The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 37

Hecataeus, too, and Herodotus mention it; and so does Phanodemus, in the seventh book of his Attic History. But Nicander of Thyatira says, that it is bread made of barley which is called cyllastis by the Egyptians.

Alexis calls dirty loaves phaei, in his Cyprian, saying--

_A._ Then you are come at last?

_B._ Scarce could I find Of well-baked loaves enough----

_A._ A plague upon you; But what now have you got?

_B._ I bring with me Sixteen, a goodly number; eight of them Tempting and white, and just as many phaei.

And Seleucus says that there is a very closely made hot bread which is called blema. And Philemon, in the first book of his Oracles, "Useful Things of Every Kind," says--that bread made of unsifted wheat, and containing the bran and everything, is called p?????. He says, too, that there are loaves which are called blomilii, which have divisions in them, which the Romans call quadrati. And that bread made of bran is called brattime, which Amerias and Timachidas call euconon or teuconon.

But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says that there is a kind of loaf which is called spoleus, which is only eaten by relations when a.s.sembled together.

82. Now you may find barley-cakes mentioned in his writings by Tryphon, and by many other authors. Among the Athenians it is called phystes, not being too closely kneaded. There is also the cardamale, and the berex, and the tolype, and the Achilleum; and perhaps that is a cake which is made of the Achillean barley. Then there is the thridakina, so named from lettuce; the nutta, so called from wine; the melitutta, from honey; and the crinon, the name of which is derived from the lily, which last is also the name of a choral dance, mentioned by Apollophanes, in the Dalis. But the cakes called thridaciscae by Alcman, are the same as the Attic thridacinae. But Alcman speaks thus--

The thridacisca, and the cribanotus.

And Sosibius, in the third book of his essay on Alcman, says, that cribana is a name given to a peculiar kind of cheesecake, in shape like a breast. But the barley cake, which is given in sacrifices to be tasted by the sacrificers, is called hygea. And there is also one kind of barley cake which is called by Hesiod amolgaea.

The amolgaean cake of barley made, And milk of goats whose stream is nearly dry.

And he calls it the cake of the shepherds, and very strengthening. For the word ?????? means that which is in the greatest vigour. But I may fairly beg to be excused from giving a regular list (for I have not a very unimpeachable memory) of all the kinds of biscuits and cakes which Aristomenes the Athenian speaks of in the third book of his treatise on Things pertaining to the Sacred Ceremonies. And we ourselves were acquainted with that man, though we were young, and he was older than we. And he was an actor in the Old Comedy, a freedman of that most accomplished king Adrian, and called by him the Attic partridge.

And Ulpian said--By whom is the word freedman (?pe?e??e???) ever used?

And when some one replied that there was a play with that t.i.tle--namely, the Freedman of Phrynichus, and that Menander, in his Beaten Slave, had the word freedwoman (?pe?e????a), and was proceeding to mention other instances; he asked again--What is the difference between ?pe?e??e???[190:1] and ??e?e??e???. However, it was agreed upon to postpone this part of the discussion for the present.

83. And Galen, when we were just about to lay hands on the loaves, said--We will not begin supper until you have heard what the sons of the Asclepiadae have said about loaves, and cheesecakes, and meal, and flour.

Diphilus the Siphnian, in his treatise on What is Wholesome to be eaten by People in Health and by Invalids, says, "Loaves made of wheat are by far more nutritious and by far more digestible than those made of barley, and are in every respect superior to them; and the next best are those which are made of similago; and next to those come the loaves made of sifted flour, and next to them those called syncomisti, which are made of unsifted meal;--for these appear to be more nutritious." But Philistion the Locrian says "that the loaves made of similago are superior to those made of groats, as far as their strengthening properties go; and next to them he ranks loaves made of groats, then those made of sifted flour. But the rolls made of bran give a much less wholesome juice, and are by far less nutritious. And all bread is more digestible when eaten hot than cold, and it is also more digestible then, and affords a pleasanter and more wholesome juice; nevertheless, hot bread is apt to cause flatulence, though it is not the less digestible for that; while cold bread is filling and indigestible. But bread which is very stale and cold is less nutritious, and is apt to cause constipation of the bowels, and affords a very unpleasant juice.

The bread called encryphiasis is heavy and difficult of digestion, because it is not baked in an equal manner; but that which is called ipnites and caminites is indigestible and apt to disagree with people.

That called escharites, and that which is fried, is more easily secreted because of the admixture of oil in it, but is not so good for the stomach, on account of the smell which there is about it. But the bread called 'the clibanites' has every possible good quality; for it gives a pleasant and wholesome juice, and is good for the stomach, and is digestible, and agrees exceedingly well with every one, for it never clogs the bowels, and never relaxes them too much."

But Andreas the physician says that there are loaves in Sicily made of the sycamine, and that those who eat them lose their hair and become bald. Mnesitheus says "that wheat-bread is more digestible than barley-bread, and that those which are made with the straw in them are exceedingly nutritious; for they are the most easily digested of all food. But bread which is made of rye, if it be eaten in any quant.i.ty, is heavy and difficult of digestion; on which account those who eat it do not keep their health." But you should know that corn which has not been exposed to the fire, and which has not been ground, causes flatulence, and heaviness, and vertigo, and headache.

