Part 13 (2/2)
Soon after her first appearance, Lais was talked of, was celebrated, was deified, in all h.e.l.lenic lands. It was considered good fortune, as a Greek poet expressed it, that Lais, the most beautiful of her s.e.x, adopted the hetaera life; for were she not accessible to all, there would have been in Greece a conflict comparable only to that over Argive Helen.
The reputation of her beauty occasioned in a short time a formidable immigration to Corinth of the most wealthy and distinguished men, partly to enjoy her favor, partly to gaze in wonder at her charms, and partly to study this paragon of female beauty for imitation in works of art.
From the homage that she received, and especially the wealth that was poured at her feet by her lovers, she was soon rendered so proud and selfish that she secluded herself from all except the richest. Her proud heart, however, was not entirely closed to emotions of love. She took a fancy to the Cynic philosopher Diogenes, in spite of his filth and brusqueness; and aelian tells the story of her inclination for a young athlete, Eubatas of Cyrene, who had come to Corinth for the games, leaving behind a most beautiful and beloved wife. ”When Lais became acquainted with Eubatas of Cyrene,” says aelian, ”she was so enamored of him that she made a proposal of marriage. In order not to bring down on himself the vengeance of the powerful hetaera, he became betrothed to her, but yet continued to live a continent life. At the conclusion of the games, he had to fulfil his promise. But after he had been declared victor, in order to avoid the appearance of breaking faith with the courtesan, he had a picture of Lais painted, and took it with him to Cyrene, affirming that he had not broken his promise, but had brought Lais home with him. As a reward for his fidelity, his virtuous wife in Cyrene had a statue erected in his honor.”
Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, tried in vain to win the love of this beautiful hetaera, though, of all her lovers, he pa.s.sed the most time in her society, and on her lavished considerable sums of money.
Lais gained much knowledge from intercourse with this learned philosopher, so that she ranked not only as the most beautiful, but also as one of the most brilliant women of her time. She allied herself with the Cyrenaic school, whose system of philosophy appealed to her much more naturally than did the gross system of her favorite, Diogenes, who on his side sought in every way to win the celebrated beauty to Cynicism. Lais had nothing but contempt, however, for the moral claims of philosophy. ”I do not understand,” she said, ”what is meant by the austerity of philosophers; for they of this fine name are as much in my power as the rest of the citizens.”
The charms of Lais, though so unapproachable in their bloom, yet proved transient, and pitiable was the metamorphosis which the brilliancy of the famous beauty underwent with their fading. Wealthy admirers became fewer and fewer, and finally they ceased to appear, and with them her resources failed. The once proud beauty became the plaything of every man. She sought to drown her sorrow in the wine cup--a practice altogether too common among Greek women of disreputable life. At this sad period of her career, Lais dedicated her mirror, as being an unpleasant reminder of her lost beauty, to the G.o.ddess to whose service she had devoted her life. In her later years, she followed the vile trade of a procuress.
After her death, the Corinthians remembered what a reputation it had given their city to be the abiding place of so famous a woman, and they erected to her a mausoleum at Craneion, a cypress grove near the city, on which a lioness tearing a kid in pieces symbolized the rapacity of the deceased hetaera.
Lais the Younger was a contemporary of the orator Demosthenes and the painter Apelles, and flourished nearly a century after her more celebrated namesake. She too lived at Corinth, and was famous for her beauty and her a.s.sociation with distinguished men. She was born out of wedlock, and the names of both her father and mother are unknown. As she grew up, a waif in the dissolute city, Apelles, the celebrated painter, is said to have been the first to have noticed her budding beauty and to have educated her. According to the prevailing tradition, Apelles saw her when, as a young girl, she was drawing water from the fountain Pirene, and was at once so captivated by her beauty that he took her with him to a banquet whither he was going. When his friends jestingly reproached him because, instead of bringing a hetaera, as was usual, he had brought a child to the feast, he rejoined: ”Be not surprised. I will show her again to you before three years have pa.s.sed; you can then see how beautiful and vivacious she has become.”
Before this period had pa.s.sed, Lais became the most celebrated hetaera of the city. Her name was on everyone's lips, in the baths, in the theatres, and on the streets and public squares. Her fame spread throughout h.e.l.las, and the richest men of h.e.l.las flocked to Corinth.
