Crates uses the word =episitios= in his Deeds of Daring, saying--

He feeds his messmate (=episition=) while he shivers thus

In Megabyzus' house, and he will have

Food for his wages.

And he also uses the word in a peculiar sense in his Women dining

together, where he says--

It is a well-bred custom not to assemble

A crowd of women, nor to feast a multitude;

But to make a domestic (=oikositous=) wedding feast.

And the word =sitokouros= is used by Alexis, in his Woman sitting up all

Night or the Weavers--

You will be but a walking bread-devourer (=sitokouros=)

And Menander calls a man who is useless, and who lives to no purpose,

=sitokouros=, in his Thrasyleon, saying--

A lazy ever-procrastinating fellow,

A =sitokouros=, miserable, useless,

Owning himself a burden on the earth.

And in his Venal People he says--

Wretch, you were standing at the door the while,

Having laid down your burden; while, for us,

We took the wretched =sitokouros= in.

And Crobylus used the word =autositos= (bringing one's own provisions),

in The Man hanged--

A parasite =autositos=, feeding himself,

You do contribute much to aid your master.

And Eubulus has the word =kakositos= (eating badly, having no appetite),

in his Ganymede--

Sleep nourishes him since he's no appetite (=kakositos=).

And the word =oligositos= (a sparing eater) occurs in Phrynichus, in his

The solitary Man--

What does that sparing eater (=oligositos=) Hercules there?

And Pherecrates, or Strattis, in his Good Men--

How sparingly you eat, who in one day

Swallow the food of an entire trireme.

53. When Plutarch had said all this about parasites, Democritus, taking

up the discourse, said, And I myself, 'like wood well-glued to wood,' as

the Theban poet has it, will say a word about flatterers.

For of all men the flatterer fares best,

as the excellent Menander says. And there is no great difference between

calling a man a flatterer and a parasite. Accordingly, Lynceus the

Samian, in his Commentaries, gives the name of parasite to Cleisophus,

the man who is universally described as the flatterer of Philip, the

king of the Macedonians (but he was an Athenian by birth, as Satyrus the

Peripatetic affirms, in his Life of Philip). And Lynceus

says--"Cleisophus, the parasite of Philip, when Philip rebuked him for

being continually asking for something, replied, 'I am very forgetful.'

Afterwards, when Philip had given him a wounded horse, he sold him; and

when, after a time, the king asked him what had become of him, he

answered, 'He was sold by that wound of his.' And when Philip laughed at

him, and took it good-humouredly, he said, 'Is it not then worth my

while to keep you?'" And Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries,

makes this mention of Cleisophus:--"When Philip the king said that

writings had been brought to him from Cotys, king of Thrace, Cleisophus,

who was present, said, 'It is well, by the gods.' And when Philip said,

'But what do you know of the subjects mentioned in these writings?' he

said, 'By the great Jupiter, you have reproved me with admirable

judgment.'"

54. But Satyrus, in his Life of Philip, says, "When Philip lost his eye,

Cleisophus came forth with him, with bandages on the same eye as the

king; and again, when his leg was hurt, he came out limping, along with

the king. And if ever Philip ate any harsh or sour food, he would

contract his features, as if he, too, had the same taste in his mouth.

But in the country of the Arabs they used to do these things, not out of

flattery, but in obedience to some law; so that whenever the king had

anything the matter with any one of his limbs, the courtiers pretended

to be suffering the same inconvenience: for they think it ridiculous to

be willing to be buried with him when he dies, but not to pay him the

compliment of appearing to be subject to the same sufferings as he is

while alive, if he sustains any injury." But Nicolaus of Damascus,--and

he was one of the Peripatetic school,--in his very voluminous history

(for it consisted of a hundred and forty-four books), in the hundred and

eleventh book says, that Adiatomus the king of the Sotiani (and that is

a Celtic tribe) had six hundred picked men about him, who were called by

the Gauls, in their national language, Siloduri--which word means in

Greek, Bound under a vow. "And the king has them as companions, to live

with him and to die with him; as that is the vow which they all take. In

return for which, they also share his power, and wear the same dress,

and eat the same food; and they die when he dies, as a matter of

absolute necessity, if the king dies of any disease; or if he dies in

war, or in any other manner. And no one can even say that any of them

has shown any fear of death, or has in the least sought to evade it when

the king is dead."

55. But Theopompus says, in the forty-fourth book of his Histories,

that Philip appointed Thrasydæus the Thessalian tyrant over all those of

his nation, though a man who had but little intellect, but who was an

egregious flatterer. But Arcadion the Achæan was not a flatterer, who is

mentioned by the same Theopompus, and also by Duris in the fifth book of

his History of Macedonian Affairs. Now this Arcadion hated Philip, and

on account of this hatred voluntarily banished himself from his country.

And he was a man of the most admirable natural abilities, and numbers of

clever sayings of his are related. It happened then once, when Philip

was sojourning at Delphi, that Arcadion also was there; and the

Macedonian beheld him and called him to him, and said, How much further,

O Arcadion, do you mean to go by way of banishment? And he replied--

Until I meet with men who know not Philip.

But Phylarchus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says that

Philip laughed at this, and invited Arcadion to supper, and that in that

way he got rid of his enmity. But of Nicesias the flatterer of

Alexander, Hegesander gives the following account:--"When Alexander

complained of being bitten by the flies and was eagerly brushing them

off, a man of the name of Nicesias, one of his flatterers who happened

to be present, said,--Beyond all doubt those flies will be far superior

to all other flies, now that they have tasted your blood." And the same

man says that Cheirisophus also, the flatterer of Dionysius, when he saw

Dionysius laughing with some of his acquaintances, (but he was some way

off himself, so that he could not hear what they were laughing at,)

laughed also. And when Dionysius asked him on what account he, who could

not possibly hear what was said, laughed, said--I feel that confidence

in you that I am quite sure that what has been said is worth laughing

at.

56. His son also, the second Dionysius, had numerous flatterers, who

were called by the common people Dionysiocolaces. And they, because

Dionysius himself was not very sharp sighted, used to pretend while at

supper not to be able to see very far, but they would touch whatever was

near them as if they could not see it, until Dionysius himself guided

their hands to the dishes. And when Dionysius spat, they would often put

out their own faces for him to spit upon: and then licking off the

spittle and even his vomit, they declared that it was sweeter than

honey. And Timæus, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, says that

Democles the flatterer of the younger Dionysius, as it was customary in

Sicily to make a sacrifice from house to house in honour of the nymphs,

and for men to spend the night around their statues when quite drunk,

and to dance around the goddesses--Democles neglecting the nymphs, and

saying that there was no use in attending to lifeless deities, went and

danced before Dionysius. And at a subsequent time being once sent on an

embassy with some colleagues to Dion, when they were all proceeding in a

trireme, he being accused by the rest of behaving in a seditious manner

in respect of this journey, and of having injured the general interests

of Dionysius, when Dionysius was very indignant, he said that

differences had arisen between himself and his colleagues, because after

supper they took a pæan of Phrynichus or Stesichorus, and some of them

took one of Pindar's and sang it; but he, with those who agreed with

him, went entirely through the hymns which had been composed by

Dionysius himself. And he undertook to bring forward undeniable proof of

this assertion. For that his accusers were not acquainted with the

modulation of those songs, but that he on the contrary was ready to sing

them all through one after the other. And so, when Dionysius was

pacified, Democles continued, and said, "But you would do me a great

favour, O Dionysius, if you were to order any one of those who knows it

to teach me the pæan which you composed in honour of Æsculapius; for I

hear that you have taken great pains with that."

And once, when some friends were invited to supper by Dionysius,

Dionysius coming into the room, said, "O, my friends, letters have been

sent to us from the generals who have been despatched to Naples;" and

Democles interrupting him, said, "By the gods, they have done well, O

Dionysius." And he, looking upon him, said, "But how do you know whether

what they have written is in accordance with my expectation or the

contrary?" And Democles replied, "By the gods, you have properly rebuked

me, O Dionysius." Timæus also affirms that there was a man named

Satyrus, who was a flatterer of both the Dionysii.

57. And Hegesander relates that Hiero the tyrant was also rather weak

in his eyes; and that his friends who supped with him made mistakes in

the dishes on purpose, in order to let him set them right, and to give

him an opportunity of appearing clearer-sighted than the rest. And

Hegesander says that Euclides, who was surnamed Seutlus, (and he too was

a parasite,) once when a great quantity of sow-thistles (=sonkos=) was

set before him at a banquet, said, "Capaneus, who is introduced by

Euripides in his Suppliant Women, was a very witty man--

Detesting tables where there was too much pride (=onkos=).

But those who were the leaders of the people at Athens, says he, in the

Chremonidean war, flattered the Athenians, and said, "that everything

else was common to all the Greeks; but that the Athenians were the only

men who knew the road which leads to heaven." And Satyrus, in his Lives,

says that Anaxarchus, the Eudæmonical philosopher, was one of the

flatterers of Alexander; and that he once, when on a journey in company

with the king, when a violent and terrible thunderstorm took place, so

as to frighten everybody, said--"Was it you, O Alexander, son of

Jupiter, who caused this?" And that he laughed and said--"Not I; for I

do not wish to be formidable, as you make me out; you also desire me to

have brought to me at supper the heads of satraps and kings." And

Aristobulus of Cassandria says that Dioxippus the Athenian, a

pancratiast, once when Alexander was wounded and when the blood flowed,

said--

'Tis ichor, such as flows from the blessed gods.

