in the time of Xenodemus and Pindar. This variety 
of dance is an imitation of acts which can be inter-
preted by words. Xenophon, with customary 
elegance, describes it in the Anabasis a as occurring 
at the symposium held in the house of the Thracian 
Seuthes b He says : " When they had poured liba-
tions and sang the paean, the Thracians rose up to 
begin the programme, and danced in armour to a 
flute accompaniment. They leaped high and lightly, 
and brandished their knives. At the climax one 
struck the other ; and all the audience thought he 
had received a deadly blow. Down he fell with 
artful grace, and all the Paphlagonians at the dinner 
shouted aloud. Then the first dancer despoiled the 
other of his arms and made his exit with the Sitalcas 
song, while other Thracians carried off the victim as 
though he were dead. But he wasn't hurt at all. 
Following him the Aenianians and Magnesians arose 
and danced in armour the karpaia,° as it is called. 
The nature of the dance was this : One performer 
lays aside his arms and begins to sow and plow, often 
turning round as if in fear ; a robber approaches, and 
when the first dancer sees him he snatches up his 
arms and fights in front of his oxen, keeping time 
with the flute music ; finally the robber binds the 
man and drives off the team ; but sometimes also the 
ploughman overcomes the robber, ties his hands behind 
his back, and drives him alongside the oxen." Another 
performer described by Xenophon danced " The 
Persian," clashing his wicker shields and alternately 
squatting and standing up. All this he did in 
rhythm, with flute accompaniment. He then de-
scribes the Arcadians, who rose up in full armour and
marched in step to the warlike a measures of the flute, 
neatly adapting themselves to the rhythm while they 
danced.
The Homeric heroes used both flutes 8 and Pan's 
pipes. Agamemnon, for example, " hears the sound 
of flutes and pipes." c Homer has not introduced 
them at symposia, but in the Forging of the Arms d 
he mentions the flutes at the celebration of a wedding, 
and flutes he ascribes to barbarians ; it was among 
Trojans, at least, that " the sound of flutes and 
pipes " arose.
They poured libations at the conclusion of dinner 
and offered them to Hermes,e not, as in later times, 
to Zeus the Fulfiller. For Hermes is regarded as 
the patron of sleep. So they pour the libation to 
him also when the tongues of the animais are eut 
out f on leaving a dinner. Tongues are sacred to 
him because he is the god of eloquence.g
Homer also knows of a variety of meats, for he 
speaks of " viands of every sort " h and " dainties 
such as Zeus-cherished princes eat." i He is ac-
quainted likewise with ail the sumptuousness of our 
modern world. Of human dwellings, to be sure, the 
most splendid was the palace of Menelaus, which he 
conceives of as having virtually the same splendid 
equipment as Polybius x ascribes to the house of a 
certain Iberian prince, of whoin he says that he had 
emulated the luxury of the Phaeacians, except for 
the gold and silver bowls, filled with barley vine, 
which stood within the bouse. But in describing
Calypso's house, Homer causes Hermes to stand in 
wonder at it.a
A joyous life is that which he ascribes to the 
Phaeacians, " for dear to us ever is the banquet and 
the lyre," etc.b ... " These verses," ° says Erato-
sthenes, " are written thus : ` As for me, I assert that 
there is no more perfect delight than when merri-
mentd reigns and baseness is absent, and feasters in 
the halls listen to the bard '—meaning by ` baseness 
is absent ' ' senseless folly.' For the Phaeacians 
could not but be men of good sense, since, as 
Nausical says,e the gods loved them."
The suitors in Homer amused themselves by play-
ing " draughts before the doors." t' They could not 
have learned the game from the celebrated Diodorus 
or Theodorus, or the Mitylenaean Leon, whose 
ancestry was Athenian, and who, according to 
Phaenias,9 was never beaten at draughts. Apion of 
Alexandria says that he actually heard Cteson of 
Ithaca tell what sort of game the suitors played. 
" The suitors," he says, " numbered one hundred and 
eight, and divided the counters between opposing 
sides, each side equal in number according to the 
number of players themselves, so that there were 
fifty-four on a side. A small space was left between 
them, and in this middle space they set one counter 
which they called Penelope ; this they made the 
mark to be thrown at with another counter. They 
then drew lots, and the one who drew the first took
aim. If a player succeeded in pushing Penelope for-
ward, he moved his piece to the position occupied by 
her before being hit and thrust out, then again setting 
up Penelope he would try to hit her with his own 
piece from the second position which he occupied.a 
If he hit her without touching any other player's 
piece, he won the game and had high hopes of marry-
ing her. Eurymachus had won the greatest number 
of victories in this game, and looked forward to his 
marriage with confidence." In this way, because of 
their easy life, the suitors' arms were so flabby that 
they could not even begin to stretch the bow.b Even 
the servants who ministered to them were given over 
to luxury.
