Wooden tables—at first very clumsy ones, no doubt—only came into use when the development of human industry had enabled men to understand that they might be preferable to a truss of hay.[XXXII_3] A passage in Homer would seem to show that they were very much like ours.[XXXII_4] Perhaps the circular form was generally preferred.[XXXII_5]
Luxury soon called for the most precious materials, and the Greeks had, at a very early period, tables of bronze,[XXXII_6] and even of fine silver.[XXXII_7] The isle of Rhenea produced magnificent ones,[XXXII_8] and an expensive fashion caused those luxurious pieces of furniture to be prized when they presented delicate incrustations of silver, bronze, or ivory, and rested on lions’ claws or leopards’ feet.[XXXII_9]
Cneus Manlius introduced these rarities into Rome after the conquest of Asia.[XXXII_10] He was also the originator of tables veneered with plates of gold,[XXXII_11] which ere long adorned the dining-rooms of princes and senators, and the excessive price of which was only surpassed by that of tables made of precious woods from distant countries.[XXXII_12] The maple, the whitten, and a species of African lemon-tree occupied the first rank,[XXXII_13] and the prodigious skill of the workmen gave them a value superior to gold and silver.[XXXII_14]
The most beautiful of these tables were spotted or veined to imitate the tiger’s or panther’s skin; but they acquired an exorbitant claim upon the admiration of connoisseurs when they bore the marvellous design of a peacock’s tail. This fantastic play of nature commanded a boundless price.[XXXII_15]
An artist of unrivalled talent, Carvilius Pollio, was the first, according to Pliny,[XXXII_16] who enriched these magnificent woods with buhl-work of ivory and shell in the acme of perfection.[XXXII_17] Under the reign of Nero, the Romans dyed this shell, and thought to increase its primitive value by giving it the tints and accidental shades of the cedar, the maple, and the lemon tree.[XXXII_18]
These splendid pieces of furniture were at first square;[XXXII_19] then round;[XXXII_20] then in the form of a half-circle or half-moon, and this horseshoe-shaped table they called a sigma, from the name of that Greek letter, which resembled our C.[XXXII_21] The guests whom any person wished to honour most were placed at the extremities of this hemicycle,[XXXII_22] overlaid with magnificent covers, which replaced the skins of beasts, formerly used for their adornment; and, in addition, they were spread with tissues of fine linen and rich stuffs elaborately worked.[XXXII_23]
The tables were changed at each course.[XXXII_24] The Greeks cleaned them with sponge;[XXXII_25] the Latins used a sort of thick, plushed, linen cloth.[XXXII_26]
The opulent citizens possessed a great number of tables; some were of ivory,[XXXII_27] others of maple wood, cedar of Mount Atlas,[XXXII_28] or lemon.[XXXII_29][U] Cicero had one of this latter kind of wood which cost him 200,000 sesterces—about £1,480.[XXXII_30] They rested on one, two, or three feet,[XXXII_31] and were called monopedes, bipedes, and tripedes.
The Romans often changed tables only twice during the repast. Fish and flesh appeared on the first, and the fruit was served on the second.[XXXII_32] The same custom was common to the Greeks and the oriental nations. The Hebrews had also two tables in their solemn feasts and sacrificial banquets; on one was served the flesh of the victim, and on the other they placed the cup of benediction, which passed round from one to another, and was called “the cup of praise.”[XXXII_33]
The luxury of Rome seemed to revive after she had become extinct. Saint Rémi, Bishop of Rheims, left to his heirs a silver table, embellished with figures.[XXXII_34] Charlemagne had three made of the same metal—the first represented the ancient capital of the world; the second, Constantinople; the third, every known region of the earth.[XXXII_35] Aymar, Viscount of Limoges, found on his estate a treasure, which consisted of a table, round which were seated an emperor, his wife, and several children—all as large as life, and of massive gold. Richard Cœur-de-Lion pretended that the treasure belonged to him as Lord of Limousin, and went to lay siege to the castle of Chalons, to which Aymar had retired, where the king received a wound, of which he died the 6th of April, 1199.[XXXII_36]