The Sirens
group · 12 works · 13 mentions · 17 anchored passages
the Sirens · Sirens · a Siren · cunning, knavish, subtle praters · mischievous women · pleasure's song · the fabled Sirens · the harlot · the two Sirens · winged maidens
spoken of as
2 expressionsSirens5 mentions
De legendis gentilium libris (Greek) · Stromata (Greek) · Helen (Greek) · Letters to Lucilius (Latin) · Andromache (Greek)
But when they come to wicked men, you must flee such imitation, stopping up your ears no less than they say Odysseus did against the songs of the Sirens.
in the texts
Odyssey
Enchanting sea-creatures whose song lures sailors to their deaths on an island littered with the bones of previous victims.
"‘When your crew have taken you past these Sirens, I cannot give you coherent directions as to which of two courses you are to take;
but they quickened their stroke, and Eurylokhos and Perimedes bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens’ voices.
When we had got within earshot of the land, and the ship was going at a good rate, the Sirens saw that we were getting in shore and began with their singing.
De legendis gentilium libris
Mythological creatures whose songs Odysseus resisted, used as an image of corrupting words.
But when they come to wicked men, you must flee such imitation, stopping up your ears no less than they say Odysseus did against the songs of the Sirens.
Letters
Mythological creatures whose songs Odysseus resisted, invoked as simile.
I ran past the city on the Hellespont as no Odysseus ever ran past the songs of the Sirens.
On Moral Ends
Mythological singing creatures who lure sailors, reinterpreted by Cicero (via Homer) as tempting through promised knowledge rather than mere pleasure.
So that to me indeed Homer seems to have seen something of this kind in those things which he feigned about the songs of the Sirens.
Protrepticus
Mythological singing creatures whose deadly song allegorizes the seduction of pleasure and custom, personified as a harlot.
it is a wicked island, heaped with bones and corpses, and there sings within it a fair little harlot, pleasure, delighting in vulgar music:
Stromata
Mythological singing creatures whose overpowering song is used as an analogy for faith's compelling, almost involuntary persuasion.
" For the enchantments of the Sirens, displaying a superhuman power, astounded those who came near them, making them ready, almost against their will, for the reception of what was said.
Andromache
The unnamed women Hermione blames for inciting her jealousy and urging her plot against Andromache.
Chorus:
I can pardon thee in this case, but still women ought to smooth over their sisters’ weaknesses.
And I listened to the words of these Sirens, the cunning, knavish, subtle praters, and was filled with silly thoughts.
Helen
Mythical winged maidens, daughters of Earth, invoked by Helen to join in a musical lament for her sorrows.
Winged maidens, virgin daughters of Earth, the Sirens, may you come to my mourning with Libyan flute or pipe or lyre, tears to match my plaintive woes;
Republic
Mythical beings, one stationed on each of the eight revolving rims of the cosmic spindle, whose combined notes create a single harmony.
And the spindle turned on the knees of Necessity, and up above on each of the rims of the circles a Siren stood, borne around in its revolution and uttering one sound, one note, and from all the eight there was the concord of a single harmony.
Symposium
Mythical creatures whose singing lured sailors to destruction
So I withhold my ears perforce as from the Sirens, and make off as fast as I can, for fear I should go on sitting beside him till old age was upon me.
Letters to Lucilius
Mythological creatures whose song lured sailors, associated with Ulysses' famous countermeasure.
But why need I be tortured any longer, when Ulysses found so easy a remedy for his comrades even against the Sirens?
Memorabilia
Mythical singing creatures who, according to Homer as retold by Socrates, bewitched Odysseus with a song of praise; used by Socrates as an example that a 'spell' (persuasive speech) succeeds only when it is fitted to what the particular hearer craves.
No, only for those that yearned for the fame that virtue gives.
You have heard from Homer the spell that the Sirens put on Odysseus.
You mean, I take it, that the spell must be fitted to the listener, so that he may not take the praise for mockery.