You must at once take care and make the vetches tender.
And in another place he says--
He was choked eating roasted vetches.
And Diphilus says--"Vetches are very indigestible, create moisture, they
are also diuretic, and apt to cause flatulence." And according to
Diocles, they produce a sort of fermentation in the body. The white
vetches are better than the black; and so also are the yellow or
box-coloured. And the Milesian are better than those called =kreioi=;
and the green are better than the dry, and those which have been soaked
are better than those which have not been. The discoverer of the vetch
is said to have been Neptune.
45. With respect to Lupins. Alexis says--
A curse upon the man;
Let him not come near me, who eats lupins in season,
And then leaves the husks and shells in the vestibule.
Why was he not choked while eating them? I know,
I know most certainly, that Cleænetus the tragedian
Did not eat them. For Cleænetus
Never threw away the husk of a single vegetable,
So exceedingly economical is that man.
And Lycophron of Chalcis, in a satiric drama which he wrote against
Menedemus the philosopher, for the purpose of turning him into
ridicule, (it was from Menedemus that the sect of the Eretrians derived
its name,) laughs at the suppers of the philosophers, and says--
The lupin, common to all the people, in great plenty
Danced upon the board, the companion of poor couches.
And Diphilus says--
There is no business more mischievous or degrading
Than that of the pander.
I would rather walk along the streets selling
Roses, and radishes, and lupin-beans, and press'd olives,
And anything else in the world, rather than give encouragement
To such a miserable trade.
And you may observe, that he then uses the expression =thermokyamoi=,
lupin-beans, as they are called even now. Polemo says, that the
Lacedæmonians call lupins =lysilaides=. And Theophrastus, in his book
about The Causes of Plants, tells us that the lupin, and the bitter
vetch, and the common vetch, are the only kinds of green vegetable which
do not produce animal life, because of their harshness and bitterness.
But the vetch, says he, turns black as it decays. He says, also, that
caterpillars come in vetches, and it is in the fourth book of the same
treatise that he states this. Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that
lupins are very apt to create moisture, and are very nutritious,
especially those kinds which are rendered sweet by being soaked. On
which account Zeno the Citiæan, a man of harsh disposition and very apt
to get in a passion with his friends, when he had taken a good deal of
wine, became sweet-tempered and gentle; and when people asked him what
produced this difference in his disposition, he said, that he was
subject to the same influences as lupins: for that they before they were
cooked were very bitter; but that when they had been steeped in liquor
they were sweet and wholesome.
46. With respect to Kidney Beans.--The Lacedæmonians in those suppers of
theirs, which they call =kopides=, give as sweetmeats, dry figs and
beans, and green kidney beans. At least this is the statement of Polemo;
and Epicharmus says--
Roast some kidney beans quickly, for Bacchus is fond of them.
And Demetrius says--
A fig, or kidney bean, or some such thing.
47. With respect to Olives. Eupolis says--
Cuttle-fish, and olives fallen from the tree.
And these the Romans call dryptæ. But Diphilus the Siphnian writer says
that olives contain very little nourishment, and are apt to give
headaches; and that the black ones are still worse for the stomach, and
make the head feel heavy; but that those which we call =kolymbades=,
that is to say, preserved in pickle, are better for the stomach, and
give strength to the bowels. But that the black when crushed are better
for the stomach. Aristophanes too makes mention of crushed olives in
"The Islands," saying--
Bring some crushed olives;
and in another place he says--
Crush'd olives and pickled olives are not the same thing;
and a few lines after--
For it is better that they should be crush'd than pickled.
And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy--
Let wrinkled olives, fallen from the tree,
Be placed before you.
And Hermippus says--
Be sure that for the future you remember
The ever-glorious Marathon for good,
When you do all from time to time add =marathon= (that is to say,
fennel) to your pickled olives.
And Philemon says--"The inferior olives are called =pityrides=, and the
dark-coloured are called =stemphylides=." And Callimachus, in his
"Hecale," gives a regular catalogue of the different kinds of olive--
=Gergerimos= and =pityris=, and the white olive, which does not
Become ripe till autumn, which is to float in wine.
And according to Didymus, they called both olives and figs which had
fallen to the ground of their own accord, =gergerimoi=. Besides, without
mentioning the name "olive," the fruit itself was called by that name
=drypetês=, without any explanatory addition. Teleclides says--
He urged me to remain, and eat with him
Some =drypeteis=, and some maize, and have a chat with him.
But the Athenians called bruised olives =stemphyla=; and what we call
=stemphyla= they called =brytea=, that is to say, the dregs of the
grapes after they have been pressed. And the word =brytos= is derived
from =botrys=, a bunch of grapes.
48. With respect to Radishes.--The Greek name =rhaphanis= is derived
from =rhadiôs phainesthai=, because they quickly appear above ground;
and in the plural the Attic writers either shorten or lengthen the
penultima at pleasure. Cratinus writes--
=Tais rhaphanisi dokei=, it is like radishes, but not like other
vegetables;
and Eupolis, on the other hand, says--
=Rhaphanides aplytoi=, unwashed radishes and cuttle-fish.
For the word =aplytoi=, unwashed, must clearly refer to the radishes,
and not to the cuttle-fish; as is shown by Antiphanes, in whom we find
these lines:--
To eat ducks, and honeycombs of wild bees, and eggs,
And cheese-cakes, and unwash'd radishes,
And rape, and oatmeal-groats, and honey.
So that radishes appear to have been particularly called unwashed
radishes; being probably the same as those called Thasian. Pherecrates
says--
There one may have the unwash'd radish, and the warm
Bath, and closely stewed pickles, and nuts.
And Plato, in his Hyperbolus, says, using the diminutive termination,
=phyllion ê rhaphanidion=, "a leaflet, or a little radish." But
Theophrastes, in his book on Plants, says that there are five kinds of
radishes: the Corinthian, the Leiothasian, the Cleonæan, the Amorean,
and the Boeotian; and that the Boeotian, which is of a round form,
is the sweetest. And he says that, as a general rule, those the leaves
of which are smooth, are the sweetest. But Callias used the form
=rhaphanos= for =rhaphanis=; at all events, when discussing the
antiquity of comedy, he says, "Broth, and sausages, and radishes
(=rhaphanoi=), and fallen olives, and cheese-cakes." And indeed that he
meant the same as what we call =rhaphanides=, is plainly shown by
Aristophanes, who in the Danaïdes alludes to such old forms, and says--
And then the chorus used to dance,
Clad in worsted-work and fine clothes;
And bearing under their arms ribs of beef,
And sausages, and radishes.
And the radish is a very economical kind of food. Amphis says--
Whoever, when purchasing food,
When it is in his power, O Apollo, to buy genuine fish,
Prefers buying radishes, is downright mad!
49. With respect to Pine-cones.--Mnesitheus, the Athenian physician, in
his book on Comestibles, calls the husks of the pine-cones =ostrakides=,
and in another place he calls them =kônoi=. But Diocles of Carystus
calls them =pityina karya=, _nuts of the pine-tree._ And Alexander the
Myndian calls them =pityinous kônous=. And Theophrastus calls the tree
=peukê=, and the fruit =kônos=. But Hippocrates, in his book on
Barley-water,--(one half of which is considered spurious by everybody,
and some people reckon the whole so,)--calls the fruit =kokkaloi=; but
most people call it =pyrênes=: as Herodotus does, in speaking of the
Pontic nut. For he says, "And this has =pyrêna= (_a kernel_), when it
becomes ripe." But Diphilus the Siphnian says, "Pine-cones" (which he
calls =strobiloi=) "are very nutritious, and have a tendency to soften
the arteries, and to relieve the chest, because they have some resinous
qualities contained in them." While Mnesitheus says that they fill the
body with fat, and are very free from all hindrances to the digestion;
and, moreover, that they are diuretic, and that they are free from all
astringent tendencies.
