1. Callimachus the grammarian said that a great book was equivalent to a
great evil.
With respect to Ciboria, or Egyptian beans, Nicander says in his
Georgics--
You may sow the Egyptian bean, in order in summer
To make its flowers into garlands; and when the ciboria
Have fallen, then give the ripe fruit to the youths
Who are feasting with you, into their hands, as they have been a
long time
Wishing for them; but roots I boil, and then place on the table at
feasts.
But when Nicander speaks of "roots," he means the things which are
called by the Alexandrians _colocasia_; as he says elsewhere--
Have peel'd the beans, and cut up the colocasia.
Now there is at Sicyon a temple to the Colocasian Minerva. There is also
a kind of cup called =kibôrion=.[122:1]
2. Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, writes thus: "The bean in Egypt
grows in marshes and swamps; and its stalk is in length, when it is at
the largest, about four cubits; but in thickness, it is as thick as
one's finger: and it is like a long reed, only without joints. But it
has divisions within, running through the whole of it, like honeycombs.
And on this stalk is the head and the flower, being about twice the size
of a poppy; and its colour is like that of a rose, very full coloured;
and it puts forth large leaves. But the root is thicker than the
thickest reed, and it has divisions like the stalk. And people eat it
boiled, and roasted, and raw. And the men who live near the marshes eat
it very much. It grows, too, in Syria and in Cilicia, but those
countries do not ripen it thoroughly. It grows, too, around Torone in
Chalcidice, in a marsh of moderate size, and that place ripens it, and
it brings its fruit to perfection there. But Diphilus the Siphnian says,
"The root of the Egyptian bean, which is called colocasium, is very good
for the stomach, and very nutritious, but it is not very digestible,
being very astringent; and that is the best which is the least woolly.
But the beans which are produced by the plant called _ciborium_, when
they are green are indigestible, not very nutritious, easily pass
through one, and are apt to cause flatulence; but when they are dry they
are not so flatulent. And from the genuine ciborium there is a flower
which grows which is made into garlands. And the Egyptians call the
flower the lotus; but the Naucratitans tell me, says Athenæus, that its
name is the melilotus: and it is of that flower that the melilotus
garlands are made, which are very fragrant, and which have a cooling
effect in the summer season.
3. But Phylarchus says, "that though Egyptian beans had never been sown
before in any place, and had never produced fruit if any one had by
chance sown a few, except in Egypt, still, in the time of Alexander the
king, the son of Pyrrhus, it happened that some sprung up near the river
Thyamis in Thesprotia in Epirus, in a certain marsh in that district;
and for two years continuously they bore fruit and grew; and that on
this Alexander put a guard over them, and not only forbade any one to
pick them, but would not allow any one to approach the place: and on
this the marsh dried up; and for the future it not only never produced
the above-mentioned fruit, but it does not appear even to have furnished
any water. And something very like this happened at Ædepsus. For at a
distance from all other waters there was a spring sending forth cold
water at no great distance from the sea; and invalids who drank this
water were greatly benefited: on which account many repaired thither
from great distances, to avail themselves of the water. Accordingly the
generals of king Antigonus, wishing to be economical with respect to it,
imposed a tax to be paid by those who drank it: and on this the spring
dried up. And in the Troas in former times all who wished it were at
liberty to draw water from the Tragasæan lake; but when Lysimachus
became ruler there, and put a tax on it, that lake, too, disappeared:
and as he marvelled at this, as soon as he remitted the tribute and left
the place free, the water came again.
4. With respect to Cucumbers.--There is a proverb--
Eat the cucumber, O woman, and weave your cloak.
And Matron says, in his Parodies--
And I saw a cucumber, the son of the all-glorious Earth,
Lying among the herbs; and it was served up on nine tables.[123:1]
And Laches says--
But, as when cucumber grows up in a dewy place.
Now the Attic writers always use the word =sikyon= as a word of three
syllables. But Alcæus uses it as a dissyllable, =sikys=; for he says,
=dakê tôn sikyôn= from the nominative =sikys=, a word like =stachys,
stachyos=. And Phrynichus uses the word =sikydion= as a diminutive,
where he says--
=Entragein sikydion=, to eat a little cucumber.
[_From this point are the genuine words of Athenæus._[124:1]]
* * * * *
I will send radishes and four cucumbers.
* * * * *
And Phrynichus too used the word =sikydion= as a diminutive, in his
Monotropus; where he says, =kantragein sikydion=.
5. But Theophrastus says that there are three kinds of cucumbers, the
Lacedæmonian, the Scytalian, and the Boeotian; and that of these the
Lacedæmonian, which is a watery one, is the best; and that the others do
not contain water. "Cucumbers too," says he, "contain a more agreeable
and wholesome juice if the seed be steeped in milk or in mead before it
is sown;" and he asserts in his book on the Causes of Plants, that they
come up quicker if they are steeped either in water or milk before they
are put in the ground. And Euthydemus says, in his treatise on
Vegetables, that there is one kind of cucumber which is called
=drakontias=. But Demetrius Ixios states, in the first book of his
treatise on Etymologies, that the name =sikyon= is derived =apo tou
seuesthai kai kiein=, from _bursting forth and proceeding_; for that it
is a thing which spreads fast and wide. But Heraclides of Tarentum calls
the cucumber =hêdygaion=, which means _growing in sweet earth_, or
_making the earth sweet_, in his Symposium. And Diocles of Carystos says
that cucumber, if it is eaten with the sium in the first course, makes
the eater uncomfortable; for that it gets into the head as the radish
does; but that if it is eaten at the end of supper it causes no
uncomfortable feelings, and is more digestible; and that when it is
boiled it is moderately diuretic. But Diphilus says--"The cucumber being
a cooling food is not very manageable, and is not easily digested or
evacuated; besides that, it creates shuddering feelings and engenders
bile, and is a great preventive against amatory feelings." But cucumbers
grow in gardens at the time of full moon, and at that time they grow
very visibly, as do the sea-urchins.
6. With respect to Figs.--The fig-tree, says Magnus, (for I will not
allow any one to take what I have to say about figs out of my mouth, not
if I were to be hanged for it, for I am most devilishly fond of figs,
and I will say what occurs to me;) "the fig-tree, my friends, was the
guide to men to lead them to a more civilized life. And this is plain
from the fact that the Athenians call the place where it was first
discovered The Sacred Fig; and the fruit from it they call _hegeteria_,
that is to say, "the guide," because that was the first to be discovered
of all the fruits now in cultivation. Now there are many species of
figs;--there is the Attic sort, which Antiphanes speaks of in his
Synonymes; and when he is praising the land of Attica, he says--
_A._ What fruits this land produces!
Superior, O Hipponicus, to the world.
What honey, what bread, what figs!
_Hipp._ It does, by Jove!
Bear wondrous figs.
And Isistrus, in his "Attics," says that it was forbidden to export out
of Attica the figs which grew in that country, in order that the
inhabitants might have the exclusive enjoyment of them. And as many
people were detected in sending them away surreptitiously, those who
laid informations against them before the judges were then first called
sycophants. And Alexis says, in his "The Poet"--
The name of sycophant is one which does
Of right apply to every wicked person;
For figs when added to a name might show
Whether the man was good and just and pleasant;
But now when a sweet name is given a rogue,
It makes us doubt why this should be the case.
And Philomnestus, in his treatise on the Festival of Apollo at Rhodes,
which is called the Sminthian festival, says--"Since the sycophant got
his name from these circumstances, because at that time there were
fines and taxes imposed upon figs and oil and wine, by the produce of
which imposts they found money for the public expenses; they called
those who exacted these fines and laid these informations sycophants,
which was very natural, selecting those who were accounted the most
considerable of the citizens.
7. And Aristophanes mentions the fig, in his "Farmers;" speaking as
follows:--
I am planting figs of all sorts except the Lacedæmonian,
For this kind is the fig of an enemy and a tyrant:
And it would not have been so small a fruit if it had not been a
great hater of the people.
But he called it small because it was not a large plant. But Alexis, in
his "Olynthian," mentioning the Phrygian figs, says--
And the beautiful fig,
The wonderful invention of the Phrygian fig,
The divine object of my mother's care.
And of those figs which are called =phibaleoi=, mention is made by many
of the comic writers; and Pherecrates, in his "Crapatalli," says--
O my good friend, make haste and catch a fever,
And then alarm yourself with no anxiety,
But eat Phibalean figs all the summer;
And then, when you have eaten your fill, sleep the whole of the
midday;
And than feel violent pains, get in a fever, and holloa.
And Teleclides, in his Amphictyons, says--
How beautiful those Phibalean figs are!
They also call myrtle-berries Phibalean. As Antiphanes does in his
"Cretans"--
. . . . . But first of all
I want some myrtle-berries on the table,
Which I may eat when e'er I counsel take;
And they must be Phibalean, very fine,
Fit for a garland.
Epigenes too mentions Chelidonian figs, that is, figs fit for swallows,
in his Bacchea--
Then, in a little while, a well-fill'd basket
Of dry Chelidonian figs is brought in.
And Androtion, or Philippus, or Hegemon, in the Book of the Farm, gives
a list of these kinds of figs, saying--"In the plain it is desirable to
plant specimens of the Chelidonian fig, of the fig called Erinean, of
the Leukerinean, and of the Phibalean; but plant the Oporobasilis, the
queen of autumn, everywhere; for each kind has some useful qualities;
and, above all, the pollarded trees, and the phormynian, and the
double-bearers, and the Megarian, and the Lacedæmonian kinds are
desirable, if there is plenty of water.
8. Lynceus, too, mentions the fig-trees which grow in Rhodes, in his
Epistles; instituting a comparison between the best of the Athenian
kinds and the Rhodian species. And he writes in these terms:--"But these
fig-trees appear to vie with Lacedæmonian trees of the same kind, as
mulberries do with figs; and they are put on the table before supper,
not after supper as they are here, when the taste is already vitiated by
satiety, but while the appetite is still uninfluenced and unappeased."
And if Lynceus had tasted the figs which in the beautiful Rome are
called =kallistrouthia=, as I have, he would have been by far
more long-sighted than ever his namesake was. So very far superior are
those figs to all the other figs in the whole world.
Other kinds of figs grown near Rome are held in high esteem; and those
called the Chian figs, and the Libianian; those two named the Chalcidic,
and the African figs; as Herodotus the Lycian bears witness, in his
treatise on Figs.
9. But Parmeno the Byzantine, in his Iambics, speaks of the figs which
come from Canæ, an Æolian city, as the best of all: saying--
I am arrived after a long voyage, not having brought
A valuable freight of Canæan figs.
And that the figs from Caunus, a city of Caria, are much praised, is
known to all the world. There is another sort of fig, called the
Oxalian, which Heracleon the Ephesian makes mention of, and Nicander of
Thyatira, quoting what is mentioned by Apollodorus of Carystus, in his
play, called the "Dress-seller with a Dowry;" where he says--
Moreover, all the wine
Was very sour and thin, so that I felt
Ashamed to see it; for all other farms
In the adjacent region bear the figs
Ycleped Oxalian; and mine bears vines.
Figs also grow in the island of Paros, for those which are called by
the Parians =haimônia= are a different fig from the common one, and are
not what I am alluding to here; for the =haimônia= are the same with
those which are called Lydian figs; and they have obtained this name on
account of their red colour, since =haima= means blood, and they are
mentioned by Archilochus, who speaks in this manner:--
Never mind Paros, and the figs which grow
Within that marble island, and the life
Of its seafaring islanders.
But these figs are as far superior to the ordinary run of figs which are
grown in other places as the meat of the wild boar is superior to that
of all other animals of the swine tribe which are not wild.
10. The =leukerineos= is a kind of fig-tree; and perhaps it is that kind
which produces the white figs; Hermippus mentions it in his Iambics, in
these terms--
There are besides the Leucerinean figs.
And the figs called =erineoi=, or =erinoi=, are mentioned by Euripides
in his "Sciron"--
Or else to fasten him on the erinean boughs.
And Epicharmus says, in his Sphinx,--
But these are not like the erinean figs.
And Sophocles, in his play entitled "The Wedding of Helen," by a sort of
metaphor, calls the fruit itself by the name of the tree; saying--
A ripe =erinos= is a useless thing
For food, and yet you ripen others by
Your conversation.
And he uses the masculine gender here, saying =pepôn erinos=, instead of
=pepon erinon=. Alexis also says in his "Caldron"--
And why now need we speak of people who
Sell every day their figs in close pack'd baskets,
And constantly do place those figs below
Which are hard and bad; but on top they range
The ripe and beautiful fruit. And then a comrade,
As if he'd bought the basket, gives the price;
The seller, putting in his mouth the coin,
Sells wild figs (=erina=) while he swears he's selling good ones.
Now the tree, the wild fig, from which the fruit meant by the term
=erina= comes, is called =erinos=, being a masculine noun. Strattis
says, in his Troilus--
Have you not perceived a wild fig-tree near her?
And Homer says--
There stands a large wild fig-tree flourishing with leaves.
And Amerias says, that the figs on the wild fig-trees are called
=erinakai=.
11. Hermonax, in his book on the Cretan Languages, gives a catalogue of
the different kinds of figs, and speaks of some as =hamadea= and as
=nikylea=; and Philemon, in his book on Attic Dialects, says, that some
figs are called royals, from which also the dried figs are called
=basilides=, or royal; stating besides, that the ripe figs are called
=kolytra=. Seleucus, too, in his Book on Dialects, says that there is a
fruit called =glykysidê= being exceedingly like a fig in shape: and that
women guard against eating them, because of their evil effects; as also
Plato the comic writer says, in his Cleophon. And Pamphilus says, that
the winter figs are called Cydonæa by the Achæans, saying, that
Aristophanes said the very same thing in his Lacedæmonian Dialects.
Hermippus, in his Soldiers, says that there is a kind of fig called
Coracean, using these words--
Either Phibalean figs, or Coracean.
Theophrastus, in the second book of his treatise on Plants, says that
there is a sort of fig called Charitian Aratean. And in his third book
he says, that in the district around the Trojan Ida, there is a sort of
fig growing in a low bush, having a leaf like that of the linden-tree;
and that it bears red figs, about the size of an olive, but rounder, and
in its taste like a medlar. And concerning the fig which is called in
Crete the Cyprian fig, the same Theophrastus, in his fourth book of his
History of Plants, writes as follows:--"The fig called in Crete the
Cyprian fig, bears fruit from its stalk, and from its stoutest branches;
and it sends forth a small leafless shoot, like a little root, attached
to which is the fruit. The trunk is large, and very like that of the
white poplar, and its leaf is like that of the elm. And it produces four
fruits, according to the number of the shoots which it puts forth. Its
sweetness resembles that of the common fig; and within it resembles the
wild fig: but in size it is about equal to the cuckoo-apple.
12. Again, of the figs called _prodromi_, or precocious, the same
Theophrastus makes mention in the third book of his Causes of Plants, in
this way--"When a warm and damp and soft air comes to the fig-tree,
then it excites the germination, from which the figs are called
prodromi." And proceeding further, he says--"And again, some trees bear
the prodromi, namely, the Lacedæmonian fig-tree, and the leucomphaliac,
and several others; but some do not bear them." But Seleucus, in his
book on Languages, says that there is a kind of fig called =proterikê=,
which bears very early fruit. And Aristophanes, in his Ecclesiazusæ,
speaks of a double-bearing fig-tree--
Take for a while the fig-tree's leaves
Which bears its crop twice in the year.
And Antiphanes says, in his Scleriæ--
'Tis by the double-bearing fig-tree there below.
But Theopompus, in the fifty-fourth book of his Histories, says--"At the
time when Philip reigned about the territory of the Bisaltæ, and
Amphipolis and Græstonia, of Macedon, when it was the middle of spring,
the fig-trees were loaded with figs, and the vines with bunches of
grapes, and the olive-trees, though it was only the season for them to
be just pushing, were full of olives. And Philip was successful in all
his undertakings." But in the second book of his treatise on Plants,
Theophrastus says that the wild fig also is double-bearing; and some say
that it bears even three crops in the year, as for instance, at Ceos.
13. Theophrastus also says, that the fig-tree if planted among squills
grows up faster, and is not so liable to be destroyed by worms: and, in
fact, that everything which is planted among squills both grows faster
and is more sure to be vigorous. And in a subsequent passage
Theophrastus says, in the second book of his Causes--"The fig called the
Indian fig, though it is a tree of a wonderful size, bears a very small
fruit; and not much of it; as if it had expended all its strength in
making wood." And in the second book of his History of Plants, the
philosopher says--"There is also another kind of fig in Greece, and in
Cilicia and Cyprus, which bears green figs; and that tree bears a real
fig, =sykon= in front of the leaf, and a green fig, =olynthos= behind
the leaf. And these green figs grow wholly on the wood which is a year
old, and not on the new wood." And this kind of fig-tree produces the
green fig ripe and sweet, very different from the green fig which we
have; and it grows to a much greater size than the genuine fig. And the
time when it is in season is not long after the tree has made its wood.
And I know, too, that there are many other names of fig-trees; there are
the Royal, and the Fig Royal, and the Cirrocoeladian, and the
Hyladian, and the Deerflesh, and the Lapyrian, and the Subbitter, and
the Dragon-headed, and the White-faced, and the Black-faced, and the
Fountain fig, and the Mylaic, and the Ascalonian.
14. Tryphon also speaks of the names of figs in the second book of his
History of Plants, and says that Dorion states, in his book of the Farm,
that Sukeas, one of the Titans, being pursued by Jupiter, was received
in her bosom as in an asylum by his mother Earth; and that the earth
sent forth that plant as a place of refuge for her son; from whom also
the city Sukea in Cilicia has its name. But Pherenicus the epic poet, a
Heraclean by birth, says that the fig-tree, (=sykê=) is so called from
Suke the daughter of Oxylus: for that Oxylus the son of Orius, having
intrigued with his sister Hamadryas, had several children, and among
them Carya (the nut-tree), Balanus (the acorn-bearing oak), Craneus (the
cornel-tree), Orea (the ash), Ægeirus (the poplar), Ptelea (the elm),
Ampelus (the vine), Suke (the fig-tree): and that these daughters were
all called the Hamadryad Nymphs; and that from them many of the trees
were named. On which account Hipponax says--
The fig-tree black, the sister of the vine.
And Sosibius the Lacedæmonian, after stating that the fig-tree was the
discovery of Bacchus, says that on this account the Lacedæmonians
worship Bacchus Sukites. But the people of Naxus, as Andriscus and
Aglaosthenes related, state that Bacchus is called Meilichius, because
of his gift of the fruit of the fig-tree: and that on this account the
face of the god whom they call Bacchus Dionysus is like a vine, and that
of the god called Bacchus Meilichius is like a fig. For figs are called
=meilicha= by the Naxians.
15. Now that the fig is the most useful to man of all the fruits which
grow upon trees is sufficiently shown by Herodotus the Lycian, who urges
this point at great length, in his treatise on Figs. For he says that
young children grow to a great size if they are fed on the juice of
figs. And Pherecrates, who wrote the Persæ, says--
If any one of us, after absence, sees a fig,
He will apply it like a plaster to his children's eyes:
as if there were no ordinary medicinal power in the fig. And Herodotus,
the most wonderful and sweet of all writers, says in the first book of
his Histories, that figs are of the greatest good, speaking thus:--"O
king, you are preparing to make war upon men of this character, who wear
breeches of leather, and all the rest of their garments are made of
leather; and they eat not whatever they fancy, but what they have, since
they have but a rough country; moreover they do not, by Jove, use wine,
but they drink water; they have no figs to eat, nor any other good
thing."
And Polybius of Megalopolis, in the twelfth book of his Histories,
says--"Philip, the father of Perseus, when he overran Asia, being in
want of provisions, took figs for his soldiers from the Magnesians, as
they had no corn. On which account, too, when he became master of Myus,
he gave that place to the Magnesians in return for their figs." And
Ananius, the writer of Iambics, says--
He who should shut up gold within his house,
And a few figs, and two or three men,
Would see how far the figs surpass the gold.
16. And when Magnus had said all this about figs, Daphnus the physician
said: Philotimus, in the third book of his treatise on Figs, says,
"There is a great deal of difference between the various kinds of figs
when fresh; both in their sorts, and in the times when each is in
season, and in their effects; not but what one may lay down some general
rules, and say that the juicy ones and those which are full ripe are
quickly dissolved and are digested more easily than any other fruit
whatever, nor do they interfere with the digestion of other sorts of
food; and they have the ordinary properties of all juicy food, being
glutinous and sweet, and slightly nitrous in taste. And they make the
evacuations more copious and fluid, and rapid and wholly free from
discomfort; and they also diffuse a saltish juice, having a good deal of
harshness, when they are combined with anything at all salt. They are
very quickly dissolved by the digestion, because, though many heavy
things may be taken into the stomach, we still after a short time feel
as if we had become excessively empty: but this could not have happened
if the figs had remained in the stomach, and were not immediately
dissolved. And figs are dissolved more easily than any other fruit; as
is proved not only by the fact that though we eat a great many times as
great a quantity of figs as of all other fruits put together, we still
never feel inconvenienced by them; and even if we eat a quantity of figs
before dinner, and then eat as much of other things as if we had never
touched them, we still feel no discomfort. It is plain, therefore, that
if we can manage both them and the rest of our food, they must be easily
digested; and that is why they do not interfere with the digestion of
the rest of our food.
"Figs, then, have the qualities which I have mentioned. That they are
glutinous and rather salt is proved by their being sticky and cleansing
the hands; and we see ourselves that they are sweet in the mouth. And it
certainly needs no arguments to prove that our evacuations after eating
them take place without any convulsions or trouble, and that they are
more numerous and more rapid and more easy in consequence. And they do
not go through any great decomposition in the stomach, which arises not
from their being indigestible, but because we drink while eating them,
without waiting for the action of the stomach to soften them, and also
because they pass through the stomach so quickly. And they generate a
salt juice in the stomach, because it has been already shown that they
contain something of nitre in them: and they will make that food taste
rather salt and harsh which is combined with them. For salt increases
the briny taste of anything, but vinegar and thyme increase the harsh
qualities of food."
