DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0676
648
OP THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS OF GREECE.
Fifthly, The ceremonies at entertainments.
As for the times of eating, they, according to A the me us (1), were four
everyday. 1. Ax^irKJ^a, the morning meal, so termed because it was
customary at this time to eat pieces of bread dipped in wine unmixed with
writer, which in Greek is called uxgarov. This meal is by Homer called
«£i?ov, which name was either derived «*o t£ «stgsiv, from its being first !ak-
en away ; or rather «*o <r« ^i?av, because the heroes immediately went
to the war from this meal, and there valiantly behaved themselves, as we
are informed by the scholiast on that author (2) ; who likewise tells us
that the time of this meal was about the rising of the sun. Sometimes it
was termed 5iavv]s'i(J'(xoj, jentaculum, breakfast. 2. AsTtrvov, so named, as
the same scholiast was of opinion, because after this meal it was usual to
return to the war, or other labours, whence t&~ tysu tfuvwvu^sr It some-
times is synonymous lo ugtfov, being taken for the morning meal, as Athe-
naeus hath observed from the following verse of Homer in which the he-
roes are said to have put on their armour after the <Ss7wvov
0/ <f" a fix JtiTrvof txovr', azro eP' ttiiTii Seepno-ffovro.
3. AsiXivov, sometimes also termed eC^itf/xot, the afternoon meal. 4. Aog-
K%, the supper, <rox a&' relets Xsyo^svov Ss'iKvov, which afterwards, among the
later Grecians, was termed 8s7rfvov, according to the fore-mentioned scho-
liast, who will have Sognrog to be so named from lausprog, that meal being
eaten orav sig to lausn tfo^suw/xsOa, the last before we go to sleep. Philemon as
he is cited by Athenaeus, thus enumerates the times of eating : 1. 'Axgct-
TKf^a. 2. "A£»£ov 3. 'Ltfifegitffxa. 4. Asfavov. But the fore-mentioned scho-
liast, with whom most other authors agree as to this particular, reports,
<r£i(t? rgocpous Toi>g tfaAouaV X^°"^a,> *na^ ^e ancient Greeks had only three
meals a-day, and leaves out the third meal, called Ssikivov. And they who
have made <5sjXiv6v or ftfTrsgitf^a, to be a distinct meal from the Sopirog, seem
to have had no better foundation for that distinction than that verse of
Homer,
--trb cf' tp%to S~enxiHcrtt;.
where the word <5sisXijjVas, by a mistaken interpretation, was understood
of taking meat ; whereas it was only meant of abiding or remaining in a
certain place in the afternoon. And this sense of that passage was, in the
opinion of Atheneeus, so certain, that in another place (3) he pronounces
those men to be ysXolxg, oi cpadxovrsg '6ri <r£o'sagag iXujiQavov rpocpdg ridicu-
lous, who say that the ancient Greeks used to eat four meals a-day.
Others are of opinion, that the primitive Greeks had only two meals
a-day, viz. oegigov and Sdgtfog, and that the rest are only different names of
these. Athenaeus (4) himself affirms, that no man can be produced era-
£a <rw Kwfpy <r£/g Xa(x§«vwv <rf>c(pois' eating thrice a-day in Homer. Neither
is it to be doubted but that in those early ages the way of living was very
frugal and temperate ; and it was thought sufficient if they had a mode-
rate breakfast, and, after the business and labour of the day was over,
refreshed themselves with a plentiful meal ; whence Plato wondered
that the Sicilians and Italians should eat two plentiful meals every day ;
and amongst the Grecians it was accounted extravagance to breakfast or
dine to the full; neither was it thought convenient by Cicero the Ro-
(1) Lib. i. cap. 9,
(3) Iliad, p'.
(3) Lib. v. cap. 4,
(4) Loco citato.
OP THE MISCELLANY CUSTOMS OF GREECE.
Fifthly, The ceremonies at entertainments.
As for the times of eating, they, according to A the me us (1), were four
everyday. 1. Ax^irKJ^a, the morning meal, so termed because it was
customary at this time to eat pieces of bread dipped in wine unmixed with
writer, which in Greek is called uxgarov. This meal is by Homer called
«£i?ov, which name was either derived «*o t£ «stgsiv, from its being first !ak-
en away ; or rather «*o <r« ^i?av, because the heroes immediately went
to the war from this meal, and there valiantly behaved themselves, as we
are informed by the scholiast on that author (2) ; who likewise tells us
that the time of this meal was about the rising of the sun. Sometimes it
was termed 5iavv]s'i(J'(xoj, jentaculum, breakfast. 2. AsTtrvov, so named, as
the same scholiast was of opinion, because after this meal it was usual to
return to the war, or other labours, whence t&~ tysu tfuvwvu^sr It some-
times is synonymous lo ugtfov, being taken for the morning meal, as Athe-
naeus hath observed from the following verse of Homer in which the he-
roes are said to have put on their armour after the <Ss7wvov
0/ <f" a fix JtiTrvof txovr', azro eP' ttiiTii Seepno-ffovro.
3. AsiXivov, sometimes also termed eC^itf/xot, the afternoon meal. 4. Aog-
K%, the supper, <rox a&' relets Xsyo^svov Ss'iKvov, which afterwards, among the
later Grecians, was termed 8s7rfvov, according to the fore-mentioned scho-
liast, who will have Sognrog to be so named from lausprog, that meal being
eaten orav sig to lausn tfo^suw/xsOa, the last before we go to sleep. Philemon as
he is cited by Athenaeus, thus enumerates the times of eating : 1. 'Axgct-
TKf^a. 2. "A£»£ov 3. 'Ltfifegitffxa. 4. Asfavov. But the fore-mentioned scho-
liast, with whom most other authors agree as to this particular, reports,
<r£i(t? rgocpous Toi>g tfaAouaV X^°"^a,> *na^ ^e ancient Greeks had only three
meals a-day, and leaves out the third meal, called Ssikivov. And they who
have made <5sjXiv6v or ftfTrsgitf^a, to be a distinct meal from the Sopirog, seem
to have had no better foundation for that distinction than that verse of
Homer,
--trb cf' tp%to S~enxiHcrtt;.
where the word <5sisXijjVas, by a mistaken interpretation, was understood
of taking meat ; whereas it was only meant of abiding or remaining in a
certain place in the afternoon. And this sense of that passage was, in the
opinion of Atheneeus, so certain, that in another place (3) he pronounces
those men to be ysXolxg, oi cpadxovrsg '6ri <r£o'sagag iXujiQavov rpocpdg ridicu-
lous, who say that the ancient Greeks used to eat four meals a-day.
Others are of opinion, that the primitive Greeks had only two meals
a-day, viz. oegigov and Sdgtfog, and that the rest are only different names of
these. Athenaeus (4) himself affirms, that no man can be produced era-
£a <rw Kwfpy <r£/g Xa(x§«vwv <rf>c(pois' eating thrice a-day in Homer. Neither
is it to be doubted but that in those early ages the way of living was very
frugal and temperate ; and it was thought sufficient if they had a mode-
rate breakfast, and, after the business and labour of the day was over,
refreshed themselves with a plentiful meal ; whence Plato wondered
that the Sicilians and Italians should eat two plentiful meals every day ;
and amongst the Grecians it was accounted extravagance to breakfast or
dine to the full; neither was it thought convenient by Cicero the Ro-
(1) Lib. i. cap. 9,
(3) Iliad, p'.
(3) Lib. v. cap. 4,
(4) Loco citato.