HIPPOLOCHUS the Macedonian, my friend Timocrates, lived in the time of Lynceus and Douris of Samos, pupils of Theophrastus ¹ the Eresian. And he had made a bargain with Lynceus, as one may learn from his letters, that if ever he was present at any very expensive banquet, he would relate to him the whole of the preparations which were made; and Lynceus in return made him the same promise. And there are accordingly some letters of each of them on the subject of banquets; in which Lynceus relates the banquet which was given at Athens by Lamia the Attic female flute-player to King Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, (and Lamia was the mistress of Demetrius.) And Hippolochus reports the marriage feast of Caranus the Macedonian. And we have also met with other letters of Lynceus, written to the same Hippolochus, giving an account of the banquet of King Antigonus, when he celebrated the Aphrodisian festival at Athens, and also that given by King Ptolemy. And I will show you the very letters themselves. But as the letter of Hippolochus is very scarce, I will run over to you the principal things which are contained in it, just for the sake of conversation and amusement at the present time.

In Macedonia, then, as I have said, Caranus made a marriage feast; and the guests invited were twenty in number. And as soon as they had sat down, a silver bowl was given to each of them as a present. And Caranus had previously crowned every one of them, before they entered the dining-room, with a golden chaplet, and each chaplet was valued at five pieces of gold. And when they had emptied the bowls, then there was given to each of the guests a loaf in a brazen platter of Corinthian workmanship, of the. same size; and poultry, and ducks, and besides that, pigeons, and a goose, and quantities more of the same kind of food heaped up abundantly. And each of the guests taking what was set before him, with the brazen platter itself also, gave it to the slaves who waited behind him. Many other dishes of various sorts were also served up to eat. And after them, a second platter was placed before each guest, made of silver, on which again there was placed a second large loaf, and on that geese, and hares, and kids, and other rolls curiously made, and doves, and turtledoves, and partridges, and every other kind of bird imaginable, in the greatest abundance. Those also, says Hippolochus, we gave to the slaves; and when we had eaten to satiety, we washed our hands, and chaplets were brought in in great numbers, made of all sorts of flowers from all countries, and on each chaplet a circlet of gold, of about the same weight as the first chaplet. And Hippolochus having stated after this that Proteas, the descendant of that celebrated Proteas the son of Lanice, who had been the nurse of Alexander the king, was a most extraordinary drinker, as also his grandfather Proteas, who was the friend of Alexander, had been; and that he pledged every one present, proceeds to write as follows:—

"And while we were now all amusing ourselves with agreeable trifling, some flute-playing women and musicians, and some Rhodian players on the sambuca come in, naked as I fancied, but some said that they had tunics on. And they having played a prelude, departed; and others came in in succession, each. of them bearing two bottles of perfume, bound with a golden thong, and one of the cruets was silver and the other gold, each holding a cotyla, ² and they presented them to each of the guests. And then, instead of supper, there was brought in a great treasure, a silver platter with a golden edge of no inconsiderable depth, of such a size as to receive the entire bulk of a roast boar of huge size, which lay in it on his back, showing his belly uppermost, stuffed with many good things. For in the belly there were roasted thrushes, and paunches, and a most countless number of fig peckers, and the yolks of eggs spread on the top, and oysters, and periwinkles. And to every one of the guests was presented a boar stuffed in this way, nice and hot, together with the dish on which he was served up. And after this we drank wine, and each of us received a hot kid, on another platter like that on which the boar had been served up, with some golden spoons. Then Caranus seeing that we were cramped for the want of room, ordered canisters and bread-baskets to be given to each of us, made of strips of ivory curiously plaited together; and we were very much delighted at all this, and applauded the bridegroom, by whose means we were thus enabled to preserve what had been given to us. Then chaplets were again brought to us, and another pair of cruets of perfume, one silver and one gold, of the same weight as the former pair, And when quiet was restored, there entered some men, who even in the Potfeast ³ at Athens had borne a part in the solemnities, and with them there came in some ithyphallic dancers, and some jugglers, and some conjuring women also, tumbling and standing on their heads on swords, and vomiting fire out of their mouths, and they, too, were naked.

And when we were relieved from their exhibition, then we had a fresh drink offered to us, hot and strong, and Thasian, and Mendæan, and Lesbian wines were placed upon the board, very large golden goblets being brought to every one of us. And after we had drunk, a glass goblet of two cubits in diameter, placed on a silver stand, was served up, full of roast fishes of every imaginable sort that could be collected. And there was also given to every one a silver breadbasket full of Cappadocian loaves; some of which we ate and some we delivered to the slaves behind us. And when we had washed our hands, we put on chaplets; and then again we received golden circlets twice as large as the former ones, and another pair of cruets of perfume. And when quiet was restored, Proteas leaping up from his couch, asked for a cup to hold a gallon; and having filled it with Thasian wine, and having mingled a little water with it, he drank it off, saying— And Caranus said— And when this had been said, at once nine of the guests rose up snatching at the cups, and each one trying to forestall the other. But one of those who were of the party, like an unlucky man as he was, as he was unable to drink, sat down and cried because he had no goblet; and so Caranus presented him with an empty goblet. After this, a dancing party of a hundred men came in, singing an epithalamium in beautiful tune. And after them there came in dancing girls, some arranged so as to represent the Nereids, and others in the guise of the nymphs.

And as the drinking went on, and the shadows were beginning to fall, they opened the chamber where everything was encircled all round with white cloths. And when these curtains were drawn, the torches appeared, the partitions having been secretly removed by mechanism. And there were seen Cupids, and Dianas, and Pans, and Mercuries, and numbers of statues of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks. And while we were admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance, some real Erymanthean boars were brought round to each of the guests on square platters with golden edges, pierced through and through with silver darts. And what was the strangest thing of all was, that those of us who were almost helpless and stupefied with wine, the moment that we saw any of these things which were brought in, became all in a moment sober, standing upright, as it is said. And so the slaves crammed them into the baskets of good omen, until the usual signal of the termination of the feast sounded. For you know that that is the Macedonian custom at large parties.

And Caranus, who had begun drinking in small goblets, ordered the slaves to bring round the wine rapidly. And so we drank pleasantly, taking our present liquor as a sort of antidote to our previous hard drinking. And while we were thus engaged, Mandrogenes the buffoon came in, the descendant, as is reported, of that celebrated Strato t e Athenian, and he caused us much laughter. And after this he danced with his wife, a woman who was already more than eighty years of age. And at last the tables, to wind up the whole entertainment, were brought in. And sweetmeats in plaited baskets made of ivory were distributed to every one. And cheesecakes of every kind known, Cretan cheesecakes, and your Samian ones, my friend Lynceus, and Attic ones, with the proper boxes, or dishes, suitable to each kind of confection. And after this we all rose up and departed, quite sobered, by Jove, by the thoughts of, and our anxiety about, the treasures which we had received.

But you who never go out of Athens think yourself happy when you hear the precepts of Theophrastus, and when you eat thyme, and salads, and nice twisted loaves, solemnizing the Lenæan festival, and the Potfeast at the Anthesteria. But at the banquet of Caranus, instead of our portions of meat, we carried off actual riches, and are now looking, some for houses, and some for lands, and some of us are seeking to buy slaves."

Now if you consider this, my friend Timocrates, with which of the Greek feasts that you ever heard of do you think this banquet, which has just been described to you, can be compared? When even Antiphanes the comic writer jokingly said in the Œnomaus, or perhaps it is in the Pelops— And Aristophanes, in his Acharnians, extolling the magnificence of the barbarians, says— And Anaxandrides, in his Protesilaus, ridiculing the feast made at the marriage of Iphicrates when he married the daughter of Cotys king of the Thracians, says—

But Lynceus, in his Centaur, ridiculing the Attic ban- quets, says— But Dromeas the parasite, when some one once asked him, as Hegesander the Delphian relates, whether the banquets in the city or at Chalcis were the best, said that the prelude to the banquets at Chalcis was superior to the whole entertainment in the city, calling the multitudes of oysters served up, and the great variety of fish, the prelude to the banquet.

