No More Learning

For when you're dead, you cannot then eat eels;
They cook no wedding feasts in the underworld.

[13. ] G And Apollodorus of Carystus, in his Tablet-Maker, says-
O men, whoe'er you are, why do you now
Scorn pleasant living, and turn all your thoughts
To do each other mischief in fierce war?
In God's name, tell me, does some odious fate,
Rude and unlettered, destitute of all
That can be knowledge called, or education,
Ignorant of what is bad and what is good,
Guide all your destiny? - a fate which settles
All your affairs at random by mere chance?
I think it must be so: for else, what fate,
Being truly Greek at heart, would ever choose
To see Greeks by each other thus despoiled,
And falling dead in ghastly heaps of corpses,
When she might see them sportive, gay, and jesting,
Drinking full cups, and singing to the flute?
Tell me, my friend, I pray, and put to shame
This most unpolished clownish fortune.

And then he proceeds to say-
Does not a life, like this deserve the name
Of godlike? - Think how far more pleasant all
Affairs would be in our communities
Than now they are, if we were but to change
Our fashions, and our habits, and our principles
One little bit. Why should we not proclaim,
[281] "Every Athenian of less than thirty years of age,
Let him come forth and drink. Let all the cavalry
Go to a feast at Corinth, for ten days,
Crowned with chaplets, and perfumed most sweetly.
Let the Megarians sell and boil their cabbages.
Bid all the allies now hasten to the bath,
And mix in cups the rich Euboean wine. "
Sure this is real luxury and life,
But we are slaves to a most clownish fortune.

[14. ] G The poets say that that ancient hero, Tantalus, was also greatly devoted to pleasure. At all events, the author of the book called The Return of the Atreidae says "that he, when he had arrived among the gods and had begun to live among them, had leave given him by Zeus to ask for whatever he wished; and that he, being a man quite insatiable in the gratification of his appetite, asked that it might be granted to him to indulge them to their full extent, and to live in the same manner as the gods. And that Zeus was indignant at this request, and, according to his promise, fulfilled his prayer; but still, that he might not enjoy what he had before him, but be everlastingly tormented, he hung a stone over his head, on account of which he should be unable to get at any of the things which he had before him. " Some of the Stoics also were addicted to this kind of pleasure. At all events, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who was a pupil of Ariston the Chian, who was one of the sect of the Stoics, in his treatise which is entitled Ariston, represents his master as subsequently being much addicted to luxury, speaking as follows: "And before now, I have at times discovered him breaking down, as it were, the partition wall between pleasure and virtue, and appearing on the side of pleasure. " And Apollophanes (and he was an acquaintance of Ariston), in his Ariston (for he also wrote a book with that title), shows the way in which his master was addicted to pleasure. # And why need we mention Dionysius of Heracleia? who openly discarded his covering of virtue, and put on a robe embroidered with flowers, and assumed the name of "The altered man" [Metathemenos]; and, although he was an old man, he apostatized from the doctrines of the Stoics, and passed over to the school of Epicurus; and, in consequence, Timon said of him, not without some point and felicity -
When it is time to set [? ? ? ? ? ? ], he now begins
To sit at table [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ]. But there is a time
To love, a time to wed, a time to cease.

[15. ] G Apollodorus the Athenian, in the third book of his treatise on A Modest and Prudent Man, which is addressed to those whom he calls Male Buffoons, having first used the expression, "more libidinous than the very Inventors themselves [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ]," says, there are some fish called alphestae, being all of a tawny colour, though they have a purple hue in some parts. And they say that they are usually caught in couples, and that one is always found following at the tail of the other; and therefore, from the fact of one following close on the tail of the other, some of the ancients call men who are intemperate and libidinous by the same name. But Aristotle, in his work on Animals, says that this fish, which he calls alphestikos, has but a single spine, and is of a tawny colour. [282] And Numenius of Heracleia mentions it, in his treatise on Fishing, speaking as follows:-
The fish that lives in seaweed, the alphestes,
The scorpion also with its rosy meat.

