Love of Pleasure Luxury of the Persians Profligacy of the Lydians Persian Customs The Sybarites The Tarentines The Milesians The Abydenes The Colophonians Luxury of the Syrians Of the Asiatic Kings Sardanapalus Philip The Pisistratidæ Alcibiades Pausanias Diomnestus Alexander Polycrates Agrigentum Lucullus Aristippus The Persian Epicurus Anaxarchus Ptolemy Euergetes The Lacedæmonians Cinesias Anointing Venus Callipyge. You appear to me, my good friend Timocrates, to be a man of Cyrene, according to the Tyndareus of Alexis—For there if any man, invites anotherTo any banquet, eighteen others come;Ten chariots, and fifteen pairs of horses,And for all these you must provide the food,So that 'twere better to invite nobodyAnd it would be better for me also to hold my tongue, and not to add anything more to all that has been said already; but since you ask me very earnestly for a discussion on those men who have been notorious for luxury, and on their effeminate practices, you must be gratified. For enjoyment is connected, in the first instance, with appetite; and in the second place, with pleasure. And Sophocles the poet, being a man fond of enjoyment, in order to avoid accusing old age, attributed his impotence in amatory pleasures to his temperance, saying that he was glad to be released from them as from some hard master. But I say that the Judgment of Paris is a tale originally invented by the 'ancients, as a comparison between pleasure and virtue. Accordingly, when Venus, that is to say pleasure, was preferred, everything was thrown into confusion. And that excellent writer Xenophon seems to me to have invented his fable about Hercules and Virtue on the same principle. For according to Empedocles—Mars was no god to them, nor gallant War,Nor Jupiter the king, nor Saturn old,Nor Neptune; Venus was their only queen.Her they propitiate and duly worshipWith pious images, with beauteous figuresSkilfully carved; with fragrant incenses,And holy offerings of unmix'd myrrh,And sweetly smelling frankincense; and many..A pure libation of fresh golden honeyThey pour'd along the floor.And Menander, in his Harp-player, speaking of some one who was very fond of music, says—He was to music much devoted, andSought ever pleasing sounds to gratifyHis delicate taste.
Ἀνθρωπος εἶναί μοι Κυρηναῖος δοκεῖς, κατὰ τὸν Ἀλέξιδος Τυνδάρεων, ἑταῖρε Τιμόκρατες· κἀκεῖ γὰρ ἄν τις ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον ἕνα καλῇ, πάρεισιν ὀκτωκαίδεκ’ ἄλλοι καὶ δέκα ἅρματα συνωρίδες τε πεντεκαίδεκα· τούτοις δὲ δεῖ σε τἀπιτήδει’ ἐμβαλεῖν, ὥστ’ ἦν κράτιστον μηδὲ καλέσαι μηδένα. κἀμοὶ δ’ ἦν κράτιστον σιωπᾶν καὶ μὴ ἐπὶ τοσούτοις προειρημένοις ἕτερα προστιθέναι· ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ πάνυ λιπαρῶς ἡμᾶς ἀπαιτεῖς καὶ τὸν περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τρυφῇ διαβοήτων γενομένων λόγον καὶ τῆς τούτων ἡδυπαθείας.,, ἡ γὰρ ἀπόλαυσις δήπου μετ᾽ ἐπιθυμίας πρῶτον, ἔπειτα μεθ’ ἡδονῆς. καίτοι Σοφοκλῆς γ’ ὁ ποιητής, τῶν ἀπολαυστικῶν εἷς ὤν, ἵνα μὴ κατηγορῇ τοῦ γήρως, εἰς σωφροσύνην ἔθετο τὴν ἀσθένειαν αὐτοῦ τὴν περὶ τὰς τῶν ἀφροδισίων ἀπολαύσεις, φήσας ἀσμένως ἀπηλλάχθαι αὐτῶν ὥσπερ τινὸς ἀγρίου δεσπότου. ἐγὼ δέ φημι καὶ τὴν τοῦ Πάριδος κρίσιν ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιοτέρων πεποιῆσθαι ἡδονῆς πρὸς ἀρετὴν οὖσαν σύγκρισιν προκριθείσης γοῦν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης, αὕτη δ’ ἐστὶν ἡ ἡδονή, πάντα συνεταράχθη. καί μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ καλὸς ἡμῶν Ξενοφῶν τὸν περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὴν Ἀρετὴν μῦθον ἐντεῦθεν πεπλακέναι. κατὰ γὰρ τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα· οὐδέ τις ἦν κείνοισιν Ἄρης θεὸς οὐδὲ Κυδοιμὸς οὐδὲ Ζεὺς βασιλεὺς οὐδὲ Κρόνος οὐδὲ Ποσειδῶν, ἀλλὰ Κύπρις βασίλεια. τὴν οἵ γ’ εὐσεβέεσσιν ἀγάλμασιν ἱλάσκοντο γραπτοῖς τε ζῴοισι μύροισί τε δαιδαλεόδμοις σμύρνης τ’ ἀκρήτου θυσίαις λιβάνου τε θυώδους, ξανθῶν τε σπονδὰς μελίτων ῥίπτοντες ἐς οὖδας. καὶ Μένανδρος δ’ ἐν Κιθαριστῇ περί τινος μουσικευομένου λέγων φησί φιλόμουσον εἶν’ αὐτὸν πάνυ ἀκούσματ’ εἰς τρυφήν τε παιδεύεσθ’ ἀεί.
And yet some people say that the desire of pleasure is a natural desire, as may be proved by all animals becoming enslaved by it; as if cowardice, and fear, and all sorts of other passions were not also common to all animals, and yet these are rejected by all who use their reason. Accordingly, to be very eager in the pursuit of pleasure is to go hunting for pain. On which account Homer, wishing to represent pleasure in an odious light, says that the greatest of the gods receive no advantage from their power, but are even much injured by it, if they will allow themselves to be hurried away by the pursuit of pleasure. For all the anxiety which Jupiter, when awake, lavished on the Trojans, was lost in open day, when he abandoned himself to pleasure. And Mars, who was a most valiant deity, was put in chains by Vulcan, who was very powerless, and incurred great disgrace and punishment, when he had given himself up to irrational love; and therefore he says to the Gods, when they came to see him in fetters—Behold, on wrongSwift vengeance waits, and art subdues the strong.Dwells there a god on all th' Olympian browMore swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow?Yet Vulcan conquers, and the God of armsMust pay the penalty for lawless charms.But no one ever calls the life of Aristides a life of pleasure (ἡδὺς), but that is an epithet they apply to Smindyrides the Sybarite, and to Sardanapalus, though as far as glory went, as Theophrastus says in his book on Pleasure, it was a far more splendid one; but Aristides never devoted himself to luxury as those other men did. Nor would any one call the life of Agesilaus the king of the Lacedæmonians ἡδύς; but this name they would apply rather to the life of Ananis, a man who, as far as real glory is concerned, is totally unknown. Nor would one call the life of the heroes who fought against Troy ἡδύς; but they would speak in that way much more of the men of the present time; and naturally enough. For the lives of those men were destitute of any luxurious preparation, and, as I might almost say, had no seasoning to them, inasmuch as at that time there was no commercial intercourse between nations, nor were the arts of refinement carried to any degree of accuracy; but the life of men of the present day is planned with entire reference to laziness, and enjoyment, and to all sorts of pastimes.
καίτοι τινές φασι κατὰ φύσιν εἶναι τὴν ἡδονὴν ἐκ τοῦ πάντα ζῷα δεδουλῶσθαι ταύτῃ, ὥσπερ οὐχὶ καὶ δειλίας καὶ φόβου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων παθημάτων κοινῶς μὲν ἐν ἅπασιν ὄντων, παρὰ δὲ τοῖς λογισμῷ χρωμένοις ἀποδοκιμαζομένων. τὸ οὖν ἡδονὰς διώκειν προπετῶς λύπας ἐστὶ θηρεύειν. διόπερ Ὅμηρος ἐπονείδιστον βουλόμενος ποιῆσαι τὴν ἡδονὴν καὶ τῶν θεῶν φησι τοὺς μεγίστους οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς σφετέρας ὠφελεῖσθαι δυνάμεως, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέγιστα βλάπτεσθαι παρενεχθέντας ὑπ’ αὐτῆς. ὅσα μὲν γὰρ ἀγρυπνῶν ὁ Ζεὺς ἐφρόντιζεν ὑπὲρ τῶν Τρώων, ταῦτ’ ἀπώλεσεν μεθ’ ἡμέραν ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς κρατηθείς. καὶ ὁ Ἄρης ἀλκιμώτατος ὢν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀσθενεστάτου Ἡφαίστου συνεποδίσθη καὶ ὦφλεν αἰσχύνην καὶ ζηαίαν ἐκδοὺς ἑαυτὸν ἔρωσιν ἀλογίστοις. φησὶ γοῦν πρὸς τοὺς θεούς, ὅτ’ ἦλθον αὐτὸν θεασόμενοι δεδεμένον· οὐκ ἀρετᾷ κακὰ ἔργα· κιχάνει τοι βραδὺς ὠκύν, ὡς καὶ νῦν Ἥφαιστος ἐὼν βραδὺς εἷλεν Ἄρηα ὠκύτατόν περ ἐόντα θεῶν οἳ Ὄλυμπον ἔχουσι, χωλὸς ἐών, τέχνῃσι· τὸ καὶ ζωάγρι’ ὀφέλλει. οὐδεὶς δὲ λέγει τὸν Ἀριστείδου βίον ἡδύν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Σαινδυρίδου τοῦ Συβαρίτου καὶ τὸν Σαρδαναπάλλου. καίτοι κατά γε τὴν δόξαν, φησὶν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἡδονῆς Θεόφραστος, οὐχ ὁμοίως λαμπρός ἐστιν· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐτρύφησεν ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι. οὐδὲ τὸν Ἀγησιλάου τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων βασιλέως, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον, εἰ ἔτυχεν, τὸν Ἀνάνιος οὕτως ἀοράτου κατὰ δόξαν ὄντος, οὐδὲ τὸν τῶν ἡμιθέων τῶν ἐπὶ Τροίας, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῶν νῦν καὶ τοῦτ’ εἰκότως, ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀκατάσκευος καὶ καθάπερ ἀνεύρετος ἦν, οὔτ’ ἐπιμιξίας οὔσης οὔτε τῶν τεχνῶν διηκριβωμένων, ὁ δὲ πᾶσιν ἐξηρτυμένος πρὸς ῥᾳστώνην καὶ πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας διαγωγάς.
