year, like that of the day, and therefore the length of the night hours is continually decreasing and increasing, a very complicated network of lines was required; four vertical lines denoted the length of the hours at the two solstices and the two equinoxes, so that the exact ratio was given for these days. At other times they had to make shift with a more or less exact calculation, assisted by horizontal curves, which connected together the third, sixth, ninth, and twelfth hours (Compare the scheme represented in Fig. 93, which shows the network of lines engraved on the glass vessel.) The longest and shortest days are here set down according to the latitude of Athens, the former as 14 hours, 36 minutes, 56 seconds, the latter as 9 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds. The improvement of Ctesibius consisted in adding a table with horizontal hour-lines to the water-vessel, on which a metal wire, fastened to a cork that swam on the water, marked the time by its position, which rose according to the increase of the water. These clocks could, of course, be used in the daytime, when the weather made the sun-dial useless, but a different scale was required from that of the night clocks. Still, as the difference between the longest night and the longest day, and the shortest night and the shortest day, is very slight, the same scale could really be used for day and night, but in reverse order as indicated by Fig. 93.

Let us now consider the manner in which an Athenian citizen usually divided his time. We cannot, of course, name any definite hour for rising, still it seems probable that early rising was the rule at Athens, and that not only the artisans began their work directly after sunrise, but that the schools, too, often opened early. The morning toilet does not seem to have occupied much time. In washing, a slave poured water over his master from an ewer over a basin, and some substitute for soap, such as fuller’s earth or lye, was used; men who lived very simple lives, like Socrates, probably performed their ablutions at one of the public wells. Breakfast was a scanty meal, and generally consisted of unmixed wine and bread. After that, artisans or others who had a definite trade went to their daily occupations; but the citizens who had no regular profession, unless attracted by some other occupation, such as hunting, generally spent the morning hours visiting their friends, practising gymnastics, or, supposing they put off these occupations to a later hour, visiting the barber to have their hair arranged or their beards cut or shaved. As we have already discussed the question of hair-dressing (p. 65), we will here only give a picture of some ancient bronze razors (Fig. 94), which are of semi-circular shape, and differ essentially from our modern ones. The pretty terra-cotta group

from Tanagra, in Fig. 95, transports us to a barber’s shop; a worthy citizen, apparently covered by a long dressing-mantle, is seated on a low stool, while a short man standing behind him—perhaps a slave—is carefully cutting his hair with a pair of scissors. Barbers undertook the care of both hair and beard, and cut and cleaned the nails. These barbers’ shops were also meeting-places for the citizens—not only for idlers, but, generally speaking, for all who desired to hear the news. This custom still prevails in many parts of Italy, especially in the south, where the Salone is a general meeting-place. Even in ancient times barbers had a reputation for being talkative. Every day many people entered their shops, and among them strangers who brought news and expected to receive some in exchange. It is well known that the news of the defeat of the Athenian expedition to Sicily was first made known in a barber’s shop in the Peiraeus by a stranger who had just landed.

All this occupied about the first quarter of the day; the second part was devoted to visiting the market. The market-place served not only its original end as a place for selling, but was also the place where acquaintances met and business was transacted. Here stood the money-changers and the bankers, at their booths or shops; here were shady arcades, with comfortable seats, where the hot rays of the sun might be avoided in summer, while there was opportunity in the winter of profiting by the warmth of the workshops situated close by the market-place. It was a very general custom in cold weather to go to public baths or smiths’ workshops, where a warm stove could certainly be found, and poor people, who did not possess the means of warming themselves at home, often pressed so eagerly to the bath-stoves that they singed their clothes. In fact, it was a very general custom to enter any workshop or booth to have a chat with the owner or the visitors there, even without any intention of making purchases. We need not, therefore, be surprised when we hear of Socrates visiting a shoemaker or a sculptor or any other artisan and beginning a discussion with him; this custom was so general that meetings were arranged in the workshops—thus, for instance, the people of Decelea, when they came to Athens, always met at a particular barber’s shop.

