But Aristotle, in his book on Drunkenness, says, that some men who have been fond of salt meat have yet not had their thirst stimulated by it; of whom Archonides the Argive was one. And Mago the Carthaginian passed three times through the African desert eating dry meal and never drinking And Polemo the Academic philosopher, from the time that he was thirty years of age to the day of his death, never drank anything but water, as is related by Antigonus the Carystian. And Demetrius the Scepsian says that Diocles of Peparethus drank cold water to the day of his death. And Demosthenes the orator, who may well be admitted as a witness in his own case, says that he drank nothing but water for a considerable length of time. And Pyheas says, “But you see the demagogues of the present day, Demosthenes and Demades, how very differently they live. For the one is a water-drinker, and devotes his nights to contempla- tion, as they say; and the other is a debauchee, and is drunk every day, and comes like a great potbellied fellow, as he is, into our assemblies.” And Euphorion the Chalcidean writes in this way:—"Lasyrtas the Lasionian never required drink as other men do, and still it did not make him different from other men. And many men, out of curiosity, were careful to watch him, but they desisted before they ascertained what was the truth. For they continued watching him for thirty days together in the summer season, and they saw that he never abstained from salt meat, and yet that, though drinking nothing, he seemed to have no complaint in his bladder. And so they believed that he spoke the truth. And he did, indeed, sometimes take drink, but still he did not require it.A change of meat is often good,And men, when tired of common food,Redoubled pleasure often feel,When sitting at a novel meal.
Ἀριστοτέλης δ’ ἐν τῷ περὶ μέθης φησὶν ὅτι ἁλμυράς τινες προσφερόμενοι τροφὰς ἄδιψοι διέμειναν ὧν ἦν Ἀρχωνίδης ὁ Ἀργεῖος. μάγων δὲ ὁ Καρχηδόνιος τρὶς τὴν ἄνυδρον διῆλθεν ἄλφιτα ξηρὰ σιτούμενος καὶ μὴ πίνων. πολέμων δ’ ὁ Ἀκαδημαικὸς ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τριάκοντα ἐτῶν ὑδροπότησε μέχρι θανάτου, ὡς ἔφη Ἀντίγονος ὁ Καρύστιος. Διοκλῆ τε τὸν Πεπαρήθιόν φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Σκήψιος μέχρι τέλους ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ πεπωκέναι. αὐτὸς δὲ περὶ αὑτοῦ μάρτυς ἀξιόχρεως Δημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ φάσκων χρόνον τινὰ ὕδωρ μόνον πεπωκέναι. καὶ Πυθέας γοῦν φησιν ἀλλὰ τοὺς νῦν δημαγωγοὺς ὁρᾶτε Δημοσθένη καὶ Δημάδην ὡς ἐναντίως τοῖς βίοις διάκεινται. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὑδροποτῶν καὶ μεριμνῶν τὰς νύκτας, ὥς φασιν, ὁ δὲ πορνοβοσκῶν καὶ μεθυσκόμενος κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἑκάστην προγάστωρ ἡμῖν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀνακαλεῖ. Εὐφορίων δὲ ὁ Χαλκιδεὺς οὕτω που γράφει· Λασύρτας ὁ Λασιώνιος οὐδὲν προσεδεῖτο ποτοῦ καθάπερ οἱ ἄλλαι, οὖρον δὲ προίετο καθάπερ πάντες ἄνθρωποι, καὶ πολλοὶ διὰ φιλοτιμίαν ἐπεχείρησαν παρατηρῆσαι καὶ ἀπέστησαν πρὸ τοῦ εὑρεῖν τὸ πραττόμενον. θέρους γὰρ ὥρᾳ καὶ τριακονθήμερον προσεδρεύοντες καὶ οὐδενὸς μὲν ὁρῶντες ἀπεχόμενον ἁλμυροῦ, τὴν κύστιν δ’ αὐτοῦ ἔχοντα συνεπείσθησαν ἀληθεύειν. ἐχρῆτο δὲ καὶ τῷ ποτῷ, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲν ἧττον οὐ προσεδεῖτο τούτου... μεταλλάξαι διάφορα βρώματα ἐσθ’ ἡδύ, φησὶν Ἀντιφάνης, καὶ τῶν πολλάκις θρυλουμένων διάμεστον ὄντα τὸ παραγεύσασθαί τινος καινοῦ παρέσχε διπλασίαν τὴν ἡδονήν.
The king of Persia, as Herodotus relates in his first book, drank no water, except what came from the river Choaspes, which flows by Susa. And when he was on a journey, he had numbers of four-wheeled waggons drawn by mules following him, laden with silver vessels containing this water, which was boiled to make it keep. And Ctesias the Cnidian explains also in what manner this water was boiled, and how it was put into the vessels and bought to the king, saying that it was the lightest and sweetest of all waters. And the second king of Egypt, he who was surnamed Philadelphus, having given his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus the king of Syria, took the trouble to send her water from the river Nile, in order that his child might drink of no other river, as Polybius relates. And Heliodorus tells us, that Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Polybius calls Epimanes, on account of his actions, mixed the fountain at Antioch with wine; a thing which Theopompus relates to have been also done by the Phrygian Midas, when he wished to make Silenus drunk in order to catch him. And that fountain is, as Bion relates, between the Mædi and the Pæonians, and is called Inna. But Staphylus says, that Melampus was the first who invented the idea of mixing wine with water. And Plistonicus says that water is more digestible than wine.
ὁ Περσῶν βασιλεύς, ὥς φησιν ἐν τῇ αʹ Ἡρόδοτος, ὕδωρ ἀπὸ τοῦ Χοάσπεω πιεῖν ἄγεται τοῦ παρὰ Σοῦσα ῥέοντος· τοῦ μόνου πίνει ὁ βασιλεύς, τοῦ δὲ τοιούτου ὕδατος ἀπεψημένου πολλαὶ κάρτα ἅμαξαι τετράκυκλοι ἡμιόνειαι κομίζουσαι ἐν ἀγγείοις ἀργυρέοισιν ἕπονταί οἱ. Κτησίας δὲ ὁ Κνίδιος καὶ ἱστορεῖ ὅπως ἕψεται τὸ βασιλικὸν τοῦτο ὕδωρ καὶ ὅπως ἐναποτιθέμενον τοῖς ἀγγείοις φέρεται τῷ βασιλεῖ, λέγων αὐτὸ καὶ ἐλαφρότατον καὶ ἥδιστον εἶναι. καὶ ὁ τῆς Αἰγύπτου δὲ βασιλεὺς δεύτερος, ὁ Φιλάδελφος ἐπίκλην, ἐκδοὺς τὴν αὑτοῦ θυγατέρα Βερενίκην Ἀντιόχῳ τῷ Συρίας βασιλεῖ, ἐν ἐπιμελείᾳ εἶχε πέμπειν αὐτῇ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ Νείλου ὕδωρ, ἵνα μόνου τούτου τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἡ παῖς πίνῃ, ἱστορεῖ Πολύβιος. Ἡλιόδωρος δέ φησι τὸν Ἐπιφανῆ Ἀντίοχον, ὃν διὰ τὰς πράξεις Πολύβιος Ἐπιμανῆ καλεῖ, τὴν κρήνην τὴν ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ κεράσαι οἴνῳ· καθάπερ καὶ τὸν Φρύγα Μίδαν φησὶ Θεόπομπος, ὅτε ἑλεῖν τὸν Σιληνὸν ὑπὸ μέθης ἠθέλησεν. ἐστὶ δὲ ἡ κρήνη, ὥς φησι Βίων, μέση Μαιδῶν καὶ Παιόνων Ἴννα καλουμένη. Στάφυλος δέ φησι τὴν τοῦ οἴνου πρὸς τὸ ὕδωρ κρᾶσιν Μελάμποδα πρῶτον εὑρεῖν. φησὶ δὲ καὶ πεπτικώτερον τοῦ οἴνου τὸ ὕδωρ Πλειστόνικος.
Now men who drink hard before eating, are usually not very comfortable in their digestion, which are apt to get out of order by such a system, and what they eat often turns sour on the stomach. So that a man who has a regard for his health, ought to take regular exercise, for the sake of promoting frequent perspiration; and he ought also to use the bath regularly for the sake of moistening and relaxing his body. And besides this, and before he bathes, he should drink water, as being an excellent thing,—drinking warm water usually in winter and spring, and cold water in summer, in order not to weaken the stomach. But he should only drink in moderation before the bath or the gymnasium, for the sake of diffusing what he drinks throughout his system beforehand, and in order to prevent the unmixed strength of wine from having too much effect on his extremities. And if any one thinks it too much trouble to live on this system, let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed, especially that which is called πρότροπος, the sweet Lesbian wine, as being very good for the stomach. Now sweet wines do not make the head heavy, as Hippocrates says in his book on Diet, which some entitle, “The Book on Sharp Pains;” others, “The Book on Barley-water;” and others, “The Book against the Cnidian Theories.” His words are: “Sweet wine is less calculated to make the head heavy, and it takes less hold of the mind, and passes through the bowels easier than other wine.” But Posidonius says, that it is not a good thing to pledge one's friends as the Carmani do; for they, when at their banquets they wish to testify their friendship for each other, cut the veins on their faces, and mingle the blood which flows down with the liquor, and then drink it; thinking it the very extremes proof of friendship to taste one another's blood. And after pledging one another in this manner, they anoint their heads with ointment, especially with that distilled from roses, and if they cannot get that, with that distilled from apples, in order to ward off the effects of the drink, and in order also to avoid being injured by the evaporation of the wine; ad if they cannot get ointment of apples, they then use that extracted from the iris or from spikenard, so that Alexis very neatly says—His nose he anoints, and thinks it plain'Tis good for health with scents to feed the brain But one ought to avoid thick perfumes, and to drink water which is thin and transparent, and which in respect of weight is light, and which has no earthy particles in it. And that water is best which is of a moderate heat or coldness, and which, when poured into a brazen or silver vessel, does not produce a blackish sediment. Hippocrates says, “Water which is easily warmed or easily chilled is always lighter.” But that water is bad which takes a long time to boil vegetables; and so too is water full of nitre, or brackish. And in his book upon Waters, Hippocrates calls good water drinkable; but stagnant water he calls bad, such as that from ponds or marshes. And most spring-water is rather hard. But Erasistratus says that some people test water by weight, and that is a most stupid proceeding. “For just look,” says he, “if men compare the water from the fountain Amphiaraus with that from the Eretrian spring, though one of them is good and the other bad, there is absolutely no difference in their respective weights.” And Hippocrates, in his book on Places, says that those waters are the best which flow from high ground, and from dry hills, “for they are white, and sweet, and are able to bear very little wine, and are warm in winter and cold in summer.” And he praises those most, the springs of which break towards the east, and especially towards the north-east, for they must inevitably be clear, and fragrant, and light. Diodes says that water is good for the digestion, and not apt to cause flatulency, that it is moderately cooling, and good for the eyes, and that it has no tendency to make the head feel heavy, and that it adds vigour to the mind and body. And Praxagoras says the same; and he also praises rain-water. But Euenor praises water from cisterns, and says that the best is that from the cistern of Amphiaraus, when compared with that from the fountain in Eretria.