58. And Epicrates the Athenian, having gone on an embassy to the king,

according to the statement of Hegesander, and having received many

presents from him, was not ashamed to flatter the king openly and

boldly, so as even to say that the best way was not to choose nine

archons every year, but nine ambassadors to the king. But I wonder at

the Athenians, how they allowed him to make such a speech without

bringing him to trial, and yet fined Demades ten talents, because he

thought Alexander a god; and they put Evagoras to death, because when he

went as ambassador to the king he adored him. And Timon the Phliasian,

in the third book of his Silli, says that Ariston the Chian, an

acquaintance and pupil of Zeno the Citiean, was a flatterer of Persæus

the philosopher, because he was a companion of Antigonus the king. But

Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that Nicesias the

flatterer of Alexander, when he saw the king in convulsions from some

medicine which he had taken, said--"O king, what must we do, when even

you gods suffer in this manner?" and that Alexander, scarcely looking

up, said--"What sort of gods? I am afraid rather we are hated by the

gods." And in his twenty-eighth book the same Phylarchus says that

Apollophanes was a flatterer of Antigonus who was surnamed Epitropus,

who took Lacedæmon, and who used to say that the fortune of Antigonus

Alexandrized.

59. But Euphantus, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that

Callicrates was a flatterer of Ptolemy, the third king of Egypt, who was

so subtle a flatterer that he not only bore an image of Ulysses on his

seal, but that he also gave his children the names of Telegonus, and

Anticlea. And Polybius, in the thirteenth book of his Histories, says

that Heraclides the Tarentine was a flatterer of the Philip whose power

was destroyed by the Romans; and that it was he who overturned his whole

kingdom. And in his fourteenth book, he says that Philo was a flatterer

of Agathocles the son of Oenanthe, and the companion of the king

Ptolemy Philopator. And Baton of Sinope relates, in his book about the

tyranny of Hieronymus, that Thraso, who was surnamed Carcharus, was the

flatterer of Hieronymus the tyrant of Syracuse, saying that he every day

used to drink a great quantity of unmixed wine. But another flatterer,

by name Osis, caused Thraso to be put to death by Hieronymus; and he

persuaded Hieronymus himself to assume the diadem, and the purple and

all the rest of the royal apparel, which Dionysius the tyrant was

accustomed to wear. And Agatharchides, in the thirtieth book of his

Histories, says--"Hæresippus the Spartan was a man of no moderate

iniquity, not even putting on any appearance of goodness; but having

very persuasive flattering language, and being a very clever man at

paying court to the rich as long as their fortune lasted. Such also was

Heraclides the Maronite, the flatterer of Seuthes the king of the

Thracians, who is mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the

Anabasis.

60. But Theopompus, in the eighteenth book of his Histories, speaking of

Nicostratus the Argive, and saying how he flattered the Persian king,

writes as follows--"But how can we think Nicostratus the Argive anything

but a wicked man? who, when he was president of the city of Argos, and

when he had received all the distinctions of family, and riches, and

large estates from his ancestors, surpassed all men in his flatteries

and attentions to the king, outrunning not only those who bore a part in

that expedition, but even all who had lived before; for in the first

place, he was so anxious for honours from the barbarian, that, wishing

to please him more and to be more trusted by him, he brought his son to

the king, a thing which no one else will ever be found to have done. And

then, every day when he was about to go to supper he had a table set

apart, to which he gave the name of the Table of the King's Deity,

loading it with meat and all other requisites; hearing that those who

live at the doors of the royal palace among the Persians do the same

thing, and thinking that by this courtier-like attention he should get

more from the king. For he was exceedingly covetous, and not scrupulous

as to the means he employed for getting money, so that indeed no one was

ever less so. And Lysimachus was a flatterer and the tutor of Attalus

the king, a man whom Callimachus sets down as a Theodorean, but

Hermippus sets him down in the list of the disciples of Theophrastus.

And this man wrote books also about the education of Attalus, full of

every kind of adulation imaginable. But Polybius, in the eighth book of

his Histories, says, "Cavarus the Gaul, who was in other respects a good

man, was depraved by Sostratus the flatterer, who was a Chalcedonian by

birth."

61. Nicolaus, in the hundred and fourteenth book of his Histories, says

that Andromachus of Carrhæ was a flatterer of Licinius Crassus, who

commanded the expedition against the Parthians; and that Crassus

communicated all his designs to him, and was, in consequence, betrayed

to the Parthians by him, and so destroyed. But Andromachus was not

allowed by the deity to escape unpunished. For having obtained, as the

reward of his conduct, the sovereignty over his native place Carrhæ, he

behaved with such cruelty and violence that he was burnt with his whole

family by the Carrhans. And Posidonius the Apamean, who was afterwards

surnamed Rhodius, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Hierax

of Antioch, who used formerly to accompany the singers called Lysiodi

on the flute, afterwards became a terrible flatterer of Ptolemy, seventh

king of Egypt of that name, who was also surnamed Euergetes; and that he

had the very greatest influence over him, as also he had with Ptolemy

Philometor, though he was afterwards put to death by him. And Nicolaus

the Peripatetic states that Sosipater was a flatterer of Mithridates, a

man who was by trade a conjurer. And Theopompus, in the ninth book of

his History of Grecian Affairs, says that Athenæus the Eretrian was a

flatterer and servant of Sisyphus the tyrant of Pharsalus.

62. The whole populace of the Athenians, too, was very notorious for the

height to which it pushed its flattery; accordingly, Demochares the

cousin of Demosthenes the orator, in the twentieth book of his

Histories, speaking of the flattery practised by the Athenians towards

Demetrius Poliorcetes, and saying that he himself did not at all like

it, writes as follows--"And some of these things annoyed him greatly, as

they well might. And, indeed, other parts of their conduct were utterly

mean and disgraceful. They consecrated temples to Leæna Venus and Lamia

Venus, and they erected altars and shrines as if to heroes, and

instituted libations in honour of Burichus, and Adeimantus, and

Oxythemis, his flatterers. And poems were sung in honour of all these

people, so that even Demetrius himself was astonished at what they did,

and said that in his time there was not one Athenian of a great or

vigorous mind." The Thebans also flattered Demetrius, as Polemo relates

in the treatise on the Ornamented Portico at Sicyon; and they, too,

erected a temple to Lamia Venus. But she was one of Demetrius's

mistresses, as also was Leæna. So that why should we wonder at the

Athenians, who stooped even to become flatterers of flatterers, singing

pæans and hymns to Demetrius himself?

Accordingly Demochares, in the twenty-first book of his Histories,

says--"And the Athenians received Demetrius when he came from Leucadia

and Corcyra to Athens, not only with frankincense, and crowns, and

libations of wine, but they even went out to meet him with hymns, and

choruses, and ithyphalli, and dancing and singing, and they stood in

front of him in multitudes, dancing and singing, and saying that he was

the only true god, and that all the rest of the gods were either asleep,

or gone away to a distance, or were no gods at all. And they called him

the son of Neptune and Venus, for he was eminent for beauty, and affable

to all men with a natural courtesy and gentleness of manner. And they

fell at his feet and addressed supplications and prayers to him."

63. Demochares, then, has said all this about the adulatory spirit and

conduct of the Athenians. And Duris the Samian, in the twenty-second

book of his Histories, has given the very ithyphallic hymn which they

addressed to him--

Behold the greatest of the gods and dearest

Are come to this city,

For here Demeter[398:1] and Demetrius are

Present in season.

She indeed comes to duly celebrate

The sacred mysteries

Of her most holy daughter--he is present

Joyful and beautiful,

As a god ought to be, with smiling face

Showering his blessings round.

How noble doth he look! his friends around,

Himself the centre.

His friends resemble the bright lesser stars,

Himself is Phoebus.

Hail, ever-mighty Neptune's mightier son;

Hail, son of Venus.

For other gods do at a distance keep,

Or have no ears,

Or no existence; and they heed not us--

But you are present,

Not made of wood or stone, a genuine god.

We pray to thee.

First of all give us peace, O dearest god--

For you are lord of peace--

And crush for us yourself, for you've the power,

This odious Sphinx;

Which now destroys not Thebes alone, but Greece--

The whole of Greece--

I mean th' Ætolian, who, like her of old,

Sits on a rock,

And tears and crushes all our wretched bodies.

Nor can we him resist.

For all th' Ætolians plunder all their neighbours;

And now they stretch afar

Their lion hands; but crush them, mighty lord,

Or send some Oedipus

Who shall this Sphinx hurl down from off his precipice,

Or starve him justly.

64. This is what was sung by the nation which once fought at Marathon,

and they sang it not only in public, but in their private houses--men

who had once put a man to death for offering adoration to the king of

Persia, and who had slain countless myriads of barbarians. Therefore,

Alexis, in his Apothecary or Cratevas, introduces a person pledging one

of the guests in a cup of wine, and represents him as saying--

Boy, give a larger cup, and pour therein

Four cyathi of strong and friendly drink,

In honour of all present. Then you shall add

Three more for love; one for the victory,

The glorious victory of King Antigonus,

Another for the young Demetrius.

* * * * *

And presently he adds--

Bring a third cup in honour now of Venus,

The lovely Venus. Hail, my friends and guests;

I drink this cup to the success of all of you.

65. Such were the Athenians at that time, after flattery, that worst of

wild beasts, had inspired their city with frenzy, that city which once

the Pythia entitled the Hearth of Greece, and which Theopompus, who

hated them, called the Prytaneum of Greece; he who said in other places

that Athens was full of drunken flatterers, and sailors, and

pickpockets, and also of false witnesses, sycophants, and false

accusers. And it is my opinion that it was they who introduced all the

flattery which we have been speaking of, like a storm, or other

infliction, sent on men by the gods; concerning which Diogenes said,

very elegantly--"That it was much better to go =es korakas= than =es

kolakas=, who eat up all the good men while they are still alive;" and,

accordingly, Anaxilas says, in his Young Woman--

The flatterers are worms which prey upon

All who have money; for they make an entrance

Into the heart of a good guileless man,

And take their seat there, and devour it,

Till they have drain'd it like the husk of wheat,

And leave the shell; and then attack some other.

And Plato says, in his Phædrus--"Nature has mingled some pleasure which

is not entirely inelegant in its character of a flatterer, though he is

an odious beast, and a great injury to a state." And Theophrastus, in

his treatise on Flattery, says that Myrtis the priest, the Argive,

taking by the ear Cleonymus (who was a dancer and also a flatterer, and

who often used to come and sit by him and his fellow-judges, and who was

anxious to be seen in company with those who were thought of

consideration in the city), and dragging him out of the assembly, said

to him in the hearing of many people, You shall not dance here, and you

shall not hear us. And Diphilus, in his Marriage, says--

A flatterer destroys

By his pernicious speeches

Both general and prince,

Both private friends and states;

He pleases for a while,

But causes lasting ruin.

