Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

With respect to Mallows, Hesiod says—

Nor do men know how great may be the good
Derived from asphodel and mallow food.

μαλάχη 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—

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-

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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)?

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And Epicharmus says—

That is much more wholesome than a gourd (κολοκύντη).

And Epicrates the comic poet writes—

A. What now is Plato doing'?
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.

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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 eat
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.

And Antiphanes says—

Our supper is but maize well fenced round
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.

And a few lines afterwards he goes on—

For which of us can know the future, or
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.

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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—

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 away
By eating mushrooms, very heating food.

And Nicander, in his Georgics, gives a list of which species are poisonous; and says—

Terrible evils oftentimes arise
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.

And he says in another place—

Bury a fig-tree trunk deep in the ground,
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.

But all the rest of that passage is in a mutilated state. The same Nicander in the same play writes—

And there, too, you may roast the mushrooms,
Of the kind which we call ἀμάνιται.

And Ephippus says—

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:—

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O Sun, whose path is through th' undying heaven,
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?

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.

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.

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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.

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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—ʼἀκαλήφη 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
The germnination;

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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 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;
Who fears to leave even his house behind him.

And Achæus speaks of them, and says—

Can such a vapour strange produce
The snails, those horned monsters?

And an enigma, like a fishing-net, having reference to the snail, is often proposed at banquets, in these terms—

What is that spineless bloodless beast of the woods,
Who makes his path amid the humid waters.

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—

Instead of all these animals, they have locusts;
But I hate above all things the shell of the sesilus.

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.

The next vegetable to be mentioned is Onions.—In

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the Amalthea of Eubulus, Hercules is represented as refusing to eat them; saying—

Whether it's hot, or whether it is dry,
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.

Alexis, while explaining the efficacy of onions in aphrodisiac matters, says—

Pinnas, beetles, snails, muscles, eggs, calves'-feet,
And many other philters, may be found
More useful still to one who loves his mistress.

Xenarchus, in the Butalion, says—

A house is ruined which has a master
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.

And Archestratus says—

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.

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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 consider
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.

But 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
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long time, and form a lump there, and check their natural moisture.

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 grouse who pick up seed, and beautiful sycallilles.

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.

There is a kind of finch, too, which was sometimes eaten, of which Eubulus says,

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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.
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.

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.

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.