Book XV.
E'en should the Phrygian God enrich my tongueas the all-accomplished Euripides says, my good Timocrates—
With honey'd eloquence, such as erst did fall
From Nestor's or Antenor's lips,
1
I never should be ableto recapitulate to you the numerous things which were said in those most admirable banquets, on account of the varied nature of the topics introduced, and the novel mode in which they were continually treated. For there were frequent discussions about the order in which the dishes were served up, and about the things which are done after the chief part of the supper is over, such as I can hardly recollect; and some one of the guests quoted the following iambics from The Lacedæmonians of Plato—
Now nearly all the men have done their supper;
'Tis well.—Why don't you run and clear the tables
But I will go and straight some water get
For the guests' hands; and have the floor well swept;
And then, when I have offer'd due libations,
I'll introduce the cottabus. This girl
Ought now to have her flutes all well prepared,
Ready to play them. Quick now, slave, and bring
Egyptian ointment, extract of lilies too,
[p. 1063] And sprinkle it around; and I myself
Will bring a garland to each guest, and give it;
Let some one mix the wine.—Lo! now it's mix'd
Put in the frankincense, and say aloud,
“Now the libation is perform'd.” 2 The guests
Have deeply drunk already; and the scolium
Is sung; the cottabus, that merry sport,
Is taken out of doors: a female slave
Plays on the flute a cheerful strain, well pleasing
To the delighted guest; another strikes
The clear triangle, and, with well-tuned voice,
Accompanies it with an Ionian song.
And after this quotation there arose, I think, a discussion about the cottabus and cottabus-players. Now by the term ἀποκοτταβίζοντες, one of the physicians who were present thought those people were meant, who, after the bath, for the sake of purging their stomach, drink a full draught of wine and then throw it up again; and he said that this was not an ancient custom, and that he was not aware of any ancient author who had alluded to this mode of purging. On which account Erasistratus of Julia, in his treatise on Universal Medicine, reproves those who act in this way, pointing out that it is a practice very injurious to the eyes, and having a very astringent effect on the stomach. And Ulpian addressed him thus—
Arise, Machaon, great Charoneus calls.3 For it was wittily said by one of our companions, that if there were no physicians there would be nothing more stupid than grammarians. For who is there of us who does not know that this kind of ἀποκοτταβισμὸς was not that of the ancients? unless you think that the cottabus-players of Ameipsias vomited. Since, then, you are ignorant of what this is which is the subject of our present discussion, learn from me, in the first place, that the cottabus is a sport of Sicilian invention, the Sicilians having been the original contrivers of it, as Critias the son of Callæschrus tells us in his Elegies, where he says—
The cottabus comes from Sicilian lands,And Dicæarchus the Messenian, the pupil of Aristotle, in his [p. 1064] treatise on Alcæus, says that the word λατάγη is also a Sicilian noun. But λατάγη means the drops which are left in the bottom after the cup is drained, and which the players used to throw with inverted hand into the κοτταβεῖον. But Clitarchus, in his treatise on Words, says that the Thessalians and Rhodians both call the κότταβος itself, or splash made by the cups, λατάγη.
And a glorious invention I think it,
Where we put up a target to shoot at with drops
From our wine-cup whenever we drink it.
The prize also which was proposed for those who gained the victory in drinking was called κότταβος, as Euripides shows us in his Œneus, where he says—
And then with many a dart of Bacchus' juice,The vessel, too, into which they threw the drops was also called κότταβος, as Cratinus shows in his Nemesis. But Plato the comic poet, in his Jupiter Ill-treated, makes out that the cottabus was a sort of drunken game, in which those who were defeated yielded up their tools4 to the victor. And these are his words—
They struck the old man's head. And I was set
To crown the victor with deserved reward,
And give the cottabus to such.
A. I wish you all to play at cottabus
While I am here preparing you your supper.
* * * * * * * *
Bring, too, some balls to play with, quick,-some balls,
And draw some water, and bring round some cups.
B. Now let us play for kisses.5 A. No; such games
I never suffer.
I challenge you all to play the cottabus,
And for the prizes, here are these new slippers
Which she doth wear, and this your cotylus.
B. A mighty game! This is a greater contest
Than e'en the Isthmian festival can furnish.
There was a kind of cottabus also which they used to call κάτακτος, that is, when lamps are lifted up and then let down again. Eubulus, in his Bellerophon, says—
Who now will take hold of my leg below?And Antiphanes, in his Birthday of Venus, says—
For I am lifted up like a κοτταβεῖον.
A. This now is what I mean; don't you perceiveAnd in a subsequent passage he says—
This lamp's the cottabus: attend awhile;
The eggs, and sweetmeats, and confectionery
Are the prize of victory. B. Sure you will play
[p. 1065] For a most laughable prize. How shall you do?
A. I then will show you how: whoever throws
The cottabus direct against the scale (πλάστιγξ),
So as to make it fall——B. What scale? Do you
Mean this small dish which here is placed above?
A. That is the scale—he is the conqueror.
B. How shall a man know this? A. Why, if he throw
So as to reach it barely, it will fall
Upon the manes,6 and there'll be great noise.
B. Does manes, then, watch o'er the cottabus,
As if he were a slave?
B. Just take the cup and show me how 'tis done.
A. Now bend your fingers like a flute-player,
Pour in a little wine, and not too much,
Then throw it. B. How? A. Look here; throw it like this
B. O mighty Neptune, what a height he throws it!
A. Now do the same. B. Not even with a sling
Could I throw such a distance. A. Well, but learn.
For a man must curve his hand excessively before he can throw the cottabus elegantly, as Dicæarchus says; and Plato intimates as much in his Jupiter Ill-treated, where some one calls out to Hercules not to hold his hand too stiff, when he is going to play the cottabus. They also called the very act of throwing the cottabus ἀπ᾽ ἀγκύλης, because they curved (ἀπαγκυλόω) the right hand in throwing it. Though some say that ἀγκύλη, in this phrase, means a kind of cup. And Bacchylides, in his Love Poems, says—
And when she throws ἀπ᾽ ἀγκύλης,And Aeschylus, in his Bone Gatherers, speaks of ἀδκυλητοὶ κότταβοι, saying—
Displaying to the youths her snow-white arm.
Eurymachus, and no one else, did heapNow, that he who succeeded in throwing the cottabus properly received a prize, Antiphanes has shown us in a passage already quoted. And the prize consisted of eggs, sweetmeats, and confectionery. And Cephisodorus, in his Trohonius, [p. 1066] and Callias or Diocles, in the Cyclopes, (whichever of the two is the author,) and Eupolis, and Hermippus, in his Iambics, prove the same thing.
No slighter insults, undeserved, upon me;
For my head always was his mark at which
To throw his cottabus . . . . .7
Now what is called the κατακτὸς cottabus was something of this kind. There is a high lamp, having on it what is called the Manes, on which the dish, when thrown down, ought to fall; and from thence it falls into the platter which lies below, and which is struck by the cottabus. And there was room for very great dexterity in throwing the cottabus. And Nicochares speaks of the Manes in his Lacedæmonians.
There is also another way of playing this game with a platter. This platter is filled with water, and in it there are floating some empty saucers, at which the players throw their drops out of their cups, and endeavour to sink them. And he who has succeeded in sinking the greatest number gains the victory. Ameipsias, in his play entitled The Men playing at the Cottabus or Mania, says—
Bring here the cruets and the cups at once,And Cratinus, in his Nemesis, says—
The foot-pan, too, but first pour in some water.
Now in the cottabus I challenge you,And Aristophanes, in his Feasters, says—
(As is my country's mode,) to aim your blows
At the empty cruets; and he who sinks the most
Shall, in my judgment, bear the palm of victory.
I mean to erect a brazen figure,And Hermippus, in his Fates, says—
That is, a cottabeum, and myrtle-berries.
Now soft cloaks are thrown away,And Achæus, in his Linus, speaking of the Satyrs, says—
Every one clasps on his breastplate,
And binds his greaves around his legs,
No one for snow-white slippers cares;
Now you may see the cottabus staff
Thrown carelessly among the chaff;
The manes hears no falling drops;
And you the πλάστιγξ sad may see
Thrown on the dunghill at the garden door.
Throwing, and dropping, breaking, too, and naming (λέγοντες),And the poet uses λέγοντες here, because they used to utter the names of their sweethearts as they threw the cottabi on the saucers. On which account Sophocles, in his Inachus, called the drops which were thrown, sacred to Venus— [p. 1067]
O Hercules, the well-thrown drop of wine!
The golden-colour'd drop of VenusAnd Euripides, in his Pleisthenes, says—
Descends on all the houses.
And the loud noise o' the frequent cottabusAnd Callimachus says—
Awakens melodies akin to Venus
In every house.
Many hard drinkers, lovers of Acontius,
Throw on the ground the wine-drops (λατάγας) from their cups.
There was also another kind of way of playing at the cottabus, in the feasts which lasted all night, which is mentioned by Callippus in his Festival lasting all Night, where he says—
And he who keeps awake all night shall haveThere were also sweetmeats at these nocturnal festivals, in which the men continued awake an extraordinary time dancing. And these sweetmeats used to be called at that time χαρίσιοι, from the joy (χαρὰ) of those who received them. And Eubulus, in his Ancylion, mentions them, speaking as follows—
A cheesecake for his prize of victory,
And kiss whoe'er he pleases of the girls
Who are at hand.
For he has long been cooking prizes forAnd presently afterwards he says—
The victors in the cottabus.
I then sprang out to cook the χαρ́σιος.But that kisses were also given as the prize Eubulus tells us in a subsequent passage—
Come now, ye women, come and dance all night,But that the cottabus was a sport to which the Sicilians were greatly addicted is plain from the fact that they had rooms built adapted to the game; which Dicæarchus, in his treatise on Alcæus, states to have been the case. So that it was not without reason that Callimachus affixed the epithet of Sicilian to λάταξ. And Dionysius, who was surnamed the Brazen, mentions both the λάταγες and the κότταβοι in his Elegies, where he says—
This is the tenth day since my son was born;
And I will give three fillets for the prize,
And five fine apples, and nine kisses too.
Here we, unhappy in our loves, establish
This third addition to the games of Bacchus,
[p. 1068] That the glad cottabus shall now be play'd
In honour of you, a most noble quintain—
All you who here are present twine your hands,
Holding the ball-shaped portion of your cups,
And, ere you let it go, let your eyes scan
The heaven that bends above you; watching well
How great a space your λάταγες may cover.
After this, Ulpian demanded a larger goblet to drink out of quoting these lines out of the same collection of Elegies—
Pouring forth hymns to you and me propitious,For let us be guided by the younger Cratinus, who says in his Omphale—
Let us now send your ancient friend from far,
With the swift rowing of our tongues and praises,
To lofty glory while this banquet lasts;
And the quick genius of Phæacian eloquence
Commands the Muses' crew to man the benches.
It suits a happy man to stay at homeIn answer to whom Cynulcus, who was always ready for a tilt at the Syrian, and who never let the quarrel drop which he had against him, now that there was a sort of tumult in the party, said-What is this chorus of Syrbenians?8 And I myself also recollect some lines of this poetry, which I will quote, that Ulpian may not give himself airs as being the only one who was able to extract anything about the cottabus out of those old stores of the Homeridæ—
And drink, let others wars and labours love.
Come now and hear this my auspicious message,which have a clear reference to the present discussion. For I see the servants now bringing us garlands and perfumes. Why now are those who are crowned said to be in love when their crowns are broken? For when I was a boy, and when I used to read the Epigrams of Callimachus, in which this is one of the topics dilated on, I was anxious to understand this point. For the poet of Cyrene says—
And end the quarrels which your cups engender;
Turn your attention to these words of mine,
And learn these lessons. . . . . . . . .
And all the roses, when the leaves fell offSo now it is your business, you most accomplished man, to explain this difficulty which has occupied me these thousand [p. 1069] years, O Democritus, and to tell me why lovers crown the doors of their mistresses.
From the man's garlands, on the ground were thrown.
