[164] For the Pythagoreans before him wore very handsome clothes, and used baths, and perfumes, and hair of the
ordinary
length.
Athenaeus - Deipnosophists
, but rather from the verb ?
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race of Perseus, spoken of by Pindarus, then it is acuted on the antepenultima; but when it has the acute accent on the penultima, then the verb ?
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But Poseidippus the comic writer, in his Pornoboscus, says -
The man who never went to sea has never shipwrecked been.
But we have been more miserable than ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (gladiators in single combat).
[155] And that even men of reputation and captains fought in single combat, and did so in accordance with premeditated challenges, we have already said in other parts of this discussion. # And Diyllus the Athenian says, in the ninth book of his Histories, that Cassander, when returning from Boeotia after he had buried the king and queen at Aegae, and with them Cynna the mother of Eurydice, and had paid them all the other honours to which they were entitled, celebrated also a show of single combats, and four of the soldiers entered the arena on that occasion.
[42. ] G # But Demetrius of Scepsis, in the twelfth book of Trojan Array, says, that at the court of Antiochus the king, who was surnamed the Great, not only did the friends of the king dance in arms at his entertainments, but even the king himself did so. And when the turn to dance came to Hegesianax of Alexandria in the Troad, who wrote the Histories, he rose up and said- 'Do you wish, O king, to see me dance badly, or would you prefer hearing me recite my own poems very well? ' Accordingly, being ordered rather to recite his poems, he sang the praises of the king in such a manner, that he was thought worthy of payment, and of being ranked as one of the king's friends for the time to come. # But Duris the Samian, in the seventeenth book of his Histories, says that Polysperchon, though a very old man, danced whenever he was drunk,- a man who was inferior to no one of the Macedonians, either as a commander or in respect of his general reputation: but still that he put on a saffron robe and Sicyonian sandals, and kept on dancing a long time. But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the eighth book of his History of Asia, relates that the friends of Alexander the son of Philippus once gave an entertainment to the king, and gilded all the sweetmeats which were to be served up in the second course. And when they wanted to eat any of them, they took off the gold and threw that away with all the rest which was not good to eat, in order that their friends might be spectators of their sumptuousness, and their servants might become masters of the gold. But they forgot that, as Duris also relates, Philippus the father of Alexander, when he had a golden cup which was fifty drachmas in weight, always took it to bed with him, and always slept with it at his head. And Seleucus says, "that some of the Thracians at their drinking parties play the game of hanging; and fix a round noose to some high place, exactly beneath which they place a stone which is easily turned round when any one stands upon it; and then they cast lots, and he who draws the lot, holding a sickle in his hand, stands upon thee stone, and puts his neck into the halter; and then another person comes and raises the stone, and the man who is suspended, when the stone moves from under him, if he is not quick enough in cutting the rope with his sickle, is killed; and the rest laugh, thinking his death good sport. "
* * * * *
[54. ] G [162] But Archestratus of Gela, in his treatise on Gastronomy, - which is the only poetical composition which you wise men admire; following Pythagoras in this doctrine alone, namely silence, and doing this only because of your want of words; and besides that, you profess to think well of the Art of Love of Sphodrias the Cynic, and the Amatory Conversation of Protagorides, and the Convivial Dialogues of that beautiful philosopher Persaeus, compiled out of the Commentaries of Stilpon and Zenon, in which he inquires, How one may guard against guests at a banquet going to sleep; and, How one ought to use drinking of healths; and, When one ought to introduce beautiful boys and girls into a banquet; and when one ought to treat them well as if they were admired, and when one ought to send them away as disregarding them; and also, concerning various kinds of cookery, and concerning loaves, and other things; and all the over-subtle discussions in which the son of Sophroniscus has indulged concerning kissing. A philosopher who was continually exercising his intellect on such investigations as these, being entrusted, as Hermippus relates, with the citadel of Corinth by Antigonus, got drunk and lost even Corinth itself, being outwitted and defeated by Aratus the Sicyonian; who formerly had argued in his Dialogues addressed to Zenon the philosopher, contending that a wise man would in every respect be a good general; and this excellent pupil of Zenon proved this especial point admirably by his own achievements. For it was a witty saying of Bion of Borysthenes, when he saw a bronze statue of his, on which was the inscription, "Persaeus of Citium, the pupil of Zenon", that the man who engraved the inscription had made a blunder, for that it ought to have been, "Persaeus the servant (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? not ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of Zenon"; for he had been born a slave of Zenon, as Nicias of Nicaea relates, in his History of Philosophers; and this is confirmed by Sotion the Alexandrian, in his Successions. And I have met with two books of that admirable work of Persaeus, which have this title, Convivial Dialogues.
[55. ] G But Ctesibius of Chalcis, the friend of Menedemus, as Antigonus the Carystian relates in his Lives, being asked by somebody, 'What he had ever got by philosophy? ' replied, 'The power of getting a supper without contributing to it himself. ' On which account Timon somewhere or other said to him -
Oh you mad dinner hunter, with the eyes
Of a dead corpse, and heart both bold and shameless.
And Ctesibius was a man who made very good guesses, and was a very witty man, and a sayer of amusing things; [163] on which account every one used to invite him to their parties; he was not a man like you, you Cynic, who never sacrificed to the Graces, nor even to the Muses. And therefore Virtue avoiding you, and all like you, sits by Pleasure, as Mnasalces of Sicyon says, in his Epigrams -
Here I most miserable Virtue sit
By Pleasure's side, and cut my hair for grief,
Crushed in my spirit; for profane Delight
Is judged by all my better, and my chief.
And Baton the comic writer says in his Homicide -
Now I invite those moderate philosophers,
Who never allow themselves a single pleasure,
Who keep on looking for the one wise man
In all their walks and conversations,
As if he were a slave who'd run away.
O wretched man, why, when you have a ticket,
Will you refuse to drink? Why do you now
Do so much wrong to the Gods? Why do you make
Money of greater value than the rate
Which nature put on it? You drink but water,
And so must be a worthless citizen;
For so you cheat the farmer and the merchant;
But I by getting drunk increase their trade.
Then you at early dawn carry round a jug,
Seeking for oil, so that a man must think
You have an hour-glass with you, not a bottle.
[56. ] G However, Archestratus, as I was saying before this long digression, whom you praise as equal to Homer because of his praises of the stomach (though your friend Timon says of the stomach, "Than which no part more shameless can be found"), when speaking of the Sea-dog, writes as follows :-
There are but few so happy as to know
This god-like food, nor do men covet it
Who have the silly souls of common mortals.
They fear because it is an animal
Which living preys on man. But every fish
Loves human flesh, if it can meet with it,
So it is fit that all who talk such nonsense
Should be confined to herbs, and should be sent
To Diodorus the philosopher
And starve, and so pythagorize with him.
But this Diodorus was by birth an Aspendian; but desiring to be thought a Pythagorean, he lived after the fashion of you Cynics, letting his hair grow, being dirty, and going barefoot. On which account some people fancied that it was an article of the Pythagorean creed to let the hair grow, which was in reality a fashion introduced by Diodorus, as Hermippus asserts. But Timaeus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning him - "Diodorus, who was by birth an Aspendian, introduced a novel fashion of dress, and pretended to resemble the Pythagoreans. Stratonicus wrote and sent a messenger to him, desiring him who carried the message to seek out a disciple of Pythagoras who kept the portico crowded by his insane vagaries about dress, and his insolence. " And Sosicrates, in the third book of the Succession of Philosophers, relates that Diodorus used to wear a long beard, and a worn-out cloak, and to keep his hair long, indulging in these fashions out of a vain ostentation.
