And Clearchus, in the second book of his treatise on Friendship, says,—“Stratonicus the harp-player, whenever he wished to go to sleep, used to order a slave to bring him something to drink; 'not,' says he, 'because I am thirsty now, but that I may not be presently.'” And once, at Byzantium, when a harp-player had played his prelude well, but had made a blunder of the rest of the performance, he got up and made proclamation, “That whoever would point out the harp-player who had played the prelude should receive a thousand drachmæ.” And when he was once asked by some one who were the wickedest people, he said, “That in Pamphylia, the people of Phaselis were the worst; but that the Sidetæ were the worst in the whole world.” And when he was asked again, according to the account given by Hegesander, which were the greatest barbarians, the Bœotians or the Thessalians, he said, “The Eleans.” And once he erected a trophy in his school, and put this inscription on it—“Over the bad harpplayers.” And once, being asked by some one which was the safer kind of vessel, the long one or the round one,— “Those,” quoth he, “are the safest which are in dock.” And once he made a display of his art at Rhodes, and no one applauded; on which he left the theatre, and when he had got into the air he said, “When you fail to give what costs you nothing, how can I expect any solid pay from you?” “Let the Eleans,” said he, “celebrate gymnastic contests, and let the Corinthians establish choral, and the Athenians theatrical exhibitions; and if any one of them does anything wrong, let the Lacedæmonians be scourged,” —jesting upon the public scourgings exhibited in that city, a Charicles relates, in the first book of his treatise on the Cit Contests. And when Ptolemy the king was talking with him in an ambitious kind of way about harp-playing, “Te sceptre,” said he, “Oking, is one thing, and the plectrum another;” as Capito the epic poet says in the fourth book of his Commentaries addressed to Philopappus. And once being invited to hear a flute-player, after he had heard him, he said—The father granted half his prayer,The other half denied.And when some one asked him which half he granted, he said, “He granted to him to play very badly, and denied him the ability to sing well.” And once, when a beam fell down and slew some wicked man, “O Men,” said he, “I think (δοκῶ) there are gods; and if not, there are beams (δόκοι).”
Κλέαρχος δ’ ἐν δευτέρῳ περὶ φιλίας ᾽ Στρατόνικος, ᾽ φησίν, ᾽. ὁ κιθαριστὴς ἀναπαύεσθαι μέλλων ἐκέλευεν ἀεὶ τὸν παῖδα προσφέρειν αὑτῷ πιεῖν· οὐχ ὅτι διψῶ, φησίν, ἵνα δὲ μὴ διψήσω. ἐν δὲ Βυζαντίῳ κιθαρῳδοῦ τὸ μὲν προοίμιον ᾄσαντος εὖ, ἐν δὲ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀποτυγχάνοντος, ἀναστὰς ἐκήρυξεν ὃς ἂν καταμηνύσῃ τὸν τὸ προοίμιον ᾄσαντα κιθαρῳδόν, λήψεται χιλίας δραχμάς. ἐρωτηθεὶς δ’ ὑπό τινος τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ μοχθηρότατοι, τῶν ἐν Παμφυλίᾳ Φασηλίτας μὲν ἔφησε μοχθηροτάτους εἶναι, Σιδήτας δὲ τῶν ἐν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ.᾽ πάλιν δ᾽· ἐπερωτηθείς, ὥς φησιν Ἡγήσανδρος, πότερα Βοιωτοὶ βαρβαρώτεροι τυγχάνουσιν ὄντες ἢ Θετταλοί, ᾽ Ἠλείους ἔφησεν. ἀναστήσας δέ ποτε καὶ τρόπαιον ἐν τῇ διατριβῇ ἐπέγραψε ᾽ κατὰ τῶν κακῶς κιθαριζόντων ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τινος τίνα τῶν πλοίων ἀσφαλέστατά ἐστι, τὰ μακρὰ ἢ τὰ στρογγύλα, ᾽τὰ νενεωλκημένα ᾽ εἶπεν. ἐν Ῥόδῳ δ’ ἐπίδειξιν ποιούμενος, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἐπεσημήνατο, καταλιπὼν τὸ θέατρον ἐξῆλθεν εἰπὼν ᾽ ὅπου τὸ ἀδάπανον οὐ ποιεῖτε, πῶς ἐγὼ ἐλπίζω παρ’ ὑμῶν ἔρανον λήψεσθαι;᾽ ᾽ γυμνικοὺς δὲ ἀγῶνας, ᾽ ἔφη, ᾽ διατιθέτωσαν Ἠλεῖοι, Κορίνθιοι δὲ θυμελικούς, Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ σκηνικούς, εἰ δέ τις τούτων πλημμελοίη, μαστιγούσθωσαν Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐπισκώπτων τὰς παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἀγομένας μαστιγώσεις, ὥς φησι Χαρικλῆς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ περὶ τοῦ ἀστικοῦ ἀγῶνος. Πτολεμαίου δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως περὶ κιθαριστικῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν διαλεγομένου φιλονικότερον, ᾽ ἕτερόν ἐστιν εἶπεν, ʽ ὦ βασιλεῦ, σκῆπτρον, ἕτερον δὲ πλῆκτρον, ὥς φησι Καπίτων ὁ ἐποποιὸς ἐν δ# τῶν πρὸς Φιλόπαππον ὑπομνημάτων, παρακληθεὶς δ’ ἀκοῦσαί ποτε κιθαρῳδοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἀκρόασιν ἔφη· τῷ δ’ ἕτερον μὲν ἔδωκε πατήρ, ἕτερον δ’ ἀνένευσε. καί τινος εἰπόντος ᾽ τὸ ποῖον;᾽ ἔφη ᾽ κακῶς μὲν κιθαρίζειν ἔδωκεν, ᾄδειν δὲ καλῶς ἀνένευσε δοκοῦ δέ ποτε καταπεσούσης καὶ ἀποκτεινάσης ἕνα τῶν πονηρῶν ᾽ ἄνδρες ἔφη, ᾽ δοκῶ, εἰσὶ θεοί· εἰ δὲ μή εἰσι, δοκοί εἰσιν.
Also, after the before-mentioned witticisms of Stratonicus, he put down besides a list of these things following. Stratonicus said once to the father of Chrysogonus, when he was saying that he had everything at home in great abundance, for that he himself had undertaken the works, and that of his sons, one could teach and another play the flute; “You still,” said Stratonicus, “want one thing.” And when the other asked him what that was, “You want,” said he, “a theatre in your house.” And when some one asked him why he kept travelling over the whole of Greece, and did not remain in one city, he said—“That he had received from the Muses all the Greeks as his wages, from whom he was to levy a tax to atone for their ignorance.” And he said that Phaon did not play harmony, but Cadmus. And when Phaon pretended to great skill on the flute, and said that he had a chorus at Megara, “You are joking,” said he; “for you do not possess anything there, but you are possessed yourself.” And he said—“That he marvelled above all things at the mother of Satyrus the Sophist, because she had borne for nine months a man whom no city in all Greece could bear for nine days.” And once, hearing that he had arrived in Ilium at the time of the Ilian games, “There are,” said he, “always troubles in Ilium.” And when Minnacus was disputing with him about music, he said—“That he was not attending to what he said, because he had got in above his ankles.” At another time he said of a bad physician—“That he made those who were attended by him go to the shades below the very day they came to him.” And having met one of his acquaintances, when he saw his sandals carefully sponged, he pitied him as being badly off, pretending to think that he would never have had his sandals so well sponged if he had not sponged them himself. And as it was a very mixed race of people who lived at Teichius, a town in the Milesian territory, when he saw that all the tombs about were those of foreigners, “Let us begone, O boy,” said he; “or all the strangers, as it seems, die here, and none of the citizens.” And when Zethus the harper was giving a lecture upon music, he said that he was the only person who was utterly unfit to discuss the subject of music, inasmuch as he had chosen the most unmusical of all names, and called himself; Zethus instead of Amphion. And once, when he was teaching some Macedonian to play on the harp, being angry that he did nothing as he ought, he said, “Go to Macedonia.”
