But a slave who had been flogged hired Callistium, who was nicknamed Poor Helen; and as it was summer, and he was lying down naked, she, seeing the marks of the whip, said, “Where did you get this, you unhappy man?” and he said, “Some broth was spilt over me when I was a boy.” And she said, “It must have been made of neats'-leather.” And once, when Menander the poet had failed with one of his plays, and came to her house, Glycera brought him some milk, and recommended him to drink it. But he said he would rather not, for there was some γραῦς on it. But she replied, “Blow it away, and take what there is beneath.” Thais said once to a boastful lover of hers, who had borrowed some goblets from a great many people, and said that he meant to break them up, and make others of them “You will destroy what belongs to each private person.” Leontium was once sitting at table with a lover of hers, when Glycera came in to supper; and as the man began to pay more atten- tion to Glycera, Leontium was much annoyed: and presently, when her friend turned round, and asked her what she was vexed at, she said, “ʽἡ ὑστέρα pains me.” A lover of hers once sent his seal to Lais the Corinthian, and desired her to come to him; but she said, “I cannot come; it is only clay.” Thais was one day going to a lover of hers, who smelt like a goat; and when some one asked her whither she was going, she said—To dwell with Aegeus, great Pandion's son.Phryne, too, was once supping with a man of the same description, and, lifting up the hide of a pig, she said, “Take it, and eat it.” And once, when one of her friends sent her some wine, which was very good, but the quantity was small; and when he told her that it was ten years old; “It is very little of its age,” said she. And once, when the question was asked at a certain banquet, why it is that crowns are hung up about banqueting-rooms, she said, “Because they delight the mind.” And once, when a slave, who had been flogged, was giving himself airs as a young man towards her, and saying that he had been often entangled, she pretended to look vexed; and when he asked her the reason, “I am jealous of you,” said she, “because you have been so often smitten.” Once a very covetous lover of hers was coaxing her, and saying to her, “You are the Venus of Praxiteles;” “And you,” said she, “are the Cupid of Phidias.”
Καλλίστιον δὲ τὴν ἐπικληθεῖσαν Πτωχελένην μαστιγίας ἐμισθώσατο. θέρους δὲ ὄντος ἐπεὶ γυμνὸς κατέκειτο, τοὺς τύπους τῶν πληγῶν ἰδοῦσα πόθεν οὗτοι, τάλαν; εἶπε. καὶ ὃς παιδὸς ὄντος μου ζωμὸς κατεχύθη. ἡ δὲ δηλαδὴ μόσχειος. Μενάνδρῳ τῷ ποιητῇ δυσημερήσαντι καὶ εἰσελθόντι εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν Γλυκέρα προσενέγκασα γάλα παρεκάλει ῥοφῆσαι· ὁ δ’ οὐ θέλω εἶπεν. ἦν γὰρ ἐφεστηκυῖα γραῦς αὐτῷ. ἡ δὲ ἀποφύσα, εἶπε, καὶ τῷ κάτω χρῶ. Θαὶς ἐραστοῦ τινος αὐτῆς ἀλαζόνος παρὰ πολλῶν ποτήρια χρησαμένου καὶ λέγοντος θέλειν ταῦτα συγκόψαι, ἄλλα δὲ κατασκευάσαι, ἀπολεῖς, ἔφη, ἑκάστου τὸ ἴδιον. Λεόντιον κατακειμένη μετ’ ἐραστοῦ, ἐπεισελθούσης εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον Γλυκέρας καὶ τοῦ ἐραστοῦ αὐτῆς ταύτῃ μᾶλλον προσέχοντος, κατάστυγνος ἦν. ὡς δ’ ἐπιστρέψας ὁ γνώριμος αὐτὴν ἠρώτησε τί λυπεῖται, ἡ ὑστέρα με λυπεῖ ἔφη. πρὸς Λαίδα τὴν Κορινθίαν ἐραστὴς ἀποσφράγισμα πέμψας ἐκέλευε παραγίνεσθαι. ἡ δ’ οὐ δύναμαι εἶπε· πηλὸς ἐστι. Θαῒς πρὸς γράσωνα πορευομένη ἐραστήν, ἐπεί τις αὐτὴν ἠρώτα ποῦ πορεύεται, εἶπεν· Αἰγεῖ συνοικήσουσα τῷ Πανδίονος. Φρύνη συνδειπνοῦσά ποτε γράσωνι ἄρασα φορίνην λαβέ, εἶπε, καὶ ταῦτα τράγε. ὁ πέμψαντος δέ τινος αὐτῇ τῶν γνωρίμων οἶνον χρηστὸν μέν, ὀλίγον δέ, καὶ λέγοντος ὅτι δεκαέτης ἐστίν, μικρὸς ὡς πολλῶν ἐτῶν ἔφη. ζητουμένου δὲ ἔν τινι συμποσίῳ διὰ τίνα αἰτίαν οἱ στέφανοι κρήμνανται, εἶπεν ὅτι ψυχαγωγοῦσιν. μαστιγίου δέ τινος μειρακιευομένου πρὸς αὐτὴν καὶ φαμένου πολλαῖς συμπεπλέχθαι, καθ’ ὑπόκρισιν ἐσκυθρώπασεν. ἐπερωτήσαντος δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν ὀργίζομαί σοι, εἶπεν, ὅτι πολλὰς ἔχεις. φιλάργυρος δέ τις ἐραστὴς ὑποκοριζόμενος αὐτὴν εἶπεν ἀφροδίσιον εἶ Πραξιτέλους· ἡ δὲ σὺ δ’ Ἔρως Φειδίου.
And as I am aware that some of those men who have been involved in the administration of affairs of state have mentioned courtesans, either accusing or excusing them, I will enumerate some instances of those who have done so. For Demosthenes, in his speech against Androtion, mentions Sinope and Phanostrate; and respecting Sinope, Herodicus the pupil of Crates says, in the sixth book of his treatise on People mentioned in the Comic Poets, that she was called Abydus, because she was an old woman. And Antiphanes mentions her in his Arcadian, and in his Gardener, and in his Sempstress, and in his Female Fisher, and in his Neottis. And Alexis mentions her in his Cleobuline, and Callicrates speaks of her in his Moschion; and concerning Phanostrate, Apollodorus, in his treatise on the Courtesans at Athens, says that she was called Phtheiropyle, because she used to stand at the door (πύλη) and hunt for lice (φθεῖρες). And in his oration against Aristagoras, Hyperides says— “And again you have named, in the same manner, the animals called aphyæ.” Now, aphyæ, besides meaning anchovies, was also a nickname for some courtesans; concerning whom the before-mentioned Apollodorus says—“Stagonium and Amphis were two sisters, and they were called Aphyæ, because they were white, and thin, and had large eyes.” And Antiphanes, in his book on Courtesans, says that Nicostratis was called Aphya for the same reason. And the same Hyperides, in his speech against Mantitheus, who was being prosecuted for an assault, speaks in the following manner respecting Glycera—“Bringing with him Glycera the daughter of Thalassis in a pair-horse chariot.” But it is uncertain whether this is the same Glycera who was take mistress of Harpalus; concerning whom Theopompus speaks in his treatise on the Chian Epistle, saying that after the death of Pythionica, Harpalus sent for Glycera to come to him from Athens; and when she came, she lived in the palace which is at Tarsus, and was honoured with royal honours by the populace, and was called queen; and an edict was issued, forbidding any one to present Harpalus with a crown, without at the same time presenting Glycera with another. And at Rhossus, he went so far as to erect a brazen statue of her by the side of his own statue. And Clitarchus has given the same account in his History of Alexander. But the author of Agen, a satyric drama, (whoever he was, whether it was Python of Catana, or king Alexander himself,) says—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.
ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν πολιτικῶν οἶδά τινας μνημονεύοντας αὐτῶν ἢ κατηγοροῦντας ἢ ἀπολογουμένους, μνησθήσομαι καὶ τούτων. Δημοσθένης μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἀνδροτίωνος Σινώπης μέμνηται καὶ Φανοστράτης. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς Σινώπης Ἡρόδικος ὁ Κρατήτειος ἐν σ’ Κωμῳδουμένων φησὶν ὅτι Ἄβυδος ἐλέγετο διὰ τὸ γραῦς εἶναι. μνημονεύει δ’ αὐτῆς Ἀντιφάνης ἐν Ἀρκάδι καὶ ἐν Κηπουρῷ, ἐν Ἀκεστρίᾳ, ἐν Ἁλιευομένῃ, ἐν Νεοττίδι, καὶ Ἄλεξις ἐν Κλεοβουλίνῃ καὶ Καλλικράτης ἐν Μοσχίωνι. περὶ δὲ τῆς Φανοστράτης Ἀπολλόδωρός φησιν ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν Ἀθήνησιν Ἑταιρίδων ὅτι Φθειροπύλη ἐπεκαλεῖτο, ἐπειδήπερ ἐπὶ τῆς θύρας ἑστῶσα ἐφθειρίζετο. Ὑπερείδης δ’ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἀρισταγόρας φησί· καὶ πάλιν τὰς Ἀφύας καλουμένας τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐκαλέσατε. ἑταιρῶν ἐπωνυμίαι αἱ ἀφύαι, περὶ ὧν ὁ προειρημένος Ἀπολλόδωρός φησι· Σταγόνιον καὶ. Ἄνθις ἀδελφαί· αὗται Ἀφύαι ἐκαλοῦντο, ὅτι λευκαὶ καὶ λεπταὶ οὖσαι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μεγάλους εἶχον. Ἀντιφάνης δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἑταιρῶν Νικοστρατίδα φησὶν Ἀφύην ἐπικληθῆναι διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν. ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς Ὑπερείδης ἐν τῷ κατὰ Μαντιθέου αἰκίας περὶ Γλυκέρας τάδε λέγει· ἄγων Γλυκέραν τε τὴν Θαλασσίδος, ζεῦγος ἔχων. ἄδηλον εἰ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ Ἁρπάλῳ συνοῦσα· περὶ ἧς φησιν Θεόπομπος ἐν τοῖς περὶ τῆς Χίας Ἐπιστολῆς, ὅτι μετὰ τὸν τῆς Πυθιονίκης θάνατον ὁ Ἅρπαλος μετεπέμψατο τὴν Γλυκέραν Ἀθήνηθεν· ἣν καὶ ἐλθοῦσαν οἰκεῖν ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τοῖς ἐν Ταρσῷ καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους βασίλισσαν προσαγορευομένην· ἀπειρῆσθαί τε πᾶσι μὴ στεφανοῦν Ἅρπαλον, ἐὰν μὴ καὶ Γλυκέραν στεφανῶσιν. ἐν Ῥωσσῷ δὲ καὶ εἰκόνα χαλκῆν αὐτῆς ἱστάναι τολμῆσαι παρὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ. τὰ ὅμοια δ’ εἴρηκε καὶ Κλείταρχος ἐν ταῖς περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον Ἱστορίαις. ὁ δὲ γράψας τὸν Ἀγῆνα τὸ σατυρικὸν δραμάτιον, εἴτε Πύθων ἐστὶν ὁ Καταναῖος ἢ αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος, φησίν· καὶ μὴν ἀκούω μυριάδας τὸν Ἅρπαλον αὐτοῖσι τῶν Ἀγῆνος οὐκ ἐλάττονας σίτου παραπέμψαι καὶ πολίτην γεγονέναι. β. Γλυκέρας ὁ σῖτος οὗτος ἦν· ἔσται δ’ ἴσως αὐτοῖσιν ὀλέθρου κοὐχ ἑταίρας ἀρραβών.
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, 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.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 s e was a very bad figure. And Corone was Nannium's daughter, and she was nicknamed Tethe, from her exceedingly debauched habits.” Hyperides, in his oration against Patrocles, also speaks of a female flute-player named Nemeas. And we may wonder how it was that the Athenians permitted a courtesan to have such a name, which was that of a most honourable and solemn festival. For not only those who prostituted themselves, but all other slaves also were forbidden to take such names as that, as Polemo tells us, in his treatise on the Acropolis. The same Hyperides also mentions my Ocimum, as you call her, O Cynulcus, in his second oration against Aristagoras, speaking thus—“As Lais, who appears to have been superior in beauty to any woman who had ever been seen, and Ocimum, and Metanira.” And Nicostratus, a poet of the middle comedy, mentions her also in his Pandrosus, where he says—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.And Philetærus, in his Female Hunter, says—Is not Cereope 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,Galænse, and Coronæ; nor will ISay 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.
Λυσίας δ’ ἐν τῷ πρὸς Λαίδα, εἴ γε γνήσιος ὁ λόγος, τούτων μνημονεύει· Φιλύρα γέ τοι ἐπαύσατο πορνευομένη ἔτι νέα οὖσα καὶ Σκιώνη καὶ Ἱππάφεσις καὶ Θεόκλεια καὶ Ψαμάθη καὶ Λαγίσκα καὶ Ἄνθεια. μήποτε δὲ δεῖ γράφειν ἀντὶ τῆς Ἀνθείας Ἄντειαν. οὐ γὰρ εὑρίσκομεν παρ’ οὐδενὶ ι Ἄνθειαν ἀναγεγραμμένην ἑταίραν, ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀντείας καὶ ὅλον δρᾶμα ἐπιγραφόμενον, ὡς προεῖπον, Εὐνίκου ἢ Φιλυλλίου Ἄντειά ἐστιν, καὶ ὁ τὸν κατὰ Νεαίρας δὲ λόγον γράψας μνημονεύει αὐτῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ κατὰ Φιλωνίδου βιαίων ὁ Λυσίας, εἰ γνήσιος ὁ λόγος, καὶ Ναίδος τῆς ἑταίρας μέμνηται, κἀν τῷ πρὸς Μέδοντα ψευδομαρτυριῶν Ἀντικύρας. ἐπώνυμον δ’ ἐστὶ τοῦτο ἑταίρας· τὸ γὰρ κύριον ἦν Οἴα, ὡς Ἀριστοφάνης εἴρηκεν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἑταιρῶν, Ἀντικύραν αὐτὴν φάσκων κληθῆναι ἤτοι ὅτι συνέπινε παρακινοῦσι καὶ μεμηνόσιν ἢ ὅτι αὐτὴν ἀναλαβὼν ὁ ἰατρὸς Νικόστρατος ἀποθνῄσκων κατέλιπεν αὐτῇ πολὺν ἐλλέβορον, ἄλλο δὲ οὐδέν. καὶ Λυκοῦργος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Λεωκράτους Εἰρηνίδος ἑταίρας μέμνηται ὡς ἑταιρούσης τῷ Λεωκράτει. Ναννίου δὲ ʽ Ὑπερείδης μνημονεύει ἐν τῷ κατὰ Πατροκλέους. αὕτη δὲ ὅτι Αἲξ ἐπεκαλεῖτο προείπομεν, διὰ τὸ Θαλλὸν τὸν κάπηλον ἐξαναλῶσαι. ὅτι δὲ θαλλῷ χαίρουσιν αἱ αἶγες, διόπερ οὐδ’ εἰς ἀκρόπολιν ἄνεισι τὸ ζῷον οὐδ’ ὅλως Ἀθηνᾷ θύεται διὰ τοῦτο, ἄλλος ἔσται λόγος, ἀλλ’ ὅ γε Σοφοκλῆς ἐν Ποιμέσιν ὅτι θαλλοφαγεῖ τὸ ζῷόν φησιν οὕτως· ἑωθινὸς γάρ, πρίν τιν’ αὐλιτῶν ὁρᾶν, θαλλὸν χιμαίρᾳ προσφέρων νεοσπάδα εἶδον στρατὸν στείχοντα παραλίαν ἄκραν. μνημονεύει τῆς Ναννίου καὶ Ἄλεξις ἐν Ταραντίνοις οὕτως Νάννιον δὲ μαίνεται ἐπὶ τῷ Διονύσῳ, κωμῳδῶν αὐτὴν ὡς μέθυσον. Μένανδρος δ’ ἐν Ψευδηρακλεῖ φησιν οὐκ ἐπείρα Νάννιον; Ἀντιφάνης δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἑταιρῶν προσκήνιον, φησίν, ἐπεκαλεῖτο ἡ Νάννιον, ὅτι πρόσωπόν τε ἀστεῖον εἶχε καὶ ἐχρῆτο χρυσίοις καὶ ἱματίοις πολυτελέσι, ἐκδῦσα δὲ ἦν αἰσχροτάτη. ἦν δὲ Κορώνη τῆς Ναννίου θυγάτηρ, τὸ τῆς Τήθης ἀναφέρουσα ἐκ τριπορνείας ὄνομα. καὶ Νεμεάδος δὲ τῆς αὐλητρίδος Ὑπερείδης μνημονεύει ἐν τῷ κατὰ Πατροκλέους. περὶ ἧς ἄξιον θαυμάζειν πῶς περιεῖδον Ἀθηναῖοι οὕτως προσαγορευομένην τὴν πόρνην, πανηγύρεως ἐνδοξοτάτης ὀνόματι κεχρημένην· ἐκεκώλυτο γὰρ τὰ τοιαῦτα τίθεσθαι ὀνόματα οὐ μόνον ταῖς ἑταιρούσαις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις δούλαις, ὥς φησι Πολέμων ἐν τοῖς περὶ Ἀκροπόλεως, καὶ ᾽ Ὠκίμου δὲ τῆς ἐμῆς, ὡς σὺ φής, Κύνουλκε, καὶ Ὑπερείδης μέμνηται ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἀρισταγόρας β’ λέγων οὕτως· ὥστε Λαὶς μὲν ἡ δοκοῦσα πασῶν τῶν πώποτε διενηνοχέναι τὴν ὄψιν καὶ Ὤκιμον καὶ Μετάνειρα … Νικόστρατος δὲ ὁ τῆς μέσης κωμῳδίας ποιητὴς ἐν Πανδρόσῳ οὑτωσὶ λέγων· ἔπειτα τῆς αὐτῆς ὁδοῦ πρὸς Ἀερόπην ἐλθοῦσα πέμψαι στρώματα αὐτὴν κέλευε, φησί, καὶ παρ’ ᾽ Ὠκίμου χαλκώματα. Μένανδρος δ’ ἐν Κόλακι τάσδε καταλέγει ἑταίρας· Χρυσίδα, Κορώνην, Ἀντίκυραν, Ἰσχάδα, καὶ Ναννάριον ἔσχηκας ὡραίαν σφόδρα. Φιλέταιρος ἐν Κυναγίδι· οὐχὶ Κερκώπη μὲν ἤδη γέγον’ ἔτη τρισχίλια, ἡ δὲ Διοπείθους ἀηδὴς Τέλεσις ἕτερα μυρία; Θεολύτην δ’ οὐδ’ οἶδεν οὐδεὶς ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον ἐγένετο. οὐχὶ Λαὶς μὲν τελευτῶσ’ ἀπέθανεν βινουμένη, Ἰσθμιὰς δὲ καὶ Νέαιρα κατασέσηπε καὶ Φίλα; Κοσσύφας δὲ καὶ Γαλήνας καὶ Κορώνας οὐ λέγω· περὶ δὲ Ναίδος σιωπῶ· γομφίους γὰρ οὐκ ἔχει. Θεόφιλος Φιλαύλῳ· τοῦ μὴ ποτ’ αὐτὸν ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς Λαίδα φερόμενον ἢ Μηκωνίδ᾽ ἢ Σισύμβριον ἢ Βάραθρον ἢ Θάλλουσαν ἢ τούτων τινά, ὧν ἐμπλέκουσι τοῖς λίνοις σ’ αἱ μαστροποί, … ἢ Ναύσιον ἢ Μαλθάκην.
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 unlettered schoolmaster alive. Now, had not this very Epicurus Leontium for his mistress, her, I mean, who was so celebrated as a courtesan? But she did not cease to live as a prostitute when she began to learn philosophy, but still prostituted herself to the whole sect of Epicureans in the gardens, and to Epicurus himself, in the most open manner; so that this great philosopher was exceedingly fond of her, though he mentions this fact in his epistles to Hermarchus.
τοσαῦτ’ εἰπὼν μετά τινος τροχιλίας ὁ Μυρτίλοςμή τι τοιοῦτοι ὑμεῖς οἱ φιλόσοφοι, ἔφη, οἱ καὶ πρὸ τῶν Ἡδονικῶν καλουμένων αὐτοὶ τὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς τοῖχον ὑποσκάπτοντες, ὥς που ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης ἔφη. κἀμοὶ μὲν τὰ καλὰ τῶν ἑταιρῶν ἀποφθέγματα πεπεράνθω μέχρι τούτων ἐπ’ ἄλλο δ’ εἶδος μεταβήσομαι λόγων, καὶ πρῶτον γε μνησθήσομαι τοῦ φιλαληθεστάτου Ἐπικούρου· ὅστις ἐγκυκλίου παιδείας ἀμύητος ὢν ἐμακάριζε καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίως αὐτῷ ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν παρερχομένους, τοιαύτας φωνὰς προιέμενος· μακαρίζω σε, ὦ οὗτος, ὅτι καθαρὸς πάσης παιδείας ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν ὥρμησαι, ὅθεν αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ Τίμων φησὶν γραμμοδιδασκαλίδην, ὁ ἀναγωγότατον ζωόντων. οὗτος οὖν ὁ Ἐπίκουρος οὐ Λεόντιον εἶχεν ἐρωμένην τὴν ἐπὶ ἑταιρείᾳ διαβόητον γενομένην; ἡ δὲ οὐδ’ ὅτε φιλοσοφεῖν ἤρξατο ἐπαύσατο ἑταιροῦσα, πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς Ἐπικουρείοις συνῆν ἐν τοῖς κήποις, Ἐπικούρῳ δὲ καὶ ἀναφανδὸν ὥστ’ ἐκεῖνον πολλὴν φροντίδα ποιούμενον αὐτῆς τοῦτ’ ἐμφανίζειν διὰ τῶν πρὸς Ἕρμαρχον Ἐπιστολῶν.
But as for Lais of Hyccara—(and Hyccara is a city in Sicily, from which place she came to Corinth, having been made a prisoner of war, as Polemo relates in the sixth book of his History, addressed to Timæus: and Aristippus was one of her lovers, and so was Demosthenes the orator, and Diogenes the Cynic: and it was also said that the Venus, which is at Corinth, and is called Melænis, appeared to her in a dream, intimating to her by such an appearance that she would be courted by many lovers of great wealth;)—Lais, I say, is mentioned by Hyperides, in the second of his speeches against Aristagoras. And Apelles the painter, having seen Lais while she was still a maiden, drawing water at the fountain Pirene, and marvelling at her beauty, took her with him on one occasion to a banquet of his friends. And when his companions laughed at him because he had brought a maiden with him to the party, instead of a courtesan he said —“Do not wonder, for I will show you that she is quite beautiful enough for future enjoyment within three years.” And a prediction of this sort was made by Socrates also, respecting Theodote the Athenian, as Xenophon tells us in his Memorabilia, for he used to say—“That she was very beautiful, and had a bosom finely shaped beyond all description. And let us,” said he, “go and see the woman; for people cannot judge of beauty by hearsay.” But Lais was so beautiful, that painters used to come to her to copy her bosom and her breasts. And Lais was a rival of Phryne, and had an immense number of lovers, never caring whether they were rich or poor, and never treating them with any insolence.
Λαίδος τε τῆς ἐξ Ὑκκάρων πόλις δ’ αὕτη Σικελική, ἀφ’ ἧς αἰχμάλωτος γενομένη ἧκεν εἰς Κόρινθον, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Πολέμων ἐν τῷ ἕκτῳ τῶν πρὸς Τίμαιον ἧς καὶ Ἀρίστιππος ἤρα καὶ Δημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ Διογένης τε ὁ κύων ᾗ καὶ Ἀφροδίτη ἡ ἐν Κορίνθῳ ἡ Μελαινὶς καλουμένη νυκτὸς ἐπιφαινομένη ἐμήνυεν ἐραστῶν ἔφοδον πολυταλάντων οὐχ Ὑπερείδης μνημονεύει ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἀρισταγόρας δευτέρῳ; Ἀπελλῆς δὲ ὁ ζωγράφος ἔτι παρθένον οὖσαν τὴν Λαίδα θεασάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς Πειρήνης ὑδροφοροῦσαν καὶ θαυμάσας τὸ κάλλος ἤγαγέν ποτε αὐτὴν εἰς φίλων συμπόσιον. χλευασάντων δ’ αὐτὸν τῶν ἑταίρων ὅτι ἀνθ’ ἑταίρας παρθένον εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον ἀγάγοι, μὴ θαυμάσητε, εἶπεν ἐγὼ γὰρ αὐτὴν μέλλουσαν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν μετ’ οὐδ’ ὅλην τριετίαν καλὴν δείξω. τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ Σωκράτης ἐμαντεύσατο περὶ Θεοδότης τῆς Ἀθηναίας, ὥς φησι Ξενοφῶν ἐν Ἀπομνημονεύμασιν ὅτι δὲ καλλίστη εἴη καὶ στέρνα κρείττω λόγου παντὸς ἔχοι λέγοντός τινος ἰτέον ἡμῖν, ἔφη, θεασομένοις τὴν γυναῖκα· οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἀκούουσιν ἔστιν κρῖναι τὸ κάλλος. οὕτω δ’ ἦν ἡ Λαὶς καλὴ ὡς καὶ τοὺς ζωγράφους ἐρχομένους πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀπομιμεῖσθαι τῆς γυναικὸς τοὺς μαστοὺς καὶ τὰ στέρνα, διαζηλοτυπουμένη δέ ποτε ἡ Λαὶς τῇ Φρύνῃ πολὺν ἐραστῶν ἔσχηκεν ὅμιλον, οὐ διακρίνουσα πλούσιον ἢ πένητα οὐδ’ ὑβριστικῶς αὐτοῖς χρωμένη.
And Aristippus every year used to spend whole days with her in Aegina, at the festival of Neptune. And once, being reproached by his servant, who said to him—“You give her such large sums of money, but she admits Diogenes the Cynic for nothing;” he answered, “I give Lais a great deal, that I myself may enjoy her, and not that no one else may.” And when Diogenes said, "Since you, O Aristippus, cohabit with a common prostitute, either, therefore, become a Cynic yourself, as I am, or else abandon her;" Aristippus answered him—“Does it appear to you, O Diogenes, an absurd thing to live in a house where other men have lived before you.?” “Not at all,” said he. “Well, then, does it appear to you absurd to sail in a ship in which other men have sailed before you” “By no means,” said he. “Well, then,” replied Aristippus, “it is not a bit more absurd to be in love with a woman with whom many men have been in love already.” And Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his treatise o the People who have been admired and eminent in Sicily, says that Lais was a native of Hyccara, which he describe as a strong fortress in Sicily. But Strattis, in his play entitled The Macedonians or Pausanias, says that she was a Corinthian, in the following lines—A. Where do these damsels come from, and who are theyB. 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;—so that those men talk nonsense who say that she was buried in Corinth, near the Craneum. And did not Aristotle the Stagirite have a son named Nicomachus by a courtesan named Herpyllis? and did he not live with her till his death? as Hermippus informs us in the first book of his History of Aristotle, saying that great care was taken of her in the philosopher's will. And did not our admirable Plato love Archaianassa, a courtesan of Colophon? so that he even composed this song in her honour:—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.And did not Pericles the Olympian (as Clearchus tells us in the first book of his treatise on Amatory Matters) throw all Greece into confusion on account of Aspasia, not the younger one, but that one who associated with the wise Socrates; and that, too, though he was a man who had acquired such a vast reputation for wisdom and political sagacity? But, indeed, Pericles was always a man much addicted to amorous indulgences; and he cohabited even with his own son's wife, as Stesimbrotus the Thasian informs us; and Stesimbrotus was a contemporary of his, and had seen him, as he tells us in his book entitled a Treatise on Themistocles, and Thucydides, and Pericles. And Antisthenes, the pupil of Socrates, tells us that Pericles, being in love with Aspasia, used to kiss her twice every day, once when he entered her house, and once when he left it. And when she was impeached for impiety, he himself spoke in her behalf, and shed more tears for her sake than he did when his own property and his own life were imperilled. Moreover, when Cimon had had an incestuous intrigue with Elpinice, his sister, who was afterwards given in marriage to Callias, and when he was banished, Pericles contrived his recal, exacting the favours of Elpinice as his recompense. And Pythænetus, in the third book of his History of Aegina, says that Periander fell violently in love with Melissa, the daughter of Procles of Epidaurus, when he had seen her clothed in the Peloponnesian fashion (for she had on no cloak, but a single tunic only, and was acting as cupbearer to the young men,) and he married her. And Tigris of Leucadia was the mistress of Pyrrhus king of Epirus, who was the third in descent from the Pyrrhus who invaded Italy; but Olympias, the young man's mother, took her off by poison.
