THE LIBRARY OF HISTORY
BY DIODOROS OF SICILY
Diodoros of Agyrion in Sicily wrote his history of the world known to him down to the year 60/59 BC in forty books between then and 30 BC, thus devoting thirty years to it. Presented here are all the references in it to Greek love.
The translations of Books IV and VIII, are by C. H. Oldfather for the Loeb Classical Library volumes 303 and 340, published by the Harvard University Press in 1935 and 1939. That of Book XVII is by C. Bradford Welles for the Loeb Classical Library volume 422, published by the same in 1963. Those for Books XXI onwards are by Francis R. Walton for the Loeb Classical Library volumes 409 and 423, published by the same in 1957 and 1967. Their Latinisations of Greek names have been undone in favour of transliterations of the Greek.
A variation of the myth (set in the mid-13th century BC) of Phrixos, the young son of a King of Boiotia, who fled from the malice of his step-mother to Colchis (in the Caucasus), whose King was Aiëtes.
| Some say, however, that the king of the Scythians, who was a son-in-law of Aiëtes, was visiting among the Colchi at the very time when, as it happened, Phrixos and his attendant were taken captive, and conceiving a passion for the boy he received him from Aiëtes as a gift, loved him like a son of his own loins, and left his kingdom to him. | ἔνιοι δέ φασι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Σκυθῶν, ὄντα γαμβρὸν Αἰήτου, παρὰ τοῖς Κόλχοις ἐπιδημῆσαι καθ᾿ ὃν καιρὸν ἁλῶναι συνέβη τὸν Φρίξον μετὰ τοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ, ἐρωτικῶς δὲ σχόντα τοῦ παιδὸς λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν δωρεᾷ παρ᾿ Αἰήτου, καὶ καθάπερ υἱὸν γνήσιον ἀγαπήσαντα καταλιπεῖν αὐτῷ τὴν βασιλείαν. |
IV 75
The youngest of the three sons of Tros, a supposedly 14th century BC King from whom his city of Troy took its name:
| And Ganymedes, who excelled all[1] in beauty, was snatched up by the gods to serve as the cupbearer of Zeus. | Γανυμήδης δὲ τῶν ἁπάντων εὐπρεπείᾳ διαφέρων ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀνηρπάγη τῷ Διὶ οἰνοχοεῖν. |
V 32 vii
On how the Gauls have little to do with their wives, preferring “to tumble with a catamite on each side.” See the article Pederasty amongst the ancient Celts.
Diodoros does not provide any context for the following story, which led to Archias becoming the founder of Syracuse in 734 BC, a story more fully told by Plutarch[2].
| Archias the Corinthian, being seized with love for Aktaion, first of all dispatched a messenger to the youth, making him marvellous promises; and when he was unable to win him over to act contrary to the honourable principles of his father and to the modesty of the youth himself, he gathered together the greater number of his associates, with the intention of using force on the youth who would not yield to favour or entreaty. And finally once, when Archias had become drunken in the company of the men he had called together, his passion drove him to such madness that he broke into the house of Melissos and began to carry off the boy by force. But the father and the other inmates of the house held fast to him, and in the violent struggle which ensued between the two groups the boy was found, without any knowing it, to have given up the ghost while in the arms of his defenders. Consequently, when we reflect upon the strange turn of the affair, we are forced both to pity the fate of the victim and to wonder at the unexpected reversal of fortune. For the boy came to the same manner of death as did he[3] whose very name he bore, since they both lost their lives in similar manner at the hands of those who had aided them most. | [i] Ὅτι Ἀρχίας ὁ Κορίνθιος ἐραστὴς ὢν Ἀκταίωνος τὸ μὲν πρῶτον προσέπεμπέ τινα τῷ παιδί, θαυμαστὰς ἐπαγγελίας ποιούμενος· οὐ δυνάμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ἀναλαβεῖν παρὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς καλοκἀγαθίαν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ παιδὸς σωφροσύνην, ἤθροισε τῶν συνήθων τοὺς πλείστους, ὡς βιασόμενος τὸν1 χάριτι καὶ δεήσει μὴ ὑπακούοντα. [ii] τέλος δὲ μεθυσθεὶς μετὰ τῶν συμπαρακληθέντων ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀνοίας προέπεσεν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους, ὥστε εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἐμπεσὼν τοῦ Μελίσσου τὸν παῖδα βιαίως ἀπήγαγεν. [iii] ἀντεχομένου δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν, παρ᾿ ἀμφοτέροις φιλοτιμίας βιαιοτέρας γενομένης ἔλαθεν ὁ παῖς ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν ἀντεχομένων ἀφεὶς τὴν ψυχήν. ὥστε τὸ παράδοξον τῆς πράξεως ἀναλογιζομένους ἐλεεῖν ἅμα τὴν τοῦ παθόντος συμφορὰν καὶ θαυμάζειν τὴν τῆς τύχης περιπέτειαν· ᾧ γὰρ ὁ παῖς τῆς αὐτῆς ἐκείνης ἔτυχε προσηγορίας, τούτῳ τὴν ὁμοίαν τοῦ βίου καταστροφὴν ἔσχεν, ἑκατέρων ὑπὸ τῶν μάλιστα ἂν βοηθησάντων τοῦ ζῆν παραπλησίῳ τρόπῳ στερηθέντων. |
X 17
A fragmented account of how the Athenian Hipparchos’s passion for a beautiful youth led to the fatal discrediting of the tyranny there in 514 BC. See the article Harmodios and Aristogeiton, 514 BC.
