LYCINUS 
Why should I tell you all of them? The philosophers and literary men, whom, I suppose, you
are most eager to hear about, were Zenothemis, the
old man of the Porch,
 The Porch: where Zeno the Stoic used to teach. and along with him Diphilus,
whom they call “Labyrinth,” tutor of Aristaenetus’
boy Zeno. From the Walk
 The Walk (xepfxaros) in the Lyceum, where the Peripatetics had their meeting-place. there was Cleodemus—
you know him, the mouthy, argumentative fellow,
whom his pupils call “Sword” and “Cleaver.”
Hermon the Epicurean was there too, and as he
came in the Stoics at once began to glower at him
and turn their backs on him; it was clear that they
loathed him as they would a parricide or a man
under a curse. These men had been asked to
dinner as Aristaenetus’ own friends and associates, and
also the grammarian Histiaeus and the rhetorician
Dionysodorus.

 

Then, too, on account of Chaereas, the
bridegroom, Ion the Platonic philosopher, who is his
teacher, shared the feast—a grave and reverend
person to look at, with great dignity written on his
features. Indeed, most people call him “Rule,” out
of regard for the straightness of his thinking. When
he came in, they all arose in his honour and received
him like a supernatural being; in short it was a regular
divine visitation, the advent of Ion the marvellous.




 


 

By that time we had to take our places, for almost
everyone was there. On the right as you enter, the
women occupied the whole couch, as there were
a good many of them, with the bride among them,
very scrupulously veiled and hedged in by the
women. Toward the back door came the rest of the
company according to the esteem in which each was
held.

 

Opposite the women, the first was Eucritus,
and then Aristaenetus. Then a question was raised
whether Zenothemis the Stoic should have _precedence, he being an old man, or Hermon the
Epicurean, because he was a priest of the Twin
Brethren and a member of the leading family in the
city. But Zenothemis solved the problem ; “Aristaenetus,” said he, “if you put me second to
this man here,— an Epicurean, to say nothing worse
of him,—I shall go away and leave you in full
possession of your board.” With that he called his
attendant and made as if to go out. So Hermon
said: “Take the place of honour, Zenothemis; but
you would have done well to yield to me because I
am a priest, if for no other reason, however much
you despise Epicurus.” “You make me laugh,’
said Zenothemis: “an Epicurean priest!’ With
these words he took his place, and Hermon next
him, in spite of what had passed ; then Cleodemus
the Peripatetic ; then Ion, and below him the bridegroom, then myself; beside me Diphilus, and
below him his pupil Zeno; and then the rhetorician
Dionysodorus and the grammarian Histiaeus,


 


 PHILO 
Heavens, Lycinus, it’s a learned academy, this dinner
party that you are telling of! Philosophers almost
to a man. Good for Aristaenetus, I say, because
in celebrating the greatest festival day that there is,
he thought fit to entertain the most learned men in
preference to the rest of the world, and culled the
bloom, as it were, of every school, not including some
and leaving out others, but asking all without
discrimination. LYCINUS 
Why, my dear fellow, he is not one of the common
run of rich men; he is interested in culture and
spends the better part of his time with these people.