0.1. But formerly, I am sure, you did not lean to nor like their opinion, who will not allow the soul to have any proper agreeable pleasure, which without respect to the body she desires for herself; but define that she lives as a form assistant to the body, is directed by the passions of it, and, as that is affected, is either pleased or grieved, or, like a looking-glass, only receives the images of those sensible impressions made upon the body. This sordid and debas ing opinion is especially in this way confuted; for at a feast, the genteel well-bred men after supper fall upon some topic or another as second course, and cheer one another by their pleasant talk. Now the body hath very little or no share in this; which evidently proves that this is a particular banquet for the soul, and that those pleasures are peculiar to her, and different from those which pass to her through the body and are vitiated thereby. Now, as nurses, when they feed children, taste a little of their pap, and have but small pleasure therefrom, but when the infants are satisfied, leave crying, and go to sleep, then being at their own disposal, they take such meat and drink as is agreeable to their own bodies; thus the soul partakes of the pleasures that arise from eating and drinking, like a nurse, being subservient to the appetites of the body, kindly yielding to its necessities and wants, and calming its desires; but when that is satisfied and at rest, then being free from her business and servile employment, she seeks her own proper pleasures, revels on discourse, problems, stories, curious questions, or subtle resolutions. Nay, what shall a man say, when he sees the dull unlearned fellows after supper minding such pleasures as have not the least relation to the body? They tell tales, propose riddles, or set one another a guessing at names, comprised and hid under such and such numbers. Thus mimics, drolls, Menander and his actors were admitted into banquets, not because they can free the eye from any pain, or raise any tickling motion in the flesh; but because the soul, being naturally philosophical and a lover of instruction, covets its own proper pleasure and satisfaction, when it is free from the trouble of looking after the body.
0.1. πάλαι γε μὴν ἐδόκεις μὴ πάνυ τι συμφέρεσθαι μηδʼ ἐπαινεῖν τοὺς οὐδὲν ἴδιον τῇ ψυχῇ τερπνὸν οὐδὲ χαρτὸν οὐδʼ αἱρετὸν ὅλως ἀλλʼ ἀτεχνῶς τῷ σώματι παραζῶσαν αὐτὴν οἰομένους τοῖς ἐκείνου συνεπιμειδιᾶν πάθεσι καὶ πάλιν αὖ συνεπισκυθρωπάζειν, ὥσπερ ἐκμαγεῖον ἢ κάτοπτρον εἰκόνας καὶ εἴδωλα τῶν ἐν σαρκὶ γιγνομένων αἰσθήσεων ἀναδεχομένην. ἄλλοις τε γὰρ πολλοῖς ἁλίσκεται ψεύδους τὸ ἀφιλόκαλον τοῦ δόγματος, ἔν τε τοῖς πότοις οἱ ἀστεῖοι καὶ χαρίεντες εὐθὺς μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐπὶ τοὺς λόγους ὥσπερ δευτέρας τραπέζας φερόμενοι καὶ διὰ λόγων εὐφραίνοντες ἀλλήλους, ὧν σώματι μέτεστιν οὐδὲν ἢ βραχὺ παντάπασιν, ἴδιόν τι τοῦτο τῇ ψυχῇ ταμιεῖον εὐπαθειῶν ἀποκεῖσθαι μαρτυροῦσι, καὶ ταύτας ἡδονὰς μόνας εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐκείνας δʼ ἀλλοτρίας, προσαναχρωννυμένας τῷ σώματι. ὥσπερ οὖν αἱ τὰ βρέφη ψωμίζουσαι τροφοὶ μικρὰ μετέχουσι τῆς ἡδονῆς ὅταν δʼ ἐκεῖνα κορέσωσι καὶ κοιμίσωσι παυσάμενα κλαυθμυρισμῶν, τηνικαῦτα καθʼ ἑαυτὰς γιγνόμεναι τὰ πρόσφορα σιτία καὶ ποτὰ λαμβάνουσι καὶ ἀπολαύουσιν· οὕτως ἡ ψυχὴ τῶν περὶ πόσιν καὶ βρῶσιν ἡδονῶν μετέχει, ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ὀρέξεσι δίκην τίτθης ὑπηρετοῦσα καὶ χαριζομένη δεομένῳ καὶ πραΰνουσα τὰς ἐπιθυμίας ὅταν δʼ ἐκεῖνο μετρίως ἔχῃ καὶ ἡσυχάσῃ, πραγμάτων ἀπαλλαγεῖσα καὶ λατρείας ἤδη τὸ λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὰς αὑτῆς ἡδονὸις τρέπεται, λόγοις εὐωχουμένη καὶ μαθήμασι καὶ ἱστορίαις καὶ τῷ ζητεῖν τι ἀκούειν τῶν περιττῶν. καί τί ἄν τις λέγοι περὶ τούτων, ὁρῶν ὅτι καὶ οἱ φορτικοὶ καὶ ἀφιλόλογοι μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον ἐφʼ ἡδονὰς ἑτέρας τοῦ σώματος ἀπωτάτω τὴν διάνοιαν ἀπαίρουσιν, αἰνίγματα καὶ γρίφους καὶ θέσεις ὀνομάτων ἐν ἀριθμοῖς ὑποσύμβολα προβάλλοντες; ἐκ τούτου δὲ καὶ μίμοις καὶ ἠθολόγοις καὶ Μενάνδρῳ καὶ τοῖς Μενάνδρῳ ὑποκρινομένοις τὰ συμπόσια χώραν ἔδωκεν, οὐδεμίαν ἀλγηδόνα τοῦ σώματος ὑπεξαιρουμένοις οὐδὲ ποιοῦσι λείαν ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ προσηνῆ κίνησιν, ἀλλʼ ὅτι τὸ φύσει φιλοθέαμον ἐν ἑκάστῳ καὶ φιλόσοφον τῆς ψυχῆς ἰδίαν χάριν ζητεῖ καὶ τέρψιν, ὅταν τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα θεραπείας καὶ ἀσχολίας ἀπαλλαγῶμεν.
1.1. OF this we discoursed in your company at Athens, when Strato the comedian (for he was a man of great credit) flourished. For being entertained at supper by Boethus the Epicurean, with a great many more of the sect, as it usually happens when learned and inquisitive men meet together, the remembrance of the comedy led us to this enquiry,—Why we are disturbed at the real voices of men, either angry, pensive, or afraid, and yet are delighted to hear others represent them, and imitate their gestures, speeches, and exclamations. Every one in the company gave almost the same reason. For they said, he that only represents excels him that really feels, inasmuch as he doth not suffer the misfortunes; which we knowing are pleased and delighted on that account.
1.1. περὶ ὧν ἐγένοντο λόγοι καὶ σοῦ παρόντος ἐν Ἀθήναις ἡμῖν, ὅτε Στράτων ὁ κωμῳδὸς εὐημέρησεν ἦν γὰρ αὐτοῦ πολὺς λόγος, ἑστιωμένων ἡμῶν παρὰ Βοήθῳ τῷ Ἐπικουρείῳ συνεδείπνουν δʼ οὐκ ὀλίγοι τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως. εἶθʼ οἱονεὶ φιλολόγοις περιέστησεν ἡ τῆς κωμῳδίας μνήμη τὸν λόγον εἰς ζήτησιν αἰτίας, διʼ ἣν ὀργιζομένων ἢ λυπουμένων ἢ δεδιότων φωνὰς ἀκούοντες ἀχθόμεθα. καὶ δυσκολαίνομεν, οἱ δʼ ὑποκρινόμενοι ταῦτα τὰ πάθη καὶ μιμούμενοι τὰς φωνὰς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς διαθέσεις εὐφραίνουσιν ἡμᾶς. ἐκείνων μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων σχεδὸν εἷς ἦν λόγος· ἔφασαν γάρ, ἐπειδὴ κρείττων ὁ μιμούμενός ἐστι τοῦ πάσχοντος ἀληθῶς καὶ τῷ μὴ πεπονθέναι διαφέρει, συνιέντας ἡμᾶς τούτου τέρπεσθαι καὶ χαίρειν.
1.2. But I, though it was not properly my talent, said that we, being by nature rational and lovers of ingenuity, are delighted with and admire every thing that is artificially and ingeniously contrived. For as a bee, naturally loving sweet things, seeks after and flies to any thing that has any mixture of honey in it; so man, naturally loving ingenuity and elegancy, is very much inclined to embrace and highly approve every word or action that is seasoned with wit and judgment. Thus, if any one offers a child a piece of bread, and at the same time a little dog or ox made in paste, we shall see the boy run eagerly to the latter; so likewise if any one offers him silver in the lump, and another a beast or a cup of the same metal, he will rather choose that in which he sees a mixture of art and reason. Upon the same account it is that children are much in love with riddles, and such fooleries as are difficult and intricate; for whatever is curious and subtle doth attract and allure human nature, as antecedently to all instruction agreeable and proper to it. And therefore, because he that is really affected with grief or anger presents us with nothing but the common bare passion, but in the imitation some dexterity and persuasiveness appears, we are naturally inclined to be disturbed at the former, whilst the latter delights us. It is unpleasant to see a sick man, or one that is at his last gasp; yet with content we can look upon the picture of Philoctetes, or the statue of Jocasta, in whose face it is commonly said that the workmen mixed silver, so that the brass might represent the face and color of one ready to faint and yield up the ghost. And this, said I, the Cyrenaics may use as a strong argument against you Epicureans, that all the sense of pleasure which arises from the working of any object on the ear or eye is not in those organs, but in the intellect itself. Thus the continual cackling of a hen or cawing of a crow is very ungrateful and disturbing; yet he that imitates those noises well pleases the hearers. Thus to behold a consumptive man is no delightful spectacle; yet with pleasure we can view the pictures and statues of such persons, because the very imitating hath something in it very agreeable to the mind, which allures and captivates its faculties. For upon what account, for God’s sake, from what external impression upon our organ, should men be moved to admire Parmeno’s sow so much as to pass it into a proverb? Yet it is reported, that Parmeno being very famous for imitating the grunting of a pig, some endeavored to rival and outdo him. And when the hearers, being prejudiced, cried out, Very well indeed, but nothing comparable to Parmeno’s sow; one took a pig under his arm and came upon the stage. And when, though they heard the very pig, they still continued, This is nothing comparable to Parmeno’s sow; he threw his pig amongst them, to show that they judged according to opinion and not truth. And hence it is very evident, that like motions of the sense do not always raise like affections in the mind, when there is not an opinion that the thing done was not neatly and ingeniously performed.
1.2. ἐγὼ δέ, καίπερ ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ χορῷ πόδα τιθείς, εἶπον ὅτι φύσει λογικοὶ καὶ φιλότεχνοι γεγονότες πρὸς τὸ λογικῶς καὶ τεχνικῶς πραττόμενον οἰκείως διακείμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν, ἂν ἐπιτυγχάνηται. καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ μέλιττα τῷ φιλόγλυκυς εἶναι πᾶσαν ὕλην, ᾗ τι μελιτῶδες ἐγκέκραται, περιέπει καὶ διώκει· οὕτως ὁ ἄνθρωπος, γεγονὼς φιλότεχνος καὶ φιλόκαλος, πᾶν ἀποτέλεσμα καὶ πρᾶγμα νοῦ καὶ λόγου μετέχον ἀσπάζεσθαι καὶ ἀγαπᾶν πέφυκεν. εἰ γοῦν παιδίῳ μικρῷ προθείη τις ὁμοῦ μικρὸν μὲν ἄρτον, ὁμοῦ δὲ πεπλασμένον ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν ἀλεύρων κυνίδιον ἢ βοΐδιον, ἐπὶ τοῦτʼ ἂν ἴδοις φερόμενον καὶ ὁμοίως εἴ τις ἀργύριον ἄσημον, ἕτερος δὲ ζῴδιον ἀργυροῦν ἢ ἔκπωμα παρασταίη διδούς, τοῦτʼ ἂν λάβοι μᾶλλον, ᾧ τὸ τεχνικὸν καὶ λογικὸν ἐνορᾷ καταμεμιγμένον. ὅθεν καὶ τῶν λόγων τοῖς ᾐνιγμένοις χαίρουσι μᾶλλον οἱ τηλικοῦτοι καὶ τῶν παιδιῶν ταῖς περιπλοκήν τινα καὶ δυσκολίαν ἐχούσαις ἕλκει γὰρ ὡς οἰκεῖον ἀδιδάκτως τὴν φύσιν τὸ γλαφυρὸν καὶ πανοῦργον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ὁ μὲν ἀληθῶς ὀργιζόμενος ἢ λυπούμενος ἔν τισι κοινοῖς πάθεσι καὶ κινήμασιν ὁρᾶται, τῇ δὲ μιμήσει πανουργία τις ἐμφαίνεται καὶ πιθανότης ἄνπερ ἐπιτυγχάνηται, τούτοις μὲν ἥδεσθαι πεφύκαμεν ἐκείνοις δʼ ἀχθόμεθα. καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν θεαμάτων ὅμοια πεπόνθαμεν ἀνθρώπους μὲν γὰρ ἀποθνήσκοντας. καὶ νοσοῦντας ἀνιαρῶς ὁρῶμεν· τὸν δὲ γεγραμμένον Φιλοκτήτην καὶ τὴν πεπλασμένην Ἰοκάστην, ἧς φασιν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον ἀργύρου τι συμμῖξαι τὸν τεχνίτην, ὅπως ἐκλείποντος ἀνθρώπου καὶ μαραινομένου λάβῃ περιφάνειαν ὁ χαλκός, ἡδόμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν. τοῦτο δʼ εἶπον ἄνδρες Ἐπικούρειοι, καὶ τεκμήριόν ἐστι μέγα τοῖς Κυρηναϊκοῖς πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοῦ μὴ περὶ τὴν ὄψιν εἶναι μηδὲ περὶ τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀλλὰ περὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡμῶν τὸ ἡδόμενον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀκούσμασι καὶ θεάμασιν. ἀλεκτορὶς γὰρ βοῶσα συνεχῶς καὶ κορώνη λυπηρὸν ἄκουσμα καὶ ἀηδές ἐστιν, ὁ δὲ μιμούμενος ἀλεκτορίδα βοῶσαν καὶ κορώνην εὐφραίνει. καὶ φθισικοὺς μὲν ὁρῶντες δυσχεραίνομεν, ἀνδριάντας δὲ καὶ γραφὰς φθισικῶν ἡδέως θεώμεθα τῷ τὴν διάνοιαν ὑπὸ τῶν μιμημάτων ἄγεσθαι κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον. ἐπεὶ τί πάσχοντες ἢ τίνος ἔξωθεν γενομένου πάθους τὴν ὗν τὴν Παρμένοντος οὕτως ἐθαύμασαν, ὥστε παροιμιώδη γενέσθαι; καίτοι φασὶ τοῦ Παρμένοντος εὐδοκιμοῦντος ἐπὶ τῇ μιμήσει, ζηλοῦντας ἑτέρους ἀντεπιδείκνυσθαι· προκατειλημμένων δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ λεγόντων εὖ μὲν ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν πρὸς τὴν Παρμένοντος ὗν, ἕνα λαβόντα δελφάκιον ὑπὸ μάλης λης, προελθεῖν· ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀληθινῆς φωνῆς ἀκούοντες ὑπεφθέγγοντο τί οὖν αὕτη πρὸς τὴν Παρμένοντος ὗν; ἀφεῖναι τὸ δελφάκιον εἰς τὸ μέσον, ἐξελέγχοντα τῆς κρίσεως τὸ πρὸς δόξαν οὐ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν. ᾧ μάλιστα δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὅτι ταὐτὸ τῆς αἰσθήσεως πάθος οὐχ ὁμοίως διατίθησι τὴν ψυχήν, ὅταν μὴ προσῇ δόξα τοῦ λογικῶς ἢ φιλοτίμως περαίνεσθαι τὸ γενόμενον.
