The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
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--
Speak not of wealth; that god I worship not,
Who comes with ease into a bad man's power.
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--
_A._ But from what country does this person come?
_B._ From Richland; and by general consent
The natives of that land are counted noble;
Nor can one find a noble beggar anywhere.
50. 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--
_A._ Come now, I'll sit me down; and bring me here,
O slave, a table, and a cup of wine,
That I may eat to flavour what I drink.
_B._ Here is a cup, a table, and some lentils.
_A._ No lentils bring to me, I like them not:
For if one eats them, they do taint the breath.)--
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:--
The Teian barley-cakes do please me not,
Nor e'en the Lydian sauces: but the Greeks,
And their dry lentil soup, delight me more
Than all that painful luxury of excess.
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--
We came to Eretria, for its white meal famed;)
and also, the Lydian sauces; still Timon prefers the lentil soup to both
of them put together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account