The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 69

And he also uses the word in a peculiar sense in his Women dining together, where he says--

It is a well-bred custom not to a.s.semble A crowd of women, nor to feast a mult.i.tude; But to make a domestic (????s?t???) wedding feast.

And the word s?t??????? is used by Alexis, in his Woman sitting up all Night or the Weavers--

You will be but a walking bread-devourer (s?t???????)

And Menander calls a man who is useless, and who lives to no purpose, s?t???????, in his Thrasyleon, saying--

A lazy ever-procrastinating fellow, A s?t???????, miserable, useless, Owning himself a burden on the earth.

And in his Venal People he says--

Wretch, you were standing at the door the while, Having laid down your burden; while, for us, We took the wretched s?t??????? in.

And Crobylus used the word a?t?s?t?? (bringing one's own provisions), in The Man hanged--

A parasite a?t?s?t??, feeding himself, You do contribute much to aid your master.

And Eubulus has the word ?a??s?t?? (eating badly, having no appet.i.te), in his Ganymede--

Sleep nourishes him since he's no appet.i.te (?a??s?t??).

And the word ?????s?t?? (a sparing eater) occurs in Phrynichus, in his The solitary Man--

What does that sparing eater (?????s?t??) Hercules there?

And Pherecrates, or Strattis, in his Good Men--

How sparingly you eat, who in one day Swallow the food of an entire trireme.

53. When Plutarch had said all this about parasites, Democritus, taking up the discourse, said, And I myself, 'like wood well-glued to wood,' as the Theban poet has it, will say a word about flatterers.

For of all men the flatterer fares best,

as the excellent Menander says. And there is no great difference between calling a man a flatterer and a parasite. Accordingly, Lynceus the Samian, in his Commentaries, gives the name of parasite to Cleisophus, the man who is universally described as the flatterer of Philip, the king of the Macedonians (but he was an Athenian by birth, as Satyrus the Peripatetic affirms, in his Life of Philip). And Lynceus says--"Cleisophus, the parasite of Philip, when Philip rebuked him for being continually asking for something, replied, 'I am very forgetful.'

Afterwards, when Philip had given him a wounded horse, he sold him; and when, after a time, the king asked him what had become of him, he answered, 'He was sold by that wound of his.' And when Philip laughed at him, and took it good-humouredly, he said, 'Is it not then worth my while to keep you?'" And Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, makes this mention of Cleisophus:--"When Philip the king said that writings had been brought to him from Cotys, king of Thrace, Cleisophus, who was present, said, 'It is well, by the G.o.ds.' And when Philip said, 'But what do you know of the subjects mentioned in these writings?' he said, 'By the great Jupiter, you have reproved me with admirable judgment.'"

54. But Satyrus, in his Life of Philip, says, "When Philip lost his eye, Cleisophus came forth with him, with bandages on the same eye as the king; and again, when his leg was hurt, he came out limping, along with the king. And if ever Philip ate any harsh or sour food, he would contract his features, as if he, too, had the same taste in his mouth.

But in the country of the Arabs they used to do these things, not out of flattery, but in obedience to some law; so that whenever the king had anything the matter with any one of his limbs, the courtiers pretended to be suffering the same inconvenience: for they think it ridiculous to be willing to be buried with him when he dies, but not to pay him the compliment of appearing to be subject to the same sufferings as he is while alive, if he sustains any injury." But Nicolaus of Damascus,--and he was one of the Peripatetic school,--in his very voluminous history (for it consisted of a hundred and forty-four books), in the hundred and eleventh book says, that Adiatomus the king of the Sotiani (and that is a Celtic tribe) had six hundred picked men about him, who were called by the Gauls, in their national language, Siloduri--which word means in Greek, Bound under a vow. "And the king has them as companions, to live with him and to die with him; as that is the vow which they all take. In return for which, they also share his power, and wear the same dress, and eat the same food; and they die when he dies, as a matter of absolute necessity, if the king dies of any disease; or if he dies in war, or in any other manner. And no one can even say that any of them has shown any fear of death, or has in the least sought to evade it when the king is dead."

55. But Theopompus says, in the forty-fourth book of his Histories, that Philip appointed Thrasydaeus the Thessalian tyrant over all those of his nation, though a man who had but little intellect, but who was an egregious flatterer. But Arcadion the Achaean was not a flatterer, who is mentioned by the same Theopompus, and also by Duris in the fifth book of his History of Macedonian Affairs. Now this Arcadion hated Philip, and on account of this hatred voluntarily banished himself from his country.

And he was a man of the most admirable natural abilities, and numbers of clever sayings of his are related. It happened then once, when Philip was sojourning at Delphi, that Arcadion also was there; and the Macedonian beheld him and called him to him, and said, How much further, O Arcadion, do you mean to go by way of banishment? And he replied--

Until I meet with men who know not Philip.