But Plato, in his Philebus, says—“Pleasure is the most insolent of all things; and, as it is reported, in amatory enjoyments, which are said to be the most powerful of all, even perjury has been pardoned by the Gods, as if pleasure was like a child, incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong.” And in the eighth book of his Polity, the same Plato has previously dilated upon the doctrine so much pressed by the Epicureans, that, of the desires, some are natural but not necessary, and others neither natural nor necessary, writing thus—“Is not the desire to eat enough for health and strength of body, and for bread and meat to that extent, a necessary desire?—I think it is.—At all events, the desire for food for these two purposes is necessary, inasmuch as it is salutary, and inasmuch as it is able to remove hunger? —No doubt.—And the desire for meat, too, is a necessary desire, if it at all contributes to a good habit of body?— Most undoubtedly.—What, then, are we to say? Is no desire which goes beyond the appetite for this kind of food, and for other food similar to it, and which, if it is checked in young people, can be entirely stifled, and which is injurious also to the body, and injurious also to the mind, both as far as its intellectual powers are concerned, and also as to its temperance, entitled to be called a necessary one?—Most certainly not.”
Πλάτων δ’ ἐν τῷ Φιλήβῳ φησίν· ἡδονὴ μὲν γὰρ ἁπάντων ἀλαζονίστατον. ὡς δὲ λόγος, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς ταῖς περὶ τὰ ἀφροδίσια, αἳ δὴ μέγισται δοκοῦσιν εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἐπιορκεῖν συγγνώμην εἴληφεν παρὰ θεῶν, ὡς καθάπερ παίδων τῶν ἡδονῶν νοῦν οὐδὲ τὸν ὀλίγιστον κεκτημένων. ἐν δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ τῆς Πολιτείας ὁ αὐτὸς Πλάτων πρότερος ὑπέδειξε τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἐπικουρείων θρυλούμενον, ὅτι τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν αἱ μέν εἰσι φυσικαὶ καὶ ἀναγκαῖαι, αἱ δὲ φυσικαὶ μέν, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖαι δέ, αἱ δὲ οὔτε φυσικαὶ οὔτε ἀναγκαῖαι, γράφων οὕτως· ἆρ’ οὖν οὐχὶ ἡ τοῦ φαγεῖν μέχρις ὑγιείας καὶ εὐεξίας καὶ αὐτοῦ σίτου καὶ ὄψου ἀναγκαῖος ἂν εἴη; ἡ μὲν γέ που τοῦ σίτου κατ’ ἀμφότερα ἀναγκαία, ᾗ τε ὠφέλιμος ᾗ τε παῦσαι ζῶντας δυνατή; — ναί. — ἡ δὲ ὄψου, εἲ πῄ τινα ὠφέλειαν πρὸς εὐεξίαν παρέχεται; — πάνυ μὲν οὖν. — τί δαί; ἡ πέρα τούτων καὶ ἀλλοίων ἐδεσμάτων ἢ τοιούτων ἐπιθυμία, συνατὴ σὲ κολαζομένη ἐκ νέων πολλῶν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, καὶ βλαβερὰ μὲν σώματι, βλαβερὰ δὲ ψυχῇ πρός τε φρόνησιν καὶ πρὸς τὸ σωφρονεῖν, ἆρά γε ὀρθῶς οὐκ· ἀναγκαία ἂν καλοῖτο; — ὀρθότατα μὲν οὖν.
But Heraclides of Pontus, in his treatise on Pleasure, speaks as follows—“Tyrants and kings, having all kinds of good things in their power, and having had experience of all things, place pleasure in the first rank, on the ground that pleasure makes the nature of man more magnanimous. Accordingly, all those who have honoured pleasure above everything, and who have deliberately chosen to live a life of luxury, have been magnanimous and magnificent people, as, for instance, the Medes and the Persians. For they, of all men, are those who hold pleasure and luxury in the highest honour; and they, at the same time, are the most valiant and magnanimous of all the barbarians. For to indulge in pleasure and luxury is the conduct of freeborn men and of a liberal disposition. For pleasure relaxes the soul and invigorates it. But labour belongs to slaves and to mean men; on which account they are contracted in their natural dispositions. And the city of the Athenians, while it indulged in luxury, was a very great city, and bred very magnanimous men. For they wore purple garments, and were clad in embroidered tunics; and they bound up their hair in knots, and wore golden grasshoppers over their foreheads and in their hair: and their slaves followed them, bearing folding chairs for them, in order that, if they wished to sit down, they might not be without some proper seat, and forced to put up with any chance seat. And these men were such heroes, that they conquered in the battle of Marathon, and they alone worsted the power of combined Asia. And all those who are the wisest of men, and who have the greatest reputation for wisdom, think pleasure the greatest good, Simonides certainly does when he says—For what kind of human lifeCan be worth desiring,If pleasure be denied to it?What kingly power even?Without pleasure e'en the godsHave nothing to be envied for.And Pindar, giving advice to Hiero the tyrant of Syracuse, says—Never obscure fair pleasure in your life;A life of pleasure is the best for man.And Homer, too, speaks of pleasure and indulgence in the following terms—How sweet the products of a peaceful reign,—The heaven-taught poet and enchanting strain,The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,A loud rejoicing, and a people blest!How goodly seems it ever to employMan's social days in union and in joy;The plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine.And again, he calls the gods “living at ease.” And “at ease” certainly means “without labour;” as if he meant to show by this expression, that the greatest of all evils is labour and trouble in life.
Ἡρακλείδης δ’ ὁ Ποντικὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἡδονῆς τάδε λέγει·οἱ τύραννοι καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὄντες κύριοι καὶ πάντων εἰληφότες πεῖραν τὴν ἡδονὴν προκρίνουσιν, μεγαλοψυχοτέρας ποιούσης τῆς ἡδονῆς τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσεις, ἅπαντες γοῦν οἱ τὴν ἡδονὴν τιμῶντες καὶ τρυφᾶν προῃρημένοι μεγαλόψυχοι καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς εἰσιν, ὡς Πέρσαι καὶ Μῆδοι. μάλιστα γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἡδονὴν οὗτοι καὶ τὴν τρυφὴν τιμῶσιν, ἀνδρειότατοι καὶ μεγαλοψυχότατοι τῶν βαρβάρων ὄντες. ἐστὶ γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἥδεσθαι καὶ τὸ τρυφᾶν ἐλευθέρων ἀνίησι γὰρ τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ αὔξει· τὸ δὲ πονεῖν δούλων καὶ ταπεινῶν διὸ καὶ συστέλλονται οὗτοι καὶ τὰς φύσεις, καὶ ἡ Ἀθηναίων πόλις, ἕως ἐτρύφα, μεγίστη τε ἦν καὶ μεγαλοψυχότατοι ἔτρεφεν ἄνδρας, ἁλουργῆ μὲν γὰρ ἠμπίσχοντο ἱμάτια, ποικίλους δ’ ὑπέδυνον χιτῶνας, κορύμβους δ’ ἀναδούμενοι τῶν τριχῶν χρυσοῦς τέττιγας περὶ τὸ μέτωπον καὶ τὰς κόρρας ἐφόρουν ὀκλαδίας τε αὐτοῖς δίφρους ἔφερον οἱ παῖδες, ἵνα μὴ καθίζοιεν ὡς ἔτυχεν. καὶ τοιοῦτοι ἦσαν οἱ τὴν ἐν Μαραθῶνι νικήσαντες μάχην καὶ μόνοι τὴν τῆς Ἀσίας ἁπάσης δύναμιν χειρωσάμενοι. καὶ οἱ φρονιμώτατοι δέ, φησίν, καὶ μεγίστην δόξαν ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ ἔχοντες μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν τὴν ἡδονὴν εἶναι νομίζουσιν, Σιμωνίδης μὲν οὑτωσὶ λέγων τίς γὰρ ἁδονᾶς ἄτερ θνατῶν βίος ποθεινὸς ἢ ποία τυραννίς; τᾶσδ’ ἄτερ οὐδὲ θεῶν ζαλωτὸς αἰών. Πίνδαρος δὲ παραινῶν Ἱέρωνι τῷ Συρακοσίων ἄρχοντι· μηδ’ ἀμαύρου, φησί, τέρψιν ἐν βίῳ· πολύ τοι φέριστον ἀνδρὶ τερπνὸς αἰών. καὶ Ὅμηρος δὲ τὴν εὐφροσύνην καὶ τὸ εὐφραίνεσθαι τέλος φησὶν εἶναι χαριέστερον, ὅταν δαιτυμόνες μὲν ἀοιδοῦ ἀκουάζωνται, παρὰ δὲ πλήθωσι τράπεζαι. τοὺς δὲ θεούς φησιν εἶναι ῥεῖα ζώοντας τὸ δὲ ῥεῖα ἐστὶν ἀπόνως, ὥσπερ ἐνδεικνύμενος ὅτι μέγιστόν ἐστι τῶν κακῶν ἡ περὶ τὸ ζῆν ταλαιπωρία καὶ ὁ πόνος.
