The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Title: The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Author: of Naucratis Athenaeus
Translator: Charles Duke Yonge
Release date: July 31, 2011 [eBook #36921]
Language: English
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[i]
THE
DEIPNOSOPHISTS
OR
BANQUET OF THE LEARNED
OF
ATHENÆUS.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED
By C. D. YONGE, B.A.
WITH AN APPENDIX OF POETICAL FRAGMENTS,
RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY VARIOUS AUTHORS,
AND A GENERAL INDEX.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLIV.
[ii]
LONDON:
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
[iii]
PREFACE.
The author of the Deipnosophists was an Egyptian, born in Naucratis, a town on the left side of the Canopic Mouth of the Nile. The age in which he lived is somewhat uncertain, but his work, at least the latter portion of it, must have been written after the death of Ulpian the lawyer, which happened A. D. 228.
Athenæus appears to have been imbued with a great love of learning, in the pursuit of which he indulged in the most extensive and multifarious reading; and the principal value of his work is, that by its copious quotations it preserves to us large fragments from the ancient poets, which would otherwise have perished. There are also one or two curious and interesting extracts in prose; such, for instance, as the account of the gigantic ship built by Ptolemæus Philopator, extracted from a lost work of Callixenus of Rhodes.
The work commences, in imitation of Plato's Phædo, with a dialogue, in which Athenæus and Timocrates supply the place of Phædo and Echecrates. The former relates to his friend the conversation which passed at a banquet given at the house of Laurentius, a noble Roman, between some of the guests, the best known of whom are Galen and Ulpian.
[iv] The first two books, and portions of the third, eleventh, and fifteenth, exist only in an Epitome, of which both the date and author are unknown. It soon, however, became more common than the original work, and eventually in a great degree superseded it. Indeed Bentley has proved that the only knowledge which, in the time of Eustathius, existed of Athenæus, was through its medium.
Athenæus was also the author of a book entitled, "On the Kings of Syria," of which no portion has come down to us.
The text which has been adopted in the present translation is that of Schweighäuser.
[v]
CONTENTS.
| BOOK I.—EPITOME. | |
| The Character of Laurentius—Hospitable and Liberal Men—Those who have written about Feasts—Epicures—The Praises of Wine—Names of Meals—Fashions at Meals—Dances—Games—Baths—Partiality of the Greeks for Amusements—Dancing and Dancers—Use of some Words—Exercise—Kinds of Food—Different kinds of Wine—The Produce of various places—Different Wines | 1-57 |
| BOOK II.—EPITOME. | |
| Wine—Drinking—The evils of Drunkenness—Praises of Wine—Water—Different kinds of Water—Sweetmeats—Couches and Coverlets—Names of Fruits—Fruit and Herbs—Lupins—Names of—Plants—Eggs—Gourds—Mushrooms—Asparagus—Onions—Thrushes—Brains—The Head—Pickle—Cucumbers—Lettuce—The Cactus—The Nile | 57-121 |
| BOOK III. | |
| Cucumbers—Figs—Apples—Citrons—Limpets—Cockles—Shell-fish—Oysters—Pearls—Tripe—Pigs' Feet—Music at Banquets—Puns on Words—Banquets—Dishes at Banquets—Fish—Shell-fish—Fish—Cuttle-fish—Bread—Loaves—Fish—Water Drinking—Drinking Snow—Cheesecakes—Χόνδοος | 121-210 |
| BOOK IV. | |
| Feast of Caranus—Supper of Iphicrates—Cooks—Dancing at Banquets—The Attic Banquet—Athenian Feasts—The Copis—The Phiditia—Cleomenes—Persian Banquets—Alexander the Great—Cleopatra—Banquets at Phigalea—Thracian Banquets—Celtic Banquets—Roman Banquets—Gladiatorial Combats—Temperance of the Lacedæmonians—The Theory of Euxitheus—Lentils—Spare Livers—Persæus—Diodorus—Extravagance—Luxury of the Tarentines—Extravagance of Individuals—Cooks' Apparatus—Use of Certain Words—Tasters—The Delphians—Musical Instruments—Kinds of Flutes—Wind Instruments | 210-287 |
| [vi]BOOK V. | |
| Banquets—Baths—Banquets—The Banquets described by Homer—Banquets—The Palaces of Homer's Kings—Conversation at Banquets—Customs in Homer's Time—Attitudes of Guests—Feast given by Antiochus—Extravagance of Antiochus—Ptolemy Philadelphus—Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus—A large Ship built by Ptolemy—The Ship of Ptolemy Philopator—Hiero's Ship—Banquet given by Alexander—Athenio—The Valour of Socrates—Plato's account of Socrates—Socrates—The Gorgons | 287-352 |
| BOOK VI. | |
