And again he says of Telemachus and his companion—

For it was unseemly, says Aristotle, for a man to come to a banquet all over sweat and dust. For a well-bred man ought not to be dirty nor squalid, nor to be all over mud, as Heraclitus says. And a man when he first enters another person's house for a feast, ought not to hasten at once to the banqueting-room, as if he had no care but to fill his stomach, but he ought first to indulge his fancy in looking about him, and to examine the house. And the poet has not omitted to take notice of this also.

And Aristophanes, in his Wasps, represents the rustic and litigious old man as invited to a more civilized form of life by his son—

And then showing him how he ought to sit down he says—

7. And again Homer instructs us as to what we ought to do before a banquet, namely how we ought to allot the first-fruits of the dishes to the gods. At all events Ulysses and his friends, although in the cave of the Cyclops—

And Achilles, although the ambassadors were impatient, as they had arrived in the middle of the night, still—

And also he introduces the guests as making libations—

And this ceremony Plato also observes in his Banquet. For he says—"Then after they had supped and made libations, they sang pæans to the god with all customary honours." And Xenophon speaks in very nearly the same terms. But in Epicurus there is no mention of any libation to the gods, or of any offering of first-fruits. But as Simonides says of an immodest woman—

8. He says too that the Athenians were taught the proper proportions in which wine should be mixed by Amphictyon when he was king; and that on this account he erected a temple to the Upright Bacchus. For he is then really upright and not likely to fall, when he is drunk in proper proportions and well mixed; as Homer has it—

For Homer does not call wine ἠλεὸς in the sense of ἠλίθιος, that is to say, foolish and the cause of folly. Nor does he bid a man be of a sullen countenance, neither singing nor laughing, nor ever turning himself to cheerful dancing in time to music. He is not so morose or ill-bred. But he knew the exact proportions in which all these things should be done, and the proper qualities and quantities of wine to be mixed. On which account he did not say that wine makes the sage sing, but sing very much, that is to say, out of tune and excessively, so as to trouble people. Nor, by Jove, did he say simply to smile, and, to frisk about; but using the [295]word merry, and applying that to both, he reproves the unmanly propensity to such trifling—

But in Plato none of these things are done in a moderate manner. But men drink in such quantities that they cannot even stand on their feet. For just look at the reveller Alcibiades, how unbecomingly he behaves. And all the rest drink a large goblet holding eight cotylæ, using as an excuse that Alcibiades has led them on; not like the men in Homer—

Now of these things some ought to be repudiated once for all; but some ought to be enjoyed in moderation; people looking at them as at a slight addition or appendage to a repast; as Homer has said—

9. And altogether the poet has attributed devotion to such things to the Suitors, and to the Phæacians, but not to Nestor or to Menelaus. And Aristarchus did not perceive that in his marriage feast, after the entertainment had lasted some time, and the principal days of the revel were over, in which the bride had been taken to the house of the bridegroom, and the marriage of Megapenthes was completed, Menelaus and Helen were left to themselves and feasted together. He, I say, not perceiving this, but being deceived by the first line—

he then added these lines, which do not properly belong to this place—

transferring them with the error in the reading and all from the eighteenth book of the Iliad, where he relates the making of the arms of Achilles; for it ought to be read not ἐξάρχοντες, the dancers beginning, but ἐξάρχοντος (τοῦ ᾠδοῦ, that is to say,) when the poet began to sing. For the word [296] ἐξάρχω has peculiar reference to preluding on the lyre. On which account Hesiod also says in his Shield of Hercules—

And Archilochus says—

And Stesichorus calls the Muse the Beginner of Song (ἀρχεσίμολπος). And Pindar calls Preludes the Leaders of the Dance. And Diodorus the Aristophanian enclosed the whole account of the wedding in brackets; thinking that the first days only were alluded to, and disregarding the termination and what came after the banquet. And then he says we ought to write the words δοίω δὲ κυβιστητῆρε κατ' αὐτοὺς with an aspirate, καθ' αὑτοὺς, but that would be a solecism. For κατ' αὐτοὺς is equivalent to κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς, but to say ἑαυτοὺς would be a solecism.

