48. And that among the ancients the second course used to have a great

deal of expense and pains bestowed on it, we may learn from what Pindar

says in his Olympic Odes, where he speaks of the flesh of Pelops being

served up for food:—

And in the second course they carved

Your miserable limbs, and feasted on them;

But far from me shall be the thought profane,

That in foul feast celestials could delight.[91]

And the ancients often called this second course simply τράπεζαι, as,

for instance, Achæus in his Vulcan, which is a satyric drama, who says,—

_A._ First we will gratify you with a feast;

Lo! here it is.

_B._ But after that what means

Of pleasure will you offer me?

_A._ We'll anoint you

All over with a richly-smelling perfume.

_B._ Will you not give me first a jug of water

To wash my hands with?

_A._ Surely; the dessert (τράπεζα)

Is now being clear'd away.

And Aristophanes, in his Wasps, says—

Bring water for the hands; clear the dessert.[92]

And Aristotle, in his treatise on Drunkenness, uses the term δεύτεραι

τράπεζαι, much as we do now; saying,—"We must therefore bear in mind

that there is a difference between τράγημα and βρῶμα, as there is

also between ἒδεσμα and τρωγάλιον. For this is a national name in use

in every part of Greece, since there is food (βρῶμα) in sweetmeats

(ἐν τραγήμασι), from which consideration the man who first used the

expression δευτέρα τράπεζα, appears to have spoken with sufficient

correctness. For the eating of sweetmeats (τραγηματισμὸς) is really an

eating after supper (ἐπιδορπισμὸς); and the sweetmeats are served up

as a second supper." But Dicæarchus, in the first book of his Descent

to the Cave of Trophonius, speaks thus: "There was also the δευτέρα

τράπεζα, which was a very expensive part of a banquet, and there were

also garlands, and perfumes, and burnt frankincense, and all the other

necessary accompaniments of these things."

49. Eggs too often formed a part of the second course, as did hares

and thrushes, which were served up with the honey-cakes; as we find

mentioned by Antiphanes in the Leptiniscus, where he says,—

_A._ Would you drink Thasian wine?

_B._ No doubt, if any one

Fills me a goblet with it.

_A._ Then what think you

Of almonds?

_B._ I feel very friendly to them,

They mingle well with honey.

_A._ If a man

Should bring you honied cheesecakes?

_B._ I should eat them,

And swallow down an egg or two besides.

And in his Things resembling one another, he says,—

Then he introduced a dance, and after that he served up

A second course, provided well with every kind of dainty.

And Amphis, in his Gynæcomania, says,—

_A._ Did you e'er hear of what they call a ground[93] life?

. . . . . . . . . . . 'tis clearly

Cheesecakes, sweet wine, eggs, cakes of sesame,

Perfumes, and crowns, and female flute-players.

_B._ Castor and Pollux! why you have gone through

The names of all the dozen gods at once.

Anaxandrides, in his Clowns, says,—

And when I had my garland on my head,

They brought in the dessert (ἡ τράπεζα), in which there were

So many dishes, that, by all the gods,

And goddesses too, I hadn't the least idea

There were so many different things i' th' house;

And never did I live so well as then.

Clearchus says in his Pandrosus,—

_A._ Have water for your hands:

_B._ By no means, thank you;

I'm very comfortable as I am.

_A._ Pray have some;

You'll be no worse at all events. Boy, water!

And put some nuts and sweetmeats on the table.

And Eubulus, in his Campylion, says,—

_A._ Now is your table loaded well with sweetmeats.

_B._ I am not always very fond of sweetmeats.

Alexis, too, says in his Polyclea, (Polyclea was the name of a

courtesan,)—

[Sidenote: DESSERT.]

He was a clever man who first invented

The use of sweetmeats; for he added thus

A pleasant lengthening to the feast, and saved men

From unfill'd mouths and idle jaws unoccupied.

And in his Female Likeness (but this same play is attributed also to

Antidotus) he says,—

_A._ I am not one, by Æsculapius!

To care excessively about my supper;

I'm fonder of dessert.

_B._ 'Tis very well.

_A._ For I do hear that sweetmeats are in fashion,

For suitors when they're following....

_B._ Their brides,—

_A._ To give them cheesecakes, hares, and thrushes too,

These are the things I like; but pickled fish

And soups and sauces I can't bear, ye gods!

But Apion and Diodorus, as Pamphilus tells us, assert that the

sweetmeats brought in after supper are also called ἐπαίκλεια.

50. Ephippus, in his Ephebi, enumerating the different dishes in

fashion for dessert, says,—

Then there were brought some groats, some rich perfumes

From Egypt, and a cask of rich palm wine

Was broach'd. Then cakes and other kinds of sweetmeats,

Cheesecakes of every sort and every name;

And a whole hecatomb of eggs. These things

We ate, and clear'd the table vigorously,

For we did e'en devour some parasites.

And in his Cydon he says,—

And after supper they served up some kernels,

Vetches, and beans, and groats, and cheese, and honey,

Sweetmeats of various kinds, and cakes of sesame,

And pyramidical rolls of wheat, and apples,

Nuts, milk, hempseed too, and shell-fish,

Syrup, the brains of Jove.

Alexis too, in his Philiscus, says,—

Now is the time to clear the table, and

To bring each guest some water for his hands,

And garlands, perfumes, and libations,

Frankincense, and a chafing-dish. Now give

Some sweetmeats, and let all some cheesecakes have.

And as Philoxenus of Cythera, in his Banquet, where he mentions the

second course, has spoken by name of many of the dishes which are

served up to us, we may as well cite his words:—

"And the beautiful vessels which come in first, were brought in again

full of every kind of delicacy, which mortals call τράπεζαι, but the

Gods call them the Horn of Amalthea. And in the middle was placed

that great delight of mortals, white marrow dressed sweet; covering

its face with a thin membrane, like a spider's web, out of modesty,

that one might not see . . . . . in the dry nets of Aristæus. . . .

And its name was amyllus . . . . . . . . . which they call Jupiter's

sweetmeats. . . . Then he distributed plates of . . . . very

delicious . . . . . . and a cheesecake compounded of cheese, and milk,

and honey . . . . . almonds with soft rind . . . . and nuts, which

boys are very fond of; and everything else which could be expected in

plentiful and costly entertainment. And drinking went on, and playing

at the cottabus, and conversation. . . . . . . . It was pronounced a

very magnificent entertainment, and every one admired and praised it."

This, then, is the description given by Philoxenus of Cythera, whom

Antiphanes praises in his Third-rate Performer, where he says—

Philoxenus now does surpass by far

All other poets. First of all he everywhere

Uses new words peculiar to himself;

And then how cleverly doth he mix his melodies

With every kind of change and modification!

Surely he is a god among weak men,

And a most thorough judge of music too.

But poets of the present day patch up

Phrases of ivy and fountains into verse,

And borrow old expressions, talking of

Melodies flying on the wings of flowers,

And interweave them with their own poor stuff.

51. There are many writers who have given lists of the different

kinds of cheesecakes, and as far as I can recollect, I will mention

them, and what they have said. I know, too, that Callimachus, in his

List of Various Books, mentions the treatises on the Art of Making

Cheesecakes, written by Ægimius, and Hegesippus, and Metrobius, and

also by Phætus. But I will communicate to you the names of cheesecakes

which I myself have been able to find to put down, not treating you as

Socrates was treated in the matter of the cheesecake which was sent to

him by Alcibiades; for Xanthippe took it and trampled upon it, on which

Socrates laughed, and said, "At all events you will not have any of it

yourself." (This story is related by Antipater, in the first book of

his essay on Passion.) But I, as I am fond of cheesecakes, should have

been very sorry to see that divine cheesecake so injuriously treated.

Accordingly, Plato the comic poet mentions cheesecakes in his play

called The Poet, where he says—

Am I alone to sacrifice without Having a taste allow'd

me of the entrails, Without a cheesecake, without

frankincense?

[Sidenote: CHEESECAKES.]

Nor do I forget that there is a village, which Demetrius the Scepsian,

in the twelfth book of his Trojan Array, tells us bears the name

of Πλακοῦς (cheesecake); and he says that it is six stadia from

Hypoplacian Thebes.[94]

Now, the word πλακοῦς ought to have a circumflex in the nominative

case; for it is contracted from πλακόεις, as τυροῦς is from τυρόεις,

and σησαμούς from σησαμόεις. And it is used as a substantive, the word

ἄρτος (bread) being understood.

Those who have lived in the place assure us that there are capital

cheesecakes to be got at Parium on the Hellespont; for it is a blunder

of Alexis, when he speaks of them as coming from the island of Paros.

And this is what he says in his play called Archilochus:—

Happy old man, who in the sea-girt isle Of happy

Paros dwell'st—a land which bears Two things in high

perfection; marble white, Fit decoration for th' immortal

gods, And cheesecakes, dainty food for mortal men.

And Sopater the farce-writer, in his Suitors of Bacchis, testifies that

the cheesecakes of Samos are extraordinarily good; saying,—

The cheesecake-making island named Samos.

52. Menander, in his False Hercules, speaks of cheesecakes made in a

mould:—

It is not now a question about candyli, Or all the

other things which you are used To mix together in one

dish—eggs, honey, And similago; for all these things

now Are out of place. The cook at present's making Baked

cheesecakes in a mould; and boiling groats, To serve up

after the salt-fish,—and grapes, And forced-meat wrapp'd

in fig-leaves. And the maid, Who makes the sweetmeats and

the common cheesecakes, Is roasting joints of meat and

plates of thrushes.

And Evangelus, in his Newly-married Woman, says—

_A._ Four tables did I mention to you of women,

And six of men; a supper, too, complete—

In no one single thing deficient;

Wishing the marriage-feast to be a splendid one.

_B._ Ask no one else; I will myself go round,

Provide for everything, and report to you.

. . . . . As many kinds of olives as you please;

For meat, you've veal, and sucking-pig, and pork,

And hares—

_A._ Hear how this cursed fellow boasts!

_B._ Forced-meat in fig-leaves, cheese, cheesecakes in moulds—

_A._ Here, Dromo!

_B._ Candyli, eggs, cakes of meal.

