Translated by C.D.Yonge (1854). A few words and spellings have been changed.
See key to translations for an explanation of the format. The page numbers in the Greek text are shown in red. The chapter numbers in the translation are shown in green.
[44.] G [639] 
When Masurius had said this, the second course, as it is called, was served up to us; which, indeed, was very often offered to us, not only on the days of the festival of Saturnalia, when it is the custom of the Romans to feast their slaves, while they themselves discharge the offices of their slaves. But this is in reality a Greek custom. At all events, in Crete, at the festival of Hermes, a similar thing takes place, as Carystius tells us in his Historic Reminiscences; for then, while the slaves are feasting, the masters wait upon them as if they were the servants: 
and so they do at Troezen in the month Geraestius. For then there is a festival which lasts for many days, on one of which the slaves play at dice in common with the citizens, and the masters give a banquet to the slaves, as Carystius himself tells us. And Berosus, in the first book of his History of Babylon, says that on the sixteenth day of the month Loüs, there is a great festival celebrated in Babylon, which is called Sacea; and it lasts five days: and during those days it is the custom for the masters to be under the orders of their slaves; and one of the slaves puts on a robe like the king's, which is called a zoganes, and is master of the house. And Ctesias also mentions this festival in the second book of his History of Persia. 
But the Coans act in exactly the opposite manner, as Macareus tells us in the third book of his History of Cos. For when they sacrifice to Hera, the slaves do not come to the entertainment; on which account Phylarchus says -
Among the (?) Sūrii, the freemen only
Assist at the holy sacrifice; none else
The temples or the altars dare approach;
And no slave may come near the sacred precincts.
[45.] G But Baton of Sinope, the orator, in his treatise on Thessaly and Haemonia, 
distinctly asserts that the Roman Saturnalia are originally a very Greek festival, saying that among the Thessalians it is called Peloria. And these are his words: - 'When a common festival was being celebrated by all the Pelasgians, a man whose name was Pelorus brought news to Pelasgus that there had been some violent earthquakes in Haemonia, by which the mountains called Tempe had been rent asunder, and that the water of the lake had burst through the rent, and was all falling into the stream of the Peneus; and that all the country which had formerly been covered by the lake was now laid open, 
and that, as the waters were now drained off, there were plains visible of wondrous size and beauty. Accordingly, Pelasgus, on hearing this statement, had a table loaded with every delicacy set before Pelorus; and every one else received him with great cordiality, and brought whatever they had that was best, and placed it on the table before the man who had brought this news; and Pelasgus himself waited on him with great cheerfulness, and all the rest of the nobles obeyed him as his servants as often as any opportunity offered. On which account, they say that after the Pelasgians occupied the district, they instituted a festival as a sort of imitation of the feast which took place on that occasion; [640] and, sacrificing to Zeus Pelorios, they serve up tables admirably furnished, and hold a very cordial and friendly assembly, so as to receive every foreigner at the banquet, and to set free all the prisoners, and to make their slaves sit down and feast with every sort of liberty and licence, while their masters wait on them. And, in short, even to this day the Thessalians celebrate this as their chief festival, and call it Peloria.'
[46.] G Very often, then, as I have said, when such a dessert as this is set before us, one of the guests who were present would say -
Certainly, second thoughts are much the best;
For what now can the table want? or what
Is there with which it is not amply loaded?
It is full of fish fresh from the sea, besides
Here's tender veal, and dainty dishes of goose,
Tartlets, and cheesecakes steeped most thoroughly
In the rich honey of the golden bee;
- as Euripides says in his Cretan Women : and, as Eubulus said in his Rich Woman -
And in the same way everything is sold
Together at Athens; figs and policemen,
Grapes, turnips, pears and apples, witnesses,
Roses and medlars, cheesecakes, honeycombs,
Vetches and law-suits; beestings of all kinds,
And myrtle-berries, and lots for offices,
Hyacinths, and lambs, and water-clocks too,
And laws and prosecutions.
Accordingly, when Pontianus was about to say something about each of the dishes of the second course, - We will not, said Ulpianus, hear you discuss these things until you have spoken about the sweetmeats {epidorpismata}. And Pontianus replied: - Cratinus says that Philippides has given this name to the tragēmata, in his Miser, where he says -
Cheesecakes, epidorpismata, and eggs,
And sesame; and were I to endeavour
To count up every dish, the day would fail me.