10. But, as I said before, the introduction of this kind of music into this modest kind of entertainment is transferred to this place from the Cretic dance, of which he says in the eighteenth book of the Iliad, about the Making of the Arms—

And then he adds to this—

Now among the Cretans, dancing and posture-making was a national amusement. On which account Æneas says to the Cretan Meriones—

[297] And from this they call the hyporchemata Cretan

"But they who were called Laconistæ," says Timæus, "used to sing standing to dance in square figures." And altogether there were many various kinds of music among the Greeks: as the Athenians preferred the Dionysiac and the Cyclian dances; and the Syracusians the Iambistic figure; and different nations practised different styles.

But Aristarchus not only interpolated lines which had no business there into the banquet of Menelaus, and by so doing made Homer make representations inconsistent with the system of the Lacedæmonians, and with the moderation of their king, but he also took away the singer from the Cretan chorus, mutilating his song in the following manner:—

So that blunder of his in using the word ἐξάρχοντες is almost irremediable, as the relation cannot after that possibly be brought back so as to refer to the singer.

11. And it is not probable that there were any musical entertainments at Menelaus's banquet, as is manifest from the fact of the whole time of the banquet being occupied by the guests in conversation with one another; and that there is no name mentioned as that of the minstrel; nor is any lay mentioned which he sang; nor is it said that Telemachus and his party listened to him; but they rather contemplated the house in silence, as it were, and perfect quiet. And how can it be looked upon as anything but incredible, that the sons of those wisest of men, Ulysses and Nestor, should be introduced as such ignorant people as, like clowns, not to pay the least attention to carefully prepared music? At all events Ulysses himself attends to the Phæacian minstrels:—

although he had plenty of things to distract his attention, and although he could say—

[298] How then can we think Telemachus any better than a mere clown, when a minstrel and a dancer are present, if he had bent silently towards Pisistratus and gazed on nothing but the plate and furniture? But Homer, like a good painter, makes Telemachus in every respect like his father; and so he has made each of them easily recognised, the one by Alcinous, and the other by Menelaus, by means of their tears.

12. But in the banquet of Epicurus there is an assembly of flatterers praising one another. And Plato's banquet is full of mockers, cavilling at one another; for I say nothing of the digression about Alcibiades. But in Homer it is only banquets conducted with moderation which are applauded; and on one occasion, a man addressing Menelaus says—

But he was reproving something which was either not said or not done with perfect correctness—

And again, he says—

For it is not right for a man to be a flatterer, nor a mocker.

Again, Epicurus, in his banquet, inquires about indigestion, so as to draw an omen from the answer: and immediately after that he inquires about fevers; for why need I speak of the general want of rhythm and elegance which pervades the whole essay? But Plato, (I say nothing about his having been harassed by a cough, and about his taking care of himself with constant gargling of water, and also by inserting a straw, in order that he might excite his nose so as to sneeze; for his object was to turn things into ridicule and to disparage them,) Plato, I say, turns into ridicule the equalized sentences and the antitheses of Agathon, and introduces Alcibiades, saying that he is in a state of excitement. But still those men who write in this manner, propose to expel Homer from their cities. But, says Demochares, "A spear is not made of a stalk of savory," nor is a good man made so by such discourses as these; and not only does he disparage [299]Alcibiades, but he also runs down Charmides, and Euthydemus, and many others of the young men. And this is the conduct of a man ridiculing the whole city of the Athenians, the Museum of Greece, which Pindar styled The Bulwark of Greece; and Thucydides, in his Epigram addressed to Euripides, The Greece of Greece; and the priest at Delphi termed it, The Hearth and Prytaneum of the Greeks. And that he spoke falsely of the young men one may perceive from Plato himself, for he says that Alcibiades, (in the dialogue to which he has prefixed his name,) when he arrived at man's estate, then first began to converse with Socrates, when every one else who was devoted to the pleasures of the body fell off from him. But he says this at the very beginning of the dialogue. And how he contradicts himself in the Charmides any one who pleases may see in the dialogue itself. For he represents Socrates as subject to a most unseemly giddiness, and as absolutely intoxicated with a passion for Alcibiades, and as becoming beside himself, and yielding like a kid to the impetuosity of a lion; and at the same time he says that he disregarded his beauty.