And Democritus replied—But that I may quote some of the verses of this Brazen poet and orator Dionysius, (and he was called Brazen because he advised the Athe- nians to adopt a brazen coinage; and Callimachus mentions the oration in his list of Oratorical Performances,) I myself will cite some lines out of his Elegies. And do you, O Theodorus, for this is your proper name—
Receive these first-fruits of my poetry,You ask, then, why, if the garlands of men who have been crowned are pulled to pieces, they are said to be in love." Is it, since love takes away the strict regularity of manners in the case of lovers, that on this account they think the loss of a conspicuous ornament, a sort of beacon (as Clearchus says, in the first book of his Art of Love) and signal, that they to whom this has happened have lost the strict decorum of their manners? Or do men interpret this circumstance also by divination, as they do many other things? For the ornament of a crown, as there is nothing lasting in it, is a sort of emblem of a passion which does not endure, but assumes a specious appearance for a while: and such a passion is love. For no people are more careful to study appearance than those who are in love. Unless, perhaps, nature, as a sort of god, administering everything with justice and equity, thinks that lovers ought not to be crowned till they have subdued their love; that is to say, till, having prevailed upon the object of their love, they are released from their desire. And accordingly, the loss of their crown we make the token of their being still occupied in the fields of love. Or perhaps Love himself, not permitting any one to be crowned in opposition to, or to be proclaimed as victor over himself, takes their crowns from these men, and gives the perception of this to others, indicating that these men are subdued by him: on which account all the rest say that these men are in love. Or is it because that cannot be loosed which has never been bound, but love is the chain of [p. 1070] some who wear crowns, (for no one else who is bound is more anxious about being crowned than a lover,) that men consider that the loosing of the garland is a sign of love, and therefore say that these men are in love? Or is it because very often lovers, when they have been crowned, often out of agitation as it should seem, allow their crowns to fall to pieces, and so we argue backwards, and attribute this passion to all whom we see in this predicament; thinking that their crown never would have come to pieces, if they had not been in love? Or is it because these loosings happen only in the case of men bound or men in love; and so, men thinking that the loosing of the garland is the loosing also of those who are bound, con- sider that such men are in love? For those in love are bound, unless you would rather say that, because those who are in love are crowned with love, therefore their crown is not of a lasting kind; for it is difficult to put a small and ordinary kind of crown on a large and divine one. Men also crown the doors of the houses of the objects of their love, either with a view to do them honour, as they adorn with crowns the vestibule of some god to do him honour: or perhaps the offering of the crowns is made, not to the beloved objects, but to the god Love. For thinking the beloved object the statue, as it were, of Love, and his house the temple of Love, they, under this idea, adorn with crowns the vestibules of those whom they love. And for the same reason some people even sacri- fice at the doors of those whom they love. Or shall we rather say that people who fancy that they are deprived, or who really have been deprived of the ornament of their soul, consecrate to those who have deprived them of it, the orna- ment also of their body, being bewildered by their passion, and despoiling themselves in order to do so? And every one who is in love does this when the object of his love is present, but when he is not present, then he makes this offering in the public roads. On which account Lycophronides has re- presented that goatherd in love, as saying—
Given you as a pledge; and as an omen
Of happy fortune I send first to you
This offering of the Graces, deeply studied,—
Take it, requiting me with tuneful verse,
Fit ornament of feasts, and emblem of your happiness.
I consecrate this rose to you,
A beautiful idea;
This cap, and eke these sandals too,
And this good hunting-spear:
For now my mind is gone astray,
Wandering another way,
Towards that girl of lovely face,
Favourite of ev'ry Grace."
[p. 1071]
Moreover, that most divine writer Plato, in the seventh book of his Laws, proposes a problem having reference to crowns, which it is worth while to solve; and these are the words of the philosopher:—“Let there be distributions of apples and crowns to a greater and a lesser number of people, in such a way that the numbers shall always be equal.” These are the words of Plato. But what he means is something of this sort. He wishes to find one number of such a nature that, if divided among all who come in to the very last, it shall give an equal number of apples or crowns to every one. I say, then, that the number sixty will fulfil these conditions of equality in the case of six fellow-feasters; for I am aware that at the beginning we said that a supper party ought not to consist of more than five. But we are as numerous as the sand of the sea. Accordingly the number sixty, when the party is completed to the number of six guests, will begin to be divided in this manner. The first man came into the banqueting room, and received sixty garlands. He gives to the second who comes in half of them; and then each of them have thirty. Then when a third comes in they divide the whole sixty, so that each of them may have twenty. Again, they divide them again in like manner at the entrance of a fourth guest, so that each has fifteen; and when a fifth comes in they all have twelve a-piece. And when the sixth guest arrives, they divide them again, and each individual has ten. And in this way the equal division of the garlands is accomplished.
When Democritus had said this, Ulpian, looking towards Cynulcus, said—
To what a great philosopher has FateAs Theognetus the comic poet says, in his Apparition,—
Now join'd me here!
You wretched man, you've learnt left-handed letters,For where was it that you got that idea of the Chorus of the Syrbenians? What author worth speaking of mentions that musical chorus? And he replied:—My good friend, I will not teach you, unless I first receive adequate pay from you; for I do not read to pick out all the thorns out of my books as you do, but I select only what is most useful and best worth [p. 1072] hearing. And at this Ulpian got indignant, and roared out these lines out of the Suspicion of Alexis—
Your reading has perverted your whole life;
Philosophising thus with earth and heaven,
Though neither care a bit for all your speeches.
These things are shameful, e'en to the Triballi;And the same iambics occur in the Sleep of Antiphanes. And Cynulcus said:—Since there have already been discussions about garlands, tell us, my good Ulpian, what is the meaning of the expression, “The garland of Naucratis,” in the beautiful poet Anacreon. For that sweet minstrel says—
Where they do say a man who sacrifices,
Displays the feast to the invited guests,
And then next day, when they are hungry all,
Sells them what he'd invited them to see.
And each man three garlands had:And why also does the same poet represent some people as crowned with osiers? for in the second book of his Odes, he says—
Two of roses fairly twined,
And the third a Naucratite.
But now full twice five months are goneFor to suppose that these crowns were really made of osiers is absurd, for the osier is fit only for plaiting and binding. So now tell us about these things, my friend, for they are worth understanding correctly, and do not keep us quibbling about words.
Since kind Megisthes wore a crown
Of pliant osier, drinking wine
Whose colour did like rubies shine.
But as he made no reply, and pretended to be considering the matter, Democritus said:—Aristarchus the gram- marian, my friend, when interpreting this passage, said that the ancients used to wear crowns of willow. But Tenarus says that the willow or osier is the rustics' crown. And other interpreters have said many irrelevant things on the subject. But I, having met with a book of Menodotus of Samos, which is entitled, A Record of the things worth noting at Samos, found there what I was looking for; for he says that "Admete, the wife of Eurystheus, after she had fled from Argos, came to Samos, and there, when a vision of Juno had appeared to her, she wishing to give the goddess a reward because she had arrived in Samos from her own home in safety, undertook the care of the temple, which exists even to this day, and which had been originally built by the Leleges and the Nymphs. But the Argives hearing [p. 1073] of this, and being indignant at it, persuaded the Tyrrhenians by a promise of money, to employ piratical force and to carry off the statue,—the Argives believing that if this were done Admete would be treated with every possible severity by the inhabitants of Samos. Accordingly the Tyrrhenians came to the port of Juno, and having disembarked, immediately applied themselves to the performance of their undertaking. And as the temple was at that time without any doors, they quickly carried off the statue, and bore it down to the seaside, and put it on board their vessel. And when they had loosed their cables and weighed anchor, they rowed as fast as they could, but were unable to make any progress. And then, thinking that this was owing to divine interposition, they took the statue out of the ship again and put it on the shore; and having made some sacrificial cakes, and offered them to it, they departed in great fear. But when, the first thing in the morning, Admete gave notice that the statue had disappeared, and a search was made for it, those who were seeking it found it on the shore. And they, like Carian barbarians, as they were, thinking that the statue had run away of its own accord, bound it to a fence made of osiers, and took all the longest branches on each side and twined them round the body of the statue, so as to envelop it all round. But Admete released the statue from these bonds, and purified it, and placed it again on its pedestal, as it had stood before. And on this account once every year, since that time, the statue is carried down to the shore and hidden, and cakes are offered to it: and the festival is called τονεὺς, because it happened that the statue was bound tightly (συντόνως) by those who made the first search for it.
"But they relate that about that time the Carians, being overwhelmed with superstitious fears, came to the oracle of the god at Hybla, and consulted him with reference "O these occurrences; and that Apollo told them that they must give a voluntary satisfaction to the god of their own accord, to escape a more serious calamity,—such as in former times Jupiter had inflicted upon Prometheus, because of his theft of the fire, after he had released him from a most terrible captivity. And as he was inclined to give a satisfaction which should not cause him severe pain, this was what the god [p. 1074] imposed upon him. And from this circumstance the use of this kind of crown which had been shown to Prometheus got common among the rest of mankind who had been benefited by him by his gift of fire: on which account the god enjoined the Carians also to adopt a similar custom,—to use osiers as a garland, and bind their heads with the branches with which they themselves had bound the goddess. And he ordered them also to abandon the use of every other kind of garland except that made of the bay-tree: and that tree he said he gave as a gift to those alone who are employed in the service of the goddess. And he told them that, if they obeyed the injunctions given them by the oracle, and if in their banquets they paid the goddess the satisfaction to which she was entitled, they should be protected from injury: on which account the Carians, wishing to obey the commands laid on them by the oracle, abolished the use of those garlands which they had previously been accustomed to wear, but permitted all those who were employed in the service of the goddess still to wear the garland of bay-tree, which remains in use even to this day.
"Nic$enetus also, the epic poet, appears to make some allusion to the fashion of wearing garlands of osier in his Epigrams. And this poet was a native of Samos, and a man who in numberless passages shows his fondness for mentioning points connected with the history of his country. And these are his words:—
I am not oft, O Philotherus, fondBut in the selines Nicænetus speaks ambiguously, for it is not quite plain whether he means that the osier is to make his bed or his garland; though afterwards, when he calls it the ancient garland of the Carians, he alludes clearly enough to what we are now discussing. And this use of osiers to [p. 1075] make into garlands, lasted in that island down to the time of Polycrates, as we may conjecture. At all events Anacreon says—
Of feasting in the city, but prefer
The country, where the open breeze of zephyr
Freshens my heart; a simple bed
Beneath my body is enough for me,
Made of the branches of the native willow (πρόμαλος),
And osier (λύγος), ancient garland of the Carians,—
But let good wine be brought, and the sweet lyre,
Chief ornament of the Pierian sisters,
That we may drink our fill, and sing the praise
Of the all-glorious bride of mighty Jove,
The great protecting queen of this our isle.
But now full twice five months are gone
Since kind Megisthes wore a crown
Of pliant osier, drinking wine
Whose colour did like rubies shine."
And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephæstion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title, “Concerning the Osier Garland mentioned by Anacreon.” And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephæstion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrantus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antipho the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antipho himself; Hephæstion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antipho in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion on the Osier Garland. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories, mentioned this story about the osier, and knew nothing of the passage of Nicænetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus.
But one may explain this fact of the osier garlands more simply, by saying that Megisthes wore a garland of osier because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his [p. 1076] temples. For the Lacedæmonians at the festival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedæmon, where he writes thus: “On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public school follow without any garland at all.”
But Aristotle, in the second book of his treatise on Love Affairs, and Ariston the Peripatetic, who was a native of Ceos, in the second book of his Amatory Resemblances, say that “The ancients, on account of the headaches which were produced by their wine-drinking, adopted the practice of wearing garlands made of anything which came to hand, as the binding the head tight appeared to be of service to them. But men in later times added also some ornaments to their temples, which had a kind of reference to their employment of drinking, and so they invented garlands in the present fashion. But it is more reasonable to suppose that it was because the head is the seat of all sensation that men wore crowns upon it, than that they did so because it was desirable to have their temples shaded and bound as a remedy against the headaches produced by wine.”
They also wore garlands over their foreheads, as the sweet Anacreon says—
And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns,They also wore garlands on their breasts, and anointed them with perfume, because that is the seat of the heart. And they call the garlands which they put round their necks ὑποθυμιάδες, as Alcæus does in these lines—
Let's honour Bacchus with a jovial feast.
Let every one twine round his neckAnd Sappho says—
Wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise.
And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδεςAnd Anacreon says—
In numbers round their tender throats.
They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowersAeschylus also, in his Prometheus Unbound, says distinctly—
Entwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες.
And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus,[p. 1077] And again, in the play entitled the Sphinx, he says-
Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonement
For the sad chains with which his limbs were bound.
Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος,—But Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands, speaking as follows—
This is the best of chains, as we may judge
From great Prometheus.
But place those garlands on thy lovely hair,In which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on their heads, as they are beautiful things, and acceptable to the Gods. Aristotle also, in his Banquet, says, “We never offer any mutilated gift to the Gods, but only such as are perfect and entire; and what is full is entire, and crowning anything indicates filling it in some sort. So Homer says—
Twining the tender sprouts of anise green
With skilful hand; for offerings of flowers
Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those
Who come before them with uncrowned heads.
And in another place he says—The slaves the goblets crown'd with rosy wine;
Iliad, i. 470.
That is to say, eloquence in speaking makes up in the case of some men for their personal ugliness. Now this is what the στέφανος seems intended to do, on which account, in times of mourning, we do exactly the contrary. For wishing to testify our sympathy for the dead, we mutilate ourselves by cutting our hair, and by putting aside our garlands.”But God plain forms with eloquence does crown.
Odyss. viii. 170.
