Book II.
THE conversation which you reported to me did not allow me to give up a considerable portion of the day to sleep, as it was of a very varied nature.
Nicander of Colophon says that wine, οἶνος, has its name from Œneus:—
Œneus pour'd the juice divineAnd Melanippides of Melos says—
In hollow cups, and called it wine.
'Twas Œneus, master, gave his name to wine.But Hecatæus of Miletus says, that the vine was discovered In Aetolia; and adds, “Orestheus, the son of Deucalion, came to Aetolia to endeavour to obtain the kingdom; and while he was there, a bitch which he had brought forth a stalk: and he ordered it to be buried in the ground, and from it [p. 58] there sprang up a vine loaded with grapes. On which account he called his son Phytius. And he had a son named Œneus, who was so called from the vines: for the ancient Greeks,” says he, “called vines οἶναι. Now Œneus was the father of Aetolus.” But Plato in his Cratylus, inquiring into the etymology of the word οἶνος, says, that it is equivalent to οἰόνους, as filling the mind, νοῦς,, with οἴησις, or self-conceit. Perhaps, however, the word may be derived from ὄνησις, succour. For Homer, giving as it were the derivation of the word, speaks nearly after this fashion—
And then you will be succour'd (ὀνήσεαι) if you drink.And he too constantly calls food ὀνείατα, because it supports us.
Now the author of the Cyprian poems, whoever he was, says—
No better remedies than wine there are,And Diphilus the comic poet says—
O king, to drive away soul-eating care.
O Bacchus, to all wise men dear,And Philoxenus of Cythera says—
How very kind you do appear;
You make the lowly-hearted proud,
And bid the gloomy laugh aloud;
You fill the feeble man with daring,
And cowards strut and bray past bearing.
Good store of wine which makes men talk.But Chæremon the tragedian says, that wine inspires those who use it with
Laughter and wisdom and prudence and learning.And Ion of Chios calls wine
Youth of indomitable might,And Mensitheus says—
With head of bull; the loveliest wight
Who ever rank'd as Love's esquire,
Filling men with strength and fire.
Great was the blessing, when the gods did show
Sweet wine to those who how to use it know;
But where bad men its righteous use pervert,
To such, I trow, it will be rather hurt.
For to the first it nourishment supplies,
Strengthens their bodies, and their minds makes wise;
A wholesome physic 'tis when mix'd with potions,
Heals wounds as well as plasters or cold lotions.
[p. 59] Wine to our daily feasts brings cheerful laughter,
When mix'd with proper quantities of water;
Men saucy get if one-third wine they quaff;
While downright madness flows from half-and-half;
And neat wine mind and body too destroys;
While moderation wise secures our joys.
And well the oracle takes this position,
That Bacchus is all people's best physician.
And Eubulus introduces Bacchus as saying—
Let them three parts of wine all duly seasonAnd Epicharmus says—
With nine of water, who'd preserve their reason;
The first gives health, the second sweet desires,
The third tranquillity and sleep inspires.
These are the wholesome draughts which wise men please,
Who from the banquet home return in peace.
From a fourth measure insolence proceeds;
Uproar a fifth, a sixth wild licence breeds;
A seventh brings black eyes and livid bruises,
The eighth the constable next introduces;
Black gall and hatred lurk the ninth beneath,
The tenth is madness, arms, and fearful death;
For too much wine pour'd in one little vessel,
Trips up all those who seek with it to wrestle.
A. Sacrifices feasts produce,And Panyasis the epic poet allots the first cup of wine to the Graces, the Hours, and Bacchus; the second to Venus, and again to Bacchus; the third to Insolence and Destruction. And so he says—
Drinking then from feasts proceeds.
B. Such rotation has its use.
A. Then the drinking riot breeds;
Then on riot and confusion
Follow law and prosecution;
Law brings sentence; sentence chains;
Chains bring wounds and ulcerous pains.
O'er the first glass the Graces three preside,And a few lines afterwards he says of immoderate drinking—
And with the smiling Hours the palm divide;
Next Bacchus, parent of the sacred vine,
And Venus, loveliest daughter of the brine,
Smile on the second cup, which cheers the heart,
And bids the drinker home in peace depart.
But the third cup is waste and sad excess,
Parent of wrongs, denier of redress;
Oh, who can tell what evils may befall
When Strife and Insult rage throughout the hall?
[p. 60] Content thee, then, my friend, with glasses twain;
Then to your home and tender wife again;
While your companions, with unaching heads,
By your example taught, will seek their beds.
But riot will be bred by too much wine,
A mournful ending for a feast divine;
While, then, you live, your thirst in bounds confine.
For Insolence and Ruin follow it.According to Euripides,
Drinking is sire of blows and violence.From which some have said that the pedigree of Bacchus and of Insolence were the same.
And Alexis says somewhere—
Man's nature doth in much resemble wine:And according to the bard of Cyrene—
For young men and new wine do both need age
To ripen their too warm unseason'd strength,
And let their violence evaporate.
But when the grosser portions are worked off,
And all the froth is skilsm'd, then both are good';
The wine is drinkable, the man is wise,
And both in future pleasant while they last.
Wine is like fire when 'tis to man applied,But in some other place Alexis says the contrary to what I have just cited:—
Or like the storm that sweeps the Libyan tide;
The furious wind the lowest depths can reach,
And wine robs man of knowledge, sense, and speech.
A. Man in no one respect resembles wine:And Panyasis says—
For man by age is made intolerable;
But age improves all wine.
B. Yes; for old wines cheer us,
But old men only snarl, abuse, and jeer us.
Wine is like fire, an aid and sweet relief,[p. 61] And again—
Wards off all ills, and comforts every grief;
Wine can of every feast the joys enhance,
It kindles soft desire, it leads the dance.
Think not then, childlike, much of solid food,
But stick to wine, the only real good.
Good wine's the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven;
Of dance and song the genial sire,
Of friendship gay and soft desire;
Yet rule it with a tighten'd rein,
Nor moderate wisdom's rules disdain;
For when uncheck'd there's nought runs faster,—
A useful slave, but cruel master.
Timæus of Tauromenium relates that there was a certain house at Agrigentum called the Trireme, on this account:— Some young men got drunk in it, and got so mad when excited by the wine, as to think that they were sailing in a trireme, and that they were being tossed about on the sea m a violent storm; and so completely did they lose their senses, that they threw all the furniture, and all the sofas and chairs and beds, out of window, as if they were throwing them into the sea, fancying that the captain had ordered them to lighten the ship because of the storm. And though a crowd collected round the house and began to plunder what was thrown out, even that did not cure the young men of their frenzy. And the next day, when the prætors came to the house, there were the young men still lying, sea-sick as they said; and, when the magistrates questioned them, they replied that they had been in great danger from a storm, and had consequently been compelled to lighten the ship by throwing all their superfluous cargo into the sea. Arid while the magistrates marvelled at the bewilderment of the men, one of them, who seemed to be older than the rest, said, “I, O Tritons, was so frightened that I threw myself down under the benches, and lay there as low down and as much out of sight as I could.” And the magistrates forgave their folly, and dismissed them with a reproof, and a warning not to indulge in too much wine in future. And they, professing to be much obliged to them, said, “If we arrive in port after having escaped this terrible storm, we will erect in our own country statues of you as our saviours in a conspicuous place, along with those of the other gods of the sea, as having appeared to us at a seasonable time.” And from this circumstance that house was called the Trireme.
But Philochorus says that men who drink hard do not only show what sort of disposition they themselves are of, but [p. 62] do also reveal in their chattering the characters of every one else whom they know. Whence comes the proverb,
Wine and truth;1and the sentence,
Wine lays bare the heart of man.And so in the contests of Bacchus the prize of victory is a tripod: and we have a proverb of those who speak truth, that “they are speaking from the tripod;” in which the tripod meant is the cup of Bacchus. For there were among the ancients two kinds of tripods, each of which, as it happened, bore the name of λέβης, or bowl; one, which was used to be put on the fire, being a sort of kettle for bathing, as Aeschylus says—
They pour'd the water in a three-legg'd bowl,and the other is what is also called κρατὴρ, goblet. Homer says—
Which always has its place upon the fire:
And seven fireless tripods.And in these last they mixed wine; and it is this last tripod that is the tripod of truth; and it is considered appropriate to Apollo, because of the truth of his prophetic art; and to Bacchus, because of the truth which people speak when drunk. And Semus the Delian says—“A brazen tripod, not the Pythian one, but that which they now call a bowl. And of these bowls some were never put on the fire, and men mixed their wine in them; and the others held water for baths, and in them they warmed the water, putting them on the fire; and of these some had ears, and having their bottom supported by three feet they were called tripods.”
Ephippus says somewhere or other—
A. That load of wine makes you a chatterer.And Antiphanes writes—
B. That's why they say that drunken men speak truth.
There are only two secrets a man cannot keep,
One when he's in love, t' other when he's drunk deep:
For these facts are so proved by his tongue or his eyes,
That we see it more plainly the more he denies.
And Philochorus relates that Amphictyon, the king of the Athenians, having learnt of Bacchus the art of mixing wine, [p. 63] was the first man who ever did mix it: and that it is owing to him that men who have been drinking on his system can walk straight afterwards, when before they used to blunder about after drinking sheer wine: and on this account he erected an altar to the Straight Bacchus in the temple of the Seasons; for they are the Nymphs who cherish the fruit or the vine. And near it he built also an altar to the Nymphs, as a memorial to all who use mixed drink; for the Nymphs are said to have been the nurses of Bacchus. And he made a law to bring an unmixed wine after meals only just enough to taste, as a token of the power of the Good Deity. But the rest of the wined was put on the table ready mixed, in whatever quantity any one chose. And then he enjoined the guests to invoke in addition the name of Jupiter the Saviour, for the sake of instructing and reminding the drinkers that by drinking in that fashion they would be preserved from injury. But Plato, in his second book of the Laws, says that the use of wine is to be encouraged for the sake of health. But on account of the look which habitual drunkards get, they liken Bacchus to a bull; and to a leopard, because he excites drunkards to acts of violence. And Alcæus says—
Wine sometimes than honey sweeter,Some men, too, are apt to get in a rage when drunk; and they are like a bull. Euripides says—
Sometimes more than nettles bitter.
Fierce bulls, their passion with their horns displaying.And some men, from their quarrelsome disposition when drunk, are like wild beasts, on which account it is that Bacchus is likened to a leopard.
Well was it then that Ariston the Chian said that that was the most agreeable drink which partook at the same time of both sweetness and fragrance; for which reason some people prepare what is called nectar about the Olympus which is in Lydia, mixing wine and honeycombs and the most fragrant flowers together. Though I am aware indeed that Anaxandrides says that nectar is not the drink, but the meat of the gods:—
Nectar I eat, and well do gnaw it;And Alcman says—
Ambrosia drink, (you never saw it);
I act as cupbearer to Jove,
And chat to Juno—not of love;
[p. 64] And oftentimes I sit by Venus,
With marplot none to come between us.
Nectar they eat at will.And Sappho says—
The goblets rich were with ambrosia crown'd,But Homer was acquainted with nectar as the drink of the gods. And Ibycus says that ambrosia is nine times as sweet as honey; stating expressly that honey has just one-ninth part of the power of ambrosia as far as sweetness goes.
Which Hermes bore to all the gods around.
One fond of wine must be an honest man;says Alexis. He adds, moreover, that wine makes all men who drink much of it fond of talking. And the author of the Epigram on Cratinus says—
For Bacchus, for his double mother famed,
Loves not bad men, nor uninstructed clowns,
If with water you fill up your glasses,
You'll never write anything wise
But wine is the horse of Parnassus,
That carries a bard to the skies.And this was Cratinus's thought,
Who was ne'er with one bottle content,
But stuck to his cups as he ought,
And to Bacchus his heart and voice lent.His house all with garlands did shine,
And with ivy he circled his brow,
To show he nought worshipp'd but wine,
As, if he still lived, he'd do now.
Polemo says that in Munychia a hero is honoured of the name of Acratopotes:2 and that among the Spartans statues of the heroes Matton and Ceraon were erected by some cooks in the hall of the Phiditia.3 And in Achaia a hero is honoured called Deipneus, having his name from δεῖπνον, a supper. But from a dry meal there arise no jokes, nor extempore poems, though, on the other hand, such an one does not cause any boasting or insolence of mind; so that it is well said—
Where are the empty boasts which Lemnos heard[p. 65] though Aristarchus the grammarian put a mark against the line which represents the Greeks as getting insolent through much eating. For he said that it was not every sort of cheerfulness and satiety which engendered boasting and jesting and ridiculous actions; but that these things proceeded only from such revelling as made men beside themselves, and inclined them to falsehood,—from drunkenness, in fact.
When season'd dishes press'd the ample board,
When the rich goblets overflow'd with wine?
On which account Bacchylides says:—
Sweet force, from wine proceeding,And Sophocles says—
Now warms my soul with love,
And on my spirit leading,
With hopes my heart does move.
It drives dull care away,
And laughs at walls and towers;
And bids us think and say,
That all the world is ours.
The man who drinks plenty of wine,
Will never for wealth be wishing;
For his cellar's a ceaseless mine,
And an undisturb'd heart he is rich in.
Drinking is a cure for woe.And other poets call wine—
Fruit of the field, which makes the heart to leap.And the king of all poets introduces Ulysses saying—
Let generous food supplies of strength produce,and so on.
Let rising spirits flow from sprightly juice,
Let their warm heads with scenes of battle glow,4
It is in consequence of wine that both comedy and tragedy were discovered in Icarium, a village of Attica; and it was at the time of the grape harvest that these inventions were first introduced, from which comedy was at first called τρυγῳδία.
Euripides, in the Bacchæ, says that Bacchus
Gave men the wine which every grief dispels;And Astydamas says that Bacchus
Where wine is not, there Venus never dwells,
Nor any other thing which men hold dear.
Gave men the vine which cures all mortal grief,“For,” says Antiphanes, “a man who continually fills [p. 66] himself with wine becomes indifferent and careless; but he who drinks but little is very meditative.” And Alexis says—
Parent of genial wine.
