Athenaeus, Deipnosophists

§ 14.56 χόρια are cakes made up with honey and milk. The ἀμορβίτης is a species of cheesecake in fashion among the Sicilians. But some people call it παισά. And among the Coans it is called πλακούντιον,, as we are informed by Iatrocles. Then there are the σησαμίδες, which are cakes made of honey, and roasted sesame, and oil, of a round shape. Eupolis, in his Flatterers, says — He is all grace, he steps like a callabis-dancer, And breathes sesamides, and smells of apples. And Antiphanes, in his Deucalion, says — Sesamides, or honey-cheesecakes, Or any other dainty of the kind. And Ephippus, in his Cydon, also mentions them in a passage which has been already quoted. Then there are μύλλοι. Heraclides the Syracusan, in his treatise on Laws, says, that in Syracuse, on the principal day of the Thesmophorian festival, cakes of a peculiar shape are made of sesame and honey, which are called μύλλοι throughout all Sicily, and are carried about as offerings to the goddesses. There is also the echinus. Lynceus the Samian, in his epistle to Diagoras, comparing the things which are considered dainties in Attica with those which are in esteem at Rhodes, writes thus: “They have for the second course a rival to the fame of the ἄμης in a new antagonist called the ἐχῖνος, concerning which I will speak briefly; but when you come and see me, and eat one which shall be prepared for you in the Rhodian manner, then I will endeavour to say more about it.” There are also cheesecakes named κοτυλίσκοι. Heracleon of Ephesus tells us that those cheesecakes have this name which are made of the third part of a choenix of wheat. There are others called χοιρίναι, which are mentioned by Iatrocles in his treatise on Cheesecakes; and he speaks also of that which is called πυραμοῦς, which he says differs from the πυραμίς, inasmuch as this latter is made of bruised wheat which has been softened with honey. And these cheesecakes are in nightly festivals given as prizes to the man who has kept awake all night.

§ 14.57 But Chrysippus of Tyana, in his book called the Art of Making Bread, enumerates the following species and genera of cheesecakes: — “The terentinum, the crassianum, the tutianum, the sabellicum, the clustron, the julianum, the apicianum, the canopicum, the pelucidum, the cappadocium, the hedybium, the maryptum, the plicium, the guttatum, the montianum. This last,” he says, “you will soften with sour wine, and if you have a little cheese you may mash the montianum up half with wine and half with cheese, and so it will be more palatable. Then there is the clustrum curianum, the clustrum tuttatum, and the clustrum tabonianum. There are also mustacia made with mead, mustacia made with sesame, crustum purium, gosgloanium, and paulianum. ”The following cakes resembling cheesecakes," he says, “are really made with cheese: — the enchytus, the scriblites, the subityllus. There is also another kind of subityllus made of groats. Then there is the spira; this, too, is made with cheese. There are, too, the lucuntli, the argyrotryphema, the libos, the cercus, the aexaphas, the clustroplacous. There is also,” says Chrysippus, "a cheesecake made of rye. The phthois is made thus: — Take some cheese and pound it, then put it into a brazen sieve and strain it; then put in honey and a hemina of flour made from spring wheat, and beat the whole together into one mass. “There is another cake, which is called by the Romans catillus ornatus, and which is made thus: — Wash some lettuces and scrape them; then put some wine into a mortar and pound the lettuces in it; then, squeezing out the juice, mix up some flour from spring wheat in it, and allowing it to settle, after a little while pound it again, adding a little pig's fat and pepper; then pound it again, draw it out into a cake, smoothe it, and cut it again, and cut it into shape, and boil it in hot oil, putting all the fragments which you have cut off into a strainer. ”Other kinds of cheesecakes are the following: — the ostracites, the attanites, the amylum, the tyrocoscinum. Make this last thus: — Pound some cheese (τῦρον) carefully, and put it into a vessel; then place above it a brazen sieve (κόσκινον) and strain the cheese through it. And when you are going to serve it up, then put in above it a sufficient quantity of honey. The cheesecakes called ὑποτυρίδες are made thus: — Put some honey into some milk, pound them, and put them into a vessel, and let them coagulate; then, if you have some little sieves at hand, put what is in the vessel into them, and let. the whey run off; and when it appears to you to have coagulated thoroughly, then take up the vessel in which it is, and transfer it to a silver dish, and the coat, or crust, will be uppermost. But if you have no such sieves; then use some new fans, such as those which are used to blow the fire; for they will serve the same purpose. Then there is the coptoplacous. And also," says he, “in Crete they make a kind of cheesecake which they call gastris. And it is made thus: — Take some Thasian and Pontic nuts and some almonds, and also a poppy. Roast this last with great care, and then take the seed and pound it in a clean mortar; then, adding the fruits which I have mentioned above, beat them up with boiled honey, putting in plenty of pepper, and make the whole into a soft mass, (but it will be of a black colour because of the poppy;) flatten it and make it into a square shape; then, having pounded some white sesame, soften that too with boiled honey, and draw it out into two cakes, placing one beneath and the other above, so as to have the black surface in the middle, and make it into a neat shape.” These are the recipes of that clever writer on confectionary, Chrysippus.

§ 14.58 But Harpocration the Mendesian, in his treatise on Cheesecakes, speaks of a dish which the Alexandrians call παγκαρπία. Now this dish consists of a number of cakes mashed up together and boiled with honey. And after they are boiled, they are made up into round balls, and fastened round with a thin string of byblus in order to keep them together. There is also a dish called πόλτος, which Alcman mentions in the following terms — And then we'll give you poltos made of beans (πυάνιος), And snow-white wheaten groats from unripe corn, And fruit of wax. But the substantive πυάνιον, as Sosibius tells us, means a collection of all kinds of seeds boiled up in sweet wine. And χῖδρος means boiled grains of wheat. And when he speaks here of waxy fruit, he means honey. And Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea, speaks thus — To boil some morning πόλτος. And Pherecrates mentions the cakes called μελικηρίδων in his Deserters, speaking as follows — As one man smells like goats, but others Breathe from their mouths unalloy'd μελικήρας.

§ 14.59 And when all this had been said, the wise Ulpian said, — Whence, my most learned grammarians, and out of what librae served up for each of you on the table, tell us now, you epicures, what writer of authority ever mentions this word κοπτή? Democritus replied: Dionysius of Utica, in the seventh book of his Georgics, says that the sea leek is called κοπτή. And as for the honey-cake which is now served up before each of us, Clearchus the Solensian, in his treatise on Riddles, mentions that, saying — “If any one were to order a number of vessels to be mentioned which resemble one another, he might say, A tripod, a bowl, a candlestick, a marble mortar, A bench, a sponge, a caldron, a boat, a metal mortar, An oil-cruse, a basket, a knife, a ladle, A goblet, and a needle. And after that he gives a list of the names of different dishes, thus — Soup, lentils, salted meat, and fish, and turnips, Garlic, fresh meat, and tunny -roe, pickles, onions, Olives, and artichokes, capers, truffles, mushrooms. And in the same way he gives a catalogue of cakes, and sweetmeats, thus — Ames, placous, entiltos, itrium, Pomegranates, eggs, vetches, and sesame; Copte and grapes, dried figs, and pears and peaches Apples and almonds.” These are the words of Clearchus. But Sopater the farce writer, in his drama entitled Pylae, says — Who was it who invented first black cakes (κοπταὶ) Of the uncounted poppy-seed? who mix'd The yellow compounds of delicious sweetmeats? Here my excellent cross-examiner, Ulpian, you have authorities for κοπτή; and so now I advise you ἀπεσθίειν some. And he, without any delay, took and ate some. And when they all laughed, Democritus said; — But, my fine word-catcher, I did not desire you to eat, but not to eat; for the word ἀπεσθίω is used in the sense of abstaining from eating by Theopompus the comic poet, in his Phineus, where he says — Cease gambling with the dice, my boy, and now Feed for the future more on herbs. Your stomach Is hard with indigestion; give up eating (ἀπέσθιε) Those fish that cling to the rocks; the lees of wine Will make your head and senses clear, and thus You'll find your health, and your estate too, better. Men do, however, use ἀπεσθίω for to eat a portion of anything, as Hermippus does, in his Soldiers — Alas! alas! he bites me now, he bites, And quite devours (ἀπεσθίει) my ears.

§ 14.61 The Syrian being convicted by these arguments, and being a good deal annoyed, said — But I see here on the table some pistachio nuts (ψιττάκια); and if you can tell me what author has ever spoken of them, I will give you, not ten golden staters, as that Pontic trifler has it, but this goblet. And as Democritus made no reply, he said, But since you cannot answer me, I will tell you; Nicander of Colophon, in his Theriacans, mentions them, and says — Pistachio nuts (ψιττάκια) upon the highest branches, Like almonds to the sight. The word is also written βιστάκια,, in the line — And almond-looking βιστάκια were there. And Posidonius the Stoic, in the third book of his History, writes thus: “But both Arabia and Syria produce the peach, and the nut which is called βιστάκιον; which bears a fruit in bunches like bunches of grapes, of a sort of tawny white, long shaped, like tears, and the nuts lie on one another like berries. But the kernel is of a light green, and it is less juicy than the pine-cone, but it has a more pleasant smell. And the brothers who together composed the Georgics, write thus, in the third book — ”There is also the ash, and the turpentine tree, which the Syrians call πιστάκια." And these people spell the word πιστάκια with a π, but Nicander writes it φιττάκια, and Posidonius βιστάκια.

§ 14.62 And when he had said this, looking round on all those who were present, and being praised by them, he, said, — But I mean also to discuss every other dish that there is on the table, in order to make you admire my varied learning. And first of all I will speak of those which the Alexandrians call κόνναρα and παλίουροι. And they are mentioned also by Agathocles of Cyzicus, in the third book of his History of his Country; where he says: “But after the thunderbolt had struck the tomb, there sprung up from the monument a tree which they call κόνναρον. And this tree is not at all inferior in size to the elm or the fir. And it has great numbers of branches, of great length and rather thorny; but its leaf is tender and green, and of a round shape. And it bears fruit twice a year, in spring and autumn. And the fruit is very sweet, and of the size of a phaulian olive, which it resembles both in its flesh and in its stone; but it is superior in the good flavour of its juice. And the fruit is eaten while still green; and when it has become dry they make it into paste, and eat it without either bruising it or softening it with water, but taking it in very nearly its natural state. And Euripides, in the Cyclops, speaks of — A branch of paliurus. Eur. Cycl. 393. But Theopompus, in the twenty-first book of his Philippica, mentions them, and Diphilus, the physician of Siphnus, also speaks of them, in his treatise on What may be eaten by People in Health, and by Invalids. But I have mentioned these things first, my good friends, not because they are before us at this moment, but because in the beautiful city of Alexandria, I have often eaten them as part of the second course, and as I have often heard the question as to their names raised there, I happened to fall in with a book here in which I read what I have now recounted to you.

§ 14.63 And I will now take the pears (ἄπιον), which I see before me, and speak of them, since it is from them that the Peloponnesus was called ᾿απία, because plants of the pear tree were abundant in the country, as Ister tells us, in his treatise on the History of Greece. And that it was customary to bring up pears in water at entertainments, we learn from the Breutias of Alexis, where we read these lines — A. Have you ne'er seen pears floating in deep water Served up before some hungry men at dinner? B. Indeed I have, and often; what of that? A. Does not each guest choose for himself, and eat The ripest of the fruit that swims before him? B. No doubt he does. But the fruit called ἁμαμηλίδες are not the same as pears, as some people have fancied, but they are a different thing, sweeter, and they have no kernel. Aristomenes, in his Dionysos, says — Know you not how the Chian garden grows Fine medlars And Aeschylides too, in the third book of his Georgics, shows us that it is a different fruit from the pear, and sweeter. For he is speaking of the island Ceos, and he expresses himself thus, — ”The island produces the very finest pears, equal to that fruit which in Ionia is called hamamelis; for they are free from kernels, and sweet, and delicious." But Aethlius, in the fifth book of his Samian Annals, if the book be genuine, calls them homomelides. And Pamphilus, in his treatise on Dialects and Names, says, “The epimelis is a species of pear.” Antipho, in his treatise on Agriculture, says that the phocides are also a kind of pear.

§ 14.64 Then there are pomegranates. And of pomegranates some kinds are said to be destitute of kernels, and some to have hard ones. And those without kernels are mentioned by Aristophanes in his Farmers; and in his Anagyrus he says — Except wheat flour and pomegranates. He also speaks of them in the Gerytades; and Hermippus, in his Cercopes, says — Have you e'er seen the pomegranate's kernel in snow? And we find the diminutive form ῥοΐδιον, like βοΐδιον. Antiphanes also mentions the pomegranates with the hard kernels in his Boeotia — I bade him bring me from the farm pomegranates Of the hard-kernell'd sort. And Epilycus, in his Phoraliscus, says — You are speaking of apples and pomegranates. Alexis also, in his Suitors, has the line — He took the rich pomegranates from their hands. But Agatharchides, in the nineteenth book of his History of Europe, tells us that the Boeotians call pomegranates not ῥοιαὶ but σίδαι, speaking thus: — “As the Athenians were disputing with the Boeotians about a district which they called Sidae, Epaminondas, while engaged in upholding the claims of the Boeotians, suddenly lifted up in his left hand a pomegranate which he had concealed, and showed it to the Athenians, asking them what they called it, and when they said ῥοιὰ, But we,' said he,' call it σίδη..' And the district bears the pomegranate-tree in great abundance, from which it originally derived its name. And Epaminondas prevailed.” And Menander, in his Heauton-Timorumenos, called them ῥοΐδια, in the following lines — And after dinner I did set before them Almonds, and after that we ate pomegranates. There is, however, another plant called sida, which is something like the pomegranate, and which grows in the lake Orchomenus, in the water itself; and the sheep eat its leaves, and the pigs feed on the young shoots, as Theophrastus tells us, in the fourth book of his treatise on Plants; where he says that there is another plant like it in the Nile, which grows without any roots.

§ 14.65 The next thing to be mentioned are dates. Xenophon, in the second book of his Anabasis, says — “And there was in the district a great deal of corn, and wine made of the dates, and also vinegar, which was extracted from them; but the berries themselves of the date when like what we see in Greece, were set apart for the slaves. But those which were destined for the masters were all carefully selected, being of a wonderful size and beauty, and their colour was like amber. And some they dry and serve up as sweetmeats; and the wine made from the date is sweet, but it produces headache.” And Herodotus, in his first book, speaking of Babylon says, — “There are palm-trees there growing over the whole plain, most of them being very fruitful; and they make bread, and wine, and honey of them. And they manage the tree in the same way as the fig-tree. For those palm-trees which they call the males they take, and bind their fruit to the other palm-trees which bear dates, in order that the insect which lives in the fruit of the male palm may get into the date and ripen it, and so prevent the fruit of the date-bearing palm from being spoilt. For the male palm has an insect in each of its fruits, as the wild fig has.” And Polybius of Megalopolis, who speaks with the authority of an eye-witness, gives very nearly the same account of the lotus, as it is called, in Libya, that Herodotus here gives of the palm-tree; for he speaks thus of it: “And the lotus is a tree of no great size, but rough and thorny, and its leaf is green like that of the rhamnus, but a little thicker and broader. And the fruit at first resembles both in colour and size the berries of the white myrtle when full grown; but as it increases in size it becomes of a scarlet colour, and in size about equal to the round olives; and it has an exceedingly small stone. But when it is ripe they gather it. And some they store for the use of the servants, bruising it and mixing it with groats, and packing it into vessels. And that which is preserved for freemen is treated in the same way, only that the stones are taken out, and then they pack that fruit also in jars, and eat it when they please. And it is a food very like the fig, and also like the palm-date, but superior in fragrance. And when it is moistened and pounded with water, a wine is made of it, very sweet and enjoyable to the taste, and like fine mead; and they drink it without water; but it will not keep more than ten days, on which account they only make it in small quantities as they want it. They also make vinegar of the same fruit.”

§ 14.66 And Melanippides the Melian, in his Danaides, calls the fruit of the palm-tree by the name of φοίνιξ, mentioning them in this manner: — “They had the appearance of inhabitants of the shades below, not of human beings; nor had they voices like women; but they drove about in chariots with seats, through the woods and groves, just as wild beasts do, holding in their hands the sacred frankincense, and the fragrant dates (φοίνικας), and cassia, and the delicate perfumes of Syria.” And Aristotle, in his treatise on Plants, speaks thus: — “The dates (φοίνικες) without stones, which some call eunuchs and others ἀπύρηνοι..” Hellanicus has also called the fruit φοίνιξ, in his Journey to the Temple of Ammon, if at least. the book be a genuine one; and so has Phormus the comic poet, in his Atalantae. But concerning those that are called the Nicolaan dates, which are imported from Syria, I can give you this information; that they received this name from Augustus the emperor, because he was exceedingly fond of the fruit, and because Nicolaus of Damascus, who was his friend, was constantly sending him presents of it. And this Nicolaus was a philosopher of the Peripatetic School, and wrote a very voluminous history.

