And always at the banquet crown your head With flowing wreaths of varied scent and hue, Culling the treasures of the happy earth; And steep your hair in rich and reeking odours, And all day long pour holy frankincense And myrrh, the fragrant fruit of Syria, On the slow slumb'ring ashes of the fire: Then, when you drink, let slaves these luxuries bring-- Tripe, and the boiled paunch of well-fed swine, Well soak'd in cummin juice and vinegar, And sharp, strong-smelling assafœtida; Taste, too, the tender well-roast birds, and game, Whate'er may be in season. But despise The rude uncivilized Sicilian mode, Where men do nought but drink like troops of frogs, And eat no solid seasoning. Avoid them. And seek the meats which I enjoin thee here. All other foods are only signs and proofs Of wretched poverty: the green boil'd vetch, And beans, and apples, and dried drums of figs. But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come; And if there are none, still of any country Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-- For that it is which makes a banquet noble. Thus should a free man live, or else descend Beneath the earth, and court the deadly realms Of Tartarus, buried deep beneath the earth Innumerable fathoms. But Lynceus, describing the banquet given by Lamia, the female flute-player, when she entertained Demetrius Poliorcetes, represents the guests the moment they come to the banquet as eating all sorts of fish and meat; and in the same way, when speaking of the feast given by Antigonus the king, when celebrating the Aphrodisiac festival, and also one given by King Ptolemy, he speaks of fish as the first course; and then meat. 60. But one may well wonder at Archestratus, who has given us such admirable suggestions and injunctions, and who was a guide in the matter of pleasure to the philosopher Epicurus, when he counsels us wisely, in a manner equal to that of the bard[169:1] of Ascra, that we ought not to mind some people, but only attend to him; and he bids us eat such and such things, differing in no respect from the cook in Damoxenus the comic writer, who says in his Syntrophi-- _A._ You see me here a most attentive pupil Of Epicurus, wisest of the Greeks, From whom in two years and ten months or less, I scraped together four good Attic talents. _B._ What do you mean by this? I pray thee, tell me, Was he a cook, my master? That is news.