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Headword: *ou) panto\s a)ndro\s e)s *ko/rinqon e)/sq' o( plou=s
Adler number: omicron,924
Translated headword: not every man's lot (is) the voyage into Corinth
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
[sc. A proverbial saying arising] because of the fact that courtesans, they say, prayed to Aphrodite on behalf of the Greeks in the great war.[1] Or because the voyage is hard to penetrate;[2] or since courtesans were many and the voyage [the prerogative] of rich men only.[3]
Greek Original:
*ou) panto\s a)ndro\s e)s *ko/rinqon e)/sq' o( plou=s: dia\ to\ ta\s e(tai/ras u(pe\r tw=n *(ellh/nwn eu)/casqai, fasi/n, e)n tw=| mega/lw| pole/mw| th=| *)afrodi/th|: h)\ dia\ to\ dusei/sbolon ei)=nai to\n plou=n: h)\ e)pei\ pollai\ h)=san e(tai=rai kai\ tw=n plousi/wn mo/nwn o( plou=s.
Notes:
The headword phrase, an iambic pentameter, is Aristophanes fr. 902 Kock (902a Edmonds), now 928 K.-A.
[1] Xerxes' invasion, evidently.
[2] The rare adjective dusei/sbolos, 'hard to penetrate', is normally used of landscapes that are hard to invade or to travel in. Here, awkwardly or perhaps inventively, it is applied to the voyage by sea (plou=s) to a place. A literal rendering is retained, as there is surely a sexual play on words. (Incidentally, the juxtaposition of the adjectives dusei/sbolos and xalepo/s occurs also at Aeneas Tacticus 16.17 with reference to an imaginary polis territory, and at Strabo 5.1.5 with reference to Egypt.) For Corinth as a place of courtesans et al. cf. chi 601.
[3] This material occurs several times in late antique literature. It is entry omicron39 in Pausanias the Atticist (2nd cent. AD), Attikon onomaton synagoge (Collection of Attic Names), ed. Erbse; it is reproduced by Photius (9th cent.), Lexicon omicron667 Theodoridis; and it reappears, post-Suda, in Apostolius (15th cent.), Collectio paroemiarum 13.60. For different lines of interpretation see e.g. Zenobius 5.37 and Hesychius omicron1799 (5th/6th cent.): "'not every man's lot (is) the voyage into Corinth': (thus) Aristophanes, since to foreigners sailing into Corinth the city seems rather difficult (xaleph\) because of the bewitching charm (gohtei/an) of the courtesans. For the Corinthians were enthusiasts for this, and lived a life of idleness (r(a|qu/mws dih=gon) for this reason." See generally Tosi [cited under alpha 378] no.1551.
Reference:
J.B Salmon, Wealthy Corinth (Oxford 1984) 399
Keywords: comedy; daily life; economics; gender and sexuality; military affairs; meter and music; proverbs; religion; women
Translated by: D. Graham J. Shipley on 1 April 2008@01:55:58.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (augmented notes; supplied keywords; tweaks and cosmetics) on 1 April 2008@04:23:41.
David Whitehead (augmented n.3; tweaking) on 17 August 2012@04:51:34.
David Whitehead (adjustments and updatings) on 1 August 2013@07:44:51.

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