1. But since, O Timocrates, we have now had a great deal of conversation
on the subject of banquets in all that has been hitherto said; and since
we have passed over those things in them which are most useful and which
do not weigh down the soul, but which cheer it, and nourish it by
variety of food, as the divine Homer incidentally teaches us, I will
also mention what has been said concerning these things by that most
excellent writer Masyrius. For we, as the beautiful Agathon says--
Do what is more than needful as if needful,
And treat our real work as if it were superfluous.
The poet accordingly says, when he is speaking of Menelaus--
At the fair dome the rapid labour ends,[287:1]
Where sat Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
With double vows invoking Hymen's power
To bless his son's and daughter's nuptial hour:--
as it was a custom to celebrate banquets at marriages, both for the sake
of the gods who preside over marriage, and as it were for a testimony to
the marriage; and also, the king of Lycia instructs us what sort of
banquet ought to be given to foreigners, receiving Bellerophon with
great magnificence--
There Lycia's monarch paid him honours due,[287:2]
Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he slew.
2. For wine appears to have a very attractive influence in promoting
friendship, as it warms and also melts the soul. On which account the
ancients did not ask who a man was before drinking, but afterwards; as
honouring the laws of hospitality itself, and not this or that
particular individual. But the lawgivers, taking care beforehand of the
banquets of the present day, have appointed feasts for the tribe, and
feasts for the borough; and also general banquets, and entertainments to
the ward, and others also called orgeonica. And there are many meetings
of philosophers in the city, some called the pupils of Diogenes, and
others, pupils of Antipater, others again styled disciples of Panætius.
And Theophrastus bequeathed money for an entertainment of that sort.
Not, by Jove, in order that the philosophers assembled might indulge in
intemperance, but in order that during the banquet they might have a
wise and learned conversation. And the Prytanes were accustomed every
day to meet in well-regulated banquets, which tended to the advantage of
the state. And it was to such a banquet as that Demosthenes says the
news of the taking of Elatea was brought. "For it was evening, and a man
came bringing news to the Prytanes that Elatea was taken." And the
philosophers used to be careful to collect the young men, and to feast
with them according to some well-considered and carefully laid down law.
Accordingly, there were some laws for banquets laid down by Xenocrates,
in the Academy, and again by Aristotle.
But the Phiditia in Sparta, and the Andrea, or man's feasts, among the
Cretans, were celebrated in their respective cities with all imaginable
care. On which account some one said not unwisely--
Dear friends should never long abstain from feasts,
For e'en the memory of them is delightful.
And Antipater the philosopher once assembled a banqueting party, and
invited all the guests on the understanding that they were to discuss
subtle questions. And they say that Arcesilaus, being once invited to a
banquet, and sitting next to a man who ate voraciously, while he himself
was unable to enjoy anything, when some one of those who were present
offered him something, said--
May it be well with you; be this for Telephus:
for it so happened that the epicure by his side was named Telephus. But
Zeno, when some epicure who was at the same party with him snatched away
the upper half of the fish the moment that it was placed on the table,
turned the fish round himself, and took the remaining portion, saying--
Then Ino came and finish'd what was left.
And Socrates seeing a man once devouring dainties eagerly, said--O you
bystanders, which of you eats bread as if it were sweetmeats, and
sweetmeats as if they were bread?
3. But now let us speak of the banquets celebrated by Homer. For the
poet gives us the different times of them, and the persons present, and
the causes of them. And Xenophon and Plato have done well to imitate him
in this; who at the very beginning of their treatises set forth the
cause which gave rise to the banquet, and mention the names of those who
were present. But Epicurus never defines either the place or the time,
nor does he preface his accounts with any preliminary statement. But
Aristotle says that it is an unseemly thing for a man to come unwashed
and covered with dust to a banquet. Then Homer instructs us who ought to
be invited; saying that one ought to invite the chiefs; and men of high
reputation--
He bade the noblest of the Grecian peers,[289:1]
not acting on the principle asserted by Hesiod, for he bids men invite
chiefly their neighbours--
Then bid your neighbours to the well-spread feast,
Who live the nearest, and who know you best.[289:2]
For such a banquet would be one of rustic stupidity; and adapted to the
most misanthropic of proverbs--
Friends who far off do live are never friends.
For how can it be anything but nonsense that friendship should depend on
place and not on disposition? Therefore we find in Homer, that after the
cup had gone round,
Then the old man his counsels first disclosed;[289:3]
but among people who did not regulate their banquets in an orderly
manner we read--
Then first the flatterer rose with mocking speech.
Besides, Homer introduces guests differing in ages and tastes, such as
Nestor, Ulysses, and Ajax, who are all invited together. And speaking in
general terms he represents all who lay claim to any sort of eminence as
invited, and individually those who arrive at it by different roads. But
Epicurus has represented all his guests as believers in the atonic
theory, and this, too, though he had models both in the variety of the
banquets of the great poet, and also in the elegant accounts of Plato
and Xenophon; of whom Plato has introduced Eryximachus the physician,
and Aristophanes the poet, and other professors of different branches of
science, discussing matters of weight: and Xenophon has mingled with
them some private individuals.
Homer therefore has done much the best of all, and has given us by far
the best banquets; and that again is best seen by comparing him with
others. For the banquet of the suitors in Homer is just such as might be
expected from young men devoted to drinking and love; and that of the
Phæacians is more orderly, but still luxurious. And he has made a wide
distinction between these entertainments and those which may be called
military banquets, and those which have reference to political affairs
and are conducted in a well-regulated manner; and again he has
distinguished between public and family banquets. But Epicurus has
described a banquet consisting of philosophers alone.
4. Homer, too, has pointed out whom one ought not to invite, but who
ought to consider that they have a right to come uninvited, showing by
the presence of one of the relations that those in similar circumstances
had a right to be present--
Unbidden there the brave Atrides came.[290:1]
For it is plain that one ought not to send a formal invitation to one's
brother, or to one's parents, or to one's wife, or to any one else whom
one can possibly regard in the same light as these relations, for that
would be a cold and unfriendly proceeding. And some one has written an
additional line, adding the reason why Menelaus had no invitation sent
him, and yet came--
For well he knew how busy was his brother:
as if there had been any need of alleging a reason why his brother
should come of his own accord to a banquet without any invitation,--a
very sufficient reason having been already given. "For," said the
interpolater of this line, "did he not know that his brother was giving
a banquet? And how can it be otherwise than absurd to pretend that he
did not know it, when his sacrifice of oxen was notorious and visible to
every one? And how could he have come if he had not known it? Or, by
Jove, when he saw him," he continues, "occupied with business, was it
not quite right of him to excuse his not having sent him an invitation,
and to come of his own accord?" As if he were to say that he came
uninvited in order that the next day they might not look at one another,
the one with feelings of mortification, and the other of annoyance.
But it would be an absurd thing to suppose that Menelaus forgot his
brother, and this, too, when he was not only sacrificing on his account
at the present moment, but when it was on his account that he had
undertaken the whole war, and when he had invited those who were no
relations of his, and who had no connexion even with his country. But
Athenocles the Cyzicene, understanding the poems of Homer better than
Aristarchus did, speaks in a much more sensible manner to us, and says
that Homer omitted to mention Menelaus as having been invited because he
was more nearly related to Agamemnon than the others. But Demetrius
Phalereus having asserted that interpolated verse to be a bungling and
unseasonable addition, quite unsuited to the poetry of Homer,--the
verse, I mean,
For well he knew how busy was his brother,
says that he is accusing him of very ungentlemanly manners. "For I
think," says he, "that every well-bred man has relations and friends to
whom he may go, when they are celebrating any sacrifice, without waiting
for them to send him an invitation."
