4.2. This discourse of Herodes seemed to give occasion for a query about Nicolaus, which would be as pleasant as the former. Therefore, said Sospis, let every one carefully give his sentiments of the matter in hand. I begin, and think that, as far as possible, the honor of the victor should remain fresh and immortal. Now a palm-tree is the longest lived of any, as this line of Orpheus testifies: “They lived like branches of a leafy palm.” And this almost alone enjoys the privilege (though it is said to belong to many beside) of having always fresh and the same leaves. For neither the laurel nor the olive nor the myrtle, nor any other of those trees called evergreen, is always seen with the very same leaves; but as the old fall, new ones grow. So cities continue the same, where new parts succeed those that decay. But the palm, never shedding a leaf, is continually adorned with the same green. And this power of the tree, I believe, men think agreeable to, and fit to represent, the strength of victory.
4.2. ταῦτʼ εἰπὼν ὁ Ἡρώδης οὐκ ἀτερπέστερον ἐμβάλλειν ἔδοξε τοῦ ζητουμένου τὸ περὶ τοῦ Νικολάου. διὸ καὶ μᾶλλον ἔφη ὁ Σῶσπις προθυμητέον, ὡς ἕκαστος αὑτόν τις ἔπεισε, συνεισενεγκεῖν εἰς τὸ ζητούμενον. ἐγὼ δʼ εἰσφέρω πρῶτος, ὅτι δεῖ τὴν τῶν νικηφόρων δόξαν ἄφθιτον, ὡς ἀνυστὸν ἐστι, καὶ ἀγήρων διαμένειν· ὁ δὲ φοῖνιξ μακρόβιον μέν ἐστιν ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα τῶν φυτῶν, ὥς που καὶ τὰ Ὀρφικὰ ταῦτα μεμαρτύρηκεζῶον δʼ ἴσον ἀκροκόμοισινφοινίκων ἔρνεσσιν,μόνῳ δʼ αὐτῷ σχεδὸν ὑπάρχει τὸ κατὰ πολλῶν ὡς ἀληθῶς λεγόμενον· τί δὲ τοῦτʼ ἔστι; τὸ ἐμπεδόφυλλον εἶναι καὶ ἀείφυλλον· οὔτε γὰρ δάφνην οὔτʼ ἐλαίαν οὔτε μυρσίνην οὔτʼ ἄλλο τι τῶν μὴ φυλλορροεῖν λεγομένων ὁρῶμεν ἀεὶ ταὐτὰ φύλλα διατηροῦν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρώτοις ἀπορρέουσιν ἑτέρων ἐπιβλαστανόντων, ὥσπερ πόλεις, ἕκαστον ἀείζωον διαμένει καὶ ἀμείλικτον ὁ δὲ φοῖνιξ οὐθὲν ἀποβάλλων ἀφʼ αὑτοῦ τῶν φυομένων, βεβαίως ἀείφυλλός ἐστι· καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κράτος αὐτοῦ μάλιστα τῆς νίκης τῷ ἰσχυρῷ συνοικειοῦσι.
4.3. When Sospis had done, Protogenes the grammarian, calling Praxiteles the commentator by his name, said: What then, shall we suffer those rhetoricians to be thought to have hit the mark, when they bring arguments only from probabilities and conjectures? And can we produce nothing from history to club to this discourse? Lately, I remember, reading in the Attic annals, I found that The seus first instituted games in Delos, and tore off a branch from the sacred palm-tree, which was called spadix (from σπάω, to tear.)
4.3. παυσαμένου δὲ τοῦ Σώσπιδος, Πρωτογένης ὁ γραμματικός, ὀνόματι καλέσας Πραξιτέλην τὸν περιηγητὴν οὕτω δὴ τούτους ἔφη τοὺς ῥήτορας ἐάσομεν περαίνειν τὸ οἰκεῖον, ἐξ εἰκότων καὶ πιθανῶν ἐπιχειροῦντας· αὐτοὶ δʼ ἀφʼ ἱστορίας οὐδὲν ἂν ἔχοιμεν τῷ λόγῳ συμβάλλεσθαι; καίτοι δοκῶ μοι μνημονεύειν ἐν τοῖς Ἀττικοῖς ἀνεγνωκὼς ἔναγχος, ὅτι πρῶτος ἐν Δήλῳ Θησεὺς ἀγῶνα ποιῶν ἀπέσπασε κλάδον τοῦ ἱεροῦ φοίνικος καὶ σπάδιξ ὠνομάσθη.
4.4. And Praxiteles said: This is uncertain; but perhaps some will demand of Theseus himself, upon what account, when he instituted the game, he broke off a branch of palm rather than of laurel or of olive. But consider whether this be not a prize proper to the Pythian games, as belonging to Amphictyon. For there they first, in honor of the God, crowned the victors with laurel and palm, as consecrating to the God, not the laurel or olive, but the palm. So Nicias did, who defrayed the charges of the solemnity in the name of the Athenians at Delos; the Athenians themselves at Delphi; and before these, Cypselus the Corinthian. For this God is a lover of games, and delights in contending for the prize at harping, singing, and throwing the bar, and, as some say, at cuffing; and assists men when contending, as Homer witnesseth, by making Achilles speak thus,Let two come forth in cuffing stout, and tryTo which Apollo gives the victory.And amongst the archers, he that made his address to Apollo made the best shot, and he that forgot to pray to him missed the mark. And beside, it is not likely that the Athenians would rashly, and upon no grounds, dedicate their place of exercise to Apollo. But they thought that the God which bestows health gives likewise a vigorous constitution, and strength for the encounter. And since some of the encounters are light and easy, others laborious and difficult, the Delphians offered sacrifices to Apollo the cuffer; the Cretans and Spartans to Apollo the racer; and the dedication of spoils taken in the wars and trophies to Apollo Pythias show that he is of great power to give victory in war.
4.4. καὶ ὁ Πραξιτέλης ταῦτʼ εἶπεν ἄδηλα, καὶ τοῦ Θησέως αὐτοῦ πυνθάνεσθαι φήσουσιν, ᾧτινι λόγῳ φοίνικος, οὐ δάφνης οὐδʼ ἐλαίας, κλάδον ἀπέσπασεν ἀγωνοθετῶν. σκόπει δή, μὴ Πυθικόν ἐστι τὸ νικητήριον, ὡς· Ἀμφικτύονος· κἀκεῖ πρῶτον ἐπὶ τιμῇ τοῦ θεοῦ δάφνῃ καὶ φοίνικι τοὺς νικῶντας ἐκόσμησαν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τῷ θεῷ μὴ δάφνας μηδʼ ἐλαίας ἀλλὰ φοίνικας ἀνατιθέντες, ὡς ἐν Δήλῳ Νικίας χορηγήσας Ἀθηναίων καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ Κύψελος πρότερον Κορίνθιος ἐπεὶ καὶ φίλαθλος ἄλλως καὶ φιλόνικος ἡμῖν ὁ θεός, αὐτὸς ἐν κιθαρίσει καὶ ᾠδῇ καὶ βολαῖς δίσκων, ὡς δʼ ἔνιοί φασι, καὶ πυγμῇ ἁμιλλώμενος· ἀνθρώποις δὲ προσαμύνων ἀγωνιζομένοις, ὡς Ὅμηρος ἐμαρτύρησε, τὸν μὲν Ἀχιλλέα λέγοντα ποιήσαςἄνδρε δύω περὶ τῶνδε κελεύομεν, ὥπερ ἀρίστω,πὺξ μάλʼ ἀνασχομένω πεπληγέμεν ᾧ δέ κ̓ Ἀπόλλωνδώῃ καμμονίην …τῶν δὲ τοξοτῶν τὸν μὲν εὐξάμενον τῷ θεῷ κατορθῶσαι καὶ λαβεῖν τὰ πρωτεῖα· τὸν δὲ γαῦρον ἀστοχῆσαι τοῦ σκοποῦ, μὴ εὐξάμενον. καὶ μὴν οὐδʼ Ἀθηναίους εἰκός ἐστιν Ἀπόλλωνι καθιερῶσαι, τὸ γυμνάσιον ἀλόγως καὶ αὐτομάτως· ἀλλὰ παρʼ οὗ τὴν ὑγίειαν ἔχομεν θεοῦ, τοῦτον εὐεξίαν τε διδόναι καὶ ῥώμην ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ᾤοντο. κούφων δὲ καὶ βαρέων ἀγωνισμάτων ὄντων, πύκτῃ μὲν Ἀπόλλωνι Δελφούς, δρομαίῳ δὲ Κρῆτας ἱστοροῦσι θύειν καὶ Λακεδαιμονίους. σκύλων δὲ Πυθοῖ καὶ ἀκροθινίων καὶ τροπαίων ἀναθέσεις ἆρʼ, οὐ συμμαρτυροῦσιν ὅτι τῆς εἰς τὸ νικᾶν καὶ κρατεῖν δυνάμεως τῷ θεῷ τούτῳ πλεῖστον μέτεστιν;
4.5. Whilst he was speaking, Caphisus, Theon’s son, interrupted him, and said: This discourse smells neither of history nor comment, but is taken out of the common topics of the Peripatetics, and endeavors to persuade; besides, you should, like the tragedians, raise your machine, and fright all that contradict you with the God. But the God, as indeed it is requisite he should be, is equally benevolent to all. Now let us, following Sospis (for he fairly leads the way), keep close to our subject, the palm-tree, which affords us sufficient scope for our discourse. The Babylonians celebrate this tree, as being useful to them three hundred and sixty several ways. But to us Greeks it is of very little use, but its want of fruit makes it proper for contenders in the games. For being the fairest, greatest, and best proportioned of all sorts of trees, it bears no fruit amongst us; but by reason of its strong constitution it spends all its nourishment (like an athlete) upon its body, and so has very little, and that very bad, remaining for seed. Beside all this, it hath something peculiar, which cannot be attributed to any other tree. The branch of a palm, if you put a weight upon it, doth not yield and bend downwards, but turns the contrary way, as if it resisted the pressing force. The like is to be observed in these exercises. For those who, through weakness or cowardice, yield to them, their adversaries oppress; but those who stoutly endure the encounter have not only their bodies, but their minds too, strengthened and increased.