| Tragedy—Fishmongers—Misconduct of Fishmongers—Use of particular Words—Use of Silver Plate—Silver Plate—Golden Trinkets—Use of Gold in different Countries—Parasites—Gynæconomi—Parasites—Flatterers of Dionysius—Flatterers of Kings—Flattery of the Athenians—Flatterers—The Tyrants of Chios—The Conduct of Philip—Flatterers and Parasites—The Mariandyni—Slaves—Drimacus—Condition of Slaves—Slaves—Banquets—The Effects of Hunger—The Mothaces—Slaves under the Romans—The Fannian Law | 353-432 |
| BOOK VII. | |
| The Phagesia—Fish—Epicures—Fish—Cooks—Sharks—Fish—Glaucus—Eels—The Tunny-Fish—Fish—Pike—Fish—The Polybus—Fish | 433-521 |
[1]
THE DEIPNOSOPHISTS,
OR
THE BANQUET OF THE LEARNED.[1:1]
*** The first two Books, and a portion of the third, as is known to the scholar, exist only in Epitome.
BOOK I.—EPITOME.
1. Athenæus is the author of this book; and in it he is discoursing with Timocrates: and the name of the book is the Deipnosophists. In this work Laurentius is introduced, a Roman, a man of distinguished fortune, giving a banquet in his own house to men of the highest eminence for every kind of learning and accomplishment; and there is no sort of gentlemanly knowledge which he does not mention in the conversation which he attributes to them; for he has put down in his book, fish, and their uses, and the meaning of their names; and he has described divers kinds of vegetables, and animals of all sorts. He has introduced also men who have written histories, and poets, and, in short, clever men of all sorts; and he discusses musical instruments, and quotes ten thousand jokes: he talks of the different kinds of drinking cups, and of the riches of kings, and the size of ships, and numbers of other things which I cannot easily enumerate, and the day would fail me if I endeavoured to go through them separately.
And the arrangement of the conversation is an imitation of a sumptuous banquet; and the plan of the book follows the arrangement of the conversation. This, then, is the delicious feast of words which this admirable master of the [2]feast, Athenæus, has prepared for us; and gradually surpassing himself, like the orator at Athens, as he warms with his subject, he bounds on towards the end of the book in noble strides.
2. And the Deipnosophists who were present at this banquet were, Masyrius, an expounder of the law, and one who had been no superficial student of every sort of learning; Magnus . . . [Myrtilus] a poet; a man who in other branches of learning was inferior to no one, and who had devoted himself in no careless manner to the whole circle of arts and learning; for in everything which he discussed, he appeared as if that was the sole thing which he had studied; so great and so various was his learning from his childhood. And he was an iambic poet, inferior to no one who has ever lived since the time of Archilochus. There were present also Plutarchus, and Leonidas of Elis, and Æmilianus the Mauritanian, and Zöilus, all the most admirable of grammarians.
And of philosophers there were present Pontianus and Democritus, both of Nicomedia; men superior to all their contemporaries in the extent and variety of their learning; and Philadelphus of Ptolemais, a man who had not only been bred up from his infancy in philosophical speculation, but who was also a man of the highest reputation in every part of his life. Of the Cynics, there was one whom he calls Cynulcus, who had not only two white dogs following him, as they did Telemachus when he went to the assembly, but a more numerous pack than even Actæon had. And of rhetoricians there was a whole troop, in no respect inferior to the Cynics. And these last, as well, indeed, as every one else who ever opened his mouth, were run down by Uppianus the Tyrian, who, on account of the everlasting questions which he keeps putting every hour in the streets, and walks, and booksellers' shops, and baths, has got a name by which he is better known than by his real one, Ceitouceitus. This man had a rule of his own, to eat nothing without saying κεῖται; ἢ οὐ κεῖται; In this way, "Can we say of the word ὥρα, that it κεῖται, or is applicable to any part of the day? And is the word μέθυσος, or drunk, applicable to a man? Can the word μήτρα, or paunch, be applied to any eatable food? Is the name σύαγρος a compound word applicable to a boar?"—And of physicians there were present Daphnus [3]the Ephesian, a man holy both in his art and by his manners, a man of no slight insight into the principles of the Academic school; and Galenus of Pergamos, who has published such numbers of philosophical and medical works as to surpass all those who preceded him, and who is inferior to none of the guests in the eloquence of his descriptions. And Rufinus of Mylæa.—And of musicians, Alcides of Alexandria, was present. So that the whole party was so numerous that the catalogue looks rather like a muster-roll of soldiers, than the list of a dinner party.