5. And Plato in his Banquet speaks in the same manner on this subject.
"For," says he, "that we may destroy the proverb by altering it: Good
men may go of their own accord to feasts given by good men. For Homer
appears not only to have destroyed that proverb, but also to have
ridiculed it; for having represented Agamemnon as valiant in warlike
matters, and Menelaus as an effeminate warrior, when Agamemnon
celebrates a sacrifice, he represents Menelaus as coming
uninvited,--that is, the worse man coming to the feast of the better
man." And Bacchylides, speaking of Hercules, and telling how he came to
the house of Ceyx, says--
Then on the brazen threshold firm he stood,
(They were a feast preparing,) and thus spake
Brave and just men do uninvited come
To well-appointed feasts by brave and just men made.
And as to proverbs, one says--
Good men do of their own accord
To good men's entertainments come:
and another says--
Brave men do of their own accord
To cowards' entertainments come.
It was without reason, therefore, that Plato thought that Menelaus was a
coward; for Homer speaks of him as Mars-loving, and as fighting
single-handed with the greatest gallantry in defence of Patroclus, and
eager to fight in single combat with Hector as the champion of the whole
army, although he certainly was inferior to Hector in personal strength.
And he is the only man in the whole expedition of whom he has said--
And on he went, firm in his fearless zeal.[292:1]
But if an enemy, disparaging him, called him an effeminate warrior, and
on this account Plato thinks that he really was an effeminate warrior,
why should he not also class Agamemnon himself among the men void of
prowess, since this line is spoken against him?--
O monster, mix'd of insolence and fear,
Thou dog in forehead, but in heart a deer!
When wert thou known in ambush'd fights to dare,
Or nobly face the horrid front of war?
'Tis ours the chance of fighting fields to try,
Thine to look on and bid the valiant die.[292:2]
For it does not follow because something is said in Homer, that Homer
himself says it. For how could Menelaus have been effeminate who,
single-handed, kept Hector away from Patroclus, and who slew Euphorbus,
and stripped him of his arms though in the very middle of the Trojan
host? And it was foolish of him not completely to consider the entire
line which he was finding fault with, in which Menelaus is called
"Raising the battle cry," =boên agathos=, for that is an epithet which
Homer is in the habit of giving only to the most valiant; for the
ancients called war itself =boê=.
6. But Homer, who is most accurate in everything, did not overlook even
this trifling point; that a man ought to show some care of his person,
and to bathe himself before going to an entertainment. And so, in the
case of Ulysses, before the banquet among the Phæacians, he tells us--
A train attends
Around the baths, the bath the king ascends,
(Untasted joy since that disastrous hour
He sail'd defeated from Calypso's bower,)
He bathes, the damsels with officious toil
Shed sweets, shed unguents in a shower of oil.
Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he spreads,
And to the feast magnificently treads.[293:1]
And again he says of Telemachus and his companion--
From room to room their eager view they bend,
Thence to the bath, a beauteous pile, descend.[293:2]
For it was unseemly, says Aristotle, for a man to come to a banquet all
over sweat and dust. For a well-bred man ought not to be dirty nor
squalid, nor to be all over mud, as Heraclitus says. And a man when he
first enters another person's house for a feast, ought not to hasten at
once to the banqueting-room, as if he had no care but to fill his
stomach, but he ought first to indulge his fancy in looking about him,
and to examine the house. And the poet has not omitted to take notice of
this also.
Part in a portico, profusely graced
With rich magnificence, the chariot placed;
Then to the dome the friendly pair invite,
Who eye the dazzling roof with vast delight,
Resplendent as the blaze of summer noon,
Or the pale radiance of the midnight moon.[293:3]
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps, represents the rustic and litigious old
man as invited to a more civilized form of life by his son--
Cease; sit down here and learn at length to be
A boon companion, and a cheerful guest.[293:4]
And then showing him how he ought to sit down he says--
Then praise some of these beauteous works in brass,
Look at the roof, admire the carvèd hall.
7. And again Homer instructs us as to what we ought to do before a
banquet, namely how we ought to allot the first-fruits of the dishes to
the gods. At all events Ulysses and his friends, although in the cave of
the Cyclops--
Then first a fire we kindle, and prepare
For his return with sacrifice and prayer.[293:5]
And Achilles, although the ambassadors were impatient, as they had
arrived in the middle of the night, still--
Himself opposed t' Ulysses full in sight
Each portion parts, and orders every rite;
The first fat offerings to th' Immortals due,
Amid the greedy flames Patroclus threw.
And also he introduces the guests as making libations--
He said, and all approved; the heralds bring
The cleansing water from the living spring,
The youths with wine the sacred goblets crown'd,
And large libations drench'd the sand around.
The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay,
Then from the royal tent they take their way.[294:1]
And this ceremony Plato also observes in his Banquet. For he says--"Then
after they had supped and made libations, they sang pæans to the god
with all customary honours." And Xenophon speaks in very nearly the same
terms. But in Epicurus there is no mention of any libation to the gods,
or of any offering of first-fruits. But as Simonides says of an immodest
woman--
And oftentimes she eats unhallow'd victims.
8. He says too that the Athenians were taught the proper proportions in
which wine should be mixed by Amphictyon when he was king; and that on
this account he erected a temple to the Upright Bacchus. For he is then
really upright and not likely to fall, when he is drunk in proper
proportions and well mixed; as Homer has it--
Hear me, my friends! who this good banquet grace,--
'Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place.
And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic and the serious smile;
The grave in merry measures frisk about,
And many a long-repented word bring out.[294:2]
For Homer does not call wine =êleos= in the sense of =êlithios=, that is
to say, foolish and the cause of folly. Nor does he bid a man be of a
sullen countenance, neither singing nor laughing, nor ever turning
himself to cheerful dancing in time to music. He is not so morose or
ill-bred. But he knew the exact proportions in which all these things
should be done, and the proper qualities and quantities of wine to be
mixed. On which account he did not say that wine makes the sage sing,
but sing very much, that is to say, out of tune and excessively, so as
to trouble people. Nor, by Jove, did he say simply to smile, and, to
frisk about; but using the word merry, and applying that to both, he
reproves the unmanly propensity to such trifling--
Makes . . . . . . .
The grave in merry measure frisk about,
And many a long-repented word bring out.
But in Plato none of these things are done in a moderate manner. But men
drink in such quantities that they cannot even stand on their feet. For
just look at the reveller Alcibiades, how unbecomingly he behaves. And
all the rest drink a large goblet holding eight cotylæ, using as an
excuse that Alcibiades has led them on; not like the men in Homer--
But when they drank, and satisfied their soul.
Now of these things some ought to be repudiated once for all; but some
ought to be enjoyed in moderation; people looking at them as at a slight
addition or appendage to a repast; as Homer has said--
Let these, my friend,
With song and dance the pompous revel end.
