Epigraph
p. xv
Texte intégral
1Οὐκ ἀγνοῶ δὲ καὶ περὶ ∆ηλίων ἃ Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος εἴρηκεν ὅτι µαγείρων καὶ τραπεζοποιῶν παρείχοντο χρείας τοῖς παραγινοµένοις πρὸς τὰς ἱερουργίας, καὶ ὅτι ἦν αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν πράξεων ὀνόµατα Μαγίδες καὶ Γογγύλοι, ἐπειδὴ τὰς µάζας, φησὶν Ἀριστοφάνης, ἐν ταῖς θοίναις δι´ ἡµέρας τρίβοντες παρεῖχον ὥσπερ γυναιξὶ γογγύλας µεµαγµένας. Καλοῦνται δὲ καὶ µέχρι νῦν τινες αὐτῶν Χοίρακοι καὶ Ἀµνοὶ καὶ Ἀρτυσίλεωι καὶ Σήσαµοι καὶ Ἀρτυσίτραγοι καὶ Νεωκόροι καὶ Ἰχθυβόλοι, τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν Κυµινάνθαι, κοινῇ δὲ πάντες Ἐλεοδύται διὰ τὸ τοῖς ἐλεοῖς ὑποδύεσθαι διακονοῦντες ἐν ταῖς θοίναις. Ἐλεὸς δ´ ἐστὶν ἡ µαγειρικὴ τράπεζα. Ὅµηρος·
« Αὐτὰρ ἐπεί ῥ´ ὤπτησε καὶ εἰν ἐλεοῖσιν ἔθηκε ».
2Ὅθεν καὶ Πολυκράτων ὁ Κρίθωνος Ῥηναιεὺς δίκην γραφόµενος οὐ ∆ηλίους αὐτοὺς ὀνοµάζει, ἀλλὰ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἐλεοδυτῶν ἐπῃτιάσατο. Καὶ ὁ τῶν Ἀµφικτυόνων δὲ νόµος κελεύει ὕδωρ παρέχειν ἐλεοδύτας, τοὺς τραπεζοποιοὺς καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους διακόνους σηµαίνων. Κρίτων δ´ ὁ κωµῳδιοποιὸς ἐν Φιλοπράγµονι παρασίτους τοῦ θεοῦ καλεῖ τοὺς ∆ηλίους διὰ τούτων·
« Φοίνικα µεγάλου κύριον βαλλαντίου
ναύκληρον ἐν τῷ λιµένι ποιήσας ἄπλουν
καὶ † φορµιῶσαι ναῦς ἀναγκάσας δύο,
εἰς ∆ῆλον ἐλθεῖν ἠθέλης´ ἐκ Πειραιῶς,
πάντων ἀκούων διότι παρασίτῳ τόπος
οὗτος τρία µόνος ἀγαθὰ κεκτῆσθαι δοκεῖ,
εὔοψον ἀγοράν, † παντοδαπὸν ὁρµοῦντ´ ὄχλον †,
αὐτοὺς παρασίτους τοῦ θεοῦ τοὺς ∆ηλίους »
3I am not unaware that Apollodoros of Athens said of the Delians that they offered their services as cooks and waiters to those who attended religious ceremonies and that because of their activities they were given the name of “Brioches” and “Sponge Rolls”, because, Aristophanes tells us, by slaving all day they provided pastries at the banquets, like the dumplings kneaded by the womenfolk. To this day, some Delians still bear names meaning Piglet, Lambchop, Marinade and Sesame, Goat Spices, Puff Pastry, Fisherman, and several women are called Cumin Flower. In general, they are collectively called “the Eleodytae” because they would flit among the tables when serving at banquets. A kitchen table is an eleos, as in this line from Homer:
“but having had it roasted and set on the tables”.
4Hence Polycraton of Rhenea, son of Crithon, did not name them Delians in his lawsuit but accused them of being the community of Eleodytae. The law of the Amphictyons orders that the Eleodytae shall supply water, designating by the term the waiters and other servants of the kind. And Criton the comic poet, in his Busybody, called the Delians “parasites of the god”, in these words:
Having forced in the port a Phoenician shipowner and master of a large fortune to abandon his voyage and having had him charter two vessels, he wanted to go from the Piraeus to Delos, because he had heard everywhere that it was the only place with three advantages for a parasite: a well-supplied market, a host of foreigners, and the Delians themselves – the parasites of the god.
Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, IV, 173 a-c
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