1. But now let each becalm his troubled breast,
Wash, and partake serene the friendly feast;
While to renew these topics we delay
Till Heaven's revolving lamp restores the day,
both to you and me, O Timocrates. For when some hams were brought
round, and some one asked whether they were tender, using the word
τακερὸς,—In what author does τακερὸς occur? said Ulpian: and is there
any authority, too, for calling mustard σίναπι instead of νᾶπυ̣ For I
see that that condiment is being brought round in the dishes with the
hams. And I see that the word κωλεὸς, a ham, _a ham_, is now used
in the masculine gender, and not in the feminine only, as our Attic
writers use it. At all events, Epicharmus, in his Megarian Woman, says—
Sausages, cheese, and hams χορδὴ, and artichokes,
But not a single thing that's eatable:
[Sidenote: THE WORDS ΤΑΚΕΡΟΣ AND ΣΙΝΑΠΙ.]
and in his Cyclops he says—
Pig's tripe is good, by Jove, and so is ham (κωλεός).
And learn this now from me, O you wise man, that Epicharmus, uses χορδὴ
for what, in every other place, he calls ὀρύα, tripe. And I see, too,
that salt is used in seasoning in other dishes; but of salt which is
not seasoned the Cynics are full, among whom we find, in the Corycus of
Antiphanes, another Cynic saying—
Of delicacies which the sea produces,
We have but one, but that is constant, salt;
And then[24] . . . . . .
I see, too, that brine is mingled with vinegar; and I know, too, that
now some of the inhabitants of Pontus prepare the pickle which they
call oxygarum, or vinegar pickle, by itself.
2. Zoilus replied to this, and said—Aristophanes, my good friend, in
his Lemnian Woman, has used the word τακερὸς for delicate, saying—
Lemnus producing good and delicate (τακεροὺς) beans:
and Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, says—
To make the vetches delicate (τακερούς):
and Nicander the Colophonian has used the word σιόνηπυ in his
Theriacans, where he said—
A brazen cucumber and mustard too (σίνηπυ);
and in his Georgics he writes—
The biting pungent seed of mustard (σινήπυος);
and again he says—
Cardamum and the plant which stings the nose,
The black-leav'd mustard (σίνηπυ).
And Crates, in his treatise on the Attic Dialect, introduces
Aristophanes as saying—
He looked mustard (σίναπυ) and drew down his brows,
as Seleucus quotes it, in his books on Hellenism. But it is a line out
of the Knights, and it ought to be read thus—
κἄβλεψε νάπυ, not καὶ βλέπε σινάπυ:
for no Attic writer ever used the form σίναπυ, although there is
a reason for each form. For νάπυ may be said, as if it were νάφυ,
because it has no φύσις, or growth. For it is ἀφυὲς and little, like the
anchovy, which is called ἀφύη, and is called σίναπυ, because it injures
the eyes (σίνεται τοὺς ὦπας) by its smell, as the onion has
the name of κρόμμυον, because it makes us wink our eyes (ὅτι τὰς κόρας
μύομεν). And Xenarchus the comic writer says, in his Scythians—
This evil is no longer evil; so
My daughter is corrupted by the stranger.
And that exquisite writer, Aristophanes, mentions salt and vinegar,
saying, in the place where he speaks of Sthenelus the tragedian,—
_A._ How can I swallow Sthenelus's words?
_B._ By soaking them in vinegar or white salt.
3. We then, my good friend, have gone along with you in these
inquiries. But we have a right to expect an answer from you, in what
author the word παροψὶς is used for a vessel. For when speaking of some
victuals of various sorts, which were carefully dressed, and of some
other things of this sort, I am aware that Plato, in his Festivals, has
used the following expressions—
Whence barley-cakes might be got, and παροψίδες.
And again, in his Europa, speaking at considerable length of some
exquisite dish, he has used the following expressions among others—
_A._ The woman is asleep;
_B._ I am aware
That she is doing nothing.
_A._ The παροψίδες
Are all awake; and there is not a thing
More calculated to give pleasure always.
_B._ But where are these παροψίδες, I pray you?
And in the passage immediately following, he uses the word παροψὶς, as
if it were equivalent to παροψώνημα, a delicacy; and in his Phaon he
says—
Other men's things are like παροψίδες,
They please a short time, and are quickly spent.
And Aristophanes, in his Dædalus, says—
All women have one set of principles,
And have a lover, like a παροψὶς, ready.
4. So when Ulpian made no reply,—But I, said Leonidas, have a right to
speak, since I have been silent a long time. But as Evenus the Parian
says—
Many men make a point of contradicting
On every subject equally; but care not
Whether they rightly contradict or not.
[Sidenote: THE WORD ΠΑΡΟΨΙΣ.]
But for such men there's an old answer fitting,
"That may be your opinion, this is mine."
But with good arguments one may persuade
The wise with ease: for always men of sense
Do prove the easiest pupils.
5. And my excellent friend Myrtilus,—for I have taken the words out of
your mouth, Antiphanes,—in his Bœotian, has used this word παροψὶς
for a vessel, where he says—
After she has invited you to supper,
She sets before you a παροψὶς full of . . . .
And Alexis, in his Hesione, says—
But when he saw two men well loaded with
The table and conveying it indoors,
Groaning beneath a number of παροψίδες,
Looking no more at me, he said . . . .
And the man who was the author of the plays which are attributed to
Magnes, says in his first Bacchus—
These things are now παροψίδες of ill to me.
And Achæus, in his Æthnon, a satyric drama, says—
And let these savoury boil'd and roasted meats
On the παροψιόδες be carved in pieces.
And Sotades the comic writer says, in his Man wrongly Ransomed—
I a παροψὶς seem to Crobylus.
Him he devours alone, but me he takes
But as a seasoning to something else.
But the word is used in an ambiguous sense by Xenophon, in the first
book of his Cyropædia. For the philosopher says, "They brought him
παροψίδας, and condiments of all sorts, and food of all kinds." And
in the works of the author of Chiron, which is usually attributed
to Pherecrates, the word παροψὶς is used for seasoning; and not, as
Didymus, in his treatise on Words used in a Corrupted Sense, asserts,
for a vessel. For he says—
By Jove, as παροψιόδες are praised or blamed
Because of the way in which they flavour meat,
So Caletas esteems these people nothing.
And Nicophon, in his Sirens, says—
Others may fight the παροψὶς for their seat.
And Aristophanes says, in his Dædalus,—
All women have one set of principles,
And have a lover, like a παροψὶς, ready.
And Plato says, in his Festivals,—
Whence barley-cakes may be got, and παροψίδες.
But he is speaking here of cooking and seasoning onions. But the Attic
writers, O my Syri-Attic friend Ulpian, use ἔμβαμμα also in this sense;
as Theopompus says, in his Peace:—
Bread's a good thing; but flattery and tricks,
When added as a seasoning (ἔμβαμμα) to bread,
Are odious as can be.
6. When speaking of hams, they use the two forms κωλῆ and κωλήν.
Eupolis, in his Autolycus, says—
The legs and hams (κῳλῆες) out of the soup.
And Euripides, in his Sciron, says—
Nor hams (κωλῆνες) of kids.
But the word κωλῆ is contracted from κωλέα, as συκῆ from συκέα, λεοντῆ
from λεοντέα; so κωλῆ from κωλέα. Aristophanes, in his second Plutus,
says—
Alas the ham (κωλῆς) which I have just devour'd!
And in his Daitaleis he says—
And the fat hams (κωλαὶ) of tender little pigs
And dainty tit-bits swift to fly.
And in his Storks he says—
The heads of lambs, the hams (κωλὰς) of kids.
And Plato, in his Griffins, says—
Fish, and hams (κωλὰς), and sausages.
And Ameipsias, in his Connus, says—
The ham (κωλῆ) from off the victim, and the ribs,
And the left side o' th' head are usually given.
And Xenophon, in his book on Hunting, says—"The ham (κωλῆ) is fleshy,
and the loins moist." And Xenophanes the Colophonian, in his Elegies,
says—
For having sent a ham (κωλῆ) of kid, you won
A mighty leg of carefully fatted bull,
An honourable present for a man,
Whose glory shall pervade all Greece, and never
Cease while the poets and the songs of Greece
Survive in memory and the mouths of men.
[Sidenote: TURNIPS.]
