of Naucratis Athenaeus

“ And Eubulus says, in his Campylion,—
There was a beautiful dish of the sea-grayling,
And a boil'd pike served up i' savoury pickle.
And Anaxandrides, in his Nereus, says—
The man who first discover'd all the good
Of the most precious head of a large grayling,
And then how dainty was the tunny's meat,
Caught where the waves are by no tempests tost,
How good in short is the whole race of fish,
Nereus his name, dwells in this place for ever. ”

“ Whate'er may be in season. But despise
The rude uncivilized Sicilian mode,
Where men do nought but drink like troops of frogs,
And eat no solid seasoning. Avoid them.
And seek the meats which I enjoin thee here.
All other foods are only signs and proofs
Of wretched poverty: the green boil'd vetch,
And beans, and apples, and dried drums of figs.
But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come;
And if there are none, still of any country
Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask
For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish—
For that it is which makes a banquet noble. ”

“ True flower of love, my beauteous Galatea.
But this is but a blind panegyric, and not at all to be compared with the encomium of Ibycus:—
Beauteous Euryalus, of all the Graces
The choicest branch,—object of love to all
The fair-hair'd maidens,—sure the soft-eyed goddess,
The Cyprian queen, and soft Persuasion
Combin'd to nourish you on beds of roses.
And Phrynichus said of Troilus—
The light of love shines in his purple cheeks. ”

“ And again Xenophon makes Socrates say at this banquet—"And Pausanias, indeed, the lover of Agathon the poet, when speaking in excuse of those who allow themselves to indulge in intemperance, said that a most valiant army might be composed of boys and their lovers: for that of all the men in the world they would be the most ashamed to desert one another. Saying a very strange thing,—if men who are accustomed utterly to disregard all blame, and to behave with utter shamelessness to one another, would be the men above all others ashamed to do anything disgraceful." ”

“ So that men, drinking cups of moderate strength,
May chat and gossip cheerfully with each other:
For too much water is more like a bath
Than like a wine-cup; and the wine-cooler
Mix'd with the cask, my friend, is death itself.
39. "But to drink to the degree of drunkenness," says Plato, in his sixth book of the Laws, is neither becoming anywhere—except perhaps in the days of festival of the god who gave men wine for their banquets,—nor is it wholesome: and, above all, a man ought to guard against such a thing who has any thoughts of marriage ”

“ For the ornament of a crown, as there is nothing lasting in it, is a sort of emblem of a passion which does not endure, but assumes a specious appearance for a while: and such a passion is love. For no people are more careful to study appearance than those who are in love. Unless, perhaps, nature, as a sort of god, administering everything with justice and equity, thinks that lovers ought not to be crowned till they have subdued their love; that is to say, till, having prevailed upon the object of their love, they are released from their desire. ”

“ But as for eels, without you spend at least
Twelve drachmas you can scarce get leave to smell them.
So it is altogether a holy beast.
And Anaxandrides, in his Cities, directing what he says to the Egyptians, speaks as follows—
I never could myself your comrade be,
For neither do our manners nor our laws
Agree with yours, but they are wholly different.
You do adore an ox; I sacrifice him
To the great Gods of heaven. You do think
An eel the mightiest of deities;
But we do eat him as the best of fish.
You eat no pork; I like it above all things.
You do adore a dog ”

“ Now the author of the Cyprian poems, whoever he was, says—
No better remedies than wine there are,
O king, to drive away soul-eating care.
And Diphilus the comic poet says—
O Bacchus, to all wise men dear,
How very kind you do appear;
You make the lowly-hearted proud,
And bid the gloomy laugh aloud;
You fill the feeble man with daring,
And cowards strut and bray past bearing.
And Philoxenus of Cythera says—
Good store of wine which makes men talk.
But Chæremon the tragedian says, that wine inspires those who use it with
Laughter and wisdom and prudence and learning. ”

