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DESCRIPTION
OF A
ROMAN
BANQUET.
77
er
of
joy
and
mirth.
Wine
raised
the
spirits
of the
youth,
and
taught
age
to
forget
its
gray
hairs
and
dis-
regard
its
infirmities.
J3e0criptton
of
a
Homan
Banquet.
THE
chief
meal
of
the
Romans
took
place
in
"the
evening,
and
was
the
last
meal
of
the
day.
In
early
morning,
before
going
out,
it
was
the
custom
to
break
the
fast
on
bread
and
salt,
eaten
with
fruit,
cheese
or
olives;
about
noon
followed
the
luncheon,
or
prandium;
and
then
about
midway
between
noon
and
sunset,
though
often
much
later,
the
ccena,
which
might
be
prolonged
far
into
the
night.
The
prandium
was
sometimes
more
substantial,
and
comprised
fish,
eggs,
shell-fish
and
wine;
but
the
proper
art
of the
kitchen
was
reserved
for
the
ccena.
This
consisted
usually
of
a
variety
of
entrees,
provocative
of
appetite,
followed
by
two
very
substantial
courses
and
a
des-
sert.
But
the
Romans
were
not
at
first
thus
luxurious.
In
the
early
time
a
kind
of
porridge
of
pulse
formed
their
principal
food,
and
this,
with
the
addition
of
vege-
tables
and
leguminous
fruits,
especially
beans,
remain-
ed
the
diet
of the
lower
classes
at
all
times.
Down
to
the
year
174
B.
C.,
there
were
neither
cooks
nor bakers
in
the
city
who
regularly
followed
their
trades.
The
Asiatic
wars
first
made
the
Romans
acquainted