hat have courtesans got to do with fish cakes? Part of James N. Davidson's answer is that the ancient Greeks understood the temptations of pleasure somewhat differently from us. We think of some desires as being addictive -- those for alcohol, cigarettes or cocaine, for example -- and often we see addictive desires as bringing misery rather than pleasure. Meanwhile, most pleasures, Davidson suggests, do not seem to us compulsive at all; controlling a desire for bacon sandwiches or beach holidays is not like controlling a weakness for the bottle.
The Greeks, on the other hand, while not conceiving addiction as a special category of desire, considered a fierce struggle against desire to be a normal state of affairs. In contrast with the clear dos and don'ts of the Judeo-Christian tradition, Greek ethics were more a matter of degree. The Greek motto was meden agan, ''nothing in excess''; the goal was not to conquer desire but to manage it. Pleasures lay all around; eels and tuna, wine and women -- all were part of a spectrum of delights potent enough to bring disaster if not governed by self-control. Without quite saying so, Davidson seems to hint that he finds this a happier, healthier idea of the appetites, with a lustier sense of pleasure's power. …show more content…
His book is richly particular, stuffed with juicy tidbits and meaty detail; he relishes the tastes and smells and textures of ancient Athens. We savor the distinctive taste of Greek wine, redolent not of the vanilla flavors imparted by modern oak casks but of the pitch or resin used to seal amphoras, or of the sheep or goat tang of wineskins. We learn that the shoulder and belly were considered the choicest parts of the tuna, the head that of sea bass and grayfish and that the best eels came from the Strait of