Ἀρίστιππος δὲ κατ’ ἔτος δύο μῆνας, συνδιημέρευεν αὐτῇ ἐν Αἰγίνῃ τοῖς Ποσειδωνίοις· καὶ ὀνειδιζόμενος ὑπὸ Ἱκέτου ὅτι σὺ μὲν αὐτῇ τοσοῦτον ἀργύριον δίδως, ἡ δὲ προῖκα Διογένει τῷ κυνὶ συγκυλίεται, ἀπεκρίνατο· ἐγὼ Λαίδι χορηγῶ πολλά, ἵνα αὐτὸς αὐτῆς ἀπολαύω, οὐχ ἵνα μὴ ἄλλος. τοῦ δὲ Διογένους εἰπόντος αὐτῷἈρίστιππε, κοινῇ συνοικεῖς πόρνῃ, ἢ κύνιζε οὖν, τί δὲ ὡς ἐγώ, ἢ πέπαυσο καὶ ὁ Ἀρίστιππος· ἆρά γε μὴ τί σοι ἄτοπον δοκεῖ εἶναι, Διόγενες, οἰκίαν οἰκεῖν ἐν ᾗ πρότερον ᾤκησαν ἄλλοι; οὐ γάρ ἔφη. τί δὲ ναῦν ἐν ᾗ πολλοὶ πεπλεύκασιν; οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔφη. οὕτως οὖν οὐδὲ γυναικὶ συνεῖναι ἄτοπόν ἐστιν ᾗ πολλοὶ κέχρηνται. Νυμφόδωρος δ’ ὁ Συρακόσιος ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν ἐν Σικελίᾳ Θαυμαζομένων ἐξ Ὑκκάρου φησὶν Σικελικοῦ φρουρίου εἶναι τὴν Λαίδα. Στράττις δ’ ἐν Μακεδόσιν ἢ Παυσανίᾳ Κορινθίαν αὐτὴν εἶναί φησιν διὰ τούτων εἰσὶν δὲ πόθεν αἱ παῖδες αὗται καὶ τίνες; β. νυνὶ μὲν ἥκουσιν Μεγαρόθεν, εἰσὶ δὲ Κορίνθιαι· Λαῒς μὲν ἡδὶ Μεγακλέους. Τίμαιος δ’ ἐν τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν ἐξ Ὑκκάρων· καθὰ καὶ Πολέμων εἴρηκεν, ἀναιρεθῆναι φάσκων αὐτὴν ὑπό τινων γυναικῶν ἐν Θετταλίᾳ, ἐρασθεῖσάν τινος Παυσανίου Θετταλοῦ, κατὰ φθόνον καὶ δυσζηλίαν ξυλίναις χελώναις τυπτομένην ἐν Ἀφροδίτης ἱερῷ. διὸ καὶ τὸ τέμενος κληθῆναι ἀνοσίας Ἀφροδίτης. δείκνυσθαι δ’ αὐτῆς τάφον παρὰ τῷ Πηνειῷ σημεῖον ἔχοντα ὑδρίαν λιθίνην καὶ ἐπίγραμμα τόδε· τῆσδὲ ποθ’ ἡ μεγάλαυχος ἀνίκητός τε πρὸς ἀλκὴν Ἑλλὰς ἐδουλώθη κάλλεος ἰσοθέου, Λαίδος· ἣν ἐτέκνωσεν Ἔρως, θρέψεν δὲ Κόρινθος· κεῖται δ’ ἐν κλεινοῖς Θετταλικοῖς πεδίοις. αὐτοσχεδιάζουσιν οὖν οἱ λέγοντες αὐτὴν ἐν Κορίνθῳ τεθάφθαι πρὸς τῷ Κρανείῳ, Ἀριστοτέλης δ’ ὁ Σταγιρίτης οὐκ ἐξ Ἑρπυλλίδος τῆς ἑταίρας ἐπαιδοποίησε Νικόμαχον καὶ συνῆν ταύτῃ μέχρι θανάτου, ὥς φησιν Ἕρμιππος ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἀριστοτέλους πρώτῳ, ἐπιμελείας φάσκων τῆς δεούσης τετυχηκέναι ἐν ταῖς τοῦ φιλοσόφου διαθήκαις. ὁ δὲ καλὸς ἡμῶν Πλάτων οὐκ Ἀρχεάνασσαν τὴν Κολοφωνίαν ἑταίραν ἠγάπα; ὡς καὶ ᾅδειν εἰς αὐτὴν τάδε· Ἀρχεάνασσαν ἔχω τὴν ἐκ Κολοφῶνος ἑταίρην, ἧς καὶ ἐπὶ ῥυτίδων πικρὸς ἔπεστιν ἔρως. ἆ δειλοὶ νεότητος ἀπαντήσαντες ἐκείνης πρωτοπόρου, δι’ ὅσης ἤλθετε πυρκαιῆς. Περικλῆς δὲ ὁ Ὀλύμπιος, ὥς φησι Κλέαρχος ἐν πρώτῳ Ἐρωτικῶν, οὐχ ἕνεκεν Ἀσπασίασ—οὐ τῆς νεωτέρας ἀλλὰ τῆς Σωκράτει τῷ σοφῷ συγγενομένησ—καίπερ τηλικοῦτον ἀξίωμα συνέσεως καὶ πολιτικῆς δυνάμεως κτησάμενος, οὐ συνετάραξε πᾶσαν τὴν Ἑλλάδα; ἦν δ’ οὗτος ἀνὴρ πρὸς ἀφροδίσια πάνυ καταφερής· ὅστις καὶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ γυναικὶ συνῆν, ὡς Στησίμβροτος ὁ Θάσιος ἱστορεῖ, κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς αὐτῷ χρόνους γενόμενος καὶ ἑωρακὼς αὐτόν, ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ περὶ Θεμιστοκλέους καὶ Θουκυδίδου καὶ Περικλέους. Ἀντισθένης δ’ ὁ Σωκρατικὸς ἐρασθέντα φησὶν αὐτὸν Ἀσπασίας δὶς τῆς ἡμέρας εἰσιόντα καὶ ἐξιόντα ἀπ’ αὐτῆς ἀσπάζεσθαι τὴν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ φευγούσης ποτὲ αὐτῆς γραφὴν ἀσεβείας λέγων ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς πλείονα ἐδάκρυσεν ἢ ὅτε ὑπὲρ τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς οὐσίας ἐκινδύνευεν. καὶ Κίμωνος δ’ Ἐλπινίκῃ τῇ ἀδελφῇ παρανόμως συνόντος, εἶθ’ ὕστερον ἐκδοθείσης Καλλίᾳ, καὶ φυγαδευθέντος μισθὸν ἔλαβε τῆς καθόδου αὐτοῦ ὁ Περικλῆς τὸ τῇ ᾽ Ἐλπινίκῃ μιχθῆναι. Πυθαίνετος δ’ ἐν τρίτῳ περὶ Αἰγίνης Περίανδρόν φησιν ἐξ Ἐπιδαύρου τὴν Προκλέους θυγατέρα Μέλισσαν ἰδόντα Πελοποννησιακῶς ἠσθημένην ἀναμπέχονος γὰρ καὶ μονοχίτων ἦν καὶ ᾠνοχόει τοῖς ἐργαζομένοις ἐρασθέντα γῆμαι. Πύρρου δὲ τοῦ Ἠπειρωτῶν βασιλέως, ὃς ἦν τρίτος ἀπὸ Πύρρου τοῦ ἐπ’ Ἰταλίαν στρατεύσαντος, ἐρωμένη ἦν Τίγρις ἡ Λευκαδία· ἣν Ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ τοῦ νεανίσκου μήτηρ φαρμάκοις ἀπέκτεινεν.
