196 / Daniel B.

Levine
enee to the use of a symposium as a place where ‘playful testing of
8
a man’s character can take place. The term basanos is employed Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book II
in Theognis also in the same sense, to express a test of a person’s
true worth. The poet protests that when he is tested he is found
true (vv. 415-418, 447-452, 1164e-h) and that the basanos would John M. Lewis
be a good way to see whether a man deserves a good reputation
(vv. 1105-1106). The use of the so-called “Lydian stone” to test gold
was a poetic trope for the testing of the inner nature of men (cf. Khi-
§1. As we now find it, the Theognidean corpus is divided into two
lon in Diogenes Laertius 1.71; Adespota Elegiaca 22 W - Sto-
books, the second of which appears to have been formed from an
baeus 1.8.15; Pindar P. 10.67, N. 8.20, fr. 122.16 SM; Bacchylides fr.
integral text by a fairly mechanical process of culling out passages
14 SM; Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 510). One might recall here how
with an erotic content and relocating them at the end of the text. In
Theognis emphasizes the need to find a man’s true worth and also to
his reconstruction of the history of the transmission of the Theogni-
hide one’s own true self in both sympotic and political contexts.
dea, Martin L. West has offered a plausible account of the excerptor’s
Plato’s exposition is entirely consonant with traditional thinking.
motive and procedure in so doing, together with a probable date
§39. At the end of the second book of the Laws (674A), Plato con- (c. A.D. 900) for his activities.'
cludes his description of the model for a city by saying that wine
should properly be used by the state to create good citizens. The state §2. West’s account of the formation of Book ii is in keeping with his
should control wine production and set up rules for its use. He rnakes observation that “there is nothing in [that book] that looks later than
a list of drinking ages (666D). For youths under 18 years, no wine is the fifth century b .c .”' Given West’s hypothesis of a rearrangement
allowed. From 18-30, wine is allowed in moderation, but intoxication within the corpus, it would be surprising if this were not the case.
is prohibited. For those 40 and over, drunkenness is allowed-to Massimo Vetta’s recently published commentary on Book ii substan-
soften the disposition. (No rule is listed for those between 30 and tiates West’s observations in some detail. Vetta demonstrates that the
40.) The stricture against drinking by young men, as well as Plato’s passages in Book ii, like those in Book i, show evidence of having
conservative attitude in general, reminds one of Theognis: been composed in a sympotic context, and, further, that they share
fully in the vocabulary, stylistic traits, generic types, and sociopolitical
0) Trai, /LIT) yepovn Ôè neLdeo àvSpL’ themes of the passages in Book i.^ Vetta also makes it clear that it is
OVTOÍ Kwpá^eip avpdìopov àvòpi v¿(a. impossible to consider the erotic content of the passages in Book ii
Theognis 1351-1352 apart from their relation to the thematic concerns and compositional
purposes of the Theognidea as a whole. More precisely, the paide-
Boy, do not indulge in a revel [kômos], but obey your elder.
rastiä ‘love of boys’ in them constitutes an important ideological
It is not proper for a young man to indulge in a kômos.
and practical dimension of aristocratic paideia ‘education’ in archaic
Megara.
§lnl. West 1974.43-45. Note also that the term Book II will be used only for
the sake of convenience and without implications about the history and transmission of
the corpus. N.B.: Some of the more prominent Greek words discussed in this chapter
will be at times cited without a gloss. All such words, however, can be found in the
Glossary at the end of this volume.
§2nl. West p.43.
§2n2. Vetta 1980.xi.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book 11/199
198 / John M. Lewis
1 may accomplish deeds of s8pl»osonê »hen 1 have .rave,sed the span of
§3. As its title indicates, the aim of this chapter is to explore the inter-
my youth.
relationship of erotic and political elements in Book ii of the Theogni-
dea. I shall begin with the erotic.
I have underscored verb forms in the imperative representing short
§4. Some passages in Book ii are what might be termed strictly erotic,
in that they contain occurrences of the names or epithets of Eros and “.“rTliS ïe"tthCs of maintain^ the link
Aphrodite, the two deities who presided over the erotic experience, "missuch, the^y belong .0 the pragmatic
both emotional and physical. In three of the erotic passages, 1231
1234, 1323-1326, and 1386-1389, the name or epithet of the deity sphere of religious language.
appears in the vocative, so that each is, formally at least, a hymnic
prayer. As inspection of two of these will show, the prayerlike charac- S5 The other variety of strictly erotic passage is not addressed ^ Eros
nr Anhrodite but rather tells us something about the actioris of
ter of the language extends beyond the vocative to include certain
features of syntax and style as well. Take first the opening passages of of thLe deities. These are logoi ‘utterances’ «bout the gow ic
Book II : supply mythological paradigms purporting to a
vicissitudes of mortal life in terms ^mne
(TX«t X.i ’ ’'Epais, Mai'íai Ì7L0r\vrì(ravro Xaßovcrar passage describing the arrival of Eros; 1275-1278, 1^®® _
Sn references to the dora ‘gifts’ of Aphrodite: 1283-1294 1327
€K <T¿0€P ¿XeTO fJÆV iXtOV aKpOTTOXtÇ,
0T)O-eùç juc^oç, ¿X-eTO ô’ Aïaç 1334 ^d 1381-1385; one that refers to her erga ‘works : 1305-1310,
èo-gXÔs ’OiXuiÔTjç ^mv àTacrflaXÎaiç. and one that celebrates her deliverance of
Theognis 1231-1234 1337-1340. A related mythological paradigm is found
Obstinate Eros, Madnesses took you up and suckled you: which recounts the rape of Ganymede by Zeus.i
through you the high stronghold of Ilium perished-,
and the son of Aigeus, great Theseus, perished-, and Ajax perished, 86 While these passages are erotic in a strict sense, almost all o
that noble [esthlos] man, son of Oileus-and each by reason of his
recklessness.
Here the triple repetition of ôleto ‘perished’ and the double one of se
sethen ‘you ... through you’ help indicate the prayerlike charac-
ter of the passage: they are instances of ascriptions or repetitions
found in Greek prayer and indeed distributed throughout the world. erömtnos ‘beloved’ respectively, which henceforward I shall use for
The nature of the god is revealed and celebrated in a series of short the sake of brevity.
parallel statements about him. In a passage addressed to Cyprus-born
Aphrodite, the language of prayer takes the form of a series of brief
requests or petitions:
Kimpo-yeur), nava-Qv pa nóvoiv, q-Keôaa-op 6e fíeptfiva<;
ffvpoß0pov<;, g-Tpetl/op 8’ avffiç èç eix¡>pocrvva<;-^ S4nl See Vetta 1980.xxviii for other hymnic-prayer passages in Theognis and
ßepp,7ipa<; S’ àiróirave k o k c Is , 80s 8’ ewbpovi ffvpM sïpp“ v;r“ag?"^^^ rs^Sr^oV^rrich sec
pÀTp' r}ßr)<; riKerravT ípypxxra crw4>po(Tvvrì<;.
Theognis 1323-1326
Cyprus-born, put a stop to my pains, scatter the cares
that gnaw at my thflmos, turn them again to moments of euphrosune. program of self-justification for an erastës.
