From the Deipnosophists.
I DO not think that any of you are ignorant, my friends, that the greatest wars have taken place on account of women:the Trojan War on account of Helen; the plague which took place in it was on account of Chryseis; the anger of Achilles was excited about Briseis; and the war called the Sacred War, on account of another wife (as Duris relates in the second book of his History), who was a Theban by birth, by name Theano, and who was carried off by some Phocian. And this war also lasted ten years, and in the tenth year was brought to an end by the co-operation of Philip; for by his aid the Thebans took Phocis.
The war, also, which is called the Crissæan War (as Callisthenes tells us in his account of the Sacred War), when the Crissæans made war upon the Phocians, lasted ten years; and it was excited on this account,because the Crissæans carried off Megisto, the daughter of Pelagon the Phocian, and the daughters of the Argives, as they were returning from the Pythian temple; and in the tenth year Crissa was taken. And whole families also have been ruined owing to women;for instance, that of Philip, the father of Alexander, was ruined on account of his marriage with Cleopatra; and Hercules was ruined by his marriage with Iole, the daughter of Eurytus; and Theseus on account of his marriage with Phaedra, the daughter of Minos; and Athamas on account of his marriage with Themisto, the daughter of Hypseus; and Jason on account of his marriage with Glauce, the daughter of Creon; and Agamemnon on account of Cassandra. And the expedition of Cambyses against Egypt (as Ctesias relates) took place on account of a woman; for Cambyses, having heard that Egyptian women were far more attractive than other women, sent to Amasis, the king of the Egyptians, asking for one of his daughters in marriage. But he did not give him one of his own daughters, thinking that she would not be honored as a wife, but only treated as a mistress; but he sent him Nitetis, the daughter of Apries. 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, learned the whole circumstance 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.
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 Wisdoms 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 neer 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 neer to flee from Love, | |
But welcome him, and willing subjects prove. |
Let it be my fate always to love, | |
And to obey Loves will in proper season. |
But you, O mighty Love, of gods and men | |
The sovereign ruler, either bid whats fair | |
To seem no longer fair; or else bring aid | |
To hapless lovers whom youve caused to love, | |
And aid the labors you yourself have prompted. | |
If you do this, the gods will honor you; | |
But if you keep aloof, you will not even | |
Retain the gratitude which now they feel | |
For having learnt of you the way to love. |
I am a great admirer of beauty myself. For in the contests (at Athens) for the prize of manliness, they select the handsomest and give them the post of honor to bear the sacred vessels at the festivals of the gods. And at Elis there is a contest as to beauty, and the conqueror has the vessels of the goddess given to him to carry; and the next handsomest has the ox to lead; and the third places the sacrificial cakes on the head of the victim. But Heraclides Lembus relates that in Sparta the handsomest man and the handsomest woman have special honors conferred on them; and Sparta is famous for producing the handsomest women in the world. On which account they tell a story of King Archidamus, that when one wife was offered to him who was very handsome, and another who was ugly but rich, and he chose the rich one, the ephori imposed a fine upon him, saying that he preferred begetting kinglings rather than kings for Spartans. And Euripides has said
Her very mien is worthy of a kingdom. |
They cried, No wonder such celestial charms | |
For nine long years have set the world in arms; | |
What winning graces! what majestic mien! | |
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen. |