4.5. ἔτι δʼ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, ὑπολαβὼν Κάφισος ὁ Θέωνος υἱός ἀλλὰ ταῦτὰ γʼ εἶπεν οὐχ·χ ἱστορίας οὐδὲ περιηγητικῶν ὄδωδε βιβλίων, ἀλλʼ ἐκ μέσων ἀνεσπασμένα τῶν Περιπατητικῶν τόπων εἰς τὸ πιθανὸν ἐπικεχείρηται, καὶ προσέτι τραγικῶς μηχανὴν ἄραντες, ὦ φίλοι, δεδίττεσθε τῷ θεῷ τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας. ὁ μὲν οὖν θεός, ὥσπερ προσήκει, πᾶσιν ἴσος ἐστὶ μετʼ εὐμενείας· ἡμεῖς δʼ ἑπόμενοι Σώσπιδι καλῶς γὰρ ὑφηγεῖται πάλιν ἐχώμεθα τοῦ φοίνικος; ἀμφιλαφεῖς τῷ λόγῳ λαβὰς διδόντος. Βαβυλώνιοι μὲν γὰρ ὑμνοῦσι καὶ ᾄδουσιν ὡς ἑξήκοντα καὶ τριακόσια χρειῶν γένη παρέχον αὐτοῖς τὸ δένδρον· ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἣκιστα μέν ἐστι χρειώδης, ἀθλητικῆς δὲ φιλοσοφίας καὶ τὸ ἄκαρπον ἂν εἴη· κάλλιστος γὰρ ὢν καὶ μέγιστος ὑπʼ εὐταξίας οὐ γόνιμός ἐστι παρʼ ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τροφὴν ὥσπερ ἀθλητοῦ περὶ τὸ σῶμα τῆς εὐταξίας ἀναλισκούσης, σμικρὸν αὐτῷ καὶ φαῦλον εἰς σπέρμα περίεστιν. ἴδιον δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα πάντα καὶ μηδενὶ συμβεβηκὸς ἑτέρῳ τὸ μέλλον λέγεσθαι· φοίνικος γὰρ ξύλον ἂν ἄνωθεν ἐπιθεὶς βάρη πιέζῃς, οὐ κάτω θλιβόμενον ἐνδίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ κυρτοῦται πρὸς τοὐναντίον ὥσπερ ἀνθιστάμενον τῷ βιαζομένῳ. τοῦτο δὴ καὶ περὶ τοὺς ἀθλητικοὺς ἀγῶνάς ἐστι· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ὑπʼ ἀσθενείας καὶ μαλακίας εἴκοντας αὐτοῖς πιέζουσι κάμπτοντες, οἱ δʼ ἐρρωμένως ὑπομένοντες τὴν ἄσκησιν οὐ μόνον τοῖς σώμασιν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς φρονήμασιν ἐπαίρονται καὶ αὐξοῦνται.
5.1. ONE demanded a reason why the sailors take up the water for their occasions out of the river Nile by night, and not by day. Some thought they feared the sun, which heating the water would make it more liable to putrefaction. For every thing that is heated or warmed becomes more easy to be changed, having already suffered when its proper quality was remitted. And cold constipating the parts seems to preserve every thing in its natural state, and water especially. For that the cold of water is naturally constringent is evident from snow, which keeps flesh from corrupting a long time. And heat, as it destroys the proper quality of other things, so of honey, for it being boiled is itself corrupted, though when raw it preserves other bodies from corruption. And that this is the cause, I have a very considerable evidence from standing pools; for in winter they are as wholesome as other water, but in summer they grow bad and noxious. Therefore the night seeming in some measure to resemble the winter, and the day the summer, they think the water that is taken up at night is less subject to be vitiated and changed. To these seemingly probable reasons another was added, which confirmed the ingenuity of the sailors by a very natural proof. For some said that they took up their water by night because then it was clear and undisturbed; but at daytime, when a great many fetched water together, and many boats were sailing and many beasts swimming upon the Nile, it grew thick and muddy, and in that condition it was more subject to corruption. For mixed bodies are more easily corrupted than simple and unmixed; for from mixture proceeds disagreement of the parts, from that disagreement a change, and corruption is nothing else but a certain change; and therefore painters call the mixing of their colors φθοράς, corrupting; and Homer expresseth dyeing by μιῆναι (to stain or contaminate). Commonly we call any thing that is simple and unmixed incorruptible and immortal. Now earth being mixed with water soonest corrupts its proper qualities, and makes it unfit for drinking; and therefore standing water stinks soonest, being continually filled with particles of earth, whilst running waters preserve themselves by either leaving behind or throwing off the earth that falls into them. And Hesiod justly commends “The water of a pure and constant spring.” For that water is wholesome which is not corrupted, and that is not corrupted which is pure and unmixed. And this opinion is very much confirmed from the difference of earths; for those springs that run through a mountainous, rocky ground are stronger than those which are cut through plains or marshes, because they do not take off much earth. Now the Nile running through a soft country, like the blood mingled with the flesh, is filled with sweet juices that are strong and very nourishing; yet it is thick and muddy, and becomes more so if disturbed. For motion mixeth the earthly particles with the liquid, which, because they are heavier, fall to the bottom as soon as the water is still and undisturbed. Therefore the sailors take up the water they are to use at night, by that means likewise preventing the sun, which always exhales and consumes the subtler and lighter particles of the liquid.