2.1. AT the solemnity of the Pythian Games, there was a consult about taking away all such sports as had lately crept in and were not of ancient institution. For after they had taken in the tragedian in addition to the three ancient, which were as old as the solemnity itself, the Pythian piper, the harper, and the singer to the harp, as if a large gate were opened, they could not keep out an infinite crowd of plays and musical entertainments of all sorts that rushed in after him. Which indeed made no unpleasant variety, and increased the company, but yet impaired the gravity and neatness of the solemnity. Besides it must create a great deal of trouble to the umpires, and considerable dissatisfaction to very many, since but few could obtain the prize. It was chiefly agreed upon, that the orators and poets should be removed; and this determination did not proceed from any hatred to learning, but forasmuch as such contenders are the most noted and worthiest men of all, therefore they reverenced them, and were troubled that, when they must judge every one deserving, they could not bestow the prize equally upon all. I, being present at this consult, dissuaded those who were for removing things from their present settled order, and who thought this variety as unsuitable to the solemnity as many strings and many notes to an instrument. And when at supper, Petraeus the president and director of the sports entertaining us, the same subject was discoursed on, I defended music, and maintained that poetry was no upstart intruder, but that it was time out of mind admitted into the sacred games, and crowns were given to the best performer. Some straight imagined that I intended to produce some old musty stories, like the funeral solemnities of Oeolycus the Thessalian or of Amphidamas the Chalcidean, in which they say Homer and Hesiod contended for the prize. But passing by these instances as the common theme of every grammarian, as likewise their criticisms who, in the description of Patroclus’s obsequies in Homer, read ῥήμονες, orators, and not ῥ’ ἥμοντες, darters, as if Achilles had proposed a prize for the best speaker,—omitting all these, I said that Acastus at his father Pelias’s funeral set a prize for contending poets, and Sibylla won it. At this, a great many demanding some authority for this unlikely and incredible relation, I happily recollecting myself produced Acesander, who in his description of Africa hath this relation; but I must confess this is no common book. But Polemo the Athenian’s Commentary of the Treasures of the City Delphi I suppose most of you have diligently perused, he being a very learned man, and diligent in the Greek antiquities. In him you shall find that in the Sicyonian treasure there was a golden book dedicated to the God, with this inscription: Aristomache, the poetess of Erythraea, dedicated this after she had got the prize at the Isthmian games. Nor is there any reason, I continued, why we should so admire and reverence the Olympic games, as if, like Fate, they were unalterable, and never admitted any change since the first institution. For the Pythian, it is true, hath had three or four musical prizes added; but all the exercises of the body were for the most part the same from the beginning. But in the Olympian all beside racing are late additions. They instituted some, and abolished them again; such were the races of mules, either rode or in a chariot, as likewise the crown appointed for boys that were victorious in the five contests. And, in short, a thousand things in those games are mere novelties. And I fear to tell you how at Pisa they had a single combat, where he that yielded or was overcome was killed upon the place, lest again you may require an author for my story, and I may appear ridiculous if amidst my cups I should forget the name.
2.1. ἐν Πυθίοις ἐγίγνοντο λόγοι περὶ τῶν ἐπιθέτων ἀγωνισμάτων, ὡς ἀναιρετέα. παραδεξάμενοι γὰρ ἐπὶ τρισὶ τοῖς καθεστῶσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, αὐλητῇ Πυθικῷ καὶ κιθαριστῇ καὶ κιθαρῳδῷ, τὸν τραγῳδόν, ὥσπερ πύλης ἀνοιχθείσης οὐκ ἀντέσχον ἀθρόοις συνεπιτιθεμένοις καὶ συνεισιοῦσι παντοδαποῖς ἀκροάμασιν ὑφʼ ὧν ποικιλίαν μὲν ἔσχεν οὐκ ἀηδῆ καὶ πανηγυρισμὸν ὁ ἀγών, τὸ δʼ αὐστηρὸν καὶ μουσικὸν οὐ διεφύλαξεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πράγματα τοῖς κρίνουσι παρέσχε καὶ πολλὰς ὡς εἰκὸς ἡττωμένων πολλῶν ἀπεχθείας. οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ τὸ τῶν λογογράφων καὶ ποιητῶν ἔθνος ᾤοντο δεῖν ἀποσκευάσασθαι τοῦ ἀγῶνος, οὐχ ὑπὸ μισολογίας, ἀλλὰ πολὺ πάντων τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν γνωριμωτάτους ὄντας ἐδυσωποῦντο τούτους καὶ ἤχθοντο, πάντας ἡγούμενοι χαρίεντας, οὐ πάντων δὲ νικᾶν δυναμένων. ἡμεῖς οὖν ἐν τῷ συνεδρίῳ παρεμυθούμεθα τοὺς τὰ καθεστῶτα κινεῖν βουλομένους καὶ τῷ ἀγῶνι καθάπερ ὀργάνῳ πολυχορδίαν καὶ πολυφωνίαν ἐπικαλοῦντας. καὶ παρὰ τὸ δεῖπνον, ἐστιῶντος ἡμᾶς Πετραίου τοῦ ἀγωνοθέτου, πάλιν ὁμοίων λόγων προσπεσόντων, ἠμύνομεν τῇ μουσικῇ· τήν τε ποιητικὴν ἀπεφαίνομεν οὐκ ὄψιμον οὐδὲ νεαρὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀγῶνας ἀφιγμένην, ἀλλὰ πρόπαλαι στεφάνων ἐπινικίων τυγχάνουσαν. ἐνίοις μὲν οὖν ἐπίδοξος ἤμην ἕωλα παραθήσειν πράγματα, τὰς Οἰολύκου τοῦ Θετταλοῦ ταφὰς καὶ τὰς Ἀμφιδάμαντος τοῦ Χαλκιδέως ἐν αἷς Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡσίοδον ἱστοροῦσιν ἔπεσι διαγωνίσασθαι. καταβαλὼν δὲ ταῦτα τῷ διατεθρυλῆσθαι πάνθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν γραμματικῶν, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς Πατρόκλου ταφαῖς ἀναγιγνωσκομένους ὑπό τινων οὐχ ἥμονας ἀλλὰ ῥήμονας, ὡς δὴ καὶ λόγων ἆθλα τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως προθέντος, ἀφείς, εἶπον ὅτι καὶ Πελίαν θάπτων Ἄκαστος ὁ υἱὸς ἀγῶνα ποιήματος παράσχοι καὶ Σίβυλλα νικήσειεν. ἐπιφυομένων δὲ πολλῶν καὶ τὸν βεβαιωτὴν ὡς ἀπίστου καὶ παραλόγου τῆς ἱστορίας ἀπαιτούντων, ἐπιτυχῶς ἀναμνησθεὶς ἀπέφαινον Ἀκέσανδρον ἐν τῷ περὶ Λιβύης ταῦθʼ ἱστοροῦντα. καὶ τοῦτο μέν ἔφην τὸ ἀνάγνωσμα τῶν οὐκ ἐν μέσῳ ἐστί· τοῖς δὲ Πολέμωνος τοῦ Ἀθηναίου περὶ τῶν ἐν Δελφοῖς θησαυρῶν οἶμαι ὅτι πολλοῖς ὑμῶν ἐντυγχάνειν ἐπιμελές ἐστι, καὶ χρή, πολυμαθοῦς καὶ οὐ νυστάζοντος ἐν τοῖς Ἑλληνικοῖς πράγμασιν ἀνδρός· ἐκεῖ τοίνυν εὑρήσετε γεγραμμένον, ὡς ἐν τῷ Σικυωνίῳ θησαυρῷ χρυσοῦν ἀνέκειτο βιβλίον Ἀριστομάχης ἀνάθημα τῆς Ἐρυθραίας ἐπικῷ ποιήματι δὶς Ἴσθμια νενικηκυίας. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὴν Ὀλυμπίαν ἔφην ἄξιόν ἐστιν ὥσπερ εἱμαρμένην ἀμετάστατον καὶ, ἀμετάθετον ἐν τοῖς ἀθλήμασιν ἐκπεπλῆχθαι. τὰ μὲν γὰρ Πύθια τῶν μουσικῶν ἔσχε τρεῖς ἢ τέτταρας ἐπεισοδίους ἀγῶνας, ὁ δὲ γυμνικὸς ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον οὕτω κατέστη, τοῖς δʼ Ὀλυμπίοις πάντα προσθήκη πλὴν τοῦ δρόμου γέγονε· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ θέντες ἔπειτʼ ἀνεῖλον, ὥσπερ τὸν τῆς κάλπης ἀγῶνα καὶ τὸν τῆς ἀπήνης· ἀνῃρέθη δὲ καὶ παισὶ πεντάθλοις στέφανος τεθείς· καὶ ὅλως πολλὰ περὶ τὴν πανήγυριν νενεωτέρισται. δέδια δʼ εἰπεῖν ὅτι πάλαι καὶ μονομαχίας ἀγὼν περὶ Πῖσαν ἤγετο μέχρι φόνου καὶ σφαγῆς τῶν ἡττωμένων καὶ ὑποπιπτόντων, μή με πάλιν ἀπαιτῆτε τῆς ἱστορίας βεβαιωτήν, κἂν διαφύγῃ τὴν μνήμην ἐν οἴνῳ τοὔνομα, καταγέλαστος γένωμαι.
