Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 601b · 601b
The boy-lover play
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Myrtilus — τοὺς ἔρωτας, ὃ μὲν τὸν Ἀχιλλέως πρὸς Πάτροκλον, ὃ δ’ ἐν τῇ Νιόβῃ τὸν τῶν παίδων· διὸ καὶ παιδεράστριάν τινες καλοῦσι τὴν τραγῳδίαν· καὶ ἐδέχοντο τὰ τοιαῦτα ᾄσματα οἱ θεαταί. καὶ ὁ Ῥηγῖνος δὲ Ἴβυκος βοᾷ καὶ κέκραγεν·
Ibycus, quoted by Myrtilus — ἦρι μὲν αἵ τε Κυδώνιαι μηλίδες ἀρδόμεναι ῥοὰν ἐκ ποταμῶν, ἵνα παρθένων κῆπος ἀκήρατος, αἵ τ’ οἰνανθίδες αὐξόμεναι σκιεροῖσιν ὑφ’ ἕρνεσιν οἰναρέοις θαλέθοισιν· ἐμοὶ δ’ ἔρος οὐδεμίαν κατακητος ὥραν, ἅθ’ ὑπὸ στεροπᾶς φλέγων
…the loves: the one, that of Achilles for Patroclus; the other, in his Niobe, that of the sons. So some even call that tragedy “the boy-lover”, and the audiences welcomed such songs. And Ibycus of Rhegium too cries out and shouts aloud: “In spring the Cydonian quince trees, watered by streams from the rivers where the maidens' garden is untouched, and the vine blossoms growing under the shady shoots of the vine, flourish; but for me love lies at rest in no season, but like the Thracian north wind blazing with lightning…
Word by word
The setting
Aeschylus' Myrmidons showed Achilles' love for Patroclus; Sophocles' Niobe, now lost, dealt with the love of Niobe's sons. Then Ibycus of Rhegium, a lyric poet of the 6th century BC, sets love against the spring.
A note on this passage
The nickname is a joke with a point. Sophocles' Niobe put the loves of Niobe's sons on stage, so some people called the play itself a woman who loves boys. Both plays are lost; Athenaeus is one of the places their loves are remembered.<br><br>Ibycus' poem begins in an orchard. Everything in it has its season: the quinces and the vines grow and flower when spring comes. His love keeps no season at all. The comparison he reaches for in the next line is a storm.
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