And, indeed, it is the female pig which is more correctly called by this name, as having δελφύας, for that word δελφὺς means a womb. And it is the word from which ἀδελφὸς is derived. But respecting the age of these animals, Cratinus speaks in his Archilochi, saying—

And Aristophanes the grammarian, in his treatise on Ages, says—"Those pigs which are now come to a compact form, are called δέλφακες; but those which are tender, and are full of juice, are called χοῖροι;" and this makes that line of Homer intelligible—

And Plato the comic poet, in his Poet, uses the word in the masculine gender, and says—

But there was ancient custom, as Androtion tells us, for the sake of the produce of the herds, never to slay a sheep which had not been shorn, or which had never had young, on which account they always ate full-grown animals:

And even to this day the priest of Minerva never sacrifices a lamb, and never tastes cheese. And when, on one occasion, there was a want of oxen, Philochorus says, that a law was passed that they should abstain from slaying them on account of their scarcity, wishing to get a greater number, and to increase the stock by not slaying them. But the Ionians use the word χοιρος also of the female pig, as Hipponax does, where he says—

And Sophocles, in his Tænarus, a satyric drama, says—

And Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, in the ninth book of his Commentaries, says—"When I was at Assus, the Assians brought me a pig (χοῖρον) two cubits and a half in height, and the whole of his body corresponding in length to that height; and of a colour as white as snow: and they said that King Eumenes had been very diligent in buying all such animals of them, and that he had given as much as four thousand drachmæ a piece for one." And Æschylus says—

And in another place he says—

And again in another place he says—

And these lines have all been quoted by Chamæleon, in his Commentary on Æschylus.

18. But concerning the pig, that it is accounted a sacred animal among the Cretans, Agathocles the Babylonian, in the first book of his account of Cyzicus, speaks as follows—"They say that Jupiter was born in Crete, on the mountain Dicte; on which mountain a mysterious sacrifice used to take place. For it is said that a sow allowed Jupiter to suck its udder. And that she going about with her constant grunting, made the whining of the infant inaudible to those who were looking for him. On which account all the Cretans think that that animal is to be worshipped; and nothing, it is said, can induce them to eat its flesh. And the Praisians also sacrifice to a sow; and this is a regular sacrifice among that people before marriage. And Neanthes of Cyzicus gives a similar account, in the second book of his treatise on Mysteries.

Achæus the Eretrian mentions full-grown sows under the name of πεταλίδες ὕες in Æthon, a satyric drama, where he says—

But he has given the name of πεταλίδες by a metaphor from heifers. For they are called πέτηλοι, or spreading, from their horns, when they have spreading horns. And Eratosthenes has spoken of pigs in the same way as Achæus has in his Anterinnys, and has called them λαρινοὶ, using this word metaphorically, which properly belongs to fatted oxen which were called so from the verb λαπινεύομαι, which is a word of the same meaning as σιτίζομαι, to be fed up. And Sophron uses the word—

or perhaps it comes from Larina, a small town of Epirus, or from the name of the herdsman, which may have been Larinus.

19. And once when a pig was served up before us, the half of which was being carefully roasted, and the other half boiled gently, as if it had been steamed, and when all marvelled at the cleverness of the cook, he being very proud of his skill, said—And, indeed, there is not one of you who can point out the place where he received the death wound; or where his belly was cut so as to be stuffed with all sorts of dainties. For it has thrushes in it, and other birds; and it has also in it parts of the abdomens of pigs, and slices of a sow's womb, and the yolks of eggs, and moreover the entrails of birds, with their ovaries, those also being full of delicate seasoning, and also pieces of meat shred into thin shavings and seasoned with pepper. For I am afraid to use the word ἰσίκια before Ulpian, although I know that he himself is very fond of the thing. And, indeed, my favourite author Paxamus speaks of it by this name, and I myself do not care much about using no words but such as are strictly Attic. Do you, therefore, show me now how this pig was killed, and how I contrived to roast half of him and to boil the other side.—And as we kept on examining him, the cook said,—But do you think that I know less about my business than the ancient cooks, of whom the comic poets speak? for Posidippus, in his Dancing Women, speaks as follows—and it is a cook who is represented as making the following speech to his pupils—

And concerning another cook (whose name is Seuthes) the same poet speaks in the following manner—

21. Then you know there is a cook in the Synephebi of Euphron; just hear what a lecture he gives—

22. But the cook in Sosipater's Liar is a great sophist, and in no respect inferior to the physicians in impudence. And he speaks as follows—

