And why was this
permitted
in the city of Athens,
By which all other nations are much swayed?
By which all other nations are much swayed?
Athenaeus - Deipnosophists
?
from the ?
?
?
?
?
?
?
, says-
You've done an act not suited to companions (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ),
But, by Zeus, far more fit for courtesans (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ),
These words, so near the same, do make the sense
Not always easily to be distinguished.
[29. ] G But concerning courtesans, Ephippus, in his Merchandise, speaks as follows:
And then if, when we enter through their doors,
They see that we are out of sorts at all,
They flatter us and soothe us, kiss us gently,
Not pressing hard as though our lips were enemies,
But with soft open kisses like a sparrow;
They sing, and comfort us, and make us cheerful,
And straightway banish all our care and grief,
And make our faces bright again with smiles.
And Eubulus, in his Campylion, introducing a courtesan of modest deportment, says-
How modestly she sat the while at supper!
Not like the rest, who make great balls of leeks,
And stuff their cheeks with them, and loudly crunch
Within their jaws large lumps of greasy meat;
[572] But delicately tasting of each dish,
In mouthfuls small, like a Milesian maiden.
And Antiphanes says in his Hydra -
But he, the man of whom I now was speaking,
Seeing a woman who lived near his house,
A courtesan, did fall at once in love with her;
She was a citizen, without a guardian
Or any near relations, and her manners
Pure, and on virtue's strictest model formed,
A genuine mistress (? ? ? ? ? ? ); for the rest of the crew
Bring into disrepute, by their vile manners,
A name which in itself has nothing wrong.
And Anaxilas, in his Neottis, says-
(A) But if a woman does at all times use
Fair, moderate language, giving her services
Favourable to all who stand in need of her,
She from her prompt companionship (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) does earn
The title of companion (? ? ? ? ? ? ); and you,
As you say rightly, have not fallen in love
With a vile harlot (? ? ? ? ? ), but with a companion (? ? ? ? ? ? ).
Is she not one of pure and simple manners?
(B) At all events, by Zeus, she's beautiful.
[30. ] G But that systematic debaucher of youths of yours, is such a person as Alexis, or Antiphanes, represents him, in his Sleep:
On this account, that profligate, when supping
With us, will never eat an onion even,
So as not to annoy the object of his love.
And Ephippus has spoken very well of people of that description in his Sappho, where he says-
For when one in the flower of his age
Learns to sneak into other men's abodes,
And shares of meals where he has not contributed,
He must expect some other mode of payment.
And Aeschines the orator has said something of the same kind in his Speech against Timarchus.
[31. ] G But concerning courtesans, Philetaerus, in his Huntress, has the following lines:-
'Tis not for nothing that wherever we go
We find a temple of Hetaera there,
But nowhere one to any wedded wife.
I know, too, that there is a festival called the Hetaerideia, which is celebrated in Magnesia, not owing to the courtesans, but to another cause, which is mentioned by Hegesander in his Commentaries, who writes thus:- "The Magnesians celebrate a festival called Hetaerideia; and they give this account of it: that originally Jason, the son of Aeson, when he had collected the Argonauts, sacrificed to Zeus Hetaereius, and called the festival Hetaerideia. And the Macedonian kings also celebrated the Hetaerideia. " There is also a temple of Aphrodite the Prostitute (? ? ? ? ? ) at Abydus, as Pamphilus asserts:- "For when all the city was oppressed by slavery, the guards in the city, after a sacrifice on one occasion (as Cleanthus relates in his essays on Fables), having got intoxicated, took several courtesans; and one of these women, when she saw that the men were all fast asleep, taking the keys, got over the wall, and brought the news to the citizens of Abydus. And they, on this, immediately came in arms, and slew the guards, and took possession of the walls, and recovered their freedom; and to show their gratitude to the prostitute, they built a temple to Aphrodite the Prostitute. "
And Alexis the Samian, in the second book of his Samian Annals, says- "The Athenian prostitutes who followed Pericles when he laid siege to Samos, having made vast sums of money by their beauty, dedicated a statue of Aphrodite at Samos, which some call Aphrodite among the Reeds, and others Aphrodite in the Marsh. " [573] And Eualces, in his History of the Affairs of Ephesus, says that there is at Ephesus also a temple to Aphrodite the Courtesan (? ? ? ? ? ? ). And Clearchus, in the first book of his treatise on Amatory Matters, says-" Gyges the king of the Lydians was very celebrated, not only on account of his mistress while she was alive, having submitted himself and his whole dominions to her power, but also after she was dead; inasmuch as he assembled all the Lydians in the whole country, and raised that mound which is even now called the tomb of the Lydian Courtesan; building it up to a great height, so that when he was travelling in the country, inside of Mount Tmolus, wherever he was, he could always see the tomb; and it was a conspicuous object to all the inhabitants of Lydia. " And Demosthenes the orator, in his Speech against Neaera (if it is a genuine one, which Apollodorus says it is), says [ 59'122 ]- "Now we have courtesans for the sake of pleasure, but concubines for the sake of daily cohabitation, and wives for the purpose of having children legitimately, and of having a faithful guardian of all our household affairs. "
[32. ] G I will now mention to you, Cynulcus, an Ionian story (spinning it out, as Aeschylus' Agamemnon says,) about courtesans, beginning with the beautiful Corinth, since you have reproached me with having been a schoolmaster in that city. It is an ancient custom at Corinth (as Chamaeleon of Heracleia relates, in his treatise on Pindarus), whenever the city addresses any supplication to Aphrodite about any important matter, to employ as many courtesans as possible to join in the supplication; and they, too, pray to the goddess, and afterwards they are present at the sacrifices. And when the king of Persia was leading his army against Greece (as Theopompus also relates, and so does Timaeus, in his seventh book), the Corinthian courtesans offered prayers for the safety of Greece, going to the temple of Aphrodite. On which account, after the Corinthians had consecrated a picture to the goddess (which remains even to this day), and as in this picture they had painted the portraits of the courtesans who made this supplication at the time, and who were present afterwards, Simonides composed this epigram:-
These damsels, on behalf of Greece, and all
Their gallant countrymen, stood nobly forth,
Praying to Aphrodite, all-powerful goddess;
Nor was the queen of beauty willing ever
To leave the citadel of Greece to fall
Beneath the arrows of the unwarlike Persians.