But Diphilus, in his Female Deserter, introduces a cook, and represents him as saying— And Menander says, in his Trophonius—

The ancients used food calculated to provoke the appetite, as for instance salt olives, which they call colymbades: and accordingly Aristophanes says, in his Old Age— And Philemon, in his Follower, or Sauce, says— They also eat common grasshoppers and the monkey grasshopper as procreatives of the appetite. Aristophanes says, in his Anagyrus— But the cercope is a little animal like a grasshopper or prickly roach, as Speusippus tells us in the fourth book of his Similitudes; and Epilycus mentions them in his Coraliscus. And Alexis says in his Thrason— And Nicostratus says, in his Abra—

And that they used to eat, for the sake of encouraging the appetite, rape dressed with vinegar and mustard, is plainly stated by Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, where he says— And Diphilus or Sosippus, in the Female Deserter, says—

And Alexis, in his Tarentines, when speaking of their banquets, says that the Athenians used to dance at their drinking parties— And Antiphanes, in his Carians, with reference to the Attic fashion of dancing, turns one of the sophists into ridicule, as dancing at a banquet, in the following verses— And it will not be foreign to the subject to quote here what is said by Eriphus the comic poet, in his Œolus— And Alexis, in the play entitled Isostasium, says—

But Matron the parodist, says Plutarch, has given a very agreeable account of an Attic banquet; and as it is very rare I will not scruple, my friends, to repeat it to you—

And Alexis, in his Men running together, ridiculing the Attic banquets, says— And the Thessalians are truly fond of eating; as Eriphus says in his Light-armed Soldier, thus— And the author, whoever he was, of the play called The Beggars, which is ascribed to Chionides, says that the Athenians, when they place a banquet for Castor and Pollux in their Prytaneum, serve up on the tables cheese and barley-cakes, and olives which have fallen, and leeks, for the sake of reminding people of the ancient manner of living. And Solon enjoins them to serve up barley-cakes to those who eat in the prytaneum: and besides that, to place bread on the table at festivals, in imitation of Homer; for he, too, when collecting the chiefs around Agamemnon, says— And Chrysippus, in the fourth book of his treatise on Beauty and Pleasure, says— And Plato, in the second book of his Republic, represents his new citizens as feasting, and writes—

We must next speak of the Lacedæmonian banquets. Now Herodotus, in the ninth book of his Histories, speaking of the preparation of Mardonius, and mentioning the banquets of the Lacedæmonians, says—

And some say that a citizen of Sybaris, who was staying at Sparta, and who dined at their Phiditia, said—

And Polemo, in his treatise on the Wicker Carriage mentioned by Xenophon, says "that Cratinus in his Pluti, mentioning the feast which is called by the Lacedæmonians Copis, speaks as follows— And Eupolis says in his Helots—

Now the Copis is a peculiar sort of entertainment, just as that which is called Aiclon. And when it tales place, first of all they erect tents near the temple of the good; and in them they place beds of leaves; and on them they strew carpets, and then they feast those who recline on them, not only those who arrive, being natives of the country, but those foreigners also who are sojourning in the place. And at these copides they sacrifice goats, but no other victim; and they give portions of its flesh to every one, and they distribute also what they call a physicillus, which is a little loaf like an encris, made of oil and honey, only rounder in shape. And they give to every one who is present a newly made cheese, and a slice of paunch, and black-pudding, and sweet-meats, and dried. figs, and beans, and green kidney-beans. And any one of the rest of the Spartans who chooses, partakes of this Copis.

This was the statement of Polemo. But Didymus the Grammarian contradicted him, (and Demetrius, of Trœzen, calls him a Bookforgetter, on account of the number of books which he has edited, for they amount to three thousand and five hundred,) and said—"Polycrates, in his history of Lacedæmonian affairs, relates that the Lacedæmonians celebrate the festival called Hyacinthia for three days, and on account of their lamentation for Hyacinthus, they do not wear crowns at their feasts, nor do they bring bread there, but they distribute cheesecakes, and other things of the same kind. And they sing no paean to the god, nor do they introduce anything of that sort, as they do in other sacred festivals, but they eat their supper in a very orderly manner, and then depart. But on the middle one of the three days there is a very superb spectacle, and a very considerable and important assembly; for boys play upon the harp, girt up in their tunics, and singing to the music of the flute, running over all the strings of the harp at the same time with the plectrum, in an anapæstic rhythm, with a shrill tone, and in that manner they sing a hymn in honour of the god. And others riding on horses and handsomely dressed go through the theatre; and very numerous choruses of young men enter, and they sing some of their native poems. And dancers mingled with them perform an ancient sort of dance to the music of a flute and singing. And virgins also, some in wooden curved chariots, called canathra, beautifully made, and others in crowds of large waggons drawn by horses, make a procession; and the whole city is in a state of agitation and of delight at the spectacle. And they sacrifice great numbers of victims all this day. And the citizens give a banquet to all their friends, and to their own slaves; and no one omits attending the sacred feast, but the whole city is evacuated by the whole body of citizens flocking to the spectacle.

But concerning the ἐπάϊκλα, Persæus, in his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, writes as follows:— And Dioscorides gives the same account. But concerning the words καμματίδες and κάμματα Nicocles writes as follows:—

But concerning the banquet of the Phiditia, Dioscorides gives this account in his book entitled Tripoliticus. ²²

But Sphærus, in the third book of his treatise on the Lacedæmonian Constitution, writes— And Molpis says—

But Demetrius the Scepsian says, in the first book of his treatise on the Trojan Array,

Subsequently the Lacedæmonians relaxed the rigour of this way of living, and became more luxurious. At all events, Phylarchus, in the fifteenth and again in the twentieth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning them:—

But Antiphanes, ridiculing the Lacedæmonian banquets, in the style of the comic poets, in his drama which is entitled Archon, speaks as follows:—

And concerning the Cretan banquets, or συσσίτια, Dosiades speaks in the fourth book of his treatie on Cretan Affairs, speaking as follows:—

And Pyrgion, in the third book of his treatise on Cretan Laws, says—

And Herodotus, comparing the drinking parties of the Greeks with the banquets in fashion among the Persians, says—

But concerning the luxury of the kings among the Persians, Xenophon, in his Agesilaus, writes as follows:— And in his treatise entitled Hiero, speaking of the things which are prepared for kings, and also of the dishes which are prepared for private individuals to eat, he uses the following expressions:—

But Theophrastus, in the Book on Royal Authority, addressed to Cassander, (if indeed the book under that title, attributed to him, be a genuine work of his, for many say that it was written by Sosibius, to whom Callimachus the poet addresses a triumphal hymn in elegiac metre,) says that And Theopompus, in the thirty-fifth book of his Histories, says, that But the same Theopompus, in the fourteenth book of his History of the Exploits of Philip, says—

But Heraclides the Cumæan, who compiled a history of Persia, in the second book of that work, which is entitled Preparatory, says— he continues,

But Herodotus, in his seventh book, says, that And in the ninth book of his Histories, the same author tells us,

But Alexander the Great, whenever he supped with any of his friends, as Ephippus the Olynthian relates in his book on the Deaths of Alexander and Hephæstion, expended each day a hundred minæ, as perhaps sixty or seventy of his friends supped with him. But the king of the Persians, as Ctesias and Dinon relate in the Histories of Persia, supped with fifteen thousand men, and there were expended on the supper four hundred talents; and this amounts in Italian money to twenty four hundred thousand of sesterces. And this sum when divided among fifteen thousand men is a hundred and sixty sesterces of Italian money for each individual; so that it comes to very nearly the same as the expense of Alexander; for he expended a hundred minæ, according to the account of Ephippus.

