Sophocles, Euripides, and Maybe Also STD’s

Athenaeus, 13.82, 604d:

“Hieronymus of Rhodes says, in his Historical Recollections, that Sophocles once led a handsome youth outside the city-walls so that he could have his way with him. The boy laid out his own cloak on the grass, and they put Sophocles’ coat on top of themselves. After this bit of mingling, the boy took Sophocles’ cloak and departed, leaving his own cloak with Sophocles. As often happens in these matters, the story got around. Euripides heard about it, and joked about the matter, saying that he too had enjoyed this same boy, but that he had not left anything behind, further adding that Sophocles had been scorned because of his intemperance. Sophocles, upon hearing this, wrote the following epigram, in which he employs the story of the Sun and Boreas, adding by the way a little innuendo about Euripides’ own scandalous affairs:

‘It was the sun, Euripides, not the boy, who made me
Bereft of all my clothes. When you were making love with a prostitute,
It was Boreas who came upon you. You are certainly not wise, since you
Carry off a thief while you sow another’s field of Love.'”

καὶ ῾Ιερώνυμος δ’ ὁ ῾Ρόδιος ἐν τοῖς ῾Ιστορικοῖς ῾Υπομνήμασίν φησιν (fr. 7 Hi) ὅτι Σοφοκλῆς εὐπρεπῆ παῖδα ἔξω τείχους ἀπήγαγε χρησόμενος αὐτῷ. ὁ μὲν οὖν παῖς τὸ ἴδιον ἱμάτιον ἐπὶ τῇ πόᾳ ὑπέστρωσεν, τὴν δὲ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους χλανίδα περιεβάλοντο. μετ’ οὖν τὴν ὁμιλίαν ὁ παῖς ἁρπάσας τὸ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους χλανίδιον ᾤχετο, καταλιπὼν τῷ Σοφοκλεῖ τὸ παιδικὸν ἱμάτιον. οἷα δὲ εἰκὸς διαλαληθέντος τοῦ συμβεβηκότος Εὐριπίδης πυθόμενος καὶ ἐπιτωθάζων τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ αὐτός ποτε ἔφη τούτῳ κεχρῆσθαι τῷ παιδί, ἀλλὰ μηδὲν προσθεῖναι, τὸν δὲ Σοφοκλέα διὰ τὴν ἀκολασίαν καταφρονηθῆναι. καὶ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς ἀκούσας ἐποίησεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπίγραμμα, χρησάμενος τῷ περὶ τοῦ ῾Ηλίου καὶ Βορέου λόγῳ, καί τι πρὸς μοιχείαν αὐτοῦ παραινιττόμενος·

῞Ηλιος ἦν, οὐ παῖς, Εὐριπίδη, ὅς με χλιαίνων
γυμνὸν ἐποίησεν· σοὶ δὲ φιλοῦντι ἑταίραν
Βορρᾶς ὡμίλησε. σὺ δ’ οὐ σοφός, ὃς τὸν ῎Ερωτα
ἀλλοτρίαν σπείρων λωποδύτην ἀπάγεις.

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