And even private individuals sometimes vow to Aphrodite, that if they succeed in the objects for which they are offering their vows, they will bring her a stated number of courtesans.
[33. ] G As this custom, then, exists with reference to this goddess, Xenophon the Corinthian, when going to Olympia to the games, vowed that he, if he were victorious, would bring her some courtesans. And Pindarus at first wrote a panegyric on him, which begins thus [ Olymp. 13 ]:-
Praising the house which in the Olympic games
Has thrice borne off the victory.
But afterwards he composed a scolium on him, which was sung at the sacrificial feasts; at the start of which he turns at once to the courtesans who joined in the sacrifice to Aphrodite, in the presence of Xenophon, while he was sacrificing to the goddess himself ; on which account he says:-
O queen of Cyprus' isle,
Come to this grove !
[574] Lo, Xenophon, succeeding in his aim,
Brings you a band of willing maidens,
Dancing on a hundred feet.
And the opening lines of the song were these:-
O hospitable damsels, fairest train
Of soft Persuasion,-
Ornament of the wealthy Corinth,
Bearing in willing hands the golden drops
That from the frankincense distil, and flying
To the fair mother of the Loves,
Who dwells up in the sky,
Lovely Aphrodite,- you do bring to us
Comfort and hope in danger, that we may
Hereafter, in the delicate beds of Love,
Heap the long-wished-for fruits of joy,
Lovely and necessary to all mortal men.
And after having begun in this manner, he proceeds to say:-
But now I marvel, and wait anxiously
To see what will my masters say of me,
Who thus begin
My scolium with this amatory preface,
Willing companion of these willing damsels.
And it is plain here that the poet, while addressing the courtesans in this way, was in some doubt as to the light in which it would appear to the Corinthians; but, trusting to his own genius, he proceeds with the following verse:-
We teach pure gold on a well-tried lyre.
And Alexis, in his Loving Woman, tells us that the courtesans at Corinth celebrate a festival of their own, called Aphrodisia; where he says -
The city at the time was celebrating
The Aphrodisia of the courtesans;
This is a different festival from that
At which the free women are present: and then
It is the custom on those days that all
The courtesans should feast with us in common.
[34. ] G But at Lacedaemon (as Polemon Periegetes says, in his treatise on the Offerings at Lacedaemon,) there is a statue of a very celebrated courtesan, named Cottina, who, he tells us, consecrated a brazen cow; and Polemon's words are these:- "And the statue of Cottina the courtesan, on account of whose celebrity there is still a brothel which is called by her name, near the hill on which the temple of Dionysus stands, is a conspicuous object, well known to many of the citizens. And her votive offering is beyond the statue of Athene Chalcioecus - a brazen cow, and also the before-mentioned image. "
And the handsome Alcibiades, of whom one of the comic poets said:-
And then the delicate Alcibiades,
O earth and all the gods! whom Lacedaemon
Desires to catch in his adulteries,
though he was beloved by the wife of Agis, used to go and hold his revels at the doors of the courtesans, leaving all the Lacedaemonian and Athenian women. He also fell in love with Medontis of Abydus, from the mere report of her beauty; and sailing to the Hellespont with Axiochus, who was a lover of his on account of his beauty (as Lysias the orator states in his speech against him), he allowed Axiochus to share her with him. Moreover, Alcibiades used always to carry about two other courtesans with him in all his expeditions, namely, Damasandra, the mother of the younger Lais, and Theodote; who, after he was dead, buried him in Melissa, a village of Phrygia, after he had been overwhelmed by the treachery of Pharnabazus. And we ourselves saw the tomb of Alcibiades at Melissa, when we went from Synnada to Metropolis; and at that tomb there is sacrificed an ox every year, by the command of that most excellent emperor Hadrianus, who also erected on the tomb a statue of Alcibiades in Parian marble.
[35. ] G [575] And we must not wonder at people having on some occasions fallen in love with others from the mere report of their beauty, when Chares of Mytilene, in the tenth book of his History of Alexander, says that some people have even seen in dreams those whom they have never beheld before, and fallen in love with them in this way. And he writes as follows:- "Hystaspes had a younger brother whose name was Zariadres; and they were both men of great personal beauty. And the story told concerning them by the natives of the country is, that they were the offspring of Aphrodite and Adonis. Now Hystaspes was ruler of Media, and of the lower country adjoining it; and Zariadres was ruler of the country above the Caspian gates as far as the river Tanais. Now the daughter of Omartes, the king of the Marathi, a tribe dwelling on the other side of the Tanais, was named Odatis. And concerning her it is written in the Histories, that she in her sleep beheld Zariadres, and fell in love with him; and that the very same thing happened to him with respect to her. And so for a long time they were in love with one another, simply on account of the visions which they had seen in their dreams. And Odatis was the most beautiful of all the women in Asia; and Zariadres also was very handsome. Accordingly, when Zariadres sent to Omartes and expressed a desire to marry the girl, Omartes would not agree to it, because he did not have any male offspring; for he wished to give her to one of his own people about his court.