And now this evil habit

Has spread among the people,

Our courts are all diseased,

And all is done by favour.

So that the Thessalians did well who razed the city which was called

Colaceia (Flattery), which the Melians used to inhabit, as Theopompus

relates in the thirtieth book of his History.

66. But Phylarchus says, that those Athenians who settled in Lemnos were

great flatterers, mentioning them as such in the thirteenth book of his

History. For that they, wishing to display their gratitude to the

descendants of Seleucus and Antiochus, because Seleucus not only

delivered them when they were severely oppressed by Lysimachus, but also

restored both their cities to them,--they, I say, the Athenians in

Lemnos, not only erected temples to Seleucus, but also to his son

Antiochus; and they have given to the cup, which at their feasts is

offered at the end of the banquet, the name of the cup of Seleucus the

Saviour.

Now some people, perverting the proper name, call this flattery

=areskeia=, complaisance; as Anaxandrides does in his Samian, where he

says--

For flattery is now complaisance call'd.

But those who devote themselves to flattery are not aware that that art

is one which flourishes only a short time. Accordingly, Alexis says in

his Liar--

A flatterer's life but a brief space endures,

For no one likes a hoary parasite.

And Clearchus the Solensian, in the first book of his Amatory treatises,

says--"No flatterer is constant in his friendship. For time destroys the

falsehood of his pretences, and a lover is only a flatterer and a

pretended friend on account of youth or beauty." One of the flatterers

of Demetrius the king was Adeimantus of Lampsacus, who having built a

temple in Thriæ, and placed statues in it, called it the temple of Phila

Venus, and called the place itself Philæum, from Phila the mother of

Demetrius; as we are told by Dionysius the son of Tryphon, in the tenth

book of his treatise on Names.

67. But Clearchus the Solensian, in his book which is inscribed

Gergithius, tells us whence the origin of the name flatterer is derived;

and mentioning Gergithius himself, from whom the treatise has its name,

he says that he was one of Alexander's flatterers; and he tells the

story thus--"That flattery debases the characters of the flatterers,

making them apt to despise whoever they associate with; and a proof of

this is, that they endure everything, well knowing what they dare do.

And those who are flattered by them, being puffed up by their adulation,

they make foolish and empty-headed, and cause them to believe that they,

and everything belonging to them, are of a higher order than other

people." And then proceeding to mention a certain young man, a Paphian

by birth, but a king by the caprice of fortune, he says--"This young man

(and he does not mention his name) used out of his preposterous luxury

to lie on a couch with silver feet, with a smooth Sardian carpet spread

under it of the most expensive description. And over him was thrown a

piece of purple cloth, edged with a scarlet fringe; and he had three

pillows under his head made of the finest linen, and of purple colour,

by which he kept himself cool. And under his feet he had two pillows of

the kind called Dorian, of a bright crimson colour; and on all this he

lay himself, clad in a white robe.

68. "And all the monarchs who have at any time reigned in Cyprus have

encouraged a race of nobly-born flatterers as useful to them; for they

are a possession very appropriate to tyrants. And no one ever knows them

(any more than they do the judges of the Areopagus), either how many

they are, or who they are, except that perhaps some of the most eminent

may be known or suspected. And the flatterers at Salamis are divided

into two classes with reference to their families; and it is from the

flatterers in Salamis that all the rest of the flatterers in the other

parts of Cyprus are derived; and one of these two classes is called the

Gergini, and the other the Promalanges. Of which, the Gergini mingle

with the people in the city, and go about as eavesdroppers and spies in

the workshops and the market-places; and whatever they hear, they report

every day to those who are called their Principals. But the Promalanges,

being a sort of superior investigators, inquire more particularly into

all that is reported by the Gergini which appears worthy of being

investigated; and the way in which they conduct themselves towards every

one is so artificial and gentle, that, as it seems to me, and as they

themselves allege, the very seed of notable flatterers has been spread

by them over all the places at a distance. Nor do they pride themselves

slightly on their skill, because they are greatly honoured by the kings;

but they say that one of the Gergini, being a descendant of those

Trojans whom Teucer took as slaves, having selected them from the

captives, and then brought and settled in Cyprus, going along the

sea-coast with a few companions, sailed towards Æolis, in order to seek

out and re-establish the country of his ancestors; and that he, taking

some Mysians to himself, inhabited a city near the Trojan Ida, which was

formerly called Gergina, from the name of the inhabitants, but is now

called Gergitha. For some of the party being, as it seems, separated

from this expedition, stopped in Cymæa, being by birth a Cretan race,

and not from the Thessalian Tricca, as some have affirmed,--men whose

ignorance I take to be beyond the skill of all the descendants of

Æsculapius to cure.

69. "There were also in this country, in the time of Glutus the Carian,

women attaching themselves to the Queens, who were called flatterers;

and a few of them who were left crossed the sea, and were sent for to

the wives of Artabazus and Mentor, and instead of =kolakides= were

called =klimakides= from this circumstance. By way of making themselves

agreeable to those who had sent for them, they made a ladder

(=klimakia=) of themselves, in such a manner that there was a way of

ascending over their backs, and also a way of descending, for their

mistresses when they drove out in chariots: to such a pitch of luxury,

not to say of miserable helplessness, did they bring those silly women

by their contrivance. Therefore, they themselves, when they were

compelled by fortune to quit that very luxurious way of living, lived

with great hardship in their old age. And the others who had received

these habits from us, when they were deprived of their authority came to

Macedonia; and the customs which they taught to the wives and princesses

of the great men in that country by their association with them, it is

not decent even to mention further than this, that practising magic arts

themselves, and being the objects of them when practised by others, they

did not spare even the places of the greatest resort, but they became

complete vagabonds, and the very scum of the streets, polluted with all

sorts of abominations. Such and so great are the evils which seem to be

engendered by flattery in the case of all people who admit from their

own inclination and predisposition to be flattered."

70. And a little further Clearchus goes on as follows:--"But still a man

may have a right to find fault with that young man for the way in which

he used those things, as I have said before. For his slaves stood in

short tunics a little behind the couch: and as there are now three men

on whose account all this discussion has been originated, and as all

these men are men who have separate names among us, the one sat on the

couch close to his feet, letting the feet of the young man rest upon his

knees, and covering them with a thin cloth; and what he did further is

plain enough, even if I do not mention it. And this servant is called by

the natives Parabystus, because he works his way into the company of

those men even who do not willingly receive him, by the very skilful

character of his flatteries. The second was one sitting on a certain

chair which was placed close to the couch; and he, holding by the hand

of the young man, as he let it almost drop, and clinging to it, kept on

rubbing it, and taking each of his fingers in turn he rubbed it and

stretched it, so that the man appeared to have said a very witty thing

who first gave that officer the name of Sicya.[403:1] The third,

however, was the most noble of all, and was called Theer (or the wild

beast), who was indeed the principal person of the whole body, and who

stood at his master's head, and shared his linen pillows, lying upon

them in a most friendly manner. And with his left hand he kept smoothing

the hair of the young man, and with his right hand he kept moving up and

down a Phocæan fan, so as to please him while waving it, without force

enough to brush anything away. On which account, it appears to me, that

some high-born god must have been angry with him and have sent a fly to

attack the young man, a fly like that with whose audacity Homer says

that Minerva inspired Menelaus, so vigorous and fearless was it in

disposition.

"So when the young man was stung, this man uttered such a loud scream in

his behalf, and was so indignant, that on account of his hatred to one

fly he banished the whole tribe of flies from his house: from which it

is quite plain that he appointed this servant for this especial

purpose."

71. But Leucon, the tyrant of Pontus, was a different kind of man, who

when he knew that many of his friends had been plundered by one of the

flatterers whom he had about him, perceiving that the man was

calumniating some one of his remaining friends, said, "I swear by the

gods that I would kill you if a tyrannical government did not stand in

need of bad men." And Antiphanes the comic writer, in his Soldier, gives

a similar account of the luxury of the kings in Cyprus. And he

represents one of them as asking a soldier these questions--

_A._ Tell me now, you had lived some time in Cyprus?

Say you not so?

_B._ Yes, all the time of the war.

_A._ In what part most especially? tell me that.

_B._ In Paphos, where you should have seen the luxury

That did exist, or you could not believe it.

_A._ What kind of luxury?

_B._ The king was fann'd

While at his supper by young turtle-doves

And by nought else.

_A._ How mean you? never mind

My own affairs, but let me ask you this.

_B._ He was anointed with a luscious ointment

Brought up from Syria, made of some rich fruit

Which they do say doves love to feed upon.

They were attracted by the scent and flew

Around the royal temples; and had dared

To seat themselves upon the monarch's head,

But that the boys who sat around with sticks

Did keep them at a slight and easy distance.

And so they did not perch, but hover'd round,

Neither too far nor yet too near, still fluttering,

So that they raised a gentle breeze to blow

Not harshly on the forehead of the king.

72. The flatterer (=kolax=) of that young man whom we have been speaking

of must have been a =malakokolax=, (a soft flatterer,) as Clearchus

says. For besides flattering such a man as that, he invents a regular

gait and dress harmonizing with that of those who receive the flattery,

folding his arms and wrapping himself up in a small cloak; on which

account some men call him Paranconistes, and some call him a Repository

of Attitudes. For really a flatterer does seem to be the very same

person with Proteus himself. Accordingly he changes into nearly every

sort of person, not only in form, but also in his discourse, so very

varied in voice he is.

But Androcydes the physician said that flattery had its name

(=kolakeia=) from becoming glued (=apo tou proskollasthai=) to men's

acquaintance. But it appears to me that they were named from their

facility; because a flatterer will undergo anything, like a person who

stoops down to carry another on his back, by reason of his natural

disposition, not being annoyed at anything, however disgraceful it may

be.

