The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
66. Plangon the Milesian was also a celebrated courtesan; and she,
as she was most wonderfully beautiful, was beloved by a young man
of Colophon, who had a mistress already whose name was Bacchis.
Accordingly, when this young man began to address his solicitations
to Plangon, she, having heard of the beauty of Bacchis, and wishing
to make the young man abandon his love for her, when she was unable
to effect that, she required as the price of her favours the necklace
of Bacchis, which was very celebrated. And he, as he was exceedingly
in love, entreated Bacchis not to see him totally overwhelmed with
despair; and Bacchis, seeing the excited state of the young man, gave
him the necklace. And Plangon, when she saw the freedom from jealousy
which was exhibited by Bacchis, sent her back the necklace, but kept
the young man: and ever after Plangon and Bacchis were friends, loving
the young man in common; and the Ionians being amazed at this, as
Menetor tells us in his treatise concerning Offerings, gave Plangon the
name of Pasiphila.[48] And Archilochus mentions her in the following
lines:—
[Sidenote: COURTESANS.]
As a fig-tree planted on a lofty rock
Feeds many crows and jackdaws, so Pasiphila's
A willing entertainer of all strangers.
That Menander the poet was a lover of Glycera, is notorious to
everybody; but still he was not well pleased with her. For when
Philemon was in love with a courtesan, and in one of his plays called
her "Excellent," Menander, in one of his plays, said, in contradiction
to this, that there was no courtesan who was good.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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