23. And the cook in the Milesians of Alexis is not very different from this, for he speaks as follows—
A. Do you not know, that in most arts and trades
'Tis not th' artificer who alone has pow'r
O'er their enjoyment? Those who use them too
Contribute all their part, if well they use them.
B. How so? Let me, O stranger, understand.
A. The duty of the cook is but to dress
And rightly season meat; and nothing more.
If, then, the man who is to eat his meat,
And judge of it, comes in proper time,
He aids the cook in that his business.
But if he come too late, so that the joint
Already roasted must be warm'd again,
Or if he come too soon, so that the cook
Is forced to roast the meat with undue haste,
He spoils the pleasure which he might have had
From the cook's skill by his unpunctuality.
I class a cook among philosophers;
You're standing round; my fire is alight;
See how the numerous dogs of Vulcan's pack
Leap to the roof; . . . . .
. . . . . . You know what happens next:
And so some unforeseen necessity
Has brought on us alone this end of life.
24. But Euphron, whom I mentioned a little while ago, O judges, (for I do not hesitate to call you judges, while awaiting the decision of your sense,) in his play called the Brothers, having represented a certain cook as a well-educated man of extensive learning, and enumerating all the artists before his time, and what particular excellence each of them had, and what he surpassed the rest in, still never mentioned anything of such a nature as I have frequently prepared for you. Accordingly, he speaks as follows—
I have, ere this, had many pupils, Lycus,
Because I've always had both wit and knowledge;
But you, the youngest of them all, are now
Leaving my house an all-accomplish'd cook
In less than forty weeks. There was the Rhodian
Agis, the best of cooks to roast a fish;
Nereus, the Chian, could a conger boil
Fit for the gods: Charides, of Athens,
Black broth was first devised by Lamprias;
Sausages rich we owe to Aphthonetus;
Euthunus taught us to make lentil soup;
Aristion made out whole bills of fare
For those who like a picnic entertainment.
So, like those grave philosophers of old,
These are our seven wisest of all cooks.
But I, for all the other ground I saw
Had been pre-occupied by former artists,
First found out how to steal, in such a way
That no one blamed me, but all sought at once
T' engage my aid. And you, perceiving too
This ground already occupied by me,
Invented something new yourself—'tis this:—
Five days ago the Tenians, grey old men,
After a tedious voyage o'er the sea,
Did hold a sacrifice: a small thin kid:
Lycus could crib no portion of that meat,
Nor could his master. You compell'd the men
To furnish two more kids. For as they long
And oft survey'd the liver of the victims,
You, letting down one unperceived hand,
Were impudent enough to throw the kidneys
Into the ditch: you raised a mighty tumult:
"The victim has no kidneys," they exclaim'd,
And all look'd downcast at th' unusual want.
They slew another, and again I saw
You eat the heart from out this second victim.
You surely are a mighty man; you know it—
For you alone have found a way to hinder
A wolf (λύκον) from opening his mouth in vain.
And[27] yesterday you threw some strings of sausages
(Which you had sought all day) into the fire,
And sang to the dichordon. And I witness'd
That play of yours; but this is merely sport.
25. I wonder if it was any of these second seven wise men who contrived this device about the pig, so as to stuff his inside without cutting his throat, and so as to roast one side of him and boil the other at the same time. And as we now urged and entreated him to explain this clever device to us, he said,—I will not tell you this year, I swear by those who encountered danger at Marathon, and also by those who fought at Salamis. So when he had taken such an oath as that, we all thought we ought not to press the man; but all began to lay hands on the different dishes which were served up before us. And Ulpian said,—I swear by those who encountered danger at Artemisium, no one shall taste of anything before we are told in what ancient author the word παραφέρω is used in the sense of serving up. For as to the word γεύματα, I think I am the only person who knows anything about that. And Magnus said, Aristophanes in his Proagon says—
THE USE OF PARTICULAR WORDS.
Why did you not desire him to place
The goblets on the board (παραφέρειν)?
And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, uses the word in a more general sense, where he says—
O Cocoas, bring (παράφερε) me now a goblet full.
And Plato, in his Lacedæmonians, says—