3. But a still more beautiful feature in the Doric character is the friendly community of their public tables, founded upon the close union of the company of the tables (ἑταιρία in Crete);(1321) into which fresh members were admitted by unanimous election (by ballot).(1322) Whether a preference was shown to kinsmen is uncertain; the syssitia indeed, as divisions of the state, were founded upon a supposed relationship, that is, the connexion of houses;(1323) but here we are speaking of smaller societies, consisting of about fifteen men. A company of this kind was a small state in itself,(1324) arranged upon aristocratical principles,(1325) although the equality was not interrupted by the privileges of any individuals. The ties of this friendly union were however drawn still closer by the constant intercourse of giving and taking, which enriched the scanty meal with the more palatable _after-meal_ (ἐπάϊκλον) or dessert, which no one was permitted to purchase:(1326) from which the κοπὶς should be distinguished, a sacrificial feast, which individuals furnished on stated occasions, and invited to it any friends whom they wished, and particularly the kings.(1327) The phiditia were not, however, considered a scanty and disagreeable meal, until thrown in the shade by the refinements of modern luxury; for they had originally been intended to increase the comforts of the partakers. The conversation, indeed, turned chiefly upon public affairs:(1328) but laughter and jocularity were not prohibited.(1329) Every person was encouraged to speak by the general confidence, and there were frequent songs, as Alcman says that “at the banquets and drinking entertainments of the men, it was fit for the guests to sing the pæan.”(1330) Nor was the appellation φειδίτια, that is, the _spare_, or _scanty meals_, of any antiquity, and the Spartans received it from abroad:(1331) by whom, as well as in Crete, they were once called ἀνδρεῖα, or the meals of men.(1332) For the men alone were admitted to them: the youths and boys ate in their own divisions, whilst the small children were allowed to eat at the public tables, and both in Crete and Sparta they sat on low stools near their fathers’ chairs, and received a half share without any vegetables (ἀβαμβάκευστα).(1333) The women were never admitted to the syssitia of the men: both at Sparta and in Crete the rule was, that they ate at home;(1334) in the latter state, however, a woman had the care of the tables of the men.(1335) The Cretans were distinguished by their great hospitality: for every two tables of the citizens there was always one for foreigners; and when two cities were in close alliance with one another, their citizens mutually enjoyed the right of frequenting the public tables of the other state.(1336)