Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/166

 they call the Theoxenia, there is a rule that whoever brings the largest gethyllis to Latona shall receive a portion of food from off her table; and I myself have seen a gethyllis as big as a turnip or as the round rape. And men say that Latona, when she was pregnant with Apollo, longed for the gethyllis; on which account it is treated with this respect."

14. Next comes the gourd. But as gourds were served round to us in the winter season, every one marvelled, thinking that they were fresh gourds; and we recollected what the beautiful Aristophanes said in his Seasons, praising the glorious Athens in these lines:—

A. There you shall at mid-winter see Cucumbers, gourds, and grapes, and apples, And wreaths of fragrant violets Cover'd with dust, as if in summer. And the same man will sell you thrushes, And pears, and honey-comb, and olives, Beestings, and tripe, and summer swallows, And grasshoppers, and bullock's paunches. There you may see full baskets pack'd      With figs and myrtle, crown'd with snow; There you may see fine pumpkins join'd      To the round rape and mighty turnip; So that a stranger well may fear To name the season of the year. B. That's a fine thing if all the year A man can have whate'er he pleases. A. Say rather, it's the worst of evils; For if the case were different, Men would not cherish foolish fancies Nor rush into insane expenses. But after some short breathing time I might myself bear off these things; As indeed in other cities, Athens excepted, oft I do: However, as I tell you now, The Athenians have all these things. Because, as we may well believe, They pay due honour to the gods. B. 'Tis well for them they honour you, Which brings them this enjoyment, since You seek to make their city Egypt, Instead of the immortal Athens.

At all events, we were astonished eating cucumbers in the month of January; for they were green, and full of their own peculiar flavour, and they happened to have been dressed by