The men also went to market with the object of making purchases, for at Athens, curiously enough, this shopping was not undertaken by the women or their servants, but by the men instead, who were accompanied by a slave, and themselves purchased the required food, and in particular the fish, so very popular at Athens, for which there was a special market, whose beginning was announced by a bell. Later on, in the third century, it seems to have been no longer regarded as correct for the master of the house to make his own purchases; in the richer houses there was a special slave (ἀγοραστής) kept for this purpose; female slaves, too, were sometimes sent.

At mid-day the market was usually over; then the men went home and took a slight repast, not by any means the chief meal of the day, but rather something like our lunch. This meal, of course, varied a good deal according to individual fancy; many people contented themselves with the remains of the previous day’s dinner, others had fresh warm dishes served them; and in Sicily and Magna Graecia, where great stress was laid on good and plentiful food, this often became a really substantial meal. Some people entirely omitted this lunch, and either took a late breakfast or an earlier dinner. Still, most well-to-do people seem to have taken some meal at the end of their morning’s business.

The afternoon was spent in various ways. The heat which prevails at this time during the greater part of the year generally compelled people to stay at home then; some took a little mid-day nap, but this was not very general. Men of serious disposition devoted these hours to reading or other intellectual pursuits, while those who were inclined to idleness probably went, even in the afternoon, to the houses devoted to dice-throwing and drinking, or else dawdled about in the barbers’ shops, workshops, etc.; the club rooms, which were specially devoted to social intercourse among the citizens, were probably very full at this time. Between the third and fourth divisions of the day, they generally took a bath as a preparation for dinner. The custom of taking a warm bath daily had at first found much opposition in Greece. In Homer we find warm baths only mentioned as a refreshment after long journeys or other fatigues, or else used for purposes of cleanliness; later on, cold baths, especially in the sea or in streams, were recommended as good for the health and strengthening for the nerves, while warm baths were looked upon as enervating; still the custom became very common of taking a bath before dinner, either at home or in one of the public baths. We have already introduced our readers to a public bath for women; Fig. 96 represents a public bath for men, taken from a vase picture. In the middle is the bath room, where the water is pouring out of two animals’ heads. On the right and left are youths who have already taken their bath, and are about to anoint themselves with oil. We know very little about these public baths from writers or from remains of the buildings. They were certainly not nearly so large or so luxurious as the Thermae of the Roman Empire; but even in the Greek baths there were separate apartments for warm, cold, and vapour baths, with large reservoirs or smaller basins, in which water was poured out over the body, also rooms for undressing, anointing, etc. The more the custom grew of remaining for hours in these places or connecting them with the gymnasia, the more extensive they became and

the more luxurious. We cannot accurately ascertain to what extent the State sometimes owned these public baths and attended to their maintenance, but admission was not free even to these; a small fee was paid to the bath attendant, who superintended the place, and rendered assistance in the bath, not perhaps to cover the expenses of maintenance, so much as for his own trouble and labour. The owners of private establishments were obliged to charge higher fees if they wanted not only to cover their expenses, but also to gain a profit; mention is made of a private bathing establishment which was sold for 3,000 drachmae, and must, therefore, have brought in corresponding interest to the purchaser, which could only be obtained by the entrance fees of the bathers. The owner and attendants were responsible for the care of the bath, but not for the clothes of the bathers, which were often stolen. Those who had plenty of slaves used, therefore, to bring one with them to carry the utensils required for the bath, such as towels, oil flasks, and strigils, and to watch over his master’s clothes while he was bathing. As the custom of taking a warm bath daily became more general, the scene in the bath houses an hour before dinner grew more and more animated. Talking and joking went on; cheerfully-disposed people even sang, though that was regarded as unseemly; in the rooms devoted to refreshment after the bath they played knuckle-bones, or dice, or ball, sometimes even cottabus, for which game wine was necessary, and hence we must infer that opportunity for wine drinking was also given there in later times.

Towards sunset, or in winter after sunset, they returned home for the principal meal, or else went to the house of some friend who had invited guests. In the latter case the meal was generally a good deal prolonged, and followed by drinking, which extended far into the night. Those who dined at home with their wives and children generally finished their meal very quickly, and as the custom of early rising prevailed, they were probably in the habit of retiring early, unless the cares of business, study, or other serious pursuits kept some of them awake by lamplight; for the quiet of the night was a propitious time for serious thought after the noise of the day, which was probably as great in ancient times in the busy south as it is to-day. It is well-known that Demosthenes prepared nearly all his speeches at night.

