Greek Texts & Translations

59.18There were these seven girls who were purchased while they were small children by Nicaretê, who was the freedwoman of Charisius the Elean ^note and the wife of his cook Hippias. She was skilled in recognizing the budding beauty of young girls and knew well how to bring them up and train them artfully; for she made this her profession, and she got her livelihood from the girls. 59.19She called them by the name of daughters in order that, by giving out that they were free women, she might exact the largest fees from those who wished to enjoy them. When she had reaped the profit of the youthful prime of each, she sold them, all seven, without omitting one—Anteia and Stratola and Aristocleia and Metaneira and Phila and Isthmias and this Neaera. 59.20Who it was who purchased them severally, and how they were set free by those who bought them from Nicaretê, I will tell you in the course of my speech, if you care to hear and if the water in the water-clock holds out. I wish for the moment to return to the defendant Neaera, and prove to you that she belonged to Nicaretê, and that she lived as a prostitute letting out her person for hire to those who wished to enjoy her.

59.21Lysias, the sophist, ^note being the lover of Metaneira, wished, in addition to the other expenditures which he lavished upon her, also to initiate her; for he considered that everything else which he expended upon her was being taken by the woman who owned her, but that from whatever he might spend on her behalf for the festival and the initiation the girl herself would profit and be grateful to him. So he asked Nicaretê to come to the mysteries bringing with her Metaneira that she might be initiated, and he promised that he would himself initiate her. 59.22When they got here, Lysias did not bring them to his own house, out of regard for his wife, the daughter of Brachyllus and his own niece, and for his own mother, who was elderly and who lived in the same house; but he lodged the two, Metaneira and Nicaretê, with Philostratus of Colonus, ^note who was a friend of his and was as yet unmarried. They were accompanied by this woman Neaera, who had already taken up the trade of a prostitute, young as she was; for she was not yet old enough.

59.23To prove the truth of my statements—that the defendant belonged to Nicaretê and followed in her train, and that she prostituted her person to anyone who wished to pay for it—I will call Philostratus as witness to these facts.Deposition

Philostratus, son of Dionysius, of Colonus, deposes that he knows that Neaera was a slave of Nicaretê, to whom Metaneira also belonged, that they were residents of Corinth, and that they stayed at his house when they came to Athens for the mysteries, and that Lysias the son of Cephalêus, who was an intimate friend of his, established them in his house.

59.24Again after this, men of Athens, Simus the Thessalian came here with the defendant Neaera for the great Panathenaea. ^note Nicaretê came with her, and they lodged with Ctesippus son of Glauconides,of Cydantidae ^note; and the defendant Neaera drank and dined with them in the presence of many men, as any courtesan would do.

To prove the truth of my statements, I will call witnesses to these facts. 59.25Please call Euphiletus, son of Simon, of Aexonê, ^note and Aristomachus, son of Critodemus, of Alopecê. ^noteWitnesses
Euphiletus son of Simon, of Aexonê, and Aristomachus son of Critodemus, of Alopecê, depose that they know that Simus the Thessalian came to Athens for the great Panathenaea, and that Nicaretê came with him, and Neaera, the present defendant; and that they lodged with Ctesippus son of Glauconides, and that Neaera drank with them as being a courtesan, while many others were present and joined in the drinking in the house of Ctesippus.

59.26After this, you must know, she plied her trade openly in Corinth and was quite a celebrity, having among other lovers Xenocleides the poet, and Hipparchus the actor, who kept her on hire. To prove the truth of my statement I cannot bring before you the testimony of Xenocleides, since the laws do not permit him to testify. 59.27For when on the advice of Callistratus you undertook to aid the Lacedaemonians, ^note he at that time opposed in the assembly the vote to do so, because he had purchased the right to collect the two per cent tax on grain during the peace, and was obliged to deposit his collections in the senate-chamber during each prytany. For this he was entitled to exemption under the laws and did not go out on that expedition; but he was indicted by this man Stephanus for avoidance of military duty, and being slanderously maligned in the latter's speech before the court, was convicted and deprived of his civic rights.