n was once sitting at table with a lover of hers, when Glycera came in to supper; and as the man began to pay more
attention
to Glycera, Leonti?
Athenaeus - Deipnosophists
"
Diphilus was once invited to a banquet
At fair Gnathaena's house, as men do say,
On the day of Aphrodite's festival-
(He being a man above her other lovers
Beloved by her, though she concealed her flame),
He came accordingly, and brought with him
Two jars of Chian wine, and four, quite full,
Of wine from Thasos; perfumes, too, and crowns;
Sweetmeats and venison; fillets for the head;
Fish, and a cook, and a female flute-player.
In the meantime a Syrian friend of hers
Sent her some snow, and one saperda; she
Being ashamed lest any one should hear
She had received such gifts, and, above all men,
Fearing lest Diphilus should get at them,
And show her up in one of his comedies,
She bade a slave to carry off at once
The salt fish to the men who wanted salt,
As every one did know; the snow she told him
To mix with the wine unseen by any one.
[580] And then she bade the boy to fill the cup
With ten full cyathi of wine, and bear it
At once to Diphilus. He eagerly
Received the cup, and drained it to the bottom,
And, marvelling at the delicious coolness,
Said- "By Athene, and by all the gods,
You must, Gnathaena, be allowed by all
To have a most deliciously cool well. "
"Yes," said she, "for we carefully put in,
From day to day, the prologues of your plays. "
A slave who had been flogged, whose back was marked
With heavy scars, was once, as it fell out,
Reposing with Gnathaena:- then, as she
Embraced him, she found out how rough all over
His back did feel. "Oh wretched man," said she,
"In what engagement did you get these wounds? "
He in a few words answered her, and said,
"That when a boy, once playing with his playmates,
He'd fallen backwards into the fire by accident. "
"Well," said she, "if you were so wanton then,
You well deserved to be flogged, my friend. "'
Gnathaena once was supping with Dexithea,
Who was a courtesan as well as she;
And when Dexithea put aside with care
Nearly all the daintiest morsels for her mother,
She said, "I swear by Artemis, had I known
How you went on, Dexithea, I would rather
Have gone to supper with your mother than you. "
When this Gnathaena was advanced in years,
Hastening, as all might see, towards the grave,
They say she once event out into the market,
And looked at all the fish, and asked the price
Of every article she saw. And seeing
A handsome butcher standing at his stall,
Just in the flower of youth,- "Oh, in God's name,
Tell me, my youth, what is your price (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) to-day ? "
He laughed, and said, " Why, if I stoop, three obols. "
"But who," said she, "did give you leave, you wretch,
To use your Carian weights in Attica? "
Stratocles once made all his friends a present
Of kids and shell-fish greatly salted, seeming
To have dressed them carefully, so that his friends
Should the next morning be overwhelmed with thirst,
And thus protract their drinking, so that he
Might draw from them some ample contributions.
Therefore Gnathaena said to one of her lovers,
Seeing him wavering about his offerings,
"After the kids, Stratocles brings a storm. "
Gnathaena, seeing once a thin young man,
Of black complexion, lean as any scarecrow,
Reeking with oil, and shorter than his fellows,
Called him in jest Adonis. When the youth
Answered her in a rude and violent manner,
She looking on her daughter who was with her,
Said, "Ah! it serves me right for my mistake. "
They say that one fine day a youth from Pontus
Was sleeping with Gnathaena, and at morn
He asked her to display her buttocks to him.
But she replied, " You have no time, for now
[581] It is the hour to drive the pigs to feed. "
[44. ] G He also mentions the following sayings of Gnathaeni? n, who was the grand-daughter of Gnathaena:
It happened once that a very aged satrap,
Full ninety years of are, had come to Athens.
And on the feast of Cronus he beheld
Gnathaeni? n with Gnathaena going out
From a fair temple sacred to Aphrodite,
And noticing her form and grace of motion,
He just inquired "How much she asked a night? "
Gnathaena, looking on his purple robe,
And princely bodyguard, said, "A thousand drachmas. "
He, as if smitten with a mortal wound,
Said, "I perceive, because of all these soldiers,
You look upon me as a captured enemy;
But take five minae, and agree with me,
And let them get a bed prepared for us. "
She, as the satrap seemed a witty man,
Received his terms, and said, "Give what you like,
O father, for I know most certainly,
You'll give my daughter twice as much at night. "
There was at Athens once a handsome smith,
When she, Gnathaeni? n, had almost abandoned
Her trade, and would no longer common be,
Moved by the love of the actor Andronicus;
(But at this moment he was gone away,
After she'd brought him a male child;) this smith
Then long besought the fair Gnathaeni? n
To fix her price; and though she long refused,
By long entreaty and liberality,
At last he won her over to consent.
But being but a rude and ill-bred clown,
He, one day sitting with some friends of his
In a leather-cutter's shop, began to talk
About Gnathaeni? n to divert their leisure,
Saying that he never consorted with her
In any other way, except that she rode
On top of him, five times over.
But after this, when Andronicus came
From Corinth back again, and heard the news,
He bitterly reproached her, and at supper
He said, with just complaint, unto Gnathaeni? n,
That she had never granted him such liberties
As this flogged slave had had allowed to him.
And then they say Gnathaeni? n thus replied:
That she was her own mistress, and the smith
Was so begrimed with soot and dirt that she
Did not wish to embrace him; but after receiving
A large sum of gold, she gave in to his request,
And cleverly contrived to touch the part of him,
Which, though small, stuck out the furthest.
One day they say Gnathaeni? n, at supper,
Would not kiss Andronicus when he wished,
[582] Though she had done so every day before;
But she was angry that he gave her nothing.
Said he, on this, "Gnathaena, don't you see
How haughtily your daughter's treating me? "
And she, indignant, said, " You wretched girl,
Take him and kiss him if he wishes it. "
But she replied, " Why should I kiss him, mother,
Who does no good to any one in the house,
But seeks to have hollow Argos all for free? "
Once, on a day of festival, Gnathaeni? n
Went down to the Peiraeus to a lover,
Who was a foreign merchant, riding cheaply
On a poor mule, and having after her
Three donkeys, three maidservants, and one nurse.
Then, at a narrow spot in the road, they met
One of those poor wrestlers, men who contrive
To lose their battles, in return for pay;
And as he could not pass by easily,
Being crowded up, he cried- "You wretched man,
You donkey-driver, if you get not quickly
Out of my way, I will upset these women,
And all the donkeys and the mule to boot. "
But quick Gnathaeni? n said, "My friend, I pray you,
Don't be so valiant now, when you have never
Done any feat of spirit or strength before. "
[45. ] G And afterwards, Machon gives us the following anecdotes:
They say that Lais the Corinthian,
Once when she saw Euripides in a garden,
Holding a tablet and a pen attached to it,
Cried out to him, "Now, answer me, my poet,
What was your meaning when you wrote in your play [ Medea_1346 ],
'Away, you shameless doer' ? " And Euripides,
Amazed, and wondering at her audacity,
Said, "Why, you seem to me to be yourself
A shameless doer. " And she, laughing, answered,
"How shameless, if my partners do not think so? "
Glyceri? n once received from some lover
A new Corinthian cloak (? ? ? ? ? ? ) with purple sleeves,
And gave it to a fuller. Afterwards,
When she thought he'd had time enough to clean it,
She sent her maidservant to fetch it back,
Giving her money, that she might pay for it.
But, said the fuller, "You must bring me first
Three quarters of the oil (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ), for want of that
Is what has hindered me from finishing. "
The maid went back and told her mistress all.
"Wretch that I am! " Glyceri? n said, "for he
Is going to fry my cloak like any herring. "
Demophoon once, the friend of Sophocles,
While a young man, fell furiously in love
With Nico, called the Goat, though she was old:
And she had earned this name of Goat, because
She quite devoured once a mighty friend of hers,
Named Thallus, when he came to Attica
To buy some Chelidonian figs, and also
To export some honey from the Hymettian hill.
And it is said this woman had fair buttocks,
And when Demophoon tried to hold them,
"A pretty thing," said she, "that what you get
[583] From me, you may present to Sophocles. "
Callisto once, who was nicknamed the Sow,
Was fiercely quarrelling with her own mother,
Who also was nicknamed the Crow. Gnathaena
Appeased the quarrel, and when asked the cause of it,
Said, " What else could it be, but that one Crow
Was finding fault with the blackness of the other? "
Men say that Hippe once, the courtesan,
Had a lover named Theodotus, a man
Who at the time was prefect of the granaries
And she on one occasion late in the evening
Came to a banquet of King Ptolemy,
And she'd been often used to drink with him
So, as she now was very late, she said,
"I'm very thirsty, papa Ptolemy,
So let the cup-bearer pour me four cotylae
Into a larger cup. " The king replied,
"You must have it in a platter, for you seem
Already, Hippe, to have had plenty of hay. "
A man named Moerichus was courting Phryne,
The Thespian girl. And, as she required
A mina, "'Tis a mighty sum," said Moerichus,
"Did you not yesterday charge a foreigner
Two little pieces of gold? " "Wait till I want you,"
Said she, "and I will take the same from you. "
'Tis said that Nico, who was called the Goat,
Once when a man named Python had deserted her,
And taken up with the great fat Euardis,
But after a time did send again for her,
Said to the slave who came to fetch her, "Now
That Python is well sated with his swine,
Does he desire to return to a goat? "
[46. ] G Up to this point we have been recapitulating the things mentioned by Machon. 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 of Byzantium 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, Thaunari? n, Theocleia (and she was nicknamed the Crow), Lenaetocystus, Astra, Gnathaena, and her grand-daughter Gnathaeni? n, and Sige, and Grymaea, and Thryallis, and Chimaera, and Lampas. But Diphilus the comic poet was violently in love with Gnathaena, (as has been already stated [ 579'e ], 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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of the theatre, and, for all that, came to Gnathaena as if nothing had happened; and when he, after he had arrived, begged Gnathaena to wash his feet, "Why do you want that ? " said she; "were you not carried (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) here? " And Gnathaena 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.
[584] # Accordingly, when on one occasion Stilpon, 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 Stilpon; 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,
It does not follow, because a woman's body
Is void of strength, that her mind, too, is weak.
[47. ] G And Lynceus has recorded many repartees of Gnathaena. There was a parasite who used to live upon an old woman, and kept himself in very good condition; and Gnathaena, 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 Pausanias, who was nicknamed Laccus, was dancing, he fell into a cask. "The cellar (? ? ? ? ? ? )," says Gnathaena, "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 drinking party, some young men were fighting about her, and beating one another, and she said to the one who was worsted, "Be of good cheer, my boy; for it is not a contest to be decided by laurel, but by silver. " 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 wipe yourself with. " For it was said that Gnathaena was liable to the stone, while the other suffered from diarrhoea. On one occasion, some men were drinking in her house, and were eating some lentils dressed with onions (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ); as the maidservant was clearing the table, and putting some of the lentils in her bosom (? ? ? ? ? ? ), Gnathaena said, "She is thinking of making some bosom-lentils (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). " Once, when Andronicus the tragic actor 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- "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 Sigeium," said she. Once, when a man came to see her, and saw some eggs on a dish, and said, "Are these raw, Gnathaena, or boiled ? " "They are made of brass, my boy," said she. On one occasion, when Chaerephon came to sup with her without an invitation, Gnathaena 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. "
[48. ] G There was a courtesan named Metaneira; 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. [585] And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Laughable Records, says that Gnathaena 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 Gnathaena came to feast at her house, and threatened to throw it down, saying that they had brought spades and mattocks on purpose; "But," said Gnathaena, "if you had those implements, you should have pawned them, and brought some money with you. " And Gnathaena 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. "
[49. ] G But a slave who had been flogged hired Callisti? n, who was nicknamed Poor Helene; 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 leather thongs. " # 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 scum (? ? ? ? ? ) 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 the characteristics of each of them. " Leonti?
n was once sitting at table with a lover of hers, when Glycera came in to supper; and as the man began to pay more attention to Glycera, Leonti? n was much annoyed: and presently, when her friend turned round, and asked her what she was vexed at, she said, "The newcomer (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) 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-
To dwell with Aegeus, great Pandion's son. [ Euripides, Medea_1385 ]
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 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 wreaths are hung up about banqueting-rooms, she said, "Because they charm the spirits. " 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. " Once a very covetous lover of hers was coaxing her, and saying to her, "You are the Aphrodite of Praxiteles;" "And you," said she, "are the Eros of Pheidias. "
[50. ] G 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 [ 22'56 ], mentions Sinope and Phanostrate; [586] 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 it his Sempstress, and in his Female Fisher, and in his Chick. And Alexis mentions her in his Cleobuline, and Callicrates speaks of her in his Moschion; and concerning Phanostrate Apollodorus, in his treatise on Courtesans at Athens, says that she was called Phtheiropyle, because she used to stand at the, door (? ? ? ? ) and hunt for lice (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
And in his oration against Aristagora, Hypereides says- "And again you have named, in the same manner, the animals called aphyae. " Now, aphyae, besides meaning anchovies, was also a nickname for some courtesans; concerning whom the before-mentioned Apollodorus says- "Stagoni? n and Anthis were two sisters, and they were called Aphyae, 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 Hypereides, 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 the mistress of Harpalus; concerning whom Theopompus speaks in his treatise On the Chian Letter, saying that after the death of Pythionice, 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 Cleitarchus 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-
And now they say that Harpalus has sent them
Unnumbered sacks of corn, no fewer than
Those sent by Agen, and is made a citizen:
But this was Glycera's corn, and it may be
Ruin to them, and not a harlot's earnest.
[51. ] G 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 still quite young; and so did Scione, and Hippaphesis, and Theocleia, and Psamathe, and Lagisca, and Antheia. " But perhaps, instead of Antheia, we ought to read Anteia. For I do not find any mention made by any one of a harlot named Antheia. But there is a whole play named after Anteia, by either Eunicus or Philyllius. And the author of the oration against Neaera, 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, 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 [ 1'17 ], mentions a courtesan named Eirenis, as being the mistress of Leocrates. [587] And Hypereides mentions Nanni? n 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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ), on which account the animal is never allowed to approach the Acropolis, and is also never sacrificed to Athene, is a fact which we shall mention hereafter. But Sophocles, in his play called The Shepherds, mentions that this animal does browse upon the young shoots, speaking as follows-
For early in the morning, before I saw
Any of the farmers here about,
As I was bringing to the goat a shoot (? ? ? ? ? ? )
Fresh plucked, I saw the army marching on
By the projecting headland.
Alexis also mentions Nanni? n, in his Tarentines, thus-
But Nanni? n is mad for love of Dionysus,-
jesting upon her as addicted to intoxication. And Menander, in his False Heracles, says-
Did he not try to wheedle Nanni? n?