ὅτι τοῖς προπίνουσιν ἐπιτεταμένως οὐκ οἰκείως διατίθεται ὁ στόμαχος, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον κακοῦται καὶ πολλάκις φθορὰν τῶν ληφθέντων παρασκευάζει. δεῖ οὖν τὸν ὑγιείας ἀντιποιούμενον καὶ συμμέτροις γυμνασίοις χρᾶσθαι διὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἱδρῶτας καὶ λουτροῖς, ὡς διᾶναί τε τὸ σῶμα καὶ μαλαχθῆναι· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα προπίνειν ὕδωρ ὡς χρηστότατον, ἐν μὲν χειμῶνι καὶ ἔαρι θερμὸν ὡς μάλιστα, ἐν δὲ τῷ θέρει ψυχρόν, ὡς μὴ προεκλύειν τὸν στόμαχον προπίνειν δὲ σύμμετρον τῷ πλήθει, χάριν τοῦ προαναληφθῆναι τοῦτο εἰς τὴν ἕξιν καὶ μὴ ἀκέραιον ἀναδίδοσθαι τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴνου δύναμιν μηδὲ τοῖς πέρασι τῶν ἀγγείων προσπίπτουσαν ἐπιδάκνειν. ἐὰν δὲ τις ἡμῶν τοῦτο δυσκόλως ποιῇ, γλυκὺν ὑδαρῆ θερμὸν προλαμβανέτω, μάλιστα δὲ τὸν καλούμενον πρότροπον τὸν γλυκὺν Λέσβιον ὄντα εὐστόμαχον. καὶ ὁ γλυκάζων δ’ οἶνος οὐ βαρύνει τὴν κεφαλήν, ὡς Ἱπποκράτης ἐν τῷ περὶ διαίτης φησίν, ὅ τινες μὲν ἐπιγράφουσι περὶ ὀξέων νόσων, οἱ δὲ περὶ πτισάνης, ἄλλοι δὲ πρὸς τὰς Κνιδίας γνώμας. λέγει δέ· ὁ γλυκὺς ἧσσόν ἐστι καρηβαρικὸς τοῦ οἰνώδεος καὶ ἧσσον φρενῶν ἁπτόμενος καὶ διαχωρητικώτερος τοῦ ἑτέρου κατ’ ἔντερον. οὐ δεῖ δὲ προπίνειν καθὰ τοὺς Καρμανούς φησι Ποσειδώνιος· τούτους γὰρ φιλοφρονουμένους ἐν τοῖς συμποσίοις λύειν τὰς ἐπὶ τῷ προσώπῳ φλέβας καὶ τὸ καταρρέον αἷμα μιγνύντας τῷ πόματι προσφέρεσθαι, τέλος φιλίας νομίζοντας τὸ γεύεσθαι τοῦ ἀλλήλων αἵματος, μετὰ δὲ τὴν προσφορὰν ταύτην συγχρίεσθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν μύρῳ, μάλιστα μὲν ῥοδίνῳ, εἰ δὲ μή, μηλίνῳ, εἰς τὸ ἀποκρούεσθαι τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ πότου καὶ μὴ βλάπτεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν οἴνων ἀναθυμιάσεως· εἰ δὲ μή, ἰρίνῳ ἢ ναρδίνῳ. οὐ κακῶς οὖν Ἄλεξίς φησιν ἐναλείφεται τὰς ῥῖνας· ὑγιείας μέρος μέγιστον ὀσμὰς ἐγκεφάλῳ χρηστὰς ποιεῖν. ἐκκλίνειν δὲ δεῖ τὰ πάχη τῶν μύρων ὕδωρ τε πίνειν τὸ κατὰ πρόσοψιν λεπτὸν καὶ διαυγές, ὃ δὴ καὶ κατὰ τὸν σταθμόν ἐστι κοῦφον καὶ οὐδὲν ἐν αὑτῷ γεῶδες ἔχει. τὸ δὲ συμμέτρως θερμαινόμενον καὶ ψυχόμενον ὕδωρ χρηστόν ἐστι καὶ εἰς χάλκεον ἢ ἀργύρεον ἄγγος ἐγχεόμενον οὐ ποιεῖ τὸ ἰῶδες. φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ἱπποκράτης· ὕδωρ τὸ ταχέως θερμαινόμενον καὶ ψυχόμενον ἀεὶ κουφότερον. μοχθηρὰ δ’ ἐστὶ τὰ βραδέως τὰ ὄσπρια τήκοντα. τοιαῦτα δὲ τὰ νιτρώδη καὶ ἁλμυρά, ἐν δὲ τῷ περὶ ὑδάτων Ἱπποκράτης καλεῖ τὸ χρηστὸν ὕδωρ πότιμον. τὰ δὲ τῶν ὑδάτων στάσιμα χαλεπά, ὡς τὰ λιμναῖα καὶ τὰ ἑλώδη. ἐστὶ δὲ καὶ τῶν κρηναίων τὰ πλεῖστα σκληρότερα. Ἐρασίστρατος δέ φησιν ὡς δοκιμάζουσί τινες τὰ ὕδατα σταθμῷ ἀνεξετάστως. ἰδοὺ γὰρ τοῦ ἐξ Ἀμφιαράου ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ἐξ Ἐρετρίας συμβαλλομένων, τοῦ μὲν φαύλου τοῦ δὲ χρηστοῦ ὄντος, οὐδ’ ἥτις ἐστὶ διαφορὰ κατὰ τὸν σταθμόν. Ἱπποκράτης δ’ ἐν τῷ περὶ τόπων ἄριστά φησιν εἶναι τῶν ὑδάτων ὅσα ἐκ μετεώρων χωρίων ῥεῖ καὶ ἐκ λόφων γεηρῶν. ταῦτα γὰρ λευκὰ καὶ γλυκέα καὶ τὸν οἶνον ὀλίγον φέρειν οἷά τέ ἐστι, τόν τε χειμῶνα θερμαίνεται καὶ τὸ θέρος ψυχρὰ ἐστιν. ἐπαινεῖ δὲ μάλιστα ὧν τὰ ῥεύματα πρὸς ἀνατολὴν ἡλίου ἔρρωγε καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς τὰς θερινάς. ἀνάγκη γὰρ λαμπρὰ εἶναι καὶ εὐώδη καὶ κοῦφα. Διοκλῆς δέ φησι τὸ ὕδωρ πεπτικὸν εἶναι καὶ ἄφυσον ψυκτικόν τε μετρίως ὀξυδερκές τε καὶ ἥκιστα καρηβαρικὸν κινητικόν τε ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος. Πραξαγόρας τε ταὐτά φησι· ἐπαινεῖ δὲ τὸ ὄμβριον, Εὐήνωρ δὲ τὰ λακκαῖα· χρηστότερόν τε εἶναι φάσκει τὸ ἐξ Ἀμφιαράου συμβαλλόμενον τῷ ἐν Ἐρετρίᾳ.
But that water is undeniably nutritious is plain from the fact that some animals are nourished by it alone, as for instance, grasshoppers. And there are many other liquids which are nutritious, such as milk, barley-water, and wine. At all events, animals at the breast are nourished by milk; and there are many nations who drink nothing but milk. And it is said that Democritus, the philosopher of Abdera, after he had determined to rid himself of life on account of his extreme old age, and when he had begun to diminish his food day by day, when the day of the Thesmophorian festival came round, and the women of his household besought him not to die during the festival, in order that they might not be debarred from their share in the festivities, was persuaded, and ordered a vessel full of honey to be set near him: and in this way he lived many days with no other support than honey; and then some days after, when the honey had been taken away, he died. But Democritus had always been fond of honey; and he once answered a man, who asked him how he could live in the enjoyment of the best health, that he might do so if he constantly moistened his inward parts with honey, and his outward man with oil. And bread and honey was the chief food of the Pythagoreans, according to the statement of Aristoxenus, who says that those who eat this for breakfast were free from disease all their lives. And Lycus says that the Cyrneans (and they are a people who live near Sardinia) are very long-lived, because they are continually eating honey; and it is produced in great quantities among them.