“ When they have wives who cannot speak a word.
And Philetærus, in his Corinthiast, says—
O Jupiter, how soft and bland an eye
The lady has! 'Tis not for nothing we
Behold the temple of Hetæra here;
But there is not one temple to a wife
Throughout the whole of Greece.
And Amphis says in his Athamas—
Is not a courtesan much more good-humour'd
Than any wedded wife? No doubt she is,
And 'tis but natural; for she, by law,
Thinks she's a right to sulk and stay at home:
But well the other knows that 'tis her manners
By which alone she can retain her friends ”

“ Amphis, the comic writer, says:—
A man who comes late to a feast,
At which he has nothing to pay,
Will be sure if in battle he's press'd,
To run like a coward away.
And Chrysippus says:—
Never shun a banquet gay,
Where the cost on others falls;
Let them, if they like it, pay
For your breakfasts, dinners, balls.
And Antiphanes says:—
More blest than all the gods is he,
Whom every one is glad to see,
Who from all care and cost is free. ”

“ For a successful hunt, or plenteous gold,
A man who lives by the sea, whose nets he makes
His ploughs to raise his crops; then let him come,
And just at nightfall sacrifice with prayer
To this same goddess the most sacred fish,
Which men call leucus, (loveliest he of fish,)
Then let him bend his nets; and soon he shall
Draw them back from the waters full of prey.
But Dionysius, who was surnamed the Iambic, in his treatise on Dialects, writes thus—"We have heard accordingly an Eretrian fisherman, and many other fishermen, too, of other countries, call the pompilus the sacred fish. ”

“ But Alexis says in his Helena—
The man who falls in love with beauty's flower,
And taketh heed of nothing else, may be
A lover of pleasure, but not of his love;
And he does openly disparage Love,
And causes him to be suspect to others. ”

“ For Antiphanes says:—
For why should any man wealth desire,
And seek to pile his treasures higher,
If it were not to aid his friends in their need,
And to gain for himself love's and gratitude's meed?
For all can drink and all can eat,
And it is not only the richest meat,
Or the oldest wine in the well-chased bowl
Which can banish hunger and thirst from the soul.
And Xenophanes of Chalcedon, and Speusippus the Academic philosopher, and Aristotle, have all written drinking songs. ”

“ And when we are sacrificing to the gods, we spend as little as possible upon our sacrifices, and give them the most ordinary presents; as the admirable Menander tells us, in his Drunkenness:—
We don't do other things as we perform
Our duties to the gods. We sacrifice
One sheep scarce worth ten or a dozen drachmæ;
But for our flute-women, our perfumes rich,
Our harpers, Thasian and Mendæan wine,
Eels, cheese, and honey to regale ourselves,
We do not a whole talent think too much. ”

“ Men also crown the doors of the houses of the objects of their love, either with a view to do them honour, as they adorn with crowns the vestibule of some god to do him honour: or perhaps the offering of the crowns is made, not to the beloved objects, but to the god Love. For thinking the beloved object the statue, as it were, of Love, and his house the temple of Love, they, under this idea, adorn with crowns the vestibules of those whom they love. And for the same reason some people even sacrifice at the doors of those whom they love. ”

“ 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? ”

“ There are but few so happy as to know
This godlike food, nor do men covet it
Who have the silly souls of common mortals.
They fear because it is an animal
Which living preys on man. But every fish
Loves human flesh, if it can meet with it.
So that 'tis fit that all who talk such nonsense
Should be confined to herbs, and should be sent
To Diodorus the philosopher
And starve, and so pythagorize with him.
But this Diodorus was by birth an Aspendian; but desiring to be thought a Pythagorean, he lived after the fashion of you Cynics, letting his hair grow, being dirty, and going barefoot. ”

“ But when they drink just as much as is good for them, and no more, then they grow in an upright attitude, and flourish, and come in a flourishing state to produce fruit. And so, too, in our case, if we take too much drink all at once, our bodies and our minds rapidly get disordered, and we cannot even breathe correctly, much less speak. But if our slaves bedew us (to use Gorgias-like language) in small quantities with small cups, then we are not compelled to be intoxicated by the wine; but being gently induced, we proceed to a merry and cheerful temperament. ”

“ 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.... ”

