228

Timokles

fr. 32 K.-A. (30 K.)
ό Μισγόλας ού προσιέναι σοι φαίνεται
άνθοΰσι τοΐς νέοισιν ήρεθισμένος
Misgolas doesn’t seem to be approaching you;
he gets excited by young men in their bloom

Ath. 8.339c
και Τιμοκλής δ’ έν Σαπφοΐ φησιν · ό - ήρεθισμένος
and Timocles says in his Sappho: “Misgolas - bloom”
Metre lambic trimeter

Discussion MeinekeHI (1840) 610-11; Kock II (1884) 464; Bevilacqua 1939, 38-
9; PCG VII (1989) 777; Konstantakos 2000, 84; Fisher 2001, 170; Yatromanolakis
2007, 297-8.
Citation context From a section devoted to well- known Athenian opsophagoi. In
section 338d-339c Misgolas is mentioned for his notorious homosexual habits. The
starting -point is Antiph. fr. 27 (from Halieuomene), where he is said to be fond of
kitharas (a flatfish), a wordplay on young lyre-players, whom he was said to be fond
of. This preference is also mentioned in the following fr. (Alex. fr. 3 from Agonis),
which is a parody of Euripides’ Orestes. In associating fish with lovers, Misgolas’
case is comparable with that of the courtesan Pythionice, who is mentioned in
the same section for her penchant for salt-fish, i. e. for the sons of the importer
of salt-fish Chaerephilus, with whom she had love affairs (cf. on frr. 15 and 16).
Interpretation The participle ήρεθισμένος may be either adversative “although
he gets excited by young men”, in which case the addressee is probably another
man, or causative “because he ...”, compatible with a woman (Sappho?) rejected by
a homosexual man. The second alternative finds a strong parallel in Antiphanes,
where there is the allusion that Misgolas dismisses the hetaera Sinope and opts for
kitharos: cf. Antiph. fr. 27.12-6 και τον Σινώπης γόγγρον ήδη παχυτέρας / έχοντ’
άκάνθας τουτονι τίς λήψεται πρώτος προσελθών; Μισγόλας γάρ ού πάνυ / τούτων
έδεστής. άλλα κίθαρος ούτοσί, / δν άν ϊδη τάς χεϊρας ούκ άφέξεται “and here is
the mighty conger from Sinope, with his stout spines; the first who comes shall
have him; for Misgolas is not very fond of eating them. But here’s a citharus, and
if he sees him, he never will keep his hands off him”.
If Sappho is represented on stage as an hetaera, perhaps a psaltria, due to her
association with poetry and music, then the speaking character could be another
hetaera (cf. Lucian’s Dialogues of the Courtesans'), or a pimp giving her an expla-
nation of the reasons why Misgolas does not approach her: he only pursues love