BOOK XII.

Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold

text by =equal signs=.

THE

DEIPNOSOPHISTS

OR

BANQUET OF THE LEARNED

OF

ATHENÆUS.

LITERALLY TRANSLATED

BY C. D. YONGE, B. A.

WITH AN APPENDIX OF POETICAL FRAGMENTS,

RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY VARIOUS AUTHORS,

AND A GENERAL INDEX.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

LONDON:

HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

M DCCC LIV.

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

BOOK XII.

Love of Pleasure—Luxury of the Persians—Profligacy of the Lydians

Persian Customs—The Sybarites—The Tarentines—The Milesians

—The Abydenes—The Colophonians—Luxury of the Syrians—Of the

Asiatic Kings—Sardanapalus—Philip—The Pisistratidæ—Alcibiades

—Pausanias—Diomnestus—Alexander—Polycrates—Agrigentum

—Lucullus—Aristippus—The Persian—Epicurus—Anaxarchus—

Ptolemy Euergetes—The Lacedæmonians—Cincsias—Anointing—

Venus Callipyge 818‒888

BOOK XIII.

Lacedæmonian Marriages—Hercules—Rapacity of Courtesans—Folly

of Marrying—Love—Beauty—Courtesans—Hetæræ—Courtesans—

Love—Beauty of Women—Praise of Modesty—Faults of Philosophers

—Lending Money 888‒978

BOOK XIV.

Jesters—Concerts—Songs—Rhapsodists—Magodi—Harp-players—

Music—Dancing—Dances—Music—Musical Instruments—Music—

Love Songs—Sweetmeats—Different Courses at Dinner—Dessert—

Cheesecakes—Cakes—Vegetables—Pomegranates—Figs—Grapes—

Peacocks—Partridges—The Helots—Cheese—Cooks—The

Thessalians—Ματτύη 978‒1062

BOOK XV.

The Cottabus—Garlands—Dyes—Perfumes—Libations—Scolia—

Parodies—Torches 1062‒1122

APPENDIX 1123

INDEX.

BOOK XII.

1. YOU appear to me, my good friend Timocrates, to be a man of Cyrene,

according to the Tyndareus of Alexis—

For there if any man invites another

To any banquet, eighteen others come;

Ten chariots, and fifteen pairs of horses,

And for all these you must provide the food,

So that 'twere better to invite nobody

And it would be better for me also to hold my tongue, and not to add

anything more to all that has been said already; but since you ask me

very earnestly for a discussion on those men who have been notorious

for luxury, and on their effeminate practices, you must be gratified.

2. For enjoyment is connected, in the first instance, with appetite;

and in the second place, with pleasure. And Sophocles the poet, being a

man fond of enjoyment, in order to avoid accusing old age, attributed

his impotence in amatory pleasures to his temperance, saying that he

was glad to be released from them as from some hard master. But I

say that the Judgment of Paris is a tale originally invented by the

ancients, as a comparison between pleasure and virtue. Accordingly,

when Venus, that is to say pleasure, was preferred, everything was

thrown into confusion. And that excellent writer Xenophon seems to

me to have invented his fable about Hercules and Virtue on the same

principle. For according to Empedocles—

Mars was no god to them, nor gallant War,

Nor Jupiter the king, nor Saturn old,

Nor Neptune; Venus was their only queen.

Her they propitiate and duly worship

With pious images, with beauteous figures

Skilfully carved; with fragrant incenses,

And holy offerings of unmix'd myrrh,

And sweetly-smelling frankincense; and many

A pure libation of fresh golden honey

They pour'd along the floor.

[Sidenote: LOVE OF PLEASURE.]

And Menander, in his Harp-player, speaking of some one who was very

fond of music, says—

He was to music much devoted, and

Sought ever pleasing sounds to gratify

His delicate taste.

3. And yet some people say that the desire of pleasure is a natural

desire, as may be proved by all animals becoming enslaved by it; as

if cowardice, and fear, and all sorts of other passions were not also

common to all animals, and yet these are rejected by all who use their

reason. Accordingly, to be very eager in the pursuit of pleasure is

to go hunting for pain. On which account Homer, wishing to represent

pleasure in an odious light, says that the greatest of the gods receive

no advantage from their power, but are even much injured by it, if they

will allow themselves to be hurried away by the pursuit of pleasure.

For all the anxiety which Jupiter, when awake, lavished on the Trojans,

was lost in open day, when he abandoned himself to pleasure. And Mars,

who was a most valiant deity, was put in chains by Vulcan, who was very

powerless, and incurred great disgrace and punishment, when he had

given himself up to irrational love; and therefore he says to the Gods,

when they came to see him in fetters—

Behold, on wrong

Swift vengeance waits, and art subdues the strong.

Dwells there a god on all th' Olympian brow

More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow?

Yet Vulcan conquers, and the God of arms

Must pay the penalty for lawless charms.[1]

But no one ever calls the life of Aristides a life of pleasure (ἡδὺς),

but that is an epithet they apply to Smindyrides the Sybarite, and to

Sardanapalus, though as far as glory went, as Theophrastus says in his

book on Pleasure, it was a far more splendid one; but Aristides never

devoted himself to luxury as those other men did. Nor would any one

call the life of Agesilaus the king of the Lacedæmonians ἡδὺς; but this

name they would apply rather to the life of Ananis, a man who, as far

as real glory is concerned, is totally unknown. Nor would one call the

life of the heroes who fought against Troy ἡδὺς; but they would speak

in that way much more of the men of the present time; and naturally

enough. For the lives of those men were destitute of any luxurious

preparation, and, as I might almost say, had no seasoning to them,

inasmuch as at that time there was no commercial intercourse between

nations, nor were the arts of refinement carried to any degree of

accuracy; but the life of men of the present day is planned with entire

reference to laziness, and enjoyment, and to all sorts of pastimes.

4. But Plato, in his Philebus, says—"Pleasure is the most insolent of

all things; and, as it is reported, in amatory enjoyments, which are

said to be the most powerful of all, even perjury has been pardoned by

the Gods, as if pleasure was like a child, incapable of distinguishing

between right and wrong." And in the eighth book of his Polity, the

same Plato has previously dilated upon the doctrine so much pressed

by the Epicureans, that, of the desires, some are natural but not

necessary, and others neither natural nor necessary, writing thus—"Is

not the desire to eat enough for health and strength of body, and

for bread and meat to that extent, a necessary desire?—I think it

is.—At all events, the desire for food for these two purposes is

necessary, inasmuch as it is salutary, and inasmuch as it is able to

remove hunger?—No doubt.—And the desire for meat, too, is a necessary

desire, if it at all contributes to a good habit of body?—Most

undoubtedly.—What, then, are we to say? Is no desire which goes beyond

the appetite for this kind of food, and for other food similar to it,

and which, if it is checked in young people, can be entirely stifled,

and which is injurious also to the body, and injurious also to the

mind, both as far as its intellectual powers are concerned, and also

as to its temperance, entitled to be called a necessary one?—Most

certainly not."

[Sidenote: LOVE OF PLEASURE.]

5. But Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, speaks as

follows—"Tyrants and kings, having all kinds of good things in their

power, and having had experience of all things, place pleasure in the

first rank, on the ground that pleasure makes the nature of man more

magnanimous. Accordingly, all those who have honoured pleasure above

everything, and who have deliberately chosen to live a life of luxury,

have been and magnificent people, as, for instance, the Medes and the

Persians. For they, of all men, are those who hold pleasure and luxury

in the highest honour; and they, at the same time, are the most valiant

and magnanimous of all the barbarians. For to indulge in pleasure and

luxury is the conduct of freeborn men and of a liberal disposition. For

pleasure relaxes the soul and invigorates it. But labour belongs to

slaves and to mean men; on which account they are contracted in their

natural dispositions. And the city of the Athenians, while it indulged

in luxury, was a very great city, and bred very magnanimous men. For

they wore purple garments, and were clad in embroidered tunics; and

they bound up their hair in knots, and wore golden grasshoppers over

their foreheads and in their hair: and their slaves followed them,

bearing folding chairs for them, in order that, if they wished to sit

down, they might not be without some proper seat, and forced to put

up with any chance seat. And these men were such heroes, that they

conquered in the battle of Marathon, and they alone worsted the power

of combined Asia. And all those who are the wisest of men, and who have

the greatest reputation for wisdom, think pleasure the greatest good.

Simonides certainly does when he says—

For what kind of human life

Can be worth desiring,

If pleasure be denied to it?

What kingly power even?

Without pleasure e'en the gods

Have nothing to be envied for.

And Pindar, giving advice to Hiero the tyrant of Syracuse, says—

Never obscure fair pleasure in your life;

A life of pleasure is the best for man.