7. And as immediately after this a great quantity of food of all sorts
was brought in, we will just mention those dishes which seem most
worthy of being remembered; for there was a great quantity of birds,
and of geese, and also of young birds (which some people call πίποι),
and of pigs, and of those highly-esteemed birds the pheasants. And
after I have told you about the vegetables, I will then enumerate to
you the other dishes also.
8. First of all, there were turnips; and Apellas, in his treatise on
the Cities in Peloponnesus, says that turnips are called γαστέρες by
the Lacedæmonians: and Nicander the Colophonian, in his Dialects, says
that among the Bœotians it is cabbages which are called γαστέρες,
and that turnips are called in Boeotia ζεκελτίδες. But Amerias and
Timachidas affirm that it is gourds which are called ζακελτίδες. And
Speusippus, in the second book of his treatise on Things resembling one
another, says—"The radish, the turnip, the rape, and the nasturtium
all resemble each other." But Glaucus, in his Cookery Book, spells the
word ῥάφυς (rape) with the lene π,—ῥάπυς. But these vegetables have
nothing else like them, unless, indeed, it be the plant which we call
bounias: but Theophrastus does not use the name of bounias, but calls
it a sort of male turnip; and perhaps the plant which he means is the
bounias. And Nicander, in his Georgics, mentions the bounias—
Sow turnips on a well-roll'd field, that they
May grow as large as the flat dish that holds them.
* * * * *
. . . . . For there are two kinds
Which from the radish spring: one long, one firm,
Both seen in well-till'd beds in kitchen gardens.
And the turnips which grow on the banks of the Cephisus are mentioned
by Cratis, in his Orators, thus—
And wholly like the turnips of Cephisus.
But Theophrastus says that there are two kinds of turnips, the male and
the female, and that they both come from the same seed; but Posidonius
the Stoic philosopher, in the twenty-seventh book of his Histories,
concerning Dalmatia, says that there are some turnips which grow
without any cultivation, and also some carrots that grow wild. But
Diphilus the physician, of Siphnos, says—"The turnip has attenuating
properties, and is harsh and indigestible, and moreover is apt to cause
flatulence: but the vegetable called bounias is superior to that; for
it is sweeter in taste and more digestible, in addition to being
wholesome for the stomach and nutritious. But the turnip," he says,
"when roasted, is more easily digested, but in this state it attenuates
the blood still more." This vegetable is mentioned by Eubulus, in his
Ancylion, where he says—
I bring this turnip to be roasted now.
And Alexis, in his Enthusiast, says—
I speak to Ptolemy, roasting slices of turnip.
But the turnip, when pickled, is more attenuating in its effects than
when boiled, especially when it is pickled with mustard, as Diphilus
says.
9. Then there was the cabbage. Eudemus the Athenian, in his treatise
on Vegetables, says that there are three kinds of cabbage—the kind
called the salt-cabbage, and the smooth-leaved-cabbage, and the
parsley-cabbage: and that the salt-cabbage is reckoned the finest of
all in respect of its delicacy of taste; and it grows in Eretria, and
Cyme, and Rhodes, and also in Cnidos and Ephesus: but the smooth-leaved
kind is found in every country; and the parsley-cabbage has its name
from the curly nature of its leaves, for it is like parsley, both in
that respect and in its general thickness. But Theophrastus writes
thus—"But of the ῥάφανος,—I mean the cabbage,—there is one kind with
curly leaves, and another with smooth leaves, and a third which is
wild." And Diphilus the Siphnian says—"The finest and most delicious
cabbage grows in Cyme: in Alexandria it is bitter; and the seed which
is brought from Rhodes to Alexandria produces sweet cabbage for one
year, after which time it degenerates again, from the nature of the
soil." And Nicander, in his Georgics, says—
The smooth-leaved cabbage sometimes wild is found,
And then the curly many-leaved plants
Are often sown in beds; . . . . . . . .
There is another kind, of reddish colour,
Like frogs in drought; some of bad colour too
Do come from Cyme, like the dingy soles
Which cobblers often sew on worn-out boots;
And these the ancients do the Prophets call.
But perhaps Nicander calls the cabbage Prophet, as being sacred; since
in Hipponax, in his Iambics, we find some such lines as these,—
He falling down worshipp'd the seven-leaved cabbage,
To which, before she drank the poison'd draught,
Pandora brought a cake at the Thargelia.
[Sidenote: CABBAGE.]
And Ananius says—
And, by the cabbage do I swear, I love thee
By far the most of mortal men. . . .
And Teleclides, in his Prytanes, uses the oath, "Yes, by the cabbages!"
and Epicharmus has the same exclamation in his Earth and Sea; and so
has Eupolis, in his Dyers; and it appears to have been an Ionian oath:
and there is nothing very strange in the fact of some people having
sworn by the cabbage, since Zeno the Cittiæan, the founder of the sect
of the Stoics, imitating the oath of Socrates, "by the bitch," was used
himself to swear "by the caper," as Empodus relates in his Memorabilia.
10. And at Athens the cabbage used to be given to women who had just
been delivered, as a sort of medicine, having a tendency to add to
their nourishment. Accordingly, Ephippus, in his Geryones, says—
What shall next be done?
There is no garland now before the doors,
No savoury smell strikes on my nostril's edge
From Amphidromian festival, in which
The custom is to roast large bits of cheese,
Such as the Chersonesus furnishes,
And then to boil a radish bright with oil,
And fry the breasts of well-fed household lamb,
And to pluck pigeons, thrushes too, and finches,
And to eat squids and cuttle-fish together,
And many polypi with wondrous curls,
And to quaff many goblets of pure wine.
And Antiphanes, in his Parasite, speaks of the cabbage as an economical
food, in the following lines, where he says—
And what these things are, you, my wife, know well;
Garlic, and cheese, and cheesecakes, dainty dishes
Fit for a gentleman; no fish cured and salted,
No joints of lamb well stuff'd with seasoning,
No forced meat of all kinds of ingredients;
No high made dishes, fit to kill a man;
But they will boil some cabbage sweet, ye gods!
And in the dish with it some pulse of pease.
And Diphilus says, in his Insatiable Man,—
All sorts of dainties now come round us here,
All of their own accord. There's cabbage fresh,
Well boil'd in oil; and many paunches, and
Dishes of tender meat. No . . . . by Jove,
Nor are they like my platters of bruised olives.
And Alcæeus, in his Palæstra, says—
And now she's roasted a large dish of cabbage.
And Polyzelus, in his Birth of the Muses, names cabbages; and says—
The close-grown cabbage with its lofty leaves.
11. The next thing to be mentioned is beet-root. Of beet-root
(according to the opinion of Theophrastus), the white is more juicy
than the black, and it contains less seed, and it is the kind which is
called the Sicilian beet. But, says he, the beet called σευτλὶς is a
different kind from the τεῦτλον. On which account, Diphilus the comic
poet, in his drama called the Hero, reproaches some one for speaking
incorrectly, and for calling τεῦτλα, τευτλίδας. And Eudemus, in his
treatise on Vegetables, says that there are four kinds of τεὖτλα: there
is the kind which may be pulled, the kind with a stalk, the white kind,
and the common kind; and this last is of a brown colour. But Diphilus
the Siphnian says that the beet which he calls σεύτλιον is more juicy
than the cabbage, and is also, in a moderate degree, more nutritious;
and it ought to be boiled and eaten with mustard, and that then it has
a tendency to attenuate the blood, and to destroy worms; but the white
kind is better for the stomach, while the black is more diuretic. He
says, also, that their roots are more pleasing to the palate, and more
nutritious.
12. Then there is the carrot. "This vegetable," says Diphilus, "is
harsh, but tolerably nutritious, and moderately good for the stomach;
but it passes quickly through the bowels, and causes flatulence: it is
indigestible, diuretic, and not without some influence in prompting men
to amatory feelings; on which account it is called a philtre by some
people." And Numenius, in his Man fond of Fishing, says—
Of all the plants which grow in fields unsown,
Or which take root in fertile plough'd-up lands
In winter, or when flowering spring arrives,
Such as the thistle dry, or the wild carrot,
Or the firm rape, or lastly, the wild cabbage.
And Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, says—
Then there is also the deep root of fennel,
And of rock-parsley, and the carrot too,
Which loves dry soils, the sow-thistle, the myrrh plant,
The dog-tongue and the chicory. And with them bruise
The tough hard-tasted leaves of arum, and
The plant which farmers do entitle bird's-milk.
[Sidenote: LEEKS.]