ὅτι δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ ὁμολογουμένως ἐστὶ τρόφιμον δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ τρέφεσθαί τινα ἐξ αὐτοῦ μόνου τῶν ζῴων, ὥσπερ τοὺς τέττιγας. πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑγρῶν ἐστι τρόφιμα, οἷον γάλα, πτισάνη, οἶνος. τὰ γοῦν ὑποτίτθια γάλακτι διαρκεῖται, καὶ πολλὰ δὲ ἔθνη γαλακτοποτοῦντα ζῇ. Δημόκριτον δὲ τὸν Ἀβδηρίτην λόγος ἔχει διὰ γῆρας ἐξάξαι αὑτὸν διεγνωκότα τοῦ ζῆν καὶ ὑφαιροῦντα τῆς τροφῆς καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἐπεὶ αἱ τῶν Θεσμοφορίων ἡμέραι ἐνέστησαν, δεηθεισῶν τῶν οἰκείων γυναικῶν μὴ ἀποθανεῖν κατὰ τὴν πανήγυριν, ὅπως ἑορτάσωσι, πεισθῆναι κελεύσαντα μέλιτος ἀγγεῖον αὑτῷ πλησίον παρατεθῆναι, καὶ διαζῆσαι ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς τὸν ἄνδρα, τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ μέλιτος ἀναφορᾷ μόνῃ χρώμενον, καὶ μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας βασταχθέντος τοῦ μέλιτος ἀποθανεῖν. ἔχαιρε δὲ ὁ Δημόκριτος ἀεὶ τῷ μέλιτι· καὶ πρὸς τὸν πυθόμενον πῶς ἂν ὑγιῶς τις διάγοι, ἔφη εἰ τὰ μὲν ἐντὸς μέλιτι βρέχοι, τὰ δ’ ἐκτὸς ἐλαίῳ. καὶ τῶν Πυθαγορικῶν δὲ τροφὴ ἦν ἄρτος μετὰ μέλιτος, ὥς φησιν Ἀριστόξενος, τοὺς προσφερομένους αὐτὰ ἀεὶ ἐπ’ ἀρίστῳ λέγων ἀνόσους διατελεῖν. λύκος δὲ πολυχρονίους φησὶν εἶναι τοὺς Κυρνίους οἰκοῦσι δ’ οὗτοι περὶ Σαρδόνα διὰ τὸ μέλιτι ἀεὶ χρῆσθαι· πλεῖστον δὲ τοῦτο γίνεται παρ’ αὐτοῖς.
When he says, men have adjourned the investigation into all such matters, he uses the word ἀνατιθέμενος instead of ἀναβαλλόμενος. The word ἄνηστις is used in the same sense as νῆστις, i.e. fasting (just as we find στάχυς and ἄσταχυς) by Cratinus, when he says—For you are not the first who's come to supperAfter a lengthened fast,And the word ὀξύπεινος is used by Diphilus for hungry—I'm glad when those who set them up as wise,Are naked seen and hungry.And Antiphanes says—A. At all events he's one complaint,For he is hungry ever.B. The keen Thessalian race you paint,Who can be sated never.And Eubulus says—Then Zethus was advised to seek the plain,The holy plain of Thebes; for there men sellThe cheapest loaves and cakes.Again advice came to the great Amphion,The sweet musician, pointing out to himThe famous Athens for his resting-place,Whose sons at hunger ne'er repine, but feedOn air and sweetest hopes.
ὅρα τὸ ἀνατιθεμένων πάντων τὴν ζήτησιν ἤτοι ἀναβαλλομένων. ὅτι τὸ ἄνηστις ἡ νῆστις πλεονασμῷ τοῦ ᾱ, ὡς στάχυς ἄσταχυς, παρὰ Κρατίνῳ κεῖται οὐ γάρ τοι σύ γε πρῶτος ἄκλητος φοιτᾷς ἐπὶ δεῖπνον ἄνηστις. τὸ δὲ ὀξύπεινος παρὰ Διφίλῳ· τέρπομαι γυμνοὺς ὁρῶν τοὺς ὀξυπείνους καὶ πρὸ τῶν καιρῶν ἀεὶ πάντ’ εἰδέναι σπεύδοντας. καὶ Ἀντιφάνης· ἓν νόσημα τοῦτ’ ἔχει· ἀεὶ γὰρ ὀξύπεινός ἐστι. β. Θετταλὸν λέγει κομιδῇ τὸν ἄνδρα. καὶ Εὔβουλος· Ζῆθον μὲν ἐλθόνθ’ ἁγνὸν ἐς Θήβης πέδον οἰκεῖν κελεύει· καὶ γὰρ ἀξιωτέρους πωλοῦσιν, ὡς ἔοικε, τοὺς ἄρτους ἐκεῖ· ὁ δὲ ὀξύπεινος. τὸν δὲ μουσικώτατον κλεινὰς Ἀθήνας ἐκπερᾶν Ἀμφίονα· οὗ ῥᾷστ’ ἀεὶ πεινῶσι Κεκροπιδῶν κόροι κάπτοντες αὔρας, ἐλπίδας σιτούμενοι.
The word μονοσιτῶν, eating once a day, occurs too in Alexis—When you meet with a man who takes only one meal,Or a poet who music pretends not to feel;The man half his life, the bard half his art, loses;And sound reason to call either living refuses.And Plato says, “he not only was not content with one meal a-day, but sometimes he even dined twice the same day.” We know that men used to call sweetmeats νωγαλεύματα. Araros says in the Campylion—These νωγαλεύματα are very nice.And Alexis says—In Thasian feasts his friends he meets,And νωγαλίζει, sweetmeats eats.And Antiphanes, in the Busiris, says—Grapes, and pomegranates, and palms,And other νώγαλα. Philonides used the word ἀπόσιτος for fasting; and Crobylus has the word αὐτόσιτος, writing παράσιτον, αὐτόσιτον. Eupolis, too, used ἀναρίστητος for without breakfast Crates has the word ἀναγκόσιτος, eating by force, and Nicostratus uses ἀναγκοσιτέω.There is a youth most delicately curl'd,Whom I do feed by force beneath the earth.And Alexis has the word ἀριστόδειπνον, breakfast-dinner—By whom the breakfast-dinner is prepared.
ὁ δὲ μονοσιτῶν κεῖται παρ’ Ἀλέξιδι· ἐπὰν ἰδιώτην ἄνδρα μονοσιτοῦντ’ ἴδῃς ἢ μὴ ποθοῦντ’ ᾠδὰς ποιητὴν καὶ μέλη, τὸν μὲν ἰδιώτην τοῦ βίου τὸν ἥμισυν ἀπολωλεκέναι νόμιζε, τὸν δὲ τῆς τέχνης τὴν ἡμίσειαν ζῶσι δ’ ἀμφότεροι μόλις. Πλάτων οὐ μονοσιτῶν ἑκάστοτε ἀλλὰ κἀνίοτε δειπνῶν δὶς τῆς ἡμέρας. ὅτι νωγαλεύματα ἐκάλουν τὰ ἡδέα βρώματα, Ἀραρώς· τὰ κομψὰ μὲν δὴ ταῦτα νωγαλεύματα, Ἄλεξις· Θασίοις οἰναρίοις τῆς ἡμέρας τὸ λοιπὸν ὑποβρέχει μέρος καὶ νωγαλίζει. Ἀντιφάνης· βότρυς, ῥόας, φοίνικας, ἕτερα νώγαλα. ἀπόσιτον δ’ εἴρηκε Φιλωνίδης, αὐτόσιτον δὲ Κρώβυλος· παράσιτον αὐτόσιτον. ἀναρίστητον δ’ εἴρηκεν Εὔπολις. ἀναγκόσιτον δὲ Κράτης. καὶ Νικόστρατος δέ· μειράκιον.. κατὰ τύχην ὑποσκαφιόκαρτόν τι κεχλαμυδωμένον κατάγεις ἀναγκόσιτον. ἀριστόδειπνον δ’ εἶπεν Ἄλεξις· ἀφ’ ὧν γένοιτ’ ἂν ἡμῖν σύντομον ἀριστόδειπνον.
After this we rose up and sat down again as each of us pleased, not waiting for a nomenclator to arrange us in order. Now that rooms were fitted up with couches for three, and with couches for four, and for seven, and for nine, and for other successive numbers, in the time of the ancients, we may prove from Antiphanes, who says—I bring you, since you are but three,To a room with equal couches.And Phrynichus says—One room had seven couches fine,While another boasted nine.And Eubulus says—A. Place now a couch for seven.B. Here it is.A. And five Sicilian couches.B. Well, what nextA. And five Sicilian pillows.And Amphis says—Will you not place a couch for three?Anaxandrides—A couch was spread,And songs to please the aged man.Open the supper rooms, and sweep the house,And spread the couches fair, and light the fire;Bring forth the cups, and fill with generous wine.
μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναστάντες κατεκλίνθημεν ὡς ἕκαστος ἤθελε, οὐ περιμείναντες ὀνομακλήτορα τὸν τῶν δείπνων ταξίαρχον. ὅτι καὶ τρίκλινοι οἶκοι καὶ τετράκλινοι καὶ ἑπτάκλινοι καὶ ἐννεάκλινοι καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἑξῆς ἀριθμοὺς ἦσαν παρὰ τοῖς παλαιοῖς, Ἀντιφάνης· συναγαγὼν τρεῖς ὄντας εἰς τρίκλινον ὑμᾶς, Φρύνιχος· ἑπτάκλινος οἶκος ἦν καλός, εἶτ’ ἐννεάκλινος ἕτερος οἶκος. Εὔβουλος· θὲς ἑπτάκλινον. β. ἑπτάκλινος οὑτοσί. α. καὶ πέντε κλίνας Σικελικάς. β. λέγ’ ἄλλο τι. α, Σικελικὰ προσκεφάλαια πέντε. Ἄμφις· οὐχ ὑποστρώσεις ποτὲ τρίκλινον; Ἀναξανδρίδης· τρίκλινον δ’ εὐθέως συνήγετο καὶ συναυλίαι γερόντων.- ἀλλὰ ξενῶνας οἶγε καὶ ῥᾶνον δόμους στρώννυ τε κοίτας καὶ πυρὸς φλέξον μένος κρατῆρά τ’ αἴρου καὶ τὸν ἥδιστον κέρα.
...... And Plato the philosopher, “Men now distinguish the couches and coverings with reference to what is put round the couch and what is put under it.” And his namesake, the comic poet, says—There the well-dress'd guests reclineOn couches rich with ivory feet;And on their purple cushions dine,Which rich Sardinian carpets meet.For the art of weaving embroidered cloths was in great perfection in his time, Acesas and Helicon, natives of Cyprus, being exceedingly eminent for their skill in it; and they were weavers of very high reputation. And Helicon was the son of Acesas, as Hieronymus reports: and so at Pytho there is an inscription on some work—Fair Venus's isle did bring forth Helicon,Whose wondrous work you now do gaze upon;And fair Minerva's teaching bade his nameAnd wondrous skill survive in deathless fame.And Pathymias the Egyptian was a man of similar renown. Ephippus says—Place me where rose-strewn couches fill the room,That I may steep myself in rich perfume.Aristophanes says—Oh you who press your mistress to your arms,All night upon sweet-scented couches lying.Sophron too speaks of coverlets embroidered with figures of birds as of great value. And Homer, the most admirable of all poets, calls those cloths which are spread below λῖτα, that is to say, white, neither dyed nor embroidered. But the coverlets which are laid above he calls “beautiful purple cloths.” The Persians, according to the account of Heraclides, are the people who first introduced the system of having particular servants to prepare the couches, in order that they might always be elegantly arranged and well made. And on this account Artaxerxes, having a high esteem for Timagoras the Cretan, or, as Phanias the Peripatetic says, for Entimus the Gortinian, who went up to the king in rivalry of Themistocles, gave him a tent of extraordinary size and beauty, and a couch with silver feet; and he sent him also expensive coverlets, and a man to arrange them, saying that the Greeks did not know how to arrange a couch. And so completely had this Cretan gained the favour of the king, that he was invited to a banquet of the royal family, an honour which had never been paid to any Greek before, and never has been since; for it was reserved as an especial compliment for the king's relations. Nor was this compliment paid to Timagoras the Athenian, who submitted to offer adoration t the king, and who was held in the highest honour by him, though some of the things which were set before the kin were sent to him from the royal table. The king of Persi, too, once took achaplet from off his head and dipped it in perfume, and sent it to Antalcidas the Lacedæmonian. But he did this too, and many similar things, to Entimus; also, and in addition to everything else, he invited him to a banquet of the royal family. And the Persians were very indignant this, thinking that it was making such an honour too common, and also because they thought they were on the eve of another expedition against Greece. He sent him also a couch with silver feet, and cushions for it, and a flowered tent surmounted with a canopy, and a silver chair, and a gilt parasol, and some golden vessels inlaid with precious stones, and a hundred large vessels of silver, and silver bowls, and a hundred girls, and a hundred boys, and six thousand pieces of gold, besides what was allowed him for his daily expenses.
νῦν δὲ τὴν τῶν στρωμάτων σύνθεσιν περιβολῇ χωρίζουσι καὶ ὑποβολῇ, φησὶ Πλάτων ὁ φιλόσοφος, ὁ δ’ ὁμώνυμος αὐτῷ ποιητής φησι· κἆτ’ ἐν κλίναις ἐλεφαντόποσιν καὶ στρώμασι πορφυροβάπτοις κἀν φοινικίσι Σαρδιακαῖσιν κοσμησάμενοι κατάκεινται. ἤκμασε δ’ ἡ τῶν ποικίλων ὑφή μάλιστα ἐντέχνων περὶ αὐτὰ γενομένων Ἀκεσᾶ καὶ Ἑλικῶνος τῶν Κυπρίων, ὑφάνται δ’ ἦσαν ἔνδοξοι· καὶ ἦν Ἑλικὼν υἱὸς Ἀκεσᾶ, ὥς φησιν Ἱερώνυμος. ἐν Πυθοῖ γοῦν ἐπί τινος ἔργου ἐπιγέγραπται τεῦξ’ Ἑλικὼν Ἀκεσᾶ Σαλαμίνιος, ᾧ ἐνὶ χερσὶ πότνια θεσπεσίην Παλλὰς ἔπνευσε χάριν. τοιοῦτος ἦν καὶ Παθυμίας ὁ Αἰγύπτιος.— ὡς ἐγὼ σκιρτῶ πάλαι ὅπου ῥοδόπνοα στρώματ’ ἔστι, καὶ λούμενος μύροις ψακαστοῖς, φησὶν Ἔφιππος. Ἀριστοφάνης· ὅστις ἐν ἡδυόσμοις στρώμασι παννυχίζων τὴν δέσποιναν ἐρείδεις. σώφρων δὲ στρουθωτὰ ἑλίγματά φησιν ἐντετιμημένα. Ὅμηρος δὲ ὁ θαυμασιώτατος τῶν στρωμάτων τὰ μὲν κατώτερα λῖτα εἶναι φάσκει ἤτοι λευκὰ καὶ μὴ βεβαμμένα ἢ πεποικιλμένα, τὰ δὲ περιστρώματα ῥήγεα καλά, πορφύρεα, πρῶτοι δὲ Πέρσαι, ὥς φησιν Ἡρακλείδης, καὶ τοὺς λεγομένους στρώτας ἐφεῦρον, ἵνα κόσμον ἔχῃ ἡ στρῶσις καὶ εὐάφειαν. τὸν οὖν Τιμαγόραν ἢ τὸν ἐκ Γόρτυνος Κρῆτα, ὥς φησι Φαινίας ὁ περιπατητικός, Ἔντιμον, ὃς ζήλῳ Θεμιστοκλέους ἀνέβη ὡς βασιλέα, τιμῶν Ἀρταξέρξης σκηνήν τε ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ διαφέρουσαν τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος καὶ κλίνην ἀργυρόποδα, ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ στρώματα πολυτελῆ καὶ τὸν ὑποστρώσοντα, φάσκων οὐκ ἐπίστασθαι τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑποστρωννύειν. καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ συγγενικὸν ἄριστον ἐκαλεῖτο ὁ Κρὴς οὗτος, τὸν βασιλέα ψυχαγωγήσας· ὅπερ οὐδενὶ πρότερον τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐγένετο, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ’ ὕστερον, αὕτη γὰρ ἡ τιμὴ τοῖς συγγενέσι διεφυλάττετο. Τιμαγόρᾳ μὲν γὰρ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ τῷ προσκυνήσαντι βασιλέα καὶ μάλιστα τιμηθέντι τοῦτο οὐχ ὑπῆρξε· τῶν δὲ παρατιθεμένων βασιλεῖ τούτῳ τινὰ ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης ἀπέστελλε. Ἀνταλκίδᾳ δὲ τῷ Λάκωνι τὸν αὑτοῦ στέφανον εἰς μύρον βάψας ἔπεμψε, τῷ δὲ Ἐντίμῳ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ ἐποίει καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ συγγενικὸν ἄριστον ἐκάλει. ἐφ’ ᾧ οἱ Πέρσαι χαλεπῶς ἔφερον ὡς τῆς τε τιμῆς δημευομένης καὶ στρατείας ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα πάλιν ἐσομένης. ἔπεμψε δὲ καὶ κλίνην αὐτῷ ἀργυρόποδα καὶ στρωμνὴν καὶ σκηνὴν οὐρανοφόρον ἀνθινὴν καὶ θρόνον ἀργυροῦν καὶ ἐπίχρυσον σκιάδειον καὶ φιάλας λιθοκολλήτους χρυσᾶς εἴκοσι, ἀργυρᾶς δὲ μεγάλας ἑκατὸν καὶ κρατῆρας ἀργυροῦς καὶ παιδίσκας ἑκατὸν καὶ παῖδας ἑκατὸν χρυσοῦς τε ἑξακισχιλίους χωρὶς τῶν εἰς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια καθ’ ἡμέραν διδομένων.
There were tables with ivory feet, the top slabs of which were made of maple wood. Cratinus says—Fair girls await you, and a tableOf highly polish'd dappled maple.And when one of the Cynics used the word τρίπους, meaning a table, Ulpian got indignant and said, "To-day I seem to have trouble coming on me arising out of my actual want of business; for what does this fellow mean by his tripod, unless indeed he counts Diogenes' stick and his two feet, and so makes him out to be a tripod'? At all events every one else calls the thing which is set before us τράπεζα. Hesiod, in his poem on the marriage of Ceyx, (although indeed the sons of the Grammarians deny that that poem is his work, but I myself think that it is an ancient piece,) does call tables τρίποδες. And Xenophon, a most accomplished writer, in the second book of the Anabasis, writes—“τρίποδες were brought in for every one, to the number of about twenty, loaded with ready carved meats.” And he goes on, “And these τράπεζαι were placed for the most part where the strangers sat.” Antiphanes says—The τρίπους was removed, we wash'd our hands.Eubulus says—A. Here are five τρίποδες for you; here five more.B. Why I shall be quinquagenarian.Epicharmus says—A. And what is this?B. A τρίπους.A. How is that?Has it not four feet? 'tis a τετράπους.B. It may be strictly; but its name is τριπους.A. Still I can see four feet.B. At all eventsYou are no Œdipus, to be so puzzled.And Aristophanes says—A. Bring me one τράπεζα more,With three feet, not one with four.B. Where can I a τρίπους τράπεζα find?
