Hipparchus, instituted banquets and entertainments; on which account
they had a vast quantity of horses and other articles of luxury. And
this it was that made their government so oppressive. And yet their
father, Pisistratus, had been a moderate man in his pleasures, so that
he never stationed guards in his fortified places, nor in his gardens,
as Theopompus relates in his twenty-first book, but let any one who
chose come in and enjoy them, and take whatever he pleased. And Cimon
afterwards adopted the same conduct, in imitation of Pisistratus. And
Theopompus mentions Cimon in the tenth book of his History of the
Affairs of Philip, saying—"Cimon the Athenian never placed any one in
his fields or gardens to protect the fruit, in order that any of the
citizens who chose might go in and pick the fruit, and take whatever
they wanted in those places. And besides this, he opened his house to
every one, and made a daily practice of providing a plain meal for a
great number of people; and all the poor Athenians who came that way
might enter and partake of it. He also paid great attention to all
those who from day-to-day came to ask something of him; and they say
that he used always to take about with him one or two young men bearing
bags of money. And he ordered them to give money to whoever came to him
to ask anything of him. And they say that he also often contributed
towards the expense of funerals. And this too is a thing that he often
did; whenever he met any citizen badly clad, he used to order one of
the young men who were following him to change cloaks with him. And so
by all these means he acquired a high reputation, and was the first of
all the citizens."
But Pisistratus was in many respects very oppressive; and some say
that that statue of Bacchus which there is at Athens was made in his
likeness.
45. And Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, says that
Pericles, nicknamed the Olympian, after he got rid of his wife out
of his house, and devoted himself to a life of pleasure, lived with
Aspasia, the courtesan from Megara, and spent the greater part of
his substance on her. And Themistocles, when the Athenians were not
yet in such a state of intoxication, and had not yet begun to use
courtesans, openly filled a chariot with prostitutes, and drove early
in the morning through the Ceramicus when it was full. But Idomeneus
has made this statement in an ambiguous manner, so as to leave it
uncertain whether he means that he harnessed the prostitutes in his
chariot like horses, or merely that he made them mount his four-horsed
chariot. And Possis, in the third book of his History of the Affairs
of Magnesia, says, that Themistocles, having been invested with a
crowned magistracy in Magnesia, sacrificed to Minerva, and called the
festival the Panathenæa. And he sacrificed also to Dionysius Choopotes,
and celebrated the festival of the Choeis there. But Clearchus, in the
first book of his treatise on Friendship, says that Themistocles had
a triclinium of great beauty made for him, and said that he should be
quite contented if he could fill that with friends.
46. And Chamæleon of Pontus, in his Essay on Anacreon, having quoted
these lines—
And Periphoretus Artemon
Is loved by golden-hair'd Eurypyle,
says that Artemo derived this nickname from living luxuriously, and
being carried about (περιφέρεσθαι) on a couch. For Anacreon
says that he had been previously very poor, and then became on a sudden
very luxurious, in the following verses—
Having before a poor berberium cloak,
And scanty cap, and his poor ears
With wooden earrings decorated,
And wearing round his ribs a newly-bought
Raw ox-hide, fitter for a case
For an old-fashion'd shield, this wretch
Artemon, who long has lived
With bakers' women, and the lowest of the low,
Now having found a new style of life,
Often thrusts his neck into the yoke,
Or beneath the spear doth crouch;
And many a weal he can display,
Mark'd on his back with well-deserved scourge;
And well pluck'd as to hair and beard.
But now he mounts his chariot, he the son
Of Cyca, and his golden earrings wears;
And like a woman bears
An ivory parasol o'er his delicate head.
[Sidenote: ALCIBIADES.]
47. But Satyrus, speaking of the beautiful Alcibiades, says,—"It
is said that when he was in Ionia, he was more luxurious than the
Ionians themselves. And when he was in Thebes he trained himself, and
practised gymnastic exercises, being more of a Bœotian than the Thebans
themselves. And in Thessaly he loved horses and drove chariots; being
fonder of horses than the Aleuadæ: and at Sparta he practised courage
and fortitude, and surpassed the Lacedæmonians themselves. And again,
in Thrace he out-drank even the Thracians themselves. And once wishing
to tempt his wife, he sent her a thousand Darics in another man's
name: and being exceedingly beautiful in his person, he cherished his
hair the greater part of his life, and used to wear an extraordinary
kind of shoe, which is called Alcibias from him. And whenever he was a
choregus, he made a procession clad in a purple robe; and going into
the theatre he was admired not only by the men, but also by the women:
on which account Antisthenes, the pupil of Socrates, who often had seen
Alcibiades, speaks of him as a powerful and manly man, and impatient
of restraint, and audacious, and exceedingly beautiful through all his
life.
"And whenever he went on a journey he used four of the allied cities
as his maid-servants. For the Ephesians used to put up a Persian tent
for him; and the Chians used to find him food for his horses; and
the people of Cyzicus supplied him with victims for his sacrifices
and banquets; and the Lesbians gave him wine, and everything else
which he wanted for his daily food. And when he came to Athens from
Olympia, he offered up two pictures, the work of Aglaophon: one of
which represented the priestesses of Olympia and Delphi crowning him;
and in the other Nemea was sitting, and Alcibiades on her knees,
appearing more beautiful than any of the women. And even when on
military expeditions he wished to appear beautiful; accordingly he had
a shield made of gold and ivory, on which was carved Love brandishing a
thunderbolt as the ensign. And once having gone to supper at the house
of Anytus, by whom he was greatly beloved, and who was a rich man, when
one of the company who was supping there with him was Thrasyllus, (and
he was a poor man,) he pledged Thrasyllus in half the cups which were
set out on the side-board, and then ordered the servants to carry them
to Thrasyllus's house; and then he very civilly wished Anytus good
night, and so departed. But Anytus, in a very affectionate and liberal
spirit, when some one said what an inconsiderate thing Alcibiades had
done; 'No, by Jove,' said he, 'but what a kind and considerate thing;
for when he had the power to have taken away everything, he has left me
half.'"
48. And Lysias the orator, speaking of his luxury, says—"For Axiochus
and Alcibiades having sailed to the Hellespont, married at Abydus, both
of them marrying one wife, Medontias of Abydus, and both cohabited with
her. After this they had a daughter, and they said that they could
not tell whose daughter she was; and when she was old enough to be
married, they both cohabited with her too; and when Alcibiades came to
her, he said that she was the daughter of Axiochus, and Axiochus in
his turn said she was the daughter of Alcibiades." And he is ridiculed
by Eupolis, after the fashion of the comic writers, as being very
intemperate with regard to women; for Eupolis says in his Flatterers—
_A._ Let Alcibiades leave the women's rooms.
_B._ Why do you jest . . . .
Will you not now go home and try your hand
On your own wife?
And Pherecrates says—
For Alcibiades, who's no man (ἀνὴρ) at all,
Is, as it seems, now every woman's husband (ἀνήρ).
And when he was at Sparta he seduced Timæa, the wife of Agis the king.
And when some people reproached him for so doing, he said, "that he did
not intrigue with her out of incontinence, but in order that a son of
his might be king at Sparta; and that the kings might no longer be said
to be descended from Hercules, but from Alcibiades:" and when he was
engaged in his military expeditions, he used to take about, with him
Timandra, the mother of Lais the Corinthian, and Theodote, who was an
Athenian courtesan.
[Sidenote: PAUSANIAS.]
49. But after his banishment, having made the Athenians masters of the
Hellespont, and having taken more than five thousand Peloponnesians
prisoners, he sent them to Athens; and after this, returning to his
country, he crowned the Attic triremes with branches, and mitres, and
fillets. And fastening to his own vessels a quantity of ships which he
had taken, with their beaks broken off, to the number of two hundred,
and conveying also transports full of Lacedæmonian and Peloponnesian
spoils and arms, he sailed into the Piræus: and the trireme in which he
himself was, ran up to the very bars of the Piræus with purple sails;
and when it got inside the harbour, and when the rowers took their
oars, Chrysogonus played on a flute the trieric air, clad in a Persian
robe, and Callippides the tragedian, clad in a theatrical dress, gave
the word to the rowers. On account of which some one said with great
wit—"Sparta could never have endured two Lysanders, nor Athens two
Alcibiadeses." But Alcibiades was imitating the Medism of Pausanias,
and when he was staying with Pharnabazus, he put on a Persian robe, and
learnt the Persian language, as Themistocles had done.
