that all mention of the berry is omitted in the catalogue of their
monthly contributions to the Phiditia, which are said to have consisted
of meal, wine, cheese, figs, and a very little money?[8] and when the
king of Pontus[9] indulged in the expensive fancy of buying to himself
(not hiring, let it be recollected) a cook, to make that famous broth
which Dionysius found so detestable, how came he not at the same time to
think of buying a pound of coffee also? Moreover, if we consider its
universal popularity at present, it is hardly to be supposed that, in
ancient times, coffee would have suited no palate except that of a
Lacedæmonian.

With respect to the colour of the broth, I am reminded of my own
reference to _Pollux_, lib. vi. who is represented by your correspondent
to say that the [Greek: melas zomos] was also called [Greek: aimatia], a
word which Messrs. Scott and Liddell interpret to {301} denote "blood
broth," and go on to state, upon the authority of Manso, that blood was
a principal ingredient in this celebrated Lacedæmonian dish. Certainly,
if the case were really so, the German writer would have succeeded in
preparing for us a most disagreeable and warlike kind of food; but my
astonishment has not been small, upon turning to the passage, to find
that "R.O.'s" authorities had misled him, and that _Pollux_ really says
nothing of the kind. His words (I quote from the edition 2 vols. folio,
Amst. 1706) are these,

[Greek: "O de melas kaloumenos zomos Lakonikon men hos epi to poly to
edesma. esti de hae kaloumenae haimatia. to de thrion hode eskeuazon,
k.t.l."]

The general subject of the section is the different kinds of flesh used
by man for food, and incidentally the good things which may be made from