There were also many other occupations, partly serious, partly entertaining, which filled up the life of the Greek citizen. At the time of the highest political development of Athens, in the fifth and fourth centuries, the political and judicial duties occupied a considerable amount of a citizen’s time. Even if he did not fill any of the numerous unpaid posts, or sit in the Council of Five Hundred, the Boule, whose duty it was to hold preliminary discussions, he still had to devote about forty days of the year to the ordinary popular assemblies, in addition to which there were often extraordinary meetings. Supposing the lot should have appointed him to be one of the 6,000 jurymen (ἡλιασταί) annually chosen, this gave him plenty to do for his year of office, for, besides the meetings, he had to acquire information about various suits at which he had to give his opinion; and we know, chiefly from Aristophanes, how devoted many citizens were to their judicial duties, and how all their thoughts and actions were often centred in this activity, which by no means always exercised a good moral influence over them. Rich citizens also performed voluntary public services (λειτουργίαι), which consisted partly in entertaining the people by providing scenic or choric representations, gymnastic games, torchlight processions, etc., partly in important services to the State, such as equipping a man-of-war at their own expense. These voluntary services not only imposed on the rich citizens considerable money burdens, which in later times, when the Athenian wealth had diminished, could no longer be met by one individual, but also took up a great deal of their time, since they had not only to supply the necessary money, but also to superintend and arrange the work. Another change in the monotony of daily life was supplied by the religious festivals, in which the Attic calendar was unusually rich, and the theatrical and other performances connected with them, with which we shall deal later on.

Those who possessed estates in the country, even when they lived in town, often went out to them to look after the management; hunting and bird-catching were also very popular occupations. The former especially was a favourite amusement. Hunting in ancient times was very different from what it is at the present day; this is partly due to the great difference between our modern firearms and the hunting implements of the ancients, partly to their almost universal custom of using nets, into which they drove the game and there killed it. These nets were used for nearly all quadrupeds which they hunted, and the strength and density of the meshes differed according to the object hunted, as well as the method of arrangement. There were in particular bag nets, which were drawn together behind the game when it ran into it, and falling nets, which were hung loosely on forked sticks, and when the animal ran against them fell down from the sticks and entangled it. Snares were also used for catching not only hares and foxes, but also larger four-footed game, such as boars and stags. In consequence of this custom of driving the game, and bringing it to bay, bows which were calculated for longer distances were of very little use in hunting; the animals were either killed by a light javelin thrown from a small distance, or, if the game had turned to bay, with a hanger, which was especially useful in boar hunting. Dogs were used for starting the game and driving it into the nets at bay, and the ancients devoted a good deal of care to their training; indeed, the important part played by dogs in Greek hunting is expressed by the Greek name for huntsman, which means “dog leader” (κυνηγός). They used to hunt boars, stags, hares; beasts of prey, such as wolves and jackals, were only hunted when they were dangerous to the herds; and larger animals, such as lions and bears, did not exist at all in Greece in historic ages, although the numerous legends of lion hunts bear sufficient testimony to their existence in earlier times. Birds were caught with nets, snares, traps, and lime; and, since Greece was by no means rich in quadrupeds suitable for hunting, bird-catching was one of the most popular occupations, and also a lucrative one. On the other hand, fishing, which was carried on with both lines and nets, seems never to have become a regular sport.

We have already alluded to the practice of visiting the gymnasia, and the military duties of the citizens. There were also public houses and gaming houses, but these do not appear to have played a great part in the lives of the men. The drinking parties supplied sufficient opportunity for social meetings. Those who visited the public drinking bars usually did so for other purposes as well—to see pretty girls or to meet companions for dice, though both these purposes could be effected in special houses. It is natural, therefore, that it was not regarded as respectable to visit these wine taverns, and that grave men, as well as youths of good principle, avoided them. Still, even here the custom seems to have gradually relaxed, and though the Athenians were never as bad as the inhabitants of Byzantium, who were accused of spending the whole day at the bars, yet at the end of the fourth and in the third century B.C. it was very common for young men, or people of the lower classes, to dawdle about in the wine bars and gaming houses.

