,

Some broth was spilt over me when I was a boy.

And she said,

It must have been made of neats'-leather.

And once, when Menander the poet had failed with one of his plays, and came to her house, Glycera brought him some milk, and recommended him to drink it. But he said he would rather not, for there was some γραῦς [*](γραῦς means both an old woman, and the scum on boiled milk.) on it. But she replied,

Blow it away, and take what there is beneath.

Thais said once to a boastful lover of hers, who had borrowed some goblets from a great many people, and said that he meant to break them up, and make others of them

You will destroy what belongs to each private person.

Leontium was once sitting at table with a lover of hers, when Glycera came in to supper; and as the man began to pay more atten- tion to Glycera, Leontium was much annoyed: and presently, when her friend turned round, and asked her what she was vexed at, she said,

ʽἡ ὑστέρα[*](γ̔στέρα means both the womb, and the new comer. ) pains me.

A lover of hers once sent his seal to Lais the Corinthian, and desired her to come to him; but she said,

I cannot come; it is only clay.

Thais was one day going to a lover of hers, who smelt like a goat; and when some one asked her whither she was going, she said—

1. To dwell with Aegeus,[*](Punning on the similarity of the name αἰγεὺς to αἲξ, a goat.) great Pandion's son.

Phryne, too, was once supping with a man of the same description, and, lifting up the hide of a pig, she said,

Take it, and eat[*](Punning on the similarity of κατατράγω, to eat, and τράγος, a goat.) it.

And once, when one of her friends sent her some wine, which was very good, but the quantity was small; and when he told her that it was ten years old;

It is very little of its age,

said she. And once, when the question was asked at a certain banquet, why it is that crowns are hung up about banqueting-rooms, she said,

Because they delight the mind.

[*](The Greek word is ψυχαγωγοῦσι, which might perhaps also mean to bring coolness, from ψῦχος, coolness.) And once, when a slave, who had been flogged, was giving himself airs as a young man towards her, and saying that he had been often entangled, she pretended to look vexed; and when he asked her the reason,

I am jealous of you,

said she,

because you have been so often smitten.

[*](The young man says πολλαῖς συμπέπλεχθαι (γύναιξι scil.), but Prhyne chooses to suppose that he meant to say πολλαῖς πληγαῖς, blows.) Once a very covetous lover of hers was coaxing her, and saying to her,

You are the Venus of Praxiteles;

And you,

said she,

are the Cupid of Phidias.

[*](This is a pun on the name φειδίας, as if from φείδω, to be stingy.)

And as I am aware that some of those men who have been involved in the administration of affairs of state have mentioned courtesans, either accusing or excusing them, I will enumerate some instances of those who have done so. For Demosthenes, in his speech against Androtion, mentions Sinope and Phanostrate; and respecting Sinope, Herodicus the pupil of Crates says, in the sixth book of his treatise on People mentioned in the Comic Poets, that she was called Abydus, because she was an old woman. And Antiphanes

mentions her in his Arcadian, and in his Gardener, and in his Sempstress, and in his Female Fisher, and in his Neottis. And Alexis mentions her in his Cleobuline, and Callicrates speaks of her in his Moschion; and concerning Phanostrate, Apollodorus, in his treatise on the Courtesans at Athens, says that she was called Phtheiropyle, because she used to stand at the door (πύλη) and hunt for lice (φθεῖρες).

And in his oration against Aristagoras, Hyperides says—

And again you have named, in the same manner, the animals called aphyæ.

Now, aphyæ, besides meaning anchovies, was also a nickname for some courtesans; concerning whom the before-mentioned Apollodorus says—

Stagonium and Amphis were two sisters, and they were called Aphyæ, because they were white, and thin, and had large eyes.

And Antiphanes, in his book on Courtesans, says that Nicostratis was called Aphya for the same reason. And the same Hyperides, in his speech against Mantitheus, who was being prosecuted for an assault, speaks in the following manner respecting Glycera—

Bringing with him Glycera the daughter of Thalassis in a pair-horse chariot.

