Translated by C.D.Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
[47.] G [692] 
This, now, is what was said about perfumes and unguents. And after this most of them asked for wine, some demanding the cup of the Good Deity, some that of Zeus the Saviour, others that of Hygieia, as different people invoked different deities; and so they all fell to quoting the words of those poets who had mentioned libations to these different deities; and I will now recapitulate what they said, for they quoted Antiphanes, who, in his Farmers' Wives, says-
Harmodius was invoked, the paean sung,
Each drank a mighty cup to Zeus the Saviour.
And Alexis, in his Usurer, or The Liar, says
[693] (A) Fill now the cup with the libation due
To Zeus the Saviour; for he surely is
Of all the gods most useful to mankind.
(B) Your Zeus the Saviour, if I were to burst,
Would nothing do for me.
(A) Just drink, and trust him.
And Nicostratus, in his Pandrosus, says-
(A) And so I will, my dear;
But fill him now a parting cup to Hygieia;
(B) Here, pour a due libation out to Hygieia.
(A) Another to Good Fortune. Fortune manages
All the affairs of men; but as for Prudence,-
That is a blind irregular deity.
And in the same play he mentions mixing a cup in honour of the Good Deity, as do nearly all the poets of the old comedy; but Nicostratus speaks thus-
Fill a cup quickly now to the Good Deity,
And take away this table from before me;
For I have eaten quite enough;- I pledge
This cup to the Good Deity;- here, quick, I say,
And take away this table from before me.
Xenarchus, too, in his Twins, says-
(A) And now I do begin to nod my head.
(B) The cup to the Good Deity,
When I had drained it, knocked me over.
(A) And then the next libation duly quaffed
To Zeus the Saviour, wholly wrecked my boat,
And overwhelmed me, as you see.
And Eriphus, in his Meliboea, says-
Before he'd drunk a cup to the Good Deity,
Or to great Zeus the Saviour.
[48.] G And Theophrastus, in his essay On Drunkenness, says- "The unmixed wine which is given at a banquet, 
which they call the pledge-cup in honour of the Good Deity, they offer in small quantities, as if reminding the guests of its strength, and of the liberality of the god, by the mere taste. And they hand it round when men are already full, in order that there may be as little as possible drunk out of it. And having paid adoration three times, they take it from the table, as if they were entreating of the gods that nothing may be done unbecomingly, and that they may not indulge in immoderate desires for this kind of drink, and that they may derive only what is honourable and useful from it." And Philochorus, in the second book of his Atthis [ Fr_5 ], says- "And a law was made at that time, that after the solid food is removed, 
a taste of the unmixed wine should be served round as a sort of sample of the power of the Good Deity, but that all the rest of the wine should be previously mixed; on which account the Nymphs had the name given them of Nurses of Dionysus." And that when the pledge-cup to the Good Deity was handed round, it was customary to remove the tables, is made plain by the wicked action of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. For there was a table of gold placed before the statue of Asclepius at Syracuse; and so Dionysius, standing before it, and drinking a pledge-cup to the Good Deity, ordered the table to be removed.
But among the Greeks, those who sacrifice to the Sun, as Phylarchus tells us in the twelfth book of his History [ Fr_25 ], make their libations of honey, as they never bring wine to the altars; saying that it is proper that the god who keeps the whole universe in order, and regulates everything, and is always going round and superintending the whole, should in no respect be connected with drunkenness.
[49.] G Most writers have mentioned the Attic scolia; and they are worthy also of being mentioned by me to you, on
account of the antiquity and simple style of composition of the authors, and of those especially who gained a high reputation for that form of poetry, Alcaeus and Anacreon; [694] as Aristophanes says in his Daitaleis, where we find this
line-
Come, then, a scolium sing to me,
Of old Alcaeus or Anacreon.
