CHAPTER V.
ENTERTAINMENTS.
Having now gone rapidly through the materials of which Grecian repasts consisted, it will next be necessary to describe the manner in which all these good things were disposed of, first to maintain the energy of the frame, and secondly, for mere pleasure and pastime. Locke, with many other modern philosophers, erroneously supposes the Greeks of remote antiquity to have been so abstemious as to content themselves with one meal per diem. But experience appears to have led all mankind on this point to much the same conclusion; viz., that health and comfort require men to eat at least thrice in the day,[720] which accordingly was the practice of the ancient Greeks, though Philemon and others enumerate four repasts. Our own ancestors, before the introduction of tea and coffee, appear to have been very well content with beer or ale for their morning’s meal, so that we could not pity the Greeks even though it should be found that they had nothing better[721] than hot rolls, muffins, or crumpets, with strawberries, grapes, pears, and a flask of Chian or Falernian. But they soon found the necessity of some warm beverage; and though it does not appear how it was prepared, they had a substitute for tea,[722] in use at Athens, in Eubœa, in Crete, and, no doubt, in all other parts of Greece. This meal, of whatever it consisted, was called _acratisma_, or _ariston_, and eaten at break of day.[723] Homer’s heroes, whose business was fighting, just snatched a hasty meal, and hurried to the field; but at Athens, where people had other employments, they breakfasted early, to allow themselves ample time for despatching their affairs in the city, if they had any, and afterwards at their neighbouring farms or villas.[724] The second repast, _deipnon_, or dinner, seems to have been eaten about eleven or twelve o’clock: the _hesperisma_,[725] equivalent to our tea, late in the afternoon, and the _dorpon_, or supper, the last thing in the evening. But of these meals two only were serious affairs, and the _hesperisma_ was often dispensed with altogether. In fact, Athenæus, a great authority on this subject, considers it perfectly absurd to suppose, that the frugal ancients could have thought of eating so often as three times in one day.[726]
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Footnote 720:
Æschyl. Palamed. fr. 168. Klausen. Comm. in Agamemnon. p. 136.
Footnote 721:
In modern times a breakfast in the Troad often consists of grapes, figs, white honey in the comb, and coffee.—Chandler, i. p. 37.
Footnote 722:
Athen. xi. 26, 50. Pollux, ix. 67, sqq. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 643. Cf. Bœckh. Pub. Econ. of Athens, i. 140.
Footnote 723:
Which we may infer from a passage of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vi. 8. where describing the habits of birds, he says, τῶν δὲ φαβῶν ἡ μὲν θήλεια ἀπὸ δείλης ἀρξαμένη τὴν τε νύχθ᾽ ὅλην ἐπῳάζει καὶ ἕως ἀκρατίσματος ὥρας, ὁ δ᾽ ἄῤῥην τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ χρόνου.—One of the Homeric scholiasts is more explicit:—καὶ τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἐκάλουν ἄριστον, ἣν ἐλάμβανον πρωΐας σχεδὸν ἔτι σκοτίας οὔσης.—In Iliad β. 381. Cf. Athen. i. 19.
Footnote 724:
Xenoph. Œcon. xi. 14.
Footnote 725:
Philemon, ap. Athen. i. 19. Suid. v. δεῖπνον t. i. p. 671. a. b.
Footnote 726:
Deipnosoph v. 20.—τρισὶ δὲ οὐδέποτε οὔτε μνηστῆρες οὔτε μὴν κύκλωψ ἐχρῶντο τροφαῖς.—Schol. Il. β. 381. Yet Athenæus i. 19. speaks in one place of a fourth repast in Homeric times.—τῆς δὲ τετάρτης τροφῆς οὔτως Ὅμηρος μέμνηται—“σὺ δ᾽ ἔρχεο δειελιήσας.” ὁ καλοῦσι τινες δειλινὸν, ὁ ἐστι μεταξὺ τοῦ ὑφ’ ἡμῶν λεγομένου ἀρίστου καὶ δείπνου.
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As the greater includes the less, instead of confining ourselves to the ordinary daily dinner of a Greek, we shall in preference describe their grand entertainments, introducing remarks on the former by the way. These repasts were divided into three classes, the public dinner, the pic-nic, and the marriage feast. The last, so far as it had any peculiar features, has been described among the circumstances attending matrimony. We have, therefore, for the present, to do with two only; and, as the Greek contrived to throw much of his ingenuity into all matters connected with feasting and merry-making, the discussion of this part of our subject should savour strongly of mirth and jollity.
The grand dinner,[727] which they called _eilapinè_, was generally given at the expense of an individual, and its sumptuousness knew no limit but the means of the host. Other kinds of feasts there were at which all the members of a tribe, a borough, or a fraternity, were entertained, not to speak for the present of the common tables of the Cretans, Spartans, or Prytanes of Athens. We now confine ourselves to those jovial assemblages of private citizens whose object in meeting was not so much the dinner, though that was not overlooked, as the elevation of animal spirits and flow of soul produced by the union of a thousand different circumstances.
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Footnote 727:
On the subject of dining see Pollux, vi. 9, seq. with the notes of Jungermann, Kuhn, Hemsterhuis. &c.
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When a rich man desired to see his friends around him at his board, he delivered to his _deipnocletor_[728] a domestic kept for this purpose, a tablet, or as we should say, a card, whereon the names of the persons to be invited, with the day and hour fixed upon for the banquet, were inscribed. With brothers and other very near relations this ceremony was thought unnecessary.[729] They came without invitation. So likewise did another class of men, who, living at large upon the public and lighting unbidden upon any sport to which they were attracted by the savour of a good dinner, were denominated[730] FLIES, and occasionally SHADES or PARASITES. There was at one time a law at Athens, which a good deal nonplussed these gentlemen. It was decreed, that not more than thirty persons should meet at a marriage feast, and a wealthy citizen, desirous of “going the whole hog,” had invited the full complement. An honest Fly, however, who respected no law that interfered with his stomach, contrived to introduce himself, and took his station at the lower end of the table. Presently the magistrate appointed for the purpose, entered, and espying his man at a glance, began counting the guests, commencing on the other side and ending with the parasite. “Friend,” said he, “you must retire. I find there is one person more than the law allows.” “It is quite a mistake, sir,” replied the Fly, “as you will find if you will have the goodness to count again, beginning _on this side_.”[731] Among the Egyptians, who shrouded all their poetry in hieroglyphics, _a fly_ was the emblem of impudence, which necessarily formed the principal qualification of a Parasite, and in Hume’s[732] opinion is no bad possession to any man who would make his way in the world.
