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[The name of an] associate of Socrates; charming and took pleasure in all things. It is said that when his child was carrying money and was burdened by the weight he said, "Then cast off what's weighing you down." When he was being plotted against on a voyage he cast into the sea the things on account of which he was being conveyed. "For," he said, "the loss is my salvation." And he always ribbed Antisthenes for his dourness. And he came to Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily and won the drinking and led the dance for the others and put on purple clothes.[1] But Plato, when the robe was brought to him, said some iambics of Euripides: "I would not put on feminine clothes, having been born male, and from a male line."[2] Aristippos took it and said with a laugh [some lines] of the same poet: "for the moderate mind will not be corrupted in Bacchic revelries."[3] Making a request on behalf of a friend and not obtaining it, he fell down to his [Dionysius'] feet and won him over: "I am not responsible for this flattery," he said, "but Dionysius, who has ears in his knees."

*)ari/stippos, *swkra/tous o(milhth\s, e)n pa=si th\n h(donh\n a)spasa/menos kai\ e)pi/xaris. le/getai de\ o(/ti kai\ tou= paido\s au)tw=| fe/rontos a)rgu/rion kai\ a)xqome/nou tw=| ba/rei, to\ barou=n a)po/bale, e)/fh. e)pibouleuo/menos de\ e)n plw=| di' a(\ e)ph/geto, ei)s th\n qa/lattan e)ce/balen au)ta/. h( ga\r tou/twn, e)/fh, a)pw/leia e)mh\ swthri/a. e)pe/skwpte d' *)antisqe/nhn a)ei\ dia\ th\n strufno/thta. kai\ pro\s *dionu/sion to\n *sikeli/as tu/rannon e)lqw\n kai\ pi/nwn e)ni/ka kai\ o)rxh/sews toi=s a)/llois kath=rcen, e)ndu\s e)sqh=ta a(lourgh=. *pla/twn de\ proskomizome/nhs au)tw=| th=s stolh=s, ei)=pen *eu)ripi/dou i)ambika/: ou)k a)\n dunai/mhn qh=lun e)ndu=nai stolh\n, a)/rrhn pefukw\s kai\ ge/nous e)c a)/rrenos. *)ari/stippos de\ deca/menos kai\ gela/sas ei)=pe tou= au)tou= poihtou=: kai\ ga\r e)n bakxeu/masin o( nou=s o( sw/frwn ou) diafqarh/setai. u(pe\r fi/lou de\ a)ciw=n kai\ mh\ tugxa/nwn, tw=n podw=n h(/yato kai\ e)/peise: kai\ ou) tau/ths e)gw\ th=s kolakei/as ai)/tios, ei)=pen, a)lla\ *dionu/sios, o( e)n go/nasi ta\s a)koa\s e)/xwn.

On him see already alpha 3908.
Generally, for the sources of these stories of Aristippus, see Diogenes Laertius 2.77-79 and Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrhoniae hypotyposes 3.204.
[1] cf. already alpha 1359, end.
[2] Euripides, Bacchae 836 (web address 1 below). The second trimeter, "having been born a male and from a male line", appears to be an addition.
[3] Euripides, Bacchae 317-318 (web address 2).

William Hutton (Modified translation, added keywords, raised status) on 1 April 2002@07:48:08.
David Whitehead (added note) on 24 August 2002@11:38:49.
David Whitehead (x-ref; more keywords; tweaking) on 12 April 2012@04:53:43.
David Whitehead on 31 August 2015@05:28:29.
Catharine Roth (tweaked links) on 30 October 2015@01:39:35.

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