Deipnosophistae
Athenaeus of Naucratis
Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
I am acquainted, too, with other kinds of flutes, the tragic flute, and the lysiodic[*](αυσιῳδὸς, ὁ καὶ ἡ, a man who played women's characters in male attire; so called from Lysis, who wrote songs for such actor.—Liddell and Scott, in voc.) flute, and the harplike flute; all which are mentioned by Ephorus, in his Inventions and by Euphranor the Pythagorean, in his treatise on Flutes, and also by Alexon, who wrote another treatise on Flutes. But the flute made of reeds is called tityrinus among the Dorians in Italy, as Artemidorus the Aristophanian tells us, in the second book of his History of Doris. And the flute which is called magadis, which is also named palæo-magais, sends forth a sharp and a deep note at the same time, as Anaxandrides says in his Armed Fighter—
And the flutes called lotus flutes are the same which are called photinges by the Alexandrians; and they are made of the plant called the lotus; and this is a wood which grows in Libya. But Juba says that the flute which is ma e out of the leg bones of the kid is an invention of the Thebans; and Tryphon says that those flutes also which are called elphantine flutes were first bored among the Phoenicians. I know, too, that the magadis is a stringed instrument, as is the harp, the lyre, and the barbitos. But Euphorion the epic poet says in his book on the Isthmian Games—
- I will speak like a magadis, both loudly and gently
Those men who are now called players on the nablas, and on the pandurus, and on the sambuca, do not use any new instrument, for the baromus and the barbitos (both of which are mentioned by Sappho and Anacreon), and the magadis, and the triangle, and the sambuca are all ancient instruments. At all events, a statue of one of the Muses was erected in Mitylee by Lesbothemis, holding a sambuca in her hand.But Aristoxenus calls the following foreign instruments—phœnices, and pectides, and magadides, and sambucæ, and triagles, and clepsiambi, and scindapsi, and the instrument called the enneachord or nine-stringed instrument. But Plato, in the third book of his Polity, states—
' We shall not, hen,' said I, 'have much need of many strings or of much harmony in our songs and melodies.' 'I think not,' said he. 'But wev.1.p.284shall have triangles, and pectides, and all sorts of instruments which have many strings and are very harmonious.'
But the scindapsus is an instrument of four strings, as Matron the parodist says in the following lines—
And Theopompus the Colophonian likewise mentions it, the Epic poet, I mean, in his poem entitled the Chariot—
- Nor did they hang it upon pegs where hung
- The sweet scindapsus with its fourfold strings,
- Joy of the woman who the distaff hates.
Anaxilas, too, in his Lyre Maker, says—
- Shaking the large and lyre-toned scindapsus,
- Made of young tamarisk, in his skilful hand.
But Sopater the parodist, in his poem entitled
- But I was making three-string'd barbiti,
- Pectides, citharæ, lyres, and scindapsi.
The Initiated,says that the pectis is an instrument with two strings, saying—
The instrument called pariambis is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Periallus, in this way—
- The pectis, proud of its barbaric muse,
- With its two strings was placed within my hand.
Now it was Alexander of Cythera, according to the account given by Juba, who completed the psaltery with its full number of strings. And he, when he had grown old in the city of the Ephesians, suspended this instrument in the temple of Diana, as being the most skilful invention he had made with reference to his art. Juba mentions also the lyrophœnix and the Epigonius, which, though now it is transformed into the upright psaltery, still preserves the name of the man who was the first to use it. But Epigonius was by birth an Ambraciot, but he was subsequently made a citizen of Sicyon. And he was a man of great skill in music, so that he played the lyre with his bare hand without a plectrum. For the Alexandrians have great experience and skill in all the above-named instruments and kinds of flutes. . And whichever of them you wish me to try, I will exhibit my own skill before you, though there are many others in my country more musical and skilful than I am.
- But Semele doth dance and he doth sing
- Tunefully on his pariambis lyre,
- And she rejoices at the rapid song.
