Antiphanes, that witty man, catalogues all the things which are peculiar to each city thus:—
Cooks come from Elis, pots from Argos,And Hermippus says,
Corinth blankets sends in barges,
Phlius wine, and Sicyon fish,
While cheese is a Sicilian dish.
Aegium sends flute-playing maids;
Perfumers ply their dainty trades
At Athens, under Pallas' eye;
Bœotia sends us eels to fry.
Tell me, ye Muses, who th' Olympic height
Cheer with your holy songs and presence bright;
Tell me what blessings Bacchus gave to man,
Since first his vessel o'er the waters ran.
Ox-hides from Libya's coasts, and juicy kail:
The narrow sea, still vocal with the wail
Of lost Leander's bride, the tunny sends,
And our first meal with kipper'd salmon mends.
Groats come from Italy, and ribs of beef;
While Thrace sends many a lie and many a thief.
Still do the Spartans scratch their sides in vain,
Mad with the itching of th' Odrysian pain.
Then Syracuse gives cheese and well-fed pigs;
Fair Athens olives sends, and luscious figs.
Cursed of all islands let Corcyra be,
Where no especial excellence we see.
Sails come from Egypt, and this paper too;
Incense from Syria; Crete upholds to view
The cypress tall; and, dear to mighty Jove,
In Paphlagonia grows the almond grove.
The elephant sends its teeth from Afric's sands;
Pears and fat sheep grow on Eubœa's lands;
Rhodes sends us raisins, and beguiles the night
With figs that make our dreams and slumbers light
From Phrygia slaves, allies from Area's land;
The Pagas$ean ports their hirelings brand;
Phœnicia sends us dates across the billows,
???nd Carthage, carpets rich, and well-stuft'd pillows.
