ENTERTAINMENTS.
Having now gone rapidly through the materials of which Grecian repasts
consisted, it will next be necessary to describe the manner in which all
these good things were disposed of, first to maintain the energy of the
frame, and secondly, for mere pleasure and pastime. Locke, with many
other modern philosophers, erroneously supposes the Greeks of remote
antiquity to have been so abstemious as to content themselves with one
meal per diem. But experience appears to have led all mankind on this
point to much the same conclusion; viz., that health and comfort require
men to eat at least thrice in the day,[720] which accordingly was the
practice of the ancient Greeks, though Philemon and others enumerate
four repasts. Our own ancestors, before the introduction of tea and
coffee, appear to have been very well content with beer or ale for their
morning’s meal, so that we could not pity the Greeks even though it
should be found that they had nothing better[721] than hot rolls,
muffins, or crumpets, with strawberries, grapes, pears, and a flask of
Chian or Falernian. But they soon found the necessity of some warm
beverage; and though it does not appear how it was prepared, they had a
substitute for tea,[722] in use at Athens, in Eubœa, in Crete, and, no
doubt, in all other parts of Greece. This meal, of whatever it
consisted, was called _acratisma_, or _ariston_, and eaten at break of
day.[723] Homer’s heroes, whose business was fighting, just snatched a
hasty meal, and hurried to the field; but at Athens, where people had
other employments, they breakfasted early, to allow themselves ample
time for despatching their affairs in the city, if they had any, and
afterwards at their neighbouring farms or villas.[724] The second
repast, _deipnon_, or dinner, seems to have been eaten about eleven or
twelve o’clock: the _hesperisma_,[725] equivalent to our tea, late in
the afternoon, and the _dorpon_, or supper, the last thing in the
evening. But of these meals two only were serious affairs, and the
_hesperisma_ was often dispensed with altogether. In fact, Athenæus, a
great authority on this subject, considers it perfectly absurd to
suppose, that the frugal ancients could have thought of eating so often
as three times in one day.[726]
-----
Footnote 720:
Æschyl. Palamed. fr. 168. Klausen. Comm. in Agamemnon. p. 136.
Footnote 721:
In modern times a breakfast in the Troad often consists of grapes,
figs, white honey in the comb, and coffee.—Chandler, i. p. 37.
Footnote 722:
Athen. xi. 26, 50. Pollux, ix. 67, sqq. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 643.
Cf. Bœckh. Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 140.
Footnote 723:
Which we may infer from a passage of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vi. 8.
where describing the habits of birds, he says, τῶν δὲ φαβῶν ἡ μὲν
θήλεια ἀπὸ δείλης ἀρξαμένη τὴν τε νύχθ᾽ ὅλην ἐπῳάζει καὶ ἕως
ἀκρατίσματος ὥρας, ὁ δ᾽ ἄῤῥην τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ χρόνου.—One of the Homeric
scholiasts is more explicit:—καὶ τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἐκάλουν ἄριστον, ἣν
ἐλάμβανον πρωΐας σχεδὸν ἔτι σκοτίας οὔσης.—In Iliad β. 381. Cf. Athen.
i. 19.
Footnote 724:
Xenoph. Œcon. xi. 14.
Footnote 725:
Philemon, ap. Athen. i. 19. Suid. v. δεῖπνον t. i. p. 671. a. b.
Footnote 726:
Deipnosoph v. 20.—τρισὶ δὲ οὐδέποτε οὔτε μνηστῆρες οὔτε μὴν κύκλωψ
ἐχρῶντο τροφαῖς.—Schol. Il. β. 381. Yet Athenæus i. 19. speaks in one
place of a fourth repast in Homeric times.—τῆς δὲ τετάρτης τροφῆς
οὔτως Ὅμηρος μέμνηται—“σὺ δ᾽ ἔρχεο δειελιήσας.” ὁ καλοῦσι τινες
δειλινὸν, ὁ ἐστι μεταξὺ τοῦ ὑφ’ ἡμῶν λεγομένου ἀρίστου καὶ δείπνου.
-----
As the greater includes the less, instead of confining ourselves to the
ordinary daily dinner of a Greek, we shall in preference describe their
grand entertainments, introducing remarks on the former by the way.
These repasts were divided into three classes, the public dinner, the
pic-nic, and the marriage feast. The last, so far as it had any peculiar
features, has been described among the circumstances attending
matrimony. We have, therefore, for the present, to do with two only;
and, as the Greek contrived to throw much of his ingenuity into all
matters connected with feasting and merry-making, the discussion of this
part of our subject should savour strongly of mirth and jollity.
The grand dinner,[727] which they called _eilapinè_, was generally given
at the expense of an individual, and its sumptuousness knew no limit but
the means of the host. Other kinds of feasts there were at which all the
members of a tribe, a borough, or a fraternity, were entertained, not to
speak for the present of the common tables of the Cretans, Spartans, or
Prytanes of Athens. We now confine ourselves to those jovial assemblages
of private citizens whose object in meeting was not so much the dinner,
though that was not overlooked, as the elevation of animal spirits and
flow of soul produced by the union of a thousand different
circumstances.
-----
Footnote 727:
On the subject of dining see Pollux, vi. 9, seq. with the notes of
Jungermann, Kuhn, Hemsterhuis. &c.
-----
When a rich man desired to see his friends around him at his board, he
delivered to his _deipnocletor_[728] a domestic kept for this purpose, a
tablet, or as we should say, a card, whereon the names of the persons to
be invited, with the day and hour fixed upon for the banquet, were
inscribed. With brothers and other very near relations this ceremony was
thought unnecessary.[729] They came without invitation. So likewise did
another class of men, who, living at large upon the public and lighting
unbidden upon any sport to which they were attracted by the savour of a
good dinner, were denominated[730] FLIES, and occasionally SHADES or
PARASITES. There was at one time a law at Athens, which a good deal
nonplussed these gentlemen. It was decreed, that not more than thirty
persons should meet at a marriage feast, and a wealthy citizen, desirous
of “going the whole hog,” had invited the full complement. An honest
Fly, however, who respected no law that interfered with his stomach,
contrived to introduce himself, and took his station at the lower end of
the table. Presently the magistrate appointed for the purpose, entered,
and espying his man at a glance, began counting the guests, commencing
on the other side and ending with the parasite. “Friend,” said he, “you
must retire. I find there is one person more than the law allows.” “It
is quite a mistake, sir,” replied the Fly, “as you will find if you will
have the goodness to count again, beginning _on this side_.”[731] Among
the Egyptians, who shrouded all their poetry in hieroglyphics, _a fly_
was the emblem of impudence, which necessarily formed the principal
qualification of a Parasite, and in Hume’s[732] opinion is no bad
possession to any man who would make his way in the world.
-----
Footnote 728:
Athen. iv. 70. Aristoph. Concion. 648, et Schol.
Footnote 729:
For a further account of the persons usually invited, see Athen. v. 4.
Footnote 730:
Plut. Sympos. vii. 6. Each guest was also followed by a footman who
stood behind his master’s chair and waited on him. Casaub. ad Theoph.
Char. p. 219. To persons of this description the guests delivered the
presents that were made them, or if they happened to be bad
characters, what they stole. Athen. iv. 2. Plut. Anton. § 28. Lucian.
Conviv. seu Lapith. § 46. Rich men then as now were usually haunted by
flatterers who would pluck off the burrs from their cloaks or the
chaff which the wind wafted into their beards, and try to screw a joke
out of the circumstance by saying, they were grown grey! Theoph. Char.
c. ii. p. 7. If the patron joked, they would stuff their chlamys into
their mouths as if they were dying of laughter. In the street they
would say to the person they met, “Stand aside, friend, and allow this
gentleman to pass!” They would bring apples and pears in their pocket
for his little ones and be sure to give them in his sight, with great
praise both of father and children.
Footnote 731:
Athen. vi. 45, seq.
Footnote 732:
Nothing, says this philosopher, carries a man through the world like a
true genuine natural impudence. Essays, p. 9, quarto.
-----
Archbishop Potter,[733] in his account of Grecian entertainments,
observes, upon the authority of Cicero and Cornelius Nepos, that women
were never invited with the men.[734] But in this, as has been shown in
the proper place, he was misled by those learned Romans; for, in many
cities and colonies of Greece, no banquet was given at which they were
not present. Even at Athens, where women of character thought it
unbecoming to mingle in the convivial revelries of the men,[735] in
which wine constantly overleaps the boundaries of decorum, their place
was supplied by hetairæ, whose polished manners, ready wit, and enlarged
and enlightened understandings, recommended them to their companions,
and caused the laxity of their morals to be forgotten.[736] To proceed,
however, with our feast: it will readily be supposed, that gentlemen
invited out to dinner were careful to apparel themselves elegantly, to
shave clean, and arrange their beards and moustachios after the most
approved fashion of the day. Even Socrates, who cared as little as most
people for external appearances, bathed, put on a pair of new shoes,
brushed his chlamys, and otherwise spruced himself up when going to sup
at Agathon’s with Phædros, Aristophanes, Eryximachos, and other
exquisites. Even in Homeric times the bath was among the preliminaries
to dinner, and guests arriving from a distance were attended through all
the operations of the toilette by female slaves.[737] But this general
ablution was not considered sufficient. On sitting down to table water
was again presented to every guest in silver[738] lavers or ewers of
gold. And since they ate with their fingers, as still is the practice in
the Levant, it was moreover customary to wash the hands between every
course,[739] and wipe them,[740] in remoter ages, with soft bread, which
was thrown to the dogs, and in aftertimes with napkins. The Arcadians,
however, about whose mountains all the old superstitions of Hellas clung
like bats, found a very different use for the cakes with which they
wiped their fingers. They supposed them to acquire some mystic powers by
the operation, and preserved them as a charm against ghosts.[741]
-----
Footnote 733:
Antiq. iv. 19.
Footnote 734:
Plato giving directions for a marriage feast, observes, that five male
and five female friends should be invited; along with these, five male
and five female relations, who with the bride and bridegroom, with
their parents, grandfathers, &c., would amount to 28. De Legg. vi. t.
vii. Schweigh. ad Athen. t. vi. p. 60. Among the ancient Etruscans,
who, if not Greeks, had many Greek customs, the women reclined at
table with the men, under the same cover. Athen. i. 42.
Footnote 735:
Isæus, De Pyrrh. Hered. § 2. That among the more simple and
old-fashioned citizens of Athens, however, men and women, when of the
same family or clan, dined together, we have the testimony of Menander
to prove. He introduces one of his characters, apparently a fop,
observing that it was a bore to be at a family party, where the
father, holding the goblet in his hand, first made a speech, abounding
with exhortations: the mother followed, and then the grandmother
prated a little. Afterwards stood up her father, hoarse with age, and
his wife, calling him her dearest; while he mean time nodded to all
present. Athen. ii. 86.
Footnote 736:
Athen. v. 6.
Footnote 737:
Odyss. δ. 48, sqq.
Footnote 738:
Athen. ix. 27. In some luxurious houses wine mingled with spices was
presented to the guests in lavers for the purpose of washing their
feet. Plut. Phoc. § 20. In the palace of Trimalchio we find Egyptian
servants pouring water, cooled with snow, on the hands of the guests.
Petron. Satyr. p. 76.
Footnote 739:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 412.
Footnote 740:
Rich purple napkins were sometimes used. Sappho in Deipnosoph. ix. 79.
These articles are still in the Levant elaborately embroidered.
Footnote 741:
Athen. iv. 31.
-----
But we are proceeding too fast, for the guests are scarcely within
doors, and our imagination has jumped to the conclusion. To return then.
Immediately on entering, and when the host had welcomed and shaken hands
with all, such gentlemen as possessed beards[742] had them perfumed over
burning censers of frankincense, as ladies have their tresses on
visiting a Turkish harem. The hands, too, after each lavation, were
scented.[743] Before sitting down to table, and while the cooks were
peppering the soup, frying the fish, or giving the roast-meat another
turn, politeness required the guests to take a stroll[744] in the
picture-gallery and admire the exquisite taste of their entertainer in
articles of _virtu_.[745] Here while the scent of the savoury viands
found its way through every apartment, and set the bowels of the hungry
parasites croaking, the rogues who had lunched well at home leisurely
discussed the merits of Zeuxis or Parrhasios, of Pheidias or Polygnotos,
or opened wide their eyes at the microscopic creations of that Spartan
artist whose chisel produced a chariot and four that could be hidden
under the wing of a fly. At length, however, the connoisseurs were
interrupted in their learned disquisitions by the entrance of Xanthos,
Davos, or Lydos, with the welcome intelligence that dinner was on the
table.