9. And altogether the poet has attributed devotion to such things to the
Suitors, and to the Phæacians, but not to Nestor or to Menelaus. And
Aristarchus did not perceive that in his marriage feast, after the
entertainment had lasted some time, and the principal days of the revel
were over, in which the bride had been taken to the house of the
bridegroom, and the marriage of Megapenthes was completed, Menelaus and
Helen were left to themselves and feasted together. He, I say, not
perceiving this, but being deceived by the first line--
Where sate Atrides 'midst his bridal friends,
he then added these lines, which do not properly belong to this place--
While this gay friendly troop the king surround,
With festival and mirth the roofs resound;
A bard amid the joyous circle sings
High airs, attemper'd to the vocal strings,
Whilst, warbling to the varied strain, advance
Two sprightly youths to form the bounding dance:--
transferring them with the error in the reading and all from the
eighteenth book of the Iliad, where he relates the making of the arms of
Achilles; for it ought to be read not =exarchontes=, _the dancers
beginning_, but =exarchontos= (=tou ôdou=, that is to say,) _when the
poet began to sing_. For the word =exarchô= has peculiar reference to
preluding on the lyre. On which account Hesiod also says in his Shield
of Hercules--
The holy goddesses, the Muses nine,
Preluded (=exêrchon=) with a sacred melody.[296:1]
And Archilochus says--
Himself preluding (=exarchôn=) with a sacred pæan
Set to the Lesbian flute.
And Stesichorus calls the Muse the Beginner of Song (=archesimolpos=).
And Pindar calls Preludes the Leaders of the Dance. And Diodorus the
Aristophanian enclosed the whole account of the wedding in brackets;
thinking that the first days only were alluded to, and disregarding the
termination and what came after the banquet. And then he says we ought
to write the words =doiô de kybistêtêre kat' autous= with an aspirate,
=kath' hautous=, but that would be a solecism. For =kat' autous= is
equivalent to =kata sphas autous=, but to say =heautous= would be a
solecism.
10. But, as I said before, the introduction of this kind of music into
this modest kind of entertainment is transferred to this place from the
Cretic dance, of which he says in the eighteenth book of the Iliad,
about the Making of the Arms--
A figured dance succeeds; such once was seen
In lofty Cnossus, for the Cretan queen
Form'd by Dædalean art; a comely band
Of youths and maidens bounding hand-in-hand;
The maids in soft cymars of linen dress'd,
The youths all graceful in the glossy vest.
Of those the locks with flow'ry wreaths enroll'd,
Of these the sides adorn'd with swords of gold,
That glittering gay from silver belts depend.[296:2]
And then he adds to this--
Now all at once they rise, at once descend,
With well-taught feet; now shape in oblique ways
Confus'dly regular the moving maze.
Now forth at once too swift for sight they spring,
And undistinguish'd blend the flying ring.[296:3]
Now among the Cretans, dancing and posture-making was a national
amusement. On which account Æneas says to the Cretan Meriones--
Swift as thou art (the raging hero cries),
And skill'd in dancing to dispute the prize,
My spear, the destined passage had it found,
Had fix'd thy active vigour to the ground.
And from this they call the hyporchemata Cretan
They call it all a Cretan air . . . .
The instrument is called Molossian . . . .
"But they who were called Laconistæ," says Timæus, "used to sing
standing to dance in square figures." And altogether there were many
various kinds of music among the Greeks: as the Athenians preferred the
Dionysiac and the Cyclian dances; and the Syracusians the Iambistic
figure; and different nations practised different styles.
But Aristarchus not only interpolated lines which had no business there
into the banquet of Menelaus, and by so doing made Homer make
representations inconsistent with the system of the Lacedæmonians, and
with the moderation of their king, but he also took away the singer from
the Cretan chorus, mutilating his song in the following manner:--
The gazing multitudes admire around
Two active tumblers in the centre bound;
Now high, now low their pliant limbs they bend,
And general songs the sprightly revel end.[297:1]
So that blunder of his in using the word =exarchontes= is almost
irremediable, as the relation cannot after that possibly be brought back
so as to refer to the singer.
11. And it is not probable that there were any musical entertainments at
Menelaus's banquet, as is manifest from the fact of the whole time of
the banquet being occupied by the guests in conversation with one
another; and that there is no name mentioned as that of the minstrel;
nor is any lay mentioned which he sang; nor is it said that Telemachus
and his party listened to him; but they rather contemplated the house in
silence, as it were, and perfect quiet. And how can it be looked upon as
anything but incredible, that the sons of those wisest of men, Ulysses
and Nestor, should be introduced as such ignorant people as, like
clowns, not to pay the least attention to carefully prepared music? At
all events Ulysses himself attends to the Phæacian minstrels:--
Ulysses gazed, astonish'd to survey
The glancing splendours as their sandals play:--[297:2]
although he had plenty of things to distract his attention, and although
he could say--
Now care surrounds me, and my force decays,
Inured a melancholy part to bear,
In scenes of death by tempest and by war.[297:3]
How then can we think Telemachus any better than a mere clown, when a
minstrel and a dancer are present, if he had bent silently towards
Pisistratus and gazed on nothing but the plate and furniture? But Homer,
like a good painter, makes Telemachus in every respect like his father;
and so he has made each of them easily recognised, the one by Alcinous,
and the other by Menelaus, by means of their tears.
12. But in the banquet of Epicurus there is an assembly of flatterers
praising one another. And Plato's banquet is full of mockers, cavilling
at one another; for I say nothing of the digression about Alcibiades.
But in Homer it is only banquets conducted with moderation which are
applauded; and on one occasion, a man addressing Menelaus says--
I dare not in your presence speak,
Whose voice we reverence as a voice divine.[298:1]
But he was reproving something which was either not said or not done
with perfect correctness--
And now if aught there is that can be done,
Take my advice; I grief untimely shun
That interrupts the feast.[298:2]
And again, he says--
O son of wise Ulysses, what a word
has 'scaped thy ivory fence! . . . .
For it is not right for a man to be a flatterer, nor a mocker.
Again, Epicurus, in his banquet, inquires about indigestion, so as to
draw an omen from the answer: and immediately after that he inquires
about fevers; for why need I speak of the general want of rhythm and
elegance which pervades the whole essay? But Plato, (I say nothing about
his having been harassed by a cough, and about his taking care of
himself with constant gargling of water, and also by inserting a straw,
in order that he might excite his nose so as to sneeze; for his object
was to turn things into ridicule and to disparage them,) Plato, I say,
turns into ridicule the equalized sentences and the antitheses of
Agathon, and introduces Alcibiades, saying that he is in a state of
excitement. But still those men who write in this manner, propose to
expel Homer from their cities. But, says Demochares, "A spear is not
made of a stalk of savory," nor is a good man made so by such discourses
as these; and not only does he disparage Alcibiades, but he also runs
down Charmides, and Euthydemus, and many others of the young men. And
this is the conduct of a man ridiculing the whole city of the Athenians,
the Museum of Greece, which Pindar styled The Bulwark of Greece; and
Thucydides, in his Epigram addressed to Euripides, The Greece of Greece;
and the priest at Delphi termed it, The Hearth and Prytaneum of the
Greeks. And that he spoke falsely of the young men one may perceive from
Plato himself, for he says that Alcibiades, (in the dialogue to which he
has prefixed his name,) when he arrived at man's estate, then first
began to converse with Socrates, when every one else who was devoted to
the pleasures of the body fell off from him. But he says this at the
very beginning of the dialogue. And how he contradicts himself in the
Charmides any one who pleases may see in the dialogue itself. For he
represents Socrates as subject to a most unseemly giddiness, and as
absolutely intoxicated with a passion for Alcibiades, and as becoming
beside himself, and yielding like a kid to the impetuosity of a lion;
and at the same time he says that he disregarded his beauty.
