Plutarch, Amatorius, ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, 5

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[5]

ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

ἔτι δὲ πλείονα λέγειν προθυμουμένου τοῦ Πρωτογένους, ἀντικρούσας ὁ Δαφναῖος εὖ γε νὴ Δίʼ ἔφη τοῦ Σόλωνος ἐμνήσθης; καὶ χρηστέον αὐτῷ γνώμονι τοῦ ἐρωτικοῦ ἀνδρός, 25 751c

ἔσθʼ¹ ἥβης ἐρατοῖσιν ἐπʼ ἄνθεσι παιδοφιλήσῃ

μηρῶν ἱμείρων³ καὶ γλυκεροῦ στόματος.

πρόσλαβε δὲ τῷ Σόλωνι καὶ τὸν Αἰσχύλον λέγοντα

σέβας δὲ μηρῶν ἁγνὸν⁴ οὐκ ἐπῃδέσω⁵,

⁶

ὦ δυσχάριστε τῶν πυκνῶν⁷ φιλημάτων

5 ἕτεροι μὲν γὰρ καταγελῶσιν αὐτῶν, εἰ καθάπερ θύτας καὶ μάντεις εἰς τὰ μηρία καὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν ἀποβλέπειν τοὺς ἐραστὰς κελεύουσιν ἐγὼ δὲ παμμέγεθες τοῦτο ποιοῦμαι σημεῖον ὑπὲρ τῶν γυναικῶν εἰ γὰρ ἡ παρὰ φύσιν ὁμιλία πρὸς ἄρρενας οὐκ ἀναιρεῖ 10 751d τὴν ἐρωτικὴν εὔνοιαν οὐδὲ βλάπτει, πολὺ μᾶλλον εἰκός ἐστι τὸν⁸ γυναικῶν ἢ⁹ ἀνδρῶν ἔρωτα τῇ φύσει χρώμενον εἰς φιλίαν διὰ χάριτος ἐξικνεῖσθαι. χάρις γὰρ οὖν, ὦ Πρωτόγενες, ἡ τοῦ θήλεος ὕπειξις τῷ ἄρρενι κέκληται πρὸς τῶν παλαιῶν· ὡς 15 καὶ Πίνδαρος¹⁰ ἔφη τὸν Ἥφαιστον ἄνευ χαρίτων ἐκ τῆς Ἥρας γενέσθαι καὶ τὴν οὔπω γάμων ἔχουσαν ὥραν ἡ Σαπφὼ προσαγορεύουσά φησιν, ὅτι

σμίκρα μοι¹¹ πάις ἔμμεν ἐφαίνεο κἄχαρις.

ὁ δʼ Ἡρακλῆς ὑπό τινος ἐρωτᾶται, 20

βίᾳ δʼ ἔπραξας¹² χάριτας ἢ πείσας κόρην;.

¹³ 751e ἡ δʼ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρρένων ἀκόντων μὲν μετὰ¹⁴ βίας γενομένη¹⁵ καὶ λεηλασίας, ἂν δʼ ἑκουσίως, σὺν μαλακίᾳ καὶ θηλύτητι, βαίνεσθαι κατὰ Πλάτωνα¹⁶ νόμῳ τετράποδος καὶ παιδοσπορεῖσθαι παρὰ φύσιν ἐνδιδόντων, ἄχαρις χάρις¹⁷ παντάπασι καὶ ἀσχήμων καὶ ἀναφρόδιτος. ὅθεν, οἶμαι, καὶ ὁ Σόλων ἐκεῖνα μὲν 5 ἔγραψε νέος ὢν ἔτι καὶ σπέρματος πολλοῦ μεστός ὡς ὁ Πλάτων¹⁸ φησί· ταυτὶ δὲ πρεσβύτης γενόμενος