50. And Duris says, in the twenty-second book of his
History,—"Pausanias, the king of Lacedæmon, having laid aside the
national cloak of Lacedæmon, adopted the Persian dress. And Dionysius,
the tyrant of Sicily, adopted a theatrical robe and a golden tragic
crown with a clasp. And Alexander, when he became master of Asia, also
adopted the Persian dress. But Demetrius outdid them all; for the
very shoes which he wore he had made in a most costly manner; for in
its form it was a kind of buskin, made of most expensive purple wool;
and on this the makers wove a great deal of golden embroidery, both
before and behind; and his cloak was of a brilliant tawny colour; and,
in short, a representation of the heavens was woven into it, having
the stars and twelve signs of the Zodiac all wrought in gold; and
his head-band was spangled all over with gold, binding on a purple
broad-brimmed hat in such a manner that the outer fringes hung down
the back. And when the Demetrian festival was celebrated at Athens,
Demetrius himself was painted on the proscenium, sitting on the world."
And Nymphis of Heraclea, in the sixth book of his treatise on his
Country, says—"Pausanias, who defeated Mardonius at Platæa, having
transgressed the laws of Sparta, and given himself up to pride, when
staying near Byzantium, dared to put an inscription on the brazen
goblet which is there consecrated to the gods, whose temple is at the
entrance of the strait, (and the goblet is in existence to this day,)
as if he had dedicated it himself; putting this inscription on it,
forgetting himself through his luxury and arrogance—
Pausanias, the general of broad Greece,
Offered this goblet to the royal Neptune,
A fit memorial of his deathless valour,
Here in the Euxine sea. He was by birth
A Spartan, and Cleombrotus's son,
Sprung from the ancient race of Hercules."
51. "Pharax the Lacedæmonian also indulged himself in luxury," as
Theopompus tells us in the fourteenth book of his History, "and he
abandoned himself to pleasure in so dissolute and unrestrained a
manner, that by reason of his intemperance he was much oftener taken
for a Sicilian, than for a Spartan by reason of his country." And in
his fifty-second book he says that "Archidamus the Lacedæmonian, having
abandoned his national customs, adopted foreign and effeminate habits;
so that he could not endure the way of life which existed in his own
country, but was always, by reason of his intemperance, anxious to live
in foreign countries. And when the Tarentines sent an embassy about
an alliance, he was anxious to go out with them as an ally; and being
there, and having been slain in the wars, he was not thought worthy
even of a burial, although the Tarentines offered a great deal of money
to the enemy to be allowed to take up his body."
And Phylarchus, in the tenth book of his Histories, says that Isanthes
was the king of that tribe of Thracians called Crobyzi, and that he
surpassed all the men of his time in luxury; and he was a rich man, and
very handsome. And the same historian tells us, in his twenty-second
book, that Ptolemy the Second, king of Egypt, the most admirable of all
princes, and the most learned and accomplished of men, was so beguiled
and debased in his mind by his unseasonable luxury, that he actually
dreamed that he should live for ever, and said that he alone had found
out how to become immortal. And once, after he had been afflicted by
the gout for many days, when at last he got a little better, and saw
through his window-blinds some Egyptians dining by the river side, and
eating whatever it might be that they had, and lying at random on the
sand, "O wretched man that I am," said he, "that I am not one of those
men!"
[Sidenote: DIOMNESTUS.]
52. Now Callias and his flatterers we have already sufficiently
mentioned. But since Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on
Pleasures, speaks of him, we will return to the subject and quote what
he says:—"When first the Persians made an expedition against Greece,
there was, as they say, an Eretrian of the name of Diomnestus, who
became master of all the treasures of the general; for he happened to
have pitched his tent in his field, and to have put his money away in
some room of his house. But when the Persians were all destroyed, then
Diomnestus took the money without any one being aware of it; but when
the king of Persia sent an army into Eretria the second time, ordering
his generals utterly to destroy the city, then, as was natural, all
who were at all well off carried away their treasures. Accordingly
those of the family of Diomnestus who were left, secretly removed their
money to Athens, to the house of Hipponicus, the son of Callias, who
was surnamed Ammon; and when all the Eretrians had been driven out of
their city by the Persians, this family remained still in possession of
their wealth, which was great. So Hipponicus, who was the son of that
man who had originally received the deposit, begged the Athenians to
grant him a place in the Acropolis, where he might construct a room to
store up all this money in, saying that it was not safe for such vast
sums to remain in a private house. And the Athenians did grant him such
a place; but afterwards, he, being warned against such a step by his
friends, changed his mind.
"Callias, therefore, became the master of all this money, and lived
a life of pleasure, (for what limit was there to the flatterers who
surrounded him, or to the troops of companions who were always about
him? and what extravagance was there which he did not think nothing
of?) However, his voluptuous life afterwards reduced him so low, that
he was compelled to pass the rest of his life with one barbarian old
woman for a servant, and he was in want of actual daily necessaries,
and so he died.
"But who was it who got rid of the riches of Nicias of Pergasa, or of
Ischomachus? was it not Autoclees and Epiclees, who preferred living
with one another, and who considered everything second to pleasure?
and after they had squandered all this wealth, they drank hemlock
together, and so perished."
53. But, concerning the luxury of Alexander the Great, Ephippus the
Olynthian, in his treatise on the Deaths of Alexander and Hephæstion,
says that "he had in his park a golden throne, and couches with
silver feet, on which he used to sit and transact business with his
companions." But Nicobule says, that "while he was at supper all the
morris dancers and athletes studied to amuse the king; and at his very
last banquet, Alexander, remembering an episode in the Andromeda of
Euripides, recited it in a declamatory manner, and then drank a cup of
unmixed wine with great eagerness, and compelled all the rest to do
so too." And Ephippus tells us that "Alexander used to wear even the
sacred vestments at his entertainments; and sometimes he would wear the
purple robe, and cloven sandals, and horns of Ammon, as if he had been
the god; and sometimes he would imitate Diana, whose dress he often
wore while driving in his chariot; having on also a Persian robe, but
displaying above his shoulders the bow and javelin of the goddess.
Sometimes also he would appear in the guise of Mercury; at other times,
and indeed almost every day, he would wear a purple cloak, and a tunic
shot with white, and a cap which had a royal diadem attached to it. And
when he was in private with his friends he wore the sandals of Mercury,
and the petasus on his head, and held the caduceus in his hand. Often
also he wore a lion's skin, and carried a club, like Hercules."
[Sidenote: ALEXANDER.]
What wonder then is it, if in our time the emperor Commodus, when he
drove abroad in his chariot, had the club of Hercules lying beside
him, with a lion's skin spread at his feet, and liked to be called
Hercules, when even Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle, represented
himself as like so many gods, and even like Diana? And Alexander used
to have the floor sprinkled with exquisite perfumes and with fragrant
wine; and myrrh was burnt before him, and other kinds of incense; and
all the bystanders kept silence, or spoke only words of good omen,
out of fear. For he was a very violent man, with no regard for human
life; for he appeared to be a man of a melancholic constitution. And
on one occasion, at Ecbatana, when he was offering a sacrifice to
Bacchus, and when everything was prepared in a most lavish manner
for the banquet, . . . and Satrabates the satrap, feasted all the
soldiers.... "But when a great multitude was collected to see the
spectacle," says Ephippus, "there were on a sudden some arrogant
proclamations published, more insolent even than Persian arrogance was
wont to dictate. For, as different people were publishing different
proclamations, and proposing to make Alexander large presents, which
they called crowns; one of the keepers of his armoury, going beyond
all previous flattery, having previously arranged the matter with
Alexander, ordered the herald to proclaim that Gorgos, the keeper of
the armoury, presents Alexander, the son of Ammon, with three thousand
pieces of gold; and will also present him, when he lays siege to
Athens, with ten thousand complete suits of armour, and with an equal
number of catapults and all weapons required for the war.
54. And Chares, in the tenth book of his History of Alexander,
says—"When he took Darius prisoner, he celebrated a marriage-feast
for himself and his companions, having had ninety-two bedchambers
prepared in the same place. There was a house built capable of
containing a hundred couches; and in it every couch was adorned with
wedding paraphernalia to the value of twenty minæ, and was made of
silver itself; but his own bed had golden feet. And he also invited to
the banquet which he gave, all his own private friends, and those he
arranged opposite to himself and the other bridegrooms; and his forces
also belonging to the army and navy, and all the ambassadors which were
present, and all the other strangers who were staying at his court.
And the apartment was furnished in the most costly and magnificent
manner, with sumptuous garments and cloths, and beneath them were
other cloths of purple, and scarlet, and gold. And, for the sake of
solidity, pillars supported the tent, each twenty cubits long, plated
all over with gold and silver, and inlaid with precious stones; and all
around these were spread costly curtains embroidered with figures of
animals, and with gold, having gold and silver curtain-rods. And the
circumference of the court was four stadia. And the banquet took place,
beginning at the sound of a trumpet, at that marriage-feast, and on
other occasions whenever the king offered a solemn sacrifice, so that
all the army knew it.