ἀναγράφει δὲ καὶ τάδε μετὰ τὰ προειρημένα τοῦ ε Στρατονίκου ἀπομνημονευμάτων οὕτως. Στρατόνικος πρὸς τὸν Χρυσογόνου πατέρα λέγοντα ὅτι πάντα αὐτῷ ὑπάρχει οἰκεῖα· αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ἐργολάβος εἶναι, τῶν δὲ υἱῶν ὁ μὲν διδάξει, ὁ δὲ αὐλήσει, προσδεῖ γ᾽, ἔφη ὁ Στρατόνικος, ᾽ἔτι ἑνός.᾽ εἰπόντος δὲ ᾽τίνος;᾽ θεάτρου, ἔφη, οἰκείου, ἐρομένου δέ τινος διὰ τί τὴν Ἑλλάδα πᾶσαν περινοστεῖ, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν μιᾷ πόλει διαμένει, παρὰ τῶν Μουσῶν ἔφη εἰληφέναι τέλος τοὺς Ἕλληνας ἅπαντας, παρ’ ὧν πράττεσθαι μισθὸν ἀμουσίας. τὸν Φάωνα δὲ ἔφη αὐλεῖν οὐχ ἁρμονίαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Κάδμον. προσποιουμένου δὲ εἶναι Φάωνος αὐλητικοῦ καὶ ἔχειν φάσκοντος Μεγαροῖ χορόν, ᾽ ληρεῖς ἔφη· ᾽ ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔχεις, ἀλλ’ ἔχει.᾽ μάλιστα δὲ θαυμάζειν ἔφη τὴν τοῦ σοφιστοῦ Σατύρου μητέρα, ὅτι ὃν οὐδεμία πόλις ἐνεγκεῖν οἵα τε δέκα ἡμέρας, ἐκείνη δέκα μῆνας ἤνεγκε. πυνθανόμενος δὲ ἐν Ἰλίῳ ἐπιδημεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς Ἰλιείοις ᾽ αἰεί ἔφησεν, ᾽ Ἰλίῳ κακά Μυννάκου δ’ αὐτῷ περὶ μουσικῆς διαμφισβητοῦντος οὐ προσέχειν αὐτῷ ἔφη, ὅτι ἀνώτερον τοῦ σφυροῦ λέγει, τὸν δὲ φαῦλον ἰατρὸν ἀπαυθημερίζειν ἔφη ποιεῖν εἰς Ἅιδου τοὺς θεραπευομένους. ἀπαντήσας δέ τινι τῶν γνωρίμων ὡς εἶδεν ἐσπογγισμένα τὰ ὑποδήματα καλῶς συνηχθέσθη ὡς πράττοντι κακῶς, νομίζων οὐκ ἂν οὕτως ἐσπογγίσθαι καλῶς, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἐσπόγγισεν. ἐν Τειχιοῦντι δὲ τῆς Μιλήτου μιγάδων οἰκούντων ὡς ἑώρα πάντας τοὺς τάφους ξενικοὺς ὄντας ʽ᾽ ἀπίωμεν ἔφη, ᾽ παῖ· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ οἱ ξένοι ἐοίκασιν ἀποθνῄσκειν, τῶν δ’ ἀστῶν οὐδείς Ζήθου δὲ τοῦ κιθαριστοῦ διεξιόντος περὶ μουσικῆς, … μόνῳ δὲ οὐκ ἔφη προσήκειν περὶ μουσικῆς λαλεῖν, ᾽ ὅς γε, ᾽ ἔφη, τὸ ἀμουσότατον τῶν ὀνομάτων εἵλου, εἰ σεαυτὸν ἀντ’ Ἀμφίονος Ζῆθον καλεῖς.᾽ Μακεδόνα δέ τινα κιθαρίζειν διδάσκων ἐκπικρανθεὶς ἐπὶ τῷ μηδὲν αὐτὸν ποιεῖν τῶν δεόντων ᾽ εἰς Μακεδονίαν ᾽ ἔφη.
And when he saw the shrine of some hero splendidly adorned, close to a cold and worthless bathing-house, when he came out, having had a very bad bath, “I do not wonder,” said he, “that many tablets are dedicated here; for every one of the bathers naturally offers one, as having been saved from drowning.” And at another time he said—, “In Aenus there are eight months of cold and four of winter.” At another time he said, “that the people of Pontus had come out of a great sea”—as though he had said (great) trouble. And he called the Rhodians White Cyrenæans, and the city he called the City of Suitors; and Heraclea he called the Man- Corinth; and Byzantium he called the Arm-pit of Greece; and the Leucadians were Stale Corinthians; and the Ambraciotes he called Membraciotes. And when he had gone out of the gates of Heraclea, and was looking round him, when some one asked him what he was looking at, he said that “he was ashamed of being seen, as if he were coming out of a brothel.” And once, seeing two men bound in the stocks, he said—“This is suited to the disposition of a very insignificant city, not to be able to fill such a place as this.” And once he said to a man who professed to be a musician, but who had been a gardener before, and who was disputing with him about harmony,—Let each man sing the art in which he's skilled.And once at Maronea, when he was drinking with some people, he said,—“That he could tell in what part of the city he was, if men led him through it blindfold;” and then when they did so lead him, and asked him where he was, “Near the eating-house,” said he, because all Maronea seemed a mere eating-house. And once, when he was sitting next to Telephanes, and he was beginning to blow the flute, he said, “Higher, like men who belch.” And when the bathing-man in Cardia brought him some bad earth and salt water to cleanse himself with, he said that he was being besieged both by land and sea.
πρὸς βαλανείῳ ψυχρῷ καὶ φαύλῳ κεκοσμημένον ἰδὼν ἡρῷον λαμπρῶς ὡς ἐξῆλθεν λελουμένος κακῶς ᾽ οὐ θαυμάζω ἔφη, ᾽ ὅτι πολλοὶ ἀνάκεινται πίνακες· ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν λουομένων ὡς σωθέντα ἀνατιθέναι ἐν Αἴνῳ δὲ ἔφη τοὺς μὲν ὀκτὼ μῆνας εἶναι ψῦχος, τοὺς δὲ τέτταρας χειμῶνα. ᾽ τοὺς δὲ Ποντικοὺς ἐκ τοῦ πολλοῦ ἥκειν πόντου ὥσπερ ἐκ τοῦ ὀλέθρου. τοὺς δὲ Ῥοδίους ἐκάλει λευκοὺς Κυρηναίους καὶ μνηστήρων πόλιν, τὴν δ’ Ἡράκλειαν Ἀνδροκόρινθον καὶ τὸ Βυζάντιον μασχάλην τῆς Ἑλλάδος, τοὺς δὲ Λευκαδίους ἑώλους Κορινθίους, τοὺς δ’ Ἀμβρακιώτας Μεμβρακιώτας. ἐκ τῆς δ’ ʽ Ἡρακλείας ὡς ἐξῄει τὰς πύλας καὶ περιεσκόπει, ἐρομένου τινὸς τί περισκοπεῖ, αἰσχύνεσθαι ἔφη μὴ ὀφθῇ, ὥσπερ ἐκ πορνείου ἐξιών. ἰδὼν δ’ ἐν τῷ κύφωνι δεδεμένους δύο ᾽ ὡς μικροπολιτικόν ἔφη, ᾽ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι συμπληρῶσαι.᾽ πρὸς δὲ ἁρμονικόν τινα, κηπουρὸν ὄντα πρότερον, ἀμφισβητοῦντ’ αὐτῷ περὶ ἁρμονίας ἔφη· ἄρδοι τις ἣν ἕκαστος εἰδείη τέχνην, ἐν Μαρωνείᾳ δὲ συμπίνων τισὶν ἐθέλειν ἔφη γνῶναι κατὰ τίνα τόπον ἐστὶ τῆς πόλεως, ἐὰν κατακαλύψαντες ἄγωσιν. εἶθ’ ὡς ἦγον καὶ ἠρώτων, ᾽ κατὰ τὸ καπηλεῖον ἔφη, ὅτι καπηλεῖα ἐδόκει εἶναι ἡ Μαρώνεια, τὸν δὲ Τηλεφάνην, ἐπεὶ ἀναφυσᾶν ἤρχετο παρακατακείμενος, ᾽ ἄνω ἔφη, ᾽ ὡς οἱ ἐρυγγάνοντες.᾽ τοῦ δὲ βαλανέως ἐν Καρδίᾳ ῥύμμα γῆν μοχθηρὰν καὶ ὕδωρ ἁλμυρὸν παρέχοντος, πολιορκεῖσθαι ἔφη κατὰ γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν.
