---
title: "The Deipnosophists · Δειπνοσοφισταί"
author: "Athenaeus"
translator: "Charles Duke Yonge"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 8 of 78
url: https://scriptura.si/works/athenaeus-deipnosophists/8/
cite: "Athenaeus, tr. Charles Duke Yonge, The Deipnosophists · Δειπνοσοφισταί, section 8. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/athenaeus-deipnosophists/8/"
---

# The Deipnosophists · Δειπνοσοφισταί

*Athenaeus, tr. Charles Duke Yonge*

The Learned Banqueters: a dinner party in Rome stretched over fifteen books of talk about food, wine, courtesans, music and books, quoting hundreds of lost Greek authors.

> Greek: ed. Charles Burton Gulick, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0008.tlg001, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Charles Duke Yonge, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0008.tlg001.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 8. Book II · chapters 65–86

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/athenaeus-deipnosophists/8/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/athenaeus-deipnosophists/8/#p-N

[¶0] Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Banquet, says—“The onion, and the snail, and the egg, and similar things, appear to be productive of seed; not because they are very nutritious, but because their original natures are similar, and because their powers resemble that.” And Diphilus says—"Onions are difficult to digest, but very nutritious, and good for the stomach. And, moreover, they are productive of moisture, and cleansing, but they dim the eyes, and excite the amatory propensities. But the proverb says—
The onion will do you no good if you have no strength yourself.
But those onions which are called the royal onions, really do stimulate the amatory propensities, for they are superior to the other kinds; and next to them are the red ones. But the white ones, and the Libyan onions, are something like squills. But the worst of all are the Egyptian.

> Greek: Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ταραντῖνος ἐν Συμποσίῳ βολβὸς καὶ κοχλίας καὶ ᾠὸν καὶ τὰ ὅμοια δοκεῖ σπέρματος εἶναι ποιητικά, οὐ διὰ τὸ πολύτροφα εἶναι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ὁμοειδεῖς ἔχειν τὰς πρώτας φύσεις αὐτὰς τὰς δυνάμεις τῷ σπέρματι. Δίφιλος· οἱ βολβοὶ δύσπεπτοι μέν εἰσι, πολύτροφοι δὲ καὶ εὐστόμαχοι, ἔτι δὲ σμηκτικοὶ καὶ ἀμβλυντικοὶ ὄψεως, διεγερτικοὶ δ’ ἀφροδισίων. ἡ δὲ παροιμία φησὶν οὐδέν σ’ ὀνήσει βολβός, ἂν μὴ νεῦρ’ ἔχῃς. διεγείρουσι δ’ ὄντως αὐτῶν πρὸς ἀφροδίσια οἱ βασιλικοὶ λεγόμενοι, οἳ καὶ κρείσσονες τῶν ἄλλων εἰσί· μεθ’ οὓς οἱ πυρροί, οἱ δὲ λευκοὶ καὶ Λιβυκοὶ σκιλλώδεις· χείρονες δὲ πάντων οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι.

[¶1] But the white onions, called βόλβιναι, are fuller of good juice than the common onions; but they are not so good for the stomach, because the white portion of them has a certain thickness in it. Yet they are very tolerably wholesome, because they have a good deal of harshness in them, and because they promote the secretions. And Matron, in his Parodies, mentions the βολβίνη—
But sowthistles I will not even name,
Plants full of'marrow, crown'd on th' heads with thorns;
Nor the white onions, minstrels of great Jove,
Which his dear Child, incessant rain, has nourish'd
Whiter than snow storms, and like meal to view,
Which, when they first appeared, my stomach loved. Nicander extols the onions of Megara. But Theophrastus, in the seventh book of his treatise on Plants, says— “In some places the onions are so sweet, that they are eaten raw, as they are in the Tauric Chersonesus.” And Phænias makes the same statement:—“There is,” says he, “a kind of onion which bears wool, according to Theophrastus; and it is produced on the sea-shore. And it has the wool underneath its first coat, so as to be between the outer eatable parts and the inner ones. And from this wool socks and stockings and other articles of clothing are woven.” And Phœnias himself adopts the statement. “But the onion,” he continues, “of the Indians is hairy.” But concerning the dressing of onions, Philemon says—
Now if you want an onion, just consider
What great expense it takes to make it good:
You must have cheese, and honey, and sesame,
Oil, leeks, and vinegar, and assafœtida,
To dress it up with; for by itself the onion
Is bitter and unpleasant to the taste.
But Heraclides the Tarentine, limiting the use of onions at banquets, says—“One must set bounds to much eating, especially of such things as have anything glutinous or sticky about them; as, for instance, eggs, onions, calves' feet, snails, and such things as those: for they remain in the stomach a long time, and form a lump there, and check their natural moisture.”

> Greek: αἱ δὲ βολβῖναι καλούμεναι εὐχυλότεραι μέν εἰσι τῶν βολβῶν, οὐ μὴν οὕτως εὐστόμαχοι διὰ τὸ γλυκάζον ἔχειν τι· παχυντικαί τε ἱκανῶς εἰσι διὰ τὴν πολλὴν σκληρότητα καὶ εὐέκκριτοι. μνημονεύει δὲ βολβίνης Μάτρων ἐν παρῳδίαις· σόγκους δ’ οὐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι οὐδ’ ὀνομήνω, μυελόεν βλάστημα, καρηκομόωντας ἀκάνθαις, βολβίνας θ᾽, αἳ Ζῆνος Ὀλυμπίου εἰσὶν ἀοιδή, ἃς ἐν χέρσῳ θρέψε Διὸς παῖς ἄσπετος ὄμβρος, λευκοτέρας χιόνος, ἰδέειν ἀμύλοισιν ὁμοίας τάων φυομένων ἠράσσατο πότνια γαστήρ, ὅτι Νίκανδρος Μεγαρῆας βολβοὺς ἐπαινεῖ. Θεόφραστος δ’ ἐν ζ’ Φυτικῶν ἐνιαχοῦ, φησίν, οὕτω γλυκεῖς εἰσιν οἱ βολβοὶ ὥστε καὶ ὠμοὺς ἐσθίεσθαι, ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Ταυρικῇ Χερρονήσῳ. τὰ αὐτὰ ἱστορεῖ καὶ Φαινίας. ἔστι δὲ καὶ γένος, φησί, βολβῶν, Θεόφραστος, ἐριοφόρων, ὃ φύεται ἐν αἰγιαλοῖς. ἔχει δὲ τὸ ἔριον ὑπὸ τοὺς πρώτους χιτῶνας, ὥστε ἀνὰ μέσον εἶναι τοῦ ἐδωδίμου τοῦ ἐντὸς καὶ τοῦ ἔξω. ὑφαίνεται δ’ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ πόδεια καὶ ἄλλα ἱμάτια, ὡς καὶ Φαινίας φησί, τὸ δὲ ἐν Ἰνδοῖς τριχῶδές ἐστι. περὶ δὲ τῆς τῶν βολβῶν σκευασίας Φιλήμων φησί· τὸν βολβόν, εἰ βούλει, σκόπει ὅσα δαπανήσας εὐδοκιμεῖ, τυρόν, μέλι, σήσαμον, ἔλαιον, κρόμυον, ὄξος, σίλφιον. αὐτὸς δ’ ἐφ’ αὑτοῦ ᾽ στιν πονηρὸς καὶ πικρός. Ἡρακλείδης δ’ ὁ Ταραντῖνος τοῦ συμποσίου περιγράφων τοὺς βολβοὺς φησι·
περιγράφειν δεῖ τὴν πολλὴν βρῶσιν καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἐχόντων ὅλκιμόν τι καὶ γλίσχρον, οἷον ᾠῶν, βολβῶν, ἀκροκωλίων, κοχλιῶν καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων, ἐπιμένει γὰρ τῇ κοιλίᾳ πλείονας χρόνους καὶ ἐμπλεκόμενα παρακατέχει τὰ ὑγρά.

[¶2] Thrushes, too, and crowds of other birds, formed part of the dishes in the propomata. Teleclides says— But roasted thrushes with sweet cheese-cakes served, Flew of their own accord down the guests' throats.
But the Syracusans call thrushes, not κίχλαι, but κίχηλαι.
Epicharmus says—
The thrushes (κίχηλαι) fond of eating the olive.
And Aristophanes also, in his “Clouds,” mentions the same birds. But Aristotle asserts that there are three kinds of thrushes; the first and largest kind of which is nearly equal to a jay; and they call it also the ixophagus, since it eats the mistletoe. The next kind is like a blackbird in size, and they call them trichades. The third kind is less than either of the before-mentioned sorts, and is called illas, but some call it tylas, as Alexander the Myndian does. And this is a very gregarious species, and builds its nest as the swallow does. There is a short poem, which is attributed to Homer, and which is entitled ἐπικιχλίδες, which has received this title from the circumstance of Homer singing it to his children, and receiving thrushes as his reward,—at least, this is the account given by Menœchmus, in his treatise on Artists.

> Greek: κίχλαι. καὶ τούτων ἦσαν καὶ ἄλλων ὀρνίθων ἀγέλαι ἐν τοῖς προπόμασι. Τηλεκλείδης· ὀπταὶ δὲ κίχλαι μετ’ ἀμητίσκων εἰς τὸν φάρυγ᾽ εἰσεπέτοντο. Συρακούσιοι δὲ τὰς κίχλας κιχήλας λέγουσιν. Ἐπίχαρμος· τὰς τ᾽ ἐλαιοφιλοφάγους κιχήλας. μέμνηται τούτων καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν Νεφέλαις. τρία δὲ γένη κιχλῶν Ἀριστοτέλης εἶναι ἱστορεῖ, ὧν τὴν πρώτην καὶ μεγίστην κίσσῃ πάρισον εἶναι, ἣν καὶ καλεῖσθαι ἰξοφάγον, ἐπειδὴ ἰξὸν ἐσθίει τὴν δὲ τῷ κοσσύφῳ ἴσην, ἣν ὀνομάζεσθαι τριχάδα· τὴν δὲ τρίτην ἐλαχίστην τῶν προειρημένων οὖσαν ἰλλάδα ὀνομάζεσθαι. οἱ δὲ τυλάδα λέγουσιν, ὡς Ἀλέξανδρος ἱστορεῖ ὁ Μύνδιος· ἣν καὶ συναγελαστικὴν εἶναι καὶ νεοττεύειν ὡς καὶ τὰς χελιδόνας. ὅτι τὸ εἰς Ὅμηρον ἀναφερόμενον ἐπύλλιον, ἐπιγραφόμενον δὲ Ἐπικιχλίδες, ἔτυχε ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας διὰ τὸ τὸν Ὅμηρον ᾄδοντα αὐτὸ τοῖς παισὶ κίχλας δῶρον λαμβάνειν, ἱστορεῖ Μέναιχμος ἐν τῷ περὶ τεχνιτῶν.

