§310. Serving the Dinner.--The dinner hour marked the close of the day's work, as has been said (§301), and varied, therefore, with the season of the year and the social position of the family. In general it may be said to have been not before the ninth and rarely after the tenth hour (§418). It lasted usually until bedtime, that is, for three or four hours at least, though the Romans went to bed early because they rose early (§§79, 122). Sometimes even the ordinary dinner lasted until midnight, but when a banquet was expected to be unusually protracted, it was the custom to begin earlier in order that there might be time after it for the needed repose. Such banquets, beginning before the ninth hour, were called _tempestiva convivia_, the word "early" in this connection carrying with it about the same reproach as our "late" suppers. At the ordinary family dinners the time was spent in conversation, though in some good houses (notably that of Atticus, cf. §155) a trained slave read aloud to the guests. At "gentlemen's dinners" other forms of entertainment were provided, music, dancing, juggling, etc., by professional performers (§153).
§311. When the guests had been ushered into the dining-room the gods were solemnly invoked, a custom to which our "grace before meat" corresponds. Then they took their places on the couches (_accumbere_, _discumbere_) as these were assigned them (§306), their sandals were removed (§250), to be cared for by their own attendants (§152), and water and towels were carried around for washing the hands. The meal then began, each course being placed upon the table on a waiter or tray (_ferculum_), from which the dishes were passed in regular order to the guests. As each course was finished the dishes were replaced on the _ferculum_ and removed, and water and towels were again passed to the guests, a custom all the more necessary because the fingers were used for forks (§299). Between the chief parts of the meal, too, the table was cleared and carefully wiped with a cloth or soft sponge. Between the _cena_ proper and the _secunda mensa_ a longer pause was made and silence was preserved while wine, salt, and meal, perhaps also regular articles of food, were offered to the Lares. The dessert was then brought on in the same way as the other parts of the meal. The signal to leave the couches was given by calling for the sandals (§250), and the guests immediately took their departure.