But Phylarchus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says that Philip laughed at this, and invited Arcadion to supper, and that in that way he got rid of his enmity. But of Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, Hegesander gives the following account:--"When Alexander complained of being bitten by the flies and was eagerly brushing them off, a man of the name of Nicesias, one of his flatterers who happened to be present, said,--Beyond all doubt those flies will be far superior to all other flies, now that they have tasted your blood." And the same man says that Cheirisophus also, the flatterer of Dionysius, when he saw Dionysius laughing with some of his acquaintances, (but he was some way off himself, so that he could not hear what they were laughing at,) laughed also. And when Dionysius asked him on what account he, who could not possibly hear what was said, laughed, said--I feel that confidence in you that I am quite sure that what has been said is worth laughing at.

56. His son also, the second Dionysius, had numerous flatterers, who were called by the common people Dionysiocolaces. And they, because Dionysius himself was not very sharp sighted, used to pretend while at supper not to be able to see very far, but they would touch whatever was near them as if they could not see it, until Dionysius himself guided their hands to the dishes. And when Dionysius spat, they would often put out their own faces for him to spit upon: and then licking off the spittle and even his vomit, they declared that it was sweeter than honey. And Timaeus, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, says that Democles the flatterer of the younger Dionysius, as it was customary in Sicily to make a sacrifice from house to house in honour of the nymphs, and for men to spend the night around their statues when quite drunk, and to dance around the G.o.ddesses--Democles neglecting the nymphs, and saying that there was no use in attending to lifeless deities, went and danced before Dionysius. And at a subsequent time being once sent on an emba.s.sy with some colleagues to Dion, when they were all proceeding in a trireme, he being accused by the rest of behaving in a seditious manner in respect of this journey, and of having injured the general interests of Dionysius, when Dionysius was very indignant, he said that differences had arisen between himself and his colleagues, because after supper they took a paean of Phrynichus or Stesichorus, and some of them took one of Pindar's and sang it; but he, with those who agreed with him, went entirely through the hymns which had been composed by Dionysius himself. And he undertook to bring forward undeniable proof of this a.s.sertion. For that his accusers were not acquainted with the modulation of those songs, but that he on the contrary was ready to sing them all through one after the other. And so, when Dionysius was pacified, Democles continued, and said, "But you would do me a great favour, O Dionysius, if you were to order any one of those who knows it to teach me the paean which you composed in honour of aesculapius; for I hear that you have taken great pains with that."

And once, when some friends were invited to supper by Dionysius, Dionysius coming into the room, said, "O, my friends, letters have been sent to us from the generals who have been despatched to Naples;" and Democles interrupting him, said, "By the G.o.ds, they have done well, O Dionysius." And he, looking upon him, said, "But how do you know whether what they have written is in accordance with my expectation or the contrary?" And Democles replied, "By the G.o.ds, you have properly rebuked me, O Dionysius." Timaeus also affirms that there was a man named Satyrus, who was a flatterer of both the Dionysii.

57. And Hegesander relates that Hiero the tyrant was also rather weak in his eyes; and that his friends who supped with him made mistakes in the dishes on purpose, in order to let him set them right, and to give him an opportunity of appearing clearer-sighted than the rest. And Hegesander says that Euclides, who was surnamed Seutlus, (and he too was a parasite,) once when a great quant.i.ty of sow-thistles (s?????) was set before him at a banquet, said, "Capaneus, who is introduced by Euripides in his Suppliant Women, was a very witty man--

Detesting tables where there was too much pride (?????).

But those who were the leaders of the people at Athens, says he, in the Chremonidean war, flattered the Athenians, and said, "that everything else was common to all the Greeks; but that the Athenians were the only men who knew the road which leads to heaven." And Satyrus, in his Lives, says that Anaxarchus, the Eudaemonical philosopher, was one of the flatterers of Alexander; and that he once, when on a journey in company with the king, when a violent and terrible thunderstorm took place, so as to frighten everybody, said--"Was it you, O Alexander, son of Jupiter, who caused this?" And that he laughed and said--"Not I; for I do not wish to be formidable, as you make me out; you also desire me to have brought to me at supper the heads of satraps and kings." And Aristobulus of Ca.s.sandria says that Dioxippus the Athenian, a pancratiast, once when Alexander was wounded and when the blood flowed, said--

'Tis ichor, such as flows from the blessed G.o.ds.