3. And Athenæus dramatises his dialogue in imitation of the manner of Plato. And thus he begins:—
TIMOCRATES. ATHENÆUS.
Tim. Were you, Athenæus, yourself present at that delightful party of the men whom they now call Deipnosophists; which has been so much talked of all over the city; or is it only from having heard an account of it from others that you spoke of it to your companions?
Ath. I was there myself, Timocrates.
Tim. I wish, then, that you would communicate to us also some of that agreeable conversation which you had over your cups;
as the bard of Cyrene[3:1] says somewhere or other; or must we ask some one else?
4. Then after a little while he proceeds to the praises of Laurentius, and says that he, being a man of a munificent spirit, and one who collected numbers of learned men about him, feasted them not only with other things, but also with conversation, at one time proposing questions deserving of investigation, and at another asking for information himself; not suggesting subjects without examination, or in any random manner, but as far as was possible with a critical and Socratic discernment; so that every one marvelled at the systematic character of his questions. And he says, too, that he was appointed superintendant of the temples and sacrifices by that best of all sovereigns Marcus;[3:2] and that he was no less conversant with the literature of the Greeks than with that of [4]his own countrymen. And he calls him a sort of Asteropæus,[4:1] equally acquainted with both languages. And he says that he was well versed in all the religious ceremonies instituted by Romulus, who gave his name to the city, and by Numa Pompilius; and that he is learned in all the laws of politics; and that he has arrived at all this learning solely from the study of ancient decrees and resolutions; and from the collection of the laws which (as Eupolis, the comic writer, says of the poems of Pindar) are already reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elegant learning. He had also, says he, such a library of ancient Greek books, as to exceed in that respect all those who are remarkable for such collections; such as Polycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus who was tyrant of Athens, and Euclides who was himself also an Athenian, and Nicorrates the Samian, and even the kings of Pergamos, and Euripides the poet, and Aristotle the philosopher, and Nelius his librarian; from whom they say that our countryman Ptolemæus, surnamed Philadelphus, bought them all, and transported them with all those which he had collected at Athens and at Rhodes to his own beautiful Alexandria. So that a man may fairly quote the verses of Antiphanes and apply them to him:—
And seek to open all the varied stores
Of high philosophy.
And as the Theban lyric poet[4:2] says:—
To wake the muse's choicest lays,
Such as the social feast around
Full oft our tuneful band inspire.
And when inviting people to his feasts, he causes Rome to be looked upon as the common country of all of them. For who can regret what he has left in his own country, while dwelling with a man who thus opens his house to all his friends. For as Apollodorus the comic poet says:—
How welcome you may be needs no long time
To feel assured of; blithe the porter looks,
[5] The house-dog wags his tail, and rubs his nose
Against your legs; and servants hasten quick,
Unbidden all, since their lord's secret wish
Is known full well, to place an easy chair
To rest your weary limbs.
5. It would be a good thing if other rich men were like him; since when a man acts in a different manner, people are apt to say to him, "Why are you so mean? Your tents are full of wine."
Such a course befits you best.
Such as this was the magnanimity of the great Alexander. And Conon, after he had conquered the Lacedæmonians in the sea-fight off Cnidus, and fortified the Piræus, sacrificed a real hecatomb, which deserved the name, and feasted all the Athenians. And Alcibiades, who conquered in the chariot race at the Olympic games, getting the first, and second, and fourth prizes, (for which victories Euripides wrote a triumphal ode,) having sacrificed to Olympian Jupiter, feasted the whole assembly. And Leophron did the same at the Olympic games, Simonides of Ceos writing a triumphal ode for him. And Empedocles of Agrigentum, having gained the victory in the horse race at the Olympic games, as he was himself a Pythagorean, and as such one who abstained from meat, made an image of an ox of myrrh, and frankincense, and the most expensive spices, and distributed it among all who came to that festival. And Ion of Chios, having gained the tragic crown at Athens, gave a pot of Chian wine to every Athenian citizen. For Antiphanes says:—
And seek to pile his treasures higher,
If it were not to aid his friends in their need,
And to gain for himself love's and gratitude's meed?