Theophrastus also mentions the carrot; and Phænias, in the fifth book
of his treatise on Plants, speaks as follows:—"But as to the nature of
the seed, the plant which is called σὴψ and the seed of the carrot
are much alike." And in his first book he says—"The following plants
have seed in pods of umbellated form: the anise, fennel, the carrot,
the bur-parsley, hemlock, coriander, and aconite (which some call
mousekiller)." But, since Nicander has mentioned the arum, I must also
add that Phænias, in the book which I have just mentioned, writes
thus:—"The dracontium, which some call arum or aronia." But Diocles, in
the first book of his treatise on the Wholesomes, calls the carrot, not
σταφυλῖνος, but ἀσταφύλινος. There is also another kind which is called
καρωτὸν, which is a large and well-grown carrot, more juicy than the
σταφυλῖνος, and more heating,—more diuretic, very good for the stomach,
and very easily digested, as Diphilus assures us.
13. Then there is the κεφαλωτὸν, or leek, which the same Diphilus says is
also called πράσιον; and he says that it is superior to the kind
called the sliced-leek, and that it has some effect in attenuating the
blood, and is nutritious, and apt to cause flatulence. But Epænetus, in
his Cookery Book, says that the leeks are also called γηθυλλίδες; and I
find this name occurring in Eubulus, in his Pornoboscus, where he says—
I cannot now eat any other loaf,
For I've just had one at Gnathænius',
Whom I found boiling up γηθυλλίδες.
But some say that the γηθυλλὶς is the same as the peculiar kind of leek
called γήθυον, which Phrynichus mentions in his Saturn. And Didymus,
interpreting that play, says that the γήθυον resembles the leek called
the vine-leek, or ἀμπελόπρασον; and he says that they are also called
ἐπιθυλλίδες. And Epicharmus also mentions the gethyllides in his
Philoctetes, where he says—
Two heads of garlic, two gethyllides.
And Aristophanes, in his second Æolosicon, says—
Some roots of leeks (γηθύων), which taste almost like garlic.
And Polemo the geographer, in his book on Samothrace, says that
Latona had a longing for the gethyllis, writing as follows:—"Among
the Delphians, at the festival which they call the Theoxenia, there
is a rule that whoever brings the largest gethyllis to Latona shall
receive a portion of food from off her table; and I myself have seen
a gethyllis as big as a turnip or as the round rape. And men say that
Latona, when she was pregnant with Apollo, longed for the gethyllis; on
which account it is treated with this respect."
14. Next comes the gourd. But as gourds were served round to us in
the winter season, every one marvelled, thinking that they were fresh
gourds; and we recollected what the beautiful Aristophanes said in his
Seasons, praising the glorious Athens in these lines:—
_A._ There you shall at mid-winter see
Cucumbers, gourds, and grapes, and apples,
And wreaths of fragrant violets
Cover'd with dust, as if in summer.
And the same man will sell you thrushes,
And pears, and honey-comb, and olives,
Beestings, and tripe, and summer swallows,
And grasshoppers, and bullock's paunches.
There you may see full baskets pack'd
With figs and myrtle, crown'd with snow;
There you may see fine pumpkins join'd
To the round rape and mighty turnip;
So that a stranger well may fear
To name the season of the year.
_B._ That's a fine thing if all the year
A man can have whate'er he pleases.
_A._ Say rather, it's the worst of evils;
For if the case were different,
Men would not cherish foolish fancies
Nor rush into insane expenses.
But after some short breathing time
I might myself bear off these things;
As indeed in other cities,
Athens excepted, oft I do:
However, as I tell you now,
The Athenians have all these things.
Because, as we may well believe,
They pay due honour to the gods.
_B._ 'Tis well for them they honour you,
Which brings them this enjoyment, since
You seek to make their city Egypt,
Instead of the immortal Athens.
[Sidenote: POULTRY.]
At all events, we were astonished eating cucumbers in the month of
January; for they were green, and full of their own peculiar flavour,
and they happened to have been dressed by cooks who above all men
knew how to dress and season such things. Laurentius, therefore, asked
whether the ancients were acquainted with this vegetable, or with
this way of dressing it. And Ulpian said—Nicander the Colophonian, in
the second book of his Georgics, mentions this way of dressing the
vegetable, calling the gourds not κολόκυνται, but σίκυαι; for, indeed,
that was one of their names, as we have said before. And his words are:—
First cut the gourds in slices, and then run
Threads through their breadth, and dry them in the air;
Then smoke them hanging them above the fire;
So that the slaves may in the winter season
Take a large dish and fill it with the slices,
And feast on them on holidays: meanwhile
Let the cook add all sorts of vegetables,
And throw them seed and all into the dish;
Let them take strings of gherkins fairly wash'd,
And mushrooms, and all sorts of herbs in bunches,
And curly cabbages, and add them too.
15. The next thing to be mentioned is poultry. And since poultry was
placed on the gourds and on other scraped (κνιστὰ) vegetables,
(and this is what Aristophanes in his Delian Woman says of chopped
up vegetables, "κνιστὰ, or pressed grapes,") Myrtilus said,—But now,
in our time, we have got into a habit of calling nothing ὄρνιθας or
ὀρνίθια but pullets, of which I see a quantity now being brought round.
(And Chrysippus the philosopher, in the fifth book of his Treatise on
what is Honourable and Pleasant, writes thus—"As some people insist
upon it that white pullets are nicer than black ones.") And the names
given to the male fowl are ἀλεκτρυόνες and ἀλεκτορίδες. But anciently,
men were accustomed to use the word ὄρνις, both in the masculine and
feminine gender, and to apply it to other birds, and not to this
species in particular to the exclusion of others, as is now done when
we speak of buying birds, and mean only poultry. Accordingly, Homer
says,
And many birds (ὄρνιθες πολλοὶ) beneath the sun's bright rays.
And in another place he uses the word in the feminine gender, and says—
A tuneful bird (ὄρνιθι λιγυρῇ).
And in another place he says—
As the bold bird her helpless young attends,
From danger guards them, and from want defends;
In search of prey she wings the spacious air,
And with untasted food supplies her care,[25]—
again using ὄρνις in the feminine gender. But Menander in his first
edition of the Heiress, uses the word plainly in the sense in which it
is used at the present day; saying—
A cock had loudly crow'd—"Will no one now,"
He cried out, "drive this poultry (τὰς ὄρνιθας) from our doors"
And again, he writes—
She scarcely could the poultry (τὰς ὄρνεις) drive away.
But Cratinus, in his Nemesis, has used the form ὀρνίθιον,
saying—
And all the other birds (ὀρνίθια).
And they use not only the form ὄρνιν, but also that of ὄρνιθα,
in the masculine gender. The same Cratinus says in the same play—
A scarlet winged bird (ὄρνιθα φοινικόπτερον).
And again, he says—
You, then, must now become a large bird (ὄρνιθα μέγαν).
And Sophocles, in his Antenoridæ, says—
A bird (ὄρνιθα), and a crier, and a servant.
And Æschylus, in his Cabiri, says—
I make you not a bird (ὄρνιθα) of this my journey.
And Xenophon, in the second book of his Cyropædia, says—"Going in
pursuit of birds (τοὺς ὄρνιθας) in the severest winter." And Menander,
in his Twin Sisters, says—
I came laden with birds (ὄρνεις).
And immediately afterwards he has
He sends off birds (ὄρνιθας ἀποστέλλει).
And that they often used ὄρνεις as the plural form we have the evidence
of Menander to prove to us: and also Alcman says somewhere or other—
The damsels all with unaccomplish'd ends
Departed; just as frighten'd birds (ὄρνεις) who see
A hostile kite which hovers o'er their heads.
And Eupolis, in his Peoples, says—
Is it not hard that I should have such sons,
When every bird (ὄρνεις) has offspring like its sire?
[Sidenote: ANAXANDRIDES.]
16. But, on the other hand, the ancients sometimes also used the word
ἀλεκτρυὼν in the feminine gender for a hen. Cratinus, in his Nemesis,
says—
This is your work, O Leda. Take you care
To imitate the manners of a hen (ἀλεκτρυόνος)
And sit upon this egg, that so you may
Show us from out this shell a noble bird.
And Strattis, in his Men Fond of Cold, says—
And all the hens (αἱ δ᾽ ἀλεκτρυόνες ἅπασαι),
And all the pigs are also dead,
And all the little birds around.
And Anaxandrides says, in his Tereus—
They saw the boars their species propagate
With joy, and likewise all the hens (τὰς ἀλεμτρυόνας).