Now Philonides the physician, in his treatise on Ointments and Garlands, says, "After the vine was introduced into Greece from the Red Sea, and when most people had become addicted to intemperate enjoyment, and had learnt to drink unmixed wine, some of them became quite frantic and out of their minds, while others got so stupified as to resemble the dead. And once, when some men were drinking on the sea-shore, a violent shower came on, and broke up the party, and filled the goblet, which had a little wine left in it, with water. But when it became fine again, the men returned to the same spot, and tasting the new mixture, found that their enjoyment was now not only exquisite, but free from any subsequent pain. And on this account, the Greeks [p. 1078] invoke the good Deity at the cup of unmixed wine, which is served round to them at dinner, paying honour to the Deity who invented wine; and that was Bacchus. But when the first cup of mixed wine is handed round after dinner, they then invoke Jupiter the Saviour, thinking him the cause of this mixture of wine which is so unattended with pain, as being the author of rain. Now, those who suffered in their heads after drinking, certainly stood in need of some remedy; and so the binding their heads was what most readily occurred to them, as Nature herself led them to this remedy. For a certain man having a headache, as Andreas says, pressed his head, and found relief, and so invented a ligature as a remedy for headache.
Accordingly, men using these ligatures as assistants in drinking, used to bind their heads with whatever came in their way. And first of all, they took garlands of ivy, which offered itself, as it were, of its own accord, and was very plentiful, and grew everywhere, and was pleasant to look upon, shading the forehead with its green leaves and bunches of berries, and bearing a good deal of tension, so as to admit of being bound tight across the brow, and imparting also a certain degree of coolness without any stupifying smell accompanying it. And it seems to me that this is the reason why men have agreed to consider the garland of ivy sacred to Bacchus, implying by this that the inventor of wine is also the defender of men from all the inconveniences which arise from the use of it. And from thence, regarding chiefly pleasure, and considering utility and the comfort of the relief from the effects of drunkenness of less importance, they were influenced chiefly by what was agreeable to the sight or to the smell. And therefore they adopted crowns of myrtle, which has exciting properties, and which also represses any rising of the fumes of wine; and garlands of roses, which to a certain extent relieve headache, and also impart some degree of coolness; and garlands also of bay leaves, which they think are not wholly unconnected with drinking parties. But garlands of white lilies, which have an effect on, the head, and wreaths of amaracus, or of any other flower or herb which has any tendency to produce heaviness or torpid feelings in the head, must be avoided." And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Perfumes and Garlands, [p. 1079] has said the same thing in the very same words. And this, my friends, is enough to say on this subject.
But concerning the Naucratite Crown, and what kind of flowers that is made of, I made many investigations, and inquired a great deal without learning anything, till at last I fell in with a book of Polycharmus of Naucratis, entitled On Venus, in which I found the following passage: —“But in the twenty-third Olympiad Herostratus, a fellow-countryman of mine, who was a merchant, and as such had sailed to a great many different countries, coming by chance to Paphos, in Cyprus, bought an image of Venus, a span high, of very ancient workmanship, and came away meaning to bring it to Naucratis. And as he was sailing near the, Egyptian coast, a violent storm suddenly overtook him, and the sailors could not tell where they were, and so they all had recourse to this image of Venus, entreating her to save them. And the goddess, for she was kindly disposed towards the men of Naucratis, on a sudden filled all the space near her with branches of green myrtle, and diffused a most delicious odor over the whole ship, when all the sailors had previously despaired of safety from their violent sea-sickness. And after they had been all very sick, the sun shone out, and they, Seeing the landmarks, came in safety into Naucratis. And Herostratus having disembarked from the ship with his image, and carrying with him also the green branches of myrtle which had so suddenly appeared to him, consecrated it and them in the temple of Venus. And having sacrificed to the gooddess, and having consecrated the image to Venus, and invited all his relations and most intimate friends to a banquet in the temple, he gave every one of them a garland of these branches of myrtle, to which garlands he then gave the name of Naucratite.” This is the account given by Polcharmus; and I myself believe the statement, and believe that the Naucratite garland is no other than one made of myrtle, especially as in Anacreon it is represented as worn with one made of roses. And Philonides has said that the garland made of myrtle acts as a check upon the fumes of wine, and that the one made of roses, in addition to its cooling qualities, is to a certain extent a remedy for headache. And, therefore, those men are only to be laughed at, who say that the Naucratite garland is the wreath made of what is called by the [p. 1080] Egyptians biblus, quoting the statement of Theopompus, in the third book of his History of Greece, where he says, “That when Agesilaus the Lacedæmonian arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians sent him many presents, and among them the papyrus, which is used for making garlands.” But I do not know what pleasure or advantage there could be in having a crown made of biblus with roses, unless people who are enamoured of such a wreath as this should also take a fancy to wear crowns of garlic and roses together. But I know that a great many people say that the garland made of the sampsychon or amaracus is the Naucratite garland; and this plant is very plentiful in Egypt, but the myrtle in Egypt is superior in sweetness to that which is found in any other country, as Theophrastus relates in another place.
While this discussion was going on, some slaves came in bringing garlands made of such flowers as were in bloom at the time; and Myrtilus said;—Tell me, my good friend Ulpian, the different names of garlands. For these servants, as is said in the Centaur of Chærephon—
Make ready garlands which they give the gods,And the same poet says, in his play entitled Bacchus—
Praying they may be heralds of good omen.
Cutting sweet garlands, messengers of good omen.Do not, however, quote to me passages out of the Crowns of Aelius Asclepiades, as if I were unacquainted with that work; but say something now besides what you find there. For you cannot show me that any one has ever spoken separately of a garland of roses, and a garland of violets. For as for the expression in Cratinus—
ναρκισσίνους ὀλίσβους,that is said in a joke.
And he, laughing, replied,—The word στέφανος was first used among the Greeks, as Semos the Delian tells us in the fourth book of his Delias, in the same sense as the word στέφανος is used by us, which, however, by some people is called στέμμα. On which account, being first crowned with this στέφανος, afterwards we put on a garland of bay leaves; and the word στέφανος itself is derived from the verb στέφω, to crown. But do you, you loquacious Thessalian, think, says he, that I am going to repeat any of those old and hacknied stories? But [p. 1081] because of your tongue (γλῶσσα), I will mention the ὑπογλωττὶς, which Plato speaks of in his Jupiter Ill-treated—
But you wear leather tongues within your shoes,And Theodorus, in his Attic Words, as Pamphilus says in his treatise on Names, says, that the ὑπογλωττὶς is a species of plaited crown. Take this then from me; for, as Euripides says,
And crown yourselves with ὑπογλωττίδες,
Whenever you're engaged in drinking parties.
And when you sacrifice you speak only words
Of happy omen.
'Tis no hard work to argue on either side,
If a man's only an adept at speaking.
There is the Isthmiacum also, and there was a kind of crown bearing this name, which Aristophanes has thought worthy of mention in his Fryers, where he speaks thus—
What then are we to do? We should have takenBut Silenus, in his Dialects, says, “The Isthmian garland.” And Philetas says, “στέφανος. There is an ambiguity here as to whether it refers to the head or to the main world.9 We also use the word ἴσθμιον, as applied to a well, or to a dagger.” But Timachidas and Simmias, who are both Rhodians, explain one word by the other. They say, ἴσθμιον, στέφανον: and this word is also mentioned by Callixenus, who is himself also a Rhodian, in his History of Alexandria, where he writes as follows—
A white cloak each of us; and then entwining
Isthmiaca on our brows, like choruses,
Come let us sing the eulogy of our master.
* * * * * *
But since I have mentioned Alexandria, I know that in that beautiful city there is a garland called the garland of Antinous, which is made of the lotus, which grows in those parts. And this lotus grows in the marshes in the summer season; and it bears flowers of two colours; one like that of the rose, and it is the garlands woven of the flower of this colour which are properly called the garlands of Antinous; but the other kind is called the lotus garland, being of a dark colour. And a man of the name of Pancrates, a native poet, with whom we ourselves were acquainted, made a great parade of showing a rose-coloured lotus to Adrian the emperor, when he was staying at Alexandria, saying, that [p. 1082] he ought to give this flower the name of the Flower of Antinous, as having sprung from the ground where it drank in the blood of the Mauritanian lion, which Hadrian killed when he was out hunting in that part of Africa, near Alexandria; a monstrous beast which had ravaged all Libya for a long time, so as to make a very great part of the district desolate. Accordingly, Hadrian being delighted with the utility of the invention, and also with its novelty, granted to the poet that he should be maintained for the future in the Museum at the public expense; and Cratinus the comic poet, in his Ulysseses, has called the lotus στεφάνωμα, because all plants which are full of leaf, are called στεφανώματα by the Athenians. But Pancrates said, with a good deal of neatness, in his poem—
The crisp ground thyme, the snow-white lily too,
The purple hyacinth, and the modest leaves
Of the white celandine, and the fragrant rose,
Whose petals open to the vernal zephyrs;
For that fair flower which bears Antinous' name
The earth had not yet borne.
There is the word πυλέων. And this is the name given to the garland which the Lacedæmonians place on the head of Juno, as Pamphilus relates.
I am aware, also, that there is a kind of garland, which is called ᾿ιάκχας by the Sicyonians, as Timachidas mentions in his treatise on Dialects. And Philetas writes as follows:— “᾿ιάκχα—this is a name given to a fragrant garland in the district of Sicyon—
She stood by her sire, and in her fragrant hair”
She wore the beautiful Iacchian garland.
Seleucus also, in his treatise on Dialects, says, that there is a kind of garland made of myrtle, which is called ᾿ελλωτὶς, being twenty cubits in circumference, and that it is carried in procession on the festival of the Ellotia. And he says, that in this garland the bones of Europa, whom they call Ellotis, are carried. And this festival of the Ellotia is celebrated in Corinth.
There is also the θυρεατικός. This also is a name given to a species of garland by the Lacedæmonians, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on Sacrifices, where he says, that now it is called ψίλινος, being made of branches of the palm-tree. And he says that they are worn, as a memorial of the victory which they gained, in Thyrea,10 by the leaders of the choruses, [p. 1083] which are employed in that festival when they celebrate the Gymnopeediæ.11 And there are choruses, some of handsome boys, and others of full-grown men of distinguished bravery, who all dance naked, and who sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman, and the paeans of Dionysodotus the Lacedæmonian.
There are also garlands called μελιλώτινοι,, which are mentioned by Alexis in his Crateva, or the Apothecary, in the following line—
And many μελιλώτινοι garlands hanging.
There is the word too, ἐπιθυμίδες,, which Seleucus explains by “every sort of garland.” But Timachidas says, “Garlands of every kind which are worn by women are called ἐπιθυμίδες.”
There are also the words ὑποθυμὶς and ὑποθυμιὰς, which are names given to garlands by the Aeolians and Ionians, and they wear such around their necks, as one may clearly collect from the poetry of Alcæus and Anacreon. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says, that the Lesbians call a branch of myrtle ὑποθυμὶς, around which they twine violets and other flowers.
The ὑπογλωττὶς also is a species of garland. But Theodorus, in his Attic Words, says, that it is a particular kind of garland, and is used in that sense by Plato the comic poet, in his Jupiter Ill-treated.
I find also, in the comic poets, mention made of a kind of garland called κυλιστὸς,, and I find that Archippus mentions it in his Rhinon, in these lines—
He went away unhurt to his own house,And Alexis, in his Agonis, or The Colt, says—
Having laid aside his cloak, but having on
His ἐκκύλιστος garland.
This third man has a κυλιστὸς garlandand in his Sciron he says—
Of fig-leaves; but while living he delighted
In similar ornaments:
Like a κυλιστὸς garland in suspense.[p. 1084] Antiphanes also mentions it in his Man in Love with Himself. And Eubulus, in his Œnomaus, or Pelops, saying—
Brought into circular shape,
Like a κυλιστὸς garland.
What, then, is this κυλιστός? For I am aware that Nicander of Thyatira, in his Attic Nouns, speaks as follows,— “'᾿εκκυλίσιοι στέφανοι, and especially those made of roses.” And now I ask what species of garland this was, O Cynulcus; and do not tell me that I am to understand the word as meaning merely large. For you are a man who are fond of not only picking things little known out of books, but of even digging out such matters; like the philosophers in the Joint Deceiver of Baton the comic poet; men whom Sophocles also mentions in his Fellow Feasters, and who resemble you,—
You should not wear a beard thus well perfumed,Since, then, you are sated not only with the heads of glaucus, but also with that ever-green herb, which that Anthedonian Deity12 ate, and became immortal, give us an answer now about the subject of discussion, that we may not think that when you are dead, you will be metamorphosed, as the divine Plato has described in his treatise on the Soul. For he says that those who are addicted to gluttony, and insolence, and drunkenness, and who are restrained by no modesty, may naturally become transformed into the race of asses, and similar animals.
And 'tis a shame for you, of such high birth,
To be reproached as the son of your belly,
When you might rather be call'd your father's son.
And as he still appeared to be in doubt;—Let us now, said Ulpian, go on to another kind of garland, which is called the στρούθιος; which Asclepiades mentions when he quotes the following passage, out of the Female Garland Sellers of Eubulus—
O happy woman, in your little houseAnd this garland is made of the flower called στρούθιον (soapwort), which is mentioned by Theophrastus, in the sixth [p. 1085] book of his Natural History, in these words—“The iris also blooms in the summer, and so does the flower called στρούθιον, which is a very pretty flower to the eye, but destitute of scent.” Galene of Smyrna also speaks of the same flower, under the name of στρύθιον.
