M/M: A Toxic Foundation, Conon, Narrationes XVI

TRIGGER WARNING: toxic  / abusive relationship

De Promacho & Leucocoma Gnossiis: urbs autem Cretae Gnossus est. Quomodo Promachus, pulchrum Leucocomam adolescentem adamarit: & quomodo labores atque certamina illi magna, & periculorum plena proposuerit, quae omnia Promachus potiundi spe superarit. Qui ubi ne per haec quidem voti compos evasit, Leucocomam vicissim molestia affecit, quando ultimum suum praemium (galea autem erat fama celebrata) alteri cuidam pulchro iuveni, Leucocoma spectante, imposuit. Hinc enim zelotypia victus hic, ferro se ipse interemit.

 Ἡ ιϚʹ τὰ περὶ Προμάχου καὶ Λευκοκόμα τῶν Κνωσσίων (πόλις δὲ Κρήτης ἡ Κνωσσός) διέξεισιν ὡς ἤρα Πρόμαχος νεανίου καλοῦ τοῦ Λευκοκόμα, ὡς ἆθλα αὐτῷ μεγάλα προὔτεινε καὶ κινδύνων μεστά, ὡς πάντα ὑπέστη Πρόμαχος ἐλπίδι τοῦ τυχεῖν, ὡς οὐδ´ οὕτω τυγχάνει, καὶ ἀντιλυπεῖ Λευκοκόμαν, τὸ τελευταῖον τῶν ἄθλων (κράνος δ´ ἦν περιβόητον) {ἐν} ἑτέρῳ καλῷ νεανίᾳ ὁρῶντος περιθεὶς τοῦ Λευκοκόμα· καὶ ὃς οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν τὴν ζηλοτυπίαν ξίφει ἑαυτὸν διεχρήσατο.

--Conon, Narrationes XVI; translated from the Greek by Thomas Gale [1675]

There’s a city in Crete named Knossos. Promachus was head-over-heels in love with the handsome youth Leucocoma [“Blondie”]. But Leucocoma kept making him do these difficult tasks & dangerous quests [to prove his affection], and Promachus kept doing them, hoping to win his heart. When he failed to win his heart, he hurt Leucocoma’s feelings by handing his final prize (a famous helmet he had won) to another hot youth instead while Leucocoma watched. Overcome by jealousy, Leucocoma killed himself with a sword.  

CONON	MAP:
Name:  Conon Date:  1st c. BCE – 1st c. CE Works:  Διηγήσεις / Narrationes	REGION  5
BIO:	Timeline:
Conon was a Greek mythographer who lived during the reign of Augustus. Although his work, the Narrations, is lost, a summary of it was preserved by the Greek author Photius.	ROMAN GREECE