ἔργα δὲ Κυπρογενοῦς νῦν μοι φίλα καὶ Διονύσου

¹⁹

καὶ Μουσέων, ἃ τίθησʼ²⁰ ἀνδράσιν εὐφροσύνας·

ὥσπερ ἐκ ζάλης καὶ χειμῶνος καὶ τῶν παιδικῶν²¹ ἐρώτων 10 ἔν τινι γαλήνῃ τῇ περὶ γάμον καὶ φιλοσοφίαν 751f θέμενος τὸν βίον. εἰ μὲν οὖν τἀληθὲς²² σκοποῦμεν, ὦ Πρωτόγενες ἓν καὶ ταὐτόν ἐστι πρὸς παῖδας καὶ γυναῖκας πάθος τὸ τῶν Ἐρώτων εἰ δὲ βούλοιο φιλονεικῶν διαιρεῖν, οὐ μέτριʼ ἂν²³ δόξειε ποιεῖν ὁ παιδικὸς 15 οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὀψὲ γεγονὼς καὶ παρʼ ὥραν τῷ βίῳ νόθος καὶ σκότιος ἐξελαύνειν²⁴ τὸν γνήσιον Ἔρωτα καὶ πρεσβύτερον. ἐχθὲς γάρ, ὦ ἑταῖρε, καὶ πρῴην μετὰ τὰς ἀποδύσεις καὶ ἀπογυμνώσεις τῶν νέων παραδὺς²⁵ εἰς τὰ γυμνάσια καὶ προσανατριβόμενος 20 ἡσυχῆ καὶ προσεμβαλών²⁶, εἶτα κατὰ μικρὸν ἐν ταῖς παλαίστραις πτεροφυήσας οὐκέτι καθεκτὸς 752a ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ λοιδορεῖ καὶ προπηλακίζει τὸν γαμήλιον ἐκεῖνον καὶ συνεργὸν ἀθανασίας τῷ θνητῷ γένει, σβεννυμένην ἡμῶν τὴν φύσιν εὐθὺς²⁷ ἐξανάπτοντα διὰ τῶν γενέσεων. οὗτος; δʼ ἀρνεῖται τὴν ἡδονήν· αἰσχύνεται γὰρ καὶ φοβεῖται. δεῖ δέ τινος εὐπρεπείας ἁπτομένῳ καλῶν καὶ ὡραίων· πρόφασις 5 οὖν φιλία καὶ ἀρετή. κονίεται δὲ καὶ ψυχρολουτεῖ καὶ τὰς ὀφρῦς αἴρει καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν φησι καὶ σωφρονεῖν ἔξω διὰ τὸν νόμον· εἶτα νύκτωρ καὶ καθʼ ἡσυχίαν

γλυκεῖʼ²⁸ ὀπώρα φύλακος ἐκλελοιπότος.

²⁹ 10 εἰ δʼ, ὥς φησι Πρωτογένης, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀφροδισίων 752b παιδικῶν κοινωνία³⁰, πῶς Ἔρως ἔστιν Ἀφροδίτης μὴ παρούσης, ἣν εἴληχε θεραπεύειν ἐκ θεῶν καὶ περιέπειν, τιμῆς τε μετέχειν καὶ δυνάμεως ὅσον ἐκείνη δίδωσιν; εἰ δʼ ἔστι τις Ἔρως χωρὶς Ἀφροδίτης, ὥσπερ 15 μέθη χωρὶς οἴνου πρὸς σύκινον³¹ πῶμα³² καὶ κρίθινον, ἄκαρπον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀτελὲς τὸ ταρακτικὸν ἐστι καὶ πλήσμιον καὶ ἁψίκορον.

Amatorius. Plutarch. ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs. Leipzig. 1892.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Ἐρωτικός (Greek) (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. IV. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1892.)

Translations (1)

Of Love. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 5 focus

[5]

AUTOB.

Now while Protogenes was desirous to say more, Daphnaeus interrupting him said: Truly you have done well to put us in mind of Solon, and we may make use of him as the judge of a person addicted to love. Hear what he says:

Then dote upon the flowery youth of boys,

Their fragrant breath admiring and soft thighs.

AUTOB.

Add to this of Solon that other of Aeschylus:

Ungrateful, for the kisses of my lips,

Not to revere the glory of my lips.

AUTOB.

These are proper judges of love; but others there are who deride all those that would have lovers inspect thighs and haunches, like so many sacrificers and diviners. And for my part I draw from hence a very strong argument on the behalf of the women. For if male converse, which is altogether against nature, neither extinguishes nor is any ways noxious to amorous affection, much more probable is it that the love of women, which is according to nature, should reach to the consummation of friendship, by virtue of that obsequious beauty which attends it. For I must tell you, Protogenes, the submission of the female to the male was by the ancients expressed by the word χάρις ( grace or favor). For which reason Pindar observes that Vulcan was by Juno brought forth without the graces; and Sappho tells a young virgin, not yet ripe for matrimony,

A little child thou seem’st, and without grace.

AUTOB.

And a certain person puts the question to Hercules,

By force or by persuasion did the maid

Her favors yield?

AUTOB.