"Not long afterwards, Omartes, having assembled all the chief men of his kingdom and all his friends and relations, held a marriage feast. But he had not said beforehand to whom he was going to give his daughter. And as the wine went round, her father summoned Odatis to the banquet, and said, in the hearing of all the guests,- 'We, my daughter Odatis, are now celebrating your marriage feast; so now do you look around, and survey all those who are present, and then take a golden goblet and fill it, and give it to the man to whom you like to be married; for you shall be called his wife. ' And she, having looked round upon them all, went away weeping, being anxious to see Zariadres, for she had sent him word that her marriage feast was about to be celebrated. But he, being encamped on the Tanais, and leaving the army encamped there without being perceived, crossed the river with his charioteer alone ; and going by night in his chariot, passed through the city, having gone about eight hundred stades without stopping. And when he got near the town in which the marriage festival was being celebrated, and leaving, in some place near, his chariot with the charioteer, he went forward by himself, clad in a Scythian robe. And when he arrived at the palace, and seeing Odatis standing in front of the sideboard in tears, while she filled the goblet very slowly, he stood near her and said, 'Odatis, here I have come, as you requested me to, - I, Zariadres. ' And she, perceiving a stranger, and a handsome man, and that he resembled the man whom she had beheld in her sleep, being exceedingly glad, gave him the bowl. And he, seizing on her, led her away to his chariot, and fled away, having Odatis with him. And the servants and the handmaidens, knowing their love, said not a word. And when her father ordered them to summon her, they said that they did not know which way she had gone.
"And the story of this love is often told by the barbarians who dwell in Asia, and is exceedingly admired; and they have painted representations of the story in their temples and palaces, and also in their private houses. And a great many of the princes in those countries give their daughters the name of Odatis. "
[36. ] G [576] Aristotle also, in his Constitution of the Massilians, mentions a similar circumstance as having taken place, writing as follows:- "The Phocaeans in Ionia, having consulted the oracle, founded Massilia. And Euxenus the Phocaean was connected by ties of hospitality with Nanus; this was the name of the king of that country. This Nanus was celebrating the marriage feast of his daughter, and invited Euxenus, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, to the feast. And the marriage was to be conducted in the following manner: after the supper was over the girl was to come in, and to give a goblet full of wine properly mixed to whichever of the suitors who were present she chose; and to whomsoever she gave it, he was to be her bridegroom. And when the girl came in, whether it was by chance or whether it was for any other reason, she gave the goblet to Euxenus. And the name of the maiden was Petta. And when the cup had been given in this way, and her father (thinking that she had been directed by the Deity in her giving of it) had consented that Euxenus should have her, he took her for his wife, and cohabited with her, changing her name to Aristoxene. And the family which is descended from that girl remains in Massilia to this day, and is known as the Protiadae; for Protis was the name of the son of Euxenus and Aristoxene. "
[37. ] G And did not Themistocles, as Idomeneus relates, harness a chariot full of courtesans and drive with them into the city when the market was full? And the courtesans were Lamia and Scione and Satyra and Nanni? n. And was not Themistocles himself the son of a courtesan, whose name was Abroton? n? as Amphicrates relates in his treatise on Illustrious Men-
Abroton? n was but a Thracian woman,
But for the weal of Greece
She was the mother of the great Themistocles.
But Neanthes of Cyzicus, in his third and fourth books of his History of Greek Affairs, says that he was the son of Euterpe.
And when Cyrus the younger was making his expedition against his brother, did he not carry with him a courtesan of Phocaea, who was a very clever and very beautiful woman? and Zenophanes says that her name was originally Milto, but that it was afterwards changed to Aspasia. And a Milesian concubine also accompanied him. And did not the great Alexander keep Thais about him, who was an Athenian courtesan? And Cleitarchus speaks of her as having been the cause that the palace of Persepolis was burnt down. And this Thais, after the death of Alexander, married Ptolemy, who became the first king of Egypt, and she bore him sons, Leontiscus and Lagus, and a daughter named Eirene, who was married to Eunostus, the king of Soli, a town of Cyprus. And the second king of Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus by name, as Ptolemy Euergetes relates in the third book of his Commentaries, had a great many mistresses,- namely, Didyme, who was a native of the country, and very beautiful; and Bilistiche; and, besides them, Agathocleia, and Stratonice, who had a great monument on the sea-shore, near Eleusis; and Myrti? n, and a great many more; as he was a man excessively addicted to amatory pleasures. # And Polybius, in the fourteenth book of his History [ 14. 11 ], says that there are a great many statues of a woman named Cleino, who was his cup-bearer, in Alexandria, clothed in a tunic only, and holding a cornucopia in her hand. "And are not," says he, "the finest houses called by the names of Myrti? n, and Mnesis, and Potheine? and yet Mnesis was only a female flute-player, and so was Potheine, and Myrti? n was one of the most notorious and common prostitutes in the city. "
[577] # Was there not also Agathocleia the courtesan, who had great power over king Ptolemy Philopator? in fact, was it not she who was the ruin of his whole kingdom? And Eumachus of Neapolis, in the second book of his History of Hannibal, says that Hieronymus, the tyrant of Syracuse, fell in love with one of the common prostitutes who followed her trade in a brothel, whose name was Peitho, and married her, and made her queen of Syracuse.
[38. ] G And Timotheus, who was general of the Athenians, with a very high reputation, was the son of a courtesan, a Thracian by birth, but, except that she was a courtesan, of very excellent character; for when women of this class do behave modestly, they are superior to those who give themselves airs on account of their virtue. But Timotheus being on one occasion reproached as being the son of a mother of that character, said,- "But I am much obliged to her, because it is owing to her that I am the son of Conon. " And Carystius, in his Historical Commentaries, says that Philetaerus the king of Pergamum, and of all that country which is now called the New Province, was the son of a woman named Boa, who was a flute-player and a courtesan, a Paphlagonian by birth. And Aristophon the orator, who in the archonship of Eucleides [ 403 B. C. ] proposed a law, that every one who was not born of a woman who was a citizen should be accounted a bastard, was himself convicted, by Calliades the comic poet, of having children by a courtesan named Choregis, as the same Carystius relates in the third book of his Commentaries.