And Diphilus, in his Telesias, says -
tragēma, myrtle-berries, cheesecakes too,
And almonds; so that with the greatest pleasure
I eat the second course {ἐπιδορπίζομαι}.
And Sophilus, in his Deposit, says -
It is always pleasant supping with the Greeks;
They manage well; with them no one cries out -
Here, bring a stronger draught; for I must feast
With a girl from Tanagra; and there, lying down,
Enjoy a feast of - minced donkey.
And Plato, in his Description of Atlantis [ Critias_115A ], calls these sweetmeats metadorpia; saying - 'And at that time the earth used to produce all sorts of sweet-smelling things for its inhabitants; and a great deal of cultivated fruit, and a great variety of nuts; and all the metadorpia which give pleasure when eaten.'
[47.] G But Tryphon says that formerly before the guests entered the supper-room, each person's share was placed on the table, and that afterwards a great many dishes of various kinds were served up in addition; and that on this account these latter dishes were called epiphorēmata. But Philyllius, in his Well-digger, speaking of the second course, says -
Almonds, and nuts, and epiphorēmata.
And Archippus, in his Heracles, [641] and Herodotus, in the first book of his History, have both used the verb ἐπιδορπίζομαι for eating after supper. And Archippus also, in his Heracles Marrying, uses the word epiphorēmata; where he says -
The board was loaded with rich honey-cakes
And other epiphorēmata.
And Herodotus, in the first book of his History [ 1.133 ], says - 'They do not eat a great deal of meat, but a great many epiphorēmata.' But as for the proverbial saying, 'The epiphorēma of Abydus,' that is a kind of tax and harbour-due; as is explained by Aristeides in the third book of his treatise on Proverbs. But Dionysius, the son of Tryphon, says - 'Formerly, before the guests came into the banqueting-room, the portion for each individual was placed on the table, and afterwards a great many other things were served up in addition {ἐπιφέρεσθαι}; from which custom they were called epiphorēmata.' And Philyllius, in his Well-digger, speaks of what is brought in after the main part of the banquet is over, saying -
Almonds, and nuts, and epiphorēmata.
But Platon the comic poet, in the Menelaus, calls them epitrapezōmata, as being for eatables placed on the table {ἐπὶ ταῖς τραπέζαις}, saying -
(A) Come, tell me now,
Why are so few of the epitrapezōmata
Remaining?
(B) That man hated by the gods
Ate them all up.
And Aristotle, in his treatise on Drunkenness, says that sweetmeats {tragēmata} used to be called by the ancients trōgalia; for that they come in as a sort of second course. But it is Pindar who said -
And trōgalon is nice when supper's over,
And when the guests have eaten plentifully.
And he was quite right. For Euripides says, when one looks on what is served up before one, one may really say -
You see how happily life passes when
A man has always a well-appointed table.
[48.] G And that among the ancients the second course used to have a great deal of expense and pains bestowed on it, we may learn from what Pindar says in his Olympic Odes [ Ol_1.50-52 ], where he speaks of the flesh of Pelops being served up for food: -
And in the second course they carved
Your miserable limbs, and feasted on them;
But far from me shall be the thought profane,
That in foul feast the blessed gods delight.
And the ancients often called this second course simply trapezai, as, for instance, Achaeus in his Hephaestus, which is a satyric drama, who says, -
(A) First we will gratify you with a feast;
Lo! here it is.
(B) But after that what means
Of pleasure will you offer me?
(A) We'll anoint you
All over with a richly-smelling perfume.
(B) Will you not give me first a jug of water
To wash my hands with?
(A) Surely; the dessert {trapeza}
Is now being cleared away.
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps [ v. 1216 ], says -
Bring water for the hands; clear the dessert.
And Aristotle, in his treatise on Drunkenness, uses the term deuterai trapezai, much as we do now; saying, - 'We must therefore bear in mind that there is a difference between tragēma and brōma, as there is also between edesma and trōgalion. For this is a national name in use in every part of Greece, since there is food {brōma} in sweetmeats {entragēmasi}, from which consideration the man, who first used the expression deutera trapeza, appears to have spoken with sufficient correctness. For the eating of sweetmeats {tragēmatismos} is really an eating after supper {epidorpismos}; and the sweetmeats are served up as a second supper.' But Dicaearchus, in the first book of his Descent to the Cave of Trophonius, speaks thus: 'There was also the deutera trapeza, which was a very expensive part of a banquet, and there were also garlands, and perfumes, and burnt frankincense, and all the other necessary accompaniments of these thing.'
[49.] G Eggs too often formed a part of the second course, as did hares and thrushes, which were served up with the honey-cakes; as we find mentioned by Antiphanes in the Leptiniscus, where he says, -
(A) Would you drink Thasian wine?
(B) No doubt, if any one
Fills me a goblet with it.
(A) Then what think you
Of almonds?
(B) I feel very friendly to them,
They mingle well with honey.
(A) If a man
Should bring you honied cheesecakes?
(B) I should eat them,
[642] And swallow down an egg or two besides.
And in his Things resembling one another, he says, -
Then he introduced a dance, and after that he served up
A second course, provided well with every kind of dainty.
And Amphis, in his Woman-Madness, says, -
(A) Did you ever hear of what they call a ground life?
(B) Yes. (A) Well, here it is; it is clearly
Cheesecakes, sweet wine, eggs, cakes of sesame,
Perfumes, and crowns, and female flute-players.
(B) By the Dioscuri ! why, you have gone through
The names of all the dozen gods at once.
Anaxandrides, in his Clowns, says, -
And when I had my garland on my head,
They brought in the dessert {trapeza}, in which there were
So many dishes, that, by all the gods,
And goddesses too, I hadn't the least idea
So many different things were in the house;
And never did I live so well as then.
Clearchus says in his Pandrosus, -
(A) Have water for your hands:
(B) By no means, thank you; I'm very comfortable as I am.
(A) Pray have some;
You'll be no worse at all events. Boy, water!
And put some nuts and sweetmeats on the table.
And Eubulus, in his Campylion, says, -
(A) Now is your table loaded well with sweetmeats.
(B) I am not always very fond of sweetmeats.
Alexis, too, says in his Polycleia, (Polycleia was the name of a courtesan,) -
He was a clever man who first invented
The use of sweetmeats; for he added thus
A pleasant lengthening to the feast, and saved men
From unfilled mouths and idle jaws unoccupied.
And in his Female Likeness (but this same play is attributed also to Antidotus) he says, -
(A) I am not one, by Asclepius!
To care excessively about my supper;
I'm fonder of dessert.
(B) That's very well.
(A) For I do hear that sweetmeats are in fashion,
For suitors when they're following . . .
(B) Their brides, -
(A) To give them cheesecakes, hares, and thrushes too,
These are the things I like; but pickled fish
And soups and sauces I can't bear, O gods!
But Apion and Diodorus, as Pamphilus tells us, assert that the sweetmeats brought in after supper are also called epaikleia.
[50.] G Ephippus, in his Ephebes, enumerating the different dishes in fashion for dessert, says, -
Then there were brought some groats, some rich perfumes
From Egypt, and a cask of rich palm wine
Was broached. Then cakes and other kinds of sweetmeats,
Cheesecakes of every sort and every name;
And a whole hecatomb of eggs. These things
We ate, and cleared the table vigorously,
For we did even devour some parasites.
And in his Cydon he says, -
And after supper they served up some kernels,
Vetches, and beans, and groats, and cheese, and honey,
Sweetmeats of various kinds, and cakes of sesame,
And pyramidical rolls of wheat, and apples,
Nuts, milk, hempseed too, and shell-fish,
Syrup, the brains of Zeus.
Alexis too, in his Philiscus, says, -
Now is the time to clear the table, and
To bring each guest some water for his hands,
And garlands, perfumes, and libations,
Frankincense, and a brazier. Now give
Some sweetmeats, and let all some cheesecakes have.
