FEASTS. first fruits and libations, might enjoy himself with order and decency. Accordingly Homer says—
There, too, was Pallas to partake the feast:
and Neptune, too, is represented thus—
The monarch of the main, a heavenly guest,
In Ethiopia graced the genial feast,
There on the world's extremest verge, revered
With hecatombs and prayer in pomp preferr'd,
Distant he lay:[1]—
and of Jupiter he says—
The sire of gods and all the ethereal train
On the warm limits of the furthest main
Now mix with mortals, nor disdain to grace
The feast of Ethiopia's blameless race.[2]
And if a man of more mature age, and devoted to wise and virtuous pursuits, is present, they are ashamed to say or do anything indecorous; as also Epicharmus says, somewhere or other:—
But when their aged superiors are present,
Young men should silent be.
Therefore, considering that the gods were near to them, they celebrated their festivals in an orderly and temperate manner; on which account it was not the fashion of the ancients to lie at their meals, but, as Homer says,—
Feasting they sate;
nor were they accustomed to drink to the extent of drunkenness—
But when they'd eaten thus, and drank their fill,
Each to his room retired, not dreaming ill.
66. But the men of modern times, pretending to be sacrificing to the gods, and inviting their friends and nearest kinsmen to the sacrifice, vent imprecations on their children, and abuse their wives, and treat their slaves with indignity, and threaten the multitude, almost verifying the line of Homer:—
But now with speed let's take a short repast,
And well refresh'd to bloody conflict haste.
Nor do they ever give a thought to what has been said by the poet who wrote the poem entitled Chiron, whether it is Pherecrates, or Nicomachus, the teacher of rhythm, or whatever else his name may have been:—