# Besides all these men, was not Demetrius Poliorcetes evidently in love with Lamia the flute-player, by whom he had a daughter named Phila? And Polemon, in his treatise On the Painted Stoa at Sicyon, says that Lamia was the daughter of Cleanor an Athenian, and that she built the before-mentioned colonnade for the people of Sicyon. Demetrius was also in love with Leaena, and she was also an Athenian courtesan; and with a great many other women besides.
[39. ] G # And Machon the comic poet, in his play entitled the Chriae, speaks thus:-
But as Leaena was by nature formed
To give her lovers most exceeding pleasure,
And was besides much favoured by Demetrius,
They say that Lamia also gratified
The king; and when he praised her grace and quickness,
The woman answered: And besides you can,
If you do wish, subdue a lioness (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
But Lamia was always very witty and prompt in repartee, as also was Gnathaena, whom we shall mention presently. And again Machon writes thus aboout Lamia:-
Demetrius the king was once displaying
Amid his cups a great variety
Of kinds of perfumes to his Lamia:
Now Lamia was a female flute-player,
With whom 'tis always said Demetrius
Was very much in love. But when she scoffed
At all his perfumes, and, moreover, treated
The monarch with exceeding insolence,
He bade a slave bring some cheap unguent, while
With his hand he felt himself, and smeared his fingers,
And said, "At least smell this, O Lamia,
And see how much this scent does beat all others. "
She laughingly replied: "But know, O king,
That smell does seem to me the worst of all. "
"But," said Demetrius, "I swear, by the gods,
That 'tis produced from a right royal nut. "
[40. ] G But Ptolemaeus the son of Agesarchus, in his History of Philopator, [578] giving a list of the mistresses of the different kings, says- "Philippus the Macedonian promoted Philinna, the dancing woman, by whom he had Arrhidaeus, 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 Heracleides Lembus, 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 shared in many of the crimes of Demetrius; and he also put to the torture and executed the maid-servants of Demo.
[41. ] G But concerning the name of Mania, which we have just mentioned, the same Machon says this:
Some one perhaps of those who hear this now,
May fairly wonder how it came to pass
That an Athenian woman had a name,
Or even a nickname, such as Mania.
For 'tis disgraceful for a woman thus
To bear a Phrygian name; she being, too,
A courtesan from the very heart of Greece.
And why was this permitted in the city of Athens,
By which all other nations are much swayed?
The fact is that her name from early childhood
Was this- Melitta. And as she grew up
A trifle shorter than her playfellows,
But with a sweet voice and engaging manners,
And with such beauty and excellence of face
As made a deep impression upon all men,
She'd many lovers, foreigners and citizens.
So that when any conversation
Arose about this woman, each man said,
The fair Melitta was his madness (? ? ? ? ? ). Aye,
And she herself contributed to this name;
For when she jested she would oft repeat
This word ? ? ? ? ? ; and when in sport she blamed
Or praised any one, she would bring in,
In either sentence, this word ? ? ? ? ? .
So some one of her lovers, dwelling on
The word, appears to have nicknamed the girl
Mania; and this extra name prevailed
More than her real one. It seems, besides,
That Mania was afflicted with the stone,
But Gnathaena was reproached by Diphilus,
Because she soiled the bedclothes. And once
When Gnathaena was chiding Mania, she said-
"How so, girl, even if you did have a stone? "
And Mania replied, "I should have given it to you,
You wretch, so you could wipe yourself clean. "
[42. ] G And that Mania was also excellent in witty repartee, Machon tells us in these verses about her,-
There was a victor in the pancratium,
Named Leontiscus, who loved Mania,
And kept her with him as his lawful wife;
But finding afterwards that she did play
The harlot with Antenor, was indignant:
But she replied,-" My darling, never mind;
I only wanted just to feel and prove,
In a single night, how great the strength might be
Of two such athletes, victors at Olympia. "
[579] They say again that Mania once was asked,
By King Demetrius, for a perfect sight
Of her fair buttocks; and she, in return,
Demanded that he should grant her a favour.
When he agreed, she turned her back, and said,-
"O son of Agamemnon, now the Gods
Grant you to see what you so long have wished for. " [ Sophocles, Electra_2 ]
On one occasion, too, a foreigner,
Who a deserter was believed to be,
Had come by chance to Athens; and he sent
For Mania, and gave her all she asked.
It happened that he had procured for supper
Some of those table-jesters, common buffoons,
Who always raise a laugh to please their feeders;
And wishing to appear a witty man,
Used to politest conversation,
While Mania was sporting gracefully,
As was her wont, and often rising up
To reach a dish of hare, he tried to raise
A joke upon her, and thus spoke,- "My friends,
Tell me, I pray you by the Gods, what animal
You think runs fastest over the mountain-tops? "
"Why, my love, a deserter," answered Mania.
Another time, when Mania came to see him,
She laughed at the deserter, telling him,
That once in battle he had lost his shield.
But this brave soldier, looking somewhat fierce
Sent her away. And as she was departing,
She said, "My love, don't be so much annoyed;
For by Aphrodite, it was not you who lost the shield,
When you ran away, but he who lent it you. "
Another time they say a man who was
A thorough profligate, did entertain
Mania at supper; and when he questioned her,
"Do you like being up or down the best? "
She laughed, and said, "I'd rather be up, my friend,
For I'm afraid, lest, if I lay me down,
You'd bite my plaited hair from off my head. "
[43. ] G 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 Gnathaena thus:-
Diphilus once was drinking with Gnathaena.
