Deipnosophistae

But since Menodotus has mentioned the guinea-fowl, we ourselves also will say something on that subject. Clytus the Milesian, a pupil of Aristotle, in the first book of his History of Miletus, writes thus concerning them—

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around the temple of the Virgin Goddess at Leros, there are birds called guinea-fowls. And the ground where they are bred is marshy. And this bird is very devoid of affection towards its young, and wholly disregards its offspring, so that the priests are forced to take care of them. And it is about the size of a very fine fowl of the common poultry, its head is small in proportion to its body, having but few feathers, but on the top it has a fleshy crest, hard and round, sticking up above the head like a peg, and of a wooden colour. And over the jaws, instead of a beard, they have a long piece of flesh, beginning at the mouth, redder than that of the common poultry; but of that which exists in the common poultry on the top of the beak, which some people call the beard, they are wholly destitute; so that their beak is mutilated in this respect. But its beak is sharper and larger than that of the common fowl; its neck is black, thicker and shorter than that of common poultry. And its whole body is spotted all over, the general colour being black, studded in every part with thick white spots something larger than lentil seeds. And these spots are ring-shaped, in the middle of patches of a darker hue than the rest of the plumage: so that these patches present a variegated kind of appearance, the black part having a sort of white tinge, and the white seeming a good deal darkened. And their wings are all over variegated with white, in serrated,[*](There is probably some corruption here.) wavy lines, parallel to each other. And their legs are destitute of spurs like those of the common hen. And the females are very like the males, on which account the sex of the guinea-fowls is hard to distinguish.

Now this is the account given of guinea-fowls by the Peripatetic philosopher.

Roasted sucking-pigs are a dish mentioned by Epicrates in his Merchant—

1. On this condition I will be the cook;
2. Nor shall all Sicily boast that even she
3. Produced so great an artist as to fish,
4. Nor Elis either, where I 've seen the flesh
5. Of dainty sucking-pigs well brown'd before
6. A rapid fire.

And Alexis, in his Wicked Woman, says—

1. A delicate slice of tender sucking-pig,
2. Bought for three obols, hot, and very juicy,
3. When it is set before us.

But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us,

when they sacri- fice to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts and heats, and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all its crudities, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or boiling it; for ally second process removes the good done by the first dressing, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more crude and dry than boiled meat.

But roast meat is called φλογίδες. Accordingly Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Hercules—

1. Immediately he caught up some large slices (φλογίδες)
2. Of smoking roasted boar, and swallow'd them.

And Archippus, in his Hercules Marrying, says—

1. The pettitoes of little pigs, well cook'd
2. In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls
3. With sharpen'd horns, and great long steaks of boar,
4. All roasted (φλογίδες).

But why need I say anything of partridges, when so much has already been said by you? However, I will not omit what is related by Hegesander in his Commentaries. For he says that the Samians, when sailing to Sybaris, having touched at the district called Siritis, were so alarmed at the noise made by partridges which rose up and flew away, that they fled, and embarked on board their ships, and sailed away.

Concerning hares also Chamæleon says, in his treatise on Simonides, that Simonides once, when supping with king Hiero, as there was no hare set on the table in front of him as there was before all the other guests, but as Hiero afterwards helped him to some, made this extempore verse—

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

But Simonides was, in fact, a very covetous man, addicted to disgraceful gain, as we are told by Chamæleon. And accordingly in Syracuse, as Hiero used to send him everything necessary for his daily subsistence in great abundance, Simonides used to sell the greater part of what was sent to him by the king, and reserve only a small portion for his own use. And when some one asked him the reason of his doing so, he said—

In order that both the liberality of Hiero and my economy may be visible to every one.

The dish called udder is mentioned by Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, in the following lines—

1. Being a woman, 'tis but reasonable
2. That I should bring an udder.

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

Matron, in his Parodies, speaks of animals being fattened for food, and birds also, in these lines—

1. Thus spake the hero, and the servants smiled,
2. And after brought, on silver dishes piled,
3. Fine fatten'd birds, clean singed around with flame,
4. Like cheesecakes on the back, their age the same.

And Sopater the farce-writer speaks of fattened sucking-pigs in his Marriage of Bacchis, saying this—

1. If there was anywhere an oven, there
2. The well-fed sucking-pig did crackle, roasting.

But Aeschines uses the form δελφάκιον for δέλφαξ in his Alcibiades, saying,

Just as the women at the cookshops breed sucking-pigs (δελφάκια).

And Antiphanes, in his Physiognomist, says—

1. Those women take the sucking-pigs (δελφάκια),
2. And fatten them by force;

And in his Persuasive Man he says—

1. To be fed up instead of pigs (δελφακίων).

Plato, however, has used the word δέλφαξ in the masculine gender in his Poet, where he says—

1. Leanest of pigs (δέλφακα ῥαιότατον).

And Sophocles, in his play called Insolence, says—

1. Wishing to eat τὸν δέλφακα.

And Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has the expression—

1. Large pigs (δέλφακας μεγάλους).

But Nicochares uses the word as feminine, saying—

1. A pregnant sow (κύουσαν δέλφακα);

And Eupolis, in his Golden Age, says—

1. Did he not serve up at the feast a sucking-pig (δέλφακα),
2. Whose teeth were not yet grown, a beautiful beast (καλὴν)?

And Plato, in his Io, says—

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

Theopompus, too, in his Penelope, says—

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

Theopompus also speaks of fatted geese and fatted calves in the thirteenth hook of his History of Philip, and in the eleventh book of his Affairs of Greece, where he is speaking of the temperance of the Lacedæmonians in respect of eating, writing thus—

And the Thasians sent to Agesilais, when he arrived, all sorts of sheep and well-fed oxen; and beside this, every kind of confectionery and sweetmeat. But Agesilaus took the sheep and the oxen, but as for the confectionery and sweetmeats, at first he did not know what they meant, for they were covered up; but when he saw what they were, he ordered the slaves to take them away, saying that it was not the custom of the Lacedæmonians to eat such food as that. But as the Thasians pressed him to take them, he said, Carry them to those men (pointing to the Helots) and give them to them; saying that it was much better for those Helots to injure their health by eating them than for himself and the Lacedæmonians whom he had with him.

And that the Lacedæmonians were in the habit of treating the Helots with great insolence, is related also by Myron of Priene, in the second book of his History of Messene, where he says—

They impose every kind of insulting employment on the Helots, such as brings with it the most extreme dishonour; for they compel them to wear caps of dogskin, and cloaks also of skins; and every year they scourge them without their having committed any offence, in order to present their ever thinking of emancipating themselves from slavery. And besides all this, if any of them ever appear too handsome or distinguished-looking for slaves, they impose death as the penalty, and their masters also are fined for not checking them in their growth and fine appearances. And they give them each a certain piece of land, and fix a portion which they shall invariably bring them in from it.

The verb χηνίζω, to cackle like a goose (χὴν), is used and applied to those who play on the flute. Diphilus says in his Synoris—

1. ʼἐχήνισας,,—this noise is always made
2. By all the pupils of Timotheus.

And since there is a portion of a fore-quarter of pork which is called πέρνα placed before each of us, let us say Something about it, if any one remembers having seen the

word used anywhere. For the best πέρναι are those from Cisalpine Gaul: those from Cibyra in Asia are not much inferior to them, nor are those from Lycia. And Strabo mentions them in the third book of his Geography, (and he is not a very modern author). And he says also, in the seventh[*](There is probably some great corruption here; for Posidonius was a contemporary of Cicero.) book of the same treatise, that he was acquainted with Posidonius the Stoic philosopher, of whom we have often spoken as a friend of Scipio who took Carthage. And these are the words of Strabo—

In Spain, in the province of Aquitania, is the city Pompelo, which one may consider equivalent to Pompeiopolis, where admirable πέρναι are cured, equal to the Cantabrian hams.

The comic poet Aristomenes, in his Bacchus, speaks of meat cured by being sprinkled with salt, saying—

1. I put before you now this salted meat.

And in his Jugglers he says—

1. The servant always ate some salted crab.