LacusCurtius • Athenaeus — Deipnosophistae, Book IV.170D‑185A

p275 (170d) Different from the cooks were the so‑called "table-makers." What these men were called in for is plainly shown by Antiphanes in The Immigrant:1 "I went and hired in addition this table-maker, who will wash the dishes, get the lamps ready, Eprepare the libations, and do everything else which it is his business to do." We may, however, ask whether the "table-server" is the same as the "table-maker." For King Juba, in Similarities, says that "table-server" and the person called by the Romans structor are one and the same, citing lines from a play by Alexander entitled The Drinking-bout:2 "For to-morrow I must secure a flute-girl; I will get a 'table-maker' and a caterer. This is what my master sent me from the country for." FThey used to call table-maker the man who took care of the tables and the correct serving of the dinner in general. Philemon in Butting In:3 "You have no oversight in the kitchen; a table-maker is appointed p277 to serve." They used to call the viands placed upon the table (trapeza) epitrapezomata. Plato in Menelaus:4 171 "How little is left over of the things upon the table!" They used also to call the man who purchased the food "marketer" (agorastes), though to‑day we call him "obsonator";5 thus Xenophon, in the second book of Memorabilia,6 has these words: "Should we consent to take a servant and a marketer of this quality for nothing?" But in Menander's Phanium7 it has a more general sense: "He was a thrifty and moderate purchaser." Aristophanes has the form opsones for "marketer" in Masters of the Frying-Pan,8 in these lines: B"How that marketer seems to be delaying our luncheon!" Cratinus used a verb meaning "to buy dainties besides" in The Cleobulinas9 . . ., and Alexis has a verb "buy in the market beside," in Dropides.10 Those who give the summons to come to the king's table, as Pamphilus says, are called "table-men," from eleon, which means "meat-table." But Artemidorus names them "dinner-summoners." He11 further says that they used to call the foretasters "eaters," because they ate before the king to ensure his safety. But in our day the "eater" has become the superintendent of the entire service; his office was distinguished and honourable. Chares, at any rate, in the third book of his Histories12 says p279 Cthat Ptolemy Soter was appointed "eater" for Alexander. Perhaps also the man whom Romans to‑day call "foretaster" was he whom Greeks in the old days used to name protenthes, as Aristophanes has it in the earlier edition of the Clouds,13 in these lines: "Strepsiades: How is it, then, that the magistrates don't accept these pledges on the first day of the month, instead of on the last?14 Pheidippides: Why, I fancy they are subject to the same weakness as the foretasters — in their desire to grab the pledges as early as possible, Dthey 'foretaste' them by a whole day." Pherecrates also mentions foretasters in Savages:15 "Do not wonder; for we are foretasters, though you do not know it." And Philyllius in Heracles:16 "Shall I tell you then, so please you, who I am? I am one of the foretasters, and my name is Luncheonetta." I also find a decree passed at Athens in the archonship of Cephisodorus,17 in which the "foretasters" are a kind of college, Eexactly like the order called Parasitoi.18 It runs thus: "On the motion of Phocus, in order that the Council may celebrate the Apaturia in company with all other Athenians according to ancestral practice, be it decreed by the Council that its members be dismissed during those days on which all the other officials entitled to a holiday are celebrating, for p281 five days beginning with the day on which the Foretasters begin the celebration." That the ancients used to have also the foretasters called progeustae Xenophon tells us in the work entitled Hieron, or The Tyrant's Character:19 F"The tyrant lives in distrust even of food and drink; why, instead of being the first to offer the gods the consecrating morsel, they bid their serving-men take a taste first because of their suspicion that even in this rite they may eat or drink something harmful."a And Anaxilas says in Calypso:20 172 "First, the old woman will be the foretaster of your wine."