τράπεζαι ἐλεφαντόποδες τῶν ἐπιθημάτων ἐκ τῆς καλουμένης σφενδάμνου πεποιημένων. Κρατῖνος· γαυριῶσαι δ’ ἀναμένουσιν ὧδ’ ἐπηγλαισμέναι μείρακες φαιδραὶ τράπεζαι τρισκελεῖς σφενδάμνιναι. εἰπόντος τινὸς κυνικοῦ τρίποδα τὴν τράπεζαν δυσχεραίνει ὁ παρὰ τῷ σοφιστῇ Οὐλπιανὸς καὶ λέγει· τήμερον ἐγὼ ᾽ πράγματα ἕξω ἐξ ἀπραξίας πόθεν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ τρίπους; … εἰ μὴ τὴν Διογένους βακτηρίαν σὺν καὶ τὼ πόδε ἀριθμῶν οὗτος τρίποδα προσηγόρευσε, πάντων τραπέζας καλούντων τὰς παραθέσεις ταύτας. ὅτι Ἡσίοδος ἐν Κήυκος γάμῳ κἂν γὰρ γραμματικῶν παῖδες ἀποξενῶσι τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὰ ἔπη ταῦτα, ἀλλ’ ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ ἀρχαῖα εἶναι—τρίποδας τὰς τραπέζας φησί. καὶ Ξενοφῶν δ’ ὁ μουσικώτατος ἐν ζ’ Ἀναβάσεως γράφει· τρίποδες εἰσηνέχθησαν πᾶσιν οὗτοι δὲ ὅσον εἴκοσι κρεῶν μεστοὶ νενεμημένων. καὶ ἐπάγει· μάλιστα δ’ αἱ τράπεζαι κατὰ τοὺς ξένους ἀεὶ ἐτίθεντο. ᾽ Ἀντιφάνης· ἐπεὶ δ’ ὁ τρίπους ἤρθη κατὰ χειρῶν τ’ εἴχομεν. Εὔβουλος· τρίποδες οὗτοι πέντε σοι καὶ πέντε β. πεντηκοστολόγος γενήσομαι. Ἐπίχαρμος· τί δὲ τόδὲ ἐστί; β. δηλαδὴ τρίπους. α. τί μὰν ἔχει πόδας τέτορας; οὔκ ἐστιν τρίπους, ἀλλ’ ἐστὶν οἶμαι τετράπους. β. ἐστὶ δ’ ὄνομ’ αὐτῷ τρίπους, τέτοράς γε μὰν ἔχει πόδας. α. Οἰδίπους τοίνυν ποτ’ ἦν, αἴνιγμά τοι νοεῖς. Ἀριστοφάνης· τράπεζαν ἡμῖν εἴσφερε τρεῖς πόδας ἔχουσαν, τέτταρας δὲ μὴ ᾽ χέτω. β. καὶ πόθεν ἐγὼ τρίπουν τράπεζαν λήψομαι;
It was a custom at feasts, that a guest when he had lain down should have a paper given to him, conning a bill of fare of what there was for dinner, so that he night know what the cook was going to serve up. We find a fruit called Damascenes. Now many of the ancient writers mention Damascus, a city of great reputation and importance; and as there is a great quantity of plum-trees in the territory of the Damascenes, and as they are cultivated there with exceeding care, the tree itself has got to be called a Damascene, as being a kind of plum different from what is found in other countries. The fruit is more like prunes. And many writers speak of them, and Hipponax says—I have a garland of damascenes and mint.And Alexis says—A. And in my sleep I thought I saw a prize.B. What was it?A. Listen.—There came up to me,While still within th' arena's spacious bounds,One of my rivals, bringing me a crown-A ripe revolving crown of damascenes.B. Oh Hercules! and were the damascenes ripe?And again he says—Did you e'er see a sausage toasted,Or dish of tripe well stuff'd and roasted?Or damascenes stew'd in rich confection—Such was that gentleman's complexion.Nicander says—The fruit they call a plum, the cuckoo's prize.But Clearchus the Peripatetic says that the Rhodians and Sicilians call plums βράβυλα, and so Theocritus the Syracusan uses the word—Heavy with plums, the branches swept the ground.And again he says—Far as the apple doth the plum surpass.But the damascene is smaller in circumference than other plums, though in flavour it is very like them, except that it is a little sharper. Seleucus, in his Dictionary, says that βράβυλα, ἦλα, κοκκύμηλα, and μάδρυα are all different names for the same thing; and that plums are called βράβυλα, as being good for the stomach, and βορὰν ἐκ βάλλοντα,, that is, assisting to remove the food; and ἦλα, which is the same word as μῆλα, meaning simply fruit, as Demetrius Ixion says in his Etymology. And Theophrastus says, κοκκύμηλα καὶ σποδιάς: σποδιὰς being a kind of wild plum. And Araros calls the tree which bears the fruit κοκκυμηλέα, and the fruit itself κοκκύμηλον. And Diphilus of Siphnos pronounces plums to be juicy, digestible, and easily evacuated, but not very nutritious.
ὅτι ἔθος ἦν ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις τῷ ἑστιάτορι κατακλιθέντι προδίδοσθαι γραμματείδιόν τι περιέχον ἀναγραφὴν τῶν παρεσκευασμένων, ἐφ’ ᾧ εἰδέναι ὅ τι μέλλει ὄψον φέρειν ὁ μάγειρος. Δαμασκηνά. Δαμασκοῦ τῆς πόλεως ἐνδόξου οὔσης καὶ μεγάλης πολλοὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων μέμνηνται. ἐπεὶ δὲ πλεῖστον ἐν τῇ τῶν Δαμασκηνῶν ἐστι χώρᾳ τὸ κοκκύμηλον καλούμενον καὶ κάλλιστα γεωργεῖται, ἰδίως καλεῖται τὸ ἀκρόδρυον Δαμασκηνὸν ὡς διάφορον τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας χώρας γινομένων, κοκκύμηλα οὖν ἐστι ταῦτα ὧν ἄλλος τε μέμνηται καὶ Ἱππῶναξ· στέφανον εἶχον κοκκυμήλων καὶ μίνθης. Ἄλεξις· καὶ μὴν ἐνύπνιον οἴομαὶ γ’ ἑορακέναι νικητικόν. β. λέγ’ αὐτό. α. τὸν νοῦν πρόσεχε δή· ἐν τῷ σταδίῳ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν μέ τις ἐδόκει στεφανοῦν γυμνὸς προσελθὼν. στεφάνῳ κυλιστῷ κοκκυμήλων β. Ἡράκλεις. α. πεπόνων … πάλιν ἑόρακας ἤδη πώποτ’ ἐσκευασμένον ἤνυστρον ἢ σπλῆν’ ὀπτὸν ὠνθυλευμένον ἢ κοκκυμήλων σπυρίδα πεπόνων;. τοιοῦτ’ ἔχει τὸ μέτωπον. Νίκανδρος· μῆλον ὃ κόκκυγος καλέουσι. Κλέαρχος δ’ ὁ περιπατητικός φησι Ῥοδίους καὶ Σικελιώτας βράβυλα καλεῖν τὰ κοκκύμηλα, ὡς καὶ Θεόκριτος ὁ Συρακούσιος· ὅρπηκες βραβίλοισι καταβρίθοντες ἔραζε. καὶ πάλιν ὅσον μῆλον βραβίλοιο ἥδιον. ἐστὶ δὲ τοῦτο τὸ ἀκρόδρυον μικρότερον μὲν τῇ περιφορᾷ τῶν κοκκυμήλων, τῇ δ’ ἐδωδῇ τὸ αὐτό, πλὴν ὀλίγον δριμύτερον. Σέλευκος δ’ ἐν Γλώσσαις βράβιλά φησιν ἦλα κοκκύμηλα μάδρυα τὰ αὐτὰ εἶναι· τὰ μὲν μάδρυα οἷον μαλόδρυα, τὰ δὲ βράβυλα ὅτι εὐκοίλια καὶ τὴν βορὰν ἐκβάλλοντα, ἦλα δὲ οἷον μῆλα, ὡς Δημήτριος ὁ Ἰξίων λέγει ἐν Ἐτυμολογίᾳ. Θεόφραστος δὲ λέγει· κοκκυμηλέα καὶ σποδιάς· τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶν ὥσπερ ἀγρία κοκκυμηλέα. Ἀραρὼς δὲ κοκκύμηλον καλεῖ τὸ δένδρον, κοκκύμηλον δὲ τὸ ἀκρόδρυον. Δίφιλος δὲ ὁ Σίφνιος μέσως φησὶν εἶναι ταῦτα εὔχυλα, εὔφθαρτα, εὐέκκριτα, ὀλιγότροφα.
There is another fruit, called Cherries.—Theophrastus says, in his book on Plants, that the Cherry-tree is a tree of a peculiar character, and of large size, for it grows to a height of four-and-twenty cubits, and its leaf is like that of the medlar, but somewhat harder and thicker, and its bark like the linden; its flower is white, like that of the pear or the medlar, consisting of a number of small petals of a waxy nature; its fruit is red, like that of the lotus in appearance, and of the size of a bean; but the kernel of the lotus is hard, while that of the cherry is soft. And again he says, “The κράταιγος, which some call κραταίγων, has a spreading leaf like a medlar, only that is larger, and wider, and longer; and it has no deep grain in it as the medlar has. The tree is neither very tall nor very large; the wood is variegated, yellow, and strong: it has a smooth bark, like that of the medlar; and a single root, which goes down very deep into the earth; the fruit is round, of the size of an olive; when fully ripe it is of a yellow colour, becoming gradually darker; and from its flavour and juice it might almost be taken for a wild medlar.” By which description of the cratægus it appears to me that he means the tree which is now called the cherry.
κεράσια. Θεόφραστος ἐν τῷ περὶ φυτῶν ἴδιον δὲ τῇ φύσει δένδρον ὁ κέρασός ἐστι καὶ μεγέθει μέγα· καὶ γὰρ εἰς εἴκοσι καὶ τέσσαρας πήχεις αὔξεται. φύλλον δὲ ὅμοιον ἔχει τῷ τῆς μεσπίλης, σκληρὸν δὲ καὶ πλατύτερον, φλοιὸν δ’ ὅμοιον φιλύρᾳ, ἄνθος δὲ λευκόν, ἀπίῳ καὶ μεσπίλῃ ὅμοιον, ἐκ μικρῶν ἀνθῶν συγκείμενον, κηριῶδες. ὁ δὲ καρπὸς ἐρυθρός, ὅμοιος διοσπύρῳ τὸ σχῆμα, τὸ δὲ μέγεθος ἡλίκον κύαμος, πλὴν τοῦ διοσπύρου μὲν ὁ πυρὴν σκληρός, τοῦ δὲ κεράσου μαλακός. καὶ πάλιν κράταιγος· οἱ δὲ κραταίγονον καλοῦσιν. ἔχει δὲ τὸ μὲν φύλλον τεταμένον ὅμοιον μεσπίλῃ πλὴν μεῖζον ἐκείνου καὶ πλατύτερον ἢ προμηκέστερον τὸν δὲ χαραγμὸν οὐκ ἔχει ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνο. γίνεται δὲ τὸ δένδρον οὔτε μέγα λίαν οὔτε παχύ· τὸ δὲ ξύλον ποικίλον, ξανθόν, ἰσχυρόν. φλοιὸν δ’ ἔχει λεῖον ὅμοιον μεσπίλῃ· μονόριζον εἰς βάθος ὡς ἐπὶ πολύ. καρπὸν δ’ ἔχει στρογγύλον ἡλίκον ὁ κότινος· πεπαινόμενος δὲ ξανθὸς τέ ἐστι καὶ ἐπιμελαίνεται· ἔχει δὲ τὴν γεῦσιν καὶ τὸν χυλὸν μεσπίλου· διόπερ ἀγρία μεσπίλη δόξειε ἂν μᾶλλον εἶναι. ἐκ τούτων μοι δοκεῖ, φησίν, ὁ φιλόσοφος τὸ νῦν κεράσιον καλούμενον ἐμφανίζειν.
