They wash; the tables in fair order spread,
They heap the glittering canisters with bread,
Viands of various kinds allure the taste,
Of choicest sort and savour; rich repast.[308:1]

For if the housekeeper placed the meats on the table, it is plain that there was no need for the carver to bring in more, so that some of the above description is superfluous. But when the guests had departed the tables were removed, as is done at the feasts of the Suitors and of the Phæacians, in whose case he says—

The servants bore away the armour of the feast.

And it is plain that he means the dishes, for the word he uses is ἔντεα; and it is that part of the armour which covers a man, such as his breastplate, his greaves, and things like them which men call ἔντεα, as being in front (ἄντια) of the parts of the body. And of the rooms in the palaces of the heroes, those which were larger Homer calls μέγαρα, and δώματα, and even κλισίας (tents). But the moderns call them ἀνδρῶνες (rooms to receive men) and ξενῶνες (strangers' apartments).

21. What then, my friends, shall we call the entertainment which Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes, (but who was more rightly called Epimanes[308:2] from his actions,) gave?

[[309]]Now he was king of the Syrians, being one of the Seleucidæ. And Polybius says of him, "He, escaping out of the palace without the knowledge of the attendants, was often found with one or two companions wandering about the city wherever he might chance to take it into his head to go. And he was, above all other places, frequently found at the shops of the engravers of silver and of the goldsmiths, conversing on the subject of their inventions with, and inquiring into the principles of their art from, the engravers and other artists. And besides this, he often used to go among the common people, conversing with whomsoever he might chance to meet; and he would drink with the lowest and poorest strangers. And whenever he heard of any young men having a banquet, without having given any notice of his intention, he would come to join in their feast with a flute and music, behaving in a most lascivious manner; so that many used to rise up and depart, being alarmed at his strange behaviour. Often, also, he would lay aside his royal robes, and put on a common cloak, and so go round the market, like a man who was a candidate for some office: and taking some people by the hand, and embracing others, he would solicit them to vote for him, sometimes begging to be made ædile, and sometimes tribune; and when he was elected, sitting in his ivory curule chair, according to the fashion which prevails among the Romans, he would hear all the causes which were pleaded in the forum, and decide them with great attention and earnestness, by which conduct he greatly perplexed sensible men. For some thought him a man of very simple tastes, and others considered him mad. And his conduct with respect to presents was very much the same. For he would give some people dice of antelope's bones, and some he would present with dates, and to others he would give gold. And even if he met people in the street whom he had never seen, he would give them presents unexpectedly. And in his sacrifices, which were offered up in the different cities, and in the honours offered to the gods, he surpassed all the kings who had ever existed. And any one may conjecture this from the temple raised to Olympian Jupiter at Athens, and from the statues around the altar at Delos. And he used to bathe in the public baths, often when they were completely full of the citizens, and then he would have earthen pans of the

[[310]]most expensive perfumes brought to him. And on one of these occasions, when some one said to him, "Happy are you kings, who use all these things and smell so sweet," he made the man no answer at the time; but coming the next day to the place where he was bathing, he caused him to have a pan of the largest size of that most precious ointment called στακτὴ poured over his head, so that when that had been done, every one near got up and hastened to get a little of the ointment, and as they fell down in their haste, by reason of the slipperiness of the floor, every one laughed, as did the king himself.

22. "And this same king," continues Polybius, "having heard of the games which had been celebrated in Macedonia by Æmilius Paullus the Roman general, wishing to surpass Paullus in his magnificence and liberality, sent ambassadors and theori to the different cities to proclaim that games were going to be exhibited by him at Daphne, so that the Greeks all hastened with great eagerness to come to him to see them. And the beginning of the exhibition was a splendid procession, arranged in this way:—Some men led the way armed in the Roman fashion, in breastplates of chain armour, all men in the flower of their youth, to the number of five thousand; immediately after them, five thousand Mysians followed; and then three thousand Cilicians, armed in the fashion of light-armed skirmishers, having golden crowns; and after them three thousand Thracians and five thousand Galatians; these were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians, and by five thousand men armed with brazen shields, and as many more with silver shields; they were followed by two hundred and forty pair of gladiators to fight in single combat; behind these came a thousand Nisæan cavalry, and three thousand men of the city guard, the greatest part of whom had golden trappings and golden crowns, but some had silver trappings; to these succeeded the cavalry who are called the King's Companions; these amounted to one thousand men, all equipped with golden trappings; next to these was the battalion of the King's Friends, of the same number and the same equipment; after these a thousand picked men; and they were followed by what was called the Agema, which was considered to be the most excellent squadron of all the cavalry, to the number of

[[311]]a thousand men; last of all came the Fenced Cavalry, having its name from the fact that both men and horses were completely enveloped in armour; they were in number fifteen hundred men. And all the above-mentioned soldiers had purple cloaks, and many had them also embroidered with gold or painted with figures of living animals. Besides all this, there were a hundred chariots with six horses, and forty with four horses; then a chariot drawn by four elephants, and another by two; and last of all, six-and-thirty elephants, all handsomely appointed, followed one by one.

23. "The rest of the procession was such as it is difficult adequately to describe, and it must be enumerated in a summary manner. For youths walked in the procession to the number of eight hundred, all having golden crowns; and fat oxen to the number of one thousand; and deputations to see to the performance of separate sacrifices, very little short of three hundred; and there were eight hundred elephants' teeth carried by, and such a multitude of statues as it is beyond any one's power to enumerate. For images were carried in the procession of all who are ever said or thought by men to be gods, or deities, or demigods, or heroes; some gilt all over, and some arrayed in golden-broidered robes. And to all of them suitable inscriptions according to the accounts commonly received of them were attached, carved in the most expensive materials. And they were followed by an image of Night and another of Day; and of the Earth, and of Heaven, and of Morning, and of Noon. And the vast quantity of gold plate and silver plate was such as perhaps a man may form a guess at from the following account. For a thousand slaves belonging to Dionysius the secretary and amanuensis of the king joined in the procession, each carrying articles of silver plate, of which there was not one weighing less than a thousand drachmæ. And there were six hundred slaves belonging to the king himself, carrying articles of gold plate. And besides them there were women to the number of two hundred sprinkling every one with perfumes out of golden waterpots. And they were succeeded by eighty women magnificently apparelled, borne on palanquins with golden feet, and five hundred borne on palanquins with silver feet. And this was the most important portion of the procession.