Very potent, in Homer, is the scent of unguents. 
" If it were but shaken in the bronze-floored mansion 
of Zeus, yet its fragrance went out to earth and 
heaven."a
Homer also knows of couches highly adorned, such 
as Arete bids spread for Odysseus ; d and Nestor 
boasts to Telemachus that he is rich in them.e
Now among other poets it has sometimes been the 
practice to trace the extravagance and esse of their 
own times back to the time of the Trojan war. 
Aeschylus, for example, represents the Greeks as so 
indecently drunk that they break the chamber-pots 
on one another's heads. At any rate, he says :
" Here is that knave who poured over me that mirth-
provoking missile, the unsavoury pot, and missed 
not ; and on my head it struck and was wrecked and
dashed to pieces, breathing upon me something 
different from the breath of fragrant oil-jars." 
Sophocles, also, in The Achaeans' Dinner-Guest,a 
says : " But in a burst of anger he threw the un-
savoury pot, and missed not ; and on my head the 
vessel was smashed, breathing not of balsam, and the 
unlovely smell smote me with fright." Eupolis 
rebukes the one who first introduced the word " pot " 
in these terms : b " ALCIBIADES : I loathe their 
Spartan simplicity, and l'd like to buy a frying-pan e 
—B. Many the women, I fancy, who have fallen a 
prey in our time to their 1ust.—ALC.... And he 
who invented tippling in the early morning.d—B. 
Ay, there you have hit on the cause of much lechery 
among US.—ALC. Well, thon, who first said ` slave, a 
chamber-pot ! ' in the midst of his drinking ? e—B. 
Yes, that is a Wise and Palamedicf conceit of yours."
But in Homer the nobles dine decently in Aga-
memnon's tent, and though, in the Odyssey, Achilles 
and Odysseus quarrel g and Agamemnon " was 
secretly glad thereat," still their disputes were useful 
when they were debating whether Ilium was to be 
taken by stratagem or battle. But even when Homer 
introduces the suitors as drunk, he does not portray 
such indecent conduct as Sophocles and Aeschylus 
have done, but merely mentions the hurling of an 
ox's foot at Odysseus .h
In their gatherings at dinner the heroes sit instead 
of reclining, and this sometimes happened at King 
Alexander's court, according to Duris.a Once, at 
any rate, when he entertained nearly six thousand 
officers, he seated them on silver stools as well as on 
couches, spreading purple robes on the seats. Hege-
sander, too, says b that in Macedonia it was not 
customary for anyone to recline at dinner unless he 
had speared a wild boar without using a hunting-net. 
Until then they must eat Sitting. Cassander, there-
fore, at the age of thirty-five continued to sit at meals 
with his father, being unable to accomplish the feat, 
though he was brave and a good hunter.°
And so, with an eye to the seemly, Homer intro-
duced his heroes feasting on nothing else but meat. 
Moreover, they prepared it for themselves. For it 
means no ridicule or shame to see them getting a 
meal and cooking. In fast, they practised self-
service from set purpose, and took pride, as Chrysippus 
says, in the dexterity they possessed in these matters. 
Odysseus, anyway, asserts that he is skilled as few 
are " in carving meat and piling up a fire." d 
And in the scene of the Entreaty Patroclus and 
Achilles prepare everything.e When Menelaus, also, 
celebrates his children's nuptials,t' the bridegroom 
Megapenthes pours the wine. But to-day we have 
so far degenerated as to recline when we feast.
Only recently, too, have public baths been intro-
duced, for in the beginning they would not even 
allow them within the city limits. Their evil effect 
is set forth by Antiphanes g : " To hell with the bath ! 
what a condition it has put me in ! It has actually 
turned me into boiled meat. Anybody, I care not
who, might take hold of my skin and scrape it off. 
Such a cruel thing is hot water." And Hermippus a : 
" So help me Zeus, a good man ought not to get 
drunk or bathe in hot water as you are doing." 