For all can drink and all can eat,
And it is not only the richest meat,
Or the oldest wine in the well-chased bowl
Which can banish hunger and thirst from the soul.
And Xenophanes of Chalcedon, and Speusippus the Academic philosopher, and Aristotle, have all written drinking songs.
And in the same manner Gellias of Agrigentum, being a very hospitable man, and very attentive to all his guests, gave a tunic and cloak to every one of five hundred horsemen who once came to him from Gela in the winter season.
[6] 6. The sophist uses the word Dinnerchaser, on which Clearchus says that Charmus the Syracusan adopted some little versicles and proverbs very neatly to whatever was put on the table. As on seeing a fish, he says:—
And when he saw some ceryces he said—
And on seeing tripe,
When a well-stuffed cuttlefish is served up,
When he saw some pickled char,
And on beholding a skinned eel,
Many such men then as these, he says, were present at Laurentius's supper; bringing books out of their bags, as their contribution to the picnic. And he says also that Charmus, having something ready for everything that was served up, as has been already said, appeared to the Massenians to be a most accomplished man; as also did Calliphanes, who was called the son of Parabrycon, who having copied out the beginnings of many poems and other writings, recollected three or four stanzas of each, aiming at a reputation for extensive learning. And many other men had in their mouths turbots caught in the Sicilian sea, and swimming eels, and the trail of the tunny-fish of Pachynum, and kids from Melos, and mullets from Symæthus. And, of dishes of less repute, there were cockles from Pelorum, anchovies from Lipara, turnips from Mantinea, rape from Thebes, and beet-root from the Ascræans. And Cleanthes the Tarentine, as Clearchus says, said everything while the drinking lasted, in metres. And so did Pamphilus the Sicilian, in this way:—
Likewise a pot, or else at least a cheesecake.
Being, says he, men with fair means, and not forced to earn their dinner with their hands,—
[7] 7. Archestratus the Syracusan or Geloan, in his work to which Chrysippus gives the title of Gastronomy, but Lynceus and Callimachus of Hedypathy, that is Pleasure, and which Clearchus calls Deipnology, and others Cookery, (but it is an epic poem, beginning,
says,
But not more than three, four, or five on one sofa;
For else it would be a disorderly Babel,
Like the hireling piratical band of a rover.
But he does not know that at the feast recorded by Plato there were eight and twenty guests present.
And, asked or not, they are sure to go down;
says Antiphanes; and he adds—
Should gladly feed;
and always
And hang them up an ox to feast upon.
8.
says the bard of Syracuse.[7:1] So that it is not easy to put all sorts of things on the table at one time; but it is easy to talk of all kinds of subjects at any time. Other men have written descriptions of feasts; and Tinachidas of Rhodes has done so in an epic poem of eleven books or more; and Numenius the Heraclean, the pupil of Dieuchas the physician; and Metreas of Pitane, the man who wrote parodies; and Hegemon of Thasos, surnamed Phacè, whom some men reckon among the writers of the Old Comedy. And Artemidorus, the false Aristophanes, collected a number of sayings relating to cookery. And Plato, the comic writer, mentions in his Phaon the banquet of Philoxenus the Leucadian.
| A. | But I have sought this tranquil solitude, To ponder deeply on this wondrous book. |
| B. | I pray you, what's the nature of its treasures? |
| A. | "Sauce for the million," by Philoxenus. |
| B. | Oh, let me taste this wisdom. |
| A. | Listen then; "I start with onions, and with tunnies end." |
| [8]B. | With tunnies? Surely, then, he keeps the best And choicest of his dishes for the last. |
| A. | Listen. In ashes first your onions roast Till they are brown as toast, Then with sauce and gravy cover; Eat them, you'll be strong all over. So much for earth; now list to me, While I speak of the sons of the sea. |
And presently he says:—
But a pan is better when 'tis to be had.
And presently again:—
Or mackarel of silv'ry sheen,
Lest the gods should scorn a sinner
Such as you, and spoil your dinner;
But dress them whole and serve them up,
And so you shall most richly sup.
