αὐτὸν ἠσπάζοντο καὶ Εδεξιῶνθ ̓ ἅπαντες ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς. Sometimes it is used figuratively for any sort of entertainment or reception. Thus we find dižiai duiti, dižiñodai reazily, dižigobar δώροις, δεξιῖσθαι χρηςοῖς λόγοις, και ἔργοις, &c. Sometimes they kissed the lips, hands, knees, or feet, in salutations, as the person deserved more or less respect. There was a particular sort of kiss, which is called by Suidas xurgov, by Pollux, χύτρα, the pot, οπόταν τὰ παιδία φιλοίη τῶν ὤτων λαμβανόμενα, when they took the person, like a pot, by both his ears, which was chiefly practised by or towards children. We find it mentioned by Eunicus ° : Λαβᾶσα τῶν ὤτων φιλᾶσα τὴν χύτραν. And by Tibullus P : -natusque parenti Oscula comprensis auribus eripiet. A's also by Theocritus, from whom it appears to have been sometimes used by men and women": Οὐκ ἔραμ' Αλκίππας, ὅτι με πρὰν ἐκ ἐφίλασε Τῶν ὤτων καθελοῖσ ̓, ὅτε οἱ τὴν φάσσαν ἔδωκα. The guests being admitted, did not immediately sit down at the table, which was accounted ill breeding, but spent some time in viewing and commending the room and furniture: this the son in Aristophanes instructs his father to do: Επᾶτ' ἐπαίνεσόν τι τῶν χαλκωμάτων, Οροφὴν θίασαι, κροκάδι ̓ αὐλῆς θαύμασον. Which observation, with others of the same nature, is taken notice of by Athenæus. CHAP. XX. Of the Ceremonies at Entertainments. THE ancient Grecians sat at meat. There are three sorts of seats mentioned by Homer: 1. Aigos, which contained two persons, as the name seems to import, and was commonly placed for those of the meanest quality. 2. gives, on which they sat upright, having under their feet a footstool, termed grus. In Antia, apud Julium Pollucem. P Lib. ii. 9 Idyll. . v. 152. s Lib. iv. cap. 27. 3. Kairòs, on which they sat leaning a little backwards, as the word signifies of these a more full and exact account may be seen in Athenæus. Neither was it the custom in Greece only, but in most other countries, to sit at entertainments; it was practised by the primitive Romans, as we are informed by Isidorus" and Servius. And Philo hath observed, that Joseph ordered his brethren xarà τὰς ἡλικίας καθέζεσθαι, μήπω τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν ταῖς συμποτικαῖς συνεσίαις xaranriou Xgwuívov, to sit according to their ages, the custom of lying at entertainments not having then obtained". But afterwards i τρυφῶν ἤρξαντο, κατεῤῥύησαν ἀπὸ τῶν δίφρων ἐπὶ τὰς κλίνας ὡς ἀνειμένως , when men began to be soft and effeminate, they exchanged their seats for beds, in order to drink with more ease; yet then ἥρωες οἱ καθήμενοι οινοπόταζον, the heroes who drank sitting were still thought praise-worthy; and some who accustomed themselves to a primitive and severe way of living, retained the ancient posture. This was done by the Cynic philosophers, as we find in Plautus * : -potius in subsellio Cynice accipiemur, quam in lectis. In Macedonia, no man was allowed to sit at meals till he had killed a boar without the help of nets, as we are informed by Hegesander in Athenæus. And Alexander the Great sometimes kept to the ancient way ; and once τετρακοσίες ἡγεμόνας ἑσιῶν, ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ δίφρων ἀργυρῶν καὶ κλιντήρων, ἁλεργοῖς περιτρῶσας ἱματίοις, entertaining 400 commanders, he placed them upon silver seats, covered with purple cloth, as we learn from Duris in the same author. And in the most luxurious and effeminate ages, children were sometimes not permitted to lie down, but had seats at the end of their father's beds. It was the custom for the children of princes, and the rest of the nobility of that age, to sit at their meals in the sight of their relations in the time of Tacitus. Whence Suetonius, describing the behaviour of Augustus towards his grand-children, says, that neque cœnavit una, nisi in imo lecto adsiderent, they always sat at the end of the bed when they supped with him. And the same author reports, that the emperor Claudius always supped with his children, and some of the noble boys and maids, who according to ancient custom sat at the bottom of the bed ". The same place d was commonly assigned to men of meaner condition, when they were entertained with others of better quality; whence in Plutarch c, the rest of the guests lie down; only Æsop is placed upon a seat next to Solon. And Donatus & reports, that Terence being ordered to repeat some part of his comedies to Cæcilius, went to him at the time of supper, and being in mean apparel, was placed upon a seat near the bed; but, after he had recited a few verses, was invited to lie down to supper. The manner of lying at meat was thus: the table was placed in the middle, round which stood the beds covered with cloth or tapestry, according to the quality of the master of the house: upon these they lay, inclining the superior part of their bodies upon their left arms, the lower part being stretched out at length, or a little bent; their heads were raised up, and their backs sometimes supported with pillows. If several persons lay upon the same bed, then the first lay upon the uppermost part, with his legs stretched out behind the second person's back; the second's head lay below the navel or bosom of the former, his feet being placed behind the third's back; and in like manner the third, fourth, fifth, and the rest; for though it was accounted mean and sordid at Rome to place more than three or four upon one bed, yet, as we are informed by Cicero, Græci quini stipati in lectulis, sæpe plures fuere, the Greeks used to crowd five, and many times a greater number, into the same