5.1. αἰτίαν τις ἐζήτησε, διʼ ἣν οἱ ναύκληροι τὰς ὑδρείας ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου νυκτὸς οὐχ ἡμέρας ποιοῦνται. καί τισι μὲν ἐδόκουν τὸν ἣλιον δεδιέναι, τῷ προθερμαίνειν τὰ ὑγρὰ μᾶλλον εὔσηπτα ποιοῦντα· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ θερμανθὲν καὶ χλιανθὲν ἀεὶ πρὸς μεταβολὴν ἑτοιμότερόν ἐστι καὶ προπέπονθεν ἀνέσει τῆς ποιότητος ἡ δὲ ψυχρότης πιέζουσα συνέχειν δοκεῖ καὶ φυλάττειν ἕκαστον ἐν ᾧ πέφυκεν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ· ὕδατος γὰρ ἡ ψυχρότης σχετικόν ἐστι φύσει· δηλοῦσιν αἱ χιόνες, τὰ κρέα δύσσηπτα τηροῦσαι πολὺν χρόνον. ἡ δὲ θερμότης τὰ τʼ ἄλλα καὶ τὸ μέλι τῆς ἰδίας ποιότητος ἐξίστησι· φθείρεται γὰρ ἑψηθέν· ἂν δʼ ὠμὸν διαμένῃ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις πρὸς τὸ μὴ φθείρεσθαι βοηθεῖ. μεγίστην δὲ τῇ αἰτίᾳ πίστιν παρεῖχε τὰ λιμναῖα τῶν ὑδάτων· χειμῶνος γὰρ οὐδὲν διαφέροντα τῶν ἄλλων ποθῆναι, τοῦ θέρους γίγνεται πονηρὰ καὶ νοσώδη διὸ χειμῶνι μὲν τῆς νυκτὸς ἀναλογεῖν δοκούσης θέρει δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας, μᾶλλον οἴονται διαμένειν ἄτρεπτον καὶ ἀπαθὲς τὸ ὕδωρ, ἂν νυκτὸς λαμβάνηται. τούτοις ἐπιεικῶς οὖσι πιθανοῖς, ἐπανέκυψε λόγος ὥσπερ ἀτέχνῳ πίστει ναυτικῇ βεβαιούμενος ἐμπειρίᾳ· νυκτὸς γὰρ ἔφασαν λαμβάνειν τὸ ὕδωρ, ἔτι τοῦ ποταμοῦ καθεστῶτος καὶ ἡσυχάζοντος, ἡμέρας δέ, πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑδρευομένων καὶ πλεόντων, πολλῶν δὲ θηρίων διαφερομένων, ἀναταραττόμενον γίγνεσθαι παχὺ καὶ γεῶδες τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον εὔσηπτον εἶναι πάντα γὰρ τὰ μεμιγμένα τῶν ἀμίκτων ἐπισφαλέστερα πρὸς σῆψίν ἐστι· ποιεῖ γὰρ ἡ μῖξις μάχην, ἡ δὲ μάχη μεταβολήν, μεταβολὴ δέ τις ἡ σῆψις. διὸ τάς τε μίξεις τῶν χρωμάτων οἱ ζωγράφοι φθορὰς,· ὀνομάζουσι καὶ τὸ βάψαι μιῆναι κέκληκεν ὁ ποιητής, ἡ δὲ κοινὴ συνήθεια τὸ ἄμικτον καὶ καθαρὸν ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἀκήρατον, μάλιστα δὲ γῆ μιχθεῖσα πρὸς ὕδωρ ἐξίστησι καὶ φθείρει τὸ πότιμον καὶ οἰκεῖον· ὅθεν εὔσηπτα μᾶλλόν ἐστι τὰ στάσιμα καὶ κοῖλα, πολλῆς· ἀναπιμπλάμενα γῆς, τὰ δὲ ῥέοντα φεύγει καὶ διακρούεται τὴν προσφερομένην· καὶ καλῶς Ἡσίοδος ἐπῄνεσε κρήνης ἀενάου καὶ ἀπορρύτου, ἥ τʼ ἀθόλωτος. ὑγιεινὸν γὰρ τὸ ἀδιάφθορον ἀδιάφθορον δὲ τὸ ἄμικτον καὶ καθαρόν. οὐχ ἥκιστα δʼ αἱ τῆς γῆς διαφοραὶ τῷ λόγῳ μαρτυροῦσι· τὰ γὰρ ὀρεινὴν διεξιόντα γῆν καὶ λιθώδη στερρότερα τῶν ἑλείων καὶ πεδινῶν ἐστι· πολλὴν γὰρ οὐκ ἀποσπᾷ γῆν. ὁ δὲ Νεῖλος ὑπὸ μαλθακῆς χώρας περιεχόμενος, μᾶλλον δʼ ὥσπερ αἷμα σαρκὶ κεκραμένος, γλυκύτητος μὲν ἀπολαύει καὶ χυμῶν ἀναπίμπλαται δύναμιν ἐμβριθῆ καὶ τρόφιμον ἐχόντων, συμμιγὴς δὲ φέρεται καὶ θολερός· ἂν δʼ ἀναταράττηται, καὶ μᾶλλον· ἡ γὰρ κίνησις ἀναμίγνυσι τῷ ὑγρῷ τὸ γεῶδες ὅταν δʼ ἠρεμήσῃ, κάτω ῥέπον διὰ βάρος ἄπεισιν. ὅθεν ὑδρεύονται τῆς νυκτός, ἅμα καὶ τὸν ἥλιον προλαμβάνοντες, ὑφʼ οὗ τὸ λεπτότατον καὶ κουφότατον ἀεὶ τῶν ὑγρῶν αἰρόμενον διαφθείρεται.
6.1. MY younger sons staying too long at the plays, and coming in too late to supper, Theon’s sons waggishly and jocosely called them supper-hinderers, night-suppers, and the like; and they in reply called them runners-to-supper. And one of the old men in the company said τρεχέδειπνος signified one that was too late for supper; because, when he found himself tardy, he mended his pace, and made more than common haste. And he told us a jest of Battus, Caesar’s jester, who called those that came late supper-lovers, because out of their love to entertainments, though they had business, they would not desire to be excused.
6.1. τῶν υἱῶν μου τοὺς νεωτέρους ἐν θεάτρῳ προσδιατρίψαντας ἀκροάμασι καὶ βράδιον ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐλθόντας οἱ Θέωνος υἱοὶ κωλυσιδείπνους καὶ ζοφοδορπίδας καὶ τοιαῦτα μετὰ παιδιᾶς ἔσκωπτον· οἱ δʼ ἀμυνόμενοι πάλιν ἐκείνους τρεχεδείπνους ἀπεκάλουν. καί τις εἶπε τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τρεχέδειπνον εἶναι τὸν ὑστερίζοντα τοῦ δείπνου θᾶττον γὰρ ἢ βάδην ἐπειγόμενον, ὅταν βραδύνῃ, φαίνεσθαι. καὶ Γάλβα τοῦ παρὰ Καίσαρι γελωτοποιοῦ χάριεν ἀπεμνημόνευσεν ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἐπιθυμοδείπνους ἐκάλει τοὺς ὀψὲ παραγιγνομένους ἐπὶ δεῖπνον· ἀσχολουμένους γὰρ αὐτοὺς ὅμως διὰ τὸ φιλόδειπνον οὐκ ἀπολέγεσθαι τὰς κλήσεις.
6.2. And I said, that Polycharmus, a leading orator at Athens, in his apology for his way of living before the assembly, said: Besides a great many things which I could mention, fellow-citizens, when I was invited to supper, I never came the last man. For this is more democratical; and on the contrary, those that are forced to stay for others that come late are offended at them as uncivil and of an oligarchical temper.
6.2. ἐγὼ δʼ εἶπον, ὅτι καὶ Πολύχαρμος ἐν Ἀθήναις δημαγωγῶν καὶ τοῦ βίου διδοὺς ἀπολογισμὸν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ταῦτʼ εἶπεν, ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τἀμά καὶ πρὸς τούτοις, οὐδέποτε κληθεὶς ἐπὶ δεῖπνον ὕστατος ἀφικόμην δημοτικὸν γὰρ εὖ μάλα δοκεῖ τὸ τοιοῦτο, καὶ τοὐναντίον οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοὺς ὀψὲ παραγιγνομένους ἀναγκαζόμενοι περιμένειν, ὡς ἀηδεῖς καὶ ὀλιγαρχικοὺς βαρύνονται.
6.3. But Soclarus, in defence of my sons, said: Alcaeus (as the story goes) did not call Pittacus a night-supper for supping late, but for delighting in base and scandalous company. Heretofore to eat early was accounted scandalous, and such a meal was called ἀκράτισμα, from ἀκρασιά, intemperance.
