The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 34

And Ophelion says in his Callaeschrus--

There lay the crooked carids (?a??de?) on dry ground.

And in his Ialemus we find--

And then they danced as crooked limbed carides (?a??de?) Dance on the glowing embers.

But Eupolis, in his Goats, uses the word with the penultima short, (?a??' de?), thus--

Once in Phaeacia I ate carides (?a??de?).

And again in his People he says--

Having the face of a tough thick-skinn'd carid (?a??d??).

67. Now the carides were so called from the word ???a, _head_. For the head takes up the greater part of them. But the Attic writers also use the word short in the same manner, in a.n.a.logy with the quant.i.ty of ???a, it being, as I said, called caris because of the size of its head; and so, as ??af?? is derived from ??af?, and ???? from ???, in like manner is ?a??? from ???a. But when the penultima is made long the last syllable also is made long, and then the word is like ??f??, and ???p??, and te????.

But concerning these sh.e.l.l-fish, Diphilus the Siphnian writes, "Of all sh.e.l.l-fish the caris, and astacus, and carabus, and carcinus, and lion, being all of the same genus, are distinguished by some differences. And the lion is larger than the astacus; and the carabi are called also grapsaei; but they are more fleshy than the carcini; but the carcinus is heavy and indigestible." But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Comestibles, says, "Carabi and carcini and carides, and such like; these are all indigestible, but still not nearly so much so as other fish: and they are better and more wholesome roast than boiled." But Sophron in his Gynaecea calls carides _courides_, saying--

Behold the dainty courides, my friend.

And see these lobsters; see how red they are, How smooth and glossy is their hair and coats.

And Epicharmus in his Land and Sea says--

And red-skinned courides.

And in his Logos and Logina he spells the word ????de? with an ?--

Oily anchovies, crooked corides.

And Simonides says--

Beet-root with thunnies, and with gudgeons corides.

68. After this conversation there were brought in some dishes of fried liver; wrapped up in what is called the caul, or ?p?p????, which Philetaerus in his Tereus calls ?p?p?????. And Cynulcus looking on said,--Tell us, O wise Ulpian, whether there is such an expression anywhere as "liver rolled up." And he replied,--I will tell you if you will first show me in whose works the word ?p?p???? is used for the fat and the membrane which covers it. So as they were thus prepared for the discussion, Myrtilus said, The word ?p?p???? is used by Epicharmus in the Bacchae--

And wrapping up the bread in the ?p?p????.

And again, in his Theari, he says--

Around the loins and ?p?p????.

And Ion of Chios, in his Epidemiae, says--

Having wrapp'd it up in the ?p?p????.

So here, my friend Ulpian, you have plenty of authority for your ?p?p????. And you may wrap yourself up in it and burn yourself, and so release us from all these investigations. And, indeed, you ought to bear your own testimony to a liver having been prepared in this way; since you mentioned before, when we were inquiring about ears and feet, what Alexis said in his Crateua, or the Female Druggist. And the whole quotation is serviceable for many purposes, and since you at the moment fail to recollect it, I myself will repeat it to you.

The Comedian says this--

69.

First, then, I saw a man whose name was Nercus; With n.o.ble oysters laden; an aged man, And clad in brown sea-weed. I took the oysters And eke some fine sea-urchins; a good prelude To a rich banquet daintily supplied.

When they were done, next came some little fish, Still quivering as if they felt a fear Of what should now befal them. Courage, said I, My little friends, and fear no harm from me; And to spare them I bought a large flat glaucus.

Then a torpedo came; for it did strike me, That even if my wife should chance to touch it She from its shock would surely take no harm.

So for my frying-pan I've soles and plaice, Carides, gudgeons, perch, and spars, and eels, A dish more varied than a peac.o.c.k's tail.

Slices of meat, and feet, and snouts, and ears, And a pig's liver neatly wrapp'd in caul.

For by itself it looks too coa.r.s.e and livid.

No cook shall touch or e'er behold these dainties; He would destroy them all. I'll manage them Myself; with skill and varied art the sauce I will compound, in such a tasty way That all the guests shall plunge their very teeth Into the dish for joy and eagerness; And the recipes and different modes of dressing I am prepared to teach the world for nothing, If men are only wise enough to learn.

70. But that it was the fas.h.i.+on for liver to be wrapped up in a caul is stated by Hegesander the Delphian in his Memorials, where he says that Metanira the courtesan, having got a piece of the lungs of the animal in the liver which was thus wrapped up, as soon as she had unfolded the outer coat of fat and seen it, cried out--

I am undone, the tunic's treacherous folds Have now entangled me to my destruction.

And perhaps it was because of its being in this state that Crobylus the comic poet called the liver modest; as Alexis also does in his Pseudypobolemaeus, speaking as follows--

Take the stiff feelers of the polypus, And in them you shall find some modest liver, And cutlets of wild goats, which you shall eat.

But Aristophanes uses the diminutive form ?p?t??? in his Tagenistae, and so does Alcaeus in the Palaestra, and Eubulus in his Deucalion.

And the first letter of ?pa? and ?p?t??? must be aspirated. For a synalpha is used by Archilochus with the aspirate; when he says--

For you do seem to have no gall ?f' ?pat? (_in your liver_).

There is also a fish which is called ?pat??, which Eubulus himself mentions in his Lacedaemonians or Leda, and says that it has no gall in it--

You thought that I'd no gall; but spoke to me As if I'd been a ?pat??: but I Am rather one of the melampyx cla.s.s.

But Hegesander, in his Memorials, says, that the hepatos has in its head two stones, like pearls in brilliancy and colour, and in shape something like a turbot.

71. But Alexis speaks of fried fish in his Demetrius, as he does also in the before-mentioned play. And Eubulus says, in his Orthane--

Now each fair woman walks about the streets, Fond of fried fish and stout Triballian youths.

Then there is beet-root and canary-gra.s.s Mix'd up in forcemeat with the paunch of lamb, Which leaps within one's stomach like a colt Scarce broken to the yoke. Meanwhile the bellows Waken the watchful hounds of Vulcan's pack, And stir the frying-pan with vapours warm.

The fragrant steam straight rises to the nose, And fills the sense with odours.

Then comes the daughter of the bounteous Ceres, Fair wheaten flour, duly mash'd, and press'd Within the hollow of the gaping jaws, Which like the trireme's hasty shock comes on, The fair forerunner of a sumptuous feast.

I have also eaten cuttle-fish fried. But Nicostratus or Philetaerus says, in the Antyllus--I never again will venture to eat cuttle-fish which has been dressed in a frying-pan. But Hegemon, in his Philinna, introduces men eating the roe fried, saying--

Go quickly, buy of them that polypus, And fry the roe, and give it us to eat.

72. Ulpian was not pleased at this; and being much vexed, he looked at us, and repeating these iambics from the Ortha.n.u.s of Eubulus, said--

How well has Myrtilus, cursed by the G.o.ds, Come now to s.h.i.+pwreck on this frying-pan.

For certainly I well know that he never ate any of these things at his own expense; and I heard as much from one of his own servants, who once quoted me these iambics from the p.o.r.n.o.boscus of Eubulus--

My master comes from Thessaly; a man Of temper stern; wealthy, but covetous; A wicked man; a glutton; fond of dainties, Yet sparing to bestow a farthing on them.

But as the young man was well educated, and that not by Myrtilus, but by some one else, when I asked him how he fell in with the young Myrtilus, he repeated to me these lines from the Neottis of Antiphanes--