and presently afterwards he says—
And so they ended the entertainment ([Greek: synagôgion]).
And probably the [Greek: synagôgion] is the same as that which was also called [Greek: to apo symbolôn deipnon]. But what the [Greek: symbolai], or contributions, are, we learn from Alexis, in his Woman who has taken Mandragora, where he says—
A. I'll come and bring my contributions now.
B. How, contributions?
A. The Chalcidians
Call fringes, alabaster, scent boxes,
And other things of that kind, contributions.
But the Argives, as Hegesander tells us in his Commentaries, (the following are his exact words)—"The Argives call the contributions towards an entertainment which are brought by the revellers, [Greek: chôn]; and each man's share they call [Greek: aisa]."
69. And now, since this book also has come to a not unsuitable end, my good friend Timocrates, let us stop our discussion at this point, lest any one should think that we were formerly fishes ourselves, as Empedocles says that he was; for that great natural philosopher says—
For I myself have been a boy, a girl,
A bush, a bird, and fish which roams the sea.
BOOK IX.
1. But now let each becalm his troubled breast,
Wash, and partake serene the friendly feast;
While to renew these topics we delay
Till Heaven's revolving lamp restores the day,
both to you and me, O Timocrates. For when some hams were brought round, and some one asked whether they were tender, using the word [Greek: takeros],— In what author does [Greek: takeros] occur? said Ulpian: and is there any authority, too, for calling mustard [Greek: sinapi] instead of [Greek: napu]? For I see that that condiment is being brought round in the dishes with the hams. And I see that the word [Greek: kôleos], a ham, is now used in the masculine gender, and not in the feminine only, as our Attic writers use it. At all events, Epicharmus, in his Megarian Woman, says—
Sausages, cheese, and hams ([Greek: kôleoi]), and artichokes,
But not a single thing that's eatable:
