great a number of candles as there are days in a year. Hermippus the comic poet, in his Iambics, speaks of→ A military candlestick well put together. And, in his play called The Grooms, he says And Here, lamp (Avxvídiov), show me my road on the right hand. Now, Tavos was a name given to wood cut into splinters and bound together, which they used for a torch: Menander, in his Cousins, says He enter'd, and cried out, “ Πανὸν, λύχνον, λυχνούχον, any light" And Diphilus, in his Soldier, says— But now this waves is quite full of water. And before them Eschylus, in his Agamemnon, had used the word πανός 61. Alexis, too, uses the word guλoλuxvouɣov, and perhaps this is the same thing as that which is called by Theopompus ὀβελισκολύχνιον. But Philyllius calls λαμπάδες, δάδες. But the Aúxvos, or candle, is not an ancient invention; for the ancients used the light of torches and other things made of wood. Phrynichus, however, says Plato too, in his Long Night, says And then upon the top he'll have a candle, And these candles with two wicks are mentioned also by Metagenes, in his Man fond of Sacrificing; and by Philonides in his Buskins. But Clitarchus, in his Dictionary, says that the Rhodians give the name of λoovis to a torch made of the bark of the vine. But Homer calls torches δεταί The darts fly round him from an hundred hands, Sour he departs, and quits th' untasted prey.2 1 There is a hiatus here in the text of Athenæus, but he refers to Ag. 284, μέγαν δὲ πανὸν ἐκ νήσου τρίτον ἄθωον αἶπος Ζηνὸς ἐξεδέξατο, where Clytemnestra is speaking of the beacon fires, which had conveyed to her the intelligence of the fall of Troy. 2 Iliad, vii. 663. A torch was also called λávn, as Amerias tells us; but Nicander of Colophon says that λávy means a bundle of rushes. Herodotus uses the word in the neuter plural, Auxva, in the second book of his History. Cephisodorus, in his Pig, uses the word Avxvafía, for what most people call λvɣvokavтía, the lighting of candles. And Cynulcus, who was always attacking Ulpian, said;-But now, my fine supper-giver, buy me some candles for a penny, that, like the good Agathon, I may quote this line of the admirable Aristophanes Bring now, as Agathon says, the shining torches (TeÚKAS); and when he had said this Putting his tail between his lion's feet, he left the party, being very sleepy. 62. Then, when many of the guests cried out Io Pæan, Pontianus said;-I wish, my friends, to learn from you whether Io Pæan is a proverb, or the burden of a song, or what else it is. And Democritus replied;- Clearchus the Solensian, inferior to none of the pupils of the wise Aristotle, in the first book of his treatise on Proverbs, says that "Latona, when she was taking Apollo and Diana from Chalcis in Euboea to Delphi, came to the cave which was called the cave of the Python. And when the Python attacked them, Latona, holding one of her children in her arms, got upon the stone which even now lies at the foot of the brazen statue of Latona, which is dedicated as a representation of what then took place near the Plane-tree at Delphi, and cried out "Ie, raî; (and Apollohappened to have his bow in hand;) and this is the same as if she had said "Apie, "Ie, πaî, or Báλe, maî, Shoot, boy. And from this day "Ie, Taî and "Ie, πav arose. But some people, slightly altering the word, use it as a sort of proverbial exclamation to avert evils, and say in Tauv, instead of "Ie, raî. And many also, when they have completed any undertaking, say, as a sort. of proverb, in Tav; but since it is an expression that is: familiar to us it is forgotten that it is a proverb, and they who use it are not aware that they are uttering a proverb." But as for what Heraclides of Pontus says, that is clearly a mistake, "That the god himself, while offering a libation, thrice cried out ἵη παιὰν, ἵη παιών.” From a belief in which statement he refers the trimeter verse, as it is called, to the god, saying "that each of these metres belongs to the god; ATH.-VOL. III. 4 c because when the first two syllables are made long, in raiav, it becomes a heroic verse, but when they are pronounced short it is an iambic, and thus it is plain that we must attribute the iambic to him. And as the rest are short, if any one makes the last two syllables of the verse long, that makes a Hipponactean iambic. 63. And after this, when we also were about to leave the party, the slaves came in bringing, one an incense burner, and another For it was the custom for the guests to rise up and offer a libation, and then to give the rest of the unmixed wine to the boy, who brought it to them to drink. Ariphron the Sicyonian composed this Pæan to Health- With thy kind favour, and for all the rest Or the power of a king, Or children smiling round the board, Or partner honour'd and adored, Or any other joy Which the all-bounteous gods employ To raise the hearts of men, Consoling them for long laborious pain; All their chief brightness owe, kind Health, to you; "Tis you the only real bliss can bring, And no man's blest when you are not in view, * * * * 64. They know.-For Sopater the farce-writer, in his play entitled The Lentil, speaks thus I can both carve and drink Etruscan wine, In due proportion mix'd. These things, my good Timocrates, are not, as Plato says, the sportive conversations of Socrates in his youth and beauty, but the serious discussions of the Deipnosophists; for, as Dionysius the Brazen says, What, whether you begin or end a work, POETICAL FRAGMENTS QUOTED BY ATHENÆUS, RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. APOLLODORUS. (Book i. § 4, p. 4.) THERE is a certain hospitable air In a friend's house, that tells me I am welcome : The yard dog wags his tail, the servant runs, CUMBERLAND. ARCHESTRATUS. (Book i. § 7, p. 7.) I write these precepts for immortal Greece, Or three, or four, may sit in choice repast, Or five at most. Who otherwise shall dine, Are like a troop marauding for their prey.-D'ISRAELI. ARCHILOCHUS. (Book i. § 14, p. 11.) Faith! but you quaff The grape's pure juice to a most merry tune, Your appetite is gross;-your god's your belly ;- Till you ARISTOPHANES. (Book i. § 55, p. 50.) For the Athenian people neither love Harsh crabbed bards, nor crabbed Pramnian wines, But mild, sweet-smelling, nectar-dropping cups.-Walsh. DIPHILUS. (Book ii. § 2, p. 58.) Oh! friend to the wise, to the children of song, EUBULUS. (Book ii. § 3, p. 59.) J. A. ST. JOHN. Three cups of wine a prudent man may take; The sixth breeds feuds and falling-out of friends; EPICHARMUS. (Book ii. § 3, p. 59.) A. After sacrifice, then came feasting. A. After feasting drink we merrily. B. CUMBERLAND. Beautiful, by Jupiter! Charming! I do truly think. |