-----
Footnote 742:
Hom. Odyss. γ. 33, seq. Athen. xv. 23. Similar customs still prevail
in the Levant: “When we visited the Turks we were received with
cordiality and treated with distinction. Sweet gums were burned in the
middle of the room to scent the air, or scattered on coals before us
while sitting on the sofa, to perfume our moustachios and garments,
and at the door, at our departure, we were sprinkled with rose-water.”
Chandler, ii. 150.
Footnote 743:
Athen. ix. 77.
Footnote 744:
Cf. Hom. Odyss. δ. 43, sqq.
Footnote 745:
Aristoph. Vesp. 1208. Athen. v. 6, where the splendid roofs and
ornaments of the court are mentioned. These ornaments, κρεκάδια,
whatever they were, must have been worth looking at. See the note of
Casaubon, Animadv. in Athen. t. viii. p. 27, seq. Consult likewise the
note on Aristophanes in Bekker’s edition, t. iii. p. 606.
-----
But the appetites of the gourmands had still to encounter another
trial.[746] The Greeks were above all things a pious people, and
regarded every banquet, nay, every meal, in the light of a sacrifice, at
which the first and best portion should be offered as an oblation to the
gods,[747] with invocations and prayer, after which it was considered
lawful to attend to their own appetites. An altar, accordingly, of Zeus
stood in the midst of every dining-room, on which these ceremonies were
performed, and libations of pure wine poured.[748] This done, the guests
took their places, in the earlier ages on chairs, but afterwards, when
they had become familiar with the East, on rich sofas, arranged round
the board.[749] Occasionally, however, even so late as the age of
Alexander,[750] princes and other great men chose to adopt the ancient
custom, and, on one occasion, that conqueror himself entertained four
hundred of his officers, when seats of wrought silver, covered with
purple carpets, were provided for all.
-----
Footnote 746:
Athen. v. 7. Cf. Plat. Symp. t. iv. p. 376, et Xenoph. Conviv. ii. 1.
Schweigh. Animadv. in Athen. viii. p. 26, seq.
Footnote 747:
Casaubon mentions this as a thing _nota eruditis_. Ad Theoph. Charact.
p. 232; but we must not on that account pass it over. Alexis
poetically deplores the miseries of the half-hour before dinner.
Athen. i. 42.
Footnote 748:
There was in great houses a person whose duty it was to assign each
guest his place at table, ὀνομακλήτωρ, or nomenclator. Athen. ii. 29.
Footnote 749:
Plin. xxxiii. 51. xxxiv. 8.
Footnote 750:
At most sumptuous entertainments _tasters_ were employed who, as in
the East, made trial of the dishes before the guests, lest they should
be poisoned. These persons were called ἐδέατροι and προτένθαι. Athen.
iv. 71.
-----
The manner of reclining on the divans was not a little ludicrous. For,
at the outset, while the appetite was keen, they stretched themselves
flat upon their stomachs, in order, I presume, to command the use of
both hands, and putting forward their mouths towards the table looked
like so many sparrows with their open bills projecting over the nest.
But this they could conveniently do only when they had a large space to
themselves. When packed close, as usually they were, one man, the chief
in dignity, throwing off his shoes,[751] placed himself on the upper end
of the divan, that is, next the host, reclining on one elbow supported
by soft cushions. The head of the next man reached nearly to his
breast,—whence in Scripture, the beloved disciple is said to recline on
the bosom of Christ,[752]—while the feet of the first extended down
behind him. The third guest occupied the same position with respect to
the second, and so on until five individuals sometimes crowded each
other on the same sofa.
-----
Footnote 751:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 825.
Footnote 752:
John, xiii. 23. On the cushions, of which there was a great variety,
see Pollux, vi. 9, where he reckons among them the ὑπηρέσιον, which
Mitford confounds with the ἄσκωμα, or leathern bags which closed the
row-port of war-galleys round the oar, to prevent the influx of
sea-water.
-----
As the heaven of the poets was but a colossal picture of earth, we may,
from the practice of the gods, infer what took place among mortals, even
where supported by no direct testimony. Now, in Homer, we find gods and
goddesses mingling freely together at the feast. Zeus takes the head of
the table, next him sits his daughter Athena, while the imperial Hera,
as Queen of Heaven, takes precedence of all the she Olympians, by
placing herself at the head of the secondary divinities, directly
opposite her husband. On one occasion we find Athena, the type of
hospitality and politeness, yielding up her seat of honour to Thetis,
because, as an Oceanid, she was somewhat of a stranger in Olympos.[753]
Potter has discussed, with more learning than perspicuity, the question
of precedence at table. To render the matter perfectly intelligible
would require a plan of the dining-room; but wanting this, it may be
observed, that in Persia the king, or host of whatever rank, sat in the
middle, while the guests ranged themselves equally on both sides of him.
-----
Footnote 753:
Iliad, ω. 100.
-----
In Greece, the bottom of the table was the end next the door. Here no
one sat, it being left open for the servants to bring in and remove the
dishes. From this point, on either side, the seats augmented in value,
and consequently the post of greatest honour was the middle of the other
extremity.[754] There were those, however, who made no account of these
matters, but suffered their guests to seat themselves as they pleased.
This was the case with Timon, who, having invited a very miscellaneous
party, would not be at the pains to settle the question of precedence
between them; but a pompous individual of aristocratic pretensions,
dressed like an actor, arriving late with a large retinue, and surveying
the company from the door, went away again, observing, there was no fit
place left for him. Upon which the guests, who, as Plutarch remarks,
were far gone in their cups, burst into shouts of laughter, and bade him
make the best of his way home.[755]
-----
Footnote 754:
Cf. Plut. Conv. Quæst. i. 3. Pet. Ciacon, De Triclin. p. 44.
Footnote 755:
Sympos. i. 2. 1.
-----
Some persons observed a very different order in arranging their guests,
grouping those together whom they considered suited by age or temper to
each other, in order by this contrivance to produce general harmony,—the
vehement and impetuous being placed beside the meek and gentle, the
silent beside the talkative, the ripe and full and expansive minds
beside those who were ready to receive instruction. But very often, as
at Agathon’s, those sat next each other, who were most intimately
acquainted or united together by friendship; for thus the greatest
freedom of intercourse with the brightest sallies of convivial wit were
likely to be produced.
