Deipnosophistae

So when the mighty sophist of Rome had enunciated these precepts of Aristarchus, Cynulcus said—O Ceres, what a wise man! It is not without reason that the admirable Blepsias has pupils as the sand of the sea in number, and has amassed wealth from this excellent wisdom of his, beyond all that was acquired by Gorgias or Protagoras. So that I am afraid, by the goddesses, to say whether he himself is blind, or whether those who have entrusted his pupils to him have all but one eye, so as scarcely to be able to see, nume-

rous as they are. Happy are they, or rather blessed ought I to call them, whose masters treat them to such divine lectures. And in reply to this Magnus, a man fond of the table, and very much inclined to praise this grammarian to excess, because of the abundance of his learning, said—But ye—

1. Men with unwashen feet, who lie on the ground,
2. You roofless wanderers, all-devouring throats,
3. Feasting on other men's possessions,

as Eubulus says—did not your father Diogenes, once when he was eagerly eating a cheesecake at a banquet, say to some one who put the question to him, that he was eating bread excellently well made? But as for you, you

1. Stranglers of dishes of white paunches,

as the same poet, Eubulus, says, you keep on speaking without ever giving place to others; and you are never quiet until some one throws you a crust or a bone, as he would do to a dog. How do you come to know that cubi (I do not mean those which you are continually handling) are a kind of loaf, square, seasoned with anise, and cheese, and oil, as Heraclides says in his Cookery Book? But Blepsias overlooked this kind, as also he did the thargelus, which some call the thalysius. But Crates, in the second book of his treatise on the Attic Dialect, says that the thargelus is the first loaf made after the carrying home of the harvest. The loaf made of sesame he had never seen, nor that which is called anastatus, which is made for the Arrephori.[*](ʼἀῤῥηφόροι. At Athens, two maidens chosen in their seventh year, who carried the peplos, and other holy things, ἄῤῥητα, of Pallas in the Scirrophoria. Others write it ἐρση- or ἐῤῥηφόροι, which points ῎ἔρση, a daughter of Cecrops, who was worshipped along with Pallas. Liddell and Scott, Gr. Lex. in voc. ) There is also a loaf called the pyramus, made of sesame, and perhaps being the same as the sesamites. But Trypho mentions all these different kinds in the first book of his treatise on Plants, as he also does those which are called thiagones. And these last are loaves made for the gods in Aetolia. There are also loaves called dramices and araxis among the Athamanes.

And the writers of books on dialects give lists of the names of different loaves. Seleucus speaks of one called dramis, which bears this name among the Macedonians; and of another called daratus by the Thessalians. And he speaks of the etnites, saying that it is the same as the lecithites,

that is to say, made of the yolks of eggs and of pulse. And he says that the loaf called ἐρικίτης, has its name from being made of wheat crushed (ἐρηριγμένος), and not sifted, and of groats. And Amerias speaks of a loaf called xeropyrites, made of pure wheat, and nothing else; and so does Tima- chidas. But Nicander says that thiagones is the name given by the Aetolians to those loaves which are made for the gods. The Egyptians have a bread which is rather bitter, which they call cyllastis. And Aristophanes speaks of it in his Danaides, saying—

1. Mention the cyllastis and the petosiris.

Hecatæus, too, and Herodotus mention it; and so does Phanodemus, in the seventh book of his Attic History. But Nicander of Thyatira says, that it is bread made of barley which is called cyllastis by the Egyptians. Alexis calls dirty loaves phæi, in his Cyprian, saying—

1. A. Then you are come at last?
2. B. Scarce could I find

Of well-baked loaves enough—

1. A. A plague upon you;
2. But what now have you got?
3. B. I bring with me
4. Sixteen, a goodly number; eight of them
5. Tempting and white, and just as many phæi.

And Seleucus says that there is a very closely made hot bread which is called blema. And Philemon, in the first book of his Oracles,

Useful Things of Every Kind,

says—that bread made of unsifted wheat, and containing the bran and everything, is called πυρνός. He says, too, that there are loaves which are called blomilii, which have divisions in them, which the Romans call quadrati. And that bread made of bran is called brattime, which Amerias. and Timachidas call euconon or teuconon. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says that there is a kind of loaf which is called spoleus, which is only eaten by relations when assembled together.

Now you may find barley-cakes mentioned in his writings by Tryphon, and by many other authors. Among the Athenians it is called phystes, not being too closely kneaded. There is also the cardamale, and the berx, and the tolype, and the Achilleum; and perhaps that is a cake which is made of the Achillean barley. Then there is the

thridakina, so named from lettuce, the œnutta, so called from wine; the melitutta, from honey; and the crinon, the name of which is derived from the lily, which last is also the name of a choral dance, mentioned by Apollophanes, in the Dalis. But the cakes called thridaciscæ by Alcman, are the same as the Attic thridacinæ. But Alcman speaks thus—

1. The thridacisca, and the cribanotus.

And Sosibius, in the third book of his essay on Alcman, says, that cribana is a name given to a peculiar kind of cheesecake, in shape like a breast. But the barley cake, which is given in sacrifices to be tasted by the sacrificers, is called hygea. And there is also one kind of barley cake which is called by Hesiod amolgsæa.

