Leontion
Leontion, your treatises are lost
and we are left with mere hints of your wit:
a woman scorned for her acuity,
an affront male ego could not acquit.
Cicero slandered you, as was his wont,
for what he claimed was your effrontery
– putting yourself in a man’s proper place –
while granting your linguistic mastery.
Being a hetaera, if such you were,
should disconcert us not a whit – no more
than our liberal-minded hegemon
who praised your acumen, in Garden lore,
not out of charity but true esteem:
ours are no puritan moral dictates,
laid down by god-bound books and robed high priests,
but drawn from what pure nature celebrates.
And so, Leontion, we honor you
in absentia – the least that is fair –
as both romantic and philosopher:
you, our worthy forebear – and we your heir.
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“romantic” – a bit of poetic license, drawing loosely on Frances Wright’s fictional portrait.
I referenced some links to this “lost philosopher” here: RE: Leontion (Leontium) - Main Biography
Also read Joshua’s poem “To Boccaccio: A Rebuke” here: Joshua's Epicurean Themed Poetry Megathread
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Image is from Epicurus en Leontium, Ludwig Gottlieb Portman, 1803