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VIII.352D‑358C

This webpage reproduces a section of
The Deipnosophistae

of
Athenaeus

published in Vol. IV
of the Loeb Classical Library edition,
1930

The text is in the public domain.

This page has not been proofread.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!

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IX.366A‑376C

(Vol. IV) Athenaeus
Deipnosophistae

Book VIII
(Part 5 of 5)

 p123  (358C)"Here, gentlemen, you have our offering of food, contributed as healthfully as our powers permitted. DFor, as Antiphanes says in The Parasite:​1 'I have not, to be sure, spent too much effort in purveying your food, nor, on the other hand, have I cut my labours too short, so that a man who has, anyhow, lost his head by drinking, could lay on me the blame for a headache à la grecque.'​2 Nor, again, am I so fish-loving as the man in the same poet's Butalion, which play is a revision of one of those entitled The Farmers. For he says:​3 'A. To‑day, let me tell you, I am going to give you a feast. EYou, Pistus,​4 take some money and go to the market for us. P. Not me! For anyhow I don't know how to buy profitably. A. Tell me then, Philumenus, what kind of fish do you like? PH. I like 'em all! A. Yes, but explain in detail, what kind of fish would you like to eat. PH. Well, once a fishmonger came into the country with a load of sprats and mullets, and Zeus is my witness, he became very popular with all of us. A. Then do tell me, would you eat some of them now? PH. Yes, and if there be any other small kind. For I hold that all these large fishes are man-eaters.​5 A How's that, dear friend? FMan-eaters!  p125 What do you mean? P. He means, of course, what a man would eat. But these are Helen's food that he speaks of, sprats and mullets.' Now in The Farmer he had said that sprats and mullets were Hecate's food.​6 Ephippus also speaks contemptuously of the small kinds of fish in Philyra:​7 'A. Daddy, won't you run to the market and buy me — 359AB. Tell me, what? A. Fish, daddy, with some sense in them; don't bring me infants! B. Yes, but don't you know that money is worth its weight in — money?'

"Most entertaining is the young man, in The Obeliaphoroi8 of the same poet, who speaks depreciatingly of all kinds of food and says:​9 'A. See that you buy economically; for anything will do. B. Explain, master. A. Not sumptuously, but simply; whatever is required for piety's sake.​10 BWe'll be satisfied with some little cuttle-fish or squidlets; if you can get a crayfish, one or two will be enough to grace the table. Small eels sometimes come from Thebes; get some of them. A cockerel, a dovelet, a tiny partridge, and such like. If a rabbit comes to market, bring that. B. How stingy you are! A. Yes, but you are too extravagant; and anyhow,  p127 we have plenty of meat.​11 B. Has anybody sent some to us? A. No, but the lady has just offered sacrifice; we'll dine to‑morrow on Coronê's calf.'​12 CAgain, the Peevish Man, who was a terrible miser in the play of that name by Mnesimachus, says to the young man who leads a spendthrift life:​13 'Nay, I entreat you, don't exact too many things from me, your own uncle — things which are too cruel, too overlaid with money. Make your demands moderate. B. But good Heavens, man, how could they be more moderate? A. How? Fool me by using diminutive terms. Call fishes little fishes; Dif you speak of any other dainty, call it a little dainty. Then I shall die more happily, by far.'

