266

Άμφις (Amphis)

I not cease from my wrath?), E. Hel. 437-439 ούκ άπαλλάξη δόμων/καί μή
προς αύλείοισιν έστηκώς πύλαις/ όχλον παρέξεις δεσπόταις; (won’t you stay
away from the house and stop bothering my master by standing at the courtyard
gates?), Pl. Smp. 175a ού σκέψη, παΐ, ... και είσάξεις Σωκράτη; (slave, won’t
you go and see if you can fetch Socrates?), D. 4.44 ούκ έμβησόμεθα; ούκ έξιμεν
αύτοί μέρει γέ τινι στρατιωτών οικείων νύν, εί καί μή πρότερον; ούκ επί την
εκείνου πλευσόμεθα; (shall we not man the fleet ourselves? Shall we not take the
field with at least a proportion of native troops, even now, if never before? Shall
we not sail against his territory?), D. 6.25 ού φυλάξεσθ’ όπως ... μή πολέμου
ζητοϋντες άπαλλαγήναι δεσπότην εϋρητε; (won’t you be careful lest, seeking
to be rid of war, you find a master?), etc.
The verb ύποστόρνυμι means spread/ lay/strew under, and is typically
used with reference to bed-clothes; e.g. Hom. Od. 20.139 ή μεν δέμνι’ άνωγεν
ύποστορέσαι δμωήσιν (she bade the maids spread the bed), Anaxandr. fr. 42.6-7
ύπεστρώσθαι/ στρώμαθ’ άλουργή (purple bedding was spread), Plu. Rom. 5.2
κλίνην ύποστορέσας (having spread a couch)·, occasionally alluding to sexual
intercourse, e.g. E. Hel. 59 ήν μή λέκτρ’ ύποστρώσω τινί (provided I do not
share my bed with anyone).
2 τρίκλινον The adjective τρίκλινος is used here substantively (the
noun to be understood is οίκος: chamber/ hall/ room) to designate the din-
ing-hall that could accommodate three couches (κλιναι). The capacity of din-
ing-halls (and, accordingly, of symposia) varied (cf. “Citation Context”); e.g.
Phryn.Com. fr. 69 έπτάκλινος οίκος ήν καλός, είτ’ έννεάκλινος έτερος οίκος
(there was a splendid room with space for seven couches, and another room with
space for nine), Antiph. fr. 292 συναγαγών τρεις όντας εις τρίκλινον ύμάς
(assembling you, being three in a three-couch dining-hall), Anaxandr. fr. 72 τρί-
κλινον δ’ εύθέως συνήχετο (a room with three couches was quickly assembled),
Ath. 5.205d and 5.206a (quoting Callix. FGrH627 F 1) συμπόσιον έννεάκλινον
(a nine-couch symposion/ dining-hall). On κλίνη as the furniture item sine qua
non for a symposion see Boardman 1994; cf. also, from within the same volume
(Sympotica 1994), the germane chapters by Vickers and Bergquist.
Aulus Gellius (NA 13.11.1-3) preserves an interesting testimony by Varro
(Men. fr. 333) on the ideal number of banqueters for a comme il faut convivial
atmosphere: “convivarum numerum incipere oportere a Gratiarum numero
et progredi ad Musarum, id est proficisci a tribus et consistere in novem, ut,
cum paucissimi convivae sunt, non pauciores sint quam tres, cum plurimi,
non plures quam novem” (the number of guests ought to begin with that of the
Graces and end with that of the Muses; that is, it should begin with three and
stop at nine, so that when the guests are fewest, they should not be less than three,
when they are most numerous, not more than nine).