And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, says-
Mussels, alphestae, and the girl-like fish,
The dainty coracinus.

Mithaecus also mentions it in his Culinary Art.

* * * * *

[33. ] G [289] I swear by Athene that Menecrates the Syracusan himself would not have made such a boast as that, he who was nick-named Zeus - a man who gave himself airs as being, by his skill in medicine, the only person who could cause man to live. Accordingly he compelled all who came to be cured by him of what is called the sacred disease, to enter into a written agreement that if they recovered they would be his slaves. And they followed him one wearing the dress of Heracles, and being called Heracles, ( and the man who was so called was Nicostratus, an Argive, who had been cured of the sacred disease, and he is mentioned by Ephippus, in his Peltast, where he says -
Did not Menecrates call himself a god,
And Nicostratus of Argos a second Heracles? )
and another followed him in the dress of Hermes, having on a cloak and bearing a caduceus, and wings besides. As Nicagoras of Zeleia did, who also became afterwards the tyrant of his country, as Baton relates in the history of the Tyrants at Ephesus. And Hegesander says that he called Astycreon, who had been cured by him, Apollo. And another of those who had been cured by him, went about with him to his cost, wearing the dress of Asclepius. But Zeus Menecrates himself, clad in purple, and having a golden crown upon his head, and holding a sceptre, and being shod with slippers, went about with his chorus of gods. And once, writing to Philippus the king, he began his letter thus -

[34. ] G "Menecrates Zeus to Philippus greeting.
You, indeed, are king of Macedonia, but I am king of medicine; and you are able, when you please, to put men to death, who are in health; but I am able to save those who are sick, and to cause those who are in good health, if they only follow my advice, to live to old age without being attacked by disease. Therefore the Macedonians attend you as body-guards; but all who wish to live attend me; for I, Zeus, give them life. "

And so Philippus wrote back to him as to a man out of his senses,- "Philippus wishes Menecrates soundness. " And he wrote in similar style to Archidamus, the king of the Lacedaemonians, and to every one else to whom be wrote at all; never omitting to give himself the name of Zeus. And once Philippus invited him and all his gods to supper, and placed them all on the centre couch, which was adorned in the loftiest and most holy-looking and beautiful manner. And he had a table placed before them on which there was an altar and first-fruits of the different productions of the earth. And whenever eatables were placed before the other guests, the slaves placed incense before Menecrates, and poured libations in his honour. And at last, the new Zeus, with all his subordinate gods, being laughed at by every one, ran away and fled from the banquet, as Hegesander relates. And Alexis also makes mention of Menecrates in his Minos.

[35. ] G And Themison the Cyprian, the friend of Antiochus the king, as Pythermus the Ephesian relates in the eighth book of his History, not only used to have his name proclaimed in the public assemblies, "Themison, the Macedonian, [290] the Heracles of Antiochus the king;" but all the people of that country used to sacrifice to him, addressing him as Heracles Themison; and he himself would come when any of the nobles celebrated a sacrifice, and would sit down, having a couch to himself, and being clad in a lion's skin, and he used also to bear a Scythian bow, and in his hand, he carried a club.

Menecrates then himself, though he was such as we have said, never made such a preposterous boast as the cook we have been speaking of, -
I am immortal, for I bring the dead,
By the mere smell of my meat, to life again.

