belled.

(27) "No, not more pleasure, but exceptional fastidiousness, if what
people say is true." {agleukesteron}, said ap. Suid. to be a
Sicilian word = "more sourly."

Well (Hiero continued), and all these wonderfully-made dishes which
are set before the tyrant, or nine-tenths of them, perhaps you have
observed, are combinations of things acid to the taste, or pungent, or
astringent, or akin to these? (28)

(28) Lit. "and their congeners," "their analogues," e.g. "curries,
pickles, bitters, peppery condiments."

To be sure they are (he answered), unnatural viands, one and all, in my
opinion, most alien to ordinary palates. (29)

(29) Or, "unsuited to man's taste," "'caviare to the general' I name
them."

Hiero. In fact, these condiments can only be regarded as the cravings
(30) of a stomach weakened by luxurious living; since I am quite sure
that keen appetites (and you, I fancy, know it well too) have not the
slightest need for all these delicate made things.

(30) Cf. Plat. "Laws," 687 C; "Hipp." ii. 44. Lit. "can you in fact
regard these condiments as other than..." See Holden ad loc.
(ed. 1888); Hartm. op. cit. p. 259, suggests {enthumemata},
"inventions."

It is true, at any rate (observed Simonides), about those costly
perfumes, with which your persons are anointed, that your neighbours
rather than yourselves extract enjoyment from them; just as the
unpleasant odour of some meats is not so obvious to the eater as to
those who come in contact with him.

Hiero. Good, and on this principle we say of meats, that he who is
provided with all sorts on all occasions brings no appetite to any of
them. He rather to whom these things are rarities, that is the man who,
when some unfamiliar thing is put before him, will take his fill of it
with pleasure. (31)

(31) {meta kharas}. Cf. Aesch. Fr. 237, {stomatos en prote khara}, of
a hungry man; "Od." xvii. 603.

It looks very much (interposed Simonides) as if the sole pleasure left
you to explain the vulgar ambition to wear a crown, must be that named
after Aphrodite. For in this field it is your privilege to consort with
whatever fairest fair your eyes may light on.

Hiero. Nay, now you have named that one thing of all others, take my
word for it, in which we princes are worse off than lesser people. (32)

(32) Reading {saph' isthi}, or if as Cobet conj. {saphestata}, transl.
"are at a disadvantage most clearly by co