Grant me a respite from evil troubles, grant that with a merry thumos
 200 / John M. Lewis 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book ¡I / 201
distinction. Nineteen passages contain the vocative “(O) boy” [(ô) occurring in Book i. Three of these contain occurrences of philos or
pai], the favored form of address by erastes to erômenos. These one of its derivatives, while one (1278c-d) is the opening distich of
passages are, like the hymnic prayers discussed in §4 above, prag- the notoriously obscure passage 949-954, which has been seen vari-
matic; that is, they represent speech acts that could, with or without ously as political or erotic. Three others form a group on the loss of
the substitution of a proper name for (5) pai, be used in an actual friendship or the threat of future enmity, and so have a possible
erotic relationship by an erastes seeking to create, maintain, or dis- erotic application. The last informs us that the man is olbios ‘fortu-
solve such a relationship. In addition to these passages, there is only nate’ who has boys that are philoi, horses, dogs, and xenoi guest-
one in Book ii containing the vocative: Kurne, 1353-1356. This friends’.^ That all but one of the doubtfully erotic passages in Book ii
proper name, so common in Book i, occurs here in a passage that should contain a form or a derivative of philos indicates the uncer-
describes the bitter effect of eros on the erastes who experiences it. tainty built into this family of words. When is a philos just a friend,
Lacking the urgency of command or entreaty, this passage is distinct and when is he a sexual partner? The compiler of Book ii undoubt-
from the passages of the (5) pai group. edly could not or would not always distinguish.
§8. Four passages in Book n contain second person forms without §11. Having completed my survey of erotic passages in Book ii of the
vocatives. Three of these are certainly erotic in import: 1241-1242, Theognidea, and having noted the distinction between pragmatic and
1363-1364, and 1373-1374. Aside from its inclusion in Book ii, the nonpragmatic passages, I now turn to a consideration of the political
character of 1239-1240 (perhaps to be grouped with 1238a-b) is aspects of eroticism in Theognis Book ii. My starting point, however,
unclear. In all four passages the speaker adopts a stance of authority is a passage not from Book ii but from Book i.
in respect to his addressee: he warns, commands, or reproves. So, if
these passages are erotic, they are spoken by an erastes, not an ToKfjux 6vßk KUKoienv o/juix; ark-qra netrovOoir;'
erômenos, as are all the passages with a vocative. That this should be heùJòv TOI KpaSiq ylverai ó|vT£pì).
so ought not to surprise us, for it is in keeping with the ideal of jU,T)8è crû y' àtrpriKTOunv ètr epypxtcnv akyoç àe^tov
pederastie paideiä. Instruction is a major benefit offered by the era- avxit MT)S’ ceïo-xe«' pTjSè àvUx,
stes to the erômenos (cf. 1235, 1321), and in all these passages the jU.T)8’ èx0pov<; €v<j)pai,ve. Otwv 8’ ùpxxppÆva bSipa
ovK av pqïbLüx; OvqToq àvqp Trpo^vyoi,
speaker instructs.
o vt ' âv Tropif)vpéq<; KaraSvç èç nvOpeva X.ip.r’T/Ç,
OV0' ojav avrov exT) TàpTapo<; r¡€pÓ€i<;.
§9. The remaining erotic passages may be classified by a negative crite-
Theognis 1029-1036
rion: they do not contain occurrences of the second person, with or
Bear up, thûmos, under misfortunes, even though you are suffering
without the vocative. For this reason, they can be regarded as non-
unbearable things [atlèta].
pragmatic meditations on or contemplations of erotic relationships. In
Look, the heart of the worthless is very quick to anger.
six of these, the erastes describes what it is like to love, or no longer Do not make much of your grief [algos] over unperformed (or unper-
to love, an erômenos: 1255-1256, 1335-1336, 1337-1340, 1357- formable) [aprëkta] deeds,
1360, 1369-1372, and 1375-1376. The first and fourth of these ex- boasting about them, nor yet make much of shameful things done, nor
amples contain an occurrence of the verb philein ‘to be philos to’ or cause pain to your philoi
‘to love’ in construction or compounded with pais ‘boy’, while the nor give your enemies [ekhthroi] cause to rejoice. Not easily
remaining four contain the verb eran ‘to desire’, ‘to love’, or a deriv- may a mortal man escape the destined [heimarmena] gifts of the gods,
ative thereof, in more or less close construction with pais. Themati- no, not if he sinks to the bottom of the stormy sea,
cally related to this group are two passages in which such collocations nor when shadowy Tartaros holds him fast.
do not occur, one on what a boy’s noos ‘intuition’ is like (1267-
1270) and one on what his kharis ‘gratitude’ is like (1367-1370). §10nl. As is well known, Plato Lysis 242E takes philoi as qualifying all the
substantives in conjunction with paides. Some commentators on Theognis have fol-
§10. Thus far, I have accounted for 150 out of 166 verses in Book ii. lowed Plato; for a summary of the arguments adduced on both sides of the question,
Of the eight passages unaccounted for, four are doublets of distichs see Vetta 1980.60-61.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book II ! 203
202 / John M. Lewis
elvai ôè ykvKvv (Sôe tf>tA.otS, èyOpoun ôe mKpov,
I may conveniently start here, since Book ii has no passage that is so Toitri pÀv aiSotov, roîtri ôe Òetvov ibeïv.
reflective of the political content of the corpus.
Solon fr. 13.5-6 W
§12. The speaker’s troubles are general and unspecifled, but the atti- be sweet to philoi but bitter to ekhthroi,
to the former a thing of reverence to see, to the latter a thing to be
tude conveyed is noteworthy. On the surface it seems heroic, even
provisionally Odyssean, in that it opens with an imperative tolma feared.
‘bear up’ related to the epithet polutläs ‘much-enduring’ so often
Noteworthy in this distich is the appeal to a double antithetical image,
applied in the Homeric poems to Odysseus, the hero who polla ...
en pontöi pathen aigea hon kata thümon ‘suffered many griefs in his with the hexameter drawing on the sense of taste, the pentameter on
thumos in the open sea’ {Odyssey i 4). The exhortation to bear up in sight. The association of glukus ‘sweet’ with philos appears in Athe-
the Theognidean passage is an unconditional one, for the speaker na’s exhortation in the Iliad to the Achaeans to fight.
tells his thûmos to bear up under misfortunes even though he is
suffering atlèta ‘unbearable things’, a word derived from the same Toîcri Ô’ a<t>ap Trô\e/uoç y\vK¡MV yéver 17e veecrOai
verbal root as the imperative at the head of the line (tol-ma ... èo OTjvcri yKatpvpijm tbLkriP èç trarpLóa yalav.
a-tlë-ta). Again like Odysseus, whose patient bearing up under the Iliad II 453-454
insults of the suitors provides much of the dramatic tension of the Then forthwith battle was sweeter [glukiôn] than to return
Odyssey, the Theognidean speaker here enjoins his thûmos to be in their hollow ships to their own [philë] native land.
slow to outward expressions of distress, for such self-control will
distinguish his conduct as sharply as possible from that of the deiloi Homecoming, the return to one’s homeland, philë in part because it
‘wretched’ (1030). The latter are verbally incontinent, a frequent is one’s own and because one’s philoi reside there, may be sweet,
theme in Book i (cf., e.g., 611-614). Although 1029-1036 is not truly but under the goddess’s inspiration battle is sweeter. The association
a riddle (cf. 261-266, 1229-1230), by leaving the heroic resonances of glukus with philos occurs also in the Odyssey, when Odysseus
of the speaker’s attitude unexpressed, it involves an act of the imagi- prefaces his account of his adventures with this gnomic saying.
nation similar to that used in encoding and decoding a riddle. In this
sense, ainos as praise poetry and as riddle converge in an act of self- wg ovSeo ykvKMO TrorpiÔoç ovSè t o k t )ù ìv
praise.* A riddling claim to be like Odysseus might well have had a yíyveTUi, eî mp k u L t iç àtróirpoOi mova o l k o v
political valence, linking the speaker and his audience with the heroes yaír) èv á\\oóawr¡ valet àtràvevOe t o k t iw v .
of epic and marking them off from the deiloi ‘wretched’, thus provid- Odyssey ix 34-36
ing them a claim of entitlement to political power. So there is nothing sweeter [glukion] than one’s native land and parents,
even if one were to inhabit a rich house afar off
§13.1 shall continue my analysis of Theognis 1029-1036 with a consid-
in another country, apart from those parents.
eration of the opposition philos/ekhthros ‘friend/enemy’ and of the
notion of heimarmena dora ‘destined gifts’. As it turns out, these In this passage, the place of philos is taken by the reflexive pronoun
two themes have an inner connection. A warning against the failure hës ‘one’s own’, a semantic equivalent. A sympotic context for the
to act justly, to give to philoi and ekhthroi their due, can be ex- sweetness arising from philos relationships may be found in Pindar.
pressed: mède philous aniâ/mëd’ ekhthrous euphraine ‘do not pain
your friends, nor give your enemies pleasure’. To each class one
ykvKeîa 8e (bpiiv Kal (rvpiTOTaunv opikelv
owes something, pleasure to one’s friends and pain to one’s enemies.
pe\uT(Tav afielßerai TprjTÒv iróvov.
There is another way of making the same point, as can be seen from
Pindar P. 6.52-54
Solon’s prayer to Mnemosyne that he may
His mind [phrën] is sweet [glukeia], and holding converse with his
§12nl. For related discussions of ainos in this volume, see especially Nagy
fellow symposiasts
he surpasses the honeybee in its chambered work.
Ch.2§§2-8 and Edmunds Ch.4§§13-22.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book II / 205
204 / John M. Lewis
be bitter [pikros] and sweet [glukus], pleasing to touch [harpaleos] and
Thus, the company of one’s friends is a sweet experience, worthy of
hard [apenes]
a ‘sweet mind’, which leads to sweet behavior. to hirelings and to household slaves and to the neighbors near your door.
§ 14. By the same token, pikros ‘bitter’ often occurs where friendship •i’ Pleasant or difficult behavior is given a tactile dimension here in
is denied or enmity is asserted. When Odysseus, disguised as a beg- advice on behavior toward those who are not your philoi but with
gar, appears in his own house, the suitor Antinoos reviles him; whom you are in daily contact. This couplet is apparently related to
Í those urging Kyrnos to assume a changeable disposition toward such
nç òaiijuav róSe irrifia trpocrqyaye, SaiTOç àvLtìV, ~ persons. Only one’s philoi have the right to expect that you will be
CTT'^Ö’ OVTtUÇ €Ç ¡XÁCTCTOV, àirÙvivOe TpaTTe^T/Ç,
uniformly glukus ‘sweet’ to them. To summarize:
Tax« mKpT)v Pdyvmov km Kvnpov uctqaL
Odyssey xvii 446-448
Status philos non-philos ekhthros
What god has brought hither this annoyance, an anië at the feast? [‘friend’] [non-‘friend’] [‘enemy’]
Stand there, in the middle, far from my table, (hireling,
lest you speedily come to a bitter [pikros] Egypt and Cyprus.
slave, or
i neighbor)
Note that one’s native land is phile, but a distant country is bitter. pikros
1 Behavior glukus glukus/pikros
To Antinoos, Odysseus is an anië ‘pain’, unworthy of a place of [‘sweet’/‘bitter’] [‘bitter’]
[‘sweet’]
honor at the banquet. Antinoos threateningly implies that if this
harpaleos harpaleos / apënës apënës
beggar does not keep his place, for him Ithaca will become pikros as [‘pleasing to touch’/ [‘hard’]
[‘pleasing to
faraway Egypt had been to him. Geographic separation leads to en- Í ‘hard’]
it touch’]
mity: those distant from you are probably ekhthroi. As protection anië
State caused euphrosunë
against encircling ekhthroi, the institutions of philoxenia ‘hospital- [‘merriment’] [‘pain’]
ity’ assimilated outsiders to philoi. Against this background, we can , by behavior
appreciate assertions that the suitors will find a pikrogamos ‘bit- (
§17. It is significant that the hexameter of the distich just cited occurs
ter marriage’ when Odysseus returns home {Odyssey i 266, iv 346,
xvii 137). It is a gamos that will indeed be the opposite of what is also in an erotic passage, in Book ii;
anticipated in marrying, that is, a marriage that leads to death at the
mKpôç Kai ykvKvi; éan Kai ápna\¿o<; Kai àirr)VTì<;
hands of ekhthroi.
i o(ÿpa TeXetoç érj Kvpve véounp eptüç.
S p^p yàp reKecrr), yKvKV yiperar r¡p 8è ó í Úk o o p
§15. Returning to Solon fr. 13.5, one can now see more clearly what il' p,T) TeXéaj), TrâpTWP t o u t ’ àpciìpóraTOP.
he means. To be glukus ‘sweet’ to one’s philoi is to produce in them Theognis 1353-1356
the same eifect as home, parents, or a good symposium, in short,
euphrosune ‘merriment’. In contrast, to be pikros ‘bitter’ to one’s Bitter [pikros] and sweet [glukus], pleasing to touch [harpaleos] and hard
ekhthroi is to be an anië ‘pain’ to them, to cause them pain, loss, [apenes]
I is sexual desire [eros] to youths, Kyrnos, until it reaches its goal.
and, if possible, death.
If you bring it to its goal, it becomes sweet, but if you chase it
and cannot bring it to its goal, it is of all things the most full ofpain
§16. As noted above, the sensory appeal in the Solon passage is a
[anië].
double one: first to taste and then to sight. A similar double sensory
appeal, this time to taste and then to touch, is found in Theognis: In light of the system I have observed, the passage takes on a precise
meaning. If the object of the speaker’s eros spurns his advances and
TTUcpòs Kai yX.VKV<; IcrOi Kal áp7ra\éo<; Kai à7TT)i^T)S
treats him as an ekhthros would, then that eros tastes bitter and feels
XarpuTi Kai òpxMriv yeírocrí t a-yxi^vpot?.
hard to him, but if the desired boy accepts the suitor’s advances.
Theognis 301-302
 206 / John M. Lewis 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book 11/207
treating him as a philos would, that same eros tastes sweet and feels tionships between philoi and ekhthroi. In social terms, anië is the
good to the touch.i discomfort caused by another behaving as an ekhthros, whether he
be a true ekhthros or a supposed philos. The discomfort is particu-
§18. If possible, as Theognis 561-562 reminds us, we ought to take larly intense where the social code enjoins the opposite, that is, from
from our ekhthroi good things, so causing them anië, and give these one’s friends. That such a predicament can have a pederastie context
goods to our philoi, engendering euphrosunë.' What is treated nega- is seen from the repetition of 1107-1108 in Book ii as 1318a-b.
tively as prohibitions in 561-562 is treated positively elsewhere:
§20. It is this last type of anië that receives much attention in the
€v fjuoi erretra necroi fiéya<; ovpav6<; evpvç imepOev Theognidea. In 75-76 Kyrnos is advised to put his faith in few men
xâKK€oç, àvOpónrwv béip/x TrakaLyeviojv, in an important undertaking lest he reap an anëkeston ... aniën
€Ì jU.T) e-ycí) Toíicnv pÀv ètrapKécro} ot p,e ^kevcnv, ‘incurable ... pain’. Again, in Theognis 257-260 the mare finds it an
Toîç 8’ €x$poï<; àviiì k u l pÀya wfip' tcropxxi.
anië that she has a kakos man for a rider. Finally, the exile whose
Theognis 869-872 plight is considered in 209-210 finds that the greatest cause of anië is
May the great broad bronze sky fall on me from above that he has no philos and pistos hetairos ‘trustworthy companion’.^
—a thing feared by men of old— A majority of the passages in the corpus dealing with philoi turn out
If I do not help those who are friends [philoi] to me. to have as their subject persons who are no philoi at all, who seem,
But to my enemies [ekhthroi] I will be a pain [anië] and a great grief to on the basis of their actions, more like ekhthroi. Society, that is, the
boot! network of relationships of philoi, the parallel institution of relations
of xenoi, the family (cf Theognis 271-278 on filial ingratitude), and
§19. To fail in the just distribution of anië to ekhthroi and euphrosunë
beyond these, the ekhthroi, can all be sources of anië. Therefore,
to philoi is to become deilos ‘wretched’ or ‘worthless’: the pain caused by social tension can be understood to lie at the heart
of the evils to be endured in Theognis 1029-1036 (quoted at §11).