And as Philoxenus of Cythera, in his Banquet, where he mentions the second course, [643] has spoken by name of many of the dishes which are served up to us, we may as well cite his words: -
"The vessels which had been taken away earlier they brought in again, glistening in brightness and laden with many good things ; the creatures of a day now call them ‘ second tables', but the immortals call them 'Amaltheia’s horn'. And in the midst of them was set great joy for mortal men, white marrow sweet, hiding its visage in robes as fine as a spider’s web, through shame lest one see it has perforce left the sheep-born flock dry amid the dry, backward-flowing fountains of Aristaeus ; its name was amylos. And with eager hands and mouths the feasters attacked . . . whatsoever one offered, which men call the dessert of Zeus For the slave served, smothered deep in saffron sauce, a roasted all-together of wheaten-oaten-samphire-chickpea- thistletop-little-milk-cake -sweetmeat, with its honeyed rim ; on came in the line with these also the dough-kneaded-lentil-pod-oil-boiled-yellow-parched-on-every-side cake And sweet . . ., rounded and toasted together in countless number, and honeyed sesame-biscuits prepared without stint, and a cheese-pie milk-and-honey-mixed was there, - a soft pie baked in a mould ; then there were, in wide profusion, sesame-cheese-and-oil- boiled cakes sprinkled with sesame-seeds, and next came chick-peas, saffron-mingled, luxuriant in their tender bloom, eggs too, and almonds with skins still soft were posted there, and the sweet walnuts munched by children, and all the other viands which befit a banquet of happy wealth ; and so the drinking came to its close, and the kottabos, and the social talk, wherein some novel and clever conceit was uttered, and they marvelled at it and praised it extravagantly."
This, then, is the description given by Philoxenus of Cythera, whom Antiphanes praises in his Third-rate Performer, where he says -
Philoxenus now does surpass by far
All other poets. First of all he everywhere
Uses new words peculiar to himself;
And then how cleverly he mixes his melodies
With every kind of change and modification!
Surely he is a god among weak men,
And a most thorough judge of music too,
But poets of the present day patch up
Phrases of ivy and fountains into verse,
And borrow old expressions, talking of
Melodies flying on the wings of flowers,
And interweave them with their own poor stuff.
[51.] G There are many writers who have given lists of the different kinds of cheesecakes, and as far as I can recollect, I will mention them, and what they have said. I know, too, that Callimachus, in his List of Various Books, mentions the treatises on the Art of Making Cheesecakes, written by Aegimius, and Hegesippus, and Metrobius, and also by Phaetus. But I will communicate to you the names of cheesecakes which I myself have been able to find to put down, not treating you as Socrates was treated in the matter of the cheesecake which was sent to him by Alcibiades; for Xanthippe took it and trampled upon it, on which Socrates laughed, and said, 'At all events you will not have any of it yourself.' (This story is related by Antipater, in the first book of his essay on Anger.) [644] But I, as I am fond of cheesecakes, should have been very sorry to see that divine cheesecake so injuriously treated. Accordingly, Platon the comic poet mentions cheesecakes in his play called The Poet, where he says -
Am I alone to sacrifice without
Having a taste allowed me of the entrails,
Without a cheesecake, without frankincense?
Nor do I forget that there is a village, which Demetrius of Scepsis, in the twelfth book of his Trojan Array, tells us bears the name of Placūs {cheesecake}; and he says that it is six stades from Hypoplacian Thebes. Now, the word πλακοῦς ought to have a circumflex in the nominative case; for it is contracted from πλακόεις, as τυροῦς is from τυρόεις, and σησαμοῦς from σησαμόεις. And it is used as a substantive, the word ἄρτος {bread} being understood. Those who have lived in the place assure us that there are excellent cheesecakes to be got at Parium on the Hellespont; for it is a blunder of Alexis, when he speaks of them as coming from the island of Paros. And this is what he says in his play called Archilochus: -
Happy old man, who in the sea-girt isle
Of happy Paros dwells - a land which bears
Two things in high perfection; marble white,
Fit decoration for the immortal gods,
And cheesecakes, dainty food for mortal men.
And Sopater the farce-writer, in his Suitors of Bacchis, testifies that the cheesecakes of Samos are extraordinarily good; saying, -
The cheesecake-making island named Samos.
[52.] G Menander, in his False Heracles, speaks of cheesecakes made in a mould: -
It is not now a question about kandyloi,
Or all the other things which you are used
To mix together in one dish - eggs, honey,
And sifted flour; for all these things now
Are out of place. The cook at present's making
Baked cheesecakes in a mould; and boiling groats
To serve up after the salt-fish, - and grapes,
And forced-meat wrapped in fig-leaves. And the maid,
Who makes the sweetmeats and the common cheesecakes,
Is roasting joints of meat and plates of thrushes.