Travelling played a far less important part in the life of the Greeks than it does at the present day. In ancient times almost the only inducement for travelling was business. The merchant plied his trade chiefly as a sailor, the small shopkeeper travelled about the country as a pedlar. In the heroic period we also find artisans and travelling singers on their wanderings, and in the first centuries of the development of art, and to some extent even afterwards, sculptors and architects were summoned from a distance to execute commissions under the orders of the State, or some special board of officials. But those who were neither merchants nor artisans had less inducement to travel; for military expeditions, which of course were numerous, can hardly be included among journeys. There were also official embassies and pilgrimages to celebrated shrines, or visits to the great national festivals. Again, Solon, Herodotus, and others travelled for political or scientific purposes, with a view to study history or ethnography, that they might learn to know foreign nations, their manners and customs, countries and buildings. In the Alexandrine period, journeys were also undertaken for purposes of natural science. Our modern custom of visiting foreign lands for the sake of their natural beauty was unknown in Greek antiquity, but we must not on that account suppose that the ancients had no feeling for natural beauty. The Odyssey gives a picture of travel in heroic times; the common man trudges along on foot, while the rich man goes in his carriage, drawn by horses or mules, and the fact that the latter was possible even in the mountainous Peloponnesus, proves that even at that period good roads must have existed there. The Greeks never attained as great perfection in road-making as the Romans; apparently those roads were kept in best condition which led to the national sanctuaries, and here regular tracks were cut out of the rocky ground, and there were places for passing other carriages, halting places, etc. This was not, however, the case with all the roads, and we must not assume that ancient Greece possessed a well-kept complicated network of streets, such as the practical Romans constructed at every place to which their legions came; indeed, in historic times it appears that people travelled very little in carriages. Of course these had to be used on long journeys, especially when women were travelling; then they used four-wheeled carriages, which were sometimes used for sleeping in; and they also had smaller two-wheeled carts. But as a rule men travelled on horse-back or mule-back, and very often merely on foot, followed by one or many slaves, who carried the baggage required for the journey, in particular bed-coverings, clothes, utensils, etc.

If it was necessary to spend the night anywhere on a journey of several days, the widespread beautiful custom of hospitality which prevailed in ancient times, and made men regard every stranger as under the protection of Zeus, enabled them to find shelter; and, though this custom could not maintain itself in later times in its full extent, yet the effects of it still remained, and many people entered into a sort of treaty of hospitality with men in other towns, which was usually handed on to the descendants. By this they pledged themselves on the occasion of visits from members of one or the other family, to receive them in their houses and afford them the rights of hospitality; some little token of recognition previously agreed on—such as a little tablet, a ring broken into two halves, or something else of the sort—was used in such cases to legitimise the stranger. Sometimes whole districts entered into a league of this kind with one another, or one single rich man became the “guest-friend” of some foreign community, and entertained them when they came to his home. The service of the “guest-friend” was not always extended so far as to supply complete entertainment to the stranger as well as lodging; often he only supplied the lodging, the necessary coverings for the bed, and the use of the fire, which could not easily be procured, but in other respects left the guest, if he had brought servants with him, to provide for himself; some additional gifts of hospitality were usually sent him. Still this custom of “guest-friendship” was not sufficient to supply shelter for all travellers; therefore inns were opened in large trading cities, near harbours, and places of pilgrimage, such as Delos, Delphi, Olympia, etc., where strangers were entertained for payment. These inns were of very various character—some of them apparently supplied only rooms and a little furniture, especially bedsteads, while the stranger brought his own bed and coverlets, and had to provide his own food; others supplied food and drink, and were often houses of ill-fame, and in consequence it is natural that the position of inn-keeper should have been generally looked down upon in Greek antiquity. Probably these inns were not particularly pleasant places to stay in; very often the landlord cheated the travellers, and it was customary to arrange the price of everything beforehand; there were also inns which were used as hiding-places by robbers and thieves, and thus might prove dangerous quarters for the guests. Another disagreeable accompaniment of southern inns, even in the present day, is hinted at by Aristophanes in the “Frogs,” when Dionysus, on his journey to Hades, inquires for the inns in which there are fewest fleas. Travellers do not seem to have troubled themselves about passports; a legitimation was only necessary when the town to which they were going was engaged in war, or when they went into a hostile country in time of war. But to travel at all at such times was not advisable, for the roads, which at no time were specially safe, were then infested by travelling mercenaries or marauders. Sometimes travellers had to submit to an examination of their luggage. Officials generally farmed out the tolls to private undertakers, and these therefore had, or at any rate took, the right, if they suspected travellers of trying to smuggle dutiable articles, to stop them and examine their luggage, and sometimes even to open letters which they had by them.