[164] For the Pythagoreans before him wore very handsome clothes, and used baths, and perfumes, and hair of the ordinary length.
* * * * *
[63. ] G [167] But Duris, in the seventh book of his history of the Affairs of Macedonia, speaking of Pasicyprus the king of Cyprus, and of his intemperate habits, writes as follows - "Alexander, after the siege of Tyre, dismissed Pnytagoras, and gave him many presents, and among them he gave him the fortified place which he asked for. And that very place Pasicyprus the king had previously sold, in a luxurious freak, for fifty talents, to Pygmalion of Citium, selling him both the fortress itself and his own royal authority over it. And when he had received the money he grew old in Amathus. " Such also was Aethiops the Corinthian, as Demetrius of Scepsis relates, of whom mention is made by Archilochus; "for he, out of his love of pleasure and intemperance, sailing with Archias to Sicily when he was about to found Syracuse, sold to his messmate for a cake of honey the lot which he had just drawn, and was about to take possession of in Syracuse. "
[64. ] G # But Demetrius carried his extravagance to such a height, he, I mean, who was the descendant of Demetrius Phalereus, according to the account of Hegesander, that he had Aristagora the Corinthian for a mistress and lived in a most expensive manner. And when the Areopagites summoned him before them, and ordered him to live more decorously - "But even now,' said he, "I live like a gentleman, for I have a most beautiful mistress, and I do no wrong to any one, and I drink Chian wine, and I have a sufficiency of everything, as my own revenues suffice for all these expenses. And I do not live as some of you do, corrupted by bribes myself, and intriguing with other men's wives. " And hereupon be enumerated some who acted in this manner by name. And Antigonus the king, having heard this made him a thesmothete. And he, being an hipparch at the Panathenaea, erected a seat close to the statues of Hermes for Aristagora, higher than the Hermae themselves. And when the mysteries were celebrated at Eleusis, he placed a seat for her close to the temple, saying that those who endeavoured to hinder him should repent it.
[65. ] G [168] But Phanodemus, and also Philochorus [ Fr_196 ], have related that in former times the judges of the Areopagus used to summon before them and to punish profligate and extravagant men, and those who had no ostensible means of living: and many others have told the same story. # At all events, those judges sent for Menedemus and Asclepiades the philosophers when they wore young men and poor, and asked them how they managed to look so sleek and comfortable when they spent the whole day idling with philosophers, and had no property. And they replied that some one of the men about the mill had better be sent for. And when he came and said that they came every night to the mill and threshed and ground the corn, and each earned two drachmas, the judges of the Areopagus marvelled, and presented them with two hundred drachmas as a reward. And the citizens of Abdera brought Democritus to trial, on the ground that he had wasted the estate which he had inherited from his father. And when he had read to them his Great World, and his treatise concerning the Things in the Shades below, and had said that he had spent it on these works, he was discharged.
[66. ] G But those men who are not so luxurious, as Amphis says -
Drink throughout the day in every day,
Shaking their heads through their too mighty draughts.
And according to Diphilus -
Having three heads, like to Artemis' statue.
Being enemies to their own estate, as Satyrus in his treatise on Characters said, running through their land, tearing to pieces and plundering their own houses, selling their own property as if it were the spoil of the enemy, considering not what has been spent, but what will be spent, and not what will remain afterwards, but what will not remain, having spent beforehand in their youth the money which ought to have earned them safely through old age, rejoicing in companionship, not in companions, and in their wine, and not in those who drink it with them. But Agatharchides the Corinthian, in the twenty-eighth book of his Commentary on the Affairs of Europe, says "that Gnosippus, who was a very luxurious and extravagant man in Sparta, was forbidden by the ephors to hold intercourse with the young men. " # And among the Romans, it is related, according to the statement of Poseidonius, in the forty-ninth book of his Histories [ Fr_27 ], that there was a man named Apicius who went beyond all other men in intemperance. This is that Apicius who was the cause of banishment to Rutilius who wrote the history of the Romans in the Greek language. But concerning Apicius, the man, I mean, who is so notorious for his extravagant luxury, we have already spoken in our first book.
[67. ] G # But Diogenes the Babylonian, in his treatise on Nobility of Birth, says "that the son of Phocion, whose name was Phocus, was such a man that there was not one Athenian who did not hate him. And whenever any one met him they said to him, 'O you man who are a disgrace to your family! ' For he had expended all his patrimony on intemperance; and after this he became a flatterer of the prefect of Munychia; on which account he was again attacked and reproached by every one. And once, when a voluntary contribution was being made, he came forward and said, before the whole assembly, 'I, too, contribute my share. ' And the Athenians all with one accord cried out, 'Yes, to profligacy. ' And Phocus was a man very fond of drinking hard; and accordingly, when he had conquered with horses at the Panathenaea, and when his father entertained his companions at a banquet, the preparation was very splendid, and foot-tubs full of wine and spices were set before all who came in. [169] And his father, seeing this, called Phocus, and said, 'Will you not stop your companion from polluting your victory in this fashion? ' "
And I know too of many other intemperate and extravagant men, whom I leave you to find out, with the exception of Callias the son of Hipponicus, whom even the tutors of little children have heard of. But concerning the others whom I have been a little hasty in mentioning, if you have anything to say, I have the doors of my ears open. So speak; for I want to know something.
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[75. ] G [174] And while much such conversation as this was proceeding, on a sudden a noise was heard from some one of the neighbouring places, as from an hydraulic organ, very pleasant and agreeable, so that we all turned round towards it, being charmed by the melody; and Ulpianus looking towards the musician Alceides said, Do you hear, O you most musical of men, this beautiful harmony which has made us turn round, being enchanted by the music? And is it not the case, as it is said to be among you Alexandrians, that constant music of an unaccompanied flute causes pain rather than any musical pleasure to those who hear it? And Alceides said, - But this engine, the hydraulic organ, whether you choose to class it among stringed instruments or among wind instruments, is the invention of a fellow-countryman of ours, an Alexandrian, a barber by trade; and his name in Ctesibius. And Aristocles reports this, in his book on Choruses, saying "The question is asked, whether the hydraulic organ is a stringed instrument or a wind instrument. " Now Aristoxenus did not feel sure on this point; but it is said, that Plato showed a sort of notion of the invention, making a nightly clock like the hydraulic organ; being very like an enormous hour-glass. And, indeed, the hydraulic organ does seem to be a kind of hour-glass. It cannot, therefore, be considered a stringed instrument, and one to be played by touching. But perhaps it may be called a wind instrument, because the organ is inflated by the water; for the pipes are plunged down into the water, and when the water is agitated by a youth, as the axles penetrate through the whole organ, the pipes are inflated, and create a gentle and agreeable sound. And this organ is like a round altar; # and they say that it was invented by Ctesibius the barber, who dwelt at that time in the territory of Aspendus, in the reign of the second Ptolemy surnamed Euergetes; and they say that he was a very eminent man; they say also, that he learnt a good deal from his wife Thais. But Tryphon, in the third book of his treatise on Names, (and it is a dissertation on Flutes and Organs) says Ctesibius the mechanic wrote a book about the water-organ; but I am not sure that he is not mistaken as to the name. At all events, Aristoxenus preferred stringed instruments which are played upon by the touch to wind instruments; saying that wind instruments are very easy; for that many people, without having been taught, can play on the flute and pipe, as for instance, shepherds.
