FOOD AND MEALS
REFERENCES: Marquardt, 264-268, 300-340, 414-465; Voigt, 327-329,
401-404; Göll, 311-454; Guhl and Koner, 747-759, 702-704; Friedländer,
III, 29-56; Ramsay, 490-501; Pauly-Wissowa, _cēna_, _comissātiō_;
Smith, Harper, Rich, _cēna_, _comissātiō_, _olea_ (_olīva_), _vīnum_;
Baumeister, 845, 2086; Lübker, 724 f.; Mau-Kelsey, 256-260, 267-270.
§272. Natural Conditions.--Italy is blessed above all the other
countries of central Europe with the natural conditions that go to
make an abundant and varied supply of food. The soil is rich and
composed of different elements in different parts of the country. The
rainfall is abundant, and rivers and smaller streams are numerous. The
line of greatest length runs nearly north and south, but the climate
depends little upon latitude, being modified by surrounding bodies of
water, by mountain ranges, and by prevailing winds. These agencies in
connection with the varying elevation of the land itself produce such
widely different conditions that somewhere within the confines of
Italy almost all the grains and fruits of the temperate and subtropic
zones find the soil and climate most favorable to their growth.
§273. The early inhabitants of the peninsula, the Italian peoples,
seem to have left for the Romans the task of developing and improving
these means of subsistence. Wild fruits, nuts, and flesh have always
been the support of uncivilized peoples, and must have been so for the
shepherds who laid the foundations of Rome. The very word _pecūnia_
(from _pecus_; cf. _pecūlium_, §162) shows that herds of domestic
animals were the first source of Roman wealth. But other words show
just as clearly that the cultivation of the soil was understood by the
Romans in very early times: the names Fabius, Cicero, Piso, and Caepio
are no less ancient than Porcius, Asinius, Vitellius, and Ovidius.[1]
Cicero puts into the mouth of the elder Cato the statement that to the
farmer the garden was a second meat supply, but long before Cato's
time meat had ceased to be the chief article of food. Grain and grapes
and olives furnished subsistence for all who did not live to eat.
These gave the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make
his face to shine, and bread that strengtheneth man's heart. On these
three abundant products of the soil the mass of the people of Italy
lived of old as they still live to-day. Something will be said of each
below, after less important products have been considered.
[Footnote 1: The words are connected respectively with _faba_, a bean,
_cicer_, a chick-pea, _pīstor_, a miller, _caepe_, an onion, _porcus_,
a pig, _asinus_, an ass, _vitellus_, a calf, and _ovis_, a sheep.]
§274. Fruits.--Besides the olive and the grape, the apple, pear, plum,
and quince were either native to Italy or were introduced in
prehistoric times. Careful attention had long been given to their
cultivation, and by Cicero's time Italy was covered with orchards and
all these fruits were abundant and cheap in their seasons, used by all
sorts and conditions of men. By this time, too, had begun the
introduction of new fruits from foreign lands and the improvement of
native varieties. Great statesmen and generals gave their names to new
and better sorts of apples and pears, and vied with each other in
producing fruits out of season by hothouse culture (§145). Every fresh
extension of Roman territory brought new fruits and nuts into Italy.
Among the last were the walnut, hazelnut, filbert, almond, and
pistachio; the almond after Cato's time and the pistachio not until
that of Tiberius. Among the fruits were the peach (_mālum Persicum_),
the apricot (_mālum Armeniacum_), the pomegranate (_mālum Pūnicum_ or
_grānātum_), the cherry (_cerasus_), brought by Lucullus from the town
Cerasus in Pontus, and the lemon (_citrus_), not grown in Italy until
the third century of our era. And besides the introduction of fruits
for culture large quantities were imported for food, either dried or
otherwise preserved. The orange, however, strange as it seems to us,
was not grown by the Romans.
§275. Garden Produce.--The garden did not yield to the orchard in the
abundance and variety of its contributions to the supply of food. We
read of artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, cabbages, carrots,
chicory, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, melons, onions, peas, the poppy,
pumpkins, radishes, and turnips, to mention those only whose names are
familiar to us all. It will be noticed, however, that the vegetables
most highly prized by us, perhaps, the potato and tomato, were not
known to the Romans. Of those mentioned the oldest seem to have been
the bean and the onion, as shown by the names Fabius and Caepio
already mentioned (§273), but the latter came gradually to be looked
upon as unrefined and the former to be considered too heavy a food
except for persons engaged in the hardest toil. Cato pronounced the
cabbage the finest vegetable known, and the turnip figures in the
well-known anecdote of Manius Curius (§299).
§276. The Roman gardener gave great attention, too, to the raising of
green stuffs that could be used for salads. Among these the sorts most
often mentioned are the cress and lettuce, with which we are familiar,
and the mallow, no longer used for food. Plants in great variety were
cultivated for seasoning. The poppy was eaten with honey as a dessert,
or was sprinkled over bread in the oven. Anise, cumin, fennel, mint,
and mustard were raised everywhere. And besides these seasonings that
were found in every kitchen garden, spices were imported in large
quantities from the east, and the rich imported vegetables of larger
sizes or finer quality than could be raised at home. Fresh vegetables
like fresh fruits could not be brought in those days from great
distances.
§277. Meats.--Besides the pork, beef, and mutton that we still use the
Roman farmer had goatsflesh at his disposal, and all these meats were
sold in the towns. Goatsflesh was considered the poorest of all, and
was used by the lower classes only. Beef had been eaten by the Romans
from the earliest times, but its use was a mark of luxury until very
late in the Empire. Under the Republic the ordinary citizen ate beef
only on great occasions when he had offered a steer or cow to the gods
in sacrifice. The flesh then furnished a banquet for his family and
friends, the heart, liver, and lungs (called collectively the _exta_)
were the share of the priest, and the rest was consumed on the altar.
Probably the great size of the carcass had something to do with the
rarity of its use at a time when meat could be kept fresh only in the
coldest weather; at any rate we must think of the Romans as using the
cow for dairy purposes and the ox for draft rather than for food.