But Alexander, my fellow-citizen, and he has only lately died, having given a public exhibition of his skill on the instrument called the triangle, made all the Romans so music-mad that even now most people recollect the way in which he used to play. And Sophocles speaks of this triangle in his Mysians, saying—
And in his Thamyras he also mentions it. But Aristophanes, in his Daitaleis, and Theopompus, in his Penelope, likewise speak of it. And Eupolis, in his Baptæ, says—
- The constant music of the Phrygian
- Tender triangle, and the concerted strains
- Of the shrill Lydian pectis sounded too.
And the instrument called the pandurus is mentioned, as has been said before, by Euphorion, and by Protagorides, in the second book of his treatise on the Assemblies in honour of Daphne. But Pythagoras, who wrote a book on the Red Sea, says that the Troglodytæ make the panduri out of the daphne which grows on the seashore.
- Who plays the drum with wondrous skill,
- And strikes the strings of the triangle.
But horns and trumpets are the invention of the Etrurians. But Metrodorus the Chian, in his history of the Affairs of Troy, says that Marsyas invented the pipe and flute at Celænæ, when all his predecessors had played on a single reed. But Euphorion the epic poet, in his treatise on the Modulation of Songs, says that Mercury invented the pipe which consists of one single reed; but that some say that Seuthes and Ronaces the Medes did so; and that Sileuus invented the pipe which is made of many reeds, and that Marsyas invented that one which is joined together with wax.
This then, O my word-hunting Ulpian, is what you may learn from us Alexandrians, who are very fond of the music of the monaulos. For you do not know that Menecles the Barcæman compiler, and also that Andron, in his Chronicles, him of Alexandria I mean, assert that it is the Alexandrians who instructed all the Greeks and the barbarians, when the former encyclic mode of education began to fail, on account of the incessant commotions which took place in the times of the successors of Alexander. There was subsequently a generation of all sorts of learning in the time of Ptolemy the seventh king of Egypt, the one who was properly called by the Alex-
But music was a favourite amusement of all the Greeks of old time; on which account also skill in playing the flute was much aimed at. Accordingly, Chamæleon of Heraclia, in his book entitled Protrepticus, says that the Lacedæmonians and Thebans all learned to play on the flute, and the inhabitants of Heraclea in Pontus devoted themselves to the same study down to his own time. And that so did the most illustrious of the Athenians, Callias the son of Hipponicus, and Critias the son of Callaeschrus. But Duris, in his treatise on Euripides and Sophocles, says that Alcibiades learnt music, not of any ordinary master, but of Pronomus, who had the very highest reputation in that line. And Aristoxenus says that Epaminondas the Theban learnt to play the flute of Olympiodorus and Orthagoras. And likewise, many of the Pythagoreans practised the art of flute-playing, as Euphranor, and Archytas, and Philolaus, and many others. But Euphranor has also left behind an essay on Flutes, and so too has Archytas. And Aristophanes shows us, in his Daitaleis, the great eagerness with which men applied themselves to this study, when he says—
And Phrynichus, in his Ephialtes, says—
- I who am wasted quite away
- In the study of flutes and harps,
- Am I now to be sent to dig?
And Epicharmus, in his Muses, says that Minerva played a martial strain to the Dioscuri. And Ion, in his Phœnician, or Cæneus, calls the flute a cock, speaking thus:—
- But were not you the man who taught him once
- To play upon the flute and well-strung harp?
And also, in his Garrison, he calls the pipe the Idæan cock, using the following expression:—
- The cock then sang the Greeks a Lydian hymn.
- The pipe, th' Idæan cock, precedes your steps.
Where he means Phrygian rhythm; and he calls the Phrygian flute deep-toned. For it is deep; on which account they also add a horn to it, having a similarity to the bell mouth of trumpets.
- I made a noise, bringing the deep-toned flute
- With fluent rhythm.
So now this book may be ended, my friend Timocrates; as it is quite long enough.