And Homer, too, speaks of pleasure and indulgence in the following

terms—

How sweet the products of a peaceful reign,—

The heaven-taught poet and enchanting strain,

The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,

A loud rejoicing, and a people blest!

How goodly seems it ever to employ

Man's social days in union and in joy;

The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,

And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine.

And again, he calls the gods "living at ease." And "at ease" certainly

means "without labour;" as if he meant to show by this expression, that

the greatest of all evils is labour and trouble in life.

6. On which account Megaclides finds fault with those poets who came

after Homer and Hesiod, and have written about Hercules, relating how

he led armies and took cities,—who passed the greater part of his life

among men in the most excessive pleasure, and married a greater number

of women than any other man; and who had unacknowledged children, by a

greater number of virgins, than any other man. For any one might say to

those who do not admit all this—"Whence, my good friends, is it that

you attribute to him all this excessive love of eating; or whence is it

that the custom has originated among men of leaving nothing in the cup

when we pour a libation to Hercules, if he had no regard for pleasure?

or why are the hot springs which rise out of the ground universally

said to be sacred to Hercules; or why are people in the habit of

calling soft couches the beds of Hercules, if he despised all those who

live luxuriously?" Accordingly, says he, the later poets represent him

as going about in the guise of a robber by himself, having a club, and

a lion's hide, and his bow. And they say that Stesichorus of Himera was

the original inventor of this fable. But Xanthus the lyric poet, who

was more ancient than Stesichorus, as Stesichorus himself tells us,

does not, according to the statement of Megaclides, clothe him in this

dress, but in that which Homer gives him. But Stesichorus perverted a

great many of the accounts given by Xanthus, as he does also in the

case of what is called the Orestea. But Antisthenes, when he said that

pleasure was a good, added—"such as brought no repentance in its

train."

7. But Ulysses, in Homer, appears to have been the original guide to

Epicurus, in the matter of that pleasure which he has always in his

mouth; for Ulysses says to Alcinous—

. . . . . . . Thou whom first in sway,

As first in virtue, these thy realms obey,

How goodly seems it ever to employ

Man's social days in union and in joy!

The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,

And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine,

The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,

Are of all joys most lasting and the best.

[Sidenote: A LOVE OF PLEASURE.]

But Megaclides says that Ulysses is here adapting himself to the

times, for the sake of appearing to be of the same disposition as the

Phæacians; and that with that view he embraces their luxurious habits,

as he had already heard from Alcinous, speaking of his whole nation—

To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight,

The feast or bath by day, and love by night;

for he thought that that would be the only way by which he could

avoid failing in the hopes he cherished. And a similar man is he who

recommends Amphilochus his son—

Remember thou, my son, to always dwell

In every city cherishing a mind

Like to the skin of a rock-haunting fish;

And always with the present company

Agree, but when away you can change your mind.

And Sophocles speaks in a like spirit, in the Iphigenia—

As the wise polypus doth quickly change

His hue according to the rocks he's near,

So change your mind and your apparent feelings.

And Theognis says—

Imitate the wary cunning of the polypus.

And some say that Homer was of this mind, when he often prefers the

voluptuous life to the virtuous one, saying—

And now Olympus' shining gates unfold;

The Gods with Jove assume their thrones of gold;

Immortal Hebe, fresh with bloom divine,

The golden goblet crowns with purple wine;

While the full bowl flows round the Powers employ

Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy.

And the same poet represents Menelaus as saying—

Nor then should aught but death have torn apart

From me so loving and so glad a heart.

And in another place—

We sat secure, while fast around did roll

The dance, and jest, and ever-flowing bowl.

And in the same spirit Ulysses, at the court of Alcinous, represents

luxury and wantonness as the main end of life.

8. But of all nations the Persians were the first to become notorious

for their luxury; and the Persian kings even spent their winters at

Susa and their summers at Ecbatana. And Aristocles and Chares say that

Susa derives its name from the seasonable and beautiful character of

the place: for that what the Greeks call the lily, is called in the

Persian language σοῦσον. But they pass their autumns in Persepolis;

and the rest of the year they spend in Babylon. And in like manner the

kings of the Parthians spend their spring in Rhagæ, and their winter

in Babylon, and the rest of the year at Hecatompylus. And even the

very thing which the Persian monarchs used to wear on their heads,

showed plainly enough their extreme devotion to luxury. For it was

made, according to the account of Dinon, of myrrh and of something

called labyzus. And the labyzus is a sweet-smelling plant, and more

valuable than myrrh. And whenever, says Dinon, the king dismounts from

his chariot, he does not jump down, however small the height from the

chariot to the ground may be, nor is he helped down, leaning on any

one's hand, but a golden chair is always put by him, and he gets on

that to descend; on which account the king's chairbearer always follows

him. And three hundred women are his guard, as Heraclides of Cumæ

relates, in the first book of his history of Persia. And they sleep

all day, that they may watch all night; and they pass the whole night

in singing and playing, with lights burning. And very often the king

takes pleasure with them in the hall of the Melophori. The Melophori

are one of his troops of guards, all Persians by birth, having golden

apples (μῆλα) on the points of their spears, a thousand in number, all

picked men out of the main body of ten thousand Persians who are called

the Immortals. And the king used to go on foot through this hall, very

fine Sardian carpets being spread in his road, on which no one but the

king ever trod. And when he came to the last hall, then he mounted a

chariot, but sometimes he mounted a horse; but on foot he was never

seen outside of his palace. And if he went out to hunt, his concubines

also went with him. And the throne on which he used to sit, when he was

transacting business, was made of gold; and it was surrounded by four

small pillars made of gold, inlaid with precious stones, and on them

there was spread a purple cloth richly embroidered.

[Sidenote: LUXURY OF THE PERSIANS.]

9. But Clearchus the Solensian, in the fourth book of his Lives, having

previously spoken about the luxury of the Medes, and having said that

on this account they made eunuchs of many citizens of the neighbouring

tribes, adds, "that the institution of the Melophori was adopted by

the Persians from the Medes, being not only a revenge for what they

had suffered themselves, but also a memorial of the luxury of the

body-guards, to indicate to what a pitch of effeminacy they had come.

For, as it seems, the unseasonable and superfluous luxury of their

daily life could make even the men who are armed with spears, mere

mountebanks." And a little further on he says—"And accordingly, while

he gave to all those who could invent him any new kind of food, a prize

for their invention, he did not, while loading them with honours, allow

the food which they had invented to be set before them, but enjoyed it

all by himself, and thought this was the greatest wisdom. For this, I

imagine, is what is called the brains of Jupiter and of a king at the

same time."

But Chares of Mitylene, in the fifth book of his History of Alexander,

says—"The Persian kings had come to such a pitch of luxury, that at the

head of the royal couch there was a supper-room laid with five couches,

in which there were always kept five thousand talents of gold; and this

was called the king's pillow. And at his feet was another supper-room,

prepared with three couches, in which there were constantly kept three

thousand talents of silver; and this was called the king's footstool.

And in his bed-chamber there was also a golden vine, inlaid with

precious stones, above the king's bed." And this vine, Amyntas says in

his Posts, had bunches of grapes, composed of most valuable precious

stones; and not far from it there was placed a golden bowl, the work of

Theodorus of Samos. And Agathocles, in the third book of his History

of Cyzicus, says, that there is also among the Persians a water called

the golden water, and that it rises in seventy springs; and that no one

ever drinks of it but the king alone, and the eldest of his sons. And

if any one else drinks of it, the punishment is death.

10. But Xenophon, in the eighth book of his Cyropædia, says—"They

still used at that time to practise the discipline of the Persians,

but the dress and effeminacy of the Medes. But now they disregard the

sight of the ancient Persian bravery becoming extinct, and they are

solicitous only to preserve the effeminacy of the Medes. And I think it

a good opportunity to give an account of their luxurious habits. For,

in the first place, it is not enough for them to have their beds softly

spread, but they put even the feet of their couches upon carpets in

order that the floor may not present resistance to them, but that the

carpets may yield to their pressure. And as for the things which are

dressed for their table, nothing is omitted which has been discovered

before, and they are also continually inventing something new; and the

same is the way with all other delicacies. For they retain men whose

sole business it is to invent things of this kind. And in winter it is

not enough for them to have their head, and their body, and their feet

covered, but on even the tips of their fingers they wear shaggy gloves

and finger-stalls; and in summer they are not satisfied with the shade

of the trees and of the rocks, but they also have men placed in them to

contrive additional means of producing shade." And in the passage which

follows this one, he proceeds to say—"But now they have more clothes

laid upon their horses than they have even on their beds. For they do

not pay so much attention to their horsemanship as to sitting softly.

Moreover, they have porters, and breadmakers, and confectioners, and

cup-bearers, and men to serve up their meals and to take them away, and

men to lull them to sleep and men to wake them, and dressers to anoint

them and to rub them, and to get them up well in every respect."

[Sidenote: PROFLIGACY OF THE LYDIANS.]

11. The Lydians, too, went to such a pitch of luxury, that they

were the first to castrate women, as Xanthus the Lydian tells us,

or whoever else it was who wrote the History which is attributed to

him, whom Artemon of Cassandra, in his treatise on the Collection of

Books, states to have been Dionysius who was surnamed Leather-armed;

but Artemon was not aware that Ephorus the historian mentions him as

being an older man than the other, and as having been the man who

supplied Herodotus with some of his materials. Xanthus, then, in the

second book of his Affairs of Lydia, says that Adramyttes, the king

of the Lydians, was the first man who ever castrated women, and used

female eunuchs instead of male eunuchs. But Clearchus, in the fourth

book of his Lives, says—"The Lydians, out of luxury, made parks; and

having planted them like gardens, made them very shady, thinking it

a refinement in luxury if the sun never touched them with its rays at

all; and at last they carried their insolence to such a height, that

they used to collect other men's wives and maidens into a place that,

from this conduct, got the name of Hagneon, and there ravished them.

And at last, having become utterly effeminate, they lived wholly like

women instead of like men; on which account their age produced even

a female tyrant, in the person of one of those who had been ravished

in this way, by name Omphale. And she was the first to inflict on the

Lydians the punishment that they deserved. For to be governed and

insulted by a woman is a sufficient proof of the severity with which

they were treated. Accordingly she, being a very intemperate woman

herself, and meaning to revenge the insults to which she herself had

been subjected, gave the maiden daughters of the masters to their

slaves, in the very same place in which she herself had been ravished.

And then having forcibly collected them all in this place, she shut up

the mistresses with their slaves.

On which account the Lydians, wishing to soften the bitterness of the

transaction, call the place the Woman's Contest—the Sweet Embrace. And

not only were the wives of the Lydians exposed to all comers, but those

also of the Epizephyrian Locrians, and also those of the Cyprians—and,

in fact, those of all the nations who devote their daughters to the

lives of prostitutes; and it appears to be, in truth, a sort of

reminding of, and revenge for, some ancient insult. So against her a

Lydian man of noble birth rose up, one who had been previously offended

at the government of Midas; while Midas lay in effeminacy, and luxury,

and a purple robe, working in the company of the women at the loom. But

as Omphale slew all the strangers whom she admitted to her embraces, he

chastised both—the one, being a stupid and illiterate man, he dragged

out by his ears; a man who, for want of sense, had the surname of the

most stupid of all animals: but the woman....

12. And the Lydians were also the first people to introduce the use of

the sauce called caruca; concerning the preparation of which all those

who have written cookery books have spoken a good deal—namely, Glaucus

the Locrian, and Mithæcus, and Dionysius, and the two Heraclidæ (who

were by birth Syracusans), and Agis, and Epænetus, and Dionysius, and

also Hegesippus, and Erasistratus, and Euthydemus, and Criton; and

besides these, Stephanus, and Archytas, and Acestius, and Acesias, and

Diocles, and Philistion; for I know that all these men have written

cookery books. And the Lydians, too, used to speak of a dish which

they called candaulus; and there was not one kind of candaulus only,

but three, so wholly devoted were they to luxury. And Hegesippus the

Tarentine says, that the candaulus is made of boiled meat, and grated

bread, and Phrygian cheese, and aniseed, and thick broth: and it is

mentioned by Alexis, in his Woman Working all Night, or The Spinners;

and it is a cook who is represented as speaking:—

_A._ And, besides this, we now will serve you up

A dish whose name's candaulus.

_B._ I've ne'er tasted

Candaulus, nor have I e'er heard of it.

_A._ 'Tis a most grand invention, and 'tis mine;

And if I put a dish of it before you,

Such will be your delight that you'll devour

Your very fingers ere you lose a bit of it.

We here will get some balls of snow-white wool.

* * * * *

You will serve up an egg well shred, and twice

Boil'd till it's hard; a sausage, too, of honey;

Some pickle from the frying-pan, some slices

Of new-made Cynthian cheese; and then

A bunch of grapes, steep'd in a cup of wine:

But this part of the dish is always laugh'd at,

And yet it is the mainstay of the meal.

_B._ Laugh on, my friend; but now be off, I beg,

With all your talk about candauli, and

Your sausages, and dishes, and such luxuries.

Philemon also mentions the candaulus in his Passer-by, where he says—

For I have all these witnesses in the city,

That I'm the only one can dress a sausage,

A candaulus, eggs, a thrium, all in no time:

Was there any error or mistake in this?

And Nicostratus, in his Cook, says—

A man who could not even dress black broth,

But only thria and candauli.

And Menander, in his Trophonius, says—

Here comes a very rich Ionian,

And so I make a good thick soup, and eke

A rich candaulus, amatory food.

[Sidenote: PERSIAN CUSTOMS.]

And the Lydians, when going out to war, array themselves to the tune of

flutes and pipes, as Herodotus says; and the Lacedæmonians also attack

their enemies keeping time to their flutes, as the Cretans keep time to

the lyre.

13. But Heraclides of Cumæ, who wrote the History of Persia, having

said in his book entitled The Preparation, that in the country which

produces frankincense the king is independent, and responsible to no

one, proceeds as follows:—"And he exceeds every one in luxury and

indolence; for he stays for ever in his palace, passing his whole life

in luxury and extravagance; and he does no single thing, nor does he

see many people. But he appoints the judges, and if any one thinks that

they have decided unjustly, there is a window in the highest part of

the palace, and it is fastened with a chain: accordingly, he who thinks

that an unjust decision has been given against him, takes hold of the

chain, and drags the window; and when the king hears it, he summons

the man, and hears the cause himself. And if the judges appear to have

decided unjustly, they are put to death; but if they appear to have

decided justly, then the man who has moved the window is put to death."

And it is said that the sum expended every day on the king, and on his

wives and friends, amounts to fifteen Babylonian talents.

14. And among the Tyrrhenians, who carry their luxury to an

extraordinary pitch, Timæus, in his first book, relates that the female

servants wait on the men in a state of nudity. And Theopompus, in the

forty-third book of his History, states, "that it is a law among the

Tyrrhenians that all their women should be in common: and that the

women pay the greatest attention to their persons, and often practise

gymnastic exercises, naked, among the men, and sometimes with one

another; for that it is not accounted shameful for them to be seen

naked. And that they sup not with their own husbands, but with any one

who happens to be present; and they pledge whoever they please in their

cups: and that they are wonderful women to drink, and very handsome.

And that the Tyrrhenians bring up all the children that are born, no

one knowing to what father each child belongs: and the children, too,

live in the same manner as those who have brought them up, having

feasts very frequently, and being intimate with all the women. Nor is

it reckoned among the Tyrrhenians at all disgraceful either to do or

suffer anything in the open air, or to be seen while it is going on;

for it is quite the custom of their country: and they are so far from

thinking it disgraceful, that they even say, when the master of the

house is indulging his appetites, and any one asks for him, that he is

doing so and so, using the coarsest possible words for his occupation.

But when they are together in parties of companions or relations, they

act in the following manner. First of all, when they have stopped

drinking, and are about to go to sleep, while the lights are still

burning, the servants introduce sometimes courtesans, and sometimes

beautiful boys, and sometimes women; and when they have enjoyed them,

they proceed to acts of still grosser licentiousness: and they indulge

their appetites, and make parties on purpose, sometimes keeping one

another in sight, but more frequently making tents around the beds,

which are made of plaited laths, with cloths thrown over them. And the

objects of their love are usually women; still they are not invariably

as particular as they might be and they are very beautiful, as is

natural for people to be who live delicately, and who take great care

of their persons."

And all the barbarians who live towards the west, smooth their bodies

by rubbing them with pitch, and by shaving them; and among the

Tyrrhenians there are many shops in which this trade is practised,

and many artists whose sole employment it is, just as there are

barbers among us. And when the Tyrrhenians go to these men, they give

themselves wholly up to them, not being ashamed of having spectators,

or of those who may be passing by. And many of the Greeks, and of those

who inhabit Italy, adopt this practice, having learnt it from the

Samnites and Messapians. But the Tyrrhenians (as Alcimus relates) are

so far gone in luxury, that they even make bread, and box, and flog

people to the sound of the flute.

[Sidenote: THE SYBARITES.]

15. The tables of the Sicilians also are very notorious for their

luxury. "And they say that even the sea in their region is sweet,

delighting in the food which is procured from it," as Clearchus says,

in the fifth book of his Lives. And why need we mention the Sybarites,

among whom bathing men and pourers of water were first introduced in

fetters, in order to prevent their going too fast, and to prevent also

their scalding the bathers in their haste? And the Sybarites were the

first people to forbid those who practise noisy arts from dwelling

in their city; such as braziers, and smiths, and carpenters, and men

of similar trades; providing that their slumbers should always be

undisturbed. And it used to be unlawful to rear a cock in their city.

And Timæus relates concerning them, that a citizen of Sybaris once

going into the country, seeing the husbandmen digging, said that he

himself felt as if he had broken his bones by the sight; and some one

who heard him replied, "I, when I heard you say this, felt as if I had

a pain in my side." And once, at Crotona, some Sybarites were standing

by some one of the athletes who was digging up dust for the palæstra,

and said they marvelled that men who had such a city had no slaves to

dig the palæstra for them. But another Sybarite, coming to Lacedæmon,

and being invited to the phiditium, sitting down on a wooden seat and

eating with them, said that originally he had been surprised at hearing

of the valour of the Lacedæmonians; but that now that he had seen it,

he thought that they in no respect surpassed other men: for that the

greatest coward on earth would rather die a thousand times than live

and endure such a life as theirs.

16. And it is a custom among them that even their children, up to the

age when they are ranked among the ephebi, should wear purple robes,

and curls braided with gold. And it is a custom with them also to breed

up in their houses little mannikins and dwarfs (as Timon says), who are

called by some people στίλπωνες; and also little Maltese dogs, which

follow them even to the gymnasia. And it was these men, and men like

them, to whom Masinissa, king of Mauritania, made answer (as Ptolemy

rebates, in the eighth book of his Commentaries), when they were

seeking to buy some monkeys: "Why,—do not your wives, my good friends,

produce any offspring?" For Masinissa was very fond of children, and

kept about him and brought up the children of his sons, and of his

daughters equally, and he had a great many of them: and he brought them

all up till they were three years old, and after that he sent them

to their parents, having the younger ones to take their places. And

Eubulus the comic writer has said the same thing in his Graces:—

For is it not, I pray you, better far

For one man, who can well afford such acts,

To rear a man, than a loud gaping goose,

Or sparrow, or ape—most mischievous of beasts?

And Athenodorus, in his treatise on Serious Studies and Amusements,

says that "Archytas of Tarentum, who was both a statesman and

a philosopher, having many slaves, was always delighted at his

entertainments when any of them came to his banquets. But the Sybarites

delighted only in Maltese puppy dogs, and in men which were no men."

17. The Sybarites used to wear also garments made of Milesian wool,

from which there arose a great friendship between the two cities, as

Timæus relates. For of the inhabitants of Italy, the Milesians gave

the preference to the Tyrrhenians, and of foreigners to the Ionians,

because they were devoted to luxury. But the cavalry of the Sybarites,

being in number more than five thousand, used to go in procession with

saffron-coloured robes over their breastplates; and in the summer their

younger men used to go away to the caves of the Lusiades Nymphs, and

live there in all kinds of luxury. And whenever the rich men of that

country left the city for the country, although they always travelled

in chariots, still they used to consume three days in a day's journey.

And some of the roads which led to their villas in the country were

covered with awnings all over; and a great many of them had cellars

near the sea, into which their wine was brought by canals from the

country, and some of it was then sold out of the district, but some was

brought into the city in boats. They also celebrate in public numbers

of feasts; and they honour those who display great magnificence on

such occasions with golden crowns, and they proclaim their names at

the public sacrifices and games; announcing not only their general

goodwill towards the city, but also the great magnificence which they

had displayed in the feasts. And on these occasions they even crown

those cooks who have served up the most exquisite dishes. And among

the Sybarites there were found baths in which, while they lay down,

they were steamed with warm vapours. And they were the first people who

introduced the custom of bringing chamber-pots into entertainments. But

laughing at those who left their countries to travel in foreign lands,

they themselves used to boast that they had grown old without ever

having crossed the bridges which led over their frontier rivers.

[Sidenote: THE SYBARITES.]

18. But it seems to me, that besides the fact of the riches of the

Sybarites, the very natural character of their country,—since there

are no harbours on their coasts, and since, in consequence, nearly all

the produce of the land is consumed by the citizens themselves,—and

to some extent also an oracle of the God, has excited them all to

luxury, and has caused them to live in practices of most immoderate

dissoluteness. But their city lies in a hollow, and in summer is

liable to excess of cold both morning and evening, but in the middle

of the day the heat is intolerable, so that the greater part of them

believe that the rivers contribute a great deal to the health of the

inhabitants; on which account it has been said, that "a man who, living

at Sybaris, wishes not to die before his time, ought never to see the

sun either rise or set." And once they sent to the oracle to consult

the God (and one of the ambassadors was named Amyris), and to ask how

long their prosperity should last; and the priestess of Delphi answered

them—

You shall be happy, Sybarite,—very happy,

And all your time in entertainments pass,

While you continue to th' immortal gods

The worship due: but when you come, at length,

To honour mortal man beyond the gods,

Then foreign war and intestine sedition

Shall come upon you, and shall crush your city.

When they had heard this they thought the God had said to them that

they should never have their luxury terminated; for that there was no

chance of their ever honouring a man more than God. But in agreement

with the oracle they experienced a change of fortune, when one of them

flogging one of his slaves, continued to beat him after he had sought

an asylum in a temple; but when at last he fled to the tomb of his

father, he let him go, out of shame. But their whole revenues were

dissipated by the way in which they rivalled one another in luxury. And

the city also rivalled all other cities in luxury. And not long after

this circumstance, when many omens of impending destruction, which

it is not necessary to allude to further at present, had given them

notice, they were destroyed.

19. But they had carried their luxury to such a pitch that they had

taught even their horses to dance at their feasts to the music of the

flute. Accordingly the people of Crotona, knowing this, and being at

war with them, as Aristotle relates in his History of the Constitution

of Sybaris, played before their horses the air to which they were

accustomed to dance; for the people of Crotona also had flute-players

in military uniform. And as soon as the horses heard them playing on

the flute, they not only began to dance, but ran over to the army of

the Crotonians, carrying their riders with them.

And Charon of Lampsacus tells a similar story about the Cardians,

in the second book of his Annals, writing as follows:—"The Bisaltæ

invaded the territory of the Cardians, and conquered them. But the

general of the Bisaltæ was Onaris; and he, while he was a boy, had been

sold as a slave in Cardia; and having lived as a slave to one of the

Cardians, he had been taught the trade of a barber. And the Cardians

had an oracle warning them that the Bisaltæ would some day invade

them; and they very often used to talk over this oracle while sitting

in this barber's shop. And Onaris, escaping from Cardia to his own

country, prompted the Bisaltæ to invade the Cardians, and was himself

elected general of the Bisaltæ. But all the Cardians had been in the

habit of teaching their horses to dance at their feasts to the music of

the flute; and they, standing on their hind feet, used to dance with

their fore feet in time to the airs which they had been taught. Onaris

then, knowing these things, got a female flute-player from among the

Cardians. And this female flute-player coming to the Bisaltæ, taught

many of their flute-players; and when they had learnt sufficiently, he

took them in his army against the Cardians. And when the battle took

place, he ordered the flute-players to play the airs which they had

learnt, and which the horses of the Cardians knew. And when the horses

heard the flute, they stood up on their hind feet, and took to dancing.

But the main strength of the Cardians was in their cavalry, and so they

were conquered."

[Sidenote: THE SYBARITES.]

And one of the Sybarites, once wishing to sail over to Crotona, hired a

vessel to carry him by himself, on condition that no one was to splash

him, and that no one else was to be taken on board, and that he might

take his horse with him. And when the captain of the ship had agreed to

these terms, he put his horse on board, and ordered some straw to be

spread under the horse. And afterwards he begged one of those who

had accompanied him down to the vessel to go with him, saying, "I

have already stipulated with the captain of the ship to keep along

the shore." But he replied, "I should have had great difficulty in

complying with your wishes if you had been going to walk along the

sea-shore, much less can I do so when you are going to sail along the

land."

