Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

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

It is in consequence of wine that both comedy and tragedy were discovered in Icarium, a village of Attica; and it was at the time of the grape harvest that these inventions were first introduced, from which comedy was at first called τρυγῳδία.

Euripides, in the Bacchæ, says that Bacchus

Gave men the wine which every grief dispels;
Where wine is not, there Venus never dwells,
Nor any other thing which men hold dear.

And Astydamas says that Bacchus

Gave men the vine which cures all mortal grief,
Parent of genial wine.

For,

says Antiphanes,

a man who continually fills
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himself with wine becomes indifferent and careless; but he who drinks but little is very meditative.

And Alexis says—

I'm not beside myself with drink; nor have I so much taken
As not to be quite understood by those to whom I'm speaking.

But Seleucus says that it was not an ancient custom to indulge in wine or any other luxury to excess, except, indeed, on the occasion of some sacred festival; which is the origin of the names θοῖναι, and θάλιαι, and μέθαι.—θοῖναι meaning that men thought it right διὰ θεοὺς οἰνοῦσθαι, to drink wine ###on account of the gods; θάλιαι meaning that χάριν θεῶν ἡλίζοντο, they assembled and met together in honour of the gods. And this comes to the same as the Homeric expression δαῖτα θάλειαν. And Aristotle says that the word μεθύειν is derived from the fact that men used wine μετὰ τὸ θύειν, after sacrificing.

Euripides says that it is possible that

Those who with humble gifts approach the gods,
May often holier be, than those who load
The groaning altars with whole hecatombs;

and the word τέλος, which he employs in the first line, means

sacrifice.

And Homer uses the same word when he says—

God holds no sacrifice in more esteem,
Than hearts where pious joy and pleasure beam.[*](Odyss. ix. 6.)

And we call those festivals which are of greater magnitude and which are celebrated with certain mysterious traditions, τελεταὶ, on account of the expense which is lavished on them. For the word τελέω means to spend. And men who spend a great deal are called πολυτελεῖς, and those who spend but little are called εὐτελεῖς. Alexis says—

Those who with fair prosperity are bless'd,
Should always keep themselves before the world;
Glad to display the bounty of the gods.
For they, the givers of all good, deserve
A holy gratitude; and they will have it.
But if, when they their gifts have shower'd, they see
The objects of their bounty live like churls,
Useless to all around them; who can wonder
If they recall what seems so ill bestow'd?

A man is not fond of wine who has been used from his earliest years to drink water. But—

'Tis sweet, at a banquet or festival meeting,
To chat o'er one's wine, when the guests have done eating,

says Hesiod in his Melampodia.

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It has not occurred to any one of you to say a word about water, though wine is made of it, and though Pindar, the most grandiloquent of poets, has said that

water is the best of all things.

And Homer, too, the most divine of all poets, recognised it as a most nutritious thing, when he spoke of a grove of poplars nourished by the water. He also praises its transparent nature—

Four fountains flow'd with clearest water white;[*](Odyss. v. 70.)

and the water which is of a lighter nature, and of greater value, he calls

lovely:

at all events he calls the Titaresius lovely which falls into the Peneus. And he mentions also some water as especially good for washing; and Praxagoras of Cos, following his example, speaks of a water as beauteous—

Beauteous it flows, to wash all dirt away.

And he distinguishes also between sweet water and brackish (πλατὺς) water; though when he calls the Hellespont πλατὺς, he uses the word in the sense of broad. But with respect to sweet water, he says—

Near the sweet waters then our ships we stay'd.[*](Ib. xii. 360.)

He was acquainted too with the effect which warm water has on wounds: at all events he describes Eurypylus's wounds as being washed with it; and yet, if the object was to stop the hemorrhage, cold water would have been useful, since that contracts and closes up wounds; but with the view of relieving the pain, he bathes these with warm water, which has a soothing effect. And in Homer the word λιαρὸς is used for what we call θερμὸς, warm. And he shows that plainly enough in what he says about the fountains of the Scamander, saying—

Next by Scamander's double source they bound,
Where two famed fountains burst the parted ground;
This warm, through scorching clefts is seen to rise,
With exhalations steaming to the skies.[*](Iliad, xxii. 149.)

Can we call that only warm from which a steam of fire, and a fiery smoke arises? But of the other source he says—

That, the green banks in summer's heat o'erflows,
Like crystal clear, and cold as winter's snows.

And he often speaks of men newly wounded being bathed in warm water. In the case of Agamemnon he says—

With his warm blood still welling from the wound.[*](Ib. xi. 266.)

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And in the case of a stag fleeing after it had been wounded, he says, in a sort of paraphrase—

While his warm blood and mighty limbs were strong.[*](Iliad, xi. 477.)

The Athenians call χλιαρὸν, which is properly lukewarm, μετάκερας, as Eratosthenes uses the word, saying,

Watery by nature, and lukewarm, μετάκερας.

And of other waters, those which come from rocks he calls

dark,

as being quite useless; and he prefers to all others the waters of springs, and those which rise to the surface from a great depth, and through rich soil. As also Hesiod says—

A ceaseless spring of clear untroubled flow.

And Pindar says—

Ambrosial water, like fresh honey sweet,
Which from Tilphossa's lovely fountains flows;

(Tilphossa is a fountain in Bœotia;) and Aristophanes says that Tiresias died from drinking of it, as at his advanced age he was unable to bear its extreme cold. And Theophrastus, in his book on Waters, says that the water of the Nile is the most productive and the sweetest of all waters, and that it is also very relaxing to the bowels of those who drink it, as it has in it a mixture of nitre. And again, in his book on Plants, he says that there is in some places water which has a procreative tendency; as for instance at Thespiæ: and at Pyrrha there is a water which causes barrenness. But it happened once when there was a drought in the district around the Nile, that the water of that river became unwholesome, and many of the Egyptians died. Theophrastus states, moreover, that not only do bitter waters sometimes change their nature, but that salt water does so too, and sometimes whole rivers do so; as in the case of the fountain in Cithæron, near which there is a temple of Jupiter; and of that in Cairo, near which there is a temple of Neptune: and the reason is, that many thunderbolts fall in those countries.

But there are some waters which have a good deal of body in them, and are of considerable weight; as that in Trœzen,—for that gives the mouths of those who taste it a feeling of fulness. And the waters near the mines in Pangæum, in winter, weigh ninety-six drachms to half a pint, but in summer they only weigh forty-six. For the cold contracts and condenses it; on which account that which is used in hour-

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glasses does not make the hours in winter the same as those in summer, but longer; for the flow is slower on account of the increased density of the water. And he sys that the same is the case in Egypt, though the air there is softer. Brackish water is more earthy, and requires more working; as also does sea-water, the nature of which is warmer, and which is not exposed to the same changes as river-water And there is one salt spring which is of invincible hardness,—I mean that of Arethusa. But as a general rule heavy waters are worse, and so are hard and cold waters, for the same reason; for they are not so easily prepared for use, some because they are very earthy, and some from the excess of cold. But those waters which are quickly warmed are light and wholesome. And in Crannon there is a spring of a gentle warmth, which keeps wine which is mixed with it of the same temperature for two or three days. But flowing waters, and waters from aqueducts, are, as a general rule, better than stagnant ones, being softer because of the collisions to which they are subjected; and on this account water derived from snow appears to be good, because its more drinkable qualities are brought to the surface, and are exposed to the influence of the air; and for the same reason they think it better than rain-water: and on the same ground, too, they prefer water from ice, because it is lighter; and the proof is, that ice is itself lighter than the rest of the water. But very cold water is hard, as being earthy; but that with much body in it, when it is warmed, is susceptible of greater heat, and when it is cold, descends to a more intense cold. And for the same reason water on the mountains is better to drink than water in the plains; for there is in such less admixture of earthy matter. And it is from the earthy particles present that waters vary in colour: at all events, the water of the lake at Babylon is red for some days after it is drawn; and that of the Borysthenes is for some time of a violet or dark colour, although it is unusually thin in quality; and a proof of this is, that at the point where it meets the Hypanis its waters flow above those of the latter while the north winds prevail.