17. Now Heraclides the Tarentine asks this question; "Whether it is best
to drink warm water or cold after the eating of figs?" And he says, that
those who recommend the drinking of cold water do so because they have
an eye to such a fact as this,--that warm water cleanses one's hands
more quickly than cold; on which account it is reasonable to believe
that food in the stomach will be quickly washed away by warm water. And
with respect to figs which are not eaten, warm water dissolves their
consistency and connexion, and separates them into small pieces; but
cold coagulates and consolidates them. But those who recommend the
drinking of cold water say, the taking of cold water bears down by its
own weight the things which are heavy on the stomach; (for figs do not
do any extraordinary good to the stomach, since they heat it and
destroy its tone; on which account some people always drink neat wine
after them;) and then too it quickly expels what is already in the
stomach. But after eating figs, it is desirable to take an abundant and
immediate draught of something or other; in order to prevent those
things from remaining in the stomach, and to move them into the lower
parts of the bowels.
18. Others however say, that it is not a good thing to eat figs at
midday; for that at that time they are apt to engender diseases, as
Pherecrates has said in his Crapatalli. And Aristophanes, in his
Proagon, says--
But once seeing him when he was sick in the summer,
In order to be sick too himself, eat figs at midday.
And Eubulus says, in his Sphingocarion--
No doubt it was; for I was sick, my friend,
From eating lately figs one day at noon.
And Nicophon says, in the Sirens--
But if a man should eat green figs at noon,
And then go off to sleep; immediately
A galloping fever comes on him, accursed,
And falling on him brings up much black bile.
19. Diphilus of Siphnos says, that of figs some are tender, and not very
nutritious, but full of bad juice, nevertheless easily secreted, and
rising easily to the surface; and that these are more easily managed
than the dry figs; but that those which are in season in the winter,
being ripened by artificial means, are very inferior: but that the best
are those which are ripe at the height of the summer, as being ripened
naturally; and these have a great deal of juice; and those which are not
so juicy are still good for the stomach, though somewhat heavy. And the
figs of Tralles are like the Rhodian: and the Chian, and all the rest,
appear to be inferior to these, both in the quality and quantity of
their juice. But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables,
says--"But with respect to whatever of these fruits are eaten raw, such
as pears, and figs, and Delphic apples, and such fruits, one ought to
watch the opportunity when they will have the juice which they contain,
neither unripe on the one hand, nor tainted on the other; nor too much
dried up by the season." But Demetrius the Scepsian, in the fifteenth
book of the Trojan Preparation, says, that those who never eat figs
have the best voices. At all events, he says, that Hegesianax the
Alexandrian, who wrote the Histories, was originally a man with a very
weak voice, and that he became a tragedian and a fine actor, and a man
with a fine voice, by abstaining from figs for eighteen years together.
And I know too that there are some proverbs going about concerning figs,
of which the following are samples:--
Figs after fish, vegetables after meat.
Figs are agreeable to birds, but they do not choose to plant them.
20. Apples are an universal fruit. Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his
treatise on Eatables, calls them Delphian apples; but Diphilus says,
that "those apples which are green and which are not yet ripe, are full
of bad juice, and are bad for the stomach; but are apt to rise to the
surface, and also to engender bile; and they give rise to diseases, and
produce sensations of shuddering. But of ripe apples, he says, that the
sweet ones are those with most juice, and that they are the most easily
secreted, because they have no great inflammatory qualities. But that
sharp apples have a more disagreeable and mischievous juice, and are
more astringent. And that those which have less sweetness are still
pleasant to the palate when eaten; and, on account of their having some
strengthening qualities, are better for the stomach. And moreover, that
of this fruit those which are in season in the summer have a juice
inferior to the others; but those which are ripe in the autumn have the
better juice. And that those which are called =orbiklata=, have a good
deal of sweetness combined with their invigorating properties, and are
very good for the stomach. But those which are called =sêtania= and also
those which are called =platônia=, are full of good juice, and are
easily secreted, but are not good for the stomach. But those which are
called Mordianian are very excellent, being produced in Apollonia, which
is called Mordius; and they are like those which are called =orbiklata=.
But the Cydonian apples, or quinces, some of which are called
=strouthia=, are, as a general rule, better for the stomach than any
other kind of apple, most especially when they are full ripe."
But Glaucides asserts that the best of all fruits which grow upon trees
are the Cydonian apples, and those which are called phaulia, and
strouthia. And Philotimus, in his third book, and also in his tenth
book of his treatise on Food, says--"Of apples, those which come in
season in spring are by far more indigestible than pears, whether they
are both unripe, or whether they are both ripe. But they have the
properties of juicy fruits; the sharp apples, and those which are not
yet ripe, resembling those pears which have a harsher taste and which
are in a certain degree sour; and they diffuse over the body a juice
which is said to be corrosive. And, as a general rule, apples are not so
digestible as pears; on which account those who are less addicted to
eating them are less troubled with indigestions, and those who are most
fond of them are the most liable to such inconvenience. But, as I said
before, a corrosive juice is engendered by them, as is stated by
Praxagoras, and as is shown by the fact that those things which are not
digested will have the juice thicker. (And I have already said that, as
a general rule, apples are less digestible than pears.) And the harsh
and sour apples are in the habit of engendering thicker juices.
But of those apples which are in season in the winter, the Cydonian give
out the more bitter juices, and those called strouthian give out juice
more sparingly; though what they do give out is not so harsh tasted, and
is more digestible." But Nicander of Thyatira says, that the Cydonian
apples themselves are called =stroutheia=; but he says this out of
ignorance. For Glaucides asserts plainly enough that the best of all
fruits which grow on trees are the Cydonian apples and those called
phaulian and strouthian.
21. Stesichorus also mentions the Cydonian apples, in his Helena,
speaking thus:--
Before the king's most honour'd throne,
I threw Cydonian apples down;
And leaves of myrrh, and crowns of roses,
And violets in purple posies.
Alcman mentions them too. And Cantharus does so likewise, in the Tereus;
where he says--
Likening her bosom to Cydonian apples.
And Philemon, in his Clown, calls Cydonian apples strouthia. And
Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that apples by
their sweet fragrance can blunt the efficacy of even deadly poisons. At
all events, he says, that some Phariacan poison having been cast into a
chest still smelling from having had some of these apples stored away
in it, lost all its effect, and preserved none of its former power, but
was mixed and given to some people who were plotted against, but that
they escaped all harm. And that afterwards it was ascertained, by an
investigation and examination of the man who had sold the poison; and
that he felt sure that it arose from the fact of the apples having been
put away in the chest.
22. Hermon, in his Cretan Dialects, says that Cydonian apples are called
=kodymala=. But Polemo, in the fifth book of the treatise against
Timæus, says that some people affirm that the =kodymalon= is a kind of
flower. But Alcman asserts that it is the same as the =strouthion=
apple, when he says, "less than a =kodymalon=." And Apollodorus and
Sosibius understand the Cydonian apple by =kodymalon=. But that the
Cydonian apple differs from the =strouthion=, Theophrastus has asserted
clearly enough in the second book of his History. Moreover, there are
excellent apples grown at Sidus, (that is, a village in the Corinthian
territory,) as Euphorion or Archytas says, in the poem called "The
Crane:"--
Like a beautiful apple which is grown on the clayey banks
Of the little Sidus, refulgent with purple colour.
And Nicander mentions them in his Transformed, in this manner:--
And immediately, from the gardens of Sidoeis or Pleistus
He cut green apples, and imitated the appearance of Cadmus.
And that Sidus is a village of the Corinthian territory, Rhianus assures
us, in the first book of the Heraclea; and Apollodorus the Athenian
confirms it, in the fifth book On the Catalogue of the Ships. But
Antigonus the Carystian says, in his Antipater--
More dear to me was he than downy apples
Of purple hue, in lofty Corinth growing.
23. And Teleclides mentions the Phaulian apples, in his Amphictyons, in
these terms:--
O men, in some things neat, but yet in others
More fallen than phaulian apples!
And Theopompus also speaks of them, in the Theseus. But Androtion, in
his Book of the Farm, says, that some apple-trees are called =phauliai=,
and others =strouthiai=; "for," says he, "the apple does not fall from
the footstalk of the strouthian apple-tree." And that others are called
spring-trees, or Lacedæmonian, or Siduntian, or woolly. But I, my
friends, admire above all others the apples which are sold at Rome,
which are called the Mattianian; and which are said to be brought from a
certain village situated on the Alps near Aquileia. And the apples which
grow at Gangra, a city of Paphlagonia, are not much inferior to them.
But that Bacchus was the discoverer of the apple we have the testimony
of Theocritus the Syracusan, who writes thus:--
Guarding the apples in the bosom of Bacchus;
And having on his head a poplar garland,
The silv'ry tree, sacred to Theban Hercules.
But Neoptolemus the Parian testifies himself, in his Dionysias, that the
apple was discovered by Bacchus, as were all other fruits which grow on
trees.
There is a fruit called _epimelis_; which is, says Pamphilus, a
description of pear. But Timachides asserts, in the fourth book of The
Banquet, that it is an apple, the same as that called the apple of the
Hesperides. And Pamphilus asserts that at Lacedæmon they are set before
the gods; and that they have a sweet smell, but are not very good to
eat; and are called the apples of the Hesperides. At all events,
Aristocrates, in the fourth book of his Affairs of Lacedæmon, says, "And
besides that apples, and those which are called Hesperides."
24. Walnuts are next to be mentioned.--Theophrastus, in the second book
of his History of Plants, speaking of those whose fruit is not visible,
says this among other things:--"Since the beginning of all the greater
fruits is visible, as of the almond, the nut, the date, and other fruits
of the same kind; except the walnut, in which that is not at all the
case; and with the exception also of the pomegranate and of the female
pear." But Diphilus of Siphnos, in his book about "What should be eaten
by People when Sick and by People in Health," says--"The fruit called
the Persian apple or peach, and by some the Persian cuckoo-apple, is
moderately juicy, but is more nutritious than apples." But Philotimus,
in the second and third books of his treatise on Food, says that the
Persian nut or walnut is more oily and like millet, and that being a
looser fruit, when it is pressed it yields a great quantity of oil. But
Aristophanes the grammarian, in his Lacedæmonian Dialects, says that the
Lacedæmonians call the cuckoo-apples Persian bitter apples; and that
some people call them =adrya=.
25. The Citron was next mentioned.--And with respect to this fruit there
was a great discussion among the Deipnosophists, as to whether there is
any mention made of it by the ancients. For Myrtilus said, proposing, as
it were, to send us who made the inquiry to feed among the wild goats,
that Hegesander the Delphian, in his Memorials, does make mention of
this fruit; but that he did not recollect the exact words: and Plutarch,
contradicting him, said,--But I indeed contend, that Hegesander never
mentions the citron at all, for I read through the whole of his
Memorials for the express purpose of seeing whether he did or no; since
some other of our companions also asserted positively that he did,
trusting to some scholastic commentaries of a man whom he considered
respectable enough. So that it is time for you, my good friend Myrtilus,
to seek for some other witness. But Æmilianus said, that Jobas the king
of the Mauritanians, a man of the most extensive learning, in his
History of Libya, does mention the citron, saying that it is called
among the Libyans the Hesperian apple, and that they were citrons which
Hercules carried into Greece, and which obtained the name of _golden_
apples on account of their colour and appearance. But the fruit which is
called the apples of the Hesperides, is said to have been produced by
Terra, on the occasion of the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, according to
the statement of Asclepiades, in the sixtieth book of his History of the
Affairs of Egypt. On this, Democritus, looking towards the speakers,
said,--If, indeed, Jobas asserts any of these things, let him take
pleasure in his Libyan books, and in the nonsense of Hanno. But I repeat
the assertion, that the name _citron_ does not occur in the old authors.
