HENDRY, MICHAEL, Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius XXXIV Gow - Page ("Anth. Pal." 
11.320) , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:2 (1991:Summer) p.197 

Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius 
XXXIV Gow-Page (Anth. Pal. 11.320) 

Michael Hendry 

'Avnyovllv £crn:pYE ¢>lA.Ocr'tpU'tO<;· ~v 8£ 1tuAatcr'tui<; 
6 'tAT)JlWV "Ipou 1tEV'tE 1t£Vlxpon:po~. 

Et>PE 8' U1tO KPUJlOU YAUK'U cpapJlUKov' c1V'tlU yap crxwv 
youvu't' £KOlJlT)81l, ~£iv£, JlE't' 'Avnyovll<;.l 

The point of the comparison to lrus in the first couplet is very 
obscure and has not yet been satisfactorily explained. Gow and 
Page compare Aristophanes' 1tA£lV tl cr'tUblCP AUAlcr't£pU (Ran. 
91) and £KU'tOV cr'tU8l0lcrlV aplcr'tOv (Nub. 430), commenting that 
"it seems unnatural here to choose so short a measure; five 
palms (not cubits, as Paton renders) might be fifteen inches.» In 
addition, it is not obvious how Philostratus could be poorer than 
Irus, who was totally destitute. We might take this as a comi­
cally illogical way of saying that Philostratus is more than 
destitute, that he owns less than nothing, but that would not 
explain the specific measure chosen. 

I see two possible lines of argument, neither of them entirely 
satisfactory. The first starts from Homer. Perhaps we are to un­
derstand that the Homeric Irus had five palm-breadths of prop­
erty to call his own, specifically his 'reserved seat' on the steps 
of the palace in Ithaca (Od. 18.1-116), while Philostratus in our 
poem has no property at all. The first problem with this inter­
pretation is that it does not entirely match the Homeric evi­
dence. Although Antinous promises the winner of the fight 
between Odysseus and Irus exclusive begging-rights at the 
palace (lines 48f), Irus does not appear to have any such rights 
before the fight, since he must rely on bullying threats. Despite 
the discrepancy, however, this Homeric interpretation of our 
poem might still be taken as a legitimate inference or variant 
version, and it may be pedantic to worry about the details. But 
that still leaves one apparently fatal objection, or rather two, de-

I My text is taken from A. S. F. Gow and D. L. PAGE, The Garland of Philip 
(Cambridge 1968: hereafter 'Gow and Page'). There are no variants. 

197 



HENDRY, MICHAEL, Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius XXXIV Gow - Page ("Anth. Pal." 
11.320) , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:2 (1991:Summer) p.197 

198 FRIGIDUS LUSUS 

pending on where Philostratus is sleeping. If he is home in bed, 
then he is not utterly destitute and is better off than Irus, since 
he has a home and a bed. If, on the other hand, as U1tO KPU~OU 
suggests, he is sleeping at Antigone's locked front door, then he 
has his own 'reserved seat', and is no worse off than Irus. 

The second line of argument starts from the 1t£vn: 1taAato"tai. 
A piece of evidence omitted by Gow and Page is 1tuywv, the 
name for a length equal to 1t£vn: 1taAatO''tai. I suspect that there 
may just conceivably be an obscure pun on 1tuywv and 1t\)'yi).2 
Argentarius is undoubtedly (and excessively) fond of puns that 
are far-fetched, stupid, and often quite obscene and shameless in 
every way in which a pun can be shameless. 3 A pun on 1tuywv 
and 1tuYIl would be no worse than his pun on Medes and 
Aetolians (Gow-Page III=Anth. Pal. 5.63), or his crude sexual­
astrological (vII=5.105) and sexual-mythological puns (XXXIII= 
9.554).4 Saying that he is 1t£V't£ 1taAatO''tai, i.e., one 1tuywv, poorer 
than Irus might then be a very obscure way of saying that 
Philostratus, rejected by Antigone, has no 1tuYIl to call his own, 
as it were. This interpretation, however, besides its obscurity, 
also departs from the Homeric evidence, where Irus is not 
known to have had a girlfriend. So perhaps a third hypothesis is 
needed. 

