Warm melted in the mouth. So art improved. With all the pleasures of domestic life. Slave. Oh, rare! when will this end? Macrobius mentions, that they could make artificial birds and fishes when the real ones could not be had. Trimachus had a cook, who could imitate all kinds of birds and fishes out of hog's flesh. The cook of Niromedes, king of Bithynia, furnished him fresh herrings, for which he had a great longing, though far removed from the sea. A cook who was fortunate enough to invent some dish of particularly agreeable flavour, or, what was more esteemed, a dish compound-The costly sacrifice. We slay the victim, ed of the most costly materials, was the ob- We pour the free libations, and to us ject of high honor, and enjoyed ample op- The gods themselves tender propitious ear, And for our special merits scatter blessings portunities of turning his professional abiliOn all the human race; because from us ties to a good account. In the time of the And from our art mankind were first induced first Roman Emperors, when the pleasures To live the life of reason, and the gods of the table were carried to the extreme of Received due honor.-Athen. XIV.–81. licentiousness, we find enormous salaries By degrees, from a state of virtuous furgiven to the cook-upwards of 6000 dollars gality and simplicity, the Greeks and Rowas by no means uncommon. Mark Anmans arrived at the most extravagant, and thony once presented his cook with a whole almost incredible prodigality. corporate town, or municipium, solely be- scarcely conceive, at this time, of the exiscause he succeeded in dressing a pudding to tence of such extravagance; yet the facts the satisfaction of Cleopatra. Plutarch re- are too well substantiated to admit of any lates an instance in which a cook was pro- doubt. Athenæus mentions a supper given moted to the governorship of a province, as by Esop, the fruit and wine of which cost a reward of extraordinary professional merit. upwards of $200,000. Plato (Sympos) says Cleander, a wealthy Greek gentleman, kept the public dinners of one Clearchus cost forty cooks, at a salary of about 3000 dol- $225,000. Seneca, in his work "De Conlars a piece. Athenion, in his Samothra-solatione," states that Caligula expended on cians, introduces a cook, arguing philosophi- a supper, "centies sertitii," about $358,137. cally on the nature of things and men, and Plutarch in his life of Lucullus, mentions that seriously maintaining that to the culinary his establishment in the Apollo, for suppers, art is due the improvement of society in religion, civilization, arts and sciences. Cook. Do you not know that cookery has brought More aid to piety than aught beside? Slave.-Say, by what means? Cook. Attend, and you shall hear. Wild was the earth, man feasting on man, Was sweet, and man then ceased to feed on man! The source of seasonings, charm of cookery, came. We can was $7,868. According to Dion, Vitellius expended in eating and drinking, within the year, 22,500 myriads of drachms, about $31,259,375!! Suetonius is more particular in his account of the living of this royal gastrophiler. He states that his imperial majesty generally had four meals in a day, each of which cost $14,000, and, to enable himself to master so many dishes, he was accustomed to take emetics between meals—“ facile omnibus sufficiens, vometandi consuetudine." The limits of this article will not admit of of our inquiring at length into the sumptuousness of Littius, Nero and Cladius, the inconceivable gluttony of Vitellius; the expensive caprice of Verus; the insane monstrosities of Heliogabalus, one of whose suppers cost upwards of $107,600, or it might be easy to prove, as M. Feignot has remarked, the gastronomical reputation of the Greeks and Romans is not exceeded by their ers who may wish to try its efficacy, we give political and military renown." the description as handed down by Clearchus: “Ο αυτός (Κλέαρχος) ψήδι. Πιθυλλον, τον Τενθην καλουμένον, ου, περιγλωττίδα μόνον, ὑμενινην θορείν, άλλα και προδελυτρούν την γλώσσαν πρὸς τὰρ απολαύσεις και τέλος ιχθυν τριβών απεκαθείρεν αυτην." (Athen. lib. 1–1 c. 5.) of a Greek feast, it will be interesting to Before proceeding to describe the details enumerate the various kinds of convivial meals, and the occasions which gave rise to them. Almost incredible stories of the gastrophilic exploits of particular individuals have been handed down to us. Dion mentions Romans who were addicted to such excessive eating as to be constrained to leave the table once or twice during a meal, and, after having unloaded the stomach to return agai to the charge; and he says it was by no means an uncommon custom with these gourmands to take an emetic before meals fices afforded the most frequent opportunities In ancient times public or domestic sacrito sharpen the appetite, for the same reason for banquets, and in after times this continued that the females, after bathing before supper, to be the case. Birth-days also gave occasion drank