Athenaeus, Deipnosophists

ToposText · Athenaeus · 1,421 sections

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.52
§ 3.52 And Cynulcus, in a burst of temper cried out, “You glutton, whose god is your belly, and with no wit for anything else! You are ignorant of the art of connected discourse, you cannot recall the facts of history, or even so much as make a slight offering with a graceful phrase. No, you have misused your whole time in asking'is such a word found or not? Is it used or not used?' And you test every word that occurs to your companions in talk as one tests a smooth surface by drawing his nail over it, collecting all the thorny places,'like one making his way through prickly plants and thorny liquorice,' for ever wasting time, but never gathering the flowers that are sweetest. You are the one who tells us that what the Romans call strena ('New Year's gift'), a name and a custom of friendly giving handed down by ancient tradition, is the epinomis. Now if you call it that in competition with Plato, we should like to know [what the one has to do with the other]. But if you have found it in any author, tell us who he is. For myself, I know that a certain part of the trireme is called epinomis, according to citations given by Apollonius in his book On the Trireme. You are the one who uttered that new word phainoles, not yet accepted in good use — yes, sir, phainoles has become masculine! — when you said,'Slave, Leucus! give me that useless phainoles!' Once, when you were on your way to a public bath, did you not answer somebody who asked you where you were going,'I am hurrying, said I, to mash myself'? On that same day your fine Canusian coat was stolen by sneak-thieves, and loud mirth arose in the bath when the'useless phainoles' could not be'found.' And on another occasion, dear mates (for to you shall be told the truth), he stumbled on a stone and wrenched his ankle. After having it attended to, he went on his way, and to all who asked,'What ails you, Ulpian?' he would say,'a black eye.' I happened to be with him and could not restrain my laughter on the occasion. Later I was visiting a friend, a physician, and I got him to smear my eyes thickly with a salve; and then, when people asked me,'What's the matter with you?' I would reply,'I sprained my eye.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.53
§ 3.53 ”Now there is also another devotee of this same pedantry, Pompeianus of Philadelphia, a man not without guile, [98a] and a word-chaser on his own account. Why! Talking to his slave he would call out his name in loud tones and say,' Strombichides, carry my intolerable pumps and my useless mantle to the gymnasium. For after I have laced up my beard I am going to address the brethren. For I must cook up Larichus. Fetch, too, the oil jug; for we twain will first have a drub down, and then we will mash ourselves. This same wiseacre once remarked to one of his friends (it was in the month of Februarius, as the Romans call it, which, according to Juba, king of Mauretania, received its name from the spirits of the underworld and the ritual of dispelling the fears they inspired; in this month winter is at its height, and it is customary at this season to offer libations to the departed for several days),'You have not seen me for many days on account of the burnt-offerings.' During the celebration of the Panathenaea, when the courts do not convene, he said, “it is the natal day of Athena Pullet and today is an ”unjust" day.' And on one occasion he even called a friend of ours'useless' when he returned from Delphi without receiving an oracle from the god. Once, when he was delivering in public a show speech, expatiating on the glories of the Imperial City, he said,'Marvellous is the unstable empire of the Romans.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.54
§ 3.54 “This, my friends, is the kind of men who form Ulpian's learned coterie, men who actually give the name'oven-cauldron' to what the Romans call a miliarium, a contrivance for making hot water. They are the inventors of many strange terms, out-running by many leagues the Sicilian Dionysius, who used to call a maiden'wait-man' because she waits for a husband, or a pillar'stand-hold' because it stands and holds, or a javelin'hurl-against' because it is hurled against one, or mouse-holes'mice-keepers' because they guard mice. Speaking of this same Dionysius, Athanis, in the first book of his Sicilian History, says that he called the ox'earth-earer' and the pig iacchos. Like him also was Alexarchus (brother of Cassander, once king of Macedonia ), the founder of the city named Uranopolis. Concerning him Heracleides Lembus, in the thirty-seventh book of his Histories, narrates the following:' Alexarchus, founder of Uranopolis, introduced peculiar expressions, calling the cock ”dawn-crier," the barber “mortal-shaver,” the drachma “a silver bit,” the quart-measure “daily feeder,” the herald “loud bawler.” And on one occasion he sent this strange message to the authorities of Cassandreia:' Alexarchus, to the Primipiles of Brother's Town, joy: Our sun-fleshed yeans, I wot, and dams thereof which guard the braes whereon they were born, have been visited by the fateful dome of the gods in might, fresheting them hence from the forsaken fields." What this letter means, I fancy, not even the god of Delphi could make out.' It is like what Antiphanes makes his Cleophanes say:'But is that “being your own master”? — or what shall you say of a respectable man who follows the sophists about in the Lyceum — thin, worthless starvelings — declaring that “this thing has no being because it is becoming, [99a] and what is becoming cannot yet be said to have become; nor, supposing that it once had being, can that which is now becoming be, for nothing that is not, is. Again, that which has not yet become cannot be until it has become, seeing that it has not yet become; for it has become from that which is; but if it had not had being from something how could it have become out of what is not? That were impossible. But if it has had birth from something somewhere, then it cannot be that what is not shall be born into what is not; for into what is not it cannot pass.” What all this means not Apollo himself could understand.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.55
§ 3.55 “But I am aware that even Simonides the poet somewhere calls Zeus Aristarchus ('noblest ruler'), and that Aeschylus called Hades Agesilaus ('lord of the folk'), while Nicander of Colophon called the creature known as the asp'poison-shooter.' Moved by these and similar fantastic usages the most admirable Plato, speaking in the Politicus of certain animals which traverse dry land, and of others which traverse the air, applies the terms'walking on dry land,''walking in water,' and'walking in the air' to land animals, water animals, and birds, by way of exhorting these word-fanciers to avoid strange novelties. His words literally quoted are:'If you will take care not to be too particular about mere names, you will end in being richer in wisdom when old age comes on.' I am aware, too, that Herodes Atticus, the orator, denominated the block of wood which is thrust between the spokes of a wheel'a wheel-shackle' on the occasion when he was driving down steep roads, and indeed Simaristus, in his Synonyms, called this block a'check'; and Sophocles, too, somewhere names the watchman'a bar to fear' in this verse:'Have courage! I am thy mighty bar against this fear.' In another passage he calls the anchor a'stay' because it holds back the vessel:'The sailors drew up the stay of the ship.' Demades also, the orator, used to say that Aigina was'the eyesore' of Peiraeus, that Samos was a'fragment' broken from the empire, that young men are'the spring-time' of the people, the walls of a city are its'garb,' and a trumpeter was the'public cock' of Athens. And this same word-chasing sophist used to speak of a woman whose menses had been checked as'uncleansed.' When it comes to yourself, Ulpian, how did it occur to you to say'foddered themselves' when you should have used the word'satisfied'?”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.56
§ 3.56 To this Ulpian, with a pleasant smile, replied: “Nay, do not bark, comrade, nor grow savage, shooting forth canine madness during the dog-days; rather, you should fawn on and wag your tail at your convives, lest we turn our holiday into a Cynophontis (dog-slaughter like the one celebrated at Argos.'Foddered,' my good sir, is a word used as I have used it by Cratinus in the Odysseis:'All day long ye sat and foddered yourself with pure milk.' Again, Menander in Trophonius used the past participle'foddered'; and Aristophanes in Gerytades:'Take care of her and fodder her with monodies.' So, too, Sophocles in Tyro says:'With food of every fodder we entertained our guests'; [100a] and Eubulus in Dolon:'Gentlemen, I have foddered myself not badly, nay, I am full, and so, try as hard as I might, with all my efforts I could scarcely lace my shoes.' Sophilus, also, in The Colonel of Horse:'There is going to be gluttony at large expense; I can see its beginnings. I shall fodder myself to the full. By Dionysus, gentlemen, I am in clover already.' And Amphis in The Sky:'When evening comes I fodder myself on everything that's good.' These examples then, I can readily cite now for your benefit, Cynulcus, but tomorrow, or on the morrow's morrow, — Hesiod speaks of the second day hence in this way — I'll fodder you with blows if you don't tell me where the word'belly-god' is found. When Cynulcus made no answer he resumed: ”Very well, my Dog -sage, I will tell you this myself — that Eupolis denotes flatterers by that word in the play of that name; but I will postpone the proof until I pay you the beating I owe you."
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.57
§ 3.57 They were all delighted with these jests, and Ulpian continued: “What is more, I will render an account of the word metra (' swine's paunch'). Alexis, in the play entitled The Man from Pontus, by way of ridiculing the orator Callimedon, surnamed'Carabus'(crayfish), who was active in politics in Demosthenes' time, says:'Every man is willing to die for his country, but Callimedon the Crayfish would doubtless submit to death for a boiled sow's paunch.' Now Callimedon was a notorious gourmand. The paunch is mentioned also by Antiphanes in Fond of his Mother, thus:'If the wood has pith in it, it can put forth a sprout; a town is a mother-city, not a father-city; the matrix is a delectable meat sold by some; Metras the Chian is one whom the people love.' So Euphron in The Surrendered Girl:'My teacher prepared a paunch and served it to Callimedon; and while he ate it, it made him jump, whence he got the name of crayfish.' And Dioxippus in A Foe to Pimps:'What dishes he hankers after! how refined they are! sweetbreads, paunches, entrails.' And in The Historian:'Through the portico burst Amphicles, and pointing to two paunches hanging there he cried,'Send Callimedon here if you see him.' So Eubulus in Deucalion:'Chicken-livers, a jejunum, and a haggis and paunch.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.58
§ 3.58 ” Lynceus of Samos, intimate friend of Theophrastus, also knows of the use of the paunch with silphium extract. At any rate, in his description of Ptolemy's symposium his words are:'A paunch was passed round, served in vinegar and silphium juice.' This juice is mentioned by Antiphanes in Unhappy Lovers, speaking of Cyrene:'I will not sail back to the place from which we were carried away, for I want to say good-bye to all — horses, silphium, chariots, silphium stalks, steeple-chasers, silphium leaves, fevers, and silphium juice.' [101a] “The special excellence of the vulva eiectitia is mentioned by Hippocrates, author of the Egyptian Iliad, in these lines:'Rather, let me be cheered by a casserole or the lovely countenance of a miscarried matrix, or a sucking pig whose smell comes deliciously from the oven.' And Sopater says in his Hippolytus:'How the fecund miscarried matrix rounds out cheese-like in the stew, covered with white sauce!' In the Man of Science he says:'A slice of sow's matrix not over-cooked, with pungent brine-and-vinegar sauce inside.' And in Bookworms:'... That you may eat a slice of sow's matrix boiled, dipping it into the bitter gall of rue.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.59
§ 3.59 ”As to the ancients, however, none of them had the custom of serving swine's paunches or lettuce or any other like relish before a banquet, as is done today. Archestratus, at any rate, the inventive genius of cookery, speaks of it after the dinner, the toasts, and the smearing with perfumes:'Always crown the head at a banquet with chaplets of all the myriad flowers wherewith earth's happy floor doth bloom, and dress the hair with fragrant, distilled unguents, and on the soft ashes of the fire throw myrrh and frankincense, Syria's redolent fruit, all the livelong day. And as you sip your wine let these relishes be brought to you — pig's belly and boiled sow's matrix floating in cummin and vinegar and silphium; also the tender tribe of birds roasted, such as the season affords. But disregard those Syracusans, who drink frog -fashion without eating anything; nay, yield not to them, but eat the food I tell you. All the other common desserts are a sign of dire poverty — boiled chick-peas, beans, apples, and dried figs. Yet accept a cheese-cake made in Athens; or failing that, if you get one from somewhere else, go out and demand some Attic honey, since that will make your cheese-cake superb. This is the way in which a freeborn man should live, else down below the earth, even below the pit and Tartarus, he should go to his destruction and lie buried countless fathoms deep.' " Lynceus, however, in his description of the dinner given by the flute-girl Lamia in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes represents the guests as eating all sorts of fish and flesh the moment they entered the dining-room. Similarly, describing the arrangements for King Antigonus's dinner, when he celebrated the festival of Aphrodite, as well as the dinner given by King Ptolemy, he says that fish and meat were served first.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.60
§ 3.60 “We may well admire Archestratus, therefore, the author of the excellent admonitions just quoted. Anticipating the philosopher Epicurus in his doctrine of pleasure, he gives us advice in wise sayings after the manner of the poet of Ascra, telling us not to follow certain persons, but rather to heed only himself, and urging us to eat this and that; precisely like the cook in the comic poet Damoxenus, who says, in Foster Brothers:'A. [102a] In me you see a disciple of the sage Epicurus, in whose house, let me tell you, I ”condensed" four talents in less than two years and ten months. — B. What does this mean? Explain! — A. I “consecrated” them. That fellow, too, was a cook — ye gods, he knew not what a cook he was! Nature is the primal source of every art, the primal, you sinner! You cannot imagine anything cleverer than she, and every undertaking is easy to one who is versed in this doctrine, since much conspires to help him. Wherefore, when you see an illiterate cook, one who has not read Democritus entire or rather does not know him by heart, spurn him as an empty fool; and if he knows not the Rule of Epicurus, dismiss him with contempt, as being outside the pale of philosophy. For you have got to know, good sir, the difference between a horse-mackerel in winter and one in summer; next, what fish is most useful at the time the Pleiad sets, and at the solstice. For mutations and movements, to men abysmal evil, work changes in their food, you understand; but that which is eaten in proper season yields gratification. But how many can follow all this with understanding? As a result, colic and winds arise, and make the guest behave with impropriety. But with my cooking, the food that is eaten nourishes, is properly digested and — exhaled. Hence the juices are distributed evenly in all the passages. The juice, says Democritus, causes no trouble; it is what subvenes that makes the eater gouty. — B. It looks to me as if you knew something of medicine also. — A. Yes, and so does anyone else who penetrates Nature. But observe, in the gods' name, the ignorance of modern cooks. When you see them making a pickled sauce out of fish of contradictory qualities, and grating a dash of sesame into it, take them in turn and — tweak their noses! — B. How delightful! — A. Ay, for what possible good can come when one individual quality is mixed with another and twisted together in a hostile grip? Distinguishing these things clearly is a soulful art, not washing dishes or reeking with smoke. For myself, I never enter the kitchen. — B. Why, what do you do? — A. I sit near by and watch, while others do the work; to them I explain the principles and the result. “Softly! the mincemeat is seasoned highly enough.” — B. You must be a musician, not a cook! A. “Play fortissimo with the fire. Make the tempo even. The first dish is not simmering in tune with the others next it.” [103a] Do you catch my drift? — B. Save us! — A. It's beginning to look like an art to you, what? You see, I serve no course without study, I mingle all in a harmonious scale. — B. What does that mean? — A. Some things are related to each other by fourths, by fifths, or by octaves. These I join by their own proper intervals, and weave them in a series of appropriate courses. Sometimes I superintend with admonitions like “What are you joining that to?” “What are you going to mix with that?” “Look out! You are pulling a discordant string.” “Leave that out, won't you?” Even so did Epicurus condense pleasure into the sum of wisdom. He could masticate with care. He is the only one who knows what the Good is. They of the Stoa are always seeking for it, but they don't know what its nature is. What, therefore, they have not got and do not know, they cannot impart to anyone else. B. I quite agree. Let us, then, dismiss the rest of your story; it has long been plain what it is.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.61
§ 3.61 Baton, also, in The Fellow-Cheater, portrays a father in distress over his young son, whose manners have been spoiled by his nurse. He says:'You have taken my boy and ruined him, you foul wretch, have lured him into a life foreign to his nature. He now takes a morning cup through your influence, something he never did before. — DNURSE: And so, master, you blame me if he has seen a bit of life? FATHER: Life, do you call that life? — NURSE: Yes, the wise so call it. Epicurus, anyhow, says that pleasure is the highest Good; everybody knows that. You cannot have it any other way, whereas by living well, of course all live rightly. Perhaps you will grant me that? — FATHER: Tell me then, have you ever seen a true philosopher drunk, or beguiled by the doctrines you preach? — NURSE: Aye, every mother's son of them. At any rate, those who walk with eyebrows uplifted, and seek in their discussions and discourses for “the wise man,” as if he were a runaway slave, once you set a sea-lizard before them, know so well what “topic” to attack first, seek so skilfully for the “gist or head of the matter,” that everybody is amazed at their knowledge.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.62
§ 3.62 “Then, too, in The Soldier, or Tychon, by Antiphanes, there appears a fellow who gives this advice, saying:'Any mortal man who counts on having anything he owns secure for life is very much mistaken. For either a war-tax snatches away all he has saved, or he becomes involved in a lawsuit and loses all, or he is fined after serving in the War Office, or is chosen to finance a play, and after supplying golden costumes for the chorus he has to wear rags himself; or called to serve as trierarch, he hangs himself, or sailing in his ship he is captured somewhere, or as he takes a walk or a nap he is murdered by his slaves. No, nothing is certain, [104a] except what one may chance to spend happily upon himself day by day. And even that is not so very certain. Somebody might come and carry off the very table spread with food. Rather, it's only when you've got your mouthful past your teeth and have swallowed it down that you can count it the one thing safe among your possessions.' The same lines occur also in The Water Jar.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.63
§ 3.63 ”So then, my friends, when one considers these facts, he must with good reason approve the noble Chrysippus for his shrewd comprehension of Epicurus's'Nature,' and his remark that the very centre of the Epicurean philosophy is the Gastrology of Archestratus, that noble epic which all philosophers given to hearty eating claim as their Theognis. It is against these also that Theognetus pronounces in The Ghost or Miser:'You'll be the death of me, fellow, with all this! You have stuffed yourself sick with the puny dogmas of the Painted Stoa, that “wealth is not man's concern, wisdom is his peculiar possession, being as solid ice to thin frost; once obtained it is never lost.” Unlucky wretch that I am, to be compelled by fate to live with such a philosopher! You, poor fool, must have learned your letters backwards; books have turned your life upside down. You have gabbled your silly philosophy to earth and heaven, which pay no heed whatever to your words.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.64