58. And Epicrates the Athenian, having gone on an emba.s.sy to the king, according to the statement of Hegesander, and having received many presents from him, was not ashamed to flatter the king openly and boldly, so as even to say that the best way was not to choose nine archons every year, but nine amba.s.sadors to the king. But I wonder at the Athenians, how they allowed him to make such a speech without bringing him to trial, and yet fined Demades ten talents, because he thought Alexander a G.o.d; and they put Evagoras to death, because when he went as amba.s.sador to the king he adored him. And Timon the Phliasian, in the third book of his Silli, says that Ariston the Chian, an acquaintance and pupil of Zeno the Citiean, was a flatterer of Persaeus the philosopher, because he was a companion of Antigonus the king. But Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, when he saw the king in convulsions from some medicine which he had taken, said--"O king, what must we do, when even you G.o.ds suffer in this manner?" and that Alexander, scarcely looking up, said--"What sort of G.o.ds? I am afraid rather we are hated by the G.o.ds." And in his twenty-eighth book the same Phylarchus says that Apollophanes was a flatterer of Antigonus who was surnamed Epitropus, who took Lacedaemon, and who used to say that the fortune of Antigonus Alexandrized.

59. But Euphantus, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Callicrates was a flatterer of Ptolemy, the third king of Egypt, who was so subtle a flatterer that he not only bore an image of Ulysses on his seal, but that he also gave his children the names of Telegonus, and Anticlea. And Polybius, in the thirteenth book of his Histories, says that Heraclides the Tarentine was a flatterer of the Philip whose power was destroyed by the Romans; and that it was he who overturned his whole kingdom. And in his fourteenth book, he says that Philo was a flatterer of Agathocles the son of nanthe, and the companion of the king Ptolemy Philopator. And Baton of Sinope relates, in his book about the tyranny of Hieronymus, that Thraso, who was surnamed Carcharus, was the flatterer of Hieronymus the tyrant of Syracuse, saying that he every day used to drink a great quant.i.ty of unmixed wine. But another flatterer, by name Osis, caused Thraso to be put to death by Hieronymus; and he persuaded Hieronymus himself to a.s.sume the diadem, and the purple and all the rest of the royal apparel, which Dionysius the tyrant was accustomed to wear. And Agatharchides, in the thirtieth book of his Histories, says--"Haeresippus the Spartan was a man of no moderate iniquity, not even putting on any appearance of goodness; but having very persuasive flattering language, and being a very clever man at paying court to the rich as long as their fortune lasted. Such also was Heraclides the Maronite, the flatterer of Seuthes the king of the Thracians, who is mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the Anabasis.

60. But Theopompus, in the eighteenth book of his Histories, speaking of Nicostratus the Argive, and saying how he flattered the Persian king, writes as follows--"But how can we think Nicostratus the Argive anything but a wicked man? who, when he was president of the city of Argos, and when he had received all the distinctions of family, and riches, and large estates from his ancestors, surpa.s.sed all men in his flatteries and attentions to the king, outrunning not only those who bore a part in that expedition, but even all who had lived before; for in the first place, he was so anxious for honours from the barbarian, that, wishing to please him more and to be more trusted by him, he brought his son to the king, a thing which no one else will ever be found to have done. And then, every day when he was about to go to supper he had a table set apart, to which he gave the name of the Table of the King's Deity, loading it with meat and all other requisites; hearing that those who live at the doors of the royal palace among the Persians do the same thing, and thinking that by this courtier-like attention he should get more from the king. For he was exceedingly covetous, and not scrupulous as to the means he employed for getting money, so that indeed no one was ever less so. And Lysimachus was a flatterer and the tutor of Attalus the king, a man whom Callimachus sets down as a Theodorean, but Hermippus sets him down in the list of the disciples of Theophrastus.

And this man wrote books also about the education of Attalus, full of every kind of adulation imaginable. But Polybius, in the eighth book of his Histories, says, "Cavarus the Gaul, who was in other respects a good man, was depraved by Sostratus the flatterer, who was a Chalcedonian by birth."

61. Nicolaus, in the hundred and fourteenth book of his Histories, says that Andromachus of Carrhae was a flatterer of Licinius Cra.s.sus, who commanded the expedition against the Parthians; and that Cra.s.sus communicated all his designs to him, and was, in consequence, betrayed to the Parthians by him, and so destroyed. But Andromachus was not allowed by the deity to escape unpunished. For having obtained, as the reward of his conduct, the sovereignty over his native place Carrhae, he behaved with such cruelty and violence that he was burnt with his whole family by the Carrhans. And Posidonius the Apamean, who was afterwards surnamed Rhodius, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Hierax of Antioch, who used formerly to accompany the singers called Lysiodi on the flute, afterwards became a terrible flatterer of Ptolemy, seventh king of Egypt of that name, who was also surnamed Euergetes; and that he had the very greatest influence over him, as also he had with Ptolemy Philometor, though he was afterwards put to death by him. And Nicolaus the Peripatetic states that Sosipater was a flatterer of Mithridates, a man who was by trade a conjurer. And Theopompus, in the ninth book of his History of Grecian Affairs, says that Athenaeus the Eretrian was a flatterer and servant of Sisyphus the tyrant of Pharsalus.

