But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come;
And if there are none, still of any country
Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask
For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-
For that it is which makes a banquet noble.
And if there are none, still of any country
Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask
For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-
For that it is which makes a banquet noble.
Athenaeus - Deipnosophists
# And something very like this happened at Aedepsus.
For at a distance from all other waters there was a spring sending forth cold water at no great distance from the sea; and invalids who drunk this water were greatly benefited: on which account many repaired thither from great distances, to avail themselves of the water.
Accordingly the generals of king Antigonus, wishing to be economical with respect to it, imposed a tax to be paid by those who drank it: and on this the spring dried up.
# And in the Troas in former times all who wished it were at liberty to collect salt at Tragasae; but when Lysimachus became ruler there, and put a tax on it, that, too, disappeared: and as he marvelled at this, as soon as he remitted the tribute and left the place free, the salt came again.
* * * * *
[21. ] G [81] Stesichorus also mentions the Cydonian apples, in his Helene, speaking thus :-
Before the king's most honoured throne,
I threw Cydonian apples down;
And leaves of myrrh, and crowns of roses,
And violets in purple posies.
Alcman mentions them too. And Cantharus does so likewise, in the Tereus; where he says-
Likening her bosom to Cydonian apples.
And Philemon, in his Clown calls Cydonian apples ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says [ Fr_10 ] that apples by their sweet fragrance can blunt the efficacy of even deadly poisons. At all events, he says, that some Phariacan poison having been cast into a chest still smelling from having had some of these apples stored away in it, lost all its effect and preserved none of its former power, but was mixed and given to some people who were plotted against, but that they escaped all harm. And that afterwards it was ascertained, by an investigation and examination of the man who had sold the poison; and that he felt sure that it arose from the fact of the apples having been put away in the chest.
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[54. ] G [98] Such now, my friends, are Ulpianus' companions, the sophists; men who call even the thing which the Romans call miliarium, that is to say, a vessel designed to prepare boiling water in, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , an oven-kettle; being manufacturers of many names, and far outrunning by many parasangs the Sicilian Dionysius: who called a virgin ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (from ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ), because she is waiting for a husband; and a pillar ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (from ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ), because it remains and is strong. And a javelin he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , because ( ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) it is thrown against something; and mouse-holes he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? mysteries, (from ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) because they keep the mice. And Athanis in the first book of his History of the Affairs of Sicily, says that the same Dionysius gave an ox the name of ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and a pig he called ? ? ? ? ? ? . # And Alexarchus was a man of the same sort, the brother of Cassander, who was king of Macedonia, who built the city called Uranopolis. And Heracleides Lembus speaks concerning him in the seventh book of his Histories, and says, "Alexarchus, who founded the city Uranopolis, imported many peculiar words and forms of speaking into the language: calling a cock ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , or he that crows in the morn; and a barber ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , or one who cuts men; and a drachma he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , a piece of silver; and a choenix he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , what feeds a man for a day; and a herald he called ? ? ? ? ? ? , a bawler. And once he wrote a letter to the magistrates of Cassandreia in this form:- Alexarchus, to the Primipiles of Brother's Town, joy: Our sun-fleshed yeans, I wot, and dams thereof which guard the braes whereon they were born, have been visited by the fateful dome of the gods in might, fresheting them hence from the forsaken fields. " But what that letter means I think that even the Pythian Apollo himself could hardly tell. For, as Antiphanes says, in his Cleophanes,-
What is it then to be a tyrant, (or
What would you call pursuing serious things,)
In the Lyceium with the sophists; by Zeus,
They are but thin and hungry joyless men.
And say the thing does not exist if now
It is produced; for that is not as yet,
[99] Nor can already be produced, which now
Is caused afresh. Nor if it did exist
Before, can it be now made to exist.
For there is nothing which has no existence.
And that which never yet has taken place,
Is not as if it had, since it has not.
For it exists from its existence; but
If there is no existence, what is there
From which it can exist? The thing's impossible.
And if it's self-existent, it will not
Exist again. And one perhaps may say,
Let be; whence now can that which has no being
Exist, what can become of it? What all this means
I say that even Apollo's self can't tell.
* * * * *
[58. ] G [100] But Lynceus the Samian, the friend of Theophrastus, was acquainted with the use of paunches when eaten with silphium sauce. # And accordingly, writing an account of the Banquet of Ptolemy , he says:- "A certain paunch having been brought round in vinegar and sauce. " Antiphanes, too, mentions this sauce in his Unhappy Lovers, speaking of Cyrene -
I sail back to the self-same harbour whence
We previously were torn; and bid farewell
To all my horses, friends, and silphium,
And two horse chariots, and to cabbages,
And single-horses, and to salads green,
And fevers, and rich sauces.
[101] And how much better a paunch of a castrated animal is, Hipparchus, who wrote the book called The Egyptian Iliad, tells us in the following words -
But above all I do delight in dishes
Of paunches and of tripe from gelded beasts,
And love a fragrant pig within the oven.
And Sopater says in his Hippolytus -
But like a beauteous paunch of gelded pig
Well boiled and white, and basted with rich cheese.
And in his Physiologus he says-
'Tis not a well boiled slice of paunch of pig
Holding within a sharp and biting gravy.
And in his Silphae he says-
That you may eat a slice of boiled pig's paunch,
Dipping It in a bitter sauce of rue.
[59. ] G But the ancients were not acquainted with the fashion of bringing on paunches, or lettuces, or anything of the sort, before dinner, as is done now. At all events Archestratus, the inventor of made dishes, as he calls himself, says that pledges in drinking, and the use of ointments, are introduced after supper -
And always at the banquet crown your head
With flowing wreaths of varied scent and hue,
Culling the treasures of the happy earth;
And steep your hair in rich and reeking odours,
And all day long pour holy frankincense
And myrrh, the fragrant fruit of Syria,
On the slow slumbering ashes of the fire:
Then, when you drink, let slaves these luxuries bring-
Tripe, and the boiled paunch of well-fed swine,
Well soaked in cumin juice and vinegar,
And sharp, strong-smelling silphium;
Taste, too, the tender well-roast birds, and game,
Whatever may be in season. But despise
The rude uncivilized Sicilian mode,
Where men do nought but drink like troops of frogs,
And eat no solid seasoning. Avoid them.
And seek the meats which I enjoin thee here.
All other foods are only signs and proofs
Of wretched poverty: the green boiled vetch,
And beans, and apples, and dried drums of figs.
But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come;
And if there are none, still of any country
Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask
For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-
For that it is which makes a banquet noble.
Thus should a free man live, or else descend
Beneath the earth, and court the deadly realms
Of Tartarus, buried deep beneath the earth
Innumerable fathoms.
# But Lynceus, describing the banquet given by Lamia, the female flute-player, when she entertained Demetrius Poliorcetes, represents the guests the moment they come to the banquet as eating all sorts of fish and meat; and in the same way, when speaking of the feast given by Antigonus the king, when celebrating the Aphrodisiac festival, and also one given by King Ptolemy, he speaks of fish as the first course; and then meat.
* * * * *
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 4 (excerpts)
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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[1. ] G [128] Hippolochus the Macedonian, my friend Timocrates, lived in the time of Lynceus and Duris of Samos, pupils of Theophrastus the Eresian. And he had made a bargain with Lynceus, as one may learn from his letters, that if ever he was present at any very expensive banquet, he would relate to him the whole of the preparations which were made; and Lynceus in return made him the same promise. And there are accordingly some letters of each of them on the subject of banquets; # in which Lynceus relates the banquet which was given at Athens by Lamia the Attic female flute-player to King Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, (and Lamia was the mistress of Demetrius. ) And Hippolochus reports the marriage feast of Caranus the Macedonian. And we have also met with other letters of Lynceus, written to the same Hippolochus, giving an account of the banquet of King Antigonus, when he celebrated the Aphrodisian festival at Athens, and also that given by King Ptolemy. And I will show you the very letters themselves. But as the letter of Hippolochus is very scarce, I will run over to you the principal things which are contained in it, just for the sake of conversation and amusement at the present time.
