Deipnosophistae

HIPPOLOCHUS the Macedonian, my friend Timocrates, lived in the time of Lynceus and Douris of Samos, pupils of Theophrastus[*](Theophrastus was a disciple of Aristotle, and succeeded him as head of the Lyceum, so that this time would be about 310 B.C.) 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.

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

"And while we were now all amusing ourselves with agreeable trifling, some flute-playing women and musicians, and some Rhodian players on the sambuca come 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 cruets was silver and the other gold, each holding a cotyla,[*](A cotyla held about half a pint.) 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 in 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

And when we were relieved from their exhibition, then we had a fresh drink offered to us, hot and strong, and Thasian, and Mendæan, 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 gallon; and having filled it with Thasian wine, and having mingled a little water with it, he drank it off, saying—

1. He who drinks most will be the happiest.

Since you have been the first to drink, do you be the first also to accept the cup as a gift; and this

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also shall be the present for all the rest who drink too.

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 mechanism. And there were seen Cupids, and Dianas, and Pans, and Mercuries, and numbers of statues of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks. And while we were admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance, some real Erymanthean boars 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 Strato t e 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.

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 Lenæan 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."

Now if you consider this, my friend Timocrates, with which of the Greek feasts that you ever heard of do you think this banquet, which has just been described to you, can be compared? When even Antiphanes the comic writer jokingly said in the Œnomaus, or perhaps it is in the Pelops—

1. What could the Greeks, of sparing tables fond,
2. Eaters of salads, do? where you may get
3. Four scanty chops or steaks for one small penny.
4. But among the ancestors of our nation
5. Men roasted oxen, deer, and lambs entire,
6. And last of all the cook, outdoing all
7. His predecessors, set before the king
8. A roasted camel, smoking, hump and all.

1. A. Then he received me, and to dinner ask'd me,
2. And set before us whole fat oxen roasted.
3. B. Who ever saw a roasted ox? The braggart!
4. A. I'll take my oath he likewise put on table
5. A bird three times as burly as Cleonymus;
6. Its name, I well remember, was Th' Impostor.

1. If you do this as I bid you,
2. You will ask us all to a supper,
3. Not to such as that in Thrace,
4. Given by Iphicrates—
5. Though, indeed, they say that
6. Was a very noble feast.
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7. For that all along the market
8. Purple carpets there were spread
9. To the northern corner;
10. And a countless host of men
11. With dirty hands and hair uncomb'd
12. Supped on butter. There were too,
13. Brazen goblets, large as cisterns,
14. Holding plenty for a dozen
15. Of the hardest drinkers known.
16. Cotys, too, himself was there,
17. Girt around, and bearing kindly
18. Rich soup in a gold tureen;
19. Tasting all the brimming cups,
20. So as to be the first to yield
21. Of all the guests t' intoxication.
22. There was Antigenides
23. Delighting all with his soft flute,
24. Argas sung, and from Acharnæ
25. Cephisodotus struck the lyre,
26. Celebrating Lacedæmon
27. And the wide land of the Heraclidæ,
28. And at other times they sung
29. Of the seven-gated Thebes,
30. Changing thus their strain and theme.
31. Large was the dowry which 'tis said
32. Fell to the lucky bridegroom's share:
33. First, two herds of chestnut horses,
34. And a herd of horned goats,
35. A golden shield, a wide-neck'd bowl,
36. A jar of snow, a pot of millet,
37. A deep pit full of leeks and onions,
38. And a hecatomb of polypi.
39. This they say that Cotys did,
40. King of Thrace, in heartfelt joy
41. At Iphicrates's wedding.
42. But a finer feast by far
43. Shall be in our master's houses;
44. For there's nothing good or fine
45. Which our house does stand in need of.
46. There is scent of Syrian myrrh,
47. There is incense, there is spice;
48. There are delicate cakes and loaves,
49. Cakes of meal and polypi,
50. Tripe, and fat, and sausages,
51. Soup, and beet, and figs, and pease,
52. Garlic, various kinds of tunnies,
53. Ptisan, pulse, and toast and muffins,
54. Beans, and various kinds of vetches,
55. Honey, cheese, and cheesecakes too,
56. Wheat, and nuts, and barley-groats,
57. Boasted crabs, and mullets boil'd,
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58. Roasted cuttle-fish, boiled turbot,
59. Frogs, and perch, and mussels too,
60. Sharks, and roach, and gudgeons too,
61. Fish from doves and cuckoos named,
62. Plaice, and flounders, shrimps, and rays.
63. Then, besides these dainty fish
64. There is many another dish,—
65. Honeycombs and juicy grapes,
66. Figs and cheesecakes, apples, pears,
67. Cornels, and the red pomegranate,
68. Poppies, creeping thyme, and parsley,
69. Peaches, olives, plums and raisins,
70. Leeks and onions, cabbages,
71. Strong smelling assafœtida,
72. Fennel, eggs, and lentils cool,
73. And well-roasted grasshoppers,
74. Cardamums and sesame,
75. Ceryces, salt, and limpets firm,
76. The pinna, and the oyster bright,
77. The periwinkle, and the whelk;
78. And besides this a crowd of birds,
79. Doves and ducks, and geese and sparrows,
80. Thrushes, larks, and jays, and swans,
81. The pelican, the crane and stork,
82. Wagtails and cousels, tits and finches;
83. And to wash all these dainties down
84. There's wine, both native and imported,
85. White and red, and sweet and acid,
86. Still or effervescent.

