Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T19:07:06.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ΕΙΣΙ ΤΡΙΧΕΣ: an erotic motif in the Greek Anthology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Sonya Lida Tarán
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In Book xii of the Greek Anthology many of the old motifs of erotic poetry are applied to the love of boys. Among these motifs a form of the carpe diem calls our attention. Youth and the beloved's charms are there granted a very short span: the growth of hair marks the end of a boy's attraction. Of this basic idea we find numerous variations in over thirty epigrams, Hellenistic and late, not unlike those on the more general motif of fleeting youth. We shall group the poems and interpret them according to the variations of this motif.

The boy is now willing to love when it is too late: the hairs have come. The lover, whether by threats, warnings, or vaunts that it has happened, implicitly rejects the advances of the young man.

Ia. Our first epigram (Asclep. 46 = A.P. xii 36) is headed Ἀσκληπιάδου Ἀδραμυττήνου. If by Asclepiades of Samos it would be chronologically the first in our list. Yet the ascription is far from certain, and the choice of the epigram as our starting point is, therefore, arbitrary.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 105 , November 1985 , pp. 90 - 107
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Page, D. L., The epigrams of Rufinus (Cambridge 1978)Google Scholar lists the hair motif as one of the variations on the theme of the revenge of the passing years on a proud boy (cf. preface to 7, p. 78, and 10, p. 81). The appearance of the beard is considered sometimes an enhancement of a boy's beauty (e.g. Od. x 278–9; Il. xxiv 347–8; Pl. Prot. 309a–b; Xen., Symp. iv 23Google Scholar; Lucian Alex. 6, Am. 10; Sen. Ep. 95. 24; Philostr. Ep. 15, and Ep. 13), sometimes the end of his attraction, e.g. Bion of Borysthenes frr. 55 and 56, ed. J. F. Kindstrand (Uppsala 1976) 126; Gnomologium Vaticanum, ed. Sternbach, L. ii (Berlin 1963), 262CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hor., Carm. iv 10Google Scholar; Catul. 33.7–8; Tib. i 8.31–2; and G. Luck, ‘Kids and wolves (an interpretation of Callimachus, fr. 202.69–70 Pf.)’, CQ ix (1959) 34–7Google Scholar. See also in general RE xi. 1 (1921)Google Scholar s.v. ‘Knabenliebe’ 897–906 (Kroll); Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality (London/Cambridge, Mass. 1978) 184–203Google Scholar.

2 For epigrams included in A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page, Hellenistic Epigrams or The Garland of Philip I give both the Gow—Page number and that in A.P. Unless otherwise stated I print Gow—Page's text for the epigrams they have edited, Beckby's for the later ones, and Paton's translations except for those epigrams translated by Gow—Page.

3 The ethnic Ἀδραμυττήνου (corrected from Ἀδραμυντίνου) is not attached to any other epigram by Asclepiades of Samos, who had no known connection with Adramyttium. The epigram may therefore be the work of an otherwise unknown namesake (cf. Gow-Page ad loc.). It is generally similar to the probably dependent Anon. A.P. xii 182, on a related motif.

4 Cf. Od. xi 319, ὑπὸ κ.; Antip. Thess. A.P. vi 198, ὑπὸ κ.; Theoc. Id. 15.85, ἀπὸ. (see Gow ad loc., Headlam on Herodas i 92).

5 Cf. Demeter's name Ἰουλώ, Semus in Ath. xiv 618d (PMG 849).

6 For the θέρος image cf. Pind. fr. 123.1 Snell, δρέπεσθαι.

7 For μηρός cf. Dioscor. 10 = A.P. xii 37 and Tarán, Lida, The art of variation in the Hellenistic epigram (Leiden 1979) 40–3Google Scholar; Asclep. 20 = A.P. xii 161 and Ludwig, , Fond. Hardt xiv (1968) 328–32Google Scholar; Soph. fr. 320 Nauck2; Aesch. frr. 135, 136 Nauck2; Dover (n. 1) 70 and 197–8; Phanias 1 (IIc below).

