My mortal body became dry and withered: But my immortal part rose to the sky. Is not this Plato’s doctrine? And in his Parasite he says:— Or to converse alone, like Plato. Anaxilas also laughs at him in his Botrylion, and Circe, and his Rich Women. XXIII. And Aristippus, in the fourth book of his treatise upon Ancient Luxury, says that he was much attached to a youth of the name of Aster, who used to study astronomy with him; and also to Dion, whom we have already mentioned. And some say that he was also attached to Phædrus, and that the following epigrams which he wrote upon them are evidences of the love he felt for them:— My Aster, you’re gazing on the stars (ἀστέρες), Would that I were the heavens, that so I might Gaze in return with many eyes on thee. Another of his epigrams is:— Aster, you while among the living shone, The morning star. But now that you are dead, You beam like Hesperus in the shades below. And he wrote thus on Dion:— Once, at their birth, the fates did destine tears To be the lot of all the Trojan women. And Hecuba, their Queen—to you, O Dion, As the deserved reward for glorious deeds, They gave extensive and illustrious hopes. And now you lie beneath your native soil; Honoured by all your countrymen, O Dion, And loved by me with ardent, lasting love. And they say that this epigram is inscribed upon his tomb at Syracuse. They say, also, that he was in love with Alexis, and with Phædrus, as I have already mentioned, and that he wrote an epigram on them both, which runs thus:— Now when Alexis is no longer aught, Say only how beloved, how fair he was, And every one does turn his eyes at once. Why, my mind, do you show the dogs a bone? You’re but preparing trouble for yourself: Have we not also lost the lovely Phædrus! There is also a tradition that he had a mistress named Archianassa, on whom he wrote the following lines:— I have a mistress fair from Colophon, Archianassa, on whose very wrinkles Sits genial love: hard must have been the fate, Of him who met her earliest blaze of beauty, Surely he must have been completely scorched. He also wrote this epigram on Agathon:— While kissing Agathon, my soul did rise, And hover’d o’er my lips; wishing perchance, O’er anxious that it was, to migrate to him. Another of his epigrams is:— I throw this apple to you. And if you Love me who love you so, receive it gladly, And let me taste your lovely virgin charms. Or if that may not be, still take the fruit, And in your bosom cherish it, and learn How fleeting is all gracefulness and beauty. And another:— I am an apple, and am thrown to you, By one who loves you: but consent, Xanthippe; For you and I shall both with time decay. They also attribute to him the following epigram on the Eretrians who had been surprised in an ambuscade:—