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One called out to the slaves to bring hot water, Another shouted for metaceras.
And as the Cynic was proceeding to heap other proofs on these, Pontianus said, " The ancients, my friends, were in the habit also of drinking very cold water. " At all events Alexis says, in his " Parasite " : —
I wish to make you taste this icy water,
For I
Is colder than the Arams.
am proud of my well, whose limpid spring
And Hermippus, in his " Cercopes," calls water drawn from wells <ppearialov vBup. Moreover, that men" used to drink melted snow," too, is shown by Alexis, in his Woman eating Mandragora : —
Sure is not a man a most superfluous plant, Constantly using wondrous contradictions. Strangers we love, and our own kin neglect; Though having nothing, still we give to strangers. We bear our share in picnics, though we grudge And show our grudging by our sordidness.
And as to what concerns our daily food,
We wish our barley-cakes should white appear, And yet we make for them dark black sauce, And stain pure color with deeper dye.
Then we prepare to drink down melted snow Yet our fish be cold, we storm and rave.
Sour or acid wine we scorn and loathe,
Yet are delighted with sharp caper sauce.
And so, as many wiser men have said,
Not to be born at all best for man
The next best thing, to die as soon as possible.
And Dexicrates, in the play entitled "The Men deceived by Themselves," says —
But when I'm drunk take draught of snow, And Egypt gives me ointment for my head.
And Euthycles, in his "Prodigal Men," or "The Letter,"
says —
He first perceived that snow was worth prize He ought to be the first to eat the honeycombs.
And that excellent writer, Xenophon, in his "Memorabilia," shows that he was acquainted with the fashion of drinking
a ;
;
:
I a
is
:
;
if
aa
it,
72 A LITERARY BANQUET.
snow. But Chares of Mitylene, in his " History of Alexan der," has told us how we are to proceed in order to keep snow, when he is relating the siege of the Indian city Petra. For he says that Alexander dug thirty large trenches close to one another, and filled them with snow, and then he heaped on the snow branches of oak ; for that in that way snow would last a long time.
And that they used to cool wine, for the sake of drinking it in a colder state," is asserted by Strattis, in his " Psychastae," or " Cold Hunters : —
For no one ever would endure warm wine, But on the contrary, we use our wells
To cool it in, and then we mix with snow.
And Lysippus says, in his " Bacchae " : —
A. Hermon, what is the matter ? Where are we ? B. Nothing's the matter, only that your father
Has just dropt down into the well to cool himself, As men cool wine in summer.
And Diphilus says, in his " Little Monument " : — Cool the wine quick, 0 Doris.
And Protagoras, in the second book of his "Comic His tories," relating the voyage of King Antiochus down the river, says something about the contrivances for procuring cold water, in these terms : " For during the day they expose it to the sun, and then at night they skim off the thickest part which rises to the surface, and expose the rest to the air, in large earthen ewers, on the highest parts of the house, and two slaves are kept sprinkling the vessels with water the whole night. And at daybreak they bring them down, and again they skim off the sediment, making the water very thin, and exceedingly wholesome, and then they immerse the ewers in straw, and after that they use the water, which has become so cold as not to require snow to cool it. " And Anaxilas speaks of water from cisterns, in his " Flute Player," using the follow ing expressions : —
A. I want some water from a cistern now.
B. I have some here and you are welcome to it.
And, in a subsequent passage, he says : — Perhaps the cistern water is all lost.
A LITERARY BANQUET. 78
But Apollodorus of Gela mentions the cistern itself, \a/c«co? , as we call it, in his " Female Deserter," saying : —
In haste I loosed the bucket of the cistern, And then that of the well ; and took good care To have the ropes all ready to let down.
Myrtilus, hearing this conversation, said, And I too, being very fond of salt fish, my friends, wish to drink snow, according to the practice of Simonides. And Ulpian said, The word <f>i\ordpi. x^ fond of salt fish, is used by Antiphanes in his " Omphale," where he says : —
I am not anxious for salt fish, my girl.
But Alexis, in his " Gynaecocracy," speaks of one man as £o>nordpixo<;, or fond of sauce made from salt fish, saying : —
But the Cilician here, this Hippocles, This epicure of salt-fish sauce, this actor.
But what you mean by " according to the practice of Simoni des," I do not know. No ; for you do not care, said Myrtilus, to know anything about history, you glutton : for you are a mere lickplatter ; and as the Sarnian poet Asius, that ancient bard, would call you, a flatterer of fat. But Callistratus, in the seventh book of his " Miscellanies," says that Simonides, the poet, when feasting with a party at a season of violently hot weather, while the cup-bearers were pouring out, for the rest of the guests, snow into their liquor, and did not do so for him, extemporized this epigram : —
The cloak with which fierce Boreas clothed the brow Of high Olympus, pierced ill-clothed man
While in its native Thrace ; 'tis gentler now,
Caught by the breeze of the Pierian plain.
Let it be mine ; for no one will commend The man who gives hot water to a friend.
So when he had drunk, Ulpian asked him again where the word Kvi<ro\oi-xp<; is used, and also, what are the lines of Asius in which he uses the word KviaoicoXaf;. These, said Myrtilus, are the verses of Asius, to which I alluded : —
Lame, branded, old, a vagrant beggar, next Came the enisocolax, when Meles held
His marriage feast, seeking for gifts of soup, Not waiting for a friendly invitation ;
74 A LITERARY BANQUET.
There in the midst the hungry hero stood, Shaking the mud from off his ragged cloak.
And the word /ej/io-oXot^o? is used by Sophilus, in bis " Philar- chus," in this passage : —
You are a glutton, and a fat-licker.
And in the play which is entitled "The Men running Together," he has used the word icviaoXoixia in the following lines : —
That pander with his fat-licking propensities, Has bid me get for him this black blood-pudding.
Antiphanes, too, uses the word kvutoXoixos in his "Bombylium. " Now that men drank also sweet wine while eating is proved
by what Alexis says in his " Dropidas": —
The courtesan came in with sweet wine laden, In a large silver cup, named petachnon,
Most beauteous to behold. Not a flat dish, Nor long-necked bottle, but between the two.
After this a cheesecake was served up, made of milk and sesame and honey, which the Romans call libum. And Cynulcus said, Fill yourself now, O Ulpian, with your native Chthordolapsus ; a word which is not, I swear by Ceres, used by any one of the ancient writers, unless, indeed, it should chance to be found in those who have compiled histories of the affairs of Phoenicia, such as Sanchoniatho and Mochus, your own fellow-countrymen. And Ulpian said, But it seems to me, you dog-fly, that we have had quite enough of honey-cakes : but I should like to eat some groats, with a sufficient admixture of the husks and kernels of pine cones. And when that dish was brought — Give me, said he, some crust of bread hollowed out like a spoon ; for I will not say, give me a spoon (fivarpov) ; since that word is not used by any of the writers previous to our own time. You have a very bad memory, my friend, quoth ^Emilianus ; have you not always admired Nicander the Colophonian, the epic poet, as a man very fond of ancient authors, and a man, too, of very extensive learning himself? And indeed, you have already quoted him of having used the word ireirepiov, for pep
per. And this same poet, in the first book of his " Georgics," speaking of this use of groats, has used also the word fivarpov, saying : —
A LITERARY BANQUET. 76
But when you seek to dress a dainty dish
Of new-slain kid, or tender house-fed lamb,
Or poultry, take some unripe grains and pound them, And strew them all in hollow plates, and stir them, Mingled with fragrant oil. Then pour thereon
Warm broth, which take from out the dish before you, That it be not too hot, and so boil over.
Then put thereon a lid, for when they're roasted,
The grains swell mightily; then slowly eat them, Putting them to your mouth with hollow spoon.
In these words, my fine fellow, Nicander describes to us the way in which they ate groats and peeled barley ; bidding the eater pour on it soup made of kid or lamb, or of some poul try or other. Then, says he, pound the grains in a mortar, and, having mingled oil with them, stir them up till they boil ; and mix in the broth made after this recipe as it gets warm, making it thicker with the spoon ; and do not pour in any thing else ; but take the broth out of the dish before you, so as to guard against any of the more fatty parts boiling over. And it is for this reason, too, that he charges us to keep it close while it is boiling, by putting the lid on the dish ; for that barley grains, when roasted or heated, swell very much. And at last, when it is moderately warm, we are to eat it, taking it up in hollow spoons.
And Hippolochus the Macedonian, in his letter to Lynceus, in which he gives an account of some Macedonian banquet which surpassed all the feasts which had ever been heard of in extravagance, speaks of golden spoons (which he also calls fivarpa), having been given to each of the guests. But since you, my friend, wish to set up for a great admirer of the ancients, and say that you never use any expressions which are not the purest Attic, what is it that Nicophon says, — the poet, I mean, of the old comedy, in his " Cherogastores," or the " Men who feed themselves by Manual Labor " ? For I find him, too, speaking of spoons, and using the fiva-rpov, when he says : —
Dealers in anchovies, dealers in wine ;
Dealers in figs, and dealers in hides ;
Dealers in meal, and dealers in spoons (jiwrrpum^Xrfi), Dealers in books, and dealers in sieves ;
Dealers in cheesecakes, and dealers in seeds :
For who can the p. v<TTpioira>\ai be, but the men who sell fivcrrpa ? So, learning from them, my fine Syrian- Atticist, the use of the spoon, pray eat your groats, that you may not say : —
76 A LITERARY BANQUET.
But I am languid, weak for want of food.
In Macedonia, then, as I have said, Caranus made a mar riage feast ; and the guests invited were twenty in number. And as soon as they had sat down, a silver bowl was given to each of them as a present. And Caranus had previously crowned every one of them, before they entered the dining room, with a golden chaplet, and each chaplet was valued at five pieces of gold. And when they had emptied the bowls, then there was given to each of the guests a loaf in a brazen platter of Corinthian workmanship, of the same size ; and poultry and ducks, and, besides that, pigeons and a goose, and quantities more of the same kind of food heaped up abun dantly. And each of the guests taking what was set before him, with the brazen platter itself also, gave it to the slaves who waited behind him. Many other dishes of various sorts were also served up to eat. And after them, a second platter was placed before each guest, made of silver, on which again there was placed a second large loaf, and on that geese, and hares, and kids, and other rolls curiously made, and doves, and turtle-doves, and partridges, and every other kind of bird im aginable, in the greatest abundance. Those also, says Hippolo- chus, we gave to the slaves ; and when we had eaten to satiety, we washed our hands, and chaplets were brought in in great numbers, made of all sorts of flowers from all countries, and on each chaplet a circlet of gold, of about the same weight as the first chaplet. And Hippolochus having stated after this that Proteas, the descendant of that celebrated Proteas, the son of Lanice, who had been the nurse of Alexander the king, was a most extraordinary drinker, as also his grandfather Proteas, who was the friend of Alexander, had been; and that he pledged every one present, proceeds to write as follows :—
"And while we were now all amusing ourselves with agree able trifling, some flute-playing women and musicians, and some Rhodian players on the sambuca come in, naked as I fan cied, but some said they had tunics on. And they having played a prelude, departed ; and others came in in succession, each of them bearing two bottles of perfume, bound with a golden thong, and one of the cruets was silver and the other gold, each holding a cotyla, and they presented them to each of the guests. And then, instead of supper, there was brought in a great treasure, a silver platter with a golden edge of no inconsiderable depth, of such a size as to receive the entire
A LITERARY BANQUET. 77
bulk of a roast boar of huge size, which lay in it on his back, showing his belly uppermost, stuffed with many good things. For in the belly there were roasted thrushes, and paunches, a most countless number of figpeckers, and the yolks of eggs spread on the top, and oysters, and periwinkles. And to every one of the guests was presented a boar stuffed in this way, nice and hot, together with the dish on which he was served up. And after this we drank wine, and each of us received a hot kid, on another platter like that on which the boar had been served up, with some golden spoons. Then Caranus seeing that we were cramped for the want of room, ordered canisters and bread-baskets to be given to each of us, made of strips of ivory curiously plaited together ; and we were very much de lighted at all this, and applauded the bridegroom, by whose means we were thus enabled to preserve what had been given to us. Then chaplets were again brought to us, and another pair of cruets of perfume, one silver and one gold, of the same weight as the former pair. And when quiet was restored, there entered some men, who even in the Potfeast at Athens had borne a part in the solemnities, and with them there came in some ithyphallic dancers and some jugglers and some con juring women also, tumbling and standing on their heads on swords, and vomiting fire out of their mouths, and they, too, were naked.
" And when we were relieved from their exhibitions then we had a fresh drink offered to us, hot and strong, and Thasian and Mendaean and Lesbian wines were placed upon the board, very large golden goblets being brought to every one of us. And after we had drunk, a glass goblet of two cubits in diam eter, placed on a silver stand, was served up full of roast fishes of every imaginable sort that could be collected. And there was also given to every one a silver bread-basket full of Cap- padocian loaves ; some of which we ate and some we delivered to the slaves behind us. And when we had washed our hands, we put on chaplets ; and then again we received golden circlets twice as large as the former ones, and another pair of cruets of perfume. And when quiet was restored, Proteas leaping up from his couch, asked for a cup to hold a gallon; and hav ing filled it with Thasian wine, and having mingled a little water with it, he drank it off, saying : ' He who drinks most will be the happiest,' and Caranus said : ' Since you have been the first to drink, do you be the first also to accept
78
A LITERARY BANQUET.
the cup as a gift ; and this also shall be the present for all the rest who drink too. ' And when this had been said, at once nine of the guests rose up, snatching at the cups, and each one trying to forestall the other. But one of those who were of the party, like an unlucky man as he was, as he was unable to drink, sat down and cried because he had no goblet ; and so Caranus presented him with an empty goblet. After this, a dancing party of a hundred men came in, singing an epithal- amium in beautiful tune. And after them there came in danc ing girls, some arranged so as to represent the nereids, and others in the guise of the nymphs.
"And as the drinking went on, and the shadows were be ginning to fall, they opened the chamber where everything was encircled all round with white cloths. And when these cur tains were drawn, the torches appeared, the partitions having been secretly removed by mechanism. And there were seen Cupids and Dianas and Pans and Mercuries and numbers of statues of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks. And while we were admiring the ingenuity of the contrivance, some real Erymanthean boars were brought round to each of the guests on square platters with golden edges, pierced through and through with silver darts, and what was the strangest thing of all was, that those of us who were almost helpless and stupefied with wine, the moment that we saw any of these things which were brought in, became all in a moment sober, standing upright, as it is said. And so the slaves crammed them into the baskets of good omen, until the usual signal of the termination of the feast sounded. For you know that that is the Macedonian custom at large parties.
" And Caranus, who had begun drinking in small goblets, ordered the slaves to bring round the wine rapidly. And so we drank pleasantly, taking our present liquor as a sort of antidote to our previous hard drinking. And while we were thus engaged, Mandrogenes the buffoon came in, the descend ant, as is reported, of that celebrated Strato, the Athenian, and he caused us much laughter. And after this he danced with his wife, a woman who was already more than eighty years of age. And at last the tables, to wind up the whole entertainment, were brought in. And sweetmeats in plaited baskets made of ivory were distributed to every one. And cheesecakes of every kind known ; Cretan cheesecakes, and your Samian ones, my friend Lynceus, and Attic ones, with the
A LITERARY BANQUET. 79
proper boxes or dishes, suitable to each kind of confection. And after this we all rose up and departed, quite sobered, by Jove, by the thoughts of and our anxiety about the treasures which we had received.
" But you who never go out of Athens think yourself happy when you hear the precepts of Theophrastus, and when you eat thymes, and salads, and nice twisted loaves, solemnizing the Lenaean festival, and the Potfeast at the Anthesteria. But at the banquet of Caranus, instead of our portions of meat, we carried off actual riches, and are now looking, some for houses, and some for lands, and some of us are seeking to buy slaves. "
Now if you consider this, my friend Timocrates, with which of the Greek feasts that you ever heard of do you think this banquet, which has just been described to you, can be com pared? When even Antiphanes, the comic writer, jokingly said in the " CEnomaus," or perhaps it is in the " Pelops " : —
What could the Greeks, of sparing tables fond, Eaters of salads, do ? where you may get
Four scanty chops or steaks for one small penny. But among the ancestors of our nation
Men roasted oxen, deer, and lambs entire, And last of all the cook, outdoing all
His predecessors, set before the king
A roasted camel, smoking, hump and all.