And Antiphanes, in his treatise On Courtesans, says- "Nanni? n 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 she was a very bad figure. And Corone was Nanni? n's daughter, and she was nicknamed Tethe, from her exceedingly debauched habits. " Hypereides, 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 Polemon tells us, in his treatise on the Acropolis.
[52. ] G The same Hypereides also mentions my Ocim? n, as you call her, O Cynulcus, in his second oration against Aristagora, speaking thus- "As Lais, who appears to have been superior in beauty to any woman who had ever been seen, and Ocim? n, and Metaneira. " And Nicostratus, a poet of the middle comedy, mentions her also in his Pandrosus, where he says
Then go the same way to Aerope,
And bid her send some clothes immediately,
And brazen vessels, to fair Ocim? n.
And Menander, in his comedy called The Flatterer, gives the following catalogue of courtesans-
Chrysis, Corone, Ischas, and Anticyra,
And the most beautiful Nannari? n,-
All these you had.
And Philetaerus, in his Female Hunter, says-
Is not Cercope now extremely old.
Three thousand years at least! and is not Telesis,
Diopeithes' ugly daughter, three times that?
And as for old Theolyte, no man
Alive can tell the date when she was horn.
Then did not Lais persevere in her trade
Till the last day of her life? and Isthmias,
Neaera too, and Phila, grew quite rotten.
I need not mention all the Cossyphae,
Galenae, and Coronae; nor will I
Say aught of Nais, as her teeth are gone.
And Theophilus, in his Amateur of the Flute, says-
Lest he should with disastrous shipwreck fall
Into Meconis, Lais, or Sisymbri? n
Or Barathr? n, or Thallusa, or any other
With whom the panders bait their nets for youths,
. . . Nanni? n, or Malthace.
[53. ] G [588] Now when Myrtilus had uttered all this with extreme volubility, he added:- May no such disaster befall you, O philosophers, who even before the rise of the sect called Hedonists, 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-
The most unlettered schoolmaster alive.
Now, had not this very Epicurus Leonti? n 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 letters to Hermarchus.
[54. ] G 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 Polemon relates in the sixth book of his Reply to Timaeus: and Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic: and it was also said that the Aphrodite, which is at Corinth, and is called Melaenis, 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 Hypereides, in the second of his speeches against Aristagora. And Apelles the painter, having seen Lais while she was still a maiden, drawing water at the fountain Peirene, 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 [ 3. 11 ], 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.
[55. ] G And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her in Aegina, at the festival of Poseidon. 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 on People who have been admired and eminent in Sicily, [589] says that Lais was a native of Hyccara, which he describes 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-
(A) Where do these girls come from, and who are they?
(B) At present they are come from Megara,
But they by birth are all Corinthians:
This one is Lais, who is so well known.
And Timaeus, in the thirteenth book of his History, says she came from Hyccara, (using the word in the plural number;) as Polemon 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 Aphrodite; and that from this circumstance that temple is called the temple of the impious Aphrodite; 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-
This is the tomb of Lais, to whose beauty,
Equal to that of heavenly goddesses,
The glorious and unconquered Greece did bow;
Love was her father, Corinth was her home,
Now in the rich Thessalian plain she lies ;-
so that those men talk nonsense who say that she was buried in Corinth, near the Craneium.
? Following pages (589-597)
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 13, Pages 589-599
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
<< Previous pages (571-589)
[56. ] G [589] And did not Aristotle of Stageira 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 Life of Aristotle, saying that great care was taken of her in the philosopher's will. And did not our admirable Plato love Archaeanassa, a courtesan of Colophon? so that he even composed this song in her honour:-
My mistress is the fair Archaeanassa
From Colophon, a damsel in whom Love
Sits on her very wrinkles irresistible.
Wretched are those, whom in the flower of youth,
When first she came across the sea, she met;
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 affair with Elpinice, his sister, who was afterwards given in marriage to Callias, and when he was banished, Pericles contrived his recall, exacting the favours of Elpinice as his recompense.
And Pythaenetus, 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; [590] but Olympias, the young man's mother, took her off by poison.
[57. ] G And Ulpianus, as if he had got some unexpected gain, while Myrtilus was still speaking, said:- Do we say ? ? ? ? ? ? ? in the masculine gender? for I know that Philemon says this in his play called Neaera:-
(A) Just as Seleucus sent the tiger (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) here,
Which we have seen, so we in turn ought now
To send Seleucus back a beast from here.
(B) Let's send him a trigeranus; for that's
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 of Phanagoreia, or like the catalogue of women of Nicaenetus of Samos or Abdera (whichever was really his native country), I, digressing a little, will turn to your question, my old Phoenix. Learn, then, that Alexis, in his Fire-Lighter, has said ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , using the word in the masculine gender; and these are his words:
Come, open quick the door; I have been here,
Though all unseen, walking sometime,- a statue,
A millstone, and a hippopotamus, and a wall,
The tiger (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of Seleucus.
And I might quote other examples of the fact, but I postpone them for the present, while I finish my catalogue, as far as it comprehends the beautiful women.
