The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 75

These things I speak of are what Epicurus Tells us are real joys; and if the world All lived the happy life I live myself, There would not be one wicked man on earth.

And Hegesippus, in his Philetairi, says--

That wisest Epicurus, when a man Once ask'd him what was the most perfect good Which men should constantly be seeking for, Said pleasure is that good. Wisest and best Of mortal men, full truly didst thou speak: For there is nothing better than a dinner, And every good consists in every pleasure.

10. But the Epicureans are not the only men who are addicted to pleasure; but those philosophers are so too who belong to what are called the Cyrenaic and the Mnesistratean sects; for these men delight to live luxuriously, as Posidonius tells us. And Speusippus did not much differ from them, though he was a pupil and a relation of Plato's. At all events, Dionysius the tyrant, in his letters to him, enumerating all the instances of his devotion to pleasure, and also of his covetousness, and reproaching him with having levied contributions on numbers of people, attacks him also on account of his love for Lasthenea, the Arcadian courtesan. And, at the end of all, he says this--"Whom do you charge with covetousness, when you yourself omit no opportunity of ama.s.sing base gain? For what is there that you have been ashamed to do?

Are you not now attempting to collect contributions, after having paid yourself for Hermeas all that he owed?"

11. And about Epicurus, Timon, in the third book of his Silli, speaks as follows:--

Seeking at all times to indulge his stomach, Than which there's no more greedy thing on earth.

For, on account of his stomach, and of the rest of his sensual pleasures, the man was always flattering Idomeneus and Metrodorus. And Metrodorus himself, not at all disguising this admirable principle of his, says, somewhere or other, "The fact is, Timocrates, my natural philosopher, that every investigation which is guided by principles of nature, fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach." For Epicurus was the tutor of all these men; who said, shouting it out, as I may say, "The fountain and root of every good is the pleasure of the stomach: and all wise rules, and all superfluous rules, are measured alike by this standard." And in his treatise on the Chief Good, he speaks nearly as follows: "For I am not able to understand what is good, if I leave out of consideration the pleasures which arise from delicately-flavoured food, and if I also leave out the pleasures which arise from amatory indulgences; and if I also omit those which arise from music, and those, too, which are derived from the contemplation of beauty and the gratification of the eyesight." And, proceeding a little further, he says, "All that is beautiful is naturally to be honoured; and so is virtue, and everything of that sort, if it a.s.sists in producing or causing pleasure. But if it does not contribute to that end, then it may be disregarded.

12. And before Epicurus, Sophocles, the tragic poet, in his Antigone, had uttered these sentiments respecting pleasure--

For when a man contemns and ceases thus To seek for pleasure, I do not esteem That such an one doth live; I only deem him A breathing corpse:--he may, indeed, perhaps Have store of wealth within his joyless house; He may keep up a kingly pomp and state; But if these things be not with joy attended, They are mere smoke and shadow, and contribute, No, not one jot, to make life enviable.

And Philetaerus says, in his Huntress,--

For what, I pray you, should a mortal do, But seek for all appliances and means To make his life from day to day pa.s.s happily?

This should be all our object and our aim, Reflecting on the chance of human life.

And never let us think about to-morrow, Whether it will arrive at all or not.

It is a foolish trouble to lay up Money which may become stale and useless.

And the same poet says, in his nopion,--

But every man who lives but sparingly, Having sufficient means, I call and think Of all men the most truly miserable.

For when you're dead, you cannot then eat eels; No wedding feasts are cook'd in Pluto's realms.

13. And Apollodorus the Carystian, in his Stirrer-up of Law-suits, says--

O men, whoe'er you are, why do you now Scorn pleasant living, and turn all your thoughts To do each other mischief in fierce war?

In G.o.d's name, tell me, does some odious fate, Rude and unlettered, dest.i.tute of all That can be knowledge call'd, or education, Ignorant of what is bad and what is good, Guide all your destiny?--a fate which settles All your affairs at random by mere chance?