8 Cf. n. 1; Strato, A.P. xii 10Google Scholar (Va below) and 178 (Vb); Aelian, VH x 18Google Scholar; Pollux ii 10.

9 Cf., in the epigrams dealing with this motif, Anon. 12 (VIa below); Anon. A.P. xi 53, below and p. 105; Philip 59 (both metaphors; cf. Ie below for line 6 as a variation of our line 4); Strato, A.P. xii 195Google Scholar, n. 77 below; and Rufin., A.P. v 28Google Scholar (If). For στάΧυς (here with prothetic a metri gratia) cf. Mel. I = AP. iv 1.34 of Bacchylides' poems, and Flaccus 11 (n. 84 below). Rhianus 4 = A.P. xii 121.4, perhaps influenced by the poet of Asclep. 46, blends the conceit of the old lover as αὐηρὴ ἀνθερίκη with that of the fire of love.

10 Cf. Gow-Page ad loc. for a complete discussion of he type of race involved. For the torch of life cf. Pl. Leg. 776b; Lucr. ii 79. For the motif of line 1 cf. already Sappho fr. 1.22–4 LP.

11 IIa below.

12 Gow-Page, who, however, feel that the context of Alc. 7 (with a majority of the epigrams dealing with the growth of hair) is perhaps an argument in favor of the addition of the anonymous couplet.

13 It could be argued that this accumulation of metaphors is not unusual. Yet the two instances where Alcaeus can be said to have used them are not very similar to ours. In Alc. 6 = A.P. v 10 τί πλέον, εἰ θεὸς ἄνδρα καταφλέγει (3) and τί . . . ἀπ᾿ ἐμη̑ς ἆθλον ἔχει κεφαλη̑ς; (3–4) are in a way reinforcements of τί γὰρ βαπὺς οὐκ ἐπὶ θη̑ρας / ὄρνυται (1–2), and in Ale. 8 τη̑ς ἀμετακλήτου φρόντισον ἡλικίης (4) is after all a repetition of the idea of lines 1–2; yet in both cases we find more a variation and an expansion of the idea first expressed than a mere accumulation such as Alc. 7 plus the anonymous distich would present.

14 Cf. Rufin., A.P. v 28.6Google Scholar (see If below).

15 Cf.λάσιος for λάσιαι here, in Flaccus 11 (n. 84 below).

16 Cf. especially Anon. 32 (IIb below); Diocles 4 (IIe) Anon. A.P. xi 51 (IIh); Phanias 1 (IIc); Mel. 90 (IId) Fronto, A.P. xii 174Google Scholar (IIf). For οὐκ ἔλεγον cf. Page (n. 1) on Rufinus 7 = A.P. v 21.1, with references.

17 Cf. Mel. 90.4 (IId below), and Strato's variation in A.P. xii 229 (IIb)). Agathias, A.P. v 273.7Google Scholar calls ‘old age’ a Nemesis. Cf. also Philostr. Ep. 14. On Nemesis in general cf. Anon. 16 = A.P. xii 140, Mel. 96 = A.P. xii 141. Sappho 5 App. (108) LP makes a different statement, although we wonder how her poem continued.

18 Cf. IV below.

19 N.B. the prominent position of νυ̑ν, after a bucolic diaeresis echoing the one in line 1, answered by καὶ τότ᾽ in the last line. Gow-Page observe that on is ὅτι more pointed in this epigram than ὅ τι—indeed all along it has been clear enough what the speaker refers to.

20 Better this than to consider οἴδαμεν a faded plural for singular—compare ἔλεγον at the beginning of line 3.

21 They stress the passage from erōmenos to erastēs stage. The same words occur in Theoc. Id. 1 1.9, applied to the young Polyphemus. Cf. also Xen. Cyr. iv 6.5 and Kaibel, Ep. Gr. 100, 345.