§ 14.67 Now with respect to dried figs. Those which came from Attica were always considered a great deal the best. Accordingly Dinon, in his History of Persia, says — “And they used to serve up at the royal table all the fruits which the earth produces as far as the king's dominions extend, being brought to him from every district as a sort of first-fruits. And the first king did not think it becoming for the kings either to eat or drink anything which came from any foreign country; and this idea gradually acquired the force of a law. For once, when one of the eunuchs brought the king, among the rest of the dishes at dessert, some Athenian dried figs, the king asked where they came from. And when he heard that they came from Athens, he forbade those who had bought them to buy them for him any more, until it should be in his power to take them whenever he chose, and not to buy them. And it is said that the eunuch did this on purpose, with a view to remind him of the expedition against Attica.” And Alexis, in his Pilot, says — Then came in figs, the emblem of fair Athens, And bunches of sweet thyme. And Lynceus, in his epistle to the comic poet, Posidippus, says — “In the delineation of the tragic passions, I do not think that Euripides is at all superior to Sophocles, but in dried figs, I do think that Attica is superior to every other country on earth.” And in his letter to Diagoras, he writes thus: — “But this country opposes to the Chelidonian dried figs those which are called Brigindaridae, which in their name indeed are barbarous, but which in delicious flavour are not at all less Attic than the others. And Phoenicides, in his Hated Woman, says — They celebrate the praise of myrtle-berries, Of honey, of the Propylaea, and of figs; Now these I tasted when I first arrived, And saw the Propylaea; yet have I found nothing Which to a woodcock can for taste compare. In which lines we must take notice of the mention of the woodcock. But Philemon, in his treatise on Attic Names, says that ”the most excellent dried figs are those called Aegilides; and that Aegila is the name of a borough in Attica, which derives its name from a hero called Aegilus; but that the dried figs of a reddish black colour are called Chelidonians." Theopompus also, in the Peace, praising the Tithrasian figs, speaks thus — Barley cakes, cheesecakes, and Tithrasian figs. But dried figs were so very much sought after by all men, (for really, as Aristophanes says — There's really nothing nicer than dried figs;) that even Amitrochates, the king of the Indians, wrote to Antiochus, entreating him (it is Hegesander who tells this story) to buy and send him some sweet wine, and some dried figs, and a sophist; and that Antiochus wrote to him in answer, “The dried figs and the sweet wine we will send you; but it is not lawful for a sophist to be sold in Greece. The Greeks were also in the habit of eating dried figs roasted, as Pherecrates proves by what he says in the Corianno, where we find — But pick me out some of those roasted figs. And a few lines later he says — Will you not bring me here some black dried figs Dost understand? Among the Mariandyni, That barbarous tribe, they call these black dried figs Their dishes. I am aware, too, that Pamphilus has mentioned a kind of dried figs, which he calls προκνίδες.

§ 14.68 That the word βότρυς is common for a bunch of grapes is known to every one; and Crates, in the second book of his Attic Dialect, uses the word σταφυλὴ, although it appears to be a word of Asiatic origin; saying that in some of the ancient hymns the word σταφυλὴ. is used for βότρυς, as in the following line: — Thick hanging with the dusky grapes (σταφυλῆσι) themselves. And that the word σταφυλὴ is used by Homer is known to every one. But Plato, in the eighth book of his Laws, uses both βότρυς and σταφυλὴ, where he says — ”Whoever tastes wild fruit, whether it be grapes (βοτρύων) or figs, before the time of the vintage arrives, which falls at the time of the rising of Arcturus, whether it be on his own farm, or on any one else's land, shall be fined fifty sacred drachmas to be paid to Dionysos, if he plucked them off his own land; but a mina if he gather them on a neighbour's estate; but if he take them from any other place, two-thirds of a mina. But whoever chooses to gather the grapes (τὴν σταφυλὴν), which are now called the noble grapes, or the figs called the noble figs, if he gather them from his own trees, let him gather them as he pleases, and when he pleases; but if he gathers them from the trees of any one else without having obtained the leave of the owner, then, in accordance with the law which forbids any one to move what he has not placed, he shall be invariably punished." These are the words of the divine Plato; but I ask now what is this noble grape (γενναῖα), and this noble fig that he speaks of? And you may all consider this point while I am discussing the other dishes which are on the table. And Masurius said — But let us not postpone this till tomorrow, Still less till the day after. When the philosopher says γενναῖα, he means εὐγενῆ,, generous, as Archilochus also uses the word — Come hither, you are generous (γενναῖος); or, perhaps, he means ἐπιγεγενημένα; that is to say, grafted. For Aristotle speaks of grafted pears, and calls them ἐπεμβολάδες. And Demosthenes, in his speech in defence of Ctesiphon, has the sentence, “gathering figs, and grapes (βότρυς), and olives.” And Xenophon, in his (Economics, says, “that grapes (τὰς σταφυλὰς) are ripened by the sun.” And our ancestors also have been acquainted with the practice of steeping grapes in wine. Accordingly Eubulus, in his Catacollomenos, says — But take these grapes (βότρυς), and in neat wine pound them. And pour upon them many cups of water. Then make him eat them when well steep'd in wine. And the poet, who is the author of the Chiron, which is generally attributed to Pherecrates, says — Almonds and apples, and the arbutus first, And myrtle-berries, pastry, too, and grapes Well steep'd in wine; and marrow. And that every sort of autumn fruit was always plentiful at Athens, Aristophanes testifies in his Horae. Why, then, should that appear strange which Aethlius the Samian asserts in the fifth book of his Samian Annals, where he says, “The fig, and the grape, and the medlar, and the apple, and the rose grow twice a-year?” And Lynceus, in his letter to Diagoras, praising the Nicostratian grape, which grows in Attica, and comparing it to the Rhodiacan, says, “As rivals of the Nicostratian grapes they grow the Hipponian grape; which after the month Hecatombaeon (like a good servant) has constantly the same good disposition towards its masters.”

§ 14.69 But as you have had frequent discussions about meats, and birds, and pigeons, I also will tell you all that I, after a great deal of reading, have been able to find out in addition to what has been previously stated. Now the word περιστέριον (pigeon), may be found used by Menander in his Concubine, where he says — He waits a little while, and then runs up And says — “I've bought some pigeons (περιστέρια) for you.” And so Nicostratus, in his Delicate Woman, says — These are the things I want, — a little bird, And then a pigeon (περιστέριον) and a paunch. And Anaxandrides, in his Reciprocal Lover, has the line — For bringing in some pigeons (περιστέρια) and some sparrows. And Phrynichus, in his Tragedians, says — Bring him a pigeon (περιστέριον) for a threepenny piece. Now with respect to the pheasant, Ptolemy the king, in the twelfth book of his Memorabilia, speaking of the palace which there is at Alexandria, and of the animals which are kept in it, says, “They have also pheasants, which they call τέταροι, which they not only used to send for from Media, but they also used to put the eggs under broody hens, by which means they raised a number, so as to have enough for food; for they call it very excellent eating.” Now this is the expression of a most magnificent monarch, who confesses that he himself has never tasted a pheasant, but who used to keep these birds as a sort of treasure. But if he had ever seen such a sight as this, when, in addition to all those which have been already eaten, a pheasant is also placed before each individual, he would have added another book to the existing twenty-four of that celebrated history, which he calls his Memorabilia. And Aristotle or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, says, “In pheasants, the male is not only as much superior to the female as is usually the case, but he is so in an infinitely greater degree.”

§ 14.70 But if the before-mentioned king had seen the number of peacocks also which exists at Rome, he would have fled to his sacred Senate, as though he had a second time been driven out of his kingdom by his brother. For the multitude of these birds is so great at Rome, that Antiphanes the comic poet, in his Soldier or Tychon, may seem to have been inspired by the spirit of prophecy, when he said — When the first man imported to this city A pair of peacocks, they were thought a rarity, But now they are more numerous than quails; So, if by searching you find one good man, He will be sure to have five worthless sons. And Alexis, in his Lamp, says — That he should have devour'd so vast a sum! Why if (by earth I swear) I fed on hares' milk And peacocks, I could never spend so much. And that they used to keep them tame in their houses, we learn from Strattis, in his Pausanias, where he says — Of equal value with your many trifles, And peacocks, which you breed up for their feathers. And Anaxandrides, in his Melilotus, says — Is't not a mad idea to breed up peacocks, When every one can buy his private ornaments? And Anaxilaus, in his Bird Feeders, says — Besides all this, tame peacocks, loudly croaking. Menodotus the Samian also, in his treatise on the things at the Sanctuary of the Samian Hera, says: “The peacocks are sacred to Hera; and perhaps Samos may be the place where they were first produced and reared, and from thence it was that they were scattered abroad over foreign countries, in the same way as cocks were originally produced in Persia, and the birds called Meleagrides (μελεαγρίδες) in Aeolia.” On which account Antiphanes, in his Brothers by the same Father, says — They say that in the city of the Sun The phoenix is produced; the owl in Athens; Cyprus breeds doves of admirable beauty: But Hera, queen of Samos, does, they say, Rear there a golden race of wondrous birds, The brilliant, beautiful, conspicuous peacock. On which account the peacock occurs on the coins of the Samians.

§ 14.71 But since Menodotus has mentioned the guinea-fowl, we ourselves also will say something on that subject. Clytus the Milesian, a pupil of Aristotle, in the first book of his History of Miletus, writes thus concerning them — “All around the shrine of the Parthenos (virgin) at Leros, there are birds called Meleagrides (guinea-fowl?). And the ground where they are bred is marshy. And this bird is very devoid of affection towards its young, and wholly disregards its offspring, so that the priests are forced to take care of them. And it is about the size of a very fine fowl of the common poultry, its head is small in proportion to its body, having but few feathers, but on the top it has a fleshy crest, hard and round, sticking up above the head like a peg, and of a wooden colour. And over the jaws, instead of a beard, they have a long piece of flesh, beginning at the mouth, redder than that of the common poultry; but of that which exists in the common poultry on the top of the beak, which some people call the beard, they are wholly destitute; so that their beak is mutilated in this respect. But its beak is sharper and larger than that of the common fowl; its neck is black, thicker and shorter than that of common poultry. And its whole body is spotted all over, the general colour being black, studded in every part with thick white spots something larger than lentil seeds. And these spots are ring-shaped, in the middle of patches of a darker hue than the rest of the plumage: so that these patches present a variegated kind of appearance, the black part having a sort of white tinge, and the white seeming a good deal darkened. And their wings are all over variegated with white, in serrated, wavy lines, parallel to each other. And their legs are destitute of spurs like those of the common hen. And the females are very like the males, on which account the sex of the guinea-fowls is hard to distinguish.” Now this is the account given of guinea-fowls by the Peripatetic philosopher.

§ 14.72 Roasted sucking- pigs are a dish mentioned by Epicrates in his Merchant — On this condition I will be the cook; Nor shall all Sicily boast that even she Produced so great an artist as to fish, Nor Elis either, where I've seen the flesh Of dainty sucking- pigs well brown'd before A rapid fire. And Alexis, in his Wicked Woman, says — A delicate slice of tender sucking- pig, Bought for three obols, hot, and very juicy, When it is set before us. But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us, “when they sacrifice to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts and heats, and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all its crudities, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or boiling it; for any second process removes the good done by the first dressing, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more crude and dry than boiled meat.” But roast meat is called φλογίδες. Accordingly Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Hercules — Immediately he caught up some large slices (φλογίδες) Of smoking roasted boar, and swallow'd them. And Archippus, in his Hercules Marrying, says — The pettitoes of little pigs, well cook'd In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls With sharpen'd horns, and great long steaks of boar, All roasted (φλογίδες).

§ 14.73 But why need I say anything of partridges, when so much has already been said by you? However, I will not omit what is related by Hegesander in his Commentaries. For he says that the Samians, when sailing to Sybaris, having touched at the district called Siritis, were so alarmed at the noise made by partridges which rose up and flew away, that they fled, and embarked on board their ships, and sailed away. Concerning hares also Chamaeleon says, in his treatise on Simonides, that Simonides once, when supping with king Hiero, as there was no hare set on the table in front of him as there was before all the other guests, but as Hiero afterwards helped him to some, made this extempore verse — Nor, e'en though large, could he reach all this way. But Simonides was, in fact, a very covetous man, addicted to disgraceful gain, as we are told by Chamaeleon. And accordingly in Syracuse, as Hiero used to send him everything necessary for his daily subsistence in great abundance, Simonides used to sell the greater part of what was sent to him by the king, and reserve only a small portion for his own use. And when some one asked him the reason of his doing so, he said — “In order that both the liberality of Hiero and my economy may be visible to every one.” The dish called udder is mentioned by Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, in the following lines — Being a woman,'tis but reasonable That I should bring an udder. But Antidotus uses not the word οὖθαρ, but ὑπογάστριον, in his Querulous Man.

§ 14.74 Matron, in his Parodies, speaks of animals being fattened for food, and birds also, in these lines — Thus spake the hero, and the servants smiled, And after brought, on silver dishes piled, Fine fatten'd birds, clean singed around with flame, Like cheesecakes on the back, their age the same. And Sopater the farce-writer speaks of fattened sucking- pigs in his Marriage of Bacchis, saying this — If there was anywhere an oven, there The well-fed sucking- pig did crackle, roasting. But Aeschines uses the form δελφάκιον for δέλφαξ in his Alcibiades, saying, “Just as the women at the cookshops breed sucking- pigs (δελφάκια).” And Antiphanes, in his Physiognomist, says — Those women take the sucking- pigs (δελφάκια), And fatten them by force; And in his Persuasive Man he says — To be fed up instead of pigs (δελφακίων). Plato, however, has used the word δέλφαξ in the masculine gender in his Poet, where he says — Leanest of pigs (δέλφακα ῥαιότατον). And Sophocles, in his play called Insolence, says — Wishing to eat τὸν δέλφακα.

§ 14.74.18 And Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has the expression — Large pigs (δέλφακας μεγάλους). But Nicochares uses the word as feminine, saying — A pregnant sow (κύουσαν δέλφακα); And Eupolis, in his Golden Age, says — Did he not serve up at the feast a sucking- pig (δέλφακα), Whose teeth were not yet grown, a beautiful beast (καλὴν)? And Plato, in his Io, says — Bring hither now the head of the sucking- pig (τῆς δέλφακος). Theopompus, too, in his Penelope, says — And they do sacrifice our sacred pig (τὴν ἱερὰν δέλφακα).

§ 14.74.30 Theopompus also speaks of fatted geese and fatted calves in the thirteenth hook of his Philippica, and in the eleventh book of his Affairs of Greece, where he is speaking of the temperance of the Lacedemonians in respect of eating, writing thus — “And the Thasians sent to Agesilaus, when he arrived, all sorts of sheep and well-fed oxen; and beside this, every kind of confectionery and sweetmeat. But Agesilaus took the sheep and the oxen, but as for the confectionery and sweetmeats, at first he did not know what they meant, for they were covered up; but when he saw what they were, he ordered the slaves to take them away, saying that it was not the custom of the Lacedemonians to eat such food as that. But as the Thasians pressed him to take them, he said, Carry them to those men (pointing to the Helots ) and give them to them; saying that it was much better for those Helots to injure their health by eating them than for himself and the Lacedemonians whom he had with him.”

§ 14.74.44 And that the Lacedemonians were in the habit of treating the Helots with great insolence, is related also by Myron of Priene, in the second book of his History of Messene, where he says — “They impose every kind of insulting employment on the Helots, such as brings with it the most extreme dishonour; for they compel them to wear caps of dogskin, and cloaks also of skins; and every year they scourge them without their having committed any offence, in order to present their ever thinking of emancipating themselves from slavery. And besides all this, if any of them ever appear too handsome or distinguished-looking for slaves, they impose death as the penalty, and their masters also are fined for not checking them in their growth and fine appearances. And they give them each a certain piece of land, and fix a portion which they shall invariably bring them in from it.”

§ 14.74.56 The verb χηνίζω, to cackle like a goose (χὴν), is used and applied to those who play on the flute. Diphilus says in his Synoris — ᾿εχήνισας,, — this noise is always made By all the pupils of Timotheus.

§ 14.75 And since there is a portion of a fore-quarter of pork which is called πέρνα placed before each of us, let us say Something about it, if any one remembers having seen the word used anywhere. For the best πέρναι are those from Cisalpine Gaul: those from Cibyra in Asia are not much inferior to them, nor are those from Lycia. And Strabo mentions them in the third book of his Geography, (and he is not a very modern author). And he says also, in the seventh book of the same treatise, that he was acquainted with Posidonius the Stoic philosopher, of whom we have often spoken as a friend of Scipio who took Carthage. And these are the words of Strabo — “In Spain, in the province of Aquitania, is the city Pompelo, which one may consider equivalent to Pompeiopolis, where admirable πέρναι are cured, equal to the Cantabrian hams.” The comic poet Aristomenes, in his Dionysos, speaks of meat cured by being sprinkled with salt, saying — I put before you now this salted meat. And in his Jugglers he says — The servant always ate some salted crab.

