The different officers I then appointed,
And bade them recollect the soldiers' meals,
In number three, first breakfast, and then dinner,
Supper the third.
And of the fourth meal Homer speaks thus—
And come thou δειελιήσας.[18:2]
That which some call δειλινὸν is between what we call ἄριστον and δεῖπνον; and ἄριστον in Homer, that which is taken in the morning, δεῖπνον is what is taken at noon, which we call ἄριστον, and δόρπον is the name for the evening meal. Sometimes, then, ἄριστον is synonymous with δεῖπνον; for somewhere or other Homer says—
δεῖπνον they took, then arm'd them for the fray.
For making their δεῖπνον immediately after sunrise, they then advance to battle.
20. In Homer they eat sitting down; but some think that a separate table was set before each of the feasters. At all events, they say a polished table was set before Mentes when he came to Telemachus, arriving after tables were already laid for the feast. However, this is not very clearly proved, for Minerva may have taken her food at Telemachus's table. But all along the banqueting-room full tables were laid out, as is even now the custom among many nations of the barbarians,
Laden with all dainty dishes,
as Anacreon says. And then when the guests have departed, the handmaidens
Bore off the feast, and clear'd the lofty hall,
Removed the goblets and the tables all.