There has also been an increase in the refinements not 
only of cooks but also of perfumers, so that a body 
could not be satisfied "even with diving into a tank 
full of ointment," as Alexis puts it .b All too flourish-
ing, also, are the arts pertaining to the making of 
sweetmeats and the nice luxuries of sexual commerce, 
resulting even in the invention of sponge supposi-
tories in the belief that they conduce to more fre-
quent intercourse. Theophrastus sayse that there 
are certain stimulants so powerful that they can 
effect as many as seventy connexions, blood being 
finally excreted. And Phylarchus says d that among 
the presents which the Indian king Sandrocottus 
sent to Seleucus there moere aphrodisiacs so potent 
that when placed under the feet of loyers they caused, 
in some, ejaculations like those of fowls, but in others 
they inhibited them altogether. Even the perver-
sion of music has inereased to-day, and extravagances 
in ciothes and foot-wear have reached a climax.
But Homer, though he is aware of the existence of 
unguents, never represented his heroes as anointed 
with them, except when he describes Paris as 
" glistening in beauty," e precisely as Aphrodite 
" cleanses the face with beauty." f Further, he does 
not represent them as wearing chaplets either, and 
yet by the figurative use of the word in a metaphor 
he indicates that he knew the chaplet. For he says : 9
" the island round which the endless sea stretched like 
a crown." And again : a " all about thee the crown 
(i.e. cirele) of war is ablaze." It is also to be observed 
that whereas in the Odyssey he represents men as 
washing their hands before eating, in the Iliad one 
cannot find them doing that. This is because life 
in the Odyssey is leisurely, such as men lead who 
enjoy the luxuries of peace ; therefore in this poem 
they took care of their bodies by baths and ablutions. 
For the same reason, in such a society they throw
jackstones, dance, and play bail. Herodotus is 
wrong in sayingb that games were invented in the 
reign of Atys when there was a famine ; for the heroic 
age antedated his time. But they who lived under 
the social conditions of the Iliad all but shout, with 
Pindar,c " Hearken, thou Cry of Battle, Daughter of 
War, prelude to the spears."
Aristonicus of Carystus, Alexander's ball-player, 
was made a citizen by the Athenians because of his 
skill, and a statue was erected to him. For in later 
times the Greeks came to esteem vulgar skill of hand 
very highly, more than the ideas of the cultivated 
intellect. The people of Hestiaea, at any rate, and 
of Oreus, raised a bronze statue in the theatre of the 
juggler Theodorus, holding a pebble in his hand. 
Similarly the Milesians erected one of Archelaüs the 
lyre-player, and aithough there is no statue of Pindar 
at Thebes, there is one of the singer Cleon, on which 
is the inscription : " Behold here the son of Pytheas, 
Cleon, bard of Thebes, who hath placed upon his 
brow more laurels than any other mortal, and his
fame hath reached the skies. Farewell, Cleon ; 
thou hast glorified thy native Iand of Thebes." 
According to Polemon,a when Alexander razed 
Thebes b to the ground, a refugee placed some money 
in the hollow cloak of this statue, and when the city 
was rebuilt he returned and found the money thirty 
years after. Herodotus, the reeiter of mimes, as 
Hegesander tells us,c and Arehelafis the (lancer, 
moere held in greater esteem than any others at the 
court of King Antiochus, while his father Antiochus 
before him had made the sons of Sostratus the flute-
player rnembers of his body-guard.
Among Romans as well as Greeks the vagabond 
juggler Matreas of Alexandria was held in esteem. 
He used to say that he kept a beast which devoured 
itself ; wherefore even to this day it is debated what 
that beast of Matreas was. He also composed 
Probiems in parody of Aristotle's, and read them in 
public : "Why does the sun go clown but not dive ?
" Why can sponges drink together but not tipple ?
" Why can four-drachma pieces be converted,d though 
they never get angry ? " The Athenians yielded to 
Potheinus the marionette-player the very stage on 
which Euripides and his contemporaries performed 
their inspired plays. They even set up a statue of 
Eurycleides e in the theatre along with those of 
Aesciiylus and his rivais. And Xenophon the 
juggler was also held in admiration. He left behind 
him a pupil, Cratisthenes of Phlius, who could make 
fire burn spontaneously and invented many other 
magical tricks to confound men's understanding. 
Like him also was the juggler Nymphodorus, who,
taking offence at the people of Rhegium, as 
Duris tells us,a was the first to ridicule them for their 
cowardice. And Eudicus the clown enjoyed a great 
reputation for his imitation of wrestlers and boxers, 
according to Aristoxenus b The same authority says 
that Straton of Tarentum was admired for his imita-
tion of dithyrambs, and the Italian Greek Oenonas 
for his parodies of songs to the harp. He it was who 
introduced Cyclops whistling and the stranded 
Odysseus takking bad Greek. And Diopeithes the 
Locrian, according to Phanodemus,e appearing once 
in Thebes, tied some bladders full of vine and milk 
under his belt and then squeezed them, pretending 
that he drew the liquids from his mouth. For similar 
feats the impersonator Noemon was also famous. 