wine and threw it up again, and after for banquets, and not only birth-days of memmeals, to obviate the effects of their glutto-bers of the family itself, but those also of esny, "vomunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant." Firmius Salencius is said to have devoured The departure or arrival of a friend, the gainteemed persons, or of the renowned dead. a whole ostrich at a meal; and Clodius Albinus, commander of the Romans in Gaul, ing of a victory, the anniversaries of battles, binus, commander of the Romans in Gaul, and days of national rejoicing were made is reported to have eaten at one sitting, 500 figs, 200 peaches, 10 melons, 20 pounds of raisins, 100 snipes, 10 capons, and 150 large oysters, besides a quantity of wine. Unfavorable as these examples are to the Romans whom they concern, they yet fall short of some which have been related in the occasions of feasting and dancing. Beral persons to club together, and have a prisides public feasts, it was common for sevefeasts generally came off at the house of an vate carouse at their joint expense. These hetara, or of one of the contributors. The Athenæus of their Grecian archetypes;-set-nics, generally held on the sea-shore. Great young Greeks were passionately fond of picting aside the mythical accounts of the enor-attention was paid to dress on these occamous eating and extraordinary appetite of sions, and Plutarch relates that the Sybarites Hercules, who, according to Ion, when ex- invited ladies to pic-nics a year before hand, cited by applause, would devour logs of that they might have their toilets in perfect wood and coals of fire. Theagenes the Tha- readiness. (Plutarch, Sept. Sap. Conv. 1.) sian athlete is said to have eaten a whole ox It was not thought a breach of good manat a sitting; Milo, the Crotoniate, according ners to bring to these feasts an uninvited Theodorus Hieropolitanas, devoured 20 lbs. guest. Plutarch has devoted a whole chapof meat, 30 lbs. of bread, and drank three ter to the discussion of the propriety of a gallons of wine at a meal. A female named guest's bringing an uninvited person with Aglais was accustomed to eat 15 lbs. of flesh, him. On such occasions it was expected four semiodii of bread, and one gallon of that the persons brought in should have paid wine for her supper. Chrysippus tells a sto- some attention to their toilets, and should ry of one Philoxenus, who, in order to be also have made previous use of the bath and able to eat his food as hot as possible, kept of unguents. his hands in hot water and gargled his mouth invited) to Agathon's, was λcλovpívos te kai ras Socrates when he went (unwith the same; by bribing the cook, the din βλαύτας ὑποδεδεμένος τά ἐκεινος ολιγάκις εποίει. ner was introduced hot, and he was thus en- All guests were required to come in good abled completely to distance his competitors. time, and it was not usual to wait for the deThis glutton was, however, outdone by one faulters, but the feast was commenced withPithyllus, who, according to Clearchus, guar-out them; and this we read was the case at ded his hands against the extreme heat of his Agathon's, who was the beau ideal of Grefood with finger stalls, and encrusted his cian politeness. (Plato, Symp. p. 175.) The tongue with an envelope for the same pur- master of the house usually appointed the pose. For the benefit of our curious read-place of each guest; but sometimes absurd contentions occurred among the guests for those places which were esteemed the most honorable. Before reclining, the guests first sat down upon the couches, in order that the attendants might take off their sandals and wash their feet, which was done with wine and highly perfumed essences instead of water. Before the dishes were brought in, slaves handed round perfumed water in golden vessels, for washing the hands. Nothing in the shape of knives and forks being in use it was of course indispensable for the hands to be washed at the conclusion of the meal. In eating solid food the fingers only were used. Mention is made of persons whose hands were so callous as to be able to handle the hottest food, and of others who wore gloves to enable them to take their food quite hot. Thus Chrysippus relates that the notorious gourmand Philoxenus was accustomed, when at the baths, to dip his fingers. in hot water, and to gargle his mouth with it, as a preparation for the perils of the banquet. (Alhen. 