Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

In Homer they eat sitting down; but some think that a separate table was set before each of the feasters. At all events, they say a polished table was set before Mentes when he came to Telemachus, arriving after tables were already laid for the feast. However, this is not very clearly proved, for Minerva may have taken her food at Telemachus's table. But all along the banqueting-room full tables were laid out, as is even now the custom among many nations of the barbarians,

  1. Laden with all dainty dishes,
as Anacreon says. And then when the guests have departed, the handmaidens

  1. Bore off the feast, and clear'd the lofty hall,
  2. Removed the goblets and the tables all.
v.1.p.19

The feast which he mentions as taking place in the palace of Menelaus is of a peculiar character; for there he represents the guests as conversing during the banquet and then they wash their hands and return to the board, ad proceed to supper after having indulged their grief. But the line in the last book of the Iliad, which is usually read,

  1. He eat and drank, while still the table stood,
should be read,
  1. He eat and drank still, while the table stood,
or else there would be blame implied for what Achilles was doing at the moment; for how could it be decent that a table should be laid before Achilles, as before a party of revellers, down the whole length of a banqueting-room? Bread, then, was placed on the table in baskets, and the rest of the meal consisted wholly of roast meat. But Homer never speaks of broth, Antiphanes says,
  1. He never boil'd the legs or haunches,
  2. But roasted brains and roasted paunches,
  3. As did his sires of old.

And portions of the meat were then distributed among the guests; from which circumstances he speaks of

equal feasts,
because of their equal division. And he calls suppers δαῖτας, from the word δατέομαι, to divide, since not only was the meat distributed in that way, but the wine also.
  1. Their hunger was appeased,
  2. And strength recruited by the equal feast.[*](Odyss. viii. 98.)
And again,
  1. Come, then, Achilles, share this equal feast.[*](Iliad, ix. 225.)
From these passages Zenodotus got the idea that δαῖτα ἐΐσην meant a good feast; for as food is a necessary good to men, he says that he, by extension of the meaning of the word, called it ἐΐσην. But men in the early times, as they had not food in sufficient abundance, the moment any appeared, rushed on it all at once, and tore it to pieces with violence, and even took it away from others who had it; and this disorderly behaviour gave rise to bloodshed. A d it is from this that very probably the word ἀτασθαλία originated, because it was in θάλιαι, another name for banquets, tat men first offended against one another. But when, by the bounty
v.1.p.20
of Ceres, food became abundant, then they distributed an equal portion to each individual, and so banquets became orderly entertainments. Then came the invention of wine and of sweetmeats, which were also distributed equally: and cups, too, were given to men to drink out of, and these cups all held the same quantity. And as food was called δαὶς, from δαίεσθαι, that is, from being divided, so he who roasted the meat was called δαιτρὸς, because it was he who gave each guest an equal portion. We must remark that the poet uses the word δαὶς only of what is eaten by men, and never applies it to beasts; so that it was out of ignorance of the force of this word that Zenodotus, in his edition writes:—
  1. αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν
  2. οἰωνοῖσί τε δαῖτα,[*](The real reading is οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Iliad, i. 5. He made them the prey of dogs and of all birds. )
calling the food of the vultures and other birds by this name, though it is man alone who has come to an equal division after his previous violence, on which account it is his food alone that is called δαὶς, and the portion given to him is called μοῖρα. But the feasters mentioned in Homer did not carry home the fragments, but when they were satisfied they left them with the givers of the feast; and the housekeeper took them in order, if any stranger arrived, to have something to give him.

