And then no useless dish my table crowds.
Harmonious ranged, and consonantly just,
As in a concert instruments resound,
My ordered dishes in their courses chime."
The ideal cook is depicted with equal picturesqueness in a lengthy tribute by Dionysius wherein he thus sums up his qualifications,—
"Know on thyself thy genius must depend.
All books of cookery, all helps of art,
All critic learning, all commenting notes,
Are vain, if void of genius thou wouldst cook!"
Cratinus, in his play of the "Giants," extols the merits of Sicilian cookery: