The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 57

The monarch took the word, and grave replied-- Presumptuous are the vaunts, and vain the pride Of man who dares in pomp with Jove contest, Unchanged, immortal, and supremely blest.

But then, after displaying his affectionate disposition as a brother, and saying that he is compelled to live and to be rich, he opposes to this the consideration of friendship--

Oh, had the G.o.ds so large a boon denied, And life, the just equivalent, supplied To those brave warriors who, with glory fired, Far from their country in my cause expired.

Who could there be then of the descendants of those men who had died in his cause, who would not think his grief for the death of his father as fair a compensation as could be given by grateful recollection? But still, that he may not appear to look upon them all in the same light, though they had all equally shown their good-will to him, he adds--

But oh! Ulysses,--deeper than the rest, That sad idea wounds my anxious breast; My heart bleeds fresh with agonising pain, The bowl and tasteful viands tempt in vain.

And that he may not seem to disregard any one of his family he names them all separately--

Doubtful of his doom, His good old sire with sorrow to the tomb Declines his trembling steps; untimely care Withers the blooming vigour of his heir; And the chaste partner of his bed and throne Wastes all her widow'd hours in tender moan.

And while he is weeping at the recollection of his father, Menelaus observes him; and, in the interim, Helen had come in, and she also conjectured who Telemachus was from his likeness to Ulysses, (for women, because of their habit of observing one another's modesty, are wonderfully clever at detecting the likeness of children to their parents,) and after Pisistratus had interfered with some observation, (for it was not fitting for him to stand by like a mute on the stage,) and said something appropriate and elegant about the modesty of Telemachus; again Menelaus made mention of his affection for Ulysses, that of all men in the world he was the one in whose companionship he wished to grow old.

17. And then, as is natural, they all weep; and Helen, as being the daughter of Jupiter, and as having learnt of the philosophers in Egypt many expedients of all kinds, pours into some wine a medicinal panacea, as it was in reality; and begins to relate some of the exploits of Ulysses, while working at her loom in the meantime; not doing this so much for the purpose of amus.e.m.e.nt, as because she had been bred up in that way at home. And so Venus, coming to her after the single combat in the Iliad, takes a form not her own--

To her beset with Trojan beauties, came In borrow'd form the laughter-loving dame.

She seem'd an ancient maid, well skill'd to cull The snowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.[304:1]

And her industry is made manifest not in a merely cursory manner, in the following description--

In this suspense bright Helen graced the room; Before her breathed a gale of rich perfume; The seat of majesty Adraste brings, With art ill.u.s.trious for the pomp of kings; To spread the pall, beneath the regal chair, Of softest woof, is bright Alcippe's care; A silver canister, divinely wrought, In her soft hands the beauteous Philo brought; To Sparta's queen of old the radiant vase Alcandra gave, a pledge of royal grace, Sharer of Polybus's high command, She gave the distaff too to Helen's hand, And that rich vase with living sculpture wrought, Which, heap'd with wool, the beauteous Philo brought; The silken fleece, impurpled for the loom, Rivall'd the hyacinth in vernal bloom.[305:1]

And she seems to be aware of her own proficiency in the art: at all events, when she presents Telemachus with a robe, she says--

Accept, dear youth, this monument of love, Long since, in better days, by Helen wove.

Safe in thy mother's care the vesture lay, To deck thy bride, and grace thy nuptial day.[305:2]

And that fondness for employment proves her temperance and modesty. For she is never represented as luxurious or arrogant, because of her beauty. Accordingly, she is found at her loom weaving and embroidering--

Her in the palace at the loom she found, The golden web her own sad story crown'd; The Trojan wars she weaved, (herself the prize,) And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.[305:3]

18. And Homer teaches us that those who have been invited to a feast, ought to ask leave of their entertainers before they rise up to depart.

And so Telemachus does to Menelaus--

But now let sleep the painful waste repair, Of sad reflection and corroding care.[305:4]

And Minerva, when pretending to be Mentor, says to Nestor--

Now immolate the tongues and mix the wine, Sacred to Neptune and the pow'rs divine: The lamp of day is quench'd beneath the deep, And soft approach the balmy hours of sleep; Nor fits it to prolong the heav'nly feast, Timeless, indecent; but retire to rest.[305:5]

And in the feasts of the G.o.ds it does not appear to have been considered proper to remain too long at the table. Accordingly, Minerva says, very sententiously, in Homer--

For now has darkness quench'd the solar light, And it becomes not G.o.ds to feast by night.

And now there is a law in existence that there are some sacrificial feasts from which men must depart before sunset. And among the Egyptians formerly every kind of banquet was conducted with great moderation; as Apollonius has said, who wrote a treatise on the feasts of the Egyptians; for they ate in a sitting posture, using the very simplest and most wholesome food; and only just as much wine as was calculated to put them in cheerful spirits, which is what Pindar entreats of Jupiter--

Oh mighty thund'ring Jove!