There were celebrated jugglers also at Alexander's 
court—Scymnus of Tarentum, Philistides of Syra-
cuse, and Heracleitus of Mitylene. There have 
been, too, famous clowns such as Cephisodorus and 
Pantaleon,a and Xenophon e mentions the j ester 
Philip.
Boundaries.—Athenaeus speaks of Rome as " the 
populace of the world," and says that one would not 
shoot wide of the mark if he called the city of Rome an 
epitome f of the civilized world ; so true is it that one 
may see at a glance all the cities of the world settled 
there. Most of them he details with their individual 
traits, such as the " golden " city of Alexandria, the 
" beautiful " city of Antioch, the " very lovely " city 
of Nicomedia, and beyond and above these, " the 
most radiant of all the towns that Zeus created," g
meaning Athens. More than one day would fail 
me if I tried to enumerate all the cities he counts 
within the heavenly city of Rome—nay, all the days 
numbered in the year would not be enough, so many 
are the cities there. Even entire nations are settled 
there en masse, like the Cappadocians, the Scythians, 
the Pontians, and more besides. All these, then, 
the entire populace of the world, he tells us, united 
in naming the philosopher-dancer a of our time 
" Memphis," quaintly comparing his bodily motions 
with the oldest and most royal of cities. Concerning 
it Bacchylides says,b " Memphis, untouched by 
storms, and reedy Nile." This " Memphis " ex-
plains the nature of the Pythagorean system, ex-
pounding in silent mimicry all its doctrines to us 
more clearly than they who profess to teach eloquence.
Now the first to introduce this "tragic dancing," 
as it was called, in the style of Memphis, was Bathyl-
lus of Alexandria, who, as Seleucus says, danced in 
pantomime. Aristonicus says that this Bathyllus, 
together with Pylades, who wrote a treatise on danc-
ing, developed the Italian style of dance out of the 
confie fling called the cordai, the tragic measures 
called emmeleia, and the satyr rout called sicinnis 
(whence the satyrs are also called sicinnistae), the 
inventor of which was a barbarian named Sicinnus.
But others say Sicinnus was a Cretan. Now Pylades' 
dancing was solemn, expressing passion and variety 
of character, whereas Bathyllus s was more jolly ; 
in fact he composed a kind of hpporcheme.a Sophocles, 
besides being handsome in his youth, became pro-
ficient in dancing and music, while still a lad, under 
the instruction of Lamprus. After the battle of 
Salamis, at any rate, he danced to the accompani-
ment of his lyre round the trophy, naked and anointed 
with oil. Others say he danced with his cloak on. 
And when he brought out the Thomyris he played the 
lyre himself. He also played ball with great skill 
when he produced the Nausicaü. Even the wise 
Socrates was fond of the " Memphis " dance, and 
was often surprised in the act of dancing it, according 
to Xenophon.b He used to say to his acquaintances 
that dancing was exercise for every limb. For people 
used to employ the word " dancing " for any physical 
motion or excitation. Thus Anacreon : " The fair-
haired daughters of Zeus danced with light step." 
And Ion d : " So unexpected were these things that 
his heart danced the more."
Hermippus says that Theophrastus used to appear 
at the School e at the regular hour glistening with oil 
and exquisitely dressed, and after seating himself 
he gave free play to every motion and gesture in 
delivering his discourse. On one occasion, while 
portraying an epicure, he thrust forth his tongue and 
licked his lips.
Men of the old time were careful to gather up their 
garments decently, and ridiculed those who were
negligent about this. Thus Plato in the Theaetefus a 
speaks of men " who could render any service 
promptly and smartly, but did not know how to throw 
their cloaks over their shoulders from left to right, 
as gentlemen should ; b nor had they ever grasped 
the fitting harmony of words so that they eould 
rightly sing of the lives of gods and happy men." 