Now Homer represents the men of his time as eating fish and birds: at all events, in Sicily the companions of Ulysses catch

  1. All fish and birds, and all that come to hand
  2. With barbed hooks.[*](Odyss. xii. 322.)
But as the hooks were not forged in Sicily, but were brought by them in their vessel; it is plain that they were fond of and skilful in catching fish. And again, the poet compares the companions of Ulysses, who were seized by Sylla, to fish caught with a long rod and thrown out of doors; and he speaks more accurately concerning this act than those who have written poems or treatises professedly on the subject. I refer to Cæcilius of Argos, and Numenius of Heraclea, and Pancrates the Arcadian, and Posidonius the Corinthian, and Oppianus the Cilician, who lived a short time ago; for we
v.1.p.21
know of all those men as writers of heroic poems about fishing. And of prose essayists on the subject we have Seleucus of Tarsus, and Leonidas of Byzantium, and Agathocles of Atracia. But he never expressly mentions such food at his banquets, just as he also forbears to speak f the meat of young animals, as such food was hardly considered suitable to the dignity of heroes of reputation. However, they did eat not only fish, but oysters; though this sort of food is neither very wholesome nor very nice, but the oysters lie at the bottom of the sea, and one cannot get at them by any other means, except by diving to the bottom.
  1. An active man is he, and dives with ease;[*](Iliad, xvi. 745.)
as he says of a man who could have collected enough to satisfy many men, while hunting for oysters.

Before each one of the guests in Homer is placed a separate cup. Demodocus has a basket and a table and a cup placed before him,

  1. To drink whene'er his soul desired.[*](Odyss. vii. 70.)
Again the goblets are crowned with drink; that is to say, they are filled so that the liquor stands above the brim, and the cups have a sort of crown of wine on them. Now the cupbearers filled them so for the sake of the omen; and then they pour out
  1. πᾶσιν, ἐπαρξάμενοι δεπάεσσιν,[*](Iliad, i. 471.)
the word πᾶσιν referring not to the cups but to the men. Accordingly Alcinous says to Pontonous,
  1. Let all around the due libation pay
  2. To Jove, who guides the wanderer on his way;[*](Odyss. vii. 179.)
and then he goes on,
  1. All drink the juice that glads the heart of man.
And due honour is paid at those banquets to all the most eminent men. Accordingly, Tydides is honoured with great quantities of meat and wine; and Ajax receives the compliment of a whole chine of beef. And the kings are treated in the same way:—
  1. A rump of beef they set before the king:[*](Il. iv. 65.)
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that is, before Menelaus. And in like manner he honours Idomeneus and Agamemnon
  1. With ever brimming cups of rosy wine.[*](Iliad, iv. 3.)
And Sarpedon, among the Lycians, receives the same respect, and has the highest seat, and the most meat.

They had also a way of saluting in drinking one another's health; and so even the gods,

  1. In golden goblets pledged each other's health;
that is, they took one another by the right hand while drinking. And so some one δείδεκτʼ ʼαχιλλέα, which is the same as if he had said ἐδεξιοῦτο, that is, took him by the right hand. He drank to him, proffering him the goblet in his right hand. They also gave some of their own portion to those to whom they wished to show attention; as, Ulysses having cut off a piece of chine of beef which was set before himself, sent it to Demodocus.

They also availed themselves at their banquets of the services of minstrels and dancers; as the suitors did, and in the palace of Menelaus

  1. A band amid the joyous circle sings
  2. High airs at tempered to the vocal strings;
  3. While, warbling to the varied strain, advance
  4. Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance.[*](Odyss. iv. 18.)
And though Homer uses μολπὴ, warbling, here, he is really speaking only of the exercise of the dance. But the race of bards in those days was modest and orderly, cultivating a disposition like that of philosophers. And accordingly Agamemnon leaves his bard as a guardian and counsellor to Clytæmnestra: who, first of all, going through all the virtues of women, endeavoured to inspire her with an ambition of excelling in virtuous and ladylike habits; and, after that, by supplying her with agreeable occupation, sought to prevent her inclinations from going astray after evil thoughts: so that Aegisthus could not seduce the woman till he had murdered the bard on a desert island. And the same is the character of that bard who sings under compulsion before the suitors; who bitterly reproached them for laying plots against Penelope. We find too that using one general
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term, Homer calls all bards objects of veneration among men.
  1. Therefore the holy Muse their honour guards
  2. In every land, and loves the race of bards.[*](Odyss. vii. 481.)
And Demodocus the bard of the Phœacians sins of the intrigue between Mars and Venus; not because he approves of such behaviour, but for the purpose of dissuading his hearers from the indulgence of such passions, knowing that they have been brought up in a luxurious way, and therefore relating to them tales not inconsistent with their own manners, for the purpose of pointing out to them the evil of then, and persuading them to avoid such conduct. And Phemius sings to the suitors, in compliance with their desire, the tale of the return of the Greeks from Troy; and the sirens sing to Ulysses what they think will be most agreeable to him, saying what they think most akin to his own ambition and extensive learning. We know, say they,
  1. Whate'er beneath the sun's bright journey lies,
  2. Oh stay and learn new wisdom from the wise.[*](Ib. xii. 191.)

The dances spoken of in Homer are partly those of tumblers and partly those of ball-players; the invention of which last kind Agallis, the Corcyrean authoress, who wrote on grammar, attributes to Nausicaa, paying a compliment to her own countrywoman; but Dicæarchus attributes it to the Sicyonians. But Hippasus gives the credit of both this and gymnastic exercises to the Lacedæmonians. However, Nausicaa is the only one of his heroines whom Homer introduces playing at ball. Demoteles, the brother of Theognis the Chiansophist, was eminent for his skill in this game; and a man of the name of Chærephanes, who once kept following a debauched young man, and did not speak to him, but prevented him from misbehaving. And when he said,

Chærephanes, you may make your own terms with me, if you will only desist from following me;
Do you think,
said he,
that I want to speak to you?
If you do not,
said he,
why do you follow me
I like to look at you,
he replied,
but I do not approve of your conduct.

The thing called φούλλικλον,, which appears to have been a kind of small ball, was invented by Atticus the Neapolitan, the tutor in gymnastics of the great Pompey. And n the

v.1.p.24
game of ball the variation called ἁρπαστὸν used to be called φαινίνδα, and I think that the best of all the games of ball.

There is a great deal of exertion and labour in a game of ball, and it causes great straining of the neck and shoulders. Antiphanes says,

  1. Wretch that I am, my neck's so stiff;
and again Antiphanes describes the φαινίνδα thus:—
  1. The player takes the ball elate,
  2. And gives it safely to his mate,
  3. Avoids the blows of th' other side,
  4. And shouts to see them hitting wide;
  5. List to the cries,
    Hit here,
    hit there,
    '
  6. Too far,
    too high,
    that is not fair,
  7. See every man with ardour burns
  8. To make good strokes and quick returns.
And it was called φαινίνδα from the rapid motion of those who played, or else because its inventor, as Juba the Mauritanian says, was Phænestius, a master of gymnastics. And Antiphanes,
  1. To play Phæninda at Ph$anestius' school.
And those who played paid great attention to elegance of motion and attitude; and accordingly Demoxenus says:—
  1. A youth I saw was playing ball,
  2. Seventeen years of age and tall;
  3. From Cos he came, and well I wot
  4. The Gods look kindly on that spot.
  5. For when he took the ball or threw it,
  6. So pleased were all of us to view it,
  7. We all cried out; so great his grace,
  8. Such frank good humour in his face,
  9. That every time he spoke or moved,
  10. All felt as if that youth they loved.
  11. Sure ne'er before had these eyes seen,
  12. Nor ever since, so fair a mien;
  13. Had I staid long most sad my plight
  14. Had been to lose my wits outright,
  15. And even now the recollection
  16. Disturbs my senses' calm reflection.

Ctesibius also of Chalcis, a philosopher, was no bad player. And there were many of the friends of Antigonus the king who used to take their coats off and play ball with him. Timocrates, too, the Lacedæmonian, wrote a book on playing ball.

But the Phæacians in Homer had a dance also uncon-

v.1.p.25
nected with ball playing; and they danced very cleverly, alternating in figures with one another. That is what is meant by the expression,
  1. In frequent interchanges,
while others stood by and made a clapping noise with their fore-fingers, which is called ληκεῖν. The poet was acquainted also with the art of dancing so as to keep time with singing. And while Demodocus was singing, youths just entering on manhood were dancing; and in the book which is called the Manufacture of the Arms, a boy played the harp,
  1. Danced round and sung in soft well measured tune.
And in these passages the allusion is to that which is called the hyporchematic[*](ὑπόρχημα, a hyporcheme or choral hymn to Apollo, near akin to the Pæan. It was of a very lively character, accompanied with dancing (whence the name) and pantomimic action; and is compared by Athenæus to the κόρδαξ (630 E). Pindar's Fragments, 71-82, are remains of hyporchemes.—Liddell & Scott, in voc. ὑπόρχημα. ) style, which flourished in the time of Xenodemus and Pindar. And this kind of dance is an imitation of actions which are explained by words, and is what the elegant Xenophon represents as having taken place, in his Anabasis, at the banquet given by Seuthes the Thracian. He says:

"After libations were made, and the guests had sung a pæan, there rose up first the Thracians, and danced in arms to the music of a flute, and jumped up very high, with light jumps, and used their swords. And at last one of them strikes another, so that it seemed to every one that the man was wounded. And he fell down in a very clever manner, and all the bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him having stripped him of his arms, went out singing Sitalces. And others of the Thracians carried out his antagonist as if he were dead; but in reality, he was not hurt. After this some Aenianians and Magnesians rose up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they too being in armour. And the fashion of that dance was like this: One man, having laid aside his arms, is sowing, and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking round as if he were afraid. Then three comes up a robber; but the sower, as soon as he sees him snatches up his arms and fights in defence of his team in regular time to the music of the flute. And at last the robber, having

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bound the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower conquers the robber, and then binding him alongside his oxen, he ties his hands behind him, and drives him forward. And one man," says he,
danced the Persian dance, and rattling one shield against another, fell down, and rose up again: and he did all this in time to the music of a flute. And the Arcadians rising up, all moved in time, being clothed in armour, the flute-players playing the tune suited to an armed march; and they sung the pæan, and danced.

The heroes used also flutes and pipes. At all events Agamemnon hears

the voice of flutes and pipes,
which however he never introduced into banquets, except that in the Manufacture[*](That is to say, in the eighteenth book of the Iliad, which relates the making of the arms for Achilles by Vulcan.) of Arms, he mentions the flute on the occasion of a marriage-feast. But flutes he attributes to the barbarians. Accordingly, the Trojans had
the voice of flutes and pipes,
and they made libations, when they got up from the feast, making them to Mercury, and not, as they did afterwards, to Jupiter the Finisher. For Mercury appears to be the patron of sleep: they drop libations to him also on their tongues when they depart from a banquet, and the tongues are especially allotted to him, as being the instruments of eloquence.

Homer was acquainted also with a variety of meats. At all events he uses the expression

various meats,
and
  1. Meats such as godlike kings rejoice to taste.
He was acquainted, too, with everything that is thought luxurious even in our age. And accordingly the palace of Menelaus is the most splendid of houses. And Polybius describes the palace of one of the Spanish kings as being something similar in its appointments and splendour, saying that he was ambitious of imitating the luxury of the Phæacians, except as far as there stood in the middle of the palace huge silver and golden goblets full of wine made of barley. But Homer, when describing the situation and condition of Calypso's house, represents Mercury as astonished; and in his descriptions the life of the Phæacians is wholly devoted to pleasure:
  1. We ever love the banquet rich,
  2. The music of the lyre,
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and so on. And
  1. How goodly seems it, etc. etc.
lines which Eratosthenes says ought to stand thus:—
  1. How goodly seems it ever to employ
  2. Far from all ills man's social days in joy,
  3. The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine
  4. While tuneful songs bid flow the generous wine.[*](Odyss. ix. 7.)
When he says
far from all ills,
he means where folly is not allowed to exhibit itself; for it would be impossible for the Phæacians to be anything but wise, inasmuch as they are very dear to the gods, as Nausicaa says.

