1. Since you ask me every time that you meet me, my friend Timocrates, what was said by the Deipnosophists, thinking that we are making some discoveries, we will remind you of what is said by Antiphanes, in his Poesy, in this manner—

And Diphilus says, in his Men conducting Helen—

2. But Timocles the comic writer, asserting that tragedy is [354]useful in many respects to human life, says in his Women celebrating the Festival of Bacchus—

3. And we accordingly, O Timocrates, will restore to you the relics of the feast of the Deipnosophists, and will not give them, as Cothocides the orator said, meaning to ridicule Demosthenes, who, when Philip gave Halonnesus to the Athenians, advised them "not to take it if he gave it, but only if he restored it." And this sentence Antiphanes jested upon in his Neottis, where he ridicules it in this manner—

And Alexis says, in his Soldier—

A.	Receive this thing.
B.	What is it?
A.	Why the child Which I had from you, which I now bring back.
B.	Why? will you no more keep him?
A.	He's not mine.
B.	Nor mine.
A.	But you it was who gave him me.
B.	I gave him not.
A.	How so?
B.	I but restored him.
A.	You gave me what I never need have taken.

[355] And in his Brothers he says—

And Anaxilas, in his Evandria, says—

	.... Give it not, Only restore it.
B.	Here I now have brought it.

And Timocles says in his Heroes—

A.	You bid me now to speak of everything Rather than what is to the purpose; well, I'll gratify you so far.
B.	You shall find As the first fruits that you have pacified The great Demosthenes.
A.	But who is he?
B.	That Briareus who swallows spears and shields; A man who hates all quibbles; never uses Antithesis nor trope; but from his eyes Glares terrible Mars.

According, therefore, to the above-mentioned poets, so we, restoring but not giving to you what followed after the previous conversation, will now tell you all that was said afterwards.

4. Then came into us these servants, bringing a great quantity of sea fish and lake fish on silver platters, so that we marvelled at the wealth displayed, and at the costliness of the entertainment, which was such that he seemed almost to have engaged the Nereids themselves as the purveyors. And one of the parasites and flatterers said that Neptune was sending fish to our Neptunian port, not by the agency of those who at Rome sell rare fish for their weight in money; but that some were imported from Antium, and some from Terracina, and some from the Pontian islands opposite, and some from Pyrgi; and that is a city of Etruria. For the fishmongers in Rome are very little different from those who used to be turned into ridicule by the comic poets at Athens, of whom Antiphanes says, in his Young Men—

[356] 5. And Amphis says in his Impostor—

And Alexis says in his Apeglaucomenos—

6. And Diphilus says in his Busybody—

And Xenarchus says in his Purple—

7. And that they often do sell fish which is dead and stinking is proved by what Antiphanes says in his Adulterers, as follows—

And in his Friend of the Thebans he says—

And that they sell their fish very dear we are told by Alexis in his PylÆan Women—

8. And the same poet says in his play entitled the Caldron—

And a little further on he says—

9. And Antiphanes, in his Hater of Wickedness, displays their rudeness and dishonesty, comparing them to the greatest criminals who exist among men, speaking as follows—

10. And it was not without some wit that Diphilus, in his Merchant, speaks in this manner of fish being sold at an exorbitant price—

[359] And Alexis says in his Grecian Woman—

And Archippus, in his play called the Fish, mentions one fishmonger by name, HermÆus the Egyptian, saying—

And Alexis, in his Rich Heiress, mentions a certain fishmonger by name, Micio.

11. And perhaps it is natural for fishermen to be proud of their skill, even to a greater degree than the most skilful generals. Accordingly, Anaxandrides, in his Ulysses, introduces one of them, speaking in this way of the fisherman's art—

12. And Alexis says this with reference to those who are too anxious as to buying their fish, in his Rich Heiress—

And Diphilus, in his Merchant, says that there is some such law as this in existence among the Corinthians—

A.	This is an admirable law at Corinth, That when we see a man from time to time Purveying largely for his table, we Should ask him whence he comes, and what's his business: And if he be a man of property, Whose revenues can his expenses meet, Then we may let him as he will enjoy himself. But if he do his income much exceed, Then they bid him desist from such a course, And fix a fine on all who disobey. And if a man having no means at all Still lives in splendid fashion, him they give Unto the gaoler.
B.	Hercules! what a law.
A.	For such a man can't live without some crime. Dost thou not see? He must rove out by night And rob, break into houses, or else share With some who do so. Or he must haunt the forum, A vile informer, or be always ready As a hired witness. And this tribe we hate, And gladly would expel from this our city.
B.	And you'd do well, by Jove; but what is that to me?
A.	Because we see you every day, my friend, Making not moderate but extravagant purchases. You hinder all the rest from buying fish, And drive the city to the greengrocer, And so we fight for parsley like the combatants At Neptune's games on th' Isthmus. Does a hare Come to the market? it is yours; a thrush Or partridge? all do go the selfsame way. So that we cannot buy or fish or fowl; And you have raised the price of foreign wine.

And Sophilus, in his Androcles, wishes that the same custom prevailed at Athens also, thinking that it would be a good thing if two or three men were appointed by the city to the regulation of the provision markets. And Lynceus the Samian wrote a treatise on purveying against some one who was very difficult to please when making his purchases; teaching him what a man ought to say to those homicidal fishmongers, so as to buy what he wants at a fair rate and without being exposed to any annoyance.

[361] 13. Ulpian again picking out the thorns from what was said, asked—Are we able to show that the ancients used silver vessels at their banquets? and is the word p??a? a Greek noun? For with reference to the line in Homer—

Aristophanes the Byzantine said that it was a modernism to speak of meats being placed on platters (p??a?e?), not being aware that in other places the poet has said—

I ask also, if any men among the ancients had ever acquired a multitude of slaves, as the men of modern times do: and if the word t??a??? (frying-pan) is ever found, and not the form t?????? only. So that we may not fix our whole attention on eating and drinking, like those who from their devotion to their bellies are called parasites and flatterers.

14. And Æmilianus replied to him,—The word p??a?, when used of a vessel, you may find used by Metagenes the comic writer, in his Valiant Persians: and Pherecrates, my friend, has used the form t??a??? in his Trifles, where he says—

And the same poet has also said in the PersÆ—

And Philonides says, in his Buskins—

And again he says—

And Eubulus says, in his Orthane—

And in another place he says—

And in his Titans he says—

And Phrynichus also uses a verb derived from the word in his Tragedian—

[362] And Pherecrates, in his Ant Men says—"Are you eating fried meat (S? d' ?p?t??a???e??)?"

But Hegesander the Delphian says that the Syracusans call a dish t??a???, and the proper t??a??? they call ????t??a???; on which account he says that Theodorides says in some poem—

Where he uses t??a??? for ??pa?. But the Ionians write the word ??a??? without the letter t, as Anacreon says—

15. But with respect to the use of silver plate, my good friend Ulpian, you make me stop to consider a little; but I recollect what is said by Alexis in his Exile—

For down to the times of the supremacy of the Macedonians the attendants used to perform their duties with vessels made of earthenware, as my countryman Juba declares. But when the Romans altered the way of living, giving it a more expensive direction, then Cleopatra, arranging her style of living in imitation of them, she, I mean, who ultimately destroyed the Egyptian monarchy, not being able to alter the name, she called gold and silver plate ???a??; and then she gave the guests what she called the ???aa to carry away with them; and this was very costly. And on the Rosic earthenware, which was the most beautiful, Cleopatra spent five minÆ every day. But Ptolemy the king, in the eighth book of his commentaries, writing of Masinissa the king of the Libyans, speaks as follows—"His entertainments were arranged in the Roman fashion, everything being served up in silver ???a??. And the second course he arranged in the Italian mode. His dishes were all made of gold; made after the fashion of those which are plaited of bulrushes or ropes. And he employed Greek musicians.

16. But Aristophanes the comic writer, whom Heliodorus the Athenian says, in his treatise concerning the Acropolis, (and it occupies fifteen books,) was a Naucratite by birth, in his play called Plutus, after the god who gave his name to the play and appeared on the stage, says that dishes of silver [363]were in existence, just as all other things might be had made of the same metal. And his words are—

And Plato says, in his Ambassadors—

And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, says—

17. And Philippides, in his Disappearance of Silver, speaks of the use of it as ostentatious and uncommon, and aimed at only by some foreigners who had made fortunes but lately—

A.	I felt a pity for all human things, Seeing men nobly born to ruin hasting, And branded slaves displaying silver dishes Whene'er they ate a pennyworth of salt-fish, Or a small handful of capers, in a plate Whose weight is fifty drachms of purest silver. And formerly 'twould have been hard to see One single flagon vow'd unto the gods.
B.	That is rare now. For if one man should vow A gift like that, some other man would steal it.

And Alexis, in his Little House, introducing a young man in love displaying his wealth to his mistress, represents him as making her some such speech as this—

A.

I told the slaves, (for I brought two from home,) To place the carefully wiped silver vessels Fairly in sight. There was a silver goblet, And cups which weigh'd two drachms; a beaker too Whose weight was four; a wine-cooler, ten obols, Slighter than e'en Philippides' own self. And yet these things are not so ill-contrived To make a show ....

And I am myself acquainted with one of our own fellow-citizens who is as proud as he is poor, and who, when all his silver plate put together scarcely weighed a drachma, used to keep calling for his servant, a single individual, and the only one he had, but still he called him by hundreds of different names. "Here, you Strombichides, do not put on the table [364]any of my winter plate, but my summer plate." And the character in Nicostratus, in the play entitled the Kings, is just such another. There is a braggart soldier, of whom he speaks—

For there were at that time people who were able to beat out silver till it was as thin as a piece of skin.

18. And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, says—

And Sopater the parodist, in his Orestes, writes—

And in the drama entitled Phace he says—

And Theopompus the Chian, in his Letters of Advice to Alexander, when he enters into a discussion about Theocritus his fellow-citizen, says—"But he drinks out of silver cups and out of golden cups, and uses other vessels of the same kind upon his table. A man who formerly not only did not drink out of silver vessels, but who had not brazen ones either, but was content with the commonest earthenware, and even that very often cracked and chipped. And Diphilus says, in his Painter—

And Philemon says in his Physician—

And Menander, in his Heautontimorumenos, says—

And in his Hymnis he writes—

And Lysias, in his Oration on the Golden Tripod, if indeed [365]the speech be a genuine one of his, says—"It was still possible to give silver or gold plate." But those who pique themselves on the purity of their Greek, say that the proper expression is not ??????ata and ???s?ata, but ???????? ??s?? and ???s??? ??s??.

19. When Æmilianus had said this, Pontianus said—For formerly gold was really exceedingly scarce among the Greeks; and there was not indeed much silver; at least, not much which was extracted from the mines; on which account Duris the Samian says that Philip, the father of the great king Alexander, as he was possessed of one flagon of gold, always put it under his pillow when he went to bed. And Herodotus of Heraclea says, that the Golden Lamb of Atreus, which was the pregnant cause of many eclipses of the sun, and changes of kings, and which was, moreover, the subject of a great many tragedies, was a golden flagon, having in the centre a figure of a golden lamb. And Anaximenes of Lampsacus, in the first of those works of his, called Histories, says that the necklace of Eriphyle was so notorious because gold at that time was so rare among the Greeks; for that a golden goblet was at that time a most unusual thing to see; but that after the taking of Delphi by the Phocians, then all such things began to be more abundant. But formerly even those men who were accounted exceedingly rich used to drink out of brazen goblets, and the repositories where they put them away they called ?a??????a?.

And Herodotus says that the Egyptian priests drink out of brazen goblets; and he affirms that silver flagons could not be found to be given to all the kings, even when they sacrificed in public; and, accordingly, that Psammetichus, who was later than the other kings, performed his libations with a brazen flagon, while the rest made their offerings with silver ones. But after the temple at Delphi had been plundered by the tyrants of Phocis, then gold became common among the Greeks, and silver became actually abundant; and afterwards, when the great Alexander had brought into Greece all the treasures from out of Asia, then there really did shine forth what Pindar calls "wealth predominating far and wide."

20. And the silver and gold offerings which were at Delphi were offered originally by Gyges the king of the Lydians. For before the reign of this monarch Apollo had no silver, [366]and still less had he gold, as Phanias the Eresian tells us, and Theopompus, too, in the fortieth book of his History of the Transactions of the Reign of Philip. For these writers relate that the Pythian temple was adorned by Gyges, and by Croesus who succeeded him; and after them by Gelo and Hiero, the tyrants of Syracuse: the first of whom offered up a tripod and a statue of Victory, both made of gold, about the time that Xerxes was making his expedition against Greece; and Hiero made similar offerings. And Theopompus uses the following language—"For anciently the temple was adorned with brazen offerings: I do not mean statues, but caldrons and tripods made of brass. The LacedÆmonians, therefore, wishing to gild the face of the Apollo that was at AmyclÆ, and not finding any gold in Greece, having sent to the oracle of the god, asked the god from whom they could buy gold; and he answered them that they should go to Croesus the Lydian, and buy it of him. And they went and bought the gold of Croesus. But Hiero the Syracusan, wishing to offer to the god a tripod and a statue of Victory of unalloyed gold, and being in want of the gold for a long time, afterwards sent men to Greece to seek for it; who, coming after a time to Corinth, and tracing it out, found some in the possession of Architeles the Corinthian, who had been a long time buying it up by little and little, and so had no inconsiderable quantity of it; and he sold it to the emissaries of Hiero in what quantity they required. And after that, having filled his hand with it he made them a present of all that he could hold in his hand, in return for which Hiero sent a vessel full of corn, and many other gifts to him from Sicily."

