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Plutarch · c. AD 46-after 119

Table Talk (Quaestiones convivales)

Συμποσιακά (Συμποσιακῶν προβλημάτων βιβλία)
Ancient Sources / Plutarch / Table Talk (Quaestiones convivales)

Plutarch's Table Talk (Quaestiones convivales, Symposiaka) records the conversations held at dinners and symposia in Chaeronea, Athens, Delphi, Corinth and Rome, addressed to Sossius Senecio, in nine books of about ten questions each. The questions range over etiquette at a feast, wine and drunkenness, food, sacrifices and garlands, Greek games, Homeric problems, the Jews and Dionysus, Pythagorean abstinence, the Muses and the letters of the alphabet. It is a rich source for Greek and Roman cults, customs and anecdotes. The Perseus text has lacunae at the end of Book 4 and in Book 9, shown as [...]. Refs are book.question.section, with 0 for the preface of each book.

Read from the start
Text
Greek original with English translation, 50 passages, about 83200 words in English.
Translator
Thomas Creech (1874)
Edition
William W. Goodwin (ed.), Plutarch's Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, vol. 3, Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874 (Greek text: Gregorius N. Bernardakis, Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, vol. 4, Leipzig: Teubner, 1892, as digitised by Perseus)
Cite as
Plutarch, Table Talk (Quaestiones convivales) 1.0.1 (by book, question, section (the preface of each book is question 0))