But it is uncertain whether this is the same Glycera who was take mistress of Harpalus; concerning whom Theopompus speaks in his treatise on the Chian Epistle, saying that after the death of Pythionica, Harpalus sent for Glycera to come to him from Athens; and when she came, she lived in the palace which is at Tarsus, and was honoured with royal honours by the populace, and was called queen; and an edict was issued, forbidding any one to present Harpalus with a crown, without at the same time presenting Glycera with another. And at Rhossus, he went so far as to erect a brazen statue of her by the side of his own statue. And Clitarchus has given the same account in his History of Alexander. But the author of Agen, a satyric drama, (whoever he was, whether it was Python of Catana, or king Alexander himself,) says—

1. And now they say that Harpalus has sent them
2. Unnumber'd sacks of corn, no fewer than
3. Those sent by Agen, and is made a citizen:
4. But this was Glycera's corn, and it may be
5. Ruin to them, and not a harlot's earnest.

And Lysias, in his oration against Lais, if, indeed, the speech is a genuine one, mentions these circumstances—

Philyra abandoned the trade of a harlot when she was

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still quite young; and so did Scione, and Hippaphesis, and Theoclea, and Psamathe, and Lagisca, and Anthea.

But perhaps, instead of Anthea, we ought to read Antea. For I do not find any mention made by any one of a harlot named Anthea. But there is a whole play named after Antea, by either Eunicus or Philyllius. And the author of the oration against Neæra, whoever he was, also mentions her. But in the oration against Philonides, who was being prosecuted for an assault, Lysias, if at least it is a genuine speech of his, mentions also a courtesan called Nais. And in his speech against Medon, for perjury, he mentions one by the name of Anticyra; but this was only a nickname given to a woman, whose real name was Hoia, as Antiphanes informs us in his treatise on Courtesans, where he says that she was called Anticyra,[*](Anticyra was the name of three islands celebrated as producing a great quantity of hellebore. Horace, speaking of a madman, says: Si tribus Anticyris caput insanabile nunquamTonsori Licino commiserit.—A. P. 300. ) because she was in the habit of drinking with men who were crazy and mad; or else because she was at one time the mistress of Nicostratus the physician, and he, when he died, left her a great quantity of hellebore, and nothing else. Lycurgus, also, in his oration against Leocrates, mentions a courtesan named Irenis, as being the mistress of Leocrates. And Hyperides mentions Nico in his oration against Patrocles. And we have already mentioned that she used to be nicknamed the Goat, because she had ruined Thallus the innkeeper. And that the goats are very fond of the young shoots of the olive (θάλλοι), on which account the animal is never allowed to approach the Acropolis, and is also never sacrificed to Minerva, is a fact which we shall dilate upon hereafter. But Sophocles, in his play called The Shepherds, mentions that this animal does browse upon the young shoots, speaking as follows—

1. For early in the morning, ere a man
2. Of all the folks about the stable saw me,
3. As I was bringing to the goat a thallus
4. Fresh pluck'd, I saw the army marching on
5. By the projecting headland.

Alexis also mentions Nannium, in his Tarentines, thus—

1. But Nannium is mad for love of Bacchus,—

jesting upon her as addicted to intoxication. And Menander, in his false Hercules, says—

1. Did he not try to wheedle Nannium?

And Antiphanes, in his treatise on Courtesans, says—

Nannium was nicknamed the Proscenium, because she had a beautiful face, and used to wear very costly garments embroidered with gold, but when she was undressed s e was a very bad figure. And Corone was Nannium's daughter, and she was nicknamed Tethe, from her exceedingly debauched habits.

Hyperides, in his oration against Patrocles, also speaks of a female flute-player named Nemeas. And we may wonder how it was that the Athenians permitted a courtesan to have such a name, which was that of a most honourable and solemn festival. For not only those who prostituted themselves, but all other slaves also were forbidden to take such names as that, as Polemo tells us, in his treatise on the Acropolis.

The same Hyperides also mentions my Ocimum, as you call her, O Cynulcus, in his second oration against Aristagoras, speaking thus—

As Lais, who appears to have been superior in beauty to any woman who had ever been seen, and Ocimum, and Metanira.

And Nicostratus, a poet of the middle comedy, mentions her also in his Pandrosus, where he says—

1. Then go the same way to Aerope,
2. And bid her send some clothes immediately,
3. And brazen vessels, to fair Ocimum.

And Menander, in his comedy called The Flatterer, gives the following catalogue of courtesans—

1. Chrysis, Corone, Ischas, and Anticyra,
2. And the most beautiful Nannarium,—
3. All these you had.

And Philetærus, in his Female Hunter, says—

1. Is not Cereope now extremely old,
2. Three thousand years at least? and is not Telesis,
3. Diopithes' ugly daughter, three times that?
4. And as for old Theolyte, no man
5. Alive can tell the date when she was born.
6. Then did not Lais persevere in her trade
7. Till the last day of her life? and Isthmias,
8. Neæra too, and Phila, grew quite rotten.
9. I need not mention all the Cossyphæ,
10. Galænse, and Coronæ; nor will I
11. Say aught of Nais, as her teeth are gone.

And Theophilus, in his Amateur of the Flute, says—

1. Lest he should with disastrous shipwreck fall
2. Into Meconis, Lais, or Sisymbrion,
3. Or Barathrum, or Thallusa, or any other
4. With whom the panders bait their nets for youths,
5. Nannium, or Malthace.

Now when Myrtilus had uttered all this with extreme volubility, he added:—May no such disaster befal you, O philosophers, who even before the rise of the sect called Voluptuaries, yourselves broke down the wall of pleasure, as Eratosthenes somewhere or other expresses it. And indeed I have now quoted enough of the smart sayings of the courtesans, and I will pass on to another topic. And first of all, I will speak of that most devoted lover of truth, Epicurus, who, never having been initiated into the encyclic series of learning, used to say that those were well off who applied themselves to philosophy in the same way in which he did himself; and these were his words—

I praise and congratulate you, my young man, because you have come over to the study of philosophy unimbued with any system.

On which account Timon styles him—

1. The most unlettered schoolmaster alive.

Now, had not this very Epicurus Leontium for his mistress, her, I mean, who was so celebrated as a courtesan? But she did not cease to live as a prostitute when she began to learn philosophy, but still prostituted herself to the whole sect of Epicureans in the gardens, and to Epicurus himself, in the most open manner; so that this great philosopher was exceedingly fond of her, though he mentions this fact in his epistles to Hermarchus.

But as for Lais of Hyccara—(and Hyccara is a city in Sicily, from which place she came to Corinth, having been made a prisoner of war, as Polemo relates in the sixth book of his History, addressed to Timæus: and Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic: and it was also said that the Venus, which is at Corinth, and is called Melænis, appeared to her in a dream, intimating to her by such an appearance that she would be courted by many lovers of great wealth;)—Lais, I say, is mentioned by Hyperides, in the second of his speeches against Aristagoras. And Apelles the painter, having seen

Lais while she was still a maiden, drawing water at the fountain Pirene, and marvelling at her beauty, took her with him on one occasion to a banquet of his friends. And when his companions laughed at him because he had brought a maiden with him to the party, instead of a courtesan he said —

Do not wonder, for I will show you that she is quite beautiful enough for future enjoyment within three years.

And a prediction of this sort was made by Socrates also, respecting Theodote the Athenian, as Xenophon tells us in his Memorabilia, for he used to say—

That she was very beautiful, and had a bosom finely shaped beyond all description. And let us,

said he,

go and see the woman; for people cannot judge of beauty by hearsay.

But Lais was so beautiful, that painters used to come to her to copy her bosom and her breasts. And Lais was a rival of Phryne, and had an immense number of lovers, never caring whether they were rich or poor, and never treating them with any insolence.

And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her in Aegina, at the festival of Neptune. And once, being reproached by his servant, who said to him—

You give her such large sums of money, but she admits Diogenes the Cynic for nothing;

he answered,

I give Lais a great deal, that I myself may enjoy her, and not that no one else may.

And when Diogenes said, "Since you, O Aristippus, cohabit with a common prostitute, either, therefore, become a Cynic yourself, as I am, or else abandon her;" Aristippus answered him—

Does it appear to you, O Diogenes, an absurd thing to live in a house where other men have lived before you.?