But Lynceus, in his Centaur, ridiculing the Attic ban- quets, says—

1. A. Yon cook, the man who makes the sacrifice
2. And seeks now to receive me as my host,
3. Is one of Rhodes. And I, the guest invited,
4. Am call'd a citizen of fair Perinthus.
5. And neither of us likes the Attic suppers;
6. For melancholy is an Attic humour;
7. May it be always foreign unto me.
8. They place upon the table a large platter
9. Holding five smaller plates within its space,
10. One full of garlic, while another holds
11. Two boil'd sea-urchins; in the third, a cake;
12. The fourth displays ten cockles to the guest,
13. The last has caviar.—While I eat this,
14. He falls on that: or while he dines on this,
15. I make that other dish to disappear.
16. But I would rather eat up both myself,
17. Only I cannot go beyond my powers;
18. For I have not five mouths, nor twice five lips.
19. True, these detain the eyes with various sights,
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20. But looking at them is not eating them:
21. I but appease my eyes and not my belly.
22. What shall I do then? Have you oysters? Give me
23. A plate of them, I beg; and that a large one;
24. Have you some urchins.
25. B. Here's a dish of them
26. To which you're welcome; this I bought myself;
27. And paid eight obols for it in the market.
28. A. Put then this dish on table by itself,
29. That all may eat the same at once. and not
30. One half the guests eat one thing, half another.

But Diphilus, in his Female Deserter, introduces a cook, and represents him as saying—

1. A. What is the number of the guests invited
2. To this fine marriage feast? And are they all
3. Athenian citizens, or are there some
4. Foreigners and merchants?
5. B. What is that to you,
6. Since you are but the cook to dress the dinner?
7. A. It is the first part of my art, O father,
8. To know the taste of those who are to eat.
9. For instance, if you ask a Rhodian,
10. Set a fine shad or lebias before him,
11. Well boil'd and hot, the moment that he enters.
12. That's what he likes; he'll like it better so
13. Than if you add a cup of myrine wine.
14. A. Well, that idea of shads is not a bad one.
15. B. Then, if a Byzantine should be your guest,
16. Steep all you offer such a man in wormwood.
17. And let your dishes taste of salt and garlic.
18. For fish are all so plenty in their country,
19. That the men all are full of rheum and phlegm

1. A. This feast is for a guest's reception.
2. B. What guest? whence comes he? for those points, believ me,
3. Do make a mighty difference to the cook.
4. For instance, if some guests from the islands come
5. Who always feed on fish of every sort
6. Fresh from the sea, such men like not salt dishes,
7. But think them make-shifts. Give such men their fool
8. Well-season'd, forced, and stuff'd with choicest spices.
9. But if you ask a guest from Arcady
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10. He is a stranger to the sea, and loves
11. Limpets and shell-fish;-but the rich Ionian
12. Will look at nought but Lydian luxuries,
13. Rich, stimulating, amatory meats.

The ancients used food calculated to provoke the appetite, as for instance salt olives, which they call colymbades: and accordingly Aristophanes says, in his Old Age—

1. Old man, do you like flabby courtesans,
2. Or tender maidens, firm as well-cured olives?

1. A. What did you think, I pray, of that boiled fish?
2. B. He was but small; do'st hear me? And the pickle
3. Was white, and much too thick; there was no smell
4. Of any spice or seasoning at all,
5. So that the guests cried out,—How pure your brine is!