And Aristophanes, in his "Acharnians," extolling the magnifi cence of the barbarians, says : —
A. Then he received me, and to dinner asked me, And set before us whole fat oxen roasted.
B. Who ever saw a roasted ox ? The braggart !
A. I'll take my oath he likewise put on table A bird three times as burly as Cleonymus ;
Its name, I well remember, was Th' Impostor.
And Anaxandrides, in his " Protesilaus," ridiculing the feast made at the marriage of Iphicrates when he married the daugh ter of Cotys, king of the Thracians, says : —
Ifyou do this as Ibid you, You will ask us all to a supper, Not to such as that in Thrace,
Given by Iphicrates — Though, indeed, they say that
Was a very noble feast.
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For that all along the market
Purple carpets there were spread
To the northern corner ;
And a countless host of men
With dirty hands and hair uncomb'd Supped on butter. There were, too, Brazen goblets, large as cisterns, Holding plenty for a dozen
Of the hardest drinkers known.
Cotys, too, himself was there,
Girt around, and bearing kindly
Rich soup in a gold tureen ;
Tasting all the brimming cups,
So as to be the first to yield
Of all the guests t' intoxication.
There was Antigenides
Delighting all with his soft flute.
Argas sung, and from Acharnae Cephisodotus struck the lyre, Celebrating Lacedaemon
And the wide land of the Heraclidae, And at other times they sung
Of the seven-gated Thebes,
Changing thus their strain and theme. Large was the dowry which 'tis said Fell to the lucky bridegroom's share : First, two herds of chestnut horses, And a herd of horned goats,
A golden shield, a wide-necked bowl,
A jar of snow, a pot of millet,
A deep pit full of leeks and onions, And a hecatomb of polypi.
This they say that Cotys did,
King of Thrace, in heartfelt joy
At Iphicrates' wedding.
But a finer feast by far
Shall be in our master's houses ;
For there's nothing good or fine
Which our house does stand in need of. There is scent of Syrian myrrh,
There is incense, there is spice ;
There are delicate cakes and loaves, Cakes of meal and polypi,
Tripe, and fat, and sausages,
Soup, and beet, and figs, and pease,
A LITERARY BANQUET. 81
Garlic, various kinds of tunnies,
Ptisan, pulse, and toast, and muffins, Beans, and various kinds of vetches, Honey, cheese, and cheesecakes, too, Wheat, and nuts, and barley-groats, Roasted crabs, and mullets boiled,
Roasted cuttle-fish, boiled turbot,
Frogs, and perch, and mussels, too,
Sharks, and roach, and gudgeons, too,
Fish from doves and cuckoos named, Plaice and flounders, shrimps and rays. Then, besides these dainty fish,
There is many another dish, — Honeycombs and juicy grapes,
Figs and cheesecakes, apples, pears, Cornels, and the red pomegranate,
Poppies, creeping thyme, and parsley, Peaches, olives, plums, and raisins,
Leeks and onions, cabbages,
Strong-smelling asafetida,
Fennel, eggs, and lentils cool,
And well-roasted grasshoppers,
Cardamums and sesame,
Ceryces, salt, and limpets firm,
The pinna, and the oyster bright,
The periwinkle, and the whelk ; — And, besides this, a crowd of birds,
Doves and ducks, and geese, and sparrows, Thrushes, larks, and jays, and swans,
The pelican, the crane, and stork,
Wagtails and ousels, tits and finches ;
And to wash all these dainties down, There's wine, both native and imported, White and red, and sweet and acid,
Still or effervescent.
But Lynceus, in his "Centaur," ridiculing the Attic ban quets, says : —
A. You cook, the man who makes the sacrifice And seeks now to receive me as my host,
Is one of Rhodes. And I, the guest invited,
Am called a citizen of fair Perinthus.
And neither of us likes the Attic suppers,
For melancholy is an Attic humor ;
May it be always foreign unto me.
VOL. VII. —6
82
A LITERARY BANQUET.
They place upon the table a large platter Holding five smaller plates within its space : One full of garlic, while another holds
Two boiled sea-urchins ; in the third, a cake ; The fourth displays ten cockles to the guest; The last has caviar. While I eat this,
He falls on that; or while he dines on this, I make that other dish to disappear.
But I would rather eat up both myself, Only I cannot go beyond my powers ;
For I have not five mouths nor twice five lips. True, these detain the eyes with various sights, But looking at them is not eating them :
I but appease my eyes and not my belly.
What shall I do then ? Have you oysters ? Give me A plate of them, I beg; and that a large one.
Have you some urchins ?
B. Here's a dish of them
To which you're welcome ; this I bought myself, And paid eight obols for it in the market.
A. Put then this dish on table by itself, That all may eat the same at once, and not
One half the guests eat one thing, half another.
But Dromeas, the parasite, when some one once asked him, as Hegesander the Delphian relates, whether the banquets in the city or at Chalcis were the best, said that the prelude to the banquets at Chalcis was superior to the whole entertain ment in the city, calling the multitudes of oysters served up, and the great variety of fish, the prelude to the banquet.
But Diphilus, in his " Female Deserter," introduces a cook, and represents him as saying : —
A. What is the number of the guests invited To this fine marriage feast ? And are they all Athenian citizens, or are there some
Foreigners and merchants ?
B. What is that to you,
Since you are but the cook to dress the dinner ?
A. It is the first part of my art, O father, To know the taste of those who are to eat.
For instance, if you ask a Rhodian,
Set a fine shad or lebias before him,
Well boiled and hot, the moment that he enters. That's what he likes ; he'll like it better so Than if you add a cup of myrine wine.
A LITERARY BANQUET. 83
A. Well, that idea of shads is not a bad one.
B. Then, if a Byzantine should be your guest, Steep all you offer such a man in wormwood.
And let your dishes taste of salt and garlic,
For fish are all so plenty in their country
That the men all are full of rheum and phlegm.
And Menander says, in his " Trophonius " : —
A. This feast is for a guest's reception.
B. What guest ? whence comes he ? For those points,
believe me,
Do make a mighty difference to the cook.
For instance, if some guests from the islands come, Who always feed on fish of every sort
Fresh from the sea, such men like not salt dishes,
But think them makeshifts. Give such men their food Well-seasoned, forced, and stuffed with choicest spices. But if you ask a guest from Arcady,
He is a stranger to the sea, and loves
Limpets and shellfish ; but the rich Ionian
Will look at naught but Lydian luxuries,
Bich, stimulating, amatory meats.
The ancients used food calculated to provoke the appetite, as, for instance, salt olives, which they call " colymbades " ; and accordingly Aristophanes says, in his " Old Age " : —
Old man, do you like flabby courtesans,
Or tender maidens, firm as well-cured olives ?
And Philemon, in his " Follower, or Sauce," says : —
A. What did you think, I pray, of that boiled fish ?
B. He was but small ; dost hear me ? And the pickle Was white and much too thick ; there was no smell
Of any spice or seasoning at all,
So that the guests cried out, " How pure your brine is ! "
They also ate common grasshoppers and the monkey grass hopper as provocatives of the appetite. Aristophanes says, in his " Anagyrus " : —
How can you, in God's name, like grasshoppers, Catching them with a reed, and cercopes ?
But the cercope is a little animal like a grasshopper or prickly roach, as Speusippus tells us in the fourth book of his
84 A LITERARY BANQUET.
" Similitudes " ; and Epilycus mentions them in his " Coralis- cus. " And Alexis says, in his " Thrason " : —
I never saw, not even a cercope,
A greater chatterer than you, O woman,
Nor jay, or nightingale, or dove, or grasshopper.
And Nicostratus says, in his " Abra " : —
The first, a mighty dish shall lead the way, Holding an urchin, and some sauce and capers, A cheesecake, fish, and onions in rich stuffing.
All that they used to eat, for the sake of encouraging the appetite. Rape, dressed with vinegar and mustard, is plainly stated by Nicander in the second book of his " Georgics," where he says : —
The rape is a mixed breed from radishes ;
It's grown in garden beds, both long and stiff. One sort they wash and dry in the north wind, A friend to winter and to idle servants ;
Then it revives when soaked in water warm.
Cut thou the roots of rape, and gently scrape The not yet juiceless rind in shavings thin ; Then dry them in the sun a little while,
Then dip them in hot water and in brine,
And pack them closely ; or at other times
Pour in new wine and vinegar, half and half, Into one vessel, and put salt on the top.
And often 'twill be well to pound fresh raisins, And add them gently, scattering in some seeds Of biting mustard and some dregs of vinegar,
To reach the head and touch the vigorous brain : A goodly dish for those who want a dinner.
And Diphilus or Sosippus, in the "Female Deserter," says : —
Have you now any sharp fresh vinegar ?
I think, too, we've some fig tree juice, my boy.
In these I'll press the meat as tight as may be ; And some dried herbs I'll spread around the dish ; For of all condiments, these do most surely
The body's sensitive parts and nerves excite ;
They drive away unpleasant heaviness,
And make the guests sit down with appetite.
generous,
THOUGHTS OF MARCUS AURELIUS.
THOUGHTS OF MARCUS AURELIUS.
85
[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman emperor 161-180, was born at Rome, a. d. 121. He was the most nearly perfect character in history, his active ability and moral nobility being both of the first order. He was a brave, skillful, and successful general, a laborious and sagacious administrator and reformer, a
humane, and self-denying man. His "Meditations," which have comforted and strengthened thousands of the best minds for seventeen hundred years, were notes set down for his own guidance and spiritual comfort at odd times, in camp or court. ]
In the morning when thou risest unwillingly, let this thought be present, — I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into the world ? Or have I been made for this, to lie in the bedclothes and keep myself warm ? — But this is more pleasant. — Dost thou exist then to take thy pleasure, and not at all for action or exertion? Dost thou not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees working together to put in order their several parts of the universe? And art thou unwilling to do the work of a human being, and dost thou not make haste to do that which is according to thy nature ? — But it is necessary to take rest also. — It is necessary. However, nature has fixed bounds to this too : she has fixed bounds to eating and drinking, and yet thou goest beyond these bounds, beyond what is sufficient ; yet in thy acts it is not so, but thou stoppest short of what thou canst do. So thou lovest not thyself, for if thou didst, thou wouldst love thy nature and her will. But those who love their several arts exhaust them selves in working at them unwashed and without food; but thou valuest thy own nature less than the turner values the
turning art, or the dancer the dancing art, or the lover of money values his money, or the vainglorious man his little glory. And such men, when they have a violent affection to a thing, choose neither to eat nor to sleep rather than to perfect the thing which they care for. But are the acts which concern society more vile in thy eyes and less worthy of thy labor ?
Thou sayest, Men cannot admire the sharpness of thy wits. — Be it so : but there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then which are altogether in thy power, — sincerity, gravity, endurance of labor, aversion to pleasure, contentment
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with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling, magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfitness, and yet thou still remainest voluntarily below the mark? or art thou compelled through being defectively furnished by nature to murmur, and to be stingy, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy poor body, and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to be so restless in thy mind ? No, by the gods ; but thou mightest have been delivered from these things long ago. Only if in truth thou canst be charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it nor yet taking pleasure in thy dullness.
One man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favor conferred. Another is not ready to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season. — Must a man then be one of these, who in a manner act thus without observing it? — Yes. — But this very thing is necessary, the observation of what a man is doing: for, it may be said, it is characteristic of the social animal to perceive that he is working in a social manner, and indeed to wish that his social partner also should perceive it. — It is true what thou sayest, but thou dost not rightly under stand what is now said : and for this reason thou wilt become one of those of whom I spoke before, for even they are misled by a certain show of reason. But if thou wilt choose to under stand the meaning of what is said, do not fear that for this reason thou wilt omit any social act.
Accept everything which happens, even if it seem disagree able, because it leads to this, to the health of the universe and to the prosperity and felicity of Zeus [the universe]. For he would not have brought on any man what he has brought, if it were not useful for the whole. Neither does the nature
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of anything, whatever it may be, cause anything which is not suitable to that which is directed by it. For two reasons then it is right to be content with that which happens to thee ; the one, because it was done for thee and prescribed for thee, and in a manner had reference to thee, originally from the most ancient causes spun with thy destiny ; and the other, because even that which comes severally to every man is the power which administers the universe a cause of felicity and perfec tion, nay even of its very continuance. For the integrity of the whole is mutilated, if thou cuttest off anything whatever from the conjunction and the continuity either of the parts or of the causes. And thou dost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to put anything out of the way.
Be not disgusted, nor discouraged, nor dissatisfied, if thou dost not succeed in doing everything according to right prin ciples, but when thou hast failed, return back again, and be content if the greater part of what thou doest is consistent with man's nature, and love this to which thou returnest ; and do not return to philosophy as if she were a master, but act like those who have sore eyes and apply a bit of sponge and egg, or as another applies a plaster, or drenching with water. For thus thou wilt not fail to obey reason, and thou wilt repose in it. And remember that philosophy requires only the things which thy nature requires ; but thou wouldst have something else which is not according to nature. — It may be objected, Why, what is more agreeable than this [which I am doing] ? — But is not this the very reason why pleasure deceives us? And consider if magnanimity, freedom, simplicity, equanimity, piety, are not more agreeable. For what is more agreeable than wisdom itself, when thou thinkest of the security and the happy course of all things which depend on the faculty of understanding and knowledge ?
Things are in such a kind of envelopment that they have seemed to philosophers, not a few nor those common philoso phers, altogether unintelligible ; nay even to the Stoics them selves they seem difficult to understand. And all our assent is changeable ; for where is the man who never changes ? Carry thy thoughts then to the objects themselves, and consider how short-lived they are and worthless, and that they may be in the possession of a filthy wretch or a whore or a robber. Then turn to the morals of those who live with thee, and it is hardly pos
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sible to endure even the most agreeable of them, to say nothing of a man being hardly able to endure himself. In such dark ness then and dirt, and in so constant a flux both of substance and of time, and of motion and of things moved, what there is worth being highly prized, or even an object of serious pursuit, I cannot imagine. But on the contrary it is a man's duty to comfort himself, and to wait for the natural dissolution, and not to be vexed at the delay, but to rest in these principles only : the one, that nothing will happen to me which is not conforma ble to the nature of the universe ; and the other, that it is in my power never to act contrary to my god and demon : for there is no man who will compel me to this.
About what am I now employing my own soul ? On every occasion I must ask myself this question, and inquire, What have I now in this part of me which they call the ruling prin ciple ? —and whose soul have Inow,—that of a child, or of a young man, or of a feeble woman, or of a tyrant, or of a domestic animal, or of a wild beast?
What kind of things those are which appear good to the many, we may learn even from this. For if any man should conceive certain things as being really good, such as prudence, temperance, justice, fortitude, he would not after having first conceived these endure to listen to anything which should not be in harmony with what is really good. But if a man has first conceived as good the things which appear to the many to be good, he will listen and readily receive as very applicable that which was said by the comic writer. Thus even the many per ceive the difference. For were it not so, this saying would not offend and would not be rejected [in the first case], while we receive it when it is said of wealth, and of the means which further luxury and fame, as said fitly and wittily. Go on then and ask if we should value and think those things to be good, to which after their first conception in the mind the words of the comic writer might be aptly applied, — that he who has them, through pure abundance has not a place to ease him self in.
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy mind ; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then with a continuous series of such thoughts as these : for instance, that where a man can live, there he can also live well. But he must live in a palace ; well then, he can also live well in a palace. And again, consider that for whatever purpose
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each thing has been constituted, for this it has been constituted, and towards this it is carried ; and its end is in that towards which it is carried ; and where the end is, there also is the advantage and the good of each thing. Now the good for the reasonable animal is society ; for that we are made for society has been shown above. Is it not plain that the inferior exist for the sake of the superior ? But the things which have life are superior to those which have not life, and of those which have life the superior are those which have reason.