At length, however, we must imagine the guests in their places and every
thing in proper train. The servants bring in first one well-covered
table, then a second, then a third, till the whole room is filled with
dainties. Brilliant lamps and chandeliers poured a flood of light over
the crowned heads of the guests, over the piled sweetmeats, over the
shining dishes, and all the baits with which the appetite is caught.
Then, on silver pateræ, cakes whiter than snow were served round. To
these succeeded eggs, pungent herbs, oysters, and thrushes.[756] Next
several dishes of rich eels, brown and crisp, sprinkled thickly with
salt, followed by a delicious conger dressed with every rare device of
cookery, calculated to delight the palate of the gods. Then came the
belly of a large ray, round as a hoop; dishes, containing, one some
slices of a sea-dog, another garnished with a sparos, a third with a
cuttle-fish, or smoking polypus whose legs were tender as a chicken.
While the sight of these dainties was feasting the eyes of the guests,
the noses of the experienced informed them of the approach of a
synodon,[757] which perfumed the passages all the way from the kitchen,
and, flanked with calamaries, covered the whole table. Shrimps too were
there in their yellow cuirasses, sweet in flavour as honey, with
delicious varieties of puff pastry bordered with fresh green
foliage.[758] The teeth of the parasites watered at the sight. But while
deeply engaged in the discussion of these good things, in came some
smoking slices of broiled thunny, a mullet fresh from the fish-kettle,
with the teats of a young sow cooked _en ragoût_.
-----
Footnote 756:
Probably also the myttotos, a dish flavoured with garlic and rich
spices, formed a part of this course. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 173.
Vesp. 62.
Footnote 757:
Athen. i. 8. vii. 46. 68. 119. Arist. Hist. Anim. v. 5.
Footnote 758:
Pollux, vi. 77.
-----
Pleasure of all kinds being supposed to promote digestion, female
singers, flute-players and dancers, were meanwhile exercising their
several arts for the entertainment of the guests. But as they paid very
little attention to them till the rage of hunger was appeased, we shall
imitate their example, and proceed with the gourmandize. One of the
greatest accomplishments a boon companion could possess, was the power
to seize with the fingers, and swallow hissing-hot, slices of grilled
fish or morsels of lamb or veal broiled like kabobs, so as to be
slightly burnt and cracking externally, while all the juice and flavour
of the meat remained within. And the acquirement being highly important,
great pains were taken to become masters of it. For this purpose some
accustomed themselves daily to play with hot pokers, others
case-hardened their fingers by repeatedly dipping them in water as hot
as they could bear, and gargled their throats with the same, while one
famous gourmand, more inventive than the rest, hit upon the ingenious
device of wearing metallic fingerlings with which he could have seized a
kabob even from the gridiron. These proficients in the art of eating, an
art practised indeed by all, but possessed in perfection by very few,
enjoyed great advantages over the ignorant and uninitiated. And
accordingly, when invited out, they generally succeeded in bribing the
cook to send in all his dishes hot as Phlegethon, that, while the more
modest and inexperienced guests sat gazing on, they might secure the
best cuts, and come again before the others could venture on a mouthful.
Among the articles served up in this scorching state were calf’s pluck,
pig’s harslet, with the chine, the kidneys, and a variety of small
hors-d’œuvre. To these may be added the head of a sucking-kid which had
tasted nothing but milk, baked between two dishes well luted together;
giblets boiled; small, delicate hams with their white sward unbroken;
pigs’ snouts and feet swimming in white sauce, which the gourmand
Philoxenos thought a rare invention. Roast kid and lamb’s chitterlings,
or the same viands boiled, formed a supplement to the dishes above
enumerated, and were usually done so exactly to a turn, that even the
gods, Bacchos for example, and Hermes, the parasites of Olympos, might
have descended expressly to wag their beards over them. But the
Levantines have always been enamoured of variety in cookery. Lady
Wortley Montague counted fifty dishes served up in succession at the
Sultana Hafiten’s table; and this she-barbarian, with all her wealth,
could never rival the variety of invention of an ancient Eleian or
Sicilian cook, who usually closed the list of his dainties with hare,
chickens roasted to the gold-colour celebrated by Aristophanes,
partridges, pheasants, wood-pigeons or turtle-doves, which your true
gourmand should eat in the Thebaid, immediately after the close of
harvest. But the dinner was not yet over. There still remained the
dessert to be disposed of, consisting of pure honey from the district of
the silver mines, curdled cream, cheese-tarts, and all that profusion of
southern fruit of which we have already spoken.[759]
-----
Footnote 759:
Athen. iv. 28. There was a kind of cheese, apparently much in use,
imported from Gythion, in Laconia. Lucian. Diall. Hetair. xiv. 2.
-----
It is a well-known rule among modern gourmands, that no man should utter
a syllable at table till the first course is removed, and precisely the
same regulation prevailed among the ancients. Silence, however, was
sometimes interrupted by the arrival of some wandering buffoon, who,
after long roaming about in search of a dinner, happened, perhaps, to be
attracted thither by the wings and feathers ostentatiously scattered
before the door. This sort of gentry required no introduction: they had
only to knock and announce themselves to ensure a ready welcome; for
most men would willingly part with a share of their supper to be made
merry over the remainder. The Athenian demos was pre-eminently of this
humour. No king, in fact, ever kept up so large an establishment of
fools by profession, or, which is much the same thing, of wits,—fellows
who grind their understandings into pointed jests to tickle the risible
muscles and expand the mouths of sleek junketters, who esteem nothing
beyond eating and grinning.
At a feast given by Callias, the famous jester, Philip, a-kin in spirit,
I trow, to him of Macedon, presented himself in this way, and, on being
admitted,—“Gentlemen,” said he, “you know my profession and its
privileges, relying on which I am come uninvited, being a foe to all
ceremony, and desiring to spare you the trouble of a formal
invitation.”—“Take your place,” replied the host; “your company was much
needed, for our friends appear to be plunged up to the chin in gravity,
and would be greatly benefited by a hearty laugh.”[760]
-----
Footnote 760:
Xenoph. Conv. i. 13, 14.
-----
In fact, the heads of the honest people were filled with very serious
meditations, being all in love, and endeavouring to discover how each
might excel the other in absurdity. Philip began to fear, therefore,
that he had carried his jests to a bad market, and, in reality, made
many vain attempts to kindle the spirit of mirth, and call home the
imaginations of persons who had evidently suffered them to stray as far
as the clouds. Aware that success on this point was indispensable to his
subsistence, the jester grew piqued at the indifference of his hearers,
and breaking off in the midst of his supper, wrapped up his head in his
chlamys, and lay down like one about to die. “What, now!” cried Callias.
