POLYBIUS the Megalopolitan, speaking of the great happiness which exists in Lusitania (and that is a district of Iberia, which the Romans now call Spania), O most excellent. Timocrates, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that in that country, on account of the excellent temperature of the air, both animals and men are exceedingly prolific; and the fruits, too, in that country never degenerate. But to us, whenever we sup with our excellent friend Laurentius, he makes Rome another Lusitania,—filling us with every sort of good thing every day, receiving us in a most princely manner with the greatest liberality, while we bring nothing from home as our contribution, except our arguments.

Now, as a long discussion had taken place about fish, it was plain that Cynulcus was annoyed at it; and so the excel- lent Democritus, anticipating him, said—But, O you men fish, as Archippus says, you have omitted (for I too must throw in a little contribution of my own) those which are called fossil fishes, which are produced at Heraclea, and near Tium, in Pontus, which is a colony of the Milesians, though Theophrastus gives us an account of them. And this very same philosopher has also told us about those that are congealed in ice the whole winter, so that they have no feeling whatever, and make not the slightest motion, until they are put into the saucepans and boiled. And these fish have this especial peculiarity, which also belongs in some degree to the fish which are called fossil fish in Paphlagonia. For it is said that ditches are dug in those places to an exceeding depth, where no overflow of rivers ever reaches, nor of any other waters whatever; and yet in those ditches there are found living fishes.

But Mnaseas of Patra, in his Periplus, says that the fish in the river Clitor are not dumb; though Aristotle has stated in writing that the only fishes which have any voice are the scarus and the river-hog. And Philostephanus, who was a Cyrenæan by birth, and a friend of Callimachus, in his treatise on Extraordinary Rivers, says that in the river Aroanius, which flows through Pheneum, there are fish which sing like thrushes, and that they are called the poiciliæ. And Nympho- dorus the Syracusan, in his Voyages, says that there are pike in the river Helorus, and large eels, so tame that they take bread out of the hands of any who bring it to them. And I myself, and very likely many of you too, have seen cestres tamed to the hand in the fountain of Arethusa, near Chalcis; and eels, having silver and golden earrings, taking food from any one who offered it to them, and entrails from the victims, and fresh cheese. And Semus says, in the sixth book of his Delias—

And Polybius, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that behind Pyrene, as far as the river Narbo, the whole country is a plain, through which the rivers Illiberis and Rhoscynus proceed, flowing through cities of the same name as themselves, which are inhabited by some of the Celtæ; and in this plain he says that the above-mentioned fossil fish are also found. And he says that the soil of that lain is light, and that a great quantity of the herb agrostis grows in it; and that beneath it, as the soil is sandy for a depth of two or three cubits, the water flows, which wanders away from these rivers; and so the fish, too, leaving the rivers, and proceeding underground, in the course of these erratic underflowings, in quest of food (for they are exceedingly fond of the root of the agrostis), have caused the whole plain to be full of subterranean fish, which people catch when they dig up the plain. says Theophrastus,

But I am not ignorant of what Clearchus, the Peripatetic philosopher, has said about what he calls the exoccetus fish, or fish which comes out of the water to sleep, which he mentions in his work entitled A Treatise on Aquatic Animals. For he has said, (and I think that I recollect his exact words, which are as follows,)

Moreover, Clearchus says this also more plainly than Philostephanus the Cyrenæan, whom I have previously mentioned. And Nicolaus, of Damascus, in the hundred and fourth book of his History, says— I know also that it has very often rained fishes. At all events, Phænias, in the second book of his Eresian Magistrates, says that in the Chersonesus it once rained fish uninterruptedly for three days; and Phylarchus, in his fourth book, says that people had often seen it raining fish, and often also raining wheat, and that the same thing has happened with respect to frogs. At all events, Heraclides Lembus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says—

I am aware, too, that Posidonius the Stoic males this statement about the abundance of the fish:—

Nor will I pass over in silence the men who prophesy from fish in Lycia, concerning whom Polycharmus speaks, in the second book of his Affairs of Lycia; writing in this manner:—

And Artemidorus, in the tenth book of his Geography, says that— ¹

I know, too, that Phylarchus has spoken, somewhere or other, about large fish, and about fresh figs which were sent with them; saying that Patroclus, the general of Ptolemy, sent such a present to Antigonus the king, by way of a riddle, as the Scythians sent an enigmatical present to Darius, when he was invading their country. For they sent (as Herodotus relates) a bird, and an arrow, and a frog. But Patroclus (as Phylarchus tells us, in the third book of his Histories) sent the before-mentioned fishes and figs; and the king, at the time that they arrived, happened to be drinking with his friends, and when all the party were perplexed at the meaning of the gifts, Antigonus laughed, and said to his friends that he knew what was the meaning of the present; says he,

Nor am I unaware that all fishes are called by one generic name, camasenes, by Empedocles the natural philosopher, when he says— And the poet, too, who wrote the Cyprian poems (whether he was a Cyprian or a man of the name of Stasinus, or whatever else his name may have been, represents Nemesis as pursued by Jupiter, and metamorphosed into a fish, in the following lines:—

I know, also, what is related about the fish called apopyris, which is found in the lake Bolbe; concerning which Hegesander, in his Commentaries, speaks thus:—

And this is the state of the case, O men fish; for you, having collected together every kind of thing, have thrown us out to be food for fishes, instead of giving them as food for us,—making such long speeches as not even Ichthys, the phi- losopher of Megara, nor Ichthyon (and this also is a proper name), who is mentioned by Teleclides in his Amphicytons would make to us. And, on your account, I will give this advice to the servant, as it is said in the Ant Men of Phere- crates:— For in Delos, as we are told by Semus the Delian, in the second book of the Delias, when they sacrifice to Brizo,—and she is a deity who prophesies to people asleep (for the ancients used βρίζω as synonymous with καθεύδω, to sleep, saying— so, when the Delian women sacrifice to this deity, they bring her, as their offering, boats full of all kinds of good things, except fish; because they address prayers to her on every subject, and especially for the safety of their vessels.

