Deipnosophistae
Athenaeus of Naucratis
Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
And concerning another cook (whose name is Seuthes) the same poet speaks in the following manner—
- My pupil Leucon, and the rest of you,
- You fellow servants—for there is no place
- Unfit to lecture upon science in;
v.2.p.594- Know that in the cookery no seasoning
- Is equal to the sauce of impudence.
- And, if I must confess the whole o' the truth,
- You'll find this quality of great use everywhere.
- See now, this tribune, who displays a breast-plate
- All over scales, or dragon wrought in steel,
- Appears some Briareus; but when th' occasion
- Calls for his might, he proves a very hare.
- So when a cook with helpers and attendants
- Comes to some stranger, and his pupils brings,
- Calling the servants of the house mere humbugs,
- Mere cummin splitters, famine personified;
- They all crouch down before him: but if you bear
- Yourself with honesty and spirit towards him,
- He'll fly half flay'd with fear. Do you remember,
- And, as I bade you, give fair room for boasting,
- And take you care to know the taste of the guests;
- For as in any other market, so
- This is the goal which all your art should seek,,
- To run straight into all the feasters' mouths
- As into harbour. At the present moment
- We're busied about a marriage feast—
- An ox is offer'd as the choicest victim;
- The father-in-law is an illustrious man,
- The son-in-law a person of like honour;
- Their wives are priestesses to the good goddess.
- Corybantes, flutes, a crowd of revellers
- Are all assisting at the festival.
- Here's an arena for our noble art.
- Always remember this.
- Seuthes, in the opinion of those men,
- Is a great bungler. But I'd have you know,
- My excellent friend, the case of a good cook
- Is not unlike that of a general.
- The enemy are present,—the commander,
- A chief of lofty genius, stands against them,
- And fears not to support the weight of war:—
- Here the whole band of revellers is the enemy,
- It marches on in close array, it comes
- Keen with a fortnight's calculation
- Of all the feast: excitement fires their breasts,
- They're ready for the fray, and watch with zeal
- To see what will be served up now before them.
- Think now, that such a crowd collected sits
- To judge of your performance.
Then you know there is a cook in the Synephebi of Euphron; just hear what a lecture he gives—
- When, Carion, you a supper do prepare,
- For those who their own contributions bring,
- You have no time to play, nor how to practise
- For the first time the lessons you've received.
- And you were yesterday in danger too;
- For not one single one of all your tenches
- Had any liver, but they all were empty.
- The brain was decomposed too.—But you must,
- O Carion, when at any future time
- You chance a band like this to thus encounter,
- As Dromon, Cerdon, and Soterides,
- Giving you all the wages that you ask'd,
- Deal with them fairly. Where we now are going
- To a marriage feast, there try experiments.
- And if you well remember all my rules,
- You are my real pupil; and a cook
- By no means common: 'tis an opportunity
- A man should pray for. Make the best of it,
- The old man is a miser, and his pay
- Is little. If I do not find you eating up
- The very coals, you're done for. Now go in;
- For here the old man comes himself, behold
- How like a skin-flint usurer he looks!
But the cook in Sosipater's Liar is a great sophist, and in no respect inferior to the physicians in impudence. And he speaks as follows—
- A. My art, if you now rightly do consider it,
- Is not, O Demylus, at all an art
- To be consider'd lightly;—but alas,
- 'Tis too much prostituted; and you'll find
- That nearly all men fear not to profess
- That they are cooks, though the first principles
- Of the great art are wholly strange to them;
- And so the whole art is discredited.
- But when you meet an honest, genuine cook,
- Who from his childhood long has learnt the art,
- And knows its great effects, and has its rules
- Deep buried in his mind; then, take my word,
- You'll find the business quite a different thing.
- There are but three of us now left in Greece;
- Boidion, and Chariades, and I;
- The rest are all the vilest of the vile.
- B. Indeed?
- A. I mean it. We alone preserve
- The school of Sicon: he was the great teacher
- Of all our art: he was the first who taught us
- To scan the stars with judgment: the great Sicon!
- Then, next to this he made us architects:
- He open'd too the paths of physical knowledge;
- And after this he taught us all the rules
v.2.p.596- Of military science; for all these
- Were but preliminaries accessory
- To the preeminent, god-like art of cooking.
- B. I think you mean to choke me, my good friend.
- A. Not I; but till the boy comes back from market
- I'll stir you up a little with some rules
- About your art, since we can never have
- A more convenient time for talking of it.
- B. Oh, by Apollo, you're a zealous man.
- A. Listen, my friend. In the first place, a cook
- Must the sublimer sciences have learnt:
- He must know when the stars do set and rise,
- And why. Moreover, when the sun returns,
- Causing the long and short days on the earth;
- And in what figures of the zodiac
- He is from time to time. For, men do say
- All fish, and every meat and herb we eat,
- Have different qualities at different seasons
- Of the revolving year; and he who knows
- The principles and reasons of these things
- Will use each meat when it is most in season;
- And he who knows them not, but acts at random,
- Is always laugh'd at most deservedly.
- Perhaps, too, you don't know wherein the science
- Of th' architect can bear on this our art.
- B. Indeed I wondered what it had to do with it.
- A. I'll tell you:—rightly to arrange the kitchen,
- To let in just the light that's requisite,
- To know the quarter whence the winds blow most,
- Are all of great importance in this business—
- For smoke, according to which way it goes,
- Makes a great difference when you dress a dinner.
- B. That may be; but what need is there, I pray,
- For cooks to have the science of generals?
- A. Order is a prevailing principle
- In every art; and most of all in ours:
- For to serve up and take away each dish
- In regular order, and to know the time
- When quick t' advance them, and when slowly bring,
- And how each guest may feel towards the supper,
- And when hot dishes should be set before him,
- When warm ones, and when regular cold meat
- Should be served up, depends on various branches
- Of strategetic knowledge, like a general's.
- B. Since then you've shown me what I wish'd to know,
- May you, departing now, enjoy yourself.
And the cook in the Milesians of Alexis is not very different from this, for he speaks as follows—
- A. Do you not know, that in most arts and trades
- 'Tis not th' artificer who alone has pow'r
v.2.p.597- O'er their enjoyment Those who use them too
- Contribute all their part, if well they use them.
- B. How so? Let me, O stranger, understand.
- A. The duty of the cook is but to dress
- And rightly season meat; and nothing more.
- If, then, the man who is to eat his meat,
- And judge of it, comes in proper time,
- He aids the cook in that his business.
- But if he come too late, so that the joint
- Already roasted must be warm'd again,
- Or if he come too soon, so that the cook
- Is forced to roast the meat with undue haste,
- He spoils the pleasure which he might have had
- From the cook's skill by his unpunctuality.
- I class a cook among philosophers;
- You're standing round; my fire is alight;
- See how the numerous dogs of Vulcan's pack
- Leap to the roof; . . . . .
- . . . . . . You know what happens next:
- And so some unforeseen necessity
- Has brought on us alone this end of life.
But Euphron, whom I mentioned a little while ago, O judges, (for I do not hesitate to call you judges, while awaiting the decision of your sense,) in his play called the Brothers, having represented a certain cook as a well-educated man of extensive learning, and enumerating all the artists before his time, and what particular excellence each of them had, and what he surpassed the rest in, still never mentioned anything of such a nature as I have frequently prepared for you. Accordingly, he speaks as follows—
- I have, ere this, had many pupils, Lycus,
- Because I've always had both wit and knowledge;
- But you, the youngest of them all, are now
- Leaving my house an all-accomplish'd cook
- In less than forty weeks. There was the Rhodian
- Agis, the best of cooks to roast a fish;
- Nereus, the Chian, could a conger boil
- Fit for the gods: Charides, of Athens,
- Could season forcemeat of the whitest hue:
- Black broth was first devised by Lamprias;
- Sausages rich we owe to Aphthonetus;
- Euthunus taught us to make lentil soup;
- Aristion made out whole bills of fare
- For those who like a picnic entertainment.
- So, like those grave philosophers of old,
- These are our seven wisest of all cooks.
- But I, for all the other ground I saw
v.2.p.598- Had been pre-occupied by former artists,
- First found out how to steal, in such a way
- That no one blamed me, but all sought at once
- T' engage my aid. And you, perceiving too
- This ground already occupied by me,
- Invented something new yourself—'tis this:—
- Five days ago the Tenians, grey old men,
- After a tedious voyage o'er the sea,
- Did hold a sacrifice: a small thin kid:
- Lycus could crib no portion of that meat,
- Nor could his master. Yon compelled the men
- To furnish two more kids. For as they long
- And oft survey'd the liver of the victims,
- You, letting down one unperceived hand,
- Were impudent enough to throw the kidneys
- Into the ditch: you raised a mighty tumult:
The victim has no kidneys,they exclaim'd,- And all look'd downcast at-th', unsual want.
- They slew another and again I saw
- You eat the heart from out this second victim.
- You surely are a mighty man; you know it-
- For you alone have found a way to hinder
- A wolf (λύκον) from opening his mouth in vain.
- And 1 yesterday you threw some strings of sausages
- (Which you had sought all day) into the fire,
- And sang to the dichordon. And I witness'd
- That play of yours; but this is merely sport.
I wonder if it was any of these second seven wise men who contrived this device about the pig, so as to stuff his inside without cutting his throat, and so as to roast one side of him and boil the other at the same time. And as we now urged and entreated him to explain this clever device to us, he said,—I will not tell you this year, I swear by those who encountered danger at Marathon, and also by those who fought at Salamis. So when he had taken such an oath as that, we all thought we ought not to press the man; but all began to lay hands on the different dishes which were served up before us. And Ulpian said,—I swear by those who encountered danger at Artemisium, no one shall taste of anything before we are told in what ancient author the word παραφέρω is used in the sense of serving up. For as to the word γεύματα, I think I am the only person who knows anything about that. And Magnus said, Aristophanes in his Proagon says— [*](This is very obscure and corrupt. Casaubon suspects the genuineness of the last four lines altogether.)
And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, uses the word in a more general sense, where he says—
- Why did you not desire him to place
- The goblets on the board (παραφέρειν)?
And Plato, in his Lacedæmonians, says—
- O Cocoas, bring (παράφερε) me now a goblet full.
And Alexis, in his Pamphila, says—
- Let him bring forward (παραφερέτω).
But concerning the word γεύματα, meaning anything which is tasted, food, the exclusive knowledge about which you have claimed for yourself, it is time for you now to tell us, O Ulpian, what you do know. For as to the verb γεῦσαι, we have that in Eupolis, in his Goats, where he says—
- He laid the table, then he placed on it (παραφέρων)
- Good things in wagon loads.
And Ulpian said, Ephippus in his Peltastes says—
- Take now of this, and taste (γεῦσαι) it.
And Antiphanes, in his Twins, says—
- There there were stations for the horses and asses,
- And wine to drink (γεύματα οἴνων).
- Now he drinks wine (οἰνογευστεῖ) and walks about in splendour,
- Wreathed with flowery garlands.
On this the cook said—I, then, will relate to you now, not an ancient contrivance, but a device of my own, in order that the flute-player may escape being beaten; (for Eubulus, in his Lacedæmonians or Leda, says—
And Philyllius, or whoever the poet may have been who wrote the play of The Cities, says—
- But I have heard of this, I swear by Vesta,
- That when the cook at home makes any blunder,
- The flute-player is always beaten for it.
And I mean the device about the pig half-roasted, half-boiled, and stuffed, without having had any apparent incision made in him. The fact is, the pig was stuck with a very short wound under his shoulder; (and he showed the wound.) Then when the greater part of the blood had flowed from it, all the entrails, with the intestines, I washed (and the word ἐξαίρεσις, O you revellers who think so much of words, means
- Whatever blunders now the cook may make,
- The flute-player receives the stripes for them.)