In Homer, too, the suitors amused themselves in front of the doors of the palace with dice; not having learnt how to play at dice from Diodorus of Megalopolis, or from Theodorus, or from Leon of Mitylene, who was descended from Athenian ancestors: and was absolutely invincible at dice, as Phanias says. But Apion of Alexandria says that he had heard from Cteson of Ithaca what sort of game the game of dice, as played by the suitors, was. For the suitors being a hundred and eight in number, arranged their pieces opposite to one another in equal numbers, they themselves also being divided into two equal parties, so that there were on each side fifty-four; and between the men there was a small space left empty. And in this middle space they placed one man, which they called Penelope. And they made this the mark, to see if any one of them could hit it with his man; and then, when they had cast lots, he who drew the lot aimed at it. Then if any one hit it and drove Penelope forward out of her place, then he put down his own man in the place of that which had been hit and moved from its place. After which, standing up again, he shot his other man at Penelope in the place in which she was the second time. And if he hit her again without touching any one of the other men, he won the game, and had great hopes that he should be the man to marry her. He says too that Eurymachus gained the greatest number of victories in this game, and was very sanguine about his marriage. And in consequence of their luxury the suitors had such tender hands that they were not able to bend the bow; and even their servants were a very luxurious set.

v.1.p.28

Homer, too, speaks of the smell of perfumes as something very admirable:—

  1. Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets
  2. The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.[*](Iliad, xiv. 173.)
He speaks, too, of splendid beds; and such is the bed which Arete orders her handmaids to prepare for Ulysses. And Nestor makes it a boast to Telemachus that he is well provided with such things.

But some of the other poets have spoken of the habits of expense and indolence of their own time as existing also at the time of the Trojan war; and so Aeschylus very improperly introduces the Greeks as so drunk as to break their vessels about one another's heads; and he says—

  1. This is the man who threw so well
  2. The vessel with an evil smell,
  3. And miss'd me not, but dash'd to shivers
  4. The pot too full of steaming rivers
  5. Against my head, which now, alas! sir,
  6. Gives other smells besides macassar.
And Sophocles says in his banquet of the Greeks,
  1. He in his anger threw too well
  2. The vessel with an evil smell
  3. Against my head, and fill'd the room
  4. With something not much like perfume;
  5. So that I swear I nearly fainted
  6. With the foul steam the vessel vented.
But Eupolis attacks the man who first mentioned such a thing, saying—
  1. I hate the ways of Sparta's line,
  2. And would rather fry my dinner;
  3. He who first invented wine
  4. Made poor man a greater sinner,
  5. And through him the greater need is
  6. Of the arts of Palamedes.[*](Schweighauser says here that the text of this fragment of Eupolis is corrupt, and the sense and metre undiscoverable.)

But in Homer the chiefs banquet in Agamemnon's tent in a very orderly manner; and if in the Odyssey Achilles and Ulysses dispute and Agamemnon exults, still their rivalry with one another is advantageous, since what they are discussing is whether Troy is to be taken by stratagem, or by open-hand fighting. And he does not represent even the

v.1.p.29
suitors as drunk, nor has he ever made his heroes guilty of such disorderly conduct as Aeschylus and Sophocles have, though he does speak of the foot of an ox being thrown at Ulysses.

And his heroes sit at their banquets, and do not lie down. And this was sometimes the case at the feasts of Alexander the king, as Dures says. For he once, when giving a feast to his captains to the number of six thousand, made them sit upon silver chairs and couches, having covered them with purple covers. And Hegesander says that it was not the custom in Macedonia for any one to lie down at a banquet, unless he had slain a boar which had escaped beyond the line of nets; but with that exception, every one sat at supper. And so Cassander, when he was thirty-five years of age, supped with his father in a sitting posture, not being able to perform the above-mentioned exploit, though he was of man's estate, and a gallant hunter.

But Homer, who has always an eye to propriety, has not introduced his heroes feasting on anything except meat, and that too they dressed for themselves. For it caused neither ridicule nor shame to see them preparing and cooking their own food: for they studied to be able to wait upon themselves; and they prided themselves, says Chrysippus, on their dexterity in such matters. And accordingly Ulysses boasts of being a better hand than any one else at making a fire and cutting up meat. And in the book of the Iliad called The Prayers,[*](The Ninth Book.) Patroclus acts as cupbearer, and Achilles prepares the supper. And when Menelaus celebrates a marriage feast, Megapenthes the bridegroom acts as cupbearer. But now we have come to such a pitch of effeminacy as to lie down while at our meals.