Praxilla, the Sicyonian poetess, was also celebrated for the composition of scolia. Now they are called scolia, not because of the character of the verse in which they are written, as if it were σκολιὸς (crooked); for men call also those poems written in a laxer kind of metre σκολιά. But, "as there are three kinds of songs" (as Artemon of Cassandreia says in the second book of his treatise On the Use of Books), "one or other of which comprehends everything which is sung at banquets; the first kind is that which it was usual for the whole party to sing; the second is that which the whole party indeed sang, not, however, together, but going round according to some kind of succession; the third is that which is ranked lowest of all, which was not sung by all the guests, but only by those who seemed to understand what was to be done, wherever they might happen to be sitting; on which account, as having some irregularity in it beyond what the other kinds had, in not being sung by all the guests, either together or in any definite kind of succession, but just as it might happen, it was called the crooked song (σκόλιον). And songs of this kind were sung when the ordinary songs, and those in which every one was bound to join, had come to an end. For then they invited all the more intelligent of the guests to sing some song worth listening to. And what they thought worth listening to were such songs as contained some exhortations and sentiments which seemed useful for the purposes of life."
[50.] G And of these Deipnosophists, one quoted one scolium, and one another. And these were those which were recited-
I
O Tritonian Pallas, who from heaven above
Looks with protecting eye
On this holy city and land,
Deign our protectress now to prove
From loss in war, from dread sedition's band,
And death's untimely blow, you and your father too.
II
I sing at this glad season, of the Queen,
Mother of Plutus, Olympian Demeter;
May you be ever near us,
With Persephone daughter of Zeus,
And ever as a friend
This citadel defend.
III
Leto once in Delos, as they say,
Did two great children bear,
Apollo with the golden hair,
Bright Phoebus, god of day.
And Artemis, mighty huntress, virgin chaste.
On whom all women's trust is placed.
IV
Raise the loud shout to Pan, Arcadia's king;
Praise to the Nymphs' loved comrade sing!
Come, O Pan, and raise with me
The song in joyful ecstasy.
V
We have conquered as we would,
The gods reward us as they should,
And victory bring from Pandrosus (?) to Athena.
VI
Oh, would the gods such grace bestow,
That opening each man's breast,
One might survey his heart, and know
How true the friendship that could stand that test.
VII
Health's the best gift to mortal given;
Beauty is next; the third great prize
Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice;
The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.
And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it-
The man who wrote this song, whoever he was,
When he called health the best of all possessions,
Spoke well enough. But when the second place
He gave to beauty, and the third to riches,
He certainly was downright mad; for surely
Riches must be the next best thing to health,
For who would care to be a starving beauty!
[695] After that, these other scolia were sung-
VIII
'Tis well to stand upon the shore,
And look on others on the sea;
But when you once have dipped your oar,
By the present wind you must guided be.
IX
A crab caught a snake in his claw,
And thus he triumphantly spake,-
"My friends must be guided by law,
Nor love crooked counsels to take."
X
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When they laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XI
Harmodius, hail! you did not die,
But stay in the islands of the blest,
Where swift-footed Achilles lives,
And Diomedes, Tydeus' brave son.
XII
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When at Athena's feast they slew
Hipparchus, the tyrant of the land.
XIII
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, hail!
You will have eternal glory;
Because you laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XIV
Learn, my friend, from Admetus' story,
All worthy friends and brave to cherish;
But cowards shun when danger comes,
For they will leave you alone to perish.
XV
Ajax of the ponderous spear, mighty son of Telamon,
They call you bravest of the Greeks, next to the great Achilles.
XVI
Telamon was first, and Ajax came in second place
Of all the Greeks who went to Troy, after invincible Achilles.
XVII
Would that I were an fine ivory lyre,
Struck by fair boys in Dionysus' chorus.
XVIII
Would that I were a golden trinket, large and new,
Worn by a lady fair, of spirit chaste.
XIX
Drink with me, and sport with me,
Love with me, wear crowns with me,
Be mad with me when I am moved with rage,
And modest when I yield to counsels sage.
XX
A scorpion beneath every stone doth lie,
And secrets usually hide treachery.
