Deipnosophistae

The λευκερινεὸς is a kind of fig-tree; and perhaps it is that kind which produces the white figs; Hermippus mentions it in his Iambics, in these terms—

1. There are besides the Leucerinean figs.

Sciron

1. Or else to fasten him on the erinean boughs.

1. But these are not like the erinean figs.

The Wedding of Helen,

1. A ripe ἐρινὸς is a useless thing
2. For food, and yet you ripen others by
3. Your conversation.

Caldron

1. And why now need we speak of people who
2. Sell every day their figs in close pack'd baskets,
3. And constantly do place those figs below
4. Which are hard and bad; but on top they range
5. The ripe and beautiful fruit. And then a comrade,
6. As if he'd bought the basket, gives the price;
7. The seller, putting in his mouth the coin,
8. Sells wild figs (ἔρινα) while he swears he's selling good ones.

1. Have you not perceived a wild fig-tree near her?

1. There stands a large wild fig-tree flourishing with leaves.

Hermonax, in his book on the Cretan Languages, gives a catalogue of the different kinds of figs, and speaks of some as ἁμάδεα and as νικύλεα; and Philemon, in his book on Attic Dialects, says, that some figs are called royals, from which also the dried figs are called βασιλίδες, or royal; stating besides, that the ripe figs are called κόλυτρα. Seleucus, too, in his Book on Dialects, says that there is a fruit called γλυκυσίδη, being exceedingly like a fig in shape: and that women guard against eating them, because of their evil effects; as also Plato the comic writer says, in his Cleophon. And Pamphilus says, that the winter figs are called Cydonæa by the Achæans, saying, that Aristophanes said the very same thing in his Lacedæmonian Dialects. Hermippus, in his Soldiers, says that there is a kind of fig called Coracean, using these words—

1. Either Phibalean figs, or Coracean.

Again, of the figs called prodromi, or precocious the same Theophrastus makes mention in the third book of his Causes of Plants, in this way—

When a warm and damp and soft

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air comes to the fig-tree, then it excites the germination, from which the figs are called prodromi.

And again, some trees bear the prodromi, namely, the Lacedæmonian fig-tree, and the leucomphaliac, and several others; but some do not bear them.

1. Take for a while the fig-tree's leaves
2. Which bears its crop twice in the year.

1. 'Tis by the double-bearing fig-tree there below.

At the time when Philip reigned about the territory of the Bisaltæ, and Amphipolis and Græstonia of Macedon, when it was the middle of spring, the fig-trees were loaded with figs, and the vines with bunches of grapes, and the olive-trees, though it was only the season for them to be just pushing, were full of olives. And Philip was successful in all his undertakings.

Theophrastus also says, that the fig-tree if planted among squills grows up faster, and is not so liable to be destroyed by worms: and, in fact, that everything which is planted among squills both grows faster and is more sure to be vigorous. And in a subsequent passage Theophrastus says, in the second book of his Causes—

The fig called the Indian fig, though it is a tree of a wonderful size, bears a very small fruit; and not much of it; as if it had expended all its strength in making wood.

There is also another kind of fig in Greece, and in Cilicia and Cyprus, which bears green figs; and that tree bears a real fig, σῦκον, in front of the leaf, and a green fig, ὄλυνθος, behind the leaf. And these green figs grow wholly on the wood which is a year old, and not on the new wood.

Tryphon also speaks of the names of figs in the second book of his History of Plants, and says that Dorion states, in his book of the Farm, that Sukeas, one of the Titans, being pursued by Jupiter, was received in her bosom as in an asylum by his mother Earth; and that the earth sent forth that plant as a place of refuge for her son; from whom also the city Sukea in Cilicia has its name. But Pherenicus the epic poet, a Heraclean by birth, says that the fig-tree (συκῆ) is so called from Suke the daughter of Oxylus: for that Oxylus the son of Orius, having intrigued with his sister Hamadryas, had several children, and among them Carya (the nut-tree), Balanus (the acorn-bearing oak), Craneus (the cornel-tree), Orea (the ash), Aegeirus (the poplar), Ptelea (the elm), Am- pelus (the vine), Suke (the fig-tree): and that these daughters were all called the Hamadryad Nymphs; and that from them many of the trees were named. On which account Hipponax says—

1. The fig-tree black, the sister of the vine.

Now that the fig is the most useful to man of all the fruits which grow upon trees is sufficiently shown by Herodotus the Lycian, who urges this point at great length, in his treatise on Figs. For he says that young children grow to a great size if they are fed on the juice of figs. And Pherecrates, who wrote the Persæ, says—

1. If any one of us, after absence, sees a fig,
2. He will apply it like a plaster to his children's eyes:

O king, you are preparing to make war upon men of this character, who wear breeches of leather, and all the rest of their garments are made of leather; and they eat not whatever they fancy, but what they have, since they have but a rough country; moreover they do not, by Jove, use wine, but they drink water; they have no figs to eat, nor any other good thing.

And Polybius of Megalopolis, in the twelfth book of his Histories, says—

Philip, the father of Perseus, when he overran Asia, being in want of provisions, took figs for his soldiers from the Magnesians, as they had no corn. On which account, too, when he became master of Myus, he gave that place to the Magnesians in return for their figs.

1. He who should shut up gold within his house,
2. And a few figs, and two or three men,
3. Would see how far the figs surpass the gold.

And when Magnus had said all this about figs, Daphnus the physician said: Philotimus, in the third book of his treatise on Figs, says, "There is a great deal of difference between the various kinds of figs when fresh; both in their sorts, and in the times when each is in season, and in their effects; not but what one may lay down some general rules, and say that the juicy ones and those which are full ripe are quickly dissolved and are digested more easily than any other fruit whatever, nor do they interfere with the digestion of other sorts of food; and they have the ordinary properties of all juicy food, being glutinous and sweet, and slightly nitrous in taste. And they make the evacuations more copious and fluid, and rapid and wholly free from discomfort; and they also diffuse a saltish juice, having a good deal of harshness, when they are combined with anything at all salt. They are very quickly dissolved by the digestion, because, though many heavy things may be taken into the stomach, we still after a short time feel as if we had become excessively empty: but this could not have happened if the figs had remained in the stomach, and were not immediately dissolved. And figs are dissolved more easily than any other

Figs, then, have the qualities which I have mentioned. That they are glutinous and rather salt is proved by their being sticky and cleansing the hands; and we see ourselves that they are sweet in the mouth. And it certainly needs no arguments to prove that our evacuations after eating them take place without any convulsions or trouble, and that they are more numerous and more rapid and more easy in consequence. And they do not go through any great decomposition in the stomach, which arises not from their being indigestible, but because we drink while eating them, without waiting for the action of the stomach to soften them, and also because they pass through the stomach so quickly. And they generate a salt juice in the stomach, because it has been already shown that they contain something of nitre in them: and they will make that food taste rather salt and harsh which is combined with them. For salt increases the briny taste of anything, but vinegar and thyme increase the harsh qualities of food.

Now Heraclides the Tarentine asks this question;

Whether it is best to drink warm water or cold after the eating of figs?

Others however say, that it is not a good thing to eat figs at midday; for that at that time they are apt to engender diseases, as Pherecrates has said in his Crapatalli. And Aristophanes, in his Proagon, says—

1. But once seeing him when he was sick in the summer,
2. In order to be sick too himself, eat figs at midday.

1. No doubt it was; for I was sick, my friend,
2. From eating lately figs one day at noon.

1. But if a man should eat green figs at noon,
2. And then go off to sleep; immediately
3. A galloping fever comes on him, accursed,
4. And falling on him brings up much black bile.

Diphilus of Siphnos says, that of figs some are tender, and not very nutritious, but full of bad juice, nevertheless easily secreted, and rising easily to the surface; and that these are more easily managed than the dry figs; but that those which are in season in the winter, being ripened by artificial means, are very inferior: but that the best are those which are ripe at the height of the summer, as being ripened naturally; and these have a great deal of juice; and those which are not so juicy are still good for the stomach, though somewhat heavy. And the figs of Tralles are like the Rhodian: and the Chian, and all the rest, appear to be inferior to these, both in the quality and quantity of their juice. But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables, says—

But with respect to whatever of these fruits are eaten raw, such as pears, and figs, and Delphic apples, and such fruits, one ought to watch the opportunity when they will have the juice which they contain, neither unripe on the one hand, nor tainted on the other; nor too much dried up by the season.

1. Figs after fish, vegetables after meat.
2. Figs are agreeable to birds, but they do not choose to plant them.

Apples are an universal fruit. Mnesitheus the Athe- nian, in his treatise on Eatables, calls them Delphian apples; but Diphilus says, that

those apples which are green and which are not yet ripe, are full of bad juice, and are bad for the stomach; but are apt to rise to the surface, and also to engender bile; and they give rise to diseases, and produce sensations of shuddering. But of ripe apples, he says, that the sweet ones are those with most juice, and that they are the most easily secreted, because they have no great inflammatory qualities. But that sharp apples have a more disagreeable and mischievous juice, and are more astringent. And that those which have less sweetness are still pleasant to the palate when eaten; and, on account of their having some strengthening qualities, are better for the stomach. And moreover, that of this fruit those which are in season in the summer have a juice inferior to the others; but those which are ripe in the autumn have the better juice. And that those which are called ὀρβίκλατα, have a good deal of sweetness combined with their invigorating properties, and are very good for the stomach. But those which are called σητάνια, and also those which are called πλατώνια, are full of good juice, and are easily secreted, but are not good for the stomach. But those which are called Mordianian are very excellent, being produced in Apollonia, which is called Mordius; and they are like those which are called ὀρβίκλατα, But the Cydonian apples, or quinces, some of which are called στρούθια, are, as a general rule, better for the stomach than any other kind of apple, most especially when they are full ripe.

But Glaucides asserts that the best of all fruits which grow upon trees are the Cydonian apples, and those which are called phaulia, and strouthia. And Philotimus, in his third

But of those apples which are in season in the winter, the Cydonian give out the more bitter juices, and those called strouthian give out juice more sparingly; though what they do give out is not so harsh tasted, and is more digestible." But Nicander of Thyatira says, that the Cydonian apples themselves are called στρούθεια; but he says this out of ignorance. For Glaucides asserts plainly enough that the best of all fruits which grow on trees are the Cydonian apples and those called phaulian and strouthian.

Stesichorus also mentions the Cydonian apples, in his Helena, speaking thus:

1. Before the king's most honour'd throne,
2. I threw Cydonian apples down;
3. And leaves of myrrh, and crowns of roses,
4. And violets in purple posies.

1. Likening her bosom to Cydonian apples.

Hermon, in his Cretan Dialects, says that Cydonian apples are called κοδύμαλα. But Polemo, in the fifth book of the treatise against Timæus, says that some people affirm that the κοδύμαλον is a kind of flower. But Alcman asserts that it is the same as the στρούθιον apple, when he says,

less than a κοδύμαλον.

The Crane:

1. Like a beautiful apple which is grown on the clayey banks
2. Of the little Sidus, refulgent with purple colour.

1. And immediately, from the gardens of Sidoeis or Pleistus
2. He cut green apples, and imitated the appearance of Cadmus.

1. More dear to me was he than downy apples
2. Of purple hue, in lofty Corinth growing.

And Teleclides mentions the Phaulian apples, in his Amphictyons, in these terms:—

1. O men, in some things neat, but yet in others
2. More fallen than phaulian apples!

for,

the apple does not fall from the footstalk of the strouthian apple-tree.

1. Guarding the apples in the bosom of Bacchus;
2. And having on his head a poplar garland,
3. The silv'ry tree, sacred to Theban Hercules.

There is a fruit called epimelis; which is, says Pamphilus, a description of pear. But Timachides asserts, in the fourth book of The Banquet, that it is an apple, the same as that called the apple of the Hesperides. And Pamphilus asserts that at Lacedæmon they are set before the gods; and that they have a sweet smell, but are not very good to eat; and are called the apples of the Hesperides. At all events, Aristocrates, in the fourth book of his Affairs of Lacedæmon, says,

And besides that apples, and those which are called Hesperides.

Walnuts are next to be mentioned.—Theophrastus, in the second book of his History of Plants, speaking of those whose fruit is not visible, says this among other things:—

Since the beginning of all the greater fruits is visible, as of the almond, the nut, the date, and other fruits of the same kind; except the walnut, in which that is not at all the case; and with the exception also of the pomegranate and of the female pear.

The fruit called the Persian apple or peach, and by some the Persian cuckoo-apple, is moderately juicy, but is more nutritious than apples.

The Citron was next mentioned.—And with respect to this fruit there was a great discussion among the Deipnosophists, as to whether there is any mention made of it by the ancients. For Myrtilus said, proposing, as it were, to send us who made the inquiry to feed among the wild goats, that Hegesander the Delphian, in his Memorials, does make mention of this fruit; but that he did not recollect the exact words: and Plutarch, contradicting him, said,—But I indeed contend, that Hegesander never mentions the citron at all, for I read through the whole of his Memorials for the express purpose of seeing whether he did or no; since some other of our companions also asserted positively that he did, trusting to some scholastic commentaries of a man whom he considered respectable enough. So that it is time for you, my good friend Myrtilus, to seek for some other witness. But Aemilianus said, that Jobas the king of the Mauritanians, a man of the most extensive learning, in his History of Libya, does mention the citron, saying that it is called among the Libyans the Hesperian apple, and that they were citrons which Hercules carried into Greece, and which obtained the name of golden apples on account of their colour and appearance. But the fruit which is called the apples of the Hesperides, is said to have been produced by Terra, on the occasion of the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, according to the statement of Asclepiades, in the sixtieth book of his History of the Affairs of Egypt. On this, Democritus, looking towards the speakers, said,—If, indeed, Jobas asserts any of these things, let him take pleasure in his Libyan books, and in the nonsense of Hanno. But I repeat the assertion, that the name citron does not occur in the old authors. But the fruit which is described by Theophrastus the Eresian, in his Histories of Plants, is described in such a manner as to compel me to believe that he intended the citron by what he said.

For that philosopher says, in the fourth book of his History of Plants—

The Median territory, and like wise the Persian, has many other productions, and also the Perian or Median apple. Now, that tree has a leaf very like and almost exactly the same as that of the bay-tree, the arbutus, or the nut: and it has thorns like the prickly-pear, or blackthorn, smooth but very sharp and strong. And the fruit is not good to eat, but is very fragrant, and so too are

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the leaves of the tree. And if any one puts one of the fruits among his clothes, it keeps them from the moth. And it is useful when any one has taken poison injurious to life; for when given in wine it produces a strong effect on the bowels, and draws out the poison. It is serviceable also in the way of making the breath sweet; for if any one boils the inner part of the fruit in broth or in anything else, and then presses it in his mouth and swallows it, it makes his breath smell sweet. And the seed is taken out and is sown in spring in square beds, being very carefully cultivated; and then it is watered every fourth or fifth day; and when it has grown up it is again transplanted the next spring into a place where the ground is soft, and well-watered, and not very thin. And it bears fruit every year; some of which are fit to be gathered, and some are in flower, and some are becoming ripe at the same time. And those of the flowers which have a stem like a distaff projecting out of the centre are sure to produce good seed; but those which have no such stem are unproductive.

But that this plant really did come from that upper country into Greece, one may find asserted in the works of the Comic poets, who, speaking of its size, appear to point out the citron plainly enough. Antiphanes says, in his Bœotian—

1. A. 'Tis silly to say a word about roast meat
2. To men who're ne'er content. But now, my girl,
3. Just take these apples.
4. B. They are fine to look at.
5. A. Indeed they are, and good too, O ye gods!
6. For this seed has arrived not long ago
7. In Athens, coming from the mighty king.
8. B. I thought it came from the Hesperides;
9. For there they say the golden apples grow.
10. A. They have but three.
11. B. That which is very beautiful
12. Is rare in every place, and so is dear.

1. B. I thought, I swear by Dian, that they came
2. From out the garden of the Hesperides,
3. For they, they say, do keep the golden apples.
4. A. They have but three.
5. B. That which is very beautiful
6. Is rare in every place, and so is dear.
7. A. I'll sell you these now for a single penny,
8. And even that I'll put down in the bill.
9. B. Are they not pomegranates? how fine they are!
10. A. Fine! yes—they say that Venus did herself
11. Plant this the parent tree in Cyprus, where it stands.
12. Take it, my dear Berbeias.
13. B. Thank you kindly.
14. A. Take also these three; they are all I had.

However, Phænias the Eresian compels us to entertain the idea that, perhaps, the name may be meant for cedron, as from the cedar-tree. For, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, he says that the cedar has thorns around its leaves; and that the same is the case with the citron is visible to everybody. But that the citron when eaten before any kind of food, whether dry or moist, is an antidote to all injurious effects, I am quite certain, having had that fact fully proved to me by my fellow-citizen, who was entrusted with the government of Egypt. He had condemned some men to be given to wild beasts, as having been convicted of being malefactors, and such men he said were only fit to be given to beasts. And as they were going into the theatre appropriated to the punishment of robbers, a woman who was selling fruit by the wayside gave them out of pity some of the citron which she herself was eating, and they took it and ate it, and after a little while, being exposed to some enormous and savage beasts, and bitten by asps, they suffered no injury. At which the governor was mightily astonished. And at last, examining the soldier who had charge of them, whether they had eaten or drunk anything, when he learnt of him that some citron had been given to them without any evil design; on the next day he ordered some citron to be given o some of them again, and others to have none given to them And

Now if any one disbelieves this, let him learn from Theopompus the Chian, a man of the strictest truth and who expended a great deal of money on the most accurate investigation of matters to be spoken of in his History. For he says, in the thirty-eighth book of his History, while giving an account of Clearchus, the tyrant of the Heracleans who were in Pontus, that he seized violently upon a number of people and gave a great many of them hemlock to drink.—

And as,

they all knew that he was in the habit of compelling them to pledge him in this liquor, they never left their homes without first eating rue: for people who have eaten this beforehand take no harm from drinking aconite,— a poison which, they say, has its name from growing in a place called Aconæ, which is not far from Heraclea.