Deipnosophistae

But now, not only scents,

as Clearchus says in the third book of his Lives,

but also dyes, being full of luxury, tend to make those men effeminate who have anything to do with them. And do you think that effeminacy without virtue has anything desirable in it? But even Sappho, a thorough woman, and a poetess into the bargain, was ashamed to separate honour from elegance; and speaks thus—

1. But elegance I truly love;
2. And this my love of life has brilliancy,
3. And honour, too, attached to it:

making it evident to everybody that the desire of life that she confessed had respectability and honour in it; and these things especially belong to virtue. But Parrhasius the painter, although he was a man beyond all measure arrogant about his art, and though he got the credit of a liberal profession by some mere pencils and pallets, still in words set up a claim to virtue, and put this inscription on all his works that are at Lindus:—

1. This is Parrhasius' the painter's work,
2. A most luxurious (ἁβροδίαιτος) and virtuous man.

And a wit being indignant at this, because, I suppose, he seemed to be a disgrace to the delicacy and beauty of virtue, having perverted the gifts which fortune had bestowed upon him to luxury, proposed to change the inscription into ῥαβδοδίαιτος ἀνήρ: Still, said he, the man must be endured, since he says that he honours virtue.

These are the words of Clearchus. But Sophocles the poet, in his play called The Judgment, represents Venus, being a sort of Goddess of Pleasure, as anointed with perfumes, and looking in a glass; but Minerva, as being a sort of Goddess of Intellect and Mind, and also of Virtue, as using oil and gymnastic exercises.

In reply to this, Masurius said;—But, my most excellent friend, are you not aware that it is in our brain that our senses are soothed, and indeed reinvigorated, by sweet smells?

as Alexis says in his Wicked Woman, where he speaks thus—

1. The best recipe for health
2. Is to apply sweet scents unto the brain.

And that most valiant, and indeed warlike poet, Alcæus, says—

1. He shed a sweet perfume all o'er my breast.

And the wise Anacreon says somewhere—

1. Why fly away, now that you've well anointed
2. Your breast, more hollow than a flute, with unguents?

for he recommends anointing the breast with unguent, as being the seat of the heart, and considering it an admitted point that that is soothed with fragrant smells. And the ancients used to act thus, not only because scents do of their own nature ascend upwards from the breast to the seat of smelling, but also because they thought that the soul had its abode in the heart; as Praxagoras, and Philotimus the physician taught; and Homer, too, says—

1. He struck his breast, and thus reproved his heart.

Hom. Odyss. xx. 17.

And again he says—

1. His heart within his breast did rage.

Ibid. 13.

And in the Iliad he says—

1. But Hector's heart within his bosom shook.

Hom. Iliad, vii. 216.

And this they consider a proof that the most important portion of the soul is situated in the heart; for it is as evident as possible that the heart quivers when under the agitation of fear. And Agamemnon, in Homer, says—

1. Scarce can my knees these trembling limbs sustain,
2. And scarce my heart support its load of pain;
3. With fears distracted, with no fix'd design,
4. And all my people's miseries are mine.

Iliad, x. 96.

And Sophocles has represented women released from fear as saying—

1. Now Fear's dark daughter does no more exult
2. Within my heart.

This is not from any extant play.

But Anaxandrides makes a man who is struggling with fear say—

1. O my wretched heart!
2. How you alone of all my limbs or senses
3. Rejoice in evil; for you leap and dance
4. The moment that you see your lord alarm'd.

And Plato says,

that the great Architect of the universe has placed the lungs close to the heart, by nature soft and destitute of blood, and having cavities penetrable like sponge, that so the heart, when it quivers, from fear of adversity or disaster, may vibrate against a soft and yielding substance.

But the garlands with which men bind their bosoms are called ὑποθυμιάδες by the poets, from the exhalations (ἀναθυμίασις of the flowers, and not because the soul (ψυχὴ) is called θυμὸς, as some people think.

