1. CLONARIUM: We’ve been hearing strange things about you, Leaena. They say that Megilla, the rich Lesbian woman, is in love with you just like a man, that you live with each other, and do goodness knows what together. Hullo! Blushing? Tell me if it’s true. LEAENA: Quite true, Clonarium. But I’m ashamed, for it’s unnatural.
1. ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Καινὰ περὶ σοῦ ἀκούομεν, ὦ Λέαινα, τὴν Λεσβίαν Μέγιλλαν τὴν πλουσίαν ἐρᾶν σου ὥσπερ ἄνδρα καὶ συνεῖναι ὑμᾶς οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅ τι ποιούσας μετ' ἀλλήλων. τί τοῦτο; ἠρυθρίασας; ἀλλ’ εἰπὲ εἰ ἀληθῆ ταῦτά ἐστιν. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Ἀληθῆ, ὦ Κλωνάριον· αἰσχύνομαι δέ, ἀλλόκοτον γάρ τί ἐστι.
CLONARIUM: In the name of Mother Aphrodite, what’s it all about? What does the woman want? What do you do when you are together? You see, you don’t love me, or you wouldn’t hide such things from me. LEAENA: I love you as much as I love any woman, but she’s terribly like a man.
ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Πρὸς τῆς κουροτρόφου τί τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἢ τί βούλεται ἡ γυνή; τί δὲ καὶ πράττετε, ὅταν συνῆτε; ὁρᾷς; οὐ φιλεῖς με· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἀπεκρύπτου τὰ τοιαῦτα. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Φιλῶ μέν σε, εἰ καί τινα ἄλλην. ἡ γυνὴ δὲ δεινῶς ἀνδρική ἐστιν.
2. CLONARIUM: I don’t understand what you mean, unless she’s a sort of woman for the ladies. They say there are women like that in Lesbos, with faces like men, and unwilling to consort with men, but only with women, as though they themselves were men. LEAENA: It’s something like that.
2. ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Οὐ μανθάνω ὅ τι καὶ λέγεις, εἰ μή τις ἑταιρίστρια τυγχάνει οὖσα· τοιαύτας γὰρ ἐν Λέσβῳ λέγουσι γυναῖκας ἀρρενωπούς, ὑπ' ἀνδρῶν μὲν οὐκ ἐθελούσας αὐτὸ πάσχειν, γυναιξὶ δὲ αὐτὰς πλησιαζούσας ὥσπερ ἄνδρας. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Τοιοῦτόν τι.
CLONARIUM: Well, tell me all about it; tell me how she made her first advances to you, how you were persuaded, and what followed. LEAENA: She herself and another rich woman, with the same accomplishments, Demonassa from Corinth, were organising a drinking party, and had taken me along to provide them with music. But, when I had finished playing, and it was late and time to turn in and they were drunk, Megilla said, “Come along Leaena, it’s high time we were in bed; you sleep here between us.”
ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Οὐκοῦν, ὦ Λέαινα, τοῦτο αὐτὸ καὶ διήγησαι, ὅπως μὲν ἐπείρα τὸ πρῶτον, ὅπως δὲ καὶ σὺ συνεπείσθης καὶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Πότον τινὰ συγκροτοῦσα αὐτή τε καὶ Δημώνασσα ἡ Κορινθία. πλουτοῦσα δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ καὶ ὁμότεχνος οὖσα τῇ Μεγίλλῃ, παρειλήφει κἀμὲ κιθαρίζειν αὐταῖς· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐκιθάρισα καὶ ἀωρὶ ἦν καὶ ἔδει καθεύδειν, καὶ ἐμέθυον, Ἄγε δή, ἔφη, ὦ Λέαινα, ἡ Μέγιλλα, κοιμᾶσθαι γὰρ ἤδη καλόν, ἐνταῦθα κάθευδε μεθ' ἡμῶν μέση ἀμφοτέρων.
CLONARIUM: And did you? What happened after that?
ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Ἐκάθευδες; τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα τί ἐγένετο;
3. LEAENA: At first they kissed me like men, not simply bringing their lips to mine, but opening their mouths a little, embracing me, and squeezing my breasts. Demonassa even bit me as she kissed, and I didn’t know what to make of it. Eventually Megilla, being now rather heated, pulled off her wig, which was very realistic and fitted very closely, and revealed the skin of her head which was shaved close, just as on the most energetic of athletes. This sight gave me a shock, but she said, “Leaena, have you ever seen such a good-looking young fellow?” “I don’t see one here, Megilla,” said I. “Don’t make a woman out of me,” said she. “My name is Megillus, and I’ve been married to Demonassa here for ever so long; she’s my wife.” I laughed at that, Clonarium, and said, “Then, unknown to us, Megillus, you were a man all the time, just as they say Achilles once hid among the girls, and you have everything that a man has, and can play the part of a man to Demonassa?” “I haven’t got what you mean,” said she, “I don’t need it at all. You’ll find I’ve a much pleasanter method of my own.” “You’re surely not a hermaphrodite,” said I, “equipped both as a man and a woman, as many people are said to be?”; for I still didn’t know, Clonarium, what it was all about. But she said, “No, Leaena, I’m all man.”
3. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Ἐφίλουν με τὸ πρῶτον ὥσπερ οἱ ἄνδρες, οὐκ αὐτὸ μόνον προσαρμόζουσαι τὰ χείλη, ἀλλ’ ὑπανοίγουσαι τὸ στόμα, καὶ περιέβαλλον καὶ τοὺς μαστοὺς ἔθλιβον· ἡ Δημώνασσα δὲ καὶ ἔδακνε μεταξὺ καταφιλοῦσα· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ εἶχον εἰκάσαι ὅ τι τὸ πρᾶγμα εἴη. χρόνῳ δὲ ἡ Μέγιλλα ὑπόθερμος ἤδη οὖσα τὴν μὲν πηνήκην ἀφείλετο τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἐπέκειτο δὲ πάνυ ὁμοία καὶ προσφυής, καὶ ἐν χρῷ ὤφθη αὐτὴ καθάπερ οἱ σφόδρα ἀνδρώδεις τῶν ἀθλητῶν ἀποκεκαρμένη· καὶ ἐγὼ ἐταράχθην ἰδοῦσα. ἡ δέ, Ὦ Λέαινα, φησίν, ἑώρακας ἤδη οὕτω καλὸν νεανίσκον; Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁρῶ, ἔφην, ἐνταῦθα νεανίσκον, ὦ Μέγιλλα. Μή καταθήλυνέ με, ἔφη, Μέγιλλος γὰρ ἐγὼ λέγομαι καὶ γεγάμηκα πρόπαλαι ταύτην τὴν Δημώνασσαν, καὶ ἔστιν ἐμὴ γυνή. ἐγέλασα, ὦ Κλωνάριον, ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ ἔφην, Οὐκοῦν σύ, ὦ Μέγιλλε, ἀνήρ τις ὢν ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς, καθάπερ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα φασὶ κρυπτόμενον ἐν ταῖς παρθένοις, καὶ τὸ ἀνδρεῖον ἐκεῖνο ἔχεις καὶ ποιεῖς τὴν Δημώνασσαν ἅπερ οἱ ἄνδρες; Ἐκεῖνο μέν, ἔφη, ὦ Λέαινα, οὐκ ἔχω· δέομαι δὲ οὐδὲ πάνυ αὐτοῦ· ἴδιον δέ τινα τρόπον ἡδίω παρὰ πολὺ ὁμιλοῦντα ὄψει με. Ἀλλὰ μὴ Ἑρμαφρόδιτος εἶ, ἔφην, οἷοι πολλοὶ εἶναι λέγονται ἀμφότερα ἔχοντες; ἔτι γὰρ ἠγνόουν, ὦ Κλωνάριον, τὸ πρᾶγμα. Οὔ, φησίν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πᾶν ἀνήρ εἰμι.
4. “Well,” I said, “I’ve heard the Boeotian flute-girl, Ismenodora, repeating tales she’d heard at home, and telling us how someone at Thebes had turned from woman to man, someone who was also an excellent soothsayer, and was, I think, called Tiresias. That didn’t happen to you, did it?” “No, Leaena,” she said, “I was born a woman like the rest of you, but I have the mind and the desires and everything else of a man.” “And do you find these desires enough?” said I. “If you don’t believe me Leaena,” said she, “just give me a chance, and you’ll find I’m as good as any man; I have a substitute of my own. Only give me a chance, and you’ll see.” Well I did, my dear, because she begged so hard, and presented me with a costly necklace, and a very fine linen dress. Then I threw my arms around her as though she were a man, and she went to work, kissing me, and panting, and apparently enjoying herself immensely. CLONARIUM: What did she do? How? That’s what I’m most interested to hear. LEAENA: Don’t enquire too closely into the details; they’re not very nice; so, by Aphrodite in heaven, I won’t tell you!
4. Ἤκουσα, ἔφην ἐγώ, τῆς Βοιωτίας αὐλητρίδος Ἰσμηνοδώρας διηγουμένης τὰ ἐφέστια παρ' αὐτοῖς, ὡς γένοιτό τις ἐν Θήβαις ἐκ γυναικὸς ἀνήρ, ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς καὶ μάντις ἄριστος, οἶμαι, Τειρεσίας τοὔνομα. μὴ οὖν καὶ σὺ τοιοῦτόν τι πέπονθας; Οὔκουν, ὦ Λέαινα, ἔφη, ἀλλὰ ἐγεννήθην μὲν ὁμοία ταῖς ἄλλαις ὑμῖν, ἡ γνώμη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἀνδρός ἐστί μοι. Καὶ ἱκανὴ γοῦν σοι, ἔφην, ἐπιθυμία; Πάρεχε γοῦν, ὦ Λέαινα, εἰ ἀπιστεῖς, ἔφη, καὶ γνώσῃ οὐδὲν ἐνδέουσάν με τῶν ἀνδρῶν· ἔχω γάρ τι ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀνδρείου. ἀλλὰ πάρεχε, ὄψει γάρ. παρέσχον, ὦ Κλωνάριον, ἱκετευούσης πολλὰ καὶ ὅρμον τινά μοι δούσης τῶν πολυτελῶν καὶ ὀθόνας τῶν λεπτῶν. εἶτ' ἐγὼ μὲν ὥσπερ ἄνδρα περιελάμβανον, ἡ δὲ ἐποίει τε καὶ ἐφίλει καὶ ἤσθμαινε καὶ ἐδόκει μοι ἐς ὑπερβολὴν ἥδεσθαι. ΚΛΩΝΑΡΙΟΝ: Τί ἐποίει, ὦ Λέαινα, ἢ τίνα τρόπον; τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα εἰπέ. ΛΕΑΙΝΑ: Μὴ ἀνάκρινε ἀκριβῶς, αἰσχρὰ γάρ· ὥστε μὰ τὴν οὐρανίαν οὐκ ἂν εἴποιμι.