And Anaxandrides, in his Melilotus, says-
[655] Is it not a mad idea to breed up peacocks,
When for the same cost one can buy two statues?
[655] Is it not a mad idea to breed up peacocks,
When for the same cost one can buy two statues?
Athenaeus - Deipnosophists
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is used by Homer is known to every one.
But Plato, in the eighth book of his Laws [ 844'd ], uses both ?
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and ?
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, where he says- "Whoever tastes wild fruit, whether it be grapes (?
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) or figs, before the time of the vintage arrives, which falls at the time of the rising of Arcturus, whether it be on his own farm, or on any one else's land, shall be fined fifty sacred drachmas to be paid to Dionysus, if he plucked them off his own land; but a mina if he gather them on a neighbour's estate; but if he take them from any other place, two-thirds of a mina.
But whoever chooses to gather the grapes (?
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), which are now called the noble grapes, or the figs called the noble figs, if he gather them from his own trees, let him gather them as he pleases, and when he pleases; but if he gathers them from the trees of any one else without having obtained the leave of the owner, then, in accordance with the law which forbids any one to move what he has not placed, he shall be invariably punished.
" These are the words of the divine Plato; but I ask now what is this noble grape (?
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), and this noble fig that he speaks of?
And you may all consider this point while I am discussing the other dishes which are on the table.
And Masurius said-
But let us not postpone this till to-morrow,
Still less till the day after.
When the philosopher says ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , he means ? ? ? ? ? ? , generous, as Archilochus also uses the word-
Come hither, you are generous (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? );
or, perhaps, he means ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; that is to say, grafted. For Aristotle speaks of grafted pears, and calls them ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Demosthenes, in his speech in defence of Ctesiphon [ 262 ], has the sentence, "gathering figs, and grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ), and olives. " And Xenophon, in his Oeconomicus [ 19'19 ], says, "grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) are ripened by the sun. " And our ancestors also have been acquainted with the practice of steeping grapes in wine, Accordingly Eubulus, in his Glued Together, says-
But take these grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ), and in neat wine pound them,
And pour upon them many cups of water.
Then make him eat them when well steeped in wine.
And the poet, who is the author of the Chiron, which is generally attributed to Pherecrates, says-
Almonds and apples, and the arbutus first,
And myrtle-berries, pastry, too, and grapes
Well steeped in wine; and marrow.
And that every sort of autumn fruit was always plentiful at Athens, Aristophanes testifies in his Seasons. Why, then, should that appear strange which Aethlius the Samian asserts in the fifth book of his Samian Chronicles, where he says, "The fig, and the grape, and the medlar, and the apple, and the rose grow twice a-year"? [654] And Lynceus, in his letter to Diagoras, praising the Nicostrateian grape, which grows in Attica, and comparing it to the Rhodian grapes, says, "As rivals of the Nicostrateian grapes they grow the Hipponeian grape; which after the month Hecatombaeon (like a good servant) has constantly the same good disposition towards its masters. "
[69. ] G But as you have had frequent discussions about meats, and birds, and pigeons, I also will tell you all that I, after a great deal of reading, have been able to find out in addition to what has been previously stated. Now the word ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (pigeon) may be found used by Menander in his Concubine, where he says-
He waits a little while, and then runs up
And says- "I've bought some pigeons (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) for you. "
And so Nicostratus, in his Delicate Woman, says-
These are the things I want,- a little bird,
And then a pigeon (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) and a paunch.
And Anaxandrides, in his Rival in Love, has the line-
For bringing in some pigeons (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) and some sparrows.
And Phrynichus, in his Tragedians, says-
Bring him a pigeon (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) for three obols.
Now with respect to the pheasant, Ptolemy the king, in the twelfth book of his Commentaries, speaking of the palace which there is at Alexandria, and of the animals which are kept in it, says, "They have also pheasants, which they call ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , which they not only used to send for from Media, but they also used to put the eggs under broody hens, by which means they raised a number, so as to have enough for food; for they call it very excellent eating. " Now this is the expression of a most magnificent monarch, who confesses that he himself has never tasted a pheasant, but who used to keep these birds as a sort of treasure. But if he had ever seen such a sight as this, when, in addition to all those which have been already eaten, a pheasant is also placed before each individual, he would have added another book to the existing twenty-four of that celebrated history, which he calls his Commentaries. And Aristotle or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, says, "In pheasants, the male is not only as much superior to the female as is usually the case, but he is so in an infinitely greater degree. "
[70. ] G # But if the before-mentioned king [Ptolemy] had seen the number of peacocks also which exists at Rome, he would have fled to the sacred senate, as though he had a second time been driven out of his kingdom by his brother. For the multitude of these birds is so great at Rome, that Antiphanes the comic poet, in his Soldier or Tychon, may seem to have been inspired by the spirit of prophecy, when he said-
When the first man imported to this city
A pair of peacocks, they were thought a rarity,
But now they are more numerous than quails;
So also, if you search and find one good man,
He will be sure to have five worthless sons.
And Alexis, in his Lamp, says-
That he should have devoured so vast a sum!
Why if (by earth I swear) I fed on hares' milk
And peacocks, I could never spend so much.
And that they used to keep them tame in their houses, we learn from Strattis, in his Pausanias, where he says-
Of equal value with your many trifles,
And peacocks, which you breed up for their feathers.
