Penelopes Secret

Penelope's Secret is a collection of three novellas translated here for the first time. The eponymous story picks up where Homer's Odyssey ends, after the slaying of Penelope's suitors and the discovery that her stubborn virtue was somewhat exaggerated, which causes Ulysses to seek advice from Minerva, Menelaus and his old tutor, the centaur Chiron. Plato in Search of Amour describes the manner in which Plato, emerging from adolescence, feels the pangs of young love and seeks the guidance of Socrates who hands him over to the great courtesan Aspasia. Naïs at the Mirror features the notorious courtesan whose self-examination includes accounts of her dealings with her lovers, her observations of Athenian mores and the conduct of contemporary philosophers, such as Epicurus.