The fertile country inhabited by the Jewish people furnished them with a very great variety of excellent provisions. Those of which they made the greatest consumption, and which we find generally mentioned in the Scriptures, are bread, flour, barley, beans, lentils, wine, raisins, figs, honey, butter, oil, sheep, oxen, fatted calves, &c.[XXX_1]

The fat of animals offered in sacrifice was reserved for the Lord;[XXX_2] but, with this exception, the Hebrews could freely make use of it. They esteemed it much, and when they wished to speak of a rich banquet, they called it “a banquet of fat animals.”[XXX_3] “He that loveth wine and oil,”[R] says Solomon, “shall not be rich.”[XXX_4]

The extreme simplicity of the greater part of the Biblical repasts ought not to induce us to suppose that the Jews were entire strangers to the inspirations of good cheer. “Solomon’s provisions for one day were thirty measures of fine flour, and three score measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and fatted fowl.”[XXX_5]

That primitive nation also knew different kinds of banquets, which, conformably with their naÏve manners, were associated with the celebration of a religious solemnity, a sad or a joyful event, a family festivity or mourning, a victory or a public calamity.[XXX_6]

The Greeks and Romans, skilful masters in the art of good living, were early on the alert to assure the collection of all things necessary for the support of life. “Take care,” said Aurelian to Flavius, “take care, above all things, that the markets of Rome be well supplied: nothing more gay or more peaceful than the people, when they are well fed.”[XXX_7] This remark is much more profound than it at first appears.

At Athens, special officers visited the markets, and only permitted each citizen to purchase and keep in his own house the quantity of provisions necessary for one year.[XXX_8]

The ediles of Rome performed nearly similar functions.[XXX_9] The prefect of the town was invested with the power of making regulations for the markets,[XXX_10] and the prefect of provisions had the inspection of the sale of bread, meat, wine, fish, and all other kinds of aliment required either for the table of the rich or poor plebeian.[XXX_11]

During a long time, in Greece and Italy, the only charm of repasts was, that they furnished an opportunity for the exercise of those duties of kind hospitality, which Apollodorus has described in the following ingenuous style: “As soon as a friend,” says he, “steps on the threshold of his host, the porter receives him with a smiling face; the dog of the house comes immediately to caress him, amicably wagging his tail; then some one runs and presents him a seat without being told.”[XXX_12] This last trait is charming.

But afterwards, they thought much more of honouring the god of good cheer than Jupiter Hospes, and joyous Comus became everywhere the fashionable divinity. One of the ancients describes him in the following manner: “He is seen at the door of an apartment communicating with the banqueting hall; his smiling face is fresh, plump, and ruddy; his head is crowned with roses, and he sleeps standing; his left hand rests on a thyrsus, but sleep makes him loose his hold; he staggers, and the torch will soon fall from his grasp.”[XXX_13]

The Greeks were fervent in their worship of this god, at an epoch when Rome still prided herself on her transcendant sobriety. Conon gave a banquet to all the Athenians after the battle of Cnidos, about four centuries before the Christian era; and his celebrated contemporary, the handsome Alcibiades, conqueror in the Olympic games, magnificently regaled the numerous spectators who had just applauded his triumph.[XXX_14]

The pagan temples themselves often rung with the sound of the music, the chaunts, and the dances which always accompanied the religious banquets. These feasts in honour of the immortals must have been rather unedifying to the truly faithful, for gaiety generally degenerated into extreme licentiousness.[XXX_15]

The conquest of Asia was fatal to the Romans. Their savage rudeness yielded to the effeminate manners of the vanquished; and henceforth, the epicureans of Italy studied but one thing—gastronomic delectation; had but one worship—that of the goddess Victua,[XXX_16] protectress of food, and sovereign of the table.

Luxury made appalling progress. Nearly a century B.C., the Romans did not blush to give 50 denarii (£1 16s.) for a young fatted peacock; 3 denarii at least (more than 2s.) for a thrush;[XXX_17] and, a century later, 4,000 sesterces (£36) were given for a couple of fine young pigeons.[XXX_18]

Worse followed!

Seneca describes in few words the luxury of the table among the voluptuous Romans:—“Behold,” says he, “Nomentanus and Apicius, those happy conquerors of all that is delectable on earth or in the sea. Behold them at table, stretched on their couches, and contemplating innumerable viands. Harmonious songs flatter their ears, a variety of pleasing objects occupy their eyes, and the most exquisite savours captivate their insatiable palates.”[XXX_19]

The genius of gluttony multiplied the banquets by prescribing luxurious gastronomic assemblages, sometimes in honour of the gods, and often for the gratification of simple mortals themselves.