BUT since, O Timocrates, we have now had a great deal of conversation on the subject of banquets in all that has been hitherto said; and since we have passed over those things in them which are most useful and which do not weigh down the soul, but which cheer it, and nourish it by variety of food, as the divine Homer incidentally teaches us, I will also mention what has been said concerning these things by that most excellent writer Masyrius. For we, as the beautiful Agathon says—
The poet accordingly says, when he is speaking of Menelaus—
- Do what is more than needful as if needful,
- And treat our real work as if it were superfluous.
as it was a custom to celebrate banquets at marriages, both for the sake of the gods who preside over marriage, and as it were for a testimony to the marriage; and also, the king of Lycia instructs us what sort of banquet ought to be given to foreigners, receiving Bellerophon with great magnificence—
- At the fair dome the rapid labour ends,[*](Odyss. iv. 3.)
- Where sat Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
- With double vows invoking Hymen's power
- To bless his son's and daughter's nuptial hour:—
- There Lycia's monarch paid him honours due,[*](Iliad, vi. 174.)
- Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he slew.
For wine appears to have a very attractive influence in promoting friendship, as it warms and also melts the soul. On
For it was evening, and a man came bringing news to the Prytanes that Elatea was taken.And the philosophers used to be careful to collect the young men, and to feast with them according to some well-considered and carefully laid down law. Accordingly, there were some laws for banquets laid down by Xenocrates, in the Academy, and again by Aristotle.
But the Phiditia in Sparta, and the Andrea, or man's feasts, among the Cretans, were celebrated in their respective cities with all imaginable care. On which account some one said not unwisely—
And Antipater the philosopher once assembled a banqueting party, and invited all the guests on the understanding that they were to discuss subtle questions. And they say that Arcesilaus, being once invited to a banquet, and sitting next to a man who ate voraciously, while he himself was unable to enjoy anything, when some one of those who were present offered him something, said—
- Dear friends should never long abstain from feasts,
- For e'en the memory of them is delightful.
for it so happened that the epicure by his side was named Telephus. But Zeno, when some epicure who was at the same party with him snatched away the upper half of the fish
- May it be well with you; be this for Telephus:
And Socrates seeing a man once devouring dainties eagerly, Said—O you bystanders, which of you eats bread as if it were sweetmeats, and sweetmeats as if they were bread?
- Then Ino came and finish'd what was left.
But now let us speak of the banquets celebrated by Homer. For the poet gives us the different times of them, and the persons present, and the causes of them. And Xenophon and Plato have done well to imitate him in this; who at the very beginning of their treatises set forth the cause which gave rise to the banquet, and mention the names of those who were present. But Epicurus never defines either the place or the time, nor does he preface his accounts with any preliminary statement. But Aristotle says that it is an unseemly thing for a man to come unwashed and covered with dust to a banquet. Then Homer instructs us who ought to be invited; saying that one ought to invite the chiefs, and men of high reputation—
not acting on the principle asserted by Hesiod, for he bids men invite chiefly their neighbours—
- He bade the noblest of the Grecian peers,[*](Iliad, ii. 404.)
For such a banquet would be one of rustic stupidity; and adapted to the most misanthropic of proverbs—
- Then bid your neighbours to the well-spread feast,
- Who live the nearest, and who know you best.[*](Op. et Di. 341.)
For how can it be anything but nonsense that friendship should depend on place and not on disposition? Therefore we find in Homer, that after the cup had gone round,
- Friends who far off do live are never friends.
but among people who did not regulate their banquets in an orderly manner we read—
- Then the old man his counsels first disclosed;[*](Iliad, viii. 324.)
Besides, Homer introduces guests differing in ages and tastes, such as Nestor, Ulysses, and Ajax, who are all invited together. And speaking in general terms he represents all who lay claim to any sort of eminence as invited, and individually those who arrive at it by different roads. But Epicuus has represented all his guests as believers in the atonic theory,
- Then first the flatterer rose with mocking speech.