[76. ] G And this is what I have got to say to you about the hydraulic organ, O Ulpianus. For the Phoenicians used a kind of flute called the gingras, according to the account of Xenophon, about a span in length, and of a very shrill and mournful tone. And the same instrument is used also by the Carians in their wailings, unless, indeed, when he says Phoenicia he means Caria; and indeed you may find the name used so in Corinna and in Bacchylides. And these flutes are called gingri by the Phoenicians from the lamentations for Adonis; [175] for you Phoenicians called Adonis Gingres, as Democleides tells us. And Antiphanes mentions the gingri flutes in his Physician; and Menander does so too, in his Carina; and Amphis, in his Dithyrambus, saying -
(A) And I have got that admirable gingras.
(B) What is the gingras?
(A) 'Tis a new invention
Of our countrymen, which never yet
Has been exhibited in any theatre,
But is a luxury of Athenian banquets.
(B) Why then not introduce it to this people?
(A) Because I think that I shall draw by lot
Some most ambitious tribe; for well I know
They would disturb all things with their applause.
And Axionicus says, in his Phileuripides -
For they are both so sick with love
Of the melodious strains of soft Euripides,
That every other music seems to them
Shrill as the gingras and a mere misfortune.
[77. ] G But how much better, O most sagacious Ulpianus, is this hydraulic organ, than the instrument which is called nablas; which Sopater the parodist, in his drama entitled Pylae, says is also an invention of the Phoenicians, using the following expressions -
Nor is the noise of the Sidonian nablas ,
Which from the throat doth flow, at all impaired.
And in the Slave of Mystacus we find -
Among the instruments of harmony
The nablas comes, not over soft or sweet;
By its long sides a lifeless lotus fixed
Sends forth a breathed music; and excites men,
Singing in Bacchic strain a merry song.
And Philemon says, in his Adulterer -
(A) There should, O Parmenon, be here among as
A nablas or a female flute-player.
(B) What is a nablas?
(A) Don't you know? you idiot!
(B) Indeed I don't.
(A) What, do not know a nablas?
You know no good; perhaps a sambuca-player
You never have heard of either!
There is also an instrument called the triangle, which Juba mentions in the fourth book of his Theatrical History, and says it is an invention of the Syrians; as is also the sambuca, which is called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . But this instrument Neanthes of Cyzicus in the first book of his Seasons, says is an invention of Ibycus of Rhegium, the poet; as also the lyre called barbitos was of Anacreon. But since you are running all us Alexandrians down as unmusical, and keep mentioning the monaulos as our only national instrument, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about that.
[78. ] G For Juba, in the before-mentioned treatise, says that the Egyptians call the monaulos an invention of Osiris, just as they say that kind of plagiaulos is, which is called photinx, and that, too, I will presently show you is mentioned by a very illustrious author; for the photinx is the same as the flute, which is a national instrument. But Sophocles, in his Thamyras, speaks of the monaulos, saying -
For all the tuneful melodies of pipes (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? )
Are lost, the lyre, and monaulos too.
. . . . .
And Araros in his Birth of Pan, says -
But he, can you believe it? seized at once
On the monaulos, and leapt lightly forth.
[176] And Anaxandrides, in his Treasure, says -
I the monaulos took, and sang a wedding song.
And in his Bottle-bearer he says -
(A) What have you done, you Syrian, with your monaulos?
(B) What monaulos?
(A) The reed.
And Sopater, in his Bacchis, says -
And then he sang a song on the monaulos.
But Protagorides of Cyzicus in the second book of his treatise on the Assemblies at Daphne, says, "He touched every kind of instrument, one after another, castanets, the weak-sounding pandurus, but he drew the sweetest harmony from the sweet monaulos. " # And Poseidonius the Stoic philosopher, in the third book of his Histories, speaking of the war of the Apameans against the Larisseans, writes as follows [ Fr_2 ] - "Having taken short daggers sticking in their waists, and small lances covered with rust and dirt, and having put veils and curtains over their heads which produce a shade but do not hinder the wind from getting to their necks, dragging on asses laden with wine and every sort of meat, by the side of which were packed little photinges and little monauli, instruments of revelry, not of war. " But I am not ignorant that Amerias the Macedonian, in his Dialects, says, that the monaulos is called tityrinus. So have you have, O excellent Ulpianus, a man who mentions the photinx. But that the monaulos was the same instrument which is now called calamaules, or reedfife, is clearly shown by Hedylus in his Epigrams, where he says -
Beneath this mound the tuneful Theon lies,
Whom the monaulos knew its sweetest lord;
Scirpalus was his son, when age had destroyed his sight,
And his sire him called him Scirpalus
Son of Eupalamus in his first birthday ode,
Showing that he was a choice bouquet where
The virtues all had met. For well he played for Glauce
The Muses' sports amid their wine-glad revels;
He sang to Battalus, an eager drinker
Of unmixed wine, and Cotalus and Pacalus.
Say then to Theon the calamaules,
Farewell, O Theon, tunefullest of men.
As, therefore, they now call those who play on a pipe of reeds (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) calamaules, so also they call them now rappaules, according to the statement of Amerias the Macedonian, in his Dialects.
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[83. ] G [184] This then, O my word-hunting Ulpianus, is what you may learn from us Alexandrians, who are very fond of the music of the monaulos. For you do not know that Menecles, the historian of Barce, and also that Andron, in his Chronicles, him of Alexandria I mean, assert that it is the Alexandrians who instructed all the Greeks and the barbarians, when the former encyclic mode of education began to fail, on account of the incessant commotions which took place in the times of the successors of Alexander. # There was subsequently a regeneration of all sorts of learning in the time of Ptolemy the seventh king of Egypt, the one who was properly called by the Alexandrians Cacergetes ["evil-doer"]; for he having murdered many of the Alexandrians, and banished no small number of those who had grown up to manhood with his brother, filled all the islands and cities with men learned in grammar, and philosophy, and geometry, with musicians, and painters, and schoolmasters, and physicians, and men of all kinds of trades and professions; who, being driven by poverty to teach what they knew, produced a great number of celebrated pupils.
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 5, Pages 193-203
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
* * * * *
[21. ] G [193] # What then, my friends, shall we call the entertainment which Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes (but who was more rightly called Epimanes ["crazy"] from his actions) gave? Now he was king of the Syrians, being one of the Seleucids. And Polybius says of him [ 26. 1 ], He, escaping out of the palace without the knowledge of the attendants, was often found with one or two companions wandering about the city wherever he might chance to take it into his head to go. And he was, above all other places, frequently found at the shops of the engravers of silver and of the goldsmiths, conversing on the subject of their inventions with, and inquiring into the principle of their art from, the engravers and other artists. And besides this, he often used to go among the common people, conversing with whomsoever he might chance to meet; and he would drink with the lowest and poorest strangers. And whenever he heard of any young men having a banquet, without having given any notice of his intention, he would come to join in their feast with a flute and music, behaving in a most lascivious manner; so that many used to rise up and depart, being alarmed at his strange behaviour. Often, also, be would lay aside his royal robes, and put on a common cloak, and so go round the market, like a man who was a candidate for some office: and taking some people by the hand, and embracing others, he would solicit them to vote for him, sometimes being to be made aedile, and sometimes tribune; and when he was elected, sitting in his ivory curule chair, according to the fashion which prevails among the Romans, he would hear all the causes which were pleaded in the forum, and decide them with great attention and earnestness, by which conduct he greatly perplexed sensible men. For some thought him a man of very simple tastes, and others considered him mad. And his conduct with respect to presents was very much the same. [194] For he would give some people dice of antelope's bones, and some he would present with dates, and to others he would give gold. And even if he met people in the street whom he had never seen, he would give them presents unexpectedly. And in his sacrifices, which were offered up in the different cities, and in the honours offered to the gods, he surpassed all the kings who had ever existed. And any one may conjecture this from the temple raised to Olympian Zeus at Athens, and from the statues around the altar at Delos. And he used to bathe in the public baths, often when they were completely full of the citizens, and then he would have earthen pans of the most expensive perfumes brought to him. And on one of these occasions, when someone one said to him, "Happy are you kings, who use all these things and smell so sweet," he made the man no answer at the time; but coming the next day to the place where he was bathing, he caused him to have a pan of the largest size of that most precious ointment called ? ? ? ? ? ? poured over his head, so that when that had been done, every one near got up and hastened to get a little of the ointment, and as they fell down in their haste, by reason of the slipperiness of the floor, every one laughed, as did the king himself.
[22. ] G "And this same king," continues Polybius [ 30. 25 ], "having heard of the games which had been celebrated in Macedonia by Aemilius Paullus the Roman general, wishing to surpass Paullus in his magnificence and liberality, sent ambassadors and delegates [theoroi] to the different cities to proclaim that games were going to be exhibited by him at Daphne, so that the Greeks all hastened with great eagerness to come to him to see them. And the beginning of the exhibition was a splendid procession, arranged in this way:-- Some men led the way armed in the Roman fashion, in breastplates of chain armour, all men in the flower of their youth, to the number of five thousand; immediately after them, five thousand Mysians followed; and then three thousand Cilicians, armed in the fashion of light-armed skirmishers, having golden crowns; and after them three thousand Thracians and five thousand Galatians; these were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians, and by five thousand men armed with brazen shields, and as many more with silver shields; they were followed by two hundred and forty pairs of gladiators to fight in single combat; behind these came a thousand Nisaean cavalry, and three thousand men of the city guard, the greatest part of whom had golden trappings and golden crowns, but some had silver trappings; to these succeeded the cavalry who are called the King's Companions; these amounted to one thousand men, all equipped with golden trappings; next to these was the battalion of the King's Friends, of the same number and the same equipment; after these a thousand picked man; and they were followed by what was called the Agema, which was considered to be the most excellent squadron of all the cavalry, to the number of a thousand men; last of all came the cataphracts, having their name from the fact that both men and horses were completely enveloped in armour; they were in number fifteen hundred men. And all the above-mentioned soldiers had purple cloaks, and many had them also embroidered with gold or painted with figures of living animals. Besides all this, there were a hundred chariots with six horses, and forty with four homes; then a chariot drawn by four elephants, and another by two; [195] and last of all, six-and-thirty elephants, all handsomely appointed, followed one by one.
[23. ] G "The rest of the procession was such as it is difficult adequately to describe, and it must be enumerated in a summary manner. For youths walked in the procession to the number of eight hundred, all having golden crowns; and fat oxen to the number of one thousand; and deputations to see to the performance of separate sacrifices, very little short of three hundred; and there were eight hundred elephants' tusks carried by, and such a multitude of statues as it is beyond any one's power to enumerate. For images were carried in the procession of all who are ever said or thought by men to be gods, or deities, or demigods, or heroes; some gilt all over, and some arrayed in golden-broidered robes. And to all of them suitable inscriptions according to the accounts commonly received of them were attached, carved in the most expensive materials. And they were followed by an image of Night and another of Day; and of the Earth, and of Heaven, and of Morning, and of Noon. And the vast quantity of gold plate and silver plate was such as perhaps a man may form a guess at from the following account. For a thousand slaves belonging to Dionysius the secretary and amanuensis of the king joined in the procession, each carrying articles of silver plate, of which there was not one weighing less than a thousand drachmas. And there were six hundred slaves belonging to the king himself carrying articles of gold plate. And besides them there were women to the number of two hundred sprinkling every one with perfumes out of golden water-pots. And they were succeeded by eighty women magnificently apparelled, borne on litters with golden feet, and five hundred borne on litters with silver feet. And this was the most important portion of the procession.
[24. ] G "But after the games were over and the single combats and the hunting, during the whole thirty days which he exhibited these shows, on the first five days every one who came into the gymnasium was anointed with a saffron perfume shed upon him out o1 golden dishes. And there were fifteen of those golden dishes full of equal quantities of cinnamon and spikenard. And in a similar manner in the five next days there was brought in essence of fenugreek, and of marjoram, and of lilies, all differing in their scent; and some days there were laid a thousand triclinia for the banquet; and some days fifteen hundred all laid in the most expensive possible manner. And the arrangement of the whole business was superintended by the king himself. For having a very fine horse he went up and down the whole procession, commanding some to advance, and others to halt. And stopping at the entrances of the rooms where the drinking was going on he brought some in, and to others he assigned places on the couches. And he himself conducted in the attendants who brought in the second course. And he went round the whole banquet, sometimes sitting down in one place, and presently lying down in another place. And sometimes even while he was eating he would lay down what he was eating or his cup, and jump up and go away to another part of the room. And he would go all round the company, at times, pledging some of the guests in a standing posture; and at times entertaining himself with the jesters or with the music. And when the entertainment had lasted a long time and many of the guests had gone away, then the king would be brought in by buffoons all covered up, and laid on the ground as if he had been one of their band. And when the music excited him, he would jump up and dance, and act with the mummers, so that every one felt ashamed for him and fled away. And all this was done partly with the treasure which he brought out of Egypt, having plundered Ptolemy Philometor the king there, in defiance of his treaty with him when he was but a little boy; and some of the money too was contributed by his friends. And he had also sacrilegiously plundered most of the temples in his dominions. "
[25. ] G And while all the guests marvelled at the conduct of the king, seeing that he was not illustrious but absolutely mad, [196] # Masurius brought forward Callixeinus the Rhodian, who in the fourth book of his History of Alexandria has given an account of a spectacle and procession which was exhibited by that most admirable of all monarchs, Ptolemy Philadelphus. And he says:-- "But before I begin, I will give a description of the tent which was prepared within the circuit of the citadel, apart from the place provided for the reception of the soldiers, and artisans, and foreigners. For it was wonderfully beautiful, and worth hearing about. Its size was such as to be able to hold a hundred and thirty couches placed in a circle, and it was furnished in the following manner:-- There were wooden pillars at intervals, five on each side of the tent longwise, fifty cubits high, and something less than one cubit broad. And on these pillars at the top was a capital, of square figure, carefully fitted, supporting the whole weight of the roof of the banqueting room. And over this was spread in the middle a scarlet veil with a white fringe, like a canopy; and on each side it had beams covered over with turreted veils, with white centres, on which canopies embroidered all over the centre were placed.
The man who never went to sea has never shipwrecked been.
But we have been more miserable than ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (gladiators in single combat).
[155] And that even men of reputation and captains fought in single combat, and did so in accordance with premeditated challenges, we have already said in other parts of this discussion. # And Diyllus the Athenian says, in the ninth book of his Histories, that Cassander, when returning from Boeotia after he had buried the king and queen at Aegae, and with them Cynna the mother of Eurydice, and had paid them all the other honours to which they were entitled, celebrated also a show of single combats, and four of the soldiers entered the arena on that occasion.
[42. ] G # But Demetrius of Scepsis, in the twelfth book of Trojan Array, says, that at the court of Antiochus the king, who was surnamed the Great, not only did the friends of the king dance in arms at his entertainments, but even the king himself did so. And when the turn to dance came to Hegesianax of Alexandria in the Troad, who wrote the Histories, he rose up and said- 'Do you wish, O king, to see me dance badly, or would you prefer hearing me recite my own poems very well? ' Accordingly, being ordered rather to recite his poems, he sang the praises of the king in such a manner, that he was thought worthy of payment, and of being ranked as one of the king's friends for the time to come. # But Duris the Samian, in the seventeenth book of his Histories, says that Polysperchon, though a very old man, danced whenever he was drunk,- a man who was inferior to no one of the Macedonians, either as a commander or in respect of his general reputation: but still that he put on a saffron robe and Sicyonian sandals, and kept on dancing a long time. But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the eighth book of his History of Asia, relates that the friends of Alexander the son of Philippus once gave an entertainment to the king, and gilded all the sweetmeats which were to be served up in the second course. And when they wanted to eat any of them, they took off the gold and threw that away with all the rest which was not good to eat, in order that their friends might be spectators of their sumptuousness, and their servants might become masters of the gold. But they forgot that, as Duris also relates, Philippus the father of Alexander, when he had a golden cup which was fifty drachmas in weight, always took it to bed with him, and always slept with it at his head. And Seleucus says, "that some of the Thracians at their drinking parties play the game of hanging; and fix a round noose to some high place, exactly beneath which they place a stone which is easily turned round when any one stands upon it; and then they cast lots, and he who draws the lot, holding a sickle in his hand, stands upon thee stone, and puts his neck into the halter; and then another person comes and raises the stone, and the man who is suspended, when the stone moves from under him, if he is not quick enough in cutting the rope with his sickle, is killed; and the rest laugh, thinking his death good sport. "
* * * * *
[54. ] G [162] But Archestratus of Gela, in his treatise on Gastronomy, - which is the only poetical composition which you wise men admire; following Pythagoras in this doctrine alone, namely silence, and doing this only because of your want of words; and besides that, you profess to think well of the Art of Love of Sphodrias the Cynic, and the Amatory Conversation of Protagorides, and the Convivial Dialogues of that beautiful philosopher Persaeus, compiled out of the Commentaries of Stilpon and Zenon, in which he inquires, How one may guard against guests at a banquet going to sleep; and, How one ought to use drinking of healths; and, When one ought to introduce beautiful boys and girls into a banquet; and when one ought to treat them well as if they were admired, and when one ought to send them away as disregarding them; and also, concerning various kinds of cookery, and concerning loaves, and other things; and all the over-subtle discussions in which the son of Sophroniscus has indulged concerning kissing. A philosopher who was continually exercising his intellect on such investigations as these, being entrusted, as Hermippus relates, with the citadel of Corinth by Antigonus, got drunk and lost even Corinth itself, being outwitted and defeated by Aratus the Sicyonian; who formerly had argued in his Dialogues addressed to Zenon the philosopher, contending that a wise man would in every respect be a good general; and this excellent pupil of Zenon proved this especial point admirably by his own achievements. For it was a witty saying of Bion of Borysthenes, when he saw a bronze statue of his, on which was the inscription, "Persaeus of Citium, the pupil of Zenon", that the man who engraved the inscription had made a blunder, for that it ought to have been, "Persaeus the servant (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? not ? ? ? ? ? ? ) of Zenon"; for he had been born a slave of Zenon, as Nicias of Nicaea relates, in his History of Philosophers; and this is confirmed by Sotion the Alexandrian, in his Successions. And I have met with two books of that admirable work of Persaeus, which have this title, Convivial Dialogues.
[55. ] G But Ctesibius of Chalcis, the friend of Menedemus, as Antigonus the Carystian relates in his Lives, being asked by somebody, 'What he had ever got by philosophy? ' replied, 'The power of getting a supper without contributing to it himself. ' On which account Timon somewhere or other said to him -
Oh you mad dinner hunter, with the eyes
Of a dead corpse, and heart both bold and shameless.
And Ctesibius was a man who made very good guesses, and was a very witty man, and a sayer of amusing things; [163] on which account every one used to invite him to their parties; he was not a man like you, you Cynic, who never sacrificed to the Graces, nor even to the Muses. And therefore Virtue avoiding you, and all like you, sits by Pleasure, as Mnasalces of Sicyon says, in his Epigrams -
Here I most miserable Virtue sit
By Pleasure's side, and cut my hair for grief,
Crushed in my spirit; for profane Delight
Is judged by all my better, and my chief.
And Baton the comic writer says in his Homicide -
Now I invite those moderate philosophers,
Who never allow themselves a single pleasure,
Who keep on looking for the one wise man
In all their walks and conversations,
As if he were a slave who'd run away.
O wretched man, why, when you have a ticket,
Will you refuse to drink? Why do you now
Do so much wrong to the Gods? Why do you make
Money of greater value than the rate
Which nature put on it? You drink but water,
And so must be a worthless citizen;
For so you cheat the farmer and the merchant;
But I by getting drunk increase their trade.
Then you at early dawn carry round a jug,
Seeking for oil, so that a man must think
You have an hour-glass with you, not a bottle.
[56. ] G However, Archestratus, as I was saying before this long digression, whom you praise as equal to Homer because of his praises of the stomach (though your friend Timon says of the stomach, "Than which no part more shameless can be found"), when speaking of the Sea-dog, writes as follows :-
There are but few so happy as to know
This god-like food, nor do men covet it
Who have the silly souls of common mortals.
They fear because it is an animal
Which living preys on man. But every fish
Loves human flesh, if it can meet with it,
So it is fit that all who talk such nonsense
Should be confined to herbs, and should be sent
To Diodorus the philosopher
And starve, and so pythagorize with him.
But this Diodorus was by birth an Aspendian; but desiring to be thought a Pythagorean, he lived after the fashion of you Cynics, letting his hair grow, being dirty, and going barefoot. On which account some people fancied that it was an article of the Pythagorean creed to let the hair grow, which was in reality a fashion introduced by Diodorus, as Hermippus asserts. But Timaeus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning him - "Diodorus, who was by birth an Aspendian, introduced a novel fashion of dress, and pretended to resemble the Pythagoreans. Stratonicus wrote and sent a messenger to him, desiring him who carried the message to seek out a disciple of Pythagoras who kept the portico crowded by his insane vagaries about dress, and his insolence. " And Sosicrates, in the third book of the Succession of Philosophers, relates that Diodorus used to wear a long beard, and a worn-out cloak, and to keep his hair long, indulging in these fashions out of a vain ostentation.