§ 3.64 While Ulpian was still talking, slaves entered, carrying on platters some crayfish larger than the orator Callimedon, who, because of his for fondness for this viand, was called “Crayfish.” Alexis, to be sure, writing in Dorcis, or The Woman Who Smacks, calls him fish-lover, following a tradition common to other comic poets as well: “The fishmongers have voted, so people say, to raise a bronze statue of Callimedon in the fish-market at the next Panathenaea, holding in his right hand a crayfish; for they regard him as the sole saviour of their business, all other customers being a loss.” Yet the eating of crayfish was extremely popular, as may be shown by many passages in comedy. For the present it will suffice to quote Aristophanes, who says, in the Thesmophoriazusae: “A. Hasn't anybody bought a fish? a squid, may be, or some broad prawns, or a polyp? Is there no broiled faster or salmon, and no squids? — B. No, Zeus help us, none at all. — A. Not even a ray? — FB. No, I tell you! — A. No haggis or beestings or boar's liver, not even honey or pig's paunch? Have you not even supplied the weary women with an eel or a large crayfish?” By “broad prawns” he must mean lobsters, as we call them, mentioned by Philyllius in The Island-Towns. And this may be inferred from the fact that Archestratus, in his famous poem, does not even mention the word crayfish, but speaks of it as lobster, as in the following: [105a] “But letting a lot of trash go, buy yourself a lobster, the kind which has long claws, and heavy withal, with feet that are small, and but slowly crawls he upon the land. Most of them, and the best of all in quality, are in the Liparae Islands; yet the Hellespont also gathers many.” Further, Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe, makes clear that the lobster mentioned above by Archestratus is the same as the cray, when he says: “There are lobsters and crabs as well, and the creature with small feet and long claws, and its name is cray.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.65
§ 3.65 But the crayfish variety is quite distinct from that of the lobster, and shrimps, again, are different. Those who speak Attic Greek pronounce the word for lobster with an o (ostakos), like the word for raisins. But Epicharmus, in Earth and Sea, has the form with a, “lobsters (astakoi) with crooked claws.” Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, says that among the soft-shell crustaceans the crayfish, lobster, nympha, bear-crab, common crab, and pagurus crab are alike. Further, Diocles of Carystus says that shrimps, crabs, crayfish, and lobsters are well-flavoured and diuretic. According to Nicander, another kind of crab, the colybdaena, is mentioned by Epicharmus in the play cited above, under the name of “sea-phallus;” but Heracleides, in his Art of Cookery, says that he means the shrimp. Aristotle, in the fifth book of The History of Animals, says: “Of the soft-shelled crustaceans, the crayfish, lobsters, shrimps, and the like copulate from the rear, like the retromingent quadrupeds. Coition takes place at the beginning of spring near the shore (it has long since been observed in the case of all these creatures), but in some regions it occurs later, when the figs begin to ripen. The crayfish, he adds, multiply in rough, rocky places, the lobsters in smooth, but neither occur on muddy grounds. Hence we find lobsters in the Hellespont and off the coast of Thasos, but crayfish off Sigeium and Mount Athos. All crayfish, moreover, are long-lived.” Theophrastus, too, in his tract on Animals which live in holes, asserts that lobsters, crayfish, and shrimps slough off old age.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.66
§ 3.66 Speaking of shrimps (karides), Ephorus in Book III records that there was a town of that name near the island of Chios, and he declares that it was founded by the survivors of the flood, led by Macar, in Deucalion's time; and even to his day the place was called Karides (Crayville). That artificer of fancy dishes, Archestratus, gives this advice: “If ever you go to Iasus, city of the Carians, you will get a good-sized shrimp. But it is rare in the market, whereas in Macedonia and Ambracia there are plenty.” The word karis is used with a long i by Araros in The Hunchback: “The squirming shrimps leaped forth like dolphins into the rope-twined pot.” Also by Eubulus in Orthannes: “I let down a shrimp and pulled it up again.” Anaxandrides in Lycurgus: “He sports with the shrimplets among the perchlets and whitebait, with the sole among the gobios, and with the shiners among the gudgeon.” This writer says, in Pandarus: [106a] “You can't be straight, good friend, when you are bending over: and so this woman twists and squirms like a shrimp anchored fast to your body.” Likewise in The Tail: “I'll make you redder than a broiled shrimp.” Eubulus, in The Nurses, has the phrase “shrimps, among creatures that have arched backs.” And Ophelion, The Ugly Fair, speaks of “curved shrimps heaped together on dry land”; and again in The Wail from the East: “as curved shrimps leap on coals, so danced they.” On the other hand, the word karis is used with a short i by Eupolis in The Goats: “Except that once I ate some shrimps in the house of Phaeax ”; and in The Demes, “He had the face of a shrimp, as red as a leather belt.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.67
§ 3.67 Shrimps (karides) got their name from kara, “head,” for the head takes up the biggest part of the body. Attic writers, employing the word with a short i, derive it in the same way: it comes from kare, “head,” because of the prominent head it possesses. Just asgraphis, “graver,” comes from graphe, “picture,” and bolis, “missile,” from bole, “a throw,” so also karis from kare. Since the penult was lengthened the ultima was lengthened also, and it is pronounced like psephis, “pebble,” and crepis, “boot.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.68
§ 3.68 Concerning these crustaceans Diphilus of Siphnos writes thus: “Among the crustaceans the shrimp, lobster, crayfish, crab, and lion -crab, though of the same family, differ from one another. The lion -crab is larger than the lobster. The crayfish are also called grapsaei; they contain more meat than the crab. Crab-meat is heavy and hard to digest.” Mnesitheus of Athens, in his work on Victuals, goes further and says that “crayfish, crabs, shrimps, and the like are all hard to digest, yet are more digestible than any other kind of fish, and should be broiled rather than stewed.” Sophron uses the form kurides for karides in his Mimes of Women: “Lo, the beauteous kurides (shrimps), lo, the lobsters, lo, the beauties! Behold how red they are and smooth-haired!” So Epicharmus in Earth and Sea, “the red kurides too”; but in Lord and Lady Logos, he spells it with o, “small fry and crooked korides.” So also Simonides: “cuttle-fish with tunny, korides with gudgeon.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.69
§ 3.69 (106e) The next dish to be brought in was fried liver wrapped in “fold-over,” the so-called epiplus, which Philetaerus in Tereus calls epiploon. After gazing upon it Cynulcus said, “Tell us, learned Ulpian, whether liver thus encased is mentioned anywhere.” He answered, “Show us first in what author epiplus is used of the fatty caul.” Thereupon Myrtilus took up their challenge and said: “The word epiplus for'caul' occurs in The Bacchants of Epicharmus: [107a]'The leader he hid in a caul'; also in his Envoys:'round the loin and the caul. So, too, Ion of Chios in his Sojournings:'hiding it in the caul.' You are reserving the caul my dear Ulpian, against the time when you shall be wrapped in it and consumed, and so rid us all of your questionings. But it is only fair that you should cite testimony about liver dressed in this way, since you said a while ago, when we were discussing ears and feet, that Alexis mentions it in Crateias or The Apothecary. The entire passage is valuable as illustrating a number of things, and since your memory at present is not equal to it, I will recite it at length myself. The comedian says:'First, then, I spied oysters, wrapped in seaweed, in the shop of an Old Man of the Sea, and sea-urchins too. I grabbed them; for they are the prelude to a daintily ordered dinner. Next, I came upon some little fish, all trembling for fear of what was to happen to them. But I bade them have no fears so far as I was concerned, promising that I wouldn't harm a single one, and bought a large greyfish. Then I took an electric ray-fish, being mindful that when a lady lays tender fingers upon it she must not suffer any hurt from its thorny touch. For the frying-pan I got some wasse, sole, shrimp, jack hake, gudgeon, perch, and sea-bream, and made the dish gayer than a peacock. Then came some meats — feet, snouts, and swine's ears, and liver wrapped in caul; for it is ashamed of its own livid colour. No professional cook shall come near these, or even look upon them. He will rue it, let me tell you. Rather, I shall myself act as steward, so cleverly, so smoothly, and elegantly (yes, I shall make the dish myself), that I shall cause the feasters now and then to push their teeth into the plates for very joy. The preparation and composition of all these foods I am ready to disclose, proclaim, and teach for nothing if anybody wishes to learn.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.70
§ 3.70 ”Further to show that it was customary to wrap livers in caul, Hegesander of Delphi, in his Commentaries, says of Metaneira the courtesan that she found a lung in a dish of cased livers, and when, on removing the fat, she discovered it, she cried out,'I am lost! My enfolding garments have been my undoing.' “Perhaps the comic poet Crobylus may be added to those who, like Alexis, speak of liver so prepared as'feeling ashamed'; for in The False Substitute he says:'And verily he added a stout polyp's claw and to this again the shamed liver of a dung-eating boar.' Liver is mentioned also by Aristophanes in Masters of the Frying-pan, by Alcaeus in The Wrestling-school, and by Eubulus in Deucalion. The word should be pronounced with rough breathing; for elision before it in Archilochus is effected with an aspirate. He says namely,'You have no bile attaching to your liver (eph hepati).' [108a] ”But there is also a fish (hepatos) named from the liver, of which the same Eubulus, in The Laconians or Leda, says that it has no gall:'So you didn't think I had any gall, you talked to me as if I were a liver-fish? But I would have you know I am still a fierce fighter.' Hegesander, in his Commentaries, says that the liver-fish has two stones in its head similar in lustre and colour to those found in oysters, but rhomboid in shape.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.71
§ 3.71 “Fish for frying are mentioned by Alexis in his Demetrius as well as in the play cited above. Compare Eubulus in Orthannes:'Every pretty woman who is in love resorts thither, as well as the runty lads who are nurslings of the frying-pan — wild Mohawks lounging in the cake-shops. In the same company, too, the squid and the maid of Phalerum, wedded to lambs' entrails, skip and dance like a colt let loose from the yoke. The fan stirs up the watch- dogs of Hephaestus, rousing them to fury with the hot vapour from the pan, and the savour thus provoked leaps to the nostrils. The kneaded roll, Demeter's daughter, draws its hollow cleft along, made by the pressure of the finger to look like a trireme's ram — the best introduction to a dinner.' ”They used also to eat fried cuttle-fish. Nicostratus (or Philaeterus) says, in Antyllus:'Never again shall I venture alone to eat cuttle-fish from the pan.' And Hegemon, in Philinna, represents persons eating small fry also out of the pan in these verses:'Nay, but go quickly and buy me a polyp, and let me eat small fry even from the pan.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.72
§ 3.72 Whereupon Ulpian, not pleased at this, but in some vexation, glanced sharply at us and recited these iambics from the Orthannes of Eubulus: "'How glad I am that that god-detested fellow — Myrtilus — has come to shipwreck on a frying-pan;' for I am sure that he never bought or ate any of these things, because one of his own slaves once recited to me these verses from Eubulus's Pimp:'I am kept by a cruel brute from Thessaly, a rich but avaricious sinner; a gourmand he, who spends as much as sixpence on a dinner.' The lad had a fine education, which he had got not in Myrtilus's house, of course, but when he lived with some other master. So I asked him how he had come to fall into Myrtilus's hands. He answered me in these lines from The Chick of Antiphanes:'When a child I was brought by a trader here to Athens with my sister. I am a Syrian. Put up at auction, this skinflint happened upon us and bought us — a fellow unsurpassed for villainy, the kind that won't bring anything but thyme into the house, not even one of the things the thrice-sainted Pythagoras permitted to be eaten.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.73
§ 3.73 While Ulpian was still jesting in this way, Cynulcus bawled, “We want bread (artos), and I don't mean the Artos who was king of the Messapii in Iapygia, concerning whom there is a tract by Polemon. He is mentioned by Thucydides also in Book VII, and by the comic poet Demetrius in the play entitled Sicily: [109a]'A. From there, with the wind in the south, we crossed the main to Italy and the country of the Messapii. And Artos received and entertained us nobly. — B. Ay, a pleasant host. — A. Large was he in that country, and white.' On the present occasion, it wasn't Artos (Bread) that was wanted, but the loaves invented by Demeter, our Lady of the Grain and of Abundance. For with these titles the goddess is honoured in Syracuse, as the same Polemon remarks in his work on Morychus. And in Book I of his Reply to Timaeus he says that in the Boeotian town of Scolus there are images enshrined of Megalartus and Megalomazus.” When, presently loaves of bread were brought in and there was, in addition, an abundance of all sorts of food, he looked at them and said, "'How many traps to catch bread do unhappy mortals set,'" quoting Alexis in the comedy called Into the Well."Suppose we, then, talk about Bread."
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.74
§ 3.74 But Pontianus anticipated him and said: " Tryphon of Alexandria, in Plant Life, names the different sorts of bread, if I remember rightly, as follows: raised bread, unleavened bread, bread made with fine flour, with groats, with unbolted meal (the last, he declares, is more laxative than that made of refined flour), bread made of rye, of spelt, and of millet. The groat bread, he says, is made of rice-wheat, for it cannot be made of barley.'Oven-bread' is so named from being baked; it is mentioned by Timocles in Sham Robbers thus:'Seeing that a dough-pan fresh from the fire was lying there, I ate some of the oven-bread piping hot.' Brazier-bread is mentioned by Antidotus in The Premier Danseur:'He took some hot brazier-bread — why not? — and folding it over he dipped it into sweet wine.' Also by Crobylus in The Suicide:'taking a dough-pan full of fine brazier-bread.' Further, Lynceus of Samos, in his letter to Diagoras, compares the food used in Athens with that of Rhodes, and says:'Besides, the bread sold in their market is famous, and they bring it in at the beginning and the middle of a banquet without stint. And when they are tired and sated with eating, they then introduce a most delightful allurement in what is called smeared brazier-bread. It is a soft and delectable compound dipped in sweet wine, with such harmonious effect that a marvellous result comes to one whether he will or no; for just as the drunken man often becomes sober again, so the eater of it grows hungry again with its delicious flavour.' Another kind listed by Tryphon is Atabyrite bread. Sopater mentions it in The Woman of Cnidus:'And there was an Atabyrite loaf to stuff the jaws.' Achaenae loaves. — This bread is mentioned by Semos in the eighth book of the Delias. He says that it is made in honour of Demeter and Kore. They are large loaves and a festival called Megalartia is celebrated by persons who contribute it reciting the words,'a goat full of lard for our Lady of Sorrows.' “Oven bread. — Aristophanes mentions this in Old Age. There he introduces a bread-woman whose loaves have been torn to bits by the animals which cast off their old skin. She says:'What does this mean?' — One answers:'Give us some hot rolls, daughter.' She:'But you must be mad!' —'Fresh from the oven, daughter.' — She:'What do you mean, fresh from the oven?' —'And very white, daughter.' [110a] ”Bread baked in ashes. — This is mentioned by Nicostratus in The High Priest, and by that great artist of cookery, Archestratus, whose testimony I will cite in the proper place. “The biscuit. — Eubulus mentions it in Ganymede, as does Alcaeus in his Ganymede:'A. Hot biscuits, too. — B. And what are biscuits? — B. They are voluptuous loaves.' ”Wafer bread. — This is both light and thin, and the so-called epanthrakis is even more so. The first (laganon) is mentioned by Aristophanes in the Ecclesiazusae in the words'Wafers are baking'; the second, the apanthrakis, by Diocles of Carystus in Book I of his Hygiene. He says:'The apanthrakis is baked over charcoal, like the ash-bread of the Athenians; the Alexandrians, moreover, consecrate it to Cronus and set it forth in the temple of Cronus for anyone to eat.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.75
§ 3.75 Epicharmus, however, in The Marriage of Hebe and in The Muses — this latter play being a revision of the former — sets forth various kinds of bread thus: oven, neighbour, suet, honey-and-oil, lard-bread, and half-loaf. These are also mentioned by Sophron in his Mimes of Women, as follows:'A dinner for the goddesses — oven-bread, neighbour-cake, and a half-loaf to Hecate.' "I know, my friends, that in Attic Greek the words for oven, kribanos and kribanites, are pronounced with the letter r, whereas Herodotus, in the second book of his History has a'red-hot klibanos.' And so wrote Sophron:'Who is baking suet-bread or oven-bread (klibanitae) or half-loaves?' The same writer mentions also a kind of bread named plakites ('flat') in the Mimes of Women:'She promised she would treat me in the evening to some griddle-cakes.' Cheese-bread, too, is mentioned by Sophron in the mime entitled Mother-in-Law, thus:'I advise you to snatch a bite; for someone has sent cheese-bread for the children.' “ Nicander of Colophon, in his Glossary, calls unleavened bread daratos. Plato (the comic poet) in A Long Night calls the large and dirty loaves' Cilician' in these lines:'And then he bought and sent us some loaves; don't think they were the clean, tidy kind; they were large Cilicians.' And in the play entitled Menelaus he calls certain loaves agelaioi. Bread of unbolted wheat is mentioned by Alexis in The Man from Cyprus:'He has just eaten a whole loaf of whole-wheat bread.' These are called autopyritae by Phrynichus in The Weeders:'With loaves of unbolted wheat and oily olive-cakes.' ” Sophocles in Triptolemus mentions orindes bread, i.e. the bread which is made with rice, a seed which grows in Aethiopia and resembles sesame. A form of roll called kollabos is mentioned by Aristophanes in Masters of the Frying-pan,'Each of you take a roll;' and again,'Or fetch me the paunch of a sucking- pig killed in the autumn, with some hot rolls.' These rolls are made of new wheat, as Philyllius makes clear in Auge:'Here I come in person, bringing the fruit of wheat three months in the growing, hot rolls as white as milk.' Bread sprinkled with poppy-seed is mentioned by Alcman in Book V as follows: [111a]'Couches seven, and as many tables laden with poppy-bread, and bread with flax and sesame seed; and in cups... golden sweets.' This is a confection made of honey and flaxseed. “Another form of bread is the so-called kollyra, mentioned by Aristophanes in the Peace:'A mighty roll and a box on the ears as a relish to go with it.' Also in the Merchantmen:'And a roll for the veterans, because of the trophy they raised at Marathon.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.76
§ 3.76 ”Obelias bread is so named because it is sold for an obol, as in Alexandria, or because it used to be baked on a spit. Aristophanes in The Farmers:'Then there is a man who haply is baking a loaf on the spit.' Pherecrates in The Forgetful Man:'Fall greedily on the spitted bread and heed not the loaf.' Obeliaphoroi was the name also given to those who carried these loaves on their shoulders in processions. Socrates in the sixth book of Epithets says that Dionysus invented spitted bread in his campaigns. “Pulse bread is the same as that which is called lekithitas, according to Eucrates. Panos is'bread' in Messapian. Hence abundance is called pania, and things that satisfy pania, by Blaesus in Half-Worn, Deinolochus in Telephus, and Rhinthon in Amphitryon. The Romans, also, call bread panis. ” Nastos is the name given to a large loaf of leavened bread, according to Polemarchus and Artemidorus; but Heracleon says it is a kind of round, flat cake. Nicostratus has the word in The Couch:'There was a cake, my master, as big as this, and white; it was so thick that it bulged from the basket, and when the cover was taken off, an odour and a steam mingled with honey rose upward to the nostrils; for it was still hot.''Grated' bread is a variety in use in Ionia, as Artemidorus of Ephesus says in Ionian Notes. “Throne is also the name of a bread. Neanthes of Cyzicus, in Book II of his History of Greece, writes as follows:' Codrus received a slice of bread, the so-called throne — also meat, and they apportion it to the eldest.' ”There is also an ash-baked bread in Elis called bacchylos, as Nicander records in Book II of his Glossary. Diphilus, too, mentions it thus in The Mistaken Lady:'Carry round ash-baked bread of finely-sifted flour.' Another variety of bread also is the so-called apopyrias ('toasted')' it is baked directly over the coals. This is called a yeast bread by some, as Cratinus in Mollycoddles:'First, I have here some toasted leavened bread — none of your stuff filled with cudweed.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.77