50. Now with respect to Eggs.--Anaxagoras, in his book on Natural
Philosophy, says that what is called the milk of the bird is the white
which is in the eggs. And Aristophanes says--
In the first instance, night brings forth a wind egg.
Sappho dissolves the word =ôon= into a trisyllable, making it =ôion=,
when she says--
They say that formerly Leda found an egg.
And again she says--
Far whiter than an egg:
in each case writing =ôion=. But Epicharmus spelt the word =ôea=; for so
we find the line written--
The eggs of geese and other poultry.
And Simonides, in the second book of his Iambics, says--
Like the egg of a Mæandrian goose;
which he, too, writes =ôeon=. But Alexandrides lengthens the word into a
quadrisyllable, and calls it =ôarion=. And so does Ephippus, when he
says--
And little casks of good wine made of palms,
And eggs, and all other trifles of that kind.
And Alexis, somewhere or other, uses the expression, "hemispheres of
eggs." And wind eggs they called =anemiaia=, and also =hypênemia=. They
called also the upper chambers of houses which we now call =hyperôon,
ôon=; and accordingly Clearchus says, in his "Erotics," that Helen, from
having been born and brought up in a chamber of this sort, got the
character, with a great many people, of having been born of an egg
(=ôou=). And it was an ignorant statement of Neocles of Crotona, that
the egg fell from the moon, from which Helen was born: for that women
under the influence of the moon bring forth eggs, and that those who are
born from such eggs are fifteen times as large as we are: as Herodotus
of Heraclea also asserts. And Ibycus, in the fifth book of his Melodies,
says of the Molionidæ--
And they slew the two young Molions, youths alike in face,
Borne on white horses; of the same age; and
Alike, too, in all their limbs, for both were born
On one day, from one single silver egg.
And Ephippus says--
Cakes made of sesame and honey, sweetmeats,
Cheese-cakes, and cream-cakes, and a hecatomb
Of new-laid eggs, were all devour'd by us.
And Nicomachus makes mention of such eggs--
For when my father had left me a very little property,
I scraped it so, and got the kernel out of it
In a few months, as if I had been a boy sucking an egg.
And Eriphus makes mention of goose's eggs--
Just see how white and how large these eggs are;
These must be goose eggs, as far as I can see.
And he says, that it was eggs like this which were laid by Leda. But
Epænetus and Heraclides the Syracusan, in their book on Cookery, say
that the best of all eggs are peacock's eggs; and that the next best are
those of the foxgoose; and the third best are those of common poultry.
51. Now let us speak of provocatives to appetite, called
=Propoma=.--When they were brought round by the butler, Ulpian said,
"Does the word =propoma= occur in any ancient author in the sense in
which we use it now?" and when every one joined in the question, "I will
tell you," said Athenæus; "Phylarchus the Athenian, (though some called
him a native of Naucratis,) in the book where he speaks of Zelas the
king of the Bithynians, who invited to supper all the leaders of the
Galatians, and then plotted against them, and was killed himself also,
says, if I recollect his words rightly, 'A certain =propoma= was brought
round before supper, as was the custom of antiquity.'" And when Ulpian
had said this, he asked for something to drink from the wine-cooler,
saying, that he was in good humour with himself for having been able to
remember this so very _à propos_. But there were things of all sorts,
says Athenæus, used in these =propomata=.
52. With respect to Mallows, Hesiod says--
Nor do men know how great may be the good
Derived from asphodel and mallow food.
=Malachê= is the Attic name for mallow. But I, says Athenæus, have found
in many of the copies of the Minos of Antiphanes the word spelt with an
=o=; for instance, he speaks of men--
Eating the root of mallow (=molochês=).
And Epicharmus has--
I am milder than the mallow (=molochês=).
And Phanias says, in his book on Plants--"The seminal portions of the
cultivated mallow are called 'the cheese-cake,' as being like a
cheese-cake. For those pistils which are like the teeth of a comb have
some resemblance to the edge of a cheese-cake; and there is a bosslike
centre, like that in the middle of a cheese-cake. And the whole
circumference of the rim is like the sea-fish denominated the
sea-urchin." But Diphilus the Siphnian makes a statement, that the
mallow is full of pleasant and wholesome juice; having a tendency to
smooth the arteries, separating from them the harshnesses of the blood
by bringing them to the surface. And he adds that the mallow is of great
service in irritations of the kidneys and the bladder, and that it is
very tolerably digestible and nutritious. And moreover, that the wild
mallow is superior to that which grows in a garden. But Hermippus, the
follower of Callimachus, in his treatise on the Seven Wise Men, says
that mallows are put in what he calls the =alimon=, that is to say, the
preventive against hunger, and into the =adipson=, that is, the
preventive against thirst; and that it is a very useful ingredient in
both.
53. The next thing to be mentioned are Gourds.--Euthydemus, the
Athenian, in his book on Vegetables, calls the long gourd, known as
=kolokyntê=, the Indian gourd; and it is called Indian because the seed
was originally introduced from India. But the people of Megalopolis call
the same the Sicyonian gourd. Theophrastus however says, that of the
kind called =kolokyntê=, there is not one species or genus only, but
several, some better, some worse. While Menodorus, the follower of
Erasistratus, the friend of Icesius, says, "Of the long gourds there is
the Indian, which is the same which we call =sikya=, and which is
vulgarly called the =kolokyntê=. Now the Indian gourd is usually boiled,
but that called =kolokyntê= is usually roasted." And even to the present
day the =kolokyntai= are called by the Cnidians Indian gourds; while the
people of the Hellespont call the long gourds =sikyai=, and the round
gourds =kolokyntai=. But Diocles states that the best round gourds are
those grown near Magnesia; and, moreover, that the rape grown in that
district runs to an exceedingly large size, and is sweet, and good for
the stomach. He says, at the same time, that the best cucumbers are
grown at Antioch, the best lettuce at Smyrna and Galatea, and the best
rue at Myra. Diphilus says, "The gourd is far from nutritious, easily
digested, apt to produce moisture in the skin, promotes the secretions
of the body, and is full of agreeable and wholesome juice; but it is
still more juicy when cooked. Its alterative qualities are increased
when it is eaten with mustard, but it is more digestible, and it
promotes the secretions more, when boiled.
Mnesitheus too says, "All the vegetables and fruits which are easily
affected by the action of fire, such as the cucumber, and the gourd, and
the quince, and the small quince, and everything else of the same sort,
when they are eaten after having been roasted, afford nutriment to the
body, in no great quantity indeed, but still such as is pleasant and
promotes moisture. However all these vegetables and fruits have a
tendency to produce constipation, and they ought to be eaten boiled
rather than raw. But the Attic writers call the gourd by no other name
but =kolokyntê=. Hermippus says--
What a huge head he has; it is as big as a gourd!
And Phrynichus, using the diminutive, says--
Will you have a little maize (=mazion=) or gourd (=kolokyntion=)?
And Epicharmus says--
That is much more wholesome than a gourd (=kolokyntê=)
54. And Epicrates the comic poet writes--
_A._ What now is Plato doing?
The grave Speusippus too and Menedemus?
In what are they now spending all their time?
What care is theirs, and what their conversation?
What is their subject of deliberation?
Tell me, I beg of you, by the mighty Terra,
In learned language, if at least you know.
_B._ Indeed, I can inform you most exactly.
For at the great Panathenaic feast,
I saw a company of youths assembled
Within the schools of the old Academy,
And heard some strange and marvellous assertions.
For they were nature's mysteries discussing,
Drawing distinctions subtle 'tween the life
Of animated things, both men and beasts,
And that of trees and all the race of herbs.
And then, while occupied in these discussions
They turned to gourds their deep investigations,
Asking their species and their character.
_A._ And to what sage conclusion did they come?
What was their definition, of what genus
Did they decide this plant to be, my friend?
I pray you tell 'em, if you know at least.
_B._ At first they all stood silent for a while,
And gazed upon the ground and knit their brows
In profound solemn meditation:
Then on a sudden, while the assembled youths
Were stooping still considering the matter,
One said a gourd was a round vegetable;
But others said it was a kind of grass;
While others class'd it as a sort of tree.
On hearing this, a certain old physician
Coming from Sicily interrupted them
As but a pack of triflers. They were furious,
Greatly enraged, and all most loudly cried
With one accord, that he insulted them;
For that such sudden interruptions
To philosophical discussion
Were ill-bred and extremely unbecoming.
And then the youths thought no more of the gourd.
But Plato, who was present, mildly said,
Not being at all excited by what pass'd,
That the best thing that they could do would be
The question to resume of the gourd's nature.
They would not hear him, and adjourn'd the meeting.
55. Alexis, that most witty poet, sets an entire course of =propoma=
before those who can understand him--
I came without perceiving it on a place
Which was exceedingly convenient.
Water was given me; and then a servant
Entered, and bore a table for my use;
On which was laid, not cheese, or tawny olives,
Or any dainty side-dishes and nonsense,
Which fill the room with scent, but have no substance;
But there was set before me a huge dish
Redolent of the Seasons and the joyful Hours--
A sort of hemisphere of the whole globe.
Everything there was beautiful and good:
Fish, goats' flesh, and a scorpion between them;
Then there were eggs in half, looking like stars.
On them we quickly laid our hands, and then
Speaking to me, and giving me a nod,
The host began to follow our example;
So we'd a race, and never did I stop
Till the whole dish was empty as a sieve.
56. With respect to Mushrooms.--Aristias says
The stony soil produced no mushrooms.
And Poliochus has the following passage--
Each of us twice a day received to eat
Some small dark maize well winnow'd from the chaff,
And carefully ground; and also some small figs.
Meantime some of the party would begin
And roast some mushrooms; and perhaps would catch
Some delicate snails if 'twas a dewy morning,
And vegetables which spontaneous grew.
Then, too, we'd pounded olives; also wine
Of no great strength, and no very famous vintage.
And Antiphanes says--
Our supper is but maize well fenced round
With chaff, so as not to o'erstep the bounds
Of well-devised economy. An onion,
A few side-dishes, and a sow-thistle,
A mushroom, or what wild and tasteless roots
The place affords us in our poverty.
Such is our life, not much exposed to fevers;
For no one, when there's meat, will eat of thyme,
Not even the pupils of Pythagoras.
And a few lines afterwards he goes on--
For which of us can know the future, or
The fate that shall our various friends befal?
Take now these mushrooms and for dinner roast them,
Which I've just picked beneath the maple shade.
Cephisodorus, the pupil of Isocrates, in the treatise which he wrote
against Aristotle (and there are four books of it), reproaches the
philosopher for not having thought it worth his while to collect
proverbs, though Antiphanes had made an entire play which was called
Proverbs: from which play he produces these lines--
For I, if I eat any of your dishes,
Seem as if I was on raw mushrooms feeding,
Or unripe apples, fit to choke a man.
57. Mushrooms are produced by the earth itself. But there are not many
sorts of them which are good to eat; for the greater part of them
produce a sensation of choking: on which account Epicharmus, when
jesting, said--
You will be choked, like those who waste away
By eating mushrooms, very heating food.
And Nicander, in his Georgics, gives a list of which species are
poisonous; and says--
Terrible evils oftentimes arise
From eating olives, or pomegranates, or from the trees
Of maple, or of oak; but worst of all
Are the swelling sticky lumps of mushrooms.
And he says in another place--
Bury a fig-tree trunk deep in the ground,
Then cover it with dung, and moisten it
With water from an everflowing brook,
Then there will grow at bottom harmless mushrooms;
Select of them what's good for food, and not
Deserving of contempt, and cut the root off.
But all the rest of that passage is in a mutilated state. The same
Nicander in the same play writes--
And there, too, you may roast the mushrooms,
Of the kind which we call =amanitai=.
And Ephippus says--
That I may choke you as a mushroom would.
Eparchides says that Euripides the poet was once staying on a visit at
Icarus, and that, when it had happened that a certain woman being with
her children in the fields, two of them being full-grown sons and the
other being an unmarried daughter, eat some poisonous mushrooms, and
died with her children in consequence, he made this epigram upon
them:--
O Sun, whose path is through th' undying heaven,
Have you e'er before seen a misery such as this?
A mother, a maiden daughter, and two sons,
All dying on one day by pitiless fate?
Diocles the Carystian, in the first book of his treatise on the
Wholesomes, says, "The following things which grow wild should be
boiled,--beetroot, mallow, sorrel, nettles, spinach, onions, leeks,
orach, and mushrooms.
58. Then there is a plant called sium. And Speusippus, in the second
book of his treatise on Things Similar, says that its leaf resembles the
marsh parsley; on which account Ptolemy the Second, surnamed Euergetes,
who was king of Egypt, insists upon it that the line in Homer ought to
be written thus--
And around were soft meadows of _sium_ or parsley;
for that it is =sia= which are usually found in company with parsley,
and not =ia= (_violets_).
59. Diphilus says that mushrooms are good for the stomach, and pass
easily through the bowels, and are very nutritious, but still that they
are not very digestible, and that they are apt to produce flatulence.
And that especially those from the island of Ceos have this character.
"Many are even poisonous to a fatal degree. But those which seem to be
wholesome are those with the smoothest rinds, which are tender and
easily crushed: such as grow close to elms and pine-trees. But those
which are unwholesome are of a dark colour, or livid, or covered with
hard coats; and those too which get hard after being boiled and placed
on the table; for such are deadly to eat. But the best remedy for them
when eaten unawares is drinking honey-water, and fresh mead, and
vinegar. And after such a drink the patient should vomit. On which
account, too, it is especially desirable to dress mushrooms with
vinegar, or honey and vinegar, or honey, or salt: for by these means
their choking properties are taken away. But Theophrastus, in his
treatise about Plants, writes thus--"But plants of this kind grow both
under the ground and on the ground, like those things which some people
call fungi, which grow in company with mushrooms; for they too grow
without having any roots; but the real mushrooms have, as the beginning
by which they adhere to the ground, a stalk of some length, and they put
forth fibres from that stalk." He says also that in the sea which is
around the Pillars of Hercules, when there is a high tide, mushrooms
grow on the shore close to high-water mark, which they say are left
there by the sun. And Phænias says, in his first book about Plants--"But
these things neither put forth any bloom, nor any trace of seminal
germination; as, for instance, the mushroom, the truffle, groundivy, and
fern." And in another place he says, "=Pteris= (fern), which some people
call =blachnon=." But Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, says--"Plants
with smooth rinds, as the truffle, the mushroom, the fungus, the
geranium."