I'm not beside myself with drink; nor have I so much takenBut Seleucus says that it was not an ancient custom to indulge in wine or any other luxury to excess, except, indeed, on the occasion of some sacred festival; which is the origin of the names θοῖναι, and θάλιαι, and μέθαι.—θοῖναι meaning that men thought it right διὰ θεοὺς οἰνοῦσθαι, to drink wine ###on account of the gods; θάλιαι meaning that χάριν θεῶν ἡλίζοντο, they assembled and met together in honour of the gods. And this comes to the same as the Homeric expression δαῖτα θάλειαν. And Aristotle says that the word μεθύειν is derived from the fact that men used wine μετὰ τὸ θύειν, after sacrificing.
As not to be quite understood by those to whom I'm speaking.
Euripides says that it is possible that
Those who with humble gifts approach the gods,and the word τέλος, which he employs in the first line, means “sacrifice.” And Homer uses the same word when he says—
May often holier be, than those who load
The groaning altars with whole hecatombs;
God holds no sacrifice in more esteem,And we call those festivals which are of greater magnitude and which are celebrated with certain mysterious traditions, τελεταὶ, on account of the expense which is lavished on them. For the word τελέω means to spend. And men who spend a great deal are called πολυτελεῖς, and those who spend but little are called εὐτελεῖς. Alexis says—
Than hearts where pious joy and pleasure beam.5
Those who with fair prosperity are bless'd,
Should always keep themselves before the world;
Glad to display the bounty of the gods.
For they, the givers of all good, deserve
A holy gratitude; and they will have it.
But if, when they their gifts have shower'd, they see
The objects of their bounty live like churls,
Useless to all around them; who can wonder
If they recall what seems so ill bestow'd?
A man is not fond of wine who has been used from his earliest years to drink water. But—
'Tis sweet, at a banquet or festival meeting,says Hesiod in his Melampodia.
To chat o'er one's wine, when the guests have done eating,
[p. 67] It has not occurred to any one of you to say a word about water, though wine is made of it, and though Pindar, the most grandiloquent of poets, has said that “water is the best of all things.” And Homer, too, the most divine of all poets, recognised it as a most nutritious thing, when he spoke of a grove of poplars nourished by the water. He also praises its transparent nature—
Four fountains flow'd with clearest water white;6and the water which is of a lighter nature, and of greater value, he calls “lovely:” at all events he calls the Titaresius lovely which falls into the Peneus. And he mentions also some water as especially good for washing; and Praxagoras of Cos, following his example, speaks of a water as beauteous—
Beauteous it flows, to wash all dirt away.And he distinguishes also between sweet water and brackish (πλατὺς) water; though when he calls the Hellespont πλατὺς, he uses the word in the sense of broad. But with respect to sweet water, he says—
Near the sweet waters then our ships we stay'd.7
He was acquainted too with the effect which warm water has on wounds: at all events he describes Eurypylus's wounds as being washed with it; and yet, if the object was to stop the hemorrhage, cold water would have been useful, since that contracts and closes up wounds; but with the view of relieving the pain, he bathes these with warm water, which has a soothing effect. And in Homer the word λιαρὸς is used for what we call θερμὸς, warm. And he shows that plainly enough in what he says about the fountains of the Scamander, saying—
Next by Scamander's double source they bound,Can we call that only warm from which a steam of fire, and a fiery smoke arises? But of the other source he says—
Where two famed fountains burst the parted ground;
This warm, through scorching clefts is seen to rise,
With exhalations steaming to the skies.8
That, the green banks in summer's heat o'erflows,And he often speaks of men newly wounded being bathed in warm water. In the case of Agamemnon he says—
Like crystal clear, and cold as winter's snows.
With his warm blood still welling from the wound.9[p. 68] And in the case of a stag fleeing after it had been wounded, he says, in a sort of paraphrase—
While his warm blood and mighty limbs were strong.10The Athenians call χλιαρὸν, which is properly lukewarm, μετάκερας, as Eratosthenes uses the word, saying, “Watery by nature, and lukewarm, μετάκερας.”
And of other waters, those which come from rocks he calls “dark,” as being quite useless; and he prefers to all others the waters of springs, and those which rise to the surface from a great depth, and through rich soil. As also Hesiod says—
A ceaseless spring of clear untroubled flow.And Pindar says—
Ambrosial water, like fresh honey sweet,(Tilphossa is a fountain in Bœotia;) and Aristophanes says that Tiresias died from drinking of it, as at his advanced age he was unable to bear its extreme cold. And Theophrastus, in his book on Waters, says that the water of the Nile is the most productive and the sweetest of all waters, and that it is also very relaxing to the bowels of those who drink it, as it has in it a mixture of nitre. And again, in his book on Plants, he says that there is in some places water which has a procreative tendency; as for instance at Thespiæ: and at Pyrrha there is a water which causes barrenness. But it happened once when there was a drought in the district around the Nile, that the water of that river became unwholesome, and many of the Egyptians died. Theophrastus states, moreover, that not only do bitter waters sometimes change their nature, but that salt water does so too, and sometimes whole rivers do so; as in the case of the fountain in Cithæron, near which there is a temple of Jupiter; and of that in Cairo, near which there is a temple of Neptune: and the reason is, that many thunderbolts fall in those countries.
Which from Tilphossa's lovely fountains flows;
But there are some waters which have a good deal of body in them, and are of considerable weight; as that in Trœzen,—for that gives the mouths of those who taste it a feeling of fulness. And the waters near the mines in Pangæum, in winter, weigh ninety-six drachms to half a pint, but in summer they only weigh forty-six. For the cold contracts and condenses it; on which account that which is used in hour- [p. 69] glasses does not make the hours in winter the same as those in summer, but longer; for the flow is slower on account of the increased density of the water. And he sys that the same is the case in Egypt, though the air there is softer. Brackish water is more earthy, and requires more working; as also does sea-water, the nature of which is warmer, and which is not exposed to the same changes as river-water And there is one salt spring which is of invincible hardness,—I mean that of Arethusa. But as a general rule heavy waters are worse, and so are hard and cold waters, for the same reason; for they are not so easily prepared for use, some because they are very earthy, and some from the excess of cold. But those waters which are quickly warmed are light and wholesome. And in Crannon there is a spring of a gentle warmth, which keeps wine which is mixed with it of the same temperature for two or three days. But flowing waters, and waters from aqueducts, are, as a general rule, better than stagnant ones, being softer because of the collisions to which they are subjected; and on this account water derived from snow appears to be good, because its more drinkable qualities are brought to the surface, and are exposed to the influence of the air; and for the same reason they think it better than rain-water: and on the same ground, too, they prefer water from ice, because it is lighter; and the proof is, that ice is itself lighter than the rest of the water. But very cold water is hard, as being earthy; but that with much body in it, when it is warmed, is susceptible of greater heat, and when it is cold, descends to a more intense cold. And for the same reason water on the mountains is better to drink than water in the plains; for there is in such less admixture of earthy matter. And it is from the earthy particles present that waters vary in colour: at all events, the water of the lake at Babylon is red for some days after it is drawn; and that of the Borysthenes is for some time of a violet or dark colour, although it is unusually thin in quality; and a proof of this is, that at the point where it meets the Hypanis its waters flow above those of the latter while the north winds prevail.
And in many places there are fountains, some of which are good for drinking, and have a vinous flavour; as for instance, one in Paphlagonia, which they say the natives come to for the express purpose of drinking. Some, again, are salt, with [p. 70] a rather bitter flavour; as some among the Sicani in Sicily. And in the Carthaginian dominions there is a fountain on which there is something which floats resembling oil, but darker in colour, which they skim off and make into balls, and use for their sheep and cattle; and in other districts, too, there are fountains of a greasy nature,—like the one in Asia concerning which Alexander wrote a letter, saying that he had found a fountain of oil. And of waters which are warm by nature some are sweet, as that at Aegee in Cilicia, and that at Pagasæ, and that at Larissa in the Troas, and that near Magnesia, and that in Melos, and that in Lipara, and that in Prusa,—the Prusa, I mean, near Mount Olympus in Mysia,—which is called the Royal fountain. But that in Asia near Tralles, and those near the river Characometes, and near the city of Mysia, are so oily that those who bathe in them have no need of oil. And there is a similar fountain in the village of Dascylum. There is also one at Carura of an exceeding dryness and heat: and there is another near Menoscome, which is a village in Phrygia, of a rougher and a more nitrous quality; as there is too in a village in Phrygia, called The Lion's Village. And there is a spring near Dorylæum, which is very delicious to drink; but those which are at Baiæ or Baium, a harbour in Italy, are utterly undrinkable.
I myself weighed the water which comes from the fountain called Pirene in Corinth, and found it lighter than any other water in Greece. For I did not believe Antiphanes the comic writer, who says that in many respects Attica is superior to all other districts, and also that it has the best water of any; for he says:—
A. Have you remark'd, my friend,Eubulus, the writer of comedies, somewhere or other says that Chæremon the tragedian called water the body of the river:—
That none can with this favour'd land contend
In honey, loaves, and figs?B. Aye, figs indeed!
A. In myrtles, perfumes, wools, in choicest breed
Of cattle, and in cheese; and on what ground
Can fountains like the Attic springs be found?
But when we pass'd the folds, and cross'd the water,[p. 71] There is a fountain in Tenos the water of which cannot be mixed with wine. And Herodotus, in his fourth book, says that the Hypanis, at a distance of five days' journey from its head, is thin and sweet to the taste; but that four days' journey further on it becomes bitter, because some bitter spring falls into it. And Theopompus says that near the river Erigone all the water is sour; and that those who drink of it become intoxicated, just like men who have drunk wine.
The river's lucid body, all our troops
In the pure crystal bathed their weary limbs,
But Aristobulus of Cassandra says that there is a fountain in Miletus called the Achillean, the stream of which is very sweet, while the sediment is brackish: this is the water in which the Milesians say that their hero bathed when he had slain Trambelus the king of the Leleges. And they say, too, that the water in Cappadocia never becomes putrid, but there is a great deal in that district, of an admirable quality, though it has no outlet unless it flows underground. And Ptolemy the king, in the Seventh Book of his Commentaries, says that as you go to Corinth through the district called Contoporia, when you have got to the top of the mountain there is a fountain whose waters are colder than snow, so that many people are afraid to drink of it lest they should be frozen; but he says that he drank of it himself. And Phylarchus states that at Cleitor there is a spring which gives those who drink of it a distaste for the smell of wine. And Clearchus tells us that water is called white, like milk; and that wine is called red, like nectar; and that honey and oil are called yellow, and that the juice which is extracted from the myrtle-berry is black. Eubulus says that "water makes those who drink nothing else very ingenious,
But wine obscures and clouds the mind;"and Philetas borrows not only the thought, but the lines.
Athenæus then, having delivered this lecture on water, like a rhetorician, stopped awhile, and then began again.
Amphis, the comic writer, says somewhere or other—
There is, I take it, often sense in wine,And Antiphanes says—
And those are stupid who on water dine.
Take the hair, it well is written,
Of the dog by whom you're bitten.
Work off one wine by his brother,
And one labour with another;
[p. 72] Horns with horns, and noise with noise,
One crier with his fellow's voice
Insult with insult, war with war,
Faction with faction, care with care;
Cook with cook, and strife with strife,
Business with business, wife with wife.
The ancients applied the word ἄκρατον even to unmixed water. Sophron says—
Pour unmix'd water ὕδωρ ἄκρατον in the cup.
Phylarchus says that Theodorus the Larisssean was a water-drinker; the man, I mean, who was always so hostile to king Antigonus. He asserts also that all the Spaniards drink water, though they are the richest of all men, for they have the greatest abundance of gold and silver in their country. And he says, too, that they eat only once a day, out of stinginess, though they wear most expensive clothes. And Aristotle or Theophrastus speaks of a man named Philinus as never having taken any drink or solid food whatever, except milk alone, during the whole of his life. And Pythermus, in his account of the tyrants of Piræus, mentions Glaucon as having been a water-drinker. And Hegesander the Delphian says that Anchimolus and Moschus, sophists who lived in Elis, were water-drinkers all their lives; and that they ate nothing but figs, and for all that, were quite as healthy and vigorous as any one else; but that their perspiration had such an offensive smell, that every one avoided them at the baths. And Matris the Athenian, as long as he lived, ate nothing except a few myrtle-berries each day, and abstained from wine and every other kind of drink except water. Lamprus, too, the musician, was a water-drinker, concerning whom Phrynichus says, “that the gulls lamented, when Lamprus died among them, being a man who was a water-drinker, a subtle hypersophist, a dry skeleton of the Muses, an ague to nightingales, a hymn to hell.” And Machon the comic poet mentions Moschion as a water-drinker.
But Aristotle, in his book on Drunkenness, says, that some men who have been fond of salt meat have yet not had their thirst stimulated by it; of whom Archonides the Argive was one. And Mago the Carthaginian passed three times through the African desert eating dry meal and never drinking And Polemo the Academic philosopher, from the [p. 73] time that he was thirty years of age to the day of his death, never drank anything but water, as is related by Antigonus the Carystian. And Demetrius the Scepsian says that Diocles of Peparethus drank cold water to the day of his death. And Demosthenes the orator, who may well be admitted as a witness in his own case, says that he drank nothing but water for a considerable length of time. And Pyheas says, “But you see the demagogues of the present day, Demosthenes and Demades, how very differently they live. For the one is a water-drinker, and devotes his nights to contempla- tion, as they say; and the other is a debauchee, and is drunk every day, and comes like a great potbellied fellow, as he is, into our assemblies.” And Euphorion the Chalcidean writes in this way:—"Lasyrtas the Lasionian never required drink as other men do, and still it did not make him different from other men. And many men, out of curiosity, were careful to watch him, but they desisted before they ascertained what was the truth. For they continued watching him for thirty days together in the summer season, and they saw that he never abstained from salt meat, and yet that, though drinking nothing, he seemed to have no complaint in his bladder. And so they believed that he spoke the truth. And he did, indeed, sometimes take drink, but still he did not require it.
A change of meat is often good,
And men, when tired of common food,
Redoubled pleasure often feel,
When sitting at a novel meal.
The king of Persia, as Herodotus relates in his first book, drank no water, except what came from the river Choaspes, which flows by Susa. And when he was on a journey, he had numbers of four-wheeled waggons drawn by mules following him, laden with silver vessels containing this water, which was boiled to make it keep. And Ctesias the Cnidian explains also in what manner this water was boiled, and how it was put into the vessels and bought to the king, saying that it was the lightest and sweetest of all waters. And the second king of Egypt, he who was surnamed Philadelphus, having given his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus the king of Syria, took the trouble to send her water from the river Nile, in order that his child might drink of no other river, as Polybius relates. And [p. 74] Heliodorus tells us, that Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Polybius calls Epimanes,11 on account of his actions, mixed the fountain at Antioch with wine; a thing which Theopompus relates to have been also done by the Phrygian Midas, when he wished to make Silenus drunk in order to catch him. And that fountain is, as Bion relates, between the Mædi and the Pæonians, and is called Inna. But Staphylus says, that Melampus was the first who invented the idea of mixing wine with water. And Plistonicus says that water is more digestible than wine.
Now men who drink hard before eating, are usually not very comfortable in their digestion, which are apt to get out of order by such a system, and what they eat often turns sour on the stomach. So that a man who has a regard for his health, ought to take regular exercise, for the sake of promoting frequent perspiration; and he ought also to use the bath regularly for the sake of moistening and relaxing his body. And besides this, and before he bathes, he should drink water, as being an excellent thing,—drinking warm water usually in winter and spring, and cold water in summer, in order not to weaken the stomach. But he should only drink in moderation before the bath or the gymnasium, for the sake of diffusing what he drinks throughout his system beforehand, and in order to prevent the unmixed strength of wine from having too much effect on his extremities. And if any one thinks it too much trouble to live on this system, let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed, especially that which is called πρότροπος, the sweet Lesbian wine, as being very good for the stomach.
Now sweet wines do not make the head heavy, as Hippocrates says in his book on Diet, which some entitle, “The Book on Sharp Pains;” others, “The Book on Barley-water;” and others, “The Book against the Cnidian Theories.” His words are: “Sweet wine is less calculated to make the head heavy, and it takes less hold of the mind, and passes through the bowels easier than other wine.” But Posidonius says, that it is not a good thing to pledge one's friends as the Carmani do; for they, when at their banquets they wish to testify their friendship for each other, cut the veins on their faces, and mingle the blood which flows down with the liquor, [p. 75] and then drink it; thinking it the very extremes proof of friendship to taste one another's blood. And after pledging one another in this manner, they anoint their heads with ointment, especially with that distilled from roses, and if they cannot get that, with that distilled from apples, in order to ward off the effects of the drink, and in order also to avoid being injured by the evaporation of the wine; ad if they cannot get ointment of apples, they then use that extracted from the iris or from spikenard, so that Alexis very neatly says—
His nose he anoints, and thinks it plain
'Tis good for health with scents to feed the brain
But one ought to avoid thick perfumes, and to drink water which is thin and transparent, and which in respect of weight is light, and which has no earthy particles in it. And that water is best which is of a moderate heat or coldness, and which, when poured into a brazen or silver vessel, does not produce a blackish sediment. Hippocrates says, “Water which is easily warmed or easily chilled is always lighter.” But that water is bad which takes a long time to boil vegetables; and so too is water full of nitre, or brackish. And in his book upon Waters, Hippocrates calls good water drinkable; but stagnant water he calls bad, such as that from ponds or marshes. And most spring-water is rather hard. But Erasistratus says that some people test water by weight, and that is a most stupid proceeding. “For just look,” says he, “if men compare the water from the fountain Amphiaraus with that from the Eretrian spring, though one of them is good and the other bad, there is absolutely no difference in their respective weights.” And Hippocrates, in his book on Places, says that those waters are the best which flow from high ground, and from dry hills, “for they are white, and sweet, and are able to bear very little wine, and are warm in winter and cold in summer.” And he praises those most, the springs of which break towards the east, and especially towards the north-east, for they must inevitably be clear, and fragrant, and light. Diodes says that water is good for the digestion, and not apt to cause flatulency, that it is moderately cooling, and good for the eyes, and that it has no tendency to make the head feel heavy, and that it adds vigour to the mind and body. And Praxagoras [p. 76] says the same; and he also praises rain-water. But Euenor praises water from cisterns, and says that the best is that from the cistern of Amphiaraus, when compared with that from the fountain in Eretria.
But that water is undeniably nutritious is plain from the fact that some animals are nourished by it alone, as for instance, grasshoppers. And there are many other liquids which are nutritious, such as milk, barley-water, and wine. At all events, animals at the breast are nourished by milk; and there are many nations who drink nothing but milk. And it is said that Democritus, the philosopher of Abdera, after he had determined to rid himself of life on account of his extreme old age, and when he had begun to diminish his food day by day, when the day of the Thesmophorian festival came round, and the women of his household besought him not to die during the festival, in order that they might not be debarred from their share in the festivities, was persuaded, and ordered a vessel full of honey to be set near him: and in this way he lived many days with no other support than honey; and then some days after, when the honey had been taken away, he died. But Democritus had always been fond of honey; and he once answered a man, who asked him how he could live in the enjoyment of the best health, that he might do so if he constantly moistened his inward parts with honey, and his outward man with oil. And bread and honey was the chief food of the Pythagoreans, according to the statement of Aristoxenus, who says that those who eat this for breakfast were free from disease all their lives. And Lycus says that the Cyrneans (and they are a people who live near Sardinia) are very long-lived, because they are continually eating honey; and it is produced in great quantities among them.
When he says, men have adjourned the investigation into all such matters, he uses the word ἀνατιθέμενος instead of ἀναβαλλόμενος.
The word ἄνηστις is used in the same sense as νῆστις, i.e. fasting (just as we find στάχυς and ἄσταχυς) by Cratinus, when he says—
For you are not the first who's come to supperAnd the word ὀξύπεινος is used by Diphilus for hungry— [p. 77]
After a lengthened fast,
I'm glad when those who set them up as wise,And Antiphanes says—
Are naked seen and hungry.
A. At all events he's one complaint,And Eubulus says—
For he is hungry ever.
B. The keen Thessalian race you paint,
Who can be sated never.
Then Zethus was advised to seek the plain,
The holy plain of Thebes; for there men sell
The cheapest loaves and cakes.
Again advice came to the great Amphion,
The sweet musician, pointing out to him
The famous Athens for his resting-place,
Whose sons at hunger ne'er repine, but feed
On air and sweetest hopes.
The word μονοσιτῶν, eating once a day, occurs too in Alexis—
When you meet with a man who takes only one meal,And Plato says, “he not only was not content with one meal a-day, but sometimes he even dined twice the same day.”
Or a poet who music pretends not to feel;
The man half his life, the bard half his art, loses;
And sound reason to call either living refuses.
We know that men used to call sweetmeats νωγαλεύματα. Araros says in the Campylion—
These νωγαλεύματα are very nice.And Alexis says—
In Thasian feasts his friends he meets,And Antiphanes, in the Busiris, says—
And νωγαλίζει, sweetmeats eats.
Grapes, and pomegranates, and palms,
And other νώγαλα.
Philonides used the word ἀπόσιτος for fasting; and Crobylus has the word αὐτόσιτος, writing παράσιτον, αὐτόσιτον.
Eupolis, too, used ἀναρίστητος for without breakfast Crates has the word ἀναγκόσιτος, eating by force, and Nicostratus uses ἀναγκοσιτέω.
There is a youth most delicately curl'd,And Alexis has the word ἀριστόδειπνον, breakfast-dinner—
Whom I do feed by force beneath the earth.
By whom the breakfast-dinner is prepared.
[p. 78]
After this we rose up and sat down again as each of us pleased, not waiting for a nomenclator to arrange us in order.
Now that rooms were fitted up with couches for three, and with couches for four, and for seven, and for nine, and for other successive numbers, in the time of the ancients, we may prove from Antiphanes, who says—
I bring you, since you are but three,And Phrynichus says—
To a room with equal couches.
One room had seven couches fine,And Eubulus says—
While another boasted nine.
A. Place now a couch for seven.And Amphis says—
B. Here it is.
A. And five Sicilian couches.
B. Well, what next
A. And five Sicilian pillows.
Will you not place a couch for three?Anaxandrides—
A couch was spread,
And songs to please the aged man.
Open the supper rooms, and sweep the house,
And spread the couches fair, and light the fire;
Bring forth the cups, and fill with generous wine.
. . . . . . And Plato the philosopher, “Men now distinguish the couches and coverings with reference to what is put round the couch and what is put under it.” And his namesake, the comic poet, says—
There the well-dress'd guests reclineFor the art of weaving embroidered cloths was in great perfection in his time, Acesas and Helicon, natives of Cyprus, being exceedingly eminent for their skill in it; and they were weavers of very high reputation. And Helicon was the son of Acesas, as Hieronymus reports: and so at Pytho there is an inscription on some work— [p. 79]
On couches rich with ivory feet;
And on their purple cushions dine,
Which rich Sardinian carpets meet.
Fair Venus's isle did bring forth Helicon,And Pathymias the Egyptian was a man of similar renown. Ephippus says—
Whose wondrous work you now do gaze upon;
And fair Minerva's teaching bade his name
And wondrous skill survive in deathless fame.
Place me where rose-strewn couches fill the room,Aristophanes says—
That I may steep myself in rich perfume.
Oh you who press your mistress to your arms,Sophron too speaks of coverlets embroidered with figures of birds as of great value. And Homer, the most admirable of all poets, calls those cloths which are spread below λῖτα, that is to say, white, neither dyed nor embroidered. But the coverlets which are laid above he calls “beautiful purple cloths.”
All night upon sweet-scented couches lying.
The Persians, according to the account of Heraclides, are the people who first introduced the system of having particular servants to prepare the couches, in order that they might always be elegantly arranged and well made. And on this account Artaxerxes, having a high esteem for Timagoras the Cretan, or, as Phanias the Peripatetic says, for Entimus the Gortinian, who went up to the king in rivalry of Themistocles, gave him a tent of extraordinary size and beauty, and a couch with silver feet; and he sent him also expensive coverlets, and a man to arrange them, saying that the Greeks did not know how to arrange a couch. And so completely had this Cretan gained the favour of the king, that he was invited to a banquet of the royal family, an honour which had never been paid to any Greek before, and never has been since; for it was reserved as an especial compliment for the king's relations. Nor was this compliment paid to Timagoras the Athenian, who submitted to offer adoration t the king, and who was held in the highest honour by him, though some of the things which were set before the kin were sent to him from the royal table. The king of Persi, too, once took achaplet from off his head and dipped it in perfume, and sent it to Antalcidas the Lacedæmonian. But he did this too, and many similar things, to Entimus; also, and in addition to everything else, he invited him to a banquet of the royal family. And the Persians were very indignant this, [p. 80] thinking that it was making such an honour too common, and also because they thought they were on the eve of another expedition against Greece. He sent him also a couch with silver feet, and cushions for it, and a flowered tent surmounted with a canopy, and a silver chair, and a gilt parasol, and some golden vessels inlaid with precious stones, and a hundred large vessels of silver, and silver bowls, and a hundred girls, and a hundred boys, and six thousand pieces of gold, besides what was allowed him for his daily expenses.
There were tables with ivory feet, the top slabs of which were made of maple wood. Cratinus says—
Fair girls await you, and a tableAnd when one of the Cynics used the word τρίπους, meaning a table, Ulpian got indignant and said, "To-day I seem to have trouble coming on me arising out of my actual want of business; for what does this fellow mean by his tripod, unless indeed he counts Diogenes' stick and his two feet, and so makes him out to be a tripod'? At all events every one else calls the thing which is set before us τράπεζα.
Of highly polish'd dappled maple.
Hesiod, in his poem on the marriage of Ceyx, (although indeed the sons of the Grammarians deny that that poem is his work, but I myself think that it is an ancient piece,) does call tables τρίποδες. And Xenophon, a most accomplished writer, in the second book of the Anabasis, writes—“τρίποδες were brought in for every one, to the number of about twenty, loaded with ready carved meats.” And he goes on, “And these τράπεζαι were placed for the most part where the strangers sat.” Antiphanes says—
The τρίπους was removed, we wash'd our hands.Eubulus says—
A. Here are five τρίποδες for you; here five more.Epicharmus says—
B. Why I shall be quinquagenarian.
A. And what is this?[p. 81] And Aristophanes says—
B. A τρίπους.
A. How is that?
Has it not four feet? 'tis a τετράπους.
B. It may be strictly; but its name is τριπους.
A. Still I can see four feet.
B. At all events
You are no Œdipus, to be so puzzled.
A. Bring me one τράπεζα more,
With three feet, not one with four.
B. Where can I a τρίπους τράπεζα find?
It was a custom at feasts, that a guest when he had lain down should have a paper given to him, conning a bill of fare of what there was for dinner, so that he night know what the cook was going to serve up.
We find a fruit called Damascenes. Now many of the ancient writers mention Damascus, a city of great reputation and importance; and as there is a great quantity of plum-trees in the territory of the Damascenes, and as they are cultivated there with exceeding care, the tree itself has got to be called a Damascene, as being a kind of plum different from what is found in other countries. The fruit is more like prunes. And many writers speak of them, and Hipponax says—
I have a garland of damascenes and mint.And Alexis says—
A. And in my sleep I thought I saw a prize.And again he says—
B. What was it?
A. Listen.—There came up to me,
While still within th' arena's spacious bounds,
One of my rivals, bringing me a crown-
A ripe revolving crown of damascenes.
B. Oh Hercules! and were the damascenes ripe?
Did you e'er see a sausage toasted,Nicander says—
Or dish of tripe well stuff'd and roasted?
Or damascenes stew'd in rich confection—
Such was that gentleman's complexion.
The fruit they call a plum, the cuckoo's prize.But Clearchus the Peripatetic says that the Rhodians and Sicilians call plums βράβυλα, and so Theocritus the Syracusan uses the word—
Heavy with plums, the branches swept the ground.And again he says—
Far as the apple doth the plum surpass.But the damascene is smaller in circumference than other plums, though in flavour it is very like them, except that it is a little sharper. Seleucus, in his Dictionary, says that [p. 82] βράβυλα, ἦλα, κοκκύμηλα, and μάδρυα are all different names for the same thing; and that plums are called βράβυλα, as being good for the stomach, and βορὰν ἐκ βάλλοντα,, that is, assisting to remove the food; and ἦλα, which is the same word as μῆλα, meaning simply fruit, as Demetrius Ixion says in his Etymology. And Theophrastus says, κοκκύμηλα καὶ σποδιάς: σποδιὰς being a kind of wild plum. And Araros calls the tree which bears the fruit κοκκυμηλέα, and the fruit itself κοκκύμηλον. And Diphilus of Siphnos pronounces plums to be juicy, digestible, and easily evacuated, but not very nutritious.
