ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ. Ἑν Ἑλικῶνι φῆς, ὦ Λύτόβουλε, τοὺς περὶ Ἑρωτος λόγους γενέσθαι, οὓς εἴτε γραψάμενος εἴτε καταμνημονεύσας τῷ πολλάκις ἐπανερέσθαι τὸν πατέρα νυνὶ μέλλεις ἡμῖν δεηθεῖσιν ἀπαγγέλλειν.
ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ. ἐν Ἑλικῶνι παρὰ ταῖς Μούσαις, ὦ Φλαουιανέ, τὰ Ἐρωτικὰ Θεσπιέων ἀγόντων· ἄγουσι γὰρ ἀγῶνα πενταετηρικόν, ὥσπερ καὶ ταῖς Μούσαις, καὶ τῷ Ἔρωτι φιλοτίμως πάνυ καὶ λαμπρῶς.
ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ. οἶσθʼ οὖν ὃ σοῦ μέλλομεν δεῖσθαι πάντες οἱ πρὸς τὴν ἀκρόασιν ἥκοντες;
ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ. οὔκ· ἀλλʼ εἴσομαι λεγόντων.
ΦΛΑΟΥΙΑΝΟΣ. ἄφελε τοῦ λόγου τὸ νῦν ἔχον ἐποποιῶν τε λειμῶνας καὶ σκιὰς καὶ ἅμα κιττοῦ τε καὶ σμιλάκων διαδρομὰς καὶ ὅσʼ ἄλλα τοιούτων τόπων ἐπιλαβόμενοι γλίχονται τὸν Πλάτωνος Ἰλισσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄγνον ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὴν ἠρέμα προσάντη πόαν πεφυκυῖαν προθυμότερον ἢ κάλλιον ἐπιγράφεσθαι,
ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ. τί δὲ δεῖται τοιούτων, ὦ ἄριστε Φλαουιανέ, προοιμίων ἡ διήγησις; εὐθὺς ἡ πρόφασις, ἐξ ἧς ὡρμήθησαν οἱ λόγοι, χορὸν αἰτεῖ τῷ πάθει καὶ σκηνῆς δεῖται, τὰ τʼ ἄλλα δράματος οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει· μόνον εὐχώμεθα τῇ μητρὶ τῶν Μουσῶν ἵλεων παρεῖναι καὶ συνανασῴζειν τὸν μῦθον.
FLAVIANUS. Was it not in Helicon, dear Autobulus, that those discourses were held concerning Love, which — whether thou hast already set them down in writing, or still carriest them in thy memory, as having often desired them from thy father — we are now in expectation that thou wilt recite to us, at our importunate request?
AUTOBULUS. I was in Helicon, dear Flavianus, among the Muses, at what time the Thespians performed the Erotic solemnities. For they celebrate every four years certain games and festivals very magnificent and splendid in honor of Cupid, as well as of the Muses.
FLAV. Know’st thou then what it is we all desire at thy hands, as many as are gathered here together to be thy auditors?
AUTOB. No; but I shall know, when I am once by you informed.
FLAV. Curtail, we beseech ye, your discourse at present, forbearing the descriptions of meadows and shades, together with the crawling ivy, and whatever else poets are so studious to add to their descriptions, imitating with more curiosity than grace Plato’s Ilissus, with the chaste tree and the gentle rising hillock covered with green grass.
AUTOB. What needed my relation, dearest Flavianus, such a proem as this? The occasion that gave birth to these discourses of itself (as it were) asks for a chorus, and it requires a theatre; otherwise there is nothing wanting of a complete drama. Therefore let us only beseech Memory, the mother of the Muses, to be propitious and assist us in the discovery of the fable.
ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ. ὁ γὰρ πατήρ, ἐπεὶ πάλαι, πρὶν ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι, τὴν μητέρα νεωστὶ κεκομισμένος ἐκ τῆς γενομένης τοῖς γονεῦσιν αὐτῶν διαφορᾶς καὶ στάσεως ἀφίκετο τῷ Ἔρωτι θύσων, ἐπὶ τὴν ἑορτὴν ἦγε τὴν μητέρα· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἐκείνης ἡ εὐχὴ καὶ θυσία. τῶν δὲ φίλων οἴκοθεν μὲν αὐτῷ παρῆσαν οἱ συνήθεις, ἐν δὲ Θεσπιαῖς εὗρε Δαφναῖον τὸν Ἀρχιδάμου καὶ Λύσανδρον Λυσάνδρας ἐρῶντα τῆς Σίμωνος μάλιστα τῶν μνωμένων αὐτὴν εὐημεροῦντα, Σώκλαρον ἐκ Τιθόρας ἥκοντα τὸν Ἀριστίωνος δὲ καὶ Πρωτογένης ὁ Ταρσεὺς καὶ Ζεύξιππος ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, ξένοι· Βοιωτῶν δʼ ὁ πατὴρ ἔφη γνωρίμων τοὺς πλείστους παρεῖναι. δύο μὲν ἢ τρεῖς ἡμέρας κατὰ πόλιν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡσυχῆ πως φιλοσοφοῦντες ἐν ταῖς παλαίστραις καὶ διὰ τῶν θεάτρων ἀλλήλοις συνῆσαν· ἔπειτα φεύγοντες ἀργαλέον ἀγῶνα κιθαρῳδῶν, ἐντεύξεσι καὶ σπουδαῖς προειλημμένον, ἀνέζευξαν οἱ πλείους ὥσπερ ἐκ πολεμίας εἰς τὸν Ἑλικῶνα καὶ κατηυλίσαντο παρὰ ταῖς Μούσαις. ἕωθεν οὖν ἀφίκετο πρὸς αὐτοὺς Ἀνθεμίων καὶ Πεισίας ἄνδρες ἔνδοξοι, Βάκχωνι δὲ τῷ καλῷ λεγομένῳ προσήκοντες καὶ τρόπον τινὰ διʼ εὔνοιαν ἀμφότεροι τὴν ἐκείνου διαφερόμενοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἦν γὰρ ἐν Θεσπιαῖς Ἰσμηνοδώρα γυνὴ πλούτῳ καὶ γένει λαμπρὰ καὶ νὴ Δία τὸν ἄλλον εὔτακτος βίον. ἐχήρευσε γὰρ οὐκ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἄνευ ψόγου, καίπερ οὖσα νέα καὶ ἱκανὴ τὸ εἶδος. τῷ δὲ Βάκχωνι φίλης ὄντι καὶ συνήθους γυναικὸς υἱῷ πράττουσα γάμον κόρης κατὰ γένος προσηκούσης ἐκ τοῦ συμπαρεῖναι καὶ διαλέγεσθαι πολλάκις ἔπαθε πρὸς τὸ μειράκιον αὐτή· καὶ λόγους φιλανθρώπους ἀκούουσα καὶ λέγουσα περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ πλῆθος ὁρῶσα γενναίων ἐραστῶν εἰς τὸ ἐρᾶν προήχθη καὶ διενοεῖτο μηδὲν ποιεῖν ἀγεννές, ἀλλὰ γημαμένη φανερῶς συγκαταζῆν τῷ Βάκχωνι. παραδόξου δὲ τοῦ πράγματος αὐτοῦ φανέντος, ἥ γε μήτηρ ὑφεωρᾶτο τὸ βάρος τοῦ οἴκου καὶ τὸν ὄγκον ὡς οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἐραστήν· τινὲς δὲ καὶ συγκυνηγοὶ τῷ μὴ καθʼ ἡλικίαν τῆς Ἰσμηνοδώρας δεδιττόμενοι τὸν Βάκχωνα καὶ σκώπτοντες ἐργωδέστεροι τῶν ἀπὸ σπουδῆς ἐνισταμένων ἦσαν ἀνταγωνισταὶ πρὸς τὸν γάμον. ᾐδεῖτο γὰρ ἔφηβος ἔπʼ ὢν χήρᾳ συνοικεῖν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐάσας παρεχώρησε τῷ Πεισίᾳ καὶ τῷ Ἀνθεμίωνι βουλεύσασθαι τὸ συμφέρον, ὧν ὁ μὲν ἀνεψιὸς αὐτοῦ ἦν πρεσβύτερος, ὁ δὲ Πεισίας αὐστηρότατος τῶν ἐραστῶν· διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὸν γάμον ἀντέπραττε καὶ καθήπτετο τοῦ Ἀνθεμίωνος ὡς προϊεμένου τῇ Ἰσμηνοδώρᾳ τὸ μειράκιον· ὁ δʼ ἐκεῖνον οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἔλεγε ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ τἄλλα χρηστὸν ὄντα μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς φαύλους ἐραστὰς οἴκου καὶ γάμου καὶ πραγμάτων μεγάλων ἀποστεροῦντα τὸν φίλον, ὅπως ἄθικτος αὐτῷ καὶ νεαρὸς ἀποδύοιτο πλεῖστον χρόνον ἐν ταῖς παλαίστραις.
AUTOB. For a long time before we were born, when our father had newly espoused our mother, an unlucky variance that fell out between their parents caused him to take a journey to Thespiae, with an intention to sacrifice to the God of Love; and he carried my mother also to the feast (for that it properly belonged to her as well to make the feast as to perform the sacrifice), besides several of his familiar acquaintance that accompanied him from his house. Now being arrived at Thespiae, he met with Daphnaeus, the son of Archidamus, who was in love with Lysandra, the daughter of Simon, and who was, above all her suitors, chiefly the most welcome and acceptable to her. There he also found Soclarus, the son of Aristion, who was come from Tithorea; together with Protogenes of Tarsus and Zeuxippus the Lacedaemonian, by whom he had been several times kindly entertained; and he said that most of the chief men among the Boeotians were there also. Thus they staved for two or three days in the city, entertaining each other with learned discourses, one while in the common wrestling-places, sometimes in the theatres, still keeping company together. After that, avoiding the troublesome contest of the harpers and musicians, — it being found out that all had been settled beforehand by favor and intrigue, — the greatest part brake company, as if they had been discamping out of an enemy’s country, retired to Helicon, and took up their lodgings among the Muses. Thither the next morning came to them Anthemion and Pisias, persons of eminent nobility, and both allied to Baccho, surnamed the Fair, and in some way at difference one with another, by reason of the affection which they severally bore to him. For there was at Thespiae, Ismenodora, of an illustrious family, and wealthy withal; and indeed in all other respects discreet and modest; and moreover she had continued a widow no little time, without spot or stain to her reputation, though both young and beautiful.