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:—A. Just as Seleucus sent the tiger (τὴν τίγριν) here,Which we have seen, so we in turn ought nowTo send Seleucus back a beast from here.B. Let's send him a trigeranum; for that'sAn animal not known much in those parts. And Myrtilus said to him:—Since you interrupted us when we were making out a catalogue of women, not like the lists of Sosicrates the Phanagorite, or like the catalogue of women of Nilænetus the Samian or Abderitan (whichever was really his native country), I, digressing a little, will turn to your question, my old Phœnix. Learn, then, that Alexis, in his Pyraunus, has said τὸν τίγριν, using the word in the mas- culine gender; and these are his words:Come, open quick the door; I have been here,Though all unseen, walking some time,—a statue,A millstone, and a seahorse, and a wall,The tiger (ὁ τίγρις) of Seleucus.And I might quote other evidences of the fact, but I postpone them for the present, while I finish my catalogue, as far as it comprehends the beautiful women.
καὶ ὁ Οὐλπιανός, ὥσπερ ἕρμαιόν τι, ἔτι λαλοῦντος τοῦ Μυρτίλου ἔφη, εἰ ἔχομεν ἀρρενικῶς εἰρημένον τὸν τίγριν.Φιλήμονα γὰρ οἶδα τοῦτ’ εἰρηκότα ἐν Νεαίρᾳ· ὥσπερ Σέλευκος δεῦρ’ ἔπεμψε τὴν τίγριν, ἣν εἴδομεν ἡμεῖς, τῷ Σελεύκῳ πάλιν ἔδει ἡμᾶς τι παρ’ ἡμῶν ἀντιπέμψαι θηρίον. β. τρυγέρανον οὐ γὰρ γίγνεται τοῦτ’ αὐτόθι.πρὸς ὃν ὁ Μυρτίλος ἔφη·ἐπείπερ ἡμῖν ἐμποδὼν ἐγένου κατάλογον γυναικῶν ποιουμένοις, οὐ κατὰ τοὺς Σωσικράτους τοῦ Φαναγορείτου Ἠοίους ἢ τὸν τῶν γυναικῶν κατάλογον Νικαινέτου τοῦ Σαμίου ἢ Ἀβδηρίτου, μικρὸν ἐπισχὼν ἐπὶ τὴν παρὰ σοῦ τρέψομαι πεῦσιν, Φοῖνιξ ἄττα γεραιέ. μάθε οὖν ὅτι ἀρσενικῶς εἴρηκε τὸν τίγριν Ἄλεξις ἐν Πυραύνῳ οὕτως ἄνοιγ᾽, ἄνοιγε τὴν θύραν ἐλάνθανον πάλαι περιπατῶν ἀνδριάς, ἀλέτων ὄνος, ποτάμιος ἵππος, τοῖχος, ὁ Σελεύκου τίγρις. ἔχων δὲ καὶ ἄλλα μαρτύρια ἀνατίθεμαι τὰ νῦν, ἕως ἂν ἀπομνημονεύσω τὸν τῶν καλῶν γυναικῶν κατάλογον.
For Clearchus speaks thus concerning Epaminondas: “Epaminondas the Theban behaved with more dignity than these men did; but still there was a want of dignity in the way in which he was induced to waver in his sentiments in his association with women, as any one will admit who considers his conduct with the wife of Lacon.” But Hyperides the orator, having driven his son Glaucippus out of his house, received into it that most extravagant courtesan Myrrhina, and kept her in the city; and he also kept Aristagora in the Piræus, and Phila at Eleusis, whom he bought for a very large sum, and then emancipated; and after that he made her his housekeeper, as Idomeneus relates. But, in his oration in defence of Phryne, Hyperides confesses that he is in love with the woman; and yet, before he had got cured of that love, he introduced the above-mentioned Myrrhina into his house.
Κλέαρχος γὰρ περὶ Ἐπαμινώνδου φησὶν οὕτως· Ἐπαμινώνδας δ’ ὁ Θηβαῖος σεμνότερον μὲν τούτων, οὐκ εὐσχημόνως δὲ περὶ τὰς ὁμιλίας ἐσφάλλετο τὴν γνώμην, εἴ τις θεωροίη τὰ πραχθέντα αὐτῷ περὶ τὴν Λάκωνος γυναῖκα. Ὑπερείδης δ’ ὁ ῥήτωρ ἐκ τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας τὸν υἱὸν ἀποβαλὼν Γλαύκιππον Μυρρίνην τὴν πολυτελεστάτην ἑταίραν ἀνέλαβε, καὶ ταύτην μὲν ἐν ἄστει εἶχεν, ἐν Πειραιεῖ δὲ Ἀρισταγόραν, Φίλαν δ’ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι, ἣν πολλῶν ὠνησάμενος χρημάτων εἶχεν ἐλευθερώσας, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ οἰκουρὸν αὐτὴν ἐποιήσατο, ὡς Ἰδομενεὺς ἱστορεῖ. ἐν δὲ τῷ ὑπὲρ Φρύνης λόγῳ Ὑπερείδης ὁμολογῶν ἐρᾶν τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ οὐδέπω τοῦ ἔρωτος ἀπηλλαγμένος τὴν προειρημένην Μυρρίνην εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν εἰσήγαγεν.
Now Phryne was a native of Thespiæ; and being prosecuted by Euthias on a capital charge, she was acquitted: on which account Euthias was so indignant that he never instituted any prosecution afterwards, as Hermippus tells us. But Hyperides, when pleading Phryne's cause, as he did not succeed at all, but it was plain that the judges were about to condemn her, brought her forth into the middle of the court, and, tearing open her tunic and displaying her naked bosom, employed all the end of his speech, with the highest oratorical art, to excite the pity of her judges by the sight of her beauty, and inspired the judges with a superstitious fear, so that they were so moved by pity as not to be able to stand the idea of condemning to death “a prophetess and priestess of Venus.” And when she was acquitted, a decree was drawn up in the following form: “That hereafter no orator should endeavour to excite pity on behalf of any one, and that no man or woman, when impeached, shall have his or her case decided on while present.” But Phryne was a really beautiful woman, even in those parts of her person which were not generally seen: on which account it was not easy to see her naked; for she used to wear a tunic which covered her whole person, and she never used the public baths. But on the solemn assembly of the Eleusinian festival, and on the feast of the Posidonia, then she laid aside her garments in the sight of all the assembled Greeks, and having undone her hair, she went to bathe in the sea; and it was from her that Apelles took his picture of the Venus Anadyomene; and Praxiteles the statuary, who was a lover of hers, modelled the Cnidian Venus from her body; and on the pedestal of his statue of Cupid, which is placed below the stage in the theatre, he wrote the following inscription:—Praxiteles has devoted earnest careTo representing all the love he felt,Drawing his model from his inmost heart:I gave myself to Phryne for her wages,And now I no more charms employ, nor arrows,Save those of earnest glances at my love.And he gave Phryne the choice of his statues, whether she chose to take the Cupid, or the Satyrus which is in the street called the Tripods; and she, having chosen the Cupid, consecrated it in the temple at Thespiæ. And the people of her neighbourhood, having had a statue made of Phryne herself, of solid gold, consecrated it in the temple of Delphi, having had it placed on a pillar of Pentelican marble; and the statue was made by Praxiteles. And when Crates the Cynic saw it, he called it “a votive offering of the profligacy of Greece.” And this statue stood in the middle between that of Archidamus, king of the Lacedæmonians, and that of Philip the son of Amyntas; and it bore this inscription— “Phryne of Thespiæ, the daughter of Epicles,” as we are told by Alcetas, in the second book of his treatise on the Offerings at Delphi.
ἦν δ’ ἡ Φρύνη ἐκ Θεσπιῶν. κρινομένη δὲ ὑπὸ Εὐθίου τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ἀπέφυγεν· διόπερ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ Εὐθίας οὐκ ἔτι εἶπεν ἄλλην δίκην, ὥς φησιν Ἕρμιππος. ὁ δὲ Ὑπερείδης συναγορεύων τῇ Φρύνῃ, ὡς οὐδὲν ἤνυε λέγων ἐπίδοξοί τε ἦσαν οἱ δικασταὶ καταψηφιούμενοι, παραγαγὼν αὐτὴν εἰς τοὐμφανὲς καὶ περιρρήξας τοὺς χιτωνίσκους γυμνά τε τὰ στέρνα ποιήσας τοὺς ἐπιλογικοὺς οἴκτους ἐκ τῆς ὄψεως αὐτῆς ἐπερρητόρευσεν δεισιδαιμονῆσαί τε ἐποίησεν τοὺς δικαστὰς καὶ τὴν ὑποφῆτιν καὶ ζάκορον Ἀφροδίτης ἐλέῳ χαρισαμένους μὴ ἀποκτεῖναι. καὶ ἀφεθείσης ἐγράφη μετὰ ταῦτα ψήφισμα μηδένα οἰκτίζεσθαι τῶν λεγόντων ὑπέρ τινος μηδὲ βλεπόμενον τὸν κατηγορούμενον ἢ τὴν κατηγορουμένην κρίνεσθαι. ἦν δὲ ὄντως μᾶλλον ἡ Φρύνη καλὴ ἐν τοῖς μὴ βλεπομένοις. διόπερ οὐδὲ ῥᾳδίως ἦν αὐτὴν ἰδεῖν γυμνὴν ἐχέσαρκον γὰρ χιτώνιον ἠμπείχετο καὶ τοῖς δημοσίοις οὐκ ἐχρῆτο βαλανείοις. τῇ δὲ τῶν Ἐλευσινίων πανηγύρει καὶ τῇ τῶν Ποσειδωνίων ἐν ὄψει τῶν Πανελλήνων πάντων ἀποθεμένη θοἰμάτιον καὶ λύσασα τὰς κόμας ἐνέβαινε τῇ θαλάττῃ· καὶ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς Ἀπελλῆς τὴν Ἀναδυομένην Ἀφροδίτην ἀπεγράψατο. καὶ Πραξιτέλης δὲ ὁ ἀγαλματοποιὸς ἐρῶν αὐτῆς τὴν Κνιδίαν Ἀφροδίτην ἀπ’ αὐτῆς ἐπλάσατο καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἔρωτος βάσει τῇ ὑπὸ τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ θεάτρου ἐπέγραψε· Πραξιτέλης ὃν ἔπασχε διηκρίβωσεν Ἔρωτα, ἐξ ἰδίης ἕλκων ἀρχέτυπον κραδίης, Φρύνῃ μισθὸν ἐμεῖο διδοὺς ἐμέ. φίλτρα δὲ βάλλω οὐκέτ’ ὀιστεύων, ἀλλ’ ἀτενιζόμενος. ἐκλογὴν τε αὐτῇ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἔδωκεν, εἴτε τὸν Ἔρωτα θέλοι λαβεῖν εἴτε τὸν ἐπὶ Τριπόδων Σάτυρον. ἡ δὲ ἑλομένη τὸν Ἔρωτα ἀνέθηκεν αὐτὸν ἐν Θεσπιαῖς. αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς Φρύνης οἱ περικτίονες ἀνδριάντα ποιήσαντες ἀνέθηκαν ἐν Δελφοῖς χρύσεον ἐπὶ κίονος Πεντελικοῦ· κατεσκεύασε δ’ αὐτὸν Πραξιτέλης, ὃν καὶ θεασάμενος Κράτης ὁ κυνικὸς ἔφη τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀκρασίας ἀνάθημα. ἕστηκε δὲ καὶ ἡ εἰκὼν αὕτη μέση τῆς Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως καὶ τῆς Φιλίππου τοῦ Ἀμύντου, ἔχουσα ἐπιγραφὴν Φρύνη Ἐπικλέους Θεσπική, ὥς φησιν Ἀλκέτας ἐν β# περὶ τῶν ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀναθημάτων.
But Apollodorus, in his book on Courtesans, says that there were two women named Phryne, one of whom was nicknamed Clausigelos, and the other Saperdium. But Herodicus, in the sixth book of his Essay on People mentioned by the Comic Poets, says that the one who is mentioned by the orators was called Sestos, because she sifted (ἀποσήθω) and stripped bare all her lovers; and that the other was the native of Thespiæ. But Phryne was exceedingly rich, and she offered to build a wall round Thebes, if the Thebans would inscribe on the wall, “Alexander destroyed this wall, but Phryne the courtesan restored it;” as Callistratus states in his treatise on Courtesans. And Timocles the comic poet, in his Neæra, has mentioned her riches (the passage has been already cited); and so has Amphis, in his Curis. And Gryllion was a parasite of Phryne's, though he was one of the judges of the Areopagus; as also Satyrus, the Olynthian actor, was a parasite of Pamphila. But Aristogiton, in his book against Phryne, says that her proper name was Mnesarete; and I am aware that Diodorus Periegetes says that the oration against her which is ascribed to Euthias, is really the work of Anaximenes. But Posidippus the comic poet, in his Ephesian Women, speaks in the following manner concerning her:—Before our time, the Thespian Phryne wasFar the most famous of all courtesans;And even though you're later than her age,Still you have heard of the trial which she stood.She was accused on a capital chargeBefore the Heliæa, being saidTo have corrupted all the citizens;But she besought the judges separatelyWith tears, and so just saved herself from judgment.
Ἀπολλόδωρος δ’ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἑταιρῶν δύο ἀναγράφει Φρύνας γεγονέναι, ὧν τὴν μὲν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι Κλαυσιγέλωτα, τὴν δὲ Σαπέρδιον. Ἡρόδικος δὲ ἐν ἕκτῳ Κωμῳδουμένων τὴν μὲν παρὰ τοῖς ῥήτορσί φησιν ὀνομαζομένην Σηστὸν καλεῖσθαι διὰ τὸ ἀποσήθειν καὶ ἀποδύειν τοὺς συνόντας αὐτῇ, τὴν δὲ Θεσπικήν. ἐπλούτει δὲ σφόδρα ἡ Φρύνη καὶ ὑπισχνεῖτο τειχιεῖν τὰς Θήβας, ἐὰν ἐπιγράψωσιν Θηβαῖοι ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος μὲν κατέσκαψεν, ἀνέστησεν δὲ Φρύνη ἡ ἑταίρα, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Καλλίστρατος ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἑταιρῶν. εἴρηκεν δὲ περὶ τοῦ πλούτου αὐτῆς Τιμοκλῆς ὁ κωμικὸς ἐν Νεαίρᾳ πρόκειται τὸ μαρτύριον καὶ Ἄμφις ἐν Κουρίδι. παρεσίτει δὲ τῇ Φρύνῃ Γρυλλίων εἷς ὢν τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν, ὡς καὶ Σάτυρος ὁ Ὀλύνθιος ὑποκριτὴς Παμφίλῃ. Ἀριστογείτων δὲ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Φρύνης τὸ κύριόν φησιν αὐτῆς εἶναι ὄνομα Μνησαρέτην. οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ ὅτι τὸν ἐπιγραφόμενον κατ’ αὐτῆς Εὐθίου λόγον Διόδωρος ὁ περιηγητὴς Ἀναξιμένους φησὶν εἶναι. Ποσείδιππος δ’ ὁ κωμικὸς ἐν Ἐφεσίᾳ τάδε φησὶν περὶ αὐτῆς Φρύνη ποθ’ ἡμῶν γέγονεν ἐπιφανεστάτη πολὺ τῶν ἑταιρῶν, καὶ γὰρ εἰ νεωτέρα τῶν τότε χρόνων εἶ, τὸν γ’ ἀγῶν’ ἀκήκοας. βλάπτειν δοκοῦσα τοὺς βίους μείζους βλάβας τὴν ἡλιαίαν εἷλε περὶ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ τῶν δικαστῶν καθ’ ἕνα δεξιουμένη μετὰ δακρύων διέσωσε τὴν ψυχὴν μόλις.
And I would have you all to know that Democles, the orator, became the father of Demeas, by a female flute-player who was a courtesan; and once when he, Demeas, was giving himself airs in the tribune, Hyperides stepped his mouth, saying, “Will not you be silent, young man? why, you make more puffing than your mother did.” And also Bion of the Borysthenes, the philosopher, was the son of a Laced$emonian courtesan named Olympia; as Nicias the Nicæan informs us in his treatise called the Successions of the Philosophers. And Sophocles the tragedian, when he was an old man, was a lover of Theoris the courtesan; and accordingly, supplicating the favour and assistance of Venus, he says—Hear me now praying, goddess, nurse of youths,And grant that this my love may scorn young men,And their most feeble fancies and embraces;And rather cling to grey-headed old men,Whose minds are vigorous, though their limbs be weak.And these verses are some of those which are at time attributed to Homer. But he mentions Theoris by name, speaking thus in one of his plain choruses:—For dear to me Theoris is.And towards the end of his life, as Hegesander says, he was a lover of the courtesan Archippa, and he left her the heiress of all his property; but as Archippa cohabited with Sophocles, though he was very old, Smicrines, her former lover, being asked by some one what Archippa was doing, said very wittily, “Why, like the owls, she is sitting on the tombs.”
ἴστε δὲ ὅτι καὶ Δημάδης ὁ ῥήτωρ ἐξ αὐλητρίδος ἑταίρας ἐπαιδοποιήσατο Δημέαν· ὃν φρυαττόμενόν ποτε ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος ἐπεστόμισεν Ὑπερείδης εἰπών οὐ σιωπήσῃ, μειράκιον, μεῖζον τῆς μητρὸς ἔχων τὸ φύσημα; καὶ Βίων δ’ ὁ Βορυσθενίτης φιλόσοφος ἑταίρας ἦν υἱὸς Ὀλυμπίας Λακαίνης, ὣς φησι Νικίας ὁ Νικαιεὺς ἐν ταῖς τῶν φιλοσόφων Διαδοχαῖς. Σοφοκλῆς δ’ ὁ τραγῳδιοποιὸς ἤδη γέρων ὢν ἠράσθη Θεωρίδος τῆς ἑταίρας. ἱκετεύων οὖν τὴν Ἀφροδίτην φησίν κλῦθί μευ εὐχομένου, Κουροτρόφε· δὸς δὲ γυναῖκα τήνδε νέων μὲν ἀναίνεσθαι φιλότητα καὶ εὐνήν, ἡ δ’ ἐπιτερπέσθω πολιοκροτάφοισι γέρουσιν, ὧν ἰσχὺς μὲν ἀπήμβλυνται, θυμὸς δὲ μενοινᾷ. ταῦτα μέν ἐστιν ἐκ τῶν εἰς Ὅμηρον ἀναφερομένων. τῆς δὲ Θεωρίδος μνημονεύει λέγων ἔν τινι στασίμῳ οὕτως·· φίλη γὰρ ἡ Θεωρίς. ἐπὶ δὲ δυσμαῖς ὢν τοῦ βίου, ὥς φησιν Ἡγήσανδρος, Ἀρχίππην ἠγάπησεν τὴν ἑταίραν καὶ τοῦ βίου κληρονόμον κατέλιπεν. ὅτι δὲ γηραιῷ ὄντι τῷ Σοφοκλεῖ συνῆν ἡ Ἀρχίππη, ὁ πρότερος αὐτῆς ἐραστὴς Σμικρίνης ἐρωτώμενος ὑπό τινος τί πράττει Ἀρχίππη χαριέντως ἔφη· ὥσπερ αἱ γλαῦκες ἐπὶ τάφων κάθηται.
