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
30. But Duris, speaking concerning the luxury of the Samians, quotes
the poems of Asius, to prove that they used to wear armlets on their
arms; and that, when celebrating the festival of the Heræa, they used
to go about with their hair carefully combed down over the back of
their head and over their shoulders; and he says that this is proved
to have been their regular practice by this proverb—"To go, like a
worshipper of Juno, with his hair braided."
Now the verses of Asius run as follows:—
And they march'd, with carefully comb'd hair
To the most holy spot of Juno's temple,
Clad in magnificent robes, whose snow-white folds
Reach'd to the ground of the extensive earth,
And golden knobs on them like grasshoppers,
And golden chaplets loosely held their hair,
Gracefully waving in the genial breeze;
And on their arms were armlets, highly wrought,
* * * * * * * * * * and sung
The praises of the mighty warrior.
But Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, says that the
Samians, being most extravagantly luxurious, destroyed the city, out
of their meanness to one another, as effectually as the Sybarites
destroyed theirs.
[Sidenote: THE COLOPHONIANS.]
31. But the Colophonians (as Phylarchus says), who originally adopted
a very rigid course of life, when, in consequence of the alliance and
friendship which they formed with the Lydians, they began to give way
to luxury, used to go into public with their hair adorned with golden
ornaments, as Xenophanes tells us—
They learnt all sorts of useless foolishness
From the effeminate Lydians, while they
Were held in bondage to sharp tyranny.
They went into the forum richly clad
In purple garments, in numerous companies,
Whose strength was not less than a thousand men,
Boasting of hair luxuriously dress'd,
Dripping with costly and sweet-smelling oils.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account