Page:The Remains of Hesiod the Ascraean, including the Shield of Hercules - Elton (1815).djvu/167

When all contributing the feast unite,
Great is the pleasure and the cost is light.
When the libation of the morn demands
The sable wine, forbear with unwash'd hands
To lift the cup: with ear averted Jove
Shall spurn thy prayer, and every god above.
Forbear to let your water flow away
Turn'd upright tow'rds the sun's all-seeing ray:
E'en when his splendour sets, till morn has glow'd
Take heed; nor sprinkle, as you walk, the road,
Nor the road-side; nor bare affront the sight;
For there are gods who watch and guard the night.

contributed more than their exact proportion. These were generally most frequented, and are recommended by the wise men of those times as most apt to promote friendship and good neighbourhood. They were for the most part managed with more order and decency, because the guests who ate of their own collation were usually more sparing than when they were feasted at another man's expense; as we are informed by Eustathius. So different was their behaviour at the public feasts from that at private entertainments, that Minerva, in Homer, having seen the intemperance and unseemly actions of Penelope's courtiers, concludes their entertainment was not provided at the common charge.

Behold I here
A banquet, or a nuptial feast? for these
Meet not by contribution to regale;
With such brutality and din they hold
Their riotous banquet.Cowper, Odyss. l.
Potter, Archæologia Græca.