There is another fruit, called Cherries.—Theophrastus says, in his book on Plants, that the Cherry-tree is a tree of a peculiar character, and of large size, for it grows to a height of four-and-twenty cubits,12 and its leaf is like that of the medlar, but somewhat harder and thicker, and its bark like the linden; its flower is white, like that of the pear or the medlar, consisting of a number of small petals of a waxy nature; its fruit is red, like that of the lotus in appearance, and of the size of a bean; but the kernel of the lotus is hard, while that of the cherry is soft. And again he says, “The κράταιγος, which some call κραταίγων, has a spreading leaf like a medlar, only that is larger, and wider, and longer; and it has no deep grain in it as the medlar has. The tree is neither very tall nor very large; the wood is variegated, yellow, and strong: it has a smooth bark, like that of the medlar; and a single root, which goes down very deep into the earth; the fruit is round, of the size of an olive; when fully ripe it is of a yellow colour, becoming gradually darker; and from its flavour and juice it might almost be taken for a wild medlar.” By which description of the cratægus it appears to me that he means the tree which is now called the cherry.
Asclepiades of Myrlea speaks of a tree which he calls the Ground-cherry, and says, “In the land of the Bithynians there is found the ground-cherry, the root of which is not large; nor is the tree, but like a rose-bush; in all other respects the fruit is like the common cherry; but it makes those who eat much of it feel heavy, as wine does, and it gives them head-aches.” These are the words of Asclepiades. And it appears to me that he is speaking of the arbutus. For [p. 83] the tree which bears the arbutus-berry answers his descrip- tion, and if a man eats more than six or seven of the berries he gets a headache. Aristophanes says—
And planted by no hand, the arbutusTheopompus says—
Makes red the sunny hills.
The myrtle berries and red arbutus.Crates says—
Beauteous the breast of tender maid,And Amphis—
As arbutus or apples red.
Mulberries you see, my friend, are foundAnd Theophrastus tells us, “The κόμαρος (as he calls it) is the tree which bears the arbutus berry.”
On the tree which we know as the mulberry;
So the oak bears the acorn round,
And the arbutus shines with its full berry.
There is question about the “Agen,” a satyric drama, whether it was composed by Python, (and if by him whether he was a native of Catana or of Byzantium,) or by the king Alexander himself.
Then Laurentius says—“You, O Greeks, lay claim to a good many things, as either having given the names to them, or having been the original discoverers of them. But you do not know that Lucullus, the Roman general, who subdued Mithridates and Tigranes, was the first man who Introduced this plant into Italy from Cerasus, a city of Pontus; and he it was who gave the fruit the Latin name of Cerasus, cherry, after the name of the city, as our historians relate.”
Then Daphnis answers—“But there was a very celebrated man, Diphilus of Siphnos, many years more ancient than Lucullus, for he was born in the time of king Lysimachus, (who was one of the successors of Alexander,) and he speaks of cherries, saying, 'Cherries are good for the stomach, and juicy, but not very nutritious; if taken after drinking cold water they are especially wholesome; but the red and the Milesian are the best kinds, and are diuretic.'”
There is a fruit usually called the συκάμινον, which the people of Alexandria call the μόρον, in which they differ from every one else; but it has no connexion with the Egyptian [p. 84] fig, which some call συκόμορον, and which the natives scrape slightly with a knife, and then leave on the tree; and then when it has been tossed about by the wind, within three days it becomes ripe and fragrant, (especially if the wind is west,) and very good to eat, as there is something in it which is moderately cooling for people in a fever, when made up with oil of roses into a plaster, so as to be put upon the stomach, and it is no slight relief to the patient. Now the Egyptian sycaminus bears its fruit on the main stem, and not on the branches. But the sycaminus is a mulberry, a fruit mentioned by Aeschylus in his Phrygians, where he says of Hector,
His heart was softer than a mulberry.And in his “Cretan Women” he says of the brier—
As the full branch to earth is Weigh'dAnd Sophocles has the lines—
With mulberries, white and black and red.
First you shall see the full white ear of corn,And Nicander in his Georgics says that it is the first of all fruits to appear; and he calls the tree which bears it μορέα, as also do the Alexandrians—
And then the large round rosy mulberry.
The mulberry-tree, in which the young delight,
Brown autumn's harbinger.
Phanias of Eresus, the pupil of Aristotle, calls the fruit of the wild sycamine μόρον, or mulberry, being a fruit of the greatest sweetness and delicacy when it is ripe. And he writes thus: “The mulberry is a briery sort of tree,13 and when the round fruit is dried it has small pips of seed, woven in like net-work, and the fruit is nutritious and juicy.” And Parthanius has the following words:—῞αβρυνα, that is to say, συκάμινα, which some call mulberries." And Salmonius calls the same tree βάτιον, or brier. And Demetrius Ixion says the συκάμινον and μόρον are the same, being a very juicy fruit, superior to the fig. And Diphilus of Siphnos, who was a physician, writes thus: “The συκάμινα, which are also called μόρα, are moderately full of good juice, but have not much nourishment; they are good for the stomach and easily digested; and those which are not quite ripe have a peculiar [p. 85] quality of expelling worms.” But Pythemus states, according to Hegesander, that in his time the mulberry-trees produced no fruit for twenty years, and that during that time gout became so epidemic, that not only men, but even boys and girls, and eunuchs, and women, were afflicted with it; and even herds of goats were attacked with it, so that two-thirds of the cattle were afflicted with the same disorder.
With respect to the word κάρυα, the Attic writers and all other prose writers call nearly all berries by the generic name of κάρυα, nuts. And Epicharmus calls the almond “the nut,” by way of distinction, as we do, saying—
We eat roast nuts, that is, almonds.Philyllius says—
Eggs, nuts, almonds.And Heracleon the Ephesian writes—“They called almonds κάρυα, and chestnuts, which we now call καστάνεια.” The tree itself is called καρύα by Sophocles, who says—
（κάρυαι,) nut-trees and ash-trees.And Eubulus speaks of
Beeches, nut-trees, Carystian nuts.There are some kinds of nuts, too, which are called μόστηνα.
With respect to Almonds.—The Naxian almonds are mentioned by the ancient writers; and those in the island of Naxos are superior to all others, as I am well persuaded. Phrynichus says—
He knock'd out all my grinders, so that nowThe almonds in the island of Cyprus also are very excellent, and in comparison of those which come from other quarters, they are very long, and slightly bent at the end. And Seleucus in his Dictionary says, that the Lacedæmonians call soft nuts μύκηροι. And the Servians give that name to sweet nuts. But Arnexias says that it is the almond which is called μύκηρος. We may add, there is nothing which is a greater provocative of drinking than almonds when eaten before meals. Eupolis says in his Taxiarchs—
A Naxian almond I can hardly crack.
Give me some Naxian almonds to regale me,For there was a vine called the Naxian vine.
And from the Naxian vines some wine to drink.
[p. 86] And Plutarch of Chæronea says, that there was in the retinue of Drusus the son of Tiberius Cæsar, a certain physician who surpassed all men in drinking, and who was detected in always eating five or six bitter almonds before he drank. But when he was prevented from eating them he was not able to stand even a very limited quantity of wine; and the cause of this was the great power of the bitterness of the almond, which is of a very drying nature, and which has the quality of expelling moisture.
Herodian of Alexandria says, that almonds derive the name of ἀμύγδαλαι, because beneath their green bark they have many ἀμυχαὶ, or lacerations.
Philemon says somewhere or other—
You, like an ass, come to the husks of the dessert;and Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, says—
Beech-trees, the ornament of Pan.We also find the word ἀμύγδαλον in the neuter gender. Diphilus says—
“Sweetmeats, myrtle-berries, cheese-cakes, almonds,”using the neuter ἀμύγδαλα.
Now with respect to the pronunciation and accent of the word ἀμυγδάλη, Pamphilus thinks that there ought to be a grave accent when it means the fruit, as it is in the case of ἀμύγδαλον. But he wants to circumflex the word when it means the tree, thus, ἀμυγδαλῆ like ῥοδῆ. And Archilochus says—
The lovely flower of the rose-tree (ῥοδῆς).But Aristarchus marks the word, whether it means the fruit or the tree, with an acute accent indifferently; while Philoxenus would circumflex the word in either sense. Eupolis says—
You'll ruin me, I swear it by the almond.Aristophanes says—
A. Come, now, take these almonds,And Phrynichus says—
And break them
（B. I would rather break your head,) with a stone.
The almond is a good cure for a cough.And others speak of almonds as beautiful. But Tryphon in his book on Attic Prosody accents ἀμυγδάλη, when meaning [p. 87] the fruit, with a grave accent, which we use in the neuter as ἀμύγδαλον. But he writes ἀμυγδαλῆ, with a circumflex for the tree; it being as it were a possessive form derived from the fruit, and as such contracted and circumflexed.
Pamphilus in his Dictionary says that the μυκηρόβατον is called the nut-cracker by the Lacedæmonians, when they mean the almond-cracker; for the Lacedæmonians call almonds μούκηροι.
Nicander mentions also nuts of Pontus, which some writers call λόπιμα; while Hermonax and Timachidas, in the Dictionary, say that the acorn of Jupiter, or walnut, is what is called the nut of Pontus.
But Heraclides of Tarentum asks, “Whether sweetmeats ought to be put on the table before supper, as is done in some parts of Asia and Greece; or whether they ought to be brought on after supper is over.” If it is decided that they are to be brought on at the end of supper, then it follows, that when a great deal of food has already been put into the stomach and bowels, the nuts which are eaten afterwards as provocatives of drinking, get entangled with the rest of the food, and produce flatulence, and also cause what has been eaten to turn on the stomach, because it is followed by what is by nature unmanageable and indigestible; and it is from such food that indigestions and attacks of diarrhœa arise.
Diodes asserts that almonds are nutritious and good for the stomach, and that they have a heating effect because they contain something like millet; but green almonds are less likely to have an injurious effect than dry ones; and almonds soaked in water have such an effect less than those which are not soaked; and when toasted less than when raw. But walnuts, which are also called nuts of Heraclea, and acorns of Jupiter, are not indeed so nutritious as almonds, but still they have something like millet in them, and something apt to rise to the surface; so, if they are eaten in ay quantity they make the head feel heavy; they, however, are less likely to produce injurious effects when green than when dry.
Persian nuts too are as apt to produce headches as the acorns of Jupiter; but they are more nutritious, though they make the throat and mouth feel rough; but when they are roasted they are less injurious, and when eaten with honey, they are the most digestible of all nuts The broad Persian nuts [p. 88] have the greatest tendency to produce flatulence; but when boiled they are less injurious than when raw, or even when roasted. But Philotimus in his treatises on Nourishment says, “The broad nut, and that which is called the Sardinian nut, are both exceedingly indigestible when raw, and are very slow in dissolving in the stomach, as they are kept down by the phlegm in the stomach, and as they themselves are of an astringent nature. The Pontic nut too is oily and indigestible; but the almond is not so indigestible as that, and accordingly if we eat a number of them we do not feel any inconvenience; and they appear more oily, and give out a sweet and oily juice.”
Diphilus of Siphnos says—“There is a nut called the Royal nut, which causes severe headaches, and keeps rising in the stomach; and there are two sorts of them, one of which, that which is tender and white, is the more juicy and the better; but that which is roasted in ovens is not nutritious. Almonds have a tendency to make people thin, and are diuretic and cathartic, and far from nutritious; and the dry ones are far more apt to produce flatulence and are far more indigestible than the green ones, which do not give much juice, and which are not very nutritious; but those which are tender, and full, and white, being like milk, are more full of wholesome juice. And the Thasian and Cyprian nuts, being tender, are far more easily digested than dry ones. The nuts of Pontus are apt to produce headaches, but still they are not so indigestible as the Royal nuts.”
Moreover, Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his book on Comestibles, says, “The digestion of Eubœan nuts or chestnuts (for they are called by both names) is very difficult for the stomach, and is attended with a great deal of flatulence. And they are apt to thicken the juice, and to make people fat, unless their constitution is strong enough to neutralise them. But almonds, and likewise the nuts of Heraclea, and the Persian nuts, and all others of the same sort, are still worse than these: and it is desirable to touch absolutely none whatever of these things unless they are first cooked by fire; with the exception of, perhaps, the green almonds. But one should boil some of them, and roast others; for some of them are of an oily nature, as the dry almonds and the acorns of Jupiter; but some are hard and harsh, as the nuts of the [p. 89] beech and all that kind. And from the oily sorts the action of the fire extracts the oil, which is the worst part of them: but those which are hard and harsh are softened, and, so to say, ripened, if any one cooks them over a small and gentle fire.”
But Diphilus calls chestnuts also Sardinian acorn, saying that they are very nutritious, and full of excellent juice; but not very easy of digestion, because they remain a long time in the stomach; that, however, when they are roasted they are less nutritious, but more digestible; and that when boiled they are less apt to produce flatulence than the others, and more nutritious.
It is easily peel'd, and the Eubœanssays Nicander the Colophonian, in his Georgics. But Agelochus calls chestnuts ἄμωτα, and says, “Where the Sinopean nuts are produced the natives call the trees which produce them ἄμωτα.”
Call it a nut, but some people have call'd it an acorn,
With respect to Vetches.—Crobylus says—
They took a green vetch,And Homer says—
And toss'd it empty, as if playing cottabus.
These are the sweetmeats of the wretched monkey.
Black beans spring up, or vetches.Xenophanes the Colophonian says, in his Parodies—
These are what one should talk of near the fire,And Sappho says—
In winter season, on soft couch reclined,
After a plenteous meal, drinking rich wine,
And eating vetches.14 Then a man may ask,
"Who are you? How old are you, my friend?
How many years old were you when the Mede came"
Golden vetches on the sea-shore grew.But Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, calls some kinds of vetches κρεῖοι. And Sophilus says—
This maiden's sire is far the greatest man,And Phenias says, in his book about Plants,—“While they are green and tender, the bean and vetch take the place of [p. 90] sweetmeats; but when they are dry they are usually eaten boiled or roasted.” Alexis says—
A regular κρεῖος vetch.
My husband is a poor old man, and IPherecrates says—
Am an old woman, and I have a daughter
And a young son,
And this good girl besides—we're five in all—
And three of them are now at supper,
And we two who here remain share with them
A little maize; and when we have nothing
To eat, we utter a wail unsuited to the lyre.
And as we never have any meat for dinner,
Our countenance is become pale. These are the parts,
And this is the arrangement of our life:
Beans, lupins, cabbages, rape,
Pulse, morepulse, mastnuts, onions.
Grasshoppers, vetches, wild pears,
And that which was given by my mother
As an object of devout care, the fig,
The great invention of the Phrygian fig.
You must at once take care and make the vetches tender.And in another place he says—
He was choked eating roasted vetches.And Diphilus says—“Vetches are very indigestible, create moisture, they are also diuretic, and apt to cause flatulence.” And according to Diocles, they produce a sort of fermentation in the body. The white vetches are better than the black; and so also are the yellow or box-coloured. And the Milesian are better than those called κρεῖοι; and the green are better than the dry, and those which have been soaked are better than those which have not been. The discoverer of the vetch is said to have been Neptune.
With respect to Lupins. Alexis says—
A curse upon the man;And Lycophron of Chalcis, in a satiric drama which he wrote against Menedemus the philosopher, for the purpose of turn- [p. 91] ing him into ridicule, (it was from Menedemus that the sect of the Eretrians derived its name,) laughs at the suppers of the philosophers, and says—
Let him not come near me, who eats lupins in season,
And then leaves the husks and shells in the vestibules
Why was he not choked while eating them I know,
I know most certainly, that Cleænetus the tragedian
Did not eat them. For Cleænetus
Never threw away the husk of a single vegetable,
So exceedingly economical is that man.
The lupin, common to all the people, in great plentyAnd Diphilus says—
Danced upon the board, the companion of poor couches.
There is no business more mischievous or degradingAnd you may observe, that he then uses the expression θερμοκύαμοι, lupin-beans, as they are called even now. Polemo says, that the Lacedæmonians call lupins λυσιλαΐδες. And Theophrastus, in his book about The Causes of Plants, tells us that the lupin, and the bitter vetch, and the common vetch, are the only kinds of green vegetable which do not produce animal life, because of their harshness and bitterness. But the vetch, says he, turns black as it decays. He says, also, that caterpillars come in vetches, and it is in the fourth book of the same treatise that he states this. Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that lupins are very apt to create moisture, and are very nutritious, especially those kinds Which are rendered sweet by being soaked. On which account Zeno the Citiæan, a man of harsh disposition and very apt to get in a passion with his friends, when he had taken a good deal of wine, became sweet-tempered and gentle; and when people asked him what produced this difference in his disposition, he said, that he was subject to the same influences as lupins: for that they before they were cooked were very bitter; but that when they had been steeped in liquor they were sweet and wholesome.
Than that of the pander.
I would rather walk along the streets selling
Roses, and radishes, and lupin-beans, and press'd olives,
And anything else in the world, rather than give encouragement
To such a miserable trade.
With respect to Kidney Beans.—The Lacedæmonians in those suppers of theirs, which they call κοπίδες, give as sweetmeats, dry figs and beans, and green kidney beans. At least this is the statement of Polemo; and Epicharmus says—
Roast some kidney beans quickly, for Bacchus is fond of them.And Demetrius says—
A fig, or kidney bean, or some such thing.
[p. 92]
With respect to Olives. Eupolis says—
Cuttle-fish, and olives fallen from the tree.And these the Romans call dryptæ. But Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that olives contain very little nourishment, and are apt to give headaches; and that the black ones are still worse for the stomach, and make the head feel heavy; but that those which we call κολυμβάδες, that is to say, preserved in pickle, are better for the stomach, and give strength to the bowels. But that the black when crushed are better for the stomach. Aristophanes too makes mention of crushed olives in “The Islands,” saying—
Bring some crushed olives;and in another place he says—
Crush'd olives and pickled olives are not the same thing;and a few lines after—
For it is better that they should be crush'd than pickled.And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy—
Let wrinkled olives, fallen from the tree,And Hermippus says—
Be placed before you.
Be sure that for the future you rememberAnd Philemon says—“The inferior olives are called πιτυρίδες, and the dark-coloured are called στεμφυλίδες.” And Callimachus, in his “Hecale,” gives a regular catalogue of the different kinds of olive—
The ever-glorious Marathon for good,
When you do all from time to time add μάραθον (that is to say, fennel) to your pickled olives.
γεργέριμος and πίτυρις, and the white olive, which does notAnd according to Didymus, they called both olives and figs which had fallen to the ground of their own accord, γεργέριμοι. Besides, without mentioning the name “olive,” the fruit itself was called by that name δρυπετὴς, without any explanatory addition. Teleclides says—
Become ripe till autumn, which is to float in wine.
He urged me to remain, and eat with himBut the Athenians called bruised olives στέμφυλα; and what we call στέμφυλα they called βρύτεα, that is to say, the dregs [p. 93] of the grapes after they have been pressed. And the word βρῦτος is derived from βότρυς, a bunch of grapes.
Some δρυπετεῖς, and some maize, and have a chat with him.
With respect to Radishes.—The Greek name ῥαφανὶς is derived from ῥᾳδίως φαίνεσθαι, because they quickly appear above ground; and in the plural the Attic writers either shorten or lengthen the penultima at pleasure. Cratinus writes—
ταῖς ῥαφανῖσι δοκεῖ, it is like radishes, but not like other vegetables;and Eupolis, on the other hand, says—
῾ραφανίδες ἄπλυτοι, unwashed radishes and cuttle-fish.For the word ἄπλυτοι, unwashed, must clearly refer to the radishes, and not to the cuttle-fish; as is shown by Antiphanes, in whom we find these lines:—
To eat ducks, and honeycombs of wild bees, and eggs,So that radishes appear to have been particularly called un- washed radishes; being probably the same as those called Thasian. Pherecrates says—
And cheese-cakes, and unwash'd radishes,
And rape, and oatmeal-groats, and honey.
There one may have the unwash'd radish, and the warmAnd Plato, in his Hyperbolus, says, using the diminutive termination, φύλλιον ἤ ῥαφανίδιον, “a leaflet, or a little radish.” But Theophrastes, in his book on Plants, says that there are five kinds of radishes: the Corinthian, the Leiothasian, the Cleonæan, the Amorean, and the Bœotian; and that the Bœotian, which is of a round form, is the sweetest. And he says that, as a general rule, those the leaves of which are smooth, are the sweetest. But Callias used the form ῥάφανος for ῥάφανις; at all events, when discussing the antiquity of comedy, he says, “Broth, and sausages, and radishes (ῥάφανοι), and fallen olives, and cheese-cakes.” And indeed that he meant the same as what we call ῥαφανίδες, is plainly sown by Aristophanes, who in the Danaïdes alludes to such old forms, and says—
Bath, and closely stewed pickles, and nuts.
And then the chorus used to dance,And the radish is a very economical kind of food. Amphis says— [p. 94]
Clad in worsted-work and fine clothes;
And bearing under their arms ribs of beef,
And sausages, and radishes.
Whoever, when purchasing food,
When it is in his power, O Apollo, to buy genuine fish,
Prefers buying radishes, is downright mad!
With respect to Pine-cones.—Mnesitheus, the Athenian physician, in his book on Comestibles, calls the husks of the pine-cones ὀστρακίδες, and in another place he calls them κῶνοι. But Diocles of Carystus calls them πιτϋίνα κάρυα, nuts of the pine-tree. And Alexander the Myndian calls them πιτυΐνὸυς κώνους. And Theophrastus calls the tree πεύκη, and the fruit κῶνος. But Hippocrates, in his book on Barley-water,— (one half of which is considered spurious by everybody, and some people reckon the whole so,)—calls the fruit κόκκαλοι; but most people call it πυρῆνες: as Herodotus does, in speaking of the Pontic nut. For he says, “And this has πυρῆνα (a kernel), when it becomes ripe.” But Diphilus the Siphnian says, “Pine-cones” (which he calls στρόβιλοι “are very nutritious, and have a tendency to soften the arteries, and to relieve the chest, because they have some resinous qualities contained in them.” While Mnesitheus says that they fill the body with fat, and are very free from all hindrances to the digestion; and, moreover, that they are diuretic, and that they are free from all astringent tendencies.
Now with respect to Eggs.—Anaxagoras, in his book on Natural Philosophy, says that what is called the milk of the bird is the white which is in the eggs. And Aristophanes says— In the first instance, night brings forth a wind egg. Sappho dissolves the word ὦον into a trisyllable, making it ὤϊον, when she says—
They say that formerly Leda found an egg.And again she says—
Far whiter than an egg:in each case writing ὤϊον. But Epicharmus spelt the word ὤεα; for so we find the line written—
The eggs of geese and other poultry.And Simonides, in the second book of his Iambics, says—
Like the egg of a Mæandrian goose;which he, too, writes ὤεον. But Alexandrides lengthens the word into a quadrisyllable, and calls it ὠάριον. And so does Ephippus, when he says— [p. 95]
And little casks of good wine made of palms,And Alexis, somewhere or other, uses the expressidn, “hemispheres of eggs.” And wind eggs they called ἀνεμιαῖα, and also ὑπηνέμια. They called also the upper chambers of houses which we now call ὑπερῶον, ὦον; and accordingly Clearchus says, in his “Erotics,” that Helen, from having been born and brought up in a chamber of this sort, got the character, with a great many people, of having been born of an egg (ὠοῦ). And it was an ignorant statement of Neocles of Crotona, that the egg fell from the moon, from which Helen was born: for that women under the influence of the moon bring forth eggs, and that those who are born from such eggs are fifteen times as large as we are: as Herodotus of Heraclea also asserts. And Ibycus, in the fifth book of his Melodies, says of the Molionidœ—
And eggs, and all other trifles of that kind.
And they slew the two young Molions, youths alike in face,And Ephippus says—
Borne on white horses; of the same age; and
Alike, too, in all their limbs, for both were born
On one day, from one single silver egg.
Cakes made of sesame and honey, sweetmeats,And Nicomachus makes mention of such eggs—
Cheese-cakes, and cream-cakes, and a hecatomb
Of new-laid eggs, were all devour'd by us.
For when my father had left me a very little property,And Eriphus makes mention of goose's eggs—
I scraped it so, and got the kernel out of it
In a few months, as if I had been a boy sucking an egg.
Just see how white and how large these eggs are;And he says, that it was eggs like this which were laid by Leda. But Epænetus and Heraclides the Syracusan, in their book on Cookery, say that the best of all eggs are peacock's eggs; and that the next best are those of the foxgoose; and the third best are those of common poultry.
These must be goose eggs, as far as I can see.
Now let us speak of provocatives to appetite, called πρόπομα.—When they were brought round by the butler, Ulpian said, “Does the word πρόπομα occur in any ancient author in the sense in which we use it now?” and when every one joined in the question, “I will tell you,” said Athenæus; “Phylarchus the Athenian, (though some called [p. 96] him a native of Naucratis,) in the book where he speaks of Zelas the king of the Bithynians, who invited to supper all the leaders of the Galatians, and then plotted against them, and was killed himself also, says, if I recollect his words rightly, 'A certain πρόπομα was brought round before supper, as was the custom of antiquity.'” And when Ulpian had said this, he asked for something to drink from the wine-cooler, saying, that he was in good humour with himself for having been able to remember this so very à propos. But there were things of all sorts, says Athenæus, used in these προπόματα.
With respect to Mallows, Hesiod says—
Nor do men know how great may be the goodμαλάχη is the Attic name for mallow. But I, says Atheneus, have found in many of the copies of the Minos of Antiphanes the word spelt with an o; for instance, he speaks of men—
Derived from asphodel and mallow food.
Eating the root of mallow (μολόχης).And Epicharmus has—
I am milder than the mallow (μολόχης).And Phanias says, in his book on Plants—“The seminal portions of the cultivated mallow are called 'the cheese-cake,' as being like a cheese-cake. For those pistils which are like the teeth of a comb have some resemblance to the edge of a cheese-cake; and there is a boss like centre, like that in the middle of a cheese-cake. And the whole circumference of the rim is like the sea-fish denominated the sea-urchin.” But Diphilus the Siphnian makes a statement, that the mallow is full of pleasant and wholesome juice; having a tendency to smooth the arteries, separating from them the harshnesses of the blood by bringing them to the surface. And he adds that the mallow is of great service in irritations of the kidneys and the bladder, and that it is very tolerably digestible and nutritious. And moreover, that the wild mallow is superior to that which grows in a garden. But Hermippus, the follower of Callimachus, in his treatise on the Seven Wise Men, says that mallows are put in what he calls the ἄλιμον, that is to say, the preventive against hunger, and into the ἄδιψον, that is, the preventive against thirst; and that it is a very useful ingredient in both.
The next thing to be mentioned are Gourds.—Euthy- [p. 97] demus, the Athenian, in his book on Vegetables, calls the long gourd, known as κολοκύντη, the Indian gourd; and it is called Indian because the seed was originally introduced from India. But the people of Megalopolis call the same the Sicyonian gourd. Theophrastus however says, that of the kind called κολοκύντη, there is not one species or genus only, but several, some better, some worse. While Meodorus, the follower of Erasistratus, the friend of Icesius, says, “Of the long gourds there is the Indian, which is the same which we call σικύα, and which is vulgarly called the κολοκύντη. Now the Indian gourd is usually boiled, but that called κολοκύντη is usually roasted.” And even to the present day the κολόκυνται are called by the Cnidians Indian gourds; while the people of the Hellespont call the long gourds σίκυαι, and the round gourds κολόκυνται. But Diocles states that the best round gourds are those grown near Magnesia; and, moreover, that the rape grown in that district runs to an exceedingly large size, and is sweet, and good for the stomach. He says, at the same time, that the best cucumbers are grown at Antioch, the best lettuce at Smyrna and Galatea, and the best rue at Myra. Diphilus says, "The gourd is far from nutritious, easily digested, apt to produce moisture in the skin, promotes the secretions of the body, and is full of agreeable and wholesome juice; but it is still more juicy when cooked. Its alterative qualities are increased when it is eaten with mustard, but it is more digestible, and it promotes the secretions more, when boiled.
Mnesitheus too says, "All the vegetables and fruits which are easily affected by the action of fire, such as the cucumber, and the gourd, and the quince, and the small quince, and everything else of the same sort, when they are eaten after having been roasted, afford nutriment to the body, in no great quantity indeed, but still such as is pleasant and promotes moisture. However all these vegetables and fruits have a tendency to produce constipation, and they ought to be eaten boiled rather than raw. But the Attic writers call the gourd by no other name but κολοκύντη. Hermippus says—
What a huge head he has; it is as big as a gourd!And Phrynichus, using the diminutive, says—
Will you have a little maize (μάζιον) or gourd (κολοκύντιον)?[p. 98] And Epicharmus says—
That is much more wholesome than a gourd (κολοκύντη).
And Epicrates the comic poet writes—
A. What now is Plato doing'?[p. 99]
The grave Speusippus too and Menedemus?
In what are they now spending all their time?
What care is theirs, and what their conversation?
What is their subject of deliberation?
Tell me, I beg of you, by the mighty Terra,
In learned language, if at least you know.
B. Indeed, I can inform you most exactly.
For at the great Panathenaic feast,
I saw a company of youths assembled
Within the schools of the old Academy,
And heard some strange and marvellous assertions.
For they were nature's mysteries discussing,
Drawing distinctions subtle 'tween the life
Of animated things, both men and beasts,
And that of trees and all the race of herbs.
And then, while occupied in these discussions
They turned to gourds their deep investigations,
Asking their species and their character.
A. And to what sage conclusion did they come?
What was their definition, of what genus
Did they decide this plant to be, my friend?
I pray you tell 'em, if you know at least.
B. At first they all stood silent for a while,
And gazed upon the ground and knit their brows
In profound solemn meditation:
Then on a sudden, while the assembled youths
Were stooping still considering the matter,
One said a gourd was a round vegetable;
But others said it was a kind of grass;
While others class'd it as a sort of tree.
On hearing this, a certain old physician
Coming from Sicily interrupted them
As but a pack of triflers. They were furious,
Greatly enraged, and all most loudly cried
With one accord, that he insulted them;
For that such sudden interruptions
To philosophical discussion
Were ill-bred and extremely unbecoming.
And then the youths thought no more of the gourd.
But Plato, who was present, mildly said,
Not being at all excited by what pass'd,
That the best thing that they could do would be
The question to resume of the gourd's nature.
They would not hear him, and adjourn'd the meeting.
Alexis, that most witty poet, sets an entire course of πρόπομα before those who can understand him—
I came without perceiving it on a place
Which was exceedingly convenient.
Water was given me; and then a servant
Entered, and bore a table for my use;
On which was laid, not cheese, or tawny olives,
Or any dainty side-dishes and nonsense,
Which fill the room with scent, but have no substance;
But there was set before me a huge dish
Redolent of the Seasons and the joyful Hours—
A sort of hemisphere of the whole globe.
Everything there was beautiful and good:
Fish, goats' flesh, and a scorpion between them;
Then there were eggs in half, looking like stars.
On them we quickly laid our hands, and then
Speaking to me, and giving me a nod,
The host began to follow our example;
So we'd a race, and never did I stop
Till the whole dish was empty as a sieve.
With respect to Mushrooms.—Aristias says—
The stony soil produced no mushrooms.And Poliochus has the following passage—
Each of us twice a day received to eatAnd Antiphanes says—
Some small dark maize well winnow'd from the chaff,
And carefully ground; and also some small figs.
Meantime some of the party would begin
And roast some mushrooms; and perhaps would catch
Some delicate snails if 'twas a dewy morning,
And vegetables which spontaneous grew.
Then, too, we'd pounded olives; also wine
Of no great strength, and no very famous vintage.
Our supper is but maize well fenced roundAnd a few lines afterwards he goes on—
With chaff, so as not to o'erstep the bounds
Of well-devised economy. An onion,
A few side-dishes, and a sow-thistle,
A mushroom, or what wild and tasteless roots
The place affords us in our poverty.
Such is our life, not much exposed to fevers
For no one, when there's meat, will eat of thyme,
Not even the pupils of Pythagoras.
For which of us can know the future, or[p. 100] Cephisodorus, the pupil of Isocrates, in the treatise which he wrote against Aristotle (and there are four books of it), reproaches the philosopher for not having thought it worth his while to collect proverbs, though Antiphanes had made an entire play which was called Proverbs: from which play he produces these lines—
The fate that shall our various friends befall
Take now these mushrooms and for dinner roast them,
Which I've just picked beneath the maple shade.
For I, if I eat any of your dishes,
Seem as if I was on raw mushrooms feeding,
Or unripe apples, fit to choke a man.
Mushrooms are produced by the earth itself. But there are not many sorts of them which are good to eat; for the greater part of them produce a sensation of choking: on which account Epicharmus, when jesting, said—
You will be choked, like those who waste awayAnd Nicander, in his Georgics, gives a list of which species are poisonous; and says—
By eating mushrooms, very heating food.
Terrible evils oftentimes ariseAnd he says in another place—
From eating olives, or pomegranates, or from the trees
Of maple, or of oak; but worst of all
Are the swelling sticky lumps of mushrooms.
Bury a fig-tree trunk deep in the ground,But all the rest of that passage is in a mutilated state. The same Nicander in the same play writes—
Then cover it with dung, and moisten it
With water from an ever flowing brook,
Then there will grow at bottom harmless mushrooms;
Select of them what's good for food, and not
Deserving of contempt, and cut the root off.
And there, too, you may roast the mushrooms,And Ephippus says—
Of the kind which we call ἀμάνιται.
That I may choke you as a mushroom would.Eparchides says that Euripides the poet was once staying on a visit at Icarus, and that, when it had happened that a certain woman being with her children in the fields, two of them being full-grown sons and the other being an unmarried daughter, eat some poisonous mushrooms, and died with her children in consequence, he made this epigram upon them:— [p. 101]
O Sun, whose path is through th' undying heaven,Diodes the Carystian, in the first book of his treatise on the Wholesomes, says, "The following things which grow wild should be boiled,—beetroot, mallow, sorrel, nettes, spinach, onions, leeks, orach, and mushrooms.
Have you e'er before seen a misery such as this?
A mother, a maiden daughter, and two sons,
All dying on one day by pitiless fate?
Then there is a plant called sium. And Speusippus, in the second book of his treatise on Things Similar, says that its leaf resembles the marsh parsley; on which account Ptolemy the Second, surnamed Euergetes, who was king of Egypt, insists upon it that the line in Homer ought to be written thus—
And around were soft meadows of sium or parsley;for that it is σία which are usually found in company with parsley, and not ἴα (violets).
Diphilus says that mushrooms are good for the stomach, and pass easily through the bowels, and are very nutritious, but still that they are not very digestible, and that they are apt to produce flatulence. And that especially those from the island of Ceos have this character. "Many are even poisonous to a fatal degree. But those which seem to be wholesome are those with the smoothest rinds, which are tender and easily crushed: such as grow close to elms and pine-trees. But those which are unwholesome are of a dark colour, or livid, or covered with hard coats; and those too which get hard after being boiled and placed on the table; for such are deadly to eat. But the best remedy for them when eaten unawares is drinking honey-water, and fresh mead, and vinegar. And after such a drink the patient should vomit. On which account, too, it is especially desirable to dress mushrooms with vinegar, or honey and vinegar, or honey, or salt: for by these means their choking properties are taken away. But Theophrastus, in his treatise about Plants, writes thus— “But plants of this kind grow both under the ground and on the ground, like those things which some people call fungi, which grow in company with mushrooms; for they too grow without having any roots; but the real mushrooms have, as the beginning by which they adhere to the ground, a stalk of some length, and they put forth fibres from that stalk.” He [p. 102] says also that in the sea which is around the Pillars of Her- cules, when there is a high tide, mushrooms grow on the shore close to high-water mark, which they say are left there by the sun. And Phænias says, in his first book about Plants —“But these things neither put forth any bloom, nor any trace of seminal germination; as, for instance, the mushroom, the truffle, groundivy, and fern.” And in another place he says,“πτερὶς (fern), which some people call βλάχνον.” But Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, says—“Plants with smooth rinds, as the truffle, the mushroom, the fungus, the geranium.”
Now with respect to Truffles.—They too spring of their own accord out of the ground; especially in sandy places. And Theophrastus says of them—“The truffle, which some people call the geranium, and all other such plants which grow beneath the earth.” And in another place he says- "The generation and production of these things which seed beneath the earth; as, for instance, of the truffle, and of a plant which grows around Cyrene, which they call misy. And it appears to be exceedingly sweet, and to have a smell like that of meat; and so, too, has a plant called itum, which grows in Thrace. And a peculiarity is mentioned as incidental to these things; for men say that they appear when there is heavy rain in autumn and violent thunder; especially when there is thunder, as that is a more stimulating cause of them: however, they do not last more than a year, as they are only annuals; they are in the greatest perfection in the spring, when they are most plentiful. Not but what there are people who believe that they are or can be raised from seed. At all events, they say that they never appeared on the shore of the Mitylenæans, until after a heavy shower some seed was brought from Tiaræ; and that is the place where they are in the greatest numbers. But they are principally found on the sea-shore, and wherever the ground is sandy; and that is the character of the place called Tiaræ. They are also found near Lampsacus, and also in Acarnania, and Alopeconnesus, and in the district of the Eleans. Lynceus the Samian says—“The sea produces nettles, and the land produces truffles;” and Matron, the man who wrote parodies, says in his “Supper”—
And he brought oysters, the truffles of Thetis the Nereid.[p. 103] Diphilus says that truffles are by nature indigestible, but that they are full of wholesome juice, and have lenitive qualities, and are very easily evacuated; though, like mushrooms, some of them are apt to produce suffocation. And Hegesander the Delphian says that no truffles are found in the Hellespont, and no fish of the kind called γλαυκίσκος, and no thyme. On which account Nausiclides said of the country, that it had no spring and no friends. But Pamphils says, in his “Languages,” that there is a plant called ὑδνόφυλλον, being a species of grass which grows on the top of the truffles, by which the truffle is discovered.
With respect to Nettles—᾿ακαλήφη is the name given by the Attic writers to a plant which is herbaceous and which produces itching. Aristophanes says, in his Phœnissæ, “that pot-herbs were the first things which grew out of the earth; and after them the rough stinging-nettles.”
The next thing to be considered is Asparagus—which is divided into mountain asparagus and marsh asparagus; the best kinds of which are not raised from seed; but they are remedies for every kind of internal disorder. But those which are raised from seed grow to an immense size. And they say that in Libya, among the Gætuli, they grow of the thickness of a Cyprian reed, and twelve feet long; but that on the mountain land and on land near the sea they grow to the thickness of large canes, and twenty cubits long. But Cratinus writes the word, not ἀσπάραγος, but ἀσφάραγος, with a φ. And Theopompus says—
And then seeing the aspharagus in a thicket.And Ameipsias says—
No squills, no aspharagus, no branches of bay-tree.But Diphilus says, that of all greens, that sort of which is especially called the bursting asparagus, is better for the stomach, and is more easily digested; but that it is not very good for the eyes: and it is harsh-flavoured and diuretic, and injurious to the kidneys and bladder. But it is the Athenians who give it the name of bursting; and they also give the flowering cabbage, or cauliflower, the same name. Sophocles says, in The Huntsmen—
Then it puts forth a stalk, and never ceases[p. 104] because it is continually bursting out and putting forth shoots. However, Antiphanes always spells the word ἀσπάραγος, with a π; and he writes thus—
The germnination;
The asparagus was shining; the pale vetches had faded.And Aristophon says—“Capers, pennyroyal, thyme, asparagus, garlic, radishes, sage, and rue.”
With respect to Snails.—Philyllius says—
I am not a grasshopper, nor a snail, O woman.And in a subsequent passage he says—
Sprats, tunny fish, and snails, and periwinkles.And Hesiod calls the snail,
The hero that carries his house on his back.And Anaxilas says—
You are e'en more distrustful than a snail;And Achæus speaks of them, and says—
Who fears to leave even his house behind him.
Can such a vapour strange produceAnd an enigma, like a fishing-net, having reference to the snail, is often proposed at banquets, in these terms—
The snails, those horned monsters?
What is that spineless bloodless beast of the woods,And Aristotle, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, says—“Snails appear to become pregnant in the autumn and in spring, and they are the only animals with coverings of shells that have ever been detected in union.” But Theophrastus says, in his treatise about Animals which live in Holes—“Snails live in holes during the winter, and still more in the summer, on which account they are seen in the greatest numbers during the autumn rains. But their holes in the summer are made upon the ground, and in the trees.” There are some snails which are called σέσιλοι. Epicharmus says—
Who makes his path amid the humid waters.
Instead of all these animals, they have locusts;And Apellas relates that the Lacedæmonians call the snail σέμελος. But Apollodorus, in the second book of his Etymologies, says that there are some snails which are called κωλυσιδειπνοι, interrupters of banquets.
But I hate above all things the shell of the sesilus.
The next vegetable to be mentioned is Onions.—In [p. 105] the Amalthea of Eubulus, Hercules is represented as refusing to eat them; saying—
Whether it's hot, or whether it is dry,Alexis, while explaining the efficacy of onions in aphrodisiac matters, says—
Or whether it is something 'tween the two,
Are points of more importance than old Troy.
But I have not come here to fill myself
With cabbages, or benjamin, or other
Impious and bitter danties, or with onions.
But that which tends the most to vigorous strength
And health is food which I delight in chiefly.
Meat of beef, boil'd and fresh, and plenty of it,
And a large well-filled dish of oxen's feet,
Three roasting pigs besides, sprinkled with salt.
Pinnas, beetles, snails, muscles, eggs, calves'-feet,Xenarchus, in the Butalion, says—
And many other philters, may be found
More useful still to one who loves his mistress.
A house is ruined which has a masterAnd Archestratus says—
Whose fortune's gone, and whom the evil genius
Has struck. And so the once great house of the Pelops
Is weak and nerveless. Nor can earth-born onion,
Fair Ceres' handmaid, who contracts the neck,
Even when boiled, assist to check this evil.
Nor e'en the polypus, who swells the veins,
Born in dark eddies of the deepest sea,
When taken in the net of stern necessity
By hungry mortals, fill the broad deep bosom
Of the large dish turn'd by the potter's wheel.
I love not onions, nor yet cabbages,
Nor the sweet barberry-tree, nor all the other
Dainties and sweetmeats of the second course.
Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Banquet, says—“The onion, and the snail, and the egg, and similar things, appear to be productive of seed; not because they are very nutritious, but because their original natures are similar, and because their powers resemble that.” And Diphilus says—"Onions are difficult to digest, but very nutritious, and good for the stomach. And, moreover, they are productive of moisture, and cleansing, but they dim the eyes, and excite the amatory propensities. But the proverb says—
The onion will do you no good if you have no strength yourself.[p. 106] But those onions which are called the royal onions, really do stimulate the amatory propensities, for they are superior to the other kinds; and next to them are the red ones. But the white ones, and the Libyan onions, are something like squills. But the worst of all are the Egyptian.
But the white onions, called βόλβιναι, are fuller of good juice than the common onions; but they are not so good for the stomach, because the white portion of them has a certain thickness in it. Yet they are very tolerably wholesome, because they have a good deal of harshness in them, and because they promote the secretions. And Matron, in his Parodies, mentions the βολβίνη—
But sowthistles I will not even name,
Plants full of'marrow, crown'd on th' heads with thorns;
Nor the white onions, minstrels of great Jove,
Which his dear Child, incessant rain, has nourish'd
Whiter than snow storms, and like meal to view,
Which, when they first appeared, my stomach loved.
Nicander extols the onions of Megara. But Theophrastus, in the seventh book of his treatise on Plants, says— “In some places the onions are so sweet, that they are eaten raw, as they are in the Tauric Chersonesus.” And Phænias makes the same statement:—“There is,” says he, “a kind of onion which bears wool, according to Theophrastus; and it is produced on the sea-shore. And it has the wool underneath its first coat, so as to be between the outer eatable parts and the inner ones. And from this wool socks and stockings and other articles of clothing are woven.” And Phœnias himself adopts the statement. “But the onion,” he continues, “of the Indians is hairy.” But concerning the dressing of onions, Philemon says—
Now if you want an onion, just considerBut Heraclides the Tarentine, limiting the use of onions at banquets, says—“One must set bounds to much eating, especially of such things as have anything glutinous or sticky about them; as, for instance, eggs, onions, calves' feet, snails, and such things as those: for they remain in the stomach a [p. 107] long time, and form a lump there, and check their natural moisture.”
What great expense it takes to make it good:
You must have cheese, and honey, and sesame,
Oil, leeks, and vinegar, and assafœtida,
To dress it up with; for by itself the onion
Is bitter and unpleasant to the taste.
Thrushes, too, and crowds of other birds, formed part of the dishes in the propomata. Teleclides says— But roasted thrushes with sweet cheese-cakes served, Flew of their own accord down the guests' throats.
But the Syracusans call thrushes, not κίχλαι, but κίχηλαι.Epicharmus says—
The thrushes (κίχηλαι) fond of eating the olive.And Aristophanes also, in his “Clouds,” mentions the same birds. But Aristotle asserts that there are three kinds of thrushes; the first and largest kind of which is nearly equal to a jay; and they call it also the ixophagus, since it eats the mistletoe. The next kind is like a blackbird in size, and they call them trichades. The third kind is less than either of the before-mentioned sorts, and is called illas, but some call it tylas, as Alexander the Myndian does. And this is a very gregarious species, and builds its nest as the swallow does.
There is a short poem, which is attributed to Homer, and which is entitled ἐπικιχλίδες, which has received this title from the circumstance of Homer singing it to his children, and receiving thrushes as his reward,—at least, this is the account given by Menœchmus, in his treatise on Artists.
There is a bird called the συκαλὶς, or figpecker. And Alexander the Myndian asserts—“One of the tits is called by some people elœus, and by others pirias; but when the figs become ripe, it gets the name of sycalis.” And there are two species of this bird, the sycalis and the μελαγκόρυφος, or blackcap. Epicharmus spells the word with two λλ, and writes συκαλλίδες. He speaks of beautiful συκαλλίδες: and in a subsequent passage he says—
And herons were there with their long bending necks,And these birds are caught at the season when figs are ripe. And it is more correct to spell the name with on y one λ; but Epicharmus put in the second λ because of the metre.
And grouse who pick up seed, and beautiful sycallilles.
There is a kind of finch, too, which was sometimes eaten, of which Eubulus says, [p. 108] And Ephippus says, in his “Geryones”—
When 'twas the Amphidromian festival,
When 'tis the custom to toast bits of cheese
O' the Chersonesus; and to boil a cabbage,
Bedewed with shining oil; and eke to bake
The breasts of fat and well-fed lambs; to pluck
The feathers from the thrushes, doves and finches;
And also to eat cuttle-fish with anchovies,
And baskets of rich polypus to collect,
And to drink many cups of unmixed wine.
Then, too, there are blackbirds.-Nicostratus or Philetærus says—
A. What then shall I buy? Tell me, I pray you.Antiphanes also reckons starlings among the eatable birds, numerating them in the following list—“Honey, partridges, pigeons, ducks, geese, starlings, jays, rooks, blackbirds, quails, and pullets.”
B. Go not to more expense than a neat table;
Buy a rough-footed hare; some ducklings too,
As many as you like; thrushes, and blackbirds,
And other small birds; there are many wild sorts.
A. Yes, and they're very nice.
You are asking of us for a history of everything, and you do not allow us to say a single thing without calling us to account for it. The word στρουθάριον (a little bird) is found in many other authors, and also in Eubulus. He says, “Take three or four partridges, and three hares, and as many small birds as you can eat, and goldfinches, and parrots, and finches, and nightjars, and whatever other birds of this kind you can come across.”
Swine's brains, too, was a not uncommon dish. Philosophers used to forbid our eating these, saying that a person who partook of them might as well eat a bear, and would not stick at eating his father's head, or anything else imaginable. And they said, that at all events none of the ancients had ever eaten them, because they were the seat of nearly all sensation. But Apollodorus the Athenian says, that none of the ancients ever even named the brain. And at all events Sophocles, in his Trachiniæ, where he represents Hercules as throwing Lichas into the sea, does not use the word ἐγκέφαλον, brains, but says λευκὸν μυελὸς, white marrow; avoiding a word which it was thought ill-omened to use:— [p. 109]
And from his hair he forces the white marrow,though he had named all the rest of his limbs plainly enough. And Euripides, introducing Hecuba lamenting for Astyanax, who had been thrown down by the Greeks, says—
His head being burst asunder in the middle,
And the blood flows:
Unhappy child, how miserably haveThe lines too which follow these are worth stopping to consider. But Philocles does employ the word ἐγκέφαλον—
Your native city's walls produced your death,
And dash'd your head in pieces! Fatal towers,
Which Phæbus builded! How did your mother oft
Cherish those curly locks, and press upon them
With never-wearied kisses! now the blood
Wells from that wound, where the bones broken gape;
But some things are too horrid to be spoken.
He never ceased devouring even the brains (ἐγκέφαλον).And Aristophanes says—
I would be contentAnd others, too, use the word. So that it must have been for the sake of the poetical expression that Sophocles said “white marrow.” But Euripides not choosing openly to display to sight an unseemly and disgusting object, revealed as much as he chose. And they thought the head sacred, as is plain by their swearing by it; and by their even venerating sneezes, which proceed from the head, as holy. And we, to this day, confirm our arrangements and promises by nodding the head. As the Jupiter of Homer says—
To lose two membranes of the ἐγκέφαλον.
Come now, and I will nod my head to you.
Now all these things were put into the dishes which were served up as propomata: pepper, green leaved myrrh, galingal, Egyptian ointment. Antiphanes says—
If any one buys pepper and brings it home,And in a subsequent passage he says—
They torture him by law like any spy.
Now is the time for a man to go and find pepper,And Eubulus says—
And seed of orach, and fruit, and buy it, and bring it here.
Just take some Cnidian grains, or else some pepper,And Ophelion says—
And pound them up with myrrh, and strew around.
Pepper from Libya take, and frankincense,[p. 110] And Nicander says, in his Theriaca—
And Plato's heaven-inspired book of wisdom.
Take the conyza's woolly leaves and stalks,And Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says—“Pepper indeed is a fruit: and there are two kinds of it; the one is round, like a vetch, having a husk, and is rather red in colour; but the other is oblong, black, and full of seeds like poppy-seeds. But this kind is much stronger than the other. Both kinds are heating, on which account they are used as remedies for, and antidotes against, hemlock.” And in his treatise on Suffocation, he writes—“And people who are suffocated are recovered by an infusion of vinegar and pepper, or else by the fruit of the nettle when crushed.” But we must recollect that, properly speaking, there is no noun of the neuter gender among the Greeks ending in ι, except μέλι alone; for the words πέπερι, and κόμμι, and κοῖφι are foreign.
And often cut new pepper up, and add
Cardamums fresh from Media.
Let us now speak of oil—Antiphanes or Alexis makes mention of the Samian Oil, saying—
This man you see will be a measurerOphelion makes mention also of Carian oil, and says—
Of that most white of oils, the Samian oil.
The man anointed was with Carian oil.Amyntas, in his treatise on Persian Weights and Measures, Says—"The mountains there bear turpentine and mastic trees, and Persian nuts, from which they make a great deal of oil for the king. And Ctesias says, that in Carmania there is made an oil which is extracted from thorns, which the king uses. And he, in his third book of his treatise on the Revenues derived from Asia, making a list of all the things which are prepared for the king for his supper, makes no mention of pepper, or of vinegar, which of itself is the very best of all seasonings. Nor does Deinon, in his Persian History; though he does say that ammoniac salt is sent up to the king from Egypt, and water from the Nile. Theophrastus also mentions an oil which he calls ὠμοτριβὲς, that is to say, extracted raw, in his treatise on Scents, saying that it is produced from the large coarse olives called phaulian, and from almonds. Amphis also speaks of the oil which is produced amongst the Thurians, as exceedingly fine—
Oil from the Thurians comes; from Gela lentils.
[p. 111]
Pickle is a thing often mentioned. Cratinus Says—
Your basket will be full of briny pickle.And Pherecrates says—
His beard was all besmear'd with pickle juice.And Sophocles, in his Triptolemus, says—
Eating this briny season'd pickle.And Plato the comic writer says—
These men will choke me, steeping me in putrid pickle.But the word γάρος, pickle, is a masculine noun. As Aeschylus proves, when he says καὶ τὸν ἰχθύων γάρον.
Vinegar too was much used by the ancients, and this is the only seasoning to which the Attics give the name of ἧδος, as if it were akin to ἡδὺς, sweet. And Chrysippus the philosopher says, that the best vinegar is the Egyptian and the Cnidian. But Aristophanes, in his Plutus, says—
Sprinkling it o'er with Sphettian vinegar.Didymus explaining this verse says, “Perhaps he says Sphettian because the Sphettians are sour-tempered people.” And somewhere or other he mentions vinegar from Cleonæ, as being most excellent, saying, “And at Cleonæ there are manufactories of vinegar.” We find also in Diphilus—
A. He first takes off his coat, and then he sups,And Philonides says—
After what fashion think you?
B. Why, like a Spartan.
A. A measure then of vinegar . . . .
B. Bah!
A. Why bah
B. A measure holds but such and such a quantity
Of the best Cleonæan vinegar.
Their seasonings have not vinegar sufficient.But Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Symposium, says, “Vinegar has a tendency to make the exterior parts coagulate, and it affects the strings within the stomach in a very similar manner; but any parts which are tumid it dissolves, because forsooth different humours are mixed up in us.” And Alexis used to admire above all others the Decelean vinegar, and says—
You have compell'd me to bring forth from thence[p. 112] The word ὀξύγαρον must be spelt so, with a v, and the vessel which receives it is called ὀξύβαφον. And so Lysias, in the speech against Theopompus when on his trial for an assault, says, “But I myself drink ὀξύμελι.” And so too we must call oil of roses mixed with vinegar ὀξυρόδινον, spelling all the words thus compounded in this manner with a v.
Four half-pint measures full of vinegar
From Decelea, and now drag me through
The middle of the forum.
Seasonings are mentioned even by Sophocles. In his Phæacians we find the expression,
And seasoning for food.And in Aeschylus too we read—
You are steeping the seasonings.And Theopompus says—“Many bushels of seasonings, and many sacks and bags of books, and of all other things which may be useful for life.” In Sophocles too the expression is found—
I like a cook will cleverly season . . . .And Cratinus says in the Glaucus—
It is not every one who can season skilfully.And Eupolis speaks of
Very bad vinegar seasoned in an expensive way.And Antiphanes, in his Leucas, gives the following catalogue of seasonings:—
Dried grapes, and salt, and eke new wineThe ancients were well acquainted with the Ethiopian cardamum. We must take notice that they used the words θύμος and ὀρίγανος as masculine nouns. And so Anaxandrides says—
Newly boiled down, and assafætida,
And cheese, and thyme, and sesame,
And nitre too, and cummin seed,
And sumach, honey, and marjoram,
And herbs, and vinegar and oil
And sauce of onions, mustard and capers mix d,
And parsley, capers too, and eggs,
And lime, and cardamums, and th' acid juice
Which comes from the green fig-tree, besides lard
And eggs and honey and flour wrapp'd in fig-leaves,
And all compounded in one savoury forcemeat.
Cutting asparagus and squills and marjoram, (ὃς）[p. 113] And Ion says—
Which gives the pickle an aristocratic taste,
When duly mixed (μιχθεὶς) with coriander seed.
But in a hurried manner in his handPlato however, or Cantharus, used it as feminine, saying—
He hides the marjoram (τὸν ὀρίγανον).
She from Arcadia broughtEpicharmus and Ameipsias both use it as a neuter noun; but Nicander, in his Melissurgica, uses θύμος as masculine.
The harshly-tasted (τὴν δριμυτάτην) marjoram.
Cratinus used the word πέπονες, which properly means merely full ripe, in speaking of the cucumbers which give seed, in his Ulysseses—
Tell me, O wisest son of old Laertes,And Plato says in his Laius—
Have you e'er seen a friend of yours in Paros
Buy a large cucumber that's run to seed?
Do you not seeAnd Anaxilas says—
That Meleager, son of mighty Glaucon,
. . . . Goes about every where like a stupid cuckoo,
With legs like the seedless πέπων cucumber?
His ankles swell'dAnd Theopompus says of a woman—
Larger than e'en a πέπων cucumber.