§ 14.76.1 But since we have here “fresh cheese (τρόφαλις), the glory of fair Sicily,” let us, my friends, also say something about cheese (τυρός). For Philemon, in his play entitled The Sicilian, says — I once did think that Sicily could make This one especial thing, good-flavour'd cheese; But now I've heard this good of it besides, That not only is the cheese of Sicily good, But all its pigeons too: and if one speaks Of richly-broider'd robes, they are Sicilian; And so I think that island now supplies All sorts of dainties and of furniture.

§ 14.76.10 The Tromilican cheese also has a high character, respecting which Demetrius the Scepsian writes thus in his second book of the Trojan Array — “Tromileia is a city of Achaia, near which a delicious cheese is made of goat's milk, not to be compared with any other kind, and it is called Tromilican. And Simonides mentions it in his Iambic poem, which begins thus — You're taking wondrous trouble beforehand, Telembrotus: and in this poem he says — And there is the fine Achaian cheese, Called the Tromilican, which I've brought with me.

§ 14.76.20 And Euripides, in his Cyclops, speaks of a harsh-tasted cheese, which he calls ὀπίας τυρὸς, being curdled by the juice (ὀπὸς) of the fig-tree — There is, too, τυρὸς ὀπίας, and Zeus's milk. Eur. Cycl. 136. But since, by speaking in this way of all the things which are now put on the table before us, I am making the Tromilican cheese into the remains of the dessert, I will not continue this topic. For Eupolis calls the relics of sweetmeats (τραγημάτων) and confectionery ἀποτραγήματα. And ridiculing a man of the name of Didymias, he calls him the ἀποτράγημα of a fox, either because he was little in person, or as being cunning and mischievous, as Dorotheus of Ascalon says. There are also thin broad cheeses, which the Cretans call females, as Seleucus tells us, which they offer up at certain sacrifices. And Philippides, in his play called the Flutes, speaks of some called πυρίεφθαι (and this is a name given to those made of cream), when he says — Having these πυρίεφθαι, and these herbs. And perhaps all such things are included in this Macedonian term ἐπιδειπνίδες.. For all these things are provocatives to drinking.

§ 14.77.1 Now, while Ulpian was continuing the conversation in this way, one of the cooks, who made some pretence to learning, came in, and proclaimed μύμα. And when many of us were perplexed at this proclamation, (for the rascal did not show what it was that he had,) he said; — You seem to me, O guests, to be ignorant that Cadmus, the grandfather of Dionysos, was a cook. And, as no one made any reply to this, he said; Euhemerus the Coan, in the third book of his Sacred History, relates that the Sidonians give this account, that Cadmus was the cook of the king, and that he, having taken Harmonia, who was a female flute-player and also a slave of the king, fled away with her. — But shall I flee, who am a freeman born For no one can find any mention in any comedy of a cook being a slave, except in a play of Posidippus. But the introduction of slaves as cooks took place among the Macedonians first, who adopted this custom either out of insolence or on account of the misfortunes of some cities which had been reduced to slavery.

§ 14.77.17 And the ancients used to call a cook who was a native of the country, Maeson; but if he was a foreigner, they called him Tettix. And Chrysippus the philosopher thinks the name μαίσων is derived from the verb μασάομαι, to eat; a cook being an ignorant man, and the slave of his appetite; not knowing that Maeson was a comic actor, a Megarian by birth, who invented the mask which was called μαίσων, from him; as Aristophanes of Byzantium tells us, in his treatise on Masks, where he says that he invented a mask for a slave and also one for a cook. So that it is a deserved compliment to him to call the jests which suit those characters μαισωνικά. For cooks are very frequently represented on the stage as jesting characters; as, for instance, in the Men selecting an Arbitrator, of Menander.

§ 14.77.30 And Philemon in one of his plays says —'Tis a male sphinx, it seems, and not a cook, That I've brought home; for, by the gods I swear, I do not understand one single word Of all he says; so well provided is he With every kind of new expression. But Polemo says, in his writings which are addressed to Timaeus, that Maeson was indeed a Megarian, but from Megara in Sicily, and not from Nisaea. And Posidippus speaks of slaves as cooks, in his Woman Shut out, where he says — Thus have these matters happen'd: but just now, While waiting on my master, a good joke Occurr'd to me; I never will be caught Stealing his meat. And, in his Foster Brothers, he says — A. Did you go out of doors, you who were cook? B. If I remain'd within I lost my supper. A. Let me then first.... B. Let me alone, I say; I'm going to the forum to sacrifice: A friend of mine, a comrade too in art, Has hired me.

§ 14.78 And there was nothing extraordinary in the ancient cooks being experienced in sacrifices. At all events, they usually managed all marriage feasts and sacrifices. On which account Menander, in his Flatterer, introduces a cook, who on the fourth day of the month had been ministering in the festival of Aphrodite Pandemus, using the following language — Now a libation. Boy, distribute round The entrails. Whither are you looking now? Now a libation — quick! you Sosia, quick! Quick! a libation. That will do; now pour. First let us pray to the Olympian gods, And now to all the Olympian goddesses: Meantime address them; pray them all to give Us safety, health, and all good things in future, And full enjoyment of all present happiness. Such shall be now our prayers. And another cook, in Simonides, says — And how I roasted, how I carved the meat, You know: what is there that I can't do well? And the letter of Olympias to Alexander mentions the great experience of cooks in these matters. For, his mother having been entreated by him to buy him a cook who had experience in sacrifices, proceeds to say, ”Accept the cook Pelignas from your mother; for he is thoroughly acquainted with the manner in which all your ancestral sacrifices, and all the mysterious rites, and all the sacred mysteries connected with the worship of Dionysos are performed, and every other sacrifice which Olympias practises he knows. Do not then disregard him, but accept him, and send him back again to me at as early a period as possible."

§ 14.79 And that in those days the cook's profession was a respectable one, we may learn from the Heralds at Athens. “For these men used to perform the duties of cooks and also of sacrificers of victims,” as Cleidemus tells us, in the first book of his Protogony; and Homer uses the verb ῥέζω, as we use θύω; but he uses θύω as we do θυμιάω, for burning cakes and incense after supper. And the ancients used also to employ the verb δράω for to sacrifice; accordingly Cleidemus says, “The heralds used to sacrifice (ἕδρων) for a long time slaying the oxen, and preparing them, and cutting them up, and pouring wine over them. And they were called κήρυκες from the hero Ceryx; and there is nowhere any record of any reward being given to a cook, but only to a herald.” For Agamemnon in Homer, although he is king, performs sacrifices himself; for the poet says — With that the chief the tender victims slew, And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw; The vital spirit issued at the wound, And left the members quivering on the ground. [Il iii. 292] And Thrasymedes the son of Nestor, having taken an axe, slays the ox which was to be sacrificed, because Nestor himself was not able to do so, by reason of his old age; and his other brothers assisted him; so respectable and important was the office of a cook in those days. And among the Romans, the Censors, — and that was the highest office in the whole state, — clad in a purple robe, and wearing crowns, used to strike down the victims with an axe. Nor is it a random assertion of Homer, when he represents the heralds as bringing in the victims, and whatever else had any bearing on the ratification of oaths, as this was a very ancient duty of theirs, and one which was especially a part of their office — Two heralds now, despatch'd to Troy, invite The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite; and again — Talthybius hastens to the fleet, to bring The lamb for Zeus, th' inviolable king. Il iii. 116. And, in another passage, he says — A splendid scene! Then Agamemnon rose; The boar Talthybius held; the Grecian lord Drew the broad cutlass, sheath'd beside his sword. Il xix. 250.

§ 14.80 And in the first book of the History of Attica, Cleidemus says, that there was a tribe of cooks, who were entitled to public honours; and that it was their business to see that the sacrifices were performed with due regularity. And it is no violation of probability in Athenion, in his Samothracians, as Juba says, when he introduces a cook arguing philosophically about the nature of things and men, and saying — A. Dost thou not know that the cook's art contributes More than all others to true piety? B. Is it indeed so useful A. Troth it is, You ignorant barbarian: it releases Men from a brutal and perfidious life, And cannibal devouring of each other, And leads us to some order; teaching us The regular decorum of the life Which now we practise. B. How is that? A. Just listen. Once men indulged in wicked cannibal habits, And numerous other vices; when a man Of better genius arose, who first Sacrificed victims, and did roast their flesh; And, as the meat surpass'd the flesh of man, They then ate men no longer, but did slay The herds and flocks, and roasted them and ate them. And when they once had got experience Of this most dainty pleasure. they increased In their devotion to the cook's employment; So that e'en now, remembering former days, They roast the entrails of their victims all Unto the gods, and put no salt thereon, For at the first beginning they knew not The use of salt as seasoning; but now They have found out its virtue, so they use it At their own meals, but in their holy offerings They keep their ancient customs; such as were At first the origin of safety to us: That love of art, and various seasoning, Which carries to perfection the cook's skill. B. Why here we have a new Palaephatus. A. And after this, as time advanced, a paunch, A well-stuff'd paunch was introduced............ Then they wrapped up a fish, and quite concealed it In herbs, and costly sauce, and groats, and honey; And as, persuaded by these dainty joys Which now I mention, every one gave up His practice vile of feeding on dead men, Men now began to live in company, Gathering in crowds; cities were built and settled; All owing, as I said before, to cooks. B. Hail, friend! you are well suited to my master. A. We cooks are now beginning our grand rites; We're sacrificing, and libations offering, Because the gods are most attentive to us, Pleased that we have found out so many things, Tending to make men live in peace and happiness. B. Well, say no more about your piety — A. I beg your pardon — B. But come, eat with me, And dress with skill whate'er is in the house.

§ 14.81 And Alexis, in his Caldron, shows plainly that cookery is an art practised by free-born men; for a cook is represented in that play as a citizen of no mean reputation; and those who have written cookery books, such as Heraclides and Glaucus the Locrian, say that the art of cookery is one in which it is not even every free-born man who can become eminent. And the younger Cratinus, in his play called the Giants, extols this art highly, saying — A. Consider, now, how sweet the earth doth smell, How fragrantly the smoke ascends to heaven: There lives, I fancy, here within this cave Some perfume-seller, or Sicilian cook. B. The scent of both is equally delicious. And Antiphanes, in his Slave hard to Sell, praises the Sicilian cooks, and says — And at the feast, delicious cakes, Well season'd by Sicilian art. And Menander, in his Spectre, says — Do ye applaud, If the meat's dress'd with rich and varied skill. But Posidippus, in his Man recovering his Sight, says — I, having had one cook, have thoroughly learnt All the bad tricks of cooks, while they compete With one another in their trade. One said His rival had no nose to judge of soup With critical taste; that other had A vicious palate; while a third could never (If you'd believe the rest) restrain his appetite, Without devouring half the meat he dress'd. This one loved salt too much, and that one vinegar; One burnt his meat; one gorged; one could not stand The smoke; a sixth could never bear the fire. At last they came to blows; and one of them, Shunning the sword, fell straight into the fire. And Antiphanes, in his Philotis, displaying the cleverness of the cooks, says — A. Is not this, then, an owl? B. Aye, such as I Say should be dress'd in brine. A. Well; and this pike B. Why roast him whole. A. This shark? B. Boil him in sauce. A. This eel? B. Take salt, and marjoram, and water. A. This conger? B. The same sauce will do for him. A. This ray? B. Strew him with herbs. A. Here is a slice Of tunny. B. Roast it. A. And some venison. B. Roast it. A. Then here's a lot more meat. B. Boil all the rest. A. Here's a spleen. B. Stuff it. A. And a nestis. B. Bah! This man will kill me. And Baton, in his Benefactors, gives a catalogue of celebrated cooks and confectioners, thus — A. Well, O Sibynna, we ne'er sleep at nights, Nor waste our time in laziness: our lamp Is always burning; in our hands a book; And long we meditate on what is left us By — B. Whom? A. By that great Actides of Chios, Or Tyndaricus, that pride of Sicyon, Or e'en by Zopyrinus. B. Find you anything? A. Aye, most important things. B. But what? The dead...

§ 14.82 And such a food now is the μύμα, which I, my friends, am bringing you; concerning which Artemidorus, the pupil of Aristophanes, speaks in his Dictionary of Cookery, saying that it is prepared with meat and blood, with the addition also of a great deal of seasoning. And Epaenetus, in his treatise on Cookery, speaks as follows: — “One must make μύμα of every kind of animal and bird, cutting up the tender parts of the meat into small pieces, and the bowels and entrails, and pounding the blood, and seasoning it with vinegar, and roasted cheese, and assafoetida, and cummin-seed, and thyme (both green and dry), and savory, and coriander-seed (both green and dry), and leeks, and onions (cleaned and toasted), and poppy-seed, and grapes, and honey, and the pips of an unripe pomegranate. You may also make this μύμα of fish.”

§ 14.83 And when this man had thus hammered on not only this dish but our ears also, another slave came in, bringing in a dish called ματτύη. And when a discussion arose about this, and when Ulpian had quoted a statement out of the Dictionary of Cookery by the before-mentioned Artemidorus relating to it, Aemilianus said that a book had been published by Dorotheus of Ascalon, entitled, On Antiphanes, and on the dish called Mattya by the Poets of the New Comedy, which he says is a Thessalian invention, and that it became naturalized at Athens during the supremacy of the Macedonians. And the Thessalians are admitted to be the most extravagant of all the Greeks in their manner of dressing and living; and this was the reason why they brought the Persians down upon the Greeks, because they were desirous to imitate their luxury and extravagance. And Cratinus speaks of their extravagant habits in his treatise on the Thessalian Constitution. But the dish was called ματτύη (as Apollodorus the Athenian affirms in the first book of his treatise on Etymologies), from the verb μασάομαι (to eat); as also are the words μαστίχη (mastich) and μάζα (barley-cake). But our own opinion is that the word is derived from μάττω, and that this is the verb from which μάζα itself is derived, and also the cheese-pudding called by the Cyprians μαγίς; and from this, too, comes the verb ὑπερμαζάω, meaning to be extravagantly luxurious. Originally they used to call this common ordinary food made of barley-meal μάζα, and preparing it they called μάττω. And afterwards, varying the necessary food in a luxurious and superfluous manner, they derived a word with a slight change from the form μάζα, and called every very costly kind of dish ματτύη; and preparing such dishes they called ματτυάζω, whether it were fish, or poultry, or herbs, or beasts or sweetmeats. And this is plain from the testimony of Alexis, quoted by Artemidorus; for Alexis, wishing to show the great luxuriousness of the way in which this dish was prepared, added the verb λέπομαι. And the whole extract runs thus, being out of a corrected edition of a play which is entitled Demetrius: — Take, then, this meat which thus is sent to you; Dress it, and feast, and drink the cheerful healths, λέπεσθε, ματτυάζετε. But the Athenians use the verb λέπομαι for wanton and unseemly indulgence of the sensual appetites.

§ 14.84 And Artemidorus, in his Dictionary of Cookery, explains ματτύη as a common name for all kinds of costly seasonings; writing thus — “There is also a ματτύης (he uses the word in the masculine gender) made of birds. Let the bird be killed by thrusting a knife into the head at the mouth; then let it be kept till the next day, like a partridge. And if you choose, you can leave it as it is, the wings on and with its body plucked.” Then, having explained the way in which it is to be seasoned and boiled, he proceeds to say — “Boil a fat hen of the common poultry kind, and some young cocks just beginning to crow, if you wish to make a dish fit to be eaten with your wine. Then taking some vegetables, put them in a dish, and place upon them some of the meat of the fowl, and serve it up. But in summer, instead of vinegar, put some unripe grapes into the sauce, just as they are picked from the vine; and when it is all boiled, then take it out before the stones fall from the grapes, and shred in some vegetables. And this is the most delicious ματτύης that there is.” Now, that ματτύη, or ματτύης, really is a common name for all costly dishes is plain; and that the same name was also given to a banquet composed of dishes of this sort, we gather from what Philemon says in his Man carried off: — Put now a guard on me, while naked, and Amid my cups the ματτύης shall delight me. And in his Homicide he says — Let some one pour us now some wine to drink, And make some ματτύη quick. But Alexis, in his Pyraunus, has used the word in an obscure sense: — But when I found them all immersed in business, I cried, — Will no one give us now a ματτύη̣ as if he meant a feast here, though you might fairly refer the word merely to a single dish. Now Machon the Sicyonian is one of the comic poets who were contemporaries of Apollodorus of Carystus, but he did not exhibit his comedies at Athens, but in Alexandria; and he was an excellent poet, if ever there was one, next to those seven of the first class. On which account, Aristophanes the grammarian, when he was a very young man, was very anxious to be much with him. And he wrote the following lines in his play entitled Ignorance: — There's nothing that I'm fonder of than ματτύη; But whether'twas the Macedonians Who first did teach it us, or all the gods, I know not; but it must have been a person Of most exalted genius.