[2. ] G # In Macedonia, then, as I have said, Caranus made a marriage feast; and the guests invited were twenty in number. And as soon as they had sat down, a silver bowl was given to each of them as a present. And Caranus had previously crowned every one of them, before they entered the dining-room, with a golden chaplet, and each chaplet was valued at five pieces of gold. And when they had emptied the bowls, then there was given to each of the guests a loaf in a brazen platter of Corinthian workmanship, of the same size; and poultry, and ducks, and besides that, pigeons, and a goose, and quantities more of the same kind of food heaped up abundantly. And each of the guests taking what was set before him, with the brazen platter itself also, gave it to the slaves who waited behind him. Many other dishes of various sorts were also served up to eat. And after them, a second platter was placed before each guest, made of silver, on which again there was placed a second large loaf, and on that goose, and hares, and kids, and other rolls curiously made, and doves, and turtledoves, and partridges, and every other kind of bird imaginable, in the greatest abundance. Those also, says Hippolochus, we gave to the slaves; and when we had eaten to satiety, we washed our hands, and chaplets wore brought in in great numbers, made of all sorts of flowers from all countries, and on each chaplet a circlet of gold, of about the same weight as the first chaplet. [129] And Hippolochus having stated after this that Proteas, the descendant of that celebrated Proteas the son of Lanice, who had been the nurse of Alexander the king, was a most extraordinary drinker, as also his grandfather Proteas, who was the friend of Alexander, had been; and that he pledged every one present, proceeds to write as follows :-
[3. ] G And while we were now all amusing ourselves with agreeable trifling, some flute-playing women and musicians, and some Rhodian players on the sambuca came in, naked as I fancied, but some said that they had tunics on. And they having played a prelude, departed; and others came in in succession, each of them bearing two bottles of perfume, bound with a golden thong, and one of the crests was silver and the other gold, each holding a cotyla, and they presented them to each of the guests and then, instead of supper, there was brought in a great treasure, a silver platter with a golden edge of no inconsiderable depth, of such a size as to receive the entire bulk of a roast boar of huge size, which lay on it on his back, showing his belly uppermost, stuffed with many good things. For in the belly there were roasted thrushes, and paunches, and a most countless number of fig-peckers, and the yolks of eggs spread on the top, and oysters, and periwinkles. And to every one of the guests was presented a boar stuffed in this way, nice and hot, together with the dish on which he was served up. And after this we drank wine, and each of us received a hot kid, on another platter like that on which the boar had been served up with some golden spoons. Then Caranus seeing that we were cramped for the want of room, ordered canisters and breadbaskets to be given to each of us, made of strips of ivory curiously plaited together; and we were very much delighted at all this, and applauded the bridegroom, by whose means we wore thus enabled to preserve what had been given to us. Then chaplets were again brought to us, and another pair of cruets of perfume, one silver and one gold, of the same weight as the former pair. And when quiet was restored, there entered some men, who even in the Potfeast at Athens had borne a part in the solemnities, and with them there came in some ithyphallic dancers, and some jugglers, and some conjuring women also, tumbling and standing on their heads on swords, and vomiting fire out of their mouths, and they, too, were naked.
[4. ] G And when we were relieved from their exhibition, then we had a fresh drink offered to us, hot and strong, and Thasian, and Mendaean, and Lesbian wines were placed upon the board, very large golden goblets being brought to every one of us. And after we had drunk, a glass goblet of two cubits in diameter, placed on a silver stand, was served up, full of roast fishes of every imaginable sort that could be collected. And there was also given to every one a silver breadbasket full of Cappadocian loaves; some of which we ate and some we delivered to the slaves behind us. And when we had washed our hands, we put on chaplets; and then again we received golden circlets twice as large as the former ones, and another pair of cruets of perfume. And when quiet was restored, Proteas leaping up from his couch, asked for a cup to hold a chous; and having filled it with Thasian wine, and having mingled a little water with it, he drank it off, saying -
He who drinks most will be the happiest.
And Caranus said - "Since you have been the first to drink, do you be the first also to accept the cup as a gift; and this also shall be the present for all the rest who drink too. " And when this had been said, at once nine of the guests rose up snatching at the cups, and each one trying to forestall the other. But one of those who were of the party, like an unlucky man as he was, as he was unable to drink, sat down and cried because he had no goblet; and so Caranus presented him with an empty goblet. [130] After this, a dancing party of a hundred men came in, singing an epithalamium in beautiful tune. And after them there came in dancing girls, some arranged so as to represent the Nereids, and others in the guise of the nymphs.
[5. ] G And as the drinking went on, and the shadows were beginning to fall, they opened the chamber where everything was encircled all round with white cloths. And when these curtains were drawn, the torches appeared, the partitions having been secretly removed by a mechanism. And there were seen Cupids, and Artemises, and Pans, and Hermae, and numbers of statues of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks. And while we were admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance, some real Erymanthian bears were brought round to each of the guests on square platters with golden edges, pierced through and through with silver darts. And what was the strangest thing of all was, that those of us who were almost helpless and stupefied with wine, the moment that we saw any of these things which were brought in, became all in a moment sober, standing upright, as it is said. And so the slaves crammed them into the baskets of good omen, until the usual signal of the termination of the feast sounded. For you know that that is the Macedonian custom at large parties.
And Caranus, who had begun drinking in small goblets, ordered the slaves to bring round the wine rapidly. And so we drank pleasantly, taking our present liquor as a sort of antidote to our previous hard drinking. And while we were thus engaged, Mandrogenes the buffoon came in, the descendant, as is reported, of that celebrated Straton the Athenian, and he caused us much laughter. And after this he danced with his wife, a woman who was already more than eighty years of age. And at last the tables, to wind up the whole entertainment, were brought in. And sweetmeats in plaited baskets made of ivory were distributed to every one. And cheesecakes of every kind known, Cretan cheesecakes, and your Samian ones, my friend Lynceus, and Attic ones, with the proper boxes, or dishes, suitable to each kind of confection. And after this we all rose up and departed, quite sobered, by Zeus, by the thoughts of, and our anxiety about, the treasures which we had received. But you who never go out of Athens think yourself happy when you hear the precepts of Theophrastus and when you eat thyme, and salads, and nice twisted loaves, solemnizing the Lenaean festival, and the Potfeast at the Anthesteria. But at the banquet of Caranus, instead of our portions of meat, we carried off actual riches, and are now looking, some for houses, and some for lands, and some of us are seeking to buy slaves.