Asclepiades of Myrlea speaks of a tree which he calls the Ground-cherry, and says, “In the land of the Bithynians there is found the ground-cherry, the root of which is not large; nor is the tree, but like a rose-bush; in all other respects the fruit is like the common cherry; but it makes those who eat much of it feel heavy, as wine does, and it gives them head-aches.” These are the words of Asclepiades. And it appears to me that he is speaking of the arbutus. For the tree which bears the arbutus-berry answers his descrip- tion, and if a man eats more than six or seven of the berries he gets a headache. Aristophanes says—And planted by no hand, the arbutusMakes red the sunny hills.Theopompus says—The myrtle berries and red arbutus.Crates says—Beauteous the breast of tender maid,As arbutus or apples red.And Amphis—Mulberries you see, my friend, are foundOn the tree which we know as the mulberry;So the oak bears the acorn round,And the arbutus shines with its full berry.And Theophrastus tells us, “The κόμαρος (as he calls it) is the tree which bears the arbutus berry.” There is question about the “Agen,” a satyric drama, whether it was composed by Python, (and if by him whether he was a native of Catana or of Byzantium,) or by the king Alexander himself. Then Laurentius says—“You, O Greeks, lay claim to a good many things, as either having given the names to them, or having been the original discoverers of them. But you do not know that Lucullus, the Roman general, who subdued Mithridates and Tigranes, was the first man who Introduced this plant into Italy from Cerasus, a city of Pontus; and he it was who gave the fruit the Latin name of Cerasus, cherry, after the name of the city, as our historians relate.” Then Daphnis answers—“But there was a very celebrated man, Diphilus of Siphnos, many years more ancient than Lucullus, for he was born in the time of king Lysimachus, (who was one of the successors of Alexander,) and he speaks of cherries, saying, 'Cherries are good for the stomach, and juicy, but not very nutritious; if taken after drinking cold water they are especially wholesome; but the red and the Milesian are the best kinds, and are diuretic.'” There is a fruit usually called the συκάμινον, which the people of Alexandria call the μόρον, in which they differ from every one else; but it has no connexion with the Egyptian fig, which some call συκόμορον, and which the natives scrape slightly with a knife, and then leave on the tree; and then when it has been tossed about by the wind, within three days it becomes ripe and fragrant, (especially if the wind is west,) and very good to eat, as there is something in it which is moderately cooling for people in a fever, when made up with oil of roses into a plaster, so as to be put upon the stomach, and it is no slight relief to the patient. Now the Egyptian sycaminus bears its fruit on the main stem, and not on the branches. But the sycaminus is a mulberry, a fruit mentioned by Aeschylus in his Phrygians, where he says of Hector,His heart was softer than a mulberry.And in his “Cretan Women” he says of the brier—As the full branch to earth is Weigh'dWith mulberries, white and black and red.And Sophocles has the lines—First you shall see the full white ear of corn,And then the large round rosy mulberry.And Nicander in his Georgics says that it is the first of all fruits to appear; and he calls the tree which bears it μορέα, as also do the Alexandrians—The mulberry-tree, in which the young delight,Brown autumn's harbinger.
Ἀσκληπιάδης δὲ ὁ Μυρλεανὸς χαμαικέρασόν τινα καλῶν δένδρον ἔφη οὕτως· ἐν τῇ Βιθυνῶν γῇ γίνεται ἡ χαμαικέρασος, ἧς ἡ μὲν ῥίζα ἐστὶν οὐ μεγάλη, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ τὸ δένδρον, ἀλλὰ τῇ ῥοδῇ ἴσον, ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα κεράσῳ ὅμοιος, τοὺς δὲ πλείονι χρησαμένους καθότι οἶνος βαρύνει τε καὶ ἀλγεῖν τὴν κεφαλὴν τίθησι. ταῦτα ὁ Ἀσκληπιάδης, φησί, μοι δοκεῖ λέγειν περὶ τῶν μιμαικύλων. τό τε γὰρ φέρον αὐτὰ δένδρον τοιοῦτον καὶ ὁ πλέον τῶν ἑπτὰ τοῦ καρποῦ φαγὼν κεφαλαλγὴς γίνεται. Ἀριστοφάνης· ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν δ’ αὐτόματ’ αὐτοῖς τὰ μιμαίκυλ’ ἐφύετο πολλά, Θεόπομπος τρώγουσι μύρτα καὶ πέπονα μιμαίκυλα. Κράτης· πάνυ γάρ ἐστιν ὡρικώτατα τὰ τιτθί’ ὥσπερ μῆλον ἢ μιμαίκυλον. Ἄμφις· ὁ συκάμινος συκάμιν᾽, ὁρᾷς, φέρει, ὁ πρῖνος ἀκύλους, ὁ κόμαρος μιμαίκυλα Θεόφραστος· ἡ κόμαρος ἡ τὸ μιμαίκυλον φέρουσα τὸ ἐδώδιμον. ὅτι Ἀγῆνα σατυρικόν τι δρᾶμα ἀμφιβάλλεται εἴτε Πύθων ἐποίησεν ὁ Καταναῖος ἢ Βυζάντιος ἢ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀλέξανδρος. φησὶν ὁ παρὰ τῷ ῥήτορι Λαρήνσιος· πολλὰ ὑμεῖς οἱ Γραικοὶ ἐξιδιοποιεῖσθε ὡς αὐτοὶ ἢ ὀνομάσαντες ἢ πρῶτοι εὑρόντες· ἀγνοεῖτε δὲ ὅτι Λεύκολλος ὁ Ῥωμαίων στρατηγός, ὁ τὸν Μιθριδάτην καὶ Τιγράνην καταγωνισάμενος, πρῶτος διεκόμισεν εἰς Ἰταλίαν τὸ φυτὸν τοῦτο ἀπὸ Κερασοῦντος Ποντικῆς πόλεως, καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ τὸν καρπὸν καλέσας κέρασον ὁμωνύμως τῇ πόλει, ὡς ἱστοροῦσιν οἱ ἡμέτεροι συγγραφεῖς. πρὸς ὃν Δάφνος τίς φησιν ἀλλὰ μὴν παμπόλλοις χρόνοις πρεσβύτερος Λευκόλλου ἀνήρ ἐλλόγιμος Δίφιλος ὁ Σίφνιος, γεγονὼς κατὰ Λυσίμαχον τὸν βασιλέα—εἷς δὲ οὗτος τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου διαδόχων—μνημονεύει τῶν κερασίων λέγων ` τὰ κεράσια εὐστόμαχα, εὔχυλα, ὀλιγότροφα, ἐκ ψυχροῦ δὲ λαμβανόμενα εὐστόμαχα. καλλίω δὲ τὰ ἐρυθρότερα καὶ τὰ Μιλήσια· εἰσὶ γὰρ διουρητικά.᾽ συκάμινα. ὅτι πάντων ἁπλῶς οὕτω καλούντων αὐτὰ Ἀλεξανδρεῖς μόνοι μόρα ὀνομάζουσι. συκάμινα δὲ οὐ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας συκῆς, ἅ τινες συκόμορα λέγουσιν. ἅπερ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι ἐπὶ βραχὺ κνίσαντες σιδηρίῳ ἐῶσιν ἐπὶ τοῦ φυτοῦ ι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνέμου κινούμενα ἐντὸς ἡμερῶν τριῶν οὕτω πέπονα καὶ εὐώδη γίνονται, μάλιστα δὲ ζεφύρων, πνευσάντων, καὶ ἐδώδιμα ὡς διὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἠρέμα ψυχρὸν καὶ τοῖς πυρεταίνουσι μετὰ ῥοδίνου ἐλαίου καταπλαττόμενα ἐπὶ τοῦ στομάχου ἐπιτίθεσθαι καὶ οὐκ ὀλίγα παρηγορεῖσθαι τοὺς νοσοῦντας. φέρει δὲ τὸν καρπὸν τοῦτον ἡ Αἰγυπτία συκάμινος ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπικαρπίων. μόρα δὲ τὰ συκάμινα καὶ παρ’ Αἰσχύλῳ ἐν Φρυξὶν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἕκτορος· ἀνὴρ δ’ ἐκεῖνος ἦν πεπαίτερος μόρων. ἐν δὲ Κρήσσαις καὶ κατὰ τῆς βάτου· λευκοῖς τε γὰρ μόροισι καὶ μελαγχίμοις καὶ μιλτοπρέπτοις βρίθεται ταὐτοῦ χρόνου. Σοφοκλῆς· πρῶτον μὲν ὄψει λευκὸν ἀνθοῦντα στάχυν, ἔπειτα φοινίξαντα γογγύλον μόρον. καὶ Νίκανδρος δὲ ἐν Γεωργικοῖς ἐμφανίζει καὶ ὅτι πρότερον τῶν ἄλλων ἀκροδρύων φαίνεται μορέην τε καλεῖ τὸ δένδρον ἀεί, ὡς καὶ οἱ Ἀλεξανδρεῖς· καὶ μορέης, ἣ παισὶ πέλει μείλιγμα νέοισι, πρῶτον ἀπαγγέλλουσα βροτοῖς ἡδεῖαν ὀπώρην.
Phanias of Eresus, the pupil of Aristotle, calls the fruit of the wild sycamine μόρον, or mulberry, being a fruit of the greatest sweetness and delicacy when it is ripe. And he writes thus: “The mulberry is a briery sort of tree, and when the round fruit is dried it has small pips of seed, woven in like net-work, and the fruit is nutritious and juicy.” And Parthanius has the following words:—῞ἅβρυνα, that is to say, συκάμινα, which some call mulberries." And Salmonius calls the same tree βάτιον, or brier. And Demetrius Ixion says the συκάμινον and μόρον are the same, being a very juicy fruit, superior to the fig. And Diphilus of Siphnos, who was a physician, writes thus: “The συκάμινα, which are also called μόρα, are moderately full of good juice, but have not much nourishment; they are good for the stomach and easily digested; and those which are not quite ripe have a peculiar quality of expelling worms.” But Pythemus states, according to Hegesander, that in his time the mulberry-trees produced no fruit for twenty years, and that during that time gout became so epidemic, that not only men, but even boys and girls, and eunuchs, and women, were afflicted with it; and even herds of goats were attacked with it, so that two-thirds of the cattle were afflicted with the same disorder.
Φαινίας δ’ ὁ Ἐρέσιος ὁ Ἀριστοτέλους μαθητὴς τὸν τῆς ἀγρίας συκαμίνου καρπὸν μόρον καλεῖ, ὄντα καὶ αὐτὸν γλυκύτατον καὶ ἥδιστον ὅτε πεπανθείη. γράφει δὲ οὕτως τὸ μόρον τὸ βατῶδες, ξηρανθείσης τῆς σφαίρας τῆς συκαμινώδους, σπερματικὰς ἔχει τὰς διαγονάς, καθάπερ … ὑφάλους, καὶ διαφυὰς ἔχει ψαθυρὰς καὶ εὐχύμους. Παρθένιος δὲ ἅβρυνά φησι συκάμινα, ἃ καλοῦσιν ἔνιοι μόρα· Σαλαμίνιοι δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ ταῦτα βάτια Δημήτριος δὲ ὁ Ἰξίων τὰ αὐτὰ συκάμινα καὶ μόρα οἷον αἱμόροα καὶ σύκων ἀμείνω. Δίφιλος δὲ ὁ Σίφνιος ἰατρὸς γράφει οὕτως· τὰ δὲ συκάμινα, ἃ καὶ μόρα λέγεται, εὔχυλα μέν ἐστιν, ὀλιγότροφα δὲ καὶ εὐστόμαχα καὶ εὐέκκριτα. ἰδίως δὲ τούτων τὰ ἔνωμα ἕλμινθας ἐκτινάσσει. Πύθερμος δὲ ἱστορεῖ, ὥς φησιν Ἡγήσανδρος, καθ’ αὑτὸν τὰς συκαμίνους οὐκ ἐνεγκεῖν καρπὸν ἐτῶν εἴκοσι καὶ γενέσθαι ἐπιδημίαν ποδαγρικὴν τοσαύτην ὥστε μὴ μόνον ἄνδρας τῷ πάθει ἐνσχεθῆναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ παῖδας καὶ κόρας καὶ εὐνούχους, ἔτι δὲ γυναῖκας, περιπεσεῖν δὲ οὕτω τὸ δεινὸν καὶ αἰπολίῳ ὡς τὰ δύο μέρη τῶν προβάτων ἐνσχεθῆναι τῷ αὐτῷ πάθει.
With respect to the word κάρυα, the Attic writers and all other prose writers call nearly all berries by the generic name of κάρυα, nuts. And Epicharmus calls the almond “the nut,” by way of distinction, as we do, saying—We eat roast nuts, that is, almonds.Philyllius says—Eggs, nuts, almonds.And Heracleon the Ephesian writes—“They called almonds κάρυα, and chestnuts, which we now call καστάνεια.” The tree itself is called καρύα by Sophocles, who says—(κάρυαι,) nut-trees and ash-trees.And Eubulus speaks ofBeeches, nut-trees, Carystian nuts.There are some kinds of nuts, too, which are called μόστηνα.
κάρυα. οἱ Ἀττικοὶ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι συγγραφεῖς κοινῶς πάντα τὰ ἀκρόδρυα κάρυα λέγουσιν Ἐπίχαρμος δὲ κατ’ ἐξοχὴν ὡς ἡμεῖς· καπυρὰ τρώγων κάρυ᾽, ἀμυγδάλας. Φιλύλλιος· ᾠά, κάρυ᾽, ἀμυγδάλαι. Ἡρακλέων δέ φησιν ὁ Ἐφέσιος· κάρυα ἐκάλουν καὶ τὰς ἀμυγδάλας καὶ τὰ νῦν καστάνεια. τὸ δὲ δένδρον καρύα παρὰ Σοφοκλεῖ· καρύαι μελίαι τε. Εὔβουλος· φηγούς, κάρυα Καρύστια. καλεῖται δέ τινα καὶ μόστηνα κάρυα.
With respect to Almonds.—The Naxian almonds are mentioned by the ancient writers; and those in the island of Naxos are superior to all others, as I am well persuaded. Phrynichus says—He knock'd out all my grinders, so that nowA Naxian almond I can hardly crack.The almonds in the island of Cyprus also are very excellent, and in comparison of those which come from other quarters, they are very long, and slightly bent at the end. And Seleucus in his Dictionary says, that the Lacedæmonians call soft nuts μύκηροι. And the Servians give that name to sweet nuts. But Arnexias says that it is the almond which is called μύκηρος. We may add, there is nothing which is a greater provocative of drinking than almonds when eaten before meals. Eupolis says in his Taxiarchs—Give me some Naxian almonds to regale me,And from the Naxian vines some wine to drink.For there was a vine called the Naxian vine. And Plutarch of Chæronea says, that there was in the retinue of Drusus the son of Tiberius Cæsar, a certain physician who surpassed all men in drinking, and who was detected in always eating five or six bitter almonds before he drank. But when he was prevented from eating them he was not able to stand even a very limited quantity of wine; and the cause of this was the great power of the bitterness of the almond, which is of a very drying nature, and which has the quality of expelling moisture. Herodian of Alexandria says, that almonds derive the name of ἀμύγδαλαι, because beneath their green bark they have many ἀμυχαὶ, or lacerations. Philemon says somewhere or other—You, like an ass, come to the husks of the dessert;and Nicander, in the second book of his Georgics, says—Beech-trees, the ornament of Pan. We also find the word ἀμύγδαλον in the neuter gender. Diphilus says—“Sweetmeats, myrtle-berries, cheese-cakes, almonds,”using the neuter ἀμύγδαλα.
ἀμυγδαλαῖ. ὅτι αἱ Νάξιαι ἀμυγδάλαι διὰ μνήμης ἦσαν τοῖς παλαιοῖς· καὶ γίνονται ὄντως ἐν Νάξῳ τῇ νήσῳ διάφοροι, ὡς ἐμαυτόν, φησί, πείθω. Φρύνιχος τοὺς δὲ γομφίους ἅπαντας ἐξέκοψεν, ὥστ᾽ οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην Ναξίαν ἀμυγδάλην κατᾶξαι. διάφοροι δ’ ἀμυγδάλαι γίνονται κἀν Κύπρῳ τῇ νήσῳ· παρὰ γὰρ τὰς ἀλλαχόθεν καὶ ἐπιμήκεις εἰσὶ καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἄκρον ἐπικαμπεῖς. Λάκωνας δὲ Σέλευκος ἐν Γλώσσαις φησὶ καλεῖν τὰ μαλακὰ κάρυα μυκήρους, Τηνίους δὲ τὰ γλυκέα κάρυα. Ἀμερίας δέ φησι μύκηρον τὴν ἀμυγδάλην καλεῖσθαι. ἐπακτικώτατα δὲ πρὸς πότον τὰ ἀμύγδαλα προεσθιόμενα. Εὔπολις· δίδου μασᾶσθαι Ναξίας ἀμυγδάλας οἶνόν τε πίνειν Ναξίων ἀπ’ ἀμπέλων. ἦν δέ τις ἄμπελος Ναξία καλουμένη, Πλούταρχος δὲ ὁ Χαιρωνεύς φησι παρὰ Δρούσῳ τῷ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος υἱῷ ἰατρόν τινα ὑπερβάντα πάντας ἐν τῷ πίνειν φωραθῆναι πρὸ τοῦ πότου προεσθίοντα πικρὰς ἀμυγδάλας πέντε ἢ ἕξ· ἅσπερ κωλυθεὶς προσενέγκασθαι οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ μικρότατον ἀντέσχε τοῦ πότου, αἴτιος οὖν ἦν ἡ τῆς πικρότητος δύναμις, ξηραντικὴ καὶ δάπανος ὑγρῶν οὖσα. κληθῆναι δὲ ἀμυγδάλην φησὶν Ἡρωδιανὸς ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεὺς παρὰ τὸ ἐν τῷ μετὰ τὸ χλωρὸν ὡσπερεὶ ἀμυχὰς ἔχειν πολλάς. ὄνος βαδίζεις εἰς ἄχυρα τραγημάτων, φησί που Φιλήμων φηγοὶ Πανὸς ἄγαλμα, φησὶ Νίκανδρος ἐν β’ Γεωργικῶν. ὅτι καὶ οὐδετέρως ἀμύγδαλα λέγεται, Δίφιλος· τράγημα, μυρτίδες, πλακοῦς, ἀμύγδαλα.
Now with respect to the pronunciation and accent of the word ἀμυγδάλη, Pamphilus thinks that there ought to be a grave accent when it means the fruit, as it is in the case of ἀμύγδαλον. But he wants to circumflex the word when it means the tree, thus, ἀμυγδαλῆ like ῥοδῆ. And Archilochus says—The lovely flower of the rose-tree (ῥοδῆς).But Aristarchus marks the word, whether it means the fruit or the tree, with an acute accent indifferently; while Philoxenus would circumflex the word in either sense. Eupolis says—You'll ruin me, I swear it by the almond.Aristophanes says—A. Come, now, take these almonds,And break them(B. I would rather break your head,) with a stone.And Phrynichus says—The almond is a good cure for a cough.And others speak of almonds as beautiful. But Tryphon in his book on Attic Prosody accents ἀμυγδάλη, when meaning the fruit, with a grave accent, which we use in the neuter as ἀμύγδαλον. But he writes ἀμυγδαλῆ, with a circumflex for the tree; it being as it were a possessive form derived from the fruit, and as such contracted and circumflexed. Pamphilus in his Dictionary says that the μυκηρόβατον is called the nut-cracker by the Lacedæmonians, when they mean the almond-cracker; for the Lacedæmonians call almonds μούκηροι.