Not at all,

said he.

Well, then, does it appear to you absurd to sail in a ship in which other men have sailed before you

By no means,

said he.

Well, then,

replied Aristippus,

it is not a bit more absurd to be in love with a woman with whom many men have been in love already.

And Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his treatise o the People who have been admired and eminent in Sicily, says that Lais was a native of Hyccara, which he describe as a strong fortress in Sicily. But Strattis, in his play entitled The Macedonians or Pausanias, says that she was a Corinthian, in the following lines—

1. A. Where do these damsels come from, and who are they
2. B. At present they are come from Megara,
3. But they by birth are all Corinthians:
4. This one is Lais, Who is so well known.

And Timæus, in the thirteenth book of his History, says she came from Hyccara, (using the word in the plural number;) as Polemo has stated, where he says that she was murdered by some women in Thessaly, because she was beloved by a Thessalian of the name of Pausanias; and that she was beaten to death, out of envy and jealousy, by wooden footstools in the temple of Venus; and that from this circumstance that temple is called the temple of the impious Venus; and that her tomb is shown on the banks of the Peneus, having on it an emblem of a stone water-ewer, and this inscription—

1. This is the tomb of Lais, to whose beauty,
2. Equal to that of heavenly goddesses,
3. The glorious and unconquer'd Greece did bow;
4. Love was her father, Corinth was her home,
5. Now in the rich Thessalian plain she lies;—

so that those men talk nonsense who say that she was buried in Corinth, near the Craneum.

And did not Aristotle the Stagirite have a son named Nicomachus by a courtesan named Herpyllis? and did he not live with her till his death? as Hermippus informs us in the first book of his History of Aristotle, saying that great care was taken of her in the philosopher's will. And did not our admirable Plato love Archaianassa, a courtesan of Colophon? so that he even composed this song in her honour:—

1. My mistress is the fair Archaianassa
2. From Colophon, a damsel in whom Love
3. Sits on her very wrinkles irresistible.
4. Wretched are those, whom in the flower of youth,
5. When first she came across the sea, she met;
6. They must have been entirely consumed.

And did not Pericles the Olympian (as Clearchus tells us in the first book of his treatise on Amatory Matters) throw all Greece into confusion on account of Aspasia, not the younger one, but that one who associated with the wise Socrates; and that, too, though he was a man who had acquired such a vast reputation for wisdom and political sagacity? But, indeed, Pericles was always a man much addicted to amorous indulgences; and he cohabited even with his own son's wife, as Stesimbrotus the Thasian informs us; and Stesimbrotus was a contemporary of his, and had seen him, as he tells us in his book entitled a Treatise on Themistocles, and Thucydides, and Pericles. And Antisthenes, the pupil of Socrates, tells us that Pericles, being in love with Aspasia, used to kiss her twice every day, once when he entered her house, and once when he left it. And when she was impeached for impiety, he himself spoke in her behalf, and shed more tears for her sake than he did when his own property and his own life were imperilled. Moreover, when Cimon had had an incestuous intrigue with Elpinice, his sister, who was afterwards given in marriage to Callias, and when he was banished, Pericles contrived his recal, exacting the favours of Elpinice as his recompense.

And Pythænetus, in the third book of his History of Aegina, says that Periander fell violently in love with Melissa, the daughter of Procles of Epidaurus, when he had seen her clothed in the Peloponnesian fashion (for she had on no cloak, but a single tunic only, and was acting as cupbearer to the young men,) and he married her. And Tigris of Leucadia was the mistress of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, who was the third in descent from the Pyrrhus who invaded Italy; but Olympias, the young man's mother, took her off by poison.

And Ulpian, as if he had got some unexpected gain, while Myrtilus was still speaking, said:—Do we say ὁ τίγρις in the masculine gender? for I know that Philemon says this in his play called Neæra:—

1. A. Just as Seleucus sent the tiger (τὴν τίγριν) here,
2. Which we have seen, so we in turn ought now
3. To send Seleucus back a beast from here.
4. B. Let's send him a trigeranum;[*](This probably means a large crane.) for that's
5. An animal not known much in those parts.