But, my friends, though I admire Chrysippus, the leader of the sect of the Stoics, on many accounts, I also praise him especially for having always classed Archestratus, that man who is so famous for his treatise on Cookery, with Philenis, to whom that indelicate composition about Amatory Pleasures is attributed; which, however, Aeschrion, the iambic poet of Samos, says was written by Polycrates the sophist, and attributed to Philænis for the sake of calumniating her, when she was a most respectable woman. And the iambics, in which this is stated, run as follows:— Therefore that admirable Chrysippus, in the fifth book of his treatise on Honour and Pleasure, says— And again he says — And in his seventh book he says—

But you, who are constantly making mention of this Archestratus, have made this entertainment full of intem- perance; for what of all the things which could unduly excite men has this fine epic poet omitted?—he, the only imitator of the life of Sardanapalus the son of Anacyndaraxes, who, Aristotle says, is made more obscure still by adding the name of his father; on whose tomb, Chrysippus says, the following inscription was engraved:— And the great poet has said of the Phæacians— And another person, not unlike Sardanapalus in disposition, gives this advice and these rules to those who are deficient in wisdom:— And Amphis the comic poet, in his Ialemus, says— And, in his play entitled the Gynæcocracy, he say nearly the same— And a man of the name of Bacchides, who lived on the same principles as Sardanapalus, after he was dead had the following inscription placed on his tomb:—

Alexis, in his Tutor of Intemperate Men—(as Sotion the Alexandrian says, in his Commentary on the Silli of Timon; for I myself have never met with the play, though I have read more than eight hundred plays of what is called the Middle Comedy, and have made extracts from them, but still I have never fallen in with the Tutor of Intemperate Men, nor do I recollect having seen any mention of it in any regular list of such plays; for Callimachus has not inserted it in his catalogue, nor has Aristophanes, nor even those scholars at Pergamus, who have handed down to us lists of plays,)how— ever, Sotion says that in that play a slave, named Xanthias, was represented as exhorting all his fellow-slaves to a life of luxury, and saying—

But it would be better, says Chrysippus, if the lines inscribed on the tomb of Sardanapalus were altered thus— And Timon says, very beautifully,—

But Clearchus, in his essay on Proverbs, says that Terpsion was the tutor of Archestratus, who was also the first person who wrote a book on Gastronomy; and he says that he gave precepts to his pupils as to what they ought to abstain from; and that Terpsion once extemporised the following line about a turtle:— which, however, others read—

But whence is it, O you wisest of men, that orion, who wrote a list of fish, has been mentioned as if he were the writer of some valuable history?—a fellow who, I know, has been named a musician and a fish-devourer, but certainly not a historian. Accordingly Machon, the comic poet, speaks of him as a musician, saying— And Lynceus the Samian, the pupil of Theophrastus, and the brother of Duris, who wrote the Histories, and made himself tyrant of his country, writes thus in his Apophthegms— ' And this was a clever speech of the flute-player; for there is an old saying that—

And Hegesander, in his Commentaries, says this of him— The same Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the Nautilus of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan. And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Memorials of Laughable Circumstances and Sayings, says — But that this Dorion was notorious for his epicurism in fish, is plain from what Mnesimachus the comic poet says in his drama called Philip—

I know, too, the sportive sayings which Lasus of Hermione has uttered about fishes; which Chamæleon of Heraclea has recorded in writing, in his book on this very Lasus, where he says—' They say that Lasus called raw fish ὀπτὸς (which means roasted or visible); and when many people wondered why he did so, he thus began to prove what he had said; arguing thus: 'As whatever a person can hear ( ἀκοῦσαι) is properly called ἀκουστὸν, and as whatever a person can understand by his intellect ( νοῆσαι) is properly called νοητὸν, so whatever any one can see ( ὄπτεσθαι) is clearly ὀπτόν;; as therefore it was possible to see the fish, he evidently was ὀπτός.ʼ.' And once, in a joke, he stole a fish from a fisherman, and having taken it, he gave it to one of the bystanders; and when the fisherman put him to his oath, he swore that he had not got it himself, and that he had not seen any one else take it; because, in fact, he himself had taken it, but some one else had got it. And then he prompted the other man, on the other hand, to swear that he had not taken it himself, and that he was not acquainted with any one else who had it; for, in fact, Lasus had taken it, and he himself had it.” And Epicharmus jests in the same way; as, in his Logus and Logina,—

And Alexis, in his Demetrius, ridicules, in his comic manner, a man of the name of Phayllus, as very fond of fish, in these lines:— And Antiphanes, in his Female Fisher, enumerating some people as exceedingly fond of fish, says—

And it is a very clever way in which Antiphanes thus jested upon Misgolas, as devoting all his attention to beautiful harp-players and lyre-players; for Aeschines the orator, in his speech against Timarchus, says this of him— And Timocles, in his Sappho, says— And Alexis, in his Agonis, or the Little Horse, says—

But Antiphanes says that Pythionica is fond of cured fish, since she had for lovers the sons of Chærephilus, the seller of salt-fish; as Timocles says, in his Icarians,— And again he says— And before this she had a lover whose name was Cobius.

But with respect to Callimedon, the son of Carabus, Timocles, in his Busybody, tells us that he was fond of fish, and also that he squinted:— And Alexis, in his Crateua, or the Apothecary, says— And he ridicules him in a similar manner in the play entitled The Men running together. But he also jests on him for his epicurism as to fish, in the Phædo, or Phædria, where he says— And the very same iambics are repeated in the play entitled Into the Well; but, in his Woman who has taken Mandragora, he says— And in his Crateua he says— And Antiphanes says, in his Gorgythus,— And Eubulus, in his Persons saved, says— And Theophilus, in his Physician, ridiculing his coldness of expression, says— ² And when Philemon says, in his Canvasser,— And Herodicus the Cratetian, commenting on this in his Miscellaneous Commentaries, says that Agyrrius was the name of the son of Callimedon.

The following people, too, have all been great epicures about fish. Antagoras the poet would not allow his slave to touch his fish with oil, but made him wash it; as Hegesander tells us. And when in the army, he was once boiling a dish of congers, and had his clothes girt round him, Antigonus the king, who was standing by, said, And it is said that he answered, not without wit, And once, when Antagoras was cooking a bird of some kind, he said that he would not go to the bath, because he was afraid that the slaves might come and suck up the gravy. And when Philocydes said that his mother would take care of that, said he, And Androcydes of Cyzicus, the painter, being very fond of fish, as Polemo relates, carried his luxury to such a pitch that he even painted with great care the fish which are around Scylla.

But concerning Philoxenus of Cythera, the dithyrambic poet, Machon the comic poet writes thus:— And in another part he says— And Diogenes the Cynic, having eaten a polypus raw, died of a swelling in the belly. But concerning Philoxenus, Sopater the parodist also speaks, saying—

And Hyperides the orator was an epicure in fish; as Timocles the comic writer tells us, in his Delos, where he enumerates all the people who had taken bribes from Harpalus: and he writes thus— And in the Icarians, the same poet says— And Philetærus, in his Aesculapius, says that Hyperides, besides being a glutton, was also a gambler. As also Axionicus, in his Lover of Euripides, says that Callias the orator was; and his words are— Reproaching him with the figs as if he were a sycophant; and perhaps concealing under the mention of the cured fish, some intimation of his having been implicated in discreditable conduct. And Hermippus says, in the third book of his treatise on the Pupils of Isocrates, that Hyperides was in the habit of taking a walk, the first thing in the morning, in the fish-market.

And Timæus of Tauromenium says that Aristotle the philosopher was a great epicure in respect of fish. Matron the sophist, also, was a great fish-eater: and Antiphanes, in his Harp-player, intimates this; for that play begins thus— And Anaxilas says, in his Morose Man,— It being the very extravagance of gluttony to carry a thing off while eating it, and such a thing too as the head of a cestris; unless, perhaps, you may suppose, that those who are skilful in such things are aware of there being some particular good qualities in the head of a cestris; and if so, it belonged to Archestratus's gluttony to explain that to us.

