作者生平：

? ? ? ? ? 安德魯·達(dá)爾比（Andrew Dalby）是一位古典學(xué)者、歷史學(xué)家、語言學(xué)家和翻譯家，以他關(guān)于食物史（尤其是希臘和羅馬帝國）的書籍而聞名。 《Siren Feasts》 是安德魯·達(dá)爾比的第一本美食書籍，獲得了 Runciman（朗西曼）獎，他的第二本書《Dangerous Tastes》在2001年獲得了美食作家協(xié)會年度美食書籍。他還是《The Classical Cookbook》和《Empire of Pleasures》以及巴克斯和維納斯的傳記的作者。

《Tastes of Byzantium ：The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire》于 2003 年首次出版

ISBN: 978 1 84885 165 8

本書完整的 CIP 記錄可從大英圖書館、美國國會圖書館獲得

由 Thomson Press India Ltd 在印度印刷和裝訂?

Greeks and others: some travellers to Byzantium

希臘人和其他人：一些前往拜占庭的旅行者

We will never quite know how ancient Greek cuisine tasted to those to whom it was unfamiliar: all we know of these ancestral flavours is what ancient consumers happen to say about them. We have very little idea how the banquets of the Roman Empire tasted to outsiders, since no Indian or Persian adventurer has left us a record of the grandeur and decline of Rome.

? ? ? ? ? 對于不熟悉的人來說，我們永遠(yuǎn)不會完全了解古希臘美食的味道：我們所知道的這些祖?zhèn)黠L(fēng)味只是古代消費者對它們的評價。我們幾乎不知道羅馬帝國的宴會在外人眼中是什么樣的，因為沒有印度或波斯的冒險家給我們留下關(guān)于羅馬盛大或衰落的記錄。

Constantinople marks a new stage in our ability to recreate the past. The Western Roman Empire had collapsed, but its culture still thrived, ever more distinct from that of the east. Egypt and the Levant passed from Byzantine into Arab sway. From both of these regions, culturally independent of and sometimes opposed to the Byzantine Empire, traders, ambassadors and warriors crossed the frontier and visited the city. That is why we know how Constantinople seemed from the outside.

? ? ? ? ? 君士坦丁堡標(biāo)志著我們重建過去能力的新階段。西羅馬帝國已經(jīng)崩潰，但它的文化仍然蓬勃發(fā)展，與東方的文化更加不同。埃及和黎凡特從拜占庭轉(zhuǎn)入阿拉伯勢力。這兩個地區(qū)在文化上獨立于拜占庭帝國，有時甚至相反于拜占庭帝國，貿(mào)易商、大使和戰(zhàn)士越過邊境訪問了這座城市。這就是為什么我們知道君士坦丁堡的外觀。

We can draw on several such observations. Among the most lively and opinionated are those of Liutprand, bishop of Cremona, who visited Constantinople, acting as ambassador of Berengarius, regent of Lombardy, in 949. Liutprand returned, this time as emissary of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I, in 968-9. His two reports are very different in tone. In 949 he was a young man, not at all a practised diplomat, and he had been deliberately starved of funds by his own monarch. It is clear that he was favourably impressed by the real friendship shown to him by the Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. Here Liutptand describes one of the entertainments at Christmas dinner at the Palace in 949 (we shall hear more of the same dinner later).

? ? ? ? ? 我們可以借鑒幾個這樣的觀察結(jié)果。其中最活躍、最有主見的是克雷莫納主教柳特普蘭德，他于 949 年訪問君士坦丁堡，擔(dān)任倫巴第攝政貝倫加里烏斯的大使。柳特普蘭德于 968-9年作為神圣羅馬帝國皇帝奧托一世的使者回來了。他的兩份報告在語氣上大相徑庭。 949年他還是個年輕人，根本不是一個熟練的外交官，而且他被自己的君主故意剝奪了資金。顯然，君士坦丁七世波菲羅根托斯皇帝向他展示的真正友誼給他留下了深刻的印象。在這里，柳特普蘭德描述了 949 年在皇宮舉行的圣誕晚宴上的一項娛樂活動（稍后我們將聽到更多關(guān)于同一晚宴的消息）。

A man came in carrying on his head, without using his hands, a wooden pole twenty-four feet or more long, which, a foot and a half from the top, had a cross piece three feet wide. Then two boys appeared, naked except for loincloths around their middles, who went up the pole, did various tricks on it, and then came down head first, keeping the pole all the time as steady as though it were rooted in the earth. When one had come down, the other remained on the pole and performed by himself: that filled me with even greater astonishment and admiration. While they were both performing, their feat seemed barely possible; for, wonderful as it was, the evenness of their weights kept the pole up which they climbed balanced. But when one remained at the top and kept his balance so accurately that he could both do his tricks and come down again without mishap, I was so bewildered that the Emperor himself noticed my astonishment. He therefore called an interpreter, and asked me which seemed the more amazing, the boy who had moved so carefully that the pole remained firm, or the man who had so deftly balanced it on his head that neither the boys' weight nor their performance had disturbed it in the least. I replied that I did not know which I thought thaumastoteron, more amazing; and he burst into a loud laugh and said he was in the same case, he did not know either.