ὅτι περὶ τῆς προφορᾶς τοῦ τόνου τῆς ἀμυγδάλης Πάμφιλος μὲν ἀξιοῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ καρποῦ βαρύνειν ὁμοίως τῷ ἀμυγδάλῳ· τὸ μέντοι δένδρον θέλει περισπᾶν, ἀμυγδαλῆ καὶ ῥοδῆ. καὶ Ἀρχίλοχος· ῥοδῆς τε καλὸν ἄνθος. Ἀρίσταρχος δὲ καὶ τὸν καρπὸν καὶ τὸ δένδρον ὁμοίως προφέρεται κατ’ ὀξεῖαν τάσιν. Φιλόξενος δ’ ἀμφότερον περισπᾷ. Εὔπολις· … ἀπολεῖς με, ναὶ μὰ τὴν ἀμυγδαλῆν. Ἀριστοφάνης· ἄγε νυν τὰς ἀμυγδαλᾶς λαβὼν τασδὶ κάταξον τῇ κεφαλῇ σαυτοῦ λίθῳ. Φρύνιχος· ἀμυγδαλῆ τῆς βηχὸς ἀγαθὸν φάρμακον. ἄλλοι δὲ ἀμυγδαλάς, ὡς καλάς. Τρύφων δὲ ἐν Ἀττικῇ προσῳδίᾳ ἀμυγδάλην μὲν τὸν καρπὸν βαρέως, ὃν ἡμεῖς οὐδετέρως ἀμύγδαλον λέγομεν, ἀμυγδαλᾶς δὲ τὰ δένδρα, κτητικοῦ παρὰ τὸν καρπὸν ὄντος τοῦ χαρακτῆρος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περισπωμένου. ὅτι Πάμφιλος ἐν Γλώσσαις μουκηροβαγόν φησι καλεῖσθαι τὸν καρυοκατάκτην ὑπὸ τῶν Λακώνων ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀμυγδαλοκατάκτην· μουκήρους γὰρ Λάκωνες καλοῦσι τὰ ἀμύγδαλα.
Nicander mentions also nuts of Pontus, which some writers call λόπιμα; while Hermonax and Timachidas, in the Dictionary, say that the acorn of Jupiter, or walnut, is what is called the nut of Pontus. But Heraclides of Tarentum asks, “Whether sweetmeats ought to be put on the table before supper, as is done in some parts of Asia and Greece; or whether they ought to be brought on after supper is over.” If it is decided that they are to be brought on at the end of supper, then it follows, that when a great deal of food has already been put into the stomach and bowels, the nuts which are eaten afterwards as provocatives of drinking, get entangled with the rest of the food, and produce flatulence, and also cause what has been eaten to turn on the stomach, because it is followed by what is by nature unmanageable and indigestible; and it is from such food that indigestions and attacks of diarrhœa arise. Diodes asserts that almonds are nutritious and good for the stomach, and that they have a heating effect because they contain something like millet; but green almonds are less likely to have an injurious effect than dry ones; and almonds soaked in water have such an effect less than those which are not soaked; and when toasted less than when raw. But walnuts, which are also called nuts of Heraclea, and acorns of Jupiter, are not indeed so nutritious as almonds, but still they have something like millet in them, and something apt to rise to the surface; so, if they are eaten in ay quantity they make the head feel heavy; they, however, are less likely to produce injurious effects when green than when dry. Persian nuts too are as apt to produce headches as the acorns of Jupiter; but they are more nutritious, though they make the throat and mouth feel rough; but when they are roasted they are less injurious, and when eaten with honey, they are the most digestible of all nuts The broad Persian nuts have the greatest tendency to produce flatulence; but when boiled they are less injurious than when raw, or even when roasted. But Philotimus in his treatises on Nourishment says, “The broad nut, and that which is called the Sardinian nut, are both exceedingly indigestible when raw, and are very slow in dissolving in the stomach, as they are kept down by the phlegm in the stomach, and as they themselves are of an astringent nature. The Pontic nut too is oily and indigestible; but the almond is not so indigestible as that, and accordingly if we eat a number of them we do not feel any inconvenience; and they appear more oily, and give out a sweet and oily juice.” Diphilus of Siphnos says—“There is a nut called the Royal nut, which causes severe headaches, and keeps rising in the stomach; and there are two sorts of them, one of which, that which is tender and white, is the more juicy and the better; but that which is roasted in ovens is not nutritious. Almonds have a tendency to make people thin, and are diuretic and cathartic, and far from nutritious; and the dry ones are far more apt to produce flatulence and are far more indigestible than the green ones, which do not give much juice, and which are not very nutritious; but those which are tender, and full, and white, being like milk, are more full of wholesome juice. And the Thasian and Cyprian nuts, being tender, are far more easily digested than dry ones. The nuts of Pontus are apt to produce headaches, but still they are not so indigestible as the Royal nuts.”
ὅτι Ποντικῶν καλουμένων καρύων, ἃ λόπιμά τινες ὀνομάζουσι, μνημονεύει Νίκανδρος. μῶναξ δὲ καὶ Τιμαχίδας ἐν Γλώσσαις Διὸς βάλανόν φησι καλεῖσθαι τὸ Ποντικὸν κάρυον. ʽ Ἡρακλείδης δὲ ὁ Ταραντῖνος ζητεῖ πότερον προπαρατίθεσθαι δεῖ τὰ τραγήματα, καθάπερ ἔν τισι τόποις τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν καὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα γίνεται ἢ οὔ, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον. ἐὰν μὲν οὖν μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον, συμβαίνει πλείονος τροφῆς κειμένης ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ τοῖς ἐντέροις τὰ ἐπεισφερόμενα κάρυα, χάριν τῆς πρὸς τὸ πίνειν ὁρμῆς ἐμπλεκόμενα τοῖς σιτίοις, ἐμπνευματώσεις καὶ φθορὰς τῆς τροφῆς παρασκευάζειν διὰ τὸ παρακολουθοῦν αὐτοῖς ἐπιπολαστικὸν φύσει καὶ δυσκατέργαστον· ἐξ ὧν ἀπεψίαι γίνονται καὶ κοιλίας καταφοραί. τὰ δὲ ἀμύγδαλα, φησὶ Διοκλῆς, τρόφιμα μέν ἐστι καὶ εὐκοίλια, θερμαντικὰ δὲ διὰ τὸ ἔχειν κεγχρῶδές τι. λυπεῖ δ’ ἧττον τὰ χλωρὰ τῶν ξηρῶν καὶ τὰ βεβρεγμένα τῶν ἀβρόχων καὶ τὰ πεφρυγμένα τῶν ὠμῶν. τὰ δὲ Ἡρακλεωτικά, καλούμενα δὲ Διὸς βάλανοι, τρέφει μὲν οὐχ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀμυγδάλοις, ἔχει δέ τι κεγχρῶδες καὶ ἐπιπολαστικὸν πλείω δὲ βρωθέντα βαρύνει τὴν κεφαλήν, ἧττον δ’ ἐνοχλεῖ καὶ τούτων τὰ χλωρὰ τῶν ξηρῶν, τὰ δὲ Περσικὰ κεφαλαλγικὰ μέν ἐστιν οὐχ ἧττον τῶν Διὸς βαλάνων, τρέφει δὲ μᾶλλον φάρυγγα τραχύνει καὶ στόμα, ὀπτηθέντα δὲ ἀλυπότερα γίνεται· διαχωρεῖ δὲ μάλιστα τῶν καρύων ἐσθιόμενα μετὰ μέλιτος, τὰ δὲ πλατέα φυσωδέστερά ἐστιν, ἀλυπότερα δὲ τὰ ἑφθὰ τῶν ὠμῶν καὶ πεφρυγμένων, τὰ δὲ πεφρυγμένα τῶν ὠμῶν. Φυλότιμος δὲ ἐν τοῖς περὶ τροφῆς φησι· τὸ πλατὺ καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Σαρδιανὸν δυσκατέργαστά ἐστιν ὠμὰ πάντα καὶ δυσδιάλυτα, κατεχόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ φλέγματος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ, καὶ στρυφνότητα ἔχοντα, τὸ δὲ Ποντικὸν λιπαρὸν καὶ δυσκατέργαστον. τὸ δὲ ἀμύγδαλον ἧττον δυσκατέργαστον φαγόντες οὖν πλείονα οὐκ ἐνοχλούμεθα λιπαρώτερά τε φαίνεται καὶ ἀναδίδωσι χυμὸν γλυκὺν καὶ λιπαρόν. Δίφιλος δ’ ὁ Σίφνιος τὰ κάρυα, φησί, τὰ βασιλικὰ κεφαλαλγῆ ἐστι καὶ ἐπιπολαστικά. τούτων δὲ τὰ ἁπαλὰ ἔτι καὶ λελευκασμένα εὐχυλότερα καὶ κρείττονα ὑπάρχει, τὰ δ’ ἐν τοῖς ἰπνοῖς φρυγόμενα ὀλιγότροφα. τὰ δὲ ἀμύγδαλά ἐστιν οὐρητικὰ καὶ λεπτυντικὰ καὶ καθαρτικὰ καὶ ὀλιγότροφα. τῶν μέντοι χλωρῶν κακοχύλων ὄντων καὶ ἀτροφωτέρων πολὺ μᾶλλον φυσωδέστερα καὶ ἐπιπολαστικώτερά ἐστι τὰ ξηρά. τὰ δὲ ἁπαλὰ καὶ πλήρη καὶ λελευκασμένα γαλακτώδη ὄντα εὐχυλότερά ἐστι. τῶν δὲ ξηρῶν τὰ Θάσια καὶ Κύπρια ἁπαλὰ ὄντα εὐεκκριτώτερά ἐστι. τὰ δὲ Ποντικὰ κάρυα κεφαλαλγῆ, ἧττον δὲ ἐπιπολαστικὰ τῶν βασιλικῶν.