§278. Pork was widely used by rich and poor alike, and was considered
the choicest of all domestic meats. The very language testifies to the
important place it occupied in the economy of the larder, for no other
animal has so many words to describe it in its different functions.
Besides the general term _sūs_ we find _porcus_, _porca_, _verrēs_,
_aper_, _scrōfa_, _māiālis_, and _nefrēns_. In the religious ceremony
of the _suovetaurīlia_ (_sūs_ + _ovis_ + _taurus_) it will be noticed
that the swine has the first place, coming before the sheep and the
bull. The vocabulary describing the parts used for food is equally
rich; there are words for no less than half a dozen kinds of sausages,
for example, with pork as their basis. We read, too, of fifty
different ways of cooking pork.
§279. Fowl and Game.--All the common domestic fowls, chickens, ducks,
geese, and pigeons, were used by the Romans for food, and besides
these the wealthy raised various sorts of wild fowl for the table, in
the game preserves that have been mentioned (§145). Among these were
cranes, grouse, partridges, snipe, thrushes, and woodcock. In Cicero's
time the peacock was most highly esteemed, having at the feast much
the same place of honor as the turkey has with us, but costing as much
as $10 each. Wild animals were also bred for food in similar
preserves, the hare and the wild boar being the favorites. The latter
was served whole upon the table as in feudal times. As a contrast in
size may be mentioned the dormouse (_glīs_), which was thought a great
delicacy.
§280. Fish.--The rivers of Italy and the surrounding seas must have
furnished always a great variety of fish, but in early times fish was
not much used as food by the Romans. By the end of the Republic,
however, tastes had changed, and no article of food brought higher
prices than the rarer sorts of fresh fish. Salt fish was exceedingly
cheap and was imported in many forms from almost all the Mediterranean
ports. One dish especially, _tyrotarīchus_, made of salt fish, eggs,
and cheese, and therefore something like our codfish balls, is
mentioned by Cicero in about the same way as we speak of hash. Fresh
fish were all the more expensive because they could be transported
only while alive. Hence the rich constructed fish ponds on their
estates, a Marcus Licinius Crassus setting the example in 92 B.C., and
both fresh-water and salt-water fish were raised for the table. The
names of the favorite sorts mean little to us, but we find the mullet
(_mullus_; see §251) and a kind of turbot (_rhombus_) bringing high
prices, and oysters (_ostreae_) were as popular as they are now.
§281. Before passing to the more important matters of bread, wine, and
oil, it may be well to mention a few articles that are still in
general use. The Romans used freely the products of the dairy, milk,
cream, curds, whey, and cheese. They drank the milk of sheep and goats
as well as that of cows, and made cheese of the three kinds of milk.
The cheese from ewes' milk was thought more digestible though less
palatable than that made of cows' milk, while cheese from goats' milk
was more palatable but less digestible. It is remarkable that they had
no knowledge of butter except us a plaster for wounds. Honey took the
place of sugar on the table and in cooking, for the Romans had only a
botanical knowledge of the sugar cane. Salt was at first obtained by
the evaporation of sea-water, but was afterwards mined. Its
manufacture was a monopoly of the government, and care was taken
always to keep the price low. It was used not only for seasoning, but
also as a preservative agent. Vinegar was made from grape juice. In
the list of articles of food unknown to the Romans we must put tea and
coffee along with the orange, tomato, potato, butter, and sugar
already mentioned.
§282. Cereals.--The word _frūmentum_[2] was a general term applied to
any of the many sorts of grain that were grown for food. Of those now
in use barley, oats, rye, and wheat were known to the Romans, though
rye was not cultivated and oats served only as feed for cattle. Barley
was not much used, for it was thought to lack nutriment, and therefore
to be unfit for laborers. In very ancient times another grain, spelt
(_far_), had been grown extensively, but it had gradually gone out of
use except for the sacrificial cake that had given its name to the
confarreate ceremony of marriage (§82). In classical times wheat was
the staple grain grown for food, not differing much from that which we
use to-day. It was usually planted in the fall, though on some soils
it would mature as a spring wheat. After the farming land of Italy was
diverted to other purposes (parks, pleasure grounds, game preserves:
see §§145, 146), wheat had to be imported from the provinces, first
from Sicily, then from Africa and Egypt, the home supply being
inadequate to the needs of the teeming population.
[Footnote 2: The word _frūmentum_ occurs fifty-five times in the
"Gallic War," meaning any kind of grain that happened to be grown for
food in the country in which Caesar was campaigning at the time. The
word "corn" used to translate it in our school editions is the worst
possible, because to the schoolboy the word "corn" means a particular
kind of grain, and a kind at that which was unknown to the Romans. The
general word "grain" is much better for translation purposes.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 107. POUNDING GRAIN]
§283. Preparation of the Grain.--In the earliest times the grain
(_far_) had not been ground, but merely pounded in a mortar (Fig.
107). The meal was then mixed with water and made into a sort of
porridge (_puls_, whence our word "poultice"), which long remained the
national dish, something like the oatmeal of Scotland. Plautus (†184
B.C.) jestingly refers to his countrymen as "pulse-eaters." The
persons who crushed the grain were called _pīnsitōrēs_ or _pīstōrēs_,
whence the cognomen Pīsō (§273) is said to be derived, and in later
times the bakers were also called _pīstōrēs_, because they ground the
grain as well as baked the bread. In the ruins of bakeries we find
mills as regularly as ovens. See the illustration in §285.
[Illustration: FIGURE 108. SECTION OF MILL]
[Illustration: FIGURE 109. A POMPEIAN MILL WITHOUT ITS FRAME-WORK]
§284. The grinding of the grain into regular flour was done in a mill
(_mola_). This consisted of three parts, the lower millstone (_mēta_),
the upper (_catillus_), and the frame-work that surrounded and
supported the latter and furnished the means to turn it upon the
_mēta_. All these parts are shown distinctly in the cut (Fig. 108; see
also Rich, Harper, and Smith under _mola_; Guhl and Koner, p. 774;
Schreiber LXVII; Baumeister, p. 933), and require little explanation.