To have a στρούθιος . . . . .13
There is also the πόθος.. There is a certain kind of garland with this name, as Nicander the Colophonian tells us in his treatise on Words. And this, too, perhaps is so named as being made of the flower called πόθος,, which the same Theophrastus mentions in the sixth book of his Natural History, where he writes thus—"There are other flowers which bloom chiefly in the summer,—the lychnis, the flower of Jove, the lily, the iphyum, the Phrygian amaracus, and also the plant called pothus, of which there are two kinds, one bearing a flower like the hyacinth, but the other produces a colour-less blossom nearly white, which men use to strew on tombs.
Eubulus also gives a list of other names of garlands—
Aegidion, carry now this garland for me,And then in the subsequent lines he says—
Ingeniously wrought of divers flowers,
Most tempting, and most beautiful, by Jove!
For who'd not wish to kiss the maid who bears it?
A. Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have them
Of ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowers
Such as I show you here in bloom.
B. I'll have
These myrtle ones. You may sell all the others,
But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.
There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says—
For the boy wore a garland on his browSome garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to this day among the Alexandrians. And Chæremon the tragic poet mentions them in his Bacchus, saying—
Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα).
The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands,But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Helanicus, in his History of Egypt, writes as follows—“There is a city on the banks of the river, named Tindium. This is place where many gods are assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the temple there are [p. 1086] white and black thorns, on which garlands were placed made of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the pomegranate, and of vine leaves. And these keep green for ever. These garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)” But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt, says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes thus— “But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Aethiopians who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble garlands.” And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.
Made up of ivy and narcissus.
There are also garlands called συνθηματιαῖοι,, which people make and furnish by contract. Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, says—
We find also the word χορωνόν. Apion, in his treatise on the Roman Dialect, says that formerly a garland was called χορωνὸν, from the fact of the members of the chorus in the theatres using it; and that they wore garlands and contended for garlands. And one may see this name given to garlands in the Epigrams of Simonides— [p. 1087]To make up twenty συνθηματιαῖοι garlands.
Ar. Thesm. 458.
Phœbus doth teach that song to the Tyndaridæ,
Which tuneless grasshoppers have crown'd with a χορωνός.
There are ἀκίνιοι too. There are some garlands made of the basil thyme (ἄκινος) which are called by this name, as we are told by Andron the physician, whose words are quoted by Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius, in the first book of his treatise on the Words which occur in the Historians.
Now Theophrastus gives the following list of flowers as suitable to be made into garlands—-“The violet, the flower of Jupiter, the iphyum, the wallflower, the hemerocalles, or yellow lily. But he says the earliest blooming flower is the white violet; and about the same time that which is called the wild wallflower appears, and after them the narcissus and the lily; and of mountain flowers, that kind of anemone which is called the mountain anemone, and the head of the bulb-plant. For some people twine these flowers into garlands. And next to these there comes the œnanthe and the purple violet. And of wild flowers, there are the helichryse, and that species of anemone called the meadow anemone, and the gladiolus, and the hyacinth. But the rose is the latest blooming flower of all; and it is the latest to appeal and the first to go off. But the chief summer flowers are the lychnis, and the flower of Jupiter, and the lily, and the iphyum, and the Phrygian amaracus, and also the flower called the pothus.” And in his ninth book the same Theophrastus says, if any one wears a garland made of the flower of the helichryse, he is praised if he sprinkle it with ointment. And, Alcman mentions it in these lines—
And I pray to you, and bringAnd Ibycus says—
This chaplet of the helichryse,
And of the holy cypirus.
Myrtle-berries with violets mix'd,And Cratinus, in his Effeminate People, says—
And helichryse, and apple blossoms,
And roses, and the tender daphne.
With ground thyme and with crocuses,But the helichryse is a flower like the lotus. And Themistagoras the Ephesian, in his book entitled The Golden Book, says that the flower derives its name from the nymph who [p. 1088] first picked it, who was called Helichrysa. There are also, says Theophrastus, such flowers as purple lilies. But Philinus says that the lily, which he calls κρίνον, is by some people called λείριον,, and by others ἴον. The Corinthians also call this flower ambrosia, as Nicander says in his Dictionary. And Diocles, in his treatise on Deadly Poisons, says—“The amaracus, which some people call the sampsychus.”
And hyacinths, and helichryse.
Cratinus also speaks of the hyacinth by the name of κοσμοσάνδαλον in his Effeminate People, where he says—
I crown my head with flowers, λείρια,And Clearchus, in the second book of his Lives, says—"You may remark the Lacedæmonians who, having invented garlands of cosmosandalum, trampled under foot the most ancient system of polity in the world, and utterly ruined themselves; on which account Antiphanes the comic poet very cleverly says of them, in his Harp-player—
Roses, and κρίνα, and κοσμοσάνδαλα.
Did not the Lacedæmonians boast of oldAnd Hicesius, in the second book of his treatise on Matter, says—“The white violet is of moderately astringent properties, and has a most delicious fragrance, and is very delightful, but only for a short time; and the purple violet is of the same appearance, but it is far more fragrant.” And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Beasts, says—“There is the chamæpitys, or ground pine, which some call olocyrum, but the Athenians call it Ionia, and the Eubœans sideritis.” And Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, (the words themselves I will quote hereafter, when I thoroughly discuss all the flowers fit for making into garlands,) says—“The violet (ἴον) was originally given by some Ionian nymphs to Ion.”
As though they were invincible? but now
They wear effeminate purple head-dresses.
And in the sixth book of his History of Plants, Theophrastus says that the narcissus is also called λείριον; but in a subsequent passage he speaks of the narcissus and λείριον as different plants. And Eumachus the Corcyrean, in his treatise on Cutting Roots, says that the narcissus is also called acacallis, and likewise crotalum. But the flower called hemerocalles, or day-beauty, which fades at night but blooms [p. 1089] at sunrise, is mentioned by Cratinus in his Effeminate People, where he says—
And the dear hemerocalles.Concerning the ground thyme, Theophrastus says—“The people gather the wild ground thyme on the mountains and plant it around Sicyon, and the Athenians gather it on Hymettus; and other nations too have mountains fill of this flower, as the Thracians for instance.” But Philinus says that it is called zygis. And Amerias the Macedonian, speaking of the lychnis in his treatise on Cutting up Roots, says that “it sprang from the baths of Venus, when Venus bathed after having been sleeping with Vulcan. And it is found in the greatest perfection in Cyprus and Lemnos, and also in Stromboli and near mount Eryx, and at Cythera.”
“But the iris,” says Theophrastus, “blooms in the summer, and is the only one of all the European flowers which has a sweet scent. And it is in the highest beauty in those parts of Illyricum which are at a distance from the sea.” But Philinus says that the flowers of the iris are called λύκοι, because they resemble the lips of the wolf (λύκος). And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the hundred and eighth book of his History, says that there is a lake near the Alps, many stadia in circumference, round which there grow every year the most fragrant and beautiful flowers, like those which are called calchæ. Alcman also mentions the calchæ in these lines:—
Having a golden-colour'd necklace onAnd Epicharmus, too, speaks of them in his Rustic.
Of the bright calchæ, with their tender petals.
Of roses, says Theophrastus in his sixth book, there are many varieties. For most of them consist only of five leaves, but some have twelve leaves; and some, near Philippi, have even as many as a hundred leaves. For men take up the plants from Mount Pangæum, (and they are very numerous there,) and plant them near the city. And the inner petals are very small; for the fashion in which the flowers put out their petals is, that some form the outer rows and some the inner ones: but they have not much smell, nor are they of any great size. And those with only five leaves are the most fragrant, and their lower parts are very thorny. But the most fragrant roses are in Cyrene: on which account the [p. 1090] perfumes made there are the sweetest. And in this country, too, the perfume of the violets, and of all other flowers, is most pure and heavenly; and above all, the fragrance of the crocus is most delicious in those parts." And Timachidas, in his Banquets, says that the Arcadians call the rose εὐόμφαλον, meaning εὔοσμον, or fragrant. And Apollodorus, in the fourth book of his History of Parthia, speaks of a flower called philadelphum, as growing in the country of the Parthians, and describes it thus:—“And there are many kinds of myrtle, —the milax, and that which is called the philadelphum, which has received a name corresponding to its natural character; for when branches, which are at a distance from one another, meet together of their own accord, they cohere with a vigorous embrace, and become united as if they came from one root, and then growing on, they produce fresh shoots: on which account they often make hedges of them in well-cultivated farms; for they take the thinnest of the shoots, and plait them in a net-like manner, and plant them all round their gardens, and then these plants, when plaited together all round, make a fence which it is difficult to pass through.”
The author, too, of the Cyprian Poems gives lists of the flowers which are suitable to be made into garlands, whether he was Hegesias, or Stasinus, or any one else; for Demodamas, who was either a Halicarnassian or Milesian, in his History of Halicarnassus, says that the Cyprian Poems were the work of a citizen of Halicarnassus: however, the author, whoever he was, in his eleventh book, speaks thus:—
Then did the Graces, and the smiling Hours,And this poet appears also to have been acquainted with the use of garlands, when he says—
Make themselves garments rich with various hues,
And dyed them in the varied flowers that Spring
And the sweet Seasons in their bosom bear.
In crocus, hyacinth, and blooming violet,
And the sweet petals of the peerless rose,
So fragrant, so divine; nor did they scorn
The dewy cups of the ambrosial flower
That boasts Narcissus' name. Such robes, perfumed
With the rich treasures of revolving seasons,
The golden Venus wears.
And when the smiling Venus with her train
Had woven fragrant garlands of the treasures
The flowery earth puts forth, the goddesses
[p. 1091] All crown'd their heads with their queen's precious work,—
The Nymphs and Graces, and the golden Venus,—
And raised a tuneful song round Ida's springs.
Nicander also, in the second book of his Georgics, gives a regular list of the flowers suitable to be made into garlands, and speaks as follows concerning the Ionian nymphs and concerning roses:—
And many other flowers you may plant,(but by the word θρῖα he does not here mean the leaves of fig-trees, but of the poppy).
Fragrant and beauteous, of Ionian growth;
Two sorts of violets are there,—pallid one,
And like the colour of the virgin gold,
Such as th' Ionian nymphs to Ion gave,
When in the meadows of the holy Pisa
They met and loved and crown'd the modest youth.
For he had cheer'd his hounds and slain the boar,
And in the clear Alpheus bathed his limbs,
Before he visited those friendly nymphs.
Cut then the shoots from off the thorny rose,
And plant them in the trenches, leaving space
Between, two spans in width. The poets tell
That Midas first, when Asia's realms he left,
Brought roses from th' Odonian hills of Thrace,
And cultivated them in th' Emathian lands,
Blooming and fragrant with their sixty petals.
Next to th' Emathian roses those are praised
Which the Megarian Nisæa displays:
Nor is Phaselis, nor the land which worships
The chaste Diana,14 to be lightly praised,
Made verdant by the sweet Lethæan stream.
In other trenches place the ivy cuttings,
And often e'en a branch with berries loaded
May be entrusted to the grateful ground;
* * * * *15
Or with well-sharpen'd knife cut off the shoots,
And plait them into baskets,
* * * * *
High on the top the calyx full of seed
Grows with white leaves, tinged in the heart with gold,
Which some call crina, others liria,
Others ambrosia, but those who love
The fittest name, do call them Venus' joy;
[p. 1092] For in their colour they do vie with Venus,
Though far inferior to her decent form.
The iris in its roots is like th' agallis,
Or hyacinth fresh sprung from Ajax' blood;
It rises high with swallow-shaped flowers,
Blooming when summer brings the swallows back.
Thick are the leaves they from their bosom pour,
And the fresh flowers constantly succeeding,
Shine in their stooping mouths.
* * * * *
Nor is the lychnis, nor the lofty rush,
Nor the fair anthemis in light esteem,
Nor the boanthemum with towering stem,
Nor phlox whose brilliancy scarce seems to yield
To the bright splendour of the midday sun.
Plant the ground thyme where the more fertile ground
Is moisten'd by fresh-welling springs beneath,
That with long creeping branches it may spread,
Or droop in quest of some transparent spring,
The wood-nymphs' chosen draught. Throw far away
The poppy's leaves, and keep the head entire,
A sure protection from the teasing gnats;
For every kind of insect makes its seat
Upon the opening leaves; and on the head,
Like freshening dews, they feed, and much rejoice
In the rich latent honey that it bears;
But when the leaves (θρῖα) are off, the mighty flame
Soon scatters them . . . .
Nor can they place their feet[p. 1093] (But for ἐφελκόμεναι χροιῇσιν some copies have ἐφελκόμεναι φιλοχροιαῖς).
With steady hold, nor juicy food extract;
And oft they slip, and fall upon their heads.
Swift is the growth, and early the perfection
Of the sampsychum, and of rosemary,
And of the others which the gardens
Supply to diligent men for well-earn'd garlands.
