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Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) 604f · 604f

The Sun and the North Wind

Myrtilus, citing Hieronymus of Rhodes — καὶ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς ἀκούσας ἐποίησεν εἰς αὐτὸν τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐπίγραμμα, χρησάμενος τῷ περὶ τοῦ Ἡλίου καὶ Βορέου λόγῳ, καί τι πρὸς μοιχείαν αὐτοῦ παραινιττόμενος·
Sophocles' epigram — Ἥλιος ἦν, οὐ παῖς, Εὐριπίδη, ὅς με χλιαίνων γυμνὸν ἐποίησεν· σοὶ δὲ φιλοῦντι ἑταίραν Βορρᾶς ὡμίλησε. σὺ δ’ οὐ σοφός, ὃς τὸν Ἔρωτα ἀλλοτρίαν σπείρων λωποδύτην ἀπάγεις.
Myrtilus — Θεόπομπος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν συληθέντων ἐκ

When Sophocles heard this, he wrote the following epigram against him, using the fable of the Sun and the North Wind and hinting at Euripides' adultery: “It was the Sun, not a boy, Euripides, who warmed me and stripped me naked. But when you kissed a mistress, the North Wind kept you company. You are not wise: you sow another man's field, and then haul Love off to court as a clothes-thief.” Theopompus, in his book on the treasures plundered from…

Word by word

Myrtilus, citing Hieronymus of Rhodes

καὶkaìandὁho—ΣοφοκλῆςSophoklêsSophoclesἀκούσαςakoúsasheard thisἐποίησενepoíēsenwroteεἰςeisagainstαὐτὸνautònhimτὸtòtheτοιοῦτονtoioûtonfollowingἐπίγραμμαepígrammaepigram,χρησάμενοςchrēsámenosusingτῷtôitheπερὶperìaboutτοῦtoûtheἩλίουHēlíouSunκαὶkaìandΒορέουBoréouNorth Windλόγῳlógōifable,καίkaíandτιtisomethingπρὸςpròsatμοιχείανmoicheíanadulteryαὐτοῦautoûhisπαραινιττόμενοςparainittómenoshinting·

Sophocles' epigram

ἭλιοςHḗliosthe Sunἦνênit was,οὐounotπαῖςpaîsa boy,ΕὐριπίδηEuripídēEuripides,ὅςhóswhoμεmemeχλιαίνωνchliaínōnwith his warmthγυμνὸνgymnònnakedἐποίησενepoíēsenstripped·σοὶsoìyouδὲdèbutφιλοῦντιphiloûntiwhile kissingἑταίρανhetaírana mistressΒορρᾶςBorrâsthe North Windὡμίλησεhōmílēsekept company with.σὺsỳyouδ’d’—οὐounotσοφόςsophóswise,ὃςhòsyou whoτὸνtòn—ἜρωταÉrōtaLoveἀλλοτρίανallotríananother man's fieldσπείρωνspeírōnsowingλωποδύτηνlōpodýtēnas a clothes-thiefἀπάγειςapágeishaul off.

Myrtilus

ΘεόπομποςTheópomposTheopompusδὲdè—ἐνeninτῷtôihis bookπερὶperìonτῶνtôntheσυληθέντωνsylēthéntōnplunderedἐκekfrom

Euripides, the target of the epigram — Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters (Deipnosophistae) — Euripides, the target of the epigram · Roman marble copy of a Greek portrait · Vatican Museums, Museo Pio-Clementino (inv. 302) · public domain (photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Wikimedia Commons)

The setting

Sophocles' reply to Euripides, as Hieronymus tells it: an epigram built on Aesop's fable of the Sun and the North Wind. Grapevine: whether Sophocles wrote it is doubtful.

A note on this passage

Everyone at the table would know the fable. The North Wind and the Sun bet on which can strip a traveller of his cloak. The Wind only makes him clutch it tighter; the Sun's warmth makes him take it off himself. Sophocles, in this poem, lost his cloak to the Sun's warmth, not to the boy.<br><br>Many scholars doubt Sophocles wrote it. It reads like the kind of verse later writers composed for famous men, and it arrives through a gossip collection two centuries after the event. Athenaeus does not care who wrote it, and Myrtilus moves straight on to the next lover.

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