Oh mighty thund'ring Jove! Great Saturn's son, lord of the realms above, That I may be to thee and the nine Muses dear, That joy my heart may cheer; This is my prayer, my only prayer to thee. But the banquet of Plato is not an assembly of grave men, nor a conversazione of philosophers. For Socrates does not choose to depart from the banquet, although Eryximachus, and Phædrus, and some others, have already left it; but he stays till a late hour with Agathon and Aristophanes, and drinks from the silver well; for fairly has some one given this name to large cups. And he drinks out of the bowl cleverly, like a man who is used to it. And Plato says, that after this those two others began to nod, and that first of all Aristophanes fell asleep, and when day began to break so did Agathon; and that Socrates, after he had sent them both to sleep, rose up from table himself and went away to the Lyceum, when he might, says Herodicus, have gone to Homer's Læstrygones-- Where he who scorns the chains of sleep to wear, And adds the herdsman's to the shepherd's care, His double toils may claim a double pay, And join the labours of the night and day.[306:1] 19. But every banqueting party among the ancients was referred to the gods; and accordingly men wore garlands appropriate and peculiar to the gods, and used hymns and odes. And there were no slaves to attend upon the guests, but free youths acted as the cupbearers. So the son of Menelaus, although he was the bridegroom, and at his own wedding, acted; and in the poem of the beautiful Sappho, even Mercury acts as the cupbearer to the gods. And they were free men who prepared everything else for the guests. And after they had supped they went away while it was still daylight. But at some of the Persian feasts there were also councils held, as there were in the tent of Agamemnon with respect to the further conduct of the Trojan war. Now as to the entertainment given by Alcinous, to which the discourse of Ulysses refers where he says-- How goodly seems it ever to employ Man's social days in union and in joy; The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine, And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine; The heav'n-taught poet and enchanting strain, These are the products of a peaceful reign.[307:1] He refers also especially to his reception of strangers, since the Phæacians themselves were devoted to luxury: and yet if any one compares that feast made by Alcinous with the banquets of the philosophers, he will find that the better regulated of the two; although that also embraced much cheerfulness and spirit, only not in any unbecoming manner. For after the exhibition of gymnastics the bard sings-- The loves of Mars,