60. Now with respect to Truffles.--They too spring of their own accord
out of the ground; especially in sandy places. And Theophrastus says of
them--"The truffle, which some people call the geranium, and all other
such plants which grow beneath the earth." And in another place he
says--"The generation and production of these things which seed beneath
the earth; as, for instance, of the truffle, and of a plant which grows
around Cyrene, which they call _misy_. And it appears to be exceedingly
sweet, and to have a smell like that of meat; and so, too, has a plant
called _itum_, which grows in Thrace. And a peculiarity is mentioned as
incidental to these things; for men say that they appear when there is
heavy rain in autumn and violent thunder; especially when there is
thunder, as that is a more stimulating cause of them: however, they do
not last more than a year, as they are only annuals; they are in the
greatest perfection in the spring, when they are most plentiful. Not but
what there are people who believe that they are or can be raised from
seed. At all events, they say that they never appeared on the shore of
the Mitylenæans, until after a heavy shower some seed was brought from
Tiaræ; and that is the place where they are in the greatest numbers. But
they are principally found on the sea-shore, and wherever the ground is
sandy; and that is the character of the place called Tiaræ. They are
also found near Lampsacus, and also in Acarnania, and Alopeconnesus, and
in the district of the Eleans. Lynceus the Samian says--"The sea
produces nettles, and the land produces truffles;" and Matron, the man
who wrote parodies, says in his "Supper"--
And he brought oysters, the truffles of Thetis the Nereid.
Diphilus says that truffles are by nature indigestible, but that they
are full of wholesome juice, and have lenitive qualities, and are
very easily evacuated; though, like mushrooms, some of them are
apt to produce suffocation. And Hegesander the Delphian says that no
truffles are found in the Hellespont, and no fish of the kind called
=glaukiskos=, and no thyme. On which account Nausiclides said of the
country, that it had no spring and no friends. But Pamphilus says, in
his "Languages," that there is a plant called =hydnophyllon=, being a
species of grass which grows on the top of the truffles, by which the
truffle is discovered.
61. With respect to Nettles--=Akalêphê= is the name given by the Attic
writers to a plant which is herbaceous and which produces itching.
Aristophanes says, in his Phoenissæ, "that pot-herbs were the first
things which grew out of the earth; and after them the rough
stinging-nettles."
62. The next thing to be considered is Asparagus--which is divided into
mountain asparagus and marsh asparagus; the best kinds of which are not
raised from seed; but they are remedies for every kind of internal
disorder. But those which are raised from seed grow to an immense size.
And they say that in Libya, among the Gætuli, they grow of the thickness
of a Cyprian reed, and twelve feet long; but that on the mountain land
and on land near the sea they grow to the thickness of large canes, and
twenty cubits long. But Cratinus writes the word, not =asparagos=, but
=aspharagos=, with a =ph=. And Theopompus says--
And then seeing the aspharagus in a thicket.
And Ameipsias says--
No squills, no aspharagus, no branches of bay-tree.
But Diphilus says, that of all greens, that sort of asparagus which is
especially called the bursting asparagus, is better for the stomach, and
is more easily digested; but that it is not very good for the eyes: and
it is harsh-flavoured and diuretic, and injurious to the kidneys and
bladder. But it is the Athenians who give it the name of bursting; and
they also give the flowering cabbage, or cauliflower, the same name.
Sophocles says, in The Huntsmen--
Then it puts forth a stalk, and never ceases
The germination;
because it is continually bursting out and putting forth shoots.
However, Antiphanes always spells the word =asparagos=, with a =p=; and
he writes thus--
The asparagus was shining; the pale vetches had faded.
And Aristophon says--"Capers, pennyroyal, thyme, asparagus, garlic;
radishes, sage, and rue."
63. With respect to Snails.--Philyllius says--
I am not a grasshopper, nor a snail, O woman.
And in a subsequent passage he says--
Sprats, tunny fish, and snails, and periwinkles.
And Hesiod calls the snail,
The hero that carries his house on his back.
And Anaxilas says--
You are e'en more distrustful than a snail;
Who fears to leave even his house behind him.
And Achæus speaks of them, and says--
Can such a vapour strange produce
The snails, those horned monsters?
And an enigma, like a fishing-net, having reference to the snail, is
often proposed at banquets, in these terms--
What is that spineless bloodless beast of the woods,
Who makes his path amid the humid waters.
And Aristotle, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of
Animals, says--"Snails appear to become pregnant in the autumn and in
spring, and they are the only animals with coverings of shells that have
ever been detected in union." But Theophrastus says, in his treatise
about Animals which live in Holes--"Snails live in holes during the
winter, and still more in the summer, on which account they are seen in
the greatest numbers during the autumn rains. But their holes in the
summer are made upon the ground, and in the trees." There are some
snails which are called =sesiloi=. Epicharmus says--
Instead of all these animals, they have locusts;
But I hate above all things the shell of the sesilus.
And Apellas relates that the Lacedæmonians call the snail =semelos=. But
Apollodorus, in the second book of his Etymologies, says that there are
some snails which are called =kôlysideipnoi=, _interrupters of
banquets_.
64. The next vegetable to be mentioned is Onions.--In the Amalthea of
Eubulus, Hercules is represented as refusing to eat them; saying--
Whether it's hot, or whether it is dry,
Or whether it is something 'tween the two,
Are points of more importance than old Troy.
But I have not come here to fill myself
With cabbages, or benjamin, or other
Impious and bitter danties, or with onions.
But that which tends the most to vigorous strength
And health is food which I delight in chiefly.
Meat of beef, boil'd and fresh, and plenty of it,
And a large well-filled dish of oxen's feet,
Three roasting pigs besides, sprinkled with salt.
Alexis, while explaining the efficacy of onions in aphrodisiac matters,
says--
Pinnas, beetles, snails, muscles, eggs, calves'-feet,
And many other philters, may be found
More useful still to one who loves his mistress.
Xenarchus, in the Butalion, says--
A house is ruined which has a master
Whose fortune's gone, and whom the evil genius
Has struck. And so the once great house of the Pelops
Is weak and nerveless. Nor can earth-born onion,
Fair Ceres' handmaid, who contracts the neck,
Even when boiled, assist to check this evil.
Nor e'en the polypus, who swells the veins,
Born in dark eddies of the deepest sea,
When taken in the net of stern necessity
By hungry mortals, fill the broad deep bosom
Of the large dish turn'd by the potter's wheel.
And Archestratus says--
I love not onions, nor yet cabbages,
Nor the sweet barberry-tree, nor all the other
Dainties and sweetmeats of the second course.
65. Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Banquet, says--"The onion, and the
snail, and the egg, and similar things, appear to be productive of seed;
not because they are very nutritious, but because their original natures
are similar, and because their powers resemble that." And Diphilus
says--"Onions are difficult to digest, but very nutritious, and good for
the stomach. And, moreover, they are productive of moisture, and
cleansing, but they dim the eyes, and excite the amatory propensities.
But the proverb says--
The onion will do you no good if you have no strength yourself.
But those onions which are called the _royal_ onions, really do
stimulate the amatory propensities, for they are superior to the other
kinds; and next to them are the red ones. But the white ones, and the
Libyan onions, are something like squills. But the worst of all are the
Egyptian.
66. But the white onions, called =bolbinai=, are fuller of good juice
than the common onions; but they are not so good for the stomach,
because the white portion of them has a certain thickness in it. Yet
they are very tolerably wholesome, because they have a good deal of
harshness in them, and because they promote the secretions. And Matron,
in his Parodies, mentions the =bolbinê=--
But sowthistles I will not even name,
Plants full of marrow, crown'd on th' heads with thorns;
Nor the white onions, minstrels of great Jove,
Which his dear Child, incessant rain, has nourish'd
Whiter than snow storms, and like meal to view,
Which, when they first appeared, my stomach loved.