And when he had conquered his competitors at Sicyon, he set up a trophy in the temple of Aesculapius, and wrote upon it, “Stratonicus, conqueror of those who played badly on the harp.” And when some one had sung, he asked what tune he had been singing; and when he said that it was an air of Carcinus, “More like that,” said he, “than the air of a man.” He also said, on another occasion, that there was no spring at Maronea, only heat. And once at Phaselis, when the bathing-man was wrangling with his boy about the money, (for the law was that foreigners should pay more for bathing than natives,) “Oh, you wretched boy!” said he, “you have almost made me a citizen of Phaselis, to save a halfpenny.” And once, when a person was praising him in hopes to get something by it, he said, “that he himself was a greater beggar.” And once, when he was teaching in a small town, he said, “This is not a city (πόλις), but hardly one (μόλις).” And once, when he was at Pella, he came to a well, and asked whether it was fit to drink; and when those who were drawing water from it said, “At all events we drink it;” “Then,” said he, “I am sure it is not fit to drink:” for the men happened to be very sallow-looking. And when he had heard the poem of Timotheus, on the subject of Semele in Labour, he said, “But if she had brought forth an artisan, and not a god, what sounds would she have uttered!” And when Polyidas was giving himself airs, because his pupil Philotas had beaten Timotheus, he said, “That he wondered at his being so ignorant as not to know that he makes decrees, and Timotheus laws.” And he said to Areus the harp-player, who was annoying him, “Play to the crows.” And once he was at Sicyon, when a leather-dresser was abusing him, and he said to the leather-dresser (νακοδέψης), “O you κακόδαιμον νακόδαιμον.” And Stratonicus himself, beholding the Rhodians dissolved in luxury, and drinking only warm drinks, said, “that there were white Cyrenæans.” And he called Rhodes itself the City of the Suitors, thinking that they were in no respect different from the Cyrenæans in debauchery, but only in complexion; and also because of the devotion to pleasure of the inhabitants, he compared Rhodes itself to the city of the Suitors.
νικήσας δ’ ἐν Σικυῶνι τοὺς ἀνταγωνιστὰς ἀνέθηκεν εἰς τὸ Ἀσκληπιεῖον τρόπαιον ἐπιγράψας· ᾽ Στρατόνικος ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶς κιθαριζόντων.᾽ ᾄσαντος δέ τινος, ἤρετο τίνος τὸ μέλος, εἰπόντος δ’ ὅτι Καρκίνου, ᾽ πολύ γε μᾶλλον ἔφη, ᾽ ἢ ἀνθρώπου ἐν Μαρωνείᾳ δ’ ἔφη οὐ γίνεσθαι ἔαρ, ἀλλ’ ἀλέαν. ἐν Φασήλιδι δὲ πρὸς τὸν παῖδα διαμφισβητοῦντος τοῦ βαλανέως περὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου ἦν γὰρ νόμος πλείονος λούειν τοὺς ξένους) ‘ὦ μιαρέ,’ ἔφη, ‘παῖ, παρὰ χαλκοῦν με μικροῦ Φασηλίτην ἐποίησας.’ πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐπαινοῦντα ἵνα λάβῃ τι, αὐτὸς ἔφη μείζων εἶναι πτωχός, ἐν μικρᾷ δὲ πόλει διδάσκων ἔφη ‘αὕτη οὐ πόλις ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ μόλις.’ ἐν Πέλλῃ δὲ πρὸς φρέαρ προσελθὼν ἠρώτησεν εἰ πότιμόν ἐστιν. εἰπόντων δὲ τῶν ἱμώντων ‘ἡμεῖς γε τοῦτο πίνομεν,’ ‘οὐκ ἄρ’,’ ἔφη, ‘πότιμόν ἐστιν.’ ἐτύγχανον δ’ οἱ ἄνθρωποι χλωροὶ ὄντες. ἐπακούσας δὲ τῆς ᾽ Ὠδῖνος τῆς Τιμοθέου ‘εἰ δ’ ἐργολάβον,’ ἔφη, ‘ἔτικτεν καὶ μὴ θεόν, ποίας ἂν ἠφίει φωνάς.’ Πολυίδου δὲ σεμνυνομένου ὡς ἐνίκησε Τιμόθεον ὁ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ Φιλωτᾶς, θαυμάζειν ἔφη, ᾽ εἰ ἀγνοεῖς ὅτι αὐτὸς μὲν ψηφίσματα ποιεῖ, Τιμόθεος δὲ νόμους.᾽ πρὸς Ἄρειον δὲ τὸν ψάλτην ὀχλοῦντά τι αὐτὸν ᾽ ψάλλ’ ἐς κόρακας ἔφη. ἐν Σικυῶνι δὲ πρὸς νακοδέψην γεγενημένον, ἐπεὶ ἐλοιδορεῖτό τι αὐτῷ καὶ ᾽ κακόδαιμον ᾽ ἔφη, ᾽ νακόδαιμον ᾽ ἔφη. τοὺς δὲ Ῥοδίους ὁ αὐτὸς Στρατόνικος σπαταλῶνας καὶ θερμοπότας θεωρῶν ἔφη αὐτοὺς λευκοὺς εἶναι Κυρηναίους. καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν Ῥόδον ἐκάλει μνηστήρων πόλιν, χρώματι μὲν εἰς ἀσωτίαν διαλλάττειν ἐκείνων ἡγούμενος αὐτούς, ὁμοιότητι δ’ εἰς καταφέρειαν ἡδονῆς τὴν πόλιν μνηστήρων εἰκάζων.
And Stratonicus was, in all these elaborate witticisms, an imitator of Simonides the poet, as Ephorus tells us in the second book of his treatise on Inventions; who says that Philoxenus of Cythera was also a great studier of the same pursuit. And Phænias the Peripatetic, in the second book of his treatise on Poets, says—“Stratonicus the Athenian appears to have been the first person who introduced the system of playing chords into the simple harp-playing; and he was the first man who ever took pupils in music, and who ever composed tables of music. And he was also a man of no small brilliancy as a wit.” He says also that he was eventually put to death by Nicocles, the King of the Cyprians, on account of the freedom of his witticisms, being compelled to drink poison, because he had turned the sons of the king into ridicule.
ζηλωτὴς δὲ τῶν εὐτραπέλων λόγων τούτων ἐγένετο ὁ Στρατόνικος Σιμωνίδου τοῦ ποιητοῦ, ὥς φησιν Ἔφορος ἐν δευτέρῳ περὶ εὑρημάτων, φάσκων καὶ Φιλόξενον τὸν Κυθήριον περὶ τὰ ὅμοια ἐσπουδακέναι. Φαινίας δ’ ὁ περιπατητικὸς ἐν δευτέρῳ περὶ ποιητῶν Στρατόνικος,, φησίν, ᾽ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος δοκεῖ τὴν πολυχορδίαν εἰς τὴν ψιλὴν κιθάρισιν πρῶτος εἰσενεγκεῖν καὶ πρῶτος μαθητὰς τῶν ἁρμονικῶν ἔλαβε καὶ διάγραμμα συνεστήσατο. ἦν δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ γελοίῳ οὐκ ἀπίθανος φασὶ δὲ καὶ τελευτῆσαι αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ἐν τῷ γελοίῳ παρρησίαν ὑπὸ Νικοκλέους τοῦ Κυπρίων βασιλέως φάρμακον πιόντα διὰ τὸ σκώπτειν αὐτοῦ τοὺς υἱούς.
