206 THE CITY. BOOK III.. The Odyssey gives us a description of one of these sacred feasts : Nine long tables are spread for the peo- ple of Pylos ; at each one of them five hundred citizens are seated, and each group has immolated nine bulls in honor of the gods. This repast, which was called the feast of the gods, begins and ends with libations and prayers.' The ancient custom of repasts in common i» also mentioned in the oldest Athenian traditions. It is related that Orestes, the murderer of his mother^ arrived at Athens at the very moment when the city, assembled about its king, was performing the sacred act.' The public meals of Sparta are well known, but the idea which men ordinarily entertain of them is very far from the truth. They imagine the Spartans living and eating always in common, as if private life had not been known among them. We know, on the contrary, from ancient authors, that the Spartans often took their meals in their own houses, in the midst of their families.^ The public meals took place twice a month, without reckon- ing holidays. These were religious acts of the same nature as those which were practised at Athens, in Argos, and throughout Greece." Besides these immense banquets, where all the citi- zens were assembled, and which could take place only on solemn festivals, religion prescribed that every day ' Homer, Odyssey. III. * AthenjEUs, X. 49. 3 AtheniEus, IV. 17; IV. 21. Herodotus, VI. 57. Plutarch, (Jleomcnes, 13.
- This custom is attested, for Athens, by Xenophon, Gov.
Aih., 2; Schol. on Aristophanes, Clouds, 393; — for Crete and Thessaly, Athenaeus, IV. 22; —for Argos, Bocckh, 1122; — for other cities, Pindar, Nem., XL; Theognis, 209; Pausanias, V 15; Athenaeus, IV. 32; IV. Gl ; X. 24 and 25; X. 49; XI. 06.