Contents · 50 passages

  1. 1.0.1–1.1.5Book 1, Preface and Question 1: whether to philosophize at table1980 words
  2. 1.2.1–6Book 1, Question 2: how guests should be seated2399 words
  3. 1.3.1–1.4.3Book 1, Questions 3 and 4: the place of honour and the steward of the feast2006 words
  4. 1.5.1–1.7.1Book 1, Questions 5 to 7: love and music, Alexander's drinking, old men and strong wine1619 words
  5. 1.8.1–1.10.3Book 1, Questions 8 to 10: old men's sight, sea water, the tribe Aeantis2100 words
  6. 2.0.1–2.1.5Book 2, Preface and Question 1 (first part): questions and jests that please at table2131 words
  7. 2.1.6–13Book 2, Question 1 (second part): the rules of raillery1681 words
  8. 2.2.1–2.3.3Book 2, Questions 2 and 3: the autumn appetite; which came first, the egg or the hen1913 words
  9. 2.4.1–2.6.3Book 2, Questions 4 to 6: wrestling, the order of the contests, grafts1670 words
  10. 2.7.1–2.10.2Book 2, Questions 7 to 10: the ship-stopper fish, wolf-bitten horses and sheep, separate portions2219 words
  11. 3.0.1–3.1.3Book 3, Preface and Question 1: wine and character; garlands of flowers2125 words
  12. 3.2.1–3.3.1Book 3, Questions 2 and 3: is ivy cold? old men, women and drunkenness1615 words
  13. 3.4.1–3.5.2Book 3, Questions 4 and 5: is wine hot or cold?1388 words
  14. 3.6.1–4Book 3, Question 6: Epicurus on the time for love after supper1623 words
  15. 3.7.1–3.9.2Book 3, Questions 7 to 9: new wine, the half-drunk, mixing wine and water1463 words
  16. 3.10.1–3Book 3, Question 10: why the moon's rays make meat go bad1051 words
  17. 4.0.1Book 4, Preface: winning a friend at every meal413 words
  18. 4.1.1–3Book 4, Question 1: eating many kinds of food at one meal2159 words
  19. 4.2.1–4Book 4, Question 2: mushrooms and thunder1591 words
  20. 4.3.1–4.4.4Book 4, Questions 3 and 4: wedding guests; the sea or the land as a source of food2138 words
  21. 4.5.1–4.10Book 4, Questions 5 and 6: the Jews and the pig; the Jews and Dionysus1849 words
  22. 5.0.1–5.2.1Book 5, Preface and Questions 1 and 2: pleasures of the mind; imitation; new contests at the Pythian games1798 words
  23. 5.3.1–5.4.2Book 5, Questions 3 and 4: the pine garland of the Isthmian games; Achilles' stronger wine1558 words
  24. 5.5.1–5.6.1Book 5, Questions 5 and 6: crowded feasts; why the room grows wider1210 words
  25. 5.7.1–6Book 5, Question 7: the evil eye1863 words
  26. 5.8.1–5.10.4Book 5, Questions 8 to 10: the apple tree's epithet, the sweet fig, the salt and cummin1609 words
  27. 6.0.1–6.2.2Book 6, Preface and Questions 1 and 2: Plato's table; why fasting men are more thirsty than hungry2126 words
  28. 6.3.1–6.5.1Book 6, Questions 3 to 5: why drink stays hunger; cooling water in a well; stones that cool water1527 words
  29. 6.6.1–6.7.2Book 6, Questions 6 and 7: snow kept in chaff; Niger's complaint about strained wine1713 words
  30. 6.8.1–6.9.3Book 6, Questions 8 and 9: the driving out of bulimy; Homer's epithets of oil1973 words
  31. 6.10.1Book 6, Question 10: a freshly killed cock hung on a fig tree462 words
  32. 7.0.1–7.1.3Book 7, Preface and Question 1: the best sauce is a friend; does drink pass through the lungs?1724 words
  33. 7.2.1–7.3.4Book 7, Questions 2 and 3: seeds on the oxen's horns; Hesiod and the best part of the wine1305 words
  34. 7.4.1–7Book 7, Question 4: why the table should not be cleared bare1286 words
  35. 7.5.1–4Book 7, Question 5: the piper at the Pythian games and intemperance in music1489 words
  36. 7.6.1–3Book 7, Question 6: uninvited guests, 'shadows'2183 words
  37. 7.7.1–7.8.4Book 7, Questions 7 and 8: music at the table2311 words
  38. 7.9.1–7.10.2Book 7, Questions 9 and 10: debating public business over wine1386 words
  39. 8.0.1–8.2.4Book 8, Preface and Questions 1 and 2: philosophy at the feast; the birthdays of Socrates and Plato; the god as geometer2295 words
  40. 8.3.1–6Book 8, Question 3: why those within hear better than those outside1562 words
  41. 8.4.1–8.5.1Book 8, Questions 4 and 5: the palm as the prize of victory; why Nile water is drawn at night1741 words
  42. 8.6.1–8.7.4Book 8, Questions 6 and 7: late guests and the names of meals; Pythagoras the Tuscan and his symbols1550 words
  43. 8.8.1–4Book 8, Question 8: why the Pythagoreans abstain from fish1441 words
  44. 8.9.1–3Book 8, Question 9: was elephantiasis a new disease?2004 words
  45. 8.10.1–3Book 8, Question 10: why autumn dreams are the vainest969 words
  46. 9.0.1–9.3.3Book 9, Preface and Questions 1 to 3: the Muses' feast at Athens; why alpha is first; the number of the letters1551 words
  47. 9.4.1–9.12.1Book 9, Questions 4 and 5: the hand of Aphrodite; the souls Odysseus saw; lost questions1412 words
  48. 9.13.1–3Book 9, Question 13: Paris' challenge and the terms of the duel1013 words
  49. 9.14.1–7Book 9, Question 14: why there are nine Muses2159 words
  50. 9.15.1–2Book 9, Question 15: the dancing contest and the parts of dancing845 words

More by Plutarch

English translation by Thomas Creech (1874). Original text: William W. Goodwin (ed.), Plutarch's Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, vol. 3, Boston: Little, Brown and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874 (Greek text: Gregorius N. Bernardakis, Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, vol. 4, Leipzig: Teubner, 1892, as digitised by Perseus).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.

Plutarch, Table Talk: Full Text in Greek & English