Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

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

And after the viands which have been mentioned there were then brought unto us separately some large dishes of oysters, and other shell-fish, nearly all of which have been thought by Epicharmus worthy of being celebrated in his play of the Marriage of Hebe, in these words:—

Come, now, bring all kinds of shell-fish;
Lepades, aspedi, crabyzi, strabeli, cecibali,
Tethunachia, balani, porphyryæ, and oysters with closed shells,
Which are very difficult to open, but very easy to eat;
And mussels, and anaritæ, and ceryces, and sciphydria,
Which are very sweet to eat, but very prickly to touch;
And also the oblong solens. And bring too the black
Cockle, which keeps the cockle-hunter on the stretch.
Then too there are other cockles, and sand-eels,
And periwinkles, unproductive fish,
Which men entitle banishers of men,
But which we gods call white and beautiful.

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And in the Muses it is written—

There is the cockle, which we call the tells;
Believe me, that is most delicious meat.

Perhaps he means that fish which is called the tellina, and which the Romans call the mitlus,—a fish which Aristophanes the grammarian names in his treatise on the Broken Scytale, and says that the lepas is a fish like that which is called the tellina. But Callias of Mitylene, in his discussion of the Limpet in Alcæus, says that there is an ode in Alcæus of which the beginning is—

O child of the rock, and of the hoary sea;

and at the end of it there is the line—

Of all limpets the sea-limpet most relaxes the mind.

But Aristophanes writes the line with the word tortoise instead of limpet. And he says that Dicearchus made a great blunder when he interpreted the line of limpets; and that the children when they get them in their mouths sing and play with them, just as idle boys among us do with the fish which we call tellina. And so, too, Sopater, the compiler of Comicalities, says in his drama which is entitled the Eubulotheombrotus:—

But stop, for suddenly a certain sound
Of the melodious tellina strikes my ears.

And in another place Epicharmus, in his Pyrrha and Prometheus, says—

Just look now at this tellina, and behold
This periwinkle and this splendid limpet.

And in Sophron cockles are called melœnides.

For now melænides will come to us,
Sent from a narrow harbour.

And in the play which is called

The Clown and the Fisherman,

they are called the cherambe. And Archilochus also mentions the cherambe: and Ibycus mentions the periwinkle. And the periwinkle is called both ἀναρίτης and ἀνάρτας. And the shell being something like that of a cockle, it sticks to the rocks, just as limpets do. But Herodas, in his Coadjutrixes, says—

Sticking to the rocks as a periwinkle.

And Aeschylus, in his Persæ, says—

Who has plunder'd the islands producing the periwinkle?
And Homer makes mention of the oyster.

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Diodes the Carystian, in his treatise on the Whole- somes, says that the best of all shell-fish, as aperient and diuretic food, are mussels, oysters, scallops, and cockles. And Archippus says, in his poem called

Fishes,

—

With limpets and sea-urchins and escharæ,
And with periwinkles and cockles.

And Diocles says that the strongest of all shell-fish are cockles, purple-fish, and ceryces. But concerning ceryces Archippus says this—

The ceryx, ocean's nursling, child of purple.

But Speusippus, in the second book of his Similarities, says that ceryces, purple-fish, strabeli, and cockles, are all very nearly alike. And Sophocles makes mention of the shellfish called strabeli in his Camici, in these words:—

Come now, my son, and look if we may find
Some of the nice strabelus, ocean's child.

And again Speusippus enumerates separately in regular order the cockle, the periwinkle, the mussel, the pinna, the solens; and in another place he speaks of oysters and limpets. And Araros says, in his Campylion—

These now are most undoubted delicacies,
Cockles and solens; and the crooked locusts
Spring forth in haste like dolphins.

And Sophron says, in his Mimi—

A. What are these long cockles, O my friend,
Which you do think so much of?
B. Solens, to be sure.
This too is the sweet-flesh'd cockle, dainty food,
The dish much loved by widows.

And Cratinus also speaks of the pinna in his Archilochi—

She indeed like pinnas and sea oysters.

And Philyllius, or Eunicus, or Aristophanes, in the Cities, says—

A little polypus, or a small cuttle-fish,
A crab, a crawfish, oysters, cockles,
Limpets and solens, mussels and pinnas;
Periwinkles too, from Mitylene take;
Let us have two sprats, and mullet, ling,
And conger-eel, and perch, and black fish.

But Agiastos, and Dercylus, in his Argolici, call the strabeli ἀστράβηλοι; speaking of them as suitable to play upon like a trumpet.

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But you may find cockles spoken of both in the masculine and feminine gender. Aristophanes says, in his Babylonians—

They all gaped on each other, and were like
To cockles (κόγχαι) roasted on the coals.

And Teleclides, in his Hesiodi, says,

Open a cocle (κόγχη);

and Sophron, in his Actresses, says—

And then the cockles (κόγχαι) as at one comma d
All yawned on us, and each display'd its flesh.

But Aeschylus uses the word κόγχος in the masculine gender, in his Glaucus Pontius, and says—

Cockles (κόγχοι) muscles, oysters.

And Aristonymus, in his Theseus, says—

There was a cockle (κόγχος) and other fish too drawn from the sea
At the same time, and by the same net.

And Phrynichus uses the word in the same way in his Satyrs. But Icesius, the Erasistratean, says that some cockles are rough, and some royal; and that the rough have a disagreeable juice, and afford but little nourishment, and are easily digested; and that people who are hunting for the purple-fish use them as bait: but of the smooth ones those are best which are the largest, in exact proportion to their size. And Hegesander, in his Memorials, says that the rough cockles are called by the Macedonians coryci, but by the Athenians crii.

Now Icesius says that limpets are more digestible than those shell-fish which have been already mentioned; but that oysters are not so nutritious as limpets, and are filling, but nevertheless are more digestible.

But of mussels, the Ephesian ones, and those which resemble them, are, as to their juicy qualities, superior to the periwinkles, but inferior to the cockles; but they have more effect as diuretics than as aperients. But some of them are like squills, with a very disagreeable juice, and with put any flavour; but there is a kind which is smaller than they are, and which are rough outside, which are more diuretic, and full of a more pleasant juice than the kind which resembles squills: but they are less nutritious, by reason of their sizes, and also because their nature is inferior. But the necks of

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the ceryces are exceedingly good for the stomach, and are not so nutritious as mussels and cockles and periwinkles; but for people who have a weak stomach, and who do not easily expel the food into the cavity of the bowels, they are useful, inasmuch as they do not easily turn on the stomach. For those things which are confessedly digestible are, on the contrary, very unwholesome for people of such a constitution, being very easily inclined to turn on the stomach, because they are tender and easily dissolved. On which account the bags containing their entrails are not suited to vigorous stomachs, but they are very good for those whose bowels are in a weak state. But what are more nutritious than the others, and far nicer in taste, are the entrails of the purple-fish; though they certainly are somewhat like the squill. For indeed all shellfish are of the same character; but the purple-fish and the solen have this peculiar characteristic, that if they are boiled they yield a thick juice. But the necks of the purple-fish, when boiled by themselves, are exceedingly good for bringing the stomach into a good condition. And Posidippus speaks of them in his Locrians in these terms:—

It is time now to eat eels and crabs,
Cockles, and fresh sea-urchins, and fish sounds,
And pinnas, and the necks of fish, and mussels.

Balani, if they are of the larger sort, are easily digested, and are good for the stomach. But otaria (and they are produced in the island called Pharos, which is close to Alexandria) are more nutritious than any of the before-mentioned fish, but they are not easily secreted. But Antigonus the Carystian, in his book upon Language, says that this kind of oyster is called by the Aeolians the Ear of Venus. Pholades are very nutritious, but they have a disagreeable smell; but common oysters are very like all these sorts of shell-fish, and are more nutritious. There are also some kinds which are called wild oysters; and they are very nutritious, but they have not a good smell, and moreover they have a very indifferent flavour. But Aristotle, in his treatise about Animals, says, "Oysters are of all the following kinds: there are the pinna, the mussel, the oyster, the cteis, the solen, the cockle, the limpet, the small oyster, the balanus. And of migratory fish there are the purple-fish, the sweet purple-fish, the sea-urchin, the strobelus. Now the cteis has a rough shell, marked in streaks;

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but the oyster has no streaks, and a smooth shell. The pinna has a smooth mouth; but the large oyster has a vide mouth, and is bivalve, and has a smooth shell. But the limpet is univalve, and has a smooth shell; and the mussel has a united shell. The solen and balanus are univalve, and have a smooth shell; and the cockle is a mixture of both kinds. Epænetus also says, in his Cookery Book, that the interior part of the pinna is called mecon. But in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, Aristotle says,

The purple-fish are born about spring, and the ceryces at the end of the winter. And altogether,

says he,

all shell-fish appear in the spring to have what are called eggs; and in the autumn, too, except those kinds of sea-urchins which are good to eat. And these fish indeed have eggs in the greatest number at those seasons, but they are never without them; and they have them in the greatest numbers at the time of full moon, and in the warm weather, with the exception of those fish which are found in the Euripus of the Pyrrhæans; for they are best in the winter, and they are small, but full of eggs. And nearly all the cockle tribe appear to breed in like manner at about the same season.

And continuing the subject, the philosopher says again,

The purple-fish therefore being all collected together in the spring at the same place, make what is called melicera. And that is something like honeycomb, but not indeed so elegant, but it is as if a great number of the husks of white vetches were fastened together; and there is no open passage in any of them: nor are the purple-fish born of this melicera, but they, and nearly all other shell-fish, are produced Of mud and putrefaction; and this is, as it were, a kind of purification both for them and for the purple-fish, for they too make this melicera. And when they begin to make it, they emit a sort of sticky mass, from which those things grow which resemble husks. All these are eventually separated, and they drop blood on the ground. And in the place where hey do so, there are myriads of little purple-fish born, adhering to one another in the ground, and the old purple-fish are caught while carrying them. And if they are caught before they have produced their young, they sometimes produce them in the very pots in which they are caught when collected together in them, and the young look like a bunch of grapes.
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And there are many different kinds of purple-fish; and some of them are of large size, like those which are found near Segeum and near Lesteum; and some are small, like those which are found in the Euripus, and around Caria. And those in the gulfs are large and rough, and most of them are of a black colour, but some of them are rather red; and some of the large ones even weigh a mina. But those which are found on the shore and around the coasts are of no great size, but are of a red colour: and again, those in the waters exposed to the north wind are black, and those in the waters exposed to the south wind are generally red.

But Apollodorus the Athenian, in his Commentaries on Sophron, having first quoted the saying,

More greedy than a purple-fish,

says that it is a proverb, and that some say that it applies to the dye of purple; for that whatever that dye touches it attracts to itself, and that it imbues everything which is placed near it with the brilliancy of its colour: but others say that it applies to the animal.

And they are caught,

says Aristotle, "in the spring; but they are not caught during the dog-days, for then they do not feed, but conceal themselves and bury themselves in holes; and they have a mark like a flower on them between the belly and the throat. The fish called the ceryx has a covering of nearly the same sort as all the other animals of the snail kind from its earliest birth; and they feed by putting out what we call their shell from under this covering. And the purple-fish has a tongue of the size of a finger or larger, by which it feeds; and it pierces even shell-fish, and can pierce its own shell. But the purple-fish is very long-lived; and so is the ceryx: they live about six years, and their growth is known by the rings in their shell. But cockles, and cheme-cockles, and solens, and periwinkles, are born in sandy places.

But the pinnæ spring from the bottom of the sea. And they have with them a fish called the pinnophylax, or guard of the pinna, which some call καρίδιος, and others καρκίνιος; and if they lose him, they are soon destroyed. But Pamphilus the Alexandrian, in his treatise on Names, says that he is born at the same time with the pinna. But Chrysippus the Solensian, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Beautiful and Pleasure, says,

The pinna and the guard of the pinna assist one another, not being able to remain apart.
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Now the pinna is a kind of oyster, but the guard of the pinna is a small crab: and the pinna having opened its shell, remains quiet, watching the fish who are coming towards it; but the guard of the pinna, standing by when anything comes near, bites the pinna, so as to give it a sort of sign; and the pinna being bitten, closes its shell, and in this manner the two share together what is caught inside the pinna's shell. But some say that the guard is born at the same time as the pinna, and that they originate in one seed.

And again, Aristotle says,

All the fish of the oyster kind are generated in the mud,—oysters in slimy mud, cockles in sandy mud, and so on; but the small oyster and the balanus, and other fish which come near the surface, such as limpets and periwinkles, are born in the fissures of the rocks. And some fish which have not shells are born in the same way as those which have shells,—as the sea-nettle, the sponge, and others, —in the crevices of the rocks.

Now, of the sea-nettle there are two kinds, For some live in hollows, and are never separated from the rocks; but some live on smooth and level ground, and do separate themselves from what they are attached to, and move their quarters. But Eupolis, in the Autolycus, calls the κνίδη, or sea-nettle, ἀκαλήφη. And Aristophanes, in his Phœnissæ, says—

Know that pot-herbs first were given,
And then the rough sea-nettles (ἀκάληφαι);

and in his Wasps he uses the same word. And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, says—

I'd rather wear a crown of sea-nettles (ἀκάληφαι).

And Diphilus the Siphnian, a physician, says,

But the sea-nettle (ἀκαλήφη) is good for the bowels, diuretic, and a strengthener of the stomach, but it makes those who collect them itch violently, unless they anoint their hands beforehand. And it is really injurious to those who hunt for it; by whom it has been called ακαλήφη, by a slight alteration of its original name. And perhaps that is the reason why the plant the nettle has had the same name given to it. For it was named by euphemism on the principle of antiphrasis,— for it is not gentle and ἁπαλὴ τῇ ἀφῇ, tender to the touch, but very rough and disagreeable.

Philippides also mentions

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the sea-nettle (calling it ἀκαλήφη) in his Amphiaraus, speaking as follows:—

He put before me oysters and sea-nettles and limpets.

And it is jested upon in the Lysistrata of Aristophanes—-

But, you most valiant of the oyster race,
Offspring of that rough dam, the sea-nettle;

for the τῆθος and the ὄστρεον are the same. And the word τῆθος is here confused in a comic manner with τήθη, a grandmother, and with μητὴρ, a mother.

And concerning the rest of the oyster tribe, Diphilus says this:

Of the thick chemæ, those of smaller size, which have tender flesh, are called oysters, and they are good for the stomach, and easily digested. But the thick ones, which are called royal chemæ by some people, and which are also called the huge chemæ are nutritious, slow to be digested, very juicy, good for the stomach; and especially do these qualities belong to the larger ones. Of tellinæ there are numbers in Canopus, and they are very common at the place where the Nile begins to rise up to the higher ground. And the thinnest of these are the royal ones, and they are digest- ible and light, and moreover nutritious. But those which are taken in the rivers are the sweetest. Mussels, again, are moderately nutritious, and are digestible and diuretic. But the best are the Ephesian kind; and of them those which are taken about the end of autumn. But the female mussel is smaller than the male, and is sweet and juicy, and moreover nutritious. But the solens, as they are called by some, though some call them αὖλοι and δόνακες, or pipes, and some, too, call them ὄνυχες, or claws, are very juicy, but the juice is bad, and they are very glutinous. And the male fish are striped, and not all of one colour; but they are very wholesome for people affected with the stone, or with any complaint of the bladder. But the female fish is all of one colour, and much sweeter than the male: and they are eaten boiled and fried; but they are best of all when roasted on the coals till their shells open.

And the people who collect this sort of oyster are called Solenistæ, as Phænias the Eresian relates in his book which is entitled, The Killing of Tyrants by way of Punishment; where he speaks as follows:—

Philoxenus, who was called the Solenist, became a tyrant from having been a de- magogue. In the beginning he got his livelihood by being
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a fisherman and a hunter after solens; and so having made a little money; he advanced, and got a good property.

—

Of the periwinkle the white are the most tender, and they have no disagreeable smell, and have a good effect on the bowels; but of the black and red kinds the larger are exceedingly nice to the taste, especially those that are caught in the spring. And as a general rule all of them are good for the stomach, and digestible, and good for the bowels, when eaten with cinnamon and pepper.

Archippus also makes mention of them in his Fishes—

With limpets and with sea-urchins, and escharæ,
With needle-fishes, and with periwinkles.

But the fish called balani, or acorns, because of their resemblance to the acorn of an oak, differ according to the places where they are found. For the Egyptian balani are sweet, tender, delicious to the taste, nutritious, very juicy indeed, diuretic, and good for the bowels; but other kinds have a salter taste. The fish called ὤτια, or ears, are most nutritious when fried; but the pholades are exceedingly pleasant to the taste, but have a bad smell, and an injurious juice.

Sea-urchins are tender, full of pleasant juice, with a strong smell, filling, and apt to turn on the stomach; but if eaten with sharp mead, and parsley, and mint, they are good for the stomach, and sweet, and full of pleasant juice. But the sweet-tasted are the red ones, and the apple-coloured, and the thickest, and those which if you scrape their flesh emit a milky liquid. But those which are found near Cephalenia and around Icaria, and in the Adriatic are—at least many of them are—rather bitter; but those which are taken on the rock of Sicily are very aperient to the bowels.

But Aristotle says that there are many kinds of sea-urchins: one of which is eaten, that, namely, in which is found what are called eggs. But the other two kinds are those which are called Spatangi, and those which are called Brysæ: and Sopron mentions the spatangi, and so does Aristophanes in his Olcades, using the following language:—

Tearing up, and separating, and licking
My spatange from the bottom.

And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, speaks o the sea-urchins, and says—

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Then came the crabs, sea-urchins, and all fish
Which know not how to swim in the briny sea,
But only walk on foot along the bottom.

And Demetrius the Scepsian, in the twenty-sixth book of his Trojan Preparation, says that a Lacedæmonian once being invited to a banquet, when some sea-urchins were put before him on the table, took one, not knowing the proper manner in which it should be eaten, and not attending to those who were in the company to see how they ate it. And so he put it in his mouth with the skin or shell and all, and began to crush the sea-urchin with, his teeth; and being exceedingly disgusted with what he was eating, and not perceiving how to get rid of the roughness of the taste, he said,

O what nasty food! I will not now be so effeminate as to eject it, but I will never take you again.

But the sea-urchins, and indeed the whole echinus tribe, whether living on land or sea, can take care of and protect themselves against those who try to catch them, putting out their thorns, like a sort of palisade. And to this Ion the Chian bears testimony in his Phœnix or in his C$aneus, saying—

But while on land I more approve the conduct
Of the great lion, than the dirty tricks
Of the sea-urchin; he, when he perceives
The impending onset of superior foes,
Rolls himself up, wrapped in his cloak of thorns,
Impregnable in bristly panoply.

Of limpets,

says Diphilus, "some are very small, and some are like oysters. But they are hard, and give but little juice, and are not very sharp in taste. But they have a pleasant flavour, and are easily digested; and when boiled they are particularly nice. But the pinnæ are diuretic, nutritious, not very digestible, or manageable. And the ceryces are like them; the necks of which fish are good for the stomach, but not very digestible; on which account they are good for people with weak stomachs, as being strengthening; but they are difficult to be secreted, and they are moderately nutritious. Now the parts of them which are called the mecon, which are in the lower part of their bellies, are tender and easily digested; on which account they also are good for people who are weak in the stomach. But the purple-fish are something between the pinna and the ceryx;

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the necks of which are very juicy, and very pleasant to the palate; but the other parts of them are briny, and yet sweet, and easily digestible, and mix very well with other food. But oysters are generated in rivers, and in lakes, and in the sea. But the best are those which belong to the sea, when there is a lake or a river close at hand: for they are full of pleasant juice, and are larger and sweeter than others: but those which are near the shore, or near rocks, without any mixture of mud or water, are small, harsh, and of pungent taste. But the oysters which 'are taken in the spring, and those which are taken about the beginning of the summer, are better, and full, and have a sort of sea taste, not unmixed with sweetness, and are good for the stomach and easily secreted; and when boiled up with mallow, or sorrel, or with fish, or by themselves, they are nutritious, and good for the bowels.

But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Comestibles, says—"Oysters, and cockles, and mussels, and similar things, are not very digestible in their meat, because of a sort of saline moisture which there is in them, on which account, when eaten raw, they produce an effect on the bowels by reason of their saltness. But when boiled they get rid of all, or at all events of most, of their saltness, which they infuse into the water which boils them. On which account, the water in which any of the oyster tribe are boiled is very apt to have a strong effect in disordering the bowels. But the meat of the oysters when boiled, makes a great noise when it has been deprived of its moisture. But roasted oysters, when any one roasts them cleverly, are very free from any sort of inconvenience; for all the evil properties are removed by fire; on which account they are not as indigestible as raw ones, and they have all the moisture which is originally contained in them dried up; and the is the moisture which has too great an effect in relaxing the bowels. But every oyster supplies a moist and somewhat in digestible kind of nourishment, and they are not at all good as diuretics. But the sea-nettle, and the eggs of sea-urchins, and such things as that, give a moist nourishment, though not in any great quantity; but they have a tendency to relax the bowels, and they are diuretic.

Nicander the Colophonian, in his book on the Farm, enumerates all the following kinds of oysters—

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And all the oysters which the foaming brine
Beneath its vasty bosom cherishes,
The periwinkle, whilk, pelorias,
The mussel, and the slimy tellina,
And the deep shell which makes the pinna's hole.

And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy—

Aenus has mussels fine, Abydus too
Is famous for its oysters; Parium produces
Crabs, the bears of the sea, and Mitylene periwinkles;
Ambracia in all kinds of fish abounds,
And the boar-fish sends forth: and in its narrow strait
Messene cherishes the largest cockles.
In Ephesus you shall catch chemæ, which are not bad,
And Chalcedon will give you oysters. But may Jupiter
Destroy the race of criers, both the fish born in the sea,
And those wretches which infest the city forum;
All except one man, for he is a friend of mine,
Dwelling in Lesbos, abounding in grapes; and his name is Agatho.

And Philyllius, or whoever is the author of the book called The Cities, says,

Chemæ, limpets, solens, mussels, pinnas and periwinkles from Methymna:

but ὄστρειον was the only form of the name for all these fish among the ancients. Cratinus says in his Archilochi—

Like the pinna or the oyster (ὄστρειον).

And Epicharmus says, in his Marriage of Hebe—

Oysters which have grown together.

Where he uses the same form ὄστρειον. But afterwards the form ὄστρεον like ὄρνεον began to be used. Plato, in his Phædrus, says,

bound together like oysters

(ὄστρεον). And in the tenth book of his Politia, he says,

oysters (ὄστρεα) stuck together;

oysters (ὄστρεα) and seaweed.

But the peloris, or giant mussel, were so named from the word πελώριος, vast. For it is much larger than the cheme, and very different from it. But Aristotle says that they are generated in the sand. And Ion the Chian mentions the chema, in his Epidemiæ, and perhaps the shell-fish got the name of χήμη παρὰ τὸ κεχῃνέναι, from opening their mouths."

But concerning the oysters which are grown in the Indian Ocean; (for it is not unreasonable to speak of them, on account of the use of pearls;) Theophrastus speaks in his treatise on Precious Stones, and says,

But among the stones which are much admired is that which is called the pearl, being transparent in its character; and they make very
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expensive necklaces of them. They are found in an oyster which is something like the pinna, only less. And in size the pearl resembles a large fish's eye.

Androsthenes, too, in his Voyage along the Coast of India, writes in thee terms— "But of strombi, and chærini, and other shell-fish, there are many different varieties, and they are very different from the shell-fish which we have. And they have the purple-fish, and a great multitude of other kinds of oysters. There is also one kind which is peculiar to those seas, which the natives call the berberi, from which the precious stone called the pearl comes. And this pearl is very expensive in Asia, being sold in Persia and the inland countries for its weight in gold. And the appearance of the oyster which contains it is much the same as that of the cteis oyster, only its shell is not indented, but smooth and shaggy. And it has not two ears as the cteis oyster has, but only one. The stone is engendered in the flesh of the oyster, just as the measles are in pork. And it is of a very golden colour, so as mot easily to be distinguished from gold when it is put by the side of it; but some pearls are of a silvery appearance, and some are completely white like the eyes of fish. But Chares of Mitylene, in the seventh book of his Histories of Alexander, Says—

There is caught in the Indian sea, and also off the coast of Armenia, and Persia, and Susiana, and Babylonia, a fish very like an oyster; and it is large and oblong, containing within the shell flesh which is plentiful and white, and very fragrant, from which the men pick out white bones which they call the pearl. And they make of them necklaces and chains for the hands and feet, of which the Persians are very fond, as are the Medes and all Asiatics, esteeming them as much more valuable than golden ornaments.