[¶3] There is a bird called the συκαλὶς, or figpecker. And Alexander the Myndian asserts—“One of the tits is called by some people elœus, and by others pirias; but when the figs become ripe, it gets the name of sycalis.” And there are two species of this bird, the sycalis and the μελαγκόρυφος, or blackcap. Epicharmus spells the word with two λλ, and writes συκαλλίδες. He speaks of beautiful συκαλλίδες: and in a subsequent passage he says—
And herons were there with their long bending necks,
And grouse who pick up seed, and beautiful sycallilles.
And these birds are caught at the season when figs are ripe. And it is more correct to spell the name with on y one λ; but Epicharmus put in the second λ because of the metre.

> Greek: συκαλίδες. Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μύνδιος ἱστορεῖ· ἅτερος τῶν αἰγιθαλῶν ὑφ’ ὧν μὲν ἔλαιον καλεῖται, ὑπὸ δέ τινων πυρρίας· συκαλὶς δ᾽, ὅταν ἀκμάζῃ τὰ σῦκα. δύο δ’ εἶναι γένη αὐτοῦ συκαλίδα καὶ μελαγκόρυφον. Ἐπίχαρμος· ἀγλαὰς συκαλλίδας. καὶ πάλιν ἦν δ’ ἐρῳδιοί τε πολλοὶ μακροκαμπυλαύχενες τέτρακές τε σπερματολόγοι κἀγλααὶ συκαλλίδες. ἁλίσκονται δ’ αὗται τῷ τῶν σύκων καιρῷ, διὸ βέλτιον ὀνομάζοιτ’ ἂν δι’ ἑνὸς λ· διὰ δὲ τὸ μέτρον Ἐπίχαρμος διὰ δυεῖν εἴρηκεν.

[¶4] There is a kind of finch, too, which was sometimes eaten, of which Eubulus says, And Ephippus says, in his “Geryones”—
When 'twas the Amphidromian festival,
When 'tis the custom to toast bits of cheese
O' the Chersonesus; and to boil a cabbage,
Bedewed with shining oil; and eke to bake
The breasts of fat and well-fed lambs; to pluck
The feathers from the thrushes, doves and finches;
And also to eat cuttle-fish with anchovies,
And baskets of rich polypus to collect,
And to drink many cups of unmixed wine.

> Greek: σπίνοι. Εὔβουλος· Ἀμφιδρομίων ὄντων, ἐν οἷς νομίζεται ὀπτᾶν τε τυροῦ Χερρονησίτου τόμον ἕψειν τ’ ἐλαίῳ ῥάφανον ἠγλαισμένην πνίγειν τε παχέων ἀρνίων στηθύνια τίλλειν τε φάττας καὶ κίχλας ὁμοῦ σπίνοις ὁμοῦ τε χναύειν μαινίσιν σηπίδια πιλοῦν τε πολλὰς πλεκτάνας ἐπιστρεφῶς πίνειν τε πολλὰς κύλικας εὐζωρεστέρας.

[¶5] Then, too, there are blackbirds.-Nicostratus or Philetærus says—
A. What then shall I buy? Tell me, I pray you.
B. Go not to more expense than a neat table;
Buy a rough-footed hare; some ducklings too,
As many as you like; thrushes, and blackbirds,
And other small birds; there are many wild sorts.
A. Yes, and they're very nice.
Antiphanes also reckons starlings among the eatable birds, numerating them in the following list—“Honey, partridges, pigeons, ducks, geese, starlings, jays, rooks, blackbirds, quails, and pullets.” You are asking of us for a history of everything, and you do not allow us to say a single thing without calling us to account for it. The word στρουθάριον (a little bird) is found in many other authors, and also in Eubulus. He says, “Take three or four partridges, and three hares, and as many small birds as you can eat, and goldfinches, and parrots, and finches, and nightjars, and whatever other birds of this kind you can come across.”

> Greek: κόψιχοι. Νικόστρατος ἢ Φιλέταιρος· τί οὖν ἀγοράσω; φράζε γάρ. β. μὴ πολυτελῶς, ἀλλὰ καθαρείως· δασύποδα, ἐὰν περιτύχῃς, ἀγόρασον καὶ νηττία ὁπόσα σὺ βούλει καὶ κίχλας καὶ κοψίχους, ὀρνιθάριά τε τῶν ἀγρίων τούτων συχνά· χάριεν γάρ. Ἀντιφάνης δὲ καὶ ψᾶρας ἐν τοῖς βρώμασι καταλέγει· μέλι, πέρδικες, φάτται, νῆτται, χῆνες, ψᾶρες, κίττα, κολοιός, κόψιχος, ὄρτυξ, ὄρνις θήλεια. πάντων ἡμᾶς λόγον ἀπαιτεῖς καὶ οὐδ’ ὁτιοῦν ἔξεστιν εἰπεῖν ἀνυπεύθυνον. ὅτι τὸ στρουθάριον παρ’ ἄλλοις τε καὶ δὴ καὶ παρ’ Εὐβούλῳ· περδίκια λαβὲ τέτταρ’ ἢ καὶ πέντε, δασύποδας δὲ τρεῖς, στρουθάριὰ θ’ οἷον ἐντραγεῖν, ἀκανθίδας, καὶ βιττάκους, σπινίδια, κερχνῇδας τά τ’ ἄλλ’ ἅττ’ ἂν ἐπιτύχῃς.

[¶6] Swine's brains, too, was a not uncommon dish. Philosophers used to forbid our eating these, saying that a person who partook of them might as well eat a bear, and would not stick at eating his father's head, or anything else imaginable. And they said, that at all events none of the ancients had ever eaten them, because they were the seat of nearly all sensation. But Apollodorus the Athenian says, that none of the ancients ever even named the brain. And at all events Sophocles, in his Trachiniæ, where he represents Hercules as throwing Lichas into the sea, does not use the word ἐγκέφαλον, brains, but says λευκὸν μυελὸς, white marrow; avoiding a word which it was thought ill-omened to use:—
And from his hair he forces the white marrow,
His head being burst asunder in the middle,
And the blood flows:
though he had named all the rest of his limbs plainly enough. And Euripides, introducing Hecuba lamenting for Astyanax, who had been thrown down by the Greeks, says—
Unhappy child, how miserably have
Your native city's walls produced your death,
And dash'd your head in pieces! Fatal towers,
Which Phæbus builded! How did your mother oft
Cherish those curly locks, and press upon them
With never-wearied kisses! now the blood
Wells from that wound, where the bones broken gape;
But some things are too horrid to be spoken.
The lines too which follow these are worth stopping to consider. But Philocles does employ the word ἐγκέφαλον—
He never ceased devouring even the brains (ἐγκέφαλον).
And Aristophanes says—
I would be content
To lose two membranes of the ἐγκέφαλον.
And others, too, use the word. So that it must have been for the sake of the poetical expression that Sophocles said “white marrow.” But Euripides not choosing openly to display to sight an unseemly and disgusting object, revealed as much as he chose. And they thought the head sacred, as is plain by their swearing by it; and by their even venerating sneezes, which proceed from the head, as holy. And we, to this day, confirm our arrangements and promises by nodding the head. As the Jupiter of Homer says—
Come now, and I will nod my head to you.

> Greek: ἐγκέφαλοι χοίρειοι. τούτων ἡμᾶς ἐσθίειν οὐκ εἴων οἱ φιλόσοφοι, φάσκοντες τοὺς αὐτῶν μεταλαμβάνοντας ἶσον καὶ κυάμων τρώγειν κεφαλῶν τε οὐ τοκήων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων βεβήλων, οὐδένα γοῦν τῶν ἀρχαίων βεβρωκέναι διὰ τὸ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἁπάσας σχεδὸν ἐν αὐτῷ εἶναι. Ἀπολλόδωρος δ’ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος οὐδ᾽ ὀνομάζειν τινὰ τῶν παλαιῶν φησιν ἐγκέφαλον καὶ Σοφοκλέα γοῦν ἐν Τραχινίαις ποιήσαντα τὸν Ἡρακλέα ῥιπτοῦντα τὸν Λίχαν ἐς θάλασσαν οὐκ ὀνομάσαι ἐγκέφαλον, ἀλλὰ λευκὸν μυελόν, ἐκκλίνοντα τὸ μὴ ὀνομαζόμενον· κόμης δὲ λευκὸν μυελὸν ἐκραίνει, μέσου κρατὸς διασπαρέντος αἵματός θ’ ὁμοῦ, καίτοι τἄλλα διαρρήδην ὀνομάσαντα. καὶ Εὐριπίδης δὲ τὴν Ἑκάβην θρηνοῦσαν εἰσαγαγὼν τὸν Ἀστυάνακτα ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ῥιφέντα φησί· δύστηνε, κρατὸς ὥς σ’ ἔκειρεν ἀθλίως τείχη πατρῷα, Λοξίου πυργώματα, ὃν πόλλ’ ἐκήπευσ’ ἡ τεκοῦσα βόστρυχον φιλήμασὶν τ’ ἔδωκεν· ἔνθεν ἐκγελᾷ ὀστέων ῥαγέντων φόνος, ἵν᾽· αἰσχρὰ μὴ λέγω. ἔχει δὲ ἐπίστασιν ἡ τῶν ποιημάτων τούτων ἐκδοχή. καὶ γὰρ Φιλοκλῆς τε ἐγκέφαλόν φησιν οὐδ’ ἂν ἐγκέφαλον ἔσθων λίποι, καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης· ἀπολέσαιμ’ ἂν ἐγκεφάλου θρίω δύο, καὶ ἄλλοι. λευκὸν οὖν ἂν εἴη μυελὸν εἰρηκὼς Σοφοκλῆς ποιητικῶς, Εὐριπίδης δὲ τὸ τῆς προσόψεως εἰδεχθὲς καὶ αἰσχρὸν οὐχ αἱρούμενος ἐναργῶς ἐμφανίσαι ἐδήλωσεν ὡς ἐβούλετο. ὅτι δ’ ἱερὸν ἐνόμιζον τὴν κεφαλὴν δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ καὶ κατ’ αὐτῆς ὀμνύειν καὶ τοὺς γινομένους ἀπ’ αὐτῆς πταρμοὺς προσκυνεῖν ὡς ἱερούς. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰς συγκαταθέσεις βεβαιοῦμεν τῇ ταύτης ἐπινεύσει, ὡς καὶ ὁ Ὁμηρικὸς Ζεύς φησιν εἰ δ’ ἄγε τοι κεφαλῇ ἐπινεύσομαι.

