The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 32

While the wood has pith in it (??t???) it puts forth shoots.

There is a _metro_polis but no _patro_polis.

Some men sell paunches (?t?a?), a delicious food.

Metras, the Chian, is dear to the people.

And Euphron says in his Paradidomena--

But my master having prepared a paunch Set it before Callimedon; and when he ate it It made him leap with joy; from which he earn'd The name of crab.

And Dioxippus in his Antip.o.r.n.o.boscus--

What food doth he delight in! Dainty is he!

Most dainty in his eating, paunches, sausages!

And in his Historiographer, he says--

Amphides burst in the porch and made himself a way in; Holding up two paunches fine, See for what I'm paying, Said he, and send me all you have, or all that you can find me.

And Eubulus says in his Deucalion--

Liver, and tripe, and entrails, aye, and paunches.

58. But Lynceus the Samian, the friend of Theophrastus, was acquainted with the use of paunches when eaten with Cyrenaic sauce. And accordingly, writing an account of the Banquet of Ptolemy, he says:--"A certain paunch having been brought round in vinegar and sauce."

Antiphanes, too, mentions this sauce in his Unhappy Lovers, speaking of Cyrene--

I sail back to the self-same harbour whence We previously were torn; and bid farewell To all my horses, friends, and a.s.saftida, And two horse chariots, and to cabbages, And single-horses, and to salads green, And fevers, and rich sauces.

And how much better a paunch of a castrated animal is, Hipparchus, who wrote the book called The aegyptian Iliad, tells us in the following words--

But above all I do delight in dishes Of paunches and of tripe from gelded beasts, And love a fragrant pig within the oven.

And Sopater says in his Hippolytus--

But like a beauteous paunch of gelded pig Well boil'd and white, and basted with rich cheese.

And in his Physiologus he says--

'Tis not a well boil'd slice of paunch of pig Holding within a sharp and biting gravy.

And in his Silphae he says--

That you may eat a slice of boil'd pig's paunch, Dipping it in a bitter sauce of rue.

59. But the ancients were not acquainted with the fas.h.i.+on of bringing on paunches, or lettuces, or anything of the sort, before dinner, as is done now. At all events Archestratus, the inventor of made dishes, as he calls himself, says that pledges in drinking, and the use of ointments, are introduced after supper--

And always at the banquet crown your head With flowing wreaths of varied scent and hue, Culling the treasures of the happy earth; And steep your hair in rich and reeking odours, And all day long pour holy frankincense And myrrh, the fragrant fruit of Syria, On the slow slumb'ring ashes of the fire: Then, when you drink, let slaves these luxuries bring-- Tripe, and the boiled paunch of well-fed swine, Well soak'd in c.u.mmin juice and vinegar, And sharp, strong-smelling a.s.saftida; Taste, too, the tender well-roast birds, and game, Whate'er may be in season. But despise The rude uncivilized Sicilian mode, Where men do nought but drink like troops of frogs, And eat no solid seasoning. Avoid them.

And seek the meats which I enjoin thee here.

All other foods are only signs and proofs Of wretched poverty: the green boil'd vetch, And beans, and apples, and dried drums of figs.

But praise the cheesecakes which from Athens come; And if there are none, still of any country Cheesecakes are to be eaten; also ask For Attic Honey, the feast's crowning dish-- For that it is which makes a banquet n.o.ble.

Thus should a free man live, or else descend Beneath the earth, and court the deadly realms Of Tartarus, buried deep beneath the earth Innumerable fathoms.

But Lynceus, describing the banquet given by Lamia, the female flute-player, when she entertained Demetrius Poliorcetes, represents the guests the moment they come to the banquet as eating all sorts of fish and meat; and in the same way, when speaking of the feast given by Antigonus the king, when celebrating the Aphrodisiac festival, and also one given by King Ptolemy, he speaks of fish as the first course; and then meat.

60. But one may well wonder at Archestratus, who has given us such admirable suggestions and injunctions, and who was a guide in the matter of pleasure to the philosopher Epicurus, when he counsels us wisely, in a manner equal to that of the bard[169:1] of Ascra, that we ought not to mind some people, but only attend to him; and he bids us eat such and such things, differing in no respect from the cook in Damoxenus the comic writer, who says in his Syntrophi--

_A._ You see me here a most attentive pupil Of Epicurus, wisest of the Greeks, From whom in two years and ten months or less, I sc.r.a.ped together four good Attic talents.

_B._ What do you mean by this? I pray thee, tell me, Was he a cook, my master? That is news.

_A._ Ye G.o.ds! and what a cook! Believe me, nature Is the beginning and the only source Of all true wisdom. And there is no art At which men labour, which contains more wisdom.

So this our art is easy to the man Who has drunk deep of nature's principles; They are his guides: and therefore, when you see A cook who is no scholar, nor has read The subtle lessons of Democritus, (Aye and he must remember them besides,) Laugh at him as an a.s.s; and if you hire one Who knows not Epicurus and his rules, Discharge him straightway. For a cook must know, (I speak the words of sober truth, my friend,) How great the difference is in summer time Between the glaucisk of the winter-season; He must know all the fish the Pleiades Bring to us at their setting; what the solstice, Winter and summer, gives us eatable-- For all the changes and the revolutions Are fraught with countless evil to mankind, Such changes do they cause in all their food.

Dost thou not understand me? And remember, Whatever is in season must be good.

_B._ How few observe these rules.

_A._ From this neglect Come spasms, and the flatulence which ill Beseems a politic guest;--but all the food I give my parties, wholesome is, and good, Digestible and free from flatulence.

Therefore its juice is easily dissolved, And penetrates the entire body's pores.

_B._ Juice, say you? This is not known to Democritus.

_A._ But all meats out of season make the eater Diseased in his joints.

_B._ You seem to me, To have studied too the art of medicine.

_A._ No doubt, and so does every one who seeks Acquaintance with his nature's mysteries.

But see now, I do beg you by the G.o.ds, How ignorant the present race of cooks are.

When thus you find them ignorant of the smell Of all the varied dishes which they dress, And pounding sesame in all their sauce.

What can be bad enough for such sad blunderers?

_B._ You seem to speak as any oracle.

_A._ What good can e'er arise, where every quality Is jumbled with its opposite in kind, How different soever both may be?

Now to discern these things is art and skill, Not to wash dishes nor to smell of smoke.

For I do never enter a strange cook-shop, But sit within such a distance as enables My eyes to comprehend what is within.

My friends, too, do the same; I tell them all The causes and results. This bit is sour, Away with it; the man is not a cook, Though he perhaps may be a music master: Put in some fire; keep an equal heat.

The first dish scarcely suits the rest. Do you Not see the form of th' art?

_B._ O, great Apollo!

_A._ What does this seem to you?

_B._ Pure skill; high art.

_A._ Then I no dishes place before my guests At random; but while all things correspond I regulate the whole, and will divide The whole as best may suit, in fours, or fives; And will consult each separate division-- And satisfy each party. Then again, I stand afar off and directions give; Whence bring you that? what shall you mix with this?

See how discordant those two dishes are!

Take care and shun such blunders. That will do.

Thus Epicurus did arrange his pleasures.

Thus wisely did he eat. He, only wise, Saw what was good and what its nature was.

The Stoics seek in vain for such discoveries, And know not good nor what the nature may be Of good; and so they have it not; nor know How to impart it to their friends and guests.