And then the table is three cubits high;

So that all those who sit around must rise

Whene'er they wish to help themselves to anything.

There was a kind of cheesecake called ἄμης. Antiphanes

enumerates

ἄμητες, ἄμυλοι;

and Menander, in his Supposititious Son, says—

You would be glad were any one to dress

A cheesecake (ἄμητα) for you.

But the Ionians, as Seleucus tells us in his Dialects, make the

accusative case ἄμην; and they call small cheesecakes of the

same kind ἀμητίσκοι. Teleclides says—

Thrushes flew of their own accord

Right down my throat with savoury ἀμητίσκοι.

53. There was also a kind called διακόνιον:—

He was so greedy that he ate a whole

Diaconium up, besides an amphiphon.

But the ἀμφιφῶν was a kind of cheesecake consecrated to

Diana, having figures of lighted torches round it. Philemon, in his

Beggar, or Woman of Rhodes, says—

Diana, mistress dear, I bring you now

This amphiphon, and these libations holy.

Diphilus also mentions it in his Hecate. Philochorus also mentions the

fact of its being called ἀμφιφῶν, and of its being brought

into the temples of Diana, and also to the places where three roads

meet, on the day when the moon is overtaken at its setting by the

rising of the sun; and so the heaven is ἀμφιφῶς, or all over

light.

There is the basynias too. Semus, in the second book of the Deliad,

says—"In the island of Hecate, the Delians sacrifice to Iris, offering

her the cheesecakes called basyniæ; and this is a cake of wheat-flour,

and suet, and honey, boiled up together: and what is called κόκκωρα

consists of a fig and three nuts."

[Sidenote: CHEESECAKES.]

There are also cheesecakes called strepti and neëlata. Both these kinds

are mentioned by Demosthenes the orator, in his Speech in Defence of

Ctesiphon concerning the Crown.

There are also epichyta. Nicochares, in his Handicraftsmen, says—

I've loaves, and barley-cakes, and bran, and flour,

And rolls, obelias, and honey'd cheesecakes,

Epichyti, ptisan, and common cheesecakes,

Dendalides, and fried bread.

But Pamphilus says that the ἐπίχυτος is the same kind of

cheesecake as that which is called ἀττανίτης. And Hipponax

mentions the ἀττανίτης in the following lines:—

Not eating hares or woodcocks,

Nor mingling small fried loaves with cakes of sesame,

Nor dipping attanitæ in honeycombs.

There is also the creïum. This is a kind of cheesecake which, at Argos,

is brought to the bridegroom from the bride; and it is roasted on the

coals, and the friends of the bridegroom are invited to eat it; and it

is served up with honey, as Philetas tells us in his Miscellanies.

There is also the glycinas: this is a cheesecake in fashion among the

Cretans, made, with sweet wine and oil, as Seleucus tells us in his

Dialects.

There is also the empeptas. The same author speaks of this as a

cheesecake made of wheat, hollow and well-shaped, like those which are

called κρηπῖδες; being rather a kind of paste into which they put those

cheesecakes which are really made with cheese.

54. There are cakes, also, called ἐγκρίδες. These are cakes

boiled in oil, and after that seasoned with honey; and they are

mentioned by Stesichorus in the following lines:—

Groats and encrides,

And other cakes, and fresh sweet honey.

Epicharmus, too, mentions them; and so does Nicophon, in his

Handicraftsmen. And Aristophanes, in his Danaides, speaks of a man who

made them in the following words:—

And not be a seller of encrides (ἐγκριδοπώλης).

And Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, says—

Let him take this, and then along the road

Let him seize some encrides.

There is the ἐπικύκλιος, too. This is a kind of cheesecake

in use among the Syracusans, under this name; and it is mentioned by

Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea.

There is also the γοῦρος; and that this, too, is a kind of

cheesecake we learn from what Solon says in his Iambics:—

Some spend their time in drinking, and eating cakes,

And some eat bread, and others feast on γοῦροι

Mingled with lentils; and there is no kind

Of dainty wanting there, but all the fruits

Which the rich earth brings forth as food for men

Are present in abundance.

There are also cribanæ; and κριβάνης is a name given by Alcman

to some cheesecakes, as Apollodorus tells us. And Sosibius asserts the

same thing, in the third book of his Essay on Alcman; and he says they

are in shape like a breast, and that the Lacedæmonians use them at

the banquets of women, and that the female friends of the bride, who

follow her in a chorus, carry them about when they are going to sing an

encomium which has been prepared in her honour.

There is also the crimnites, which is a kind of cheesecake made of a

coarser sort of barley-meal (κρίμνον), as Iatrocles tells us

in his treatise on Cheesecakes.

55. Then there is the staitites; and this, too, is a species of

cheesecake made of wheaten-flour and honey. Epicharmus mentions it in

his Hebe's Wedding; but the wheaten-flour is wetted, and then put into

a frying-pan; and after that honey is sprinkled over it, and sesame,

and cheese; as Iatrocles tells us.

There is also the charisius. This is mentioned by Aristophanes in his

Daitaleis, where he says—

But I will send them in the evening

A charisian cheesecake.

And Eubulus, in his Ancylion, speaks of it as if it were plain bread:—

I only just leapt out,

While baking the charisius.

Then there is the ἐπίδαιτρον, which is a barley-cake, made

like a cheesecake, to be eaten after supper; as Philemon tells us in

his treatise on Attic Names.

There is also the nanus, which is a loaf made like a cheesecake,

prepared with cheese and oil.

There are also ψώθια, which are likewise called ψαθύρια. Pherecrates,

in the Crapatalli, says—

And in the shades below you'll get for threepence

A crapatallus, and some ψώθια.

[Sidenote: CHEESECAKES.]

But Apollodorus the Athenian, and Theodorus, in his treatise

on the Attic Dialect, say that the crumbs which are knocked off from a

loaf are called ψώθια, which some people also call ἀττάραγοι.

Then there is the ἴτριον. This is a thin cake, made of sesame

and honey; and it is mentioned by Anacreon thus:—

I broke my fast, taking a little slice

Of an ἴτριον; but I drank a cask of wine.

And Aristophanes, in his Acharnians, says—

Cheesecakes, and cakes of sesame, and ἴτρια.

And Sophocles, in his Contention, says—

But I, being hungry, look back at the ἴτρια.

There is mention made also of ἄμοραι. Philetas, in his

Miscellanies, says that cakes of honey are called ἄμοραι; and

they are made by a regular baker.

There is the ταγηνίτης, too; which is a cheesecake fried

in oil. Magnes, or whoever it was that wrote the comedies which are

attributed to him, says in the second edition of his Bacchus—

Have you ne'er seen the fresh ταγήνιαι hissing,

When you pour honey over them?

And Cratinus, in his Laws, says—

The fresh ταγηνίας, dropping morning dew.

Then there is the ἔλαφος. This is a cheesecake made on the

festival of Elaphebolia, of wheat-flour, and honey, and sesame.

The ναστὸς is a kind of cheesecake, having stuffing inside it.

56. Χόρια are cakes made up with honey and milk.

The ἀμορβίτης is a species of cheesecake in fashion among the

Sicilians. But some people call it παισά. And among the Coans

it is called πλακούντιον, as we are informed by Iatrocles.

Then there are the σησαμίδες, which are cakes made of honey,

and roasted sesame, and oil, of a round shape. Eupolis, in his

Flatterers, says—

He is all grace, he steps like a callabis-dancer,

And breathes sesamides, and smells of apples.

And Antiphanes, in his Deucalion, says—

Sesamides, or honey-cheesecakes,

Or any other dainty of the kind.

And Ephippus, in his Cydon, also mentions them in a passage which has

been already quoted.

Then there are μύλλοι. Heraclides the Syracusan, in his

treatise on Laws, says, that in Syracuse, on the principal day of the

Thesmophorian festival, cakes of a peculiar shape are made of sesame

and honey, which are called μύλλοι throughout all Sicily, and

are carried about as offerings to the goddesses. There is also the

echinus. Lynceus the Samian, in his epistle to Diagoras, comparing the

things which are considered dainties in Attica with those which are

in esteem at Rhodes, writes thus: "They have for the second course a

rival to the fame of the ἄμης in a new antagonist called the ἐχινος,

concerning which I will speak briefly; but when you come and see me,

and eat one which shall be prepared for you in the Rhodian manner, then

I will endeavour to say more about it."

There are also cheesecakes named κοτυλίσκοι. Heracleon of

Ephesus tells us that those cheesecakes have this name which are made

of the third part of a chœnix of wheat.

There are others called χοιρίναι, which are mentioned by

Iatrocles in his treatise on Cheesecakes; and he speaks also of that

which is called πυραμοῦς, which he says differs from the

πυραμίς, inasmuch as this latter is made of bruised wheat

which has been softened with honey. And these cheesecakes are in

nightly festivals given as prizes to the man who has kept awake all

night.

57. But Chrysippus of Tyana, in his book called the Art of

Making Bread, enumerates the following species and genera of

cheesecakes:—"The terentinum, the crassianum, the tutianum, the

sabellicum, the clustron, the julianum, the apicianum, the canopicum,

the pelucidum, the cappadocium, the hedybium, the maryptum, the

plicium, the guttatum, the montianum. This last," he says, "you will

soften with sour wine, and if you have a little cheese you may mash

the montianum up half with wine and half with cheese, and so it will

be more palatable. Then there is the clustrum curianum, the clustrum

tuttatum, and the clustrum tabonianum. There are also mustacia made

with mead, mustacia made with sesame, crustum purium, gosgloanium, and

paulianum.

[Sidenote: CHEESECAKES.]

"The following cakes resembling cheesecakes," he says, "are really

made with cheese:—the enchytus, the scriblites, the subityllus. There

is also another kind of subityllus made of groats. Then there is the

spira; this, too, is made with cheese.

There are, too, the lucuntli, the argyrotryphema, the libos, the

cercus, the æxaphas, the clustroplacous. There is also," says

Chrysippus, "a cheesecake made of rye. The phthois is made thus:—Take

some cheese and pound it, then put it into a brazen sieve and strain

it; then put in honey and a hemina[95] of flour made from spring wheat,

and beat the whole together into one mass.