21. And Phanias relates the same circumstances in his history of the Tyrants in Sicily, saying that the ancient offerings had been brass, both tripods, and caldrons, and daggers; and that on one of them there was the following inscription—

And in the tripod, which was one of the prizes offered at the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, there was the inscription—

22. And Ephorus, or Demophilus, his son, in the thirtieth book of his Histories, speaking of the temple of Delphi, says, "But Onomarchus and Phayllus and PhalÆcus not only carried off all the treasures of the god, but at last their wives carried off also the ornaments of Eriphyle, which AlcmÆon consecrated at Delphi by the command of the god, and also the necklace of Helen, which had been given by Menelaus. For the god had given each of them oracles: he had said to AlcmÆon, when he asked him how he could be cured of his madness—

And he replied to Menelaus, who consulted him as to how he might avenge himself on Paris—

And it so fell out that a violent quarrel arose among the women about these ornaments—which should take which. And when they had drawn lots for the choice, the one of them, who was very ugly and stern, got Eriphyle's necklace, but the one who was conspicuous for beauty and wanton got the ornaments of Helen; and she, being in love with a young man of Epirus, went away with him, but the other contrived to put her husband to death.

23. But the divine Plato, and Lycurgus the LacedÆmonian, not only forbad all costly ornaments to be introduced into their model states, but they would not permit even silver or gold to be brought into them, thinking that of the products of mines, iron and copper were sufficient, and banishing the other metals as injurious to those states which were in good order. But Zeno the Stoic, thinking everything unimportant except the legitimate and honest use of the precious metals, [368]forbad either praying for or deprecating them; but still he recommended chiefly the use of those which were more commonly accessible and less superfluous; in order that men, having the dispositions of their minds formed so as neither to fear nor to admire anything which is not honourable on the one hand or discreditable on the other, should use only what is natural as much as possible, and yet should not fear what is of an opposite character, but abstain from such in obedience to reason and not to fear. For nature has not banished any of the above-mentioned things out of the world, but has made subterranean veins of these metals, the working of which is very laborious and difficult, in order that they who desire such things may arrive at the acquisition after toil and suffering; and that not only those men themselves who work in the mines, but those also who collect what has been extracted from the mines, may acquire this much wished for opulence at the expense of countless labours.

Therefore a little of these metals lies on the surface just to serve as a sample of the rest which is beneath, since in the remotest corners of the earth also there are rivers bearing down gold-dust in their waters; and women and men destitute of bodily strength scratching among the sand, detach these particles from the sand, and then they wash them and bring them to the smelting-pot, as my countryman Posidonius says is done among the Helvetians, and among others of the Celtic tribes. And the mountains which used formerly to be called the RhipÆan mountains, and which were subsequently named the Olbian (as if happy), and which are now called the Alps, (they are mountains in Gaul,) when once the woods upon them had caught fire spontaneously, ran with liquid silver. The greater quantity of this metal, however, is found by mining operations carried on at a great depth, and attended by great hardship, according to the statement of Demetrius Phalereus, in consequence of the desire of avarice to draw Pluto himself out of the recesses of the earth; and, accordingly, he says facetiously that—"Men having often abandoned what was visible for the sake of what was uncertain, have not got what they expected, and have lost what they had, being unfortunate by an enigmatical sort of calamity."

24. But the LacedÆmonians being hindered by their national institutions from introducing silver or gold into Sparta, as the [369]same Posidonius relates, or from possessing any in private, did possess it nevertheless, but then they deposited it among their neighbours the Arcadians. But subsequently the Arcadians became enemies to them instead of friends, as they had been; picking a quarrel with them with the express view of seizing on this deposit without being called to account for it, by reason of the enmity now subsisting. Therefore it is said that the gold and silver which had formerly been at LacedÆmon was consecrated at Delphi to Apollo; and that when Lysander brought gold publicly into the city he was the cause of many evils to the state by so doing. And it is said that Gylippus, who delivered the Syracusans, was put to death by starvation, having been condemned by the Ephori, because he had embezzled some of the money sent to Sparta by Lysander. But that which had been devoted to the god and been granted to the people as a public ornament and public property, it was not decent for any mortal to treat with contempt.

25. But that tribe of Gauls which is called the CordistÆ, does not introduce gold into their country either, still they are not the less ready to plunder the territories of their neighbours, and to commit injustice; and that nation is a remnant of the Gauls who formed the army of Brennus when he made his expedition against the temple of Delphi. And a certain Bathanatius, acting as their leader, settled them as a colony in the districts around the Ister, from whom they call the road by which they returned the Bathanatian road, and even to this day they call his posterity the Bathanati. And these men proscribe gold, and do not introduce it into their territories, as a thing on account of which they have suffered many calamities; but they do use silver, and for the sake of that they commit the most enormous atrocities. Although the proper course would be, not to banish the whole class of the thing of which they were formerly plundered, but the impiety which could perpetrate such a sacrilege. And even if they did not introduce silver into their country, still they would commit excesses in the pursuit of copper and iron; and even if they had not these things, still they would continue to rage in war against other nations for the sake of meat and drink, and other necessaries.

26. When Pontianus had delivered his opinion in these [370]terms, and while most of the guests were endeavouring to solve the questions proposed by Ulpian, Plutarch, being one of those who was attending to the other subjects of discussion, said,—The name parasite was in former days a respectable and a holy name. At all events, Polemo (whether he was a Samian or a Sicyonian, or whether he prefers the name of an Athenian, which Heraclides the Mopseatian gives him, who also speaks of him as being claimed by other cities; and he was also called Stelocopas, as Herodicus the Cratetian has told us,) writing about parasites, speaks as follows—"The name of parasite is now a disreputable one; but among the ancients we find the word parasite used as something sacred, and nearly equivalent to the title Messmate. Accordingly, at Cynosarges, in the temple of Hercules, there is a pillar on which is engraven a decree of Alcibiades; the clerk who drew it up being Stephanus the son of Thucydides; and in it mention is made of this name in the following terms—'Let the priest perform the monthly sacrifices with the parasites; and let the parasites select one bastard, and one of the sons of the same, according to the usual national customs; and whoever is unwilling to take the place of a parasite, let the priest report him to the tribunal.' And in the tables of the laws concerning the DeliastÆ it is written—'And let two heralds, of the family of the heralds, of that branch of it which is occupied about the sacred mysteries, be chosen; and let them be parasites in the temple of Delos for a year.' And in Pallenis this inscription is engraved on the offerings there found—'The Archons and parasites made these offerings, who, in the archonship of Pythodorus, were crowned with a golden crown;[370:1] and the parasites were, in the archonship of Lycostratus, Gargettius; in the archonship of Pericletus, Pericles Pitheus; in that of Demochares, Charinus.' And in the laws of the king, we find the following words—'That the parasites of the Acharnensians shall sacrifice to Apollo.' But Clearchus the Solensian, and he was one of the disciples of Aristotle, in the first book of his Lives, writes thus—'But now they call a parasite a man who is ready for anything; but in former times he was a man picked out as a companion.'" Accordingly, in the ancient laws, most cities mention parasites among the most honourable of their [371]officers; and, indeed, they do so to this day. And Clidemus says in his Attic Women—

And Themiso, in his Pallenis, says—"That the king, who from time to time fills that office, and the parasites, whom they appoint from the main body of the people, and the old men, and the women who still have their first husbands, shall take care of such and such things."

27. And from this you perceive, my good friend Ulpian, that you may raise another question, who the women are who still have their first husbands? But (for we are still speaking about the parasites) there is also an inscription on a pillar in the Anaceum to the following effect—"Of the best bulls which are selected, one-third is to be appropriated to the games; and of the remaining two-thirds, one is to go to the priest, and the other to the parasites." But Crates, in the second book of his treatise on the Attic Dialect, says—"And the word parasite is now used in a disreputable sense; but formerly those people were called parasites who were selected to collect the sacred corn, and there was a regular Hall of the parasites; on which account the following expressions occur in the law of the king—"That the king shall take care of the Archons that they are properly appointed, and that they shall select the parasites from the different boroughs, according to the statutes enacted with reference to that subject. And that the parasites shall, without any evasion or fraud, select from their own share a sixth part of a bushel of barley, on which all who are citizens of Athens shall feast in the temple, according to the national laws and customs. And that the parasites of the Acharnensians shall give a sixth part of a bushel from their collection of barley to the guild of priests of Apollo. And that there was a regular Hall for the parasites is shown by the following expressions in the same law—"For the repairs of the temple, and of the magistrates' hall, and of the hall of parasites, and of the sacred house, they shall pay whatever sums of money the contractors appointed by the priests think necessary." From this it is evident that the place in which the parasites laid up the first-fruits of the consecrated corn was called the Parasitium, or the Hall of the parasites.

[372] And Philochorus gives the same account in his book entitled the Tetrapolis, where he mentions the parasites who were elected for the temple of Hercules; and Diodorus of Sinope, a comic poet, in his Heir, (from which I will cite some testimonies presently,) says the same. And Aristotle, in his treatise on the Constitution of the Methoneans, says—"Parasites were two in number for each of the archons, and one for the polemarchs. And they received a fixed allowance from others, and they also took dishes of fish from the fishermen."

28. But the meaning which is now given to the name parasite is one which Carystius of Pergamus, in his treatise on the DidascaliÆ, says was first invented by Alexis, forgetting that Epicharmus, in his Hope or Plutus, has introduced one in a drinking party, where he says—

And he introduces the parasite himself, making the following speech to some one who questioned him—

29. And the parasite of Epicharmus makes a second speech of the same kind. And a parasite of Diphilus speaks thus—

But Homer is the first person, as some say, who introduced the character of a parasite, saying of Podes that he was a beloved guest of Hector—

For the word e??ap??? comes to the same thing as de?p???, on which account he makes him wounded by Menelaus in the belly, as Demetrius the Scepsian says; as also he represents Pandarus as wounded in the tongue, because of his having perjured himself; and it is a Spartan who wounds him, one of a nation very much devoted to temperance.

30. But the ancient poets called parasites flatterers; from whom also Eupolis gave this title to his play, where he represents a chorus of flatterers speaking thus—

31. And Araros, in his HymenÆus, uses the word parasite, where he says—

And the word is constantly used among the later writers. And the verb pa?as?t??, to be a parasite, occurs in Plato the comic writer, in his Laches. For he says—

And Alexis says that there are two kinds of parasites, in his Pilot, where we find this passage—

A.	There are two kinds of parasites, Nausinicos: The one the common one, much jested on By comic writers, we, the blackfaced men.
N.	What is the other kind?
A.	Satraps of parasites; Illustrious leaders of the band; a troop Whom you may call the venerable parasites; Men who act well throughout their lives; Knit their brows gravely, win estates and legacies. Know'st thou the kind of men, and these their manners?
N.	Indeed I do.
A.	Each of these men have one Fix'd method of proceeding, flattery; And as in life, fortune makes some men great, And bids the rest content themselves with little; So some of us do thrive, and some do fail. Do I not make the matter plain to you?
N.	Why if I praise you, you will ask for more.

32. And Timocles, in his Dracontius, hits off the parasite very neatly, and describes his character thus—

33. And Antiphanes, in his Twins, says—

34. And Aristophon, in his Physician, says—

[376] And in his Pythagorean he says—

35. And Antiphanes says in his Ancestors—

But Diphilus in his Parasite, when a wedding-feast is about to take place, represents the parasite as speaking thus—

And Eubulus says in his Œdipus—

36. And Diodorus of Sinope, in his Orphan Heiress, has these expressions, when speaking of a parasite, and they are not devoid of elegance—

37. And Axionicus, in his Chalcidian, says—

But Antidotus, in his play which is entitled Protochorus, introduces a man resembling those who in the Museum of Claudius still practise their sophistries; whom it is not even creditable to remember; and he represents him speaking thus—

38. And among the parasites these men are commemorated by name: Tithymallus, who is mentioned by Alexis in his Milesian Woman, and in his Ulysses the Weaver. And in his Olynthians he says—

And Dromon in his Psaltria says—

A.	I was above all things ashamed when I Found that I was again to have a supper For which I was to give no contribution.
B.	A shameful thing, indeed. Still you may see Our Tithymallus on his way, more red Than saffron or vermilion; and he blushes, As you may guess, because he nothing pays.

And Timocles, in his Centaur or Dexamenus, says—

And in his Caunians he says—

A.	Will any other thing appear? Be quick, For Tithymallus has return'd to life, [379] Who was quite dead, now that he well has boil'd Eightpennyworth of lupin seed.
B.	For he Could not persist in starving himself, but only In drinking wine at other men's expense.

And in his Epistles he says—

And Antiphanes says in his Etrurian—

A.	For he will not assist his friends for nothing.
B.	You say that Tithymallus will be rich, For as I understand you, he will get Sufficient pay, and a collection suitable From those within whose doors he freely sups.

39. Corydus also was one of the most notorious parasites. And he is mentioned by Timocles, in his The Man who Rejoices at Misfortunes of others, thus—

And Alexis, in Demetrius or PhiletÆrus, says—

And in his Nurse he says—

And Cratinus the younger in his Titans says—

But that Corydus used to cut jokes, and was fond of being laughed at for them, the same Alexis tells to in his Poets—

And Lynceus the Samian repeats several of his sayings, and asserts that his proper name was Eucrates. And he writes thus concerning him—"Eucrates, who was called Corydus, when he was once feasting with some one whose house was in a very shabby condition, said, 'A man who sups here ought to hold up the house with his left hand like the Caryatides.'"

40. But Philoxenus, who was surnamed Pternocopis, when it happened to be mentioned that thrushes were very dear, and that too while Corydus was present, who was said formerly to have prostituted himself—"I," said he, "can recollect when a lark (????d??) only cost an obol." (And Philoxenus too was a parasite, as Axionicus has stated in his Chalcidian. But the statement is thoroughly proved.) Menander too mentions him in his Cecryphalus, calling him Pternocopis only. And Machon the comic writer mentions him.—But Machon was either a Corinthian or Sicyonian by birth, living, however, in my own city of Alexandria; and he was the tutor of Aristophanes the grammarian, as far as comedy went. And he died in Alexandria, and an inscription to the following effect is placed upon his tomb—

And surely this is equivalent to a statement that he was an Alexandrian by birth. However that may be, Machon mentions Corydus in these terms—

[381] And Lynceus, in the second book of his treatise on Menander, says the men who got a reputation for saying witty things were Euclides the son of Smicrinus, and Philoxenus called Pternocopis. And of them Euclides did at times say apophthegms not unworthy of being written down and recollected; but in all other matters he was cold and disagreeable. But Philoxenus did not particularly excel in short curt sayings, but still whatever he said, whether in the way of gossip, or of a bitter attack on any of his companions, or of relation of occurrences, was full of pleasant and witty conversation. And yet it happened that Euclides was not very popular, but that Philoxenus was loved and respected by every one.

41. But Alexis, in his Trophonius, mentions a certain Moschion, a parasite, calling him "a messmate of every one," and saying—

And in his Pancratiast, Alexis, giving a regular catalogue of the dinner hunters, says—

A.	First then there was Callimedon the crab; Then Cobion, and Corydus, and Cyrebion, Scombrus and Semidalis.
B.	Hercules! This is a list of dishes, not of guests.[381:1]

But Epicrates was nicknamed Cyrebion, and he was the son-in-law of Æschines the orator, as Demosthenes tells us in the oration about the False Embassy. And Anaxandrides, in his Ulysses, mentions such epithets as these, which the Athenians used to affix to people out of joke; saying—

42. And he mentions ChÆrephon the parasite in the passage which precedes this. But Menander mentions him likewise in the Cecryphalus: and in his Anger he says—

And in his Drunkenness he says—

And he mentions him also in his Man-woman, or the Cretan. But Timocles in his Letters mentions him especially as having attached himself as a parasite to Demotion, who was an intemperate man—

And Antiphanes says in his Scythian—

And Timotheus says in his Puppy—

43. And Apollodorus the Carystian, in his Priestess, says—

And in his Murdered Woman he says—

And Machon the comic writer says—

And in another place he says—

And Callimachus attributes to ChÆrephon a certain treatise, in the list which he gives, entitled, A Catalogue of all sorts of Things. And he writes thus:—"Those who have written about feasts:—ChÆrephon in his Cyrebion;" and then he quotes the first sentence—"Since you have often written to me;" and says that the work consisted of three hundred and seventy-five lines. And that Cyrebion was a parasite has been already mentioned.

44. Machon also mentions Archephon the parasite, and says—

45. And Alexis in his Wine-Bibber introduces Stratius the parasite as grumbling at the man who gives him his dinner, and speaking thus—

And a little afterwards he says—

A.	Oh Stratius, dost thou love me?
B.	Aye, I do More than my father, for he does not feed me; But you do give the best of dinners daily.
A.	And do you pray the gods that I may live?
B.	No doubt I do; for how should I myself Live if misfortune happen'd unto you?

And Axionicus the comic poet, in his Etrurian, mentions Gryllion the parasite in these words—

And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Memoranda of Laughable Things, gives the following list of parasites—Sostratus the parasite of Antiochus the king, Evagoras the Hunchback, parasite of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and Phormio parasite of Seleucus. And Lynceus the Samian, in his Apophthegms, says—"Silanus the Athenian, when Gryllion the parasite of Menander the satrap was passing by in a superb robe, and accompanied by a great number of attendants, being asked who he was, said, "He is a jaw worthy of Menander." But ChÆrephon the parasite, coming once to a wedding feast [385]without being invited, and sitting down the last of all, when the gynÆconomi had counted those who were invited, and desired him to depart as having made the number of guests to exceed the legitimate number of thirty, said, 'Count us over again, and begin with me.'"

46. And that it was a custom for the officers called gynÆconomi[385:1] to superintend the banquets, and to examine into the number of those who had been invited, and see whether it was in accordance with the law, we may learn from Timocles in his Litigious Man, where he says—

And Menander says in his Cecryphalus—

And Philochorus, in the seventh book of his history of the Affairs of Attica, says—The gynÆconomi used, in conjunction with the judges of the Areopagus, to examine the parties in private houses, and at marriage feasts, and at all other festivals and sacrifices.

47. And Lynceus records the following sayings of Corydus:—"Once when a courtesan whose name was Gnome was supping with Corydus, the wine ran short, on which he desired every one to contribute two obols; and said that Gnome should contribute whatever the people thought fit. And once when Polyctor the harp-player was eating lentil porridge, and had got a stone between his teeth, 'O you unhappy man!' said Corydus, 'even a lentil strikes you.'" [386]And perhaps he is the same person whom Machon mentions; for he says—

And once, when somebody said to Corydus that he sometimes kissed the neck, and the breasts, and even the navel (?fa???) of his wife, "That is very wrong," said he; "for even Hercules went from Omphale to Hebe." And when Phyromachus dipped a piece of bread into some lentil porridge, and upset the dish, he said that it was right that he should be fined, because he did not know how to eat properly, though he professed to. And once, at Ptolemy's table, when a ragout was carried round to the guests, but was finished before it came to him—"O Ptolemy," said he, "am I drunk, or am I right in thinking that these dishes are carried round?" And when ChÆrephon the parasite said that he was unable to stand much wine, he rejoined, "No, nor stand what is put into the wine either." And once, when at some entertainment ChÆrephon rose up from supper quite naked—"O ChÆrephon," said he, "you are just like a bottle, so that we can see how nearly full you are." And when Demosthenes received that goblet from Harpalus—"This man," said he, "who calls other men hard drinkers, has himself swallowed a large cup." And, as he was in the habit of bringing dirty loaves to supper, once, when somebody else brought some which were blacker still, he said, "that he had not brought loaves, but the shades of loaves."

48. And Philoxenus the parasite, who was surnamed Pternocopis, once was dining with Python, and olives (???a?) were put on the table, and after a little while a dish of fish was brought; and he, striking the dish, said—

And once, at supper, when the man who had invited him had set loaves of black bread before him, he said; "Do not give me too many, lest you should darken the room." And Pausimachus said of a certain parasite who was maintained by an old woman, "That the man who lived with the old woman fared in exactly the contrary manner to the old woman [387]herself; for that he was always large." And he is the man of whom Machon writes in this manner:—

And the same man, hearing of a parasite who was maintained by an old woman, and who lived in habits of daily intimacy with her, said—

And Ptolemy, the son of Agesarchus, a native of Megalopolis, in the second book of his history of Philopator, says that men to dine with the king were collected from every city, and that they were called jesters.

49. And Posidonius of Apamea, in the twenty-third book of his histories, says, "The CeltÆ, even when they make war, take about with them companions to dine with them, whom they call parasites. And these men celebrate their praises before large companies assembled together, and also to private individuals who are willing to listen to them: they have also a description of people called Bards, who make them music; and these are poets, who recite their praises with songs. And in his thirty-fourth book, the same writer speaks of a man whose name was Apollonius, as having been the parasite of Antiochus surnamed Grypus, king of Syria. And Aristodemus relates that Bithys, the parasite of king Lysimachus, once, when Lysimachus threw a wooden figure of a scorpion on his cloak, leaped up in a great fright; but presently, when he perceived the truth, he said, "I, too, will frighten you, O king!—give me a talent." For Lysimachus was very stingy. And Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the twenty-second book of his history of Europe, says that Anthemocritus the pancratiast was the parasite of Aristomachus, the tyrant of the Argives.

50. And Timocles has spoken in general terms of parasites in his Boxer, when he calls them ?p?s?t??? in these words—

[388] And Pherecrates, in his Old Women, says—

A.	But you, my friend Smicythion, will not Get your food (?p?s?t???a?) quicker.
B.	Who, I pray, is this?
A.	I bring this greedy stranger everywhere, As if he were my hired slave or soldier.

For those men are properly called ?p?s?t??? who do any service for their keep. Plato says, in the fourth book of his treatise on Politics, "And the ?p?s?t??? do these things, who do not, as others do, receive any wages in addition to their food." And Aristophanes says, in his Storks—

And Eubulus says, in his DÆdalus—

51. And Diphilus, in his Synoris (and Synoris is the name of a courtesan), mentioning Euripides (and Euripides is the name given to a particular throw on the dice), and punning on the name of the poet, says this at the same time about parasites:—

A.	You have escaped well from such a throw.
S.	You are right witty.
A.	Well, lay down your drachma.
S.	That has been done: how shall I throw Euripides?
A.	Euripides will never save a woman. See you not how he hates them in his tragedies? But he has always fancied parasites, And thus he speaks, you'll easily find the place: "For every rich man who does not feed At least three men who give no contribution, Exile deserves and everlasting ruin."
S.	Where is that passage?
A.	What is that to you? 'Tis not the play, but the intent that signifies.

And in the amended edition of the same play, speaking of a parasite in a passion, he says—

And immediately afterwards he adds—

A.	Then you may eat, O parasite.
B.	Just see [389] How he disparages that useful skill.
A.	Well, know you not that all men rank a parasite Below a harp-player?

And in the play, which is entitled The Parasite, he says—

52. And Menander, in his Passion, speaking of a friend who had refused an invitation to a marriage feast, says—

And Alexis in his Orestes, Nicostratus in his Plutus, Menander in his Drunkenness, and in his Lawgiver, speak in the same way; and Philonides, in his Buskins, says—

But there are many other kindred nouns to the noun pa??s?t??: there is ?p?s?t??, which has already been mentioned; and ????s?t??, and s?t???????, and a?t?s?t??; and besides these, there is ?a??s?t?? and ?????s?t??: and Anaxandrides uses the word ????s?t?? in his Huntsmen—

And a man is called ????s?t?? who serves the city, not for hire, but gratis. Antiphanes, in his Scythian, says—

And Menander says, in his Ring—

And in his Harp-player he says—

Crates uses the word ?p?s?t??? in his Deeds of Daring, saying—

And he also uses the word in a peculiar sense in his Women dining together, where he says—

[390] And the word s?t??????? is used by Alexis, in his Woman sitting up all Night or the Weavers—

And Menander calls a man who is useless, and who lives to no purpose, s?t???????, in his Thrasyleon, saying—

And in his Venal People he says—

And Crobylus used the word a?t?s?t?? (bringing one's own provisions), in The Man hanged—

And Eubulus has the word ?a??s?t?? (eating badly, having no appetite), in his Ganymede—

And the word ?????s?t?? (a sparing eater) occurs in Phrynichus, in his The solitary Man—

And Pherecrates, or Strattis, in his Good Men—

53. When Plutarch had said all this about parasites, Democritus, taking up the discourse, said, And I myself, 'like wood well-glued to wood,' as the Theban poet has it, will say a word about flatterers.

as the excellent Menander says. And there is no great difference between calling a man a flatterer and a parasite. Accordingly, Lynceus the Samian, in his Commentaries, gives the name of parasite to Cleisophus, the man who is universally described as the flatterer of Philip, the king of the Macedonians (but he was an Athenian by birth, as Satyrus the Peripatetic affirms, in his Life of Philip). And Lynceus says—"Cleisophus, the parasite of Philip, when Philip rebuked him for being continually asking for something, replied, 'I am very forgetful.' Afterwards, when Philip had given him a wounded horse, he sold him; and when, after a time, the king [391]asked him what had become of him, he answered, 'He was sold by that wound of his.' And when Philip laughed at him, and took it good-humouredly, he said, 'Is it not then worth my while to keep you?'" And Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, makes this mention of Cleisophus:—"When Philip the king said that writings had been brought to him from Cotys, king of Thrace, Cleisophus, who was present, said, 'It is well, by the gods.' And when Philip said, 'But what do you know of the subjects mentioned in these writings?' he said, 'By the great Jupiter, you have reproved me with admirable judgment.'"

54. But Satyrus, in his Life of Philip, says, "When Philip lost his eye, Cleisophus came forth with him, with bandages on the same eye as the king; and again, when his leg was hurt, he came out limping, along with the king. And if ever Philip ate any harsh or sour food, he would contract his features, as if he, too, had the same taste in his mouth. But in the country of the Arabs they used to do these things, not out of flattery, but in obedience to some law; so that whenever the king had anything the matter with any one of his limbs, the courtiers pretended to be suffering the same inconvenience: for they think it ridiculous to be willing to be buried with him when he dies, but not to pay him the compliment of appearing to be subject to the same sufferings as he is while alive, if he sustains any injury." But Nicolaus of Damascus,—and he was one of the Peripatetic school,—in his very voluminous history (for it consisted of a hundred and forty-four books), in the hundred and eleventh book says, that Adiatomus the king of the Sotiani (and that is a Celtic tribe) had six hundred picked men about him, who were called by the Gauls, in their national language, Siloduri—which word means in Greek, Bound under a vow. "And the king has them as companions, to live with him and to die with him; as that is the vow which they all take. In return for which, they also share his power, and wear the same dress, and eat the same food; and they die when he dies, as a matter of absolute necessity, if the king dies of any disease; or if he dies in war, or in any other manner. And no one can even say that any of them has shown any fear of death, or has in the least sought to evade it when the king is dead."

55. But Theopompus says, in the forty-fourth book of his [392]Histories, that Philip appointed ThrasydÆus the Thessalian tyrant over all those of his nation, though a man who had but little intellect, but who was an egregious flatterer. But Arcadion the AchÆan was not a flatterer, who is mentioned by the same Theopompus, and also by Duris in the fifth book of his History of Macedonian Affairs. Now this Arcadion hated Philip, and on account of this hatred voluntarily banished himself from his country. And he was a man of the most admirable natural abilities, and numbers of clever sayings of his are related. It happened then once, when Philip was sojourning at Delphi, that Arcadion also was there; and the Macedonian beheld him and called him to him, and said, How much further, O Arcadion, do you mean to go by way of banishment? And he replied—

But Phylarchus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says that Philip laughed at this, and invited Arcadion to supper, and that in that way he got rid of his enmity. But of Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, Hegesander gives the following account:—"When Alexander complained of being bitten by the flies and was eagerly brushing them off, a man of the name of Nicesias, one of his flatterers who happened to be present, said,—Beyond all doubt those flies will be far superior to all other flies, now that they have tasted your blood." And the same man says that Cheirisophus also, the flatterer of Dionysius, when he saw Dionysius laughing with some of his acquaintances, (but he was some way off himself, so that he could not hear what they were laughing at,) laughed also. And when Dionysius asked him on what account he, who could not possibly hear what was said, laughed, said—I feel that confidence in you that I am quite sure that what has been said is worth laughing at.

56. His son also, the second Dionysius, had numerous flatterers, who were called by the common people Dionysiocolaces. And they, because Dionysius himself was not very sharp sighted, used to pretend while at supper not to be able to see very far, but they would touch whatever was near them as if they could not see it, until Dionysius himself guided their hands to the dishes. And when Dionysius spat, they would often put out their own faces for him to spit upon: and then [393]licking off the spittle and even his vomit, they declared that it was sweeter than honey. And TimÆus, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, says that Democles the flatterer of the younger Dionysius, as it was customary in Sicily to make a sacrifice from house to house in honour of the nymphs, and for men to spend the night around their statues when quite drunk, and to dance around the goddesses—Democles neglecting the nymphs, and saying that there was no use in attending to lifeless deities, went and danced before Dionysius. And at a subsequent time being once sent on an embassy with some colleagues to Dion, when they were all proceeding in a trireme, he being accused by the rest of behaving in a seditious manner in respect of this journey, and of having injured the general interests of Dionysius, when Dionysius was very indignant, he said that differences had arisen between himself and his colleagues, because after supper they took a pÆan of Phrynichus or Stesichorus, and some of them took one of Pindar's and sang it; but he, with those who agreed with him, went entirely through the hymns which had been composed by Dionysius himself. And he undertook to bring forward undeniable proof of this assertion. For that his accusers were not acquainted with the modulation of those songs, but that he on the contrary was ready to sing them all through one after the other. And so, when Dionysius was pacified, Democles continued, and said, "But you would do me a great favour, O Dionysius, if you were to order any one of those who knows it to teach me the pÆan which you composed in honour of Æsculapius; for I hear that you have taken great pains with that."

And once, when some friends were invited to supper by Dionysius, Dionysius coming into the room, said, "O, my friends, letters have been sent to us from the generals who have been despatched to Naples;" and Democles interrupting him, said, "By the gods, they have done well, O Dionysius." And he, looking upon him, said, "But how do you know whether what they have written is in accordance with my expectation or the contrary?" And Democles replied, "By the gods, you have properly rebuked me, O Dionysius." TimÆus also affirms that there was a man named Satyrus, who was a flatterer of both the Dionysii.

57. And Hegesander relates that Hiero the tyrant was [394]also rather weak in his eyes; and that his friends who supped with him made mistakes in the dishes on purpose, in order to let him set them right, and to give him an opportunity of appearing clearer-sighted than the rest. And Hegesander says that Euclides, who was surnamed Seutlus, (and he too was a parasite,) once when a great quantity of sow-thistles (s?????) was set before him at a banquet, said, "Capaneus, who is introduced by Euripides in his Suppliant Women, was a very witty man—

But those who were the leaders of the people at Athens, says he, in the Chremonidean war, flattered the Athenians, and said, "that everything else was common to all the Greeks; but that the Athenians were the only men who knew the road which leads to heaven." And Satyrus, in his Lives, says that Anaxarchus, the EudÆmonical philosopher, was one of the flatterers of Alexander; and that he once, when on a journey in company with the king, when a violent and terrible thunderstorm took place, so as to frighten everybody, said—"Was it you, O Alexander, son of Jupiter, who caused this?" And that he laughed and said—"Not I; for I do not wish to be formidable, as you make me out; you also desire me to have brought to me at supper the heads of satraps and kings." And Aristobulus of Cassandria says that Dioxippus the Athenian, a pancratiast, once when Alexander was wounded and when the blood flowed, said—

58. And Epicrates the Athenian, having gone on an embassy to the king, according to the statement of Hegesander, and having received many presents from him, was not ashamed to flatter the king openly and boldly, so as even to say that the best way was not to choose nine archons every year, but nine ambassadors to the king. But I wonder at the Athenians, how they allowed him to make such a speech without bringing him to trial, and yet fined Demades ten talents, because he thought Alexander a god; and they put Evagoras to death, because when he went as ambassador to the king he adored him. And Timon the Phliasian, in the third book of his Silli, says that Ariston the Chian, an acquaintance and pupil of Zeno the Citiean, was a flatterer [395]of PersÆus the philosopher, because he was a companion of Antigonus the king. But Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, when he saw the king in convulsions from some medicine which he had taken, said—"O king, what must we do, when even you gods suffer in this manner?" and that Alexander, scarcely looking up, said—"What sort of gods? I am afraid rather we are hated by the gods." And in his twenty-eighth book the same Phylarchus says that Apollophanes was a flatterer of Antigonus who was surnamed Epitropus, who took LacedÆmon, and who used to say that the fortune of Antigonus Alexandrized.

59. But Euphantus, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Callicrates was a flatterer of Ptolemy, the third king of Egypt, who was so subtle a flatterer that he not only bore an image of Ulysses on his seal, but that he also gave his children the names of Telegonus, and Anticlea. And Polybius, in the thirteenth book of his Histories, says that Heraclides the Tarentine was a flatterer of the Philip whose power was destroyed by the Romans; and that it was he who overturned his whole kingdom. And in his fourteenth book, he says that Philo was a flatterer of Agathocles the son of Œnanthe, and the companion of the king Ptolemy Philopator. And Baton of Sinope relates, in his book about the tyranny of Hieronymus, that Thraso, who was surnamed Carcharus, was the flatterer of Hieronymus the tyrant of Syracuse, saying that he every day used to drink a great quantity of unmixed wine. But another flatterer, by name Osis, caused Thraso to be put to death by Hieronymus; and he persuaded Hieronymus himself to assume the diadem, and the purple and all the rest of the royal apparel, which Dionysius the tyrant was accustomed to wear. And Agatharchides, in the thirtieth book of his Histories, says—"HÆresippus the Spartan was a man of no moderate iniquity, not even putting on any appearance of goodness; but having very persuasive flattering language, and being a very clever man at paying court to the rich as long as their fortune lasted. Such also was Heraclides the Maronite, the flatterer of Seuthes the king of the Thracians, who is mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the Anabasis.

60. But Theopompus, in the eighteenth book of his Histories, speaking of Nicostratus the Argive, and saying [396]how he flattered the Persian king, writes as follows—"But how can we think Nicostratus the Argive anything but a wicked man? who, when he was president of the city of Argos, and when he had received all the distinctions of family, and riches, and large estates from his ancestors, surpassed all men in his flatteries and attentions to the king, outrunning not only those who bore a part in that expedition, but even all who had lived before; for in the first place, he was so anxious for honours from the barbarian, that, wishing to please him more and to be more trusted by him, he brought his son to the king, a thing which no one else will ever be found to have done. And then, every day when he was about to go to supper he had a table set apart, to which he gave the name of the Table of the King's Deity, loading it with meat and all other requisites; hearing that those who live at the doors of the royal palace among the Persians do the same thing, and thinking that by this courtier-like attention he should get more from the king. For he was exceedingly covetous, and not scrupulous as to the means he employed for getting money, so that indeed no one was ever less so. And Lysimachus was a flatterer and the tutor of Attalus the king, a man whom Callimachus sets down as a Theodorean, but Hermippus sets him down in the list of the disciples of Theophrastus. And this man wrote books also about the education of Attalus, full of every kind of adulation imaginable. But Polybius, in the eighth book of his Histories, says, "Cavarus the Gaul, who was in other respects a good man, was depraved by Sostratus the flatterer, who was a Chalcedonian by birth."

61. Nicolaus, in the hundred and fourteenth book of his Histories, says that Andromachus of CarrhÆ was a flatterer of Licinius Crassus, who commanded the expedition against the Parthians; and that Crassus communicated all his designs to him, and was, in consequence, betrayed to the Parthians by him, and so destroyed. But Andromachus was not allowed by the deity to escape unpunished. For having obtained, as the reward of his conduct, the sovereignty over his native place CarrhÆ, he behaved with such cruelty and violence that he was burnt with his whole family by the Carrhans. And Posidonius the Apamean, who was afterwards surnamed Rhodius, in the fourth book of his Histories, says that Hierax of Antioch, who used formerly to accompany the [397]singers called Lysiodi on the flute, afterwards became a terrible flatterer of Ptolemy, seventh king of Egypt of that name, who was also surnamed Euergetes; and that he had the very greatest influence over him, as also he had with Ptolemy Philometor, though he was afterwards put to death by him. And Nicolaus the Peripatetic states that Sosipater was a flatterer of Mithridates, a man who was by trade a conjurer. And Theopompus, in the ninth book of his History of Grecian Affairs, says that AthenÆus the Eretrian was a flatterer and servant of Sisyphus the tyrant of Pharsalus.

62. The whole populace of the Athenians, too, was very notorious for the height to which it pushed its flattery; accordingly, Demochares the cousin of Demosthenes the orator, in the twentieth book of his Histories, speaking of the flattery practised by the Athenians towards Demetrius Poliorcetes, and saying that he himself did not at all like it, writes as follows—"And some of these things annoyed him greatly, as they well might. And, indeed, other parts of their conduct were utterly mean and disgraceful. They consecrated temples to LeÆna Venus and Lamia Venus, and they erected altars and shrines as if to heroes, and instituted libations in honour of Burichus, and Adeimantus, and Oxythemis, his flatterers. And poems were sung in honour of all these people, so that even Demetrius himself was astonished at what they did, and said that in his time there was not one Athenian of a great or vigorous mind." The Thebans also flattered Demetrius, as Polemo relates in the treatise on the Ornamented Portico at Sicyon; and they, too, erected a temple to Lamia Venus. But she was one of Demetrius's mistresses, as also was LeÆna. So that why should we wonder at the Athenians, who stooped even to become flatterers of flatterers, singing pÆans and hymns to Demetrius himself?

Accordingly Demochares, in the twenty-first book of his Histories, says—"And the Athenians received Demetrius when he came from Leucadia and Corcyra to Athens, not only with frankincense, and crowns, and libations of wine, but they even went out to meet him with hymns, and choruses, and ithyphalli, and dancing and singing, and they stood in front of him in multitudes, dancing and singing, and saying that he was the only true god, and that all the rest of the gods were either asleep, or gone away to a distance, or were no gods at [398]all. And they called him the son of Neptune and Venus, for he was eminent for beauty, and affable to all men with a natural courtesy and gentleness of manner. And they fell at his feet and addressed supplications and prayers to him."

