Chapter 9

To dwell with Ægeus,[39]great Pandion's son.

Phryne, too, was once supping with a man of the same description, and, lifting up the hide of a pig, she said, "Take it, and eat[40]it." And once, when one of her friends sent her some wine, which was very good, but the quantity was small; and when he told her that it was ten years old; "It is very little of its age," said she. And once, when the question was asked at a certain banquet, why it is that crowns are hung up about banqueting-rooms, she said, "Because they delight the mind."[41]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."[42]Once a very covetous lover of hers was coaxing her, and saying to her, "You are the Venus of Praxiteles;" "And you," said she, "are the Cupid of Phidias."[43]

COURTESANS.

50. And as I am aware that some of those men who have been involved in the administration of affairs of state have mentioned courtesans, either accusing or excusing them, I will enumerate some instances of those who have done so. For Demosthenes, in his speech against Androtion, mentions Sinope and Phanostrate; and respecting Sinope, Herodicus the pupil of Crates says, in the sixth book of his treatise on People mentioned in the Comic Poets, that she was called Abydus, because she was an old woman. And Antiphanesmentions her in his Arcadian, and in his Gardener, and in his Sempstress, and in his Female Fisher, and in his Neottis. And Alexis mentions her in his Cleobuline, and Callicrates speaks of her in his Moschion; and concerning Phanostrate, Apollodorus, in his treatise on the Courtesans at Athens, says that she was called Phtheiropyle, because she used to stand at the door (πύλη) and hunt for lice (φθεῖρες).

And in his oration against Aristagoras, Hyperides says—"And again you have named, in the same manner, the animals called aphyæ." Now, aphyæ, besides meaning anchovies, was also a nickname for some courtesans; concerning whom the before-mentioned Apollodorus says—"Stagonium and Amphis were two sisters, and they were called Aphyæ, because they were white, and thin, and had large eyes." And Antiphanes, in his book on Courtesans, says that Nicostratis was called Aphya for the same reason. And the same Hyperides, in his speech against Mantitheus, who was being prosecuted for an assault, speaks in the following manner respecting Glycera—"Bringing with him Glycera the daughter of Thalassis in a pair-horse chariot." But it is uncertain whether this is the same Glycera who was the mistress of Harpalus; concerning whom Theopompus speaks in his treatise on the Chian Epistle, saying that after the death of Pythionica, Harpalus sent for Glycera to come to him from Athens; and when she came, she lived in the palace which is at Tarsus, and was honoured with royal honours by the populace, and was called queen; and an edict was issued, forbidding any one to present Harpalus with a crown, without at the same time presenting Glycera with another. And at Rhossus, he went so far as to erect a brazen statue of her by the side of his own statue. And Clitarchus has given the same account in his History of Alexander. But the author of Agen, a satyric drama, (whoever he was, whether it was Python of Catana, or king Alexander himself,) says—

And now they say that Harpalus has sent themUnnumber'd sacks of corn, no fewer thanThose sent by Agen, and is made a citizen:But this was Glycera's corn, and it may beRuin to them, and not a harlot's earnest.

And now they say that Harpalus has sent them

Unnumber'd 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. 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 Theoclea, and Psamathe, and Lagisca, and Anthea." But perhaps, instead of Anthea, we ought to read Antea. For I do not find any mention made by any one of a harlot named Anthea. But there is a whole play named after Antea, by either Eunicus or Philyllius. And the author of the oration against Neæra, whoever he was, also mentions her. But in the oration against Philonides, who was being prosecuted for an assault, Lysias, if at least it is a genuine speech of his, mentions also a courtesan called Nais. And in his speech against Medon, for perjury, he mentions one by the name of Anticyra; but this was only a nickname given to a woman, whose real name was Hoia, as Antiphanes informs us in his treatise on Courtesans, where he says that she was called Anticyra,[44]because she was in the habit of drinking with men who were crazy and mad; or else because she was at one time the mistress of Nicostratus the physician, and he, when he died, left her a great quantity of hellebore, and nothing else. Lycurgus, also, in his oration against Leocrates, mentions a courtesan named Irenis, as being the mistress of Leocrates. And Hyperides mentions Nico in his oration against Patrocles. And we have already mentioned that she used to be nicknamed the Goat, because she had ruined Thallus the innkeeper. And that the goats are very fond of the young shoots of the olive (θάλλοι), on which account the animal is never allowed to approach the Acropolis, and is also never sacrificed to Minerva, is a fact which we shall dilate upon hereafter. But Sophocles, in his play called The Shepherds, mentions that this animal does browse upon the young shoots, speaking as follows—

For early in the morning, ere a manOf all the folks about the stable saw me,As I was bringing to the goat a thallusFresh pluck'd, I saw the army marching onBy the projecting headland.

For early in the morning, ere a man

Of all the folks about the stable saw me,

As I was bringing to the goat a thallus

Fresh pluck'd, I saw the army marching on

By the projecting headland.

COURTESANS.

Alexis also mentions Nannium, in his Tarentines, thus—

But Nannium is mad for love of Bacchus,—

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

Did he not try to wheedle Nannium?

And Antiphanes, in his treatise on Courtesans, says—"Nannium was nicknamed the Proscenium, because she had a beautiful face, and used to wear very costly garments embroidered with gold, but when she was undressed she was a very bad figure. And Corone was Nannium's daughter, and she was nicknamed Tethe, from her exceedingly debauched habits." Hyperides, in his oration against Patrocles, also speaks of a female flute-player named Nemeas. And we may wonder how it was that the Athenians permitted a courtesan to have such a name, which was that of a most honourable and solemn festival. For not only those who prostituted themselves, but all other slaves also were forbidden to take such names as that, as Polemo tells us, in his treatise on the Acropolis.