CHAPTER VI.

MEALS AND SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS.

In considering the meals of the historical period, particularly at Athens, we must remember that we are dealing specially with large common banquets, which were very frequent among men, and not with the usual family meal, which the master of the house took in the circle of his family. We know very little of the proceedings at these family dinners, and that only from works of art. On Greek reliefs on tombstones we often find, from the classical to the Imperial period, representations of the family meal, where the master of the house lies on his couch, his wife sitting on it at his feet, for it was not considered correct for women to lie down at meals as the men did, and when we see on works of art women lying down along with the men, we may be certain that these are hetaerae, who were not bound by the same rules of custom. The children of the house sat round the table on chairs. But as a rule, the wife and children only dined in the most intimate family circle; when guests were invited they dined alone in the women’s apartments, and only on some few occasions, especially weddings and family festivals, were the women allowed to appear before the men.

The custom of entertainments for men alone was far more common in antiquity than at the present day; for these banquets took the place not only of our parties and other social gatherings, but they also gave the men an opportunity, especially in the drinking which followed, while sitting together over their wine, to discuss at their leisure both serious and frivolous matters. There were also plenty of festive occasions which gave opportunities for these common banquets; a public or private sacrifice was a very common excuse, if only because the flesh of the victim—of which, as a rule, only the entrails were burnt—could be best made use of in this manner. There were also birthdays, funerals, victories in some contest or game, departure or return from a journey of a friend, etc.; all these occasions were celebrated by feasts, and there were also great public banquets, which were usually of a simpler character, owing to the number of guests and the fact that the expenses were publicly defrayed. Besides these meals, to which individuals invited their friends or relations, picnics were very common. Very often all who participated sent baskets of provisions into the house of one who gave up his rooms for the purpose; but it was even commoner for each to contribute a certain share of money, and thus to defray the expenses of the meal, which was taken at the house of one of the participants, or of some obliging hetaera. We do not know what arrangement was made about the wine, and whether the expenses of this were also defrayed out of the general charge.

Generally speaking, in the fifth and fourth centuries there was a great deal of simple and pleasant social intercourse; friends were invited without any ceremony, during the course of the day, to come to the evening meal. If they did not appear at the appointed hour, the meal began without them, and if the guest put in his appearance later on, this was regarded as a matter of course. It seems not to have been unusual to go even uninvited to the meal or to the Symposium which followed it, and one of the speakers in Plato’s “Symposium” suggests the following version of a line in Homer:—

“To the feasts of the good, the good unbidden go.”

Sometimes idle fellows, such as the parasites who were always hunting for a dinner, made too liberal use of this hospitality, or persons made their appearance who did not suit with the rest of the company and would have disturbed the general harmony. In such cases the door keeping slave received the order to send away certain persons, saying, “My master is not at home,” or else, “He has already retired to rest.”