13. But also the banquet of Xenophon, although it is much extolled,
gives one as many handles to blame it as the other. For Callias
assembles a banqueting party because his favourite Autolycus has been
crowned at the Panathenæa for a victory gained in the Pancratium. And as
soon as they are assembled the guests devote their attention to the boy;
and this too while his father is sitting by. "For as when light appears
in the night season it attracts the eyes of every one, so does the
beauty of Autolycus attract the eyes of everybody to itself. And then
there was no one present who did not feel something in his heart because
of him; but some were more silent than others, and some betrayed their
feelings by their gestures." But Homer has never ventured to say
anything of that sort, not even when he represents Helen as present;
concerning whose beauty though one of those who sat opposite to her did
speak, all he said, being overcome by the truth, was this--
Sure 'tis no wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms.
What winning graces, what majestic mien--
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen![299:1]
And then he adds--
Yet hence, O heaven, convey that fatal face;
And from destruction save the Trojan race.
But the young men who had come to Menelaus's court, the son of Nestor
and Telemachus, when over their wine, and celebrating a wedding feast,
and though Helen was sitting by, kept quite quiet in a decorous manner,
being struck dumb by her renowned beauty. But why did Socrates, when to
gratify some one or other he had tolerated some female flute-players,
and some boy dancing and playing on the harp, and also some women
tumbling and posture-making in an unseemly manner, refuse perfumes? For
no one would have been able to restrain his laughter at him,
recollecting these lines--
You speak of those pale-faced and shoeless men,
Such as that wretched Socrates and Chærephon.
And what followed after was very inconsistent with his austerity. For
Critobulus, a very well-bred young man, mocks Socrates, who was aged and
his tutor, saying he was much uglier than the Sileni; but he discusses
beauty with him, and selecting as judges the boy and the dancing woman,
makes the prize to be the kisses of the judges. Now what young man
meeting with this writing would not be corrupted rather than excited to
virtue?
14. But in Homer, in the banquet of Menelaus, they propose to one
another questions as in ordinary conversation, and chatting with one
another like fellow-citizens, they entertain one another and us too.
Accordingly, Menelaus, when Telemachus and his friends come from the
bath-room, and when the tables and the dishes are laid, invites them to
partake of them, saying--
Accept this welcome to the Spartan court;
The waste of nature let the feast repair,
Then your high lineage and your names declare:[300:1]--
and then he helps them to what he has before him, treating them in the
most friendly manner--
Ceasing, benevolent he straight assigns
The royal portion of the choicest chines
To each accepted friend; with grateful haste
They share the honours of the rich repast.
And they, eating in silence, as it becomes young men to do, converse
with one another, leaning forwards gently, not about the food, as Homer
tells us, nor about the maid-servants of him who had invited them, and
by whom, they had been washed, but about the riches of their
entertainer--
Soft whispering thus to Nestor's son,
His head reclined, young Ithacus begun:
View'st thou unmoved, O ever honour'd most,
These prodigies of art, and wondrous cost?
Such, and not nobler, in the realms above
Are the rich treasures in the dome of Jove.[301:1]
For that, according to Seleucus, is the best reading; and Aristarchus is
wrong when he writes--
Such is the palace of Olympian Jove.
For they are not admiring the beauty of building alone; for how could
there be amber, and silver, and ivory in the walls? But they spoke
partly about the house, as when they used the expression "the sounding
house," for that is the character of large and lofty rooms; and they
spoke also of the furniture--
Above, beneath, around the palace shines
The sumless treasure of exhausted mines;
The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay,
And studded amber darts a golden ray.
So that it is a natural addition to say--
Such are the treasures in the dome of Jove,
Wondrous they are, and awe my heart doth move.
But the statement,
Such is the palace of Olympian Jove,
has no connexion with--
Wondrous they are . . . .
and it would be a pure solecism and a very unusual reading.
15. Besides, the word =aulê= is not adapted to a house; for a place
which the wind blows through is what is called =aulê=. And we say that a
place which receives the wind on both sides =diaulônizei=. And so again,
=aulos= is an instrument through which the wind passes, (namely, a
flute,) and every figure which is stretched out straight we call
=aulos=, as a stadium, or a flow of blood--
Straightway a thick stream (=aulos=) through the nostrils rush'd.
And we call a helmet also, when it rises up in a ridge out of the
centre, =aulôpis=. And at Athens there are some sacred places called
=aulônes=, which are mentioned by Philochorus in his ninth book. And
they use the word in the masculine gender, =hoi aulônes=, as Thucydides
does in his fourth book; and as, in fact, all prose writers do. But the
poets use it in the feminine gender. Carcines says in his Achilles--
=Batheian eis aulôna=--Into a deep ravine which surrounded the army.
And Sophocles, in his Scythians, writes--
The crags and caverns, and the deep ravines
Along the shore (=epaktias aulônas=).
And therefore we ought to understand that it is used as a feminine noun
by Eratosthenes in his Mercury--
A deep ravine runs through (=bathys aulôn=),
instead of =batheia=, just as we find =thêlys eersê=, where =thêlys= is
feminine. Everything of that kind then is called =aulê= or =aulôn=; but
at the present day they call palaces =aulai=, as Menander does--
To haunt palaces (=aulai=) and princes.
And Diphilus says--
To haunt palaces (=aulai=) is, it seems to me,
The conduct of an exile, slave, or beggar.
And they got this name from having large spaces in front of their
buildings exposed to the open air, or else, because the guards of the
palace were stationed, and took their rest in the open air. But Homer
always classes the =aulê= among the places exposed to the air, where the
altar of Jupiter Herceus stood. And so Peleus is found--
I and Ulysses touch'd at Peleus' port;
There, in the centre of his grassy court,
A bull to Jove he slew in sacrifice,
And pour'd libations on the flaming thighs.[302:1]
And so Priam lay:--
In the court-yard amid the dirt he roll'd.[302:2]
And Ulysses says to Phemius--
Thou with the heav'n-taught bard in peace resort,
From blood and carnage, to yon open court.[302:3]
But that Telemachus was praising not only the house, but also the riches
which it contained, is made plain by the reply of Menelaus--
My wars, the copious theme of ev'ry tongue,
To you your fathers have recorded long;
How favouring Heav'n repaid my glorious toils
With a sack'd palace and barbaric spoils.[303:1]
16. But we must return back to the banquet, in which Homer very
ingeniously devises a subject for conversation, by comparing the
acquisition of riches with that of a friend. For he does not put it
forward as a grave proposition for discussion, but Menelaus inserts it
in his conversation very gracefully, after he has heard them praise
himself and his good fortune; not denying that he is rich, but from that
very circumstance deprecating envy, for he says that he has acquired
those riches so that,
When my woes are weigh'd,
Envy will own the purchase dearly paid.[303:2]
He does not indeed think it right to compare himself with the gods--
The monarch took the word, and grave replied--
Presumptuous are the vaunts, and vain the pride
Of man who dares in pomp with Jove contest,
Unchanged, immortal, and supremely blest.
