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
"But the Athenians," as Philochorus tells us, "when they sacrifice
to the Seasons, do not roast, but boil their meat, entreating the
goddesses to defend them from all excessive droughts, and heats,
and to give increase to their crops by means of moderate warmth and
seasonable rains. For they argue that roasting is a kind of cookery
which does less good to the meat, while boiling not only removes all
its crudities, but has the power also of softening the hard parts, and
of making all the rest digestible. And it makes the food more tender
and wholesome, on which account they say also, that when meat has been
once boiled, it ought not to be warmed up again by either roasting or
boiling it; for any second process removes the good done by the first
dressing, as Aristotle tells us. And roast meat is more crude and dry
than boiled meat." But roast meat is called φλογίδες. Accordingly
Strattis in his Callippides says, with reference to Hercules—
Immediately he caught up some large slices (φλογίδες)
Of smoking roasted boar, and swallow'd them.
And Archippus, in his Hercules Marrying, says—
The pettitoes of little pigs, well cook'd
In various fashion; slices, too, of bulls
With sharpen'd horns, and great long steaks of boar,
All roasted (φλογίδες).
73. But why need I say anything of partridges, when so much has
already been said by you? However, I will not omit what is related by
Hegesander in his Commentaries. For he says that the Samians, when
sailing to Sybaris, having touched at the district called Siritis, were
so alarmed at the noise made by partridges which rose up and flew away,
that they fled, and embarked on board their ships, and sailed away.
Concerning hares also Chamæleon says, in his treatise on Simonides,
that Simonides once, when supping with king Hiero, as there was no hare
set on the table in front of him as there was before all the other
guests, but as Hiero afterwards helped him to some, made this extempore
verse—
Nor, e'en though large, could he reach all this way.
But Simonides was, in fact, a very covetous man, addicted to
disgraceful gain, as we are told by Chamæleon. And accordingly in
Syracuse, as Hiero used to send him everything necessary for his daily
subsistence in great abundance, Simonides used to sell the greater part
of what was sent to him by the king, and reserve only a small portion
for his own use. And when some one asked him the reason of his doing
so, he said—"In order that both the liberality of Hiero and my economy
may be visible to every one."
The dish called udder is mentioned by Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, in
the following lines—
Being a woman, 'tis but reasonable
That I should bring an udder.
But Antidotus uses not the word οὖθαρ, but ὑπογάστριον, in his
Querulous Man.
74. Matron, in his Parodies, speaks of animals being fattened for food,
and birds also, in these lines—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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