Deipnosophistae

There is a dish too made of udder. Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, says—

1. Since I'm a female, I must have an udder.

Herodotus, in the fourth book of his History, uses the same term when speaking of horses; but it is rare to find the word (οὖθαρ) applied to the other animals; but the word most commonly used is ὑπογάστριον, as in the case of fishes. Strattis, in his Atalanta, says—

1. The ὑπογάστριον and the extremities
2. Of the large tunny.

And Theopompus, in his Callæchrus, says—

1. A. And th' ὑπογάστρια of fish.
2. B. O, Ceres!

But in the Sirens he calls it not ὑπογάστρια, but ὑπήτρια, saying—

1. Th' ὑπήτρια of white Sicilian tunnies.

We must now speak of the hare; concerning this animal Archestratus, that author so curious in his dishes, speaks thus—

1. Many are the ways and many the recipes
2. For dressing hares; but this is best of all,
3. To place before a hungry set of guests,
4. A slice of roasted meat fresh from the spit,
5. Hot, season'd only with plain simple salt,
6. Not too much done. And do not you be vex'd
7. At seeing blood fresh trickling from the meat,
8. But eat it eagerly. All other ways
9. Are quite superfluous, such as when cooks pour
10. A lot of sticky clammy sauce upon it,
11. Parings of cheese, and lees, and dregs of oil,
12. As if they were preparing cat's meat.

And Naucrates the comic poet, in his Persia, says that it is an uncommon thing to find a hare in Attica: and he speaks thus—

1. For who in rocky Attica e'er saw
2. A lion or any other similar beast,
3. Where 'tis not easy e'en to find a hare

But Alcæus, in his Callisto, speaks of hares as being plentiful, and says—

1. You should have coriander seed so fine
2. That, when we've got some hares, we may be able
3. To sprinkle them with that small seed and salt.

And Tryphon says,—“Aristophanes, in his Danaides, uses the form λαγὼν in the accusative case with an acute accent on the last syllable, and with a v for the final letter, saying—

1. And when he starts perhaps he may be able
2. To help us catch a hare (λαγών).

And in his Daitaleis he says—

1. I am undone, I shall be surely seen
2. Plucking the fur from off the hare (λαγών).

But Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, writes the accusative λαγῶ without the v, and with a circumflex accent. But among us the ordinary form of the nominative case is λαγός; and as we say ναὸς, and the Attics νεὼς, and as we say λαὸς, and the Attics λεώς; so, while we call this animal λαγὸς, they call him λαγώς. And as for our using the form λαγὸν in the accusative case singular, to that we find a corresponding nominative plural in Sophocles, in his Amycus, a satiric drama; where he enumerates—

1. Cranes, crows, and owls, and kites, and hares (λαγοι).

But there is also a form of the nominative plural corresponding to the accusative λαγὼν, ending in w, as found in the Flatterers of Eupolis—

1. Where there are rays, and hares (λαγὼ), and light-footed women.

But some people, contrary to all reason, circumflex the last syllable of this form λαγώ; but it ought to have an acute accent, since all the nouns which end in ος, even when they. are changed into ως by the Attic writers, still preserve the same accent as if they had undergone no alteration; as ναὸς, νεώς; κάλος, κάλως. And so, too, Epicharmus used this noun, and Herodotus, and the author of the poem called the Helots. Moreover, λαγὸς is the Ionic form—

1. Rouse the sea-hare (λαγὸς) before you drink the water;

and λαγὼς the Attic one. But the Attic writers use also the form λαγός; as Sophocles, in the line above quoted—

1. Cranes, crows, and owls, and hares (λαγοι).

There is also a line in Homer, where he says—

1. ἢ πτῶκα λαγωόν.

Now, if we have regard to the Ionic dialect, we say that w is interpolated; and if we measure it by the Attic dialect, then we say the o is so: and the meat of the hare is called λαγῶα κρέα.

But Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, says that in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas, there were such a number of hares in the island of Astypalæa, that the natives consulted the oracle on the subject. And the Pythia answered them that they ought to breed dogs, and hunt them; and so in one year there were caught more than six thousand. And all this immense number arose from a man of the island of Anaphe having put one pair of hares in the island. As also, on a previous occasion, when a certain Astypalæan had let loose a pair of partridges in the island of Anaphe, there came to be such a number of partridges in Anaphe, that the inhabitants ran a risk of being driven out of the island by them. But originally Astypalea had no hares at all, but only partridges. And the hare is a very prolific animal as Xeno- phon has told us, in his treatise on Hunting; and Herodotus

speaks of it in the following terms—

Since the hare is hunted by everything-man, beast, and bird—it is on this account a very prolific animal; and it is the only animal known which is capable of superfetation. And it has in its womb at one time one litter with the fur on, and another bare, and another just formed, and a fourth only just conceived.

