---
title: "Dialogues of the Courtesans · Ἑταιρικοὶ διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 3 of 15
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-courtesans/3/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Courtesans · Ἑταιρικοὶ διάλογοι, section 3. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-courtesans/3/"
---

# Dialogues of the Courtesans · Ἑταιρικοὶ διάλογοι

*Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod*

Fifteen scenes of the lives and loves of Athenian courtesans.

> Greek: ed. Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg069, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg069.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 3. Dialogue 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-courtesans/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-courtesans/3/#p-N

[¶0] 1. MOTHER: Did you take leave of your senses at the party last night, Philinna? What came over you? Diphilus came to me early this morning in tears, and told me how you’d treated him. He said you were drunk, got up and danced in the middle of the company, though he tried to stop you, then kissed his friend, Lamprias, and, when he showed that he was annoyed with you, left him, went over to Lamprias, and threw your arms round his neck. He choked with rage, he said, at such goings on. But even later on, I imagine, you wouldn’t sleep with him, but left him weeping, and lay down by yourself on the nearby pallet, singing songs, and annoying him.

> Greek: 1. ΜΗΤΗΡ: Ἐμάνης, ὦ Φίλιννα, ἢ τί ἔπαθες ἐν τῷ ξυμποσίῳ χθές; ἧκε γὰρ παρ' ἐμὲ Δίφιλος ἕωθεν δακρύων καὶ διηγήσατό μοι ἃ ἔπαθεν ὑπὸ σοῦ· μεμεθύσθαι γάρ σε καὶ ἐς τὸ μέσον ἀναστᾶσαν ὀρχήσασθαι αὐτοῦ διακωλύοντος καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα φιλῆσαι Λαμπρίαν τὸν ἑταῖρον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐχαλέπηνέ σοι, καταλιποῦσαν αὐτὸν ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν Λαμπρίαν καὶ περιβαλεῖν ἐκεῖνον, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἀποπνίγεσθαι τούτων γιγνομένων. ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τῆς νυκτός, οἶμαι, συνεκάθευδες, καταλιποῦσα δὲ δακρύοντα μόνη ἐπὶ τοῦ πλησίον σκίμποδος κατέκεισο ᾄδουσα καὶ λυποῦσα ἐκεῖνον.

[¶1] 2. PHILINNA: Of course, he didn’t tell you what he did, mother, or you wouldn’t take the part of one who behaved so outrageously. He left me and prattled with Thais, Lamprias’ girl, for Lamprias himself had not yet arrived. After he had seen that I was angry, and I’d shown him how I disapproved of his behaviour, he laid hold of the tip of Thais’ ear, bent her neck, and kissed her so hard, that she could scarcely get her lips free. I cried, but he laughed, and whispered a lot into her ear—all of it directed against me, no doubt—and Thais kept looking at me, and smiling. But after they’d seen Lamprias coming, and had at last decided they’d had enough of kissing each other, I went in spite of it all and lay by his side, so that he wouldn’t have something more to cast up to me afterwards. Thais jumped up and was the first to dance, with her dress pulled up high, as if she was the only one with a pretty pair of ankles; when she’d finished, Lamprias kept quiet and said nothing, but Diphilus praised her to the skies for her fine dancing and her outfit, for the skill of her feet in keeping time with the lyre, and for her pretty ankles, and so on ad infinitum, as if he were praising the Sosandra of Calamis, rather than Thais, whose appearance you know, as she goes to the baths with us. And how she started to mock me the next moment! “Anyone”, said she, “who isn’t ashamed of having skinny legs will get up and dance too.” What could I say, mother? I got up and danced. What else was I to do? Sit still, and prove the truth of the taunt, by allowing Thais to be queen of the party?