22 Cf. Gow—Page ad loc., who quote Philostr. Ep. 17, φθονερὸς γὰρ ὁ χρόνος καὶ τὴν ἄνθους ὥραν ἀφανίζει καὶ τὴν καλλους ἀκμγὴν ἀπάγει.

23 Cf. R. G. M. Nisbet—M. E. Hubbard on Hor. Carm. ii 5.12.

24 Cf. n. 84 below.

25 Cf. Page (n. 1) ad loc. for a detailed philological commentary. For a new discussion of Rufinus' dates cf. Cameron, A., ‘Strato and Rufinus’, CQ xxxii (1982) 162–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26 Cf. IIe below, Strato, A.P. xii 186.2Google Scholar (IIg), and Rufin., A.P. v 92.1–2Google Scholar, κἤν ποτε ̔χαι̑ρε̕ εἴπω, ται̑ς σοβαραι̑ς ὀφρύσιν ἠσπάσατο.

27 Just as in Hor. Carm. iv 10.2–5.

28 Cf. Page (n. 1) ad loc. on λειότερον in this sense.

29 Cf. Anon. A.P. xi 53, where a rose is contraposed to a βάτον, pp. 91–2 above and n. 105.

30 In this case I alter Paton's translation because my text differs slightly from his: see below and n. 32.

31 IIb, c, d.

32 It is worth noticing, however, that Strato in his imitation, A.P. xii 186 (IIg) has an ostensible future,ἐπιγνώσ̢η. Thus he probably understood Alcaeus' γνώσ̢η as future—so Paton, who translates ‘Then shall you know how rare lovers are.’

33 Cf. Wifstrand, A., Studien zurgriechischen Anthologie, Lunds Universitets Åsskrift. N. F. Avd. i Bd 23.3 (Lund 1926) 46–7Google Scholar on Mel. 90 (IId below) and Lida Tarán (n. 7) 168.

34 Cf. Simon., A.P. vii 20Google Scholar of Sophocles, , and Antiphilus, A.P. ix 178Google Scholar of a city.

35 Cf. Lida Tarán (n. 7) 79, 94 n. 119; Callim. 9 = A.P. xii 139; Anon. 11 =A.P. xii 79; Mel. 17 = A.P. xii 80; Diodorus, A.P. v 122Google Scholar; Headlam on Herodas i 38; Gow on Theoc. Idd. 3.17 and 11.51.

36 Cf. αὐτὸ λὲλειπτ᾿ ὄνομα in Asclep. 31 = A.P. vii 500: Lida Tarán (n. 7) 133–5.

37 Gow—Page ad loc. say ‘ἐν ἀ.=i.e. ageless’ but here fail to see the play with the funerary connotations which they do see in the related poem, Mel. 90 (IId).

37a In line 4 there is an allusion to the topos of Soph. fr. 590 (Pearson) = θνητὰ φρονει̑ν χρὴ θνητὴν φύσιν. Cf. Pearson for parallels.

38 Cf. Gow-Page on Mel. 90 (IId with n. 49 below), Lattimore, R., Themes in Greek and Latin epitaphs (Urbana 1962) 256–8Google Scholar. εἰσὶ τρίΧες is actually a parody of the gnōmai frequent in epitaphs. Cf. Labarbe, J., Fond. Hardt xiv (1968) 351 ff., 360 ffGoogle Scholar.

39 Cf. ἀλλὰ φύλαξαι and ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι καὶ νυ̑ν ̴ ἀλλὰ φρονει̑τε̇ ἡ κνήμη, Νίκανδρε ̴ ἐσβέσθη Νίκανδρος (same metrical scheme, same place in the line).

40 Another Nicander (erōmenos or confidant?) appears in Anon. 31 =A.P. xii 160. Cf. Gow—Page ad loc., who also consider the possibility that both anonymous poems are by the same author. Anon. 31, although erotic, is not based on our motif.