52. The same Hyperides also mentions my Ocimum, as you call her, O Cynulcus, in his second oration against Aristagoras, speaking thus—"As Lais, who appears to have been superior in beauty to any woman who had ever been seen, and Ocimum, and Metanira." And Nicostratus, a poet of the middle comedy, mentions her also in his Pandrosus, where he says—

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

Then go the same way to Aerope,

And bid her send some clothes immediately,

And brazen vessels, to fair Ocimum.

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

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

Chrysis, Corone, Ischas, and Anticyra,

And the most beautiful Nannarium,—

All these you had.

And Philetærus, in his Female Hunter, says—

Is not Cercope now extremely old,Three thousand years at least? and is not Telesis,Diopithes' ugly daughter, three times that?And as for old Theolyte, no manAlive can tell the date when she was born.Then did not Lais persevere in her tradeTill the last day of her life? and Isthmias,Neæra too, and Phila, grew quite rotten.I need not mention all the Cossyphæ,Galenæ, and Coronæ; nor will ISay aught of Nais, as her teeth are gone.

Is not Cercope now extremely old,

Three thousand years at least? and is not Telesis,

Diopithes' ugly daughter, three times that?

And as for old Theolyte, no man

Alive can tell the date when she was born.

Then did not Lais persevere in her trade

Till the last day of her life? and Isthmias,

Neæra too, and Phila, grew quite rotten.

I need not mention all the Cossyphæ,

Galenæ, and Coronæ; 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 fallInto Meconis, Lais, or Sisymbrion,Or Barathrum, or Thallusa, or any otherWith whom the panders bait their nets for youths,Nannium, or Malthace.

Lest he should with disastrous shipwreck fall

Into Meconis, Lais, or Sisymbrion,

Or Barathrum, or Thallusa, or any other

With whom the panders bait their nets for youths,

Nannium, or Malthace.

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

The most unletter'd schoolmaster alive.

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

COURTESANS.

54. But as for Lais of Hyccara—(and Hyccara is a city in Sicily, from which place she came to Corinth, having been made a prisoner of war, as Polemo relates in the sixth book of his History, addressed to Timæus: and Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic: and it was also said that the Venus, which is at Corinth, and is called Melænis, appeared to her in a dream, intimating to her by such an appearance that she would be courted by many lovers of great wealth;)—Lais, I say, is mentioned by Hyperides, in the second of his speeches against Aristagoras. And Apelles the painter, having seenLais while she was still a maiden, drawing water at the fountain Pirene, and marvelling at her beauty, took her with him on one occasion to a banquet of his friends. And when his companions laughed at him because he had brought a maiden with him to the party, instead of a courtesan, he said—"Do not wonder, for I will show you that she is quite beautiful enough for future enjoyment within three years." And a prediction of this sort was made by Socrates also, respecting Theodote the Athenian, as Xenophon tells us in his Memorabilia, for he used to say—"That she was very beautiful, and had a bosom finely shaped beyond all description. And let us," said he, "go and see the woman; for people cannot judge of beauty by hearsay." But Lais was so beautiful, that painters used to come to her to copy her bosom and her breasts. And Lais was a rival of Phryne, and had an immense number of lovers, never caring whether they were rich or poor, and never treating them with any insolence.

55. And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her in Ægina, at the festival of Neptune. And once, being reproached by his servant, who said to him—"You give her such large sums of money, but she admits Diogenes the Cynic for nothing:" he answered, "I give Lais a great deal, that I myself may enjoy her, and not that no one else may." And when Diogenes said, "Since you, O Aristippus, cohabit with a common prostitute, either, therefore, become a Cynic yourself, as I am, or else abandon her;" Aristippus answered him—"Does it appear to you, O Diogenes, an absurd thing to live in a house where other men have lived before you?" "Not at all," said he. "Well, then, does it appear to you absurd to sail in a ship in which other men have sailed before you?" "By no means," said he. "Well, then," replied Aristippus, "it is not a bit more absurd to be in love with a woman with whom many men have been in love already."

And Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his treatise on the People who have been admired and eminent in Sicily, 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 damsels 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.

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

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

This is the tomb of Lais, to whose beauty,

Equal to that of heavenly goddesses,

The glorious and unconquer'd 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 Craneum.

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

My mistress is the fair ArchaianassaFrom Colophon, a damsel in whom LoveSits 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.

My mistress is the fair Archaianassa

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.

COURTESANS.

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 amorousindulgences; and he cohabited even with his own son's wife, as Stesimbrotus the Thasian informs us; and Stesimbrotus was a contemporary of his, and had seen him, as he tells us in his book entitled a Treatise on Themistocles, and Thucydides, and Pericles. And Antisthenes, the pupil of Socrates, tells us that Pericles, being in love with Aspasia, used to kiss her twice every day, once when he entered her house, and once when he left it. And when she was impeached for impiety, he himself spoke in her behalf, and shed more tears for her sake than he did when his own property and his own life were imperilled. Moreover, when Cimon had had an incestuous intrigue with Elpinice, his sister, who was afterwards given in marriage to Callias, and when he was banished, Pericles contrived his recall, exacting the favours of Elpinice as his recompense.

And Pythænetus, in the third book of his History of Ægina, 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 cup-bearer to the young men,) and he married her. And Tigris of Leucadia was the mistress of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, who was the third in descent from the Pyrrhus who invaded Italy; but Olympias, the young man's mother, took her off by poison.

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

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