On which account Megaclides finds fault with those poets who came after Homer and Hesiod, and have written about Hercules, relating how he led armies and took cities,— who passed the greater part of his life among men in the most excessive pleasure, and married a greater number of women than any other man; and who had unacknowledged children, by a greater number of virgins, than any other man. For any one might say to those who do not admit all this—“Whence, my good friends, is it that you attribute to him all this excessive love of eating; or whence is it that the custom has originated among men of leaving nothing in the cup when we pour a libation to Hercules, if he had no regard for pleasure? or why are the hot springs which rise out of the ground universally said to be sacred to Hercules; or why are people in the habit of calling soft couches the beds of Hercules, if he despised all those who live luxuriously? Accordingly, says he, the later poets represent him as going about in the guise of a robber by himself, having a club, and a lion's hide, and his bow. And they say that Stesichorus of Himera was the original inventor of this fable. But Xanthus the lyric poet, who was more ancient than Stesichorus, as Stesichorus himself tells us, does not, according to the statement of Megaclides, clothe him in this dress, but in that which Homer gives him. But Stesichorus perverted a great many of the accounts given by Xanthus, as he does also in the case of what is called the Orestea. But Antisthenes, when he said that pleasure was a good, added—“such as brought no repentance in its train.”
διόπερ καὶ Μεγακλείδης ἐπιτιμᾷ τοῖς μεθ’ Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡσίοδον ποιηταῖς ὅσοι περὶ Ἡρακλέους εἰρήκασιν ὡς στρατοπέδων ἡγεῖτο καὶ πόλεις ᾕρει· ὃς μεθ’ ἡδονῆς πλείστης τὸν μετ’ ἀνθρώπων βίον διετέλεσε, πλείστας μὲν γυναῖκας γήμας, ἐκ πλείστων δὲ λάθρᾳ παρθένων παιδοποιησάμενος. εἴποι γὰρ ἄν τις πρὸς τοὺς οὐ ταῦτα παραδεχομένους· πόθεν, ὦ οὗτοι, τὴν περὶ τὰς ἐδωδὰς αὐτῷ σπουδὴν ἀνατίθετε, ἢ πόθεν παρῆλθεν εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τὸ τῆς λοιβαίας κύλικος μηδὲν ὑπολείπεσθαι, εἰ μὴ τὰ περὶ τὰς ἡδονὰς ἐδοκίμαζεν, ἢ διὰ τί τὰ θερμὰ λουτρὰ τὰ φαινόμενα ἐκ τῆς γῆς πάντες ʽ Ἡρακλέους φασὶν εἶναι ἱερά, ἢ διὰ τί τὰς μαλακὰς στρωμνὰς ʽ Ἡρακλέους κοίτας εἰώθασι καλεῖν, εἰ κατεφρόνει τῶν ἡδέως ζώντων; τοῦτον οὖν, φησίν, οἱ νεώτεροι ποιηταὶ κατασκευάζουσιν ἐν λῃστοῦ σχήματι μόνον περιπορευόμενον, ξύλον ἔχοντα καὶ λεοντῆν καὶ τόξα· καὶ ταῦτα πλάσαι πρῶτον Στησίχορον τὸν Ἱμεραῖον. καὶ Ξάνθος δ’ ὁ μελοποιός, πρεσβύτερος ὢν Στησιχόρου, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Στησίχορος μαρτυρεῖ, ὥς φησιν ὁ Μεγακλείδης, οὐ ταύτην αὐτῷ περιτίθησι τὴν στολήν, ἀλλὰ τὴν Ὁμηρικήν. πολλὰ δὲ τῶν Ξάνθου παραπεποίηκεν ὁ Στησίχορος, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν Ὀρέστειαν καλουμένην. Ἀντισθένης δὲ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀγαθὸν εἶναι φάσκων προσέθηκεν τὴν ἀμεταμέλητον.
But Ulysses, in Homer, appears to have been the original guide to Epicurus, in the matter of that pleasure which he has always in his mouth; for Ulysses says to Alcinous—........ Thou whom first in sway,As first in virtue, these thy realms obey,How goodly seems it ever to employMan's social days in union and in joy IThe plenteous board high heap'd with cates divine,And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine,The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,Are of all joys most lasting and the best.But Megaclides says that Ulysses is here adapting himself to the times, for the sake of appearing to be of the same disposition as the Phæacians; and that with that view he embraces their luxurious habits, as he had already heard from Alcinous, speaking of his whole nation—To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight,The feast or bath by day, and love by night;for he thought that that would be the only way by which he could avoid failing in the hopes he cherished. And a similar man is he who recommends Amphilochus his son—Remember thou, my son, to always dwellIn every city cherishing a mindLike to the skin of a rock-haunting fish;And always with the present companyAgree, but when away you can change your mind.And Sophocles speaks in a like spirit, in the Iphigenia—As the wise polypus doth quickly changeHis hue according to the rocks he's near,So change your mind and your apparent feelings.And Theognis says—Imitate the wary cunning of the polypus.And some say that Homer was of this mind, when he often prefers the voluptuous life to the virtuous one, saying—And now Olympus' shining gates unfold;The Gods with Jove assume their thrones of gold;Immortal Hebe, fresh with bloom divine,The golden goblet crowns with purple wine;While the full bowl flows round the Powers employTheir careful eyes on long-contended Troy.And the same poet represents Menelaus as saying—Nor then should aught but death have torn apartFrom me so loving and so glad a heart.And in another place—We sat secure, while fast around did rollThe dance, and jest, and ever-flowing bowl.And in the same spirit Ulysses, at the court of Alcinous, represents luxury and wantonness as the main end of life. But of all nations the Persians were the first to become notorious for their luxury; and the Persian kings even spent their winters at Susa and their summers at Ecbatana. And Aristocles and Chares say that Susa derives its name from the seasonable and beautiful character of the place: for that what the Greeks call the lily, is called in the Persian language σοῦσον. But they pass their autumns in Persepolis; and the rest of the year they spend in Babylon. And in like manner the kings of the Parthians spend their spring in Rhagæ, and their winter in Babylon, and the rest of the year at Hecatompylus. And even the very thing which the Persian monarchs used to wear on their heads, showed plainly enough their extreme devotion to luxury. For it was made, according to the account of Dinon, of myrrh and of something called labyzus. And the labyzus is a sweet-smelling plant, and more valuable than myrrh. And whenever, says Dinon, the king dismounts from his chariot, he does not jump down, however small the height from the chariot to the ground may be, nor is he helped down, leaning on any one's hand, but a golden chair is always put by him, and he gets on that to descend; on which account the king's chairbearer always follows him. And three hundred women are his guard, as Heraclides of Cumæ relates, in the first book of his history of Persia. And they sleep all day, that they may watch all night; and they pass the whole night in singing and playing, with lights burning. And very often the king takes pleasure with them in the hall of the Melophori. The Melophori are one of his troops of guards, all Persians by birth, having golden apples (μῆλα) on the points of their spears, a thousand in number, all picked men out of the main body of ten thousand Persians who are called the Immortals. And the king used to go on foot through this hall, very fine Sardian carpets being spread in his road, on which no one but the king ever trod. And when he came to the last hall, then he mounted a chariot, but sometimes he mounted a horse; but on foot he was never seen outside of his palace. And if he went out to hunt, his concubines also went with him. And the throne on which he used to sit, when he was transacting business, was made of gold; and it was surrounded by four small pillars made of gold, inlaid with precious stones, and on them there was spread a purple cloth richly embroidered.