Said he, "Your cup is somewhat cold, Gnathaena;"
And she replied, "'Tis no great wonder, Diphilus,
For we take care to put some of your plays in it. "
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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ?
You've done an act not suited to companions (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ),
But, by Zeus, far more fit for courtesans (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ),
These words, so near the same, do make the sense
Not always easily to be distinguished.
[29. ] G But concerning courtesans, Ephippus, in his Merchandise, speaks as follows:
And then if, when we enter through their doors,
They see that we are out of sorts at all,
They flatter us and soothe us, kiss us gently,
Not pressing hard as though our lips were enemies,
But with soft open kisses like a sparrow;
They sing, and comfort us, and make us cheerful,
And straightway banish all our care and grief,
And make our faces bright again with smiles.
And Eubulus, in his Campylion, introducing a courtesan of modest deportment, says-
How modestly she sat the while at supper!
Not like the rest, who make great balls of leeks,
And stuff their cheeks with them, and loudly crunch
Within their jaws large lumps of greasy meat;
[572] But delicately tasting of each dish,
In mouthfuls small, like a Milesian maiden.
And Antiphanes says in his Hydra -
But he, the man of whom I now was speaking,
Seeing a woman who lived near his house,
A courtesan, did fall at once in love with her;
She was a citizen, without a guardian
Or any near relations, and her manners
Pure, and on virtue's strictest model formed,
A genuine mistress (? ? ? ? ? ? ); for the rest of the crew
Bring into disrepute, by their vile manners,
A name which in itself has nothing wrong.
And Anaxilas, in his Neottis, says-
(A) But if a woman does at all times use
Fair, moderate language, giving her services
Favourable to all who stand in need of her,
She from her prompt companionship (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) does earn
The title of companion (? ? ? ? ? ? ); and you,
As you say rightly, have not fallen in love
With a vile harlot (? ? ? ? ? ), but with a companion (? ? ? ? ? ? ).
Is she not one of pure and simple manners?
(B) At all events, by Zeus, she's beautiful.
[30. ] G But that systematic debaucher of youths of yours, is such a person as Alexis, or Antiphanes, represents him, in his Sleep:
On this account, that profligate, when supping
With us, will never eat an onion even,
So as not to annoy the object of his love.
And Ephippus has spoken very well of people of that description in his Sappho, where he says-
For when one in the flower of his age
Learns to sneak into other men's abodes,
And shares of meals where he has not contributed,
He must expect some other mode of payment.
And Aeschines the orator has said something of the same kind in his Speech against Timarchus.
[31. ] G But concerning courtesans, Philetaerus, in his Huntress, has the following lines:-
'Tis not for nothing that wherever we go
We find a temple of Hetaera there,
But nowhere one to any wedded wife.
I know, too, that there is a festival called the Hetaerideia, which is celebrated in Magnesia, not owing to the courtesans, but to another cause, which is mentioned by Hegesander in his Commentaries, who writes thus:- "The Magnesians celebrate a festival called Hetaerideia; and they give this account of it: that originally Jason, the son of Aeson, when he had collected the Argonauts, sacrificed to Zeus Hetaereius, and called the festival Hetaerideia. And the Macedonian kings also celebrated the Hetaerideia. " There is also a temple of Aphrodite the Prostitute (? ? ? ? ? ) at Abydus, as Pamphilus asserts:- "For when all the city was oppressed by slavery, the guards in the city, after a sacrifice on one occasion (as Cleanthus relates in his essays on Fables), having got intoxicated, took several courtesans; and one of these women, when she saw that the men were all fast asleep, taking the keys, got over the wall, and brought the news to the citizens of Abydus. And they, on this, immediately came in arms, and slew the guards, and took possession of the walls, and recovered their freedom; and to show their gratitude to the prostitute, they built a temple to Aphrodite the Prostitute. "
And Alexis the Samian, in the second book of his Samian Annals, says- "The Athenian prostitutes who followed Pericles when he laid siege to Samos, having made vast sums of money by their beauty, dedicated a statue of Aphrodite at Samos, which some call Aphrodite among the Reeds, and others Aphrodite in the Marsh. " [573] And Eualces, in his History of the Affairs of Ephesus, says that there is at Ephesus also a temple to Aphrodite the Courtesan (? ? ? ? ? ? ). And Clearchus, in the first book of his treatise on Amatory Matters, says-" Gyges the king of the Lydians was very celebrated, not only on account of his mistress while she was alive, having submitted himself and his whole dominions to her power, but also after she was dead; inasmuch as he assembled all the Lydians in the whole country, and raised that mound which is even now called the tomb of the Lydian Courtesan; building it up to a great height, so that when he was travelling in the country, inside of Mount Tmolus, wherever he was, he could always see the tomb; and it was a conspicuous object to all the inhabitants of Lydia. " And Demosthenes the orator, in his Speech against Neaera (if it is a genuine one, which Apollodorus says it is), says [ 59'122 ]- "Now we have courtesans for the sake of pleasure, but concubines for the sake of daily cohabitation, and wives for the purpose of having children legitimately, and of having a faithful guardian of all our household affairs. "
[32. ] G I will now mention to you, Cynulcus, an Ionian story (spinning it out, as Aeschylus' Agamemnon says,) about courtesans, beginning with the beautiful Corinth, since you have reproached me with having been a schoolmaster in that city. It is an ancient custom at Corinth (as Chamaeleon of Heracleia relates, in his treatise on Pindarus), whenever the city addresses any supplication to Aphrodite about any important matter, to employ as many courtesans as possible to join in the supplication; and they, too, pray to the goddess, and afterwards they are present at the sacrifices. And when the king of Persia was leading his army against Greece (as Theopompus also relates, and so does Timaeus, in his seventh book), the Corinthian courtesans offered prayers for the safety of Greece, going to the temple of Aphrodite. On which account, after the Corinthians had consecrated a picture to the goddess (which remains even to this day), and as in this picture they had painted the portraits of the courtesans who made this supplication at the time, and who were present afterwards, Simonides composed this epigram:-
These damsels, on behalf of Greece, and all
Their gallant countrymen, stood nobly forth,
Praying to Aphrodite, all-powerful goddess;
Nor was the queen of beauty willing ever
To leave the citadel of Greece to fall
Beneath the arrows of the unwarlike Persians.
