Note 350 — EXCURSUS C.
Reading edition
Ἔρως γὰρ ἀργὸν κἀπὶ τοῖς ἀργοῖς ἔφυ; φιλεῖ κάτοπτρα καὶ κόμης ξανθίσματα, φεύγει δὲ μόχθους. ἓν δέ μοι τεκμήριον; οὐδεὶς προσαιτῶν βίοτον ἠράσθη βροτῶν, ἐν τοῖς δ’ ἔχουσιν ἡβητὴς πέφυχ’ ὅδε. Eur. Fr. 322 (Danae).
Cp. Athen. vi. 270 C. Similar passages are very common—in fact, the view may be said to be a universal one; it arises, of course, from that purely sensual manner of regarding love, on which so much has already been said. Indeed, those who have read the early Greek literature with any attention, need perhaps hardly be reminded of how utterly foreign to the Greek of Euripides’ day is the conception of the “galante Ritter” setting out in search of ladies that want rescuing.
At the same time, it may not be amiss to emphasise a fact which, though sufficiently obvious, is yet often ignored. The fact that the Andromeda was looked upon as a romantic play some centuries later, even if it can be proved, is no proof that it was intended as such by its author, or so understood by its original audience. If Hermesianax could infer from the Odyssey that Homer was in love with Penelope, one may excuse the contemporaries of Lucian if they inferred from Euripides that Perseus was in love with Andromeda, but one need not necessarily regard their inference as a true one.