But Menander, in his play called Drunkenness, estimates the expense of the most sumptuous banquet at a talent, saying— And it is as the very extravagance of expense that he has named a talent at all. And in his Morose Man he speaks as follows:—

And Philoxenus of Cythera, in the play which is entitled The Supper, (for he it is whom Plato the comic writer mentions in his Phaon, and not Philoxenus the Leucadian,) mentions the following as the preparation made for a banquet—

And Socrates the Rhodian, in the third book of his History of the Civil War, describing the entertainment given by Cleopatra the last queen of Egypt, who married Antony the Roman general in Cilicia, speaks in the following manner: — continues he, And he relates further, that continues he,

And Caius the emperor, surnamed Caligula, because he was born in the camp, was not only called the young Bacchus, but was also in the habit of going about dressed in the entire dress of Bacchus, and he used to sit on the tribunal as judge in that dress.

Now a man looking at these instances which have occurred in our country before our time, may marvel at the poverty of the Greeks, especially if he sets his eyes upon the banquets which take place among the Thebans; concerning whom Clitarchus, in the first book of his Histories relating to Alexander, speaks, and says that all their wealth, when the city was razed to the ground by Alexander, was found to amount to four hundred and forty talents, because they were mean spirited and gluttons in eating and drinking, preparing in their banquets forced-meat balls, and boiled fish and anchovies, and encrasicholi, and sausages, and ribs of beef, and soup; on which Attaginus the son of Phrynon feasted Mardonius, with fifty other Persians; a man whom Herodotus mentions in his ninth book as having amassed an enormous amount of riches. And I think that they would never have escaped, and that there would have been no necessity for the Greeks being marshalled against them at Platæa, as they would certainly have been killed by such food as that.

But Hecatæus of Miletus, describing an Arcadian banquet in the third book of his Genealogies, says that it consists chiefly of barley-cakes and pork. But Harmodius of Lepreum, in the third book of his treatise on the Laws of the People of Phigalea, says—

But Theopompus, in the forty-sixth book of his account of the Exploits of Philip, says—

But among the Naucratitæ, according to the account given by Hermeas in the second book of his treatis respecting the Grynean Apollo, they sup in the prytaneum on the birthday festival of Vesta Prytanitis; and at the Dionysiac festival; and again at the assembly of the Comæan Apollo, —all of them coming in white robes, which even t this day they call prytanic garments. And when they have sat down to eat, they rise up again on their knees while the herald of the sacred festival repeats the national prayers, a making a libation together; and, after that, sitting down again, each of them takes two cotylæ of wine, except the pries of the Pythian Apollo, and of Bacchus, for each of then receives a double portion of wine and of all other things; and then a loaf of white bread is set before each of them, made very broad, on which another loaf is placed, which hey call cribanites. And a joint of pork is placed before hem, and a platter of ptisan or of some vegetable or herb which is in season, and a couple of eggs, and a slice of cheese, and some dry figs, and a cheesecake, and a garland. And whatever maker of a sacrifice prepares anything beyond this is liable to be fined by the magistrates, who are called τιμοῦχοι. And those who eat in the prytaneum are not permitted to take anything away to be eaten; but they only eat what is set before them, and give what is left to their slaves. And on all the other days of the year it is lawful for any one who pleases of those who are fed at the prytaneum to go into the prytaneum to sup, having prepared at his own home some vegetable, or some pulse, or some salt meat, or some fish, or a very little bit of pork; and when he eats this, he may also have a cotyla of wine. But no woman is allowed to go into the prytaneum excepting the woman alone who plays the flute. And no spoon may be brought into the prytaneum. But if any one of the Naucratitæ makes a marriage feast, as it is written in the law which regulates the ceremonial of marriage, it is forbidden for him to have eggs or honey cheesecakes served up; but what is the reason of these restrictions we may hope to be told by Ulpian.

But Lynceus, in his treatise on the Affairs and Constitution of Egypt, comparing the Egyptian banquets to the Persian ones, says— But what the Egyptian feasts were like Protagorides teaches us in the first book of his treatise on the Daphnic Contests, speaking as follows:—

says Phylarchu in his sixth book, But in his third book the same Phylarchus says that he continues,

Xenophon also mentions the Thracian suppers in the seventh book of his Anabasis, describing the banquet given by Seuthes in the following words—

And Posidonius the Stoic, in the histories which he composed in a manner by no means inconsistent with the philosophy which he professed, writing of the laws that were established and the customs which prevailed in many nations, says—

And Posidonius continuing, and relating the riches of Lyernius the father of Bityis, who was subdued by the Romans, says that These now are the accounts of the Celtæ given by Posidonius in the third and in the twentieth books of his History.

But in the fifth book, speaking of the Parthians, he says —

And in his eleventh book, speaking of Seleucus the king, and relating how he came against Media, and warred against Arsaces, and was taken prisoner by the barbarian, and how he remained a long time in captivity to Arsaces, being treated like a king by him, he writes thus— And when he is speaking of Heracleon the Ber$oan, who was promoted to honour by that king Antiochus who was surnamed Grypus, and who very nearly turned his benefactor out of his kingdom, he writes as follows in the fourth book of his Histories:

Again, in his second book, he says— And Timæus, in the first book of his Histories, says that all the female servants in that nation always wait at table naked till they are quite grown up.

And Megasthenes, in the second book of his Indian History, says—

But the Germans, as Posidonius relates in his thirtieth book, eat for dinner meat roasted in separate joins; and they drink milk and unmixed wine. And some of the tribes of the Campanians practise single combat at their drinking parties. But Nicolaus of Damascus, one of the philosophers of the Peripatetic school, in the hundred-and-tenth book of his His- tory, relates that the Romans at their feasts practise single combats, writing as follows— And Eratosthenes says, in the first book of his Catalogue of the Victors at Olympia, that the Etruscans used to box to the music of the flute.

But Posidonius, in the third, and also in the twentieth book of his Histories, says— he continues,

And Euphorion the Chalcidian, in his Historical Memorials, writes as follows—

And Hermippus, in the first book of his treatise on Lawgivers, asserts that the Mantineans were the original inventors of men to fight in single combat, and that Demonax, one of their citizens, was the original suggestor of such a course; and that the Cyreneans were the next to follow their example. And Ephorus, in the sixth book of his History, says —"The Mantineans and Arcadians were in the habit of practising warlike exercises; and even to this day they call the military dress and the ancient fashion of arming the Mantinean, as having been invented by that people. And in addition to this, the exercises of single combat were first invented in Mantinea, Demeas being the original author of the invention. And that the custom of single combatants was an ancient one, Aristophanes shows, when he speaks thus in his Phœnisse— And the word μονόμαχος appears not to be derived from the noun μάχη, but rather from the verb μάχεσθαι. For as often as a word compounded of μάχη ends in ος, as in the words σύμμαχος, πρωτόμαχος, ἐπίμαχος, ἀντίμαχος, and the φιλόμαχος race of Perseus, spoken of by Pindar, then it is acuted on the antepenultima; but when it has the acute accent on the penultima, then the verb μάχεσθαι comes in; as is shown in the words πυγμάχος, ναυμάχος; in the expression αὐτόν σε πυλαμάχε πρῶτον, in Stesichorus; and the noun ὁπλομάχος, τειχομάχος, πυργομάχος. But Posidippus the comic writer, in his Pornoboscus, says— And that even men of reputation and captains fought in single combat, and did so in accordance with premeditated challenges, we have already said in other parts of this discussion. And Diyllus the Athenian says, in the ninth book of his Histories, that Cassander, when returning from Bœotia, after he had buried the king and queen at Aegæ, and with them Cynna the mother of Eurydice, and had paid them all the other honours to which they were entitled, celebrated also a show of single combats, and four of the soldiers entered the arena on that occasion.

But Demetrius the Scepsian, in the twelfth book of Trojan Array, says, But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the eighth book of his History of Asia, relates that the friends of Alexander the son of Philip once gave an entertainment to the king, and gilded all the sweetmeats which were to be served up in the second course. And when they wanted to eat any of them, they took off the gold and threw that away with all the rest which was not good to eat, in order that their friends might be spectators of their sumptuousness, and their servants might become masters of the gold. But they forget that, as Duris also relates, Philip the father of Alexander, when he had a golden cup which was fifty drachmas in weight, always took it to bed with him, and always slept with it at his head. And Seleucus says,

This is what I had to say, my friends and messmates, O men far the first of all the Greeks, being what I know concerning the banquets of the ancients. But Plato the philosopher, in the first book of his treatise on the Laws of Banquets, speaks in this manner, describing the whole matter with the greatest accuracy—

And Cynulcus said on this,—I only wish that you had played at that Thracian game and been hanged yourself. For you have kept us in suspense till we are almost famished, as if we were waiting for the rising star, till which arises, those who have invented this beautiful philosophy say that it is unlawful to taste of any food at all. But I, wretched man that I am, according, to the words of Diphilus the coming poet— And you yourselves also have forgotten those admirable verses of the poet, who said— And the admirable Aristophanes has said in his Cocalus— But for me it would be much better to sup as the men are represented as supping in the banquet given by Parmeniscus the Cynic,—than to come hither and see everything carried round us as if we all had fevers. And when we laughed at this, one of us said,—-But my most excellent fellow, do not grudge giving us the account of that Parmeniscean banquet. And he, raising himself up, said— according to the words of the sweet Antiphanes, who, in the Woman given in Marriage, said—

But Parmeniscus began in this manner—"Parmeniscus to Molpis, greeting,—As I have often in my conversations with you talked about illustrious invitations and entertainments, I am afraid lest you should labour under such a plethora as to blame me; on which account I wish to make you a partaker in the feast which was given by Cebes of Cyzicus. Therefore, having first taken a drink of hyssop, come at the proper hour to the feast. For at the time when the festival of Bacchus was being celebrated at Athens, I went to sup with him; and I found six Cynics sitting at table, and one dogleader, Carneus the Megarian. But, as the supper was delayed, a discussion arose, what water is the sweetest. And while some were praising the water of Lerna, and some that of Pirene, Carneus, imitating Philoxenus, said—That is the best water which is poured over our hands. So then when the tables were laid we went to supper, Then again lentils were brought on the table steeped in vinegar; and that child of Jupiter laid his hands on them and said— And then some one else immediately cried out— But to me may there be, according to the words of the comic poet Diphilus, which he uses in his Peliades— And as a great laugh arose, immediately that spoon of the theatre Melissa came in, and that dogfly Nicium, each of them being a courtesan of no small renown: and so they, looking on what was set upon the table and admiring it, laughed. And Nicium said,—Is not there one of all you men so proud of your beards that eats fish? Is it because your ancestor Meleager the Gadarean, in his poem entitled the Graces, said that Homer, being a Syrian by birth, represented the ancients as abstaining from fish in accordance with the custom of his own country, although there was a great abundance of them in the Hellespont? Or have you ever read that one treatise of his which embraces a comparison between peas and lentilsfor I see that you have made a great preparation of lentils. And when I see it, I should advise you, according to the rules of Antisthenes the pupil of Socrates, to relieve yourselves of life if you stick to such food as this. And Carneus replied to her—Euxitheus the Pythagorean, O Nicium, as Clearchus the Peripatetic tells us, in the second book of his Lives, said that the souls of all men were bound in the body, and in the life which is on earth, for the sake of punishment; and that God has issued an edict that if they do not remain there until he voluntarily releases them himself, they shall fall into more numerous and more important calamities. On which account all me, being afraid of those threatenings of the gods, fear to depart from life by their own act, but only gladly welcome death when he comes in old age, trusting that that deliverance of the soul then takes place with the full consent of those who have the power to sanction it. And this doctrine we ourselves believe. But I have no objection, replied she, to your selecting one of three evils, if you please. For do you not know, O retched men, that these heavy kinds of food shut in the dominant principle of the soul, and do not allow wisdom to exist unimpaired in it?

Accordingly Theopompus, in the fifth book of his History of the Actions of Philip, says— And the admirable Xenophon says, that it is sweet to a hungry man to eat barley-cakes and cardamums, and sweet to a thirsty man to draw water out of the river and drink it. But Socrates was often caught walking in the depth of evening up and down before his house; and to those who asked him what he was doing there, he used to reply that he was getting a relish for supper. But we shall be satisfied with whatever portion we receive from you, and we are not angry as if we received less than we ought, like the Hercules in Anticlides. For he says, in the second book of his Returns— But we are not so irascible, even though in all other points we are imitators of Hercules.

said Archagathus . . . . to have written; which also as Sophilus the comic writer says. But it is a Stoic doctrine, that the wise man will do everything well, and will be able to cook even lentils cleverly. On which account Timon the Phliasian said— As if a lentil could not be boiled in any other way except ac- cording to the precepts of Zeno, who said— And Crates the Theban said— And Chrysippus, in his treatise on the Beautiful, quoting some apophthegms to us, says— And the witty Aristophanes said, in his Gerytades— And, in his Amphiaraus— And Epicharmus says, in his Dionysi— And Antiphanes says, in his Women like one another— And I know that a sister of Ulysses, the most prudent and wisest of men, was called φακῆ (lentil), the same whom some other writers call Callisto, as Mnaseas of Patra relates, in the third book of his History of the Affairs of Europe, and as Lysimachus also tells us, in the third book of his Returns.

And when Plutarch had burst into a violent fit of laughter at this, the Cynic, who could not endure to have his extensive learning on the subject of lentils disregarded, said— "But all you fine gentlemen from Alexandria, O Plutarch, are fed from your childhood on lentils; and your whole city is full of things made of lentils: which are mentioned by Sopater the lentil parodist, in his drama entitled Bacchis, where he speaks as follows:— For, what is there of which mortals have need, (according to your own idol, Euripides, O you most learned of men,) except two things only, And in another place that dramatic philosopher says— And Socrates said that he differed from other men in this, that they lived that they might eat, but he ate that he might live. And Diogenes said to those who accused him of scratching himself,—I wish I could scratch my stomach, so as to rub all poverty and want out of it. And Euripides, in his Suppliant Women, says of Capaneus—

Capaneus was not, as it seems, such as the honest Chrysippus describes, in his treatise On those things which are not eligible for their own sakes. For he speaks in this manner: — For these men and all like them may almost be said, as they die, to cry out— Such great thirst for money was there among the men of that time, concerning which Anacharsis, when some one asked him what the Greeks used money for? said, To count with. But Diogenes, in his treatise on Polity, proposed to establish a law that bits of bone should be taken as coins; and well too has Euripides said— And Chrysippus, in his elementary work, which is entitled, A Treatise on Good and Evil Things, says that "a certain young man from Ionia came to sojourn at Athens, clothed in a purple robe having golden fringes; and when some one asked of him what countryman he was, he replied that he was rich. And, perhaps, it may be the very same person whom Alexis mentions in his Thebans, where he says—

When Cynulcus had said this, and when no one applauded him, he got out of temper; and said,—But since these men, O you master of the feast, are made so uncomfortable by a Diarrhœa of words as to feel no hunger; or perhaps, it may be that they laugh at what is said about lentils, (having in their mind what is said by Pherecrates, in his Coriander— Since then, on this account, these wise men guard against the lentils, at all events cause some bread to be given to us, with a little plain food; no expensive dishes, but any of those vulgar lentils, if you have them, or what is called lentil soup. And when every one laughed, especially at the idea of the lentil soup, he said, You are very ignorant men, you feasters, never having read any books, which are the only things to instruct those who desire what is good. I mean the books of the Silli of Timon the Pyrrhonian. For he it is who speaks of lentil soup, in the second book of his Silli, writing as follows:— For though the barley-cakes of Teos are preeminently good, (as also are those from Eretria, as Sopater says, in his Suitors of Bacchis, where he says— and also, the Lydian sauces; still Timon prefers the lentil soup to both of them put together.

To this our admirable entertainer, Laurentius himself, replied, saying,—O you men who drive the dogs, according to the Jocasta of Strattis, the comic poet, who in the play entitled The Phœnician Women, is represented as saying— And Sopater, too, whom you were mentioning just now, in his Descent to Hell, speaks in these terms:— And Clearchus the Peripatetic philosopher, in his treatise on Proverbs, gives the saying, as a proverb which my grandfather Varro also mentions, he, I mean, who was nicknamed Menippius. And many of the Roman grammarians, who have not had much intercourse with many Greek poets or historians, do not know where it is that Varro got his Iambic from. But you seem to me, O Cynulcus, (for you delight in that name, not using the name by which your mother has called you from your birth,) according to your friend Timon, to be a noble and great man, not knowing that the lentil soup obtained mention from the the former Epicharmus, in his Festival, and in his Islands, and also from Antiphanes the comic poet; who, using the diminutive form, has spoken of it in his Wedding, under the following form of expression— And Magnus immediately taking up the conversation, said,— The most universally excellent Laurentius has well and cleverly met this hungry dog on the subject of the lentil soup. But I, like to the Galatians of the Paphian Sopater, among whom it is a custom whenever they have met with any eminent success in war to sacrifice their prisoners to the gods,—

For I will speak freely to them. If you are so fond of contentment, O philosopher, why do you not admire those dis- ciples of Pythagoras, concerning whom Antiphanes says, in his Monuments— And in the play which is especially entitled the Wallet, he says— And Alexis says, in his Tarentines— And proceeding a little further, he says— And, in his Female Pythagorean, he says— And a few lines afterwards, he says—

But you, my philosophical friends, practise none of these things. But what is far worse than any of them, you talk about what you do not in the least understand; and, as if you were eating in an orderly manner, you take in mouthfuls like the man in that sweet poet Antiphanes; for he says, in his Runaway Slave-catcher— Taking a moderate mouthful, small outside, But large within his hand, as women do. And in the same way you eat a great deal and eat very fast; when it is in your power, according to the words of the same poet which he uses in the Thombycius, And Aristophanes says, in his Pythagoreans— And it is not foreign to the present discussion to mention an epigram which was made with reference to you, which Hegesander the Delphian has quoted, in the sixth book of his Commentaries—

But Archestratus of Gela, in his treatise on Gastronomy, (which is the only poetical composition which you wise men admire; following Pythagoras in this doctrine alone, namely silence, and doing this only because of your want of words; and besides that, you profess to think well of the Art of Love of Sphodrias the Cynic, and the Amatory Conversation of Protagorides, and the Convivial Dialogues of that beautiful philosopher Persæus, compiled out of the Commentaries of Stilpon and Zeno, in which he inquires, How one may guard against guests at a banquet going to sleep; and, How one ought to use drinking of healths; and, When one ought to introduce beautiful boys and girls into a banquet; and when one ought to treat them well as if they were admired, and when one ought to send them away as disregarding them; and also, concerning various kinds of cookery, and concerning loaves, and other things; and all the over-subtle discussions in which the son of Sophroniscus has indulged concerning kissing. A philosopher who was continually exercising his intellect on such investigations as these, being entrusted, as Hermippus relates, with the citadel of Corinth by Antigonus, got drunk and lost even Corinth itself, being outwitted and defeated by Aratus the Sicyonian; who formerly had argued in his Dialogues against Zeno the philosopher, contending that a wise man would in every respect be a good general; and this excellent pupil of Zeno proved this especial point admirably by his own achievements. For it was a witty saying of Bion the Borysthenite, when he saw a brazen statue of his, on which was the inscription, PERSEUS OF CITIUM, THE PUPIL OF ZENO, that the man who engraved the inscription had made a blunder, for that it ought to have been, Persæus the servant ( οἰκιτίεα not κιτίεα) of Zeno; for he had been born a slave of Zeno, as Nicias of Nicæa relates, in his History of Philosophers; and this is confirmed by Sotion the Alexandrian, in his Successions. And I have met with two books of that admirable work of Persæus, which have this title,

But Ctesibius the Chalcidian, the friend of Menedemus, as Antigonus the Carystian relates in his Lives, being asked by somebody, What he had ever got by philosophy? replied, The power of getting a supper without contributing to it himself. On which account Timon somewhere or other said to him— And Ctesibius was a man who made very good guesses, and was a very witty man, and a sayer of amusing things; on which account every one used to invite him to their parties; he was not a man like you, you Cynic, who never sacrificed to the Graces, nor even to the Muses. And therefore Virtue avoiding you, and all like you, sits by Pleasure, as Mnasalces the Sicyonian says, in his Epigrams— And Baton the comic writer says in his Homicide—

However, Archestratus, as I was saying before this long digression, whom you praise as equal to Homer, because of his praises of the stomach—though your friend Timon says of the stomach, when speaking of the Sea-dog, writes as follows:— But this Diodorus was by birth an Aspendian; but desiring to be thought a Pythagorean, he lived after the fashion of you Cynics, letting his hair grow, being dirty, and going barefoot. On which account some people fancied that it was an article of the Pythagorean creed to let the hair grow, which was in reality a fashion introduced by Diodorus, as Hermippus asserts. But Timæus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, writes thus concerning him- "Diodorus, who was by birth an Aspendian, introduced a novel fashion of dress, and pretended to resemble the Pythagoreans. Stratonicus wrote and sent a messenger to him, desiring him who carried the message to seek out a disciple of Pythagoras who kept the portico crowded by his insane vagaries about dress, and his insolence. And Sosicrates, in the third book of the Succession of Philosophers, relates that Diodorus used to wear a long beard, and a worn-out cloak, and to keep his hair long, indulging in these fashions out of a vain ostentation. For that the Pythagoreans before him wore very handsome clothes, and used baths, and perfumes, and hair of the ordinary length.

And if you in reality, O philosopher, do admire contentment and moderation in your feasts, why is it that you have come hither without being invited? Did you come as to a house of intemperance, in order to learn to make a Catalogue of a cook's instruments? or in order to spout some verses of Cepholion the Athenian? For according to the Cedalion of Sophocles, you are And he says that you philosophers always have your minds set upon banquets; and that you think it constantly necessary to ask for something to eat or to devour some Cynic food. For there is no need for our picking our phrases. And all this is plain from what Alexis relates in this book which is entitled Linus: and in that he supposes Hercules to have been educated by Linus, and to have been ordered by him to select any one out of a number of books that were at hand to read. And he having taken a cookery-book in his hand, retained it with great eagerness. And Linus then speaks to him in the following terms—

When Magnus had run through these quotations, Cynulcus, looking at the philosophers who were present, said— as Cratinus says, in his Archilochi. For he, forgetting before what a tribunal he was making an exhibition of his fine iambics, read his colabri with his natural greediness, and at the same time with his usual elegance of expression, and and after all this fine ignorant stupidity, he goes round to people's houses, seeking out where any handsome banquet is prepared, carrying his conduct to a length even beyond the Athenian Chærephon, of whom Alexis says in his Fugitive— But this man has no hesitation, like the excellent Magnus, even to make excursions quite beyond the boundaries for the sake of his stomach, as Alexis said in his Men who Died together— And Theopompus, in his Ulysses, says—

And when all laughed at this, Ulpian said, Whence do the voluptuaries who talk so loosely get all their elegance of expression? And Cynulcus replied, But, O you well-seasoned little pig, Phrynichus the Cynic poet, in his Ephiates, mentions in these terms:— And the word χαριτογλωσσεῖν (to speak so as to please) is used by Aeschylus in the Prometheus Vinctus— And when Ulpian said again, But what, my friends, is meant by cooks' instruments? for these things were mentioned, and were thought worthy of being enumerated in the Arcadian banquets: and also where is the word ἀσώτιον (abode of luxury) to be found? For I know that the adjective ἄσωτος is common enough. And Alexis speaks of a luxurious extravagant man in his Cnidia, saying— And again, in the Phædrus, he says—

And Ctesippus the son of Chabrias carried hi extravagance and intemperance to such a height, that he old even the stones of his father's tomb, on which the Athenians had spent a thousand drachmæ, to furnish means for his luxury. And accordingly Diphilus says in his Men offering Sacrifices to the Dead— And Timocles, in his Demosatyri, says— And Menander, in his says this of him— And perhaps it was on account of this extravagant luxury and debauchery that Demosthenes has handed down his name in his treatise on Immunities. But those who have devoured their patrimony ought to be punished in such a way as this, like the Nauclerus of Menander. For Menander says—

And Axionicus speaks of a certain Pythodelus as a very intemperate man, in his Etrurian, saying— And Anaxandrides attacks Polyeuctus, turning him into ridicule in the comedy called Tereus—

And Theopompus, in the tenth book of his account of the Exploits of Philip, (a book from which some separate the conclusion, in which there is the mention made of the demagogues at Athens,) says that Eubulus the demagogue was an intemperate man. And he uses the following expressions— he continues, And speaking of the Tarentines, in the fifty-second book of his Histories, he writes as follows—

But concerning the intemperance and general habits and life of Philip and his companions, Theopompus gives the following account, in the forty-ninth book of his Histories—

But Duris, in the seventh book of his History of the Affairs of Macedonia, speaking of Pasicyprus the king of Cyprus, and of his intemperate habits, writes as follows— Such also was Aethiops the Corinthian, as Demetrius the Scepsian relates, of whom mention is made by Archilochus;

But Demetrius carried his extravagance to such a height, he, I mean, who was the descendant of Demetrius Phalereus, according to the account of Hegesander, that he had Aristagora the Corinthian for a mistress, and lived in a most expensive manner. And when the Areopagitæ summoned him before them, and ordered him to live more decorously— said he, And hereupon he enumerated some who acted in this manner by name. And Antigonus the king, having heard this, made him a thesmothete. And he, being an hipparch at the Panathenæa, erected a seat close to the statues of Mercury for Aristagora, higher than the Mercuries themselves. And when the mysteries were celebrated at Eleusis, he placed a seat for her close to the temple, saying that those who endeavored to hinder him should repent it.

But Phanodemus, and also Philochorus, have related that in former times the judges of the Areopagus used to summon before them and to punish profligate and extravagant men, and those who had no ostensible means of living: and many others have told the same story. At all events, those judges sent for Menedemus and Asclepiades the philosophers when they were young men and poor, and asked them how they managed to look so sleek and comfortable when they spent the whole day idling with philosophers, and had no property. And they replied that some one of the men about the mill had better be sent for. And when he came and said that they came every night to the mill and threshed and ground the corn, and each earned two drachmæ, the judges of the Areopagus marvelled, and presented them with two hundred drachmæ as a reward.

And the citizens of Abdera brought Democritus to trial, on the ground that he had wasted the estate which he had inherited from his father. And when he had read to them his Great World, and his treatise concerning the Things in the Shades below, and had said that he had spent it on these works, he was discharged.

But those men who are not so luxurious, as Amphis says— And according to Diphilus— Being enemies to their own estate, as Satyrus in his treatise on Characters said, running through their land, tearing to pieces and plundering their own houses, selling their own property as if it were the spoils of the enemy, considering not what has been spent, but what will be spent, and not what will remain afterwards, but what will not remain, having spent beforehand in their youth the money which ought to have carried them safely through old age, rejoicing in companionship, not in companions, and in their wine, and not in those who drink it with them. But Agatharchides the Corinthian, in the twenty-eighth book of his Commentary on the Affairs of Europe, says And among the Romans, it is related, according to the statement of Posidonius, in the forty-ninth book of his Histories, that there was a man named Apicius who went beyond all other men in intemperance. This is that Apicius who was the cause of banishment to Rutilius, who wrote the history of the Romans in the Greek language. But concerning Apicius, the man, I mean, who is so notorious for his extravagant luxury, we have already spoken in our first book.

But Diogenes the Babylonian, in his treatise on Nobility of Birth, says

And I know too of many other intemperate and extravagant men, whom I leave you to find out, with the exception of Callias the son of Hipponicus, whom even the tutors of little children have heard of. But concerning the others whom I have been a little hasty in mentioning, if you have anything to say, I have the doors of my ears open. So speak; for I want to know something.

Besides Magnus used the words ἐπεσθίειν and ἐπιφαγεῖν. And Aemilianus said, you have the word ἀσώτιον used by Strattis, in his Chrysippus, where he says—

But the instruments used by a cook are enumerated by Anaxippus, in his Harp-player, as follows:— But Aristophanes calls the dish which we commonly call χύτρα, a κακκάβη, in his play of the Women occupying the Tents; saying— And, in his Daitaleis, he says— And Antiphanes, in his Friend to the Thebans, says— But Antiphanes calls a dish βατάνιον, in his Euthydicus— And Alexis, in his Asclepioclides, says— But Antiphanes spells the word with a π; writing it πατάνιον, in his Wedding— And Philetærus says, in his Œnopion— And, in a subsequent passage, he says— And Antiphanes, in his Parasite, said this— But Eubulus, in his Ionian, uses both forms, both βατάνιον and πατάνιον, where he says—

But Alexis made a catalogue of seasonings, in his play called the Caldron, saying— And, in his Woman working all Night, or the Spinners, he introduces a cook as saying— And, in his Wicked Woman, he says— And Teleclides used the word ἐπεσθίειν, in his Prytanes, in this manner:— And Eupolis used the word ἐπιφαγεῖν in his Taxiarchs— And Aristophanes, in his Plutus, says—

But there was another class of men somewhat different from the cooks, called τραπεζοποιοὶ, setters out of tables. But what their office was is plainly stated by Antiphanes, in his Sojourner— And it is worth inquiring whether the τραπεζοκόμος is the same person as the τραπεζοποιός. For king Juba, in his treatise on Similitudes, says that the τραπεζοκόμος is the same person who is called by the Romans structor, quoting from the play of Alexander, which is entitled Potation— But they called him τραπεζοποιὸς who took care of the tables, and of everything else which required order and good mnagement. Philemon says, in his — They also used the word ἐπιτραπεζώματα, meaning by th s the food which was placed upon the table. Plato says, in the Menelaus— They also called the man who bought the meat, the Ἀγοραστὴς, but now they call him ὀψωνάτωρ, an officer whom Xenophon mentions, in the second ³¹ book of the Memorabilia, speaking thus:— But the same word is used in a more general sense by Menander, in his Phanius— And Aristophanes calls him ὀψώνης, in his Tagenistæ, saying— Cratinus, too, uses the verb παροψωνέω, in his Cleobulinæ, where he says * * * * * * And Alexis uses the verb παραγοράζω, in the same sense, (to buy dainty side-dishes,) in his Dropidas.

There are people called εἰλέατροι; they are those, according to Pamphilus, who invite people to the king's table, having their name derived from ἐλεός (a kitchen table). But Artemidorus calls them δειπνοκλήτορες.

They also used to call the tasters (according to the statement of the same Pamphilus) ἐδέατροι, because they ate of dishes before the king with a view to his safety. But now, the person called ἐδέατρος is the superintendent of the whole management of the feast; and that office is very eminent and honourable. Accordingly, Chares, in the third book of his Histories, says that Ptolemy surnamed Soter, was originally appointed as the taster ( ἐδέατρος) of Alexander. And it appears that the person whom the Romans now call the taster was at that time called by the Greeks προτένθης. As Aristophanes, in the earlier of his plays, called the Clouds, says— And Pherecrates mentions them, in his Countrymen— And Philyllus says, in his Hercules— And I find also a decree passed, while Cephisodrus was archer at Athens, in which the tasters are mentioned as a regular guild or college; just like the men who are called parasites. For the decree runs thus:— And that the ancients had people who were called Xenophon tells us in his treatise which is entitled Hiero or the Tyrant, where he says, And Anaxilas, in his Calypso, says—

And the ancients used to call those who made sweetmeats and cheesecakes δημιουργοί. Menander, in his False Hercules, blaming the cooks as attempting what they ought not, says— But that all these different duties were formerly separated, when the demiurgi, as they called them, attended to the sweetmeats, and the cooks to the regular cookery, Antiphanes shows us plainly enough, in his Chrysis, where he says— And Menander, in his Demiurgus, says— But Seleucus says that Panyasis is the earliest author who speaks of sweetmeats, in the book in which he speaks of the human sacrifices practised by the Egyptians, saying that many sorts of pastry and sweetmeats are put on the table, and many kinds of young birds. And before his time Stesichorus, or Ibycus, in the poem entitled the Contest, wrote as follows:—- But that this poem is the work of Stesichorus, Simonides the poet is a most undeniable witness; who, when speaking of Meleager, says— For Stesichorus had sung so in the previously quoted poem, namely, the Contests—

But I am not ignorant of what Apollodorus the Athenian has said of the Delians, that they supplied all who came to their sacred ceremonies with the assistance of cooks and table-setters; and from their actions they were named Magis and Gongylis;—since, says Aristophanes, they furnished them at these banquets with round barley-cakes, ( γόγγυλαι μάζαι,) as if they had been women. And even to this very day some of them are called Chœraci, and Amni, and Artysilai, and Sesami, and Artusitragi, and Neocori, and Icthyboli. And of the women, some are called Cuminanthæ. But all are called by one common name Eleodytæ, because they attend on the kitchen tables, and minister at the festivals. For ἔλεος means a kitchen or cook's table. Homer says— On which account, also, Polycraton the son of Crithon, a Rhenæan, when instituting a prosecution against hem, did not call them Delians, but inscribed his action And the law of the Amphictyons commands the Eleodytæ to provide water; meaning by Eleodytæ the table-setters, and all attendants of that sort. But Criton the comic poet, in his Busy-body, calls the Delians the parasites of the god, in these lines—

But Achæus the Eretrian, in his Alcmæon, a satyric drama, calls the Delphians makers of sauces, in these words:— Inasmuch, forsooth, as they cut up the victims, it is plain that they cooked and seasoned them; and, having a regard to these facts, Aristophanes also said— And, in the lines immediately following the former passage, Achæus says— For the Satyrs ridicule the Delphians, as devoting all their time and attention to festivals and sacrifices. And Semus says, in the fourth book of his Deliad, And Arisotle, or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, speaking of the Magne- sians who dwell on the banks of the river Mæander, as colonists of the Delphians, represents them as showing the same attentions to all foreigners who came to them; speaking as follows: — But Demetrius the Scepsian, in the sixteenth book of his Trojan Array, says that in Laconia, on the road which is called the Hyacinthine road, statues of the heroes Daiton and Ceraon were erected by those who made barley-cakes at the Phiditia, and by the attendants who mixed the wine. And the same writer reports also, in the twenty-fourth book of the same work, that Daitas the hero is worshipped among the Trojans, who is also mentioned by Mimnermus. And Hegesander the Delphian says that Jupiter is worshipped in Cyprus, under the names of Eilapinastes or the Feaster, and of Splanchnotomus or the Carver of Entrails.

And while much such conversation as this was proceed- ing, on a sudden a noise was heard from some one of the neighbouring places, as from an hydraulic organ, very pleasant and agreeable, so that we all turned round towards it, being charmed by the melody; and Ulpian looking towards the musical Alcides said, Do you hear, O you most musical of men, this beautiful harmony which has made us turn round, being enchanted by the music? And is it not the case, as it is said to be among you Alexandrians, that constant music of an unaccompanied flute causes pain rather than any musical pleasure to those who hear it? And Alcides said,—But this engine, the hydraulic organ, whether you choose to class it among stringed instruments or among wind instruments, is the invention of a fellow-countryman of ours, an Alexandrian, a barber by trade; and his name is Ctesibius. And Aristocles reports this, in his book on Choruses, saying— Now Aristoxenus did not feel sure on this point; but it is said, that Plato showed a sort of notion of the invention, making a nightly clock like the hydraulic organ; being very like an enormous hour-glass. And, indeed, the hydraulic organ does seem to be a kind of hour-glass. It cannot, therefore, be considered a stringed instrument, and one to be played by touching. But perhaps it may be called a wind instrument, because the organ is inflated by the water; for the pipes are plunged down into the water, and when the water is agitated by a youth, as the axles penetrate through the whole organ, the pipes are inflated, and emit a gentle and agreeable sound. And this organ is like a round altar; and they say that it was invented by Ctesibius the barber, who dwelt at that time in the territory of Aspendor, in the reign of the second Ptolemy surnamed Euergetes; and they say that he was a very eminent man; they say also, that he learnt a good deal from his wife Thais. But Trypho, in the third book of his treatise on Names, (and it is a dissertation on Flutes and Organs,) says Ctesibius the mechanic wrote a book about the hydraulis; but I am not sure that he is not mistaken as to the name. At all events, Aristoxenus prefers stringed instruments which are played upon by the touch to wind instruments; saying that wind instruments are very easy; for that many people, without having been taught, can play on the flute and pipe, as for instance, shepherds.

And this is what I have got to say to you about the hydraulic organ, O Ulpian. For the Phoenicians used a kind of flute called the gingras, according to the account of Xenophon, about a span in length, and of a very shrill and mournful tone. And the same instrument is used also by the Carians in their wailings, unless, indeed, when he says Phœnicia he means Caria; and indeed you may find the name used so in Corinna and in Bacchylides. And these flutes are called gingri by the Phœnicians from the lamentations for Adonis; for you Phoenicians called Adonis Gingres, as Democlides tells us. And Antiphanes mentions the gingri flutes, in his Physician; and Menander does so too, in his Carina; and Amphis, in his Dithyrambus, saying— And Axionicus says, in his Phileuripides—

But how much better, O most sagacious Ulpian, is this hydraulic organ, than the instrument which is called nabla; which Sopater the parodist, in his drama entitled Pylæ, says is also an invention of the Phoenicians, using the following expressions— And in the Slave of Mystacus we find— And Philemon says, in his Adulterer— There is also an instrument called the triangle, which Juba mentions in the fourth book of his Theatrical History, and says it is an invention of the Syrians; as is also the sambuca, which is called λυροφοίνιξ. But this instrument Neanthes the Cyzicene, in the first book of his Seasons, says is an invention of Ibycus the Rhegian poet; as also the lyre called barbitos was of Anacreon. But since you are running all us Alexandrians down as unmusical, and keep mentioning the monaulos as our only national instrument, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about that.

For Juba, in the before-mentioned treatise, says that the Egyptians call the monaulos an invention of Osiris, just as they say that kind of plagiaulos is, which is called photinx, and that, too, I will presently show you is mentioned by a very illustrious author; for the photinx is the same as the flute, which is a national instrument. But Sophocles, in his Thamyras, speaks of the monaulos, saying— * * * * And Araros, in his Birth of Pan, says— And Anaxandrides, in his Treasure, says— And in his Bottle-bearer he says— And Sopater, in his Bacchis, says— But Protagorides of Cyzicus, in the second book of his treatise on the Assemblies in Honour of Daphne, says, "He touched every kind of instrument, one after another, castanets, the weak-sounding pandurus, but he drew the sweetest harmony from the sweet monaulos. And Posidonius the Stoic philosopher, in the third book of his Histories, speaking of the war of the Apameans against the Larisæans, writes as follows— But I am not ignorant that Amerias the Macedonian, in his Dialects, says, that the monaulos is called tityrinus. So here you have, O excellent Ulpian, a man who mentions the photinx. But that the monaulos was the same instrument which is now called calamaules, or reedfife, is clearly shown by Hedylus, in his Epigrams, where he says— As, therefore, they now call those who play on a pipe of reeds ( κάλαμοι) calamaules, so also they call them now rapaules, according to the statement of Amerias the Macedonian, in his dialects.