And in many places there are fountains, some of which are good for drinking, and have a vinous flavour; as for instance, one in Paphlagonia, which they say the natives come to for the express purpose of drinking. Some, again, are salt, with

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a rather bitter flavour; as some among the Sicani in Sicily. And in the Carthaginian dominions there is a fountain on which there is something which floats resembling oil, but darker in colour, which they skim off and make into balls, and use for their sheep and cattle; and in other districts, too, there are fountains of a greasy nature,—like the one in Asia concerning which Alexander wrote a letter, saying that he had found a fountain of oil. And of waters which are warm by nature some are sweet, as that at Aegee in Cilicia, and that at Pagasæ, and that at Larissa in the Troas, and that near Magnesia, and that in Melos, and that in Lipara, and that in Prusa,—the Prusa, I mean, near Mount Olympus in Mysia,—which is called the Royal fountain. But that in Asia near Tralles, and those near the river Characometes, and near the city of Mysia, are so oily that those who bathe in them have no need of oil. And there is a similar fountain in the village of Dascylum. There is also one at Carura of an exceeding dryness and heat: and there is another near Menoscome, which is a village in Phrygia, of a rougher and a more nitrous quality; as there is too in a village in Phrygia, called The Lion's Village. And there is a spring near Dorylæum, which is very delicious to drink; but those which are at Baiæ or Baium, a harbour in Italy, are utterly undrinkable.

I myself weighed the water which comes from the fountain called Pirene in Corinth, and found it lighter than any other water in Greece. For I did not believe Antiphanes the comic writer, who says that in many respects Attica is superior to all other districts, and also that it has the best water of any; for he says:—

A. Have you remark'd, my friend,
That none can with this favour'd land contend
In honey, loaves, and figs?
B. Aye, figs indeed!
A. In myrtles, perfumes, wools, in choicest breed
Of cattle, and in cheese; and on what ground
Can fountains like the Attic springs be found?

Eubulus, the writer of comedies, somewhere or other says that Chæremon the tragedian called water the body of the river:—

But when we pass'd the folds, and cross'd the water,
The river's lucid body, all our troops
In the pure crystal bathed their weary limbs,

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There is a fountain in Tenos the water of which cannot be mixed with wine. And Herodotus, in his fourth book, says that the Hypanis, at a distance of five days' journey from its head, is thin and sweet to the taste; but that four days' journey further on it becomes bitter, because some bitter spring falls into it. And Theopompus says that near the river Erigone all the water is sour; and that those who drink of it become intoxicated, just like men who have drunk wine.

But Aristobulus of Cassandra says that there is a fountain in Miletus called the Achillean, the stream of which is very sweet, while the sediment is brackish: this is the water in which the Milesians say that their hero bathed when he had slain Trambelus the king of the Leleges. And they say, too, that the water in Cappadocia never becomes putrid, but there is a great deal in that district, of an admirable quality, though it has no outlet unless it flows underground. And Ptolemy the king, in the Seventh Book of his Commentaries, says that as you go to Corinth through the district called Contoporia, when you have got to the top of the mountain there is a fountain whose waters are colder than snow, so that many people are afraid to drink of it lest they should be frozen; but he says that he drank of it himself. And Phylarchus states that at Cleitor there is a spring which gives those who drink of it a distaste for the smell of wine. And Clearchus tells us that water is called white, like milk; and that wine is called red, like nectar; and that honey and oil are called yellow, and that the juice which is extracted from the myrtle-berry is black. Eubulus says that "water makes those who drink nothing else very ingenious,

But wine obscures and clouds the mind;"

and Philetas borrows not only the thought, but the lines.

Athenæus then, having delivered this lecture on water, like a rhetorician, stopped awhile, and then began again.

Amphis, the comic writer, says somewhere or other—

There is, I take it, often sense in wine,
And those are stupid who on water dine.

And Antiphanes says—

Take the hair, it well is written,
Of the dog by whom you're bitten.
Work off one wine by his brother,
And one labour with another;
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Horns with horns, and noise with noise,
One crier with his fellow's voice
Insult with insult, war with war,
Faction with faction, care with care;
Cook with cook, and strife with strife,
Business with business, wife with wife.

The ancients applied the word ἄκρατον even to unmixed water. Sophron says—

Pour unmix'd water ὕδωρ ἄκρατον in the cup.

