Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/359

This page needs to be proofread.

or more serious record as the associate of some hetaira. It follows that courtesans should appear not rarely as the mothers of persons of distinction. Themistocles, the younger Pericles, Timotheus, and Nicomachus, the son of Aristotle, are mentioned in this connection;^[1] and more than one sovereign prince is allowed to have been the offspring of some hetaira, namely, Arrhidaeus, king of Macedonia, alluded to above, and Philetaerus, the founder of the kingdom of Pergamus.^[2] Many of these hetairas realized wealth, and some had the faculty of keeping it; nor were they disinclined to spend it patriotically if an opportunity offered. Lamia erected a splendid portico at Sicyon;^[3] and Phryne proposed

↑ Athenaeus, xiii, 37, 38, 56. Timotheus, when it was thrown in his teeth that his mother was a prostitute, replied that he was very much obliged to her for making him the son of Conon. The son of Pericles by Aspasia was legitimated and became a general.
↑ Ibid., 40, 38. Hieronymus, the last king of Syracuse, is said to have married a common prostitute, but their issue did not succeed to any crown; ibid. In modern times the assumption of the premiership of Bavaria by the notorious Lola Montez (née Gilbert of Limerick) will be remembered. "She now ruled the kingdom of Bavaria, and, singular to say, ruled it with wisdom and ability. Her audacity confounded alike the policy of the Jesuits and of Metternich"; Dict. Nat. Biog., sb. nom. Her régime did not, however, last more than a year, being unable to stem the tide of revolution in 1848. More fortunate was the castrato singer, Farinelli, who retained a position differing little from that of prime minister under Philip V of Spain and his successor for nearly twenty-five years. The reign of courtesans in the seventeenth century, when the aristocratic blood of France and England was enriched by "legitimated princes" and peers under Louis XIV and Charles II is too well known to need comment here; but the acquisition of governmental power at the hands of Louis XV by Jeanne Vaubernier (Countess Du Barry), a low-class strumpet, doubtless helped decidedly to bring that disgraceful epoch to a close; see Voltaire's Louis XIV and Louis XV, etc
↑ Athenaeus, xiii, 38; Alciphron, ii, 1.

[1] Athenaeus, xiii, 37, 38, 56. Timotheus, when it was thrown in his teeth that his mother was a prostitute, replied that he was very much obliged to her for making him the son of Conon. The son of Pericles by Aspasia was legitimated and became a general.

[2] Ibid., 40, 38. Hieronymus, the last king of Syracuse, is said to have married a common prostitute, but their issue did not succeed to any crown; ibid. In modern times the assumption of the premiership of Bavaria by the notorious Lola Montez (née Gilbert of Limerick) will be remembered. "She now ruled the kingdom of Bavaria, and, singular to say, ruled it with wisdom and ability. Her audacity confounded alike the policy of the Jesuits and of Metternich"; Dict. Nat. Biog., sb. nom. Her régime did not, however, last more than a year, being unable to stem the tide of revolution in 1848. More fortunate was the castrato singer, Farinelli, who retained a position differing little from that of prime minister under Philip V of Spain and his successor for nearly twenty-five years. The reign of courtesans in the seventeenth century, when the aristocratic blood of France and England was enriched by "legitimated princes" and peers under Louis XIV and Charles II is too well known to need comment here; but the acquisition of governmental power at the hands of Louis XV by Jeanne Vaubernier (Countess Du Barry), a low-class strumpet, doubtless helped decidedly to bring that disgraceful epoch to a close; see Voltaire's Louis XIV and Louis XV, etc

[3] Athenaeus, xiii, 38; Alciphron, ii, 1.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 1).djvu/359

Navigation menu

Search