13. But also the banquet of Xenophon, although it is much extolled, gives one as many handles to blame it as the other. For Callias assembles a banqueting party because his favourite Autolycus has been crowned at the Panathenæa for a victory gained in the Pancratium. And as soon as they are assembled the guests devote their attention to the boy; and this too while his father is sitting by. "For as when light appears in the night season it attracts the eyes of every one, so does the beauty of Autolycus attract the eyes of everybody to itself. And then there was no one present who did not feel something in his heart because of him; but some were more silent than others, and some betrayed their feelings by their gestures." But Homer has never ventured to say anything of that sort, not even when he represents Helen as present; concerning whose beauty though one of those who sat opposite to her did speak, all he said, being overcome by the truth, was this—

[300] And then he adds—

But the young men who had come to Menelaus's court, the son of Nestor and Telemachus, when over their wine, and celebrating a wedding feast, and though Helen was sitting by, kept quite quiet in a decorous manner, being struck dumb by her renowned beauty. But why did Socrates, when to gratify some one or other he had tolerated some female flute-players, and some boy dancing and playing on the harp, and also some women tumbling and posture-making in an unseemly manner, refuse perfumes? For no one would have been able to restrain his laughter at him, recollecting these lines—

And what followed after was very inconsistent with his austerity. For Critobulus, a very well-bred young man, mocks Socrates, who was aged and his tutor, saying he was much uglier than the Sileni; but he discusses beauty with him, and selecting as judges the boy and the dancing woman, makes the prize to be the kisses of the judges. Now what young man meeting with this writing would not be corrupted rather than excited to virtue?

14. But in Homer, in the banquet of Menelaus, they propose to one another questions as in ordinary conversation, and chatting with one another like fellow-citizens, they entertain one another and us too. Accordingly, Menelaus, when Telemachus and his friends come from the bath-room, and when the tables and the dishes are laid, invites them to partake of them, saying—

and then he helps them to what he has before him, treating them in the most friendly manner—

And they, eating in silence, as it becomes young men to do, converse with one another, leaning forwards gently, not about [301]the food, as Homer tells us, nor about the maid-servants of him who had invited them, and by whom, they had been washed, but about the riches of their entertainer—

For that, according to Seleucus, is the best reading; and Aristarchus is wrong when he writes—

For they are not admiring the beauty of building alone; for how could there be amber, and silver, and ivory in the walls? But they spoke partly about the house, as when they used the expression "the sounding house," for that is the character of large and lofty rooms; and they spoke also of the furniture—

So that it is a natural addition to say—

But the statement,

has no connexion with—

and it would be a pure solecism and a very unusual reading.

15. Besides, the word αὐλὴ is not adapted to a house; for a place which the wind blows through is what is called αὐλὴ. And we say that a place which receives the wind on both sides διαυλωνίζει. And so again, αὐλὸς is an instrument through which the wind passes, (namely, a flute,) and every figure which is stretched out straight we call αὐλὸς, as a stadium, or a flow of blood—

[302] And we call a helmet also, when it rises up in a ridge out of the centre, αὐλῶπις. And at Athens there are some sacred places called αὐλῶνες, which are mentioned by Philochorus in his ninth book. And they use the word in the masculine gender, ὁι αὐλῶνες, as Thucydides does in his fourth book; and as, in fact, all prose writers do. But the poets use it in the feminine gender. Carcines says in his Achilles—

And Sophocles, in his Scythians, writes—

And therefore we ought to understand that it is used as a feminine noun by Eratosthenes in his Mercury—

instead of βαθεῖα, just as we find θῆλυς ἐέρση, where θῆλυς is feminine. Everything of that kind then is called αὐλὴ or αὐλών; but at the present day they call palaces αὐλαὶ, as Menander does—

And Diphilus says—

And they got this name from having large spaces in front of their buildings exposed to the open air, or else, because the guards of the palace were stationed, and took their rest in the open air. But Homer always classes the αὐλὴ among the places exposed to the air, where the altar of Jupiter Herceus stood. And so Peleus is found—

And so Priam lay:—

And Ulysses says to Phemius—

But that Telemachus was praising not only the house, but also the riches which it contained, is made plain by the reply of Menelaus—