But Antiphanes, in his Rich Man, gives us a catalogue of epicures, in the following lines:— But Euphron, in his Muses, says,—

But Melanthus the tragic poet was a person of the same sort; and he also wrote elegies. But Leucon, in his Men of the same Tribe, cuts his jokes upon him in the fashion of the comic writers, on account of his gluttony; and so does Aristophanes in the Peace, and Pherecrates in his Petale. But Archippus, in his play called The Fishes, having put him in chains as an epicure, gives him up to the fishes, to be eaten by them in retaliation. And, indeed, even Aristippus, the pupil of Socrates, was a great epicure,—a man who was once reproached by Plato for his gluttony, as Sotion ad Hegesander relate. And the Delphian writes thus:— And Antiphanes, in his Female Flute-player, or the Female Twins, laughing at a man named Phoinicides for his gluttony, says—

But Demosthenes the orator reproaches Pherecrates, because, with the gold which he received for his treason, he bought himself courtesans and fish, and charges him with debauchery and gluttony. But Diodes the epicure, as Hegesander says, when a man once asked him which of the two fish was the best, the conger or the pike, said— And Leonteus the Argive also was an epicure: he was a tragedian, and a pupil of Athenion, and a slave of Juba, king of Mauritania; as Amarantus relates, in his treatise on the Stage, saying that Juba wrote this epigram on him, because he had acted the character of Hypsipyle very badly:—

And Hegesander tells us that Phoryscus, the fish-eater, once, when he was not able to take exactly as much fish as he wished, but when a greater part of it was following his hand, as he was helping himself, said,— and so ate up the whole fish. And Bion, when some one had been beforehand with him, and had already taken the upper part of the fish, having turned it round himself, and eating abundantly of it, said, after he had done,— And Theocritus the Chian, when the wife of Diocles the epicure died, and when the widowed husband, while making a funeral feast for her, kept on eating delicacies and crying all the time, said— And when the same Diodes had also eaten up his land through gluttony, and was one day, while bolting down some hot fish, complaining that his palate ( οὐρανὸς) was burnt, Theocritus, who was present, said to him— And Clearchus, in his Lives, describing some person who was fond of fish, says— Alexis the poet, also, was a great epicure in fish, as Lynceus the Samian tells us; and being once ridiculed by some chattering fellows on account of his epicurism, when they asked him what he liked most to eat, Alexis said,

Hermippus mentions also Nothippus the tragic poet, in his Tales, thus— and that the man meant here was the poet, Teleclides shows plainly, in his Hesiods.

Myniscus, the tragic actor, is ridiculed by Plato, the comic writer, in his Syrphax, as an epicure in respect of fish; where he says— And for a similar reason, Callias, in his Pedetæ, and Lysippus, in his Bacchæ, ridicule Lampon the soothsayer. But Cratinus, in his Female Runaways, speaking of him, says— and adds,

And Hedylus, in his Epigrams, giving a list of epicures in fish, mentions a man named Phaedo, in these lines:— And he mentions Agisoto, in these lines:— He also speaks of a woman named Clio, on a similar account, saying—

And Aristodemus, in his Catalogue of Laughable Sayings, says that Euphranor the epicure, having heard that another epicure in fish was dead from having eaten a hot slice of fish, cried out, And Cindon the fish-eater, and Demylus (and he also was an epicure in fish), when a sea-grayling was set before them, and nothing else, the former took one eye of the fish, and then Demylus seized hold of Cindon's eye, crying, And once at a feast, when a fine dish of fish was served up, Demylus, not being able to contrive any way by which he might get the whole of it to himself, spat upon it. And Zeno the Cittiæan, the founder of the Stoic school, when he had lived a long time with a great epicure in fish, (as Antigonus the Carystian tells us, in his life of Zeno,) once, when a very large fish was by chance served up to them, and when no other food was provided, took the whole fish from the platter, pretending to be about to eat it all himself; and, when the other looked at him, said— And Ister says that Chœrilus the poet used to receive four minæ every day from Archelaus, and that he spent them all on fish, of which he was so exceedingly fond.

I am aware, also, that there have been boys who were great fish-eaters, who are mentioned by Clearchus, in his book on Sands; which says that Psammitichus, king of Egypt, bred up some boys to eat nothing but fish, when he was anxious to discover the source of the Nile; and that he accustomed others to endure a great degree of thirst, who were to be employed in exploring the sands in Libya; of whom, however, very few escaped in safety. I know, too, that the oxen around Mosynus, in Thrace, eat fish, which are given to them in their cribs. And Phœnicides, having set fish before men who had brought their contribution for a banquet, said that the sea was common, but that the fish in it belonged to those who bought them.

And, my friends, the noun ὀψοφάγος (an eater of fish), and the verb ὀψοφάγω (to eat fish), are both used. Aristophanes, in his second edition of the Clouds, says— And Cephisodorus, in his Pig, says— Machon, in his Letter, says— In addition to these epicures in fish, my friends, I am aware also that Apollo is honoured among the Eleans, under the title of Fish-eater: and Polemo mentions this name of his in his letter to Attalus. I am aware, also, that in Pisa there is a picture consecrated in the temple of Diana Alphosa (and it is the work of Cleanthes the Corinthian), in which Neptune is represented as bringing a tunny to Jupiter in labour; as. Demetrius tells us, in the eighth book of his Trojan Array.

These, then, are the things, said Democritus, which I myself have brought in the way of my contribution, not going to eat fish myself, for the sake of my excellent friend Ulpian; who, on account of the national customs of the Syrians, has deprived us of our fish, continually bringing forward one thing after another. And Antipater of Tarsus, the Stoic philosopher, in the fourth book of his treatise on Superstition, tells us that it is said by some people that Gatis, the queen of the Syrians, was so exceedingly fond of fish, that she issued a proclamation that no one should eat fish without Gatis being invited ( ἄτερ γάτιδος); and that the common people, out of ignorance, thought her name was Atergatis, and abstained wholly from fish. And Mnaseus, in the second book of his History of Asia, speaks thus— And a little further on, he says again—

And you, perhaps, my friends, have willingly passed by (as if it were some sacred fish) the fish mentioned by Ephippus the comic poet, which he says was dressed for Geryon, in his play called Geryon. The lines are these:— But I am not ignorant that Ephippus has said the very same thing in his play called the Peltast; in which the following lines also are subjoined to those which I have just quoted:— But, with reference to whom it is that Ephippus said this, it is now proper for you to inquire, my good friend Ulpian, and then to tell us; and in this inquiry— as Prometheus says in Aeschylus.

And on this Cynulcus exclaimed:—And what great subject of inquiry,—I do not say great fish,—can this fellow admit into his mind?-a man who is always picking out the spines of hepseti and atherintæ, and even of worse fish than these, if there be any such, passing over all finer fish.

