Dried grapes, and salt, and eke new wine
Newly boiled down, and assafœtida,
And cheese, and thyme, and sesame,
And nitre too, and cummin seed,
And sumach, honey, and marjoram,
And herbs, and vinegar and oil
And sauce of onions, mustard and capers mix'd,
And parsley, capers too, and eggs,
And lime, and cardamums, and th' acid juice
Which comes from the green fig-tree, besides lard
And eggs and honey and flour wrapp'd in fig-leaves,
And all compounded in one savoury forcemeat.

The ancients were well acquainted with the Ethiopian cardamum. We must take notice that they used the words θύμος and ὀρίγανος as masculine nouns. And so Anaxandrides says—

Cutting asparagus and squills and marjoram, (ὃς)
Which gives the pickle an aristocratic taste,
When duly mixed (μιχθεὶς) with coriander seed.

[[113]] And Ion says—

But in a hurried manner in his hand
He hides the marjoram (τὸν ὀρίγανον).

Plato however, or Cantharus, used it as feminine, saying—

She from Arcadia brought
The harshly-tasted (τὴν δριμυτάτην) marjoram.

Epicharmus and Ameipsias both use it as a neuter noun; but Nicander, in his Melissurgica, uses θύμος as masculine.

78. Cratinus used the word πέπονες, which properly means merely full ripe, in speaking of the cucumbers which give seed, in his Ulysses—

Tell me, O wisest son of old Laertes,
Have you e'er seen a friend of yours in Paros
Buy a large cucumber that's run to seed?