Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-11-01
A Roman Dinner.


large the rule WAS that the guests should
not be less than three, the number of the
Graces, nor more than nine, the number
of Muses.. The tables we're made of rare
woods, finely carved, and sometimes OF
precious metals. Table-clo.hs were an
known. Those who dined used neither
knives nor forks, but helped themselves
with their fingers; nevertheless, as soups
could not be ealen in this primitive way,
necessity, the mother of invention. de.
vsed spoons. To handle hot dinner
without turning the fingers, required &c
much dexlerity as the juggier displays in
playing with heated pokers. Gentlemen
with tender digits and impressible appe-
tites wore metallic fnger.tips, like thin
bles, which enabled them to put finger
into the hottest pie with impunity. A fter
each dish they prepared themselves
for the next course by dipping their
fingers into ewers of water, carried
around by servan nte, and drying them on
napkins, each guest bringing his own
napkin with him. Wealthy persons are
said to have used very costly kind of
asbestos napkin, which, when soiled,
they threw into the fire; the FIRE cleansed
it without consuming it. Refined epi-
cures sometimes wiped their hands on
the long hair of the cup bearers, a GUS
tom that is very common in the Orient,
and recalls the Office performed bv Mag
dalen to the feet of Jesus. The Romans
began the day with an early breakfast of
bread, seasoned with salt, and eaten with
olives, dried grapes, or cheese. At noon
they took a warm lunch of eggs, fish,
etc., sort of punch, composed of water
and wine, seasoned with spices and
sweetened with honey. This drink was
to the Romans what tea and coffee are to
us. The wine in the mixture being con-
siderably diluted, possessed only very
mildly Intoxicating properties, so, that it
could be used quite freely without un-
pleasant effects; and Cowper's descrip-
ton of tea party, where
-" Tho bubbling and loud kissing urn
Throws up steamy column, and the crps
That cheer but not inebriate wait on each."
would correspond very we'll with calda-
party Of Roman ladies nineteen centuries
ago. Several cada-urns of bronze have
been found at Pompeii. The principal
meal (called cGna) was eaten about four
O. clock, and lasted several hours. People
like the elder Pliny, who dined only three
hours, were considered remarkably frugal
and time-ssving. In Pompeii there are
numerous paintings of feasts, which give
considerable Information as to the bill of
fare. In the center of the table, for ex-
ample, is q large dish containing four
peacocks, so arranged as to form stately
l., nil hai tutl Ia nd
Holsters, each holding something in its
claws-one had blue egg, another an
oyster, q third stuffed rat, fourth had
q basket of grssshoppers, or some similar
appetizipg delicacy. There are also four
plates of fish, several pheasants, hares and
squirrels, each holding its head between
it's paws; besides peaches, melons and
other fruits, a variety of vegetables, fan
tastic forms of pastry, and different kinds
of wine In order to equip the table IS
magnifcently as possible, many articles
we're provided, not because they were
agreeable to the palate, but because they
added to the splendor and costliness of
the banquet Dishes, too, which would
excite in us the most intense disgust, were
held in high esteem. A man ia repre-
sented as drinking from a cows horn,
pieroed at the smaller end 40 as to allow
a thin stream of wine to flow into the
mouth as be holds it up at arms length
"a method of imbibing still practiced by
the common people of Southern Italy.
Other cups were fashioned, by the whim-
steal fancy of the potter, into the head Of
q pig, q ram, a stag, or some other ami
NAL; many of them are of q cheap ma
terial (clay), but all show by their excel
lent work manship that they were made
by good artists. One advantage of such
a drinking vessel in the eyes Of veteran
tipper would be that, owing to ita pecu-
liar shape, it could not stand upright,
and when once filed must be emptied
before it could be set down again upon
the table. Among the Greeks it was not
customary TO invite women to dinner
parties, although the Sybarites did so,
and, according to Plutareh, used to send
the invitations year beforehand, 10 order
to give the ladies ample time to dress for
the occasion. But among the Romans,
women were not only admitted to ban.
quets, as is evident from several Pom
pelan paintings, but, if We believe what
cotemporary poets say of them, were also
especially proud of their drinking; ard
Shakespeare is true to Roman cuatops
when he makes Cleopatra boast of such
triumphs over Antony:
" Bre the ninth hour drunk him to his bed:
Then put my tires and mantle on him, whilst |
hfa cward phillinpian.b