For, as Eubulus says, in the Ixion,— so, too, this Pot-friend, Ulpian,—to use a would of my fellow-Megalopolitan, Cercidas,—appears to me to eat nothing that a man ought to eat, but to watch those who are eating, to see if they have passed over any spine or any callous or gristly morsel of the meat set before them; never once considering what the admirable and brilliant Aeschylus has said, who called his tragedies, But Aeschylus was one of the greatest of philosophers,—a man who, being once defeated undeservedly, as Theophrastus or Chamæleon (whichever was really the author of the book), in his treatise on Pleasure, has related, said that he committed his tragedies to time, well knowing that he should hereafter receive the honour due to him.

But whence could Ulpian know what Stratonicus the harp-player said about Propis the Rhodian harp-player? For Clearchus, in his book on Proverbs, says that Stratonicus, when he had seen Propis, who was a man of great size, but a very inferior artist, with a mind much less than his body, said to some one who asked him what sort of player he was, speaking enigmatically, and saying, first of all, that he is οὐδεὶς, no one, or good for nothing; secondly, that he is κακὸς, bad; and, in addition to this, that he is μέγας, great; and, lastly, ἰχθὺς, a fish, as having no voice. But Theophrastus, in his book on The Laughable, says that this was a proverb originating with Stratonicus, but applied to Simmychas the actor; for that he uttered the proverb, dividing the words distinctly— And Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Naxians, speaks thus of this proverb—

And I do not think it unseasonable myself, since I have mentioned the harp-player Stratonicus, to say some- thing also concerning his readiness in repartee. For when he was teaching people to play the harp, and as he had in his school nine statues of the nine Muses, and one of Apollo, and had also two pupils, when some one asked him how many pupils he had, he said, And once when he had travelled to Mylassa, and saw thee a great number of temples, but very few citizens, standing in the middle of the forum, he cried out— And Macho has recorded some memorials of him in these lines;—

And Clearchus, in the second book of his treatise on Friendship, says,— And once, at Byzantium, when a harp-player had played his prelude well, but had made a blunder of the rest of the performance, he got up and made proclamation, And when he was once asked by some one who were the wickedest people, he said, And when he was asked again, according to the account given by Hegesander, which were the greatest barbarians, the Bœotians or the Thessalians, he said, And once he erected a trophy in his school, and put this inscription on it— And once, being asked by some one which was the safer kind of vessel, the long one or the round one,— quoth he, And once he made a display of his art at Rhodes, and no one applauded; on which he left the theatre, and when he had got into the air he said, said he, —jesting upon the public scourgings exhibited in that city, a Charicles relates, in the first book of his treatise on the Cit Contests. And when Ptolemy the king was talking with him in an ambitious kind of way about harp-playing, said he, as Capito the epic poet says in the fourth book of his Commentaries addressed to Philopappus. And once being invited to hear a flute-player, after he had heard him, he said— And when some one asked him which half he granted, he said, And once, when a beam fell down and slew some wicked man, said he,

Also, after the before-mentioned witticisms of Stratonicus, he put down besides a list of these things following.

Stratonicus said once to the father of Chrysogonus, when he was saying that he had everything at home in great abundance, for that he himself had undertaken the works, and that of his sons, one could teach ⁵ and another play the flute; said Stratonicus, And when the other asked him what that was, said he, And when some one asked him why he kept travelling over the whole of Greece, and did not remain in one city, he said— And he said that Phaon did not play harmony, ⁶ but Cadmus. And when Phaon pretended to great skill on the flute, and said that he had a chorus at Megara, said he; And he said— And once, hearing that he had arrived in Ilium at the time of the Ilian games, said he, And when Minnacus was disputing with him about music, he said— At another time he said of a bad physician— And having met one of his acquaintances, when he saw his sandals carefully sponged, he pitied him as being badly off, pretending to think that he would never have had his sandals so well sponged if he had not sponged them himself. And as it was a very mixed race of people who lived at Teichius, a town in the Milesian territory, when he saw that all the tombs about were those of foreigners, said he; And when Zethus the harper was giving a lecture upon music, he said that he was the only person who was utterly unfit to discuss the subject of music, inasmuch as he had chosen the most unmusical of all names, and called himself; Zethus ⁷ instead of Amphion. And once, when he was teaching some Macedonian to play on the harp, being angry that he did nothing as he ought, he said,

And when he saw the shrine of some hero splendidly adorned, close to a cold and worthless bathing-house, when he came out, having had a very bad bath, said he, And at another time he said—, At another time he said, —as though he had said (great) trouble. And he called the Rhodians White Cyrenæans, and the city he called the City of Suitors; and Heraclea he called the Man- Corinth; and Byzantium he called the Arm-pit of Greece; and the Leucadians were Stale Corinthians; and the Ambraciotes he called Membraciotes. And when he had gone out of the gates of Heraclea, and was looking round him, when some one asked him what he was looking at, he said that And once, seeing two men bound in the stocks, he said— And once he said to a man who professed to be a musician, but who had been a gardener before, and who was disputing with him about harmony,— And once at Maronea, when he was drinking with some people, he said,— and then when they did so lead him, and asked him where he was, said he, because all Maronea seemed a mere eating-house. And once, when he was sitting next to Telephanes, and he was beginning to blow the flute, he said, And when the bathing-man in Cardia brought him some bad earth and salt water to cleanse himself with, he said that he was being besieged both by land and sea.

And when he had conquered his competitors at Sicyon, he set up a trophy in the temple of Aesculapius, and wrote upon it, And when some one had sung, he asked what tune he had been singing; and when he said that it was an air of Carcinus, ⁸ said he, He also said, on another occasion, that there was no spring at Maronea, only heat. And once at Phaselis, when the bathing-man was wrangling with his boy about the money, (for the law was that foreigners should pay more for bathing than natives,) said he, And once, when a person was praising him in hopes to get something by it, he said, And once, when he was teaching in a small town, he said, And once, when he was at Pella, he came to a well, and asked whether it was fit to drink; and when those who were drawing water from it said, said he, for the men happened to be very sallow-looking. And when he had heard the poem of Timotheus, on the subject of Semele in Labour, he said,

And when Polyidas was giving himself airs, because his pupil Philotas had beaten Timotheus, he said, And he said to Areus the harp-player, who was annoying him, ⁹ And once he was at Sicyon, when a leather-dresser was abusing him, and he said to the leather-dresser ( νακοδέψης), And Stratonicus himself, beholding the Rhodians dissolved in luxury, and drinking only warm drinks, said, And he called Rhodes itself the City of the Suitors, ¹⁰ thinking that they were in no respect different from the Cyrenæans in debauchery, but only in complexion; and also because of the devotion to pleasure of the inhabitants, he compared Rhodes itself to the city of the Suitors.

And Stratonicus was, in all these elaborate witticisms, an imitator of Simonides the poet, as Ephorus tells us in the second book of his treatise on Inventions; who says that Philoxenus of Cythera was also a great studier of the same pursuit. And Phænias the Peripatetic, in the second book of his treatise on Poets, says— He says also that he was eventually put to death by Nicocles, the King of the Cyprians, on account of the freedom of his witticisms, being compelled to drink poison, because he had turned the sons of the king into ridicule.