* * * * *
[20. ] G [141] Subsequently the Lacedaemonians relaxed the rigour of this way of living, and became more luxurious. At all events, Phylarchus, in the (? ) twenty-fifth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning them [ Fr_44 ] :- "The Lacedaemonians had given up assembling for the pheiditia, according to the custom of their country,[142] and whenever they met, after having had a few things brought round, for the sake of a seeming compliance with the law, other things were then prepared; couches furnished in a very expensive way and of exceeding size and all differing from one another in their adornment; so that some of the strangers who were invited used to be afraid to put their elbows on the pillows; and those who formerly used to rest on a bare bench during the whole banquet, perhaps once leaning on their elbows for a few minutes, had now come to such a pitch of luxury as I have spoken of, and to a serving up of many cups of wine, and of all sorts of food procured from all countries and dressed in every kind of luxurious way; and besides that, they had come to use foreign perfumes, and also foreign wines and sweetmeats. And the people began this fashion who lived a short time before the reign of Cleomenes, namely Areus and Acrotatus, rivalling the indulgence of the court of Persia; and they in their turn were so far exceeded by some private individuals, who lived in Sparta at that time, in their own personal extravagance, that Areus and Acrotatus appeared people of such rigid frugality as to have surpassed the most simple of their predecessors in self-denial. "
[21. ] G # But Cleomenes was a man of eminent wisdom in his discernment of matters, (although he was but a young man,) and also was exceedingly simple in his manner of life. For he, being king, and having such important affairs entrusted to his management, displayed such behaviour to any who were invited to any sacrifice, as to make them see that what they had daily prepared at home for themselves was in no respect inferior to what he allowed himself. And when many embassies were sent to him be never made a banquet for the ambassadors at an earlier hour than the regular time; and there never was anything more laid than five couches; and when there was no embassy, three couches were laid. And there were no orders issued by the regulator of the feasts, as to who should come in or who should sit down first: but the eldest led the way to the couch, unless he himself invited any one else to do so; and he was generally seen supping with his brother or with some of his friends of his own age. And there was placed on a tripod a brazen wine-cooler, and a cask, and a small silver cup holding two cotylae, and a cyathus; and the spoon was made of brass. And wine was not brought round to drink unless any one asked for it; but one cyathus was given to each guest before supper: and generally it was given to himself first; and then, when he had thus given the signal, the rest also asked for some wine. But what was served up was placed on a very common-looking table; and the dishes were such that there was neither anything left, nor anything deficient, but just a sufficient quantity for every one; so that those who were present should not feel the want of anything. For he did not think it right to receive guests as sparingly, in respect of soup and meat, as men are treated at the pheiditia; nor again, to have so much superfluity as to waste money for no purpose, exceeding all moderation and reason in the feast; for the one extreme he counted illiberal and the other arrogant. And the wine was of rather a better quality when he had any company. But while they were eating they all kept silence; but a slave stood by, holding in his hand a vessel of mixed wine, and poured out for every one who asked for it. And in the same manner, after supper there was given to each guest not more than two cyathi of wine, and this too was brought to each person as he made a sign for it. And there was no music of any kind accompanying the meal, but Cleomenes himself conversed all the time with each individual, having invited them, as it were, for the purpose of listening and talking; so that all departed charmed with his hospitality and affability. But Antiphanes, ridiculing the Lacedaemonian banquets in the style of the comic poets, in his drama which is entitled Archon, speaks as follows :-
[143] If you should live in Lacedaemon's walls,
You must comply with all their fashions there.
Go to their spare pheiditia for supper,
And feast on their black broth; and not disdain
To wear fierce whiskers, and seek no indulgence
Further than this; but keep the olden customs,
Such as their country does compel.
* * * * *
[26. ] G [145] But Heracleides the Cumaean, who compiled a history of Persia, in the second book of that work which is entitled Preparatory, says:- "And those who wait upon the Persian kings while they are at supper, all bathe before serving, and wear beautiful clothes; and they remain nearly half the day in attendance at the feast. But of those who are invited to eat with the king, some dine outside, and every one who chooses can see them, but some dine inside with the king: and even these do not actually eat with him; but there are two rooms opposite to one another, in one of which the king eats his meal, and in the other the guests eat theirs. And the king can see them through the curtain which is at the door; but they cannot see him. But sometimes, when there is a feast, then they all sup in one room, namely, in the same room as the king, being the large room. And when the king has a drinking party, (and he has one very often,) his guests are about a dozen in number, and when they have supped, the king by himself, and his guests by themselves, then one of the eunuchs summons those who are to drink with the king: and when they come, then they drink with him, but they do not have the same wine; also they sit on the ground and he reclines on a couch with golden feet; and when they are very drunk indeed they go away. But for the most part the king breakfasts and sups by himself: but sometimes his wife sups with him; and sometimes some of his sons do so. And at supper his concubines sing and play to him; and one of them leads, and then all the rest sing in concert.
"But the supper," he continues, "which is called the king's supper, will appear to any one who hears of it to be very magnificent; still, when it is examined into, it will turn out to be economically and carefully managed, and in the same manner as the meals of the other Persians who are in office. For the king has a thousand victims slain every day: and among them are horses and camels, and oxen, and asses, and stags, and an immense number of sheep; and a great many birds too are taken; and the Arabian ostrich (and that is a very huge animal), and geese, and cocks; and a moderate quantity of them are served up to each of the mess-mates of the king, and each of them carries away what is left for his breakfast. But the greater part of these victims and of this meat is carried out into the court to the spear-bearers and light-armed troops whom the king maintains; and in the court the masters of the feasts portion out the meat and the bread into equal portions; and as the mercenary troops in Greece receive money for their hire, so do these men receive food from the king, on account, as if it were money. And in the same way, at the courts of the other Persians, who hold high rank, all the food is placed at once upon the table; and when the mess-mates of the magistrate have finished their supper, then he who superintends the meal distributes what is left on the table (and the greater port of the bread and meat, is left) to each of the servants. And each attendant, when he has received his share, has his food for the day. [146] For the most honourable of the mess-mates (their title is ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) never come to the king except to breakfast; because they have requested permission not to be bound to come twice in the day, in order that they themselves may be able to receive guests at their own houses. "
[27. ] G But Herodotus, in his seventh book, says:- "The Greeks, who received Xerxes in hospitality, and invited him to supper, all came to the very extremity of ruin, so as to be utterly turned out of their houses; as for instance, among the Thasians, who, because of the cities which they had on the continent, received the army of Xerxes and entertained it at supper. Antipater, one of the citizens, expended four hundred talents in that single entertainment; and he placed on the tables gold and silver cups and goblets; and then the soldiers, when they departed after the supper, took them away with them. And, wherever Xerxes took two meals, dining as well as supping, that city would be utterly ruined. "
And in the ninth book of his Histories, the same author tells us:- "The king provides a royal entertainment; and this is provided once every year, on the day on which the king was born. And the name of this feast is in Persian ? ? ? ? ? , but in Greek ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and that is the only day that he has his head rubbed, and gives presents to the Persians. "
But Alexander the Great, whenever he supped with any of his friends, as Ephippus the Olynthian relates in his book on the Deaths of Alexander and Hephaestion, expended each day a hundred minae, as perhaps sixty or seventy of his friends supped with him. But the king of the Persians as Ctesias and Dinon relate in the Histories of Persia, supped with fifteen thousand men, and there were expended on the supper four hundred talents; and this amounts in Italian money to twenty four hundred thousand [denarii]. And this sum when divided among fifteen thousand men is a hundred and sixty [denarii] of Italian money for each individual; so that it comes to very nearly the same as the expense of Alexander; for he expended a hundred minae, according to the account of Ephippus.
But Menander, in his play called Drunkenness, estimates the expense of the most sumptuous banquet at a talent, saying:-
Then we do not in these matters act as we should do
When to the gods we sacrifice; for then we go and buy
A sheep, an offering for the gods, for scarce ten drachmas' price.
And then we send for flute-players, and ointments, and perfumes,
And harps, and singing women, eels, and cheese, and honey too;
And ample jars of Thasian wine; but those can scarcely come,
When all together reckoned up, to a small talent's sum.
And it is as the very extravagance of expense that he has named a talent at all. And in his Morose Man he speaks as follows:-
See how those housebreakers do sacrifice!
Bearing such beds and couches, not to please
The gods, but their own selves. Incense is pious,
So is the votive cake; and this the god
Receives well-baked in the holy fire.
But they when they have offered the chump end
Of the spine, the gall bladder, and bones,
Not too agreeable or easy to eat,
Unto the gods, consume the rest themselves.
[28. ] G And Philoxenus of Cythera, in the play which is entitled The Supper (for he it is whom Platon the comic writer mentions in his Phaon, and not Philoxenus tho Leucadian,) mentions the following as the preparation made for a banquet:-
[ these verses, as recorded in the manuscripts, are barely intelligible ]
And then two slaves brought in a well-rubbed table,
[147] And then another, and another, till
The room was full, and then the hanging lamps
Beamed bright and shone upon the festive crowns,
And herbs, and dishes of rich delicacies.
And then all arts were put in requisition
To furnish forth a most luxurious meal.
Barley cakes as white as snow did fill the baskets,
And then were served up not coarse vulgar pots,
But well-shaped dishes, whose (? ) well-ordered breadth
Filled the rich board, eels, and the well-stuffed conger,
A dish for the gods. Then came a platter
Of equal size, with dainty swordfish fraught,
And then fat cuttlefish, and the savoury tribes
Of the long hairy polypus. After this
(? ) Another dish appeared upon the table,
Rival of that just brought from off the fire,
Fragrant with spicy odour. And on that
. . .
. . .
After that came a grey mullet hot
From the fire, the whole as large as the table,
. . .
. . . following these we had
Flower-leaved cakes and fresh confections
Sweet to the palate, and large buns of wheat,
Large as the plate, sweet, and round, which you
Do know the taste of well. And if you ask
What more was there, I'd speak of luscious chine,
And loin of pork, and head of boar, all hot;
Cutlets of kid, and well-boiled meat ends,
And ribs of beef, and heads, and snouts, and tails,
. . .
. . .
Then kid again, and lamb, and hares, and poultry,
Partridges and ring-doves were lavishly laid before us.
And golden honey, and clotted cream was there,
And cheese, which I did join with all in calling
Most tender fare. And when we all had reached
Satiety of food and wine, the slaves
Bore off the still full tables; and some others
Brought us warm water for to wash our hands.
[29. ] G And Socrates the Rhodian, in the third book of his History of the Civil War, describing the entertainment given by Cleopatra the last queen of Egypt, who married Antonius the Roman general, in Cilicia, speaks in the following manner:- "But Cleopatra having met Antonius in Cilicia, prepared him a royal entertainment, in which every dish was golden and inlaid with precious stones, wonderfully chased and embossed. And the walls," continues he, "were hung with cloths embroidered in gold and purple. And she had twelve triclinia laid; and invited Antonius to a banquet, and invited him to bring with him whatever companions he pleased. [148] And he being astonished at the magnificence of the sight, expressed his surprise; and she, smiling said that she made him a present of everything which he saw, and invited him to sup with her again the next day, and to bring his friends and captains with him. And then she prepared a banquet by far more splendid than the former one, so as to make that first one appear contemptible; and again she presented to him everything that there was on the table; and she told each of his captains to take for his own the couch on which he lay, and the goblets which were set before each couch. And when they were departing she gave to all those of the highest rank litters, with the slaves for litter-bearers; and to the rest she gave horses, adorned with silver-plated trappings: and to every one she gave Ethiopian boys, to bear torches before them. And on the fourth day she paid more than a talent for roses; and the floor of the chamber for the men was strewed a cubit deep, nets being spread over the blooms. " And he relates further, that "Antonius himself when he was staying at Athens, a short time after this, prepared a very superb scaffold to spread over the theatre, covered with green wood such as is seen in the caves sacred to Dionysus; and from this scaffold he suspended drums and fawn-skins, and all the other trinkets which one names in connection with Dionysus, and then sat there with his friends, getting drunk from daybreak,- a band of musicians, whom he had sent for from Italy, playing to him all the time, and all the Greeks around being collected to see the sight. And presently," continues he, "he crossed over to the Acropolis, the whole city of Athens being illuminated with lamps suspended from the roofs; and after that he ordered himself to be proclaimed as Dionysus throughout all the cities in that district. "
And Gaius the emperor, surnamed Caligula because he was born in the camp, was not only called the New Dionysus, but was also in the habit of going about dressed in the entire dress of Dionysus, and be used to sit on the tribunal as judge in that dress.
[30. ] G Now a man looking at these instances which have occurred in our country before our time, may marvel at the poverty of the Greeks, especially if he sets his eyes upon the banquets which take place among the Thebans; concerning whom Cleitarchus, in the first book of his Histories relating to Alexander, speaks, and says that all their wealth, when the city was razed to the ground by Alexander, was found to amount to four hundred and forty talents, because they were mean-spirited and stingy in eating and drinking, preparing in their banquets forced-meat balls, and boiled fish and anchovies, and other small fish, and sausages, and ribs of beef, and soup; on which Attaginus the son of Phrynon feasted Mardonius, with fifty other Persians; a man whom Herodotus mentions in his ninth book [ 9. 16 ] as having amassed an enormous amount of riches. And I think that they would never have survived, and that there was no necessity for the Greeks to fight against them at Plataea, as they would certainly have been killed by such food as that.
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[33. ] G [150] But Lynceus, in his treatise on the Affairs and Constitution of Egypt, comparing the Egyptian banquets to the Persian ones, says - "When the Egyptians made an expedition against Ochus, king of Persia, and were defeated, when the king of the Egyptians was taken prisoner, Ochus treated him with great humanity, and invited him to supper. And as there was a very splendid preparation made, the Egyptian laughed at the idea of the Persian living so frugally. 'But if you wish,' said he, 'O king, to know how happy kings ought to feast, permit those cooks who formerly belonged to me to prepare for you an Egyptian supper. ' And when the Persian had ordered that they should do so, when it was prepared, Ochus was delighted at the feast, and said, 'May the gods, O Egyptian, destroy you miserably for a wicked man, who could leave such a supper as this, and desire a much more frugal repast. '" But what the Egyptian feasts were like Protagorides teaches us in the first book of his treatise on the Contests at Daphne, speaking as follows :- "And the third description of suppers is the Egyptian, whose tables are not laid at all, but dishes are brought round to the guests. "
[34. ] G "But among the Galatians," says Phylarchus in his sixth book [ Fr_9 ], "it is the custom to place on the tables a great number of loaves broken plentifully, and meat just taken out of the cauldrons, which no one touches without first waiting for the king to see whether he touches anything of what in served up before him. " But in his third book the same Phylarchus says [ Fr_2 ] that "Ariamnes the Galatian, being an exceedingly rich man, gave notice that be would give all the Galatians a banquet every year, and that he did so, managing in this manner: he divided the country, measuring it by convenient stages along the roads; and at these stages he erected tents of stakes and rushes and osiers, each containing about four hundred men, or somewhat more, according as the district required, and with reference to the number that might be expected to throng in from the villages and towns adjacent to the stage in question. And there he placed huge cauldrons, full of every sort of meat; and he had the cauldrons made in the preceding year before he was to give the feast, sending for artisans from other cities. And he caused many victims to he slain - numbers of oxen, and pigs, and sheep and other animals - every day; and he caused casks of wine to be prepared, and a great quantity of ground corn. And not only," he continues, "did all the Galatians who came from the villages and cities enjoy themselves, but even all the strangers who happened to be passing by were not allowed to escape by the slaves who stood around, but were pressed to come in and partake of what had been prepared. "
[35. ] G Xenophon also mentions the Thracian suppers in the seventh book of his Anabasis, describing the banquet given by Seuthes in the following words [ 7. 3'21 ] - [151] "But when they all came to the supper, and the supper was laid so that they might all sit round in a circle, then tripods were brought to all the guests; and they were about twenty in number, all full of meat ready carved: and leavened loaves of large size were stuck to the joints of meat with skewers.