3.1. THIS question was started, why the Isthmian garland was made of pine. We were then at supper in Corinth, in the time of the Isthmian games, with Lucanius the chief priest. Praxiteles the commentator brought this fable for a reason; it is said that the body of Melicertes was found fixed to a pine-tree by the sea; and not far from Megara, there is a place called the Race of a Fair Lady, through which the Megarians say that Ino, with her son Melicertes in her arms, ran to the sea. And when many advanced the common opinion, that the pine-tree garland peculiarly belongs to Neptune, and Lucanius added that it is sacred to Bacchus too, but yet, for all that, it might also be appropriated to the honor of Melicertes, this began the question, why the ancients dedicated the pine to Neptune and Bacchus. As for my part, it did not seem incongruous to me, for both the Gods seem to preside over the moist and generative principle; and almost all the Greeks sacrifice to Neptune the nourisher of plants, and to Bacchus the preserver of trees. Beside, it may be said that the pine peculiarly agrees to Neptune, not, as Apollodorus thinks, because it grows by the sea-side, or because it loves a bleak place (for some give this reason), but because it is used in building ships; for the pine together with the like trees, as fir and cypress, affords the best and the lightest timber, and likewise pitch and rosin, without which the compacted planks would be altogether unserviceable at sea. To Bacchus they dedicate the pine, because it gives a pleasant seasoning to wine, for amongst pines they say the sweetest and most delicious grapes grow. The cause of this Theophrastus thinks to be the heat of the soil; for pines grow most in chalky grounds. Now chalk is hot, and therefore must very much conduce to the concoction of the wine; as a chalky spring affords the lightest and sweetest water; and if chalk is mixed with corn, by its heat it makes the grains swell, and considerably increases the heap. Besides, it is probable that the vine itself is bettered by the pine, for that contains several things which are good to preserve wine. All cover the insides of wine-casks with pitch, and many mix rosin with wine, as the Euboeans in Greece, and in Italy those that live about the river Po. From the parts of Gaul about Vienna there is a sort of pitched wine brought, which the Romans value very much; for such things mixed with it do not only give it a good flavor, but make the wine generous, taking away by their gentle heat all the crude, watery, and undigested particles.
3.1. ἡ πίτυς ἐζητεῖτο καθʼ ὃν λόγον ἐν Ἰσθμίοις στέμμα γέγονε· καὶ γὰρ ἦν τὸ δεῖπνον ἐν Κορίνθῳ, Ἰσθμίων ἀγομένων ἑστιῶντος ἡμᾶς Λουκανίου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. Πραξιτέλης μὲν οὖν ὁ περιηγητὴς τὸ μυθῶδες ἐπῆρεν, ὡς· λεγόμενον εὑρεθῆναι τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Μελικέρτου πίτυι προσβεβρασμένον ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάττης καὶ γὰρ οὐ πρόσω Μεγάρων εἶναι τόπον, ὃς καλῆς δρόμος ἐπονομάζεται, διʼ οὗ φάναι Μεγαρεῖς τὴν Ἰνὼ τὸ παιδίον ἔχουσαν δραμεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν. κοινῶς δʼ ὑπὸ πολλῶν λεγόμενον ὡς ἴδιόν ἐστι στέμμα Ποσειδῶνος ἡ πίτυς, Λουκανίου δὲ προστιθέντος ὅτι καὶ τῷ Διονύσῳ καθωσιωμένον τὸ φυτὸν οὐκ ἀπὸ τρόπου ταῖς περὶ τὸν Μελικέρτην συνῳκείωται τιμαῖς, αὐτὸ τοῦτο ζήτησιν παρεῖχεν, ᾧτινι λόγῳ Ποσειδῶνι καὶ Διονύσῳ τὴν πίτυν οἱ παλαιοὶ καθωσίωσαν. ἐδόκει δʼ ἡμῖν μηδὲν εἶναι παράλογον· ἀμφότεροι γὰρ οἱ θεοὶ τῆς ὑγρᾶς καὶ γονίμου κύριοι δοκοῦσιν ἀρχῆς εἶναι· καὶ Ποσειδῶνί γε Φυταλμίῳ Διονύσῳ δὲ Δενδρίτῃ πάντες ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν Ἕλληνες θύουσιν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ κατʼ ἰδίαν τῷ Ποσειδῶνι φαίη τις ἂν τὴν πίτυν προσήκειν, οὐχ ὡς Ἀπολλόδωρος οἴεται παράλιον φυτὸν οὖσαν οὐδʼ ὅτι φιλήνεμός ἐστιν ὥσπερ ἡ θάλασσα καὶ γὰρ τοῦτό τινες λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς ναυπηγίας μάλιστα, καὶ γὰρ αὐτὴ καὶ τὰ ἀδελφὰ δένδρα, πεῦκαι καὶ στρόβιλοι, τῶν τε ξύλων παρέχει τὰ πλοϊμώτατα, πίττης τε καὶ ῥητίνης ἀλοιφήν, ἧς ἄνευ τῶν συμπαγέντων ὄφελος οὐδὲν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ. τῷ δὲ Διονύσῳ τὴν πίτυν ἀνιέρωσαν, ὡς ἐφηδύνουσαν τὸν οἶνον· τὰ γὰρ πιτυώδη χωρία λέγουσιν ἡδύοινον τὴν· ἄμπελον φέρειν. καὶ τὴν θερμότητα τῆς γῆς Θεόφραστος αἰτιᾶται· καθόλου γὰρ ἐν ἀργιλώδεσι τόποις φύεσθαι τὴν πίτυν· εἶναι δὲ τὴν ἄργιλον θερμήν, διὸ καὶ συνεκπέττειν τὸν οἶνον, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐλαφρότατον καὶ ἥδιστον ἡ ἄργιλος ἀναδίδωσιν. ἔτι δὲ καὶ καταμιγνυμένη πρὸς σῖτον ἐπίμετρον ποιεῖ δαψιλές, ἁδρύνουσα καὶ διογκοῦσα τῇ θερμότητι τὸν πυρόν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς πίτυος αὐτῆς εἰκὸς ἀπολαύειν τὴν ἄμπελον, ἐχούσης ἐπιτηδειότητα πολλὴν πρὸς σωτηρίαν οἴνου καὶ διαμονήν· τῇ τε γὰρ πίττῃ πάντες ἐξαλείφουσι τὰ ἀγγεῖα, καὶ τῆς ῥητίνης ὑπομιγνύουσι πολλοὶ τῷ οἴνῳ καθάπερ Εὐβοεῖς τῶν Ἑλλαδικῶν καὶ τῶν Ἰταλικῶν οἱ περὶ τὸν Πάδον οἰκοῦντες· ἐκ δὲ τῆς περὶ Βίενναν Γαλατίας ὁ πισσίτης οἶνος κατακομίζεται, διαφερόντως; τιμώμενος ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων, οὐ γὰρ μόνον εὐωδίαν τινὰ τὰ τοιαῦτα προσδίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οἶνον εὔποτον παρίστησι ταχέως ἐξαιροῦντα τῇ θερμότητι τοῦ οἴνου τὸ νεαρὸν καὶ ὑδατῶδες.
3.2. When I had said thus much, a rhetorician in the company, a man well read in all sorts of polite learning, cried out: Good Gods! was it not but the other day that the Isthmian garland began to be made of pine? And was not the crown anciently of twined parsley? I am sure in a certain comedy a covetous man is brought in speaking thus:The Isthmian garland I will sell as cheapAs common wreaths of parsley may be sold.And Timaeus the historian says that, when the Corinthians were marching to fight the Carthaginians in the defence of Sicily, some persons carrying parsley met them, and when several looked upon this as a bad omen,—because parsley is accounted unlucky, and those that are dangerously sick we usually say have need of parsley,—Timoleon encouraged them by putting them in mind of the Isthmian parsley garland with which the Corinthians used to crown the conquerors. And besides, the admiral-ship of Antigonus’s navy, having by chance some parsley growing on its poop, was called Isthmia. Besides, a certain obscure epigram upon an earthen vessel stopped with parsley intimates the same thing. It runs thus:The Grecian earth, now hardened by the flame,Holds in its hollow belly Bacchus’ blood;And hath its mouth with Isthmian branches stopped.Sure, he continued, they never read these authors, who cry up the pine as anciently wreathed in the Isthmian garlands, and would not have it some upstart intruder. The young men yielded presently to him, as being a man of various reading and very learned.
3.2. ὡς δὲ ταῦτʼ ἐρρήθη, τῶν ῥητόρων ὁ μάλιστα δοκῶν ἀναγνώσμασιν ἐντυγχάνειν ἐλευθερίοις ὦ πρὸς θεῶν εἶπεν, οὐ γὰρ ἐχθὲς ἡ πίτυς ἐνταῦθα καὶ πρῴην στέμμα γέγονε τῶν Ἰσθμίων, πρότερον δὲ τοῖς σελίνοις ἐστέφοντο; καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔστι μὲν ἐν τῇ κωμῳδίᾳ φιλαργύρου τινὸς ἀκοῦσαι λέγοντοςτὰ δʼ Ἴσθμιʼ ἀποδοίμην ἂν ἡδέως ὅσουὁ τῶν σελίνων στέφανός ἐστιν ὤνιος.ἱστορεῖ δὲ καὶ Τίμαιος ὁ συγγραφεύς, ὅτι Κορίνθιοι ὁπηνίκα μαχούμενοι πρὸς Καρχηδονίους ἐβάδιζον ὑπὲρ τῆς Σικελίας, ἐνέβαλόν τινες οὐ σέλινα κομίζοντες· οἰωνισαμένων δὲ τῶν πολλῶν τὸ σύμβολον ὡς οὐ χρηστόν, ὅτι δοκεῖ τὸ σέλινον ἐπικήδειον εἶναι, καὶ τοὺς ἐπισφαλῶς νοσοῦντας δεῖσθαι τοῦ σελίνου φαμένων, ὁ Τιμολέων ἐθάρρυνεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀνεμίμνησκε τῶν Ἰσθμοῖ σελίνων, οἷς ἀναστέφουσι Κορίνθιοι τοὺς νικῶντας. ἔτι τοίνυν ἡ Ἀντιγόνου ναυαρχὶς ἀναφύσασα περὶ πρύμναν αὐτομάτως σέλινον Ἰσθμία ἐπωνομάσθη. καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ σκολιὸν ἐπίγραμμα δῆλον κεραμέα νομίζει διαβεβυσμένην σελίνῳ· σύγκειται δʼ οὕτωχθὼν ἡ παλὰς γῆ, πυρὶ κατῃθαλωμένηκεύθει κελαινὸν αἷμα Διονύσου θεοῦ,ἔχουσα κλῶνας Ἰσθμικοὺς ἀνὰ στόμα.ἦ ταῦθʼ εἶπεν οὐκ ἀνεγνώκαθʼ ὑμεῖς οἱ τὴν πίτυν ὡς οὐκ ἐπείσακτον οὐδὲ νέον ἀλλὰ πάτριον καὶ παλαιὸν δὴ στέμμα τῶν Ἰσθμίων σεμνύνοντες; ἐκίνησεν οὖν τοὺς νέους ὡς ἂν πολυμαθὴς ἀνὴρ καὶ πολυγράμματος ὁ μέντοι Λουκάνιος εἰς ἐμὲ βλέψας ἅμα καὶ μειδιῶν ὦ Πόσειδον·
3.3. But Lucanius, with a smile looking upon me, cried out: Good God! here’s a deal of learning. But others have taken advantage of our ignorance and unacquaintedness with such matters, and, on the contrary, persuaded us that the pine was the first garland, and that afterwards in honor of Hercules the parsley was received from the Nemean games, which in a little time prevailing, thrust out the pine, as if it were its right to be the wreath; but a little while after the pine recovered its ancient honor, and now flourishes in its glory. I was satisfied, and upon consideration found that I had met with a great many authorities for it. Thus Euphorion writes of Melicertes,They mourned the youth, and him on pine boughs laidOf which the Isthmian victors’ crowns are made.Fate had not yet seized beauteous Mene’s sonBy smooth Asopus; since whose fall the crownOf parsley wreathed did grace the victor’s brow.And Callimachus is plainer and more express, when he makes Hercules speak thus of parsley,This at Isthmian gamesTo Neptune’s glory now shall be the crown;The pine shall be disused, which heretoforeIn Corinth’s plains successful victors wore.And beside, if I am not mistaken, in Procles’s history of the Isthmian games I met with this passage; at first a pine garland crowned the conqueror, but when this game began to be reckoned amongst the sacred, then from the Nemean solemnity the parsley was received. And this Procles was one of Xenocrates’s fellow-students at the Academy.
