Deipnosophistae
Athenaeus of Naucratis
Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
And Diphilus, in his Synoris (and Synoris is the name of a courtesan), mentioning Euripides (and Euripides is the name given to a particular throw on the dice), and punning on the name of the poet, says this at the same time about parasites:—
And in the amended edition of the same play, speaking of a parasite in a passion, he says—
- A. You have escaped well from such a throw.
- S. You are right witty.
- A. Well, lay down your drachma.
- S. That has been done: how shall I throw Euripides?
- A. Euripides will never save a woman.
- See you not how he hates them in his tragedies?
- But he has always fancied parasites,
- And thus he speaks, you'll easily find the place:
- "For every rich man who does not feed
- At least three men who give no contribution,
- Exile deserves and everlasting ruin."
- S. Where is that passage?
- A. What is that to you
- 'Tis not the play, but the intent that signifies.
And immediately afterwards he adds—
- Is then the parasite angry? is he furious?
- Not he; he only smears with gall the table,
- And weans himself like any child from milk.
And in the play, which is entitled The Parasite, he says—
- A. Then you may eat, O parasite.
- B. Just see
v.1.p.389- How he disparages that useful skill.
- A. Well, know you not that all men rank a parasite
- Below a harp-player
- A surly man should never be a parasite.
And Menander, in his Passion, speaking of a friend who had refused an invitation to a marriage feast, says—
And Alexis in his Orestes, Nicostratus in his Plutus, Menander in his Drunkenness, and in his Lawgiver, speak in the same way; and Philonides, in his Buskins, says—
- This is to be a real friend; not one
- Who asks, What time is dinner? as the rest do.
- And, Why should we not all at once sit down?
- And fishes for another invitation
- To-morrow and next day, and then again
- Asks if there's not a funeral feast to follow.
- I being abstinent cannot endure
- Such things as these.
But there are many other kindred nouns to the noun παράσιτος: there is ἐπίσιτος, which has already been mentioned; and οἰκόσιτος, and σιτόκουρος, and αὐτόσιτος; and besides these, there is κακόσιτος and ὀλιγόσιτος: and Anaxandrides uses the word οἰκόσιτος in his Huntsmen—
And a man is called οἰκόσιτος who serves the city, not for hire, but gratis. Antiphanes, in his Scythian, says—
- A son who feeds at home (οἰκόσιτος) is a great comfort.
And Menander says, in his Ring—
- The οἰκόσιτος quickly doth become
- A regular attendant at th' assembly.
And in his Harp-player he says—
- We found a bridegroom willing to keep house (οἰκόσιτος)
- At his own charges, for no dowry seeking.
- You do not get your hearers there for nothing (οἰκοσίτους).
Crates uses the word ἐπισίτιος in his Deeds of Daring, saying—
And he also uses the word in a peculiar sense in his Women dining together, where he says—
- He feeds his messmate (ἐπισίτιον) while he shivers thus
- In Megabyzus' house, and he will have
- Food for his wages.
- It is a well-bred custom not to assemble
- A crowd of women, nor to feast a multitude;
- But to make a domestic (οἰκοσίτους) wedding feast.
And Menander calls a man who is useless, and who lives to no purpose, σιτόκουρος, in his Thrasyleon, saying—
- You will be but a walking bread-devourer (σιτόκουρος)
And in his Venal People he says—
- A lazy ever-procrastinating fellow,
- A σιτόκουρος, miserable, useless,
- Owning himself a burden on the earth.
And Crobylus used the word αὐτόσιτος (bringing one's own provisions), in The Man hanged—
- Wretch, you were standing at the door the while,
- Having laid down your burden; while, for us,
- We took the wretched σιτόκουρος in.
And Eubulus has the word κακόσιτος (eating badly, having no appetite), in his Ganymede—
- A parasite αὐτόσιτος, feeding himself,
- You do contribute much to aid your master.
And the word ὀλιγόσιτος (a sparing eater) occurs in Phrynichus, in his The solitary Man—
- Sleep nourishes him since he's no appetite (κακόσιτος).