I think it must be so: for else, what deity Who bears a Grecian heart, would ever choose To see Greeks by each other thus despoil'd, And falling dead in ghastly heaps of corpses, When she might see them sportive, gay, and jesting, Drinking full cups, and singing to the flute?

Tell me, my friend, I pray, and put to shame This most unpolish'd clownish fortune.

And, presently afterwards, he says--

Does not a life like this deserve the name Of G.o.dlike?--Think how far more pleasant all Affairs would be in all the towns of Greece Than now they are, if we were but to change Our fas.h.i.+ons, and our habits, and our principles One little bit. Why should we not proclaim, "Whoe'er is more than thirty years of age, Let him come forth and drink. Let all the cavalry Go to a feast at Corinth, for ten days, Crown'd with chaplets, and perfumed most sweetly.

Let all who radishes have got to sell Come in the morning here from Megara.

Bid all th' allies now hasten to the bath, And mix in cups the rich Euban wine?"-- Sure this is real luxury and life, But we are slaves to a most clownish fortune.

14. The poets say that that ancient hero, Tantalus, was also greatly devoted to pleasure. At all events, the author of the book called The Return of the Atridae says "that he, when he had arrived among the G.o.ds, and had begun to live among them, had leave given him by Jupiter to ask for whatever he wished; and that he, being a man quite insatiable in the gratification of his appet.i.tes, asked that it might be granted to him to indulge them to their full extent, and to live in the same manner as the G.o.ds. And that Jupiter was indignant at this request, and, according to his promise, fulfilled his prayer; but still, that he might not enjoy what he had before him, but be everlastingly tormented, he hung a stone over his head, on account of which he should be unable to get at any of the things which he had before him." Some of the Stoics also were addicted to this kind of pleasure. At all events, Eratosthenes the Cyrenean, who was a pupil of Ariston the Chian, who was one of the sect of the Stoics, in his treatise which is ent.i.tled Ariston, represents his master as subsequently being much addicted to luxury, speaking as follows: "And before now, I have at times discovered him breaking down, as it were, the part.i.tion wall between pleasure and virtue, and appearing on the side of pleasure." And Apollophanes (and he was an acquaintance of Ariston), in his Ariston (for he also wrote a book with that t.i.tle), shows the way in which his master was addicted to pleasure.

And why need we mention Dionysius of Heraclea? who openly discarded his covering of virtue, and put on a robe embroidered with flowers, and a.s.sumed the name of The altered Man; and, although he was an old man, he apostatized from the doctrines of the Stoics, and pa.s.sed over to the school of Epicurus; and, in consequence, Timon said of him, not without some point and felicity--

When it is time to set (d??e??), he now begins To sit at table (?d??es?a?). But there is a time To love, a time to wed, a time to cease.

15. Apollodorus the Athenian, in the third book of his treatise on a Modest and Prudent Man, which is addressed to those whom he calls Male Buffoons, having first used the expression, "more libidinous than the very Inventors themselves (??f?sta?)," says, there are some fish called ??f?sta?, being all of a tawny colour, though they have a purple hue in some parts. And they say that they are usually caught in couples, and that one is always found following at the tail of the other; and therefore, from the fact of one following close on the tail of the other, some of the ancients call men who are intemperate and libidinous by the same name. But Aristotle, in his work on Animals, says that this fish, which he calls alphesticus, has but a single spine, and is of a tawny colour. And Numenius of Heraclea mentions it, in his treatise on Fis.h.i.+ng, speaking as follows:--

The fish that lives in seaweed, the alphestes, The scorpion also with its rosy meat.

And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, says--

Mussels, alphestae, and the girl-like fish, The dainty coracinus.

Mithaecus also mentions it in his Culinary Art.

16. There is another fish called Anthias, or Callicthys; and this also is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe:--

The sword-fish and the chromius too, Who, as Ananius tells us, Is far the best of all in spring; But th' anthias in the winter.

And Ananius speaks as follows:--

For spring the chromius is best; The anthias in winter: But of all fish the daintiest Is a young shrimp in fig leaves.

In autumn there's a dainty dish, The meat of the she-goat; And when they pick and press the grapes, Young pigs are dainty eating.

Then, too, young puppies you may eat, And hares, and also foxes.

But when the gra.s.shopper does sing, Just at the height of summer, Is the best time for mutton fat; Then, too, the sea-born tunny Will many a savoury dish afford, And beats his compeers all With garlic seasoning richly drest; Then, too, the fatted ox Is sweet to eat both late at night, And at a noon-day feast.

And I have quoted this piece of Ananius at length, thinking that it might give some suggestions to the present race of Epicures.

17. But Aristotle, in his treatise on the Habits of Animals, says--"They say that wherever the anthias is found, there there is no beast or fish of prey ever seen; and accordingly the collectors of sponge use him as a guide, and dive boldly wherever he is found, and call him the sacred fish." And Dorion also mentions him in his book on Fishes, saying, "Some call the anthias by the name of callicthys, and also by that of callionymus and ellops." And Icesius, in his treatise on Materials, says that he is called wolf by some authors, and by others callionymus: and that he is a fish of very solid meat, and full of delicious juice, and easy of digestion; but not very good for the stomach. But Aristotle says that the callicthys is a fish with serrated teeth, carnivorous and gregarious. And Epicharmus, in his Muses, enumerates the ellops among the fishes, but pa.s.ses over the callicthys or callionymus in silence as being identical with it; and of the ellops he speaks thus,--

And then the high-priced ellops.

And the same poet says, subsequently--

He was the fish of which great Jupiter Once bought a pair for money, and enjoin'd His slaves to give him one, and Juno t'other.

But Dorion, in his treatise on Fish, says that the anthias and the callicthys are different fish; and also that the callionymus is not the same as the ellops.

18. But what is the fish which is called the Sacred fish? The author of the Telchinian History, whether it was Epimenides the Cretan, or Teleclides, or any one else, says,--"What are called the sacred fish, are dolphins and pompili." But the pompilus is a very amorous animal; as being sprung himself, at the same time with Venus, from heavenly blood.

And Nicander, in the second book of his taica, says--

The pompilus, who points the safest road To anxious mariners who burn with love, And without speaking warns them against danger.

And Alexander the aetolian, in his Crica, if indeed it is a genuine poem, says--

Still did the pompilus direct the helm, Swimming behind, and guide it down the gulf, The minister of the G.o.ds, the sacred pompilus.

And Pancrates the Arcadian, in his work ent.i.tled "Works of the Sea,"

having first said--

The pompilus, whom all sea-faring men Do call the sacred fish;

proceeds to say, "that the pompilus is not held in great esteem by Neptune only, but also by those G.o.ds who occupy Samothrace. At all events that some old fisherman once threatened to punish this fish, when the golden age still flourished among men; and his name was Epopeus, and he belonged to the island of Icarus. He therefore was one day fis.h.i.+ng with his son, and they had no luck in their fis.h.i.+ng, and caught nothing but pompili, and so did not abstain from eating them, but he and his son ate every one of them, and not long afterwards they suffered for their impiety; for a whale attacked the s.h.i.+p, and ate up Epopeus in the sight of his son." And Pancrates states, "that the pompilus is an enemy to the dolphin; and even the dolphin does not escape with impunity when he has eaten a pompilus, for he becomes unable to exert himself and tremulous when he has eaten him; and so he gets cast on sh.o.r.e, and is eaten himself by the gulls and cormorants; and he is sometimes, when in this state, caught by men who give themselves up to hunting such large fish.

And Timachides the Rhodian mentions the pompili in the ninth book of his Banquet, and says--

The tench o' the sea, and then the pompili, The holiest of fish.