And this marriage-feast lasted five days. And a great number both
of barbarians and Greeks brought contributions to it; and also some
of the Indian tribes did so. And there were present some wonderful
conjurors—Scymnus of Tarentum, and Philistides of Syracuse, and
Heraclitus of Mitylene; after whom also Alexis of Tarentum, the
rhapsodist, exhibited his skill. There came also harp-players, who
played without singing,—Cratinus of Methymne, and Aristonymus the
Athenian, and Athenodorus the Teian. And Heraclitus the Tarentine
played on the harp, accompanying himself with his voice, and so did
Aristocrates the Theban. And of flute-players accompanied with song,
there were present Dionysius of Heraclea, and Hyperbolus of Cyzicus.
And of other flute-players there were the following, who first of all
played the air called The Pythian, and afterwards played with the
choruses,—Timotheus, Phrynichus, Caphesias, Diophantus, and also Evius
the Chalcidian. And from this time forward, those who were formerly
called Dionysio-colaces,[3] were called Alexandro-colaces, on account
of the extravagant liberality of their presents, with which Alexander
was pleased. And there were also tragedians who acted,—Thessalus, and
Athenodorus, and Aristocritus; and of comic actors there were Lycon,
and Phormion, and Ariston. There was also Phasimelus the harp-player.
And the crowns sent by the ambassadors and by other people amounted in
value to fifteen thousand talents.
[Sidenote: ALEXANDER.]
55. But Polycletus of Larissa, in the eighth book of his History, says
that Alexander used to sleep on a golden, couch, and that flute-playing
men and women followed him to the camp, and that he used to drink till
daybreak. And Clearchus, in his treatise on Lives, speaking of Darius
who was dethroned by Alexander, says, "The king of the Persians offered
prizes to those who could invent pleasures for him, and by this conduct
allowed his whole empire and sovereignty to be subverted by pleasures.
Nor was he aware that he was defeating himself till others had wrested
his sceptre from him and had been proclaimed in his place." And
Phylarchus, in the twenty-third book of his History, and Agatharchides
of Cnidus, in the tenth book of his History of Asia, say that the
companions also of Alexander gave way to the most extravagant
luxury. And one of them was a man named Agnon, who used to wear golden
studs in his sandals and shoes. And Cleitus, who was surnamed The
White, whenever he was about to transact business, used to converse
with every one who came to him while walking about on a purple carpet.
And Perdiccas and Craterus, who were fond of athletic exercises, had
men follow them with hides fastened together so as to cover a place
an entire stadium in extent; and then they selected a spot within the
encampment which they had covered with these skins as an awning; and
under this they practised their gymnastics.
They were followed also by numerous beasts of burden, which carried
sand for the use of the palæstra. And Leonnatus and Menelaus, who
were very fond of hunting, had curtains brought after them calculated
to enclose a space a hundred stadia in circumference, with which
they fenced in a large space and then practised hunting within it.
And as for the golden plane-trees, and the golden vine—having on it
bunches of grapes made of emeralds and Indian carbuncles, and all
sorts of other stones of the most costly and magnificent description,
under which the kings of Persia used often to sit when transacting
business,—the expense of all this, says Phylarchus, was far less than
the daily sums squandered by Alexander; for he had a tent capable of
containing a hundred couches, and fifty golden pillars supported it.
And over it were spread golden canopies wrought with the most superb
and costly embroidery, to shade all the upper part of it. And first of
all, five hundred Persian Melophori stood all round the inside of it,
clad in robes of purple and apple-green; and besides them there were
bowmen to the number of a thousand, some clad in garments of a fiery
red, and others in purple; and many of them had blue cloaks. And in
front of them stood five hundred Macedonian Argyraspides; and in the
middle of the tent was placed a golden chair, on which Alexander used
to sit and transact business, his body-guards standing all around. And
on the outside, all round the tent, was a troop of elephants regularly
equipped, and a thousand Macedonians, having Macedonian dresses; and
then ten thousand Persians: and the number of those who wore purple
amounted to five hundred, to whom Alexander gave this dress for them
to wear. And though he had such a numerous retinue of friends and
servants, still no one dared to approach Alexander of his own accord;
so great was his dignity and the veneration with which they regarded
him. And at that time Alexander wrote letters to the cities in Ionia,
and to the Chians first of all, to send him a quantity of purple; for
he wished all his companions to wear purple robes. And when his letter
was read among the Chians, Theocritus the philosopher being present,
said—
He fell by purple[4] death and mighty fate.
56. And Posidonius, in the twenty-eighth book of his History, says that
"Antiochus the king, who was surnamed Grypus, when he was celebrating
the games at Daphne, gave a magnificent entertainment; at which, first
of all, a distribution of entire joints took place, and after that
another distribution of geese, and hares, and antelopes all alive.
There were also," says he, "distributed golden crowns to the feasters,
and a great quantity of silver plate, and of servants, and horses, and
camels. And every one was expected to mount a camel, and drink; and
after that he was presented with the camel, and with all that was on
the camel, and the boy who stood by it." And in his fourteenth book,
speaking of his namesake Antiochus, who made war upon Arsaces, and
invaded Media, he says that "he made a feast for a great multitude
every day; at which, besides the things which were consumed, and the
heaps of fragments which were left, every one of the guests carried
away with him entire joints of beasts, and birds, and fishes which
had never been carved, all ready dressed, in sufficient quantities to
fill a waggon. And after this they were presented with a quantity of
sweetmeats, and chaplets, and crowns of myrrh and frankincense, with
turbans as long as a man, made of strips of gold brocade."
57. But Clytus, the pupil of Aristotle, in his History of Miletus, says
that "Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, collected everything that was
worth speaking of everywhere to gratify his luxury, having assembled
dogs from Epirus, and goats from Scyros, and sheep from Miletus, and
swine from Sicily."
[Sidenote: POLYCRATES.]
And Alexis, in the third book of his Samian Annals, says that "Samos
was adorned by Polycrates with the productions of many other cities;
as he imported Molossian and Lacedæmonian dogs, and goats from Scyros
and Naxos, and sheep from Miletus and Attica. He also," says he, "sent
for artists, promising them enormous wages. But before he became
tyrant, having prepared a number of costly couches and goblets, he
allowed any one the use of them who was preparing any marriage-feast or
extraordinary entertainment." And after hearing all these particulars
we may well admire the tyrant, because it was nowhere written that he
had sent for any women or boys from any other countries, although he
was of a very amorous constitution, and was a rival in love of Anacreon
the poet; and once, in a fit of jealousy, he cut off all the hair of
the object of his passion. And Polycrates was the first man who called
the ships which he had built Samians, in honour of his country.
But Clearchus says that "Polycrates, the tyrant of the effeminate
Samos, was ruined by the intemperance of his life, imitating the
effeminate practices of the Lydians; on which account, in opposition
to the place in Sardis called the beautiful Ancon, he prepared a place
in the chief city of the Samians, called Laura; he made those famous
Samian flowers in opposition to the Lydian. And the Samian Laura was a
narrow street in the city, full of common women, and of all kinds of
food calculated to gratify intemperance and to promote enjoyment, with
which he actually filled Greece. But the flowers of the Samians are the
preeminent beauty of the men and women, and indeed of the whole city,
at its festivals and banquets." And these are the words of Clearchus.
And I myself am acquainted with a narrow street in my native city of
Alexandria, which to this very day is called the Happy Street, in which
every apparatus of luxury used to be sold.
58. But Aristotle, in his treatise on Admirable and Wonderful Things,
says that "Alcisthenes of Sybaris, out of luxury, had a garment
prepared for him of such excessive expensiveness that he exhibited
it at Lacinium, at the festival of Juno, at which all the Italians
assemble, and that of all the things which were exhibited that was
the most admired." And he says that "Dionysius the elder afterwards
became master of it, and sold it to the Carthaginians for a hundred
and twenty talents." Polemo also speaks of it in his book entitled, A
Treatise concerning the Sacred Garments at Carthage. But concerning
Smindyrides of Sybaris, and his luxury, Herodotus has told us, in his
sixth book, saying that he sailed from Sybaris to court Agariste, the
daughter of Clisthenes the tyrant of Sicyon. "And," says he, "there
came from Italy Smindyrides, the son of Hippocrates, a citizen of
Sybaris; who carried his luxury to the greatest height that ever was
heard of among men. At all events he was attended by a thousand cooks
and bird-catchers." Timæus also mentions him in his seventh book.
But of the luxury of Dionysius the younger, who was also tyrant of
Sicily, an account is given by Satyrus the Peripatetic, in his Lives.
