τὸν δὲ Ἐτεοκλέα λέγουσιν οἱ Βοιωτοὶ Χάρισιν ἀνθρώπων θῦσαι πρῶτον. καὶ ὅτι μὲν τρεῖς εἶναι Χάριτας κατεστήσατο ἴσασιν, ὀνόματα δὲ οἷα ἔθετο αὐταῖς οὐ μνημονεύουσιν· ἐπεὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοί γε εἶναι Χάριτας δύο καὶ Λακεδαίμονα ἱδρύσασθαι τὸν Ταϋγέτης φασὶν αὐτὰς καὶ ὀνόματα θέσθαι Κλήταν καὶ Φαένναν.
ἐοικότα μὲν δὴ Χάρισιν ὀνόματα καὶ ταῦτα, ἐοικότα δὲ καὶ παρʼ Ἀθηναίοις· τιμῶσι γὰρ ἐκ παλαιοῦ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι Χάριτας Αὐξὼ καὶ Ἡγεμόνην. τὸ γὰρ τῆς Καρποῦς ἐστὶν οὐ Χάριτος ἀλλὰ Ὥρας ὄνομα· τῇ δὲ ἑτέρᾳ τῶν Ὡρῶν νέμουσιν ὁμοῦ τῇ Πανδρόσῳ τιμὰς οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, Θαλλὼ τὴν θεὸν ὀνομάζοντες.
παρὰ δὲ Ἐτεοκλέους τοῦ Ὀρχομενίου μαθόντες τρισὶν ἤδη νομίζομεν Χάρισιν εὔχεσθαι· καὶ Ἀγγελίων τε καὶ Τεκταῖος†ὅσοι γε Διονύσου †τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἐργασάμενοι Δηλίοις τρεῖς ἐποίησαν ἐπὶ τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ Χάριτας· καὶ Ἀθήνῃσι πρὸ τῆς ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐσόδου Χάριτές εἰσι καὶ αὗται τρεῖς, παρὰ δὲ αὐταῖς τελετὴν ἄγουσιν ἐς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀπόρρητον.
Πάμφως μὲν δὴ πρῶτος ὧν ἴσμεν ᾖσεν ἐς Χάριτας, πέρα δὲ οὔτε ἀριθμοῦ πέρι οὔτε ἐς τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστιν οὐδὲν αὐτῷ πεποιημένον· Ὅμηρος δὲ—ἐμνημόνευσε γὰρ Χαρίτων καὶ οὗτος—τὴν μὲν Ἡφαίστου γυναῖκα εἶναι λέγει καὶ ὄνομα αὐτῇ τίθεται Χάριν, Πασιθέας δὲ εἶναί φησιν ἐραστὴν Ὕπνον, ἐν δὲ Ὕπνου τοῖς λόγοις τὸ ἔπος ἐποίησεν ἦ μέν μοι δώσειν Χαρίτων μίαν ὁπλοτεράων. / τούτου δὲ ἕνεκα ὑπόνοια δὴ παρέστη τισὶν ὡς Χάριτας ἄρα καὶ πρεσβυτέρας οἶδεν ἄλλας Ὅμηρος.
Ἡσίοδος δὲ ἐν Θεογονίᾳ—προσιέσθω δὲ ὅτῳ φίλον τὴν Θεογονίαν—, ἐν δʼ οὖν τῇ ποιήσει ταύτῃ τὰς Χάριτάς φησιν εἶναι Διός τε καὶ Εὐρυνόμης καί σφισιν ὀνόματα Εὐφροσύνην τε καὶ Ἀγλαΐαν εἶναι καὶ Θαλίαν. κατὰ ταὐτὰ δὲ ἐν ἔπεσίν ἐστι τοῖς Ὀνομακρίτου. Ἀντίμαχος δὲ οὔτε ἀριθμὸν Χαρίτων οὔτε ὀνόματα εἰπὼν Αἴγλης εἶναι θυγατέρας καὶ Ἡλίου φησὶν αὐτάς. Ἑρμησιάνακτι δὲ τῷ τὰ ἐλεγεῖα γράψαντι τοσόνδε οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν πρότερον δόξαν ἐστὶν αὐτῷ πεποιημένον, ὡς ἡ Πειθὼ Χαρίτων εἴη καὶ αὐτὴ μία.