20. But Phylarchus, in the twenty-fifth book of his History, (having

said that there was a law at Syracuse, that the women should not

wear golden ornaments, nor garments embroidered with flowers, nor

robes with purple borders, unless they professed that they were

public prostitutes; and that there was another law, that a man should

not adorn his person, nor wear any extraordinarily handsome robes,

different from the rest of the citizens, unless he meant to confess

that he was an adulterer and a profligate: and also, that a freewoman

was not to walk abroad when the sun had set, unless she was going

to commit adultery; and even by day they were not allowed to go out

without the leave of the regulators of the women, and without one

female servant following them,)—Phylarchus, I say, states, that "the

Sybarites, having given loose to their luxury, made a law that women

might be invited to banquets, and that those who intended to invite

them to sacred festivities must make preparation a year before, in

order that they might have all that time to provide themselves with

garments and other ornaments in a suitable manner worthy of the

occasion, and so might come to the banquet to which they were invited.

And if any confectioner or cook invented any peculiar and excellent

dish, no other artist was allowed to make this for a year; but he alone

who invented it was entitled to all the profit to be derived from

the manufacture of it for that time; in order that others might be

induced to labour at excelling in such pursuits. And in the same way,

it was provided that those who sold eels were not to be liable to pay

tribute, nor those who caught them either. And in the same way the laws

exempted from all burdens those who dyed the marine purple and those

who imported it."

21. They, then, having carried their luxury and insolence to a great

height, at last, when thirty ambassadors came to them from the people

of Crotona, slew them all, and threw their bodies down over the

wall, and left them there to be eaten by beasts. And this was the

beginning of great evils to them, as the Deity was much offended at

it. Accordingly, a few days afterwards all their chief magistrates

appeared to see the same vision on one night; for they thought that

they saw Juno coming into the midst of the market-place, and vomiting

gall; and a spring of blood arose in her temple. But even then they

did not desist from their arrogance, until they were all destroyed by

the Crotonians. But Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Justice,

says,—"The Sybarites having put down the tyranny of Telys, and having

destroyed all those who had exercised authority, met them and slew

them at the altars of the gods. And at the sight of this slaughter the

statue of Juno turned itself away, and the floor sent up a fountain

of blood, so that they were forced to cover all the place around with

brazen tablets, wishing to stop the rising of the blood: on which

account they were all driven from their city and destroyed. And they

had also been desirous to obscure the glory of the famous games at

Olympia; for watching the time when they are celebrated, they attempted

to draw over the athletes to their side by the extravagance of the

prizes which they offered."

[Sidenote: THE TARENTINES.]

22. And the men of Crotona, as Timæus says, after they had destroyed

the people of Sybaris, began to indulge in luxury; so that their chief

magistrate went about the city clad in a purple robe, and wearing a

golden crown on his head, and wearing also white sandals. But some

say that this was not done out of luxury, but owing to Democedes the

physician, who was by birth a native of Crotona; and who having lived

with Polycrates the tyrant of Samos, and having been taken prisoner

by the Persians after his death, was taken to the king of Persia,

after Orœtes had put Polycrates to death. And Democedes, having cured

Atossa, the wife of Darius, and daughter of Cyrus, who had a complaint

in her breast, asked of her this reward, to be sent back to Greece, on

condition of returning again to Persia; and having obtained his request

he came to Crotona. And as he wished to remain there, when some Persian

laid hold of him and said that he was a slave of the king of Persia,

the Crotonians took him away, and having stripped the Persian of his

robe, dressed the lictor of their chief magistrate in it. And

from that time forward, the lictor, having on the Persian robe, went

round with the chief magistrate to all the altars every seventh day;

not for the sake of luxury or insolence, but doing it for the purpose

of insulting the Persians. But after this the men of Crotona, as Timæus

says, attempted to put an end to the Assembly at Olympia, by appointing

a meeting for games, with enormously rich prizes, to be held at exactly

the same time as the Olympian games; but some say that the Sybarites

did this.

23. But Clearchus, in the fourth book of his Lives, says that the

people of Tarentum, being a very valiant and powerful people, carried

their luxury to such a height, that they used to make their whole body

smooth, and that they were the first people who set other nations an

example of this smoothness. They also, says he, all wore very beautiful

fringes on their garments; such as those with which now the life of

woman is refined. And afterwards, being led on by their luxury to

insolence, they overthrew a city of the Iapyges, called Carbina, and

collected all the boys and maidens, and women in the flower of their

age, out of it into the temples of the Carbinians; and building tents

there, they exposed them naked by day for all who chose to come and

look at them, so that whoever pleased, leaping, as it were, on this

unfortunate band, might satiate his appetites with the beauty of those

who were there assembled, in the sight of every one, and above all of

the Gods, whom they were thinking of but little. And this aroused the

indignation of the Deity, so that he struck all the Tarentines who

behaved so impiously in Carbina with his thunderbolts. And even to

this day at Tarentum every one of the houses has the same number of

pillars before its doors as that of the people whom it received back of

those who were sent to Iapygia. And, when the day comes which is the

anniversary of their death, they do not bewail those who perished at

those pillars, nor do they offer the libations which are customary in

other cases, but they offer sacrifices to Jupiter the Thunderer.

24. Now the race of the Iapygians came originally from Crete, being

descended from those Cretans who came to seek for Glaucus, and settled

in that part of Italy; but afterwards, they, forgetting the orderly

life of the Cretans, came to such a pitch of luxury, and from thence

to such a degree of insolence, that they were the first people who

painted their faces, and who wore headbands and false hair, and

who clothed themselves in robes embroidered with flowers, and who

considered it disgraceful to cultivate the land, or to do any kind

of labour. And most of them made their houses more beautiful than

the temples of the gods; and so they say, that the leaders of the

Iapygians, treating the Deity with insult, destroyed the images of

the gods out of the temples, ordering them to give place to their

superiors. On which account, being struck with fire and thunderbolts,

they gave rise to this report; for indeed the thunderbolts with which

they were stricken down were visible a long time afterwards. And to

this very day all their descendants live with shaven heads and in

mourning apparel, in want of all the luxuries which previously belonged

to them.

25. But the Spaniards, although they go about in robes like those of

the tragedians, and richly embroidered, and in tunics which reach down

to the feet, are not at all hindered by their dress from displaying

their vigour in war; but the people of Massilia became very effeminate,

wearing the same highly ornamented kind of dress which the Spaniards

used to wear; but they behave in a shameless manner, on account of

the effeminacy of their souls, behaving like women, out of luxury:

from which the proverb has gone about,—May you sail to Massilia. And

the inhabitants of Siris, which place was first inhabited by people

who touched there on their return from Troy, and after them by the

Colophonians, as Timæus and Aristotle tell us, indulged in luxury no

less than the Sybarites; for it was a peculiar national custom of

theirs to wear embroidered tunics, which they girded up with expensive

girdles (μίτραι); and on this account they were called by the

inhabitants of the adjacent countries ηιτροχίτωνες, since

Homer calls those who have no girdles ἀμιτροχίτωνες. And

Archilochus the poet marvelled beyond anything at the country of the

Siritans, and at their prosperity. Accordingly, speaking of Thasos as

inferior to Siris, he says—

For there is not on earth a place so sweet,

Or lovely, or desirable as that

Which stands upon the stream of gentle Siris.

[Sidenote: THE MILESIANS.]

But the place was called Siris, as Timæus asserts, and as Euripides

says too in his play called The Female Prisoner, or Melanippe, from

a woman named Siris, but according to Archilochus, from a river of

the same name. And the number of the population was very great in

proportion to the size of the place and extent of the country, owing

to the luxurious and delicious character of the climate all around. On

which account nearly all that part of Italy which was colonised by the

Greeks was called Magna Græcia.

26. "But the Milesians, as long as they abstained from luxury,

conquered the Scythians," as Ephorus says, "and founded all the cities

on the Hellespont, and settled all the country about the Euxine Sea

with beautiful cities. And they all betook themselves to Miletus.

But when they were enervated by pleasure and luxury, all the valiant

character of the city disappeared, as Aristotle tells us; and indeed a

proverb arose from them,—

Once on a time Milesians were brave."

Heraclides of Pontus, in the second book of his treatise on Justice,

says,—"The city of the Milesians fell into misfortunes, on account of

the luxurious lives of the citizens, and on account of the political

factions; for the citizens, not loving equity, destroyed their enemies

root and branch. For all the rich men and the populace formed opposite

factions (and they call the populace Gergithæ). At first the people got

the better, and drove out the rich men, and, collecting the children of

those who fled into some threshing-floors, collected a lot of oxen, and

so trampled them to death, destroying them in a most impious manner.

Therefore, when in their turn the rich men got the upper hand, they

smeared over all those whom they got into their power with pitch, and

so burnt them alive. And when they were being burnt, they say that many

other prodigies were seen, and also that a sacred olive took fire of

its own accord; on which account the God drove them for a long time

from his oracle; and when they asked the oracle on what account they

were driven away, he said—

My heart is grieved for the defenceless Gergithæ,

So helplessly destroy'd; and for the fate

Of the poor pitch-clad bands, and for the tree

Which never more shall flourish or bear fruit.