But then, after displaying his affectionate disposition as a brother,
and saying that he is compelled to live and to be rich, he opposes to
this the consideration of friendship--
Oh, had the gods so large a boon denied,
And life, the just equivalent, supplied
To those brave warriors who, with glory fired,
Far from their country in my cause expired.
Who could there be then of the descendants of those men who had died in
his cause, who would not think his grief for the death of his father as
fair a compensation as could be given by grateful recollection? But
still, that he may not appear to look upon them all in the same light,
though they had all equally shown their good-will to him, he adds--
But oh! Ulysses,--deeper than the rest,
That sad idea wounds my anxious breast;
My heart bleeds fresh with agonising pain,
The bowl and tasteful viands tempt in vain.
And that he may not seem to disregard any one of his family he names
them all separately--
Doubtful of his doom,
His good old sire with sorrow to the tomb
Declines his trembling steps; untimely care
Withers the blooming vigour of his heir;
And the chaste partner of his bed and throne
Wastes all her widow'd hours in tender moan.
And while he is weeping at the recollection of his father, Menelaus
observes him; and, in the interim, Helen had come in, and she also
conjectured who Telemachus was from his likeness to Ulysses, (for women,
because of their habit of observing one another's modesty, are
wonderfully clever at detecting the likeness of children to their
parents,) and after Pisistratus had interfered with some observation,
(for it was not fitting for him to stand by like a mute on the stage,)
and said something appropriate and elegant about the modesty of
Telemachus; again Menelaus made mention of his affection for Ulysses,
that of all men in the world he was the one in whose companionship he
wished to grow old.
17. And then, as is natural, they all weep; and Helen, as being the
daughter of Jupiter, and as having learnt of the philosophers in Egypt
many expedients of all kinds, pours into some wine a medicinal panacea,
as it was in reality; and begins to relate some of the exploits of
Ulysses, while working at her loom in the meantime; not doing this so
much for the purpose of amusement, as because she had been bred up in
that way at home. And so Venus, coming to her after the single combat in
the Iliad, takes a form not her own--
To her beset with Trojan beauties, came
In borrow'd form the laughter-loving dame.
She seem'd an ancient maid, well skill'd to cull
The snowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.[304:1]
And her industry is made manifest not in a merely cursory manner, in the
following description--
In this suspense bright Helen graced the room;
Before her breathed a gale of rich perfume;
The seat of majesty Adraste brings,
With art illustrious for the pomp of kings;
To spread the pall, beneath the regal chair,
Of softest woof, is bright Alcippe's care;
A silver canister, divinely wrought,
In her soft hands the beauteous Philo brought;
To Sparta's queen of old the radiant vase
Alcandra gave, a pledge of royal grace,
Sharer of Polybus's high command,
She gave the distaff too to Helen's hand,
And that rich vase with living sculpture wrought,
Which, heap'd with wool, the beauteous Philo brought;
The silken fleece, impurpled for the loom,
Rivall'd the hyacinth in vernal bloom.[305:1]
And she seems to be aware of her own proficiency in the art: at all
events, when she presents Telemachus with a robe, she says--
Accept, dear youth, this monument of love,
Long since, in better days, by Helen wove.
Safe in thy mother's care the vesture lay,
To deck thy bride, and grace thy nuptial day.[305:2]
And that fondness for employment proves her temperance and modesty. For
she is never represented as luxurious or arrogant, because of her
beauty. Accordingly, she is found at her loom weaving and embroidering--
Her in the palace at the loom she found,
The golden web her own sad story crown'd;
The Trojan wars she weaved, (herself the prize,)
And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.[305:3]
18. And Homer teaches us that those who have been invited to a feast,
ought to ask leave of their entertainers before they rise up to depart.
And so Telemachus does to Menelaus--
But now let sleep the painful waste repair,
Of sad reflection and corroding care.[305:4]
And Minerva, when pretending to be Mentor, says to Nestor--
Now immolate the tongues and mix the wine,
Sacred to Neptune and the pow'rs divine:
The lamp of day is quench'd beneath the deep,
And soft approach the balmy hours of sleep;
Nor fits it to prolong the heav'nly feast,
Timeless, indecent; but retire to rest.[305:5]
And in the feasts of the gods it does not appear to have been considered
proper to remain too long at the table. Accordingly, Minerva says, very
sententiously, in Homer--
For now has darkness quench'd the solar light,
And it becomes not gods to feast by night.
And now there is a law in existence that there are some sacrificial
feasts from which men must depart before sunset. And among the Egyptians
formerly every kind of banquet was conducted with great moderation; as
Apollonius has said, who wrote a treatise on the feasts of the
Egyptians; for they ate in a sitting posture, using the very simplest
and most wholesome food; and only just as much wine as was calculated to
put them in cheerful spirits, which is what Pindar entreats of Jupiter--
Oh mighty thund'ring Jove!
Great Saturn's son, lord of the realms above,
That I may be to thee and the nine Muses dear,
That joy my heart may cheer;
This is my prayer, my only prayer to thee.
But the banquet of Plato is not an assembly of grave men, nor a
conversazione of philosophers. For Socrates does not choose to depart
from the banquet, although Eryximachus, and Phædrus, and some others,
have already left it; but he stays till a late hour with Agathon and
Aristophanes, and drinks from the silver well; for fairly has some one
given this name to large cups. And he drinks out of the bowl cleverly,
like a man who is used to it. And Plato says, that after this those two
others began to nod, and that first of all Aristophanes fell asleep, and
when day began to break so did Agathon; and that Socrates, after he had
sent them both to sleep, rose up from table himself and went away to the
Lyceum, when he might, says Herodicus, have gone to Homer's
Læstrygones--
Where he who scorns the chains of sleep to wear,
And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care,
His double toils may claim a double pay,
And join the labours of the night and day.[306:1]
19. But every banqueting party among the ancients was referred to the
gods; and accordingly men wore garlands appropriate and peculiar to the
gods, and used hymns and odes. And there were no slaves to attend upon
the guests, but free youths acted as the cupbearers. So the son of
Menelaus, although he was the bridegroom, and at his own wedding, acted;
and in the poem of the beautiful Sappho, even Mercury acts as the
cupbearer to the gods. And they were free men who prepared everything
else for the guests. And after they had supped they went away while it
was still daylight. But at some of the Persian feasts there were also
councils held, as there were in the tent of Agamemnon with respect to
the further conduct of the Trojan war. Now as to the entertainment given
by Alcinous, to which the discourse of Ulysses refers where he says--
How goodly seems it ever to employ
Man's social days in union and in joy;
The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,
And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine;
The heav'n-taught poet and enchanting strain,
These are the products of a peaceful reign.[307:1]
He refers also especially to his reception of strangers, since the
Phæacians themselves were devoted to luxury: and yet if any one compares
that feast made by Alcinous with the banquets of the philosophers, he
will find that the better regulated of the two; although that also
embraced much cheerfulness and spirit, only not in any unbecoming
manner. For after the exhibition of gymnastics the bard sings--
The loves of Mars,
a certain lay mingled with some ridiculous incidents, and one which
suggested to Ulysses some hints for the slaughter of the suitors; since
Vulcan, even though he was lame, got the better of the most valiant
Mars.
20. And the feasters of that time sat at the table; at all events, Homer
very often says--
Sitting in order on the chairs and couches.
For the word =thronos=, which he uses in this line, when taken by
itself, is a seat such as is used by free men, with a footstool, the
name of which being =thrênys=, from thence they came to call the seat
itself =thronos=, from the verb =thrêsasthai=, which they used for, to
sit; as Philetas says--
To sit (=thrêsasthai=) on the ground under a plane-tree.
But the couch (=klismos=) was more adapted for reclining on; and the
=diphros= is something simpler than these things. Accordingly, in the
book where Ulysses appears as a beggar the servants place for him, as
Homer tells us,
A humble chair (=diphros=), and spread a scanty board.
But their goblets, as their name (=kratêres=) indicates, were supplied
full of wine mixed with water (=kekramenoi=); and the youths ministered
to them from the larger goblets, always, in the case of the most
honourable of the guests, keeping their small cups full; but to the rest
they distributed the wine in equal portions. Accordingly Agamemnon says
to Idomeneus[307:2]--
To thee the foremost honours are decreed,
First in the fight, and every graceful deed;
For this in banquets, when the generous bowls
Restore our blood, and raise our warrior souls,
Though all the rest with stated rules are bound,
Unmix'd, unmeasured are thy goblets crown'd.
And they used to pledge one another, not as we do, (for our custom may
be expressed by the verb =proekpinô= rather than by =propinô=,) but they
drank the entire bumper off--
He fill'd his cup, and pledged great Peleus' son.
And how often they took meat, we have already explained--namely, that
they had three meals, because it is the same meal that was at one time
called =deipnon=, and at another =ariston=. For those men who say that
they used to take four meals a day, are ridiculously ignorant, since the
poet himself says--
But do thou come =deieliêsas=.
And these men do not perceive that this word means, "after having
remained here till evening." But, nevertheless, no one can show in the
poet one instance of any one taking food even three times in the day.
But many men are led into mistakes, placing these verses in the poet all
together--
They wash; the tables in fair order spread,
They heap the glittering canisters with bread,
Viands of various kinds allure the taste,
Of choicest sort and savour; rich repast.[308:1]
For if the housekeeper placed the meats on the table, it is plain that
there was no need for the carver to bring in more, so that some of the
above description is superfluous. But when the guests had departed the
tables were removed, as is done at the feasts of the Suitors and of the
Phæacians, in whose case he says--
The servants bore away the armour of the feast.
And it is plain that he means the dishes, for the word he uses is
=entea=; and it is that part of the armour which covers a man, such as
his breastplate, his greaves, and things like them which men call
=entea=, as being in front (=antia=) of the parts of the body. And of
the rooms in the palaces of the heroes, those which were larger Homer
calls =megara=, and =dômata=, and even =klisias= (tents). But the
moderns call them =andrônes= (rooms to receive men) and =xenônes=
(strangers' apartments).
21. What then, my friends, shall we call the entertainment which
Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes, (but who was more rightly called
Epimanes[308:2] from his actions,) gave? Now he was king of the
Syrians, being one of the Seleucidæ. And Polybius says of him, "He,
escaping out of the palace without the knowledge of the attendants, was
often found with one or two companions wandering about the city wherever
he might chance to take it into his head to go. And he was, above all
other places, frequently found at the shops of the engravers of silver
and of the goldsmiths, conversing on the subject of their inventions
with, and inquiring into the principles of their art from, the engravers
and other artists. And besides this, he often used to go among the
common people, conversing with whomsoever he might chance to meet; and
he would drink with the lowest and poorest strangers. And whenever he
heard of any young men having a banquet, without having given any notice
of his intention, he would come to join in their feast with a flute and
music, behaving in a most lascivious manner; so that many used to rise
up and depart, being alarmed at his strange behaviour. Often, also, he
would lay aside his royal robes, and put on a common cloak, and so go
round the market, like a man who was a candidate for some office: and
taking some people by the hand, and embracing others, he would solicit
them to vote for him, sometimes begging to be made ædile, and sometimes
tribune; and when he was elected, sitting in his ivory curule chair,
according to the fashion which prevails among the Romans, he would hear
all the causes which were pleaded in the forum, and decide them with
great attention and earnestness, by which conduct he greatly perplexed
sensible men. For some thought him a man of very simple tastes, and
others considered him mad. And his conduct with respect to presents was
very much the same. For he would give some people dice of antelope's
bones, and some he would present with dates, and to others he would give
gold. And even if he met people in the street whom he had never seen, he
would give them presents unexpectedly. And in his sacrifices, which were
offered up in the different cities, and in the honours offered to the
gods, he surpassed all the kings who had ever existed. And any one may
conjecture this from the temple raised to Olympian Jupiter at Athens,
and from the statues around the altar at Delos. And he used to bathe in
the public baths, often when they were completely full of the citizens,
and then he would have earthen pans of the most expensive perfumes
brought to him. And on one of these occasions, when some one said to
him, "Happy are you kings, who use all these things and smell so sweet,"
he made the man no answer at the time; but coming the next day to the
place where he was bathing, he caused him to have a pan of the largest
size of that most precious ointment called =staktê= poured over his
head, so that when that had been done, every one near got up and
hastened to get a little of the ointment, and as they fell down in their
haste, by reason of the slipperiness of the floor, every one laughed, as
did the king himself.
22. "And this same king," continues Polybius, "having heard of the games
which had been celebrated in Macedonia by Æmilius Paullus the Roman
general, wishing to surpass Paullus in his magnificence and liberality,
sent ambassadors and theori to the different cities to proclaim that
games were going to be exhibited by him at Daphne, so that the Greeks
all hastened with great eagerness to come to him to see them. And the
beginning of the exhibition was a splendid procession, arranged in this
way:--Some men led the way armed in the Roman fashion, in breastplates
of chain armour, all men in the flower of their youth, to the number of
five thousand; immediately after them, five thousand Mysians followed;
and then three thousand Cilicians, armed in the fashion of light-armed
skirmishers, having golden crowns; and after them three thousand
Thracians and five thousand Galatians; these were followed by twenty
thousand Macedonians, and by five thousand men armed with brazen
shields, and as many more with silver shields; they were followed by two
hundred and forty pair of gladiators to fight in single combat; behind
these came a thousand Nisæan cavalry, and three thousand men of the city
guard, the greatest part of whom had golden trappings and golden crowns,
but some had silver trappings; to these succeeded the cavalry who are
called the King's Companions; these amounted to one thousand men, all
equipped with golden trappings; next to these was the battalion of the
King's Friends, of the same number and the same equipment; after these a
thousand picked men; and they were followed by what was called the
Agema, which was considered to be the most excellent squadron of all the
cavalry, to the number of a thousand men; last of all came the Fenced
Cavalry, having its name from the fact that both men and horses were
completely enveloped in armour; they were in number fifteen hundred men.
And all the above-mentioned soldiers had purple cloaks, and many had
them also embroidered with gold or painted with figures of living
animals. Besides all this, there were a hundred chariots with six
horses, and forty with four horses; then a chariot drawn by four
elephants, and another by two; and last of all, six-and-thirty
elephants, all handsomely appointed, followed one by one.