And lately baths too have been introduced; things which formerly men would not have permitted to exist inside a city. And Antiphanes points out their injurious character:

  1. Plague take the bath! just see the plight
  2. In which the thing has left me;
  3. It seems t' have boil'd me up, and quite
  4. Of strength and nerve bereft me.
  5. Don't touch me, curst was he who taught a
  6. Man to soak in boiling water.
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And Hermippus says,
  1. As to mischievous habits, if you ask my vote,
  2. I say there are two common kinds of self-slaughter,
  3. One, constantly pouring strong wine down your throat,
  4. T'other plunging in up to your throat in hot water.
But now the refinements of cooks and perfumers have increased so much, that Alexis says that even if a man could bathe in a bath of perfume he would not be content. And all the manufactories of sweetmeats are in great vigour, and such plans are devised for intercourse between people, that some have proposed even to stuff the sofas and chairs with sponge, as on the idea that that will make the occupiers more amorous. And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters; and Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrocottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love. Music, too, has been cultivated now, in a way which is a great perversion of its legitimate use: and extravagance has descended even to our clothes and shoes.

But Homer, though he was well acquainted with the nature of perfume, has never introduced any of his heroes as perfumed except Paris; when he says,

glittering with beauty,
as in another place he says that Venus—
  1. With every beauty every feature arms,
  2. Bids her cheeks glow, and lights up all her charms.[*](Odyss. xviii. 191.)
Nor does he ever represent them as wearing crowns, although by some of his similes and metaphors he shows that he knew of garlands. At all events he speaks of
  1. That lovely isle crown'd by the foaming waves,[*](Ib. x. 195.)
And again he says—
  1. For all around the crown of battle swells.[*](Iliad, xiii. 736.)
We must remark, too, that in the Odyssey he represents his characters as washing their hands before they partake of food. But in the Iliad there is no trace of such a custom. For the life described in the Odyssey is that of men living easily and luxuriously owing to the peace; on which account the men
v.1.p.31
of that time indulged their bodies with baths and washings. And that is the reason why in that state of things they play at dice, and dance, and play ball. But Herodotus is mistaken when he says that those sports were invented in he time of Atys to amuse the people during the famine. For the heroic times are older than Atys. And the men living in the time of the Iliad are almost constantly crying out—
  1. Raise the battle cry so clear,
  2. Prelude to the warlike spear.

Now to go back to what we were saying before. The Athenians made Aristonicus the Carystian, who used to play at ball with Alexander the king, a freeman of their city on account of his skill, and they erected a statue to him. And even in later times the Greeks considered all handicraft trades of much less importance than inventions which had any reference to amusement. And the people of Histiæa, and of Oreum, erected in their theatre a brazen statue holding a die in its hand to Theodorus the juggler. And on the same principle the Milesians erected one to Archelaus the harp- player. But at Thebes there is no statue to Pindar, though there is one to Cleon the singer, on which there is the inscription—

  1. Stranger, thou seest Pytheas' tuneful son,
  2. While living oft with victory's garlands crown'd,
  3. Sweet singer, though on earth his race is run,
  4. E'en the high heavens with his name resound.
Polemo relates that when Alexander razed Thebes to the ground, one man who escaped hid some gold in the garments of this statue, as they were hollow; and then when the city was restored he returned and recovered his money after a lapse of thirty years. But Herodotus, the logomime as he was called, and Archelaus the dancer, according! to Hegesander, were more honoured by Antiochus the king than any others of his friends. And Antiochus his father made the sons of Sostratus the flute-player his body guards.