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Footnote 728:
Athen. iv. 70. Aristoph. Concion. 648, et Schol.
Footnote 729:
For a further account of the persons usually invited, see Athen. v. 4.
Footnote 730:
Plut. Sympos. vii. 6. Each guest was also followed by a footman who stood behind his master’s chair and waited on him. Casaub. ad Theoph. Char. p. 219. To persons of this description the guests delivered the presents that were made them, or if they happened to be bad characters, what they stole. Athen. iv. 2. Plut. Anton. § 28. Lucian. Conviv. seu Lapith. § 46. Rich men then as now were usually haunted by flatterers who would pluck off the burrs from their cloaks or the chaff which the wind wafted into their beards, and try to screw a joke out of the circumstance by saying, they were grown grey! Theoph. Char. c. ii. p. 7. If the patron joked, they would stuff their chlamys into their mouths as if they were dying of laughter. In the street they would say to the person they met, “Stand aside, friend, and allow this gentleman to pass!” They would bring apples and pears in their pocket for his little ones and be sure to give them in his sight, with great praise both of father and children.
Footnote 731:
Athen. vi. 45, seq.
Footnote 732:
Nothing, says this philosopher, carries a man through the world like a true genuine natural impudence. Essays, p. 9, quarto.
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Archbishop Potter,[733] in his account of Grecian entertainments, observes, upon the authority of Cicero and Cornelius Nepos, that women were never invited with the men.[734] But in this, as has been shown in the proper place, he was misled by those learned Romans; for, in many cities and colonies of Greece, no banquet was given at which they were not present. Even at Athens, where women of character thought it unbecoming to mingle in the convivial revelries of the men,[735] in which wine constantly overleaps the boundaries of decorum, their place was supplied by hetairæ, whose polished manners, ready wit, and enlarged and enlightened understandings, recommended them to their companions, and caused the laxity of their morals to be forgotten.[736] To proceed, however, with our feast: it will readily be supposed, that gentlemen invited out to dinner were careful to apparel themselves elegantly, to shave clean, and arrange their beards and moustachios after the most approved fashion of the day. Even Socrates, who cared as little as most people for external appearances, bathed, put on a pair of new shoes, brushed his chlamys, and otherwise spruced himself up when going to sup at Agathon’s with Phædros, Aristophanes, Eryximachos, and other exquisites. Even in Homeric times the bath was among the preliminaries to dinner, and guests arriving from a distance were attended through all the operations of the toilette by female slaves.[737] But this general ablution was not considered sufficient. On sitting down to table water was again presented to every guest in silver[738] lavers or ewers of gold. And since they ate with their fingers, as still is the practice in the Levant, it was moreover customary to wash the hands between every course,[739] and wipe them,[740] in remoter ages, with soft bread, which was thrown to the dogs, and in aftertimes with napkins. The Arcadians, however, about whose mountains all the old superstitions of Hellas clung like bats, found a very different use for the cakes with which they wiped their fingers. They supposed them to acquire some mystic powers by the operation, and preserved them as a charm against ghosts.[741]
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Footnote 733:
Antiq. iv. 19.
Footnote 734:
Plato giving directions for a marriage feast, observes, that five male and five female friends should be invited; along with these, five male and five female relations, who with the bride and bridegroom, with their parents, grandfathers, &c., would amount to 28. De Legg. vi. t. vii. Schweigh. ad Athen. t. vi. p. 60. Among the ancient Etruscans, who, if not Greeks, had many Greek customs, the women reclined at table with the men, under the same cover. Athen. i. 42.
Footnote 735:
Isæus, De Pyrrh. Hered. § 2. That among the more simple and old-fashioned citizens of Athens, however, men and women, when of the same family or clan, dined together, we have the testimony of Menander to prove. He introduces one of his characters, apparently a fop, observing that it was a bore to be at a family party, where the father, holding the goblet in his hand, first made a speech, abounding with exhortations: the mother followed, and then the grandmother prated a little. Afterwards stood up her father, hoarse with age, and his wife, calling him her dearest; while he mean time nodded to all present. Athen. ii. 86.
Footnote 736:
Athen. v. 6.
Footnote 737:
Odyss. δ. 48, sqq.
Footnote 738:
Athen. ix. 27. In some luxurious houses wine mingled with spices was presented to the guests in lavers for the purpose of washing their feet. Plut. Phoc. § 20. In the palace of Trimalchio we find Egyptian servants pouring water, cooled with snow, on the hands of the guests. Petron. Satyr. p. 76.
Footnote 739:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 412.
Footnote 740:
Rich purple napkins were sometimes used. Sappho in Deipnosoph. ix. 79. These articles are still in the Levant elaborately embroidered.
Footnote 741:
Athen. iv. 31.
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But we are proceeding too fast, for the guests are scarcely within doors, and our imagination has jumped to the conclusion. To return then. Immediately on entering, and when the host had welcomed and shaken hands with all, such gentlemen as possessed beards[742] had them perfumed over burning censers of frankincense, as ladies have their tresses on visiting a Turkish harem. The hands, too, after each lavation, were scented.[743] Before sitting down to table, and while the cooks were peppering the soup, frying the fish, or giving the roast-meat another turn, politeness required the guests to take a stroll[744] in the picture-gallery and admire the exquisite taste of their entertainer in articles of _virtu_.[745] Here while the scent of the savoury viands found its way through every apartment, and set the bowels of the hungry parasites croaking, the rogues who had lunched well at home leisurely discussed the merits of Zeuxis or Parrhasios, of Pheidias or Polygnotos, or opened wide their eyes at the microscopic creations of that Spartan artist whose chisel produced a chariot and four that could be hidden under the wing of a fly. At length, however, the connoisseurs were interrupted in their learned disquisitions by the entrance of Xanthos, Davos, or Lydos, with the welcome intelligence that dinner was on the table.
