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
Theopompus also speaks of fatted geese and fatted calves in the
thirteenth book of his History of Philip, and in the eleventh book of
his Affairs of Greece, where he is speaking of the temperance of the
Lacedæmonians in respect of eating, writing thus—"And the Thasians
sent to Agesilaus, when he arrived, all sorts of sheep and well-fed
oxen; and beside this, every kind of confectionery and sweetmeat. But
Agesilaus took the sheep and the oxen, but as for the confectionery and
sweetmeats, at first he did not know what they meant, for they were
covered up; but when he saw what they were, he ordered the slaves to
take them away, saying that it was not the custom of the Lacedæmonians
to eat such food as that. But as the Thasians pressed him to take them,
he said, Carry them to those men (pointing to the Helots) and give them
to them; saying that it was much better for those Helots to injure
their health by eating them, than for himself and the Lacedæmonians
whom he had with him." And that the Lacedæmonians were in the habit
of treating the Helots with great insolence, is related also by Myron
of Priene, in the second book of his History of Messene, where he
says—"They impose every kind of insulting employment on the Helots,
such as brings with it the most extreme dishonour; for they compel them
to wear caps of dogskin, and cloaks also of skins; and every year they
scourge them without their having committed any offence, in order to
prevent their ever thinking of emancipating themselves from slavery.
And besides all this, if any of them ever appear too handsome or
distinguished-looking for slaves, they impose death as the penalty, and
their masters also are fined for not checking them in their growth and
fine appearances. And they give them each a certain piece of land, and
fix a portion which they shall invariably bring them in from it."
The verb χηνίξω, to cackle like a goose (χὴν), is
used and applied to those who play on the flute. Diphilus says in his
Synoris—
Ἐχήνισας,—this noise is always made
By all the pupils of Timotheus.
75. And since there is a portion of a fore-quarter of pork which is
called πέρνα placed before each of us, let us say something about
it, if any one remembers having seen the word used anywhere. For the
best πέρναι are those from Cisalpine Gaul: those from Cibyra in Asia
are not much inferior to them, nor are those from Lycia. And Strabo
mentions them in the third book of his Geography, (and he is not a very
modern author). And he says also, in the seventh[101] book of the same
treatise, that he was acquainted with Posidonius the Stoic philosopher,
of whom we have often spoken as a friend of Scipio who took Carthage.
And these are the words of Strabo—"In Spain, in the province of
Aquitania, is the city Pompelo, which one may consider equivalent to
Pompeiopolis, where admirable πέρναι are cured, equal to the Cantabrian
hams."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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