But Isidorus the Characene, in his Description of Parthia, says, that "in the Persian sea there is an island where a great number of pearls are found; on which account there are quantities of boats made of rushes all about the island, from which men leap into the sea, and die down twenty fathoms, and bring up two shells. And they say that when there is a long continuance of thunder-storms, and heavy falls of rain, then the pinna produces most young, and then, too, the greatest quantity of pearls is engendered, and those, too, of the finest size and quality. In the winter

v.1.p.156

the pinna is accustomed to descend into chambers at the very bottom of the sea; but in summer they swim about all night with their shells open, which they close in the day-time: and as many as stick to the crags, or rocks, throw out roots, and remaining fixed there, they generate pearls. But they are supported and nourished by something which adheres to their flesh: and this also sticks to the mouth of the cockle, having talons and bringing it food: and it is something like a little crab, and is called the guardian of the pinna. And its flesh penetrates through the centre of the cockleshell, like a root: and the pearl being generated close to it, grows through the solid portion of the shell, and keeps growing as long as it continues to adhere to the shell. But when the flesh gets under the excrescence, and cutting its way onwards, gently separates the pearl from the shell, then when the pearl is surrounded by flesh, it is no longer nourished so far as to grow at all; but the flesh makes it smoother, and more transparent, and more pure. And so, too, the pinna, which lives at the bottom, engenders the most transparent sort of pearl; and it produces them also very pure and of large size. But that which keeps near the surface, and is constantly rising, is of a smaller size and a worse colour, because it is affected by the rays of the sun. But those who hunt for pearls are in danger when they hastily put their hand into the opening of the shell, for immediately the fish closes its shell, and very often their fingers are sawn off; and sometimes they die immediately. But all those who put in their hand sideways easily draw off the shells from the rock. And Menander makes mention of Emeralds also, in his Little Boy–

There must be an emerald and a sardonyx.

And the word for emerald is more correctly written μάραγδος, without a ς. For it is derived from the verb μαρμαίρω, to glisten, because it is a transparent stone.

After this conversation some dishes were set on the table, full of many kinds of boiled meat: feet, and head, and ears, and loins; and also entrails, and intestines, and tongues; as is the custom at the places which are called boiled meat shops at Alexandria. For, O Ulpian, the word ἑφθοπώλιον, a boiled meat shop, is used by Posidippus, in his Little Boy. And again, while they were inquiring who had ever

v.1.p.157

named any of these dishes, one of the party said, Aristo- phanes mentions entrails as things which are eatable, in his Knights—

I say that you are selling tripe and paunches
Which to the revenue no tithe have paid.

And presently after he adds—

Why, my friend, hinder me from washing my paunches,
And from selling my sausages? Why do you laugh at me?

And again he says—

But I, as soon as I have swallow'd down
A bullock's paunch, and a dish of pig's tripe,
And drunk some broth, won't stay to wash my hands,
But will cut the throats of the orators, and will confuse Nicias.

And again he says—

But the Virgin Goddess born of the mighty Father
Gives you some boiled meat, extracted from the broth,
And a slice of paunch, and tripe, and entrails.

And Cratinus, in his Pluti, mentions jawbones of meat—

Fighting for a noble jawbone of beef.

And Sophocles, in the Amycus, says—

And he places on the table tender jawbones.

And Plato, in his Timæus, writes,

And he bound up some jawbones for them, so as to give the appearance of a whole face.

And Xenophon says, in his book on Horsemanship,

A small jawbone closely pressed.

But some call it, not σιαγὼν, but ὑαγὼν, spelling the word with a v, saying that it is derived from the word ὑς. Epicharmus also speaks of tripe, χορδαὶ as we call it, but he calls it ὄρυαι, having given one of his plays the title of Orya. And Aristophanes, in his Clouds, writes—

Let them prepare a dish of tripe, for me
To set before these wise philosophers.

And Cratinus, in his Pytina, says—

How fine, says he, is now this slice of tripe.

And Eupolis speaks of it also, in his Goats. But Alexis, either in his Leucadia or in his Runaways, says—

Then came a slice and good large help of tripe.

And Antiphanes, in his Marriage, says—

Having cut out a piece of the middle of the tripe.

v.1.p.158

And as for feet, and ears, and even noses of beasts, they are all mentioned by Alexis, in his Crateua or the Physic-seller. And I will adduce a slight proof of that presently, which contains a good many of the names about which we are inquiring. Theophilus says, in his Pancratiast—

A. There are here near three minas' weight of meat
Well boiled.
B. What next
A. There is a calf's nose, and
A heel of bacon, and four large pig's-feet.
B. A noble dish, by Hercules!
A. And three calves-feet.

And Anaxilas says, in his Cooks—

A. I would much rather roast a little fish,
Than here repeat whole plays of Aeschylus.
B. What do you mean by little fish Do you intend
To treat your friends as invalids? 'Twere better
To boil the extremities of eatable animals,
Their feet and noses.

And Anaxilas says, in the Circe—

For having an unseemly snout of pig,
My dear Cinesias.

And in the Calypso—

Then I perceived I bore a swine's snout.

Anaxandrides has mentioned also ears in the Satyrus. And Axionicus says, in his Chalcis—

I am making soup,
Putting in well-warm'd fish, and adding to them
Some scarce half-eaten fragments; and the pettitoes
Of a young porker, and his ears; the which I sprinkle
With savoury assafœtida; and then
I make the whole into a well-flavour'd sausage,
A meat most saleable. Then do I add a slice
Of tender tripe; and a snout soak'd in vinegar.
So that the guests do all confess, the second day
Has beaten e'en the wedding-day itself.

And Aristophanes says, in his Proagon—

Wretch that I am, I've eaten tripe, my son:
How can I bear to see a roasted snout?

And Pheretrates says, in his Trifles—

Is not this plainly now a porker's snout?

And there is a place which is called ʽπ̔ύγχος, or Snout, near Stratos, in Aetolia, as Polybius testifies, in the sixth book of his Histories. And Stesichorus says, in his Boar Hunting—

To hide the sharpened snout beneath the earth.

v.1.p.159

And we have already said that the word ῥύγχος properly applies only to the snout of a swine; but that it is sometimes used for the nose of other animals, Archipphus has proved, saying in jest, in his Second Amphitryon, of the human face—

And this, too, though you have so long a nose (ῥύγχος).

And Araros says, in his Adonis—

For the god turns his nose towards us.

And Aristophanes makes mention of the extremities of animals as forming a common dish, in his Aeolosicon—

And of a truth, plague take it, I have boil'd
Four tender pettitoes for you for dinner.

And in his Gerytades he says—

Pig's pettitoes, and bread, and crabs.

And Antiphanes says, in his Corinthia—

A. And then you sacrifice a pig's extremities
To Venus,—what a joke!
B. That is your ignorance;
For she in Cyprus is so fond of pigs,
O master, that she drove away the herd
Of swine from off the dunghill where they fed,
And made the cows eat dirt instead of them.

But Callimachus testifies that, in reality, a pig is sacrificed to Venus; or perhaps it is Zenodotus who says so in his Historic Records, writing thus,

The Argives sacrifice a pig to Venus, and the festival at which this takes place is called Hysteria.

And Pherecrates says, in his Miners—

But whole pig's feet of the most tender flavour
Were placed at hand in dishes gaily adorned,
And boil'd ears, and other extremities.

And Alexis says, in his Dice Players—

But when we had nearly come to an end of breakfast,
And eaten all the ears and pettitoes.

And he says again, in his Pannuchis or in his Wool-waavers—

This meat is but half roasted, and the fragments
Are wholly wasted; see this conger eel,
How badly boiled; and as for the pettitoes,
They now are wholly spoilt.

And Pherecrates also speaks of boiled feet, in his Slave-master—

A. Tell us, I pray you now then, how the supper
Will be prepared.
B. Undoubtedly I will.
v.1.p.160
In the first place, a dish of well-minced eel;
Then cuttle-fish, and lamb, a slice of rich
Well-made black pudding; then some pig's feet boil'd;
Some liver, and a loin of mutton,
And a mighty number of small birds; and cheese
In honey steep'd, and many a slice of meat.

And Antiphanes says, in his Parasite—

A. The well-warm'd legs of pigs.'
B. A noble dish,
I swear by Vesta.
A. Then some boiled cheese
Bubbled upon the board.

And Ecphantides says, in his Satyrs—

It is no great hardship, if it must be so,
To buy and eat the boil'd feet of a pig.

And Aristophanes speaks of tongue as a dish, in his Tryers, ill the following words—

I've had anchovies quite enough; for I
Am stretch'd almost to bursting while I eat
Such rich and luscious food. But bring me something
Which shall take off the taste of all these dainties.
Bring me some liver, or a good large slice
Of a young goat. And if you can't get that,
Let me at least have a rib or a tongue,
Or else the spleen, or entrails, or the tripe
Of a young porker in last autumn born;
And with it some hot rolls.