Homer therefore has done much the best of all, and has given us by far the best banquets; and that again is best seen by comparing him with others. For the banquet of the suitors in Homer is just such as might be expected from young men devoted to drinking and love; and that of the Phæacians is more orderly, but still luxurious. And he has made a wide distinction between these entertainments and those which may be called military banquets, and those which have reference to political affairs and are conducted in a well-regulated manner: and again he has distinguished between public and family banquets. But Epicurus has described a banquet consisting of philosophers alone.
Homer, too, has pointed out whom one ought not to invite, but who ought to consider that they have a right to come uninvited, showing by the presence of one of the relations that those in similar circumstances had a right to be present—
For it is plain that one ought not to send a formal invitation to one's brother, or to one's parents, or to one's wife, or to any one else whom one can possibly regard in the same light as these relations, for that would be a cold and unfriendly proceeding. And some one has written an additional line, adding the reason why Menelaus had no invitation sent him, and yet came—
- Unbidden there the brave Atrides came.[*](Iliad, ii. 408.)
as if there had been any need of alleging a reason why his brother should come of his own accord to a banquet without any invitation,—a very sufficient reason having been already given.
- For well he knew how busy was his brother:
For,said the interpolater of this line,
did he not know that his brother was giving a banquet? And how can it be otherwise than absurd to pretend that he did not know it, when his sacrifice of oxen was notorious and visible to every one? And how could he have come if he had nothe continues,v.1.p.291known it Or, by Jove, when he saw him,
occupied with business, was it not quite right of him to excuse his not having sent him an invitation, and to come of his own accord?As if he were to say that he came uninvited in order that the next day they might not look at one another, the one with feelings of mortification, ad the other of annoyance.
But it would be an absurd thing to suppose that Menelaus forgot his brother, and this, too, when he was not only sacrificing on his account at the present moment, but when it was on his account that he had undertaken the whole war, and when he had invited those who were no relations of his, and who had no connexion even with his country. But Athenocles the Cyzicene, understanding the poems of Homer better than Aristarchus did, speaks in a much more sensible manner to us, and says that Homer omitted to mention Menelaus as having been invited because he was more nearly related to Agamemnon than the others. But Demetrius Phalereus having asserted that interpolated verse to be a bungling and unseasonable addition, quite unsuited to the poetry of Homer,—-the verse, I mean,
says that he is accusing him of very ungentlemanly manners.
- For well he knew how busy was his brother,
For I think,says he,
that every well-bred man has relations and friends to whom he may go, when they are celebrating any sacrifice, without waiting for them to send him an invitation.
And Plato in his Banquet speaks in the same manner on this subject.
For,says he,
that we may destroy the proverb by altering it: Good men may go of their own accord to feasts given by good men. For Homer appears not only to have destroyed that proverb, but also to have ridiculed it; for having represented Agamemnon as valiant in warlike matters, and Menelaus as an effeminate warrior, when Agamemnon celebrates a sacrifice, he represents Menelaus as coming uninvited,—that is, the worse man coming to the feast of the better man.And Bacchylides, speaking of Hercules, and telling how he came to the house of Ceyx, says—
- Then on the brazen threshold firm he stood,
- (They were a feast preparing,) and thus spake
- Brave and just men do uninvited come
- To well-appointed feasts by brave and just men made
and another says—
- Good men do of their own accord
- To good men's entertainments come:
It was without reason, therefore, that Plato thought that Menelaus was a coward; for Homer speaks of him as Mars-loving, and as fighting single-handed with the greatest gallantry in defence of Patroclus, and eager to fight in single combat with Hector as the champion of the whole army, although he certainly was inferior to Hector in personal strength. And he is the only man in the whole expedition of whom he has said—
- Brave men do of their own accord
- To cowards' entertainments come.
- And on he went, firm in his fearless zeal.[*](Iliad, ii 588.)
But if an enemy, disparaging him, called him an effeminate warrior, and on this account Plato thinks that he really was an effeminate warrior, why should he not also class Agamemnon himself among the men void of prowess, since this line is spoken against him?—
- O monster, mix'd of insolence and fear,
- Thou dog in forehead, but in heart a deer!