[58. ] G 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 Laconian's wife. " But Hypereides 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 Peiraeus, 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.
Diphilus was once invited to a banquet
At fair Gnathaena's house, as men do say,
On the day of Aphrodite's festival-
(He being a man above her other lovers
Beloved by her, though she concealed her flame),
He came accordingly, and brought with him
Two jars of Chian wine, and four, quite full,
Of wine from Thasos; perfumes, too, and crowns;
Sweetmeats and venison; fillets for the head;
Fish, and a cook, and a female flute-player.
In the meantime a Syrian friend of hers
Sent her some snow, and one saperda; she
Being ashamed lest any one should hear
She had received such gifts, and, above all men,
Fearing lest Diphilus should get at them,
And show her up in one of his comedies,
She bade a slave to carry off at once
The salt fish to the men who wanted salt,
As every one did know; the snow she told him
To mix with the wine unseen by any one.
[580] And then she bade the boy to fill the cup
With ten full cyathi of wine, and bear it
At once to Diphilus. He eagerly
Received the cup, and drained it to the bottom,
And, marvelling at the delicious coolness,
Said- "By Athene, and by all the gods,
You must, Gnathaena, be allowed by all
To have a most deliciously cool well. "
"Yes," said she, "for we carefully put in,
From day to day, the prologues of your plays. "
A slave who had been flogged, whose back was marked
With heavy scars, was once, as it fell out,
Reposing with Gnathaena:- then, as she
Embraced him, she found out how rough all over
His back did feel. "Oh wretched man," said she,
"In what engagement did you get these wounds? "
He in a few words answered her, and said,
"That when a boy, once playing with his playmates,
He'd fallen backwards into the fire by accident. "
"Well," said she, "if you were so wanton then,
You well deserved to be flogged, my friend. "'
Gnathaena once was supping with Dexithea,
Who was a courtesan as well as she;
And when Dexithea put aside with care
Nearly all the daintiest morsels for her mother,
She said, "I swear by Artemis, had I known
How you went on, Dexithea, I would rather
Have gone to supper with your mother than you. "
When this Gnathaena was advanced in years,
Hastening, as all might see, towards the grave,
They say she once event out into the market,
And looked at all the fish, and asked the price
Of every article she saw. And seeing
A handsome butcher standing at his stall,
Just in the flower of youth,- "Oh, in God's name,
Tell me, my youth, what is your price (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) to-day ? "
He laughed, and said, " Why, if I stoop, three obols. "
"But who," said she, "did give you leave, you wretch,
To use your Carian weights in Attica? "
Stratocles once made all his friends a present
Of kids and shell-fish greatly salted, seeming
To have dressed them carefully, so that his friends
Should the next morning be overwhelmed with thirst,
And thus protract their drinking, so that he
Might draw from them some ample contributions.
Therefore Gnathaena said to one of her lovers,
Seeing him wavering about his offerings,
"After the kids, Stratocles brings a storm. "
Gnathaena, seeing once a thin young man,
Of black complexion, lean as any scarecrow,
Reeking with oil, and shorter than his fellows,
Called him in jest Adonis. When the youth
Answered her in a rude and violent manner,
She looking on her daughter who was with her,
Said, "Ah! it serves me right for my mistake. "
They say that one fine day a youth from Pontus
Was sleeping with Gnathaena, and at morn
He asked her to display her buttocks to him.
But she replied, " You have no time, for now
[581] It is the hour to drive the pigs to feed. "
[44. ] G He also mentions the following sayings of Gnathaeni? n, who was the grand-daughter of Gnathaena:
It happened once that a very aged satrap,
Full ninety years of are, had come to Athens.
And on the feast of Cronus he beheld
Gnathaeni? n with Gnathaena going out
From a fair temple sacred to Aphrodite,
And noticing her form and grace of motion,
He just inquired "How much she asked a night? "
Gnathaena, looking on his purple robe,
And princely bodyguard, said, "A thousand drachmas. "
He, as if smitten with a mortal wound,
Said, "I perceive, because of all these soldiers,
You look upon me as a captured enemy;
But take five minae, and agree with me,
And let them get a bed prepared for us. "
She, as the satrap seemed a witty man,
Received his terms, and said, "Give what you like,
O father, for I know most certainly,
You'll give my daughter twice as much at night. "
There was at Athens once a handsome smith,
When she, Gnathaeni? n, had almost abandoned
Her trade, and would no longer common be,
Moved by the love of the actor Andronicus;
(But at this moment he was gone away,
After she'd brought him a male child;) this smith
Then long besought the fair Gnathaeni? n
To fix her price; and though she long refused,
By long entreaty and liberality,
At last he won her over to consent.
But being but a rude and ill-bred clown,
He, one day sitting with some friends of his
In a leather-cutter's shop, began to talk
About Gnathaeni? n to divert their leisure,
Saying that he never consorted with her
In any other way, except that she rode
On top of him, five times over.
But after this, when Andronicus came
From Corinth back again, and heard the news,
He bitterly reproached her, and at supper
He said, with just complaint, unto Gnathaeni? n,
That she had never granted him such liberties
As this flogged slave had had allowed to him.