6.3. ὁ δὲ Σώκλαρος ὑπερδικῶν τῶν νεανίσκων ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸν Πιττακόν ἔφη ζοφοδορπίδαν ὁ Ἀλκαῖος ὡς ὀψὲ δειπνοῦντα λέγεται προσειπεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀδόξοις τὰ πολλὰ καὶ φαύλοις ἡδόμενον συμπόταις· τὸ μέντοι πρωίτερον δειπνεῖν ὄνειδος ἦν πάλαι, καὶ τὸ ἀκράτισμά φασιν οὕτω λέγεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν.
6.4. Then Theon interrupting him said: By no means, if we must trust those who have delivered down to us the ancients’ way of living. For they say that those being used to work, and very temperate in a morning, ate a bit of bread dipped in wine, and nothing else, and that they called that meal ἀκράτισμα, from the ἄκρατον (wine). Their supper they called ὄψον, because returning from their business they took it ὀψέ (late). Upon this we began to enquire whence those meals δεῖπνον and ἄριστον took their names. In Homer ἄριστον and ἀκράτισμα seem to be the same meal. For he says that Eumaeus provided ἄριστον by the break of day; and it is probable that ἄριστον was so called from αἴριον, because provided in the morning; and δεῖπνον was so named from διαναπαύειν τῶν πόνων, easing men from their labor. For men used to take their δεῖπνον after they had finished their business, or whilst they were about it. And this may be gathered from Homer, when he says, “Then when the woodman doth his supper dress.” But some perhaps will derive ἄριστον from ῥᾷστον, easiest provided, because that meal is usually made upon what is ready and at hand; and δεῖπνον from διαπεπονημένον, labored, because of the pains used in dressing it.
6.4. ὑπολαβὼν δʼ ὁ Θέων ἥκιστʼ εἶπεν εἰ δεῖ τοῖς τὸν ἀρχαῖον βίον διαμνημονεύουσι πιστεύειν. φασὶ γὰρ ἐκείνους, ἐργατικοὺς ἅμα καὶ σώφρονας ὄντας, ἕωθεν ἐσθίειν ἄρτον ἐν ἀκράτῳ, καὶ μηθὲν ἄλλο διὸ τοῦτο μὲν ἀκράτισμα καλεῖν διὰ τὸν ἄκρατον, ὄψον δὲ τὸ παρασκευαζόμενον εἰς δεῖπνον αὐτοῖς· ὀψὲ γὰρ δειπνεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν πράξεων γενομένους. ἐκ τούτου καὶ τὸ δεῖπνον καὶ τὸ ἄριστον, ἀφʼ ὅτου λάβοι τοὔνομα, ζήτησιν παρέσχε. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄριστον ἐδόκει τῷ ἀκρατίσματι ταὐτὸν εἶναι, μαρτυρεῖ τῷ Ὁμήρῳ λέγοντι τοὺς περὶ τὸν Εὔμαιον ἐντύνοντας ἄριστον ἃμ ἠοῖ φαινομένῃφι καὶ πιθανὸν ἐδόκει διὰ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ὥραν ἄριστον ὠνομάσθαι, καθάπερ τὸ αὔριον. τὸ δὲ δεῖπνον, ὅτι τῶν πόνων διαναπαύει· πράξαντες γάρ τι δειπνοῦσιν ἢ μεταξὺ πράττοντες·. ἔστι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο παρʼ Ὁμήρου λαβεῖν λέγοντος ἦμος δὲ δρυτόμος περ ἀνὴρ ὡπλίσσατο δεῖπνον. εἰ μὴ νὴ Δία τὸ ἄριστον αὐτόθεν ἀπραγμόνως προσφερόμενοι καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀπὸ τῶν τυχόντων, τὸ δὲ δεῖπνον ἤδη παρεσκευασμένον, ἐκεῖνο μὲν ῥᾷστον, τοῦτο δʼ ὥσπερ διαπεπονημένον ἐκάλεσαν.
6.5. My brother Lamprias, being of a scoffing, jeering nature, said: Since we are in a trifling humor, I can show that the Latin names of these meals are a thousand times more proper than the Greek; δεῖπνον, suppler, they call coena (κοῖνα διὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν), from community; because they took their ἄριστον by themselves, but their coena with their friends. Ἄριστον, dinner, they call prandium, from the time of the day; for ἔνδιον signifies noon-tide, and to rest after dinner is expressed by ἐνδιάζειν; or else by prandium they denote a bit taken in the morning, πρὶν ἐνδεεῖς γενέσθαι, before they have need of any. And not to mention stragula from στρώματα, vinum from οἶνος, oleum from ἔλαιον, mel from μἐλι, gustare from γεύσασθαι, propinare from προπίνειν, and a great many more words which they have plainly borrowed from the Greeks,—who can deny but that they have taken their comessatio, banqueting, from our κῶμος, and miscere, to mingle, from the Greeks too? Thus in Homer, “She in a bowl herself mixt (ἔμισγε) generous wine.” They call a table mensam, from τῆς ἐν μέσω θέσεως, placing it in the middle; bread, panem, from satisfying πεῖναν, hunger; a garland, coronam, from κάρηνον, the head;—and Homer somewhat likens κράνος, a head-piece, to a garland;—caedere to beat, from δέρειν; and dentes, teeth, from ὀδόντας; lips they call labra, from λαμβάνειν τῆν βόραν δι’ αὐτῶν, taking our victuals with them. Therefore we must either hear such fooleries as these without laughing, or not give them so ready access by means of words....
6.5. ὑβριστὴς δʼ ὢν καὶ φιλόγελως φύσει ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν Λαμπρίας ἔφη μυρίῳ τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ δείξειν οἰκειότερα τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν ὀνόματα, τοσαύτης ἀδείας τῷ φλυαρεῖν δεδομένης. τὸ μὲν γὰρ δεῖπνόν φασι κοῖνα διὰ τὴν κοινωνίαν καλεῖσθαι· καθʼ ἑαυτοὺς γὰρ ἠρίστων ἐπιεικῶς οἱ πάλαι Ῥωμαῖοι συνδειπνοῦντες τοῖς φίλοις. τὸ δʼ ἄριστον ἐκλήθη πράνδιον ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας· ἔνδιον γὰρ τὸ δειλινόν, καὶ τὴν μετʼ ἄριστον ἀνάπαυσιν ἐνδιάζειν· ἢ πρωινήν τινα σημαίνοντες ἐδωδὴν ἢ τροφήν, ᾗ χρῶνται πρὶν ἐνδεεῖς γενέσθαι. καὶ μὴν ἵνʼ ἀφῶ τὰ στρώματα ἔφη τὸν οἶνον, τὸ μέλι, τοὔλαιον, τὸ γεύσασθαι, τὸ προπιεῖν, ἕτερα πάμπολλα τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι καταφανῶς χρώμενα· τίς οὐκ ἂν εἴποι ἐπὶ κῶμον Ἑλληνικῶς κωμισσᾶτον λέγεσθαι, καὶ τὸ κεράσαι μισκῆραι καθʼ Ὅμηρον, ἡ δʼ αὖτʼ ἐν κρητῆρι μελίφρονα οἶνον ἔμισγε καί μῆνσαν μὲν τὴν τράπεζαν ἀπὸ τῆς· ἐν μέσῳ θέσεως, πᾶνεμ δὲ τὸν ἄρτον ὡς ἀνιέντα τὴν πεῖναν τὸν δὲ στέφανον κορῶναν ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ὡς Ὅμηρος τὸ κράνος εἴκασέ που στεφάνῃ· τὸ δὲ καῖρε δέρε, καί δέντης τοὺς ὀδόντας, καί λάβρα τὰ χείλη ἀπὸ τοῦ λαμβάνειν τὴν βορὰν διʼ αὐτῶν; ἢ καὶ τούτων οὖν ἀκουστέον ἀγελαστὶ λεγομένων, ἢ μηδʼ ἐκείνοις εὐκόπως οὕτως διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὥσπερ τριγχίων τὰ μὲν ἐκκόπτουσι μέρη τὰ δὲ καθαιροῦσι παραδύσεις διδῶμεν.
