[36] Or, "the gentle ministrations of loftiest-thoughted women and fair wives possess a charm past telling, but from slaves, if tendered, the reverse of welcome, or if not forthcoming . . ."And if we come to masculine attachments, still more than in those whose end is procreation, the tyrant finds himself defrauded of such mirthfulness,[37] poor monarch! Since all of us are well aware, I fancy, that for highest satisfaction,[38] amorous deeds need love's strong passion.[39]
[37] "Joys sacred to that goddess fair and free in Heaven yclept Euphrosyne."[38] For {polu diapherontos} cf. Browning ("Abt Vogler"), not indeed of Aphrodisia conjoined with Eros, but of the musician's gift:
That out of three sounds he frame not a fourth sound, but astar.
[39] i.e. "Eros, the Lord of Passion, must lend his hand." "But," he proceeds, "the god is coy; he has little liking for the breasts of kings. He is more likely to be found in the cottage of the peasant than the king's palace."But least of all is true love's passion wont to lodge in the hearts of monarchs, for love delights not to swoop on ready prey; he needs the lure of expectation.[40]
[40] Or, "even on the heels of hoped-for bliss he follows."Well then, just as a man who has never tasted thirst can hardly be said to know the joy of drinking,[41] so he who has never tasted Passion is ignorant of Aphrodite's sweetest sweets.
[41] Reading with Holden (after H. Steph.) {osper oun an tis . . .} or with Hartm. (op. cit. p. 259) {osper ouk an tis . . .}
So Hiero ended.
Simonides answered laughingly: How say you, Hiero? What is that? Love's strong passion for his soul's beloved incapable of springing up in any monarch's heart? What of your own passion for Dailochus, surnamed of men "most beautiful"?
Hiero. That is easily explained, Simonides. What I most desire of him is no ready spoil, as men might reckon it, but rather what it is least of all the privilege of a tyrant to obtain.[42] I say it truly, I--the love I bear Dailochus is of this high sort. All that the constitution of our souls and bodies possibly compels a man to ask for at the hands of beauty, that my fantasy desires of him; but what my fantasy demands, I do most earnestly desire to obtain from willing hands and under seal of true affection. To clutch it forcibly were as far from my desire as to do myself some mortal mischief.
[42] Lit. "of tyrant to achieve," a met. from the chase. Cf. "Hunting," xii. 22.
Were he my enemy, to wrest some spoil from his unwilling hands would be an exquisite pleasure, to my thinking. But of all sweet favours the sweetest to my notion is the free-will offering of a man's beloved. For instance, how sweet the responsive glance of love for love; how sweet the questions and the answers;[43] and, most sweet of all, most love- enkindling, the battles and the strifes of faithful lovers.[44] But to enjoy[45] one's love perforce (he added) resembles more an act of robbery, in my judgment, than love's pastime. And, indeed, the robber derives some satisfaction from the spoils he wins and from the pain he causes to the man he hates. But to seek pleasure in the pain of one we love devoutly, to kiss and to be hated, to touch[46] and to be loathed--can one conceive a state of things more odious or more pitiful? For, it is a certainty, the ordinaryperson may accept at once each service rendered by the object of his love as a sign and token of kindliness inspired by affection, since he knows such ministry is free from all compulsion. Whilst to the tyrant, the confidence that he is loved is quite foreclosed. On the contrary,[47] we know for certain that service rendered through terror will stimulate as far as possible the ministrations of affection. And it is a fact, that plots and conspiracies against despotic rulers are oftenest hatched by those who most of all pretend to love them.[48]
[43] "The 'innere Unterhaltung'"; the {oarismos}. Cf. Milton, "P. L.": With thee conversing, I forget all time.
[44]Cf.Ter."Andr."iii.3.23,"amantiumiraeamoris intergratiost."[45] "To make booty of."
[46] For {aptesthai} L. & S. cf. Plat. "Laws," 840 A; Aristot. "H. A." v. 14. 27; Ep. 1 Cor. vii. 1.
[47] Reading {au}. "If we do know anything it is this, that," etc.
[48] Or, "do oftenest issue from treacherous make-believe of warmest friendship." Cf. Grote, "H. G." xi. 288; "Hell." VI. iv. 36.
