Theomnestus and Apollodorus Against Neaera

Lysias, the sophist,[*](This was the well-known orator.) being the lover of Metaneira, wished, in addition to the other expenditures which he lavished upon her, also to initiate her; for he considered that everything else which he expended upon her was being taken by the woman who owned her, but that from whatever he might spend on her behalf for the festival and the initiation the girl herself would profit and be grateful to him. So he asked Nicaretê to come to the mysteries bringing with her Metaneira that she might be initiated, and he promised that he would himself initiate her.

When they got here, Lysias did not bring them to his own house, out of regard for his wife, the daughter of Brachyllus and his own niece, and for his own mother, who was elderly and who lived in the same house; but he lodged the two, Metaneira and Nicaretê, with Philostratus of Colonus,[*](Colonus, a deme of the tribe Aegeïs.) who was a friend of his and was as yet unmarried. They were accompanied by this woman Neaera, who had already taken up the trade of a prostitute, young as she was; for she was not yet old enough.

To prove the truth of my statements—that the defendant belonged to Nicaretê and followed in her train, and that she prostituted her person to anyone who wished to pay for it—I will call Philostratus as witness to these facts.

The Deposition

Philostratus, son of Dionysius, of Colonus, deposes that he knows that Neaera was a slave of Nicaretê, to whom Metaneira also belonged, that they were residents of Corinth, and that they stayed at his house when they came to Athens for the mysteries, and that Lysias the son of Cephalêus, who was an intimate friend of his, established them in his house.

Again after this, men of Athens, Simus the Thessalian came here with the defendant Neaera for the great Panathenaea.[*](The Great Panathenaea was celebrated in Athens every fifth year in the month Hecatombaeon (July).) Nicaretê came with her, and they lodged with Ctesippus son of Glauconides,of Cydantidae[*](Cydantidae, a deme of the tribe Aegeïs.); and the defendant Neaera drank and dined with them in the presence of many men, as any courtesan would do.

To prove the truth of my statements, I will call witnesses to these facts.

(To the clerk.) Please call Euphiletus, son of Simon, of Aexonê,[*](Aexonê, a deme of the tribe Cecropis.) and Aristomachus, son of Critodemus, of Alopecê.[*](Alopecê, a deme of the tribe Antiochis.)

The Witnesses

Euphiletus son of Simon, of Aexonê, and Aristomachus son of Critodemus, of Alopecê, depose that they know that Simus the Thessalian came to Athens for the great Panathenaea, and that Nicaretê came with him, and Neaera, the present defendant; and that they lodged with Ctesippus son of Glauconides, and that Neaera drank with them as being a courtesan, while many others were present and joined in the drinking in the house of Ctesippus.

After this, you must know, she plied her trade openly in Corinth and was quite a celebrity, having among other lovers Xenocleides the poet, and Hipparchus the actor, who kept her on hire. To prove the truth of my statement I cannot bring before you the testimony of Xenocleides, since the laws do not permit him to testify.

For when on the advice of Callistratus you undertook to aid the Lacedaemonians,[*](This was in 369, when Epameinondas and the Thebans invaded Laconia.) he at that time opposed in the assembly the vote to do so, because he had purchased the right to collect the two per cent tax on grain during the peace, and was obliged to deposit his collections in the senate-chamber during each prytany. For this he was entitled to exemption under the laws and did not go out on that expedition; but he was indicted by this man Stephanus for avoidance of military duty, and being slanderously maligned in the latter’s speech before the court, was convicted and deprived of his civic rights.

And yet do you not count it a monstrous thing that this Stephanus has taken the right of free speech from those who are native-born citizens and are lawful members of our commonwealth, and in defiance of all the laws forces upon you as Athenians those who have no such right? I will, however, call Hipparchus himself and force him either to give testimony or take the oath of disclaimer, or I will subpoena him.[*](See above p. 295 and vol. 1. p. 97.)

(To the clerk.) Please call Hipparchus.