7.1. SYLLA the Carthaginian, upon my return to Rome after a long absence, gave me a welcoming supper, as the Romans call it, and invited some few other friends, and among the rest, one Lucius an Etrurian, the scholar of Moderatus the Pythagorean. He seeing my friend Philinus ate no flesh, began (as the opportunity was fair) to talk of Phythagoras; and affirmed that he was a Tuscan, not because his father, as others have said, was one, but because he himself was born, bred, and taught in Tuscany. To confirm this, he brought considerable arguments from such symbols as these:—As soon as you are risen, ruffle the bedclothes; leave not the print of the pot in the ashes; receive not a swallow into your house; never step over a besom; nor keep in your house creatures that have hooked claws. For these precepts of the. Pythagoreans the Tuscans only, as he said, carefully observe.
7.1. Σύλλας ὁ Καρχηδόνιος εἰς Ῥώμην ἀφικομένῳ μοι διὰ χρόνου τὸ ὑποδεκτικόν, ὡς Ῥωμαῖοι καλοῦσι, καταγγείλας δεῖπνον ἄλλους τε τῶν ἑταίρων παρέλαβεν οὐ πολλοὺς καὶ Μοδεράτου τινὰ τοῦ Πυθαγορικοῦ μαθητήν, ὄνομα Λεύκιον, ἀπὸ Τυρρηνίας. οὗτος οὖν ὁρῶν Φιλῖνον τὸν ἡμέτερον ἐμψύχων ἀπεχόμενον, οἷον εἰκός, εἰς τοὺς Πυθαγόρου λόγους προήχθη· καὶ Τυρρηνὸν ἀπέφηνεν, οὐ πατρόθεν, ὥσπερ ἕτεροί τινες, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ καὶ γεγονέναι καὶ τεθράφθαι καὶ πεπαιδεῦσθαι τὸν Πυθαγόραν ἰσχυριζόμενος οὐχ ἣκιστα τοῖς συμβόλοις, οἷόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ συνταράττειν ἀναστάντας ἐξ εὐνῆς τὰ στρώματα καὶ χύτρας τύπον ἀρθείσης ἐν σποδῷ μὴ ἀπολείπειν ἀλλὰ συγχεῖν, καὶ χελιδόνας οἰκίᾳ μὴ δέχεσθαι μηδὲ σάρον ὑπερβαίνειν μηδὲ ἑυνα γαμψώνυχον οἴκοι τρέφειν· ταῦτα γὰρ ἔφη τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν λεγόντων καὶ γραφόντων, μόνους ἔργῳ Τυρρηνοὺς ἐξευλαβεῖσθαι καὶ φυλάττειν.
7.2. Lucius having thus said, that precept about the swallow seemed to be most unaccountable, it being a harmless and kind animal; and therefore it seemed strange that that should be forbid the house, as well as the hooked-clawed animals, which are ravenous, wild, and bloody. Nor did Lucius himself approve that only interpretation of the ancients, who say, this symbol aims directly at backbiters and tale-bearing whisperers. For the swallow whispers not at all; it chatters indeed, and is noisy, but not more than a pie, a partridge, or a hen. What then, said Sylla, is it upon the old fabulous account of killing her son, that they deny the swallow entertainment, by that means showing their dislike to those passions which (as the story goes) made Tereus and Procne and Philomel act and suffer such wicked and abominable things? And even to this day they call the birds Daulides. And Gorgias the sophister, when a swallow muted upon him, looked upon her and said, Philomel, this was not well done. Or perhaps this is all groundless; for the nightingale, though concerned in the same tragedy, we willingly receive.
7.2. λεχθέντων δὲ τούτων ὑπὸ τοῦ Λευκίου, μάλιστα τὸ τῶν χελιδόνων ἀτοπίαν ἔχειν ἐδόκει, ζῷον ἀσινὲς καὶ φιλάνθρωπον εἴργεσθαι τοῖς γαμψωνύχοις ὁμοίως, ἀγριωτάτοις οὖσι καὶ φονικωτάτοις καὶ γὰρ ᾧ μόνῳ τινὲς τῶν παλαιῶν ᾤοντο λύειν τὸ σύμβολον, ὡς πρὸς τοὺς διαβόλους καὶ ψιθύρους τῶν συνήθων ᾐνιγμένον, οὐδʼ αὐτὸς ὁ Λεύκιος ἐδοκίμαζεν· ψιθυρισμοῦ μὲν γὰρ ἥκιστα χελιδόνι μέτεστι, λαλιᾶς δὲ καὶ πολυφωνίας οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ κίτταις καὶ πέρδιξι καὶ ἀλεκτορίσιν. ἆρʼ οὖν ὁ Σύλλας ἔφη διὰ τὸν μῦθον τὸν περὶ τὴν παιδοφονίαν ἀφοσιοῦνται τὰς χελιδόνας, ἄπωθεν ἡμᾶς πρὸς ἐκεῖνα τὰ πάθη διαβάλλοντες, ἐξ ὧν τὸν Τηρέα καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας τὰ μὲν δρᾶσαι τὰ δὲ παθεῖν ἄθεσμα καὶ σχέτλια λέγουσι, καὶ μέχρι νῦν Δαυλίδας ὀνομάζουσι τὰς ὄρνιθας; Γοργίας δʼ ὁ σοφιστής, χελιδόνος ἀφείσης ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀπόπατον, ἀναβλέψας πρὸς αὐτήν οὐ καλὰ ταῦτʼ εἶπεν ὦ Φιλομήλα ἢ καὶ τοῦτο κενόν ἐστι; τὴν γὰρ ἀηδόνα, ταῖς αὐταῖς τραγῳδίαις ἔνοχον οὖσαν, οὐκ ἀπείργουσιν οὐδὲ ξενηλατοῦσιν ἴσως ἔφην ἐγὼ καὶ ταῦτʼ ἔχει λόγον, ὦ Σύλλα.
7.3. Perhaps, sir, said I, what you have alleged may be some reason; but pray consider whether first they do not hate the swallow upon the same account that they abhor hook-clawed animals. For the swallow feeds on flesh; and grasshoppers, which are sacred and musical, they chiefly devour and prey upon. And, as Aristotle observes, they fly near the surface of the earth to pick up the little animals. Besides, that alone of all house-animals makes no return for her entertainment. The stork, though she is neither covered, fed, nor defended by us, yet pays for the place where she builds, going about and killing the efts, snakes, and other venomous creatures. But the swallow, though she receives all those several kindnesses from us, yet, as soon as her young are fledged, flies away faithless and ungrateful; and (which is the worst of all) of all house-animals, the fly and the swallow only never grow tame, suffer a man to touch them, keep company with or learn of him. And the fly is so shy because often hunted and driven away; but the swallow naturally hates man, suspects, and dares not trust any that would tame her. And therefore,—if we must not look on the outside of these things, but opening them view the representations of some things in others,-Pythagoras, setting the swallow for an example of a wandering, unthankful man, adviseth us not to take those who come to us for their own need and upon occasion into our familiarity, and let them partake of the most sacred things, our house and fire.