bed. Persons beloved commonly lay in the bosoms of those that loved them; thus the beloved disciple in the gospel lies in the bosom of our blessed Saviour at the celebration of the passover f. There is another example of the like practice in Juvenal 8: Cana sedet, gremio jacuit nova nupta mariti. At the beginning of the entertainment, it was customary to lie flat upon their bellies, that so their right hand might with more ease reach the table; but afterwards, when their appetites began to decrease, they reclined upon their sides; in which sense we are to understand the words of Plutarch ", ἕκασον ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν ἐπὶ τόμα προσ νεύειν, αποβλέποντα πρὸς τὴν τράπεζαν· ὕφερον δὲ μετασχηματίζειν ἐπὶ βάθος πλάτες τὴν κατάκλησιν, or as it should be read, κατάκλισιν, that at the beginning every one put his mouth forward, looking towards the c Symposio Sapientum. d Terentii Vita. e Orat. in Pisonem. h f Joan. Evang. xiii. 23. 8 Sat. ii. v. 120. h Sympos. lib. v. quæst. 6. table; but afterwards changes the posture of his inclination from depth to breadth. And Horace alludes to the same custom in the following versesi : Nec satis est cara pisces avertere mensa, Ignarum quibus est jus aptius, et quibus assis, 'Tis not enough to buy the precious fish, It was customary, from the heroical ages downwards, for the guests to be ranked according to their quality. It is evident that in Homer, as Eustathius : hath observed, ἐν συμποσίοις ἄκροι κάθηνται i dgists, the chief persons had the uppermost seats at entertainments. And afterwards, at public entertainments, there was ropazλńrwę, nomenclator, a person appointed to call every guest by name to his proper place. But to determine in what order they sat, and which were accounted the chief places, is more difficult. It seems probable that the heroes sat in long ranks, and that the chief persons were placed at the head of each rank, on both sides of the table, which is the meaning of the word axgos, uppermost, in the fore-mentioned passage of Eustathius; thus, in the ninth Iliad, where Achilles entertains Agamemnon's ambassadors, he places himself uppermost in one rank, and Ulysses, as the principal ambassador, in the other: —ἀτὰρ κρία νειμεν Αχιλλεὺς, Αὐτὸς δ ̓ ἀντίος ἵζεν Οδυσσήος θείοιο, Achilles serv'd the guests: Beside the tent-wall, opposite he sat To the divine Ulysses. COWPER. Neptune, though coming last to an entertainment of the gods, yet Εξετ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἐν μέσσοισι. sat in the middle, that place being reserved, as a right belonging to him. Jupiter was at the head of one rank; next to him, on the same side, sat Minerva, his daughter, who, on a certain time, gave place to Thetis, probably as being a stranger 1: Η δ ̓ ἄρα πὰρ Διὶ πατρὶ καθίζετο, εξε δ' Αθήνη. Juno led the opposite rank; and being wife and sister to Jupiter, neither gave place to Thetis nor any other ". The most honour i Lib. ii. sat. 4. v. 37. j In Iliad. vi. v. 498. k V. 217. 1 Iliad. ά. v. 100. m Conf. Plutarchus Sympos. lib. i. quæst. 2. able places in beds at entertainments were not the same in all nations. In Persia, the middle place was the chief, and always assigned to the king, or the chief guest; in Greece, the first or nearest to the table; and amongst the Heracleotæ, and the Greeks who lived about the Euxine sea, the first place of the middle bed was the most honourable. On the contrary, at Rome, the last, or uppermost place of the middle, was preferred, before any other ". But they who affected a more free and easy way of living, were not solicitous about places. An example hereof we have in Timon, who having invited men of all qualities, citizens, strangers, friends, and relations, to a splendid entertainment, desired every man to lie down in that place which pleased him best; nevertheless, men of proud tempers, even on such occasions, like the Jews, on that account reproved by our blessed Saviour, affected to have the chief places; so it happened at Timon's entertainment, where many of the guests having taken their places, one in very fine apparel, and attended with a numerous retinue, came to the door of the room, viewed all the company, then presently retired; and being followed by several of those who were present, and desired to return, replied, there was no fit place left for him. Some disposed their guests in such an order as they thought most apt to promote good fellowship, placing men of the same years, of the same profession, or temper, next one another; or tempering the variety of humours, by placing men of angry dispositions nearest the meek and gentle, those of silent tempers nearest the talkative: but, in things of this nature, there was no certain rule; every man followed his own fancy; and it is propounded as a problem in Plutarch P, whether was best, to assign every man his place, or leave the guests to take the places which happened to them? I shall only add, under this head, that it is said to have been a very ancient custom at Lacedæmon, for the eldest person present to go before the rest to the beds at the common-hall, unless the king gave the precedence to another, by calling him first. Thus Eustathius 9. Let us, in the next place, proceed to the table. Now the table was accounted ἱερὸν χρῆμα, δι' ἧς ὁ θεὸς τιμᾶται φίλιός τε και ξένιος, a very sacred thing, by means of which honour was paid to the god of friendship and hospitality. This god was Jupiter, who, from the protection of guests and friends, received the titles of n Conf. Plut. lib. cit. quæst. 3. P Libro citato. 9 Eustathius in Iliad. g. p. 186, ♪ Synesius, ep. lvii. and |