And a man will not be much out who calls the life of that young Cyprian

a wet one. And Alexis says that there were many tutors and teachers of

that kind of life at Athens, speaking thus in his Pyraunus--

I wish'd to try another style of life,

Which all men are accustom'd to call wet.

So walking three days in the Ceramicus,

I found it may be thirty skilful teachers

Of the aforesaid life, from one single school.

And Crobylus says in his Female Deserter--

The wetness of your life amazes me,

For men do call intemperance now wetness.

73. And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, lays it down that flattery is

a kind of art, where he says--

Is there, or can there be an art more pleasing,

Or any source of gain more sure and gainful

Than well-judged flattery? Why does the painter

Take so much pains and get so out of temper?

Why does the farmer undergo such risks?

Indeed all men are full of care and trouble.

But life for us is full of fun and laughter.

For where the greatest business is amusement,

To laugh and joke and drink full cups of wine,

Is not that pleasant? How can one deny?

'Tis the next thing to being rich oneself.

But Menander, in his play called the Flatterer, has given us the

character of one as carefully and faithfully as it was possible to

manage it: as also Diphilus has of a parasite in his Telesias. And

Alexis, in his Liar, has introduced a flatterer speaking in the

following manner--

By the Olympian Jove and by Minerva

I am a happy man. And not alone

Because I'm going to a wedding dinner,

But because I shall burst, an it please God.

And would that I might meet with such a death.

And it seems to me, my friends, that that fine epicure would not have

scrupled to quote from the Omphale of Ion the tragedian, and to say--

For I must speak of a yearly feast

As if it came round every day.

74. But Hippias the Erythræan, in the second book of his Histories of

his own Country, relating how the kingdom of Cnopus was subverted by the

conduct of his flatterers, says this--"When Cnopus consulted the oracle

about his safety, the god, in his answer, enjoined him to sacrifice to

the crafty Mercury. And when, after that, he went to Delphi, they who

were anxious to put an end to his kingly power in order to establish an

oligarchy instead of it, (and those who wished this were Ortyges, and

Irus, and Echarus, who, because they were most conspicuous in paying

court to the princes, were called adorers and flatterers,) they, I say,

being on a voyage in company with Cnopus, when they were at a distance

from land, bound Cnopus and threw him into the sea; and then they sailed

to Chios, and getting a force from the tyrants there, Amphiclus and

Polytechnus, they sailed by night to Erythræ, and just at the same time

the corpse of Cnopus was washed up on the sea-shore at Erythræ, at a

place which is now called Leopodon. And while Cleonice, the wife of

Cnopus, was busied about the offices due to the corpse, (and it was the

time of the festival and assembly instituted in honour of Diana

Stophea,) on a sudden there is heard the noise of a trumpet; and the

city is taken by Ortyges and his troops, and many of the friends of

Cnopus are put to death; and Cleonice, hearing what had happened, fled

to Colophon.

75. "But Ortyges and his companions, establishing themselves as tyrants,

and having possessed themselves of the supreme power in Chios, destroyed

all who opposed their proceedings, and they subverted the laws, and

themselves managed the whole of the affairs of the state, admitting none

of the popular party within the walls. And they established a court of

justice outside the walls, before the gates; and there they tried all

actions, sitting as judges, clothed in purple cloaks, and in tunics with

purple borders, and they wore sandals with many slits in them during the

hot weather; but in winter they always walked about in women's shoes;

and they let their hair grow, and took great care of it so as to have

ringlets, dividing it on the top of their head with fillets of yellow

and purple. And they wore ornaments of solid gold, like women, and they

compelled some of the citizens to carry their litters, and some to act

as lictors to them, and some to sweep the roads. And they sent for the

sons of some of the citizens to their parties when they supped together;

and some they ordered to bring their own wives and daughters within. And

on those who disobeyed they inflicted the most extreme punishment. And

if any one of their companions died, then collecting the citizens with

their wives and children, they compelled them by violence to utter

lamentations over the dead, and to beat their breasts, and to cry out

shrilly and loudly with their voices, a man with a scourge standing over

them, who compelled them to do so--until Hippotes, the brother of

Cnopus, coming to Erythræ with an army at the time of a festival, the

people of Erythræ assisting him, set upon the tyrants, and having

punished a great many of their companions, slew Ortyges in his flight,

and all who were with him, and treated their wives and children with the

very extremity of ill-usage, and delivered his country."

76. Now from all this we may understand, my friends, of how many evils

flattery is the cause in human life. For Theopompus, in the nineteenth

book of his history of the Transactions of Philip, says, "Agathocles was

a slave, and one of the Penestæ in Thessaly, and as he had great

influence with Philip by reason of his flattery of him, and because he

was constantly at his entertainments dancing and making him laugh,

Philip sent him to destroy the Perrhæbi, and to govern all that part of

the country. And the Macedonian constantly had this kind of people

about him, with whom he associated the greater part of his time, because

of their fondness for drinking and buffoonery, and in their company he

used to deliberate on the most important affairs." And Hegesander the

Delphian gives a similar account of him, and relates how he sent a large

sum of money to the men who are assembled at Athens at the temple of

Hercules in Diomea, and who say laughable things; and he ordered some

men to write down all that was said by them, and to send it to him. And

Theopompus, in the twenty-sixth book of his History, says "that Philip

knowing that the Thessalians were an intemperate race, and very

profligate in their way of living, prepared some entertainments for

them, and endeavoured in every possible manner to make himself agreeable

to them. For he danced and revelled, and practised every kind of

intemperance and debauchery. And he was by nature a buffoon, and got

drunk every day, and he delighted in those occupations which are

consistent with such practices, and with those who are called witty men,

who say and do things to provoke laughter. And he attached numbers of

the Thessalians who were intimate with him to himself, still more by his

entertainments than by his presents." And Dionysius the Sicilian used to

do very nearly the same thing, as Eubulus the comic poet tells us in his

play entitled Dionysius;--

But he is harsh and rigorous to the solemn,

But most good-humour'd to all flatterers,

And all who jest with freedom. For he thinks

Those men alone are free, though slaves they be.

77. And indeed Dionysius was not the only person who encouraged and

received those who had squandered their estates on drunkenness and

gambling and all such debauchery as that, for Philip also did the same.

And Theopompus speaks of such of them in the forty-ninth book of his

History, where he writes as follows:--"Philip kept at a distance all men

who were well regulated in their conduct and who took care of their

property; but the extravagant and those who lived in gambling and

drunkenness he praised and honoured. And therefore he not only took care

that they should always have such amusements, but he encouraged them to

devote themselves to all sorts of injustice and debauchery besides. For

what disgraceful or iniquitous practices were there to which these men

were strangers, or what virtuous or respectable habits were there which

they did not shun? Did they not at all times go about shaven and

carefully made smooth, though they were men? And did not they endeavour

to misuse one another though they had beards? And they used to go about

attended by two or three lovers at a time; and they expected no

complaisance from others which they were not prepared to exhibit

themselves. On which account a man might very reasonably have thought

them not =hetairoi= but =hetairai=, and one might have called them not

soldiers, but prostitutes. For though they were =androphonoi= by

profession, they were =andropornoi= by practice. And in addition to all

this, instead of loving sobriety, they loved drunkenness; and instead of

living respectably they sought every opportunity of robbing and

murdering; and as for speaking the truth, and adhering to their

agreements, they thought that conduct quite inconsistent with their

characters; but to perjure themselves and cheat, they thought the most

venerable behaviour possible. And they disregarded what they had, but

they longed for what they had not; and this too, though a great part of

Europe belonged to them. For I think that the companions of Philip, who

did not at that time amount to a greater number than eight hundred, had

possession so far as to enjoy the fruits of more land than any ten

thousand Greeks, who had the most fertile and large estates." And he

makes a very similar statement about Dionysius, in his twenty-first

book, when he says, "Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily encouraged above all

others those who squandered their property in drunkenness and gambling

and intemperance of that sort. For he wished every one to become ruined

and ready for any iniquity, and all such people he treated with favour

and distinction."

78. And Demetrius Poliorcetes was a man very fond of mirth, as

Phylarchus relates in the tenth book of his History. But in the

fourteenth book he writes as follows:--"Demetrius used to allow men to

flatter him at his banquets, and to pour libations in his honour,

calling him Demetrius the only king, and Ptolemy only the prefect of the

fleet, and Lysimachus only a steward, and Seleucus only a superintendent

of elephants, and in this way he incurred no small amount of hatred."

And Herodotus states that Amasis the king of the Egyptians was always a

man full of tricks, and one who was used to turn his fellow feasters

into ridicule; and when he was a private man he says he was very fond of

feasting and of jesting, and he was not at all a serious man. And

Nicolaus, in the twenty-seventh book of his History, says that Sylla the

Roman general was so fond of mimics and buffoons, being a man very much

addicted to amusement, that he gave such men several portions of the

public land. And the satyric comedies which he wrote himself in his

native language, show of how merry and jovial a temperament he was in

this way.

79. And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Comedy, tells us that the

Tirynthians, being people addicted to amusement, and utterly useless for

all serious business, betook themselves once to the oracle at Delphi in

hopes to be relieved from some calamity or other. And that the God

answered them, "That if they sacrificed a bull to Neptune and threw it

into the sea without once laughing, the evil would cease." And they,

fearing lest they should make a blunder in obeying the oracle, forbade

any of the boys to be present at the sacrifice; however, one boy,

hearing of what was going to be done, mingled with the crowd, and then

when they hooted him and drove him away, "Why," said he, "are you afraid

lest I should spoil your sacrifice?" and when they laughed at this

question of his, they perceived that the god meant to show them by a

fact that an inveterate custom cannot be remedied. And Sosicrates, in

the first book of his History of Crete, says that the Phæstians have a

certain peculiarity, for that they seem to practise saying ridiculous

things from their earliest childhood; on which account it has often

happened to them to say very reasonable and witty things because of

their early habituation: and therefore all the Cretans attribute to them

preeminence in the accomplishment of raising a laugh.