And Clearchus, in his fourth book, says that the Milesians, imitating

the luxury of the Colophonians, disseminated it among their

neighbours. And then he says that they, when reproved for it, said one

to another, "Keep at home your native Milesian wares, and publish them

not."

27. And concerning the Scythians, Clearchus, in what follows these last

words, proceeds to say—"The nation of the Scythians was the first to

use common laws; but after that, they became in their turn the most

miserable of all nations, on account of their insolence: for they

indulged in luxury to a degree in which no other nation did, being

prosperous in everything, and having great resources of all sorts for

such indulgences. And this is plain from the traces which exist of it

to this day in the apparel worn, and way of life practised, by their

chief men. For they, being very luxurious, and indeed being the first

men who abandoned themselves wholly to luxury, proceeded to such a

pitch of insolence that they used to cut off the noses of all the

men wherever they came; and their descendants, after they emigrated

to other countries, even now derive their name from this treatment.

But their wives used to tattoo the wives of the Thracians, (of those

Thracians, that is, who lived on the northern and western frontiers

of Scythia,) all over their bodies, drawing figures on them with the

tongues of their buckles; on which account, many years afterwards, the

wives of the Thracians who had been treated in this manner effaced

this disgrace in a peculiar manner of their own, tattooing also all

the rest of their skin all over, in order that by this means the brand

of disgrace and insult which was imprinted on their bodies, being

multiplied in so various a manner, might efface the reproach by being

called an ornament. And they lorded it over all other nations in so

tyrannical a manner, that the offices of slavery, which are painful

enough to all men, made it plain to all succeeding ages what was the

real character of "a Scythian command."

Therefore, on account of the number of disasters which oppressed them,

since every people had lost, through grief, all the comforts of life,

and all their hair at the same time, foreign nations called all cutting

of the hair which is done by way of insult, aposkythizomai.

28. And Callias, or Diocles, (whichever was the author of the

Cyclopes), ridiculing the whole nation of the Ionians in that play,

says—

[Sidenote: THE ABYDENES.]

What has become of that luxurious

Ionia, with the sumptuous supper-tables?

Tell me, how does it fare?

And the people of Abydus (and Abydus is a colony of Miletus) are very

luxurious in their way of life, and wholly enervated by pleasure; as

Hermippus tells us, in his Soldiers—

_A._ I do rejoice when I behold an army

From o'er the sea,—to see how soft they are

And delicate to view, with flowing hair,

And well-smooth'd muscles in their tender arms.

_B._ Have you heard Abydus has become a man?

And Aristophanes, in his Triphales, ridiculing (after the fashion of

the comedians) many of the Ionians, says—

Then all the other eminent foreigners

Who were at hand, kept following steadily,

And much they press'd him, begging he would take

The boy with him to Chios, and there sell him:

Another hoped he'd take him to Clazomenæ;

A third was all for Ephesus; a fourth

Preferred Abydus on the Hellespont:

And all these places in his way did lie.

But concerning the people of Abydus, Antipho, in reply to the attacks

of Alcibiades, speaks as follows:—"After you had been considered

by your guardians old enough to be your own master, you, receiving

your property from their hands, went away by sea to Abydus,—not for

the purpose of transacting any private business of your own, nor on

account of any commission of the state respecting any public rights

of hospitality; but, led only by your own lawless and intemperate

disposition, to learn lascivious habits and actions from the women at

Abydus, in order that you might be able to put them in practice during

the remainder of your life."

29. The Magnesians also, who lived on the banks of the Mæander, were

undone because they indulged in too much luxury, as Callinus relates in

his Elegies; and Archilochus confirms this: for the city of Magnesia

was taken by the Ephesians. And concerning these same Ephesians,

Democritus, who was himself an Ephesian, speaks in the first book of

his treatise on the Temple of Diana at Ephesus; where, relating their

excessive effeminacy, and the dyed garments which they used to wear, he

uses these expressions:—"And as for the violet and purple robes of the

Ionians, and their saffron garments, embroidered with round figures,

those are known to every one; and the caps which they wear on their

heads are in like manner embroidered with figures of animals. They wear

also garments called sarapes, of yellow, or scarlet, or white, and

some even of purple: and they wear also long robes called calasires,

of Corinthian workmanship; and some of these are purple, and some

violet-coloured, and some hyacinth-coloured; and one may also see some

which are of a fiery red, and others which are of a sea-green colour.

There are also Persian calasires, which are the most beautiful of

all. And one may see also," continues Democritus, "the garments which

they call actææ; and the actæa is the most costly of all the Persian

articles of dress: and this actæa is woven for the sake of fineness and

of strength, and it is ornamented all over with golden millet-grains;

and all the millet-grains have knots of purple thread passing through

the middle, to fasten them inside the garment." And he says that the

Ephesians use all these things, being wholly devoted to luxury.

30. But Duris, speaking concerning the luxury of the Samians, quotes

the poems of Asius, to prove that they used to wear armlets on their

arms; and that, when celebrating the festival of the Heræa, they used

to go about with their hair carefully combed down over the back of

their head and over their shoulders; and he says that this is proved

to have been their regular practice by this proverb—"To go, like a

worshipper of Juno, with his hair braided."

Now the verses of Asius run as follows:—

And they march'd, with carefully comb'd hair

To the most holy spot of Juno's temple,

Clad in magnificent robes, whose snow-white folds

Reach'd to the ground of the extensive earth,

And golden knobs on them like grasshoppers,

And golden chaplets loosely held their hair,

Gracefully waving in the genial breeze;

And on their arms were armlets, highly wrought,

* * * * * * * * * * and sung

The praises of the mighty warrior.

But Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, says that the

Samians, being most extravagantly luxurious, destroyed the city, out

of their meanness to one another, as effectually as the Sybarites

destroyed theirs.

[Sidenote: THE COLOPHONIANS.]

31. But the Colophonians (as Phylarchus says), who originally adopted

a very rigid course of life, when, in consequence of the alliance and

friendship which they formed with the Lydians, they began to give way

to luxury, used to go into public with their hair adorned with golden

ornaments, as Xenophanes tells us—

They learnt all sorts of useless foolishness

From the effeminate Lydians, while they

Were held in bondage to sharp tyranny.

They went into the forum richly clad

In purple garments, in numerous companies,

Whose strength was not less than a thousand men,

Boasting of hair luxuriously dress'd,

Dripping with costly and sweet-smelling oils.

And to such a degree did they carry their dissoluteness and their

unseemly drunkenness, that some of them never once saw the sun either

rise or set: and they passed a law, which continued even to our

time, that the female flute-players and female harpers, and all such

musicians and singers, should receive pay from daybreak to midday, and

until the lamps were lighted; but after that they set aside the rest

of the night to get drunk in. And Theopompus, in the fifteenth book of

his History, says, "that a thousand men of that city used to walk about

the city, wearing purple garments, which was at that time a colour rare

even among kings, and greatly sought after; for purple was constantly

sold for its weight in silver. And so, owing to these practices, they

fell under the power of tyrants, and became torn by factions, and so

were undone with their country." And Diogenes the Babylonian gave the

same account of them, in the first book of his Laws. And Antiphanes,

speaking generally of the luxury of all the Ionians, has the following

lines in his Dodona:—

Say, from what country do you come, what land

Call you your home? Is this a delicate

Luxurious band of long and soft-robed men

From cities of Ionia that here approaches?

And Theophrastus, in his essay on Pleasure, says that the Ionians, on

account of the extraordinary height to which they carried their luxury,

gave rise to what is now known as the golden proverb.

32. And Theopompus, in the eighth book of his History of the Affairs

of Philip, says that some of those tribes which live on the sea-coast

are exceedingly luxurious in their manner of living. But about the

Byzantians and Chalcedonians, the same Theopompus makes the following

statement:—"But the Byzantians, because they had been governed a

long time by a democracy, and because their city was so situated as

to be a kind of mart, and because the whole people spent the whole

of their time in the market-place and about the harbour, were very

intemperate, and in the constant habit of feasting and drinking at the

wine-sellers'. But the Chalcedonians, before they became members of the

same city with them, were men who at all times cultivated better habits

and principles of life; but after they had tasted of the democracy of

the Byzantians, they fell into ruinous luxury, and, from having been

most temperate and moderate in their daily life, they became a nation

of hard drinkers, and very extravagant." And, in the twenty-first book

of the History of the Affairs of Philip, he says that the nation of

the Umbrians (and that is a tribe which lives on the shores of the

Hadriatic) was exceedingly devoted to luxury, and lived in a manner

very like the Lydians, and had a fertile country, owing to which they

advanced in prosperity.