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Footnote 742:
Hom. Odyss. γ. 33, seq. Athen. xv. 23. Similar customs still prevail in the Levant: “When we visited the Turks we were received with cordiality and treated with distinction. Sweet gums were burned in the middle of the room to scent the air, or scattered on coals before us while sitting on the sofa, to perfume our moustachios and garments, and at the door, at our departure, we were sprinkled with rose-water.” Chandler, ii. 150.
Footnote 743:
Athen. ix. 77.
Footnote 744:
Cf. Hom. Odyss. δ. 43, sqq.
Footnote 745:
Aristoph. Vesp. 1208. Athen. v. 6, where the splendid roofs and ornaments of the court are mentioned. These ornaments, κρεκάδια, whatever they were, must have been worth looking at. See the note of Casaubon, Animadv. in Athen. t. viii. p. 27, seq. Consult likewise the note on Aristophanes in Bekker’s edition, t. iii. p. 606.
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But the appetites of the gourmands had still to encounter another trial.[746] The Greeks were above all things a pious people, and regarded every banquet, nay, every meal, in the light of a sacrifice, at which the first and best portion should be offered as an oblation to the gods,[747] with invocations and prayer, after which it was considered lawful to attend to their own appetites. An altar, accordingly, of Zeus stood in the midst of every dining-room, on which these ceremonies were performed, and libations of pure wine poured.[748] This done, the guests took their places, in the earlier ages on chairs, but afterwards, when they had become familiar with the East, on rich sofas, arranged round the board.[749] Occasionally, however, even so late as the age of Alexander,[750] princes and other great men chose to adopt the ancient custom, and, on one occasion, that conqueror himself entertained four hundred of his officers, when seats of wrought silver, covered with purple carpets, were provided for all.
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Footnote 746:
Athen. v. 7. Cf. Plat. Symp. t. iv. p. 376, et Xenoph. Conviv. ii. 1. Schweigh. Animadv. in Athen. viii. p. 26, seq.
Footnote 747:
Casaubon mentions this as a thing _nota eruditis_. Ad Theoph. Charact. p. 232; but we must not on that account pass it over. Alexis poetically deplores the miseries of the half-hour before dinner. Athen. i. 42.
Footnote 748:
There was in great houses a person whose duty it was to assign each guest his place at table, ὀνομακλήτωρ, or nomenclator. Athen. ii. 29.
Footnote 749:
Plin. xxxiii. 51. xxxiv. 8.
Footnote 750:
At most sumptuous entertainments _tasters_ were employed who, as in the East, made trial of the dishes before the guests, lest they should be poisoned. These persons were called ἐδέατροι and προτένθαι. Athen. iv. 71.
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The manner of reclining on the divans was not a little ludicrous. For, at the outset, while the appetite was keen, they stretched themselves flat upon their stomachs, in order, I presume, to command the use of both hands, and putting forward their mouths towards the table looked like so many sparrows with their open bills projecting over the nest. But this they could conveniently do only when they had a large space to themselves. When packed close, as usually they were, one man, the chief in dignity, throwing off his shoes,[751] placed himself on the upper end of the divan, that is, next the host, reclining on one elbow supported by soft cushions. The head of the next man reached nearly to his breast,—whence in Scripture, the beloved disciple is said to recline on the bosom of Christ,[752]—while the feet of the first extended down behind him. The third guest occupied the same position with respect to the second, and so on until five individuals sometimes crowded each other on the same sofa.
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Footnote 751:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 825.
Footnote 752:
John, xiii. 23. On the cushions, of which there was a great variety, see Pollux, vi. 9, where he reckons among them the ὑπηρέσιον, which Mitford confounds with the ἄσκωμα, or leathern bags which closed the row-port of war-galleys round the oar, to prevent the influx of sea-water.
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As the heaven of the poets was but a colossal picture of earth, we may, from the practice of the gods, infer what took place among mortals, even where supported by no direct testimony. Now, in Homer, we find gods and goddesses mingling freely together at the feast. Zeus takes the head of the table, next him sits his daughter Athena, while the imperial Hera, as Queen of Heaven, takes precedence of all the she Olympians, by placing herself at the head of the secondary divinities, directly opposite her husband. On one occasion we find Athena, the type of hospitality and politeness, yielding up her seat of honour to Thetis, because, as an Oceanid, she was somewhat of a stranger in Olympos.[753] Potter has discussed, with more learning than perspicuity, the question of precedence at table. To render the matter perfectly intelligible would require a plan of the dining-room; but wanting this, it may be observed, that in Persia the king, or host of whatever rank, sat in the middle, while the guests ranged themselves equally on both sides of him.
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Footnote 753:
Iliad, ω. 100.
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In Greece, the bottom of the table was the end next the door. Here no one sat, it being left open for the servants to bring in and remove the dishes. From this point, on either side, the seats augmented in value, and consequently the post of greatest honour was the middle of the other extremity.[754] There were those, however, who made no account of these matters, but suffered their guests to seat themselves as they pleased. This was the case with Timon, who, having invited a very miscellaneous party, would not be at the pains to settle the question of precedence between them; but a pompous individual of aristocratic pretensions, dressed like an actor, arriving late with a large retinue, and surveying the company from the door, went away again, observing, there was no fit place left for him. Upon which the guests, who, as Plutarch remarks, were far gone in their cups, burst into shouts of laughter, and bade him make the best of his way home.[755]
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Footnote 754:
Cf. Plut. Conv. Quæst. i. 3. Pet. Ciacon, De Triclin. p. 44.
Footnote 755:
Sympos. i. 2. 1.
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Some persons observed a very different order in arranging their guests, grouping those together whom they considered suited by age or temper to each other, in order by this contrivance to produce general harmony,—the vehement and impetuous being placed beside the meek and gentle, the silent beside the talkative, the ripe and full and expansive minds beside those who were ready to receive instruction. But very often, as at Agathon’s, those sat next each other, who were most intimately acquainted or united together by friendship; for thus the greatest freedom of intercourse with the brightest sallies of convivial wit were likely to be produced.