7.3. σκόπει δὲ μὴ πρῶτον μέν, ᾧ λόγῳ τὸ γαμψώνυχον οὐ προσίενται, τούτῳ καὶ ἡ χελιδὼν ἀδοξεῖ παρʼ αὐτοῖς· σαρκοφάγος γάρ ἐστι καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς τέττιγας, ἱεροὺς καὶ μουσικοὺς ὄντας, ἀποκτίννυσι καὶ σιτεῖται· καὶ πρόσγειος αὐτῆς ἡ πτῆσίς ἐστι, τὰ μικρὰ καὶ λεπτὰ τῶν ζῴων ἀγρευούσης, ὥς φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης· ἔπειτα μόνη τῶν ὁμωροφίων ἀσύμβολος ἐνοικεῖ καὶ ἀτελὴς ἐνδιαιτᾶται. καίτοι ὅ γε πελαργὸς οὔτε σκέπης μετέχων οὔτʼ ἀλέας οὔτʼ ἀδείας τινὸς ἢ βοηθείας παρʼ ἡμῖν, ἐπίβαθρόν τι γῆς δίδωσι· τὰ γὰρ ἐπίβουλα καὶ πολέμια τῶν ἀνθρώπων, φρύνους καὶ ὄφεις, ἀναιρεῖ περιιών· ἡ δὲ πάντων τυχοῦσα τούτων, ὅταν ἐκθρέψῃ καὶ τελειώσῃ τοὺς νεοσσούς, ἄπεισιν ἀχάριστος γενομένη καὶ ἄπυστος. ὃ δὲ δεινότατόν ἐστι, μόνα τῶν συνοίκων μυῖα καὶ χελιδὼν οὐχ ἡμεροῦται πρὸς ἄνθρωπον οὐδʼ ἀνέχεται ψαῦσιν οὐδʼ ὁμιλίαν οὐδὲ κοινωνίαν ἔργου τινὸς ἢ παιδιᾶς, ἡ μὲν μυῖα φοβουμένη τῷ πάσχειν κακῶς καὶ διασοβεῖσθαι πολλάκις, ἡ δὲ χελιδὼν τῷ φύσει μισάνθρωπος εἶναι καὶ διʼ ἀπιστίαν ἀτιθάσευτος ἀεὶ καὶ ὕποπτος. εἴπερ οὖν δεῖ τὰ τοιαῦτα μὴ κατʼ εὐθυωρίαν, ἀλλʼ ἀνακλάσαντας ὥσπερ ἐμφάσεις ἑτέρων ἐν ἑτέροις θεωρεῖν, παράδειγμα τὰς χελιδόνας τοῦ ἀβεβαίου καὶ ἀχαρίστου θέμενος οὐκ ἐᾷ τοὺς ἕνεκα καιροῦ προσφερομένους καὶ ὑποδυομένους ποιεῖσθαι συνήθεις ἐπὶ πλέον, ἑστίας καὶ οἴκου καὶ τῶν ἁγιωτάτων μεταδιδόντας.
7.4. This discourse of mine gave the company encouragement to proceed, so they attempted other symbols, and gave moral interpretations of them. Philinus said, that the precept of blotting out the print of the pot instructed us not to leave any plain mark of anger, but, as soon as ever the passion hath done boiling, to lay aside all thoughts of malice and revenge. That symbol which adviseth us to ruffle the bedclothes seemed to some to have no secret meaning, but to be in itself very evident; for it is not decent that the impression and (as it were) stamped image should be left to be seen by others, in the place where a man hath lain with his wife. But Sylla thought the symbol was rather intended to prevent men’s sleeping in the daytime, all the conveniences for sleeping being taken away in the morning as soon as we are up. For night is the time for sleep, and in the day we should rise and follow our affairs, and not suffer so much as the print of our body in the bed, since a man asleep is of no more use than one dead. And this interpretation seems to be confirmed by that other precept, in which the Pythagoreans advise their followers not to take off any man’s burthen from him, but to lay on more, as not countenancing sloth and laziness in any.
7.4. ταῦτʼ εἰπὼν ἐγώ μοι δοκῶ ποιῆσαι λόγων ἄδειαν· εὐθαρσῶς γὰρ ἤδη τοῖς ἄλλοις συμβόλοις προσῆγον, ἠθικὰς ἐπιεικῶς ποιούμενοι τὰς λύσεις αὐτῶν. τῆς μὲν γὰρ χύτρας τὸν τύπον ἔφη Φιλῖνος ἀφανίζειν αὐτούς, διδάσκοντας ὅτι δεῖ μηδὲν ὀργῆς ἔνδηλον ἀπολείπειν ἴχνος, ἀλλʼ ὅταν ἀναζέσασα παύσηται καὶ καταστῇ, πᾶσαν ἐξαληλίφθαι μνησικακίαν. ἡ δὲ τῶν στρωμάτων συντάραξις ἐνίοις μὲν ἐδόκει μηθὲν ἔχειν ἀποκεκρυμμένον, ἀλλʼ αὐτόθεν φαίνεσθαι τὸ μὴ πρέπον, ἀνδρὶ συγκεκοιμημένης γαμετῆς, χώραν ὁρᾶσθαι καὶ τύπον ὥσπερ ἐκμαγεῖον ἀπολειπόμενον. ὁ δὲ Σύλλας μᾶλλον εἴκαζε κοιμήσεως μεθημερινῆς ἀποτροπὴν εἶναι τὸ σύμβολον, ἀναιρουμένης ἕωθεν εὐθὺς τῆς πρὸς τὸν ὕπνον παρασκευῆς· ὡς νυκτὸς ἀναπαύεσθαι δεῖν, ἡμέρας δὲ πράττειν ἀναστάντας καὶ μὴ περιορᾶν οἷον ἴχνος πτώματος· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀνδρὸς ὄφελος καθεύδοντος, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τεθνηκότος. τούτοις δὲ συμμαρτυρεῖν ἐδόκει καὶ τὸ παρεγγυᾶν τοὺς Πυθαγορικοὺς τοῖς ἑταίροις μηδενὸς; ἀφαιρεῖν βάρος, συνεπιτιθέναι δὲ καὶ συνεπιφορτίζειν, ὡς μηδεμίαν σχολὴν μηδὲ ῥᾳστώνην ἀποδεχομένους.
8.1. OUR former discourse Lucius neither reprehended nor approved, but, sitting silent and musing, gave us the hearing. Then Empedocles addressing his discourse to Sylla, said: If our friend Lucius is displeased with the discourse, it is time for us to leave off; but if these are some of their mysteries which ought to be concealed, yet I think this may be lawfully divulged, that they more cautiously abstain from fish than from other animals. For this is said of the ancient Pythagoreans; and even now I have met with Alexicrates’s scholars, who will eat and kill and even sacrifice some of the other animals, but will never taste fish. Tyndares the Spartan said, they spared fish because they had so great a regard for silence, and they called fish ἔλλοπας, because they had their voice shut up (ἰλλομένην); and my namesake Empedocles advised one who left the school of Pythagoras to shut up his mind,... and they thought silence to be divine, since the Gods without any voice discover their meaning to the wise by their works.
8.1. ἐπεὶ δὲ τούτων λεγομένων ὁ Λεύκιος οὔτε ψέγων οὔτʼ ἐπαινῶν, ἀλλʼ ἡσυχίαν ἄγων, σιγῇ δὲ καὶ καθʼ ἑαυτὸν ὁρῶν ἤκουεν, ὀνομαστὶ καλέσας τὸν Σύλλαν ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς Λεύκιος εἶπεν ὁ ἑταῖρος εἰ μὲν ἄχθεται τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὥρα πεπαῦσθαι καὶ ἡμᾶς· εἰ δὲ ταῦτα τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν ἐχεμυθίαν ἐστίν, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνό γε δοκῶ μήτʼ ἄρρητον εἶναι μήτʼ ἀνέξοιστον πρὸς ἑτέρους, ὅτι δὴ μάλιστα τῶν ἰχθύων ἀπείχοντο· καὶ γὰρ ἱστορεῖται τοῦτο περὶ τῶν παλαιῶν Πυθαγορικῶν καὶ τοῦ καθʼ ἡμᾶς Ἀλεξικράτους ἐνέτυχον μαθηταῖς, ἄλλα μὲν ἔστιν ὅτε μετρίως προσφερομένοις καὶ νὴ Δία θύουσιν, ἰχθύος δὲ μὴ γεύσασθαι τὸ παράπαν ὑπομένουσιν. ἣν δὲ Τυνδάρης ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος αἰτίαν … ἔλεγε δὲ τῆς ἐχεμυθίας τοῦτο γέρας εἶναι, τοὺς ἰχθῦς καλεῖν ἔλλοπας, οἷον ἰλλομένην τὴν ὄπα καὶ καθειργομένην ἔχοντας· καὶ τὸν ὁμώνυμον ἐμοὶ τῷ παυσαμένῳ Πυθαγορικῶς περαίνειν τὰ δόγματα στέγουσαι φρενὸς ἀλλʼ ὅπερ ἐλάσσω, καὶ ὅλως θεῖον ἡγεῖσθαι τὴν σιωπὴν τοὺς ἄνδρας, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἔργοις καὶ πράγμασιν ἄνευ φωνῆς ἐπιδεικνυμένων ἃ βούλονται τοῖς ξυνετοῖς.
