The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 18

And Sappho says--

Golden vetches on the sea-sh.o.r.e grew.

But Theophrastus, in his book on Plants, calls some kinds of vetches ??e???. And Sophilus says--

This maiden's sire is far the greatest man, A regular ??e??? vetch.

And Phaenias says, in his book about Plants,--"While they are green and tender, the bean and vetch take the place of sweetmeats; but when they are dry they are usually eaten boiled or roasted." Alexis says--

My husband is a poor old man, and I Am an old woman, and I have a daughter And a young son, And this good girl besides--we're five in all-- And three of them are now at supper, And we two who here remain share with them A little maize; and when we have nothing To eat, we utter a wail unsuited to the lyre.

And as we never have any meat for dinner, Our countenance is become pale. These are the parts, And this is the arrangement of our life: Beans, lupins, cabbages, rape, Pulse, morepulse, mastnuts, onions, Gra.s.shoppers, vetches, wild pears, And that which was given by my mother As an object of devout care, the fig, The great invention of the Phrygian fig.

Pherecrates says--

You must at once take care and make the vetches tender.

And in another place he says--

He was choked eating roasted vetches.

And Diphilus says--"Vetches are very indigestible, create moisture, they are also diuretic, and apt to cause flatulence." And according to Diocles, they produce a sort of fermentation in the body. The white vetches are better than the black; and so also are the yellow or box-coloured. And the Milesian are better than those called ??e???; and the green are better than the dry, and those which have been soaked are better than those which have not been. The discoverer of the vetch is said to have been Neptune.

45. With respect to Lupins. Alexis says--

A curse upon the man; Let him not come near me, who eats lupins in season, And then leaves the husks and sh.e.l.ls in the vestibule.

Why was he not choked while eating them? I know, I know most certainly, that Cleaenetus the tragedian Did not eat them. For Cleaenetus Never threw away the husk of a single vegetable, So exceedingly economical is that man.

And Lycophron of Chalcis, in a satiric drama which he wrote against Menedemus the philosopher, for the purpose of turning him into ridicule, (it was from Menedemus that the sect of the Eretrians derived its name,) laughs at the suppers of the philosophers, and says--

The lupin, common to all the people, in great plenty Danced upon the board, the companion of poor couches.

And Diphilus says--

There is no business more mischievous or degrading Than that of the pander.

I would rather walk along the streets selling Roses, and radishes, and lupin-beans, and press'd olives, And anything else in the world, rather than give encouragement To such a miserable trade.

And you may observe, that he then uses the expression ?e????a??, lupin-beans, as they are called even now. Polemo says, that the Lacedaemonians call lupins ??s??a?de?. And Theophrastus, in his book about The Causes of Plants, tells us that the lupin, and the bitter vetch, and the common vetch, are the only kinds of green vegetable which do not produce animal life, because of their harshness and bitterness.

But the vetch, says he, turns black as it decays. He says, also, that caterpillars come in vetches, and it is in the fourth book of the same treatise that he states this. Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that lupins are very apt to create moisture, and are very nutritious, especially those kinds which are rendered sweet by being soaked. On which account Zeno the Citiaean, a man of harsh disposition and very apt to get in a pa.s.sion with his friends, when he had taken a good deal of wine, became sweet-tempered and gentle; and when people asked him what produced this difference in his disposition, he said, that he was subject to the same influences as lupins: for that they before they were cooked were very bitter; but that when they had been steeped in liquor they were sweet and wholesome.

46. With respect to Kidney Beans.--The Lacedaemonians in those suppers of theirs, which they call ??p?de?, give as sweetmeats, dry figs and beans, and green kidney beans. At least this is the statement of Polemo; and Epicharmus says--

Roast some kidney beans quickly, for Bacchus is fond of them.

And Demetrius says--

A fig, or kidney bean, or some such thing.

47. With respect to Olives. Eupolis says--

Cuttle-fish, and olives fallen from the tree.

And these the Romans call dryptae. But Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that olives contain very little nourishment, and are apt to give headaches; and that the black ones are still worse for the stomach, and make the head feel heavy; but that those which we call ?????de?, that is to say, preserved in pickle, are better for the stomach, and give strength to the bowels. But that the black when crushed are better for the stomach. Aristophanes too makes mention of crushed olives in "The Islands," saying--

Bring some crushed olives;

and in another place he says--

Crush'd olives and pickled olives are not the same thing;

and a few lines after--

For it is better that they should be crush'd than pickled.

And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy--

Let wrinkled olives, fallen from the tree, Be placed before you.

And Hermippus says--

Be sure that for the future you remember The ever-glorious Marathon for good, When you do all from time to time add ??a??? (that is to say, fennel) to your pickled olives.

And Philemon says--"The inferior olives are called p?t???de?, and the dark-coloured are called stef???de?." And Callimachus, in his "Hecale,"

gives a regular catalogue of the different kinds of olive--

Ge??????? and p?t????, and the white olive, which does not Become ripe till autumn, which is to float in wine.

And according to Didymus, they called both olives and figs which had fallen to the ground of their own accord, ?e???????. Besides, without mentioning the name "olive," the fruit itself was called by that name d??pet??, without any explanatory addition. Teleclides says--

He urged me to remain, and eat with him Some d??pete??, and some maize, and have a chat with him.

But the Athenians called bruised olives st?f??a; and what we call st?f??a they called ??tea, that is to say, the dregs of the grapes after they have been pressed. And the word ??t?? is derived from ?t???, a bunch of grapes.

48. With respect to Radishes.--The Greek name ?afa??? is derived from ??d??? fa??es?a?, because they quickly appear above ground; and in the plural the Attic writers either shorten or lengthen the penultima at pleasure. Cratinus writes--

?a?? ?afa??s? d??e?, it is like radishes, but not like other vegetables;

and Eupolis, on the other hand, says--

?afa??de? ?p??t??, unwashed radishes and cuttle-fish.

For the word ?p??t??, unwashed, must clearly refer to the radishes, and not to the cuttle-fish; as is shown by Antiphanes, in whom we find these lines:--

To eat ducks, and honeycombs of wild bees, and eggs, And cheese-cakes, and unwash'd radishes, And rape, and oatmeal-groats, and honey.

So that radishes appear to have been particularly called unwashed radishes; being probably the same as those called Thasian. Pherecrates says--

There one may have the unwash'd radish, and the warm Bath, and closely stewed pickles, and nuts.

And Plato, in his Hyperbolus, says, using the diminutive termination, f?????? ? ?afa??d???, "a leaflet, or a little radish." But Theophrastes, in his book on Plants, says that there are five kinds of radishes: the Corinthian, the Leiothasian, the Cleonaean, the Amorean, and the Botian; and that the Botian, which is of a round form, is the sweetest. And he says that, as a general rule, those the leaves of which are smooth, are the sweetest. But Callias used the form ??fa??? for ??fa???; at all events, when discussing the antiquity of comedy, he says, "Broth, and sausages, and radishes (??fa???), and fallen olives, and cheese-cakes."