Μάγνης

Magnes

Translated by David Whitehead8 May 2008Vetting: high6 revisions

6 notes · 172 words
[Magnes], a man from Smyrna,1 beautiful in appearance -- none more so -- and expert in both poetry and music; he also kept his body appropriately adorned, clothed in purple and wearing his hair piled-up in a gold band;2 and he used to go around the cities displaying his poetry. Many others were enamoured of him, but Gyges in particular3 was on fire for him and kept him as a boy-friend. But it drove all the women wild, where Magnes was, especially those of the Magnesians,4 and he was intimate with them. Their5 relatives were vexed at the shame, and making a pretence that in his poems Magnes had sung of the bravery of Lydians in a cavalry-battle against Amazons,6 while saying nothing of them, they grasped and tore off his clothing and cut off his hair and applied every [possible] humiliation. Gyges was very angry about this: he made frequent invasions into the Magnesians' territory, and in the end took their city; and on returning to Sardis he created magnificent festivals.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Μάγνης, ἀνὴρ Σμυρναῖος, καλὸς τὴν ἰδέαν, εἴ τις καὶ ἄλλος, ποιήσει τε καὶ μουσικῇ δόκιμος· ἤσκητο δὲ καὶ τὸ σῶμα διαπρεπεῖ κόσμῳ, ἁλουργῆ ἀμπεχόμενος καὶ κόμην τρέφων χρυσῷ στρόφῳ κεκορυμβωμένην· περιῄει τε τὰς πόλεις ἐπιδεικνύμενος τὴν ποίησιν. τούτου δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι μὲν πολλοὶ ἤρων, Γύγης δὲ καὶ μᾶλλόν τι ἐφλέγετο καὶ αὐτὸν εἶχε παιδικά. γυναῖκάς γε μὴν πάσας ἐξέμηνεν, ἔνθα ἐγένετο ὁ Μάγνης, μάλιστα δὲ τὰς Μαγνητῶν, καὶ συνῆν αὐταῖς. οἱ δὲ τούτου συγγενεῖς ἀχθόμενοι ἐπὶ τῇ αἰσχύνῃ, πρόφασιν ποιησάμενοι ὅτι ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν ᾖσεν ὁ Μάγνης Λυδῶν ἀριστείαν ἐν ἱππομαχίᾳ πρὸς Ἀμαζόνας, αὐτῶν δὲ οὐδὲν ἐμνήσθη, ἐπαΐξαντες περικατέρρηξαν τε τὴν ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὰς κόμας ἐξέκειραν καὶ πᾶσαν λώβην προσέθεσαν. ἐφ' οἷς ἤλγησε μάλιστα Γύγης καὶ πολλάκις μὲν εἰς τὴν Μαγνητῶν γῆν ἐνέβαλε, τέλος δὲ καὶ χειροῦται τὴν πόλιν· ἐπανελθὼν δὲ ἐς Σάρδεις πανηγύρεις ἐποιήσατο μεγαλοπρεπεῖς.

Betacode
*ma/gnhs, a)nh\r *smurnai=os, kalo\s th\n i)de/an, ei)/ tis kai\ a)/llos, poih/sei te kai\ mousikh=| do/kimos: h)/skhto de\ kai\ to\ sw=ma diaprepei= ko/smw|, a(lourgh= a)mpexo/menos kai\ ko/mhn tre/fwn xrusw=| stro/fw| kekorumbwme/nhn: perih/|ei te ta\s po/leis e)pideiknu/menos th\n poi/hsin. tou/tou de\ kai\ a)/lloi me\n polloi\ h)/rwn, *gu/ghs de\ kai\ ma=llo/n ti e)fle/geto kai\ au)to\n ei)=xe paidika/. gunai=ka/s ge mh\n pa/sas e)ce/mhnen, e)/nqa e)ge/neto o( *ma/gnhs, ma/lista de\ ta\s *magnhtw=n, kai\ sunh=n au)tai=s. oi( de\ tou/tou suggenei=s a)xqo/menoi e)pi\ th=| ai)sxu/nh|, pro/fasin poihsa/menoi o(/ti e)n toi=s e)/pesin h)=|sen o( *ma/gnhs *ludw=n a)ristei/an e)n i(ppomaxi/a| pro\s *)amazo/nas, au)tw=n de\ ou)de\n e)mnh/sqh, e)pai/+cantes perikate/rrhcan te th\n e)sqh=ta kai\ ta\s ko/mas e)ce/keiran kai\ pa=san lw/bhn prose/qesan. e)f' oi(=s h)/lghse ma/lista *gu/ghs kai\ polla/kis me\n ei)s th\n *magnhtw=n gh=n e)ne/bale, te/los de\ kai\ xeirou=tai th\n po/lin: e)panelqw\n de\ e)s *sa/rdeis panhgu/reis e)poih/sato megaloprepei=s.

Notes (6)

  1. Nicolaus of Damascus FGrH 90 F62.
  2. 1On the coast of Asia Minor; present-day Izmir. ↩
  3. 2cf. kappa 2124, sigma 1221. ↩
  4. 3For Gyges, king of Lydia, see gamma 472. ↩
  5. 4There were several cities called Magnesia (mu 22, cf. mu 24); the one in this anecdote is presumably Magnesia-ad-Sipylum, not far from Smyrna. ↩
  6. 5Adler prints tou/tou ('his'), without comment; Jacoby was surely right to prefer tou/twn, from some of the mss of Nicolaus. ↩
  7. 6On Amazons cf. e.g. alpha 1465, theta 368, omicron 659, and see generally Ken Dowden in OCD(4) s.v. ↩

Linked from2 entries

Neighbouring entries

μ19Μαγκίπατοςfreedmanμ20ΜάγνηςMagnesμ21ΜάγνηςMagnesμ22ΜαγνησίαMagnesiaμ23ΜαγνῆτιςMagnesian, magnetic
Revision history6 revisions · last 27 Jun 2020
  1. tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
  2. Revised — David Whitehead
  3. Revised — David Whitehead
  4. more x-refs; another keyword — David Whitehead
  5. more notes; tweaks — David Whitehead
  6. set status — Catharine Roth
  7. Translated — David Whitehead

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