XIII 58 i-ii
On the rape of boys and maidens by the Carthaginian army which captured the Greek city of Selinous in Sicily in 409 BC. See the article Pederasty amongst the ancient Carthaginians.
XIV 37 vi
On the assassination of Archelaos King of the Macedonians by two of his eromenoi in 400/399 BC. See the article The Death of Archelaos of Macedon, 400/399 BC.
XVI 93-5
A detailed account of the assassination in 336 BC of Philip II king of the Macedonians by his humiliated former eromenos Pausanias, presented in the article Philip II (382-336 BC), King of the Macedonians.
On the plot against Alexander’s life in Drangiana in central Asia in the autumn of 330 BC, condoned or possibly led by his companion Philotas, which led to his having Philotas's father Parmenion, his foremost general, killed:
| At this same time, Alexander stumbled into a base action which was quite foreign to his goodness of nature. One of the king’s Friends named Dimnos found fault with him for some reason, and in a rash fit of anger formed a plot against him. He had a beloved named Nikomachos and persuaded him to take part in it. Being very young, the boy disclosed the plan to his brother Kebalinos[4], who, however, was terrified lest one of the conspirators should get ahead of the rest in revealing the plot to the king, and decided himself to be the informer. | [i] κατὰ δὲ τούτους τοὺς καιροὺς περιέπεσε πράξει μοχθηρᾷ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας χρηστότητος ἀλλοτρίᾳ. τῶν γὰρ φίλων τις τοῦ βασιλέως ὄνομα Δίμνος, μεμψιμοιρήσας τῷ βασιλεῖ περί τινων καὶ τῷ θυμῷ προπεσών, ἐπιβουλὴν συνεστήσατο κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ. [ii] ἔχων δ᾽ ἐρώμενον Νικόμαχον τοῦτον ἔπεισε κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς. οὗτος δὲ νέος ὢν παντελῶς ἀνεκοινώσατο τὴν πρᾶξιν τῷ ἀδελφῷ Κεβαλίνῳ. ὁ δὲ φοβηθεὶς μὴ φθάσῃ τις τῶν συνειδότων καὶ δηλώσῃ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν τῷ βασιλεῖ, αὐτὸς ἔκρινε μηνῦσαι. |
XIX 3 i-ii
On how Agathokles, who later rose to become King of Sicily, rose to eminence through having been the loved boy of one Damas. See the article Agathokles (ca. 361-289 BC) King of Sicily.
XXI 16 ii
Describes the killing of Agathokles King of Sicily in 289 BC by one enslaved and made his catamite as a boy. See the article Agathokles (ca. 361-289 BC) King of Sicily.
Implicitly in 212 BC, when there was a severe shortage of food in Campania due to the Second Punic War raging there:
| Many women, unmarried girls, and freeborn boys[5] accompanied the Capuan forces because of the shortage of food. War does, in fact, sometimes compel those who in times of peace live in high dignity to endure conditions from which their years should exempt them. | Ὅτι πολλαὶ γυναῖκες καὶ παρθένοι καὶ παῖδες ἐλεύθεροι συνείποντο τοῖς Καπυηνοῖς διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν τῆς τροφῆς· καὶ γὰρ ὁ πόλεμος ἐνίοτε βιάζεται τοὺς κατὰ τὴν εἰρήνην ἐν πολλῇ σεμνότητι ζῶντας ὑπομένειν ἀνάξια τῆς ἡλικίας πάσχοντας. |
XXXI 24
On Cato the elder’s denunciation of the excessive prices young Roman men willingly paid for kept boys. See the article On the Increased Interest of Young Roman Men in Pretty Boys, 167-161 BC for this passage.