But the fruit which is described by Theophrastus the Eresian, in his
Histories of Plants, is described in such a manner as to compel me to
believe that he intended the citron by what he said.
26. For that philosopher says, in the fourth book of his History of
Plants--"The Median territory, and likewise the Persian, has many other
productions, and also the Persian or Median apple. Now, that tree has a
leaf very like and almost exactly the same as that of the bay-tree, the
arbutus, or the nut: and it has thorns like the prickly-pear, or
blackthorn, smooth but very sharp and strong. And the fruit is not good
to eat, but is very fragrant, and so too are the leaves of the tree.
And if any one puts one of the fruits among his clothes, it keeps them
from the moth. And it is useful when any one has taken poison injurious
to life; for when given in wine it produces a strong effect on the
bowels, and draws out the poison. It is serviceable also in the way of
making the breath sweet; for if any one boils the inner part of the
fruit in broth or in anything else, and then presses it in his mouth and
swallows it, it makes his breath smell sweet. And the seed is taken out
and is sown in spring in square beds, being very carefully cultivated;
and then it is watered every fourth or fifth day; and when it has grown
up it is again transplanted the next spring into a place where the
ground is soft, and well-watered, and not very thin. And it bears fruit
every year; some of which are fit to be gathered, and some are in
flower, and some are becoming ripe at the same time. And those of the
flowers which have a stem like a distaff projecting out of the centre
are sure to produce good seed; but those which have no such stem are
unproductive." And in the first book of the same treatise he says the
same thing about the distaff, and about the flowers which are
productive. And I am induced by these things, my mates, and by what
Theophrastus says of the colour and smell and leaves of the fruit, to
believe that the fruit meant by him is the citron; and let no one of you
marvel if he says that it is not good to eat; since until the time of
our grandfathers no one was used to eat it, but they put it away as a
treasure in their chests along with their clothes.
27. But that this plant really did come from that upper country into
Greece, one may find asserted in the works of the Comic poets, who,
speaking of its size, appear to point out the citron plainly enough.
Antiphanes says, in his Boeotian--
_A._ 'Tis silly to say a word about roast meat
To men who're ne'er content. But now, my girl,
Just take these apples.
_B._ They are fine to look at.
_A._ Indeed they are, and good too, O ye gods!
For this seed has arrived not long ago
In Athens, coming from the mighty king.
_B._ I thought it came from the Hesperides;
For there they say the golden apples grow.
_A._ They have but three.
_B._ That which is very beautiful
Is rare in every place, and so is dear.
And Eriphus, in his Meliboea, quotes these selfsame Iambics of
Antiphanes, and then proceeds in his own words:--
_B._ I thought, I swear by Dian, that they came
From out the garden of the Hesperides,
For they, they say, do keep the golden apples.
_A._ They have but three.
_B._ That which is very beautiful
Is rare in every place, and so is dear.
_A._ I'll sell you these now for a single penny,
And even that I'll put down in the bill.
_B._ Are they not pomegranates? how fine they are!
_A._ Fine! yes--they say that Venus did herself
Plant this the parent tree in Cyprus, where it stands.
Take it, my dear Berbeias.
_B._ Thank you kindly.
_A._ Take also these three; they are all I had.
And if any one is able to contradict this, and to show that these
descriptions are not meant to apply to the fruit which we now call the
citron, let him bring forward some clearer testimonies.
28. However, Phænias the Eresian compels us to entertain the idea that,
perhaps, the name may be meant for _cedron_, as from the cedar-tree.
For, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, he says that the cedar
has thorns around its leaves; and that the same is the case with the
citron is visible to everybody. But that the citron when eaten before
any kind of food, whether dry or moist, is an antidote to all injurious
effects, I am quite certain, having had that fact fully proved to me by
my fellow-citizen, who was entrusted with the government of Egypt. He
had condemned some men to be given to wild beasts, as having been
convicted of being malefactors, and such men he said were only fit to be
given to beasts. And as they were going into the theatre appropriated to
the punishment of robbers, a woman who was selling fruit by the wayside
gave them out of pity some of the citron which she herself was eating,
and they took it and ate it, and after a little while, being exposed to
some enormous and savage beasts, and bitten by asps, they suffered no
injury. At which the governor was mightily astonished. And at last,
examining the soldier who had charge of them, whether they had eaten or
drunk anything, when he learnt of him that some citron had been given to
them without any evil design; on the next day he ordered some citron to
be given to some of them again, and others to have none given to them.
And those who eat the citron, though they were bitten, received no
injury, but the others died immediately on being bitten. And this result
being proved by repeated experiments, it was found that citron was an
antidote to all sorts of pernicious poison. But if any one boils a whole
citron with its seed in Attic honey, it is dissolved in the honey, and
he who takes two or three mouthfuls of it early in the morning will
never experience any evil effects from poison.
29. Now if any one disbelieves this, let him learn from Theopompus the
Chian, a man of the strictest truth and who expended a great deal of
money on the most accurate investigation of matters to be spoken of in
his History. For he says, in the thirty-eighth book of his History,
while giving an account of Clearchus, the tyrant of the Heracleans who
were in Pontus, that he seized violently upon a number of people and
gave a great many of them hemlock to drink.--"And as," says he, "they
all knew that he was in the habit of compelling them to pledge him in
this liquor, they never left their homes without first eating rue: for
people who have eaten this beforehand take no harm from drinking
aconite,--a poison which, they say, has its name from growing in a place
called Aconæ, which is not far from Heraclea." When Democritus had said
this they all marvelled at the efficacy of citron, and most of them ate
it, as if they had had nothing to eat or drink before. But Pamphilus, in
his Dialects, says that the Romans call it not =kitrion=, but =kitron=.
30. And after the viands which have been mentioned there were then
brought unto us separately some large dishes of oysters, and other
shell-fish, nearly all of which have been thought by Epicharmus worthy
of being celebrated in his play of the Marriage of Hebe, in these
words:--
Come, now, bring all kinds of shell-fish;
Lepades, aspedi, crabyzi, strabeli, cecibali,
Tethunachia, balani, porphyræ, and oysters with closed shells,
Which are very difficult to open, but very easy to eat;
And mussels, and anaritæ, and ceryces, and sciphydria,
Which are very sweet to eat, but very prickly to touch;
And also the oblong solens. And bring too the black
Cockle, which keeps the cockle-hunter on the stretch.
Then too there are other cockles, and sand-eels,
And periwinkles, unproductive fish,
Which men entitle banishers of men,
But which we gods call white and beautiful.
31. And in the Muses it is written--
There is the cockle, which we call the tellis;
Believe me, that is most delicious meat.
Perhaps he means that fish which is called the _tellina_, and which the
Romans call the _mitlus_,--a fish which Aristophanes the grammarian
names in his treatise on the Broken Scytale, and says that the lepas is
a fish like that which is called the tellina. But Callias of Mitylene,
in his discussion of the Limpet in Alcæus, says that there is an ode in
Alcæus of which the beginning is--
O child of the rock, and of the hoary sea;
and at the end of it there is the line--
Of all limpets the sea-limpet most relaxes the mind.
But Aristophanes writes the line with the word _tortoise_ instead of
_limpet_. And he says that Dicæarchus made a great blunder when he
interpreted the line of limpets; and that the children when they get
them in their mouths sing and play with them, just as idle boys among us
do with the fish which we call tellina. And so, too, Sopater, the
compiler of Comicalities, says in his drama which is entitled the
Eubulotheombrotus:--
But stop, for suddenly a certain sound
Of the melodious tellina strikes my ears.
And in another place Epicharmus, in his Pyrrha and Prometheus, says--
Just look now at this tellina, and behold
This periwinkle and this splendid limpet.
And in Sophron cockles are called _melænides_.
For now melænides will come to us,
Sent from a narrow harbour.
And in the play which is called "The Clown and the Fisherman," they are
called the _cherambe_. And Archilochus also mentions the cherambe: and
Ibycus mentions the periwinkle. And the periwinkle is called both
=anaritês= and =anartas=. And the shell being something like that of a
cockle, it sticks to the rocks, just as limpets do. But Herondas, in his
Coadjutrixes, says--
Sticking to the rocks as a periwinkle.
And Æschylus, in his Persæ, says--
Who has plunder'd the islands producing the periwinkle?
And Homer makes mention of the oyster.
32. Diocles the Carystian, in his treatise on the Wholesomes, says that
the best of all shell-fish, as aperient and diuretic food, are mussels,
oysters, scallops, and cockles. And Archippus says, in his poem called
"Fishes,"--
With limpets and sea-urchins and escharæ,
And with periwinkles and cockles.
And Diocles says that the strongest of all shell-fish are cockles,
purple-fish, and ceryces. But concerning ceryces Archippus says this--
The ceryx, ocean's nursling, child of purple.
But Speusippus, in the second book of his Similarities, says that
ceryces, purple-fish, strabeli, and cockles, are all very nearly alike.
And Sophocles makes mention of the shell-fish called strabeli in his
Camici, in these words:--
Come now, my son, and look if we may find
Some of the nice strabelus, ocean's child.
And again Speusippus enumerates separately in regular order the cockle,
the periwinkle, the mussel, the pinna, the solens; and in another place
he speaks of oysters and limpets. And Araros says, in his Campylion--
These now are most undoubted delicacies,
Cockles and solens; and the crooked locusts
Spring forth in haste like dolphins.
And Sophron says, in his Mimi--
_A._ What are these long cockles, O my friend,
Which you do think so much of?
_B._ Solens, to be sure.
This too is the sweet-flesh'd cockle, dainty food,
The dish much loved by widows.
And Cratinus also speaks of the pinna in his Archilochi--
She indeed like pinnas and sea oysters.
And Philyllius, or Eunicus, or Aristophanes, in the Cities, says--
A little polypus, or a small cuttle-fish,
A crab, a crawfish, oysters, cockles,
Limpets and solens, mussels and pinnas;
Periwinkles too, from Mitylene take;
Let us have two sprats, and mullet, ling,
And conger-eel, and perch, and black fish.
But Agiastos, and Dercylus, in his Argolici, call the strabeli
=astrabêloi=; speaking of them as suitable to play upon like a trumpet.
33. But you may find cockles spoken of both in the masculine and
feminine gender. Aristophanes says, in his Babylonians--
They all gaped on each other, and were like
To cockles (=konchai=) roasted on the coals.
And Teleclides, in his Hesiodi, says, "Open a cockle (=konchê=);" and
Sophron, in his Actresses, says--
And then the cockles (=konchai=) as at one command
All yawned on us, and each display'd its flesh.
But Æschylus uses the word =konchos= in the masculine gender, in his
Glaucus Pontius, and says--
Cockles (=konchoi=), muscles, oysters.
And Aristonymus, in his Theseus, says--
There was a cockle (=konchos=) and other fish too drawn from the sea
At the same time, and by the same net.