67. Nicander extols the onions of Megara. But Theophrastus, in the
seventh book of his treatise on Plants, says--"In some places the onions
are so sweet, that they are eaten raw, as they are in the Tauric
Chersonesus." And Phænias makes the same statement:--"There is," says
he, "a kind of onion which bears wool, according to Theophrastus; and it
is produced on the sea-shore. And it has the wool underneath its first
coat, so as to be between the outer eatable parts and the inner ones.
And from this wool socks and stockings and other articles of clothing
are woven." And Phænias himself adopts the statement. "But the onion,"
he continues, "of the Indians is hairy." But concerning the dressing of
onions, Philemon says--
Now if you want an onion, just consider
What great expense it takes to make it good:
You must have cheese, and honey, and sesame,
Oil, leeks, and vinegar, and assafoetida,
To dress it up with; for by itself the onion
Is bitter and unpleasant to the taste.
But Heraclides the Tarentine, limiting the use of onions at banquets,
says--"One must set bounds to much eating, especially of such things as
have anything glutinous or sticky about them; as, for instance, eggs,
onions, calves' feet, snails, and such things as those: for they remain
in the stomach a long time, and form a lump there, and check the
natural moisture."
68. Thrushes, too, and crowds of other birds, formed part of the dishes
in the propomata. Teleclides says--
But roasted thrushes with sweet cheese-cakes served
Flew of their own accord down the guests' throats.
But the Syracusans call thrushes, not =kichlai=, but =kichêlai=.
Epicharmus says--
The thrushes (=kichêlai=) fond of eating the olive.
And Aristophanes also, in his "Clouds," mentions the same birds. But
Aristotle asserts that there are three kinds of thrushes; the first and
largest kind of which is nearly equal to a jay; and they call it also
the _ixophagus_, since it eats the mistletoe. The next kind is like a
blackbird in size, and they call them _trichades_. The third kind is
less than either of the before-mentioned sorts, and is called _illas_,
but some call it _tylas_, as Alexander the Myndian does. And this is a
very gregarious species, and builds its nest as the swallow does.
There is a short poem, which is attributed to Homer, and which is
entitled =epikichlides=, which has received this title from the
circumstance of Homer singing it to his children, and receiving thrushes
as his reward,--at least, this is the account given by Menæchmus, in his
treatise on Artists.
69. There is a bird called the =sykalis=, or figpecker. And Alexander
the Myndian asserts--"One of the tits is called by some people _elæus_,
and by others _pirias_; but when the figs become ripe, it gets the name
of _sycalis_." And there are two species of this bird, the sycalis and
the =melankoryphos=, or blackcap. Epicharmus spells the word with two
=ll=, and writes =sykallides=. He speaks of beautiful =sykallides=: and
in a subsequent passage he says--
And herons were there with their long bending necks,
And grouse who pick up seed, and beautiful sycallides.
And these birds are caught at the season when figs are ripe. And it is
more correct to spell the name with only one =l=; but Epicharmus put in
the second =l= because of the metre.
70. There is a kind of finch, too, which was sometimes eaten, of which
Eubulus says,
* * * * *
And Ephippus says, in his "Geryones"--
When 'twas the Amphidromian festival,
When 'tis the custom to toast bits of cheese
O' the Chersonesus; and to boil a cabbage,
Bedewed with shining oil; and eke to bake
The breasts of fat and well-fed lambs; to pluck
The feathers from the thrushes, doves and finches;
And also to eat cuttle-fish with anchovies,
And baskets of rich polypus to collect,
And to drink many cups of unmixed wine.
71. Then, too, there are blackbirds.--Nicostratus or Philetærus says--
_A._ What then shall I buy? Tell me, I pray you.
_B._ Go not to more expense than a neat table;
Buy a rough-footed hare; some ducklings too,
As many as you like; thrushes, and blackbirds,
And other small birds; there are many wild sorts.
_A._ Yes, and they're very nice.
Antiphanes also reckons starlings among the eatable birds, numerating
them in the following list--"Honey, partridges, pigeons, ducks, geese,
starlings, jays, rooks, blackbirds, quails, and pullets."
You are asking of us for a history of everything, and you do not allow
us to say a single thing without calling us to account for it. The word
=stroutharion= (a little bird) is found in many other authors, and also
in Eubulus. He says, "Take three or four partridges, and three hares,
and as many small birds as you can eat, and goldfinches, and parrots,
and finches, and nightjars, and whatever other birds of this kind you
can come across."
72. Swine's brains, too, was a not uncommon dish. Philosophers used to
forbid our eating these, saying that a person who partook of them might
as well eat a bear, and would not stick at eating his father's head, or
anything else imaginable. And they said, that at all events none of the
ancients had ever eaten them, because they were the seat of nearly all
sensation. But Apollodorus the Athenian says, that none of the ancients
ever even named the brain. And at all events Sophocles, in his
Trachiniæ, where he represents Hercules as throwing Lichas into the sea,
does not use the word =enkephalon=, _brains_, but says =leukon myelos=,
white marrow; avoiding a word which it was thought ill-omened to use:--
And from his hair he forces the white marrow,
His head being burst asunder in the middle,
And the blood flows:
though he had named all the rest of his limbs plainly enough. And
Euripides, introducing Hecuba lamenting for Astyanax, who had been
thrown down by the Greeks, says--
Unhappy child, how miserably have
Your native city's walls produced your death,
And dash'd your head in pieces! Fatal towers,
Which Phoebus builded! How did your mother oft
Cherish those curly locks, and press upon them
With never-wearied kisses! now the blood
Wells from that wound, where the bones broken gape;
But some things are too horrid to be spoken.
The lines too which follow these are worth stopping to consider. But
Philocles does employ the word =enkephalon=--
He never ceased devouring even the brains (=enkephalon=).
And Aristophanes says--
I would be content
To lose two membranes of the =enkephalon=.
And others, too, use the word. So that it must have been for the sake of
the poetical expression that Sophocles said "white marrow." But
Euripides not choosing openly to display to sight an unseemly and
disgusting object, revealed as much as he chose. And they thought the
head sacred, as is plain by their swearing by it; and by their even
venerating sneezes, which proceed from the head, as holy. And we, to
this day, confirm our arrangements and promises by nodding the head. As
the Jupiter of Homer says--
Come now, and I will nod my head to you.
73. Now all these things were put into the dishes which were served up
as propomata: pepper, green leaves, myrrh, galingal, Egyptian ointment.
Antiphanes says--
If any one buys pepper and brings it home,
They torture him by law like any spy.
And in a subsequent passage he says--
Now is the time for a man to go and find pepper,
And seed of orach, and fruit, and buy it, and bring it here.
And Eubulus says--
Just take some Cnidian grains, or else some pepper,
And pound them up with myrrh, and strew around.
And Ophelion says--
Pepper from Libya take, and frankincense,
And Plato's heaven-inspired book of wisdom.
And Nicander says, in his Theriaca--
Take the conyza's woolly leaves and stalks,
And often cut new pepper up, and add
Cardamums fresh from Media.
And Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says--"Pepper indeed is a
fruit: and there are two kinds of it; the one is round, like a vetch,
having a husk, and is rather red in colour; but the other is oblong,
black, and full of seeds like poppy-seeds. But this kind is much
stronger than the other. Both kinds are heating, on which account they
are used as remedies for, and antidotes against, hemlock." And in his
treatise on Suffocation, he writes--"And people who are suffocated are
recovered by an infusion of vinegar and pepper, or else by the fruit of
the nettle when crushed." But we must recollect that, properly speaking,
there is no noun of the neuter gender among the Greeks ending in =i=,
except =meli= alone; for the words =peperi=, and =kommi=, and =koiphi=
are foreign.
74. Let us now speak of oil.--Antiphanes or Alexis makes mention of the
Samian Oil, saying--
This man you see will be a measurer
Of that most white of oils, the Samian oil.
Ophelion makes mention also of Carian oil, and says--
The man anointed was with Carian oil.
Amyntas, in his treatise on Persian Weights and Measures, says--"The
mountains there bear turpentine and mastic trees, and Persian nuts, from
which they make a great deal of oil for the king. And Ctesias says, that
in Carmania there is made an oil which is extracted from thorns, which
the king uses. And he, in his third book of his treatise on the Revenues
derived from Asia, making a list of all the things which are prepared
for the king for his supper, makes no mention of pepper, or of vinegar,
which of itself is the very best of all seasonings. Nor does Deinon, in
his Persian History; though he does say that ammoniac salt is sent up to
the king from Egypt, and water from the Nile. Theophrastus also mentions
an oil which he calls =ômotribes=, that is to say, _extracted raw_, in
his treatise on Scents, saying that it is produced from the large coarse
olives called _phaulian_, and from almonds. Amphis also speaks of the
oil which is produced amongst the Thurians, as exceedingly fine--
Oil from the Thurians comes; from Gela lentils.
75. Pickle is a thing often mentioned. Cratinus says--
Your basket will be full of briny pickle.
And Pherecrates says--
His beard was all besmear'd with pickle juice.
And Sophocles, in his Triptolemus, says--
Eating this briny season'd pickle.
And Plato the comic writer says--
These men will choke me, steeping me in putrid pickle.
But the word =garos=, _pickle_, is a masculine noun. As Æschylus proves,
when he says =kai ton ichthyôn garon=.
76. Vinegar too was much used by the ancients, and this is the only
seasoning to which the Attics give the name of =hêdos=, as if it were
akin to =hêdys=, _sweet_. And Chrysippus the philosopher says, that the
best vinegar is the Egyptian and the Cnidian. But Aristophanes, in his
Plutus, says--
Sprinkling it o'er with Sphettian vinegar.
Didymus explaining this verse says, "Perhaps he says Sphettian because
the Sphettians are sour-tempered people." And somewhere or other he
mentions vinegar from Cleonæ, as being most excellent, saying, "And at
Cleonæ there are manufactories of vinegar." We find also in Diphilus--
_A._ He first takes off his coat, and then he sups,
After what fashion think you?
_B._ Why, like a Spartan.
_A._ A measure then of vinegar . . . .
_B._ Bah!
_A._ Why bah?
_B._ A measure holds but such and such a quantity
Of the best Cleonæan vinegar.
And Philonides says--
Their seasonings have not vinegar sufficient.
But Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Symposium, says, "Vinegar has a
tendency to make the exterior parts coagulate, and it affects the
strings within the stomach in a very similar manner; but any parts which
are tumid it dissolves, because forsooth different humours are mixed up
in us." And Alexis used to admire above all others the Decelean vinegar,
and says--
You have compell'd me to bring forth from thence
Four half-pint measures full of vinegar
From Decelea, and now drag me through
The middle of the forum.
The word =oxygaron= must be spelt so, with a =y=, and the vessel which
receives it is called =oxybaphon=. And so Lysias, in the speech against
Theopompus when on his trial for an assault, says, "But I myself drink
=oxymeli=." And so too we must call oil of roses mixed with vinegar
=oxyrodinon=, spelling all the words thus compounded in this manner with
a =y=.
77. Seasonings are mentioned even by Sophocles. In his Phæacians we find
the expression,
And seasoning for food.
And in Æschylus too we read--
You are steeping the seasonings.
And Theopompus says--"Many bushels of seasonings, and many sacks and
bags of books, and of all other things which may be useful for life." In
Sophocles too the expression is found--
I like a cook will cleverly season . . . .
And Cratinus says in the Glaucus--
It is not every one who can season, skilfully.
And Eupolis speaks of
Very bad vinegar seasoned in an expensive way.
And Antiphanes, in his Leucas, gives the following catalogue of
seasonings:--
Dried grapes, and salt, and eke new wine
Newly boiled down, and assafoetida,
And cheese, and thyme, and sesame,
And nitre too, and cummin seed,
And sumach, honey, and marjoram,
And herbs, and vinegar and oil
And sauce of onions, mustard and capers mix'd,
And parsley, capers too, and eggs,
And lime, and cardamums, and th' acid juice
Which comes from the green fig-tree, besides lard
And eggs and honey and flour wrapp'd in fig-leaves,
And all compounded in one savoury forcemeat.
The ancients were well acquainted with the Ethiopian cardamum. We must
take notice that they used the words =thymos= and =origanos= as
masculine nouns. And so Anaxandrides says--
Cutting asparagus and squills and marjoram, (=hos=)
Which gives the pickle an aristocratic taste,
When duly mixed (=michtheis=) with coriander seed.
And Ion says--
But in a hurried manner in his hand
He hides the marjoram (=ton origanon=).
Plato however, or Cantharus, used it as feminine, saying--
She from Arcadia brought
The harshly-tasted (=tên drimytatên=) marjoram.
Epicharmus and Ameipsias both use it as a neuter noun; but Nicander, in
his Melissurgica, uses =thymos= as masculine.
78. Cratinus used the word =pepones=, which properly means merely full
ripe, in speaking of the cucumbers which give seed, in his Ulysses--
Tell me, O wisest son of old Laertes,
Have you e'er seen a friend of yours in Paros
Buy a large cucumber that's run to seed?
And Plato says in his Laius--
Do you not see
That Meleager, son of mighty Glaucon,
. . . . Goes about every where like a stupid cuckoo,
With legs like the seedless =pepôn= cucumber?
And Anaxilas says--
His ankles swell'd
Larger than e'en a =pepôn= cucumber.
And Theopompus says of a woman--
She was to me
More tender than a =pepôn= cucumber.
Phænias says, "Both the =sikyos= and the =pepôn= are tender to eat, with
the stem on which they grow; however the seed is not to be eaten, but
the outside only, when they are fully ripe; but the gourd called
=kolokyntê=, when raw is not eatable, but is very good either boiled or
roasted. And Diocles the Carystian, in the first book of his treatise on
Wholesome Things, says that "of wild vegetables the following should be
boiled before eating: the lettuce (the best kind of which is the black);
the cardamum; mustard from the Adriatic; onions (the best kinds are the
Ascalonian, and that called getian); garlic, that other kind of garlic
called physinga, the =pepôn= cucumber, and the poppy." And a little
afterwards he says, "The =pepôn= cucumber is better for the stomach and
more digestible; though every cucumber when boiled is tender, never
gives any pain, and is diuretic; but that kind called =pepôn= when
boiled in mead has very aperient qualities. And Speusippus, in his
treatise on Similarities, calls the =pepôn= by the name of =sikya=. But
Diocles having named the =pepôn=, does not any longer call it =sikya=:
and Speusippus after having named the =sikya= never names the =pepôn=.
Diphilus says, the =pepôn= is more full of wholesome juice, and
moderates the humours of the body, but it is not very nutritious; it is
easily digested, and promotes the secretions.
79. The lettuce was in great request as an article of food. Its name is
=thridax=, but the Attics call it =thridakinê=. Epicharmus says--
A lettuce (=thridax=) with its stalk peel'd all the way up.