[¶7] Now all these things were put into the dishes which were served up as propomata: pepper, green leaved myrrh, galingal, Egyptian ointment. Antiphanes says—
If any one buys pepper and brings it home,
They torture him by law like any spy.
And in a subsequent passage he says—
Now is the time for a man to go and find pepper,
And seed of orach, and fruit, and buy it, and bring it here.
And Eubulus says—
Just take some Cnidian grains, or else some pepper,
And pound them up with myrrh, and strew around.
And Ophelion says—
Pepper from Libya take, and frankincense,
And Plato's heaven-inspired book of wisdom.
And Nicander says, in his Theriaca—
Take the conyza's woolly leaves and stalks,
And often cut new pepper up, and add
Cardamums fresh from Media.
And Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says—“Pepper indeed is a fruit: and there are two kinds of it; the one is round, like a vetch, having a husk, and is rather red in colour; but the other is oblong, black, and full of seeds like poppy-seeds. But this kind is much stronger than the other. Both kinds are heating, on which account they are used as remedies for, and antidotes against, hemlock.” And in his treatise on Suffocation, he writes—“And people who are suffocated are recovered by an infusion of vinegar and pepper, or else by the fruit of the nettle when crushed.” But we must recollect that, properly speaking, there is no noun of the neuter gender among the Greeks ending in ι, except μέλι alone; for the words πέπερι, and κόμμι, and κοῖφι are foreign.

> Greek: ὅτι εἰς τὸ πρόπομα καὶ ταῦτα ἐνεβάλλοντο, πέπερι, φυλλίς, σμύρνα, κύπειρον, μύρον Αἰγύπτιον. Ἀντιφάνης· ἂν μὲν ἄρα πέπερι πριάμενός τις εἰσφέρῃ, στρεβλοῦν γράφουσι τοῦτον ὡς κατάσκοπον. πάλιν νῦν δεῖ περιόντα πέπερι καὶ καρπὸν βλίτου ζητεῖν. Εὔβουλος· κόκκον λαβοῦσα κνίδιον ἢ τοῦ πεπέριδος τρίψασ’ ὁμοῦ σμύρνῃ διάπαττε τὴν ὁδόν. ᾽ Ὠφελίων· Λιβυκὸν πέπερι θυμίαμα καὶ βιβλίον Πλάτωνος ἐμβρόντητον. Νίκανδρος Θηριακοῖς· ἢ καὶ λεπτοθρίοιο πολύχνοα φύλλα κονύζης, πολλάκι δ’ ἢ πέπερι κόψας νέον ἢ ἀπὸ Μήδων κάρδαμον. Θεόφραστος ἐν φυτῶν ἱστορίᾳ· τὸ πέπερι καρπὸς μέν ἐστι, διττὸν δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ γένος· τὸ μὲν στρογγύλον ὥσπερ ὄροβος, κέλυφος ἔχον ὑπέρυθρον, τὸ δὲ πρόμηκες, μέλαν, σπερμάτια μηκωνικὰ ἔχον. ἰσχυρότερον δὲ πολὺ τοῦτο θατέρου, θερμαντικὰ δὲ ἄμφω· διὸ καὶ πρὸς τὸ κώνειον βοηθεῖ ταῦτα. ἐν δὲ τῷ περὶ πνιγμοῦ γράφει· ἡ δὲ τούτων ἀνάκτησις ὄξους ἐγχύσει καὶ πεπέριδος ἢ κνίδης καρπῷ τριφθείσης. τοῦτο δ’ ἡμᾶς τηρῆσαι δεῖ ὅτι οὐδέτερον ὄνομα οὐδέν ἐστι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἰς ι λῆγον, εἰ μὴ μόνον τὸ μέλι. τὸ γὰρ πέπερι καὶ κόμμι καὶ κοῖφι ξενικά.

[¶8] Let us now speak of oil—Antiphanes or Alexis makes mention of the Samian Oil, saying—
This man you see will be a measurer
Of that most white of oils, the Samian oil.
Ophelion makes mention also of Carian oil, and says—
The man anointed was with Carian oil.
Amyntas, in his treatise on Persian Weights and Measures, Says—"The mountains there bear turpentine and mastic trees, and Persian nuts, from which they make a great deal of oil for the king. And Ctesias says, that in Carmania there is made an oil which is extracted from thorns, which the king uses. And he, in his third book of his treatise on the Revenues derived from Asia, making a list of all the things which are prepared for the king for his supper, makes no mention of pepper, or of vinegar, which of itself is the very best of all seasonings. Nor does Deinon, in his Persian History; though he does say that ammoniac salt is sent up to the king from Egypt, and water from the Nile. Theophrastus also mentions an oil which he calls ὠμοτριβὲς, that is to say, extracted raw, in his treatise on Scents, saying that it is produced from the large coarse olives called phaulian, and from almonds. Amphis also speaks of the oil which is produced amongst the Thurians, as exceedingly fine—
Oil from the Thurians comes; from Gela lentils.

> Greek: ἔλαιον. Σαμιακοῦ ἐλαίου μνημονεύει Ἀντιφάνης ἢ Ἄλεξις· οὑτοσὶ δέ σοι τοῦ λευκοτάτου πάντων ἐλαίου Σαμιακοῦ ἐστιν μετρητής. Καρικοῦ δὲ ᾽ Ὠφελίων· ἐλαίῳ Καρικῷ ἀλείφεται. Ἀμύντας ἐν σταθμοῖς Περσικοῖς φησι· φέρει τὰ ὄρη τέρμινθον καὶ σχῖνον καὶ κάρυα τὰ Περσικά, ἀφ’ ὧν ποιοῦσι τῷ βασιλεῖ ἔλαιον πολύ. Κτησίας δ’ ἐν Καρμανίᾳ φησὶ γίνεσθαι ἔλαιον ἀκάνθινον, ᾧ χρῆσθαι βασιλέα· ὃς καὶ καταλέγων ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν φόρων τούτῳ βιβλίῳ πάντα τὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ παρασκευαζόμενα ἐπὶ τὸ δεῖπνον οὔτε πεπέρεως μέμνηται οὔτε ὄξους, ὃ μόνον ἄριστόν ἐστι τῶν ἡδυσμάτων. ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδὲ Δίνων ἐν τῇ Περσικῇ πραγματείᾳ· ὃς γέ φησι καὶ ἅλας Ἀμμωνιακὸν ἀπ’ Αἰγύπτου ἀναπέμπεσθαι βασιλεῖ καὶ ὕδωρ ἐκ τοῦ Νείλου, ἐλαίου δὲ τοῦ ὠμοτριβοῦς καλουμένου μέμνηται Θεόφραστος ἐν τῷ περὶ ὀδμῶν, φάσκων αὐτὸ γίνεσθαι ἐκ τῶν φαυλιῶν ἐλαιῶν καὶ ἐξ ἀμυγδάλων, τοῦ δὲ ἐν Θουρίοις γινομένου ἐλαίου ὡς διαφόρου μνημονεύει Ἄμφις· ἐν Θουρίοις τοὔλαιον, ἐν Γέλᾳ φακῆ..

[¶9] Pickle is a thing often mentioned. Cratinus Says—
Your basket will be full of briny pickle.
And Pherecrates says—
His beard was all besmear'd with pickle juice.
And Sophocles, in his Triptolemus, says—
Eating this briny season'd pickle.
And Plato the comic writer says—
These men will choke me, steeping me in putrid pickle.
But the word γάρος, pickle, is a masculine noun. As Aeschylus proves, when he says καὶ τὸν ἰχθύων γάρον.

> Greek: γάρος. Κρατῖνος· ὁ τάλαρος ὑμῶν διάπλεως ἔσται γάρου, Φερεκράτης· ἀνεμολύνθη τὴν ὑπήνην τῷ γάρῳ. Σοφοκλῆς Τριπτολέμῳ· τοῦ ταριχηροῦ γάρου. Πλάτων ἐν σαπρῷ γάρῳ βάπτοντες ἀποπνίξουσί με. ὅτι δ’ ἀρσενικὸν ἐστι τοὔνομα Αἰσχύλος δηλοῖ εἰπών καὶ τὸν ἰχθύων γάρον.

[¶10] Vinegar too was much used by the ancients, and this is the only seasoning to which the Attics give the name of ἧδος, as if it were akin to ἡδὺς, sweet. And Chrysippus the philosopher says, that the best vinegar is the Egyptian and the Cnidian. But Aristophanes, in his Plutus, says—
Sprinkling it o'er with Sphettian vinegar.
Didymus explaining this verse says, “Perhaps he says Sphettian because the Sphettians are sour-tempered people.” And somewhere or other he mentions vinegar from Cleonæ, as being most excellent, saying, “And at Cleonæ there are manufactories of vinegar.” We find also in Diphilus—
A. He first takes off his coat, and then he sups,
After what fashion think you?
B. Why, like a Spartan.
A. A measure then of vinegar....
B. Bah!
A. Why bah
B. A measure holds but such and such a quantity
Of the best Cleonæan vinegar.
And Philonides says—
Their seasonings have not vinegar sufficient.
But Heraclides the Tarentine, in his Symposium, says, “Vinegar has a tendency to make the exterior parts coagulate, and it affects the strings within the stomach in a very similar manner; but any parts which are tumid it dissolves, because forsooth different humours are mixed up in us.” And Alexis used to admire above all others the Decelean vinegar, and says—
You have compell'd me to bring forth from thence
Four half-pint measures full of vinegar
From Decelea, and now drag me through
The middle of the forum.
The word ὀξύγαρον must be spelt so, with a v, and the vessel which receives it is called ὀξύβαφον. And so Lysias, in the speech against Theopompus when on his trial for an assault, says, “But I myself drink ὀξύμελι.” And so too we must call oil of roses mixed with vinegar ὀξυρόδινον, spelling all the words thus compounded in this manner with a v.

