The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
94. But Lysias, in the oration which bears this title—"Against
Æschines, the Pupil of Socrates, for Debt," (for I will recite the
passage, even though it be a rather long one, on account of your
excessive arrogance, O philosophers,)—begins in the following
manner—"I never should have imagined, O judges, that Æschines would
have dared to come into court on a trial which is so discreditable to
him. For a more disgracefully false accusation than the one which he
has brought forward, I do not believe it to be easy to find. For he,
O judges, owing a sum of money with a covenanted interest of three
drachmæ to Sosinomus the banker and Aristogiton, came to me, and
besought me not to allow him to be wholly stripped of his own property,
in consequence of this high interest. 'And I,' said he, 'am at this
moment carrying on the trade of a perfumer; but I want capital to go
on with, and I will pay you nine[60] obols a month interest.'" A fine
end to the happiness of this philosopher was the trade of a perfumer,
and admirably harmonizing with the philosophy of Socrates, a man who
utterly rejected the use of all perfumes and unguents! And moreover,
Solon the lawgiver expressly forbade a man to devote himself to any
such business: on which account Pherecrates, in his Oven, or Woman
sitting up all Night, says—
Why should he practise a perfumer's trade,
Sitting beneath a high umbrella there,
Preparing for himself a seat on which
To gossip with the youths the whole day long?
And presently afterwards he says—
And no one ever saw a female cook
Or any fishwoman; for every class
Should practise arts which are best suited to it.
[Sidenote: LENDING MONEY.]
And after what I have already quoted, the orator proceeds to say—"And
I was persuaded by this speech of his, considering also that this
Æschines had been the pupil of Socrates, and was a man who uttered
fine sentiments about virtue and justice, and who would never attempt
nor venture on the actions practised by dishonest and unjust men."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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