Great Saturn's son, lord of the realms above, That I may be to thee and the nine Muses dear, That joy my heart may cheer; This is my prayer, my only prayer to thee.

But the banquet of Plato is not an a.s.sembly of grave men, nor a conversazione of philosophers. For Socrates does not choose to depart from the banquet, although Eryximachus, and Phaedrus, and some others, have already left it; but he stays till a late hour with Agathon and Aristophanes, and drinks from the silver well; for fairly has some one given this name to large cups. And he drinks out of the bowl cleverly, like a man who is used to it. And Plato says, that after this those two others began to nod, and that first of all Aristophanes fell asleep, and when day began to break so did Agathon; and that Socrates, after he had sent them both to sleep, rose up from table himself and went away to the Lyceum, when he might, says Herodicus, have gone to Homer's Laestrygones--

Where he who scorns the chains of sleep to wear, And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care, His double toils may claim a double pay, And join the labours of the night and day.[306:1]

19. But every banqueting party among the ancients was referred to the G.o.ds; and accordingly men wore garlands appropriate and peculiar to the G.o.ds, and used hymns and odes. And there were no slaves to attend upon the guests, but free youths acted as the cupbearers. So the son of Menelaus, although he was the bridegroom, and at his own wedding, acted; and in the poem of the beautiful Sappho, even Mercury acts as the cupbearer to the G.o.ds. And they were free men who prepared everything else for the guests. And after they had supped they went away while it was still daylight. But at some of the Persian feasts there were also councils held, as there were in the tent of Agamemnon with respect to the further conduct of the Trojan war. Now as to the entertainment given by Alcinous, to which the discourse of Ulysses refers where he says--

How goodly seems it ever to employ Man's social days in union and in joy; The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine, And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine; The heav'n-taught poet and enchanting strain, These are the products of a peaceful reign.[307:1]

He refers also especially to his reception of strangers, since the Phaeacians themselves were devoted to luxury: and yet if any one compares that feast made by Alcinous with the banquets of the philosophers, he will find that the better regulated of the two; although that also embraced much cheerfulness and spirit, only not in any unbecoming manner. For after the exhibition of gymnastics the bard sings--

The loves of Mars,

a certain lay mingled with some ridiculous incidents, and one which suggested to Ulysses some hints for the slaughter of the suitors; since Vulcan, even though he was lame, got the better of the most valiant Mars.

20. And the feasters of that time sat at the table; at all events, Homer very often says--

Sitting in order on the chairs and couches.

For the word ??????, which he uses in this line, when taken by itself, is a seat such as is used by free men, with a footstool, the name of which being ??????, from thence they came to call the seat itself ??????, from the verb ???sas?a?, which they used for, to sit; as Philetas says--

To sit (???sas?a?) on the ground under a plane-tree.

But the couch (???s??) was more adapted for reclining on; and the d?f???

is something simpler than these things. Accordingly, in the book where Ulysses appears as a beggar the servants place for him, as Homer tells us,

A humble chair (d?f???), and spread a scanty board.

But their goblets, as their name (??at??e?) indicates, were supplied full of wine mixed with water (?e??a????); and the youths ministered to them from the larger goblets, always, in the case of the most honourable of the guests, keeping their small cups full; but to the rest they distributed the wine in equal portions. Accordingly Agamemnon says to Idomeneus[307:2]--

To thee the foremost honours are decreed, First in the fight, and every graceful deed; For this in banquets, when the generous bowls Restore our blood, and raise our warrior souls, Though all the rest with stated rules are bound, Unmix'd, unmeasured are thy goblets crown'd.

And they used to pledge one another, not as we do, (for our custom may be expressed by the verb p??e?p??? rather than by p??p???,) but they drank the entire b.u.mper off--

He fill'd his cup, and pledged great Peleus' son.

And how often they took meat, we have already explained--namely, that they had three meals, because it is the same meal that was at one time called de?p???, and at another ???st??. For those men who say that they used to take four meals a day, are ridiculously ignorant, since the poet himself says--

But do thou come de?e???sa?.

And these men do not perceive that this word means, "after having remained here till evening." But, nevertheless, no one can show in the poet one instance of any one taking food even three times in the day.

But many men are led into mistakes, placing these verses in the poet all together--

They wash; the tables in fair order spread, They heap the glittering canisters with bread, Viands of various kinds allure the taste, Of choicest sort and savour; rich repast.[308:1]

For if the housekeeper placed the meats on the table, it is plain that there was no need for the carver to bring in more, so that some of the above description is superfluous. But when the guests had departed the tables were removed, as is done at the feasts of the Suitors and of the Phaeacians, in whose case he says--

The servants bore away the armour of the feast.