Athenaeus, Sophists at Dinner 13.81-2 = T 75 Kannicht = Sophocles T 75 Radt
M = reading of the whole MS tradition
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
m = reading of part of the MS tradition
P = reading on a papyrus
Φιλομεῖραξ δὲ ἦν ὁ Σοφοκλῆς, ὡς Εὐριπίδης φιλογύνης…
καὶ Ἱερώνυμος Fr. 35 Wehrli δ’ ὁ Ῥόδιος ἐν τοῖς Ἱστρορικοῖς Ὑπομνήμασίν φησιν ὅτι Σοφοκλῆς εὐπρεπῆ παῖδα ἔξω τείχους ἀπήγαγε χρησόμενος αὐτῶι. ὁ μὲν οὖν παῖς τὸ ἴδιον ἱμάτιον ἐπὶ τῆι πόαι ὑπέστρωσεν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους χλάνιδα περιεβάλοντο. μετ’ οὖν τὴν ὁμιλίαν ὁ παῖς ἀρπάσας τὸ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους χλανίδιον ὤιχετο, καταλιπὼν τῶι Σοφοκλεῖ τὸ παιδικὸν ἱμάτιον. οἷα δὲ εἰκὸς διαλαληθέντος τοῦ συμβεβηκότος Εὐριπίδης πυθόμενος καὶ ἐπιτωθάζων τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ αὐτός ποτε ἔφη τούτωι κεχρῆσθαι τῶι παιδί, ἀλλὰ μηδὲν προσθεῖναι, τὸν δὲ Σοφοκλέα διὰ τὴν ἀκολασίαν καταφρονηθῆναι. καὶ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς Fr. eleg. 4 West ἀκούσας ἐποίησεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπίγραμμα, χρησάμενος τῶι περὶ τοῦ Ἡλίου καὶ Βορέου λόγωι, καί τι πρὸς μοιχείαν αὐτοῦ παραινιττόμενος·
Ἥλιος ἦν, οὐ παῖς, Εὐριπίδη, ὅς με χλιαίνων
γυμνὸν ἐποίησεν· σοὶ δὲ φιλοῦντι †ἑταίραν† Φιλοῦθ’ ἑτέραν Musurus : φιλοῦντι κόρην Herwerden, Headlam : φιλοῦντι τάλαν West
Βορρᾶς ὡμίλησε. σὺ δ’ οὐ σοφός, ὃς τὸν Ἔρωτα,
ἀλλοτρίαν σπείρων, λωποδύτην ἀπάγεις.
Sophocles liked boys, just as Euripides liked women…
Similarly, Hieronymus of Rhodes says in his Historical Commentaries that Sophocles led a handsome boy outside the city walls to have sex with him. The boy spread his own cloak on the grass beneath them and they wrapped Sophocles’ cloak around themselves. After they had had sex the boy snatched Sophocles’ cloak and went off, leaving his own child’s cloak for Sophocles. When the story of what happened got around, as was inevitable, Euripides, when he got to know about it, made a contemptuous joke about the incident, saying that he, too, had had sex with the boy but did not have to pay extra, and that Sophocles had been treated disrespectfully because of his intemperance. And Sophocles, when he heard, composed the following epigram for him, making use of the story of Helios and Boreas and incorporating a riddle about Euripides’ predilection for adultery:
It was the Sun God, not a boy, Euripides, who warmed me up and got me naked; but when you were kissing †a courtesan†, the North Wind was your companion. You are not wise, when you arrest Love for theft, while you’re busy sowing another man’s field.
| Relevant guides | Euripides |
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