ABSTRACT
Chamaeleon's name is twice associated with a work entitled On Pleasure. No text tells us explicitly what form the work took, but it is reasonable to assume that the work was a dialogue. According to Chamaeleon, large drinking cups became fashionable among powerful men who lacked a pleasure that was more available and finer than that of drinking. But among the ancient Greeks, large cups were not in vogue; rather, they arrived in Greece only recently, being imported from the barbarians, who satisfied themselves with much wine and excessive foods of all kinds. Chamaeleon is explicitly named in connection with the oracle that follows: he is said to record it. It is tempting to believe that Chamaeleon is also the source of the immediately preceding material: i.e., he did speak of "verbal diarrhea," "table-orators" and "sore-tongue."