80. But after flattery, Anaxandrides the comic poet gives the next place

to ostentation, in his Apothecary Prophet, speaking thus--

Do you reproach me that I'm ostentatious?

Why should you do so? for this quality

Is far beyond all others, only flattery

Excepted: that indeed is best of all.

And Antiphanes speaks of what he calls a psomocolax, a flatterer for

morsels of bread, in his Gerytades, when he says--

You are call'd a whisperer and psomocolax.

And Sannyrion says--

What will become of you, you cursed psomocolaces.

And Philemon says in his Woman made young again--

The man is a psomocolax.

And Philippides says in his Renovation--

Always contending and =psômokolakeuôn=.

But the word =kolax= especially applies to these parasitical flatterers;

for =kolon= means food, from which come the words =boukolos=, and

=dyskolos=, which means difficult to be pleased and squeamish. And the

word =koilia= means that part of the body which receives the food, that

is to say, the stomach. Diphilus also uses the word =psômokolaphos= in

his Theseus, saying--

They call you a runaway =psômokolaphos=.

81. When Democritus had made this speech, and had asked for some drink

in a narrow-necked sabrias, Ulpian said, And what is this sabrias? And

just as Democritus was beginning to treat us all to a number of

interminable stories, in came a troop of servants bringing in everything

requisite for eating. Concerning whom Democritus, continuing his

discourse, spoke as follows:--I have always, O my friends, marvelled at

the race of slaves, considering how abstemious they are, though placed

in the middle of such numbers of dainties; for they pass them by, not

only out of fear, but also because they are taught to do so; I do not

mean being taught in the Slave-teacher of Pherecrates, but by early

habituation; and without its being necessary to utter any express

prohibition respecting such matters to them, as in the island of Cos,

when the citizens sacrifice to Juno. For Macareus says, in his third

book of his treatise on Coan Affairs, that, when the Coans sacrifice to

Juno, no slave is allowed to enter the temple, nor does any slave taste

any one of the things which are prepared for the sacrifice. And

Antiphanes, in his Dyspratus,[411:1] says--

'Tis hard to see around one savoury cakes,

And delicate birds half eaten; yet the slaves

Are not allow'd to eat the fragments even,

As say the women.

And Epicrates, in his Dyspratus, introduces a servant expressing his

indignation, and saying--

What can be worse than, while the guests are drinking,

To hear the constant cry of, Here, boy, here!

And this that one may bear a chamberpot

To some vain beardless youth; and see around

Half eaten savoury cakes, and delicate birds,

Whose very fragments are forbidden strictly

To all the slaves--at least the women say so;

And him who drinks a cup men call a belly-god;

And if he tastes a mouthful of solid food

They call him greedy glutton:

from the comparison of which iambics, it is very plain that Epicrates

borrowed Antiphanes's lines, and transferred them to his own play.

82. And Dieuchidas says, in his history of the Affairs of

Megara--"Around the islands called Arææ[412:1] (and they are between

Cnidos and Syme) a difference arose, after the death of Triopas, among

those who had set out with him on his expedition, and some returned

home, and others remained with Phorbas, and came to Ialysus, and others

proceeded with Periergus, and occupied the district of Cameris. And on

this it is said that Periergus uttered curses against Phorbas, and on

this account the islands were called Arææ. But Phorbas having met with

shipwreck, he and Parthenia, the sister of Phorbas and Periergus, swam

ashore to Ialysus, at the point called Schedia. And Thamneus met with

them, as he happened to be hunting near Schedia, and took them to his

own house, intending to receive them hospitably, and sent on a servant

as a messenger to tell his wife to prepare everything necessary, as he

was bringing home strangers. But when he came to his house and found

nothing prepared, he himself put corn into a mill, and everything else

that was requisite, and then ground it himself and feasted them. And

Phorbas was so delighted with this hospitality, that when he was dying

himself he charged his friends to take care that his funeral rites

should be performed by free men. And so this custom continued to prevail

in the sacrifice of Phorbas, for none but free men minister at this

sacrifice. And it is accounted profanation for any slave to approach

it."

83. And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpian, there is

this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few

things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in

former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says--

For no one then had any Manes,[413:1] no,

Nor home-born slaves; but the free women themselves

Did work at everything within the house.

And so at morn they ground the corn for bread,

Till all the streets resounded with the mills.

And Anaxandrides, in his Anchises, says--

There is not anywhere, my friend, a state

Of none but slaves; but fortune regulates

And changes at its will th' estates of men.

Many there are who are not free to day,

But will to-morrow free-men be of Sunium,

And the day after public orators;

For so the deity guides each man's helm.

84. And Posidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of

his History, "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by

reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the

guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving

from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may

in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to

render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people

of Heraclea, promising to act as their subjects for ever, if they would

supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement

beforehand, that none of them would sell anything out of the territory

of Heraclea, but that they would sell in that district alone. And

perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the

Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying--

And they may well be call'd Bringers of Gifts,

Fearing the stern dominion of their kings.

And Callistratus the Aristophanean says that "they called the Mariandyni

=dôrophoroi=, by that appellation taking away whatever there is bitter

in the name of servants, just as the Spartans did in respect of the

Helots, the Thessalians in the case of the Penestæ, and the Cretans with

the Clarotæ. But the Cretans call those servants, who are in their

houses Chrysoneti,[414:1] and those whose work lies in the fields

Amphamiotæ, being natives of the country, but people who have been

enslaved by the chance of war; but they also call the same people

Clarotæ, because they have been distributed among their masters by lot.

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories, "The Cretans call their

slaves Clarotæ, because lots have been drawn for them; and those slaves

have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no

freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything,

and have the right even to scourge the freemen." But Sosicrates, in the

second book of his History of Cretan Affairs, says, "The Cretans call

public servitude =mnoia=, but the private slaves they call aphamiotæ;

and the perioeci, or people who live in the adjacent districts, they

call subjects. And Dosiadas gives a very similar account in the fourth

book of his history of Cretan Affairs.

85. But the Thessalians call those Penestæ who were not born slaves, but

who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet,

misapplying the word, says--

The wrinkled counsellors of a Penestan master.

And Philocrates, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of

Thessaly, if at least the work attributed to him is genuine, says that

the Penestæ are also called Thessaloecetæ, or servants of the

Thessalians. And Archemachus, in the third book of his history of the

Affairs of Euboea, says, "When the Boeotians had founded Arnæa,

those of them who did not return to Boeotia, but who took a fancy to

their new country, gave themselves up to the Thessalians by agreement,

to be their slaves; on condition that they should not take them out of

the country, nor put them to death, but that they should cultivate the

country for them, and pay them a yearly revenue for it. These men,

therefore, abiding by their agreement, and giving themselves up to the

Thessalians, were called at that time Menestæ; but now they are called

Penestæ; and many of them are richer than their masters. And Euripides,

in his Phrixus, calls them latriæ,[415:1] in these words--

=Latris penestês hamos archaiôn domôn.=

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

"It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be

waited on by purchased slaves;" and he proceeds to say, "And altogether

they accused Aristotle of having departed from the Locrian customs; for

they said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the

Phocians, to use either maid-servants or house-servants till very

lately. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman

who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the

companion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Phocians, for

having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that he was depriving

that number of citizens of their necessary subsistence: for that it was

a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder."

87. And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws, says,--"The whole question

about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system

of the Helots among the Lacedæmonians causes the greatest perplexity and

dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some

considering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of

slavery among the people of Heraclea would cause less dispute than the

subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of

the Thessalian Penestæ. And if we consider all these things, what ought

we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is

nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to

trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says--

Jove fix'd it certain that whatever day

Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away.

And it has been frequently shown by facts, that a slave is an

objectionable and perilous possession; especially in the frequent

revolts of the Messenians, and in the case of those cities which have

many slaves, speaking different languages, in which many evils arise

from that circumstance. And also we may come to the same conclusion from

the exploits and sufferings of all sorts of robbers, who infest the

Italian coasts as piratical vagabonds. And if any one considers all

these circumstances, he may well doubt what course ought to be pursued

with respect to all these people. Two remedies now are left to

us--either never to allow, for the future, any person's slaves to be one

another's fellow-countrymen, and, as far as possible, to prevent their

even speaking the same language: and he should also keep them well, not

only for their sake, but still more for his own; and he should behave

towards them with as little insolence as possible. But it is right to

chastise them with justice; not admonishing them as if they were free

men, so as to make them arrogant: and every word which we address to

slaves ought to be, in some sort, a command. And a man ought never to

play at all with his slaves, or jest with them, whether they be male or

female. And as to the very foolish way in which many people treat their

slaves, allowing them great indulgence and great licence, they only make

everything more difficult for both parties: they make obedience harder

for the one to practise, and authority harder for the others to

exercise.

88. Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first

people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by

Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he

says,--"The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians

and Lacedæmonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the

same manner as those others did; for the Lacedæmonians and the

Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek

tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the

one having Achæan slaves, but the Thessalians having Perrhæbian and

Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the

others called them Penestæ. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and

they have bought them at a price." Theopompus, then, has given this

account. But I think that, on this account, the Deity was angry with the

Chians; for at a subsequent period they were subdued by their slaves.

Accordingly, Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyage along the Coast of

Asia, gives this account of them:--"The slaves of the Chians deserted

them, and escaped to the mountains; and then, collecting in great

numbers, ravaged the country-houses about; for the island is very

rugged, and much overgrown with trees. But, a little before our time,

the Chians themselves relate, that one of their slaves deserted, and

took up his habitation in the mountains; and, being a man of great

courage and very prosperous in his warlike undertakings, he assumed the

command of the runaway slaves, as a king would take the command of an

army; and though the Chians often made expeditions against him, they

were able to effect nothing. And when Drimacus (for that was the name of

this runaway slave) found that they were being destroyed, without being

able to effect anything, he addressed them in this language: 'O Chians!

you who are the masters, this treatment which you are now receiving from

your servants will never cease; for how should it cease, when it is God

who causes it, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle? But if

you will be guided by me, and if you will leave us in peace, then I will

be the originator of much good fortune to you.'

89. "Accordingly, the Chians, having entered into a treaty with him, and

having made a truce for a certain time, Drimacus prepares measures and

weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians,

he said, 'Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to

these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will

then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as

to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of

complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject

to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running

away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or

reasonable ground to allege, I will send them back to their masters.'

Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to

this state of things, very good-humouredly did not desert nearly so much

for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon

them. And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more

than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required,

obeying him as their general; for he punished the refractory with great

severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any

other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of

festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such

animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the

masters were inclined or able to give him; and if he perceived that any

one was intriguing against him, or laying any plot to injure him or

overthrow his power, he chastised him.

90. "Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a

great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his

head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most

intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I

have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son,

and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young

and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show

yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers

a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his

freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive

the money which they offer, and so be prosperous.' But when the young

man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his

head; and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards

which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of

Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again

injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him

who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the

shrine of the GENTLE HERO. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that

shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that

Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs

them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting

against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and

sacrifice to him, where this shrine is."

91. Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his

history, I have found that Drimachus is not mentioned by name. But I do

not imagine that any one of you is ignorant, either of what the prince

of all historians, Herodotus, has related of the Chian Panionium, and of

what he justly suffered who castrated free boys and sold them. But

Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Posidonius the Stoic, in their Histories,

both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of

Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for

the purpose of being transported into the land of the Colchians,--so

really angry with them was the Deity, as being the first people who used

purchased slaves, while most other nations provided for themselves by

their own industry. And, perhaps, this is what the proverb originated

in, "A Chian bought a master," which is used by Eupolis, in his Friends.

92. But the Athenians, having a prudent regard to the condition of their

slaves, made a law that there should be a =graphê hybreôs=, even against

men who ill treated their slaves. Accordingly, Hyperides, the orator, in

his speech against Mnesitheus, on a charge of =aikia=, says, "They made

these laws not only for the protection of freemen, but they enacted

also, that even if any one personally ill treated a slave, there should

be a power of preferring an indictment against him who had done so."

And Lycurgus made a similar statement, in his first speech against

Lycophron; and so did Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias. And

Malacus, in his Annals of the Siphnians, relates that some slaves of the

Samians colonized Ephesus, being a thousand men in number; who in the

first instance revolted against their masters, and fled to the mountain

which is in the island, and from thence did great injury to the Samians.

But, in the sixth year after these occurrences, the Samians, by the

advice of an oracle, made a treaty with the slaves, on certain

agreements; and the slaves were allowed to depart uninjured from the

island; and, sailing away, they occupied Ephesus, and the Ephesians are

descended from these ancestors.

93. But Chrysippus says that there is a difference between a =doulos=

and an =oiketês=; and he draws the distinction in the second book of his

treatise on Similarity of Meaning, because he says that those who have

been emancipated are still =douloi=, but that the term =oiketês= is

confined to those who are not discharged from servitude; for the

=oiketês=, says he, is a =doulos=, being actually at the time the

property of a master. And all the following are called =douloi=, as

Clitarchus says, in his treatise on Dialects: =azoi=,[419:1] and

=therapontes=,[419:2] and =akolouthoi=,[419:3] and =diakonoi=,[420:1]

and =hypêreta=[420:2] and also =palmones= and =latreis=.[420:3] And

Amerias says, that the slaves who are employed about the fields are

called =herkitai=. And Hermon, in his treatise on the Cretan Dialects,

says that slaves of noble birth are called =mnôtes=. And Seleucus says,

that both men and maid servants are called =azoi=; and that a female

slave is often called =apophrasê= and =bolizê=; and that a slave who is

the son of a slave is called =sindrôn=; and that =amphipolos= is a name

properly belonging to a female slave who is about her mistress's person,

and that a =propolos= is one who walks before her mistress.

But Proxenus, in the second book of his treatise on the Lacedæmonian

Constitution, says that female servants are called among the

Lacedæmonians, Chalcides. But Ion of Chios, in his Laertes, uses the

word =oiketês= as synonymous with =doulos=, and says--

Alas, O servant, go on wings and close

The house lest any man should enter in.

And Achæus, in his Omphale, speaking of the Satyr, says--

How rich in slaves (=eudoulos=) and how well housed he was

(=euoikos=);

using, however, in my opinion, the words =eudoulos= and =euoikos= in a

peculiar sense, as meaning rather, good to his slaves and servants,

taking =euoikos= from =oiketês=. And it is generally understood that an

=oiketês= is a servant whose business is confined to the house, and that

it is possible he may be a free-born man.

94. But the poets of the old comedy, speaking of the old-fashioned way

of life, and asserting that in olden time there was no great use of

slaves, speak in this way. Cratinus, in his Pluti, says--

As for those men, those heroes old,

Who lived in Saturn's time,

When men did play at dice with loaves,

And Æginetan cakes

Of barley well and brownly baked

Were roll'd down before men

Who did in the palæstra toil,

Full of hard lumps of dough . . . .

And Crates says, in his Beasts--

_A._ Then no one shall possess or own

One male or female slave,

But shall himself, though ne'er so old,

Labour for all his needs.

_B._ Not so, for I will quickly make

These matters all come right.

_A._ And what will your plans do for us?

_B._ Why everything you call for

Should of its own accord come forth,

As if now you should say,

O table, lay yourself for dinner,

And spread a cloth upon you.

You kneading-trough, prepare some dough;

You cyathus, pour forth wine;

Where is the cup? come hither, cup,

And empt and wash yourself.

Come up, O cake. You sir, you dish,

Here, bring me up some beetroot.

Come hither, fish. "I can't, for I

Am raw on t' other side."

Well, turn round then and baste yourself

With oil and melted butter.

And immediately after this the man who takes up the opposite side of the

argument says--

But argue thus: I on the other hand

Shall first of all bring water for the hot baths

On columns raised as through the Pæonium[421:1]

Down to the sea, so that the stream shall flow

Direct to every private person's bath.

Then he shall speak and check the flowing water.

Then too an alabaster box of ointment

Shall of its own accord approach the bather,

And sponges suitable, and also slippers.

95. And Teleclides puts it better than the man whom I have just quoted,

in his Amphictyons, where he says--

I will tell you now the life

Which I have prepared for men.

First of all the lovely Peace

Everywhere was always by,

Like spring water which is poured

O'er the hands of feasted guests.

The earth produced no cause for fear,

No pains and no diseases.

And everything a man could want

Came forth unask'd for to him.

The streams all ran with rosy wine,

And barley-cakes did fight

With wheaten loaves which first could reach

A hungry man's open mouth.

And each entreated to be eaten,

If men loved dainty whiteness.

Fish too came straight unto men's doors,

And fried themselves all ready,

Dish'd themselves up, and stood before

The guests upon the tables.

A stream of soup did flow along

In front of all the couches,

Rolling down lumps of smoking meat;

And rivulets of white sauce

Brought to all such as chose to eat

The sweetest forced-meat balls.

So that there was no lack, but all

Did eat whate'er they wanted.

Dishes there were of boil'd meat too,

And sausages likewise and pasties;

And roasted thrushes and rissoles

Flew down men's throats spontaneously.

Then there were sounds of cheesecakes too

Crush'd in men's hungry jaws:

While the boys play'd with dainty bits

Of tripe, and paunch, and liver.

No wonder men did on such fare

Get stout and strong as giants.

96. And in the name of Ceres, my companions, if these things went on in

this way, I should like to know what need we should have of servants.

But the ancients, accustoming us to provide for ourselves, instructed us

by their actions while they feasted us in words. But I, in order to show

you in what manner succeeding poets (since the most admirable Cratinus

brandished the before-cited verses like a torch) imitated and amplified

them, have quoted these plays in the order in which they were exhibited.

And if I do not annoy you, (for as for the Cynics I do not care the

least bit for them,) I will quote to you some sentences from the other

poets, taking them also in regular order; one of which is that strictest

Atticist of all, namely, Pherecrates; who in his Miners says--

_A._ But all those things were heap'd in confusion

By o'ergrown wealth, abounding altogether

In every kind of luxury. There were rivers

With tender pulse and blackest soup o'erflowing,

Which ran down brawling through the narrow dishes,

Bearing the crusts and spoons away in the flood.

Then there were dainty closely kneaded cakes;

So that the food, both luscious and abundant,

Descended to the gullets of the dead.

There were black-puddings and large boiling slices

Of well-mix'd sausages, which hiss'd within

The smoking streamlet in the stead of oysters.

There too were cutlets of broil'd fish well season'd

With sauce of every kind, and cook, and country.

There were huge legs of pork, most tender meat,

Loading enormous platters; and boil'd pettitoes

Sending a savoury steam; and paunch of ox;

And well-cured chine of porker, red with salt,

A dainty dish, on fried meat balls upraised.

There too were cakes of groats well steep'd in milk,

In large flat dishes, and rich plates of beestings.

_B._ Alas, you will destroy me. Why do you

Remain here longer, when you thus may dive

Just as you are beneath deep Tartarus?

_A._ What will you say then when you hear the rest?

For roasted thrushes nicely brown'd and hot

Flew to the mouths o' the guests, entreating them

To deign to swallow them, besprinkled o'er

With myrtle leaves and flowers of anemone,

And plates of loveliest apples hung around

Above our heads, hanging in air as it seem'd.

And maidens in the most transparent robes,

Just come to womanhood, and crowned with roses,

Did through a strainer pour red mantling cups

Of fragrant wine for all who wish'd to drink.

And whatsoe'er each guest did eat or drink

Straight reappear'd in twofold quantity.

97. And in his Persians he says--

But what need, I pray you now,

Have we of all you ploughmen,

Or carters, mowers, reapers too,

Or coopers, or brass-founders?

What need we seed, or furrow's line?