And Euangelus, in his Newly-married Woman, says -
(A) Four tables did I mention to you of women,
And six of men; a supper, too, complete -
In no one single thing deficient;
Wishing the marriage-feast to be a splendid one.
(B) Ask no one else; I will myself go round,
Provide for everything, and report to you. . . . . .
As many kinds of olives as you please;
For meat, you've veal, and sucking-pig, and pork,
And hares - (A) Hear how this cursed fellow boasts!
(B) Forced-meat in fig-leaves, cheese, cheesecakes in moulds -
(A) Here, Dromon! (B) kandyloi, eggs, cakes of meal.
And then the table is three cubits high;
So that all those who sit around must rise
Whenever they wish to help themselves to anything.
There was a kind of cheesecake called amēs. Antiphanes enumerates amētes, amyloi; and Menander, in his Supposititious Son, says -
You would be glad were any one to dress
A cheesecake (amēta) for you.
But the Ionians, as Seleucus tells us in his Dialects, make the accusative case ἄμην; and they call small cheesecakes of the same kind amētiskoi. Telecleides says -
Thrushes flew of their own accord
Right down my throat with savoury amētiskoi.
[53.] G [645] There was also a kind [of cake] called diaconium. Pherecrates says-
He was so greedy that he ate a whole
Diaconium up, besides an amphiphon.
But the amphiphon was a kind of cheesecake consecrated to Artemis, having figures of lighted torches round it. Philemon, in his Beggar, or Woman of Rhodes, says-
Artemis, mistress dear, I bring you now
This amphiphon, and these libations holy.
Diphilus also mentions it in his Hecate. Philochorus [ Fr_86 ] also mentions the fact of its being called amphiphon, and of its being brought into the temples of Artemis, and also to the crossroads, on the day when the moon is overtaken at its setting by the rising of the sun; and so the sky is doubly light (ἀμφίφως).
There is the basynias too. Semus, in the second book of his History of Delos, says- "In the island of Hecate, the Delians sacrifice to Iris, offering her the cheesecakes called basyniae; and this is a cake of wheat-flour, and suet, and honey, boiled up together: and what is called κόκκωρα consists of a fig and three nuts."
There are also cheesecakes called strepti and neēlata. Both these kinds are mentioned by Demosthenes the orator, in his Speech in defence of Ctesiphon concerning the Crown [ 260 ].
There are also epichyta. Nicochares, in his Handicrafts-men, says-
I've loaves, and barley-bread, and bran, and flour,
And rolls, a toasted bun, and honeyed cheesecakes,
Moulded cakes (ἐπιχύτοι), barley-gruel, and common cheesecakes,
Barley-cakes (δενδαλίδες), and fried bread.
But Pamphilus says that the epichyton is the same kind of cheesecake as that which is called attanites. And Hipponax mentions the attanites in the following lines-
Not eating hares or woodcocks,
Nor mingling small fried loaves with cakes of sesame,
Nor dipping fried cakes (ἀττανίται) in honeycombs.
There is also the creium. This is a kind of cheesecake which, at Argos, is brought to the bridegroom from the bride; and it is roasted on the coals, and the friends of the bridegroom are invited to eat it; and it is served up with honey, as Philetas tells us in his Miscellanies.
There is also the glycinas: this is a cheesecake in fashion among the Cretans, made with sweet wine and oil, as Seleucus tells us in his Dialects.
There is also the empeptas. The same author speaks of this as a cheesecake made of wheat, hollow and well-shaped, like those which are called crepides; being rather a kind of casing into which they put those cheesecakes which are really made with cheese.
[54.] G There are cakes, also, called enkrides. These are cakes boiled in oil, and after that seasoned with honey; and they are mentioned by Stesichorus in the following lines: -
Groats and enkrides,
And other cakes, and fresh sweet honey.
Epicharmus, too, mentions them; and so does Nicophon, in his Handicraftsmen. And Aristophanes, in his Danaides, speaks of a man who made them in the following words: - 'And not be a seller of enkrides' . And Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, says -
Let him take this, and then along the road
Let him seize some enkrides.