"Inasmuch as we happened to quote it​14 in the citations above, tell me, dear Ulpian, or you too, sons of the scholastics, what Ephippus had in mind in the afore-mentioned verses when he said: 'We'll dine to‑morrow on Coronê's calf.' I, for my part, think there must be some story connected with it, and I am eager to hear it." Whereupon Plutarch said: "It is a story told in Rhodes, which I cannot at this moment repeat by heart, Ebecause it is a very long time since I have seen the book which contains it. I know however, that Phoenix of Colophon, the iambic poet, mentions certain men who took up a collection for the 'Crow,' and that he says this:​15 'Kind friends, give  p129 a handful of barley to the Crow, Apollo's daughter; or a plate of wheat, a loaf of bread maybe, or a farthing-bit,​16 or whatever you please. Give to the Crow, good sirs, something of what each of you has on hand. She will accept a lump of rock-salt; yes, she likes very much to feast on that. FWho gives salt now will give honey comb another day. Boy, push back the door! Abundance has heard us, and a maid brings figs for the Crow. Ye gods, may the girl prove to be blameless in every way, and may she find a husband rich and famous; I hope she may lay a son in the arms of her old father, and a girl baby on the lap of her mother — 360Aher own offspring to be nurtured as a wife for one of her kinsmen. As for me, wherever my feet carry me, I go in turn and sing at the door with tuneful muse, whether one gives or does not give more than I ask.' And at the end of the iambics he says: 'Nay, good sirs, hand out some of the wealth which your pantry hoards. Give, master, and you too, lady bride, give It is the custom to give a handful to the Crow when she begs. That is the refrain I sing. Give something, and it will be enough.' BThose who took up collections for the Crow were called Coronists, as Pamphilus of Alexandria says in his work On Names; and the songs sung by them are called Coronismata,​17 as Hagnocles of Rhodes  p131 records in the article​18 Coronists. Another ceremony of collecting is called among the Rhodians 'Playing the Swallow;' of this Theognis speaks in the 2B of his Rhodian Festivals. He writes:​19 'There is a sort of collecting the Rhodians classical Playing the Swallow, Cwhich occurs in the month Boëdromion. The term "swallowing" is used because of the custom of singing in refrain:​20 "The Swallow has come, has come! She brings fair weather, fair weather and fair seasons. Her breast is white, her back is black. You there! Trundle out some pressed fruit from your rich store, a cup of wine, a tray of cheeses. A wheat-cake, too, and pulse-bread,​21 the swallow does not spurn. Are we to go away (satisfied), or shall we grab something for ourselves? If you give us something —​22 Otherwise, we won't let you be. We'll carry off your front door, or the lintel over it, or the good wife sitting within. DShe's a little thing, we can easily lift her. So if you give us anything, make it something big! Open, open the door to the Swallow. Indeed we are not old men, but little boys." This mode of collection was instituted first by Cleobulus  p133 of Lindus, when the need of collecting money once arose in Lindus.'

"Since we have mentioned Rhodian stories, I am now going to do some fish-collecting for you from fair Rhodes on my own account, because the entertaining Lynceus says that Rhodes is well supplied with fish. ENow Ergias of Rhodes, in History of My Native Land, after prefacing some remarks on the Phoenicians who settled the island, says​23 that Phalanthus and his followers occupied a very strongly fortified city in Ialysus​24 called Achaea; and having control of the water-supply, they were able to hold out a long time against the siege laid by Iphiclus. In fact, they also had a prophecy divinely given in an oracle, which said that they would hold the country until crows became white and fishes appeared in their mixing-bowls. Since, then, they were confident that this would never happen, they became more lax in carrying on the war. Iphiclus learned from some source about the oracles given to the Phoenicians; Fso he intercepted by means of an ambush a trusted follower of Phalanthus, named Larcas, as he was going to get water, and having exchanged pledges with him, he caught some small fish in the spring, and placing them in a water-jar he gave it to Larcas, and told him to take this water and pour it into the mixing-bowl from which Phalanthus was accustomed to have his wine dispensed. This Larcas did. 361AThen Iphiclus caught some crow, and having smeared them with gypsum, he let them go. Phalanthus saw the crows and then went up to the mixing-bowl; and when he saw the fish as well, he reasoned that the country was theirs no longer and  p135 made overtures through heralds to Iphiclus, proposing that he should be allowed to retire with all that were with him, under the protection of a truce. Iphiclus agreed to this, but Phalanthus devised a trick, as follows: he slaughtered and disembowelled some sacrificial victims, and tried to carry out his gold and silver money in their bellies. But Iphiclus was apprised of the trick and succeeded in preventing it. And when Phalanthus reproached him with the oath which he had sworn, Bthat he would allow to be carried out 'whatsoever they carried in their belly,'​25 he answered the quibble by giving them boats for their departure, to be took away the rudders, the oars, and the sails, saying that he had sworn to supply boats, but nothing else. In despair the Phoenicians buried a large quantity of their money, marking the hiding-places in order that they might recover it if they ever came back later; but a large part they abandoned to Iphiclus. In this manner, then, the Phoenicians departed from the country, Cand the Greeks got control of affairs. The same facts are recorded also by Polyzelus in his History of Rhodes. He says​26 that the trick of the fishes and the crows was known only to Phacas and his daughter Dorcia. She had fallen in love with Iphiclus, and having through her nurse become engaged to marry him, she persuaded the man who carried the water to take the fish and put them into the mixing-bowl, while she herself white-washed the crows and let them go.

