The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 16

_B._ A t??p???.

_A._ How is that?

Has it not _four_ feet? 'tis a tet??p???.

_B._ It may be strictly; but its name is t??p???.

_A._ Still I can see four feet.

_B._ At all events You are no dipus, to be so puzzled.

And Aristophanes says--

_A._ Bring me one t??pe?a more, With three feet, not one with four.

_B._ Where can I a t??p??? t??pe?a find?

33. It was a custom at feasts, that a guest when he had lain down should have a paper given to him, containing a bill of fare of what there was for dinner, so that he might know what the cook was going to serve up.

We find a fruit called Damascenes. Now many of the ancient writers mention Damascus, a city of great reputation and importance; and as there is a great quant.i.ty of plum-trees in the territory of the Damascenes, and as they are cultivated there with exceeding care, the tree itself has got to be called a Damascene, as being a kind of plum different from what is found in other countries. The fruit is more like prunes. And many writers speak of them, and Hipponax says--

I have a garland of damascenes and mint.

And Alexis says--

_A._ And in my sleep I thought I saw a prize.

_B._ What was it?

_A._ Listen--There came up to me, While still within th' arena's s.p.a.cious bounds, One of my rivals, bringing me a crown-- A ripe revolving crown of damascenes.

_B._ Oh Hercules! and were the damascenes ripe?

And again he says--

Did you e'er see a sausage toasted, Or dish of tripe well stuff'd and roasted?

Or damascenes stew'd in rich confection?-- Such was that gentleman's complexion.

Nicander says--

The fruit they call a plum, the cuckoo's prize.

But Clearchus the Peripatetic says that the Rhodians and Sicilians call plums ????a, and so Theocritus the Syracusan uses the word--

Heavy with plums, the branches swept the ground.

And again he says--

Far as the apple doth the plum surpa.s.s.

But the damascene is smaller in circ.u.mference than other plums, though in flavour it is very like them, except that it is a little sharper.

Seleucus, in his Dictionary, says that ????a, ??a, ???????a, and ?d??a are all different names for the same thing; and that plums are called ????a, as being good for the stomach, and ???? ?? ?????ta, that is, a.s.sisting to remove the food; and ??a, which is the same word as ??a, meaning simply _fruit_, as Demetrius Ixion says in his Etymology. And Theophrastus says, ???????a ?a? sp?d???: sp?d??? being a kind of wild plum.

And Araros calls the tree which bears the fruit ????????a, and the fruit itself ?????????. And Diphilus of Siphnos p.r.o.nounces plums to be juicy, digestible, and easily evacuated, but not very nutritious.

34. There is another fruit, called Cherries.--Theophrastus says, in his book on Plants, that the Cherry-tree is a tree of a peculiar character, and of large size, for it grows to a height of four-and-twenty cubits,[82:1] and its leaf is like that of the medlar, but somewhat harder and thicker, and its bark like the linden; its flower is white, like that of the pear or the medlar, consisting of a number of small petals of a waxy nature; its fruit is red, like that of the lotus in appearance, and of the size of a bean; but the kernel of the lotus is hard, while that of the cherry is soft. And again he says, "The ???ta????, which some call ??ata????, has a spreading leaf like a medlar, only that is larger, and wider, and longer; and it has no deep grain in it as the medlar has. The tree is neither very tall nor very large; the wood is variegated, yellow, and strong: it has a smooth bark, like that of the medlar; and a single root, which goes down very deep into the earth; the fruit is round, of the size of an olive; when fully ripe it is of a yellow colour, becoming gradually darker; and from its flavour and juice it might almost be taken for a wild medlar." By which description of the crataegus it appears to me that he means the tree which is now called the cherry.

35. Asclepiades of Myrlea speaks of a tree which he calls the Ground-cherry, and says, "In the land of the Bithynians there is found the ground-cherry, the root of which is not large, nor is the tree, but like a rose-bush; in all other respects the fruit is like the common cherry; but it makes those who eat much of it feel heavy, as wine does, and it gives them head-aches." These are the words of Asclepiades. And it appears to me that he is speaking of the arbutus. For the tree which bears the arbutus-berry answers his description, and if a man eats more than six or seven of the berries he gets a headache. Aristophanes says--

And planted by no hand, the arbutus Makes red the sunny hills.