But as to the word ἐξαίρεσις, my excellent friend Ulpian, Dionysius the comic poet, in his drama called Things having the same Name, speaks thus, representing a cook speaking to his pupils—
- Come now, O Dromon, if you aught do know,
- Wise or accomplish'd in your business,
- Or fit to charm the eyes, reveal it straight
- To me your master. For I ask you now
- For a brief exhibition of your skill.
- I'm leading you into an enemy's country;
- Come gaily to the charge. They'll weigh the meat
- And count the joints they give you, and they'll watch you:
- But you, by boiling them to pieces, will
- Not only make them tender, but confuse
- The number of the pieces, so as quite
- To upset all their calculations.
- They bring you a fine fish;—his trail is yours.
- And if you filch a slice, that, too, is yours.
- While we are in the house: when we've got out
- It then belongs to me. Th' ἐξαιρέσεις,
- And all the other parts, which can't be counted,
- In which you cannot easily be found out,
- Which may be class'd as parings and as scrapings,
- Shall make a feast for you and me to-morrow.
- And let the porter share in all your spoils,
- That you may pass his gate with his good-will.
- Why need I say much to a prudent man?
- You are my pupil, I am your preceptor,
- Remember this, and come along with me.
And so when we had all praised the cook for the
One, two, three, but where is the fourth, O most excellent Timæus, of those who were guests yesterday, but who are hosts to-day?Then another made answer,
An illness has overtaken him, O Socrates,—and so they went through the whole dialogue in this manner, so that those who were at the feast were very indignant, arid so that that all-accomplished man was laughed at and insulted every day, and that on this account many most respectable men refused all invitations to his entertainments. But these cooks of ours, who are perhaps just as well instructed in these things as he was, give us no little pleasure. And then the slave who had been praised for his cleverness as a cook, said,—Now what have my predecessors ever devised or told us of a similar kind to this and is not my behaviour moderate enough, since I do not boast myself? And yet Corebus the Elean, who was the first man who ever was crowned as victor in the Olympic games, was a cook; and yet he was not as proud of his skill and of his art as the cook in Straton in the Phœnicides, concerning whom the man who had hired him speaks thus—
- 'Tis a male sphinx, and not a cook, that I
- Seem to have introduced into my house.
- For by the gods I swear there's not one thing
- Of all he says that I can understand,
- So full is he of fine new-fangled words.
- For when he first came in, he, looking big,
- Ask'd me this question—"How many μέροπες [*](μέροπες means properly men speaking articulately, in contradis- tinction to brutes. It is a favourite word with Homer.) now
- Have you invited here to dinner? Tell me."—
How many μέροπες have I ask'd to dinner— You're angry.—"Do you think that I'm a man- To have acquaintance with your μέροπεσ?
- It is a fine idea, to make a banquet
- And ask a lot of μέροπες to eat it."
Then do you mean there'll be no δαιτύμων (guest)? No Dætymon that I know of.—Then I counted—v.2.p.602- There'll be Philinus, and Niceratus,
- And Moschion, and this man too, and that—
- And so I counted them all name by name;
- But there was not a Dætymon among them.
No Dætymon will come,said I.What! no one ?- Replied he in a rage, as though insulted
- That not a Dætymon had been invited.
Do you not slay that tearer up of th' earth,- Said he,
the broad-brow'd ox?"In truth, not I;- I've got no ox to kill, you stupid fellow."
Then you will immolate some sheep?"Not I,- By Jove; nor ox, nor sheep, but there's a lamb."
What! don't you know, said he, that lambs are sheep? Indeed,said I, "I neither know nor care- For all this nonsense. I'm but country bred;
- So speak more plainly, if you speak at all."
Why, don't you know that this is Homer's language- My good cook, Homer was a man who had
- A right to call things any names he pleased;
- But what, in Vesta's name, is that to us?"