41 N.B. Καιρὸς Ἔρωτι φίλος echoes τὸν σὸν ἔρωτα χρόνος in sound—the meaning of the final adage is of course also very close to that of line 2.

42 For μηρός cf. n. 7 above.

43 Cf. Mel. 44 = A.P. v 141, 63 = A.P. v 154, 23 = A.P. v 197, y = A.P. v 179; Agathias, A.P. vii 596Google Scholar.

44 Gow—Page seem right in saying that Themis is probably used ‘to recommend the advice given to Pamphilus’, cf. their quotations of θ. ὀρθόβουλος, Pind. O. 13.8, al.; θ. ὀρθόβουλος, Aesch. PV 18; θ. πινυτή, Bacchyl. 14.55 Jebb. But Themis is also the mother the Horai, one of whose functions is to preside over the cycle of vegetation—N.B. their names Thallo, Auxo, Carpo, which evoke growing and blooming.

45 Thus Anon. 32.2, ἔτ οὐδ᾿ ὄνομα (IIb above) but Alc. 8.1–2, φύλαξαι μὴ and 3–4, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι καὶ νυ̑ν . . . φρόντισον (IIa).

46 For φειδωλὴν ἀπόθου cf. φείδ̢η παρθενίης in Asclep. 2 = A.P. v 85, an epigram based on the carpe diem motif.

47 Cf. Dover (n. 1) 86.

48 For the personification of καιρός cf. Pind. P. 4.286, καιρὸς πρὸς ἀνθρώπων βραχὺ μέτρον ἔχει, Posidippus I9 = A.Pl. 275, and Sauer in Roscher's Lexikon s.v.

49 Tymnes 5 = A.P. vii 211.3, Ταυ̑ρον μιν καλέεσκον ὅτ᾿ ἦν ἔτι, νυ̑ν τὸ κείνου. Cf. Wifstrand (n. 33) 46–7 and Gow-Page ad loc.

50 Cf. Lida Tarán (n. 7) 21, 51 n. 96, and chs. 1 and 2 passim.

51 For love-war metaphors cf. Lida Tarán (n. 7) 71 and n. 61. Cf. also, for a possible influence, Fronto, A.P. xii 174Google Scholar (IIf).

52 ‘Screens of skin or hide, hung before fortifications to deaden the enemy's missiles’, LSJ.

53 Cf. especially τάδ᾿ ὁρω̑ν, a common funerary conceit: Lattimore (n. 38) 256–7; Theodoridas 18 = A.Pl. 132.1; Leonidas 77 = A.P. vii 472.9, ὠ̑νερ, ἴδ᾿ ὡς . . .; Antip. Sid. 55 = A.P. vii 498.7, ἴδ᾿ ὡς . . .

54 Cf. Lattimore (n. 38) 230.

55 Πολυξενίδης is the patronymic of Πολύξενος, ‘he who receives many guests’. There may be irony in the choice of the name, conveyed by the elements πολύ- and ξεν-: Πολύξενος was, of course, impossible for metrical reasons.

56 Cf. Labarbe (n. 38). I give a literal translation of this line instead of Paton's periphrasis ‘It is not only on the cheeks that Nemesis grows’.

57 Cf. Anon. 16 = A.P. xii 140; Anon. 31 = A.P. xii 160; Anon. 39 = A.P. vi 283; Mel. 96 = A.P. xii 141.

58 Cf. Strato, A.P. xii 229Google Scholar (IIIb). φυομένη Meleager may have borrowed from Anon. 12 (VIa).

59 For this story-telling style cf. e.g. Automedon 11 = A.P. xii 34. For ἀλλ᾿ in line 1 (which Gow-Page find ‘not natural to begin alleged speech’) cf. Od. iv 472. Here ἀλλά sets the present, when Damon does not greet the speaker, against the past, when he did.