At length, however, we must imagine the guests in their places and every thing in proper train. The servants bring in first one well-covered table, then a second, then a third, till the whole room is filled with dainties. Brilliant lamps and chandeliers poured a flood of light over the crowned heads of the guests, over the piled sweetmeats, over the shining dishes, and all the baits with which the appetite is caught. Then, on silver pateræ, cakes whiter than snow were served round. To these succeeded eggs, pungent herbs, oysters, and thrushes.[756] Next several dishes of rich eels, brown and crisp, sprinkled thickly with salt, followed by a delicious conger dressed with every rare device of cookery, calculated to delight the palate of the gods. Then came the belly of a large ray, round as a hoop; dishes, containing, one some slices of a sea-dog, another garnished with a sparos, a third with a cuttle-fish, or smoking polypus whose legs were tender as a chicken. While the sight of these dainties was feasting the eyes of the guests, the noses of the experienced informed them of the approach of a synodon,[757] which perfumed the passages all the way from the kitchen, and, flanked with calamaries, covered the whole table. Shrimps too were there in their yellow cuirasses, sweet in flavour as honey, with delicious varieties of puff pastry bordered with fresh green foliage.[758] The teeth of the parasites watered at the sight. But while deeply engaged in the discussion of these good things, in came some smoking slices of broiled thunny, a mullet fresh from the fish-kettle, with the teats of a young sow cooked _en ragoût_.
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Footnote 756:
Probably also the myttotos, a dish flavoured with garlic and rich spices, formed a part of this course. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 173. Vesp. 62.
Footnote 757:
Athen. i. 8. vii. 46. 68. 119. Arist. Hist. Anim. v. 5.
Footnote 758:
Pollux, vi. 77.
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Pleasure of all kinds being supposed to promote digestion, female singers, flute-players and dancers, were meanwhile exercising their several arts for the entertainment of the guests. But as they paid very little attention to them till the rage of hunger was appeased, we shall imitate their example, and proceed with the gourmandize. One of the greatest accomplishments a boon companion could possess, was the power to seize with the fingers, and swallow hissing-hot, slices of grilled fish or morsels of lamb or veal broiled like kabobs, so as to be slightly burnt and cracking externally, while all the juice and flavour of the meat remained within. And the acquirement being highly important, great pains were taken to become masters of it. For this purpose some accustomed themselves daily to play with hot pokers, others case-hardened their fingers by repeatedly dipping them in water as hot as they could bear, and gargled their throats with the same, while one famous gourmand, more inventive than the rest, hit upon the ingenious device of wearing metallic fingerlings with which he could have seized a kabob even from the gridiron. These proficients in the art of eating, an art practised indeed by all, but possessed in perfection by very few, enjoyed great advantages over the ignorant and uninitiated. And accordingly, when invited out, they generally succeeded in bribing the cook to send in all his dishes hot as Phlegethon, that, while the more modest and inexperienced guests sat gazing on, they might secure the best cuts, and come again before the others could venture on a mouthful.
Among the articles served up in this scorching state were calf’s pluck, pig’s harslet, with the chine, the kidneys, and a variety of small hors-d’œuvre. To these may be added the head of a sucking-kid which had tasted nothing but milk, baked between two dishes well luted together; giblets boiled; small, delicate hams with their white sward unbroken; pigs’ snouts and feet swimming in white sauce, which the gourmand Philoxenos thought a rare invention. Roast kid and lamb’s chitterlings, or the same viands boiled, formed a supplement to the dishes above enumerated, and were usually done so exactly to a turn, that even the gods, Bacchos for example, and Hermes, the parasites of Olympos, might have descended expressly to wag their beards over them. But the Levantines have always been enamoured of variety in cookery. Lady Wortley Montague counted fifty dishes served up in succession at the Sultana Hafiten’s table; and this she-barbarian, with all her wealth, could never rival the variety of invention of an ancient Eleian or Sicilian cook, who usually closed the list of his dainties with hare, chickens roasted to the gold-colour celebrated by Aristophanes, partridges, pheasants, wood-pigeons or turtle-doves, which your true gourmand should eat in the Thebaid, immediately after the close of harvest. But the dinner was not yet over. There still remained the dessert to be disposed of, consisting of pure honey from the district of the silver mines, curdled cream, cheese-tarts, and all that profusion of southern fruit of which we have already spoken.[759]
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Footnote 759:
Athen. iv. 28. There was a kind of cheese, apparently much in use, imported from Gythion, in Laconia. Lucian. Diall. Hetair. xiv. 2.
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It is a well-known rule among modern gourmands, that no man should utter a syllable at table till the first course is removed, and precisely the same regulation prevailed among the ancients. Silence, however, was sometimes interrupted by the arrival of some wandering buffoon, who, after long roaming about in search of a dinner, happened, perhaps, to be attracted thither by the wings and feathers ostentatiously scattered before the door. This sort of gentry required no introduction: they had only to knock and announce themselves to ensure a ready welcome; for most men would willingly part with a share of their supper to be made merry over the remainder. The Athenian demos was pre-eminently of this humour. No king, in fact, ever kept up so large an establishment of fools by profession, or, which is much the same thing, of wits,—fellows who grind their understandings into pointed jests to tickle the risible muscles and expand the mouths of sleek junketters, who esteem nothing beyond eating and grinning.
At a feast given by Callias, the famous jester, Philip, a-kin in spirit, I trow, to him of Macedon, presented himself in this way, and, on being admitted,—“Gentlemen,” said he, “you know my profession and its privileges, relying on which I am come uninvited, being a foe to all ceremony, and desiring to spare you the trouble of a formal invitation.”—“Take your place,” replied the host; “your company was much needed, for our friends appear to be plunged up to the chin in gravity, and would be greatly benefited by a hearty laugh.”[760]
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Footnote 760:
Xenoph. Conv. i. 13, 14.