84. After all this conversation it seemed good to go to supper. And when the Uraeum was carried round, Leonidas said, "Euthydemus the Athenian, my friends, in his treatise on Pickles, says that Hesiod has said with respect to every kind of pickle--

* * * * *[192:1]

Some sorrily-clad fishermen did seek To catch a lamprey; men who love to haunt The Bosporus's narrow strait, well stored With fish for pickling fit. They cut their prey In large square portions, and then plunge them deep Into the briny tub: nor is the oxyrhyncus A kind to be despised by mortal man; Which the bold sons of ocean bring to market Whole and in pieces. Of the n.o.ble tunny The fair Byzantium the mother is, And of the s...o...b..us lurking in the deep, And of the well-fed ray. The snow-white Paros Nurses the colius for human food; And citizens from Bruttium or Campania, Fleeing along the broad Ionian sea, Will bring the orcys, which shall potted be, And placed in layers in the briny cask, Till honour'd as the banquet's earliest course.

Now these verses appear to me to be the work of some cook rather than of that most accomplished Hesiod; for how is it possible for him to have spoken of Parium or Byzantium, and still more of Tarentum and the Bruttii and the Campanians, when he was many years more ancient than any of these places or tribes? So it seems to me that they are the verses of Euthydemus himself."

And Dionysiocles said, "Whoever wrote the verses, my good Leonidas, is a matter which you all, as being grammarians of the highest reputation, are very capable of deciding. But since the discussion is turning upon pickles and salt fish, concerning which I recollect a proverb which was thought deserving of being quoted by Charchus the Solensian,--

For old salt-fish is fond of marjoram.

I too myself will say a word on the subject, which is not unconnected with my own art.

85. Diocles the Carystian, in his treatise on the Wholesomes, as it is ent.i.tled, says, "Of all salt-fish which are dest.i.tute of fat, the best is the horaeum; and of all that are fat, the best is the tunny-fish." But Icesius says, "that neither the pelamydes nor the horaea are easily secreted by the stomach; and that the younger tunnies are similar in most respects to the cybii, but that they have a great superiority over those which are called horaea." And he says the same of the Byzantine horaea, in comparison with those which are caught in other places. And he says "that not only the tunnies, but that all other fish caught at Byzantium is superior to that which is caught elsewhere."

To this Daphnus the Ephesian added,--Archestratus, who sailed round the whole world for the sake of finding out what was good to eat, and what pleasures he could derive from the use of his inferior members, says--

And a large slice of fat Sicilian tunny, Carefully carved, should be immersed in brine.

But the saperdes is a worthless brute, A delicacy fit for Ponticans And those who like it. For few men can tell How bad and void of strengthening qualities Those viands are. The s...o...b..us should be kept Three days before you sprinkle it with salt, Then let it lie half-pickled in the cask.

But when you come unto the sacred coast, Where proud Byzantium commands the strait, Then take a slice of delicate horaeum, For it is good and tender in those seas.

But that epicure Archestratus has omitted to enumerate the pickle-juice called elephantine, which is spoken of by Crates the comic poet, in his Samians; who says of it--

A sea-born turtle in the bitter waves Bears in its skin the elephantine pickle; And crabs swift as the wind, and thin-wing'd pike,

[193:1] * * * * *

But that the elephantine pickle of Crates was very celebrated Aristophanes bears witness, in his Thesmophoriazusae, in these words--

Sure comic poetry is a mighty food; Listen to Crates, he will tell you, how The elephantine pickle, easily made, Is dainty seas'ning; many other jokes Of the same kind he utter'd.

86. And there was another kind, which Alexis calls raw pickle, in his Apeglaucomenos. And the same poet, in his Wicked Woman, introduces a cook talking about the preparation of salt-fish and pickled fish, in the following verses:--

I wish now, sitting quiet by myself, To ponder in my mind some dainty dishes; And also to arrange what may be best For the first course, and how I best may flavour Each separate dish, and make it eatable.

Now first of all the pickled horaeum comes; This will but cost one penny; wash it well, Then strew a large flat dish with seasoning, And put in that the fish. Pour in white wine And oil, then add some boil'd beef marrow-bones, And take it from the fire, when the last zest Shall be by a.s.saftida imparted.

And, in his Apeglaucomenos, a man being asked for his contribution to the feast, says--

_A._ Indeed you shall not half a farthing draw From me, unless you name each separate dish.

_B._ That reasonable is.

_A._ Well, bring a slate And pencil; now your items.

_B._ First, there is Raw pickled fish, and that will fivepence cost.

_A._ What next?

_B._ Some mussels, sevenpence for them.

_A._ Well, there's no harm in that. What follows next?

_B._ A pennyworth of urchins of the sea.

_A._ Still I can find no fault.

_B._ The next in order Is fine dish of cabbage, which you said . . .

_A._ Well, that will do.

_B._ For that I paid just twopence.

_A._ What was't I said?

_B._ A cybium for threepence.