Again, the men of earlier times called those who made cakes, and especially those who made the large flat-cakes, "artisans." Menander, in Sham Heracles,21 scolding the cooks because they undertake matters which are none of their business, says: "Cook, in my eyes you are very obnoxious. 'How many tables are we going to set?' It's the third time, already, that you have asked that. We are including for the sacrifice one little pig; but whether we shall set up eight tables or only one, Bwhat difference does that make to you? Serve the dinner to‑day! You haven't any rich titbits22 to make, nor the kind of sauces which you usually mix in it, consisting of honey, sifted flour, and eggs; no, for nowadays things are completely turned round. It is the cook who makes cakes in moulds, bakes flat-cakes, boils groats and serves them after the salt-fish, and then a dish in fig-leaves and some p283 grapes. Meanwhile the "artisan," a woman, posted to rival him, roasts bits of meat and thrushes as if for dessert; and as a consequence the guest expecting "dinner" has dessert to eat, Cbut after anointing himself and putting on a wreath he again eats a "dinner"23 of honey-cakes — with thrushes!" That the duties of their office had been separate, the "artisans" looking after the cakes while the cooks saw to the preparation of fish and meat, is clearly shown by Antiphanes in Chrysis24 thus: "Four flute-girls have to be paid, and a dozen cooks and artisans, who demand honey by the bowl-ful." Menander in The Artisan:25 "A. What does this mean, slave? Zeus is my witness, you have come forth with bustling briskness. DB. Ay, for we have creations to create,26 and so we the whole night long have lain sleepless; even now there is very much still unfinished on our hands." Seleucus says that Panyassis was the first to mention cakes in the account27 which he gives of human sacrifice among the Egyptians; he says that upon the victims they placed many cakes, "and many nestling fowls," although even before him Stesichorus or Ibycus, in the poem entitled The Games,28 had said that presents were brought to the maiden, E"sesame cakes, groats, oil-and‑honey cakes, other sweet cakes, and yellow p285 honey." To show that this poem is by Stesichorus, the poet Simonides is a very competent witness, for he, in telling the story of Meleager,29 says: "Who at point of spear overcame all the warriors, driving them beyond the eddying Anaurus out of Iolcus, rich in grapes. For thus did Homer and Stesichorus sing to the folk." FIndeed, Stesichorus has this verse in the poem just cited, The Games:30 "For Amphiaraus won in leaping, but Meleager with the javelin."

I am not unaware,31 either, of what Apollodorus of Athens has said concerning the people of Delos, that they used to supply the services of cooks and "table-makers" to all who came to Delos for the sacred rites, and that they had names derived from their functions, such as Barley-Witches and Rounders; 173 because throughout the day during the festivals, as Aristophanes says,32 they moulded barley-cakes and offered them, as to women, kneaded round. And even to this day some of them are called Porcellians, or Rammers, or Kitchen-folk, or Sesames, or Kitchen-bucks, or Meat-boys,33 or Fish-slingers, while of the women some are called Cummin-blows, while all share the common name of Table-dodgers, because they have to dodge among meat-trays (eleoi) as they p287 serve the food during the festivals. Now the eleos is the cook's table. Homer:34 "When, then, he had roasted and placed upon trays." BHence Polycraton of Rhenaea, the son of Crithon, when he brought suit against them did not name them Delians, but brought charges against the "commonwealth of table-dodgers." And even the law of the Amphictyons requires that water shall be supplied by "table-dodgers," meaning the "table-makers" and servants of that sort. Criton the comic poet, in The Busybody,35 calls the Delians "parasites of the god" in these lines: "He, causing a Phoenician skipper, master of a mighty purse, to give up his voyage, Cand compelling him to bring two ships to anchor, wanted to go from Peiraeus to Delos, because he had heard that that was the one place in all the world which was reputed to possess three blessings for a parasite — a market well supplied with delicacies, a throng of idlers from all parts, and the Delians the very parasites of the god."

Achaeus of Eretria, in the satyric play Alcmeon,36 calls the people of Delphi "spiced-gravy-makers" in these lines: D"I am sick of looking at spiced-gravy-makers," inasmuch as after trimming the meat of sacrifice they cooked it and served it with spiced sauces. And having regard to that Aristophanes37 also said: "But thou, Phoebus, who dost whet most p289 numerous knives of the Delphians, and dost teach thy ministers betimes." And in the lines which follow38 Achaeus says: "Who is he that remains hiding low, you who bear the same name with Sarre cleavers?" EThe chorus of satyrs, in fact, deride the Delphians for their assiduous devotion to sacrifices and festivities. And Semos, in the fourth book of the History of Delos,39 says that "to the Delphians who came to Delos the Delians furnished salt, vinegar, oil, fuel, and bedding." And Aristotle (or Theophrastus), speaking in his Commentaries of the Magnesians who dwell on the Maeander river, says that they are colonists from Delphi, and represents them as offering the same services to any foreigners who come among them. He says:40 F"The Magnesians who dwell beside the Maeander river are consecrated to the god, being colonists of Delphi, and they offer to travellers shelter, salt, oil, and vinegar; also a lamp, beds, bedding, and tables." Demetrius of Skepsis, in the sixteenth book of his Trojan Battle-order,41 says that in Laconia, beside the road called "Hyacinth," there is a shrine of the heroes Matton ("Kneader") and Ceraon ("Mixer") which has been set up by the slaves who make the barley-cakes and mix the wine at the public mess. 174 The same authority, in the twenty-fourth book of the same work,42 records a hero Daites ("Feaster") honoured among the Trojans, who is mentioned by p291 Mimnermus.43 And in Cyprus, Hegesander of Delphi says,44 Zeus is worshipped under the title "Companion at the Feast" and "Entrail-slicer."

While many remarks of this nature were still being made, there was heard from a neighbouring house the sound of a water-organ; it was very sweet and joyous, so that we all turned our attention to it, charmed by its tunefulness. BAnd Ulpian, with a glance at the musician Alceides, said, "Do you hear, maestro, that beautiful harmony which has lured us all, completely beguiled by its music? It is not like the 'single-pipe' so common among you Alexandrians, which causes pain to the listeners rather than any musical delight." And Alceides says: "And yet that instrument, the water-organ, whether belonging to the class of string or wind instruments, as you choose, is the invention of one of our own Alexandrians, a barber by trade; and his name was Ctesibius. CAristocles relates this, speaking in some such fashion as this in his work On Choruses: 'The question is debated whether the water-organ belongs to the wind or the stringed instruments. Now Aristoxenus, to be sure, does not know of it; but it is said that Plato imparted a slight hint of its construction in having made a time-piece for use at night which resembled a water-organ, being a very large water-clock. And in fact the water-organ does look like a water-clock. DTherefore it cannot be regarded as a stringed instrument or a percussion instrument, but perhaps may be described as a wind instrument, since wind is forced into it by the water. For the pipes are set low in water, and as the water is briskly agitated by a p293 boy, air is released in the pipes through certain valves45 which fit into the pipes from one side of the organ to the other, and a pleasant sound is produced. The organ is shaped like a round altar,46 and is said to have been invented by Ctesibius, a barber who lived there in Aspendia during the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes II; Eand they say that he became very famous; he, indeed, even taught his wife Thais.' Tryphon, in the third book On the Use of Terms47 (the treatise has to do with pipes and instruments), says that Ctesibius the engineer wrote an account of the water-organ. I am not sure whether he is mistaken in the name. Aristoxenus, it is true, prefers string and percussion instruments to wind instruments, alleging that wind instruments are too easy; for, he says, many persons, like shepherds, can play the flute and the Pan's pipe without having been taught. FAll this, Ulpian, I have to tell you concerning the water-organ. Yes, I may add that the Phoenicians, according to Xenophon,48 used 'gingras' pipes, which were only nine inches long, and gave forth a tone high-pitched and plaintive. These are used also by the Carians in their songs of mourning; unless, to be sure, Caria was also called Phoenicia, examples for which may be found in Corinna and in Bacchylides.49 Pipes were called gingri by the Phoenicians, and were associated with the laments for Adonis; 175 for you Phoenicians50 call Adonis Gingras, as Democleides records. The p295 gingras pipes are mentioned by Antiphanes in The Physician,51 Menander in The Carian Wailing-woman,52 and Amphis in Dithyrambus;53 his words are as follows: 'A. But I like the gingras, that most clever device. B. But what is the gingras? A. A new invention of mine, which, to be sure, I have never yet displayed in the theatre, Bthough it has already come into fashion at Athenian symposia. B. Why don't you introduce it to the mob? A. Because I am waiting for a very enterprising tribe to adopt it.54 For I am sure that it will revolutionize everything with the trident of applause.' And Axionicus in Lover of Euripides:55 'For both have such a morbid passion for the lyrics of Euripides, that everything else in their eyes seems the wail of a scrannel (gingras) pipe and a mighty bore.'

