The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men (10-14)

When all had expressed their satisfaction with Thales, Cleodorus said, Asking and answering such questions is all right for kings. But the barbarian who would have Amasis drink up the ocean to do him honour needed the terse retort which Pittacus used to Alyattes, when the latter wrote and sent an overbearing command to the Lesbians. The only answer

he made was to tell Alyattes to eat onions and hot bread. [*]

Periander now entered into the conversation, and said, Nevertheless it is a fact, Cleodorus, that the ancient Greeks also had a habit of propounding such perplexing questions to one another. For we have the story that the most famous poets among the wise men of that time gathered at Chalcis to attend the funeral of Amphidamas. Now Amphidamas was a warrior who had given much trouble to the Eretrians, and had fallen in one of the battles for the possession of the Lelantine plain. But since the verses composed by the poets made the decision a difficult and troublesome matter because they were so evenly matched, and since the repute of the contestants, Homer and Hesiod, caused the judges much perplexity as well as embarrassment, the poets resorted to questionings of this sort, and Homer, as Lesches asserts,[*] propounded this: Tell me, O Muse, of events which never have happened aforetime, Nor in the future shall ever betide, and Hesiod answered quite off-hand: When round Zeus in his tomb rush the steeds with galloping hoof-beats, Crashing car against car, as they eagerly run for a trophy. And for this it is said that he gained the greatest admiration and won the tripod. [*]

But what difference is there, said Cleodorus, between things like this and Eumetis’s riddles?

Perhaps it is not unbecoming for her to amuse herself and to weave these as other girls weave girdles and hair-nets, and to propound them to women, but the idea that men of sense should take them at all seriously is ridiculous.

Eumetis, to judge by her appearance, would have liked to give him an answer, but restrained herself with all modesty, and her face was covered with blushes. But Aesop, as though he would take her part, said, Is it not then even more ridiculous not to be able to solve these? Take, for instance, the one which she propounded to us a few minutes before dinner: Sooth I have seen a man with fire fasten bronze on another. [*] Could you tell me what this is?

No, said Cleodorus, and I don’t want to be told, either.

Yet it is a fact, said Aesop,that nobody knows this more perfectly than you, or does it better, either; and if you deny this, I have cupping-glasses to testify to it.

At this Cleodorus laughed; for of all the physicians of his time he was most given to the use of cuppingglasses, and it was largely owing to him that this form of treatment has come to have such repute.

Mnesiphilus the Athenian, [*] a warm friend and admirer of Solon’s, said, I think it is no more than fair, Periander, that the conversation, like the wine, should not be apportioned on the basis of wealth or rank, but equally to all, as in a democracy, and that

it should be general. Now in what has just been said dealing with dominion and kingdom, we who live under a popular government have no part. Therefore I think that at this time each of you ought to contribute an opinion on the subject of republican government, beginning again with Solon.

It was accordingly agreed to do this, and Solon began by saying, But you, Mnesiphilus, as well as all the rest of the Athenians, have heard the opinion which I hold regarding government. However, if you wish to hear it again now, I think that a State succeeds best, and most effectively perpetuates democracy, in which persons uninjured by a crime, no less than the injured person, prosecute the criminal and get him punished.

Second was Bias, who said that the most excellent democracy was that in which the people stood in as much fear of the law as of a despot.

Following him Thales said that it was the one having citizens neither too rich nor too poor.

After him Anacharsis said that it was the one in which, all else being held in equal esteem, what is better is determined by virtue and what is worse by vice.

Fifth, Cleobulus said that a people was most righteous whose public men dreaded censure more than they dreaded the law.

Sixth, Pittacus said that it was where bad men are not allowed to hold office, and good men are not allowed to refuse it.

Chilon, turning to the other side,[*] declared that the

best government is that which gives greatest heed to laws and least heed to those who talk about them.