60 δασυνθείς is probably influenced by δασύνεται in Alc. 8.1 (IIa).

61 Beckby identifies him with M. Cornelius Fronto (c. 100–176 AD), Jacobs with a rhetor of the time of Severus. Page, , Further Greek epigrams (Oxford 1981) 115Google Scholar calls him undatable, following Reitzenstein in RE vii (1912) 112Google Scholar.

62 Cf. Mel. 90.2 (IId). Cf. also Mel. 90.3, μὴ γαυ̑ρα φρνάσσον with Fronto line 3, μὴ γίνου Μη̑δος. The model blends the funerary and erotic motifs; Fronto, the martial and erotic. The association of love and war is of course common; cf. e.g. Mel. 8 = A.P. v 180, Macedonius the Consul A.P. v 238, ‘arrows’, etc.

63 On this elegy cf. Hudson-Williams, T., Early Greek elegy (London 1926) 70 ff.Google Scholar, who quotes Paul., Sil., A.P. v 226.1Google Scholar, …τέο μέχρις and 221.1, μέχρι τίνος, both also with the present tense. For puns with mythological names cf. also Rufin., A.P. v 103Google Scholar, Marc., Arg., A.P. v 63Google Scholar, Palladas, A.P. v 71Google Scholar.

64 For τὸ κυ̑ρος = ‘one invested with authority’ cf. Pl. Leg. 700c, and A.P. xii 28, quoted in n. 70.

65 Cf. Xen. Cyr. i 3.8.

66 Cf. Marc., Arg., A.P. v 63Google Scholar and n. 70.

67 N.B. the double pun on the word σάκος in Ar.Lys. 1001 ὕσσακος. Cf. Golden, M., CQ xxxii (1982) 467–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar with references. In our poem I prefer to keep Sakas rather than to translate it ‘Scythian’ with Paton.

68 The text has καί σε ποιήσουσιν αἱ τρίχες Ἀστυάγην. Paton prints ταὶ τρίχες probably in order to avoid the short vowel at the caesura (cf. Jacobs2, who reports Hermann's and Passow's emendations καὶ δέ σε ποιήσουσ᾿ αἱ. τρ. and καὶ ποιήσουσίν σ᾿ αἱ τρ.). This is not necessary: the license—short syllable at the caesura —is not uncommon in Lucian (e.g. A.P. xi 431.2,435.2, ix 120.2) and already in Lucillius (cf. Jacobs, 2 on Lucian, A.P. xi 410.6Google Scholar). Cf. Lucillius, A.P. xi 87.4Google Scholar, 140.4, 142.4, 171.8 (that line only in Aldina2), 185.2, 311.2, 389.6 etc.

69 Cf. Dover (n. 1) 86, 87; Strato, A.P. xii 228, 255Google Scholar.

70 Cf. also on Lucillius, A.P. xi 216Google Scholar (IVb below). Such puns are not uncommon: cf. Marc., Arg., A.P. v 63Google Scholar, where (Aetolian) = beggar (from αἰτέω), and Μη̑δος (Mede) = μὴ δός (with Keydell, Hermes lxxx [1952] 497); Strato A.P. xii 11, λίην Ἀστυάναξ γέγονα, where Ἀστυάναξ clearly = impotent (from α + στύω); Numenius of Tarsus, A.P. xii 28Google Scholar, Κυ̑ρος κύριός ἐστι̇ τί μοι μέλει εἰ παρὰ γράμμα;

71 Thus, the relation to Mel. 90.2–3 pointed out above; the probable influence of Phanias 1.2, βαιὸς ἔχει τὸν σὸν ἔρωτα χρόνος on the more condensed μετὰ μικρόν (Fronto line 3); the warning addressed to the erōmenos as in Phanias 1, Mel. 90, Ale. 8 (also Diodes 4) and not to young men in general as in Anon. 32; the τρίΧες directly mentioned as in Phanias 1.3 and Anon, 32.4 (not metaphorically as in the other epigrams).

