Humanitext Reader

Lucian · Dialogues of The Courtesans §1.1-1.2

Glycera's Stolen Lover and Thais's Advice

Passage 1 of 17 · Greek

Summary

Glycera complains to Thais that her soldier-lover was stolen by her former friend Gorgona. Thais consoles her, saying it is a common occurrence among courtesans, and advises Glycera to move on to another lover when Glycera claims the man was bewitched by Gorgona's mother.

§1.1ΓΛΥΚΕΡΑ Τὸν στρατιώτην, Θαΐ, τὸν Ἀκαρνᾶνα, ὃς πάλαι μὲν Ἀβρότονον εἶχε, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἠράσθη ἐμοῦ, τὸν εὐπάρυφον λέγω, τὸν ἐν τῇ χλαμύδι, οἶσθα αὐτόν, ἢ ἐπιλέλησαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον;
GLYCERA The soldier, Thais, the Acarnanian, who once kept Abrotonon, but after that fell in love with me—I mean the one who wears fine clothes, the one in the cloak—do you know him, or have you forgotten the man?
ΘΑΙΣ Οὔκ, ἀλλὰ οἶδα, ὦ Γλυκέριον, καὶ συνέπιε μεθ' ἡμῶν πέρυσιν ἐν τοῖς Ἁλώοις.
THAIS No, on the contrary, I know him, my dear Glycerion, and he drank with us last year at the Haloa.
τί δὲ τοῦτο;
But why this?
ἐῴκεις γάρ τι περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγεῖσθαι.
You seemed to have something to tell about him.
ΓΛΥΚΕΡΑ Γοργόνα αὐτὸν ἡ παμπόνηρος, φίλη δοκοῦσα εἶναι, ἀπέσπασεν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὑπαγαγοῦσα.
GLYCERA Gorgona, that utterly wicked woman, while pretending to be a friend, enticed him away and dragged him from me.
ΘΑΙΣ Καὶ νῦν σοὶ μὲν ἐκεῖνος οὐ πρόσεισι, Γοργόναν δὲ ἑταίραν πεποίηται;
THAIS And now he does not come to you, but has made Gorgona his mistress?
ΓΛΥΚΕΡΑ Ναί, ὦ Θαΐ, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα οὐ μετρίως μου ἥψατο.
GLYCERA Yes, Thais, and the matter has affected me no little.
ΘΑΙΣ Πονηρὸν μέν, ὦ Γλυκέριον, οὐκ ἀδόκητον δέ, ἀλλ’ εἰωθὸς γίγνεσθαι ὑφ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἑταιρῶν.
THAIS It is a bad business, Glycerion, yet not unexpected, but rather what is accustomed to happen among us courtesans.
οὔκουν χρὴ οὔτε ἀνιᾶσθαι ἄγαν οὔτε μέμφεσθαι τῇ Γοργόνῃ· οὐδὲ γὰρ σὲ Ἀβρότονον ἐπ' αὐτῷ πρότερον ἐμέμψατο, καίτοι φίλαι ἦτε.
Therefore you ought neither to be too vexed nor to blame Gorgona; for neither did Abrotonon blame you formerly on his account, though you were friends.
§1.2ἀτὰρ ἐκεῖνο θαυμάζω, τί καὶ ἐπῄνεσεν αὐτῆς ὁ στρατιώτης οὗτος, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ παντάπασι τυφλός ἐστιν, ὃς οὐχ ὡράκει τὰς μὲν τρίχας αὐτὴν ἀραιὰς ἔχουσαν καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦ μετώπου ἀπηγμένας· τὰ χείλη δὲ πελιδνὰ καὶ τράχηλος λεπτὸς καὶ ἐπίσημοι ἐν αὐτῷ αἱ φλέβες καὶ ῥὶς μακρά.
But I wonder at this, what on earth that soldier found to praise in her, unless he is altogether blind, who failed to see that she has thin hair and pulled back far from her forehead; and her lips are livid, her neck thin, with the veins prominent in it, and her nose long.
ἓν μόνον, εὐμήκης ἐστὶ καὶ ὀρθὴ καὶ μειδιᾷ πάνυ ἐπαγωγόν.
Only one thing, she is tall and straight and smiles very enticingly.
ΓΛΥΚΕΡΑ Οἴει γάρ, ὦ Θαΐ, τῷ κάλλει ἠρᾶσθαι τὸν Ἀκαρνᾶνα;
GLYCERA Do you think, Thais, that the Acarnanian fell in love with her beauty?
οὐκ οἶσθα ὡς φαρμακὶς ἡ Χρυσάριόν ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῆς, Θεσσαλάς τινας ᾠδὰς ἐπισταμένη καὶ τὴν σελήνην κατάγουσα;
Do you not know that her mother Chrysarion is a witch, who knows certain Thessalian charms and draws down the moon?
φασὶ δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ πέτεσθαι τῆς νυκτός· ἐκείνη ἐξέμηνε τὸν ἄνθρωπον πιεῖν τῶν φαρμάκων ἐγχέασα, καὶ νῦν τρυγῶσιν αὐτόν.
They say she even flies by night; she drove the fellow mad by pouring him a drink of her drugs, and now they are milking him.
ΘΑΙΣ Καὶ σὺ ἄλλον, ὦ Γλυκέριον, τρυγήσεις, τοῦτον δὲ χαίρειν ἔα.
THAIS And you, Glycerion, will milk another, and let this one go with a farewell.

Notes

  1. 1.1Τὸν στρατιώτην... οἶσθα αὐτόν — Prolepsis (anticipation). The object 'the soldier' (τὸν στρατιώτην) which logically belongs to the main verb οἶσθα is anticipated at the beginning of the sentence and later resumed by the pronoun αὐτόν.
  2. 1.1ἐῴκεις γάρ τι περὶ αὐτοῦ διηγεῖσθαι — Personal construction of the verb ἔοικα. Instead of an impersonal construction ('it seems that...'), the second-person singular ἐῴκεις (imperfect/pluperfect of ἔοικα) is used with the infinitive διηγεῖσθαι, meaning 'you seemed to be telling'.
  3. 1.2τὰς μὲν τρίχας αὐτὴν ἀραιὰς ἔχουσαν — Double accusative construction or accusative of whole and part. αὐτήν ('her') is the object of the verb ὡράκει (via the participle ἔχουσαν), while τὰς τρίχας ('hair') is an accusative of specification or the direct object of the participle: 'seeing her having her hair thin'.
  4. 1.2πιεῖν τῶν φαρμάκων ἐγχέασα — Infinitive of purpose or result. The infinitive πιεῖν ('to drink') follows the participle ἐγχέασα ('having poured in') to express the purpose of the action. τῶν φαρμάκων ('of the drugs') is a partitive genitive serving as the object of πιεῖν.
  5. 1.2χαίρειν ἔα — An idiomatic expression meaning 'let him go' or 'say goodbye to him'. The imperative of ἐάω ('to let, leave') is combined with the infinitive χαίρειν ('to rejoice, fare well'), literally 'let him fare well', used to dismiss someone with indifference.

Cite this passage

Lucian, Dialogues of The Courtesans §1.1-1.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0062.tlg069.humanitext-grc3:1.1-1.2

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