1. How can you, in God's name, like grasshoppers,
2. Catching them with a reed, and cercopes?[*](The cercope, or monkey-grasshopper, was so called from having a long tail like a monkey (κέρκωψ).)

1. I never saw, not even a cercope
2. A greater chatterer than you, O woman,
3. Nor jay, or nightingale, or dove, or grasshopper.

1. The first, a mighty dish shall lead the way,
2. Holding an urchin, and some sauce and capers,
3. A cheesecake, fish, and onions in rich stuffing.

And that they used to eat, for the sake of encouraging the appetite, rape dressed with vinegar and mustard, is plainly stated by Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, where he says—

1. The rape is a mix'd breed from radishes;
2. It's grown in garden beds, both long and stiff;
3. One sort they wash and dry in the north wind,
4. A friend to winter and to idle servants:
5. Then it revives when soak'd in water warm.
6. Cut thou the roots of rape, and gently scrape
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7. The not yet juiceless rind in shavings thin;
8. Then dry them in the sun a little while,
9. Then dip them in hot water, and in brine,
10. And pack them closely; or at other times
11. Pour in new wine and vinegar, half and half,
12. Into one vessel, and put salt on the top.
13. And often 'twill be well to pound fresh raisins,
14. And add them gently, scattering in some seeds
15. Of biting mustard; and some dregs of vinegar,
16. To reach the head and touch the vigorous brain:
17. A goodly dish for those who want a dinner.

1. Have you now any sharp fresh vinegar?
2. I think, too, we've some fig-tree juice, my boy.
3. In these I'll press the meat as tight as may be;
4. And some dried herbs I'll spread around the dish;
5. For of all condiments these do most surely
6. The body's sensitive parts and nerves excite.
7. They drive away unpleasant heaviness,
8. And make the guests sit down with appetite.

And Alexis, in his Tarentines, when speaking of their banquets, says that the Athenians used to dance at their drinking parties—

1. A. For this now is a common native practice.
2. At the divine and all accomplish'd Athens.
3. They all rise up and dance together when
4. The first sweet scent of wine doth reach their nostrils.
5. B. You tell me of a strange and novel custom.
6. A. So you would say, indeed, if unexpected
7. You on a sudden dropp'd in at a feast;
8. And beardless boys are sure to meet with favour;
9. But when I see that rogue Theodotus,
10. Or some impure and cheating parasite,
11. Affecting nice and delicate airs, such loathing
12. Does seize me, that I'd gladly seize the man,
13. And nail him to the vilest cross.

1. Do you not see that eunuch capering,
2. Waving his hands, no signs of shame he shows;
3. He who was lecturing us on Heraclitus,
4. The only master of Theodectes' school,
5. The spouter of Euripides's proverbs.

1. For 'tis an ancient proverb, and a wise one;
2. That old men seek for wine to make them dance,
3. Spite of their age, against their will, my father.

1. They drank in picnic fashion, only seeking
2. For some excuse to dance. There was the name
3. Of meat and vegetables; fish, and crabs,
4. Gudgeon and tench, and similago fine.

But Matron the parodist, says Plutarch, has given a very agreeable account of an Attic banquet; and as it is very rare I will not scruple, my friends, to repeat it to you—

1. The feast for much and varied food renown'd,
2. Given by Xenocles, O Muse, resound;[*](See Pope's Homer for his version of the different parts parodied. Odyss. i. 1.)
3. For when at Athens he his cards sent round,
4. I went invited, hungry as a hound.
5. What loaves I saw, how large, how round, how fine,[*](Iliad, x. 436.)—
6. So white, on them alone one well might dine!
7. Boreas, enamour'd of the well-baked train,
8. Gazed on them fondly;[*](lb. xx. 223.) while along the plain
9. The stately Xenocles survey'd the ground,
10. And placed the guests the goodly board around.
11. Near him the parasite Chærephoon stood,
12. And like a cormorant gazed upon the food,[*](Odyss. v. 51.)
13. Ever at other's cost well pleased to eat:
14. Meanwhile the cooks prepared the dainty treat,
15. The skilful cooks, to whom is given all sway
16. The sumptuous feast to quicken or delay.
17. Then all the rest the herbs and greens did seize,
18. But me the solid meats did rather please;
19. Rich oysters guarded in their solid shell,
20. While to Phœnician-brine I said farewell;
21. And threw away the urchin's tasteless meat,
22. Which rattled falling at the servant's feet,
23. Loud as the waves the rocky shore which flout,[*](Iliad, xxiii. 51.)
24. While they in fun the prickly spines pull'd out.
25. There came th' anchovy of Phaleric race
26. Holding a dirty veil before its face,[*](Odyss. i. 334.)
27. Friend of the Triton, to the Cyclops dear;
28. * * * * *
29. And pinna's sweet, and cockles fat were there
30. Which the wave breeds beneath its weedy bed
31. The gristly turbot, and the mullet red.
32. First in the fray on them I laid my hand,
33. And called on Phœbus, by his slave to stand;
34. But when Stratocles, scorning fear, I saw
35. Hold in his hand the mullet's luscious jaw,
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36. I seized it too, and while it came apart,
37. Quick with the dainty bit rejoiced my heart.
38. There, too, the silver-footed Thetis came,
39. The fair-hair'd cuttle-fish, the mighty dame,
40. Fairest of Nereus' daughters, none but she
41. Of fish can both with black and white agree.[*](This was a Greek proverb. See Aristophanes, Eq. 1279.)
42. There, too, the conger, Tityos of the main,
43. Lay on nine tables and o'erspread the plain.[*](Odyss. xi. 575.)
44. Next came the eel, who charm'd the mighty Jove,
45. And soften'd his stern soul to tender love.
46. So mighty that two wrestlers, of the days
47. Of old Astyanax, could scarcely raise
48. Her from the ground and place her on the board,
49. Nine fathoms long, and full nine cubits broad.
50. Up stairs, down stairs the busy cooks did haste,
51. While more fresh dishes on the board they placed.
52. Next forty large black pots appear'd in view,
53. And forty platters from Eubœa too.
54. Then various Iris, Jove's commands to bear,
55. In shape of cuttle-fish flew through the air.
56. The shining perch, the black tail next appear'd;
57. A mortal fish to join immortals dared.
58. Alone, apart in discontented mood,
59. A gloomy dish, the sullen tunny stood;[*](lb. xi. 543.)
60. For ever sad with proud disdain he pined,
61. And the lost arms for ever stung his mind.
62. The shark, to masons and upholders dear,
63. Good nurse of youth, though rough its skin appear;[*](lb. ix. 27.)
64. Nor do I know on earth a nicer food,
65. Though what came next is very near as good,
66. A roasted cestreas; nor alone it lay,
67. For twelve fine sargi came the self-same way.[*](Iliad, ii. 745.)
68. And a dark amias, of every sea
69. Who knows the depths, great Neptune's comrade he.
70. And squills the minstrels of Olympian Jove,
71. Whom none to look at, all to taste of, love.
72. The chrysophrys, for shining beauty famed,
73. The crab's hard shell refusing to be tamed.
74. All these, and many more besides, I saw
75. Crush'd in each hungry guest's devouring jaw.
76. The royal sturgeon led the second band,
77. Towards whom, though nearly full, I stretch'd my hand;
78. He like ambrosia to my senses look'd,
79. Which I had always thought for gods alone was cookd.
80. Then came alamprey, large and richly fed,
81. As when he seeks the dragon's daughter's bed.
82. And next, (the goddesses such sandals wear,)
83. Of mighty soles a firm and well-match'd pair.
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84. Then the sea thrushes young and fierce, who dive
85. Mid the deep rocks and tear their prey alive.
86. The sargus, mormyrus, hippurus, spar,
87. The shad, the gale; so countless fishes are.
88. The feast to view the guests' eyes joyful beam'd,
89. And all the house with the rich odour steam'd.
90. The host bade all sit down: myself, I thought
91. This woman's food, and something solid sought.
92. Large in the centre lay a vacant space,
93. Which herbs and salads did with verdure grace.
94. Then a sea blackbird came, a morsel nice,
95. And disappear'd, devoured in a trice.
96. Then came a ham, t' its foes a helpless prey,
97. And while it lasted none could keep away.
98. But when the feast was o'er I wept with sorrow
99. To think I could not eat on till to-morrow,
100. But must fall back on barley-meal and cheese.
101. * * * * * *
102. Black broth subdued him and boil'd pettitoes;
103. Then came some ducks from Salamis, sacred isle,
104. Borne by the cook, who with a cheerful smile,
105. Marshall'd them where the Athenian phalanx stood;
106. And Chærephon survey'd the various food,
107. That he might know to choose and eat the best;
108. Then like a lion leapt he on the feast,[*](Odyss. ix. 292.)
109. And seized a mighty leg of turkey hot,
110. To make his supper when he home had got.
111. Then groats which Vulcan made into a cake,
112. And in Attic pan full thirteen months did bake
113. But when our wish for food was satisfied,
114. We wash'd our hands in ocean's foaming tide;
115. One beauteous slave came round with rich perfume,
116. Another garlands strew'd around the room.
117. Then foam'd around old Bacchus' rosy tide,
118. And each guest merrily with his fellow vied.
119. Then the dessert was served; the juicy pear,
120. The apple and pomegranate too were there.
121. The grape, the nurse of Bacchus, and the plum,
122. And fig, and medlar on the table come.
123. But I ate nought, I was so full before,
124. Till I that lovely child of Ceres saw,
125. A large sweet round and yellow cake; how then
126. Could I from such a dish, my friends, abstain?
127. Had I ten mouths, aye, and as many hands,
128. A brazen stomach within brazen bands,[*](Iliad, ii. 489.)
129. They all would on that lovely cake have sprung.
130. And so the feast of Stratocles I've sung.