But I marvel at Aristotle, whom these wise men, my excellent Democritus, are so incessantly speaking of and praising, (and whose writings you also esteem highly, as you do those of the other philosophers and orators,) on account of his great accuracy: and I should like to know when he learnt, or from what Proteus or Nereus who came up from the depths he found out, what fish do, or how they go to sleep, or how they live: for all these things he has told us in his writings, so as to be, in the words of the comic poets, for he says that the ceryx, and indeed that the whole race of shell-fish, are propagated without copulation; and that the purple-fish and the ceryx are longlived. For how could he know that the purple-fish lives six years? and how could he know that the viper takes a long time to propagate his species? or that of all its tribe the longest at that work is the pigeon, the next the œnas, and the quickest is the turtle-dove? And whence did he learn that the horse lives five-and-thirty years, but the mare more than forty? saying, too, that some have lived even seventy-five years. And he also states that from the copulation of lice there are born nits; and that from a worm, after its change, there is produced a caterpillar, from which comes the humble-bee, and from that the larva of the silk-worm. And he also says that bees live to six years of age, and that some live even seven years; and he says that neither bee nor wasp have ever been seen in the act of copulation, on which account no one can ever tell whether they are male or female. And from what did he learn that men are inferior to bees? for these latter always preserve an equal condition of life, being subject to no changes, but employing themselves without ceasing in the collection of honey, and doing that without having been taught by any one to do so: but men are inferior to bees, and as full of fancy as bees are of honey: how, then has Aristotle observed all these things? And in his treatise on Long Life, he says that a fly has been seen which had lived six or seven years. But what proof is there of this?

And where did he ever see ivy growing out of a stag's head? And again, owls and night-jars, he says, cannot see by day; on which account they hunt for their food by night, and they do this not during the whole night, but at the beginning of evening. And he says, too, that there are several different kinds of eyes, for some are blue, and some are black, and some are hazel. He says, too, that the eyes of men are of different characters, and that the differences of disposition may be judged of from the eyes; for that those men who have goats' eyes, are exceedingly sharp-sighted, and have the best dispositions. And of others, he says that some men have projecting eyes, and some have eyes deeply set, and some keep a mean between the two: and those whose eyes are deeply set, he says, have the sharpest sight, and those whose eyes project, must have the worst dispositions; and those who are moderate in these respects, are people, says he, of moderate dispositions. There are also some people whose eyes are always winking, and some who never wink at all, and some who do so in a moderate degree: and those who are always winking are shameless ¹¹ people, and those who never wink at all are unstable and fickle, and those who wink in a moderate degree have the best disposition.

He says also that man is the only animal which has its heart on the left side; and that all other animals have it in the middle of the body. And he says that males have more teeth than females; and he affirms that this has been noticed in the case of the sheep, and of the pig, and of the goat. And he says also that there is no fish which has testicles, and there is no fish which has a breast, and no bird ether; but that the only fish which has no gall is the dolphin. There are, however, some, says he, which have no gall in their liver, but they have it near their bowels; as the sturgeon, the synagris, the lamprey, the sword-fish, and the sea-swallow. But the amia has its gall spread over the whole of its entrails: and the hawk and the kite have theirs spread both over their liver and their entrails; but the ægocephalus has his gall both in his liver and in his stomach: and the pigeon, and the quail, and the swallow have theirs, some in their entrails, and some in their stomach.

Moreover, he says that all the molluscous fish, and the shell-fish, and the cartilaginous fish, and all insects, spend a long time in copulation; but that the dolphin and some other fish copulate lying alongside the female. And he says that the dolphins are very slow, but fish in general very quick. Again he says that the lion has very solid bones, and that if they are struck, fire comes from them as from flint stones. And that the dolphin has bones, but no spine; but that cartilaginous fish have both gristle and spine. And of animals he says that some are terrestrial and some aquatic; land that some even live in the fire; and that there are some, which he calls ephemera, which live only one day: and that there are some which are amphibious, such as the river-horse, and the crocodile, and the otter. And that all animals in general have two forefeet, but that the crab has four; and that all the animals which have blood are either without feet t all, or are bipeds, or quadrupeds; and that all the animals which have more than four feet are destitute of blood: n which account every animal which moves, moves by what he calls four tokens,—man by two hands and two feet, a bird by two feet and two wings, an eel and a conger by two fins and two joints. Moreover, some animals have hands, as a man has, and some appear to have hands, as a monkey does; or there is no brute beast which can really give and take, and it is for those things that hands are given to men as instruments. Again, some animals have limbs, as a man, an ox, an ass; and some have no limbs, as a serpent, an oyster, the pulmo marinus. There are also many animals which are not always visible, such as those which hide in holes; and those which do not hide in holes are still not always visible, as swallows and cranes.

And though I could repeat to you now a great deal of nonsense which the medicine-seller talked, I forbear to do so, although I know that Epicurus, that most truthful of men, said of him in his letter about Institutions, that he devoted himself to a military life after having squandered his patrimony in gluttony; and that, turning out an indifferent soldier, he then took to selling medicines. Then, when the school of Plato was opened, he says, he changed again, and applied himself to philosophical discussions, and as he was not a man destitute of ability, by little and little he became a speculative philosopher. I know, too, that Epicurus is the only person who ever said this of him; for neither did Eubulides nor Cephisodorus venture to say anything of the kind against the Stagirite, and that, too, though they did write books against him. But in that same letter Epicurus says, that Protagoras also, who became a philosopher from having been a porter and a wood-carrier, was first promoted to be an amanuensis of Democritus; who, wondering at the admirable way in which he used to put the wood together, took him under his eye in consequence of this beginning; and then he began to teach the rudiments of learning in some village, and after that he proceeded on to the study of philosophy. And I now, O fellow feasters, after all this conversation, feel a great desire for something to eat. And when some one said that the cooks were already preparing something, and taking care that the dishes should not be served up cold, on account of the excessive length to which the had been carried, for that no one could eat cold dishes, Cynulcus said,—But I, like the Milcon of Alexis, the comic poet, can eat them even if they are not served up warm— And it was not without some cleverness that Sphærus, who was a fellow-pupil with Chrysippus in the school of Cleanthes, when he had been sent for to Alexandria by king Ptolemy; when on one occasion birds made of wax were served up at a banquet, and he was putting out his hand to take some, but was stopped by the king, who told him that he was assenting to a sham; very appropriately answered,—'That he did not agree that they were birds at all, but only that it was probable that they might be birds; and that an opinion which could be confirmed by the perception, is superior to that which is merely probable; for that the one cannot be incorrect, but that what is probable may turn out Contrary to what was expected." And so it could not be a bad thing if some waxen dishes were brought round to us too, according to our perceptive opinions, so that we might be beguiled at least by the sight of them, and so escape talking on for ever.