> Greek: ὄξος. τοῦτο μόνον Ἀττικοὶ τῶν ἡδυσμάτων ἦδος καλοῦσι. κάλλιστον δ’ ὄξος εἶναί φησι Χρύσιππος ὁ φιλόσοφος τό τε Αἰγύπτιον καὶ τὸ Κνίδιον.Ἀριστοφάνης δὲ ἐν Πλούτῳ φησὶν ὄξει διέμενος Σφηττίῳ. Δίδυμος δ’ ἐξηγούμενος τὸ ἰαμβεῖόν φησιν ἴσως διότι οἱ Σφήττιοι ὀξεῖς. μνημονεύει δέ που καὶ τοῦ ἐκ Κλεωνῶν ὄξους ὡς διαφόρου· ἐν δὲ Κλεωναῖς ὀξίδες εἰσί. καὶ Δίφιλος· δειπνεῖ τε καταδύς, πῶς δοκεῖς, Λακωνικῶς, ὄξους δὲ κοτύλην β. πάξ. α. τί πάξ; β. ὀξὶς μέτρον χωρεῖ τοσοῦτο τῶν Κλεωναίων. Φιλωνίδης· τὰ καταχύσματα αὐτοῖσιν ὄξος οὐκ ἔχει. ὁ δὲ Ταραντῖνος ʽ Ἡρακλείδης ἐν τῷ Συμποσίῳ φησί· τὸ ὄξος τινὰ τῶν ἐκτὸς συνιστάνει, παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν κοιλίᾳ, τὰ δ’ ἐν τῷ ὄγκῳ διαλύει, διὰ τὸ δηλονότι διαφόρους ἐν ἡμῖν μίγνυσθαι χυμούς. ἐθαυμάζετο δὲ καὶ τὸ Δεκελεικὸν ὄξος. Ἄλεξις κοτύλας τέτταρας ἀναγκάσας μεστὰς ἔμ’ αὐτίτου σπάσαι ὄξους Δεκελεικοῦ δι’ ἀγορᾶς μέσης ἄγεις. λεκτέον δὲ ὀξύγαρον διὰ τοῦ ῡ καὶ τὸ δεχόμενον αὐτὸ ἀγγεῖον ὀξύβαφον· ἐπεὶ καὶ Λυσίας ἐν τῷ κατὰ Θεοπόμπου αἰκίας εἴρηκεν ἐγὼ δ’ ὀξύμελι πίνω. οὕτως οὖν ἐροῦμεν καὶ ὀξυρόδινον.

[¶11] Seasonings are mentioned even by Sophocles. In his Phæacians we find the expression,
And seasoning for food.
And in Aeschylus too we read—
You are steeping the seasonings.
And Theopompus says—“Many bushels of seasonings, and many sacks and bags of books, and of all other things which may be useful for life.” In Sophocles too the expression is found—
I like a cook will cleverly season....
And Cratinus says in the Glaucus—
It is not every one who can season skilfully.
And Eupolis speaks of
Very bad vinegar seasoned in an expensive way.
And Antiphanes, in his Leucas, gives the following catalogue of seasonings:—
Dried grapes, and salt, and eke new wine
Newly boiled down, and assafætida,
And cheese, and thyme, and sesame,
And nitre too, and cummin seed,
And sumach, honey, and marjoram,
And herbs, and vinegar and oil
And sauce of onions, mustard and capers mix d,
And parsley, capers too, and eggs,
And lime, and cardamums, and th' acid juice
Which comes from the green fig-tree, besides lard
And eggs and honey and flour wrapp'd in fig-leaves,
And all compounded in one savoury forcemeat.
The ancients were well acquainted with the Ethiopian cardamum. We must take notice that they used the words θύμος and ὀρίγανος as masculine nouns. And so Anaxandrides says—
Cutting asparagus and squills and marjoram, (ὃς)
Which gives the pickle an aristocratic taste,
When duly mixed (μιχθεὶς) with coriander seed.
And Ion says—
But in a hurried manner in his hand
He hides the marjoram (τὸν ὀρίγανον).
Plato however, or Cantharus, used it as feminine, saying—
She from Arcadia brought
The harshly-tasted (τὴν δριμυτάτην) marjoram.
Epicharmus and Ameipsias both use it as a neuter noun; but Nicander, in his Melissurgica, uses θύμος as masculine.

> Greek: ὅτι ἀρτύματα εὕρηται παρὰ Σοφοκλεῖ· καὶ βορᾶς ἀρτύματα. καὶ παρ’ Αἰσχύλῳ· διαβρέχεις τἀρτύματα. καὶ Θεόπομπος δέ φησι· πολλοὶ μὲν ἀρτυμάτων μέδιμνοι, πολλοὶ δὲ σάκκοι καὶ θύλακοι βιβλίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τῶν χρησίμων πρὸς τὸν βίον. τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα κεῖται παρὰ Σοφοκλεῖ· ἐγὼ μάγειρος ἀρτύσω σοφῶς. Κρατῖνος· γλαῦκον οὐ πρὸς παντὸς ἀνδρός ἐστιν ἀρτῦσαι καλῶς. Εὔπολις· ὄψῳ πονηρῷ πολυτελῶς ἠρτυμένῳ. ὅτι ἀρτύματα ταῦτα καταλέγει που Ἀντιφάνης· ἀστάφιδος, ἁλῶν, σιραίου, σιλφίου, τυροῦ, θύμου, σησάμου, νίτρου, κυμίνου, ῥοῦ, μέλιτος, ὀριγάνου, βοτανίων, ὄξους, ἐλαῶν, εἰς ἀβυρτάκην χλόης, καππάριδος, ᾠῶν, ταρίχους, καρδάμων, θρίων, ὀποῦ. ὅτι οἴδασιν οἱ παλαιοὶ τὸ Αἰθιοπικὸν καλούμενον κύμινον. ὅτι εἴρηται ἀρσενικῶς ὁ θύμος καὶ ὁ ὀρίγανος. Ἀναξανδρίδης· ἀσφάραγον σχῖνόν τε τεμὼν καὶ ὀρίγανον, ὃς δὴ σεμνύνει τὸ τάριχον ὁμοῦ μιχθεὶς κοριάννῳ. Ἴων αὐτὰρ ὃ γ’ ἐμμαπέως τὸν ὀρίγανον ἐν χερὶ κεύθει. θηλυκῶς δὲ Πλάτων ἢ Κάνθαρος· ἢ ᾽ξ Ἀρκαδίας οὕτω δριμυτάτην ὀρίγανον. οὐδετέρως δ’ Ἐπίχαρμος καὶ Ἀμειψίας. τὸν δὲ θύμον ἀρσενικῶς Νίκανδρος ἐν Μελισσουργικοῖς.

[¶12] Cratinus used the word πέπονες, which properly means merely full ripe, in speaking of the cucumbers which give seed, in his Ulysseses—
Tell me, O wisest son of old Laertes,
Have you e'er seen a friend of yours in Paros
Buy a large cucumber that's run to seed?
And Plato says in his Laius—
Do you not see
That Meleager, son of mighty Glaucon,.... Goes about every where like a stupid cuckoo,
With legs like the seedless πέπων cucumber?
And Anaxilas says—
His ankles swell'd
Larger than e'en a πέπων cucumber.
And Theopompus says of a woman—
She was to me
More tender than a πέπων cucumber.
Phænias says, "Both the σίκυος and the πέπων are tender to eat, with the stem on which they grow; however the seed is not to be eaten, but the outside only, when they are fully ripe; but the gourd called κολοκύντη, when raw is not eatable, but is very good either boiled or roasted. And Diodes the Carystian, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, says that “of wild vegetables the following should be boiled before eating: the lettuce (the best kind of which is the black); the cardamum; mustard from the Adriatic; onions (the best kinds are the Asalonian, and that called getian); garlic, that other kind of garlic called physinga, the πέπων cucumber, and the poppy.” And a little afterwards he says, "The πέπων cucumber is better for the stomach and more digestible; though every cucumber when boiled is tender, never gives any pain, and is diuretic; but that kind called πέπων when boiled in mead has very aperient qualities. And Speusippus, in his treatise on Similarities, calls the πέπων by the name of σικύα. But Diocles having named the πέπων, does not any longer call it σικύα: and Speusippus after having named the σικύα never names the πέπων. Diphilus says, the πέπων is more full of wholesome juice, and moderates the humours of the body, but it is not very nutritious; it is easily digested, and promotes the secretions.

> Greek: ὅτι τοὺς πέπονας Κρατῖνος μὲν σικύους σπερματίας κέκληκεν ἐν Ὀδυσσεῦσιν· ποῦ ποτ’ εἶδές μοι τὸν ἄνδρα, παῖδα Λαέρτα φίλον; β. ἐν Πάρῳ σικυὸν μέγιστον σπερματίαν ὠνούμενον. Πλάτων Λαίῳ· οὐχ ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὁ μὲν Λέαγρος, Γλαύκωνας ὢν μεγάλου γένους, ἀβελτεροκόκκυξ ἠλίθιος περιέρχεται σικυοῦ πέπονος εὐνουχίου κνήμας ἔχων; Ἀναξίλας· τὰ δὲ σφύρ’ ᾤδει μᾶλλον ἢ σικυὸς πέπων. Θεόπομπος· μαλθακωτέρα πέπονος σικυοῦ μοι γέγονε. Φαινίας· βρωτὰ μὲν ἁπαλὰ τῷ περικαρπίῳ σικυὸς καὶ πέπων ἄνευ τοῦ σπέρματος, πεττόμενον δὲ τὸ περικάρπιον μόνον, κολοκύντη δὲ ὠμὴ μὲν ἄβρωτος, ἑφθὴ δὲ καὶ ὀπτὴ βρωτή. Διοκλῆς δ’ ὁ Καρύστιος ἐν πρώτῳ Ὑγιεινῶν φησιν ἑψανὰ ἄγρια εἶναι θρίδακα ταύτης κρατίστην τὴν μέλαιναν, κάρδαμον, κορίαννον, σίναπυ, κρόμμυον τούτου εἶδος ἀσκαλώνιον καὶ γήτειον, σκόροδον, φύσιγγες, σικυός, πέπων, μήκων, καὶ μετ’ ὀλίγα· ὁ πέπων δ’ ἐστὶν εὐκαρδιώτερος καὶ εὐπεπτότερος. ἑφθὸς δ’ ὁ σικυὸς ἁπαλὸς, ἄλυπος, οὐρητικός. ὁ δὲ πέπων ἑψηθεὶς ἐν μελικράτῳ διαχωρητικώτερος. Σπεύσιππος δ’ ἐν τοῖς Ὁμοίοις τὸν πέπονα καλεῖ σικύαν Διοκλῆς δὲ πέπονα ὀνομάσας οὐκ ἔτι καλεῖ σικύαν καὶ ὁ Σπεύσιππος δὲ σικύαν εἰπὼν πέπονα οὐκ ὀνομάζει. Δίφιλος δέ φησιν ὁ πέπων εὐχυλότερός ἐστι καὶ ἐπικρατητικὸς … κακοχυλότερος δέ, ὀλιγότροφος δὲ καὶ εὔφθαρτος καὶ εὐεκκριτώτερος.

