Deipnosophistae

But after flattery, Anaxandrides the comic poet gives the next place to ostentation, in his Apothecary Prophet, speaking thus—

1. Do you reproach me that I'm ostentatious?
2. Why should you do so? for this quality
3. Is far beyond all others, only flattery
4. Excepted: that indeed is best of all.

1. You are call'd a whisperer and psomocolax.

1. What will become of you, you cursed psomocolaces.

1. The man is a psomocolax.

1. Always contending and ψωμοκολακεύων.

1. They call you a runaway ψωμοκόλαφος.

When Democritus had made this speech, and had asked for some drink in a narrow-necked sabrias, Ulpian said, And what is this sabrias? And just as Democritus was beginning to treat us all to a number of interminable stories, in came a troop of servants bringing in everything requisite for eating. Concerning whom Democritus, continuing his discourse, spoke as follows:—I have always, O my friends, marvelled at the race of slaves, considering how abstemious they are, though placed in the middle of such numbers of dainties; for they pass them by, not only out of fear, but also because they are taught to do so; I do not mean being taught in the Slave-teacher of Pherecrates, but by early habituation; and without its being necessary to utter any express prohibition respecting such matters to them, as in the island of Cos, when the citizens sacrifice to Juno. For Macareus says, in his third book of his treatise on Coan Affairs, that, when the Coans sacrifice to Juno, no slave is allowed to enter the temple, nor does any slave taste any one of the things which are prepared for the sacrifice. And Antiphanes, in his Dyspratus,[*](The exact meaning of this title is disputed, some translate it, hard to sell, or to be sold, others merely miserable. ) says—

1. 'Tis hard to see around one savoury cakes,
2. And delicate birds half eaten; yet the slaves
3. Are not allow'd to eat the fragments even,
4. As say the women.

1. What can be worse than, while the guests are drinking,
2. To hear the constant cry of, Here, boy, here!
3. And this that one may bear a chamberpot
4. To some vain beardless youth; and see around
5. Half eaten savoury cakes, and delicate birds,
6. Whose very fragments are forbidden strictly
7. To all the slaves—at least the women say so;
8. And him who drinks a cup men call a belly-god;
9. And if he tastes a mouthful of solid food
10. They call him greedy glutton:

And Dieuchidas says, in his history of the Affairs of Megara—

Around the islands called Arææ (and they are between Cnidos and Syme) a difference arose, after the death of Triopas, among those who had set out with him on his expedition, and some returned home, and others remained with Phorbas, and came to Ialysus, and others proceeded with Periergus, and occupied the district of Cameris. And on this it is said that Periergus uttered curses against Phorbas, and on this account the islands were called Arææ. But Phorbas having met with shipwreck, he and Parthenia, the sister of Phorbas and Periergus, swam ashore to Ialysus, at the point called Schedia. And Thamneus met with them, as he happened to be hunting near Schedia, and took them to his own house, intending to receive them hospitably, and sent on a servant as a messenger to tell his wife to prepare everything necessary, as he was bringing home strangers. But when he came to his house and found nothing prepared, he himself put corn into a mill, and everything else that was requisite, and then ground it himself and feasted them. And Phorbas was so delighted with this hospitality, that when he was dying himself he charged his friends to take care that his funeral rites should be performed by free men. And so this custom continued to prevail in the sacrifice of Phorbas, for [*](From ἀρὰ, a curse.)

v.1.p.413

none but free men minister at this sacrifice. And it is accounted profanation for any slave to approach it

And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpian, there is this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says—

1. For no one then had any Manes,[*](A slave's name.) no,
2. Nor home-born slaves; but the free women themselves
3. Did work at everything within the house.
4. And so at morn they ground the corn for bread,
5. Till all the streets resounded with the mills.

1. There is not anywhere, my friend, a state
2. Of none but slaves; but fortune regulates
3. And changes at its will th' estates of men.
4. Many there are who are not free to day,
5. But will to-morrow free-men be of Sunium,
6. And the day after public orators;
7. For so the deity guides each man's helm.

And Posidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of his History, "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people of Heraclea, promising to act as their subjects for ever, if they would supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement beforehand, that none of them would sell anything out of the territory of Heraclea, but that they would sell in that district alone. And perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying—

1. And they may well be call'd Bringers of Gifts,
2. Fearing the stern dominion of their kings.

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories,

The Cretans call their slaves Clarotæ, because lots have been drawn for them; and these slaves have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything, and have the right even to scourge the freemen.

But the Thessalians call those Penestæ who were not born slaves, but who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet, misapplying the word, says—

1. The wrinkled counsellors of a Penestan master.

1. λάτρις πενέστης ἁμὸς ἀρχαίων δόμων.

And Timæus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, says,

It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be waited on by purchased slaves;

And altogether they accused totle of having departed from the Locrian customs; said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the Phocians, touse either maid-servants or house- servants till very lately. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the com- panion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Pho- cians, for having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that he was depriving that number of citizens of their neces- sary subsistence: for that it was a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder.

And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws, says,—"The whole question about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system of the Helots among the Lacedæ- monians causes the greatest perplexity and dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some con- sidering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of slavery among the people of Heraclea would cause less dis- pute than the subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of the Thessalian Penestæ. And if we con- sider all these things, what ought we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says—

1. Jove fix'd it certain that whatever day
2. Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he says,—

The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians and Lacedæmonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the same manner as those others did; for the Lacedæmonians and the Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the one having Achean slaves, but the Thessalians having Perrhæbian and Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the others called them Penestæ. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and they have bought them at a price.

"Accordingly, the Chians, having entered into a treaty with him, and having made a truce for a certain time, Drimacus prepares measures and weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians, he said, Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or reasonable ground to allege, I will send them back to their masters.' Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to this state of things, very good-humouredly did not desert nearly so much for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon them And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required, obeying him as their general; for he punished the refractory with great severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the

Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son, and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive the money which they offer, and so be prosperous.' But when the young man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his head, and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the shrine of the GENTLE HERO. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and sacrifice to him, where this shrine is.

Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his history, I have found that Drimachus is not mentioned by name. But I do not imagine that any one of you is ignorant, either of what the prince of all historians, Herodotus, has related of the Chian Panionium, and of what he justly suffered who castrated free boys and sold them. But Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Posidonius the Stoic, in their Histories, both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for the purpose of being

A Chian bought a master,

But the Athenians, having a prudent regard to the condition of their slaves, made a law that there should be a γραφὴ ὕβρεως, even against men who ill treated their slaves. Accordingly, Hyperides, the orator, in his speech against Mnesitheus, on a charge of αἰκία, says,

They made these laws not only for the protection of freemen, but they enacted also, that even if any one personally ill treated a slave, there should be a power of preferring an indictment against him who had done so.

But Chrysippus says that there is a difference between a δοῦλος and οἰκέτης; and he draws the distinction in the second book of his treatise on Similarity of Meaning, because he says that those who have been emancipated are still δοῦλοι, but that the term οἰκέτης is confined to those who are not discharged from servitude; for the οἰκέτης, says he is a δοῦλος, being actually at the time the property of a mast the following are called δοῦλοι, as Clitarchus treatise on Dialects: ἄζοι, [*](῎ἄζος contr. from ἄοζος, a servant, especially belonging to a temple.—L. & S.) and θεράποντες, [*](θεράπων, a servant, in early Greek especially denoting free and honourable service.—L. & S.) and ἀκόλουθοι, [*](ʼἀκόλουθος, as subst., a follower, attendant, footman.—L. & S.)

But Proxenus, in the second book of his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, says that female servants are called among the Lacedæmonians, Chalcides. But Ion of Chios, in his Laertes, uses the word οἰκέτης as synonymous with δοῦλος, and says—

1. Alas, O servant, go on wings and close
2. The house lest any man should enter in.

1. How rich in slaves (εὔδουλος) and how well housed he was (εὔοικος);

But the poets of the old comedy, speaking of the old-fashioned way of life, and asserting that in olden time there was no great use of slaves, speak in this way. Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—

1. As for those men, those heroes old,
2. Who lived in Saturn's time,
3. When men did play at dice with loaves,
4. And Aeginetan cakes
5. Of barley well and brownly baked
6. Were roll'd down before men
7. Who did in the palæstra toil,
8. Full of hard lumps of dough . . . .