XXI
A sow one acorn has, and wants the other;
And I have one fair maid, and seek another.
XXII
A wanton and a bath-keeper both cherish the same fashion,
Giving the worthless and the good the self-same bath to wash in.
XXIII
Give Cedon wine, O slave, and fill it up,
If you must give each worthy man a cup.
XXIV
Alas ! Leipsydrium, you betray
A host of gallant men,
Who for their country many a day
Have fought, and would again.
And even when they fell, their race
In their great actions you may trace.
XXV
The man who never will betray his friend,
Earns fame of which nor earth nor heaven shall see the end.
Some also say the poem that which was composed by Hybrias the Cretan is a scolium ; and it runs thus-
XXVI
I have great wealth, a sword, and spear,
And trusty shield beside me here;
[696] With these I plough, and from the vine
Squeeze out the heart-delighting wine;
They make me lord of everything.
But they who dread the sword and spear,
And ever trusty shield to bear,
Shall fall before me on their knees,
And worship me whenever I please,
And call me mighty lord and king.
[51.] G After this, Democritus said:- But the song which was composed by that most learned writer, Aristotle, and addressed to Hermeias of Atarneus, is not a paean, as was asserted by Demophilus, who instituted a prosecution against the philosopher, on the ground of impiety (having been suborned to act the part of accuser by Eurymedon, who was ashamed to appear himself in the business). And he rested the charge of impiety on the fact of his having been accustomed to sing at banquets a paean addressed to Hermeias. But that this song has no characteristic whatever of a paean, but is a kind of scolium, I will show you plainly from its own language-
O virtue, never but by labour to be won,
First object of all human life,
For such a prize as you
There is no toil, there is no strife,
Nor even death which any Greek would shun;
Such is the reward fair and free,
And lasting too, with which thou dost thy followers grace,-
Better than gold,
Better than sleep, or even the glories old
Of high descent and noble race.
For you Zeus' mighty son, great Heracles,
Forsook a life of ease;
For you the Spartan brothers twain
Sought toil and danger, following your behests
With fearless and unwearied breasts.
Your love it was that fired and gave
To early grave
Achilles and the giant son
Of Salaminian Telamon.
And now for you Atarneus' pride,
Trusting in others' faith, has nobly died;
But yet his name
Shall never die, the Muses' holy train
Shall bear him to the skies with deathless fame,
Honouring Zeus, the hospitable god,
And honest hearts, proved friendship's blest abode.
[52.] G Now I don't know whether any one can detect in this any resemblance to a paean, when the author expressly states in it that Hermeias is dead, when he says-
And now for you Atarneus' pride,
Trusting in others' faith, has nobly died.
Nor has the song the refrain, which all paeans have, of "Io Paean", as that song written on Lysander the Spartan, which really is a paean, has; a song which Duris, in his book entitled The Annals of the Samians, says is sung in Samos. That also was a paean which was written in honour of Craterus the Macedonian, of which Alexinus the dialectician was the author, as Hermippus the pupil of Callimachus says in the first book of his essay on Aristotle. And this song is sung at Delphi, with a boy playing the lyre as an accompaniment to it. The song, too, addressed to Agemon of Corinth, the father of Alcyone, which the Corinthians sang, contains the refrain of the paean. And this refrain, too, is even added by Polemon Periegetes to his letter addressed to Aranthius. The song also which the Rhodians sing, addressed to Ptolemy the first king of Egypt, is a paean: for it contains the refrain "Io Paean", [697] as (?) Gorgon tells us in his essay On the Sacrifices at Rhodes. # And Philochorus says that the Athenians sing paeans in honour of Antigonus and Demetrius, which were composed by Hermippus of Cyzicus, on an occasion when a great many poets had a contest as to who could compose the finest paean, and the victory was adjudged to Hermippus. And, indeed, Aristotle himself, in his Defence of himself from the accusation of impiety, (unless the speech is a spurious one,) says- "For if I had wished to offer sacrifice to Hermeias as an immortal being, I should never have built him a tomb as a mortal; nor if I had wished to make him out to be a god, should I have honoured him with funeral obsequies like a man."