[¶13] The lettuce was in great request as an article of food. Its name is θρῖδαξ, but the Attics call it θριδακίνη. Epicharmus says—
A lettuce (θρῖδαξ) with its stalk peel'd all the way up.
But Strattis calls lettuces θριδακινίδες, and says—
The leek-destroying grubs, which go
Throughout the leafy gardens
On fifty feet, and leave their trace,
Gnawing all herbs and vegetables;
Leading the dances of the long-tailed satyrs
Amid the petals of the verdant herbs,
And of the juicy lettuces (θριδακινίδες),
And of the fragrant parsley.
And Theophrastus says, “Of lettuce (θριδακίνη) the white is the sweeter and the more tender: there are three kinds; there is the lettuce with the broad stalk, and the lettuce with the round stalk, and in the third place there is the Lacedæmonian lettuce-its leaf is like that of a thistle, but it grows up straight and tall, and it never sends up any side shoots from the main stalk. But some plants of the broad kind are so very broad in the stalk that some people even use them for doors to their gardens. But when the stalks are cut, then those which shoot again are the sweetest of any.”

> Greek: θρίδαξ. ταύτην Ἀττικοὶ θριδακίνην καλοῦσιν. Ἐπίχαρμος· θρίδακος ἀπολελεμμένας τὸν καυλόν, θριδακινίδας δ’ εἴρηκε Στράττις· πρασοκουρίδες, αἳ καταφύλλους ἀνὰ κήπους πεντήκοντα ποδῶν ἴχνεσι βαίνετ᾽, ἐφαπτόμεναι ποδοῖν σατυριδίων μακροκέρκων, χοροὺς ἑλίσσουσαι παρ’ ὠκίμων πέταλα καὶ θριδακινίδων εὐόσμων τε σελίνων. Θεόφραστος δέ φησι· τῆς θριδακίνης ἡ λευκὴ γλυκυτέρα καὶ ἁπαλωτέρα. γένη δ’ αὐτῆς τρία, τὸ πλατύκαυλον καὶ στρογγυλόκαυλον καὶ τρίτον τὸ Λακωνικόν. αὕτη δ’ ἔχει τὸ μὲν φύλλον σκολυμῶδες, ὀρθὴ δὲ καὶ εὐαυξὴς καὶ ἀπαράβλαστός ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ καυλοῦ, τῶν δὲ πλατειῶν οὕτω τινὲς γίνονται πλατύκαυλοι ὥστ’ ἐνίους καὶ θύραις χρῆσθαι κηπουρικαῖς. τῶν δὲ καυλῶν φησι κολουσθέντων ἡδίους τοὺς παλιμβλαστεῖς εἶναι.

[¶14] But Nicander the Colophonian, in the second part of his Dictionary, says that the lettuce is called βρένθις by the Cyprians. And it was towards a plant of this kind that Adonis was flying when he was slain by the boar. Amphis in his Ialemus says—
Curse upon all these lettuces (θριδάκιναι)!
For if a man not threescore years should eat them,
And then betake himself to see his mistress,
He'll toss the whole night through, and won't be equal
To her expectations or his own.
And Callimachus says that Venus hid Adonis under a lettuce, which is an allegorical statement of the poet's, intended to show that those who are much addicted to the use of lettuces are very little adapted for pleasures of love. And Eubulus says in his Astuti—
Do not put lettuces before me, wife,
Upon the table; or the blame is yours.
For once upon a time, as goes the tale,
Venus conceal'd the sadly slain Adonis;
Beneath the shade of this same vegetable;
So that it is the food of dead men, or of those
Who scarcely are superior to the dead.
Cratinus also says that Venus when in love with Phaon hid him also in the leaves of the lettuce: but the younger Marsyas says that she hid him amid the grass of barley. Pamphilus in his book on Languages says, that Hipponax called the lettuce τετρακίνη: but Clitarchus says that it is the Phrygians who give it this name. Ibycus the Pythagorean says that the lettuce is at its first beginning a plant with a broad leaf, smooth, without any stalk, and is called by the Pythagoreans the eunuch, and by the women ἄστυτις; for that it makes the men diuretic and powerless for the calls of love: but it is exceedingly pleasant to the taste.

> Greek: Νίκανδρος δ’ ὁ Κολοφώνιος ἐν β’ Γλωσσῶν βρένθιν λέγεσθαί φησι παρὰ Κυπρίοις θρίδακα, οὗ ὁ Ἄδωνις καταφυγὼν ὑπὸ τοῦ κάπρου διεφθάρη. Ἄμφις τε ἐν Ἰαλέμῳ φησὶν ἐν ταῖς θριδακίναις ταῖς κάκιστ’ ἀπολουμέναις, ἃς εἰ φάγοι τις ἐντὸς ἑξήκοντ’ ἐτῶν, ὁπότε γυναικὸς λαμβάνοι κοινωνίαν, στρέφοιθ’ ὅλην τὴν νύκτ’ ἂν οὐδὲ ἓν πλέον ὧν βούλεται δρῶν, ἀντὶ τῆς ὑπουργίας τῇ χειρὶ τρίβων τὴν ἀναγκαίαν τύχην, καὶ Καλλίμαχος δέ φησιν ὅτι ἡ Ἀφροδίτη τὸν Ἄδωνιν ἐν θριδακίνῃ κρύψειεν, ἀλληγορούντων τῶν ποιητῶν ὅτι ἀσθενεῖς εἰσι πρὸς ἀφροδίσια οἱ συνεχῶς χρώμενοι θρίδαξι. καὶ Εὔβουλος δ’ ἐν Ἀστύτοις φησί· μὴ παρατίθει σύ μοι θριδακίνας, ὦ γύναι, ἐπὶ τὴν τράπεζαν, ἢ σεαυτὴν αἰτιῶ. ἐν τῷ λαχάνῳ τούτῳ γάρ, ὡς λόγος, ποτὲ τὸν Ἄδωνιν ἀποθανόντα προὔθηκεν Κύπρις· ὥστ’ ἐστὶ νεκύων βρῶμα, Κρατῖνος δέ φησι Φάωνος ἐρασθεῖσαν τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἐν καλαῖς θριδακίναις αὐτὸν ἀποκρύψαι, Μαρσύας δ’ ὁ νεώτερος ἐν χλόῃ κριθῶν. Ἱππώνακτα δὲ τετρακίνην τὴν θρίδακα καλεῖν Πάμφιλος ἐν Γλώσσαις φησί, Κλείταρχος δὲ Φρύγας οὕτω καλεῖν. λύκος δ’ ὁ Πυθαγόρειος τὴν ἐκ γενέσεώς φησι θρίδακα πλατύφυλλον τετανὴν ἄκαυλον ὑπὸ μὲν τῶν Πυθαγορείων λέγεσθαι εὐνοῦχον, ὑπὸ δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν ἀστύτιδα· διουρητικοὺς γὰρ παρασκευάζει καὶ ἐκλύτους πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια· ἐστὶ δὲ κρατίστη ἐσθίεσθαι.

[¶15] Diphilus says that “the stalk of the lettuce is exceedingly nutritious, and more difficult of digestion than the leaves; but that the leaves are more apt to produce flatulence, and are still more nutritious, and have a greater tendency to promote the secretions. And as a general rule the lettuce is good for the stomach, cooling and wholesome for the bowels, soporific, full of pleasant and wholesome juice, and certainly has a great tendency to make men indifferent to love. But the softer lettuce is still better for the stomach, and still more soporific; while that which is harder and drier is both less good for the stomach and less wholesome for the bowels; that, however, is also soporific. But the black lettuce is more cooling, and is good for the bowels; and summer lettuce is full of wholesome juice, and more nutritious; but that which is in season at the end of autumn is not nutritious, and has no juice. And the stalk of the lettuce appears to be a remedy against thirst.” And the lettuce when boiled like asparagus in a dish, if we adopt the statement of Glaucias, is superior to all other boiled vegetables. Among some of the other nations Theophrastus says that beetroot, and lettuce, and spinach, and mustard, and sorrel, and coriander, and anise, and cardamums, are all called ἐπίσπορα, things fit to be sown for the second crop. And Diphilus says that, as a general rule, all vegetables have but little nutriment in them, and have all of them a tendency to make people thin, and are devoid of wholesome juices, and moreover stay a long while in the stomach, and are not very digestible. But Epicharmus speaks of some as summer vegetables.

> Greek: Δίφιλος δέ φησιν ὡς ὁ τῆς θρίδακος καυλὸς πολύτροφὸς ἐστι καὶ δυσέκκριτος μᾶλλον τῶν φύλλων ταῦτα δὲ πνευματικώτερὰ ἐστι καὶ τροφιμώτερα καὶ εὐεκκριτώτερα. κοινῶς μέντοι ἡ θρίδαξ εὐστόμαχος, ψυκτική, εὐκοίλιος, ὑπνωτική, εὔχυλος, ἐφεκτικὴ τῆς πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ὁρμῆς, ἡ δὲ τρυφερωτέρα θρίδαξ εὐστομαχωτέρα καὶ μᾶλλον ὕπνον ποιοῦσα, ἡ δὲ σκληροτέρα καὶ ψαθυρὰ ἧττόν ἐστι καὶ εὐστόμαχος καὶ εὐκοίλιος, ὕπνον τε ποιεῖ, ἡ δὲ μέλαινα θρίδαξ ψύχει μᾶλλον εὐκοίλιός τέ ἐστι,, καὶ αἱ μὲν θερινοὶ εὐχυλότεραι καὶ τροφιμώτεραι, αἱ δὲ φθινοπωρινοὶ ἄτροφοι καὶ ἀχυλότεραι. ὁ δὲ καυλὸς τῆς θρίδακος ἄδιψος εἶναι δοκεῖ. θρίδαξ δ’ ἑψομένη ὁμοίως τῷ ἀπὸ κράμβης ἀσπαράγῳ ἐν λοπάδι, ὡς Γλαυκίας ἱστορεῖ, κρείττων τῶν ἄλλων ἑψητῶν λαχάνων. ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ Θεόφραστος ἐπίσπορά φησι καλεῖσθαι τευτλίον, θριδακίνην, εὔζωμον, νᾶπυ, λάπαθον, κορίαννον, ἄνηθον, κάρδαμον. Δίφιλος δὲ κοινῶς φησιν εἶναι πάντα τὰ λάχανα ἄτροφα καὶ λεπτυντικὰ καὶ κακόχυλα ἔτι τε ἐπιπολαστικὰ καὶ δυσοικονόμητα. θερινῶν δὲ λαχάνων Ἐπίχαρμος μέμνηται.