And Alexis, in his Men running together, ridiculing the Attic banquets, says—

1. I wish that I could get a brace of cooks,
2. The cleverest in their art in all the city.
3. For he who a Thessalian would invite,
4. Lust never stint his fare in Attic fashion,
5. Nor practise over strict economy;
6. But have in all things a well-order'd feast.

1. It is not Corinth now, nor Lais here,
2. Nor any feast of sumptuous Thessalians,
3. Whose habits well I know.

1. The cakes were baked.

But at Athens they say that two festivals are celebrated there (neither of them of great antiquity), one at the Lyceum and one in the Academy, and when the confectioner had brought into the Academy a dish for some other purpose, all those who were offering sacrifice at once broke the dish, because something had been introduced which did not belong to the city, and everything which came from afar ought to have been kept away. And that the cook at the Lyceum having prepared some Salt-fish in order to serve up a dish of it, was scourged as a man who used his invention in a very wicked manner.

You make your men feast without any second course, says he. You say the truth, I replied; I forgot that they will have a second course-namely, salt, and olives, and cheese, and onions; and besides, they will boil such vegetables as are found in the fields; and moreover, we shall serve up some sweetmeats to them,—figs, and beans, and vetches. They shall roast myrtle-berries too and beechc

v.1.p.224

acorns at the fire, drinking moderately all the time. And in this manner they shall pass their lives in peace, growing old, as it is probable they will, in the enjoyment of good health, and transmit a good constitution to their posterity.

We must next speak of the Lacedæmonian banquets. Now Herodotus, in the ninth book of his Histories, speaking of the preparation of Mardonius, and mentioning the banquets of the Lacedæmonians, says—

Xerxes, when fleeing from Greece, left all his equipment to Mardonius. And when Pausanias beheld the appointments of Mardonius's tent, and his tent itself all furnished with gold and silver and embroidered curtains, he ordered the bakers and confectioners to prepare him a supper exactly as they had been in the habit of preparing for Mardonius. And when they had done as they were commanded, Pausanias, beholding the couches of gold and silver all ready laid and covered, and the silver tables, and the superb banquet which was prepared, marvelling at what he saw, by way of ridicule ordered his own slaves to prepare a banquet in the Lacedæmonian fashion. But when it was made ready, Pausanias laughed, and sent for all the generals of the Greeks; and when they were come he showed them both the banquets which were prepared before him, and said: O Greeks, I have assembled you, because I was desirous to exhibit to you the folly of the general of the Medes; who, while he was used himself to live in the manner which you behold, came against us who are in the habit of living in the hard way which you see here.

And some say that a citizen of Sybaris, who was staying at Sparta, and who dined at their Phiditia, said—

It is natural enough for the Lacedæmonians to be the bravest of men; for any man in his senses would rather die ten thousand times over, than live in such a miserable way as this.

