not spoken so favourable of this Greek dish. Apicius,
_De Arte Coquinaria_, among his fish-sauces has three Alexandrian
receipts, one of which will give some notion of the incongruous
materials admissible in the Greek kitchen of later times:--

"JUS ALEXANDRINUM IN PISCE ASSO.

"Piper, cepam siccam, ligusticum, cuminum, orignum, apii semen,
pruna damascena enucleata; passum, liquamen, defrutum, oleum, et
coques."

This question Vexata it seems had not escaped the notice of German
antiquaries. In Boettiger's _Kleine Shriften_, vol. iii., Sillig has
printed for the first time a Dissertation, in answer to a question which
might have graced your pages: "Wherewith did the Ancients spoon" [their
food]? Which opens thus:--

"Though about the composition and preparation of Spartan Black
Sauce we may have only so many doubts, yet still it remains certain
that it was a _jus_--boiled flesh prepared with pig's blood, salt,
and vinegar, a _brodo_; and, when it was to a certain degree
thickened by boiling, though not like a _Polenta_ or other
dough-like mass (_maza offa_), eaten with the fingers. Here, then,
arises a gastronomic question, of importance in archaeology; what
table furniture or implements did the Spartans make use of to carry
this sauce to their months? A spoon, or some substitute for a
spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this
Schwarzsauer."

It is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the
Spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell,
may have served the purpose. Those who are desirous of knowing more
about the Table-Supellectile of the ancients, may consult Casaubon's
_Notes on Athenaeus_, iv. 13. p. 241.; "Barufaldo de Armis
Convivialibus," in Sallengre's _Thesaurus_, iii. 741.: or Boettiger's
_Dissertation_ above referred to. How little ground the passage in
Plutarch, _De Sanitate Tuenda_, afforded for the composition will appear
from the passage, which I subjoin, having found some difficulty in
referring to it:

[Greek: Oi Lakones uxos kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa
keleuouso en to iereio setein.]

This only expresses the simplicity of Spartan cookery in general.

To revert to the original question propounded, however, I think we must
come to the conclusion that _coffee_ formed no part of the [Greek: melas
zomos.]

S.W.S.

[Footnote 2: Mans