"Creophylus, in Chronicles of the Ephesians, says​27 that the founders of Ephesus, Dafter suffering many hardships because of the difficulties of the region,  p137 finally sent to the oracle of the god and asked where they should place their city. And he declared to them that they should build a city 'whereso'er' a fish shall show them and a wild boar shall lead the way. It is said, accordingly, that some fishermen were eating their noonday meal in the place where are the spring to‑day called Oily and the sacred lake. One of the fish popped out with a live coal and fell into some straw, and a thicket in which a wild boar happened to be was set on fire by the fish. The boar, frightened by the fire, ran up a great distance on the mountain which is called Trecheia (Rough), Eand when brought down by a javelin, fell where to‑day stands the temple of Athena. So the Ephesians crossed over from the island after living there twenty years, and for the second time settled Trecheia and the regions on the slopes of Coressus; they also built a temple of Artemis over­looking the market-place, and a temple of the Pythian Apollo at the harbour."

While much talk of this nature was still going on, right then was heard all through the town the ringing notes of flutes, the crash of cymbals and the beating of drums, accompanied by voices in song. FIt so happened that it was the festival of the Parilia, as it used to be called, though it is now called the Roman Festival, instituted in honour of the Fortune of Rome, when her temple was erected by that best and most enlightened of emperors, Hadrian. That day is celebrated annually as especially glorious by all the residents of Rome and by all who happen to be staying in the city. Therefore Ulpian said: "What is that, gentlemen? 'Is it a solemn banquet, or a wedding? For surely this cannot be a dinner to which all men  p139 bring their share.' "​28 And when someone explained that everyone in town was dancing​29 in honour of the goddess,​30 Ulpian said with a laugh: "Now what Greek ever called dancing by the name of ballismus, when the proper verb is comazo31 or choreuo32 or some other common expression?​33 But you have purloined a word from the slums,​34 and have utterly spoiled the wine by pouring water on it."​35 Then Myrtilus said: "Nevertheless, I will prove to you, Master Critic,​36 that the word is more in accord with Greek usage. For though you try to muzzle us all, you have not convicted any of us of ignorance, whereas you proclaim yourself more empty than a serpent's slough.​37 You surprise me indeed; for Epicharmus in The Pilgrims mentions 'ballismus' as the word for dancing, and Italy is not far from Sicily. Well, in this play the pilgrims inspect the votive offerings at Delphi, and in their enumeration of them all in turn, they say:​38 'Cauldrons of bronze, mixing-bowls, spits. Look! On the supports are children dancing — a marvellous work!' And Sophron also, in the mime entitled  p141 Busied with the Bride, says:​39 'Thereupon he took it and stood forth,​40 and the others danced.' And again: 'Dancing, they filled the room with ordure!' What is more, Alexis also says in The Hairdresser:​41 'Look, I can see a crowd of fellows coming to revel, evidently with the idea that here are assembled the élite. I hope it may not be my lot to meet you alone in the dark after you have had a high time at the ball, for in that case I zzzz never carry home my cloak, unless I grew wings.' I know of the word in other places, too, and after