And even private individuals sometimes vow to Aphrodite, that if they succeed in the objects for which they are offering their vows, they will bring her a stated number of courtesans.
[33. ] G As this custom, then, exists with reference to this goddess, Xenophon the Corinthian, when going to Olympia to the games, vowed that he, if he were victorious, would bring her some courtesans. And Pindarus at first wrote a panegyric on him, which begins thus [ Olymp. 13 ]:-
Praising the house which in the Olympic games
Has thrice borne off the victory.
But afterwards he composed a scolium on him, which was sung at the sacrificial feasts; at the start of which he turns at once to the courtesans who joined in the sacrifice to Aphrodite, in the presence of Xenophon, while he was sacrificing to the goddess himself ; on which account he says:-
O queen of Cyprus' isle,
Come to this grove !
[574] Lo, Xenophon, succeeding in his aim,
Brings you a band of willing maidens,
Dancing on a hundred feet.
And the opening lines of the song were these:-
O hospitable damsels, fairest train
Of soft Persuasion,-
Ornament of the wealthy Corinth,
Bearing in willing hands the golden drops
That from the frankincense distil, and flying
To the fair mother of the Loves,
Who dwells up in the sky,
Lovely Aphrodite,- you do bring to us
Comfort and hope in danger, that we may
Hereafter, in the delicate beds of Love,
Heap the long-wished-for fruits of joy,
Lovely and necessary to all mortal men.
And after having begun in this manner, he proceeds to say:-
But now I marvel, and wait anxiously
To see what will my masters say of me,
Who thus begin
My scolium with this amatory preface,
Willing companion of these willing damsels.
And it is plain here that the poet, while addressing the courtesans in this way, was in some doubt as to the light in which it would appear to the Corinthians; but, trusting to his own genius, he proceeds with the following verse:-
We teach pure gold on a well-tried lyre.
And Alexis, in his Loving Woman, tells us that the courtesans at Corinth celebrate a festival of their own, called Aphrodisia; where he says -
The city at the time was celebrating
The Aphrodisia of the courtesans;
This is a different festival from that
At which the free women are present: and then
It is the custom on those days that all
The courtesans should feast with us in common.
[34. ] G But at Lacedaemon (as Polemon Periegetes says, in his treatise on the Offerings at Lacedaemon,) there is a statue of a very celebrated courtesan, named Cottina, who, he tells us, consecrated a brazen cow; and Polemon's words are these:- "And the statue of Cottina the courtesan, on account of whose celebrity there is still a brothel which is called by her name, near the hill on which the temple of Dionysus stands, is a conspicuous object, well known to many of the citizens. And her votive offering is beyond the statue of Athene Chalcioecus - a brazen cow, and also the before-mentioned image. "
And the handsome Alcibiades, of whom one of the comic poets said:-
And then the delicate Alcibiades,
O earth and all the gods! whom Lacedaemon
Desires to catch in his adulteries,
though he was beloved by the wife of Agis, used to go and hold his revels at the doors of the courtesans, leaving all the Lacedaemonian and Athenian women. He also fell in love with Medontis of Abydus, from the mere report of her beauty; and sailing to the Hellespont with Axiochus, who was a lover of his on account of his beauty (as Lysias the orator states in his speech against him), he allowed Axiochus to share her with him. Moreover, Alcibiades used always to carry about two other courtesans with him in all his expeditions, namely, Damasandra, the mother of the younger Lais, and Theodote; who, after he was dead, buried him in Melissa, a village of Phrygia, after he had been overwhelmed by the treachery of Pharnabazus. And we ourselves saw the tomb of Alcibiades at Melissa, when we went from Synnada to Metropolis; and at that tomb there is sacrificed an ox every year, by the command of that most excellent emperor Hadrianus, who also erected on the tomb a statue of Alcibiades in Parian marble.
[35. ] G [575] And we must not wonder at people having on some occasions fallen in love with others from the mere report of their beauty, when Chares of Mytilene, in the tenth book of his History of Alexander, says that some people have even seen in dreams those whom they have never beheld before, and fallen in love with them in this way. And he writes as follows:- "Hystaspes had a younger brother whose name was Zariadres; and they were both men of great personal beauty. And the story told concerning them by the natives of the country is, that they were the offspring of Aphrodite and Adonis. Now Hystaspes was ruler of Media, and of the lower country adjoining it; and Zariadres was ruler of the country above the Caspian gates as far as the river Tanais. Now the daughter of Omartes, the king of the Marathi, a tribe dwelling on the other side of the Tanais, was named Odatis. And concerning her it is written in the Histories, that she in her sleep beheld Zariadres, and fell in love with him; and that the very same thing happened to him with respect to her. And so for a long time they were in love with one another, simply on account of the visions which they had seen in their dreams. And Odatis was the most beautiful of all the women in Asia; and Zariadres also was very handsome. Accordingly, when Zariadres sent to Omartes and expressed a desire to marry the girl, Omartes would not agree to it, because he did not have any male offspring; for he wished to give her to one of his own people about his court.