ὁ δὲ παρὰ τῷ Ὁμήρῳ Ὀδυσσεὺς ἡγεμὼν δοκεῖ γεγενῆσθαι Ἐπικούρῳ τῆς πολυθρυλήτου ἡδονῆς, ὅσπερ φησίν· οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγέ τι φημὶ τέλος χαριέστερον εἶναι ἢ ὅταν εὐφροσύνη μὲν ἔχῃ κατὰ δῆμον ἅπαντα, δαιτυμόνες δ’ ἀνὰ δώματ’ ἀκουάζωνται ἀοιδοῦ ἥμενοι ἑξείης, παρὰ δὲ πλήθωσι τράπεζαι σίτου καὶ κρειῶν, μέθυ δ’ ἐκ κρητῆρος ἀφύσσων οἰνοχόος παρέχῃσι καὶ ἐγχείῃ δεπάεσσιν. τοῦτό τί μοι κάλλιστον ἐνὶ φρεσὶν εἴδεται εἶναι. ὁ δὲ Μεγακλείδης φησὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καθομιλοῦντα τοὺς καιροὺς ὑπὲρ τοῦ δοκεῖν ὁμοήθη τοῖς Φαίαξιν εἶναι τὸ ἁβροδίαιτον αὐτῶν ἀσπάζεσθαι, προπυθόμενον τοῦ Ἀλκίνου· αἰεὶ δ’ ἡμῖν δαίς τε φίλη κίθαρίς τε χοροί τε εἵματά τ’ ἐξημοιβὰ λοετρά τε θερμὰ καὶ εὐναί. μόνως γὰρ οὕτως ᾠήθη ὧν ἤλπιζεν μὴ διαμαρτεῖν. τοιοῦτός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ παραινῶν Ἀμφιλόχῳ τῷ παιδί· ὦ τέκνον, ποντίου θηρὸς πετραίου χρωτὶ μάλιστα νόον προσφέρων πάσαις πολίεσσιν ὁμίλει· τῷ παρεόντι δ’ ἐπαινήσαις ἑκὼν ἄλλοτ’ ἀλλοῖα φρόνει. ὁμοίως φησὶν καὶ Σοφοκλῆς ἐν Ἰφιγενείᾳ· νόει πρὸς ἀνδρί, σῶμα πουλύπους ὅπως πέτρᾳ, τραπέσθαι γνησίου φρονήματος, καὶ ὁ Θέογνις· πουλύπου ὀργὴν ἴσχε πολυπλόκου. εἰσὶ δ’ οἵ φασι ταύτης εἶναι τῆς γνώμης τὸν Ὅμηρον, προτάττοντα τοῦ σπουδαίου βίου πολλάκις τὸν καθ’ ἡδονήν, λέγοντα· οἱ δὲ θεοὶ πὰρ Ζηνὶ καθήμενοι ἠγορόωντο χρυσέῳ ἐν δαπέδῳ, μετὰ δέ σφισι πότνια Ἥβη νέκταρ ἐῳνοχόει, τοὶ δὲ χρυσέοις δεπάεσσι δειδέχατ’ ἀλλήλους. καὶ ὁ Μενέλαος δὲ παρ’ αὐτῷ φησιν οὐδέ κεν ἡμέας ἄλλο διέκρινεν φιλέοντέ τε τερπομένω τε. καί· ἥμεθα δαινύμενοι κρέα τ’ ἄσπετα καὶ μέθυ ἡδύ. διόπερ καὶ Ὀδυσσεὺς τρυφὴν καὶ λαγνείαν τέλος τοῦ βίου παρὰ τῷ Ἀλκινόῳ τίθεται, διαβόητοι δὲ ἐπὶ τρυφῇ ἐγένοντο πρῶτοι πάντων ἀνθρώπων Πέρσαι, ὧν καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐχείμαζον μὲν ἐν Σούσοις, ἐθέριζον δὲ ἐν Ἐκβατάνοις. κληθῆναι δὲ τὰ Σοῦσά φησιν Ἀριστόβουλος καὶ Χάρης διὰ τὴν ὡραιότητα τοῦ τόπου· σοῦσον γὰρ εἶναι τῇ Ἑλλήνων φωνῇ τὸ κρίνον ἐν Περσεπόλει δὲ διατρίβουσι φθινόπωρον καὶ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τὸ λεῖπον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ μέρος. καὶ οἱ Πάρθων δὲ βασιλεῖς ἐαρίζουσι μὲν ἐν Ῥάγαις, χειμάζουσι δὲ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, … τὸ λεῖπον τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ. καὶ τὸ παράσημον δὲ ὃ ἐπετίθεντο τῇ κεφαλῇ οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς οὐδ’ αὐτὸ ἠρνεῖτο τὴν τῆς ἡδυπαθείας ἀπόλαυσιν. κατεσκευάζετο γάρ, ὥς φησι Δίνων, ἐκ σμύρνης καὶ τοῦ καλουμένου λαβύζου. εὐώδης δ’ ἐστὶν ἡ λάβυζος καὶ πολυτιμοτέρα τῆς σμύρνης. ὁπότε δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος κατίοι, φησί, βασιλεύς, οὔτε καθήλλετο ὀλίγου ὄντος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ ὕψους οὔτε διὰ χειρῶν ἐρειδόμενος, ἀλλ’ αἰεὶ αὐτῷ χρυσοῦς δίφρος ἐτίθετο καὶ τούτῳ ἐπιβαίνων κατῄει· καὶ ὁ βασιλέως διφροφόρος εἰς τοῦτο εἵπετο. φυλάσσουσί τε αὐτὸν καὶ τριακόσιαι γυναῖκες, ὡς ἱστορεῖ ὁ Κυμαῖος Ἡρακλείδης ἐν αʹ Περσικῶν. αὗται δὲ τὰς μὲν ἡμέρας κοιμῶνται ἵνα νυκτὸς ἐγρηγορῶσι, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς ᾄδουσαι καὶ ψάλλουσαι διατελοῦσι λύχνων καιομένων χρῆται δὲ αὐταῖς καὶ παλλακίσιν ὁ βασιλεύς … διὰ τῆς τῶν μηλοφόρων αὐλῆς. ἦσαν δὲ οὗτοι τῶν δορυφόρων, καὶ τῷ γένει πάντες Πέρσαι, ἐπὶ τῶν στυράκων μῆλα χρυσᾶ ἔχοντες, χίλιοι τὸν ἀριθμόν, ἀριστίνδην ἐκλεγόμενοι ἐκ τῶν μυρίων Περσῶν τῶν Ἀθανάτων καλουμένων, καὶ διῄει διὰ τῆς τούτων αὐλῆς πεζὸς ὑποτιθεμένων ψιλοταπίδων Σαρδιανῶν, ἐφ’ ὧν οὐδεὶς ἄλλος ἐπέβαινεν ἢ βασιλεύς, ὅτε δὲ εἰς τὴν ἐσχάτην αὐλὴν ἔλθοι, ἀνέβαινεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἅρμα, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ἐφ’ ἵππον· πεζὸς δὲ οὐδέποτε ἑωράθη ἔξω τῶν βασιλείων. εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ θήραν ἐξίοι, καὶ αἱ παλλακίδες αὐτῷ συνεξῄεσαν. ὁ δὲ θρόνος ἐφ’ ᾧ ἐχρημάτιζεν καθήμενος χρυσοῦς ἦν, ὃν περιειστήκεσαν τέσσαρες κιονίσκοι λιθοκόλλητοι χρυσοῖ, ἐφ’ ὧν διετέτατο ἱμάτιον ποικίλον πορφυροῦν.
But Clearchus the Solensian, in the fourth book of his Lives, having previously spoken about the luxury of the Medes, and having said that on this account they made eunuchs of many citizens of the neighbouring tribes, adds, “that the institution of the Melophori was adopted by the Persians from the Medes, being not only a revenge for what they had suffered themselves, but also a memorial of the luxury of the bodyguards, to indicate to what pitch of effeminacy they had come. For, as it seems, the unseasonable and superfluous luxury of their daily life could make even the men who are armed with spears, mere mountebanks.” And a little further on he says—“And accordingly, while he gave to all those who could invent him any new kind of food, a prize for their invention, he did not, while loading them with honours, allow the food which they had invented to be set before them, but enjoyed it all by himself, and thought this was the greatest wisdom. For this, I imagine, is what is called the brains of Jupiter and of a king at the same time.” But Chares of Mitylene, in the fifth book of his History of Alexander, says—“The Persian kings had come to such a pitch of luxury, that at the head of the royal couch there was a supper-room laid with five couches, in which there were always kept five thousand talents of gold; and this was called the king's pillow. And at his feet was another supper-room, prepared with three couches, in which there were constantly kept three thousand talents of silver; and this was called the king's footstool. And in his bed-chamber there was also a golden vine, inlaid with precious stones, above the king's bed.” And this vine, Amyntas says in his Posts, had bunches of grapes, composed of most valuable precious stones; and not far from it there was placed a golden bowl, the work of Theodorus of Samos. And Agathocles, in the third book of his History of Cyzicus, says, that there is also among the Persians a water called the golden water, and that it rises in seventy springs; and that no one ever drinks of it but the king alone, and the eldest of his sons. And if any one else drinks of it, the punishment is death.
Κλέαρχος δὲ ὁ Σολεὺς ἐν τετάρτῳ Βίων προειπὼν περὶ τῆς Μήδων τρυφῆς καὶ ὅτι διὰ ταύτην πολλοὺς εὐνουχίσαιεν τῶν περικτιόνων, ἐπιφέρει καὶ τὴν παρὰ Μήδων γενέσθαι Πέρσαις μηλοφορίαν μὴ μόνον ὧν ἔπαθον τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν δορυφορούντων τρυφῆς εἰς ὅσον ἦλθον ἀνανδρίας ὑπόμνημα. δύναται γάρ, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἡ παράκαιρος ἅμα καὶ μάταιος αὐτῶν περὶ τὸν βίον τρυφὴ καὶ τοὺς ταῖς λόγχαις καθωπλισμένους ἀγύρτας ἀποφαίνειν. καὶ προελθὼν δὲ γράφει· τοῖς γοῦν πορίσασί τι αὐτῷ ἡδὺ βρῶμα διδοὺς ἆθλα τοῦ πορισθέντος οὐχ ἑτέραις ἡδύνων ταῦτα τιμαῖς παρετίθει, πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ἀπολαύειν αὐτῶν, νοῦν ἔχων· τοῦτο μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λεγόμενος, οἶμαι, καὶ Διὸς ἅμα καὶ βασιλέως ἐγκέφαλος, Χάρης δ’ ὁ Μιτυληναῖος ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ τῶν περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον Ἱστοριῶν εἰς τοῦτο, φησίν, ἧκον τρυφῆς οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς ὥστε ἔχεσθαι τῆς βασιλικῆς κλίνης ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς οἴκημά τι πεντάκλινον, ἐν ᾧ χρυσίου πεντακισχίλια διὰ παντὸς ἔκειτο τάλαντα, καὶ τοῦτο ἐκαλεῖτο προσκεφάλαιον βασιλικόν. καὶ πρὸς ποδῶν ἕτερον οἴκημα τρίκλινον, οὗ τάλαντα τρισχίλια ἔκειτο ἀργυρίου, καὶ προσηγορεύετο βασιλικὸν ὑποπόδιον. ἦν δ’ ἐν τῷ κοιτῶνι καὶ λιθοκόλλητος ἄμπελος χρυσῆ ὑπὲρ τῆς κλίνης. τὴν δ’ ἄμπελον ταύτην Ἀμύντας φησὶν ἐν τοῖς Σταθμοῖς καὶ βότρυας ἔχειν ἐκ τῶν πολυτελεστάτων ψήφων συντεθειμένους. οὐ μακράν τε ταύτης ἀνακεῖσθαι κρατῆρα χρυσοῦν Θεοδώρου τοῦ Σαμίου ποίημα. Ἀγαθοκλῆς δ’ ἐν τρίτῳ περὶ Κυζίκου ἐν Πέρσαις φησὶν εἶναι καὶ χρυσοῦν καλούμενον ὕδωρ. εἶναι δὲ τοῦτο λιβάδας ἑβδομήκοντα, καὶ μηδένα πίνειν ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ ἢ μόνον βασιλέα καὶ τὸν πρεσβύτατον αὐτοῦ τῶν παίδων τῶν δ’ ἄλλων ἐάν τις πίῃ, θάνατος ἡ ζημία.