The _mēta_ was, as the name suggests, a cone-shaped stone (_A_)
resting on a bed of masonry (_B_) with a raised rim, between which and
the lower edge of the _mēta_ the flour was collected. In the upper
part of the _mēta_ a beam (_C_) was mortised, ending above in an iron
pin or pivot (_D_) on which hung and turned the frame-work that
supported the _catillus_. The _catillus_ (_E_) itself was shaped
something like an hourglass, or two funnels joined at the neck. The
upper funnel served as a hopper into which the grain was poured; the
lower funnel fitted closely over the _mēta_, the distance between them
being regulated by the length of the pin, mentioned above, according
to the fineness of the flour desired. The mill without frame-work is
shown in Fig. 109.
[Illustration: FIGURE 110. HORSE AND MILL]
§285. The frame-work was very strong and massive on account of the
heavy weight that was suspended from it. The beams used for turning
the mill were fitted into holes in the narrow part of the _catillus_
as shown in the cut. The power required to do the grinding was
furnished by horses or mules attached to the beams (Fig. 110), or by
slaves pushing against them. This last method was often used as a
punishment, as we have seen (§§170, 148). Of the same form but much
smaller were the hand mills used by soldiers for grinding the
_frūmentum_ furnished them as rations. Under the Empire water mills
were introduced, but they are hardly referred to in literature.
[Illustration: FIGURE 111. BAKERY WITH MILLS]
§286. The transition from the ancient porridge (§283) to bread baked
in the modern fashion must have been through the medium of thin cakes
baked in or over the fire. We do not know when bread baked in ovens
came into use. Bakers (§283) as representatives of a trade do not go
back beyond 171 B.C., but long before this time, of course, the family
bread had been made by the _māter familiās_, or by a slave under her
supervision. After public bakeries were once established it became
less and less usual for bread to be made in private houses in the
towns. Only the most pretentious of the city mansions had ovens
attached, as shown by the ruins. In the country, on the other hand,
the older custom was always retained (§148). Under Trajan (98-118) it
became the custom to distribute bread to the people daily, instead of
grain once a month, and the bakers were organized into a guild
(_corpus_, _collegium_), and as a corporation enjoyed certain
privileges and immunities. In Fig. 111 are shown the ruins of a
Pompeian bakery with several mills in connection with it.
[Illustration: FIGURE 112. OVEN FOR BREAD]
§287. Breadmaking.--After the flour collected about the edge of the
_mēta_ (§284) had been sifted, water and salt were added and the dough
was kneaded in a trough by hand or by a simple machine shown in the
cut in Schreiber LXVII. Yeast was added as nowadays and the bread was
baked in an oven much like those still found in parts of Europe. One
preserved in the ruins of Pompeii is shown in the cut (Fig. 112): at
_a_ is the oven proper, in which a fire was built, the draft being
furnished by the openings at _d_. The surrounding chamber, _b_, is
intended to retain the heat after the fire (usually of charcoal) had
been raked out into the ashpit, _e_, and the vents closed. The letter
_f_ marks a receptacle for water, which seems to have been used for
moistening the bread while baking. After the oven had been heated to
the proper temperature and the fire raked out, the loaves were put in,
the vents closed, and the bread left to bake.
[Illustration: FIGURE 113. SALESROOM OF BAKERY]
§288. There were several qualities of bread, varying with the sort of
grain, the setting of the millstones (§284) and the fineness of the
sieves (§287). The very best, made of pure wheat-flour, was called
_pānis silīgneus_; that made of coarse flour, of flour and bran, or of
bran alone was called _pānis plebēius_, _castrēnsis_, _sordidus_,
_rūsticus_, etc. The loaves were circular and rather flat--some have
been found in the ruins of Pompeii--and had their surface marked off
by lines drawn from the center into four or more parts. The wall
painting (Fig. 113) of a salesroom of a bakery, also found in Pompeii,
gives a good idea of the appearance of the bread. Various kinds of
cakes and confections were also sold at these shops.
§289. The Olive.--Next in importance to the wheat came the olive. It
was introduced into Italy from Greece, and from Italy has spread
through all the Mediterranean countries; but in modern as well as in
ancient times the best olives are those of Italy. The olive was an
important article of food merely as a fruit, being eaten both fresh
and preserved in various ways, but it found its significant place in
the domestic economy of the Romans in the form of the olive oil with
which we are familiar. It is the value of the oil that has caused the
cultivation of the olive to become so general in southern Europe, and
it is claimed that its use is constantly widening, extending
especially northward, where wine and oil are said to be supplanting
the native beer and butter. Many varieties were known to the Romans,
requiring different climates and soils and adapted to different uses.
In general it may be said that the larger berries were better suited
for eating than for oil.
[Illustration: FIGURE 114. PICKING OLIVES]
§290. The olive was eaten fresh as it ripened and was also preserved
in various ways. The ripe olives were sprinkled with salt and left
untouched for five days; the salt was then shaken off, and the olives
dried in the sun. They were also preserved sweet without salt in
boiled must (§296). Half ripe olives were picked (Fig. 114) with their
stems and covered over in jars with the best quality of oil; in this
way they are said to have retained for more than a year the flavor of
the fresh fruit. Green olives were preserved whole in strong brine,
the form in which we know them now, or were beaten into a mass and
preserved with spices and vinegar. The preparation _epityrum_ was made
by taking the fruit in any of the three stages, removing the stones,
chopping up the pulp, seasoning it with vinegar, coriander seeds,
cumin, fennel, and mint, and covering the mixture in jars with oil
enough to exclude the air. The result was a salad that was eaten with
cheese.
§291. Olive Oil.--The oil was used for several purposes. It was
employed most anciently to anoint the body after bathing, especially
by athletes; it was used as a vehicle for perfumes, the Romans knowing
nothing of distillation by means of alcohol; it was burned in lamps
(§228); it was an indispensable article of food. As a food it was
employed as butter is now in cooking or as a relish or dressing in its
natural state. The olive when subjected to pressure yields two fluids.