ὅστις δὲ ἦν ἀνθρώπων ὁ γυμνὰς πρῶτος Χάριτας ἤτοι πλάσας ἢ γραφῇ μιμησάμενος, οὐχ οἷόν τε ἐγένετο πυθέσθαι με, ἐπεὶ τά γε ἀρχαιότερα ἐχούσας ἐσθῆτα οἵ τε πλάσται καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἐποίουν οἱ ζωγράφοι· καὶ Σμυρναίοις τοῦτο μὲν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῶν Νεμέσεων ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀγαλμάτων χρυσοῦ Χάριτες ἀνάκεινται, τέχνη Βουπάλου, τοῦτο δέ σφισιν ἐν τῷ Ὠιδείῳ Χάριτός ἐστιν εἰκών, Ἀπελλοῦ γραφή, Περγαμηνοῖς δὲ ὡσαύτως ἐν τῷ Ἀττάλου θαλάμῳ, Βουπάλου καὶ αὗται·
καὶ πρὸς τῷ ὀνομαζομένῳ Πυθίῳ Χάριτες καὶ ἐνταῦθά εἰσι Πυθαγόρου γράψαντος Παρίου· Σωκράτης τε ὁ Σωφρονίσκου πρὸ τῆς ἐς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἐσόδου Χαρίτων εἰργάσατο ἀγάλματα Ἀθηναίοις. καὶ ταῦτα μέν ἐστιν ὁμοίως ἅπαντα ἐν ἐσθῆτι, οἱ δὲ ὕστερον— οὐκ οἶδα ἐφʼ ὅτῳ—μεταβεβλήκασι τὸ σχῆμα αὐταῖς· Χάριτας γοῦν οἱ κατʼ ἐμὲ ἔπλασσόν τε καὶ ἔγραφον γυμνάς.
The Boeotians say that Eteocles was the first person who sacrificed to the Graces. Further, they know that he instituted three Graces ; but what names he gave them they do not remember. The Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, say that there are two Graces, that they were established by Lacedaemon, son of Taygete, and that he gave them the names of Cleta and Phaenna. These are suitable names for Graces, and so are the names they go by at Athens; for the Athenians also have worshipped from of old two Graces—Auxo and Hegemone. Carpo is the name, not of a Grace, but of a Season: the other Season is worshipped along with Pandresus by the Athenians under the name of Thallo. It was Eteocles of Orchomenus who taught us to pray to three Graces ; and Angelion and Tectaeus, the sons of Dionysus, in making the image of Apollo for the Delians, placed three Graces in his hand. Moreover, at Athens, in front of the entrance to the Acropolis, there are also three Graces ; and beside them mysteries are celebrated which are kept secret from the multitude. Pamphos is the first man we know of who sang of the Graces, but he gives no particulars as to their numbers or names. Homer, who also mentions the Graces, says that one was the wife of Hephaestus, and he simply calls her Grace. He says, too, that Sleep was a lover of Pasithea, [and in] the speech of Sleep this verse occurs :— Verily to give me one of the younger Graces. Hence some people have got a notion that Homer knew of other elder Graces also. But Hesiod in the Theogony (the authenticity of which I leave an open question), says that the Graces are daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, and that their names are Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. The same account is to be found in the verses of Onomacritus. Antimachus, without mentioning the number or names of the Graces, says that they are the daughters of Aegle and the Sun. Hermesianax, the elegiac poet, differs from his predecessors thus far that he represents Persuasion as also one of the Graces. 2. Who first represented the Graces naked, whether in sculpture or painting, I could not ascertain. Certainly at an earlier time they were habitually represented draped both by sculptors and painters. Thus at Smyrna, in the sanctuary of the Nemeses above the images there are figures of the Graces in gold, a work of Bupalus ; and there is also at Smyrna in the Music Hall a painting of a Grace by Apelles. Similarly at Pergamus, in the chamber of Attalus, there are images of the Graces, also by Bupalus; and at what is called the Pythium there is a picture of them by Pythagoras of Paros. And Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, wrought images of the Graces in front of the entrance to the Acropolis. All these are draped. But later artists, I know not why, changed the mode of representing them. Certain it is that at the present day the Graces are represented naked both in sculpture and painting.
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