“Has any sudden panic seized on thee, friend?”—“The worst possible, by
Zeus!” replied Philip; “for, since laughter, like justice, has taken its
leave of earth, my occupation is gone. Hitherto I have enjoyed some
celebrity in this way, living at the public expense, like the guests of
the Prytaneion, because my drollery was effective, and could set the
table in a roar. But it is all over, I see, with me now, for I might as
soon hope to render myself immortal as acquire serious habits.” All this
he uttered in a pouting, desponding tone, as if about to shed tears. The
company, to humour the joke, undertook to comfort him, and the effect of
their mock condolences, and assurances that they would laugh if he
continued his supper, was so irresistibly ludicrous, that Autolychos, a
youthful friend of Callias, was at length unable to restrain his
merriment; upon which the jester took courage, and apostrophising his
soul, informed it very gravely, that there would be no necessity for
them to part company yet.[761]
-----
Footnote 761:
Xenoph. Conviv. i. 15. 16.
-----
The Greeks had, properly speaking, no drawing-rooms, so that, instead of
retreating to another part of the house, they had the tables themselves
removed immediately after dinner. Libations were then poured out to Zeus
Teleios, and having sung a hymn to Phœbos Apollo, the amusements of the
evening commenced. Professional singers and musicians were always hired
on these occasions. They were female slaves, selected in childhood for
their beauty and budding talents, and carefully educated by their
owners.[762] When not already engaged, they stood in blooming bevies in
the agora, waiting, like the Labourers of Scripture, until some one
should hire them, upon which they proceeded, dressed and ornamented with
great elegance, to the house of feasting. But, besides these, there were
other _artistes_ who contributed to the entertainment of the demos,
persons that, like our Indian jugglers, performed wonderful feats by way
of interlude between the regular exhibitions of the damsels from the
agora.[763]
-----
Footnote 762:
Cf. Luc. Amor. § 10. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 1058.
Footnote 763:
The Indian jugglers themselves became known to the Greeks in the age
of Alexander. Ælian. Var. Hist. viii. 7.
-----
Xenophon introduces into that living picture of Greek manners called the
Banquet, a company of this kind. Finding Philip’s jokes dull things, he
brings upon the scene a strolling Syracusan, with a beautiful female
flute-player, a dancing girl who could perform surpassing feats of
activity, and a handsome boy, who, besides performing on the cithara,
was likewise able, on occasion, to sport the toe like his female
companions.
But, where philosophers were present, amusements of this kind were not
allowed to occupy their whole attention. Every thing that occurred was
made a handle for conversation, so that discussions, more or less
lively, according to the temperament or ability of the interlocutors,
formed the solid ground-work upon which the flowers of gaiety and
laughter were spread. It was usual, immediately after supper, to perfume
the guests, and great was the variety of unguents, essences, and odorous
oils, made use of by the rich and vain upon these occasions; but when
Callias proposed conforming to the mode in this particular, Socrates
objected, observing, that the odour of honourable toil was perfume
enough for a man.[764] Women, indeed, to whom every thing sweet and
beautiful naturally belongs, might, he admitted, make use of perfume,
and they did so most lavishly as we have already shown, when we entered
their dressing-room and assisted at their toilette.
-----
Footnote 764:
Xen. Conv. ii. 4.
-----
The Greeks, however, were careful not to convert their pleasure-parties
into a mere arena for the exhibition of dialectic power. They from time
to time glanced at philosophy, but only by the way, in the moments of
transition from one variety of recreation to another. Their conversation
was now and then brought to a pause by the rising of dancing girls,[765]
robed elegantly, as we behold them still on vases and on bas-reliefs, in
drapery adapted to display all the beauty of their forms. Hoops were
brought them, and while musicians of their own sex called forth
thrilling harmonies from the flute, they executed a variety of graceful
movements, in part pantomimic,—now casting up the hoops, now catching
them as they fell, keeping time exactly with the cadences of the flute.
Their skill in this accomplishment was so great, that many were enabled
to keep up twelve hoops in the air at the same time, while others made
use of poniards.[766]
-----
Footnote 765:
Lucian. Amor. § 10.
Footnote 766:
Artemid. Oneirocrit. i. 68. Xen. Conviv. ii. 8.
-----
When the novelty of this exhibition was worn off a little, other
different feats followed. A hoop stuck all round with upright swords was
placed in the midst of the apartment, into which one of the dancing
girls threw herself head foremost, and while standing on her head
balanced the lower part of her body round over the naked points, to the
infinite terror of the spectators. She would then dart forth between the
swords, and, with a single bound, regain her footing without the
circle.[767] To add to the entertainment of the company, some
parasitical buffoon would at times undertake to exhibit his awkwardness
as a foil to the grace of the dancers, frisking about with the clumsy
heaviness of a bear, and exaggerating his own ignorance of orchestics to
excite a laugh. Sometimes the female dancer, like our own fair tumblers,
would throw back her head till it reached her heels, and then putting
herself in motion, roll about the room like a hoop.[768] To these, as a
relief and a change, would succeed, perhaps, a youth with fine rich
voice, who accompanied himself on the lyre with a song.
-----
Footnote 767:
Poll. iii. 134.
Footnote 768:
Xen. Conviv. ii. 22.
-----
But nothing could entirely restrain the Greeks from indulging in the
pleasure of listening to their own voices. The buzz of conversation
would soon be heard in different parts of the room, which, when Socrates
was present, sometimes provoked from him a sarcastic reproof. For
example, at Callias’s dinner, observing the company broken up into
knots, each labouring at some particular question in dialectics, and
filling the apartment with a babel of confused murmurs; “As we talk all
at once,” said he, “we may as well sing all at once;” and without
further ceremony he pitched his voice and began a song.[769]
-----
Footnote 769:
Xen. Conviv. vii. 1.