1. A. Then no one shall possess or own
2. One male or female slave,
3. But shall himself, though ne'er so old,
4. Labour for all his needs.
5. B. Not so, for I will quickly make
6. These matters all come right.
7. A. And what will your plans do for us?
8. B. Why everything you call for
9. Should of its own accord come forth,
10. As if now you should say,
11. O table, lay yourself for dinner,
12. And spread a cloth upon you.
13. You kneading-trough, prepare some dough;
14. You cyathus, pour forth wine;
15. Where is the cup? come hither, cup,
16. And empt and wash yourself.
17. Come up, O cake. You sir, you dish,
18. Here, bring me up some beetroot.
19. Come hither, fish. "I can't, for I
20. Am raw on t' other side."
21. Well, turn round then and baste yourself
22. With oil and melted butter.

1. But argue thus: I on the other hand
2. Shall first of all bring water for the hot baths
3. On columns raised as through the Pæonium[*](The Pæonium, if that is the proper reading, appears to have been a place in Athens where there were pillars on which an aqueduct was supported. But there is a doubt about the reading.)
4. Down to the sea, so that the stream shall flow
5. Direct to every private person's bath.
6. Then he shall speak and check the flowing water.
7. Then too an alabaster box of ointment
8. Shall of its own accord approach the bather,
9. And sponges suitable, and also slippers.

And Teleclides puts it better than the man whom I have just quoted, in his Amphictyons, where he says—

1. I will tell you now the life
2. Which I have prepared for men.
3. First of all the lovely Peace
4. Everywhere was always by,
5. Like spring water which is poured
6. O'er the hands of feasted guests.
7. The earth produced no cause for fear,
8. No pains and no diseases.
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9. And everything a man could want
10. Came forth unask'd for to him.
11. The streams all ran with rosy wine,
12. And barley-cakes did fight
13. With wheaten loaves which first could reach
14. A hungry man's open mouth.
15. And each entreated to be eaten;
16. If men loved dainty whiteness.
17. Fish too came straight unto men's doors,
18. And fried themselves all ready,
19. Dish'd themselves up, and stood before
20. The guests upon the tables.
21. A stream of soup did flow along
22. In front of all the couches,
23. Rolling down lumps of smoking meat;
24. And rivulets of white sauce
25. Brought to all such as chose to eat
26. The sweetest forced-meat balls.
27. So that there was no lack, but all
28. Did eat whate'er they wanted.
29. Dishes there were of boil'd meat too,
30. And sausages likewise and pasties;
31. And roasted thrushes and rissoles
32. Flew down men's throats spontaneously.
33. Then there were sounds of cheesecakes too
34. Crush'd in men's hungry jaws:
35. While the boys play'd with dainty bits
36. Of tripe, and paunch, and liver.
37. No wonder men did on such fare
38. Get stout and strong as giants.

And in the name of Ceres, my companions, if these things went on in this way, I should like to know what need we should have of servants. But the ancients, accustoming us to provide for ourselves, instructed us by their actions while they feasted us in words. But I, in order to show you in what manner succeeding poets (since the most admirable Cratinus brandished the before-cited verses like a torch) imitated and amplified them, have quoted these plays in the order in which they were exhibited. And if I do not annoy you, (for as for the Cynics I do not care the least bit for them,) I will quote to you some sentences from the other poets, taking them also in regular order; one of which is that strictest Atticist of all, namely, Pherecrates; who in his Miners says—

