The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 21

However, Antiphanes always spells the word ?sp??a???, with a p; and he writes thus--

The asparagus was shining; the pale vetches had faded.

And Aristophon says--"Capers, pennyroyal, thyme, asparagus, garlic; radishes, sage, and rue."

63. With respect to Snails.--Philyllius says--

I am not a gra.s.shopper, nor a snail, O woman.

And in a subsequent pa.s.sage he says--

Sprats, tunny fish, and snails, and periwinkles.

And Hesiod calls the snail,

The hero that carries his house on his back.

And Anaxilas says--

You are e'en more distrustful than a snail; Who fears to leave even his house behind him.

And Achaeus speaks of them, and says--

Can such a vapour strange produce The snails, those horned monsters?

And an enigma, like a fishing-net, having reference to the snail, is often proposed at banquets, in these terms--

What is that spineless bloodless beast of the woods, Who makes his path amid the humid waters.

And Aristotle, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, says--"Snails appear to become pregnant in the autumn and in spring, and they are the only animals with coverings of sh.e.l.ls that have ever been detected in union." But Theophrastus says, in his treatise about Animals which live in Holes--"Snails live in holes during the winter, and still more in the summer, on which account they are seen in the greatest numbers during the autumn rains. But their holes in the summer are made upon the ground, and in the trees." There are some snails which are called s?s????. Epicharmus says--

Instead of all these animals, they have locusts; But I hate above all things the sh.e.l.l of the sesilus.

And Apellas relates that the Lacedaemonians call the snail s?e???. But Apollodorus, in the second book of his Etymologies, says that there are some snails which are called ????s?de?p???, _interrupters of banquets_.

64. The next vegetable to be mentioned is Onions.--In the Amalthea of Eubulus, Hercules is represented as refusing to eat them; saying--

Whether it's hot, or whether it is dry, Or whether it is something 'tween the two, Are points of more importance than old Troy.

But I have not come here to fill myself With cabbages, or benjamin, or other Impious and bitter danties, or with onions.

But that which tends the most to vigorous strength And health is food which I delight in chiefly.

Meat of beef, boil'd and fresh, and plenty of it, And a large well-filled dish of oxen's feet, Three roasting pigs besides, sprinkled with salt.

Alexis, while explaining the efficacy of onions in aphrodisiac matters, says--

Pinnas, beetles, snails, muscles, eggs, calves'-feet, And many other philters, may be found More useful still to one who loves his mistress.

Xenarchus, in the Butalion, says--

A house is ruined which has a master Whose fortune's gone, and whom the evil genius Has struck. And so the once great house of the Pelops Is weak and nerveless. Nor can earth-born onion, Fair Ceres' handmaid, who contracts the neck, Even when boiled, a.s.sist to check this evil.

Nor e'en the polypus, who swells the veins, Born in dark eddies of the deepest sea, When taken in the net of stern necessity By hungry mortals, fill the broad deep bosom Of the large dish turn'd by the potter's wheel.

And Archestratus says--

I love not onions, nor yet cabbages, Nor the sweet barberry-tree, nor all the other Dainties and sweetmeats of the second course.

65. 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.

66. But the white onions, called ????a?, 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 ?????--

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.

67. 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 Phaenias 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-sh.o.r.e. 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 Phaenias 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 a.s.saftida, 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 the natural moisture."

68. 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 ????a?, but ?????a?. Epicharmus says--

The thrushes (?????a?) fond of eating the olive.

And Aristophanes also, in his "Clouds," mentions the same birds. But Aristotle a.s.serts 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 ent.i.tled ?p??????de?, which has received this t.i.tle from the circ.u.mstance of Homer singing it to his children, and receiving thrushes as his reward,--at least, this is the account given by Menaechmus, in his treatise on Artists.

69. There is a bird called the s??a???, or figp.e.c.k.e.r. And Alexander the Myndian a.s.serts--"One of the t.i.ts is called by some people _elaeus_, 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 e?a?????f??, or blackcap. Epicharmus spells the word with two ??, and writes s??a???de?. He speaks of beautiful s??a???de?: and in a subsequent pa.s.sage he says--

And herons were there with their long bending necks, And grouse who pick up seed, and beautiful sycallides.

And these birds are caught at the season when figs are ripe. And it is more correct to spell the name with only one ?; but Epicharmus put in the second ? because of the metre.

70. 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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.