Book 3
78
Antiphanes also speaks of the Athenian loaves as pre- eminently good, in his Omphale, saying— For how could any man of noble birth Ever come forth from this luxurious house, Seeing these fair-complexion'd wheaten loaves Filling the oven in such quick succession, And seeing them, devise fresh forms from moulds, The work of Attic hands; well-train'd by wise Thearion to honour holy festivals. This is that Thearion the celebrated baker, whom Plato makes mention of in the Gorgias, joining him and Mithæcus in the same catalogue, writing thus. Those who have been or are skilful providers for the body you enumerated with great anxiety; Thearion the baker, and Mithæcus who wrote the treatise called the Sicilian Cookery, and Sarambus the innkeeper, saying that they were admirable providers for the body, the one preparing most excellent loaves of bread, and the other preparing meat, and the other wine. And Aristophanes, in the Gerytades and Aeolosicon, speaks in this manner— I come now, having left the baker's shop, The seat of good Thearion's pans and ovens. And Eubulus makes mention of Cyprian loaves as exceedingly good, in his Orthane, using these words— 'Tis a hard thing, beholding Cyprian loaves, To ride by carelessly; for like a magnet They do attract the hungry passengers. And Ephippus, in his Diana, makes mention of the κολλίκιοι loaves (and they are the same as the κόλλαβοι) in these terms— Eating the collix, baked in well-shaped pan, By Alexander's Thessalian recipe. Aristophanes also says, in his Acharnensians— All hail, my collix-eating young Bœotian.
