[1759]. The importation of these delicacies, however, originally profited the subjects of Persia only, the king having been forbidden by a fundamental law of the monarchy the use of all foreign commodities. The ordinance of course was speedily dispensed with, since we find the eunuchs placing before their master, at his dessert, the figs of Attica, which on one occasion, drew from the Shah a right royal remark: Ἐρωτῆσαι ποταπαὶ εἶεν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐπύθετο ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν, τοῖς ἀγορασταῖς ἐκέλευεν ὠνεῖσθαι, ἕως, ἂν ἐξουσία γένηται αὐτῷ λαμβάνειν ὅταν ἐφέλῃ, καὶ μὴ ἁγοράζειν. Athen. xiv. 62. The best figs came from the Demos Ægilia. Id. ibid. Ἀπ’ Αἰγίλω ἰσχάδα τρώγοις. Theocrit. Eidyll. i. 147. These fruits we find reached Persia in a state of the greatest freshness and perfection. Plut. Alexand. § 50.
[1760]. Ægialeus appears, for example, to have been no less celebrated for its thyme than Hymettos. Suid. V. μᾶσσον. t. ii. p. 104. a. Meurs. Rel. Attic. i. p. 2. Plin. Nat. Hist. iv. 11.
[1761]. Οὐ γάρ φασι δύνασθαι φύεσθαι καὶ λαμβάνειν, ὅπου μὴ ἀναπνοὴ διϊκνεῖται, ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης· διὸ οὐδ᾽ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ γίνεται· θύμβρα δὲ καὶ ὀρίγανον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ καὶ πολλαχοῦ. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vi. 2. 4.
[1762]. Sibthorp, Flora Græca. tab. 29. Dioscor. i. 10.
[1763]. Dioscor. iv. 79. According to Plutarch, however, it was not a common plant; for speaking of a prodigy which happened during the misfortunes of the republic, under the reign of Antigonos, he says: περὶ δὲ τοὺς βωμοὺς τοὺς ἐκείνων ἐξήνθησεν ἡ γῆ κύκλω πολὺ κώνειον, ἄλλως μηδὲ τῆς χώραι πολλαχοῦ φυόμενον. Vit. Demet. § 12.
[1764]. Dioscor. iii 48. Damogeron, ap. Geopon. vii. 13. 4. Pollux. vi. 106.
[1765]. Plin. Nat. Hist. xxiv. 4.
[1766]. Schol. Aristoph. Lysist. 2. Potters, notwithstanding the utility of their calling, appear to have been assailed by many a joke among the Athenians, who sometimes sarcastically denominated them Prometheuses. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ Ἀθηναῖοι τοὺς χυτρέας, καὶ ἰπνοποιοὺς, καὶ πάντας, ὅσοι πυλουργοὶ, Προμηθέας ἀπεκάλουν, επισκώπτοντες ἐς τὸν πηλὸν, καὶ τὴν ἐν πυρὶ οἶμαι τῶν σκευῶν ὄπτησιν. Lucian. Prometh. 2. Cf. Chandler, ii. 166.
[1767]. Athen. i. 49.
[1768]. Herod. v. 88. Athen. xi. 107. Poll. vi. 100. Steph. Byzant. v. Αἰγιναι. p. 53. a.—v. Γάζα. p. 257. a.