But Xenophon, in the eighth book of his Cyropædia, says—“They still used at that time to practise the discipline of the Persians, but the dress and effeminacy of the Medes. But now they disregard the sight of the ancient Persian bravery becoming extinct, and they are solicitous only to preserve the effeminacy of the Medes. And I think it a good opportunity to give an account of their luxurious habits. For, in the first place, it is not enough for them to have their beds softly spread, but they put even the feet of their couches upon carpets in order that the floor may not present resistance to them, but that the carpets may yield to their pressure. And as for the things which are dressed for their table, nothing is omitted which has been discovered before, and they are also continually inventing something new; and the same is the way with all other delicacies. For they retain men whose sole business it is to invent things of this kind. And in winter it is not enough for them to have their head, and their body, and their feet covered, but on even the tips of their fingers they wear shaggy gloves and finger-stalls; and in summer they are not satisfied with the shade of the trees and of the rocks, but they also have men placed in them to contrive additional means of producing shade.” And in the passage which follows this one, he proceeds to say—“But now they have more clothes laid upon their horses than they have even on their beds. For they do not pay so much attention to their horsemanship as to sitting softly. Moreover, they have porters, and bread-makers, and confectioners, and cup-bearers, and men to serve up their meals and to take them away, and men to lull them to sleep and men to wake them, and dressers to anoint them and to rub them, and to get them up well in every respect.” The Lydians, too, went to such a pitch of luxury, that they were the first to castrate women, as Xanthus the Lydian tells us, or whoever else it was who wrote the History which is attributed to him, whom Artemon of Cassandra, in his treatise on the Collection of Books, states to have been Pionysius who was surnamed Leather-armed; but Artemon was not aware that Ephorus the historian mentions him as being an older man than the other, and as having been the man who supplied Herodotus with some of his materials. Xanthus, then, in the second book of his Affairs of Lydia, says that Adramyttes, the king of the Lydians, was the first man who ever castrated women, and used female eunuchs instead of male eunuchs. But Clearchus, in the fourth book of his Lives, says—“The Lydians, out of luxury, made parks; and having planted them like gardens, made them very shady, thinking it a refinement in luxury if the sun never touched them with its rays at all; and at last they carried their insolence to such a height, that they used to collect other men's wives and maidens into a place that, from this conduct, got the name of Hagneon, and there ravished them. And at last, having become utterly effeminate, they lived wholly like women instead of like men; on which account their age produced even a female tyrant, in the person of one of those who had been ravished in this way, by name Omphale. And she was the first to inflict on the Lydians the punishment that they deserved. For to be governed and insulted by a woman is a sufficient proof of the severity with which they were treated. Accordingly she, being a very intemperate woman herself, and meaning to revenge the insults to which she herself had been subjected, gave the maiden daughters of the masters to their slaves, in the very same place in which she herself had been ravished. And then having forcibly collected them all in this place, she shut up the mistresses with their slaves. On which account the Lydians, wishing to soften the bitterness of the transaction, call the place the Woman's Contest —the Sweet Embrace. And not only were the wives of the Lydians exposed to all comers, but those also of the Epizephyrian Locrians, and also those of the Cyprians—and, in fact, those of all the nations who devote their daughters to the lives of prostitutes; and it appears to be, in truth, a sort of reminding of, and revenge for, some ancient insult. So against her a Lydian man of noble birth rose up, one who had been previously offended at the government of Midas; while Midas lay in effeminacy, and luxury, and a purple robe, working in the company of the women at the loom. But as Omphale slew all the strangers whom she admitted to her embraces, he chastised both-the one, being a stupid and illiterate man, he dragged out by his ears; a man who, for want of sense, had the surname of the most stupid of all animals: but the woman.....
Ξενοφῶν δὲ ἐν ὀγδόῳ Παιδείας ἐχρῶντο, φησίν, ἔτι τότε τῇ ἐκ Περσῶν παιδείᾳ καὶ τῇ Μήδων στολῇ καὶ ἁβρότητι. νῦν δὲ τὴν μὲν ἐκ Περσῶν καρτερίαν περιορῶσιν ἀποσβεννυμένην, τὴν δὲ τῶν Μήδων μαλακίαν διασῴζονται, σαφηνίσαι δὲ βούλομαι καὶ τὴν θρύψιν αὐτῶν. ἐκείνοις γὰρ πρῶτον μὲν οὐκέτι τὰς εὐνὰς μόνον ἀρκεῖ μαλακῶς ὑποστόρνυσθαι, ἀλλ’ ἤδη καὶ τῶν κλινῶν τοὺς πόδας ἐπὶ ταπίδων τιθέασιν, ὅπως μὴ ἀντερείδῃ τὸ δάπεδον, ἀλλ’ ὑπείκωσιν αἱ τάπιδες. καὶ μὴν τὰ πεττόμενα ἐπὶ τράπεζαν ὅσα τε πρότερον εὕρητο οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἀφῄρηται ἄλλα τε καινὰ αἰεὶ ἐπιμηχανῶνται, καὶ ὄψα γε ὡσαύτως· καὶ γὰρ καινοποιητὰς ἀμφοτέρων τούτων κέκτηνται. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ χειμῶνι οὐ μόνον κεφαλὴν καὶ σῶμα καὶ πόδας αὐτοῖς ἀρκεῖ ἐσκεπάσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἄκραις ταῖς χερσὶν χειρῖδας δασείας καὶ δακτυλήθρας ἔχουσιν. ἔν γε μὴν τῷ θέρει οὐκ ἀρκοῦσιν αὐτοῖς οὔθ’ αἱ τῶν δένδρων οὔθ’ αἱ τῶν πετρῶν σκιαί, ἀλλ’ ἐν ταύταις ἑτέρας σκιάδας ἄνθρωποι μηχανώμενοι αὐτοῖς παρεστᾶσι. κἀν τοῖς ἑξῆς δέ φησι περὶ αὐτῶν οὑτωσί· νῦν δὲ στρώματα πλείω ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἵππων ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν εὐνῶν οὐ γὰρ τῆς ἱππείας οὕτως ὡς τοῦ μαλακῶς καθῆσθαι ἐπιμέλονται. καὶ τοὺς θυρωροὺς δὲ καὶ τοὺς σιτοποιοὺς καὶ τοὺς ὀψοποιοὺς καὶ οἰνοχόους καὶ παρατιθέντας καὶ ἀναιροῦντας καὶ κατακοιμίζοντας καὶ ἀνιστάντας καὶ τοὺς κοσμητὰς οἳ ὑποχρίουσί τε καὶ ἐντρίβουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ τἄλλα ῥυθμίζουσιν … Λυδοί δὲ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἦλθον τρυφῆς ὡς καὶ πρῶτοι γυναῖκας εὐνουχίσαι, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Ξάνθος ὁ Λυδὸς ἢ ὁ τὰς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερομένας ἱστορίας συγγεγραφὼς Διονύσιος δ’ ὁ Σκυτοβραχίων, ὡς Ἀρτέμων φησὶν ὁ Κασανδρεὺς ἐν τῷ περὶ Συναγωγῆς Βιβλίων, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι Ἔφορος ὁ συγγραφεὺς μνημονεύει αὐτοῦ ὡς παλαιοτέρου ὄντος καὶ Ἡροδότῳ τὰς ἀφορμὰς δεδωκότος ὁ δ’ οὖν Ξάνθος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Λυδιακῶν Ἀδραμύτην φησὶ τὸν· Λυδῶν βασιλέα πρῶτον γυναῖκας εὐνουχίσαντα χρῆσθαι αὐταῖς ἀντὶ ἀνδρῶν εὐνούχων. Κλέαρχος δ’ ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ περὶ Βίων Λυδοί, φησί, διὰ τρυφὴν παραδείσους κατασκευασάμενοι καὶ κηπαίους αὐτοὺς ποιήσαντες ἐσκιατροφοῦντο, τρυφερώτερον. ἡγησάμενοι τὸ μηδ’ ὅλως αὐτοῖς ἐπιπίπτειν τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου αὐγάς. καὶ πόρρω προάγοντες ὕβρεως τὰς τῶν ἄλλων γυναῖκας καὶ παρθένους εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν διὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν Ἁγνεῶνα κληθέντα συνάγοντες ὕβριζον. καὶ τέλος τὰς ψυχὰς ἀποθηλυνθέντες ἠλλάξαντο τὸν τῶν γυναικῶν βίον, διόπερ καὶ γυναῖκα τύραννον ὁ βίος εὕρετο αὐτοῖς μίαν τῶν ὑβρισθεισῶν Ὀμφάλην, ἥτις πρώτη κατῆρξε τῆς εἰς Λυδοὺς πρεπούσης τιμωρίας, τὸ γὰρ ὑπὸ γυναικὸς ἄρχεσθαι ὑβριζομένους σημεῖὸν ἐστι βίας· οὖσα οὖν καὶ αὐτὴ ἀκόλαστος καὶ ἀμυνομένη τὰς γενομένας αὐτῇ πρότερον ὕβρεις τοῖς ἐν. τῇ πόλει δούλοις τὰς τῶν δεσποτῶν παρθένους ἐξέδωκεν ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ πρὸς ἐκείνων ὑβρίσθη· εἰς τοῦτον οὖν συναθροίσασα μετ’ ἀνάγκης συγκατέκλινε τοῖς δούλοις τὰς δεσποίνας, ὅθεν οἱ Λυδοὶ τὸ πικρὸν τῆς πράξεως ὑποκοριζόμενοι τὸν τόπον καλοῦσιν Γλυκὺν Ἀγκῶνα, οὐ μόνον δὲ Λυδῶν γυναῖκες ἄφετοι οὖσαι τοῖς ἐντυχοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Λοκρῶν τῶν Ἐπιζεφυρίων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν περὶ Κύπρον καὶ πάντων ἁπλῶς τῶν ἑταιρισμῷ τὰς ἑαυτῶν κόρας ἀφοσιούντων, παλαιᾶς τινος ὕβρεως ἐοίκασιν εἶναι πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ὑπόμνημα καὶ τιμωρίας. πρὸς ἣν εἷς τῶν Λυδῶν εὐγενὴς ἀνὴρ ὁρμήσας καὶ τῇ παρ’ αὐτοῖς Μίδου βασιλείᾳ βαρυνθείς, τοῦ μὲν Μίδου ὑπ’ ἀνανδρίας καὶ τρυφῆς ἐν πορφύρᾳ κειμένου καὶ ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἐν τοῖς ἱστοῖς συνταλασιουργοῦντος, Ὀμφάλης δὲ πάντας τοὺς συγκατακλιθέντας αὑτῇ ξενοκτονούσης, ἀμφοτέρους ἐκόλασε, τὸν μὲν ὑπὸ ἀπαιδευσίας κεκωφημένον τῶν ὤτων ἐξελκύσας, ὃς διὰ τὴν τοῦ φρονεῖν ἔνδειαν τοῦ πάντων ἀναισθητοτάτου ζῴου τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἔσχε· τὴν δὲ …
And the Lydians were also the first people to introduce the use of the sauce called caruca; concerning the preparation of which all those who have written cookery books have spoken a good deal-namely, Glaucus the Locrian, and Mithæcus, and Dionysius, and the two Heraclidæ (who were by birth Syracusans), and Agis, and Epænetus, and Dionysius, and also Hegesippus, and Erasistratus, and Euthydemus, and Criton; and besides these, Stephanus, and Archytas, and Acestius, and Acesias, and Diocles, and Philistion; for I know that all these men have written cookery books. And the Lydians, too, used to speak of a dish which they called candaulus; and there was not one kind of candaulus only, but three, so wholly devoted were they to luxury. And Hegesippus the Tarentine says, that the candaulus is made of boiled meat, and grated bread, and Phrygian cheese, and aniseed, and thick broth: and it is mentioned by Alexis, in his Woman Working all Night, or The Spinners; and it is a cook who is represented as speaking:—A. And, besides this, we now will serve you upA dish whose name's candaulus.B. I've ne'er tastedCandaulus, nor have I e'er heard of it.A. 'Tis a most grand invention, and 'tis mine;And if I put a dish of it before you,Such will be your delight that you'll devourYour very fingers ere you lose a bit of it.We here will get some balls of snow-white wool.You will serve up an egg well shred, and twiceBoil'd till it's hard; a sausage, too, of honey;Some pickle from the frying-pan, some slicesOf new-made Cynthian cheese; and thenA bunch of grapes, steep'd in a cup of wine:But this part of the dish is always laugh'd at,And yet it is the mainstay of the meal.B. Laugh on, my friend; but now be off, I beg,With all your talk about candauli, andYour sausages, and dishes, and such luxuries.Philemon also mentions the candaulus in his Passer-by, where he says—For I have all these witnesses in the city,That I'm the only one can dress a sausage,A candaulus, eggs, a thrium, all in no time:Was there any error or mistake in this?And Nicostratus, in his Cook, says—A man who could not even dress black broth,But only thria and candauli.And Menander, in his Trophonius, says—Here comes a very rich Ionian,And so I make a good thick soup, and ekeA rich candaulus, amatory food.And the Lydians, when going out to war, array themselves to the tune of flutes and pipes, as Herodotus says; and the Lacedæmonians also attack their enemies keeping time to their flutes, as the Cretans keep time to the lyre.