thinking them over I will produce them. But you who have just cited these lines from Homer:​42 'What feast, what throng is this? What hast thou to do with it? Is it a solemn banquet, or a wedding? For surely this cannot be a dinner to which all men bring their share' — you are the right man to tell us how these terms differ. But since you keep silence, I will explain. For, just as the Syracusan poet​43 says: 'That which it took two men to say before me, I can answer sufficiently alone.' All sacrifices and the more elaborate feasts were called eilapinae44 by the ancients, and those who participated in them, eilapinastae. But eranoi are dinners got together from food contributed by the diners, the word being derived from erân (love), because all mutually love and contribute. The same kind of dinner may be called either eranus or thiasus, and the members who come together eranistae or  p143 thiasotae. Again, the noisy crowd which follows in the train of Dionysus is a thiasus, as Euripides says:​45 'And I saw three troops (thiasi) of women in revel bands.' Now the thiasi were so called from the word theos (god). And (if you object that it has an i instead of an e), the Lacedaemonians call the gods sioi. But eilapinae are so called from the elaborate preparation and expense connected with them, since laphytto and lapazo mean to empty out, to spend; hence the poets use alapazo even of sacking a town, and the loot which is carried away is called laphyra because of the greed for spoiling (laphyxis). And all such feasts are called eilainae by Aeschylus​46 and Euripides,​47 because one is completely emptied (lapatto) of his store. Again there is a verb lapto meaning to digest food, to become loose by emptying; hence, from the word meaning loose (lagaros) comes lagôn meaning flank, as also laganon, a thin wafer,​48 and from lapatto comes lapara, also meaning flank.​49 Laphytto means the same as lapatto, that is, to loosen or empty out in a lavish and extensive fashion. The verb dapanô (spend) arises from dapto (devour), since this latter word is closely connected with the idea of abundance; hence, of persons who eat greedily and bestially, we have the words dapto and dardapto.​50 Homer​51 has catadapto: 'Nay, dogs and birds of prey had devoured him.' But they called feasts euôchiae not from ochê, which means food, but from eu echo, meaning well-being in respect of these things. At  p145 these feasts, accordingly, people who honoured the divinity gathered and gave themselves up (methiemi) to jollity and relaxation; and so they called the drink methy,​52 while the god whose gift this is they called Methymnaeus or Lyaeus​53 or Euius​54 or Ieius,​55 just as they called the man who was not scowling or gloomy hilaros (cheerful). Wherefore, they thought that the divinity must prove propitious (hileôs) when they shouted the refrain Iê, Iê! So also they named the place in which they practised this ritual Hieron (temple). Ephippus, in the play entitled Merchandise, makes it clear that they could call the same person hileos or hilaros. Of a certain courtesan he says:​56 'And then, let me tell you, if one of us happen to come in feeling downcast, she greets him with pleasant flattery; she kisses him, not tightly pressing her lips together, as if he were hateful to her, but opening her mouth as fledgling sparrows do; she gives him a chair, she speaks consoling words, she makes him cheerful (hilaros), and soon takes away all his gloom, and renders him propitious (hileos) again.'