The Deposition

Hipparchus of Athmonon[*](Athmonon, a deme of the tribe Cecropis.) deposes that Xenocleides and he hired in Corinth Neaera, the present defendant, as a courtesan who prostituted herself for money, and that Neaera used to drink at Corinth in the company of himself and Xenocleides the poet.

After this, then, she had two lovers, Timanoridas the Corinthian and Eucrates the Leucadian.[*](Leucas or Santa Maura, off the west coast of Acarnania.) These men seeing that Nicaretê was extravagant in the sums she exacted from them, for she demanded that they should supply the entire daily expenses of the household, paid down to Nicaretê thirty minae as the price of Neaera’s person, and purchased the girl outright from her in accordance with the law of the city, to be their slave.

And they kept her and made use of her as long a time as they pleased. When, however, they were about to marry, they gave her notice that they did not want to see her, who had been their own mistress, plying her trade in Corinth or living under the control of a brothel-keeper; but that they would be glad to recover from her less than they had paid down, and to see her reaping some advantage for herself. They offered, therefore, to remit one thousand drachmae toward the price of her freedom, five hundred drachmae apiece; and they bade her, when she found the means, to pay them the twenty minae. When she heard this proposal from Eucrates and Timanoridas, she summoned to Corinth among others who had been her lovers Phrynion of Paeania,[*](Paeania, a deme of the tribe Pandionis. Demochares is mentioned several times in Dem. 47.22, Dem. 47.28, Dem. 47.32). The Demon here mentioned was possibly the uncle of Demosthenes.) the son of Demon and the brother of Demochares, a man who was living a licentious and extravagant life, as the older ones among you remember.

When Phrynion came to her, she told him the proposal which Eucrates and Timanoridas had made to her, and gave him the money which she had collected from her other lovers as a contribution toward the price of her freedom, and added whatever she had gained for herself, and she begged him to advance the balance needed to make up the twenty minae, and to pay it to Eucrates and Timanoridas to secure her freedom.

He listened gladly to these words of hers,and taking the money which had been paid in to her by her other lovers added the balance himself and paid the twenty minae as the price of her freedom to Eucrates and Timanoridas on the condition that she should not ply her trade in Corinth.

To prove that these statements of mine are true, I will call as witness to them the man who was present.

(To the clerk.) Please call Philagrus of Melitê.[*](Melitê, a deme of the tribe Cecropis.)

The Deposition

Philagrus of Melitê deposes that he was present in Corinth when Phrynion, the brother of Demochares, paid down twenty minae as the price of Neaera, the present defendant, to Timanoridas, the Corinthian, and Eucrates, the Leucadian; and that after paying down the money Phrynion went off to Athens, taking Neaera with him.

When he came back here, bringing her with him, he treated her without decency or restraint, taking her everywhere with him to dinners where there was drinking and making her a partner in his revels; and he had intercourse with her openly whenever and wherever he wished, making his privilege a display to the onlookers. He took her to many houses to gay parties and among them to that of Chabrias of Aexonê, when, in the archonship of Socratidas,[*](That is, in 373 B.C.) he was victor at the Pythian games[*](The Pythian games were celebrated at Delphi (Pytho) every four years.) with the four-horse chariot which he had bought from the sons of Mitys, the Argive, and returning from Delphi he gave a feast at Colias,[*](The temple of Athena Colias was situated on a point on the Bay of Phalerum.) to celebrate his victory, and in that place many had intercourse with her when she was drunk, while Phrynion was asleep, among them even the serving-men of Chabrias.

To prove that these statements of mine are true, I will bring before you as witnesses those who were present and saw for themselves.

(To the clerk.) Please call Chionides of Xypetê[*](Xypetê, a deme of the tribe Cecropis.) and Euthetion of Cydathenaeum.[*](Cydathenaeum, a deme of the tribe Pandionis.)

