happy possessor of certain goblets and oriental carpets.  What he said to him was:  “It is customary when people are invited to dinner by Seuthes for the guests to make him a present; now if he should become a great person in these parts, he will be able to restore you to your native land, or to make you a rich man here.”  Such were the solicitations which he applied to each man in turn whom he accosted.  Presently he came to Xenophon and said:  “You are at once a citizen of no mean city, and with Seuthes also your own name is very great.  Maybe you expect to obtain a fort or two in this country, just as others of your countrymen have done[2], and territory.  It is only right and proper therefore that you should honour Seuthes in the most magnificent style.  Be sure, I give this advice out of pure friendliness, for I know that the greater the gift that you are ready to bestow on him, the better the treatment you will receive at his hands.”  Xenophon, on hearing this, was in a sad dilemma, for he had brought with him, when he crossed from Parium, nothing but one boy and just enough to pay his travelling expenses.

[1] A Greek colony in Thrace.  Among Asiatico-Ionian colonies were
    Abdera, founded by Teos, and Maroneia, celebrated for its wine,
    founded by Chios about 540 B.C.—­Kiepert, “Man.  Anct.  Geog.” viii.
    182.

[2] Notably Alcibiades, who possessed two or three such fortresses.

As soon as the company, consisting of the most powerful Thracians 21 there present, with the generals and captains of the Hellenes, and any embassy from a state which might be there, had arrived, they were seated in a circle, and the dinner was served.  Thereupon three-legged stools were brought in and placed in front of the assembled guests.  They were laden with pieces of meat, piled up, and there were huge leavened-loaves fastened on to the pieces of meat with long skewers.  The tables, as a rule, were set beside the guests at intervals.  That was the custom; and Seuthes set the fashion of the performance.  He took up the loaves which lay by his side and broke them into little pieces, and then threw the fragments here to one and there to another as seemed to him good; and so with the meat likewise, leaving for himself the merest taste.  Then the rest fell to following the fashion set them, those that is who had tables placed beside them.

Now there was an Arcadian, Arystas by name, a huge eater; he soon got tired of throwing the pieces about, and seized a good three-quarters loaf in his two hands, placed some pieces of meat upon his knees, and proceeded to discuss his dinner.  Then beakers of wine were brought round, and every one partook in turn; but when the cupbearer came to Arystas and handed him the bowl, he looked up, and seeing that Xenophon had done eating:  “Give it him,” quoth he, “he is more at leisure.  I have something better to do at present.”  Seuthes, hearing a remark, asked the cupbearer what was said, and the cupbearer, who knew how to talk Greek, explained.  Then followed a peal of laughter.