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
He tells no lie . . . .
A man dug out his eye, as Matron does
The eyes of fish when he comes near to them.
And Anaxilas says, in his Morose Man,—
Matron has carried off and eaten up
A cestris' head; and I am quite undone.
It being the very extravagance of gluttony to carry a thing off while
eating it, and such a thing too as the head of a cestris; unless,
perhaps, you may suppose, that those who are skilful in such things are
aware of there being some particular good qualities in the head of a
cestris; and if so, it belonged to Archestratus's gluttony to explain
that to us.
29. But Antiphanes, in his Rich Man, gives us a catalogue of epicures,
in the following lines:—
Euthymus too was there, with sandals on,
A ring upon his finger, well perfumed,
Silently pondering on I know not what.
[Sidenote: EPICURES.]
Phœnicides too, and my friend Taureas,
Such great inveterate epicures that they
Would swallow all the remnants in the market;
They at this sight seem'd almost like to die.
And bore the scarcity with small good-humour;
But gather'd crowds and made this speech to them:—
"What an intolerable thing it is
That any of you men should claim the sea,
And spend much money in marine pursuits,
While not one fin of fish comes to this market!
What is the use of all our governors
Who sway the islands? We must make a law
That there should be copious importation
Of every kind of fish. But Matron now
Has carried off the fishermen; and then
There's Diogeiton, who, by Jove, has brought
The hucksters over to keep back for him
All the best fish; and he's not popular
For doing this, for there is mighty waste
In marriage-feasts and youthful luxury."
But Euphron, in his Muses, says,—
But when at some fine banquet of young men
Phœnicides perceived a smoking dish
Full of the sons of Nereus, he held back
His hands, with rage excited. Thus he spoke:—
"Who boasts himself a clever parasite
At eating at the public cost? who thinks
To filch the dainty dishes from the middle?
Where's Corydus, or Phyromachus, or Nillus?
Let them come here, they shall get nought of this."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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