§ 3.77 Archestratus in his Gastronomy expounds thus the subject of barley-meal and bread:'First, then, dear Moschus, I will call to mind the gifts of fair-haired Demeter, and do thou lay it to heart. The best that one may get, ay, the finest in the world, all cleanly sifted from the rich fruit of barley, grows where the crest of glorious Eresus in Lesbos is washed by the waves. It is whiter than snow from the sky. If it so be that the gods eat barley-meal, [112a] Hermes must go and buy it for them there. In seven-gated Thebes, too, there is good barley, in Thasos, also, and in some other towns; but theirs seem like grape-stones compared with the Lesbian. Grasp that with understanding sure. Supply yourself also with the round roll of Thessaly, well twisted in the maker's hand, which Thessalians call krimnitas, but the rest of the world calls chondrinos. Next, I recommend the scion of Tegea's fine wheat, baked in ashes. Very fine, too, is the wheat loaf made for the market which glorious Athens supplies to mortals; and the loaf which comes white from the oven in Erythrae, where grapes grow richly, and abounds in all the luxurious daintiness of the Seasons, will delight you at the feast.' Following this description, the chef Archestratus advises that the bread-maker be a Phoenician or a Lydian; he did not know that the Cappadocian bakers are the best. He says:'Be sure that you have in the house a man from Phoenicia or Lydia who knows how to make daily every kind of bread, no matter what you order.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.78
§ 3.78 “The excellence of Attic bread is called to mind in the following passage from the Omphale of Antiphanes;'How could a man of gentle breeding ever leave this roof, when he sees these white-bodied loaves crowding the furnace in close ranks, and when he sees, too, how they have changed their shape in the oven — deft imitations made by Attic skill, which Thearion taught his countrymen?' This Thearion is the baker whom Plato mentions in the Gorgias, coupling him with Mithaecus thus:'When I asked you what men have been or are good at caring for men's bodies, you answered me with the utmost seriousness, Thearion the baker, Mithaecus, who wrote the treatise on Sicilian cookery, and Sarambus the wine-merchant; because they have proved themselves marvellous caretakers of the body, the first by making wonderful bread, the second relishes for meat, and the third by furnishing wine.' Aristophanes, also, speaks of Thearion in Gerytades again in Aeolosicon in these lines:'I am come from the bakehouse of Thearion, where are the ovens' abodes.' ”But the bread of Cyprus also is mentioned for its excellence by Eubulus in these verses of Orthannes:'Hard it is to see Cyprian loaves and ride by; like a magnet they draw the hungry to them.' And as for the buns called kollikia — they are the same as the kollaboi — Ephippus mentions them thus in Artemis:'From Alexander, from bun-eating Thessaly, comes an oven full of loaves.' And Aristophanes in The Acharnians:'Good-morning, you little bun-eating Boeotian.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.79
§ 3.79 [113a] At the end of this recital one of the learned men present, Arrian by name, spoke up: “all this'breadstuff,' comrades, is getting stale. For we have no interest either in barley (since the town is full of wheat bread), or in the list of these kinds of bread. For I have come across another treatise, beside those cited, by Chrysippus of Tyana, entitled Bread-making, and have made the acquaintance of all the terms here mentioned by many of our friends, and so I shall proceed to say something on my own account about bread. The bread called artopticeus differs from that baked in ovens and furnaces. If now, you make it with hard yeast, it will be white and good to eat dry; but if with dissolved yeast, it will be light but not so white. Bread baked in the oven and furnace requires a softer yeast. The Greeks have a bread called'soft,' which is made with a little milk and oil and sufficient salt; the dough must be quite soft. This bread is called Cappadocian, since it is chiefly in Cappadocia that'soft' bread is made. Such bread is called lachma by the Syrians and is found to be very serviceable in Syria, because it may be eaten when very warm. It also resembles a flower. ”There is also a'boletus' bread, so-called, shaped like a mushroom. The kneading-trough is greased and sprinkled with poppy-seed, on which the dough is spread, and so it does not stick to the trough during the rising. When it is placed in the oven, some coarse meal is sprinkled over the earthenware pan, after which the loaf is laid upon it and takes on a delightful colour, like that of smoked cheese. “Twist bread is prepared with the admixture of a little milk; there is added also a little pepper and oil or lard. But in making the so-called artolaganon ('wheat-wafer'), a little wine, pepper, and milk are introduced, along with a small quantity of oil or lard. Similarly into kapyria, called by the Romans tracta, are put mixtures as into the wheat-wafer.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.80
§ 3.80 When the great Roman scholar had expounded his lore, worthy of Aristarchus, Cynulcus said: “In the name of Demeter, what learning! It's no wonder our admirable Bright-eyes has disciples by the hundreds, and has won so much wealth by this splendid erudition, surpassing Gorgias and Protagoras. Wherefore I swear by the goddesses that I am in doubt what to say. Can it be that he himself cannot see, or have they who entrust themselves to him as pupils only one eye among them, so that they can scarcely see because of their number? Happy, then, I should call them, or rather, they have passed on to the happy state, since their teachers give them disquisitions like this.” To him answered Magnus, a bon vivant who extravagantly admired the industrious zeal of this scholar: "'You, there,' to quote the words the comic poet Eubulus,'live in the air with feet unwashed, sleeping on poor pallets of straw, foul gullets, which slyly feed on others' stores.' Did not your progenitor Diogenes once greedily eat up a whole cake at dinner, and in reply to a question say that he was eating some very good bread? And you yourselves,'greedy dish-lickers of white tunny steaks' — to quote Eubulus once more — never yield place to others, but keep up your din, [114a] and refuse to be quiet until somebody tosses you a bit of bread or bone as he would to a pack of dogs. How should you know that dice, not the kind you always use, are square-shaped loaves seasoned with anise, cheese, and oil, as Heracleides says in his Art of Cookery? Our Bright-eyes has overlooked this variety, as also the thargelos, called by some thalysios; for Crates for Crates, in Book II of his Attic Dialect, says that thargelos is the name given to the first bread made after the harvest. He has also overlooked sesame bread, and has not even noticed the anastatos, so-called, which is prepared for the Arrephoroi. Then there is also the pyramous, baked with sesame seed and possibly the same as sesame bread. Tryphon mentions all these varieties in Book I of his Plant Life, as well as those denominated thiagones, which are loaves baked in honour of the gods in Aitolia. Dramikes also and drames are names given to certain kinds of loaves by the Athamanians.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.81
§ 3.81 The compilers of glossaries, also, list the names of bread. Thus Seleucus has dramis, name of a loaf among the Macedonians, but called duratos by Thessalians. Etnitas, he says, is a bread made of pulse, while erikitas is the name given to a loaf made of coarsely cracked, unsifted wheat. Amerias, again, calls the bread of unbolted wheat'dry-wheat bread,' as Timachidas does also. Nicander says the thiagones is the name given by Aitolians to loaves baked in honour of the gods. Egyptians call their sourish bread kyllastis. Aristophanes mentions it in The Daughters of Danaus:'Sing, too, of sour bread and Master Petosiris.' Others who mention it are Hecataeus, Herodotus, and Phanodemus in the seventh book of his Attic History. Further, Nicander of Thyateira says that bread made of barley is called kyllastis by the Egyptians. The dirty loaves Alexis named'grey-bread' in The Man from Cyprus:'A. Then how did you get here? — B. At considerable pains I got some loaves while in the baking. — A. The devil take you! However, how many have you brought? — B. Sixteen. — A. Fetch them here.... — B. There are eight of the white, and as many of the grey.' A shot, says Seleucus, is the name given to bread when hot and sopped in wine. Philemon, in Complete List of Sacrifices, Book I, says that bread made of unsifted wheat and containing all the elements of the grain is called pyrnon; loaves having incisions, he says, which the Romans call'squares,' are named blomiaioi, while bread made of bran is called brattime, or (by Amerias and Timachidas ) eukonos. Moreover, Philetas, in The Unruly, speaks of a kind of bread named spoleus, which he says was eaten only within the family circle.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.82
§ 3.82 “As for barley-cakes, one may find them also recorded in Tryphon and several other authors as well. Among the Athenians, to be sure, is the sort called physte, in which the meal is not ground very fine; but there are, besides, the'cress' cake, the berex, the'clews, and the Achilleum; this last is probably made of' Achilles,' or very fine barley. There are likewise sandwich bread, wine biscuit, honeycake, and lily loaf.... (A dance figure for choruses under the name of'lily' is mentioned by Apollophanes in The Bride.) The thridakiskai mentioned in Alcman are the same as the Attic sandwich bread. Alcman has it thus:'Heaping up sandwich bread and muffins.' [115a] Sosibius, in the third book of his commentary on Alcman, says that kribana is the name given to certain breast-shaped cheese-cakes. Health is the name of the barley-cakes distributed at festivals for all to taste. Hesiod calls another kind of barley-cake amolgaia,'a hearty barley-cake and milk from goats just running dry,' meaning the shepherd's cake full of strength; for amolgos refers to the height of vigour. But I must be excused from enumerating — since, in fact, I am not so fortunate as to remember — all the cakes and confections set forth by Aristomenes of Athens in the third book of Articles pertaining to Ceremonial. Even I, though younger, came to know this man, who was our senior. He was an actor of Old Comedy, a freedman of the highly cultivated emperor Hadrian, who called him his'Attic partridge.'” Then Ulpian said: "'Freedman' — where is that term found?" Someone replied that there was a play by Phrynichus entitled Freedmen, and that Menander in She Who Got Slapped also speaks of a “freedwoman”; he added other instances as well. Whereupon Ulpian again asked, “How does apeleutheros ('freedman') differ from exeleutheros?” It was decided, however, to postpone this question for the present.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.83
§ 3.83 Just as we were on the point of attacking our bread, Galen said: “We shall not dine until you have heard from us also what the sons of the Asclepiadae have to say about bread and cake and meal as well. First Diphilus of Siphnos, in the treatise on Diet for Sick and Well, declares that bread made of wheat, as compared with that made of barley, is more nourishing, more digestible, and in every way superior. In order of merit, the bread made of refined flour comes first, after that bread of ordinary wheat, and then the unbolted, made of flour that has not been sifted. These are accepted as the more nourishing. Again, Philistion of Locris says that bread made of highly refined flour tends to promote bodily vigour more than bread made of the coarse; but he rates the latter second, and after that the bread of ordinary wheat flour. Nevertheless, bread of the finest meal has a poorer flavour and less nourishment. All fresh bread is more digestible than bread that has dried up, besides being more nourishing and more juicy; further, it encourages pneumatic action and is easily assimilated. Dry bread, on the other hand, is surfeiting and hard to digest, and bread that is very old and dry has less nourishment, acts as an astringent in the bowels, and has a poor taste. Bread baked in the ashes is heavy and hard to digest because the baking is uneven. That which comes from a small oven or stove causes dyspepsia and is hard to digest. But bread made over a brazier or in a pan, owing to the admixture of oil, is easier to excrete, but steam from the drying makes it rather unwholesome. Bread baked in large ovens, however, excels in all good qualities, for it is well-flavoured, good for the stomach, easily digested, and very readily assimilated; it neither binds nor distends the bowels. The physician Andreas says that there is a kind of bread in Syria made with mulberries, the eating of which causes loss of hair. Mnesitheus declares that wheat bread is more digestible than barley-cake, and that bread made of one-seeded wheat affords more adequate nourishment, since it is digested with little trouble. But bread made of rice-wheat, if eaten too abundantly, is heavy and causes dyspepsia; wherefore they who eat it are not healthy. [116a] You must understand, too, that breadstuffs which have not been parched or ground produce winds, torpor, cramps, and headache.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.84
§ 3.84 [116]After this lengthy discussion it was decided at last to dine, and when the hors d'oeuvre of salt fish had been passed round Leonides said: " Euthydemus of Athens, my friends, remarks in his work on Salt Meats that Hesiod has this to say about salted or pickled food:'First in choice is the sturgeon with double-edged mouth, the fish which the rough-clad fisherfolk call the “jaw.” The Bosporos, rich in salt fish, delights in it, and the people there cut the belly pieces into squares and make it into a pickle. Not inglorious in the eye of mortals, I ween, is the tribe of sharp-nosed sturgeon which jagged lumps of salt adorn either whole or sliced. Again, of tunnies, pickled in the right season, Byzantium is mother, as well as of deep-sea mackerel and well-fed swordfish, while Parium Town is a glorious nurse of Spanish mackerel. And over the Ionian wave a Bruttian or a Campanian will bring as freight from Gadeira or holy Tarentum huge tunny hearts, which are packed tightly in jars and await the beginning of dinner.' “These verses, in my opinion, come from some master cook rather than from the gifted Hesiod. For how could he know about Parium or Byzantium, to say nothing of Tarentum and the Bruttians and Campanians, when he lived many years before these places were settled? I believe, therefore, that the verses are Euthydemus's own.” To this Dionysocles replied: “Who wrote the lines, good Leonides, it is for you others, famous critics as you are, to determine. Nevertheless, since we are on the subject of salt fish, I will proceed to tell what I know about it, with full details of the trade, including also a proverb which Clearchus of Soli thought worth quoting:'Stale salt fish likes marjoram.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.85
§ 3.85 Now Diocles of Carystus, in his work entitled Hygiene, says that young tunny is the best among all lean varieties of salt fish, but of all fat fish the grown tunny is the best. But Hicesius records that neither young tunnies nor those called horaia are easy to digest, and further, that the flesh of young tunny resembles'cube' tunny and hence is greatly different from all the other tunny called horaia. In like manner he says there is a great difference in the horaia of Byzantium and those caught in other places, and this is true not of tunny alone, but of all other fishes taken in Byzantium.” To these remarks the Ephesian Daphnus added the following: " Archestratus, who made a voyage round the world to satisfy his stomach and appetites even lower, says:'Eat, dear Moschus, a slice of Sicilian tunny, cut at the time when it should be salted in jars. [117a] But the shabar, a relish from Pontus, I would consign to the lowest regions, as well as all who praise it. For few there be among mortals who know that it is a poor and insipid morsel. Take, however, a mackerel three days out of the water, before it enters the pickle and while it is still new in the jar and only half-cured. And if thou go to the sacred city of glorious Byzantium, eat again, I pray you, a slice of horaion; for it is good and luscious.' “But the chef Archestratus has omitted to catalogue for us the so-called'ivory' salt-fish mentioned by Crates, the comic poet, and The Samians. On this he says:'Once upon a time a tortoise was stewing some ivory salt-fish in a leather bowl over a fire of pine boughs. Crabs there were, and long-feathered wolves fleet as the wind, ready to give battle to the pieces of sole-leather from the sky. Hit him! Choke him! Can you tell me, gentlemen, what day of the month it is in Ceos?' That this'ivory salt-fish' of Crates was famous is proved by Aristophanes in Thesmophoriazusae:'The comedians' art was still a big thing in the old days when Crates at a stroke brought into fashion the glistening ivory salt-fish which he had summoned, and giggled out countless other fancies like that.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.86
§ 3.86 ” Alexis mentions'raw salt-fish,' also, in The Man with a Cataract, and the same poet in The Love -lorn Lass introduces a cook who has this to say about making salt-fish:'Nevertheless, I mean to sit down here and reckon the cost of my menu, to plan what I must get first, and how I must season each dish. First comes this piece of horaion; that cost a penny. I must wash it well. Then I will sprinkle seasoning in a casserole, place the slice in it, pour over it some white wine, stir it in oil and stew it until it is as soft as marrow, covering it generously with a garnish of silphium.' And in The Man with a Cataract one of the characters, when asked to pay his share of the club dinner, replies:'If, however, you don't render me an account of each item in detail, you shall not get from me the twelfth part of a bronze farthing. — B. What you say is reasonable. Bring a counting-board and counters. — A. Name the items. — B. Raw salt fish, five farthings. — A. Next! — FB. Mussels, seven farthings. — A. You haven't cheated yet. Next! — B. Those sea-urchins, a ha'penny. — A. Your conscience is still clean. — B. After that, wasn't there the cabbage which you all loudly praised? — A. Yes; it was really good. — B. I paid a penny for that. — A. Why, I wonder, were we so loud in praising it? — B. The cube salt-fish cost three ha'pence. - [118a] A. A bargain, indeed! And for the endive you haven't charged a single penny! — B. You don't know, simpleton, the state of the market, and that the weevils have eaten up all green salads. — A. So that's why you have charged double for the salt-fish? — B. The fishmonger is to blame; go and ask him. Next comes a conger-eel, fivepence. — A. That's not much! Name the next. — B. I bought the baked fish for a shilling. — A. Ow! Like a fever — it leaves one, then rises high again. — B. Add the wine, of which I procured more when you were drunk; three bottles, at fivepence the bottle.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.87
§ 3.87 “ Hicesius, in the second book of his Materials for Food, says that pelamydes are large fish-cubes. Poseidippus also mentions cubes in The Converted Philosopher. Euthydemus, in the treatise on Salt-fish, says that the delcanos is a fish named from the Delcon river, in which it is caught, and that when pickled it is very wholesome. Dorion, in his work on Fishes, when mentioning the lebias says that some declare it to be the same as the delcanos; that the crow-fish is by many called saperdes (shabar), and the beside is that which comes from the Sea of Maeotis. He says, too, the grey mullets caught off Abdera are wonderful, and next to them are the Sinopic, and when pickled they are wholesome. The fish called mullet, he says, are by some named agnotidia, by others platistakoi, being quite the same, as is also the chellaries; for this one fish has received many appellations; it is also called Dionysos and oniskos as well as chellaries. The larger are called platistakoi, those of medium age mullets, whereas the little ones areagnotidia. Mullets are mentioned by Aristophanes in The Merchantmen:'Mackerel, Spanish mackerel, lebiae, mullets, shabar, roe tunny.'”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.88
§ 3.88 Upon this, when Dionysocles had lapsed into silence, the scholar Varus spoke up. “Look you, the poet Antiphanes, also, mentions these pickled fish in Deucalion:'Salt sturgeon, if one likes it, or a Gadeira tunny; and revels in the odour of a roe tunny from Byzantium.' And in The Parasite:'In the middle a salt sturgeon, luscious, white throughout, and hot.' And so Nicostratus (or Philetaerus ) in Antyllus:'Let a Byzantian fish-slice come to our revels, and let a Gadeira belly-slice enter beside it;' and continuing, he says:'Nay, but I haves bought from a fishmonger, a very gentlemanly fellow, Earth and the Gods are my witness, a very large piece of salt-fish with no skin on it, worth a shilling; for a penny I bought it, though we could not eat it up if we ate for three days, or even twelve; for it is huge.'” Upon this Ulpian, with a glance at Plutarch, said: “It appears that no one, sir, has mentioned in this list the Mendesian fish of you Alexandrians — fish which even a mad dog would not taste, or the excellent, half-salted varieties you have, of the pickled sheat-fish.” [119a] Plutarch answered: “How does that'half-slated' fish differ from the'half-pickle' which your noble Archestratus mentioned above? Yet Sopater of Paphos names the half-salted in The Slavey of Mystacus, thus:'He received a sturgeon, which the mighty Danube nurtures, the half-salt joy of Scythians.' And the same author mentions the Mendesian thus:'There is the lovely Mendesian, too, lightly salted with care, and a mullet baked in the yellow beams of fire.' That these viands are much to be preferred to the ”poll-fish" and “sweet-fish” so celebrated in your country, experienced persons know. Now tell us whether the word for salt-fish is masculine in Attic Greek; for we know that it is in Epicharmus."