But Isocrates also, the most modest of all the orators, had a mistress named Metanira, who was very beautiful, as Lysias relates in his Letters. But Demosthenes, in his oration against Neæra, says that Metanira was the mistress of Lysias. And Lysias also was desperately in love with Lagis the courtesan, whose panegyric Cephalus the orator wrote, just as Alcidamas the Elæan, the pupil of Gorgias, himself wrote a panegyric on the courtesan Nais. And, in his oration against Philonides, who was under prosecution for an assault, (if, at least, the oration be a genuine one,) Lysias says that Nais was the mistress of Philonides, writing as follows:—“There is then a woman who is a courtesan, Nais by name, whose keeper is Archias; but your friend Philonides states himself to be in love with her.” Aristophanes also mentions her in his Gerytades, and perhaps also in his Plutus, where he says—Is it not owing to you the greedy LaisDoes love PhilonidesFor perhaps here we ought to read Nais, and not Lais. But Hermippus, in his Essay on Isocrates, says that Isocrates, when he was advancing in years, took the courtesan Lagisca to his house, and had a daughter by her. And Strattis speaks of her in these lines:—And while she still was in her bed, I sawIsocrates' concubine, Lagisca,Playing her tricks; and with her the flute-maker.And Lysias, in his speech against Lais, (if, at least, the oration be a genuine one,) mentions her, giving a list of other courtesans also, in the following words:—"Philyra indeed abandoned the trade of a courtesan while she was still young; and Scione, and Hippaphesis, and Theoclea, and Psamathe, and Lagisca, and Anthea, and Aristoclea, all abandoned it also at an early age."
ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ Ἰσοκράτης ὁ τῶν ῥητόρων αἰδημονέστατος Μετάνειραν εἶχεν ἐρωμένην καὶ Λαγίσκαν, ὁ ὡς Λυσίας ἱστορεῖ ἐν ταῖς Ἐπιστολαῖς. Δημοσθένης δ’ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Νεαίρας τὴν Μετάνειραν τοῦ Λυσίου φησὶν ἐρωμένην εἶναι. ἥττητο δὲ καὶ ὁ Λυσίας Λαγίδος τῆς ἑταίρας, ἧς ἔγραψεν ἐγκώμιον Κέφαλος ὁ ῥήτωρ· καθάπερ καὶ Ἀλκιδάμας ὁ Ἐλαίτης ὁ Γοργίου μαθητὴς ἔγραψεν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐγκώμιον Ναίδος τῆς ἑταίρας. τὴν δὲ Ναίδα ταύτην Λυσίας ἐν τῷ κατὰ Φιλωνίδου βιαίων, εἰ γνήσιος ὁ λόγος, ἐρωμένην φησὶ γενέσθαι Φιλωνίδου γράφων ὧδε· ἔστιν οὖν γυνὴ ἑταίρα Ναῒς ὄνομα, ἧς Ἀρχίας κύριός ἐστιν, ὁ ο Ὑμέναιος ἐπιτήδειος, ὁ Φιλωνίδης δ’ ἐρᾶν φησιν. μνημονεύει αὐτῆς καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν τῷ Γηρυτάδῃ. μήποτε δὲ κἀν τῷ Πλούτῳ ἐν ᾧ λέγει· ἐρᾷ δὲ Λαὶς οὐ διὰ σὲ Φιλωνίδου; γραπτέον Ναὶς καὶ οὐ Λαΐς. Ἕρμιππος δ’ ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἰσοκράτους προβαίνοντά φησι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τὸν Ἰσοκράτη ἀναλαβεῖν Λαγίσκαν τὴν ἑταίραν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, ἐξ ἧς καὶ γενέσθαι αὐτῷ θυγάτριον. μνημονεύει δ’ αὐτῆς Στράττις ἐν τούτοις· καὶ τὴν Λαγίσκαν τὴν Ἰσοκράτους παλλακὴν ἰδεῖν με συκάζουσαν εὐναίαν ἔτι, τὸν τ’ αὐλοτρύπην αὐτὸν εἶθ’ ἥκειν ταχύ. καὶ Λυσίας δ’ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Λαίδος, εἰ γνήσιος ὁ λόγος, μνημονεύει αὐτῆς, καταλέγων καὶ ἄλλας ἑταίρας ἐν τούτοις· Φιλύρα γέ τοι ἐπαύσατο πορνευομένη ἔτι νέα οὖσα καὶ Σκιώνη καὶ Ἱππάφεσις καὶ Θεόκλεια καὶ Ψαμάθη καὶ Λαγίσκα καὶ Ἄνθεια καὶ Ἀριστόκλεια.
But it is reported that Demosthenes the orator had children by a courtesan; at all events he himself, in his speech about gold, introduced his children before the court, in order to obtain pity by their means, without their mother; although it was customary to bring forward the wives of those who were on their trial; however, he did this for shame's sake, hoping to avoid calumny. But this orator was exceedingly addicted to amorous indulgences, as Idomeneus tells us. Accordingly, being in love with a youth named Aristarchus, he once, when he was intoxicated, insulted Nicodemus on his account, and struck out his eyes. He is related also to have been very extravagant in his table, and his followers, and in women. Therefore, his secretary once said, “But what can any one say of Demosthenes? For everything that he has thought of for a whole year, is all thrown into confusion by one woman in one night.” Accordingly, he is said to have received into his house a youth named Cnosion, although he had a wife; and she, being indignant at this, went herself and slept with Cnosion.
Δημοσθένη δὲ τὸν ῥήτορα καὶ τεκνοποιήσασθαι ἐξ ἑταίρας ἔχει λόγος, αὐτὸς γοῦν ἐν τῷ περὶ Χρυσίου λόγῳ προαγήοχε τὰ τέκνα ἐπὶ τὸ δικαστήριον ὡς δι’ ἐκείνων, ἔλεον ἕξων χωρὶς τῆς μητρός, καίτοι ἔθος ἐχόντων τῶν κρινομένων τὰς γυναῖκας ἐπάγεσθαι· ἀλλ’ αἰδοῖ τοῦτ’ ἐποίησεν, φεύγων τὴν διαβολήν. ἀκόλαστος δ’ ἦν ὁ ῥήτωρ περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια, ὥς φησιν Ἰδομενεύς. Ἀριστάρχου γοῦν τινος ἐρασθεὶς μειρακίου καὶ δι’ αὐτὸν παροινήσας εἰς Νικόδημον ἐξέκοψεν αὐτοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, παραδέδοται δὲ καὶ περὶ ὄψα καὶ περὶ νέους καὶ περὶ γυναῖκας πολυτελής. τοιγαροῦν καὶ ὁ γραμματεὺς ποτ’ αὐτοῦ εἶπε τί δ’ ἄν τις περὶ Δημοσθένους λέγειν δύναιτο; τὰ γὰρ ἐνιαυτῷ μελετηθέντα ἐκείνῳ μία γυνὴ μιᾷ νυκτὶ συνέχεεν. ἀναλαβεῖν γοῦν καὶ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν λέγεταί τινα Κνωσίωνα μειρακίσκον, καίτοι γυναῖκα ἔχων ὡς καὶ αὐτὴν ἀγανακτήσασαν συγκοιμᾶσθαι τῷ Κνωσίωνι.
And Demetrius the king, the last of all Alexander's successors, had a mistress named Myrrhina, a Samian courtesan; and in every respect but the crown, he made her his partner in the kingdom, as Nicolaus of Damascus tells us. And Ptolemy the son of Ptolemy Philadelphus the king, who was governor of the garrison in Ephesus, had a mistress named Irene. And she, when plots were laid against Ptolemy by the Thracians at Ephesus, and when he fled to the temple of Diana, fled with him: and when the conspirators had murdered him, Irene seizing hold of the bars of the doors of the temple, sprinkled the altar with his blood till they slew her also. And Sophron the governor of Ephesus had a mistress, Danae, the daughter of Leontium the Epicurean, who was also a courtesan herself. And by her means he was saved when a plot was laid against him by Laodice, and Laodice was thrown down a precipice, as Phylarchus relates in his twelfth book in these words: “Danae was a chosen companion of Laodice, and was trusted by her with all her secrets; and, being the daughter of that Leontium who had studied with Epicurus the natural philosopher, and having been herself formerly the mistress of Sophron, she, perceiving that Laodice was laying a plot to murder Sophron, revealed the plot to Sophron by a sign. And he, understanding the sign, and pretending to agree to what she was saying to him, asked two days to deliberate on what he should do. And, when she had agreed to that, he fled away by night to Ephesus. But Laodice, when she learnt what had been done by Danae, threw her down a precipice, discarding all recollection of their former friendship. And they say that Danae, when she perceived the danger which was impending over her, was interrogated by Laodice, and refused to give her any answer; but, when she was dragged to the precipice, then she said, that “many people justly despise the Deity, and they may justify themselves by my case, who having saved a man who was to me as my husband, am requited in this manner by the Deity. But Laodice, who murdered her husband, is thought worthy of such honour.” The same Phylarchus also speaks of Mysta, in his fourteenth book, in these terms: “Mysta was the mistress of Seleucus the king, and when Seleucus was defeated by the Galatæ, and was with difficulty able to save himself by flight, she put off the robes of a queen which she had been accustomed to wear, and assumed the garment of an ordinary servant; and being taken prisoner, was carried away with the rest of the captives. And being sold in the same manner as her handmaidens, she came to Rhodes; and there, when she had revealed who she was, she was sent back with great honour to Seleucus by the Rhodians.”