And Polemo, in his treatise on the Wicker Carriage mentioned by Xenophon, says "that Cratinus in his Pluti, mentioning the feast which is called by the Lacedæmonians Copis, speaks as follows—

1. Tell me, I pray you, is it true that all
2. The strangers in that country, who arrive,
3. May banquet at the Copis at their pleasure
4. And at their parties do there hang around
5. Cakes fix'd on pegs, that every one who will,
6. Young men and old, may take a bite at them?

1. And let a Copis be this day prepared.

Now the Copis is a peculiar sort of entertainment, just as that which is called Aiclon. And when it tales place, first of all they erect tents near the temple of the good; and in them they place beds of leaves; and on them they strew carpets, and then they feast those who recline on them, not only those who arrive, being natives of the country, but those foreigners also who are sojourning in the place. And at these copides they sacrifice goats, but no other victim; and they give portions of its flesh to every one, and they distribute also what they call a physicillus, which is a little loaf like an encris, made of oil and honey, only rounder in shape. And they give to every one who is present a newly made cheese, and a slice of paunch, and black-pudding, and sweet-meats, and dried. figs, and beans, and green kidney-beans. And any one of the rest of the Spartans who chooses, partakes of this Copis.

They also celebrate copides in the city at the festival called Tithenidia,[*](From τιθήνη, a nurse.) which is celebrated on behalf of the children. For the nurses at this season bring the male children into the fields, and to the Diana surnamed Corythallia; whose temple is near the fountain called Tiassus, in the parts towards Cleta; and there they celebrate copides, in a manner similar to those which have been already mentioned. And they sacrifice small sucking-pigs, and they also at the feast set before the guests some of the loaves called ipnitæ. But this aiclon is called by all the other Dorians δεῖπνον. At all events Epicharmus, in his Hope, says—

1. For some one of his own accord has ask'd you to an αἶκλον,
2. And do thou gladly go in haste of your accord to eat it.

And he repeats the same lines in his Periallus. But at Lacedæmon, after supper is over, they set what they call ἄϊκλον (not αἶκλον) before all those who come to the Phiditium; namely, loaves of bread in a small basket, and a slice of meat for each person. And an attendant follows the servant who distributes the portions, proclaiming the ἄϊκλον, adding to his proclamation the name of him who has sent it round.

This was the statement of Polemo. But Didymus the Grammarian contradicted him, (and Demetrius, of Trœzen, calls him a Bookforgetter, on account of the number of books

And the copis is also mentioned by Aristophanes or Philyllius in the Cities, and by Epilycus in the Coraliscus, where he says—

1. When I shall bear a copis to the fane
2. Of sacred Amyclæ, then many baraces,
3. And loaves, and luscious sauce shall show my coming:

saying expressly that barley-cakes are set before the guests at the copides, (for that is the meaning of the word βάρακες, which does not mean cheesecakes, as Lycophron asserts, nor barley-meal porridge, as Eratosthenes believes,) and loaves, and a particular sort of broth very highly seasoned. More- over, what the copis is, is very perspicuously explained by

v.1.p.227

Molpis in his treatise on the Polity of the Lacedæmonians, where he writes, They also have feasts which they call copides. But the copis is a supper consisting of barley-cakes, loaves, meat, raw vegetables, soup, figs, sweetmeats, and warmed wine. Moreover, sucking-pigs are not called ὀρθαγορίσκοι, as Polemo pronounces the word, but ὀρθραγορίσκοι, since they are sold at early dawn (πρὸς τὸν ὄρθρον), as Persæus relates in his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Polity. And Dioscorides, in the second book of his Polity, and Aristocles, in the first book of the treatise which he also wrote concerning the Lacedæmonian Polity, make the same statement. Besides, Polemo says, that supper is called ἄϊκλον by the Lacedæmonians, and that all the rest of the Dorians give it the same name. For Alcman says—

1. At the mill and also at the suppers (ταῖς συναικλείαις),

where he uses συναίκλειαι as equivalent to συνδείπνια. And in a subsequent passage he says—