And Anaxandrides, in his Melilotus, says-
[655] Is it not a mad idea to breed up peacocks,
When for the same cost one can buy two statues?
And Anaxilaus, in his Bird Feeders, says-
Besides all this, tame peacocks, loudly croaking.
Menodotus the Samian also, in his treatise On the Treasures in the Temple of the Samian Hera, says: "The peacocks are sacred to Hera; and perhaps Samos may be the place where they were first produced and reared, and from thence it was that they were scattered abroad over foreign countries, in the same way as cocks were originally produced in Persia, and the birds called guinea-fowl (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) in Aetolia. " On which account Antiphanes, in his Brothers by the same Father, says-
They say that in the city of Heliopolis
The phoenix is produced; the owl in Athens;
Cyprus breeds doves of admirable beauty:
But Hera, queen of Samos, does, they say,
Rear there a golden race of wondrous birds,
The brilliant, beautiful, conspicuous peacock.
On which account the peacock occurs on the coins of the Samians.
[71. ] G But since Menodotus has mentioned the guinea-fowl, we ourselves also will say something on that subject. Clytus the Milesian, a pupil of Aristotle, in the first book of his History of Miletus, writes thus concerning them- "All around the temple of the Virgin Goddess at Leros, there are birds called guinea-fowls (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). And the ground where they are bred is marshy. And this bird is very devoid of affection towards its young, and wholly disregards its offspring, so that the priests are forced to take care of them. And it is about the size of a very fine fowl of the common poultry, its head is small in proportion to its body, having but few feathers, but on the top it has a fleshy crest, hard and round, sticking up above the head like a peg, and of a woody colour. And over the jaws, instead of a beard, they have a long piece of flesh, beginning at the mouth, redder than that of the common poultry; but of that which exists in the common poultry on the top of the beak, which some people call the beard, they are wholly destitute; so that their beak is mutilated in this respect. But its beak is sharper and larger than that of the common fowl; its neck is black, thicker and shorter than that of common poultry. And its whole body is spotted all over, the general colour being black, studded in every part with thick white spots something larger than lentil seeds. And these spots are ring-shaped, in the middle of patches of a darker hue than the rest of the plumage: so that these patches present a variegated kind of appearance, the black part having a sort of white tinge, and the white seeming a good deal darkened. And their wings are all over variegated with white, in serrated, wavy lines, parallel to each other. And their legs are destitute of spurs like those of the common hen. And the females are very like the males, on which account the sex of the guinea-fowls is hard to distinguish. " Now this is the account given of guinea-fowls by the Peripatetic philosopher.
[72. ] G Roasted sucking-pigs are a dish mentioned by Epicrates in his Merchant-
On this condition I will be the cook;
Nor shall all Sicily boast that even she
Produced so great an artist as to fish,
Nor Elis either, where I've seen the flesh
Of dainty sucking-pigs well brown'd before
A rapid fire.
And Alexis, in his Wicked Woman, says-
A delicate slice of tender sucking-pig,
Bought for three obols, hot, and very juicy,
[656] When it is set before us.
"But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us [ Fr_173 ], " when they sacrifice to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts and heats, and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all its rawness, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or boiling it; for any second process removes the goodness of it, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more raw and dry than boiled meat. " But roast meats are called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Accordingly Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Heracles-
Immediately he caught up some large slices (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? )
Of smoking roasted boar, and swallowed them.
And Archippus, in his Heracles Marrying, says-
The trotters of little pigs, well cooked
In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls
With sharpened horns, and great long steaks of boar,
All roasted (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 15 (excerpts)
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
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[15. ] G [673] And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephaestion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title, Concerning the Garland of Withes mentioned by Anacreon. And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephaestion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrastus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antiphon the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antiphon himself; Hephaestion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antiphon in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion On the Garland of Withes. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories [ Fr_14 ], mentioned this story about the withes, [674] and knew nothing of the passage of Nicaenetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus.
But one may explain this fact of the garlands of withes more simply, by saying that Megistes wore a garland of withes because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his temples. For the Lacedaemonians at the festival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise On the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedaemon, where he writes thus: "On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public discipline follow without any garland at all. "
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[38. ] G [688] But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius, the follower of Herophilus, says in his treatise On Perfumes, where he writes- "The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Neapolis and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at Soli in Cilicia, and at Rhodes. The essence of spikenard is best at Tarsus; and the extract of vine-leaves is made best in Cyprus and at Adramyttium. The best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos. Egypt bears the palm for its essence of henna; and the next best is the Cyprian, and Phoenician, and after them comes the Sidonian. The perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. But the Metopian is made of oil which is extracted from bitter almonds. Still, the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors and the materials and the artists, and not to the place itself; [689] for Ephesus formerly, as men say, had a high reputation for the excellence of its perfumes, and especially of its megalleium, but now it has none. At one time, too, the unguents made in Alexandria were brought to high perfection, on account of the wealth of the city, and the attention that Arsinoe and Berenice paid to such matters; and the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive. Again, in ancient times, the extract of vine-leaves made at Adramyttium was but poor; but afterwards it became first-rate, owing to Stratonice, the wife of Eumenes. Formerly, too, Syria used to make every sort of unguent admirably, especially that extracted from fenugreek; but the case is quite altered now. And long ago there used to be a most delicious unguent extracted from frankincense at Pergamum, owing to the invention of a certain perfumer of that city, for no one else had ever made it before him; but now none is made there. Now, when a valuable unguent is poured on the top of one that is inferior, it remains on the surface; but when good honey is poured on the top of that which is inferior, it works its way to the bottom, for it compels that which is worse to rise above it. "
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[46. ] G [692] But when I was reading the twenty-eighth book of the History of Poseidonius [ Fr_20 ], I observed, my friends, a very pleasant thing which was said about unguents, and which is not at all foreign to our present discussion. For the philosopher says- "In Syria, at the royal banquets, when the garlands are given to the guests, some slaves come in, with little pouches full of Babylonian perfumes, and going round the room at a little distance from the guests, they bedew their garlands with the perfumes, sprinkling nothing else. " And since the discussion has brought us to this point, I will add "A verse to Love", as the bard of Cythera [Philoxenus] says, telling you that Janus, who is worshipped as a great god by us, and whom we call Janus the Father, was the original inventor of garlands. And Dracon of Corcyra tells us this in his treatise On Precious Stones, where his words are- "But it is said that Janus had two faces, the one looking forwards and the other backwards; and that it is from him that the mountain Janus and the river Janus are both named, because he used to live on the mountain. And they say that he was the first inventor of garlands, and boats, and ships; and was also the first person who coined brazen money. And on this account many cities in Greece, and many in Italy and Sicily, place on their coins a head with two faces, and on the obverse a boat, or a garland, or a ship. And they say that he married his sister Camese, and had a son named Aethex, and a daughter Olistene. And he, aiming at a more extended power and renown, sailed over to Italy, and settled on a mountain near Rome, which was called Janiculum from his name. "
[47. ] G This, now, is what was said about perfumes and unguents. And after this most of them asked for wine, some demanding the cup of the Good Deity, some that of Zeus the Saviour, others that of Hygieia, as different people invoked different deities; and so they all fell to quoting the words of those poets who had mentioned libations to these different deities; and I will now recapitulate what they said, for they quoted Antiphanes, who, in his Farmers' Wives, says-
Harmodius was invoked, the paean sung,
Each drank a mighty cup to Zeus the Saviour.
And Alexis, in his Usurer, or The Liar, says
[693] (A) Fill now the cup with the libation due
To Zeus the Saviour; for he surely is
Of all the gods most useful to mankind.
(B) Your Zeus the Saviour, if I were to burst,
Would nothing do for me.
(A) Just drink, and trust him.
And Nicostratus, in his Pandrosus, says-
(A) And so I will, my dear;
But fill him now a parting cup to Hygieia;
(B) Here, pour a due libation out to Hygieia.
(A) Another to Good Fortune. Fortune manages
All the affairs of men; but as for Prudence,-
That is a blind irregular deity.
And in the same play he mentions mixing a cup in honour of the Good Deity, as do nearly all the poets of the old comedy; but Nicostratus speaks thus-
Fill a cup quickly now to the Good Deity,
And take away this table from before me;
For I have eaten quite enough;- I pledge
This cup to the Good Deity;- here, quick, I say,
And take away this table from before me.
Xenarchus, too, in his Twins, says-
(A) And now I do begin to nod my head.
(B) The cup to the Good Deity,
When I had drained it, knocked me over.
(A) And then the next libation duly quaffed
To Zeus the Saviour, wholly wrecked my boat,
And overwhelmed me, as you see.
And Eriphus, in his Meliboea, says-
Before he'd drunk a cup to the Good Deity,
Or to great Zeus the Saviour.
[48. ] G And Theophrastus, in his essay On Drunkenness, says- "The unmixed wine which is given at a banquet, which they call the pledge-cup in honour of the Good Deity, they offer in small quantities, as if reminding the guests of its strength, and of the liberality of the god, by the mere taste. And they hand it round when men are already full, in order that there may be as little as possible drunk out of it. And having paid adoration three times, they take it from the table, as if they were entreating of the gods that nothing may be done unbecomingly, and that they may not indulge in immoderate desires for this kind of drink, and that they may derive only what is honourable and useful from it. " And Philochorus, in the second book of his Atthis [ Fr_5 ], says- "And a law was made at that time, that after the solid food is removed, a taste of the unmixed wine should be served round as a sort of sample of the power of the Good Deity, but that all the rest of the wine should be previously mixed; on which account the Nymphs had the name given them of Nurses of Dionysus. " And that when the pledge-cup to the Good Deity was handed round, it was customary to remove the tables, is made plain by the wicked action of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. For there was a table of gold placed before the statue of Asclepius at Syracuse; and so Dionysius, standing before it, and drinking a pledge-cup to the Good Deity, ordered the table to be removed.
But among the Greeks, those who sacrifice to the Sun, as Phylarchus tells us in the twelfth book of his History [ Fr_25 ], make their libations of honey, as they never bring wine to the altars; saying that it is proper that the god who keeps the whole universe in order, and regulates everything, and is always going round and superintending the whole, should in no respect be connected with drunkenness.