And Phrynichus uses the word in the same way in his Satyrs. But Icesius,
the Erasistratean, says that some cockles are rough, and some royal; and
that the rough have a disagreeable juice, and afford but little
nourishment, and are easily digested; and that people who are hunting
for the purple-fish use them as bait: but of the smooth ones those are
best which are the largest, in exact proportion to their size. And
Hegesander, in his Memorials, says that the rough cockles are called by
the Macedonians coryci, but by the Athenians crii.
34. Now Icesius says that limpets are more digestible than those
shell-fish which have been already mentioned; but that oysters are not
so nutritious as limpets, and are filling, but nevertheless are more
digestible.
But of mussels, the Ephesian ones, and those which resemble them, are,
as to their juicy qualities, superior to the periwinkles, but inferior
to the cockles; but they have more effect as diuretics than as
aperients. But some of them are like squills, with a very disagreeable
juice, and without any flavour; but there is a kind which is smaller
than they are, and which are rough outside, which are more diuretic, and
full of a more pleasant juice than the kind which resembles squills: but
they are less nutritious, by reason of their sizes, and also because
their nature is inferior. But the necks of the ceryces are exceedingly
good for the stomach, and are not so nutritious as mussels and cockles
and periwinkles; but for people who have a weak stomach, and who do not
easily expel the food into the cavity of the bowels, they are useful,
inasmuch as they do not easily turn on the stomach. For those things
which are confessedly digestible are, on the contrary, very unwholesome
for people of such a constitution, being very easily inclined to turn on
the stomach, because they are tender and easily dissolved. On which
account the bags containing their entrails are not suited to vigorous
stomachs, but they are very good for those whose bowels are in a weak
state. But what are more nutritious than the others, and far nicer in
taste, are the entrails of the purple-fish; though they certainly are
somewhat like the squill. For indeed all shell-fish are of the same
character; but the purple-fish and the solen have this peculiar
characteristic, that if they are boiled they yield a thick juice. But
the necks of the purple-fish, when boiled by themselves, are exceedingly
good for bringing the stomach into a good condition. And Posidippus
speaks of them in his Locrians in these terms:--
It is time now to eat eels and crabs,
Cockles, and fresh sea-urchins, and fish sounds,
And pinnas, and the necks of fish, and mussels.
35. Balani, if they are of the larger sort, are easily digested, and are
good for the stomach. But otaria (and they are produced in the island
called Pharos, which is close to Alexandria) are more nutritious than
any of the before-mentioned fish, but they are not easily secreted. But
Antigonus the Carystian, in his book upon Language, says that this kind
of oyster is called by the Æolians the Ear of Venus. Pholades are very
nutritious, but they have a disagreeable smell; but common oysters are
very like all these sorts of shell-fish, and are more nutritious. There
are also some kinds which are called wild oysters; and they are very
nutritious, but they have not a good smell, and moreover they have a
very indifferent flavour. But Aristotle, in his treatise about Animals,
says, "Oysters are of all the following kinds: there are the pinna, the
mussel, the oyster, the cteis, the solen, the cockle, the limpet, the
small oyster, the balanus. And of migratory fish there are the
purple-fish, the sweet purple-fish, the sea-urchin, the strobelus. Now
the cteis has a rough shell, marked in streaks; but the oyster has no
streaks, and a smooth shell. The pinna has a smooth mouth; but the large
oyster has a wide mouth, and is bivalve, and has a smooth shell. But the
limpet is univalve, and has a smooth shell; and the mussel has a united
shell. The solen and balanus are univalve, and have a smooth shell; and
the cockle is a mixture of both kinds." Epænetus also says, in his
Cookery Book, that the interior part of the pinna is called mecon. But
in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, Aristotle
says, "The purple-fish are born about spring, and the ceryces at the end
of the winter. And altogether," says he, "all shell-fish appear in the
spring to have what are called eggs; and in the autumn, too, except
those kinds of sea-urchins which are good to eat. And these fish indeed
have eggs in the greatest number at those seasons, but they are never
without them; and they have them in the greatest numbers at the time of
full moon, and in the warm weather, with the exception of those fish
which are found in the Euripus of the Pyrrhæans; for they are best in
the winter, and they are small, but full of eggs. And nearly all the
cockle tribe appear to breed in like manner at about the same season."
36. And continuing the subject, the philosopher says again, "The
purple-fish therefore being all collected together in the spring at the
same place, make what is called melicera. And that is something like
honeycomb, but not indeed so elegant, but it is as if a great number of
the husks of white vetches were fastened together; and there is no open
passage in any of them: nor are the purple-fish born of this melicera,
but they, and nearly all other shell-fish, are produced of mud and
putrefaction; and this is, as it were, a kind of purification both for
them and for the purple-fish, for they too make this melicera. And when
they begin to make it, they emit a sort of sticky mass, from which those
things grow which resemble husks. All these are eventually separated,
and they drop blood on the ground. And in the place where they do so,
there are myriads of little purple-fish born, adhering to one another in
the ground, and the old purple-fish are caught while carrying them. And
if they are caught before they have produced their young, they sometimes
produce them in the very pots in which they are caught when collected
together in them, and the young look like a bunch of grapes. And there
are many different kinds of purple-fish; and some of them are of large
size, like those which are found near Segeum and near Lesteum; and some
are small, like those which are found in the Euripus, and around Caria.
And those in the gulfs are large and rough, and most of them are of a
black colour, but some of them are rather red; and some of the large
ones even weigh a mina. But those which are found on the shore and
around the coasts are of no great size, but are of a red colour: and
again, those in the waters exposed to the north wind are black, and
those in the waters exposed to the south wind are generally red."
37. But Apollodorus the Athenian, in his Commentaries on Sophron, having
first quoted the saying, "More greedy than a purple-fish," says that it
is a proverb, and that some say that it applies to the dye of purple;
for that whatever that dye touches it attracts to itself, and that it
imbues everything which is placed near it with the brilliancy of its
colour: but others say that it applies to the animal. "And they are
caught," says Aristotle, "in the spring; but they are not caught during
the dog-days, for then they do not feed, but conceal themselves and bury
themselves in holes; and they have a mark like a flower on them between
the belly and the throat. The fish called the ceryx has a covering of
nearly the same sort as all the other animals of the snail kind from its
earliest birth; and they feed by putting out what we call their shell
from under this covering. And the purple-fish has a tongue of the size
of a finger or larger, by which it feeds; and it pierces even
shell-fish, and can pierce its own shell. But the purple-fish is very
long-lived; and so is the ceryx: they live about six years, and their
growth is known by the rings in their shell. But cockles, and
cheme-cockles, and solens, and periwinkles, are born in sandy places.
38. But the pinnæ spring from the bottom of the sea. And they have with
them a fish called the pinnophylax, or guard of the pinna, which some
call =karidios=, and others =karkinios=; and if they lose him, they are
soon destroyed. But Pamphilus the Alexandrian, in his treatise on Names,
says that he is born at the same time with the pinna. But Chrysippus the
Solensian, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Beautiful and
Pleasure, says, "The pinna and the guard of the pinna assist one
another, not being able to remain apart. Now the pinna is a kind of
oyster, but the guard of the pinna is a small crab: and the pinna having
opened its shell, remains quiet, watching the fish who are coming
towards it; but the guard of the pinna, standing by when anything comes
near, bites the pinna, so as to give it a sort of sign; and the pinna
being bitten, closes its shell, and in this manner the two share
together what is caught inside the pinna's shell. But some say that the
guard is born at the same time as the pinna, and that they originate in
one seed." And again, Aristotle says, "All the fish of the oyster kind
are generated in the mud,--oysters in slimy mud, cockles in sandy mud,
and so on; but the small oyster and the balanus, and other fish which
come near the surface, such as limpets and periwinkles, are born in the
fissures of the rocks. And some fish which have not shells are born in
the same way as those which have shells,--as the sea-nettle, the sponge,
and others,--in the crevices of the rocks."
39. Now, of the sea-nettle there are two kinds. For some live in
hollows, and are never separated from the rocks; but some live on smooth
and level ground, and do separate themselves from what they are attached
to, and move their quarters. But Eupolis, in the Autolycus, calls
the =knidê=, or sea-nettle, =akalêphê=. And Aristophanes, in his
Phoenissæ, says--
Know that pot-herbs first were given,
And then the rough sea-nettles (=akalêphai=);
and in his Wasps he uses the same word. And Pherecrates, in his
Deserters, says--
I'd rather wear a crown of sea-nettles (=akalêphai=).
And Diphilus the Siphnian, a physician, says, "But the sea-nettle
(=akalêphê=) is good for the bowels, diuretic, and a strengthener of the
stomach, but it makes those who collect them itch violently, unless they
anoint their hands beforehand. And it is really injurious to those who
hunt for it; by whom it has been called =akalêphê=, by a slight
alteration of its original name. And perhaps that is the reason why the
plant the nettle has had the same name given to it. For it was named by
euphemism on the principle of antiphrasis,--for it is not gentle and
=hapalê tê aphê=, tender to the touch, but very rough and disagreeable."
Philippides also mentions the sea-nettle (calling it =akalêphê=) in his
Amphiaraus, speaking as follows:--
He put before me oysters and sea-nettles and limpets.
And it is jested upon in the Lysistrata of Aristophanes--
But, you most valiant of the oyster race,
Offspring of that rough dam, the sea-nettle;
for the =têthos= and the =ostreon= are the same. And the word =têthos=
is here confused in a comic manner with =têthê=, a grandmother, and with
=mêtêr=, a mother.
40. And concerning the rest of the oyster tribe, Diphilus says this: "Of
the thick chemæ, those of smaller size, which have tender flesh, are
called oysters, and they are good for the stomach, and easily digested.
But the thick ones, which are called royal chemæ by some people, and
which are also called the huge chemæ, are nutritious, slow to be
digested, very juicy, good for the stomach; and especially do these
qualities belong to the larger ones. Of tellinæ there are numbers in
Canopus, and they are very common at the place where the Nile begins to
rise up to the higher ground. And the thinnest of these are the royal
ones, and they are digestible and light, and moreover nutritious. But
those which are taken in the rivers are the sweetest. Mussels, again,
are moderately nutritious, and are digestible and diuretic. But the best
are the Ephesian kind; and of them those which are taken about the end
of autumn. But the female mussel is smaller than the male, and is sweet
and juicy, and moreover nutritious. But the solens, as they are called
by some, though some call them =auloi= and =donakes=, or _pipes_, and
some, too, call them =onyches=, or _claws_, are very juicy, but the
juice is bad, and they are very glutinous. And the male fish are
striped, and not all of one colour; but they are very wholesome for
people affected with the stone, or with any complaint of the bladder.
But the female fish is all of one colour, and much sweeter than the
male: and they are eaten boiled and fried; but they are best of all when
roasted on the coals till their shells open." And the people who collect
this sort of oyster are called Solenistæ, as Phænias the Eresian relates
in his book which is entitled, The Killing of Tyrants by way of
Punishment; where he speaks as follows:--"Philoxenus, who was called the
Solenist, became a tyrant from having been a demagogue. In the beginning
he got his livelihood by being a fisherman and a hunter after solens;
and so having made a little money, he advanced, and got a good
property."--"Of the periwinkle the white are the most tender, and they
have no disagreeable smell, and have a good effect on the bowels; but of
the black and red kinds the larger are exceedingly nice to the taste,
especially those that are caught in the spring. And as a general rule
all of them are good for the stomach, and digestible, and good for the
bowels, when eaten with cinnamon and pepper." Archippus also makes
mention of them in his Fishes--
With limpets and with sea-urchins, and escharæ,
With needle-fishes, and with periwinkles.
But the fish called balani, or acorns, because of their resemblance to
the acorn of an oak, differ according to the places where they are
found. For the Egyptian balani are sweet, tender, delicious to the
taste, nutritious, very juicy indeed, diuretic, and good for the bowels;
but other kinds have a salter taste. The fish called =ôtia=, or ears,
are most nutritious when fried; but the pholades are exceedingly
pleasant to the taste, but have a bad smell, and an injurious juice.
41. "Sea-urchins are tender, full of pleasant juice, with a strong
smell, filling, and apt to turn on the stomach; but if eaten with sharp
mead, and parsley, and mint, they are good for the stomach, and sweet,
and full of pleasant juice. But the sweet-tasted are the red ones, and
the apple-coloured, and the thickest, and those which if you scrape
their flesh emit a milky liquid. But those which are found near
Cephalenia and around Icaria, and in the Adriatic are--at least many of
them are--rather bitter; but those which are taken on the rock of Sicily
are very aperient to the bowels." But Aristotle says that there are many
kinds of sea-urchins: one of which is eaten, that, namely, in which is
found what are called eggs. But the other two kinds are those which are
called Spatangi, and those which are called Brysæ: and Sophron mentions
the spatangi, and so does Aristophanes in his Olcades, using the
following language:--
Tearing up, and separating, and licking
My spatange from the bottom.
And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, speaks of the sea-urchins, and
says--
Then came the crabs, sea-urchins, and all fish
Which know not how to swim in the briny sea,
But only walk on foot along the bottom.
And Demetrius the Scepsian, in the twenty-sixth book of his Trojan
Preparation, says that a Lacedæmonian once being invited to a banquet,
when some sea-urchins were put before him on the table, took one, not
knowing the proper manner in which it should be eaten, and not attending
to those who were in the company to see how they ate it. And so he put
it in his mouth with the skin or shell and all, and began to crush the
sea-urchin with his teeth; and being exceedingly disgusted with what he
was eating, and not perceiving how to get rid of the roughness of the
taste, he said, "O what nasty food! I will not now be so effeminate as
to eject it, but I will never take you again." But the sea-urchins, and
indeed the whole echinus tribe, whether living on land or sea, can take
care of and protect themselves against those who try to catch them,
putting out their thorns, like a sort of palisade. And to this Ion the
Chian bears testimony in his Phoenix or in his Cæneus, saying--
But while on land I more approve the conduct
Of the great lion, than the dirty tricks
Of the sea-urchin; he, when he perceives
The impending onset of superior foes,
Rolls himself up, wrapp'd in his cloak of thorns,
Impregnable in bristly panoply.
42. "Of limpets," says Diphilus, "some are very small, and some are like
oysters. But they are hard, and give but little juice, and are not very
sharp in taste. But they have a pleasant flavour, and are easily
digested; and when boiled they are particularly nice. But the pinnæ are
diuretic, nutritious, not very digestible, or manageable. And the
ceryces are like them; the necks of which fish are good for the stomach,
but not very digestible; on which account they are good for people with
weak stomachs, as being strengthening; but they are difficult to be
secreted, and they are moderately nutritious. Now the parts of them
which are called the mecon, which are in the lower part of their
bellies, are tender and easily digested; on which account they also are
good for people who are weak in the stomach. But the purple-fish are
something between the pinna and the ceryx; the necks of which are very
juicy, and very pleasant to the palate; but the other parts of them are
briny, and yet sweet, and easily digestible, and mix very well with
other food. But oysters are generated in rivers, and in lakes, and in
the sea. But the best are those which belong to the sea, when there is a
lake or a river close at hand: for they are full of pleasant juice, and
are larger and sweeter than others: but those which are near the shore,
or near rocks, without any mixture of mud or water, are small, harsh,
and of pungent taste. But the oysters which are taken in the spring, and
those which are taken about the beginning of the summer, are better, and
full, and have a sort of sea taste, not unmixed with sweetness, and are
good for the stomach and easily secreted; and when boiled up with
mallow, or sorrel, or with fish, or by themselves, they are nutritious,
and good for the bowels.
43. But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Comestibles,
says--"Oysters, and cockles, and mussels, and similar things, are not
very digestible in their meat, because of a sort of saline moisture
which there is in them, on which account, when eaten raw, they produce
an effect on the bowels by reason of their saltness. But when boiled
they get rid of all, or at all events of most, of their saltness, which
they infuse into the water which boils them. On which account, the water
in which any of the oyster tribe are boiled is very apt to have a strong
effect in disordering the bowels. But the meat of the oysters when
boiled, makes a great noise when it has been deprived of its moisture.
But roasted oysters, when any one roasts them cleverly, are very free
from any sort of inconvenience; for all the evil properties are removed
by fire; on which account they are not as indigestible as raw ones, and
they have all the moisture which is originally contained in them dried
up; and it is the moisture which has too great an effect in relaxing the
bowels. But every oyster supplies a moist and somewhat indigestible kind
of nourishment, and they are not at all good as diuretics. But the
sea-nettle, and the eggs of sea-urchins, and such things as that, give a
moist nourishment, though not in any great quantity; but they have a
tendency to relax the bowels, and they are diuretic.
44. Nicander the Colophonian, in his book on the Farm, enumerates all
the following kinds of oysters--
And all the oysters which the foaming brine
Beneath its vasty bosom cherishes,
The periwinkle, whilk, pelorias,
The mussel, and the slimy tellina,
And the deep shell which makes the pinna's hole.
And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy--
Ænus has mussels fine, Abydus too
Is famous for its oysters; Parium produces
Crabs, the bears of the sea, and Mitylene periwinkles;
Ambracia in all kinds of fish abounds,
And the boar-fish sends forth: and in its narrow strait
Messene cherishes the largest cockles.
In Ephesus you shall catch chemæ, which are not bad,
And Chalcedon will give you oysters. But may Jupiter
Destroy the race of criers, both the fish born in the sea,
And those wretches which infest the city forum;
All except one man, for he is a friend of mine,
Dwelling in Lesbos, abounding in grapes; and his name is Agatho.
And Philyllius, or whoever is the author of the book called The Cities,
says, "Chemæ, limpets, solens, mussels, pinnas and periwinkles from
Methymna:" but =ostreion= was the only form of the name for all these
fish among the ancients. Cratinus says in his Archilochi--
Like the pinna or the oyster (=ostreion=).
And Epicharmus says, in his Marriage of Hebe--
Oysters which have grown together.
Where he uses the same form =ostreion=. But afterwards the form
=ostreon= like =orneon= began to be used. Plato, in his Phædrus, says,
"bound together like oysters" (=ostreon=). And in the tenth book of
his Politia, he says, "oysters (=ostrea=) stuck together;" "oysters
(=ostrea=) and seaweed." But the peloris, or giant mussel, were so named
from the word =pelôrios=, _vast_. For it is much larger than the cheme,
and very different from it. But Aristotle says that they are generated
in the sand. And Ion the Chian mentions the chema, in his Epidemiæ, and
perhaps the shell-fish got the name of =chêmê para to kechênenai=, from
opening their mouths."
45. But concerning the oysters which are grown in the Indian Ocean; (for
it is not unreasonable to speak of them, on account of the use of
pearls;) Theophrastus speaks in his treatise on Precious Stones, and
says, "But among the stones which are much admired is that which is
called the pearl, being transparent in its character; and they make
very expensive necklaces of them. They are found in an oyster which is
something like the pinna, only less. And in size the pearl resembles a
large fish's eye." Androsthenes, too, in his Voyage along the Coast of
India, writes in these terms--"But of strombi, and chærini, and other
shell-fish, there are many different varieties, and they are very
different from the shell-fish which we have. And they have the
purple-fish, and a great multitude of other kinds of oysters. There is
also one kind which is peculiar to those seas, which the natives call
the berberi, from which the precious stone called the pearl comes. And
this pearl is very expensive in Asia, being sold in Persia and the
inland countries for its weight in gold. And the appearance of the
oyster which contains it is much the same as that of the cteis oyster,
only its shell is not indented, but smooth and shaggy. And it has not
two ears as the cteis oyster has, but only one. The stone is engendered
in the flesh of the oyster, just as the measles are in pork. And it is
of a very golden colour, so as not easily to be distinguished from gold
when it is put by the side of it; but some pearls are of a silvery
appearance, and some are completely white like the eyes of fish. But
Chares of Mitylene, in the seventh book of his Histories of Alexander,
says--"There is caught in the Indian sea, and also off the coast of
Armenia, and Persia, and Susiana, and Babylonia, a fish very like an
oyster; and it is large and oblong, containing within the shell flesh
which is plentiful and white, and very fragrant, from which the men pick
out white bones which they call the pearl. And they make of them
necklaces and chains for the hands and feet, of which the Persians are
very fond, as are the Medes and all Asiatics, esteeming them as much
more valuable than golden ornaments."
46. But Isidorus the Characene, in his Description of Parthia, says,
that "in the Persian sea there is an island where a great number of
pearls are found; on which account there are quantities of boats made of
rushes all about the island, from which men leap into the sea, and dive
down twenty fathoms, and bring up two shells. And they say that when
there is a long continuance of thunder-storms, and heavy falls of rain,
then the pinna produces most young, and then, too, the greatest quantity
of pearls is engendered, and those, too, of the finest size and quality.
In the winter the pinna is accustomed to descend into chambers at the
very bottom of the sea; but in summer they swim about all night with
their shells open, which they close in the day-time: and as many as
stick to the crags, or rocks, throw out roots, and remaining fixed
there, they generate pearls. But they are supported and nourished by
something which adheres to their flesh: and this also sticks to the
mouth of the cockle, having talons and bringing it food: and it is
something like a little crab, and is called the guardian of the pinna.
And its flesh penetrates through the centre of the cockle-shell, like a
root: and the pearl being generated close to it, grows through the solid
portion of the shell, and keeps growing as long as it continues to
adhere to the shell. But when the flesh gets under the excrescence, and
cutting its way onwards, gently separates the pearl from the shell, then
when the pearl is surrounded by flesh, it is no longer nourished so far
as to grow at all; but the flesh makes it smoother, and more
transparent, and more pure. And so, too, the pinna, which lives at the
bottom, engenders the most transparent sort of pearl; and it produces
them also very pure and of large size. But that which keeps near the
surface, and is constantly rising, is of a smaller size and a worse
colour, because it is affected by the rays of the sun. But those who
hunt for pearls are in danger when they hastily put their hand into the
opening of the shell, for immediately the fish closes its shell, and
very often their fingers are sawn off; and sometimes they die
immediately. But all those who put in their hand sideways easily draw
off the shells from the rock. And Menander makes mention of Emeralds
also, in his Little Boy--
There must be an emerald and a sardonyx.
And the word for emerald is more correctly written =maragdos=, without a
=s=. For it is derived from the verb =marmairô=, to glisten, because it
is a transparent stone.