23. And the cook in the Milesians of Alexis is not very different from this, for he speaks as follows—

24. But Euphron, whom I mentioned a little while ago, O judges, (for I do not hesitate to call you judges, while awaiting the decision of your sense,) in his play called the Brothers, having represented a certain cook as a well-educated man of extensive learning, and enumerating all the artists before his time, and what particular excellence each of them had, and what he surpassed the rest in, still never mentioned anything of such a nature as I have frequently prepared for you. Accordingly, he speaks as follows—

25. I wonder if it was any of these second seven wise men who contrived this device about the pig, so as to stuff his inside without cutting his throat, and so as to roast one side of him and boil the other at the same time. And as we now urged and entreated him to explain this clever device to us, he said,—I will not tell you this year, I swear by those who encountered danger at Marathon, and also by those who fought at Salamis. So when he had taken such an oath as that, we all thought we ought not to press the man; but all began to lay hands on the different dishes which were served up before us. And Ulpian said,—I swear by those who encountered danger at Artemisium, no one shall taste of anything before we are told in what ancient author the word παραφέρω is used in the sense of serving up. For as to the word γεύματα, I think I am the only person who knows anything about that. And Magnus said, Aristophanes in his Proagon says—

And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, uses the word in a more general sense, where he says—

And Plato, in his Lacedæmonians, says—

And Alexis, in his Pamphila, says—

But concerning the word γεύματα, meaning anything which is tasted, food, the exclusive knowledge about which you have claimed for yourself, it is time for you now to tell us, O Ulpian, what you do know. For as to the verb γεῦσαι, we have that in Eupolis, in his Goats, where he says—

And Ulpian said, Ephippus in his Peltastes says—

And Antiphanes, in his Twins, says—

26. On this the cook said—I, then, will relate to you now, not an ancient contrivance, but a device of my own, in order that the flute-player may escape being beaten; (for Eubulus, in his Lacedæmonians or Leda, says—

And Philyllius, or whoever the poet may have been who wrote the play of The Cities, says—

And I mean the device about the pig half-roasted, half-boiled, and stuffed, without having had any apparent incision made in him. The fact is, the pig was stuck with a very short wound under his shoulder; (and he showed the wound.) Then when the greater part of the blood had flowed from it, all the entrails, with the intestines, I washed (and the word ἐξαίρεσις, O you revellers who think so much of words, means not only a taking out, but also the entrails themselves) carefully in wine several times, and hung the pig up by his feet. Then again I washed him in wine; and having boiled up beforehand all the seasonings which I have spoken of with a good deal of pepper, I pushed them in at his mouth, pouring in afterwards a quantity of broth very carefully made. And after this I plastered over one half of the pig, as you see, with a great quantity of barley-meal, having soaked that in wine and oil. And then I put it in an oven, placing under it a brazen table, and I roasted it at a gentle fire, so as not to burn it, nor, on the other hand, to take it away before it was quite done. And when the skin began to get roasted and brown, I conjectured that the other side was boiled enough. And so then I took off the barley-meal, and brought it up in that condition and set it before you.

27. But as to the word ἐξαίρεσις, my excellent friend Ulpian, Dionysius the comic poet, in his drama called Things having the same Name, speaks thus, representing a cook speaking to his pupils—

28. And so when we had all praised the cook for the readiness of his discourse, and for the exceeding perfection of his skill, our excellent entertainer Laurentius said—And how much better it is for cooks to learn such things as these, than as they do with one whom I could mention of our fellow-citizens, who having had his head turned by riches and luxury, compelled his cooks to learn the dialogues of the incomparable Plato, and when they were bringing in dishes to say, "One, two, three, but where is the fourth, O most excellent Timæus, of those who were guests yesterday, but who are hosts to-day?" Then another made answer, "An illness has overtaken him, O Socrates,"—and so they went through the whole dialogue in this manner, so that those who were at the feast were very indignant, and so that that all-accomplished man was laughed at and insulted every day, and that on this account many most respectable men refused all invitations to his entertainments. But these cooks of ours, who are perhaps just as well instructed in these things as he was, give us no little pleasure. And then the slave who had been praised for his cleverness as a cook, said,—Now what have my predecessors ever devised or told us of a similar kind to this? and is not my behaviour moderate enough, since I do not boast myself? And yet Coroebus the Elean, who was the first man who ever was crowned as victor in the Olympic games, was a cook; and yet he was not as proud of his skill and of his art as the cook in Straton in the Phœnicides, concerning whom the man who had hired him speaks thus—

29.

