A. They are, indeed, since hither they but lately
Have come from the great king.
B. By Phosphoros!
I could have thought them from the Hesperian bowers,
Where th' apples are of gold.
A. There are but three.
B. The beautiful is nowhere plentiful.—J. A. St. John.
Aristophanes. (Book iii. § 33, p. 145.)
Then every soul of them sat open-mouth'd,
Like roasted oysters gaping in a row.—J. H. Frere.
Archestratus. (Book iii. § 44, p. 154.)
For mussels you must go to Ænos; oysters
You'll find best at Abydos. Parion
Rejoices in its urchins; but if cockles
Gigantic and sweet-tasted you would eat,
A voyage must be made to Mitylene,
Or the Ambracian Gulf, where they abound
With many other dainties. At Messina,
Near to the Faro, are pelorian conchs,
Nor are those bad you find near Ephesos;
For Tethyan oysters, go to Chalcedon;
But for the Heralds, may Zeus overwhelm them
Both in the sea and in the agora!
Aye, all except my old friend Agathon,
Who in the midst of Lesbian vineyards dwells.
J. A. St. John.
Damoxenus. (Book iii. § 60, p. 170.)
Master Cook. Behold in me a pupil of the school
Of the sage Epicurus.
Friend. Thou a sage!
M. C. Ay! Epicurus too was sure a cook,
And knew the sovereign good. Nature his study,
While practice perfected his theory.
Divine philosophy alone can teach