And since I have mentioned this comic poet, and as I know, too, that
this play of his, namely Tereus, is not reckoned one of his best, I
will also bring forward, my friends, for your judgment, what Chamæleon
of Heraclea has said about him in the sixth book of his treatise on
Comedy; where he uses the following language:—"Anaxandrides once,
publishing a dithyrambic poem at Athens, entered the city on a horse,
and recited some lines of his Ode. And he was a very fine, handsome
man to look at; and he let his hair grow, and wore a purple robe with
golden fringes, but being a man of a bitter disposition he was in the
habit of behaving in some such manner as this with respect to his
comedies. Whenever he did not get the victory he took his play and
sent it to the frankincense market to be torn up to pack bunches of
frankincense in, and did not revise it as most people did. And in this
way he destroyed many clever and elegant plays; being, by reason of his
old age, very sulky with the spectators. And he is said to have been a
Rhodian by birth, of the city of Camirus: and I wonder therefore how it
was that his Tereus got preserved, since it did not obtain the victory;
and I feel the same wonder in the case of others by the same author.
And Theopompus, in his Peace, also uses the word ἀλεκτρύων for hens,
speaking thus—
I am so vex'd at having lost the hen (ἀλεκτρυόνα)
Which laid the finest eggs in all the yard.
And Aristophanes, in his Dædalus, says—
She laid a noble egg, like any hen (ἀλεκτρυών).
And in another place he says—
Sometimes we find that hens (ἀλεκτρυόνες) when driven about,
And frighten'd, lay wind eggs.
And in the Clouds, where he is explaining to the old man the difference
between the names, he says—
_A._ Tell me then, now, what name I ought to give them.
_B._ Call this, the hen, ἀλεκτρύαιναν, thus,
And call her mate, the cock, ἀλέκτορα.
And we find the cock called ἀλεκτορὶς and ἀλέκτωρ. And Simonides writes—
O tuneful voiced ἀλέκτωπ.
And Cratinus, in his Seasons, says—
Like the Persian loud-voiced cock (ἀλέκτωρ),
Who every hour sings his song.
And he has this name from rousing us from our beds (λέκτρον). But the
Dorians, who write ὄρνις with a ξ, ὄρνιξ, make the genitive with a χ,
ὄρνιχος. But Alcman writes the nominative with a ς, saying—
The purple bird (ὄρνις) of spring.
Though I am aware that he too makes the genitive with a χ,
saying—
But yet by all the birds (ὀρνίχων).
17. The next thing to be mentioned is the pig, under the name of
δέλφαξ. Epicharmus calls the male pig δέλφαξ in his Ulysses the
Deserter, saying—
I lost by an unhappy chance
A pig (δέλφακα) belonging to the neighbours,
Which I was keeping for Eleusis
And Ceres's mysterious feast.
Much was I grieved; and now he says
That I did give it to th' Achæans,
Some kind of pledge; and swears that I
Betray'd the pig (τὸν δέλφακα) designedly.
And Anaxilus also, in his Circe, has used the word δέλφαξ in the
masculine gender; and moreover has used it of a full-grown pig, saying—
Some of you that dread goddess will transform
To pigs (δέλφακας), who range the mountains and the woods.
Some she will panthers make; some savage wolves,
And terrible lions.
But Aristophanes, in his Fryers, applies the word to female pigs, and
says—
[Sidenote: PIGS.]
The paunch, too, of a sow in autumn born (δέλφακος ὀπωρίνης).
And in his Acharnians he says—
For she is young (νέα), but when she is a sow (δελφακουμένα),
You'll see she'll have a large, fat, ruddy tail;
And if you keep her she'll be a noble pig (χοῖρος καλά).
And Eupolis, in his Golden Age, uses it as feminine; and Hipponax
wrote—
Ώς Έφεσίη δέλφαξ.
And, indeed, it is the female pig which is more correctly called by
this name, as having δελφύας, for that word δελφὺς means a womb. And
it is the word from which ἀδελφὸς is derived. But respecting the age
of these animals, Cratinus speaks in his Archilochi, saying—
These men have δέλφακες, the others χοῖροι.
And Aristophanes the grammarian, in his treatise on Ages, says—"Those
pigs which are now come to a compact form, are called δέλφακες; but
those which are tender, and are full of juice, are called χοῖροι;" and
this makes that line of Homer intelligible—
The servants all have little pigs (χοίρεα) to eat,
But on fat hogs (σύες) the dainty suitors feast.[26]
And Plato the comic poet, in his Poet, uses the word in the masculine
gender, and says—
He led away the pig (τόν δέλφακα) in silence.
But there was ancient custom, as Androtion tells us, for the sake of
the produce of the herds, never to slay a sheep which had not been
shorn, or which had never had young, on which account they always ate
full-grown animals:
But on fat hogs the dainty suitors feast.
And even to this day the priest of Minerva never sacrifices a lamb,
and never tastes cheese. And when, on one occasion, there was a want
of oxen, Philochorus says, that a law was passed that they should
abstain from slaying them on account of their scarcity, wishing to get
a greater number, and to increase the stock by not slaying them. But
the Ionians use the word χοιρος also of the female pig, as
Hipponax does, where he says—
With pure libations and the offer'd paunch
Of a wild sow (ἀγρίας χοίρου).
And Sophocles, in his Tænarus, a satyric drama, says—
Should you then guard her, like a chain'd-up sow
(χοῖρον δεσμίαν)?
And Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, in the ninth book of his Commentaries,
says—"When I was at Assus, the Assians brought me a pig (χοῖρον) two
cubits and a half in height, and the whole of his body corresponding in
length to that height; and of a colour as white as snow: and they said
that King Eumenes had been very diligent in buying all such animals of
them, and that he had given as much as four thousand drachmæ a piece
for one." And Æschylus says—
But I will place this carefully fed pig
Within the crackling oven; and, I pray,
What nicer dish can e'er be given to man?
And in another place he says—
_A._ Is he a white one?
_B._ Aye, indeed he is
A snow-white pig (χοῖρος), and singed most carefully.
_A._ Now boil him, and take care he is not burnt.
And again in another place he says—
But having kill'd this pig (χοῖρον τόνδε), of the same litter
Which has wrought so much mischief in the house,
Pushing and turning ev'rything upside down.
And these lines have all been quoted by Chamæleon, in his Commentary on
Æschylus.
18. But concerning the pig, that it is accounted a sacred animal
among the Cretans, Agathocles the Babylonian, in the first book of
his account of Cyzicus, speaks as follows—"They say that Jupiter was
born in Crete, on the mountain Dicte; on which mountain a mysterious
sacrifice used to take place. For it is said that a sow allowed Jupiter
to suck its udder. And that she going about with her constant grunting,
made the whining of the infant inaudible to those who were looking
for him. On which account all the Cretans think that that animal is
to be worshipped; and nothing, it is said, can induce them to eat
its flesh. And the Praisians also sacrifice to a sow; and this is a
regular sacrifice among that people before marriage. And Neanthes of
Cyzicus gives a similar account, in the second book of his treatise on
Mysteries.
Achæus the Eretrian mentions full-grown sows under the name of
πεταλίδες ὕες in Æthon, a satyric drama, where he says—
And I have often heard of full-grown sows
Under this shape and form.
[Sidenote: PIGS.]
But he has given the name of πεταλίδες by a metaphor from heifers. For
they are called πέτηλοι, or spreading, from their horns, when they have
spreading horns. And Eratosthenes has spoken of pigs in the same way
as Achæus has in his Anterinnys, and has called them λαρινοὶ, using
this word metaphorically, which properly belongs to fatted oxen which
were called so from the verb λαπινεύομαι, which is a word of the same
meaning as σιτίζομαι, to be fed up. And Sophron uses the word—
βόες δὲ λαρινεύονται;
or perhaps it comes from Larina, a small town of Epirus, or from the
name of the herdsman, which may have been Larinus.
19. And once when a pig was served up before us, the half of which was
being carefully roasted, and the other half boiled gently, as if it had
been steamed, and when all marvelled at the cleverness of the cook, he
being very proud of his skill, said—And, indeed, there is not one of
you who can point out the place where he received the death wound; or
where his belly was cut so as to be stuffed with all sorts of dainties.