Ü) pjol èyà) Setkós' Kai 8r] Karáxappa pív èy^potç,
Toîç ôè (l)L\oun t t Ôi 'o ç 8et\à naOùv yevóp,r¡v.
§21. In Theognis 1029-1036, however, the painful experiences of the
Theognis 1107-1108 = 1318a-b
speaker are seen as divinely ordained. The gods, too, as either philoi
0 wretched [deilos] that I ami Because I have suffered wretched [deila] or ekhthroi, may enter into relations with particular mortals.^ Their
things immortality makes them in every way superior to men, so that a
1 have become a thing of joy to my enemies [ekhthroi] and a burden to sense of disparity between gods and mortals, along with the notion of
my friends [philoi].
divine gift-giving, pervades the passage:
Here the deila the speaker has suffered make him a deilos, who
. .. Oecòv 8’ eipappÆva 8(opa
inflicts ponos ‘pain’, a word semantically equivalent to anië. Far from ovK civ pT)ï8io)ç 6v iìt Ò<; àvT)p TTpo<l>vyoí.
being able to take away their joy from his ekhthroi, he has become Theognis 1033-1034
someone at whose expense they enjoy pleasure. A deilos can no
longer participate in that system of giving and taking, free among ... not easily may mortal [thnëtos] man escape
the destined [heimarmena] gifts [dora] of the gods.
friends and forced among enemies, which creates and sustains rela-
“Not easily” turns out to be a litotes, since mortals cannot escape the
destined gifts at all. Compare the passages in epic where actions
§17nl. On a specialized sense of apenes in Aristophanes (‘sexually frustrating’),
see Vetta 1980.126.
§18nl. On the importance of gift exchange to the maintenance of philos and §20nl. For a full account of the difficulties encountered by the Theognidean
xenos relations, see Finley 1977.64-69; on the duty of repaying in kind the unkind aristocrat in his quest for the philos kai pistos hetairos, see Donlan Ch.9.
deeds of one’s ekhthroi, see Finley p.77 (the blood feud). The subject of reciprocity is §2lnl. So Peleus was philos to the immortal gods, Hesiod fr. 211.3 MW; so
treated elsewhere in this volume (Donlan Ch.9§3, with note to Benveniste on philos). Bellerophon, though initially favored of Zeus, became hated by the gods, Iliad vi 200.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book II / 209
208 / John M. Lewis
and of initiative or gratuity in the pro of prophugein. Apoina ‘ransom’
difficult or impossible for men are described as easy for gods.^ Recall
or ‘compensation’ are offered to someone who has possession of
that earlier the passage spoke of not making too much of actions that
something of yours, keeping it from you as an ekhthros would. Apoina
were aprekta ‘unperformed’ or ‘unperformable’ and set this against
are thus the kind of compensation offered to an ekhthros in order to
the words of Aphrodite to Hera as Hera sets out to seduce Zeus:
avoid or terminate his enmity. Apoina (just as döra) are regular and
regulative parts of the social order. But when mortal men deal with the
.. . ov8e CT€ <l)ri¡u
anprìKTOv ye véearOai, 6 n (t>peai ajjcn pÆvoipaç. gods or with those shadowy powers, death and fate, they cannot em-
Iliad XIV 220-221 ploy human means of interrelating. In consequence, the world remains
a risky and unpredictable place governed by beings whose intentions
... I do not think that are unfathomable. It is a fine thing to be philos to the gods, as The-
you, at least, will return with that unaccomplished [aprekton] which you
otimos was in Theognis 881 or as the speaker in 653 finally wishes to
intend to do in your mind [phrenes].
be, but there are few who achieve this happy condition.
§22. Given the inequality between gods and mortals, one crucial ele-
ment of any philos relationship is lacking between them, reciprocity. §23. The speaker, then, his social behavior constrained by his inability
Gods and men are so unequal in what they have to give, there can to know whether his fellow citizens are philoi or ekhthroi masquer-
be no question of those equal returns that maintain status. The gods, ading as philoi, turns his attention to the gods, only to find that
then, are philoi to whom they please at their pleasure, and their there, too, he confronts inscrutable behavior. Against this doubly
dealings with mortals are only in a limited and analogical way like the dark background, we may now consider more closely the notion of
dealings of mortals with one another. In the terms of Sumner, the theôn dora ‘gifts of the gods’, so that we may rightly interpret the
gods form neither an out-group with whom we can fight, nor an in- gifts of Aphrodite. Let us start with the single instance in Theognis of
group with whom we can carry out fair distributions.* They stand a god’s gift to another god, that of Zeus to Aphrodite:
outside both philos and ekhthros relations in the strictest sense:
Kvrrpoyepeg KvOepeux òokoirkÓKe, crol t L nepurcrop
Zeùç róde npricrag Saipop eôwKep egeip;
OVTIÇ aTTOtpa ôiSoùç Oávarov ijìvyoi oùôè ßapeiav
Sappâg ô’ àpBpómwp trvKipàç (ftpépaç, ov8é nç ècmp
ôvcrruxÎT/t’, ei ßr) palp' èm Teppa ßakoL,
ovTOjç M^ôijuoç Kai crodMg ùxne dtxryéip.
ovS’ âp 8v(T<t>po<TVpa<;, ore ô t j ôeôç akyea népirp,
Bp t \t Ô<; àpTip ôûipotç ßovKopepog npoifnryeïp. Theognis 1386-1389
Theognis 1187-1190 Cyprus-born, Cytherean, weaver of deceits! What is this outstanding
No one can escape death by paying a ransom [apoina] nor heavy gift [doron] that Zeus, honoring you, gave you to have?
bad luck, unless fate [moira] set a limit to it, You tame the stout phrenes of men, nor is there any
nor, when a god sends him pains [algea], may a mortal, so strong or so skilled as to escape you.
wishing to forestall death by giving gifts, escape distress in his mind
When a god confers a gift, he gives honor, a situation that holds
[phrenes].
good for mortals. (Consider the name Theotimos ‘he who has re-
Dora ‘gifts’ are what you give to your philoi. They are currency, the ceived honor [time] from the god’ in Theognis 881.)
exchange of which sustains those relationships. The idea that dora are
for philoi is reinforced by the idea of volition in boulomenos (1190) §24. In this light, let us consider the formula makar eudaimôn te kai
olbios ‘blessed and fortunate and happy’ (Theognis 1013), used to
describe a man endowed with the gifts of the gods. The man it cele-
§21n2. Note that the uprooting of the magical moly is hard for a mortal man to brates is philos to the gods, and thus makar, denoted by an epithet
do, but the gods can do everything {Odyssey x 303-304). A formula in the Iliad
reminds us that Zeus can easily put to flight a brave warrior (e.g., Iliad xvii 178). properly theirs, and so a participant in their bliss.* Because of his
§22nl. Sumner’s earlier terms for these groups were “we-group” and “others-
group” (Sumner 1906.12); the more familiar terms “in-group” and “out-group” were
§24nl. See LSJ s.v. “makar.
introduced in his 1911 essay on war (Sumner 1963.35).
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book II / 211
210 / John M. Lewis
otketo 6’ AtyeiÔTjç ©Tjoreùç péyaç, c 3X.£t o 8’ Au»?
olbos ‘wealth’ granted by the gods (cf. Theognis 165-166, 373-392, €crg\òs ’OiXuiSTjç imp àraa-eakiav;.