1. A. But all those things were heap'd in confusion
2. By o'ergrown wealth, abounding altogether
v.1.p.423
3. In every kind of luxury. There were rivers
4. With tender pulse and blackest soup o'erflowing,
5. Which ran down brawling through the narrow dishes,
6. Bearing the crusts and spoons away in the flood.
7. Then there were dainty closely kneaded cakes;
8. So that the food, both luscious and abundant,
9. Descended to the gullets of the dead.
10. There were black-puddings and large boiling slices
11. Of well-mix'd sausages, which hiss'd within
12. The smoking streamlet in the stead of oysters.
13. There too were cutlets of broil'd fish well season'd
14. With sauce of every kind, and cook, and country.
15. There were huge legs of pork, most tender meat,
16. Loading enormous platters; and boil'd pettitoes
17. Sending a savoury steam; and paunch of ox;
18. And well-cured chine oporker, red with salt,
19. A dainty dish, on fried meat balls upraised.
20. There too were cakes of groats well steep'd in milk,
21. In large flat dishes, and rich plates of beestings.
22. B. Alas, you will destroy me. Why do you
23. Remain here longer, when you thus may dive
24. Just as you are beneath deep Tartarus?
25. A. What will you say then when you hear the rest?
26. For roasted thrushes nicely brown'd and hot
27. Flew to the mouths o' the guests, entreating them
28. To deign to swallow them, besprinkled o'er
29. With myrtle leaves and flowers of anemone,
30. And plates of loveliest apples hung around
31. Above our heads, hanging in air as it seem'd.
32. And maidens in the most transparent robes,
33. Just come to womanhood, and crowned with roses,
34. Did through a strainer pour red mantling cups
35. Of fragrant wine for all who wish'd to drink.
36. And whatsoe'er each guest did eat or drink
37. Straight reappear'd in twofold quantity.

And in his Persians he says—

1. But what need, I pray you now,
2. Have we of all you ploughmen,
3. Or carters, mowers, reapers too,
4. Or coopers, or brass-founders?
5. What need we seed, or furrow's line?
6. For of their own accord
7. Rivers do flow down every road
8. (Though half choked up with comfits)
9. Of rich black soup, which rolls along
10. Within its greasy flood
11. Achilles's fat barley-cake,
12. And streams of sauce which flow
13. Straight down from Plutus's own springs,
14. For all the guests to relish.
v.1.p.424
15. Meantime Jove rains down fragrant wine,
16. As if it were a bath,
17. And from the roof red strings of grapes
18. Hang down, with well made cakes,
19. Water'd the while with smoking soup,
20. And mix'd with savoury omelets.
21. E'en all the trees upon the hills
22. Will put forth leaves of paunches,
23. Kids' paunches, and young cuttle-fish,
24. And smoking roasted thrushes.

And why need I quote in addition to this the passages from the Tagenistæ of the incomparable Aristophanes? And as to the passage in the Acharnenses, you are all of you full of it. And when I have just repeated the passage out of the Thurio-Persse of Metagenes I will say no more, and discard all notice of the Sirens of Nicophon, in which we find the following lines—

1. Let it now snow white cakes of pulse;
2. Let loaves arise like dew; let it rain soup;
3. Let gravy roll down lumps of meat i' the roads,
4. And cheese-cakes beg the wayfarer to eat them.

1. The river Crathis bears down unto us
2. Huge barley-cakes, self-kneaded and self-baked.
3. The other river, called the Sybaris,
4. Rolls on large waves of meat and sausages,
5. And boiled rays all wriggling the same way.
6. And all these lesser streamlets flow along
7. With roasted cuttle-fish, and crabs, and lobsters;
8. And, on the other side, with rich black-puddings
9. And forced-meat stuffings; on the other side
10. Are herbs and lettuces, and fried bits of pastry.
11. Above, fish cut in slices and self-boil'd
12. Rush to the mouth; some fall before one's feet,
13. And dainty cheese-cakes swim around us everywhere.

Democritus now having gone through this statement distinctly and intelligently, all the guests praised him; but Cynulcus said,—O messmates, I was exceedingly hungry, and Democritus has given me no unpleasant feast; carrying me across rivers of ambrosia and nectar. And I, having my mind watered by them, have now become still more exceedingly hungry, having hitherto swallowed nothing but words; so that now it is time to desist from this interminable discussion,

which if they do not put strength into a man, at all events prevent his dying

1. For in an empty stomach there's no room
2. For love of beauteous objects, since fair Venus
3. Is always hostile to a hungry man;

1. Venus abides in fulness, and avoids
2. The hungry stomach.

1. The market is of herbs and loaves too full.

1. But if we are to bathe and sup on words,
2. Then I my share contribute as a listener;

1. But barley dearer is to hungry men
2. Than gold or Libyan ivory;