63. Demochares, then, has said all this about the adulatory spirit and conduct of the Athenians. And Duris the Samian, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, has given the very ithyphallic hymn which they addressed to him—

[399] 64. This is what was sung by the nation which once fought at Marathon, and they sang it not only in public, but in their private houses—men who had once put a man to death for offering adoration to the king of Persia, and who had slain countless myriads of barbarians. Therefore, Alexis, in his Apothecary or Cratevas, introduces a person pledging one of the guests in a cup of wine, and represents him as saying—

And presently he adds—

65. Such were the Athenians at that time, after flattery, that worst of wild beasts, had inspired their city with frenzy, that city which once the Pythia entitled the Hearth of Greece, and which Theopompus, who hated them, called the Prytaneum of Greece; he who said in other places that Athens was full of drunken flatterers, and sailors, and pickpockets, and also of false witnesses, sycophants, and false accusers. And it is my opinion that it was they who introduced all the flattery which we have been speaking of, like a storm, or other infliction, sent on men by the gods; concerning which Diogenes said, very elegantly—"That it was much better to go ?? ???a?a? than ?? ???a?a?, who eat up all the good men while they are still alive;" and, accordingly, Anaxilas says, in his Young Woman—

And Plato says, in his PhÆdrus—"Nature has mingled some pleasure which is not entirely inelegant in its character of a flatterer, though he is an odious beast, and a great injury to a state." And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Flattery, [400]says that Myrtis the priest, the Argive, taking by the ear Cleonymus (who was a dancer and also a flatterer, and who often used to come and sit by him and his fellow-judges, and who was anxious to be seen in company with those who were thought of consideration in the city), and dragging him out of the assembly, said to him in the hearing of many people, You shall not dance here, and you shall not hear us. And Diphilus, in his Marriage, says—

So that the Thessalians did well who razed the city which was called Colaceia (Flattery), which the Melians used to inhabit, as Theopompus relates in the thirtieth book of his History.

66. But Phylarchus says, that those Athenians who settled in Lemnos were great flatterers, mentioning them as such in the thirteenth book of his History. For that they, wishing to display their gratitude to the descendants of Seleucus and Antiochus, because Seleucus not only delivered them when they were severely oppressed by Lysimachus, but also restored both their cities to them,—they, I say, the Athenians in Lemnos, not only erected temples to Seleucus, but also to his son Antiochus; and they have given to the cup, which at their feasts is offered at the end of the banquet, the name of the cup of Seleucus the Saviour.

Now some people, perverting the proper name, call this flattery ???s?e?a, complaisance; as Anaxandrides does in his Samian, where he says—

But those who devote themselves to flattery are not aware that that art is one which flourishes only a short time. Accordingly, Alexis says in his Liar—

[401] And Clearchus the Solensian, in the first book of his Amatory treatises, says—"No flatterer is constant in his friendship. For time destroys the falsehood of his pretences, and a lover is only a flatterer and a pretended friend on account of youth or beauty." One of the flatterers of Demetrius the king was Adeimantus of Lampsacus, who having built a temple in ThriÆ, and placed statues in it, called it the temple of Phila Venus, and called the place itself PhilÆum, from Phila the mother of Demetrius; as we are told by Dionysius the son of Tryphon, in the tenth book of his treatise on Names.

67. But Clearchus the Solensian, in his book which is inscribed Gergithius, tells us whence the origin of the name flatterer is derived; and mentioning Gergithius himself, from whom the treatise has its name, he says that he was one of Alexander's flatterers; and he tells the story thus—"That flattery debases the characters of the flatterers, making them apt to despise whoever they associate with; and a proof of this is, that they endure everything, well knowing what they dare do. And those who are flattered by them, being puffed up by their adulation, they make foolish and empty-headed, and cause them to believe that they, and everything belonging to them, are of a higher order than other people." And then proceeding to mention a certain young man, a Paphian by birth, but a king by the caprice of fortune, he says—"This young man (and he does not mention his name) used out of his preposterous luxury to lie on a couch with silver feet, with a smooth Sardian carpet spread under it of the most expensive description. And over him was thrown a piece of purple cloth, edged with a scarlet fringe; and he had three pillows under his head made of the finest linen, and of purple colour, by which he kept himself cool. And under his feet he had two pillows of the kind called Dorian, of a bright crimson colour; and on all this he lay himself, clad in a white robe.

68. "And all the monarchs who have at any time reigned in Cyprus have encouraged a race of nobly-born flatterers as useful to them; for they are a possession very appropriate to tyrants. And no one ever knows them (any more than they do the judges of the Areopagus), either how many they are, or who they are, except that perhaps some of the most [402]eminent may be known or suspected. And the flatterers at Salamis are divided into two classes with reference to their families; and it is from the flatterers in Salamis that all the rest of the flatterers in the other parts of Cyprus are derived; and one of these two classes is called the Gergini, and the other the Promalanges. Of which, the Gergini mingle with the people in the city, and go about as eavesdroppers and spies in the workshops and the market-places; and whatever they hear, they report every day to those who are called their Principals. But the Promalanges, being a sort of superior investigators, inquire more particularly into all that is reported by the Gergini which appears worthy of being investigated; and the way in which they conduct themselves towards every one is so artificial and gentle, that, as it seems to me, and as they themselves allege, the very seed of notable flatterers has been spread by them over all the places at a distance. Nor do they pride themselves slightly on their skill, because they are greatly honoured by the kings; but they say that one of the Gergini, being a descendant of those Trojans whom Teucer took as slaves, having selected them from the captives, and then brought and settled in Cyprus, going along the sea-coast with a few companions, sailed towards Æolis, in order to seek out and re-establish the country of his ancestors; and that he, taking some Mysians to himself, inhabited a city near the Trojan Ida, which was formerly called Gergina, from the name of the inhabitants, but is now called Gergitha. For some of the party being, as it seems, separated from this expedition, stopped in CymÆa, being by birth a Cretan race, and not from the Thessalian Tricca, as some have affirmed,—men whose ignorance I take to be beyond the skill of all the descendants of Æsculapius to cure.

69. "There were also in this country, in the time of Glutus the Carian, women attaching themselves to the Queens, who were called flatterers; and a few of them who were left crossed the sea, and were sent for to the wives of Artabazus and Mentor, and instead of ???a??de? were called ???a??de? from this circumstance. By way of making themselves agreeable to those who had sent for them, they made a ladder (???a??a) of themselves, in such a manner that there was a way of ascending over their backs, and also a way of descending, for their mistresses when they drove out in chariots: to such a [403]pitch of luxury, not to say of miserable helplessness, did they bring those silly women by their contrivance. Therefore, they themselves, when they were compelled by fortune to quit that very luxurious way of living, lived with great hardship in their old age. And the others who had received these habits from us, when they were deprived of their authority came to Macedonia; and the customs which they taught to the wives and princesses of the great men in that country by their association with them, it is not decent even to mention further than this, that practising magic arts themselves, and being the objects of them when practised by others, they did not spare even the places of the greatest resort, but they became complete vagabonds, and the very scum of the streets, polluted with all sorts of abominations. Such and so great are the evils which seem to be engendered by flattery in the case of all people who admit from their own inclination and predisposition to be flattered."

70. And a little further Clearchus goes on as follows:—"But still a man may have a right to find fault with that young man for the way in which he used those things, as I have said before. For his slaves stood in short tunics a little behind the couch: and as there are now three men on whose account all this discussion has been originated, and as all these men are men who have separate names among us, the one sat on the couch close to his feet, letting the feet of the young man rest upon his knees, and covering them with a thin cloth; and what he did further is plain enough, even if I do not mention it. And this servant is called by the natives Parabystus, because he works his way into the company of those men even who do not willingly receive him, by the very skilful character of his flatteries. The second was one sitting on a certain chair which was placed close to the couch; and he, holding by the hand of the young man, as he let it almost drop, and clinging to it, kept on rubbing it, and taking each of his fingers in turn he rubbed it and stretched it, so that the man appeared to have said a very witty thing who first gave that officer the name of Sicya.[403:1] The third, however, was the most noble of all, and was called Theer (or the wild beast), who was indeed the principal person of the whole body, and who stood at his master's head, and shared [404]his linen pillows, lying upon them in a most friendly manner. And with his left hand he kept smoothing the hair of the young man, and with his right hand he kept moving up and down a PhocÆan fan, so as to please him while waving it, without force enough to brush anything away. On which account, it appears to me, that some high-born god must have been angry with him and have sent a fly to attack the young man, a fly like that with whose audacity Homer says that Minerva inspired Menelaus, so vigorous and fearless was it in disposition.

"So when the young man was stung, this man uttered such a loud scream in his behalf, and was so indignant, that on account of his hatred to one fly he banished the whole tribe of flies from his house: from which it is quite plain that he appointed this servant for this especial purpose."

71. But Leucon, the tyrant of Pontus, was a different kind of man, who when he knew that many of his friends had been plundered by one of the flatterers whom he had about him, perceiving that the man was calumniating some one of his remaining friends, said, "I swear by the gods that I would kill you if a tyrannical government did not stand in need of bad men." And Antiphanes the comic writer, in his Soldier, gives a similar account of the luxury of the kings in Cyprus. And he represents one of them as asking a soldier these questions—

A.	Tell me now, you had lived some time in Cyprus? Say you not so?
B.	Yes, all the time of the war.
A.	In what part most especially? tell me that.
B.	In Paphos, where you should have seen the luxury That did exist, or you could not believe it.
A.	What kind of luxury?
B.	The king was fann'd While at his supper by young turtle-doves And by nought else.
A.	How mean you? never mind My own affairs, but let me ask you this.
B.	He was anointed with a luscious ointment Brought up from Syria, made of some rich fruit Which they do say doves love to feed upon. They were attracted by the scent and flew Around the royal temples; and had dared To seat themselves upon the monarch's head, But that the boys who sat around with sticks Did keep them at a slight and easy distance. [405] And so they did not perch, but hover'd round, Neither too far nor yet too near, still fluttering, So that they raised a gentle breeze to blow Not harshly on the forehead of the king.

72. The flatterer (???a?) of that young man whom we have been speaking of must have been a a?a?????a?, (a soft flatterer,) as Clearchus says. For besides flattering such a man as that, he invents a regular gait and dress harmonizing with that of those who receive the flattery, folding his arms and wrapping himself up in a small cloak; on which account some men call him Paranconistes, and some call him a Repository of Attitudes. For really a flatterer does seem to be the very same person with Proteus himself. Accordingly he changes into nearly every sort of person, not only in form, but also in his discourse, so very varied in voice he is.

But Androcydes the physician said that flattery had its name (?????e?a) from becoming glued (?p? t?? p??s?????s?a?) to men's acquaintance. But it appears to me that they were named from their facility; because a flatterer will undergo anything, like a person who stoops down to carry another on his back, by reason of his natural disposition, not being annoyed at anything, however disgraceful it may be.

And a man will not be much out who calls the life of that young Cyprian a wet one. And Alexis says that there were many tutors and teachers of that kind of life at Athens, speaking thus in his Pyraunus—

And Crobylus says in his Female Deserter—

73. And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, lays it down that flattery is a kind of art, where he says—

But Menander, in his play called the Flatterer, has given us the character of one as carefully and faithfully as it was possible to manage it: as also Diphilus has of a parasite in his Telesias. And Alexis, in his Liar, has introduced a flatterer speaking in the following manner—

And it seems to me, my friends, that that fine epicure would not have scrupled to quote from the Omphale of Ion the tragedian, and to say—

74. But Hippias the ErythrÆan, in the second book of his Histories of his own Country, relating how the kingdom of Cnopus was subverted by the conduct of his flatterers, says this—"When Cnopus consulted the oracle about his safety, the god, in his answer, enjoined him to sacrifice to the crafty Mercury. And when, after that, he went to Delphi, they who were anxious to put an end to his kingly power in order to establish an oligarchy instead of it, (and those who wished this were Ortyges, and Irus, and Echarus, who, because they were most conspicuous in paying court to the princes, were called adorers and flatterers,) they, I say, being on a voyage in company with Cnopus, when they were at a distance from land, bound Cnopus and threw him into the sea; and then they sailed to Chios, and getting a force from the tyrants there, Amphiclus and Polytechnus, they sailed by night to ErythrÆ, and just at the same time the corpse of Cnopus was washed up on the sea-shore at ErythrÆ, at a place which is now called Leopodon. And while Cleonice, the wife of Cnopus, was busied about the offices due to the corpse, (and it was the time of the festival and assembly instituted in honour of Diana Stophea,) on a sudden there is heard the noise of a trumpet; and the city is taken by Ortyges and his troops, and many of the friends of Cnopus are put to death; and Cleonice, hearing what had happened, fled to Colophon.