To seek what is impossible is madness : and it is impossible that the bad should not do something of this kind.
Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened, or because he would show a great spirit, he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.
Reverence that which is best in the universe; and this is that which makes use of all things and directs all things. And in like manner also reverence that which is best in thyself ; and this is of the same kind as that. For in thyself also, that which makes use of everything else is this, and thy life is directed by this.
Often think of the rapidity with which things pass by and disappear, both the things which are and the things which are produced. For substance is like a river in a continual flow, and the activities of things are in constant change, and the causes work in infinite varieties ; and there is hardly anything which stands still. And consider this which is near to thee, this boundless abyss of the past and of the future in which all things disappear. How then is he not a fool who is puffed up with such things or plagued about them and makes himself miserable? for they vex him only for a time, and a short time.
Think of the universal substance, of which thou hast a very small portion ; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee ; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art.
Does another do me wrong ? Let him look to it. He has his own disposition, his own activity. I now have what the universal nature wills me to have ; and I do what my nature now wills me to do.
Art thou angry with him whose armpits stink? art thou
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angry with him whose mouth smells foul ? What good will this anger do thee ? He has such a mouth, he has such arm pits : it is necessary that such an emanation must come from such things ; but the man has reason, it will be said, and he is able, if he takes pains, to discover wherein he offends ;
I wish thee well of thy discovery. Well then, and thou hast reason : by thy rational faculty stir up his rational faculty ; show him his error, admonish him. For if he listens, thou wilt cure him,
and there is no need of anger.
The intelligence of the universe is social. Accordingly it
has made the inferior things for the sake of the superior, and it has fitted the superior to one another. Thou seest how it has subordinated, coordinated, and assigned to everything its proper portion, and has brought together into concord with one another the things which are the best.
How hast thou behaved hitherto to the gods, thy parents, brethren, children, teachers, to those who looked after thy infancy, to thy friends, kinsfolk, to thy slaves? Consider if thou hast hitherto behaved to all in such a way that this may be said of thee, —
Never has wronged a man in deed or word.
And call to recollection both how many things thou hast passed through, and how many things thou hast been able to endure and that the history of thy life is now complete and thy service is ended ; and how many beautiful things thou hast seen ; and how many pleasures and pains thou hast despised ; and how many things called honorable thou hast spurned ; and to how many ill-minded folks thou hast shown a kind disposition.
Why do unskilled and ignorant souls disturb him who has skill and knowledge ? What soul then has skill and knowl edge ? That which knows beginning and end, and knows the reason which pervades all substance, and through all time by fixed periods [revolutions] administers the universe.
Soon, very soon, thou wilt be ashes, or a skeleton, and either a name or not even a name ; but name is sound and echo. And the things which are much valued in life are empty and rotten and trifling, and [like] little dogs biting one another, and little children quarreling, laughing, and then straightway weeping. But fidelity and modesty and justice and truth are fled
Up to Olympus from the widespread earth.
— Hesiod, " Works," etc. , v. 197.
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What then is there which still detains thee here, if the objects of sense are easily changed and never stand still, and the organs of perception are dull and easily receive false impressions, and the poor soul itself is an exhalation from blood ? But to have good repute amid such a world as this is an empty thing. Why then dost thou not wait in tranquillity for thy end, whether it is extinction or removal to another state ? And until that time comes, what is sufficient ? Why, what else than to venerate the gods and bless them, and to do good to men, and to practice tolerance and self-restraint ; but as to everything which is beyond the limits of the poor flesh and breath, to remember that this is neither thine nor in thy power.
Thou canst pass thy life in an equable flow of happiness, if thou canst go by the right way, and think and act in the right way. These two things are common both to the soul of God and to the soul of man, and to the soul of every rational being : not to be hindered by another ; and to hold good to consist in the disposition to justice and the practice of it, and in this to let thy desire find its termination.
It would be a man's happiest lot to depart from mankind without having had any taste of lying and hypocrisy and luxury and pride. However, to breathe out one's life when a man has had enough of these things is the next best voyage, as the say ing is. Hast thou determined to abide with vice, and has not experience yet induced thee to fly from this pestilence ? For the destruction of the understanding is a pestilence, much more indeed than any such corruption and change of this atmosphere which surrounds us. For this corruption is a pestilence of animals so far as they are animals ; but the other is a pestilence of men so far as they are men.
Do not despise death, but be well content with since this too one of those things which nature wills. For such as
to be young and to grow old, and to increase and to reach maturity, and to have teeth and beard and gray hairs, and to beget and to be pregnant and to bring forth, and all the other natural operations which the seasons of thy life bring, such also
dissolution. This, then, consistent with the character of reflecting man, — to be neither careless nor impatient nor con temptuous with respect to death, but to wait for as one of the operations of nature. As thou now waitest for the time when the child shall come out of thy wife's womb, so be ready for the time when thy soul shall fall out of this envelope. But
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thou requirest also a vulgar kind of comfort which shall reach thy heart, thou wilt be made best reconciled to death by observing the objects from which thou art going to be removed, and the morals of those with whom thy soul will no longer be mingled. For it is no way right to be offended with men, but it is thy duty to care for them and to bear with them gently ; and yet to remember that thy departure will not be from men who have the same principles as thyself. For this is the only thing, if there be any, which could draw us the contrary way and attach us to life, — to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourselves. But now thou seest how great is the trouble arising from the discordance of those who live together, so that thou mayst say, Come quick, O death, lest per chance I, too, should forget myself.