33. But speaking about the Thessalians, in his fourth book, he says

that "they spend all their time among dancing women and flute-playing

women, and some spend all the day in dice and drinking, and similar

pastimes; and they are more anxious how they may display their tables

loaded with all kinds of food, than how they may exhibit a regular and

orderly life. But the Pharsalians," says he, "are of all men the most

indolent and the most extravagant." And the Thessalians are confessed

(as Critias says) to be the most extravagant of all the Greeks, both in

their way of living and in their apparel; which was a reason why they

conducted the Persians into Greece, desiring to copy their luxury and

expense.

But concerning the Ætolians, Polybius tells us, in the thirteenth

book of his History, that on account of their continual wars, and

the extravagance of their lives, they became involved in debt. And

Agatharchides, in the twelfth book of his Histories, says—"The

Ætolians are so much the more ready to encounter death, in proportion

as they seek to live extravagantly and with greater prodigality than

any other nation."

[Sidenote: LUXURY OF THE SYRIANS.]

34. But the Sicilians, and especially the Syracusans, are very

notorious for their luxury; as Aristophanes also tells us, in his

Daitaleis, where he says—

But after that I sent you, you did not

Learn this at all; but only learnt to drink,

And sing loose songs at Syracusan feasts,

And how to share in Sybaritic banquets,

And to drink Chian wine in Spartan cups.

But Plato, in his Epistles, says—"It was with this intention that I

went to Italy and Sicily, when I paid my first visit there. But when I

got there, the way of life that I found there was not at all pleasing

to me; for twice in the day they eat to satiety, and they never sleep

alone at night; and they indulge also in all other such practices as

naturally follow on such habits: for, after such habits as these, no

man in all the world, who has been bred up in them from his youth, can

possibly turn out sensible; and as for being temperate and virtuous,

that none of them ever think of." And in the third book of his Polity

he writes as follows:—"It seems to me, my friend, that you do not

approve of the Syracusan tables, and the Sicilian variety of dishes;

and you do not approve either of men, who wish to preserve a vigorous

constitution, devoting themselves to Corinthian mistresses; nor do

you much admire the delicacy which is usually attributed to Athenian

sweetmeats."

35. But Posidonius, in the sixteenth book of his Histories, speaking

of the cities in Syria, and saying how luxurious they were, writes

as follows:—"The inhabitants of the towns, on account of the great

fertility of the land, used to derive great revenues from their

estates, and after their labours for necessary things used to celebrate

frequent entertainments, at which they feasted incessantly, using their

gymnasia for baths, and anointing themselves with very costly oils and

perfumes; and they passed all their time in their γραμματεῖα, for that

was the name which they gave to their public banqueting-rooms, as if

they had been their own private houses; and the greater part of the day

they remained in them, filling their bellies with meat and drink, so

as even to carry away a good deal to eat at home; and they delighted

their ears with the music of a noisy lyre, so that whole cities

resounded with such noises." But Agatharchides, in the thirty-fifth

book of his Affairs of Europe, says—"The Arycandians of Lycia, being

neighbours of the Limyres, having got involved in debt, on account

of the intemperance and extravagance of their way of living, and, by

reason of their indolence and devotion to pleasure, being unable to

discharge their debts, placed all their hopes on Mithridates, thinking

that he would reward them with a general abolition of debts." And, in

his thirty-first book, he says that the Zacynthians were inexperienced

in war, because they were accustomed to live in ease and opulence.

36. And Polybius, in his seventh book, says, that the inhabitants

of Capua in Campania, having become exceedingly rich through the

excellence of their soil, fell into habits of luxury and extravagance,

exceeding all that is reported of the inhabitants of Crotona or

Sybaris. "Accordingly," says he, "they, not being able to bear their

present prosperity, called in Hannibal, owing to which act they

afterwards suffered intolerable calamities at the hands of the Romans.

But the people of Petelia, who kept the promises which they had made to

the Romans, behaved with such resolution and fortitude when besieged by

Hannibal, that they did not surrender till they had eaten all the hides

which there were in the city, and the bark and young branches of all

the trees which grew in the city, and till they had endured a siege for

eleven months, without any one coming to their assistance; and they did

not even then surrender without the permission of the Romans."

37. And Phylarchus, in the eleventh book of his History, says that

Æschylus says that the Curetes derived their name from their luxurious

habits—

And their luxurious curls, like a fond girl's,

On which account they call'd him Κουρῆτες.[2]

And Agathon in his Thyestes says, that "the suitors who courted the

daughter of Pronax came sumptuously dressed in all other points, and

also with very long, carefully dressed hair. And when they failed in

obtaining her hand—

At least (say they) we cut and dress'd our hair,

To be an evidence of our luxury,

A lovely action of a cheerful mind;

And thence we gain'd the glory of a name,—

To be κουρῆτες, from our well-cut (κοίριμος) hair."

[Sidenote: LUXURY OF THE ASIATIC KINGS.]

And the people of Cumæ in Italy, as Hyperochus tells us, or whoever

else it was who wrote the History of Cumæ which is attributed to him,

wore golden brocaded garments all day, and robes embroidered with

flowers; and used to go to the fields with their wives, riding in

chariots.—And this is what I have to say about the luxury of nations

and cities.

38. But of individual instances I have heard the following

stories:—Ctesias, in the third book of his History of Persia, says,

that all those who were ever kings in Asia devoted themselves mainly

to luxury; and above all of them, Ninyas did so, the son of Ninus and

Semiramis. He, therefore, remaining in-doors and living luxuriously,

was never seen by any one, except by his eunuchs and by his own women.

And another king of this sort was Sardanapalus, whom some call the

son of Anacyndaraxes, and others the son of Anabaxarus. And so, when

Arbaces, who was one of the generals under him, a Mede by birth,

endeavoured to manage, by the assistance of one of the eunuchs, whose

name was Sparamizus, to see Sardanapalus; and when he with difficulty

prevailed upon him, with the consent of the king himself,—when the

Mede entered and saw him, painted with vermilion and adorned like a

woman, sitting among his concubines carding purple wool, and sitting

among them with his feet up, wearing a woman's robe, and with his beard

carefully scraped, and his face smoothed with pumice-stone (for he

was whiter than milk, and pencilled under his eyes and eyebrows; and

when he saw Arbaces, he was just putting a little more white under his

eyes), most historians, among whom Duris is one, relate that Arbaces,

being indignant at his countrymen being ruled over by such a monarch

as that, stabbed him and slew him. But Ctesias says that he went to

war with him, and collected a great army, and then that Sardanapalus,

being dethroned by Arbaces, died, burning himself alive in his palace,

having heaped up a funeral pile four plethra in extent, on which he

placed a hundred and fifty golden couches, and a corresponding number

of tables, these, too, being all made of gold. And he also erected on

the funeral pile a chamber a hundred feet long, made of wood; and in

it he had couches spread, and there he himself lay down with his wife,

and his concubines lay on other couches around. For he had sent on his

three sons and his daughters, when he saw that his affairs were getting

in a dangerous state, to Nineveh, to the king of that city, giving them

three thousand talents of gold. And he made the roof of this apartment

of large stout beams, and then all the walls of it he made of numerous

thick planks, so that it was impossible to escape out of it. And in

it he placed ten millions of talents of gold, and a hundred millions

of talents of silver, and robes, and purple garments, and every kind

of apparel imaginable. And after that he bade the slaves set fire to

the pile; and it was fifteen days burning. And those who saw the smoke

wondered, and thought that he was celebrating a great sacrifice; but

the eunuchs alone knew what was really being done. And in this way

Sardanapalus, who had spent his life in extraordinary luxury, died with

as much magnanimity as possible.

39. But Clearchus, relating the history of the king of Persia, says

that—"in a very prudent manner he proposed prizes for any one who

could invent any delicious food. For this is what, I imagine, is meant

by the brains of Jupiter and the king. On which account," continues he,

"Sardanapalus was the most happy of all monarchs, who during his whole

life preferred enjoyment to everything else, and who, even after his

death, shows by his fingers, in the figure carved on his tomb, how much

ridicule all human affairs deserve, being not worth the snap of his

fingers which he makes . . . . . . . . anxiety about other things."

However, Sardanapalus does not appear to have lived all his life in

entire inaction; for the inscription on his tomb says—

Sardanapalus

The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,

In one day built Anchiale and Tarsus;

But now he's dead.