1. p. 5.) Spoons, often made. of gold, were frequently used; but oftener a hollow piece of bread served as a substiNeither tablecloths nor napkins were used. To cleanse the hands during the meal, the crumb of bread was used, which was kneaded into a kind of dongh Pausanias says, however, that a kind of dough was specially prepared for this purpose-varias tute. δε φησιν, ότι άπο μας διλια σταις ο εφέριν επι το δείπνον, εις ο τας χείρας απόματη μενοι, είτα και ιν εβαλλον. We have not space to enumerate all the dishes that generally appeared at a Greek banquet, and will specify only the most pop ular. "There is a scent of Syrian myrrh, Ceryeus, salt, and limpets firm, The meal was concluded by the crovdai, or libation to the "good genius." This ceremony took place to the sound of the flute. The libation being concluded, the Symposion () commenced, when the dessert was served up. In earlier times this consisted merely of olives, figs, nuts, &c., which were invariably accompanied by salt, either pure or mixed with spice, to bring out the flavour of the wine, as well as to induce thirst. A kind of cake strewed with salt was eaten with the wine. The chief object of the dessert, beside the pleasure to the palate which its dainties afforded, was to keep up the desire of drinking. Cheese was usually introduced, with dried figs; and although the figs of Attica were very fine flavoured, It was customary to begin a feast with a TOTO, which consisted of certain wines and edibles to provoke appetite: 'ʼn пpó devσ Tηv pipapkov mateď på. At a later period the purpina as Plutarch calls them, served this purpose; they consisted of oysters and other shell fish, and raw vegetables, as cress, salad, &c., &c. Large joints of meat, poultry and fish, among which the Copaic Eels gourmands preferred those from Rhodes. are particularly celebrated, formed the sta- Olives were also much eaten, especially those ple dishes; but hares, partridges, field-fares, pigeons, and many other things, were favorite delicacies. The following lines of Anaxandrides, throw much light upon the edibles of a Greek banquet. that had ripened on the tree and become quite shrivelled. Dates, chesnuts, almonds, and fresh fruit were much used. Cakes, for which Athens was celebrated, were a prin cipal feature of the dessert. These Symposia were enlivened by varied olives. This property of cabbage was notic. conversation, music, dancing, with games ed by Cato and Pliny, and Athenæus endeaand divertisements of all sorts. The Sympo- vors to prove it by sundry quotations from sion was considered by the Athenians as the the poets. Bitter almonds are also mentionmain thing, and as affording opportunity for ed as a specific by Plutarch. (Symp. 1. 6, 4.) a higher species of enjoyment. In the Sym- Julius Africanus gives a curious receipt, in posia of Xenophon and Plato the pleasure is which this p operty of cabbage is referred wholly intellectual, not sensual; Plato's en- to. "That a person drinking much wine may tertainments were noted for their frugality, not be inebriated." "Having roasted the his chief dish consisting of figs, from which lights of a goat, eat them; or, when fasting circumstance he derived the nick-name - eat five or seven bitter almonds; or first, eat ¿ʊs—a lover of figs. However, the dramatis raw cabbages, or chew the odorous assafætida, persona in Xenophon and Plato are of so high- and you will not be inebriated. A person ly an intellectual cast, that we cannot take that drinks wine will likewise not be inebritheir conversation to represent the average ated, if he be crowned with twigs of the tone of an ordinary convivial meeting. They chamæpitys; or if on drinking the first cup, were doubtless often the scenes of riot, de- he repeats this line of Homer, bauchery and hard topering. “Πρις δ' αρ ἀπ' “Ιδαίων ορέων κτυπε μητίετα Ζευς." Before entering upon a "regular built bender,” α παιδαγωγείν συμπόσιον, a ruler of the feast "Thrice thundered Jupiter from Ida's heights." was selected, and to his commands the guests were obliged to render implicit obedience. As At a feast given by one Glaucon, we find What's the the manner in which the Symposion went off a young gentleman arguing, depended mainly on the Symposiarch, Plato harm if we do get a little wetted? The earth requires that he should be a wise and sober drinks; the plants drink; and as they are person. His duties were to preserve order, refreshed by the water of heaven, so is the to mix the wine, and to determine the quan- spirit of man cheered by wine. It lulls our tity to be consumed. To him also were re- cares to sleep, as poppy-juice and mandrake ferred the settlement of any disputes that do the senses, and wakes us up to merriment, might arise during the frolic. Enormous as oil nourishes the flame;" he then, continquantities of wine were often drunk at these ues Xenophon, "emptied the measure withSymposia, and as every one was subject to out drawing breath."-(Xen. Symp. 2, 24.) the Symposiarch, he was obliged to drink Guessing riddles was a favorite amusement the prescribed quantity, under a penalty. It at Greek convivial meetings. The reward was customary to begin with small goblets, for solving the riddle usually consisted of afterwards resorting to larger. Some of these chaplets, cakes, and sweetmeats, and somewere of large size, holding often half a gal- times, when ladies were present, a kiss ; lon, and an instance is recorded in which while a failure was expiated by a glass of Alexander drained off a goblet holding two salt and water. Many of these riddles are gallons. Such vessels might well be termed still extant. We give a few of the best. λουτρα Οι φρέατα; not to mention that they had to be emptied without taking breath, úпvevari Οι αμυστι πινειν. It is not to be wondered at that the revellers sometimes became pretty Answer NIGHT and DAY. well soaked;" and accordingly we find them resorting to various devices to prevent or allay drunkenness. For the benefit of that distinguished and much maligned class of youngsters, denominated "Young America," we give some of these receipts, which they will do well to remember, as accidents Answer, SLEEP. will happen even to the most cautious. Aristotle recommends sweet wine, cabbages and 66 "We're sisters twain, one dying bears the other; She too expires, and so brings forth her mother." "Nor mortal fate, nor yet immortal time, Yet known to each one most familiarly."-Theodectes. "A thing, whose match or in the depths profound Of ocean, or on earth can ne'er be found; Cast in no mortal mould, its growth of limb From Alexis, ap. Athen. X-449. state that there was only one scale, and one figure, called Manes. Athenæus says this was not all, for beneath this Manes stood a basin into which the liquid must fall. The Manes stood under water in this basin, and the scale-plate had to sink so as to hit his head below water. Another species of this Answer, the gnomon, or sun-dial. The following riddle, one of the best ex-game, was played thus: On the surface of tant, is proposed in the Sappho of Antipha nes: ་་ «Εστι φύσις θηλεία βρέβη τώξους ἐπὸ κολποις αύτης. όντα - Δωρα βοή ίστησι γεγωνός, καὶ διὰ πᾶντιον οιδμα και ηπειρου δια πάσης, οἷς ἐθ λει θνητῶν τοῖς δ ̓ οὗ παρευισιν άκουειν εξεστιν· κωφὴν δ' ακοής αισθασιν εχουσιν." Know'st thou the creature, that a tiny brood Answer, it is a letter, and its children that it conceals within it are the characters, which, mute and voiceless, speak only to him to whom the letter is addressed." (Xen Symp x-34.) A few words as to the games in vogue among the Greeks, at their Symposia, and we pass to the gastronomy of their imitatorsthe Romans. a vessel containing water, a number of small empty bowls were set floating, and into these the wine was spirted in order to sink them. This game served often as a love oracle. The xaliopos was also a very popular game, requiring manual skill. Eustathius, in his commentary, Ad. II. XIV. 291, describes this game clearly: he says σε αλλά την ο χαλκισμός ορθου νομίσματος θετέον χαλασε στροφη και σύντους περείησις, μεθ' αν έδει τον παίζοντα επέχειν ορθω πιο ξακτιελω το νόμισμα εις όσον ταχος πρινη καταπε σειν." In bringing these remarks to a close it is but just to say, that it was the highly intellectual and varied conversation, and the inborn vivacity and ready wit of the Athenian that lent these Symposia their principal charm. It is this mirthful and joyous tone that gives the chief zest to the graceful narrative of Xenophon, the vivid freshness and truthfulness of which at once convince us that it is taken from the life.* One of the most favorite of these games was the Cottabos, in which success was mainly dependent upon manual dexterity. In the commencement of the CommonFrom the Scoliast upon Lucian, Lexiph. 3., wealth, the Romans were very frugal. They we learn something of this game. A shaft were allowed by the Licinian Law to expend or staff was erected, and to the extremity only about 43 cents for eating on festival of this was attached the beam of a pair of days. By the Faunian Law not more than scales, while from either end of this depen- $1,42 was allowed to be laid out on a supded the scale-plates, (ártyyes) and beneath per. Lucilius, the Satirist, from his adhethese scale-plates little figures were placed. rence to this law, was called "Centussis,” One of the players now took a mouthful of which was a rate of money worth 100 asses. wine or water, and spirted it in a continuous Plutarch, in the life of Cato, says he stream upon one of the plates. If he suc-never exceeded the allowance of 30 asses on ceeded in hitting this so as to fill it, it de- a meal. However, notwithstanding the phiscended and struck the head of the little losophic disdain with which the Romans brass figure beneath; but rose again from were wont to regard every thing which sathe weight of the opposite scale, which, de-voured of over-refined delicacy, in these scending in its turn, hit the second figure, so early times, their descendants in course of that they both sounded in succession. Other time became exceedingly addicted to what writers give a different account of the man- in our day is called good living; and to proner of playing this game. It is said, that cure this desirable accompaniment of good the wine was not taken into the mouth, but jerked out of a cup, the hand being bent and the arm a little curved. Some authorities *We have not been able to collect materials sufficient Greeks as we could have desired. to give as detailed an account of the eatables of the |