To The So-Called Artist, Parrhasius

Parrhassius, you damned son of a bitch---

I hope your soul is Hell-seared:  you know which

sin I mean, your abuse of that adolescent

beauty you purchased (quite often tumescent

when he was naked with other males, equally young);

to study the appearance of agony,

you ordered him to be tortured unmercifully,

his body broken, mutilated, and finally hung

until he succumbed.  Did your careful observation

of his suffering (and oblivious to his pleas

for mercy) expand and enhance your artistry's

precision?  And, after disposing of him, did you tell

yourself "All of it is justified for accuracy's

"sake?"  I hope you are squirming upon a spit in Hell,

with no hope for a moment's reprieve from damnation.


J-Called

Author's Notes/Comments: 

They tell me that the ancient Greek painter Parrhasius deliberately purchased a beautiful young male slave, then deliberately had him severely and fatally tortured in order to observe the appearance of physical agony in preparation for a painting of Prometheus.

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arqios's picture

Que horrible!

Que horrible!


here is poetry that doesn't always conform

galateus, arkayye, arqios,arquious, crypticbard, excalibard, wordweaver

S74rw4rd's picture

Thanks for looking at the

Thanks for looking at the poem and commenting.  I just learned of this historical incident yesterday,  I realize life was considered cheap, in those days, but even so . . . torturing a young man just to learn from his sufferings in order to depict a mythological figure's torments with accuracy?  Horrific.


Starward