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In fact, the heads of the honest people were filled with very serious meditations, being all in love, and endeavouring to discover how each might excel the other in absurdity. Philip began to fear, therefore, that he had carried his jests to a bad market, and, in reality, made many vain attempts to kindle the spirit of mirth, and call home the imaginations of persons who had evidently suffered them to stray as far as the clouds. Aware that success on this point was indispensable to his subsistence, the jester grew piqued at the indifference of his hearers, and breaking off in the midst of his supper, wrapped up his head in his chlamys, and lay down like one about to die. “What, now!” cried Callias. “Has any sudden panic seized on thee, friend?”—“The worst possible, by Zeus!” replied Philip; “for, since laughter, like justice, has taken its leave of earth, my occupation is gone. Hitherto I have enjoyed some celebrity in this way, living at the public expense, like the guests of the Prytaneion, because my drollery was effective, and could set the table in a roar. But it is all over, I see, with me now, for I might as soon hope to render myself immortal as acquire serious habits.” All this he uttered in a pouting, desponding tone, as if about to shed tears. The company, to humour the joke, undertook to comfort him, and the effect of their mock condolences, and assurances that they would laugh if he continued his supper, was so irresistibly ludicrous, that Autolychos, a youthful friend of Callias, was at length unable to restrain his merriment; upon which the jester took courage, and apostrophising his soul, informed it very gravely, that there would be no necessity for them to part company yet.[761]
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Footnote 761:
Xenoph. Conviv. i. 15. 16.
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The Greeks had, properly speaking, no drawing-rooms, so that, instead of retreating to another part of the house, they had the tables themselves removed immediately after dinner. Libations were then poured out to Zeus Teleios, and having sung a hymn to Phœbos Apollo, the amusements of the evening commenced. Professional singers and musicians were always hired on these occasions. They were female slaves, selected in childhood for their beauty and budding talents, and carefully educated by their owners.[762] When not already engaged, they stood in blooming bevies in the agora, waiting, like the Labourers of Scripture, until some one should hire them, upon which they proceeded, dressed and ornamented with great elegance, to the house of feasting. But, besides these, there were other _artistes_ who contributed to the entertainment of the demos, persons that, like our Indian jugglers, performed wonderful feats by way of interlude between the regular exhibitions of the damsels from the agora.[763]
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Footnote 762:
Cf. Luc. Amor. § 10. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 1058.
Footnote 763:
The Indian jugglers themselves became known to the Greeks in the age of Alexander. Ælian. Var. Hist. viii. 7.
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Xenophon introduces into that living picture of Greek manners called the Banquet, a company of this kind. Finding Philip’s jokes dull things, he brings upon the scene a strolling Syracusan, with a beautiful female flute-player, a dancing girl who could perform surpassing feats of activity, and a handsome boy, who, besides performing on the cithara, was likewise able, on occasion, to sport the toe like his female companions.
But, where philosophers were present, amusements of this kind were not allowed to occupy their whole attention. Every thing that occurred was made a handle for conversation, so that discussions, more or less lively, according to the temperament or ability of the interlocutors, formed the solid ground-work upon which the flowers of gaiety and laughter were spread. It was usual, immediately after supper, to perfume the guests, and great was the variety of unguents, essences, and odorous oils, made use of by the rich and vain upon these occasions; but when Callias proposed conforming to the mode in this particular, Socrates objected, observing, that the odour of honourable toil was perfume enough for a man.[764] Women, indeed, to whom every thing sweet and beautiful naturally belongs, might, he admitted, make use of perfume, and they did so most lavishly as we have already shown, when we entered their dressing-room and assisted at their toilette.
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Footnote 764:
Xen. Conv. ii. 4.
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The Greeks, however, were careful not to convert their pleasure-parties into a mere arena for the exhibition of dialectic power. They from time to time glanced at philosophy, but only by the way, in the moments of transition from one variety of recreation to another. Their conversation was now and then brought to a pause by the rising of dancing girls,[765] robed elegantly, as we behold them still on vases and on bas-reliefs, in drapery adapted to display all the beauty of their forms. Hoops were brought them, and while musicians of their own sex called forth thrilling harmonies from the flute, they executed a variety of graceful movements, in part pantomimic,—now casting up the hoops, now catching them as they fell, keeping time exactly with the cadences of the flute. Their skill in this accomplishment was so great, that many were enabled to keep up twelve hoops in the air at the same time, while others made use of poniards.[766]
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Footnote 765:
Lucian. Amor. § 10.
Footnote 766:
Artemid. Oneirocrit. i. 68. Xen. Conviv. ii. 8.
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When the novelty of this exhibition was worn off a little, other different feats followed. A hoop stuck all round with upright swords was placed in the midst of the apartment, into which one of the dancing girls threw herself head foremost, and while standing on her head balanced the lower part of her body round over the naked points, to the infinite terror of the spectators. She would then dart forth between the swords, and, with a single bound, regain her footing without the circle.[767] To add to the entertainment of the company, some parasitical buffoon would at times undertake to exhibit his awkwardness as a foil to the grace of the dancers, frisking about with the clumsy heaviness of a bear, and exaggerating his own ignorance of orchestics to excite a laugh. Sometimes the female dancer, like our own fair tumblers, would throw back her head till it reached her heels, and then putting herself in motion, roll about the room like a hoop.[768] To these, as a relief and a change, would succeed, perhaps, a youth with fine rich voice, who accompanied himself on the lyre with a song.
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Footnote 767:
Poll. iii. 134.
Footnote 768:
Xen. Conviv. ii. 22.
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But nothing could entirely restrain the Greeks from indulging in the pleasure of listening to their own voices. The buzz of conversation would soon be heard in different parts of the room, which, when Socrates was present, sometimes provoked from him a sarcastic reproof. For example, at Callias’s dinner, observing the company broken up into knots, each labouring at some particular question in dialectics, and filling the apartment with a babel of confused murmurs; “As we talk all at once,” said he, “we may as well sing all at once;” and without further ceremony he pitched his voice and began a song.[769]
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Footnote 769:
Xen. Conviv. vii. 1.