62. The whole populace of the Athenians, too, was very notorious for the height to which it pushed its flattery; accordingly, Demochares the cousin of Demosthenes the orator, in the twentieth book of his Histories, speaking of the flattery practised by the Athenians towards Demetrius Poliorcetes, and saying that he himself did not at all like it, writes as follows--"And some of these things annoyed him greatly, as they well might. And, indeed, other parts of their conduct were utterly mean and disgraceful. They consecrated temples to Leaena Venus and Lamia Venus, and they erected altars and shrines as if to heroes, and inst.i.tuted libations in honour of Burichus, and Adeimantus, and Oxythemis, his flatterers. And poems were sung in honour of all these people, so that even Demetrius himself was astonished at what they did, and said that in his time there was not one Athenian of a great or vigorous mind." The Thebans also flattered Demetrius, as Polemo relates in the treatise on the Ornamented Portico at Sicyon; and they, too, erected a temple to Lamia Venus. But she was one of Demetrius's mistresses, as also was Leaena. So that why should we wonder at the Athenians, who stooped even to become flatterers of flatterers, singing paeans and hymns to Demetrius himself?

Accordingly Demochares, in the twenty-first book of his Histories, says--"And the Athenians received Demetrius when he came from Leucadia and Corcyra to Athens, not only with frankincense, and crowns, and libations of wine, but they even went out to meet him with hymns, and choruses, and ithyphalli, and dancing and singing, and they stood in front of him in mult.i.tudes, dancing and singing, and saying that he was the only true G.o.d, and that all the rest of the G.o.ds were either asleep, or gone away to a distance, or were no G.o.ds at all. And they called him the son of Neptune and Venus, for he was eminent for beauty, and affable to all men with a natural courtesy and gentleness of manner. And they fell at his feet and addressed supplications and prayers to him."

63. Demochares, then, has said all this about the adulatory spirit and conduct of the Athenians. And Duris the Samian, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, has given the very ithyphallic hymn which they addressed to him--

Behold the greatest of the G.o.ds and dearest Are come to this city, For here Demeter[398:1] and Demetrius are Present in season.

She indeed comes to duly celebrate The sacred mysteries Of her most holy daughter--he is present Joyful and beautiful, As a G.o.d ought to be, with smiling face Showering his blessings round.

How n.o.ble doth he look! his friends around, Himself the centre.

His friends resemble the bright lesser stars, Himself is Phbus.

Hail, ever-mighty Neptune's mightier son; Hail, son of Venus.

For other G.o.ds do at a distance keep, Or have no ears, Or no existence; and they heed not us-- But you are present, Not made of wood or stone, a genuine G.o.d.

We pray to thee.

First of all give us peace, O dearest G.o.d-- For you are lord of peace-- And crush for us yourself, for you've the power, This odious Sphinx; Which now destroys not Thebes alone, but Greece-- The whole of Greece-- I mean th' aetolian, who, like her of old, Sits on a rock, And tears and crushes all our wretched bodies.

Nor can we him resist.

For all th' aetolians plunder all their neighbours; And now they stretch afar Their lion hands; but crush them, mighty lord, Or send some dipus Who shall this Sphinx hurl down from off his precipice, Or starve him justly.

64. This is what was sung by the nation which once fought at Marathon, and they sang it not only in public, but in their private houses--men who had once put a man to death for offering adoration to the king of Persia, and who had slain countless myriads of barbarians. Therefore, Alexis, in his Apothecary or Cratevas, introduces a person pledging one of the guests in a cup of wine, and represents him as saying--

Boy, give a larger cup, and pour therein Four cyathi of strong and friendly drink, In honour of all present. Then you shall add Three more for love; one for the victory, The glorious victory of King Antigonus, Another for the young Demetrius.

And presently he adds--

Bring a third cup in honour now of Venus, The lovely Venus. Hail, my friends and guests; I drink this cup to the success of all of you.

65. Such were the Athenians at that time, after flattery, that worst of wild beasts, had inspired their city with frenzy, that city which once the Pythia ent.i.tled the Hearth of Greece, and which Theopompus, who hated them, called the Prytaneum of Greece; he who said in other places that Athens was full of drunken flatterers, and sailors, and pickpockets, and also of false witnesses, sycophants, and false accusers. And it is my opinion that it was they who introduced all the flattery which we have been speaking of, like a storm, or other infliction, sent on men by the G.o.ds; concerning which Diogenes said, very elegantly--"That it was much better to go ?? ???a?a? than ??

???a?a?, who eat up all the good men while they are still alive;" and, accordingly, Anaxilas says, in his Young Woman--