[49. ] G Most writers have mentioned the Attic scolia; and they are worthy also of being mentioned by me to you, on account of the antiquity and simple style of composition of the authors, and of those especially who gained a high reputation for that form of poetry, Alcaeus and Anacreon; [694] as Aristophanes says in his Daitaleis, where we find this line-
Come, then, a scolium sing to me,
Of old Alcaeus or Anacreon.
Praxilla, the Sicyonian poetess, was also celebrated for the composition of scolia. Now they are called scolia, not because of the character of the verse in which they are written, as if it were ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (crooked); for men call also those poems written in a laxer kind of metre ? ? ? ? ? ? . But, "as there are three kinds of songs" (as Artemon of Cassandreia says in the second book of his treatise On the Use of Books), "one or other of which comprehends everything which is sung at banquets; the first kind is that which it was usual for the whole party to sing; the second is that which the whole party indeed sang, not, however, together, but going round according to some kind of succession; the third is that which is ranked lowest of all, which was not sung by all the guests, but only by those who seemed to understand what was to be done, wherever they might happen to be sitting; on which account, as having some irregularity in it beyond what the other kinds had, in not being sung by all the guests, either together or in any definite kind of succession, but just as it might happen, it was called the crooked song (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). And songs of this kind were sung when the ordinary songs, and those in which every one was bound to join, had come to an end. For then they invited all the more intelligent of the guests to sing some song worth listening to. And what they thought worth listening to were such songs as contained some exhortations and sentiments which seemed useful for the purposes of life. "
[50. ] G And of these Deipnosophists, one quoted one scolium, and one another. And these were those which were recited-
I
O Tritonian Pallas, who from heaven above
Looks with protecting eye
On this holy city and land,
Deign our protectress now to prove
From loss in war, from dread sedition's band,
And death's untimely blow, you and your father too.
II
I sing at this glad season, of the Queen,
Mother of Plutus, Olympian Demeter;
May you be ever near us,
With Persephone daughter of Zeus,
And ever as a friend
This citadel defend.
III
Leto once in Delos, as they say,
Did two great children bear,
Apollo with the golden hair,
Bright Phoebus, god of day.
And Artemis, mighty huntress, virgin chaste.
On whom all women's trust is placed.
IV
Raise the loud shout to Pan, Arcadia's king;
Praise to the Nymphs' loved comrade sing!
Come, O Pan, and raise with me
The song in joyful ecstasy.
V
We have conquered as we would,
The gods reward us as they should,
And victory bring from Pandrosus (? ) to Athene.
VI
Oh, would the gods such grace bestow,
That opening each man's breast,
One might survey his heart, and know
How true the friendship that could stand that test.
VII
Health's the best gift to mortal given;
Beauty is next; the third great prize
Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice;
The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.
And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it-
The man who wrote this song, whoever he was,
When he called health the best of all possessions,
Spoke well enough. But when the second place
He gave to beauty, and the third to riches,
He certainly was downright mad; for surely
Riches must be the next best thing to health,
For who would care to be a starving beauty!
[695] After that, these other scolia were sung-
VIII
'Tis well to stand upon the shore,
And look on others on the sea;
But when you once have dipped your oar,
By the present wind you must guided be.
IX
A crab caught a snake in his claw,
And thus he triumphantly spake,-
"My friends must be guided by law,
Nor love crooked counsels to take. "
X
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When they laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XI
Harmodius, hail! you did not die,
But stay in the islands of the blest,
Where swift-footed Achilles lives,
And Diomedes, Tydeus' brave son.
XII
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When at Athene's feast they slew
Hipparchus, the tyrant of the land.
XIII
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, hail!
You will have eternal glory;
Because you laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XIV
Learn, my friend, from Admetus' story,
All worthy friends and brave to cherish;
But cowards shun when danger comes,
For they will leave you alone to perish.
XV
Ajax of the ponderous spear, mighty son of Telamon,
They call you bravest of the Greeks, next to the great Achilles.
XVI
Telamon was first, and Ajax came in second place
Of all the Greeks who went to Troy, after invincible Achilles.
XVII
Would that I were an fine ivory lyre,
Struck by fair boys in Dionysus' chorus.
XVIII
Would that I were a golden trinket, large and new,
Worn by a lady fair, of spirit chaste.
XIX
Drink with me, and sport with me,
Love with me, wear crowns with me,
Be mad with me when I am moved with rage,
And modest when I yield to counsels sage.
XX
A scorpion beneath every stone doth lie,
And secrets usually hide treachery.
XXI
A sow one acorn has, and wants the other;
And I have one fair maid, and seek another.
XXII
A wanton and a bath-keeper both cherish the same fashion,
Giving the worthless and the good the self-same bath to wash in.
XXIII
Give Cedon wine, O slave, and fill it up,
If you must give each worthy man a cup.
But let us not postpone this till to-morrow,
Still less till the day after.
When the philosopher says ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , he means ? ? ? ? ? ? , generous, as Archilochus also uses the word-
Come hither, you are generous (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? );
or, perhaps, he means ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; that is to say, grafted. For Aristotle speaks of grafted pears, and calls them ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . And Demosthenes, in his speech in defence of Ctesiphon [ 262 ], has the sentence, "gathering figs, and grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ), and olives. " And Xenophon, in his Oeconomicus [ 19'19 ], says, "grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) are ripened by the sun. " And our ancestors also have been acquainted with the practice of steeping grapes in wine, Accordingly Eubulus, in his Glued Together, says-
But take these grapes (? ? ? ? ? ? ), and in neat wine pound them,
And pour upon them many cups of water.