The usual course of proceedings at one of these banquets was as follows. The invited guests, who according to custom had previously attended the bath, first took their places sitting on the couches placed ready for them. The slaves of the host, or even of the guests, who often brought them to help wait at table, then took off their masters’ sandals or shoes, and as the dust of the street might have soiled their feet, which were but slightly protected by the soles, these were washed once more by the slaves, a proceeding which was the more necessary, as in lying down they often rested on couches covered with very valuable coverlets. Hereupon they lay down, as a rule two guests on one sofa, but the monuments often show us three or even more persons on a single couch, and we cannot always determine with certainty whether the artist has adhered to the actual practice or introduced arbitrary changes of his own. In lying down they rested on their left elbow, or on numerous cushions at their back; the right arm was left free, in order to take the food from the table and reach it to the mouth; but plates, dishes, cups, etc., were also taken in the left hand. When the guests had all lain down and washed their hands in bowls handed round for the purpose, the little three-legged dining tables were brought in, which were always a little lower than the sofas. On these the food was arranged in dishes or plates, and always cut up small, for forks were never used at table, but only in the kitchen by the cooks for carving the meat, whilst the guests made use, instead, of a spoon or sometimes of a piece of bread hollowed out, and very seldom used a knife. Table cloths and napkins were unknown; the place of the latter was taken by soft dough, on which the fingers were rubbed. At large banquets, sometimes towels and water for washing the hands were handed round between the courses, and this was always done at the end of a meal. The practice of using the fingers for eating made this indispensable.

Luxurious living, which was of course unknown at Sparta, was far less common at Athens, too, than in many other Greek states, such as Thessaly, and in particular Sicily and Magna Graecia. In these places the gastronomic art was cultivated to a high degree, and there were books in which the various kinds of joints and ragouts, fishes and sweets, etc., were enumerated in verse, sometimes in a comic manner and sometimes with due seriousness. The Boeotians, on the other hand, had a bad name for consuming great quantities of food, and this of a coarse description. At Athens, in the classic period, meals were, as a rule, simple and modest. In the various descriptions of banquets handed down to us by different writers, no mention is ever made of the cooking, and the simplicity of Plato’s meals may be inferred from the somewhat malicious remark commonly made that those who had dined with Plato would be in excellent health next morning.

The meat most in use was that of the sacrificial animals, especially oxen, sheep, goats, and swine; this last was very popular, both roast and salted or smoked, and was also used for sausages. The ancients were acquainted with various kinds of sausage; we find allusions to these even in Homer; they were also acquainted with the practice of adulterating them by introducing the flesh of dogs or asses. In poultry, they had fowls, ducks, geese, quails, and also wild birds, such as partridges and wood pigeons; the special favourites were thrushes, which were a very popular dainty in the poultry market, where dishonest poulterers blew the birds up in order to make them seem fatter and in better condition. A favourite kind of game was hare, which is very frequently mentioned; they even had a proverb, “To live in the midst of roast hare,” which means to be in a land of plenty. Fish, too, was eaten in great quantities. In the Homeric period the taste for it did not yet exist, but in later times it was very much sought after. A special delicacy was eels, from Lake Copais, which are often mentioned, and were favourites with all the Athenian gourmets. Otherwise, sea fish was preferred to fresh-water fish, and there seems no end to the various kinds mentioned, which were also prepared in many different ways. The inexhaustible wealth of the neighbouring sea permitted even the poor people to have fish in plenty; in particular, the delicate sardines, which were caught in the harbour of Phalerum, and which were cheap and also quickly prepared, formed an important article of food for the Athenians. There were also great quantities of salt and smoked fish, which were prepared in the large smoking establishments of the Black Sea and on the coast of Spain, and brought by traders to Greece. The salted tunnies, herrings, etc., were excellent and also cheap, and therefore very common as food for the people. In the houses of the richer classes the finer kinds were also used—various sorts of fish sauces, caviar, oysters, turtles, etc., which added to the variety of the bills of fare, and could satisfy even the daintiest palates.

Under the heading of vegetable food, we must first of all consider bread and porridge. The kinds of grain chiefly used were wheat and barley, as well as spelt; rye was not cultivated in Greece, and rye bread was regarded as food for barbarians. Bread was made chiefly of wheat, and was white or brown, according to the greater or less addition of bran and the finer quality of the flour. But the common people did not eat much wheaten bread; the chief daily food of the poorer people was a kind of barley cake, called maza, a sort of porridge, which was moistened and dissolved in water, and of which there were various kinds with different savoury additions. This porridge seems to have resembled the polenta still used in the south, but was probably not much eaten by the richer classes. They had also green vegetables and salads, asparagus, radishes, mushrooms, lentils, peas, lupins, etc. These leguminous vegetables supplied nourishing fare for poor people, and were therefore sold by street cooks hot from the fire, at a low price. We find even in antiquity the fondness for onions and garlic still shown by southern nations, and these were eaten raw with bread. Besides salt, pepper, and vinegar, various spices were used to flavour the dishes, such as sesame, coriander, caraway, mustard, etc., and also silphium, which was much sought after, but very expensive, and was imported from Cyrene, but could no longer be obtained at the beginning of the Christian era. Olive oil was used for cooking.