“ A cup of luscious Lesbian wine.
And in his misfortunes he sings—
One must not give one's thoughts up wholly
To evil fortune; for by grieving
We shall not do ourselves much good.
Come to me, Bacchus; you are ever
The best of remedies, who bring
Us wine and joyous drunkenness. ”

“ And virgins also, some in wooden curved chariots, called canathra, beautifully made, and others in crowds of large waggons drawn by horses, make a procession; and the whole city is in a state of agitation and of delight at the spectacle. And they sacrifice great numbers of victims all this day. And the citizens give a banquet to all their friends, and to their own slaves; and no one omits attending the sacred feast, but the whole city is evacuated by the whole body of citizens flocking to the spectacle. ”

“ 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 ”

“ And Anacharsis the Scythian, when a prize for drinking was proposed at the table of Periander, demanded the prize, because he was the first man to be drunk of all the guests who were present; as if to get to the end were the goal to be aimed at, and the victory to be achieved in drinking as in running a race. But Lacydes and Timon the philosophers, being invited to an entertainment which was to last two days, by one of their friends, and wishing to adapt themselves to the rest of the guests, drank with great eagerness. ”

“ But the young men who had come to Menelaus's court, the son of Nestor and Telemachus, when over their wine, and celebrating a wedding feast, and though Helen was sitting by, kept quite quiet in a decorous manner, being struck dumb by her renowned beauty. But why did Socrates, when to gratify some one or other he had tolerated some female flute-players, and some boy dancing and playing on the harp, and also some women tumbling and posture-making in an unseemly manner, refuse perfumes? ”

“ But after this, learning the airs of Timotheus and Philoxenus, they every year, at the festival of Bacchus, dance in their theatres to the music of flute-players; the boys dancing in the choruses of boys, and the youths in those of men. And throughout the whole duration of their lives they are addicted to music at their common entertainments; not so much, however, employing musicians as singing in turn: and to admit themselves ignorant of any other accomplishment is not at all reckoned discreditable to them; but to refuse to sing is accounted a most disgraceful thing. ”

“ At all events, his very poem, says Seleucus, testifies against those people who receive the line in this sense. For he says, in the whole passage—
Let us now drink,—why put we out the light?
Our day is but a finger: bring large cups,
[Pg 680] Fill'd with the purple juice of various grapes;
For the great son of Semele and Jove
Gave wine to men to drive away their cares.
Pour on, in just proportion, one and two,
And let one goblet chase another quickly
Out of my head.
In which words he plainly enough intimates that his meaning is, that one cup of wine is to be mixed with two of water. ”

“ But you who never go out of Athens think yourself happy when you hear the precepts of Theophrastus, and when you eat thyme, and salads, and nice twisted loaves, solemnizing the Lenæan festival, and the Potfeast at the Anthesteria. But at the banquet of Caranus, instead of our portions of meat, we carried off actual riches, and are now looking, some for houses, and some for lands, and some of us are seeking to buy slaves. ”

“ Beauty is next; the third great prize
Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice;
The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.
And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it—
The man who wrote this song, whoe'er he was,
When he call'd health the best of all possessions,
Spoke well enough. ”

“ So when the mighty sophist of Rome had enunciated these precepts of Aristarchus, Cynulcus said—O Ceres, what a wise man! It is not without reason that the admirable Blepsias has pupils as the sand of the sea in number, and has amassed wealth from this excellent wisdom of his, beyond all that was acquired by Gorgias or Protagoras. So that I am afraid, by the goddesses, to say whether he himself is blind, or whether those who have entrusted his pupils to him have all but one eye, so as scarcely to be able to see, numerous [188] as they are. ”

“ Clearly, O youth, the music of the flute,
And that which from the lyre comes, does suit
Well with our pastimes; for when each resound
In unison with the feelings of those present,
Then is the greatest pleasure felt by all.
And the exact meaning of the word συναυλία is shown by Semus the Delian, in the fifth book of his Delias, where he writes—"But as the term 'concert' (συναυλία) is not understood by many people, we must speak of it. It is when there is a union of the flute and of rhythm in alternation, without any words accompanying the melody." ”