Then make him eat them when well steeped in wine.
And the poet, who is the author of the Chiron, which is generally attributed to Pherecrates, says-
Almonds and apples, and the arbutus first,
And myrtle-berries, pastry, too, and grapes
Well steeped in wine; and marrow.
And that every sort of autumn fruit was always plentiful at Athens, Aristophanes testifies in his Seasons. Why, then, should that appear strange which Aethlius the Samian asserts in the fifth book of his Samian Chronicles, where he says, "The fig, and the grape, and the medlar, and the apple, and the rose grow twice a-year"? [654] And Lynceus, in his letter to Diagoras, praising the Nicostrateian grape, which grows in Attica, and comparing it to the Rhodian grapes, says, "As rivals of the Nicostrateian grapes they grow the Hipponeian grape; which after the month Hecatombaeon (like a good servant) has constantly the same good disposition towards its masters. "
[69. ] G But as you have had frequent discussions about meats, and birds, and pigeons, I also will tell you all that I, after a great deal of reading, have been able to find out in addition to what has been previously stated. Now the word ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (pigeon) may be found used by Menander in his Concubine, where he says-
He waits a little while, and then runs up
And says- "I've bought some pigeons (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) for you. "
And so Nicostratus, in his Delicate Woman, says-
These are the things I want,- a little bird,
And then a pigeon (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) and a paunch.
And Anaxandrides, in his Rival in Love, has the line-
For bringing in some pigeons (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) and some sparrows.
And Phrynichus, in his Tragedians, says-
Bring him a pigeon (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) for three obols.
Now with respect to the pheasant, Ptolemy the king, in the twelfth book of his Commentaries, speaking of the palace which there is at Alexandria, and of the animals which are kept in it, says, "They have also pheasants, which they call ? ? ? ? ? ? ? , which they not only used to send for from Media, but they also used to put the eggs under broody hens, by which means they raised a number, so as to have enough for food; for they call it very excellent eating. " Now this is the expression of a most magnificent monarch, who confesses that he himself has never tasted a pheasant, but who used to keep these birds as a sort of treasure. But if he had ever seen such a sight as this, when, in addition to all those which have been already eaten, a pheasant is also placed before each individual, he would have added another book to the existing twenty-four of that celebrated history, which he calls his Commentaries. And Aristotle or Theophrastus, in his Commentaries, says, "In pheasants, the male is not only as much superior to the female as is usually the case, but he is so in an infinitely greater degree. "
[70. ] G # But if the before-mentioned king [Ptolemy] had seen the number of peacocks also which exists at Rome, he would have fled to the sacred senate, as though he had a second time been driven out of his kingdom by his brother. For the multitude of these birds is so great at Rome, that Antiphanes the comic poet, in his Soldier or Tychon, may seem to have been inspired by the spirit of prophecy, when he said-
When the first man imported to this city
A pair of peacocks, they were thought a rarity,
But now they are more numerous than quails;
So also, if you search and find one good man,
He will be sure to have five worthless sons.
And Alexis, in his Lamp, says-
That he should have devoured so vast a sum!
Why if (by earth I swear) I fed on hares' milk
And peacocks, I could never spend so much.
And that they used to keep them tame in their houses, we learn from Strattis, in his Pausanias, where he says-
Of equal value with your many trifles,
And peacocks, which you breed up for their feathers.
And Anaxandrides, in his Melilotus, says-
[655] Is it not a mad idea to breed up peacocks,
When for the same cost one can buy two statues?
And Anaxilaus, in his Bird Feeders, says-
Besides all this, tame peacocks, loudly croaking.
Menodotus the Samian also, in his treatise On the Treasures in the Temple of the Samian Hera, says: "The peacocks are sacred to Hera; and perhaps Samos may be the place where they were first produced and reared, and from thence it was that they were scattered abroad over foreign countries, in the same way as cocks were originally produced in Persia, and the birds called guinea-fowl (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ) in Aetolia. " On which account Antiphanes, in his Brothers by the same Father, says-
They say that in the city of Heliopolis
The phoenix is produced; the owl in Athens;
Cyprus breeds doves of admirable beauty:
But Hera, queen of Samos, does, they say,
Rear there a golden race of wondrous birds,
The brilliant, beautiful, conspicuous peacock.
On which account the peacock occurs on the coins of the Samians.