Sappho derides Andromeda thus e : " What peasant 
woman beguiles thy wit—one who knows not how to 
draw her tattered garments over her ankles ? " 
Philetaerus : " Cover your shins ! Let your cloak 
clown, poor fool, and don't gather it round you above 
the knee like a boor ! " Hermippus says e that 
Theocritus the Chian criticized Anaximenes' method 
of dressing as ungentlemanly. And Callistratus, 
also, disciple of Aristophanes, has abused Aristarchus 
in a book for his failure to dress himself neatly, since 
even a detail like this supplies the test of a man's 
culture. Wherefore Alexis, also, says f : " This is 
one trait which I regard as worthy of no gentleman 
—to walk in the streets with careless gait when one 
may do it gracefully. For this nobody exacts any 
toll from us, and one need not bestow any honour in 
order to receive it again from others. Ra-tirer, to 
them who walk with dignity cornes full meed of 
honour, while they who see it have pleasure, and life 
has its grace. What man who pretends to have any 
sense would not win for himself such a reward ?
Aeschylus, too, besides inventing that comeliness 
and dignity of dress which Hierophants and Torch-
bearers a emulate when they put on their vestments, 
also originated many dance-figures and assigned 
them to the members of his choruses. For Chamae-
leon says b that Aeschylus was the first to give poses 
to his choruses, employing no dancing-masters, but 
devising for himself the figures of the dance, and in 
general taking upon himself the entire management 
of the piece. At any rate, it seems that he acted 
in his own plays. For Aristophanes, certainly (and 
among the comic poets one may find credible in-
formation about the tragedians), makes Aeschylus 
say of himself c : " It was I who gave new poses to 
the choruses." And again : " I know about his
Phrygians, for I was in the audience when they came 
to help Priam ransom his son who was dead. They 
made many gestures and poses, this way and that 
way and the other." Telesis, also (or Telestes), 
teacher of dancing, invented many figures, and with 
great art illustrated the sense of what was spoken 
by motions of his arms. Phillis, the musician of 
Delos, says e that the harp-singers of old allowed 
few movements of the face, but more with the feet, 
both in marching and in dance steps. Aristocles, 
therefore, says f that Telestes, Aeschylus's dancer, 
was so artistic that when he danced the Seven against 
Thebes he made the action clear simply by dancing. 
They say, too, that the old poets—Thespis, Pratinas, 
Cratinus, Phrynichus—were called " dancers " be-
cause they not only relied upon the dancing of the
chorus for the interpretation of their plays, but, 
quite apart from their own compositions, they taught 
dancing to all who wanted instruction.
Aeschylus wrote his tragédies when drunk, accord-
ing to Chamaeleon.a Sophocles, anyway, reproached 
Aeschylus with the remark that even if he wrote as 
he should, he did it unconsciously.
National danses are the following : Laconian, 
Troezenian, Epizephyrian, Cretan, Ionian, and Man-
tinean ; these last were preferred by Aristoxenus b 
because of the motion of the arms. Dancing was 
held in such esteem and involved such art that 
Pindare calls Apollo " dancer " : " Dancer, Lord of 
beauty, Thou of the broad quiver, Apollo ! " And 
Homer, or one of the Hoaneridae, in the Hymn Io 
Apollo d says, " Apollo, with lyre in hand, harped 
sweetly the while he stepped forth high and grace-
fully." And Eumelus of Corinth (or was it Arc-
tinus ?) introduces Zeus as a dancer with the words e
" And in their midst danced the father of gods and 
men." But Theophrastus says f that Andron, the 
flute-player of Catana, was the first to add rhythmical 
motions of the body to the playing of the flute ; 
hence, " to do the Sicel " meant " to dance " among 
the ancients. After him there was Cleolas of Thebes. 
Famous dancers also were Bolbus, mentioned by 
Cratinus ' and Callias, and Zeno of Crete, a great 
favourite of Artaxerxes, mentioned by Ctesias?' 
Alexander, too, in his letter to Philoxenus, mentions 
Theodorus and Chrysippus.
Timon of Phlius, the satirist,a calls the Museum b 
a bird-cage, by way of ridiculing the philosophers 
who got their living there because they are fed like 
the choicest birds in a coop : " Many there be that 
batten in populous Egypt, well-propped pedants °
who quarrel without end in the Muses' bird-cage."
. unti1 a these table-orators get over their
diarrhoea of words. For their tongue-sickness, I 
think, has made them forget even the Pythian oracle 
recorded by Chamaeleon : " Twenty days before the 
Dog-star rises and twenty thereafter, make Dionysus 
your physician within the shadows of your house." 