And Myrtilus said to him:—Since you interrupted us when we were making out a catalogue of women, not like the lists of Sosicrates the Phanagorite, or like the catalogue of women of Nilænetus the Samian or Abderitan (whichever was really his native country), I, digressing a little, will turn to your question, my old Phœnix. Learn, then, that Alexis, in his

Pyraunus, has said τὸν τίγριν, using the word in the mas- culine gender; and these are his words:

1. Come, open quick the door; I have been here,
2. Though all unseen, walking some time,—a statue,
3. A millstone, and a seahorse, and a wall,
4. The tiger (ὁ τίγρις) of Seleucus.

And I might quote other evidences of the fact, but I postpone them for the present, while I finish my catalogue, as far as it comprehends the beautiful women.

For Clearchus speaks thus concerning Epaminondas:

Epaminondas the Theban behaved with more dignity than these men did; but still there was a want of dignity in the way in which he was induced to waver in his sentiments in his association with women, as any one will admit who considers his conduct with the wife of Lacon.

But Hyperides the orator, having driven his son Glaucippus out of his house, received into it that most extravagant courtesan Myrrhina, and kept her in the city; and he also kept Aristagora in the Piræus, and Phila at Eleusis, whom he bought for a very large sum, and then emancipated; and after that he made her his housekeeper, as Idomeneus relates. But, in his oration in defence of Phryne, Hyperides confesses that he is in love with the woman; and yet, before he had got cured of that love, he introduced the above-mentioned Myrrhina into his house.

Now Phryne was a native of Thespiæ; and being prosecuted by Euthias on a capital charge, she was acquitted: on which account Euthias was so indignant that he never instituted any prosecution afterwards, as Hermippus tells us. But Hyperides, when pleading Phryne's cause, as he did not succeed at all, but it was plain that the judges were about to condemn her, brought her forth into the middle of the court, and, tearing open her tunic and displaying her naked bosom, employed all the end of his speech, with the highest oratorical art, to excite the pity of her judges by the sight of her beauty, and inspired the judges with a superstitious fear, so that they were so moved by pity as not to be able to stand the idea of condemning to death

a prophetess and priestess of Venus.

And when she was acquitted, a decree was drawn up in the following form:

That hereafter no orator should endeavour to excite pity on behalf of any

v.3.p.943

one, and that no man or woman, when impeached, shall have his or her case decided on while present.

But Phryne was a really beautiful woman, even in those parts of her person which were not generally seen: on which account it was not easy to see her naked; for she used to wear a tunic which covered her whole person, and she never used the public baths. But on the solemn assembly of the Eleusinian festival, and on the feast of the Posidonia, then she laid aside her garments in the sight of all the assembled Greeks, and having undone her hair, she went to bathe in the sea; and it was from her that Apelles took his picture of the Venus Anadyomene; and Praxiteles the statuary, who was a lover of hers, modelled the Cnidian Venus from her body; and on the pedestal of his statue of Cupid, which is placed below the stage in the theatre, he wrote the following inscription:—

1. Praxiteles has devoted earnest care
2. To representing all the love he felt,
3. Drawing his model from his inmost heart:
4. I gave myself to Phryne for her wages,
5. And now I no more charms employ, nor arrows,
6. Save those of earnest glances at my love.

And he gave Phryne the choice of his statues, whether she chose to take the Cupid, or the Satyrus which is in the street called the Tripods; and she, having chosen the Cupid, consecrated it in the temple at Thespiæ. And the people of her neighbourhood, having had a statue made of Phryne herself, of solid gold, consecrated it in the temple of Delphi, having had it placed on a pillar of Pentelican marble; and the statue was made by Praxiteles. And when Crates the Cynic saw it, he called it

a votive offering of the profligacy of Greece.

And this statue stood in the middle between that of Archidamus, king of the Lacedæmonians, and that of Philip the son of Amyntas; and it bore this inscription—

Phryne of Thespiæ, the daughter of Epicles,

as we are told by Alcetas, in the second book of his treatise on the Offerings at Delphi.