But when professed jugglers happened to be present, gentlemen were not
long abandoned to their own resources for amusement. Trick followed
trick in rapid succession. To the pantomimic dances, and the sword
circle, succeeded the exhibition of the potter’s wheel, in which a young
girl seated on this machine, like a little Nubian at a cow’s-tail in a
_sakia_, was whirled round with great velocity,[770] but retained so
much self-possession as to be able both to write and to read. These,
however, were merely sources of momentary wonder. Other amusements
succeeded capable of exciting superior delight, such for example, as the
mimetic dance, which, like that of the ghawazi, could tell a whole story
of love, of adventure, of war, of religious frenzy and enthusiasm,
transporting by vivid representations the fancy of the spectators to
warmer or wilder scenes, calling up images and reminiscences of times
long past, or steeping the thoughts in poetical dreams, filled with the
caverned nymphs, the merry Seileni, the frisking satyrs, Bacchos, Pan,
the Hours, the Graces, sporting by moonlit fountains, through antique
woods, or on the shelled and sand-ribbed margin of the ocean.[771]
-----
Footnote 770:
Xen. Conviv. vii. 3.
Footnote 771:
Plat. de Legg. vii. t. viii. p. 55. Bekk. Xen. Conv. vii. 5.
-----
On some occasions a slight dramatic scene was represented. Clearing the
centre of the banqueting hall, the guests ranged themselves in order as
at the theatre. A throne was then set up in the open space, and a female
actor, representing Ariadne, entering, took her seat upon it, decked and
habited like a bride, and supposed to be in her Thalamos at Naxos.
Dionysos, who has been dining with Zeus, comes flushed with Olympian
nectar into the harem to the sound of the Bacchic flute, while the nymph
who has heard his approaching footsteps makes it manifest by her
behaviour that her soul is filled with joy, though she neither advances
nor rises to meet him, but restrains her feelings with difficulty, and
remains apparently tranquil. The god, drawing near with impassioned
looks, and dancing all the while, now seats himself, and places the fair
one on his knee. Then, in imitation of mortal lovers, he embraces and
kisses her, nothing loth; for, though she hangs down her head, and would
wish to appear out of countenance, her arms find their way round his
neck and return his embrace. At this the company, we may be sure,
clapped and shouted. The god, encouraged by their plaudits, then stood
up with his bride, and going through the whole pantomime of courtship,
not coldly and insipidly, but as one whose heart was touched, at length
demanded of Ariadne if in truth she loved him. Sometimes the mimic scene
concealed beneath it all the reality of passion. From personating
enamoured characters, the youthful actor and his partner learned in
reality to love; and what was amusement to others contained a deep and
serious meaning for them. This, Xenophon says, was the case with the
youth and maiden who enlivened the banquet of Callias. Absorbed in the
earnestness of their feelings, they seem to have forgotten the presence
of spectators, and instead of a stage representation, gave them a scene
from real life, where every impassioned look and gesture were genuine,
and every fiery glance was kindled at the heart.[772]
This, however, may be considered a serious amusement, and something like
broad farce was necessary to awaken the guests from the reverie into
which the love scene had plunged them. Jesters were, therefore, put in
requisition; and, as even they sometimes failed to raise a laugh, their
more humorous brethren the wits and jesters of the forests, or, in the
language of mortals, monkeys were called upon to dissipate the clouds of
seriousness. These were the favourite buffoons of the Scythian
Anacharsis,—not the Abbé Barthélemy’s,—who said, he could laugh at a
monkey’s tricks, because his tricks were natural, but that he found no
amusement in a man who made a trade of it.[773] Nor could Euripides at
all relish punsters and manufacturers of jokes, whom he considered, with
some reason, as a species of animal distinct from mankind.
Many there be who exercise their wits
In giving birth, by cutting jests, to laughter.
I hate the knaves whose rude unbridled tongues
Sport with the wise; and cannot for my life
Think they are men, though laughter doth become them,
And they have houses filled with treasured stores
From distant lands.[774]
-----
Footnote 772:
Xen. Conviv. ix. 1–7.
Footnote 773:
Athen. xiv. 2.
Footnote 774:
Eurip. Fragm. Melanipp. 20.
-----
But if Euripides found nothing desirable in laughter, there were those
who had a clean contrary creed, and lamented nothing so much as the loss
of their risible faculties. On this subject Semos has a story quite _à
propos_. Parmeniscos, the Metapontine, having descended, he says, into
the cave of Trophonios, became so extremely grave, that with all the
appliances, and means to boot, furnished by wealth, and they were not a
few, he thereafter found himself quite unable to screw up his muscles
into a smile; which taking much to heart, as was natural, he made a
pilgrimage to Delphi, to inquire by what means he might rid himself of
the blue devils. Somewhat puzzled at the strangeness of the inquiry, the
Pythoness replied,—
Poor mortal unmerry, who seekest to know
What will bid thy brow soften, thy quips and cranks flow,
To the house of the mother I bid thee repair—
Thou wilt find, if she’s pleased, what thy heart covets, there.
Upon this, Parmeniscos hastened homeward, hoping soon to enjoy a good
laugh as the reward of his industry; but, finding his features remain
fixed as cast-iron, he began to suspect the oracle had deceived him.
Some time after, being at Delos, he beheld with admiration the several
wonders of the island, and, lastly, proceeded to the temple of Leto,
expecting to find in the mother of Apollo something worthy of so great a
divinity. But, on entering and perceiving, instead, a grotesque and
smoky old figure in wood, he burst into an immoderate fit of laughter,
whereupon the response of the oracle recurred to his mind, and he
understood it; and, being thus delivered from his infirmity, he ever
after held the goddess in extremest reverence.[775]
-----
Footnote 775:
Athen. xiv. 2.
-----
Even from this story, therefore, it will be seen how highly “broad
grins” were estimated in antiquity, particularly at Athens, where there
was a regular “Wits’ Club,” consisting of threescore members, who
assembled during the Diomeia,[776] in the temple of Heracles. The names
of several of these jovial mortals have come down to us; Mandrogenes,
for example, and Strato, Callimedon, who, for some particular quality of
mind or body, obtained the _sobriquet_ of the _Lobster_, Deinias,
Mnasigeiton, and Menæchmos. The reputation of these gentlemen spread
rapidly through the city, and, when a good thing had a run among the
small wits, it was remarked, that “the Sixty had said _that_.” Or, if a
man of talent were asked, whence he came, he would answer, “From the
Sixty.” This was in the time of Demosthenes, when, unhappily, jesters
were in more request in Athens than soldiers; and Philip of Macedon,
himself no mean buffoon, learning the excellent quality of their _bon
mots_, sent them a present of a talent of gold, with a request that, as
public business prevented his joining the sittings of the club, they
would make for his use a collection in writing of all their smart
sayings, which was, probably, the first step towards those repositories
for stray wit, called “Joe Millers,” that form so indispensable a
portion of a bon vivant’s library.[777]
-----
Footnote 776:
Eustath. ad Iliad. δ. p. 337. 53. Etym. Mag. 277. 24. Meurs. Græc.