865-868), he can participate in the reciprocities of philos relation- Theognis 1231-1234
ships in the sphere of mortal life, including pederasty (Theognis
Obstinate Eros, Madnesses took you up and suckled you:
1253-1254, 1335-1336, 1375-1376). He is not like the deiloi, without through you the high stronghold of Ilium perished.
property to exchange or power to create euphrosune for his philoi or And the son of Aigeus, great Theseus, perished; and Ajax perished,
anië for his ekhthroi. To the former he is glukus, to the latter he is that noble [esthlos] man, son of Oileus, each by reason of hts recklessness.
pikros. At the same time he is aware that philoi are often false and
that the gifts of the gods are sometimes evil (e.g., destructive old age This passage contains a miniature Theogony, wherein Eros is nursed
[Theognis 271-272]). His experience in the social world is unstable by the Maniai ‘Madnesses’. Moreover, the series of exempla (Iroy,
and threatened by disorder because philoi are not always trustworthy Theseus Ajax) illustrates violent disregard of social convention un-
and the gods often bestow gifts of wealth and power on deiloi. As a der the influence of Eros, rather as madness sometimes leads war-
member of an embattled circle of aristocratic philoi, he as an erastes riors to make war on their own kindred.^ It was Paris’ abduction of
invites his crómenos to join the fellowship of this elite. Helen that violated the marriage tie and the relationship between
guest and host that led to the destruction of Troy. Theseus joined
§25. The fellowship defines itself in terms that fuse political and erotic forces with Perithoos in an attempted rape of Persephone, a direct
threat to the boundaries between living and dead, gods and men, as
themes:
well as a violation of a marriage. Ajax son of Oileus made a sexual
oi)K è0é\w ere k u k o k epôeit', ovS' ei poi afieipov assault upon Cassandra, a priestess of Apollo. In each story, Eros
Trpex; OeeHtv àdavàrotip eacrerai & Ka\e nai. incited mortals to offend against human and divine order, so that the
OV yocp (XpXXpTwKoCUTlP elTl ŒpiKpCtÎxTl KCtdj]pXXl god is called skhetlios ‘cruel’ or ‘obstinate’ for inciting others to
TÙ1V 0€ Ka\càv iralSwp ov t Lc t k ; o v ó ’ ù SLk w p } atasthaliai ‘acts of recklessness’.^ Eros is skhetlios not just because
Theognis 1279-1282 he causes suffering in his victims but because he inspires them with a
I have no intention of treating you badly, not even if it would be better disruptive cruelty similar to his own. In this he is like a warrior in a
for me, battle frenzy whose condition is denoted by hubris.
O beautiful boy, in my relations with the immortal gods.
No, it is not over petty faults that I sit in judgment quietly. §26. Note this other Theognidean passage on hubris:
But beautiful boys get no punishment even when they are without dike.
fijSptS Kal Mayi'iijTaç ÙTToikecre Kal Kokoejwpa
Here is revealed an impasse between the claims of the community and Kai EpvppjjP' iràvTiiiç Kvpve Kot vpp atrokei,
those of eros. The erastes has been injured by the crómenos, and the Theognis 1103-1104
gods’ sense of justice requires that he seek satisfaction. Failure to pun-
Arrogance [hubris] destroyed both Magnesia and Colophon
ish the crómenos amounts to a violation of the proper code of conduct
and Smyrna. Kyrnos, to be sure, it will destroy you, too.
among philoi and exposes the erastes to the anger of the gods. Yet as
the last line indicates, a beautiful boy never gets puiiished for his This distich has been associated with the one preceding it.^
misdeeds, because he is protected by his beauty, which is one compo-
nent of his youth, itself a gift of the gods (cf. Theognis 271-272).
§25n2 For a discussion of this theme, see Dumézil 1970, esp. pp.105 107 on
Eros creates disorder. Consider the opening passage of Book ii: the sins of the warrior against the three functions and 133-137 on the m.ual combat of
Cuchulainn^^ West 1974.165 emends 1234 to read imp araaBakUns on the grounds
(TxeTki ’'Eptvs, Maviai or’ èriOTìPria-apTO kaßovcrai,-
£K (réSep wXcTO pev I\iov aKpoTToXtç, that the text as we have it speaks blasphemously when it attributes to the god a class of
“.1," p“pe,ly »n be pprto.m.d onl, b, monels. Ve„. pp.«-43 esboes f..o.
of the manuscript reading: rrimp.
§25nl. This reading is based on an emendation, for which see the discussion of §26nl. Harrison 1902.157 followed by Young 1961.
Vetta 1980.76-77.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book H / 213
212 / John M. Lewis
ôcrnç croi ßov\evcrei> èyxv rrepi, k u L cr’ iKcKevcrev ual conquest, as in the Iliad, where Hera asks Aphrodite for love and
oÌxecrOai irpoiKiiròvO' ■qpx.Tcp'pv (¡¡iXLifv .. . desire, by which she damnai ‘masters’ immortals and mortals alike
Theognis 1101-1102 (xiv 199). The same image of Aphrodite appears in Theognis 1386-
1389 (§23 above). Both the Theogony and Theognis picture the deity
Whoever counseled you about me and bade you
as subduing mortals through their minds (noos, boulé, phrenes).
go and leave my philie ...
By implication, betrayal of philie is hubris of the same sort as that §28. A parallel expression appears in Book ii:
which destroys cities. While this juxtaposition may at first seem
forced, it nonetheless fits a theme characteristic of the Theognidea; (3 ncxi, aKoverov èpev Sapácrag 4>p¿va<í' ovroi àneiBt]
that a polis survives because its esthloi are philoi, partaking of an pvBov èpo) TT) críj Kapôiji ovS' axapip.
àkkà TkrjBi vôo) crvpieïv c t t o s ' o v t o i àvàyKT)
eros that is without hubris.^ In the first of the two distichs, the boy’s
rovf epSeip ori croi ¡j u í] KaraBipuap ij.
affections have strayed because his mind cannot resist the persuasion
Theognis 1235-1238
of others. The connection between this and the second of the two
distichs becomes clearer when we note another warning against per- Boy, listen to me, subduing [damasäs] your phrenes. I will tell you a tale
not unpersuasive nor without gratification [kharis] for your heart.
suasion by false friends;
Bring yourself to understand this epos in your noos: it is not necessary
to do the thing that is not what agrees with your disposition [thümos].
jüTjirore ròv napeovra aWov èpevva
ôetXûlt' àvOpómctìv prißam ireiBôpÆVcy;.
iroWaKi TOI Trap' è/ioì Kara croi Ke^ovcri páraia, This passage is one of persuasion, in which an erastës invites a boy
Kal napa croi Kar' ipov' rœv Se crv ¡xi) fvi'iei. to accept an agreeable proposal, perhaps to become an eromenos.
Theognis 1238a-1240 Verses 1299-1304 and 1365-1366 of Theognis invite a boy to listen
to or to grant a favor to the speaker in similar language. In the pas-
Never dismiss your present friend [philos] and go hunting another, sage at hand (1235-1238), however, the phrase akouson emeu da-
persuaded by the words of worthless [deiloi] men.
masäs phrenas is quite ambiguous. If we take emeu ‘ (of) me’ as the
For often they will lay idle charges against you in my presence,
object of akouson ‘hear’ (an imperative), we have ‘listen to me,
and against me in yours: do not listen to them.
subduing your phrenes’ (the translation above). If emeu is used
Such an impressionable mind is not artios ‘well put together’ (cf. The- possessively with phrenes, we have ‘listen, you who have subdued
ognis 153-154) and becomes a breeding ground for acts of hubris. my phrenes’. The phrenes have become the mind of the erastës
What links eros and hubris, then, is that they both act to dissolve overcome by the boy’s beauty.^ In either case, we see humans initiat-
social bonds. It is not surprising, therefore, that the compiler of ing acts like the subduing initiated by the activity of the gods. If the
Book II was led to include 1101-1102 among the pederastie poems, boy is being asked to subdue his phrenes, it may be because a new
infatuation is threatening to overcome him. The erastës, probably in
where it appears as 1278a-b.
vain, asks the eromenos to resist this influence.
§27. Although eros and hubris act on society in the same fashion, eros
is different in one important regard. It is personified as early as He- §29. The speaker’s invitation to the boy to listen suggests that the
siod iTheogony 120-122): for the effect of Eros on the minds of men, message about to be imparted by the speaker will bring the boy’s
Hesiod uses the verb damnazö ‘tame’ (122). Compare Athena’s behavior into balance with his thümos. Therefore, the speaker’s
spear in the Iliad, by which she damnesi ‘masters’ ranks of men (//- injunction has a calming effect, in part suggested by the delaying
effect that the series of negations (outoi ... oud’ ... outoi ... më)
lady 746). The same word is used for breaking horses and marrying
might convey. The violent subjugation initiated by the divine force of
a woman to a man. Especially relevant to us is its use to express sex-
§28nl. For a treatment of the syntactic problems in v. 1235, see Vetta 1980.44-
§26n2. Cf. van Groningen 1966.405. 45.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book 11/215
214 / John M. Lewis
marriage. In the latter story, love-struck Meleager awards her the
Eros leads in the end to a philos relationship between erastes and
spoils of the hunt, which touches off a feud that destroys his house-
crómenos. They are now no longer a threat to the social order.
hold and family, an exemplum of the destructiveness of love like
§30. This process of socialization is symbolized by the marriage of those in Theognis 1231-1234.1 we see eros appearing in two aspects.
If refused, as by Atalanta initially, social bonds are not renewed, and
Atalanta: there is a reversion to the presocial existence in the wilderness. Eros,
à) irai, firi /x’ àôi/cer èri croi Ka<Ta>0vfjuo<; eìvai however, poses a continual threat to existing social ties, as exempli-
ßovkoijuu, eìxftpocrvìnj t o v t o crwei<; áya0r¡. “ fied by Meleager.
ov yáp TOI pÆ ôo\û) TTapekevcreai ov8’ àrraTricreiç-
vLKricra<; yàp exeiç t o vKéov e^orricrw, §32.1 shall say something more about the first of these two aspects.
á\Áá er’ èyò) rpeoerù) <f>evyoi>Ta pe, wç irore (ftacrip Atalanta’s flight ‘from the house of her father’ is a flight from the
’lacriov Kovpiìv napOévov ’lacTLT)P place of domestication, a rejection of the prescribed role of women for
á>pair]P nep èoverap àpaipopépT)P yápop àpdpcop the life of a warrior. ‘Girdled’, she performs erg’ atelesta ‘vain ex-
<¡>evyeip‘ ^axrapépT} 8’ epy' àTekecrra reXei ploits’, the term for rebellion against one’s role which Marcel De-
Trarpôç pocr^iurOeïcTa òópoip ^ap0r) ’ArakapTri' tienne has elucidated.i the Ehoiai, we learn that Atalanta fled from
(UXCTO 8’ vi//T)\àç eèç Kopv<j>à<; òpécop marriage andrón ... alphêstàôn ‘with alphëstës men’ (fr. 73.5 MW).
(jxvyovcr'' ípepáepra yápop, xpvcrrjç ’A<^po8iTT}Ç The word alphëstës may be glossed as ‘grain-eating’, related to alphi,
8¿pg' T€\oç 8’ eypcü Kal pàk' àpaiPopÀin).
alphiton ‘barley-groats’Thus, Atalanta left the place of cereal culti-
Theognis 1283-1294
vation, hence the place of civilized human beings, and assimilated
Boy, do not treat me without dike—I still wish to be herself to creatures of the wilderness like Centaurs, who are ómopha-
what agrees with your thiimos—perceiving this with good complaisance goi ‘eaters of raw flesh’.^ Consider these verses addressed to Kyrnos:
[euphrosunë].
You will not slip by me guilefully, nor will you deceive me.
beipOClPO) pi) T7)P0e TTOklP IlokVTTgiÓT) vßpig
You have won in the past and will do so more often than not in the
T) nep Kepravpovg ùpo<t>àyov<; òkeerr).
future,
but 1 will wound you as you try to get away from me as they say once Theognis 541-542
happened to I am afraid, O son of Polypaos, that outrage [hubris] will destroy this
the daughter of lasios, the girl lasie. city,
Though she was of a ripe age for love, she said no to marrying with men the very outrage that destroyed the Centaurs, eaters of raw flesh
and fled. Her girdle still fastened, blonde Atalanta tried to fulfill [ômophagoil.
things that were not to be fulfilled. She left the house of her father
and went off to the peaks of lofty mountains,
fleeing from the bliss of marriage, gifts of golden
§31nl. For the story of the Calydonian Boar, see Ovid Metamorphoses 8.260-
Aphrodite. But in the end she came to know, for all her saying no
546; for Atalanta’s flight to avoid marriage (here motivated by an oracle) and the
before. footrace with the suitors, cf. Metamorphoses 10.560-570. Noteworthy in the latter
passage is the fulfillment of the oracle; Atalanta, persuaded by the suddenly amorous
The passage conflates two aspects of the myth of Atalanta. In vv. Hippomenes to lie with him in a precinct sacred to Cybele, finds herself and her hus-
1283-1287 an erastes threatens to take vengeance on his crómenos band transformed into a pair of lions. Thereafter pro thalamis celebrant silvas ‘they
for unjust behavior, while citing the case of Atalanta. In 1287-1294, frequent forests rather than the marriage-chamber’ {Metamorphoses 10.703): their mar-
riage gone awry, the wedded pair returns to the wilderness. 1 am indebted to Andrew
the focus is on Atalanta’s flight to escape marriage, only to yield ulti- Ford for calling my attention to the relevance of the whole myth of Atalanta for my
mately, just as the boy will yield to his erastes. reading of Theognis 1283-1294, as well as for many other suggestions here silently
incorporated into my text.
§31. It is the second of these aspects that interests us. The salient §32nl. Detienne 1979.31-32.
characteristic of Atalanta both in the story of her races with her §32n2. Cf. Chantraine 1968.67.
suitors and in the hunting of the Calydonian Boar is that she refuses §32n3. Cf. Nagy Ch.2§39.
 216 / John M. Lewis 8: Eros and the Polls in Theognis Book 11/217
When at length Atalanta accepts himeroenta gamón ‘delightful mar- has come to the end of adolescence. In this respect, the position of
riage’, the khrüsës Aphroditës dora ‘gifts of golden Aphrodite’, she the prospective crómenos contrasts in the sharpest possible way with
returns to civilization in her husband’s house. This is her telos ‘ful- that of Atalanta. For her the acceptance of the gifts of Aphrodite in
fillment’, in place of erg’ atelesta. She moves away from houses, marriage marks her arrival at the telos ‘goal’ of child-bearing and
grain fields, and social institutions toward a Centaurlike or Amazo- domestic life. For the boy, however, acceptance of the invitation of
nian existence on the margin of society and then, tamed by eros, paidophilië leads to a temporary status, ostensibly one of subordina-
accepts marriage. Atalanta, who became a huntress beyond civiliza- tion for the purpose of paideia, which in a few years will be con-
tion, becomes the quarry for a different kind of hunter^ one who, verted into its complementary role when he becomes an erastës in
inspired by eros, seeks to reincorporate her into human society. The his turn.
would-be erastës of Theognis 1283-1294 presents the story of Ata-
lanta as a paradigm for his own approach to the crómenos. §35. There is another paradigm in mythology for the erotic hunt:
§33. A similar passage may serve as a further illustration: 7rai8o(^t\ett' 8e t i repirvov, iveL irore Kai Fapvpriòovg
f)paro Kai KpovLÓr¡<; àdavaroìv ßacnKev;,
c5 irai, fiéxpi rivo<; fie npo(l>ev^eai; w<; <re
ó u Úk w v àpira^ag 8’ èç Okvpmov àvrfyaye Kai pxv eßi^Kcv
0iZ,r)ß'‘ ClXká TL fJUOL T€p¡M yévQLTO KLxelv bacpova, iraiÔ€Îr]ç âuffoç exovf ¿paráp.
a~ri<; òpyTÌ<;' cri) 8è pápyov ¿xcov Kai àyT)vopa Ovpòv ovTCü p,i) ßavpa^e F,Lpxoviòr), ovpcKa Kayo)
<^vy€iç ìk t l v o v crxerKLOv yffoç ex<>iD. è^ecfrâpiip Kakov iraiôôç epwn ôa/neig.
