LOVE. with him to sup with Aristocles the harp-player, who was an excessive favourite of the king's."
81. Sophocles, too, had a great fancy for having boy-favourites, equal to the addiction of Euripides for women. And accordingly, Ion the poet, in his book on the Arrival of Illustrious Men in the Island of Chios, writes thus:—"I met Sophocles the poet in Chios, when he was sailing to Lesbos as the general: he was a man very pleasant over his wine, and very witty. And when Hermesilaus, who was connected with him by ancient ties of hospitality, and who was also the proxenus[1] of the Athenians, entertained him, the boy who was mixing the wine was standing by the fire, being a boy of a very beautiful complexion, but made red by the fire: so Sophocles called him and said, 'Do you wish me to drink with pleasure?' and when he said that he did, he said, 'Well, then, bring me the cup, and take it away again in a leisurely manner.' And as the boy blushed all the more at this, Sophocles said to the guest who was sitting next to him, 'How well did Phrynichus speak when he said—
The light of love doth shine in purple cheeks.
And a man from Eretria, or from Erythræ, who was a school-*) which existed between two states, or between an individual or a family on the one hand, and a whole state on the other. . . . When two states established public hospitality, it was necessary that in each state persons should be appointed to show hospitality to, and watch over the interests of all persons who came from the state connected by hospitality. The persons who were appointed to this office, as the recognised agents of the state for which they acted, were called [Greek: proxenoi]. . . .
"The office of [Greek: proxenos], which bears great resemblance to that of a modern consul, or minister resident, was in some cases hereditary in a particular family. When a state appointed a proxenus, it either sent out one of its own citizens to reside in the other state, or it selected one of the citizens of the other, and conferred on him the honour of proxenus. . . . This custom seems in later times to have been universally adopted by the Greeks. . . .
"The principal duties of a proxenus were to receive those persons, especially ambassadors, who came from the state which he represented; to procure for them admission to the assembly, and seats in the theatre; to act as the patron of the strangers, and to mediate between the two states, if any dispute arose. If a stranger died in the state, the proxenus of his country had to take care of the property of the deceased. The proxenus usually enjoyed exemption from taxes; and their persons were inviolable both by sea and land."—Smith, Dict. Ant. v. Hospitium, p. 491.]
- ↑ "Of far greater importance was the public hospitality ([Greek: proxenia