For he says that he used to fill rooms holding thirty couches with
feasters. And Clearchus, in the fourth book of his Lives, writes as
follows:—"But Dionysius, the son of Dionysius, the cruel oppressor of
all Sicily, when he came to the city of the Locrians, which was his
metropolis, (for Doris his mother was a Locrian woman by birth,) having
strewed the floor of the largest house in the city with wild thyme
and roses, sent for all the maidens of the Locrians in turn; and then
rolled about naked, with them naked also, on this layer of flowers,
omitting no circumstance of infamy. And so, not long afterwards, they
who had been insulted in this manner having got his wife and children
into their power, prostituted them in the public roads with great
insult, sparing them no kind of degradation. And when they had wreaked
their vengeance upon them, they thrust needles under the nails of their
fingers, and put them to death with torture. And when they were dead,
they pounded their bones in mortars, and having cut up and distributed
the rest of their flesh, they imprecated curses on all who did not
eat of it; and in accordance with this unholy imprecation, they put
their flesh into the mills with the flour, that it might be eaten by
all those who made bread. And all the other parts they sunk in the
sea. But Dionysius himself, at last going about as a begging priest
of Cybele, and beating the drum, ended his life very miserably. We,
therefore, ought to guard against what is called luxury, which is the
ruin of a man's life; and we ought to think insolence the destruction
of everything."
[Sidenote: AGRIGENTUM.]
59. But Diodorus Siculus, in his books On the Library, says that "the
citizens of Agrigentum prepared for Gelon a very costly swimming-bath,
being seven stadia in circumference and twenty cubits deep; and water
was introduced into it from the rivers and fountains, and it served for
a great pond to breed fish in, and supplied great quantities of fish
for the luxury and enjoyment of Gelon. A great number of swans also,"
as he relates, "flew into it; so that it was a very beautiful sight.
But afterwards the lake was destroyed by becoming filled with mud."
And Duris, in the tenth book of his History of Agathocles, says that
near the city of Hipponium a grove is shown of extraordinary beauty,
excellently well watered; in which there is also a place called the
Horn of Amalthea; and that this grove was made by Gelon. But Silenus
of Calatia, in the third book of his History of Sicily, says that
near Syracuse there is a garden laid out in a most expensive manner,
which is called Mythus, in which Hiero the king used to transact his
business. And the whole country about Panormus,[5] in Sicily, is called
The Garden, because it is full of highly-cultivated trees, as Callias
tells us in the eighth book of his History of Agathocles.
And Posidonius, in the eighth book of his History, speaking of
Damophilus the Sicilian, by whose means it was that the Servile war
was stirred up, and saying that he was a slave to his luxury, writes
as follows:—"He therefore was a slave to luxury and debauchery.
And he used to drive through the country on a four-wheeled chariot,
taking with him horses, and servants of great personal beauty, and
a disorderly crowd of flatterers and military boys running around
his chariot. And ultimately he, with his whole family, perished in a
disgraceful manner, being treated with the most extreme violence and
insult by his own slaves."
60. And Demetrius Phalereus, as Duris says in the sixteenth volume of
his Histories, being possessed of a revenue of twelve hundred talents
a-year, and spending a small portion of it on his soldiers, and on
the necessary expenses of the state, squandered all the rest of it on
gratifying his innate love of debauchery, having splendid banquets
every day, and a great number of guests to feast with him. And in the
prodigality of his expense in his entertainments, he outdid even
the Macedonians, and, at the same time, in the elegance of them, he
surpassed the Cyprians and Phœnicians. And perfumes were sprinkled
over the ground, and many of the floors in the men's apartments were
inlaid with flowers, and were exquisitely wrought in other ways by
the artists. There were also secret meetings with women, and other
scenes more shameful still. And Demetrius, who gave laws to others,
and who regulated the lives of others, exhibited in his own life an
utter contempt of all law. He also paid great attention to his personal
appearance, and dyed the hair of his head with a yellow colour, and
anointed his face with rouge, and smeared himself over with other
unguents also; for he was anxious to appear agreeable and beautiful in
the eyes of all whom he met.
And in the procession of the Dionysia, which he celebrated when he
was archon at Athens, a chorus sang an ode of Siromen the Solensian,
addressed to him, in which he was called, Like the Sun:—
And above all the noble prince
Demetrius, like the sun in face,
Honours you, Bacchus, with a holy worship.
And Carystius of Pergamus, in the third book of his Commentaries,
says—"Demetrius Phalereus, when his brother Himeræus was put to death
by Antipater, was himself staying with Nicanor; and he was accused of
having sacrificed the Epiphaneia in honour of his brother. And after
he became a friend of Cassander, he was very powerful. And at first
his dinner consisted of a kind of pickle, containing olives from all
countries, and cheese from the islands; but when he became rich, he
bought Moschion, the most skilful of all the cooks and confectioners
of that age. And he had such vast quantities of food prepared for
him every day, that, as he gave Moschion what was left each day, he
(Moschion) in two years purchased three detached houses in the city;
and insulted freeborn boys, and some of the wives of the most eminent
of the citizens: and all the boys envied Theognis, with whom he was in
love. And so important an honour was it considered to be allowed to
come near Demetrius, that, as he one day had walked about after dinner
near the Tripods, on all the following days all the most beautiful boys
came together to that place, in the hopes of being seen by him."
[Sidenote: LUCULLUS.]
61. And Nicolaus the Peripatetic, in the tenth book of his History,
and again in the twentieth book, says that Lucullus, when he came
to Rome and celebrated his triumph, and gave an account of the war
against Mithridates, ran into the most unbounded extravagance, after
having previously been very moderate; and was altogether the first
guide to luxury, and the first example of it, among the Romans, having
become master of the riches of two kings, Mithridates and Tigranes.
And Sittius, also, was a man very notorious among the Romans for his
luxury and effeminacy, as Rutilius tells us; for as to Apicius, we
have already spoken of him. And almost all historians relate that
Pausanias and Lysander were very notorious for their luxury; on which
account Agis said of Lysander, that Sparta had produced him as a
second Pausanias. But Theopompus, in the tenth book of his History
of the Affairs of Greece, gives exactly the contrary account of
Lysander, saying that "he was a most laborious man, able to earn the
goodwill of both private individuals and monarchs, being very moderate
and temperate, and superior to all the allurements of pleasure; and
accordingly, when he had become master of almost the whole of Greece,
it will be found that he never in any city indulged in amatory
excesses, or in unreasonable drinking parties and revels."
62. But luxury and extravagance were so very much practised among the
ancients, that even Parrhasius the painter always wore a purple robe,
and a golden crown on his head, as Clearchus relates, in his Lives: for
he, being most immoderately luxurious, and also to a degree beyond what
was becoming to a painter, laid claim, in words, to great virtue, and
inscribed upon the works which were done by him—
Parrhasius, a most luxurious man,
And yet a follower of purest virtue,
Painted this work.
But some one else, being indignant at this inscription, wrote by the
side of it, ῥαβδοδίαιτος (worthy of a stick). Parrhasius also
put the following inscription on many of his works:—
Parrhasius, a most luxurious man,
And yet a follower of purest virtue,
Painted this work: a worthy citizen
Of noble Ephesus. His father's name
Evenor was, and he, his lawful son,
Was the first artist in the whole of Greece.
He also boasted, in a way which no one could be indignant at, in the
following lines:—
This will I say, though strange it may appear,
That clear plain limits of this noble art
Have been discover'd by my hand, and proved.
And now the boundary which none can pass
Is well defined, though nought that men can do
Will ever wholly escape blame or envy.
And once, at Samos, when he was contending with a very inferior
painter in a picture of Ajax, and was defeated, when his friends were
sympathising with him and expressing their indignation, he said that
he himself cared very little about it, but that he was sorry for Ajax,
who was thus defeated a second time. And so great was his luxury, that
he wore a purple robe, and a white turban on his head; and used to lean
on a stick, ornamented all round with golden fretted work: and he used
even to fasten the strings of his sandals with golden clasps. However,
as regarded his art, he was not churlish or ill-tempered, but affable
and good-humoured; so that he sang all the time that he was painting,
as Theophrastus relates, in his treatise on Happiness.
But once he spoke in a marvellous strain, more like a quack, when he
said, when he was painting the Hercules at Lindus, that the god had
appeared to him in a dream, in that form and dress which was the best
adapted for painting; on which account he inscribed on the picture—
Here you may see the god as oft he stood
Before Parrhasius in his sleep by night.
[Sidenote: ARISTIPPUS.]