[¶16] Artichokes were often eaten. And Sophocles, in his Colchian Women, calls an artichoke κινάρα, but in his Phœnix he writes the word κύναρος, saying—
The artichoke fills every field with its thorn.
But Hecatæus the Milesian, in his Description of Asia, at least if the book under this title is a genuine work of that author, (for Callimachus attributes it to Nesiotas;) however, whoever it was who wrote the book speaks in these terms— “Around the sea which is called the Hyrcanian sea there are mountains lofty and rough with woods, and on the mountains there is the prickly artichoke.” And immediately afterwards he subjoins—“Of the Parthian tribes the Chorasmians dwell towards the rising sun, having a territory partly champaign and partly mountainous. And in the mountains there are wild trees; the prickly artichoke, the willow, the tamarisk.” He says moreover that the artichoke grows near the river Indus. And Scylax, or Polemo, writes, “that that land is well watered with fountains and with canals, and on the mountains there grow artichokes and many other plants.” And immediately afterwards he adds, “From that point a mountain stretches on both sides of the river Indus, very lofty, and very thickly overgrown with wild wood and the prickly artichoke.” But Didymus the grammarian, explaining what is meant by Sophocles when he speaks of the prickly artichoke (which he calls κύναρος), says, "Perhaps he means the dog-brier, because that plant is prickly and rough; for the Pythian priestess did call that plant a wooden bitch. And the Locrian, after he had been ordered by an oracle to build a city in that place in which he was bitten by a wooden bitch, having had his leg scratched by a dog-brier, built the city in the place where the brier had stood. And there is a plant called the dog-brier, something between a brier and a tree, according to the statement of Theophrastus, and it has a red fruit, like a pomegranate, and it has a leaf like that of the willow. Phænias, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, speaks of one which he calls the Sicilian cactus a very prickly plant. As also does Theophrastus, in his sixth book about Plants, who says, “But the plant which is called the cactus exists only in Sicily, and is not found in Greece: and it sends forth stalks close to the ground, just above the root. And the stalks are the things which are called cacti: and they are eatable as soon as they are peeled, and rather bitter; and they preserve them in brine. But there is a second kind, which sends up a straight stalk, which they call πτέρνιξ; and that also is eatable. The shell of the fruit, as soon as the outer soft parts have been taken away, is like the inside of a date: that also is eatable; and the name of that is ἀσκάληρον.” But who is there who would not place such belief in these assertions as to say confidently that this cactus is the same as that plant which is called by the Romans carduus, or thistle; as the Romans are at no great distance from Sicily, and as it is evidently the same plant which the Greeks call κινάρα, or the artichoke? For if you merely change two letters, κάρδος and κάκτος will be the same word. And Epicharmus also shows us plainly this, when he puts down the cactus in his catalogue of eatable vegetables; in this way—“The poppy, fennel, and the rough cactus; now one can eat of the other vegetables when dressed with milk, if he bruises them and serves them up with rich sauce, but by themselves they are not worth much.” And in a subsequent passage he says—“Lettuces, pines, squills, radishes, cacti.” And again he says—“A man came from the country, bringing fennel, and cacti, and lavender, and sorrel, and chicory, and thisles, and ferns, and the cactus, and dractylus, and otostyllus, and scolium, and seni, and onopordus.” And Philetas the Coan poet says—
A fawn about to die would make a noise,
Fearing the venom of the thorny cactus.

> Greek: κινάρα. ταύτην Σοφοκλῆς ἐν Κολχίσι κυνάραν καλεῖ, ἐν δὲ Φοίνικι· κύναρος ἄκανθα πάντα πληθύει γύην. Ἑκαταῖος δ’ ὁ Μιλήσιος ἐν Ἀσίας περιηγήσει, εἰ γνήσιον τοῦ συγγραφέως τὸ βιβλίον Καλλίμαχος γὰρ Νησιώτου αὐτὸ ἀναγράφει· ὅστις οὖν ἐστιν ὁ ποιήσας, λέγει οὕτως· περὶ τὴν Ὑρκανίην θάλασσαν καλεομένην οὔρεα ὑψηλὰ καὶ δασέα ὕλῃσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖσιν οὔρεσιν ἄκανθα κυνάρα. καὶ ἑξῆς· Πάρθων πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα Χοράσμιοι οἰκοῦσι γῆν, ἔχοντες καὶ πεδία καὶ οὔρεα· ἐν δὲ τοῖσιν οὔρεσι δένδρεα ἔνι ἄγρια, ἄκανθα κυνάρα, ἰτέα, μυρίκη. καὶ περὶ τὸν Ἰνδὸν δέ φησι ποταμὸν γίνεσθαι τὴν κυνάραν. καὶ Σκύλαξ δὲ ἢ Πολέμων γράφει· εἶναι δὲ τὴν γῆν ὑδρηλὴν κρήνῃσι καὶ ὀχετοῖσιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς οὔρεσι πέφυκε κυνάρα καὶ βοτάνη ἄλλη. καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ὄρος παρέτεινε τοῦ ποταμοῦ τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ καὶ ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν ὑψηλόν τε καὶ δασὺ ἀγρίῃ ὕλῃ καὶ ἀκάνθῃ κυνάρᾳ. Δίδυμος δ’ ὁ γραμματικὸς ἐξηγούμενος παρὰ τῷ Σοφοκλεῖ τὸ κύναρος ἄκανθα μήποτε, φησί, τὴν κυνόσβατον λέγει διὰ τὸ ἀκανθῶδες καὶ τραχὺ εἶναι τὸ φυτόν. καὶ γάρ ἡ Πυθία ξυλίνην κύνα αὐτὸ εἶπεν, καὶ ὁ Λοκρὸς χρησμὸν λαβὼν ἐκεῖ πόλιν οἰκίζειν ὅπου ἂν ὑπὸ ξυλίνης κυνὸς δηχθῇ, καταμυχθεὶς τὴν κνήμην ὑπὸ κυνοσβάτου ἔκτισε τὴν πόλιν, ἐστὶ δὲ ὁ κυνόσβατος μεταξὺ θάμνου καὶ δένδρου, ὥς φησι Θεόφραστος, καὶ τὸν καρπὸν ἔχει ἐρυθρόν, παραπλήσιον τῇ ῥοιᾷ, ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὸ φύλλον ἀγνῶδες, Φαινίας δ’ ἐν εʹ περὶ φυτῶν κάκτον Σικελικήν τινα καλεῖ, ἀκανθῶδες φυτόν, ὡς καὶ Θεόφραστος ἐν ἕκτῳ περὶ φυτῶν ἡ δὲ κάκτος καλουμένη περὶ Σικελίαν μόνον, ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι δ’ οὐκ ἔστι. ἀφίησι δ’ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ῥίζης καυλοὺς ἐπιγείους· τὸ δὲ φύλλον ἔχει πλατὺ καὶ ἀκανθῶδες· καυλοὺς δὲ τοὺς καλουμένους κάκτους, ἐδώδιμοι δ’ εἰσὶ περιλεπόμενοι καὶ μικρὸν ὑπόπικροι, καὶ ἀποθησαυρίζουσιν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἅλμῃ. ἕτερον δὲ καυλὸν ὀρθὸν ἀφίησιν, ὃν καλοῦσι πτέρνικα, καὶ τοῦτον ἐδώδιμον. τὸ δὲ περικάρπιον ἀφαιρεθέντων τῶν παππωδῶν ἐμφερὲς τῷ τοῦ φοίνικος ἐγκεφάλῳ, ἐδώδιμον καὶ τοῦτο· καλοῦσι δ’ αὐτὸ ἀσκάληρον. τίς δὲ τούτοις οὐχὶ πειθόμενος θαρρῶν ἂν εἴποι τὴν κάκτον εἶναι ταύτην τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων μὲν καλουμένην κάρδον, οὐ μακράν, ὄντων τῆς Σικελίας, περιφανῶς δ’ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων κινάραν ὀνομαζομένην; ἀλλαγῇ] γὰρ δύο γραμμάτων κάρδος καὶ κάκτος ταὐτὸν ἂν εἴη. σαφῶς δ’ ἡμᾶς διδάσκει καὶ Ἐπίχαρμος μετὰ τῶν ἐδωδίμων λαχάνων καὶ τὴν κάκτον καταλέγων οὕτως … μήκων … μάραθα τραχέες τε κάκτοι τοῖς ἄλλοις μὲν φαγεῖν ἐντὶ λαχάνοις … εἶτα προιών αἲ κά τις ἐκτρίψας καλῶς παρατιθῇ νιν, ἁδὺς ἐστ’ αὐτὸς δ’ ἐφ’ αὑτοῦ χαιρέτω, καὶ πάλιν θρίδακας, ἐλάταν, σχῖνον,.., ῥαφανίδας, κάκτους … καὶ πάλιν ὁ δέ τις ἀγρόθεν ἔοικε μάραθα καὶ κάκτους φέρειν, ἴφυον, λάπαθον, ὀτόστυλλον, σκόλιον, σερίδ᾽, ἀτράκτυλον, πτέριν, κάκτον, ὀνόπορδον. καὶ Φιλίτας ὁ Κῷος· γηρύσαιτο δὲ νεβρὸς ἀπὸ ψυχὴν ὀλέσασα, ὀξείης κάκτου τύμμα φυλαξαμένη.

