The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
Lachares made Minerva naked, who caused him no inconvenience; but I
will now strip you who are inconveniencing me, said Æmilianus, unless
you show me what you have got with you. And he said at last, rather
unwillingly, I call this dish the Dish of Roses. And it is prepared
in such a way, that you may not only have the ornament of a garland
on your head, but also in yourself, and so feast your whole body with
a luxurious banquet. Having pounded a quantity of the most fragrant
roses in a mortar, I put in the brains of birds and pigs boiled and
thoroughly cleansed of all the sinews, and also the yolks of eggs,
and with them oil, and pickle-juice, and pepper, and wine. And having
pounded all these things carefully together, I put them into a new
dish, applying a gentle and steady fire to them. And while saying this,
he uncovered the dish, and diffused such a sweet perfume over the whole
party, that one of the guests present said with great truth—
The winds perfumed the balmy gale convey
Through heav'n, through earth, and all the aërial way;
so excessive was the fragrance which was diffused from the roses.
71. After this, some roasted birds were brought round, and some lentils
and peas, saucepans and all, and other things of the same kind,
concerning which Phænias the Eresian writes thus, in his treatise on
Plants—"For every leguminous cultivated plant bearing seed, is sown
either for the sake of being boiled, such as the bean and the pea, (for
a sort of boiled soup is made of these vegetables,) or else for the
sake of extracting from them a farinaceous flour, as, for instance,
the aracus; or else to be cooked like lentils, as the aphace and the
common lentil; and some again are sown in order to serve as food for
fourfooted animals, as, for instance, the vetch for cattle, and the
aphace for sheep. But the vegetable called the pea is mentioned by
Eupolis, in his Golden Age." And Heliodorus, who wrote a description of
the whole world, in the first book of his treatise on the Acropolis,
said—"After the manner in which to boil wheat was discovered, the
ancients called it πύανον, but the people of the present day name it
ὁλόπυρον."
[Sidenote: CHAMÆLEON.]
Now, after this discussion had continued a long time, Democritus
said—But at least allow us to have a share of these lentils, or of the
saucepan itself, lest some of you get pelted with stones, like Hegemon
the Thasian. And Ulpian said,—What is the meaning of this pelting
(βαλλητὺς) with stones? for I know that in my native city, Eleusis,
there is a festival celebrated which is called βαλλητὺς, concerning
which I will not say a word, unless I get a reward from each of you.
But I, said Democritus, as I am not a person who makes speeches by the
hour for hire, like the Prodeipnus of Timon, will tell you all I know
about Hegemon.
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