[164] For the Pythagoreans before him wore very handsome clothes, and used baths, and perfumes, and hair of the ordinary length.
* * * * *
[63. ] G [167] But Duris, in the seventh book of his history of the Affairs of Macedonia, speaking of Pasicyprus the king of Cyprus, and of his intemperate habits, writes as follows - "Alexander, after the siege of Tyre, dismissed Pnytagoras, and gave him many presents, and among them he gave him the fortified place which he asked for. And that very place Pasicyprus the king had previously sold, in a luxurious freak, for fifty talents, to Pygmalion of Citium, selling him both the fortress itself and his own royal authority over it. And when he had received the money he grew old in Amathus. " Such also was Aethiops the Corinthian, as Demetrius of Scepsis relates, of whom mention is made by Archilochus; "for he, out of his love of pleasure and intemperance, sailing with Archias to Sicily when he was about to found Syracuse, sold to his messmate for a cake of honey the lot which he had just drawn, and was about to take possession of in Syracuse. "
[64. ] G # But Demetrius carried his extravagance to such a height, he, I mean, who was the descendant of Demetrius Phalereus, according to the account of Hegesander, that he had Aristagora the Corinthian for a mistress and lived in a most expensive manner. And when the Areopagites summoned him before them, and ordered him to live more decorously - "But even now,' said he, "I live like a gentleman, for I have a most beautiful mistress, and I do no wrong to any one, and I drink Chian wine, and I have a sufficiency of everything, as my own revenues suffice for all these expenses. And I do not live as some of you do, corrupted by bribes myself, and intriguing with other men's wives. " And hereupon be enumerated some who acted in this manner by name. And Antigonus the king, having heard this made him a thesmothete. And he, being an hipparch at the Panathenaea, erected a seat close to the statues of Hermes for Aristagora, higher than the Hermae themselves. And when the mysteries were celebrated at Eleusis, he placed a seat for her close to the temple, saying that those who endeavoured to hinder him should repent it.
[65. ] G [168] But Phanodemus, and also Philochorus [ Fr_196 ], have related that in former times the judges of the Areopagus used to summon before them and to punish profligate and extravagant men, and those who had no ostensible means of living: and many others have told the same story. # At all events, those judges sent for Menedemus and Asclepiades the philosophers when they wore young men and poor, and asked them how they managed to look so sleek and comfortable when they spent the whole day idling with philosophers, and had no property. And they replied that some one of the men about the mill had better be sent for. And when he came and said that they came every night to the mill and threshed and ground the corn, and each earned two drachmas, the judges of the Areopagus marvelled, and presented them with two hundred drachmas as a reward. And the citizens of Abdera brought Democritus to trial, on the ground that he had wasted the estate which he had inherited from his father. And when he had read to them his Great World, and his treatise concerning the Things in the Shades below, and had said that he had spent it on these works, he was discharged.
[66. ] G But those men who are not so luxurious, as Amphis says -
Drink throughout the day in every day,
Shaking their heads through their too mighty draughts.
And according to Diphilus -
Having three heads, like to Artemis' statue.
Being enemies to their own estate, as Satyrus in his treatise on Characters said, running through their land, tearing to pieces and plundering their own houses, selling their own property as if it were the spoil of the enemy, considering not what has been spent, but what will be spent, and not what will remain afterwards, but what will not remain, having spent beforehand in their youth the money which ought to have earned them safely through old age, rejoicing in companionship, not in companions, and in their wine, and not in those who drink it with them. But Agatharchides the Corinthian, in the twenty-eighth book of his Commentary on the Affairs of Europe, says "that Gnosippus, who was a very luxurious and extravagant man in Sparta, was forbidden by the ephors to hold intercourse with the young men. " # And among the Romans, it is related, according to the statement of Poseidonius, in the forty-ninth book of his Histories [ Fr_27 ], that there was a man named Apicius who went beyond all other men in intemperance. This is that Apicius who was the cause of banishment to Rutilius who wrote the history of the Romans in the Greek language. But concerning Apicius, the man, I mean, who is so notorious for his extravagant luxury, we have already spoken in our first book.
[67. ] G # But Diogenes the Babylonian, in his treatise on Nobility of Birth, says "that the son of Phocion, whose name was Phocus, was such a man that there was not one Athenian who did not hate him. And whenever any one met him they said to him, 'O you man who are a disgrace to your family! ' For he had expended all his patrimony on intemperance; and after this he became a flatterer of the prefect of Munychia; on which account he was again attacked and reproached by every one. And once, when a voluntary contribution was being made, he came forward and said, before the whole assembly, 'I, too, contribute my share. ' And the Athenians all with one accord cried out, 'Yes, to profligacy. ' And Phocus was a man very fond of drinking hard; and accordingly, when he had conquered with horses at the Panathenaea, and when his father entertained his companions at a banquet, the preparation was very splendid, and foot-tubs full of wine and spices were set before all who came in. [169] And his father, seeing this, called Phocus, and said, 'Will you not stop your companion from polluting your victory in this fashion? ' "
And I know too of many other intemperate and extravagant men, whom I leave you to find out, with the exception of Callias the son of Hipponicus, whom even the tutors of little children have heard of. But concerning the others whom I have been a little hasty in mentioning, if you have anything to say, I have the doors of my ears open. So speak; for I want to know something.
* * * * *
[75. ] G [174] And while much such conversation as this was proceeding, on a sudden a noise was heard from some one of the neighbouring places, as from an hydraulic organ, very pleasant and agreeable, so that we all turned round towards it, being charmed by the melody; and Ulpianus looking towards the musician Alceides said, Do you hear, O you most musical of men, this beautiful harmony which has made us turn round, being enchanted by the music? And is it not the case, as it is said to be among you Alexandrians, that constant music of an unaccompanied flute causes pain rather than any musical pleasure to those who hear it? And Alceides said, - But this engine, the hydraulic organ, whether you choose to class it among stringed instruments or among wind instruments, is the invention of a fellow-countryman of ours, an Alexandrian, a barber by trade; and his name in Ctesibius. And Aristocles reports this, in his book on Choruses, saying "The question is asked, whether the hydraulic organ is a stringed instrument or a wind instrument. " Now Aristoxenus did not feel sure on this point; but it is said, that Plato showed a sort of notion of the invention, making a nightly clock like the hydraulic organ; being very like an enormous hour-glass. And, indeed, the hydraulic organ does seem to be a kind of hour-glass. It cannot, therefore, be considered a stringed instrument, and one to be played by touching. But perhaps it may be called a wind instrument, because the organ is inflated by the water; for the pipes are plunged down into the water, and when the water is agitated by a youth, as the axles penetrate through the whole organ, the pipes are inflated, and create a gentle and agreeable sound. And this organ is like a round altar; # and they say that it was invented by Ctesibius the barber, who dwelt at that time in the territory of Aspendus, in the reign of the second Ptolemy surnamed Euergetes; and they say that he was a very eminent man; they say also, that he learnt a good deal from his wife Thais. But Tryphon, in the third book of his treatise on Names, (and it is a dissertation on Flutes and Organs) says Ctesibius the mechanic wrote a book about the water-organ; but I am not sure that he is not mistaken as to the name. At all events, Aristoxenus preferred stringed instruments which are played upon by the touch to wind instruments; saying that wind instruments are very easy; for that many people, without having been taught, can play on the flute and pipe, as for instance, shepherds.