Such are the feathery fern, the boy's-love sweet,
(Like the tall poplar); such the golden crocus,
Fair flower of early spring; the gopher white,
And fragrant thyme, and all the unsown beauty
Which in moist grounds the verdant meadows bear;
The ox-eye, the sweet-smelling flower of Jove,
The chalca, and the much sung hyacinth,
And the low-growing violet, to which
Dark Proserpine a darker hue has given;
The tall panosmium, and the varied colours
Which the gladiolus puts forth in vain
To decorate the early tombs of maidens.
Then too the ever-flourishing anemones,
Tempting afar with their most vivid dyes.
And above all remember to select
The elecampane and the aster bright,
And place them in the temples of the gods,
By roadside built, or hang them on their statues,
Which first do catch the eye of the visitor.
These are propitious gifts, whether you pluck
The many-hued chrysanthemum, or lilies
Which wither sadly o'er the much-wept tomb,
Or gay old-man, or long-stalk'd cyclamen,
Or rank nasturtium, whose scarlet flowers
Grim Pluto chooses for his royal garland.
From these lines it is plain that the chelidonium is a different flower from the anemone (for some people have called them the same). But Theophrastus says that there are some plants, the flowers of which constantly follow the stars, such as the one called the heliotrope, and the chelidonium; and this last plant is named so from its coming into bloom at the same time as the swallows arrive. There is also a flower spoken of under the name of ambrosia by Carystius, in his Historical Commentaries, where he says—“Nicander says that the plant named ambrosia grows at Cos, on the head of the statue of Alexander.” But I have already spoken of it, and mentioned that some people give this name to the lily. And Timachidas, in the fourth book of his banquet, speaks also of a flower called theseum,—
The soft theseum, like the apple blossom,And he says that the garland of Ariadne was made of this flower.
The sacred blossom of Leucerea,16
Which the fair goddess loves above all others.
Pherecrates also, or whoever the poet was who wrote the play of the Persians, mentions some flowers as fit for garlands, and says—
O you who sigh like mallows soft,And the author of the Miners, whoever he was, (and that poem is attributed to the same Pherecrates,) says—
Whose breath like hyacinths smells,
Who like the melilotus speak,
And smile as doth the rose,
Whose kisses are as marjoram sweet,
Whose action crisp as parsley,
[p. 1094] Whose gait like cosmosandalum.
Pour rosy wine, and with loud voice
Raise the glad pæan's song,
As laws of God and man enjoin
On holy festival.
Treading on soft aspalathi
Beneath the shady trees,
In lotus-bearing meadows green,
And on the dewy cypirus;
And on the fresh anthryscum, and
The modest tender violet,
And green trefoil. . .
But here I want to know what this trefoil is; for there is a poem attributed to Demarete, which is called The Trefoil. And also, in the poem which is entitled The Good Men, Pherecrates or Strattis, whichever is the author, says—
And having bathed before the heat of day,And he speaks of thyme, and of cosmosandalum. And Cratinus, in his Effeminate Persons, says—
Some crown their head and some anoint their bodies.
Joyful now I crown my head
With every kind of flower;
λείρια, roses, κρίνα too,
And cosmosandala,
And violets, and fragrant thyme,
And spring anemones,
Ground thyme, crocus, hyacinths,
And buds of helichryse,
Shoots of the vine, anthryscum too,
And lovely hemerocalles.
* * * * * *
My head is likewise shaded
With evergreen melilotus;
And of its own accord there comes
The flowery cytisus.
Formerly the entrance of garlands and perfumes into the banqueting rooms, used to herald the approach of the second course, as we may learn from Nicostratus in his Pseudostigmatias, where, in the following lines, he says—
And you too,
Be sure and have the second course quite neat;
Adorn it with all kinds of rich confections,
Perfumes, and garlands, aye, and frankincense,
And girls to play the flute.
[p. 1095] But Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his poem entitled The Banquet, represents the garland as entering into the commencement of the banquet, using the following language:
Then water was brought in to wash the hands,And Eubulus, in his Nurses, says—
Which a delicate youth bore in a silver ewe,
Ministering to the guests; and after that
He brought us garlands of the tender myrtle,
Close woven with young richly-colour'd shoots.
For when the old men came into the house,And this was the fashion also among the Egyptians, as Nicostratus says in his Usurer; for, representing the usurer as an Egyptian, he says—
At once they sate them down. Immediately
Garlands were handed round; a well-fill'd board
Was placed before them, and (how good for th' eyes!)
A closely-kneaded loaf of barley bread.
A. We caught the pimp and two of his companions,But you may go on gorging yourself, O Cynulcus; and when you have done, tell us why Cratinus has called the melilotus “the ever-watching melilotus.” However, as I see you are already a little tipsy (ἔξοινον）—for that is the word Alexis has used for a man thoroughly drunk (μεθύσην), in his Settler— I won't go on teasing you; but I will bid the slaves, as Sophocles says in his Fellow Feasters,
When they had just had water for their hands,
And garlands.
B. Sure the time, O Chærophon,
Was most propitious.
Come, quick! let some one make the barley-cakes,And there is a man of the same kind mentioned by Aristias of Phlius; for he, too, in his play entitled The Fates, says—
And fill the goblets deep; for this man now,
Just like a farmer's ox, can't work a bit
Till he has fill'd his belly with good food.
The guest is either a boatman or a parasite,However, as he gives no answer whatever to all these things which have been said, I order him (as it is said in the Twins of Alexis) to be carried out of the party, crowned with χύδαιοι garlands. But the comic poet, alluding to χύδαιοι garlands, says—
A hanger-on of hell, with hungry belly,
Which nought can satisfy.
These garlands all promiscuously (χύδην) woven.[p. 1096] But, after this, I will not carry on this conversation any fur- there to-day; but will leave the discussion about perfumes to those who choose to continue it: and only desire the boy, on account of this lecture of mine about garlands, as Antiphanes. . . . .
To bring now hither two good garlands,for then I shall wind up my speech like the conclusion of a play.
And a good lamp, with good fire brightly burning;
And not many days after this, as if he had been prophesying a silence for himself [which should be eternal], he died, happily, without suffering under any long illness, to the great affliction of us his companions.
And while the slaves were bringing round perfumes in alabaster boxes, and in other vessels made of gold, some one, seeing Cynulcus, anointed his face with a great deal of ointment. But he, being awakened by it, when he recollected himself, said;—What is this? O Hercules, will not some one come with a sponge and wipe my face, which is thus polluted with a lot of dirt? And do not you all know that that exquisite writer Xenophon, in his Banquet, represents Socrates as speaking thus:—“' By Jupiter! O Callias, you entertain us superbly; for you have not only given us a most faultless feast, but you have furnished us also with delicious food for our eyes and ears.'—' Well, then,' said he, 'suppose any one were to bring us perfumes, in order that we might also banquet on sweet smells? '—' By no means,' said Socrates; ' for as there is one sort of dress fit for women and another for men, so there is one kind of smell fit for women and another for men. And no man is ever anointed with perfume for the sake of men; and as to women, especially when they are brides,—as, for instance, the bride of this Niceratus here, and the bride of Critobulus,—how can they want perfumes in their husbands, when they themselves are redolent of it But the smell of the oil in the gymnasia, when it is present, is sweeter than perfume to women; and when it is absent, they long more for it. For if a slave and a freeman be anointed with perfume, they both smell alike in a moment; but those smells which are derived from free labours, require both virtuous habits and a good deal of time if they are to be agreeable and in character with a freeman.'” And [p. 1097] that admirable writer Chrysippus says that perfumes (μύρα） derive their name from being prepared with great toil (μόρος） and useless labour. The Lacedæmonians even expel from Sparta those who make perfumes, as being wasters of oil; and those who dye wool, as being destroyers of the whiteness of the wool. And Solon the philosopher, in his laws, forbade men to be sellers of perfumes.
“But now, not only scents,” as Clearchus says in the third book of his Lives, “but also dyes, being full of luxury, tend to make those men effeminate who have anything to do with them. And do you think that effeminacy without virtue has anything desirable in it? But even Sappho, a thorough woman, and a poetess into the bargain, was ashamed to separate honour from elegance; and speaks thus—
But elegance I truly love;making it evident to everybody that the desire of life that she confessed had respectability and honour in it; and these things especially belong to virtue. But Parrhasius the painter, although he was a man beyond all measure arrogant about his art, and though he got the credit of a liberal profession by some mere pencils and pallets, still in words set up a claim to virtue, and put this inscription on all his works that are at Lindus:—
And this my love of life has brilliancy,
And honour, too, attached to it:
This is Parrhasius' the painter's work,And a wit being indignant at this, because, I suppose, he seemed to be a disgrace to the delicacy and beauty of virtue, having perverted the gifts which fortune had bestowed upon him to luxury, proposed to change the inscription into ῥαβδοδίαιτος ἀνήρ: Still, said he, the man must be endured, since he says that he honours virtue.” These are the words of Clearchus. But Sophocles the poet, in his play called The Judgment, represents Venus, being a sort of Goddess of Pleasure, as anointed with perfumes, and looking in a glass; but Minerva, as being a sort of Goddess of Intellect and Mind, and also of Virtue, as using oil and gymnastic exercises.
A most luxurious (ἁβροδίαιτος) and virtuous man.
In reply to this, Masurius said;—But, my most excellent friend, are you not aware that it is in our brain that our senses are soothed, and indeed reinvigorated, by sweet smells? [p. 1098] as Alexis says in his Wicked Woman, where he speaks thus—
The best recipe for healthAnd that most valiant, and indeed warlike poet, Alcæus, says—
Is to apply sweet scents unto the brain.
He shed a sweet perfume all o'er my breast.And the wise Anacreon says somewhere—
Why fly away, now that you've well anointedfor he recommends anointing the breast with unguent, as being the seat of the heart, and considering it an admitted point that that is soothed with fragrant smells. And the ancients used to act thus, not only because scents do of their own nature ascend upwards from the breast to the seat of smelling, but also because they thought that the soul had its abode in the heart; as Praxagoras, and Philotimus the physician taught; and Homer, too, says—
Your breast, more hollow than a flute, with unguents?
And again he says—He struck his breast, and thus reproved his heart.
Hom. Odyss. xx. 17.
And in the Iliad he says—His heart within his breast did rage.
Ibid. 13.
And this they consider a proof that the most important portion of the soul is situated in the heart; for it is as evident as possible that the heart quivers when under the agitation of fear. And Agamemnon, in Homer, says—But Hector's heart within his bosom shook.
Hom. Iliad, vii. 216.
And Sophocles has represented women released from fear as saying—Scarce can my knees these trembling limbs sustain,
And scarce my heart support its load of pain;
With fears distracted, with no fix'd design,
And all my people's miseries are mine.Iliad, x. 96.
But Anaxandrides makes a man who is struggling with fear say—Now Fear's dark daughter does no more exult
Within my heart.This is not from any extant play.
O my wretched heart![p. 1099] And Plato says, “that the great Architect of the universe has placed the lungs close to the heart, by nature soft and destitute of blood, and having cavities penetrable like sponge, that so the heart, when it quivers, from fear of adversity or disaster, may vibrate against a soft and yielding substance.” But the garlands with which men bind their bosoms are called ὑποθυμιάδες by the poets, from the exhalations (ἀναθυμίασις of the flowers, and not because the soul (ψυχὴ) is called θυμὸς, as some people think.
How you alone of all my limbs or senses
Rejoice in evil; for you leap and dance
The moment that you see your lord alarm'd.
Archilochus is the earliest author who uses the word μύρον (perfume), where he says—
She being old would spare her perfumes (μύρα).And in another place he says—
Displaying hair and breast perfumed (ἐσμυρισμένον);And the word μύρον is derived from μύῤῥα, which is the Aeolic form of σμύρνα (myrrh); for the greater portion of unguents are made up with myrrh, and that which is called στακτὴ is wholly composed of it. Not but what Homer was acquainted with the fashion of using unguents and perfumes, but he calls them ἔλαια, with the addition of some distinctive epithet, as-
So that a man, though old, might fall in love with her.
And in another place he speaks of an oil as perfumed17 (τεθυωμένον. And in his poems also, Venus anoints the dead body of Hector with ambrosial rosy oil; and this is made of flowers. But with respect to that which is made of spices, which they called θυώματα, he says, speaking of Juno,—Himself anointing them with dewy oil (δροσόεντι ἐλαίῳ).
Hom. Iliad, xxiii. 186.
Here first she bathes, and round her body pours
Soft oils of fragrance and ambrosial showers:
The winds perfumed, the balmy gale convey
Through heaven, through earth, and all the aërial way.
Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets
The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.Ibid. xiv. 170.