πρῶτοι δὲ Λυδοὶ καὶ τὴν καρύκην ἐξεῦρον, περὶ ἧς τῆς σκευασίας οἱ τὰ Ὀψαρτυτικὰ συνθέντες εἰρήκασιν, Γλαῦκός τε ὁ Λοκρὸς καὶ Μίθαικος καὶ Διονύσιος Ἡρακλεῖδαί τε δύο γένος Συρακόσιοι καὶ Ἆγις καὶ Ἐπαίνετος καὶ Διονύσιος ἔτι τε Ἡγήσιππος καὶ Ἐρασίστρατος καὶ Εὐθύδημος καὶ Κρίτων, πρὸς τούτοις δὲ Στέφανος, ι Ἀρχύτας, Ἀκέστιος, Ἀκεσίας, Διοκλῆς, Φιλιστίων. τοσούτους γὰρ οἶδα γράψοντας Ὀψαρτυτικά. καὶ κάνδαυλον δέ τινα ἔλεγον οἱ Λυδοί, οὐχ ἕνα ἀλλὰ τρεῖς· οὕτως ἐξήσκηντο πρὸς τὰς ἡδυπαθείας. γίνεσθαι δ᾽· αὐτόν φησιν ὁ Ταραντῖνος Ἡγήσιππος ἐξ ἑφθοῦ κρέως καὶ κνηστοῦ ἄρτου καὶ Φρυγίου τυροῦ ἀνήθου τε καὶ ζωμοῦ πίονος. μνημονεύει δ’ αὐτοῦ Ἄλεξις ἐν Παννυχίδι ἢ Ἐρίθοις· μάγειρος δ’ ἐστὶν ὁ προσδιαλεγόμενος ὅτι δέ σοι παρὰ τοῦτο κάνδαυλόν τινα παραθήσομεν. β. κάνδαυλον; οὐκ ἐδήδοκα κάνδαυλον οὐδ’ ἀκήκο’ οὐδεπώποτε. α. θαυμαστὸν ἐμὸν εὕρημα· πάνυ πολὺν δ’ ἐγὼ ἐὰν παραθῶ σοι, προσκατέδει τοὺς δακτύλους αὐτῷ γε χαίρων, χόρια μὲν ποιήσομεν β. ἄνθρωπε, ποίει λευκὰ καὶ βλέπ᾽ εἰς … α. εἶτ’ ἀντακαῖον ἰχθύων τάριχος ἢ κρεῶν, βατανίων εὐθέως … δίπυρον παραθήσω κᾠὸν ἐπιτετμημένον, πῦον, μέλιτος ὀξύβαφον ἐπὶ ταγηνιῶν, τυροῦ τροφάλια χλωρὰ Κυθνίου παρατεμὼν, βοτρύδιόν τι, χόριον, ἐν ποτηρίῳ γλυκὺν τὸ τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἀεί πως μέρος ἐπιπαίζεται, κεφαλὴ δὲ δείπνου γίνεται. β. ἄνθρωπ’ ἐπίπαιζε· μόνον ἀπαλλάγηθί μου, τοὺς σοὺς δὲ κανδαύλους λέγων καὶ χόρια καὶ βατάνια. πᾶσαν ἀφανιεῖς τὴν ἡδονήν. μνημονεύει τοῦ κανδαύλου καὶ Φιλήμων ἐν Παρεισιόντι οὕτως· τοὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει μάρτυρας ἔχω γὰρ ὅτι μόνος φύσκην ποιῶ, κάνδαυλον, ᾠόθριον ἐν στενῷ. τί γὰρ τούτων διάπτωμ’ ἐγένετ’ ἢ ἁμάρτημα τί; καὶ Νικόστρατος ἐν Μαγείρῳ· ὃς μέλανα ποιεῖν ζωμὸν οὐκ ἠπίστατο, θρῖον δὲ καὶ κάνδαυλον. καὶ Μένανδρος Τροφωνίῳ· Ἰωνικὸς πλούταξ, ὑποστάσεις ποιῶν κάνδαυλον, ὑποβινητιῶντα βρώματα. καὶ εἰς τοὺς πολέμους δὲ ἐξιόντες οἱ Λυδοὶ παρατάττονται μετὰ συρίγγων καὶ αὐλῶν, ὥς φησιν Ἡρόδοτος. καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι δὲ μετ’ αὐλῶν ἐξορμῶσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς πολέμους, καθάπερ Κρῆτες μετὰ λύρας.
But Heraclides of Cumæ, who wrote the History of Persia, having said in his book entitled The Preparation, that in the country which produces frankincense the king is independent, and responsible to no one, proceeds as follows:— “And he exceeds every one in luxury and indolence; for he stays for ever in his palace, passing his whole life in luxury and extravagance; and he does no single thing, nor does he see many people. But he appoints the judges, and if any one thinks that they have decided unjustly, there is a window in the highest part of the palace, and it is fastened with a chain: accordingly, he who thinks that an unjust decision has been given against him, takes hold of the chain, and drags the window; and when the king hears it, he summons the man, and hears the cause himself. And if the judges appear to have decided unjustly, they are put to death; but if they appear to have decided justly, then the man who has moved the window is put to death.” And it is said that the sum expended every day on the king, and on his wives and friends, amounts to fifteen Babylonian talents.
Ἡρακλείδης δ’ ὁ Κυμαῖος ὁ τὰ Περσικὰ συγγράψας ἐν τοῖς ἐπιγραφομένοις Παρασκευαστικοῖς εἰπὼν ὡς ὁ ἐν τῇ λιβανοφόρῳ χώρᾳ βασιλεὺς αὐτόνομός τέ ἐστι καὶ οὐδενὸς ὑπήκοος, γράφει καὶ ταῦτα οὗτος δ’ ὑπερβάλλει τῇ τρυφῇ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ, διατρίβει τε γὰρ αἰεὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις ἐν τρυφῇ καὶ δαπάνῃ τὸν βίον διάγων καὶ πράττει οὐδὲ ἓν πρᾶγμα αὐτὸς οὐδὲ πολλοῖς πλησιάζει, ἀλλὰ δικαστὰς ἀποδεικνύει· καὶ ἐάν τις αὐτοὺς ἡγῆται μὴ δικαίως δεδικακέναι, ἔστι θυρὶς ἐν τῷ ὑψηλοτάτῳ τῶν βασιλείων καὶ αὕτη ἁλύσει δέδεται. ὁ οὖν ἡγούμενος ἀδίκως δεδικάσθαι ἐπιλαμβάνεται τῆς ἁλύσεως καὶ ἕλκει τὴν θυρίδα, καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπειδὰν αἴσθηται εἰσκαλεῖ καὶ αὐτὸς δικάζει, καὶ ἐὰν φαίνωνται οἱ δικασταὶ ἀδίκως δικάσαντες, ἀποθνῄσκουσιν ἐὰν δὲ δικαίως, ὁ κινήσας τὴν θυρίδα ἀπόλλυται. τὰ δ’ ἀναλώματα λέγεται τῆς ἡμέρας εἰς τὸν βασιλέα καὶ τὰς περὶ αὐτὸν γυναῖκας καὶ φίλους γίνεσθαι τάλαντα πεντεκαίδεκα Βαβυλώνια.