63. We find also whole schools of philosophers which have openly
professed to have made choice of pleasure. And there is the school
called the Cyrenaic, which derives its origin from Aristippus the pupil
of Socrates: and he devoted himself to pleasure in such a way, that he
said that it was the main end of life; and that happiness was founded
on it, and that happiness was at best but short-lived. And he, like
the most debauched of men, thought that he had nothing to do either
with the recollection of past enjoyments, or with the hope of future
ones; but he judged of all good by the present alone, and thought that
having enjoyed, and being about to enjoy, did not at all concern him;
since the one case had no longer any existence, and the other did not
yet exist and was necessarily uncertain: acting in this respect like
thoroughly dissolute men, who are content with being prosperous at the
present moment. And his life was quite consistent with his theory; for
he spent the whole of it in all kinds of luxury and extravagance, both
in perfumes, and dress, and women. Accordingly, he openly kept Lais as
his mistress; and he delighted in all the extravagance of Dionysius,
although he was often treated insultingly by him.
Accordingly, Hegesander says that once, when he was assigned a very
mean place at a banquet by Dionysius, he endured it patiently; and when
Dionysius asked him what he thought of his present place, in comparison
of his yesterday's seat, he said, "That the one was much the same as
the other; for that one," says he, "is a mean seat to-day, because it
is deprived of me; but it was yesterday the most respectable seat in
the room, owing to me: and this one to-day has become respectable,
because of my presence in it; but yesterday it was an inglorious
seat, as I was not present in it." And in another place Hegesander
says—"Aristippus, being ducked with water by Dionysius's servants,
and being ridiculed by Antiphon for bearing it patiently, said, 'But
suppose I had been out fishing, and got wet, was I to have left my
employment, and come away?'" And Aristippus sojourned a considerable
time in Ægina, indulging in every kind of luxury; on which account
Xenophon says in his Memorabilia, that Socrates often reproved him, and
invented the apologue of Virtue and Pleasure to apply it to him. And
Aristippus said, respecting Lais, "I have her, and I am not possessed
by her." And when he was at the court of Dionysius, he once had a
quarrel with some people about a choice of three women. And he used to
wash with perfumes, and to say that—
E'en in the midst of Bacchanalian revels
A modest woman will not be corrupted.
And Alexis, turning him into ridicule in his Galatea, represents
one of the slaves as speaking in the following manner of one of his
disciples:—
For this my master once did turn his thoughts
To study, when he was a stripling young,
And set his mind to learn philosophy.
And then a Cyrenean, as he calls himself,
Named Aristippus, an ingenious sophist,
And far the first of all the men of his time,
But also far the most intemperate,
Was in the city. Him my master sought,
Giving a talent to become his pupil:
He did not learn, indeed, much skill or wisdom,
But got instead a sad complaint on his chest.
And Antiphanes, in his Antæus, speaking of the luxurious habits of the
philosophers, says—
My friend, now do you know who this old man
Is called? By his look he seems to be a Greek.
His cloak is white, his tunic fawn-colour'd,
His hat is soft, his stick of moderate size,
His table scanty. Why need I say more,
I seem to see the genuine Academy.
[Sidenote: THE PERSIAN.]
64. And Aristoxenus the musician, in his Life of Archytas, represents
ambassadors as having been sent by Dionysius the younger to the city
of the Tarentines, among whom was Polyarchus, who was surnamed the
Luxurious, a man wholly devoted to sensual pleasures, not only in deed,
but in word and profession also. And he was a friend of Archytas, and
not wholly unversed in philosophy; and so he used to come with him
into the sacred precincts, and to walk with him and with his friends,
listening to his lectures and arguments: and once, when there was a
long dispute and discussion about the passions, and altogether about
sensual pleasures, Polyarchus said—"I, indeed, my friends, have often
considered the matter, and it has seemed to me that this system of the
virtues is altogether a long way removed from nature; for nature, when
it utters its own voice, orders one to follow pleasure, and says that
this is the conduct of a wise man: but that to oppose it, and to bring
one's appetites into a state of slavery, is neither the part of a wise
man, nor of a fortunate man, nor indeed of one who has any accurate
understanding of what the constitution of human nature really is. And
it is a strong proof of this, that all men, when they have acquired
any power worth speaking of, betake themselves to sensual pleasures,
and think the power of indulging them the principal advantage to be
gained from the possession of power, and everything else, so to say,
as unimportant and superfluous. And we may adduce the example of the
Persian king at present, and every other tyrant possessed of any power
worth speaking of,—and in former times, the sovereigns of the Lydians
and of the Medes,—and even in earlier times still, the tyrants of the
Syrians behaved in the same manner; for all these men left no kind of
pleasure unexplored: and it is even said that rewards were offered by
the Persians to any one who was able to invent a new pleasure. And it
was a very wise offer to make; for the nature of man is soon satiated
with long-continued pleasures, even if they be of a very exquisite
nature. So that, since novelty has a very great effect in making a
pleasure appear greater, we must not despise it, but rather pay great
attention to it. And on this account it is that many different kinds
of dishes have been invented, and many sorts of sweetmeats; and many
discoveries have been made in the articles of incenses and perfumes,
and clothes, and beds, and, above all, of cups and other articles of
furniture. For all these things contribute some amount of pleasure,
when the material which is admired by human nature is properly
employed: and this appears to be the case with gold and silver, and
with most things which are pleasing to the eye and also rare, and with
all things which are elaborated to a high degree of perfection by
manual arts and skill."
65. And having discussed after this all the attendance with which the
king of the Persians is surrounded, and what a number of servants he
has, and what their different offices are, and also about his amorous
indulgences, and also about the sweet perfume of his skin, and his
personal beauty, and the way in which he lives among his friends, and
the pleasing sights or sounds which are sought out to gratify him, he
said that he considered "the king of Persia the happiest of all men
now alive. For there are pleasures prepared for him which are both
most numerous and most perfect in their kind. And next to him," said
he, "any one may fairly rank our sovereign, though he falls far short
of the king of Persia. For this latter has all Asia to supply him
with luxury, but the store which supplies Dionysius will seem very
contemptible if compared with his. That, then, such a life as his is
worth struggling for, is plain from what has happened. For the Medes,
after encountering the greatest dangers, deprived the Syrians of the
supremacy, for no other object except to possess themselves of the
unrestrained licence of the Syrians. And the Persians overthrew the
Medes for the same reason, namely, in order to have an unrestrained
enjoyment of sensual pleasures. And the lawgivers who wish the
whole race of men to be on an equality, and that no citizens shall
indulge in superfluous luxury, have made some species of virtue hold
its head up. And they have written laws about contracts and other
matters of the same kind, and whatever appeared to be necessary for
political communion, and also with respect to dress, and to all the
other circumstances of life, that they should be similar among all
the citizens. And so, as all the lawgivers made war upon every kind
of covetousness, then first the praises of justice began to be more
thought of: and one of the poets spoke of—
The golden face of justice;
and in another passage some one speaks of—
The golden eye of justice.
And the very name of justice came to be accounted divine, so that in
some countries there were altars erected and sacrifices instituted to
Justice. And next to this they inculcated a respect for modesty and
temperance, and called an excess in enjoyment covetousness; so that a
man who obeyed the laws and was influenced by the common conversation
of men in general, was necessarily moderate with respect to sensual
pleasures."
66. And Duris says, in the twenty-third volume of his History, that in
ancient times the nobles had a positive fondness for getting drunk. On
which account Homer represents Achilles as reproaching Agamemnon, and
saying—
O thou whose senses are all dimm'd with wine,[6]
Thou dog in forehead.
And when he is describing the death of the king, he makes Agamemnon
say—
E'en in my mirth, and at the friendly feast,
O'er the full bowl the traitor stabb'd his guest;[7]
pointing out that his death was partly caused by his fondness for
drunkenness.
Speusippus also, the relation of Plato, and his successor in his
school, was a man very fond of pleasure. At all events Dionysius, the
tyrant of Sicily, in his letter to him blaming him for his fondness for
pleasure, reproaches him also for his covetousness, and for his love of
Lasthenea the Arcadian, who had been a pupil of Plato.
[Sidenote: EPICURUS.]
67. But not only did Aristippus and his followers embrace
that pleasure which consists in motion, but also Epicurus and his
followers did the same. And not to say anything of those sudden
motions, and irritations, and titillations, and also those prickings
and stimuli which Epicurus often brings forward, I will merely cite
what he has said in his treatise on the End. For he says—"For I
am not able to perceive any good, if I take away all the pleasures
which arise from flavours, and if I leave out of the question all
the pleasures arising from amorous indulgences, and all those which
are caused by hearing sweet sounds, and all those motions which are
excited by figures which are pleasant to the sight." And Metrodorus
in his Epistles says—"My good natural philosopher Timocrates, reason
which proceeds according to nature devotes its whole attention to the
stomach." And Epicurus says—"The origin and root of all good is the
pleasure of the stomach; and all excessive efforts of wisdom have
reference to the stomach." And again, in his treatise concerning the
End, he says—"You ought therefore to respect honour and the virtues,
and all things of that sort, if they produce pleasure; but if they do
not, then we may as well have nothing to do with them:" evidently in
these words making virtue subordinate to pleasure, and performing as
it were the part of a handmaid to it. And in another place he says—"I
spit upon honour, and those who worship it in a foolish manner, when it
produces no pleasure."
