[Note that][1] among the colors, some are simple[2] -- these are the contrary ones, such as black and white --, while others are compounded, like the colors between these, for they are the result of a precise mixture of the contrary colors with each other. Some of them [are] closer to white, like yellow; others [are] closer to black, like dark-blue. All the remaining ones [are] intermediate between these, such as grey, red. It is the same for flavors: "simple" are the opposite ones, that is, "sweet" and "bitter"; the others are mixed and intermediate, but closer to sweet is "unctuous",[3] while "salty"[4] is closer to bitter and all the remaining are between these. But the intermediate flavors are by no means mixed too: for the mixed ones are also intermediate, but the inverse relation is not true. An example is colors: for gray, being mixed, is an intermediate [color], yet red or green are not at all originated by the mixture of the opposite colors, but are called intermediate because they are not composed of any part of the extreme colors. The same relation is valid for flavors, since "salty" is a mixed flavor, as is the salt, which draws its taste from the bitterness and sweetness of marine water; on the other hand, "pungent", "harsh",[5] and "acid", since they contain no part of the two extremes, are for this reason intermediate. And if there is some other flavor close to these, it is tasteless, like "insipid" or anything similar. So Aristotle, in his classification of the eight species of flavors,[6] classifies two of them as extreme, that is, sweet and bitter, then six as intermediate: close to sweet [he puts] unctuous, close to bitter, [he puts] salty, and in between are astringent,[7] harsh, pungent, acid. But Galen[8] includes among the simple, extreme [flavors] not sweet and bitter, but pungent and acid: anyway, the two [authors] are not in disagreement, for one of them [i.e. Galen], being a physician, called these [flavors] extreme, looking at their effective qualities [sc. for the body], since "astringent" is extreme in reference to the warmth, "acid" is extreme in reference to the chill.[9] The other [i.e. Aristotle], by contrast, as a philosopher established the opposition in the following way, not looking at the effective qualities, but at the qualities one can feel by tasting, for among the sensible flavours the extremes are bitter and sweet. In addition, Plato[10] has used such a classification: he speaks of seven flavors; for he associates unctuous and sweet, saying that unctuous if coupled with a pleasant sensation produces sweet, but if separated from any pleasant sensation produces bitter. We mean for "sweet" e.g. [the taste of] honey, for "unctuous" oily foods, for "acid" vinegar, for "astringent" wild pears, for "harsh" wine, for "salty" salt, for "bitter" wormwood, for "pungent" pepper. [Plato] says that the extreme ones are acid and pungent, and close to the extremes are astringent (close to acid) and bitter (close to pungent); in the middle are salty (close to bitter) and harsh (close to astringent). Sweet occupies the central position. Plato also connects these flavors with the seven planets: acid to Mercury, astringent to Mars, bitter to the Moon, sweet to the Sun, salty to Venus, harsh to Jupiter, acid to Saturn; but let us overlook the reason behind that, as nonsense.