And Polybius, in the twelfth book of his History, says that. there is another animal like the hare which is called the rabbit (κούνικλος); and he writes as follows—

The animal called the rabbit, when seen at a distance, looks like a small hare; but when any one takes it in his hands, there is a great difference between them, both in appearance and taste: and it lives chiefly underground.

And Posidonius the philosopher also mentions them in his History; and we our selves have seen a great many in our voyage from Dicæarchia[*](The same as Puteoli.) to Naples. For there is an island not far from the mainland, opposite the lower side of Dicæarchia, inhabited by only a very scanty population, but having a great number of rabbits. And there is also a kind of hare called the Chelidonian hare, which is mentioned by Diphilus, or Calliades, in his play called Ignorance, in the following terms—

1. What is this? whence this hare who bears the name
2. Of Chelidonian? Is it grey hare soup,
3. Mimarcys call'd, so thick with blood?

And Theophrastus, in the twentieth book of his History, says that there are hares about Bisaltia which have two livers.

And when a wild boar was put upon the table, which was in no respect less than that noble Calydonian boar which has been so much celebrated,—I suggest to you now, said he, O my most philosophical and precise Ulpian, to inquire who ever said that the Calydonian boar was a female, and that her meat was white. But he, without giving the matter any long consideration, but rather turning the question off, said—But it does seem to me, my friends, that if you are not yet satisfied, after having had such plenty of all these things, that you surpass every one who has ever been celebrated for his powers of eating,—and who those people are you can find out by inquiry. But it is more correct and more consistent with etymology to make the name σὺς, with a ς; for the animal has its name from rushing (σεύομαι) and going on

impetuously; but men have got a trick of pronouncing the word without the ς,ὗς; and some people believe that it is called σῦν, by being softened from θῦν, as if it had its name from being a fit animal to sacrifice (θύειν). But now, if it seems good to you, answer me who ever uses the compound word like we do, calling the wild boar not σῦς ἄγριος, but σύαγροσ? At all events, Sophocles, in his Lovers of Achilles, has applied the word σύαγρος to a dog, as hunting the boar (ἀπὸ τοῦ σῦς ἀγρεύειν), where he says—

1. And you, Syagre, child of Pelion.

And in Herodotus we find Syagrus used as a proper name of a man who was a Lacedæmonian by birth, and who went on the embassy to Gelon the Syracusan, about forming an alliance against the Medes; which Herodotus mentions in the seventh book of his History. And I am aware, too, that there was a general of the Aetolians named Syagrus who is mentioned by Phylarchus, in the fourth book of his History. And Democritus said—You always, O Ulpian, have got a habit of never taking anything that is set before you until you know whether the existing name of it was in use among the ancients. Accordingly you are running the risk, on account of all these inquiries of yours, (just like Philetas of Cos, who was always investigating all false arguments and erroneous uses of words,) of being starved to death, as he was. For he became very thin by reason of his devotion to these inquiries, and so died, as the inscription in front of his tomb shows—

1. Stranger, Philetas is my name, I lie
2. Slain by fallacious arguments, and cares
3. Protracted from the evening through the night.

And so that you may not waste away by investigating this word σύαγρος, learn that Antiphanes gives this name to the wild boar, in his Ravished Woman:—

1. This very night a wild boar (σύαγρον) will I seize,
2. And drag into this house, and a lion and a wolf

And Dionysius the tyrant, in his Adonis, says—

1. Under the arched cavern of the nymphs
2. I consecrate . . . .
3. A wild boar (σύαγρον) as the first-fruits to the gods.

And Lynceus the Samian, in his epistle to Apollodoru, writes thus—

That you may have some goat's flesh for your chil- dren, and some meat of the wild boar (τὰ συάγρια) for your-

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self and your friends.

And Hippolochus the Macedonian, whom we have mentioned before now, in his epistle to the above-named Lynceus, mentioned many wild boars (συάγρων). But, since you have turned off the question which was put to you about the colour of the Calydonian boar, and whether any one states him to have been white as to his flesh, we ourselves will tell you who has said so; and you yourself may investigate the proofs which I bring. For some time ago, I read the dithyrambics of Cleomenes of Rhegium; and this account is given in that ode of them which is entitled Meleager. And I am not ignorant that the inhabitants of Sicily call the wild boar (which we call σύαγρος) ἀσχέδωρος. And Aeschylus, in his Phorcides, comparing Perseus to a wild boar, says—

1. He rush'd into the cave like a wild boar (ἀσχέδωρος ὥς).

And Sciras (and he is a poet of what is called the Italian comedy, and a native of Tarentum), in his Meleager, says—

1. Where shepherds never choose to feed their flocks,
2. Nor does the wild boar range and chase his mate.

And it is not wonderful that Aeschylus, who lived for some time in Sicily, should use many Sicilian words.

There were also very often kids brought round by the servants, dressed in various ways; some of them with a great deal of assafoetida, which afforded us no ordinary pleasure; for the flesh of the goat is exceedingly nutritious. At all events, Chitomachus the Carthaginian, who is inferior to no one of the new Academy for his spirit of philosophical investigation, says that a certain Theban athlete surpassed all the men of his time in strength, because he ate goat's flesh; for the juice of that meat is nervous and sticky, and such as can remain a long time in the substance of the body. And this wrestler used to be much laughed at, because of the unpleasant smell of his perspiration. And all the meat of pigs and lambs, while it remains undigested in the system, is very apt to turn, because of the fat. But the banquets spoken of by the comic poets rather please the ears by sweet sounds, than the palate by sweet tastes; as, for instance, the feast mentioned by Antiphanes, in his Female Physician—

1. A. But what meat do you eat with most delight?
2. B. What meat?—why if you mean as to its cheapness,
3. There's mutton ere it bears you wool or milk,
4. That is to say, there's lamb, my friend; and so
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5. There's also meat of goats which give no milk,
6. That is to say, of kids. For so much profit
7. Is got from these when they are fully grown,
8. That I put up with eating cheaper kinds.

And in his Cyclops he says—

1. These are the animals which the earth produces,
2. Which you will have from me: the ox of th' herd,
3. The goat which roves the woods, the chamois which
4. Loves the high mountain tops, the fearless ram,
5. The hog, the boar, the sucking-pig besides,
6. And hares, and kids . . . .
7. Green cheese, dry cheese, and cut and pounded cheese,
8. Scraped cheese, and chopp'd cheese, and congeal'd cheese

And Mnesimachus, in his Horse-breeder, provides the following things for dinner—

1. Come forth, O Manes, from the chamber
2. Deck'd with the lofty cypress roof;
3. Go to the market, to the statues
4. Of Maia's son, where all the chiefs
5. Of the tribes meet, and seek the troop
6. Of their most graceful pupils, whom
7. Phidon is teaching how to mount
8. Their horses, and dismount from them.
9. I need not tell you now their names.
10. Go; tell them that the fish is cold,
11. The wine is hot, the pastry dry,
12. The bread dry, too, and hard. The chops
13. Are burnt to pieces, and the meat
14. Taken from out the brine and dish'd.
15. The sausages are served up too;
16. So is the tripe, and rich black puddings.
17. Those who 're in-doors are all at table,
18. The wine cups all are quickly drain'd,
19. The pledge goes round; and nought remains
20. But the lascivious drunken cordax.[*](The cordax was a lascivious dance of the old comedy; to dance it off the stage was considered a sign of drunkenness and indecency.)
21. The young men all are waxing wanton,
22. And ev'rything's turn'd upside down.
23. Remember what I say, and bear
24. My words in mind.
25. Why stand you gaping like a fool?
26. Look here, and just repeat the message
27. Which I've just told you; do,—I will
28. Repeat it o'er again all through.
29. Bid them come now, and not delay,
30. Nor vex the cook who's ready for them.
31. For all the fish is long since boil'd,
32. And all the roast meat's long since cold.

And mention o'er each separate dish;—

1. Onions and olives, garlic too,
2. Cucumbers, cabbages, and broth,
3. Fig-leaves, and herbs, and tunny cutlets,
4. Glanis and rhinè, shark and conger,
5. A phyxicinus whole, a tunny,
6. A coracinus whole, a thunnis,
7. A small anchovy, and a tench,
8. A spindle-fish, a tail of dog-fish,
9. A carcharias and a torpedo;
10. A sea-frog, lizard, and a perch,
11. A trichias and a phycis too,
12. A brinchus, mullet, and sea-cuckoo.
13. A turtle, and besides a lamprey,
14. A phagrus, lebias, and grey mullet,
15. A sparus, and æolias,
16. A swallow, and the bird of Thrace,
17. A sprat, a squid, a turbot, and
18. Dracænides, and polypi,
19. A cuttle-fish, an orphus too;
20. A crab, likewise an escharus,
21. A needle-fish, a fine anchovy,
22. Some cestres, scorpions, eels, and loaves.
23. And loads of other meat, beyond
24. My calculation or my mention.
25. Dishes of goose, and pork, and beef,
26. And lamb, and mutton, goat and kid;
27. Of poultry, ducks and partridges,
28. Andjays, and foxes. And what follows
29. Will be a downright sight to see,
30. So many good things there will be.
31. And all the slaves through all the house
32. Are busy baking, roasting, dressing,
33. And plucking, cutting, beating, boiling,
34. And laughing, playing, leaping, feasting,
35. And drinking, joking, scolding, pricking.
36. And lovely sounds from tuneful flutes,
37. And song and din go through the house,
38. Of instruments both wind and string'd.
39. Meantime a lovely scent of cassia,
40. From Syria's fertile land, does strike
41. Upon my sense, and frankincense,
42. And myrrh, and nard * * *
43. * * * * *
44. Such a confusion fills the house
45. With every sort of luxury.

Now, after all this conversation, there was brought in the dish which is called Rhoduntia; concerning which that wise cook quoted numbers of tragedies before he would tell us what he was bringing us. And he laughed at those who

professed to be such admirable cooks, mentioning whom, he said—Did that cook in the play of Anthippus, the comic poet, ever invent such a dish as this?—the cook, I mean, who, in the Veiled Man, boasted in this fashion:—

1. A. Sophon, an Ararnanian citizen,
2. And good Democritus of Rhodes, were long
3. Fellow-disciples in this noble art,
4. And Labdacus of Sicily was their tutor.
5. These men effaced all vulgar old recipes
6. Out of their cookery books, and took away
7. The mortar from the middle of the kitchen.
8. They brought into disuse all vinegar,
9. Cummin, and cheese, and assafœtida,
10. And coriander seed, and all the sauces
11. Which Saturn used to keep within his cruets.
12. And the cook who employ'd such means they thought
13. A humbug, a mere mountebank in his art.
14. They used oil only, and clean plates, O father,
15. And a quick fire, wanting little bellows:
16. With this they made each dinner elegant.
17. They were the first who banish'd tears and sneezing,
18. And spitting from the board; and purified
19. The manners of the guests. At last the Rhodian,
20. Drinking some pickle by mistake, did die;
21. For such a draught was foreign to his nature.
22. B. 'Twas likely so to be.
23. A. But Sophon still
24. Has all Ionia for his dominions,
25. And he, O father, was my only tutor.
26. And I now study philosophic rules,
27. Wishing to leave behind me followers,
28. And new discover'd rules to guide the art.
29. B. Ah! but, I fear, you'll want to cut me up,
30. And not the animal we think to sacrifice.
31. A. To-morrow you shall see me with my books,
32. Seeking fresh precepts for my noble art;
33. Nor do I differ from th' Aspendian.
34. And if you will, you too shall taste a specimen
35. Of this my skill. I do not always give
36. The self-same dishes to all kinds of guests;
37. But I regard their lives and habits all.
38. One dish I set before my friends in love,
39. Another's suited to philosophers,
40. Another to tax-gatherers. A youth
41. Who has a mistress, quickly will devour
42. His patrimonial inheritance;
43. So before him I place fat cuttle-fish
44. Of every sort; and dishes too of fish
45. Such as do haunt the rocks, all season'd highly
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46. With every kind of clear transparent sauce.
47. For such a man cares nought about his dinner,
48. But all his thoughts are on his mistress fix'd.
49. Then to philosophers I serve up ham,
50. Or pettitoes; for all that crafty tribe
51. Are wonderful performers at the table.
52. Owls, eels, and spars I give the publicans,
53. When they're in season, but at other times
54. Some lentil salad. And all funeral feasts
55. I make more splendid than the living ones.
56. For old men's palates are not critical;
57. At least not half so much as those of youths.
58. And so I give them mustard, and I make them
59. Sauces of pungent nature, which may rouse
60. Their dormant sense, and make it snug the air;
61. And when I once behold a face, I know
62. The dishes that its owner likes to eat.

And the cook in the Thesmophorus of Dionysius, my revellers, (for it is worth while to mention him also,) says—