1. The amolgæan cake of barley made,
2. And milk of goats whose stream is nearly dry.

And he calls it the cake of the shepherds, and very strengthening. For the word ἀμολγὸς means that which is in the greatest vigour. But I may fairly beg to be excused from giving a regular list (for I have not a very unimpeachable memory) of all the kinds of biscuits and cakes which Aristomenes the Athenian speaks of in the third book of his treatise on Things pertaining to the Sacred Ceremonies. And we ourselves were acquainted with that man, though we were young, and he was older than we. And he was an actor in the Old Comedy, a freedman of that most accomplished king Adrian, and called by him the Attic partridge.

And Ulpian said—By whom is the word freedman (ἀπελεύθερος) ever used? And when some one replied that there was a play with that title—namely, the Freedman of Phrynichus, and that Menander, in his Beaten Slave, had the word freedwoman (ἀπελευθέρα), and was proceeding to mention other instances; he asked again—What is the difference between ἀπελεύθερος [*](There is no classical authority for ἐξελεύθερος; though Demosthenes has ἐξελευθερικὸς, relating to a freedman.) and ἐξελεύθερος. However, it was agreed upon to postpone this part of the discussion for the present.

And Galen, when we were just about to lay hands on the loaves, said—We will not begin supper until you have heard what the sons of the Asclepiadæ have said about loaves, and cheesecakes, and meal, and flour. Diphilus the Siphnian,

in his treatise on What is Wholesome to be eaten by People in Health and by Invalids, says,

Loaves made of wheat are by far more nutritious and by far more digestible than those made of barley, and are in every respect superior to them; and the next best are those which are made of similago; and next to those come the loaves made of sifted flour, and next to them those called syncomisti, Which are made of unsifted meal;—for these appear to be more nutritious.

But Philistion the Locrian says

that the loaves made of similago are superior to those made of groats, as far as their strengthening properties go; and next to them he ranks loaves made of groats, then those made of sifted flour. But the rolls made of bran give a much less wholesome juice, and are by far less nutritious. And all bread is more digestible when eaten hot than cold, and it is also more digestible then, and affords a pleasanter and more wholesome juice; nevertheless, hot bread is apt to cause flatulence, though it is not the less digestible for that; while cold bread is filling and indigestible. But bread which is very stale and cold is less nutritious, and is apt to cause constipation of the bowels, and affords a very unpleasant juice. The bread called encryphiasis is heavy and difficult of digestion, because it is not baked in an equal manner; but that which is called ipnites and caminites is indigestible and apt to disagree with people. That called escharites, and that which is fried, is more easily secreted because of the admixture of oil in it, but is not so good for the stomach, on account of the smell which there is about it. But the bread called 'the clibanites' has every possible good quality; for it gives a pleasant and wholesome juice, and is good for the stomach, and is digestible, and agrees exceedingly well with every one, for it never clogs the bowels, and never relaxes them too much.

But Andreas the physician says that there are loaves in Sicily made of the sycamine, and that those who eat them lose their hair and become bald. Mnesitheus says

that wheat-bread is more digestible than barley-bread, and that those which are made with the straw in them are exceedingly nutritious; for they are the most easily digested of all food. But bread which is made of rye, if it be eaten in any quantity, is heavy and difficult of digestion; on which account those who eat it do not keep their health,

But you should know that corn which has not been exposed to the fire, and which has not been ground, causes flatulence, and heaviness, and vertigo, and headache.

After all this conversation it seemed good to go to supper. And when the Uraeum was carried round, Leonidas said,

Euthydemus the Athenian, my friends, in his treatise on Pickles, says that Hesiod has said with respect to every kind of pickle— * * * * * * *[*](The beginning of this fragment of Hesiod is given up as hopelessly corrupt by the commentators; and there is probably a great deal of corruption running through the whole of it.)

1. Some sorrily-clad fishermen did seek
2. To catch a lamprey; men who love to haunt
3. The Bosporus's narrow strait, well stored
4. With fish for pickling fit. They cut their prey
5. In large square portions, and then plunge them deep
6. Into the briny tub: nor is the oxyrhyncus
7. A kind to be despised by mortal man;
8. Which the bold sons of ocean bring to market
9. Whole and in pieces. Of the noble tunny
10. The fair Byzantium the mother is,
11. And of the scombrus lurking in the deep,
12. And of the well-fed ray. The snow-white Paros
13. Nurses the colius for human food;
14. And citizens from Bruttium or Campania,
15. Fleeing along the broad Ionian sea,
16. Will bring the orcys, which shall potted be,
17. And placed in layers in the briny cask,
18. Till honour'd as the banquet's earliest course.