"Not long afterwards, Omartes, having assembled all the chief men of his kingdom and all his friends and relations, held a marriage feast. But he had not said beforehand to whom he was going to give his daughter. And as the wine went round, her father summoned Odatis to the banquet, and said, in the hearing of all the guests,- 'We, my daughter Odatis, are now celebrating your marriage feast; so now do you look around, and survey all those who are present, and then take a golden goblet and fill it, and give it to the man to whom you like to be married; for you shall be called his wife. ' And she, having looked round upon them all, went away weeping, being anxious to see Zariadres, for she had sent him word that her marriage feast was about to be celebrated. But he, being encamped on the Tanais, and leaving the army encamped there without being perceived, crossed the river with his charioteer alone ; and going by night in his chariot, passed through the city, having gone about eight hundred stades without stopping. And when he got near the town in which the marriage festival was being celebrated, and leaving, in some place near, his chariot with the charioteer, he went forward by himself, clad in a Scythian robe. And when he arrived at the palace, and seeing Odatis standing in front of the sideboard in tears, while she filled the goblet very slowly, he stood near her and said, 'Odatis, here I have come, as you requested me to, - I, Zariadres. ' And she, perceiving a stranger, and a handsome man, and that he resembled the man whom she had beheld in her sleep, being exceedingly glad, gave him the bowl. And he, seizing on her, led her away to his chariot, and fled away, having Odatis with him. And the servants and the handmaidens, knowing their love, said not a word. And when her father ordered them to summon her, they said that they did not know which way she had gone.
"And the story of this love is often told by the barbarians who dwell in Asia, and is exceedingly admired; and they have painted representations of the story in their temples and palaces, and also in their private houses. And a great many of the princes in those countries give their daughters the name of Odatis. "
[36. ] G [576] Aristotle also, in his Constitution of the Massilians, mentions a similar circumstance as having taken place, writing as follows:- "The Phocaeans in Ionia, having consulted the oracle, founded Massilia. And Euxenus the Phocaean was connected by ties of hospitality with Nanus; this was the name of the king of that country. This Nanus was celebrating the marriage feast of his daughter, and invited Euxenus, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, to the feast. And the marriage was to be conducted in the following manner: after the supper was over the girl was to come in, and to give a goblet full of wine properly mixed to whichever of the suitors who were present she chose; and to whomsoever she gave it, he was to be her bridegroom. And when the girl came in, whether it was by chance or whether it was for any other reason, she gave the goblet to Euxenus. And the name of the maiden was Petta. And when the cup had been given in this way, and her father (thinking that she had been directed by the Deity in her giving of it) had consented that Euxenus should have her, he took her for his wife, and cohabited with her, changing her name to Aristoxene. And the family which is descended from that girl remains in Massilia to this day, and is known as the Protiadae; for Protis was the name of the son of Euxenus and Aristoxene. "
[37. ] G And did not Themistocles, as Idomeneus relates, harness a chariot full of courtesans and drive with them into the city when the market was full? And the courtesans were Lamia and Scione and Satyra and Nanni? n. And was not Themistocles himself the son of a courtesan, whose name was Abroton? n? as Amphicrates relates in his treatise on Illustrious Men-
Abroton? n was but a Thracian woman,
But for the weal of Greece
She was the mother of the great Themistocles.
But Neanthes of Cyzicus, in his third and fourth books of his History of Greek Affairs, says that he was the son of Euterpe.
And when Cyrus the younger was making his expedition against his brother, did he not carry with him a courtesan of Phocaea, who was a very clever and very beautiful woman? and Zenophanes says that her name was originally Milto, but that it was afterwards changed to Aspasia. And a Milesian concubine also accompanied him. And did not the great Alexander keep Thais about him, who was an Athenian courtesan? And Cleitarchus speaks of her as having been the cause that the palace of Persepolis was burnt down. And this Thais, after the death of Alexander, married Ptolemy, who became the first king of Egypt, and she bore him sons, Leontiscus and Lagus, and a daughter named Eirene, who was married to Eunostus, the king of Soli, a town of Cyprus. And the second king of Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus by name, as Ptolemy Euergetes relates in the third book of his Commentaries, had a great many mistresses,- namely, Didyme, who was a native of the country, and very beautiful; and Bilistiche; and, besides them, Agathocleia, and Stratonice, who had a great monument on the sea-shore, near Eleusis; and Myrti? n, and a great many more; as he was a man excessively addicted to amatory pleasures. # And Polybius, in the fourteenth book of his History [ 14. 11 ], says that there are a great many statues of a woman named Cleino, who was his cup-bearer, in Alexandria, clothed in a tunic only, and holding a cornucopia in her hand. "And are not," says he, "the finest houses called by the names of Myrti? n, and Mnesis, and Potheine? and yet Mnesis was only a female flute-player, and so was Potheine, and Myrti? n was one of the most notorious and common prostitutes in the city. "
[577] # Was there not also Agathocleia the courtesan, who had great power over king Ptolemy Philopator? in fact, was it not she who was the ruin of his whole kingdom? And Eumachus of Neapolis, in the second book of his History of Hannibal, says that Hieronymus, the tyrant of Syracuse, fell in love with one of the common prostitutes who followed her trade in a brothel, whose name was Peitho, and married her, and made her queen of Syracuse.
[38. ] G And Timotheus, who was general of the Athenians, with a very high reputation, was the son of a courtesan, a Thracian by birth, but, except that she was a courtesan, of very excellent character; for when women of this class do behave modestly, they are superior to those who give themselves airs on account of their virtue. But Timotheus being on one occasion reproached as being the son of a mother of that character, said,- "But I am much obliged to her, because it is owing to her that I am the son of Conon. " And Carystius, in his Historical Commentaries, says that Philetaerus the king of Pergamum, and of all that country which is now called the New Province, was the son of a woman named Boa, who was a flute-player and a courtesan, a Paphlagonian by birth. And Aristophon the orator, who in the archonship of Eucleides [ 403 B. C. ] proposed a law, that every one who was not born of a woman who was a citizen should be accounted a bastard, was himself convicted, by Calliades the comic poet, of having children by a courtesan named Choregis, as the same Carystius relates in the third book of his Commentaries.