[¶17] And, indeed, Sopater the Paphian, who was born in the time of Alexander the son of Philip, and who lied even till the time of the second Ptolemy king of Egypt, called the artichoke κίναρα just as we do, as he himself declares in one of the books of his history. But Ptolemy Euergetes the king of Egypt, being one of the pupils of Aristarchus the grammarian, in the second book of his Commentaries writes thus— "Near Berenice, in Libya, is the river Lethon, in which there; is the fish called the pike, and the chrysophrys, and a great multitude of eels, and also of lampreys which are half as big again as those which come from Macedonia and from the Copaic lake. And the whole stream is full of fishes of all sorts. And in that district there are a great quantity of anchovies, and the soldiers who composed our army picked them, and ate them, and brought them to us, the generals having stripped them of their thorns. I know, too, that there is an island called Cinarus, which is mentioned by Semus.

> Greek: ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ κινάραν ὠνόμασε παραπλησίως ἡμῖν Σώπατρος ὁ Πάφιος γεγονὼς τοῖς χρόνοις κατ’ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Φιλίππου, ἐπιβιοὺς δὲ καὶ ἕως τοῦ δευτέρου τῆς Αἰγύπτου βασιλέως, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐμφανίζει ἔν τινι τῶν συγγραμμάτων αὑτοῦ. Πτολεμαῖος δ’ ὁ Εὐεργέτης βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου, εἷς ὢν τῶν Ἀριστάρχου τοῦ γραμματικοῦ μαθητῶν, ἐν δευτέρῳ ὑπομνημάτων γράφει οὕτως· περὶ Βερενίκην τῆς Λιβύης Λήθων ποτάμιον, ἐν ᾧ γίνεται ἰχθὺς λάβραξ καὶ χρύσοφρυς καὶ ἐγχέλεων πλῆθος καὶ τῶν καλουμένων βασιλικῶν, αἳ τῶν τε ἐκ Μακεδονίας καὶ τῆς Κωπαίδος λίμνης τὸ μέγεθός εἰσιν ἡμιόλιαι, πᾶν τε τὸ ῥεῖθρον αὐτοῦ ἰχθύων ποικίλων ἐστὶ πλῆρες. πολλῆς δ’ ἐν τοῖς τόποις κινάρας φυομένης οἵ τε συνακολουθοῦντες ἡμῖν στρατιῶται πάντες δρεπόμενοι σίτῳ ἐχρῶντο καὶ ἡμῖν προσέφερον, ψιλοῦντες τῶν ἀκανθῶν. οἶδα δὲ καὶ Κίναρον καλουμένην νῆσον, ἧς μνημονεύει Σῆμος.

[¶18] Now with respect to what is called the Brain of the Palm.—Theophrastus, speaking of the plant of the palm-tree, states, “The manner of cultivating it, and of its propagation from the fruit, is as follows: when one has taken off the upper rind, one comes to a portion in which is what is called the brain.” And Xenophon, in the second book of the Anabasis, writes as follows: “There, too, the soldiers first ate the brain of the palm or date-tree. And many of them marvelled at its appearance, and at the peculiarity of its delicious flavour. But it was found to have a great tendency to produce headache; but the date, when the brain was taken out of it, entirely dried up.” Nicander says in his Georgics—
And at the same time cutting off the branches
Loaded with dates they bring away the brain,
A dainty greatly fancied by the young.
And Diphilus the Siphnian states—“The brains of the dates are filling and nutritious; still they are heavy and not very digestible: they cause thirst, too, and constipation of the stomach.” But we, says Athenæus, O my friend Timocrates, shall appear to keep our brains to the end, if we stop this conversation and the book at this point.

> Greek: ἐγκέφαλος φοίνικος φοίνικος. Θεόφραστος περὶ φοίνικος τοῦ φυτοῦ εἰπὼν ἐπιφέρει· ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν φυτεία τοιαύτη τις· ἡ δ’ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ, ὅταν ἀφέλωσι τὸ ἄνω ἐν ᾧπερ ὁ ἐγκέφαλος. καὶ Ξενοφῶν ἐν δευτέρῳ Ἀναβάσεως γράφει τάδε· ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον τοῦ φοίνικος πρῶτον ἔφαγον οἱ στρατιῶται· καὶ οἱ πολλοὶ ἐθαύμαζον τό τε εἶδος καὶ τὴν ἰδιότητα τῆς ἡδονῆς· ἦν δὲ σφόδρα καὶ τοῦτο κεφαλαλγές. ὁ δὲ φοῖνιξ, ὅταν ἐξαιρεθῇ ὁ ἐγκέφαλος, ὅλος ἐξαυαίνεται. Νίκανδρος Γεωργικοῖς· σὺν καὶ φοίνικος παραφυάδας ἐκκόπτοντες ἐγκέφαλον φορέουσι νέοις ἀσπαστὸν ἔδεσμα. Δίφιλος δ’ ὁ Σίφνιος ἱστορεῖ· οἱ τῶν φοινίκων ἐγκέφαλοι πλήσμιοι καὶ πολύτροφοι, ἔτι δὲ βαρεῖς καὶ δυσοικονόμητοι διψώδεις τε καὶ στατικοὶ κοιλίας. ἡμεῖς δέ, φησὶν οὗτος, ἑταῖρε Τιμόκρατες, δόξομεν ἐγκέφαλον ἔχειν μέχρι τοῦ τέλους, εἰ καταπαύσομεν ἐνταῦθα καὶ τήνδε τὴν συναγωγήν.

[¶19] Menander says—
It is a troublesome thing to fall in with
An entire party of none but relations;
Where as soon as he has taken his cup in his hand
The father first begins the discourse,
And stammers out his recommendations:
Then after him the mother, in the second place;
And then some old aunt gossips and chatters;
And then some harsh-voiced old man,
The father of the aunt aforesaid; then too
Another old woman calls him her darling:
And he nods assent to all that is said. And a little afterwards he says—
Before the shade they wear a purple cloth,
And then this comes after the purple;
Being itself neither white nor purple,
But a ray of the brilliancy of the woof as it were
Of divers colours curiously blended.
Antiphanes says: “What do you say? Will you not bring something hither to the door which we may eat? and then I will sit on the ground and eat it as the beggars do: and any one may see me.” The same man says in another place—
Prepare then
A fanner to cool me, a dish, a tripod, a cup,
An ewer, a mortar, a pot, and a spoon. Thales the Milesian, one of the seven wise that the overflowing of the Nile arises from the Etestian for that they blow up the river, and that the mouths of the river lie exactly opposite to the point from which they blow; and accordingly that the wind blowing in the opposite direc- tion hinders the flow of the waters; and the waves of the sea, dashing against the mouth of the river, and coming on with a fair wind in the same direction, beat back the river, and in this manner the Nile becomes full to overflowing. But Anaxagoras the natural philosopher says that the fullness of the Nile arises from the snow melting; and so, too, says Euripides, and some others of the tragic poets. And Anaxagoras says that this is the sole origin of all that fulness; but Euripides goes further, and describes the exact place where this melting of the snow takes place; for in his play called “Archelaus” he speaks thus:—
Danaus, the noble sire of fifty daughters,
Leaving the Nile, the fairest stream on earth,
Fill'd by the summer of the Aethiop land,
The negro's home, when the deep snow does melt,
And o'er the land the Sun his chariot drives.
And in the “Helen” he says something similar:—
These are the beauticous virgin streams of Nile,
Which in the place of rain bedew the plain
Of Egypt when the white snow melts on th' hills.
And Aeschylus says—
I know its history, and love to praise
The race of the Aethiop land, where mighty Nile
Rolls down his seven streams the country through,
When the spring winds bring down the heavy waters;
What time the sun shining along that land
Dissolves the mountain snow; and the whole land
Of flourishing Egypt, fill'd with th' holy stream,
Sends forth the vital ears of corn of Ceres. And Callisthenes the historian argues against what I quoted just now as stated by Anaxagoras and Euripides: and he, too, declares his own opinion,—that as there is much very heavy and continued rain in Aethiopia about the time of the rising of the Dogstar, and from that period till the rising of Arcturus, and as the Etesian winds blow at about the same time, (for these are the winds which he says have the greatest tendency to bring the clouds over Aethiopia,) when the clouds fall upon the mountains in that region, a vast quantity of water bursts forth, in consequence of which the Nile rises. But Democritus says that about the winter solstice there are heavy falls of snow in the countries around the north; but that when the sun changes its course, at the summer solstice, the snow being melted and evaporated by the warmth, clouds are formed, and then the Etesian gales catch hold of them, and drive them towards the south; and when these clouds are all driven together towards Aethiopia and Libya, a mighty rain ensues, and the water from that flows down the mountains and fills the Nile. This, then, is the cause which Democritus alleges for this fulness of the Nile. But Euthymenes the Massiliote says, speaking of his own knowledge, acquired in a voyage which he had made, that the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules flows towards Libya and turns up and proceeds towards the north; and that then, being driven back by the Etesian gales, it is raised to a height by the winds, and flows high at that time; but, when the Etesian gales cease, it recedes. He says moreover, that that sea is sweet to the taste, and that it contains monsters like the crocodiles and the hippopotami in the Nile. But Œnopides the Chian says, that in winter the sources of the river are dried up, but in the summer they are thawed and flow; and so that for the sake of filling up the previous dryness, the rains from heaven cooperate with * * * * * * * * And on this account the river is smaller in winter and is full in summer. But Herodotus gives an explanation quite contrary to that of the rest of those who have discussed this subject, but agreeing with the explanation of Œnopides; for he says that the stream of the Nile is of such magnitude as always to fill the river; but that the sun, as it makes its journey through Libya in the winter, dries up the river at that time; but that as it has gone off towards the north at the time of the sum- mer solstice, then the river becomes full again, and overflows the plains. Now these are the mouths of the Nile:—towards Arabia, the Pelusiac mouth; towards Libya, the Canopic: and the rest are,—the Bolbitic, the Sebennytic, the Mendesian, the Saitic, and the Opuntic.
Cucumbers Figs Apples Citrons Limpets Cockles Shell fish Oysters Pearls Tripe Pigs' Feet Music at Banquets Puns on Words Banquets Dishes at Banquets Fish Shell fish Fish Cuttle-fish Bread Loaves Fish Water Drinking Drinking Snow Cheesecakes χόνδοος CALLIMACHUS the grammarian said that a great book was equivalent to a great evil. With respect to Ciboria, or Egyptian beans, Nicander says in his Georgics—
You may sow the Egyptian bean, in order in summer
To make its flowers into garlands; and when the ciboria
Have fallen, then give the ripe fruit to the youths
Who are feasting with you, into their hands, as they have been a long time
Wishing for them; but roots I boil, and then place on the table at feasts.
But when Nicander speaks of “roots,” he means the things which are called by the Alexandrians colocasia; as he says elsewhere—
Have peel'd the beans, and cut up the colocasia.
Now there is at Sicyon a temple to the Colocasian Minerva. There is also a kind of cup called κιβώριον.
Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, writes thus: "The bean in Egypt grows in marshes and swamps; and its stalk is in length, when it is at the largest, about four cubits; but in thickness, it is as thick as one's finger: and it is like a long reed, only without joints. But it has divisions within, running through the whole of it, like honeycombs. And on this stalk is the head and the flower, being about twice the size of a poppy; and its colour is like that of a rose, very full coloured; and it puts forth large leaves. But the root is thicker than the thickest reed, and it has divisions like the stalk. And people eat it boiled, and roasted, and raw. And the men who live near the marshes eat it very much. It grows, too, in Syria and in Cilicia, but those countries do not ripen it thoroughly. It grows, too, around Torone in Chalcidice, in a marsh of moderate size, and that place ripens it, and it brings its fruit to perfection there. But Diphilus the Siphnian says, "The root of the Egyptian bean, which is called colocasium, is very good for the stomach, and very nutritious, but it is not very digestible, being very astringent; and that is the best which is the least woolly. But the beans which are produced by the plant called ciborium, when they are green are indigestible, not very nutritious, easily pass through one, and are apt to cause flatulence; but when they are dry they are, not so flatulent. And from the genuine ciborium there is a flower which grows which is made into garlands. And the Egyptians call the flower the lotus; but the Naucratitans tell me, says Athenæus, that its name is the melilotus: and it is of that flower that the melilotus garlands are made, which are very fragrant, and which have a cooling effect in the summer season.
But Phylarchus says, "that though Egyptian beans had never been sown before in any place, and had never produced fruit if any one had by chance sown a few, except in Egypt, still, in the time of Alexander the king, the son of Pyrrhus, it happened that some sprung up near the river Thyamis in Thesprotia in Epirus, in a certain marsh in that district; and for two years continuously they bore fruit and grew; and that on this Alexander put a guard over them, and not only forbade any one to pick them, but would not allow any one to approach the place: and on this the marsh dried up; and for the future it not only never produced the abovementioned fruit, but it does not appear even to have furnished any water. And something very like this happened at Aedepsus. For at a distance from all other waters there was a spring sending forth cold water at no great distance from the sea; and invalids who drank this water were greatly benefited: on which account many repaired thither from great distances, to avail themselves of the water. Accordingly the generals of king Antigonus, wishing to be economical with respect to it, imposed a tax to be paid by those who drank it: and on this the spring dried up. And in the Troas in former times all who wished it were at liberty to draw water from the Tragasæan lake; but when Lysimachus became ruler there, and put a tax on it, that lake, too, disappeared: and as he marvelled at this, as soon as he remitted the tribute and left the place free, the water came again.