- When wert thou known in ambush'd fights to dare,
- Or nobly face the horrid front of war?
- 'Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try,
- Thine to look on and bid the valiant die.[*](Ib. i. 225.)
For it does not follow because something is said in Homer, that Homer himself says it. For how could Menelaus have been effeminate who, single-handed, kept Hector away from Patroclus, and who slew Euphorbus, and stripped him of his arms though in the very middle of the Trojan host? And it was foolish of him not completely to consider the entire line which he was finding fault with, in which Menelaus is called
Raising the battle cry,βοὴν ἀγαθὸς, for that is an epithet which Homer is in the habit of giving only to the most valiant; for the ancients called war itself βοή.
But Homer, who is most accurate in everything, did not overlook even this trifling point; that a man ought to show some care of his person, and to bathe himself before going to an entertainment. And so, in the case of Ulysses, before the banquet among the Phæacians, he tells us—
And again he says of Telemachus and his companion—
- A train attends
- Around the baths, the bath the king ascends,
- (Untasted joy since that disastrous hour
- He sail'd defeated from Calypso's bower,)
- He bathes, the damsels with officious toil
- Shed sweets, shed unguents in a shower of oil.
- Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he spreads,
- And to the feast magnificently treads.[*](Odyss. viii. 449.)
For it was unseemly, says Aristotle, for a man to come to a banquet all over sweat and dust. For a well-bred man ought not to be dirty nor squalid, nor to be all over mud, as Heraclitus says. And a man when he first enters another person's house for a feast, ought not to hasten at once to the banqueting-room, as if he had no care but to fill his stomach, but he ought first to indulge his fancy in looking about him, and to examine the house. And the poet has not omitted to take notice of this also.
- From room to room their eager view they bend,
- Thence to the bath, a beauteous pile, descend.[*](lb. iv. 48.)
- Part in a portico, profusely graced
- With rich magnificence, the chariot placed;
- Then to the dome the friendly pair invite,
- Who eye the dazzling roof with vast delight,
- Resplendent as the blaze of summer noon,
- Or the pale radiance of the midnight moon.[*](Ib. iv. 43.)
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps, represents the rustic and litigious old man as invited to a more civilized form of life by his son—
And then showing him how he ought to sit down he says—
- Cease; sit down here and learn at length to be
- A boon companion, and a cheerful guest.[*](Ar. Vesp. 1208.)
- Then praise some of these beauteous works in brass,
- Look at the roof, admire the carvèd hall.
And again Homer instructs us as to what we ought to do before a banquet, namely how we ought to allot the first-fruits of the dishes to the gods. At all events Ulysse and his friends, although in the cave of the Cyclops—
And Achilles, although the ambassadors were impatient, as they had arrived in the middle of the night, still—
- Then first a fire we kindle, and prepare
- For his return with sacrifice and prayer.[*](Odyss. ix. 201.)
And also he introduces the guests as making libations—
- Himself opposed t' Ulysses full in sight
- Each portion parts, and orders every rite;
- The first fat offerings to th' Immortals due,
- Amid the greedy flames Patroclus threw.
And this ceremony Plato also observes in his Banquet. For he says—
- He said, and all approved; the heralds bring
- The cleansing water from the living spring,
- The youths with wine the sacred goblets crown'd,
- And large libations drench'd the sand around.
- The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay,
- Then from the royal tent they take their way.[*](Iliad, ix. 219.)
Then after they had supped and made libations, they sang pæans to the god with all customary honours.And Xenophon speaks in very nearly the same terms. But in Epicurus there is no mention of any libation to the gods, or of any offering of first-fruits. But as Simonides says of an immodest woman—
- And oftentimes she eats unhallow'd victims.
He says too that the Athenians were taught the proper proportions in which wine should be mixed by Amphictyon when he was king; and that on this account he erected a temple to the Upright Bacchus. For he is then really upright and not likely to fall, when he is drunk in proper proportions and well mixed; as Homer has it—
For Homer does not call wine ἠλεὸς in the sense of ἠλίθιος, that is to say, foolish and the cause of folly. Nor does he bid a man be of a sullen countenance, neither singing nor laughing, nor ever turning himself to cheerful dancing in time to music. He is not so morose or ill-bred. But he knew the exact proportions in which all these things should be done, and the proper qualities and quantities of wine to be mixed. On which account he did not say that wine makes the sage sing, but sing very much, that is to say, out of tune and excessively, so as to trouble people. Nor, by Jove, did he say simply to smile, and to frisk about; but using the
- Hear me, my friends! who this good banquet grace,—
- 'Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place.
- And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
- Make the sage frolic and the serious smile;
- The grave in merry measures frisk about,
- And many a long-repented word bring out.[*](Odyss. xiv. 464.)
But in Plato none of these things are done in a moderate manner. But men drink in such quantities that they cannot even stand on their feet. For just look at the reveller Alcibiades, how unbecomingly he behaves. And all the rest drink a large goblet holding eight cotylæ, using as an excuse that Alcibiades has led them on; not like the men in Homer—
- Makes . . . . . . . .
- The grave in merry measure frisk about,
- And many a long-repented word bring out.
Now of these things some ought to be repudiated once for all; but some ought to be enjoyed in moderation; people looking at them as at a slight addition or appendage to a repast; as Homer has said—
- But when they drank, and satisfied their soul.
- Let these, my friend,
- With song and dance the pompous revel end.
And altogether the poet has attributed devotion to such things to the Suitors, and to the Phæacians, but not to Nestor or to Menelaus. And Aristarchus did not perceive that in his marriage feast, after the entertainment had lasted some time, and the principal days of the revel were over, in which the bride had been taken to the house of the bridegroom, and the marriage of Megapenthes was completed, Menelaus and Helen were left to themselves and feasted together. He, I say, not perceiving this, but being deceived by the first line—
he then added these lines, which do not properly belong to this place—
- Where sate Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
transferring them with the error in the reading and all from the eighteenth book of the Iliad, where he relates the making of the arms of Achilles; for it ought to be red not ἐξάρχοντες, the dancers beginning, but (τοῦ ᾠδοῦ, that is to say,) when the poet began to sing. For the word
- While this gay friendly troop the king surround,
- With festival and mirth the roofs resound;
- A bard amid the joyous circle sings
- High airs, attemper'd to the vocal strings,
- Whilst, warbling to the varied strain, advance
- Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance:—
And Archilochus says—
- The holy goddesses, the Muses nine,
- Preluded (ἐξῆρχον) with a sacred melody.[*](Hes. Scut. Here. 205.)
And Stesichorus calls the Muse the Beginner of Song (ἀρχεσίμολπος). And Pindar calls Preludes the Leaders of the Dance. And Diodorus the Aristophanian enclosed the whole account of the wedding in brackets; thinking that the first days only were alluded to, and disregarding the termination and what came after the banquet. And then he says we ought to write the words δοίω δὲ κυβιστητῆρε κατʼ αὐτοὺς with an aspirate, καθʼ αὑτοὺς, but that would be a solecism. For κατʼ αὐτοὺς is equivalent to κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς, but to say ἑαυτοὺς would be a solecism.
- Himself preluding (ἐξάρχων) with a sacred paean
- Set to the Lesbian flute.
But, as I said before, the introduction of this kind of music into this modest kind of entertainment is transferred to this place from the Cretic dance, of which he says in the eighteenth book of the Iliad, about the Making of the Arms—
And then he adds to this—
- A figured dance succeeds; such once was seen
- In lofty Cnossus, for the Cretan queen
- Form'd by Dædalean art; a comely band
- Of youths and maidens bounding hand-in-hand;
- The maids in soft cymars of linen dress'd,
- The youths all graceful in the glossy vest.
- Of those the locks with flow'ry wreaths enroll'd,
- Of these the sides adorn'd with swords of gold,
- That glittering gay from silver belts depend.[*](Iliad, xviii. 590.)