àXA,’ èmpÆLvov, èpjoi 8è 8i8ov xàpLV ovKen Sripôi) Theognis 1345-1350
ef€iç Kvvpoyei'ov'; ôcipoi) LOcrTe<ßai)OV. The love of boys [paidophilein] is something to take pleasure in, since
Theognis 1299-1304 Vetta even Zeus,
Boy, how long will you continue to flee me? How I chase you, king of the immortals, once upon a time loved Ganymede,
seeking you out! May I find some limit [termal and snatching him up carried him to Olympos and made him
to your temperament [reading ses orgës] ! But you, with your greedy and a daimôn while he still had the lovely bloom of youth.
too hardy thümos, So do not be surprised, Simonides, that I too
take flight, you with the self-willed [skhetlios] temperament of a kite. have been shown [exephanen], tamed [darnels] by eros for a beautiful
But stay where you are and grant me kharis. Not for much longer boy.
will you have the gift of her that was Cyprus-born, the violet-crowned.
Here, as in 1283-1294, the erastës is characterized as a hunter, and
Vetta takes terma, translated ‘limit’ above, to refer to the goal- there is an allusion to the gift of the gods, the anthos paideiës
marker in a race, so that the hunting image is combined with an ‘bloom of youth’. Note too the ambiguity of role linking hunter and
athletic one, as in the case of Atalanta. Again, the erastës is the hunted, which culminates in the assertion that the hunter is ‘tamed
pursuer, the crómenos the pursued. But just as the pursued Atalanta by eros’. If the emendation exephanën at Theognis 1350 is correct,
was a huntress herself, so here the crómenos is a hunter in ethos, as we are directed from the world of myth to the here and now of the
he has the temperament of a predatory bird. In the wilderness, where speaker. The erastës and crómenos, reenacting the myth of Zeus and
the erotic hunt takes place, the natures of pursuer and pursued inter- Ganymede, play out their roles under the eyes of their fellow citi-
mingle. zens, their philoi and ekhthroi, a fact that elicits the speaker’s expla-
nation to Simonides.* The corpus provides several other instances of
§34. The time is short during which a boy is fit to play the role of an this theme, the closest being 1341-1344 (a passage often linked with
crómenos.^ The gifts of Aphrodite will not be his to enjoy once he 1345-1350). I shall return to it below.
§34nl. Vetta 1980.89-90 discusses this topos and cites references from Greek §35nl. For a discussion of this vocative and the problems it has caused those
and Latin erotic literature. concerned with the authenticity of poems in the Theognidea, see Vetta pp. 121-123.
 8: Eros and the Polis in Theognis Book 11/219
218 / John M. Lewis
§36. One more passage needs to be cited in my discussion of this §37. The process of eros traced here emerges in response to a social
motif. Verses 949-954 struck the excerptor as erotic in import, and problem, the need to control erotic feelings, which, while necessary
the first distich appeared in Book ii as 1278c-d. K. J. Dover suggests to form social bonds, are potentially disruptive of society. The pro-
cess (seen most clearly in the Atalanta passage) is one of double
lexical reasons for supporting this opinion:^
movement. First, the object of eros is marginalized, that is, located
veßpov VTT€^ é\á<¡)Oio \¿(aiv o í Kk i Treiroiôwç in a space beyond society, where it is legitimate for another to
nocrcri ßaTafjuxp\lßa<; otjWaTOÇ o vk emov.
hunt him. Next, the feelings of the erotic object are tamed, do-
Theognis 949-950 = 1278c-d mesticated, and, if he grants his suitor kharis, channeled into the
institution of paidophilie, in which the hunter repays him with pai-
Like a lion trusting in his strength, I have snatched with my claws
deiä ‘instruction’. So the boy reenters society in a reciprocal re-
the fawn from the doe—but I did not drink his blood.
lationship as an crómenos. This serves the community by trans-
The formulaic león hôs alki pepoithôs ‘like a lion trusting in its mitting values from one generation to another. Self-control, as in
strength’ occurs in the Homeric poems, for example, Odyssey vi 130. It Theognis 1029-1036, is high on the list of these values. In Theog-
belongs to a class of formulas used to compare warriors to various nis 1351-1352, for example, where the pais is warned not to kô-
predatory animals. When Menelaos, learning of the conduct of the mazein ‘revel’, self-control is stressed, which, in combination with
suitors of Penelope, becomes incensed, he predicts their fate at the the vocative pai, is responsible for the inclusion of the passage in
hands of Odysseus {Odyssey iv 333-340). The suitors are characterized Book II.‘ The erotic relationship contributes to aristocratic euphro-
as men without alkë ‘strength’, in the face of the strength of Odys- sunê (cf. Theognis 1255-1256), making the participants, especially
seus. The lion of Theognis, trusting in his strength, creates a striking the erastes, olbioi, and makares (see Theognis 1253-1254, 1335-
contrast when he does not drink the fawn’s blood. Another use of the 1336, 1375-1376), akin to the gods.
lion motif may be cited, this one in the words of a prophetic figure who
appears to the Peisistratid Hipparchus on the eve of his assassination: §38. The association of pederasty with other institutions of the aristoc-
racy reaffirms the opposition between agathoi and deiloi, an emphasis
of the Theognidea. The faithless crómenos has been made so by
rkiidi kéújv arKyra vaOwv TerkyoTi Ovpu).
OVÔ6Î.Ç OLvOpWTTOJP OtÒLKÙJV TUTLV OVK CXHOTiiTCL.
consorting with deiloi (cf. 1238a-1240, 1243-1244, 1311-1318), so
that his defection amounts to a passing over to what was to Theognis
Herodotus 5.56.1
an anti- or at least a nonaristocratic faction. The erastes, by con-
Endure [tlëthi], O lion, the unendurable [atlèta] with a patient [tetlêoti]
trast, is pictured as faithful even in absence (Theognis 1363-1364), a
thümos: model of heroic (or aristocratic) constancy. If we adopt the emenda-
No man who acts without justice [dike] will fail to pay the penalty [tisis].
tion of sainón to s’ ainón (accepted by West and Vetta), verses
In both Theognis and Herodotos the image of the lion illuminates 1327-1328 assert that the erastes will never cease praising his eró-
heroic restraint, which suggests an interpretation of 949-954 that menos, even if he is fated to die. The thought here sounds hyper-
emphasizes a difference between hunting and the erotic hunt. The bolical. Yet in the light of the political character of the group of
former has as its object killing the quarry, the latter to bring the philoi to which the erastes and crómenos belong, Theognis 237-254,
quarry into the network of philos relations. As such, paidophilein is in which Kyrnos is told that he will be essomenoisin aoide ‘a song to
a prerogative of the agathoi, for the deiloi do not have the self- those who will live after us’ (251), suggests that it need not be so.
control to respect its conventions, lacking the thümos to endure. The erastes will go on praising his crómenos after death through the
Hence, beside the image of destructive eros in 1231-1234, Theognis medium of song in the mouths of later aristocratic singers as long as
949-954 sets the image of temperate eros developed out of images of the community of philoi survives.
heroic self-control such as we find in Theognis 1028-1036.