And Pherecrates, or Strattis, in his Good Men—
- What does that sparing eater (ὀλιγόσιτος) Hercules there?
- How sparingly you eat, who in one day
- Swallow the food of an entire trireme.
When Plutarch had said all this about parasites, Democritus, taking up the discourse, said, And I myself, 'like wood well-glued to wood,' as the Theban poet has it, will say a word about flatterers.
as the excellent Menander says. And there is no great difference between calling a man a flatterer and a parasite. Accordingly, Lynceus the Samian, in his Commentaries, gives the name of parasite to Cleisophus, the man who is universally described as the flatterer of Philip, the king of the Macedonians (but he was an Athenian by birth, as Satyrus the Peripatetic affirms, in his Life of Philip). And Lynceus says—
- For of all men the flatterer fares best,
Cleisophus, the parasite of Philip, when Philip rebuked him for being continually asking for something, replied, 'I am very forgetful.' Afterwards, when Philip had given him a wounded horse, he sold him; and when, after a time, the kingAnd Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, makes this mention of Cleisophus:—v.1.p.391asked him what had become of him, he answered, ' He was sold by that wound of his.' And when Philip laughed at him, and took it good-humouredly, he said, 'Is it not then worth my while to keep you?'
When Philip the king said that writings had been brought to him from Cotys, king of Thrace, Cleisophus, who was present, said, 'It is well, by the gods.' And when Philip said, But what do you know of the subjects mentioned in these writings?' he said, 'By the great Jupiter, you have reproved me with admirable judgment.'
But Satyrus, in his Life of Philip, says,
When Philip lost his eye, Cleisophus came forth with him, with bandages on the same eye as the king; and again, when his leg was hurt, he came out limping, along with the king. And if ever Philip ate any harsh or sour food, he would contract his features, as if he, too, had the same taste in his mouth. But in the country of the Arabs they used to do these things, not out of flattery, but in obedience to some law; so that whenever the king had anything the matter with any one of his limbs, the courtiers pretended to be suffering the same inconvenience: for they think it ridiculous to be willing to be buried with him when he dies, but not to pay him the compliment of appearing to be subject to the same sufferings as he is while alive, if he sustains any injury.But Nicolaus of Damascus,—and he was one of the Peripatetic school,—in his very voluminous history (for it consisted of a hundred and forty-four books), in the hundred and eleventh book says, that Adiatomus the king of the Sotiani (and that is a Celtic tribe) had six hundred picked men about him, who were called by the Gauls, in their national language, Siloduri—which word means in Greek, Bound under a vow.
And the king has them as companions, to live with him and to die with him; as that is the vow which they all take. In return for which, they also share his power, and wear the same dress, and eat the same food; and they die when he dies, as a matter of absolute necessity, if the king dies of any disease; or if he dies in war, or in any other manner. And no one can even say that any of them has shown any fear of death, or has in the least sought to evade it when the king is dead.
But Theopompus says, in the forty-fourth book of his
But Phylarchus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says that Philip laughed at this, and invited Arcadion to supper, and that in that way he got rid of his enmity. But of Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, Hegesander gives the following account:—
- Until I meet with men who know not Philip.
When Alexander complained of being bitten by the flies and was eagerly brushing them off, a man of the name of Nicesias, one of his flatterers who happened to be present, said, —Beyond all doubt those flies will be far superior to all other flies, now that they have tasted your blood.And the same man says that Cheirisophus also, the flatterer of Dionysius, when he saw Dionysius laughing with some of his acquaintances, (but he was some way off himself, so that he could not hear what they were laughing at,) laughed also. And when Dionysius asked him on what account he, who could not possibly hear what was said, laughed, said—I feel that confidence in you that I am quite sure that what has been said is worth laughing at.
His son also, the second Dionysius, had numerous flatterers, who were called by the common people Dionysiocolaces. And they, because Dionysius himself was not very sharp sighted, used to pretend while at supper not to be able to see very far, but they would touch whatever was near them as if they could not see it, until Dionysius himself guided their hands to the dishes. And when Dionysius spat, they would often put out their own faces for him to spit upon: and then
But you would do me a great favour, O Dionysius, if you were to order any one of those who knows it to teach me the paean which you composed in honour of Aesculapius; for I hear that you have taken great pains with that.
And once, when some friends were invited to supper by Dionysius, Dionysius coming into the room, said,
O, my friends, letters have been sent to us from the generals who have been despatched to Naples;and Democles interrpting him, said,
By the gods, they have done well, O Dionysius.And he, looking upon him, said,
But how do you know whether what they have written is in accordance with my expectation or the contrary?And Democles replied,
By the gods, you have properly rebuked me, O Dionysius.Timæus also affirms that there was a man named Satyrus, who was a flatterer of both the Dionysii.
And Hegesander relates that Hiero the tyrant was
But those who were the leaders of the people at Athens, says he, in the Chrernonidean war, flattered the Athenians, and said,
- Detesting tables where there was too much pride (ὄγκος).
that everything else was common to all the Greeks; but that the Athenians were the only men who knew the road which leads to heaven.And Satyrus, in his Lives, says that Anaxarchus, the Eudæmonical philosopher, was one of the flatterers of Alexander; and that he once, when on a journey in company with the king, when a violent and terrible thunderstorm took place, so as to frighten everybody, said—
Was it you, O Alexander, son of Jupiter, who caused this?And that he laughed and said—
Not I; for I do not wish to be formidable, as you make me out; you also desire me to have brought to me at supper the heads of satraps and kings.And Aristobulus of Cassandria says that Dioxippus the Athenian, a pancratiast, once when Alexander was wounded and when the blood flowed, said—
- 'Tis ichor, such as flows from the blessed gods.
And Epicrates the Athenian, having gone on an embassy to the king, according to the statement of Hegesander, and having received many presents from him, was not ashamed to flatter the king openly and boldly, so as even to say that the best way was not to choose nine archons every year, but nine ambassadors to the king. But I wonder at the Athenians, how they allowed him to make such a speech without bringing him to trial, and yet fined Demades ten talents, because he thought Alexander a god; and they put Evagoras to death, because when he went as ambassador to the king he adored him. And Timon the Phliasian, in the third book of his Silli, says that Ariston the Chian, an acquaintance and pupil of Zeno the Citiean, was a flatterer
O king, what must we do when even you gods suffer in this manner?and that Alexender, scarcely looking up, said—
What sort of gods? I a afraid rather we are hated by the gods.And in his twenty eighth book the same Phylarchus says that Apollophanes was a flatterer of Antigonus who was surnamed Epitropu, who took Lacedæmon, and who used to say that the forte of Antigonus Alexandrized.
But Euphantus, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Callicrates was a flatterer of Ptolemy, the third king of Egypt, who was so subtle a flatterer that he not only bore an image of Ulysses on his seal, but that he also gave his children the names of Telegonus and Anticlea. And Polybius, in the thirteenth book of his Histories says that Heraclides the Tarentine was a flatterer of the Philip whose power was destroyed by the Romans; and that, it was he who overturned his whole kingdom. And in his fourteenth book, he says that Philo was a flatterer of Agathocles the son of Œnanthe, and the companion of the king Ptolemy Philopator. And Baton of Sinope relates, in his book bout the tyranny of Hieronymus, that Thraso, who was surnamed Carcharus, was the flatterer of Hieronymus the tyrant of Syracuse, saying that he every day used to drink a great quantity of unmixed wine. But another flatterer, by name Osis, caused Thraso to be put to death by Hieronymus; ad he persuaded Hieronymus himself to assume the diadem, and the purple and all the rest of the royal apparel, which Dionysius the tyrant was accustomed to wear. And Agatharchides, in the thirtieth book of his Histories, says—"Hæresippus the Spartanwas a man of no moderate iniquity, not even putting on any appearance of goodness; but having very persuasive flattering language, and being a very clever man at paying court to the rich as long as their fortune lasted. Such also was Heraclides the Maronite, the flatterer of Seuthes the king of the Thracians, who is mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the Anabasis.
But Theopompus, in the eighteenth book of his Histories, speaking of Nicostratus the Argive, and saying
Cavarus the Gaul, who was in other respects a good man, was depraved by Sostratus the flatterer, who was a Chalcedonian by birth.
Nicolaus, in the hundred and fourteenth book of his Histories, says that Andromachus of Carrhæ was a flatterer of Licinius Crassus, who commanded the expedition against the Parthians; and that Crassus communicated all his designs to him, and was, in consequence, betrayed to the Parthians by him, and so destroyed. But Andromachus was not allowed by the deity to escape unpunished. For having obtained, as the reward of his conduct, the sovereignty over his native place Carrhæ, he behaved with such cruelty and violence that he was burnt with his whole family by the Carrhans. And Posidonius the Apamean, who was afterwards surnamed Rhodius, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Hierax of Antioch, who used formerly to accompany the
The whole populace of the Athenians, too, was very notorious for the height to which it pushed its flattery; accordingly, Demochares the cousin of Demosthenes the orator, in the twentieth book of his Histories, speaking of the flattery practised by the Athenians towards Demetrius Poliorcetes, and saying that he himself did not at all like it, writes as follows—
And some of these things annoyed him greatly, as they well might. And, indeed, other parts of their conduct were utterly mean and disgraceful. They consecrated temples to Leæna Venus and Lamia Venus, and they erected altars and shrines as if to heroes, and instituted libations in honour of Burichus, and Adeimantus, and Oxythemis, his flatterers. And poems were sung in honour of all these people, so that even Demetrius himself was astonished at what they did, and said that in his time there was not one Athenian of a great or vigorous mind.The Thebans also flattered Demetrius, as Polemo relates in the treatise on the Ornamented Portico at Sicyon; and they, too, erected a temple to Lamia Venus. But she was one of Demetrius's mistresses, as also was Leæna. So that why should we wonder at the Athenians, who stooped even to become flatterers of flatterers, singing pæans and hymns to Demetrius himself?
Accordingly Demochares, in the twenty-first book of his Histories, says—
And the Athenians received Demetrius when he came from Leucadia and Corcyra to Athens, not only with frankincense, and crowns, and libations of wine, but they even went out to meet him with hymns, and choruses, and ithyphalli, and dancing and singing, and they stood in front of him in multitudes, dancing and singing, and saying that he was the only true god, and that all the rest of the gods were either asleep, or gone away to a distance, or were no god atv.1.p.398all. And they called him the son of Neptune and Venus, for he was eminent for beauty, and affable to all men with a natural courtesy and gentleness of manner. And they fell at his feet and addressed supplications and prayers to him.
Demochares, then, has said all this about the adulatory spirit and conduct of the Athenians. And Duris the Samian, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, has given the very ithyphallic hymn which they addressed to him—
- Behold the greatest of the gods and dearest
- Are come to this city,
- For here Demeter[*](Demeter, δημήτηρ, or as it is written in the text δημήτρα. Ceres, the mother of Proserpine.) and Demetrius are
- Present in season.
- She indeed comes to duly celebrate
- The sacred mysteries
- Of her most holy daughter—he is present
- Joyful and beautiful,
- As a god ought to be, with smiling face
- Showering his blessings round.
- How noble doth he look! his friends around,
- Himself the centre.
- His friends resemble the bright lesser stars,
- Himself is Phœbus.
- Hail, ever-mighty Neptune's mightier son;
- Hail, son of Venus.
- For other gods do at a distance keep,
- Or have no ears,
- Or no existence; and they heed not us—
- But you are present,
- Not made of wood or stone, a genuine god.
- We pray to thee.
- First of all give us peace, O dearest god—
- For you are lord of peace—
- And crush for us yourself, for you've the power,
- 'This odious Sphinx;
- Which now destroys not Thebes alone, but Greece—
- The whole of Greece—
- I mean th' Aetolian, who, like her of old,
- Sits on a rock,
- And tears and crushes all our wretched bodies.
- Nor can we him resist.
- For all th' Aetolians plunder all their neighbours;
- And now they stretch afar
- Their lion hands; but crush them, mighty lord,
- Or send some Œdipus
- Who shall this Sphinx hurl down from off his precipice,
- Or starve him justly.
This is what was sung by the nation which once fought at Marathon, and they sang it not only in public, but in their private houses-men who had once put a man to death for offering adoration to the king of Persia, ad who had slain countless myriads of barbarians. Therefore, Alexis, in his Apothecary or Cratevas, introduces a person pledging one of the guests in a cup of wine, and represents him as saying—
* * * * And presently he adds—
- Boy, give a larger cup, and pour therein
- Four cyathi of strong and friendly drink,
- In honour of all present. Then you shall add
- Three more for love; one for the victory,
- The glorious victory of King Antigonus,
- Another for the young Demetrius.
- Bring a third cup in honour now of Venus,
- The lovely Venus. Hail, my friends and guests;
- I drink this cup to the success of all of you.
Such were the Athenians at that time, after flattery, that worst of wild beasts, had inspired their city with frenzy, that city which once the Pythia entitled the Hearth of Greece, and which Theopompus, who hated them, called the Prytaneum of Greece; he who said in other places that Athens was full of drunken flatterers, and sailors, and pickpockets, and also of false witnesses, sycophants, and false accusers. And it is my opinion that it was they who introduced all the flattery which we have been speaking of, like a storm, or other infliction, sent on men by the gods; concerning which Diogenes said, very elegantly—
That it was much better to go ἐς κόρακας than ἐς κόλακας, who eat up all the good men while they are still alive;and, accordingly, Anaxilas says, in his Young Woman—
And Plato says, in his Phædrus—
- The flatterers are worms which prey upon
- All who have money; for they make an entrance
- Into the heart of a good guileless man,
- And take their seat there, and devour it,
- Till they have drain'd it like the husk of wheat,
- And leave the shell; and then attack some other.
Nature has mingled some pleasure which is not entirely inelegant in its character of a flatterer, though he is an odious beast, and a great injury to a state.And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Flattery,
So that the Thessalians did well who razed the city which was called Colaceia (Flattery), which the Melians used to inhabit, as Theopompus relates in the thirtieth book of his History.
- A flatterer destroys
- By his pernicious speeches
- Both general and prince,
- Both private friends and states;
- He pleases for a while,
- But causes lasting ruin.
- And now this evil habit
- Has spread among the people,
- Our courts are all diseased,
- And all is done by favour.
But Phylarchus says, that those Athenians who settled in Lemnos were great flatterers, mentioning them as such in the thirteenth book of his History. For that they, wishing to display their gratitude to the descendants of Seleucus and Antiochus, because Seleucus not only delivered them when they were severely oppressed by Lysimachus, but also restored both their cities to them,—they, I say, the Athenians in Lemnos, not only erected temples to Seleucus, but also to his son Antiochus; and they have given to the cup, which at their feasts is offered at the end of the banquet, the name of the cup of Seleucus the Saviour.
Now some people, perverting the proper name, call this flattery ἀρέσκεια, complaisance; as Anaxandrides does in his Samian, where he says—
But those who devote themselves to flattery are not aware that that art is one which flourishes only a short time. Accordingly, Alexis says in his Liar—
- For flattery is now complaisance call'd.
- A flatterer's life but a brief space endures,
- For no one likes a hoary parasite.
No flatterer is constant in his friendship. For time destroys the falsehood of his pretences, and a lover is only a flatterer and a pretended friend on account of youth or beauty.One of the flatterers of Demetrius the king was Adeimantus of Lampsacus, who having built a temple in Thriæ, and placed statues in it, called it the temple of Phila Venus, and called the place itself Philæum, from Phila the mother of Demetrius; as we are told by Dionysius the son of Tryphon, in the tenth book of his treatise on Names.
But Clearchus the Solensian, in his book which is inscribed Gergithius, tells us whence the origin of the name flatterer is derived; and mentioning Gergithius himself, from whom the treatise has its name, he says that he was one of Alexander's flatterers; and he tells the story thus—
That flattery debases the characters of the flatterers, making them apt to despise whoever they associate with; and a proof of this is, that they endure everything, well knowing what they dare do. And those who are flattered by them, being puffed up by their adulation, they make foolish and empty-headed, and cause them to believe that they, and everything belonging to them, are of a higher order than other people.And ten proceeding to mention a certain young man, a Paphian by birth, but a king by the caprice of fortune, he says—"This young man (and he does not mention his name) used out of his preposterous luxury to lie on a couch with silver feet, with a smooth Sardian carpet spread under it of the most expensive description. And over him was thrown a piece of purple cloth, edged with a scarlet fringe; and he had three pillows under his head made of the finest linen, and of purple colour, by which he kept himself cool. And under his feet he had two pillows of the kind called Dorian, of a bright crimson colour; and on all this he lay himself, clad in a white robe.
"And all the monarchs who have at any time reigned in Cyprus have encouraged a race of nobly-born flatterers as useful to them; for they are a possession very appropriate to tyrants. And no one ever knows them (any more the they do the judges of the Areopagus), either how many they are, or who they are, except that perhaps some of the most
There were also in this country, in the time of Glutus the Carian, women attaching themselves to the Queens, who were called flatterers; and a few of them who were left crossed the sea, and were sent for to the wives of Artabazus and Mentor, and instead of κολακίδες were called κλιμακίδες from this circumstance. By way of making themselves agreeable to those who had sent for them, they made a ladder (κλίμακια) of themselves, in such a manner that there was a way of ascending over their backs, and also a way of descending, for their mistresses when they drove out in chariots: to such av.1.p.403pitch of luxury, not to say of miserable helplessness, did they bring those silly women by their contrivance therefore, they themselves, when they were compelled by fortune to quit that very luxurious way of living, lived with great hardship in their old age. And the others who had received these habits from us, when they were deprived of their authority came to Macedonia; and the customs which they taught to the wives and princesses of the great men in that country by their association with them, it is not decent even to mention farther than this, that practising magic arts themselves, and being the objects of them when practised by others, they did not spare even the places of the greatest resort, but they became complete vagabonds, and the very scum of the streets, polluted with all sorts of abominations. Such and so great are the evils which seem to be engendered by flattery in the case of all people who admit from their own inclination and predisposition to be flattered.
And a little further Clearchus goes on as follows:— "But still a man may have a right to find fault with that young man for the way in which he used those things, as I have said before. For his slaves stood in short tunics a little behind the couch: and as there are now three men on whose account all this discussion has been originated, and as all these men are men who have separate names among us, the one sat on the couch close to his feet, letting the feet of the young man rest upon his knees, and covering them with a thin cloth; and what he did further is plain enough, even if I do not mention it. And this servant is called by the natives Parabystus, because he works his way into the company of those men even who do not willingly receive him, by the very skilful character of his flatteries. The second was one sitting on a certain chair which was placed close to the couch; and he, holding by the hand of the young mar, as he let it almost drop, and clinging to it, kept on rubbing it, and taking each of his fingers in turn he rubbed it and stretched it, so that the man appeared to have said a very with thing who first gave that officer the name of Sicya.[*](σικύα, a cucumber.) The third, however, was the most noble of all, and was called Theer (or the wild beast), who was indeed the principal person of the whole body, and who stood at his master's head, and shared
So when the young man was stung, this man uttered such a loud scream in his behalf, and was so indignant, that on account of his hatred to one fly he banished the whole tribe of flies from his house: from which it is quite plain that he appointed this servant for this especial purpose.