every man a silver cup of four pounds weight. When Alexander made his marriage-feast at Susa in Persia, he paid the debts of all his soldiers out of his own exchequer, and presented every one of his guests, who were not fewer than nine thousand, with golden cups. From these instances, it appears that cups were commonly presented on these occasions. This was done because it was customary for the company, before they parted, to pour forth wine, as a libation to Mercury, who was accounted the president of the night, and believed to send sleep and pleasing dreams, whence he is called by Homeri νυκτὸς ὀπωπητὴς and ἡγήτως ὀνείρων. To the same god they also sacrificed the tongues of the animals which had been killed for the entertainment. The reason of which rite was by some thought to be, that Mercury being the president of eloquence, was chiefly delighted with that member; others rather think that by this sacrifice he was invoked as a witness of the discourse which had passed. Some are of opinion, that by burning the tongues at the conclusion of the meeting, was intimated, that whatever had been there discoursed, should be kept secret. Several other conjectures concerning the original of this custom, which are too long to enumerate, have been made by learned men k. It was chiefly observed by the Athenians, Ionians, and Megarensians. And some will have it to have been begun by one of the kings of Megara, who having the tongue of a lion, which had wasted his country, brought to him by Pelops, sacrificed it at the end of an entertainment. It was certainly very ancient; whence Apollonius makes it to be observed by the Argo nauts 1: Οὐδ ̓ ἐπιδὴν μετέπειτα κερασσάμενοι δὴ λοιβὰς And it is practised by the heroes in Homer: Γλώσσας δ ̓ ἐν πυρὶ βάλλον, ἀνισάμενοι δ ̓ ἐπέλειβον. FAWKES. As the ancient Greeks offered libations chiefly to Mercury, so the Greeks of later times made theirs to Jupiter, surnamed ríxo5, perfect; yet several other gods often shared in these offerings; h Athenæus, lib. xi. cap. 3. i Plutarchus Alexandro, p. 703. j Hymno in Mercurium. 516. k Apollonii Scholiastes in Argon. i. v. particularly at entertainments which followed any solemn sacrifice, it was customary to remember the god to whom they had before sacrificed; hence, at a sacrifice offered to Neptune in Homer", Minerva, who was present, under the assumed form of Mentor, adviseth the company to sacrifice the tongues, and to pour forth libations of wine to Neptune, and the rest of the gods, before they departed. Αλλ ̓ ἄγε, τάμνετε μὲν γλώσσας, κεράσαθε δὲ οἶνον, Now immolate the tongues, and mix the wine, POPE. It was held unlawful to stay too long at entertainments which followed sacrifices, as Athenæus hath observed from the following words of Minerva in the same poet° : Ηδη γὰρ φάος οἴχει ὑπὸ ζοφὸν, ἐδὲ ἔοικε Δηθὰ θεῶν ἐν δαιτὶ θαασσέμεν, ἀλλὰ νέεσθαι. The lamp of day is quench'd beneath the deep, POPE. The same author reports, that till his time the company was obliged at some sacrificial entertainments to depart before sun-set ; but at the common entertainments, where more liberty was allowed, the company very often staid till the morning approached: this we find done by Socrates and his friends in Plato's entertainment; and before that, in the heroical times, by Penelope's suitors, and by the Phoenicians in Homer, as also by Dido and Æneas in Virgil. It was also customary to contend who should keep awake longest; and the prize assigned to the victor was most commonly a sort of cakes called mugaμs, which word came hence to be a general name for the prize of any victory, as hath been already observed. Odyss. y. v. 352. • Loco citato. P Athenæus, lib. v. cap. 4. 9 Artemidorus, lib. i. cap. 74. Aristophanis Scholiastes ad Equites. CHAP. XXI. Of the Manner of Entertaining Strangers. THE keeping of public inns, for the reception of strangers, was assigned by Plato to foreigners, or the meanest sorts of citizens, as an illiberal and mean employment. The ancient Greeks had no public inns, which were an invention of later ages. In the primitive times, men lived at home, neither caring to cultivate friendship with foreigners, nor to improve themselves and their estates by commerce with them. Neither was it safe to travel without a strong guard, the sea and land being both exceedingly infested with robbers, who not only spoiled all whom they caught of their valuable goods, but treated their persons with the utmost cruelty, as appears from the stories of Proerustes, Sinnes, Sciron, Periphetes, and many others. To live upon the plunder of others, was then by many thought a very honourable way of subsisting; and they placed a sort of glory in overcoming and spoiling their neighbours, believing the rules of humanity and justice to be observed by none but such as were destitute of power. Hence it seems to have come, that amongst the ancient Greeks, strangers and enemies were both signified by the same name, ivos, all strangers being then accounted enemies. And the Persians, who for several ages waged continual wars with Greece, are particularly signified by that word. The Lacedæmonians are said to have termed the barbarous nations, whom the Greeks took for their common enemies, by the name živo". And amongst the primitive Latins, the name hostis, which was afterwards appropriated to