And among the Tyrrhenians, who carry their luxury to an extraordinary pitch, Timæus, in his first book, relates that the female servants wait on the men in a state of nudity. And Theopompus, in the forty-third book of his History, states, “that it is a law among the Tyrrhenians that all their women should be in common: and that the women pay the greatest attention to their persons, and often practise gymnastic exercises, naked, among the men, and sometimes with one another; for that it is not accounted shameful for them to be seen naked. And that they sup not with their own husbands, but with any one who happens to be present; and they pledge whoever they please in their cups: and that they are wonderful women to drink, and very and some. And that the Tyrrhenians bring up all the children that are born, no one knowing to what father each child belongs: and the children, too, live in the same manner as those who have brought them up, having feasts very frequently, ad being intimate with all the women. Nor is it reckoned among the Tyrrhenians at all disgraceful either to do or suffer anything in the open air, or to be seen while it is going on; for it is quite the custom of their country: and they are so far from thinking it disgraceful, that they even say, when the master of the house is indulging his appetites, and any one asks for him, that he is doing so and so, using the coarsest possible words for his occupation. But when they are together in parties of companions or relations, they act in the following manner. First of all, when they have stopped drinking, and are about to go to sleep, while the lights are still burning, the servants introduce sometimes courtesans, and sometimes beautiful boys, and sometimes women; and when they have enjoyed them, they proceed to acts of still grosser licentiousness: and they indulge their appetites, and make parties on purpose, sometimes keeping one another in sight, but more frequently making tents around the beds, which are made of plaited laths, with cloths thrown over them. And the objects of their love are usually women; still they are not invariably as particular as they might be; and they are very beautiful, as is natural for people to be who live delicately, and who take great care of their persons.” And all the barbarians who live towards the west, smooth their bodies by rubbing them with pitch, and by shaving them; and among the Tyrrhenians there are many shops in which this trade is practised, and many artists whose sole employment it is, just as there are barbers among us. And when the Tyrrhenians go to these men, they give themselves wholly up to them, not being ashamed of having spectators, or of those who may be passing by. And many of the Greeks, and of those who inhabit Italy, adopt this practice, having learnt it from the Samnites and Messapians. But the Tyrrhenians (as Alcimus relates) are so far gone in luxury, that they even make bread, and box, and flog people to the sound of the flute.
παρὰ δὲ Τυρρηνοῖς ἐκτόπως τρυφήσασιν ἱστορεῖ Τίμαιος ἐν τῇ αʹ ὅτι αἱ θεράπαιναι γυμναὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσι διακονοῦνται. Θεόπομπος δὲ ἐν τῇ τεσσαρακοστῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Ἱστοριῶν καὶ νόμον εἶναί φησιν παρὰ τοῖς Τυρρηνοῖς κοινὰς ὑπάρχειν τὰς γυναῖκας· ταύτας δὲ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι σφόδρα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ γυμνάζεσθαι πολλάκις καὶ μετ’ ἀνδρῶν, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτάς· οὐ γὰρ αἰσχρὸν εἶναι αὐταῖς φαίνεσθαι γυμναῖς, δειπνεῖν δὲ αὐτὰς οὐ παρὰ τοῖς ἀνδράσι τοῖς ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλὰ παρ’ οἷς ἂν τύχωσι τῶν παρόντων, καὶ προπίνουσιν οἷς ἂν βουληθῶσιν. εἶναι δὲ καὶ πιεῖν δεινὰς καὶ τὰς ὄψεις πάνυ καλάς. τρέφειν δὲ τοὺς Τυρρηνοὺς πάντα τὰ γινόμενα παιδία, οὐκ εἰδότας ὅτου πατρός ἐστιν ἕκαστον. ζῶσι δὲ καὶ οὗτοι τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τοῖς θρεψαμένοις, πότους τὰ πολλὰ ποιούμενοι καὶ πλησιάζοντες ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἁπάσαις. οὐδὲν δ’ αἰσχρόν ἐστι Τυρρηνοῖς οὐ μόνον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τι ποιοῦντας, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ πάσχοντας φαίνεσθαι, ἐπιχώριον γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἐστι. καὶ τοσούτου δέουσιν αἰσχρὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν ὥστε καὶ λέγουσιν, ὅταν ὁ μὲν δεσπότης τῆς οἰκίας ἀφροδισιάζηται, ζητῇ δέ τις αὐτόν, ὅτι πάσχει τὸ καὶ τό, προσαγορεύσαντες αἰσχρῶς τὸ πρᾶγμα. ἐπειδὰν δὲ συνουσιάζωσι καθ’ ἑταιρίας ἢ κατὰ συγγενείας, ποιοῦσιν οὕτως· πρῶτον μὲν ὅταν παύσωνται πίνοντες καὶ μέλλωσι καθεύδειν, εἰσάγουσι παρ’ αὐτοὺς οἱ διάκονοι τῶν λύχνων ἔτι καιομένων ὁτὲ μὲν ἑταίρας, ὁτὲ δὲ παῖδας πάνυ καλούς, ὁτὲ δὲ καὶ γυναῖκας· ὅταν δὲ τούτων ἀπολαύσωσιν, αὖθις νεανίσκους ἀκμάζοντας, οἳ πλησιάζουσιν αὐτοὶ ἐκείνοις. ἀφροδισιάζουσιν δὲ καὶ ποιοῦνται τὰς συνουσίας ὁτὲ μὲν ὁρῶντες ἀλλήλους, ὡς δὲ τὰ πολλὰ καλύβας περιβάλλοντες περὶ τὰς κλίνας, αἳ πεπλεγμέναι εἰσιν ἐκ ῥάβδων, ἐπιβέβληται δ’ ἄνωθεν ἱμάτια, καὶ πλησιάζουσι μὲν σφόδρα καὶ ταῖς γυναιξί, πολὺ μέντοι γε μᾶλλον χαίρουσι συνόντες τοῖς παισὶ καὶ τοῖς μειρακίοις. καὶ γὰρ γίνονται παρ’ αὐτοῖς πάνυ καλοὶ τὰς ὄψεις, ἅτε τρυφερῶς διαιτώμενοι καὶ λεαινόμενοι τὰ σώματα, πάντες δὲ οἱ πρὸς ἑσπέραν οἰκοῦντες βάρβαροι πιττοῦνται καὶ ξυροῦνται τὰ σώματα· καὶ παρά γε τοῖς Τυρρηνοῖς ἐργαστήρια κατεσκεύασται πολλὰ καὶ τεχνῖται τούτου τοῦ πράγματός εἰσιν, ὥσπερ παρ’ ἡμῖν οἱ κουρεῖς. παρ’ οὓς ὅταν εἰσέλθωσιν, παρέχουσιν ἑαυτοὺς πάντα τρόπον, οὐθὲν αἰσχυνόμενοι τοὺς ὁρῶντας οὐδὲ τοὺς παριόντας. χρῶνται δὲ τούτῳ τῷ νόμῳ πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τῶν τὴν Ἰταλίαν οἰκούντων, μαθόντες παρὰ Σαυνιτῶν καὶ Μεσσαπίων. ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς τρυφῆς οἱ Τυρρηνοί, ὡς Ἄλκιμος ἱστορεῖ, πρὸς αὐλὸν καὶ μάττουσιν καὶ πυκτεύουσι καὶ μαστιγοῦσιν.
The tables of the Sicilians also are very notorious for their luxury. “And they say that even the sea in their region is sweet, delighting in the food which is procured from it,” as Clearchus says, in the fifth book of his Lives. And why need we mention the Sybarites, among whom bathing men and pourers of water were first introduced in fetters, in order to prevent their going too fast, and to prevent also their scalding the bathers in their haste? And the Sybarites were the first people to forbid those who practise noisy arts from dwelling in their city; such as braziers, and smiths, and carpenters, and men of similar trades; providing that their slumbers should always be undisturbed. And it used to be unlawful to rear a cock in their city. And Timæus relates concerning them, that a citizen of Sybaris once going into the country, seeing the husbandmen digging, said that he himself felt as if he had broker his bones by the sight; and some one who heard him replied, “I, when I heard you say this, felt as if I had a pain in my side.” And once, at Crotona, some Sybarites were standing by some one of the athletes who was digging up dust for the palæstra, and said they marvelled that men who had such a city had no slaves to dig the palæstra for them. But another Sybarite, coming to Lacedæmon, and being invited to the phiditium, sitting down on a wooden seat and eating with them, said that originally he had been surprised at hearing of the valour of the Lacedæmonians; but that now that he had seen it, he thought that they in no respect surpassed other men: for that the greatest coward on earth would rather die a thousand times than live and endure such a life as theirs.
