KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

We complimented our host on his arrangements. 'Mars loves a fair field,' said he
[Trimalchio], 'and so I gave orders that every one should have a separate table.
In that way these filthy slaves will not make us so hot by crowding past us.' 258
Slaves were filthy because they had to 'slave' over a burning stove in ill-lit kitchens filled with
smoke, blood and food remains, sweat to keep the meal in proper synchronization, and
periodically clear the table of dirty dishes and clean the floor of trash. 259 Horace gives a graphic
sermon on the virtues of hosting a clean dinner through the mouth of the philosopher Catius:
It really makes you sick to see a slave with greasy paws, from licking at some
food he thieved, pick up a cup, or to find a coating of old filth inside an antique
bowl. Plain brooms, place mats, sawdust -- just how expensive are these simple
things? Not to have them is a great disgrace. Do you scrape mosaic floors with a
muddy palm whisk and throw dirty wraps on couches covered with fine cloth?
You forget that since neatness is both cheap and easy, you're more justly blamed
for lacking that one quality than any fancy item found only on the tables of the
rich. 260
Slaves were socially as well as physically dirty. Except for the Saturnalia, they tended not to dine
in a well-decorated room with nice furnishings and service of their own; they are pictured
instead snacking in the kitchen. 261 Some slaves were allowed only the leftovers of the leftovers
of the meal, taking what the guests left behind after filling their own napkins. Slaves on some
country estates are shown receiving rations from the bailiff and eating them around a fire. 262
Slaves, the original 'nobodies' and lacking social identity, were not allowed to eat what,
how or when they liked. That picture is given by their masters; how true is it? Were slaves
scavengers, eating off the plates as they cleaned them, fighting for scraps? Or did slaves have
258 Petr. 34: Laudatus propter elegantias dominus "Aequum" inquit "Mars amat. Itaque iussi suam cuique mensam
assignari. Obiter et putidissimi servi minorem nobis aestum frequentia sua facient." (Loeb text and translation).
See above, the filthy servants of L. Calpurnius Piso, n. 254.
259 Plin. Nat. 36.184 describes the famous "unswept hall" (asaroton oecon) mosaic of Hellenistic origin that
depicts the sort of food remains (fish skeletons, shells, bones, nutshells, pits etc...) that get tossed on the floor
of the dining room during the meal (see chapter two, p. 90, n. 167 for the text). Vitr. 7.4.4 describes the wine
tossed and spit by guests onto the floor (see chapter two, p. 103, n. 229 for the text). See also Quint. Inst.
8.3.66 and Col. 2.14.7, 12.3.8 for descriptions of dining room dirt and instructions for cleaning up a kitchen.
260 Hor. S. 2.4.78-87 (from Gowers 1993, 147-149): 'Magna movet stomacho fastidia, seu puer unctis tractavit
calicem manibus dum furta ligurrit; sive gravis veteri craterae limus adhaesit. Vilibus in scopis, in mappis, in scobe
quantus consistit sumptus? Neglectis flagitium ingens. Ten lapides varios lutulenta radere palma et Tyrias dare
circum illuta toralia vestis, oblitum quanto curam sumptumque minorem haec habeant, tanto reprehendi iustius illis
quae nisi divitibus nequeant contingere mensis?' (OCT text, Fuchs 1977 translation).
261 Pl. Pers. 633 speaks of the treats to be found in a kitchen (ubi rerum omnium bonarum copiast saepissume)
and the cooks in Pl. Cas. 775-779 scheme to get the master out of the house so they can have the meal to
themselves.
262 Mart. 12.18; Col. 11.1.19 (see above, p. 30-31, n. 126).
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