However that may be, there should be less doubt about the 
meaning of the second couplet. The pun on Antigone's name in 
these lines has acquired a reputation among editors as one of the 
stupidest in the entire Anthology. Diibner rronounces it an 
"ineptus iocus,» Jacobs a "frigidus lusus,» De Re both "insop-

2 Given the difference in quantity, the words are unlikely to be etymologi­
cally related; P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque 
I-IV (Paris 1968-80), provides no guidance on this point. 

3 No doubt it is a matter of taste, but I would not draw such a clear line 
between Argentarius' clean and dirty puns as S. G. P. Small, MMarcus 
Argentarius: A Poet of the Greek Anthology," YCS 12 (1951) 67-145 at 86: 
"Paronomasia appears with such frequency in Argentarius' verse as to be very 
nearly the hallmark of his style. Sometimes he handles the figures with much 
wit and skill, but in the OlCCt>1ttllCU or satiric pieces, it must be confessed, our 
poet more often than not turns his cleverness to the base uses of a humor so 
explicitly anatomical as to be revolting." 

4 Cf Gow and Page for details. In "A Hermetic Pun in Marcus Argentarius 
XII GP (AP 5.127)," Hermes 119 (1991) 497, I have suggested that epigram XII 

contains another. 



HENDRY, MICHAEL, Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius XXXIV Gow - Page ("Anth. Pal." 
11.320) , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:2 (1991:Summer) p.197 

MICHAEL HENDRY 199 

portabile" and" inettissimo," 5 and the latest editor is majestically 
contemptuous: "Un de ces jeux de mots sans interet et qui 
n'honore pas Marcus Argentarius."6 I suggest that the joke is 
both wittier and smuttier than previously suspected. 

Lying or sitting with one's knees bent would not, in itself, be 
much of a defense against either literal cold or the metaphorical 
chill of rejected love. On the other hand, any kind of physical 
activity would help with the former, and one particular kind 
would help with the latter: in short, I suggest that Philostratus' 
YA:UKU cpapll<XKov is masturbation. In another epigram (x= 5.116), 
Argentarius uses cpap/l<XKov of another second-best (in his 
opinion) sexual practice, heterosexual sodomy. In the first 
couplet of another (xvI=9.286), he describes an erotic dream in 
rather suggestive language: 

OPVl, 'ttllOl cptAoV U1tVOV uCP~P1t<Xcr(X(:;, ~8u 8£ DUPPTlC:; 
El8WAOV KOl'tTlC:; 0x£'t' U1t01t'tall£vov; 

What is interrupted is a sleeping dream rather than a waking 
fantasy, but in this case the two would not differ greatly. 

The reference to bent knees can be queried as sufficient in 
itself to imply masturbation: I know of no literary evidence for 
the ancient position, and have not attempted a complete survey 
of the pictorial evidence, but of the masturbating satyrs that I 
have seen in Greek vase-paintings, all have their knees distinctly 
bent, whether standing, sitting, or lying.? A black-figure cup by 
the Amasis Painter features two reclining satyrs, and an 
anonymous black-figure vase has two seated satyrs: all four have 
their knees bent. 8 Bent knees are also associated with masturba­
tion on a red-figure cup with a seated man by the Thalia painter 

5 F. Diibner, Epigrammatum anthologia Palatina (Paris 1864-90) II 385; C. 
F. W. Jacobs, Anthologia Graeca (Leipzig 1794-1813) at IX 280f: "Non tamen 
cum ipsa Antigone cubuit, sed cum contractus, genibus pectori admotis, 
cubaret, non quidem 'AvnyovT}v ipsam, sed tamen uV'ttU yovU'ta habebat. 
F rigid us lusus: sed hic verus portae sensus"; R. Del Re, "Marco Argentario," 
Maia 7 (1955) 184-215 at 193. 

6 R. Aubreton, ed., Anthologie grecque (Livre XI) X (Paris 1972) 183f. 
7 This is not, of course, the same thing as the conventional use of bent knees 

in archaic art to indicate rapid motion: the two activities are hardly com­
patible. 

8 The first in D. von Bothmer, The Amasis Painter and his World (Malibu 
1985) 221f (no. 61, side B), and both in C. Johns, Sex or Symbol (London 
1982) 92, pIs. 73, 72 respectively. 



