In the festive environment of the banquet, it is possible to identify moments when this mood has
been broken, and Plutarch presents many examples of it in the Vitae and Moralia. One possibility
of disrupting this context is poisoning the guest, as Parysatis killed Stateira, or trying to do it, such
as Medea did with Theseus or Neoptolomeus with Phyrrus. Apart from relating these deaths, or
failed attempts, by poison at the banquet, Plutarch also adds the consequences for the hosts of
breaking down this happy time and the reasons why they committed the murders.