LOINS. admirable Aristophanes as an unimpeachable witness in the matter. And while he was saying this, a slave came in bringing in the grouse in a basket; but it was in size larger than the largest cock of the common poultry, and in appearance it was very like the porphyrion; and it had wattles hanging from its ears on each side like the common cock; and its voice was loud and harsh. And so after we had admired the beauty of the bird, in a short time one was served up on the table dressed; and the meat of him was like that of the ostrich, which we were often in the habit of eating.
59. There was a dish too called loins ([Greek: psyai]). The poet who wrote the poem called The Return of the Atridæ, in the third book says—
And with his rapid feet Hermioneus
Caught Nisus, and his loins with spear transfix'd.
And Simaristus, in the third book of his Synonymes, writes thus: "The flesh of the loins which stands out on each side is called [Greek: psyai], and the hollows on each side they call [Greek: kyboi] and [Greek: galliai]." And Clearchus, in the second book of his treatise on The Joints in the Human Body, speaks thus: "There is flesh full of muscle on each side; which some people call [Greek: psyai], and others call [Greek: alôpekes], and others [Greek: neuromêtrai]." And the admirable Hippocrates also speaks of [Greek: psyai]; and they get this name from being easily wiped ([Greek: apo tou rhadiôs apopsasthai]), or as being flesh lightly touching ([Greek: epipsauousa]) the bones, and lying lightly on the surface of them. And Euphron the comic poet mentions them in his Theori—
There is a lobe and parts, too, called [Greek: psyai];
Learn to cut these before you view the sacrifice.
60. There is a dish too made of udder. Teleclides, in his Rigid Men, says—
Since I'm a female, I must have an udder.
Herodotus, in the fourth book of his History, uses the same term when speaking of horses; but it is rare to find the word ([Greek: outhar]) applied to the other animals; but the word most commonly used is [Greek: hypogastrion], as in the case of fishes. Strattis, in his Atalanta, says—
The [Greek: hypogastrion] and the extremities
Of the large tunny.
And Theopompus, in his Callæschrus, says—
A. And th' [Greek: hypogastria] of fish.
B. O, Ceres!
