But we are all this while detaining the company from their wine, and those other recreations which the fertile genius of the Greeks invented to make the wheels of life move smoothly. Though the tables, according to the fashion of the times, were removed with the solid viands, others were brought in to replace them, on which the censers, the goblets, the silver or golden ladles for filling the smaller cups, were arranged in order.[778] The chairman, or, as he was then called, the king of the feast,[779] enjoyed absolute power over his subjects, and could determine better than their own palates, how much and how often each man should drink. This important functionary was not always identical with the entertainer, but sometimes his substitute, sometimes a person chosen by lot.[780] Capacious bowls of wine,[781] mingled with water, were placed on a sideboard, whence cup-bearers, sometimes of one, sometimes of the other sex, but always selected for their youth and beauty, filled, with ladles,[782] the goblets of the guests, which, when the froth rose above the brim, were, by an obvious metaphor, said to be crowned.[783] Among the Doric Greeks, female cup-bearers seem to have been always preferred; the Ptolemies of Egypt cherished the same taste; and the people of Tarentum, themselves of Doric race, passing successively through every stage of luxury, came, at length, to be served at table by beautiful young women without a vestige of clothing. In most cases, these maidens were slaves, but, in some countries, and everywhere, in remoter ages, the performance of such offices was not regarded as any way derogatory to persons of noble or princely blood. But, whatever might be their birth, beauty of form and countenance constituted their chief recommendation. For there is a language in looks and gestures, there is a fountain of joy and delight concealed deep in the physical structure, and its waters laugh to the eye of intellect, and reflect into the hearts of those who behold it a sunniness and exhilaration greater than we derive from gazing on the summer sea. Hence, Hebe and Ganymede were chosen to minister at the tables of the gods, even Zeus himself[784] not disdaining to taste of the pleasures to be derived from basking in the irradiations of beauty. ----- Footnote 778: Among the Etruscans these ladles were of bronze, and of extremely elegant form, the point ending in a swan’s or duck’s head. Footnote 779: The proceedings of this person were governed by a code of laws, the making and reformation of which employed the wits of no less personages than Xenophanes, Spensippos, and Aristotle. Athen. i. 5. Footnote 780: Horat. Od. ii. 7. 25. Footnote 781: Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 1183. Vesp. 1005. Footnote 782: Eustath. ad Iliad, γ. p. 333. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 855.—A specimen of these ladles (ἀρύταιναι) occurs in Mus. Chiaramont. pl. 2. Footnote 783: