COURTESANS.
On a poor mule, and having after her
Three donkeys, three maidservants, and one nurse.
Then, at a narrow spot in the road, they met
One of those knavish wrestlers, men who sell
Their battles, always taking care to lose them;
And as he could not pass by easily,
Being crowded up, he cried—"You wretched man,
You donkey-driver, if you get not quickly
Out of my way, I will upset these women,
And all the donkeys and the mule to boot."
But quick Gnathænium said, "My friend, I pray you,
Don't be so valiant now, when you have never
Done any feat of spirit or strength before."
45. And afterwards, Machon gives us the following anecdotes:—
They say that Lais the Corinthian,
Once when she saw Euripides in a garden,
Holding a tablet and a pen attach'd to it,
Cried out to him, "Now, answer me, my poet,
What was your meaning when you wrote in your play,
'Away, you shameless doer?'" And Euripides,
Amazed, and wondering at her audacity,
Said, "Why, you seem to me to be yourself
A shameless doer." And she, laughing, answer'd,
"How shameless, if my partners do not think so?"
Glycerium once received from some lover
A new Corinthian cloak with purple sleeves,
And gave it to a fuller. Afterwards,
When she thought he'd had time enough to clean it,
She sent her maidservant to fetch it back,
Giving her money, that she might pay for it.
But, said the fuller, "You must bring me first
Three measures full of oil, for want of that
Is what has hindered me from finishing."
The maid went back and told her mistress all.
"Wretch that I am!" Glycerium said, "for he
Is going to fry my cloak like any herring."
Demophoon once, the friend of Sophocles,
While a young man, fell furiously in love
With Nico, called the Goat, though she was old:
And she had earn'd this name of Goat, because
She quite devour'd once a mighty friend of hers,
Named Thallus,[1] when he came to Attica
To buy some Chelidonian figs, and also
To export some honey from th' Hymettian hill.
And it is said this woman was fair to view.
And when Demophoon tried to win her over,
"A pretty thing," said she, "that all you get
From me you may present to Sophocles."
means "a young twig."]
- ↑ [Greek: Thallos