68. Well then did the Romans, who are in every respect the most
admirable of men, banish Alcius and Philiscus the Epicureans out
of their city, when Lucius Postumius was consul, on account of the
pleasures which they sought to introduce into the city. And in the
same manner the Messenians by a public decree banished the Epicureans.
But Antiochus the king banished all the philosophers out of his
kingdom, writing thus—"King Antiochus to Phanias: We have written to
you before, that no philosopher is to remain in the city, nor in the
country. But we hear that there is no small number of them, and that
they do great injury to the young men, because you have done none of
the things about which we wrote to you. As soon, therefore, as you
receive this letter, order a proclamation to be made, that all the
philosophers do at once depart from those places, and that as many
young men as are detected in going to them, shall be fastened to a
pillar and flogged, and their fathers shall be held in great blame. And
let not this order be transgressed."
But before Epicurus, Sophocles the poet was a great instigator to
pleasure, speaking as follows in his Antigone[8]—
For when men utterly forsake all pleasure,
I reckon such a man no longer living,
But look upon him as a breathing corpse.
He may have, if you like, great wealth at home,
And go in monarch's guise; but if his wealth
And power bring no pleasure to his mind,
I would not for a moment deem it all
Worthy a moment's thought compared with pleasure.
69. "And Lycon the Peripatetic," as Antigonus the Carystian says,
"when as a young man he had come to Athens for the sake of his
education, was most accurately informed about everything relating to
banquets and drinking parties, and as to how much pay every courtesan
required. But afterwards having become the chief man of the Peripatetic
school, he used to entertain his friends at banquets with excessive
arrogance and extravagance. For, besides the music which was provided
at his entertainments, and the silver plate and coverlets which were
exhibited, all the rest of the preparation and the superb character
of the dishes was such, and the multitude of tables and cooks was so
great, that many people were actually alarmed, and, though they wished
to be admitted into his school, shrunk back, fearing to enter, as into
a badly governed state, which was always burdening its citizens with
liturgies and other expensive offices.
[Sidenote: ANAXARCHUS.]
For men were compelled to undertake the regular office of chief of the
Peripatetic school. And the duties of this office were, to superintend
all the novices for thirty days, and see that they conducted themselves
with regularity. And then, on the last day of the month, having
received nine obols from each of the novices, he received at supper
not only all those who contributed their share, but all those also
whom Lycon might chance to invite, and also all those of the elders
who were diligent in attending the school; so that the money which was
collected was not sufficient even for providing sufficient unguents
and garlands. He also was bound to perform the sacrifices, and to
become an overseer of the Muses. All which duties appeared to have
but little connexion with reason or with philosophy, but to be more
akin to luxury and parade. For if any people were admitted who were not
able to spend money on these objects, they, setting out with a very
scanty and ordinary choregia . . . . and the money was very much out of
proportion . . . . For Plato and Speusippus had not established these
entertainments, in order that people might dwell upon the pleasures
of the table from daybreak, or for the sake of getting drunk; but in
order that men might appear to honour the Deity, and to associate with
one another in a natural manner; and chiefly with a view to natural
relaxation and conversation; all which things afterwards became in
their eyes second to the softness of their garments, and to their
indulgence in their before-mentioned extravagance. Nor do I except the
rest. For Lycon, to gratify his luxurious and insolent disposition, had
a room large enough to hold twenty couches, in the most frequented part
of the city, in Conon's house, which was well adapted for him to give
parties in. And Lycon was a skilful and clever player at ball."
70. And of Anaxarchus, Clearchus the Solensian writes, in the fifth
book of his Lives, in the following manner—"Anaxarchus, who was one of
those who called themselves Eudæmonici, after he had become a rich man
through the folly of those men who supplied him with means out of their
abundance, used to have a naked full-grown damsel for his cup-bearer,
who was superior in beauty to all her fellows; she, if one is to look
at the real truth, thus exposing the intemperance of all those who
employed her. And his baker used to knead the dough wearing gloves
on his hands, and a cover on his mouth, to prevent any perspiration
running off his hands, and also to prevent him from breathing on his
cakes while he was kneading them." So that a man might fairly quote to
this wise philosopher the verses of Anaxilas the lyric poet—
And anointing one's skin with a gold-colour'd ointment,
And wearing long cloaks reaching down to the ground,
And the thinnest of slippers, and eating rich truffles,
And the richest of cheese, and the newest of eggs;
And all sorts of shell-fish, and drinking strong wine
From the island of Chios, and having, besides,
A lot of Ephesian beautiful letters,
In carefully-sewn leather bags.
71. But how far superior to these men is Gorgias the Leontine; of
whom the same Clearchus says, in the eighth book of his Lives, that
because of the temperance of his life he lived nearly eighty years in
the full possession of all his intellect and faculties. And when some
one asked him what his system had been which had caused him to live
with such comfort, and to retain such full possession of his senses,
he said, "I have never done anything merely for the sake of pleasure."
But Demetrius of Byzantium, in the fourth book of his treatise on
Poems, says—"Gorgias the Leontine, being once asked by some one what
was the cause of his living more than a hundred years, said that it
was because he had never done anything to please any one else except
himself." And Ochus, after he had had a long enjoyment of kingly power,
and of all the other things which make life pleasant, being asked
towards the close of his life by his eldest son, by what course of
conduct he had preserved the kingly power for so many years, that he
also might imitate it; replied, "By behaving justly towards all men and
all gods." And Carystius of Pergamus, in his Historical Commentaries,
says—"Cephisodorus the Theban relates that Polydorus the physician of
Teos used to live with Antipater; and that the king had a common kind
of coarse carpet worked in rings like a counterpane, on which he used
to recline; and brazen bowls and only a small number of cups; for that
he was a man fond of plain living and averse to luxury."
[Sidenote: PTOLEMY EUERGETES.]
72. But the story which we have of Tithonus represents him as a person
sleeping from daybreak to sunset, so that his appetites scarcely
awakened him by evening. On which account he was said to sleep with
Aurora, because he was so wholly enslaved by his appetites. And as he
was at a later period of life prevented from indulging them by old
age, and being wholly dependent on them.... And Melanthius, stretching
out his neck, was choked by his enjoyments, being a greater glutton
than the Melanthius of Ulysses. And many other men have destroyed
their bodily strength entirely by their unreasonable indulgence; and
some have become inordinately fat; and others have become stupid
and insensible by reason of their inordinate luxury. Accordingly,
Nymphis of Heraclea, in the second book of his History of Heraclea,
says—"Dionysius the son of Clearchus, who was the first tyrant of
Heraclea, and who was himself afterwards tyrant of his country, grew
enormously fat without perceiving it, owing to his luxury and to his
daily gluttony; so that on account of his obesity he was constantly
oppressed by a difficulty of breathing and a feeling of suffocation.
On which account his physicians ordered thin needles of an exceedingly
great length to be made, to be run into his sides and chest whenever
he fell into a deeper sleep than usual. And up to a certain point his
flesh was so callous by reason of the fat, that it never felt the
needles; but if ever they touched a part that was not so overloaded,
then he felt them, and was awakened by them. And he used to give
answers to people who came to him, holding a chest in front of his
body so as to conceal all the rest of his person, and leave only
his face visible; and in this condition he conversed with those who
came to him." And Menander also, who was a person as little given to
evil-speaking as possible, mentions him in his Fishermen, introducing
some exiles from Heraclea as saying—
For a fat pig was lying on his face;
and in another place he says—
He gave himself to luxury so wholly,
That he could not last long to practise it;
and again he says—
Forming desires for myself, this death
Does seem the only happy one,—to grow
Fat in my heart and stomach, and so lie
Flat on my back, and never say a word,
Drawing my breath high up, eating my fill,
And saying, "Here I waste away with pleasure."
And he died when he was fifty-five years of age, of which he had
been tyrant thirty-three,—being superior to all the tyrants who had
preceded him in gentleness and humanity.
