Dear friends should never long abstain from feasts, For e'en the memory of them is delightful. And Antipater the philosopher once assembled a banqueting party, and invited all the guests on the understanding that they were to discuss subtle questions. And they say that Arcesilaus, being once invited to a banquet, and sitting next to a man who ate voraciously, while he himself was unable to enjoy anything, when some one of those who were present offered him something, said-- May it be well with you; be this for Telephus: for it so happened that the epicure by his side was named Telephus. But Zeno, when some epicure who was at the same party with him snatched away the upper half of the fish the moment that it was placed on the table, turned the fish round himself, and took the remaining portion, saying-- Then Ino came and finish'd what was left. And Socrates seeing a man once devouring dainties eagerly, said--O you bystanders, which of you eats bread as if it were sweetmeats, and sweetmeats as if they were bread? 3. But now let us speak of the banquets celebrated by Homer. For the poet gives us the different times of them, and the persons present, and the causes of them. And Xenophon and Plato have done well to imitate him in this; who at the very beginning of their treatises set forth the cause which gave rise to the banquet, and mention the names of those who were present. But Epicurus never defines either the place or the time, nor does he preface his accounts with any preliminary statement. But Aristotle says that it is an unseemly thing for a man to come unwashed and covered with dust to a banquet. Then Homer instructs us who ought to be invited; saying that one ought to invite the chiefs; and men of high reputation-- He bade the noblest of the Grecian peers,[289:1] not acting on the principle asserted by Hesiod, for he bids men invite chiefly their neighbours-- Then bid your neighbours to the well-spread feast, Who live the nearest, and who know you best.[289:2] For such a banquet would be one of rustic stupidity; and adapted to the most misanthropic of proverbs-- Friends who far off do live are never friends. For how can it be anything but nonsense that friendship should depend on place and not on disposition? Therefore we find in Homer, that after the cup had gone round, Then the old man his counsels first disclosed;[289:3] but among people who did not regulate their banquets in an orderly manner we read-- Then first the flatterer rose with mocking speech.