1. You have said these things with great severity,
2. (And that's your usual kindness, by the Gods);
3. You've said a cook should always beforehand
4. Know who the guests may be for whom he now
5. Is dressing dinner. For he should regard
6. This single point—whom he has got to please
7. While seasoning his sauces properly;
8. And by this means he'll know the proper way
9. And time to lay his table and to dress
10. His meats and soups. But he who this neglects
11. Is not a cook, though he may be a seasoner.
12. But these are different arts, a wondrous space
13. Separates the two. It is not every one
14. That's called a general who commands an army,
15. But he who can with prompt and versatile skill
16. Avail himself of opportunities,
17. And look about him, changing quick his plans,
18. He is the general. He who can't do this
19. Is only in command. And so with us.
20. To roast some beef, to carve a joint with neatness,
21. To boil up sauces, and to blow the fire,
22. Is anybody's task; he who does this
23. Is but a seasoner and broth-maker:
24. A cook is quite another thing. His mind
25. Must comprehend all facts and circumstances:
26. Where is the place, and when the time of supper;
27. Who are the guests, and who the entertainer;
28. What fish he ought to buy, and when to buy it.
29. . . . . . For all these things
30. You'll have on almost every occasion;
31. But they're not always of the same importance,
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32. Nor do they always the same pleasure give.
33. Archestratus has written on this art,
34. And is by many people highly thought of,
35. As having given us a useful treatise;
36. But still there's much of which he's ignorant,
37. And all his rules are really good for nothing,
38. So do not mind or yield to all the rules
39. Which he has laid down most authoritatively,
40. For a more empty lot of maxims you
41. Will hardly find. For when you write a book
42. On cookery, it will not do to say,

43. As I was just now saying;

    for this art
44. Has no fix'd guide but opportunity,
45. And must itself its only mistress be.
46. But if your skill be ne'er so great, and yet
47. You let the opportunity escape,
48. Your art is lost, and might as well be none.
49. BO man, you're wise. But as for this man who
50. You just now said was coming here to try
51. His hand at delicate banquets, say, does he
52. Forget to come?
53. A. If I but make you now
54. One forced meat ball, I can in that small thing
55. Give you a specimen of all my skill.
56. And I will serve you up a meal which shall
57. Be redolent of the Athenian breezes.
58. * * * * *
59. Dost fear that I shall fail to lull your soul
60. With dishes of sufficient luxury?

And to all this Aemilianus makes answer—

1. My friend, you've made a speech quite long enough
2. In praising your fav'rite art of cookery;—

as Hegesippus says in his Brethren. Do you then—

1. Give us now something new to see beyond
2. Your predecessor's art, or plague us not;
3. But show me what you've got, and tell its name.

And he rejoins—

1. You look down on me, since I am a cook.

But perhaps—

1. What I have made by practising my art—

according to the comic poet Demetrius, who, in his play entitled The Areopagite, has spoken as follows—

1. What I have made by practising my art
2. Is more than any actor e'er has gain'd,—
3. This smoky art of mine is quite a kingdom.
4. I was a caper-pickler with Seleucus,
5. And at the court of the Sicilian king,
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6. Agathocles, I was the very first
7. To introduce the royal dish of lentils.
8. My chief exploit I have not mention'd yet:
9. There was a famine, and a man named Lachares
10. Was giving an entertainment to his friends;
11. Whom I recovered with some caper-sauce.

Lachares made Minerva naked, who caused him no inconvenience; but I will now strip you who are inconveniencing me, said Aemilianus, unless you show me what you have got with you. And he said at last, rather unwillingly, I call this dish the Dish of Roses. And it is prepared in such a way, that you may not only have the ornament of a garland on your head, but also in yourself, and so feast your whole body with a luxurious banquet. Having pounded a quantity of the most fragrant roses in a mortar, I put in the brains of birds and pigs boiled and thoroughly cleansed of all the sinews, and also the yolks of eggs, and with them oil, and pickle-juice, and pepper, and wine. And having pounded all these things carefully together, I put them into a new dish, applying a gentle and steady fire to them. And while saying this, he uncovered the dish, and diffused such a sweet perfume over the whole party, that one of the guests present said with great truth—

1. The winds perfumed the balmy gale convey
2. Through heav'n, through earth, and all the aërial way;

so excessive was the fragrance which was diffused from the roses.

After this, some roasted birds were brought round, and some lentils and peas, saucepans and all, and other things of the same kind, concerning which Phænias the Eresian writes thus, in his treatise on Plants—

For every leguminous cultivated plant bearing seed, is sown either for the sake of being boiled, such as the bean and the pea, (for a sort of boiled soup is made of these vegetables,) or else for the sake of extracting from them a farinaceous flour, as, for instance, the aracus; or else to be cooked like lentils, as the aphace and the common lentil; and some again are sown in order to serve as food for fourfooted animals, as, for instance, the vetch for cattle, and the aphace for sheep. But the vegetable called the pea is mentioned by Eupolis, in his Golden Age. And Heliodorus, who wrote a description of the whole world, in the first book of his treatise on the Acropolis, said—

After the manner in which to boil wheat was discovered, the ancients called it πύανον, but the people of the present day name it ὁλόπυρον."

Now, after this discussion had continued a long time, Democritus said—But at least allow us to have a share of these lentils, or of the saucepan itself, lest some of you get pelted with stones, like Hegemon the Thasian. And Ulpian said,—What is the meaning of this pelting (βαλλητὺς) with stones? for I know that in my native city, Eleusis, there is a festival celebrated which is called βαλλητὺς, concerning which I will not say a word, unless I get a reward from each of you. But I, said Democritus, as I am not a person who makes speeches by the hour for hire, like the Prodeipnus of Timon, will tell you all I know about Hegemon.

Chamæleon of Pontus, in the sixth book of his treatise concerning ancient Comedy, says—"Hegemon of Thasos, the man who wrote the Parodies, was nicknamed The Lentil, and in one of his parodies he wrote—

1. While I revolved these counsels in my mind,
2. Pallas Minerva, with her golden sceptre,
3. Stood by my head, and touched me, and thus spake—
4. O thou ill-treated Lentil, wretched man,
5. Go to the contest: and I then took courage.

And once he came into the theatre, exhibiting a comedy, having his robe full of stones; and he, throwing the stones into the orchestra, caused the spectators to wonder what he meant. And presently afterwards he said—

1. These now are stones, and let who chooses throw them;
2. But Lentil's good alike at every season.

But the man has an exceedingly high reputation for his parodies, and was exceedingly celebrated for reciting his verses with great skill and dramatic power; and on this account he was greatly admired by the Athenians. And in his Battle of the Giants, he so greatly delighted the Athenians, that they laughed to excess on that day; and though on that very day the news of all the disasters which had befallen them in Sicily had just arrived, still no on left the theatre, although nearly every one had lost relations by that calamity; and so they hid their faces and wept, but no one rose to depart, in order to avoid being seen by the spectators from other cities to be grieved at the disaster. But they remained listening to the performance, and that too, though Hegemon himself, when he heard of it, had resolved to cease his recitation. But when the Athenians, being masters of the sea, brought all the actions at law concerning the islands or the islanders into the city, some one instituted a prosecution against Hegemon, and summoned him to Athens to answer it. And he came in court, and brought with him all the workmen of the theatre, and with them he appeared, entreating Alcibiades to assist him. And Alcibiades bade him be of good cheer, and ordered all the workmen to follow him; and so he came to the temple of Cybele, where the trials of prosecutions were held; and then wetting his finger with his mouth, he wiped out the indictment against Hegemon. And though the clerk of the court and the magistrate were indignant at this, they kept quiet for fear of Alcibiades, for which reason also the man who had instituted the prosecution ran away."

This, O Ulpian, is what we mean by pelting (βαλλητὺς), but you, when you please, may tell us about the βαλλητὺς at Eleusis. And Ulpian replied,—But you have reminded me, my good friend Democritus, by your mention of saucepans, that I have often wished to know what that is which is called the saucepan of Telemachus, and who Telemachus was. And Democritus said,—Timocles the comic poet, and he was also a writer of tragedy, in his drama called Lethe, says—

1. And after this Telemachus did meet him,
2. And with great cordiality embraced him,
3. And said, "Nowlend me, I do beg, the saucepans
4. In which you boil'd your beans." And scarcely had
5. He finish'd saying this, when he beheld
6. At some small distance the renowned Philip,
7. Son of Chærephilus, that mighty man,
8. Whom he accosted with a friendly greeting,
9. And then he bade him send some wicker baskets.

But that this Telemachus was a citizen of the borough of Acharnæ, the same poet shows us in his Bacchus, where he says—

1. A. Telemachus th' Acharnian still is speaking,
2. And he is like the new-bought Syrian slaves.
3. B. How so, what does he do? I wish to know.
4. A. He bears about with him a deadly dish.

And in his Icarians, a satyric drama, he says—

1. So that we'd nothing with us; I myself,
2. Passing a miserable night, did first
v.2.p.643
3. Sleep on the hardest bed; and then that Lion,
4. Thudippus, did congeal us all with fear;
5. Then hunger pinch'd us . . . . . .
6. And so we went unto the fiery Dion.
7. But even he had nought with which to help us;
8. So running to the excellent Telemachus,
9. The great Acharnian, I found a heap
10. Of beans, and seized on some and ate them up.
11. And when that ass Cephisodorus saw us,
12. He by a most unseemly noise betray'd us.

From this it is plain that Telemachus, being a person who was constantly eating dishes of beans, was always celebrating the festival Pyanepsia.

And bean soup is mentioned by Heniochus the comic writer, in his play called the Wren, where he says—

1. A. I often, by the Gods I swear, consider
2. In my own mind how far a fig surpasses
3. A cardamum. But you assert that you
4. Have held some conversation with this Pauson,
5. And you request of me a difficult matter.
6. B. But having many cares of divers aspects,
7. Just tell me this, and it may prove amusing;
8. Why does bean soup so greatly fill the stomach,
9. And why do those who know this Pauson's habits
10. Dislike the fire? For this great philosopher
11. Is always occupied in eating beans.

