And Anaxilas, in his Neottis, says

The man whoe'er has loved a courtesan,

Will say that no more lawless worthless race
Can anywhere be found: for what ferocious
Unsociable she-dragon, what Chimæra,

Though it breathe fire from its mouth, what Charybdis,
What three-headed Scylla, dog o' the sea,

Or hydra, sphinx, or raging lioness,

Or viper, or winged harpy (greedy race),
Could go beyond those most accursed harlots?
There is no monster greater. They alone
Surpass all other evils put together.

And let us now consider them in order :-
First there is Plangon; she, like a chimæra,
Scorches the wretched barbarians with fire;

One knight alone was found to rid the world of her,
Who, like a brave man, stole her furniture
And fled, and she despairing, disappear'd.
Then for Sinope's friends, may I not say
That 'tis a hydra they cohabit with?

For she is old but near her age, and like her,
Greedy Gnathæna flaunts, a twofold evil.
And as for Nannion, in what, I pray,
Does she from Scylla differ? Has she not
Already swallow'd up two lovers, and
Open'd her greedy jaws t' enfold a third ?
But he with prosp'rous oar escaped the gulf.
Then does not Phryne beat Charybdis hollow?
Who swallows the sea-captains, ship and all.
Is not Theano a mere Siren pluck'd?
Their face and voice are woman's, but their legs
Are feather'd like a blackbird's. Take the lot,
'Tis not too much to call them Theban Sphinxes.
For they speak nothing plain, but only riddles ;
And in enigmas tell their victims how
They love and dote, and long to be caress'd.
"Would that I had a quadruped," says one,
That may serve for a bed or easy chair.
"Would that I had a tripod"-" Or a biped,"
That is, a handmaid. And the hapless fool
Who understands these hints, like Edipus,
If saved at all is saved against his will.
But they who do believe they're really loved
Are much elated, and raise their heads to heaven.
And in a word, of all the beasts on earth

The direst and most treacherous is a harlot.

7. After Laurentius had said all this, Leonidas, finding fault with the name of wife (yauern), quoted these verses out of the Soothsayers of Alexis

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ander and Cle
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with him Meda

married her, he
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was a woman-l
but in his bed

6. But our 1

of in his Femal

And Aristophon, in his Callonides, says—

May he be quite undone, he well deserves it,
Who dares to marry any second wife;

A man who marries once may be excused;
Not knowing what misfortune he was seeking.
But he who, once escaped, then tries another,
With his eyes open seeks for misery.
And Antiphanes, in his Philopator, says—
A. He's married now.

B. How say you? do you mean
He's really gone and married-when I left him,
Alive and well, possess'd of all his senses? ____

And Menander, in his Woman carrying the Sacred Vessel of
Minerva, or the Female Flute-player, says-

A. You will not marry if you're in your senses
When you have left this life. For I myself
Did marry; so I recommend you not to.
B. The matter is decided-the die is cast.
A. Go on then. I do wish you then well over it ;`
But you are taking arms, with no good reason,
Against a sea of troubles. In the waves
Of the deep Libyan or Ægean sea

Scarce three of thirty ships are lost or wreck'd;
But scarcely one poor husband 'scapes at all.

And in his Woman Burnt he says→→→→

Oh, may the man be totally undone

Who was the first to venture on a wife;

And then the next who follow'd his example;

And then the third, and fourth, and all who follow'd.

And Carcinus the tragedian, in his Semele (which begins, "O nights"), says

O Jupiter, why need one waste one's words

In speaking ill of women? for what worse

Can he add, when he once has call'd them women?

9. But, above all other cases, those who when advanced in years marry young wives, do not perceive that they are running voluntarily into danger, which every one else foresees plainly; and that, too, though the Megarian poet1 has given them this warning :

A young wife suits not with an aged husband;
For she will not obey the pilot's helm

Like a well-managed boat; nor can the anchor
Hold her securely in her port, but oft

1 Theognis.

And Apries had been deposed from the sovereignty of Egypt, because of the defeats which had been received by him from the Cyreneans; and afterwards he had been put to death by Amasis. Accordingly, Cambyses, being much pleased with Nitetis, and being very violently in love with her, learns the whole circumstances of the case from her; and she entreated him to avenge the murder of Apries, and persuaded him to make war upon the Egyptians. But Dinon, in his History of Persia, and Lynceas of Naucratis, in the third book of his History of Egypt, say that it was Cyrus to whom Nitetis was sent by Amasis; and that she was the mother of Cambyses, who made this expedition against Egypt to avenge the wrongs of his mother and her family. But Duris the Samian says that the first war carried on by two women was that between Olympias and Eurydice; in which Olympias advanced something in the manner of a Bacchanalian, with drums beating; but Eurydice came forward armed like a Macedonian soldier, having been already accustomed to war and military habits at the court of Cynnane the Illyrian.

11. Now, after this conversation, it seemed good to the philosophers who were present to say something themselves about love and about beauty: and so a great many philosophical sentiments were uttered; among which, some quoted some of the songs of the dramatic philosopher, Euripides,— some of which were these:

:

Love, who is wisdom's pupil gay,
To virtue often leads the way:

And this great god

Is of all others far the best for man;

For with his gentle nod

He bids them hope, and banishes all pain.

May I be ne'er mixed up with those who scorn
To own his power, and live forlorn,

Cherishing habits all uncouth.

I bid the youth

Of my dear country ne'er to flee from Love,
But welcome him, and willing subjects prove.

And some one else quoted from Pindar—

Let it be my fate always to love,

And to obey Love's will in proper season.

1

'It is not known from what play this fragment comes. in the Variorum Edition of Euripides, Inc. Fragm. 165. ATH.-VOL. III.

3 M

It is given