For it has thrushes in it, and other birds; and it has also in it parts
of the abdomens of pigs, and slices of a sow's womb, and the yolks of
eggs, and moreover the entrails of birds, with their ovaries, those
also being full of delicate seasoning, and also pieces of meat shred
into thin shavings and seasoned with pepper. For I am afraid to use the
word ἰσίκια before Ulpian, although I know that he himself is very fond
of the thing. And, indeed, my favourite author Paxamus speaks of it by
this name, and I myself do not care much about using no words but such
as are strictly Attic. Do you, therefore, show me now how this pig was
killed, and how I contrived to roast half of him and to boil the other
side.—And as we kept on examining him, the cook said,—But do you think
that I know less about my business than the ancient cooks, of whom the
comic poets speak? for Posidippus, in his Dancing Women, speaks as
follows—and it is a cook who is represented as making the following
speech to his pupils—
20. My pupil Leucon, and the rest of you,
You fellow servants—for there is no place
Unfit to lecture upon science in;
Know that in the cookery no seasoning
Is equal to the sauce of impudence.
And, if I must confess the whole o' the truth,
You'll find this quality of great use everywhere.
See now, this tribune, who displays a breastplate
All over scales, or dragon wrought in steel,
Appears some Briareus; but when th' occasion
Calls for his might, he proves a very hare.
So when a cook with helpers and attendants
Comes to some stranger, and his pupils brings,
Calling the servants of the house mere humbugs,
Mere cummin splitters, famine personified;
They all crouch down before him: but if you bear
Yourself with honesty and spirit towards him,
He'll fly half flay'd with fear. Do you remember,
And, as I bade you, give fair room for boasting,
And take you care to know the taste of the guests;
For as in any other market, so
This is the goal which all your art should seek,
To run straight into all the feasters' mouths
As into harbour. At the present moment
We're busied about a marriage feast—
An ox is offer'd as the choicest victim;
The father-in-law is an illustrious man,
The son-in-law a person of like honour;
Their wives are priestesses to the good goddess.
Corybantes, flutes, a crowd of revellers
Are all assisting at the festival.
Here's an arena for our noble art.
Always remember this.
And concerning another cook (whose name is Seuthes) the same poet
speaks in the following manner—
Seuthes, in the opinion of those men,
Is a great bungler. But I'd have you know,
My excellent friend, the case of a good cook
Is not unlike that of a general.
The enemy are present,—the commander,
A chief of lofty genius, stands against them,
And fears not to support the weight of war:—
Here the whole band of revellers is the enemy,
It marches on in close array, it comes
Keen with a fortnight's calculation
Of all the feast: excitement fires their breasts,
They're ready for the fray, and watch with zeal
To see what will be served up now before them.
Think now, that such a crowd collected sits
To judge of your performance.
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
21. Then you know there is a cook in the Synephebi of Euphron; just
hear what a lecture he gives—
When, Carion, you a supper do prepare,
For those who their own contributions bring,
You have no time to play, nor how to practise
For the first time the lessons you've received.
And you were yesterday in danger too;
For not one single one of all your tenches
Had any liver, but they all were empty.
The brain was decomposed too.—But you must,
O Carion, when at any future time
You chance a band like this to thus encounter,
As Dromon, Cerdon, and Soterides,
Giving you all the wages that you ask'd,
Deal with them fairly. Where we now are going
To a marriage feast, there try experiments.
And if you well remember all my rules,
You are my real pupil; and a cook
By no means common: 'tis an opportunity
A man should pray for. Make the best of it,
The old man is a miser, and his pay
Is little. If I do not find you eating up
The very coals, you're done for. Now go in;
For here the old man comes himself, behold
How like a skin-flint usurer he looks!
22. But the cook in Sosipater's Liar is a great sophist, and in no
respect inferior to the physicians in impudence. And he speaks as
follows—
_A._ My art, if you now rightly do consider it,
Is not, O Demylus, at all an art
To be consider'd lightly;—but alas,
'Tis too much prostituted; and you'll find
That nearly all men fear not to profess
That they are cooks, though the first principles
Of the great art are wholly strange to them;
And so the whole art is discredited.
But when you meet an honest, genuine cook,
Who from his childhood long has learnt the art,
And knows its great effects, and has its rules
Deep buried in his mind; then, take my word,
You'll find the business quite a different thing.
There are but three of us now left in Greece;
Boidion, and Chariades, and I;
The rest are all the vilest of the vile.
_B._ Indeed?
_A._ I mean it. We alone preserve
The school of Sicon: he was the great teacher
Of all our art: he was the first who taught us
To scan the stars with judgment: the great Sicon!
Then, next to this he made us architects:
He open'd too the paths of physical knowledge;
And after this he taught us all the rules
Of military science; for all these
Were but preliminaries accessory
To the preeminent, godlike art of cooking.
_B._ I think you mean to choke me, my good friend.
_A._ Not I; but till the boy comes back from market
I'll stir you up a little with some rules
About your art, since we can never have
A more convenient time for talking of it.
_B._ Oh, by Apollo, you're a zealous man.
_A._ Listen, my friend. In the first place, a cook
Must the sublimer sciences have learnt:
He must know when the stars do set and rise,
And why. Moreover, when the sun returns,
Causing the long and short days on the earth;
And in what figures of the zodiac
He is from time to time. For, men do say
All fish, and every meat and herb we eat,
Have different qualities at different seasons
Of the revolving year; and he who knows
The principles and reasons of these things
Will use each meat when it is most in season;
And he who knows them not, but acts at random,
Is always laugh'd at most deservedly.
Perhaps, too, you don't know wherein the science
Of th' architect can bear on this our art.
_B._ Indeed I wonder'd what it had to do with it.
_A._ I'll tell you:—rightly to arrange the kitchen,
To let in just the light that's requisite,
To know the quarter whence the winds blow most,
Are all of great importance in this business—
For smoke, according to which way it goes,
Makes a great difference when you dress a dinner.
_B._ That may be; but what need is there, I pray,
For cooks to have the science of generals?
_A._ Order is a prevailing principle
In every art; and most of all in ours:
For to serve up and take away each dish
In regular order, and to know the time
When quick t' advance them, and when slowly bring,
And how each guest may feel towards the supper,
And when hot dishes should be set before him,
When warm ones, and when regular cold meat
Should be served up, depends on various branches
Of strategetic knowledge, like a general's.
_B._ Since then you've shown me what I wish'd to know,
May you, departing now, enjoy yourself.
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
23. And the cook in the Milesians of Alexis is not very different from
this, for he speaks as follows—
_A._ Do you not know, that in most arts and trades
'Tis not th' artificer who alone has pow'r
O'er their enjoyment? Those who use them too
Contribute all their part, if well they use them.
_B._ How so? Let me, O stranger, understand.
_A._ The duty of the cook is but to dress
And rightly season meat; and nothing more.
If, then, the man who is to eat his meat,
And judge of it, comes in proper time,
He aids the cook in that his business.
But if he come too late, so that the joint
Already roasted must be warm'd again,
Or if he come too soon, so that the cook
Is forced to roast the meat with undue haste,
He spoils the pleasure which he might have had
From the cook's skill by his unpunctuality.
I class a cook among philosophers;
You're standing round; my fire is alight;
See how the numerous dogs of Vulcan's pack
Leap to the roof; . . . . .
. . . . . . You know what happens next:
And so some unforeseen necessity
Has brought on us alone this end of life.
24. But Euphron, whom I mentioned a little while ago, O judges, (for I
do not hesitate to call you judges, while awaiting the decision of your
sense,) in his play called the Brothers, having represented a certain
cook as a well-educated man of extensive learning, and enumerating
all the artists before his time, and what particular excellence each
of them had, and what he surpassed the rest in, still never mentioned
anything of such a nature as I have frequently prepared for you.
Accordingly, he speaks as follows—
I have, ere this, had many pupils, Lycus,
Because I've always had both wit and knowledge;
But you, the youngest of them all, are now
Leaving my house an all-accomplish'd cook
In less than forty weeks. There was the Rhodian
Agis, the best of cooks to roast a fish;
Nereus, the Chian, could a conger boil
Fit for the gods: Charides, of Athens,
Black broth was first devised by Lamprias;
Sausages rich we owe to Aphthonetus;
Euthunus taught us to make lentil soup;
Aristion made out whole bills of fare
For those who like a picnic entertainment.
So, like those grave philosophers of old,
These are our seven wisest of all cooks.