8.2. Then Lucius gravely and composedly saying, that perhaps the true reason was obscure and not to be divulged, yet they had liberty to venture upon probable conjectures, Theon the grammarian began thus: To demonstrate that Pythagoras was a Tuscan is a great and no easy task. But it is confessed that he conversed a long time with the wise men of Egypt, and imitated a great many of the rites and institutions of the priests, for instance, that about beans. For Herodotus delivers, that the Egyptians neither set nor eat beans, nay, cannot endure to see them; and we all know, that even now the priests eat no fish; and the stricter sort eat no salt, and refuse all meat that is seasoned with it. Various reasons are given for this; but the only true reason is hatred to the sea, as being a disagreeable, or rather naturally a destructive element to man. For they do not imagine that the Gods, as the Stoics did that the stars, were nourished by it. But, on the contrary, they think that the father and preserver of their country, whom they call the deflux of Osiris, is lost in it; and when they bewail him as born on the left hand, and destroyed in the right-hand parts, they intimate to us the ending and corruption of their Nile by the sea. Therefore they do not believe that its water is wholesome, or that any creature produced or nourished in it can be clean or wholesome food for man, since it breathes not the common air, and feeds not on the same food with him. And the air that nourisheth and preserves all other things is destructive to them, as if their production and life were unnecessary and against Nature; nor should we wonder that they think animals bred in the sea to be disagreeable to their bodies, and not fit to mix with their blood and spirits, since when they meet a pilot they will not speak to him, because he gets his living by the sea.
8.2. τοῦ δὲ Λευκίου πράως καὶ ἀφελῶς εἰπόντος, ὡς ὁ μὲν ἀληθὴς ἴσως λόγος καὶ νῦν ἀπόθετος καὶ ἀπόρρητος εἴη, τοῦ δὲ πιθανοῦ καὶ εἰκότος οὐ φθόνος ἀποπειρᾶσθαι· πρῶτος Θέων ὁ γραμματικὸς εἶπεν, ὅτι Τυρρηνὸν μὲν ἀποδεῖξαι Πυθαγόραν μέγʼ ἔργον εἴη καὶ οὐ ῥᾴδιον· Αἰγυπτίων δὲ τοῖς σοφοῖς συγγενέσθαι πολὺν χρόνον ὁμολογεῖται ζηλῶσαὶ τε πολλὰ καὶ δοκιμάσαι μάλιστα τῶν περὶ τὰς ἱερατικὰς ἁγιστείας, οἷόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ τῶν κυάμων οὔτε γὰρ σπείρειν οὔτε σιτεῖσθαι κύαμον Αἰγυπτίους, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὁρῶντας ἀνέχεσθαί φησιν ὁ Ἡρόδοτος. ἰχθύων δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς ἴσμεν ἔτι νῦν ἀπεχομένους· ἁγνεύοντες δὲ καὶ τὸν ἅλα φεύγουσιν, ὡς μήτʼ ὄψον προσφέρεσθαι μήτʼ ἄλλο τι ἁλσὶ θαλαττίοις μεμιγμένον. ἄλλοι μὲν οὖν ἄλλας αἰτίας φέρουσιν· ἔστι δʼ ἀληθὴς μία, τὸ πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν ἔχθος, ὡς ἀσύμφυλον ἡμῖν καὶ ἀλλότριον μᾶλλον δʼ ὅλως πολέμιον τῇ φύσει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου στοιχεῖον. οὐ γὰρ τρέφεσθαι τοὺς θεοὺς ἀπʼ αὐτῆς, ὥσπερ οἱ Στωικοὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας ὑπολαμβάνουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον εἰς ταύτην ἀπόλλυσθαι τὸν πατέρα καὶ σωτῆρα τῆς χώρας, ὃν Ὀσίριδος ἀπορροὴν ὀνομάζουσι. καὶ θρηνοῦντες τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς μέρεσι γεννώμενον ἐν δὲ τοῖς δεξιοῖς φθειρόμενον, αἰνίττονται τὴν τοῦ Νείλου τελευτὴν καὶ φθορὰν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ γιγνομένην. ὅθεν οὔτε τὸ ὕδωρ πότιμον αὐτῆς, οὔθʼ ὧν τρέφει τι καὶ γεννᾷ καθαρὸν ἡγοῦνται καὶ οἰκεῖον, οἷς μήτε πνεύματος κοινοῦ μήτε συμφύλου νομῆς μέτεστιν, ἀλλʼ ὁ σῴζων πάντα τἄλλα καὶ τρέφων ἀήρ, ἐκείνοις ὀλέθριός ἐστιν, ὡς παρὰ φύσιν καὶ χρείαν γεγονόσι καὶ ζῶσιν. οὐ δεῖ δὲ θαυμάζειν, εἰ τὰ ζῷα διὰ τὴν θάλατταν ἀλλότρια καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτήδεια καταμίγνυσθαι εἰς αἷμα καὶ πνεῦμα νομίζουσιν αὑτῶν, οἵ γε μηδὲ τοὺς κυβερνήτας ἀξιοῦσι προσαγορεύειν ἀπαντῶντες, ὅτι τὸν βίον ἀπὸ θαλάττης ἔχουσι.
8.3. Sylla commended this discourse, and added concerning the Pythagoreans, that they then chiefly tasted flesh when they sacrificed to the Gods. Now no fish is ever offered in sacrifice. I, after they had done, said that many, both philosophers and unlearned, considering with how many good things it furnisheth and makes our life more comfortable, take the sea’s part against the Egyptians. But that the Pythagoreans should abstain from fish because they are not of the same kind, is ridiculous and absurd; nay, to butcher and feed on other animals, because they bear a nearer relation to us, would be a most inhuman and Cyclopean return. And they say that Pythagoras bought a draught of fishes, and presently commanded the fishers to let them all out of the net; and this shows that he did not hate or not mind fishes, as things of another kind and destructive to man, but that they were his dearly beloved creatures, since he paid a ransom for their freedom. Therefore the tenderness and humanity of those philosophers suggest a quite contrary reason, and I am apt to believe that they spare fishes to instruct men, or to accustom themselves to acts of justice; for other creatures generally give men cause to afflict them, but fishes neither do nor are capable of doing us harm. And it is easy to show, both from the writings and religion of the ancients, that they thought it a great sin not only to eat but to kill an animal that did them no harm. But afterwards, being necessitated by the spreading multitude of men, and commanded (as they say) by the Delphic oracle to prevent the total decay of corn and fruit, they began to sacrifice, yet they were so disturbed and concerned at the action, that they called it ἔρδειν and ῥέζειν (to do), as if they did some strange thing in killing an animal; and they are very careful not to kill the beast before the wine has been thrown upon his head and he nods in token of consent. So very cautious are they of injustice. And not to mention other considerations, were no chickens (for instance) or hares killed, in a short time they would so increase that there could be no living. And now it would be a very hard matter to put down the eating of flesh, which necessity first introduced, since pleasure and luxury hath espoused it. But the water animals neither consuming any part of our air or water, or devouring the fruit, but as it were encompassed by another world, and having their own proper bounds, which it is death for them to pass, they afford our belly no pretence at all for their destruction; and therefore to catch or be greedy after fish is plain deliciousness and luxury, which upon no just reason disturb the sea and dive into the deep. For we cannot call the mullet corn-destroying, the trout grape-eating, nor the barbel or sea-pike seed-gathering, as we do some land-animals, signifying their hurtfulness by these epithets. Nay, those little mischiefs which we complain of in these house-creatures, a weasel or fly, none can justly lay upon the greatest fish. Therefore the Pythagoreans, confining themselves not only by the law which forbids them to injure men, but also by Nature, which commands them to do violence to nothing, fed on fish very little, or rather not at all. But suppose there were no injustice in this case, yet to delight in fish would argue daintiness and luxury; because they are such costly and unnecessary diet. Therefore Homer doth not only make the Greeks eat no fish whilst encamped near the Hellespont, but he mentions not any sea-provision that the dissolute Phaeacians or luxurious wooers had, though both islanders. And Ulysses’s mates, though they sailed over so much sea, as long as they had any provision left, never let down a hook or net. “But when the victuals of their ship was spent,” a little before they fell upon the oxen of the Sun, they caught fish, not to please their wanton appetite, but to satisfy their hunger,— “With crooked hooks, for cruel hunger gnawed.” The same necessity therefore made them catch fish and devour the oxen of the Sun. Therefore not only among the Egyptians and Syrians, but Greeks too, to abstain from fish was a piece of sanctity, they avoiding (as I think) a superfluous curiosity in diet, as well as being just.