Good sized polypus in season
Should be boil'd,—to roast them's treason;
But if early and not big,
Roast them; boil'd ain't worth a fig.
Mullets, though the taste is good,
Are by far too weakening food;
And the ills it brings to master
You will need a scorpion plaster.
9. And it is from this Philoxenus that the Philoxenean cheesecakes are named; and Chrysippus says of him, "I know an epicure, who carried his disregard of his neighbours to such an extent, that he would at the bath openly put in his hand to accustom it to the warm water, and who would rinse out his mouth with warm water, in order to be less affected by heat. And they said that he used to gain over the cooks to set very hot dishes before him, so that he might have them all to himself, as no one else could keep up with him. And they tell the same story about Philoxenus of Cythera, and about Archytas, and many more, one of whom is represented by Cromylus, the comic writer, as saying:—
And a throat to devour it too;
Curries and devils are my sweetest treat,
Not more like a man than a flue.
[9] But Clearchus says that Philoxenus would, after he had bathed, both when in his own country and in other cities, go round to men's houses, with his slaves following him, carrying oil, and wine, and pickle juice, and vinegar, and other condiments; and that so, going into other persons' houses, he would season what was dressed for them, putting in whatever was requisite; and then, when he had finished his labours, he would join the banquet. He, having sailed to Ephesus, finding the market empty, asked the reason; and learning that everything had been bought up for a wedding feast, bathed, and without any invitation went to the bridegroom's house, and then after the banquet he sang a wedding song, which began—
in such a manner as to delight every one, for he was a dithyrambic poet. And the bridegroom said, "Philoxenus, are you going to dine here to-morrow?" "Certainly," said he, "if no one sells any meat in the market."
10. But Theophilus says:—"We should not act like Philoxenus, the son of Eryxis; for he, blaming, as it seems, the niggardliness of nature, wished to have the neck of a crane for the purposes of enjoyment. But it would be better still to wish to be altogether a horse, or an ox, or a camel, or an elephant; for in the case of those animals the desires and pleasures are greater and more vehement; for they limit their enjoyments only by their power. And Clearchus says that Melanthius did pray in this way, saying, "Melanthius seems to have been wiser than Tithonus; for this last, having desired immortality, is hung up in a basket; being deprived of every sort of pleasure by old age. But Melanthius, being devoted to pleasure, prayed to have the neck of an ostrich, in order to dwell as long as possible on sweet things."
The same Clearchus says that Pithyllus, who was called Tenthes, not only had a covering to his tongue made of skin, but that he also wrapped up his tongue for the sake of luxury, and then that he rubbed it clean again with the skin of a fish. And he is the first of the epicures who is said to have eaten his meat with fingerstalls on, in order to convey it to his mouth as warm as possible. And others call Philoxenus Philicthus;[9:1] but Aristotle simply calls him Philodeipnus,[9:2] [10]writing in this way:—"Those who make harangues to the multitude, spend the whole day in looking at jugglers and mountebanks, and men who arrive from the Phasis or the Borysthenes; having never read a book in their lives except The Banquet of Philoxenus, and not all of that."
11. But Phanias says that Philoxenus of Cythera, a poet, being exceedingly fond of eating, once when he was supping with Dionysius, and saw a large mullet put before him and a small one before himself, took his up in his hands and put it to his ear; and, when Dionysius asked him why he did so, Philoxenus said that he was writing Galatea, and so he wished to ask the fish some of the news in the kingdom of Nereus; and that the fish which he was asking said that he knew nothing about it, as he had been caught young; but that the one which was set before Dionysius was older, and was well acquainted with everything which he wished to know. On which Dionysius laughed, and sent him the mullet which had been set before himself. And Dionysius was very fond of drinking with Philoxenus, but when he detected him in trying to seduce Galatea, whom he himself was in love with, he threw him into the stone quarries; and while there he wrote the Cyclops, constructing the fable with reference to what had happened to himself; representing Dionysius as the Cyclops, and the flute-player as Galatea, and himself as Ulysses.