But Strattis calls lettuces =thridakinides=, and says--
The leek-destroying grubs, which go
Throughout the leafy gardens
On fifty feet, and leave their trace,
Gnawing all herbs and vegetables;
Leading the dances of the long-tailed satyrs
Amid the petals of the verdant herbs,
And of the juicy lettuces (=thridakinides=),
And of the fragrant parsley.
And Theophrastus says, "Of lettuce (=thridakinê=) the white is the
sweeter and the more tender: there are three kinds; there is the lettuce
with the broad stalk, and the lettuce with the round stalk, and in the
third place there is the Lacedæmonian lettuce--its leaf is like that of
a thistle, but it grows up straight and tall, and it never sends up any
side shoots from the main stalk. But some plants of the broad kind are
so very broad in the stalk that some people even use them for doors to
their gardens. But when the stalks are cut, then those which shoot again
are the sweetest of any."
80. But Nicander the Colophonian, in the second part of his Dictionary,
says that the lettuce is called =brenthis= by the Cyprians. And it was
towards a plant of this kind that Adonis was flying when he was slain by
the boar. Amphis in his Ialemus says--
Curse upon all these lettuces (=thridakinai=)!
For if a man not threescore years should eat them,
And then betake himself to see his mistress,
He'll toss the whole night through, and won't be equal
To her expectations or his own.
And Callimachus says that Venus hid Adonis under a lettuce, which is an
allegorical statement of the poet's, intended to show that those who
are much addicted to the use of lettuces are very little adapted for
pleasures of love. And Eubulus says in his Astuti--
Do not put lettuces before me, wife,
Upon the table; or the blame is yours.
For once upon a time, as goes the tale,
Venus conceal'd the sadly slain Adonis
Beneath the shade of this same vegetable;
So that it is the food of dead men, or of those
Who scarcely are superior to the dead.
Cratinus also says that Venus when in love with Phaon hid him also in
the leaves of the lettuce: but the younger Marsyas says that she hid him
amid the grass of barley.
Pamphilus in his book on Languages says, that Hipponax called the
lettuce =tetrakinê=: but Clitarchus says that it is the Phrygians who
give it this name. Ibycus the Pythagorean says that the lettuce is at
its first beginning a plant with a broad leaf, smooth, without any
stalk, and is called by the Pythagoreans _the eunuch_, and by the women
=astytis=; for that it makes the men diuretic and powerless for the
calls of love: but it is exceedingly pleasant to the taste.
81. Diphilus says that "the stalk of the lettuce is exceedingly
nutritious, and more difficult of digestion than the leaves; but that
the leaves are more apt to produce flatulence, and are still more
nutritious, and have a greater tendency to promote the secretions. And
as a general rule the lettuce is good for the stomach, cooling and
wholesome for the bowels, soporific, full of pleasant and wholesome
juice, and certainly has a great tendency to make men indifferent to
love. But the softer lettuce is still better for the stomach, and still
more soporific; while that which is harder and drier is both less good
for the stomach and less wholesome for the bowels; that, however, is
also soporific. But the black lettuce is more cooling, and is good for
the bowels; and summer lettuce is full of wholesome juice, and more
nutritious; but that which is in season at the end of autumn is not
nutritious, and has no juice. And the stalk of the lettuce appears to be
a remedy against thirst." And the lettuce when boiled like asparagus in
a dish, if we adopt the statement of Glaucias, is superior to all other
boiled vegetables.
Among some of the other nations Theophrastus says that beetroot, and
lettuce, and spinach, and mustard, and sorrel, and coriander, and anise,
and cardamums, are all called =epispora=, things fit to be sown for the
second crop. And Diphilus says that, as a general rule, all vegetables
have but little nutriment in them, and have all of them a tendency to
make people thin, and are devoid of wholesome juices, and moreover stay
a long while in the stomach, and are not very digestible. But Epicharmus
speaks of some as summer vegetables.
82. Artichokes were often eaten. And Sophocles, in his Colchian Women,
calls an artichoke =kinara=, but in his Phoenix he writes the word
=kynaros=, saying--
The artichoke fills every field with its thorn.
But Hecatæus the Milesian, in his Description of Asia, at least if the
book under this title is a genuine work of that author, (for Callimachus
attributes it to Nesiotas;) however, whoever it was who wrote the book
speaks in these terms--"Around the sea which is called the Hyrcanian sea
there are mountains lofty and rough with woods, and on the mountains
there is the prickly artichoke." And immediately afterwards he
subjoins--"Of the Parthian tribes the Chorasmians dwell towards the
rising sun, having a territory partly champaign and partly mountainous.
And in the mountains there are wild trees; the prickly artichoke, the
willow, the tamarisk." He says moreover that the artichoke grows near
the river Indus. And Scylax, or Polemo, writes, "that that land is well
watered with fountains and with canals, and on the mountains there grow
artichokes and many other plants." And immediately afterwards he adds,
"From that point a mountain stretches on both sides of the river Indus,
very lofty, and very thickly overgrown with wild wood and the prickly
artichoke."
But Didymus the grammarian, explaining what is meant by Sophocles when
he speaks of the prickly artichoke (which he calls =kynaros=), says,
"Perhaps he means the dog-brier, because that plant is prickly and
rough; for the Pythian priestess did call that plant a wooden bitch. And
the Locrian, after he had been ordered by an oracle to build a city in
that place in which he was bitten by a wooden bitch, having had his leg
scratched by a dog-brier, built the city in the place where the brier
had stood. And there is a plant called the dog-brier, something between
a brier and a tree, according to the statement of Theophrastus, and it
has a red fruit, like a pomegranate, and it has a leaf like that of the
willow.
83. Phænias, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, speaks of one
which he calls the Sicilian cactus, a very prickly plant. As also does
Theophrastus, in his sixth book about Plants, who says, "But the plant
which is called the cactus exists only in Sicily, and is not found in
Greece: and it sends forth stalks close to the ground, just above the
root. And the stalks are the things which are called cacti: and they are
eatable as soon as they are peeled, and rather bitter; and they preserve
them in brine. But there is a second kind, which sends up a straight
stalk, which they call =pternix=; and that also is eatable. The shell of
the fruit, as soon as the outer soft parts have been taken away, is like
the inside of a date: that also is eatable; and the name of that is
=askalêron=." But who is there who would not place such belief in these
assertions as to say confidently that this cactus is the same as that
plant which is called by the Romans _carduus_, or thistle; as the Romans
are at no great distance from Sicily, and as it is evidently the same
plant which the Greeks call =kinara=, or the artichoke? For if you
merely change two letters, =kardos= and =kaktos= will be the same word.
And Epicharmus also shows us plainly this, when he puts down the cactus
in his catalogue of eatable vegetables; in this way--"The poppy, fennel,
and the rough cactus; now one can eat of the other vegetables when
dressed with milk, if he bruises them and serves them up with rich
sauce, but by themselves they are not worth much." And in a subsequent
passage he says--"Lettuces, pines, squills, radishes, cacti." And again
he says--"A man came from the country, bringing fennel, and cacti, and
lavender, and sorrel, and chicory, and thistles, and ferns, and the
cactus, and dractylus, and otostyllus, and scolium, and seni, and
onopordus." And Philetas the Coan poet says--
A fawn about to die would make a noise,
Fearing the venom of the thorny cactus.
84. And, indeed, Sopater the Paphian, who was born in the time of
Alexander the son of Philip, and who lived even till the time of the
second Ptolemy king of Egypt, called the artichoke =kinara= just as we
do, as he himself declares in one of the books of his history. But
Ptolemy Euergetes the king of Egypt, being one of the pupils of
Aristarchus the grammarian, in the second book of his Commentaries
writes thus--"Near Berenice, in Libya, is the river Lethon, in which
there is the fish called the pike, and the chrysophrys, and a great
multitude of eels, and also of lampreys which are half as big again as
those which come from Macedonia and from the Copaic lake. And the whole
stream is full of fishes of all sorts. And in that district there are a
great quantity of anchovies, and the soldiers who composed our army
picked them, and ate them, and brought them to us, the generals having
stripped them of their thorns. I know, too, that there is an island
called Cinarus, which is mentioned by Semus.
85. Now with respect to what is called the Brain of the
Palm.--Theophrastus, speaking of the plant of the palm-tree, states,
"The manner of cultivating it, and of its propagation from the fruit, is
as follows: when one has taken off the upper rind, one comes to a
portion in which is what is called the brain." And Xenophon, in the
second book of the Anabasis, writes as follows: "There, too, the
soldiers first ate the brain of the palm or date-tree. And many of them
marvelled at its appearance, and at the peculiarity of its delicious
flavour. But it was found to have a great tendency to produce headache;
but the date, when the brain was taken out of it, entirely dried up."
Nicander says in his Georgics--
And at the same time cutting off the branches
Loaded with dates they bring away the brain,
A dainty greatly fancied by the young.
And Diphilus the Siphnian states--"The brains of the dates are filling
and nutritious; still they are heavy and not very digestible: they cause
thirst, too, and constipation of the stomach."
But we, says Athenæus, O my friend Timocrates, shall appear to keep our
brains to the end, if we stop this conversation and the book at this
point.
_Some Fragments omitted in the Second Book of the Deipnosophists of
Athenæus._
86. Menander says--
It is a troublesome thing to fall in with
An entire party of none but relations;
Where as soon as he has taken his cup in his hand
The father first begins the discourse,
And stammers out his recommendations:
Then after him the mother, in the second place;
And then some old aunt gossips and chatters;
And then some harsh-voiced old man,
The father of the aunt aforesaid; then too
Another old woman calls him her darling:
And he nods assent to all that is said.
87. And a little afterwards he says--
Before the shade they wear a purple cloth,
And then this comes after the purple;
Being itself neither white nor purple,
But a ray of the brilliancy of the woof as it were
Of divers colours curiously blended.
* * * * *
Antiphanes says: "What do you say? Will you not bring something hither
to the door which we may eat? and then I will sit on the ground and eat
it as the beggars do: and any one may see me."
* * * * *
The same man says in another place--
Prepare then
A fanner to cool me, a dish, a tripod, a cup,
An ewer, a mortar, a pot, and a spoon.
* * * * *
_About the Ascent of the Nile._
88. Thales the Milesian, one of the seven wise men, says that the
overflowing of the Nile arises from the Etesian winds; for that they
blow up the river, and that the mouths of the river lie exactly opposite
to the point from which they blow; and accordingly that the wind blowing
in the opposite direction hinders the flow of the waters; and the waves
of the sea, dashing against the mouth of the river, and coming on with a
fair wind in the same direction, beat back the river, and in this manner
the Nile becomes full to overflowing. But Anaxagoras the natural
philosopher says that the fulness of the Nile arises from the snow
melting; and so, too, says Euripides, and some others of the tragic
poets. And Anaxagoras says that this is the sole origin of all that
fulness; but Euripides goes further, and describes the exact place where
this melting of the snow takes place; for in his play called "Archelaus"
he speaks thus:--
Danaus, the noble sire of fifty daughters,
Leaving the Nile, the fairest stream on earth,
Fill'd by the summer of the Æthiop land,
The negro's home, when the deep snow does melt,
And o'er the land the Sun his chariot drives.
And in the "Helen" he says something similar:--
These are the beauteous virgin streams of Nile,
Which in the place of rain bedew the plain
Of Egypt when the white snow melts on th' hills.
And Æschylus says--
I know its history, and love to praise
The race of the Æthiop land, where mighty Nile
Rolls down his seven streams the country through,
When the spring winds bring down the heavy waters;
What time the sun shining along that land
Dissolves the mountain snow; and the whole land
Of flourishing Egypt, fill'd with th' holy stream,
Sends forth the vital ears of corn of Ceres.
89. And Callisthenes the historian argues against what I quoted just now
as stated by Anaxagoras and Euripides: and he, too, declares his own
opinion,--that as there is much very heavy and continued rain in
Æthiopia about the time of the rising of the Dogstar, and from that
period till the rising of Arcturus, and as the Etesian winds blow at
about the same time, (for these are the winds which he says have the
greatest tendency to bring the clouds over Æthiopia,) when the clouds
fall upon the mountains in that region, a vast quantity of water bursts
forth, in consequence of which the Nile rises. But Democritus says that
about the winter solstice there are heavy falls of snow in the countries
around the north; but that when the sun changes its course, at the
summer solstice, the snow being melted and evaporated by the warmth,
clouds are formed, and then the Etesian gales catch hold of them, and
drive them towards the south; and when these clouds are all driven
together towards Æthiopia and Libya, a mighty rain ensues, and the water
from that flows down the mountains and fills the Nile. This, then, is
the cause which Democritus alleges for this fulness of the Nile.
90. But Euthymenes the Massiliote says, speaking of his own knowledge,
acquired in a voyage which he had made, that the sea outside the Pillars
of Hercules flows towards Libya and turns up and proceeds towards the
north; and that then, being driven back by the Etesian gales, it is
raised to a height by the winds, and flows high at that time; but, when
the Etesian gales cease, it recedes. He says moreover, that that sea is
sweet to the taste, and that it contains monsters like the crocodiles
and the hippopotami in the Nile.
But Oenopides the Chian says, that in winter the sources of the river
are dried up, but in the summer they are thawed and flow; and so that
for the sake of filling up the previous dryness, the rains from heaven
cooperate with * * * * * * * * And on this account the river is smaller
in winter and is full in summer.
But Herodotus gives an explanation quite contrary to that of the rest of
those who have discussed this subject, but agreeing with the explanation
of Oenopides; for he says that the stream of the Nile is of such
magnitude as always to fill the river; but that the sun, as it makes its
journey through Libya in the winter, dries up the river at that time;
but that as it has gone off towards the north at the time of the summer
solstice, then the river becomes full again, and overflows the plains.
Now these are the mouths of the Nile:--towards Arabia, the Pelusiac
mouth; towards Libya, the Canopic: and the rest are,--the Bolbitic, the
Sebennytic, the Mendesian, the Saitic, and the Opuntic.
FOOTNOTES:
[62:1] We find something like this in Theoc. xxix. 1.
=Oinos, ô phile pai, legetai kai alathea.=
[64:1] =Akratopotês=, drinker of unmixed wine.
[64:2] =Pheiditia= was the Spartan name for the =syssitia=. _Vide_
Smith, Dict. Ant. p. 928. _b_.
[65:1] Iliad, xvii. 180.
[66:1] Odyss. ix. 6.
[67:1] Odyss. v. 70.
[67:2] Ib. xii. 360.
[67:3] Iliad, xxii. 149.
[67:4] Ib. xi. 266.
[68:1] Iliad, xi. 477.
[74:1] =Epiphanês=, illustrious. =Epimanês=, mad.
[82:1] A cubit was about 18-1/4 inches.
[84:1] The description of the mulberry given here, shows that it is
rather a blackberry than our modern mulberry.
[89:1] Liddell and Scott quote Arist. Pac. 1136, to show that
=erebinthoi= were eaten roasted like chestnuts, and sometimes raw, for
dessert.