THE TABLE.
The form of a half-moon for a table is of very ancient date; the Romans called it theSigma, from its resemblance to the Greek letter so called, which was in the time of the Roman Emperors like the letterC.Martial tells us this sort of table admitted but of seven persons,septem sigmacapit. And Lampridius, in his life of Heliogabalus, mentions it very frequently, and says it was for seven only; he tells us the Emperor once invited eight, on purpose to raise a laugh against the person for whom there would be no seat. The same form of a table continued in after ages. The authors of the life ofSt.Martin say, that the Emperor Maximus invited him to a repast, where the table had the form of a sigma; and again in the lower ages, Sidonius Apollinaris speaks of the same thing in the life of the Emperor Majorianus; and it is likewise represented in a manuscript of the fifth or sixth century. The seat itself was only a common bench or form; the sigma was the principal piece of furniture, and most ornamented. In the time of Homer the guests sat round the table, as we do now, but afterwards some nations adopted the custom of a reclining position at their meals.