Kitap 5
12
But in the banquet of Epicurus there is an assembly of flatterers praising one another. And Plato's banquet is full of mockers, cavilling at one another; for I say nothing of the digression about Alcibiades But in Homer it is only banquets conducted with moderation which are applauded; and on one occasion, a man addressing Menelaus says— I dare not in your presence speak, Whose voice we reverence as a voice divine.Odyss. iv. 160. But he was reproving something which was either not said or not done with perfect correctness— And now if aught there is that can be done, Take my advice; I grief untimely shun That interrupts the feast.Ib. 193. And again, he says— O son of wise Ulysses, what a word Has 'scaped thy ivory fence!. . . . For it is not right for a man to be a flatterer, nor a mocker.