[53.] G When Democritus had said this, Cynulcus said;- Why do you remind me of those cyclic poems, to use the words of your friend Philon, when you never ought to say anything serious or important in the presence of this glutton Ulpianus? For he prefers lascivious songs to dignified ones; such, for instance, as those which are called Locrian songs, which are of a debauched sort of character, such as-
Do you not feel some pleasure now?
Do not betray me, I entreat you.
Rise up before my husband comes back,
Lest he should ill-treat you and me.
'Tis morning now, do you not see
The daylight through the windows?
And all Phoenicia is full of songs of this kind; and he himself, when there, used to go about playing on the flute with the men who sing the so-called pig-songs (κολάβροι). And there is good authority, Ulpianus, for this word. For Demetrius of Scepsis, in the tenth book of his Trojan Array, speaks thus:- "Ctesiphon the Athenian, who was a composer of the so-called pig-songs (κολάβρων), was made by Attalus, who succeeded Philetaerus as king of Pergamon, judge of all his subjects in the district of Aeolis." And the same writer, in the nineteenth book of the same work, says that Seleucus the composer of merry songs was the son of Mnesiptolemus, who was an historian, and who had great influence with that Antiochus who was called the Great. And it was very much the fashion to sing this song of his-
I will choose a boy-loving life,
That is far better than a wife;
Boy-friends in war a man stand by,
While the wife goes home to cry.
[54.] G And after this, looking towards Ulpianus, he said:- But since you are out of humour with me, I will explain to you what the Syrbenaean chorus is. And Ulpianus said:- Do you think, you wretch, that I am angry at what you say, or even that I pay the least attention to it, you shameless hound? But since you profess to teach me something, I will make a truce with you, not for thirty, but for a hundred years; only tell me what the Syrbenaean chorus is. Then, said he, Clearchus, my good friend, in the second book of his treatise On Education, writes thus:- There remains the Syrbenaean chorus, in which every one is bound to sing whatever he pleases, without paying the least attention to the man who sits in the post of honour and leads the chorus. And indeed he is only a more noisy spectator. And in the words of Matron the parodist -
For all those men who heroes were of old,
Euboeus, and Hermogenes, and Philippus,
Are dead, and settlers in dark Hades' realms;
[698] But Cleonicus has a life secure
From all the attacks of age; he's deeply skilled
In all that bards or theatres concerns;
And even now he's dead, great Persephone
Allows his voice still to be heard on earth.
But you, even while you are alive, ask questions about everything, but never give information on any subject yourself. And he replied:- [I should be gad to hear who the parodists of epic poetry are], my good friend, while the truce between us lasts.
[55.] G And Cynulcus said:- There have been many poets who have applied themselves to the composition of parodies, my good friend; of whom the most celebrated was Euboeus of Paros, who lived in the time of Philippus; and he is the man who attacked the Athenians a great deal. And four books of his Parodies are preserved. And Timon also mentions him, in the first book of his Silli. But Polemon, in the twelfth book of his Argument against Timaeus, speaking of the men who have written parodies, writes thus-"And I should call Boeotus and Euboeus, who wrote parodies, men of great reputation, on account of their cleverness in sportive composition, and I consider that they surpass those ancient poets whose followers they were. Now, the invention of this kind of poetry we must attribute to Hipponax the iambic poet. For he writes thus, in his Hexameters, -
Muse, sing me now the praises of Eurymedon,
That great Charybdis of the sea, who holds
A sword within his stomach, never weary
With eating. Tell me how the votes may pass
Condemning him to death, by public judgment,
On the loud-sounding shore of the barren sea.
Epicharmus of Syracuse also uses the same kind of poetry, in a small degree, in some of his plays; and so does Cratinus, a poet of the old Comedy, in his Euneidae, and so also does his contemporary, Hegemon of Thasos, whom they used to call Lentil. For he writes thus -
And when I reached Thasos, they took up filth
And pelted me therewith, by which aroused
Thus a bystander spoke with pitiless heart:-
O most accursed of men, who ever advised you
To put such dirty feet in such fine slippers?
And quickly I did this brief answer make:-
It was gain that moved me, though against my will,
(But I am old;) and bitter penury;
Which many Thasians also drives on shipboard,
Ill-mannered youths, and long-ruined old men:
Who now sing worthless songs about the place.
Those men I joined when fit for nothing else;
But I will not depart again for gain,
But doing nothing wrong, I'll here deposit
My lovely money among the Thasians:
Lest any of the Achaean women at home
Should be enraged when they behold my wife
Making achaïnon bread, a poor and scanty meal.
Or if they see a cheesecake small, should say,-
"Philion, who sang the 'Fierce Attack' at Athens,
Got fifty drachmas, and yet this is all
That you sent home."- While I was thinking thus,
And in my mind revolving all these things,
Pallas Athena at my side appeared,
And touched me with her golden sceptre, saying,
[699] "O miserable and ill-treated man,
Poor Lentil, haste thee to the sacred games."
Then I took heart, and sang a louder strain.
[56.] G " Hermippus also, the poet of the Old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Euboeus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said-
They one another smote with brazen ἐγχείῃσι,
- [as if ἐγχεία, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said -
But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize,
Nor you, son of Peleus . . . . .
And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Aetolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:-
The man whom fierce Agathocles did drive
An exile from his land, was nobly born
Of an old line of famous ancestors,
And from his early youth he lived among
The foreign visitors; and thoroughly learnt
The dulcet music of Mimnermus' lyre,
And followed his example;- and he wrote,
In imitation of great Homer's verse,
The deeds of cobblers, and base shameless thieves,
Jesting with highly-praised felicity,
Loved by the citizens of fair Syracuse.
But he who once has heard Boeotus' song,
Will find but little pleasure in Euboeus."
[57.] G After all this discussion had been entered into on many occasions, once when evening overtook us, one of us said,- Boy, bring a light {λύχνειον}. But someone else used the word λυχνεὼς, and a third called it λοφνίας, saying that that was the proper name for a torch made of bark; another called it πανός; and another φανός.- This one used the word λυχνοῦχος, and that one λύχνος. Someone else again said ἐλάνη, and another said ἕλαναι, insisting on it that that was the proper name for a lamp, being derived from ἕλη {brightness}; and urging that Neanthes used this word in the first book of his History of Attalus. Others, again, of the party made use of whatever other words they fancied; so that there was no ordinary confusion; while all were vying with one another in adducing every sort of argument which bore upon the question. For one man said that Silenus, the dictionary-maker, mentioned that the Athenians call lamps φανοί. But Timachidas of Rhodes asserts that for φανὸς, the word more properly used is δέλετρον, being a sort of lantern which young men use when out at night, and which they themselves call ἕλαναι. But Amerias for φανὸς uses the word γράβιον. And this word is thus explained by Seleucus:- Γράβιον is a stick of ilex or common oak, which, being pounded and split, is set on fire, and used to give light to travellers. Accordingly Theodoridas of Syracuse, in his Centaurs, which is a dithyrambic poem, says -
The pitch dropped down beneath the γράβια,
As if from torches.
Strattis also mentions the γράβια in his Phoenician Women.
[58.] G But that what are now called φανοὶ used to be called λυχνοῦχοι, we learn from Aristophanes, in his Aeolosicon -
I see the light shining all over his cloak,
As from a new λυχνοῦχος.
And, in the second edition of the Niobus, having already used the word λυχνοῦχος, he writes -
Alas, unhappy man! my λύχνιον is lost;
after which, he adds -
And how could it have stepped over the lantern
And be gone without your knowing it?