72 πυρίΧη: a war dance performed by youths in armor. πυρίχην βλέπεινseems to have been proverbial. Cf. Ar. Av. 1169; Leutsch-Schneidewin, , Corpus Paroemiographorum Graeconim ii, Mantissae Proverbiorum 75 (Göttingen 1851)Google Scholar. Also proverbial is ‘looking to τέλος’: cf. Hdt. i 32, Lcutsch-Schneidewin i 315 no. 51 with n.; ii 773 no. 96.

73 ὀφρύς itself may mean ‘solemnity, majest’ (Antip. Sid. 66 = A.P. vii 409) and is often associated with the arrogance of the erōmenoi. Cf. Mel. 103 = A.P. xii 101.3–4; Dioscor. 13 = A. P. xii 42.3; Rufin., A.P. v 92.1–2Google Scholar (33 Page), where Jacobs1 believes Rufinus to be dependent on our epigram by Strato for ̔χαι̑ρἐ εἴπω; and Rufin., A.P. v 28Google Scholar (If above).

74 Just as the ἀλλά in Philip 59.3 (Ie above); Automedon 10.6 (Ic); and Diodes 4.1 (IIe).

75 Cf. e.g. AlC. 7.1 (Ib); Alc. 8.1, 3 (IIa); Anon. 32.3 (IIb); Mel. 90.3 (IId).

76 Cf. IIa above.

77 Strato, A.P. xii 195Google Scholar, which includes a warning about the coming of hair, seems unrelated to our previous pieces except for the recurrence of words and conceits associated with the motif.

78 Cf. IV below.

79 The epigram is transmitted by Planudes, whose prudery is well known. Yet we cannot argue that if he transmitted it he did not understand the erotic connotation: Planudes, e.g., also copied Rufin. A.P. v 28 (If), which is unequivocally erotic.

80 Cf. in them all νυ̑ν, ὅτε, εἰ̂τα, ἤση, πρίν, ποτέ, etc.

81 Preferences vary. Heterosexual, cf. Mel. 9 = A.P. v 208; Rufin., A.P. v 19Google Scholar; Agathias, AP. x 68Google Scholar. Homosexual, cf. Mel. 18 = A.P. xii 86; Asclep. 37 = A.P. xii 17. Gow—Page, in the preface to the commentary on Mel. 94 = AP. xii 41, mistakenly ascribe A.P. xii 17 to Strato. The epigram, although coming after two Stratonian ones, is anonymous in A.P. Gow—Page's mistake is all the more conspicuous because in the same book they ascribe the epigram to Asclepiades, following one of the suggestions of App. B.-V., as Asclep. 37. Marc., Arg., A.P. v 116Google Scholar recommends women, but with a witty proviso perhaps inspired by Dioscor. 7 = A.P. v 54.5–6. See also in general Anon. 20 = A.P. xii 87 and Anon. 8 = AP. xii 145; Strato, A.P. xii 7Google Scholar.

82 Cf. his beginning οὐκέτι μοι and Asclep. 37.1, οὔ μοι θη̑λυς ἔπως . . . ;πυρσοί, at the end of ‘Asclepiades'’ line, probably suggested Meleager's πυραυγής in the same place; cf. also ἀσβέστω̨ . . .ἀνθρακι̨η̑ there and ἐσβέσθη Νίκανδρος in Anon. 32 (IIb) for the metaphor of fire (extinguished) in Meleager; Mel. 9 = A.P. V208, οὔ μοι παιδομανής . . .; Rufin., A.P. v 19Google Scholarοὐκέτι παιδομανής . . .

83 Cf. A.P. v 277 and n. III.

84 Laurea 3 =A.P. xii 24; Flaccus 11 = A.P. xii 25; 12 = A.P. xii 26; 13 = A.P. xii 27. See Gow—Page's discussion of the authorship (perhaps all by Flaccus).