§ 14.85 And that it used to be served up after all the rest of the banquet was over, is plainly stated by Nicostratus, in his Man expelled. And it is a cook who is relating how beautiful and well arranged the banquet was which he prepared; and having first of all related what the dinner and supper were composed of, and then mentioning the third meal, proceeds to say — Well done, my men, — extremely well! but now I will arrange the rest, and then the ματτύη; So that I think the man himself will never Find fault with us again. And in his Cook he says — Thrium and candylus he never saw, Or any of the things which make a ματτύη. And some one else says — They brought, instead of a ματτύη, some paunch, And tender pettitoes, and tripe, perhaps. But Dionysius, in his Man shot at with Javelins (and it is a cook who is represented speaking), says — So that sometimes, when I a ματτύη Was making for them, in haste would bring (More haste worse speed)..... Philemon, also, in his Poor Woman — When one can lay aside one's load, all day Making and serving out rich μάττυαι. But Molpis the Lacedemonian says that what the Spartans call ἐπαίκλεια, that is to say, the second course, which is served up when the main part of the supper is over, is called μάττυαι by other tribes of Greece. And Menippus the Cynic, in his book called Arcesilaus, writes thus: — “There was a drinking party formed by a certain number of revellers, and a Lacedemonian woman ordered the ματτύη to be served up; and immediately some little partridges were brought in, and some roasted geese, and some delicious cheesecakes.” But such a course as this the Athenians used to call ἐπιδόρπισμα, and the Dorians ἐπάϊκλον; but most of the Greeks called it τὰ ἐπίδειπνα. And when all this discussion about the ματτύη was over, they thought it time to depart; for it was already evening. And so we parted. Diomea was a small village in Attica, where there was a celebrated temple of Hercules, and where a festival was kept in his honour: Aristophanes says — ῞οποθ᾽ ῾ηράκλεια τὰ ᾿ν διομείοις γίγνεται.

§ 15.1 Book 15 (Tr.Yonge) E'en should the Phrygian God enrich my tongue With honey'd eloquence, such as erst did fall From Nestor's or Antenor's lips, as the all-accomplished Euripides says, my good Timocrates — I never should be able to recapitulate to you the numerous things which were said in those most admirable banquets, on account of the varied nature of the topics introduced, and the novel mode in which they were continually treated. For there were frequent discussions about the order in which the dishes were served up, and about the things which are done after the chief part of the supper is over, such as I can hardly recollect; and some one of the guests quoted the following iambics from The Lacedemonians of Plato — Now nearly all the men have done their supper;'Tis well. — Why don't you run and clear the tables But I will go and straight some water get For the guests' hands; and have the floor well swept; And then, when I have offer'd due libations, I'll introduce the cottabus. This girl Ought now to have her flutes all well prepared, Ready to play them. Quick now, slave, and bring Egyptian ointment, extract of lilies too, And sprinkle it around; and I myself Will bring a garland to each guest, and give it; Let some one mix the wine. — Lo! now it's mix'd Put in the frankincense, and say aloud, “Now the libation is perform'd.” The guests Have deeply drunk already; and the scolium Is sung; the cottabus, that merry sport, Is taken out of doors: a female slave Plays on the flute a cheerful strain, well pleasing To the delighted guest; another strikes The clear triangle, and, with well-tuned voice, Accompanies it with an Ionian song.

§ 15.2 And after this quotation there arose, I think, a discussion about the cottabus and cottabus-players. Now by the term ἀποκοτταβίζοντες, one of the physicians who were present thought those people were meant, who, after the bath, for the sake of purging their stomach, drink a full draught of wine and then throw it up again; and he said that this was not an ancient custom, and that he was not aware of any ancient author who had alluded to this mode of purging. On which account Erasistratus of Julia, in his treatise on Universal Medicine, reproves those who act in this way, pointing out that it is a practice very injurious to the eyes, and having a very astringent effect on the stomach. And Ulpian addressed him thus — Arise, Machaon, great Charoneus calls. For it was wittily said by one of our companions, that if there were no physicians there would be nothing more stupid than grammarians. For who is there of us who does not know that this kind of ἀποκοτταβισμὸς was not that of the ancients? unless you think that the cottabus-players of Ameipsias vomited. Since, then, you are ignorant of what this is which is the subject of our present discussion, learn from me, in the first place, that the cottabus is a sport of Sicilian invention, the Sicilians having been the original contrivers of it, as Critias the son of Callaeschrus tells us in his Elegies, where he says — The cottabus comes from Sicilian lands, And a glorious invention I think it, Where we put up a target to shoot at with drops From our wine-cup whenever we drink it. And Dicaearchus the Messenian, the pupil of Aristotle, in his treatise on Alcaeus, says that the word λατάγη is also a Sicilian noun. But λατάγη means the drops which are left in the bottom after the cup is drained, and which the players used to throw with inverted hand into the κοτταβεῖον. But Clitarchus, in his treatise on Words, says that the Thessalians and Rhodians both call the κότταβος itself, or splash made by the cups, λατάγη.

§ 15.3 The prize also which was proposed for those who gained the victory in drinking was called κότταβος, as Euripides shows us in his Oeneus, where he says — And then with many a dart of Dionysos' juice, They struck the old man's head. And I was set To crown the victor with deserved reward, And give the cottabus to such. The vessel, too, into which they threw the drops was also called κότταβος, as Cratinus shows in his Nemesis. But Plato the comic poet, in his Zeus Ill-treated, makes out that the cottabus was a sort of drunken game, in which those who were defeated yielded up their tools to the victor. And these are his words — A. I wish you all to play at cottabus While I am here preparing you your supper. Bring, too, some balls to play with, quick,-some balls, And draw some water, and bring round some cups. B. Now let us play for kisses. A. No; such games I never suffer. I challenge you all to play the cottabus, And for the prizes, here are these new slippers Which she doth wear, and this your cotylus. B. A mighty game! This is a greater contest Than e'en the Isthmian festival can furnish.

§ 15.4 There was a kind of cottabus also which they used to call κάτακτος, that is, when lamps are lifted up and then let down again. Eubulus, in his Bellerophon, says — Who now will take hold of my leg below? For I am lifted up like a κοτταβεῖον. And Antiphanes, in his Birthday of Venus, says — A. This now is what I mean; don't you perceive This lamp's the cottabus: attend awhile; The eggs, and sweetmeats, and confectionery Are the prize of victory. B. Sure you will play For a most laughable prize. How shall you do? A. I then will show you how: whoever throws The cottabus direct against the scale (πλάστιγξ), So as to make it fall — - B. What scale? Do you Mean this small dish which here is placed above? A. That is the scale — he is the conqueror. B. How shall a man know this? A. Why, if he throw So as to reach it barely, it will fall Upon the manes, and there'll be great noise. B. Does manes, then, watch o'er the cottabus, As if he were a slave? And in a subsequent passage he says — B. Just take the cup and show me how'tis done. A. Now bend your fingers like a flute-player, Pour in a little wine, and not too much, Then throw it. B. How? A. Look here; throw it like this B. O mighty Poseidon, what a height he throws it! A. Now do the same. B. Not even with a sling Could I throw such a distance. A. Well, but learn.

§ 15.5 For a man must curve his hand excessively before he can throw the cottabus elegantly, as Dicaearchus says; and Plato intimates as much in his Zeus Ill-treated, where some one calls out to Hercules not to hold his hand too stiff, when he is going to play the cottabus. They also called the very act of throwing the cottabus ἀπ᾽ ἀγκύλης, because they curved (ἀπαγκυλόω) the right hand in throwing it. Though some say that ἀγκύλη, in this phrase, means a kind of cup. And Bacchylides, in his Love Poems, says — And when she throws ἀπ᾽ ἀγκύλης, Displaying to the youths her snow-white arm. And Aeschylus, in his Bone Gatherers, speaks of ἀδκυλητοὶ κότταβοι, saying — Eurymachus, and no one else, did heap No slighter insults, undeserved, upon me; For my head always was his mark at which To throw his cottabus..... Now, that he who succeeded in throwing the cottabus properly received a prize, Antiphanes has shown us in a passage already quoted. And the prize consisted of eggs, sweetmeats, and confectionery. And Cephisodorus, in his Trophonius, and Callias or Diocles, in the Cyclopes, (whichever of the two is the author,) and Eupolis, and Hermippus, in his Iambics, prove the same thing. Now what is called the κατακτὸς cottabus was something of this kind. There is a high lamp, having on it what is called the Manes, on which the dish, when thrown down, ought to fall; and from thence it falls into the platter which lies below, and which is struck by the cottabus. And there was room for very great dexterity in throwing the cottabus. And Nicochares speaks of the Manes in his Lacedemonians.

§ 15.6 There is also another way of playing this game with a platter. This platter is filled with water, and in it there are floating some empty saucers, at which the players throw their drops out of their cups, and endeavour to sink them. And he who has succeeded in sinking the greatest number gains the victory. Ameipsias, in his play entitled The Men playing at the Cottabus or Mania, says — Bring here the cruets and the cups at once, The foot-pan, too, but first pour in some water. And Cratinus, in his Nemesis, says — Now in the cottabus I challenge you, (As is my country's mode,) to aim your blows At the empty cruets; and he who sinks the most Shall, in my judgment, bear the palm of victory. And Aristophanes, in his Feasters, says — I mean to erect a brazen figure, That is, a cottabeum, and myrtle-berries. And Hermippus, in his Fates, says — Now soft cloaks are thrown away, Every one clasps on his breastplate, And binds his greaves around his legs, No one for snow-white slippers cares; Now you may see the cottabus staff Thrown carelessly among the chaff; The manes hears no falling drops; And you the πλάστιγξ sad may see Thrown on the dunghill at the garden door. And Achaeus, in his Linus, speaking of the Satyrs, says — Throwing, and dropping, breaking, too, and naming (λέγοντες), O Hercules, the well-thrown drop of wine! And the poet uses λέγοντες here, because they used to utter the names of their sweethearts as they threw the cottabi on the saucers. On which account Sophocles, in his Inachus, called the drops which were thrown, sacred to Venus — The golden-colour'd drop of Venus Descends on all the houses. And Euripides, in his Pleisthenes, says — And the loud noise o' the frequent cottabus Awakens melodies akin to Venus In every house. And Callimachus says — Many hard drinkers, lovers of Acontius, Throw on the ground the wine-drops (λατάγας) from their cups.

§ 15.7 There was also another kind of way of playing at the cottabus, in the feasts which lasted all night, which is mentioned by Callippus in his Festival lasting all Night, where he says — And he who keeps awake all night shall have A cheesecake for his prize of victory, And kiss whoe'er he pleases of the girls Who are at hand. There were also sweetmeats at these nocturnal festivals, in which the men continued awake an extraordinary time dancing. And these sweetmeats used to be called at that time χαρίσιοι, from the joy (χαρὰ) of those who received them. And Eubulus, in his Ancylion, mentions them, speaking as follows — For he has long been cooking prizes for The victors in the cottabus. And presently afterwards he says — I then sprang out to cook the χαρ́σιος. But that kisses were also given as the prize Eubulus tells us in a subsequent passage — Come now, ye women, come and dance all night, This is the tenth day since my son was born; And I will give three fillets for the prize, And five fine apples, and nine kisses too. But that the cottabus was a sport to which the Sicilians were greatly addicted is plain from the fact that they had rooms built adapted to the game; which Dicaearchus, in his treatise on Alcaeus, states to have been the case. So that it was not without reason that Callimachus affixed the epithet of Sicilian to λάταξ. And Dionysius, who was surnamed the Brazen, mentions both the λάταγες and the κότταβοι in his Elegies, where he says — Here we, unhappy in our loves, establish This third addition to the games of Dionysos, That the glad cottabus shall now be play'd In honour of you, a most noble quintain — All you who here are present twine your hands, Holding the ball-shaped portion of your cups, And, ere you let it go, let your eyes scan The heaven that bends above you; watching well How great a space your λάταγες may cover.

§ 15.8 After this, Ulpian demanded a larger goblet to drink out of quoting these lines out of the same collection of Elegies — Pouring forth hymns to you and me propitious, Let us now send your ancient friend from far, With the swift rowing of our tongues and praises, To lofty glory while this banquet lasts; And the quick genius of Phaeacian eloquence Commands the Muses' crew to man the benches. For let us be guided by the younger Cratinus, who says in his Omphale — It suits a happy man to stay at home And drink, let others wars and labours love. In answer to whom Cynulcus, who was always ready for a tilt at the Syrian, and who never let the quarrel drop which he had against him, now that there was a sort of tumult in the party, said-What is this chorus of Syrbenians? And I myself also recollect some lines of this poetry, which I will quote, that Ulpian may not give himself airs as being the only one who was able to extract anything about the cottabus out of those old stores of the Homeridae — Come now and hear this my auspicious message, And end the quarrels which your cups engender; Turn your attention to these words of mine, And learn these lessons......... which have a clear reference to the present discussion. For I see the servants now bringing us garlands and perfumes. Why now are those who are crowned said to be in love when their crowns are broken? For when I was a boy, and when I used to read the Epigrams of Callimachus, in which this is one of the topics dilated on, I was anxious to understand this point. For the poet of Cyrene says — And all the roses, when the leaves fell off From the man's garlands, on the ground were thrown. So now it is your business, you most accomplished man, to explain this difficulty which has occupied me these thousand years, O Democritus, and to tell me why lovers crown the doors of their mistresses.

§ 15.9 And Democritus replied — But that I may quote some of the verses of this Brazen poet and orator Dionysius, (and he was called Brazen because he advised the Athenians to adopt a brazen coinage; and Callimachus mentions the oration in his list of Oratorical Performances,) I myself will cite some lines out of his Elegies. And do you, O Theodorus, for this is your proper name — Receive these first-fruits of my poetry, Given you as a pledge; and as an omen Of happy fortune I send first to you This offering of the Graces, deeply studied, — Take it, requiting me with tuneful verse, Fit ornament of feasts, and emblem of your happiness. You ask, then, why, if the garlands of men who have been crowned are pulled to pieces, they are said to be in love." Is it, since love takes away the strict regularity of manners in the case of lovers, that on this account they think the loss of a conspicuous ornament, a sort of beacon (as Clearchus says, in the first book of his Art of Love ) and signal, that they to whom this has happened have lost the strict decorum of their manners? Or do men interpret this circumstance also by divination, as they do many other things? For the ornament of a crown, as there is nothing lasting in it, is a sort of emblem of a passion which does not endure, but assumes a specious appearance for a while: and such a passion is love. For no people are more careful to study appearance than those who are in love. Unless, perhaps, nature, as a sort of god, administering everything with justice and equity, thinks that lovers ought not to be crowned till they have subdued their love; that is to say, till, having prevailed upon the object of their love, they are released from their desire. And accordingly, the loss of their crown we make the token of their being still occupied in the fields of love.

§ 15.9.32 Or perhaps Love himself, not permitting any one to be crowned in opposition to, or to be proclaimed as victor over himself, takes their crowns from these men, and gives the perception of this to others, indicating that these men are subdued by him: on which account all the rest say that these men are in love. Or is it because that cannot be loosed which has never been bound, but love is the chain of some who wear crowns, (for no one else who is bound is more anxious about being crowned than a lover,) that men consider that the loosing of the garland is a sign of love, and therefore say that these men are in love? Or is it because very often lovers, when they have been crowned, often out of agitation as it should seem, allow their crowns to fall to pieces, and so we argue backwards, and attribute this passion to all whom we see in this predicament; thinking that their crown never would have come to pieces, if they had not been in love? Or is it because these loosings happen only in the case of men bound or men in love; and so, men thinking that the loosing of the garland is the loosing also of those who are bound, consider that such men are in love? For those in love are bound, unless you would rather say that, because those who are in love are crowned with love, therefore their crown is not of a lasting kind;

§ 15.9.51 for it is difficult to put a small and ordinary kind of crown on a large and divine one. Men also crown the doors of the houses of the objects of their love, either with a view to do them honour, as they adorn with crowns the vestibule of some god to do him honour: or perhaps the offering of the crowns is made, not to the beloved objects, but to the god Love. For thinking the beloved object the statue, as it were, of Love, and his house the temple of Love, they, under this idea, adorn with crowns the vestibules of those whom they love. And for the same reason some people even sacrifice at the doors of those whom they love. Or shall we rather say that people who fancy that they are deprived, or who really have been deprived of the ornament of their soul, consecrate to those who have deprived them of it, the ornament also of their body, being bewildered by their passion, and despoiling themselves in order to do so? And every one who is in love does this when the object of his love is present, but when he is not present, then he makes this offering in the public roads.

§ 15.9.65 On which account Lycophronides has represented that goatherd in love, as saying — I consecrate this rose to you, A beautiful idea; This cap, and eke these sandals too, And this good hunting-spear: For now my mind is gone astray, Wandering another way, Towards that girl of lovely face, Favourite of ev'ry Grace."

§ 15.10 Moreover, that most divine writer Plato, in the seventh book of his Laws, proposes a problem having reference to crowns, which it is worth while to solve; and these are the words of the philosopher: — “Let there be distributions of apples and crowns to a greater and a lesser number of people, in such a way that the numbers shall always be equal.” These are the words of Plato. But what he means is something of this sort. He wishes to find one number of such a nature that, if divided among all who come in to the very last, it shall give an equal number of apples or crowns to every one. I say, then, that the number sixty will fulfil these conditions of equality in the case of six fellow-feasters; for I am aware that at the beginning we said that a supper party ought not to consist of more than five. But we are as numerous as the sand of the sea. Accordingly the number sixty, when the party is completed to the number of six guests, will begin to be divided in this manner. The first man came into the banqueting room, and received sixty garlands. He gives to the second who comes in half of them; and then each of them have thirty. Then when a third comes in they divide the whole sixty, so that each of them may have twenty. Again, they divide them again in like manner at the entrance of a fourth guest, so that each has fifteen; and when a fifth comes in they all have twelve a-piece. And when the sixth guest arrives, they divide them again, and each individual has ten. And in this way the equal division of the garlands is accomplished.

§ 15.11 When Democritus had said this, Ulpian, looking towards Cynulcus, said — To what a great philosopher has Fate Now join'd me here! As Theognetus the comic poet says, in his Apparition, — You wretched man, you've learnt left-handed letters, Your reading has perverted your whole life; Philosophising thus with earth and heaven, Though neither care a bit for all your speeches. For where was it that you got that idea of the Chorus of the Syrbenians? What author worth speaking of mentions that musical chorus? And he replied: — My good friend, I will not teach you, unless I first receive adequate pay from you; for I do not read to pick out all the thorns out of my books as you do, but I select only what is most useful and best worth hearing. And at this Ulpian got indignant, and roared out these lines out of the Suspicion of Alexis — These things are shameful, e'en to the Triballi; Where they do say a man who sacrifices, Displays the feast to the invited guests, And then next day, when they are hungry all, Sells them what he'd invited them to see. And the same iambics occur in the Sleep of Antiphanes. And Cynulcus said: — Since there have already been discussions about garlands, tell us, my good Ulpian, what is the meaning of the expression, “The garland of Naucratis,” in the beautiful poet Anacreon. For that sweet minstrel says — And each man three garlands had: Two of roses fairly twined, And the third a Naucratite. And why also does the same poet represent some people as crowned with osiers? for in the second book of his Odes, he says — But now full twice five months are gone Since kind Megisthes wore a crown Of pliant osier, drinking wine Whose colour did like rubies shine. For to suppose that these crowns were really made of osiers is absurd, for the osier is fit only for plaiting and binding. So now tell us about these things, my friend, for they are worth understanding correctly, and do not keep us quibbling about words.

§ 15.12 But as he made no reply, and pretended to be considering the matter, Democritus said: — Aristarchus the grammarian, my friend, when interpreting this passage, said that the ancients used to wear crowns of willow. But Tenarus says that the willow or osier is the rustics' crown. And other interpreters have said many irrelevant things on the subject. But I, having met with a book of Menodotus of Samos, which is entitled, A Record of the things worth noting at Samos, found there what I was looking for; for he says that " Admete, the wife of Eurystheus, after she had fled from Argos, came to Samos, and there, when a vision of Hera had appeared to her, she wishing to give the goddess a reward because she had arrived in Samos from her own home in safety, undertook the care of the sanctuary, which exists even to this day, and which had been originally established by the Leleges and the Nymphs. But the Argives hearing of this, and being indignant at it, persuaded the Tyrrhenians by a promise of money, to employ piratical force and to carry off the statue, — the Argives believing that if this were done Admete would be treated with every possible severity by the inhabitants of Samos. Accordingly the Tyrrhenians came to the Heran anchorage, and having disembarked, immediately applied themselves to the performance of their undertaking. And as the temple was at that time without any doors, they quickly carried off the statue, and bore it down to the seaside, and put it on board their vessel. And when they had loosed their cables and weighed anchor, they rowed as fast as they could, but were unable to make any progress. And then, thinking that this was owing to divine interposition, they took the statue out of the ship again and put it on the shore; and having made some sacrificial cakes, and offered them to it, they departed in great fear. But when, the first thing in the morning, Admete gave notice that the statue had disappeared, and a search was made for it, those who were seeking it found it on the shore. And they, like Carian barbarians, as they were, thinking that the statue had run away of its own accord, bound it to a fence made of osiers, and took all the longest branches on each side and twined them round the body of the statue, so as to envelop it all round. But Admete released the statue from these bonds, and purified it, and placed it again on its pedestal, as it had stood before. And on this account once every year, since that time, the statue is carried down to the shore and hidden, and cakes are offered to it: and the festival is called τονεὺς, because it happened that the statue was bound tightly (συντόνως) by those who made the first search for it.

§ 15.13 “But they relate that about that time the Carians, being overwhelmed with superstitious fears, came to the oracle of the god at Hybla, and consulted him with reference ”O these occurrences; and that Apollo told them that they must give a voluntary satisfaction to the god of their own accord, to escape a more serious calamity, — such as in former times Zeus had inflicted upon Prometheus, because of his theft of the fire, after he had released him from a most terrible captivity. And as he was inclined to give a satisfaction which should not cause him severe pain, this was what the god imposed upon him. And from this circumstance the use of this kind of crown which had been shown to Prometheus got common among the rest of mankind who had been benefited by him by his gift of fire: on which account the god enjoined the Carians also to adopt a similar custom, — to use osiers as a garland, and bind their heads with the branches with which they themselves had bound the goddess. And he ordered them also to abandon the use of every other kind of garland except that made of the bay-tree: and that tree he said he gave as a gift to those alone who are employed in the service of the goddess. And he told them that, if they obeyed the injunctions given them by the oracle, and if in their banquets they paid the goddess the satisfaction to which she was entitled, they should be protected from injury: on which account the Carians, wishing to obey the commands laid on them by the oracle, abolished the use of those garlands which they had previously been accustomed to wear, but permitted all those who were employed in the service of the goddess still to wear the garland of bay-tree, which remains in use even to this day.

§ 15.14 “ Nicaenetus also, the epic poet, appears to make some allusion to the fashion of wearing garlands of osier in his Epigrams. And this poet was a native of Samos, and a man who in numberless passages shows his fondness for mentioning points connected with the history of his country. And these are his words: — I am not oft, O Philotherus, fond Of feasting in the city, but prefer The country, where the open breeze of zephyr Freshens my heart; a simple bed Beneath my body is enough for me, Made of the branches of the native willow (πρόμαλος), And osier (λύγος), ancient garland of the Carians, — But let good wine be brought, and the sweet lyre, Chief ornament of the Pierian sisters, That we may drink our fill, and sing the praise Of the all-glorious bride of mighty Zeus, The great protecting queen of this our isle. But in these lines Nicaenetus speaks ambiguously, for it is not quite plain whether he means that the osier is to make his bed or his garland; though afterwards, when he calls it the ancient garland of the Carians, he alludes clearly enough to what we are now discussing. And this use of osiers to make into garlands, lasted in that island down to the time of Polycrates, as we may conjecture. At all events Anacreon says — But now full twice five months are gone Since kind Megisthes wore a crown Of pliant osier, drinking wine Whose colour did like rubies shine.”

§ 15.15 And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephaestion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title, “Concerning the Osier Garland mentioned by Anacreon.” And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephaestion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrastus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antiphon the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antiphon himself; Hephaestion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antiphon in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion on the Osier Garland. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories, mentioned this story about the osier, and knew nothing of the passage of Nicaenetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus. But one may explain this fact of the osier garlands more simply, by saying that Megisthes wore a garland of osier because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his temples. For the Lacedemonians at the festival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedemon, where he writes thus: “On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public school follow without any garland at all.”

§ 15.16 But Aristotle, in the second book of his treatise on Love Affairs, and Ariston the Peripatetic, who was a native of Ceos, in the second book of his Amatory Resemblances, say that “The ancients, on account of the headaches which were produced by their wine-drinking, adopted the practice of wearing garlands made of anything which came to hand, as the binding the head tight appeared to be of service to them. But men in later times added also some ornaments to their temples, which had a kind of reference to their employment of drinking, and so they invented garlands in the present fashion. But it is more reasonable to suppose that it was because the head is the seat of all sensation that men wore crowns upon it, than that they did so because it was desirable to have their temples shaded and bound as a remedy against the headaches produced by wine.” They also wore garlands over their foreheads, as the sweet Anacreon says — And placing on our brows fresh parsley crowns, Let's honour Dionysos with a jovial feast. They also wore garlands on their breasts, and anointed them with perfume, because that is the seat of the heart. And they call the garlands which they put round their necks ὑποθυμιάδες, as Alcaeus does in these lines — Let every one twine round his neck Wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες of anise. And Sappho says — And wreathed ὑποθυμιάδες In numbers round their tender throats. And Anacreon says — They placed upon their bosoms lotus flowers Entwined in fragrant ὑποθυμιάδες. Aeschylus also, in his Prometheus Unbound, says distinctly — And therefore we, in honour of Prometheus, Place garlands on our heads, a poor atonement For the sad chains with which his limbs were bound. And again, in the play entitled the Sphinx, he says- Give the stranger a στέφανος (garland), the ancient στέφος, — This is the best of chains, as we may judge From great Prometheus. But Sappho gives a more simple reason for our wearing garlands, speaking as follows — But place those garlands on thy lovely hair, Twining the tender sprouts of anise green With skilful hand; for offerings of flowers Are pleasing to the gods, who hate all those Who come before them with uncrowned heads. In which lines she enjoins all who offer sacrifice to wear garlands on their heads, as they are beautiful things, and acceptable to the Gods. Aristotle also, in his Banquet, says, “We never offer any mutilated gift to the Gods, but only such as are perfect and entire; and what is full is entire, and crowning anything indicates filling it in some sort. So Homer says — The slaves the goblets crown'd with rosy wine. And in another place he says — But God plain forms with eloquence does crown. That is to say, eloquence in speaking makes up in the case of some men for their personal ugliness. Now this is what the στέφανος seems intended to do, on which account, in times of mourning, we do exactly the contrary. For wishing to testify our sympathy for the dead, we mutilate ourselves by cutting our hair, and by putting aside our garlands.”

§ 15.17 Now Philonides the physician, in his treatise on Ointments and Garlands, says, “After the vine was introduced into Greece from the Red Sea, and when most people had become addicted to intemperate enjoyment, and had learnt to drink unmixed wine, some of them became quite frantic and out of their minds, while others got so stupefied as to resemble the dead. And once, when some men were drinking on the sea-shore, a violent shower came on, and broke up the party, and filled the goblet, which had a little wine left in it, with water. But when it became fine again, the men returned to the same spot, and tasting the new mixture, found that their enjoyment was now not only exquisite, but free from any subsequent pain. And on this account, the Greeks invoke the good Deity at the cup of unmixed wine, which is served round to them at dinner, paying honour to the Deity who invented wine; and that was Dionysos. But when the first cup of mixed wine is handed round after dinner, they then invoke Zeus the Saviour, thinking him the cause of this mixture of wine which is so unattended with pain, as being the author of rain. Now, those who suffered in their heads after drinking, certainly stood in need of some remedy; and so the binding their heads was what most readily occurred to them, as Nature herself led them to this remedy. For a certain man having a headache, as Andreas says, pressed his head, and found relief, and so invented a ligature as a remedy for headache. Accordingly, men using these ligatures as assistants in drinking, used to bind their heads with whatever came in their way. And first of all, they took garlands of ivy, which offered itself, as it were, of its own accord, and was very plentiful, and grew everywhere, and was pleasant to look upon, shading the forehead with its green leaves and bunches of berries, and bearing a good deal of tension, so as to admit of being bound tight across the brow, and imparting also a certain degree of coolness without any stupefying smell accompanying it. And it seems to me that this is the reason why men have agreed to consider the garland of ivy sacred to Dionysos, implying by this that the inventor of wine is also the defender of men from all the inconveniences which arise from the use of it. And from thence, regarding chiefly pleasure, and considering utility and the comfort of the relief from the effects of drunkenness of less importance, they were influenced chiefly by what was agreeable to the sight or to the smell. And therefore they adopted crowns of myrtle, which has exciting properties, and which also represses any rising of the fumes of wine; and garlands of roses, which to a certain extent relieve headache, and also impart some degree of coolness; and garlands also of bay leaves, which they think are not wholly unconnected with drinking parties. But garlands of white lilies, which have an effect on, the head, and wreaths of amaracus, or of any other flower or herb which has any tendency to produce heaviness or torpid feelings in the head, must be avoided.” And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Perfumes and Garlands, has said the same thing in the very same words. And this, my friends, is enough to say on this subject.

§ 15.18 But concerning the Naucratite Crown, and what kind of flowers that is made of, I made many investigations, and inquired a great deal without learning anything, till at last I fell in with a book of Polycharmus of Naucratis, entitled On Venus, in which I found the following passage: — “But in the twenty-third Olympiad Herostratus, a fellow-countryman of mine, who was a merchant, and as such had sailed to a great many different countries, coming by chance to Paphos, in Cyprus, bought an image of Venus, a span high, of very ancient workmanship, and came away meaning to bring it to Naucratis. And as he was sailing near the, Egyptian coast, a violent storm suddenly overtook him, and the sailors could not tell where they were, and so they all had recourse to this image of Venus, entreating her to save them. And the goddess, for she was kindly disposed towards the men of Naucratis, on a sudden filled all the space near her with branches of green myrtle, and diffused a most delicious odor over the whole ship, when all the sailors had previously despaired of safety from their violent sea-sickness. And after they had been all very sick, the sun shone out, and they, Seeing the landmarks, came in safety into Naucratis. And Herostratus having disembarked from the ship with his image, and carrying with him also the green branches of myrtle which had so suddenly appeared to him, consecrated it and them in the temple of Venus. And having sacrificed to the goddess, and having consecrated the image to Venus, and invited all his relations and most intimate friends to a banquet in the temple, he gave every one of them a garland of these branches of myrtle, to which garlands he then gave the name of Naucratite.” This is the account given by Polycharmus; and I myself believe the statement, and believe that the Naucratite garland is no other than one made of myrtle, especially as in Anacreon it is represented as worn with one made of roses. And Philonides has said that the garland made of myrtle acts as a check upon the fumes of wine, and that the one made of roses, in addition to its cooling qualities, is to a certain extent a remedy for headache. And, therefore, those men are only to be laughed at, who say that the Naucratite garland is the wreath made of what is called by the Egyptians biblus, quoting the statement of Theopompus, in the third book of his History of Greece, where he says, “That when Agesilaus the Lacedemonian arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians sent him many presents, and among them the papyrus, which is used for making garlands.” But I do not know what pleasure or advantage there could be in having a crown made of biblus with roses, unless people who are enamoured of such a wreath as this should also take a fancy to wear crowns of garlic and roses together. But I know that a great many people say that the garland made of the sampsychon or amaracus is the Naucratite garland; and this plant is very plentiful in Egypt, but the myrtle in Egypt is superior in sweetness to that which is found in any other country, as Theophrastus relates in another place.

§ 15.19 While this discussion was going on, some slaves came in bringing garlands made of such flowers as were in bloom at the time; and Myrtilus said; — Tell me, my good friend Ulpian, the different names of garlands. For these servants, as is said in the Centaur of Chaerephon [ Chaeremon ] — Make ready garlands which they give the gods, Praying they may be heralds of good omen. And the same poet says, in his play entitled Dionysos — Cutting sweet garlands, messengers of good omen. Do not, however, quote to me passages out of the Crowns of Aelius Asclepiades, as if I were unacquainted with that work; but say something now besides what you find there. For you cannot show me that any one has ever spoken separately of a garland of roses, and a garland of violets. For as for the expression in Cratinus — ναρκισσίνους ὀλίσβους, that is said in a joke. And he, laughing, replied, — The word στέφανος was first used among the Greeks, as Semos the Delian tells us in the fourth book of his Delias, in the same sense as the word στέφανος is used by us, which, however, by some people is called στέμμα. On which account, being first crowned with this στέφανος, afterwards we put on a garland of bay leaves; and the word στέφανος itself is derived from the verb στέφω, to crown. But do you, you loquacious Thessalian, think, says he, that I am going to repeat any of those old and hacknied stories? But because of your tongue (γλῶσσα), I will mention the ὑπογλωττὶς, which Plato speaks of in his Zeus Ill-treated — But you wear leather tongues within your shoes, And crown yourselves with ὑπογλωττίδες, Whenever you're engaged in drinking parties. And when you sacrifice you speak only words Of happy omen. And Theodorus, in his Attic Words, as Pamphilus says in his treatise on Names, says, that the ὑπογλωττὶς is a species of plaited crown. Take this then from me; for, as Euripides says,'Tis no hard work to argue on either side, If a man's only an adept at speaking.