> Greek: — ᾽ἔργον ἐστὶν εἰς τρίκλινον συγγενείας εἰσπεσεῖν οὗ λαβὼν τὴν κύλικα πρῶτος ἄρχεται λόγου πατήρ, καὶ παραινέσας πέπαικεν, εἶτα μήτηρ δευτέρα, εἶτα τηθὶς παραλαλεῖ τις, εἶτα βαρύφωνος γέρων, τηθίδος πατήρ, ἔπειτα γραῦς καλοῦσα φίλτατον ὁ δ’ ἐπινεύει πᾶσι τούτοις, φησὶ Μένανδρος, πάλιν τῆς σκιᾶς τὴν πορφύραν πρῶτον ἐνυφαίνουσ᾽, εἶτα μετὰ τὴν πορφύραν τοῦτ’ ἐστίν, οὔτε λευκὸν οὔτε πορφύρα, ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ αὐγὴ τῆς κρόκης κεκραμένη. Ἀντιφάνης· τί φής; ἐνθάδ’ οἴσεις τι καταφαγεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν; εἶθ’ ὥσπερ οἱ πτωχοὶ χαμαὶ ἐνθάδ’ ἔδομαι … καί τις ὄψεται. ὁ αὐτός· εὐτρέπιζε δὴ ψυκτῆρα, λεκάνην, τριπόδιον, ποτήριον, χύτραν, θυίαν, κάκκαβον, ζωμήρυσιν. ὅτι Καλλίμαχος ὁ γραμματικὸς τὸ μέγα βιβλίον ἴσον ἔλεγεν εἶναι τῷ μεγάλῳ κακῷ. κιβώρια. Νίκανδρος ἐν Γεωργικοῖς· σπείρειας κυάμων Αἰγύπτιον, ὄφρα θερείης ἀνθέων μὲν στεφάνους ἀνύσῃς, τὰ δὲ πεπτηῶτα ἀκμαίου καρποῖο κιβώρια δαινυμένοισιν εἰς χέρας ἠιθέοισι πάλαι ποθέουσιν ὀρέξῃς. ῥίζας δὲ ἐν θοίνῃσιν ἀφεψήσας προτίθημι. ῥίζας δὲ λέγει Νίκανδρος τὰ ὑπ’ Ἀλεξανδρέων κολοκάσια καλούμενα· ὡς ὁ αὐτός· κυάμου λέψας κολοκάσιον ἐντμήξας τε. ἐστὶ δ’ ἐν Σικυῶνι Κολοκασίας Ἀθηνᾶς ἱερόν. ἐστὶ δὲ καὶ κιβώριον εἶδος ποτηρίου. Θεόφραστος δ’ ἐν τῷ περὶ φυτῶν οὕτω γράφει· ὁ κύαμος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ φύεται μὲν ἐν ἕλεσι καὶ λίμναις. καυλὸς δ’ αὐτοῦ μῆκος μὲν ὁ μακρότατος εἰς δ πήχεις, πάχος δὲ δακτυλιαῖος, ὅμοιος καλάμῳ μαλακῷ ἀγονάτῳ· διαφύσεις δ’ ἔνδοθεν ἔχει δι’ ὅλου διειλημμένας ὁμοίας τοῖς κηρίοις. ἐπὶ τούτῳ δ’ ἡ κωδύα καὶ τὸ ἄνθος διπλάσιον ἢ μήκωνος· χρῶμα δ’ ὅμοιον ῥόδῳ κατακορές. παραφύεται δὲ φύλλα μεγάλα· ἡ δὲ ῥίζα παχυτέρα καλάμου τοῦ παχυτάτου καὶ διαφύσεις ὁμοίας ἔχουσα τῷ καυλῷ. ἐσθίουσι δ’ αὐτὴν καὶ ἑφθὴν καὶ ὠμὴν καὶ ὀπτήν, καὶ οἱ περὶ τὰ ἕλη τούτῳ σίτῳ χρῶνται. γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἐν Συρίᾳ καὶ κατὰ Κιλικίαν, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐκπέττουσιν αἱ χῶραι· καὶ περὶ Τορώνην τῆς Χαλκιδικῆς ἐν λίμνῃ τινὶ μετρίᾳ τῷ μεγέθει, καὶ αὕτη πέττεται καὶ τελεοκαρπεῖ. Δίφιλος δὲ ὁ Σίφνιός φησιν ἡ τοῦ κυάμου τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου ῥίζα, ἥτις λέγεται κολοκάσιον, εὔστομὸς τέ ἐστι καὶ τρόφιμος, δυσέκκριτος δὲ διὰ τὸ παραστύφειν κρεῖττον δ’ ἐστὶ τὸ ἥκιστα ἐριῶδες. οἱ δὲ γινόμενοι, φησί, κύαμοι ἐκ τῶν κιβωρίων χλωροὶ μέν εἰσι δύσπεπτοι, ὀλιγότροφοι, διαχωρητικοί, πνευματικώτατοι, ξηρανθέντες δὲ ἧττον πνευματοῦσι. γίνεται δὲ ὄντως ἐκ τῶν κιβωρίων καὶ ἄνθος στεφανωτικόν. καλοῦσι δ’ Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν αὐτὸ λωτόν, Ναυκρατῖται δὲ οἱ ἐμοί, λέγει οὗτος ὁ Ἀθήναιος, μελίλωτον ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ μελιλώτινοι στέφανοι πάνυ εὐώδεις καὶ καύσωνος ὥρᾳ ψυκτικώτατοι. Φύλαρχος δέ φησιν οὐδέποτε πρότερον ἐν οὐδενὶ τόπῳ κυάμων Αἰγυπτίων οὔτε σπαρέντων οὔτε εἰ σπείρειέ τις τικτομένων εἰ μὴ κατὰ Αἴγυπτον, ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Πύρρου παρὰ τὸν Θύαμιν ποταμὸν τῆς ἐν Ἠπείρῳ Θεσπρωτίας ἐν ἕλει τινὶ συνέβη φυῆναι. δύο μὲν οὖν ἤνεγκέ πως ἔτη καρπὸν ἐκτενῶς καὶ ηὔξησε· τοῦ δ’ Ἀλεξάνδρου φυλακὴν ἐπιστήσαντος καὶ κωλύοντος οὐχ ὅτι λαμβάνειν τὸν βουλόμενον, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ προσέρχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν τόπον, ἀνεξηράνθη τὸ ἕλος καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐχ ὅτι τὸν προειρημένον ἤνεγκε καρπόν, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ὕδωρ εἴ ποτε ἔσχε φαίνεται. τὸ παραπλήσιον ἐγένετο καὶ ἐν Αἰδηψῷ. χωρὶς γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ὑδάτων ναμάτιόν τι ἐφάνη ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ προιέμενον οὐ πόρρω τῆς θαλάσσης, τούτου πίνοντες οἱ ἀρρωστοῦντες τὰ μέγιστα ὠφελοῦντο διὸ πολλοὶ παρεγίνοντο καὶ μακρόθεν τῷ ὕδατι χρησόμενοι. οἱ οὖν τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀντιγόνου στρατηγοὶ βουλόμενοι οἰκονομικώτεροι εἶναι διάφορόν τι ἔταξαν διδόναι τοῖς πίνουσι, καὶ ἐκ τούτου ἀπεξηράνθη τὸ νᾶμα. καὶ ἐν Τρῳάδι δὲ ἐξουσίαν εἶχον οἱ βουλόμενοι τὸν πρὸ τοῦ χρόνον τὸν Τραγασαῖον ἅλα λαμβάνειν. Λυσιμάχου δὲ τέλος ἐπιβαλόντος ἠφανίσθη. θαυμάσαντος δὲ καὶ ἀφέντος τὸν τόπον ἀτελῆ πάλιν ηὐξήθη.