Feriat. ii. 96.
Footnote 777:
Athen. xiv. 3.
-----
But we are all this while detaining the company from their wine, and
those other recreations which the fertile genius of the Greeks invented
to make the wheels of life move smoothly. Though the tables, according
to the fashion of the times, were removed with the solid viands, others
were brought in to replace them, on which the censers, the goblets, the
silver or golden ladles for filling the smaller cups, were arranged in
order.[778] The chairman, or, as he was then called, the king of the
feast,[779] enjoyed absolute power over his subjects, and could
determine better than their own palates, how much and how often each man
should drink. This important functionary was not always identical with
the entertainer, but sometimes his substitute, sometimes a person chosen
by lot.[780] Capacious bowls of wine,[781] mingled with water, were
placed on a sideboard, whence cup-bearers, sometimes of one, sometimes
of the other sex, but always selected for their youth and beauty,
filled, with ladles,[782] the goblets of the guests, which, when the
froth rose above the brim, were, by an obvious metaphor, said to be
crowned.[783] Among the Doric Greeks, female cup-bearers seem to have
been always preferred; the Ptolemies of Egypt cherished the same taste;
and the people of Tarentum, themselves of Doric race, passing
successively through every stage of luxury, came, at length, to be
served at table by beautiful young women without a vestige of clothing.
In most cases, these maidens were slaves, but, in some countries, and
everywhere, in remoter ages, the performance of such offices was not
regarded as any way derogatory to persons of noble or princely blood.
But, whatever might be their birth, beauty of form and countenance
constituted their chief recommendation. For there is a language in looks
and gestures, there is a fountain of joy and delight concealed deep in
the physical structure, and its waters laugh to the eye of intellect,
and reflect into the hearts of those who behold it a sunniness and
exhilaration greater than we derive from gazing on the summer sea.
Hence, Hebe and Ganymede were chosen to minister at the tables of the
gods, even Zeus himself[784] not disdaining to taste of the pleasures to
be derived from basking in the irradiations of beauty.
-----
Footnote 778:
Among the Etruscans these ladles were of bronze, and of extremely
elegant form, the point ending in a swan’s or duck’s head.
Footnote 779:
The proceedings of this person were governed by a code of laws, the
making and reformation of which employed the wits of no less
personages than Xenophanes, Spensippos, and Aristotle. Athen. i. 5.
Footnote 780:
Horat. Od. ii. 7. 25.
Footnote 781:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1183. Vesp. 1005.
Footnote 782:
Eustath. ad Iliad, γ. p. 333. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 855.—A specimen
of these ladles (ἀρύταιναι) occurs in Mus. Chiaramont. pl. 2.
Footnote 783:
Virgil actually wreaths the bowls with garlands.—Æneid. iii.
525.—Homer, however, crowns his bowls only with wine.-Il. ε. 471.
Footnote 784:
Homer. Iliad. δ. 2. γ. 232. β. 813. Odyss. ο. 327. Juven. Sat. v. 60.
Cf. Philo. Jud. de Vit. Contempl. t. ii. p. 479. Mangey.
-----
When the goblets were all crowned with the nectar of earth, the Master
of the Feast[785] set the example of good-fellowship by drinking to his
guests, beginning with the most distinguished.[786] Originally, custom
required him who drank to the health of another to drain off his cup
while his comrade did the same; but, in after ages, they sipped only a
portion of the wine, and, as they still do in the East, presented the
remainder to their friend. The latter, by the rules of politeness, was
bound to finish the goblet, or, where the antique fashion prevailed, to
drink one of equal size.[787] The Macedonians, who, probably, excelled
the Greeks in drinking, if in nothing else, disdained small cups as
supplying a very roundabout way to intoxication, and plunged into Lethe
at once by the aid of most capacious bowls. It was customary, when the
practice of passing round the goblet had been introduced, for the king
of the feast to drink to the next man on his right hand, who, in his
turn, drank to the next, and so on till the bowl had circulated round
the board. But different customs prevailed in the different parts of
Greece. At Athens, small cups, like our wine-glasses, were in use; among
the Chians, Thracians, and Thessalians, nations more prone to sensual
indulgences, the goblets were of larger dimensions; but, at Sparta,
where sobriety and frugality long flourished, the practice was to drink
from diminutive vessels, which, as often as required, were replenished
by the attendants.[788]
-----
Footnote 785:
There were certain barbarians, who, to cement their friendships, drank
wine tinged with each other’s blood.—Athen. xv. 47.
Footnote 786:
Plut. Symp. i. 2. 2. The first cup was drunk to the
Agathodemon.—Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 85. Athen. xv. 47.
Footnote 787:
Athen. v. 20.
Footnote 788:
Athen. x. 39. Plut. Cleom. § 13.
-----
Isocrates, in his exhortation to Demonicos, marks the distinction
between the true and false friend, by observing, that, while the latter
thinks only of those around him, the former remembers the absent, and
makes his affection triumph over time and distance. And the Greeks
generally had this merit. Amid the enjoyments of the festive board, they
recalled to mind the friends of other days; and, having first performed
libations to the gods, those best and purest of friends, drank to the
health and prosperity of former associates, now far removed by
circumstances,[789] and this they did not in the mixed beverage which
formed their habitual potations, but in pure wine.[790] There was
something extremely delicate in this idea, for tacitly it intimated,
that their love placed the objects of it almost on a level with their
divinities, in whose honour, also, on these occasions, a small portion
of the wine was spilt in libations[791] upon the earth. The young, in
whose hearts a mistress held the first place,[792] drank deeply in
honour of their beloved, sometimes equalling the number of cups to that
of the letters forming her name,[793] which, if the custom prevailed so
early, would account for Ægisthos’s being a sot. Sometimes, however,
taking the hint from the number of the Graces, they were satisfied with
three goblets; but, when an excuse for drinking “pottle deep” was
sought, they chose the Muses for their patrons, and honoured their
mistresses’ names with three times three.[794] This is the number of
cheers with which favourite political toasts are received at our public
dinners, though every one who fills his bumper, and cries “hip, hip,
hip, hurrah!” on these occasions, is, probably, not conscious that he is
keeping up an old pagan custom in honour of the Muses.
-----
Footnote 789:
Theoc. Eidyll. vii. 69.
Footnote 790:
Cicero in Verr. Act. ii. Orat. i. § 26, and Ascon. Pedan. in loc.
Footnote 791:
Antiphon. Acc. Nec. Ven. § 3.—The third libation was in honour of
Zeus.—Scol. Pind. Isth. vi. 22.
Footnote 792:
Theocrit. Eidyll. xiv. 18, et Schol.
Footnote 793:
Mart. Epig. i. 78.
Footnote 794:
Horat. Od. iii. 19. 11, sqq. Lambinus in loc. p. 143.
-----
The number four was in no favour at the drinking-table, not because it
was an even number, for they sometimes drank ten, but because some old
superstition had brought discredit on it. Our very fox-hunters, however,
exhibit an inferior capacity to many of the ancients in affairs of the
bottle, though when it is the poets who perform the feat, we may safely
consider them to be simply regaling their fancies on “air-drawn”
goblets, which cost nothing, and leave no head-aches behind them. On
this subject there is a very pretty song in the Anthology, which Potter,
following some old edition, completely misrepresents.[795] It deserves
to be well translated, and I would translate it well if I could. The
following at least preserves the meaning:
Pour out ten cups of the purple wine,
To crown Lycidicè’s charms divine;
One for Euphrantè, young and fair,
With the sparkling eye and the raven hair.
Then I love Lycidicè more, you say?
By this foaming goblet I say ye nay.
More valued than ten is Euphrantè to me,
For, as when the heavens unclouded be,
And the stars are crowding far and nigh
On the deep deep blue of the midnight sky,
The moon is still brighter and lovelier far
Than the loveliest planet or brightest star;
So, ’mid the stars of this earthly sphere,
None are so lovely or half so dear
As to me is Euphrantè young and fair,
With the sparkling eye and the raven hair.[796]
-----
Footnote 795:
Antiq. ii. 394, seq.
Footnote 796:
Marc. Argent. ap. Anthol. Græc. v. 110.
-----
But the Macedonians entertained no respect for poetical goblets: they
loved to scent their moustachios with the aroma of the real rosy wine
when it sparkled in the cup,—when it moved itself aright, as the wise
king of Judah expresses it. Plutarch describes briefly one of their
drinking-bouts which took place on the evening of the day wherein old
Kalanos, the Hindù Yoghi, burnt himself alive to escape the colic.
Alexander, on returning from the funeral pile, invited a number of his
friends and generals to sup with him, and, proposing a drinking contest,
appointed a crown for the victor. Prodigious efforts were made by all
present to achieve so enviable a triumph; but the man who proved himself
to possess the most capacious interior was Promachos, who is said to
have swallowed upwards of two gallons. He obtained the prize, which was
a golden crown, valued at a talent, but died within three days.[797]
Chares, the Mitylenian, relates the matter somewhat differently.
According to him, Alexander celebrated funeral games in honour of
Kalanos, at his barrow, where horseraces and gymnastic contests took
place,[798] and a poetical encomium was pronounced upon the Yoghi, who,
like the rest of his countrymen, was, doubtless, a great toper, and
thence the drinking-match instituted in the evening. Chares says there
were three prizes; the first, in value, a talent; the second, thirty
minæ, or about a hundred and twenty pounds sterling; the third, three
minæ. The number of aspirants is not stated, but thirty-five (Plutarch
says forty-one) perished in cold shiverings on the spot, and six more
died shortly after in the tents.[799]
-----
Footnote 797:
Plut. Alexand. Magn. §§ 69, 70.
Footnote 798:
Ælian. Var. Hist. ii. 41. Periz.
Footnote 799:
Athen. x. 49.
-----
Numbers have celebrated the military genius of Alexander; but Athenæus
alone has given him due credit for his truly royal power of drinking.
Like his father, Philip, who, in his jolly humour, ruffled the Athenian
dead at Chæronea, where he could safely beard the fallen republicans,
Alexander delighted to spend his evenings among drunken roysterers,
whose chief ambition consisted in making a butt of their bowels. One of
these worthies was Proteas, the Macedonian mentioned by Ephippos, in his
work on the sepulture of Alexander and Hephæstion. He was a man of iron
constitution, on which wine, whatever quantity he drank, appeared to
make no impression. Alexander, knowing this, loved to pledge him in huge
bowls, such as none, perhaps, but themselves could cope with. This he
did even at Babylon, where the climate suffers few excesses to be
indulged in with impunity. Taking a goblet more like a pail than a
drinking-cup, Alexander caused it to be crowned with wine, which, having
tasted, he presented the bowl to Proteas. The veteran immediately
drained it off, to the great amusement of the company, and presently
afterwards, desiring to pledge the king, he filled it up again, and
sipping a little, according to custom, passed the bowl to Alexander,
who, not to be outdone by a subject, forthwith drank the whole. But if
he possessed the courage, he wanted the physical strength of Proteas:
the goblet dropped from his hand, his head sank on a pillow, and a fever
ensued of which the conqueror of Persia, and the rival of Proteas in
drinking, died in a few days.[800]
-----
Footnote 800:
Athen. x. 44.
-----
But to return from these barbarians: as the presence of sober persons
must always be felt by hard drinkers to be a tacit reproach, it was one
of the rules of good fellowship, that all such as joined not in the
common potations should depart. “Drink, or begone!” said the law, and a
good one in Cicero’s opinion it was, for if men experienced no
disposition to join in the mirth and enjoyment of the company, what had
they to do there?[801]
-----
Footnote 801:
Tuscul. Quæst. ii. 41.
-----
From the existence of these rules, however, an inference has been drawn
unfavourable to the Greek character, as if, because some were merry, the
nation generally must of necessity have been wine-bibbers.[802] But this
is scarcely more logical than the reasoning of a writer, who, because
the comic poets speak chiefly of the mirth and lighter enjoyments of the
Athenians, very gravely concludes that they busied themselves about
little else. The truth is, that like all ardent and energetic people,
they threw their whole souls into the affair, whether serious or
otherwise, in which they happened to be engaged; and besides, while the
careful and industrious applied themselves to business, there was always
an abundance of light and trifling people to whom eating and drinking
constituted a serious occupation.
-----
Footnote 802:
Potter, ii. 396.
-----