"There is another cake, which is called by the Romans catillus ornatus,

and which is made thus:—Wash some lettuces and scrape them; then put

some wine into a mortar and pound the lettuces in it; then, squeezing

out the juice, mix up some flour from spring wheat in it, and allowing

it to settle, after a little while pound it again, adding a little

pig's fat and pepper; then pound it again, draw it out into a cake,

smoothe it, and cut it again, and cut it into shape, and boil it in hot

oil, putting all the fragments which you have cut off into a strainer.

"Other kinds of cheesecakes are the following:—the ostracites, the

attanites, the amylum, the tyrocoscinum. Make this last thus:—Pound

some cheese (τῦρον) carefully, and put it into a vessel; then place

above it a brazen sieve (κόσκινον) and strain the cheese through

it. And when you are going to serve it up, then put in above it a

sufficient quantity of honey. The cheesecakes called ὑποτυρίδες are

made thus:—Put some honey into some milk, pound them, and put them into

a vessel, and let them coagulate; then, if you have some little sieves

at hand, put what is in the vessel into them, and let the whey run off;

and when it appears to you to have coagulated thoroughly, then take up

the vessel in which it is, and transfer it to a silver dish, and the

coat, or crust, will be uppermost. But if you have no such sieves, then

use some new fans, such as those which are used to blow the fire; for

they will serve the same purpose. Then there is the coptoplacous. And

also," says he, "in Crete they make a kind of cheesecake which they

call gastris. And it is made thus:—Take some Thasian and Pontic nuts

and some almonds, and also a poppy. Roast this last with great care,

and then take the seed and pound it in a clean mortar; then, adding the

fruits which I have mentioned above, beat them up with boiled honey,

putting in plenty of pepper, and make the whole into a soft mass, (but

it will be of a black colour because of the poppy;) flatten it and make

it into a square shape; then, having pounded some white sesame, soften

that too with boiled honey, and draw it out into two cakes, placing one

beneath and the other above, so as to have the black surface in the

middle, and make it into a neat shape." These are the recipes of that

clever writer on confectionary, Chrysippus.

58. But Harpocration the Mendesian, in his treatise on Cheesecakes,

speaks of a dish which the Alexandrians call παγκαρπία. Now

this dish consists of a number of cakes mashed up together and boiled

with honey. And after they are boiled, they are made up into round

balls, and fastened round with a thin string of byblus in order to

keep them together. There is also a dish called πόλτος, which

Alcman mentions in the following terms—

And then we'll give you poltos made of beans (πυάνιος),

And snow-white wheaten groats from unripe corn,

And fruit of wax.

But the substantive πυάνιον, as Sosibius tells us, means a

collection of all kinds of seeds boiled up in sweet wine. And χῖδρος

means boiled grains of wheat. And when he speaks here of waxy

fruit, he means honey. And Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea, speaks

thus—

To boil some morning πόλτος.

And Pherecrates mentions the cakes called μελικηρίδων in his

Deserters, speaking as follows—

As one man smells like goats, but others

Breathe from their mouths unalloy'd μελικήρας.

59. And when all this had been said, the wise Ulpian said,—Whence,

my most learned grammarians, and out of what library, have these

respectable writers, Chrysippus and Harpocration, been extracted, men

who bring the names of illustrious philosophers into disrepute by being

their namesakes? And what Greek has ever used the word ἡμίνα;

or who has ever mentioned the ἄμυλος?" And when Laurentius

answered him, and said,—Whoever the authors of the poems attributed to

Epicharmus were, they were acquainted with the ἡπίνα. And we

find the following expressions in the play entitled Chiron—

And to drink twice the quantity of cool water,—

Two full heminas.

[Sidenote: CAKES.]

And these spurious poems, attributed to Epicharmus, were, at

all events, written by eminent men. For it was Chrysogonus the

flute-player, as Aristoxenus tells us in the eighth book of his

Political Laws, who wrote the poem entitled Polity. And Philochorus,

in his treatise on Divination, says that it was a man of the name of

Axiopistos, (whether he was a Locrian or a Sicyonian is uncertain,) who

was the author of the Canon and the Sentences. And Apollodorus tells us

the same thing. And Teleclides mentions the ἄμυλος in his Rigid Men,

speaking thus—

Hot cheesecakes now are things I'm fond of,

Wild pears I do not care about;

I also like rich bits of hare

Placed on an ἄμυλος.

60. When Ulpian had heard this, he said—But, since you have also a

cake which you call κοπτὴ, and I see that there is one served

up for each of you on the table, tell us now, you epicures, what writer

of authority ever mentions this word κοπτὴ? And Democritus

replied—Dionysius of Utica, in the seventh book of his Georgics, says

that the sea leek is called κοπτὴ. And as for the honey-cake

which is now served up before each of us, Clearchus the Solensian, in

his treatise on Riddles, mentions that, saying—"If any one were to

order a number of vessels to be mentioned which resemble one another,

he might say,

A tripod, a bowl, a candlestick, a marble mortar,

A bench, a sponge, a caldron, a boat, a metal mortar,

An oil-cruse, a basket, a knife, a ladle,

A goblet, and a needle.

And after that he gives a list of the names of different dishes, thus—

Soup, lentils, salted meat, and fish, and turnips,

Garlic, fresh meat, and tunny-roe, pickles, onions,

Olives, and artichokes, capers, truffles, mushrooms.

And in the same way he gives a catalogue of cakes, and sweetmeats,

thus—

Ames, placous, entiltos, itrium,[96]

Pomegranates, eggs, vetches, and sesame;

Coptè and grapes, dried figs, and pears and peaches,

Apples and almonds."

These are the words of Clearchus. But Sopater the farce-writer, in his

drama entitled Pylæ, says—

Who was it who invented first black cakes (κοπταὶ)

Of the uncounted poppy-seed? who mix'd

The yellow compounds of delicious sweetmeats?

Here my excellent cross-examiner, Ulpian, you have authorities for

κοπτή; and so now I advise you ἀπεσθίειν some. And he, without any

delay, took and ate some. And when they all laughed, Democritus

said;—But, my fine word-catcher, I did not desire you to eat, but not

to eat; for the word ἀπεσθίω is used in the sense of abstaining from

eating by Theopompus the comic poet, in his Phineus, where he says—

Cease gambling with the dice, my boy, and now

Feed for the future more on herbs. Your stomach

Is hard with indigestion; give up eating (ἀπέσθιε)

Those fish that cling to the rocks; the lees of wine

Will make your head and senses clear, and thus

You'll find your health, and your estate too, better.

Men do, however, use ἀπεσθίω for to eat a portion of

anything, as Hermippus does, in his Soldiers—

Alas! alas! he bites me now, he bites,

And quite devours (ἀπεσθίει) my ears.

61. The Syrian being convicted by these arguments, and being a good

deal annoyed, said—But I see here on the table some pistachio nuts

(ψιττάκια); and if you can tell me what author has ever

spoken of them, I will give you, not ten golden staters, as that Pontic

trifler has it, but this goblet. And as Democritus made no reply, he

said, But since you cannot answer me, I will tell you; Nicander of

Colophon, in his Theriacans, mentions them, and says—

Pistachio nuts (ψιττάκια) upon the highest branches,

Like almonds to the sight.

The word is also written βιστάκια, in the line—

And almond-looking βιστάκια were there.

And Posidonius the Stoic, in the third book of his History, writes

thus: "But both Arabia and Syria produce the peach, and the nut which

is called βιστάκιον; which bears a fruit in bunches like bunches of

grapes, of a sort of tawny white, long shaped, like tears, and the nuts

lie on one another like berries. But the kernel is of a light green,

and it is less juicy than the pine-cone, but it has a more pleasant

smell. And the brothers who together composed the Georgics, write thus,

in the third book—"There is also the ash, and the turpentine tree,

which the Syrians call πιστάκια." And these people spell the word

πιστάκια with a π, but Nicander writes it φιττάκια, and Posidonius

βιστάκια.

[Sidenote: VEGETABLES.]

62. And when he had said this, looking round on all those who were

present, and being praised by them, he said,—But I mean also to discuss

every other dish that there is on the table, in order to make you

admire my varied learning. And first of all I will speak of those which

the Alexandrians call κόνναρα and παλίουροι. And they are mentioned

also by Agathocles of Cyzicus, in the third book of his History of

his Country; where, he says: "But after the thunderbolt had struck

the tomb, there sprung up from the monument a tree which they call

κόνναρον. And this tree is not at all inferior in size to the elm or

the fir. And it has great numbers of branches, of great length and

rather thorny; but its leaf is tender and green, and of a round shape.

And it bears fruit twice a-year, in spring and autumn. And the fruit

is very sweet, and of the size of a phaulian olive, which it resembles

both in its flesh and in its stone; but it is superior in the good

flavour of its juice. And the fruit is eaten while still green; and

when it has become dry they make it into paste, and eat it without

either bruising it or softening it with water, but taking it in very

nearly its natural state. And Euripides, in the Cyclops, speaks of—

A branch of paliurus.[97]

But Theopompus, in the twenty-first book of his History of Philip,

mentions them, and Diphilus, the physician of Siphnus, also speaks of

them, in his treatise on What may be eaten by People in Health, and by

Invalids. But I have mentioned these things first, my good friends, not

because they are before us at this moment, but because in the beautiful

city of Alexandria, I have often eaten them as part of the second

course, and as I have often heard the question as to their names raised

there, I happened to fall in with a book here in which I read what I

have now recounted to you.

63. And I will now take the pears (ἄπιον), which I see before

me, and speak of them, since it is from them that the Peloponnesus

was called Ἀπία,[98] because plants of the peartree were

abundant in the country, as Ister tells us, in his treatise on the

History of Greece. And that it was customary to bring up pears in water

at entertainments, we learn from the Breutias of Alexis, where we read

these lines—

_A._ Have you ne'er seen pears floating in deep water

Served up before some hungry men at dinner?

_B._ Indeed I have, and often; what of that?

_A._ Does not each guest choose for himself, and eat

The ripest of the fruit that swims before him?

_B._ No doubt he does.

