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
a part of it in his daily revels, and the rest he would scatter about,
standing in the public streets, and saying, "Let whoever chance gives
it to, take it:" and then, throwing the money about, he would depart.
And very often, having a plaited garland of roses on his head, and
wearing a golden embroidered robe, he would walk about alone, having
stones under his arm, which he would throw at those of his friends who
were following him. And he used to bathe also in the public baths,
anointed all over with perfumes; and, on one occasion, some private
individual, seeing him, said, "You are a happy man, O king; you smell
in a most costly manner:" and he, being much pleased, said, "I will
give you as much as you can desire of this perfume." And so he ordered
an ewer containing more than two choes of thick perfumed unguent to
be poured over his head; so that the multitude of the poorer people
who were about all collected to gather up what was spilt; and, as the
place was made very slippery by it, Antiochus himself slipped and fell,
laughing a great deal, and most of the bathers did the same.
But Polybius, in the twenty-sixth book of his Histories, calls this
man Epimanes (mad), and not Epiphanes (illustrious), on account of his
actions. "For he not only used to go to entertainments of the common
citizens, but he also would drink with any strangers who happened to be
sojourning in the city, and even with those of the meanest class. And
if," says Polybius, "he heard that any of the younger men were making a
feast anywhere whatever, he would come with an earthen bowl, and with
music, so that the greater part of the feasters fled away alarmed at
his unexpected appearance. And very often he would put off his royal
robes, and take a common cloak, and in that dress go round the market."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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