Greek Lyric
Lycophronides
Fragmenta
843 Athen. 13. 564ab (iii 243 Kaibel)
καὶ γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν παίδων ἤρων, ὡς καὶ ὁ Ἀρίστων ἔφη (fr. 17 Wehrli), ὅθεν καὶ καλεῖσθαι τοὺς ἐρωμένους συνέβη παιδικά. πρὸς ἀλήθειαν γάρ, καθάπερ φησὶ Κλέαρχος ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν ἐρωτικῶν (fr. 22 Wehrli), Λυκοφρονίδην εἰρηκέναι φησίν·
3 Page: ἀλλὰ κ. Athen. πέφυκεν Schaeferοὔτε παιδὸς ἄρρενος οὔτε παρθένων τῶν χρυσοφόρων οὐδὲ γυναικῶν βαθυκόλπων καλὸν τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀλλ᾿ ὃ κόσμιον πεφύκει· ἡ γὰρ αἰδὼς ἄνθος ἐπισπείρει.
844 Athen. 15. 670d—f (iii 482 Kaibel) = Clearchus fr. 24 Wehrli
ἢ μᾶλλον ὑφ᾿ ὧν οἴονταί τε καὶ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς κόσμον ἐσκύλευνται, ⟦καὶ⟧ τούτοις καὶ τὸν τοῦ σώματος κόσμον ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους ἐξαγόμενοι ⟦καὶ⟧ σκυλεύοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀνατιθέασιν. πᾶς δ᾿ ὁ ἐρῶν τοῦτο δρᾷ μὲν <παρόντος>, μὴ παρόντος δὲ τοῦ ἐρωμένου τῷ (Edmonds: τοῦ cod.) ἐμποδὼν ποιεῖται τὴν ἀνάθεσιν. ὅθεν Λυκοφρονίδης τὸν ἐρῶντα ἐκεῖνον αἰπόλον ἐποίησε λέγοντα·
Lycophronides
Lycophronides
Fragments
843 Athenaeus, Scholars at Dinner
In olden days they used to love boys, as Ariston1 said, so that the loved ones came to be known as paidika, ‘boy-favourites’. For truthfully, as Clearchus2 says in book 1 of his Erotica, citing Lycophronides,
neither in boy nor in gold-wearing girls nor in deep-bosomed women is the face beautiful unless it is modest; for it is decorous behaviour that sows the seed of beauty’s bloom.
844 Athenaeus, Scholars at Dinner1 (‘Why if men’s garlands come apart do we say they are in love?’)
Or rather, since they see themselves as despoiled of their soul’s ornament,2 as has indeed happened, they are carried away by their passion and despoil themselves to dedicate to the despoilers their body’s ornament also. Every lover does this if the beloved is present; and if he is not, he makes his dedication to whoever is. That is why Lycophronides made his lovesick goatherd say,