But I marvel at Aristotle, whom these wise men, my excellent Democritus, are so incessantly speaking of and praising, (and whose writings you also esteem highly, as you do those of the other philosophers and orators,) on account of his great accuracy: and I should like to know when he learnt, or from what Proteus or Nereus who came up from the depths he found out, what fish do, or how they go to sleep, or how they live: for all these things he has told us in his writings, so as to be, in the words of the comic poets, “a wonder to fools;” for he says that the ceryx, and indeed that the whole race of shell-fish, are propagated without copulation; and that the purple-fish and the ceryx are longlived. For how could he know that the purple-fish lives six years? and how could he know that the viper takes a long time to propagate his species? or that of all its tribe the longest at that work is the pigeon, the next the œnas, and the quickest is the turtle-dove? And whence did he learn that the horse lives five-and-thirty years, but the mare more than forty? saying, too, that some have lived even seventy-five years. And he also states that from the copulation of lice there are born nits; and that from a worm, after its change, there is produced a caterpillar, from which comes the humble-bee, and from that the larva of the silk-worm. And he also says that bees live to six years of age, and that some live even seven years; and he says that neither bee nor wasp have ever been seen in the act of copulation, on which account no one can ever tell whether they are male or female. And from what did he learn that men are inferior to bees? for these latter always preserve an equal condition of life, being subject to no changes, but employing themselves without ceasing in the collection of honey, and doing that without having been taught by any one to do so: but men are inferior to bees, and as full of fancy as bees are of honey: how, then has Aristotle observed all these things? And in his treatise on Long Life, he says that a fly has been seen which had lived six or seven years. But what proof is there of this?
τοῦ δ’ Ἀριστοτέλους τεθαύμακα, ὃν πολυθρύλητον πεποιήκασιν οἱ σοφοὶ οὗτοι, καλέ μου Δημόκριτε καὶ σὺ τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ πρεσβεύεις ὡς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φιλοσόφων τε καὶ ῥητόρων τῆς ἀκριβείας, πότε μαθὼν ἢ παρά τίνος ἀνελθόντος ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ Πρωτέως ἢ Νηρέως, τί ποιοῦσιν οἱ ἰχθύες ἢ πῶς κοιμῶνται ἢ πῶς διαιτῶνται. τοιαῦτα γὰρ συνέγραψεν ὡς εἶναι κατὰ τὸν κωμῳδιοποιὸν ᾽ θαύματα μωροῖς.᾽ φησὶν γάρ ὅτι κήρυκες μὲν καὶ πάντα τὰ ὀστρακόδερμα ἀνόχευτον αὐτῶν ἐστι τὸ γένος καὶ ὅτι ἡ πορφύρα καὶ ὁ κῆρυξ μακρόβια, ζῆν γὰρ τὴν πορφύραν ἔτη ἓξ πόθεν ἦν αὐτῷ εἰδέναι; καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ πλεῖστον χρόνον ἐν ὀχείᾳ γίγνεται ἡ ἔχιδνα, καὶ ὅτι μέγιστον μὲν ἐστιν ἡ φάττα, δεύτερον δὲ ἡ οἰνάς, ἐλάχιστον δὲ ἡ τρυγών. πόθεν δ’ ὅτι ὁ μὲν ἄρρην ἵππος ζῇ ἔτη πέντε καὶ τριάκοντα, ἡ δὲ θήλεια πλείω τῶν τεσσαράκοντα, βιῶσαι φήσας τινὰ καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε, ἱστορεῖ δ’ ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν φθειρῶν ὀχείας αἱ κόνιδες γεννῶνται καὶ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ σκώληκος μεταβάλλοντος γίνεται κάμπη ἐξ ἧς βομβυλιός, ἀφ’ οὗ ὁ νεκύδαλλος ὀνομαζόμενος· ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰς μελίσσας βιοῦν φησι μέχρι ἐτῶν ἕξ, τινὰς δὲ καὶ ἑπτά. οὐκ ὦφθαι δέ φησιν οὔτε μέλισσαν οὔτε κηφῆνα ὀχεύοντας, ὅθεν οὐκ εἶναι διιδεῖν πότερα αὐτῶν ἄρρενα ἢ θήλεα, πόθεν δ’ ὅτι οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἥσσονες μελισσῶν αἰεὶ γὰρ αὗται τὴν ἰσότητα τοῦ βίου τηροῦσιν, οὐ μεταβαλλόμεναι, ἀλλ’ ἀγείρουσαι καὶ ἀδιδάκτως ποιοῦσαι. οἱ δ’ ἄνθρωποι ἥσσονες μελισσῶν καὶ πλήρεις οἰήσεως ὡς ἐκεῖναι μέλιτος· πόθεν δ’ ἐτήρησεν; ἐν δὲ τῷ περὶ μακροβιότητός φησιν ὅτι ὦπταί τις μυῖα ἔτη ἕξ ἢ ἑπτὰ ζήσασα. τίς γὰρ τούτων ἡ ἀπόδειξις;
And where did he ever see ivy growing out of a stag's head? And again, owls and night-jars, he says, cannot see by day; on which account they hunt for their food by night, and they do this not during the whole night, but at the beginning of evening. And he says, too, that there are several different kinds of eyes, for some are blue, and some are black, and some are hazel. He says, too, that the eyes of men are of different characters, and that the differences of disposition may be judged of from the eyes; for that those men who have goats' eyes, are exceedingly sharp-sighted, and have the best dispositions. And of others, he says that some men have projecting eyes, and some have eyes deeply set, and some keep a mean between the two: and those whose eyes are deeply set, he says, have the sharpest sight, and those whose eyes project, must have the worst dispositions; and those who are moderate in these respects, are people, says he, of moderate dispositions. There are also some people whose eyes are always winking, and some who never wink at all, and some who do so in a moderate degree: and those who are always winking are shameless people, and those who never wink at all are unstable and fickle, and those who wink in a moderate degree have the best disposition. He says also that man is the only animal which has its heart on the left side; and that all other animals have it in the middle of the body. And he says that males have more teeth than females; and he affirms that this has been noticed in the case of the sheep, and of the pig, and of the goat. And he says also that there is no fish which has testicles, and there is no fish which has a breast, and no bird ether; but that the only fish which has no gall is the dolphin. There are, however, some, says he, which have no gall in their liver, but they have it near their bowels; as the sturgeon, the synagris, the lamprey, the sword-fish, and the sea-swallow. But the amia has its gall spread over the whole of its entrails: and the hawk and the kite have theirs spread both over their liver and their entrails; but the ægocephalus has his gall both in his liver and in his stomach: and the pigeon, and the quail, and the swallow have theirs, some in their entrails, and some in their stomach. Moreover, he says that all the molluscous fish, and the shell-fish, and the cartilaginous fish, and all insects, spend a long time in copulation; but that the dolphin and some other fish copulate lying alongside the female. And he says that the dolphins are very slow, but fish in general very quick. Again he says that the lion has very solid bones, and that if they are struck, fire comes from them as from flint stones. And that the dolphin has bones, but no spine; but that cartilaginous fish have both gristle and spine. And of animals he says that some are terrestrial and some aquatic; land that some even live in the fire; and that there are some, which he calls ephemera, which live only one day: and that there are some which are amphibious, such as the river-horse, and the crocodile, and the otter. And that all animals in general have two forefeet, but that the crab has four; and that all the animals which have blood are either without feet t all, or are bipeds, or quadrupeds; and that all the animals which have more than four feet are destitute of blood: n which account every animal which moves, moves by what he calls four tokens,—man by two hands and two feet, a bird by two feet and two wings, an eel and a conger by two fins and two joints. Moreover, some animals have hands, as a man has, and some appear to have hands, as a monkey does; or there is no brute beast which can really give and take, and it is for those things that hands are given to men as instruments. Again, some animals have limbs, as a man, an ox, an ass; and some have no limbs, as a serpent, an oyster, the pulmo marinus. There are also many animals which are not always visible, such as those which hide in holes; and those which do not hide in holes are still not always visible, as swallows and cranes.
