Ancient Greek, Then Church Latin,
Symposium, Scriptorium
“Readers of Greek poetry constituted an élite, as in the
Middle Ages readers of Latin did.”
~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 13
“The symposiasts drank rather too much watered wine, wore crowns, perfumes and other embellishments, enjoyed the presence of lovely boys and hired women, and then burst out into the steet, spilling their rowdiness on the neighbourhood.”
~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 11
The air which floated near the men who lay
On couches one by one, or two by two
In Greek symposia felt interplay
Of flute and barbitos commingling through
The room and mixing with the sounds of song
And poetry. Men laughed and disagreed
With gentle mockery. A thousand long
Decembers later monks beyond the Tweed
On Lindisfarne wrote down the words decreed
For vellum. Lacking incense even in
The atmosphere of sacred words, the need
Of quills was only for the lack of sin.
..The latter room knew taste like ink; the sweet
….Room fun, confined élite, refined élite.