She was surpa.s.sed in the number and prominence of her lovers only by her contemporary, Phryne of Athens.
When at the height of her triumph, this celebrated and petted hetaera, ”who inflamed all h.e.l.las with love, and for whose favors two seas contended,” suddenly disappeared from the scene of her conquests. A Thessalian, by name Hippolochus, had taught her the meaning of true love. She fled with him from the company of her other lovers, and lived in honorable marriage in Thessaly. Her beauty, however, caused a sad ending to this pleasing romance. From envy and jealousy, the Thessalian women enticed her into the temple of Aphrodite and there stoned her to death. Some historians relate that she had many Thessalian lovers; this aroused the jealousy of the women, and they took her life at a festival of Aphrodite at which no men were present. After her murder, a pestilence is said to have broken out in Thessaly, which did not end until in expiation a temple had been erected to Aphrodite.
Phryne was the most beautiful woman of all antiquity. She was born at Thespiae in Boeotia, but flourished at Athens toward the latter part of the fourth century before our era. The name Phryne belongs essentially to the history of Greek art, for all her life was a.s.sociated with the activities of the most eminent painters and sculptors. In her youth she was loved by the sculptor Praxiteles. Pausanias tells a story how ”once when Phryne asked for the most beautiful of his works, Praxiteles, lover-like, promised to give it to her, but would not tell which he thought the most beautiful. So a servant of Phryne ran in, declaring that the sculptor's studio had caught fire, and that most, but not all, of his works had perished. Praxiteles at once ran for the door, protesting that all his labor was lost if the flames had reached the _Satyr_ and the _Love_. But Phryne bade him stay and be of good cheer, telling him that he had suffered no loss, but had only been entrapped into saying which were the most beautiful of his works. So she chose the _Love_.”
Either this or a similar statue of Eros was dedicated by Phryne in Thespiae, the city of her birth. Later, Praxiteles made of her a statue of gold, which was set up at Delphi between those of two kings. She also served as his model for the celebrated Aphrodite of Cnidos, which Pliny describes as ”the finest statue, not only by Praxiteles, but in the whole world.” The inhabitants of Cnidos placed the image, which they believed had been made under the direct inspiration of the G.o.ddess of love herself, in a beautiful shrine surrounded by myrtle trees, so arranged that the figure might be seen from many different points of view; ”and from all sides,” adds Pliny, ”it was equally admired.” Hither came Greeks from all parts of the world merely to behold the statue and to wors.h.i.+p at the shrine of the G.o.ddess. King Nicomedes of Bithynia, in his eagerness to possess the statue, offered to pay for it the whole public debt of the island, which was enormous; but the Cnidians preferred to suffer anything rather than give up their treasure; and with good reason, ”for by that statue Praxiteles made Cnidos famous.”
Writers of epigrams were fond of extolling the statue; and many of the extant statues of Venus are but replicas or adaptations of this great prototype, modelled after the form of Phryne. The most celebrated copy of the Cnidian statue is in the Vatican, disfigured, however, by false drapery. The statue gives us some idea of the superlative beauty of Phryne. It is very pure, very unconscious of its charms, and captivates the beholder by its simple grace and naturalness. Lucian, the aesthetic critic, in the construction of his ideal statue selected for description the head of the Aphrodite of Cnidos. He particularly admired the finely pencilled telling him that he had suffered no loss, but had only been entrapped into saying which were the most beautiful of his works. So she chose the _Love_.”
Either this or a similar statue of Eros was dedicated by Phryne in Thespiae, the city of her birth. Later, Praxiteles made of her a statue of gold, which was set up at Delphi between those of two kings. She also served as his model for the celebrated Aphrodite of Cnidos, which Pliny describes as ”the finest statue, not only by Praxiteles, but in the whole world.” The inhabitants of Cnidos placed the image, which they believed had been made under the direct inspiration of the G.o.ddess of love herself, in a beautiful shrine surrounded by myrtle trees, so arranged that the figure might be seen from many different points of view; ”and from all sides,” adds Pliny, ”it was equally admired.” Hither came Greeks from all parts of the world merely to behold the statue and to wors.h.i.+p at the shrine of the G.o.ddess. King Nicomedes of Bithynia, in his eagerness to possess the statue, offered to pay for it the whole public debt of the island, which was enormous; but the Cnidians preferred to suffer anything rather than give up their treasure; and with good reason, ”for by that statue Praxiteles made Cnidos famous.”
Writers of epigrams were fond of extolling the statue; and many of the extant statues of Venus are but replicas or adaptations of this great prototype, modelled after the form of Phryne. The most celebrated copy of the Cnidian statue is in the Vatican, disfigured, however, by false drapery. The statue gives us some idea of the superlative beauty of Phryne. It is very pure, very unconscious of its charms, and captivates the beholder by its simple grace and naturalness. Lucian, the aesthetic critic, in the construction of his ideal statue selected for description the head of the Aphrodite of Cnidos. He particularly admired the finely pencilled eyebrows and the melting gaze of the eyes, with their sweet, joyous expression.
Phryne, with a modesty one would not expect in a woman of her cla.s.s, was very careful to keep her beautiful figure concealed, avoiding the public baths and having her body always enveloped in a long and graceful tunic.
But on two occasions the beauty-loving Greeks had displayed to them the charms of her person. The first was at the solemn a.s.sembly at Eleusis, on the feast of the Poseidonia. Having loosened her beautiful hair and let fall her drapery, Phryne plunged into the sea in the sight of all the a.s.sembled Greeks. Apelles, the painter, transported with admiration at the sight, retired at once to his studio and transferred to canvas the mental image which was indelibly impressed upon his fancy; and the resulting picture was the _Aphrodite Anadyomene_, the most celebrated of his paintings.
The second exhibition was before the austere court of the Heliasts.
Phryne had been cited to appear before the tribunal on the charge of profaning the Eleusinian mysteries, and Hyperides, the brilliant young orator, was her advocate. Failing to move the judges by his arguments, he tore the tunic from her bosom and revealed to them the perfection of her figure. The judges, beholding as it were the G.o.ddess of love incarnate, and moved by a superst.i.tious fear, could not dare to condemn to death ”a prophetess and priestess of Aphrodite.” They saw and they pardoned, and, amid the applause of the people, Phryne was carried in triumph to the temple of Aphrodite. To us in this day such a scene appears highly theatrical, but Aphrodite is no longer esteemed among men, and the Greek wors.h.i.+p of beauty is something not understood in this material age.
Phryne's life was by no means free from blame, and as the result of her popularity she acquired great riches. She is said to have offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, which had been torn down by Alexander, on condition that she might place on them the inscription: _Alexander destroyed Thebes; but Phryne, the hetaera, rebuilt it;_ but the offer was rejected, showing that though the times were corrupt, yet shame had not altogether departed from men.
One cannot emphasize in too trenchant terms the demoralizing influences of hetairism on the social life of the Greeks, or fail to see in the gross immorality of the s.e.xes one of the paramount causes of the downfall of the Greek peoples.
Yet it is a truism that feminine shamelessness was most advantageous for the arts of sculpture and painting. Sensuousness is close akin to sensuality, and from their pa.s.sion for these ”priestesses of Aphrodite”
the Greek artists, without doubt, derived much of their inspiration, while the opportunities which hetairism offered for the study of the female form enabled Praxiteles and his contemporaries and successors to produce masterpieces which equalled in idealism the works of aesthetic art produced in the preceding century.
To become the ideal for the painter and the sculptor was the greatest ambition of the beautiful and cultivated hetaera. In permitting the artist to portray her charms she not only performed a lasting service for art, but she also rendered herself celebrated and immortal. The fame of her beauty was spread throughout all h.e.l.lenic lands, and the national devotion to the G.o.ddess Aphrodite was at once extended to her earthly counterpart. If she united intellectual brilliancy with beauty, fortune at once cast its most precious gifts at her feet. The most celebrated men of every city contested for her favors, poets made her the theme of their verses, artists portrayed her charms with chisel and with brush, and the wealthy filled her coffers with gold and precious stones.
XI
THE WOMAN QUESTION IN ANCIENT ATHENS
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