Volume 1

The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned, of Athenæus / literally translated by C.D. Yonge, B.A. ; with an appendix of poetical fragments, rendered into English verse by various authors, and a general index.

  • Athenaeus, of Naucratis.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned, of Athenæus / literally translated by C.D. Yonge, B.A. ; with an appendix of poetical fragments, rendered into English verse by various authors, and a general index. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    his own countrymen. And ho calls him a sort of Asteropa3us,‘ equally acquainted -with both languages. Aud he says that ho was well versed in all the religious ceremonies instituted by lloraulus, who gave his name to the citj^, and by Numa Pompilius; and that he is learned in all the laws of politics; and that he has arrived at all this learning solely from the study of ancient decrees aud resolutions; aud from the col- lection of the laws which (as Eupolis, the comic writer, says of the poems of Pindar) ai’O already reduced to silence by the disinclination of the multitude for elemuit Icarnins:. He had also, says he, such a library of ancient Greek books, as to exceed in that respect all those who are remarkable for such collections; such as Polycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus who was tyrant of Athens, and Euclides who was himself also an Athenian, and Nicorrates the Samian, and even the kings of Pergamos, and Euripides the poet, and Aristotle the philoso- pher, and Nelius his librarian; from whom they say that our countryman Ptolemajus, surnamed Philadelphus, bought them all, and transported them with all those which he had collected at Athens and at llhodes to his own beautiful Alexandria. So that a man may fairly quote the verses of Antiphaues and apply them to him :— You court the heav’nly muse with ccasclos.s ze.al. And sock to open all the varied stores Of high philosophy. And as the Theban lyric poet^ says :— Kor le.ss renown’d his hand essays To wake the muse’s choicest lays. Such as the social feast around Full oft our tuneful band inspire. And when inviting people to his feasts, ho causes Rome to bo looked upon as the common country of all of them. For who can regi’et wliat he has left in his own country, while dwelling with a man who tints ojtens his house to all his friends. For as Apollodorus the comic poet says :— 'Whene’er you cross the thrcshhold of a friend, How welcome you may be needs no long time To feel assured of; blithe the porter looks. ' Asteropmus was one of the Trojan heroes who endeavoured to fight Achilles, being armed with two spears. ‘ Pindar. 01. i. 22.—See Moore's translation.