Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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And of living people we ourselves use the word ὀψάριον. 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 (ὀψάριον).
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 (τ᾽ ὀψάριον).

And Philemon, in his Treasure, says—

It is not right to cheat us in this way,
Nor to have worthless fish (ὀψάρια).

And Menander, in his Carthaginian, says—

I offered Boreas much frankincense,
And yet I did not catch one single fish (0᾿ψάριον),
So I must now cook lentils for my supper.

And in his Ephesian he says—

Having some fish (ὀψάριον) for breakfast.

And then he goes on to say—

Some fishmonger
Sold me'some tench for four drachmas a-piece.

[p. 607] And Anaxilas, in his Hyacinthus the Pander, says—

I now, O Dion, will buy you some fish (ὀψάριον).

And a few lines afterwards he writes—

Now dress, O boy, the fish (τοὐψάριον) for us.

And in the Anagyrus of Aristophanes we read—

Unless on all occasions you do soothe me
With dainty dishes of fish (ὀψαρίου).

Where, however, perhaps we must take ὀψάρια as used synony- mously with προσψωήματα, 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.