[407] 75. "But Ortyges and his companions, establishing themselves as tyrants, and having possessed themselves of the supreme power in Chios, destroyed all who opposed their proceedings, and they subverted the laws, and themselves managed the whole of the affairs of the state, admitting none of the popular party within the walls. And they established a court of justice outside the walls, before the gates; and there they tried all actions, sitting as judges, clothed in purple cloaks, and in tunics with purple borders, and they wore sandals with many slits in them during the hot weather; but in winter they always walked about in women's shoes; and they let their hair grow, and took great care of it so as to have ringlets, dividing it on the top of their head with fillets of yellow and purple. And they wore ornaments of solid gold, like women, and they compelled some of the citizens to carry their litters, and some to act as lictors to them, and some to sweep the roads. And they sent for the sons of some of the citizens to their parties when they supped together; and some they ordered to bring their own wives and daughters within. And on those who disobeyed they inflicted the most extreme punishment. And if any one of their companions died, then collecting the citizens with their wives and children, they compelled them by violence to utter lamentations over the dead, and to beat their breasts, and to cry out shrilly and loudly with their voices, a man with a scourge standing over them, who compelled them to do so—until Hippotes, the brother of Cnopus, coming to ErythrÆ with an army at the time of a festival, the people of ErythrÆ assisting him, set upon the tyrants, and having punished a great many of their companions, slew Ortyges in his flight, and all who were with him, and treated their wives and children with the very extremity of ill-usage, and delivered his country."

76. Now from all this we may understand, my friends, of how many evils flattery is the cause in human life. For Theopompus, in the nineteenth book of his history of the Transactions of Philip, says, "Agathocles was a slave, and one of the PenestÆ in Thessaly, and as he had great influence with Philip by reason of his flattery of him, and because he was constantly at his entertainments dancing and making him laugh, Philip sent him to destroy the PerrhÆbi, and to govern all that part of the country. And the Macedonian constantly [408]had this kind of people about him, with whom he associated the greater part of his time, because of their fondness for drinking and buffoonery, and in their company he used to deliberate on the most important affairs." And Hegesander the Delphian gives a similar account of him, and relates how he sent a large sum of money to the men who are assembled at Athens at the temple of Hercules in Diomea, and who say laughable things; and he ordered some men to write down all that was said by them, and to send it to him. And Theopompus, in the twenty-sixth book of his History, says "that Philip knowing that the Thessalians were an intemperate race, and very profligate in their way of living, prepared some entertainments for them, and endeavoured in every possible manner to make himself agreeable to them. For he danced and revelled, and practised every kind of intemperance and debauchery. And he was by nature a buffoon, and got drunk every day, and he delighted in those occupations which are consistent with such practices, and with those who are called witty men, who say and do things to provoke laughter. And he attached numbers of the Thessalians who were intimate with him to himself, still more by his entertainments than by his presents." And Dionysius the Sicilian used to do very nearly the same thing, as Eubulus the comic poet tells us in his play entitled Dionysius;—

77. And indeed Dionysius was not the only person who encouraged and received those who had squandered their estates on drunkenness and gambling and all such debauchery as that, for Philip also did the same. And Theopompus speaks of such of them in the forty-ninth book of his History, where he writes as follows:—"Philip kept at a distance all men who were well regulated in their conduct and who took care of their property; but the extravagant and those who lived in gambling and drunkenness he praised and honoured. And therefore he not only took care that they should always have such amusements, but he encouraged them to devote themselves to all sorts of injustice and debauchery besides. For what disgraceful or iniquitous practices were there to which [409]these men were strangers, or what virtuous or respectable habits were there which they did not shun? Did they not at all times go about shaven and carefully made smooth, though they were men? And did not they endeavour to misuse one another though they had beards? And they used to go about attended by two or three lovers at a time; and they expected no complaisance from others which they were not prepared to exhibit themselves. On which account a man might very reasonably have thought them not ?ta???? but ?ta??a?, and one might have called them not soldiers, but prostitutes. For though they were ??d??f???? by profession, they were ??d??p????? by practice. And in addition to all this, instead of loving sobriety, they loved drunkenness; and instead of living respectably they sought every opportunity of robbing and murdering; and as for speaking the truth, and adhering to their agreements, they thought that conduct quite inconsistent with their characters; but to perjure themselves and cheat, they thought the most venerable behaviour possible. And they disregarded what they had, but they longed for what they had not; and this too, though a great part of Europe belonged to them. For I think that the companions of Philip, who did not at that time amount to a greater number than eight hundred, had possession so far as to enjoy the fruits of more land than any ten thousand Greeks, who had the most fertile and large estates." And he makes a very similar statement about Dionysius, in his twenty-first book, when he says, "Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily encouraged above all others those who squandered their property in drunkenness and gambling and intemperance of that sort. For he wished every one to become ruined and ready for any iniquity, and all such people he treated with favour and distinction."

78. And Demetrius Poliorcetes was a man very fond of mirth, as Phylarchus relates in the tenth book of his History. But in the fourteenth book he writes as follows:—"Demetrius used to allow men to flatter him at his banquets, and to pour libations in his honour, calling him Demetrius the only king, and Ptolemy only the prefect of the fleet, and Lysimachus only a steward, and Seleucus only a superintendent of elephants, and in this way he incurred no small amount of hatred." And Herodotus states that Amasis the [410]king of the Egyptians was always a man full of tricks, and one who was used to turn his fellow feasters into ridicule; and when he was a private man he says he was very fond of feasting and of jesting, and he was not at all a serious man. And Nicolaus, in the twenty-seventh book of his History, says that Sylla the Roman general was so fond of mimics and buffoons, being a man very much addicted to amusement, that he gave such men several portions of the public land. And the satyric comedies which he wrote himself in his native language, show of how merry and jovial a temperament he was in this way.

79. And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Comedy, tells us that the Tirynthians, being people addicted to amusement, and utterly useless for all serious business, betook themselves once to the oracle at Delphi in hopes to be relieved from some calamity or other. And that the God answered them, "That if they sacrificed a bull to Neptune and threw it into the sea without once laughing, the evil would cease." And they, fearing lest they should make a blunder in obeying the oracle, forbade any of the boys to be present at the sacrifice; however, one boy, hearing of what was going to be done, mingled with the crowd, and then when they hooted him and drove him away, "Why," said he, "are you afraid lest I should spoil your sacrifice?" and when they laughed at this question of his, they perceived that the god meant to show them by a fact that an inveterate custom cannot be remedied. And Sosicrates, in the first book of his History of Crete, says that the PhÆstians have a certain peculiarity, for that they seem to practise saying ridiculous things from their earliest childhood; on which account it has often happened to them to say very reasonable and witty things because of their early habituation: and therefore all the Cretans attribute to them preeminence in the accomplishment of raising a laugh.

80. But after flattery, Anaxandrides the comic poet gives the next place to ostentation, in his Apothecary Prophet, speaking thus—

[411] And Antiphanes speaks of what he calls a psomocolax, a flatterer for morsels of bread, in his Gerytades, when he says—

And Sannyrion says—

And Philemon says in his Woman made young again—

And Philippides says in his Renovation—

But the word ???a? especially applies to these parasitical flatterers; for ????? means food, from which come the words ???????, and d?s?????, which means difficult to be pleased and squeamish. And the word ?????a means that part of the body which receives the food, that is to say, the stomach. Diphilus also uses the word ??????af?? in his Theseus, saying—

81. When Democritus had made this speech, and had asked for some drink in a narrow-necked sabrias, Ulpian said, And what is this sabrias? And just as Democritus was beginning to treat us all to a number of interminable stories, in came a troop of servants bringing in everything requisite for eating. Concerning whom Democritus, continuing his discourse, spoke as follows:—I have always, O my friends, marvelled at the race of slaves, considering how abstemious they are, though placed in the middle of such numbers of dainties; for they pass them by, not only out of fear, but also because they are taught to do so; I do not mean being taught in the Slave-teacher of Pherecrates, but by early habituation; and without its being necessary to utter any express prohibition respecting such matters to them, as in the island of Cos, when the citizens sacrifice to Juno. For Macareus says, in his third book of his treatise on Coan Affairs, that, when the Coans sacrifice to Juno, no slave is allowed to enter the temple, nor does any slave taste any one of the things which are prepared for the sacrifice. And Antiphanes, in his Dyspratus,[411:1] says—

And Epicrates, in his Dyspratus, introduces a servant expressing his indignation, and saying—

from the comparison of which iambics, it is very plain that Epicrates borrowed Antiphanes's lines, and transferred them to his own play.

82. And Dieuchidas says, in his history of the Affairs of Megara—"Around the islands called ArÆÆ[412:1] (and they are between Cnidos and Syme) a difference arose, after the death of Triopas, among those who had set out with him on his expedition, and some returned home, and others remained with Phorbas, and came to Ialysus, and others proceeded with Periergus, and occupied the district of Cameris. And on this it is said that Periergus uttered curses against Phorbas, and on this account the islands were called ArÆÆ. But Phorbas having met with shipwreck, he and Parthenia, the sister of Phorbas and Periergus, swam ashore to Ialysus, at the point called Schedia. And Thamneus met with them, as he happened to be hunting near Schedia, and took them to his own house, intending to receive them hospitably, and sent on a servant as a messenger to tell his wife to prepare everything necessary, as he was bringing home strangers. But when he came to his house and found nothing prepared, he himself put corn into a mill, and everything else that was requisite, and then ground it himself and feasted them. And Phorbas was so delighted with this hospitality, that when he was dying himself he charged his friends to take care that his funeral rites should be performed by free men. And so this custom continued to prevail in the sacrifice of Phorbas, for [413]none but free men minister at this sacrifice. And it is accounted profanation for any slave to approach it."

83. And since among the different questions proposed by Ulpian, there is this one about the slaves, let us now ourselves recapitulate a few things which we have to say on the subject, remembering what we have in former times read about it. For Pherecrates, in his Boors, says—

And Anaxandrides, in his Anchises, says—

84. And Posidonius, the stoic philosopher, says in the eleventh book of his History, "That many men, who are unable to govern themselves, by reason of the weakness of their intellect, give themselves up to the guidance of those who are wiser than themselves, in order that receiving from them care and advice, and assistance in necessary matters, they may in their turn requite them with such services as they are able to render. And in this manner the Mariandyni became subject to the people of Heraclea, promising to act as their subjects for ever, if they would supply them with what they stood in need of; having made an agreement beforehand, that none of them would sell anything out of the territory of Heraclea, but that they would sell in that district alone. And perhaps it is on this account that Euphorion the epic poet called the Mariandyni Bringers of Gifts, saying—

And Callistratus the Aristophanean says that "they called the Mariandyni d???f????, by that appellation taking away whatever there is bitter in the name of servants, just as the [414]Spartans did in respect of the Helots, the Thessalians in the case of the PenestÆ, and the Cretans with the ClarotÆ. But the Cretans call those servants, who are in their houses Chrysoneti,[414:1] and those whose work lies in the fields AmphamiotÆ, being natives of the country, but people who have been enslaved by the chance of war; but they also call the same people ClarotÆ, because they have been distributed among their masters by lot.

And Ephorus, in the third book of his Histories, "The Cretans call their slaves ClarotÆ, because lots have been drawn for them; and those slaves have some regularly recurring festivals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city, but the slaves are the masters of everything, and have the right even to scourge the freemen." But Sosicrates, in the second book of his History of Cretan Affairs, says, "The Cretans call public servitude ???a, but the private slaves they call aphamiotÆ; and the perioeci, or people who live in the adjacent districts, they call subjects. And Dosiadas gives a very similar account in the fourth book of his history of Cretan Affairs.

85. But the Thessalians call those PenestÆ who were not born slaves, but who have been taken prisoners in war. And Theopompus the comic poet, misapplying the word, says—

And Philocrates, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Thessaly, if at least the work attributed to him is genuine, says that the PenestÆ are also called ThessaloecetÆ, or servants of the Thessalians. And Archemachus, in the third book of his history of the Affairs of Euboea, says, "When the Boeotians had founded ArnÆa, those of them who did not return to Boeotia, but who took a fancy to their new country, gave themselves up to the Thessalians by agreement, to be their slaves; on condition that they should not take them out of the country, nor put them to death, but that they should cultivate the country for them, and pay them a yearly revenue for it. These men, therefore, abiding by their agreement, and giving themselves up to the Thessalians, were called at that time MenestÆ; but now they are called PenestÆ; [415]and many of them are richer than their masters. And Euripides, in his Phrixus, calls them latriÆ,[415:1] in these words—

86. And TimÆus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, says, "It was not a national custom among the Greeks in former times to be waited on by purchased slaves;" and he proceeds to say, "And altogether they accused Aristotle of having departed from the Locrian customs; for they said that it was not customary among the Locrians, nor among the Phocians, to use either maid-servants or house-servants till very lately. But the wife of Philomelus, who took Delphi, was the first woman who had two maids to follow her. And in a similar manner Mnason, the companion of Aristotle, was much reproached among the Phocians, for having purchased a thousand slaves; for they said that he was depriving that number of citizens of their necessary subsistence: for that it was a custom in their houses for the younger men to minister to the elder."