The first to flow (_amurca_) is dark and bitter, having the
consistency of water. It was largely used as a fertilizer, but not as
a food. The second, which flows after greater pressure, is the oil
(_oleum_, _oleum olīvum_). The best oil was made from olives not fully
ripe, but the largest quantity was yielded by the ripened fruit.
[Illustration: FIGURE 115. OLIVE MILL]
[Illustration: FIGURE 116. VAULT FOR STORING OIL]
§292. The olives were picked from the tree (Fig. 114), those that fell
of their own accord being thought inferior (§160), and were spread
upon sloping platforms in order that a part of the _amurca_ might flow
out by itself. Here the fruit remained until a slight fermentation
took place. It was then subjected to the action of a machine (Fig.
115) that bruised and pressed it. The oil that flowed out was caught
in a jar and from it ladled into a receptacle (_lābrum fictile_),
where it was allowed to settle, the _amurca_ and other impurities
falling to the bottom. The oil was then skimmed off into another like
receptacle and again allowed to settle, the process being repeated (as
often as thirty times if necessary) until all impurities had been left
behind. The best oil was made by subjecting the berries at first to a
gentle pressure only. The bruised pulp was then taken out, separated
from the stones or pits, and pressed a second or even a third time,
the quality becoming poorer each time. The oil was kept in jars which
were glazed on the inside with wax or gum to prevent absorption, the
covers were carefully secured and the jars stored away in vaults (Fig.
116).
§293. Grapes.--Grapes were eaten fresh from the vines and were also
dried in the sun and kept as raisins, but they owed their real
importance in Italy as elsewhere to the wine made from them. The vine
was not native to Italy, as until recently it was supposed to be, but
was introduced, probably from Greece, long before history begins. The
earliest name for Italy known to the Greeks was _Oenōtria_, "the land
of the vine-pole," and very ancient legends ascribe to Numa
restrictions upon the use of wine. It is probable that up to the time
of the Gracchi wine was rare and expensive. The quantity produced
gradually increased as the cultivation of cereals declined (§146), but
the quality long remained inferior, all the choice wines being
imported from Greece and the east. By Cicero's time, however,
attention was being given to viticulture and to the scientific making
of wines, and by the time of Augustus vintages were produced that vied
with the best brought in from abroad. Pliny, writing about the middle
of the first century of our era, says that of the eighty really choice
wines then known to the Romans two-thirds were produced in Italy, and
Arrian of about the same time says that Italian wines were famous as
far away as India.
§294. Viticulture.--Grapes could be grown almost anywhere in Italy,
but the best wines were made south of Rome within the confines of
Latium and Campania. The cities of Praeneste, Velitrae, and Formiae
were famous for the wines grown on the sunny slopes of the Alban
hills. A little farther south, near Terracina, was the _ager
Caecubus_, where was produced the Caecuban wine, pronounced by
Augustus the noblest of all. Then comes Mt. Massicus with the _ager
Falernus_ on its southern side, producing the Falernian wines, even
more famous than the Caecuban. Upon and around Vesuvius, too, fine
wines were grown, especially near Naples, Pompeii, Cumae, and
Surrentum. Good wines but less noted than these were produced in the
extreme south, near Beneventum, Aulon, and Tarentum. Of like quality
were those grown east and north of Rome, near Spoletium, Caesena,
Ravenna, Hadria, and Ancona. Those of the north and west, in Etruria
and Gaul, were not so good.
§295. Vineyards.--The sunny side of a hill was the best place for a
vineyard. The vines were supported by poles or trellises in the modern
fashion, or were planted at the foot of trees up which they were
allowed to climb. For this purpose the elm (_ulmus_) was preferred,
because it flourished everywhere, could be closely trimmed without
endangering its life, and had leaves that made good food for cattle
when they were plucked off to admit the sunshine to the vines. Vergil
speaks of "marrying the vine to the elm," and Horace calls the plane
tree a bachelor (_platanus coelebs_), because its dense foliage made
it unfit for the vineyard. Before the gathering of the grapes the
chief work lay in keeping the ground clear; it was spaded over once
each month through the year. One man could properly care for about
four acres.
[Illustration: FIGURE 117. MAKING WINE]
§296. Wine Making.--The making of the wine took place usually in
September, the season varying with the soil and the climate. It was
anticipated by a festival, the _vīnālia rūstica_, celebrated on the
19th of August. Precisely what the festival meant the Romans
themselves did not fully understand, perhaps, but it was probably
intended to secure a favorable season for the gathering of the grapes.
The general process of making the wine differed little from that
familiar to us in Bible stories and still practiced in modern times.
After the grapes were gathered they were first trodden with the bare
feet (Fig. 117) and then pressed in the _prēlum_ or _lorcular_. The
juice as it came from the press was called _mustum_, "new," and was
often drunk unfermented, as "sweet" cider is now. It could be kept
sweet from vintage to vintage by being sealed in a jar smeared within
and without with pitch and immersed for several weeks in cold water or
buried in moist sand. It was also preserved by evaporation over a
fire; when it was reduced one-half in this way it became a grape-jelly
(_dēfrutum_) and was used as a basis for various beverages and for
other purposes (§290).
[Illustration: FIGURE 118. WINE CELLAR]
§297. Fermented wine (_vīnum_) was made by collecting the _mustum_ in
huge vat-like jars (_dōlia_, shown in Fig. 116), large enough to hide
a man and containing a hundred gallons or more. These were covered
with pitch within and without and partially buried in the ground in
cellars or vaults (_vīnāriae cellae_), in which they remained
permanently. After they were nearly filled with the _mustum_, they
were left uncovered during the process of fermentation, which lasted
under ordinary circumstances about nine days. They were then tightly
sealed and opened only when the wine required attention[3] or was to
be removed. The cheaper wines were used directly from the _dōlia_, but
the choicer kinds were drawn off after a year into smaller jars
(_amphorae_), clarified and sometimes "doctored" in various ways, and
finally stored in depositories often entirely distinct from the
cellars (Fig. 118). A favorite place was a room in the upper story of
the house, where the wine was artificially aged by the heat rising
from the furnace or even by the smoke escaping from the fire. The
_amphorae_ were sometimes marked with the name of the wine, and the
names of the consuls for the year in which they were filled.