* * * * *

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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 6, Pages 262-275

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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[81. ] G [262] When Democritus had made this speech, and had asked for some drink in a narrow-necked sabrias, Ulpianus said, And what is this sabrias? And just as Democritus was beginning to treat us all to a number of interminable stories, in came a troop of servants bringing in everything requisite for eating. Concerning whom Democritus, continuing his discourse, spoke as follows:- I have always, O my friends, marvelled at the race of slaves, considering how abstemious they are, though placed in the middle of such numbers of dainties; for they pass them by, not only out of fear, but also because they are taught to do so; I do not mean being taught, as in the Slave-teacher of Pherecrates, but by early habituation; and without its being necessary to utter any express prohibition respecting such matters to them, as in the island of Cos, when the citizens sacrifice to Hera. For Macareus says, in his third book of his treatise on Coan Affairs, that, when the Coans sacrifice to Hera, no slave is allowed to enter the temple, nor does any slave taste any one of the things which are prepared for the sacrifice. And Antiphanes, in his Dyspratus, says -
'Tis hard to see around one savoury cakes,
And delicate birds half eaten; yet the slaves
Are not allowed to eat the fragments even,
As say the women.

And Epicrates, in his Dyspratus ['Hard to Sell'], introduces a servant expressing his indignation, and saying -
What can be worse than, while the guests are drinking,
To hear the constant cry of, Here, boy, here!
And this that one may bear a chamber-pot
To some vain beardless youth; and see around
Half eaten savoury cakes, and delicate birds,
Whose very fragments are forbidden strictly
To all the slaves - at least the women say so;
And him who drinks a cup men call a belly-god;
And if he tastes a mouthful of solid food
They call him greedy glutton:
from the comparison of which iambics, it is very plain that Epicrates borrowed Antiphanes's lines, and transferred them to his own play.

[82. ] G And Dieuchidas says, in his history of the Affairs of Megara- "Around the islands called Araeae (and they are between Cnidus and Syme) a difference arose, after the death of Triopas, among those who had set out with him on his expedition, and some returned home, and others remained with Phorbas, and came to Ialysus, and others proceeded with Periergus, and occupied the district of Cameirus. And on this it is said that Periergus uttered curses againt Phorbas, and on this account the islands were called Araeae. But Phorbas having met with shipwreck, he and Parthenia, the sister of Phorbas and Periergus, swam ashore to Ialysus, at the point called Schedia. And Thamneus met with them, as he happened to be hunting near Schedia, and took them to his own house, intending to receive them hospitably, and sent on a servant as a messenger to tell his wife to prepare everything necessary, as he was bringing home strangers. [263] But when he came to his house and found nothing prepared, he himself put corn into a mill, and everything else that was requisite, and then ground it himself and feasted them. And Phorbas was so delighted with this hospitality, that when he was dying himself he charged his friends to take care that his funeral rites should be performed by free men. And so this custom continued to prevail in the sacrifice of Phorbas, for none but free men minister at this sacrifice. And it is accounted profanation for any slave to approach it. "

[83. ] G And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpianus, there is this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says -
For no one then had any Manes, no,
Nor home-born slaves; but the free women themselves
Did work at everything within the house.
And so at morn they ground the corn for bread,
Till all the streets resounded with the mills.

And Anaxandrides, in his Anchises, says -
Slaves are not citizens, my friend,
Of any city; but fortune regulates
And changes at will the state of these men.
Many there are who are not free today,
But will tomorrow free-men be of Sunium,
And the day after public orators;
For so the deity guides each man's helm.

[84. ] G And Poseidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of his History [ Fr_8 ], "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people of Heracleia, promising to act as their subjects for ever, it they would supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement beforehand, that none of them would be sold outside of the territory of Heracleia, but that they would stay in that district alone. And perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying -
And they may well be called Bringers of Gifts,
Fearing the stern dominion of their kings.

And Callistratus the pupil of Aristophanes says that they called the Mariandyni tribute-bearers [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ], by that appellation taking away whatever there is bitter in the name of servants, just as the Spartans did in respect of the Helots, the Thessalians in the case of the Penestae, and the Cretans with the Clarotae. But the Cretans call those servants who are in their houses chrysoneti ['bought with gold'], and those whose work lies in the fields Amphamiotae, being natives of the country, but people who have been enslaved by the chance of war; but they also call the same people Clarotae, because they have been distributed among their masters by lot (? ? ? ? ? ? ).

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories, says, "The Cretans call their slaves Clarotae, because lots have been drawn for them; and these slaves have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything, and have the right even to scourge the freemen. " But Sosicrates, in the second book of his history of Cretan Affairs, says, "The Cretans call public servitude ? ? ? ? ? , but the private slaves they cell aphamiotae; and the perioeci, or peop1e who live in the adjacent districts, they call subjects. [264] And Dosiadas gives a very similar account in the fourth book of his history of Cretan Affairs.

[85. ] G But the Thessalians call those Penestae who wore not born slaves, but who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet, misapplying the word, says -
The wrinkled counsellors of a Penestan master.

And Philocrates in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Thessaly, if at least the work attributed to him is genuine, says that the Penestae are also called Thessaloecetae, or servants of the Thessalians. And Archemachus in the third book of his history of the Affairs of Euboea, says, "When the Boeotians had founded Arnaea, those of them who did not return to Boeotia, but who took a fancy to their new country, gave themselves up to the Thessalians by agreement, to be their slaves; on condition that they should not take them out of the country, nor put them to death, but that they should cultivate the country for them, and pay them a yearly revenue for it. These men, therefore, abiding by their agreement, and giving themselves up to the Thessalians, were called at that time Menestae ['stayers']; but now they are called Penestae; and many of them are richer than their masters. And Euripides, in his Phrixus, calls them latriae in these words-
Servant-toiler of my ancient home [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ].

[86. ] G And Timaeus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, says, "It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be waited on by purchased slaves;" and he proceeds to say, "And altogether they accused Aristotle of having departed from the Locrian customs; for they said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the Phocians, to use either maid-servants or house-servants till very recently. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the companion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Phocians, for having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that be was depriving that number of citizens of their necessary subsistence for that it was a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder. "

[87. ] G And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws [ 776'b ], says,- "The whole question about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system of the Helots among the Lacedaemonians causes the greatest perplexity and dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some considering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of slavery among the people of Heracleia would cause less dispute than the subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of the Thessalian Penestae. And if we consider all these things, what ought we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says [ Hom:Od_17'322 ] -
Zeus fixed it certain that whatever day
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

And it has been frequently shown by facts, that a slave is an objectionable and perilous possession; especially in the frequent revolts of the Messenians, and in the case of those cities which have many slaves, speaking different languages, in which many evils arise from that circumstance. And also we may come to the same conclusion from the exploits and sufferings of all sorts of robbers, who infest the Italian coasts as piratical vagabonds. And if any one considers all these circumstances, [265] he may well doubt what course ought to be pursued with respect to all these people. Two remedies now are left to us - either never to allow, for the future, our slaves to be one another's fellow-countrymen, and, as far as possible, to prevent their even speaking the same language; or to keep them well, not only for their sake, but still more for our own; and we should behave towards them with as little insolence as possible. But it is right to chastise them with justice; not admonishing them as if they were free men, so as to make them arrogant: and every word which we address to slaves ought to be, in some sort, a command. And a man ought never to play at all with his slaves, or jest with them, whether they be male or female. And as to the very foolish way in which many people treat their slaves, allowing them great indulgence and great licence, they only make everything more difficult for both parties: they make obedience harder for the one to practice, and authority harder for the other to exercise.

