MADE DISHES. And Anaxilas, in his Hyacinthus the Pander, says—
I now, O Dion, will buy you some fish ([Greek: opsarion]).
And a few lines afterwards he writes—
Now dress, O boy, the fish ([Greek: toupsarion]) for us.
And in the Anagyrus of Aristophanes we read—
Unless on all occasions you do soothe me
With dainty dishes of fish ([Greek: opsarion]).
Where, however, perhaps we must take [Greek: opsaria] as used synonymously with [Greek: prosopsônêmata], for made dishes in general. For Alexis, in his Woman Sitting up all Night, represents a cook as speaking in the following terms:—
A. Do you prefer your high made dishes hot,
Or cold, or something just between the two?
B. Cold.
A. Are you sure, my master? only think;
The man has not one notion how to live?
Am I to serve you everything up cold?
B. By no means.
A. Will you, then, have all things hot?
B. O Phœbus!
A. Then, if neither hot nor cold,
They surely must be just between the two;
And none of all my fellows can do this.
B. I dare say not, nor many other things
Which you can do.
A. I'll tell you now, for I
Give all the guests an opportunity
To practise a wise mixture of their food.
Have you not, I adjure you by the gods,
Just slain a kid?
B. Don't cut me, cut the meat:—
Boys, bring the kid.
A. Is there a kitchen near?
B. There is.
A. And has it got a chimney too?
For this you do not say.
B. It has a chimney.
A. But if it smokes, it will be worse than none.
B. The man will kill me with his endless questions.
36. These passages I have quoted to you on the part of us who are still alive, my well-fed friend Ulpian. For you too, as it seems to me, agree so far with Alexis as to eat no living animals. And Alexis, in his Attic Woman, speaks in the following manner—
The man who first did say that no philosopher
Would eat of living things, was truly wise.