§ 15.20 There is the Isthmiacum also, and there was a kind of crown bearing this name, which Aristophanes has thought worthy of mention in his Fryers, where he speaks thus — What then are we to do? We should have taken A white cloak each of us; and then entwining Isthmiaca on our brows, like choruses, Come let us sing the eulogy of our master. But Silenus, in his Dialects, says, “The Isthmian garland.” And Philetas says, "στέφανος. There is an ambiguity here as to whether it refers to the head or to the main world. We also use the word ἴσθμιον, as applied to a well, or to a dagger." But Timachidas and Simmias, who are both Rhodians, explain one word by the other. They say, ἴσθμιον,στέφανον: and this word is also mentioned by Callixenus, who is himself also a Rhodian, in his History of Alexandria, where he writes as follows -

§ 15.21 But since I have mentioned Alexandria, I know that in that beautiful city there is a garland called the garland of Antinous, which is made of the lotus, which grows in those parts. And this lotus grows in the marshes in the summer season; and it bears flowers of two colours; one like that of the rose, and it is the garlands woven of the flower of this colour which are properly called the garlands of Antinous; but the other kind is called the lotus garland, being of a dark colour. And a man of the name of Pancrates, a native poet, with whom we ourselves were acquainted, made a great parade of showing a rose-coloured lotus to Hadrian the emperor, when he was staying at Alexandria, saying, that he ought to give this flower the name of the Flower of Antinous, as having sprung from the ground where it drank in the blood of the Mauritanian lion, which Hadrian killed when he was out hunting in that part of Africa, near Alexandria; a monstrous beast which had ravaged all Libya for a long time, so as to make a very great part of the district desolate. Accordingly, Hadrian being delighted with the utility of the invention, and also with its novelty, granted to the poet that he should be maintained for the future in the Museum at the public expense; and Cratinus the comic poet, in his Ulysseses, has called the lotus στεφάνωμα, because all plants which are full of leaf, are called στεφανώματα by the Athenians. But Pancrates said, with a good deal of neatness, in his poem — The crisp ground thyme, the snow-white lily too, The purple hyacinth, and the modest leaves Of the white celandine, and the fragrant rose, Whose petals open to the vernal zephyrs; For that fair flower which bears Antinous' name The earth had not yet borne.

§ 15.22 There is the word πυλέων. And this is the name given to the garland which the Lacedemonians place on the head of Hera, as Pamphilus relates. I am aware, also, that there is a kind of garland, which is called Ἰάκχας by the Sicyonians, as Timachidas mentions in his treatise on Dialects. And Philetas writes as follows: — "Ἰάκχα — this is a name given to a fragrant garland in the district of Sicyon — She stood by her sire, and in her fragrant hair She wore the beautiful Iacchian garland. " Seleucus also, in his treatise on Dialects, says, that there is a kind of garland made of myrtle, which is called ᾿ελλωτὶς, being twenty cubits in circumference, and that it is carried in procession on the festival of the Ellotia. And he says, that in this garland the bones of Europa, whom they call Ellotis, are carried. And this festival of the Ellotia is celebrated in Corinth. There is also the θυρεατικός. This also is a name given to a species of garland by the Lacedemonians, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise on Sacrifices, where he says, that now it is called ψίλινος, being made of branches of the palm-tree. And he says that they are worn, as a memorial of the victory which they gained, in Thyrea, by the leaders of the choruses, which are employed in that festival when they celebrate the Gymnopaediae. And there are choruses, some of handsome boys, and others of full-grown men of distinguished bravery, who all dance naked, and who sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman, and the paeans of Dionysodotus the Lacedemonian. There are also garlands called μελιλώτινοι, which are mentioned by Alexis in his Crateia, or the Apothecary, in the following line — And many μελιλώτινοι garlands hanging. There is the word too, ἐπιθυμίδες, which Seleucus explains by “every sort of garland.” But Timachidas says, “Garlands of every kind which are worn by women are called ἐπιθυμίδες.” There are also the words ὑποθυμὶς and ὑποθυμιὰς, which are names given to garlands by the Aeolians and Ionians, and they wear such around their necks, as one may clearly collect from the poetry of Alcaeus and Anacreon. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says, that the Lesbians call a branch of myrtle ὑποθυμὶς, around which they twine violets and other flowers. The ὑπογλωττὶς also is a species of garland. But Theodorus, in his Attic Words, says, that it is a particular kind of garland, and is used in that sense by Plato the comic poet, in his Zeus Ill-treated.

§ 15.23 I find also, in the comic poets, mention made of a kind of garland called κυλιστὸς,, and I find that Archippus mentions it in his Rhinon, in these lines — He went away unhurt to his own house, Having laid aside his cloak, but having on His ἐκκύλιστος garland. And Alexis, in his Agonis, or The Colt, says — This third man has a κυλιστὸς garland Of fig-leaves; but while living he delighted In similar ornaments: and in his Sciron he says — Like a κυλιστὸς garland in suspense. Antiphanes also mentions it in his Man in Love with Himself. And Eubulus, in his Oenomaus, or Pelops, saying — Brought into circular shape, Like a κυλιστὸς garland. What, then, is this κυλιστός? For I am aware that Nicander of Thyatira, in his Attic Nouns, speaks as follows, — "'᾿εκκυλίσιοι στέφανοι, and especially those made of roses." And now I ask what species of garland this was, O Cynulcus; and do not tell me that I am to understand the word as meaning merely large. For you are a man who are fond of not only picking things little known out of books, but of even digging out such matters; like the philosophers in the Joint Deceiver of Baton the comic poet; men whom Sophocles also mentions in his Fellow Feasters, and who resemble you, — You should not wear a beard thus well perfumed, And'tis a shame for you, of such high birth, To be reproached as the son of your belly, When you might rather be call'd your father's son. Since, then, you are sated not only with the heads of glaucus, but also with that ever-green herb, which that Anthedonian Deity ate, and became immortal, give us an answer now about the subject of discussion, that we may not think that when you are dead, you will be metamorphosed, as the divine Plato has described in his treatise on the Soul. For he says that those who are addicted to gluttony, and insolence, and drunkenness, and who are restrained by no modesty, may naturally become transformed into the race of asses, and similar animals.

§ 15.24 And as he still appeared to be in doubt; — Let us now, said Ulpian, go on to another kind of garland, which is called the στρούθιος; which Asclepiades mentions when he quotes the following passage, out of the Female Garland Sellers of Eubulus — O happy woman, in your little house To have a στρούθιος..... And this garland is made of the flower called στρούθιον (soapwort), which is mentioned by Theophrastus, in the sixth book of his Natural History, in these words — “The iris also blooms in the summer, and so does the flower called στρούθιον, which is a very pretty flower to the eye, but destitute of scent.” Galene of Smyrna also speaks of the same flower, under the name of στρύθιον. There is also the πόθος.. There is a certain kind of garland with this name, as Nicander the Colophonian tells us in his treatise on Words. And this, too, perhaps is so named as being made of the flower called πόθος,, which the same Theophrastus mentions in the sixth book of his Natural History, where he writes thus — “There are other flowers which bloom chiefly in the summer, — the lychnis, the flower of Zeus, the lily, the iphyum, the Phrygian amaracus, and also the plant called pothus, of which there are two kinds, one bearing a flower like the hyacinth, but the other produces a colour-less blossom nearly white, which men use to strew on tombs. Eubulus also gives a list of other names of garlands — Aegidion, carry now this garland for me, Ingeniously wrought of divers flowers, Most tempting, and most beautiful, by Zeus! For who'd not wish to kiss the maid who bears it? And then in the subsequent lines he says — A. Perhaps you want some garlands. Will you have them Of ground thyme, or of myrtle, or of flowers Such as I show you here in bloom. B. I'll have These myrtle ones. You may sell all the others, But always keep the myrtle wreaths for me.

§ 15.25 There is the philyrinus also. Xenarchus, in his Soldier, says — For the boy wore a garland on his brow Of delicate leafy linden (φιλύρα). Some garlands also are called ἑλικτοὶ, as they are even to this day among the Alexandrians. And Chaeremon the tragic poet mentions them in his Dionysos, saying — The triple folds of the ἑλικτοὶ garlands, Made up of ivy and narcissus. But concerning the evergreen garlands in Egypt, Hellanicus, in his History of Egypt, writes as follows — ”There is a city on the banks of the river, named Tindium. This is place where many gods are assembled, and in the middle of the city there is a sacred temple of great size made of marble, and the doors are marble. And within the temple there are white and black thorns, on which garlands were placed made of the flower of the acanthus, and also of the blossoms of the pomegranate, and of vine leaves. And these keep green for ever. These garlands were placed by the gods themselves in Egypt when they heard that Babys was king, (and he is the same who is also called Typhon.)" But Demetrius, in his History of the Things to be seen in Egypt, says that these thorns grow about the city of Abydos, and he writes thus — “But the lower district has a tree called the thorn, which bears a round fruit on some round-shaped branches. And this tree blooms at a certain season; and the flower is very beautiful and brilliant in colour. And there is a story told by the Egyptians, that the Aethiopians who had been sent as allies to Troy by Tithonus, when they heard that Memnon was slain, threw down on the spot all their garlands on the thorns. And the branches themselves on which the flower grows resemble garlands.” And the before-mentioned Hellanicus mentions also that Amasis, who was king of Egypt, was originally a private individual of the class of the common people; and that it was owing to the present of a garland, which he made of the most beautiful flowers that were in season, and sent to Patarmis, who was king of Egypt, at the time when he was celebrating the festival of his birthday, that he afterwards became king himself. For Patarmis, being delighted at the beauty of the garland, invited Amasis to supper, and after this treated him as one of his friends; and on one occasion sent him out as his general, when the Egyptians were making war upon him. And he was made king by these Egyptians out of their hatred to Patarmis.

§ 15.26 There are also garlands called συνθηματιαῖοι,, which people make and furnish by contract. Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusae, says — To make up twenty συνθηματιαῖοι garlands. We find also the word χορωνόν. Apion, in his treatise on the Roman Dialect, says that formerly a garland was called χορωνὸν, from the fact of the members of the chorus in the theatres using it; and that they wore garlands and contended for garlands. And one may see this name given to garlands in the Epigrams of Simonides — Phoebus doth teach that song to the Tyndaridae, Which tuneless grasshoppers have crown'd with a χορωνός. There are ἀκίνιοι too. There are some garlands made of the basil thyme (ἄκινος) which are called by this name, as we are told by Andron the physician, whose words are quoted by Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius, in the first book of his treatise on the Words which occur in the Historians.

§ 15.27 Now Theophrastus gives the following list of flowers as suitable to be made into garlands — -"The violet, the flower of Zeus, the iphyum, the wallflower, the hemerocalles, or yellow lily. But he says the earliest blooming flower is the white violet; and about the same time that which is called the wild wallflower appears, and after them the narcissus and the lily; and of mountain flowers, that kind of anemone which is called the mountain anemone, and the head of the bulb-plant. For some people twine these flowers into garlands. And next to these there comes the oenanthe and the purple violet. And of wild flowers, there are the helichryse, and that species of anemone called the meadow anemone, and the gladiolus, and the hyacinth. But the rose is the latest blooming flower of all; and it is the latest to appeal and the first to go off. But the chief summer flowers are the lychnis, and the flower of Zeus, and the lily, and the iphyum, and the Phrygian amaracus, and also the flower called the pothus." And in his ninth book the same Theophrastus says, if any one wears a garland made of the flower of the helichryse, he is praised if he sprinkle it with ointment. And, Alcman mentions it in these lines — And I pray to you, and bring This chaplet of the helichryse, And of the holy cypirus. And Ibycus says — Myrtle-berries with violets mix'd, And helichryse, and apple blossoms, And roses, and the tender daphne. And Cratinus, in his Effeminate People, says — With ground thyme and with crocuses, And hyacinths, and helichryse. But the helichryse is a flower like the lotus. And Themistagoras the Ephesian, in his book entitled The Golden Book, says that the flower derives its name from the nymph who first picked it, who was called Helichrysa. There are also, says Theophrastus, such flowers as purple lilies. But Philinus says that the lily, which he calls κρίνον, is by some people called λείριον, and by others ἴον. The Corinthians also call this flower ambrosia, as Nicander says in his Dictionary. And Diocles, in his treatise on Deadly Poisons, says — “The amaracus, which some people call the sampsychus.”

§ 15.28 Cratinus also speaks of the hyacinth by the name of κοσμοσάνδαλον in his Effeminate People, where he says — I crown my head with flowers, λείρια, Roses, and κρίνα, and κοσμοσάνδαλα. And Clearchus, in the second book of his Lives, says — “You may remark the Lacedemonians who, having invented garlands of cosmosandalum, trampled under foot the most ancient system of polity in the world, and utterly ruined themselves; on which account Antiphanes the comic poet very cleverly says of them, in his Harp-player — Did not the Lacedemonians boast of old As though they were invincible? but now They wear effeminate purple head-dresses. And Hicesius, in the second book of his treatise on Matter, says — ”The white violet is of moderately astringent properties, and has a most delicious fragrance, and is very delightful, but only for a short time; and the purple violet is of the same appearance, but it is far more fragrant." And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Beasts, says — “There is the chamaepitys, or ground pine, which some call olocyrum, but the Athenians call it Ionia, and the Euboeans sideritis.” And Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, (the words themselves I will quote hereafter, when I thoroughly discuss all the flowers fit for making into garlands,) says — “The violet (ἴον) was originally given by some Ionian nymphs to Ion.” And in the sixth book of his History of Plants, Theophrastus says that the narcissus is also called λείριον; but in a subsequent passage he speaks of the narcissus and λείριον as different plants. And Eumachus the Corcyrean, in his treatise on Cutting Roots, says that the narcissus is also called acacallis, and likewise crotalum. But the flower called hemerocalles, or day-beauty, which fades at night but blooms at sunrise, is mentioned by Cratinus in his Effeminate People, where he says — And the dear hemerocalles. Concerning the ground thyme, Theophrastus says — “The people gather the wild ground thyme on the mountains and plant it around Sicyon, and the Athenians gather it on Hymettus; and other nations too have mountains fill of this flower, as the Thracians for instance.” But Philinus says that it is called zygis. And Amerias the Macedonian, speaking of the lychnis in his treatise on Cutting up Roots, says that “it sprang from the baths of Venus, when Venus bathed after having been sleeping with Vulcan. And it is found in the greatest perfection in Cyprus and Lemnos, and also in Stromboli and near Mount Eryx, and at Cythera.” “But the iris,” says Theophrastus, “blooms in the summer, and is the only one of all the European flowers which has a sweet scent. And it is in the highest beauty in those parts of Illyricum which are at a distance from the sea.” But Philinus says that the flowers of the iris are called λύκοι, because they resemble the lips of the wolf (λύκος). And Nicolaus of Damascus, in the hundred and eighth book of his History, says that there is a lake near the Alps, many stadia in circumference, round which there grow every year the most fragrant and beautiful flowers, like those which are called calchae. Alcman also mentions the calchae in these lines: — Having a golden-colour'd necklace on Of the bright calchae, with their tender petals. And Epicharmus, too, speaks of them in his Rustic.

§ 15.29 Of roses, says Theophrastus in his sixth book, there are many varieties. For most of them consist only of five leaves, but some have twelve leaves; and some, near Philippi, have even as many as a hundred leaves. For men take up the plants from Mount Pangaeum, (and they are very numerous there,) and plant them near the city. And the inner petals are very small; for the fashion in which the flowers put out their petals is, that some form the outer rows and some the inner ones: but they have not much smell, nor are they of any great size. And those with only five leaves are the most fragrant, and their lower parts are very thorny. But the most fragrant roses are in Cyrene: on which account the perfumes made there are the sweetest. And in this country, too, the perfume of the violets, and of all other flowers, is most pure and heavenly; and above all, the fragrance of the crocus is most delicious in those parts." And Timachidas, in his Banquets, says that the Arcadians call the rose εὐόμφαλον, meaning εὔοσμον, or fragrant. And Apollodorus, in the fourth book of his History of Parthia, speaks of a flower called philadelphum, as growing in the country of the Parthians, and describes it thus: — “And there are many kinds of myrtle, — the milax, and that which is called the philadelphum, which has received a name corresponding to its natural character; for when branches, which are at a distance from one another, meet together of their own accord, they cohere with a vigorous embrace, and become united as if they came from one root, and then growing on, they produce fresh shoots: on which account they often make hedges of them in well-cultivated farms; for they take the thinnest of the shoots, and plait them in a net-like manner, and plant them all round their gardens, and then these plants, when plaited together all round, make a fence which it is difficult to pass through.”

§ 15.30 The author, too, of the Cyprian Poems gives lists of the flowers which are suitable to be made into garlands, whether he was Hegesias, or Stasinus, or any one else; for Demodamas, who was either a Halicarnassian or Milesian, in his History of Halicarnassus, says that the Cypria were the work of a citizen of Halicarnassus: however, the author, whoever he was, in his eleventh book, speaks thus: — Then did the Graces, and the smiling Seasons, Make themselves garments rich with various hues, And dyed them in the varied flowers that Spring And the sweet Seasons in their bosom bear. In crocus, hyacinth, and blooming violet, And the sweet petals of the peerless rose, So fragrant, so divine; nor did they scorn The dewy cups of the ambrosial flower That boasts Narcissus' name. Such robes, perfumed With the rich treasures of revolving seasons, The golden Venus wears. And this poet appears also to have been acquainted with the use of garlands, when he says — And when the smiling Venus with her train Had woven fragrant garlands of the treasures The flowery earth puts forth, the goddesses All crown'd their heads with their queen's precious work, — The Nymphs and Graces, and the golden Venus, — And raised a tuneful song round Ida's springs.

§ 15.31.1 Nicander also, in the second book of his Georgics, gives a regular list of the flowers suitable to be made into garlands, and speaks as follows concerning the Ionian nymphs and concerning roses: — And many other flowers you may plant, Fragrant and beauteous, of Ionian growth; Two sorts of violets are there, — pallid one, And like the colour of the virgin gold, Such as th' Ionian Νymphs to Ion gave, When in the Pisaean allotments They met and loved and crown'd the modest youth. For he had cheer'd his hounds and slain the boar, And in the clear Alpheus bathed his limbs, Before he visited those friendly nymphs. Cut then the shoots from off the thorny rose, And plant them in the trenches, leaving space Between, two spans in width. The poets tell That Midas first, when Asia's realms he left, Brought roses from th' Odonian hills of Thrace, And cultivated them in th' Emathian lands, Blooming and fragrant with their sixty petals.

§ 15.31.17 Next to th' Emathian roses those are praised Which the Megarian Nisaea displays: Nor is Phaselis, nor the land which worships Leukophrys, to be lightly praised, Made verdant by the Magnesian Lethaean stream. In other trenches place the ivy cuttings, And often e'en a branch with berries loaded May be entrusted to the grateful ground; Or with well-sharpen'd knife cut off the shoots, And plait them into baskets, High on the top the calyx full of seed Grows with white leaves, tinged in the heart with gold, Which some call crina, others liria, Others ambrosia, but those who love The fittest name, do call them Aphrodite's joy; For in their colour they do vie with her, Though far inferior to her decent form. The iris in its roots is like th' agallis, Or hyacinth fresh sprung from Ajax' blood; It rises high with swallow-shaped flowers, Blooming when summer brings the swallows back. Thick are the leaves they from their bosom pour, And the fresh flowers constantly succeeding, Shine in their stooping mouths. Nor is the lychnis, nor the lofty rush, Nor the fair anthemis in light esteem, Nor the boanthemum with towering stem, Nor phlox whose brilliancy scarce seems to yield To the bright splendour of the midday sun. Plant the ground thyme where the more fertile ground Is moistened by fresh-welling springs beneath, That with long creeping branches it may spread, Or droop in quest of some transparent spring, The Νymphs' chosen draught.

§ 15.31.46 Throw far away The poppy's leaves, and keep the head entire, A sure protection from the teasing gnats; For every kind of insect makes its seat Upon the opening leaves; and on the head, Like freshening dews, they feed, and much rejoice In the rich latent honey that it bears; But when the leaves (θρῖα) are off, the mighty flame Soon scatters them.... (but by the word θρῖα he does not here mean the leaves of fig-trees, but of the poppy). Nor can they place their feet With steady hold, nor juicy food extract; And oft they slip, and fall upon their heads. Swift is the growth, and early the perfection Of the sampsychum, and of rosemary, And of the others which the gardens Supply to diligent men for well-earn'd garlands. Such are the feathery fern, the boy's-love sweet, (Like the tall poplar); such the golden crocus, Fair flower of early spring; the gopher white, And fragrant thyme, and all the unsown beauty Which in moist grounds the verdant meadows bear; The ox -eye, the sweet-smelling flower of Zeus, The chalca, and the much sung hyacinth,

§ 15.31.46 And the low-growing violet, to which Dark Persephoneia a darker hue has given; The tall panosmium, and the varied colours Which the gladiolus puts forth in vain To decorate the early tombs of maidens. Then too the ever-flourishing anemones, Tempting afar with their most vivid dyes. (But for ἐφελκόμεναι χροιῇσιν some copies have ἐφελκόμεναι φιλοχροιαῖς). And above all remember to select The elecampane and the aster bright, And place them in the temples (sekos) of the gods, By roadside built, or hang them on their statues (bretas), Which first do catch the eye of the visitor. These are propitious gifts, whether you pluck The many-hued chrysanthemum, or lilies Which wither sadly o'er the much-wept tomb, Or gay old-man, or long-stalk'd cyclamen, Or rank nasturtium, whose scarlet flowers the chthonian Hegesilaus ( Hades ) chooses for his royal garland.

§ 15.32 From these lines it is plain that the chelidonium is a different flower from the anemone (for some people have called them the same). But Theophrastus says that there are some plants, the flowers of which constantly follow the stars, such as the one called the heliotrope, and the chelidonium; and this last plant is named so from its coming into bloom at the same time as the swallows arrive. There is also a flower spoken of under the name of ambrosia by Carystius, in his Historical Commentaries, where he says — “ Nicander says that the plant named ambrosia grows at Cos, on the head of the statue of Alexander.” But I have already spoken of it, and mentioned that some people give this name to the lily. And Timachidas, in the fourth book of his banquet, speaks also of a flower called theseum, — The soft theseum, like the apple blossom, The sacred blossom of Leucerea, Which the fair goddess loves above all others. And he says that the garland of Ariadne was made of this flower.

§ 15.32.18 Pherecrates also, or whoever the poet was who wrote the play of the Persians, mentions some flowers as fit for garlands, and says — O you who sigh like mallows soft, Whose breath like hyacinths smells, Who like the melilotus speak, And smile as doth the rose, Whose kisses are as marjoram sweet, Whose action crisp as parsley, Whose gait like cosmosandalum. Pour rosy wine, and with loud voice Raise the glad paean's song, As laws of God and man enjoin On holy festival. And the author of the Miners, whoever he was, (and that poem is attributed to the same Pherecrates,) says — Treading on soft aspalathi Beneath the shady trees, In lotus-bearing meadows green, And on the dewy cypirus; And on the fresh anthryscum, and The modest tender violet, And green trefoil... But here I want to know what this trefoil is; for there is a poem attributed to Demarete, which is called The Trefoil. And also, in the poem which is entitled The Good Men, Pherecrates or Strattis, whichever is the author, says — And having bathed before the heat of day, Some crown their head and some anoint their bodies. And he speaks of thyme, and of cosmosandalum. And Cratinus, in his Effeminate Persons, says — Joyful now I crown my head With every kind of flower; λείρια, roses, κρίνα too, And cosmosandala, And violets, and fragrant thyme, And spring anemones, Ground thyme, crocus, hyacinths, And buds of helichryse, Shoots of the vine, anthryscum too, And lovely hemerocalles. My head is likewise shaded With evergreen melilotus; And of its own accord there comes The flowery cytisus.

§ 15.33 Formerly the entrance of garlands and perfumes into the banqueting rooms, used to herald the approach of the second course, as we may learn from Nicostratus in his Pseudostigmatias, where, in the following lines, he says — And you too, Be sure and have the second course quite neat; Adorn it with all kinds of rich confections, Perfumes, and garlands, aye, and frankincense, And girls to play the flute. But Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his poem entitled The Banquet, represents the garland as entering into the commencement of the banquet, using the following language: Then water was brought in to wash the hands, Which a delicate youth bore in a silver ewe, Ministering to the guests; and after that He brought us garlands of the tender myrtle, Close woven with young richly-colour'd shoots. And Eubulus, in his Nurses, says — For when the old men came into the house, At once they sate them down. Immediately Garlands were handed round; a well-fill'd board Was placed before them, and (how good for th' eyes!) A closely-kneaded loaf of barley bread.

§ 15.33.22 And this was the fashion also among the Egyptians, as Nicostratus says in his Usurer; for, representing the usurer as an Egyptian, he says — A. We caught the pimp and two of his companions, When they had just had water for their hands, And garlands. B. Sure the time, O Chaerophon, Was most propitious. But you may go on gorging yourself, O Cynulcus; and when you have done, tell us why Cratinus has called the melilotus “the ever-watching melilotus.” However, as I see you are already a little tipsy (ἔξοινον) — for that is the word Alexis has used for a man thoroughly drunk (μεθύσην), in his Settler — I won't go on teasing you; but I will bid the slaves, as Sophocles says in his Fellow Feasters, Come, quick! let some one make the barley-cakes, And fill the goblets deep; for this man now, Just like a farmer's ox, can't work a bit Till he has fill'd his belly with good food.

§ 15.33.38 And there is a man of the same kind mentioned by Aristias of Phlius; for he, too, in his play entitled The Fates, says — The guest is either a boatman or a parasite, A hanger-on of Hades, with hungry belly, Which nought can satisfy. However, as he gives no answer whatever to all these things which have been said, I order him (as it is said in the Twins of Alexis ) to be carried out of the party, crowned with χύδαιοι garlands. But the comic poet, alluding to χύδαιοι garlands, says — These garlands all promiscuously (χύδην) woven. But, after this, I will not carry on this conversation any further today; but will leave the discussion about perfumes to those who choose to continue it: and only desire the boy, on account of this lecture of mine about garlands, as Antiphanes..... To bring now hither two good garlands, And a good lamp, with good fire brightly burning; for then I shall wind up my speech like the conclusion of a play. And not many days after this, as if he had been prophesying a silence for himself [which should be eternal], he died, happily, without suffering under any long illness, to the great affliction of us his companions.

§ 15.34 And while the slaves were bringing round perfumes in alabaster boxes, and in other vessels made of gold, some one, seeing Cynulcus, anointed his face with a great deal of ointment. But he, being awakened by it, when he recollected himself, said; — What is this? O Hercules, will not some one come with a sponge and wipe my face, which is thus polluted with a lot of dirt? And do not you all know that that exquisite writer Xenophon, in his Banquet, represents Socrates as speaking thus: — "'By Zeus! O Callias, you entertain us superbly; for you have not only given us a most faultless feast, but you have furnished us also with delicious food for our eyes and ears.' —'Well, then,' said he,'suppose any one were to bring us perfumes, in order that we might also banquet on sweet smells?' —'By no means,' said Socrates;'for as there is one sort of dress fit for women and another for men, so there is one kind of smell fit for women and another for men. And no man is ever anointed with perfume for the sake of men; and as to women, especially when they are brides, — as, for instance, the bride of this Niceratus here, and the bride of Critobulus, — how can they want perfumes in their husbands, when they themselves are redolent of it But the smell of the oil in the gymnasia, when it is present, is sweeter than perfume to women; and when it is absent, they long more for it. For if a slave and a freeman be anointed with perfume, they both smell alike in a moment; but those smells which are derived from free labours, require both virtuous habits and a good deal of time if they are to be agreeable and in character with a freeman.'" And that admirable writer Chrysippus says that perfumes (μύρα) derive their name from being prepared with great toil (μόρος) and useless labour. The Lacedemonians even expel from Sparta those who make perfumes, as being wasters of oil; and those who dye wool, as being destroyers of the whiteness of the wool. And Solon the philosopher, in his laws, forbade men to be sellers of perfumes.

§ 15.35 “But now, not only scents,” as Clearchus says in the third book of his Lives, “but also dyes, being full of luxury, tend to make those men effeminate who have anything to do with them. And do you think that effeminacy without virtue has anything desirable in it? But even Sappho, a thorough woman, and a poetess into the bargain, was ashamed to separate honour from elegance; and speaks thus — But elegance I truly love; And this my love of life has brilliancy, And honour, too, attached to it: making it evident to everybody that the desire of life that she confessed had respectability and honour in it; and these things especially belong to virtue. But Parrhasius the painter, although he was a man beyond all measure arrogant about his art, and though he got the credit of a liberal profession by some mere pencils and pallets, still in words set up a claim to virtue, and put this inscription on all his works that are at Lindus: — This is Parrhasius' the painter's work, A most luxurious (ἁβροδίαιτος) and virtuous man. And a wit being indignant at this, because, I suppose, he seemed to be a disgrace to the delicacy and beauty of virtue, having perverted the gifts which fortune had bestowed upon him to luxury, proposed to change the inscription into ῥαβδοδίαιτος ἀνήρ: Still, said he, the man must be endured, since he says that he honours virtue.” These are the words of Clearchus. But Sophocles the poet, in his play called The Judgment, represents Venus, being a sort of Goddess of Pleasure, as anointed with perfumes, and looking in a glass; but Athena, as being a sort of Goddess of Intellect and Mind, and also of Virtue, as using oil and gymnastic exercises.

§ 15.36 In reply to this, Masurius said; — But, my most excellent friend, are you not aware that it is in our brain that our senses are soothed, and indeed reinvigorated, by sweet smells? as Alexis says in his Wicked Woman, where he speaks thus — The best recipe for health Is to apply sweet scents unto the brain. And that most valiant, and indeed warlike poet, Alcaeus, says — He shed a sweet perfume all o'er my breast. And the wise Anacreon says somewhere — Why fly away, now that you've well anointed Your breast, more hollow than a flute, with unguents? for he recommends anointing the breast with unguent, as being the seat of the heart, and considering it an admitted point that that is soothed with fragrant smells. And the ancients used to act thus, not only because scents do of their own nature ascend upwards from the breast to the seat of smelling, but also because they thought that the soul had its abode in the heart; as Praxagoras, and Philotimus the physician taught; and Homer, too, says — He struck his breast, and thus reproved his heart. And again he says — His heart within his breast did rage. And in the Iliad he says — But Hector's heart within his bosom shook. Hom. Iliad, vii. 216. And this they consider a proof that the most important portion of the soul is situated in the heart; for it is as evident as possible that the heart quivers when under the agitation of fear. And Agamemnon, in Homer, says — Scarce can my knees these trembling limbs sustain, And scarce my heart support its load of pain; With fears distracted, with no fix'd design, And all my people's miseries are mine. Iliad, x. 96. And Sophocles has represented women released from fear as saying — Now Fear's dark daughter does no more exult Within my heart. This is not from any extant play. But Anaxandrides makes a man who is struggling with fear say — O my wretched heart! How you alone of all my limbs or senses Rejoice in evil; for you leap and dance The moment that you see your lord alarm'd. And Plato says, “that the great Architect of the universe has placed the lungs close to the heart, by nature soft and destitute of blood, and having cavities penetrable like sponge, that so the heart, when it quivers, from fear of adversity or disaster, may vibrate against a soft and yielding substance.” But the garlands with which men bind their bosoms are called ὑποθυμιάδες by the poets, from the exhalations (ἀναθυμίασις of the flowers, and not because the soul (ψυχὴ) is called θυμὸς, as some people think.

§ 15.37 Archilochus is the earliest author who uses the word μύρον (perfume), where he says — She being old would spare her perfumes (μύρα). And in another place he says — Displaying hair and breast perfumed (ἐσμυρισμένον); So that a man, though old, might fall in love with her. And the word μύρον is derived from μύῤῥα, which is the Aeolic form of σμύρνα (myrrh); for the greater portion of unguents are made up with myrrh, and that which is called στακτὴ is wholly composed of it. Not but what Homer was acquainted with the fashion of using unguents and perfumes, but he calls them ἔλαια, with the addition of some distinctive epithet, as- Himself anointing them with dewy oil (δροσόεντι ἐλαίῳ). Iliad, 23.186. And in another place he speaks of an oil as perfumed (τεθυωμένον. And in his poems also, Venus anoints the dead body of Hector with ambrosial rosy oil; and this is made of flowers. But with respect to that which is made of spices, which they called θυώματα, he says, speaking of Hera, — Here first she bathes, and round her body pours Soft oils of fragrance and ambrosial showers: The winds perfumed, the balmy gale convey Through heaven, through earth, and all the aerial way. Spirit divine! whose exhalation greets The sense of gods with more than mortal sweets.

§ 15.38 But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius of Herophila says in his treatise on Perfumes, where he writes — “The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Naples and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at Soli in Cilicia, and at Rhodes. The essence of spikenard is best at Tarsus; and the extract of vine-leaves is made best in Cyprus and at Adramyttium. The best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos. Egypt bears the palm for its essence of cypirus; and the next best is the Cyprian, and Phoenician, and after them comes the Sidonian. The perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. But the Metopian is made of oil which is extracted from bitter almonds. Still, the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors and the materials and the artists, and not to the place itself; for Ephesus formerly, as men say, had a high reputation for the excellence of its perfumes, and especially of its megallium, but now it has none. At one time, too, the unguents made in Alexandria were brought to high perfection, on account of the wealth of the city, and the attention that Arsinoe and Berenice paid to such matters; and the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive. Again, in ancient times, the extract of vine-leaves made at Adramyttium was but poor; but afterwards it became first-rate, owing to Stratonice, the wife of Eumenes. Formerly, too, Syria used to make every sort of unguent admirably, especially that extracted from fenugreek; but the case is quite altered now. And long ago there used to be a most delicious unguent extracted from frankincense at Pergamon, owing to the invention of a certain perfumer of that city, for no one else had ever made it before him; but now none is made there. ”Now, when a valuable unguent is poured on the top of one that is inferior, it remains on the surface; but when good honey is poured on the top of that which is inferior, it works its way to the bottom, for it compels that which is worse to rise above it."