Each year, at the ides of November, a repast was offered to Jupiter in the Capitol (coena Capitolina). The statue of the god was present at the banquet, reclining on a magnificent couch, with Juno and Minerva seated on either side. These divinities were splendidly served, and, as they touched nothing, in the middle of the night the seven epulary priests joyously eat the supper of the three immortals.[XXX_20]

The cereal banquet (coena Cerealis) was equally splendid, and Ceres maintained the same frugality.[XXX_21]

A sterile reminiscence of the equality which reigned among men in the golden age, placed the slaves at table by the side of their masters, during the celebration of the Saturnalia (coena Saturnalis).[XXX_22] This usage was common to the Greeks and Romans.[XXX_23]

The ninth day of the August calends, and the thirteenth day of the November calends, a gastronomic solemnity—a monstrous gala—brought together the Roman pontiffs to celebrate the day of their inauguration (coena pontificalis). This banquet was worthy of the proverbial delicacy of those sacred stomachs.[XXX_24]

The augurs treated themselves magnificently in their turn (coena auguralis), when they entered on their functions. The pagan priests of Rome vied one with another in a noble emulation of exquisite refinement and ruinous viands;[XXX_25] but it is said that the ministers of Mars, who had the reputation of being arch-epicureans (coena saliaris), always won the palm in this struggle of magnificence and voluptuousness.[XXX_26]

The day the Emperor took the title of Augustus, he gave a supper (coena imperatoria) to the senators and magistrates. The tributes of a year were sometimes hardly sufficient to indemnify the grand master of these imperial orgies.[XXX_27]

The triumphal banquets (coena triumphalis) were less elegant, no doubt, but they cost the victor who invited the people immense sums.[XXX_28] The guests crowded into the vast inclosure of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,[XXX_29] or the temple of Hercules.[XXX_30]

They sat down to table to celebrate the anniversary of a birth-day (coena natalitia),[XXX_31] the happy wedding-day (coena nuptialis),[XXX_32] the arrival of a friend (coena adventitia),[XXX_33] the sad day of his departure (coena viatica).[XXX_34] The melancholy ceremony of interment was followed by a supper (coena funebris), at which the guests were the relations and friends of the deceased.[XXX_35] They drank to his manes, and, by degrees, the wine not only stifled their laments but called forth joyous smiles. The Romans have bequeathed to certain modern nations more than the remembrance of their funeral repasts.

In the palmy days of Athens, the Greeks evinced more of the epicurean than the glutton—a fact which may be inferred from the description of the supper of Dinias.[XXX_36] The most magnificent of their repasts was, perhaps, that which Alexander the Great had served to ten thousand guests, who received, each one, a present of a golden patera.[XXX_37]

In Greece, as in Rome, the greater part of the events of life occasioned the joyous meeting of relations and friends. At the birth of a child,[XXX_38] a banquet was given in his honour; he was named on the tenth day, and the ceremony terminated with a banquet,[XXX_39] in which they offered the guests cooked Cherso cheese, cabbage boiled in oil, pigeons, thrushes, fish, and brimming cups of excellent wine.[XXX_40] The teething repast took place when the child had attained his seventh month, and the weaning supper when he began to eat.[XXX_41]

These family feasts, more or less sumptuous according to the fortune and rank of the individuals who gave them, were generally signalized by a custom which ridiculous and egotistical vanity could alone authorise and maintain. On the banquet day care was taken to throw the feathers of the poultry before the door of the house, in order to excite the fruitless greed of the poor wretches, who, as they passed,[XXX_42] prayed heartily that the infernal divinities might take the proud amphitryon, his guests, and even the meanest of his servants.

In France, about 1350, the setier (about twelve English bushels) of—[XXX_43]

Prices of a few articles in France during the 15th century:[XXX_44]

In England, under the reign of Edward III., a royal proclamation fixed the price of the following articles:—[XXX_45]

The funeral repast of Sir John Redstone, Mayor of London, who died in 153l, occasioned the following expenses:—[XXX_46]

The following is a correct copy of a monster bill of fare, from a paper found in the Tower of London:—[S]

At the feast, the Earl of Warwick was steward; the Earl of Bedford, treasurer; the Lord Hastings, comptroller, with many noble officers; servitors, 1000; cooks, 62; kitcheners and scullions, 515.

In France (14th and 15th centuries) the repasts were commonly divided into five parts, called courses, or dishes.[XXX_47]

The first course was composed of cherries, tender fruits, citrons, and salads.[XXX_48]

Milk-porridge, puddings, and pottages followed; it was the second course.[XXX_49]

The third consisted of roast, with various sauces.[XXX_50]

The second roast, or fourth course,[XXX_51] presented the guests with venison and game.

The fifth course took the name of fruit-course. At this they served tarts made with all sorts of herbs, flowers, grains, vegetables, and fruit.[XXX_52]