Phylarchus says that Theodorus the Larisssean was a water-drinker; the man, I mean, who was always so hostile to king Antigonus. He asserts also that all the Spaniards drink water, though they are the richest of all men, for they have the greatest abundance of gold and silver in their country. And he says, too, that they eat only once a day, out of stinginess, though they wear most expensive clothes. And Aristotle or Theophrastus speaks of a man named Philinus as never having taken any drink or solid food whatever, except milk alone, during the whole of his life. And Pythermus, in his account of the tyrants of Piræus, mentions Glaucon as having been a water-drinker. And Hegesander the Delphian says that Anchimolus and Moschus, sophists who lived in Elis, were water-drinkers all their lives; and that they ate nothing but figs, and for all that, were quite as healthy and vigorous as any one else; but that their perspiration had such an offensive smell, that every one avoided them at the baths. And Matris the Athenian, as long as he lived, ate nothing except a few myrtle-berries each day, and abstained from wine and every other kind of drink except water. Lamprus, too, the musician, was a water-drinker, concerning whom Phrynichus says,

that the gulls lamented, when Lamprus died among them, being a man who was a water-drinker, a subtle hypersophist, a dry skeleton of the Muses, an ague to nightingales, a hymn to hell.

And Machon the comic poet mentions Moschion as a water-drinker.

But Aristotle, in his book on Drunkenness, says, that some men who have been fond of salt meat have yet not had their thirst stimulated by it; of whom Archonides the Argive was one. And Mago the Carthaginian passed three times through the African desert eating dry meal and never drinking And Polemo the Academic philosopher, from the

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time that he was thirty years of age to the day of his death, never drank anything but water, as is related by Antigonus the Carystian. And Demetrius the Scepsian says that Diocles of Peparethus drank cold water to the day of his death. And Demosthenes the orator, who may well be admitted as a witness in his own case, says that he drank nothing but water for a considerable length of time. And Pyheas says,

But you see the demagogues of the present day, Demosthenes and Demades, how very differently they live. For the one is a water-drinker, and devotes his nights to contempla- tion, as they say; and the other is a debauchee, and is drunk every day, and comes like a great potbellied fellow, as he is, into our assemblies.

And Euphorion the Chalcidean writes in this way:—"Lasyrtas the Lasionian never required drink as other men do, and still it did not make him different from other men. And many men, out of curiosity, were careful to watch him, but they desisted before they ascertained what was the truth. For they continued watching him for thirty days together in the summer season, and they saw that he never abstained from salt meat, and yet that, though drinking nothing, he seemed to have no complaint in his bladder. And so they believed that he spoke the truth. And he did, indeed, sometimes take drink, but still he did not require it.

A change of meat is often good,
And men, when tired of common food,
Redoubled pleasure often feel,
When sitting at a novel meal.

The king of Persia, as Herodotus relates in his first book, drank no water, except what came from the river Choaspes, which flows by Susa. And when he was on a journey, he had numbers of four-wheeled waggons drawn by mules following him, laden with silver vessels containing this water, which was boiled to make it keep. And Ctesias the Cnidian explains also in what manner this water was boiled, and how it was put into the vessels and bought to the king, saying that it was the lightest and sweetest of all waters. And the second king of Egypt, he who was surnamed Philadelphus, having given his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus the king of Syria, took the trouble to send her water from the river Nile, in order that his child might drink of no other river, as Polybius relates. And

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Heliodorus tells us, that Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Polybius calls Epimanes,[*](ʼἐπιφάνης, illustrious. ʼἐπιμανὴς, mad.) on account of his actions, mixed the fountain at Antioch with wine; a thing which Theopompus relates to have been also done by the Phrygian Midas, when he wished to make Silenus drunk in order to catch him. And that fountain is, as Bion relates, between the Mædi and the Pæonians, and is called Inna. But Staphylus says, that Melampus was the first who invented the idea of mixing wine with water. And Plistonicus says that water is more digestible than wine.

Now men who drink hard before eating, are usually not very comfortable in their digestion, which are apt to get out of order by such a system, and what they eat often turns sour on the stomach. So that a man who has a regard for his health, ought to take regular exercise, for the sake of promoting frequent perspiration; and he ought also to use the bath regularly for the sake of moistening and relaxing his body. And besides this, and before he bathes, he should drink water, as being an excellent thing,—drinking warm water usually in winter and spring, and cold water in summer, in order not to weaken the stomach. But he should only drink in moderation before the bath or the gymnasium, for the sake of diffusing what he drinks throughout his system beforehand, and in order to prevent the unmixed strength of wine from having too much effect on his extremities. And if any one thinks it too much trouble to live on this system, let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed, especially that which is called πρότροπος, the sweet Lesbian wine, as being very good for the stomach.

Now sweet wines do not make the head heavy, as Hippocrates says in his book on Diet, which some entitle,

The Book on Sharp Pains;

others,

The Book on Barley-water;

and others,

The Book against the Cnidian Theories.

His words are:

Sweet wine is less calculated to make the head heavy, and it takes less hold of the mind, and passes through the bowels easier than other wine.

But Posidonius says, that it is not a good thing to pledge one's friends as the Carmani do; for they, when at their banquets they wish to testify their friendship for each other, cut the veins on their faces, and mingle the blood which flows down with the liquor,

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and then drink it; thinking it the very extremes proof of friendship to taste one another's blood. And after pledging one another in this manner, they anoint their heads with ointment, especially with that distilled from roses, and if they cannot get that, with that distilled from apples, in order to ward off the effects of the drink, and in order also to avoid being injured by the evaporation of the wine; ad if they cannot get ointment of apples, they then use that extracted from the iris or from spikenard, so that Alexis very neatly says—

His nose he anoints, and thinks it plain
'Tis good for health with scents to feed the brain

But one ought to avoid thick perfumes, and to drink water which is thin and transparent, and which in respect of weight is light, and which has no earthy particles in it. And that water is best which is of a moderate heat or coldness, and which, when poured into a brazen or silver vessel, does not produce a blackish sediment. Hippocrates says,

Water which is easily warmed or easily chilled is always lighter.

But that water is bad which takes a long time to boil vegetables; and so too is water full of nitre, or brackish. And in his book upon Waters, Hippocrates calls good water drinkable; but stagnant water he calls bad, such as that from ponds or marshes. And most spring-water is rather hard. But Erasistratus says that some people test water by weight, and that is a most stupid proceeding.

For just look,

says he,

if men compare the water from the fountain Amphiaraus with that from the Eretrian spring, though one of them is good and the other bad, there is absolutely no difference in their respective weights.

And Hippocrates, in his book on Places, says that those waters are the best which flow from high ground, and from dry hills,

for they are white, and sweet, and are able to bear very little wine, and are warm in winter and cold in summer.

And he praises those most, the springs of which break towards the east, and especially towards the north-east, for they must inevitably be clear, and fragrant, and light. Diodes says that water is good for the digestion, and not apt to cause flatulency, that it is moderately cooling, and good for the eyes, and that it has no tendency to make the head feel heavy, and that it adds vigour to the mind and body. And Praxagoras

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says the same; and he also praises rain-water. But Euenor praises water from cisterns, and says that the best is that from the cistern of Amphiaraus, when compared with that from the fountain in Eretria.

But that water is undeniably nutritious is plain from the fact that some animals are nourished by it alone, as for instance, grasshoppers. And there are many other liquids which are nutritious, such as milk, barley-water, and wine. At all events, animals at the breast are nourished by milk; and there are many nations who drink nothing but milk. And it is said that Democritus, the philosopher of Abdera, after he had determined to rid himself of life on account of his extreme old age, and when he had begun to diminish his food day by day, when the day of the Thesmophorian festival came round, and the women of his household besought him not to die during the festival, in order that they might not be debarred from their share in the festivities, was persuaded, and ordered a vessel full of honey to be set near him: and in this way he lived many days with no other support than honey; and then some days after, when the honey had been taken away, he died. But Democritus had always been fond of honey; and he once answered a man, who asked him how he could live in the enjoyment of the best health, that he might do so if he constantly moistened his inward parts with honey, and his outward man with oil. And bread and honey was the chief food of the Pythagoreans, according to the statement of Aristoxenus, who says that those who eat this for breakfast were free from disease all their lives. And Lycus says that the Cyrneans (and they are a people who live near Sardinia) are very long-lived, because they are continually eating honey; and it is produced in great quantities among them.

