[[92]] 47. With respect to Olives. Eupolis says—

Cuttle-fish, and olives fallen from the tree.

And these the Romans call dryptæ. But Diphilus the Siphnian writer says that olives contain very little nourishment, and are apt to give headaches; and that the black ones are still worse for the stomach, and make the head feel heavy; but that those which we call κολυμβάδες, that is to say, preserved in pickle, are better for the stomach, and give strength to the bowels. But that the black when crushed are better for the stomach. Aristophanes too makes mention of crushed olives in "The Islands," saying—

Bring some crushed olives;

and in another place he says—

Crush'd olives and pickled olives are not the same thing;

and a few lines after—

For it is better that they should be crush'd than pickled.

And Archestratus says, in his Gastronomy—

Let wrinkled olives, fallen from the tree,
Be placed before you.