The Greeks of classical times appear to have made no use of butter,[1179] though so early as the age of Hippocrates they were well enough acquainted with its existence and properties.[1180] Even in the present day butter is much less used in Greece than in most European countries, its place being supplied by fine olive oil. For cheese, however, they seem to have entertained a partiality, though it is probable that the best they could manufacture would have lost very considerably in comparison with good Stilton or Cheshire, not to mention Parmasan. It was a favourite food, however, among soldiers in Attica, who during war used to supply themselves both with cheese and meal.[1181] Their cheese-lope or rennet in most cases resembled our own, consisting of the liquid substance found in the ruen of new-born animals, as calves, kids, or hares, which was considered superior to lamb’s rennet.[1182] Occasionally they employed for the same purpose burnt salt or vinegar, fowl’s crop or pepper, the flowers of bastard saffron, or the threads which grow on the head of the artichoke. For these again, was sometimes substituted the juice of the fig-tree;[1183] or a branch freshly cut[1184] was used in stirring the milk while warming on the fire. This cheese would seem, for the most part, to have been eaten while fresh and soft,[1185] like that of Neufchatel, though they were acquainted with various means of preserving it for a considerable space of time. Acidulated curds were kept soft by being wrapped in the leaves of the terebinth tree, or plunged in oil, or sprinkled with salt. When desirous of preserving their cheese for any length of time, they washed it in pure water, and, after drying it in the sun, laid it upon earthen jars with thyme and summer savory. Some other kinds were kept in a sort of pickle, composed of sweet vinegar or oxymel or sea-water, which was poured into the jars until it entirely penetrated and covered the whole mass. When they wished to communicate a peculiar whiteness to the cheese, they laid it up in brine. Dry cheese was rendered more solid and sharp-tasted by being placed within reach of the smoke. If from age it were hard or bitter, it was thrown into a preparation of barley-meal, then soaked in water, and what rose to the top was skimmed off.[1186] ----- Footnote 1179: See Beckman. Hist. of Inv. i. 372, seq. Butter is made at present in Greece by filling a skin with cream and treading on it. Chandler, ii. 245. Footnote 1180: Foes, Œconom. Hippoc. v. πικέριον, p. 306. Footnote 1181: Sch. Aristoph. Pac. 394. Footnote 1182: Varro. De Re Rust. ii. 11. 4. Colum. vii. 8. Eustath ad Il. ε. p. 472. Hesych. v. ὀπὸς.—Mœris: ὀπὸς Ἀττικοὶ, πυτία Ἕλληνες. p. 205. Cf. Aristot. Hist. Anim. iv. 21. Footnote 1183: The cheese made in this manner was called ὀπίας. Eurip. Cyclop. 136. Athen. xiv. 76. Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 353. Dioscor. i. 183. Plin. xxiii. 63. Plut. Sympos. vi. 10. Footnote 1184: