Hesiod. Opp. et Dies, 493, sqq.
[367]. De Repub. t. vi. p. 393. Among the nations of antiquity I remember none who looked upon poverty in so venerable a light as the inhabitants of Gadeira, now Cadiz. For these worthy people erected, we are told, an altar in its honour, probably supposing it to be near akin to death, whose praises they also sang in pæans. Philost. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. v. 4, p. 190. Phot. Biblioth. Cod. 241, p. 328, b.
[368]. Aristoph. Acharn. 440.
[369]. Lucian. Dial. Mort. i. § 2. Vict. Var. Lect. i. 24. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 410.
[370]. Ἀυτὸς δὲ Διονύσιος τέλος μητραγυρτῶν καὶ τύμπανο φορούμενος, οἰκτρῶς τὸν βίον κατέστρεψεν. Clearch. ap. Athen xii. 58. Every just and upright man would probably rejoice to behold all tyrants in the same condition. Cf. Tim. Lex. Platon. v. ἀγείρουσαν, with the note of Rühnken. p. 16, who has collected several passages illustrating the life and manners of the begging priests of Cybelè.
[371]. Eustath. ap. Casaub. Char. p. 197. In the Acts of the Apostles the Epicureans and Stoics contemptuously denominate St. Paul a σπερμολόγος, xvii. 18.
[372]. The Alexandrians placed loaves in the temple of Chronos for the poor. Athen. iii. 74. Among the Ethiopians there was an institution called the Table of the Sun, which we may suppose to have been designed to supply the poor with food. In a meadow close to the suburbs of the capital a plentiful entertainment was laid out during the night, which as soon as day broke every person had permission to partake of. This feast the natives affected to regard as a gift bestowed upon them incessantly by the earth. Herod. iii. 18. Cf. Pausan. i. 33. 4. vi. 26. 2.
[373]. Diog. Laert. vi. 2. § 64. Ῥυπαρὸς, alone, signifies as the French translator has rendered it, “mal-propres,” t. i. p. 358. But ῥυπαρὸς ἁρτὸς, means du pain bis, as Menage long ago observed, ad loc. ii. 146. b. c. Diogenes, as the reader will perceive, meant to pun upon the word ῥυπαρὸς.
[374]. These suppers were eaten by the poor, together with the eggs and other small offerings used in purifying places. Luc. Dial. Mort. i. § 1. Catapl. § 7. Lomeier, de Lustrat. c. xxi. p. 258, seq. Cakes called Amphiphontes were offered to Artemis within a circle of burning torches. These offerings were made in the temples, and on cross-roads, at the full moon, when the sun, rising ere the moon sets, there is constant light throughout the twenty-four hours, which was signified by the ring of torches; the whole round of the day being filled with light. In the island of Hecatè, on the coast of Delos, the Delians used to dedicate offerings to Iris, of cakes called Basynias, made with wheaten flour and honey, the offering called cokkora, a dried fig, and three walnuts. Athen. xiv. 53. The Athenians, when sacrificing to the Seasons, offered up boiled meat, and not roasted, as on other occasions; praying to be protected from the heats which dry up and destroy everything, and to be blessed with moderate warmth, to ripen and bring everything to perfection. Id. xiv. 72.
[375]. Herod. Vit. Hom. § 33. t. ii. p. 362. Schweigh.—Meurs. Gr. Fer. p. 213, seq.