Deipnosophistae

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—

1. 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 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

—

1. And he brought oysters, the truffles of Thetis the Nereid.

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—

1. And then seeing the aspharagus in a thicket.

And Ameipsias says—

1. 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—

1. Then it puts forth a stalk, and never ceases
2. The germnination;

because it is continually bursting out and putting forth shoots. However, Antiphanes always spells the word ἀσπάραγος, with a π; and he writes thus—

1. 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—

1. I am not a grasshopper, nor a snail, O woman.

And in a subsequent passage he says—

1. Sprats, tunny fish, and snails, and periwinkles.

And Hesiod calls the snail,

1. The hero that carries his house on his back.

And Anaxilas says—

1. You are e'en more distrustful than a snail;
2. Who fears to leave even his house behind him.

And Achæus speaks of them, and says—

1. Can such a vapour strange produce
2. 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—

1. What is that spineless bloodless beast of the woods,
2. 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—

1. Instead of all these animals, they have locusts;
2. 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

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

1. Whether it's hot, or whether it is dry,
2. Or whether it is something 'tween the two,
3. Are points of more importance than old Troy.
4. But I have not come here to fill myself
5. With cabbages, or benjamin, or other
6. Impious and bitter danties, or with onions.
7. But that which tends the most to vigorous strength
8. And health is food which I delight in chiefly.
9. Meat of beef, boil'd and fresh, and plenty of it,
10. And a large well-filled dish of oxen's feet,
11. Three roasting pigs besides, sprinkled with salt.

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

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

Xenarchus, in the Butalion, says—

1. A house is ruined which has a master
2. Whose fortune's gone, and whom the evil genius
3. Has struck. And so the once great house of the Pelops
4. Is weak and nerveless. Nor can earth-born onion,
5. Fair Ceres' handmaid, who contracts the neck,
6. Even when boiled, assist to check this evil.
7. Nor e'en the polypus, who swells the veins,
8. Born in dark eddies of the deepest sea,
9. When taken in the net of stern necessity
10. By hungry mortals, fill the broad deep bosom
11. Of the large dish turn'd by the potter's wheel.

And Archestratus says—

1. I love not onions, nor yet cabbages,
2. Nor the sweet barberry-tree, nor all the other
3. 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—

1. The onion will do you no good if you have no strength yourself.

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—

1. But sowthistles I will not even name,
2. Plants full of'marrow, crown'd on th' heads with thorns;
3. Nor the white onions, minstrels of great Jove,
4. Which his dear Child, incessant rain, has nourish'd
5. Whiter than snow storms, and like meal to view,
6. 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—

1. Now if you want an onion, just consider
2. What great expense it takes to make it good:
3. You must have cheese, and honey, and sesame,
4. Oil, leeks, and vinegar, and assafœtida,
5. To dress it up with; for by itself the onion
6. 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

v.1.p.107

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.

1. But the Syracusans call thrushes, not κίχλαι, but κίχηλαι.

Epicharmus says—

1. 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.