At least you can't object when I quote him. Why, do you mean to kill me with your Homer? No, but it is my usual way of talking. Then get another way, while here with me. Shall I,says he, "for your four dirty drachmas,- Give up my eloquence and usual habits?
- Well, bring me here the οὐλόχυται." Oh me!
- What are οὐλόχυται?"
Those barley-cakes. You madman, why such roundabout expressions? Is there no sediment of the sea at hand?- "Sediment Speak plain; do tell me what you want
- In words I understand."
Old man,says he,- "You are most wondrous dull; have you no salt?
- That's sediment, and that you ought to know;
- Bring me the basin."—So they brought it. He
- Then slew the animals, adding heaps of words
- Which not a soul of us could understand,
- μίστυλλα, μοίρας,σίπτυχʼ, ὀβελούς[*](These are words applied by Homer to sacrifices.—μοῖρα is a portion, and ὀβελὸς a spit; but μίστυλλα is only a word derived from Homer's verb μιστύλλω, (from which Aemilianus, a friend of Martial, called his cook Mistyllus,) and δίπτυχα is used by Homer as an adverb.)
- So that I took Philetas' Lexicon down,
- To see what each of all these words did mean.
- And then once more I pray'd of him to change,
- And speak like other men; by earth I swear,
- Persuasion's self could not have work'd on him.
But the race of cooks are really very curious for the most part about the histories and names of things. Accordingly the most learned of them say,
The knee is nearer than—and,v.2.p.603the leg,
I have travelled over Asia and Europe:and when they are finding fault with any one they say,
It is impossible to make a Peleus out of an Œneus.—and I once marvelled at one of the old cooks, after I had enjoyed his skill and the specimens of his art which he had invented. And Alexis, in his Caldron, introduces one speaking in he following manner—
- A. He boil'd, it seem'd to me, some pork, from off
- A pig who died by suffocation.
- B. That's nice.
- A. And then he scorch'd it at the fire.
- B. Never mind that; that can be remedied.
- A. How so?
- B. Take some cold vinegar, and pour it
- Into a plate. Dost heed me Then take up
- The dish while hot and put it in the vinegar;
- For while 'tis hot 'twill draw the moisture up
- Through its material, which is porous all;
- And so fermenting, like a pumice-stone,
- 'Twill open all its spongy passages,
- Through which it will imbibe new moisture thoroughly.
- And so the meat will cease to seem dried up,
- But will be moist and succulent again.
- A. O Phœbus, what a great physician's here!
- O Glaucias!—I will do all you tell me.
- B. And serve them, when you do serve them up,
- (Dost mark me?) cold; for so no smell too strong
- Will strike the nostrils; but rise high above them.
- A. It seems to me you're fitter to write books
- Than to cook dinners; since you quibble much
- In all your speeches, jesting on your art.
And now we have had enough of cooks, my feasters; lest perhaps some one of them, pluming himself and quoting the Morose Man of Menander, may spout such lines as these—
But I say to you, in the words of the tuneful Diphilus—
- No one who does a cook an injury
- Ever escapes unpunish'd; for our art
- Is a divine and noble one.
- I place before you now a lamb entire,
- Well skewer'd, and well cook'd and season'd;
- Some porkers in their skins, and roasted whole;
- And a fine goose stuff'd full, like Dureus.
We must now speak of the goose. For as many geese were served up very excellently dressed, some one said, Look at the fat geese (σιτευτοὶ χῆνες). And Ulpian said, Where do you ever find the expression σιτευτὸς χήν? And Plutarch
And Archestratus, in that celebrated poem of his, says—
- But if a person were to take me like
- A fatted goose (χῆνα σιτευτόν).
But we have a right now, O Ulpian, to expect you to tell us, you who question everybody about everything, where this very costly dish of the livers of geese has been mentioned by any ancient writer. For Cratinus is a witness that they were acquainted with people whose business it was to feed geese, in his Dionysalexander, where he says—
- And at the same time dress the young of one
- Fat goose (σιτευτοῦ χῆνος), and let him too be roasted thoroughly.
- Geese-feeders, cow-herds . . . .
And Homer uses the word χὴν in both the masculine and feminine gender; for he says—
And again he says—
- αἰετὸς ἀργὴν χῆνα φέρων–An eagle carrying off a lazy goose.
And in another place he says—
- And as he seized a fine home-fatten'd goose (χῆνα ἀτιταλλομένην).
And Eupolis mentions the livers of geese (and they are thought an excessive delicacy at Rome), in his Women Selling Garlands, where he says—
- I've twenty geese, fond of the lucid stream,
- Who in my house eat wheat, and fatten fast.
- If you have not a goose's liver or heart.
There were also heads of pigs split in half and served up as a dish. And this dish is mentioned by Crobylus, in his Son falsely held to be Supposititious—
After these things there was served up a haricot, called κρεωκάκκαβος. And this dish consists of meat chopped up with blood and fat, in a sauce richly sweetened: and Aristophanes the Grammarian says that it was the Achæans who
- There came in half a head of a young pig,
- A tender dish; and I did stick to it
- So close, by Jove, that I left none of it.
And Aristomenes, in his Jugglers, makes mention in the following terms of boiled meat, which he calls ἀναβραστὰ κρέα— * * * * * They used also to eat the testicles of animals, which they called νέφροι.—Philippodes, in his Renovation, speaking of the gluttony of Gnathæna the courtesan, says—
- O Chians, wondrous is the insolence
- Which now has seized the Erythreans' hearts.
- Flee when you've done your pork-don't wait for beef.
- Then, after all these things, a slave came in,
- Bearing a large dish full of testicles;
- And all the rest of the girls made prudish faces,
- But fair Gnathæna, that undoer of men,
- Laughed, and said, "Capital things are testicles,
- I swear by Ceres." So she took a pair
- And ate them up: so that the guests around
- Fell back upon their chairs from laughing greatly.
And when some one said that a cock dressed with a sauce of oil and vinegar (ὀξυλίπαρον) was a very good bird, Ulpian, who was fond of finding fault, and who was reclining on a couch by himself, eating little, but watching the rest of the guests, said—What is that ὀξυλίπαρον you speak of? unless indeed you give that name to the small figs called κόττανα and lepidium, which are both national food of mine. —But Timocles, he replied, the comic poet, in his play called The Ring, mentions ὀξυλίπαρον, saying—
And Alexis has called some men ἀκρολίπαροι, fat on the surface, in his Wicked Woman, saying—
- And sharks and rays and all the other fish,
- Which may be dressed in sauce of ὀξυλίπαρον.
And once when a large fish was served up in sour pickle (ὀξάλμν), and somebody said that every fish (ὀψάριον) was best when dressed in this kind of pickle, Ulpian, picking out the small bones, and contracting his brows, said,—here do you find the word ὀξάλμη? And as to ὀψάριον, I am quite sure that that is a word used by no living author. However,
- Fat on the surface, but the rest of their body
- Is all as dry as wood.
But Myrtilus in a pleasant manner declared that he subscribed to Ulpian's sentiments, so as to be willing to have nothing to eat, as long as he might talk; and said;—Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has mentioned ὀξάλμη, in the following lines—
- But, my friend, now let us dine,
- After that ask what you choose;
- For at present I'm so hungry,
- I can't recollect a thing.
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps,—
- And in return for this I now will take
- All you my brave companions; and will pound,
- And boil, and broil, and roast you thoroughly,
- In pickle, sour pickle (ὀξάλμη), garlic pickle,
- Soaking you thoroughly in each by turns.
- And that one which does seem most fairly roasted
- I'll do the honour to devour myself.
- Breathe on me, and then put me in hot pickle (ὀξάλμη).
And of living people we ourselves use the word ὀψάριον. Plato does so too; speaking of fish in his Pisander, he says—
And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, says—
- A. Now eating . . . .
- B. What on earth? . . .
- A. Why, all there is;
- Fish (ὀψάριον).