[76. ] G And this is what I have got to say to you about the hydraulic organ, O Ulpianus. For the Phoenicians used a kind of flute called the gingras, according to the account of Xenophon, about a span in length, and of a very shrill and mournful tone. And the same instrument is used also by the Carians in their wailings, unless, indeed, when he says Phoenicia he means Caria; and indeed you may find the name used so in Corinna and in Bacchylides. And these flutes are called gingri by the Phoenicians from the lamentations for Adonis; [175] for you Phoenicians called Adonis Gingres, as Democleides tells us. And Antiphanes mentions the gingri flutes in his Physician; and Menander does so too, in his Carina; and Amphis, in his Dithyrambus, saying -
(A) And I have got that admirable gingras.
(B) What is the gingras?
(A) 'Tis a new invention
Of our countrymen, which never yet
Has been exhibited in any theatre,
But is a luxury of Athenian banquets.
(B) Why then not introduce it to this people?
(A) Because I think that I shall draw by lot
Some most ambitious tribe; for well I know
They would disturb all things with their applause.
And Axionicus says, in his Phileuripides -
For they are both so sick with love
Of the melodious strains of soft Euripides,
That every other music seems to them
Shrill as the gingras and a mere misfortune.
[77. ] G But how much better, O most sagacious Ulpianus, is this hydraulic organ, than the instrument which is called nablas; which Sopater the parodist, in his drama entitled Pylae, says is also an invention of the Phoenicians, using the following expressions -
Nor is the noise of the Sidonian nablas ,
Which from the throat doth flow, at all impaired.
And in the Slave of Mystacus we find -
Among the instruments of harmony
The nablas comes, not over soft or sweet;
By its long sides a lifeless lotus fixed
Sends forth a breathed music; and excites men,
Singing in Bacchic strain a merry song.
And Philemon says, in his Adulterer -
(A) There should, O Parmenon, be here among as
A nablas or a female flute-player.
(B) What is a nablas?
(A) Don't you know? you idiot!
(B) Indeed I don't.
(A) What, do not know a nablas?
You know no good; perhaps a sambuca-player
You never have heard of either!
There is also an instrument called the triangle, which Juba mentions in the fourth book of his Theatrical History, and says it is an invention of the Syrians; as is also the sambuca, which is called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . But this instrument Neanthes of Cyzicus in the first book of his Seasons, says is an invention of Ibycus of Rhegium, the poet; as also the lyre called barbitos was of Anacreon. But since you are running all us Alexandrians down as unmusical, and keep mentioning the monaulos as our only national instrument, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about that.
[78. ] G For Juba, in the before-mentioned treatise, says that the Egyptians call the monaulos an invention of Osiris, just as they say that kind of plagiaulos is, which is called photinx, and that, too, I will presently show you is mentioned by a very illustrious author; for the photinx is the same as the flute, which is a national instrument. But Sophocles, in his Thamyras, speaks of the monaulos, saying -
For all the tuneful melodies of pipes (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? )
Are lost, the lyre, and monaulos too.
. . . . .
And Araros in his Birth of Pan, says -
But he, can you believe it? seized at once
On the monaulos, and leapt lightly forth.
[176] And Anaxandrides, in his Treasure, says -
I the monaulos took, and sang a wedding song.
And in his Bottle-bearer he says -
(A) What have you done, you Syrian, with your monaulos?
(B) What monaulos?
(A) The reed.
And Sopater, in his Bacchis, says -
And then he sang a song on the monaulos.
But Protagorides of Cyzicus in the second book of his treatise on the Assemblies at Daphne, says, "He touched every kind of instrument, one after another, castanets, the weak-sounding pandurus, but he drew the sweetest harmony from the sweet monaulos. " # And Poseidonius the Stoic philosopher, in the third book of his Histories, speaking of the war of the Apameans against the Larisseans, writes as follows [ Fr_2 ] - "Having taken short daggers sticking in their waists, and small lances covered with rust and dirt, and having put veils and curtains over their heads which produce a shade but do not hinder the wind from getting to their necks, dragging on asses laden with wine and every sort of meat, by the side of which were packed little photinges and little monauli, instruments of revelry, not of war. " But I am not ignorant that Amerias the Macedonian, in his Dialects, says, that the monaulos is called tityrinus. So have you have, O excellent Ulpianus, a man who mentions the photinx. But that the monaulos was the same instrument which is now called calamaules, or reedfife, is clearly shown by Hedylus in his Epigrams, where he says -
Beneath this mound the tuneful Theon lies,
Whom the monaulos knew its sweetest lord;
Scirpalus was his son, when age had destroyed his sight,
And his sire him called him Scirpalus
Son of Eupalamus in his first birthday ode,
Showing that he was a choice bouquet where
The virtues all had met. For well he played for Glauce
The Muses' sports amid their wine-glad revels;
He sang to Battalus, an eager drinker
Of unmixed wine, and Cotalus and Pacalus.
Say then to Theon the calamaules,
Farewell, O Theon, tunefullest of men.
As, therefore, they now call those who play on a pipe of reeds (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) calamaules, so also they call them now rappaules, according to the statement of Amerias the Macedonian, in his Dialects.
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[83. ] G [184] This then, O my word-hunting Ulpianus, is what you may learn from us Alexandrians, who are very fond of the music of the monaulos. For you do not know that Menecles, the historian of Barce, and also that Andron, in his Chronicles, him of Alexandria I mean, assert that it is the Alexandrians who instructed all the Greeks and the barbarians, when the former encyclic mode of education began to fail, on account of the incessant commotions which took place in the times of the successors of Alexander. # There was subsequently a regeneration of all sorts of learning in the time of Ptolemy the seventh king of Egypt, the one who was properly called by the Alexandrians Cacergetes ["evil-doer"]; for he having murdered many of the Alexandrians, and banished no small number of those who had grown up to manhood with his brother, filled all the islands and cities with men learned in grammar, and philosophy, and geometry, with musicians, and painters, and schoolmasters, and physicians, and men of all kinds of trades and professions; who, being driven by poverty to teach what they knew, produced a great number of celebrated pupils.