And Amyntas, in the third book of his Account of the Posts, says

that at Nineveh there is a very high mound, which Cyrus levelled

with the ground when he besieged the city, and raised another mound

against the city; and that this mound was said to have been erected by

Sardanapalus the son of King Ninus; and that on it there was said to be

inscribed, on a marble pillar and in Chaldaic characters, the following

inscription, which Chærilus translated into Greek, and reduced to

metre. And the inscription is as follows—

[Sidenote: SARDANAPALUS.]

I was the king, and while I lived on earth,

And saw the bright rays of the genial sun,

I ate and drank and loved; and knew full well

The time that men do live on earth was brief,

And liable to many sudden changes,

Reverses, and calamities. Now others

Will have th' enjoyment of my luxuries,

Which I do leave behind me. For these reasons

I never ceased one single day from pleasure.

But Clitarchus, in the fourth book of his History of Alexander, says

that Sardanapalus died of old age after he had lost the sovereignty

over the Syrians. And Aristobulus says—"In Anchiale, which was built

by Sardanapalus, did Alexander, when he was on his expedition against

the Persians, pitch his camp. And at no great distance was the monument

of Sardanapalus, on which there was a marble figure putting together

the fingers of its right hand, as if it were giving a fillip. And there

was on it the following inscription in Assyrian characters—

Sardanapalus

The king, and son of Anacyndaraxes,

In one day built Anchiale and Tarsus.

Eat, drink, and love; the rest's not worth e'en this,—

by "this" meaning the fillip he was giving with his fingers.

40. But Sardanapalus was not the only king who was very luxurious, but

so was also Androcotus the Phrygian. For he also used to wear a robe

embroidered with flowers; and to adorn himself more superbly than a

woman, as Mnaseas relates, in the third book of his History of Europe.

But Clearchus, in the fifth book of his Lives, says that Sagaus the

king of the Mariandyni used, out of luxury, to eat, till he arrived at

old age, out of his nurse's mouth, that he might not have the trouble

of chewing his own food; and that he never put his hand lower than

his navel; on which account Aristotle, laughing at Xenocrates the

Chalcedonian, for a similar preposterous piece of laziness, says—

His hands are clean, but sure his mind is not.

And Ctesias relates that Annarus, a lieutenant of the king of Persia,

and governor of Babylon, wore the entire dress and ornaments of a

woman; and though he was only a slave of the king, there used to come

into the room while he was at supper a hundred and fifty women playing

the lyre and singing. And they played and sang all the time that he was

eating. And Phœnix of Colophon, the poet, speaking of Ninus, in the

first book of his Iambics, says—

There was a man named Ninus, as I hear,

King of Assyria, who had a sea

Of liquid gold, and many other treasures,

More than the whole sand of the Caspian sea.

He never saw a star in all his life,

But sat still always, nor did wish to see one;

He never, in his place among the Magi,

Roused the sacred fire, as the law bids,

Touching the God with consecrated wand;

He was no orator, no prudent judge,

He never learn'd to speak, or count a sum,

But was a wondrous man to eat and drink

And love, and disregarded all besides:

And when he died he left this rule to men,

Where Nineveh and his monument now stands:—

"Behold and hear, whether from wide Assyria

You come, or else from Media, or if

You're a Choraxian, or a long-hair'd native

Of the lake country in Upper India,

For these my warnings are not vain or false:

I once was Ninus, a live breathing man,

Now I am nothing, only dust and clay,

And all I ate, and all I sang and jested,

And all I loved........

But now my enemies have come upon me,

They have my treasures and my happiness,

Tearing me as the Bacchæ tear a kid;

And I am gone, not taking with me gold,

Or horses, or a single silver chariot;

Once I did wear a crown, now I am dust.

[Sidenote: PHILIP.]

41. But Theopompus, in the fifteenth book of his History of Philip,

says that "Straton the king of Sidon surpassed all men in luxury and

devotion to pleasure. For as Homer has represented the Phæacians

as living feasting and drinking, and listening to harp-players and

rhapsodists, so also did Straton pass the whole of his life; and so

much the more devoted to pleasure was he than they, that the Phæacians,

as Homer reports, used to hold their banquets in the company of their

own wives and daughters; but Straton used to prepare his entertainments

with flute-playing and harp-playing and lyre-playing women. And he sent

for many courtesans from Peloponnesus, and for many musicians from

Ionia, and for other girls from every part of Greece; some skilful in

singing and some in dancing, for exhibitions of skill in which they had

contests before himself and his friends; and with these women he spent

a great deal of his time. He then, delighting in such a life as this,

and being by nature a slave to his passions, was also especially urged

on by rivalry with Nicocles. For he and Nicocles were always rivalling

one another; each of them devoted all his attention to living more

luxuriously and pleasantly than the other. And so they carried their

emulation to such a height, as we have heard, that when either of them

heard from his visitors what was the furniture of the other's house,

and how great was the expense gone to by the other for any sacrifice,

he immediately set to work to surpass him in such things. And they were

anxious to appear to all men prosperous and deserving of envy. Not but

what neither of them continued prosperous throughout the whole of their

lives, but were both of them destroyed by violent deaths."

And Anaximenes, in his book entitled the Reverses of Kings, giving

the same account of Straton, says that he was always endeavouring to

rival Nicocles, who was the king of Salamis in Cyprus, and who was

exceedingly devoted to luxury and debauchery, and that they both came

to a violent end.

42. And in the first book of his History of the Affairs of Philip,

Theopompus, speaking of Philip, says—"And on the third day he comes

to Onocarsis, which was a strong place in Thrace, having a large

grove kept in beautiful order, and full of every resource for living

pleasantly, especially during the summer. For it was one of the

places which had been especially selected by Cotys, who, of all the

kings that ever lived in Thrace, was the most eager in his pursuit of

pleasure and luxury. And going round all the country, wherever he saw

any place shaded with trees and well watered with springs, he made it

into a banqueting place. And going to them whenever he chose, he used

to celebrate sacrifices to the Gods, and there he would stay with his

lieutenants, being a very happy and enviable man, until he took it

into his head to blaspheme Minerva, and to treat her with contempt."

And the historian goes on to say, that Cotys once prepared a feast, as

if Minerva had married him; and prepared a bed-chamber for her, and

then, in a state of intoxication, he waited for the goddess. And being

already totally out of his mind, he sent one of his body-guards to see

whether the goddess had arrived at the bed-chamber. And when he came

there, and went back and reported that there was nobody there, he shot

him and killed him. And he treated a second in the same way, until a

third went, and on his return told him that the goddess had been a long

time waiting for him. And this king, being once jealous of his wife,

cut her up with his own hands, beginning at her legs.

43. But in the thirteenth book of his History of the Affairs of Philip,

speaking of Chabrias the Athenian, he says—"But he was unable to live

in the city, partly on account of his intemperance, and partly because

of the extravagant habits of his daily life, and partly because of the

Athenians. For they are always unfavourable to eminent men; on which

account their most illustrious citizens preferred to live out of the

city. For instance, Iphicrates lived in Thrace, and Conon in Cyprus,

and Timotheus in Lesbos, and Chares at Sigeum, and Chabrias himself in

Egypt." And about Chares he says, in his forty-fifth book—"But Chares

was a slow and stupid man, and one wholly devoted to pleasure. And

even when he was engaged in his military expeditions, he used to take

about with him female flute-players, and female harp-players, and a lot

of common courtesans. And of the money which was contributed for the

purposes of the war, some he expended on this sort of profligacy, and

some he left behind at Athens, to be distributed among the orators and

those who propose decrees, and on those private individuals who had

actions depending. And for all this the Athenian populace was so far

from being indignant, that for this very reason he became more popular

than any other citizen; and naturally too: for they all lived in this

manner, that their young men spent all their time among flute-players

and courtesans; and those who were a little older than they, devoted

themselves to gambling, and profligacy of that sort; and the whole

people spent more money on its public banquets and entertainments than

on the provision necessary for the well-doing of the state.

[Sidenote: THE PISISTRATIDÆ.]

But in the work of Theopompus, entitled, "Concerning the Money of which

the Temple at Delphi was pillaged," he says—"Chares the Athenian got

sixty talents by means of Lysander. And with this money he gave a

banquet to the Athenians in the market-place, celebrating a triumphal

sacrifice in honour of their victory gained in the battle which took

place against the foreign troops of Philip." And these troops were

commanded by Adæus, surnamed the Cock, concerning whom Heraclides the

comic poet speaks in the following manner—

But when he caught the dunghill cock of Philip

Crowing too early in the morn, and straying,

He kill'd him; for he had not got his crest on.

And having kill'd this one, then Chares gave

A splendid banquet to the Athenian people;

So liberal and magnificent was he.

And Duris gives the same account.