Finally, Periander once more concluded the discussion with the decisive remark, that they all seemed to him to approve a democracy which was most like an aristocracy.

When this discussion had come to an end, I said that it seemed to me to be only fair that these men should tell us how a house should be managed. For, said I, but few persons are in control of kingdoms and states, whereas we all have to do with a hearth and home,

Aesop laughed and said, Not all, if you include also Anacharsis in our number; for not only has he no home, but he takes an immense pride in being homeless and in using a wagon, after the manner in which they say the sun makes his rounds in a chariot, occupying now one place and now another in the heavens.

And that, I would have you know, said Anacharsis, is precisely the reason why he solely or pre-eminently of all the gods is free and independent, and rules over all and is ruled by none, but is king, and holds the reins. Only you seem to have no conception of his chariot, how surpassing it is in beauty, and wondrous in size; else you would not, even in jest, have humorously compared it to ours. It seems to me, Aesop, that your idea of a home is limited to these protective coverings made of mortar, wood, and tiles, just as if you were to regard a snail’s shell, and not the creature itself, as a snail. Quite naturally, then, Solon gave you occasion to laugh, because, when he had looked over Croesus’s house with its costly furnishings, he did not instantly

declare that the owner led a happy and blessed existence therein, for the good reason that he wished to have a look at the good within Croesus rather than at his good surroundings. [*] But you, apparently, do not remember your own fox.[*] For the fox, having entered into a contest with the leopard to determine which was the more ingeniously coloured, insisted it was but fair that the judge should note carefully what was within her, for there she said she should show herself more ingenious. But you go about, inspecting the works of carpenters and stonemasons, and regarding them as a home, and not the inward and personal possessions of each man, his children, his partner in marriage, his friends, and servants; and though it be in an ant-hill or a bird’s nest, yet if these are possessed of sense and discretion, and the head of the family shares with them all his worldly goods, he dwells in a goodly and a happy home. This then,said he, is my answer to Aesop’s insinuation, and my contribution to Diocles. And now it is but right that each of the others should disclose his own opinion.

Thereupon Solon said that the best home seemed to him to be where no injustice is attached to the acquisition of property, no distrust to keeping it, and no repentance to spending it.

Bias said, It is the home in which the head of the household, because of his own self, maintains the same character that he maintains outside of it because of the law.

Thales said, The home in which it is possible for the head of the household to have the greatest leisure.

Cleobulus said, If the head of the household have more who love him than fear him.

Pittacus said that the best home is that which needs nothing superfluous, and lacks nothing necessary.

Chilon said that the home ought to be most like to a State ruled by a king; and then he added that Lycurgus said to the man who urged him to establish a democracy in the State, Do you first create a democracy in your own house. [*]

When this discussion had come to its end, Eumetis withdrew, accompanied by Melissa. Then Periander drank to Chilon in a big beaker, and Chilon did the same to Bias, whereupon Ardalus arose, and addressing himself to Aesop, said, Won’t you send the cup over here to us, seeing that these people are sending it to and fro to one another as though it were the beaker of Bathycles,[*] and are not giving anybody else a chance at it ?

And Aesop said, But this cup is not democratic either, since it has been resting all the time by Solon only.

Thereupon Pittacus, addressing Mnesiphilus, asked why Solon did not drink, but by his testimony was discrediting the verses in which he had written [*]

Give me the tasks of the Cyprus-born goddess and Lord Dionysus, Yea, and the Muses besides; tasks which bring cheer among men.

Before the other could reply Anacharsis hastened to say, He is afraid of you, Pittacus, and that harsh law of yours in which you have decreed, If any man commit any offence when drunk, his penalty shall be double that prescribed for the sober. [*]

And Pittacus said, But you at any rate showed such insolent disregard for the law, that last year, at the house of Alcaeus’s brother, you were the first to get drunk and you demanded as a prize a wreath of victory. [*]

And why not? said Anacharsis. Prizes were offered for the man who drank the most, and I was the first’to get drunk; why should I not have demanded the reward of my victory? Else do you instruct me as to what is the aim in drinking much strong wine other than to get drunk.

When Pittacus laughed at this, Aesop told the following story: A wolf seeing some shepherds in a shelter eating a sheep, came near to them and said, What an uproar you would make if I were doing that!

Aesop, said Chilon, has very properly defended himself, for a few moments ago [*] he had his mouth stopped by us, and now, later, he sees that others have taken the words out of Mnesiphilus’s mouth; for it was Mnesiphilus who was asked for a rejoinder in defence of Solon.

And I speak, said Mnesiphilus, with full

knowledge that it is Solon’s opinion that the task of every art and faculty, both human and divine, is the thing that is produced rather than the means employed in its production, and the end itself rather than the means that contribute to that end. For a weaver, I imagine, would hold that his task was a cloak or a mantle rather than the arrangement of shuttle-rods or the hanging of loom weights; and so a smith would regard the welding of iron or the tempering of an axe rather than any one of the things that have to be done for this purpose, such as blowing up the fire or getting ready a flux. Even more would an architect find fault with us, if we should declare that his task is not a temple or a house, but to bore timbers and mix mortar. And the Muses would most assuredly feel aggrieved, if we should regard as their task a lyre or flutes, and not the development of the characters and the soothing of the emotions of those who make use of songs and melodies. And so again the task of Aphrodite is not carnal intercourse, nor is that of Dionysus strong drink and wine, but rather the friendly feeling, the longing, the association, and the intimacy, one with another, which they create in us through these agencies. These are what Solon calls tasks divine, and these he says he loves and pursues above all else, now that he has become an old man. And Aphrodite is the artisan who creates concord and friendship between men and women, for through their bodies, under the influence of pleasure, she at the same time unites and welds together their souls.[*] And in the case of the majority of people, who are not altogether intimate or too well known to one another, Dionysus softens and relaxes their characters with wine, as in a fire, and so provides some means for beginning a union and friendship with one another. However, when such men as you, whom Periander has invited here, come together, I think there is nothing for the wine-cup or ladle to accomplish, but the Muses set discourse in the midst before all, a non-intoxicating bowl as it were, containing a maximum of pleasure in jest and seriousness combined; and with this they awaken and foster and dispense friendliness, allowing the ladle, for the most part, to lie untouched atop of the bowl—a thing which Hesiod [*] would prohibit in a company of men better able to drink than to converse. As a matter of fact,he continued, as nearly as I can make out, among the men of olden time the practice of drinking healths was not in vogue, since each man drank one goblet, as Homer [*] has said, that is a measured quantity, and later, like Ajax,[*] shared a portion with his neighbour.

When Mnesiphilus had said this, Chersias the poet [*] (having been already absolved from the charge against him, and recently reconciled with Periander at Chilon’s solicitation) said, Is it to be inferred, then, that Zeus used to pour out the drink for the gods also in measured quantity, as Agamemnon did for his nobles, when the gods, dining with Zeus, drank to one another?

And Cleodorus said, But, Chersias, if certain doves [*] bring to Zeus his ambrosia, as you poets say, and with

great difficulty hardly manage to fly over the clashing rocks, do you not believe that his nectar is hard for him to get and scarce, so that he is sparing of it, and doles it out charily to each god?

Possibly, said Chersias, but since talk of household management has come up again, who among you will tell us about what was omitted? The topic omitted was, I think, the acquisition of some measure of property which shall be sufficient in itself and adequate.