"But the ancients, having conceived don't gods as bearing the likeness of men, also constituted their festivals in accordance with the customs of men.​57 For they observed that it was not possible for men to resist the impulse to enjoyment, while on the other hand it was useful and expedient to accustom men to a disciplined and orderly use of such things; so they  p147 set definite times, and after first sacrificing to the gods they let themselves go in relaxation, their purpose being that everyone should believe that the gods had come to receive the first-fruits and libations, and so might join in the assemblage with due reverence. Homer​58 says, for example: 'Athena too came to receive her sacrifice.' And Poseidon​59 'had departed for the Aethiopians far away, to receive his hecatomb of bulls and rams.' And Zeus​60 'went yesterday for a feast, and all the gods followed together with him.' And if a man be present, one perhaps who is elderly and of serious deportment, they respectfully refrain from saying or doing anything indecent, in accordance with what Epicharmus says somewhere:​61 'Nay, it is good to keep silence when one's betters are present.' In their assumption, then, that the gods were near them, they conducted their festivals in an orderly and sober manner. Hence among the ancients it was neither customary to recline, but 'they feasted sitting down';​62 nor yet to drink to intoxication, but 'when they had poured libations and drunk all that heart desired, they went each to his own house.'​63 But the men of to‑day, who pretend to sacrifice to the gods and call together their friends and intimates, curse their children, quarrel with their wives, drive their slaves to tears, threaten the crowd, all but repeating  p149 Homer's line:​64 'But now go to your dinner, that we may join battle;' not taking to heart the words spoken by the author of Cheiron, whether it is Pherecrates or the metrician Nicomachus or whoever it may be:​65 'And do thou not, having bidden a friend to the bounteous feast, become vexed at his presence. For only an evil man does that. Nay, rather, have joy in thy heart undisturbed, and give him joy as well.' But to‑day they do not remember these injuries at all; on the contrary, they learn by heart the lines which follow these, all of which are a parody drawn from the Great Eroaea commonly ascribed to Hesiod: 'But if one of us sacrifices and invites another to the meal, we are vexed indefatigable he comes, and look angrily at his presence, and desire him to depart at the door with what Spaniard he may. Thereupon he recognizes this somehow and begins to put on his sandals, and one of the company says: "What? Going already? Why don't you take a drink? Take your sandals off, won't you?" But the host who is sacrificing gets angry at the man who would detain him, and straightway recites the verses of elegy:​66 "Don't try to detain among us anyone, so that he should stay against his will, and don't wake up a man who is asleep, Simonides." Is not this, really, the kind of thing we say over the wine,​67 when we give a dinner to a friend?' Again, we add these lines​68 also: 'And  p151 when the feast brings many guests at common expense, be not discourteous. Great is the delight, while the cost is very little.' When we sacrifice to the gods, we spend very little, and that too an ordinary sum, as the good Menander makes clear in The Carouse:​69 'So, then, our prosperity accords not with the way in which we offer sacrifice. For to the gods I bring an offering of a tiny sheep bought for ten drachmas, and glad I am to get it so cheap: but for flute-girls and perfume, harp-girls, the red Thasian wine, eels, cheese, and honey, the cost is almost a talent; and whereas by analogy it is fair that we should receive only ten drachmas' worth of blessing, even supposing that our sacrifice to the gods prove auspicious, and so cancel the loss of the one by the other — is not the nuisance of making the sacrifice doubled? For my part, were I a god, I would never have allowed anyone to put the loin on the altar unless at the same time he offered the eel for consecration; that would have been the end of Callimedon,​70 one of the eel's kinsmen!'

