Penelope's Secret
Page 26
But I liked Theodorus above all, for his liberality and for the ornaments he lavished upon me. He gave me a pearl necklace, four peacocks from Samos, a writing-desk woven in gold and decorated with miniatures, and finally, a living green monkey that comes from the lands of Pontus.
That animal is clever and distinguishes himself by marvelous tricks. He grasps and holds in his hands anything that one gives him, dances to the sounds of the flute and walks on two feet like a man. Theodorus had also revealed to me a quality far more extravagant, regarding his natural lasciviousness. And yesterday, with Coronis, we were able to observe the verity of that affirmation.
Soon, my monkey will give rise to gossip in the city. Demetrius will probably want to contemplate such a phenomenon
And, seeing that the animal is expert in amour and appears to be fashioned expressly for caresses, I had a delicate thought, and this morning, I have been to take his collar as an offering to Venus.
Notes
1 This statement was allegedly attributed to Lycophron by Duris the Samian, according to the Byzantine poet John Tzetzes’ Scholiast [i.e. Commentary] on Lycophron, but there might have been a mistranslation somewhere along the line. Pan is more commonly alleged to have been fathered by Hermes/Mercury.
2 Two of Polyctor’s sons are listed among Penelope’s suitors, but this one is evidently Peisander, as the other, Eurymachus, was the father of Polybus.
3 Hermes/Mercury is said by numerous Classical sources to have assumed the form of a goat in order to father Pan.
4 Calypso.
5 Cephalus is usually said to be Aeolus’ grandson and the son of Deioneus.
6 In the original, Socrates swears in this instance “par le Chien” [literally, by the Dog], which I assume to be a reference to the constellation Canis Major, hence my translation.
7 The tyrant whose name was Latinized as Pisistratus was deposed twice during his reign, which lasted from approximately 561 to 527 B.C., returning the first time on a golden chariot accompanied by a tall woman allegedly mistaken by the populace for Athene—Ségur’s Minerva. Socrates’ allegation of priestly involvement is not unlikely, but Pisistratus appears to have been an early populist and proto-democrat who supported ordinary citizens against the aristocracy, and that probably had more to do with his reinstatement.
8 The battle fought at sea between Athens and the island of Salamis by the outnumbered forces of the allied Greek city states, commanded by Themistocles, against the Persian forces of Xerxes, in 480 B.C., followed the opposition mounted by an even smaller Greek contingent that had interrupted the advance of Xerxes invading army at Thermopylae. Unable to maneuver effectively in the narrow strait, the Persians were decisively defeated at Salamis and Xerxes was forced to retreat, clearing the way for the subsequent development of Ancient Greek culture and thus making a vast difference to the history of the western world.
9 Phrynicus, whose work is only known via a few fragments, is recorded as the winner a drama contest in 511 B.C. and often cited as the originator of the tradition of Tragedy, in his play The Sack of Miletus. In 476 B.C. he celebrated the defeat of Xerxes at Salamis in The Phoenician Women, which Themistocles financed as a choregos. Contrary to the account rendered here, Aeschylus’ The Persians is recorded as first having been performed in 472 B.C. and was allegedly modeled on The Phoenician Women. The titles of seven other plays by Phrynicus are recorded, and he is said, under the influence of his mentor Thespis, to have initiated the tradition of theatrical dialogue by separating an actor from the chorus.
10 The name of Theodota of Elis was preserved by Xenophon as that of a courtesan frequented by Socrates, but nothing more is known about her.
11 i.e. the protective goddess of the city—Athene/Minerva.
12 The name Sthenelais appears in an anonymous fragment in the Greek Anthology as that of a high-priced courtesan “who sets cities aflame.”
13 It is relevant to this passage that much of Agoracritus’ posthumous fame relates to a controversy regarding a statue known as the Rhamnusian Nemesis, a fragment of whose head is now in the British Museum. Pliny’s account alleges that the sculptor, who was from Paros, initially conceived it as a statue of Venus, but when it lost a competition held in Athens to a statue by the Athenian sculptor Alcamenes he altered it slightly in order to change it into a Nemesis, selling it to the people of Rhamnus on the condition that it was never exhibited in Athens.
14 The original text renders this courtesan’s name as Lacaina, which must be a misprint, perhaps resulting from a failure to read the author’s handwriting correctly. She was the lover of Aristogeton, who attempted to overthrow the tyranny of Hippias and Hipparchus in the 6th century B.C.; he was captured and she was arrested and tortured in the hope of forcing her to reveal the names of the other conspirators, but she died without saying a word; the Athenians erected a statue of a lioness without a tongue at the gate of the Acropolis to symbolize her courage, which some later commentators interpreted as an assertion that she had bitten off her own tongue.
15 Alcidamas of Elaea, a pupil of Gorgias, is reported by Athenaeus to have composed an Encomium to a courtesan named Naïs who lived in the fourth century B.C.; she has presumably been appropriated as the mother of the narrator of the present story.
16 Alexander the Great captured and looted the Persian capital, Persepolis, and burned its palace, in 330 B.C.
17 Demetrius Poliorcetes—i.e., “the Besieger”—(337-283 B.C.) eventually became King of Macedonia from 294-288 B.C. In his days of military glory he expelled Demetrius of Phalerium from Athens in 307 B.C.; he was subsequently deified, and took up residence, in the winter of 304-3 B.C., in the temple of the Parthenon, where, according to Plutarch, his conduct was scandalous, although that reputation seems to have been obtained more by his homosexual depredations than the gifts he is recorded as having given to courtesans, including one named Lamia.
18 Glycera, meaning “the sweet one,” was a popular soubriquet of courtesans, but this one is the most famous; originally the mistress of Alexander’s friend Harpalus, who died some time before the present story begins, she was subsequently the mistress of the poet and dramatist Menander (c.341-c.290 B.C.).
19 Hippomane is the name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants that includes the highly toxic manchineel tree, but that genus is native to the Americas and Naïs could not know of its existence. The term had previously been used by Pliny in his Natural History and many other Classical authors including Aristotle and Virgil, but the range of its reference in those sources is unclear.
20 A mina was a Greek unit of weight; with reference to silver it referred to a hundred drachmae.
21 The Cynic philosopher Crates of Thebes (c.365-c.285 B.C.) married Hipparchia of Maroneia, who lived with him in poverty on the streets of Athens.
22 The flowers ambroisia and cosmosandales are mentioned in Athenaeas’ The Deipnosophists; or, The Banquet of the Learned, from which numerous other details of Demetrius’ feast and some subsequent references are appropriated.
23 A philosopher named Polemon was head of the Academy from c.314 B.C. to c.270 B.C., and was succeeded by Crates; none of his writings survive, but he is mentioned in The Deipnosophists.
24 The author might have in mind the epigrammatic poet Posidippus of Pella (c.310-c.240 B.C.), although the character cannot be him, given the datable events featured in the story..
25 Demetrius’ famous encounter with Cratesipolis took place in 307 B.C.
26 The philosopher here called Théodore le Dieu [Theodorus the God] was better known as Theodorus the Atheist; he is known to have written a book entitled On the Gods, but it has not survived.
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