Now these verses appear to me to be the work of some cook rather than of that most accomplished Hesiod; for how is it possible for him to have spoken of Parium or Byzantium, and still more of Tarentum and the Bruttii and the Campanians, when he was many years more ancient than any of these places or tribes? So it seems to me that they are the verses of Euthydemus himself.

And Dionysiocles said, "Whoever wrote the verses, my good Leonidas, is a matter which you all, as being grammarians of the highest reputation, are very capable of deciding. But since the discussion is turning upon pickles and salt fish, concerning which I recollect a proverb which was thought deserving of being quoted by Charchus the Solensian,—

1. For old salt-fish is fond of marjoram.

I too myself will say a word on the subject, which is not unconnected with my own art.

Diodes the Carystian, in his treatise on the Wholesomes, as it is entitled, says,

Of all salt-fish which are destitute of fat, the best is the horæum; and of all that are fat, the best is the tunny-fish.

But Icesius says,

that neither the pelamydes nor the horæa are easily secreted by the stomach; and that the younger tunnies are similar in most respects to the cybii, but that they have a great superiority over those which are called horæa.

And he says the same of the Byzantine horæa, in comparison with those which are caught in other places. And he says

that not only the tunnies, but that all other fish caught at Byzantium is superior to that which is caught elsewhere.

To this Daphnus the Ephesian added,—Archestratus, who sailed round the whole world for the sake of finding out what was good to eat, and what pleasures he could derive from the use of his inferior members, says—

1. And a large slice of fat Sicilian tunny,
2. Carefully carved, should be immersed in brine.
3. But the saperdes is a worthless brute,
4. A delicacy fit for Ponticans
5. And those who like it. For few men can tell
6. How bad and void of strengthening qualities
7. Those viands are. The scombrus should be kept
8. Three days before you sprinkle it with salt,
9. Then let it lie half-pickled in the cask.
10. But when you come unto the sacred coast,
11. Where proud Byzantium commands the strait,
12. Then take a slice of delicate horeum,
13. For it is good and tender in those seas.

But that epicure Archestratus has omitted to enumerate the pickle-juice called elephantine, which is spoken of by Crates the comic poet, in his Samians; who says of it—

1. A sea-born turtle in the bitter waves
2. Bears in its skin the elephantine pickle;
3. And crabs swift as the wind, and thin-wing'd pike,
4. [*](The text here is so corrupt as to be quite unintelligible.)* * * * *

But that the elephantine pickle of Crates was very celebrated Aristophanes bears witness, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, in these words—

1. Sure comic poetry is a mighty food;
2. Listen to Crates, he will tell you, how
3. The elephantine pickle, easily made,
4. Is dainty seas'ning; many other jokes
5. Of the same kind he utter'd.

And there was another kind, which Alexis calls raw pickle, in his Apeglaucomenos. And the same poet, in his Wicked Woman, introduces a cook talking about the preparation of salt-fish and pickled fish, in the following verses:—

1. I wish now, sitting quiet by myself,
2. To ponder in my mind some dainty dishes;
3. And also to arrange what may be best
4. For the first course, and how I best may flavour
5. Each separate dish, and make it eatable.
6. Now first of all the pickled horæum comes;
7. This will but cost one penny; wash it well,
8. Then strew a large flat dish with seasoning,
9. And put in that the fish. Pour in white wine
10. And oil, then add some boil'd beef marrow-bones,
11. And take it from the fire, when the last zest
12. Shall be by assafœtida imparted.

And, in his Apeglaucomenos, a man being asked for his contribution to the feast, says—

1. A. Indeed you shall not half a farthing draw
2. From me, unless you name each separate dish.
3. B. That reasonable is.
4. A. Well, bring a slate
5. And pencil; now your items.
6. B. First, there is
7. Raw pickled fish, and that will fivepence cost.
8. A. What next
9. B. Some mussels, sevenpence for them.
10. A. Well, there's no harm in that. What follows next
11. B. A pennyworth of urchins of the sea.
12. A. Still I can find no fault.
13. B. The next in order
14. Is a fine dish of cabbage, which you said . . .
15. A. Well, that will do.
16. B. For that I paid just twopence.
17. A. What was't I said. . .
18. B. A cybium for threepence.
19. A. But are you sure you've nought embezzled here?
20. B. My friend, you've no experience of the market;
21. You know not how the grubs devour the greens.
22. A. But how is that a reason for your charging
23. A double price for salt-fish?
24. B. The greengrocer}
25. Is also a salt-fishmonger; go and ask him.
v.1.p.195
26. A conger, tenpence.
27. A. That is not too much.
28. What next?
29. B. I bought a roast fish for a drachma.
30. A. Bah! how he runs on now towards the end,
31. As if a fever had o'ertaken him.
32. B. Then add the wine, of which I bought three gallons
33. When you were drunk, ten obols for each gallon.

