The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 51

_A._ What now is this, my boy, for you, by Jove, Have come in a most business-like set fas.h.i.+on.

_B._ Yes, for we are inventing fine inventions, And all the night long we've been hard at work, And even now we have much left unfinish'd.

But Seleucus says that Panyasis is the earliest author who speaks of sweetmeats, in the book in which he speaks of the human sacrifices practised by the Egyptians, saying that many sorts of pastry and sweetmeats are put on the table, and many kinds of young birds. And before his time Stesichorus, or Ibycus, in the poem ent.i.tled the Contest, wrote as follows:--

Bring gifts unto the maiden, cakes of cesane, And groats, and cakes of oil and honey mixed, And other kinds of pastry, and fresh honey.

But that this poem is the work of Stesichorus, Simonides the poet is a most undeniable witness; who, when speaking of Meleager, says--

Who with the spear excell'd his fellows all, Hurling beyond the eddying Anauros From the grape-famous Iolcos.

For thus did Homer and Stesichorus Sing to the nations.

For Stesichorus had sung so in the previously quoted poem, namely, the Contests--

Amphiaraus gain'd the prize in leaping, And with the dart the G.o.dlike Meleager.

73. But I am not ignorant of what Apollodorus the Athenian has said of the Delians, that they supplied all who came to their sacred ceremonies with the a.s.sistance of cooks and table-setters; and from their actions they were named Magis and Gongylis;--since, says Aristophanes, they furnished them at these banquets with round barley-cakes, (??????a? ??a?,) as if they had been women. And even to this very day some of them are called Chraci, and Amni, and Artysilai, and Sesami, and Artusitragi, and Neocori, and Icthyboli. And of the women, some are called c.u.minanthae.

But all are called by one common name Eleodytae, because they attend on the kitchen tables, and minister at the festivals. For ??e?? means a kitchen or cook's table. Homer says--

But when he roasted the meat, and placed it ?? ??e??s??.

On which account, also, Polycraton the son of Crithon, a Rhenaean, when inst.i.tuting a prosecution against them, did not call them Delians, but inscribed his action "against the whole body of the Eleodytae." And the law of the Amphictyons commands the Eleodytae to provide water; meaning by Eleodytae the table-setters, and all attendants of that sort. But Criton the comic poet, in his Busy-body, calls the Delians the parasites of the G.o.d, in these lines--

When we had forced this great Phnician, The master of a well-provided purse, Though captain of the s.h.i.+p, to stay in harbour, And * * * two s.h.i.+ps To come to Delos from Piraeus' port; He heard from all men that this place alone Seem'd to have three good things for a parasite, A well-stored market, a large population From every country, and the native Delians, Themselves a tribe of parasites of the G.o.d.

74. But Achaeus the Eretrian, in his Alcmaeon, a satyric drama, calls the Delphians makers of sauces, in these words:--

I see the sauce-makers, and spit on them.

Inasmuch, forsooth, as they cut up the victims, it is plain that they cooked and seasoned them; and, having a regard to these facts, Aristophanes also said--

But O thou Phbus, them who sharpenest The Delphian knives, and with an early warning Givest instruction to thy ministers.

And, in the lines immediately following the former pa.s.sage, Achaeus says--

Why do you stay conceal'd, Namesake of all the knives which cooks employ?

For the Satyrs ridicule the Delphians, as devoting all their time and attention to festivals and sacrifices. And Semus says, in the fourth book of his Deliad, "The Delians used to provide the Delphians who came to Delos with salt, and vinegar, and oil, and wood, and counterpanes."

And Aristotle, or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, speaking of the Magnesians who dwell on the banks of the river Maeander, as colonists of the Delphians, represents them as showing the same attentions to all foreigners who came to them; speaking as follows:--"The Magnesians who dwell on the banks of the river Maeander, being sacred to the G.o.d, and colonists of the Delphians, give shelter to all who come among them, and salt, and oil, and vinegar, and lights, and beds, and coverlets, and tables."

But Demetrius the Scepsian, in the sixteenth book of his Trojan Array, says that in Laconia, on the road which is called the Hyacinthine road, statues of the heroes Daiton and Ceraon were erected by those who made barley-cakes at the Phiditia, and by the attendants who mixed the wine.

And the same writer reports also, in the twenty-fourth book of the same work, that Daitas the hero is wors.h.i.+pped among the Trojans, who is also mentioned by Mimnermus. And Hegesander the Delphian says that Jupiter is wors.h.i.+pped in Cyprus, under the names of Eilapinastes or the Feaster, and of Splanchnotomus or the Carver of Entrails.

