[57] Perhaps, too, those of Althaea (in the Syotherae) and Medea (Fr. 54).
[58] Fr. 68; to the same poem evidently belongs Fr. 85.
[59] There is really no adequate reason for disbelieving the story in Ptol. Hephaest. iv. (Gale, Hist. poet. script. ant. p. 320; cf. Bergk. ad Stesich. Fr. 26.) What that story seems to imply is that Helen of Himera deserted the poet, who was thereby induced to moralise on the innate faithlessness of Helens in general. A subsequent reconciliation with the lady in question then led to the celebrated apology. The greater influence which women seem to have had over old men than over young, will already have been noticed in the cases of Alcman and Anacreon. The phenomenon could easily be explained, if it were necessary to explain it.—Vide e.g. Eur. Suppl. 1098 seqq.
[60] That in the original form of the legend Daphnis refuses to yield to love, and dies sooner than submit, has been shown by Reitzenstein, Epig. u. Skol. p. 193 seqq.
But the passage from Aelian (Var. Hist. x. 18) never says that Stesichorus told the story of Daphnis. It says he wrote bucolic poetry, which is not necessarily the same thing. If only Theocritus, who wrote bucolic poetry, had told some more of the story of Daphnis, the necessity of reading a great quantity of literature on the subject would have been spared us.
[61] It is rather tempting to think of this story as a Greek version of Tristan and Isolde. Rhadina is going from Samos to be married to the King of Corinth, and travels out with her cousin Leontichus on the same ship. There the fatal mischief is done; they separate for a while, but the charm is irresistible, and her lover hurries from Delphi to meet his death at the hands of the Corinthian “King Marc.”
[62] The name of Cycnus seems at first sight suggestive, but the story as related in the Scholiast on Pindar unfortunately proves nothing.
[63] He seems to have discussed or commented on the habits of the Spartan ladies (Fr. 61), but whether to praise or blame we do not know.
[64] e.g. Fr. 37, where he makes Achilles marry Medea; or Fr. 38, where Hermione becomes the wife of Diomed.
[65] Fr. 13, ad fin. The Ἐρωτικά of Bacchylides are not very elevated in character, but they are interesting as furnishing what is, perhaps, the first complimentary notice of the ἑταίρα in literature. (Fr. 24.)