Sexual life in ancient Greece : with thirty-two full-page plates

Mate HOMOSEXUALITY

Admetus to erotic reasons (cf. Callimachus, Hymn, ii, 49). Of the eleven epigrams preserved, six are upon boys, somewhat frivolous, but clever and full of grace. He was successful in the domain of philology, prepared worthy editions of the /had and Odyssey and became known as an epic poet, especially of the second Messenian war.

We have already quoted his poem on the “ Labyrinth of Boys from which there is no escape’, but here is a further specimen: “ Dexionicus, having caught a blackbird with lime under a green planetree, held it by the wings, and it, the holy bird, screamed complaining. But I, dear Love, and ye blooming Graces, would fain be even a thrush or a blackbird, so that in his hand I might pour forth my voice and sweet tears ”’ (xii, 142).

An epigram of Alczeus of Messene (A. P., xii, 64) is tender and full of fine feeling: “ Zeus, Lord of Pisa, crown under the steep hill of Cronus Peithenor, the second son of Cypris. And lord, I pray thee, beckon no eagle on high to seize him for thy cupbearer in place of the fair Trojan boy. If ever I have brought thee a gift from the Muses that was dear to thee, grant that the godlike boy may be of one mind with me.”

Alpheus of Mitylene (ibid., 18) makes a fresh point, when in the course of a six-line epigram he says : ‘Unhappy they whose life is loveless ; for without love it is not easy to do aught or to say aught. I, for example, am now all too slow, but were I to catch sight of Xenophilus I would fly swifter than lightning. Therefore I bid all men not to shun but to pursue sweet desire; love is the whetstone of the soul.”

Automedon (ibid., 34) strikes a humorously bantering note : “‘ Yesterday I supped with the boys’ trainer, Demetrius, the most blessed of all men. One lay on his lap, one stooped over his shoulder, one brought him the dishes, and another served him with drink—an admirable quartette. I said to him

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