But the fruit called ἁμαμηλίδες are not the same as pears, as

some people have fancied, but they are a different thing, sweeter, and

they have no kernel. Aristomenes, in his Bacchus, says—

Know you not how the Chian garden grows

Fine medlars?

And Æschylides too, in the third book of his Georgics, shows us that it

is a different fruit from the pear, and sweeter. For he is speaking of

the island Ceos, and he expresses himself thus,—"The island produces

the very finest pears, equal to that fruit which in Ionia is called

hamamelis; for they are free from kernels, and sweet, and delicious."

But Aethlius, in the fifth book of his Samian Annals, if the book be

genuine, calls them homomelides. And Pamphilus, in his treatise on

Dialects and Names, says, "The epimelis is a species of pear." Antipho,

in his treatise on Agriculture, says that the phocides are also a kind

of pear.

64. Then there are pomegranates. And of pomegranates some kinds are

said to be destitute of kernels, and some to have hard ones. And those

without kernels are mentioned by Aristophanes in his Farmers; and in

his Anagyrus he says—

Except wheat-flour and pomegranates.

He also speaks of them in the Gerytades; and Hermippus, in his

Cercopes, says—

Have you e'er seen the pomegranate's kernel in snow?

And we find the diminutive form ῥοίδιον, like βοίδιον.

Antiphanes also mentions the pomegranates with the hard kernels in his

Bœotia—

I bade him bring me from the farm pomegranates

Of the hard-kernell'd sort.

And Epilycus, in his Phoraliscus, says—

You are speaking of apples and pomegranates.

[Sidenote: POMEGRANATES.]

Alexis also, in his Suitors, has the line—

He took the rich pomegranates from their hands.

But Agatharchides, in the nineteenth book of his History of Europe,

tells us that the Bœotians call pomegranates not ῥοιαὶ but σίδαι,

speaking thus:—"As the Athenians were disputing with the Bœotians

about a district which they called Sidæ, Epaminondas, while engaged

in upholding the claims of the Bœotians, suddenly lifted up in his

left hand a pomegranate which he had concealed, and showed it to

the Athenians, asking them what they called it, and when they said

ῥοιὰ, 'But we,' said he, 'call it σίδη.' And the district bears

the pomegranate-tree in great abundance, from which it originally

derived its name. And Epaminondas prevailed." And Menander, in his

Heauton-Timorumenos, called them ῥοίδια, in the following lines—

And after dinner I did set before them

Almonds, and after that we ate pomegranates.

There is, however, another plant called sida, which is something like

the pomegranate, and which grows in the lake Orchomenus, in the water

itself; and the sheep eat its leaves, and the pigs feed on the young

shoots, as Theophrastus tells us, in the fourth book of his treatise on

Plants; where he says that there is another plant like it in the Nile,

which grows without any roots.

65. The next thing to be mentioned are dates. Xenophon, in the second

book of his Anabasis, says—"And there was in the district a great

deal of corn, and wine made of the dates, and also vinegar, which was

extracted from them; but the berries themselves of the date when like

what we see in Greece, were set apart for the slaves. But those which

were destined for the masters were all carefully selected, being of a

wonderful size and beauty, and their colour was like amber. And some

they dry and serve up as sweetmeats; and the wine made from the date

is sweet, but it produces headache." And Herodotus, in his first book,

speaking of Babylon, says,—"There are palm-trees there growing over

the whole plain, most of them being very fruitful; and they make bread,

and wine, and honey of them. And they manage the tree in the same way

as the fig-tree. For those palm-trees which they call the males they

take, and bind their fruit to the other palm-trees which bear dates,

in order that the insect which lives in the fruit of the male palm

may get into the date and ripen it, and so prevent the fruit of the

date-bearing palm from being spoilt. For the male palm has an insect in

each of its fruits, as the wild fig has." And Polybius of Megalopolis,

who speaks with the authority of an eye-witness, gives very nearly the

same account of the lotus, as it is called, in Libya, that Herodotus

here gives of the palm-tree; for he speaks thus of it: "And the lotus

is a tree of no great size, but rough and thorny, and its leaf is green

like that of the rhamnus, but a little thicker and broader. And the

fruit at first resembles both in colour and size the berries of the

white myrtle when full grown; but as it increases in size it becomes

of a scarlet colour, and in size about equal to the round olives; and

it has an exceedingly small stone. But when it is ripe they gather

it. And some they store for the use of the servants, bruising it and

mixing it with groats, and packing it into vessels. And that which is

preserved for freemen is treated in the same way, only that the stones

are taken out, and then they pack that fruit also in jars, and eat it

when they please. And it is a food very like the fig, and also like

the palm-date, but superior in fragrance. And when it is moistened and

pounded with water, a wine is made of it, very sweet and enjoyable to

the taste, and like fine mead; and they drink it without water; but it

will not keep more than ten days, on which account they only make it in

small quantities as they want it. They also make vinegar of the same

fruit."

66. And Melanippides the Melian, in his Danaides, calls the fruit

of the palm-tree by the name of φοίνιξ, mentioning them in this

manner:—"They had the appearance of inhabitants of the shades below,

not of human beings; nor had they voices like women; but they drove

about in chariots with seats, through the woods and groves, just as

wild beasts do, holding in their hands the sacred frankincense, and the

fragrant dates (φοίνικας), and cassia, and the delicate perfumes of

Syria."[99]

[Sidenote: FIGS.]

And Aristotle, in his treatise on Plants, speaks thus:—"The dates

(φοίνικες) without stones, which some call eunuchs and others

ἀπύρηνοι." Hellanicus has also called the fruit φοίνιξ, in his Journey

to the Temple of Ammon, if at least the book be a genuine one; and so

has Phormus the comic poet, in his Atalantæ. But concerning those that

are called the Nicolaan dates, which are imported from Syria, I can

give you this information; that they received this name from Augustus

the emperor, because he was exceedingly fond of the fruit, and because

Nicolaus of Damascus, who was his friend, was constantly sending him

presents of it. And this Nicolaus was a philosopher of the Peripatetic

School, and wrote a very voluminous history.

67. Now with respect to dried figs. Those which came from Attica

were always considered a great deal the best. Accordingly Dinon, in

his History of Persia, says—"And they used to serve up at the royal

table all the fruits which the earth produces as far as the king's

dominions extend, being brought to him from every district as a sort

of first-fruits. And the first king did not think it becoming for the

kings either to eat or drink anything which came from any foreign

country; and this idea gradually acquired the force of a law. For once,

when one of the eunuchs brought the king, among the rest of the dishes

at dessert, some Athenian dried figs, the king asked where they came

from. And when he heard that they came from Athens, he forbade those

who had bought them to buy them for him any more, until it should be in

his power to take them whenever he chose, and not to buy them. And it

is said that the eunuch did this on purpose, with a view to remind him

of the expedition against Attica." And Alexis, in his Pilot, says—

Then came in figs, the emblem of fair Athens,

And bunches of sweet thyme.

And Lynceus, in his epistle to the comic poet, Posidippus, says—"In

the delineation of the tragic passions, I do not think that Euripides

is at all superior to Sophocles, but in dried figs, I do think that

Attica is superior to every other country on earth." And in his

letter to Diagoras, he writes thus:—"But this country opposes to the

Chelidonian dried figs those which are called Brigindaridæ, which in

their name indeed are barbarous, but which in delicious flavour are not

at all less Attic than the others. And Phœnicides, in his Hated Woman,

says—

They celebrate the praise of myrtle-berries,

Of honey, of the Propylæa, and of figs;

Now these I tasted when I first arrived,

And saw the Propylæa; yet have I found nothing

Which to a woodcock can for taste compare.

In which lines we must take notice of the mention of the woodcock.

But Philemon, in his treatise on Attic Names, says that "the most

excellent dried figs are those called Ægilides; and that Ægila is the

name of a borough in Attica, which derives its name from a hero called

Ægilus; but that the dried figs of a reddish black colour are called

Chelidonians." Theopompus also, in the Peace, praising the Tithrasian

figs, speaks thus—

Barley-cakes, cheesecakes, and Tithrasian figs.

But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men, (for really,

as Aristophanes says—

There's really nothing nicer than dried figs;)

that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote to Antiochus,

entreating him (it is Hegesander who tells this story) to buy and send

him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a sophist; and that

Antiochus wrote to him in answer, "The dried figs and the sweet wine we

will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece.

The Greeks were also in the habit of eating dried figs roasted, as

Pherecrates proves by what he says in the Corianno, where we find—

But pick me out some of those roasted figs.

And a few lines later he says—

Will you not bring me here some black dried figs?

Dost understand? Among the Mariandyni,

That barbarous tribe, they call these black dried figs

Their dishes.

I am aware, too, that Pamphilus has mentioned a kind of dried figs,

which he calls προκνίδες.

68. That the word βότρυς is common for a bunch of grapes is known to

every one; and Crates, in the second book of his Attic Dialect, uses

the word σταφυλὴ, although it appears to be a word of Asiatic origin;

saying that in some of the ancient hymns the word σταφυλὴ is used for

βότρυς, as in the following line:—

Thick hanging with the dusky grapes (σταφυλῆσι) themselves.

[Sidenote: GRAPES.]

And that the word σταφυλὴ is used by Homer is known to every one. But

Plato, in the eighth book of his Laws, uses both βότρυς and σταφυλὴ,

where he says—"Whoever tastes wild fruit, whether it be grapes

(βοτρύων) or figs, before the time of the vintage arrives, which falls

at the time of the rising of Arcturus, whether it be on his own farm,

or on any one else's land, shall be fined fifty sacred drachmas to be

paid to Bacchus, if he plucked them off his own land; but a mina if

he gather them on a neighbour's estate; but if he take them from any

other place, two-thirds of a mina. But whoever chooses to gather the

grapes (τὴν σταφυλὴν), which are now called the noble grapes, or the

figs called the noble figs, if he gather them from his own trees, let

him gather them as he pleases, and when he pleases; but if he gathers

them from the trees of any one else without having obtained the leave

of the owner, then, in accordance with the law which forbids any one to

move what he has not placed, he shall be invariably punished." These

are the words of the divine Plato; but I ask now what is this noble

grape (γενναῖα), and this noble fig that he speaks of? And you may all

consider this point while I am discussing the other dishes which are on

the table. And Masurius said—

But let us not postpone this till to-morrow,

Still less till the day after.