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[21. ] G [81] Stesichorus also mentions the Cydonian apples, in his Helene, speaking thus :-
Before the king's most honoured throne,
I threw Cydonian apples down;
And leaves of myrrh, and crowns of roses,
And violets in purple posies.
Alcman mentions them too. And Cantharus does so likewise, in the Tereus; where he says-
Likening her bosom to Cydonian apples.
And Philemon, in his Clown calls Cydonian apples ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says [ Fr_10 ] that apples by their sweet fragrance can blunt the efficacy of even deadly poisons. At all events, he says, that some Phariacan poison having been cast into a chest still smelling from having had some of these apples stored away in it, lost all its effect and preserved none of its former power, but was mixed and given to some people who were plotted against, but that they escaped all harm. And that afterwards it was ascertained, by an investigation and examination of the man who had sold the poison; and that he felt sure that it arose from the fact of the apples having been put away in the chest.
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[54. ] G [98] Such now, my friends, are Ulpianus' companions, the sophists; men who call even the thing which the Romans call miliarium, that is to say, a vessel designed to prepare boiling water in, ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , an oven-kettle; being manufacturers of many names, and far outrunning by many parasangs the Sicilian Dionysius: who called a virgin ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (from ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ), because she is waiting for a husband; and a pillar ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (from ? ? ? ? and ? ? ? ? ? ? ), because it remains and is strong. And a javelin he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , because ( ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) it is thrown against something; and mouse-holes he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? mysteries, (from ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) because they keep the mice. And Athanis in the first book of his History of the Affairs of Sicily, says that the same Dionysius gave an ox the name of ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and a pig he called ? ? ? ? ? ? . # And Alexarchus was a man of the same sort, the brother of Cassander, who was king of Macedonia, who built the city called Uranopolis. And Heracleides Lembus speaks concerning him in the seventh book of his Histories, and says, "Alexarchus, who founded the city Uranopolis, imported many peculiar words and forms of speaking into the language: calling a cock ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , or he that crows in the morn; and a barber ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , or one who cuts men; and a drachma he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , a piece of silver; and a choenix he called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , what feeds a man for a day; and a herald he called ? ? ? ? ? ? , a bawler. And once he wrote a letter to the magistrates of Cassandreia in this form:- Alexarchus, to the Primipiles of Brother's Town, joy: Our sun-fleshed yeans, I wot, and dams thereof which guard the braes whereon they were born, have been visited by the fateful dome of the gods in might, fresheting them hence from the forsaken fields. " But what that letter means I think that even the Pythian Apollo himself could hardly tell. For, as Antiphanes says, in his Cleophanes,-
What is it then to be a tyrant, (or
What would you call pursuing serious things,)
In the Lyceium with the sophists; by Zeus,
They are but thin and hungry joyless men.
And say the thing does not exist if now
It is produced; for that is not as yet,
[99] Nor can already be produced, which now
Is caused afresh. Nor if it did exist
Before, can it be now made to exist.
For there is nothing which has no existence.
And that which never yet has taken place,
Is not as if it had, since it has not.
For it exists from its existence; but
If there is no existence, what is there
From which it can exist? The thing's impossible.
And if it's self-existent, it will not
Exist again. And one perhaps may say,
Let be; whence now can that which has no being
Exist, what can become of it? What all this means
I say that even Apollo's self can't tell.
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[58. ] G [100] But Lynceus the Samian, the friend of Theophrastus, was acquainted with the use of paunches when eaten with silphium sauce. # And accordingly, writing an account of the Banquet of Ptolemy , he says:- "A certain paunch having been brought round in vinegar and sauce. " Antiphanes, too, mentions this sauce in his Unhappy Lovers, speaking of Cyrene -
I sail back to the self-same harbour whence
We previously were torn; and bid farewell
To all my horses, friends, and silphium,
And two horse chariots, and to cabbages,
And single-horses, and to salads green,
And fevers, and rich sauces.
[101] And how much better a paunch of a castrated animal is, Hipparchus, who wrote the book called The Egyptian Iliad, tells us in the following words -
But above all I do delight in dishes
Of paunches and of tripe from gelded beasts,
And love a fragrant pig within the oven.
And Sopater says in his Hippolytus -
But like a beauteous paunch of gelded pig
Well boiled and white, and basted with rich cheese.
And in his Physiologus he says-
'Tis not a well boiled slice of paunch of pig
Holding within a sharp and biting gravy.
And in his Silphae he says-
That you may eat a slice of boiled pig's paunch,
Dipping It in a bitter sauce of rue.
[59. ] G But the ancients were not acquainted with the fashion of bringing on paunches, or lettuces, or anything of the sort, before dinner, as is done now. At all events Archestratus, the inventor of made dishes, as he calls himself, says that pledges in drinking, and the use of ointments, are introduced after supper -
And always at the banquet crown your head
With flowing wreaths of varied scent and hue,
Culling the treasures of the happy earth;
And steep your hair in rich and reeking odours,
And all day long pour holy frankincense
And myrrh, the fragrant fruit of Syria,
On the slow slumbering ashes of the fire:
Then, when you drink, let slaves these luxuries bring-
Tripe, and the boiled paunch of well-fed swine,
Well soaked in cumin juice and vinegar,
And sharp, strong-smelling silphium;
Taste, too, the tender well-roast birds, and game,
Whatever may be in season. But despise
The rude uncivilized Sicilian mode,
Where men do nought but drink like troops of frogs,
And eat no solid seasoning. Avoid them.
And seek the meats which I enjoin thee here.
All other foods are only signs and proofs
Of wretched poverty: the green boiled vetch,
And beans, and apples, and dried drums of figs.
But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come;
And if there are none, still of any country
Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask
For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-
For that it is which makes a banquet noble.
Thus should a free man live, or else descend
Beneath the earth, and court the deadly realms
Of Tartarus, buried deep beneath the earth
Innumerable fathoms.
# But Lynceus, describing the banquet given by Lamia, the female flute-player, when she entertained Demetrius Poliorcetes, represents the guests the moment they come to the banquet as eating all sorts of fish and meat; and in the same way, when speaking of the feast given by Antigonus the king, when celebrating the Aphrodisiac festival, and also one given by King Ptolemy, he speaks of fish as the first course; and then meat.
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 4 (excerpts)
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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[1. ] G [128] Hippolochus the Macedonian, my friend Timocrates, lived in the time of Lynceus and Duris of Samos, pupils of Theophrastus the Eresian. And he had made a bargain with Lynceus, as one may learn from his letters, that if ever he was present at any very expensive banquet, he would relate to him the whole of the preparations which were made; and Lynceus in return made him the same promise. And there are accordingly some letters of each of them on the subject of banquets; # in which Lynceus relates the banquet which was given at Athens by Lamia the Attic female flute-player to King Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, (and Lamia was the mistress of Demetrius. ) And Hippolochus reports the marriage feast of Caranus the Macedonian. And we have also met with other letters of Lynceus, written to the same Hippolochus, giving an account of the banquet of King Antigonus, when he celebrated the Aphrodisian festival at Athens, and also that given by King Ptolemy. And I will show you the very letters themselves. But as the letter of Hippolochus is very scarce, I will run over to you the principal things which are contained in it, just for the sake of conversation and amusement at the present time.
[2. ] G # In Macedonia, then, as I have said, Caranus made a marriage feast; and the guests invited were twenty in number. And as soon as they had sat down, a silver bowl was given to each of them as a present. And Caranus had previously crowned every one of them, before they entered the dining-room, with a golden chaplet, and each chaplet was valued at five pieces of gold. And when they had emptied the bowls, then there was given to each of the guests a loaf in a brazen platter of Corinthian workmanship, of the same size; and poultry, and ducks, and besides that, pigeons, and a goose, and quantities more of the same kind of food heaped up abundantly. And each of the guests taking what was set before him, with the brazen platter itself also, gave it to the slaves who waited behind him. Many other dishes of various sorts were also served up to eat. And after them, a second platter was placed before each guest, made of silver, on which again there was placed a second large loaf, and on that goose, and hares, and kids, and other rolls curiously made, and doves, and turtledoves, and partridges, and every other kind of bird imaginable, in the greatest abundance. Those also, says Hippolochus, we gave to the slaves; and when we had eaten to satiety, we washed our hands, and chaplets wore brought in in great numbers, made of all sorts of flowers from all countries, and on each chaplet a circlet of gold, of about the same weight as the first chaplet. [129] And Hippolochus having stated after this that Proteas, the descendant of that celebrated Proteas the son of Lanice, who had been the nurse of Alexander the king, was a most extraordinary drinker, as also his grandfather Proteas, who was the friend of Alexander, had been; and that he pledged every one present, proceeds to write as follows :-
[3. ] G And while we were now all amusing ourselves with agreeable trifling, some flute-playing women and musicians, and some Rhodian players on the sambuca came in, naked as I fancied, but some said that they had tunics on. And they having played a prelude, departed; and others came in in succession, each of them bearing two bottles of perfume, bound with a golden thong, and one of the crests was silver and the other gold, each holding a cotyla, and they presented them to each of the guests and then, instead of supper, there was brought in a great treasure, a silver platter with a golden edge of no inconsiderable depth, of such a size as to receive the entire bulk of a roast boar of huge size, which lay on it on his back, showing his belly uppermost, stuffed with many good things. For in the belly there were roasted thrushes, and paunches, and a most countless number of fig-peckers, and the yolks of eggs spread on the top, and oysters, and periwinkles. And to every one of the guests was presented a boar stuffed in this way, nice and hot, together with the dish on which he was served up. And after this we drank wine, and each of us received a hot kid, on another platter like that on which the boar had been served up with some golden spoons. Then Caranus seeing that we were cramped for the want of room, ordered canisters and breadbaskets to be given to each of us, made of strips of ivory curiously plaited together; and we were very much delighted at all this, and applauded the bridegroom, by whose means we wore thus enabled to preserve what had been given to us. Then chaplets were again brought to us, and another pair of cruets of perfume, one silver and one gold, of the same weight as the former pair. And when quiet was restored, there entered some men, who even in the Potfeast at Athens had borne a part in the solemnities, and with them there came in some ithyphallic dancers, and some jugglers, and some conjuring women also, tumbling and standing on their heads on swords, and vomiting fire out of their mouths, and they, too, were naked.
[4. ] G And when we were relieved from their exhibition, then we had a fresh drink offered to us, hot and strong, and Thasian, and Mendaean, and Lesbian wines were placed upon the board, very large golden goblets being brought to every one of us. And after we had drunk, a glass goblet of two cubits in diameter, placed on a silver stand, was served up, full of roast fishes of every imaginable sort that could be collected. And there was also given to every one a silver breadbasket full of Cappadocian loaves; some of which we ate and some we delivered to the slaves behind us. And when we had washed our hands, we put on chaplets; and then again we received golden circlets twice as large as the former ones, and another pair of cruets of perfume. And when quiet was restored, Proteas leaping up from his couch, asked for a cup to hold a chous; and having filled it with Thasian wine, and having mingled a little water with it, he drank it off, saying -
He who drinks most will be the happiest.
And Caranus said - "Since you have been the first to drink, do you be the first also to accept the cup as a gift; and this also shall be the present for all the rest who drink too. " And when this had been said, at once nine of the guests rose up snatching at the cups, and each one trying to forestall the other. But one of those who were of the party, like an unlucky man as he was, as he was unable to drink, sat down and cried because he had no goblet; and so Caranus presented him with an empty goblet. [130] After this, a dancing party of a hundred men came in, singing an epithalamium in beautiful tune. And after them there came in dancing girls, some arranged so as to represent the Nereids, and others in the guise of the nymphs.
[5. ] G And as the drinking went on, and the shadows were beginning to fall, they opened the chamber where everything was encircled all round with white cloths. And when these curtains were drawn, the torches appeared, the partitions having been secretly removed by a mechanism. And there were seen Cupids, and Artemises, and Pans, and Hermae, and numbers of statues of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks. And while we were admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance, some real Erymanthian bears were brought round to each of the guests on square platters with golden edges, pierced through and through with silver darts. And what was the strangest thing of all was, that those of us who were almost helpless and stupefied with wine, the moment that we saw any of these things which were brought in, became all in a moment sober, standing upright, as it is said. And so the slaves crammed them into the baskets of good omen, until the usual signal of the termination of the feast sounded. For you know that that is the Macedonian custom at large parties.
And Caranus, who had begun drinking in small goblets, ordered the slaves to bring round the wine rapidly. And so we drank pleasantly, taking our present liquor as a sort of antidote to our previous hard drinking. And while we were thus engaged, Mandrogenes the buffoon came in, the descendant, as is reported, of that celebrated Straton the Athenian, and he caused us much laughter. And after this he danced with his wife, a woman who was already more than eighty years of age. And at last the tables, to wind up the whole entertainment, were brought in. And sweetmeats in plaited baskets made of ivory were distributed to every one. And cheesecakes of every kind known, Cretan cheesecakes, and your Samian ones, my friend Lynceus, and Attic ones, with the proper boxes, or dishes, suitable to each kind of confection. And after this we all rose up and departed, quite sobered, by Zeus, by the thoughts of, and our anxiety about, the treasures which we had received. But you who never go out of Athens think yourself happy when you hear the precepts of Theophrastus and when you eat thyme, and salads, and nice twisted loaves, solemnizing the Lenaean festival, and the Potfeast at the Anthesteria. But at the banquet of Caranus, instead of our portions of meat, we carried off actual riches, and are now looking, some for houses, and some for lands, and some of us are seeking to buy slaves.