Μυρρίνην δὲ τὴν Σαμίαν ἑταίραν Δημήτριος εἶχεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ τῆς διαδοχῆς τελευταῖος καὶ ἔξω τοῦ διαδήματος κοινωνὸν εἶχε τῆς βασιλείας, ὥς φησιν Νικόλαος ὁ Δαμασκηνός. Πτολεμαῖός τε ὁ τὴν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ διέπων φρουρὰν υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ Φιλαδέλφου βασιλέως Εἰρήνην εἶχε τὴν ἑταίραν, ἥτις ὑπὸ Θρᾳκῶν ἐν Ἐφέσῳ ἐπιβουλευομένου τοῦ Πτολεμαίου καὶ καταφυγόντος εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν συγκατέφυγεν καὶ ἀποκτεινάντων αὐτὸν ἐκείνων ἡ Εἰρήνη ἐχομένη τῶν ῥόπτρων τῶν θυρῶν τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἔρραινεν τοῦ αἵματος τοὺς βωμούς, ἕως καὶ αὐτὴν κατέσφαξαν. Δανάην δὲ τὴν Λεοντίου τῆς Ἐπικουρείου θυγατέρα ἑταιριζομένην καὶ αὐτὴν Σώφρων εἶχεν ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐφέσου· δι’ ἣν αὐτὸς μὲν ἐσώθη ἐπιβουλευόμενος ὑπὸ Λαοδίκης, ἡ δὲ κατεκρημνίσθη, ὡς γράφει Φύλαρχος διὰ τῆς δωδεκάτης λέγων τάδε· ἡ πάρεδρος τῆς Λαοδίκης Δανάη, πιστευομένη ὑπ’ αὐτῆς τὰ πάντα, Λεοντίου δ’ οὖσα τῆς μετ’ Ἐπικούρου τοῦ φυσικοῦ σχολασάσης θυγάτηρ, Σώφρονος δὲ γεγονυῖα πρότερον ἐρωμένη, παρακολουθοῦσα διότι ἀποκτεῖναι βούλεται τὸν Σώφρονα ἡ Λαοδίκη διανεύει τῷ Σώφρονι, μηνύουσα τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. ὁ δὲ συλλαβὼν καὶ προσποιηθεὶς συγχωρεῖν περὶ ὧν λέγει δύ’ ἡμέρας παρῃτήσατο εἰς σκέψιν· καὶ συγχωρησάσης νυκτὸς ἔφυγεν εἰς Ἔφεσον. μαθοῦσα δὲ ἡ Λαοδίκη τὸ ποιηθὲν ὑπὸ τῆς Δανάης κατεκρήμνισεν τὴν ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲν τῶν προγεγενημένων φιλανθρώπων ἐπὶ νοῦν βαλομένη. τὴν δὲ Δανάην φασίν, ὡς ᾔσθετο τὸν ἐπηρτημένον αὐτῇ κίνδυνον, ἀνακρινομένην ὑπὸ τῆς Λαοδίκης οὐδ’ ἀποκρίσεως αὐτὴν ἀξιῶσαι· ἀπαγομένην τε ἐπὶ τὸν κρημνὸν εἰπεῖν ὡς δικαίως οἱ πολλοὶ καταφρονοῦσι τοῦ θείου, ὅτε ᾽ ἐγὼ μὲν τὸν γενόμενόν μοι ἄνδρα σώσασα τοιαύτην χάριτα παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου λαμβάνω, Λαοδίκη δὲ τὸν ἴδιον ἀποκτείνασα τηλικαύτης τιμῆς ἀξιοῦται.᾽ ὁ δ᾽ αὐτὸς Φύλαρχος καὶ περὶ Μύστας ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ οὕτως· Μύστα Σελεύκου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐρωμένη ἦν· ἥτις ὑπὸ Γαλατῶν Σελεύκου νικηθέντος καὶ μόλις ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς διασωθέντος αὐτὴ μεταμφιεσαμένη τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα καὶ ῥάκια λαβοῦσα θεραπαινίδος τῆς τυχούσης συλληφθεῖσα ἀπήχθη μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων αἰχμαλώτων καὶ πραθεῖσα ὁμοίως ταῖς ἑαυτῆς θεραπαινίσιν ἦλθεν εἰς Ῥόδον· ἔνθα ἐκφήνασα ἑαυτὴν ἥτις ἦν περισπουδάστως ὑπὸ τῶν Ῥοδίων τῷ Σελεύκῳ διεπέμφθη.
But Demetrius Phalereus being in love with Lampito, a courtesan of Samos, was pleased when he himself was addressed as Lampito, as Diyllus tells us; and he also had himself called Charitoblepharos. And Nicarete the courtesan was the mistress of Stephanus the orator; and Metanira was the mistress of Lysias the sophist; and these women were the slaves of Casius the Elean, with many other such, as Antea, Stratola, Aristoclea, Phila, Isthmias, and Neæra. But Neæra was the mistress of Stratoclides, and also of Xenoclides the poet, and of Hipparchus the actor, and of Phrynion the Pæanian, who was the son of Demon and the nephew of Demochares. And Phrynichus. and Stephanus the orator used to have Neæra in turn, each a day, since their friends had so arbitrated the matter for them; and the daughter of Neæra, whose name was Strymbela, and who was afterwards called Phano, Stephanus gave (as if she had been his own daughter) in marriage to Phrastor of Aegialea; as Demosthenes tells us in his oration against Neæra. And he also speaks in the following manner about Sinope the courtesan: “And you punished Archias the hierophant, when he was convicted before the regular tribunals of behaving with impiety, and offering sacrifices which were contrary to the laws of the nation. And he was accused also of other things, and among them of having sacrificed a victim on the festival of Ceres, which was offered by Sinope the courtesan, on the altar which is in the court of the temple at Eleusis, though it is against the law to sacrifice any victims on that day; and though, too, it was no part of his duty to sacrifice at all, but it belonged to the priestess to do so.”
Δημήτριος δ’ ὁ Φαληρεὺς Λαμπιτοῦς τῆς Σαμίας ἑταίρας ἐρασθεὶς ἡδέως δι’ αὐτὴν καὶ Λαμπιτὼ προσηγορεύετο, ὥς φησι Δίυλλος· ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ καὶ Χαριτοβλέφαρος. Νικαρέτη δὲ ἡ ἑταίρα ἐρωμένη ἦν Στεφάνου τοῦ ῥήτορος, Λυσίου δὲ τοῦ σοφιστοῦ Μετάνειρα. ἦσαν δὲ αὗται δοῦλαι Κασίου τοῦ Ἠλείου μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων ἑταιρῶν, Ἀντείας, Στρατόλας, Ἀριστοκλείας, Φίλας, Ἰσθμιάδος, Νεαίρας. ἡ δὲ Νέαιρα ἦν ἐρωμένη Ξενοκλείδου τοῦ ποιητοῦ καὶ Ἱππάρχου τοῦ ὑποκριτοῦ καὶ Φρυνίωνος τοῦ Παιανιέως, ὃς ἦν Δήμωνος μὲν υἱός, Δημοχάρους δὲ ἀδελφιδοῦς. τὴν δὲ Νέαιραν εἶχον ἡμέραν παρ’ ἡμέραν, διαιτητῶν γενομένων φίλων, Φρυνίων καὶ στέφανος ὁ ῥήτωρ· ὃς καὶ τὴν τῆς Νεαίρας θυγατέρα Στρυμβήλην τὴν ὕστερον Φανὼ κληθεῖσαν ὡς ἰδίαν θυγατέρα ἐξέδοτο Φράστορι τῷ Αἰγιλιεῖ, ὥς φησι Δημοσθένης ἐν τῷ κατὰ Νεαίρας. ὃς καὶ περὶ Σινώπης τῆς ἑταίρας τάδε λέγει· Ἀρχίαν τὸν ἱεροφάντην ἐξελεγχθέντα ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ ὡς ἀσεβοῦντα καὶ θύοντα παρὰ τὰ πάτρια τὰς θυσίας ἐκολάσατε· καὶ ἄλλα τε κατηγορήθη αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅτι Σινώπῃ τῇ ἑταίρᾳ Ἁλῴοις ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχάρας τῆς ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ Ἐλευσῖνι προσαγούσῃ ἱερεῖον θύσειεν, νομίμου ὄντος ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἱερεῖα μὴ θύειν, οὐδὲ ἐκείνου οὔσης τῆς θυσίας, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἱερείας.