This being generally approved, Well, said Theo, speaking next, let it be
so, for it looks like truth; but let this be added, if you please,
that such entertainments are not only friendly, but also kindredly, the
persons beginning to have a new relation to another family. But there
is something more considerable, and that is this; since by this marriage
two families join in one, the man thinks it his duty to be civil
and obliging to the woman's friends, and the woman's friends think
themselves obliged to return the same to him and his; and upon this
account the company is doubled. And besides, since most of the little
ceremonies belonging to the wedding are performed by women, it is
necessary that, where they are entertained, their husbands should be
likewise present.
QUESTION IV. WHETHER THE SEA OR LAND AFFORDS BETTER FOOD.
CALLISTRATUS, SYMMACHUS, POLYCRATES.
Aedepsus in Euboea, where the baths are, is a place by nature every
way fitted for free and gentle pleasures, and withal so beautified with
stately edifices and dining rooms, that one would take it for no other
than the common place of repast for all Greece. Here, though the earth
and air yield plenty of creatures for the service of men, the sea no
less furnisheth the table with variety of dishes, nourishing a store of
delicious fish in its deep and clear waters. This place is especially
frequented in the spring; for hither at this time of year abundance of
people resort, solacing themselves in the mutual enjoyment of all those
pleasures the place affords, and at spare hours pass away the time in
many useful and edifying discourses. When Callistratus the Sophist lived
here, it was a hard matter to dine at any place besides his house; for
he was so extremely courteous and obliging, that no man whom he invited
to dinner could have the face to say him nay. One of his best humors was
to pick up all the pleasant fellows he could meet with, and put them in
the same room. Sometimes he did, as Cimon one of the ancients used to
do, and satisfactorily treated men of all sorts and fashions. But he
always (so to speak) followed Celeus, who was the first man, it is said,
that assembled daily a number of honorable persons of distinction, and
called the place where they met the Prytaneum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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