There is the epikyklios, too. This is a kind of cheesecake in use among the Syracusans, under this name; and it is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea. There is also the gouros; and that this, too, is a kind of cheesecake we learn from what Solon says in his Iambics: -
Some spend their time in drinking, and eating cakes,
And some eat bread, and others feast on gouroi
Mingled with lentils; and there is no kind
Of dainty wanting there, but all the fruits
Which the rich earth brings forth as food for men
Are present in abundance.
[646] There are also kribanai; and kribanēs is a name given by Alcman to some cheesecakes, as Apollodorus tells us. And Sosibius asserts the same thing, in the third book of his Essay on Alcman; and he says they are in shape like a breast, and that the Lacedaemonians use them at the banquets of women, and that the female friends of the bride, who follow her in a chorus, carry them about when they are going to sing an encomium which has been prepared in her honour. There is also the krimnitēs, which is a kind of cheesecake made of a coarser sort of barley-meal {krimnon}, as Iatrocles tells us in his treatise on Cheesecakes.
[55.] G Then there is the staititēs; and this, too, is a species of cheesecake made of wheaten-flour and honey. Epicharmus mentions it in his Hebe's Wedding; but the wheaten-flour is wetted, and then put into a frying-pan; and after that honey is sprinkled over it, and sesame, and cheese; as Iatrocles tells us.
There is also the charisios. This is mentioned by Aristophanes in his Daitaleis, where he says -
But I will send them in the evening
A charisian cheesecake.
And Eubulus, in his Ancylion, speaks of it as if it were plain bread: -
I only just leapt out,
While baking the charisios.
Then there is the epidaitron, which is a barley-cake, made like a cheesecake, to be eaten after supper; as Philemon tells us in his treatise on Attic Names. There is also the nanos, which is a loaf made like a cheesecake, prepared with cheese and oil. There are also psōthia, which are likewise called psathyria. Pherecrates, in the Crapatalli, says -
And in the shades below you'll get for three obols
A krapatallos, and some psōthia.
But Apollodorus the Athenian, and Theodorus, in his treatise on the Attic Dialect, say that the crumbs which are knocked off from a loaf are called psōphia, which some people also call attaragoi.
Then there is the itrion. This is a thin cake, made of sesame and honey; and it is mentioned by Anacreon thus: -
I broke my fast, taking a little slice
Of an itrion; but I drank a cask of wine.
And Aristophanes, in his Acharnians [ v. 1092 ], says -
Cheesecakes, and cakes of sesame, and itria.
And Sophocles, in his Contention, says -
But I, being hungry, look back at the itria.
There is mention made also of amorai. Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says that cakes of honey are called amorai; and they are made by a regular baker. There is the taganitēs, too; which is a cheesecake fried in oil. Magnes, or whoever it was that wrote the comedies which are attributed to him, says in the second edition of his Dionysus -
Have you never seen the fresh taganiai hissing,
When you pour honey over them?
And Cratinus, in his Laws, says -
The fresh taganias, dropping morning dew.
Then there is the elaphos. This is a cheesecake made on the festival of Elaphebolia, of wheat-flour, and honey, and sesame. The nastos is a kind of cheesecake, having stuffing inside it.
[56.] G Choria are cakes made up with honey and milk. The amorbitēs is a species of cheesecake in fashion among the Sicilians. But some people call it paisa. And among the Coans it is called plakountion,, as we are informed by Iatrocles.
Then there are the sēsamides, which are cakes made of honey, and roasted sesame, and oil, of a round shape. Eupolis, in his Flatterers, says -
He is all grace, his walk is like a hip-dancer ;
He breathes sēsamides, and smells of apples.
And Antiphanes, in his Deucalion, says -
Sēsamides, or honey-cheesecakes,
Or any other dainty of the kind.
And Ephippus, in his Cydon, also mentions them in a passage which has been already quoted [ 642.e ].