23. "The rest of the procession was such as it is difficult adequately
to describe, and it must be enumerated in a summary manner. For youths
walked in the procession to the number of eight hundred, all having
golden crowns; and fat oxen to the number of one thousand; and
deputations to see to the performance of separate sacrifices, very
little short of three hundred; and there were eight hundred elephants'
teeth carried by, and such a multitude of statues as it is beyond any
one's power to enumerate. For images were carried in the procession of
all who are ever said or thought by men to be gods, or deities, or
demigods, or heroes; some gilt all over, and some arrayed in
golden-broidered robes. And to all of them suitable inscriptions
according to the accounts commonly received of them were attached,
carved in the most expensive materials. And they were followed by an
image of Night and another of Day; and of the Earth, and of Heaven, and
of Morning, and of Noon. And the vast quantity of gold plate and silver
plate was such as perhaps a man may form a guess at from the following
account. For a thousand slaves belonging to Dionysius the secretary and
amanuensis of the king joined in the procession, each carrying articles
of silver plate, of which there was not one weighing less than a
thousand drachmæ. And there were six hundred slaves belonging to the
king himself, carrying articles of gold plate. And besides them there
were women to the number of two hundred sprinkling every one with
perfumes out of golden waterpots. And they were succeeded by eighty
women magnificently apparelled, borne on palanquins with golden feet,
and five hundred borne on palanquins with silver feet. And this was the
most important portion of the procession.
24. "But after the games were over and the single combats and the
hunting, during the whole thirty days which he exhibited these shows, on
the first five days every one who came into the gymnasium was anointed
with a saffron perfume shed upon him out of golden dishes. And there
were fifteen of these golden dishes, full of equal quantities of
cinnamon and spikenard. And in a similar manner in the five next days
there was brought in essence of fenugreek, and of amaracus, and of
lilies, all differing in their scent; and some days there were laid a
thousand triclinia for the banquet; and some days fifteen hundred, all
laid in the most expensive possible manner. And the arrangement of the
whole business was superintended by the king himself. For having a very
fine horse he went up and down the whole procession, commanding some to
advance, and others to halt. And stopping at the entrances of the rooms
where the drinking was going on he brought some in, and to others he
assigned places on the couches. And he himself conducted in the
attendants who brought in the second course. And he went round the whole
banquet, sometimes sitting down in one place, and presently lying down
in another place. And sometimes even while he was eating he would lay
down what he was eating or his cup, and jump up, and go away to another
part of the room. And he would go all round the company, at times,
pledging some of the guests in a standing posture; and at times
entertaining himself with the jesters or with the music. And when the
entertainment had lasted a long time and many of the guests had gone
away, then the king would be brought in by buffoons, all covered up, and
laid on the ground as if he had been one of their band. And when the
music excited him, he would jump up and dance, and act with the mummers,
so that every one felt ashamed for him and fled away. And all this was
done partly with the treasure which he brought out of Egypt, having
plundered Ptolemy Philometor the king there, in defiance of his treaty
with him when he was but a little boy; and some of the money too was
contributed by his friends. And he had also sacrilegiously plundered
most of the temples in his dominions."
25. And while all the guests marvelled at the conduct of the king,
seeing that he was not illustrious but absolutely mad, Masurius brought
forward Callixenus the Rhodian, who in the fourth book of his History
of Alexandria has given an account of a spectacle and procession which
was exhibited by that most admirable of all monarchs, Ptolemy
Philadelphus. And he says--"But before I begin, I will give a
description of the tent which was prepared within the circuit of the
citadel, apart from the place provided for the reception of the
soldiers, and artisans, and foreigners. For it was wonderfully
beautiful, and worth hearing about. Its size was such as to be able to
hold a hundred and thirty couches placed in a circle, and it was
furnished in the following manner:--There were wooden pillars at
intervals, five on each side of the tent longwise, fifty cubits high,
and something less than one cubit broad. And on these pillars at the top
was a capital, of square figure, carefully fitted, supporting the whole
weight of the roof of the banqueting room. And over this was spread in
the middle a scarlet veil with a white fringe, like a canopy; and on
each side it had beams covered over with turreted veils, with white
centres, on which canopies embroidered all over the centre were placed.
And of the pillars four were made to resemble palm-trees, and they had
in the centre a representation of thyrsi. And on the outside of these a
portico ran, adorned with a peristyle on three sides, with a vaulted
roof. And in this place it was intended that the company of the feasters
should sit down. And the interior of it was surrounded with scarlet
curtains. But in the middle of the space there were strange hides of
beasts, strange both as to their variegated colour and their size,
suspended. And the part which surrounded this portico in the open air
was shaded by myrtle-trees and daphnes, and other suitable shrubs. And
the whole floor was strewed with flowers of every description. For
Egypt, on account of the temperate character of the atmosphere which
surrounds it, and on account of the fondness of the inhabitants for
gardening, produces in great abundance, and all the year round, those
things which in other countries are rarely found, and only at particular
seasons. And roses, and white lilies, and numberless other flowers are
never wanting in that country. On which account, though this
entertainment took place in the middle of winter, still there was a show
of flowers which was quite incredible to the foreigners. For flowers of
which one could not easily have found enough to make one chaplet in any
other city were supplied in the greatest abundance here, to make
chaplets for every one of the guests at this entertainment, and were
strewed thickly over the whole floor of the tent; so as really to give
the appearance of a most divine meadow.
26. "And by the posts round the entire tent there were placed animals
carved in marble by the first artists, a hundred in number. And in the
spaces between the posts there were pictures hung by the Sicyonian
painters; and alternately with these there were carefully selected
images of every kind; and garments embroidered with gold, and most
exquisite cloaks, some of them having portraits of the kings of Egypt
embroidered on them; and some, stories taken from the mythology. Above
them were placed gold and silver shields alternately; and on the spaces
above these shields, which were eight cubits high, caves were made, six
on each side of the tent longwise, and four at each end. There were
likewise in them representations of eating parties opposite to one
another, of tragic, and comic, and satyric animals, having on real
clothes. And before them were placed golden goblets. And in the middle
of the caves were placed nymphæa, and on them there lay golden Delphian
tripods, having pedestals of their own. And along the highest part of
the roof were golden eagles all facing one another, each fifteen cubits
large. There were also golden couches, with feet made like sphinxes, on
the two sides of the tent, a hundred on each side. For the front of the
tent was left open. And under these there were strewed purple carpets of
the finest wool, with the carpet pattern on both sides. And there were
handsomely embroidered rugs very beautifully elaborated on them. Besides
this, thin Persian cloths covered all the centre space where the guests
walked, having most accurate representations of animals embroidered on
them. And by them were placed tripods for the guests, made of gold, two
hundred in number, so that there were two for every couch, and they
rested on silver pedestals. And behind, out of sight, there were a
hundred flat dishes of silver, and an equal number of lavers. On the
opposite side of the sitting-room there was fixed another sideboard,
opposite to that on which the cups and goblets were placed; and on that
were all the rest of the things which had been prepared for, or could
come into use. And they were all made of gold, and studded with precious
stones; admirably carved and wrought. And it has appeared to me too
long a task to undertake to enumerate every article of the furniture,
and even all the different kinds separately. But the entire weight of
all the plate and valuables there exhibited came to ten thousand
talents.