- B. You were sick, and did they give you this?
- A. But I, the other day, eating a crab . . . .
And Philemon, in his Treasure, says—
- Some one has served us up this dish of fish (τʼ ὀψάριον).
And Menander, in his Carthaginian, says—
- It is not right to cheat us in this way,
- Nor to have worthless fish (ὀψάρια).
And in his Ephesian he says—
- I offered Boreas much frankincense,
- And yet I did not catch one single fish (0ʼψάριον),
- So I must now cook lentils for my supper.
And then he goes on to say—
- Having some fish (ὀψάριον) for breakfast.
- Some fishmonger
- Sold me'some tench for four drachmas a-piece.
And a few lines afterwards he writes—
- I now, O Dion, will buy you some fish (ὀψάριον).
And in the Anagyrus of Aristophanes we read—
- Now dress, O boy, the fish (τοὐψάριον) for us.
Where, however, perhaps we must take ὀψάρια as used synony- mously with προσψωήματα, for made dishes in general. For Alexis, in his Woman Sitting up all Night, represents a cook as speaking in the following terms:—
- Unless on all occasions you do soothe me
- With dainty dishes of fish (ὀψαρίου).
- A. Do you prefer your high made dishes hot,
- Or cold, or something just between the two?
- B. Cold.
- A. Are you sure, my master? only think;
- The man has not one notion how to live?
- Am I to serve you everything up cold?
- B. By no means.
- A. Will you, then, have all things hot
- B. O Phœbus!
- A. Then, if neither hot nor cold,
- They surely must be just between the two;
- And none of all my fellows can do this.
- B. I dare say not, nor many other things
- Which you can do.
- A. I'll tell you now, for I
- Give all the guests an opportunity
- To practise a wise mixture of their food.
- Have you not, I adjure you by the gods,
- Just slain a kid?
- B. Don't cut me, cut the meat:—
- Boys, bring the kid.
- A. Is there a kitchen near?
- B. There is.
- A. And has it got a chimney too?
- For this you do not say.
- B. It has a chimney.
- A. But if it smokes, it will be worse than none.
- B. The man will kill me with his endless questions.
These passages I have quoted to you on the part of us who are still alive, my well-fed friend Ulpian. For you too, as it seems to me, agree so far with Alexis as to eat no living animals. And Alexis, in his Attic Woman, speaks in the following manner—
So now after all this let us have some supper. For just see, while I am talking to you, all the pheasants have flown by me, and are gone out of reach, disregarding me, because of your unseasonable chattering. But I should like you to tell me, my master Myrtilus, said Ulpian, where you got that word ὀλβιογάστωρ, and also whether any ancient author mentions the pheasant, and I—
- The man who first did say that no philosopher
- Would eat of living things, was truly wise.
v.2.p.608- For I am just come home, and have not bought
- A living thing of any kind. I've bought
- Some fish, but they were dead, and splendid fish.
- Then here are joints of well-fed household lamb,
- But he was killed last week. What else have I?
- Oh, here's some roasted liver. If there be
- A man who can this liver prove to have
- Or soul or voice or animation,
- I will confess I've err'd and broken the law.
not through the Hellespont, but into the market-place, will buy a pheasant which you and I may eat together.
- Rising at early morn to sail . . . .
And Myrtilus said,—On this condition I will tell you. Amphis uses the word ὀλβιογάστωρ in his Gynæcomania, where he speaks as follows:—
And as for the bird called the pheasant, that delicious writer Aristophanes mentions it in his play called The Birds. There are in that play two old Athenians, who, from their love of idleness, are looking for a city where there is nothing to do, that they may live there; and so they take a fancy to the life among the birds. And accordingly they come to the birds: and when all of a sudden some wild bird flies towards them, they, alarmed at the sight, comfort one another, and say a great many things, and among them they say this—
- Eurybates, you hunter of rich smells,
- You surely are the most well-fed (ὀλβιογάστωρ) of men.
And I also understand the passage in the Clouds to refer to birds, and not to horses as many people take it—
- A. What now is this bird which we here behold?
- Will you not say?
- B. I think it is a pheasant.
For it is very possible that Leogoras may have bred horses and pheasants too. And Leogoras is also turned into ridicule as a gourmand by Plato in his Very Miserable Man.
- The Phasian flocks, bred by Leogoras.
And Theophrastus the Eresian, a pupil of Aristotle, mentions them in the third book of his Treatise on Animals, speaking nearly as follows—
- And as the proverb runs, it is more rare
- Than milk of birds, or than a splendid pheasant
- Artistically pluck'd.
There is also some such difference as this in birds. For the heavy birds which are not so well suited for flying such as the woodcock, the partridge, the cock, and the pheasant, are very well adapted for walking and have thick plumage.And Aristotle, in the eighth book of his History of Animals, writes thus:—
Now of birds there are some which are fond of dusting themselves, and some which are fond of washing, and some which neither dust nor wash themselves. And those which are not good flyers, but which keep chiefly on the ground, are fond of dusting themselves; such as the common fowl, the partridge, the woodcock, the pheasant, the lark.Speusippus also mentions them in the second book of his treatise on Things Resembling one another. And the name these men give the pheasant is φασιανὸς, not φασιανικός.
But Agatharchides of Cnidos, in the thirty-fourth book of his History of the Affairs of Europe, speaking of the river Phasis, writes as follows:—
But the great multitude of the birds called pheasants (φασιανοι) come for the sake of food to the places where the mouths of the rivers fall into the sea.And Callixenus the Rhodian, in the fourth book of his Account of Alexandria, describing a procession which took place in Alexandria, when Ptolemy who was surnamed Philadelphus was king, mentions, as a very extraordinary circumstance connected with these birds—
Then there were brought on in cases parrots, and peacocks, and guinea-fowl, and pheasants, and an immense number of Aethiopian birds.And Artemidorus the pupil of Aristophanes, in his book entitled The Glossary of Cookery, and Pamphilus the Alexandrian, in his treatise on Names and Words, represents Epænetus as saying in his Cookery Book that the pheasant is also called τατύρας. But Ptolemy Euergetes, in the second book of his Commentaries, says that the pheasant is called τατύρας. Now this is what I am able to tell you about the pheasant, which I have seen
The next thing to be mentioned is the woodcock. Aristophanes, in his Storks, says—
And Alexander the Myndian says that it is a bird a little larger than a partridge, and spotted all over the back, about the colour of earthenware, but a little more ruddy. And it is caught by the hunters, because it is a heavy flyer in consequence of the shortness of its wings; and it is a bird fond of dusting itself, and very prolific, and it feeds on seeds.[*](I have translated ἀτταγᾶς the woodcock, because that is always considered to be the bird meant, but it is plain that the description here given does not apply in the least to the woodcock. In some particulars it is more like the landrail.) But Socrates, in his treatise on Boundaries, and Places, and Fire, and Stones, says,—
- The woodcock, most delicious meat to boil,
- Fit dish for conqueror's triumphal feast.
The woodcock having been transported into Egypt from Lydia, and having been let loose in the woods there, for some time uttered a sound like a quail: but after the river got low, and a great scarcity arose, in which a great many of the natives of the country died, they never ceased uttering, as they do to this day, in a voice more distinct than that of the very clearest speaking children, ' Threefold evils to the wicked doers.' But when they are caught it is not only impossible to tame them, but they even cease to utter any sound at all; but if they are let go again, they recover their voice.And Hipponax mentions them thus—
And Aristophanes, in his Birds, mentions them also. And in his Acharnians he speaks of them as being very common in the district about Megara. And the Attic writers circumflex the noun in a manner quite contrary to analogy. For words of more than two syllables ending in ας, when the final α is long, are barytones; as for instance, ἀκάμας, σακάδας, ἀδάμας. And we ought also to read the plural ἀττάγαι, and not ἀτταγῆνες.
- Not eating woodcocks or the timid hare.