charm. It was natural that they
and others like them from other parts of Hellas should flock to Athens.
Such women, though they were politically only resident aliens, were
granted great freedom and had the benefit of all the intellectual
advantages the city afforded. Marriage was the only political sin these
beautiful and cultivated strangers could commit; they might do anything
else that they liked. Hence they entered into relations with citizens as
"companions," and soon became an important factor in the social life of
the day. Bringing with them from their homes all the attractions and
graces that attended the service of the Muses, they undoubtedly
exercised a beneficial influence on the social customs and manners, but
they also contributed much to the general demoralization of the Athenian
people.

From the number of these women of foreign birth came the most beautiful
and distinguished, as also the most selfish and proud, representatives
of the hetaera class. Through their beauty and the outward splendor of
their station they posed as veritable priestesses of Aphrodite, while
through their intellectual brilliancy and their social charms they
exercised a great influence over the daily life of the Athenians.

To this class belonged the celebrated "daughters of the people," for
whose favor the most prominent and dignified men of the State became
suppliants. As Propertius sang of Lais, they could literally boast that
"all Hellas lay before their doors." Among these hetaerae we see the high
life of the day on a most brilliant scale. Their dwellings were most
sumptuous in their appointments; the walls were painted in frescoes,
pieces of statuary and rich tapestries embellished their apartments,
while the grounds about their houses were laid off with flower beds and
beautiful fountains. Their apparel was of the richest fabrics and was
made up in the most fashionable styles. They possessed numberless jewels
and ornaments of enormous value. They never appeared in public without
an imposing cortege of female slaves and eunuchs. Much of the etiquette
of the courts of princes was maintained in their establishments.

To keep up this elaborate state, they sold their favors at almost
shameless prices. Thus the elder Lais, Gnathaena, and Phryne were
celebrated for their incredible demands. There is a story that the
orator Demosthenes made a trip to Corinth and paid ten thousand drachmae
for a single evening with the younger Lai