Etiquette and Leftovers in Ancient Rome

“Up to a certain point the remnants were fairly divided, but unfortunately one chicken, more plump than the rest, attracted the attention of one of the party who had no just claim to it. The proper owner would not let it go, so they both tugged at it; a general tumult ensued, and the guests grasped the birds by the legs and hit each other in the face…”— Above, a depiction of ancient Roman dining.

DIVIDING FOOD LEFT OVER

A very strange custom prevailed with both the Greeks and the Romans of the guests carrying away with them the viands that remained uneaten. Martial has an extremely witty epigram on this; but the drollest account of it is in the “Symposium” of Lucian. The party consisted of learned and dignified philosophers, whom, of course, the author intends to satirize. Up to a certain point the remnants were fairly divided, but unfortunately one chicken, more plump than the rest, attracted the attention of one of the party who had no just claim to it. The proper owner would not let it go, so they both tugged at it; a general tumult ensued, and the guests grasped the birds by the legs and hit each other in the face with them, pulled beards, shouted, and pelted with cups. 

That such scenes really took place at the dinners given to Roman clients is seriously affirmed by Juvenal (v, 26,) and in one of the satyric plays of Eschylus, (“The Ostologi,”) a guest complains that a certain vessel was broken over his head, “by no means so fragrant as a pot of spikenard.” Indeed, it would be a rather curious inquiry how far drunkenness was sottishness or mere excitement, for it is obvious that such a term is but relative, and it is likely enough that the Greek temperament was easily roused to fury by a very small amount of alcohol. 

Certainly, no rigid etiquette prevented practical jokes of a serious kind. We read in Plautus of an unfortunate parasite having a pot full of ashes flung at his head at dinner for no other purpose than to raise a general laugh against him. Some an ecdotes are told which confirm this view. One Philoxenus, a poet of Cythera, was dining with Dionysius. Observing a small mullet served on his plate, but a large one on that of the host, he took the cooked fish in his hands and applied it to his ear. “What are you doing?” asked the host. “I am writing poem entitled 'Galatea,' and a I want to learn from this fish something about Nereus! But it says it was caught too young, whereas the big fish on your plate followed in Nereus’s train, and knows all about him.” The host laughed, and ordered the fishes to be exchanged. 

A certain Spartan was dining at a table on which sea-urchins were served. He took one, and not knowing how to manipulate it, put it into his mouth, and crunched it shell and all. After making wry faces over it be exclaimed, with true Spartan bravery, “Filthy eating! I am not going to turn a coward and give you up now, but I shan't take you any more.” Rather a neat repartee is recorded of one Philoxenus, a parasite. Observing that the host supplied black bread, he quietly said, “Don't put any more of that or you will make the room dark.” Another, seeing an entrée that was being carried round stop at the host, inquired, “Am I tipsy, or is it a fancy of mine that these things are going round?”—Fraser's Magazine, 1881

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette and a Roman Banquet

Those glorious days might be revived at our own time, but we want a Lucullus. Let us suppose some man known to be enormously rich desirous of celebrating a great political or financial event, and of giving on the occasion a memorable festival without regard to expense. Let us suppose that he engages the services of every art to adorn the place of the festival in every detail; that he gives orders that recourse be had to every means to procure the rarest provisions and the noblest wines of the most famed cellers … – Lucius Licinius Lucullus (57/56 BC) was an optimas politician of the late Roman Republic. 

– Public domain image

All the furniture requisite for the banquet was of costly material or exquisite workmanship. The number of courses was gradually increased till it excecded twenty, and after each course everything which had served for the previous course was removed and fresh supplied. Slaves were especially appointed to each convivial function, and those functions were most minutely defined. The most delicious perfumes - embalmed the banquet-hall. A master of the ceremonies announced the merits of the dishes most worthy of special attention – the claims they possessed to this sort of ovation; finally nothing was omitted of a nature to sharpen the appetite, keep alive the attention, and prolong enjoyment. 

This luxury had also its follies and absurdities. Such were those banquets where the fishes and birds served counted by thousands, and those dishes which had no other merit than that of having cost an enormous price, such as that dish which consisted of the brains of 600 ostriches, and that other of the tongues of 5,003 birds, all of which had been taught to speak. After the above the enormous sums spent by Lucullus at his banquet and the costs of the feasts he gave in the hall of Apollo will be readily understood. At these feasts, the etiquette was to exhaust every known means to flatter the sensuality of the guests.

Those glorious days might be revived at our own time, but we want a Lucullus. Let us suppose some man known to be enormously rich desirous of celebrating a great political or financial event, and of giving on the occasion a memorable festival without regard to expense. Let us suppose that he engages the services of every art to adorn the place of the festival in every detail; that he gives orders that recourse be had to every means to procure the rarest provisions and the noblest wines of the most famed cellers; that he has a troupe of the first actors of the day to perform for the amusement of his guests; that the banquet be enlivered by vocal and instrumental music performed by the first artistes of the day; that, as an entr'acte between dinner and coffee, a ballet performed by the prettiest dancers, shall enliven his guests; that the evening shall close with a ball, at which two hundred women, selected among the most beautiful, and four hundred elegant dancers, shall attend; that the buffet be provided with the most excellent hot and cold beverages, fresh and iced; that at midnight a wisely selected collation shall imbue new life into all; that the servants be handsome and well-dressed, the illumination perfect, and, moreover, that the Amphitryon should have arranged for every guest to be sent for and conveyed home without discomfort– the bill on the following day might startle even the cashier of Lucullus. – The New York Times, June 21, 1859

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia