Note 518 — Chapter III · FOOD OF HOMERIC TIMES—MEAT, FISH, ETC.

Ælian. Var. Hist. iii. 39. Perizonius in his note on this passage observes, that ἄπιος and ἀχράς are but different names for the same thing, both signifying “the pear,” the former term prevailing among the Argives, the latter among the Tirynthians and Laconians. By the other Greeks both words were used promiscuously, though ἄπιος was the more common. This able commentator objects to the assertion of his author, that the Hindoos lived on cane, since they also ate millet, rice, &c. But Ælian could really have intended nothing more than that the articles he enumerates were in common use among the nations spoken of. Otherwise the whole must be regarded as a mere fable. The canes, mentioned by Ælian, are those from which sugar has been from very remote antiquity extracted.

Quique bibunt tenerâ dulces ab arundine succos.

Lucan. Pharsal. iii. 237.