The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 3

Tyrant, with sense and courage quell'd by wine."

This was the way in which the sophist of Thessalia argued, from whence came the term, a Sicilian proverb, and Athenaeus is, perhaps, playing on the proverb.

19. As to the meals the heroes took in Homer, there was first of all breakfast, which he calls ???st??, which he mentions once in the Odyssey,

Ulysses and the swineherd, n.o.ble man, First lit the fire, and breakfast then began.[17:1]

And once in the Iliad,

Then quickly they prepared to break their fast.[17:2]

But this was the morning meal, which we call ???at?s??, because we soak crusts of bread in pure wine (???at??), and eat them, as Antiphanes says--

While the cook the ???st?? prepares.

And afterwards he says--

Then when you have done your business, Come and share my ???at?s??.

And Cantharus says--

_A._ Shall we, then, take our ???at?s?? there?

_B._ No; at the Isthmus all the slaves prepare The sweet ???st??,--

using the two words as synonymous. Aristomenes says--

I'll stop awhile to breakfast, then I'll come, When I a slice or two of bread have eaten.

But Philemon says that the ancients took the following meals--????t?sa, ???st??, ?sp???sa, or the afternoon meal, and de?p???, supper; calling the ???at?s?? breakfast, and ???st??[18:1] luncheon, and de?p??? the meal which came after luncheon. And the same order of names occur in aeschylus, where Palamedes is introduced, saying--

The different officers I then appointed, And bade them recollect the soldiers' meals, In number three, first breakfast, and then dinner, Supper the third.

And of the fourth meal Homer speaks thus--

And come thou de?e???sa?.[18:2]

That which some call de?????? is between what we call ???st?? and de?p???; and ???st?? in Homer, that which is taken in the morning, de?p??? is what is taken at noon, which we call ???st??, and d??p?? is the name for the evening meal. Sometimes, then, ???st?? is synonymous with de?p???; for somewhere or other Homer says--

de?p??? they took, then arm'd them for the fray.

For making their de?p??? immediately after sunrise, they then advance to battle.

20. In Homer they eat sitting down; but some think that a separate table was set before each of the feasters. At all events, they say a polished table was set before Mentes when he came to Telemachus, arriving after tables were already laid for the feast. However, this is not very clearly proved, for Minerva may have taken her food at Telemachus's table. But all along the banqueting-room full tables were laid out, as is even now the custom among many nations of the barbarians,

Laden with all dainty dishes,

as Anacreon says. And then when the guests have departed, the handmaidens

Bore off the feast, and clear'd the lofty hall, Removed the goblets and the tables all.

The feast which he mentions as taking place in the palace of Menelaus is of a peculiar character; for there he represents the guests as conversing during the banquet; and then they wash their hands and return to the board, and proceed to supper after having indulged their grief.

But the line in the last book of the Iliad, which is usually read,

He eat and drank, while still the table stood,

should be read,

He eat and drank still, while the table stood,

or else there would be blame implied for what Achilles was doing at the moment; for how could it be decent that a table should be laid before Achilles, as before a party of revellers, down the whole length of a banqueting-room? Bread, then, was placed on the table in baskets, and the rest of the meal consisted wholly of roast meat. But Homer never speaks of broth, Antiphanes says,

He never boil'd the legs or haunches, But roasted brains and roasted paunches, As did his sires of old.

21. And portions of the meat were then distributed among the guests; from which circ.u.mstances he speaks of "equal feasts," because of their equal division. And he calls suppers da?ta?, from the word dat??a?, to divide, since not only was the meat distributed in that way, but the wine also.

Their hunger was appeased, And strength recruited by the equal feast.[19:1]

And again,

Come, then, Achilles, share this equal feast.[19:2]

From these pa.s.sages Zenodotus got the idea that da?ta ??s?? meant a good feast; for as food is a necessary good to men, he says that he, by extension of the meaning of the word, called it ??s??. But men in the early times, as they had not food in sufficient abundance, the moment any appeared, rushed on it all at once, and tore it to pieces with violence, and even took it away from others who had it; and this disorderly behaviour gave rise to bloodshed. And it is from this that very probably the word ?tas?a??a originated, because it was in ????a?, another name for banquets, that men first offended against one another.

But when, by the bounty of Ceres, food became abundant, then they distributed an equal portion to each individual, and so banquets became orderly entertainments. Then came the invention of wine and of sweetmeats, which were also distributed equally: and cups, too, were given to men to drink out of, and these cups all held the same quant.i.ty.

And as food was called da??, from da?es?a?, that is, from being divided, so he who roasted the meat was called da?t???, because it was he who gave each guest an equal portion. We must remark that the poet uses the word da??

only of what is eaten by men, and never applies it to beasts; so that it was out of ignorance of the force of this word that Zenodotus, in his edition writes:--

a?t??? d? ?????a te??e ???ess??

??????s? te da?ta,[20:1]

calling the food of the vultures and other birds by this name, though it is man alone who has come to an equal division after his previous violence, on which account it is his food alone that is called da??, and the portion given to him is called ???a. But the feasters mentioned in Homer did not carry home the fragments, but when they were satisfied they left them with the givers of the feast; and the housekeeper took them in order, if any stranger arrived, to have something to give him.

22. Now Homer represents the men of his time as eating fish and birds: at all events, in Sicily the companions of Ulysses catch

All fish and birds, and all that come to hand With barbed hooks.[20:2]

But as the hooks were not forged in Sicily, but were brought by them in their vessel; it is plain that they were fond of and skilful in catching fish. And again, the poet compares the companions of Ulysses, who were seized by Sylla, to fish caught with a long rod and thrown out of doors; and he speaks more accurately concerning this act than those who have written poems or treatises professedly on the subject. I refer to Caecilius of Argos, and Numenius of Heraclea, and Pancrates the Arcadian, and Posidonius the Corinthian, and Oppia.n.u.s the Cilician, who lived a short time ago; for we know of all those men as writers of heroic poems about fishing. And of prose essayists on the subject we have Seleucus of Tarsus, and Leonidas of Byzantium, and Agathocles of Atracia. But he never expressly mentions such food at his banquets, just as he also forbears to speak of the meat of young animals, as such food was hardly considered suitable to the dignity of heroes of reputation. However, they did eat not only fish, but oysters; though this sort of food is neither very wholesome nor very nice, but the oysters lie at the bottom of the sea, and one cannot get at them by any other means, except by diving to the bottom.

An active man is he, and dives with ease;[21:1]

as he says of a man who could have collected enough to satisfy many men, while hunting for oysters.

23. Before each one of the guests in Homer is placed a separate cup.

Demodocus has a basket and a table and a cup placed before him,

To drink whene'er his soul desired.[21:2]

Again the goblets _are crowned with drink_; that is to say, they are filled so that the liquor stands above the brim, and the cups have a sort of crown of wine on them. Now the cupbearers filled them so for the sake of the omen; and then they pour out