And when they were now on the point of sitting down to eat again, Daphnus bade them stop, quoting this iambic out of the Mammacythus or Auri of Metagenes— And indeed, said he, I say that the discussion about fish is still defective in some points, since the sons of Aesculapius (such as Philotimus I mean, in his essay on Food, and Mnesitheus the Athenian, and Diphilus the Siphnian) hare said a good deal about fishes, of which we have as yet taken no notice. For Diphilus, in his work entitled A Treatise on Food fit for People in Health and Invalids, says,—"Of sea-fish, those which keep to the rocks are easily digested, and juicy, and purgative, and light, but not very nutritious; but those which keep in the deep water are much less digestible, very nutritious, but apt to disagree with one. Now, of the fish which keep to the rocks, the phycen and the phycis are very tender little fish, and very digestible; but the perch, which is like them, varies a little as to the places in which it is found. And the tench resembles the perch; but the smaller tench and the white ones are tender, juicy, and digestible; but the green ones (and they are also called caulinæ) are dry, and devoid of juice. The channæ also have tender meat, put still they are harder than the perch. Then there is the scarus, which has tender flesh, not very firm, sweet, light, digestible, not apt to disagree with one, and good for the stomach. But the fresh ones are less popular than the others, because they hunt the sea-hares and feed on them, owing to which their entrails are apt to produce cholera morbus. And the fish which is called ceris is tender, good for the bowels, and good for the stomach; but its juice has fattening and purgative qualities. The orphus, which some write ὀρφὸς, and some ὀρφὼς, is very full of a pleasant juice, glutinous, indigestible, very nutritious, diuretic. But the parts near his head are glutinous and digestible; but the more fleshy parts are indigestible and heavy, and the part towards the tail is the tenderest part; and he is a fish apt to generate phlegm, and indigestible. The sphyrenæ are more nutritious than the congers; and the eel caught in lakes is not so nice as the sea-eel, but it is more nutritious. The chrysophrys is very like the melanurus; and the sea-scorpions, which are found in the deep sea, and are of a tawny colour, are more nutritious than those which are found in marshes, or than the large ones which are taken on the shores.

"But the sparus is harsh-tasted, tender, with no unpleasant smell, good for the stomach, diuretic, and not indigestible; but when he is fried he is indigestible. The mullet is good for the stomach, very astringent, of very firm flesh, not very digestible, apt to bind the bowels, especially when it is broiled; but when it is fried in a frying-pan, then it is heavy and indigestible; and, as a general rule, the whole tribe of mullets has the property of causing secretions of blood. The synodon and the charax are of the same kind, but the charax is the better of the two. The phagrus is found both in the river and in the sea; but that which is found in the sea is the best. The capriscus is called also the mussel; but it has a strong smell, and very hard meat, and it is more indigestible than the citharus; but its skin is very pleasant to the taste. The needle-fish, or belone, and it is also called the ablennes, is indigestible and moist, but good for the bowels. The thrissa, and those of the same kind, such as the chalcis and the eretimis, are very digestible. The cestreus is found in the sea, and in rivers, and in lakes. And this fish, says he, is also called the oxyrhynchus; but the one which is taken in the Nile is called the coracinus. And the black kind is smaller than the white, and when boiled it is not so good as when it is roasted; for when roasted it is good for the stomach and good for the bowels. The salpe is hard- fleshed, and unpleasant to the taste, but the best are those which are caught at Alexandria, and those which are taken in the autumn. For it is white, full of moisture, and free from any unpleasant smell. The gryllus is like the eel in appearance, but it is not nice to the taste. The sea-hawk is harder than the sea-cuckoo, but in other respects they are much alike. The uranoscopus, and also the fish called agus, which is also called the callionymus, are heavy fish. The boax, when boiled, is very digestible, giving out a very wholesome juice, and is good for the stomach; and that which is broiled on the coals is sweeter and more tender. The bacchus is full of abundant and agreeable and wholesome juice, and is very nutritious. The sea-goat is not very agreeable as to its juice, not very digestible, and has a disagreeable smell. The sea-sparrow and the buglossus are both nutritious and palatable, and the turbot is like them. The sea-grayling, the cephalus, the cestreus, the myxinus, and the colon are all much alike as to their eatable properties; but the cestreus is inferior to the cephalus, the myxinus is worse, and the colon is the least good of all.

"The thynnis and the thynnus are both heavy and nutritious; but the fish which is called the Acarnanian is sweet, very exciting, very nutritious, and easily secreted. The anchovy is heavy and indigestible, and the white kind is called the cobitis; and the hepsetus, a little fish, if of the same genus.

"Of cartilaginous fish, the sea-cow is fleshy, but the shark is superior to that,—that kind, I mean, which is called the asterias. But the alopecias, or sea-fox, is in taste very like the land animal, from which circumstance, indeed, it has its name. The ray is a very delicate fish to the taste; but the stellated ray is tenderer still, and full of excellent juice; but the smooth ray is less wholesome for the stomach, and has an unpleasant smell. But the torpedo, which is hard of digestion, is in the parts below the head very tender, and good for the stomach, and, moreover, very digestible, but its other parts are not so; and the small ones are the best, especially when they are plain boiled. The rhine, which is one of th cartilaginous class, is very digestible and light; but those of the largest size are the most nutritious; and, as a general rule, all the cartilaginous fish are apt to create flatulence, and are fleshy, and difficult of digestion, and if they are eaten in any quantity, they are bad for the eyes. The cuttlefish, when boiled, is tender, palatable, and digestible, and also good for the stomach; but the juice which comes from it has the property of making the blood thin, and is apt to cause secretions by hemorrhoids. The squid is more digestible, and is nutritious, especially the small-sized one; but when boiled they are harder, and not palatable. The polypus promotes amativeness, but it is hard and indigestible; and those of the largest size are the most nutritious, and when they are much boiled, they have a tendency to fill the stomach with liquid, and they bind the bowels. And Alexis, in his Pamphila, points out the useful properties of the polypus, speaking as follows,— These are the statements of Diphilus.

But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables, says,—"The larger breed of fishes are called by some sectile, and by others sea-fish; as, for instance, the chrysophrys, the sea-grayling, and the phagrus. And these are all difficult of digestion, but when they are digested they supply a great deal of nourishment. And the whole class of scaly fish, such as the thynni, the scombri, the tunnies, the congers, and all of those kinds, are also gregarious. But those which are not seen by themselves, nor in large shoals, are the most digestible, such as the congers, and the carcharie, and fish of that kind. But the gregarious kinds of fish of that sort are very pleasant to the palate, for they are fat; but they are heavy, ad difficult of digestion, on which account they are very good for curing; and, indeed, these kinds make the best cured fish of all; they are also very good roasted, for by that process their fatty parts are got rid of. But those kinds which are skinned before they are dressed, as a general rule, are those fish which have a rough outside to their skin, not of scales, but such as rays and rhino have. And all these kinds are easily divided into small pieces, but they have not a sweet smell. And they supply the body with plenty of moist nourishment, and of all boiled fish they have the greatest effect on the bowels; but when they are roasted they are not so good. And the whole class of molluscous fish, such as polypi and cuttlefish, and others like them, are very indigestible, on which account they are very serviceable in exciting the amatory passions. They are also calculated to cause flatulence; and the time of indulgence in amatory pleasures requires a flatulent habit of body. All these fish are better when boiled. For their juices are injurious, and you may see what juices they emit when they are washed; and the boiling extracts all these juices from their flesh. For as the heat which is applied in boiling is a gradual one, and conjoined with moisture, there is, as it were, a sort of washing of them. But when they are roasted, that dries up the moisture, and moreover, as their flesh is hard by nature, it is natural that it should be made more so in this way.