And, in his play (?) called The Dramas, he calls the same thing λυχνίδιον, in the following lines -
But you all lie
Fast as a candle in a candlestick {λυχνίδιον}.
Platon also, in his Long Night, says -
The undertakers sure will have λυχνοῦχοι.
And Pherecrates, in his Slave Teacher, writes-
Make haste and go, for now the night descends,
And bring a lantern {λυχνοῦχον} with a candle furnished.
Alexis too, in his Forbidden Thing, says -
So taking out the candle from the lantern {λύχνιον},
He very nearly set himself on fire,
Carrying the light beneath his arm much nearer
His clothes than any need at all required.
And Eumelus, in his Murdered Man, having said first -
You lead the way . . .
* * *
And Epicrates, in his Trident or The Huckster, having said first -
(A) Take now a trident and a lantern {λυχνοῦχον},
adds -
(B) But I now in my right hand hold this fork,
An iron weapon against the monsters of the sea;
And this light too, a well-lit horn lantern {λύχνου}.
And Alexis says, in his Midon -
[700] The man who first invented the idea
Of walking out by night with such a lantern {λυχνοῦχου},
Was very careful not to hurt his fingers.
[59.] G But the same Alexis says, in his Fanatic -
I think that some of those I meet will blame
For being drunk so early in the day;
But yet I pray you where's a lantern {φανὸς} equal
To the sweet light of the eternal sun?
And Anaxandrides, in his Insolence, says -
Will you take your lantern {φανόν} now, and quickly
Light me a candle {λύχνον}?
But others assert that it is a lamp which is properly called φανὸς. And others assert that φανὸς means a bundle of matches made of split wood. Menander says, in his Cousins -
This φανὸς is quite full of water now,
I must not shake {σείω} it, but throw it away {ἀποσείω}.
And Nicostratus, in his Fellow-Countrymen, says -
For when this vintner in our neighbourhood
Sells any one some wine, or even a φανὸς,
Or vinegar, he always gives him water.
And Philippides, in his Women Sailing together, says -
(A) The φανὸς did not give a bit of light.
(B) Well, then, you wretched man, could not you blow it?
[60.] G Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, calls what we now call λυχνία, λυχνεῖον, in this line -
(A) Where were these λυχνεῖα made?
(B) In Etruria.
For there were a great many manufactures in Etruria, as the Etruscans were exceedingly fond of works of art. Aristophanes, in his Knights, says -
Binding three long straight darts together,
We use them for a torch {λυχνείῳ}.
And Diphilus, in his Ignorance, says -
We lit a candle {λύχνον}, and then sought a candlestick {λυχνεῖον}.
And Euphorion, in his Historical Commentaries, says that the young Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily dedicated, in the prytaneion at Tarentum, a candlestick capable of containing as great a number of candles as there are days in a year. And Hermippus the comic poet, in his Iambics, speaks of -
A military candlestick well put together.
And, in his play called The Grooms, he says -
Here, lamp {λυχνίδιον}, show me my road on the right hand.
Now, πανὸς was a name given to wood cut into splinters and bound together, which they used for a torch: Menander, in his Cousins, says -
He entered, and cried out,
'πανὸν, λύχνον, λυχνοῦχον, any light' -
Making one into many.
And Diphilus, in his Soldier, says -
But now this πανὸς is quite full of water.
And before them Aeschylus, in his Agamemnon, had used the word πανός -
* * * { From here onwards, there are some gaps in the surviving manuscripts. }
[61.] G Alexis, too, uses the word ξυλολυχνούχον {"wooden lampstand"} [in his New Tenant], and perhaps this is the same thing as that which Theopompus calls ὀβελισκολύχνιον [in his Peace]. But Philyllius calls λαμπάδες , δᾷδες. But the candle {λύχνος} is not an ancient invention; for the ancients used the light of torches and other things made of wood. Phrynichus, however, says -
Put out the λύχνον.