[Footnote 3: Spoiled wine was used as vinegar (_acētum_), and vinegar
that became insipid and tasteless was called _vappa_. This last word
was used also as a term of reproach for shiftless and worthless men.]
§298. Beverages.--After water and milk, wine was the ordinary drink of
the Romans of all classes. It must be distinctly understood, however,
that they always mixed it with water and used more water than wine.
Pliny mentions one sort of wine that would stand being mixed with
eight times its own bulk of water. To drink wine unmixed was thought
typical of barbarism, and among the Romans it was so drunk only by the
dissipated at their wildest revels. Under the Empire the ordinary
qualities of wine were cheap enough to be sold at three or four cents
a quart (§388); the choicer kinds were very costly, entirely beyond
the reach, Horace gives us to understand, of a man in his
circumstances. More rarely used than wine were other beverages that
are mentioned in literature. A favorite drink was _mulsum_, made of
four measures of wine and one of honey. A mixture of water and honey
allowed to ferment together was called _mulsa_. Cider also was made by
the Romans, and wines from mulberries and dates. They also made
various cordials from aromatic plants, but it must be remembered
(§281) that they had no knowledge of tea or coffee.
§299. Style of Living.--The table supplies of a given people vary from
age to age with the development of civilization and refinement, and in
the same age with the means and tastes of classes and individuals. Of
the Romans it may be said that during the early Republic, perhaps
almost through the second century B.C., they cared little for the
pleasures of the table. They lived frugally and ate sparingly. They
were almost strictly vegetarians (§273), much of their food was eaten
cold, and the utmost simplicity characterized the cooking and the
service of their meals. Everything was prepared by the _māter
familiās_ or by the maidservants under her supervision (§90). The
table was set in the _ātrium_ (§188), and the father, mother, and
children sat around it on stools or benches (§225), waiting upon each
other and their guests (§104). Dependents ate of the same food, but
apart from the family. The dishes were of the plainest sort, of
earthenware or even of wood, though a silver saltcellar was often the
cherished ornament of the humblest board. Table knives and forks were
unknown, the food being cut into convenient portions before it was
served, and spoons being used to convey to the mouth what the fingers
could not manage. During this period there was little to choose
between the fare of the proudest patrician and the humblest client.
The Samnite envoys found Manius Curius, the conqueror of Pyrrhus (275
B.C.), eating his dinner of vegetables (§275) from an earthen bowl. A
century later the poet Plautus calls his countrymen a race of porridge
eaters (_pultiphagōnidae_, §283), and gives us to understand that in
his time even the wealthiest Romans had in their households no
specially trained cooks. When a dinner out of the ordinary was given,
a professional cook was hired, who brought with him to the house of
the host his utensils and helpers, just as a plumber or surgeon
responds to a call nowadays.
§300. The last two centuries of the Republic saw all this changed. The
conquest of Greece and the wars in Asia Minor gave the Romans a taste
of eastern luxury, and altered their simple table customs, as other
customs had been altered by like contact with the outside world (§§5,
101, 112, 192). From this time the poor and the rich no longer fared
alike. The former constrained by poverty lived frugally as of old:
every schoolboy knows that the soldiers who won Caesar's battles for
him lived on grain (§282 and note), which they ground in their
handmills and baked at their campfires. The very rich, on the other
hand, aping the luxury of the Greeks but lacking their refinement,
became gluttons instead of gourmands. They ransacked the world[4] for
articles of food, preferring the rare and the costly to what was
really palatable and delicate. They measured the feast by the
quantities they could consume, reviving the sated appetite by piquant
sauces and resorting to emetics to prolong the pleasures of the table
and prevent the effects of over-indulgence. The separate dining-room
(_trīclīnium_) was introduced, the great houses having two or more
(§204), and the _oecī_ (§207) were pressed into service for banquet
halls. The dining couch (§224) took the place of the bench or stool,
slaves served the food to the reclining guests, a dinner dress (§249)
was devised, and every _familia urbāna_ (§149) included a high-priced
chef with a staff of trained assistants. Of course there were always
wealthy men, Atticus, the friend of Cicero, for example (§155), who
clung to the simpler customs of the earlier days, but these could make
little headway against the current of senseless dissipation and
extravagance. Over against these must be set the fawning poor, who
preferred the fleshpots of the rich patron (§§181, 182) to the bread
of honest independence. Between the two extremes was a numerous middle
class of the well-to-do, with whose ordinary meals we are more
concerned than with the banquets of the very rich. These meals were
the _ientāculum_, the _prandium_, and the _cēna_.
[Footnote 4: Gellius (2d century A.D.) gives a list from a satirical
poem of Varro: Peacock from Samos, heath-cock from Phrygia, crane from
Media, kid from Ambracia, young tunny-fish from Chalcedon, _mūrēna_
from Tartessus, cod (?) from Pessinus, oysters from Tarentum, scallop
from Chios (?), sturgeon (?) from Rhodes, _scarus_ from Cilicia, nuts
from Thasos, dates from Egypt, chestnuts (?) from Spain.]
§301. Hours for Meals.--Three meals a day was the regular number with
the Romans as with us, though hygienists were found then, as they may
be found nowadays, who believed two meals more healthful than three,
and then as now high livers often indulged in an extra meal taken late
at night. Custom fixed more or less rigorously the hours for meals,
though these varied with the age, and to a less extent with the
occupations and even with the inclinations of individuals. In early
times in the city and in all periods in the country the chief meal
(_cēna_) was eaten in the middle of the day, preceded by a breakfast
(_ientāculum_) in the early morning and followed in the evening by a
supper (_vesperna_). In classical times the hours for meals in Rome
were about as they are now in our large cities: that is, the _cēna_
was postponed until the work of the day was finished, thus crowding
out the _vesperna_, and a luncheon (_prandium_) took the place of the
old-fashioned "noon dinner." The evening dinner came to be more or
less of a social function, guests being present and the food and
service the best the house could afford, while the _ientāculum_ and
_prandium_ were in comparison very simple and informal meals.
§302. Breakfast and Luncheon.--The breakfast (_ientāculum_ or
_iantāculum_) was eaten immediately after rising, the hour varying, of
course, with the occupation and condition of the individual. It
consisted usually merely of bread, eaten dry or dipped in wine or
sprinkled over with salt, though raisins, olives, and cheese were
sometimes added. Workmen pressed for time seem to have taken their
breakfast in their hands to eat as they went to the place of their
labor, and schoolboys often stopped on their way to school (§122) at a
public bakery (§286) to buy a sort of shortcake or pancake, on which
they made a hurried breakfast. More rarely the breakfast became a
regular meal, eggs being served in addition to the things just
mentioned, and _mulsum_ (§298) and milk drunk with them. It is likely
that such a breakfast was taken at a later hour and by persons who
dispensed with the noon meal. The luncheon (_prandium_) came about
eleven o'clock. It, too, consisted usually of cold food: bread, salads
(§276), olives, cheese, fruits, nuts, and cold meats from the dinner
of the day before. Occasionally, however, warm meat and vegetables
were added, but the meal was never an elaborate one. It is sometimes
spoken of as a morning meal, but in this case it must have followed at
about the regular interval an extremely early breakfast, or it must
itself have formed the breakfast, taken later than usual, when the
_ientāculum_ for some reason had been omitted. After the _prandium_
came the midday rest or siesta (_merīdiātiō_), when all work was laid
aside until the eighth hour, except in the law courts and in the
senate. In the summer, at least, everybody went to sleep, and even in
the capital the streets were almost as deserted as at midnight. The
_vesperna_, entirely unknown in city life, closed the day on the farm.
It was an early supper which consisted largely of the leavings of the
noonday dinner with the addition of such uncooked food as a farm would
naturally supply. The word _merenda_ seems to have been applied in
early times to this evening meal, then to refreshments taken at any
time (cf. the English "lunch"), and finally to have gone out of use
altogether.
§303. The Formal Meal.--The busy life of the city had early crowded
the dinner out of its original place in the middle of the day and
fixed it in the afternoon. The fashion soon spread to the towns and
was carried by city people to their country estates (§145), so that in
classical times the late dinner (_cēna_) was the regular thing for all
persons of any social standing throughout the length and breadth of
Italy. It was even more of a function than it is with us, because the
Romans knew no other form of purely social intercourse. They had no
receptions, balls, musicales, or theater parties, no other
opportunities to entertain their friends or be entertained by them. It
is safe to say, therefore, that when the Roman was in town he was
every evening host or guest at a dinner as elaborate as his means or
those of his friends permitted, unless, of course, urgent business
claimed his attention or some unusual circumstances had withdrawn him
temporarily from society. On the country estates the same custom
prevailed, the guests coming from neighboring estates or being friends
who stopped unexpectedly, perhaps, to claim entertainment for a night
as they passed on a journey to or from the city (§388). These dinners,
formal as they were, are to be distinguished carefully from the
extravagant banquets of the ostentatious rich. They were in themselves
thoroughly wholesome, the expression of genuine hospitality. The
guests were friends, the number was limited, the wife and children of
the host were present, and social enjoyment was the end in view.
Before the meal itself is described something must be said of the
dining-room and its furniture.
[Illustration: FIGURE 119. TABLE AND COUCHES]
[Illustration: FIGURE 120. TABLE AND COUCHES]
§304. The Dining Couch.--The position of the dining-room
(_trīclīnium_) in the Roman house has been described already (§204),
and it has been remarked (§300) that in classical times the stool or
bench had given place to the couch. This couch (_lectus trīcliniāris_)
was constructed much as the common _lectī_ were (§224), except that it
was made broader and lower, had an arm at one end only, was without a
back, and sloped from the front to the rear. At the end where the arm
was, a cushion or bolster was placed, and parallel with it two others
were arranged in such a way as to divide the couch into three parts.
Each part was for one person, and a single couch would, therefore,
accommodate three persons. The dining-room received its name
(_trīclīnium_) from the fact that it was planned to hold three of
these couches (_κλίναι_ in Greek), set on three sides of a table, the
fourth side of which was open. The arrangement varied a little with
the size of the room. In a large room the couches were set as in Fig.
119, but if economy of space was necessary they were placed as in Fig.
120, the latter being probably the more common arrangement of the two.
Nine may be taken, therefore, as the ordinary number at a Roman dinner
party. More would be invited only on unusual occasions, and then a
larger room would be used where two or more tables could be arranged
in the same way, each accommodating nine guests. In the case of
members of the same family, especially if one was a child, or when the
guests were very intimate friends, a fourth person might find room on
a couch, but this was certainly unusual; probably when a guest
unexpectedly presented himself some member of the family would
surrender his place to him. Often the host reserved a place or places
for friends that his guests might bring without notice. Such uninvited
persons were called _umbrae_. When guests were present the wife sat on
the edge of the couch (Fig. 121) instead of reclining, and children
were usually accommodated on seats at the open side of the table.
[Illustration: FIGURE 121. WOMAN SITTING ON DINING COUCH]
§305. Places of Honor.--The guest approached the couch from the rear
and took his place upon it, lying on the left side, with his face to
the table, and supported by his left elbow, which rested on the
cushion or bolster mentioned above. The position of his body is
indicated by the arrows in the cut above (Fig. 119). Each couch and
each place on the couch had its own name according to its position
with reference to the others. The couches were called respectively
_lectus summus_, _lectus medius_, and _lectus īmus_, and it will be
noticed that persons reclining on the _lectus medius_ had the _lectus
summus_ on the left and the _lectus īmus_ on the right. Etiquette
assigned the _lectus summus_ and the _lectus medius_ to guests, while
the _lectus īmus_ was reserved for the host, his wife, and one other
member of his family. If the host alone represented the family, the
two places beside him on the _lectus īmus_ were given to the humblest
of the guests.
