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Why did they not allow the table to be taken
away empty, but insisted that something should be
upon it?1
Was it that they were symbolizing the necessity of
ever allowing some part of the present provision to
remain over for the future, and to-day to be mindful
of to-morrow, or did they think it polite to repress
and restrain the appetite while the means of enjoyment was still at hand? For persons who have
accustomed themselves to refrain from what they
have are less likely to crave for what they have not.
Or does the custom also show a kindly feeling
towards the servants? For they are not so well
satisfied with taking as with partaking, since they
believe that they thus in some manner share the
table with their masters.2
Or should no sacred thing be suffered to be empty,
and the table is a sacred thing?
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4.
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