And then they say Gnathaeni? n thus replied:
That she was her own mistress, and the smith
Was so begrimed with soot and dirt that she
Did not wish to embrace him; but after receiving
A large sum of gold, she gave in to his request,
And cleverly contrived to touch the part of him,
Which, though small, stuck out the furthest.
One day they say Gnathaeni? n, at supper,
Would not kiss Andronicus when he wished,
[582] Though she had done so every day before;
But she was angry that he gave her nothing.
Said he, on this, "Gnathaena, don't you see
How haughtily your daughter's treating me? "
And she, indignant, said, " You wretched girl,
Take him and kiss him if he wishes it. "
But she replied, " Why should I kiss him, mother,
Who does no good to any one in the house,
But seeks to have hollow Argos all for free? "
Once, on a day of festival, Gnathaeni? n
Went down to the Peiraeus to a lover,
Who was a foreign merchant, riding cheaply
On a poor mule, and having after her
Three donkeys, three maidservants, and one nurse.
Then, at a narrow spot in the road, they met
One of those poor wrestlers, men who contrive
To lose their battles, in return for pay;
And as he could not pass by easily,
Being crowded up, he cried- "You wretched man,
You donkey-driver, if you get not quickly
Out of my way, I will upset these women,
And all the donkeys and the mule to boot. "
But quick Gnathaeni? n said, "My friend, I pray you,
Don't be so valiant now, when you have never
Done any feat of spirit or strength before. "
[45. ] G And afterwards, Machon gives us the following anecdotes:
They say that Lais the Corinthian,
Once when she saw Euripides in a garden,
Holding a tablet and a pen attached to it,
Cried out to him, "Now, answer me, my poet,
What was your meaning when you wrote in your play [ Medea_1346 ],
'Away, you shameless doer' ? " And Euripides,
Amazed, and wondering at her audacity,
Said, "Why, you seem to me to be yourself
A shameless doer. " And she, laughing, answered,
"How shameless, if my partners do not think so? "
Glyceri? n once received from some lover
A new Corinthian cloak (? ? ? ? ? ? ) with purple sleeves,
And gave it to a fuller. Afterwards,
When she thought he'd had time enough to clean it,
She sent her maidservant to fetch it back,
Giving her money, that she might pay for it.
But, said the fuller, "You must bring me first
Three quarters of the oil (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ), for want of that
Is what has hindered me from finishing. "
The maid went back and told her mistress all.
"Wretch that I am! " Glyceri? n said, "for he
Is going to fry my cloak like any herring. "
Demophoon once, the friend of Sophocles,
While a young man, fell furiously in love
With Nico, called the Goat, though she was old:
And she had earned this name of Goat, because
She quite devoured once a mighty friend of hers,
Named Thallus, when he came to Attica
To buy some Chelidonian figs, and also
To export some honey from the Hymettian hill.
And it is said this woman had fair buttocks,
And when Demophoon tried to hold them,
"A pretty thing," said she, "that what you get
[583] From me, you may present to Sophocles. "
Callisto once, who was nicknamed the Sow,
Was fiercely quarrelling with her own mother,
Who also was nicknamed the Crow. Gnathaena
Appeased the quarrel, and when asked the cause of it,
Said, " What else could it be, but that one Crow
Was finding fault with the blackness of the other? "
Men say that Hippe once, the courtesan,
Had a lover named Theodotus, a man
Who at the time was prefect of the granaries
And she on one occasion late in the evening
Came to a banquet of King Ptolemy,
And she'd been often used to drink with him
So, as she now was very late, she said,
"I'm very thirsty, papa Ptolemy,
So let the cup-bearer pour me four cotylae
Into a larger cup. " The king replied,
"You must have it in a platter, for you seem
Already, Hippe, to have had plenty of hay. "
A man named Moerichus was courting Phryne,
The Thespian girl. And, as she required
A mina, "'Tis a mighty sum," said Moerichus,
"Did you not yesterday charge a foreigner
Two little pieces of gold? " "Wait till I want you,"
Said she, "and I will take the same from you. "
'Tis said that Nico, who was called the Goat,
Once when a man named Python had deserted her,
And taken up with the great fat Euardis,
But after a time did send again for her,
Said to the slave who came to fetch her, "Now
That Python is well sated with his swine,
Does he desire to return to a goat? "
[46. ] G Up to this point we have been recapitulating the things mentioned by Machon. 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 of Byzantium 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, Thaunari? n, Theocleia (and she was nicknamed the Crow), Lenaetocystus, Astra, Gnathaena, and her grand-daughter Gnathaeni? n, and Sige, and Grymaea, and Thryallis, and Chimaera, and Lampas. But Diphilus the comic poet was violently in love with Gnathaena, (as has been already stated [ 579'e ], 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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of the theatre, and, for all that, came to Gnathaena as if nothing had happened; and when he, after he had arrived, begged Gnathaena to wash his feet, "Why do you want that ? " said she; "were you not carried (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) here? " And Gnathaena 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.
[584] # Accordingly, when on one occasion Stilpon, 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 Stilpon; 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,
It does not follow, because a woman's body
Is void of strength, that her mind, too, is weak.
[47. ] G And Lynceus has recorded many repartees of Gnathaena. There was a parasite who used to live upon an old woman, and kept himself in very good condition; and Gnathaena, 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 Pausanias, who was nicknamed Laccus, was dancing, he fell into a cask. "The cellar (? ? ? ? ? ? )," says Gnathaena, "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 drinking party, some young men were fighting about her, and beating one another, and she said to the one who was worsted, "Be of good cheer, my boy; for it is not a contest to be decided by laurel, but by silver. " 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 wipe yourself with. " For it was said that Gnathaena was liable to the stone, while the other suffered from diarrhoea. On one occasion, some men were drinking in her house, and were eating some lentils dressed with onions (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ); as the maidservant was clearing the table, and putting some of the lentils in her bosom (? ? ? ? ? ? ), Gnathaena said, "She is thinking of making some bosom-lentils (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). " Once, when Andronicus the tragic actor 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- "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 Sigeium," said she. Once, when a man came to see her, and saw some eggs on a dish, and said, "Are these raw, Gnathaena, or boiled ? " "They are made of brass, my boy," said she. On one occasion, when Chaerephon came to sup with her without an invitation, Gnathaena 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. "
[48. ] G There was a courtesan named Metaneira; 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. [585] And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Laughable Records, says that Gnathaena 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 Gnathaena came to feast at her house, and threatened to throw it down, saying that they had brought spades and mattocks on purpose; "But," said Gnathaena, "if you had those implements, you should have pawned them, and brought some money with you. " And Gnathaena 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. "
[49. ] G But a slave who had been flogged hired Callisti? n, who was nicknamed Poor Helene; 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 leather thongs. " # 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 scum (? ? ? ? ? ) 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 the characteristics of each of them. " Leonti?
n was once sitting at table with a lover of hers, when Glycera came in to supper; and as the man began to pay more attention to Glycera, Leonti? n was much annoyed: and presently, when her friend turned round, and asked her what she was vexed at, she said, "The newcomer (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) 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-
To dwell with Aegeus, great Pandion's son. [ Euripides, Medea_1385 ]
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 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 wreaths are hung up about banqueting-rooms, she said, "Because they charm the spirits. " 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. " Once a very covetous lover of hers was coaxing her, and saying to her, "You are the Aphrodite of Praxiteles;" "And you," said she, "are the Eros of Pheidias. "
[50. ] G 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 [ 22'56 ], mentions Sinope and Phanostrate; [586] 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 it his Sempstress, and in his Female Fisher, and in his Chick. And Alexis mentions her in his Cleobuline, and Callicrates speaks of her in his Moschion; and concerning Phanostrate Apollodorus, in his treatise on Courtesans at Athens, says that she was called Phtheiropyle, because she used to stand at the, door (? ? ? ? ) and hunt for lice (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
And in his oration against Aristagora, Hypereides says- "And again you have named, in the same manner, the animals called aphyae. " Now, aphyae, besides meaning anchovies, was also a nickname for some courtesans; concerning whom the before-mentioned Apollodorus says- "Stagoni? n and Anthis were two sisters, and they were called Aphyae, 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 Hypereides, 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 the mistress of Harpalus; concerning whom Theopompus speaks in his treatise On the Chian Letter, saying that after the death of Pythionice, 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 Cleitarchus 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-
And now they say that Harpalus has sent them
Unnumbered sacks of corn, no fewer than
Those sent by Agen, and is made a citizen:
But this was Glycera's corn, and it may be
Ruin to them, and not a harlot's earnest.
[51. ] G 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 still quite young; and so did Scione, and Hippaphesis, and Theocleia, and Psamathe, and Lagisca, and Antheia. " But perhaps, instead of Antheia, we ought to read Anteia. For I do not find any mention made by any one of a harlot named Antheia. But there is a whole play named after Anteia, by either Eunicus or Philyllius. And the author of the oration against Neaera, 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, 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 [ 1'17 ], mentions a courtesan named Eirenis, as being the mistress of Leocrates. [587] And Hypereides mentions Nanni? n 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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ), on which account the animal is never allowed to approach the Acropolis, and is also never sacrificed to Athene, is a fact which we shall mention hereafter. But Sophocles, in his play called The Shepherds, mentions that this animal does browse upon the young shoots, speaking as follows-
For early in the morning, before I saw
Any of the farmers here about,
As I was bringing to the goat a shoot (? ? ? ? ? ? )
Fresh plucked, I saw the army marching on
By the projecting headland.
Alexis also mentions Nanni? n, in his Tarentines, thus-
But Nanni? n is mad for love of Dionysus,-
jesting upon her as addicted to intoxication. And Menander, in his False Heracles, says-
Did he not try to wheedle Nanni? n?
