sometimes cost six or seven thousand pounds sterling. Already, however, in the best ages of Greece, their tables were inlaid with silver, brass, or ivory, with feet in the form of lions, leopards, or other wild beasts.[393] ----- Footnote 389: Plin. Nat. Hist. xvi. 27. Footnote 390: Athen. xi. 27. Footnote 391: Athen. ii. 31. Footnote 392: Paradise Regained, iv. 114, seq. where see Mitford’s curious and learned note. ii. 350, seq. and cf. Plin. v. 1. t. ii. p. 259. Hard. not. a. 261. xiii. 29. t. iv. p. 746, sqq. Petronius speaks of the “citrea mensa,” p. 157. Erhard. Symbol. ad Petron. 709, seq. shows that Numidian marble was in use at Rome. Footnote 393: Potter, ii. 377. ----- In more early times, before the effeminate Oriental habit of reclining at meals obtained,[394] the Greeks made use of chairs which were of various kinds, some being formed of more, others of less costly materials, but all beautiful and elegant in form, as we may judge from those which adorn our own drawing-rooms, entirely fashioned after Grecian models. The thrones of the gods represented in works of art, however richly ornamented, are simply arm-chairs with upright backs, an example of which occurs in a carnelian in the Orleans Collection,[395] where Apollo is represented playing on the seven-stringed lyre. This chair has four legs with tigers’ feet, a very high upright back, and is ornamented with a sculptured car and horses. They had no Epicurean notions of their deities, and never presented them to the eye of the public lounging in an easy chair, which would have suggested the idea of infirmity. On the contrary, they are full of force and energy, and sit erect on their thrones, as ready to succour their worshipers at a moment’s warning. In the Homeric age these were richly carved, like the divans, adorned with silver studs, and so high that they required a footstool.[396] The throne of the Persian kings was of massive gold, and stood beneath a purple canopy, supported by four slender golden columns thickly crusted with jewels. ----- Footnote 394: In the Antichita di Ercolano, we have the representation of a very handsome armed chair, with upright back, beautifully turned legs, and thick and soft cushions, with low footstool, t. i. tav. 29. p. 155. Athen. xi. 72. Footnote 395: Pierres Gravées, du Cabinet du Duc d’Orleans, t. i. No. 46. Cf. No. 7, representing Zeus thus seated. Footnote 396: Odyss. η. 162. Il. σ. 390, 422. -----