Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, says—

A three-legg'd table now is laid, and on it
A luscious cheesecake, O ye honour'd gods,
And this year's honey in a silver dish.

And Sopater the parodist, in his Orestes, writes—

A silver dish, bearing a stinking shad.

And in the drama entitled Phace he says—

But at his supper he does sport a cruet
Of shining silver, richly chased with figures,
And bas-reliefs of dragons: such as Thibron
Used to display, most delicate of men,
Stripp'd of his wealth by arts of Tantalus.

And Theopompus the Chian, in his Letters of Advice to Alexander, when he enters into a discussion about Theocritus his fellow-citizen, says—"But he drinks out of silver cups and out of golden cups, and uses other vessels of the same kind upon his table. A man who formerly, not only did not drink out of silver vessels, but who had not brazen ones either, but was content with the commonest earthenware, and even that very often cracked and chipped. And Diphilus says, in his Painter—

A splendid breakfast then appear'd, consisting
Of all that was desirable or new;
First every kind of oyster; then a phalanx
Of various side-dishes, and a heap
Of broiled meats fresh from the gridiron,
And potted meats in silver mortars pounded.

And Philemon says in his Physician—

And a large basket full of silver plate.

And Menander, in his Heautontimorumenos, says—

A bath, maid-servants, lots of silver plate.

And in his Hymnis he writes—

But I am come in quest of silver plate.

And Lysias, in his Oration on the Golden Tripod, if indeed [p. 365] the speech be a genuine one of his, says—“It was Still pos- sible to give silver or gold plate.” But those who pique themselves on the purity of their Greek, say that the proper expression is not ἀργυρώματα and χρυσώματα, but ἀργυροῦς κόσμος and χρυσοῦς κόσμος.