Mnesitheus of Athens, also, says that the Pythian 
priestess directed the Athenians to honour Dionysus 
as physician. Alcaeus, too, famous poet of Mitylene, 
says : e " Moisten your lungs with wine ; for the 
Dog-star is rising, the weather is oppressive, every-
thing is athirst because of heat ; " and elsewhere f : 
" Let us drink, for the Dog-star rises." And so 
Eupolis says g that Callias is compelled by Protagoras 
to drink in order that " he may carry his lungs 
relaxed>a before the Dog-star rises." But it is not
a ElXxa seem to have been the nearest approach to 
Satire, which Quintilian daims for the Romans alone. In 
them Timon attacked the philosophers. Frag. 60 Wachsmuth.
b The great building in Alexandria of which the famous 
Library was a part.
e An excellent jest difficult to render. xapaK2raL refers 
to the poling of vines (xâpaKes), f3cf3TLaKol means both 
"bookish" and "made of papyrus"; hence, "well-propped 
(well-fed) papyrus stalks." The metaphor changes in the
nPVi lin,
merely our lungs that grow dry ; possibly the heart 
does also. And yet Antiphanes says a : " As for 
life, tell me, what is it ? Drinking, say I. You can 
see this from the trees on the banks of copious 
torrents which are wet day and night : how they 
grow in size and beauty, while those which resist—as 
though seized with thirst and dryness—are destroyed 
root and branch."
After they had talked in this manner about the 
Dog-star, Athenaeus says they had something given 
them to drink. Now the verb " to wet " is used also 
of drinking. Antiphanes b : " They that eat rich 
food must wet it." Eubulus ° : " I, Sicon by name, 
have corne wet and in my cups.—n. Have you 
been drinking ?—s. Drunk I have, not wisely but 
too well, by the Zeus of Mende."
The verb " fall back " is properly used of the heart 
in the meaning " be discouraged," " be faint-
hearted." Thus in Thucydides, Book i. a : " W hen 
they are defeated they are the last to lose heart." 
But Cratinus uses the word of rowers : e " Make a 
splash, and lie back to it ! " Xenophon, also in the 
Oeconomicus f : " Why is it that rowers give no 
trouble to one another ? Is it not because they are 
seated in a regular place, bend forward regularly, and 
lie back regularly ? " But the verb " be laid up " 
we use of dedicating a statue. Hence those who 
used it of recumbent objects were ridiculed. So
Diphilus,a " For a while I lay up there." To hirn 
his companion, offended at the word, says " Stay up 
there I " b Philippides makes a character say O : 
" and at dinner always lying back beside him." 
He then adds : " was he entertaining statues ? " 
Both " lie down " and " recline " are used, as in the 
Symposium of Xenophon and of Plato. Alexis e : 
" What a calamity it is to lie down before dinner. 
For sleep can never overtake one then, of course, 
nor can we understand a word a body says. Our 
sennes are too close to the table." The word " lie 
back " is to be found, though rarely, in this sense 
also. A satyr in Sophocles f uses the word when 
burning with passion for Heracles : " Would I might 
leap right on his neck as he lies back there." And 
Aristotle, in the Customs of the Tyrrhenians 9 : " The 
Tyrrhenians dine in company with their women, 
lying back under the same robe." Theopompus n : 
" After that we began to drink, lying down very 
comfortably at a dinner with three couches, howiing 
at one another the lays of Telamon." Philonides : 
" I've been lying down, as you can see, a very long 
time." Euripides in the Cyclops k : " He fell and 
lay back, breathing a heavy air from his throat."
Alexis a : " After that I Bade her throw herself 
down and lie back beside me."
The word meaning " to eat," "partake of," is 
used of taking a taste. For example, Phoenix says 
to Achilles b : " I refused to taste food with others 
in the halls." And in another place ° : " when they 
had tasted the entrails." For since the entrails are 
not many, a large crowd can take only a taste. And 
Priam, also, says to Achilles d : " Now, at last, I have 
tasted food." For it was proper that the man who 
had but that moment met with misfortune should 
take only a taste ; his grief would not allow him to 
sate himself. Hence anyone who had not tasted 
food at all " lay fasting, tasting no food." e Of those 
who satisfy hunger entirely Homer never uses this 
word "partake," but in what plainly denotes complete 
satisfaction he says f " when they had delighted them 
with food " or " had banished desire for eating." g 
But later writers use " partake of " even when they 
refer to fullness. Callimachus h : " I should rather 
sate myself with the story." Eratosthenes i : " The 
meat whieh they had taken in the chase they roasted 
on the ashes and ate up."
