TABLE PLEASURES IN ANCIENT ROME

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

TABLE PLEASURES IN ANCIENT ROME

Occasions For Great Luxury

After Rome’s wars in the East, manners lost their antique simplicity. The days were gone when Gurins Dentatus went on cooking his lentils while he received the Samnite ambassadors, or a Garaculla would knead the loaf for which he himself has ground the corn says Dr. A. Gottschalk in ‘‘La Revue Beige,” Brussels.

Luxury began to make its way in the dining-room. Where once were taken first on the threshold of the cottage, then in the atrium (forecourt) when the house became an object of .greater importance, the Romans under the Empire possessed several diningrooms, variously placed according to tne season. Lucullus had numerous re-ception-rooms, which he used according to the number and the rank of his guests. We know how Caesar and Pompey turned tip once with the idea of taking him by surprise, would not allow him to give a single order to his servants, and found themselves honoured with a magnificent banquet, merely because the master of the house said “Serve dinner in the Apollo Room.”

The walls were adorned with exotic marble panels or sumptuous-inlay work. The floors were paved with marble or mosaic, and sometimes strewn with flower petals. Scented fountains played. There were movable ceilings, which allowed the descent at each course of a table fully laid. These tables were themselves of bronze with rich decoration.

The Romans took their meals lying on large couches with three places to each, the one on the left being the seat of honour. These couches were made of precious woods, or even of silver. They were furnished with cushions, with Babylon tapestries, and covered with a material of silky and spongy tissue which served for wiping the hands. Originally these couches were three in number, whence the Latin term ticlinium (a couch making tkree sides of a square). The guests were accordingly nine in number at most, without counting the “shadows,” l.e. the friends whom the invited guests had the right to bring along with them, and the parasites who invited themselves, and took their food seated on benches at the far end of the hall. Subsequently the number of the couches was increased. Triclinia of four couches, of six and even more, were to be seen; and they were then arranged in fanwise setting.

The guests, summoned by a special slave, arrived at the precise hour fixed, for in fact there was never any waiting for late-comers. Their first consideration was to give themselves a good wash, and sometimes even enjoy the pleasures of the bath. Then; they changed their clothes, though! they would resume their town attire after the feast. Then they bad to enter the triclinium right foot first, and a special servant was charged with the duty of reminding the absent-minded of this custom. It was then proper etiquette to crown themselves with flowers. The wire and children of the host were present at meals only on exccpiiomrl

iccnsioiis, if guests had been invited

Each guest received two serviettes. One was the siidarium. which he fixed around his neck, and litis was meant

for wiping the mouth. The mappa was the other, and that was meant principally to protect his clothes. Certain guests brought their otyn serviettes, which they used for wrapping up their dining-clothes after the feast, as well as the little presents which it was customary to offer. Once the guests were lying at ease and had removed their shoes, the feast began with libations of wine. The triclinium was lighted by torches, then by flambeaux of resin or wax, sometimes by oil lamps, as in Greece. Heating was supplied by braziers-. Despite all the sumptuary laws, luxury at. the table grew steadily. It displayed itself in tables made of precious materials, in dishes of considerable size, in brass, in silver or even in gold. In countless table utensils, in numerous servants with specialised duties. On the other hand the table appliances, what we call the convert in French, was still rudimentary, consisting merely in spoons of different shapes The use of the knife was quite exceptional. As for the fork, with two or three prongs, that was used only in the kitchen or for sacrifices, never nt the table. Like the Orientals, the Romans ate -with their fingers, a procedure which necessitated frequent ablutions. There were some modish fellows who had special finger-stalls made for them, so that they could serve themselves without burning their fingers in dishes still hot.

The usual Roman custom, like that of the Greeks, was three meals a day. The first of these was taken hr the morning and served between the third and fourth hour, or, as we should say. from 7to 9 a.m. It consisted of bread rubbed in garlic and wine. Subsequently they added milk, cheese, honey, eggs and fresh or dried fruit.

The second meal was taken between the sixth and the seventh hour, 1.e., between 11 a.m. and noon But, as happened with the Greek', and afterwards with ourselves, this meal relaxed itself and grew more and more late, like the meal which follows. The second meal was composed of smoked ham, cold or hot meal lisli eggs and vegetables.

The merenda. which at iir-t >'.i~ the name for the evening meal, became a little additional repast, a light collation served during the afternoon

The coena, the chief meal, was served at the eml of the day's work, between the ninth and the tenth hour, 1.e., between 2 and 3 p.m. The Romans, who had no use for overworking people, considered tin 1 day as ended after I p.m. They had, in fact, the twenly-four-hoiir week. Even 10-ilay, social amelioration does not go that far. as yet

The foeim, which often prolonged itself far into file night, comprised at least three services, and this number subsequently received -onsiderable extension.

The gnstatio, originally a very simple service of hors d'oetivrc. (d'ten taken standing up and before entering the I rieliidtim, beetime in lime :• complete iiieal' in miniature II began witlt eggs, a custom so general that they are never mentioned on the mentis.