Lucullus dines with Lucullus

“Lucullus dines with Lucullus” is a sarcastic classical expression used by M. Coquenard to celebrate what he calls an abundant feast, although the meal consists only of a few carefully rationed delicacies and lacks even wine. The phrase turns a miserly domestic supper into a parody of aristocratic magnificence, while its immediate effect is to make the procurator’s self-congratulation collide with Porthos’s hunger.

Meaning and Classical Allusion

The expression invokes Lucullus, the Roman general proverbial for luxurious banquets, and presents the diners as if they were enjoying a celebration of legendary abundance. M. Coquenard reinforces the performance with the mock-Latin formula “EPULCE EPULORUM,” giving the meal the solemnity of a public triumph. Yet the grand declaration is not supported by the table itself. The expression therefore operates through irony: the language promises magnificence precisely where the circumstances reveal deprivation.

Use at the Coquenard Dinner

After the clerks have been dismissed, Mme. Coquenard brings out a piece of cheese, preserved quinces, and a cake she has made from almonds and honey. These items are presented as exceptional concessions rather than as an ordinary meal. M. Coquenard immediately knits his eyebrows at the appearance of so many good things, a gesture that exposes the private alarm beneath his public hospitality. Porthos, meanwhile, notices that the dish of beans has disappeared and understands that even the most basic food is being withdrawn.

When M. Coquenard turns in his chair and proclaims the supper “a positive feast” and “a real feast,” he invokes the expression “Lucullus dines with Lucullus.” The statement transforms scarcity into spectacle. Its rhetorical grandeur is an attempt to control the meaning of the meal: if the host names it a feast, the guests are expected to accept the name instead of judging the portions. The surrounding details make that attempt visibly absurd.

Contrast with Porthos’s Experience

Porthos does not share the procurator’s triumph. He looks toward the bottle and hopes that wine, bread, and cheese might at least make a dinner, but the bottle is empty, and M. and Mme. Coquenard appear not to notice. The expression thus becomes a verbal screen concealing the absence of the meal that Porthos actually needs. The contrast between the empty bottle and the boast of Lucullan plenty gives the phrase its sharpest comic edge.

Porthos’s silent reaction confirms the gap between social performance and material reality. He recognizes that he has been caught in a household where generosity is announced ceremonially and defeated practically. The classical allusion, instead of elevating the scene, magnifies its meanness: the more splendid the comparison, the more conspicuous the cheese, quinces, honey cake, vanished beans, and empty bottle become.

Narrative and Thematic Significance

The expression crystallizes the scene’s conflict between appetite and economy. M. Coquenard uses learned language to make frugality appear like refinement, while Porthos measures the dinner by its edible substance. This opposition also turns class display into comedy. A reference associated with Roman luxury is placed inside a domestic setting governed by calculation, surveillance, and fear of excess.

As a piece of close verbal irony, “Lucullus dines with Lucullus” depends on the tension between sign and reality. The words signify abundance, but the surrounding actions point to restriction; the procurator’s declaration is therefore less a description than an attempt to impose a flattering interpretation. The expression’s recurrence as a memorable formula gives the meal a comic emblem: a feast exists in speech, while hunger remains the final material fact.