When the philosopher says γενναῖα, he means εἰγενῆ, _generous_, as

Archilochus also uses the word—

Come hither, you are generous (γενναῖος);

or, perhaps, he means ἐπιγεγενημένα; that is to say, grafted. For

Aristotle speaks of grafted pears, and calls them ἑπεμβολάδες. And

Demosthenes, in his speech in defence of Ctesiphon, has the sentence,

"gathering figs, and grapes (βότρυς), and olives." And Xenophon, in

his Œconomics, says, "that grapes (τὰς σταφυλὰς) are ripened by the

sun." And our ancestors also have been acquainted with the practice of

steeping grapes in wine. Accordingly Eubulus, in his Catacollomenos,

says—

But take these grapes (βότρυς), and in neat wine pound them,

And pour upon them many cups of water.

Then make him eat them when well steep'd in wine.

And the poet, who is the author of the Chiron, which is generally

attributed to Pherecrates, says—

Almonds and apples, and the arbutus first,

And myrtle-berries, pastry, too, and grapes

Well steep'd in wine; and marrow.

And that every sort of autumn fruit was always plentiful at Athens,

Aristophanes testifies in his Horæ. Why, then, should that appear

strange which Aethlius the Samian asserts in the fifth book of his

Samian Annals, where he says, "The fig, and the grape, and the medlar,

and the apple, and the rose grow twice a-year?" And Lynceus, in his

letter to Diagoras, praising the Nicostratian grape, which grows in

Attica, and comparing it to the Rhodiacan, says, "As rivals of the

Nicostratian grapes they grow the Hipponian grape; which after the

month Hecatombæon (like a good servant) has constantly the same good

disposition towards its masters."

69. But as you have had frequent discussions about meats, and birds,

and pigeons, I also will tell you all that I, after a great deal of

reading, have been able to find out in addition to what has been

previously stated. Now the word περιστέριον (pigeon), may be found used

by Menander in his Concubine, where he says—

He waits a little while, and then runs up

And says—"I've bought some pigeons (περιστέρια) for you."

And so Nicostratus, in his Delicate Woman, says—

These are the things I want,—a little bird,

And then a pigeon (περιστέριον) and a paunch.

And Anaxandrides, in his Reciprocal Lover, has the line—

For bringing in some pigeons (περιστέρια) and some sparrows.

And Phrynichus, in his Tragedians, says—

Bring him a pigeon (περιστέριον) for a threepenny piece.

Now with respect to the pheasant, Ptolemy the king, in the twelfth

book of his Memorabilia, speaking of the palace which there is at

Alexandria, and of the animals which are kept in it, says, "They have

also pheasants, which they call τέταροι, which they not only used to

send for from Media, but they also used to put the eggs under broody

hens, by which means they raised a number, so as to have enough

for food; for they call it very excellent eating." Now this is the

expression of a most magnificent monarch, who confesses that he himself

has never tasted a pheasant, but who used to keep these birds as a sort

of treasure. But if he had ever seen such a sight as this, when, in

addition to all those which have been already eaten, a pheasant is also

placed before each individual, he would have added another book to the

existing twenty-four of that celebrated history, which he calls his

Memorabilia. And Aristotle or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, says,

"In pheasants, the male is not only as much superior to the female as

is usually the case, but he is so in an infinitely greater degree."

[Sidenote: PEACOCKS.]

70. But if the before-mentioned king had seen the number of peacocks

also which exists at Rome, he would have fled to his sacred Senate,

as though he had a second time been driven out of his kingdom by his

brother. For the multitude of these birds is so great at Rome, that

Antiphanes the comic poet, in his Soldier or Tychon, may seem to have

been inspired by the spirit of prophecy, when he said—

When the first man imported to this city

A pair of peacocks, they were thought a rarity,

But now they are more numerous than quails;

So, if by searching you find one good man,

He will be sure to have five worthless sons.

And Alexis, in his Lamp, says—

That he should have devour'd so vast a sum!

Why if (by earth I swear) I fed on hares' milk

And peacocks, I could never spend so much.

And that they used to keep them tame in their houses, we learn from

Strattis, in his Pausanias, where he says—

Of equal value with your many trifles,

And peacocks, which you breed up for their feathers.

And Anaxandrides, in his Melilotus, says—

Is't not a mad idea to breed up peacocks,

When every one can buy his private ornaments?

And Anaxilaus, in his Bird Feeders, says—

Besides all this, tame peacocks, loudly croaking.

Menodotus the Samian also, in his treatise on the Treasures in the

Temple of the Samian Juno, says: "The peacocks are sacred to Juno;

and perhaps Samos may be the place where they were first produced and

reared, and from thence it was that they were scattered abroad over

foreign countries, in the same way as cocks were originally produced in

Persia, and the birds called guinea-fowl (μελεαγρίδες) in Ætolia." On

which account Antiphanes, in his Brothers by the same Father, says—

They say that in the city of the Sun

The phœnix is produced; the owl in Athens;

Cyprus breeds doves of admirable beauty:

But Juno, queen of Samos, does, they say,

Rear there a golden race of wondrous birds,

The brilliant, beautiful, conspicuous peacock.

On which account the peacock occurs on the coins of the Samians.

71. But since Menodotus has mentioned the guinea-fowl, we ourselves

also will say something on that subject. Clytus the Milesian, a pupil

of Aristotle, in the first book of his History of Miletus, writes

thus concerning them—"All around the temple of the Virgin Goddess

at Leros, there are birds called guinea-fowls. And the ground where

they are bred is marshy. And this bird is very devoid of affection

towards its young, and wholly disregards its offspring, so that the

priests are forced to take care of them. And it is about the size of a

very fine fowl of the common poultry, its head is small in proportion

to its body, having but few feathers, but on the top it has a fleshy

crest, hard and round, sticking up above the head like a peg, and of a

wooden colour. And over the jaws, instead of a beard, they have a long

piece of flesh, beginning at the mouth, redder than that of the common

poultry; but of that which exists in the common poultry on the top of

the beak, which some people call the beard, they are wholly destitute;

so that their beak is mutilated in this respect. But its beak is

sharper and larger than that of the common fowl; its neck is black,

thicker and shorter than that of common poultry. And its whole body is

spotted all over, the general colour being black, studded in every part

with thick white spots something larger than lentil seeds. And these

spots are ring-shaped, in the middle of patches of a darker hue than

the rest of the plumage: so that these patches present a variegated

kind of appearance, the black part having a sort of white tinge, and

the white seeming a good deal darkened. And their wings are all over

variegated with white, in serrated,[100] wavy lines, parallel to each

other. And their legs are destitute of spurs like those of the common

hen. And the females are very like the males, on which account the sex

of the guinea-fowls is hard to distinguish." Now this is the account

given of guinea-fowls by the Peripatetic philosopher.

72. Roasted sucking-pigs are a dish mentioned by Epicrates in his

Merchant—

On this condition I will be the cook;

Nor shall all Sicily boast that even she

Produced so great an artist as to fish,

Nor Elis either, where I've seen the flesh

Of dainty sucking-pigs well brown'd before

A rapid fire.

And Alexis, in his Wicked Woman, says—

A delicate slice of tender sucking-pig,

Bought for three obols, hot, and very juicy,

When it is set before us.

[Sidenote: PARTRIDGES.]

"But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us, "when they sacrifice

to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the

goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts, and heats,

and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and

seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery

which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all

its crudities, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and

of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender

and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been

once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or

boiling it; for any second process removes the good done by the first

dressing, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more crude and dry

than boiled meat." But roast meat is called φλογίδες. Accordingly

Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Hercules—

Immediately he caught up some large slices (φλογίδες)

Of smoking roasted boar, and swallow'd them.

And Archippus, in his Hercules Marrying, says—

The pettitoes of little pigs, well cook'd

In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls

With sharpen'd horns, and great long steaks of boar,

All roasted (φλογίδες).

73. But why need I say anything of partridges, when so much has

already been said by you? However, I will not omit what is related by

Hegesander in his Commentaries. For he says that the Samians, when

sailing to Sybaris, having touched at the district called Siritis, were

so alarmed at the noise made by partridges which rose up and flew away,

that they fled, and embarked on board their ships, and sailed away.

Concerning hares also Chamæleon says, in his treatise on Simonides,

that Simonides once, when supping with king Hiero, as there was no hare

set on the table in front of him as there was before all the other

guests, but as Hiero afterwards helped him to some, made this extempore

verse—

Nor, e'en though large, could he reach all this way.

But Simonides was, in fact, a very covetous man, addicted to

disgraceful gain, as we are told by Chamæleon. And accordingly in

Syracuse, as Hiero used to send him everything necessary for his daily

subsistence in great abundance, Simonides used to sell the greater part

of what was sent to him by the king, and reserve only a small portion

for his own use. And when some one asked him the reason of his doing

so, he said—"In order that both the liberality of Hiero and my economy

may be visible to every one."

The dish called udder is mentioned by Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, in

the following lines—

Being a woman, 'tis but reasonable

That I should bring an udder.

But Antidotus uses not the word οὖθαρ, but ὑπογάστριον, in his

Querulous Man.

74. Matron, in his Parodies, speaks of animals being fattened for food,

and birds also, in these lines—

Thus spake the hero, and the servants smiled,

And after brought, on silver dishes piled,

Fine fatten'd birds, clean singed around with flame,

Like cheesecakes on the back, their age the same.

And Sopater the farce-writer speaks of fattened sucking-pigs in his

Marriage of Bacchis, saying this—

If there was anywhere an oven, there

The well-fed sucking-pig did crackle, roasting.

But Æschines uses the form δελφάκιον for δέλφαξ in his Alcibiades,

saying, "Just as the women at the cookshops breed sucking-pigs

(δελφάκια)." And Antiphanes, in his Physiognomist, says—

Those women take the sucking-pigs (δελφάκια),

And fatten them by force;

And in his Persuasive Man he says—

To be fed up instead of pigs (δελφακίων).

