[NOTE 15.]
The Couch of Cærius.
The Cœna of the Romans (their principal meal) was usually taken at three o’clock in the afternoon: when they partook of it, instead of sitting in the modern manner, they reclined on couches which were placed round the table in the form of the letter C; a space was left unoccupied that the slaves in placing and removing the dishes might not incommode the guests. The number of the couches was generally limited to three; each of which was occupied sometimes by four, but usually by only three persons. The body was raised, and supported by the left arm; the feet of him who reclined at the upper end of the couch lay at the back of the person next him: (though prevented from touching his clothes by cushions placed between them) and the feet of the second at the back of the third. To place more than three guests on one couch was accounted both mean and vulgar. Cicero notices this in his oration against Piso, “Græci stipati, quini in lectulis, sæpe plures,” speaking of “five, and often a greater number crowded together on one small couch.” The Romans indulged themselves with couches only at supper: no ceremony was observed at their other meals, which were taken sitting or standing, alone or in company, as inclination prompted. In the earlier ages both Romans and Greeks sat upright at their meals: Homer expressly mentions (in Odyss. B. 10.) “ἥμεθα δαινύμενοι,” “we sat feasting;” also Virgil. Æn. 7. v. 176.
[NOTE 16.]
Volcatius.
Volcatius Sedigitus, a miscellaneous writer and poet, mentioned in very high terms by the younger Pliny, flourished in the reign of one of the 12 Cæsars: the exact time is unknown. His works are entirely lost, with the exception of a few verses; amongst them are the following, in which he classes ten of the most eminent Latin comic poets.
“Multos incertos certare hanc rem vidimus,
Palmam poëtæ comico cui deferant:
Hunc meo judicio errorem dissolvam tibi;
Ut contra si quis sentiat, nihil sentiat.
Cæcilio palmam Statio do comico:
Plautus secundus facile exsuperat cæteros: