Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Excursus III - The Table Utensils
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- Translator's Preface
- Author's Preface
- Contents
- ERRATUM
- SCENE THE FIRST THE NOCTURNAL RETURN HOME
- SCENE THE SECOND THE MORNING
- SCENE THE THIRD STUDIES AND LETTERS
- SCENE THE FOURTH THE JOURNEY
- SCENE THE FIFTH THE VILLA
- SCENE THE SIXTH LYCORIS
- SCENE THE SEVENTH A DAY AT BAIÆ
- SCENE THE EIGHTH THE DISPLEASURE OF AUGUSTUS
- SCENE THE NINTH THE BANQUET
- SCENE THE TENTH THE DRINKERS
- SCENE THE ELEVENTH THE CATASTROPHE
- SCENE THE TWELFTH THE GRAVE
- APPENDIX
- Excursus I Roman Marriage
- Excursus II Education
- Excursus I The Roman House
- Excursus II The Slave Family
- Excursus I The Library
- Excursus II The Books
- Excursus III The Booksellers
- Excursus IV The Letter
- Excursus V The Clocks and Divisions of Time
- Excursus I The Lectica and the Carriages
- Excursus II The Inns
- Excursus I The Game of Ball, and other Gymnastic Exercises
- Excursus II The Gardens
- Excursus: The Dress of the Women
- Excursus: The Baths
- Excursus: The Male Attire
- Excursus I The Meals
- Excursus II The Triclinium
- Excursus III The Table Utensils
- Excursus IV The Drinks
- Excursus I The Manner of Lighting
- Excursus II The Garlands
- Excursus III The Social Games
- Excursus: The Manner of Closing the Doors
- Excursus: The Interment of the Dead
- Index
Summary
AS the triclinium, with the company reclining, presented a very different appearance from our tables, surrounded by chairs, so the equipment of the table very little resembled ours. Table-cloths do not appear to have been introduced till very late, the best proof of which is, that the language had no word to express them. Mantele, mantelibus sternere, mantelia mittere, which were used for this purpose, had originally a totally different signification. Lamprid. Heliog. 27; Ib. Alex. Sev. 37; Isid. Orig. xix. 26, 6. Originally mantele, or mantelium, was equivalent to χειρόμακτρον. Varro, L. L. vi. 8, Mantelium ubi manus tergentur. At the period, then, treated of by the Scriptores historiœ Augustœ, the habit prevailed; and as early as the time of Hadrian, too, if what Lamprid. says be correct: Quum hœc Heliogabalus jam recepisset, et ante, ut quidam prœdicant, Adrianus habuisset. Even Mart. (xiv. 138) may be referred to this, although it must not necessarily be understood of the cœna; the same applies to xii. 29. But this custom did not prevail at the time of Augustus, as we learn from Hor. Sat. ii. 8, 10. Had the table been covered, it would neither have been perceived that it was of maple, nor could it have been rubbed with gausape, which operation appears to have been generally performed between the divisions of the meal.
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- GallusOr, Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus, pp. 368 - 373Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1844