But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius of Herophila says in his treatise on Perfumes, where he writes—“The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Naples and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at [p. 1100] Soli in Cilicia, and at Rhodes. The essence of spikenard is best at Tarsus; and the extract of vine-leaves is made best in Cyprus and at Adramyttium. The best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos. Egypt bears the palm for its essence of cypirus; and the next best is the Cyprian, and Phœnician, and after them comes the Sidonian. The perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. But the Metopian is made of oil which is extracted from bitter almonds. Still, the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors and the materials and the artists, and not to the place itself; for Ephesus formerly, as men say, had a high reputation for the excellence of its perfumes, and especially of its megallium, but now it has none. At one time, too, the unguents made in Alexandria were brought to high perfection, on account of the wealth of the city, and the attention that Arsinoe and Berenice paid to such matters; and the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive. Again, in ancient times, the extract of vine-leaves made at Adramyttium was but poor; but afterwards it became first-rate, owing to Stratonice, the wife of Eumenes. Formerly, too, Syria used to make every sort of unguent admirably, especially that extracted from fenugreek; but the case is quite altered now. And long ago there used to be a most delicious unguent extracted from frankincense at Pergamus, owing to the invention of a certain perfumer of that city, for no one else had ever made it before him; but now none is made there.
“Now, when a valuable unguent is poured on the top of one that is inferior, it remains on the surface; but when good honey is poured on the top of that which is inferior, it works its way to the bottom, for it compels that which is worse to rise above it.”
Achæus mentions Egyptian perfumes in his Prizes; and says—
They'll give you Cyprian stones, and ointments choice“And perhaps,” says Didymus, “he means in this passage that which is called στακτὴ, on account of the myrrh which is brought to Egypt, and from thence imported into Greece.” [p. 1101] And Hicesius says, in the second book of his treatise on Matter,—“Of perfumes, some are rubbed on, and some are poured on. Now, the perfume made from roses is suitable for drinking parties, and so is that made from myrtles and from apples; and this last is good for the stomach, and useful for lethargic people. That made from vine-leaves is good for the stomach, and has also the effect of keeping the mind clear. Those extracted from sampsychum and ground thyme are also well suited to drinking parties; and so is that extract of crocus which is not mixed with any great quantity of myrrh. The στακτὴ,, also, is well suited for drinking parties; and so is the spikenard: that made from fenugreek is sweet and tender; while that which comes from white violets is fragrant, and very good for the digestion.”
From dainty Egypt, worth their weight in silver.
Theophrastus, also, in his treatise on Scents, says, “that some perfumes are made of flowers; as, for instance, from roses, and white violets, and lilies, which last is called σούσινον. There are also those which are extracted from mint and ground thyme, and gopper, and the crocus; of which the best is procured in Aegina and Cilicia. Some, again, are made of leaves, as those made from myrrh and the œnanthe; and the wild vine grows in Cyprus, on the mountains, and is very plentiful; but no perfume is made of that which is found in Greece, because that has no scent. Some perfumes, again, are extracted from roots; as is that made from the iris, and from spikenard, and from marjoram, and from zedoary.”
Now, that the ancients were very much addicted to the use of perfumes, is plain from their knowing to which of our limbs each unguent was most suitable. Accordingly, Antiphanes, in his Thoricians, or The Digger, says—
A. He really bathes—And Cephisodorus, in his Trophonius, says—
B. What then?
A. In a large gilded tub, and steeps his feet
And legs in rich Egyptian unguents;
His jaws and breasts he rubs with thick palm-oil,
And both his arms with extract sweet of mint;
His eyebrows and his hair with marjoram,
His knees and neck with essence of ground thyme.
A. And now that I may well anoint my body,Anaxandrides, too, in his Protesilaus, says—
Buy me some unguents, I beseech you, Xanthias,
Of roses made and irises. Buy, too,
[p. 1102] Some oil of baccaris for my legs and feet.
B. You stupid wretch! Shall I buy baccaris,
And waste it on your worthless feet?
Unguents from Peron, which but yesterdayAnd Theopompus also mentions this perfumer, Peron, in his Admetus, and in the Hedychares. Antiphanes, too, says in his Antea—
He sold to Melanopus,—very costly,
Fresh come from Egypt; which he uses now
To anoint the feet of vile Callistratus.
I left the man in Peron's shop, just now,
Dealing for ointments; when he has agreed,
He'll bring you cinnamon and spikenard essence.
Now, there is a sort of ointment called βάκκαρις by many of the comic poets; and Hipponax uses this name in the following line:—
I then my nose with baccaris anointed,And Acheus, in his Aethon, a satyric drama, says—
Redolent of crocus.
Anointed o'er with baccaris, and dressingBut Ion, in his Omphale, says—
All his front hair with cooling fans of feathers.
'Tis better far to know the use of μύρα,And when he speaks of Sardian ornaments, he means to include perfumes; since the Lydians were very notorious for their luxury. And so Anacreon uses the word λυδοπαθὴς (Lydian-like) as equivalent to ἡδυπαθὴς (luxurious). Sophocles also uses the word βάκκαρις; and Magnes, in his Lydians, says—
And βάκκαρις, and Sardian ornaments,
Than all the fashions in the Peloponnesus.
A man should bathe, and then with baccarisPerhaps, however, μύρον and βάκκαρις were not exactly the same thing; for Aeschylus, in his Amymone, makes a distinction between them, and says—
Anoint himself.
Your βακκάρεις and your μύρα.And Simonides says—
And then with μύρον,, and rich spices too,And Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, says— [p. 1103]
And βάκκαρις, did I anoint myself.
O venerable Jove! with what a scent
Did that vile bag, the moment it was open'd,
O'erwhelm me, full of βάκκαρις and μύρον.!18
Pherecrates mentions an unguent, which he calls βρένθιον, in his Trifles, saying—
I stood, and order'd him to pour upon usAnd Crates mentions what he calls royal unguent, in his Neighbours; speaking as follows:—
Some brenthian unguent, that he also might
Pour it on those departing.
He smelt deliciously of royal unguent.But Sappho mentions the royal and the brenthian unguent together, as if they were one and the same thing; saying—
βρενθεΐῳ βασιληΐῳ,Aristophanes speaks of an unguent which he calls ψάγδης, in his Daitaleis; saying—
Come, let me see what unguent I can give you:And Eupolis, in his Marica, says—
Do you like ψάγδης̣
All his breath smells of ψάγδης.Eubulus, in his Female Garland-sellers, says—
She thrice anointed with Egyptian psagdas (ψάγδανι).Polemo, in his writings addressed to Adæus, says that there is an unguent in use among the Eleans called plangonium, from having been invented by a man named Plangon. And Sosibins says the same in his Similitudes; adding, that the unguent called megallium is so named for a similar reason: for that that was invented by a Sicilian whose name was Megallus. But some say that Megallus was an Athenian: and Aristophanes mentions him in his Telmissians, and so does Pherecrates in his Petale; and Strattis, in his Medea, speaks thus:—
And say that you are bringing her such unguents,Amphis also, in his Ulysses, mentions the Megalli unguent in the following passage—
As old Megallus never did compound,
Nor Dinias, that great Egyptian, see,
Much less possess.
A. Adorn the walls all round with hangings rich,Anaxandrides, too, in his Tereus, says—
Milesian work; and then anoint them o'er
[p. 1104] With sweet megallium, and also burn
The royal mindax.
B. Where did you, O master,
E'er hear the name of such a spice as that
And like the illustrious bride, great Basilis,Menander speaks of an unguent made of spikenard, in his Cecryphalus, and says—
She rubs her body with megallian unguent.
A. This unguent, boy, is really excellent.
B. Of course it is, 'tis spikenard.
And anointing oneself with an unguent of this description, Alæus calls μυρίσασθαι, in his Palæstræ, speaking thus—
Having anointed her (μυρίσασα), she shut her upBut Aristophanes uses not μυρίσματα, but μυρώματα, in his Ecclesiazusæ, saying—
In her own stead most secretly.
There was also an unguent called sagda, which is mentioned by Eupolis in his Coraliscus, where he writes—I who 'm anointed (μεμύρισμαι) o'er my head with unguents (μυρώμασι).
Aristoph. Eccl. 1117.
And baccaris, and sagda too.And it is spoken of likewise by Aristophanes, in his Daitaleis; and Eupolis in his Marica says—
And all his breath is redolent of sagda:which expression Nicander of Thyatira understands to be meant as an attack upon a man who is too much devoted to luxury. But Theodorus says, that sagda is a species of spice used in fumigation.
Now a cotyla of unguent used to be sold for a high price at Athens, even, as Hipparchus says in his Nocturnal Festival, for as much as five mine; but as Menander, in his Misogynist, states, for ten. And Antiphanes, in his Phrearrus, where he is speaking of the unguent called stacte, says—
The stacte at two minæ's not worth having.Now the citizens of Sardis were not the only people addicted to the use of unguents, as Alexis says in his Maker of Goblets—
The whole Sardian people is of unguents fond;but the Athenians also, who have always been the leaders of every refinement and luxury in human life, used them very [p. 1105] much; so that among them, as has been already mentioned, they used to fetch an enormous price; but, nevertheless, they did not abstain from the use of them on that account; just as we now do not deny ourselves scents which are so expensive and exquisite that those things are mere trifles which are spoken of in the Settler of Alexis—
For he did use no alabaster box
From which t' anoint himself; for this is but
An ordinary, and quite old-fashion'd thing.
But he let loose four doves all dipp'd in unguents,
Not of one kind, but each in a different sort;
And then they flew around, and hovering o'er us,
Besprinkled all our clothes and tablecloths.
Envy me not, ye noble chiefs of Greece;
For thus, while sacrificing, I myself
Was sprinkled o'er with unguent of the iris.
Just think, in God's name, my friends, what luxury, or I should rather say, what profuse waste it was to have one's garments sprinkled in this manner, when a man might have taken up a little unguent in his hands, as we do now, and in that manner have anointed his whole body, and especially his head. For Myronides says, in his treatise on Unguents and Garlands, that “the fashion of anointing the head at banquets arose from this:—that those men whose heads are naturally dry, find the humours which are engendered by what they eat, rise up into their heads; and on this account, as their bodies are inflamed by fevers, they bedew their heads with lotions, so as to prevent the neighbouring humours from rising into a part which is dry, and which also has a considerable vacuum in it. And so at their banquets, having consideration for this fact, and being afraid of the strength of the wine rising into their heads, men have introduced the fashion of anointing their heads, and by these means the wine, they think, will have less effect upon then, if they make their head thoroughly wet first. And as men are never content with what is merely useful, but are always desirous to add to that whatever tends to pleasure and enjoyment; in that way they have been led to adopt the use of unguents.”
We ought, therefore, my good cynic Theodorus, to use at banquets those unguents which have the least tendency to produce heaviness, and to employ those which have astringent [p. 1106] or cooling properties very sparingly. But Aristotle, that man of most varied learning, raises the question, “Why men who use unguents are more grey than others? Is it because unguents have drying properties by reason of the spices used in their composition, so that they who use them become dry, and the dryness produces greyness? For whether greyness arises from a drying of the hair, or from a want of natural heat, at all events dryness has a withering effect. And it is on this account too that the use of hats makes men grey more quickly; for by them the moisture which ought to nourish the hair is taken away.”
But when I was reading the twenty-eighth book of the History of Posidonius, I observed, my friends, a very pleasant thing which was said about unguents, and which is not at all foreign to our present discussion. For the philosopher says —“In Syria, at the royal banquets, when the garlands are given to the guests, some slaves come in, having little bladders full of Babylonian perfumes, and going round the room at a little distance from the guests, they bedew their garlands with the perfumes, sprinkling nothing else.” And since the discussion has brought us to this point, I will add
A verse to Love,as the bard of Cythera says, telling you that Janus, who is worshipped as a great god by us, and whom we call Janus Pater, was the original inventor of garlands. And Dracon of Corcyra tells us this in his treatise on Precious Stones, where his words are—“But it is said that Janus had two faces, the one looking forwards and the other backwards; and that it is from him that the mountain Janus and the river Janus are both named, because he used to live on the mountain. And they say that he was the first inventor of garlands, and boats, and ships; and was also the first person who coined brazen money. And on this account many cities in Greece, and many in Italy and Sicily, place on their coins a head with two faces, and on the obverse a boat, or a garland, or a ship. And they say that he married his sister Camise, and had a son named Aethax, and a daughter Olistene. And he, aiming at a more extended power and renown, sailed over to Italy, and settled on a mountain near Rome, which was called Janiculum from his name.”
This, now, is what was said about perfumes and unguents. And after this most of them asked for wine, [p. 1107] some demanding the Cup of the Good Deity, others that of Health, and different people invoking different deities; and so they all fell to quoting the words of those poets who had mentioned libations to these different deities; and I will now recapitulate what they said, for they quoted Antiphanes, who, in his Clowns, says—
Harmodius was invoked, the paean sung,And Alexis, in his Usurer, or The Liar, says—
Each drank a mighty cup to Jove the Saviour.
A. Fill now the cup with the libation dueAnd Nicostratus, in his Pandrosos, says—
To Jove the Saviour; for he surely is
Of all the gods most useful to mankind.
B. Your Jove the Saviour, if I were to burst,
Would nothing do for me.
A. Just drink, and trust him.
And so I will, my dear;And in the same play he mentions mixing a cup in honour of the Good Deity, as do nearly all the poets of the old comedy; but Nicostratus speaks thus—
But fill him now a parting cup to Health;
Here, pour a due libation out to Health.
Another to Good Fortune. Fortune manages
All the affairs of men; but as for Prudence,—
That is a blind irregular deity.
Fill a cup quickly now to the Good Deity,Xenarchus, too, in his Twins, says—
And take away this table from before me;
For I have eaten quite enough;—I pledge
This cup to the Good Deity;—here, quick, I say,
And take away this table from before me.
And now when I begin to nod my head,And Eriphus, in his Melibœa, says—
The cup to the Good Deity * *
* * * *
That cup, when I had drain'd it, near upset me;
And then the next libation duly quaff'd
To Jove the Saviour, wholly wreck'd my boat,
And overwhelm'd me as you see.
Before he'd drunk a cup to the Good Deity,
Or to great Jove the Saviour.
And Theophrastus, in his essay on Drunkenness, says— “The unmixed wine which is given at a banquet, which they call the pledge-cup in honour of the Good Deity, they offer in small quantities, as if reminding the guests of its strength, [p. 1108] and of the liberality of the god, by the mere taste. And they hand it round when men are already full, in order that there may be as little as possible drunk out of it. And having paid adoration three times, they take it from the table, as if they were entreating of the gods that nothing may be done unbecomingly, and that they may not indulge in immoderate desires for this kind of drink, and that they may derive only what is honourable and useful from it.” And Philochorus, in the second book of his Atthis, says—“And a law was made at that time, that after the solid food is removed, a taste of the unmixed wine should be served round as a sort of sample of the power of the Good Deity, but that all the rest of the wine should be previously mixed; on which account the Nymphs had the name given them of Nurses of Bacchus.” And that when the pledge-cup to the Good Deity was handed round, it was customary to remove the tables, is made plain by the wicked action of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. For there was a table of gold placed before the statue of Aesculapius at Syracuse; and so Dionysius, standing before it, and drinking a pledge-cup to the Good Deity, ordered the table to be removed.
But among the Greeks, those who sacrifice to the Sun, as Phylarchus tells us in the twelfth book of his History, make their libations of honey, as they never bring wine to the altars of the gods; saying that it is proper that the god who keeps the whole universe in order, and regulates everything, and is always going round and superintending the whole, should in no respect be connected with drunkenness.
Most writers have mentioned the Attic Scolia; and they are worthy also of being mentioned by me to you, on account of the antiquity and simple style of composition of the authors, and of those especially who gained a high reputation for that description of poetry, Alcæus and Anacreon; as Aristophanes says in his Daitaleis, where we find this line—
Come, then. a scolium sing to me,Praxilla, the Sicyonian poetess, was also celebrated for the composition of scolia. Now they are called scolia, not because of the character of the verse in which they are written, as if it were σκολιὸς (crooked); for men call also [p. 1109] those poems written in a laxer kind of metre σκολιά. But, “as there are three kinds of songs” (as Artemo of Cassandra says in the second book of his treatise on the Use of Books), “one or other of which comprehends everything which is sung at banquets; the first kind is that which it was usual for the whole party to sing; the second is that which the whole party indeed sang, not, however, together, but going round according to some kind of succession; the third is that which is ranked lowest of all, which was not sung by all the guests, but only by those who seemed to understand what was to be done, wherever they might happen to be sitting; on which account, as having some irregularity in it beyond what the other kinds had, in not being sung by all the guests, either together or in any definite kind of succession, but just as it might happen, it was called σκολιόν. And songs of this kind were sung when the ordinary songs, and those in which every one was bound to join, had come to an end. For then they invited all the more intelligent of the guests to sing some song worth listening to. And what they thought worth listening to were such songs as contained some exhortations and sentiments which seemed useful for the purposes of life.”
Of old Alcæus or Anacreon.
And of these Deipnosophists, one quoted one scolium, and one another. And these were those which were recited—
And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the-comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it—I.
O thou Tritonian Pallas, who from heaven above
Look'st with protecting eye
On this holy city and land,
Deign our protectress now to prove
From loss in war, from dread sedition's band,
And death's untimely blow, thou and thy father Jove.
II.
I sing at this glad season, of the Queen,
Mother of Plutus, heavenly Ceres;
May you be ever near us,
You and your daughter Proserpine,
And ever as a friend
This citadel defend.
III.
Latona once in Delos, as they say,
Did two great children bear,
Apollo with the golden hair,
Bright Phœbus, god of day.
And Dian, mighty huntress, virgin chaste.
On whom all women's trust is placed.[p. 1110]
IV.
Raise the loud shout to Pan, Arcadia's king;
Praise to the Nymphs' loved comrade sing!
Come, O Pan, and raise with me
The song in joyful ecstasy.
V.
We have conquer'd as we would,
The gods reward us as they should,
And victory bring from Pandrosos19 to Pallas.
VI.
Oh, would the gods such grace bestow,
That opening each man's breast,
One might survey his heart, and know
How true the friendship that could stand that test.
VII.
Health's the best gift to mortal given;
Beauty is next; the third great prize
Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice;
The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.
The man who wrote this song, whoe'er he was,After that, these other scolia were sung—
When he call'd health the best of all possessions,
Spoke well enough. But when the second place
He gave to beauty, and the third to riches,
He certainly was downright mad; for surely
Riches must be the next best thing to health,
For who would care to be a starving beauty
Some also call that a scolium which was composed by Hybrias the Cretan; and it runs thus—VIII.
'Tis well to stand upon the shore,
And look on others on the sea;
But when you once have dipp'd your oar,
By the present wind you must guided be.
IX.
A crab caught a snake in his claw,
And thus he triumphantly spake,—
'My friends must be guided by law,
Nor love crooked counsels to take.[p. 1111]
X.
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
The sword that laid the tyrant low,
When patriots, burning to be free,
To Athens gave equality.20
XI.
Harmodius, hail! though reft of breath,
Thou ne'er shalt feel the stroke of death,
The happy heroes' isles shall be
The bright abode allotted thee.
XII.
I'll wreathe the sword in myrtle bough,
The sword that laid Hipparchus low,
When at Minerva's adverse fane
He knelt, and never rose again.
XIII.
While Freedom's name is understood,
You shall delight the wise and good;
You dared to set your country free,
And gave her laws equality.
XIV.
Learn, my friend, from Admetus' story,
All worthy friends and brave to cherish;
But cowards shun when danger comes,
For they will leave you alone to perish.
XV.
Ajax of the ponderous spear mighty son of Telamon,
They call you bravest of the Greeks, next to the great Achilles,
Telamon came first, and of the Greeks the second man
Was Ajax, and with him there came invincible Achilles.
XVI.
Would that I were an ivory lyre,
Struck by fair boys to great Iacchus' taste;
Or golden trinket pure from fire,
Worn by a lady fair, of spirit chaste.
XVII.
Drink with me, and sport with me,
Love with me, wear crowns with me,
Be mad with me when I am moved with rage,
And modest when I yield to counsels sage.
XVIII.
A scorpion 'neath every stone doth lie,
And secrets usually hide treachery.[p. 1112]
XIX.
A sow one acorn has, and wants its brother;
And I have one fair maid, and seek another.
XX.
A wanton and a bath-keeper both cherish the same fashion,
Giving the worthless and the good the self-same bath to wash in.
XXI.
Give Cedon wine, O slave, and fill it up,
If you must give each worthy man a cup.
XXII.
Alas! Leipsydrium, you betray
A host of gallant men,
Who for their country many a day
Have fought, and would again.
And even when they fell, their race
In their great actions you may trace.21
XXIII.
The man who never will betray his friend,
Earns fame of which nor earth nor heaven shall see the end.
XXIV.
I have great wealth, a sword, and spear,
And trusty shield beside me here;
With these I plough, and from the vine
Squeeze out the heart-delighting wine;
They make me lord of everything.
But they who dread the sword and spear,
And ever trusty shield to bear,
Shall fall before me on their knees,
And worship me whene'er I please,
And call me mighty lord and king.
After this, Democritus said;—But the song which was composed by that most learned writer, Aristotle, and addressed to Hermias22 of Atarneus, is not a pæan, as was asserted by Demophilus, who instituted a prosecution against the philosopher, on the ground of impiety (having been suborned to act [p. 1113] the part of accuser by Eurymedon, who was ashamed to appear himself in the business). And he rested the charge of impiety on the fact of his having been accustomed to sing at banquets a pæan addressed to Hermias. But that this song has no characteristic whatever of a paean, but is a species of scolium, I will show you plainly from its own language—
O virtue, never but by labour to be won,
First object of all human life,
For such a prize as thee
There is no toil, there is no strife,
Nor even death which any Greek would shun;
Such is the guerdon fair and free,
And lasting too, with which thou dost thy followers grace,—
Better than gold,
Better than sleep, or e'en the glories old
Of high descent and noble race.
For you Jove's mighty son, great Hercules,
Forsook a life of ease;
For you the Spartan brothers twain
Sought toil and danger, following your behests
With fearless and unwearied breasts.
Your love it was that fired and gave
To early grave
Achilles and the giant son
Of Salaminian Telamon.
And now for you Atarneus' pride,
Trusting in others' faith, has nobly died;
But yet his name
Shall never die, the Muses' holy train
Shall bear him to the skies with deathless fame,
Honouring Jove, the hospitable god,
And honest hearts, proved friendship's blest abode.
Now I don't know whether any one can detect in this any resemblance to a paean, when the author expressly states in it that Hermias is dead, when he says—
And now for you Atarneus' pride,Nor has the song the burden, which all paeans have, of Io Paean, as that song written on Lysander the Spartan, which really is a paean, has; a song which Duris, in his book entitled The Annals of the Samians, says is sung in Samos. That also was a pæan which was written in honour of Craterus the Macedonian, of which Alexinus the logician was the author, as Hermippus the pupil of Callimachus says in the first book of his Essay on Aritotle. And this song is sung at Delphi, with a boy playing the lyre as an accompaniment [p. 1114] to it. The song, too, addressed to Agemon of Corinth, the father of Alcyone, which the Corinthians sang, contains the burden of the paean. And this burden, too, is even added by Polemo Periegetes to his letter addressed to Aranthius. The song also which the Rhodians sing, addressed to Ptolemy the first king of Egypt, is a paean: for it contains the burden Io Paean, as Georgus tells us in his essay on the Sacrifices at Rhodes. And Philochorus says that the Athenians sing paeans in honour of Antigonus and Demetrius, which were composed by Hermippus of Cyzicus, on an occasion when a great many poets had a contest as to which could compose the finest paean, and the victory was adjudged to Hermippus. And, indeed, Aristotle himself, in his Defence of himself from this accusation of impiety, (unless the speech is a spurious one,) says—“For if I had wished to offer sacrifice to Hermias as an immortal being, I should never have built him a tomb as a mortal; nor if I had wished to make him out to be a god, should I have honoured him with funeral obsequies like a man.”
Trusting in others' faith, has nobly died.
When Democritus had said this, Cynulcus said;;—Why do you remind me of those cyclic poems, to use the words of your friend Philo, when you never ought to say anything serious or important in the presence of this glutton Ulpian? For he prefers lascivious songs to dignified ones; such, for instance, as those which are called Locrian songs, which are of a debauched sort of character, such as—
Do you not feel some pleasure now?And all Phœnicia is full of songs of this kind; and he him- self, when there, used to go about playing on the flute with the men who sing colabri.23 And there is good authority, Ulpian, for this word κόλαβροι. For Demetrius the Scepsian, in the tenth book of his Trojan Array, speaks thus:— "Ctesiphon the Athenian, who was a composer of the songs called κόλαβροι, was made by Attalus, who succeeded Philetærus as king of Pergamus, judge of all his subjects in the [p. 1115] Aeolian district." And the same writer, in the nineteenth book of the same work, says that Seleucus the composer of merry songs was the son of Mnesiptolemus, who was an historian, and who had great interest with that Antiochus who was surnamed the Great. And it was very much the fashion to sing this song of his—
Do not betray me, I entreat you.
Rise up before the man comes back,
Lest he should ill-treat you and me.
'Tis morning now, dost thou not see
The daylight through the windows?
I will choose a single life,
That is better than a wife;
Friends in war a man stand by,
While the wife stays at home to cry.
And after this, looking towards Ulpian, he said;— But since you are out of humour with me, I will explain to you what the Syrbenæan chorus is. And Ulpian said;—Do you think, you wretch, that I am angry at what you say, or even that I pay the least attention to it, you shameless hound? But since you profess to teach me something, I will make a truce with you, not for thirty, but for a hundred years; only tell me what the Syrbenæan chorus is. Then, said he, Clearchus, my good friend, in the second book of his treatise on Education, writes thus—“There remains the Syrbenæan chorus, in which every one is bound to sing whatever he pleases, without paying the least attention to the man who sits in the post of honour and leads the chorus. And indeed he is only a more noisy spectator.” And in the words of Matron the parodist—
For all those men who heroes were of old,But you, even while you are alive, ask questions about everything, but never give information on any subject yourself. And he replied, who. . . .? while the truce between us lasts.
