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
For if the housekeeper placed the meats on the table, it is plain that
there was no need for the carver to bring in more, so that some of the
above description is superfluous. But when the guests had departed the
tables were removed, as is done at the feasts of the Suitors and of the
Phæacians, in whose case he says--
The servants bore away the armour of the feast.
And it is plain that he means the dishes, for the word he uses is ἔντεα;
and it is that part of the armour which covers a man, such as his
breastplate, his greaves, and things like them which men call ἔντεα, as
being in front (ἄντια) of the parts of the body. And of the rooms in the
palaces of the heroes, those which were larger Homer calls μέγαρα, and
δώματα, and even κλισίας (tents). But the moderns call them ἀνδρῶνες (rooms
to receive men) and ξενῶνες (strangers' apartments).
21. What then, my friends, shall we call the entertainment which
Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes, (but who was more rightly called
Epimanes[308:2] from his actions,) gave? Now he was king of the
Syrians, being one of the Seleucidæ. And Polybius says of him, "He,
escaping out of the palace without the knowledge of the attendants, was
often found with one or two companions wandering about the city wherever
he might chance to take it into his head to go. And he was, above all
other places, frequently found at the shops of the engravers of silver
and of the goldsmiths, conversing on the subject of their inventions
with, and inquiring into the principles of their art from, the engravers
and other artists. And besides this, he often used to go among the
common people, conversing with whomsoever he might chance to meet; and
he would drink with the lowest and poorest strangers. And whenever he
heard of any young men having a banquet, without having given any notice
of his intention, he would come to join in their feast with a flute and
music, behaving in a most lascivious manner; so that many used to rise
up and depart, being alarmed at his strange behaviour. Often, also, he
would lay aside his royal robes, and put on a common cloak, and so go
round the market, like a man who was a candidate for some office: and
taking some people by the hand, and embracing others, he would solicit
them to vote for him, sometimes begging to be made ædile, and sometimes
tribune; and when he was elected, sitting in his ivory curule chair,
according to the fashion which prevails among the Romans, he would hear
all the causes which were pleaded in the forum, and decide them with
great attention and earnestness, by which conduct he greatly perplexed
sensible men. For some thought him a man of very simple tastes, and
others considered him mad. And his conduct with respect to presents was
very much the same. For he would give some people dice of antelope's
bones, and some he would present with dates, and to others he would give
gold. And even if he met people in the street whom he had never seen, he
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