- Now all at once they rise, at once descend,
- With well-taught feet; now shape in oblique ways
- Confus'dly regular the moving maze.
- Now forth at once too swift for sight they spring,
- And undistinguish'd blend the flying ring.
Now among the Cretans, dancing and posture-making was a national amusement. On which account Aeneas says to the Cretan Meriones—
[*](Ib. xvi. 617.)
- Swift as thou art (the raging hero cries),
- And skill'd in dancing to dispute the prize,
- My spear, the destined passage had it found,
- Had fix'd thy active vigour to the ground.
- They call it all a Cretan air . . . .
- The instrument is called Molossian . . . .
But they who were called Laconistæ,says Timæus, used to sing standing to dance in square figures." And altogether there were many various kinds of music among the Greeks: as the Athenians preferred the Dionysiac and the Cyclian dances; and the Syracusians the Iambistic figure; and different nations practised different styles.
But Aristarchus not only interpolated lines which had no business there into the banquet of Menelaus, and by so doing made Homer make representations inconsistent with the system of the Lacedæmonians, and with the moderation of their king, but he also took away the singer from the Cretan chorus, mutilating his song in the following manner:—
So that blunder of his in using the word ἐξάρχοντες is almost irremediable, as the relation cannot after that possibly be brought back so as to refer to the singer.
- The gazing multitudes admire around
- Two active tumblers in the centre bound;
- Now high, now low their pliant limbs they bend,
- And general songs the sprightly revel end.[*](Iliad, xvi. 603.)
And it is not probable that there were any musical entertainments at Menelaus's banquet, as is manifest from the fact of the whole time of the banquet being occupied by the guests in conversation with one another; and that there is no name mentioned as that of the minstrel; nor is any lay mentioned which he sang; nor is it said that Telemachus and his party listened to him; but they rather contemplated the house in silence, as it were, and perfect quiet. And how can it be looked upon as anything but incredible, that the sons of those wisest of men, Ulysses and Nestor, should be introduced as such ignorant people as, like clowns, not to pay the least attention to carefully prepared music? At all events Ulysses himself attends to the Phæacian minstrels:—
although he had plenty of things to distract his attention, and although he could say—
- Ulysses gazed, astonish'd to survey
- The glancing splendours as their sandals play:—[*](Odyss. viii. 264.)
- Now care surrounds me, and my force decays,
- Inured a melancholy part to bear,
- In scenes of death by tempest and by war.[*](Ib. 154.)
But in the banquet of Epicurus there is an assembly of flatterers praising one another. And Plato's banquet is full of mockers, cavilling at one another; for I say nothing of the digression about Alcibiades But in Homer it is only banquets conducted with moderation which are applauded; and on one occasion, a man addressing Menelaus says—
But he was reproving something which was either not said or not done with perfect correctness—
- I dare not in your presence speak,
- Whose voice we reverence as a voice divine.[*](Odyss. iv. 160.)
And again, he says—
- And now if aught there is that can be done,
- Take my advice; I grief untimely shun
- That interrupts the feast.[*](Ib. 193.)
For it is not right for a man to be a flatterer, nor a mocker.
- O son of wise Ulysses, what a word
- Has 'scaped thy ivory fence!. . . .
Again, Epicurus, in his banquet, inquires about indigestion, so as to draw an omen from the answer: and immediately after that he inquires about fevers; for why need I speak of the general want of rhythm and elegance which pervades the whole essay? But Plato, (I say nothing about his having been harassed by a cough, and about his taking care of himself with constant gargling of water, and also by inserting a straw, in order that he might excite his nose so as to sneeze; for his object was to turn things into ridicule and to disparage them,) Plato, I say, turns into ridicule the equalized sentences and the antitheses of Agathon, and introduces Alcibiades, saying that he is in a state of excitement. But still those men who write in this manner, propose to expel Homer from their cities. But, says Demochares,
A spear is not made of a stalk of savory,nor is a good man made so by such discourses as these; and not only does he disparage
But also the banquet of Xenophon, although it is much extolled, gives one as many handles to blame it as the other. For Callias assembles a banqueting party because his favourite Autolycus has been crowned at the Panathenæa for a victory gained in the Pancratium. And as soon as they are assembled the guests devote their attention to the boy; and this too while his father is sitting by.
