The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
And Ariston the philosopher, in the second book of his Amatory
Similitudes, says that Polemo, the Academic philosopher, used to
exhort those who were going to a supper, to consider how they might
make their party pleasant, not only for the present evening, but also
for the morrow. And Timotheus, the son of Conon, being once taken by
Plato from a very sumptuous and princely entertainment to one held
at the Academy, and being there feasted in a simple and scholar-like
manner, said that those who supped with Plato would be well the next
day also. But Hegesander, in his Commentaries, says that on the next
day Timotheus, meeting with Plato, said, "You, O Plato, sup well, more
with reference to the next day than to the present one!" But Pyrrho the
Elean, when on one occasion one of his acquaintances received him with
a very sumptuous entertainment, as he himself relates, said, "I will
for the future not come to you if you receive me in this manner; that I
may avoid being grieved by seeing you go to a great expense for which
there is no necessity, and that you, too, may not come to distress by
being overwhelmed by such expenses; for it is much better for us to
delight one another by our mutual companionship and conversation, than
by the great variety of dishes which we set before one another, of
which our servants consume the greater part."
15. But Antigonus of Carystus, in his Life of Menedemus, relating the
way in which the banquets of that philosopher are managed, says, that
he used to dine with one or two companions at most; and that all the
rest of his guests used to come after they had supped. For in fact,
Menedemus's supper and dinner were only one meal, and after that was
over they called in all who chose to come; and if any of them, as would
be the case, came before the time, they would walk up and down before
the doors, and inquire of the servants who came out what was being now
served up, and how far on the dinner had proceeded. And if they heard
that it was only the vegetables or the cured fish that was being served
up, they went away; but if they were told that the meat was put on the
table, then they went into the room which had been prepared for that
purpose. And in the summer a rush mat was spread over each couch, and
in the winter a fleece. But every one was expected to bring his own
pillow; and the cup, which was brought round to each person, did not
hold more than one cotyla. And the dessert was lupins or beans as a
general rule; but sometimes some fruits, such as were in season, were
brought in; in summer, pears or pomegranates; and in spring, pulse; and
in winter, figs. And we have a witness as to these things, Lycophron
the Chalcidian, who wrote a satyric drama entitled Menedemus, in which
Silenus says to the satyrs—
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