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[20. ] G [141] Subsequently the Lacedaemonians relaxed the rigour of this way of living, and became more luxurious. At all events, Phylarchus, in the (? ) twenty-fifth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning them [ Fr_44 ] :- "The Lacedaemonians had given up assembling for the pheiditia, according to the custom of their country,[142] and whenever they met, after having had a few things brought round, for the sake of a seeming compliance with the law, other things were then prepared; couches furnished in a very expensive way and of exceeding size and all differing from one another in their adornment; so that some of the strangers who were invited used to be afraid to put their elbows on the pillows; and those who formerly used to rest on a bare bench during the whole banquet, perhaps once leaning on their elbows for a few minutes, had now come to such a pitch of luxury as I have spoken of, and to a serving up of many cups of wine, and of all sorts of food procured from all countries and dressed in every kind of luxurious way; and besides that, they had come to use foreign perfumes, and also foreign wines and sweetmeats. And the people began this fashion who lived a short time before the reign of Cleomenes, namely Areus and Acrotatus, rivalling the indulgence of the court of Persia; and they in their turn were so far exceeded by some private individuals, who lived in Sparta at that time, in their own personal extravagance, that Areus and Acrotatus appeared people of such rigid frugality as to have surpassed the most simple of their predecessors in self-denial. "
[21. ] G # But Cleomenes was a man of eminent wisdom in his discernment of matters, (although he was but a young man,) and also was exceedingly simple in his manner of life. For he, being king, and having such important affairs entrusted to his management, displayed such behaviour to any who were invited to any sacrifice, as to make them see that what they had daily prepared at home for themselves was in no respect inferior to what he allowed himself. And when many embassies were sent to him be never made a banquet for the ambassadors at an earlier hour than the regular time; and there never was anything more laid than five couches; and when there was no embassy, three couches were laid. And there were no orders issued by the regulator of the feasts, as to who should come in or who should sit down first: but the eldest led the way to the couch, unless he himself invited any one else to do so; and he was generally seen supping with his brother or with some of his friends of his own age. And there was placed on a tripod a brazen wine-cooler, and a cask, and a small silver cup holding two cotylae, and a cyathus; and the spoon was made of brass. And wine was not brought round to drink unless any one asked for it; but one cyathus was given to each guest before supper: and generally it was given to himself first; and then, when he had thus given the signal, the rest also asked for some wine. But what was served up was placed on a very common-looking table; and the dishes were such that there was neither anything left, nor anything deficient, but just a sufficient quantity for every one; so that those who were present should not feel the want of anything. For he did not think it right to receive guests as sparingly, in respect of soup and meat, as men are treated at the pheiditia; nor again, to have so much superfluity as to waste money for no purpose, exceeding all moderation and reason in the feast; for the one extreme he counted illiberal and the other arrogant. And the wine was of rather a better quality when he had any company. But while they were eating they all kept silence; but a slave stood by, holding in his hand a vessel of mixed wine, and poured out for every one who asked for it. And in the same manner, after supper there was given to each guest not more than two cyathi of wine, and this too was brought to each person as he made a sign for it. And there was no music of any kind accompanying the meal, but Cleomenes himself conversed all the time with each individual, having invited them, as it were, for the purpose of listening and talking; so that all departed charmed with his hospitality and affability. But Antiphanes, ridiculing the Lacedaemonian banquets in the style of the comic poets, in his drama which is entitled Archon, speaks as follows :-
[143] If you should live in Lacedaemon's walls,
You must comply with all their fashions there.
Go to their spare pheiditia for supper,
And feast on their black broth; and not disdain
To wear fierce whiskers, and seek no indulgence
Further than this; but keep the olden customs,
Such as their country does compel.
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[26. ] G [145] But Heracleides the Cumaean, who compiled a history of Persia, in the second book of that work which is entitled Preparatory, says:- "And those who wait upon the Persian kings while they are at supper, all bathe before serving, and wear beautiful clothes; and they remain nearly half the day in attendance at the feast. But of those who are invited to eat with the king, some dine outside, and every one who chooses can see them, but some dine inside with the king: and even these do not actually eat with him; but there are two rooms opposite to one another, in one of which the king eats his meal, and in the other the guests eat theirs. And the king can see them through the curtain which is at the door; but they cannot see him. But sometimes, when there is a feast, then they all sup in one room, namely, in the same room as the king, being the large room. And when the king has a drinking party, (and he has one very often,) his guests are about a dozen in number, and when they have supped, the king by himself, and his guests by themselves, then one of the eunuchs summons those who are to drink with the king: and when they come, then they drink with him, but they do not have the same wine; also they sit on the ground and he reclines on a couch with golden feet; and when they are very drunk indeed they go away. But for the most part the king breakfasts and sups by himself: but sometimes his wife sups with him; and sometimes some of his sons do so. And at supper his concubines sing and play to him; and one of them leads, and then all the rest sing in concert.
"But the supper," he continues, "which is called the king's supper, will appear to any one who hears of it to be very magnificent; still, when it is examined into, it will turn out to be economically and carefully managed, and in the same manner as the meals of the other Persians who are in office. For the king has a thousand victims slain every day: and among them are horses and camels, and oxen, and asses, and stags, and an immense number of sheep; and a great many birds too are taken; and the Arabian ostrich (and that is a very huge animal), and geese, and cocks; and a moderate quantity of them are served up to each of the mess-mates of the king, and each of them carries away what is left for his breakfast. But the greater part of these victims and of this meat is carried out into the court to the spear-bearers and light-armed troops whom the king maintains; and in the court the masters of the feasts portion out the meat and the bread into equal portions; and as the mercenary troops in Greece receive money for their hire, so do these men receive food from the king, on account, as if it were money. And in the same way, at the courts of the other Persians, who hold high rank, all the food is placed at once upon the table; and when the mess-mates of the magistrate have finished their supper, then he who superintends the meal distributes what is left on the table (and the greater port of the bread and meat, is left) to each of the servants. And each attendant, when he has received his share, has his food for the day. [146] For the most honourable of the mess-mates (their title is ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) never come to the king except to breakfast; because they have requested permission not to be bound to come twice in the day, in order that they themselves may be able to receive guests at their own houses. "
[27. ] G But Herodotus, in his seventh book, says:- "The Greeks, who received Xerxes in hospitality, and invited him to supper, all came to the very extremity of ruin, so as to be utterly turned out of their houses; as for instance, among the Thasians, who, because of the cities which they had on the continent, received the army of Xerxes and entertained it at supper. Antipater, one of the citizens, expended four hundred talents in that single entertainment; and he placed on the tables gold and silver cups and goblets; and then the soldiers, when they departed after the supper, took them away with them. And, wherever Xerxes took two meals, dining as well as supping, that city would be utterly ruined. "
And in the ninth book of his Histories, the same author tells us:- "The king provides a royal entertainment; and this is provided once every year, on the day on which the king was born. And the name of this feast is in Persian ? ? ? ? ? , but in Greek ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; and that is the only day that he has his head rubbed, and gives presents to the Persians. "
But Alexander the Great, whenever he supped with any of his friends, as Ephippus the Olynthian relates in his book on the Deaths of Alexander and Hephaestion, expended each day a hundred minae, as perhaps sixty or seventy of his friends supped with him. But the king of the Persians as Ctesias and Dinon relate in the Histories of Persia, supped with fifteen thousand men, and there were expended on the supper four hundred talents; and this amounts in Italian money to twenty four hundred thousand [denarii]. And this sum when divided among fifteen thousand men is a hundred and sixty [denarii] of Italian money for each individual; so that it comes to very nearly the same as the expense of Alexander; for he expended a hundred minae, according to the account of Ephippus.
But Menander, in his play called Drunkenness, estimates the expense of the most sumptuous banquet at a talent, saying:-
Then we do not in these matters act as we should do
When to the gods we sacrifice; for then we go and buy
A sheep, an offering for the gods, for scarce ten drachmas' price.
And then we send for flute-players, and ointments, and perfumes,
And harps, and singing women, eels, and cheese, and honey too;
And ample jars of Thasian wine; but those can scarcely come,
When all together reckoned up, to a small talent's sum.
And it is as the very extravagance of expense that he has named a talent at all. And in his Morose Man he speaks as follows:-
See how those housebreakers do sacrifice!
Bearing such beds and couches, not to please
The gods, but their own selves. Incense is pious,
So is the votive cake; and this the god
Receives well-baked in the holy fire.
But they when they have offered the chump end
Of the spine, the gall bladder, and bones,
Not too agreeable or easy to eat,
Unto the gods, consume the rest themselves.