[647] Then there are mylloi. Heracleides the Syracusan, in his treatise on Laws, says, that in Syracuse, on the principal day of the Thesmophoria festival, cakes of a peculiar shape are made of sesame and honey, which are called mylloi throughout all Sicily, and are carried about as offerings to the goddesses. There is also the echinos. Lynceus of Samos, in his letter to Diagoras, comparing the things which are considered dainties in Attica with those which are in esteem at Rhodes, writes thus: 'They have for the second course a rival to the fame of the amēs in a new antagonist called the echinos, concerning which I will speak briefly; but when you come and see me, and eat one which shall be prepared for you in the Rhodian manner, then I will endeavour to say more about it.' There are also cheesecakes named kotyliskoi. Heracleon of Ephesus tells us that those cheesecakes have this name which are made of the third part of a choenix of wheat. There are others called choirinai, which are mentioned by Iatrocles in his treatise on Cheesecakes; and he speaks also of that which is called pyramous, which he says differs from the pyramis inasmuch as this latter is made of bruised wheat which has been softened with honey. And these cheesecakes are in nightly festivals given as prizes to the man who has kept awake all night.
[57.] G But Chrysippus of Tyana, in his book called The Art of Making Bread, enumerates the following species and genera of cheesecakes: - 'The terentinum, crassianum, tutianum, sabellicum, clustron, julianum, apicianum, canopicum, pelucidum, cappadocium, hedybium, maryptum, plicium, guttatum, and montianum. This last,' he says, 'you will soften with sour wine, and if you have a little cheese you may mash the montianum up half with wine and half with cheese, and so it will be more palatable. Then there is the clustrum curianum, clustrum tuttatum, and clustrum tabonianum. There are also mustacia made with mead, mustacia made with sesame, crustum purium, gosgloanium, and paulianum. 'The following cakes resembling cheesecakes,' he says, 'are really made with cheese: - the enchytus, scriblites, and subityllus. There is also another kind of subityllus made of groats. Then there is the spira; this, too, is made with cheese. There are, too, the lucuntli, argyrotryphema, libos, cercus, aexaphas, and clustroplacous. There is also,' says Chrysippus, 'a cheesecake made of rye. The phthois is made thus: - Take some cheese and pound it, then put it into a brazen sieve and strain it; then put in honey and a hēmina of flour made from spring wheat, and beat the whole together into one mass.
'There is another cake, which is called by the Romans catillus ornatus, and which is made thus: - Wash some lettuces and scrape them; then put some wine into a mortar and pound the lettuces in it; then, squeezing out the juice, mix up some flour from spring wheat in it, and allowing it to settle, after a little while pound it again, adding a little pig's fat and pepper; then pound it again, draw it out into a cake, smoothe it, and cut it again, and cut it into shape, and boil it in hot oil, putting all the fragments which you have cut off into a strainer.
'Other kinds of cheesecakes are the following: - the ostracites, attanites, amylum, and tyrokoskinon. Make this last thus: - Pound some cheese {tyron} carefully, and put it into a vessel; then place above it a brazen sieve {koskinon} and strain the cheese through it. And when you are going to serve it up, then put in above it a sufficient quantity of honey. The cheesecakes called hypotyrides are made thus: - Put some honey into some milk, pound them, and put them into a vessel, and let them coagulate; then, if you have some little sieves at hand, put what is in the vessel into them, and let. the whey run off; and when it appears to you to have coagulated thoroughly, then take up the vessel in which it is, and transfer it to a silver dish, and the coat, or crust, will be uppermost. But if you have no such sieves; then use some new fans, such as those which are used to blow the fire; for they will serve the same purpose. Then there is the coptoplacous. And also,' says he, 'in Crete they make a kind of cheesecake which they call gastris. And it is made thus: - Take some Thasian and Pontic nuts and some almonds, and also a poppy. Roast this last with great care, and then take the seed and pound it in a clean mortar; [648] then, adding the fruits which I have mentioned above, beat them up with boiled honey, putting in plenty of pepper, and make the whole into a soft mass, (but it will be of a black colour because of the poppy;) flatten it and make it into a square shape; then, having pounded some white sesame, soften that too with boiled honey, and draw it out into two cakes, placing one beneath and the other above, so as to have the black surface in the middle, and make it into a neat shape.' These are the recipes of that clever writer on confectionary, Chrysippus.
[58.] G But Harpocration of Mende, in his treatise on Cheesecakes, speaks of a dish which the Alexandrians call pankarpia. Now this dish consists of a number of cakes mashed up together and boiled with honey. And after they are boiled, they are made up into round balls, and fastened round with a thin string of papyrus in order to keep them together. There is also a dish called poltos , which Alcman mentions in the following terms -
And then we'll give you poltos made of beans (pyanios),
And snow-white wheaten groats from unripe corn,
And fruit of wax.
