PHERECRATES FR. 60: SPINY FISH-HEADS, BUT NO SCRAPS

Extract

The scholia to Wasps gloss τραχήλια variously as τὰ ἄκρα καὶ τὰ εὐτελῆ κρέα (‘cheap trimmings of meat’), τὰ ἀποβαλλόμενα τῶν ὄψων (‘discarded scraps of prepared dishes’), ὀστράκιόν τι βραχὺ τελέως (‘a tiny bit of bone’), and εὐτελὲς προσόψημα ἐν λοπαδίσκοις σκευαζόμενον (‘a cheap side-dish prepared in small pans’). These might all be guesses, but the absence of the definite article in the original text shows that Bdelycleon's reference is to something more generic than ‘the backbones’ in the next verse. The ancient commentators were thus probably right not to interpret the word ‘bits of neck’, vel sim., as if this were a diminutive of τράχηλος (‘neck’ or ‘head and neck’). Instead, these must be ‘tail-ends’ of food, scraps and leftovers of a sort that might be fed to a dog; compare Hippocrates, Epidemiae 7.62 (v.428.7 Littré), where βόεια τραχήλια (‘beef tit-bits’, vel sim.) are mentioned along with ham as part of the diet of a man recovering from illness.