3.3. ἔφη τοῦ πλήθους τῶν γραμμάτων· ἕτεροι δʼ ἡμῶν τῆς ἀμαθίας ὡς ἔοικε καὶ τῆς ἀνηκοΐας ἀπέλαυον ἀναπείθοντες τοὐναντίον, ὡς ἡ μὲν πίτυς ἦν στέμμα τῶν ἀγώνων πάτριον, ἐκ δὲ Νεμέας κατὰ ζῆλον ὁ τοῦ σελίνου στέφανος ξένος ὢν ἐπεισῆλθε διʼ Ἡρακλέα, καὶ κρατήσας ἠμαύρωσεν ἐκεῖνον ὡς ἱερὸν ἐπιτήδειον· εἶτα μέντοι χρόνῳ πάλιν ἀνακτησαμένη τὸ πάτριον γέρας ἡ πίτυς ἀνθεῖ τῇ τιμῇ. ἐγὼ γοῦν ἀνεπειθόμην καὶ προσεῖχον, ὥστε καὶ τῶν μαρτυρίων ἐκμαθεῖν πολλὰ καὶ μνημονεύειν, Εὐφορίωνα μὲν οὕτω πως περὶ Μελικέρτου λέγοντακλαίοντες δέ τε κοῦρον ἐπ αἰλίσι πιτύεσσικάτθεσαν, ὁκκότε δὴ στεφάνων ἄθλοις φορέονται.οὐ γάρ πω τρηχεῖα λαβὴ κατεμήσατο χειρῶνμήνης παῖδα χάρωνα παρʼ Ἀσωποῦ γενετείρῃ,ἐξότε πυκνὰ σέλινα κατὰ κροτάφων ἐβάλοντο·Καλλίμαχον δὲ μᾶλλον διασαφοῦντα· λέγει δʼ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς αὐτῷ περὶ τοῦ σελίνουκαί μιν Ἀλητιάδαι, πουλὺ γεγειότεροντοῦδε παρʼ Αἰγαίωνι θεῷ τελέοντες ἀγῶνα,θήσουσιν νίκης σύμβολον Ἰσθμιάδος,ζήλῳ τῶν Νεμέηθε· πίτυν δʼ ἀποτιμήσουσιν,ἣ πρὶν ἀγωνιστὰς ἔστεφε τοὺς Ἐφύρῃ.ἔτι δʼ οἶμαι Προκλέους ἐντετυχηκέναι γραφῇ, περὶ τῶν Ἰσθμίων ἱστοροῦντος, ὅτι τὸν πρῶτον ἀγῶνα ἔθεσαν περὶ στεφάνου πιτυΐνου· ὕστερον δέ, τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἱεροῦ γενομένου, ἐκ τῆς Νεμεακῆς πανηγύρεως; μετήνεγκαν ἐνταῦθα τὸν τοῦ σελίνου στέφανον. ὁ δὲ Προκλῆς οὗτος ἦν εἷς τῶν ἐν Ἀκαδημείᾳ Εενοκράτει συσχολασάντων.
4.1. SOME at the table were of opinion that Achilles talked nonsense when he bade Patroclus “mix the wine stronger,” subjoining this reason, “For now I entertain my dearest friends.” But Niceratus a Macedonian, my particular acquaintance, maintained that ζωρόν did not signify pure but hot wine; as if it were derived from ζωτικός and ζέσις (life-giving and boiling), and it were requisite at the coming of his friends to temper a fresh bowl, as every one of us in his offering at the altar pours out fresh wine. But Socicles the poet, remembering a saying of Empedocles, that in the great universal change those things which before were ἀκρατα, unmixed, should then be ζωρά, affirmed that ζωρόν there signified εὔκρατον, well tempered, and that Achilles might with a great deal of reason bid Patroclus provide well-tempered wine for the entertainment of his friends; and it was not absurd (he said) to use ζωρότερον for ζωρόν, any more than δεξιτερόν for δεξιόν, or θηλύτερον for θῆλυ, for the comparatives are very properly put for the positives. My friend Antipater said that years were anciently called ὧροι, and that the particle ζα in composition signified greatness; and therefore old wine, that had been kept for many years, was called by Achilles ζωρόν.
4.1. γελοῖος ἐδόκει τισὶ τῶν συνδειπνούντων ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς, ἀκρατότερον ἐγχεῖν τὸν Πάτροκλον κελεύων, εἶτʼ αἰτίαν τοιαύτην ἐπιλέγων οἱ γὰρ φίλτατοι ἄνδρες ἐμῷ ὑπέασι μελάθρῳ. Νικήρατος μὲν οὖν ὁ ἑταῖρος ἡμῶν, ὁ Μακεδὼν, ἄντικρυς ἀπισχυρίζετο μὴ ἄκρατον ἀλλὰ θερμὸν εἰρῆσθαι τὸ ζωρόν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ καὶ τῆς ζέσεως, ὃ δὴ καὶ λόγον ἔχειν, ἀνδρῶν ἑταίρων παρόντων, νέον ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς κεράννυσθαι κρατῆρα· καὶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς, ὅταν τοῖς θεοῖς ἀποσπένδειν μέλλωμεν, νεοκρᾶτα ποιεῖν. Σωσικλῆς δʼ ὁ ποιητὴς, τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἐπιμνησθεὶς εἰρηκότος ἐν τῇ καθόλου μεταβολῇ γίγνεσθαι ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ἄκρητα, μᾶλλον ἔφη τὸ εὔκρατον ἢ τὸ ἄκρατον ὑπὸ τἀνδρὸς ζωρὸν λέγεσθαι, καὶ μηδέν γε κωλύειν ἐπικελεύεσθαι τῷ Πατρόκλῳ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα παρασκευάζειν ᾖ εὔκρατον εἰς πόσιν τὸν οἶνον· εἰ δʼ ἀντὶ τοῦ ζωροῦ ζωρότερον εἶπεν, ὥσπερ δεξιτερὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ καὶ θηλύτερον ἀντὶ τοῦ θήλεος, οὐκ ἄτοπον εἶναι χρῆσθαι γὰρ ἐπιεικῶς ἀντὶ τῶν ἁπλῶν τοῖς συγκριτικοῖς, Ἀντίπατρος δʼ ὁ ἑταῖρος ἔφη τοὺς μὲν ἐνιαυτοὺς ἀρχαϊκῶς ὥρους λέγεσθαι, τὸ δὲ ζα μέγεθος εἰωθέναι σημαίνειν· ὅθεν τὸν πολυετῆ καὶ οἶνον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ζωρὸν ὠνομάσθαι.
4.2. I put them in mind that some imagine that θερμόν, hot, is signified by ζωρότερον, and that hotter means simply faster, as when we command servants to bestir themselves more hotly or in hotter haste. But I must confess, your dispute is frivolous, since it is raised upon this supposition, that if ζωρότερον signifies more pure wine, Achilles’s command would be absurd, as Zoilus of Amphipolis imagined. For first he did not consider that Achilles saw Phoenix and Ulysses to be old men, who are not pleased with diluted wine, and upon that account forbade any mixture. Besides, having been Chiron’s scholar, and from him having learned the rules of diet, he considered that weaker and more diluted liquors were fittest for those bodies that lay at ease, and were not employed in their customary exercise or labor. Thus with the other provender he gave his horses smallage, and this upon very good reason; for horses that lie still grow sore in their feet, and smallage is the best remedy in the world against that. And you will not find smallage or any thing of the same nature given to any other horses in the whole Iliad. Thus Achilles, being skilled in physic, provided suitable provender for his horses, and used the lightest diet himself, as the fittest whilst he lay at ease. But those that had been wearied all day in fight he did not think convenient to treat like those that had lain at ease, but commanded more pure and stronger wine to be prepared. Besides, Achilles doth not appear to be naturally addicted to drinking, but he was of a haughty inexorable temper.No pleasant humor, no soft mind he bore,But was all fire and rage.And in another place very plainly Homer says, that “Many a sleepless night he knew.” Now little sleep cannot content those that drink strong liquors; and in his railing at Agamemnon, the first ill name he gives him is drunkard, proposing his great drinking as the chiefest of his faults. And for these reasons it is likely that, when they came, he thought his usual mixture too weak and not convenient for them.
