Deipnosophistae

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,

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—

1. Fair girls await you, and a table
2. Of highly polish'd dappled maple.

And 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.

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—

1. The τρίπους was removed, we wash'd our hands.

Eubulus says—

1. A. Here are five τρίποδες for you; here five more.
2. B. Why I shall be quinquagenarian.

Epicharmus says—

1. A. And what is this?
2. B. A τρίπους.
3. A. How is that?
4. Has it not four feet? 'tis a τετράπους.
5. B. It may be strictly; but its name is τριπους.
6. A. Still I can see four feet.
7. B. At all events
8. You are no Œdipus, to be so puzzled.

And Aristophanes says—

1. A. Bring me one τράπεζα more,
2. With three feet, not one with four.
3. 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—

1. I have a garland of damascenes and mint.

And Alexis says—

1. A. And in my sleep I thought I saw a prize.
2. B. What was it?
3. A. Listen.—There came up to me,
4. While still within th' arena's spacious bounds,
5. One of my rivals, bringing me a crown-
6. A ripe revolving crown of damascenes.
7. B. Oh Hercules! and were the damascenes ripe?

And again he says—

1. Did you e'er see a sausage toasted,
2. Or dish of tripe well stuff'd and roasted?
3. Or damascenes stew'd in rich confection—
4. Such was that gentleman's complexion.

Nicander says—

1. 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—

1. Heavy with plums, the branches swept the ground.

And again he says—

1. 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 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,[*](A cubit was about 18 1/4 .inches.) 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 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—

1. And planted by no hand, the arbutus
2. Makes red the sunny hills.

Theopompus says—

1. The myrtle berries and red arbutus.

Crates says—

1. Beauteous the breast of tender maid,
2. As arbutus or apples red.

And Amphis—

1. Mulberries you see, my friend, are found
2. On the tree which we know as the mulberry;
3. So the oak bears the acorn round,
4. And the arbutus shines with its full berry.

And Theophrastus tells us,

The κόμαρος (as he calls it) is the tree which bears the arbutus 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

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,

1. His heart was softer than a mulberry.

And in his

Cretan Women

he says of the brier—

1. As the full branch to earth is Weigh'd
2. With mulberries, white and black and red.

And Sophocles has the lines—

1. First you shall see the full white ear of corn,
2. And then the large round rosy mulberry.

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—

1. The mulberry-tree, in which the young delight,
2. 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,[*](The description of the mulberry given here, shows that it is rather a blackberry than our modern mulberry.) 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:—῞ἅβρυνα, 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

v.1.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—

1. We eat roast nuts, that is, almonds.

Philyllius says—

1. 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—

1. (κάρυαι,) nut-trees and ash-trees.

And Eubulus speaks of

1. 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—

1. He knock'd out all my grinders, so that now
2. A Naxian almond I can hardly crack.

The 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—

1. Give me some Naxian almonds to regale me,
2. And from the Naxian vines some wine to drink.

For there was a vine called the Naxian vine.

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—

1. You, like an ass, come to the husks of the dessert;

and Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, says—

1. Beech-trees, the ornament of Pan.

We also find the word ἀμύγδαλον in the neuter gender. Diphilus says—

1. 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—

1. 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—

1. You'll ruin me, I swear it by the almond.

Aristophanes says—

1. A. Come, now, take these almonds,
2. And break them
3. (B. I would rather break your head,) with a stone.

And Phrynichus says—

1. 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 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

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

v.1.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.

1. It is easily peel'd, and the Eubœans
2. Call it a nut, but some people have call'd it an acorn,

says 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.

With respect to Vetches.—Crobylus says—

1. They took a green vetch,
2. And toss'd it empty, as if playing cottabus.
3. These are the sweetmeats of the wretched monkey.

And Homer says—

1. Black beans spring up, or vetches.

Xenophanes the Colophonian says, in his Parodies—

1. These are what one should talk of near the fire,
2. In winter season, on soft couch reclined,
3. After a plenteous meal, drinking rich wine,
4. And eating vetches.[*](Liddell and Scott quote Arist. Pac. 1136, to show that ἐρέβινθοι were eaten roasted like chestnuts, and sometimes raw, for dessert.) Then a man may ask,
5. "Who are you? How old are you, my friend?
6. How many years old were you when the Mede came"

And Sappho says—

1. Golden vetches on the sea-shore grew.

But Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, calls some kinds of vetches κρεῖοι. And Sophilus says—

1. This maiden's sire is far the greatest man,
2. A regular κρεῖος vetch.

And Phenias says, in his book about Plants,—

While they are green and tender, the bean and vetch take the place of

v.1.p.90

sweetmeats; but when they are dry they are usually eaten boiled or roasted.

Alexis says—

1. My husband is a poor old man, and I
2. Am an old woman, and I have a daughter
3. And a young son,
4. And this good girl besides—we're five in all—
5. And three of them are now at supper,
6. And we two who here remain share with them
7. A little maize; and when we have nothing
8. To eat, we utter a wail unsuited to the lyre.
9. And as we never have any meat for dinner,
10. Our countenance is become pale. These are the parts,
11. And this is the arrangement of our life:
12. Beans, lupins, cabbages, rape,
13. Pulse, morepulse, mastnuts, onions.
14. Grasshoppers, vetches, wild pears,
15. And that which was given by my mother
16. As an object of devout care, the fig,
17. The great invention of the Phrygian fig.

Pherecrates says—

1. You must at once take care and make the vetches tender.

And in another place he says—

1. 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—

1. A curse upon the man;
2. Let him not come near me, who eats lupins in season,
3. And then leaves the husks and shells in the vestibules
4. Why was he not choked while eating them I know,
5. I know most certainly, that Cleænetus the tragedian
6. Did not eat them. For Cleænetus
7. Never threw away the husk of a single vegetable,
8. So exceedingly economical is that man.

And Lycophron of Chalcis, in a satiric drama which he wrote against Menedemus the philosopher, for the purpose of turn- 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—

1. The lupin, common to all the people, in great plenty
2. Danced upon the board, the companion of poor couches.

And Diphilus says—

1. There is no business more mischievous or degrading
2. Than that of the pander.
3. I would rather walk along the streets selling
4. Roses, and radishes, and lupin-beans, and press'd olives,
5. And anything else in the world, rather than give encouragement
6. To such a miserable trade.

And 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.

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—

1. Roast some kidney beans quickly, for Bacchus is fond of them.

And Demetrius says—

1. A fig, or kidney bean, or some such thing.

With respect to Olives. Eupolis says—

1. 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—

1. Bring some crushed olives;

and in another place he says—

1. Crush'd olives and pickled olives are not the same thing;

and a few lines after—

1. For it is better that they should be crush'd than pickled.

And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy—

1. Let wrinkled olives, fallen from the tree,
2. Be placed before you.

And Hermippus says—

1. Be sure that for the future you remember
2. The ever-glorious Marathon for good,
3. When you do all from time to time add μάραθον (that is to say, fennel) to your pickled olives.

And 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—

1. γεργέριμος and πίτυρις, and the white olive, which does not
2. Become ripe till autumn, which is to float in wine.

And 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—

1. He urged me to remain, and eat with him
2. Some δρυπετεῖς, and some maize, and have a chat with him.

But the Athenians called bruised olives στέμφυλα; and what we call στέμφυλα they called βρύτεα, that is to say, the dregs of the grapes after they have been pressed. And the word βρῦτος is derived from βότρυς, a bunch of grapes.

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—

1. ταῖς ῥαφανῖσι δοκεῖ, it is like radishes, but not like other vegetables;

and Eupolis, on the other hand, says—

1. ʽῥαφανίδες 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:—

1. To eat ducks, and honeycombs of wild bees, and eggs,
2. And cheese-cakes, and unwash'd radishes,
3. And rape, and oatmeal-groats, and honey.

So that radishes appear to have been particularly called un- washed radishes; being probably the same as those called Thasian. Pherecrates says—

1. There one may have the unwash'd radish, and the warm
2. Bath, and closely stewed pickles, and nuts.

And 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—

1. And then the chorus used to dance,
2. Clad in worsted-work and fine clothes;
3. And bearing under their arms ribs of beef,
4. And sausages, and radishes.

And the radish is a very economical kind of food. Amphis says—

1. Whoever, when purchasing food,
2. When it is in his power, O Apollo, to buy genuine fish,
3. 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—

1. They say that formerly Leda found an egg.

And again she says—

1. Far whiter than an egg:

in each case writing ὤϊον. But Epicharmus spelt the word ὤεα; for so we find the line written—

1. The eggs of geese and other poultry.

And Simonides, in the second book of his Iambics, says—

1. 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—

1. And little casks of good wine made of palms,
2. And eggs, and all other trifles of that kind.

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—

1. And they slew the two young Molions, youths alike in face,
2. Borne on white horses; of the same age; and
3. Alike, too, in all their limbs, for both were born
4. On one day, from one single silver egg.

And Ephippus says—

1. Cakes made of sesame and honey, sweetmeats,
2. Cheese-cakes, and cream-cakes, and a hecatomb
3. Of new-laid eggs, were all devour'd by us.

And Nicomachus makes mention of such eggs—

1. For when my father had left me a very little property,
2. I scraped it so, and got the kernel out of it
3. In a few months, as if I had been a boy sucking an egg.

And Eriphus makes mention of goose's eggs—

1. Just see how white and how large these eggs are;
2. These must be goose eggs, as far as I can see.

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.