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
Make haste and go, for now the night descends,
And bring a lantern (λυχνοῦχον) with a candle furnish'd.
Alexis too, in his Forbidden Thing, says—
So taking out the candle from the lantern (λύχνιον),
He very nearly set himself on fire,
Carrying the light beneath his arm much nearer
His clothes than any need at all required.
[Sidenote: PARODIES.]
And Eumelus, in his Murdered Man . . . having said first—
_A._ Take now a pitchfork and a lantern (λυχνοῦχον),
adds—
_B._ But I now in my right hand hold this fork,
An iron weapon 'gainst the monsters of the sea;
And this light too, a well-lit horn lantern (λὑχνου).
And Alexis says, in his Midon—
The man who first invented the idea
Of walking out by night with such a lantern (λυχνούχου),
Was very careful not to hurt his fingers.
59. But the same Alexis says, in his Fanatic—
I think that some of those I meet will blame
For being drunk so early in the day;
But yet I pray you where's a lantern (φανὸς) equal
To the sweet light of the eternal sun?
And Anaxandrides, in his Insolence, says—
Will you take your lantern (φανόν) now, and quickly
Light me a candle (λύχνον)?
But others assert that it is a lamp which is properly called φανὸς. And
others assert that φανὸς means a bundle of matches made of
split wood. Menander says, in his Cousins—
This φανὸς is quite full of water now,
I must not shake (σείω) it, but throw it away (ἀποσείω).
And Nicostratus, in his Fellow-Countrymen, says—
For when this vintner in our neighbourhood
Sells any one some wine, or e'en a φανὸς,
Or vinegar, he always gives him water.
And Philippides, in his Women Sailing together, says—
_A._ The φανὸς did not give a bit of light.
_B._ Well, then, you wretched man, could not you blow it?
60. Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, calls what we now call λυχνία,
λυχνεῖον in this line—
_A._ Where were these λυχνεῖα made?
_B._ In Etruria.
For there were a great many manufactories in Etruria, as the Etrurians
were exceedingly fond of works of art. Aristophanes, in his Knights,
says—
Binding three long straight darts together,
We use them for a torch (λυχνείῳ).
And Diphilus, in his Ignorance, says—
We lit a candle (λύχνον), and then sought a candlestick
(λυχνεῖον).
And Euphorion, in his Historic Commentaries, says that the young
Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily dedicated, in the Prytaneum at Tarentum,
a candlestick capable of containing as great a number of candles as
there are days in a year. And Hermippus the comic poet, in his Iambics,
speaks of—
A military candlestick well put together.
And, in his play called The Grooms, he says—
Here, lamp (λυχνίδιον), show me my road on the right hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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