8.3. ταῦτʼ ἐπαινέσας ὁ Σύλλας προσεῖπε περὶ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν, ὡς μάλιστα μὲν ἐγεύοντο τῶν ἱεροθύτων ἀπαρξάμενοι τοῖς θεοῖς· ἰχθύων δὲ θύσιμος οὐδεὶς οὐδʼ ἱερεύσιμός ἐστιν. ἐγὼ δέ, παυσαμένων ἐκείνων, Αἰγυπτίοις μὲν ἔφην ὑπὲρ τῆς θαλάττης πολλοὺς μαχεῖσθαι καὶ φιλοσόφους καὶ ἰδιώτας, ἐκλογιζομένους ὅσοις ἀγαθοῖς εὐπορώτερον καὶ ἡδίω τὸν βίον ἡμῶν πεποίηκεν. ἡ δὲ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν πρὸς τὸν ἰχθῦν ἐκεχειρία διὰ τὸ μὴ σύμφυλον ἄτοπος καὶ γελοία μᾶλλον δʼ ἀνήμερος ὅλως καὶ Κυκλώπειόν τι τοῖς ἄλλοις γέρας νέμουσα τῆς συγγενείας καὶ τῆς οἰκειότητος, ὀψοποιουμένοις καὶ ἀναλισκομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν. καίτοι βόλον ἰχθύων πρίασθαὶ ποτέ φασι τὸν Πυθαγόραν, εἶτʼ ἀφεῖναι κελεῦσαι τὴν σαγήνην, οὐχ ὡς ἀλλοφύλων καὶ πολεμίων ἀμελήσαντα τῶν ἰχθύων ἀλλʼ ὡς ὑπὲρ φίλων καὶ οἰκείων γεγονότων αἰχμαλώτων λύτρα καταβαλόντα. διὸ τοὐναντίον ἔφην ὑπονοεῖν τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἡ ἐπιείκεια καὶ πραότης δίδωσι, μήποτʼ ἄρα μελέτης ἕνεκεν τοῦ δικαίου καὶ συνηθείας ἐφείδοντο μάλιστα τῶν ἐναλίων, ὡς τἄλλα· μὲν αἰτίαν ἁμωσγέπως παρέχοντα τοῦ κακῶς πάσχειν τἀνθρώπῳ, τοὺς δʼ ἰχθῦς οὐδὲν ἀδικοῦντας ἡμᾶς, οὐδʼ εἰ πάνυ πεφύκασι δυναμένους. πάρεστι δὲ τῶν τε λόγων καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν εἰκάζειν τοῖς παλαιοῖς, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἐδωδὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ φόνον ζῴου μὴ βλάπτοντος ἔργον ἐναγὲς καὶ ἄθεσμον ἐποιοῦντο· πλήθει δʼ ἐπιχεομένῳ καθειργόμενοι, καὶ χρησμοῦ τινος, ὥς φασιν, ἐκ Δελφῶν ἐπικελευσαμένου τοῖς καρποῖς ἀρήγειν φθειρομένοις, ἤρξαντο μὲν καθιερεύειν· ἔτι δʼ ὅμως ταραττόμενοι καὶ δειμαίνοντες ἔρδειν μὲν ἐκάλουν καὶ ῥέζειν, ὥς τι μέγα δρῶντες τὸ θύειν ἔμψυχον· ἄχρι δὲ νῦν παραφυλάττουσιν ἰσχυρῶς τὸ μὴ σφάττειν, πρὶν ἐπινεῦσαι κατασπενδόμενον. οὕτως εὐλαβεῖς πρὸς ἅπασαν ἀδικίαν ἦσαν. καίτοι, ἵνα τἄλλα· ἐάσωμεν, εἰ μόνον ἀλεκτορίδων ἀπείχοντο πάντες ἢ δασυπόδων, οὐκ ἂν ἦν χρόνου βραχέος ὑπὸ πλήθους οὔτε πόλιν οἰκεῖν οὔτε καρπῶν ὄνασθαι· διὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἐπαιγούσης τὸ πρῶτον, ἤδη καὶ διʼ ἡδονὴν ἔργον ἐστὶ παῦσαι τὴν σαρκοφαγίαν. τὸ δὲ τῶν θαλαττίων γένος οὔτʼ ἀέρα τὸν αὐτὸν οὔθʼ ὕδωρ ἀναλίσκον ἡμῖν οὐδὲ καρποῖς προσιόν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἑτέρῳ κόσμῳ περιεχόμενον καὶ χρώμενον ὅροις ἰδίοις, οὓς ὑπερβαίνουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπίκειται δίκη ὁ θάνατος, οὔτε μικρὰν οὔτε μεγάλην τῇ γαστρὶ πρόφασιν κατʼ αὐτῶν δίδωσιν· ἀλλὰ παντὸς ἰχθύος ἄγρα καὶ σαγηνεία λαιμαργίας καὶ φιλοψίας περιφανῶς ἔργον ἐστίν, ἐπʼ οὐδενὶ δικαίῳ ταραττούσης τὰ πελάγη καὶ καταδυομένης εἰς τὸν βυθόν. οὔτε γὰρ τρίγλαν ἔστι δήπου ληιβότειραν οὔτε σκάρον τρυγηφάγον οὔτε κεστρεῖς τινας ἢ λάβρακας σπερμολόγους προσειπεῖν, ὡς τὰ χερσαῖα κατηγοροῦντες ὀνομάζομεν ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὅσα γαλῇ καὶ μυίᾳ κατοικιδίῳ μικρολόγως ἐγκαλοῦμεν ἔχοι τις ἂν αἰτιάσασθαι τὸν μέγιστον ἰχθῦν. ὅθεν ἀνείργοντες ἑαυτοὺς οὐ νόμῳ μόνῳ τῆς πρὸς ἄνθρωπον ἀδικίας ἀλλὰ καὶ φύσει τῆς πρὸς ἅπαν τὸ μὴ βλάπτον, ἣκιστα τῶν ὄψων ἐχρῶντο τοῖς ἰχθύσιν ἢ τὸ παράπαν οὐκ ἐχρῶντο· καὶ γὰρ ἄνευ τῆς ἀδικίας ἀκρασίαν τινὰ καὶ λιχνείαν ἐμφαίνειν ἔοικεν ἡ περὶ ταῦτα πραγματεία πολυτελὴς οὖσα καὶ περίεργος. ὅθεν Ὅμηρος οὐ μόνον τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἰχθύων ἀπεχομένους πεποίηκε παρὰ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον στρατοπεδεύοντας, ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ἁβροβίοις Φαίαξιν οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀσώτοις μνηστῆρσιν, ἀμφοτέροις οὖσι νησιώταις, θαλάττιον παρατέθεικεν ὄψον· οἱ δʼ Ὀδυσσέως ἑταῖροι, τοσαύτην πλέοντες θάλατταν, οὐδαμοῦ καθῆκαν ἄγκιστρον οὐδὲ πόρκον οὐδὲ δίκτυον, ἀλφίτων παρόντων· ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ νηὸς ἐξέφθιτο ἤια πάντα, μικρὸν ἔμπροσθεν ἢ ταῖς τοῦ Ἡλίου βουσὶν ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἰχθῦς ἀγρεύοντες, οὐκ ὄψον ἀλλὰ τροφὴν ἀναγκαίαν ἐποιοῦντο γναμπτοῖς ἀγκίστροισιν ἔτειρε δὲ γαστέρα λιμὸς ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀνάγκης ἰχθύσι τε χρωμένων καὶ τὰς τοῦ Ἡλίου βοῦς κατεσθιόντων. ὅθεν οὐ παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις μόνον οὐδὲ Σύροις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρʼ Ἕλλησι γέγονεν ἁγνείας μέρος ἀποχὴ ἰχθύων, μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου καὶ τὸ περίεργον οἶμαι τῆς βρώσεως ἀποδιοπομπουμένοις.