Book XIII Chapter 14

On the occasion of a common dinner-party417 where some of the company would present themselves with a small, and others with a large supply of viands¹, Socrates would bid the servants418 throw the small supplies into the general stock, or else to help each of the party to a share all round. Thus the grand victuallers were ashamed in the one case not to share in the common stock, and in the other not to throw in their supplies also.419 Accordingly in went the grand supplies into the common stock. And now, being no better off than the small contributors, they soon ceased to cater² for expensive delicacies³.

At a supper-party one member of the company, as Socrates chanced to note, had put aside the plain fare and was devoting himself to certain dainties.420 A discussion was going on about names and definitions, and the proper applications of terms to things.421 Whereupon Socrates, appealing to the company: “Can we explain why we call a man a ‘dainty fellow’? What is the particular action to which the term applies?422 — since every one adds some dainty to his food when he can get it.423 But we have not quite hit the definition yet, I think. Are we to be called dainty eaters because we like our bread buttered?”424

No! hardly! (some member of the company replied).

Soc. Well, but now suppose a man confine himself to eating venison or other dainty without any plain food at all, not as a matter of training,425 but for the pleasure of it: has such a man earned the title? “The rest of the world would have a poor chance against him,”426 some one answered. “Or,” interposed another, “what if the dainty dishes he devours⁴ are out of all proportion to the rest of his meal — what of him?”427

Soc. He has established a very fair title at any rate to the appellation⁵, and when the rest of the world pray to heaven for a fine harvest: “May our corn and oil increase!” he may reasonably ejaculate, “May my fleshpots multiply!”

At this last sally the young man, feeling that the conversation set somewhat in his direction, did not desist indeed from his savoury viands, but helped himself generously to a piece of bread. Socrates was all-observant, and added: Keep an eye on our friend yonder, you others next him, and see fair play between the sop⁶ and the sauce.428

Another time, seeing one of the company using but one sop of bread429 to test several savoury dishes, he remarked: Could there be a more extravagant⁷ style of cookery, or more murderous to the dainty dishes themselves, than this wholesale⁸ method of taking so many dishes together? — why, bless me, twenty different sorts of seasoning⁹ at one swoop¹⁰!430 First of all he mixes up actually more ingredients than the cook himself prescribes, which is extravagant; and secondly¹¹, he has the audacity¹² to commingle¹³ what the chef holds incongruous, whereby if the cooks are right in their method he is wrong in his, and consequently the destroyer of their art. Now is it not ridiculous first to procure¹⁴ the greatest virtuosi to cook for us, and then without any claim to their skill to take and alter their procedure? But there is a worse thing in store for the bold man who habituates himself to eat a dozen dishes at once: when there are but few dishes served, out of pure habit he will feel himself half starved, whilst his neighbour, accustomed to send his sop down by help of a single relish¹⁵, will feast merrily, be the dishes never so few.

He had a saying that euokheisthai, to “make good cheer,”431 was in Attic¹⁶ parlance¹⁷ a synonym¹⁸ for “eating,” and the affix¹⁹ eu (the attributive “good”) connoted the eating of such things as would not trouble soul or body, and were not far to seek or hard to find. So that to “make good cheer” in his vocabulary applied²⁰ to a modest and well-ordered style of living.432

417 For the type of entertainment see Becker, “Charicles,” p. 315 (Eng. tr.)

418 “The boy.”

419 Or, “were ashamed not to follow suit by sharing in the common stock and contributing their own portion.”

420 For the distinction between sitos and opson see Plat. “Rep.” 372 C.

421 Or, “The conversation had fallen upon names: what is the precise thing denoted under such and such a term? Define the meaning of so and so.”

422 opsophagos = opson (or relish) eater, and so a “gourmand²¹” or “epicure”; but how to define a gourmand?

423 Lit. “takes some opson (relish) to his sitos (food).”

424 Lit. “simply for that” (sc. the taking of some sort of opson. For epi touto cf. Plat. “Soph.” 218 C; “Parmen.” 147 D.

425 Lit. “opson (relish) by itself, not for the sake of training,” etc. The English reader wil bear in mind that a raw beefsteak or other meat prescribed by the gymnastic trainer in preference to farinaceous food (sitos) would be opson.

426 Or, more lit. “Hardly any one could deserve the appellation better.”

427 Lit. “and what of the man who eats much opson on the top of a little (sitos)?” epesthion = follows up one course by another, like the man in a fragment of Euripides, “Incert.” 98: kreasi boeiois khlora suk’ epesthien, who “followed up his beefsteak with a garnish²² of green figs²³.”

428 Lit. “see whether he will make a relish of the staple²⁴ or a staple of the relish” (“butter his bread or bread his butter”).

429 psomos, a sop or morsel²⁵ of bread (cf. psomion, N. T., in mod. Greek = “bread”).

430 Huckleberry Finn (p. 2 of that young person’s “Adventures”) propounds²⁶ the rationale of the system: “In a barrel of odds²⁷ and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps²⁸ around, and the things go better.”

431 euokheisthai, cf. “Cyrop.” IV. v. 7; “Pol. Ath.” ii. 9; Kuhner cf. Eustah. “ad Il.” ii. p. 212, 37, ‘Akhaioi ten trophen okhen legousin oxutonos. Athen. viii. 363 B. See “Hipparch,” viii. 4, of horses. Cf. Arist. “H. A.” viii. 6.

432 See “Symp.” vi. 7; and for similar far-fetched etymologies²⁹, Plat. “Crat.” passim.

1 viands   

n.食品，食物

参考例句：

• Greek slaves supplied them with exquisite viands at the slightest nod.只要他们轻轻点点头希腊奴隶就会供奉给他们精美的食品。
• The family sat down to table,and a frugal meal of cold viands was deposited beforethem.一家老少，都围着桌子坐下，几样简单的冷食，摆在他们面前。

2 cater   

vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务

参考例句：

• I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
• Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。

3 delicacies   

n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到

参考例句：

• Its flesh has exceptional delicacies. 它的肉异常鲜美。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After these delicacies, the trappers were ready for their feast. 在享用了这些美食之后，狩猎者开始其大餐。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗

4 devours   

吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. 若有人想要害他们，就有火从他们口中出来，烧灭仇敌。
• It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs. 他本身的肢体要被吞吃，死亡的长子要吞吃他的肢体。

5 appellation   

n.名称，称呼

参考例句：

• The emperor of Russia Peter I was given the appellation " the Great ".俄皇彼得一世被加上了“大帝”的称号。
• Kinsfolk appellation is the kinfolks system reflection in language.亲属称谓是亲属制度在语言中的反应。

6 sop   

n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿

参考例句：

• I used a mop to sop up the spilled water.我用拖把把泼出的水擦干。
• The playground was a mere sop.操场很湿。

7 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

8 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

9 seasoning   

n.调味；调味料；增添趣味之物

参考例句：

• Salt is the most common seasoning.盐是最常用的调味品。
• This sauce uses mushroom as its seasoning.这酱油用蘑菇作调料。

10 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

11 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

12 audacity   

n.大胆，卤莽，无礼

参考例句：

• He had the audacity to ask for an increase in salary.他竟然厚着脸皮要求增加薪水。
• He had the audacity to pick pockets in broad daylight.他竟敢在光天化日之下掏包。

13 commingle   

v.混合

参考例句：

• I think I'll commingle some of these blue flowers with the pink ones.我想把一些蓝花和粉红花搀在一起。
• Ground waters originating in different beds commingle.来源于不同层位的地下水相互混合。

14 procure   

vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条

参考例句：

• Can you procure some specimens for me?你能替我弄到一些标本吗？
• I'll try my best to procure you that original French novel.我将尽全力给你搞到那本原版法国小说。

15 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

16 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

17 parlance   

n.说法；语调

参考例句：

• The term "meta directory" came into industry parlance two years ago.两年前，商业界开始用“元目录”这个术语。
• The phrase is common diplomatic parlance for spying.这种说法是指代间谍行为的常用外交辞令。

18 synonym   

n.同义词，换喻词

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• The term 'industrial democracy' is often used as a synonym for worker participation. “工业民主”这个词常被用作“工人参与”的同义词。

19 affix   

n.附件，附录 vt.附贴，盖(章)，签署

参考例句：

• Please affix your signature to the document. 请你在这个文件上签字。
• Complete the form and affix four tokens to its back. 填完该表，在背面贴上4张凭券。

20 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

21 gourmand   

n.嗜食者

参考例句：

• He was long famed as a gourmand and heavy smoker and drinker.长期以来，他一直以嗜好美食和烟酒闻名。
• The food here satisfies gourmands rather than gourmets.这里的食物可以管饱却不讲究品质。

22 garnish   

n.装饰，添饰，配菜

参考例句：

• The turkey was served with a garnish of parsley.做好的火鸡上面配上芫荽菜做点缀。
• The sandwiches came with a rather limp salad garnish.三明治配着蔫软的色拉饰菜。

23 figs   

figures 数字，图形，外形

参考例句：

• The effect of ring dyeing is shown in Figs 10 and 11. 环形染色的影响如图10和图11所示。
• The results in Figs. 4 and 5 show the excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. 图4和图5的结果都表明模拟和实验是相当吻合的。

24 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

25 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

26 propounds   

v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

27 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

28 swaps   

交换( swap的名词复数 )； 交换物，被掉换者

参考例句：

• He swaps his old car for a new motorcycle. 他用旧车换了一辆新摩托车。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• Swaps the anchor and end points of the current selection. 交换当前所选内容的定位点和结束点。

29 etymologies   

n.词源学，词源说明( etymology的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This dictionary does not give etymologies. 这部词典不介绍词源。 来自辞典例句
• Dictionaries are still good for obscure usages and etymologies. 字典依然擅长于不常用的用法和词源。 来自互联网