Corinth
.Non cuïvis homini contingit adire Corinthum (It falls not to every man’s lot to go to Corinth). Gellius, in his Noctes Atticœ, i. 8, says that Horace refers to Laïs, a courtesan of Corinth, who sold her favours at so high a prico that not everyone could afford to purchase them; but this most certainly is not the meaning that Horace intended. He says, “To please princes is no little praise, for it falls not to every man’s lot to go to Corinth.” That is, it is as hard to please princes as it is to enter Corinth, situated between two seas, and hence called Bimăris Corinthus. (1 Odes, vii. line 2.)
⁂ Still, without doubt, the proverb was applied as Aulus Gellius says: “The courtesans of Corinth are not every man’s money.” Demosthenes tells us that Laïs sold her favours for 10,000 [Attic] drachmæ (about £300), and adds tanti non emo pœnitere. (Horace: l Epistles, xvii. line 36.)
2