When he says, men have adjourned the investigation into all such matters, he uses the word ἀνατιθέμενος instead of ἀναβαλλόμενος.

The word ἄνηστις is used in the same sense as νῆστις, i.e. fasting (just as we find στάχυς and ἄσταχυς) by Cratinus, when he says—

For you are not the first who's come to supper
After a lengthened fast,

And the word ὀξύπεινος is used by Diphilus for hungry—

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I'm glad when those who set them up as wise,
Are naked seen and hungry.

And Antiphanes says—

A. At all events he's one complaint,
For he is hungry ever.
B. The keen Thessalian race you paint,
Who can be sated never.

And Eubulus says—

Then Zethus was advised to seek the plain,
The holy plain of Thebes; for there men sell
The cheapest loaves and cakes.
Again advice came to the great Amphion,
The sweet musician, pointing out to him
The famous Athens for his resting-place,
Whose sons at hunger ne'er repine, but feed
On air and sweetest hopes.

The word μονοσιτῶν, eating once a day, occurs too in Alexis—

When you meet with a man who takes only one meal,
Or a poet who music pretends not to feel;
The man half his life, the bard half his art, loses;
And sound reason to call either living refuses.

And Plato says,

he not only was not content with one meal a-day, but sometimes he even dined twice the same day.

We know that men used to call sweetmeats νωγαλεύματα. Araros says in the Campylion—

These νωγαλεύματα are very nice.

And Alexis says—

In Thasian feasts his friends he meets,
And νωγαλίζει, sweetmeats eats.

And Antiphanes, in the Busiris, says—

Grapes, and pomegranates, and palms,
And other νώγαλα.

Philonides used the word ἀπόσιτος for fasting; and Crobylus has the word αὐτόσιτος, writing παράσιτον, αὐτόσιτον.

Eupolis, too, used ἀναρίστητος for without breakfast Crates has the word ἀναγκόσιτος, eating by force, and Nicostratus uses ἀναγκοσιτέω.

There is a youth most delicately curl'd,
Whom I do feed by force beneath the earth.

And Alexis has the word ἀριστόδειπνον, breakfast-dinner—

By whom the breakfast-dinner is prepared.

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After this we rose up and sat down again as each of us pleased, not waiting for a nomenclator to arrange us in order.

Now that rooms were fitted up with couches for three, and with couches for four, and for seven, and for nine, and for other successive numbers, in the time of the ancients, we may prove from Antiphanes, who says—

I bring you, since you are but three,
To a room with equal couches.

And Phrynichus says—

One room had seven couches fine,
While another boasted nine.

And Eubulus says—

A. Place now a couch for seven.
B. Here it is.
A. And five Sicilian couches.
B. Well, what next
A. And five Sicilian pillows.

And Amphis says—

Will you not place a couch for three?

Anaxandrides—

A couch was spread,
And songs to please the aged man.
Open the supper rooms, and sweep the house,
And spread the couches fair, and light the fire;
Bring forth the cups, and fill with generous wine.

. . . . . . And Plato the philosopher,

Men now distinguish the couches and coverings with reference to what is put round the couch and what is put under it.

And his namesake, the comic poet, says—

There the well-dress'd guests recline
On couches rich with ivory feet;
And on their purple cushions dine,
Which rich Sardinian carpets meet.

For the art of weaving embroidered cloths was in great perfection in his time, Acesas and Helicon, natives of Cyprus, being exceedingly eminent for their skill in it; and they were weavers of very high reputation. And Helicon was the son of Acesas, as Hieronymus reports: and so at Pytho there is an inscription on some work—

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Fair Venus's isle did bring forth Helicon,
Whose wondrous work you now do gaze upon;
And fair Minerva's teaching bade his name
And wondrous skill survive in deathless fame.

And Pathymias the Egyptian was a man of similar renown. Ephippus says—

Place me where rose-strewn couches fill the room,
That I may steep myself in rich perfume.

Aristophanes says—

Oh you who press your mistress to your arms,
All night upon sweet-scented couches lying.

Sophron too speaks of coverlets embroidered with figures of birds as of great value. And Homer, the most admirable of all poets, calls those cloths which are spread below λῖτα, that is to say, white, neither dyed nor embroidered. But the coverlets which are laid above he calls

beautiful purple cloths.