But I, for all the other ground I saw
Had been pre-occupied by former artists,
First found out how to steal, in such a way
That no one blamed me, but all sought at once
T' engage my aid. And you, perceiving too
This ground already occupied by me,
Invented something new yourself—'tis this:—
Five days ago the Tenians, grey old men,
After a tedious voyage o'er the sea,
Did hold a sacrifice: a small thin kid:
Lycus could crib no portion of that meat,
Nor could his master. You compell'd the men
To furnish two more kids. For as they long
And oft survey'd the liver of the victims,
You, letting down one unperceived hand,
Were impudent enough to throw the kidneys
Into the ditch: you raised a mighty tumult:
"The victim has no kidneys," they exclaim'd,
And all look'd downcast at th' unusual want.
They slew another, and again I saw
You eat the heart from out this second victim.
You surely are a mighty man; you know it—
For you alone have found a way to hinder
A wolf (λύκον) from opening his mouth in vain.
And[27] yesterday you threw some strings of sausages
(Which you had sought all day) into the fire,
And sang to the dichordon. And I witness'd
That play of yours; but this is merely sport.
25. I wonder if it was any of these second seven wise men who contrived
this device about the pig, so as to stuff his inside without cutting
his throat, and so as to roast one side of him and boil the other at
the same time. And as we now urged and entreated him to explain this
clever device to us, he said,—I will not tell you this year, I swear
by those who encountered danger at Marathon, and also by those who
fought at Salamis. So when he had taken such an oath as that, we all
thought we ought not to press the man; but all began to lay hands on
the different dishes which were served up before us. And Ulpian said,—I
swear by those who encountered danger at Artemisium, no one shall taste
of anything before we are told in what ancient author the word παραφέρω
is used in the sense of serving up. For as to the word γεύματα, I think
I am the only person who knows anything about that. And Magnus said,
Aristophanes in his Proagon says—
[Sidenote: THE USE OF PARTICULAR WORDS.]
Why did you not desire him to place
The goblets on the board (παραφέρειν)?
And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, uses the word in a more general
sense, where he says—
O Cocoas, bring (παράφερε) me now a goblet full.
And Plato, in his Lacedæmonians, says—
Let him bring forward (παραφερέτω).
And Alexis, in his Pamphila, says—
He laid the table, then he placed on it (παραφέρων)
Good things in wagon loads.
But concerning the word γεύματα, meaning anything which is tasted,
food, the exclusive knowledge about which you have claimed for
yourself, it is time for you now to tell us, O Ulpian, what you do
know. For as to the verb γεῦσαι, we have that in Eupolis, in his Goats,
where he says—
Take now of this, and taste (γεῦσαι) it.
And Ulpian said, Ephippus in his Peltastes says—
There there were stations for the horses and asses,
And wine to drink (γεύματα οἴνων).
And Antiphanes, in his Twins, says—
Now he drinks wine (οἰνογευστεῖ) and walks about in splendour,
Wreathed with flowery garlands.
26. On this the cook said—I, then, will relate to you now, not
an ancient contrivance, but a device of my own, in order that
the flute-player may escape being beaten; (for Eubulus, in his
Lacedæmonians or Leda, says—
But I have heard of this, I swear by Vesta,
That when the cook at home makes any blunder,
The flute-player is always beaten for it.
And Philyllius, or whoever the poet may have been who wrote the play of
The Cities, says—
Whatever blunders now the cook may make,
The flute-player receives the stripes for them.)
And I mean the device about the pig half-roasted, half-boiled, and
stuffed, without having had any apparent incision made in him. The
fact is, the pig was stuck with a very short wound under his shoulder;
(and he showed the wound.) Then when the greater part of the blood had
flowed from it, all the entrails, with the intestines, I washed (and
the word ἐξαίρεσις, O you revellers who think so much of words, means
not only a taking out, but also the entrails themselves) carefully
in wine several times, and hung the pig up by his feet. Then again I
washed him in wine; and having boiled up beforehand all the seasonings
which I have spoken of with a good deal of pepper, I pushed them in at
his mouth, pouring in afterwards a quantity of broth very carefully
made. And after this I plastered over one half of the pig, as you see,
with a great quantity of barley-meal, having soaked that in wine and
oil. And then I put it in an oven, placing under it a brazen table, and
I roasted it at a gentle fire, so as not to burn it, nor, on the other
hand, to take it away before it was quite done. And when the skin began
to get roasted and brown, I conjectured that the other side was boiled
enough. And so then I took off the barley-meal, and brought it up in
that condition and set it before you.
27. But as to the word ἐξαίρεσις, my excellent friend Ulpian, Dionysius
the comic poet, in his drama called Things having the same Name, speaks
thus, representing a cook speaking to his pupils—
Come now, O Dromon, if you aught do know,
Wise or accomplish'd in your business,
Or fit to charm the eyes, reveal it straight
To me your master. For I ask you now
For a brief exhibition of your skill.
I'm leading you into an enemy's country;
Come gaily to the charge. They'll weigh the meat
And count the joints they give you, and they'll watch you:
But you, by boiling them to pieces, will
Not only make them tender, but confuse
The number of the pieces, so as quite
To upset all their calculations.
They bring you a fine fish;—his tail is yours.
And if you filch a slice, that, too, is yours.
While we are in the house: when we've got out
It then belongs to me. Th' ἐξαιρέσεις,
And all the other parts, which can't be counted,
In which you cannot easily be found out,
Which may be class'd as parings and as scrapings,
Shall make a feast for you and me to-morrow.
And let the porter share in all your spoils,
That you may pass his gate with his good-will.
Why need I say much to a prudent man?
You are my pupil, I am your preceptor,
Remember this, and come along with me.
[Sidenote: LEARNED COOKS.]
28. And so when we had all praised the cook for the readiness of
his discourse, and for the exceeding perfection of his skill, our
excellent entertainer Laurentius said—And how much better it is for
cooks to learn such things as these, than as they do with one whom I
could mention of our fellow-citizens, who having had his head turned by
riches and luxury, compelled his cooks to learn the dialogues of the
incomparable Plato, and when they were bringing in dishes to say, "One,
two, three, but where is the fourth, O most excellent Timæus, of those
who were guests yesterday, but who are hosts to-day?" Then another made
answer, "An illness has overtaken him, O Socrates,"—and so they went
through the whole dialogue in this manner, so that those who were at
the feast were very indignant, and so that that all-accomplished man
was laughed at and insulted every day, and that on this account many
most respectable men refused all invitations to his entertainments. But
these cooks of ours, who are perhaps just as well instructed in these
things as he was, give us no little pleasure. And then the slave who
had been praised for his cleverness as a cook, said,—Now what have my
predecessors ever devised or told us of a similar kind to this? and
is not my behaviour moderate enough, since I do not boast myself? And
yet Coroebus the Elean, who was the first man who ever was crowned as
victor in the Olympic games, was a cook; and yet he was not as proud
of his skill and of his art as the cook in Straton in the Phœnicides,
concerning whom the man who had hired him speaks thus—
29. 'Tis a male sphinx, and not a cook, that I
Seem to have introduced into my house.
For by the gods I swear there's not one thing
Of all he says that I can understand,
So full is he of fine new-fangled words.
For when he first came in, he, looking big,
Ask'd me this question—"How many μέροπες[28] now
Have you invited here to dinner? Tell me."—
"How many μέροπες have I ask'd to dinner?"—
"You're angry."—"Do you think that I'm a man
To have acquaintance with your μέροπες̣?
It is a fine idea, to make a banquet
And ask a lot of μέροπες to eat it."
"Then do you mean there'll be no δαιτύμων (guest)?"
"No Dætymon that I know of."—Then I counted—
There'll be Philinus, and Niceratus,
And Moschion, and this man too, and that—
And so I counted them all name by name;
But there was not a Dætymon among them.
"No Dætymon will come," said I. "What! no one?"
Replied he in a rage, as though insulted
That not a Dætymon had been invited.
"Do you not slay that tearer up of th' earth,"
Said he, "the broad-brow'd ox?" "In truth, not I;
I've got no ox to kill, you stupid fellow."
"Then you will immolate some sheep?" "Not I,
By Jove; nor ox, nor sheep, but there's a lamb."
"What! don't you know, said he, that lambs are sheep?"
"Indeed," said I, "I neither know nor care
For all this nonsense. I'm but country bred;
So speak more plainly, if you speak at all."
"Why, don't you know that this is Homer's language?"
"My good cook, Homer was a man who had
A right to call things any names he pleased;
But what, in Vesta's name, is that to us?"
"At least you can't object when I quote him."