HENDRY, MICHAEL, Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius XXXIV Gow - Page ("Anth. Pal." 
11.320) , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:2 (1991:Summer) p.197 

200 FRIGIDUS LUSUS 

and a Boeotian vase with a very hairy standing satyr. 9 An ary­
baUos by N earchus portrays a trio of masturbating satyrs named 
~6q)to~, T£P1tEKT1Ao~, and 'Pc.oAa~: one is squatting, the other two 
standing, but all three have bent knees. 1c The only partial 
exception I have seen is a Gaulish beaker on which a slave, 
seated on a chair in the middle of an orgy, holds up a lantern 
with his right hand and masturbates with his left, with one knee 
bent, the other nearly straight.ll But this second-century A.D. 
example offers no evidence for the Greek position in any case, 
and I think it likely enough that the Greeks did associate bent 
knees with male masturbation, so that an epigrammatist could 
use the former to imply the latter.12 

The final phrase of the epigram, EKOlj..l:fJ8Tl ... ~£'t' 'Avny6vTl~, is 
thus wittily ambiguous: the primary meaning, 'went to bed with 
Antigone', implies 'had sex with Antigone', and this is false 
except as a stupid pun. The secondary, and true, meaning is 
'went to sleep (alone) with the help of Antigone', i.e., with the 
help of explicit fantasies of Antigone. The anonymous referee 
has pointed out a second, and equally important, pun: "His onan­
ism is literally av'tl yovil~, and Antigone becomes a speaking 
name. So the pun is not only on aV'tla youva't', but on An­
tigone's name as well. "13 

9 Cf Johns (supra n.S) 140 pI. 170; K. J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality 
(Cambridge [Mass.] 1978) pI. BB24. 

10 J. Boardman, Athenian Black Figure Vases: A Handbook (London 1974) 
pI. 50.2; a full discussion in G. M. A. Richter, "An Aryballos by Nearchos," 
AJA 36 (1932) 272-75 with pis. Xf, who explains the names as ~OqHO~ from 
()Eq>O~Ul, TEPlt6(T)A.o~ from 'tEPltOflat + XTlAOV (="shaft of an arrow [for mem­
brum virile?]"), and '¥WAU~ from 'VWAOC;. and also records that "behind 
Dophios is written XUtPEl. 'he is enjoying it'." '¥wNiC; is Beazley's correction of 
Richter's '¥WAUC; (BSA 32 [1931-1932] 21). 

11 Johns (supra n.8) 141, pI. 118. 
12 R. B. Onians, The Origins of European Thought about the Body, the 

Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fate (Cambridge 1951), devotes an 
entire chapter (174-86) to "The Knees" and their connection with generation 
in archaic thought. 

13 This may help with the interpretation of the first couplet: ltUAatO'tUt 
would be very much in order in an autoerotic context, though that still leaves 
the number of "palms" (ltEV'tE) unexplained. One would surely be more 
appropriate than five, if the first couplet is to prepare properly for the second. 



HENDRY, MICHAEL, Frigidus Lusus: Marcus Argentarius XXXIV Gow - Page ("Anth. Pal." 
11.320) , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:2 (1991:Summer) p.197 

MICHAEL HENDRY 201 

Given the common erotic usage of the word lusus, 14 Jacobs' 
description of the epigram as a "frigidus lusus" is rather more 
appropriate than its author perhaps intended. It would be 
tempting to suppose that he understood the poem as I do but 
was too inhibited by the restraints of his era to make his 
meaning entirely clear. The context of the phrase in his edition 
(quoted supra n.S) appears, however, to rule this out: his 
description seems only a happy coincidence. Despite M. L. 
West's all-too-often justified remark that "[t]he desire to find 
hitherto unsuspected sexual meanings in ancient literature 
frequently seems to blind American scholars to all considera­
tions of relevance, style, and common sense, "15 I think a few 
such meanings still lurk in the less-read ancient authors. 16 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA 

January, 1992 

14 R. Pichon, Index 7Jerborum amatoriorum (Hildesheim 1991: reprinted 
from De sermone amatorio apud Latinos elegiarum script ores [Paris 1902]), 
distinguishes nine shades of meaning in ludere, including "quasi amori 
indulgere" and another that" saepe in turpiorem significationem vertitur." 

15 M. L. West, "Melica," CQ N.S. 20 (1970) 205-15 at 209 n.3. 
16 I wish to thank the editor and the anonymous referee for several valuable 

suggestions, in addition to the latter's note on clV'tt yovik They are not, of 
course, responsible for any errors that remain, and I should note that the 
referee was particularly dubious about the relevance of the word 7tuywv to the 
first couplet.