Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 604c · 604c
The speck in the cup
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Ion of Chios — λόγῳ εἴχετο. εἴρετο γάρ μιν ἀπὸ τῆς κύλικος κάρφος τῷ μικρῷ δακτύλῳ ἀφαιρετέοντα, εἰ καθορᾷ τὸ κάρφος. φάντος δὲ καθορᾶν
Sophocles — ‘ ἄπο τοίνυν φύσησον αὐτό, ἵνα μὴ πλύνοιτο ὁ δάκτυλός σευ.’
Ion of Chios — προσαγαγόντος δ’ αὐτοῦ τὸ πρόσωπον πρὸς τὴν κύλικα ἐγγυτέρω τὴν κύλικα τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ στόματος ἦγεν, ἵνα δὴ ἡ κεφαλὴ τῇ κεφαλῇ ἀσσοτέρα γένηται. ὡς δ’ ἦν οἱ κάρτα πλησίον, περιλαβὼν τῇ χειρὶ ἐφίλησεν. ἐπικροτησάντων δὲ πάντων σὺν γέλωτι καὶ βοῇ ὡς εὖ ὑπηγάγετο τὸν
…kept talking to the boy. As the boy was picking a speck out of the cup with his little finger, Sophocles asked whether he could see it. When he said he could: “Then blow it away, so your finger doesn't get wet.” As the boy brought his face to the cup, Sophocles drew the cup nearer his own mouth, so that, of course, head would come nearer to head. When the boy was very close, he put his arm around him and kissed him. Everyone applauded, with laughter and shouts, at how neatly he had drawn the…
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The setting
Ion of Chios goes on with the dinner. Sophocles has won the argument with the schoolmaster and goes back to the wine-boy. Grapevine: Ion was there.
A note on this passage
The scene is staged like a small comedy, and Ion tells it as one. Every move is a pretext: the speck, the finger that must not get wet, the cup drawn closer. The little word <i>δή</i>, “of course,” is Ion's wink to the reader.<br><br>The guests' reaction is the historical point. A celebrated poet and general kisses the host's wine-boy at a public dinner, and the room applauds his skill. Whatever we make of it, the men at that table did not treat it as a scandal, and Ion records nothing of what the boy thought.
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