"How much better, wisest Ulpian, Cthis water-organ is than the so‑called nablas,56 which the parodist Sopater, in the play entitled The Portal,57 says is likewise an invention of Phoenicians. These are his words: 'Nor has the deep-toned thrum of the Sidonian nablas passed from the strings.' And in The Slavey of Mystacus58 he says: 'In the articulation p297 of its lines the nablas is not pretty;59 fixed in its ribs is lifeless lotus wood, which gives forth a breathing music. DNone was ever stirred to hail with cries of evoe! the melodious band of pleasure.' Philemon in The Fancy Man:60 'A. We ought to have with us, Parmenon, a flute-girl, or a nablas. P. And what is the nablas? A. You don't know, lunatic? P. Not I, by Zeus. A. What can you mean? You don't know a nablas?61 Then you don't know what anything good is. Don't you even know what a sambuca-player is?'

"As for the instrument called the 'triangle'62 Juba, in the fourth book of his History of the Stage,63 says that it is a Syrian invention, as is also the so‑called 'lyre-Phoenician' . . . and the 'sambuca.' But this last instrument Neanthes of Cyzicus, Ein Book I of his Annals,64 Esays was the invention of Ibycus, the well-known poet of Rhegium, as the 'barbiton'65 was an invention of Anacreon. Since you run down us Alexandrians as being unmusical, and continually name the 'single-pipe' as widely used in our country, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about it. Juba, in the before-mentioned history, says that the Egyptians call the 'single-pipe' an invention of Osiris, just as they do the cross-flute which is called the photinx; for the mention of this also I p299 will cite a distinguished authority. FIt is true, to be sure, that the photinx is a pipe which is peculiar to our country; but the 'single-pipe' is mentioned thus by Sophocles in Thamyras:66 'Gone are the strains of the plucked harp strings, gone the lyres and the single-pipes in whicherstwhile we had delight; Ares, who tars and burns, now desolates our shrines.' And Araros in The Birth of Pan:67 'He snatched up a single-pipe straightway, you can't conceive how deftly, and began to leap with light step.' 176 Anaxandrides in The Treasure:68 'Picking up a single-pipe I began to play the hymeneal song.' And in The Cup-bearer:69 'A. What have you done with my single-pipe, you Syrian? B. Single-pipe? What do you mean? A. The reed.' Sopater in Bacchis:70 'He sounded the strain from the single-pipe.'