87. And Plato, in the sixth book of the Laws, says,—"The whole question about servants is full of difficulty; for of all the Greeks, the system of the Helots among the LacedÆmonians causes the greatest perplexity and dispute, some people affirming that it is a wise institution, and some considering it as of a very opposite character. But the system of slavery among the people of Heraclea would cause less dispute than the subject condition of the Mariandyni; and so too would the condition of the Thessalian PenestÆ. And if we consider all these things, what ought we to do with respect to the acquisition of servants? For there is nothing sound in the feelings of slaves; nor ought a prudent man to trust them in anything of importance. And the wisest of all poets says—

And it has been frequently shown by facts, that a slave is an objectionable and perilous possession; especially in the frequent revolts of the Messenians, and in the case of those cities which have many slaves, speaking different languages, in which many evils arise from that circumstance. And also we may come to the same conclusion from the exploits and sufferings of all sorts of robbers, who infest the Italian coasts [416]as piratical vagabonds. And if any one considers all these circumstances, he may well doubt what course ought to be pursued with respect to all these people. Two remedies now are left to us—either never to allow, for the future, any person's slaves to be one another's fellow-countrymen, and, as far as possible, to prevent their even speaking the same language: and he should also keep them well, not only for their sake, but still more for his own; and he should behave towards them with as little insolence as possible. But it is right to chastise them with justice; not admonishing them as if they were free men, so as to make them arrogant: and every word which we address to slaves ought to be, in some sort, a command. And a man ought never to play at all with his slaves, or jest with them, whether they be male or female. And as to the very foolish way in which many people treat their slaves, allowing them great indulgence and great licence, they only make everything more difficult for both parties: they make obedience harder for the one to practise, and authority harder for the others to exercise.

88. Now of all the Greeks, I conceive that the Chians were the first people who used slaves purchased with money, as is related by Theopompus, in the seventeenth book of his Histories; where he says,—"The Chians were the first of the Greeks, after the Thessalians and LacedÆmonians, who used slaves. But they did not acquire them in the same manner as those others did; for the LacedÆmonians and the Thessalians will be found to have derived their slaves from Greek tribes, who formerly inhabited the country which they now possess: the one having AchÆan slaves, but the Thessalians having PerrhÆbian and Magnesian slaves; and the one nation called their slaves Helots, and the others called them PenestÆ. But the Chians have barbarian slaves, and they have bought them at a price." Theopompus, then, has given this account. But I think that, on this account, the Deity was angry with the Chians; for at a subsequent period they were subdued by their slaves. Accordingly, Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyage along the Coast of Asia, gives this account of them:—"The slaves of the Chians deserted them, and escaped to the mountains; and then, collecting in great numbers, ravaged the country-houses about; for the island is very rugged, and much overgrown with trees. But, a little before [417]our time, the Chians themselves relate, that one of their slaves deserted, and took up his habitation in the mountains; and, being a man of great courage and very prosperous in his warlike undertakings, he assumed the command of the runaway slaves, as a king would take the command of an army; and though the Chians often made expeditions against him, they were able to effect nothing. And when Drimacus (for that was the name of this runaway slave) found that they were being destroyed, without being able to effect anything, he addressed them in this language: 'O Chians! you who are the masters, this treatment which you are now receiving from your servants will never cease; for how should it cease, when it is God who causes it, in accordance with the prediction of the oracle? But if you will be guided by me, and if you will leave us in peace, then I will be the originator of much good fortune to you.'

89. "Accordingly, the Chians, having entered into a treaty with him, and having made a truce for a certain time, Drimacus prepares measures and weights, and a private seal for himself; and, throwing it to the Chians, he said, 'Whatever I take from any one of you, I shall take according to these measures and these weights; and when I have taken enough, I will then leave the storehouses, having sealed them up with this seal. And as to all the slaves who desert from you, I will inquire what cause of complaint they have; and if they seem to me to have been really subject to any incurable oppression, which has been the reason of their running away, I will retain them with me; but if they have no sufficient or reasonable ground to allege, I will send them back to their masters.' Accordingly, the rest of the slaves, seeing that the Chians agreed to this state of things, very good-humouredly did not desert nearly so much for the future, fearing the judgment which Drimacus might pass upon them. And the runaways who were with him feared him a great deal more than they did their own masters, and did everything that he required, obeying him as their general; for he punished the refractory with great severity: and he permitted no one to ravage the land, nor to commit any other crime of any sort, without his consent. And at the time of festivals, he went about, and took from the fields wine, and such animals for victims as were in good condition, and whatever else the [418] masters were inclined or able to give him; and if he perceived that any one was intriguing against him, or laying any plot to injure him or overthrow his power, he chastised him.

90. "Then (for the city had made a proclamation, that it would give a great reward to any one who took him prisoner, or who brought in his head,) this Drimacus, as he became older, calling one of his most intimate friends into a certain place, says to him, 'You know that I have loved you above all men, and you are to me as my child and my son, and as everything else. I now have lived long enough, but you are young and just in the prime of life. What, then, are we to do? You must show yourself a wise and brave man; for, since the city of the Chians offers a great reward to any one who shall kill me, and also promises him his freedom, you must cut off my head, and carry it to Chios, and receive the money which they offer, and so be prosperous.' But when the young man refused, he at last persuaded him to do so; and so he cut off his head; and took it to the Chians, and received from them the rewards which they had offered by proclamation: and, having buried the corpse of Drimacus, he departed to his own country. And the Chians, being again injured and plundered by their slaves, remembering the moderation of him who was dead, erected a Heroum in their country, and called it the shrine of the Gentle Hero. And even now the runaway slaves bring to that shrine the first-fruits of all the plunder they get; and they say that Drimacus still appears to many of the Chians in their sleep, and informs them beforehand of the stratagems of their slaves who are plotting against them: and to whomsoever he appears, they come to that place, and sacrifice to him, where this shrine is."

91. Nymphodorus, then, has given this account; but in many copies of his history, I have found that Drimachus is not mentioned by name. But I do not imagine that any one of you is ignorant, either of what the prince of all historians, Herodotus, has related of the Chian Panionium, and of what he justly suffered who castrated free boys and sold them. But Nicolaus the Peripatetic, and Posidonius the Stoic, in their Histories, both state that the Chians were enslaved by Mithridates, the tyrant of Cappadocia; and were given up by him, bound, to their own slaves, for the purpose of being [419]transported into the land of the Colchians,—so really angry with them was the Deity, as being the first people who used purchased slaves, while most other nations provided for themselves by their own industry. And, perhaps, this is what the proverb originated in, "A Chian bought a master," which is used by Eupolis, in his Friends.

92. But the Athenians, having a prudent regard to the condition of their slaves, made a law that there should be a ??af? ??e??, even against men who ill treated their slaves. Accordingly, Hyperides, the orator, in his speech against Mnesitheus, on a charge of a???a, says, "They made these laws not only for the protection of freemen, but they enacted also, that even if any one personally ill treated a slave, there should be a power of preferring an indictment against him who had done so." And Lycurgus made a similar statement, in his first speech against Lycophron; and so did Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias. And Malacus, in his Annals of the Siphnians, relates that some slaves of the Samians colonized Ephesus, being a thousand men in number; who in the first instance revolted against their masters, and fled to the mountain which is in the island, and from thence did great injury to the Samians. But, in the sixth year after these occurrences, the Samians, by the advice of an oracle, made a treaty with the slaves, on certain agreements; and the slaves were allowed to depart uninjured from the island; and, sailing away, they occupied Ephesus, and the Ephesians are descended from these ancestors.

93. But Chrysippus says that there is a difference between a d????? and an ????t??; and he draws the distinction in the second book of his treatise on Similarity of Meaning, because he says that those who have been emancipated are still d?????, but that the term ????t?? is confined to those who are not discharged from servitude; for the ????t??, says he, is a d?????, being actually at the time the property of a master. And all the following are called d?????, as Clitarchus says, in his treatise on Dialects: ????,[419:1] and ?e??p??te?,[419:2] and ?????????,[419:3] [420]and d???????,[420:1] and ?p??eta[420:2] and also p????e? and ??t?e??.[420:3] And Amerias says, that the slaves who are employed about the fields are called ????ta?. And Hermon, in his treatise on the Cretan Dialects, says that slaves of noble birth are called ??te?. And Seleucus says, that both men and maid servants are called ????; and that a female slave is often called ?p?f??s? and ?????; and that a slave who is the son of a slave is called s??d???; and that ?f?p???? is a name properly belonging to a female slave who is about her mistress's person, and that a p??p???? is one who walks before her mistress.

But Proxenus, in the second book of his treatise on the LacedÆmonian Constitution, says that female servants are called among the LacedÆmonians, Chalcides. But Ion of Chios, in his Laertes, uses the word ????t?? as synonymous with d?????, and says—

And AchÆus, in his Omphale, speaking of the Satyr, says—

using, however, in my opinion, the words e?d????? and e?????? in a peculiar sense, as meaning rather, good to his slaves and servants, taking e?????? from ????t??. And it is generally understood that an ????t?? is a servant whose business is confined to the house, and that it is possible he may be a free-born man.

94. But the poets of the old comedy, speaking of the old-fashioned way of life, and asserting that in olden time there was no great use of slaves, speak in this way. Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—

[421] And Crates says, in his Beasts—

A.	Then no one shall possess or own One male or female slave, But shall himself, though ne'er so old, Labour for all his needs.
B.	Not so, for I will quickly make These matters all come right.
A.	And what will your plans do for us?
B.	Why everything you call for Should of its own accord come forth, As if now you should say, O table, lay yourself for dinner, And spread a cloth upon you. You kneading-trough, prepare some dough; You cyathus, pour forth wine; Where is the cup? come hither, cup, And empt and wash yourself. Come up, O cake. You sir, you dish, Here, bring me up some beetroot. Come hither, fish. "I can't, for I Am raw on t' other side." Well, turn round then and baste yourself With oil and melted butter.

And immediately after this the man who takes up the opposite side of the argument says—

95. And Teleclides puts it better than the man whom I have just quoted, in his Amphictyons, where he says—

96. And in the name of Ceres, my companions, if these things went on in this way, I should like to know what need we should have of servants. But the ancients, accustoming us to provide for ourselves, instructed us by their actions while they feasted us in words. But I, in order to show you in what manner succeeding poets (since the most admirable Cratinus brandished the before-cited verses like a torch) imitated and amplified them, have quoted these plays in the order in which they were exhibited. And if I do not annoy you, (for as for the Cynics I do not care the least bit for them,) I will quote to you some sentences from the other poets, taking them also in regular order; one of which is that strictest Atticist of all, namely, Pherecrates; who in his Miners says—

A.	But all those things were heap'd in confusion By o'ergrown wealth, abounding altogether [423] In every kind of luxury. There were rivers With tender pulse and blackest soup o'erflowing, Which ran down brawling through the narrow dishes, Bearing the crusts and spoons away in the flood. Then there were dainty closely kneaded cakes; So that the food, both luscious and abundant, Descended to the gullets of the dead. There were black-puddings and large boiling slices Of well-mix'd sausages, which hiss'd within The smoking streamlet in the stead of oysters. There too were cutlets of broil'd fish well season'd With sauce of every kind, and cook, and country. There were huge legs of pork, most tender meat, Loading enormous platters; and boil'd pettitoes Sending a savoury steam; and paunch of ox; And well-cured chine of porker, red with salt, A dainty dish, on fried meat balls upraised. There too were cakes of groats well steep'd in milk, In large flat dishes, and rich plates of beestings.
B.	Alas, you will destroy me. Why do you Remain here longer, when you thus may dive Just as you are beneath deep Tartarus?
A.	What will you say then when you hear the rest? For roasted thrushes nicely brown'd and hot Flew to the mouths o' the guests, entreating them To deign to swallow them, besprinkled o'er With myrtle leaves and flowers of anemone, And plates of loveliest apples hung around Above our heads, hanging in air as it seem'd. And maidens in the most transparent robes, Just come to womanhood, and crowned with roses, Did through a strainer pour red mantling cups Of fragrant wine for all who wish'd to drink. And whatsoe'er each guest did eat or drink Straight reappear'd in twofold quantity.

97. And in his Persians he says—

98. And why need I quote in addition to this the passages from the TagenistÆ of the incomparable Aristophanes? And as to the passage in the Acharnenses, you are all of you full of it. And when I have just repeated the passage out of the Thurio-PersÆ of Metagenes I will say no more, and discard all notice of the Sirens of Nicophon, in which we find the following lines—

But Metagenes says this—

And I know too that the Thurio-PersÆ and the play of Nicophon were never exhibited at all; on which account I mentioned them last.

99. Democritus now having gone through this statement distinctly and intelligently, all the guests praised him; but Cynulcus said,—O messmates, I was exceedingly hungry, and Democritus has given me no unpleasant feast; carrying me across rivers of ambrosia and nectar. And I, having my mind watered by them, have now become still more exceedingly hungry, having hitherto swallowed nothing but words; so that now it is time to desist from this interminable discussion, [425]and, as the PÆanian orator says, to take some of these things, "which if they do not put strength into a man, at all events prevent his dying"—

as AchÆus says in Æthon, a satyric drama. And it was borrowing from him that the wise Euripides wrote—

And Ulpian, who was always fond of contradicting him, said in reply to this,—But still,

But you, you dog, are always hungry, and do not allow us to partake of, or I should rather say devour, good discussion in sufficient plenty: for good and wise conversation is the food of the mind. And then turning to the servant he said,—O Leucus, if you have any remnants of bread, give them to the dogs. And Cynulcus rejoined,—If I had been invited here only to listen to discussions, I should have taken care to come when the forum was full;[425:1] for that is the time which one of the wise men mentioned to me as the hour for declamations, and the common people on that account have called it p???a???a:

as Menander says; on which account I give you leave, you glutton, to eat your fill of this kind of food—

as AchÆus the Eretrian says in his Cycnus.