And Matreas, the strolling player of Alexandria, was admired by both Greeks and Romans; and he said that he was cherishing a beast which was eating itself. So that even now it is disputed what that beast of Matreas's was. He used to propose ridiculous questions in parody of the doubt raised by Aristotle, and then he read them in public; as

Why is the
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sun said to set, and not to dive?
why are sponges said to suck up, and not to drink?
and
why do we say of a tetra-drachm that it καταλλάττεται, [*](This is a pun which cannot be rendered in English,καταλλάσσομαι meaning to be changed, of money; and to be reconciled, of enemies.) when we never speak of its getting in a passion?
And the Athenians gave Pothimos the puppet-master the use of the very stage on which Euripides had exhibited his noble dramas. And they also erected a statue of Euripides in the theatre next to the statue of Aeschylus. Xenophon the conjuror, too, was very popular among them, who left behind him a pupil of the name of Cratisthenes, a citizen of Phlias; a man who used to make fire spout up of its own accord, and who contrived many other extraordinary sights, so as almost to make men discredit the evidence of their own senses. And Nymphodorus the conjuror was another such; a man who having quarrelled with the people of Rhegium, as Duris relates, was the first man who turned them into ridicule as cowards. And Eudicus the buffoon gained great credit by imitating wrestlers and boxers, as Aristoxenus relates. Straton of Tarentum, also, had many admirers; he was a mimic of the dithyrambic poets; and so had Aenonas the Italian, who mimicked the harp-players; and who gave representations of the Cyclops trying to sing, and of Ulysses when shipwrecked, speaking in a clownish fashion. And Diopeithes the Locrian, according to the account of Phanodemus, when he came to Thebes, fastened round his waist bladders full of wine and milk, and then, squeezing them, pretended that he was drawing up those liquids out of his mouth. And Noëmon gained a great reputation for the same sort of tricks.

There were also in Alexander's court the following jugglers, who had all a great name. Scymnus of Tarentum, and Philistides of Syracuse, and Heraclitus of Mitylene. And there were too some strolling players of high repute, such as Cephisodorus and Pantaleon. And Xenophon makes mention also of Philip the buffoon.

Rome may fairly be called the nation of the world. And he will not be far out who pronounces the city of the Romans an epitome of the whole earth; for in it you may see every other city arranged collectively, and many also separately; for instance, there you may see the golden city of the Alex-

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andrians, the beautiful metropolis of Antioch, the surpassing beauty of Nicomedia; and besides all these that most glorious of all the cities which Jupiter has ever display d, I mean Athens. And not only one day, but all the days in an entire year, would be too short for a man who should attempt to enumerate all the cities which might be enumerated as discernible in that uranopolis of the Romans, the city of Rome; so numerous are they.—For indeed some entire nations are settled there, as the Cappadocians, the Scythians, the people of Pontus, and many others. And all these nations, being so to say the entire population of the world, called the dancer who was so famous in our time Memphis, comparing him, on account of the elegance of his movements, to the most royal and honourable of cities; a city of which Bacchylides sings—
  1. Memphis, which winter dares not to assail,
  2. And lotus-crowned Nile.

As for the Pythagorean philosophy, Athenæus explains that to us, and shows us everything in silence more intelligibly than others who undertake to teach the arts which require talking.

Now of tragic dancing, as it was called, such as it existed in his time, Bathyllus of Alexandria was the first introducer; whom Seleucus describes as having been a legitimate dancer. This Bathyllus, according to the account of Aristonicus, and Pylades too, who has written a treatise on dancing, composed the Italian dance from the comic one which was called κόρδαξ, and from the tragic dance which was called ἐμμέλεια, and from the Satyric dance which was called σίκιννις, (from which also the Satyrs were called σικιννισταί,) the inventor of which was a barbarian named Sicinnus, though some say that Sicinnus was a Cretan. Now, the dance invented by Pylades was stately, pathetic, and laborious; but that of Bathyllus was in a merrier style; for he added to his a kind of ode to Apollo. But Sophocles, in addition to being eminent for personal beauty, was very accomplished in music and dancing, having been instructed in those arts while a boy by Lamprus, and after the naval victory of Salamis, he having no clothes on, but only being anointed with oil, danced round the trophy erected on that occasion to the music of the lyre, but some say that he had his tunic on; and when he exhibited his Thamyris he himself played the harp; and he also played at