"Protagorides of Cyzicus, in the second book of his work On the Games at Daphne,71 says: 'He has laid fingers to every instrument, one after the other — Bcastanets, tambourine,72 pandura, and on the sweet single-pipe he hums again the sweetest scales.' And Poseidonius, the philosopher of the Porch, narrating the story of the war between the Apameans and Larisaeans, in the third book of his Histories73 writes the following: 'They grasped daggers and small lances covered with rust and dirt; they put p301 on hats with visors, which afforded shade, but did not prevent breathing at the throat;74 they carried with them drinking-horns full of wine and food of every variety, Cand beside these lay small flutes and single-pipes, implements of revel, not of battle.' (But I am not ignorant that Amerias of Macedon in his Dialect Dictionary says that the single-pipe is called 'tityrine.')75 So now you have, good Ulpian, the authority for the word photinx;76 and that the 'single-piper' was what is to‑day called 'reed-piper' is plainly attested by what Hedylus says in the following lines of epigrammatic verse: 'Beneath this mound Theon dwells, he of the single-pipe, the sweet flute-player, the charmer who accompanied the mimes on the stage. DWhen blind with age he had even a son, Scirpalus, whom when a babe he called Scirpalus, son of Ready-hand, as he sang at his nativity; for he bore this name to signify the skill of his hands. So piped he the drunken bagatelles of the Muses sung by Glauce, or the tune of the Stutterer who delights in the drinking of unmixed wine, or of Cotalus or Pacalus.77 Nay, then, of Theon the reed-piper say, Farewell, Theon!' Precisely, then, as they call persons who play on a reed-pipe (calamus) calamaulae, so do they call those who play on the rappa, Ewhich is also a reed, rappaulae, as Amerias of Macedon tells us in his Dialect Dictionary.

p303 "I would have you know, most noble Ulpian, that there is no record in history of other people more musical than the Alexandrians, and I am not speaking merely of singing to the harp, for even the humblest layman among us, even one who has never learned his ABC, is so familiar with that, that he can immediately detect the mistakes which occur in striking the notes; no, even when it comes to pipes, they are most musical; Fnot merely the pipes called 'virginal' and 'child' but also those called 'virile,' which again are called 'complete' and 'super-complete,' also the pipes used to accompany harps, as well as the 'finger'-pipes.78 And these are not all; for the pipes called 'elymi,' which are mentioned by Sophocles in Niobe and in The Tambourine-Players,79 are none other, as we hear, than the 'Phrygian' pipes with which also the Alexandrians are well acquainted. They know, too, of the pipes with two holes, of those again of middle size, and of those called 'low-bore.' The 'elymi' pipes are mentioned also by Callias in Shackled.80 177 Juba says that they are an invention of Phrygians, and that they are also called 'staff'-pipes, being like the staff81 in thickness. Cyprians used them as well, says the younger Cratinus in Theramenes.82 I know also of those called half-holed,83 about which Anacreon84 says: 'Who hath directed his desire toward lovely youth, and dances to the strains of tender half-hole pipes?' p305 These are shorter than the 'complete' pipes. (182b) Aeschylus, at any rate, in a figure of speech says in Ixion:85

C'The half-holed' (that is, the smaller) 'is easily engulfed by the great.'

They are the same as those called 'child' pipes, which are not adapted to the public games, but are used at dinner-parties; that is why Anacreon calls them 'tender.' I know of other kinds of pipes as well — the 'tragic,' the pipes used by women impersonating men,86 and the pipes used for accompanying a harp, which are mentioned by Ephorus in Inventions87 and Euphranor the Pythagorean in his book On Pipes, and again Alexis also . . . in his own work On Pipes. DThe reed-pipe is called 'tityrine'88 among the Dorians of Italy, as Artemidorus, the disciple of Aristophanes, records in the second book of his Doric Dialect, 'The magadis is a pipe.'89 And again: 'That named magadis can produce at the same moment a high and a low tone, as Anaxandrides says in The Drill-Sergeant:90 'With my magadis I will babble to you something at once soft and loud." ' EBut the so‑called 'lotus'-pipes are what the Alexandrians call 'photinges'; they are made of lotus, as it is called, which is a wood that grows in Libya. Juba says p307 that the pipe made from fawn's legs is an invention of Thebans.91 Tryphon says92 that the pipes called 'ivory' were bored by Phoenicians.

"But I know that the 'magadis' is also a stringed instrument like the 'kithara,' 'lyra,' or 'barbiton.'93 The epic poet Euphorion, in his treatise on the Isthmian Games,94 says that 'the persons now called nablas-players,95 panduristae, and sambuca-players use no newly invented instrument; Ffor the 'baromos' and the 'barbiton,' which Sappho and Anacreon mention, the 'magadis,' the 'triangles,'96 and 'sambucas' are old. In Mitylene, at any rate, one of the Muses is portrayed by Lesbothemis holding a sambuca.' Aristoxenus calls foreign all stringed instruments bearing the name of 'phoenix,' 'pectis,' 'magadis,' 'sambuca,' 'triangle,' 'clepsiamb,' 'scindapsus' and the 'nine-stringed,' as it is called. Plato, in the third book of The Republic97 says: ' We shall not, then," said I, "require an instrument of many strings or one on which all the musical modes can be played in our songs and lyrics." "Plainly not," said he. 183 "As for triangles, then, and pectides, and all instruments which have many strings and can be played in many modes . . . ." ' The 'scindapsus' is an instrument with four strings, as the parodist Matron says in these lines:98 'And they hung it not to the peg on which lay outspread the tetrachord scindapsus of the woman who knew not p309 the distaff. Theopompus, the epic poet of Colophon, also mentions it in the poem called Little Chariot:99 'Holding in his arms a mighty lyre-like scindapsus, Bmade of withes from the lusty willow.' And Anaxilas in The Harp-maker:100 'I used to make barbiti, trichords, pectides, citharas, lyres, scindapsi.' Sopater, in the play entitled The Slavey of Mystacus,101 says that the 'pectis' has two strings; his words are: 'And the two-stringed pectis, which boasts a barbaric muse, Chas somehow been placed in thy hand.' Epicharmus mentions airs for the harp (pariambides) in Periallus102 thus: 'Semele dances; and one skilled in the cithara pipes103 for them harp airs in Accompaniment; and she makes merry as she listens to the loud crackle of the tones.'

"Alexander of Cythera, as Juba says,104 perfected the 'psaltery' with a larger number of strings, and since in his old age he lived in the city of Ephesus, he dedicated this invention, as the most ingenious product of his skill, in the temple of Artemis. Juba also mentions the 'lyre-Phoenician' and the 'epigoneum,'105 Dwhich to‑day, although it has been re-fashioned p311 into an upright psaltery, still preserves the name of the man who brought it into use. Epigonus was by birth an Ambraciot, but by adoption he was a citizen of Sicyon. Being very talented, he could play on the harp with the bare hand without a plectrum. I say then, that the Alexandrians are well acquainted with all these instruments before mentioned, as well as with the pipes, and they are skilled in their use; I will myself give you an exhibition with any of the instruments with which you wish to test me, although there are many other persons in my country more musical than I. EMy fellow-citizen Alexander (he has lately died) gave a public recital with the instrument called the triangle, and sent all Rome into such a state of music-madness that most Romans can repeat his tunes. This 'triangle' is mentioned by Sophocles in The Mysians106 thus: 'Oft resounds the Phrygian triangle, and with answering strains the harmony of the Lydian pectis sings'; also in Thamyras. So Aristophanes in The Men of Dinnerville,107 Theopompus in Penelope.108 FEupolis in The Dyers109 says: 'Who nicely beats the tambourine and sounds the strings of the triangle.' The so‑called 'pandura' is mentioned by Euphorion, as has already been said,110 and by Protagorides in the second book of The Games at Daphne.111 Pythagoras, he who wrote on the Red Sea, 184says that the Troglodytes make the pandura out of the white mangrove which grows in the sea. Horns and trumpets are an invention of the Etruscans. Metrodorus of Chios, p313 in his Trojan History112 says that Marsyas invented the Pan's pipe ('syrinx') and played it in Celaenae,113 since his predecessors had piped on one reed only. And Euphorion the epic poet, in his work on Lyric Poets,114 says that Hermes invented the one-reeded syrinx (though some record that Seuthes and Rhomnaces the Maedi were the inventors), Silenus the many-reeded syrinx, and Marsyas the one which is fastened by wax.

