Laudator Temporis Acti

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers. With an English Translation by R.D. Hicks, Vol. II (1925; rpt. London: Heinemann, 1931 = Loeb Classical Library, 185), p. 95 (6.5.90-91, on Crates of Thebes, with Hicks' note):

At Thebes he was flogged by the master of the gymnasium—another version being that it was by Euthycrates and at Corinth; and being dragged by the heels, he called out, as if it did not affect him^a:

Seized by the foot and dragged o'er heaven's high threshold:

[91] Diocles, however, says that it was by Menedemus of Eretria that he was thus dragged. For he being handsome and being thought to be intimate with Asclepiades the Phliasian, Crates slapped him on the side with a brutal taunt; whereupon Menedemus, full of indignation, dragged him along, and he declaimed as above.

^aHom. Il. i.591.

The Greek, id., p. 94:

ἐν Θήβαις ὑπὸ τοῦ γυμνασιάρχου μαστιγωθείς—οἱ δέ, ἐν Κορίνθῳ ὑπ᾿ Εὐθυκράτους—καὶ ἑλκόμενος τοῦ ποδὸς ἐπέλεγεν ἀφροντιστῶν,

ἕλκε ποδὸς τεταγὼν διὰ βηλοῦ θεσπεσίοιο.

[91] Διοκλῆς δέ φησιν ἑλχθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ Μενεδήμου τοῦ Ἐρετρικοῦ. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εὐπρεπὴς ἦν καὶ ἐδόκει χρησιμεύειν Ἀσκληπιάδῃ τῷ Φλιασίῳ, ἁψάμενος αὐτοῦ τῶν μηρῶν ὁ Κράτης ἔφη, "ἔνδον Ἀσκληπιάδης." ἐφ᾿ ᾧ δυσχεράναντα τὸν Μενέδημον ἕλκειν αὐτόν, τὸν δὲ τοῦτο ἐπιλέγειν.

Thanks very much to Bill Thayer (per litteras and on his web site) for pointing out that Hicks omitted the actual taunt from his translation (an omission that persists in the Digital Loeb Classical Library). Bill translates as follows:

For since he was good-looking and people thought he was being used (sc. for intercourse) by Asclepiades the Phliasian, Crates grabbed him by the thighs and said, "In there, Asclepiades!"

Related post: Diogenes Laertius Expurgatus.