47. After this conversation some dishes were set on the table, full of
many kinds of boiled meat: feet, and head, and ears, and loins; and also
entrails, and intestines, and tongues; as is the custom at the places
which are called boiled meat shops at Alexandria. For, O Ulpian, the
word =hephthopôlion=, a boiled meat shop, is used by Posidippus, in his
Little Boy. And again, while they were inquiring who had ever named any
of these dishes, one of the party said, Aristophanes mentions entrails
as things which are eatable, in his Knights--
I say that you are selling tripe and paunches
Which to the revenue no tithe have paid.
And presently after he adds--
Why, my friend, hinder me from washing my paunches,
And from selling my sausages? Why do you laugh at me?
And again he says--
But I, as soon as I have swallow'd down
A bullock's paunch, and a dish of pig's tripe,
And drunk some broth, won't stay to wash my hands,
But will cut the throats of the orators, and will confuse Nicias.
And again he says--
But the Virgin Goddess born of the mighty Father
Gives you some boiled meat, extracted from the broth,
And a slice of paunch, and tripe, and entrails.
And Cratinus, in his Pluti, mentions jawbones of meat--
Fighting for a noble jawbone of beef.
And Sophocles, in the Amycus, says--
And he places on the table tender jawbones.
And Plato, in his Timæus, writes, "And he bound up some jawbones for
them, so as to give the appearance of a whole face." And Xenophon says,
in his book on Horsemanship, "A small jawbone closely pressed." But some
call it, not =siagôn=, but =hyagôn=, spelling the word with a =y=,
saying that it is derived from the word =hys=. Epicharmus also speaks of
tripe, =chordai= as we call it, but he calls it =oryai=, having given
one of his plays the title of Orya. And Aristophanes, in his Clouds,
writes--
Let them prepare a dish of tripe, for me
To set before these wise philosophers.
And Cratinus, in his Pytina, says--
How fine, says he, is now this slice of tripe.
And Eupolis speaks of it also, in his Goats. But Alexis, either in his
Leucadia, or in his Runaways, says--
Then came a slice and good large help of tripe.
And Antiphanes, in his Marriage, says--
Having cut out a piece of the middle of the tripe.
48. And as for feet, and ears, and even noses of beasts, they are all
mentioned by Alexis, in his Crateua or the Physic-seller. And I will
adduce a slight proof of that presently, which contains a good many of
the names about which we are inquiring. Theophilus says, in his
Pancratiast--
_A._ There are here near three minas' weight of meat
Well boiled.
_B._ What next?
_A._ There is a calf's nose, and
A heel of bacon, and four large pig's-feet.
_B._ A noble dish, by Hercules!
_A._ And three calves-feet.
And Anaxilas says, in his Cooks--
_A._ I would much rather roast a little fish,
Than here repeat whole plays of Æschylus.
_B._ What do you mean by little fish? Do you intend
To treat your friends as invalids? 'Twere better
To boil the extremities of eatable animals,
Their feet and noses.
And Anaxilas says, in the Circe--
For having an unseemly snout of pig,
My dear Cinesias.
And in the Calypso--
Then I perceived I bore a swine's snout.
Anaxandrides has mentioned also ears in the Satyrus. And Axionicus says,
in his Chalcis--
I am making soup,
Putting in well-warm'd fish, and adding to them
Some scarce half-eaten fragments; and the pettitoes
Of a young porker, and his ears; the which I sprinkle
With savoury assafoetida; and then
I make the whole into a well-flavour'd sausage,
A meat most saleable. Then do I add a slice
Of tender tripe; and a snout soak'd in vinegar.
So that the guests do all confess, the second day
Has beaten e'en the wedding-day itself.
And Aristophanes says, in his Proagon--
Wretch that I am, I've eaten tripe, my son:
How can I bear to see a roasted snout?
And Pherecrates says, in his Trifles--
Is not this plainly now a porker's snout?
And there is a place which is called =Rhynchos=, or Snout, near Stratos,
in Ætolia, as Polybius testifies, in the sixth book of his Histories.
And Stesichorus says, in his Boar Hunting--
To hide the sharpen'd snout beneath the earth.
And we have already said that the word =rhynchos= properly
applies only to the snout of a swine; but that it is sometimes used for
the nose of other animals, Archippus has proved, saying in jest, in his
Second Amphitryon, of the human face--
And this, too, though you have so long a nose (=rhynchos=).
And Araros says, in his Adonis--
For the god turns his nose towards us.
49. And Aristophanes makes mention of the extremities of animals as
forming a common dish, in his Æolosicon--
And of a truth, plague take it, I have boil'd
Four tender pettitoes for you for dinner.
And in his Gerytades he says--
Pig's pettitoes, and bread, and crabs.
And Antiphanes says, in his Corinthia--
_A._ And then you sacrifice a pig's extremities
To Venus,--what a joke!
_B._ That is your ignorance;
For she in Cyprus is so fond of pigs,
O master, that she drove away the herd
Of swine from off the dunghill where they fed,
And made the cows eat dirt instead of them.
But Callimachus testifies that, in reality, a pig is sacrificed to
Venus; or perhaps it is Zenodotus who says so in his Historic Records,
writing thus, "The Argives sacrifice a pig to Venus, and the festival at
which this takes place is called Hysteria." And Pherecrates says, in his
Miners--
But whole pig's feet of the most tender flavour
Were placed at hand in dishes gaily adorned,
And boil'd ears, and other extremities.
And Alexis says, in his Dice Players--
But when we had nearly come to an end of breakfast,
And eaten all the ears and pettitoes.
And he says again, in his Pannuchis or in his Wool-weavers--
This meat is but half roasted, and the fragments
Are wholly wasted; see this conger eel,
How badly boiled; and as for the pettitoes,
They now are wholly spoilt.
And Pherecrates also speaks of boiled feet, in his Slave-master--
_A._ Tell us, I pray you now then, how the supper
Will be prepared.
_B._ Undoubtedly I will.
In the first place, a dish of well-minced eel;
Then cuttle-fish, and lamb, a slice of rich
Well-made black pudding; then some pig's feet boil'd;
Some liver, and a loin of mutton,
And a mighty number of small birds; and cheese
In honey steep'd, and many a slice of meat.
And Antiphanes says, in his Parasite--
_A._ The well-warm'd legs of pigs.
_B._ A noble dish,
I swear by Vesta.
_A._ Then some boiled cheese
Bubbled upon the board.
And Ecphantides says, in his Satyrs--
It is no great hardship, if it must be so,
To buy and eat the boil'd feet of a pig.
And Aristophanes speaks of tongue as a dish, in his Tryers, in the
following words--
I've had anchovies quite enough; for I
Am stretch'd almost to bursting while I eat
Such rich and luscious food. But bring me something
Which shall take off the taste of all these dainties.
Bring me some liver, or a good large slice
Of a young goat. And if you can't get that,
Let me at least have a rib or a tongue,
Or else the spleen, or entrails, or the tripe
Of a young porker in last autumn born;
And with it some hot rolls.
50. Now when all this conversation had taken place on these subjects,
the physicians who were present would not depart without taking their
share in it. For Dionysiocles said, Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his book
about Comestibles, has said, "The head and feet of a pig have not a
great deal in them which is rich and nutritious." And Leonidas writes,
"Demon, in the fourth book of his Attica, says that Thymoetes, his
younger brother, slew Apheidas, who was king of Athens, he himself being
a bastard, and usurped the kingdom. And in his time, Melanthus the
Messenian was banished from his country, and consulted the Pythia as to
where he should dwell: and she said wherever he was first honoured by
gifts of hospitality, when men set before him feet and a head for
supper. And this happened to him at Eleusis; for as the priestesses
happened at the time to be solemnizing one of their national festivals,
and to have consumed all the meat, and as nothing but the head and feet
of the victim were left, they sent them to Melanthius.
51. Then a paunch[161:1] was brought in, which may be looked upon as a
sort of metropolis, and the mother of the sons of Hippocrates, whom I
know to have been turned into ridicule by the comic poets on account of
their swinish disposition. And Ulpian, looking upon it, said,--Come now,
my friends, whom does the paunch lie with? For we have now been minding
the belly long enough, and it is time for us now to have some real
conversation. And as for these cynics, I bid them be silent, now that
they have eaten abundantly, unless they like to gnaw some of the cheeks,
and heads, and bones, which no one will grudge their enjoying like dogs,
as they are; for that is what they are, and what they are proud of being
called.
The remnants to the dogs they're wont to throw,
Euripides says, in his Cretan Women. For they wish to eat and drink
everything, never considering what the divine Plato says in his
Protagoras, "That disputing about poetry, is like banquets of low and
insignificant persons. For they, because they are unable in their
drinking parties to amuse one another by their own talents, and by their
own voices and conversation, by reason of their ignorance and stupidity,
make female flute-players of great consequence, hiring at a high price
sounds which they cannot utter themselves, I mean the music of flutes,
and by means of this music they are able to get on with one another. But
where the guests are gentlemanly, and accomplished, and well educated,
you will not see any flute-playing women, or dancing women, or female
harpers, but they are able themselves to pass the time with one another
agreeably, without all this nonsense and trifling, by means of their own
voices, speaking and hearing one another in turn with all decency, even
if they drink a great deal of wine." And this is what all you Cynics do,
O Cynulcus; you drink, or rather you get drunk, and then, like
flute-players and dancing-women, you prevent all the pleasure of
conversation: "living," to use the words of the same Plato, which he
utters in his Philebus, "not the life of a man, but of some mollusk, or
of some other marine animal which has life in a shell-encased body."
52. And Cynulcus, being very angry, said,--You glutton of a man, whose
god is your belly, you know nothing else yourself, nor are you able to
keep up an uninterrupted conversation, nor to recollect any history, nor
to begin anything which may tend to throw a charm on any discussion. But
you have been wasting all the time with questions of this sort, "Is
there such and such a statement? Is there not? Has such and such a thing
been said? Has it not been said?" And you attack and examine closely
everything which occurs in anything which is said, collecting all your
thorns--living continually
As if among thistles, or plants of rough borage--
never collecting any sweet flowers. Are you not the person who call that
which is called by the Romans _strena_, being so named in accordance
with some national tradition, and which is accustomed to be given to
friends, _epinomis_? And if you do this in imitation of Plato, we should
be glad to learn it; but if you find that any one of the ancients has
ever spoken in such a manner, tell us who it is who has. For I know that
there is some part of a trireme which is called epinomis, as Apollonius
states in his treatise on what relates to Triremes. Are not you the man
who called your new stout cloak, which had never yet been used by you,
(for the proper name of it, my friend, is really =phainolês=,) useless?
saying--"My slave Leucus, give me that useless cloak." And once going to
the bath, did not you say to a man who asked you, Whither now? I am
going, said you, =apoloumenos= (pronouncing the word as if it meant _to
kill yourself_ rather than _to bathe_). And that very day your beautiful
garment was purloined from you by some bath robbers; so that there was
great laughter in the bath, at this useless cloak being hunted for. At
another time too, O my dear friends; (for the plain truth shall be told
you,) he tripped against a stone and dislocated his knees. And when he
was cured he again came into public: and when men asked him, What is the
matter, O Ulpian? he said it was a black eye. And I (for I was with him
at the time) being then unable to restrain my laughter, got anointed
under the eyes with some thick ointment by a physician who was a friend
of mine, and then said to those who asked me, What is the matter with
you, that I had hurt my leg.
53. There is also another imitator of the same wisdom, Pompeianus the
Philadelphian; a man not destitute of shrewdness, but still a terrible
wordcatcher: and he, conversing with his servant, calling him by name
with a loud voice, said--"Strombichides, bring me to the gymnasium those
intolerable slippers (he used the word =aphorêtous=, intending it to
mean _what he had never worn_) and my useless (he used the word
=achrêstos=, by which he meant _which he had never used_) cloak. For I,
as soon as I have bound up my beard, shall address my friends. For I
have got some roast fish. And bring me a cruet of oil. For first of all
we will be crushed (he used the word =syntribêsomethon=, meaning to say
_we will rub ourselves well_), and then we will be utterly destroyed
(his word was =apoloumethon=, and he meant to say _we will have a
bath_)." And this same sophist, in the month of February, as the Romans
call it, (and Juba the Mauritanian says that this month has its
name[163:1] from the terrors caused by the spirits under the earth, and
from the means used to get rid of those fears, at which season the
greatest severity of winter occurs, and it is the custom of them to
offer libations for many days to those who are dead:) in the month of
February, I say, he said to one of his friends--"It is a long time since
you have seen me, because of the heat." And when the festival of the
Panathenæa was being celebrated, during which the courts of justice do
not assemble, he said--"This is the birthday of the virgin goddess
Minerva," (but he pronounced the word =alektoros=, as if he had meant
_of the cock of Minerva_,) "and this day is unjust," (for he called it
=adikos=, though he meant the word to have the sense of being _a holiday
for the courts of law_). And once he called a companion of ours who came
back from Delphi without having received an answer from the god,
=achrêston=, (which never means anything but _useless_, but he used the
word for _unanswered_). And once when he was making a public display of
his eloquence, and going through a long panegyric on the Queen of
cities, he said, Most admirable is the Roman dominion, and =anypostatos=
(he meant _irresistible_).[164:1]
54. Such now, my friends, are Ulpian's companions, the sophists; men who
call even the thing which the Romans call miliarium, that is to say, a
vessel designed to prepare boiling water in, =ipnolebês=, an
oven-kettle; being manufacturers of many names, and far outrunning by
many parasangs the Sicilian Dionysius: who called a virgin =menandros=
(from =menô= and =anêr=), because she is waiting for a husband; and a
pillar =menekratês= (from =menô= and =kratos=), because it remains and
is strong. And a javelin he called =ballantion=, because (=antion
balletai=) it is thrown against something; and mouse-holes he called
=mystêria=, mysteries, (from =têrein tous mys=) because they keep the
mice. And Athanis, in the first book of his History of the Affairs of
Sicily, says that the same Dionysius gave an ox the name of =garotas=;
and a pig he called =iakchos=. And Alexarchus was a man of the same
sort, the brother of Cassander, who was king of Macedonia, who built the
city called Uranopolis. And Heraclides Lembus speaks concerning him in
the seventh book of his Histories, and says; "Alexarchus, who founded
the city Uranopolis, imported many peculiar words and forms of speaking
into the language: calling a cock =orthroboas=, or _he that crows in the
morn_; and a barber =brotokertês=, or _one who cuts men_; and a drachm
he called =argyris=, _a piece of silver_; and a choenix he called
=hêmerotrophis=, _what feeds a man for a day_; and a herald he called
=apytês=, _a bawler_. And once he wrote a letter to the magistrates of
the Cassandrians in this form:[164:2]--=Alexarchos ho marmôn promois
gathein. tous hêliokreis oiôn oida lipousa theôtôn ergôn kratêtoras
morsimô tycha kekyrômenas theou pogais chytlôsantes autous, kai phylakas
origeneis.=" But what that letter means I think that even the Pythian
Apollo himself could hardly tell. For, as Antiphanes says, in his
Cleophanes,--
What is it then to be a tyrant, (or
What would you call pursuing serious things,)
In the Lyceum with the sophists; by Jove,
They are but thin and hungry joyless men.
And say the thing does not exist if now
It is produced; for that is not as yet,
Nor can already be produced, which now
Is caused afresh. Nor if it did exist
Before, can it be now made to exist.
For there is nothing which has no existence.
And that which never yet has taken place,
Is not as if it had, since it has not.
For it exists from its existence; but
If there is no existence, what is there
From which it can exist? The thing's impossible.
And if it's self-existent, it will not
Exist again. And one perhaps may say,
Let be; whence now can that which has no being
Exist, what can become of it? What all this means
I say that e'en Apollo's self can't tell.
55. I know too that Simonides the poet, somewhere or other, has called
Jupiter =Aristarchos=, (meaning =aristos archôn=, _best of rulers_;) and
Æschylus calls Pluto =Agêsilaos=, (from =agein ton laon=, _collecting
the people_;) and Nicander the Colophonian called the asp, the animal,
=iocheaira=, _poisonous_, (from =ios=, _poison_, and =cheô=, _to emit_;
though the word is usually applied to Diana in the sense of shooting
arrows, because =ios= also means an arrow.)
And it is on account of these tricks and others like them that the
divine Plato, in his Politics, after having said that some animals live
on the dry land, and others in the water, and also, that there are some
classes which are fed on dry food, others on moist food, and others
which graze, giving the names of =xêrobatika= and =hygrobatika=, and
again, of =xêrotrophika, hygrotrophika= and =xêronomika= to the
different kinds of animals, according as they live on the land, or in
the water, or in the air--adds, by way of exhortation to those
manufacturers of names to guard against novelty, the following sentence,
word for word:--"And if you take care not to appear too anxious in
making new names you will continue to old age with a greater reputation
for prudence." But I know that Herodes Atticus, a rhetorician, named the
piece of wood which was put through his wheels when he was going in his
chariot down steep places, =trochopedês=, (as _a fetter to the wheels_.)
Although Simaristus, in his Synonymes, had already given this piece of
wood the name of =epochleus=, or _the drag_. And Sophocles the poet, in
some one of his works, called a guardian _a bolt_, saying--
Be of good cheer, I am a mighty bolt
To keep this fear away from you.
And, in another place, he has given an anchor the name of =ischas= or
_the holder_, because it =katechei=, _holds_ the ship--
And the sailors let out the holder of the ship.
And Demades the orator said that Ægina was the "eyesore of the Peiræus,"
and that Samos was "a fragment broken off from the city." And he called
the young men "the spring of the people;" and the wall he called "the
garment of the city;" and a trumpeter he entitled "the common cock of
the Athenians." But this word-hunting sophist used all sorts of far more
far-fetched expressions. And whence, O Ulpian, did it occur to you to
use the word =kechortasmenos= for satiated, when =koreô= is the proper
verb for that meaning, and =chortazô= means to feed?
56. In reply to this Ulpian said with a cheerful laugh,--But do not bark
at me, my friend, and do not be savage with me, putting on a sort of
hydrophobia, especially now that this is the season of the dog-days. You
ought rather to fawn upon and be gentle towards your messmates, lest we
should institute a festival for dog killing, in the place of that one
which is celebrated by the Argives. For, my most sagacious gentleman,
=chortazomai= is used by Cratinus in his Ulysses in this way:--
You were all day glutting yourselves with white milk.
And Menander, in his Trophonius, uses the word =chortastheis= in the
same sense. And Aristophanes says in his Gerytades--
Obey us now, and glut us with your melodies.
And Sophocles in his Tyro has--
And we received him with all things which satisfy (=panchorta=).
And Eubulus in his Dolon--
I, O men, have now been well satisfied (=kechortasmai=),
And I am quite well filled; so that I could
With all my energy but just contrive
To fasten on my sandals.
And Sophilus says in his Phylarchus--
There will be an abundant deal of eating.
I see the prelude to it;--I shall surely be
Most fully satisfied; indeed, my men,
I swear by Bacchus I feel proud already.
And Amphis says in his Uranus--
Sating herself till eve with every dainty.
Now these statements, O Cynulcus, I am able to produce without any
preparation; but to-morrow, or the day after, for that (=enê=) is the
name which Hesiod gave to the third day, I will satiate you with
blows, if you do not tell me in whose works the word =koiliodaimôn=,
_Belly-god_, is to be found. And as he made no answer,--But, indeed, I
myself will tell you this, O Cynic, that Eupolis called flatterers this,
in his play of the same name. But I will postpone any proof of this
statement until I have paid you the blows I owe you.
57. And so when every one had been well amused by these jokes,--But,
said Ulpian, I will also give you now the statement about paunches which
I promised you. For Alexis, in his play which is entitled Ponticus,
jesting in a comic manner, says that Callimedon the orator, who was
surnamed the Crab (and he was one of those who took part in the affairs
of the state in the time of Demosthenes the orator)--
Every one is willing to die for his country (=patras=):
And for a boiled paunch (=mêtras=) Callimedon,
The dauntless crab, would very probably
Dare to encounter death.
And Callimedon was a man very notorious for his fondness for dainties.
And Antiphanes also speaks of paunches in his Philometor, using these
words--
While the wood has pith in it (=emmêtron=) it puts forth shoots.
There is a _metro_polis but no _patro_polis.
Some men sell paunches (=mêtrai=), a delicious food.
Metras, the Chian, is dear to the people.
And Euphron says in his Paradidomena--
But my master having prepared a paunch
Set it before Callimedon; and when he ate it
It made him leap with joy; from which he earn'd
The name of crab.
And Dioxippus in his Antipornoboscus--
What food doth he delight in! Dainty is he!
Most dainty in his eating, paunches, sausages!
And in his Historiographer, he says--
Amphides burst in the porch and made himself a way in;
Holding up two paunches fine, See for what I'm paying,
Said he, and send me all you have, or all that you can find me.
And Eubulus says in his Deucalion--
Liver, and tripe, and entrails, aye, and paunches.
58. But Lynceus the Samian, the friend of Theophrastus, was acquainted
with the use of paunches when eaten with Cyrenaic sauce. And
accordingly, writing an account of the Banquet of Ptolemy, he says:--"A
certain paunch having been brought round in vinegar and sauce."
Antiphanes, too, mentions this sauce in his Unhappy Lovers, speaking of
Cyrene--
I sail back to the self-same harbour whence
We previously were torn; and bid farewell
To all my horses, friends, and assafoetida,
And two horse chariots, and to cabbages,
And single-horses, and to salads green,
And fevers, and rich sauces.
And how much better a paunch of a castrated animal is, Hipparchus, who
wrote the book called The Ægyptian Iliad, tells us in the following
words--
But above all I do delight in dishes
Of paunches and of tripe from gelded beasts,
And love a fragrant pig within the oven.
And Sopater says in his Hippolytus--
But like a beauteous paunch of gelded pig
Well boil'd and white, and basted with rich cheese.
And in his Physiologus he says--
'Tis not a well boil'd slice of paunch of pig
Holding within a sharp and biting gravy.
And in his Silphæ he says--
That you may eat a slice of boil'd pig's paunch,
Dipping it in a bitter sauce of rue.
59. But the ancients were not acquainted with the fashion of bringing on
paunches, or lettuces, or anything of the sort, before dinner, as is
done now. At all events Archestratus, the inventor of made dishes, as he
calls himself, says that pledges in drinking, and the use of ointments,
are introduced after supper--