[71. ] G But since Menodotus has mentioned the guinea-fowl, we ourselves also will say something on that subject. Clytus the Milesian, a pupil of Aristotle, in the first book of his History of Miletus, writes thus concerning them- "All around the temple of the Virgin Goddess at Leros, there are birds called guinea-fowls (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). And the ground where they are bred is marshy. And this bird is very devoid of affection towards its young, and wholly disregards its offspring, so that the priests are forced to take care of them. And it is about the size of a very fine fowl of the common poultry, its head is small in proportion to its body, having but few feathers, but on the top it has a fleshy crest, hard and round, sticking up above the head like a peg, and of a woody colour. And over the jaws, instead of a beard, they have a long piece of flesh, beginning at the mouth, redder than that of the common poultry; but of that which exists in the common poultry on the top of the beak, which some people call the beard, they are wholly destitute; so that their beak is mutilated in this respect. But its beak is sharper and larger than that of the common fowl; its neck is black, thicker and shorter than that of common poultry. And its whole body is spotted all over, the general colour being black, studded in every part with thick white spots something larger than lentil seeds. And these spots are ring-shaped, in the middle of patches of a darker hue than the rest of the plumage: so that these patches present a variegated kind of appearance, the black part having a sort of white tinge, and the white seeming a good deal darkened. And their wings are all over variegated with white, in serrated, wavy lines, parallel to each other. And their legs are destitute of spurs like those of the common hen. And the females are very like the males, on which account the sex of the guinea-fowls is hard to distinguish. " Now this is the account given of guinea-fowls by the Peripatetic philosopher.
[72. ] G Roasted sucking-pigs are a dish mentioned by Epicrates in his Merchant-
On this condition I will be the cook;
Nor shall all Sicily boast that even she
Produced so great an artist as to fish,
Nor Elis either, where I've seen the flesh
Of dainty sucking-pigs well brown'd before
A rapid fire.
And Alexis, in his Wicked Woman, says-
A delicate slice of tender sucking-pig,
Bought for three obols, hot, and very juicy,
[656] When it is set before us.
"But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us [ Fr_173 ], " when they sacrifice to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts and heats, and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all its rawness, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or boiling it; for any second process removes the goodness of it, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more raw and dry than boiled meat. " But roast meats are called ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? . Accordingly Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Heracles-
Immediately he caught up some large slices (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? )
Of smoking roasted boar, and swallowed them.
And Archippus, in his Heracles Marrying, says-
The trotters of little pigs, well cooked
In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls
With sharpened horns, and great long steaks of boar,
All roasted (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ).
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Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists
BOOK 15 (excerpts)
Translated by C. D. Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
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[15. ] G [673] And the Gods know that I first found all this out in the beautiful city of Alexandria, having got possession of the treatise of Menodotus, in which I showed to many people the passage in Anacreon which is the subject of discussion. But Hephaestion, who is always charging every one else with thefts, took this solution of mine, and claimed it as his own, and published an essay, to which he gave this title, Concerning the Garland of Withes mentioned by Anacreon. And a copy of this essay we lately found at Rome in the possession of the antiquary Demetrius. And this compiler Hephaestion behaved in the same way to our excellent friend Adrastus. For after he had published a treatise in five books, Concerning those Matters in Theophrastus in his books on Manners, which are open to any Dispute, either as to their Facts, or the Style in which they are mentioned; and had added a sixth book Concerning the Disputable Points in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle; and in these books had entered into a long dissertation on the mention of Plexippus by Antiphon the tragic poet, and had also said a good deal about Antiphon himself; Hephaestion, I say, appropriated all these books to himself, and wrote another book, Concerning the Mention of Antiphon in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, not having added a single discovery or original observation of his own, any more than he had in the discussion On the Garland of Withes. For the only thing he said that was new, was that Phylarchus, in the seventh book of his Histories [ Fr_14 ], mentioned this story about the withes, [674] and knew nothing of the passage of Nicaenetus, nor of that of Anacreon; and he showed that he differed in some respects from the account that had been given by Menodotus.
But one may explain this fact of the garlands of withes more simply, by saying that Megistes wore a garland of withes because there was a great quantity of those trees in the place where he was feasting; and therefore he used it to bind his temples. For the Lacedaemonians at the festival of the Promachia, wear garlands of reeds, as Sosibius tells us in his treatise On the Sacrificial Festivals at Lacedaemon, where he writes thus: "On this festival the natives of the country all wear garlands of reeds, or tiaras, but the boys who have been brought up in the public discipline follow without any garland at all. "
* * * * *
[38. ] G [688] But the choicest unguents are made in particular places, as Apollonius, the follower of Herophilus, says in his treatise On Perfumes, where he writes- "The iris is best in Elis, and at Cyzicus; the perfume made from roses is most excellent at Phaselis, and that made at Neapolis and Capua is also very fine. That made from crocuses is in the highest perfection at Soli in Cilicia, and at Rhodes. The essence of spikenard is best at Tarsus; and the extract of vine-leaves is made best in Cyprus and at Adramyttium. The best perfume from marjoram and from apples comes from Cos. Egypt bears the palm for its essence of henna; and the next best is the Cyprian, and Phoenician, and after them comes the Sidonian. The perfume called Panathenaicum is made at Athens; and those called Metopian and Mendesian are prepared with the greatest skill in Egypt. But the Metopian is made of oil which is extracted from bitter almonds. Still, the superior excellence of each perfume is owing to the purveyors and the materials and the artists, and not to the place itself; [689] for Ephesus formerly, as men say, had a high reputation for the excellence of its perfumes, and especially of its megalleium, but now it has none. At one time, too, the unguents made in Alexandria were brought to high perfection, on account of the wealth of the city, and the attention that Arsinoe and Berenice paid to such matters; and the finest extract of roses in the world was made at Cyrene while the great Berenice was alive. Again, in ancient times, the extract of vine-leaves made at Adramyttium was but poor; but afterwards it became first-rate, owing to Stratonice, the wife of Eumenes. Formerly, too, Syria used to make every sort of unguent admirably, especially that extracted from fenugreek; but the case is quite altered now. And long ago there used to be a most delicious unguent extracted from frankincense at Pergamum, owing to the invention of a certain perfumer of that city, for no one else had ever made it before him; but now none is made there. Now, when a valuable unguent is poured on the top of one that is inferior, it remains on the surface; but when good honey is poured on the top of that which is inferior, it works its way to the bottom, for it compels that which is worse to rise above it. "
* * * * *
[46. ] G [692] But when I was reading the twenty-eighth book of the History of Poseidonius [ Fr_20 ], I observed, my friends, a very pleasant thing which was said about unguents, and which is not at all foreign to our present discussion. For the philosopher says- "In Syria, at the royal banquets, when the garlands are given to the guests, some slaves come in, with little pouches full of Babylonian perfumes, and going round the room at a little distance from the guests, they bedew their garlands with the perfumes, sprinkling nothing else. " And since the discussion has brought us to this point, I will add "A verse to Love", as the bard of Cythera [Philoxenus] says, telling you that Janus, who is worshipped as a great god by us, and whom we call Janus the Father, was the original inventor of garlands. And Dracon of Corcyra tells us this in his treatise On Precious Stones, where his words are- "But it is said that Janus had two faces, the one looking forwards and the other backwards; and that it is from him that the mountain Janus and the river Janus are both named, because he used to live on the mountain. And they say that he was the first inventor of garlands, and boats, and ships; and was also the first person who coined brazen money. And on this account many cities in Greece, and many in Italy and Sicily, place on their coins a head with two faces, and on the obverse a boat, or a garland, or a ship. And they say that he married his sister Camese, and had a son named Aethex, and a daughter Olistene. And he, aiming at a more extended power and renown, sailed over to Italy, and settled on a mountain near Rome, which was called Janiculum from his name. "
[47. ] G This, now, is what was said about perfumes and unguents. And after this most of them asked for wine, some demanding the cup of the Good Deity, some that of Zeus the Saviour, others that of Hygieia, as different people invoked different deities; and so they all fell to quoting the words of those poets who had mentioned libations to these different deities; and I will now recapitulate what they said, for they quoted Antiphanes, who, in his Farmers' Wives, says-
Harmodius was invoked, the paean sung,
Each drank a mighty cup to Zeus the Saviour.
And Alexis, in his Usurer, or The Liar, says
[693] (A) Fill now the cup with the libation due
To Zeus the Saviour; for he surely is
Of all the gods most useful to mankind.
(B) Your Zeus the Saviour, if I were to burst,
Would nothing do for me.
(A) Just drink, and trust him.
And Nicostratus, in his Pandrosus, says-
(A) And so I will, my dear;
But fill him now a parting cup to Hygieia;
(B) Here, pour a due libation out to Hygieia.
(A) Another to Good Fortune. Fortune manages
All the affairs of men; but as for Prudence,-
That is a blind irregular deity.
And in the same play he mentions mixing a cup in honour of the Good Deity, as do nearly all the poets of the old comedy; but Nicostratus speaks thus-
Fill a cup quickly now to the Good Deity,
And take away this table from before me;
For I have eaten quite enough;- I pledge
This cup to the Good Deity;- here, quick, I say,
And take away this table from before me.
Xenarchus, too, in his Twins, says-
(A) And now I do begin to nod my head.
(B) The cup to the Good Deity,
When I had drained it, knocked me over.
(A) And then the next libation duly quaffed
To Zeus the Saviour, wholly wrecked my boat,
And overwhelmed me, as you see.
And Eriphus, in his Meliboea, says-
Before he'd drunk a cup to the Good Deity,
Or to great Zeus the Saviour.
[48. ] G And Theophrastus, in his essay On Drunkenness, says- "The unmixed wine which is given at a banquet, which they call the pledge-cup in honour of the Good Deity, they offer in small quantities, as if reminding the guests of its strength, and of the liberality of the god, by the mere taste. And they hand it round when men are already full, in order that there may be as little as possible drunk out of it. And having paid adoration three times, they take it from the table, as if they were entreating of the gods that nothing may be done unbecomingly, and that they may not indulge in immoderate desires for this kind of drink, and that they may derive only what is honourable and useful from it. " And Philochorus, in the second book of his Atthis [ Fr_5 ], says- "And a law was made at that time, that after the solid food is removed, a taste of the unmixed wine should be served round as a sort of sample of the power of the Good Deity, but that all the rest of the wine should be previously mixed; on which account the Nymphs had the name given them of Nurses of Dionysus. " And that when the pledge-cup to the Good Deity was handed round, it was customary to remove the tables, is made plain by the wicked action of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily. For there was a table of gold placed before the statue of Asclepius at Syracuse; and so Dionysius, standing before it, and drinking a pledge-cup to the Good Deity, ordered the table to be removed.
But among the Greeks, those who sacrifice to the Sun, as Phylarchus tells us in the twelfth book of his History [ Fr_25 ], make their libations of honey, as they never bring wine to the altars; saying that it is proper that the god who keeps the whole universe in order, and regulates everything, and is always going round and superintending the whole, should in no respect be connected with drunkenness.