"Why, do you mean to kill me with your Homer?"
"No, but it is my usual way of talking."
"Then get another way, while here with me."
"Shall I," says he, "for your four dirty drachmas,
Give up my eloquence and usual habits?
Well, bring me here the οὐλόχυται." "Oh me!
What are οὐλόχυται̣?" "Those barley-cakes."
"You madman, why such roundabout expressions?"
"Is there no sediment of the sea at hand?"
"Sediment? Speak plain; do tell me what you want
In words I understand." "Old man," says he,
"You are most wondrous dull; have you no salt?
That's sediment, and that you ought to know;
Bring me the basin."—So they brought it. He
Then slew the animals, adding heaps of words
Which not a soul of us could understand,
μίστυλλα, μοίρας, σίπτυχ᾽, ὀβελούς[29]—
So that I took Philetas' Lexicon down,
To see what each of all these words did mean.
And then once more I pray'd of him to change,
And speak like other men; by earth I swear,
Persuasion's self could not have work'd on him.
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
30. But the race of cooks are really very curious for the most part
about the histories and names of things. Accordingly the most learned
of them say, "The knee is nearer than the leg,"—and, "I have travelled
over Asia and Europe:" and when they are finding fault with any one
they say, "It is impossible to make a Peleus out of an Œneus."—And I
once marvelled at one of the old cooks, after I had enjoyed his skill
and the specimens of his art which he had invented. And Alexis, in his
Caldron, introduces one speaking in the following manner—
_A._ He boil'd, it seem'd to me, some pork, from off
A pig who died by suffocation.
_B._ That's nice.
_A._ And then he scorch'd it at the fire.
_B._ Never mind that; that can be remedied.
_A._ How so?
_B._ Take some cold vinegar, and pour it
Into a plate. Dost heed me? Then take up
The dish while hot and put it in the vinegar;
For while 'tis hot 'twill draw the moisture up
Through its material, which is porous all;
And so fermenting, like a pumice-stone,
'Twill open all its spongy passages,
Through which it will imbibe new moisture thoroughly.
And so the meat will cease to seem dried up,
But will be moist and succulent again.
_A._ O Phoebus, what a great physician's here!
O Glaucias!—I will do all you tell me.
_B._ And serve them, when you do serve them up,
(Dost mark me?) cold; for so no smell too strong
Will strike the nostrils; but rise high above them.
_A._ It seems to me you're fitter to write books
Than to cook dinners; since you quibble much
In all your speeches, jesting on your art.
31. And now we have had enough of cooks, my feasters; lest perhaps some
one of them, pluming himself and quoting the Morose Man of Menander,
may spout such lines as these—
No one who does a cook an injury
Ever escapes unpunish'd; for our art
Is a divine and noble one.
But I say to you, in the words of the tuneful Diphilus—
I place before you now a lamb entire,
Well skewer'd, and well cook'd and season'd;
Some porkers in their skins, and roasted whole;
And a fine goose stuff'd full, like Dureus.
32. We must now speak of the goose. For as many geese were served
up very excellently dressed, some one said, Look at the fat geese
(σιτευτοὶ χῆνες). And Ulpian said, Where do you ever find the
expression σιτευτὸς χήν̣? And Plutarch answered him:—Theopompus the
Chian, in his History of Greece, and in the thirteenth book of his
History of the Affairs and Exploits of Philip, says that the Egyptians
sent to Agesilaus the Lacedæmonian, when he arrived in Egypt, some
fatted (σιτευτοὺς) calves and geese (χῆνας). And Epigenes the comic
poet says in his Bacchanalian Women—
But if a person were to take me like
A fatted goose (χῆνα σιτευτόν).
And Archestratus, in that celebrated poem of his, says—
And at the same time dress the young of one
Fat goose (σιτευτοῦ χῆνος), and let him too be roasted
thoroughly.
But we have a right now, O Ulpian, to expect you to tell us, you who
question everybody about everything, where this very costly dish of the
livers of geese has been mentioned by any ancient writer. For Cratinus
is a witness that they were acquainted with people whose business it
was to feed geese, in his Dionysalexander, where he says—
Geese-feeders, cow-herds . . . .
And Homer uses the word χὴν in both the masculine and feminine gender;
for he says—
Αἰετὸς ἀργὴν χῆνα φέρων—An eagle carrying off a lazy goose.
And again he says—
And as he seized a fine home-fatten'd goose (χῆνα ἀτιταλλομένην).
And in another place he says—
I've twenty geese, fond of the lucid stream,
Who in my house eat wheat, and fatten fast.
And Eupolis mentions the livers of geese (and they are thought an
excessive delicacy at Rome), in his Women Selling Garlands, where he
says—
If you have not a goose's liver or heart.
33. There were also heads of pigs split in half and served up as a
dish. And this dish is mentioned by Crobylus, in his Son falsely held
to be Supposititious—
There came in half a head of a young pig,
A tender dish; and I did stick to it
So close, by Jove, that I left none of it.
[Sidenote: THE USE OF PARTICULAR WORDS.]
After these things there was served up a haricot, called κρεωκάκκαβος.
And this dish consists of meat chopped up with blood and fat, in a
sauce richly sweetened; and Aristophanes the Grammarian says that it
was the Achæans who gave this name to the dish. But Anticlides, in the
seventy-eighth book of his Returns, says, "Once when there was a design
on the part of the Erythreans to put the Chians to death by treachery
at a banquet, one of them having learnt what was intended to be done,
said—
O Chians, wondrous is the insolence
Which now has seized the Erythreans' hearts.
Flee when you've done your pork—don't wait for beef.
And Aristomenes, in his Jugglers, makes mention in the following terms
of boiled meat, which he calls ἀναβραστὰ κρέα—
* * * * *
They used also to eat the testicles of animals, which they called
νέφροι.—Philippodes, in his Renovation, speaking of the gluttony of
Gnathæna the courtesan, says—
Then, after all these things, a slave came in,
Bearing a large dish full of testicles;
And all the rest of the girls made prudish faces,
But fair Gnathæna, that undoer of men,
Laughed, and said, "Capital things are testicles,
I swear by Ceres." So she took a pair
And ate them up: so that the guests around
Fell back upon their chairs from laughing greatly.
34. And when some one said that a cock dressed with a sauce of oil
and vinegar (ὀξυλίπαρον) was a very good bird, Ulpian, who was fond
of finding fault, and who was reclining on a couch by himself, eating
little, but watching the rest of the guests, said—What is that
ὀξυλίπαρον you speak of? unless indeed you give that name to the small
figs called κόττανα and lepidium, which are both national food of
mine.—But Timocles, he replied, the comic poet, in his play called The
Ring, mentions ὀξυλίπαρον, saying—
And sharks and rays and all the other fish,
Which may be dressed in sauce of ὀξυλίπαρον.
And Alexis has called some men ἀκρολίπαροι, fat on the surface, in his
Wicked Woman, saying—
Fat on the surface, but the rest of their body
Is all as dry as wood.
And once when a large fish was served up in sour pickle (ὀξάλμν), and
somebody said that every fish (ὀψάριον) was best when dressed in this
kind of pickle, Ulpian, picking out the small bones, and contracting
his brows, said,—here do you find the word ὀξάλμη̣ And as to ὀψάριον, I
am quite sure that that is a word used by no living author. However,
at that time the guests all desired him to settle that as he pleased,
and themselves preferred eating; while Cynulcus quoted these lines out
of the Breezes of Metagenes—
But, my friend, now let us dine,
After that ask what you choose;
For at present I'm so hungry,
I can't recollect a thing.
But Myrtilus in a pleasant manner declared that he subscribed to
Ulpian's sentiments, so as to be willing to have nothing to eat, as
long as he might talk; and said;—Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has
mentioned ὀξάλμη, in the following lines—
And in return for this I now will take
All you my brave companions; and will pound,
And boil, and broil, and roast you thoroughly,
n pickle, sour pickle (ὀξάλμη), garlic pickle,
Soaking you thoroughly in each by turns.
And that one which does seem most fairly roasted
I'll do the honour to devour myself.
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps,—
Breathe on me, and then put me in hot pickle (ὀξάλμη).
35. And of living people we ourselves use the word ὀψάριον.
Plato does so too; speaking of fish in his Pisander, he says—
_A._ Now eating . . . .
_B._ What on earth? . . .
_A._ Why, all there is;
Fish (ὀψάριον).
_B._ You were sick, and did they give you this?