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.89
§ 3.89 Anticipating his answer Myrtilus said: “Yes, Cratinus has it masculine in Dionysalexander:'In baskets I will bring salt-fish of Pontus.' Plato, in Zeus Outraged:'So that all I have I shall throw away on salt-fish.' Aristophanes, in The Men of Dinnerville:'I shall not scruple to drench this poor fish with all the evils I know him to be capable of.' Crates in Wild Animals:'You must boil some of the cabbages, and bake the fresh and salt fish, and keep your hands off us.' But a peculiar construction is found in Hermippus's Bread-Sellers,'A fat piece of salt-fish.' Sophocles has tarichos masculine, meaning'mummy,' in Phineus:'Dead as an Egyptian mummy, to judge from the looks.' A diminutive form tarichion is used by Aristophanes in the Peace:'Buy a nice little piece of salt-fish to take to the country.' So also Cephisodorus in The Pig:'A nasty little piece of meat or salt-fish'; and Pherecrates in The Deserters:'Meanwhile our wives are waiting for us, boiling for each some pease-porridge or lentils, and broiling a bit of orphan salt-fish.' ” Epicharmus, also, has the form tarichos as a masculine. Herodotus, too, in Book IX:'The pieces of salt-fish lying over the fire began to squirm and quiver.' So, too, the proverbs have it in the masculine:'Broiled salt-fish, if it but see the fire, —';'stale salt-fish likes marjoram';'a piece of salt-fish will never get its deserts.' But the word is also neuter in Attic Greek, and the genitive becomes tarichous. Chionides in Beggars:'Ye gods, would you even eat some salt-fish?' So the dative is tarichei, like xiphei. Menander in The Arbitrants:'Over this piece of salt-fish, therefore, the two are pecking.' Also in the accusative:'I sprinkle more salt on the salt-fish, if so it befall.' But when the word is masculine, the genitive will no longer have the s.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.90
§ 3.90 “Now the Athenians set such store by salt-fish that they actually enrolled the sons of Chaerephilus, the salt-fish-dealer, as citizens, according to the following verses of Alexis, in Epidaurus:'(You made) the sons of Chaerephilus citizens of Athens because he introduced salt-fish. [120a] Seeing them on horseback, Timocles said they were a pair of mackerel among the satyrs.' The orator Hypereides also mentions them, and the salt-fish-dealer Euthynus is mentioned by Antiphanes in The Hairdresser thus:'Go to the dealer in salt-fish, the one from whom it is my habit to buy when I am in luck. It is Euthynus,... telling off the cost of some choice morsel. Bid him cut it in a slice for me.' Pheidippus, too, for he also was a salt-fish-dealer, is mentioned by Alexis in The Scarf and in The Coffers:'Another man there is, a foreigner Pheidippus, leader of the salt-fish battalion.'”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.91
§ 3.91 As we ate our salt-fish many of us had a desire to drink. And Daphnus, raising his hands, said: “ Heracleides of Tarentum, my friends, says in his work entitled Symposium that a'moderate quantity of food should be eaten before drinking, and chiefly the dishes which form the ordinary courses at the beginning of a feast. For when foods are served after an interval of drinking, they counteract what settles on the stomach from the effects of wine and becomes the cause of gnawing pangs. Some even think that these are unwholesome — I mean the different kinds of green vegetables and salt-fish — possessing, as they do, a pungent quality, and that the starchy and binding foods are more suitable. They are not aware that many foods which produce loose excretions cause a wholesome reaction on those of opposite nature; among these are the so-called siser (”skirret"), mentioned by Epicharmus in The Rustic and in Earth and Sea, and by Diocles in Book I of his Hygiene; also asparagus, the white beet (for the red hinders bowel action), conchs, razor-fish, sea mussels, clams, scallops, salt-fish in perfect condition and not tainted, and different sorts of juicy-meated fish. It also is well to have an hors d'oeuvre of herbs and beets, or again of salt-fish, to provoke an appetite for what is to come, and to obviate the unequal effects of the heavier foods. Crowding all the drinks at the beginning is a practice to be avoided, for they render it hard to absorb any additional moisture.' But the Macedonians, as Ephippus of Olynthus observes in his account of the funeral of Alexander and Hephaestion, never understood how to drink in moderation, but rather drank deep at the beginning of the feast. Hence they were drunk while the first courses were still being served and could not enjoy their food.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.92
§ 3.92 Diphilus of Siphnos says that salt-fish, whether from sea or lake or river, has little nourishment or juice; it is dry, easily digested, and provocative of appetite. The best of the lean varieties are cubes, horaia, and the like; of the fat, the tunny steaks and young tunny. When aged they are superior, being more pungent, particularly the Byzantian sorts. The tunny steak, he says, is taken from medium-sized young tunny, the smaller size resembling the cube tunny, from which class also comes the horaion. The Sardinian tunny is as large as the tuna. [121a] The mackerel is not heavy, but readily leaves the stomach. Spanish mackerel is rather purgative and pungent and has poorer flavour, but is filling. Better are the Amynclanian and the Spanish sort called Saxitanian, which are lighter and sweeter. Now Strabo, in the third book of his Geography, says that Sexitania, from which this salt-fish gets its name, is near the Isles of Heracles, opposite New Carthage; and that there is another town called Scombroaria from the mackerel caught there; from them the best fish-pickle is prepared. Then there are the so-called heart-of-oak tunny, which Epicharmus mentions thus in Odysseus the Runaway:'Useful was the slice of heart-of-oak tunny.' Heart-of-oak is a variety of the largest-sized tunny, as Pamphilus declares in the Onomasticon, and the cuts taken from it are more oily.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.93
§ 3.93 “Raw pickle, Diphilus continues, is by some called ketema, and is heavy and sticky, besides being hard to digest. The river crow-fish from the Nile, which some call'crescent,' but which among the Alexandrians is known by the special name of'half-salt,' is rather fatty, quite well-flavoured, meaty, filling, easily digested and assimilated, and in every way superior to the mullet. But the spawn of fresh and salt fish alike is hard to digest and dispose of, especially that of the fatter and larger fishes. For being harder, they remain unseparated. They become wholesome, however, when first dipped in salt and then broiled. All salt-fish should be washed until the water becomes odourless and sweet. Salt-fish cooked in sea water is sweeter, and tastes better when hot. ” Mnesitheus of Athens, in his treatise on Food, says that all salt and sweet juices move the bowels, but acid and pungent juices stimulate urination; bitter juices are more diuretic, and some of them loosen the bowels; astringent juices, on the other hand (check) the excretions. But the well-informed Xenophon, in the work entitled Hieron, or The Tyrant, says in condemnation of such food as we have been describing:'"How now?" said Hieron; “have you noticed these many contraptions which are set before tyrants — acid, pungent, astringent, and their brothers?” “Indeed I have,” replied Simonides, “and in my humble opinion they are very much opposed to man's nature.” “Do you not think,” said Hieron, “that such viands are due to the appetites of a soul debased and sick? For they who really like to eat, as you doubtless know, require none of these fancy contrivances.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.94
§ 3.94 Thereupon Cynulcus asked for a drink of decocta, saying that he needed to wash away salty words with fountains of sweetness. To him Ulpian replied in high dudgeon, pounding the cushion with his fist: “How long are you going to utter barbarisms without ceasing? Must it be until I leave the symposium and go home, unable to stomach your words?” And the other answered: “Living at present as I do, good sir, in imperial Rome, I naturally use the language of the country. And my justification is this. Even in the ancient poets and historians, those who wrote the purest Greek, one may find Persian words adopted because of their common use in the spoken language, [122a] such as'parasangs,''astands' and'angari,' and'schoenus,' masculine or feminine; this last is a measure of distance still so called among many people. I know, too, of many Attic writers who use idioms of the Macedonians as a result of intercourse with them. Yes, better it were for me to drink bull's blood, since Themistocles' way of dying is preferable, than to get into a fight with you. I would not, indeed, call for a drink of Bull water, for you do not know what that is; nor do you understand that even the best poets and historians have used expressions not in the best taste. Cephisodorus, for example, pupil of the orator Isocrates, in the third book of his Answer to Aristotle, says that one may find at least one or two vulgar phrases in all other poets and rhetoricians, as, for example, the'skin every man' of Archilochus; the'urging one's own profit while praising equality' of Theodorus; or'my tongue hath sworn' of Euripides, and again the saying of Sophocles in The Aethiopians:'These words of mine, then, I utter for your gratification, and not perforce; but do you yourself, like men of wisdom, praise the right while holding fast to profit.' And in another place also the same poet says that'no word that brings profit is evil.' Again, there is Homer making Hera plot against Zeus, and Ares committing adultery, causing universal condemnation of them.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.95
§ 3.95 If, then, I, too, have erred, O mighty hunter of noble words and phrases, be not angry. For as the Milesian poet Timotheus says: D'I sing no ancient story, for new themes are much better. New is the king now reigning, Zeus, but of old Cronus was ruler. Depart, thou Muse of the antiquated!' So, again, Antiphanes said in Alcestis:'Speed to the fashioning of the new, this way, that way, knowing full well that one novel enterprise, even though it be overbold, is more useful than many ancient devices.' But that even the ancients know the water called by that name (not to rouse your ire again by mentioning decocta) I will make clear. As Pherecrates says in The Sham Heracles:'A wise man, very clever in his own conceit, might say... but I will answer, Be not a petty quibbler, but rather, if you please, pay attention and listen to me.'” “Nay,” replied Ulpian; “I beg you not to grudge us an explanation of what Bull water is. For I am athirst for all such expressions.” Cynulcus replied: “Well, then, I drink to your health (since you thirst for words), taking a line from The Lady Devotee of Pythagoras, by Alexis:'A small cup of boiled water; if he drink it raw, its sits heavily and causes pain.' Now Bull water, good friend, is so named by Sophocles in Aegeus from the Tauros River at Troezen, [123a] by the site of which there is also a spring called Hyoessa.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.96
§ 3.96 The ancients are also acquainted with the use of very cold water in drinking healths, but I will not quote them unless you tell me in your turn whether they drank hot water at banquets. For if mixing-bowls got their name from the circumstance that water and wine were mixed in them and were thus brought on, filled to the brim, they did not light a fire under the bowls, as if they were kettles, and serve the drink hot. That they know of warm water is made clear by Eupolis in The Demes:'Heat the bronze cauldron for us and have some sacrificial cakes cooked, that we may feed together on the entrails.' And Antiphanes in Omphale: ”let me not see anyone boiling water in a kettle for me. There's nothing the matter with me. Heaven forbid! But if I get a twist in my belly or navel, I've got a charm which I bought of Phertatus for a shilling.' And in The Anointer (the play is also attributed to Alexis ) he says:'But if you bring scandal upon our workshop, then, by the dear Demeter, I will turn you out, dipping your biggest ladle deep into the cauldron of boiling water. If I fail, may I never drink the water of freedom.' So Plato in The Republic:'Can there be desire for something additional in the soul? For instance, thirst is thirst — is it for hot water or for cold, for much or for little, in a word, for a drink qualified in any way? Or if there be any heat added to the thirst, will not that add the desire for a hot drink? Or if cold be added, the desire of a cold drink? But if, again, the thirst is great because the element of quantity is present, will that not of itself add the desire for a great quantity, or if little, the desire for a little? Surely thirst, in and for itself alone, cannot be the desire for anything other than what it thirsts for, that is, a drink unqualified, and hunger, again, cannot be the desire for anything else than mere food, can it?' “ Semos of Delos, in the second book of the Island History, says that in the island of Cimolos underground refrigerators are constructed in summer, where the people store jars full of warm water and draw them out again as cold as snow. This warm water the Athenians call metakeras ('lukewarm'). Thus Sophilus in Androcles, and Alexis in The Locrians:'The two slave-girls poured in water, the one hot, the other lukewarm.' So Philemon in The Woman of Corinth, Amphis, too, in The Bath:'One bawled aloud for somebody to bring him hot water, while another called for lukewarm.'”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.97
§ 3.97 While the Cynic was on the point of piling other instances upon these, Pontianus said: “The ancients, dear friends, knew also of the use of very cold water in drinking. Alexis, at any rate, says in The Parasite:'Indeed, I want you to taste that water; for I have a wonderful well in the house, more frigid than Araros.' Hermippus also mentions well-water thus in the Cercopes.... And that they also drank snow is shown by what Alexis says in The Woman who drank Belladonna:'And so, is not man a fussy creature, always indulging in things which are quite contrary to each other? [124a] We love strangers while neglecting our own kin; we may be poor, yet rich in our neighbours' wealth. When we bring our contributions to a club dinner we do it in niggardly spirit. Again, when we come to our regular daily food we require that our barley-cake be white, yet take pains that the broth which goes with it be black, and stain the fine colour of the cake with the dye. We manage, too, to get snow to drink, but scold if the entree be not hot. Sour wine, again, we spit out, but go into ecstasies over a vinegar salad. The saying, then, of many wise men holds good: Best it is not to be born at all, but if one be born, let him die with all speed.' ”So Dexicrates, in the play entitled Self-deceivers, says:'Yet if I get drunk and drink snow, and know that Egypt produces the best perfume, (what difference does it make?') And Euthycles, in Wastrels, or The Letter: “He is the first to discover whether snow may be had in the market, and he must be the first, at all costs, to eat the new honeycomb.' Even the excellent Xenophon, in the Memorabilia, knows of the use of snow in drinking, and Chares of Mitylene, in his Records of Alexander, tells how to keep snow, when he recounts the siege of the Indian capital Petra. He says that Alexander dug thirty refrigerating pits which he filled with snow and covered with oak boughs. In this way, he says, snow will last a long time.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.98
§ 3.98 ”That they also chilled wine in order to drink it rather cold is shown by Strattis in Keeping Cool:'No man would prefer to drink wine hot; rather one likes it chilled in the well or mixed with snow.' So also Lysippus in The Bacchants:'A. What's the matter, Hermon? How are we getting on? — B. How else than this? The pater has sunk me down the well, methinks, as one sinks wine in summer time.' And Diphilus, in The Souvenir, says:'Chill the wine, Doris!' Protagorides, in the second book of his Comic Histories, when recounting the voyage of King Antiochus down the Nile, has something to say about ingenious contrivances to get cold water. His words are these:'During the day they place the water in the sun, and when night comes they strain the thick sediment and again expose the water to the air in earthen jars set on the highest part of the house, while throughout the entire night two slaves wet down jars with water. At dawn they take the jars downstairs, and again drawing off the sediment, they thus make the water clear and in every way healthful. They then place the jars in heaps of chaff, and thereafter use it without the need of snow or anything else whatever.' “Cistern water is mentioned by Anaxilas in The Flute-player thus:'This also, from the cistern water in my house, consider at your disposal.' [125a] And again:'Maybe the water in my cistern has given out.' Apollodorus of Gela mentions also the cistern itself, using our word for it, in The Woman who left her Husband:'In your wild tantrums you have untied the bucket in the cistern and used the well-rope for your purpose.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.99
§ 3.99 When Myrtilus heard this he said: ”Being a salt-fish devotee, comrades, I would like to drink snow in imitation of Simonides." To this Ulpian said: “The expression'salt-fish devotee,' to be sure, is found in the Omphale of Antiphanes:'I am by no means a salt-fish devotee, my girl;' and Alexis in Government by Women also calls a character'salt-fish stew' in these lines:'this Cilician Hippocles here, this salt-fish stew of an actor.' But what you mean by'in imitation of Simonides' I do not know.” “No, you glutton, for you have no interest in history, replied Myrtilus. ”You are a licker of fat, and as the old Samian poet Asius has it, you would'toady for a bit of fat.' Callistratus, in the seventh book of Miscellanies, says that the poet Simonides was once dining with some friends'at the season of mighty heat,' and when the cup-bearers mixed snow in the wine of the rest of the company, but not in his, he improvised the following epigram:'The snow with which swift Boreas, rising in Thrace, covers the sides of Olympus, and which gnaws the spirit of men unclad, and encircles and clothes as a girdle the Pierian land — of that snow let someone pour even into my cup a share. For it is not seemly that one should raise to the lips a hot drink to toast a friend.'" So, then, after Myrtilus had drunk, Ulpian again asked “Where do you find the word'fat-licker,' and what are the verses of Asius about'toadying for a bit of fat'?” “Well,” said Myrtilus, “the verses of Asius are as follows:'Lame, branded, wizened with age — like a beggar he came, toadying for a bit of fat, when Meles celebrated his wedding. Uninvited though he was, he was bent on having some broth, and in the midst of them he stood, a ghost rising from the mire.' But the word'fat-licker' is in the Philarchus of Sophilus:'You're a gourmand and a fat-licker.' Also in the play entitled Running-mates, he has'fat-licking' in these lines:'For the brothel-keeper in his fat-licking greed told me to make him a blood sausage like this you see.' Antiphanes, also, mentions the'fat-licker' in The Bumble- bee. ”They also drank sweet wine while still eating dinner, as Alexis shows in Dropides:'The girl came in, carrying the sweet wine in a silver cup which had a wide flare, very pretty to look at. It was neither bowl nor saucer, but partook of the shape of both.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.100
§ 3.100 Next there was brought in a flat pudding made of milk, meal-cakes, and honey; the Romans call it libum. [126a] And Cynulcus said: “Stuff yourself, Ulpian, with your native chthorodlapsum, a word, as Demeter is my witness, which is not recorded in any ancient writer, unless it be the historians of Phoenicia, your compatriots Sanchuniathon and Mochos.” Ulpian answered: “enough of honey-cakes, you dog-fly! Yet I should be glad to eat a pudding generously filled with the scales or the kernels of pine cones.”And when it was brought he said, “Give me a mystile; for I will not use the word mystron,... which is not found in any author before our time.” “Strange that you should be so forgetful,” said Aemilianus. “Are you not the one who have always admired the epic poet, Nicander of Colophon, for his learning and love of the antique? Did you not cite his mention of pepper? Well, he is the very one who uses the word mystron when describing the use of the word'pudding,' in the first of his two books on Farming. His words are these:'But when you prepare a dish of fresh-killed kid or lamb or capon, sprinkle some groats in a hollow bowl and pound them well, then stir in a fragrant oil, well mixed. When the broth is boiling hard, pour it over the meal, put the lid on the pan, and smother it; for when it is stewed in this way, the heavy meal swells up. Serve it when mildly warm in hollow mystra.' In these terms — strange that you should forget them! — Nicander indicates the use of pudding and barley-groats, directing that a broth of lamb or kid or fowl be poured over it. To repeat his words: pound the groats in a mortar, mix oil with it and stir it in the broth when it begins to boil. When, after these preliminaries, the mixture actively boils up again, it should be stirred with the ladle without adding any other ingredient; simply spoon it off as it is, to prevent any of the rich fat at the top from boiling over. That is why he says'put on the lid and cover the boiling liquid'; for the meal swells up when it is smothered in this way. Finally, when it has cooled to a mild heat, eat it with hollow pieces of bread. And what is more: Hippolochus of Macedon, in the letter to Lynceus in which he describes a Macedonian dinner surpassing in sumptuousness any that had ever been given anywhere, even mentions gold spoons (mystra) given to each guest. And since you are so fond of the antique and refuse to speak any word not in the Attic dialect, let me ask you, friend, what Nicophon, poet of the Old Comedy, has to say in Hand-to-mouth Toilers. For I find him also mentioning spoons when he says:'Anchovy-peddlers, charcoal-peddlers, dried-fig-peddlers, hide-peddlers, Fbarley-peddlers, spoon-peddlers, book-peddlers, sieve-peddlers, sweet-cake-peddlers, seed-peddlers.' For what else can mystriopolaebe than'spoon-sellers'? Having learnt, then, my noble Syro-Atticist, the use of the word for spoon from these examples, eat your fill of the pudding, the you may not have to say,'I am weak and faint.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:3.101
§ 3.101 ”I am also surprised that you have not asked where'pudding' comes from. [127a] Is it from Megara or Thessaly, the home of Myrtilus?" And Ulpian said: “I will stop eating while you tell me in what authors these puddings are mentioned.” Then Aemilianus said: “Well, I don't mind doing it. For as I look upon this magnificent dinner, I am quite willing that you, having had your fill of pudding, should raise your crest like a cock and instruct us concerning the dishes which we are going to share.” But Ulpian, in some vexation, replied, “Dishes, indeed! Are we never to get a rest from putting some question to these upstart pedants?” “None the less,” replied Aemilianus, "I am going to render you an account of this word, too. I will begin the discussion of pudding by citing these lines from the Anteia of Antiphanes:'A. Whatever have you got in those baskets, my dear? — B. In three of them there are noble Megarian puddings. — A. But don't they say that the best come from Thessaly? — B. Yes,... and from Phoenicia comes the finest-sifted wheat flour.' But this same play is also ascribed to Alexis, with very divergent readings in a few passages. Alexis again, in The Love -lorn Lass:'We've got a lot of Thessalian pudding in the house.' But Aristophanes uses the word'pudding' of something sopped up like gruel, in The Men of Dinnerville:'Or, when he cooked gruel, he would put a fly in it and offer it to be sopped up.' “Very fine wheat flour, under the name semidalis, is mentioned by Strattis in The Man-handler and by Alexis in Fair Measure, even though I cannot quote the lines in testimony. The genitive semidalidos occurs in the same play of Strattis:'and the twin offspring of fine wheat.' Edesmata, meaning'dishes,' are mentioned by Antiphanes in The Twins thus:'I have enjoyed many fine dishes, drunk three or maybe four healths, and had rather a glorious time, devouring victuals enough for four elephants.'” So let this book come to an end, concluding with this discourse on “dishes.” We shall begin our banquet in what follows. “Not so, Athenaeus; not at least until you have related to us the story of the Macedonian symposium as told by Hippolochus.” Well, if that is your desire, Timocrates, let us order it so.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.1
§ 4.1 [128a] BOOK IV Hippolochus the Macedonian, friend Timocrates, was a contemporary of the Samians Lynceus and Duris, who were disciples of Theophrastus of Eresus; and he had made this agreement with Lynceus — as we may learn from his letters — that he should without fail describe to him any sumptuous banquet at which he might be present, Lynceus pledging him the same in return. Accordingly there are extant “banquet letters” of both writers, Lynceus describing a dinner given at Athens in honour of King Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, by the Athenian flute-player Lamia, who was the mistress of Demetrius; while Hippolochus describes the nuptials of Caranus the Macedonian. And there are other letters also of Lynceus which we have seen, written to the same Hippolochus, one describing the banquet of King Antigonus when he celebrated the festival of Aphrodite at Athens, another the banquet of King Ptolemy. We will give you the letters just as they are; and since that of Hippolochus is rarely encountered, I will run through its contents for your present amusement and entertainment.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.2
§ 4.2 In Macedonia, as I have already said, Caranus celebrated his marriage with a banquet at which the number of men invited to gather was twenty; no sooner had they taken their places on the couches, than they were presented with silver cups, one for each, to keep as their own. Each guest, also, had been crowned before he entered with a gold tiara, worth, every one of them, five gold staters. And after they had emptied their cups, they were each given a bronze platter of Corinthian manufacture, containing a loaf as wide as the platter; also chickens and ducks, and ringdoves, too, and a goose, and an abundance of suchlike viands piled high; and each guest took his portion, platter and all, and distributed it among the slaves who stood behind him. Many other things to eat were handed round in great variety, following which came a second platter of silver, on which again lay a huge loaf, and geese, hares, young goats, and curiously moulded cakes besides, pigeons, turtle-doves, partridges, and other fowl in plenty. “This all,” he says, “we presented to the slaves in addition, and when we had had enough of food we washed our hands. Then numerous chaplets were brought in, made of all kinds of flowers, and in addition to them all were gold tiaras, equal in weight to the first chaplet.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.129
§ 4.129 [129a] On top of these viands, Hippolochus says that Proteas, descendant of that Proteas who was the son of Lanice — the same who had been the nurse of King Alexander — drank a great deal (for he was given to drinking, like his grandfather Proteas, Alexander's comrade), and toasted everybody. Hippolochus then continues with the following:
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.3
§ 4.3 “When we had at last pleasantly taken leave of all sobriety, there entered flute-girls and singers and some Rhodian sambuca-players. To me these girls looked quite naked, but some said that they had on tunics. And after a prelude they withdrew. Then came in other girls carrying each two jars fastened together with a gold band and containing perfume; one jar was silver, the other gold, and held half a pint. These also they gave to each guest. After that there was brought in a fortune rather than a dinner, namely a silver platter gilded all over to no little thickness, and large enough to hold the whole of a roast pig — a big one, too — which lay on its back upon it; the belly, seen from above, disclosed that it was full of many bounties. For, roasted inside it, were thrushes, ducks, and warblers in unlimited number, pease puree poured over eggs, oysters, and scallops; all of which, towering high, was presented to each guest, platters and all. After this we drank, and then received a kid, piping hot, again upon another platter as large as the last, with spoons of gold. Seeing, therefore, our embarrassment, Caranus ordered baskets and bread-racks made of plaited ivory strips to be given us, at which we applauded the bridegroom with delight for having rescued our gifts. Then more crowns again, and a double-jar of gold and silver containing perfume, equal in weight to the first. Quiet being restored, there trooped in men who would have graced even the religious observances at the Athenian Feast of Pots. After them entered ithyphallic dancers, clowns, and some naked female jugglers who performed tumbling acts among swords, and blew fire from their mouths.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.4
§ 4.4 After we had finished with them, our attention was next engrossed in a warm and almost neat drink, the wines at our disposal being Thasian, Mendaean, and Lesbian; and very large gold cups were handed to each guest. After this draught we were all presented with a crystal platter about two cubits in diameter, lying in a silver receptacle and full of a collection of all kinds of baked fish; also a silver bread-rack containing Cappadocian loaves, of which we ate some and gave the rest to the slaves. Then we washed our hands and put on crowns, again receiving gold tiaras twice the size of those we had before, and another double-jar of perfume. ”When all was quiet, Proteas jumped up from his couch and demanded a six-pint bowl, and filling it with Thasian wine with just a dash of water he drank it all saying,'He that drinks most shall have least sorrow.' And Caranus said,'Since you have been the first to drink, be the first also to receive the bowl as a gift; and this shall be the meed of all the others who drink.' At these words'all the nine rose up' and seized a bowl, each striving to get ahead of the other. But one unfortunate, who of all our companions was unable to drink, sat up and wept at his bowlless state, until Caranus made have a present of the cup unfilled. [130a] After this a chorus of one hundred men entered singing tunefully a wedding hymn; then came in dancing-girls, some attired as Nereids, others as Nymphs.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.5
§ 4.5 While then our merrymaking was proceeding, and the late hour was beginning to bring darkness, they threw open the room, which had been curtained all about with white linen; and when this was drawn back, the barriers being let down by a hidden contrivance, there rose to our view torches: Cupids and Dianas, Pans and Hermae and many similar figures held the lights in silver brackets. While we were admiring this artistic device, veritable Erymanthian boars were served to each guest, on square platters rimmed with gold; they were skewered with silver spears. The wonderful thing about it was, that though relaxed and heavy with wine, as soon as we saw any of these things introduced we all became sober enough to stand on our feet, as the saying is. “Well, the slaves began to stuff our happy baskets full until the customary signal for concluding the banquet was sounded on the trumpet; for this, as you know, is the Macedonian practice at dinners attended by many guests. Then Caranus, leading off the drinking in small cups, ordered the slaves to circulate them quickly. We, therefore, sipped them gently as an antidote to the drinking of unmixed wine which had gone before. Meanwhile, the clown Mandrogenes had come in, a descendant, so they say, of the celebrated Athenian clown Straton. He caused many a loud laugh among us by his jokes, and afterwards danced with his wife, who was over eighty years old. And last there came in the concluding courses; that is, dessert in ivory baskets, and flat cakes of every variety, Cretan and your own Samian, friend Lynceus, and Attic, were given to all as a present along with the boxes in which they were separately packed. So, after this, we arose and took our leave, quite sober — the gods be my witness! — because we were apprehensive for the safety of the wealth we took with us. But you, staying in Athens, think it happiness rather to listen to the precepts of Theophrastus, eating wild thyme and rocket-seed and your esteemed rolls while you attend the festivals of the Lenaea and the Pots! We, however, have carried away a fortune from Caranus's banquet instead of trifling portions, and are now looking for houses or lands or slaves to buy.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.6
§ 4.6 With this example before our eyes, friend Timocrates, what Greek banquet can you compare with the symposium just described? Why, even Antiphanes, the comic poet, once said disparagingly in the Oinomaus (or Pelops ): “But what could leaf-chewing Greeks, scant of table, accomplish? Among them you can get only four little pieces of meat for a ha'penny. But among our ancestors they used to roast whole oxen, swine, deer, and lambs. Lately our cook roasted a monster entire and served the Great King with a — hot camel.” So, too, Aristophanes in The Acharnians dilates on the magnificence of the Persians: “ENVOY: And then he entertained us, serving us [131a] with whole oxen from the oven. — DICAEOPOLIS: And who ever saw oven-roasted oxen? What humbug! — ENVOY: Yes, I swear it by Zeus, he also set before us a fowl three times as big as Cleonymus; and its name was Cheat.” And Anaxandrides, ridiculing in Protesilaus the symposium at Iphicrates' wedding, when he married the daughter of the Thracian king Cotys, says:
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.7
§ 4.7 “And if you do that as I tell you, we will entertain you with a brilliant banquet, quite unlike that of Iphicrates in Thrace; and yet they say that was a grand swagger? Over the market-place were spread purple rugs down to where his pinnace lay. At the dinner were your butter-eating gentry, with unkempt hair and in countless numbers. The kettles were bronze and bigger than cellars containing a dozen beds. Cotys himself had an apron on, and brought the soup in a gold pitcher; and what with tasting the wine in the mixing-bowls he got drunk before the guests did. Flute music was furnished them by Antigeneidas, singing by Argas, harp music by Cephisodotus of Acharnae; and in their lays they celebrated, now Sparta with its broad acres, now Thebes again, the seven-gated, interchanging their themes. And the groom,'twas said, received as dower two droves of chestnut mares, a herd of goats, a golden sack and a wastrel cup, a pitcher of snow, a pot of millet, a bin of bulbs, twelve cubits deep, and a hecatomb of octopuses. In this wise, they say, Cotys made a marriage for Iphicrates in Thrace. But in our master's house the feast shall be far more imposing and brilliant than that. For what does our house lack, what good things fail? Surely not perfumes from Syrian myrrh, the breath of frankincense, visions of tender-flaked barley cakes, wheat bread, fine meal cakes, octopuses, entrails, suet, sausages, soup, beets, stuffed fig-leaves, pease porridge, garlic, anchovies, mackerel, wine sops, barley gruel, Egyptian groats, beans, vetch, pulse, kidney-beans, honey, cheese, haggis, beestings, walnuts, groats, broiled crawfish, boiled mullet, boiled cuttle-fish, a murry boiled, gobios boiled, baked roe- tunny, boiled wasse, angler-fish, perch, dentet, hake, ray, sole, dogfish, piper, shad, skate, electric-ray, monk-fish steaks, honeycomb, grapes, figs, flat-cakes, apples, cornel-nuts, pomegranates, thyme, poppy, pears, sour thistle, olives, olive-cake, milk-cakes, leeks, horn-onions, onions, raised barley-bread, bulbs, cauliflowers, silphium, vinegar, fennel, eggs, lentils, grasshoppers, rennet, cress, sesame, tritons, salt, pinnas, limpets, mussels, oysters, scallops, tunny; and besides all this, fowls in number too great to tell: ducks, pigeons, geese, sparrows, thrushes, larks, jays, swans, pelican, wagtails, crane — B. May she give a good push through the tail and the ribs of this gaping fool and crack his skull! A. But there are wines for you — white, sweet, native, of mild bouquet or smoky.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.8
§ 4.8 Lynceus, also ridiculing Athenian dinners in The Centaur, says: “I say, cook! He who is to offer sacrifice and entertain me is a Rhodian, while I, who am the guest, come from Perinthus. Neither of us likes an Athenian dinner. There is a revolting quality in things Attic as in things foreign. [132a] For the cook sets before you a large tray on which are five small plates. One of these holds garlic, another a pair of sea-urchins, another a sweet wine-sop, another ten cockles, the last a small piece of sturgeon. While I am eating this, another is eating that; and while he is eating that, I have made away with this. What I want, good sir, is both the one and the other, but my wish is impossible. For I have neither five mouths nor five right hands. Such a lay-out as that seems to offer variety, but is nothing at all to satisfy the belly. For simply bespatter my lips, I don't fill them. What, then, have you? — THE COOK. A lot of oysters. — A. You shall serve me a plate of them, all by itself, and not a small one, either. Have you sea-urchins? — COOK. Yes, of these you shall have a second course. For I bought them myself, fourpence worth. — A. This then is the one dish you shall serve by itself, that all may eat it alike — not I one thing, my companion another.” Hegesander of Delphi narrates that the parasite Dromeas, when asked by someone whether he got better dinners in town or in Chalcis, replied that the prelude to a dinner in Chalcis was more delightful than the entire lay-out of a town dinner, meaning by prelude the great quantity and variety of shell-fish.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.9
§ 4.9 And Diphilus, in The Woman who left her Husband, introduces a cook whom he represents as saying: “How many guests, sir, are invited to the wedding? Are they all Athenians, or are there also foreign merchants? — B. How does that concern you, who are the cook? — A. That is the chief part of my art, master, to know beforehand what mouths are going to eat. Suppose you have invited Rhodians: no sooner have they entered, than you must give them the largest sheat-fish or'lebias' to enjoy, served piping hot. They will like that better than if you poured scented water over their hands. — EB. Ay, their sheat-eating is a nice custom. — A. Or suppose they are Byzantians, soak all you serve to them in bitters, with quantities of salt and garlic. For they have so many fish in their part of the world that they are clammy and full of phlegm.” So Menander in Trophonius: “The dinner is in honour of a stranger. — B. Who? Where does he come from? For that makes a difference to the cook. These little island strangers, for example, are brought up on all kinds of fish just out of the water, and so they are not at all attracted by preserved fish; if they take it at all, they do without zest, and welcome more gladly forcemeats and highly seasoned dishes. Your Arcadian, on the other hand, living far from the sea, is caught by oyster-bait, while the Ionian, bloated with wealth, makes his chief dish of pilaf, and foods that provoke desire.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.10
§ 4.10 For the ancients employed dishes to whet the appetite, [133a] such as olives in brine, which they call kolymbades ("divers"). Aristophanes, at any rate, says in Old Age: “Do you, master, love the ladies who are over-ripe or the virginal ones with bodies firm as olives steeped in brine?” And Philemon in The Pursuer, or Soupy: “How did the boiled fish look to you? — B.'Twas small, do you understand? And there was brine, white and thick beyond belief, and no smell of pan or condiments. And all cried out,'What a good pickle you make!'” They used to eat even grasshoppers and cicadas as an incentive to appetite. Thus Aristophanes in Anagyrus: “Good Heavens, how I yearn to eat a grasshopper and a cicada (cercope) caught on a thin reed.” Now the cercope is an animal like a cicada, or titigonion, as Speusippus describes them in the second book of his Similars. Epilycus mentions them in Coraliscus. Alexis in Thrason says: “Never have I seen such a chatterbox as you, woman, be it cicada or magpie, nightingale or swallow, turtle-dove or grasshopper.” And Nicostratus in The Pet: “The first platter, leading the main courses, will contain a sea-urchin, some raw smoked fish, capers, a wine-sop, a slice of meat, and a bulb in sour sauce.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.11
§ 4.11 But they also ate as an appetizer turnips done in vinegar and mustard, as Nicander plainly shows in the second book of the Georgics; for he says: “Of turnip and cabbage, in truth, two families appear in our gardens, long and solid. The latter you wash and dry in the north wind, and they are welcome in winter even to the idle stay-at homes; for soaked in warm water they come to life again. But the other, the turnip roots, you cut in thin slices, gently cleaning away the undried outer skin, and after drying them in the sun a little, either dip a quantity of them in boiling water and soak them in strong brine; or again, put equal parts of white must and vinegar in a jar together, then plunge the slices in it, having dried them off with salt. Often, too, you may pound raisins and biting mustard-seeds with a pestle and add it to them. When cream of tartar forms, and the top grows more and more bitter, then'tis time to draw off the pickle for those who seek their dinner.” Diphilus (or Sosippus ) says in The Woman who left her Husband: — A. “Have you got sharp vinegar in the house? — B. I fancy so, slave, and we have bought rennet. All this will I squeeze thick together in a nice dish for them, and the salad with sour dressing shall be served for all. For such condiments must speedily rouse the sensory organs of men when they are old, dispel the sloth and bluntness of their desire, and make them glad to eat.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.12
§ 4.12 [134a] Alexis in The Tarentines says that the Athenians have but to take a sip of wine at the symposia to make them dance: “Yes, you must know that that is the native custom in fair Athens. They all begin to dance the moment they glimpse the smell of wine. You'd say you were looking upon some strange mishap should you suddenly join the company. Now for the young, perhaps, there is some grace in it; but when I see that charlatan Theodotus, or the foul parasite, frisking and rolling the whites of his eyes the while, I'd gladly take and nail him to the gallows.” Possibly Antiphanes also, in The Carians, may be referring to the Athenian custom of dancing when he ridicules a sophist for dancing during dinner in these words: “Don't you see that reprobate dancing with his arms? No shame feels he, the expounder of Heracleitus, the sole discoverer of the art of Theodectas, and the author of a compendium of Euripides.” To this quotation one might add not inappropriately these words of Eriphus the comic poet in Aeolus: “For there is an ancient proverb not untrue: they say that wine, my father, persuades old men to dance against their will.” And Alexis in the play entitled Fair Measure says: “At a subscription-dinner they were drinking with an eye only for the dancing and nothing else; and they took the names of dainties and foods — Relish, Prawn, Gudgeon, and Wheat-flour.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.13
§ 4.13 “An Attic dinner,” said Plutarch, “is described not unwittily by Matron, the writer of parodies, and because of its rarity I shall not hesitate, my friends, to quote it for you:'Sing, Muse, of the dinners, many and plenteous, which Xenocles the orator offered us in Athens. For even thither I went, and great hunger came with me. There I beheld fair, large loaves whiter than snow, like finest meal cakes to the taste. For them also did Boreas yearn when they were baking. And Xenocles himself went in review through the ranks of the heroes, but stood still when he came to the threshold. And near him was the parasite Chaerephon, like unto a hungry sea-gull; empty he was, but well acquainted with dinners furnished by others. Thereupon the cooks filled the tables and brought them in — the cooks to whose rule the mighty Heaven of Kitchens is committed, either to hasten the hour of dinner or retard it. Thereupon, all the others laid hands on the green herbs, but I did not follow them; rather, I ate of all solid viands - [135a] bulbs and asparagus and meaty oysters, avoiding raw smoked fish, that dish for Phoenicians. And forth I dashed down sea-urchins with head-dress of streaming spines, which resounded as they rolled among the slaves' feet in an open space, where the waves surged upon the beach, and many were the spines I pulled by the roots from their heads. Then came the Phaleric anchovy, darling of Triton, holding her soiled veil before her face... and they were loved of the Cyclops and grew on the mountains. Then came one bringing pinnas, in ringing bowls, which the white foaming waters nurture on a rock streaming with sea-weed. A sole with thick cartilage, and a red-cheeked mullet came too; and upon it I was among the first to lay a hand with strong nail. But I was not quick enough to wound it, for Phoebus Apollo did me a hurt. But when I saw Stratocles, stern master of the rout, holding the head of the horse-taming mullet in his hands, then did I quickly seize it with joy, and tore open its insatiable throat. And there came the daughter of Nereus, silver-footed Thetis, the fair-tressed cuttle, dread goddess with voice of mortal, who of all fish alone knows the difference between black and white. I saw Tityus, too, glorious conger-eel of the marshy lake, lying in the casseroles; and its length covered nine tables. In its tracks followed the white-armed goddess-fish, the eel, who boasted that she had lain in Zeus' embrace, from the Copaic Lake whence comes the race of wild eels. Of mighty size was she, and two men who contend for prizes, such as Astyanax and Antenor were, could not have lifted her easily from the ground into a cart. For they measured nine cubits and three spans in width, and they were nine fathoms long. Oft did the cook go back and forth throughout the room, balancing on right shoulder the platters covered with dainties, and forty black kettles followed him close, while from Euboea there marched in close array as many casseroles. Came, too, the windswift messenger Iris, the fleet squid, and the flower-dotted perch and plebeian black-tail, which, mortal though he was, was companion of fishes immortal. But alone and apart, wroth at the loss of his armour, stood the head of the tunny, son of Lurkhole; and the gods had made it a bane to men. The monk-fish, which carpenters love extravagantly, was there — the rough but kindly nourisher of the young; I shall never behold anything sweeter than its flesh. There entered, too, that doughty knight, baked mullet, yet not alone; for a dozen sargs followed in close company. After them came a mighty blue-skinned bonito, which knows the depths of every sea, Poseidon's henchman. [136a] And prawns there were, theme of Olympian Zeus's song, which were crooked with age, but good to eat. The gilt-head was there, the fairest fish amid all others, the crawfish too, and the lobster eager to arm for the fray at the feasts of the Blessed. Upon them the feasters laid hands and put them to their mouths, pulling them this way and that. Their leader was the lordly elops, glorious in battle, for which sated though I was, I stretched forth a lusty hand, eager to taste of it; and it seemed to me as ambrosia, on which feast the blessed gods that live for ever. Then the cook brought and added to our store a murry which covered the table, and the girdle which she wore with pride about her neck, what time she wed the high-souled son of Dracon. Sandals, again he placed beside us, everliving offspring of immortal goddesses, and a sole, which dwelt in the roaring brine; then lusty wasse in order, high-flying, which feed among rocks, and watery piglings. And mingled with all were sargs and horse-tails and sheats, and opposite a sea bream, a hake and a sargus. These the cook brought in and placed steaming beside us, and filled all the house with their savour. On them he urged us to feast; but to me, at least, they seemed to be food for womenfolk, and soon I was borne on to other kinds. Now there lay a dish, which none at the dinner had touched, where in an open space rose to view the place of the saucepans.... Next came a blackbird for me, who sat ready to eat it; nor, to be sure, was it untouched, for others yearned for it too. And a ham I saw, and no sooner saw than I trembled; and near it lay the sweetened mustard, yellow as gold, but forbidding one to take too much. And when I had tasted I wept that on the morrow I should not see it again, but must content myself with cheese and the faithful barley-cake.'But my belly could not hold out, for it was overcome with pains; the black broth overpowered it, and the boiled pigs' feet as well. But a slave brought from Salamis thirteen fat ducks from the sacred lake, which the cook took and placed where the Athenian phalanxes were posted. And Chaerephon, directing his mind forward and back, recognized the birds, and perceived that they were auspicious for eating. So he ate like a lion, but in his fist he kept a lamb's leg, that he might have wherewith to sup at evening when he went home. And there was a gruel of pleasant aspect which Hephaestus had laboured to boil, cooking it in an Attic bowl for thirteen months. Then when they had banished desire for the delicious supper, and had laved their hands in the streams of Ocean, a lovely boy entered and brought to them sweet unguent of orris-root; [137a] another, again, gave chaplets to all from left to right, which were intertwined with the rose and variously adorned. And a bowl of the Bromian god was mixed, and Lesbian wine was drunk, man vying with man to drink the most of it. Anon the ”second tables" were loaded to the full, and upon them were pears and luscious apples, pomegranates and grapes, nurses of the Bromian god, and that freshly gathered grape which they call “vine-bower.” But of them I ate nothing at all, for I lay back, too full. Yet, when I saw the brown, sweet, mighty, round, well-grown child of Demeter enter, a baked flat-cake, how could I abstain from that divine flat-cake?... But nay; not if I had ten hands and ten mouths, belly that could not burst, and a heart of bronze within me. Then there entered two trick girls, filles de joie, driven like swift birds by Stratocles.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.14
§ 4.14 Alexis, by way of ridiculing Attic dinners, in Running-Mates: “I want to hire two cooks, the cleverest that I can find in all the town. For I intend to feast a man from Thessaly, not in any Attic fashion; and I must not stretch the gentleman on the rack of famine by stingily setting before him each little dish separately, but (I will serve it all together) in the grand style.” Thessalians, on the other hand, do set really luxurious tables, as Eriphus declares in The Peltast in these words: “Such dainties, O Syrian, not Corinth nor Lais ever served, nor are they even the fare set on bounteous tables of Thessalian hosts, of which this hand of mine has often had its share.” Whoever wrote Beggars, generally attributed to Chionides, says that when the Athenians set before the Dioscuri a collation in the town-hall, they place upon the tables “cheese and a barley-puff, ripe olives, and leeks,” in memory of their ancient discipline. Solon prescribes that a barley-cake be served to all who dine at the Prytaneion, but that a wheat loaf may be added on feast days, thus following Homer. For the latter, when he gathers the nobles before Agamemnon, says that “barley-meal was mixed.” And so Chrysippus, in the fourth book of the treatise On Pleasure and the Good says: “It is recorded that at Athens two banquets of not very ancient date were celebrated in the Lyceum and in the Academy. Once, at the Academy feast, a fancy cook brought in a casserole intended for another use, whereupon the sacrificants broke the dish because an act of smuggling had been committed not tolerated by the city, it being obligatory to abstain from such far-fetched importations. At the Lyceum, again, the cook who had brought in some salt meat which he had made over in imitation of salt-fish was flogged for playing the impostor with his over-refinement.” [138a] And Plato, in the second book of the Republic, thus portrays his new citizens at dinner when he writes: "'It would appear,' he said,'that you represent your men as feasting without any relish.''Quite true," I said;'I forgot that they will have a relish also, such as salt, of course, and olives, and cheese; and they will cook bulbs and green vegetables, the sort of which they make boiled dishes in the country. And we will set before them dessert, I suppose, figs and chick-peas and beans, and they will toast myrtle-berries and beech-nuts before the fire, sipping their wine in moderation the while. Thus will they spend their lives, peacefully and healthily, and in all probability will die in old age and transmit a similar mode of life to their offspring.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.15
§ 4.15 Next we must speak also of Spartan symposia. Now Herodotus, in the ninth book of his Histories, speaking of Mardonius's tent and mentioning by the way the Spartan banquets, says: “When Xerxes fled from Greece he left behind the royal pavilion for Mardonius. Pausanias, therefore, when he saw the tent of Mardonius adorned with gold and silver and embroidered tapestries, commanded the bakers and fancy cooks to prepare a dinner exactly as they would for Mardonius. When they had done his bidding, Pausanias, seeing the gold and silver divans spread with coverings, and silver tables and a magnificent outlay for the dinner, in amazement at what was set before him, ordered in jest his own servants to prepare a Spartan dinner. And when it was ready, Pausanias laughed and sent for the Greek generals. On their arrival he pointed to the preparations made for each of the dinners and said:'Men of Greece, I have gathered you together because I wish to show you the folly of the Median commander who, with all his luxury of living, came to attack us who are so poor.' And some say that a Sybarite who had sojourned in Sparta and had been entertained among them at their public mess remarked:'It is no wonder that Spartans are the bravest men in the world; for anyone in his right mind would prefer to die ten thousand times rather than share in such poor living.'”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.16
§ 4.16 Polemon, commenting on the wicker carriage mentioned in Xenophon, cites Cratinus as mentioning in The Plutuses the feast at Sparta which is called Kopis ("Cleaver"). He says: “Is it then true, as they say, that yonder in Sparta all strangers who arrive are richly feasted at the Cleaver, and that in the public lounges sausages hang nailed to the walls for the old men to bite off with their teeth?' And Eupolis in The Helots: ”... and the Cleaver be celebrated in honour of these men today." The Cleaver is a dinner of a special sort, as is also that which is called the aiklon. Whenever they celebrate the Cleaver they first cause to be constructed booths beside the temple of the god, and in them they place rough couches of wood; upon these they spread rugs, on which they hospitably entertain all who have placed themselves in a reclining posture there — not merely persons who arrive from our country, but also any foreigners who have come to town. At the Cleaver they sacrifice goats, but no other victim of any kind; and of the meat they give portions to all, also the cake called physikillos, [139a] which is a small cake like the enkris ("honey-cake"), but rounder in shape. They give to all who come together there a green cheese, a slice of paunch and sausage, and dessert consisting of dried figs, dried beans, and green beans. Any one among the Spartiates, besides, who wishes to do so may take part in the Cleaver. They celebrate the Cleaver in town; they also celebrate the Nurse Festival, called Tithenidia, for the children. In this the nurses take the male children at the time of the Cleaver into the country, and there, before the image of Artemis called Korythalia, as she is called, whose sanctuary is beside the so-called Tiassos, in the region toward Cleta, they celebrate the Cleaver in the same way as for those first mentioned. They also sacrifice sucking- pigs, and at the festival banquet they serve the oven-bread mentioned before. By the other Dorians the chief meal is called aiklon. Epicharmus, at any rate, says in his Hope: “For someone unwillingly invited you to dinner (aiklon), but you made off to it on the run quite willingly.” He has the same also in Periallus. “But in Sparta the so called aiklon comes after the dinner; they serve it to those who are admitted to the mess, being bread loaves in baskets and a piece of meat for each. The attendant who accompanies the distributer of the meat announces the aiklon, adding the name of the donor.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.17
§ 4.17 Thus Polemon; but he is contradicted by Didymus the grammarian (whom Demetrius of Troezen calls the “book-forgetter” because of the number of treatises — three thousand five hundred — which he has published). Didymus says: " Polycrates relates in his History of Sparta that the Spartans observe the ritual of the Hyacinthia for a period of three days, and because of the mourning which takes place for the death of Hyacinthus they neither wear crowns at the meals nor introduce wheat bread, nor do they dispense any cakes, with their accompaniments, and they abstain from singing the paean to the god, and do not introduce anything else of the sort that they do at other festivals. On the contrary, they eat with great restraint, and then depart. But in the middle of the three-day period there is held a spectacle with many features, and a remarkable concourse gathers which is largely attended. Boys with tunics girded high play the lyre or sing to flute accompaniment while they run the entire gamut of the strings with the plectrum; they sing the praises of the god in anapestic rhythm and in a high pitch. Others march through the theatre mounted on gaily adorned horses; full choirs of young men enter and sing some of their national songs, and dancers mingling among them go through the figures in the ancient style, accompanied by the flute and the voice of the singers. As for the girls, some are carried in wicker carts which are sumptuously ornamented, others parade in chariots yoked to two horses, which they race, and the entire city is given over to the bustle and joy of the festival. On that day they sacrifice very many victims, and the citizens entertain at dinner all their acquaintances and their own servants as well. Not one misses the festival; on the contrary, it so happens that the city is emptied to see the spectacle. [140a] “The Cleaver festival is mentioned also by Aristophanes or Philyllius in The Island Towns, and by Epilycus in Coraliscus, who says:'To the Cleaver methinks I'll go, to Apollo's kirk at Amyclae, where are tall barley-cakes, fu' many, and wheaten loaves, and a broth that is bonny.' Thus he expressly says that barley-cakes are served at the Cleavers. For that is what'tall barley-cakes' (barakes) means — not'dumplings' (tolypae), as Lycophron asserts, nor the bits of barley-cakes in the first kneading, as Eratosthenes says; further, there were wheat-loaves and a broth of some kind, extraordinarily well seasoned. What the Cleaver really is is plainly set forth by Molpis in his Lacedemonian State. He writes as follows:'They also celebrate the so called Cleavers. This is a dinner consisting of barley-cake, wheat loaf, meat, uncooked greens, broth, fig, nut, and lupine.' What is more, the sucking- pigs sacrificed are not called orthagorisci, as Polemon maintains, but orthragorisci, because they are offered for sale at dawn (orthros), as Persaeus in his Spartan State and Dioscurides in the second book of the State assert, to whom may be added also Aristocles, who says the same in the first of his two books on the State of the Spartans. Further, Polemon says that the chief meal is called aiklon by the Spartans, all Dorians alike calling it the same. For Alcman, at any rate, has it thus:'Whether he is at the mill or at the company mess (synaikliai), he tears his hair,' calling by this name the meals shared together. And again:' Alcmaon hath made ready the meal (aiklon).' Spartans do not say'aiklon' for the portion following dinner; and what is more, the word as they use it does not signify the doles given to messmates after the dinner; for it means bread and meat. These, on the contrary, are called epaikla, being, as it were, additional viands served to messmates after the regular aiklon, or meal. It is from this, I fancy, that the word epaiklon is formed. Moreover, what is prepared for the so called epaikla is not uniform, as Polemon assumes, but is of two sorts: that, namely, which they give to the boys is very simple and frugal, being merely barley-meal soaked in oil, which the Spartan Nicocles says they greedily gulp down (kapto) after dinner on laurel leaves, whence, he says, the leaves are called kammatides, but the meal-cakes themselves are called kammata. And that it was a practice among the men of long ago even to munch laurel leaves as a dessert is shown by Callias (or Diocles ), who says, in The Cyclopians:'Here comes the dish of leaves, which means an end to our dinners and our dances as well.' But that which they bring in for the men's mess is prepared from certain definite animals, which are given as a present to messmates by one, sometimes even several, among the rich members. ” Molpis says that these after-dishes are also called mattye.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.18
§ 4.18 Concerning them Persaeus, in The Spartan State, writes as follows:'And immediately he assesses the well-to do in a sum sufficient to pay for the epaikla; these are desserts following the chief meal. But from the poor he requires a contribution of a reed or rush or laurel leaves, so that they may be able to gulp down their epaikla after dinner. These consist of barley-cakes mixed with oil. The whole proceeding, trifling to be sure, has become an act of governmental administration. Whoever is appointed to take the first or the second place on the couch, or to sit upon the bed, must in all cases do the same at the epaikla.' A similar account is given by Dioscurides. [141a] Concerning the laurel leaves and the food served on them Nicocles writes thus:'The Ephor heard the cases of all and either acquitted or condemned them. The victor levies a light fine consisting of meal cakes (kammata) or laurel leaves (kammatides) to serve them on. These kammata are cakes, while kammatides are the leaves with which they gulp them down.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.19
§ 4.19 “Concerning the dinner eaten by the members of the mess, Dicaearchus records the following in the work entitled Tri-Statesman:'The dinner is at first served separately to each member, and there is no sharing of any kind with one's neighbour. Afterwards there is a barley-cake as large as each desires, and for drinking, again, a cup is set beside him to use whenever he is thirsty. The same meat dish is given to all on every occasion, a piece of boiled pork; sometimes, however, not even so much as that is served, beyond a small bit of meat weighing not over a quarter of a pound. Besides this there is nothing whatsoever, except, of course the broth made from this meat, enough to go round among the entire company throughout the whole dinner; there may possibly be an olive or a cheese or a fig, or they even get something especially added, a fish or a hare or a ring-dove or something similar. Afterwards, when they have finished their dinner in haste, there are passed round these so called epaikla. Each member contributes to the mess about three half-medimni of barley, Attic measure, and perhaps eleven or twelve pitchers of wine; besides this, a certain weight of cheese and figs, and further, to procure the meat, about ten Aiginetan obols.' And Sphaerus, in the third book of his Spartan State, writes:'The members of the mess also contribute epaikla to them. Sometimes the common people bring whatever is caught in the chase; but the rich contribute wheat bread and anything from the fields which the season permits, in quantities sufficient for the one meeting alone, because they believe that to provide more than is enough is uncalled for, if the food is not going to be eaten.' And Molpis says:'Following the meal, it is customary always for something to be provided by some person, sometimes even by several persons, a dish (mattye) prepared in their own homes, and called epaiklon. No one is in the habit of contributing anything which he has bought by purchase in the market, for they contribute, not to satisfy their pleasure or the greed of the stomach, but to give evidence of their own prowess in the hunt. Many of them, too, who keep flocks, give a liberal share of the offspring. And so the mattya may consist of ring-doves, geese, turtle-doves, thrushes, blackbirds, hares, lambs, and kids. The cooks announce to the company the names of those who bring in anything for the occasion, in order that all may realize the labour spent upon the chase and the zeal manifested for themselves.' ” Demetrius of Scepsis, in Book I of The Trojan Battle-order, says that the festival of the Karneia at Sparta is a representation of their military discipline. There are, namely, places numbering nine, which they call'sunshades' because they bear some likeness to tents; and nine men eat in each, and a herald proclaims everything by order. Each'shade,' moreover, holds three brotherhoods, and the festival of the Karneia is held for nine days."
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.20
§ 4.20 But the Spartans afterwards desisted from the austerity of such a mode of living and degenerated into luxury. Phylarchus, at any rate, in the twenty-fifth book of his Histories, writes of them: “The Spartans desisted from going to the common mess in the traditional fashion; [142a] when they did go, the booths which were set up for those who resorted thither, in obedience to the law, were small, and the couch-coverings prepared for them were so generous in size and so richly adorned with embroidery that some of the strangers who were invited hesitated to press their elbows against the cushions. In the old days, once they had rested their arms upon the couch, which was quite bare, they endured the rigour of it as long as the assembly lasted; now, however, they have relaxed in the luxury just mentioned, Bindulging in the display of many cups, and in the service of food dressed in every variety, and what is more, rare unguents and wines and desserts likewise. And these practices, in imitation of the regal court of Persia, were begun by Areus and Acrotatus, who reigned a little while before Cleomenes; yet even they in their turn were so far outdone in their own magnificence by certain private citizens of their generation in Sparta, that Areus and Acrotatus seemed to surpass in frugality all the men of earlier times, no matter how simple these may have been.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.21
§ 4.21 ” Cleomenes, however, who greatly excelled other men in his understanding of affairs, in spite of his youth, also grew to be most simple in his mode of life. For though he was by this time at the head of affairs of great importance, he made it plain to all whom he invited to a sacrificial feast that the arrangements which they made in their own houses were in no wise inferior to his. Although many embassies were received in audience before him, he never assembled them for dinner earlier than the customary time, and never caused more than five couches to be spread with coverings; when no embassy was present, he had only three couches prepared. And no directions were given by a seneschal concerning who should sit or recline first; on the contrary, the eldest led the way to the couches, unless Cleomenes himself called out the name of some person. Usually he was found to be reclining with his brother, or with one of the men of his own age. On the tripod lay a bronze cooler, a wine-jar, a silver bowl holding a pint, and a ladle; the pitcher was of bronze. But no drink was offered unless some asked for it. One ladleful was given before the meal, to Cleomenes long before the others, and only when he nodded to them did the others ask for theirs. The courses served on the small table were quite ordinary, and for the rest, they were in such quantity as neither to exceed nor fall short of the need — enough for all without having any of the guests call for more. For Cleomenes thought that they ought not to receive merely the frugal entertainment of broth and bits of meat, as they did at the common mess, nor, on the other hand, to go to such excess as to waste money to no good, by exceeding the moderation of their daily life. For the one he regarded as a meanness, the other as pride. The wine was of a little better quality when guests were present. After the meals all remained silent, and the slave, standing by with the wine ready mixed, gave it to anyone who asked for it. Just as before the meal, so also after it, not more than two ladlesful were offered, and then only when one signified his desire by a nod. No entertainment ever accompanied the meal, but the king himself conversed with each in turn, inviting all either to listen or to speak, so that they were all captivated by him when they departed." Antiphanes, satirizing Spartan dinners in the play entitled The Magistrate, has the following: [143a] “You have been in Lacedemon! Then you must conform to their customs: go to the common mess for your dinner; enjoy their broth, give up wearing your ambitious mustachios, and seek no more for other refinements. In their customs be yourself old-fashioned.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.22
§ 4.22 Recording facts about the Cretan commons in the fourth book of his Cretan History, Dosiadas writes as follows: “The Lyttians pool their goods for the common mess in this way: every man contributes a tithe of his crops to his club, as well as the income from the state which the magistrates of the city divide among the households of all the citizens. But all slaves pay one Aiginetan stater per caput. The citizens are distributed in clubs which are called Andreia ('halls of men'). The mess is in charge of a woman who has assistants, three or four men chosen from the common people. Each of them is attended by two servants who bring in the fire-wood; these are called faggot-bearers. Everywhere throughout Crete there are two houses for the public messes; one of these is called Andreion, the other, in which they entertain strangers, is called koimeterion ('resting-place'). In the house intended for the mess there are set out, first of all, two tables, called'guest-tables,' at which sit in honour any strangers who are in town; next come the tables for the others. An equal portion of the food on hand is served to each person; but only a half-portion of meat is given to the younger men, and they get nothing of the other food. Then on each table is placed a cup filled with wine much diluted; this is shared by all who are at the same table, and a second cup is served after they have finished the meal. For the boys a mixing-bowl is prepared which they share in common, but permission is given the older men to drink more if they desire. The woman in charge of the mess takes from the table in the sight of all the best of everything that is served, and sets it before the men who have distinguished themselves in war or in wisdom. After dinner they are in the habit first of deliberating on public affairs; from that subject they proceed to call up deeds of prowess in war and to praise the men of proved bravery, in order to encourage the younger men in the pursuit of virtue.” Pyrgion, in the third book of his Cretan Customs, says that Cretans at the public mess eat together in a sitting posture. He further says that food without condiments is served to the orphans; that the youngest of the Cretan men stand by to wait at the tables; and that, after a silent libation to the gods, they proceed to the distribution of the food on hand to all present. They also apportion to the sons seated below their fathers' chairs only one half as much as is served to the adult men, but the orphans receive an equal share with the latter, Falthough in their case each of the customary foods is served without the admixture of any condiments. There were also chairs reserved for guests, and a third table at the right as one entered the halls, which they called'the table of Zeus, god of strangers,' or'the strangers' table.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.23
§ 4.23 Herodotus, comparing the symposia of the Greeks with those of the Persians, says: “Of all the days in the year, the one which the Persians are accustomed to celebrate most is their birthday. On that day they deem it right to have a more abundant feast set before them than on all other days. [144a] Then the rich among them cause to be brought to the table an ox or ass or horse or camel roasted whole in the oven; the poor set out small animals. Breadstuffs they use but little, but they have many added dishes, though they are not served all at once. And the Persians say that the Greeks are still hungry when they stop eating, because nothing worth mentioning is brought in for them after the chief meal; if more were put before them they would not stop eating. The Persians are greatly addicted to wine; and it is not permissible to vomit or to make water in presence of another. These, then, are the customs observed by them. They are in the habit of deliberating on the most important matters when they are drunk, and whatsoever is their pleasure when they deliberate is brought before them for consideration the next day, when they are sober, by the master of the house where they happen to be when they deliberate. And if it still be their pleasure when they are sober, they act on it, otherwise they renounce it. Again, whatever they decide upon when they are sober they reconsider when they are drunk.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.24
§ 4.24 Concerning the luxury of the Persian kings Xenophon writes thus in Agesilaus: “For the benefit of the Persian king they go about the entire country in search of something he may like to drink, and countless persons devise dishes which he may like to eat. No one could say, either, what trouble they give themselves that he may sleep in comfort. But Agesilaus, being devoted to hard work, was glad to drink anything that was before him, and was glad to eat whatever came first to hand, and any place was satisfactory to him for securing grateful sleep.” In the work entitled Hieron, speaking of what food is prepared for the delectation of tyrants and of men in private station, he says: "'I know too, Simonides, that most persons infer that we eat and drink with greater zest than ordinary people from this fact, that they would themselves, as they believe, be more pleased to dine on the meal that is set before us than on what is served to themselves. For it is anything that transcends the usual that gives pleasure, which is the reason why all men except tyrants look forward with joy to holiday feasts. For since the tables set before tyrants are always heavily laden, they have nothing special to offer on feast-days, so that here is the first particular in which they are at a disadvantage compared with men in private station, namely in the delight of anticipation. Then secondly, he said, I am sure that you have learned that the more abundantly one is supplied with things which go beyond his needs, the more quickly he suffers from satiety as regards eating. Wherefore, again, the one who has too many things set before him is at a disadvantage, compared with those who live moderately, in the duration of his pleasure.''Yes, but, good heavens,' Simonides replied,'so long as their appetites are keen, surely those who enjoy a richer array of food must have more pleasure than those before whom poorer dishes are set.'"