And Icesius says, in the second book of hi treatise on the Materials of Nourishment, that pelamydes are a large kind of cybium. And Posidippus speaks of the cybium, in his Transformed. But Euthydemus, in his treatise on Salt Fish, says that the fish called the Delcanus is so named from the river Delcon, where it is taken; and then, when pickled and salted, it is very good indeed for the stomach. But Dorion, in his book on Fishes, calls the leptinus the lebianus, and says, "that some people say that is the same fish as the delcanus; and that the ceracinus is called by man people the saperdes; and that the best are those which come from the Palus Mæotis. And he says that the mullet which are caught about Abdera are excellent; and next to them, those which are caught near Sinope; and that they, when pickled and salted, are very good for the stomach. But those, he says, which are called mulli are by some people called agnotidia, and by some platistaci, though they are all the same fish; as also is the chellares. For that he, being but one fish, has received a great variety of names; for that he is called a bacchus, and an oniscus, and a chellares. And those of the larger size are called platistaci, and those of riddle size mulli, and those which are but small are called agnotidia. But Aristophanes also mentions the mulli, in his Holcades—

1. Scombri, and coliæ, and lebii,
2. And mulli, and saperdæ, and all tunnies.

When Dionysiocles was silent upon this, Varus the grammarian said,—But Antiphanes the poet, also, in his Deucalion, mentions these kinds of pickled salt-fish, where he says—

1. If any one should wish for caviar
2. From mighty sturgeon, fresh from Cadiz' sea;
3. Or else delights in the Byzantine tunny,
4. And courts its fragrance.

And in his Parasite he says—

1. Caviar from the sturgeon in the middle,
2. Fat, white as snow, and hot.

And Nicostratus or Philetærus, in his Antyllus, says—

1. Let the Byzantine salt-fish triumph here,
2. And paunch from Cadiz, carefully preserved.

And a little further on, he proceeds—

1. But, O ye earth and gods! I found a man,
2. An honest fishmonger of pickled fish,
3. Of whom I bought a huge fish ready scaled,
4. Cheap at a drachma, for two oboli.
5. Three days' hard eating scarcely would suffice
6. That we might finish it; no, nor a fortnight,
7. So far does it exceed the common size.

After this Ulpian, looking upon Plutarch, chimed in,—It seems to me that no one, in all that has been said, has included the Mendesian fish, which are so much fancied by you gentlemen of Alexandria; though I should have thought that a mad dog would scarcely touch them; nor has any one mentioned the hemineri or half-fresh fish, which you think so good, nor the pickled shads. And Plutarch replied,— The heminerus, as far as I know, does not differ from the half-pickled fish which have been already mentioned, and which your elegant Archestratus speaks of; but, however, Sopater the Paphian has mentioned the heminerus, in his Slave of Mystacus, saying—

1. He then received the caviar from a sturgeon
2. Bred in the mighty Danube, dish much prized,
3. Half-fresh, half-pickled, by the wandering Scythians.

And the same man includes the Mendesian in his list—

1. A slightly salt Mendesian in season,
2. And mullet roasted on the glowing embers.

And all those who have tried, know that these dishes are by far more delicate and agreeable than the vegetables and figs which you make such a fuss about. Tell us now also, whether the word τάριχος is used in the masculine gender by the Attic writers; for we know it is by Epicharmus.

And while Ulpian was thinking this over with himself, Myrtilus, anticipating him, said,—Cratinus, in his Dionysalexander, has— I will my basket fill with Pontic pickles, (where he uses τάριχοι as masculine;) and Plato, in his Jupiter Illtreated, says—

1. All that I have amounts to this,
2. And I shall lose my pickled fish (ταρίχους).

And Aristophanes says, in his Daitaleis—

1. I'm not ashamed to wash this fine salt-fish (τὺν τάριχον τουτονὶ),
2. From all the evils which I know he has.

And Crates says, in his Beasts—

1. And you must boil some greens, and roast some fish
2. And pickled fish likewise, (τοὺς ταρίχους,) and keep your hands
3. From doing any injury to us.

But the noun is formed in a very singular manner by Hermippus, in his Female Bread-Sellers—

1. And fat pickled fish (τάριχος πίονα).

And Sophocles says, in his Phineus—

1. A pickled corpse (νεκρὸς τάριχος) Egyptian to behold.

Aristophanes has also treated us to a diminutive form of the word, in his Peace—

1. Bring us some good ταρίχιον to the fields

And Cephisodorus says, in his Pig—

1. Some middling meat, or some ταρίχιον.

And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, has—

1. The woman boil'd some pulse porridge, and lentils,
2. And so awaited each of us, and roasted
3. Besides an orphan small ταρίχιον.

Epicharmus also uses the word in the masculine gender, ὁ τάριχος. And Herodotus does the same in his ninth book; where he says—

The salt-fish (οἱ τάριχοι) lying on the fire, leaped about and quivered.

And the proverbs, too, in which the word occurs, have it in the masculine gender:—

1. Salt-fish (τάριχος) is done if it but see the fire.
2. Salt-fish (τάριχος) when too long kept loves marjoram.
3. Salt-fish (τάριχος) does never get its due from men.

But the Attic writers often use it as a neuter word; and the genitive case, as they use it, is τοῦ ταρίχους. Chionids says, in his Beggars—

1. Will you then eat some pickled fish (τοῦ ταρίχους), ye ods!

And the dative is ταρίχει, like ξίφει—

1. Beat therefore now upon this pickled fish (τῷ ταρίχει τῷδε).

And Menander uses it τάριχος, in the accusative case, in his Man selecting an Arbitrator—

1. I spread some salt upon the pickled fish (ἐπὶ τὸ τάριχος).

But when the word is masculine the genitive case does not end with ς.

The Athenians were so fond of pickled fish that they enrolled as citizens the sons of Chærephilus the seller of salt-fish; as Alexis tells us, in his Epidaurus, when he says—

1. For 'twas salt-fish that made Athenians
2. And citizens of Chærephilus's sons.

And when Timocles once saw them on horseback, he said that two tunny-fish were among the Satyrs. And Hyperides the orator mentions them too. And Antiphanes speaks of Euthynus the seller of pickled fish, in his Couris, in these terms:—

1. And going to the salt-fish seller, him
2. I mean with whom I used to deal, there wait for me;
3. And if Euthynus be not come, still wait,
4. And occupy the man with fair excuses,
5. And hinder him from cutting up the fish.

And Alexis, in his Hippiscus, and again in his Soraci, makes mention of Phidippus; and he too was a dealer in salt-fish—

1. There was another man, Phidippus hight,
2. A foreigner who brought salt-fish to Athens.

And while we were eating the salt-fish and getting very anxious to drink, Daphnus said, holding up both his hands,— Heraclides of Tarentum, my friends, in his treatise entitled The Banquet, says, "It is good to take a moderate quantity of food before drinking, and especially to eat such dishes as one is accustomed to; for from the eating of things which have not been eaten for a long time the wine is apt to be turned sour, so as not to sit on the stomach, and many twinges and spasms are often originated. But some people think that these also are bad for the stomach; I mean, all kinds of vegetables and salted fish, since they possess qualities apt to cause pangs; but that glutinous and invigorating food is the most wholesome,—being ignorant that a great many of the things which assist the secretions are, on the contrary, very good for the stomach; among which is the plant called sisarum, (which Epicharmus speaks of, in his Agrostinus, and also in his Earth and Sea; and so does Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on the Wholesomes;) and asparagus and white beet, (for the black beet is apt to check the secretions,) and cockles, and solens, and sea mussels, and chemæ, and periwinkles, and perfect pickles, and salt-fish, which are void of

smell, and many kinds of juicy fishes. And it is good that, before the main dinner, there should be served up what is called salad, and beet-root, and salt-fish, in order that by having the edge of our appetite taken off we may go with less eagerness to what is not equally nutritious. But at the beginning of dinner it is best to avoid abundant draughts; for they are bad as generating too great a secretion of humous in the body.

But the Macedonians, according to the statement of Ephippus the Olynthian, in his treatise Concerning the Burial of Alexander and Hephæstion, had no notion of moderation in drinking, but started off at once with enormous draughts before eating, so as to be drunk before the first course was off the table, and to be unable to enjoy the rest of the banquet.

But Diphilus the Siphnian says,

The salt pickles which are made of fish, whether caught in the sea, or in the lake, or in the river, are not very nourishing, nor very juicy; but are inflammatory, and act strongly on the bowels, and are provocative of desire. But the best of them are those Which are made of animals devoid of fat, such as cybia, and horæa, and other kinds like them. And of fat fish, the best are the different kinds of tunny, and the young of the tunny; for the old ones are larger and harsher to the taste; and above all, the Byzantine tunnies are so. But the tunny, says he, is the same as the larger pelamys, the small kind of which is the same as the cybium, to which species the horæum also belongs. But the sarda is of very nearly the same size as the colias. And the scombrus is a light fish, and one which the stomach easily gets rid of; but the colias is a glutinous fish, very like a squill, and apt to give twinges, and has an inferior juice, but nevertheless is nutritious. And the best are those which are called the Amyclæan, and the Spanish, which is also called the Saxitan; for they are lighter and sweeter.

But Strabo, in the third book of his work on Geography, says that near the Islands of Hercules,[*](The Balearic Isles.) and off the city of Carthagena, is a city named Sexitania, from which the salt-fish above-mentioned derive their name; and there is another city called Scombroaria, so called from the scombri which are caught in its neighbourhood, and of them the best sauce is made. But there are also fish which are called melandryæ,

which are mentioned by Epicharmus also, in his Ulysses the Deserter, in this way—

1. Then there was salt and pickled fish to eat,
2. Something not quite unlike melandryæ.

But the melandrys is the largest description of tunny, as Pamphilus explains in his treatise on Names; and that when preserved is very rich and oily.

But the raw pickle called omotarichum,

says Diphilus,

is called by some people cetema. It is a heavy sticky food, and moreover very indigestible. But the river coracinus, which some people call the peltes, the one from the Nile, I mean, which the people at Alexandria have a peculiar name for, and call the heminerus, is rather fat, and has a juice which is far from disagreeable; it is fleshy, nutritious, easily digestible, not apt to disagree with one, and in every respect superior to the mullet. Now the roe of every fish, whether fresh or dried and salted, is indigestible and apt to disagree. And the most so of all is the roe of the more oily and larger fish; for that remains harder for a long time, and is not decomposed. But it is not disagreeable to the taste when seasoned with salt and roasted. Every one, however, ought to soak dried and salted fish until the water becomes free from smell, and sweet. But dried sea-fish when boiled becomes sweeter; and they are sweeter too when eaten hot than cold.

And Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Comestibles, says,

Those juices which are salt, and those which are sweet, all have an effect in relaxing the bowels; but those which are sharp and harsh are strongly diuretic. Those too which are bitter are generally diuretic, but some of them also relax the bowels. Those which are sour, however, check the secretions.

And Xenophon, that most accomplished of writers, in his treatise entitled Hiero, or the Tyrant, abuses all such food, and says,

For what, said Hiero, have you never noticed all the multitudinous contrivances which are set before tyrants, acid, and harsh, and sour; and whatever else there can be of the same kind?—To be sure I have, said Simonides, and all those things appeared to me to be very contrary to the natural taste of any man. And do you think, said Hiero, that these dishes are anything else but the fancies of a diseased and vitiated taste; since those who eat with appetite, you

v.1.p.201

well know, have no need of these contrivances and provo- catives.

After this had been said, Cynulcus asked for some spiced and boiled water to drink; saying that he rust wash down all those salt arguments with sweet drink. And Ulpian said to him with some indignation, and slapping his pillow with his hand,—How long will it be before you leave off your barbarian tricks? Will you never stop till I am force to leave the party and go away, being unable to digest all your absurd speeches? And he replied,—Now that I am at Rome, the Sovereign City, I use the language of the natives habitually; for among the ancient poets, and among those prose writers who pique themselves on the purity of their Greek, you may find some Persian nouns, because of their having got into a habit of using them in conversation. As for instance, one finds mention made of parasangs, and astandæ, and angari (couriers), and a schœnus or perch, which last word is used either as a masculine or feminine noun, and it is a measure on the road, which retains even to this day that Persian name with many people. I know, too, that many of the Attic writers affect to imitate Macedonian expressions, on account of the great intercourse that there was between Attica and Macedonia. But it would be better, in my opinion,

1. To drink the blood of hulls, and so prefer
2. The death of great Themistocles,

than to fall into your power. For I could not say, to drink the water of bulls; as to which you do not know what it is. Nor do you know that even among the very best poets and prose writers there are some things said which are not quite allowable. Accordingly Cephisodorus, the pupil of Isocrates the orator, in the third of his treatises addressed to Aristotle, says that a man might find several things expressed incorrectly by the other poets and sophists; as for instance, the expression used by Archilochus, That every man was immodest; and that apophthegm of Theodorus, That a man ought to get all he can, but to praise equality and moderation; and also, the celebrated line of Euripides about the tongue having spoken; and even by Sophocles, the lines which occur in the Aethiopians—

1. These things I say to you to give you pleasure,
2. Not wishing to do aught by violence:
3. And do thou, like wise men, just actions praise,
4. And keep thy hands and heart from unjust gain.

And in another place the same poet says—

1. I think no words, if companied by gain,
2. Pernicious or unworthy.

And in Homer, we find Juno represented as plotting against Jupiter, and Mars committing adultery. And for these sentiments and speeches those writers are universally blamed.

If therefore I have committed any errors, O you hunter of fine names and words, do not be too angry with me; for, according to Timotheus of Miletus, the poet,—

1. I do not sing of ancient themes,
2. For all that's new far better seems.
3. Jove's the new king of all the world;
4. While anciently 'twas Saturn hurl'd
5. His thunders, and the Heavens ruled;
6. So I'll no longer be befool'd
7. With dotard's ancient songs.

And Antiphanes says, in his Alcestis—

1. Dost thou love things of modern fashion?
2. So too does he; for he is well assured
3. That new devices, though they be too bold,
4. Are better far than old contrivances.

And I will prove to you, that the ancients were acquainted with the water which is called dicoctas, in order that you may not be indignant again, when I speak of boiled and spiced water. For, according to the Pseudheracles of Pherecrates—

1. Suppose a man who thinks himself a genius
2. Should something say, and I should contradict him,
3. Still trouble not yourself; but if you please,
4. Listen and give your best attention.

But do not grudge, I entreat you, said Ulpian, to explain to me what is the nature of that Bull's water which you spoke of; for I have a great thirst for such words. And Cynulcus said,—But I pledge you, according to your fancy; you thirst for words, taking a desire from Alexis, out of his Female Pythagorean,

1. A cup of water boil'd; for when fresh-drawn
2. 'Tis heavy, and indigestible to drink.

But it was Sophocles, my friend, who spoke of Bull's water, in his Aegeus, from the river Taurus near Trœzen, in the neighbourhood of which there is a fountain called Hyoëssa.

But the ancients did also at times use very cold water in their draughts before dinner. But I will not tell you, unless you first teach me, whether the ancients were in the habit of drinking warm water at their banquets. For if their cups got their name[*](κρατὴρ, from κεράννυμι, to mix.) from what took place in reference to them, and if they were set before the guests full of mixed liquors, then they certainly did not contain warm drink, ad were not put on the fire like kettles. For that they were in the habit of drinking warm water Eupolis proves, in his Demi—

1. Warm for us now the brazen ewer quick,
2. And bid the slaves prepare the victims new,
3. That we may feast upon the entrails.

And Antiphanes says, in his Omphale—

1. May I ne'er see a man
2. 'Boiling me water in a bubbling pail;
3. For I have no disease, and wish for none.
4. But if I feel a pain within my stomach,
5. Or round about my navel, why I have
6. A ring I lately gave a drachma for
7. To a most skilful doctor.

And, in his Anointing Woman, (but this play is attributed to Alexis also,) he says—

1. But if you make our shop notorious,
2. I swear by Ceres, best of goddesses,
3. That I will empt the biggest ladle o'er you,
4. Filling it with hot water from the kettle;
5. And if I fail, may I ne'er drink free water more.

And Plato, in the fourth book of his Polity, says—

Desire in the mind must be much the same as thirst is in the body. Now, a man feels thirst for hot water or for cold; or for much water or for a little; or perhaps, in a word, for some particular drink. And if there be any heat combined with the thirst, then that will give a desire for cold water; but if a sensation of cold be united with it, that will engender a wish for warm water. And if by reason of the violence of the cause the thirst be great, that will give a desire for an abundant draught; but if the thirst be small, then the man will wish for but a small draught. But the thirst itself is not a desire of anything except of the thing itself, namely, drinking. And hunger, again, is not a desire of anything else except food.

And Semus the Delian, in the second book of is Nesias. or treatise on Islands, says that in the island of Cimolus, cold

places are prepared by being dug out against the summer, where people may put down vessels full of warm water, and then draw them up again in no respect different from snow. But warm water is called by the Athenians metaceras, a word used by Sophilus, in his Androcles. And Alexis says, in his Locrians—

1. But the maid-servants pour'd forth water,
2. One pouring boiling water, and the other warm.

And Philemon, in his Corinthian Women, uses the same word. And Amphis says, in his Bath—

1. One called out to the slaves to bring hot water,
2. Another shouted for metaceras.

And as the Cynic was proceeding to heap other proofs on these, Pontianus said,—The ancients, my friends, were in the habit also of drinking very cold water. At all events Alexis says, in his Parasite—

1. I wish to make you taste this icy water,
2. For I am proud of my well, whose limpid spring
3. Is colder than the Ararus.

And Hermippus, in his Cercopes, calls water drawn from wells φρεατιαῖον ὕδωρ. Moreover, that men used to drink melted snow too, is shown by Alexis, in his Woman eating Mandragora—

1. Sure is not man a most superfluous plant,
2. Constantly using wondrous contradictions.
3. Strangers we love, and our own kin neglect;
4. Though having nothing, still we give to strangers.
5. We bear our share in picnics, though we grudge it,
6. And show our grudging by our sordidness.
7. And as to what concerns our daily food,
8. We wish our barley-cakes should white appear,
9. And yet we make for them a dark black sauce,
10. And stain pure colour with a deeper dye.
11. Then we prepare to drink down melted snow;
12. Yet if our fish be cold, we storm and rave.
13. Sour or acid wine we scorn and loathe,
14. Yet are delighted with sharp caper sauce.
15. And so, as many wiser men have said,
16. Not to be born at all is best for man;
17. The next best thing, to die as soon as possible.

