Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 3).djvu/407

Slave. What? is the matter thus?

Cook. Yes, you Barbarian!
It freed us from a beast-like, faithless life,
And hateful cannibalism, and introduced us
To order, and enclosed us in the world
Where we now live.

Slave. How?

Cook. Listen, and I'll tell you.
When cannibalism and many other crimes
Were rife, a certain man, who was no fool,
Slaughter'd a victim and then roasted it.
So, when they found its flesh nicer than man's flesh,
They did not eat each other any longer,
But sacrificed their beasts and roasted them.
And when they once had tasted of this pleasure,
And a beginning had been made, they carried
To greater heights the art of cookery.
Hence, from remembrance of the past, men roast
E'en to the present day the gods' meat-offerings
Without employing salt; for in olden times
It had not yet been used for such a purpose;
So when their taste changed afterwards, they ate
Salt also with their meat, still strictly keeping
Their fathers' custom in the rites prescribed them.
All which new ingenuity, and raising
To greater heights the art of cookery,
By means of sauces, has alone become
The cause of safety unto all of us.

Slave. This fellow is a fresh Palæphatus!

Cook. Then, after this, as time was now advancing,
One person introduced a season'd haggis;
Another stew'd a kid right exquisitely,
Or made some mince-meat, or slipp'd in a fish
Disguised so quaintly that no eye observed it,
Or greens, or pickled fish, or wheat, or honey.
When through the pleasures that I'm now explaining,
Each man was far removed from ever wishing
To eat a portion of a human corpse;
They all agreed to live with one another—
A populace collected—towns were built—
All through the cooking art, as I have shown.