Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

book where, no doubt, very ancient traditions have been stored away. VII [206] THE HERB FENUGREEK _F{OE}NUM GRÆCUM_ [1] FENUGREEK [is prepared] IN BROTH, OIL AND WINE. [1] Tor. or _fenum_; G.-V. _Fænum_. VIII [207] GREEN STRING BEANS AND CHICK-PEAS _PHASEOLI _[1]_ VIRIDES ET CICER_ ARE SERVED WITH SALT, CUMIN, OIL, AND A LITTLE PURE WINE. [1] Tor. _Faseolus_, the bean with a long, sabre-like pod; a phasel, kidney bean, when ripened. [208] ANOTHER WAY _ALITER FASEOLUS ET CICER_ [Beans or chick-peas] ARE COOKED IN A WINE SAUCE AND SEASONED WITH PEPPER [1]. [1] Dann. and Goll.: "roasted" beans. [209] BOILED, SUMPTUOUSLY _ET ELIXATI, SUMPTO_ [1] AND COOK THE BEANS, IN A RICH MANNER, REMOVE THE SEEDS AND SERVE [as a Salad [2]], WITH HARD EGGS, GREEN FENNEL, PEPPER, BROTH, A LITTLE REDUCED WINE AND A LITTLE SALT, OR SERVE THEM IN SIMPLER WAYS, AS YOU MAY SEE FIT. [1] The original continues with the preceding formula. [2] For a salad we would add finely chopped onion, pepper, and some lemon juice. The purpose of removing the seeds is obscure. G.-V. reads _semine cum ovis_; Tac. _semie_; Hum. _s. cum lobis_. The passage may mean to sprinkle (sow) with hard boiled (and finely chopped) eggs, which is often done on a salad and other dishes. END OF BOOK V _EXPLICIT APICII OSPRION LIBER QUINTUS_ [Tac.] {Illustration: ADJUSTABLE TABLE Polychrome marble in bronze frame. Four elaborately designed bronze legs, braced and hinged, so that the table may be raised or lowered. The legs end in claw feet resting on a molded base. Above they are encircled with leaves, from which emerge young satyrs, each holding a rabbit under the left arm. The legs below the acanthus leaves are ornamented with elaborate floral patterns, inlaid, with other inlaid patterns on the connecting braces and around the frame of the marble top. Bronze and marble tables that could be folded and taken down after banquets were used by the Babylonians centuries before this table was designed in Pompeii. Ntl. Mus., Naples, 72994; Field M. 24290.} APICIUS Book VI {Illustration: THE GREAT CRATER Found