"First bring the pot," say they. "There was no vinegar In all that salad." Ask again. "Aye, you Shall be the first to be well beaten here." I could recount ten thousand facts like this. _B._ But where I take now is a rich brothel, Where a rich courtesan with other friends Desires to celebrate with great abundance A joyous feast in honour of Adonis, And where you may enjoy yourself in style. [Sidenote: COOKS.] 40. And Archedicus, in his Treasure, another philosophical cookling, speaks in this way— In the first place the guests invited came While still the fish lay on the dresser raw. "Give me some water." "Bring the fish up quick." Then placing all my pans upon the fire, I soak'd the ashes well with oil, and raise A rapid heat. Meantime the fragrant herbs And pleasant sharpness of the seasonings Delight my master. Quickly I serve up Some fish exactly boil'd; retaining all His juice, and all his unextracted flavour; A dish which any free-born man must know How to appreciate rightly. In this manner At the expense of one small pot of oil I gain employment at full fifty banquets. And Philostephanus, in his Delian, gives a catalogue of the names of some celebrated cooks in these lines, and those which follow them— In my opinion you, O Dædalus, Surpass all cooks in skill and genius, Save the Athenian Thimbron, call'd the Top. So here I've come to beg your services, Bringing the wages which I know you ask. 41. And Sotades, not the Maronite poet, who composed Ionian songs, but the poet of the middle comedy, in the play entitled The Shut-up Women, (for that was the name which he gave to it,) introduces a cook making the following speech,—