XXXI 26 vi-vii
On the self-restraint of the Scipio Africanus the younger compared with other young men who gave themselves up to pleasures such as catamites. See the article On the Increased Interest of Young Roman Men in Pretty Boys, 167-161 BC for this passage.
| When Diegylis, the king of the Thracians,[6] ascended the throne and the tide of fortune was flowing in his favour beyond all expectations, he ceased to govern his subjects as friends and comrades-in-arms, but lorded it over them harshly as if they were bought slaves or captive foes. Many were the fine, noble Thracians he tortured and put to death, and many were the victims of his abusive treatment and unbridled violence. There was no woman, no boy whose beauty he left intact, no rich store of possessions that was left undiminished: the whole realm was full of his lawlessness. | Ὅτι Διήγυλις ὁ τῶν Θρᾳκῶν βασιλεὺς παραλαβὼν τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ παραδόξως αὐτῷ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιρρεόντων, οὐκέτι τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων ὡς φίλων καὶ συμμάχων ἦρχεν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀργυρωνήτων ἀνδραπόδων ἢ πολεμίων αἰχμαλώτων ὠμῶς3 ἐδέσποζεν. πολλοὺς μὲν γὰρ καλοὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς ἄνδρας Θρᾳκῶν ἀνεῖλε μετ᾿ αἰκίας, οὐκ ὀλίγους δὲ ὕβριζεν καὶ ταῖς ἐσχάταις παροινίαις περιέβαλλεν. οὐ γὰρ ἦν οὐ γυναικὸς οὐ παιδὸς αὐτῷ κάλλος ἄθικτον, οὐ κατασκευὴ κτημάτων πολυτελὴς ἀναφαίρετος, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτὸν δυναστείαν ἐπλήρου παρανομίας. |
XXXIV/XXXV 34
On Damophilos of Enna in Sicily, a wealthy landowner, and explaining the outbreak there of the first Servile War in 135 BC:
| He drove about the countryside with expensive horses, four-wheeled carriages, and a bodyguard of slaves, and prided himself, in addition, on his great train of handsome serving-boys and ill-mannered parasites.[7] | ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τῆς χώρας ἵππους τε πολυτελεῖς καὶ τετρακύκλους ἀπήνας μετ᾿ οἰκετῶν στρατιωτικῶν περιήγετο· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις εὐπρεπῶν παίδων πλῆθος, ἔτι δὲ κολάκων ἀνάγωγον παραδρομὴν ἔχειν ἐφιλοτιμεῖτο. |
XXXVII 3 v-vi
Describing the new extravagance of young Romans around the late 160s BC, including paying huge sums for pretty slave-boys. See the article On the Increased Interest of Young Roman Men in Pretty Boys, 167-161 BC for this passage.
[1] The translator follows “all” with “men”, where there is no noun in the Greek, and is thus seriously misleading. This has therefore been dropped [Website note].
[2] Plutarch, Love Stories 772-3.
[3] Aktaion, the hunter, who was killed by his dogs; cp. Book 4. 81. 3 ff. [Translator’s footnote].
[4] The accounts in Curtius Rufus’s Histories of Alexander the Great VI 7 and Plutarch’s Life of Alexander XLIX are adamant that Nikomachos never approved of the plot and hastened to expose it by telling his brother. Moreover, he does not seem to have been punished [Website note].
[5] The implication is that boys who were freeborn and should not therefore be selling their sexual favours to men were doing so under extreme conditions; if they had not been freeborn, their honour would be of little account. [Website footnote].
[6] Diêgylis was a chieftain of the Thracian Caeni, and son-in-law to Prousias of Bithynia. The date of his “accession” is uncertain, but his conflict with Attalos II [which soon ensued – GLTTA] can be dated to 145 B.C. (cp. E. V. Hansen, The Attalids of Pergamon, 131–132). [Translator’s note].
[7] This sentence is patterned closely on a passage from the 8th book of Poseidonius’ History (Jacoby, FGH, no. 87, fr. 7). Poseidonius was probably the chief source for Diodorus’ account of the Servile War. [Translator’s note]
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