The Depositions

Chionides of Xypetê and Euthetion of Cydathenaeum depose that they were invited to dinner by Chabrias, when he celebrated with a banquet his victory in the chariot race, and that the banquet was held at Colias; and that they know that Phrynion was present at the banquet, having with him Neaera, the present defendant; that they themselves lay down to sleep, as did Phrynion and Neaera, and that they observed that men got up in the night to go in to Neaera, among them some of the serving-men who were household slaves of Chabrias.

Since, then, she was treated with wanton outrage by Phrynion, and was not loved as she expected to be, and since her wishes were not granted by him, she packed up his household goods and all the clothing and jewelry with which he had adorned her person, and, taking with her two maid-servants, Thratta and Coccalinêe, ran off to Megara. This was the period when Asteius was archon at Athens,[*](That is, in 372 B.C.; Alcisthenes was archon the year following.) at the time you were waging your second war against the Lacedaemonians.

She remained at Megara two years, that of the archonship of Asteius and that of Alcisthenes; but the trade of prostitution did not bring in enough money to maintain her establishment—she was lavish in her tastes, and the Megarians were niggardly and illiberal, and there were but few foreigners there on account of the war and because the Megarians favored the Lacedaemonian side, while you were in control of the sea; it was, however, not open to her to return to Corinth, because she had got her freedom from Eucrates and Timanoridas on the condition that she would not ply her trade in Corinth;—

so, when peace was made in the archonship of Phrasicleides,[*](That is, in 371 B.C.) and the battle was fought at Leuctra[*](Leuctra was a town in Boeotia. In this battle the Thebans under Epameinondas broke the power of Sparta. The date was 371 B.C.) between the Thebans and the Lacedaemonians, this man Stephanus, having at the time come to Megara and having put up at Neaera’s house, as at the house of a courtesan, and having had intercourse with her, she told him all that had taken place and her brutal treatment by Phrynion. She gave him besides all that she had brought away from Phrynion’s house, and as she was eager to live at Athens, but was afraid of Phrynion because she had wronged him and he was bitter against her, and she knew he was a man of violent and reckless temper, she took Stephanus here for her patron.[*](Every resident alien in Athens was required to have some citizen as his προστάτης, or patron.)

He on his part encouraged her there in Megara with confident words, boastfully asserting that if Phrynion should lay hands on her he would have cause to rue it, whereas he himself would keep her as his wife and would introduce the sons whom she then had to his clansmen as being his own, and would make them citizens; and he promised that no one in the world should harm her. So he brought her with him from Megara to Athens, and with her her three children, Proxenus and Ariston and a daughter whom they now call Phano.

He established her and her children in the cottage which he had near the Whispering Hermes[*](We do not know where this statue stood.) between the house of Dorotheus the Eleusinian and that of Cleinomachus—the cottage which Spintharus has now bought from him for seven minae; so the property which Stephanus owned was just this and nothing besides. There were two reasons why he brought her here: first, because he would have a beautiful mistress without cost, and secondly, because her earnings would procure supplies and maintain the house; for he had no other income save what he might get by pettifoggery.

Phrynion, however, learned that the woman was in Athens, and was living with Stephanus, and taking some young men with him he came to the house of Stephanus and attempted to carry her off. When Stephanus took her away from him, as the law allowed, declaring her to be a free woman, Phrynion required her to post bonds with the polemarch.[*](That is, until her status, as free woman or slave, should be determined.)

To prove that this statement is true, I will bring before you as a witness to these facts the man himself who was polemarch at the time.

(To the clerk.) Please call Aeetes of Ceiriadae.[*](Ceiriadae, a deme of the tribe Hippothontis.)

The Deposition

Aeetes of Ceiriadae deposes that while he was polemarch, Neaera, the present defendant, was required by Phrynion, the brother of Demochares, to post bonds, and that the sureties of Neaera were Stephanus of Eroeadae,[*](Eroeadae, a deme of the tribe Hippothontis.) Glaucetes of Cephisia,[*](Cephisia, a deme of the tribe Erectheïs.) and Aristocrates of Phalerum.[*](Phalerum, a deme of the tribe Aeantis.)