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.25
§ 4.25 Theophrastus, in his treatise On Monarchy dedicated to Cassander (if the work is authentic; for many declare that it is by Sosibius, for whom the poet Callimachus wrote a congratulatory poem in elegiac verse), says that Persian kings, to gratify their love of luxury, offer a large sum of money as a reward for all who invent a new pleasure. And Theopompus, in the thirty-fifth book of his Histories, says that whenever the Paphlagonian prince Thys dined, he had a hundred of everything prepared for the table, beginning with oxen; and even when he was carried away a captive to the Persian king's court and kept under guard, he again had the same number served to him, and lived on a splendid scale. Wherefore, when Artaxerxes heard of it, he said that it was plain to him that Thys was living as though he had made up his mind to die soon. [145a] The same Theopompus, in the fourteenth book of his Philippica, says that “whenever the Great King visits any of his subjects, twenty and sometimes thirty talents are expended on his dinner; others even spend much more. For the dinner, like the tribute, has from ancient times been imposed upon all cities in proportion to their population.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.26
§ 4.26 Heracleides of Cumae, author of the Persian History, writes, in the second book of the work entitled Equipment: “All who attend upon the Persian kings when they dine first bathe themselves and then serve in white clothes, and spend nearly half the day on preparations for the dinner. Of those who are invited to eat with the king, some dine outdoors, in full sight of anyone who wishes to look on; others dine indoors in the king's company. Yet even these do not eat in his presence, for there are two rooms opposite each other, in one of which the king has his meal, in the other his invited guests. The king can see them through the curtain at the door, but they cannot see him. Sometimes, however, on the occasion of a public holiday, all dine in a single room with the king, in the great hall. And whenever the king commands a symposium (which he does often), he has about a dozen companions at the drinking. When they have finished dinner, that is, the king by himself, the guests in the other room, these fellow-drinkers are summoned by one of the eunuchs; and entering they drink with him, though even they do not have the same wine; moreover, they sit on the floor, while he reclines on a couch supported by feet of gold; and they depart after having drunk to excess. In most cases the king breakfasts and dines alone, but sometimes his wife and some of his sons dine with him. And throughout the dinner his concubines sing and play the lyre; one of them is the soloist, the others sing in chorus. And so, Heracleides continues, the'king's dinner,' as it is called, will appear prodigal to one who merely hears about it, but when one examines it carefully it will be found to have been got up with economy and even with parsimony; and the same is true of the dinners among other Persians in high station. For one thousand animals are slaughtered daily for the king; these comprise horses, camels, oxen, asses, deer, and most of the smaller animals; many birds also are consumed, including Arabian ostriches — and the creature is large — geese, and cocks. And of all these only moderate portions are served to each of the king's guests, and each of them may carry home whatever he leaves untouched at the meal. But the greater part of these meats and other foods are taken out into the courtyard for the body-guard and light-armed troopers maintained by the king; there they divide all the half-eaten remnants of meat and bread and share them in equal portions. Just as hired soldiers in Greece receive their wages in money, so these men receive food from the king in requital for services. Similarly among other Persians of high rank, all the food is served on the table at one and the same time; but when their guests have done eating, whatever is left from the table, consisting chiefly of meat and bread, is given by the officer in charge of the table to each of the slaves; this they take and so obtain their daily food. [146a] Hence the most highly honoured of the king's guests go to court only for breakfast; for they beg to be excused in order that they may not be required to go twice, but may be able to entertain their own guests.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.27
§ 4.27 Herodotus, in the seventh book, says that those Greeks who received the king and entertained Xerxes at dinner were reduced to such dire distress that they lost house and home. On one occasion, when the Thasians, to save the towns belonging to them on the mainland, received and entertained the army of Xerxes, four hundred talents in silver were expended in their behalf by Antipater, a prominent citizen; for cups and mixing bowls of silver and gold were furnished at table, and after the dinner (these were carried off as spoil by the Persians ). If Xerxes had eaten there twice, taking breakfast as well as dinner, the cities would have been utterly ruined." And in the ninth book, also, of his Histories he says: “The Great King gives a royal banquet which is held once a year on his birthday. The name given to the dinner in Persian, is tukta, which in Greek means'complete.' On that day alone the king smears his head with ointment and gives presents to the Persians.” Alexander the Great, every time he dined with his friends, according to Ephippus of Olynthus, in the book which describes the demise of Alexander and Hephaestion, spent one hundred minas, there being perhaps sixty or seventy friends at dinner. But the Persian king, as Ctesias and Dinon (in his Persian History) say, used to dine in company with 15, men, and four hundred talents were expended on the dinner. This amounts, in the coinage of Italy, to 2,400, denarii, which, divided among 15, men, make denarii, Italic currency, for each man. Consequently it comes to the same sum as that spent by Alexander, which was one hundred minas, as Ephippus related. But Menander, in The Carouse, reckons the expense of the largest banquet at a talent only when he says: “So then, our prosperity accords not with the way in which we offer sacrifice. For though to the gods I bring an offering of a tiny sheep bought for ten drachmas, and glad I am to get it so cheap; but for flute-girls and perfume, harp-girls, Mendean and Thasian wine, eels, cheese, and honey, the cost is almost a talent; and whereas by analogy it is...” He evidently mentions a talent as though it were an extravagant expenditure. Again, in The Peevish Man, he has the following: “So burglars sacrifice: they bring chests and wine-jars, not for the gods' sake, but for their own. The frankincense is required by religion, and so is the meal-cake; the god gets this, offered entire on the fire. But they, after giving the end of the spine and the gall-bladder to the gods — because unfit to eat — gulp down the rest themselves.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.28
§ 4.28 Philoxenus of Cythera, in the poem entitled The Banquet (granting that it is he and not the Leucadian Philoxenus, who was mentioned by the comic poet Plato in Phaon ), describes the arrangements of a dinner in these terms: “And slaves twain brought unto us a table with well-oiled face, [147a] another for others, while other henchmen bore a third, until they filled the chamber. The tables glistened in the rays of the high-swinging lamps, freighted with trenchers and condiments delectable in cruets, full... and luxuriant in divers artful inventions to pleasure life, tempting lures of the spirit. Some slaves set beside us snowy-topped barley-cakes in baskets, while others (brought in loaves of wheat). After them first came not an ordinary tureen, my love, but a riveted vessel of huge size;... a glistening dish of eels to break our fast, full of conger-faced morsels that would delight a god. After this another pot of the same size came in, and a soused ray of perfect roundness. There were small kettles, one containing some meat of a shark, another a sting-ray. Another rich dish there was, made of squid and sepia-polyps with soft tentacles. After this came a grey mullet hot from its contact with fire, the whole as large as the table, exhaling spirals of steam. After it came breaded squid, my friend, and crooked prawns done brown. Following these we had flower-leaved cakes and fresh confections spiced, puff-cakes of wheat with frosting, large as the pot. This is called the'navel of the feast' by you and me, I ween. Last there came — the gods are my witnesses — a monstrous slice of tunny, baked hot, from over the sea where it was carved with knives from the meatiest part of the belly. Were it ours ever to assist at the task, great would be our joy. Yet even where we were wanting, the feast was complete. Where it is possible to tell the full tale, my powers still hold, and yet no one could recount truly to you all the dishes that came before us. I nearly missed a hot entrail, after which came in the intestine of a home-bred pig, a chine, and a rump with hot dumplings. And the slave set before us the head, boiled whole, and split in two, of a milk-fed kid all steaming; then boiled meat-ends, and with them skin-white ribs, snouts, head, feet, and a tenderloin spiced with silphium. And other meats there were, of kid and lamb, boiled and roast, and sweetest morsel of underdone entrails from kids and lambs mixed, such as the gods love, and you, my love, would gladly eat. Afterwards there was jugged hare, and young cockerels, and many hot portions of partridges and ring-doves were now lavishly laid beside us. Loaves of bread there were, light and nicely folded; and companioning these there came in also yellow honey and curds, and as for the cheese — every one would avow that it was tender, and I too thought so. And when, by this time, we comrades had reached our fill of food and drink, the thralls removed the viands, and boys poured water over our hands.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.29
§ 4.29 Socrates of Rhodes, in the third book of the Civil War, describes the banquet given by Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, who married the Roman general, Antony, in Cilicia. His words are: “Meeting Antony in Cilicia, Cleopatra arranged in his honour a royal symposium, in which the service was entirely of gold and jewelled vessels made with exquisite art; even the walls, says Socrates, were hung with tapestries made of purple and gold threads. And having spread twelve triclinia, Cleopatra invited Antony and his chosen friends. [148a] He was overwhelmed with the richness of the display; but she quietly smiled and said that all these things were a present for him; she also invited him to come and dine with her again on the morrow, with his friends and his officers. On this occasion she provided an even more sumptuous symposium by far, so that she caused the vessels which had been used on the first occasion to appear paltry; and once more she presented him with these also. As for the officers, each was allowed to take away the couch on which he had reclined; even the sideboards, as well as the spreads for the couches, were divided among them. And when they departed, she furnished litters for the guests of high rank, with bearers, while for the greater number she provided horses gaily caparisoned with silver-plated harness, and for all she sent along Aethiopian slaves to carry the torches. On the fourth day she distributed fees, amounting to a talent, for the purchase of roses, and the floors of the dining-rooms were strewn with them to the depth of a cubit, in net-like festoons spread over all.” He also records that Antony himself, on a later visit to Athens, erected a scaffold in plain sight above the theatre, and roofed with green boughs, like the “caves” built for Bacchic revels; on this he hung tambourines, fawnskins, and other Dionysiac trinkets of all sorts, where he reclined in company with his friends and drank from early morning, being entertained by artists summoned from Italy, while Greeks from all parts assembled to see the spectacle. “And sometimes,” Socrates continues, “he even shifted the place of his revels to the top of the Acropolis, while the entire city of Athens was illuminated with torches hung from the roofs. And he gave orders that henceforth he should be proclaimed as Dionysus throughout all the city.” So, too, the Emperor Gaius, who had the cognomen Caligula from the circumstance that he was born in camp, was named “the new Dionysus,” and not only that, but he also assumed the entire garb of Dionysus, and made royal progresses and sat in judgement thus arrayed.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.30
§ 4.30 Viewing all this, which surpasses what we have, we may well admire Greek poverty, having also before our eyes the dinners of the Thebans, an account of which is given by Cleitarchus in the first book of his History of Alexander. He says that “after the demolition of their city by Alexander, their entire wealth was found to be under 440 talents; he further says that they were mean-spirited and stingy where food was concerned, preparing for their meals mincemeat in leaves, and boiled vegetables, anchovies, and other small fish, sausages, beef-ribs, and pease-porridge. With these, Attaginus, the son of Phrynon, entertained Mardonius together with fifty other Persians, and Herodotus says in the ninth book that Attaginus was well supplied with riches. I believe that they could not have won the battle, and that the Greeks need not have met them in battle-array at Plataeae, seeing that they already had been done to death by such food.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.31
§ 4.31 (148f) In describing an Arcadian dinner, the Milesian Hecataeus, in the third book of his Genealogies, says that it consisted of barley-cakes and swine's flesh. And Harmodius of Lepreum, in his work on the Customs of Phigaleia, says: “The one who is appointed victualler among the Phigaleians used to supply daily three pitchers of wine, a bushel and a half of barley-meal, five pounds of cheese, and all other things appropriate for seasoning the meat. [149a] The city, on its part, furnished each of the two choruses with three sheep, a cook, a rack for water-jars, tables, benches to sit on, and all similar equipment, while the choregus supplied the utensils for the cook. Now the meal consisted of cheese and a lightly kneaded barley-cake served, in deference to custom (nomos), on bronze trenchers called in some authors mazonomoi ('barley-cake servers'), having received their name from this use. Along with the cake and the cheese were an entrail and salt to eat with it. Having consecrated this food, each man was permitted to drink a little from an earthenware basin, and the one offering it would say'Good dinner to you!' Thereupon all shared alike a broth and a hash, and to each diner was given besides two slices of meat. At all their meals, but especially in those called mazones ('barley-feeds'), which name the guild of Dionysus retains even to this day, they held to the custom that for the more hearty eaters among the young men a larger quantity of broth should be poured out, and more barley-cakes and wheat bread should be placed before them. For such a young man was held to be manly and a thoroughbred, since hearty eating was admired and praised among them. After dinner they offered libations without washing their hands first, but wiping them off with pieces of bread; each man then carried away the crumbs. This practice they observed against the dangers which occur in the streets at night. After the libation they sing a paean. But when they sacrifice to the spirits of the departed, there is a great slaughter of cattle, and all are feasted in company with their slaves; at these festival banquets the boys dine with their fathers, sitting without cloaks on the stones.” And Theopompus, in the forty-sixth book of his Philippica, says that “the Arcadians entertain at their celebrations masters and slaves, setting one table before them all; they freely serve food for all to share, and mix the same bowl for all.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.32
§ 4.32 “In Naucratis,” as Hermias says in the second book On the Gryneian Apollo, “the people dine in the town hall (prytaneion) on the natal day of Hestia Prytanitis and at the festival of Dionysus, and again at the great gathering in honour of the Comaean Apollo, all appearing in white robes which even to this day they call their'prytanic' clothes. After reclining they rise again, and kneeling, join in pouring a libation, while the herald, acting as priest, recites the traditional prayers. After this they recline, and all receive a pint of wine excepting the priests of Pythian Apollo and of Dionysus; for to each of these latter the wine is given in double quantity, as well as the portions of everything else. Thereupon each diner is served with a loaf of pure wheat bread moulded flat, upon which lies another loaf which they call oven-bread; also a piece of swine's flesh, a small bowl of barley gruel or of some vegetable in its season, two eggs, a bit of fresh cheese, some dried figs, a flat-cake, and a wreath. Any manager of the festival who provides more than these viands is fined by the censors, and what is more, neither are those who dine in the town hall permitted to bring in anything to eat, but they eat these foods alone, giving a share of what remains to the slaves. [150a] But on all other days of the year any diner who wishes may go up to the town-hall and eat, after preparing at home for his own use a green or leguminous vegetable, some salt-fish or fresh fish and a very small piece of pork; sharing these... (he receives) a half-pint of wine. No woman may enter the town-hall except the flute-girl. Nor is it allowed to bring a chamber-pot into the town-hall either. If a Naucratite gives a wedding-banquet, it is forbidden, following the prescription of the marriage law, to serve eggs and honey-cakes.” As for the origin of these practices, Ulpian is the right man to inform us!
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.33
§ 4.33 Lyceas, in his Egyptian History, esteems the banquets of the Egyptians more highly than the Persian, and says: “The Egyptians undertook a campaign against Ochus, king of Persia, but were defeated. Their king was taken prisoner, but Ochus treated him kindly and even summoned him to dinner. But though the arrangements for the dinner were sumptuous, the Egyptian laughed at them, feeling that the Persian lived very frugally.'If you would know, O King,' said he,'how a rich king should eat, permit the cooks who were once mine to prepare for you an Egyptian dinner.' The order was given, and when the dinner had been prepared, Ochus was delighted with it, but said,'May the god, O Egyptian, bring you, evil man that you are, to an evil end, for you turned your back on such splendid dinners as these and conceived a desire for cheaper food.'” What Egyptian dinners were like Protagorides shows in the first book of his Games at Daphne, when he says: “A third kind of dinner is the Egyptian, where no tables are placed beside the guests, but platters are carried round among them.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.34
§ 4.34 Among the Gauls, says Phylarchus in the sixth book, many loaves of bread are broken up and served lavishly on the tables, as well as pieces of meat taken from the cauldrons; no one tastes these without looking first to see whether the king has touched what is set before him. Again, in Book III, the same Phylarchus says that Ariamnes, who was a very rich Celt, publicly promised to entertain all Celts for a year, and he fulfilled this promise by the following method. At various points in their country he set stations along the most convenient highways, where he erected booths of vine-props and poles of reed and osiers, according to the space demanded in each station for the reception of the crowds which were expected to stream in from towns and villages. Here he set up large cauldrons, containing all kinds of meat, which he had caused to be forged the year before he intended to give the entertainment, sending for metal-workers from other cities. Many victims were slaughtered daily — bulls, hogs, sheep, and other cattle — casks of wine were made ready, and a large quantity of barley-meal ready mixed. Phylarchus continues: “Not merely the Celts who came from the villages and towns profited by this, but even passing strangers were not allowed to depart by the slaves who served, until they had had a share of the food which had been prepared.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.35
§ 4.35 Thracian dinners are mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the Anabasis, describing the symposium at the house of Seuthes in these words: [151a] “After all had entered to partake of the dinner (where they sat in a circle), three-legged tables were immediately brought in for all. These, to the number of about twenty, were covered with meat piled high, and large loaves of leavened bread were attached by skewers to the meat. Special care was taken always to set the courses opposite the strangers, for that was the custom. Seuthes was the first to do this. He would take the loaves lying in front of him, break them into small pieces, and toss them to whom he liked; the meat likewise, leaving only enough to taste for himself. The others also before whom the tables were set followed his example. But an Arcadian named Arystas, a great eater, dispensed with the ceremony of the toss, and seizing in his hands a three-pound loaf and some meat, he placed them on his lap and proceeded to eat. They passed round drinking-horns containing wine, and all took them. But when the cup-bearer came to Arystas with the drinking-horn, he, seeing that Xenophon was no longer eating, said,'Give it to him; for he is not busy any longer, whereas I haven't got time yet.' Thereupon laughter arose. As the drinking proceeded a Thracian entered with a white horse, and grasping a full horn he said,'Here's to you, Seuthes; accept this horse as a present, for upon it, when you pursue, you will catch whomsoever you desire, and when you retreat, you will never be afraid of the enemy.' Another, in like manner, brought in and presented him with a slave as he drank his health, and still another gave him garments for his wife. Timasion, in proposing a toast to him, gave him a silver saucer and a scimitar worth ten minae. Then an Athenian named Gnesippus arose and said that there was an excellent custom of long standing, that the rich should honour the king with presents, but to those who were not rich the king should give presents. But Xenophon got up with a resolute air, and as he took the drinking-horn he said:'I give myself and my comrades here to you, Seuthes, to be your trusted friends, and not one of us comes unwillingly. And today they appear before you with no other request, but desire that they may labour and risk danger in your behalf.' Then Seuthes arose and drank with Xenophon, and with him also emptied the horn upon the ground. After this there entered persons who played tunes on the horns used for signalling, and who sounded off measures, and as it were flageolet notes, on trumpets made of raw ox -hides.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.36
§ 4.36 Poseidonius (he of the Stoa ), in the Histories which he compiled, collected many usages and customs of many peoples germane to the philosophic tenets which he held; and he writes: “The Celts place hay on the ground when they serve their meals, which they take on wooden tables raised only slightly from the ground. Their food consists of a few loaves of bread, but of large quantities of meat prepared in water or roasted over coals or on spits. This they eat in a cleanly fashion, to be sure, but with a lion -like appetite, grasping whole joints with both hands and biting them off the bone; if, however, any piece proves hard to tear away, they slice it off with a small knife, which lies at hand in its sheath in a special box. [152a] Those who dwell beside rivers or by the inner and outer sea also eat fish baked with salt, vinegar, and cummin. The last they also drop into their wine. They use no olive oil, on account of its rarity, and being unfamiliar, it seems to them unpleasant. When several dine together, they sit in a circle; but the mightiest among them, distinguished above the others for skill in war, or family connexions, or wealth, sits in the middle, like a chorus-leader. Beside him is the host, and next on either side the others according to their respective ranks. Men-at arms, carrying oblong shields, stand close behind them, while their bodyguards, seated in a circle directly opposite, share in the feast like their masters. The attendants serve the drink in vessels resembling our spouted cups, either of clay or of silver. Similar also are the platters which they have for serving food; but others use bronze platters, others still, baskets of wood or plaited wicker. The liquor drunk in the houses of the rich is wine brought from Italy and the country round Marseilles, and is unmixed; though sometimes a little water is added. But among the needier inhabitants a beer is drunk made from wheat, with honey added; the masses drink it plain. It is called corma. They sip a little, not more than a small cupful, from the same cup, but they do it rather frequently. The slave carries the drink round from left to right and from right to left; this is the way in which they are served. They make obeisance to the gods, also, turning towards the right.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.37
§ 4.37 Poseidonius again, describing the wealth of Lovernius, father of Bituis, who was deposed by the Romans, says that to win the favour of the mob he rode in a chariot through the fields scattering gold and silver among the myriads of Celts who followed him; he also made an enclosure twelve stades square, in which he set up vats filled with expensive wine, and prepared a quantity of food so great that for several days all who wished might enter and enjoy what was set before them, being served continuously. After he had finally set a limit to the feast, one of the native poets arrived too late; and meeting the chief, he sang his praises in a hymn extolling his greatness and lamenting his own lot in having come late. And the chief, delighted with this, called for a bag of gold and tossed it to the bard as he ran beside him. He picked it up and again sang in his honour, saying that the wheel-tracks made by the chariot on the ground on which he drove bore golden benefits for men. All this Poseidonius recorded in the twenty-third book.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.38
§ 4.38 But in the fifth book, in his account of the Parthians, he says: “The subject who enjoys the title of'king's friend' has no share at his board, [153a] but sits on the ground while the king reclines above him on a high couch; he eats dog-fashion what the king tosses to him, and often, on some slight pretext, he is dragged away from his lowly meal and flogged with staves or knotted straps until, covered with blood, he prostrates himself prone on the floor and does obeisance to his tormentor as to a benefactor.” In the sixteenth book, again, he tells the story of King Seleucus; how that he went up into Media and made war on Arsaces, but was taken prisoner by the barbarian and lived a long time at the court of Arsaces, being treated in royal fashion. Poseidonius writes: “Among the Parthians, the king at their banquets occupied a couch on which he reclined alone; it was separated from the other couches and somewhat higher than they; his table was set before him apart, as to a departed spirit, and was laden with native dishes.” Writing also about Heracleon of Beroea, the same who after being promoted by King Antiochus surnamed Grypus, almost ejected his benefactor from his kingdom, he says, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories: “When he feasted his soldiers he caused them, in groups of a thousand, to recline on the ground in the open air. The dinner consisted of a huge loaf and meat, the drink being any kind of wine mixed with cold water. They were served by men wearing daggers, and in strict silence.” In the second book he says: “In the Roman capital, whenever they hold a feast in the precinct of Hercules, it is given by the general who for the time being is celebrating a triumph, and the preparation for the banquet is worthy of Hercules himself. For honeyed wine flowed copiously throughout the entire meal, and the food consisted of large loaves and boiled smoked meat, as well as roast meat from the freshly sacrificed victims, in extravagant plenty. And among the Etruscans sumptuous tables prepared twice a day, and richly coloured rugs are spread, and there are silver cups of every kind, and a host of handsome slaves stands by, dressed in rich garments.” Timaeus, moreover, in the first book of his Histories, adds that the slave girls among them serve naked until they grow to be adults.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.39
§ 4.39 Megasthenes, in the second book of his History of India, says that among the Indians a table is set before each one at dinner. It resembles a side-board, and on it is placed a golden bowl into which they first pour their rice, boiled as one would boil groats, and they then add many sauces of meat which had been treated with Indian condiments. But the Germans, as Poseidonius narrates in the thirtieth book, eat for luncheon meat which has been roasted in separate pieces, and they wash it down with milik or wine that is unmixed. Some inhabitants of Campania fight duels during their symposia. And Nicolaus of Damascus, a Peripatetic philosopher, in the 110th book of his Histories, records that the Romans have gladiatorial fights during a banquet. He writes as follows: “The Romans staged spectacles of fighting gladiators not merely at their festivals and in their theatres, borrowing the custom from the Etruscans, but also at their banquets. At any rate, it often happened that some would invite their friends to dinner, not merely for other entertainment, but that they might witness two or three pairs of contestants in gladiatorial combat; on these occasions, when sated with dining and drink, they called in the gladiators. No sooner did one have his throat cut than the masters applauded with delight at this feat. [154a] And there have even been instances when a man has provided in his will that his most beautiful wives, acquired by purchase, should engage in duels; still another has directed that young boys, his favourites, should do the same. But the provision was in fact disregarded, for the people would not tolerate this outrage, but declared the will void.” Eratosthenes, in the first book of his Olympic Victors, says that the Etruscans accompany their boxing-matches with the flute.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.40
§ 4.40 In the twenty-third book of his Histories, Poseidonius says: “The Celts sometimes have gladiatorial contests during dinner. Having assembled under arms, they indulge in sham fights and practise feints with one another; sometimes they proceed even to the point of wounding each other, and then, exasperated by this, if the company does not intervene, they go so far as to kill. In ancient times, he continues, we observe that when whole joints of meat were served the best man received the thigh. But if another claimed it, they stood up to fight it out in single combat to the death. Others, again, would collect silver or gold, or a number of jars of wine from the audience in the theatre, and having exacted a pledge that their award would be carried out, they would decree that the collection be distributed as presents to their dearest relatives; they then stretched themselves on their backs over their shields, and some one standing near would cut their throats with a sword.” Euphorion of Chalcis, in his Historical Notes, writes as follows: “Among the Romans twenty pounds are offered to any who will brave decapitation with an axe, on condition that their heirs receive the prize. And often, when too many are enrolled, they dispute which of them has the best right in each case to have his head cut off.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.41
§ 4.41 Hermippus, in Book I of his work On Lawgivers, declares that the Mantineans were inventors of gladiatorial combats, having been counselled thereto by Demonax, one of their citizens; and the Cyrenaeans became imitators of them. And Ephorus says, in the sixth book of his Histories: “The Mantineans and Arcadians used to practise the arts of war diligently, and, as a consequence, to this very day people call the ancient military uniform and mode of arming' Mantinean,' since it is believed that the Mantineans are the inventors. In addition, regular courses of instruction in fighting under arms were first instituted at Mantinea, Demeas being the instructor in the art.” And that the custom of single combat was ancient is told by Aristophanes in the Phoenician Women in these words: “Warlike fury has swooped upon the sons of Oidipus, brothers twain, and at this moment they stand ready for the match in single combat.” It is plain that the noun monomachos ("single fighter") is compounded not from mache ("battle") but from the verb machomai ("fight"). For whenever a word compounded with mache ends in -os, as in symmachos ("ally"), protomachos ("champion"), epimachos ("open to attack"), antimachos ("fighting against") or philomachos ("fight-loving") — Pindar has “the fight-loving race sprung from Perseus ” — in such instances it has the acute accent on the third syllable from the last; but when the compound takes the accent on the syllable next before the last, it contains the verb machomai, as in pygmachos ("fist-fighter"), naumachos ("Sea-fighter"). “Thyself first, thou Fighter at the gate” (pylamachos), is found in Stesichorus. There are also hoplomachos ("fighting under arms"), teichomachos ("fighting at the wall"), and pyrgomachos ("fighting at the tower"). The comic poet Poseidippus says in The Pimp: “He that has never been to sea has never seen trouble at all; [155a] we sailors are more to be pitied than gladiators.” We have explained in another passage also that prominent men and military leaders used to fight in single combat and that they did this in answer to a challenge. And Diyllus of Athens, in the ninth book of his Histories, says that when Cassander returned from Boeotia and held the funeral of the king and queen at Aegaeae, as well as of Cynna, the mother of Eurydice, he not only honoured them with all the other fitting rites, but set up also a contest of single fighters which was entered by four of his soldiers.
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.42
§ 4.42 Demetrius of Skepsis, in Book XV of The Trojan Battle-order, says: “At the court of Antiochus, surnamed the Great, it was the habit not merely of the king's friends but also of the king himself to dance under arms at dinner. But when it became the turn of Hegesianax to dance — the historian from Alexandria in the Troad — he arose and said:'In my case, O King, would you rather see me dance badly, or would you like to hear me recite well my own works?' Commanded, therefore, to recite, he so delighted the king that he was promoted to a pension and became one of the king's favourites.” Duris of Samos, in the seventeenth book of his Histories, says of Polysperchon that whenever he was elated by wine he would dance, even though he was rather old and second to none among the Macedonians either in military achievement or in general esteem; he danced continually, clad in a saffron tunic and wearing on his feet Sikyonian slippers. Agatharchides of Cnidus, in the eighth book of his Asiatic History records that whenever the friends of Alexander, son of Philip, entertained him at dinner, they encased everything that was to be served as dessert in gold; and when they desired to eat the desert, they tore off the gold with the rest of the waste and threw it away, that their friends might be spectators of their extravagance, while their slaves enjoyed the profit. But these gentry had forgotten, what Duris also records, that Philip, Alexander's father, possessed a gold cup weighing fifty drachms, and that he always took it to bed with him and placed it at his head. Seleucus says some Thracians make a sport of hanging at their drinking-bouts; they attach a noose at a certain height, directly under which they place a stone which may be easily rolled by any who step upon it. They then draw lots, and the one who receives the lot mounts the stone, holding a pruning-knife, and places his neck in the noose; another comes by and pushes the stone; and while it is rolling from under him, the man hanging there, if he does not quickly cut himself loose with the knife before it is too late, is dead, and the others laugh, holding the poor devil's death a great joke."
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.43
§ 4.43 This, friends and fellow-drinkers, “easily first among the Greeks,” I have been able to tell from my knowledge of ancient symposia. The wise Plato, in the first book of the Laws, accurately describes symposia in these words: “Neither in the country nor in the towns under Spartan jurisdiction would you see symposia, nor would you see the things which accompany them and which excite all manner of licentious pleasures to the full extent of their power. [156a] Nor is there one among us who, if he met a man indulging in drunken merriment, would not immediately lay the heaviest punishment upon him; and not even the festival of Dionysus would afford an excuse to protect him, as I have seen it do in your country among the carts, and also in Tarentum, among our own colonists, where I have seen the whole town drunk during the festival of Dionysus. In Lacedemon there is nothing of that sort.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.44
§ 4.44 Whereupon Cynulcus said: “I can only wish that you had played that Thracian game and come to your death; for you have been stretching our patience, and we are like persons who keep a fast and wait for that rising star which, as those say who have founded this noble philosophy, must first appear before it is lawful to taste any food.'But I, wretch that I am,' as the comic poet Diphilus says,'shall be an empty-bellied mullet through this extreme fasting.' And you also have forgotten the fine words of the Poet, who has said:'Surely'tis better to take our repast in season.' And the noble Aristophanes, in Cocalus, said:'But, Daddy, it is high noon already, the time when youngsters should have dinner.' And so, in my opinion, it would be much better to dine in the fashion described by Parmeniscus, in The Cynics' Symposium, than to see as in a fever all these dishes going round here.” We laughed, and someone said: “Well, my fine fellow, don't begrudge us the account of that symposium of Parmeniscus.” So he raised himself up high beside us, and said: "'I swear to you, gentlemen,' to quote the pleasant Antiphanes. He has said, in Wrongly Wed:'I swear to you, gentlemen, by that very god from whose bounty we all get drunk, that verily I should rather choose to live this life than have the superfluity of King Seleucus. It is sweet to sop up lentil soup without fear, it is miserable to sleep on a soft bed in fear.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.45
§ 4.45 Well then, Parmeniscus began his recital thus.' Parmeniscus to Molpis, greeting: Since I have been very frequent in my addresses to you on the subject of the distinguished banquets to which I have been invited, I am in great apprehension lest you may at last be attacked with indigestion and lay the blame of your over-indulgence on me. Wherefore I wish to impart to you some of the dinner held at the house of Cebes of Cyzicus; so first drink some hyssop and direct your regard toward this entertainment. It was during the festival of Dionysus at Athens that I was invited to it. There I found a half dozen Cynics reclining, and one “master of the hounds,” Carneius of Megara. The dinner being slow in coming, a discussion arose concerning water — which was the sweetest? Some praised the water of Lerna, others, again, the water of Peirene; but Carneius, quoting Philoxenus, said “The water which is poured over the hands.” When the table was set beside us we began dinner, and “no sooner did we exhaust one lentil soup than in flowed another after.” Then lentils again, soaked in vinegar were brought to us, and Diitrephes clutched a handful and said: “ Zeus, let not him who is to blame for these beans escape thy vengeance!” And another thereupon cried out: “May a baneful destiny and a baneful fate seize thee.” (In my eyes, to quote the comedian Diphilus, who says, in Daughters of Pelias:'The little dinner was splendid, and very delicate. Beside each man there stood a large bowl full of lentil soup. - [157a] B. In the very first place, that's not so splendid. — A. Next after that there came dancing with a swoop into our midst a large shabar, rather evil smelling. — B. That must be the'sacred wasse,' which makes the other wasses forthwith give him a wide berth.') After a burst of laughter at this, there entered the stage-thumper Melissa and the dog-fly Nicion; these were notorious courtesans. Glancing with wonder at the viands before them, they began to laugh. And Nicion said: “Does no one of you, beard-gathering sirs, eat fish? Or is it like what your ancestor Meleager of Gadara, in the work entitled The Graces, said of Homer: being a Syrian by birth, he has represented the Achaeans as abstaining from fish according to the practice of his own country, although there is great abundance of them in the region of the Hellespont? Or have you read only that work of his which contains the comparison of pease-porridge with lentil soup? For I see that the quantity of lentil-soup prepared at your dinner is great, and as I gaze upon it I should advise you, in the words of the Socratic Antisthenes, to'deliver yourselves from life,' if you must feed on such stuff.” In answer to her Carneius said: “ Euxitheus the Pythagorean, Nicion, as the Peripatetic Clearchus tells us in the second book of his Lives, was wont to say that the souls of all beings are imprisoned in the body and in this hither life as a punishment, and that the god has ordained that if they refuse to abide in these until he of his own will releases them, they will then be plunged in more and greater torments. Wherefore all persons, dreading the violence of the higher powers, are afraid to depart from this life of their own motion, and gladly welcome only the death which comes in old age, being persuaded that this release of their souls comes with the approval of the higher powers. To these principles we ourselves subscribe.” “But nobody begrudges your choosing one of the three evils. Indeed, you don't understand, poor fools, that these heavy foods form a barrier to the authoritative part of the soul, and inhibit the reason from being itself.” —
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.46
§ 4.46 " Theopompus, therefore, in the fifth book of his Philippica, says:'Too much eating, as well as meat-eating, destroys the reasoning faculties and makes souls more sluggish, and fills them besides with irascibility, hardness, and awkwardness.' And the admirable Xenophon also says that it is pleasant to eat a barley-cake and some cress when one is hungry, and pleasant, too, to draw water from a stream and drink when one is thirsty. And Socrates was many a time found walking up and down in front of his house in the late afternoon, and to those who asked,'What are you doing at this hour?' he would reply,'Gathering a relish for my dinner.' — “But we shall be satisfied with any piece that we may get from you, and not take it ill if we get too little, like the Heracles of Anticleides. For he says, in the second book of his Returns:'After the completion of his Labours, Heracles was invited with others to a sacrifice celebrated by Eurystheus; and when the sons of Eurystheus set the chief portions before each one of themselves, but placed an humbler one before Heracles, [158a] he, deeming that he had been insulted, slew three of the sons, Perimedes, Eurybius, and Eurypylus.' Well, then, we have no such temper ourselves, though we are emulators of Hercules in all things.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.47
§ 4.47'Indeed, “Lentil soup is known to the tragic stage; they say that Agatharchus once painted a picture of Orestes guzzling it when he had recovered from his disease.” So speaks the comic poet Sophilus. It is a Stoic belief, too, that the wise man will do all things rightly, even to the wise seasoning of lentil soup. Wherefore Timon of Phlious speaks of one “who had never learned wisely to make a Zenonian lentil soup,” as if a lentil soup could not be made otherwise than according to the Zenonian prescription. For he said: “Into the lentil soup put the twelfth part of a coriander seed.” And Crates of Thebes said: “Exalt not the dish of stew above a plate of lentil soup and so set us to quarrelling.' In like manner Chrysippus, in his essay On the Good, introduces to us certain maxims in these words:'Never eat an olive when you have a nettle. In the winter season, a bulb-and lentil soup, oh me, oh my! For bulb-and lentil soup is like ambrosia in the chilly cold.' And the witty Aristophanes, in Gerytades, has said:'Are you teaching him to make barley gruel or lentil soup?' And in Amphiaraus:'You, who dare insult lentil soup, sweetest of delicacies!' Epicharmus, in The Dionysi:'A kettle of lentil soup was simmering.' Antiphanes in Just Alike:'It proved to be a piece of good luck, that one of the natives was teaching me how to make lentil soup.' I know also that the sister of Odysseus, most prudent and sagacious, was called Phake (lentil), though others name her Callisto, as recorded by Mnaseas of Patrae in the third book of his European History; my authority is Lysimachus, in the third book of his Returns.”
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.48
§ 4.48 At this Plutarch laughed very boisterously, and the Cynic, unable to bear the slighting of his erudition concerning lentils, cried, “Yet, you men of fair Alexandria, Plutarch, have been brought up on lentil food, and your entire city is full of lentil dishes. Even the'lentil'-parodist, Sopater, mentions them in a play, Bacchis, in these words:'I could not, living within sight of the huge bronze Colossus, eat a loaf of lentil bread.''For what need have mortals (as your own Euripides says, most learned grammarian) of aught save two things only, Demeter's bounty and a water-gushing draught? These we have at hand, and nature gave them to nurture us. Yet we are not satisfied with abundance of these, and so in mere wantonness we hunt for devices to get other foods.' And in another place this philosopher of the stage says:'Sufficient unto me is the modest food of a sober table; but all that is unseasonable and goes beyond due measure I hope I may not admit.' And Socrates used to say that he differed from all other men in that they live to eat whereas he ate to live. Diogenes, too, answered those who chided him for rubbing himself down:'Would that I were able, by rubbing my belly as well, to quell its hunger and want!' Euripides in The Suppliants says of Capaneus: [159a]'Here is Capaneus; his fortune was great, yet was he by no means proud in his felicity; and he carried a spirit no more presumptuous than any poor man, chiding any who was swollen overmuch with a rich table, and praising what sufficed; for he said that excellence consisted not in stuffing the belly, but that things in moderation were enough.'
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0008.tlg001:4.49
§ 4.49 Capaneus was, in fact, not like the man whom the noble Chrysippus describes in the tract on Things not to be Chosen for their own Sake. He says:'Some men are so degraded, when it comes to money, that the story is told of a man who, when near his end, swallowed a large number of gold pieces and died; still another caused some to be sewn in a shirt, and after putting it on he charged the members of his household to bury him just as he was, without burning his body or caring for it in any way.' Such persons as these, in fact, all but shout as they die:'O Gold, fairest gift welcomed by mortals! For neither a mother, nor children in the house, nor loved father can bring such delights as thou and they that own thee in their halls. If the glance which shines from Kypris's eyes is like thine, no wonder that countless loves attend her.' Such was the character of the greed which people of those days possessed; concerning it Anacharsis, when someone asked him what the Greeks used money for, replied,'To count!' Diogenes ordains that in his ideal state the currency shall be dice. Well said are the following words of Euripides:'Speak not of wealth; for I reverence not the god whom even the basest man may easily win to his side.' Chrysippus, in the introduction to his treatise on Good and Evil, says that once a very rich young man came to Athens from Ionia, dressed in a purple cloak with gold fringe. When someone asked him where he was he replied,'From Richmond.' Perhaps this is the same young man as that mentioned by Alexis in The Thebans thus:'Whence does this man trace his birth?' B. From the Richmonds. All agree that these are most highly born, but not a soul sees a poor man of noble origin.'”

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Charles Burton Gulick (1868-1962). Composed ca. 228 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.