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 5, Pages 193-203
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
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[21. ] G [193] # What then, my friends, shall we call the entertainment which Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes (but who was more rightly called Epimanes ["crazy"] from his actions) gave? Now he was king of the Syrians, being one of the Seleucids. And Polybius says of him [ 26. 1 ], He, escaping out of the palace without the knowledge of the attendants, was often found with one or two companions wandering about the city wherever he might chance to take it into his head to go. And he was, above all other places, frequently found at the shops of the engravers of silver and of the goldsmiths, conversing on the subject of their inventions with, and inquiring into the principle of their art from, the engravers and other artists. And besides this, he often used to go among the common people, conversing with whomsoever he might chance to meet; and he would drink with the lowest and poorest strangers. And whenever he heard of any young men having a banquet, without having given any notice of his intention, he would come to join in their feast with a flute and music, behaving in a most lascivious manner; so that many used to rise up and depart, being alarmed at his strange behaviour. Often, also, be would lay aside his royal robes, and put on a common cloak, and so go round the market, like a man who was a candidate for some office: and taking some people by the hand, and embracing others, he would solicit them to vote for him, sometimes being to be made aedile, and sometimes tribune; and when he was elected, sitting in his ivory curule chair, according to the fashion which prevails among the Romans, he would hear all the causes which were pleaded in the forum, and decide them with great attention and earnestness, by which conduct he greatly perplexed sensible men. For some thought him a man of very simple tastes, and others considered him mad. And his conduct with respect to presents was very much the same. [194] For he would give some people dice of antelope's bones, and some he would present with dates, and to others he would give gold. And even if he met people in the street whom he had never seen, he would give them presents unexpectedly. And in his sacrifices, which were offered up in the different cities, and in the honours offered to the gods, he surpassed all the kings who had ever existed. And any one may conjecture this from the temple raised to Olympian Zeus at Athens, and from the statues around the altar at Delos. And he used to bathe in the public baths, often when they were completely full of the citizens, and then he would have earthen pans of the most expensive perfumes brought to him. And on one of these occasions, when someone one said to him, "Happy are you kings, who use all these things and smell so sweet," he made the man no answer at the time; but coming the next day to the place where he was bathing, he caused him to have a pan of the largest size of that most precious ointment called ? ? ? ? ? ? poured over his head, so that when that had been done, every one near got up and hastened to get a little of the ointment, and as they fell down in their haste, by reason of the slipperiness of the floor, every one laughed, as did the king himself.
[22. ] G "And this same king," continues Polybius [ 30. 25 ], "having heard of the games which had been celebrated in Macedonia by Aemilius Paullus the Roman general, wishing to surpass Paullus in his magnificence and liberality, sent ambassadors and delegates [theoroi] to the different cities to proclaim that games were going to be exhibited by him at Daphne, so that the Greeks all hastened with great eagerness to come to him to see them. And the beginning of the exhibition was a splendid procession, arranged in this way:-- Some men led the way armed in the Roman fashion, in breastplates of chain armour, all men in the flower of their youth, to the number of five thousand; immediately after them, five thousand Mysians followed; and then three thousand Cilicians, armed in the fashion of light-armed skirmishers, having golden crowns; and after them three thousand Thracians and five thousand Galatians; these were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians, and by five thousand men armed with brazen shields, and as many more with silver shields; they were followed by two hundred and forty pairs of gladiators to fight in single combat; behind these came a thousand Nisaean cavalry, and three thousand men of the city guard, the greatest part of whom had golden trappings and golden crowns, but some had silver trappings; to these succeeded the cavalry who are called the King's Companions; these amounted to one thousand men, all equipped with golden trappings; next to these was the battalion of the King's Friends, of the same number and the same equipment; after these a thousand picked man; and they were followed by what was called the Agema, which was considered to be the most excellent squadron of all the cavalry, to the number of a thousand men; last of all came the cataphracts, having their name from the fact that both men and horses were completely enveloped in armour; they were in number fifteen hundred men. And all the above-mentioned soldiers had purple cloaks, and many had them also embroidered with gold or painted with figures of living animals. Besides all this, there were a hundred chariots with six horses, and forty with four homes; then a chariot drawn by four elephants, and another by two; [195] and last of all, six-and-thirty elephants, all handsomely appointed, followed one by one.
[23. ] G "The rest of the procession was such as it is difficult adequately to describe, and it must be enumerated in a summary manner. For youths walked in the procession to the number of eight hundred, all having golden crowns; and fat oxen to the number of one thousand; and deputations to see to the performance of separate sacrifices, very little short of three hundred; and there were eight hundred elephants' tusks carried by, and such a multitude of statues as it is beyond any one's power to enumerate. For images were carried in the procession of all who are ever said or thought by men to be gods, or deities, or demigods, or heroes; some gilt all over, and some arrayed in golden-broidered robes. And to all of them suitable inscriptions according to the accounts commonly received of them were attached, carved in the most expensive materials. And they were followed by an image of Night and another of Day; and of the Earth, and of Heaven, and of Morning, and of Noon. And the vast quantity of gold plate and silver plate was such as perhaps a man may form a guess at from the following account. For a thousand slaves belonging to Dionysius the secretary and amanuensis of the king joined in the procession, each carrying articles of silver plate, of which there was not one weighing less than a thousand drachmas. And there were six hundred slaves belonging to the king himself carrying articles of gold plate. And besides them there were women to the number of two hundred sprinkling every one with perfumes out of golden water-pots. And they were succeeded by eighty women magnificently apparelled, borne on litters with golden feet, and five hundred borne on litters with silver feet. And this was the most important portion of the procession.
[24. ] G "But after the games were over and the single combats and the hunting, during the whole thirty days which he exhibited these shows, on the first five days every one who came into the gymnasium was anointed with a saffron perfume shed upon him out o1 golden dishes. And there were fifteen of those golden dishes full of equal quantities of cinnamon and spikenard. And in a similar manner in the five next days there was brought in essence of fenugreek, and of marjoram, and of lilies, all differing in their scent; and some days there were laid a thousand triclinia for the banquet; and some days fifteen hundred all laid in the most expensive possible manner. And the arrangement of the whole business was superintended by the king himself. For having a very fine horse he went up and down the whole procession, commanding some to advance, and others to halt. And stopping at the entrances of the rooms where the drinking was going on he brought some in, and to others he assigned places on the couches. And he himself conducted in the attendants who brought in the second course. And he went round the whole banquet, sometimes sitting down in one place, and presently lying down in another place. And sometimes even while he was eating he would lay down what he was eating or his cup, and jump up and go away to another part of the room. And he would go all round the company, at times, pledging some of the guests in a standing posture; and at times entertaining himself with the jesters or with the music. And when the entertainment had lasted a long time and many of the guests had gone away, then the king would be brought in by buffoons all covered up, and laid on the ground as if he had been one of their band. And when the music excited him, he would jump up and dance, and act with the mummers, so that every one felt ashamed for him and fled away. And all this was done partly with the treasure which he brought out of Egypt, having plundered Ptolemy Philometor the king there, in defiance of his treaty with him when he was but a little boy; and some of the money too was contributed by his friends. And he had also sacrilegiously plundered most of the temples in his dominions. "
[25. ] G And while all the guests marvelled at the conduct of the king, seeing that he was not illustrious but absolutely mad, [196] # Masurius brought forward Callixeinus the Rhodian, who in the fourth book of his History of Alexandria has given an account of a spectacle and procession which was exhibited by that most admirable of all monarchs, Ptolemy Philadelphus. And he says:-- "But before I begin, I will give a description of the tent which was prepared within the circuit of the citadel, apart from the place provided for the reception of the soldiers, and artisans, and foreigners. For it was wonderfully beautiful, and worth hearing about. Its size was such as to be able to hold a hundred and thirty couches placed in a circle, and it was furnished in the following manner:-- There were wooden pillars at intervals, five on each side of the tent longwise, fifty cubits high, and something less than one cubit broad. And on these pillars at the top was a capital, of square figure, carefully fitted, supporting the whole weight of the roof of the banqueting room. And over this was spread in the middle a scarlet veil with a white fringe, like a canopy; and on each side it had beams covered over with turreted veils, with white centres, on which canopies embroidered all over the centre were placed.