And Antiphanes, in his treatise On Courtesans, says- "Nanni? n 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 she was a very bad figure. And Corone was Nanni? n's daughter, and she was nicknamed Tethe, from her exceedingly debauched habits. " Hypereides, 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 Polemon tells us, in his treatise on the Acropolis.
[52. ] G The same Hypereides also mentions my Ocim? n, as you call her, O Cynulcus, in his second oration against Aristagora, speaking thus- "As Lais, who appears to have been superior in beauty to any woman who had ever been seen, and Ocim? n, and Metaneira. " And Nicostratus, a poet of the middle comedy, mentions her also in his Pandrosus, where he says
Then go the same way to Aerope,
And bid her send some clothes immediately,
And brazen vessels, to fair Ocim? n.
And Menander, in his comedy called The Flatterer, gives the following catalogue of courtesans-
Chrysis, Corone, Ischas, and Anticyra,
And the most beautiful Nannari? n,-
All these you had.
And Philetaerus, in his Female Hunter, says-
Is not Cercope now extremely old.
Three thousand years at least! and is not Telesis,
Diopeithes' ugly daughter, three times that?
And as for old Theolyte, no man
Alive can tell the date when she was horn.
Then did not Lais persevere in her trade
Till the last day of her life? and Isthmias,
Neaera too, and Phila, grew quite rotten.
I need not mention all the Cossyphae,
Galenae, and Coronae; nor will I
Say aught of Nais, as her teeth are gone.
And Theophilus, in his Amateur of the Flute, says-
Lest he should with disastrous shipwreck fall
Into Meconis, Lais, or Sisymbri? n
Or Barathr? n, or Thallusa, or any other
With whom the panders bait their nets for youths,
. . . Nanni? n, or Malthace.
[53. ] G [588] Now when Myrtilus had uttered all this with extreme volubility, he added:- May no such disaster befall you, O philosophers, who even before the rise of the sect called Hedonists, 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-
The most unlettered schoolmaster alive.
Now, had not this very Epicurus Leonti? n 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 letters to Hermarchus.
[54. ] G 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 Polemon relates in the sixth book of his Reply to Timaeus: and Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic: and it was also said that the Aphrodite, which is at Corinth, and is called Melaenis, 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 Hypereides, in the second of his speeches against Aristagora. And Apelles the painter, having seen Lais while she was still a maiden, drawing water at the fountain Peirene, 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 [ 3. 11 ], 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.
[55. ] G And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her in Aegina, at the festival of Poseidon. 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 on People who have been admired and eminent in Sicily, [589] says that Lais was a native of Hyccara, which he describes 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-
(A) Where do these girls come from, and who are they?
(B) At present they are come from Megara,
But they by birth are all Corinthians:
This one is Lais, who is so well known.
And Timaeus, in the thirteenth book of his History, says she came from Hyccara, (using the word in the plural number;) as Polemon 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 Aphrodite; and that from this circumstance that temple is called the temple of the impious Aphrodite; 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-
This is the tomb of Lais, to whose beauty,
Equal to that of heavenly goddesses,
The glorious and unconquered Greece did bow;
Love was her father, Corinth was her home,
Now in the rich Thessalian plain she lies ;-
so that those men talk nonsense who say that she was buried in Corinth, near the Craneium.
? Following pages (589-597)
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 13, Pages 589-599
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
<< Previous pages (571-589)
[56. ] G [589] And did not Aristotle of Stageira 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 Life of Aristotle, saying that great care was taken of her in the philosopher's will. And did not our admirable Plato love Archaeanassa, a courtesan of Colophon? so that he even composed this song in her honour:-
My mistress is the fair Archaeanassa
From Colophon, a damsel in whom Love
Sits on her very wrinkles irresistible.
Wretched are those, whom in the flower of youth,
When first she came across the sea, she met;
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 affair with Elpinice, his sister, who was afterwards given in marriage to Callias, and when he was banished, Pericles contrived his recall, exacting the favours of Elpinice as his recompense.
And Pythaenetus, 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; [590] but Olympias, the young man's mother, took her off by poison.
[57. ] G And Ulpianus, as if he had got some unexpected gain, while Myrtilus was still speaking, said:- Do we say ? ? ? ? ? ? ? in the masculine gender? for I know that Philemon says this in his play called Neaera:-
(A) Just as Seleucus sent the tiger (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) here,
Which we have seen, so we in turn ought now
To send Seleucus back a beast from here.
(B) Let's send him a trigeranus; for that's
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 of Phanagoreia, or like the catalogue of women of Nicaenetus of Samos or Abdera (whichever was really his native country), I, digressing a little, will turn to your question, my old Phoenix. Learn, then, that Alexis, in his Fire-Lighter, has said ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , using the word in the masculine gender; and these are his words:
Come, open quick the door; I have been here,
Though all unseen, walking sometime,- a statue,
A millstone, and a hippopotamus, and a wall,
The tiger (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of Seleucus.
And I might quote other examples of the fact, but I postpone them for the present, while I finish my catalogue, as far as it comprehends the beautiful women.
[58. ] G 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 Laconian's wife. " But Hypereides 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 Peiraeus, 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.