ποῦ δὲ εἶδεν ἐκ κέρατος ἐλάφου κισσὸν ἀναφύντα; γλαῦκες δέ., φησί, καὶ κόρακες ἡμέρας ἀδυνατοῦσι βλέπειν διὸ νύκτωρ τὴν τροφὴν ἑαυτοῖς θηρεύουσι καὶ οὐ πᾶσαν νύκτα, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀκρέσπερον, καὶ τὰς ἰδέας δὲ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐμφερεῖς εἶναι; τοῖς μὲν γὰρ γλαυκαί, τοῖς δὲ μέλαιναι, τοῖς δὲ χαροποί. ἀνθρώποις δὲ ὅτι παντοῖος ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς ἠθῶν τε διαφορὰς εἶναι περὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς λέγει· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ αἰγωποὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρὸς ὀξύτητα μὲν ὄψεως εὖ πεφυκέναι, τὰ δ’ ἤθη βελτίστους εἶναι. καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς μὲν ἐκτὸς ἔχειν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, τοὺς δὲ ἐντός, ἄλλους δὲ μέσως. καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἐντὸς ὀξυωπεστάτους εἶναι, τοὺς δ’ ἐκτὸς κακοηθεστάτους· οἱ δὲ μέσως, φησίν, ἔχοντες ἐπιεικεῖς, εἶναι δέ τινας καὶ σκαρδαμυκτικούς, τοὺς δ’ ἀτενεῖς, τοὺς δὲ μέσους· ἀβεβαίους δ’ εἶναι τοὺς σκαρδαμυκτικούς, ἀναιδεῖς. δ’ εἶναι τοὺς ἀτενεῖς· τοὺς δὲ μέσους βελτίστων ἠθῶν. μόνον τε ἄνθρωπον τῶν ζῴων τὴν καρδίαν ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς μέρεσι, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα ἐν τῷ μέσῳ. καὶ τοὺς ἄρρενας τῶν θηλειῶν πλείονας ὀδόντας ἔχειν. τετηρῆσθαί δέ φησι τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ προβάτου καὶ ἐπὶ συὸς καὶ ἐπὶ αἰγός. τῶν δὲ ἰχθύων οὐδένα γεννᾶσθαι ὄρχεις ἔχοντα· μαστοὺς δὲ οὔτ’ ἰχθὺν ἔχειν οὔτε ὄρνιθα, δελφῖνα δὲ μόνον οὐκ ἔχειν χολήν. ἔνιοι δέ, φησίν, ἐπὶ μὲν τῷ ἥπατι οὐκ ἔχουσιν χολήν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῖς ἐντέροις, ὡς ἔλοψ καὶ συναγρὶς καὶ σμύραινα καὶ ξιφίας καὶ χελιδών. ἡ δὲ ἀμία παρ’ ὅλον τὸ ἔντερον παρατεταμένην ἔχει τὴν χολήν, ἱέραξ δὲ καὶ ἰκτῖνος πρὸς τῷ ἥπατι καὶ τοῖς ἐντέροις· ὁ δ’ αἰγοκέφαλος πρὸς τῷ ἥπατι καὶ τῇ κοιλίᾳ, περιστερὰ δὲ καὶ ὄρτυξ καὶ χελιδὼν οἱ μὲν πρὸς τοῖς ἐντέροις, οἱ δὲ πρὸς τῇ κοιλίᾳ, τὰ δὲ μαλακόδερμά φησι καὶ τὰ ὀστρακόδερμα καὶ τὰ σελαχώδη καὶ τὰ ἔντομα πλείονα χρόνον ὀχεύειν. δελφῖνα δὲ καί τινας τῶν ἰχθύων παρακατακλινομένους ὀχεύειν, καὶ εἶναι τῶν μὲν δελφίνων βραδεῖαν τὴν μῖξιν, τῶν δὲ ἰχθύων ταχεῖαν. ἔτι ὁ λέων, φησί, στερέμνια ἔχει τὰ ὀστᾶ, καὶ κοπτομένων αὐτῶν ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν λίθων πῦρ ἐκλάμπειν. δελφὶς δὲ ὀστᾶ μὲν ἔχει καὶ οὐκ ἄκανθαν, τὰ δὲ σελάχη καὶ χόνδρον καὶ ἄκανθαν. τῶν δ’ ἰχθύων.., τὰ μὲν εἶναι χερσαῖα, τὰ δὲ ἔνυδρα, τὰ δὲ πυριγενῆ. εἶναι δέ τινα καὶ ἐφήμερα καλούμενα, ἃ μίαν μόνην ἡμέραν ζῆν. τὰ δὲ ἀμφίβια εἶναι ὡς τὸν ποτάμιον ἵππον καὶ κροκόδειλον καὶ ἔνυδριν. πάντα τε τὰ ζῷα δύο ἡγεμόνας ἔχειν πόδας, καρκίνον δέ τέσσαρας, ὅσα δ’ ἔναιμά ἐστι, φησί, τῶν ζῴων ἢ ἄποδά ἐστιν ἢ δίποδα ἢ τετράποδα, ὅσα δὲ τῶν τεσσάρων πλείονας ἔχει πόδας ἄναιμά ἐστι. διὸ καὶ πάντα τὰ κινούμενα τέτταρσι σημείοις κινεῖται· ἄνθρωπος μὲν β’ ποσὶ καὶ β’ χερσίν, ὄρνις δὲ β’ ποσὶ καὶ β’ πτέρυξιν, ἔγχελυς καὶ γόγγρος δύο πτερυγίοις καὶ δύο καμπαῖς. ἔτι τῶν ζῴων τὰ μὲν ἔχει χεῖρας, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, τὰ δὲ δοκεῖ, ὡς πίθηκος· οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων δίδωσι καὶ λαμβάνει, πρὸς ἅπερ αἱ χεῖρες ὄργανα δέδονται, πάλιν τῶν ζῴων τὰ μὲν ἄρθρα ἔχει, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ὄνος, βοῦς, τὰ δὲ ἄναρθρά ἐστιν, οἷον ὄφεις, ὄστρεα, πλεύμονες. πολλά τε τῶν ζῴων οὐ κατὰ πᾶσαν ὥραν φαίνεται, οἷον τὰ φωλεύοντα, καὶ ὅσα δὲ μὴ φωλεύει οὐκ αἰεὶ φαίνεται, οἷον χελιδόνες καὶ πελαργοί.
And though I could repeat to you now a great deal of nonsense which the medicine-seller talked, I forbear to do so, although I know that Epicurus, that most truthful of men, said of him in his letter about Institutions, that he devoted himself to a military life after having squandered his patrimony in gluttony; and that, turning out an indifferent soldier, he then took to selling medicines. Then, when the school of Plato was opened, he says, he changed again, and applied himself to philosophical discussions, and as he was not a man destitute of ability, by little and little he became a speculative philosopher. I know, too, that Epicurus is the only person who ever said this of him; for neither did Eubulides nor Cephisodorus venture to say anything of the kind against the Stagirite, and that, too, though they did write books against him. But in that same letter Epicurus says, that Protagoras also, who became a philosopher from having been a porter and a wood-carrier, was first promoted to be an amanuensis of Democritus; who, wondering at the admirable way in which he used to put the wood together, took him under his eye in consequence of this beginning; and then he began to teach the rudiments of learning in some village, and after that he proceeded on to the study of philosophy. And I now, O fellow feasters, after all this conversation, feel a great desire for something to eat. And when some one said that the cooks were already preparing something, and taking care that the dishes should not be served up cold, on account of the excessive length to which the “feast of words” had been carried, for that no one could eat cold dishes, Cynulcus said,—But I, like the Milcon of Alexis, the comic poet, can eat them even if they are not served up warm—For Plato teaches us that what is good,Is everywhere on all occasions good;Can you deny this? and that what is sweetIs always sweet, here, there, and ev'rywhere.And it was not without some cleverness that Sphærus, who was a fellow-pupil with Chrysippus in the school of Cleanthes, when he had been sent for to Alexandria by king Ptolemy; when on one occasion birds made of wax were served up at a banquet, and he was putting out his hand to take some, but was stopped by the king, who told him that he was assenting to a sham; very appropriately answered,—'That he did not agree that they were birds at all, but only that it was probable that they might be birds; and that an opinion which could be confirmed by the perception, is superior to that which is merely probable; for that the one cannot be incorrect, but that what is probable may turn out Contrary to what was expected." And so it could not be a bad thing if some waxen dishes were brought round to us too, according to our perceptive opinions, so that we might be beguiled at least by the sight of them, and so escape talking on for ever.
πολλὰ δὲ ἔχων ἔτι λέγειν περὶ ὧν ἐλήρησεν ὁ φαρμακοπώλης παύομαι, καίτοι εἰδὼς καὶ Ἐπίκουρον τὸν φιλαληθέστατον ταῦτ’ εἰπόντα περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ περὶ ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐπιστολῇ, ὅτι καταφαγὼν τὰ πατρῷα ἐπὶ στρατείαν ὥρμησε καὶ ὅτι ἐν ταύτῃ κακῶς πράττων ἐπὶ τὸ φαρμακοπωλεῖν ἦλθεν εἶτα ἀναπεπταμένου τοῦ Πλάτωνος περιπάτου, φησί, παραβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν προσεκάθισε τοῖς λόγοις, οὐκ ὢν ἀφυής, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς τὴν θεωρουμένην ἕξιν ἦλθεν. οἶδα δὲ ὅτι ταῦτα μόνος Ἐπίκουρος εἴρηκεν κατ’ αὐτοῦ, οὔτε δ’ Εὐβουλίδης, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ Κηφισόδωρος τοιοῦτόν τι ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν κατὰ τοῦ Σταγειρίτου, καίτοι καὶ συγγράμματα ἐκδόντες κατὰ τἀνδρός. ἐν δὲ τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιστολῇ ὁ Ἐπίκουρος καὶ Πρωταγόραν φησὶ τὸν σοφιστὴν ἐκ φορμοφόρου καὶ ξυλοφόρου πρῶτον μὲν γενέσθαι γραφέα Δημοκρίτου· θαυμασθέντα δ’ ὑπ’ ἐκείνου ἐπὶ ξύλων τινὶ ἰδίᾳ συνθέσει ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς ἀρχῆς ἀναληφθῆναι ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ διδάσκειν ἐν κώμῃ τινὶ γράμματα, ἀφ’ ὧν ἐπὶ τὸ σοφιστεύειν ὁρμῆσαι. κἀγὼ δέ, ἄνδρες συνδαιταλῆς, ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν τούτων λόγων τὴν ὁρμὴν ἔχω ἐπὶ τὸ ἤδη γαστρίζεσθαι.εἰπόντος οὖν τινος ἔτι παρασκευάζεσθαι τοὺς μαγείρους διὰ τὴν πολλὴν τῶν λόγων ἑστίασιν ἵνα μὴ ψυχρὰ παρατιθῶσιν οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἂν φάγοι ψυχρῶν, ὁ Κύνουλκος ἔφη·κατὰ τὸν Ἀλέξιδος τοῦ κωμῳδιοποιοῦ Μίλκωνα. ἐγὼ ʽ φησιν᾽ … κἂν μὴ παραθῶσι θερμά, τἀγαθὸν Πλάτων ἁπανταχοῦ φησ’ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, μανθάνεις; τὸ δ’ ἡδὺ πάντως ἡδὺ κἀκεῖ κἀνθάδε. οὐκ ἀχαρίτως δὲ καὶ Σφαῖρον τὸν συσχολάσαντα μὲν Χρυσίππῳ παρὰ Κλεάνθει, μετάπεμπτον δὲ γενόμενον εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Πτολεμαίου, κηρίνων ποτὲ ἐν τῷ δείπνῳ παρατεθεισῶν ὀρνίθων ἐκτείναντα τὰς χεῖρας ἐπισχεθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, ὡς ψεύδει συγκατατιθέμενον. τὸν δ’ εὐστόχως ἀποφήνασθαι εἰπόντα οὐ τούτῳ συγκατατίθεσθαι ὅτι εἰσὶν ὄρνεις, ἀλλ’ ὅτι εὔλογόν ἐστι ταύτας ὄρνεις εἶναι. διαφέρειν δὲ τὴν καταληπτικὴν φαντασίαν τοῦ εὐλόγου· τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀδιάψευστον εἶναι, τὸ δ’ εὔλογον κἂν ἄλλως ἀποβαίνειν. καὶ ἡμῖν οὖν κατὰ τὴν καταληπτικὴν φαντασίαν καὶ τῶν κηρίνων περιενεχθήτω, ἵνα κἂν κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν πλανᾶσθαι δυνώμεθα μὴ πάντα λαλῶμεν.
And when they were now on the point of sitting down to eat again, Daphnus bade them stop, quoting this iambic out of the Mammacythus or Auri of Metagenes—As when we're feasting anywhere,Then we all talk and argue faster.And indeed, said he, I say that the discussion about fish is still defective in some points, since the sons of Aesculapius (such as Philotimus I mean, in his essay on Food, and Mnesitheus the Athenian, and Diphilus the Siphnian) hare said a good deal about fishes, of which we have as yet taken no notice. For Diphilus, in his work entitled A Treatise on Food fit for People in Health and Invalids, says,—"Of sea-fish, those which keep to the rocks are easily digested, and juicy, and purgative, and light, but not very nutritious; but those which keep in the deep water are much less digestible, very nutritious, but apt to disagree with one. Now, of the fish which keep to the rocks, the phycen and the phycis are very tender little fish, and very digestible; but the perch, which is like them, varies a little as to the places in which it is found. And the tench resembles the perch; but the smaller tench and the white ones are tender, juicy, and digestible; but the green ones (and they are also called caulinæ) are dry, and devoid of juice. The channæ also have tender meat, put still they are harder than the perch. Then there is the scarus, which has tender flesh, not very firm, sweet, light, digestible, not apt to disagree with one, and good for the stomach. But the fresh ones are less popular than the others, because they hunt the sea-hares and feed on them, owing to which their entrails are apt to produce cholera morbus. And the fish which is called ceris is tender, good for the bowels, and good for the stomach; but its juice has fattening and purgative qualities. The orphus, which some write ὀρφὸς, and some ὀρφὼς, is very full of a pleasant juice, glutinous, indigestible, very nutritious, diuretic. But the parts near his head are glutinous and digestible; but the more fleshy parts are indigestible and heavy, and the part towards the tail is the tenderest part; and he is a fish apt to generate phlegm, and indigestible. The sphyrenæ are more nutritious than the congers; and the eel caught in lakes is not so nice as the sea-eel, but it is more nutritious. The chrysophrys is very like the melanurus; and the sea-scorpions, which are found in the deep sea, and are of a tawny colour, are more nutritious than those which are found in marshes, or than the large ones which are taken on the shores.
καὶ μελλόντων ἤδη δειπνεῖν ἐπισχεῖν ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Δάφνος, ἐπειπὼν τὸ ἐκ Μαμμακύθου ἢ Αὐρῶν Μεταγένους ἰαμβεῖονὥσπερ ἐπειδὰν δειπνῶμέν που, τότε πλεῖστα λαλοῦμεν ἅπαντες. κἀγὼ φημι ἐνδεῶς εἰρῆσθαι τὸν περὶ ἰχθύων λόγον, πολλὰ εἰρηκότων καὶ Ἀσκληπιαδῶν παίδων, Φιλοτίμου λέγω ἐν τοῖς περὶ τροφῆς καὶ Μνησιθέου τοῦ Ἀθηναίου, ἔτι δὲ Διφίλου τοῦ Σιφνίου οὗτος γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ περὶ τῶν προσφερομένων τοῖς νοσοῦσι καὶ τοῖς ὑγιαίνουσί φησιν ὅτι τῶν θαλασσίων ἰχθύων οἱ μὲν πετραῖοί εἰσιν εὔφθαρτοι, εὔχυλοι, σμηκτικοί, κοῦφοι, ὀλιγότροφοι, οἱ δὲ πελάγιοι δυσφθαρτότεροι, πολύτροφοι, δυσοικονόμητοι. καὶ τῶν πετραίων ὁ φύκης καὶ ἡ φυκίς, ἁπαλώτατα ἰχθύδια ὄντα, ἄβρωμα καὶ εὔφθαρτά ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ πέρκη τούτοις προσεοικυῖα κατὰ τόπους ὀλίγῳ διαλλάττει. οἱ δὲ κωβιοὶ ἀναλογοῦσι τῇ πέρκῃ· ὧν οἱ μικροὶ καὶ οἱ λευκοὶ ἁπαλοί εἰσιν, ἄβρωμοι, εὔχυλοι, εὔπεπτοι· οἱ δὲ χλωροὶ καλοῦνται δὲ καυλίναι ξηροί εἰσι καὶ ἀλιπεῖς. αἱ δὲ χάνναι ἁπαλόσαρκοι, σκληρότεραι δὲ τῆς πέρκης. ὁ δὲ σκάρος ἁπαλόσαρκος, ψαθυρός, γλυκύς, κοῦφος, εὔπεπτος, εὐανάδοτος, εὐκοίλιος. τούτων δὲ ὁ πρόσφατος ὕποπτος, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς θαλαττίους λαγὼς θηρεύοντες σιτοῦνται· διὸ καὶ τὰ ἐντὸς χολέρας ποιητικὰ ἔχει. ἡ δὲ καλουμένη κηρὶς ἁπαλόσαρκος, εὐκοίλιος, εὐστόμαχος· ὁ δὲ χυλὸς αὐτῆς παρυγραίνει καὶ σμήχει. ὀρφὸς ἢ ὀρφὼς εὔχυλος, πολύχυλος, γλίσχρος, δύσφθαρτος, πολύτροφος, οὐρητικός· τὰ δὲ πρὸς τῇ κεφαλῇ αὐτοῦ γλίσχρα, εὔπεπτα, τὰ δὲ σαρκώδη δύσπεπτα, βαρύτερα· ἁπαλώτερον δὲ τὸ οὐραῖον φλέγματος δ’ ἐστὶ δραστικὸς ὁ ἰχθὺς καὶ δύσπεπτος. αἱ δὲ σφύραιναι τῶν γόγγρων εἰσὶ τροφιμώτεραι. ἡ δὲ λιμναία ἔγχελυς τῆς θαλασσίας ἐστὶν εὐστομωτέρα καὶ πολυτροφωτέρα. τῷ δὲ μελανούρῳ ἀναλογεῖ ὁ χρύσοφρυς. σκορπίοι δὲ οἱ πελάγιοι καὶ κιρροὶ τροφιμώτεροι τῶν τεναγωδῶν τῶν ἐν τοῖς αἰγιαλοῖς τῶν μεγάλων.
"But the sparus is harsh-tasted, tender, with no unpleasant smell, good for the stomach, diuretic, and not indigestible; but when he is fried he is indigestible. The mullet is good for the stomach, very astringent, of very firm flesh, not very digestible, apt to bind the bowels, especially when it is broiled; but when it is fried in a frying-pan, then it is heavy and indigestible; and, as a general rule, the whole tribe of mullets has the property of causing secretions of blood. The synodon and the charax are of the same kind, but the charax is the better of the two. The phagrus is found both in the river and in the sea; but that which is found in the sea is the best. The capriscus is called also the mussel; but it has a strong smell, and very hard meat, and it is more indigestible than the citharus; but its skin is very pleasant to the taste. The needle-fish, or belone, and it is also called the ablennes, is indigestible and moist, but good for the bowels. The thrissa, and those of the same kind, such as the chalcis and the eretimis, are very digestible. The cestreus is found in the sea, and in rivers, and in lakes. And this fish, says he, is also called the oxyrhynchus; but the one which is taken in the Nile is called the coracinus. And the black kind is smaller than the white, and when boiled it is not so good as when it is roasted; for when roasted it is good for the stomach and good for the bowels. The salpe is hard- fleshed, and unpleasant to the taste, but the best are those which are caught at Alexandria, and those which are taken in the autumn. For it is white, full of moisture, and free from any unpleasant smell. The gryllus is like the eel in appearance, but it is not nice to the taste. The sea-hawk is harder than the sea-cuckoo, but in other respects they are much alike. The uranoscopus, and also the fish called agus, which is also called the callionymus, are heavy fish. The boax, when boiled, is very digestible, giving out a very wholesome juice, and is good for the stomach; and that which is broiled on the coals is sweeter and more tender. The bacchus is full of abundant and agreeable and wholesome juice, and is very nutritious. The sea-goat is not very agreeable as to its juice, not very digestible, and has a disagreeable smell. The sea-sparrow and the buglossus are both nutritious and palatable, and the turbot is like them. The sea-grayling, the cephalus, the cestreus, the myxinus, and the colon are all much alike as to their eatable properties; but the cestreus is inferior to the cephalus, the myxinus is worse, and the colon is the least good of all.
σπάρος δὲ δριμύς, ἁπαλόσαρκος, ἄβρωμος, εὐστόμαχος, οὐρητικός, ἑφθὸς μὲν οὐκ ἄπεπτος, ταγηνιστὸς δὲ δύσπεπτος. τρίγλη εὐστόμαχος, παραστύφουσα, σκληρόσαρκος, δύσφθαρτος, ἐφεκτικὴ κοιλίας καὶ μάλιστα ἡ ἐξ ἀνθράκων ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τηγάνου βαρεῖα καὶ δύσπεπτος, κοινῶς δὲ πᾶσα αἵματος ἐκκριτική. συνόδους καὶ χάραξ τοῦ μὲν αὐτοῦ γένους εἰσί, διαφέρει δ’ ὁ χάραξ. φάγρος γίνεται μὲν καὶ ποτάμιος, καλλίων δ’ ἐστὶν ὁ θαλάττιος. καπρίσκος καλεῖται μὲν καὶ μῦς, βρωμώδης δ’ ἐστὶ καὶ σκληρός, κιθάρου δ’ ἐστὶ δυσπεπτότερος· δέρμα δ’ ἔχει εὔστομον. ῥαφὶς ἢ βελόνη καλεῖται δὲ καὶ ἀβλεννής δύσπεπτος, ὑγρός, εὐκοίλιος. θρίσσα καὶ τὰ ὁμογενῆ, χαλκὶς καὶ ἐρίτιμος, εὐανάδοτα. κεστρεὺς δὲ γίνεται μὲν καὶ θαλάσσιος καὶ λιμναῖος καὶ ποτάμιος, οὗτος δέ, φησί, καλεῖται καὶ ὀξύρυγχος, κορακῖνος δ’ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου· ἥττων δ’ ὁ μέλας τοῦ λευκοῦ καὶ ὁ ἑφθὸς τοῦ ὀπτοῦ· οὗτος γὰρ καὶ εὐστόμαχος καὶ εὐκοίλιος. σάλπη σκληρά, ἄστομος· κρείσσων δ’ ἡ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ καὶ ἡ τῷ φθινοπώρῳ γινομένη ι ὑγρόν τι γὰρ καὶ λευκόν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἄβρωμον ἀνίησιν. ὁ γρύλλος ὅμοιος μὲν ἐστιν ἐγχέλει, ἄστομος δέ. ὁ δ’ ἱέραξ σκληροσαρκότερος μὲν κόκκυγος, τοῖς δ’ ἄλλοις ὅμοιος· καὶ ὁ κόραξ ἱέρακος σκληρότερος, οὐρανοσκόπος δὲ καὶ ὁ ἁγνὸς καλούμενος ἢ καὶ καλλιώνυμος βαρεῖς, βῶξ δὲ ἑφθὸς εὔπεπτος, εὐανάδοτος, ὑγρὸν ἀνιείς, εὐκοίλιος· ὁ δ’ ἀπ’ ἀνθράκων γλυκύτερος καὶ ἁπαλώτερος. βάκχος εὔχυλος, πολύχυλος, εὔτροφος, τράγος οὐκ εὔχυλος, ἄπεπτος, βρωμώδης. ψῆττα, βούγλωσσοι εὔτροφοι καὶ ἡδεῖαι. τούτοις ἀναλογεῖ καὶ ὁ ῥόμβος. λευκίσκοι, κέφαλοι, κεστρεῖς, μυξῖνοι, χελλῶνες ὅμοιοί εἰσι κατὰ τὴν προσφοράν, τοῦ δὲ κεφάλου καταδεέστερός ἐστιν ὁ κεστρεύς, ἥσσων δὲ ὁ μυξῖνος, τελευταῖος ὁ χελλών.