75. And while much such conversation as this was proceeding, on a sudden a noise was heard from some one of the neighbouring places, as from an hydraulic organ, very pleasant and agreeable, so that we all turned round towards it, being charmed by the melody; and Ulpian looking towards the musical Alcides said, Do you hear, O you most musical of men, this beautiful harmony which has made us turn round, being enchanted by the music? And is it not the case, as it is said to be among you Alexandrians, that constant music of an unaccompanied flute causes pain rather than any musical pleasure to those who hear it? And Alcides said,--But this engine, the hydraulic organ, whether you choose to cla.s.s it among stringed instruments or among wind instruments, is the invention of a fellow-countryman of ours, an Alexandrian, a barber by trade; and his name is Ctesibius. And Aristocles reports this, in his book on Choruses, saying--"The question is asked, whether the hydraulic organ is a stringed instrument or a wind instrument." Now Aristoxenus did not feel sure on this point; but it is said, that Plato showed a sort of notion of the invention, making a nightly clock like the hydraulic organ; being very like an enormous hour-gla.s.s. And, indeed, the hydraulic organ does seem to be a kind of hour-gla.s.s. It cannot, therefore, be considered a stringed instrument, and one to be played by touching. But perhaps it may be called a wind instrument, because the organ is inflated by the water; for the pipes are plunged down into the water, and when the water is agitated by a youth, as the axles penetrate through the whole organ, the pipes are inflated, and emit a gentle and agreeable sound. And this organ is like a round altar; and they say that it was invented by Ctesibius the barber, who dwelt at that time in the territory of Aspendor, in the reign of the second Ptolemy surnamed Euergetes; and they say that he was a very eminent man; they say also, that he learnt a good deal from his wife Thais. But Trypho, in the third book of his treatise on Names, (and it is a dissertation on Flutes and Organs,) says Ctesibius the mechanic wrote a book about the hydraulis; but I am not sure that he is not mistaken as to the name. At all events, Aristoxenus prefers stringed instruments which are played upon by the touch to wind instruments; saying that wind instruments are very easy; for that many people, without having been taught, can play on the flute and pipe, as for instance, shepherds.

76. And this is what I have got to say to you about the hydraulic organ, O Ulpian. For the Phnicians used a kind of flute called the gingras, according to the account of Xenophon, about a span in length, and of a very shrill and mournful tone. And the same instrument is used also by the Carians in their wailings, unless, indeed, when he says Phnicia he means Caria; and indeed you may find the name used so in Corinna and in Bacchylides. And these flutes are called gingri by the Phnicians from the lamentations for Adonis; for you Phnicians called Adonis Gingres, as Democlides tells us. And Antiphanes mentions the gingri flutes, in his Physician; and Menander does so too, in his Carina; and Amphis, in his Dithyrambus, saying--

_A._ And I have got that admirable gingras.

_B._ What is the gingras?

_A._ 'Tis a new invention Of our countryman, which never yet Has been exhibited in any theatre, But is a luxury of Athenian banquets.

_B._ Why then not introduce it to this people?

_A._ Because I think that I shall draw by lot Some most ambitious tribe; for well I know They would disturb all things with their applause.

And Axionicus says, in his Phileuripides--

For they are both so sick with love Of the melodious strains of soft Euripides, That every other music seems to them Shrill as the gingras, and a mere misfortune.

77. But how much better, O most sagacious Ulpian, is this hydraulic organ, than the instrument which is called nabla; which Sopater the parodist, in his drama ent.i.tled Pylae, says is also an invention of the Phnicians, using the following expressions--

Nor is the noise of the Sidonian nabla, Which from the throat doth flow, at all impair'd.

And in the Slave of Mystacus we find--

Among the instruments of harmony The nablas comes, not over soft or sweet; By its long sides a lifeless lotus fix'd Sends forth a breathed music; and excites men, Singing in Bacchic strain a merry song.

And Philemon says, in his Adulterer--

_A._ There should, O Parmeno, be here among us A nablas or a female flute-player.

_B._ What is a nablas?

_A._ Don't you know? you idiot!

_B._ Indeed I don't.

_A._ What, do not know a nablas?

You know no good; perhaps a sambucistria You ne'er have heard of either?

There is also an instrument called the triangle, which Juba mentions in the fourth book of his Theatrical History, and says it is an invention of the Syrians; as is also the sambuca, which is called ????f?????. But this instrument Neanthes the Cyzicene, in the first book of his Seasons, says is an invention of Ibycus the Rhegian poet; as also the lyre called barbitos was of Anacreon. But since you are running all us Alexandrians down as unmusical, and keep mentioning the monaulos as our only national instrument, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about that.

78. For Juba, in the before-mentioned treatise, says that the Egyptians call the monaulos an invention of Osiris, just as they say that kind of plagiaulos is, which is called photinx, and that, too, I will presently show you is mentioned by a very ill.u.s.trious author; for the photinx is the same as the flute, which is a national instrument. But Sophocles, in his Thamyras, speaks of the monaulos, saying--

For all the tuneful melodies of pipes p??t?de?

Are lost, the lyre, and monaulos too.

And Araros, in his Birth of Pan, says--

But he, can you believe it? seized at once On the monaulos, and leapt lightly forth.

And Anaxandrides, in his Treasure, says--

I the monaulos took, and sang a wedding song.