27. "But now that we have gone over everything that was to be seen in
the tent, we will proceed to the shows and processions exhibited. For it
passed through the stadium which there is in the city. And first of all
went the procession of Lucifer. For it began at the time when that star
first appears. After that came the procession which bore the name of the
parents of the kings. And next came the processions sacred to all the
gods respectively, each having an arrangement appropriate to the history
of each separate deity. Last of all came the procession of Hesperus, as
the hour of that one starting coincided with that time. But if any one
wishes to know the separate particulars, he may take the description of
the quinquennial games and consider them. But in the Dionysiac
procession first of all there went the Sileni who keep off the
multitude, some clad in purple cloaks, and some in scarlet ones. And
these were followed by Satyrs, twenty in each division of the stadium,
bearing gilded lamps made of ivy-wood. And after them came images of
Victory, having golden wings, and they bore in their hands
incense-burners six cubits in height, adorned with branches made of
ivy-wood and gold, clad in tunics embroidered with figures of animals,
and they themselves also had a great deal of golden ornament about them.
And after them there followed an altar of six cubits in height, a double
altar, covered all over with ivy-leaves gilded, having a crown of
vine-leaves on it all gold, enveloped in bandages with white centres.
And that was followed by boys in purple tunics, bearing frankincense,
and myrrh, and saffron, on golden dishes. And after them came forty
Satyrs, crowned with ivy-garlands made of gold. And they were painted as
to their bodies, some with purple, some with vermilion, and some with
other colours. And these also wore each a golden crown made to imitate
vine-leaves and ivy-leaves. And after them came two Sileni in purple
cloaks and white fringes to them. And one of them had a petasus and a
golden caduceus, and the other had a trumpet. And between them went a
man of gigantic size, four cubits high, in a tragical dress and
ornaments, bearing the golden horn of Amalthea. And his name was
Eniautos.[316:1] And he was followed by a woman of great beauty and of
more than ordinary size, adorned with quantities of gold and a superb
dress; bearing in one of her hands a garland of peach blossoms, and in
her other hand a branch of the palm-tree. And she was called
Penteteris.[316:2] And she was succeeded by the Four Seasons dressed in
character, and each of them bearing its appropriate fruits. Next to them
came two incense-burners made of ivy-wood, covered with gold, and six
cubits in height, and a large square golden altar in the middle of them.
And then again Satyrs, having garlands of ivy-leaves made of gold, and
clad in purple robes. And some of them bore golden wine-jars, and others
bore goblets. After them marched Philiscus the poet, being a priest of
Bacchus, and with him all the artisans who were concerned in the service
of Bacchus. And next to them were carried the Delphian tripods, as
prizes for the trainers of the athletes; the one for the trainer of the
boys nine cubits in height, and the other, twelve cubits in height, for
the trainer of the men.
28. "After them was a four-wheeled wagon fourteen cubits long, and eight
cubits wide; and it was drawn by a hundred and eighty men; and in it was
placed an image of Bacchus ten cubits high, pouring libations of wine
out of a golden goblet, having on a purple tunic reaching down to the
feet; and he was clad in a purple garment embroidered with gold; and in
front of him there lay a golden Lacedæmonian goblet, holding fifteen
measures of wine, and a golden tripod, in which was a golden
incense-burner, and two golden bowls, full of cassia and saffron; and a
shade covered it round adorned with ivy-leaves, and vine-leaves, and all
sorts of other green leaves; and to it were fastened chaplets, and
fillets, and thyrsi, and drums, and turbans, and satyric and comic and
tragic masks. And the wagon was followed by priests and priestesses, and
newly initiated votaries, and by companies of every nation, and by
people bearing the mystic fan. And after this came the Bacchanalian
women, called Macetæ, and Mimallones, and Bassaræ, and Lydians, with
dishevelled hair, and wearing garlands, some of snakes, and others of
branches of yew and of vine-leaves and ivy-leaves, and some held
daggers in their hands, and others held snakes. And after them another
four-wheeled wagon was drawn, of the width of eight cubits, and it was
drawn by sixty men; and in it was a statue of Nysa, of eight cubits
high, in a sitting posture, clothed in a box-coloured tunic embroidered
with gold, and it was also clad in a Laconian cloak; and this statue
rose up by mechanism, without any one applying his hand to it; and it
poured libations of milk out of a golden bottle, and then it sat down
again; and in its left hand it bore a thyrsus wrapped round with
turbans, and it was crowned with a garland of ivy-leaves, made of gold,
and with gorgeous bunches of grapes inlaid with precious stones; and it
had a parasol over it; and on the corners of the wagon were fastened
four golden lamps.
"And next to that another four-wheeled wagon was drawn along, twenty
cubits in length and sixteen in width, and it was drawn by three hundred
men. And on it there was a wine-press twenty-four cubits in length and
fifteen in breadth, full of grapes; and sixty Satyrs were trampling on
the grapes, singing a song in praise of the wine-press, to the music of
a flute. And Silenus presided over them; and the new wine ran out over
the whole road. Next to that was drawn along a wagon, twenty-five cubits
long and fourteen broad; and that was drawn by six hundred men. And on
this wagon was a sack holding three thousand measures of wine,
consisting of leopards' skins, sewn together. And this too allowing its
liquor to escape, gradually flowed over the whole road. And it was
followed by Satyri and Sileni, to the number of a hundred and twenty,
all wearing garlands, and carrying some casks of wine, and some bowls,
and some large Thericlean goblets, all made of gold.
29. And next to that was carried a silver vessel containing six hundred
measures of wine, being drawn on a four-wheeled wagon by six hundred
men. And under its lips, and under its ears, and under its bottom, it
had figures of animals engraved; and in the middle it was crowned with a
golden crown, inlaid with precious stones. Next to that there were
carried two silver goblets, twelve cubits in circumference and six
cubits in height; and these had figures standing out in relief above,
and also on their round parts all round. And on their feet they had
chased figures of animals two cubits and a half long and a cubit high,
in great numbers: and ten large bathing-vessels, and sixteen ewers, of
which the larger ones contained thirty measures, and the smaller ones
five; then six kettles, and twenty-four banoti,[318:1] on five
side-boards; and two silver wine-presses, on which were twenty-four
urns; and a table of solid silver twelve cubits round; and thirty other
tables six cubits each in circumference: and in addition to this, four
tripods, one of which was sixteen cubits in circumference, and was made
entirely of silver; but the other three, which were less, were studded
with precious stones in the middle. And after these there were carried
some Delphic tripods, made of silver, eighty in number, smaller than
those previously described, being also of a square, or four-cornered
shape. And six-and-twenty water-cans, and sixteen Panathenaic jars, and
a hundred and sixty wine-coolers, the largest of which contained six
measures, and the smallest contained two; and all these were made of
silver.
30. "And next to them, those men followed in the procession who carried
the articles of gold-plate,--four Lacedæmonian goblets, having crowns on
them made to represent vine-leaves, each containing four measures; and
two of Corinthian workmanship placed on sideboards, and these had
figures of animals in richly chased work of great beauty, in a sitting
posture, and on their necks and on their bellies were other reliefs
curiously wrought, and each of them contained eight measures. And there
was a wine-press in which there were ten urns, and two jars, each
holding five measures, and two flagons, each holding two measures, and
twenty-two wine-coolers, the largest of which contained thirty measures,
and the smallest one measure. There were also exhibited four large
golden tripods, and a large sideboard for gold plate, that being also
made of gold itself and studded with precious stones, ten cubits in
height, having six rows of shelves in it, on which were figures of
animals of the size of four palms, most exquisitely wrought, in very
great numbers; and two goblets, and two crystal goblets mounted in gold;
and four more sideboards, two of them four cubits high; and three others
which were smaller, and ten water-cans, and an altar three cubits high,
and twenty-five dishes for holding barley loaves.