“But anchovies of all kinds, and membrades, and trichides, and all the other little fish which we eat backbones and all, make the digestion flatulent, and give a good deal of moist nutriment. And so, as the digestion is unequal, the flesh being digested with great rapidity, and the bones dissolving slowly, for the anchovies are very bony of themselves, the digestion of the one part hinders the digestion of the other, and so flatulence arises from the digestion, ad moisture comes from the quantity of nourishment. They are better when they are boiled, but still they have very unequal effects on the bowels. The fish which keep close to the rocks, such as tench, and scorpions, and sea-sparrows, and others of the same kind, supply a dry kind of nourishment to our bodies, but they are light and nutritious, and are easily digested, and leave nothing behind them, and are not apt to cause flatulence. And every kind of fish is more digestible when dressed simply, and especially those which keep near the rocks have a better flavour when dressed plainly. And the species which is called soft-fleshed is like them, namely, the sea-thrush, the sea-blackbird, and others which resemble them. And these contain more moisture than the others, and with respect to refreshing the strength of those who eat them, they have more efficacy. And if any one wishes to produce an effect upon his bowels, he should eat them boiled; but if he is in good health, then he will find them nutritious roasted. And as diuretic food they are equally useful cooked either way.

This now, my friends, is my contribution, and I have brought you the wholesomest food with which it was in my power to provide you. For, as you may read in the Parasite of Antiphanes,— And, indeed, I myself am not so violently fond of fish as the man in the Butalion of the same poet. (And that play is an amended edition of one of the Countryman's characters.) And he says— And in his Countryman he also calls sprats and triglides the food of Hecate. And Ephippus too, disparaging small fish, in his Philyra, speaks as follows—

And in the same poet, in his Spit-bearers, there is a very witty young man who disparages everything connected with the purchase of fish. And he speaks thus— And in Mnesimachus, the Morose Man, in the play of the same name, being a great miser, says to the extravagant young man in the play—

But since, as fortune would have it so, in the before quoted lines,—my excellent Ulpian, or you too, O you sons of grammarians, just tell me what was Ephippus's meaning in what I have just repeated, when he said— For I think there is here an allusion to some historical fact, and I should like to understand it. And Plutarch said, —There is a Rhodian tale, which, however, I can hardly repeat at the moment, because it is a very long time since I have fallen in with the book in which it occurs. But I know that Phœnix the Colophonian, the Iambic poet, making mention of some men as collecting money for the Jackdaw, speaks as follows— And at the end of this set of iambics he says— And those people who went about collecting for the jackdaw ( κορώνη) were called Coronistæ, as Pamphilus of Alexandria tells us, in his treatise on Names. And the songs which are sung by them are called coronismata, as Agnocles the Rhodian tells us, in his Coronistæ.

There is also another collection made among the Rhodians, the making of which is called χελιδονίζειν; and it is mentioned by Theognis, in the second book of his treatise on the Sacrifices in Rhodes, where he writes thus—"There is a species of collecting which the Rhodians call χελιδονίζειν, which takes place in the month Boedromion. And it derives its name of χελιδονίζειν because the people are accustomed to utter the following song:— And Cleobulus the Lindian was the first man who introduced the custom of this collection, at a time when there was a great want in Lindus of a collection of money.

But, since we have mentioned the Rhodian histories, I myself am now going to tell you something about fish, from the account given of the beautiful Rhodes, which that delightful writer Lynceus says is full of excellent fish. Ergias the Rhodian, then, in his Account of his own Country, having first made mention of the Phoenicians, who inhabited the island, says—"That Phalanthus, and his friends, having a very strong city in Ialysus, called Achaia, and being very economical of their provisions, held out for a long time against Iphiclus, who besieged them. For they had also a prophecy given them by some oracle, that they should keep the place till crows became white, and till fish were seen in their goblets. They therefore, expecting that these things would never happen, prosecuted the war with less vigour. But Iphiclus, having heard from some one of the oracles of the Phœnicians, and having waylaid a highly-trusted adherent of Phalanthus, whose name was Larcas, as he was going for water, and having entered into a covenant with him, caught some fish at the spring, and putting them into the ewer, gave them to Larcas, and bade him carry the water back, and pour it into the goblet from which he was used to pour out wine for Phalanthus: and he did so. And Iphiclus also caught some crows, and smeared them over with gypsum, and let them fly again. But when Phalanthus saw the crows, he went to his goblet; and when he saw the fish there, he considered that the place no longer belonged to him and his party, and so he sent a herald to Iphiclus, demanding permission to retire, with all his troops, under the protection of a treaty, And when Iphiclus agreed to this, Phalanthus devised the follow- ing contrivance. Having slain some victims, and taken out the entrails, he endeavoured to put in some silver and gold, and so to carry it away. But when Iphiclus percieved this, he prevented it. And when Phalanthus alleged against him the oath which he had taken, when he swore to allow them to take away whatever they had in their bellies, he met them with a counter device, giving them vessels to go away in, but taking away the rudders, and the oars, and the sails, saying that he had sworn to give them boats, and nothing further. And as the Phœnicians were in great perplexity, they buried a great deal of their riches underground, marking the places where they buried it, that at some future time they might come and take it up again; but they left a great deal for Iphiclus. And so, when the Phœnicians had left the place in this manner, the Greeks became masters of it.” And Polyzelus has given the same account, in his History of Rhodian Affairs; and says—

And Creophylus, in his Annals of the Ephesians, says—

Now after this long conversation, all of a sudden there was heard all over the city the music of flutes and the noise of cymbals, and also a great crash of drums, with singing at the same time. And it happened to be the time of a festival which used formerly to be called the Parilia, but which is now called the Romana, in honour of the temple built to the Fortune of the City, by that most excellent and accomplished sovereign Hadrian. And all the inhabitants of Rome (and all the foreigners sojourning in the city) every year keep that day as a remarkable one. Accordingly, Ulpian said,—My friends, what is this?— And when some one replied that every one in the city was dancing (using the verb βαλλίζω) in honour of the goddess, —My fine fellow, said Ulpian, laughing, what Greek in the world ever called this dancing βαλλισμόσ? You should have said κωμάζουσιν or χορεύουσιν, or, at all events, some word in common use; but you have bought us a name out of the Subura, And Myrtilus said—But I will prove to you, my dear Epitimæus, ¹³ that the word is a genuine Greek word; for you, who want to stop every one's mouth, have not succeeded in convicting any one of ignorance, but have proved yourself to be emptier than a snake's cast-off skin. Epicharmus, my most excellent gentlemen, in his Theori, speaks of the βαλλισμὸς, and Italy is no great way from Sicily. Accordingly, in that play, the public ambassadors, surveying the offerings at Pytho, and mentioning each one separately, speak as follows:— And Sophron, in his play which is entitled Nymphoponus, says— And again he says— And Alexis, in his Curis, says— I know, too, that the word is found in other places, and when I recollect the exact passage, I will bring it forward.

But we have a right to ask of you, who have quoted to us these lines out of Homer, in what respect the different sorts of feasts, which he calls εἰλαπίνη and ἔρανος, differ from one another? But, since you are silent, I will tell you; for, as the poet of Syracuse says,— The ancients used to call sacrifices, and the more splendid kind of preparations, εἰλάπιναι; and those who partook of them they used to call εἰλαπινασταί. But those feasts they called ἔρανοι, the materials for which were contributed by all who joined in them; and this name was derived from all the guests being friendly together ( ἀπὸ τοῦ συνερᾷν) and contributing. And this same ἔρανος is also called θίασος, and those who partake of it are called ἐρανισταὶ and συνθιαῶται. The crowd, also, which follows Bacchus in his festivals is called θίασος, as Euripides says— And they gave them the name θίασος from the word θεός;— and, indeed, the Lacedæmonian form of the word θεὸς is σιός. And the word εἰλαπίνη is derived from the preparation and expense gone to for such purposes; for being destructive and extravagant is called λαφύττειν καὶ λαπάζειν, from which words the poets have used the word ἀλαπάζω for to destroy, And the plunder which is carried off after the sacking of a city they call λάφυρα. And accordingly Aeschylus and Eripides have given to the more luxurious banquets the name of εἰλάπιναι, from the verb λαπάζω. There is also a verb, λάπτω, which means to digest one's food, and to become relaxed ( λαγαρὸς) by becoming empty. And from this word λαγαρὸς we get the word λαγὼν (the flank), and also λάγανον (a thin, broad cake); and from the word λαπάττω we get λαπάρα (the loins). And the verb λαφύττω means, with great freedom and abundance to evacuate and erupt oneself. And the word δαπανάω (to spend) is derived from δάπτω; and δάπτω is akin to δαψιλής; on which account we find the verbs δάπτω and δαρδάπτω applied to those who eat in a voracious and savage manner. Homer says— But the word εὐωχία (a luxurious feast) is derived not from ὀχὴ, which means nutriment, but from everything going on well ( ἀπὸ τοῦ εὖ ἔχειν) in such a banquet, in which those who assemble honour the deity, and give themselves up to mirth and relaxation; and from this relaxation ( ἀπὸ τοῦ μεθιέναι) they call wine μέθυ, and the god who gave them wine they call Methymnaeus, and Lyæus, and Evius, and Icius; just as also they call a man who is not sullen-looking and morose ἱλαρός; on which account, too, they pray the deity to be propitious ( ἵλεως), uttering the ejaculation ἰὴ, ἰή. And from this again they call the place where they do this ἱερόν. And that they meant very nearly the same thing by ἵλεως and ἱλαρός is plain from the language used by Ephippus, in his play entitled Traffic; for he is speaking of a courtesan, and he says—

But the ancients, who represented the gods under the form of men, arranged all their festivals on a similar principle; for, seeing that it is not possible to divert men from an eagerness for pleasure, but that it is useful and expedient to accustom them to enjoy themselves with moderation and in an orderly manner, they set apart certain times, and, sacrificing first to the gods, they in this way permitted them relaxation and enjoyment, in order that every one, thinking that the gods had come among them, and were present at the firstfruits and libations, might enjoy himself with order and decency. Accordingly Homer says— and Neptune, too, is represented thus— and of Jupiter he says— And if a man of more mature age, and devoted to wise and virtuous pursuits, is present, they are ashamed to say or do anything indecorous; as also Epicharmus says, somewhere or other:— Therefore, considering that the gods were near to them, they celebrated their festivals in an orderly and temperate man- ner; on which account it was not the fashion of the ancients to lie at their meals, but, as Homer says,— nor were they accustomed to drink to the extent of drunkenness—

But the men of modern times, pretending to be sacrificing to the gods, and inviting their friends and nearest kinsmen to the sacrifice, vent imprecations on their children, and abuse their wives, and treat their slaves with indignity, and threaten the multitude, almost verifying the line of Homer:— Nor do they ever give a thought to what has been said by the poet who wrote the poem entitled Chiron, whether it is Pherecrates, or Nicomachus, the teacher of rhythm, or whatever else his name may have been:— But now men utterly forget all these rules, and they recollect only the lines which follow them, which are all written in imitation of the Great Eoæ which are attributed to Hesiod, and which are also meant as a parody on his great work, Works and Days:— And, moreover, we add this:—

And when we are sacrificing to the gods, we spend as little as possible upon our sacrifices, and give them the most ordinary presents; as the admirable Menander tells us, in his Drunkenness:—

And the ancients call some feasts ἐπιδόσιμα, that is to say, given into the bargain,—the same which the Alexandrians call ἐξ ἐπιδομάτων. Alexis, at all events, in his Woman at the Well, says— And Crobylus, in his Supposititious Son, says— The ancients, also, were acquainted with the banquets which are now called dole-basket banquets; and Pherecrates mentions them in his Forgetful Man, or the Sea, saying— And this clearly points to the dole-basket supper, when a man prepares a supper for himself, and then puts it in a basket, and goes off to sup with some one. And Lysias has used the word σύνδειπνον for a banquet, in his speech against Micinus, on his trial for murder; for he says that he had been invited to a σύνδειπνον: and Plato says— and Aristophanes, in his Gerytades, says— on which account some people wish to write the title of Sophocles's play in the neuter gender, σύνδειπνον. Some people also use the expression συναγώγιμα δεῖπνα, picnic feasts; as Alexis does, in his Man fond of Beauty, or the Nymphs, where he says— And Ephippus says, in his Geryones,— They also use the verb συνάγω for to drink with on another, and the noun συναγώγιον for a drinking party. Menander, in his Angry Woman, says— and presently afterwards he says— And probably the συναγώγιον is the same as that which was also called τὸ ἀπὸ συμβολων δεῖπνον. But what the συμβολαὶ, or contributions, are, we learn from Alexis, in his Woman who has taken Mandragora, where he says— But the Argives, as Hegesander tells us in his Commentaries, (the following are his exact words)—

And now, since this book also has come to a not unsuitable end, my good friend Timocrates, let us stop our discussion at this point, lest any one should think that we were formerly fishes ourselves, as Empedocles says that he was; for that great natural philosopher says—