73. And Ptolemy the Seventh, king of Egypt, was a man of this sort,
the same who caused himself to be styled Euergetes,[9] but who was
called Cacergetes by the Alexandrians. Accordingly, Posidonius the
Stoic, who went with Scipio Africanus when he was sent to Alexandria,
and who there saw this Ptolemy, writes thus, in the seventh book of
his History,—"But owing to his luxury his whole body was eaten up with
fat, and with the greatness of his belly, which was so large that no
one could put his arms all round it; and he wore over it a tunic
which reached down to his feet, having sleeves which reached to his
wrists, and he never by any chance walked out except on this occasion
of Scipio's visit." And that this king was not averse to luxury, he
tells us when he speaks of himself, relating, in the eighth book of his
Commentaries, how he was priest of Apollo at Cyrene, and how he gave a
banquet to those who had been priests before him; writing thus:—"The
Artemitia is the great festival of Cyrene, on which occasion the priest
of Apollo (and that office is one which lasts a year) gives a banquet
to all those who have been his predecessors in the office; and he sets
before each of them a separate dish. And this dish is an earthenware
vessel, holding about twenty artabæ,[10] in which there are many kinds
of game elaborately dressed, and many kinds of bread, and of tame
birds, and of sea-fish, and also many species of foreign preserved
meats and pickled fish. And very often some people also furnish them
with a handsome youth as an attendant. But we ourselves omitted all
this, and instead we furnished them with cups of solid silver, each
being of as much value as all the things which we have just enumerated
put together; and also we presented each man with a horse properly
harnessed, and a groom, and gilt trappings; and we invited each man to
mount his horse and ride him home."
His son Alexander also became exceedingly fat, the one, I mean, who
put his mother to death who had been his partner in the kingdom.
Accordingly Posidonius, in the forty-seventh book of his History,
mentions him in the following terms:—"But the king of Egypt being
detested by the multitude, but flattered by the people whom he had
about him, and living in great luxury, was not able even to walk,
unless he went leaning on two friends; but for all that he would, at
his banquets, leap off from a high couch, and dance bare-foot with more
vigour than even those who made dancing their profession."
[Sidenote: THE LACEDÆMONIANS.]
74. And Agatharchides, in the sixteenth book of his History of Europe,
says that Magas, who was king of Cyrene for fifty years, and who never
had any wars, but spent all his time in luxury, became, towards the
end of his life, so immensely bulky and burdensome to himself, that
he was at last actually choked by his fat, from the inactivity of his
body, and the enormous quantity of food which he consumed. But among
the Lacedæmonians, the same man relates, in his twenty-seventh book,
that it is thought a proof of no ordinary infamy if any one is of an
unmanly appearance, or if any one appears at all inclined to have a
large belly; as the young men are exhibited naked before the ephori
every ten days. And the ephori used every day to take notice both of
the clothes and bedding of the young men; and very properly. For the
cooks at Lacedæmon were employed solely on dressing meat plainly, and
on nothing else. And in his twenty-seventh book, Agatharchides says
that the Lacedæmonians brought Nauclides, the son of Polybiades, who
was enormously fat in his body, and who had become of a vast size
through luxury, into the middle of the assembly; and then, after
Lysander had publicly reproached him as an effeminate voluptuary,
they nearly banished him from the city, and threatened him that they
would certainly do so if he did not reform his life; on which occasion
Lysander said that Agesilaus also, when he was in the country near the
Hellespont, making war against the barbarians, seeing the Asiatics
very expensively clothed, but utterly useless in their bodies, ordered
all who were taken prisoners, to be stripped naked and sold by the
auctioneer; and after that he ordered their clothes to be sold without
them; in order that the allies, knowing that they had to fight for a
great prize, and against very contemptible men, might advance with
greater spirit against their enemies. And Python the orator, of
Byzantium, as Leon, his fellow-citizen, relates, was enormously fat;
and once, when the Byzantians were divided against one another in
seditious quarrels, he, exhorting his fellow-citizens to unanimity,
said—"You see, my friends, what a size my body is; but I have a wife
who is much fatter than I am; now, when we are both agreed, one small
bed is large enough for both of us; but when we quarrel, the whole
house is not big enough for us."
75. How much better, then, is it, my good friend Timocrates, to be
poor and thinner than even those men whom Hermippus mentions in his
Cercopes, than to be enormously rich, and like that whale of Tanagra,
as the before-mentioned men were! But Hermippus uses the following
language, addressing Bacchus on the present occasion—
For poor men now to sacrifice to you
But maim'd and crippled oxen; thinner far
Than e'en Thoumantis or Leotrophides.
And Aristophanes, in his Gerytades, gives a list of the following
people as very thin, who, he says, were sent as ambassadors by the
poets on earth down to hell to the poets there, and his words are—
_A._ And who is this who dares to pierce the gates
Of lurid darkness, and the realms o' the dead?
_B._ We're by unanimous agreement chosen,
(Making the choice in solemn convocation,)
One man from each department of our art,
Who were well known to be frequenters of the Shades,
As often voluntarily going thither.
_A._ Are there among you any men who thus
Frequent the realms of Pluto?
_B._ Aye, by Jove,
And plenty; just as there are men who go
To Thrace and then come back again. You know
The whole case now.
_A._ And what may be their names?
First, there's Sannyrion, the comic poet;
Then, of the tragic chori, Melitus;
And of the Cyclic bards, Cinesias.
And presently afterwards he says—
On what slight hopes did you then all rely!
For if a fit of diarrhœa came
Upon these men, they'd all be carried off.
And Strattis also mentions Sannyrion, in his Men fond of Cold, saying—
The leathern aid of wise Sannyrion.
And Sannyrion himself speaks of Melitus, in his play called Laughter,
speaking as follows—
Melitus, that carcase from Lenæum rising.
[Sidenote: CINESIAS.]
76. And Cinesias was in reality an exceedingly tall and exceedingly
thin man; on whom Strattis wrote an entire play, calling him the
Phthian Achilles, because in his own poetry he was constantly using the
word φθιῶτα. And accordingly, he, playing on his appearance,
continually addresses him—
Φθιῶτ' Ἀχιλλεῦ.—
But others, as, for instance, Aristophanes, often call him φιλύρινος
Κινησίας, because he took a plank of linden wood (φιλύρα), and fastened
it to his waist under his girdle, in order to avoid stooping, because
of his great height and extreme thinness. But that Cinesias was a man
of delicate health, and badly off in other respects, we are told by
Lysias the orator, in his oration inscribed, "For Phanias accused of
illegal Practices," in which he says that he, having abandoned his
regular profession, had taken to trumping up false accusations against
people, and to making money by such means. And that he means the poet
here, and no one else, is plain from the fact that he shows also that
he had been attacked by the comic poets for impiety. And he also, in
the oration itself, shows that he was a person of that character. And
the words of the orator are as follows:—"But I marvel that you are
not indignant at such a man as Cinesias coming forward in aid of the
laws, whom you all know to be the most impious of all men, and the
greatest violater of the laws that has ever existed. Is not he the
man who has committed such offences against the gods as all other men
think it shameful even to speak of, though you hear the comic poets
mention such actions of his every year? Did not Apollophanes, and
Mystalides, and Lysitheus feast with him, selecting one of the days on
which it was not lawful to hold a feast, giving themselves the name of
Cacodæmonistæ,[11] instead of Numeniastæ, a name indeed appropriate
enough to their fortunes? Nor, indeed, did it occur to them that they
were really doing what that name denotes; but they acted in this manner
to show their contempt for the gods and for our laws. And accordingly,
each of those men perished, as it was reasonable to expect that such
men should.
"But this man, with whom you are all acquainted, the gods have treated
in such a manner, that his very enemies would rather that he should
live than die, as an example to all other men, that they may see that
the immortal Gods do not postpone the punishment due to men who behave
insolently towards their Deity, so as to reserve it for their children;
but that they destroy the men themselves in a miserable manner,
inflicting on them greater and more terrible calamities and diseases
than on any other men whatever. For to die, or to be afflicted with
sickness in an ordinary manner, is the common lot of all of us; but
to be in such a condition as they are reduced to, and to remain a long
time in such a state, and to be dying every day, and yet not be able to
end one's life, is a punishment allotted to men who act as this man has
acted, in defiance of all human and divine law." And this orator used
this language respecting Cinesias.
77. Philetas also, the Coan poet, was a very thin man; so that, by
reason of the leanness of his body, he used to wear balls made of lead
fastened to his feet, to prevent himself from being blown over by the
wind. And Polemo, surnamed Periegetes, in his treatise on Wonderful
People and Things, says that Archestratus the soothsayer, being taken
prisoner by the enemy, and being put into the scale, was found to
weigh only one obol, so very thin was he. The same man also relates
that Panaretus never had occasion to consult a physician, but that he
used to be a pupil of Arcesilaus the philosopher; and that he was a
companion of Ptolemy Euergetes, receiving from him a salary of twelve
talents every year. And he was the thinnest of men, though he never had
any illness all his life.
But Metrodorus the Scepsian, in the second book of his treatise on
the Art of Training, says that Hipponax the poet was not only very
diminutive in person, but also very thin; and that he, nevertheless,
was so strong in his sinews, that, among other feats of strength, he
could throw an empty oil cruise an extraordinary distance, although
light bodies are not easy to be propelled violently, because they
cannot cut the air so well. Philippides, also, was extremely thin,
against whom there is an oration extant of Hyperides the orator, who
says that he was one of those men who governed the state. And he
was very insignificant in appearance by reason of his thinness, as
Hyperides has related. And Alexis, in his Thesprotians, said—
O Mercury, sent by the gods above,
You who've obtained Philippides by lot;
And you, too, eye of darkly-robed night.
And Aristophon, in his play called Plato, says—
_A._ I will within these three days make this man
Thinner than e'en Philippides.
_B._ How so?
Can you kill men in such a very short time?
[Sidenote: ANOINTING.]
And Menander, in his Passion, says—
If hunger should attack your well-shaped person,
'Twould make you thinner than Philippides.
And the word πεφιλιππιδῶσθαι was used for being extremely
thin, as we find in Alexis; who, in his Women taking Mandragora, says—
_A._ You must be ill. You are, by Jove, the very
Leanest of sparrows—a complete Philippides
(πεφιλιππίδωσαι).
_B._ Don't tell me such strange things: I'm all but dead;
_A._ I pity your sad case.
At all events, it is much better to look like that, than to be like the
man of whom Antiphanes in his Æolus says—
This man then, such a sot and glutton is he,
And so enormous is his size of body,
Is called by all his countrymen the Bladder.
And Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, says that Dinias
the perfumer gave himself up to love because of his luxury, and spent a
vast sum of money on it; and when, at last, he failed in his desires,
out of grief he mutilated himself, his unbridled luxury bringing him
into this trouble.
78. But it was the fashion at Athens to anoint even the feet of those
men who were very luxurious with ointment, a custom which Cephisodorus
alludes to in his Trophonius—
Then to anoint my body go and buy
Essence of lilies, and of roses too,
I beg you, Xanthias; and also buy
For my poor feet some baccaris.
And Eubulus, in his Sphingocarion, says—
* * * *
. . . . Lying full softly in a bed-chamber;
Around him were most delicate cloaks, well suited
For tender maidens, soft, voluptuous;
Such as those are, who well perfumed and fragrant
With amaracine oils, do rub my feet.
But the author of the Procris gives an account of what care ought to be
taken of Procris's dog, speaking of a dog as if he were a man—
_A._ Strew, then, soft carpets underneath the dog,
And place beneath cloths of Milesian wool;
And put above them all a purple rug.
_B._ Phœbus Apollo!
_A._ Then in goose's milk
Soak him some groats.
_B._ O mighty Hercules!
_A._ And with Megallian oils anoint his feet.
And Antiphanes, in his Alcestis, represents some one as anointing his
feet with oil; but in his Mendicant Priest of Cybele, he says—
He bade the damsel take some choice perfumes
From the altar of the goddess, and then, first,
Anoint his feet with it, and then his knees:
But the first moment that the girl did touch
His feet, he leaped up.
And in his Zacynthus he says—
Have I not, then, a right to be fond of women,
And to regard them all with tender love,
For is it not a sweet and noble thing
To be treated just as you are; and to have
One's feet anointed by fair delicate hands?
And in his Thoricians he says—
He bathes completely—but what is't he does?
He bathes his hands and feet, and well anoints them
With perfume from a gold and ample ewer.
And with a purple dye he smears his jaws
And bosom; and his arms with oil of thyme;
His eyebrows and his hair with marjoram;
His knees and neck with essence of wild ivy.
And Anaxandrides, in his Protesilaus, says—
Ointment from Peron, which this fellow sold
But yesterday to Melanopus here,
A costly bargain fresh from Egypt, which
Anoints to-day Callistratus's feet.
And Teleclides, in his Prytanes, alludes to the lives of the citizens,
even in the time of Themistocles, as having been very much devoted to
luxury. And Cratinus in his Chirones, speaking of the luxury of the
former generations, says—
There was a scent of delicate thyme besides,
And roses too, and lilies by my ear;
And in my hands I held an apple, and
A staff, and thus I did harangue the people.
[Sidenote: VENUS CALLIPYGE.]
79. And Clearchus the Solensian, in his treatise on Love Matters,
says—"Why is it that we carry in our hands flowers, and apples, and
things of that sort? Is it that by our delight in these things nature
points out those of us who have a desire for all kinds of beauty? Is
it, therefore, as a kind of specimen of beauty that men carry beautiful
things in their hands, and take delight in them? Or do they carry
them about for two objects? For by these means the beginning of good
fortune, and an indication of one's wishes, is to a certain extent
secured; to those who are asked for them, by their being addressed, and
to those who give them, because they give an intimation beforehand,
that they must give of their beauty in exchange. For a request for
beautiful flowers and fruits, intimates that those who receive them are
prepared to give in return the beauty of their persons. Perhaps also
people are fond of those things, and carry them about them in order
to comfort and mitigate the vexation which arises from the neglect or
absence of those whom they love. For by the presence of these agreeable
objects, the desire for those persons whom we love is blunted; unless,
indeed, we may rather say that it is for the sake of personal ornament
that people carry those things, and take delight in them, just as
they wear anything else which tends to ornament. For not only those
people who are crowned with flowers, but those also who carry them in
their hands, find their whole appearance is improved by them. Perhaps
also, people carry them simply because of their love for any beautiful
object. For the love of beautiful objects shows that we are inclined to
be fond of the productions of the seasons.
For the face of spring and autumn is really beautiful, when looked at
in their flowers and fruits. And all persons who are in love, being
made, as it were, luxurious by their passion, and inclined to admire
beauty, are softened by the sight of beauty of any sort. For it is
something natural that people who fancy that they themselves are
beautiful and elegant, should be fond of flowers; on which account the
companions of Proserpine are represented as gathering flowers. And
Sappho says—
I saw a lovely maiden gathering flowers.
80. But in former times men were so devoted to luxury, that they
dedicated a temple to Venus Callipyge on this account. A certain
countryman had two beautiful daughters; and they once, contending with
one another, went into the public roads, disputing as they went, which
had the most beautiful buttocks. And as a young man was passing, who
had an aged father, they showed themselves to him also. And he, when
he had seen both, decided in favour of the elder; and falling in love
with her, he returned into the city and fell ill, and took to his bed,
and related what had happened to his brother, who was younger than he;
and he also, going into the fields and seeing the damsels himself,
fell in love with the other. Accordingly, their father, when with all
his exhortations he could not persuade his sons to think of a higher
marriage, brings these damsels to them out of the fields, having
persuaded their father to give them to him, and marries them to his
sons. And they were always called the καλλίπνγοι; as Cercidas
of Megalopolis says in his Iambics, in the following line—
There was a pair of καλλίπνγοι women
At Syracuse.
So they, having now become rich women, built a temple to Venus, calling
the goddess καλλίπνγος, as Archelaus also relates in his
Iambics.
And that the luxury of madness is exceedingly great is very pleasantly
argued by Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, where
he says—"Thrasylaus the Æxonensian, the son of Pythodorus, was once
afflicted with such violent madness, that he thought that all the
vessels which came to the Piræus belonged to him. And he entered them
in his books as such; and sent them away, and regulated their affairs
in his mind, and when they returned to port he received them with great
joy, as a man might be expected to who was master of so much wealth.
And when any were lost, he never inquired about them, but he rejoiced
in all that arrived safe; and so he lived with great pleasure. But when
his brother Crito returned from Sicily, and took him and put him into
the hands of a doctor, and cured him of his madness, he himself related
his madness, and said that he had never been happier in his life; for
that he never felt any grief, but that the quantity of pleasure which
he experienced was something unspeakable."
FOOTNOTES.
[1] This is a blunder of Athenæus. Mars does not say this, but
it is the observation made by the gods to each other.
Ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκε ἰδὼν ἐς πλήσιον ἄλλον. Odys. viii. 328.
[2] From κείρω, to cut and dress the hair.
[3] Κόλαξ, a flatterer.
[4] Πορφύρεος is a common epithet of death in Homer.
Liddell and Scott say—"The first notion of πορφύρεος was
probably of the troubled sea, υ. πορφύρω,"—and refer the
use of it in this passage to the colour of the blood, unless it be =
μέλας θάνατος.
[5] The modern Palermo.
[6] Iliad. i. 225.
[7] Odyss. ii. 418.
[8] Soph. Ant. 1169.
[9] Εὐεργέτης, from εὖ, well; Κακεργέτης, from κακῶς, ill;
and ἔργον, a work.
[10] The artabe was equivalent to the Greek medimnus, which was
a measure holding about twelve gallons.
[11] Cacodæmonistæ, from κακὸς, bad, and δαίμων, a deity.
Numeniastæ, from Νουμήνια, the Feast of the New Moon.