Plato, however, has used the word δέλφαξ in the masculine

gender in his Poet, where he says—

Leanest of pigs (δέλφακα ῥαιότατον).

And Sophocles, in his play called Insolence, says—

Wishing to eat τὸν δέλφακα.

And Cratinus, in his Ulysses, has the expression—

Large pigs (δέλφακας μεγάλους).

But Nicochares uses the word as feminine, saying—

A pregnant sow (κύουσαν δέλφακα);

And Eupolis, in his Golden Age, says—

Did he not serve up at the feast a sucking-pig (δέλφακα),

Whose teeth were not yet grown, a beautiful beast (καλήν)?

And Plato, in his Io, says—

Bring hither now the head of the sucking-pig (τῆς δέλφακος).

[Sidenote: THE HELOTS.]

Theopompus, too, in his Penelope, says—

And they do sacrifice our sacred pig (τὴν ίερὰν δέλφακα).

Theopompus also speaks of fatted geese and fatted calves in the

thirteenth book of his History of Philip, and in the eleventh book of

his Affairs of Greece, where he is speaking of the temperance of the

Lacedæmonians in respect of eating, writing thus—"And the Thasians

sent to Agesilaus, when he arrived, all sorts of sheep and well-fed

oxen; and beside this, every kind of confectionery and sweetmeat. But

Agesilaus took the sheep and the oxen, but as for the confectionery and

sweetmeats, at first he did not know what they meant, for they were

covered up; but when he saw what they were, he ordered the slaves to

take them away, saying that it was not the custom of the Lacedæmonians

to eat such food as that. But as the Thasians pressed him to take them,

he said, Carry them to those men (pointing to the Helots) and give them

to them; saying that it was much better for those Helots to injure

their health by eating them, than for himself and the Lacedæmonians

whom he had with him." And that the Lacedæmonians were in the habit

of treating the Helots with great insolence, is related also by Myron

of Priene, in the second book of his History of Messene, where he

says—"They impose every kind of insulting employment on the Helots,

such as brings with it the most extreme dishonour; for they compel them

to wear caps of dogskin, and cloaks also of skins; and every year they

scourge them without their having committed any offence, in order to

prevent their ever thinking of emancipating themselves from slavery.

And besides all this, if any of them ever appear too handsome or

distinguished-looking for slaves, they impose death as the penalty, and

their masters also are fined for not checking them in their growth and

fine appearances. And they give them each a certain piece of land, and

fix a portion which they shall invariably bring them in from it."

The verb χηνίξω, to cackle like a goose (χὴν), is

used and applied to those who play on the flute. Diphilus says in his

Synoris—

Ἐχήνισας,—this noise is always made

By all the pupils of Timotheus.

75. And since there is a portion of a fore-quarter of pork which is

called πέρνα placed before each of us, let us say something about

it, if any one remembers having seen the word used anywhere. For the

best πέρναι are those from Cisalpine Gaul: those from Cibyra in Asia

are not much inferior to them, nor are those from Lycia. And Strabo

mentions them in the third book of his Geography, (and he is not a very

modern author). And he says also, in the seventh[101] book of the same

treatise, that he was acquainted with Posidonius the Stoic philosopher,

of whom we have often spoken as a friend of Scipio who took Carthage.

And these are the words of Strabo—"In Spain, in the province of

Aquitania, is the city Pompelo, which one may consider equivalent to

Pompeiopolis, where admirable πέρναι are cured, equal to the Cantabrian

hams."

The comic poet Aristomenes, in his Bacchus, speaks of meat cured by

being sprinkled with salt, saying—

I put before you now this salted meat.

And in his Jugglers he says—

The servant always ate some salted crab.

76. But since we have here "fresh cheese (τρόφαλις), the glory of fair

Sicily," let us, my friends, also say something about cheese (τυρός).

For Philemon, in his play entitled The Sicilian, says—

I once did think that Sicily could make

This one especial thing, good-flavour'd cheese;

But now I've heard this good of it besides,

That not only is the cheese of Sicily good,

But all its pigeons too: and if one speaks

Of richly-broider'd robes, they are Sicilian;

And so I think that island now supplies

All sorts of dainties and of furniture.

The Tromilican[102] cheese also has a high character, respecting which

Demetrius the Scepsian writes thus in his second book of the Trojan

Array—"Tromilea is a city of Achaia, near which a delicious cheese is

made of goat's milk, not to be compared with any other kind, and it is

called Tromilican. And Simonides mentions it in his Iambic poem, which

begins thus—

You're taking wondrous trouble beforehand,

Telembrotus:

and in this poem he says—

And there is the fine Achaian cheese,

Called the Tromilican, which I've brought with me.

[Sidenote: CHEESE.]

And Euripides, in his Cyclops, speaks of a harsh-tasted cheese, which

he calls ὀπίας τυρὸς, being curdled by the juice ὀπὸς of the fig-tree—

There is, too, τυρὸς ὀπίας, and Jove's milk.[103]

But since, by speaking in this way of all the things which are now

put on the table before us, I am making the Tromilican cheese into

the remains of the dessert, I will not continue this topic. For

Eupolis calls the relics of sweetmeats (τραγημάτων) and confectionery

ἀποτραγήματα. And ridiculing a man of the name of Didymias, he calls

him the ἀποτράγημα of a fox, either because he was little in person,

or as being cunning and mischievous, as Dorotheus of Ascalon says.

There are also thin broad cheeses, which the Cretans call females,

as Seleucus tells us, which they offer up at certain sacrifices. And

Philippides, in his play called the Flutes, speaks of some called

πυρίεφθαι (and this is a name given to those made of cream), when he

says—

Having these πυρίεφθαι, and these herbs.

And perhaps all such things are included in this Macedonian term

ἐπιδειπνίδες. For all these things are provocatives to drinking.

77. Now, while Ulpian was continuing the conversation in this way,

one of the cooks, who made some pretence to learning, came in,

and proclaimed μύμα. And when many of us were perplexed at this

proclamation, (for the rascal did not show what it was that he had,)

he said;—You seem to me, O guests, to be ignorant that Cadmus, the

grandfather of Bacchus, was a cook. And, as no one made any reply to

this, he said; Euhemerus the Coan, in the third book of his Sacred

History, relates that the Sidonians give this account, that Cadmus was

the cook of the king, and that he, having taken Harmonia, who was a

female flute-player and also a slave of the king, fled away with her.—

But shall I flee, who am a freeman born?

For no one can find any mention in any comedy of a cook being a slave,

except in a play of Posidippus. But the introduction of slaves as cooks

took place among the Macedonians first, who adopted this custom either

out of insolence, or on account of the misfortunes of some cities which

had been reduced to slavery. And the ancients used to call a cook who

was a native of the country, Mæson; but if he was a foreigner, they

called him Tettix. And Chrysippus the philosopher thinks the name

Μαίσων is derived from the verb μασάομαι, to eat; a cook being an

ignorant man, and the slave of his appetite; not knowing that Mæson was

a comic actor, a Megarian by birth, who invented the mask which was

called Μαίσων, from him; as Aristophanes of Byzantium tells us, in his

treatise on Masks, where he says that he invented a mask for a slave

and also one for a cook. So that it is a deserved compliment to him to

call the jests which suit those characters μαισωνικά.

For cooks are very frequently represented on the stage as jesting

characters; as, for instance, in the Men selecting an Arbitrator, of

Menander. And Philemon in one of his plays says—

'Tis a male sphinx, it seems, and not a cook,

That I've brought home; for, by the gods I swear,

I do not understand one single word

Of all he says; so well provided is he

With every kind of new expression.

But Polemo says, in his writings which are addressed to Timæus, that

Mæson was indeed a Megarian, but from Megara in Sicily, and not from

Nisæa. And Posidippus speaks of slaves as cooks, in his Woman Shut out,

where he says—

Thus have these matters happen'd: but just now,

While waiting on my master, a good joke

Occurr'd to me; I never will be caught

Stealing his meat.

And, in his Foster Brothers, he says—

_A._ Did you go out of doors, you who were cook?

_B._ If I remain'd within I lost my supper.

_A._ Let me then first....

_B._ Let me alone, I say;

I'm going to the forum to sacrifice:

A friend of mine, a comrade too in art,

Has hired me.

78. And there was nothing extraordinary in the ancient cooks being

experienced in sacrifices. At all events, they usually managed all

marriage-feasts and sacrifices. On which account Menander, in his

Flatterer, introduces a cook, who on the fourth day of the month had

been ministering in the festival of Aphrodite Pandemus, using the

following language—

[Sidenote: COOKS.]

Now a libation. Boy, distribute round

The entrails. Whither are you looking now?

Now a libation—quick! you Sosia, quick!

Quick! a libation. That will do; now pour.

First let us pray to the Olympian gods,

And now to all the Olympian goddesses:

Meantime address them; pray them all to give

Us safety, health, and all good things in future,

And full enjoyment of all present happiness.

Such shall be now our prayers.

And another cook, in Simonides, says—

And how I roasted, how I carved the meat,

You know: what is there that I can't do well?

And the letter of Olympias to Alexander mentions the great experience

of cooks in these matters. For, his mother having been entreated by

him to buy him a cook who had experience in sacrifices, proceeds to

say, "Accept the cook Pelignas from your mother; for he is thoroughly

acquainted with the manner in which all your ancestral sacrifices, and

all the mysterious rites, and all the sacred mysteries connected with

the worship of Bacchus are performed, and every other sacrifice which

Olympias practises he knows. Do not then disregard him, but accept him,

and send him back again to me at as early a period as possible."

79. And that in those days the cook's profession was a respectable one,

we may learn from the Heralds at Athens. "For these men used to perform

the duties of cooks and also of sacrifices of victims," as Clidemus

tells us, in the first book of his Protogony; and Homer uses the verb

ῥέζω, as we use θύω; but he uses θύω as we do θυμιάω, for burning cakes

and incense after supper. And the ancients used also to employ the verb

δράω for to sacrifice; accordingly Clidemus says, "The heralds used

to sacrifice (ἔδρων) for a long time, slaying the oxen, and preparing

them, and cutting them up, and pouring wine over them. And they were

called κήρυκες from the hero Ceryx; and there is nowhere any record of

any reward being given to a cook, but only to a herald." For Agamemnon

in Homer, although he is king, performs sacrifices himself; for the

poet says—

With that the chief the tender victims slew,

And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw;

The vital spirit issued at the wound,

And left the members quivering on the ground.[104]

And Thrasymedes the son of Nestor, having taken an axe, slays the ox

which was to be sacrificed, because Nestor himself was not able to do

so, by reason of his old age; and his other brothers assisted him; so

respectable and important was the office of a cook in those days. And

among the Romans, the Censors,—and that was the highest office in the

whole state,—clad in a purple robe, and wearing crowns, used to strike

down the victims with an axe. Nor is it a random assertion of Homer,

when he represents the heralds as bringing in the victims, and whatever

else had any bearing on the ratification of oaths, as this was a very

ancient duty of theirs, and one which was especially a part of their

office—

Two heralds now, despatch'd to Troy, invite

The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite;

and again—

Talthybius hastens to the fleet, to bring

The lamb for Jove, th' inviolable king.[105]

And, in another passage, he says—

A splendid scene! Then Agamemnon rose;

The boar Talthybius held; the Grecian lord

Drew the broad cutlass, sheath'd beside his sword.[106]

80. And in the first book of the History of Attica, Clidemus says, that

there was a tribe of cooks, who were entitled to public honours; and

that it was their business to see that the sacrifices were performed

with due regularity. And it is no violation of probability in Athenion,

in his Samothracians, as Juba says, when he introduces a cook arguing

philosophically about the nature of things and men, and saying—

_A._ Dost thou not know that the cook's art contributes

More than all others to true piety?

_B._ Is it indeed so useful?

_A._ Troth it is,

You ignorant barbarian: it releases

Men from a brutal and perfidious life,

And cannibal devouring of each other,

And leads us to some order; teaching us

The regular decorum of the life

Which now we practise.

_B._ How is that?

_A._ Just listen.

Once men indulged in wicked cannibal habits,

And numerous other vices; when a man

Of better genius arose, who first

Sacrificed victims, and did roast their flesh;

And, as the meat surpass'd the flesh of man,

They then ate men no longer, but did slay

The herds and flocks, and roasted them and ate them.

And when they once had got experience

Of this most dainty pleasure, they increased

In their devotion to the cook's employment;

[Sidenote: COOKS.]

So that e'en now, remembering former days,

They roast the entrails of their victims all

Unto the gods, and put no salt thereon,

For at the first beginning they knew not

The use of salt as seasoning; but now

They have found out its virtue, so they use it

At their own meals, but in their holy offerings

They keep their ancient customs; such as were

At first the origin of safety to us:

That love of art, and various seasoning,

Which carries to perfection the cook's skill.

_B._ Why here we have a new Palæphatus.

_A._ And after this, as time advanced, a paunch,

A well-stuff'd paunch was introduced . . . .

* * * * *

Then they wrapp'd up a fish, and quite conceal'd it

In herbs, and costly sauce, and groats, and honey;

And as, persuaded by these dainty joys

Which now I mention, every one gave up

His practice vile of feeding on dead men,

Men now began to live in company,

Gathering in crowds; cities were built and settled;

All owing, as I said before, to cooks.

_B._ Hail, friend! you are well suited to my master.

_A._ We cooks are now beginning our grand rites;

We're sacrificing, and libations offering,

Because the gods are most attentive to us,

Pleased that we have found out so many things,

Tending to make men live in peace and happiness.

_B._ Well, say no more about your piety—

_A._ I beg your pardon—

_B._ But come, eat with me,

And dress with skill whate'er is in the house.

81. And Alexis, in his Caldron, shows plainly that cookery is an art

practised by freeborn men; for a cook is represented in that play as

a citizen of no mean reputation; and those who have written cookery

books, such as Heraclides and Glaucus the Locrian, say that the art

of cookery is one in which it is not even every freeborn man who can

become eminent. And the younger Cratinus, in his play called the

Giants, extols this art highly, saying—

_A._ Consider, now, how sweet the earth doth smell,

How fragrantly the smoke ascends to heaven:

There lives, I fancy, here within this cave

Some perfume-seller, or Sicilian cook.

_B._ The scent of both is equally delicious.

And Antiphanes, in his Slave hard to Sell, praises the Sicilian cooks,

and says—

And at the feast, delicious cakes,

Well season'd by Sicilian art.

And Menander, in his Spectre, says—

Do ye applaud,

If the meat's dress'd with rich and varied skill.

But Posidippus, in his Man recovering his Sight, says—

I, having had one cook, have thoroughly learnt

All the bad tricks of cooks, while they compete

With one another in their trade. One said

His rival had no nose to judge of soup

With critical taste; that other had

A vicious palate; while a third could never

(If you'd believe the rest) restrain his appetite,

Without devouring half the meat he dress'd.

This one loved salt too much, and that one vinegar;

One burnt his meat; one gorged; one could not stand

The smoke; a sixth could never bear the fire.

At last they came to blows; and one of them,

Shunning the sword, fell straight into the fire.

And Antiphanes, in his Philotis, displaying the cleverness of the

cooks, says—

_A._ Is not this, then, an owl?

_B._ Aye, such as I

Say should be dress'd in brine.

_A._ Well; and this pike?

_B._ Why roast him whole.

_A._ This shark?

_B._ Boil him in

sauce.

_A._ This eel?

_B._ Take salt, and marjoram, and water.

_A._ This conger?

_B._ The same sauce will do for him.

_A._ This ray?

_B._ Strew him with herbs.

_A._ Here is a slice

Of tunny.

_B._ Roast it.

_A._ And some venison.

_B._ Roast it.

_A._ Then here's a lot more meat.

_B._ Boil all the rest.

_A._ Here's a spleen.

_B._ Stuff it.

_A._ And a nestis.

_B._ Bah!

This man will kill me.

And Baton, in his Benefactors, gives a catalogue of celebrated cooks

and confectioners, thus—

_A._ Well, O Sibynna, we ne'er sleep at nights,

Nor waste our time in laziness: our lamp

Is always burning; in our hands a book;

And long we meditate on what is left us

By—

_B._ Whom?

_A._ By that great Actides of Chios,

Or Tyndaricus, that pride of Sicyon,

Or e'en by Zopyrinus.

_B._ Find you anything?

_A._ Aye, most important things.

_B._ But what? The dead....

[Sidenote: THE THESSALIANS.]

82. And such a food now is the μύμα, which I, my friends, am bringing

you; concerning which Artemidorus, the pupil of Aristophanes, speaks

in his Dictionary of Cookery, saying that it is prepared with meat

and blood, with the addition also of a great deal of seasoning. And

Epænetus, in his treatise on Cookery, speaks as follows:—"One must

make μύμα of every kind of animal and bird, cutting up the tender

parts of the meat into small pieces, and the bowels and entrails, and

pounding the blood, and seasoning it with vinegar, and roasted cheese,

and assafœtida, and cummin-seed, and thyme (both green and dry), and

savory, and coriander-seed (both green and dry), and leeks, and onions

(cleaned and toasted), and poppy-seed, and grapes, and honey, and the

pips of an unripe pomegranate. You may also make this μύμα of fish."

83. And when this man had thus hammered on not only this dish but our

ears also, another slave came in, bringing in a dish called ματτύη.

And when a discussion arose about this, and when Ulpian had quoted a

statement out of the Dictionary of Cookery by the before-mentioned

Artemidorus relating to it, Æmilianus said that a book had been

published by Dorotheus of Ascalon, entitled, On Antiphanes, and on the

dish called Mattya by the Poets of the New Comedy, which he says is a

Thessalian invention, and that it became naturalized at Athens during

the supremacy of the Macedonians. And the Thessalians are admitted to

be the most extravagant of all the Greeks in their manner of dressing

and living; and this was the reason why they brought the Persians down

upon the Greeks, because they were desirous to imitate their luxury

and extravagance. And Cratinus speaks of their extravagant habits in

his treatise on the Thessalian Constitution. But the dish was called

ματτύη (as Apollodorus the Athenian affirms in the first book of his

treatise on Etymologies), from the verb μασάομαι (to eat); as also are

the words μαστίχη (mastich) and μάζα (barley-cake). But our own opinion

is that the word is derived from μάττω, and that this is the verb from

which μάζα itself is derived, and also the cheese-pudding called by the

Cyprians μαγίς; and from this, too, comes the verb ὑπερμαζάω, meaning

to be extravagantly luxurious. Originally they used to call this common

ordinary food made of barley-meal μάζα, and preparing it they called

μάττω. And afterwards, varying the necessary food in a luxurious and

superfluous manner, they derived a word with a slight change from

the form μάζα, and called every very costly kind of dish ματτύη; and

preparing such dishes they called ματτυάζω, whether it were fish, or

poultry, or herbs, or beasts, or sweetmeats. And this is plain from the

testimony of Alexis, quoted by Artemidorus; for Alexis, wishing to show

the great luxuriousness of the way in which this dish was prepared,

added the verb λέπομαι. And the whole extract runs thus, being out of

a corrected edition of a play which is entitled Demetrius:—

Take, then, this meat which thus is sent to you;

Dress it, and feast, and drink the cheerful healths,

λέπεσθε, ματτυάζετε.

But the Athenians use the verb λέπομαι for wanton and unseemly

indulgence of the sensual appetites.

84. And Artemidorus, in his Dictionary of Cookery, explains ματτύη as

a common name for all kinds of costly seasonings; writing thus—"There

is also a ματτύης (he uses the word in the masculine gender) made of

birds. Let the bird be killed by thrusting a knife into the head at the

mouth; then let it be kept till the next day, like a partridge. And if

you choose, you can leave it as it is, the wings on and with its body

plucked." Then, having explained the way in which it is to be seasoned

and boiled, he proceeds to say—"Boil a fat hen of the common poultry

kind, and some young cocks just beginning to crow, if you wish to make

a dish fit to be eaten with your wine. Then taking some vegetables, put

them in a dish, and place upon them some of the meat of the fowl, and

serve it up. But in summer, instead of vinegar, put some unripe grapes

into the sauce, just as they are picked from the vine; and when it is

all boiled, then take it out before the stones fall from the grapes,

and shred in some vegetables. And this is the most delicious ματτύης

that there is."