But the submission of males to males, whether it be by compulsion and strength, like a violent and forcible rape, or whether it be voluntary, — men suffering themselves weakly and effeminately to be covered by each other, like four-footed beasts, and counterfeiting the act of generation in defiance of nature (as Plato says), — is void of all grace, brutish, and contrary to the end of venereal pleasure. Wherefore I am apt to believe that Solon wrote those lines when he was young, brisk, and full of seed (as Plato phrases it), but when he was grown into years, he sang another note:

The sports of Venus, now, are my delight,

Or else with Bacchus to carouse;

At other times the Muses’ charms invite;

These are the chiefest pleasures mankind knows; —

AUTOB.

as if he had altered his course of life, and retired from the storms and tempests of pederastic fury into the calms of wedlock and philosophy. Now then, Protogenes, let us but consider the truth of the matter, we shall find the passion of lovers to be the same, whether it be for boys or for women; or if, out of a contentious humor, you will distinguish them, you shall find that this affection for boys does not keep itself within bounds, but like a late-born issue, clandestinely brought forth in the dark and out of season, it strives to expel the truly genuine and legitimate love, which is much the more ancient. For give me leave to tell ye, my dear friend, it is but (as it were) of yesterterday’s standing or of the day before — since young boys began to strip and show themselves naked in the public places of exercise — that this frenzy, getting in by degrees and crowding in there, afterwards by little and little became better fledged and gathered strength of wings in the wrestling- rings, so that now the insolence of it can no longer be so restrained but that still it will be affronting and adulterating conjugal love, which is the coadjutrix of Nature and helps to immortalize mortal mankind, raising up and immediately restoring again by generation our human nature when it has been extinguished by death. But this same Protogenes denies there is any pleasure in male concupiscence, for he is ashamed and afraid to acknowledge it. Therefore there must be some decent pretence for the feeling and handling these adult and lovely youths. And truly he has found out a very clever excuse, alleging it to be for the sake of friendship and virtue. Therefore he rolls himself in the dust, washes with cold water, erects his brows, and outwardly pretends to philosophy and chastity, for fear of the law; but when darkness covers the earth, and all people have betaken themselves to their rest,

Sweet the ripe fruit he finds, its keeper gone.

AUTOB.

Now if it be as Protogenes says, that no carnal conjunction attends these masculine familiarities, how can it be love, when Venus is absent; seeing that of all the Goddesses, she it is that Cupid is bound to obey and attend, and that he has no honor or power but what she confers upon him? But if there be a sort of love without Venus, as a man may be drunk without wine by drinking the decoctions of figs or barley, the disturbance of such a love must prove fruitless and to no end, and consequently loathsome and offensive.

Notes on the current edition

Ἐρωτικός

1. ἔσθʼ] ὅς θʼ R

2. Bergk. 2 p. 50

3. ἱμείρων] om. BE

4. ἀγνὸν] accessit ex Athen. p. 602e

5. οὐκ ἐπῃδέσω idem: οὐ κατηδέσω

6. Nauck. p. 44

7. πυκνῶν idem: πικρῶν

8. τὸν M: τῶν

9. ἢ] ἢ τὸν Herwerdenus

10. Πίνδαρος] Pyth. 2, 42

11. em. Bergkius (3 p. 101): σμικρά μοι παῖ ἔμμεναι φαίνεαι

12. δ’ ἔπραξας R: δὲ πράξας

13. Nauck. p. 916

14. μὲν μετὰ R: μετὰ

15. γενομένη idem: λεγομένη

16. Πλάτωνα] Phaedr. p. 250e

17. χάρις add. Winckelmannus sed ante ἄχαρις

18. Πλάτων] de Legg. p. 839b

19. cf. Bergk. 2 p. 50

20. τίθησιν BE

21. καὶ τῶν παιδικῶν] i. e. οὕτω καὶ ἐκ τῶν παιδικῶν cf. Plat. Rep. p. 497d

22. τἀληθὲς *: τὸ ἀληθὲς

23. μέτρι’ ἂν *: μέτρια

24. em. M: ἐελαύνει

25. παραδοὺς BE

26. προσεγκαλῶν iidem, unde fort. προσαικάλλων

27. εὐθὺς] αὖθις R

28. γλυκεῖα libri

29. Nauck. p. 916. Kock. 3 p. 614

30. ἀκοινωνία iidem

31. προσίκυνον BE

32. ib. *: πόμα

Plutarch Amatorius 5

ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs

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ΑΥΤΟΒΟΥΛΟΣ.

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AUTOB.

AUTOB.

AUTOB.

AUTOB.

AUTOB.

AUTOB.

AUTOB.

Notes on the current edition

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