enemies, signified strangers". The sea was freed from pirates by Minos, king of Crete, who, with a strong fleet, for a long time maintained the dominion of all the seas thereabouts. The land robbers were destroyed by Hercules, Theseus, and other primitive heroes; from which times, De Leg. lib. xi. ▾ Varro principio, lib. iv. de L. L. Ci $ Plutarchus Theseo, Thucydides His- cero de Offic. lib. i. cap. 2. Ambrosius toriæ principio. Hesychius voce ivo. u Herodotus Calliope, cap. 10. lux, lib. i. cap. 10, Offic. lib. i. cap. 29. Conf. Commentarius noster in Lycophron. Cassandræ, v. Pol- 464. Xenophon reports, that till his own age, tires diis iri ádixi, no man was injurious to strangers. And in the earliest ages, all who were not entirely void of humanity, are said to have entertained all strangers with respect it was then the custom to supply them with victuals and other necessaries, before they inquired their names, or asked them any other questions. Thus Telemachus and his company are treated by Menelaus, who thus bespeaks them upon their arrival at Sparta *: Σίτε δ ̓ ἅπτεσθον, να χαίρετον αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα Δειπνε πασσαμένω, ειρησόμεθ' οἵτινες ἐσὸν Ανδρών. In the same manner Telemachus is entertained by Nestor, Ulysses by Eumæus z, and Minerva, under the form of Mentor, by Telemachus. Menelaus entertained Paris the Trojan ten days, before he inquired who he was, or whence he came; and it is said to have been gxator os, an ancient custom to forbear such in quiries till the tenth day, if the stranger seemed willing to stay till that time, as we learn from Eustathius's comment on the passage of Homer, where the king of Lycia is introduced demanding of Bellerophon his recommendatory letter from Prœtus, upon the tenth day after he had come to his house ". Εννῆμας ξείνισσε, κ ἐννέα βᾶς ἱέρευσεν Αλλ' ὅτε δὴ δεκάτη ἐφάνη ροδοδάκτυλος ἠὼς, There Lycia's monarch paid him honours due, Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he slew; But when the tenth bright morning orient glow'd, The deathful secret to the king reveal'd. POPE. In later ages, Cretan hospitality was very much celebrated. In the evita public halls of Crete, there were constantly two apartments: one was ternied zouthgion, wherein strangers were lodged; the other was andetior, being the place of eating, where all the Cretans supped together: in the uppermost part of this room there was a constant table set apart for strangers, called ręáñija živíz, ξενική, Οι Δίος ξενία : others will have two tables appointed for this use c. And in the distribution of victuals, the strangers were always served before the king, or any of the Cretan nation; and some of them were permitted to bear very considerable offices in the state a * Απομνημ. lib. ii. * Odyss. d. v. 61. 7 Odyss. y. v. 69. z Odyss. . v. 45. The rest of the Greeks, and especially the Athenians were generally courteous to strangers, except the Lacedæmonians, who are ill spoken of for their want of hospitality; hence they are described by Tzetzes as most opposite to the Athenians in their behaviour to strangers. Τοῖς Αθηναίοις νόμος ἦν εισδέχεσθαι τὰς ξένες Οθεν καὶ ὠνομάζοντο φιλόξενοι τοῖς πᾶσιν Τοῖς Λάκωσι δὲ νόμος, τὴν ξίνες ἀπελαύνειν. διειρωνόξενοι For the same reason they are called by Aristophanes and by others λára, from their imposing upon strangers, and driving them away; which is the more to be wondered at, because Lycurgus chiefly followed the laws and manners of Crete in the regulations which he made at Sparta. Nevertheless, it is very certain that very good care was taken of strangers at Sparta. It was one part of the royal office to make provision for them, as we learn from Herodotus; and M. Antoninus & affirms, that strangers had a convenient place assigned in the shade, whereas the Lacedæmonians themselves lay down without distinction of places. But the opinion of their rough and uncivil usage of strangers seems to have prevailed chiefly on these two accounts : First, because foreigners, when they lived upon the Spartan diet, which was extremely coarse, thought themselves ill entertained: hence a citizen of Sybaris, happening to be treated after the Spartan fashion, professed that he no longer wondered how it camte to pass that the Spartans despised dangers more than other nations, since they were allowed no pleasure for which they could desire to live h ز k Secondly, because strangers had admittance into Sparta only on wgioμśvas nμégai, certain days. This was a provision against the promiscuous and frequent concourse of other nations, which they avoided as much as they possibly could, either as Archidamus in Libanius reports, to prevent foreigners from observing the faults and miscarriages of Sparta, which Pericles in Thucydides seems also to reproach them with, or rather fearing that the manners of their citizens would be corrupted by a too free and unlimited conversation with other nations; which account of this appointment is assigned by Xenophon Plutarch, and others: for the same reason an edict was once put forth at Rome, whereby strangers, e Chiliad. vii. Hist. 130. f Pace. * Lib. xi. ad seipsum. h Athenæus lib. iv. cap. 6. i Aristophanis Scholiastes in Pace. Suidas. j Declam. xxiv. k Lib. ii. in Orat. funebri. 1 De Repub. Lacedæm. Lycurgo, institutis Laconicis. |