§ 15.39 Achaeus mentions Egyptian perfumes in his Prizes; and says — They'll give you Cyprian stones, and ointments choice From dainty Egypt, worth their weight in silver. “And perhaps,” says Didymus, “he means in this passage that which is called στακτὴ, on account of the myrrh which is brought to Egypt, and from thence imported into Greece.” And Hicesius says, in the second book of his treatise on Matter, — “Of perfumes, some are rubbed on, and some are poured on. Now, the perfume made from roses is suitable for drinking parties, and so is that made from myrtles and from apples; and this last is good for the stomach, and useful for lethargic people. That made from vine-leaves is good for the stomach, and has also the effect of keeping the mind clear. Those extracted from sampsychum and ground thyme are also well suited to drinking parties; and so is that extract of crocus which is not mixed with any great quantity of myrrh. The στακτὴ,, also, is well suited for drinking parties; and so is the spikenard: that made from fenugreek is sweet and tender; while that which comes from white violets is fragrant, and very good for the digestion.” Theophrastus, also, in his treatise on Scents, says, “that some perfumes are made of flowers; as, for instance, from roses, and white violets, and lilies, which last is called σούσινον. There are also those which are extracted from mint and ground thyme, and gopper, and the crocus; of which the best is procured in Aegina and Cilicia. Some, again, are made of leaves, as those made from myrrh and the oenanthe; and the wild vine grows in Cyprus, on the mountains, and is very plentiful; but no perfume is made of that which is found in Greece, because that has no scent. Some perfumes, again, are extracted from roots; as is that made from the iris, and from spikenard, and from marjoram, and from zedoary.”

§ 15.40 Now, that the ancients were very much addicted to the use of perfumes, is plain from their knowing to which of our limbs each unguent was most suitable. Accordingly, Antiphanes, in his Thoricians, or The Digger, says — A. He really bathes — B. What then? A. In a large gilded tub, and steeps his feet And legs in rich Egyptian unguents; His jaws and breasts he rubs with thick palm-oil, And both his arms with extract sweet of mint; His eyebrows and his hair with marjoram, His knees and neck with essence of ground thyme. And Cephisodorus, in his Trophonius, says — A. And now that I may well anoint my body, Buy me some unguents, I beseech you, Xanthias, Of roses made and irises. Buy, too, Some oil of baccaris for my legs and feet. B. You stupid wretch! Shall I buy baccaris, And waste it on your worthless feet? Anaxandrides, too, in his Protesilaus, says — Unguents from Peron, which but yesterday He sold to Melanopus, — very costly, Fresh come from Egypt; which he uses now To anoint the feet of vile Callistratus. And Theopompus also mentions this perfumer, Peron, in his Admetus, and in the Hedychares. Antiphanes, too, says in his Antea — I left the man in Peron's shop, just now, Dealing for ointments; when he has agreed, He'll bring you cinnamon and spikenard essence.

§ 15.41 Now, there is a sort of ointment called βάκκαρις by many of the comic poets; and Hipponax uses this name in the following line: — I then my nose with baccaris anointed, Redolent of crocus. And Achaeus, in his Aethon, a satyric drama, says — Anointed o'er with baccaris, and dressing All his front hair with cooling fans of feathers. But Ion, in his Omphale, says —'Tis better far to know the use of μύρα, And βάκκαρις, and Sardian ornaments, Than all the fashions in the Peloponnesus. And when he speaks of Sardian ornaments, he means to include perfumes; since the Lydians were very notorious for their luxury. And so Anacreon uses the word λυδοπαθὴς ( Lydian -like) as equivalent to ἡδυπαθὴς (luxurious). Sophocles also uses the word βάκκαρις; and Magnes, in his Lydians, says — A man should bathe, and then with baccaris Anoint himself. Perhaps, however, μύρον and βάκκαρις were not exactly the same thing; for Aeschylus, in his Amymone, makes a distinction between them, and says — Your βακκάρεις and your μύρα. And Simonides says — And then with μύρον, and rich spices too, And βάκκαρις, did I anoint myself. And Aristophanes, in his Thesmophoriazusae, says — O venerable Zeus! with what a scent Did that vile bag, the moment it was open'd, O'erwhelm me, full of βάκκαρις and μύρον.!18

§ 15.42 Pherecrates mentions an unguent, which he calls βρένθιον, in his Trifles, saying — I stood, and order'd him to pour upon us Some brenthian unguent, that he also might Pour it on those departing. And Crates mentions what he calls royal unguent, in his Neighbours; speaking as follows: — He smelt deliciously of royal unguent. But Sappho mentions the royal and the brenthian unguent together, as if they were one and the same thing; saying — βρενθεΐῳ βασιληΐῳ, Aristophanes speaks of an unguent which he calls ψάγδης, in his Daitaleis; saying — Come, let me see what unguent I can give you: Do you like ψάγδης̣ And Eupolis, in his Marica, says — All his breath smells of ψάγδης. Eubulus, in his Female Garland-sellers, says — She thrice anointed with Egyptian psagdas (ψάγδανι). Polemo, in his writings addressed to Adaeus, says that there is an unguent in use among the Eleans called plangonium, from having been invented by a man named Plangon. And Sosibius says the same in his Similitudes; adding, that the unguent called megallium is so named for a similar reason: for that was invented by a Sicilian whose name was Megallus. But some say that Megallus was an Athenian: and Aristophanes mentions him in his Telmissians, and so does Pherecrates in his Petale; and Strattis, in his Medea, speaks thus: — And say that you are bringing her such unguents, As old Megallus never did compound, Nor Dinias, that great Egyptian, see, Much less possess. Amphis also, in his Ulysses, mentions the Megalli unguent in the following passage — A. Adorn the walls all round with hangings rich, Milesian work; and then anoint them o'er With sweet megallium, and also burn The royal mindax. B. Where did you, O master, E'er hear the name of such a spice as that Anaxandrides, too, in his Tereus, says — And like the illustrious bride, great Basilis, She rubs her body with megallian unguent. Menander speaks of an unguent made of spikenard, in his Cecryphalus, and says — A. This unguent, boy, is really excellent. B. Of course it is,'tis spikenard.

§ 15.43 And anointing oneself with an unguent of this description, Alaeus calls μυρίσασθαι, in his Palaestrae, speaking thus — Having anointed her (μυρίσασα), she shut her up In her own stead most secretly. But Aristophanes uses not μυρίσματα, but μυρώματα, in his Ecclesiazusae, saying — I who'm anointed (μεμύρισμαι) o'er my head with unguents (μυρώμασι). Aristoph. Eccl. 1117. There was also an unguent called sagda, which is mentioned by Eupolis in his Coraliscus, where he writes — And baccaris, and sagda too. And it is spoken of likewise by Aristophanes, in his Daitaleis; and Eupolis in his Marica says — And all his breath is redolent of sagda: which expression Nicander of Thyatira understands to be meant as an attack upon a man who is too much devoted to luxury. But Theodorus says, that sagda is a species of spice used in fumigation.

§ 15.44 Now a cotyla of unguent used to be sold for a high price at Athens, even, as Hipparchus says in his Nocturnal Festival, for as much as five mine; but as Menander, in his Misogynist, states, for ten. And Antiphanes, in his Phrearrus, where he is speaking of the unguent called stacte, says — The stacte at two minae's not worth having. Now the citizens of Sardis were not the only people addicted to the use of unguents, as Alexis says in his Maker of Goblets — The whole Sardian people is of unguents fond; but the Athenians also, who have always been the leaders of every refinement and luxury in human life, used them very much; so that among them, as has been already mentioned, they used to fetch an enormous price; but, nevertheless, they did not abstain from the use of them on that account; just as we now do not deny ourselves scents which are so expensive and exquisite that those things are mere trifles which are spoken of in the Settler of Alexis — For he did use no alabaster box From which t' anoint himself; for this is but An ordinary, and quite old-fashion'd thing. But he let loose four doves all dipp'd in unguents, Not of one kind, but each in a different sort; And then they flew around, and hovering o'er us, Besprinkled all our clothes and tablecloths. Envy me not, ye noble chiefs of Greece; For thus, while sacrificing, I myself Was sprinkled o'er with unguent of the iris.

§ 15.45 Just think, in God's name, my friends, what luxury, or I should rather say, what profuse waste it was to have one's garments sprinkled in this manner, when a man might have taken up a little unguent in his hands, as we do now, and in that manner have anointed his whole body, and especially his head. For Myronides says, in his treatise on Unguents and Garlands, that “the fashion of anointing the head at banquets arose from this: — that those men whose heads are naturally dry, find the humours which are engendered by what they eat, rise up into their heads; and on this account, as their bodies are inflamed by fevers, they bedew their heads with lotions, so as to prevent the neighbouring humours from rising into a part which is dry, and which also has a considerable vacuum in it. And so at their banquets, having consideration for this fact, and being afraid of the strength of the wine rising into their heads, men have introduced the fashion of anointing their heads, and by these means the wine, they think, will have less effect upon then, if they make their head thoroughly wet first. And as men are never content with what is merely useful, but are always desirous to add to that whatever tends to pleasure and enjoyment; in that way they have been led to adopt the use of unguents.” We ought, therefore, my good cynic Theodorus, to use at banquets those unguents which have the least tendency to produce heaviness, and to employ those which have astringent or cooling properties very sparingly. But Aristotle, that man of most varied learning, raises the question, “Why men who use unguents are more grey than others? Is it because unguents have drying properties by reason of the spices used in their composition, so that they who use them become dry, and the dryness produces greyness? For whether greyness arises from a drying of the hair, or from a want of natural heat, at all events dryness has a withering effect. And it is on this account too that the use of hats makes men grey more quickly; for by them the moisture which ought to nourish the hair is taken away.”

§ 15.46 But when I was reading the twenty-eighth book of the History of Posidonius, I observed, my friends, a very pleasant thing which was said about unguents, and which is not at all foreign to our present discussion. For the philosopher says — “In Syria, at the royal banquets, when the garlands are given to the guests, some slaves come in, having little bladders full of Babylonian perfumes, and going round the room at a little distance from the guests, they bedew their garlands with the perfumes, sprinkling nothing else.” And since the discussion has brought us to this point, I will add A verse to Love, as the bard of Cythera says, telling you that Janus, who is worshipped as a great god by us, and whom we call Janus Pater, was the original inventor of garlands. And Dracon of Corcyra tells us this in his treatise on Precious Stones, where his words are — “But it is said that Janus had two faces, the one looking forwards and the other backwards; and that it is from him that the mountain Janus and the river Janus are both named, because he used to live on the mountain. And they say that he was the first inventor of garlands, and boats, and ships; and was also the first person who coined brazen money. And on this account many cities in Greece, and many in Italy and Sicily, place on their coins a head with two faces, and on the obverse a boat, or a garland, or a ship. And they say that he married his sister Camise, and had a son named Aethax, and a daughter Olistene. And he, aiming at a more extended power and renown, sailed over to Italy, and settled on a mountain near Rome, which was called Janiculum from his name.”

§ 15.47 This, now, is what was said about perfumes and unguents. And after this most of them asked for wine, some demanding the Cup of the Good Deity, others that of Health, and different people invoking different deities; and so they all fell to quoting the words of those poets who had mentioned libations to these different deities; and I will now recapitulate what they said, for they quoted Antiphanes, who, in his Clowns, says — Harmodius was invoked, the paean sung, Each drank a mighty cup to Zeus the Saviour. And Alexis, in his Usurer, or The Liar, says — A. Fill now the cup with the libation due To Zeus the Saviour; for he surely is Of all the gods most useful to mankind. B. Your Zeus the Saviour, if I were to burst, Would nothing do for me. A. Just drink, and trust him. And Nicostratus, in his Pandrosos, says — And so I will, my dear; But fill him now a parting cup to Health; Here, pour a due libation out to Health. Another to Good Fortune. Fortune manages All the affairs of men; but as for Prudence, — That is a blind irregular deity. And in the same play he mentions mixing a cup in honour of the Good Deity, as do nearly all the poets of the old comedy; but Nicostratus speaks thus — Fill a cup quickly now to the Good Deity, And take away this table from before me; For I have eaten quite enough; — I pledge This cup to the Good Deity; — here, quick, I say, And take away this table from before me. Xenarchus, too, in his Twins, says — And now when I begin to nod my head, The cup to the Good Deity That cup, when I had drain'd it, near upset me; And then the next libation duly quaff'd To Zeus the Saviour, wholly wreck'd my boat, And overwhelm'd me as you see. And Eriphus, in his Meliboea, says — Before he'd drunk a cup to the Good Deity, Or to great Zeus the Saviour.

§ 15.48 And Theophrastus, in his essay on Drunkenness, says — “The unmixed wine which is given at a banquet, which they call the pledge-cup in honour of the Good Deity, they offer in small quantities, as if reminding the guests of its strength, and of the liberality of the god, by the mere taste. And they hand it round when men are already full, in order that there may be as little as possible drunk out of it. And having paid adoration three times, they take it from the table, as if they were entreating of the gods that nothing may be done unbecomingly, and that they may not indulge in immoderate desires for this kind of drink, and that they may derive only what is honourable and useful from it.” And Philochorus, in the second book of his Atthis, says — “And a law was made at that time, that after the solid food is removed, a taste of the unmixed wine should be served round as a sort of sample of the power of the Good Deity, but that all the rest of the wine should be previously mixed; on which account the Nymphs had the name given them of Nurses of Dionysos.” And that when the pledge-cup to the Good Deity was handed round, it was customary to remove the tables, is made plain by the wicked action of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. For there was a table of gold placed before the statue of Asclepius at Syracuse; and so Dionysius, standing before it, and drinking a pledge-cup to the Good Deity, ordered the table to be removed. But among the Greeks, those who sacrifice to the Sun, as Phylarchus tells us in the twelfth book of his History, make their libations of honey, as they never bring wine to the altars of the gods; saying that it is proper that the god who keeps the whole universe in order, and regulates everything, and is always going round and superintending the whole, should in no respect be connected with drunkenness.

§ 15.49 Most writers have mentioned the Attic Scolia; and they are worthy also of being mentioned by me to you, on account of the antiquity and simple style of composition of the authors, and of those especially who gained a high reputation for that description of poetry, Alcaeus and Anacreon; as Aristophanes says in his Daitaleis, where we find this line — Come, then, a scolium sing to me, Of old Alcaeus or Anacreon. Praxilla, the Sicyonian poetess, was also celebrated for the composition of scolia. Now they are called scolia, not because of the character of the verse in which they are written, as if it were σκολιὸς (crooked); for men call also those poems written in a laxer kind of metre σκολιά. But, “as there are three kinds of songs” (as Artemon of Cassandria says in the second book of his treatise on the Use of Books), “one or other of which comprehends everything which is sung at banquets; the first kind is that which it was usual for the whole party to sing; the second is that which the whole party indeed sang, not, however, together, but going round according to some kind of succession; the third is that which is ranked lowest of all, which was not sung by all the guests, but only by those who seemed to understand what was to be done, wherever they might happen to be sitting; on which account, as having some irregularity in it beyond what the other kinds had, in not being sung by all the guests, either together or in any definite kind of succession, but just as it might happen, it was called σκολιόν. And songs of this kind were sung when the ordinary songs, and those in which every one was bound to join, had come to an end. For then they invited all the more intelligent of the guests to sing some song worth listening to. And what they thought worth listening to were such songs as contained some exhortations and sentiments which seemed useful for the purposes of life.”

§ 15.50.1 And of these Deipnosophists, one quoted one scolium, and one another. And these were those which were recited — I. O thou Tritogeneia Pallas, Lady Athena, who from heaven above Look'st with protecting eye On this holy city and land, Deign our protectress now to prove From loss in war, from dread sedition's band, And death's untimely blow, thou and thy father. II. I sing at this glad season, of the wreath-bearing Mother of Plutus, heavenly Demeter; May you be ever near us, You and your daughter Phersephone, And ever as a friend This citadel defend.

§ 15.50.15 III. Leto once in Delos, as they say, Did two great children bear, Apollo with the golden hair, Bright Phoebus. And Artemis Elaphebolos (deer-shooter), Agrotera. Who has great power among women IV. Raise the loud shout to Pan, Arcadia's king; Praise to the Nymphs' loved comrade sing! Come, O Pan, and raise with me The song in joyful ecstasy. V. We have conquer'd as we would, The gods reward us as they should, And victory bring from Pandrosos to dear Athena.

§ 15.50.29 VI. Oh, would the gods such grace bestow, That opening each man's breast, One might survey his heart, and know How true the friendship that could stand that test. VII. Health's the best gift to mortal given; Beauty is next; the third great prize Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice; The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.

§ 15.50.38 And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it — The man who wrote this song, whoe'er he was, When he call'd health the best of all possessions, Spoke well enough. But when the second place He gave to beauty, and the third to riches, He certainly was downright mad; for surely Riches must be the next best thing to health, For who would care to be a starving beauty?

§ 15.50.49 After that, these other scolia were sung — VIII.'Tis well to stand upon the shore, And look on others on the sea; But when you once have dipp'd your oar, By the present wind you must guided be. IX. A crab caught a snake in his claw, And thus he triumphantly spake, —'My friends must be guided by law, Nor love crooked counsels to take.