"The thynnis and the thynnus are both heavy and nutritious; but the fish which is called the Acarnanian is sweet, very exciting, very nutritious, and easily secreted. The anchovy is heavy and indigestible, and the white kind is called the cobitis; and the hepsetus, a little fish, if of the same genus. "Of cartilaginous fish, the sea-cow is fleshy, but the shark is superior to that,—that kind, I mean, which is called the asterias. But the alopecias, or sea-fox, is in taste very like the land animal, from which circumstance, indeed, it has its name. The ray is a very delicate fish to the taste; but the stellated ray is tenderer still, and full of excellent juice; but the smooth ray is less wholesome for the stomach, and has an unpleasant smell. But the torpedo, which is hard of digestion, is in the parts below the head very tender, and good for the stomach, and, moreover, very digestible, but its other parts are not so; and the small ones are the best, especially when they are plain boiled. The rhine, which is one of th cartilaginous class, is very digestible and light; but those of the largest size are the most nutritious; and, as a general rule, all the cartilaginous fish are apt to create flatulence, and are fleshy, and difficult of digestion, and if they are eaten in any quantity, they are bad for the eyes. The cuttlefish, when boiled, is tender, palatable, and digestible, and also good for the stomach; but the juice which comes from it has the property of making the blood thin, and is apt to cause secretions by hemorrhoids. The squid is more digestible, and is nutritious, especially the small-sized one; but when boiled they are harder, and not palatable. The polypus promotes amativeness, but it is hard and indigestible; and those of the largest size are the most nutritious, and when they are much boiled, they have a tendency to fill the stomach with liquid, and they bind the bowels. And Alexis, in his Pamphila, points out the useful properties of the polypus, speaking as follows,—But if you are in love, O Cteson,What is more useful than these fish I bring?Ceryces, cockles, (onions too, are here,)The mighty polypus, and good-sized turbot.“The pelamys also is very nutritious and heavy, it is also diuretic, and very indigestible; but when cured like the callubium, it is quite as good for the stomach, and it has a tendency to make the blood thin; and the large kind is called the synodontis. The sea-swallow, or chelidonias, is also something like the pelamys, but harder; and the chelidon is like the polypus, and emits juice which purifies the complexion, and stirs up the blood. The orcynus is a fish who delights in the mud; and the larger kind is like the chelidonias in hardness, but the lower part of its abdomen and its collar-bone are palatable and tender; but those which are called costæ, when cured and salted, are a middling fish. The xanthias has rather a strong smell, and is tenderer than the orcynus.” These are the statements of Diphilus.
θυννὶς δὲ καὶ θύννος βαρεῖς καὶ πολύτροφοι. ὁ δὲ καλούμενος ἀκαρνὰν γλυκύς ἐστι καὶ παραστύφων, τρόφιμος δὲ καὶ εὐέκκριτος. ἡ δὲ ἀφύη βαρεῖά ἐστι καὶ δύσπεπτος· ὧν ἡ λευκὴ καλεῖται κωβῖτις. καὶ ὁ ἑψητὸς δέ, τὸ μικρὸν ἰχθύδιον, τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους ἐστί. τῶν δὲ σελαχίων ὁ μὲν βοῦς κρεώδης, ὁ δὲ γαλεὸς κρείσσων ὁ ἀστερίας λεγόμενος· ὁ δὲ ἀλωπεκίας ὅμοιός ἐστι τῇ γεύσει τῷ χερσαίῳ ζῴῳ, διὸ καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἔτυχε, καὶ ἡ βατὶς δὲ εὔστομος, ἡ δὲ ἀστερία βατὶς ἁπαλωτέρα καὶ εὔχυλος· ὁ δὲ λειόβατος δυσκοιλιώτερος καὶ βρωμώδης. ἡ δὲ νάρκη, δύσπεπτος οὖσα, τὰ μὲν κατὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἁπαλά τε καὶ εὐστόμαχα ἔχει, ἔτι δὲ εὔπεπτα, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα οὔ· κρείττονες δέ εἰσιν αἱ μικραὶ καὶ μάλιστα αἱ λιτῶς ἑψόμεναι. ἡ δὲ ῥίνη· καὶ αὐτὴ τῶν σελαχίων οὖσα, εὔπεπτός ἐστι καὶ κούφη. ἡ δὲ μείζων καὶ τροφιμωτέρα. κοινῶς δὲ πάντα τὰ σελάχια φυσώδη ἐστὶ καὶ κρεώδη καὶ δυσκατέργαστα πλεοναζόμενά τε τὰς ὄψεις ἀμβλύνει, ἡ δὲ σηπία καὶ ἑψομένη μὲν ἁπαλὴ καὶ εὔστομος καὶ εὔπεπτος, ἔτι δ’ εὐκοίλιος· ὁ δ’ ἀπ᾽· αὐτῆς χυλὸς λεπτυντικός ἐστιν αἵματος καὶ κινητικὸς τῆς δι’ αἱμορροίδων ἐκκρίσεως. τευθὶς δὲ εὐπεπτοτέρα καὶ τρόφιμος, καὶ μᾶλλον ἡ μικρά· ἡ δὲ ἑφθὴ σκληροτέρα ἐστὶ καὶ οὐκ εὔστομος. ὁ δὲ πῶλυψ συνεργεῖ μὲν ἀφροδισίοις, σκληρὸς δ’ ἐστὶ καὶ δύσπεπτος· ὁ δὲ μείζων τροφιμώτερος. παρυγραίνει δὲ καὶ κοιλίαν ἑψόμενος ἐπὶ πλεῖον καὶ τὸν στόμαχον ἵστησιν. ἐμφανίζει δὲ καὶ Ἄλεξις ἐν Παμφίλῃ τοῦ πολύποδος τὸ χρήσιμον λέγων ὧδε· ἐρῶντι δέ, Κτήσων, τί μᾶλλον συμφέρει ὧν νῦν φέρων πάρειμι; κήρυκας, κτένας, βολβοὺς μέγαν τε πουλύπουν ἰχθῦς θ’ ἁδρούς. ἡ δὲ πηλαμὺς πολύτροφος μέν ἐστι καὶ βαρεῖα, οὐρητικὴ δὲ καὶ δύσπεπτος· ταριχευθεῖσα δὲ κυβίῳ ὁμοίως εὐκοίλιος καὶ λεπτυντική· ἡ δὲ μείζων συνοδοντὶς καλεῖται. ἀναλογῶν μέντοι ὁ χελιδονίας τῇ πηλαμύδι σκληρότερός ἐστιν. ἡ δὲ χελιδών ἡ τῷ πουλύπῳ ἐοικυῖα ἔχει τὸ ἀφ’ αὑτῆς ὑγρὸν εὔχροιαν ποιοῦν καὶ κινοῦν αἷμα. ὁ δὲ ὄρκυνος βορβορώδης· καὶ ὁ μείζων προσέοικε τῷ χελιδονίᾳ κατὰ τὴν σκληρότητα, τὰ δὲ ὑπογάστρια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ κλεὶς εὔστομα καὶ ἁπαλά, οἱ δὲ κοσταὶ λεγόμενοι ταριχευθέντες εἰσὶ μέσοι, ξανθίας δ’ ἐπὶ ποσὸν βρωμώδης ἐστὶν καὶ ἁπαλώτερος τοῦ ὀρκύνου. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ Δίφιλος εἴρηκεν.