16. But we must return back to the banquet, in which Homer very ingeniously devises a subject for conversation, by comparing the acquisition of riches with that of a friend. For he does not put it forward as a grave proposition for discussion, but Menelaus inserts it in his conversation very gracefully, after he has heard them praise himself and his good fortune; not denying that he is rich, but from that very circumstance deprecating envy, for he says that he has acquired those riches so that,

He does not indeed think it right to compare himself with the gods—

But then, after displaying his affectionate disposition as a brother, and saying that he is compelled to live and to be rich, he opposes to this the consideration of friendship—

Who could there be then of the descendants of those men who had died in his cause, who would not think his grief for the death of his father as fair a compensation as could be given by grateful recollection? But still, that he may not appear to look upon them all in the same light, though they had all equally shown their good-will to him, he adds—

And that he may not seem to disregard any one of his family he names them all separately—

And while he is weeping at the recollection of his father, Menelaus observes him; and, in the interim, Helen had come in, and she also conjectured who Telemachus was from his likeness to Ulysses, (for women, because of their habit of observing one another's modesty, are wonderfully clever at detecting the likeness of children to their parents,) and after Pisistratus had interfered with some observation, (for it was not fitting for him to stand by like a mute on the stage,) and said something appropriate and elegant about the modesty of Telemachus; again Menelaus made mention of his affection for Ulysses, that of all men in the world he was the one in whose companionship he wished to grow old.

17. And then, as is natural, they all weep; and Helen, as being the daughter of Jupiter, and as having learnt of the philosophers in Egypt many expedients of all kinds, pours into some wine a medicinal panacea, as it was in reality; and begins to relate some of the exploits of Ulysses, while working at her loom in the meantime; not doing this so much for the purpose of amusement, as because she had been bred up in that way at home. And so Venus, coming to her after the single combat in the Iliad, takes a form not her own—

And her industry is made manifest not in a merely cursory manner, in the following description—

And she seems to be aware of her own proficiency in the art: at all events, when she presents Telemachus with a robe, she says—

And that fondness for employment proves her temperance and modesty. For she is never represented as luxurious or arrogant, because of her beauty. Accordingly, she is found at her loom weaving and embroidering—

18. And Homer teaches us that those who have been invited to a feast, ought to ask leave of their entertainers before they rise up to depart. And so Telemachus does to Menelaus—

And Minerva, when pretending to be Mentor, says to Nestor—

And in the feasts of the gods it does not appear to have been considered proper to remain too long at the table. Accordingly, Minerva says, very sententiously, in Homer—

And now there is a law in existence that there are some sacrificial feasts from which men must depart before sunset. And among the Egyptians formerly every kind of banquet was conducted with great moderation; as Apollonius has said, who wrote a treatise on the feasts of the Egyptians; for [306]they ate in a sitting posture, using the very simplest and most wholesome food; and only just as much wine as was calculated to put them in cheerful spirits, which is what Pindar entreats of Jupiter—

But the banquet of Plato is not an assembly of grave men, nor a conversazione of philosophers. For Socrates does not choose to depart from the banquet, although Eryximachus, and Phædrus, and some others, have already left it; but he stays till a late hour with Agathon and Aristophanes, and drinks from the silver well; for fairly has some one given this name to large cups. And he drinks out of the bowl cleverly, like a man who is used to it. And Plato says, that after this those two others began to nod, and that first of all Aristophanes fell asleep, and when day began to break so did Agathon; and that Socrates, after he had sent them both to sleep, rose up from table himself and went away to the Lyceum, when he might, says Herodicus, have gone to Homer's Læstrygones—

19. But every banqueting party among the ancients was referred to the gods; and accordingly men wore garlands appropriate and peculiar to the gods, and used hymns and odes. And there were no slaves to attend upon the guests, but free youths acted as the cupbearers. So the son of Menelaus, although he was the bridegroom, and at his own wedding, acted; and in the poem of the beautiful Sappho, even Mercury acts as the cupbearer to the gods. And they were free men who prepared everything else for the guests. And after they had supped they went away while it was still daylight. But at some of the Persian feasts there were also councils held, as there were in the tent of Agamemnon with respect to the further conduct of the Trojan war. Now as to the entertainment given by Alcinous, to which the discourse of Ulysses refers where he says—