διαβόητοι δ’ εἰσὶν ἐπὶ τρυφῇ καὶ αἱ τῶν Σικελῶν τράπεζαι, οἵτινες καὶ τὴν παρ’ αὐτοῖς θάλατταν λέγουσιν εἶναι γλυκεῖαν, χαίροντες τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς γινομένοις ἐδέσμασιν, ὥς φησι Κλέαρχος ἐν πέμπτῳ Βίων. περὶ δὲ Συβαριτῶν τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; παρ’ οἷς πρώτοις εἰσήχθησαν εἰς τὰ βαλανεῖα λουτροχόοι καὶ παραχύται πεπεδημένοι, τοῦ μὴ θᾶττον ἰέναι καὶ ὅπως μὴ σπεύδοντες κατακαίωσι τοὺς λουομένους, πρῶτοι δὲ Συβαρῖται καὶ τὰς ποιούσας ψόφον τέχνας οὐκ ἐῶσιν ἐπιδημεῖν τῇ πόλει, οἷον χαλκέων καὶ τεκτόνων καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων, ὅπως αὐτοῖς πανταχόθεν ἀθόρυβοι ὦσιν οἱ ὕπνοι· οὐκ ἐξῆν δ’ οὐδ’ ἀλεκτρυόνα ἐν τῇ πόλει τρέφεσθαι. ἱστορεῖ δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν Τίμαιος ὅτι ἀνὴρ Συβαρίτης εἰς ἀγρόν ποτε πορευόμενος ἔφη ἰδὼν τοὺς ἐργάτας σκάπτοντας αὐτὸς ῥῆγμα λαβεῖν πρὸς ὃν ἀποκρίνασθαί τινα τῶν ἀκουσάντων αὐτὸς δὲ σοῦ διηγουμένου ἀκούων πεπονεκέναι τὴν πλευράν. ἐν Κρότωνι δὲ σκάπτοντί τινι τὴν τῶν ἀθλούντων κόνιν ἐπιστάντες τινὲς Συβαριτῶν ἐθαύμαζον λέγοντες, εἰ τηλικαύτην ἔχοντες πόλιν οἰκέτας μὴ κέκτηνται τοὺς σκάψοντας ἑαυτοῖς τὴν παλαίστραν. ἄλλος δὲ Συβαρίτης παραγενόμενος εἰς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ κληθεὶς εἰς φιδίτιον, ἐπὶ τῶν ξύλων κατακείμενος καὶ δειπνῶν μετ’ αὐτῶν, πρότερον μὲν ἔφη καταπεπλῆχθαι τὴν τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων πυνθανόμενος ἀνδρείαν, νῦν δὲ θεασάμενος νομίζειν μηδὲν τῶν ἄλλων αὐτοὺς διαφέρειν. καὶ γὰρ τὸν ἀνανδρότατον μᾶλλον ἐν ἑλέσθαι ἀποθανεῖν ἢ τοιοῦτον βίον ζῶντα καρτερεῖν.
And it is a custom among them that even their children, up to the age when they are ranked among the ephebi, should wear purple robes, and curls braided with gold. And it is a custom with them also to breed up in their houses little mannikins and dwarfs (as Timon says) who are called by some people στίλπωνες; and also little Maltese dogs, which follow them even to the gymnasia. And it was these men, and men like them, to whom Masinissa, king of Mauritania, made answer (as Ptolemy relates, in the eighth book of his Commentaries), when they were seeking to buy some monkeys: “Why,—do not your wives, my good friends, produce any offspring?” For Masinissa was very fond of children, and kept about him and brought up the children of his sons, and of his daughters equally, and he had a great many of them: and he brought them all up till they were three years old, and after that he sent them to their parent, having the younger ones to take their places. And Eublus the comic writer has said the same thing in his Graces:—For is it not, I pray you, better farFor one man, who can well afford such acts,To rear a man, than a loud gaping goose,Or sparrow, or ape—most mischievous of beasts?And Athenodorus, in his treatise on Serious Studies and Amusements, says that “Archytas of Tarentum, who was both a statesman and a philosopher, having many slaves, was always delighted at his entertainments when any of them came to his banquets. But the Sybarites delighted only in Maltese puppy dogs, and in men which were no men.”
ἔθος δὲ παρ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοὺς παῖδας μέχρι τῆς τῶν ἐφήβων ἡλικίας ἁλουργίδας τε φορεῖν καὶ πλοκαμῖδας ἀναδεδεμένους χρυσοφορεῖν. ἐπιχωριάζειν δὲ παρ’ αὐτοῖς διὰ τὴν τρυφὴν ἀνθρωπάρια μικρὰ καὶ τοὺς σκωπαίους, ὥς φησιν ὁ Τίμαιος, τοὺς καλουμένους παρά τισι στίλπωνας καὶ κυνάρια Μελιταῖα, ἅπερ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἕπεσθαι εἰς τὰ γυμνάσια. πρὸς οὓς καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους τούτοις Μασσανάσσης ὁ τῶν Μαυρουσίων βασιλεὺς ἀπεκρίνατο, ὥς φησι Πτολεμαῖος ἐν ὀγδόῳ Ὑπομνημάτων, ζητοῦσιν συνωνεῖσθαι πιθήκους· παρ’ ὑμῖν, ὦ οὗτοι, αἱ γυναῖκες οὐ τίκτουσιν παιδία; παιδίοις γὰρ ἔχαιρεν ὁ Μασσανάσσης καὶ εἶχεν παρ’ αὑτῷ τρεφόμενα τῶν υἱῶν （πολλοὶ δὲ ἦσαν） τὰ τέκνα καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων ὁμοίως, καὶ πάντα ταῦτα αὐτὸς ἔτρεφεν μέχρι τριῶν ἐτῶν μεθ’ ἃ ἀπέπεμπε πρὸς τοὺς γεγεννηκότας, παραγινομένων ἄλλων. τὰ δὲ αὐτὰ ἔφη καὶ Εὔβουλος ὁ κωμικὸς ἐν Χάρισιν οὕτως· καὶ γὰρ πόσῳ κάλλιον, ἱκετεύω, τρέφειν ἄνθρωπον ἔστ’ ἄνθρωπον, ἂν ἔχῃ βίον, ἢ χῆνα πλατυγίζοντα καὶ κεχηνότα ἢ στρουθὸν ἢ πίθηκον, ἐπίβουλον κακόν. καὶ Ἀθηνόδωρος δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ Σπουδῆς καὶ Παιδιᾶς Ἀρχύταν φησὶ τὸν Ταραντῖνον πολιτικὸν ἅμα καὶ φιλόσοφον γενόμενον πλείστους οἰκέτας ἔχοντα αἰεὶ τούτοις παρὰ τὴν δίαιταν ἀφιεμένοις εἰς τὸ συμπόσιον ἥδεσθαι. ἀλλ’ οἱ Συβαρῖται ἔχαιρον τοῖς Μελιταίοις κυνιδίοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις οὐκ ἀνθρώποις.
The Sybarites used to wear also garments made of Milesian wool, from which there arose a great friendship between the two cities, as Timæus relates. For of the inhabitants of Italy, the Milesians gave the preference to the Tyrrhenians, and of foreigners to the Ionians, because they were devoted to luxury. But the cavalry of the Sybarites, being in number more than five thousand, used to go in procession with saffron-coloured robes over their breastplates; and in the summer their younger men used to go away to the caves of the Lusiades Nymphs, and live there in all kinds of luxury. And whenever the rich men of that country left the city for the country, although they always travelled in chariots, still they used to consume three days in a day's journey. And some of the roads which led to their villas in the country were covered with awnings all over; and a great many of them had cellars near the sea, into which their wine was brought by canals from the country, and some of it was then sold out of the district, but some was brought into the city in boats. They also celebrate in public numbers of feasts; and they honour those who display great magnificence on such occasions with golden crowns, and they proclaim their names at the public sacrifices and games; announcing not only their general goodwill towards the city, but also the great magnificence which they had displayed in the feasts. And on these occasions they even crown those cooks who have served up the most exquisite dishes. And among the Sybarites there were found baths in which, while they lay down, they were steamed with warm vapours. And they were the first people who introduced the custom of bringing chamber-pots into entertainments. But laughing at those who left their countries to travel in foreign lands, they themselves used to boast that they had grown old without ever having crossed the bridges which led over their frontier rivers.
ἐφόρουν δ’ οἱ Συβαρῖται καὶ ἱμάτια Μιλησίων ἐρίων πεποιημένα ἀφ’ ὧν δὴ καὶ αἱ φιλίαι ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐγένοντο, ὡς ὁ Τίμαιος ἱστορεῖ, ἠγάπων γὰρ τῶν μὲν ἐξ Ἰταλίας Τυρρηνούς, τῶν δ’ ἕωθεν τοὺς Ἴωνας ὅτι τρυφῇ προσεῖχον. οἱ δ’ ἱππεῖς τῶν Συβαριτῶν ὑπὲρ τοὺς πεντακισχιλίους ὄντες ἐπόμπευον ἔχοντες κροκωτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς θώραξιν, καὶ τοῦ θέρους οἱ νεώτεροι αὐτῶν εἰς τὰ τῶν Νυμφῶν ἄντρα τῶν Λουσιάδων ἀποδημοῦντες διετέλουν μετὰ πάσης τρυφῆς. οἱ δ’ εὔποροι αὐτῶν ὁπότε εἰς ἀγρὸν παραβάλλοιεν, καίπερ ἐπὶ ζευγῶν πορευόμενοι τὴν ἡμερησίαν πορείαν ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις διήνυον. ἦσαν δέ τινες αὐτοῖς καὶ τῶν εἰς τοὺς ἀγροὺς φερουσῶν ὁδῶν κατάστεγοι. τοῖς δὲ πλείστοις αὐτῶν ὑπάρχουσιν οἰνῶνες ἐγγὺς τῆς θαλάσσης, εἰς οὓς δι’ ὀχετῶν τῶν οἴνων ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἀφειμένων τὸν μὲν ἔξω τῆς χώρας πιπράσκεσθαι, τὸν δὲ εἰς τὴν πόλιν τοῖς πλοίοις διακομίζεσθαι. ποιοῦνται δὲ καὶ δημοσίᾳ πολλὰς καὶ πυκνὰς ἑστιάσεις καὶ τοὺς λαμπρῶς φιλοτιμηθέντας χρυσοῖς στεφάνοις τιμῶσι καὶ τούτους ἀνακηρύττουσιν ἐν ταῖς δημοσίαις θυσίαις καὶ τοῖς ἀγῶσιν, προσκηρύττοντες οὐκ εὔνοιαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν εἰς τὰ δεῖπνα χορηγίαν ἐν οἷς στεφανοῦσθαι καὶ τῶν μαγείρων τοὺς ἄριστα τὰ παρατεθέντα - διασκευάσαντας. παρὰ Συβαρίταις δ’ εὑρέθησαν καὶ πύελοι ἐν αἷς κατακείμενοι ἐπυριῶντο. πρῶτοι δὲ καὶ ἀμίδας ἐξεῦρον, ἃς εἰσέφερον εἰς τὰ συμπόσια, καταγελῶντες δὲ τῶν ἀποδημούντων ἐκ τῶν πατρίδων αὐτοὶ ἐσεμνύνοντο ἐπὶ τῷ γεγηρακέναι ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν ποταμῶν γεφύραις.