But I wish you to know, my most excellent Ulpian, that a more musical and accomplished people than the Alexandrians is not mentioned. And I do not speak only of playing on the harp, with which even the poorest people among us, and those who do not make a profession of it, and who are utterly ignorant of every other kind of learning, are so familiarized that they can in a moment detect any error which has been made in striking the strings,—but especially are they skilful with the flute; and not only in those which are called girls' flutes and boys' flutes, but also in men's flutes, which are called perfect and superperfect; and also in those which are called harp-flutes and finger-flutes. For the flutes called elymi, which Sophocles mentions in his Niobe and in his Drummers, we do not understand to be anything but the common Phrygian flute. And these, too, the Alexandrians are very skilful in. They are acquainted also with the flute with two holes, and also with the intermediate flute, and with those which are called hypotreti, or bored underneath. And Callias also speaks of the flute called elymi, in his Pedetæ. But Juba says that they are an invention of the Phrygians, and that they were also called scytaliæ, from their resemblance in thickness to the scytale. And Cratinus the younger says that the Cyprians also use them, in his Thera- menes. We know, too, of some which are called half-bored, of which Anacreon says— And these flutes are smaller than the perfect flutes. At all events, Aeschylus says, speaking metaphorically, in his Ixion— And these half-bored flutes are the same as those which are called boys' flutes, which they use at banquets, not being fit for the games and public shows; on which account Anacreon called them tender.

I am acquainted, too, with other kinds of flutes, the tragic flute, and the lysiodic ³³ flute, and the harplike flute; all which are mentioned by Ephorus, in his Inventions and by Euphranor the Pythagorean, in his treatise on Flutes, and also by Alexon, who wrote another treatise on Flutes. But the flute made of reeds is called tityrinus among the Dorians in Italy, as Artemidorus the Aristophanian tells us, in the second book of his History of Doris. And the flute which is called magadis, which is also named palæo-magais, sends forth a sharp and a deep note at the same time, as Anaxandrides says in his Armed Fighter— And the flutes called lotus flutes are the same which are called photinges by the Alexandrians; and they are made of the plant called the lotus; and this is a wood which grows in Libya. But Juba says that the flute which is ma e out of the leg bones of the kid is an invention of the Thebans; and Tryphon says that those flutes also which are called elphantine flutes were first bored among the Phoenicians. I know, too, that the magadis is a stringed instrument, as is the harp, the lyre, and the barbitos. But Euphorion the epic poet says in his book on the Isthmian Games— But Aristoxenus calls the following foreign instruments—phœnices, and pectides, and magadides, and sambucæ, and triagles, and clepsiambi, and scindapsi, and the instrument called the enneachord or nine-stringed instrument. But Plato, in the third book of his Polity, states—

But the scindapsus is an instrument of four strings, as Matron the parodist says in the following lines— And Theopompus the Colophonian likewise mentions it, the Epic poet, I mean, in his poem entitled the Chariot— Anaxilas, too, in his Lyre Maker, says— But Sopater the parodist, in his poem entitled says that the pectis is an instrument with two strings, saying— The instrument called pariambis is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Periallus, in this way— Now it was Alexander of Cythera, according to the account given by Juba, who completed the psaltery with its full number of strings. And he, when he had grown old in the city of the Ephesians, suspended this instrument in the temple of Diana, as being the most skilful invention he had made with reference to his art. Juba mentions also the lyrophœnix and the Epigonius, which, though now it is transformed into the upright psaltery, still preserves the name of the man who was the first to use it. But Epigonius was by birth an Ambraciot, but he was subsequently made a citizen of Sicyon. And he was a man of great skill in music, so that he played the lyre with his bare hand without a plectrum. For the Alexandrians have great experience and skill in all the above-named instruments and kinds of flutes. . And whichever of them you wish me to try, I will exhibit my own skill before you, though there are many others in my country more musical and skilful than I am.

But Alexander, my fellow-citizen, and he has only lately died, having given a public exhibition of his skill on the instrument called the triangle, made all the Romans so music-mad that even now most people recollect the way in which he used to play. And Sophocles speaks of this triangle in his Mysians, saying— And in his Thamyras he also mentions it. But Aristophanes, in his Daitaleis, and Theopompus, in his Penelope, likewise speak of it. And Eupolis, in his Baptæ, says— And the instrument called the pandurus is mentioned, as has been said before, by Euphorion, and by Protagorides, in the second book of his treatise on the Assemblies in honour of Daphne. But Pythagoras, who wrote a book on the Red Sea, says that the Troglodytæ make the panduri out of the daphne which grows on the seashore.

But horns and trumpets are the invention of the Etrurians. But Metrodorus the Chian, in his history of the Affairs of Troy, says that Marsyas invented the pipe and flute at Celænæ, when all his predecessors had played on a single reed. But Euphorion the epic poet, in his treatise on the Modulation of Songs, says that Mercury invented the pipe which consists of one single reed; but that some say that Seuthes and Ronaces the Medes did so; and that Sileuus invented the pipe which is made of many reeds, and that Marsyas invented that one which is joined together with wax.

This then, O my word-hunting Ulpian, is what you may learn from us Alexandrians, who are very fond of the music of the monaulos. For you do not know that Menecles the Barcæman compiler, and also that Andron, in his Chronicles, him of Alexandria I mean, assert that it is the Alexandrians who instructed all the Greeks and the barbarians, when the former encyclic mode of education began to fail, on account of the incessant commotions which took place in the times of the successors of Alexander. There was subsequently a generation of all sorts of learning in the time of Ptolemy the seventh king of Egypt, the one who was properly called by the Alex- andrians Cacergetes; for he having murdered many of the Alexandrians, and banished no small number of those who had grown up to manhood with his brother, filled all the islands and cities with men learned in grammar, and philosophy, and geometry, with musicians, and painters, and schoolmasters, and physicians, and men of all kinds of trades and professions; who, being driven by poverty to teach what they knew, produced a great number of celebrated pupils.

But music was a favourite amusement of all the Greeks of old time; on which account also skill in playing the flute was much aimed at. Accordingly, Chamæleon of Heraclia, in his book entitled Protrepticus, says that the Lacedæmonians and Thebans all learned to play on the flute, and the inhabitants of Heraclea in Pontus devoted themselves to the same study down to his own time. And that so did the most illustrious of the Athenians, Callias the son of Hipponicus, and Critias the son of Callaeschrus. But Duris, in his treatise on Euripides and Sophocles, says that Alcibiades learnt music, not of any ordinary master, but of Pronomus, who had the very highest reputation in that line. And Aristoxenus says that Epaminondas the Theban learnt to play the flute of Olympiodorus and Orthagoras. And likewise, many of the Pythagoreans practised the art of flute-playing, as Euphranor, and Archytas, and Philolaus, and many others. But Euphranor has also left behind an essay on Flutes, and so too has Archytas. And Aristophanes shows us, in his Daitaleis, the great eagerness with which men applied themselves to this study, when he says— And Phrynichus, in his Ephialtes, says— And Epicharmus, in his Muses, says that Minerva played a martial strain to the Dioscuri. And Ion, in his Phœnician, or Cæneus, calls the flute a cock, speaking thus:— And also, in his Garrison, he calls the pipe the Idæan cock, using the following expression:— And, in the Second Phœnix, the same Ion writes— Where he means Phrygian rhythm; and he calls the Phrygian flute deep-toned. For it is deep; on which account they also add a horn to it, having a similarity to the bell mouth of trumpets.

So now this book may be ended, my friend Timocrates; as it is quite long enough.