Theopompus says--

The myrtle berries and red arbutus.

Crates says--

Beauteous the breast of tender maid, As arbutus or apples red.

And Amphis--

Mulberries you see, my friend, are found On the tree which we know as the mulberry; So the oak bears the acorn round, And the arbutus s.h.i.+nes with its full berry.

And Theophrastus tells us, "The ??a??? (as he calls it) is the tree which bears the arbutus berry."

There is question about the "Agen," a satyric drama, whether it was composed by Python, (and if by him whether he was a native of Catana or of Byzantium,) or by the king Alexander himself.

Then Laurentius says--"You, O Greeks, lay claim to a good many things, as either having given the names to them, or having been the original discoverers of them. But you do not know that Lucullus, the Roman general, who subdued Mithridates and Tigranes, was the first man who introduced this plant into Italy from Cerasus, a city of Pontus; and he it was who gave the fruit the Latin name of Cerasus, _cherry_, after the name of the city, as our historians relate."

Then Daphnis answers--"But there was a very celebrated man, Diphilus of Siphnos, many years more ancient than Lucullus, for he was born in the time of king Lysimachus, (who was one of the successors of Alexander,) and he speaks of cherries, saying, 'Cherries are good for the stomach, and juicy, but not very nutritious; if taken after drinking cold water they are especially wholesome; but the red and the Milesian are the best kinds, and are diuretic.'"

36. There is a fruit usually called the s???????, which the people of Alexandria call the ????, in which they differ from every one else; but it has no connexion with the Egyptian fig, which some call s???????, and which the natives sc.r.a.pe slightly with a knife, and then leave on the tree; and then when it has been tossed about by the wind, within three days it becomes ripe and fragrant, (especially if the wind is west,) and very good to eat, as there is something in it which is moderately cooling for people in a fever, when made up with oil of roses into a plaster, so as to be put upon the stomach, and it is no slight relief to the patient. Now the Egyptian sycaminus bears its fruit on the main stem, and not on the branches. But the sycaminus is a mulberry, a fruit mentioned by aeschylus in his Phrygians, where he says of Hector,

His heart was softer than a mulberry.

And in his "Cretan Women" he says of the brier--

As the full branch to earth is weigh'd With mulberries, white and black and red.

And Sophocles has the lines--

First you shall see the full white ear of corn, And then the large round rosy mulberry.

And Nicander in his Georgics says that it is the first of all fruits to appear; and he calls the tree which bears it ???a, as also do the Alexandrians--

The mulberry-tree, in which the young delight, Brown autumn's harbinger.

37. Phanias of Eresus, the pupil of Aristotle, calls the fruit of the wild sycamine ????, or mulberry, being a fruit of the greatest sweetness and delicacy when it is ripe. And he writes thus: "The mulberry is a briery sort of tree,[84:1] and when the round fruit is dried it has small pips of seed, woven in like net-work, and the fruit is nutritious and juicy." And Parthanius has the following words:--"????a, that is to say, s?????a, which some call mulberries."

And Salmonius calls the same tree ?t???, or brier. And Demetrius Ixion says the s??????? and ???? are the same, being a very juicy fruit, superior to the fig. And Diphilus of Siphnos, who was a physician, writes thus: "The s?????a, which are also called ??a, are moderately full of good juice, but have not much nourishment; they are good for the stomach and easily digested; and those which are not quite ripe have a peculiar quality of expelling worms." But Pythemus states, according to Hegesander, that in his time the mulberry-trees produced no fruit for twenty years, and that during that time gout became so epidemic, that not only men, but even boys and girls, and eunuchs, and women, were afflicted with it; and even herds of goats were attacked with it, so that two-thirds of the cattle were afflicted with the same disorder.

38. With respect to the word ????a, the Attic writers and all other prose writers call nearly all berries by the generic name of ????a, _nuts_. And Epicharmus calls the almond "the nut," by way of distinction, as we do, saying--