§37nl. For komos and its special reference to the sympotic situation, see Levine
§36nl. See Dover 1978.58 for including Theognis 949-962 among the erotica. Ch.7.
 220 / John M. Lewis 8: Eros and the Polls in Theognis Book II / 221
§39. Such at least is the ideal completion of the process I have traced. ing erömenos (1317-1318), and declarations that a philos relationship
In what sort of society is this philos relationship situated? Obviously, no longer exists, sometimes coupled with an assertion of future
that to which the political poems of Book i have introduced us, where enmity (1243-1244, 1245-1246, 1247-1248). Most frequently cited as
there is scarcely a pistos hetairos ‘trusted companion’, where every cause is strayed affection, the appearance of an alios philos ‘other
philos relationship is pregnant with defection and betrayal, where friend’ to whom the erömenos attaches himself. He is usually visual-
concealing one’s thoughts is prudent, and where the deiloi are every- ized as one of the deiloi into whose hands the whole city has fallen
where in the ascendancy. This is a society in which every new friend- (cf. Theognis 53-60, where laoi ... alloi ‘other folk’ are the new
ship brings its risks (note my discussion at §35 of Theognis 1345- elite). The deiloi are said to be led by wild men on the margins of
1350). Consider next the following passage; civilized life (Theognis 53-68), whose ascendancy will destroy the
polis (like Centaurs, cf Theognis 541-542), a hegemony strength-
aùxï, TraiSoç épw áiraXóxpoo?, ôç pe 4>í\.oi,(Tir ened by the formation of philos relationships by defecting erömenoi.*
nâm pÁk' ¿k ^Lv íi k o v k é0ékovro<; éfiov. The hubris of the deiloi may be compared with the appeal of the
rkricronai ov Kpvfjja^ áeKovcri<a> mkká ßiauv erastës, who cites the parallel of Atalanta to his erömenos.
ov yap 67r’ aÍKe\¿o> TraiSi ôapelç é<l>ái’T)v.
Theognis 1341-1344 §41. This account of Theognidean paidophilië has uncovered a com-
Alas, I love a boy with tender skin, who exposes me plex pattern, with a background in a hierarchically ordered cosmos,
to all my philoi, though I am unwilling. where immortal gods nevertheless have interrelations with men. The
I will endure [tlësomai], not hiding the many acts of violence I suffered aristocracy, linked to the gods by philië and divine descent, partici-
against my will. pates only to a limited extent in divine well-being. Yet the boundary
At least I have been revealed [ephanen] as the conquest [darnels] of a not between the aristocracy, the agathoi, and the deiloi is as clear as that \
unseemly boy. between gods and mortals. Eros emerges as an ambiguous god,
working both good and ill in the social sphere. Taming the phrenes of
The erastës in this passage, tamed by eros, yet enduring the acts of men, he incites them to form philos relationships with one another,
violence of his erömenos against him, acts that are in fact the usual making possible through paideiä/paiderastiä the transmission of val-
behavior of ekhthroi, accepts as part of the price exacted from him ues from one generation to the next. The formation of these rela-
by eros the public knowledge of the wrongs done him. Elsewhere too tions follows mythological paradigms, involving first a marginalization
we note the pressure exerted on any philos relationship by the coun- of the boy and then his reincorporation into the community. But Eros
sels of others, for example in 1238a-1240, 1278a-b. One passage, is also a breeder of hubris who puts bonds already formed under
1295-1298, seeks to link the boy’s philie to the powers watching strain. Faithless eros contributes to that confusion of agathoi and
over human social relations. Here the anger of the gods takes ven- deiloi so often complained of in the corpus, and leading to the
geance on violations of the social order such as betrayal of the philos destruction of cities. Eros is responsible, then, not merely for the
relationship (1297). The baxis ‘gossip’ of men is also a check on
fulfillment of an ideal state of affairs, but also its passing away. From
improper behavior, as in any “shame culture.”^ generation to generation, the silent erömenos became in due season
the vocal erastës until the archaic aristocracy, together with its sys-
§40. Despite these powerful sanctions, the philos relationship often
tem of values, gave way before new social forces, necessitating a
comes to an end. The bond is broken, and insofar as it is broken
rather than ended by the maturation of the erömenos, the commu-
nity undergoes loss. The Theognidean corpus explores various re- §40nl. Editors’ note: We may imagine that, in reality, aristocrats (esthloi) com-
sponses to this rupture, including a balancing of the goods and ills of peted for eromenoi, while fickle youths could switch from one erastës to another and
paidophilie (1369-1372), assertions of the joys of freedom from the thus move from one aristocratic faction to another. An ideology where each faction
relationship (1337-1340, 1377-1380), an imprecation on the defect- could claim to be the elite would not only explain life; it could also explain away the
troubling facets of living, in this case by banishing diversity from its field of attention
and by differentiating groups whose claims to traditional authority were only marginally
§39nl. On “shame cultures,” see Dodds 1951.17-18. different.
222 / John M. Lewis
reconceptualization of eros in human life. The social significance of
paiderastia underwent change, as indicated by Aristophanic comedy.*
9
In the dialogues of Plato, with their subtle mocking of aristocratic Pistos Philos Hetairos
pretensions, and in the erotic epigrams of the twelfth book of the
Anthology, the outlines of a new social range for pederasty can be
discerned. Walter Donlan
§41nl. In general see Vetta’s cautious approach to the problem of double en-
tendre in the Theognidea. The position taken in this chapter is consistent with Vetta’s
cautions. Having demonstrated that the Theognidean paideiä/paiderastiä is fully inte- §1. In the earliest example of archaic poetry, the Homeric epics, the
grated into the central values of aristocratic society, he goes on to suggest that, during ties that bind men in friendship appear as strong and inviolable. It is
the sixth century, these values were losing their position of centrality. This process of taken for granted that friends (philoi) and companions (hetairoi) are
devaluation would lead in time to marginalization of the once central values, hence to loyal and trustworthy.*
their subjection to ridicule (a common tactic for peripheralizing certain forms of behav-
ior, as observed in Aristophanes).
§2. At a critical point in the Iliad, the Embassy of Book ix, Achilles
comes close to betrayal of his philoi by refusing to help them when
they seek his aid. Ajax (the exemplar of the loyal comrade) com-
plains that Achilles
... bùSè /juerarpérnTai, </>i X.o t t )t o ç iraipíav
P PA.V vapà vT)vaìv èrLopÆP e^oxov â\k(ov.
Iliad IX 630-631
... has no regard for the friendship [philotes] of his hetairoi,
with which we honored [= verb ti5] him by the ships far above all the
others.
This is unusual behavior and is considered such. In the normalizing
tale of Meleager, related by Phoenix to “all my philoi” (Iliad ix 528),
not even Meleager’s hetairoi, who were ‘truest and dearest [kednota-
toi kai philtatoi] of all’ (586), were able to persuade him. As Gregory
Nagy points out, however, his hetairoi are second only to Meleager’s
wife in the ranking of affinities—above mother, sisters, father, priests,
elders. In fact, eventually, it is the death of Patroklos, polu philtatos
hetairos ‘the most philos hetairos by far’ (Iliad xvii 411, 655), that
§lnl. E.g., pistos hetairos: Iliad xv 331, 437; xvi 174; xvii 500, 557, 589;
xviii 235, 460; Odyssey xv 539. The much more common epithet of hetairos is eriëros
(heteroclitic plural eriëres), which is used exclusively of hetairos in the Iliad, and
always in the Odyssey, except in three instances where it is an epithet of aoidos ‘singer,
poet’. Eriëros is apparently derived from arariskô ‘join, attach’ and may be glossed as
‘strongly attached’. N.B.: some of the more prominent Greek words discussed in this
chapter will at times be cited without a gloss. All such words, however, can be found in
the Glossary at the end of this volume.