So after this conversation had gone on for some time, water for the hands was brought round; and then again Ulpian asked whether the word χέρνιβον, which we use in ordinary conversation, was used by the ancients; and who had met with it; quoting that passage in the Iliad—

1. He spoke, and bade the attendant handmaid bring
2. The purest water of the living spring,
3. (Her ready hands the ewer (χέρνιβον) and basin held,)
4. Then took the golden cup his queen had fill'd.

But the Attic writers say χερνίβιον, as Lysias, for instance, in his speech against Alcibiades, where he says,

With all his golden wash-hand basins (χερνιβιοις) and incense-burners;

but Eupolis uses the word χειρόνιπτρον, in his Peoples—

1. And he who runs up first receives a basin (χειρόνιπτρον),
2. But when a man is both a virtuous man
3. And useful citizen, though he surpass
4. In virtue all the rest, he gets no basin (χειρόνιπτρον).

But Epicharmus, in his Ambassadors for a Sacred Purpose, uses the word χειρόνιβον in the following lines:—

1. A harp, and tripods, chariots too, and tables
2. Of brass Corinthian, and wash-hand basins (χειρόνιβα),
3. Cups for libations, brazen caldrons too.

But it is more usual to say κατὰ χειρὸς ὕδωρ (water to be poured over the hands), as Eupolis does say in his Golden Age, and Ameipsias in his Sling, and Alcæus in his Sacred Wedding: and this is a very common expression. But Philyllius, in his Auge, says κατὰ χειρῶν, not χειρὸς, in these lines:—

1. And since the women all have dined well,
2. 'Tis time to take away the tables now,
3. And wipe them, and then give each damsel water
4. To wash her hands (κατὰ χειρῶν), and perfumes to anoint them.

And Menander, in his Pitcher, says—

1. And they having had water for their hands (κατὰ χειρῶν λαβόντες),
2. Wait in a friendly manner.

But Aristophanes the grammarian, in his Commentary on the Tablets of Callimachus, laughs at those who do not know the difference between the two expressions, κατὰ χειρὸς and ἀπονίψασθαι; for he says that among the ancients the way in which people washed their hands before breakfast and supper was called κατὰ χειρὸς, but what was done after those meals was called ἀπονίψασθαι. But the grammarian appears to have taken this observation from the Attic writers, since Homer says, somewhere or other—

1. Marshall'd in order due, to each a sewer
2. Presents, to bathe his hands (νίψασθαι), a radiant ewer;
3. Luxuriant then they feast.

And somewhere else he says—

1. The golden ewer a maid obsequious brings,
2. Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs,
3. With copious water the bright vase supplies,
4. A silver laver of capacious size;
5. They wash (ὕδωρ ἐπὶ χεῖρας ἔχευαν). The tables in fair order spread,
6. They heap the glittering canisters with bread.

And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, says—

1. O hard-work'd Cæcoa, give us water for our hands (κατὰ χειρὸς),
2. And then prepare the table for our food.

And among both the tragic and comic writers the word χερνίβα is read with an acute accent on the penultima. By Euripides, in his Hercules—

1. Which great Alcmena's son might in the basin (χερνίβα) dip.

And also by Eupolis, in his Goats—

1. Here make an end of your lustration (χερνίβα).

And χέρνιψ means the water into which they used to dip a firebrand which they took from the altar on which they were offering the sacrifice, and then sprinkling the bystanders with it, they purified them. But the accusative χερνιβα ought to be written with an acute accent on the antepenultima; for all compound words like that, ending in ψ, derived from the perfect passive, preserve the vowel of the penultima of that perfect tense. And if the perfect ends its penultimate syllable with a double μμ, then the derivative has a grave on the ultima, as λέλειμμαι αἰγίλιψ, τέτριμμαι οἰκότριψ, κέκλεμμαι βοόκλεψ (a word found in Sophocles and applied to Mercury), βέβλεμμαι κατώβλεψ (a word found in Archelaus of the Chersonese, in his poem on Things of a Peculiar Nature: and in the oblique cases such words keep the accent on the same syllable. And Aristophanes, in his Heroes, has used the word χερνίβιον.

And for washing the hands they also used something which they called σμῆμα, or soap, for the sake of getting off the dirt; as Antiphanes mentions in his Corycus—

1. A. But while I'm listening to your discourse,
2. Bid some one bring me water for my hands.
3. B. Let some one here bring water and some σμῆμα.

And besides this they used to anoint their hands with perfumes, despising the crumbs of bread on which men at banquets used to wipe their hands, and which the Lacedæmonians called κυνάδες, [*](As being thrown to the dogs; from κυὼν, a dog.) as Polemo mentions in his Letter on Mean Appellations. But concerning the custom of anointing the hands with perfumes, Epigenes or Antiphanes (whichever was the author of the play called the Disappearance of Money) speaks as follows:—

1. And then you'll walk about, and, in the fashion,
2. Will take some scented earth, and wash your hands

And Philoxenus, in his play entitled the Banquet, says—

1. And then the slaves brought water for the hands (νίπτρα κατὰ χειρῶν,)
2. And soap (σμῆμα) well mix'd with oily juice of lilies,
3. And poured o'er the hands as much warm water
4. As the guests wish'd. And then they gave them towels
5. Of finest linen, beautifully wrought,
6. And fragrant ointments of ambrosial smell,
7. And garlands of the flow'ring violet.

And Dromo, in his Female Harp-player, says—

1. And then, as soon as we had breakfasted,
2. One handmaid took away the empty tables,
3. Another brought us water for our hands;
4. We wash'd, and took our lily wreaths again,
5. And crown'd our heads with garlands.

But they called the water in which they washed either their hands or their feet equally ἀπόνιπτρον; Aristophanes says—

1. Like those who empty slops (ἀπόνιπτρον) at eventide.

And they used the word λεκάνη, or basin, in the same way as they used χειρόνιπτρον (a wash-hand basin); but the word ἀπόνιμμα is used in a peculiar sense by the Attic writers only for the water used to do honour to the dead, and for purifying men who have incurred some religious pollution. As also Clidemus tells us, in his book entitled Exegeticus; for he, having mentioned the subject of Offerings to the Dead, writes as follows:—

Dig a trench to the west of the tomb. Then look along the side of the trench towards the west. Then pour down water, saying these words,—'I pour this as a purifying water for you to whom it is right to pour it, and who have a right to expect it.' Then after that pour perfume.

And Dorotheus gives the same instructions; saying, that among the hereditary national customs of the people of Thyatira, these things are written concerning the purification of suppliants,—

Then having washed your hands yourself, and when all the rest of those who have joined in disembowelling the victim have washed theirs, take water and purify yourselves, and wash off all the blood from him who is to be purified: and afterwards stir the purifactory water, and pour it into the same place.

But the cloth of unbleached linen with which they used to wipe their hands was called χειρόμακτρον, which also, in some verses which have been already quoted, by Philoxenus of Cythera, was called ἔκτριμμα. Aristophanes, in his Cook's Frying, says—

1. Bring quickly, slave, some water for the hands (κατὰ χειρος),
2. And bring at the same time a towel (χειρόμακτρον) too.

(And we may remark here, that in this passage he uses the expression κατὰ χειρὸς with reference to washing the hands after eating; not, as Aristophanes the grammarian says, that the Athenians used the expression κατὰ χειρὸς before eating, but the word νίψασθαι after eating.) Sophocles, in his (Enomaus, says—

1. Shaved in the Scythian manner, while his hair
2. Served for a towel, and to wipe his hands in.

And Herodotus, in the second book of his History, speaks in a similar manner. But Xenophon, in the first book of his Cyropædia, writes—

But when you have touched any one of these things, you immediately wipe your hands in a towel, as if you were greatly annoyed at their having been polluted in such a manner.

And Polemo, in the sixth book of his books addressed to Antigonus and Adæus, speaks of the difference between the two expressions κατὰ χειρὸς ανδ νίψα- σθαι. And Demonicus, in his Achelonius, uses the expression κατὰ χειρὸς, of water used before a meal, in these lines:—

1. But each made haste, as being about to dine
2. With one who 'd always a good appetite,
3. And who had also but Bœotian manners.
4. And so they all neglected washing their hands (κατὰ χειρὸς),
5. Because they could do that when they had dined.

And Cratinus also mentions towels, which he calls ὠμόλινον, in his Archilochi,—

1. With her hair cover'd with a linen towel,
2. Token of slovenly neglect.

And Sappho, in the fifth book of her Melodies addressed to Venus, when she says—

1. And purple towels o'er your knees I'll throw,
2. And do not you despise my precious gifts
3. * * * * * * *

speaks of these towels as a covering for the head; at Hecatæus shows, or whoever else it was who wrote those Descriptions of the World in the book entitled Asia,—

And the women wear towels (χειρόμακτρα) on their heads.

And Herodotus, in his second book, says,

And after this they said that this king descended down alive into the lower regions, which the Greeks call αἵδης, and that there he played at dice with Ceres, and that sometimes he won and sometimes he lost; and that after that he returned to earth with a gold-embroidered towel, which he had received as a present from her.