He who does wrong does wrong against himself. He who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself, because he makes himself bad.
He often acts unjustly who does not do a certain thing ; not only he who does a certain thing.
Among the animals which have not reason one life is dis tributed ; but among reasonable animals one intelligent soul is distributed : just as there is one earth of all things which are of an earthy nature, and we see by one light, and breathe one air, all of us that have the faculty of vision and all that have life.
If thou art able, correct by teaching those who do wrong ; but if thou canst not, remember that indulgence is given to thee for this purpose. And the gods, too, are indulgent to such persons ; and for some purposes they even help them to get health, wealth, reputation ; so kind they are. And it is in thy power also ; or say, who hinders thee ?
Labor not as one who is wretched, nor yet as one who would be pitied or admired : but direct thy will to one thing only, — to put thyself in motion and to check thyself, as the social reason requires.
Not in passivity but in activity lie the evil and the good of the rational social animal, just as his virtue and his vice lie not in passivity but in activity.
For the stone which has been thrown up it is no evil to come down, nor indeed any good to have been carried up.
Penetrate inward into men's leading principles, and thou wilt see what judges thou art afraid of, and what kind of judges they are of themselves.
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Hasten [to examine] thy own ruling faculty and that of the universe and that of thy neighbor : thy own that thou mayst make it just : and that of the universe, that thou mayst remem ber of what thou art a part ; and that of thy neighbor, that thou mayst know whether he has acted ignorantly or with knowledge, and that thou mayst also consider that his ruling faculty is akin to thine.
As thou thyself art a component part of a social system, so let every act of thine be a component part of social life. What ever act of thine then has no reference either immediately or remotely to a social end, this tears asunder thy life, and does not allow it to be one, and it is of the nature of a mutiny, just as when in a popular assembly a man acting by himself stands apart from the general agreement.
Quarrels of little children and their sports, and poor spirits carrying about dead bodies [such is everything] ; and so what is exhibited in the representation of the mansions of the dead strikes our eyes more clearly.
Thou hast endured infinite troubles through not being con tented with thy ruling faculty when it does the things which it is constituted by nature to do.
When another blames thee or hates thee, or when men say about thee anything injurious, approach their poor souls, pene trate within, and see what kind of men they are. Thou wilt discover that there is no reason to take any trouble that these men may have this or that opinion about thee. However, thou must be well disposed towards them, for by nature they are friends. And the gods too aid them in all ways, by dreams, by signs, towards the attainment of those things on which they set a value.
Soon will the earth cover us all : then the earth, too, will change, and the things also which result from change will con tinue to change forever, and these again forever. For if a man reflects on the changes and transformations which follow one another like wave after wave and their rapidity, he will despise everything which is perishable.
Look down from above on the countless herds of men and their countless solemnities, and the infinitely varied voyagings in storms and calms, and the differences among those who are born, who live together, and die. And consider, too, the life lived by others in olden time, and the life of those who will live after thee, and the life now lived among barbarous nations, and
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how many know not even thy name, and how many will soon forget it, and how they who perhaps now are praising thee will very soon blame thee, and that neither a posthumous name is of any value, nor reputation, nor anything else.
All that thou seest will quickly perish, and those who have been spectators of its dissolution will very soon perish too. And he who dies at the extremest old age will be brought into the same condition with him who died prematurely.
What are these men's leading principles, and about what kind of things are they busy, and for what kind of reasons do they love and honor ? Imagine that thou seest their poor souls laid bare. When they think that they do harm by their blame or good by their praise, what an idea !
Loss is nothing else than change. But the universal nature delights in change, and in obedience to her all things are now done well, and from eternity have been done in like form, and will be such to time without end. What, then, dost thou say, — that all things have been and all things always will be bad, and that no power has ever been found in so many gods to rectify these things, but the world has been condemned to be bound in never-ceasing evil ?
If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong.
Either the gods have no power or they have power. If, then, they have no power, why dost thou pray to them ? But if they have power, why dost thou not pray for them to give thee the faculty of not fearing any of the things which thou fearest, or of not desiring any of the things which thou desirest, or not being pained at anything, rather than pray that any of these things should not happen or happen ? for certainly if they can cooperate with men, they can cooperate for these pur poses. But perhaps thou wilt say the gods have placed them in thy power. Well, then, is it not better to use what is in thy power like a free man than to desire in a slavish and abject way what is not in thy power ? And who has told thee that the gods do not aid us even in the things which are in our power ? Begin, then, to pray for such things, and thou wilt see. One man prays thus : How shall I be able to lie with that woman ? Do thou pray thus : How shall I not desire to lie with her ? Another prays thus : How shall I be released from this? Another prays : How shall I not desire to be re leased ? Another thus : How shall I not lose my little son ?
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Thou thus : How shall I not be afraid to lose him ? In fine, turn thy prayers this way, and see what comes.
When thou art offended with any man's shameless conduct, immediately ask thyself, Is it possible, then, that shameless men should not be in the world ? It is not possible. Do not, then, require what is impossible. For this man also is one of those shameless men who must of necessity be in the world. Let the same considerations be present to thy mind in the case of the knave, and the faithless man, and of every man who does wrong in any way. For at the same time that thou dost remind thy self that it is impossible that such kind of men should not exist, thou wilt become more kindly disposed towards every one individually. It is useful to perceive this, too, immediately when the occasion arises, what virtue nature has given to man to oppose to every wrongful act.