She was to mePhænias says, "Both the σίκυος and the πέπων are tender to eat, with the stem on which they grow; however the seed is not to be eaten, but the outside only, when they are fully ripe; but the gourd called κολοκύντη, when raw is not eatable, but is very good either boiled or roasted. And Diodes the Carystian, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, says that “of wild vegetables the following should be boiled before eating: the lettuce (the best kind of which is the black); the cardamum; mustard from the Adriatic; onions (the best kinds are the Asalonian, and that called getian); garlic, that other kind of garlic called physinga, the πέπων cucumber, and the poppy.” And a little afterwards he says, "The πέπων cucumber is better for the stomach and more digestible; though every cucumber when boiled is tender, never gives any pain, and is diuretic; but that kind called πέπων when boiled in mead has very aperient [p. 114] qualities. And Speusippus, in his treatise on Similarities, calls the πέπων by the name of σικύα. But Diocles having named the πέπων, does not any longer call it σικύα: and Speusippus after having named the σικύα never names the πέπων. Diphilus says, the πέπων is more full of wholesome juice, and moderates the humours of the body, but it is not very nutritious; it is easily digested, and promotes the secretions.
More tender than a πέπων cucumber.
The lettuce was in great request as an article of food. Its name is θρῖδαξ, but the Attics call it θριδακίνη. Epicharmus says—
A lettuce (θρῖδαξ) with its stalk peel'd all the way up.But Strattis calls lettuces θριδακινίδες, and says—
The leek-destroying grubs, which goAnd Theophrastus says, “Of lettuce (θριδακίνη) the white is the sweeter and the more tender: there are three kinds; there is the lettuce with the broad stalk, and the lettuce with the round stalk, and in the third place there is the Lacedæmonian lettuce-its leaf is like that of a thistle, but it grows up straight and tall, and it never sends up any side shoots from the main stalk. But some plants of the broad kind are so very broad in the stalk that some people even use them for doors to their gardens. But when the stalks are cut, then those which shoot again are the sweetest of any.”
Throughout the leafy gardens
On fifty feet, and leave their trace,
Gnawing all herbs and vegetables;
Leading the dances of the long-tailed satyrs
Amid the petals of the verdant herbs,
And of the juicy lettuces (θριδακινίδες),
And of the fragrant parsley.
But Nicander the Colophonian, in the second part of his Dictionary, says that the lettuce is called βρένθις by the Cyprians. And it was towards a plant of this kind that Adonis was flying when he was slain by the boar. Amphis in his Ialemus says—
Curse upon all these lettuces (θριδάκιναι)!And Callimachus says that Venus hid Adonis under a lettuce, which is an allegorical statement of the poet's, intended to [p. 115] show that those who are much addicted to the use of lettuces are very little adapted for pleasures of love. And Eubulus says in his Astuti—
For if a man not threescore years should eat them,
And then betake himself to see his mistress,
He'll toss the whole night through, and won't be equal
To her expectations or his own.
Do not put lettuces before me, wife,Cratinus also says that Venus when in love with Phaon hid him also in the leaves of the lettuce: but the younger Marsyas says that she hid him amid the grass of barley.
Upon the table; or the blame is yours.
For once upon a time, as goes the tale,
Venus conceal'd the sadly slain Adonis;
Beneath the shade of this same vegetable;
So that it is the food of dead men, or of those
Who scarcely are superior to the dead.
Pamphilus in his book on Languages says, that Hipponax called the lettuce τετρακίνη: but Clitarchus says that it is the Phrygians who give it this name. Ibycus the Pythagorean says that the lettuce is at its first beginning a plant with a broad leaf, smooth, without any stalk, and is called by the Pythagoreans the eunuch, and by the women ἄστυτις; for that it makes the men diuretic and powerless for the calls of love: but it is exceedingly pleasant to the taste.
Diphilus says that “the stalk of the lettuce is exceedingly nutritious, and more difficult of digestion than the leaves; but that the leaves are more apt to produce flatulence, and are still more nutritious, and have a greater tendency to promote the secretions. And as a general rule the lettuce is good for the stomach, cooling and wholesome for the bowels, soporific, full of pleasant and wholesome juice, and certainly has a great tendency to make men indifferent to love. But the softer lettuce is still better for the stomach, and still more soporific; while that which is harder and drier is both less good for the stomach and less wholesome for the bowels; that, however, is also soporific. But the black lettuce is more cooling, and is good for the bowels; and summer lettuce is full of wholesome juice, and more nutritious; but that which is in season at the end of autumn is not nutritious, and has no juice. And the stalk of the lettuce appears to be a remedy against thirst.” And the lettuce when boiled like asparagus in a dish, if we adopt the statement of Glaucias, is superior to all other boiled vegetables.
Among some of the other nations Theophrastus says that [p. 116] beetroot, and lettuce, and spinach, and mustard, and sorrel, and coriander, and anise, and cardamums, are all called ἐπίσπορα, things fit to be sown for the second crop. And Diphilus says that, as a general rule, all vegetables have but little nutriment in them, and have all of them a tendency to make people thin, and are devoid of wholesome juices, and moreover stay a long while in the stomach, and are not very digestible. But Epicharmus speaks of some as summer vegetables.
Artichokes were often eaten. And Sophocles, in his Colchian Women, calls an artichoke κινάρα, but in his Phœnix he writes the word κύναρος, saying—
The artichoke fills every field with its thorn.But Hecatæus the Milesian, in his Description of Asia, at least if the book under this title is a genuine work of that author, (for Callimachus attributes it to Nesiotas;) however, whoever it was who wrote the book speaks in these terms— “Around the sea which is called the Hyrcanian sea there are mountains lofty and rough with woods, and on the mountains there is the prickly artichoke.” And immediately afterwards he subjoins—“Of the Parthian tribes the Chorasmians dwell towards the rising sun, having a territory partly champaign and partly mountainous. And in the mountains there are wild trees; the prickly artichoke, the willow, the tamarisk.” He says moreover that the artichoke grows near the river Indus. And Scylax, or Polemo, writes, “that that land is well watered with fountains and with canals, and on the mountains there grow artichokes and many other plants.” And immediately afterwards he adds, “From that point a mountain stretches on both sides of the river Indus, very lofty, and very thickly overgrown with wild wood and the prickly artichoke.”
But Didymus the grammarian, explaining what is meant by Sophocles when he speaks of the prickly artichoke (which he calls κύναρος), says, "Perhaps he means the dog-brier, because that plant is prickly and rough; for the Pythian priestess did call that plant a wooden bitch. And the Locrian, after he had been ordered by an oracle to build a city in that place in which he was bitten by a wooden bitch, having had his leg scratched by a dog-brier, built the city in the place [p. 117] where the brier had stood. And there is a plant called the dog-brier, something between a brier and a tree, according to the statement of Theophrastus, and it has a red fruit, like a pomegranate, and it has a leaf like that of the willow.
Phænias, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, speaks of one which he calls the Sicilian cactus a very prickly plant. As also does Theophrastus, in his sixth book about Plants, who says, “But the plant which is called the cactus exists only in Sicily, and is not found in Greece: and it sends forth stalks close to the ground, just above the root. And the stalks are the things which are called cacti: and they are eatable as soon as they are peeled, and rather bitter; and they preserve them in brine. But there is a second kind, which sends up a straight stalk, which they call πτέρνιξ; and that also is eatable. The shell of the fruit, as soon as the outer soft parts have been taken away, is like the inside of a date: that also is eatable; and the name of that is ἀσκάληρον.” But who is there who would not place such belief in these assertions as to say confidently that this cactus is the same as that plant which is called by the Romans carduus, or thistle; as the Romans are at no great distance from Sicily, and as it is evidently the same plant which the Greeks call κινάρα, or the artichoke? For if you merely change two letters, κάρδος and κάκτος will be the same word.
And Epicharmus also shows us plainly this, when he puts down the cactus in his catalogue of eatable vegetables; in this way—“The poppy, fennel, and the rough cactus; now one can eat of the other vegetables when dressed with milk, if he bruises them and serves them up with rich sauce, but by themselves they are not worth much.” And in a subsequent passage he says—“Lettuces, pines, squills, radishes, cacti.” And again he says—“A man came from the country, bringing fennel, and cacti, and lavender, and sorrel, and chicory, and thisles, and ferns, and the cactus, and dractylus, and otostyllus, and scolium, and seni, and onopordus.” And Philetas the Coan poet says—
A fawn about to die would make a noise,
Fearing the venom of the thorny cactus.
And, indeed, Sopater the Paphian, who was born in the time of Alexander the son of Philip, and who lied even till the time of the second Ptolemy king of Egypt, called the artichoke κίναρα just as we do, as he himself declares in one [p. 118] of the books of his history. But Ptolemy Euergetes the king of Egypt, being one of the pupils of Aristarchus the grammarian, in the second book of his Commentaries writes thus— "Near Berenice, in Libya, is the river Lethon, in which there; is the fish called the pike, and the chrysophrys, and a great multitude of eels, and also of lampreys which are half as big again as those which come from Macedonia and from the Copaic lake. And the whole stream is full of fishes of all sorts. And in that district there are a great quantity of anchovies, and the soldiers who composed our army picked them, and ate them, and brought them to us, the generals having stripped them of their thorns. I know, too, that there is an island called Cinarus, which is mentioned by Semus.
Now with respect to what is called the Brain of the Palm.—Theophrastus, speaking of the plant of the palm-tree, states, “The manner of cultivating it, and of its propagation from the fruit, is as follows: when one has taken off the upper rind, one comes to a portion in which is what is called the brain.” And Xenophon, in the second book of the Anabasis, writes as follows: “There, too, the soldiers first ate the brain of the palm or date-tree. And many of them marvelled at its appearance, and at the peculiarity of its delicious flavour. But it was found to have a great tendency to produce headache; but the date, when the brain was taken out of it, entirely dried up.” Nicander says in his Georgics—
And at the same time cutting off the branchesAnd Diphilus the Siphnian states—“The brains of the dates are filling and nutritious; still they are heavy and not very digestible: they cause thirst, too, and constipation of the stomach.”
Loaded with dates they bring away the brain,
A dainty greatly fancied by the young.
But we, says Athenæus, O my friend Timocrates, shall appear to keep our brains to the end, if we stop this conversation and the book at this point.
[p. 119]
Some Fragments omitted in the Second Book, of the Deipnosophists of Athenaeus.
Menander says—
It is a troublesome thing to fall in with
An entire party of none but relations;
Where as soon as he has taken his cup in his hand
The father first begins the discourse,
And stammers out his recommendations:
Then after him the mother, in the second place;
And then some old aunt gossips and chatters;
And then some harsh-voiced old man,
The father of the aunt aforesaid; then too
Another old woman calls him her darling:
And he nods assent to all that is said.
And a little afterwards he says—
Before the shade they wear a purple cloth,Antiphanes says: “What do you say? Will you not bring something hither to the door which we may eat? and then I will sit on the ground and eat it as the beggars do: and any one may see me.”
And then this comes after the purple;
Being itself neither white nor purple,
But a ray of the brilliancy of the woof as it were
Of divers colours curiously blended.
The same man says in another place—
Prepare then
A fanner to cool me, a dish, a tripod, a cup,
An ewer, a mortar, a pot, and a spoon.
About the Ascent of the Nile.
Thales the Milesian, one of the seven wise that the overflowing of the Nile arises from the Etestian for that they blow up the river, and that the mouths of the river lie exactly opposite to the point from which they blow; and accordingly that the wind blowing in the opposite direc- tion hinders the flow of the waters; and the waves of the sea, dashing against the mouth of the river, and coming on with a fair wind in the same direction, beat back the river, and in this manner the Nile becomes full to overflowing. But Anaxagoras the natural philosopher says that the fullness of the Nile arises from the snow melting; and so, too, says [p. 120] Euripides, and some others of the tragic poets. And Anaxagoras says that this is the sole origin of all that fulness; but Euripides goes further, and describes the exact place where this melting of the snow takes place; for in his play called “Archelaus” he speaks thus:—Danaus, the noble sire of fifty daughters,And in the “Helen” he says something similar:—
Leaving the Nile, the fairest stream on earth,
Fill'd by the summer of the Aethiop land,
The negro's home, when the deep snow does melt,
And o'er the land the Sun his chariot drives.
These are the beauticous virgin streams of Nile,And Aeschylus says—
Which in the place of rain bedew the plain
Of Egypt when the white snow melts on th' hills.
I know its history, and love to praise
The race of the Aethiop land, where mighty Nile
Rolls down his seven streams the country through,
When the spring winds bring down the heavy waters;
What time the sun shining along that land
Dissolves the mountain snow; and the whole land
Of flourishing Egypt, fill'd with th' holy stream,
Sends forth the vital ears of corn of Ceres.
And Callisthenes the historian argues against what I quoted just now as stated by Anaxagoras and Euripides: and he, too, declares his own opinion,—that as there is much very heavy and continued rain in Aethiopia about the time of the rising of the Dogstar, and from that period till the rising of Arcturus, and as the Etesian winds blow at about the same time, (for these are the winds which he says have the greatest tendency to bring the clouds over Aethiopia,) when the clouds fall upon the mountains in that region, a vast quantity of water bursts forth, in consequence of which the Nile rises. But Democritus says that about the winter solstice there are heavy falls of snow in the countries around the north; but that when the sun changes its course, at the summer solstice, the snow being melted and evaporated by the warmth, clouds are formed, and then the Etesian gales catch hold of them, and drive them towards the south; and when these clouds are all driven together towards Aethiopia and Libya, a mighty rain ensues, and the water from that flows down the mountains and fills the Nile. This, then, is the cause which Democritus alleges for this fulness of the Nile.
But Euthymenes the Massiliote says, speaking of his [p. 121] own knowledge, acquired in a voyage which he had made, that the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules flows towards Libya and turns up and proceeds towards the north; and that then, being driven back by the Etesian gales, it is raised to a height by the winds, and flows high at that time; but, when the Etesian gales cease, it recedes. He says moreover, that that sea is sweet to the taste, and that it contains monsters like the crocodiles and the hippopotami in the Nile.
But Œnopides the Chian says, that in winter the sources of the river are dried up, but in the summer they are thawed and flow; and so that for the sake of filling up the previous dryness, the rains from heaven cooperate with * * * * * * * * And on this account the river is smaller in winter and is full in summer.
But Herodotus gives an explanation quite contrary to that of the rest of those who have discussed this subject, but agreeing with the explanation of Œnopides; for he says that the stream of the Nile is of such magnitude as always to fill the river; but that the sun, as it makes its journey through Libya in the winter, dries up the river at that time; but that as it has gone off towards the north at the time of the sum- mer solstice, then the river becomes full again, and overflows the plains.
Now these are the mouths of the Nile:—towards Arabia, the Pelusiac mouth; towards Libya, the Canopic: and the rest are,—the Bolbitic, the Sebennytic, the Mendesian, the Saitic, and the Opuntic.