For as when light appears in the night season it attracts the eyes of every one, so does the beauty of Autolycus attract the eyes of everybody to itself. And then there was no one present who did not feel something in his heart because of him; but some were more silent than others, and some betrayed their feelings by their gestures.But Homer has never ventured to say anything of that sort, not even when he represents Helen as present; concerning whose beauty though one of those who sat opposite to her did speak, all he said, being overcome by the truth, was this—
- Sure 'tis no wonder such celestial charms
- For nine long years have set the world in arms.
- What winning graces, what majestic mien-
- She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen![*](Iliad, iii. 196.)
But the young men who had come to Menelaus's court, the son of Nestor and Telemachus, when over their wine, and celebrating a wedding feast, and though Helen was sitting by, kept quite quiet in a decorous manner, being struck dumb by her renowned beauty. But why did Socrates, when to gratify some one or other he had tolerated some female flute-players, and some boy dancing and playing on the harp, and also some women tumbling and posture-making in an unseemly manner, refuse perfumes? For no one would have been able to restrain his laughter at him, recollecting these lines—
- Yet hence, O heaven, convey that fatal face;
- And from destruction save the Trojan race.
And what followed after was very inconsistent with his austerity. For Critobulus, a very well-bred young man, mocks Socrates, who was aged and his tutor, saying he was much uglier than the Sileni; but he discusses beauty with him, and selecting as judges the boy and the dancing woman, makes the prize to be the kisses of the judges. Now what young man meeting with this writing would not be corrupted rather than excited to virtue?
- You speak of those pale-faced and shoeless men,
- Such as that wretched Socrates and Chærephon.
But in Homer, in the banquet of Menelaus, they propose to one another questions as in ordinary conversation, and chatting with one another like fellow-citizens, they entertain one another and us too. Accordingly, Menelaus, when Telemachus and his friends come from the bath-room, and when the tables and the dishes are laid, invites them to partake of them, saying—
and then he helps them to what he has before him, treating them in the most friendly manner—
- Accept this welcome to the Spartan court;
- The waste of nature let the feast repair,
- Then your high lineage and your names declare:[*](Odyss. iv. 60.)—
And they, eating in silence, as it becomes young men to do, converse with one another, leaning forwards gently, not about
- Ceasing, benevolent he straight assigns
- The royal portion of the choicest chines
- To each accepted friend; with grateful haste
- They share the honours of the rich repast.
For that, according to Seleucus, is the best reading; and Aristarchus is wrong when he writes—
- Soft whispering thus to Nestor's son,
- His head reclined, young Ithacus begun:
- View'st thou unmoved, O ever honour'd most,
- These prodigies of art and wondrous cost?
- Such, and not nobler, in the realms above
- Are the rich treasures in the dome of Jove.[*](The reading is— ζηνός που τοιαῦτα δόμοις ἐν κτήματα κεῖται, for which Aristarchus wished to read— ζηνός που τοίηδέ γʼ ʼολυμπίου ἔνδοθεν αὐλή. I have given here, as elsewhere, Pope's version in the translation.)
For they are not admiring the beauty of building alone; for how could there be amber, and silver, and ivory in the walls? But they spoke partly about the house, as where they used the expression
- Such is the palace of Olympian Jove.
the sounding house,for that is the character of large and lofty rooms; and they spoke also of the furniture—
So that it is a natural addition to say—
- Above, beneath, around the palace shines
- The sumless treasure of exhausted mines;
- The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay,
- And studded amber darts a golden ray.
But the statement,
- Such are the treasures in the dome of Jove,
- Wondrous they are, and awe my heart doth move
has no connexion with—
- Such is the palace of Olympian Jove,
and it would be a pure solecism and a very unusual reading.
- Wondrous they are . . . .