85 Although propemptika are more concerned with the trip itself than with the return, note the use of σω̑οςand πέμπειν in all four epigrams. Cf. also e.g. Sappho fr. 5 LP.

86 Cf. Theodoridas 1 = A.P. vi 155; Callim. 25 = A.P. vi 149.

87 Cf. especially the direct discourse—warning in the past—in Automedon 10.3–4 (Ic above).

88 For ἔβλεπες in line 3 cf. Strato, A.P. xii 186.4Google Scholar, καὶ τὸ τέλος πρόβλεπε (IIg above).

89 Line 5, ἐλήλυθε δ᾿ἡ τριχάλεπτος relates it especially to group VI, ‘They have come’. Cf. particularly Strato, A.P. xii 176Google Scholar (VIb), ἤλυθον ἃς ἔλεγον and Cameron (n. 25) 166–7 for the relation between this epigram and Rufin., A.P. v 21Google Scholar.

90 Cf. the passages quoted in Corpus Paroem. Gr. i (n. 72) 269 on Diogeneian v 96; and the metaphorical use of hound and lion for the lover and fawn for the beloved: Dover (n. 1) 58 with n. 33, 87; Theognis 949, 1278 c; Rhianus 5 = A.P. xii 146.

91 The scholion to this passage (Scholia Platonica, ed. Greene, 78) quotes Il. xxii 262–3 and adds: ̒ἡ παροιμία ἐπὶ τω̑ν ἐρωτικω̑ς ἐχόντων̕. Hermias (ed. P. Couvreur, 61) also says ̒ἀπὸ του̑ Ὁμηρικου̑ παρώ̨δηται̕ and quotes Il. xxii 262–3. Cf. also Aristaenetus, , Ep. ii 20.26 ff.Google Scholar, ed. O. Mazal (Stuttgart 1971): ὡς γὰρ λύκοι τοὺς ἄρνας ἀγαπω̑σιν, οὕτω τὰ γύναια ποθου̑σιν οἱ νέοι, καὶ λυκοφιλία τούτων ὁ πόθος.

92 Cf. Luck (n. 1).

93 Anon. A.P. xi 51 (IIh above).

94 Paton's translation is unsatisfactory here. I take ἀκούσατε as imperative (especially in view of γάρ), καινόν as new (not great marvel), and ἑτεροζήλων as ‘those who have the other taste’.

95 Cf. nn. 47 and 69 and e.g. Martial xi 45.

96 Ic above. The singular Nemesis also means hair in Mel. 90 (IId). Cf. also Strato, A.P. xii 229Google Scholar (IIIb), where the ‘goddess Nemesis’ of the first lines becomes ἡ ἡ τριχάλεπτος δαίμων towards the end. The authors of the Budé edition fail to see this (‘Némésis, fille de la Nuit, est la Vengeance divine; le pluriel semble prouver que e' est ici le nom commun … ’).

97 IIf above.

98 Cf. Lida Tarán (n. 7) 165 with references for this reversal of the model's motif.

99 Emendation of σοι in line 1 to οὐδ᾿ εἰ καὶ τριχόφοιτος . . .(Brunck) because this should be a general maxim or ‘alias v. 4 non dixisset τούτου, or emendation in line 4 of τούτου to του̑το (Jacobs2) does not seem necessary. Such anacoloutha—from a personal address (σοι) to a general statement —are not uncommon and this one sounds natural enough. For a possible influence of this epigram on Rufinus cf. Cameron (n. 25) 167–8.

100 In the manner of other epigrams where the lover claims to prefer old women: cf. Paul., Sil., A.P. v 258Google Scholar; Anon. A.P. v 304; Asclep. 41 = A.P. vii 217 with Gow–Page ad loc. and Ludwig, , GRBS iv (1963) 63Google Scholar. Strato's statement resembles that of Anon. A.P. v 26.3–4, ἠ̑ ῥά γε ταύταις / θριξὶ συνοικήσει καὶη̨̑σιν Ἔρως.