? ? ? ? ? 一個人進(jìn)來，不用手，頭頂著一根二十四尺或更長的木桿，上面有一尺半，有一個三尺寬的橫梁。隨即出現(xiàn)了兩個男孩，赤身裸體，只在他們中間纏著一條腰帶，他們上到桿子上，在上面做了各種花樣，然后頭朝下下來，始終保持桿子的穩(wěn)定，好像它扎根在土里一樣。一個下來，另一個留在桿子上自己表演，這讓我更加驚訝和欽佩。雖然他們都在表演，但他們的壯舉幾乎不可思議。如此美妙，他們重量的均勻性使他們攀登的桿子保持平衡。但是當(dāng)一個人保持在頂部并保持如此準(zhǔn)確的平衡以致既可以發(fā)揮作用又可以毫無意外地再次下降時，我感到非常困惑，以至于皇帝本人也注意到了我的驚訝。因此，他叫來了翻譯，問我哪個更令人驚奇，是那個男孩移動得如此小心以至于桿子保持牢固，還是那個人巧妙地將桿子放在頭上，以至于男孩的體重和他們的表現(xiàn)都沒有打擾它。我回答說我不知道哪個奇術(shù)更神奇；他放聲大笑，說自己也是這種情況，他也不知道。

On his second embassy, twenty years later, a maturer and more cynical Liutprand was faced with Nicephorus II Phocas, who had no liking for Liutprand or Otto I, no interest in their aims and no time left for diplomacy. Nicephorus may be forgiven if he was feeling insecure: he was actually about to be butchered by his wife's lover, who then supplanted him to become John I Tzimisces.

? ? ? ? ? 二十年后，在他的第二個大使館，一個更成熟、更憤世嫉俗的柳特普蘭德面對的是尼基弗魯斯二世·?？ㄋ?，后者不喜歡柳特普蘭德或奧托一世，對他們的目標(biāo)不感興趣，也沒有時間進(jìn)行外交。如果尼基弗魯斯感到不安全，他可能會被原諒：他實際上即將被他妻子的情人謀殺，然后取代他成為約翰一世Tzimisces。

This time, for whatever combination of reasons, Liutprand was treated with mistrust. His report is always critical, often caustic, sometimes bitter, whether he is speaking of Constantinople itself or of a far-off province:

? ? ? ? ? On the sixth of December we came to Leucas, where, as by all the other bishops, we were most unkindly received and treated by the bishop, who is a eunuch. In all Greece - I speak the truth and do not lie - I found no hospitable bishops. They are both poor and rich: rich in gold coins wherewith they gamble recklessly; poor in servants and utensils. They sit by themselves at a bare little table, with a paximacium in front of them, and drink their own bath water, or, rather, they sip it from a tiny glass. They do their own buying and selling; they close and open their front doors themselves; they are their own stewards, their own donkey-men, their own capones - I meant to say caupones, 'innkeepers', but I have written capones, 'eunuchs', which is all too true and against canon law. And the other is against canon law too. True it is of them:

Of old a lettuce ended the repast: Today it is the first course and the last.

? ? ? ? ? 這一次，無論出于何種原因，柳特普蘭德都受到不信任。他的報告總是批評性的，經(jīng)常是刻薄的，有時是苦澀的，無論他是在談?wù)摼刻苟”け旧磉€是一個遙遠(yuǎn)的省份：

? ? ? ? ? 12 月 6 日，我們來到了勒烏卡斯，在那里，和所有其他主教一樣，我們受到了作為太監(jiān)的主教最無情的接待和對待。在整個希臘——我說真話，不說謊——我找不到好客的主教。他們既窮又富：富于金幣，肆無忌憚地賭博；仆人和用具貧乏。他們獨自坐在一張光禿禿的小桌子前，面前擺著一個paximacium，喝自己的洗澡水，或者更確切地說，他們從一個小玻璃杯里啜飲。他們自己買賣； 他們自己開關(guān)前門；他們是他們自己的管家，他們自己的驢夫，他們自己的奴隸——我的意思是說 capones，“旅館老板”，但我寫了 capones，“太監(jiān)”，這太真實了，違反了教規(guī)。另一個也違反了教會法。確實是他們：

“老主教（生菜代指）結(jié)束了晚餐：今天是第一道菜，也是最后一道菜?！?/span>

Ambassadors were not supposed to allow themselves to be overawed by Constantinople. Others, generally, found the city impressive, and this is not surprising. With at least half a million inhabitants it was the biggest city they would ever see. More than that, they found it magical and fearsome. Stephen of Novgorod, one of the numerous Russian pilgrims who passed through Constantinople, may be allowed to speak for many of them: 'The entrance to Constantinople is as if you were in a vast forest, and you cannot find your way without a good guide. If you try to find your way cheaply or stingily, you will not be able to see or kiss a single saint, except, perhaps, that you can do so if it is that saint's feast day.' The young Liutprand on his first visit allowed himself to give Constantinople a couple of generous superlatives - 'its inhabitants, as they surpass other peoples in wealth, also surpass them in wisdom' - but another Western visitor, Odo of Deuil, who passed through Constantinople on the Second Crusade in 1147, gives a pejorative twist to the same observation.) 'Constantinople is a city of extremes. She surpasses other cities in wealth, and she surpasses them in vice.'

? ? ? ? ? 大使們不應(yīng)該讓自己被君士坦丁堡嚇倒。其他人普遍認(rèn)為這座城市令人印象深刻，這并不奇怪。它擁有至少 50 萬居民，是他們見過的最大的城市。不僅如此，他們還覺得它神奇而可怕。諾夫哥羅德的斯蒂芬是眾多經(jīng)過君士坦丁堡的俄羅斯朝圣者之一，他可能被允許為他們中的許多人說話：“君士坦丁堡的入口就像你在一片廣闊的森林中，如果沒有一個好的向?qū)?，你就找不到自己的路。如果你試圖以廉價或吝嗇的方式找到自己的路，你將無法看到或親吻一個圣人，除非，如果那是圣人的節(jié)日，你可以這樣做。年輕的柳特普朗在他第一次訪問時允許自己給君士坦丁堡一些慷慨的最高級評價——“這里的居民，因為他們在財富上超過其他民族，在智慧上也超過他們”——但另一位西方游客，杜伊的奧多，他經(jīng)歷l君士坦丁堡在 1147 年的第二次十字軍東征，對同一觀察進(jìn)行了貶義的扭曲。）“君士坦丁堡是一座極端的城市。她的財富超過了其他城市，她的罪惡也超過了他們。

Not only can we see how Constantinople and its food appeared to outsiders. Occasionally we are told how outsiders and their food appeared to those of the City. The adventurers of the Fourth Crusade, though overawed by their first view of Constantinople as Geoffroi de Villehardouin described it, succeeded in seizing the city and its empire in 1204. This is how the Byzantine historian Nicetas Choniates describes them. "They revelled and drank strong wine all day long. Some favoured luxury foods; others recreated their own native dishes, such as an ox rib apiece, or slices of salt pork cooked with beans, and sauces made with garlic or with a combination of other bitter flavours.’ To this meticulous author, filled with bitter hatred for the destroyers of the world he had known, we owe a first precious record of that favourite dish of the wild warriors of southern France, cassoulet.

? ? ? ? ? 我們不僅可以看到君士坦丁堡及其食物在外人面前是如何出現(xiàn)的。有時我們會被告知外人和他們的食物是如何出現(xiàn)在城市的人眼中。第四次十字軍東征的冒險家們雖然被 Geoffroi de Villehardouin（杰弗里·德·維爾哈杜安）所描述的第一次看到君士坦丁堡的景象所震撼，但在 1204 年成功地占領(lǐng)了這座城市及其帝國。拜占庭歷史學(xué)家尼塞塔斯·喬尼亞特斯是這樣描述它們的。 “他們整天陶醉并喝著烈酒。一些人喜歡奢侈的食物；另一些人則重新制作了自己的本土菜肴，例如牛肋骨，或用豆子烹制的咸豬肉片，以及用大蒜或其他混合制成的醬汁（苦味）。”這位一絲不茍的作者，對他所知道的世界的破壞者充滿了強(qiáng)烈的仇恨，我們欠法國南部野戰(zhàn)士最喜歡的那道菜的第一份珍貴記錄。（法式慢燉菜）

未完待續(xù)！