19
Aphrodite and Eros
APHRODITE
Why is it, Eros, that though you’ve triumphed over all the other gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Rhea and myself, your mother, you make an exception of Athena and keep clear of her, and for her your torch has no fire, your quiver no arrows, and you no bow or sense of aim?
Why is it, Eros, that though you’ve triumphed over all the other gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Rhea and myself, your mother, you make an exception of Athena and keep clear of her, and for her your torch has no fire, your quiver no arrows, and you no bow or sense of aim?
EROS
I’m afraid of her, mother. She scares me with her flashing eyes, and she’s terribly like a man. Why, when I string my bow and go after her, I get terrified at the first shake of her crest, and start trembling and dropping my arrows from my hands.
I’m afraid of her, mother. She scares me with her flashing eyes, and she’s terribly like a man. Why, when I string my bow and go after her, I get terrified at the first shake of her crest, and start trembling and dropping my arrows from my hands.
APHRODITE
Well, didn’t you find Ares more frightening? Yet you disarmed him and conquered him.
Well, didn’t you find Ares more frightening? Yet you disarmed him and conquered him.
EROS
No. He’s glad to welcome and encourage me, but Athena always glowers at me. Once I just flew past with my torch near her, and says she, “If you come near me, as sure as I’m Zeus’ daughter, I’ll run my spear through you, or catch you by the foot and throw you into Tartarus, or I’ll tear you to bits with my own hands and then”—she hurled many threats like that at me. Besides she stares at me so grimly and, oh, she’s got on her breast that terrible face with the snaky hair—that’s what scares me most of all. It gives me the creeps and makes me run the moment I see it.
No. He’s glad to welcome and encourage me, but Athena always glowers at me. Once I just flew past with my torch near her, and says she, “If you come near me, as sure as I’m Zeus’ daughter, I’ll run my spear through you, or catch you by the foot and throw you into Tartarus, or I’ll tear you to bits with my own hands and then”—she hurled many threats like that at me. Besides she stares at me so grimly and, oh, she’s got on her breast that terrible face with the snaky hair—that’s what scares me most of all. It gives me the creeps and makes me run the moment I see it.
APHRODITE
Do you mean to tell me you’re afraid of Athena and her Gorgon, though you don’t fear the thunderbolt of Zeus? But why do you leave the Muses unwounded? Why are they safe from your arrows? Do they too have tossing plumes and Gorgons on display?
Do you mean to tell me you’re afraid of Athena and her Gorgon, though you don’t fear the thunderbolt of Zeus? But why do you leave the Muses unwounded? Why are they safe from your arrows? Do they too have tossing plumes and Gorgons on display?
EROS
I have respect for them, mother; they’re so solemn, always with something to think about or busy with their music; I often stand beside them, bewitched by their melodies.
I have respect for them, mother; they’re so solemn, always with something to think about or busy with their music; I often stand beside them, bewitched by their melodies.
APHRODITE
Never mind them, then, seeing that they’re so solemn; but why don’t you wound Artemis?
Never mind them, then, seeing that they’re so solemn; but why don’t you wound Artemis?
EROS
It’s quite impossible to catch her; she’s always running away over the mountains. Besides, she’s now got a love of her own.
It’s quite impossible to catch her; she’s always running away over the mountains. Besides, she’s now got a love of her own.
APHRODITE
And its object, my child?
And its object, my child?
EROS
Hunting deer and fawn, chasing them and catching them, or shooting them down; that’s all she cares about. But that brother of hers, though he’s an archer too and a long shot—
Hunting deer and fawn, chasing them and catching them, or shooting them down; that’s all she cares about. But that brother of hers, though he’s an archer too and a long shot—
APHRODITE
I know, my boy, you’ve hit him often enough with your arrows.
I know, my boy, you’ve hit him often enough with your arrows.
Dialogi deorum. Lucian of Samosata. Matthew Donald Macleod (Translator). Medford, MA. Perseus 5.0.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.