Promptly upon rising, our good citizen has devoured a few morsels of bread sopped in undiluted wine; that has been to him what “coffee and rolls” will be to the Frenchmen,—­enough to carry him through the morning business, until near to noon he will demand something more satisfying.  He then visits home long enough to partake of a substantial dejeuner ("ariston,” first breakfast = “akratisma").  He has one or two hot dishes—­one may suspect usually warmed over from last night’s dinner—­and partakes of some more wine.  This “ariston” will be about all he will require until the chief meal of the day—­the regular dinner ("deipnon”) which would follow sunset.

155.  Society desired at Meals.—­The Athenians are a gregarious sociable folk.  Often enough the citizen must dine alone at home with “only” his wife and children for company, but if possible he will invite friends (or get himself invited out).  Any sort of an occasion is enough to excuse a dinner-party,—­a birthday of some friend, some kind of family happiness, a victory in the games, the return from, or the departure upon, a journey:—­all these will answer; or indeed a mere love of good fellowship.  There are innumerable little eating clubs; the members go by rotation to their respective houses.  Each member contributes either some money or has his slave bring a hamper of provisions.  In the find weather picnic parties down upon the shore are common.[*] “Anything to bring friends together”—­in the morning the Agora, in the afternoon the gymnasium, in the evening they symposium—­that seems to be the rule of Athenian life.

[*]Such excursions were so usual that the literal expression “Let us banquet at the shore” ([Note from Brett:  The Greek letters are written out here as there is no way to portray them properly] sigma eta mu epsilon rho omicron nu [next word] alpha kappa tau alpha sigma omega mu epsilon nu [here is a rough transliteration into English letters “semeron aktasomen"]) came often to mean simply “Let us have a good time.”

However, the Athenians seldom gather to eat for the mere sake of animal gorging.  They have progressed since the Greeks of the Homeric Age.  Odysseus[*] is made to say to Alcinous that there is nothing more delightful than sitting at a table covered with bread, meat, and wine, and listening to a bard’s song; and both Homeric poems show plenty of gross devouring and guzzling.  There is not much of this in Athens, although Boeotians are still reproached with being voracious, swinish “flesh eaters,” and the Greeks of South Italy and Sicily are considered as devoted to their fare, though of more refined table habits.  Athenians of the better class pride themselves on their light diet and moderation of appetite, and their neighbors make considerable fun of them for their failure to serve satisfying meals.  Certain it is that the typical Athenian would regard a twentieth century “table d’hote” course dinner as heavy and unrefined, if ever it dragged its slow length before him.