The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
And in the same way he gives a catalogue of cakes, and sweetmeats,
thus—
Ames, placous, entiltos, itrium,[96]
Pomegranates, eggs, vetches, and sesame;
Coptè and grapes, dried figs, and pears and peaches,
Apples and almonds."
These are the words of Clearchus. But Sopater the farce-writer, in his
drama entitled Pylæ, says—
Who was it who invented first black cakes (κοπταὶ)
Of the uncounted poppy-seed? who mix'd
The yellow compounds of delicious sweetmeats?
Here my excellent cross-examiner, Ulpian, you have authorities for
κοπτή; and so now I advise you ἀπεσθίειν some. And he, without any
delay, took and ate some. And when they all laughed, Democritus
said;—But, my fine word-catcher, I did not desire you to eat, but not
to eat; for the word ἀπεσθίω is used in the sense of abstaining from
eating by Theopompus the comic poet, in his Phineus, where he says—
Cease gambling with the dice, my boy, and now
Feed for the future more on herbs. Your stomach
Is hard with indigestion; give up eating (ἀπέσθιε)
Those fish that cling to the rocks; the lees of wine
Will make your head and senses clear, and thus
You'll find your health, and your estate too, better.
Men do, however, use ἀπεσθίω for to eat a portion of
anything, as Hermippus does, in his Soldiers—
Alas! alas! he bites me now, he bites,
And quite devours (ἀπεσθίει) my ears.
61. The Syrian being convicted by these arguments, and being a good
deal annoyed, said—But I see here on the table some pistachio nuts
(ψιττάκια); and if you can tell me what author has ever
spoken of them, I will give you, not ten golden staters, as that Pontic
trifler has it, but this goblet. And as Democritus made no reply, he
said, But since you cannot answer me, I will tell you; Nicander of
Colophon, in his Theriacans, mentions them, and says—
Pistachio nuts (ψιττάκια) upon the highest branches,
Like almonds to the sight.
The word is also written βιστάκια, in the line—
And almond-looking βιστάκια were there.
And Posidonius the Stoic, in the third book of his History, writes
thus: "But both Arabia and Syria produce the peach, and the nut which
is called βιστάκιον; which bears a fruit in bunches like bunches of
grapes, of a sort of tawny white, long shaped, like tears, and the nuts
lie on one another like berries. But the kernel is of a light green,
and it is less juicy than the pine-cone, but it has a more pleasant
smell. And the brothers who together composed the Georgics, write thus,
in the third book—"There is also the ash, and the turpentine tree,
which the Syrians call πιστάκια." And these people spell the word
πιστάκια with a π, but Nicander writes it φιττάκια, and Posidonius
βιστάκια.
[Sidenote: VEGETABLES.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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