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
And above all remember to select
The elecampane and the aster bright,
And place them in the temples of the gods,
By roadside built, or hang them on their statues,
Which first do catch the eye of the visitor.
These are propitious gifts, whether you pluck
The many-hued chrysanthemum, or lilies
Which wither sadly o'er the much-wept tomb,
Or gay old-man, or long-stalk'd cyclamen,
Or rank nasturtium, whose scarlet flowers
Grim Pluto chooses for his royal garland.
32. From these lines it is plain that the chelidonium is a different
flower from the anemone (for some people have called them the same).
But Theophrastus says that there are some plants, the flowers of which
constantly follow the stars, such as the one called the heliotrope, and
the chelidonium; and this last plant is named so from its coming into
bloom at the same time as the swallows arrive. There is also a flower
spoken of under the name of ambrosia by Carystius, in his Historical
Commentaries, where he says—"Nicander says that the plant named
ambrosia grows at Cos, on the head of the statue of Alexander." But I
have already spoken of it, and mentioned that some people give this
name to the lily. And Timachidas, in the fourth book of his Banquet,
speaks also of a flower called theseum,—
The soft theseum, like the apple blossom,
The sacred blossom of Leucerea,[127]
Which the fair goddess loves above all others.
And he says that the garland of Ariadne was made of this flower.
Pherecrates also, or whoever the poet was who wrote the play of the
Persians, mentions some flowers as fit for garlands, and says—
O you who sigh like mallows soft,
Whose breath like hyacinths smells,
Who like the melilotus speak,
And smile as doth the rose,
Whose kisses are as marjoram sweet,
Whose action crisp as parsley,
* * * * *
Whose gait like cosmosandalum.
Pour rosy wine, and with loud voice
Raise the glad pæan's song,
As laws of God and man enjoin
On holy festival.
And the author of the Miners, whoever he was, (and that poem is
attributed to the same Pherecrates,) says—
Treading on soft aspalathi
Beneath the shady trees,
In lotus-bearing meadows green,
And on the dewy cypirus;
And on the fresh anthryscum, and
The modest tender violet,
And green trefoil....
But here I want to know what this trefoil is; for there is a poem
attributed to Demarete, which is called The Trefoil. And also, in the
poem which is entitled The Good Men, Pherecrates or Strattis, whichever
is the author, says—
And having bathed before the heat of day,
Some crown their head and some anoint their bodies.
And he speaks of thyme, and of cosmosandalum. And Cratinus, in his
Effeminate Persons, says—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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