56. "Hermippus also, the poet of the old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Eubœus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said—

[as if ἐγχεία, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said—

And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Ætolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:—

57. After all this discussion had been entered into on many occasions, once when evening overtook us, one of us said,—Boy, bring a light (λύχνειον). But some one else used the word λυχνεὼς, and a third called it λοφνίας, saying that that was the proper name for a torch made of bark; another called it πανός; and another φανός.—This one used the word λυχνοῦχος, and that one λύχνος. Some one else again said ἐλάνη, and another said ἕλαναι, insisting on it that that was the proper name for a lamp, being derived from ἔλη, brightness; and urging that Neanthes used this word in the first book of his History of Attalus. Others, again, of the party made use of whatever other words they fancied; so that there was no ordinary noise; while all were vying with one another in adducing every sort of argument which bore upon the question. For one man said that Silenus, the dictionary-maker, mentioned that the Athenians call lamps φανοί. But Timachidas of Rhodes asserts that for φανὸς, the word more properly used is δέλετρον, being a sort of lantern which young men use when out at night, and which they themselves call ἕλαναι. But Amerias for φανὸς uses the word γράβιον. And this word is thus explained by Seleucus:—"Γράβιον is a stick of ilex or common oak, which, being pounded and split, is set on fire, and used to give light to travellers. Accordingly Theodoridas of Syracuse, in his Centaurs, which is a dithyrambic poem, says—

Strattis also, mentions the γράβια in his Phœnician Women."

58. But that what are now called φανοὶ used to be called λυχνοῦχοι, we learn from Aristophanes, in his Æolosicon—

And, in the second edition of the Niobus, having already used the word λυχνοῦχος, he writes—

after which, he adds—

And, in his play called The Dramas, he calls the same thing λυχνίδιον, in the following lines—

Plato also, in his Long Night, says—

And Pherecrates, in his Slave Teacher, writes—

Alexis too, in his Forbidden Thing, says—

And Eumelus, in his Murdered Man  .  .  .  having said first—

adds—

And Alexis says, in his Midon—

59. But the same Alexis says, in his Fanatic—

And Anaxandrides, in his Insolence, says—

But others assert that it is a lamp which is properly called φανὸς. And others assert that φανὸς means a bundle of matches made of split wood. Menander says, in his Cousins—

And Nicostratus, in his Fellow-Countrymen, says—

And Philippides, in his Women Sailing together, says—

60. Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, calls what we now call λυχνία, λυχνεῖον in this line—

For there were a great many manufactories in Etruria, as the Etrurians were exceedingly fond of works of art. Aristophanes, in his Knights, says—

And Diphilus, in his Ignorance, says—

And Euphorion, in his Historic Commentaries, says that the young Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily dedicated, in the Prytaneum at Tarentum, a candlestick capable of containing as great a number of candles as there are days in a year. And Hermippus the comic poet, in his Iambics, speaks of—

And, in his play called The Grooms, he says—

Now, πανὸς was a name given to wood cut into splinters and bound together, which they used for a torch: Menander, in his Cousins, says—

And Diphilus, in his Soldier, says—

And before them Æschylus, in his Agamemnon, had used the word πανός—

61. Alexis, too, uses the word ξυλολυχνούχου, and perhaps this is the same thing as that which is called by Theopompus ὀβελισκολύχνιον. But Philyllius calls λαμπάδες, δᾷδε. But the λύχνος, or candle, is not an ancient invention; for the ancients used the light of torches and other things made of wood. Phrynichus, however, says—

Plato too, in his Long Night, says—

And these candles with two wicks are mentioned also by Metagenes, in his Man fond of Sacrificing; and by Philonides in his Buskins. But Clitarchus, in his Dictionary, says that the Rhodians give the name of λοφνὶς to a torch made of the bark of the vine. But Homer calls torches δεταί—

A torch was also called ἑλάνη, as Amerias tells us; but Nicander of Colophon says that ἑλάνη means a bundle of rushes. Herodotus uses the word in the neuter plural, λύχνα, in the second book of his History.

Cephisodorus, in his Pig, uses the word λυχναψία, for what most people call λυχνοκαυτία, the lighting of candles.

And Cynulcus, who was always attacking Ulpian, said;—But now, my fine supper-giver, buy me some candles for a penny, that, like the good Agathon, I may quote this line of the admirable Aristophanes—

and when he had said this—

he left the party, being very sleepy.

62. Then, when many of the guests cried out Io Pæan, Pontianus said;—I wish, my friends, to learn from you whether Io Pæan is a proverb, or the burden of a song, or what else it is. And Democritus replied;—Clearchus the Solensian, inferior to none of the pupils of the wise Aristotle, in the first book of his treatise on Proverbs, says that "Latona, when she was taking Apollo and Diana from Chalcis in Eubœa to Delphi, came to the cave which was called the cave of the Python. And when the Python attacked them, Latona, holding one of her children in her arms, got upon the stone which even now lies at the foot of the brazen statue of Latona, which is dedicated as a representation of what then took place near the Plane-tree at Delphi, and cried out Ἵε, παῖ; (and Apollo happened to have his bow in hand;) and this is the same as if she had said Ἄφιε,Ἵε, παῖ, or Βάλε, παῖ, Shoot, boy. And from this day Ἵε, παῖ and Ἵε, παιὼν arose. But some people, slightly altering the word, use it as a sort of proverbial exclamation to avert evils, and say ἰη παιὼν, instead of Ἵε, παῖ. And many also, when they have completed any undertaking, say, as a sort of proverb, ἰὴ παιὼν; but since it is an expression that is familiar to us it is forgotten that it is a proverb, and they who use it are not aware that they are uttering a proverb."

But as for what Heraclides of Pontus says, that is clearly a mistake, "That the god himself, while offering a libation, thrice cried out ἱη παιὰν, ἵη παιών." From a belief in which statement he refers the trimeter verse, as it is called, to the god, saying "that each of these metres belongs to the god; because when the first two syllables are made long, ἵη παιὰν, it becomes a heroic verse, but when they are pronounced short it is an iambic, and thus it is plain that we must attribute the iambic to him. And as the rest are short, if any one makes the last two syllables of the verse long, that makes a Hipponactean iambic.

63. And after this, when we also were about to leave the party, the slaves came in bringing, one an incense burner, and another  .  .  .  . For it was the custom for the guests to rise up and offer a libation, and then to give the rest of the unmixed wine to the boy, who brought it to them to drink.

Ariphron the Sicyonian composed this Pæan to Health—

64. They know.—For Sopater the farce-writer, in his play entitled The Lentil, speaks thus—

These things, my good Timocrates, are not, as Plato says, the sportive conversations of Socrates in his youth and beauty, but the serious discussions of the Deipnosophists; for, as Dionysius the Brazen says,—