[49. ] G Most writers have mentioned the Attic scolia; and they are worthy also of being mentioned by me to you, on account of the antiquity and simple style of composition of the authors, and of those especially who gained a high reputation for that form of poetry, Alcaeus and Anacreon; [694] as Aristophanes says in his Daitaleis, where we find this line-
Come, then, a scolium sing to me,
Of old Alcaeus or Anacreon.
Praxilla, the Sicyonian poetess, was also celebrated for the composition of scolia. Now they are called scolia, not because of the character of the verse in which they are written, as if it were ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (crooked); for men call also those poems written in a laxer kind of metre ? ? ? ? ? ? . But, "as there are three kinds of songs" (as Artemon of Cassandreia says in the second book of his treatise On the Use of Books), "one or other of which comprehends everything which is sung at banquets; the first kind is that which it was usual for the whole party to sing; the second is that which the whole party indeed sang, not, however, together, but going round according to some kind of succession; the third is that which is ranked lowest of all, which was not sung by all the guests, but only by those who seemed to understand what was to be done, wherever they might happen to be sitting; on which account, as having some irregularity in it beyond what the other kinds had, in not being sung by all the guests, either together or in any definite kind of succession, but just as it might happen, it was called the crooked song (? ? ? ? ? ? ? ). And songs of this kind were sung when the ordinary songs, and those in which every one was bound to join, had come to an end. For then they invited all the more intelligent of the guests to sing some song worth listening to. And what they thought worth listening to were such songs as contained some exhortations and sentiments which seemed useful for the purposes of life. "
[50. ] G And of these Deipnosophists, one quoted one scolium, and one another. And these were those which were recited-
I
O Tritonian Pallas, who from heaven above
Looks with protecting eye
On this holy city and land,
Deign our protectress now to prove
From loss in war, from dread sedition's band,
And death's untimely blow, you and your father too.
II
I sing at this glad season, of the Queen,
Mother of Plutus, Olympian Demeter;
May you be ever near us,
With Persephone daughter of Zeus,
And ever as a friend
This citadel defend.
III
Leto once in Delos, as they say,
Did two great children bear,
Apollo with the golden hair,
Bright Phoebus, god of day.
And Artemis, mighty huntress, virgin chaste.
On whom all women's trust is placed.
IV
Raise the loud shout to Pan, Arcadia's king;
Praise to the Nymphs' loved comrade sing!
Come, O Pan, and raise with me
The song in joyful ecstasy.
V
We have conquered as we would,
The gods reward us as they should,
And victory bring from Pandrosus (? ) to Athene.
VI
Oh, would the gods such grace bestow,
That opening each man's breast,
One might survey his heart, and know
How true the friendship that could stand that test.
VII
Health's the best gift to mortal given;
Beauty is next; the third great prize
Is to grow rich, free both from sin and vice;
The fourth, to pass one's youth with friends beloved by heaven.
And when this had been sung, and everybody had been delighted with it; and when it had been mentioned that even the incomparable Plato had spoken of this scolium as one most admirably written, Myrtilus said, that Anaxandrides the comic poet had turned it into ridicule in his Treasure, speaking thus of it-
The man who wrote this song, whoever he was,
When he called health the best of all possessions,
Spoke well enough. But when the second place
He gave to beauty, and the third to riches,
He certainly was downright mad; for surely
Riches must be the next best thing to health,
For who would care to be a starving beauty!
[695] After that, these other scolia were sung-
VIII
'Tis well to stand upon the shore,
And look on others on the sea;
But when you once have dipped your oar,
By the present wind you must guided be.
IX
A crab caught a snake in his claw,
And thus he triumphantly spake,-
"My friends must be guided by law,
Nor love crooked counsels to take. "
X
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When they laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XI
Harmodius, hail! you did not die,
But stay in the islands of the blest,
Where swift-footed Achilles lives,
And Diomedes, Tydeus' brave son.
XII
I'll wreathe my sword in myrtle bough,
As Harmodius and Aristogeiton did,
When at Athene's feast they slew
Hipparchus, the tyrant of the land.
XIII
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, hail!
You will have eternal glory;
Because you laid the tyrant low,
And to Athens gave equality.
XIV
Learn, my friend, from Admetus' story,
All worthy friends and brave to cherish;
But cowards shun when danger comes,
For they will leave you alone to perish.
XV
Ajax of the ponderous spear, mighty son of Telamon,
They call you bravest of the Greeks, next to the great Achilles.
XVI
Telamon was first, and Ajax came in second place
Of all the Greeks who went to Troy, after invincible Achilles.
XVII
Would that I were an fine ivory lyre,
Struck by fair boys in Dionysus' chorus.
XVIII
Would that I were a golden trinket, large and new,
Worn by a lady fair, of spirit chaste.
XIX
Drink with me, and sport with me,
Love with me, wear crowns with me,
Be mad with me when I am moved with rage,
And modest when I yield to counsels sage.
XX
A scorpion beneath every stone doth lie,
And secrets usually hide treachery.
XXI
A sow one acorn has, and wants the other;
And I have one fair maid, and seek another.
XXII
A wanton and a bath-keeper both cherish the same fashion,
Giving the worthless and the good the self-same bath to wash in.
XXIII
Give Cedon wine, O slave, and fill it up,
If you must give each worthy man a cup.