But when professed jugglers happened to be present, gentlemen were not long abandoned to their own resources for amusement. Trick followed trick in rapid succession. To the pantomimic dances, and the sword circle, succeeded the exhibition of the potter’s wheel, in which a young girl seated on this machine, like a little Nubian at a cow’s-tail in a _sakia_, was whirled round with great velocity,[770] but retained so much self-possession as to be able both to write and to read. These, however, were merely sources of momentary wonder. Other amusements succeeded capable of exciting superior delight, such for example, as the mimetic dance, which, like that of the ghawazi, could tell a whole story of love, of adventure, of war, of religious frenzy and enthusiasm, transporting by vivid representations the fancy of the spectators to warmer or wilder scenes, calling up images and reminiscences of times long past, or steeping the thoughts in poetical dreams, filled with the caverned nymphs, the merry Seileni, the frisking satyrs, Bacchos, Pan, the Hours, the Graces, sporting by moonlit fountains, through antique woods, or on the shelled and sand-ribbed margin of the ocean.[771]
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Footnote 770:
Xen. Conviv. vii. 3.
Footnote 771:
Plat. de Legg. vii. t. viii. p. 55. Bekk. Xen. Conv. vii. 5.
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On some occasions a slight dramatic scene was represented. Clearing the centre of the banqueting hall, the guests ranged themselves in order as at the theatre. A throne was then set up in the open space, and a female actor, representing Ariadne, entering, took her seat upon it, decked and habited like a bride, and supposed to be in her Thalamos at Naxos. Dionysos, who has been dining with Zeus, comes flushed with Olympian nectar into the harem to the sound of the Bacchic flute, while the nymph who has heard his approaching footsteps makes it manifest by her behaviour that her soul is filled with joy, though she neither advances nor rises to meet him, but restrains her feelings with difficulty, and remains apparently tranquil. The god, drawing near with impassioned looks, and dancing all the while, now seats himself, and places the fair one on his knee. Then, in imitation of mortal lovers, he embraces and kisses her, nothing loth; for, though she hangs down her head, and would wish to appear out of countenance, her arms find their way round his neck and return his embrace. At this the company, we may be sure, clapped and shouted. The god, encouraged by their plaudits, then stood up with his bride, and going through the whole pantomime of courtship, not coldly and insipidly, but as one whose heart was touched, at length demanded of Ariadne if in truth she loved him. Sometimes the mimic scene concealed beneath it all the reality of passion. From personating enamoured characters, the youthful actor and his partner learned in reality to love; and what was amusement to others contained a deep and serious meaning for them. This, Xenophon says, was the case with the youth and maiden who enlivened the banquet of Callias. Absorbed in the earnestness of their feelings, they seem to have forgotten the presence of spectators, and instead of a stage representation, gave them a scene from real life, where every impassioned look and gesture were genuine, and every fiery glance was kindled at the heart.[772]
This, however, may be considered a serious amusement, and something like broad farce was necessary to awaken the guests from the reverie into which the love scene had plunged them. Jesters were, therefore, put in requisition; and, as even they sometimes failed to raise a laugh, their more humorous brethren the wits and jesters of the forests, or, in the language of mortals, monkeys were called upon to dissipate the clouds of seriousness. These were the favourite buffoons of the Scythian Anacharsis,—not the Abbé Barthélemy’s,—who said, he could laugh at a monkey’s tricks, because his tricks were natural, but that he found no amusement in a man who made a trade of it.[773] Nor could Euripides at all relish punsters and manufacturers of jokes, whom he considered, with some reason, as a species of animal distinct from mankind.
Many there be who exercise their wits In giving birth, by cutting jests, to laughter. I hate the knaves whose rude unbridled tongues Sport with the wise; and cannot for my life Think they are men, though laughter doth become them, And they have houses filled with treasured stores From distant lands.[774]
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Footnote 772:
Xen. Conviv. ix. 1–7.
Footnote 773:
Athen. xiv. 2.
Footnote 774:
Eurip. Fragm. Melanipp. 20.
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But if Euripides found nothing desirable in laughter, there were those who had a clean contrary creed, and lamented nothing so much as the loss of their risible faculties. On this subject Semos has a story quite _à propos_. Parmeniscos, the Metapontine, having descended, he says, into the cave of Trophonios, became so extremely grave, that with all the appliances, and means to boot, furnished by wealth, and they were not a few, he thereafter found himself quite unable to screw up his muscles into a smile; which taking much to heart, as was natural, he made a pilgrimage to Delphi, to inquire by what means he might rid himself of the blue devils. Somewhat puzzled at the strangeness of the inquiry, the Pythoness replied,—
Poor mortal unmerry, who seekest to know What will bid thy brow soften, thy quips and cranks flow, To the house of the mother I bid thee repair— Thou wilt find, if she’s pleased, what thy heart covets, there.
Upon this, Parmeniscos hastened homeward, hoping soon to enjoy a good laugh as the reward of his industry; but, finding his features remain fixed as cast-iron, he began to suspect the oracle had deceived him. Some time after, being at Delos, he beheld with admiration the several wonders of the island, and, lastly, proceeded to the temple of Leto, expecting to find in the mother of Apollo something worthy of so great a divinity. But, on entering and perceiving, instead, a grotesque and smoky old figure in wood, he burst into an immoderate fit of laughter, whereupon the response of the oracle recurred to his mind, and he understood it; and, being thus delivered from his infirmity, he ever after held the goddess in extremest reverence.[775]
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Footnote 775:
Athen. xiv. 2.
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Even from this story, therefore, it will be seen how highly “broad grins” were estimated in antiquity, particularly at Athens, where there was a regular “Wits’ Club,” consisting of threescore members, who assembled during the Diomeia,[776] in the temple of Heracles. The names of several of these jovial mortals have come down to us; Mandrogenes, for example, and Strato, Callimedon, who, for some particular quality of mind or body, obtained the _sobriquet_ of the _Lobster_, Deinias, Mnasigeiton, and Menæchmos. The reputation of these gentlemen spread rapidly through the city, and, when a good thing had a run among the small wits, it was remarked, that “the Sixty had said _that_.” Or, if a man of talent were asked, whence he came, he would answer, “From the Sixty.” This was in the time of Demosthenes, when, unhappily, jesters were in more request in Athens than soldiers; and Philip of Macedon, himself no mean buffoon, learning the excellent quality of their _bon mots_, sent them a present of a talent of gold, with a request that, as public business prevented his joining the sittings of the club, they would make for his use a collection in writing of all their smart sayings, which was, probably, the first step towards those repositories for stray wit, called “Joe Millers,” that form so indispensable a portion of a bon vivant’s library.[777]
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Footnote 776:
Eustath. ad Iliad. δ. p. 337. 53. Etym. Mag. 277. 24. Meurs. Græc. Feriat. ii. 96.
