Book 12
68
But before Epicurus, Sophocles the poet was a great instigator to pleasure, speaking as follows in his AntigoneSoph. Ant. 1169.— For when men utterly forsake all pleasure, I reckon such a man no longer living, But look upon him as a breathing corpse. He may have, if you like, great wealth at home, And go in monarch's guise; but if his wealth And power bring no pleasure to his mind, I would not for a moment deem it all Worthy a moment's thought compared with pleasure.
69
And Lycon the Peripatetic, as Antigonus the Carystian says, "when as a young man he had come to Athens for the sake of his education, was most accurately informed about everything relating to banquets and drinking parties, and as to how much pay every courtesan required. But afterwards having become the chief man of the Peripatetic school, he used to entertain his friends at banquets with excessive arrogance and extravagance. For, besides the music which was provided at his entertainments, and the silver plate and coverlets which were exhibited, all the rest of the preparation and the superb character of the dishes was such, and the multitude of tables and cooks was so great, that many people were actually alarmed, and, though they wished to be admitted into his school, shrunk back, fearing to enter, as into a badly governed state, which was always burdening its citizens with liturgies and other expensive offices.