For of their own accord

Rivers do flow down every road

(Though half choked up with comfits)

Of rich black soup, which rolls along

Within its greasy flood

Achilles's fat barley-cake,

And streams of sauce which flow

Straight down from Plutus's own springs,

For all the guests to relish.

Meantime Jove rains down fragrant wine,

As if it were a bath,

And from the roof red strings of grapes

Hang down, with well made cakes,

Water'd the while with smoking soup,

And mix'd with savoury omelets.

E'en all the trees upon the hills

Will put forth leaves of paunches,

Kids' paunches, and young cuttle-fish,

And smoking roasted thrushes.

98. And why need I quote in addition to this the passages from the

Tagenistæ of the incomparable Aristophanes? And as to the passage in the

Acharnenses, you are all of you full of it. And when I have just

repeated the passage out of the Thurio-Persæ of Metagenes I will say no

more, and discard all notice of the Sirens of Nicophon, in which we find

the following lines--

Let it now snow white cakes of pulse;

Let loaves arise like dew; let it rain soup;

Let gravy roll down lumps of meat i' the roads,

And cheese-cakes beg the wayfarer to eat them.

But Metagenes says this--

The river Crathis bears down unto us

Huge barley-cakes, self-kneaded and self-baked.

The other river, called the Sybaris,

Rolls on large waves of meat and sausages,

And boilèd rays all wriggling the same way.

And all these lesser streamlets flow along

With roasted cuttle-fish, and crabs, and lobsters;

And, on the other side, with rich black-puddings

And forced-meat stuffings; on the other side

Are herbs and lettuces, and fried bits of pastry.

Above, fish cut in slices and self-boil'd

Rush to the mouth; some fall before one's feet,

And dainty cheese-cakes swim around us everywhere.

And I know too that the Thurio-Persæ and the play of Nicophon were never

exhibited at all; on which account I mentioned them last.

99. Democritus now having gone through this statement distinctly and

intelligently, all the guests praised him; but Cynulcus said,--O

messmates, I was exceedingly hungry, and Democritus has given me no

unpleasant feast; carrying me across rivers of ambrosia and nectar. And

I, having my mind watered by them, have now become still more

exceedingly hungry, having hitherto swallowed nothing but words; so that

now it is time to desist from this interminable discussion, and, as the

Pæanian orator says, to take some of these things, "which if they do not

put strength into a man, at all events prevent his dying"--

For in an empty stomach there's no room

For love of beauteous objects, since fair Venus

Is always hostile to a hungry man;

as Achæus says in Æthon, a satyric drama. And it was borrowing from him

that the wise Euripides wrote--

Venus abides in fulness, and avoids

The hungry stomach.

And Ulpian, who was always fond of contradicting him, said in reply to

this,--But still,

The market is of herbs and loaves too full.

But you, you dog, are always hungry, and do not allow us to partake of,

or I should rather say devour, good discussion in sufficient plenty: for

good and wise conversation is the food of the mind. And then turning to

the servant he said,--O Leucus, if you have any remnants of bread, give

them to the dogs. And Cynulcus rejoined,--If I had been invited here

only to listen to discussions, I should have taken care to come when the

forum was full;[425:1] for that is the time which one of the wise men

mentioned to me as the hour for declamations, and the common people on

that account have called it =plêthagora=:

But if we are to bathe and sup on words,

Then I my share contribute as a listener;

as Menander says; on which account I give you leave, you glutton, to eat

your fill of this kind of food--

But barley dearer is to hungry men

Than gold or Libyan ivory;

as Achæus the Eretrian says in his Cycnus.

100. And when Cynulcus had said this, he was on the point of rising up

to depart; but turning round and seeing a quantity of fish, and a large

provision of all sorts of other eatables being brought in, beating the

pillow with his hand, he shouted out,--

Gird thyself up, O poverty, and bear

A little longer with these foolish babblers,

For copious food and hunger sharp subdues thee.

But I now, by reason of my needy condition, do not speak dithyrambic

poems, as Socrates says, but even epic poems too. For, reciting poems is

very hungry work. For, according to Ameipsias, who said in his Sling,

where he utters a prediction about you, O Laurentius,--

There are none of the rich men

In the least like you, by Vulcan,

Who enjoy a dainty table,

And who every day can eat

All delicacies that you wish.

For now, I see a thing beyond belief--

A prodigy; all sorts of kinds of fish

Sporting around this cape--tenches and char,

White and red mullet, rays, and perch, and eels,

Tunnies, and blacktails, and cuttle-fish, and pipe-fish,

And hake, and cod, and lobsters, crabs and scorpions;

as Heniochus says in his Busybody; I must, therefore, as the comic poet

Metagenes says--

Without a sign his knife the hungry draws,

And asks no omen but his supper's cause--

endure and listen to what more you have all got to say.

101. And when he was silent, Masyrius said,--But since some things have

still been left unsaid in our discussion on servants, I will myself also

contribute some "melody on love" to the wise and much loved Democritus.

Philippus of Theangela, in his treatise on the Carians and Leleges,

having made mention of the Helots of the Lacedæmonians and of the

Thessalian Penestæ, says, "The Carians also, both in former times, and

down to the present day, use the Leleges as slaves." But Phylarchus, in

the sixth book of his History, says that the Byzantians used the

Bithynians in the same manner, just as the Lacedæmonians do the Helots.

But respecting those who among the Lacedæmonians are called Epeunacti,

and they also are slaves, Theopompus gives a very clear account in the

thirty-second book of his History, speaking as follows:--"When many of

the Lacedæmonians had been slain in the war against the Messenians,

those who were left being afraid lest their enemies should become aware

of their desolate condition, put some of the Helots into the beds of

those who were dead; and afterwards they made those men citizens, and

called them Epeunacti, because they had been put into the beds[426:1] of

those who were dead instead of them." And the same writer also tells

us, in the thirty-third book of his History, that among the Sicyonians

there are some slaves who are called Catonacophori, being very similar

to the Epeunacti. And Menæchmus gives a similar account in his History

of the affairs of Sicyon, and says that there are some slaves called

Catonacophori, who very much resemble the Epeunacti. And again,

Theopompus, in the second book of his Philippics, says that the

Arcadians had three hundred thousand slaves, whom they called

Prospelatæ, like the Helots.

102. But the class called Mothaces among the Lacedæmonians are freemen,

but still not citizens of Lacedæmon. And Phylarchus speaks of them thus,

in the twenty-fifth book of his History--"But the Mothaces are

foster-brothers of Lacedæmonian citizens. For each of the sons of the

citizens has one or two, or even more foster-brothers, according as

their circumstances admit. The Mothaces are freemen then, but still not

Lacedæmonian citizens; but they share all the education which is given

to the free citizens; and they say that Lysander, who defeated the

Athenians in the naval battle, was one of that class, having been made a

citizen on account of his preeminent valour." And Myron of Priene, in

the second book of his history of the Affairs of Messene, says, "The

Lacedæmonians often emancipated their slaves, and some of them when

emancipated they called Aphetæ,[427:1] and some they called

Adespoti,[427:2] and some they called Erycteres, and others they called

Desposionautæ,[427:3] whom they put on board their fleets, and some they

called Neodamodes,[427:4] but all these were different people from the

Helots." And Theopompus, in the seventh book of his history of the

Affairs of Greece, speaking of the Helots that they were also called

Eleatæ, writes as follows:--"But the nation of the Helots is altogether

a fierce and cruel race. For they are people who have been enslaved a

long time ago by the Spartans, some of them being Messenians, and some

Eleatæ, who formerly dwelt in that part of Laconia called Helos.

103. But Timæus of Tauromenium, forgetting himself, (and Polybius the

Megalopolitan attacks him for the assertion, in the twelfth book of his

Histories,) says that it is not usual for the Greeks to possess slaves.

But the same man, writing under the name of Epitimæus, (and this is what

Ister the pupil of Callimachus calls him in the treatise which he wrote

against him,) says that Mnason the Phocian had more than a thousand

slaves. And in the third book of his History, Epitimæus said that the

city of the Corinthians was so flourishing that it possessed four

hundred and sixty thousand slaves. On which account I imagine it was

that the Pythian priestess called them The People who measured with a

Choenix. But Ctesicles, in the third book of his Chronicles, says that

in the hundred and fifteenth Olympiad, there was an investigation at

Athens conducted by Demetrius Phalereus into the number of the

inhabitants of Attica, and the Athenians were found to amount to

twenty-one thousand, and the Metics to ten thousand, and the slaves to

four hundred thousand. But Nicias the son of Niceratus, as that

admirable writer Xenophon has said in his book on Revenues, when he had

a thousand servants, let them out to Sosias the Thracian to work in the

silver mines, on condition of his paying him an obol a day for every one

of them. And Aristotle, in his history of the Constitution of the

Æginetæ, says that the Æginetans had four hundred and seventy thousand

slaves. But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the thirty-eighth book of his

history of the Affairs of Europe, says that the Dardanians had great

numbers of slaves, some of them having a thousand, and some even more;

and that in time of peace they were all employed in the cultivation of

the land; but that in time of war they were all divided into regiments,

each set of slaves having their own master for their commander.

104. After all these statements, Laurentius rose up and said,--But each

of the Romans (and this is a fact with which you are well acquainted, my

friend Masyrius) had a great many slaves. For many of them had ten

thousand or twenty thousand, or even a greater number, not for the

purposes of income, as the rich Nicias had among the Greeks; but the

greater part of the Romans when they go forth have a large retinue of

slaves accompanying them. And out of the myriads of Attic slaves, the

greater part worked in the mines, being kept in chains: at all events

Posidonius, whom you are often quoting, the philosopher I mean, says

that once they revolted and put to death the guards of the mines; and

that they seized on the Acropolis on Sunium, and that for a very long

time they ravaged Attica. And this was the time when the second revolt

of the slaves took place in Sicily. And there were many revolts of the

slaves, and more than a million of slaves were destroyed in them. And

Cæcilius, the orator from Cale Acte, wrote a treatise on the Servile

Wars. And Spartacus the gladiator, having escaped from Capua, a city of

Italy, about the time of the Mithridatic war, prevailed on a great body

of slaves to join him in the revolt, (and he himself was a slave, being

a Thracian by birth,) and overran the whole of Italy for a considerable

time, great numbers of slaves thronging daily to his standard. And if he

had not died in a battle fought against Licinius Crassus, he would have

caused no ordinary trouble to our countrymen, as Eunus did in Sicily.

105. But the ancient Romans were prudent citizens, and eminent for all

kinds of good qualities. Accordingly Scipio, surnamed Africanus, being

sent out by the Senate to arrange all the kingdoms of the world, in

order that they might be put into the hands of those to whom they

properly belonged, took with him only five slaves, as we are informed by

Polybius and Posidonius. And when one of them died on the journey, he

sent to his agents at home to bring him another instead of him, and to

send him to him. And Julius Cæsar, the first man who ever crossed over

to the British isles with a thousand vessels, had with him only three

servants altogether, as Cotta, who at that time acted as his

lieutenant-general, relates in his treatise on the History and

Constitution of the Romans, which is written in our national language.

But Smindyrides the Sybarite was a very different sort of man, my Greek

friends, who, when he went forth to marry Agaroste, the daughter of

Cleisthenes, carried his luxury and ostentation to such a height, that

he took with him a thousand slaves, fishermen, bird-catchers, and cooks.

But this man, wishing to display how magnificently he was used to live,

according to the account given to us by Chamæleon of Pontus, in his book

on Pleasure, (but the same book is also attributed to Theophrastus,)

said that for twenty years he had never seen the sun rise or set; and

this he considered a great and marvellous proof of his wealth and

happiness. For he, as it seems, used to go to bed early in the morning,

and to get up in the evening, being in my opinion a miserable man in

both particulars. But Histiæus of Pontus boasted, and it was an

honourable boast, that he had never once seen the sun rise or set,

because he had been at all times intent upon study, as we are told by

Nicias of Nicæa in his Successions.

106. What then are we to think? Had not Scipio and Cæsar any slaves? To

be sure they had, but they abided by the laws of their country, and

lived with moderation, preserving the habits sanctioned by the

constitution. For it is the conduct of prudent men to abide by those

ancient institutions under which they and their ancestors have lived,

and made war upon and subdued the rest of the world; and yet, at the

same time, if there were any useful or honourable institutions among the

people whom they have subdued, those they take for their imitation at

the same time that they take the prisoners. And this was the conduct of

the Romans in olden time; for they, maintaining their national customs,

at the same time introduced from the nations whom they had subdued every

relic of desirable practices which they found, leaving what was useless

to them, so that they should never be able to regain what they had lost.

Accordingly they learnt from the Greeks the use of all machines and

engines for conducting sieges; and with those engines they subdued the

very people of whom they had learnt them. And when the Phoenicians had

made many discoveries in nautical science, the Romans availed themselves

of these very discoveries to subdue them. And from the Tyrrhenians they

derived the practice of the entire army advancing to battle in close

phalanx; and from the Samnites they learnt the use of the shield, and

from the Iberians the use of the javelin. And learning different things

from different people, they improved upon them: and imitating in

everything the constitution of the Lacedæmonians, they preserved it

better than the Lacedæmonians themselves; but now, having selected

whatever was useful from the practices of their enemies, they have at

the same time turned aside to imitate them in what is vicious and

mischievous.

107. For, as Posidonius tells us, their national mode of life was

originally temperate and simple, and they used everything which they

possessed in an unpretending and unostentatious manner. Moreover they

displayed wonderful piety towards the Deity, and great justice, and

great care to behave equitably towards all men, and great diligence in

cultivating the earth. And we may see this from the national sacrifices

which we celebrate. For we proceed by ways regularly settled and

defined. So that we bear regularly appointed offerings, and we utter

regular petitions in our prayers, and we perform stated acts in all our

sacred ceremonies. They are also simple and plain. And we do all this

without being either clothed or attired as to our persons in any

extraordinary manner, and without indulging in any extraordinary pomp

when offering the first-fruits. But we wear simple garments and shoes,

and on our heads we have rough hats made of the skins of sheep, and we

carry vessels to minister in of earthenware and brass. And in these

vessels we carry those meats and liquors which are procured with the

least trouble, thinking it absurd to send offerings to the gods in

accordance with our national customs, but to provide for ourselves

according to foreign customs. And, therefore, all the things which are

expended upon ourselves are measured by their use; but what we offer to

the gods are a sort of first-fruits of them.

108. Now Mucius Scævola was one of the three men in Rome who were

particular in their observance of the Fannian law; Quintus Ælius Tubero

and Rutilius Rufus being the other two, the latter of whom is the man

who wrote the History of his country. Which law enjoined men not to

entertain more than three people besides those in the house; but on

market-days a man might entertain five. And these market-days happened

three times in the month. The law also forbade any one to spend in

provisions more than two drachmæ and a half. And they were allowed to

spend fifteen talents a-year on cured meat and whatever vegetables the

earth produces, and on boiled pulse. But as this allowance was

insufficient, men gradually (because those who transgressed the law and

spent money lavishly raised the price of whatever was to be bought)

advanced to a more liberal style of living without violating the law.

For Tubero used to buy birds at a drachma a-piece from the men who lived

on his own farms. And Rutilius used to buy fish from his own slaves who

worked as fishermen for three obols for a pound of fish; especially

when he could get what is called the Thurian; and that is a part of the

sea-dog which goes by that name. But Mucius agreed with those who were

benefited by him to pay for all he bought at a similar valuation. Out of

so many myriads of men then these were the only ones who kept the law

with a due regard to their oaths; and who never received even the least

present; but they gave large presents to others, and especially to those

who had been brought up at the same school with them. For they all clung

to the doctrines of the Stoic school.

109. But of the extravagance which prevails at the present time Lucullus

was the first originator, he who subdued Mithridates, as Nicolaus the

Peripatetic relates. For he, coming to Rome after the defeat of

Mithridates, and also after that of Tigranes, the king of Armenia, and

having triumphed, and having given in an account of his exploits in war,

proceeded to an extravagant way of living from his former simplicity,

and was the first teacher of luxury to the Romans, having amassed the

wealth of the two before-mentioned kings. But the famous Cato, as

Polybius tells us in the thirty-fourth book of his History, was very

indignant, and cried out, that some men had introduced foreign luxury

into Rome, having bought an earthen jar of pickled fish from Pontus for

three hundred drachmæ, and some beautiful boys at a higher price than a

man might buy a field.

"But in former times the inhabitants of Italy were so easily contented,

that even now," says Posidonius, "those who are in very easy

circumstances are used to accustom their sons to drink as much water as

possible, and to eat whatever they can get. And very often," says he,

"the father or mother asks their son whether he chooses to have pears or

nuts for his supper; and then he, eating some of these things, is

contented and goes to bed." But now, as Theopompus tells us in the first

book of his history of the Actions of Philip, there is no one of those

who are even tolerably well off who does not provide a most sumptuous

table, and who has not cooks and a great many more attendants, and who

does not spend more on his daily living than formerly men used to spend

on their festivals and sacrifices.

And since now this present discussion has gone far enough, let us end

this book at this point.

FOOTNOTES:

[361:1] Odyss. xvi. 49.

[361:2] Ib. i. 141.

[370:1] The text is supposed to be corrupt here.

[373:1] Iliad, xvii. 575.

[375:1] It is said to have been a proverb among the Greek women, "Smoke

follows the fairest."

[381:1] The preceding names are the names of eatables, in the genitive

case, though here used as nominatives for persons; =kôbion= means a sort

of tench; =korydos= (as has been said before), a lark; =kyrêbia= are

husks, bran; =skombros= is the generic name for the tunny fish;

=semidalis= is fine wheat flour, semilago.

[385:1] We know little more of the gynæconomi, or =gynaikokosmoi= as

they were also called, than what is derived from this passage. It

appears probable that they existed from the time of Solon; though the

duties here attributed to them may not have formed a part of their

original business. _Vide_ Smith, Dict. Ant. in voc.

[398:1] Demeter, =Dêmêtêr=, or as it is written in the text =Dêmêtra=.

Ceres, the mother of Proserpine.

[403:1] =sikya=, a cucumber.

[411:1] The exact meaning of this title is disputed, some translate it,

"hard to sell," or "to be sold," others merely "miserable."

[412:1] From =ara=, a curse.

[413:1] A slave's name.

[414:1] _Chrysoneti_ means bought with gold, from =chrysos=, gold, and

=ôneomai=, to buy. _Clarotæ_ means allotted, from =klêroô=, to cast

lots. It is not known what the derivation or meaning of _Aphamiotæ_ is.

[415:1] From =latreiô=, to serve.

[419:1] =Azos= contr. from =aozos=, a servant, especially belonging to a

temple.--L. & S.

[419:2] =Therapôn=, a servant, in early Greek especially denoting free

and honourable service.--L. & S.

[419:3] =Akolouthos=, as subst., a follower, attendant, footman.--L. &

S.

[420:1] =Diakonos=, a servant, a waiting man.--L. & S.

[420:2] =Hypêretês=, any doer of hard work, a labourer, a helper,

assistant, underling.--L. & S.

[420:3] =Latris=, a workman for hire, a hired servant.--L. & S. N.B.

Liddell and Scott omit =palmôn= altogether.

[421:1] The Pæonium, if that is the proper reading, appears to have been

a place in Athens where there were pillars on which an aqueduct was

supported. But there is a doubt about the reading.

[425:1] In the Greek, =agoras plêthyousês=, which is a phrase also

commonly used in Greek for "the forenoon," when the market-place was

full, and the ordinary business was going on.

[426:1] From =epi=, and =eunê=, a bed.

[427:1] =Aphetês=, from =aphiêmi=, to liberate.

[427:2] =Adespotas=, from =a=, not, and =despotês=, a master.

[427:3] =Desposionautês=, from =despotês=, and =nautês=, a sailor.

[427:4] =Neodamôdês=, from =neos=, new, and =dêmos=, people.