4.2. ἐγὼ δʼ ἀνεμίμνησκον αὐτούς, ὅτι τῷ ζωρότερον τὸ θερμὸν ἔνιοι σημαίνεσθαι λέγουσι τῷ δὲ θερμοτέρῳ τὸ τάχιον· ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἐγκελευόμεθα πολλάκις τοῖς διακονοῦσι θερμότερον ἅπτεσθαι τῆς διακονίας. ἀλλὰ μειρακιώδη τὴν φιλοτιμίαν αὐτῶν ἀπέφαινον, δεδιότων ὁμολογεῖν ἀκρατότερον εἰρῆσθαι τὸ ζωρότερον, ὡς ἐν ἀτόπῳ τινὶ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως; ἐσομένου καθάπερ ὁ Ἀμφιπολίτης Ζωίλος ὑπελάμβανεν, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς τὸν Φοίνικα καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα πρεσβυτέρους ὄντας εἰδὼς οὐχ ὑδαρεῖ χαίροντας ἀλλʼ ἀκρατοτέρῳ καθάπερ οἱ ἄλλοι γέροντες, ἐπιτεῖναι κελεύει τὴν κρᾶσιν. ἔπειτα Χείρωνος ὢν μαθητὴς καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα διαίτης οὐκ ἄπειρος ἐλογίζετο δήπουθεν, ὅτι τοῖς ἀργοῦσι καὶ σχολάζουσι παρὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς σώμασιν ἀνειμένη καὶ μαλακωτέρα κρᾶσις ἁρμόζει. καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἵπποις ἐμβάλλει μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων χορτασμάτων τὸ σέλινον οὐκ ἀλόγως, ἀλλʼ ὅτι βλάπτονται μὲν οἱ σχολάζοντες ἀσυνήθως; ἵπποι τοὺς πόδας· ἔστι δὲ τούτου μάλιστʼ ἴαμα τὸ σέλινον. ἄλλοις γοῦν οὐκ ἂν εὕροις παραβαλλόμενον ἵπποις ἐν Ἰλιάδι σέλινον ἤ τινα. τοιοῦτον χιλόν. ἀλλʼ ἰατρὸς ὢν ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς τῶν θʼ ἵππων πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν οἰκείως ἐπεμέλετο καὶ τῷ σώματι τὴν ἐλαφροτάτην δίαιταν, ὡς ὑγιεινοτάτην ἐν τῷ σχολάζειν, παρεσκεύαζεν· ἄνδρας δʼ ἐν μάχῃ καὶ ἀγῶνι διʼ ἡμέρας γεγενημένους οὐχ ὁμοίως ἀξιῶν διαιτᾶν τοῖς ἀργοῦσιν ἐπιτεῖναι τὴν κρᾶσιν ἐκέλευσε. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ φύσει φαίνεται φίλοινος ἀλλʼ ἀπηνὴς ὁ Ἀχιλλεύςοὐ γάρ τι γλυκύθυμος ἀνὴρ ἦν οὐδʼ ἀγανόφρων,ἀλλὰ μάλʼ ἐμμεμαώς·καί που παρρησιαζόμενος ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ πολλάς φησὶν ἀύπνους νύκτας ἰαῦσαι· βραχὺς δʼ ὕπνος οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖ τοῖς χρωμένοις ἀκράτῳ. λοιδορούμενος δὲ τῷ Ἀγαμέμνονι πρῶτον αὐτὸν οἰνοβαρῆ προσείρηκεν, ὡς μάλιστα τῶν νοσημάτων τὴν οἰνοφλυγίαν προβαλλόμενος. διὰ ταῦτα δὴ πάντα λόγον· εἶχεν αὐτὸν ἐννοῆσαι, τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐπιφανέντων, μή ποτε ἡ συνήθης κρᾶσις αὐτῷ τοῦ οἴνου πρὸς ἐκείνους ἀνειμένη καὶ ἀνάρμοστός ἐστιν.
5.1. AT my return from Alexandria all my friends by turns treated me, inviting all such too as were any way acquainted, so that our meetings were usually tumultuous and suddenly dissolved; which disorders gave occasion to discourses concerning the inconveniences that attend such crowded entertainments. But when Onesicrates the physician in his turn invited only the most familiar acquaintance, and men of the most agreeable temper, I thought that what Plato says concerning the increase of cities might be applied to entertainments. For there is a certain number which an entertainment may receive, and still be an entertainment; but if it exceeds that, so that by reason of the number there cannot be a mutual conversation amongst all, if they cannot know one another nor partake of the same jollity, it ceaseth to be such. For we should not need messengers there, as in a camp, or boatswains, as in a galley; but we ourselves should immediately converse with one another. As in a dance, so in an entertainment, the last man should be placed within hearing of the first.
5.1. τὸ περὶ τὰς κατακλίσεις φαινόμενον ἄτοπον πλείονα λόγον παρέσχεν ἐν ταῖς ὑποδοχαῖς, ἃς ἐποιεῖτο τῶν φίλων ἕκαστος ἑστιῶν ἡμᾶς ἣκοντας ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας· ἐκαλοῦντο γὰρ ἀεὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ὁπωσοῦν προσήκειν δοκούντων, καὶ τὰ συμπόσια θορυβώδεις εἶχε τὰς συμπεριφορὰς καὶ τὰς διαλύσεις ταχείας. ἐπειδὴ δʼ Ὀνησικράτης ὁ ἰατρὸς οὐ πολλοὺς ἀλλὰ τοὺς σφόδρα συνήθεις καὶ οἰκειοτάτους παρέλαβεν ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον, ἐφάνη μοι τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ Πλάτωνος αὐξομένην πόλιν οὐ πόλιν συμποσίω δεδόσθαι. καὶ γὰρ συμποσίου μέγεθος ἱκανόν ἐστιν, ἄχρι οὗ συμπόσιον ἐθέλει μένειν· ἐὰν δʼ ὑπερβάλῃ διὰ πλῆθος, ὡς μηκέτι προσήγορον ἑαυτῷ μηδὲ συμπαθὲς εἶναι ταῖς φιλοφροσύναις μηδὲ γνώριμον, οὐδὲ συμπόσιόν ἐστι. δεῖ γὰρ οὐχ ὥσπερ ἐν στρατοπέδῳ διαγγέλοις οὐδʼ ὥσπερ ἐν τριήρει χρῆσθαι κελευσταῖς· αὐτοὺς δὲ διʼ ἑαυτῶν ἐντυγχάνειν ἀλλήλοις, ὥσπερ χοροῦ τοῦ συμποσίου τὸν κρασπεδίτην τῷ κορυφαίῳ συνήκοον ἔχοντος.
5.2. As I was speaking, my grandfather Lamprias cried out: Then it seems there is need of temperance not only in our feasts, but also in our invitations. For methinks there is even an excess in kindness, when we pass by none of our friends, but draw them all in, as to see a sight or hear a play. And I think, it is not so great a disgrace for the entertainer not to have bread or wine enough for his guests, as not to have room enough, with which he ought always to be provided, not only for invited guests, but strangers and chance visitants. For suppose he hath not wine and bread enough, it may be imputed either to the carelessness or dishonesty of his servants; but the want of room must be imputed to the imprudence of the inviter. Hesiod is very much admired for beginning thus, “A vast chaos first was made.” For it was necessary that there should be first a place and room provided for the beings that were afterward to be produced; and not what was seen yesterday at my son’s entertainment, when, as Anaxagoras said, “All lay jumbled together.” But suppose a man hath room and provision enough, yet a multitude itself is to be avoided for its own sake, as hindering all familiarity and conversation; and it is more tolerable to let the company have no wine, than to exclude all converse from a feast. And therefore Theophrastus jocularly called the barbers’ shops feasts without wine; because those that sit there usually prattle and discourse. But those that invite a crowd at once deprive all of free communication of discourse, or rather make them divide into cabals, so that two or three privately talk together, and neither know nor look on those that sit, as it were, half a mile distant.Some took this way to valiant Ajax’ tent,And some the other to Achilles’ went.And therefore some rich men are foolishly profuse, who build rooms big enough for thirty tables or more at once; for such a preparation certainly is for unsociable and unfriendly entertainments, and such as are fit for a panegyriarch rather than a symposiarch to preside over. But this may be pardoned in those; for wealth would not be wealth, it would be really blind and imprisoned, unless it had witnesses, as tragedies would be without spectators. Let us entertain few and often, and make that a remedy against having a crowd at once. For those that invite but seldom are forced to have all their friends, and all that upon any account they are acquainted with together; but those that invite frequently, and but three or four, render their entertainments like little barks, light and nimble. Besides, the very reason why we invite teaches us to select some out of the number of our many friends. For as when we are in want we do not call all together, but only those that can best afford help in that particular case,—when we would be advised, the wiser part; and when we are to have a trial, the best pleaders; and when we are to go a journey, those that can live pleasantly and are at leisure,—thus to our entertainments we should call only those that are at the present agreeable. Agreeable, for instance, to a prince’s entertainment will be the magistrates, if they are his friends, or chiefest of the city; to marriage or birth-day feasts, all their kindred, and such as are under the protection of the same Jupiter the guardian of consanguinity; and to such feasts and merry-makings as this those are to be invited whose tempers are most suitable to the occasion. When we offer sacrifice to one God, we do not worship all the others that belong to the same temple and altar at the same time; but suppose we have three bowls, out of the first we pour oblations to some, out of the second to others, and out of the third to the rest, and none of the Gods take distaste. And in this a company of friends may be likened to the company of Gods; none takes distaste at the order of the invitation, if it be prudently managed and every one allowed a turn.