30. But the race of cooks are really very curious for the most part about the histories and names of things. Accordingly the most learned of them say, "The knee is nearer than the leg,"—and, "I have travelled over Asia and Europe:" and when they are finding fault with any one they say, "It is impossible to make a Peleus out of an Œneus."—And I once marvelled at one of the old cooks, after I had enjoyed his skill and the specimens of his art which he had invented. And Alexis, in his Caldron, introduces one speaking in the following manner—

31. And now we have had enough of cooks, my feasters; lest perhaps some one of them, pluming himself and quoting the Morose Man of Menander, may spout such lines as these—

But I say to you, in the words of the tuneful Diphilus—

32. We must now speak of the goose. For as many geese were served up very excellently dressed, some one said, Look at the fat geese (σιτευτοὶ χῆνες). And Ulpian said, Where do you ever find the expression σιτευτὸς χήν̣? And Plutarch answered him:—Theopompus the Chian, in his History of Greece, and in the thirteenth book of his History of the Affairs and Exploits of Philip, says that the Egyptians sent to Agesilaus the Lacedæmonian, when he arrived in Egypt, some fatted (σιτευτοὺς) calves and geese (χῆνας). And Epigenes the comic poet says in his Bacchanalian Women—

And Archestratus, in that celebrated poem of his, says—

But we have a right now, O Ulpian, to expect you to tell us, you who question everybody about everything, where this very costly dish of the livers of geese has been mentioned by any ancient writer. For Cratinus is a witness that they were acquainted with people whose business it was to feed geese, in his Dionysalexander, where he says—

And Homer uses the word χὴν in both the masculine and feminine gender; for he says—

And again he says—

And in another place he says—

And Eupolis mentions the livers of geese (and they are thought an excessive delicacy at Rome), in his Women Selling Garlands, where he says—

33. There were also heads of pigs split in half and served up as a dish. And this dish is mentioned by Crobylus, in his Son falsely held to be Supposititious—

After these things there was served up a haricot, called κρεωκάκκαβος. And this dish consists of meat chopped up with blood and fat, in a sauce richly sweetened; and Aristophanes the Grammarian says that it was the Achæans who gave this name to the dish. But Anticlides, in the seventy-eighth book of his Returns, says, "Once when there was a design on the part of the Erythreans to put the Chians to death by treachery at a banquet, one of them having learnt what was intended to be done, said—

And Aristomenes, in his Jugglers, makes mention in the following terms of boiled meat, which he calls ἀναβραστὰ κρέα—

They used also to eat the testicles of animals, which they called νέφροι.—Philippodes, in his Renovation, speaking of the gluttony of Gnathæna the courtesan, says—

34. And when some one said that a cock dressed with a sauce of oil and vinegar (ὀξυλίπαρον) was a very good bird, Ulpian, who was fond of finding fault, and who was reclining on a couch by himself, eating little, but watching the rest of the guests, said—What is that ὀξυλίπαρον you speak of? unless indeed you give that name to the small figs called κόττανα and lepidium, which are both national food of mine.—But Timocles, he replied, the comic poet, in his play called The Ring, mentions ὀξυλίπαρον, saying—

And Alexis has called some men ἀκρολίπαροι, fat on the surface, in his Wicked Woman, saying—

And once when a large fish was served up in sour pickle (ὀξάλμν), and somebody said that every fish (ὀψάριον) was best when dressed in this kind of pickle, Ulpian, picking out the small bones, and contracting his brows, said,—here do you find the word ὀξάλμη̣ And as to ὀψάριον, I am quite sure that that is a word used by no living author. However, at that time the guests all desired him to settle that as he pleased, and themselves preferred eating; while Cynulcus quoted these lines out of the Breezes of Metagenes—

But Myrtilus in a pleasant manner declared that he subscribed to Ulpian's sentiments, so as to be willing to have nothing to eat, as long as he might talk; and said;—Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has mentioned ὀξάλμη, in the following lines—

And Aristophanes, in his Wasps,—

35. And of living people we ourselves use the word ὀψάριον. Plato does so too; speaking of fish in his Pisander, he says—

And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, says—

And Philemon, in his Treasure, says—

And Menander, in his Carthaginian, says—

And in his Ephesian he says—

And then he goes on to say—

And Anaxilas, in his Hyacinthus the Pander, says—

And a few lines afterwards he writes—

And in the Anagyrus of Aristophanes we read—

Where, however, perhaps we must take ὀψάρια as used synonymously with προσψωήματα, for made dishes in general. For Alexis, in his Woman Sitting up all Night, represents a cook as speaking in the following terms:—

36. These passages I have quoted to you on the part of us who are still alive, my well-fed friend Ulpian. For you too, as it seems to me, agree so far with Alexis as to eat no living animals. And Alexis, in his Attic Woman, speaks in the following manner—