The second course, which played an important part at large dinners, consisted of cheese (butter was not in use for food), all kinds of fruit, and cakes. Athens was especially distinguished for its cakes, because the excellent honey of Hymettus supplied good material for it; confectioners knew how to make the most various kinds of cakes, and often produced them in the shapes of animals, human beings, and other objects.

It is commonly supposed that the Greeks did not drink at all during their meals, but this is an untenable opinion. The great number of salt or highly-spiced dishes which they had, must of necessity have induced thirst. In fact, many allusions in the writers show us that some drinking went on during dinner, but in a very moderate degree when compared with the symposium which followed the meal, and only with a view to quenching thirst. In any case, when the last course was brought in, they took a draught of unmixed wine in honour of the “good genius.” Then the tables were taken away, and, if no drinking party followed, the guests arose from their couches after once more washing their hands. Usually, however, these banquets were followed by a symposium.

The proceedings at the symposium were generally as follows:—The servants in attendance removed the larger tables which had been used at dinner, and brought in instead other smaller tables, which were also three-legged, but had round tops. On these they arranged the drinking cups, bowls, and cooling vessels, plates with all kinds of dessert, and little dainties that would induce thirst. Then wreaths were given to the guests to adorn their heads, and sometimes to put round their necks, and sweet-scented ointments were handed round. While the guests were occupied in adorning themselves, the servants brought in the wine in large mixing bowls, generally three at the beginning of the feast, and later more, as occasion required. The customary drink at these feasts was a mixture of wine and water. Even at the present day southern nations seldom drink strong wine unmixed with water, and in ancient times unmixed wine was only drunk in very small quantities; at the symposium, when it was customary to drink deep and long, they had only mixed wine, sometimes taking equal parts of wine and water, and sometimes, which was even commoner, three parts of water to two parts of wine. Generally, at the beginning of every symposium, a president, or “Symposiarch,” was appointed by lot or dice to take command for the rest of the evening, and it was his duty to determine the strength of the mixture, for this might be of various kinds, as weak even as two parts of wine to five of water, or one to three, or even one part of wine to five of water, which last was certainly a somewhat tasteless drink, and was contemptuously called “frog’s wine.” In early times it was usual to put the water first into the mixing bowl and pour the wine upon it; afterwards the reverse proceeding took place.

The commoner sorts of wine were very cheap, and in consequence it was the universal drink, of which even the poor people and slaves partook; better kinds were more expensive, and the best came from the islands, especially Lesbos and Chios; Rhodian and

Thasian wines were also largely exported. Beer was by no means unknown to antiquity; in Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Thrace, etc., they brewed a malt liquor which must have had some resemblance to our beer, but the Greeks disliked this drink, and always spoke of it contemptuously. The gift of Dionysus remained the national drink of the Greeks, but it differed in many respects from our wines of the present day. Much of the ancient wine must have resembled in taste the resin wine of modern Egypt, since resin was added to it, and as the large clay casks in which the wine was exported were painted over internally with pitch, this must of necessity have given a taste to the wine. Nor did they know how to clear their wine; it was usually thick, and, in order to be made at all bright, had to be filtered through a fine sieve or cloth each time before it was used. To return to the symposium. Figs. 97 and 97, taken from pictures on the outside of painted cups, give representations of drinking parties. In Fig. 97 we see three bearded men with wreaths lying near one another; in front of them are two bowls, a wine can, a cooling vessel, a footstool, and a shoe. The man on the right holds a cup in his left hand and puts his right hand to his head, which is bent backwards; his open mouth shows that he is supposed to be singing. The guest in the middle is playing energetically on the double flute, the one on the right holds a lyre, and in his right hand the rod, but he is not striking the strings; near him, on the wall, hangs a flute-case. Fig. 98 also represents three men, and in front of them a bowl, a can, a cooling vessel, another vessel of curious shape, and three shoes. The man on the left is stretching out his right hand with a cup to a boy with a wine can near him; the one in the middle also holds a cup and turns in conversation to the one on the right, who in his right hand holds a goblet (σκύφος).

