OPSOPHA&Y. 533 



various cheeses^* to which we may probatly add a spe- 



wine-glass,' is diaKprjorov, ' thoroughly good : ' then there was the 

 Kpifiavov, or breast-shaped loaf ; the afioXyalr), or shepherd's goat- 

 milk bread ; the KovdiXr), made of milk, honey, and cheese ; the 

 Tvpovtrqs, recommended for children ; and Cyprus bread, which 

 acted, says Eubnlus, on a hungry man as the magnet on a 

 needle. The ancients generally ate their bread hot, a practice 

 recommended by the faculty, not on the score of health, but as 

 moat agreeable to the palate, and perhaps as not unlikely to bring 

 ' grist to their mill.' We dare not enlarge the catalogue, lest the 

 reader should become crusty over so long a note, but wiU con- 

 elude with a bit of advice from that doughty authority in dough, 

 Archestratus, who says, ' If you want an agreeable succession of 

 fancy breads, you must take a Phoenician or a Lydian baker iuto 

 your establishment, and you will then have no difficulty in se- 

 curing a constant supply ; ' to which Athenseus adds, from his own 

 knowledge, that any Cappadocian baker would give equal satis- 

 faction. 



* The ancient cheesemonger kept a large stock in trade : he 

 had cows' milk cheese and ewes' nulk cheese, and what is more 

 unusual nowadays, mares' milk cheeses (Hippace), ranged in 

 rows to suit the different tastes of his customers. Some of the 

 former, as the Nemausium, were eaten like our Bath and cream 

 cheeses, fresh ; others improved by keeping ; some were smoke- 

 dried ; Dalmatian cheeses enjoyed a great reputation at Home, 

 as did also, says Pliny, those of the Centronian and Ligurian 

 provinces ; an Apennine cheese, made, like some in Wales, of 

 ewes' and cows' milk mixed, was also in favour ; the Bithynian 

 curd was so salt as to require considerable soaking in vinegar be- 

 fore it was fit to be used. The cheeses from France, in Pliny's 

 day, had a physicky flavour, and were therefore, we presume, not 

 much asked for. Lucca, so famous now for its oil, was once fa- 

 mous for the size of its cheeses, which, says Pliny, often reached 

 ' ten stone.' Of Greek cheeses the Sicihan ranked first, and next 

 those from Achaia : they were made of ewes' milk, and called, 

 from the reputation they enjoyed, ' Jove's milk.' Those curd 

 cheeses called ' provature,' or buffalo's eggs, the sale of which is 

 now immense, were probably as well known to ancient as they 

 are to modem Kome. They are formed by first kneading the fresh 

 curd till it has been deprived of all redundant moisture (when it 

 becomes ductile and stringy) ; afterwards the mass is broken up 