[88. ] G Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he says,- "The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians and Lacedaemonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the same manner as those others did; for the Lacedaemonians and the Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the one having Achaean slaves, but the Thessalians having Perrhaebian and Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the others called them Penestae. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and they have bought them at a price. " Theopompus, then, has given this account. But I think that, on this account, the Deity was angry with the Chians; for at a subsequent period they were subdued by their slaves. Accordingly, Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyage along the Coast of Asia, gives this account of them :- "The slaves of the Chians deserted them, and escaped to the mountains; and then, collecting in great numbers, ravaged the country-houses about; for the island is very rugged and much overgrown with trees.
But, a little before our time, the Chians themselves relate, that one of their slaves deserted, and took up his habitation in the mountains; and, being a man of great courage and very prosperous in his warlike undertakings, he assumed the command of the runaway slaves, as a king would take the command of an army; and though the Chians often made expeditions against him, they were able to effect nothing. And when Drimacus (for that was the name of this runaway slave) saw that they were being destroyed, without being able to effect anything, he addressed them in this language: 'O Chians! you who are the masters, this treatment which you are now receiving from your servants will never cease; for how should it cease, when it is God who causes it, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle? But if you will be guided by me, and if you will leave us in peace, then I will be the originator of much good fortune to you. '

[89. ] G "Accordingly, the Chians entered into a treaty with him, and made a truce for a certain time. Drimacus prepared measures and weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians, he said, 'Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or reasonable ground to allege, [266] I will send them back to their masters. ' Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to this state of things very good-humouredly, did not desert nearly so much for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon them. And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required, obeying him as their general; for he punished the disobedient with great severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the masters were inclined or able to give him; and if he perceived that any one was intriguing against him, or laying any plot to injure him or overthrow his power, he chastised him.

[90. ] G "Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son, and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive the money which they offer, and so be prosperous. ' But, when the young man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his head, and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the shrine of the Gentle Hero. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and sacrifice to him, where this shrine is. "

[91. ] G Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his history, I have found that Drimacus is not mentioned by name. But I do not imagine that any one of you is ignorant of what the prince of all historians, Herodotus [ 8. 105 ], has said about Panionius of Chios, who castrated free boys and sold them, and the just punishment which he suffered. # But Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Poseidonius the Stoic [ Fr_38 ], in their Histories, both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for the purpose of being transported into the land of the Colchians,- so really angry with them was the Deity, as being the first people who used purchased slaves, while most other nations provided for themselves by their own industry. And, perhaps, this is what the proverb originated in, "A Chian bought a master," which is used by Eupolis, in his Friends.

[92. ] G But the Athenians, having a prudent regard to the condition of their slaves, made a law that, there should be a charge of outrage [? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ], even against men who ill treated their slaves. Accordingly, Hypereides, the orator, in his speech against Mantitheus, on a charge of assault [? ? ? ? ? ], says, [267] "They made these laws not only for the protection of freemen, but they enacted also, that even if any one personally ill-treated a slave, there should be a power of preferring an indictment against him who bad done so. " And Lycurgus made a similar statement, in his first speech against Lycophron; and so did Demosthenes, in his oration against Meidias. And Malacus, in his Annals of the Siphnians, relates that some slaves of the Samians colonized Ephesus, being a thousand men in number; who in the first instance revolted against their masters, and fled to the mountain which is in the island, and from thence did great injury to the Samians. But, in the sixth year after these occurrences, the Samians, by the advice of an oracle, made a treaty with the slaves, on certain agreements; and the slaves were allowed to depart uninjured from the island and, sailing away, they occupied Ephesus, and the Ephesians are descended from these ancestors.

[93. ] G But Chrysippus says that there is a difference between a ? ? ? ? ? ? and an ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and he draws the distinction in the second book of his treatise on Similarity of Meaning, because he says that those who have been emancipated are still ? ? ? ? ? ? , but that the term ? ? ? ? ? ? ? is confined to those who are not discharged from servitude; for the ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , says he, is a ? ? ? ? ? ? , being actually at the time the property of a master. And all the following are called ? ? ? ? ? ? , as Cleitarchus says, in his treatise on Dialects; ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , and ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , and ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? and also ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Amerias says, that the slaves who are employed about the fields are called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Hermon, in his treatise on the Cretan Dialects, says that slaves of noble birth are called ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Seleucus says, that both men and maid servants are called ? ? ? ? ; and that a female slave is often called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and that a slave who is the son of a slave is called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and that ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? is a name properly belonging to a female slave who is about her mistress's person, and that a ? ? ?