See how these housebreakers do sacrifice!
Bearing such beds and couches, not to please
The gods, but their own selves. Incense is pious,
So is the votive cake; and this the god
Receives well-baked in the holy fire.
But they when they have offer'd the chump end
Of a lean loin, the gall bladder, and bones,
Not too agreeable or easy to eat,
Unto the gods, consume the rest themselves.

28. And Philoxenus of Cythera, in the play which is entitled The Supper, (for he it is whom Plato the comic

[[238]]writer mentions in his Phaon, and not Philoxenus the Leucadian,) mentions the following as the preparation made for a banquet—

And then two slaves brought in a well-rubb'd table,
And then another, and another, till
The room was fill'd, and then the hanging lamps
Beam'd bright and shone upon the festive crowns,
And herbs, and dishes of rich delicacies.
And then all arts were put in requisition
To furnish forth a most luxurious meal.
Barley-cakes white as snow did fill the baskets,
And then were served up not coarse vulgar pots,
But well-shaped dishes, whose well-order'd breadth
Fill'd the rich board, eels, and the well-stuff'd conger,
A dish fit for the gods. Then came a platter
Of equal size, with dainty sword-fish fraught,
And then fat cuttle-fish, and the savoury tribes
Of the long hairy polypus. After this
Another orb appear'd upon the table,
Rival of that just brought from off the fire,
Fragrant with spicy odour. And on that
Again were famous cuttle-fish, and those
Fair maids the honey'd squills, and dainty cakes,
Sweet to the palate, and large buns of wheat,
Large as a partridge, sweet, and round, which you
Do know the taste of well. And if you ask
What more was there, I'd speak of luscious chine,
And loin of pork, and head of boar, all hot;
Cutlets of kid, and well-boil'd pettitoes,
And ribs of beef, and heads, and snouts, and tails.
Then kid again, and lamb, and hares, and poultry,
Partridges and the bird from Phasis' stream.
And golden honey, and clotted cream was there,
And cheese, which I did join with all in calling
Most tender fare. And when we all had reach'd
Satiety of food and wine, the slaves
Bore off the still full tables; and some others
Brought us warm water for to wash our hands.[238:1]

29. And Socrates the Rhodian, in the third book of his History of the Civil War, describing the entertainment given by Cleopatra the last queen of Egypt, who married Antony the Roman general in Cilicia, speaks in the following manner:—"But

[[239]]Cleopatra having met Antony in Cilicia, prepared him a royal entertainment, in which every dish was golden and inlaid with precious stones, wonderfully chased and embossed. And the walls," continues he, "were hung with cloths embroidered in gold and purple. And she had twelve triclinia laid; and invited Antony to a banquet, and desired him to bring with him whatever companions he pleased. And he being astonished at the magnificence of the sight, expressed his surprise; and she, smiling, said that she made him a present of everything which he saw, and invited him to sup with her again the next day, and to bring his friends and captains with him. And then she prepared a banquet by far more splendid than the former one, so as to make that first one appear contemptible; and again she presented to him everything that there was on the table; and she desired each of his captains to take for his own the couch on which he lay, and the goblets which were set before each couch. And when they were departing she gave to all those of the highest rank palanquins, with the slaves for palanquin bearers; and to the rest she gave horses, adorned with golden furniture: and to every one she gave Ethiopian boys, to bear torches before them. And on the fourth day she paid more than a talent for roses; and the floor of the chamber for the men was strewed a cubit deep, nets being spread over the blooms." And he relates further, that "Antony himself, when he was staying at Athens, a short time after this, prepared a very superb scaffold to spread over the theatre, covered with green wood such as is seen in the caves sacred to Bacchus; and from this scaffold he suspended drums and fawn-skins, and all the other toys which one names in connexion with Bacchus, and then sat there with his friends, getting drunk from daybreak,—a band of musicians, whom he had sent for from Italy, playing to him all the time, and all the Greeks around being collected to see the sight. And presently," continues he, "he crossed over to the Acropolis, the whole city of Athens being illuminated with lamps suspended from the roof; and after that he ordered himself to be proclaimed as Bacchus throughout all the cities in that district."

And Caius the emperor, surnamed Caligula, because he was born in the camp, was not only called the young Bacchus, but was also in the habit of going about dressed in the entire

[[240]]dress of Bacchus, and he used to sit on the tribunal as judge in that dress.

30. Now a man looking at these instances which have occurred in our country before our time, may marvel at the poverty of the Greeks, especially if he sets his eyes upon the banquets which take place among the Thebans; concerning whom Clitarchus, in the first book of his Histories relating to Alexander, speaks, and says that all their wealth, when the city was razed to the ground by Alexander, was found to amount to four hundred and forty talents, because they were meanspirited and gluttons in eating and drinking, preparing in their banquets forced-meat balls, and boiled fish and anchovies, and encrasicholi, and sausages, and ribs of beef, and soup; on which Attaginus the son of Phrynon feasted Mardonius, with fifty other Persians; a man whom Herodotus mentions in his ninth book as having amassed an enormous amount of riches. And I think that they would never have escaped, and that there would have been no necessity for the Greeks being marshalled against them at Platæa, as they would certainly have been killed by such food as that.

31. But Hecatæus of Miletus, describing an Arcadian banquet in the third book of his Genealogies, says that it consists chiefly of barley-cakes and pork. But Harmodius of Lepreum, in the third book of his treatise on the Laws of the People of Phigalea, says—"The man among the Phigaleans who is appointed superintendent of the food, brought every day three choes of wine, and a medimnus of flour, and five minæ weight of cheese, and other things suitable for the preparing of the victims. And the city provided each of the choruses with three sheep, and a cook, and a water-carrier, and tables, and seats for the guests to sit down upon, and all other similar appointments; only that the choregus supplied the vessels which the cook required. And the banquet was of the following description: Cheese, and barley-cake, for the sake of preserving the laws, served up in brazen baskets, which are by some people called mazonoma, having derived their name from the use to which they are put; and together with the barley-cake and cheese, paunches and salt are given the guests to eat. And when they have offered these things to the gods, then they give every one a portion of wine to drink in a small mug, made of earthenware: and he