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ball with great skill when he exhibited his Nausicaa. And Socrates the Wise was very fond of the dance Memphis; and as he was often caught dancing, as Xenophon relates, he said to his friends that dancing was a gymnastic exercise for every limb; for the ancients used the word ὀρχέομαι for every sort of motion and agitation. Anacreon says—
  1. The fair-hair'd maids of mighty Jove
  2. Danced lightly in the mystic grove;
and Ion has the expression—
  1. This strange occurrence makes my heart to dance.

And Hermippus says, that Theophrastus used to come to the walks at a regular hour, carefully and beautifully dressed; and that then he would sit down and enter upon an argument, indulging in every sort of motion and gesture imaginable; so that once while imitating an epicure he even put out his tongue and licked his lips.

Those men were very careful to put on their clothes neatly; and they ridiculed those who did not do so. Plato, in the Theætetus, speaks of

a man who has capacity to manage everything cleverly and perfectly, but who has no idea how to put on even proper clothes like a gentleman, and who has no notion of the propriety of language, so as to be able to celebrate the life of gods and men in a becoming manner.
And Sappho jests upon Andromeda:—
  1. Sure by some milkmaid you've been taught
  2. To dress, whose gown is all too short
  3. To reach her sturdy ancles.
And Philetærus says—
  1. Don't let your gown fall down too low,
  2. Nor pull it up too high to show
  3. Your legs in clownish fashion.
And Hermippus says, that Theocritus of Chios used to blame the way in which Anaximenes used to wrap his cloak round him as a boorish style of dressing. And Callistratus the pupil of Aristophanes, in one of his writings, attacked Aristarchus severely for not being neatly dressed, on the ground, that attention to those minute is no trifling indication of a man's abilities and good sense. On which account Alexis says—
  1. 'Tis a sure sign of a degraded nature,
  2. To walk along the street in sloven's guise;
  3. Having the means of neatness: which costs nothing;
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  5. Is subject to no tax; requires no change;
  6. And creditable is to him who uses it,
  7. And pleasant to all those who witness it.
  8. Who then would ever disregard this rule,
  9. That wishes to be thought a man of sense?

But Aeschylus was not only the inventor of becoming and dignified dress, which the hierophants and torch-bearers of the sacred festivals imitated; but he also invented many figures in dancing, and taught them to the dancers of the chorus. And Chamæleon states that he first arranged the choruses; not using the ordinary dancing-masters, but himself arranging the figures of the dancers for the chorus; and altogether that he took the whole arrangement of his tragedies on himself. And he himself acted in his own plays very fairly. And accord- ingly, Aristophanes (and we may well trust the comic writers in what they say of the tragedians) represents Aeschylus himself as saying—

  1. I myself taught those dances to the chorus,
  2. Which pleased so much when erst they danced before us.
And again, he says,
I recollect that when I saw ' The Phrygians,' when the men came on who were uniting with Priam in his petition for the ransom of his son, some danced in this way, some in that, all at random.
Telesis, or Telestes, (whichever was his right name,) the dancing-master, invented many figures, and taught men to use the action of their hands, so as to give expression to what they said. Phillis the Delian, a musician, says, that the ancient harp-players moved their countenances but little, but their feet very much, imitating the march of troops or the dancing of a chorus. Accordingly Aristotle says, that Telestes the director of Aeschylus's choruses was so great a master of his art, that in managing the choruses of the Seven Generals against Thebes, he made all the transactions plain by dancing. They say, too, that the old poets, Thespis, Pratinas, Carcinus, and Phrynichus, were called dancing poets, because they not only made their dramas depend upon the dancing of the chorus, but because, besides directing the exhibition of their own plays, they also taught dancing to all who wished to learn. But Aeschylus was often drunk when he wrote his tragedies, if we may trust Chamæleon: and accordingly Sophocles reproached him, saying, that even when he did what was right he did not know that he was ding so.

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