Footnote 777:
Athen. xiv. 3.
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But we are all this while detaining the company from their wine, and those other recreations which the fertile genius of the Greeks invented to make the wheels of life move smoothly. Though the tables, according to the fashion of the times, were removed with the solid viands, others were brought in to replace them, on which the censers, the goblets, the silver or golden ladles for filling the smaller cups, were arranged in order.[778] The chairman, or, as he was then called, the king of the feast,[779] enjoyed absolute power over his subjects, and could determine better than their own palates, how much and how often each man should drink. This important functionary was not always identical with the entertainer, but sometimes his substitute, sometimes a person chosen by lot.[780] Capacious bowls of wine,[781] mingled with water, were placed on a sideboard, whence cup-bearers, sometimes of one, sometimes of the other sex, but always selected for their youth and beauty, filled, with ladles,[782] the goblets of the guests, which, when the froth rose above the brim, were, by an obvious metaphor, said to be crowned.[783] Among the Doric Greeks, female cup-bearers seem to have been always preferred; the Ptolemies of Egypt cherished the same taste; and the people of Tarentum, themselves of Doric race, passing successively through every stage of luxury, came, at length, to be served at table by beautiful young women without a vestige of clothing. In most cases, these maidens were slaves, but, in some countries, and everywhere, in remoter ages, the performance of such offices was not regarded as any way derogatory to persons of noble or princely blood. But, whatever might be their birth, beauty of form and countenance constituted their chief recommendation. For there is a language in looks and gestures, there is a fountain of joy and delight concealed deep in the physical structure, and its waters laugh to the eye of intellect, and reflect into the hearts of those who behold it a sunniness and exhilaration greater than we derive from gazing on the summer sea. Hence, Hebe and Ganymede were chosen to minister at the tables of the gods, even Zeus himself[784] not disdaining to taste of the pleasures to be derived from basking in the irradiations of beauty.
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Footnote 778:
Among the Etruscans these ladles were of bronze, and of extremely elegant form, the point ending in a swan’s or duck’s head.
Footnote 779:
The proceedings of this person were governed by a code of laws, the making and reformation of which employed the wits of no less personages than Xenophanes, Spensippos, and Aristotle. Athen. i. 5.
Footnote 780:
Horat. Od. ii. 7. 25.
Footnote 781:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1183. Vesp. 1005.
Footnote 782:
Eustath. ad Iliad, γ. p. 333. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 855.—A specimen of these ladles (ἀρύταιναι) occurs in Mus. Chiaramont. pl. 2.
Footnote 783:
Virgil actually wreaths the bowls with garlands.—Æneid. iii. 525.—Homer, however, crowns his bowls only with wine.-Il. ε. 471.
Footnote 784:
Homer. Iliad. δ. 2. γ. 232. β. 813. Odyss. ο. 327. Juven. Sat. v. 60. Cf. Philo. Jud. de Vit. Contempl. t. ii. p. 479. Mangey.
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When the goblets were all crowned with the nectar of earth, the Master of the Feast[785] set the example of good-fellowship by drinking to his guests, beginning with the most distinguished.[786] Originally, custom required him who drank to the health of another to drain off his cup while his comrade did the same; but, in after ages, they sipped only a portion of the wine, and, as they still do in the East, presented the remainder to their friend. The latter, by the rules of politeness, was bound to finish the goblet, or, where the antique fashion prevailed, to drink one of equal size.[787] The Macedonians, who, probably, excelled the Greeks in drinking, if in nothing else, disdained small cups as supplying a very roundabout way to intoxication, and plunged into Lethe at once by the aid of most capacious bowls. It was customary, when the practice of passing round the goblet had been introduced, for the king of the feast to drink to the next man on his right hand, who, in his turn, drank to the next, and so on till the bowl had circulated round the board. But different customs prevailed in the different parts of Greece. At Athens, small cups, like our wine-glasses, were in use; among the Chians, Thracians, and Thessalians, nations more prone to sensual indulgences, the goblets were of larger dimensions; but, at Sparta, where sobriety and frugality long flourished, the practice was to drink from diminutive vessels, which, as often as required, were replenished by the attendants.[788]
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Footnote 785:
There were certain barbarians, who, to cement their friendships, drank wine tinged with each other’s blood.—Athen. xv. 47.
Footnote 786:
Plut. Symp. i. 2. 2. The first cup was drunk to the Agathodemon.—Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 85. Athen. xv. 47.
Footnote 787:
Athen. v. 20.
Footnote 788:
Athen. x. 39. Plut. Cleom. § 13.
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Isocrates, in his exhortation to Demonicos, marks the distinction between the true and false friend, by observing, that, while the latter thinks only of those around him, the former remembers the absent, and makes his affection triumph over time and distance. And the Greeks generally had this merit. Amid the enjoyments of the festive board, they recalled to mind the friends of other days; and, having first performed libations to the gods, those best and purest of friends, drank to the health and prosperity of former associates, now far removed by circumstances,[789] and this they did not in the mixed beverage which formed their habitual potations, but in pure wine.[790] There was something extremely delicate in this idea, for tacitly it intimated, that their love placed the objects of it almost on a level with their divinities, in whose honour, also, on these occasions, a small portion of the wine was spilt in libations[791] upon the earth. The young, in whose hearts a mistress held the first place,[792] drank deeply in honour of their beloved, sometimes equalling the number of cups to that of the letters forming her name,[793] which, if the custom prevailed so early, would account for Ægisthos’s being a sot. Sometimes, however, taking the hint from the number of the Graces, they were satisfied with three goblets; but, when an excuse for drinking “pottle deep” was sought, they chose the Muses for their patrons, and honoured their mistresses’ names with three times three.[794] This is the number of cheers with which favourite political toasts are received at our public dinners, though every one who fills his bumper, and cries “hip, hip, hip, hurrah!” on these occasions, is, probably, not conscious that he is keeping up an old pagan custom in honour of the Muses.