The symposium began with three libations, offered to the Olympian deities, the heroes, and to Zeus Soter; sometimes incense was burnt meantime, and if the flute girl, who as a rule did not make her appearance till afterwards, was present at the beginning of the symposium, the solemn proceedings were probably accompanied by flute playing. For these libations they used three mixing bowls which had previously been made ready, taking one libation from each; after the libation from the first, they sang in chorus a short hymn in praise of Dionysus (Paean), which was repeated if, as often happened, a new mixture had to be prepared in the course of the evening. The drinking, as well as the rest of the procedure was carried on according to certain fixed rules, which somewhat resembled those still practised by German students. If a president or symposiarch was chosen, he had to appoint not only the strength of the mixture, but also the kind of cup, whether large or small, from which it was to be drunk, and, in fact, generally undertook the direction of the conversation, the toasts, forfeits, etc. We generally find on the monuments flat, two-handled cups in use at the symposium, but sometimes also large, deep goblets, and after drinking for some time, it seems that they even occasionally drank from the capacious vessels, really destined for cooling the wine by means of snow-water, and that practised drinkers, such as Socrates and Alcibiades, could empty them at a draught. It was a very common custom to empty goblets thus, and many drinking cups were shaped in such a way that they must be emptied at once, as they could not stand upright. Every guest had to submit to the ordinances of the symposiarch; he exercised unlimited authority in the matter of drinking, unless, indeed, the arrangement had been made from the first that everyone should drink little or much, as he pleased, during that evening. Those who disobeyed the commands of the president had to submit to some punishment, which consisted either in drinking a certain quantity, or else was directed at some personal infirmity; thus, for instance, a bald man was told to comb his hair, a stammerer to sing, a lame man to hop, etc. This compulsion of submitting to the ordinances of the president naturally led to very deep drinking, and even the mixture of the water with the wine was insufficient defence against this practice. It was also very common to drink to one another, and propose the health of friends or popular girls. It was customary for the drinking to circulate to the right, and this practice was also kept up for all other performances which were expected from every guest, such as the singing of songs, guessing of riddles, etc.

Though the main object of the symposium was, undoubtedly, the drinking, yet we must not compare the Greek symposia with the wild drinking bouts customary in Germany during the middle ages, which continued till the 17th century. In consequence of the weakness of the mixture, it must have taken some time for the intoxicating effects to make themselves apparent. Moreover, there were various kinds of amusement which caused the drinking to fall somewhat into the background, but these naturally varied a good deal according to the degree of culture and character of the guests. Symposia, such as those described by Xenophon and Plato, at which there was very deep drinking, but also really intellectual conversation and discussion of deep problems, are, of course, idealised; and, even in Plato’s Symposium, the presence of the flute girl shows that the sensual element was regarded as well as the intellectual entertainment. As a rule, music played an important part at the symposia. Even in the Homeric period, song was an important feature of the banquet. The cunning singer, who sang the stories of gods and heroes to the accompaniment of the “lyre,” and who was listened to eagerly by all, was never absent from any banquet at which a great number of guests were present. In historic times, the musical entertainment took a different character, for the guests, instead of merely listening, took part in it themselves, singing generally as well as playing. There were three kinds of singing; choruses, sung by all together, such as the Paean already mentioned; part songs, in which all shared, not together, but each in his turn; and solos, sung by those who had special musical ability and education. These solos were especially popular; the singer accompanied himself with the harp, and here, too, they adhered to the custom of always passing to the right the harp and the myrtle bough, which the singer had to hold in his hand during the performance. Of especial importance among these solo songs, from a literary point of view, were the “Scolia,” which were usually of a serious character, either religious, patriotic, or of a general moral nature. A well-known scolion sang the praises of the two conspirators who murdered the tyrant Hipparchus; it began as follows:—