"The ancients also have a name for certain dinners, 'added to boot,' which are what Alexandrians call dinners 'by special contribution.'​71 Alexis, for example, says in the comedy entitled In the Well:​72 'A. At this very moment the boss has sent me out to fetch a jar of wine from the neighbours within. B. From in there? I understand. That is going to be something  p153 added to all the rest. A. I like an old woman who is so discerning!' And Crobylus in The False Substitute:​73 'A. And I was coming to see you, Laches. Do you go, on ahead. L. Where to? A. You ask me where to! Why, to Philumena's, in whose house our special contributions are. It was in her honour that you forced me yesterday to drink a pint​74 of wine neat.' The ancients also know of what are to‑day called 'basket dinners.'​75 Pherecrates explains what this is in The Forgetful Man, or The Sea,​76 as follows: 'He packed a dinner into the basket and went off, as though he were going to the house of Ophelias.' This clearly refers to the basket dinner, when a man gets up a dinner for himself, and putting it into a basket goes to somebody's house to eat it. Lysias has used the word syndeipnon for symposium in the speech Against Micinus, a murder case. He says:​77 'He had been invited to a syndeipnon.' And Plato also said:​78 'With those who had got up the syndeipnon.' So Aristophanes in Gerytades:​79 'Singing the praises of Aeschines at the syndeipna.' Hence some authorities require that the title of Sophocles' play be written in the neuter, Syndeipnon.​80 Sometimes dinners are also  p155 called synagogima;​81 so Alexis, in A Man of Taste, or The Nymphs:​82 'Lie down now and call in the girls. Let's have a get-together. Although to be sure I know that your ways have long been those of a skinflint.' And Ephippus in Geryones:​83 'And they are paying more than their share for a get-together symposium.' They also used the verb synago (gather) of drinking one with another, and synagogion (gathering) of the symposium. Menander, In the Flames:​84 'And at this moment, for these reasons, they are gathering (drinking) apart by themselves.' Then in what follows he said: 'He paid for the gathering.' Possibly the dinner called 'contributed' is meant here. And what 'contributions' are is indicated by Alexis in The Woman who drank Belladonna by these lines:​85 'A. I will come then with you, bringing contributions. B. What do you mean by contributions? A. Why, old woman, the people of Chalcis call ribbons and perfume bottles contributions.' But the Argives, as Hegesander says in his Commentaries, have other words. He writes as follows:​86 'The contribution brought in to the symposia by the drinkers is called by the Argives a chôs (heap) while the single share is called an aisa (lot).' "

Since this book also has reached an end​87 not inappropriate,  p157 friend Timocrates, I will bring the discourse to a close here, lest someone think that we, like Empedocles, were once fishes.​88 That natural philosopher says:​89 "For I have already been a girl, a boy, a bush, a bird, and a fish faring from the sea."90


The Editor's Notes:

1 Kock II.87. The text of this notorious fragment remains uncertain; see critical notes.

2 The meaning seems to be that the entertainment provided has not been scamped, and therefore the host cannot be charged by a befuddled critic with causing a too moderate headache. Greek drinking-parties were regarded as temperate; cf. 431E.

3 Kock II.38.

4 Or, Fido.

5 See 313B and note d.

6 In the second edition of the play "Hecate's food" was changed to "Helen's food" for some reason unknown.

7 Kock II.262; for the title see Athen. 286E.

8 For the long loaves baked on a spit and carried in the Dionysiac procession see Athen. 111B.

9 Kock II.258; Athen. 311D.

10 i.e., "just to ease our conscience," said ironically.

11 i.e., of larger animals, such as beef and mutton.

12 Coronê (Crow) was the nickname of the courtesan Theocleia, Athen. 583.

13 Kock II.436.

14 See critical note.

15 Frag. 2 Diehl; the metre is choliambic. On these songs, of which the best known is the "Swallow" next quoted, see Fauriel, Chants de la Grèce moderne, I p. cix; Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, II.244; A. Dieterich, Kleine Schriften, 324.

16 jjj, defined by Hesychius as "half-obol" (in Cyzicus), occurs also in Herodas III.45.

17 "Crowings," as it were.

18 Or, "under the word." Since no Hagnocles is known, we should probably read Aristocles (so Bapp), author of lexicographical works.

19 F. H. G. IV.514.

20 Anthologia Lyrica, VI p201 Diehl; cf. the Eng. carol, "We've been awhile a‑wandering."

21 Cf. jjj, Athen. 111B.

22 In the aposiopesis we are to understand, "well and good; we'll go away without harming you."

23 F. H. G. IV.405.

24 More correctly, "in the territory of Ialysus," Diodorus V.57.

25 The Doric dialect in the formula (see critical note) shows that the Rhodians had devised the stipulation themselves.

26 F. H. G. IV.481.

27 Ibid. 371.

28 Od. I.226, cf. below, 362D. Athena speaks to Telemachus.

29 From this Sicilian and Italian jjj, "dance," have come ball (dance), ballet and ballade.

30 Fortuna.

31 "To hold revel."

32 The Modern Greek word.

33 He omits the commonest, jjj.

34 Literally "have brought . . . from Subura," the Roman quarter between the Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal, where provisions were sold, and which was notorious for prostitutes.

35 A line from The Cyclops of Aristias, T. G. F.2 727; it may also be rendered: "You have drowned the wine in the water you poured on it."

36 See 272B.

37 A proverb in iambic vs.; Diogenian. III.73. See Demiańczuk, 86.

38 Kaibel 105, Athen. 408D. jjj were ambassadors sent by one state to attend a religious festival in another. Epicharmus was a Sicilian, and the inference is drawn the jjj was used by the Greeks of Italy as well as of Sicily. I have adopted with some hesitation the emendation of Morel. See critical note.

39 Kaibel 156.

40 Or "went on ahead," "led off." The object of jjj is not known; probably it was some badge or staff, like the handkerchief used by leaders of the dance in Greece to‑day.

41 Kock II.333.

42 Od. I.225, cf. above, 362A.

43 Epicharmus, Kaibel 138, Athen. 308C.

44 The word, if it represents an older jjj, Aeolic jjj, may be connected with volup‑tas.

45 Bacch. 680; the report of the messenger, to Pentheus.

46 Not in any play now extant: T. G. F.2 119.

47 In lyric passages only, Med. 193, Hel. 1337.

48 Athen. 110A.

49 Regularly in Homer for jjj.

50 These mean the same thing ("devour," especially of wild beasts, or "consume recklessly") but appear not to be related.

51 Od. III.259; the reference is to the traitor Aegisthus, and the original has jjj in the preceding line: "would have devoured."

52 Really akin to Eng. mead.

53 Liberator, cf. Lat. Liber, Bacchus.

54 Invoked with the cry jjj, but here apparently connected with jjj, "well," hence "beneficent."

55 From the joyous call jjj, interpreted as meaning "healer" (jjj, jjj). See the amusing etymology of jjj in 701D‑E.

56 Kock II.254; Athen. 571E.

57 See critical note.

58 Od. III.435.

59 Od. I.22, 25.

60 Il. I.424.

61 Kaibel 121.

62 Od. III.471; Athen. 11F.

63 Od. III.395.

64 Il. II.381; Athen. 420F.

65 Kock I.193; assigned to the comic poet Pherecrates, but possibly copied by him verbatim from the Hesiodic Eoeae.

66 Theognis 467.

67 Or reading jjj, "without scruple." See critical note.

68 Hes. Op. 722.

69 Kock III.91, Allinson 402; Athen. 146D.

70 See 100C.

71 i.e., in which special and unexpected luxuries are given, something like the slang "swell dinner"; cf. 141B.

72 Kock II.319. The joke here is that the "contribution added to boot" is not furnished by the host, but a loan forced from his neighbours.

73 Kock III.380.

74 The jjj was about one-twelfth of a pint; a dozen petits verres of liqueur would be the modern equivalent in quantity and potency.

75 An jjj to which the members of the party brought contributions in kind (e sportula), not in money.

76 Kock I.159.

77 Frag. 174.

78 Symp. 172B reads jjj, the only occurrence of the word in Plato.

79 Kock I.429.

80 Instead of Syndeipnioi, "Companions at Dinner."

81 "Collected together."

82 Kock II.389.

83 Kock II.252. I have, against Liddell & Scott, rendered jjj by "apparently." This sense, familiar in the papyri and in Modern Greek, is also classical, and seems to be confirmed by what follows.

84 Kock III.46; the title refers to a woman.

85 Kock II.349; not a good example, since the quotation seems to refer rather to funeral offerings.

86 F. H. G. IV.419.

87 Or "taken a toll," punning on what has just been said, since jjj means end, conclusion, payment in full.

88 The writer facetiously hints that the long discussion of fishes in the two preceding books (as they are now divided) might be explained as due to a previous avatar when men were fish.

89 P153 Diels, referring to previous existences.

90 See critical notes.

Page updated: 27 Apr 20