Deipnosophistae

And in the first book of the History of Attica, Clidemus says, that there was a tribe of cooks, who were entitled to public honours; and that it was their business to see that the sacrifices were performed with due regularity. And it is no violation of probability in Athenion, in his Samothracians, as Juba says, when he introduces a cook arguing philosophically about the nature of things and men, and saying—

1. A. Dost thou not know that the cook's art contributes
2. More than all others to true piety?
3. B. Is it indeed so useful A. Troth it is,
4. You ignorant barbarian: it releases
5. Men from a brutal and perfidious life,
6. And cannibal devouring of each other,
7. And leads us to some order; teaching us
8. The regular decorum of the life
9. Which now we practise. B. How is that? A. Just listen.
10. Once men indulged in wicked cannibal habits,
11. And numerous other vices; when a man
12. Of better genius arose, who first
13. Sacrificed victims, and did roast their flesh;
14. And, as the meat surpass'd the flesh of man,
15. They then ate men no longer, but did slay
16. The herds and flocks, and roasted them and ate them.
17. And when they once had got experience
18. Of this most dainty pleasure. they increased
19. In their devotion to the cook's employment;
v.3.p.1057
20. So that e'en now, remembering former days,
21. They roast the entrails of their victims all
22. Unto the gods, and put no salt thereon,
23. For at the first beginning they knew not
24. The use of salt as seasoning; but now
25. They have found out its virtue, so they use it
26. At their own meals, but in their holy offerings
27. They keep their ancient customs; such as were
28. At first the origin of safety to us:
29. That love of art, and various seasoning,
30. Which carries to perfection the cook's skill.
31. B. Why here we have a new Palæphatus.
32. A. And after this, as time advanced, a paunch,
33. A well-stuff'd paunch was introduced . . . .
34. . . . . . . . .
35. Then they wrapped up a fish, and quite concealed it
36. In herbs, and costly sauce, and groats, and honey;
37. And as, persuaded by these dainty joys
38. Which now I mention, every one gave up
39. His practice vile of feeding on dead men,
40. Men now began to live in company,
41. Gathering in crowds; cities were built and settled;
42. All owing, as I said before, to cooks.
43. B. Hail, friend! you are well suited to my master.
44. A. We cooks are now beginning our grand rites;
45. We're sacrificing, and libations offering,
46. Because the gods are most attentive to us,
47. Pleased that we have found out so many things,
48. Tending to make men live in peace and happiness.
49. B. Well, say no more about your piety—
50. A. I beg your pardon—B. But come, eat with me,
51. And dress with skill whate'er is in the house.

And Alexis, in his Caldron, shows plainly that cookery is an art practised by free-born men; for a cook is represented in that play as a citizen of no mean reputation; and those who have written cookery books, such as Heraclides and Glaucus the Locrian, say that the art of cookery is one in which it is not even every free-born man who can become eminent. And the younger Cratinus, in his play called the Giants, extols this art highly, saying—

1. A. Consider, now, how sweet the earth doth smell,
2. How fragrantly the smoke ascends to heaven:
3. There lives, I fancy, here within this cave
4. Some perfume-seller, or Sicilian cook.
5. B. The scent of both is equally delicious.

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

1. And at the feast, delicious cakes,
2. Well season'd by Sicilian art.

And Menander, in his Spectre, says—

1. Do ye applaud,
2. If the meat's dress'd with rich and varied skill.

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

1. I, having had one cook, have thoroughly learnt
2. All the bad tricks of cooks, while they compete
3. With one another in their trade. One said
4. His rival had no nose to judge of soup
5. With critical taste; that other had
6. A vicious palate; while a third could never
7. (If you'd believe the rest) restrain his appetite,
8. Without devouring half the meat he dress'd.
9. This one loved salt too much, and that one vinegar;
10. One burnt his meat; one gorged; one could not stand
11. The smoke; a sixth could never bear the fire.
12. At last they came to blows; and one of them,
13. Shunning the sword, fell straight into the fire.

And Antiphanes, in his Philotis, displaying the cleverness of the cooks, says—

1. A. Is not this, then, an owl? B. Aye, such as I
2. Say should be dress'd in brine. A. Well; and this pike
3. B. Why roast him whole. A. This shark? B. Boil him in sauce.
4. A. This eel? B. Take salt, and marjoram, and water.
5. A. This conger? B. The same sauce will do for him.
6. A. This ray? B. Strew him with herbs. A. Here is a slice
7. Of tunny. B. Roast it. A. And some venison. B. Roast it.
8. A. Then here's a lot more meat. B. Boil all the rest.
9. A. Here's a spleen. B. Stuff it. A. And a nestis. B. Bah!
10. This man will kill me.

And Baton, in his Benefactors, gives a catalogue of celebrated cooks and confectioners, thus—

1. A. Well, O Sibynna, we ne'er sleep at nights,
2. Nor waste our time in laziness: our lamp
3. Is always burning; in our hands a book;
4. And long we meditate on what is left us
5. By—B. Whom? A. By that great Actides of Chios,
6. Or Tyndaricus, that pride of Sicyon,
7. Or e'en by Zopyrinus. B. Find you anything?
8. A. Aye, most important things. B. But what? The dead . . .

And such a food now is the μύμα, which I, my friends, am bringing you; concerning which Artemidorus, the pupil of Aristophanes, speaks in his Dictionary of Cookery, saying that it is prepared with meat and blood, with the addition also of a great deal of seasoning. And Epænetus, in his treatise on Cookery, speaks as follows:—

One must make μύμα of every kind of animal and bird, cutting up the tender parts of the meat into small pieces, and the bowels and

v.3.p.1059

entrails, and pounding the blood, and seasoning it with vinegar, and roasted cheese, and assafœtida, and cummin-seed, and thyme (both green and dry), and savory, and coriander-seed (both green and dry), and leeks, and onions (cleaned and toasted), and poppy-seed, and grapes, and honey, and the pips of an unripe pomegranate. You may also make this μύμα of fish.

And when this man had thus hammered on not only this dish but our ears also, another slave came in, bringing in a dish called ματτύη. And when a discussion arose about this, and when Ulpian had quoted a statement out of the Dictionary of Cookery by the before-mentioned Artemidorus relating to it, Aemilianus said that a book had been published by Dorotheus of Ascalon, entitled, On Antiphanes, and on the dish called Mattya by the Poets of the New Comedy, which he says is a Thessalian invention, and that it became naturalized at Athens during the supremacy of the Macedonians. And the Thessalians are admitted to be the most extravagant of all the Greeks in their manner of dressing and living; and this was the reason why they brought the Persians down upon the Greeks, because they were desirous to imitate their luxury and extravagance. And Cratinus speaks of their extravagant habits in his treatise on the Thessalian Constitution. But the dish was called ματτύη (as Apollodorus the Athenian affirms in the first book of his treatise on Etymologies), from the verb μασάομαι (to eat); as also are the words μαστίχη (mastich) and μάζα (barley-cake). But our own opinion is that the word is derived from μάττω, and that this is the verb from which μάζα itself is derived, and also the cheese-pudding called by the Cyprians μαγίς; and from this, too, comes the verb ὑπερμαζάω, meaning to be extravagantly luxurious. Originally they used to call this common ordinary food made of barley-meal μάζα, and preparing it they called μάττω. And afterwards, varying the necessary food in a luxurious and superfluous manner, they derived a word with a slight change from the form μάζα, and called every very costly kind of dish ματτύη; and preparing such dishes they called ματτυάζω, whether it were fish, or poultry, or herbs, or beasts or sweetmeats. And this is plain from the testimony of Ale is, quoted by Artemidorus; for Alexis, wishing to show the great luxuriousness of the way in which this dish was prepared, added the verb λέπομαι. And the whole extract runs thus, being

out of a corrected edition of a play which is entitled De- metrius:—

1. Take, then, this meat which thus is sent to you;
2. Dress it, and feast, and drink the cheerful healths,
3. λέπεσθε, ματτυάζετε.

But the Athenians use the verb λέπομαι for wanton and unseemly indulgence of the sensual appetites.

And Artemidorus, in his Dictionary of Cookery, explains ματτύη as a common name for all kinds of costly seasonings; writing thus—

There is also a ματτύης (he uses the word in the masculine gender) made of birds. Let the bird be killed by thrusting a knife into the head at the mouth; then let it be kept till the next day, like a partridge. And if you choose, you can leave it as it is, the wings on and with its body plucked.

Then, having explained the way in which it is to be seasoned and boiled, he proceeds to say—

Boil a fat hen of the common poultry kind, and some young cocks just beginning to crow, if you wish to make a dish fit to be eaten with your wine. Then taking some vegetables, put them in a dish, and place upon them some of the meat of the fowl, and serve it up. But in summer, instead of vinegar, put some unripe grapes into the sauce, just as they are picked from the vine; and when it is all boiled, then take it out before the stones fall from the grapes, and shred in some vegetables. And this is the most delicious ματτύης that there is.

Now, that ματτύη, or ματτύης, really is a common name for all costly dishes is plain; and that the same name was also given to a banquet composed of dishes of this sort, we gather from what Philemon says in his Man carried off:—

1. Put now a guard on me, while naked, and
2. Amid my cups the ματτύης shall delight me.

And in his Homicide he says—

1. Let some one pour us now some wine to drink,
2. And make some ματτύη quick.

But Alexis, in his Pyraunus, has used the word in an obscure sense:—

1. But when I found them all immersed in business,
2. I cried,—Will no one give us now a ματτύη?

as if he meant a feast here, though you might fairly refer the word merely to a single dish. Now Machon the Sicyonian is one of the comic poets who were contemporaries of Apollodorus of Carystus, but he did not exhibit his comedies at Athens, but in Alexandria; and he was an excellent poet, if ever there was one, next to those seven[*](Who these seven first-class authors were, whether tragedians or comic poets, or both, or whether there was one selection of tragic and another of comic poets, each classed as a sort of Pleias Ptolemæi Philadelphi ætate nobilitata, is quite uncertain.) of the first class. On which account, Aristophanes the grammarian, when he was a very young man, was very anxious to be much with him. And he wrote the following lines in his play entitled Ignorance:—

1. There's nothing that I'm fonder of than ματτύη;
2. But whether 'twas the Macedonians
3. Who first did teach it us, or all the gods,
4. I know not; but it must have been a person
5. Of most exalted genius.

And that it used to be served up after all the rest of the banquet was over, is plainly stated by Nicostratus, in his Man expelled. And it is a cook who is relating how beautiful and well arranged the banquet was which he prepared; and having first of all related what the dinner and supper were composed of, and then mentioning the third meal, proceeds to say—

1. Well done, my men,—extremely well! but now
2. I will arrange the rest, and then the ματτύη;
3. So that I think the man himself will never
4. Find fault with us again.

And in his Cook he says—

1. Thrium and candylus he never saw,
2. Or any of the things which make a ματτύη.

And some one else says—

1. They brought, instead of a ματτύη, some paunch,
2. And tender pettitoes, and tripe, perhaps.

But Dionysius, in his Man shot at with Javelins (and it is a cook who is represented speaking), says—

1. So that sometimes, when I a ματτύη
2. Was making for them, in haste would bring
3. (More haste worse speed) . . . . . [*](This passage is abandoned as corrupt by Schweighauser.)

Philemon, also, in his Poor Woman—

1. When one can lay aside one's load, all day
2. Making and serving out rich μάττυαι.

But Molpis the Lacedæmonian says that what the Spartans call ἐπαίκλεια, that is to say, the second course, which is served up when the main part of the supper is over, is called μάττυαι by other tribes of Greece. And Menippus the Cynic, in his book called Arcesilaus, writes thus:—

There was a drinking party formed by a certain number of revellers, and a Lacedæmonian woman ordered the ματτύη to be served up; and immediately some little partridges were brought in, and some roasted geese, and some delicious cheesecakes.

But such a course as this the Athenians used to call ἐπιδόρπισμα, and the Dorians ἐπάϊκλον; but most of the Greeks called it τὰ ἐπίδειπνα.

And when all this discussion about the ματτύη was over, they thought it time to depart; for it was already evening. And so we parted.