t to the younger ones, and
live upon the broth only[10], which, had it been very poor, they would
not have done.

When these remarks were commenced, it was for the purpose of showing, by
means of a passage not generally referred to, what the ancients
conceived the "black broth" to be, and that consequently, all idea of
coffee entering into its composition was untenable. How far this has
been accomplished the reader must decide: but I cannot quit the subject
without expressing my sincere persuasion, founded upon a view of the
authorities referred to, that the account given by Athenaeus is
substantially correct. Pig meat would be much in use with a people not
disposed to take the trouble of preparing any other: the animal was fit
for nothing but food; and the refuse of their little farms would be
sufficient for his keep. Athenaeus also, in another passage, supplies us
with a confirmation of the notion that _the stock_ was made from _pig_,
and this is stronger because it occurs incidentally. It is found in a
quotation from Matron, the maker of parodies, who, alluding to some
person or other who had not got on very well at a Lacedaemonian feast,
explains the cause of his failure to have been, that the black broth,
and boiled odds and ends of pig meat, had beaten him;

"[Greek: Damna min zomos te melas akrokolia t' hephtha.]"[11]

That their cookery was not of a very recondite nature, is evident from
what is mentioned by Plutarch, that the public meals were instituted at
first in order to prevent their being in the hands of artistes and
cooks[12], while to these every one sent a stated portion of provisions,
so that there would neither be change nor variety in them. Cooks again
were sent out of Sparta, if they could do more than dress meat[13];
while the only seasoning allowed to them was salt and vinegar[14]; for
which reason, perhaps, Meursius considers the composition of the [Greek:
zomos melas] to have been pork gravy seasoned with vinegar and salt[15],
since there seemed to have been nothing else of which it could possibly
have been made.

For MR. TREVELYAN's suggestion of the cuttlefish, I am greatly obliged
to him; but this was an Athenian dish, and too good for the severity of
Spartan manners. It is impossible not to smile at the idea of the
distress which Cineparius must have felt, had he happened to witness the
performances of any persons thus swallowing ink bottles by wholesale.

The passages which have been