But, said Cleobulus, for the wise the law has given the measure, but with reference to those of the baser sort I will tell a story of my daughter’s which she told her brother. She said that the moon wanted her mother to weave for her a garment to fit her measure; and the mother said, How can I weave it to fit your measure? For now I see you full and round, and at another time crescent-shaped, and at still another but little more than half your full size. And in the same way you see, my dear Chersias, there is no measure of possessions that can be applied to a foolish and worthless man. Sometimes he is one man and sometimes another in his needs, which vary according to his desires and fortunes; he is like Aesop’s dog, who, as our friend here says, in the winter-time curled up as closely as possible because he was so cold, and was minded to build himself a house, but when summer returned again, and he had stretched himself out to sleep, he appeared to himself so big that he thought it was neither a necessary nor a small task to construct a house large enough to contain him. Have you not often noticed also, Chersias, he continued, those detestable people who at one time restrict themselves to utterly small

limits as though they purposed to live the simple Spartan life, and at another time they think that, unless they have everything possessed by all private persons and kings as well, they shall die of want?

As Chersias lapsed into silence, Cleodorus took up the conversation and said, But we see that the possessions which even you wise men have are distributed by unequal measure, if you be compared one with another.

And Cleobulus said, Yes, for the law, my good sir, like a weaver, assigns to each one of us so much as is fitting, reasonable, and suitable. And you, using reason as your law in prescribing diet, regimen, and drugs for the sick, do not apportion an equal amount to each one, but the proper amount in all cases.

Ardalus then joined in and said, Well, then, is there some law which commands that comrade of all of you, Solon’s foreign friend, Epimenides, to abstain from all other kinds of food, and by taking into his mouth a bit of the potent no-hunger, [*] which he himself compounds, to go all day without luncheon and dinner?

This remark arrested the attention of the whole company, and Thales said jestingly that Epimenides showed good sense in not wishing to have the trouble of grinding his grain and cooking for himself like Pittacus. For, said he, when I was at Eresus, I heard the woman at whose house I stayed singing at the mill:

Grind, mill, grind; Yes, for Pittacus used to grind King of great Mytilene.

[*]

Solon said that he was surprised at Ardalus if he had not read the regulations governing the manner of living of the man in question, which are given in writing in Hesiod’s verses. For Hesiod is the one who first sowed in the mind of Epimenides the seeds of this form of nourishment, inasmuch as it was he who taught that one should seek to find

How in mallow and asphodel lies an immense advantage.[*]

Do you really think, said Periander, that Hesiod ever had any such idea in mind? Do you not rather think that, since he was always sounding the praises of frugality, he was also summoning us to the simplest of dishes as being the most pleasant? For the mallow is good eating, and the stalk of the asphodel is luscious; but these no-hunger and nothirst drugs (for they are drugs rather than foods), I understand, include in their composition a sweet gum and a cheese found among barbarian peoples, and a great many seeds of a sort hard to procure. How, then, can we concede to Hesiod his

Rudder on high in the smoke[*]

suspended, and

All the labours of oxen and stout-toiling mules be abolished,[*]

if there is to be need of all this preparation? I am surprised at your friend from abroad, Solon, if, when he was recently carrying out his great purification for the people of Delos,[*] he did not note the memorials and examples of the earliest forms of food being brought into the temple there, including, among other inexpensive and self-propagated foods, mallow and asphodel, whose plainness and simplicity it is most likely that Hesiod recommends to us.

Not merely that, said Anacharsis, but both are commended as herbs that contribute to health also in greatest measure.

You are quite right, said Cleodorus; for it is clear that Hesiod has knowledge of medicine, since there is no lack of attention or experience shown in what he has to say about the daily course of life,[*] mixing wine,[*] the great value of water,[*] bathing,[*] women,[*] the proper time for intercourse,[*] and the way in which infants should sit.[*] But it seems to me that Aesop with better right than Epimenides can declare himself the pupil of Hesiod. For the words of the hawk to the nightingale[*] first suggested to Aesop the idea of this beautiful and ingenious wisdom uttered by many different tongues. But I should be glad to listen to Solon; for it is likely that he, having been associated with Epimenides for along time at Athens,[*] has learned what experience of his or what sophistical argument induced him to resort to such a course of living.