[28. ] G And Philoxenus of Cythera, in the play which is entitled The Supper (for he it is whom Platon the comic writer mentions in his Phaon, and not Philoxenus tho Leucadian,) mentions the following as the preparation made for a banquet:-
[ these verses, as recorded in the manuscripts, are barely intelligible ]
And then two slaves brought in a well-rubbed table,
[147] And then another, and another, till
The room was full, and then the hanging lamps
Beamed bright and shone upon the festive crowns,
And herbs, and dishes of rich delicacies.
And then all arts were put in requisition
To furnish forth a most luxurious meal.
Barley cakes as white as snow did fill the baskets,
And then were served up not coarse vulgar pots,
But well-shaped dishes, whose (? ) well-ordered breadth
Filled the rich board, eels, and the well-stuffed conger,
A dish for the gods. Then came a platter
Of equal size, with dainty swordfish fraught,
And then fat cuttlefish, and the savoury tribes
Of the long hairy polypus. After this
(? ) Another dish appeared upon the table,
Rival of that just brought from off the fire,
Fragrant with spicy odour. And on that
. . .
. . .
After that came a grey mullet hot
From the fire, the whole as large as the table,
. . .
. . . following these we had
Flower-leaved cakes and fresh confections
Sweet to the palate, and large buns of wheat,
Large as the plate, sweet, and round, which you
Do know the taste of well. And if you ask
What more was there, I'd speak of luscious chine,
And loin of pork, and head of boar, all hot;
Cutlets of kid, and well-boiled meat ends,
And ribs of beef, and heads, and snouts, and tails,
. . .
. . .
Then kid again, and lamb, and hares, and poultry,
Partridges and ring-doves were lavishly laid before us.
And golden honey, and clotted cream was there,
And cheese, which I did join with all in calling
Most tender fare. And when we all had reached
Satiety of food and wine, the slaves
Bore off the still full tables; and some others
Brought us warm water for to wash our hands.
[29. ] G And Socrates the Rhodian, in the third book of his History of the Civil War, describing the entertainment given by Cleopatra the last queen of Egypt, who married Antonius the Roman general, in Cilicia, speaks in the following manner:- "But Cleopatra having met Antonius in Cilicia, prepared him a royal entertainment, in which every dish was golden and inlaid with precious stones, wonderfully chased and embossed. And the walls," continues he, "were hung with cloths embroidered in gold and purple. And she had twelve triclinia laid; and invited Antonius to a banquet, and invited him to bring with him whatever companions he pleased. [148] And he being astonished at the magnificence of the sight, expressed his surprise; and she, smiling said that she made him a present of everything which he saw, and invited him to sup with her again the next day, and to bring his friends and captains with him. And then she prepared a banquet by far more splendid than the former one, so as to make that first one appear contemptible; and again she presented to him everything that there was on the table; and she told each of his captains to take for his own the couch on which he lay, and the goblets which were set before each couch. And when they were departing she gave to all those of the highest rank litters, with the slaves for litter-bearers; and to the rest she gave horses, adorned with silver-plated trappings: and to every one she gave Ethiopian boys, to bear torches before them. And on the fourth day she paid more than a talent for roses; and the floor of the chamber for the men was strewed a cubit deep, nets being spread over the blooms. " And he relates further, that "Antonius himself when he was staying at Athens, a short time after this, prepared a very superb scaffold to spread over the theatre, covered with green wood such as is seen in the caves sacred to Dionysus; and from this scaffold he suspended drums and fawn-skins, and all the other trinkets which one names in connection with Dionysus, and then sat there with his friends, getting drunk from daybreak,- a band of musicians, whom he had sent for from Italy, playing to him all the time, and all the Greeks around being collected to see the sight. And presently," continues he, "he crossed over to the Acropolis, the whole city of Athens being illuminated with lamps suspended from the roofs; and after that he ordered himself to be proclaimed as Dionysus throughout all the cities in that district. "
And Gaius the emperor, surnamed Caligula because he was born in the camp, was not only called the New Dionysus, but was also in the habit of going about dressed in the entire dress of Dionysus, and be used to sit on the tribunal as judge in that dress.
[30. ] G Now a man looking at these instances which have occurred in our country before our time, may marvel at the poverty of the Greeks, especially if he sets his eyes upon the banquets which take place among the Thebans; concerning whom Cleitarchus, in the first book of his Histories relating to Alexander, speaks, and says that all their wealth, when the city was razed to the ground by Alexander, was found to amount to four hundred and forty talents, because they were mean-spirited and stingy in eating and drinking, preparing in their banquets forced-meat balls, and boiled fish and anchovies, and other small fish, and sausages, and ribs of beef, and soup; on which Attaginus the son of Phrynon feasted Mardonius, with fifty other Persians; a man whom Herodotus mentions in his ninth book [ 9. 16 ] as having amassed an enormous amount of riches. And I think that they would never have survived, and that there was no necessity for the Greeks to fight against them at Plataea, as they would certainly have been killed by such food as that.
* * * * *
[33. ] G [150] But Lynceus, in his treatise on the Affairs and Constitution of Egypt, comparing the Egyptian banquets to the Persian ones, says - "When the Egyptians made an expedition against Ochus, king of Persia, and were defeated, when the king of the Egyptians was taken prisoner, Ochus treated him with great humanity, and invited him to supper. And as there was a very splendid preparation made, the Egyptian laughed at the idea of the Persian living so frugally. 'But if you wish,' said he, 'O king, to know how happy kings ought to feast, permit those cooks who formerly belonged to me to prepare for you an Egyptian supper. ' And when the Persian had ordered that they should do so, when it was prepared, Ochus was delighted at the feast, and said, 'May the gods, O Egyptian, destroy you miserably for a wicked man, who could leave such a supper as this, and desire a much more frugal repast. '" But what the Egyptian feasts were like Protagorides teaches us in the first book of his treatise on the Contests at Daphne, speaking as follows :- "And the third description of suppers is the Egyptian, whose tables are not laid at all, but dishes are brought round to the guests. "
[34. ] G "But among the Galatians," says Phylarchus in his sixth book [ Fr_9 ], "it is the custom to place on the tables a great number of loaves broken plentifully, and meat just taken out of the cauldrons, which no one touches without first waiting for the king to see whether he touches anything of what in served up before him. " But in his third book the same Phylarchus says [ Fr_2 ] that "Ariamnes the Galatian, being an exceedingly rich man, gave notice that be would give all the Galatians a banquet every year, and that he did so, managing in this manner: he divided the country, measuring it by convenient stages along the roads; and at these stages he erected tents of stakes and rushes and osiers, each containing about four hundred men, or somewhat more, according as the district required, and with reference to the number that might be expected to throng in from the villages and towns adjacent to the stage in question. And there he placed huge cauldrons, full of every sort of meat; and he had the cauldrons made in the preceding year before he was to give the feast, sending for artisans from other cities. And he caused many victims to he slain - numbers of oxen, and pigs, and sheep and other animals - every day; and he caused casks of wine to be prepared, and a great quantity of ground corn. And not only," he continues, "did all the Galatians who came from the villages and cities enjoy themselves, but even all the strangers who happened to be passing by were not allowed to escape by the slaves who stood around, but were pressed to come in and partake of what had been prepared. "
[35. ] G Xenophon also mentions the Thracian suppers in the seventh book of his Anabasis, describing the banquet given by Seuthes in the following words [ 7. 3'21 ] - [151] "But when they all came to the supper, and the supper was laid so that they might all sit round in a circle, then tripods were brought to all the guests; and they were about twenty in number, all full of meat ready carved: and leavened loaves of large size were stuck to the joints of meat with skewers.
