Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Pleasures Of The Table Among The Greeks.
ON THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE AMONG THE GREEKS .
IF we consider the writings of the ancients in so far as they relate to their manners , we shall not find them less worthy our attention than those which treat of their wit and knowledge . The two celebrated " Banquets" of Plato andXenophon are elegant models of the innocent leasures of their festal boardand plainly point out what
p , kind of entertainment was there to be found . It was by conversations like those , equally learned and moral , that the pleasures of the table were rendered useful , and that great licentiousness and forgetfulness of decorum , which too often grew upon a long sitting , were happily corrected . A review of those , and of our modern conversations , speaks much in behalf of the manners of antiquity , and argues but
little in our favour . Instead of that sensible elegance , so pleasing to every truly generous mind , we enjoy nothing but inebriating drenches of wine , followed by that destructive corroder of human happiness , play , that harpy which corrupts the whole mass , if it touch but a particle of the blood . It seems beyond a doubt , that by the help of such conversation , as is in reality the life and soul of a rational creature , the
pleasures of the Greek board far surpassed our ' s , which is but too often , and almost always , gross and inelegant . In Athens eight or ten people of fashion were assembled round the table of a common friend for some hours ; their business was not drinking , butamusement : and of what nature was their amusement ? It consisted not of the briskly-circulated lassthe hih-seasoned toastor obscene sentiment ; but of
g , g , discourses the freest , the most unconstrained , social , and polished ; the most learned , and most solid . They were such as became Philosophers and men ; such as , to their shame be it spoken , are little cultivated amongst the professors of the purest , the inspired doctrine , Christianity .
If a licentious sentiment dropped from any mouth , any thing thatinfringed upon the decent liberty of the table , the offence was not passed without a tacit and proper reprimand , by turning the conversation upon some point of morality which hinted at , or displayed it in proper colours . This position is proved by the behaviour of Socrates , who at the banquet of Xenophon , perceiving his friends inclined to make rather too free with the bottledelivered himself thus elegantl
, y upon the excellency of drinking with moderation . " Liquor , " said this great light of antiquity , " has the same effect upon us as rain has upon plants , beneath which , when excessive , they sink oppressed , nor can they rise to the fostering breeze : but if lightly sprinkled they acquire new strength ; they thrive apace ; the flower blooms upon the strong stalk , and at length matures into , fruit , Thus
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Pleasures Of The Table Among The Greeks.
ON THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE AMONG THE GREEKS .
IF we consider the writings of the ancients in so far as they relate to their manners , we shall not find them less worthy our attention than those which treat of their wit and knowledge . The two celebrated " Banquets" of Plato andXenophon are elegant models of the innocent leasures of their festal boardand plainly point out what
p , kind of entertainment was there to be found . It was by conversations like those , equally learned and moral , that the pleasures of the table were rendered useful , and that great licentiousness and forgetfulness of decorum , which too often grew upon a long sitting , were happily corrected . A review of those , and of our modern conversations , speaks much in behalf of the manners of antiquity , and argues but
little in our favour . Instead of that sensible elegance , so pleasing to every truly generous mind , we enjoy nothing but inebriating drenches of wine , followed by that destructive corroder of human happiness , play , that harpy which corrupts the whole mass , if it touch but a particle of the blood . It seems beyond a doubt , that by the help of such conversation , as is in reality the life and soul of a rational creature , the
pleasures of the Greek board far surpassed our ' s , which is but too often , and almost always , gross and inelegant . In Athens eight or ten people of fashion were assembled round the table of a common friend for some hours ; their business was not drinking , butamusement : and of what nature was their amusement ? It consisted not of the briskly-circulated lassthe hih-seasoned toastor obscene sentiment ; but of
g , g , discourses the freest , the most unconstrained , social , and polished ; the most learned , and most solid . They were such as became Philosophers and men ; such as , to their shame be it spoken , are little cultivated amongst the professors of the purest , the inspired doctrine , Christianity .
If a licentious sentiment dropped from any mouth , any thing thatinfringed upon the decent liberty of the table , the offence was not passed without a tacit and proper reprimand , by turning the conversation upon some point of morality which hinted at , or displayed it in proper colours . This position is proved by the behaviour of Socrates , who at the banquet of Xenophon , perceiving his friends inclined to make rather too free with the bottledelivered himself thus elegantl
, y upon the excellency of drinking with moderation . " Liquor , " said this great light of antiquity , " has the same effect upon us as rain has upon plants , beneath which , when excessive , they sink oppressed , nor can they rise to the fostering breeze : but if lightly sprinkled they acquire new strength ; they thrive apace ; the flower blooms upon the strong stalk , and at length matures into , fruit , Thus