Archilochus is the earliest author who uses the word μύρον (perfume), where he says—

1. She being old would spare her perfumes (μύρα).

And in another place he says—

1. Displaying hair and breast perfumed (ἐσμυρισμένον);
2. So that a man, though old, might fall in love with her.

And the word μύρον is derived from μύῤῥα, which is the Aeolic form of σμύρνα (myrrh); for the greater portion of unguents are made up with myrrh, and that which is called στακτὴ is wholly composed of it. Not but what Homer was acquainted with the fashion of using unguents and perfumes, but he calls them ἔλαια, with the addition of some distinctive epithet, as-

1. Himself anointing them with dewy oil (δροσόεντι ἐλαίῳ).

Hom. Iliad, xxiii. 186.

And in another place he speaks of an oil as perfumed[*](Ibid. xiv. 172.) (τεθυωμένον. And in his poems also, Venus anoints the dead body of Hector with ambrosial rosy oil; and this is made of flowers. But with respect to that which is made of spices, which they called θυώματα, he says, speaking of Juno,—

1. Here first she bathes, and round her body pours
2. Soft oils of fragrance and ambrosial showers:
3. The winds perfumed, the balmy gale convey
4. Through heaven, through earth, and all the aërial way.
5. Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets
6. The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.

Ibid. xiv. 170.

But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius of Herophila says in his treatise on Perfumes, where he writes—“The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Naples and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at

Soli in Cilicia, and at Rhodes. The essence of spikenard is best at Tarsus; and the extract of vine-leaves is made best in Cyprus and at Adramyttium. The best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos. Egypt bears the palm for its essence of cypirus; and the next best is the Cyprian, and Phœnician, and after them comes the Sidonian. The perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. But the Metopian is made of oil which is extracted from bitter almonds. Still, the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors and the materials and the artists, and not to the place itself; for Ephesus formerly, as men say, had a high reputation for the excellence of its perfumes, and especially of its megallium, but now it has none. At one time, too, the unguents made in Alexandria were brought to high perfection, on account of the wealth of the city, and the attention that Arsinoe and Berenice paid to such matters; and the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive. Again, in ancient times, the extract of vine-leaves made at Adramyttium was but poor; but afterwards it became first-rate, owing to Stratonice, the wife of Eumenes. Formerly, too, Syria used to make every sort of unguent admirably, especially that extracted from fenugreek; but the case is quite altered now. And long ago there used to be a most delicious unguent extracted from frankincense at Pergamus, owing to the invention of a certain perfumer of that city, for no one else had ever made it before him; but now none is made there.

Now, when a valuable unguent is poured on the top of one that is inferior, it remains on the surface; but when good honey is poured on the top of that which is inferior, it works its way to the bottom, for it compels that which is worse to rise above it.

Achæus mentions Egyptian perfumes in his Prizes; and says—

1. They'll give you Cyprian stones, and ointments choice
2. From dainty Egypt, worth their weight in silver.

And perhaps,

says Didymus,

he means in this passage that which is called στακτὴ, on account of the myrrh which is brought to Egypt, and from thence imported into Greece.

And Hicesius says, in the second book of his treatise on Matter,—

Of perfumes, some are rubbed on, and some are poured on. Now, the perfume made from roses is suitable for drinking parties, and so is that made from myrtles and from apples; and this last is good for the stomach, and useful for lethargic people. That made from vine-leaves is good for the stomach, and has also the effect of keeping the mind clear. Those extracted from sampsychum and ground thyme are also well suited to drinking parties; and so is that extract of crocus which is not mixed with any great quantity of myrrh. The στακτὴ,, also, is well suited for drinking parties; and so is the spikenard: that made from fenugreek is sweet and tender; while that which comes from white violets is fragrant, and very good for the digestion.

Theophrastus, also, in his treatise on Scents, says,

that some perfumes are made of flowers; as, for instance, from roses, and white violets, and lilies, which last is called σούσινον. There are also those which are extracted from mint and ground thyme, and gopper, and the crocus; of which the best is procured in Aegina and Cilicia. Some, again, are made of leaves, as those made from myrrh and the œnanthe; and the wild vine grows in Cyprus, on the mountains, and is very plentiful; but no perfume is made of that which is found in Greece, because that has no scent. Some perfumes, again, are extracted from roots; as is that made from the iris, and from spikenard, and from marjoram, and from zedoary.