§306. The places on each couch were named in the same way, (_locus_)
_summus_, _medius_, and _īmus_, denoted respectively by the figures
_1_, _2_, and _3_ in the cut. The person who occupied the place
numbered _1_ was said to be above (_super_, _suprā_) the person to his
right, while the person occupying the middle place (_2_) was above the
person on his right and below (_īnfrā_) the one on the left. The place
of honor on the _lectus summus_ was that numbered _1_, and the
corresponding place on the _lectus īmus_ was taken by the host. The
most distinguished guest, however, was given the place on the _lectus
medius_ marked _3_, and this place was called by the special name
_locus cōnsulāris_, because if a consul was present it was always
assigned to him. It will be noticed that it was next the place of the
host, and besides was especially convenient for a public official; if
he found it necessary to receive or send a message during the dinner
he could communicate with the messenger without so much as turning on
his elbow.
[Illustration: FIGURE 122. SIDEBOARD]
[Illustration: FIGURE 123. SIDEBOARD]
§307. Other Furniture.--In comparison with the _lectī_ the rest of the
furniture of the dining-room played an insignificant part. In fact the
only other absolutely necessary article was the table (_mēnsa_),
placed as shown in the figures above between the three couches in such
a way that all were equally distant from it and free access to it was
left on the fourth side. The space between the table and the couches
might be so little that the guests could help themselves, or on the
other hand so great that slaves could pass between to serve the food.
The guests had no individual plates to be kept upon the table, so that
it was used merely to receive the large dishes in which the food was
served, and certain formal articles, such as the saltcellar (§299) and
the things necessary for the offering to the gods. The table,
therefore, was never very large (one such would be almost lost in a
modern dining-room), but it was often exceedingly beautiful and costly
(§227). Its beauties were not hidden either by any cloth or covering;
the table-cloth, as we know it, did not come into use until about the
end of the first century of our era. The cost and beauty of the
dishes, too, were limited only by the means and taste of the owner.
Besides the couches and the table, sideboards (_abacī_) were the only
articles of furniture usually found in the _trīclīnium_. These varied
from a simple shelf to tables of different forms and sizes and open
cabinets, such as shown in Figs. 122 and 123 and in Schreiber LXVII,
11. They were set out of the way against the walls and served as do
ours to display plate and porcelain when not in use on the table.
§308. Courses.--In classical times even the simplest dinner was
divided into three parts, the _gustus_ ("appetizer"), the _cēna_
("dinner proper"), and the _secunda mēnsa_[5] ("dessert"); the dinner
was made elaborate by serving each of the parts in several courses.
The _gustus_ consisted of those things only that were believed to
excite the appetite or aid the digestion: oysters and other shell-fish
fresh, sea-fish salted or pickled, certain vegetables that could be
eaten uncooked, especially onions, and almost invariably lettuce and
eggs, all with piquant sauces. With these appetizers _mulsum_ (§298)
was drunk, wine being thought too heavy for an empty stomach, and from
the drink the _gustus_ was also called the _prōmulsis_; another and
more significant name for it was _antecēna_. Then followed the real
dinner, the _cēna_, consisting of the more substantial viands, fish,
flesh, fowl, and vegetables. With this part of the meal wine was
drunk, but in moderation, for it was thought to dull the sense of
taste, and the real drinking began only when the _cēna_ was over. The
_cēna_ almost always consisted of several courses (_mēnsa prīma_,
_altera_, _tertia_, etc.), three being thought neither niggardly nor
extravagant; we are told that Augustus often dined on three courses
and never went beyond six. The _secunda mēnsa_ closed the meal with
all sorts of pastry, sweets, nuts, and fruits, fresh and preserved,
with which wine was freely drunk. From the fact that eggs were eaten
at the beginning of the meal and apples at the close came the
proverbial expression, _ab ovō ad māla_.
[Footnote 5: This is the most common form, but the plural also occurs,
and the adjective may follow the noun.]
§309. Bills of Fare.--We have preserved to us in literature the bills
of fare of a few meals, probably actually served, which may be taken
as typical at least of the homely, the generous, and the sumptuous
dinner. The simplest is given by Juvenal (†2d century A.D.): for the
_gustus_, asparagus and eggs; for the _cēna_, young kid and chicken;
for the _secunda mēnsa_, fruits. Two others are given by Martial
(43-101 A.D.): the first has lettuce, onions, tunny-fish, and eggs cut
in slices; sausages with porridge, fresh cauliflower, bacon, and
beans; pears and chestnuts, and with the wine olives, parched peas,
and lupines. The second has mallows, onions, mint, elecampane,
anchovies with sliced eggs, and sow's udder in tunny sauce; the _cēna_
was served in a single course (_ūna mēnsa_), kid, chicken, cold ham,
haricot beans, and young cabbage sprouts; fresh fruits, with wine, of
course. The last we owe to Macrobius (†5th century A.D.), who assigns
it to a feast of the pontifices during the Republic, feasts that were
proverbial for their splendor. The _antecēna_ was served in two
courses: first, sea-urchins, raw oysters, three kinds of sea-mussels,
thrush on asparagus, a fat hen, panned oysters, and mussels; second,
mussels again, shell-fish, sea-nettles, figpeckers, loin of goat, loin
of pork, fricasseed chicken, figpeckers again, two kinds of
sea-snails. The number of courses in which the _cēna_ was served is
not given: sow's udder, head of wild boar, panned fish, panned sow's
udder, domestic ducks, wild ducks, hares, roast chicken, starch
pudding, bread. No vegetables or dessert are mentioned by Macrobius,
but we may take it for granted that they corresponded to the rest of
the feast, and the wine that the pontifices drank was famed as the
best.
§310. Serving the Dinner.--The dinner hour marked the close of the
day's work, as has been said (§301), and varied, therefore, with the
season of the year and the social position of the family. In general
it may be said to have been not before the ninth and rarely after the
tenth hour (§418). It lasted usually until bedtime, that is, for three
or four hours at least, though the Romans went to bed early because
they rose early (§§79, 122). Sometimes even the ordinary dinner lasted
until midnight, but when a banquet was expected to be unusually
protracted, it was the custom to begin earlier in order that there
might be time after it for the needed repose. Such banquets, beginning
before the ninth hour, were called _tempestīva convīvia_, the word
"early" in this connection carrying with it about the same reproach as
our "late" suppers. At the ordinary family dinners the time was spent
in conversation, though in some good houses (notably that of Atticus,
cf. §155) a trained slave read aloud to the guests. At "gentlemen's
dinners" other forms of entertainment were provided, music, dancing,
juggling, etc., by professional performers (§153).
§311. When the guests had been ushered into the dining-room the gods
were solemnly invoked, a custom to which our "grace before meat"
corresponds. Then they took their places on the couches (_accumbere_,
_discumbere_) as these were assigned them (§306), their sandals were
removed (§250), to be cared for by their own attendants (§152), and
water and towels were carried around for washing the hands. The meal
then began, each course being placed upon the table on a waiter or
tray (_ferculum_), from which the dishes were passed in regular order
to the guests. As each course was finished the dishes were replaced on
the _ferculum_ and removed, and water and towels were again passed to
the guests, a custom all the more necessary because the fingers were
used for forks (§299). Between the chief parts of the meal, too, the
table was cleared and carefully wiped with a cloth or soft sponge.
Between the _cēna_ proper and the _secunda mēnsa_ a longer pause was
made and silence was preserved while wine, salt, and meal, perhaps
also regular articles of food, were offered to the Lares. The dessert
was then brought on in the same way as the other parts of the meal.
The signal to leave the couches was given by calling for the sandals
(§250), and the guests immediately took their departure.
§312. The Comissatio.--Cicero tells us of Cato and his Sabine
neighbors lingering over their dessert and wine until late at night,
and makes them find the chief charm of the long evening in the
conversation. For this reason Cato declares the Latin word _convīvium_
"a living together," a better word for such social intercourse than
the one the Greeks used, _symposium_, "a drinking together." The
younger men in the gayer circles of the capital inclined rather to the
Greek view and followed the _cēna_ proper with a drinking bout, or
wine supper, called _comissātiō_ or _compōtātiō_. This differed from
the form that Cato approved not merely in the amount of wine consumed,
in the lower tone, and in the questionable amusements, but also in the
following of certain Greek customs unknown among the Romans until
after the second Punic war and never adopted in the regular dinner
parties that have been described. These were the use of perfumes and
flowers at the feast, the selection of a Master of the Revels, and the
method of drinking.
[Illustration: FIGURE 124. END OF DRINKING BOUT]
§313. The perfumes and flowers were used not so much on account of the
sweetness of their scent, much as the Romans enjoyed it, as because
they believed that the scent prevented or at least retarded
intoxication. This is shown by the fact that they did not use the
unguents and the flowers throughout the whole meal, but waited to
anoint the head with perfumes and crown it with flowers until the
dessert and the wine were brought on. Various leaves and flowers were
used for the garlands (_corōnae convīvālēs_) according to individual
tastes, but the rose was the most popular and came to be generally
associated with the _comissātiō_. After the guests had assumed their
crowns (and sometimes garlands were also worn around the neck), each
threw the dice, usually calling as he did so upon his sweetheart or
some deity to help his throw. The one whose throw was the highest
(§320) was forthwith declared the _rēx_ (_magister_, _arbiter_)
_bibendī_. Just what his duties and privileges were we are nowhere
expressly told, but it can hardly be doubted that it was his province
to determine the proportion of water to be added to the wine (§298),
to lay down the rules for the drinking (_lēgēs īnsānae_, Horace calls
them), to decide what each guest should do for the entertainment of
his fellows, and to impose penalties and forfeits for the breaking of
the rules.
[Illustration: FIGURE 125. MIXING BOWL]
[Illustration: FIGURE 126. DRINKING CUPS]
[Illustration: FIGURE 127. CYATHUS]
§314. The wine was mixed under the direction of the _magister_ in a
large bowl (_crātēr_), the proportions of the wine and water being
apparently constant for the evening, and from the _crātēr_ (Fig. 125),
placed on the table in view of all, the wine was ladled by the
servants into the goblets (_pōcula_, Fig. 126) of the guests. The
ladle (_cyathus_, Fig. 127) held about one-twelfth of a pint, or more
probably was graduated by twelfths. The method of drinking seems to
have differed from that of the regular dinner chiefly in this: at the
ordinary dinner each guest mixed his wine to suit his own taste and
drank as little or as much as he pleased, while at the _comissātiō_
all had to drink alike, regardless of differences in taste and
capacity. The wine seems to have been drunk chiefly in "healths," but
an odd custom regulated the size of the bumpers. Any guest might
propose the health of any person he pleased to name; immediately
slaves ladled into each goblet as many _cyathī_ (twelfths of a pint)
as there were letters in the given name, and the goblets had to be
drained at a draft. The rest of the entertainment was undoubtedly wild
enough (§310); gambling seems to have been common, and Cicero speaks
of more disgraceful practices in his speeches against Catiline.
Sometimes the guests spent the evening roaming from house to house,
playing host in turn, and making night hideous as they staggered
through the streets with their crowns and garlands.
§315. The Banquets of the Rich.--Little need be said of the banquets
of the wealthy nobles in the last century of the Republic and of the
rich parvenus (§181) who thronged the courts of the earlier Emperors.
They were arranged on the same plan as the dinners we have described,
differing from them only in the ostentatious display of furniture,
plate, and food. So far as particulars have reached us, they were
grotesque and revolting, judged by the canons of to-day, rather than
magnificent. Couches made of silver, wine instead of water for the
hands, twenty-two courses to a single cēna, seven thousand birds
served at another, a dish of livers of fish, tongues of flamingos,
brains of peacocks and pheasants mixed up together, strike us as
vulgarity run mad. The sums spent upon these feasts do not seem so
fabulous now as they did then. Every season in our great capitals sees
social functions that surpass the feasts of Lucullus in cost as far as
they do in taste and refinement. As signs of the times, however, as
indications of changed ideals, of degeneracy and decay, they deserved
the notice that the Roman historians and satirists gave them.