* * *
Platon too, in his Long Night, says -
And then upon the top he'll have a candle,
Bright with two wicks.
And these candles with two wicks are mentioned also by Metagenes, in his Man fond of Sacrificing; [701] and by Philonides in his Buskins. But Cleitarchus, in his Dictionary, says that the Rhodians give the name of λοφνὶς to a torch made of the bark of the vine. But Homer calls torches δεταί -
The darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands {δεταὶ},
Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day,
Sour he departs, and quits the untasted prey.
A torch was also called ἑλάνη, as Amerias tells us; but Nicander of Colophon says that ἑλάνη means a bundle of rushes. Herodotus uses the word in the neuter plural, λύχνα, in the second book of his History.
Cephisodorus, in his Pig, uses the word λυχναψία, for what most people call λυχνοκαυτία, the lighting of candles.
And Cynulcus, who was always attacking Ulpianus, said;- But now, my fine supper-giver, buy me some candles for an as, that, like the good Agathon, I may quote this line of the admirable Aristophanes -
Bring now, as Agathon says, the shining torches {πεύκας};
and when he had said this -
Putting his tail between his lion's feet,
he left the party, being very sleepy.
[62.] G Then, when many of the guests cried out iē paiōn, Pontianus said:- I wish, my friends, to learn from you whether iē paiōn is a proverb, or the burden of a song, or what else it is. And Democritus replied:- Clearchus of Soli, inferior to none of the pupils of the wise Aristotle, in the first book of his treatise on Proverbs, says: " Leto, when she was taking Apollo and Artemis from Chalcis in Euboea to Delphi, came to the cave which was called the cave of Pytho. And when Pytho attacked them, Leto, holding one of her children in her arms, got upon the stone which even now lies at the foot of the brazen statue of Leto, which is dedicated as a representation of what then took place near the Plane-tree at Delphi, and cried out ἵε παῖ (and Apollo happened to have his bow in hand); and this is the same as if she had said ἄφιε παῖ or βάλε παῖ - Shoot, boy. And from this day hie pai and hie paiōn arose. But some people, slightly altering the word, use it as a sort of proverbial exclamation,, to avert evils, and say iē paiōn instead of hie paiōn. And many also, when they have completed any undertaking, say, as a sort of proverb, iē paiōn ; 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 Heracleides of Pontus says, that is clearly a mistake, that "the god himself, while offering a libation, thrice cried out iē paian, iē paian, iē paian." From a belief in this statement he refers the trimeter verse, as it is called, to the god, saying that "each of these metres belongs to the god; because when the first two syllables are made long, īē paian, it becomes a heroic verse, but when they are pronounced short it is an iambic, and thus it is plain that we must also attribute the limping iambic { choliamb } to him. For if (the first syllable in each measure being considered short) one prolongs the last two syllables of all, the verse will belong to the type represented by Hipponax. "
[63.] G And after this, when we also were about to leave the party, the slaves came in bringing, one an incense burner, and another . . . Then Larensis prayed to all the gods and goddesses; he then made libation of wine, and after giving, according to the custom of the place, the remainder of the unmixed wine to the slave who had served it to drink up, he sang the following paean to Hygieia {"Health"}, [702] composed by Ariphron of Sicyon :-
Hygieia, most revered of the blessed gods,
May I dwell with you for the rest of my life,
And may you be the gracious inmate of my house.
For if there is any delight in wealth or in offspring,
Or in royal dominion which makes men equal to gods, or in those desires
Which we seek to capture by Aphrodite's hidden nets,
Or if any other joy or rest from toil has been revealed to men by the gods,
It is with your help, blessed Hygieia,
That they all flourish and shine in the Graces' discourse;
But without you, no man is happy.
[64.] . . . the ancients 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 mixed.
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 Chalcus {"the Brazen"} says :-
What, whether you begin or end a work,
Is better than the thing you most require ?
{ Here ends the 15th and last book of the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus . }
Attalus' home page | 17.03.21 | Any comments?