BOOK I. _Question_ 1. At a feast is it allowable to talk learnedly and philosophize? 198. Long and tedious discourses would be out of place: but there must be conversation: let it be on useful subjects, 198-200. There are topics fit to be discussed at table, 200. Easy and pleasant discourse fits the occasion, 201. Disputation and pedantry are out of place, 202. 2. Whether the entertainer should seat the guests, or let every man take his own place, 203. The order and respect due to age, station, and relationship, may be observed without offence to any, the best man should have the best place, 204-206. Custom and decency should guide, 206-208. 3. Upon what account is the place at the table, called Consular, esteemed honorable? 210-212. Three reasons assigned, 211. 4. What qualifications should the steward of a feast possess? 212-216. He must be able to bear wine, have good nature, and suit his ministrations to the wants and tastes of all, 213-215. He must keep the company in good humor, and exclude every thing unpleasant, 216. 5. Why is it said that Love makes a man a poet? 217, 218. Poetry is the language of strong passion, 218. 6. Whether Alexander was a great drinker, 219-221. 7. Why old men love pure wine, 221. 8. Why old men read best at a distance, 222-224. 9. Why fresh water washes clothes better than salt, 224-226. 10. Why, at Athens, was it the privilege of the tribe Aeantis, that their chorus should never be determined to be the last? 226-228. BOOK II. _Question_ 1. What are the most agreeable questions and most pleasant raillery at an entertainment? 229-240. Questions are agreeable when they give a man opportunity to display his knowledge, to relate his own exploits, or to describe his own prosperity, 230-232. Raillery is pleasant when it refers to faults of which we are known to be innocent; when it implies gratitude for a favor bestowed; and when it proceeds from evident good humor, 233-240. 2. Why in autumn are men’s stomachs better than in other seasons of the year, 240, 241. 3. Which was first, the bird or the egg? 242-246. The perfect must come before the imperfect, 244. 4. Is wrestling the oldest exercise? 246, 247. 5. Why, in reckoning up different kinds of exercises, does Homer put them in this order,—Cuffing, Wrestling, Racing? 248, 249. 6. Why cannot Fir-trees, Pine-trees, and the like be grafted upon? 250, 251. 7. About the fish called Remora or Echeneis, 252. Why the horses called λυκοσπάδες are very mettlesome, 253. 9. Why the flesh of sheep bitten by wolves is sweeter than that of others, and the wool more apt to breed lice, 254. 10. Whether the ancients who provided for every one his mess did better than we who set many to the same dish, 255-258.