AUTOB. Now it happened that while this brisk widow was endeavoring to make up a match between Baccho, who was the son of her intimate friend, and a certain just blooming virgin nearly allied to herself, by often talking with the young gentleman and much frequenting his company, she began to feel some sparks of kindness kindled for him in her own breast. Afterwards hearing him highly commended by others, and speaking many things in his praise herself, and finding him beloved by a great number of persons of the best rank, by degrees she fell desperately in love with the youth; nevertheless with a resolution to do nothing unbeseeming her birth and quality, but after public wedlock to acknowledge him as her husband. But as the match seemed impracticable by reason of the distance of their years, so the mother of the young man suspected the nobility and grandeur of her house not to be correspondent to her son’s condition, which rendered him incapable of such a preferment. Moreover, his companions that were wont to go a hunting with him, weighing the difference between his and the age of Ismenodora, filled his head with several scruples, and scaring him with continual frumps and scoffs, more effectually hindered the match than they who labored industriously and seriously to prevent it. And the young man himself felt ashamed at his age to be married to a widow. At last, however, shaking off all others, he applies himself to Pisias and Anthemion for their advice in a matter of so great concernment. The elder of these two, Anthemion, was his cousin, and Pisias the most earnest of his lovers. The latter therefore withstood the match with all his might, and upbraided Anthemion, as one that went about to betray the young man to Ismenodora. On the other side, Anthemion told Pisias, that he did not well to do as he did, having the reputation of a worthy honest man, to imitate those lewd lovers, and endeavor to deprive his friend of a noble house, a rich wife, and other great conveniences, that he might have the pleasure to see him frequently naked in the wrestling-places, fresh and smooth, and a stranger to female sports.
ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ. ἵνʼ οὖν μὴ παροξύνοντες ἀλλήλους κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς ὀργὴν προαγάγοιεν, ὥσπερ διαιτητὰς ἑλόμενοι καὶ βραβευτὰς τὸν πατέρα καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ παρεγένοντο· καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φίλων οἷον ἐκ παρασκευῆς τῷ μὲν ὁ Δαφναῖος παρῆν τῷ δʼ ὁ Πρωτογένης ἀλλʼ οὗτος μὲν ἀνέδην ἔλεγε κακῶς τὴν Ἰσμηνοδώραν· ὁ δὲ Δαφναῖος ὦ Ἡράκλεις ἔφη τί οὐκ ἄν τις προσδοκήσειεν, εἰ καὶ Πρωτογένης ἔρωτι πολεμήσων πάρεστιν ᾧ καὶ παιδιὰ πᾶσα καὶ σπουδὴ περὶ Ἔρωτα καὶ διʼ Ἔρωτος, λήθη μὲν λόγων λήθη δὲ πάτρας, οὐχ ὡς τῷ Λαΐῳ πέντε μόνον ἡμερῶν ἀπέχοντι τῆς πατρίδος; βραδὺς γὰρ ὁ ἐκείνου καὶ χερσαῖος Ἔρως, ὁ δὲ σὸς ἐκ Κιλικίας Ἀθήναζε λαιψηρὰ κυκλώσας πτερὰ διαπόντιος πέτεται, τοὺς καλοὺς ἐφορῶν καὶ συμπλανώμενος. ἀμέλει γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐγεγόνει τοιαύτη τις αἰτία τῷ Πρωτογένει τῆς ἀποδημίας.
AUTOB. However, to prevent the growing of any quarrel between them, through long and passionate disputes, they chose for umpires of the controversy my father and those friends that were with him. And beside them, as if they had been chosen on purpose, Daphnaeus pleaded for Pisias, and for Anthemion, Protogenes; who bitterly inveighing against Ismenodora, O Hercules, cried Daphnaeus, what may we not expect, when Protogenes bids defiance to love? he that all along has spent as well the serious as sportive hours of his life both in love and for love, without regard either to learning or his country; nor like to Laius, who was but live days’ journey distant from home, — for his was a slow sort of love upon the dry land, — whereas your Cupid, Protogenes, With nimble wings displayed,
AUTOB. crossed the seas from Cilicia to Athens, merely to visit and straggle up and down with lovely boys. And indeed, such at first was the true cause of Protogenes’s peregrination.
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