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Footnote 789:
Theoc. Eidyll. vii. 69.
Footnote 790:
Cicero in Verr. Act. ii. Orat. i. § 26, and Ascon. Pedan. in loc.
Footnote 791:
Antiphon. Acc. Nec. Ven. § 3.—The third libation was in honour of Zeus.—Scol. Pind. Isth. vi. 22.
Footnote 792:
Theocrit. Eidyll. xiv. 18, et Schol.
Footnote 793:
Mart. Epig. i. 78.
Footnote 794:
Horat. Od. iii. 19. 11, sqq. Lambinus in loc. p. 143.
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The number four was in no favour at the drinking-table, not because it was an even number, for they sometimes drank ten, but because some old superstition had brought discredit on it. Our very fox-hunters, however, exhibit an inferior capacity to many of the ancients in affairs of the bottle, though when it is the poets who perform the feat, we may safely consider them to be simply regaling their fancies on “air-drawn” goblets, which cost nothing, and leave no head-aches behind them. On this subject there is a very pretty song in the Anthology, which Potter, following some old edition, completely misrepresents.[795] It deserves to be well translated, and I would translate it well if I could. The following at least preserves the meaning:
Pour out ten cups of the purple wine, To crown Lycidicè’s charms divine; One for Euphrantè, young and fair, With the sparkling eye and the raven hair. Then I love Lycidicè more, you say? By this foaming goblet I say ye nay. More valued than ten is Euphrantè to me, For, as when the heavens unclouded be, And the stars are crowding far and nigh On the deep deep blue of the midnight sky, The moon is still brighter and lovelier far Than the loveliest planet or brightest star; So, ’mid the stars of this earthly sphere, None are so lovely or half so dear As to me is Euphrantè young and fair, With the sparkling eye and the raven hair.[796]
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Footnote 795:
Antiq. ii. 394, seq.
Footnote 796:
Marc. Argent. ap. Anthol. Græc. v. 110.
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But the Macedonians entertained no respect for poetical goblets: they loved to scent their moustachios with the aroma of the real rosy wine when it sparkled in the cup,—when it moved itself aright, as the wise king of Judah expresses it. Plutarch describes briefly one of their drinking-bouts which took place on the evening of the day wherein old Kalanos, the Hindù Yoghi, burnt himself alive to escape the colic. Alexander, on returning from the funeral pile, invited a number of his friends and generals to sup with him, and, proposing a drinking contest, appointed a crown for the victor. Prodigious efforts were made by all present to achieve so enviable a triumph; but the man who proved himself to possess the most capacious interior was Promachos, who is said to have swallowed upwards of two gallons. He obtained the prize, which was a golden crown, valued at a talent, but died within three days.[797] Chares, the Mitylenian, relates the matter somewhat differently. According to him, Alexander celebrated funeral games in honour of Kalanos, at his barrow, where horseraces and gymnastic contests took place,[798] and a poetical encomium was pronounced upon the Yoghi, who, like the rest of his countrymen, was, doubtless, a great toper, and thence the drinking-match instituted in the evening. Chares says there were three prizes; the first, in value, a talent; the second, thirty minæ, or about a hundred and twenty pounds sterling; the third, three minæ. The number of aspirants is not stated, but thirty-five (Plutarch says forty-one) perished in cold shiverings on the spot, and six more died shortly after in the tents.[799]
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Footnote 797:
Plut. Alexand. Magn. §§ 69, 70.
Footnote 798:
Ælian. Var. Hist. ii. 41. Periz.
Footnote 799:
Athen. x. 49.
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Numbers have celebrated the military genius of Alexander; but Athenæus alone has given him due credit for his truly royal power of drinking. Like his father, Philip, who, in his jolly humour, ruffled the Athenian dead at Chæronea, where he could safely beard the fallen republicans, Alexander delighted to spend his evenings among drunken roysterers, whose chief ambition consisted in making a butt of their bowels. One of these worthies was Proteas, the Macedonian mentioned by Ephippos, in his work on the sepulture of Alexander and Hephæstion. He was a man of iron constitution, on which wine, whatever quantity he drank, appeared to make no impression. Alexander, knowing this, loved to pledge him in huge bowls, such as none, perhaps, but themselves could cope with. This he did even at Babylon, where the climate suffers few excesses to be indulged in with impunity. Taking a goblet more like a pail than a drinking-cup, Alexander caused it to be crowned with wine, which, having tasted, he presented the bowl to Proteas. The veteran immediately drained it off, to the great amusement of the company, and presently afterwards, desiring to pledge the king, he filled it up again, and sipping a little, according to custom, passed the bowl to Alexander, who, not to be outdone by a subject, forthwith drank the whole. But if he possessed the courage, he wanted the physical strength of Proteas: the goblet dropped from his hand, his head sank on a pillow, and a fever ensued of which the conqueror of Persia, and the rival of Proteas in drinking, died in a few days.[800]
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Footnote 800:
Athen. x. 44.
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But to return from these barbarians: as the presence of sober persons must always be felt by hard drinkers to be a tacit reproach, it was one of the rules of good fellowship, that all such as joined not in the common potations should depart. “Drink, or begone!” said the law, and a good one in Cicero’s opinion it was, for if men experienced no disposition to join in the mirth and enjoyment of the company, what had they to do there?[801]
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Footnote 801:
Tuscul. Quæst. ii. 41.
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From the existence of these rules, however, an inference has been drawn unfavourable to the Greek character, as if, because some were merry, the nation generally must of necessity have been wine-bibbers.[802] But this is scarcely more logical than the reasoning of a writer, who, because the comic poets speak chiefly of the mirth and lighter enjoyments of the Athenians, very gravely concludes that they busied themselves about little else. The truth is, that like all ardent and energetic people, they threw their whole souls into the affair, whether serious or otherwise, in which they happened to be engaged; and besides, while the careful and industrious applied themselves to business, there was always an abundance of light and trifling people to whom eating and drinking constituted a serious occupation.
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Footnote 802:
Potter, ii. 396.
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