Dialogi meretricii

Books

• Γλυκέρα καὶ Θαίς

  Glycera and Thais discuss the tactics of managing lovers, sharing professional advice with the frankness of experienced courtesans.

  9 lines
• Μύρτιον καὶ Πάμφιλος και Δῶρις.

  A courtesan consults a witch about love potions, willing to try magic when charm and beauty have failed.

  11 lines
• μήτηρ καὶ Φίλιννα.

  A mother coaches her daughter on the art of extracting money from wealthy lovers without losing the lucrative ones.

  9 lines
• μέλιττα καὶ Βάκχις.

  Two courtesans compare notes on their rival claims to the same wealthy young man, a competition governed by strict professional etiquette.

  15 lines
• Κλωνάριον καὶ Λέαινα.

  A courtesan complains about her lover's jealousy, finding his possessiveness flattering but commercially inconvenient.

  13 lines
• Κρωβύλη καὶ Κόρινανα.

  A dialogue about the economics of the courtesan's life, where emotional attachments are a professional hazard.

  19 lines
• μήτηρ καὶ Μουσάριον.

  A young courtesan seeks advice from an older colleague on handling a soldier lover who is both generous and violent.

  15 lines
• Ἀμπελὶς καὶ Χρυσίς.

  A courtesan who has fallen genuinely in love struggles with the conflict between her heart and her livelihood.

  12 lines
• Δορκὰς, Παννυχὶς, Φιλόστρατος, Πολέμων.

  Two friends discuss a party where a courtesan's performance revealed more about her patrons' vanity than her own skills.

  26 lines
• χελιδόνιον και Δροσίς

  A courtesan discovers that her lover is spending his inheritance on her rival, provoking a crisis of professional pride.

  22 lines
• Τρύφαινα καὶ Χαρμίδης.

  A retired courtesan advises her successor, passing on the wisdom of a career spent navigating male desire and self-deception.

  22 lines
• Ἰόεσσα καὶ Πυθίας και Λυσ́ιας.

  A courtesan and her maid plot to recover a straying lover, employing strategies that would credit a military commander.

  23 lines
• Λεόντιχος, Χηνίδας και Ὑμνίς.

  Two courtesans attend a symposium and provide running commentary on the philosophers' hypocrisy about pleasure.

  25 lines
• Δωρίων και Μυρτάλη.

  A courtesan considers retiring from her profession but discovers that respectability is both boring and financially ruinous.

  16 lines
• Κοχλὶς καὶ Παρθενὶς.

  Lucian's final dialogue of the courtesans brings the series to a characteristically irreverent close, celebrating the vitality of Athens's demimonde.

  5 lines