But the substantive pyanion, as Sosibius tells us, means a collection of all kinds of seeds boiled up in sweet wine. And chidros means boiled grains of wheat. And when he speaks here of waxy fruit, he means honey. And Epicharmus, in his Earth and Sea, speaks thus -
To boil some morning poltos.
And Pherecrates mentions the cakes called melikēridōn in his Deserters, speaking as follows -
As one man smells like goats, but others
Breathe from their mouths unalloyed melikēras.
[59.] G And when all this had been said, the wise Ulpianus said, - Whence, my most learned grammarians, and out of what library, have these respectable writers, Chrysippus and Harpocration, been extracted, men who bring the names of illustrious philosophers into disrepute by being their name-sakes ? And what Greek has ever used the word hēmina, or who has ever mentioned the amylos ? And when Laurentius answered him, and said, - Whoever the authors of the poems attributed to Epicharmus were, they were acquainted with the hēmina. And we find the following expressions in the play entitled Cheiron -
And to drink twice the quantity of cool water, -
Two full hēminas.
And these spurious poems, attributed to Epicharmus, were, at all events, written by eminent men. For it was Chrysogonus the flute-player, as Aristoxenus tells us in the eighth book of his Political Laws, who wrote the poem entitled Republic. And Philochorus, in his treatise on Divination, says that it was a man of the name of Axiopistus, (whether he was a Locrian or a Sicyonian is uncertain,) who was the author of the Canon and the Sentences. And Apollodorus tells us the same thing. And Telecleides mentions the amylos in his Rigid Men, speaking thus -
Hot cheesecakes now are things I'm fond of.
Wild pears I do not care about ;
I also like rich bits of hare
Placed on an amylos.
[60.] G When Ulpianus had heard this, he said - But, since you have also a cake which you call koptē, and I see that there is one served up for each of you on the table, tell us now, you epicures, what writer of authority ever mentions this word koptē ? And Democritus replied: Dionysius of Utica, in the seventh book of his Georgics, says that the sea leek is called koptē. And as for the honey-cake which is now served up before each of us, Clearchus of Soli, in his treatise on Riddles, mentions that, saying - 'If anyone were to order a number of vessels to be mentioned which resemble one another, he might say,
A tripod, a bowl, a candlestick, a marble mortar,
A bench, a sponge, a cauldron, a boat, a metal mortar,
An oil-cruse, a basket, a knife, a ladle,
A goblet, and a needle.
And after that he gives a list of the names of different dishes, thus -
Soup, lentils, salted meat, and fish, and turnips,
[649] Garlic, fresh meat, and tunny-roe, pickles, onions,
Olives, and artichokes, capers, truffles, mushrooms.
And in the same way he gives a catalogue of cakes, and sweetmeats, thus -
Amēs, plakous, entiltos, itrion,
Pomegranates, eggs, vetches, and sesame;
Koptē and grapes, dried figs, and pears and peaches
Apples and almonds.'
These are the words of Clearchus. But Sopater the farce writer, in his drama entitled Gates, says -
Who was it who invented first black cakes {koptai}
Of the uncounted poppy-seed? who mixed
The yellow compounds of delicious sweetmeats?
Here my excellent cross-examiner, Ulpianus, you have authorities for koptē; and so now I advise you ἀπεσθίειν some. And he, without any delay, took and ate some. And when they all laughed, Democritus said; - But, my fine word-catcher, I did not desire you to eat, but not to eat; for the word ἀπεσθίω is used in the sense of abstaining from eating by Theopompus the comic poet, in his Phineus, where he says -
Cease gambling with the dice, my boy, and now
Feed for the future more on herbs. Your stomach
Is hard with indigestion; give up eating {ἀπέσθιε}
Those fish that cling to the rocks; the lees of wine
Will make your head and senses clear, and thus
You'll find your health, and your estate too, better.
Men do, however, use ἀπεσθίω for to eat a portion of anything, as Hermippus does, in his Soldiers -
Alas! alas! he bites me now, he bites,
And quite devours {ἀπεσθίει} my ears.
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