_A._ But I, the other day, eating a crab . . . .
And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, says—
Some one has served us up this dish of fish (τ᾽ ὀψάριον).
And Philemon, in his Treasure, says—
It is not right to cheat us in this way,
Nor to have worthless fish (ὀψάρια).
And Menander, in his Carthaginian, says—
I offered Boreas much frankincense,
And yet I did not catch one single fish (ὀψάριον),
So I must now cook lentils for my supper.
And in his Ephesian he says—
Having some fish (ὀψάριον) for breakfast.
And then he goes on to say—
Some fishmonger
Sold me some tench for four drachmas a-piece.
[Sidenote: MADE DISHES.]
And Anaxilas, in his Hyacinthus the Pander, says—
I now, O Dion, will buy you some fish (ὀψάριον).
And a few lines afterwards he writes—
Now dress, O boy, the fish (τοὐψάριον) for us.
And in the Anagyrus of Aristophanes we read—
Unless on all occasions you do soothe me
With dainty dishes of fish (ὀψαρίου).
Where, however, perhaps we must take ὀψάρια as used synonymously
with προσψωήματα, for made dishes in general. For Alexis, in his Woman
Sitting up all Night, represents a cook as speaking in the following
terms:—
_A._ Do you prefer your high made dishes hot,
Or cold, or something just between the two?
_B._ Cold.
_A._ Are you sure, my master? only think;
The man has not one notion how to live?
Am I to serve you everything up cold?
_B._ By no means.
_A._ Will you, then, have all things hot?
_B._ O Phoebus!
_A._ Then, if neither hot nor cold,
They surely must be just between the two;
And none of all my fellows can do this.
_B._ I dare say not, nor many other things
Which you can do.
_A._ I'll tell you now, for I
Give all the guests an opportunity
To practise a wise mixture of their food.
Have you not, I adjure you by the gods,
Just slain a kid?
_B._ Don't cut me, cut the meat:—
Boys, bring the kid.
_A._ Is there a kitchen near?
_B._ There is.
_A._ And has it got a chimney too?
For this you do not say.
_B._ It has a chimney.
_A._ But if it smokes, it will be worse than none.
_B._ The man will kill me with his endless questions.
36. These passages I have quoted to you on the part of us who are still
alive, my well-fed friend Ulpian. For you too, as it seems to me, agree
so far with Alexis as to eat no living animals. And Alexis, in his
Attic Woman, speaks in the following manner—
The man who first did say that no philosopher
Would eat of living things, was truly wise.
For I am just come home, and have not bought
A living thing of any kind. I've bought
Some fish, but they were dead, and splendid fish.
Then here are joints of well-fed household lamb,
But he was kill'd last week. What else have I?
Oh, here's some roasted liver. If there be
A man who can this liver prove to have
Or soul or voice or animation,
I will confess I've err'd and broken the law.
So now after all this let us have some supper. For just see, while I am
talking to you, all the pheasants have flown by me, and are gone out of
reach, disregarding me, because of your unseasonable chattering. But I
should like you to tell me, my master Myrtilus, said Ulpian, where you
got that word ὀλβιογάστωρ, and also whether any ancient author mentions
the pheasant, and I—
Rising at early morn to sail . . . .
not through the Hellespont, but into the market-place, will buy a
pheasant which you and I may eat together.
37. And Myrtilus said,—On this condition I will tell you. Amphis uses
the word ὀλβιογάστωρ in his Gynæcomania, where he speaks as follows:—
Eurybates, you hunter of rich smells,
You surely are the most well-fed (ὀλβιογάστωρ) of men.
And as for the bird called the pheasant, that delicious writer
Aristophanes mentions it in his play called The Birds. There are in
that play two old Athenians, who, from their love of idleness, are
looking for a city where there is nothing to do, that they may live
there; and so they take a fancy to the life among the birds. And
accordingly they come to the birds: and when all of a sudden some
wild bird flies towards them, they, alarmed at the sight, comfort one
another, and say a great many things, and among them they say this—
_A._ What now is this bird which we here behold?
Will you not say?
_B._ I think it is a pheasant.
And I also understand the passage in the Clouds to refer to birds, and
not to horses as many people take it—
The Phasian flocks, bred by Leogoras.
For it is very possible that Leogoras may have bred horses and
pheasants too. And Leogoras is also turned into ridicule as a gourmand
by Plato in his Very Miserable Man.
[Sidenote: PHEASANTS.]
And Mnesimachus, in his play called Philip, (and Mnesimachus is one of
the poets of the Middle Comedy,) says—
And as the proverb runs, it is more rare
Than milk of birds, or than a splendid pheasant
Artistically pluck'd.
And Theophrastus the Eresian, a pupil of Aristotle, mentions them
in the third book of his Treatise on Animals, speaking nearly as
follows—"There is also some such difference as this in birds. For
the heavy birds which are not so well-suited for flying, such as the
woodcock, the partridge, the cock, and the pheasant, are very well
adapted for walking and have thick plumage." And Aristotle, in the
eighth book of his History of Animals, writes thus:—"Now of birds
there are some which are fond of dusting themselves, and some which are
fond of washing, and some which neither dust nor wash themselves. And
those which are not good flyers, but which keep chiefly on the ground,
are fond of dusting themselves; such as the common fowl, the partridge,
the woodcock, the pheasant, the lark." Speusippus also mentions them in
the second book of his treatise on Things Resembling one another. And
the name these men give the pheasant is φασιανὸς, not φασιανικός.
38. But Agatharchides of Cnidos, in the thirty-fourth book of his
History of the Affairs of Europe, speaking of the river Phasis, writes
as follows:—"But the great multitude of the birds called pheasants
(φασιανοι) come for the sake of food to the places where the mouths of
the rivers fall into the sea." And Callixenus the Rhodian, in the
fourth book of his Account of Alexandria, describing a procession which
took place in Alexandria, when Ptolemy who was surnamed Philadelphus
was king, mentions, as a very extraordinary circumstance connected
with these birds—"Then there were brought on in cases parrots, and
peacocks, and guinea-fowl, and pheasants, and an immense number of
Æthiopian birds." And Artemidorus the pupil of Aristophanes, in his
book entitled The Glossary of Cookery, and Pamphilus the Alexandrian,
in his treatise on Names and Words, represents Epænetus as saying
in his Cookery Book that the pheasant is also called τατύρας. But
Ptolemy Euergetes, in the second book of his Commentaries, says that
the pheasant is called τατύρας. Now this is what I am able to tell
you about the pheasant, which I have seen brought up on your account,
as if we all had fevers. But you, if you do not, according to your
agreement, give me to-morrow what you have covenanted to, I do not say
that I will prosecute you in the public courts for deceit, but I will
send you away to live near the Phasi, as Polemon, the Describer of the
World, wished to drown Ister the pupil of Callimachus, the historian,
in the river of the same name.
39. The next thing to be mentioned is the woodcock. Aristophanes, in
his Storks, says—
The woodcock, most delicious meat to boil,
Fit dish for conqueror's triumphal feast.
And Alexander the Myndian says that it is a bird a little larger
than a partridge, and spotted all over the back, about the colour of
earthenware, but a little more ruddy. And it is caught by the hunters,
because it is a heavy flyer in consequence of the shortness of its
wings; and it is a bird fond of dusting itself, and very prolific, and
it feeds on seeds.[30] But Socrates, in his treatise on Boundaries,
and Places, and Fire, and Stones, says,—"The woodcock having been
transported into Egypt from Lydia, and having been let loose in the
woods there, for some time uttered a sound like a quail: but after the
river got low, and a great scarcity arose, in which a great many of the
natives of the country died, they never ceased uttering, as they do
to this day, in a voice more distinct than that of the very clearest
speaking children, 'Threefold evils to the wicked doers.' But when they
are caught it is not only impossible to tame them, but they even cease
to utter any sound at all; but if they are let go again, they recover
their voice." And Hipponax mentions them thus—
Not eating woodcocks or the timid hare.
And Aristophanes, in his Birds, mentions them also. And in his
Acharnians he speaks of them as being very common in the district about
Megara. And the Attic writers circumflex the noun in a manner quite
contrary to analogy. For words of more than two syllables ending in
ας, when the final α is long, are barytones; as for instance, ἀκάμας,
Σακάδας, ἀδάμας. And we ought also to read the plural ἀττάγαι, and not
ἀτταγῆνες.
[Sidenote: THE PORPHYRION.]