Now, that ματτύη, or ματτύης, really is a common name for all costly

dishes is plain; and that the same name was also given to a banquet

composed of dishes of this sort, we gather from what Philemon says in

his Man carried off:—

Put now a guard on me, while naked, and

Amid my cups the ματτύης shall delight me.

And in his Homicide he says—

Let some one pour us now some wine to drink,

And make some ματτύη quick.

[Sidenote: MATTYH.]

But Alexis, in his Pyraunus, has used the word in an obscure sense:—

But when I found them all immersed in business,

I cried,—Will no one give us now a ματτύη?

as if he meant a feast here, though you might fairly refer the word

merely to a single dish. Now Machon the Sicyonian is one of the comic

poets who were contemporaries of Apollodorus of Carystus, but he did

not exhibit his comedies at Athens, but in Alexandria; and he was an

excellent poet, if ever there was one, next to those seven[107] of the

first class. On which account, Aristophanes the grammarian, when he was

a very young man, was very anxious to be much with him. And he wrote

the following lines in his play entitled Ignorance:—

There's nothing that I'm fonder of than ματτύη;

But whether 'twas the Macedonians

Who first did teach it us, or all the gods,

I know not; but it must have been a person

Of most exalted genius.

85. And that it used to be served up after all the rest of the banquet

was over, is plainly stated by Nicostratus, in his Man expelled. And it

is a cook who is relating how beautiful and well arranged the banquet

was which he prepared; and having first of all related what the dinner

and supper were composed of, and then mentioning the third meal,

proceeds to say—

Well done, my men,—extremely well! but now

I will arrange the rest, and then the ματτύη;

So that I think the man himself will never

Find fault with us again.

And in his Cook he says—

Thrium and candylus he never saw,

Or any of the things which make a ματτύη.

And some one else says—

They brought, instead of a ματτύη, some paunch,

And tender pettitoes, and tripe, perhaps.

But Dionysius, in his Man shot at with Javelins (and it is a cook who

is represented speaking), says—

So that sometimes, when I a ματτύη

Was making for them, in haste would bring

(More haste worse speed)....[108]

Philemon, also, in his Poor Woman—

When one can lay aside one's load, all day

Making and serving out rich μάττυαι.

But Molpis the Lacedæmonian says that what the Spartans call ἐπαίκλεια,

that is to say, the second course, which is served up when the main

part of the supper is over, is called μάττυαι by other tribes of

Greece. And Menippus the Cynic, in his book called Arcesilaus, writes

thus:—"There was a drinking-party formed by a certain number of

revellers, and a Lacedæmonian woman ordered the ματτύη to be served

up; and immediately some little partridges were brought in, and some

roasted geese, and some delicious cheesecakes."

But such a course as this the Athenians used to call ἐπιδόρπισμα, and

the Dorians ἐπάϊκλον; but most of the Greeks called it τὰ ἐπίδειπνα.

And when all this discussion about the ματτύη was over, they thought it

time to depart; for it was already evening. And so we parted.

FOOTNOTES.

[61] Odyss. xxi. 293.

[62] Diomea was a small village in Attica, where there was a

celebrated temple of Hercules, and where a festival was kept in his

honour: Aristophanes says—

Ὅποθ' Ἡράκλεια τὰ 'ν Διομείοισ γίγνεται.—Ranæ, 651.

[63] Because slaves (and the actors were usually slaves) had only names

of one, or at most two syllables, such as Davus, Geta, Dromo, Mus.

[64] Τήνδε μοῦσαν, this Muse; τήνδ' ἐμοῦσαν,

this woman vomiting.

[65] The text here is corrupt and hopeless.—_Schweig._

[66] This passage, again, is hopelessly corrupt. "Merum Augeæ

stabulum."—_Casaub._

[67] There is no account of what this feast of Swings was.

The Greek is ἔωραι. Some have fancied it may have had some

connexion with the images of Bacchus (oscilla) hung up in the trees.

See Virg. G. ii. 389.

[68] There is probably some corruption in this passage: it is

clearly unintelligible as it stands.

[69] Σκευοποιὸς, a maker of masks, etc. for the stage; μιμητὴς, an

actor.

[70] See Iliad, ix. 186.

Τὸν δ' εὗρον φρένα τερπόμενον φόρμιγγι λιγείῃ,

καλῇ, δαιδαλέῃ, ἐπὶ δ' ἀργύρεος ζύγος ἤεν

τὴν ἄρετ' ἐξ ἐνάρων πτόλιν Ἠετίωνος ὀλέσσας

Τῃ ὅγε θυμὸν ἔτερπεν, ἄειδε δ' ἄρα κλέα ἀνδρῶν.

Which is translated by Pope:—

Amused at ease the godlike man they found,

Pleased with the solemn harp's harmonious sound,

(The well-wrought harp from conquer'd Thebæ came,

Of polish'd silver was its costly frame.)

With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings

Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of kings.—Iliad, ix. 245.

[71] Odyss. xvii. 262.

[72] Iliad, i. 603.

[73] This story is related by Herodotus, vi. 126.

[74] See Herodotus, i. 55.

[75] Κίνησις, motion.

[76] From ὄσχη, a vine-branch with grapes on it, and

φέρω, to bear.

[77] It is not known what part of the theatre this was.

[78] Iliad, xxiii. 2.

[79] Odyss. xii. 423.

[80] "This passage perplexes me on two accounts; first of all because I

have not been able to find such a line in Homer; and secondly because I

do not see what is faulty or weak in it; and it cannot be because it is

a spondaic verse, for of that kind there are full six hundred in Homer.

The other line comes from Iliad, ii. 731."—_Schweigh._

[81] Iliad, xii. 208.

[82] There is a difficulty again here, for there is no such

line found in Homer; the line most like it is—

Καλὴ Καστιάνειρα, δέμας εἰκυῖα θεῆσι.—Iliad, viii. 305.

In which, however, there is no incorrectness or defect at all.

[83] Odyss. ix. 212.

[84] Iliad, ix. 157.

[85] Odyss. i. 237.

[86] The Κάρνεια were a great national festival, celebrated by the

Spartans in honour of Apollo Carneius, under which name he was

worshipped in several places in Peloponnesus, especially at Amyclæ,

even before the return of the Heraclidæ. It was a warlike festival,

like the Attic Boedromia. The Carnea were celebrated also at Cyrene,

Messene, Sybaris, Sicyon, and other towns.—See Smith's Dict. Ant. _in

voc._

[87] From κλέπτω, to steal,—to injure privily.

[88]

καίτοι τί δεῖ

λύρας ἐπι τοῦτον, ποῦ 'στιν ἡ τοῖς ὀστράκοις

αὔτη κροτοῦσα; δεῦρο Μοῦσ' Εὐμιπίδου.—Ar. Ranæ, 1305.

[89] The Greek word is χρώματα: "As a technical term in Greek music,

χρῶμα was a modification of the simplest or diatonic music; but there

were also χρώματα as further modifications of all the three common

kinds (diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic)." Liddell and Scott, _in

voc._ Smith, Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant. v. _Music_, p. 625 _a_, calls

them χρόαι, and says there were six of them; one in the enharmonic

genus, often called simply ἁρμονία; two in the diatonic, 1st, διάτονον

σίντονον, or simply διάτονον, the same as the genus; 2d, διάτονον

μαλακόν: and three in the chromatic, 1st, χρῶμα τονιαῖον, or simply

χρῶμα, the same as the genus; 2d, χρῶμα ἡμιόλιον; 3d, χρῶμα μαλακόν.

_V. loc._

[90] The Saturnalia originally took place on the 19th of

December; in the time of Augustus, on the 17th, 18th, and 19th: but the

merrymaking in reality appears to have lasted seven days. Horace speaks

of the licence then permitted to the slaves:—

"Age, libertate Decembri,

Quando ita majores voluerunt, utere—narra."—Sat. ii. 7. 4.

—_Vide_ Smith, Gr. Lat. Ant.

[91] Pind. Ol. i. 80.

[92] Ar. Vespæ, 1216.

[93] Βίος ἀληλεσμένος, a civilised life, in which one uses ground corn,

and not raw fruits.—Liddell and Scott in voc. ἀλέω.

[94] This was a Thebes in Asia, so called by Homer (Iliad, vi.

397), as being at the foot of a mountain called Placia, or Placos.

[95] The ἡμίνα was equal to a κοτύλη, and held about half a pint.

[96] These are all names of different kinds of cheesecakes

which cannot be distinguished from one another in an English

translation.

[97] Eur. Cycl. 393.

[98] This is the name given to the Peloponnesus by Homer,—

ἐξ Ἀπίης γαίης—II. iii. 49,—

where Damm says the name is derived from some ancient king named Apis;

but he adds that the name Ἀπία is also used merely as meaning distant

(γῆν ἀπὸ ἀφεστῶσαν καὶ ἀλλοδάπην), as is plain from what Ulysses says

of himself to the Phæacians—

καὶ γὰρ ἔγω ξεῖνος ταλαπείριος ἔνθαδ' ἱκάνω

τηλόθεν ἐξ ἀπίης γαίης.—Odyss. vii. 25.

[99] This fragment is full of corruptions. I have adopted the reading

and interpretation of Casaubon.

[100] There is probably some corruption here.

[101] There is probably some great corruption here; for Posidonius was

a contemporary of Cicero.

[102] There is a dispute whether this word ought to be written

Tromilican or Stromilican. The city of Tromilea is mentioned nowhere

else.

[103] Eur. Cycl. 136.

[104] Homer, Iliad, iii. 292.

[105] Homer, Iliad, iii, 116.

[106] Homer, Iliad, xix. 250.

[107] Who these seven first-class authors were, whether tragedians or

comic poets, or both, or whether there was one selection of tragic and

another of comic poets, each classed as a sort of "Pleias Ptolemæi

Philadelphi ætate nobilitata," is quite uncertain.

[108] This passage is abandoned as corrupt by Schweighauser.