SOL Search

Son of Ariston,[1] grandson of the earlier elder Sophocles,[2] an Athenian, tragedian. He staged 40 plays, though some say 11; and he won and took the prize for 7.[3] He also wrote elegies.
[It is on record] that Apollonius surpassed Sophocles in self-control for this reason.[5] Sophocles said that he escaped from a raging and bestial master when he arrived at old age. Because of his virtue and self-control, however, Apollonius of Tyana was not overcome by this master even as a youth, but, although young and physically vigorous, he exerted control and mastery over the beast. Nevertheless, some slandered him about sex, claiming that he had an illicit affair and for this reason spent a year abroad among the Scythians. So not even Euphrates ever slandered the man over sex, although he wrote a mendacious attack upon him. Euphrates was quarreling with Apollonius because the latter kept criticizing him for doing everything for money and for selling his wisdom.[4]

*sofoklh=s, *)ari/stwnos, ui(wno\s de\ tou= prote/rou *sofokle/ous presbute/rou, *)aqhnai=os, tragiko/s. e)di/dace de\ dra/mata m#, oi( de/ fasin ia#: ni/kas de\ ei(=len z#. e)/graye kai\ e)legei/as. o(/ti *)apollw/nios e)s swfrosu/nhn u(pereba/lleto tou= *sofokle/ous: o( me\n ga\r luttw=nta e)/fh kai\ a)/grion despo/thn a)pofugei=n, e)lqo/nta e)s gh=ras: o( de\ *)apollw/nios o( *tuaneu\s u(p' a)reth=s te kai\ swfrosu/nhs ou)d' e)n meiraki/w| h(tth/qh tou/twn, a)lla\ kai\ ne/os w)\n kai\ to\ sw=ma e)rrwme/nos e)kra/tei te kai\ luttw=ntos e)de/spozen. a)ll' o(/mws sukofantou=si/ tines e)p' a)frodisi/ois au)to/n, w(s diamarti/a| e)rwtikh=| xrhsa/menon kai\ dia\ tou=to a)peniauti/santa e)s to\ *skuqw=n e)/qnos: ou)/koun ou)de\ *eu)fra/ths pote\ e)sukofa/nthsen e)p' a)frodisi/ois to\n a)/ndra, kai/toi yeudh= gra/mmata kat' au)tou= cunqei/s: diefe/reto ga\r pro\s to\n *)apollw/nion, e)peidh\ pa/nq' u(pe\r xrhma/twn au)to\n pra/ttonta e)/skwpten ou(=tos kai\ a)ph=ge tou= xrhmati/zesqai kai\ th\n sofi/an kaphleu/ein.

C5/4 BCE. See generally OCD4 s.v. Sophocles(2); B.Snell (ed.), Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta 1.208.
[1] Some relevant testimonia:
(a) Life of Sophocles 13: "The law-suit against his son Iophon is reported by many. Sophocles had a son, Iophon, by Nikostrate, and another, Ariston, by Theoris of Sikyon. Sophocles particularly loved the son of Ariston, also called Sophocles." Some scholars doubt the existence of Theoris and consider the younger Sophocles to be the son of Iophon.
(b) Scholiast to Aristophanes, Frogs 78: "They say that there was also born [that is, beside Iophon] Ariston, the bastard son of Sophocles by Theoris of Sikyon."
(c) Suda iota 451: "Iophon ... son of Sophocles the tragedian and Nikostrate was legitimate. There was also born to Sophocles a bastard son, Ariston by Theoris of Sikyon."
(d) Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 13.592A [13.61 Kaibel]: "Sophocles the tragedian, already an old man, became impassioned for Theoris, a hetaera. He beseeched Aphrodite, saying:
—Hear me as I pray, nursling of boys, and grant that this
—woman spurn the love and bed of the young men.
—Let her delight in gray-haired old men
—whose strength has waned but whose spirit is eager."
[2] sigma 815.
[3] Sophocles is listed on IG ii [edn.2] 23.18 as presenting tragedies in 388–387. See also Diodorus Siculus 14.53.6, and generally Pickard-Cambridge/Gould/Lewis (below) 107.
[4] A nearly exact quotation from Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.13; cf. alpha 3025. (The Suda omits the denial "who neither went to the Scythians nor was carried off into erotic passions," which comes after "among the Scythians.")

Wm. Blake Tyrrell (I added the notes.) on 30 September 2003@21:56:02.
David Whitehead (modified headword and aspects of translation; augmented notes and keywords; cosmetics) on 1 October 2003@05:09:03.
David Whitehead (more keywords; tweaks and cosmetics; raised status) on 30 December 2013@08:12:00.
David Whitehead (another x-ref) on 24 January 2014@04:44:14.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 25 January 2014@14:26:27.
David Whitehead (updated a ref) on 9 August 2014@11:40:35.
David Whitehead (corrected and expanded a ref) on 15 January 2015@09:36:11.

Suda On Line Search