5.2. ἐμοῦ δὲ ταῦτʼ εἰπόντος, εἰς μέσον ἤδη φθεγξάμενος ὁ πάππος ἡμῶν Λαμπρίας ἆρʼ οὖν εἶπεν οὐ περὶ τὰ δεῖπνα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὰς κλήσεις δεόμεθα τῆς ἐγκρατείας; ἔστι γάρ τις οἶμαι καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἀκρασία, μηδένα παρερχομένης τῶν συμποτῶν ἀλλὰ πάντας ἑλκούσης ὡς ἐπὶ θέαν ἢ ἀκρόασιν. ἔμοιγʼ οὖν οὔτʼ ἄρτος οὔτʼ οἶνος ἐπιλείπων τοῖς κεκλημένοις οὕτω δοκεῖ τὸν κεκληκότα ποιεῖν γελοῖον, ὡς χώρα καὶ τόπος· ὧν καὶ μὴ κεκλημένοις ἀλλʼ ἐπελθοῦσιν αὐτομάτως ξένοις καὶ ἀλλοτρίοις ἀεὶ παρεσκευασμένην ἀφθονίαν ὑπάρχειν δεῖ. ἔτι δʼ ἄρτου μὲν καὶ οἴνου ἐπιλιπόντων, ἔστι καὶ τοὺς οἰκέτας ὡς κλέπτοντας αἰτιᾶσθαι· τόπου δὲ πενία καὶ κατανάλωσις εἰς πλῆθος ὀλιγωρία τίς ἐστι τοῦ καλοῦντος. εὐδοκιμεῖ δὲ θαυμαστῶς καὶ Ἡσίοδος εἰπών ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα χάος γένετʼ· χώραν γὰρ ἔδει καὶ τόπον προϋποκεῖσθαι τοῖς γενομένοις, οὐχ ὡς χθὲς οὑμὸς υἱός ἔφη τὸ Ἀναξαγόρειον ἦν ὁμοῦ πάντα χρήματα τὸ σύνδειπνον ἐποίησεν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ κἂν τόπος ὑπάρχῃ καὶ παρασκευή, τὸ πλῆθος αὐτὸ φυλακτέον, ὡς ἄμικτον τὴν συνουσίαν ποιοῦν καὶ ἀπροσήγορον· οἴνου γὰρ ἀνελεῖν ἧττόν ἐστι κακὸν ἢ λόγου κοινωνίαν ἐκ δείπνου. διὸ καὶ Θεόφραστος ἄοινα συμπόσια παίζων ἐκάλει τὰ κουρεῖα διὰ τὴν λαλιὰν τῶν προσκαθιζόντων. λόγων δὲ κοινωνίαν ἀναιροῦσιν οἱ πολλοὺς εἰς ταὐτὸ συμφοροῦντες, μᾶλλον δʼ ὀλίγους ποιοῦσιν ἀλλήλοις συνεῖναι· καὶ κατὰ δύο γὰρ ἢ τρεῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες ἐντυγχάνουσι καὶ προσδιαλέγονται, τοὺς δὲ πόρρω κατακειμένους οὐδʼ ἴσασιν οὐδὲ προσορῶσιν ἵππου δρόμον ἀπέχονταςἠμὲν ἐπʼ Αἴαντος κλισίας Τελαμωνιάδαοἠδʼ ἐπʼ Ἀχιλλῆος.ὅθεν οὐκ ὀρθῶς οἱ πλούσιοι νεανιεύονται κατασκευάζοντες οἴκους τριακοντακλίνους καὶ μείζους· ἀμίκτων γὰρ αὕτη καὶ ἀφίλων δείπνων ἡ παρασκευὴ καὶ πανηγυριάρχου μᾶλλον ἢ συμποσιάρχου δεομένων. ἀλλʼ ἐκείνοις μὲν ταῦτα συγγνώμη ποιεῖν· ἄπλουτον γὰρ οἴονται τὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τυφλὸν ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀνέξοδον, ἂν μὴ μάρτυρας ἔχῃ, καθάπερ τραγῳδία, θεατάς· ἡμῖν δʼ ἂν ἴαμα γένοιτο τοῦ πολλοὺς ὁμοῦ συνάγειν τὸ πολλάκις κατʼ ὀλίγους παραλαμβάνειν. οἱ γὰρ σπανίως καί διʼ Ἅρματος ὥς φασιν ἑστιῶντες ἀναγκάζονται τὸν ὁπωσοῦν ἐπιτήδειον ἢ γνώριμον καταγράφειν οἱ δὲ συνεχέστερον κατὰ τρεῖς ἤ τέτταρας ἀναλαμβάνοντες, ὥσπερ πορθμεῖα τὰ συμπόσια κοῦφά τε ποιοῦσι. ποιεῖ δέ τινα τοῦ πολλοῦ τῶν φίλων πλήθους διάκρισιν καὶ ὁ τῆς αἰτίας διηνεκὴς ἐπιλογισμός· ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὰς χρείας οὐ πάντας ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἁρμόττοντας ἑκάστῃ παρακαλοῦμεν, βουλευόμενοι μὲν τοὺς φρονίμους δικαζόμενοι δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας, ἀποδημοῦντες δὲ τοὺς ἐλαφροὺς μάλιστα τοῖς βιωτικοῖς καὶ σχολὴν ἄγοντας· οὕτως ἐν ταῖς ὑποδοχαῖς ἑκάστοτε τοὺς ἐπιτηδείους παραληπτέον. ἐπιτήδειοι δὲ τῷ μὲν ἡγεμόνι δειπνίζοντι συνδειπνεῖν οἵ τʼ ἄρχοντες, ἐὰν ὦσι φίλοι, καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι τῆς πόλεως ἐν δὲ γάμοις ἢ καὶ γενεθλίοις οἱ κατὰ γένος προσήκοντες καὶ Διὸς ὁμογνίου κοινωνοῦντες· ἐν δὲ ταῖς τοιαύταις ὑποδοχαῖς ἢ προπομπαῖς τοὺς ἐκείνων μάλιστα κεχαρισμένους εἰς ταὐτὸ συνακτέον. οὐδὲ γὰρ θεῷ θύοντες πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς, μάλιστα καὶ συννάοις καὶ συμβώμοις, κατευχόμεθα, ἀλλὰ τριῶν κρατήρων κιρναμένων, τοῖς μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου σπένδομεν τοῖς δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ δευτέρου τοῖς δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ τελευταίου· φθόνος γὰρ ἔξω θείου χοροῦ ἵσταται· θεῖος δέ που καὶ ὁ τῶν φίλων χορὸς εὐγνωμόνως διανεμόμενος ἐν ταῖς συμπεριφοραῖς.