Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 601e · 601e
Melting like wax
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Pindar, quoted by Myrtilus — φορεῖται πᾶσαν ὁδὸν θεραπεύων. ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ τᾶσδ’ ἕκατι κηρὸς ὣς δαχθεὶς ἕλᾳ— ἱρᾶν μελισσᾶν τήκομαι, εὖτ’ ἂν ἴδω παίδων νεόγυιον ἐς ἥβαν. ἐν δ’ ἄρα καὶ Τενέδῳ Πειθώ τ’ ἔναιεν καὶ Χάρις υἱὸν Ἀγησιλάου.
Myrtilus — ὅλως δὲ τοὺς παιδικοὺς ἔρωτας τῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς θηλείαις προκρίνουσι πολλοί. παρὰ γὰρ τὰς ἄλλας ταῖς εὐνομουμέναις πόλεσιν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος σπουδασθῆναι τόδε τὸ ἔθος. Κρῆτες γοῦν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ οἱ ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ Χαλκιδεῖς περὶ τὰ παιδικὰ δαιμονίως ἐπτόηνται. Ἐχεμένης γοῦν ἐν τοῖς Κρητικοῖς
…serving her. But I, because of her, melt like the wax of holy bees bitten by the sun's heat, whenever I look at the fresh-limbed youth of boys. And so in Tenedos too Persuasion and Grace dwelt in the son of Hagesilas.” In general, many prefer the love of boys to the love of women. For this custom was taken seriously by the well-governed cities of Greece, more than by the others. The Cretans, at any rate, as I said, and the Chalcidians in Euboea are madly excited about boys. Echemenes, at any rate, in his Cretan History…
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The setting
Pindar's poem ends. Myrtilus then claims that the well-run cities of Greece took the love of boys most seriously, and names the Cretans and the Chalcidians of Euboea.
A note on this passage
The wax image is Pindar's own: Aphrodite works on him as the sun works on a honeycomb. The son of Hagesilas is Theoxenus, and the closing line puts two goddesses inside him, Persuasion and Grace.<br><br>Myrtilus' next claim is a strong one: the love of boys belonged to the orderly cities, not the lawless ones. Crete was famous for its laws, said to go back to Minos, and that is where his evidence goes first.
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