"There is a double difference with mushrooms. For they are either edible or they are poisonous. They are like this for many reasons. For either they grow up alongside rusted warts, or putrefying rags, or creeping animals' caves, or particularly harmful plants. And some kinds of mushrooms have a slippery scum, and when they are stored after being picked quickly become poisonous, since they are putrefying. Some, however, are not like this, but make for pleasant tasting stock. Nevertheless, if they are eaten in too great a quantity, they, too, are harmful because they are not easily digested, either choking or bringing on nausea. Everyone who drinks it is aided by soda and oil, or lye with brine, or a decoction of savory or oregano, or bird droppings taken with vinegar, or by licking a lot of honey. They are nutritious and hard to dissolve. People for the most part are restored after evacuating them along with bodily residues."

μυκήτων διαφορὰ δισσή· ἢ γὰρ βρώσιμοί εἰσιν ἢ φθαρτικοί. παρὰ πολλὰς δὲ αἰτίας γίνονται τοιοῦτοι· ἢ γὰρ ἥλοις κατιωμένοις ἢ ῥάκεσι σεσηπόσιν ἢ ἑρπετῶν φωλεοῖς παραφύονται ἢ δένδρεσιν ἰδίως βλαπτικοῖς. ἔχουσι δὲ καὶ γλινώδη οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἐπίπαγον, κατατεθέντες δὲ μετὰ τὸ ἀφαιρεθῆναι ταχέως διαφθείρονται σηπόμενοι· οἱ δὲ μὴ τοιοῦτοι, ζωμοποιοὶ ἡδεῖς. πλεονασθέντες μέντοι καὶ οὗτοι βλάπτουσι δυσπεπτούμενοι, πνίγοντες ἢ χολέραν ἐπάγοντες. βοηθοῦνται δὲ πάντες ποτιζόμενοι νίτρῳ καὶ ἐλαίῳ ἢ κονίᾳ μετ' ὀξάλμης ἢ θύμβρας ἀποζέματι ἢ ὀριγάνῳ ἢ ὀρνιθείᾳ κόπρῳ μετ' ὄξους πινομένῃ ἢ μέλιτι πολλῷ ἐκλειχομένῳ. τρόφιμοι δέ εἰσι καὶ δυσδιάλυτοι· ὁλοσχερεῖς δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ σὺν τοῖς περιττώμασιν ἀποδίδονται.

Dioscorides, De materia medica, 4.82

"Mushrooms are considerably cold and moist, whence they also come close to having a noxious capacity. And some of them are certainly deadly, especially those whose nature is mixed with some putrefactive quality."

Μύκης ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρὸν ἱκανῶς φυτὸν, ὅθεν καὶ δηλητηρίου δυνάμεως ἐγγὺς ἥκει. καί τινές γε ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀναιροῦσι, καὶ μάλισθ' ὅσοι τὴν φύσιν ἐπίμικτον ἔχουσιν σηπεδονώδει τινὶ ποιότητι.

Galen, On simple drugs, 7.12.25 (XII 79,17-80,2 Kühn)

"Mushrooms are considerably cold and moist in their mixture and come close to having a noxious capacity."

Μύκητες ψυχροὶ καὶ ὑγροὶ τὴν κρᾶσιν ἱκανῶς καὶ δηλητηρίου δυνάμεως ἐγγὺς ἥκουσιν.

Oribasius, Collectiones medicae, XV 1.12.87 (266,5-6 Raeder)

"Mushrooms are a considerably cold and moist food, whence they also come close to having a noxious capacity and some of them are also deadly."

Μύκητες ψυχρὸν καὶ ὑγρὸν ἱκανῶς ἔδεσμα, ὅθεν καὶ δηλητηρίου δυνάμεως ἐγγὺς ἥκουσι καί τινες αὐτῶν καὶ ἀναιροῦσι.

Aetius of Amida, Libri medicinales, I 284 (112,14-15 Olivieri)

"Diocles of Carystus, in the first book of Matters of Health, says: ‘wild plants to be boiled: beetroot, mallow, docks, nettles, orach, grape-hyacinth, truffles, mushrooms'."

Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος ἐν αʹ Ὑγιεινῶν φησιν· ‘ἄγρια ἑψήματα τεῦτλον, μαλάχη, λάπαθον, ἀκαλήφη, ἀνδράφαξυς, βολβοί, ὕδνα, μύκαι.’

Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae (epitome), 2.57, 61c = fr. 195 van der Eijk

"Kephisodoros, a student of Isocrates, in his books against Aristotle (four books, in fact), criticizes the philosopher because he did not consider it worthwhile to produce a work collecting proverbs, although Antiphanes made a whole play entitled, “Proverbs”, from which these words are cited:

'Actually, if I eat any of your stuff, I'd look like I was eating raw mushrooms or sour apples or some other food that chokes a person.'

Mushrooms are produced earth-born and there are few of them that are edible. Many, in fact, are liable to suffocate (=choke) you. That’s why Epicharmus said jokingly:

'You're suffocating me like mushrooms drying out my mouth'."

ὅτι Κηφισόδωρος ὁ Ἰσοκράτους μαθητὴς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ Ἀριστοτέλους (τέσσαρα δ' ἐστὶ ταῦτα βιβλία) ἐπιτιμᾷ τῷ φιλοσόφῳ ὡς οὐ ποιήσαντι λόγου ἄξιον τὸ παροιμίας ἀθροῖσαι, Ἀντιφάνους ὅλον ποιήσαντος δρᾶμα τὸ ἐπιγραφόμενον Παροιμίαι· ἐξ οὗ καὶ παρατίθεται τάδε·

«ἐγὼ γὰρ εἰ τῶν ὑμετέρων φάγοιμί τι, μύκητας ὠμοὺς ἂν φαγεῖν <ἐμοὶ> δοκῶ καὶ στρυφνὰ μῆλα κεἴ τι πνίγει βρῶμά τι.»

φύονται δὲ οἱ μύκητες γηγενεῖς καί εἰσιν αὐτῶν ἐδώδιμοι ὀλίγοι· οἱ γὰρ πολλοὶ ἀποπνίγουσιν. διὸ καὶ Ἐπίχαρμος παίζων ἔφη·

«οἷον αἱ μύκαι ἄρ' ἐπεσκληκότες πνιξεῖσθε.»

Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae (epitome), 2.56-2.57, 60e-f