Lurc. In no place has this more certainly happened. But the very abundance palled. The director of the table busied himself with laying knives and forks. Then came in, with great pomp, the chief steward with a long band of boys, younger and older, who bore away the dishes of the first course.

[132]

[XVII]
CONVIVIUM—The Banquet

Scopas, Simonides, Crito, Democritus, Polaemon

Concerning Scopas, see Cicero, book 2, de Orat. As to Polaemon, see Val. Max. bk. 6, cap. 11. There are three kinds of banquets, είλαπίνη, a magnificent and splendid banquet; γάμος, a nuptial banquet; and ἔρανος, when each guest came at his own expense and brought his own food. Homer links together those forms of banquets: εἰλαπίνη ἠὲ γάμος· ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔρανος τάδε γ’ ἐστί (Odyssea, i. 226).

The parts of this dialogue are these: Initium, apparatus, finis. Apparatus contains two courses.

COURSES

First{Cibus{Panis
Obsonia		{Carnes
Pultes
Pisces
Potus{Vinum
Aqua
Cerevisia
Pocula
Second{Fructus
Casei
Tragemata

I. The Beginning (Initium)

Scop. Where is our Simonides?

Crit. He said he would come immediately after he had met a debtor of his in the market.