at that time the guests all desired him to settle that as he pleased, and themselves preferred eating; while Cynulcus quoted these lines out of the Breezes of Metagenes—
But, my friend, now let us dine,
After that ask what you choose;
For at present I'm so hungry,
I can't recollect a thing.
But Myrtilus in a pleasant manner declared that he subscribed to Ulpian's sentiments, so as to be willing to have nothing to eat, as long as he might talk; and said;—Cratinus, in his Ulysseses, has mentioned [Greek: oxalmê], in the following lines—
And in return for this I now will take
All you my brave companions; and will pound,
And boil, and broil, and roast you thoroughly,
In pickle, sour pickle ([Greek: oxalmê]), garlic pickle,
Soaking you thoroughly in each by turns.
And that one which does seem most fairly roasted
I'll do the honour to devour myself.
And Aristophanes, in his Wasps,—
Breathe on me, and then put me in hot pickle ([Greek: oxalmê]).
35. And of living people we ourselves use the word [Greek: opsarion]. Plato does so too; speaking of fish in his Pisander, he says—
A. Now eating. . . .
B. What on earth?. . .
A. Why, all there is;
Fish ([Greek: opsarion]).
B. You were sick, and did they give you this?
A. But I, the other day, eating a crab. . . .
And Pherecrates, in his Deserters, says—
Some one has served us up this dish of fish ([Greek: t' opsarion]).
And Philemon, in his Treasure, says—
It is not right to cheat us in this way,
Nor to have worthless fish ([Greek: opsaria]).
And Menander, in his Carthaginian, says—
I offered Boreas much frankincense,
And yet I did not catch one single fish ([Greek: opsarion]),
So I must now cook lentils for my supper.
And in his Ephesian he says—
Having some fish ([Greek: opsarion]) for breakfast.
And then he goes on to say—
Some fishmonger
Sold me some tench for four drachmas a-piece.