1. Alcman prepared an ἄϊκλον.

But the Lacedæmonians do not call that portion which is given after the supper ἄϊκλον, nor that which is given after supper at the phiditia; for that consists of bread and meat: but that is called ἐπάϊκλον, being, as it were, an addition to the ἄϊκλον, which is regularly appointed as a part of the phiditia; and that is what I imagine the name implies. For the preparation of what is called the ἐπάϊκλα is not simple, as Polemo supposed, but of a two-fold nature. For that which they give to the boys is very slight and trifling, being merely meal steeped in oil, which Nicocles, the Lacedæmonian, says that they eat after supper, wrapped up in leaves of the bay-tree, from which those leaves are called καμματίδες, [*](From κάπτω, to swallow.) and the cakes themselves are called κάμματα. And that it was a custom of the ancients to eat the leaves of the bay-tree at dessert, Callias or Diocles asserts in the Cyclopes, speaking thus—

1. You will eat the leaves meant for supper,
2. And this belongs to the figures which . . .

But what they serve up at the phiditia of the men is prepared of some few regular animals, one of those who are rich men providing them for the phiditia, or sometimes several men club together to furnish it. But Molpis tells u that the ἐπάϊκλα are also surnamed μἀττύη.

But concerning the ἐπάϊκλα, Persæus, in his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, writes as follows:—

And immediately he levies on the rich men a tax of money to provide the ἐπάϊκλα; and this word means the sweetmeats which come on after supper. But he enjoins the poor to bring a reed, or a straw, or a leaf of the bay-tree, in order that they may be able to eat the ἐπάϊκλα after supper. For it consists of meal steeped in oil; and this is wholly like the arrangement of some small state. For in these ἐπάϊκλα they attend to all such points as these: who ought to sit down first, or second, or who ought to sit down on a small couch; and so on.

But the Ephor, having heard the cause, pronounces an acquittal or a condemnation. And he who has gained the cause is slightly taxed to provide some κάμματα or καμματίδες. Now the κάμματα are cakes; but the καμματίδες are what they wrap them in in order to eat them.

But concerning the banquet of the Phiditia, Dioscorides gives this account in his book entitled Tripoliticus.

In the first place, each individual has his supper put down separately before him, and he has no participation with any one else; and after that each has as much barley-cake as he pleases. And again, a cup is placed before each person, to drink whenever he pleases. And the meat is always the same for every one, being boiled pork; but sometimes they have no meat at all, except some little bit weighing at the outside about four minæ; and besides this, nothing at all except the broth which comes from it; which is sufficient for every one at the whole banquet to have some. And sometimes there may be some olives, or some cheese, or a few figs: and sometimes they have some small addition—a fish, or a hare, or a pigeon, or something of that sort: and then, after they have eaten very rapidly, the things are brought round which are called ἐπάϊκλα. And every one contributes to the phiditium about three Attic semimedimni[*](The Attic medimnus contained nearly twelve gallons.) of meal, and about eleven or twelve choes[*](The χοῦς held about three quarts.) of wine; and in addition to this they contributed a certain weight of cheese and figs; and moreover, for purchasing meat, they gave ten Aeginetan obols.

But Sphærus, in the third book of his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, writes—

The partakers of the phiditium do also themselves contribute the ἐπάϊκλα. And sometimes most of them make their contributions consist of what has been caught by them in hunting. Not but what the rich contribute also bread and whatever vegetables or fruits may be in season, in such quantities as are sufficient for one meal; thinking that to provide more than is just enough is superfluous, as it will not be eaten.

But after the supper is over something is always contributed by some one or other, and sometimes by many joining together; and the ματτύη, which they call the ἐπάϊκλον, is prepared by them at their own houses: but no one goes to any expense in buying what he contributes for this purpose. For they do not contribute it for the purpose of giving pleasure, or of indulging in any immoderate eating, but with the view of making a display of their own skill in hunting. And many also who breed flocks of sheep, give their produce very liberally. And this ματτύη consists of pigeons, geese, two hen-doves, thrushes, blackbirds, hares, lambs, kids. And the cooks always proclaim the name of him who has contributed each dish, in order that all men may see his devotion to hunting, and his eagerness to contribute to their enjoyment.

But Demetrius the Scepsian says, in the first book of his treatise on the Trojan Array,

that the festival of the Carnea among the Lacedæmonians is a representation of a military expedition. For that there are nine spots marked out; and they are called sciades,[*](From σκιὰ, shade.) having something like tents in them; and in each of them nine men sup; and everything is proclaimed by the crier as if it were a military order. Now each scias has three phratriæ. And this festival of the Carnea lasts nine days.