Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/165

 Theophrastus also mentions the carrot; and Phænias, in the fifth book of his treatise on Plants, speaks as follows:—"But as to the nature of the seed, the plant which is called [Greek: sêps] and the seed of the carrot are much alike." And in his first book he says—"The following plants have seed in pods of umbellated form: the anise, fennel, the carrot, the bur-parsley, hemlock, coriander, and aconite (which some call mousekiller)." But, since Nicander has mentioned the arum, I must also add that Phænias, in the book which I have just mentioned, writes thus:—"The dracontium, which some call arum or aronia." But Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on the Wholesomes, calls the carrot, not [Greek: staphylinos], but [Greek: astaphylinos]. There is also another kind which is called [Greek: karôton], which is a large and well-grown carrot, more juicy than the [Greek: staphylinos], and more heating,—more diuretic, very good for the stomach, and very easily digested, as Diphilus assures us.

13. Then there is the [Greek: kephalôton], or leek, which the same Diphilus says is also called [Greek: prasion]; and he says that it is superior to the kind called the sliced-leek, and that it has some effect in attenuating the blood, and is nutritious, and apt to cause flatulence. But Epænetus, in his Cookery Book, says that the leeks are also called [Greek: gêthyllides]; and I find this name occurring in Eubulus, in his Pornoboscus, where he says—

I cannot now eat any other loaf, For I've just had one at Gnathænius', Whom I found boiling up [Greek: gêthyllides].

But some say that the [Greek: gêthyllis] is the same as the peculiar kind of leek called [Greek: gêthyon], which Phrynichus mentions in his Saturn. And Didymus, interpreting that play, says that the [Greek: gêthyon] resembles the leek called the vine-leek, or [Greek: ampeloprason]; and he says that they are also called [Greek: epithyllides]. And Epicharmus also mentions the gethyllides in his Philoctetes, where he says—

Two heads of garlic, two gethyllides.

And Aristophanes, in his second Æolosicon, says—

Some roots of leeks ([Greek: gêthyôn]), which taste almost like garlic.

And Polemo the geographer, in his book on Samothrace, says that Latona had a longing for the gethyllis, writing as follows:—"Among the Delphians, at the festival which