Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 555b · 555b
Come now, Erato
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Athenaeus, to Timocrates — ( ἐγένοντο γὰρ καὶ περὶ γαμετῶν καὶ ἑταιρῶν πολλάκις λόγοι) εἰδόσιν ἐκτιθέμενοι τὴν ἱστορίαν τῶν Μουσῶν τὴν Ἐρατὼ ἐπικαλεσάμενοι εἰς μνήμην ἡμῖν ἰέναι τὸν ἐρωτικὸν ἐκεῖνον κατάλογον, ἐντεῦθεν τὴν καταρχὴν ποιησόμεθα· εἰ δ’ ἄγε νῦν, Ἐρατώ, πάρ θ’ ἵστασο καί μοι ἔνισπε, τίνες λόγοι περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἔρωτος καὶ τῶν ἐρωτικῶν ἐλέχθησαν. καὶ γὰρ τὰς γαμετὰς ὁ καλὸς ἡμῶν ἑστιάτωρ
(For there was often talk about wives and courtesans too.) Setting out the account for readers who know it, and calling on Erato among the Muses to bring that famous catalogue of love back into our memory, we will make our start from here: “Come now, Erato, stand beside me and tell me” what was said about love itself and the things of love. For as to wives, our fine host…
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The setting
Athenaeus calls on Erato, the Muse of love poetry, with a line borrowed from the start of the third book of Apollonius' Argonautica, the book where Medea falls in love.
A note on this passage
The invocation is borrowed. Apollonius of Rhodes opened the third book of his Argonautica, the book in which Medea falls for Jason, with this same line to Erato, and Athenaeus lifts it whole. A learned reader would catch the source at once, and the borrowing sets the tone for a dinner where every guest quotes.<br><br>The parenthesis matters too. Athenaeus says the talk was about wives and courtesans, and the book keeps both in view. It moves from marriage to the famous courtesans of Athens and Corinth, and from there to the love of men for boys.
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