"This you have, O word-chaser Ulpian, from the lips of us Alexandrians Bwho have devoted ourselves to the study of 'single-pipes.' You, indeed, are not aware that Menecles, the historian of Barca,115 and again Andron of Alexandria, in his Chronicles,116 record that the Alexandrians were the teachers of all Greeks and barbarians at a time when the entire system of general education had broken down by reason of the continually recurring disturbances which took place in the period of Alexander's successors. I say, then, a rejuvenation of all culture was again brought about in the reign of the seventh Ptolemy who ruled over Egypt, Cthe king who received from the Alexandrians appropriately the name of Malefactor.117 For he murdered many of the Alexandrians; not a few he sent into exile, and filled the islands and towns with men who had grown up with his brother — philologians, philosophers, mathematicians, musicians, painters, athletic trainers, physicians, and many other men of skill in their profession. And so they, reduced by poverty to teaching what they knew, instructed many distinguished p315 men. DBut all Greeks of the olden time were devoted to music; wherefore even flute-playing was very popular. Chamaeleon of Heracleia, at any rate, in the Hortatory Tract, as it is entitled, says that all Lacedaemonians and Thebans learned to play on the pipes, as did also the Heracleots of Pontus in his time, as well as the most distinguished Athenians — Callias the son of Hipponicus and Critias the son of Callaeschrus. Duris, in his work on Euripides and Sophocles, says118 that Alcibiades learned flute-playing from no ordinary teacher, but from Pronomus, who had acquired very great repute. EAristoxenus, also, says that Epaminondas of Thebes learned to play the flute in the schools of Olympiodorus and Orthagoras. Many even of the Pythagoreans were devoted to flute-playing, as Euphranor, Archytas, Philolaus, and not a few others. In fact Euphranor has left a treatise on pipes; likewise also Archytas. And Aristophanes, in The Men of Dinnerville,119 makes clear the interest in this subject when he says: 'I am one who have been worn flabby by the use of pipes and harps; and now you bid me go dig?' FPhrynichus in The Incubus:120 'Surely you never taught this fellow to play the harp and pipes?' And Epicharmus says in The Muses121 that even Athena played the 'enoplic'122 on the pipes for the Dioscuri. Ion, in Phoenix or Caeneus,123 calls the pipe a cock, in these words: 185 'And upon that the p317 pipe, a cock, crowed forth its Lydian hymn.' But in Sentinels124 he calls the cock and Idaean Pan's pipe, in these words: 'And the Pan's pipe, Idaean cock, surges forth.' In the second Phoenix125 the same Ion says: 'Playing a loud and deep-voiced pipe, with tripping metre,' meaning the Phrygian thereby; for it is deep and grave, and hence they tie the piece of horn to it, answering to the mouthpiece126 of trumpets."

Upon this, let the present book come to its close, friend Timocrates, since it has taken on sufficient length.

The Loeb Editor's Notes:

3 Kock II.493; a cook is vindicating his own authority against that of a τραπεζοποιός.

6 I.5.2. The division into books of many works differed from that known to‑day.

9 Riddle-propounders, from Cleobulina, daughter of Cleobulus, one of the seven wise men; Kock I.41. The quotation is lost.

13 Nub. 1196 ff.; τὰ πρυτανεῖα were the sums of money required of litigants in advance as a guarantee of good faith.

14 i.e., the day preceding; ἕνη καὶ νέα, "old and new (moon)" was the name of the last day in the month.

16 Kock I.784; Δορπία is the name given to the first day of the Apaturia, an ancient autumn festival of the Attic phratries.

18 Not parasites in the sense of the New Comedy, but a class of priests who dined at the public table. See 234C.

23 i.e., his dinner has become dessert, and his dessert, dinner. For the wreath see Athen. 674B.

24 Name of a courtesan. Kock II.110; a man is complaining of his son's extravagance in giving a dinner.

32 Peace 27; in Aristophanes a slave of Trygaeus complains of the fastidious beetle which his master compels him to feed: φαγεῖν οὐκ ἀξιοῖ ἢν μὴ παραθῶ τρίψας δι’ ἡμέρας ὅλης ὥσπερ γυναικὶ γογγύλην μεμαγμέμην, "he deigns not to eat only I rub it all day and serve it to him, as to a woman, kneaded in round shape." In Μαγίς there is also allusion to μάγος, "magician."