# Besides all these men, was not Demetrius Poliorcetes evidently in love with Lamia the flute-player, by whom he had a daughter named Phila? And Polemon, in his treatise On the Painted Stoa at Sicyon, says that Lamia was the daughter of Cleanor an Athenian, and that she built the before-mentioned colonnade for the people of Sicyon. Demetrius was also in love with Leaena, and she was also an Athenian courtesan; and with a great many other women besides.
[39. ] G # And Machon the comic poet, in his play entitled the Chriae, speaks thus:-
But as Leaena was by nature formed
To give her lovers most exceeding pleasure,
And was besides much favoured by Demetrius,
They say that Lamia also gratified
The king; and when he praised her grace and quickness,
The woman answered: And besides you can,
If you do wish, subdue a lioness (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
But Lamia was always very witty and prompt in repartee, as also was Gnathaena, whom we shall mention presently. And again Machon writes thus aboout Lamia:-
Demetrius the king was once displaying
Amid his cups a great variety
Of kinds of perfumes to his Lamia:
Now Lamia was a female flute-player,
With whom 'tis always said Demetrius
Was very much in love. But when she scoffed
At all his perfumes, and, moreover, treated
The monarch with exceeding insolence,
He bade a slave bring some cheap unguent, while
With his hand he felt himself, and smeared his fingers,
And said, "At least smell this, O Lamia,
And see how much this scent does beat all others. "
She laughingly replied: "But know, O king,
That smell does seem to me the worst of all. "
"But," said Demetrius, "I swear, by the gods,
That 'tis produced from a right royal nut. "
[40. ] G But Ptolemaeus the son of Agesarchus, in his History of Philopator, [578] giving a list of the mistresses of the different kings, says- "Philippus the Macedonian promoted Philinna, the dancing woman, by whom he had Arrhidaeus, 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 Heracleides Lembus, 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 shared in many of the crimes of Demetrius; and he also put to the torture and executed the maid-servants of Demo.
[41. ] G But concerning the name of Mania, which we have just mentioned, the same Machon says this:
Some one perhaps of those who hear this now,
May fairly wonder how it came to pass
That an Athenian woman had a name,
Or even a nickname, such as Mania.
For 'tis disgraceful for a woman thus
To bear a Phrygian name; she being, too,
A courtesan from the very heart of Greece.
And why was this permitted in the city of Athens,
By which all other nations are much swayed?
The fact is that her name from early childhood
Was this- Melitta. And as she grew up
A trifle shorter than her playfellows,
But with a sweet voice and engaging manners,
And with such beauty and excellence of face
As made a deep impression upon all men,
She'd many lovers, foreigners and citizens.
So that when any conversation
Arose about this woman, each man said,
The fair Melitta was his madness (? ? ? ? ? ). Aye,
And she herself contributed to this name;
For when she jested she would oft repeat
This word ? ? ? ? ? ; and when in sport she blamed
Or praised any one, she would bring in,
In either sentence, this word ? ? ? ? ? .
So some one of her lovers, dwelling on
The word, appears to have nicknamed the girl
Mania; and this extra name prevailed
More than her real one. It seems, besides,
That Mania was afflicted with the stone,
But Gnathaena was reproached by Diphilus,
Because she soiled the bedclothes. And once
When Gnathaena was chiding Mania, she said-
"How so, girl, even if you did have a stone? "
And Mania replied, "I should have given it to you,
You wretch, so you could wipe yourself clean. "
[42. ] G And that Mania was also excellent in witty repartee, Machon tells us in these verses about her,-
There was a victor in the pancratium,
Named Leontiscus, who loved Mania,
And kept her with him as his lawful wife;
But finding afterwards that she did play
The harlot with Antenor, was indignant:
But she replied,-" My darling, never mind;
I only wanted just to feel and prove,
In a single night, how great the strength might be
Of two such athletes, victors at Olympia. "
[579] They say again that Mania once was asked,
By King Demetrius, for a perfect sight
Of her fair buttocks; and she, in return,
Demanded that he should grant her a favour.
When he agreed, she turned her back, and said,-
"O son of Agamemnon, now the Gods
Grant you to see what you so long have wished for. " [ Sophocles, Electra_2 ]
On one occasion, too, a foreigner,
Who a deserter was believed to be,
Had come by chance to Athens; and he sent
For Mania, and gave her all she asked.
It happened that he had procured for supper
Some of those table-jesters, common buffoons,
Who always raise a laugh to please their feeders;
And wishing to appear a witty man,
Used to politest conversation,
While Mania was sporting gracefully,
As was her wont, and often rising up
To reach a dish of hare, he tried to raise
A joke upon her, and thus spoke,- "My friends,
Tell me, I pray you by the Gods, what animal
You think runs fastest over the mountain-tops? "
"Why, my love, a deserter," answered Mania.
Another time, when Mania came to see him,
She laughed at the deserter, telling him,
That once in battle he had lost his shield.
But this brave soldier, looking somewhat fierce
Sent her away. And as she was departing,
She said, "My love, don't be so much annoyed;
For by Aphrodite, it was not you who lost the shield,
When you ran away, but he who lent it you. "
Another time they say a man who was
A thorough profligate, did entertain
Mania at supper; and when he questioned her,
"Do you like being up or down the best? "
She laughed, and said, "I'd rather be up, my friend,
For I'm afraid, lest, if I lay me down,
You'd bite my plaited hair from off my head. "
[43. ] G 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 Gnathaena thus:-
Diphilus once was drinking with Gnathaena.
Said he, "Your cup is somewhat cold, Gnathaena;"
And she replied, "'Tis no great wonder, Diphilus,
For we take care to put some of your plays in it. "
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 (? ? ? ? ? ? ?
