Alexis, too, uses the word ξυλολυχνούχου, and perhaps this is the same thing as that which is called by Theopompus ὀβελισκολύχνιον. But Philyllius calls λαμπάδες, δᾷδες. But the λύχνος, or candle, is not an ancient invention; for the ancients used the light of torches and other things made of wood. Phrynichus, however, says—
Put out the λύχνον,* * * * * * Plato too, in his Long Night, says—
And then upon the top he'll have a candle,And these candles with two wicks are mentioned also by Metagenes, in his Man fond of Sacrificing; and by Philonides in his Buskins. But Clitarchus, in his Dictionary, says that the Rhodians give the name of λοφνὶς to a torch made of the bark of the vine. But Homer calls torches δεταί—
Bright with two wicks.
[p. 1121] A torch was also called ἑλάνη, as Amerias tells us; but Nicander of Colophon says that ἑλάνη means a bundle of rushes. Herodotus uses the word in the neuter plural, λύχνα,, in the second book of his History. Cephisodorus, in his Pig, uses the word λυχναψία, for what most people call λυχνοκαυτία, the lighting of candles. And Cynulcus, who was always attacking Ulpian, said;—But now, my fine supper-giver, buy me some candles for a penny, that, like the good Agathon, I may quote this line of the admirable Aristophanes—The darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands (δεταὶ),
Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day,
Sour he departs, and quits th' untasted prey.Iliad, xvii. 663.
Bring now, as Agathon says, the shining torches (πεύκας);and when he had said this—
Putting his tail between his lion's feet,he left the party, being very sleepy.
