Kitap 2
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Mnesitheus too says, "All the vegetables and fruits which are easily affected by the action of fire, such as the cucumber, and the gourd, and the quince, and the small quince, and everything else of the same sort, when they are eaten after having been roasted, afford nutriment to the body, in no great quantity indeed, but still such as is pleasant and promotes moisture. However all these vegetables and fruits have a tendency to produce constipation, and they ought to be eaten boiled rather than raw. But the Attic writers call the gourd by no other name but κολοκύντη. Hermippus says— What a huge head he has; it is as big as a gourd! And Phrynichus, using the diminutive, says— Will you have a little maize (μάζιον) or gourd (κολοκύντιον)? And Epicharmus says— That is much more wholesome than a gourd (κολοκύντη).
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And Epicrates the comic poet writes—
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A. What now is Plato doing'?
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The grave Speusippus too and Menedemus?
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In what are they now spending all their time?
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What care is theirs, and what their conversation?
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What is their subject of deliberation?
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Tell me, I beg of you, by the mighty Terra,
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In learned language, if at least you know.
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B. Indeed, I can inform you most exactly.
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For at the great Panathenaic feast,
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I saw a company of youths assembled
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Within the schools of the old Academy,
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And heard some strange and marvellous assertions.
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For they were nature's mysteries discussing,
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Drawing distinctions subtle 'tween the life
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Of animated things, both men and beasts,
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And that of trees and all the race of herbs.
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And then, while occupied in these discussions
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They turned to gourds their deep investigations,
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Asking their species and their character.
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A. And to what sage conclusion did they come?
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What was their definition, of what genus
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Did they decide this plant to be, my friend?
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I pray you tell 'em, if you know at least.
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B. At first they all stood silent for a while,
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And gazed upon the ground and knit their brows
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In profound solemn meditation:
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Then on a sudden, while the assembled youths