And Dexicrates, in the play entitled The Men deceived by Themselves, says—

1. But when I'm drunk I take a draught of snow,
2. And Egypt gives me ointment for my head.

And Euthycles, in his Prodigal Men, or The Letter, says—

1. He first perceived that snow was worth a price;
2. He ought to be the first to eat the honeycombs.

And that excellent writer Xenophon, in his Memorablia, shows that he was acquainted with the fashion of drinking snow. But Chares of Mitylene, in his History of Alexander, has told us how we are to proceed in order to keep snow when he is relating the siege of the Indian city Petra. For he says that Alexander dug thirty large trenches close to one anther, and filled them with snow, and then he heaped on the snow branches of oak; for that in that way snow would last a long time.

And that they used to cool wine, for the sake of drinking it in a colder state, is asserted by Strattis, in his Psychastæ, or Cold Hunters—

1. For no one ever would endure warm wine,
2. But on the contrary, we use our wells
3. To cool it in, and then we mix with snow.

And Lysippus says, in his Bacchæ—

1. A. Hermon, what is the matter? Where are we?
2. B. Nothing 's the matter, only that your father
3. Has just dropt down into the well to cool himself,
4. As men cool wine in summer.

And Diphilus says, in his Little Monument—

1. Cool the wine quick, O Doris.

And Protagoras in the second book of his Comic Histories, relating the voyage of king Antiochus down the river, says something about the contrivances for procuring cold water, in these terms:—

For during the day they expose it to the sun, and then at night they skim off the thickest part which rises to the surface, and expose the rest to the air, in large earthen ewers, on the highest parts of the house, and two slaves are kept sprinkling the vessels with water the whole night. And at daybreak they bring them down, and again they skim off the sediment, making the water very thin, and exceedingly wholesome, and then they immerse the ewers in straw, and after that they use the water, which has become so cold as not to require snow to cool it.

And Anaxilas speaks of water from cisterns, in his Flute Player, using the allowing expressions:—

1. A. I want some water from a cistern now.
2. B. I have some here, and you are welcome to it.

And, in a subsequent passage, he says—

1. Perhaps the cistern water is all lost.

But Apollodorus of Gela mentions the cistern itself, λακκος, as we call it, in his Female Deserter, saying—

1. In haste I loosed the bucket of the cistern,
2. And then that of the well; and took good care
3. To have the ropes all ready to let down.

Myrtilus, hearing this conversation, said,—And I too, being very fond of salt-fish, my friends, wish to drink snow, according to the practice of Simonides. And Ulpian said,— The word φιλοτάριχος, fond of salt-fish, is used by Antiphanes, in his Omphale, where he says—

1. I am not anxious for salt-fish, my girl.

But Alexis, in his Gynæcocracy, speaks of one man as ζωμοτάριχος, or fond of sauce made from salt-fish, saying—

1. But the Cilician here, this Hippocles,
2. This epicure of salt-fish sauce, this actor.

But what you mean by

according to the practice of Simonides,

I do not know. No; for you do not care, said Myrtilus, to know anything about history, you glutton; for you are a mere lickplatter; and as the Samian poet Asius, that ancient bard, would call you, a flatterer of fat. But Callistratus, in the seventh book of his Miscellanies, says that Simonides the poet, when feasting with a party at a season of violently hot weather, while the cup-bearers were pouring out for the rest of the guests snow into their liquor, and did not do so for him, extemporised this epigram:—

1. The cloak with which fierce Boreas clothed the brow
2. Of high Olympus, pierced ill-clothed man
3. While in its native Thrace; 'tis gentler now,
4. Caught by the breeze of the Pierian plain.
5. Let it be mine; for no one will commend
6. The man who gives hot water to a friend.

So when he had drunk, Ulpian asked him again where the word κνισολοῖχος is used, and also, what are the lines of Asius in which he uses the word κνισοκόλαξ? These, said Myrtilus, are the verses of Asius, to which I alluded:—

1. Lame, branded, old, a vagrant beggar, next
2. Came the cnisocolax, when Meles held
3. His marriage feast, seeking for gifts of soup,
4. Not waiting for a friendly invitation;
5. There in the midst the hungry hero stood,
6. Shaking the mud from off his ragged cloak.

And the word κνισολοῖχος is used by Sophilus, in his Philar- chus, in this passage,—

1. You are a glutton and a fat-licker.

And in the play which is entitled, The Men running together, he has used the word κνισολοιχία, in the following lines:—

1. That pandar, with his fat-licking propensities,
2. Has bid me get for him this black blood-pudding.

Antiphanes too uses the word κνισολοῖχος, in his Bombylium.

Now that men drank also sweet wine while eating is proved by what Alexis says in his Dropidas—

1. The courtesan came in with sweet wine laden,
2. In a large silver cup, named petachnon,
3. Most beauteous to behold. Not a flat dish,
4. Nor long-neck'd bottle, but between the two.