" Like a piece of wood glued to another," is a 
phrase used by the Theban lyric poet.k
CONTINUING THE LIFE OF THE HEROES
Seleucus says that the phrase daita thaleian (" goodly 
feast ") in Homer is really, by a change of letters,
diaitan	mode of living ") ; to derive it from 
daisasthai (" divide ") is too forced.a
Carystius the Pergamene records b that the women 
of Corcyra to this very day sing as they play bail. 
In Homer, too, women as well as men play bail, and 
men threw the discus and the javelin c in a kind of 
rhythmic form : " They delighted themselves with 
the cast of discus and spear." For the element of 
delight alleviates the difficulty of the throw. The 
young men also go out to hunt and catch every kind 
of quarry in order to train themselves for the perils 
of war, and as a result they were always stronger and 
healthier, as when " they array themselves as a 
tower of strength and stand against him with their 
javelins." d They were also acquainted with bathing, 
as a refreshment after toil, in various forms ; they 
relaxed their weariness in the sea, which is especially 
good for the nerves ; they loosened the tension of 
the muscles by tub-baths, then anointed themselves 
with oil so that, when the water dried, their bodies 
might not become stiff. For example, the men who 
returned from the reconnaissance " washed away in 
the sea the thick sweat from their shins and neck 
and thighs," e and having in this way refreshed 
themselves, they went " to the polished tubs and 
bathed, and smearing themselves with olive oil they 
sat down to their meal."
There is another method also of relieving fatigue 
by fomentations on the head : " She mixed it to a 
pleasant warmth over my head and shoulders." f 
For tub-baths, by reason of the water entirely 
enveloping the pores (as when one puts a colander
into water), prevent the excretion of sweat. It 
cannot get through at ail, unless one lifts the 
colander and allows the pores a relief and vent out-
ward. So Aristotle explains in his Physical Problems, a 
when he inquires why persons in a sweat do not 
perspire after they enter warm or cold water, nor 
again until they emerge from the bath.
The heroes had vegetables also served to them 
at meals. That they are acquainted with the growing 
of vegetables is clear from the words b " beside the 
farthest fine of trimly planted garden-beds." More-
over, they ate onions, too, though they are full of 
unhealthy juices : " thereto an onion, as relish to the 
drink." ° Homer also portrays them as devoted to 
the culture of fruit trees : " For pear on pear waxes 
old, fig on fig." d Hence he bestows the epithet 
" beautiful " on fruit-bearing trees : " Beautiful 
trees grow there—pears, pomegranates, and apples."e 
But trees which are adapted for timber he calls 
" tall," thus distinguishing their use by his epithets :
" Where tall trees grew, aider and poplar and pine 
towering toward heaven." The use of these fruit 
trees was older even than the Trojan War. Tantalus, 
for example, is not released from his hunger for them 
even after he is dead, seeing that the god who 
metes out punishment to him dangles g fruit of this 
kind before him (like those who lead dumb beasts by 
holding tempting branches before them), yet prevents 
him from enjoying them at the moment when he cornes 
near to realizing his hopes. Odysseus, too, reminds 
Laertes of what he had given him in his boyhood' 
" Pear-trees thou gavest to me, thirteen," etc.
That they also ate fish is disclosed by Sarpedon a 
when he compares captivity to the catch of a great 
seine. Yet Eubulus, with comic wit, says jokingly b
" Where has Homer ever spoken of any Achaean 
eating fish ? And flesh too, they only roasted, for 
lie represents nobody as boiling it. Nor did one of 
them ever see a single courtesan either, but for ten 
long years they abused each other. Bitter the 
campaign they saw, for after taking one city they 
came away with wider breaches than had the city 
which they captured." Nor did the heroes allow the 
air to be free to the birds, for they set springes and 
nets to catch thrushes and doves. They also trained 
for bird-shooting, even hanging a dove by a fish-line 
from the mast of a ship and shooting at it from a 
distance, as is shown in the Funeral Games. e But the 
poet is silent about the eating of vegetables, fish, and 
birds because that is a mark of greed, and also because 
it would be unseemly for the heroes to spend time 
in preparing them for the table, since he judges it 
beneath the level of heroic and godlike deeds. But 
that they did use boiled flesh he makes clear when 
he says d : " Even as a cauldron boileth . . . melting 
the lard of sonie fatted hog." Then, too, the ox-foot 
which was hurled at Odysseus e is a proof of the 
boiling, for nobody ever roasts the foot of an ox. 
Again, the line,f " he took and placed beside them 
platters of all sorts of meat " shows not merely the 
variety of meats, such as fowl, pork, kid, and beef, 
but also that their preparation was varied, not 
uniform, but attended with ingenious skill.