101 Mel. 100 = A.P. xii 59, . For Meleager's models cf. passages cited by Gow–Page ad loc., especially Alc. 11 = A.P. vii 1.8 andLeonidas 30 = A.P. ix 24 of Homer, and Polystratus 2 = A.P. vii 297.1 of Corinth. Also cf. Lucr. iii 1043 of Epicurus; and Sappho fr. 96.7–9 LP, especially in view of δυόμενος in Strato's line 4.

102 Cf. Anon. 33 = A.P. xii 96; Antipater 65 = A.P. xii 97.

103 Cf. Lida Tarán (n. 7) ch. 4; Leonidas 83 = A.Pl. 236; 84 = A.Pl. 261, etc.

104 cf. Ie If and n. 77 above. Rufinus' epigram has the opposition ῥόδον/βάτον of Anon. A.P. xi 53.

105 Anon. A.P. xi 53, pp. 91–2 above. Gow-Page do not include this couplet in Hellenistic epigrams or Garland of Philip, although they do not exclude altogether its possible addition to Alc. 7. Cf. n. 12.

106 Cf. IId and n. 58. In St Basil of Caesarea, De Paradiso iii 4Google Scholar (P.G. 30.65A) the rose among thorns is a symbol of how joy and sadness are mixed in temporal life. Cf. McCail, R. C.. Byzantion xii (1971) 219Google Scholar n. 3.

107 Unlike, e.g., εἰσὶ τρίΧες at the end of Anon. 32, which could, as far as the first three lines are concerned, be taken for a funerary epigram. See IIb above.

108 Callim. 12 = A.P. xii 71; see Gow–Page ad loc. and Ludwig (n. 7) 313 ff. For οὐδ᾿ ὄναρ in Strato, A.P. xii 191.1Google Scholarcf. Callim. 63 = A.P. v 23 and Lida Tarán (n. 7) 90 n. 105. The authorship of this epigram is discussed at 89 ff. I should like to add to that discussion that Callim. 6 = A.P. xii 230 is inserted in the middle of a long late sequence headed του̑ αὐτου̑ (Strato), just as Callim. 63 comes after a long sequence headed του̑ αὐτου̑ (Rufinus). Yet no one doubts the authorship of Callim. 6. On ‘authenticity of subject’ cf. Cameron (n. 25) 168–9 about A.P. xi 117, Strato's only non-pederastic epigram.

109 Strato A.P. xii 204, 205, 220; Eratosth. Schol. A.P. v 277 with p. 101 above and n. 111.

110 I have here used these terms in the same way as in Art of variation (n. 7): cf. the ‘Introduction’ there with my definitions of motif, theme, and conceit. Once it is clear that these terms are given a conventional use for the sake of convenience it becomes pointless to engage in a theoretical debate about them as does Lausberg, Marion, Gnomon liv (1982) 504–9Google Scholar. My book was not intended as a theoretical study of variation in the whole corpus of the Hellenistic epigrams, and I remain sceptical about such a theoretical study as Lausberg seems to have in mind.

111 Cf. Eratosth., Schol., A.P. v 277Google Scholar. Agathias' condemnation of homosexuality echoes the government policy under Justinian. Cf. McCail (n. 106) 212–13, 215–16 with n. 1, 259; and Mattson, Axel, Untersuchungen zur Epigrammsammlung des Agathias (Lund 1942) 57–8Google Scholar.

112 No instance of the motif is recorded in Hutton, J., The Greek Anthology in France and in the Latin writers of the Netherlands to the year 1800 (Ithaca 1946)Google Scholar or The Greek Anthology in Italy to the year 1800 (N.Y./London, 1935)Google Scholar.

113 I am grateful to Alan Cameron for reading the manuscript of this article and making useful suggestions.