33 See critical note. Ἄμνος, Ἀρτυσίλεως, and Σησάμη are actually found: Dittenberger, Sylloge2 588.86, Bulletin de corr. hellén., 1882, 327.

35 Kock III.354; the text bristles with uncertainties, but the subject seems to be a parasite. See critical note. For παράσιτοι see 171E.

38 Viz., the quotation given just before that from Aristophanes, T. G. F.2 749. See critical note. Reading σαραβικῶν, "of the river Sarre," we are left ignorant of what the cleavers from there were like, unless indeed σαραβικῶν refers rather to σάραβος, the pudenda muliebria, in which case the vocative is highly opprobrious. If it is a Delphian who is addressed, there is a pun also on Δελφός and δελφύς, "womb."

48 See critical note; the Ionic dative γιγραΐνοισι indicates a poetic source. The word, explained in the following line, is foreign.

52 Kock III.75. The title refers to the profession of hired mourners, still brought from great distances in Greece to sing traditional dirges at a funeral.

53 Kock II.239. The title may be an epithet of Dionysus, inspirer of the orgiastic dithyramb, and Dionysus is probably the speaker, boasting a power, exercised through the mob, equal to that of Poseidon's trident. Cf. Plato, Rep. 492B‑C.

54 Referring to the drawing of lots to determine in which tribe a newly naturalized citizen shall be enrolled.

56 A stringed instrument; the argument is intended to refute the contention of Aristoxenus (174E) that stringed instruments are superior.

61 Equivalent to asking "Have you never seen a ukelele?"º The sambuca was a triangular instrument with four strings, and of foreign origin. Cf. Athen. 633F.

62 Not the percussion instrument of a modern orchestra, but a three-cornered harp, with strings of unequal length. Cf. the arrangement of strings in a modern harp or grand piano.

77 Titles of popular songs. Cf. Aristoph. Nub. 1356 τὸν Κριόν, "The Ram."

81 "Staff" here means the special rod used by the Spartans in their official dispatches. Round them was rolled spirally the writing material; the message was written lengthwise, and it could not be read after removal from the rod unless it was wound round another rod of the same thickness.

86 Cf. 620E, and 211B, 252E; called λυσιῳδικοί, because the songs were written by one Lysis.

95 175B‑C; the terms which follow refer to instruments of the harp family. P. L. G.4 III.136, 291.

97 399C. Supply at the end of the quotation δημιουργοὺς οὐ θρέψομεν, "to the artisans who make such instruments we will give no support."

103 The reading is uncertain, but there is no inconsistency; cf. Photius, παριαμβίδες· κιθαρῳδικοὶ νόμοι οἷς προσηύλουν, "pariambides are nomes for harp singers to which they played pipe accompaniments."

105 Ibid. 482. The epigoneum was a large harp named after a certain Epigonus, as the saxophone was named after one Saxe.

119 Kock I.448; a young man complains that after an effeminate education he should be called upon to work. Cf. Aristoph. Aves 1432 τί γὰρ πάθω; σκάπτειν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι.

124 T. G. F. 741; the writer of the note should have said, "he calls the Pan's pipe an Idaean cock."

126 lit. "bell." The text is defective, and the meaning of the quotation wholly obscure.

Thayer's Note:

a There are reports of Christian rulers too, murdered by poisoned Communion wafers, foremost among them Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII; I'm inclined to call them urban legends, or propaganda. For further details see Tobias Smollett, Letter from Italy (No. 29), and my note there.

(Vol. II) Athenaeus
Deipnosophistae

Book IV
(Part 5 of 5)

The Loeb Editor's Notes:

Thayer's Note:

(Vol. II) Athenaeus Deipnosophistae

Book IV (Part 5 of 5)

The Loeb Editor's Notes:

Thayer's Note:

(Vol. II) Athenaeus
Deipnosophistae

Book IV
(Part 5 of 5)