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 as this was the case, they say that it was a burden imposed on
every member of the choruses who was not present at the appointed
time, that he should give the ass a chœnix of barley; and that this
is stated by the same poet; and that what is meant by not liking
to win the grasshopper's prize, is not liking to sing; and that by
Panopeiadean is meant the ass, and the mighty feast is the chœnix of
barley.
85. And of the same kind is the epigram of Theognis the poet,—
For a sea-corpse has call'd me now back home,
Which, though dead, speaketh with a living mouth.
Where he means the cockle. And we may consider of the same character
those sentences in which we use words which resemble men's names, as—
λαβὼν ἀριστόνικον ἐν μάχῃ κράτος:
He gain'd in battle a glorious victory;
where ἀριστόνικος sounds like the name of a man, Aristonicus. And there
is also that riddle which is so frequently repeated—
Five men came to one place in vessels ten,
And fought with stones, but might not lift a stone,
And died of thirst while water reach'd their chins.
86. And what punishment had the Athenians who could not solve this
riddle when proposed to them, if it was only to drink a bowl of mixed
wine, as Clearchus has stated in his Definition? And, in the first
book of his treatise on Proverbs, he writes thus—"The investigation
of riddles is not unconnected with philosophy; for the ancients used
to make a display of their erudition by such things; for they used
at their entertainments to ask questions, not such as the men of the
present day ask one another, as to what sort of amorous enjoyment is
the most delicious, or what kind of fish is nicest, or what is most in
season at the moment; or again, what fish is best to eat at the time of
Arcturus, or what after the rising of the Pleiades, or of the Dog-star.
And then they offer kisses as prizes for those who gain the victory in
such questions; such as are hateful to men of liberal sentiments; and
as a punishment for those who are defeated they enjoin them to drink
sheer wine; which they drink more willingly than the cup of health. For
these things are well adapted to any one who has devoted his attention
to the writings of Philænis and Archestratus, or who has studied the
books called Gastrologies.
[Sidenote: CAPPING VERSES.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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