Ποτέραν χεῖρα τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἔτρωσεν ὁ Διομήδης.

[1] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τὸν μὲν Ἑρμείαν, βουλόμενὸν 10 τι προβαλεῖν τῷ Ζωπυρίωνι, ἀπεκωλύσαμεν· 739b ὁ δὲ ῥήτωρ Μάξιμος ἄπωθεν ἠρώτησεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τῶν Ὁμήρου, ποτέραν χεῖρα τρώσειεν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ὁ Διομήδης. ταχὺ δὲ τοῦ Ζωπυρίωνος ἀντερομένου ποτέρῳ σκέλει χωλὸς ἦν ὁ Φίλιππος, οὐχ 15 ὅμοιον εἶπεν ὁ Μάξιμος· ʽοὐδεμίαν¹ γὰρ ὁ Δημοσθένης ἀπόλογίαν περὶ τούτου δέδωκε· σὺ δʼ ἂν ἀπορεῖν ὁμολογήσῃς, ἕτεροι δείξουσιν ὅπου τὴν τετρωμένην χεῖρα φράζει τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσιν ὁ ποιητής. ἔδοξεν οὖν ἡμῖν ὁ Ζωπυρίων διηπορῆσθαι, 20 739c καὶ τὸν Μάξιμον, ἐκείνου σιωπῶντος, ἠξιοῦμεν ἐπιδεικνύναι.

[2] πρῶτον οὖν ὁ Μάξιμος ἔφη τῶν ἐπῶν οὕτως ἐχόντων

ἔνθʼ ἐπορεξάμενος μεγαθύμου Τυδέος υἱὸς² 25

ἄκρην οὔτασε χεῖρα, μετάλμενος ὀξέι δουρί,

δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι³ τὴν ἀριστερὰν⁴ πατάξαι βουλόμενος οὐκ ἐδεῖτο μεταπηδήσεως⁵, ἐπεὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀριστερὰν τὴν δεξιὰν εἶχεν ἐξ ἐναντίου προσφερόμενος· καὶ γὰρ εὔλογον ἦν τὴν ἐρρωμενεστέραν χεῖρα καὶ μᾶλλον 5 τοῦ Αἰνείου φερομένου περιεχομένην ἐκεῖνόν τε τρῶσαι καὶ τὴν τρωθεῖσαν προέσθαι τὸ σῶμα. δεύτερον⁶, 739d εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτῆς ἀνακομισθείσης, καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν ἀναγελάσαι⁷ λέγουσαν

ἦ μάλα δή τινα Κύπρις Ἀχαιιάδων⁸ ἀνιεῖσα⁹ 10

Τρωσὶν ἅμα σπέσθαι, τοὺς νῦν ἔκπαγλα φίλησε.

τῶν τινα καρρέζουσα Ἀχαιιάδων βαθυκόλπων¹⁰,

πρὸς χρυσῇ περόνῃ καταμύξατο¹¹ χεῖρα ἀραιήν.

οἶμαι δὲ καὶ σέ εἶπεν ὦ βέλτιστε διδασκάλων, ὅταν τινὰ τῶν μαθητῶν φιλοφρονούμενος καταψᾷς καὶ 15 καταρρέζῃς¹², μὴ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ τοῦτο¹³ ποιεῖν ἀλλὰ τῇ δεξιᾷ. καθάπερ εἰκός ἐστι καὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην, 739e ἐπιδεξιωτάτην θεῶν οὖσαν, οὕτω φιλοφρονεῖσθαι τὰς ἡρωίδας.

Question IV.
WHICH OF VENUS’S HANDS DIOMEDES WOUNDED.
HERMEAS, ZOPYRION, MAXIMUS.

[1] HERMEAS would have replied to Zopyrion, but we desired him to hold; and Maximus the rhetorician proposed to him this far-fetched question out of Homer, Which of Venus’s hands Diomedes wounded. And Zopyrion presently asking him again, Of which leg was Philip lame?—Maximus replied, It is a different case, for Demosthenes hath left us no foundation upon which we may build our conjecture. But if you confess your ignorance in this matter, others will show how the poet sufficiently intimates to an understanding man which hand it was. Zopyrion being at a stand, we all, since he made no reply, desired Maximus to tell us.

[2] And he began: The verses running thus,

Then Diomedes raised his mighty spear,

And leaping towards her just did graze her hand;

it is evident that, if he designed to wound her left hand, there had been no need of leaping, since her left hand was opposite to his right. Besides, it is probable that he would endeavor to wound the strongest hand, and that with which she drew away Aeneas; which being wounded, it was likely she would let him go. But more, after she returned to Heaven, Minerva jeeringly said,

No doubt fair Venus won a Grecian dame,

To follow her beloved Trojan youths,

And as she gently stroked her with her hand,

Her golden buckler scratched this petty wound.

And I suppose, sir, when you stroke any of your scholars, you use your right hand, and not your left; and it is likely that Venus, the most dexterous of all the goddesses, soothed the heroines after the same manner.

Plutarch Quaestiones Convivales 9.4

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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Ποτέραν χεῖρα τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἔτρωσεν ὁ Διομήδης.

Current edition Perseus

Question IV.
WHICH OF VENUS’S HANDS DIOMEDES WOUNDED.
HERMEAS, ZOPYRION, MAXIMUS.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Ποτέραν χεῖρα τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἔτρωσεν ὁ Διομήδης.

Current edition Perseus

Question IV. WHICH OF VENUS’S HANDS DIOMEDES WOUNDED. HERMEAS, ZOPYRION, MAXIMUS.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Question IV.
WHICH OF VENUS’S HANDS DIOMEDES WOUNDED.
HERMEAS, ZOPYRION, MAXIMUS.