100. And when Cynulcus had said this, he was on the point of rising up to depart; but turning round and seeing a quantity of fish, and a large provision of all sorts of other eatables being brought in, beating the pillow with his hand, he shouted out,—

[426]But I now, by reason of my needy condition, do not speak dithyrambic poems, as Socrates says, but even epic poems too. For, reciting poems is very hungry work. For, according to Ameipsias, who said in his Sling, where he utters a prediction about you, O Laurentius,—

as Heniochus says in his Busybody; I must, therefore, as the comic poet Metagenes says—

endure and listen to what more you have all got to say.

101. And when he was silent, Masyrius said,—But since some things have still been left unsaid in our discussion on servants, I will myself also contribute some "melody on love" to the wise and much loved Democritus. Philippus of Theangela, in his treatise on the Carians and Leleges, having made mention of the Helots of the LacedÆmonians and of the Thessalian PenestÆ, says, "The Carians also, both in former times, and down to the present day, use the Leleges as slaves." But Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his History, says that the Byzantians used the Bithynians in the same manner, just as the LacedÆmonians do the Helots. But respecting those who among the LacedÆmonians are called Epeunacti, and they also are slaves, Theopompus gives a very clear account in the thirty-second book of his History, speaking as follows:—"When many of the LacedÆmonians had been slain in the war against the Messenians, those who were left being afraid lest their enemies should become aware of their desolate condition, put some of the Helots into the beds of those who were dead; and afterwards they made those men citizens, and called them Epeunacti, because they had been put into the beds[426:1] of those who were dead instead of them." And the [427]same writer also tells us, in the thirty-third book of his History, that among the Sicyonians there are some slaves who are called Catonacophori, being very similar to the Epeunacti. And MenÆchmus gives a similar account in his History of the affairs of Sicyon, and says that there are some slaves called Catonacophori, who very much resemble the Epeunacti. And again, Theopompus, in the second book of his Philippics, says that the Arcadians had three hundred thousand slaves, whom they called ProspelatÆ, like the Helots.

102. But the class called Mothaces among the LacedÆmonians are freemen, but still not citizens of LacedÆmon. And Phylarchus speaks of them thus, in the twenty-fifth book of his History—"But the Mothaces are foster-brothers of LacedÆmonian citizens. For each of the sons of the citizens has one or two, or even more foster-brothers, according as their circumstances admit. The Mothaces are freemen then, but still not LacedÆmonian citizens; but they share all the education which is given to the free citizens; and they say that Lysander, who defeated the Athenians in the naval battle, was one of that class, having been made a citizen on account of his preeminent valour." And Myron of Priene, in the second book of his history of the Affairs of Messene, says, "The LacedÆmonians often emancipated their slaves, and some of them when emancipated they called AphetÆ,[427:1] and some they called Adespoti,[427:2] and some they called Erycteres, and others they called DesposionautÆ,[427:3] whom they put on board their fleets, and some they called Neodamodes,[427:4] but all these were different people from the Helots." And Theopompus, in the seventh book of his history of the Affairs of Greece, speaking of the Helots that they were also called EleatÆ, writes as follows:—"But the nation of the Helots is altogether a fierce and cruel race. For they are people who have been enslaved a long time ago by the Spartans, some of them being Messenians, and some EleatÆ, who formerly dwelt in that part of Laconia called Helos.

103. But TimÆus of Tauromenium, forgetting himself, (and Polybius the Megalopolitan attacks him for the assertion, [428]in the twelfth book of his Histories,) says that it is not usual for the Greeks to possess slaves. But the same man, writing under the name of EpitimÆus, (and this is what Ister the pupil of Callimachus calls him in the treatise which he wrote against him,) says that Mnason the Phocian had more than a thousand slaves. And in the third book of his History, EpitimÆus said that the city of the Corinthians was so flourishing that it possessed four hundred and sixty thousand slaves. On which account I imagine it was that the Pythian priestess called them The People who measured with a Choenix. But Ctesicles, in the third book of his Chronicles, says that in the hundred and fifteenth Olympiad, there was an investigation at Athens conducted by Demetrius Phalereus into the number of the inhabitants of Attica, and the Athenians were found to amount to twenty-one thousand, and the Metics to ten thousand, and the slaves to four hundred thousand. But Nicias the son of Niceratus, as that admirable writer Xenophon has said in his book on Revenues, when he had a thousand servants, let them out to Sosias the Thracian to work in the silver mines, on condition of his paying him an obol a day for every one of them. And Aristotle, in his history of the Constitution of the ÆginetÆ, says that the Æginetans had four hundred and seventy thousand slaves. But Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the thirty-eighth book of his history of the Affairs of Europe, says that the Dardanians had great numbers of slaves, some of them having a thousand, and some even more; and that in time of peace they were all employed in the cultivation of the land; but that in time of war they were all divided into regiments, each set of slaves having their own master for their commander.

104. After all these statements, Laurentius rose up and said,—But each of the Romans (and this is a fact with which you are well acquainted, my friend Masyrius) had a great many slaves. For many of them had ten thousand or twenty thousand, or even a greater number, not for the purposes of income, as the rich Nicias had among the Greeks; but the greater part of the Romans when they go forth have a large retinue of slaves accompanying them. And out of the myriads of Attic slaves, the greater part worked in the mines, being kept in chains: at all events Posidonius, whom you are often quoting, the philosopher I mean, says that once [429]they revolted and put to death the guards of the mines; and that they seized on the Acropolis on Sunium, and that for a very long time they ravaged Attica. And this was the time when the second revolt of the slaves took place in Sicily. And there were many revolts of the slaves, and more than a million of slaves were destroyed in them. And CÆcilius, the orator from Cale Acte, wrote a treatise on the Servile Wars. And Spartacus the gladiator, having escaped from Capua, a city of Italy, about the time of the Mithridatic war, prevailed on a great body of slaves to join him in the revolt, (and he himself was a slave, being a Thracian by birth,) and overran the whole of Italy for a considerable time, great numbers of slaves thronging daily to his standard. And if he had not died in a battle fought against Licinius Crassus, he would have caused no ordinary trouble to our countrymen, as Eunus did in Sicily.

105. But the ancient Romans were prudent citizens, and eminent for all kinds of good qualities. Accordingly Scipio, surnamed Africanus, being sent out by the Senate to arrange all the kingdoms of the world, in order that they might be put into the hands of those to whom they properly belonged, took with him only five slaves, as we are informed by Polybius and Posidonius. And when one of them died on the journey, he sent to his agents at home to bring him another instead of him, and to send him to him. And Julius CÆsar, the first man who ever crossed over to the British isles with a thousand vessels, had with him only three servants altogether, as Cotta, who at that time acted as his lieutenant-general, relates in his treatise on the History and Constitution of the Romans, which is written in our national language. But Smindyrides the Sybarite was a very different sort of man, my Greek friends, who, when he went forth to marry Agaroste, the daughter of Cleisthenes, carried his luxury and ostentation to such a height, that he took with him a thousand slaves, fishermen, bird-catchers, and cooks. But this man, wishing to display how magnificently he was used to live, according to the account given to us by ChamÆleon of Pontus, in his book on Pleasure, (but the same book is also attributed to Theophrastus,) said that for twenty years he had never seen the sun rise or set; and this he considered a great and marvellous proof of his wealth and happiness. For he, as it seems, used [430]to go to bed early in the morning, and to get up in the evening, being in my opinion a miserable man in both particulars. But HistiÆus of Pontus boasted, and it was an honourable boast, that he had never once seen the sun rise or set, because he had been at all times intent upon study, as we are told by Nicias of NicÆa in his Successions.

106. What then are we to think? Had not Scipio and CÆsar any slaves? To be sure they had, but they abided by the laws of their country, and lived with moderation, preserving the habits sanctioned by the constitution. For it is the conduct of prudent men to abide by those ancient institutions under which they and their ancestors have lived, and made war upon and subdued the rest of the world; and yet, at the same time, if there were any useful or honourable institutions among the people whom they have subdued, those they take for their imitation at the same time that they take the prisoners. And this was the conduct of the Romans in olden time; for they, maintaining their national customs, at the same time introduced from the nations whom they had subdued every relic of desirable practices which they found, leaving what was useless to them, so that they should never be able to regain what they had lost. Accordingly they learnt from the Greeks the use of all machines and engines for conducting sieges; and with those engines they subdued the very people of whom they had learnt them. And when the Phoenicians had made many discoveries in nautical science, the Romans availed themselves of these very discoveries to subdue them. And from the Tyrrhenians they derived the practice of the entire army advancing to battle in close phalanx; and from the Samnites they learnt the use of the shield, and from the Iberians the use of the javelin. And learning different things from different people, they improved upon them: and imitating in everything the constitution of the LacedÆmonians, they preserved it better than the LacedÆmonians themselves; but now, having selected whatever was useful from the practices of their enemies, they have at the same time turned aside to imitate them in what is vicious and mischievous.

107. For, as Posidonius tells us, their national mode of life was originally temperate and simple, and they used everything which they possessed in an unpretending and unostentatious [431]manner. Moreover they displayed wonderful piety towards the Deity, and great justice, and great care to behave equitably towards all men, and great diligence in cultivating the earth. And we may see this from the national sacrifices which we celebrate. For we proceed by ways regularly settled and defined. So that we bear regularly appointed offerings, and we utter regular petitions in our prayers, and we perform stated acts in all our sacred ceremonies. They are also simple and plain. And we do all this without being either clothed or attired as to our persons in any extraordinary manner, and without indulging in any extraordinary pomp when offering the first-fruits. But we wear simple garments and shoes, and on our heads we have rough hats made of the skins of sheep, and we carry vessels to minister in of earthenware and brass. And in these vessels we carry those meats and liquors which are procured with the least trouble, thinking it absurd to send offerings to the gods in accordance with our national customs, but to provide for ourselves according to foreign customs. And, therefore, all the things which are expended upon ourselves are measured by their use; but what we offer to the gods are a sort of first-fruits of them.

108. Now Mucius ScÆvola was one of the three men in Rome who were particular in their observance of the Fannian law; Quintus Ælius Tubero and Rutilius Rufus being the other two, the latter of whom is the man who wrote the History of his country. Which law enjoined men not to entertain more than three people besides those in the house; but on market-days a man might entertain five. And these market-days happened three times in the month. The law also forbade any one to spend in provisions more than two drachmÆ and a half. And they were allowed to spend fifteen talents a-year on cured meat and whatever vegetables the earth produces, and on boiled pulse. But as this allowance was insufficient, men gradually (because those who transgressed the law and spent money lavishly raised the price of whatever was to be bought) advanced to a more liberal style of living without violating the law. For Tubero used to buy birds at a drachma a-piece from the men who lived on his own farms. And Rutilius used to buy fish from his own slaves who worked as fishermen for three obols for a pound of fish; [432]especially when he could get what is called the Thurian; and that is a part of the sea-dog which goes by that name. But Mucius agreed with those who were benefited by him to pay for all he bought at a similar valuation. Out of so many myriads of men then these were the only ones who kept the law with a due regard to their oaths; and who never received even the least present; but they gave large presents to others, and especially to those who had been brought up at the same school with them. For they all clung to the doctrines of the Stoic school.

109. But of the extravagance which prevails at the present time Lucullus was the first originator, he who subdued Mithridates, as Nicolaus the Peripatetic relates. For he, coming to Rome after the defeat of Mithridates, and also after that of Tigranes, the king of Armenia, and having triumphed, and having given in an account of his exploits in war, proceeded to an extravagant way of living from his former simplicity, and was the first teacher of luxury to the Romans, having amassed the wealth of the two before-mentioned kings. But the famous Cato, as Polybius tells us in the thirty-fourth book of his History, was very indignant, and cried out, that some men had introduced foreign luxury into Rome, having bought an earthen jar of pickled fish from Pontus for three hundred drachmÆ, and some beautiful boys at a higher price than a man might buy a field.

"But in former times the inhabitants of Italy were so easily contented, that even now," says Posidonius, "those who are in very easy circumstances are used to accustom their sons to drink as much water as possible, and to eat whatever they can get. And very often," says he, "the father or mother asks their son whether he chooses to have pears or nuts for his supper; and then he, eating some of these things, is contented and goes to bed." But now, as Theopompus tells us in the first book of his history of the Actions of Philip, there is no one of those who are even tolerably well off who does not provide a most sumptuous table, and who has not cooks and a great many more attendants, and who does not spend more on his daily living than formerly men used to spend on their festivals and sacrifices.

And since now this present discussion has gone far enough, let us end this book at this point.

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FOOTNOTES:

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