Thus emerged the menus of Sicily and the 
Sybarites, and presently also the Chian. For we 
have as much testimony about the Chians, in the 
matter of fancy cooking, as about the others just 
mentioned. Timocles says a : " The Chians have 
been by far the best in inventing dainty dishes."
In Homer not merely the young men, but old men 
like Phoenix and Nestor, consort with women. To 
Menelaus alone no woman is joined, because he had 
organized the expedition to recover his lawful wife, 
who had been carried away.
" Old wine, but the flowers of new songs " Pindar 
extols b And Eubulus says ° : " Strange that old 
wine should always be in favour among gay ladies, 
but not an old man, rather the young one." Alexis,d 
too, says exactly the same thing, except that he says 
" high favour " instead of " always." As a matter 
of fact old veine is better not only in taste but also 
for the health. For, first, it aids the digestion of 
food better ; secondly, it is composed of finer 
particles and is easily assimilated ; thirdly, it in-
creases bodily strength ; fourthly, it makes the 
blood red and gives it a comfortable flow ; lastly, it 
induces undisturbed sleep. Homer praises that wine 
winch allows considerable admixture of water, like 
Maron's,e and old wine allows more mixing because 
it becomes more heating with age. Some even assert 
that the flight of Dionysus into the sea f is a hint that 
the making of wine had long been known. For wine 
is sweet when sea water is poured into it. When
Homer commends dark wine he often calls it fiery. 
For it is very potent and has the most lasting effect 
on the system of the drinker. Theopompus says a 
that dark wine originated among the Chians, and 
that they were the first to learn how to plant and 
tend vines from Oenopion, son of Dionysus, who also 
was the founder of that island-state ; and they 
transmitted it to other peoples. But white wine is 
weak and thin, while yellow wine digests more easily, 
having a drying quality.
Concerning Italian wines Galen, who is among the 
company of our learned author, says : " Falernian is 
sufficiently aged for drinking after ten years, and 
good from fifteen to twenty years ; any that sur-
passes this limit induces headache and attacks the 
nervous system. There are two sorts, the dry and 
the sweetish. The latter attains this quality when-
ever south winds blow as the vintage season draws 
near, causing it also to become darker. Wine that 
is not made under these conditions is dry and of 
a yellow colour. Of the Alban wine there are also 
two sorts, one rather sweet, the other acid ; both 
are at their best after fifteen years. The Sorrentine 
begins to be good after twenty-five years ; since it 
Iacks oil and is very rough, it takes a long time to 
ripen ; even when it is ripe, it is barely wholesome 
except for those who use it continually. The wine of 
Rhegium, which contains more oil than that of 
Sorrentum, is fit to use after fifteen years. The 
Privernian also can be used then, being thinner than 
that of Rhegium and not at all likely to go to the 
head. Similar to this is the Formian, but it quickly 
matures and is more oily than the other. The
Trifolian matures more slowly, and is more earthy 
than the Sorrentine. The Statan is one of the best 
kinds, resembling the Falernian, but lighter, and 
innocuous. The Tiburtine is thin, easily evaporates, 
and matures in ten years ; but it is better when aged. 
Labican is sweet and oily to the taste, ranking mid-
way between Falernian and Alban ; it may be drunk 
at the earliest after ten years. The Gauran is both 
rare and excellent, besides being vigorous and rich, 
containing more oil than the Praenestine or Tiburtine. 
Marsic is very dry and wholesome. In the neigh-
bourhood of Cyme, in Campania, grooms the so-called 
Ulban, which is light and ready to use after five years. 
The Anconitan is good, oily. . . The Buxentine 
is like the acid variety of Alban, but its effect is 
wholesome. The Velitern is sweet to the taste and 
wholesome, but has the peculiar quality of seeming to 
be mixed ; it gives the impression of having another 
kind mixed with it. The Calenian is light and more 
healthful than Falernian. The Caecuban is also a 
generous wine, but overpowering and strong ; it 
matures only after many years. The Fundan is 
strong, heavy-bodied, and apt to attack head and 
stomach ; hence it is not often drunk at symposia. 
The Sabine is lighter than an of these, ready to drink 
after from seven to fifteen years. The Signine is 
good in the sixth year, but much better when aged. 
The Nomentan matures quickly and is drinkable 
after the fifth year ; it is neither too sweet nor too 
thin. The Spoletine wine . . . is sweet to the taste 
and of a golden colour. The Aequan is in many