> Greek: 2. ΦΙΛΙΝΝΑ: Τὰ γὰρ αὑτοῦ σοι, ὦ μῆτερ, οὐ διηγήσατο· οὐ γὰρ ἂν συνηγόρευες αὐτῷ ὑβριστῇ ὄντι, ὃς ἐμοῦ ἀφέμενος ἐκοινολογεῖτο Θαΐδι τῇ Λαμπρίου ἑταίρᾳ, μηδέπω ἐκείνου παρόντος· ἐπεὶ δὲ χαλεπαίνουσαν εἶδέ με καὶ διένευσα αὐτῷ οἷα ποιεῖ, τοῦ ὠτὸς ἄκρου ἐφαψάμενος ἀνακλάσας τὸν αὐχένα τῆς Θαΐδος ἐφίλησεν οὕτω προσφυῶς, ὥστε μόλις ἀπέσπασε τὰ χείλη, εἶτ' ἐγὼ μὲν ἐδάκρυον, ὁ δὲ ἐγέλα καὶ πρὸς τὴν Θαΐδα πολλὰ πρὸς τὸ οὖς ἔλεγε κατ' ἐμοῦ δηλαδή, καὶ ἡ Θαῒς ἐμειδίασε βλέπουσα πρὸς ἐμέ. ὡς δὲ προσιόντα ᾔσθοντο τὸν Λαμπρίαν καὶ ἐκορέσθησάν ποτε φιλοῦντες ἀλλήλους, ἐγὼ μὲν ὅμως παρ' αὐτὸν κατεκλίθην, ὡς μὴ καὶ τοῦτο προφασίζοιτο ὕστερον, ἡ Θαῒς δὲ ἀναστᾶσα ὠρχήσατο πρώτη ἀπογυμνοῦσα ἐπὶ πολὺ τὰ σφυρὰ ὡς μόνη καλὰ ἔχουσα, καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐπαύσατο, ὁ Λαμπρίας μὲν ἐσίγα καὶ εἶπεν οὐδέν, Δίφιλος δὲ ὑπερεπῄνει τὸ εὔρυθμον καὶ τὸ κεχορηγημένον, καὶ ὅτι εὖ πρὸς τὴν κιθάραν ὁ ποὺς καὶ τὸ σφυρὸν ὡς καλὸν καὶ ἄλλα μυρία, καθάπερ τὴν Καλάμιδος Σωσάνδραν ἐπαινῶν, ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ Θαΐδα, ἣν καὶ σὺ οἶσθα συλλουομένην ἡμῖν οἵα ἐστί. Θαῒς δὲ οἷα καὶ ἔσκωψεν εὐθὺς ἐς ἐμέ· Εἰ γάρ τις, ἔφη, μὴ αἰσχύνεται λεπτὰ ἔχουσα τὰ σκέλη, ὀρχήσεται καὶ αὐτὴ ἐξαναστᾶσα. τί ἂν λέγοιμι, ὦ μῆτερ; ἀνέστην γὰρ καὶ ὠρχησάμην. ἀλλὰ τί ἔδει ποιεῖν; ἀνασχέσθαι καὶ ἐπαληθεύειν τὸ σκῶμμα καὶ τὴν Θαΐδα ἐᾶν τυραννεῖν τοῦ συμποσίου;

[¶2] 3. MOTHER: You took yourself too seriously, my dear. You shouldn’t have let it bother you. But tell me what happened next. PHILINNA: The others all praised me, but Diphilus stretched himself on his back and went on staring at the ceiling, till I tired and stopped.

> Greek: 3. ΜΗΤΗΡ: Φιλοτιμότερον μέν, ὦ θύγατερ· οὐδὲ φροντίζειν γὰρ ἐχρῆν· λέγε δ’ ὅμως τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα. ΦΙΛΙΝΝΑ: Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι ἐπῄνουν, ὁ Δίφιλος δὲ μόνος ὕπτιον καταβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν ἐς τὴν ὀροφὴν ἀνέβλεπεν, ἄχρις δὴ καμοῦσα ἐπαυσάμην.

[¶3] MOTHER: But is it true that you kissed Lamprias, and that you went over and embraced him? Why don’t you answer? Such conduct was past forgiving. PHILINNA: I wanted to annoy him in return.

> Greek: ΜΗΤΗΡ: Τὸ φιλῆσαι δὲ τὸν Λαμπρίαν ἀληθὲς ἦν καὶ τὸ μεταβᾶσαν περιπλέκεσθαι αὐτῷ; τί σιγᾷς; οὐκέτι γὰρ ταῦτα συγγνώμης ἄξια. ΦΙΛΙΝΝΑ: Ἀντιλυπεῖν ἐβουλόμην αὐτόν.

[¶4] MOTHER: Then afterwards you wouldn’t sleep with him, but sang songs, while he cried? Don’t you understand, daughter, that we’re penniless? Do you forget how much he has given us, and how we’d have had to pass the last winter, if Aphrodite hadn’t sent him to us? PHILINNA: What of it? Does that mean I’ve to put up with such insults from him?

> Greek: ΜΗΤΗΡ: Εἶτα οὐδὲ συνεκάθευδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ᾖδες ἐκείνου δακρύοντος; οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ, ὦ θύγατερ, ὅτι πτωχαί ἐσμεν, οὐδὲ μέμνησαι ὅσα παρ' αὐτοῦ ἐλάβομεν ἢ οἷον δὴ τὸν πέρυσι χειμῶνα διηγάγομεν ἄν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτον ἡμῖν ἡ Ἀφροδίτη ἔπεμψε; ΦΙΛΙΝΝΑ: Τί οὖν; ἀνέχωμαι διὰ τοῦτο ὑβριζομένη ὑπ' αὐτοῦ;

[¶5] MOTHER: Be angry by all means, my daughter, but don’t insult him back. Lovers insulted love no longer, but speak severely to themselves. You’ve always been hard on the fellow. Remember the proverb, and take care that we don’t strain the rope to breaking point.

> Greek: ΜΗΤΗΡ: Ὀργίζου μέν, μὴ ἀνθύβριζε δέ. οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι ὑβριζόμενοι παύονται οἱ ἐρῶντες καὶ ἐπιτιμῶσιν ἑαυτοῖς; σὺ δὲ πάνυ χαλεπὴ ἀεὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ γεγένησαι, καὶ ὅρα μὴ κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν ἀπορρήξωμεν πάνυ τείνουσαι τὸ καλῴδιον.