12. About the time of Tiberius there lived a man named Apicius; very rich and luxurious; from whom several kinds of cheesecakes are called Apician. He spent myriads of drachms on his belly, living chiefly at Minturnæ, a city of Campania, eating very expensive crawfish, which are found in that place superior in size to those of Smyrna, or even to the crabs of Alexandria. Hearing too that they were very large in Africa, he sailed thither, without waiting a single day, and suffered exceedingly on his voyage. But when he came near the place, before he disembarked from the ship, (for his arrival made a great noise among the Africans,) the fishermen came alongside in their boats and brought him some very fine crawfish; and he, when he saw them, asked if they had any finer; and when they said that there were none finer than those which they brought, he, recollecting those at Minturnæ, ordered the master of the ship to sail back the same way into Italy, without going near the land. But Aristoxenus, [11]the philosopher of Cyrene, a real devotee of the philosophy of his country, (from whom, hams cured in a particular way are called Aristoxeni,) out of his prodigious luxury used to syringe the lettuces which grew in his garden with mead in the evening, and then, when he picked them in the morning, he would say that he was eating green cheesecakes, which were sent up to him by the Earth.
13. When the emperor Trajan was in Parthia, at a distance of many days' journey from the sea, Apicius sent him fresh oysters, which he had kept so by a clever contrivance of his own; real oysters, not like the sham anchovies which the cook of Nicomedes, king of the Bithynians, made in imitation of the real fish, and set before the king, when he expressed a wish for anchovies, (and he too at the time was a long way from the sea.) And in Euphron, the comic writer, a cook says:—
| A. | I am a pupil of Soterides, Who, when his king was distant from the sea Full twelve days' journey, and in winter's depth, Fed him with rich anchovies to his wish, And made the guests to marvel. |
| B. | How was that? |
| A. | He took a female turnip, shred it fine Into the figure of the delicate fish; Then did he pour on oil and savoury salt With careful hand in due proportion. On that he strew'd twelve grains of poppy seed, Food which the Scythians love; then boil'd it all. And when the turnip touch'd the royal lips, Thus spake the king to the admiring guests: "A cook is quite as useful as a poet, And quite as wise, and these anchovies show it." |
14. Archilochus, the Parian poet, says of Pericles, that he would often come to a banquet without being invited, after the fashion of the Myconians. But it seems to me that the Myconians are calumniated as sordid and covetous because of their poverty, and because they live in a barren island. At all events Cratinus calls Ischomachus of Myconos sordid.
| A. | But how can you be generous, if the son Of old Ischomachus of Myconos? |
| B. | I, a good man, may banquet with the good, For friends should have all their delights in common. |
Archilochus says:—
And yet give no return for them, nor wait
[12] To be invited, as a friend would do.
Your belly is your god, and thus misleads
Your better sense to acts of shamelessness.
And Eubulus, the comic writer, says somewhere:—
Philocrates and eke Philocrates.
For that one man I always count as two,
I don't know that I might not e'en say three.
They say that once when he was ask'd to dinner,
To come when first the dial gave a shade
Of twenty feet, he with the lark uprose,
Measuring the shadow of the morning sun,
Which gave a shade of twenty feet and two.
Off to his host he went, and pardon begg'd
For having been detain'd by business;
A man who came at daybreak to his dinner!
Amphis, the comic writer, says:—
At which he has nothing to pay,
Will be sure if in battle he's press'd,
To run like a coward away.
And Chrysippus says:—
Where the cost on others falls;
Let them, if they like it, pay
For your breakfasts, dinners, balls.
And Antiphanes says:—
Whom every one is glad to see,
Who from all care and cost is free.
And again:—
To be anxious for meat to put in my jaws.
I prepared all these quotations beforehand, and so came to the dinner, having studied beforehand in order to be able to pay my host a rent, as it were, for my entertainment.
The ancients had a word, μονοφαγεῖν, applied to those who eat alone. And so Antiphanes says:—
Why must I, too, eat alone?
And Ameipsias says:—
I'd guard against her as a base housebreaker.
[13] 15. Dioscorides, with respect to the laws praised in Homer, says, "The poet, seeing that temperance was the most desirable virtue for young men, and also the first of all virtues, and one which was becoming to every one; and that which, as it were, was the guide to all other virtues, wishing to implant it from the very beginning in every one, in order that men might devote their leisure to and expend their energies on honourable pursuits, and might become inclined to do good to, and to share their good things with others; appointed a simple and independent mode of life to every one; considering that those desires and pleasures which had reference to eating and drinking were those of the greater power, and of the highest estimation, and moreover innate in all men; and that those men who continued orderly and temperate in respect of them, would also be temperate and well regulated in other matters. Accordingly, he laid down a simple mode of life for every one, and enjoined the same system indifferently to kings and private individuals, and young men and old, saying:—