Eubæus, and Hermogenes, and Philip,
Are dead, and settlers in dark Pluto's realms;
But Cleonicus has a life secure
From all th' attacks of age; he's deeply skill'd
In all that bards or theatres concerns;
And even now he's dead, great Proserpine
Allows his voice still to be heard on earth.
And Cynulcus said;—There have been many poets who have applied themselves to the composition of parodies, my good friend; of whom the most celebrated was Eubœus of Paros, who lived in the time of Philip; and he is the man who attacked the Athenians a great deal. And four books of his Parodies are preserved. And Timon also mentions him, in [p. 1116] the first book of his Silli. But Polemo, in the twelfth book of his Argument against Timæus, speaking of the men who have written parodies, writes thus—"And I should call Bœotus and Eubœus, who wrote parodies, men of great reputation, on account of their cleverness in sportive composition, and I consider that they surpass those ancient poets whose followers they were. Now, the invention of this kind of poetry we must attribute to Hipponax the Iambic poet. For he writes thus, in his Hexameters,—
Muse, sing me now the praises of Eurymedon,Epicharmus of Syracuse also uses the same kind of poetry, in a small degree, in some of his plays; and so does Cratinus, a poet of the old Comedy, in his Eunidæ, and so also does his contemporary, Hegemon of Thasos, whom they used to call Lentil. For he writes thus—
That great Charybdis of the sea, who holds
A sword within his stomach, never weary
With eating. Tell me how the votes may pass
Condemning him to death, by public judgment,
On the loud-sounding shore of the barren sea.
And when I Thasos reach'd they took up filth,
And pelted me therewith, by which aroused
Thus a bystander spoke with pitiless heart:—
O most accursed of men, who e'er advised you
To put such dirty feet in such fine slippers?
And quickly I did this brief answer make:—
'Twas gain that moved me, though against my will,
(But I am old;) and bitter penury;
Which many Thasians also drives on shipboard,
Ill-manner'd youths, and long-ruin'd old men:
Who now sing worthless songs about the place.
Those men I join'd when fit for nothing else;
But I will not depart again for gain,
But doing nothing wrong, I'll here deposit
My lovely money among the Thasians:
Lest any of the Grecian dames at home
Should be enraged when they behold my wife
Making Greek bread, a poor and scanty meal.
Or if they see a cheesecake small, should say,—
"Philion, who sang the 'Fierce Attack' at Athens,
Got fifty drachmas, and yet this is all
That you sent home."—While I was thinking thus,
And in my mind revolving all these things,
Pallas Minerva at my side appeared,
And touch'd me with her golden sceptre, saying,
"O miserable and ill-treated man,
Poor Lentil, haste thee to the sacred games."
Then I took heart, and sang a louder strain.
[p. 1117]
"Hermippus also, the poet of the old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Eubœus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said—
They one another smote with brazen ἐγχείῃσι,[as if ἐγχεία,, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said—
But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize,And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Aetolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:—
Nor thou Achilles . . . . .24
The man whom fierce Agathocles did drive
An exile from his land, was nobly born
Of an old line of famous ancestors,
And from his early youth he lived among
The foreign visitors; and thoroughly learnt
The dulcet music of Mimnermus' lyre,
And follow'd his example;—and he wrote,
In imitation of great Homer's verse,
The deeds of cobblers, and base shameless thieves,
Jesting with highly-praised felicity,
Loved by the citizens of fair Syracuse.
But he who once has heard Bœotus' song,
Will find but little pleasure in Eubœus."
After all this discussion had been entered into on many occasions, once when evening overtook us, one of us said,—Boy, bring a light (λύχνειον). But some one else used the word λυχνεὼς, and a third called it λοφνίας, saying hat that was the proper name for a torch made of bark; another called it πανός; and another φανός.—This one used the word λυχνοῦχος, and that one λύχνος. Some one else again said ἐλάνη, and another said ἕλαναι, insisting on it that that was the proper name for a lamp, being derived frome ἕλη,, brightness; [p. 1118] and urging that Neanthes used this word in the first book of his History of Attalus. Others, again, of the party made use of whatever other words they fancied; so that there was no ordinary noise; while all were vying with one another in adducing every sort of argument which bore upon the question. For one man said that Silenus, the dictionary-maker, mentioned that the Athenians call lamps φανοί. But Tima- chidas of Rhodes asserts that for φανός, the word more properly used is δέλετρον, being a sort of lantern which young men use when out at night, and which they themselves call ἕλαναι. But Amerias for φανὸς uses the word γράβιον. And this word is thus explained by Seleucus:—“γράβιον is a stick of ilex or common oak, which, being pounded and split, is set on fire, and used to give light to travellers. Accordingly Theodoridas of Syracuse, in his Centaurs, which is a dithyrambic poem, says—
The pitch dropp'd down beneath the γράβια,,Strattis also, mentions the γράβια in his Phœnician Women.”
As if from torches.
But that what are now called φανοὶ used to be called λυχνοῦχοι, we learn from Aristophanes, in his Aeolosicon—
I see the light shining all o'er his cloak,And, in the second edition of the Niobus, having already used the word λυχνοῦχος, he writes—
As from a new λυχνοῦχος.
Alas, unhappy man! my λύχνιον's lost;after which, he adds— And, in his play called The Dramas, he calls the same thing λυχνίδιον, in the following lines—
But you all liePlato also, in his Long Night, says—
Fast as a candle in a candlestick (λυχνίδιον).
The undertakers sure will have λυχνοῦχοι.And Pherecrates, in his Slave Teacher, writes—
Make haste and go, for now the night descends,Alexis too, in his Forbidden Thing, says—
And bring a lantern (λυχνοῦχον) with a candle furnish'd.
So taking out the candle from the lantern (λύχνιον),[p. 1119] And Eumelus, in his Murdered Man. . . . having said first—
He very nearly set himself on fire,
Carrying the light beneath his arm much nearer
His clothes than any need at all required.
A. Take now a pitchfork and a lantern (λυχνοῦχον),adds—
B. But I now in my right hand hold this fork,And Alexis says, in his Midon—
An iron weapon 'gainst the monsters of the sea;
And this light too, a well-lit horn lantern (λύχνου).
The man who first invented the idea
Of walking out by night with such a lantern (λυχνούχου),
Was very careful not to hurt his fingers.
But the same Alexis says, in his Fanatic—
I think that some of those I meet will blameAnd Anaxandrides, in his Insolence, says—
For being drunk so early in the day;
But yet I pray you where's a lantern (φανὸς) equal
To the sweet light of the eternal sun?
Will you take your lantern (φανόν) now, and quicklyBut others assert that it is a lamp which is properly called φανός. And others assert that φανὸς means a bundle of matches made of split wood. Menander says, in his Cousins—
Light me a candle (λύχνον)?
This φανὸς is quite full of water now,And Nicostratus, in his Fellow-Countrymen, says—
I must not shake (σείω) it, but throw it away (ἀποσείω).
For when this vintner in our neighbourhoodAnd Philippides, in his Women Sailing together, says—
Sells any one some wine, or e'en a φανὸς,
Or vinegar, he always gives him water.
A. The φανὸς did not give a bit of light.
B. Well, then, you wretched man, could not you blow it?
Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, calls what we now call λυχνία, λυχνεῖον, in this line—
A. Where were these λυχνεῖα made?For there were a great many manufactories in Etruria, as the Etrurians were exceedingly fond of works of art. Aristophanes, in his Knights, says—
B. In Etruria.
Binding three long straight darts together,And Diphilus, in his Ignorance, says—
We use them for a torch (λυχνείῳ).
We lit a candle (λύχνον), and then sought a candlestick (λύχνειον).And Euphorion, in his Historic Commentaries, says that the young Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily dedicated, in the Prytaneum at Tarentum, a candlestick capable of containing as [p. 1120] great a number of candles as there are days in a year. And Hermippus the comic poet, in his Iambics, speaks of—
A military candlestick well put together.And, in his play called The Grooms, he says—
Here, lamp (λυχνίδιον), show me my road on the right hand.
Now, πανὸς was a name given to wood cut into splinters and bound together, which they used for a torch: Menander, in his Cousins, says—
He enter'd, and cried out,And Diphilus, in his Soldier, says—
“πανὸν, πύχνον, λυχνοῦχον, any light—”
Making one into many.
But now this, πανὸς is quite full of water.And before them Aeschylus, in his Agamemnon, had used the word πανός—
* * * * *25
Alexis, too, uses the word ξυλολυχνούχου, and perhaps this is the same thing as that which is called by Theopompus ὀβελισκολύχνιον. But Philyllius calls λαμπάδες, δᾷδες. But the λύχνος, or candle, is not an ancient invention; for the ancients used the light of torches and other things made of wood. Phrynichus, however, says—
Put out the λύχνον,* * * * * * Plato too, in his Long Night, says—
And then upon the top he'll have a candle,And these candles with two wicks are mentioned also by Metagenes, in his Man fond of Sacrificing; and by Philonides in his Buskins. But Clitarchus, in his Dictionary, says that the Rhodians give the name of λοφνὶς to a torch made of the bark of the vine. But Homer calls torches δεταί—
Bright with two wicks.
[p. 1121] A torch was also called ἑλάνη, as Amerias tells us; but Nicander of Colophon says that ἑλάνη means a bundle of rushes. Herodotus uses the word in the neuter plural, λύχνα,, in the second book of his History.The darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands (δεταὶ),
Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day,
Sour he departs, and quits th' untasted prey.Iliad, xvii. 663.
Cephisodorus, in his Pig, uses the word λυχναψία, for what most people call λυχνοκαυτία, the lighting of candles.
And Cynulcus, who was always attacking Ulpian, said;—But now, my fine supper-giver, buy me some candles for a penny, that, like the good Agathon, I may quote this line of the admirable Aristophanes—
Bring now, as Agathon says, the shining torches (πεύκας);and when he had said this—
Putting his tail between his lion's feet,he left the party, being very sleepy.
Then, when many of the guests cried out Io Pæan, Pontianus said;—I wish, my friends, to learn from you whether Io Pæan is a proverb, or the burden of a song, or what else it is. And Democritus replied;—–Clearchus the Solensian, inferior to none of the pupils of the wise Aristotle, in the first book of his treatise on Proverbs, says that “Latona, when she was taking Apollo and Diana from Chalcis in Eubœa to Delphi, came to the cave which was called the cave of the Python. And when the Python attacked them, Latona, holding one of her children in her arms, got upon the stone which even now lies at the foot of the brazen statue of Latona, which is dedicated as a representation of what then took place near the Plane-tree at Delphi, and cried out ῞ιε, παῖ; (and Apollo happened to have his bow in hand;) and this is the same as if she had said ῎αφιε, ῞ιε, παῖ, or βάλε, παῖ, Shoot, boy. And from this day ῞ιε, παῖ and ῞ιε, παιὼν arose. But some people, slightly altering the word, use it as a sort of proverbial exclamation to avert evils, and say ἰὴ παιών, instead of ῞ιε, παῖ. And many also, when they have completed any undertaking, say, as a sort of proverb, ἰὴ παιὼν; but since it is an expression that is familiar to us it is forgotten that it is a proverb, and they who use it are not aware that they are uttering a proverb.”
But as for what Heraclides of Pontus says, that is clearly a mistake, “That the god himself, while offering a libation, thrice cried out ἵη παιὰν, ἵη παιών.” From a belief in which statement he refers the trimeter verse, as it is called to the god, saying "that each of these metres belongs to the god; [p. 1122] because when the first two syllables are made long, ἵη παιὰν, it becomes a heroic verse, but when they are pronounced short it is an iambic, and thus it is plain that we must attribute the iambic to him. And as the rest are short, if any one makes the last two syllables of the verse long, that makes a Hipponactean iambic.
And after this, when we also were about to leave the party, the slaves came in bringing, one an incense burner, and another. . . . . . . . . .
For it was the custom for the guests to rise up and offer a libation, and then to give the rest of the unmixed wine to the boy, who brought it to them to drink.
Ariphron the Sicyonian composed this Pæan to Health—
O holiest Health, all other gods excelling,
May I be ever blest
With thy kind favour, and for all the rest
Of life I pray thee ne'er desert my dwelling;
For if riches pleasure bring,
Or the power of a king,
Or children smiling round the board,
Or partner honour'd and adored,
Or any other joy
Which the all-bounteous gods employ
To raise the hearts of men,
Consoling them for long laborious pain;
All their chief brightness owe, kind Health, to you;
You are the Graces' spring,
'Tis you the only real bliss can bring,
And no man's blest when you are not in view,
* * * * * *
They know.—For Sopater the farce-writer, in his play entitled The Lentil, speaks thus—
I can both carve and drink Etruscan wine,
In due proportion mix'd.
These things, my good Timocrates, are not, as Plato says, the sportive conversations of Socrates in his youth and beauty, but the serious discussions of the Deipnosophists; for, as Dionysius the Brazen says,—
What, whether you begin or end a work,
Is better than the thing you most require?
