TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
THE
DEIPNOSOPHISTS
OR
BANQUET OF THE LEARNED
OF
ATHENÆUS.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED
By C. D. YONGE, B.A.
WITH AN APPENDIX OF POETICAL FRAGMENTS,
RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY VARIOUS AUTHORS,
AND A GENERAL INDEX.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLIV.
LONDON:
R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
BOOK VII.
The Phagesia—Fish—Epicures—Cooks—Sharks—Fish—Glaucus
—Eels—The Tunny-fish—Fish—Pike—Fish—The Polypus 433-521
BOOK VIII.
Aquatic Animals—Fish—Recommendations to present Enjoyment—
Fish—Hyperides—Epicures—Stratonicus—Aristotle—Aristotle's
Natural History—Fish—The Swallow—Ephesus—Names of Feasts
—Feasts—The Dole-basket 523-576
BOOK IX.
The words Τακεπὸϛ and Σίναπι—The word πάρψιϛ—Turnips—
Cabbage—Leeks—Poultry—Anaxandrides—Pigs—Cooks—Use
of particular Words—Learned Cooks—Cooks—Use
of particular Words—Made Dishes—Pheasants—The
Porphyrion—Partridges—The Bustard—Sparrows—Quails
—Pigeons—Ducks—Sucklings—Attic form of Nouns in ωϛ—
Loins—Hares—The word Σύαγροϛ—Dinners—Cookery—Chamæleon—
Bean Soup—Soap—Towels 576-648
BOOK X.
Ulysses—Voracity of certain Persons—Of Mithridates—Of
the Bœotians—Of the Thessalians—Menedemus—Praise of
Temperance—Stilpo—Mixing Wine—Cupbearers—Drinking—The
Proportions of Mixed Wine—Drinking—Wine—Lacedæmonian
Fashions—Thirst—Philip of Macedon—Arcadion—Dionysius
—Antiochus Epiphanes—Demetrius—Female Drinkers—The
Illyrians—Evils of Drunkenness Forms of Πίνω—
Τρῖφοι—Riddles—Τρῖφοι—Euripides—Τρῖφοι—Enigmatical
Sayings—Capping Verses—Τρῖφοι 648-725
BOOK XI.
Cups—Drinking Pledges—Athenian Banquets—Drinking-cups
—The Pleiades—Meaning of particular Words—Drinking—cups
—Plato. 725-815
[Sidenote: THE PHAGESIA.]
BOOK VII.
1. AND when the Banquet was now finished, the cynics, thinking that the
festival of the Phagesia was being celebrated, were delighted above all
things, and Cynulcus said,—While we are supping, O Ulpian, since it is
on words that you are feasting us, I propose to you this question,—In
what author do you find any mention of the festivals called Phagesia,
and Phagesiposia? And he, hesitating, and bidding the slaves desist
from carrying the dishes round, though it was now evening, said,—I do
not recollect, you very wise man, so that you may tell us yourself,
in order that you may sup more abundantly and more pleasantly. And he
rejoined,—If you will promise to thank me when I have told you, I will
tell you. And as he agreed to thank him, he continued;—Clearchus, the
pupil of Aristotle, but a Solensian by birth, in the first book of his
treatise on Pictures, (for I recollect his very expressions, because I
took a great fancy to them,) speaks as follows:—"Phagesia—but some call
the festival Phagesiposia—but this festival has ceased, as also has
that of the Rhapsodists, which they celebrated about the time of the
Dionysiac festival, in which every one as they passed by sang a hymn
to the god by way of doing him honour." This is what Clearchus wrote.
And if you doubt it, my friend, I, who have got the book, will not mind
lending it to you. And you may learn a good deal from it, and get a
great many questions to ask us out of it. For he relates that Callias
the Athenian composed a Grammatical Tragedy, from which Euripides in
his Medea, and Sophocles in his Œdipus, derived their choruses and the
arrangement of their plot.
2. And when all the guests marvelled at the literary accomplishments
of Cynulcus, Plutarch said,—In like manner there used to be celebrated
in my own Alexandria a Flagon-bearing festival, which is mentioned
by Eratosthenes in his treatise entitled Arsinoe. And lie speaks as
follows:—"When Ptolemy was instituting a festival and all kinds of
sacrifices, and especially those which relate to Bacchus, Arsinoe
asked the man who bore the branches, what day he was celebrating now,
and what festival it was. And when he replied, 'It is called the
Lagynophoria; and the guests lie down on beds and so eat all that they
have brought with them, and every one drinks out of his own flagon
which he has brought from home;' and when he had departed, she, looking
towards us, said, 'It seems a very dirty kind of party; for it is quite
evident that it must be an assembly of a mixed multitude, all putting
down stale food and such as is altogether unseasonable and unbecoming.'
But if the kind of feast had pleased her, then the queen would not have
objected to preparing the very same things herself, as is done at the
festival called Choes. For there every one feasts separately, and the
inviter only supplies the materials for the feast."
3. But one of the Grammarians who were present, looking on the
preparation of the feast, said,—In the next place, how shall we ever
be able to eat so large a supper? Perhaps we are to go on "during the
night," as that witty writer Aristophanes says in his Æolosicon, where
however his expression is "during the whole night." And, indeed, Homer
uses the preposition διὰ in the same way, for he says—
He lay within the cave stretch'd o'er the sheep (διὰ μήλων);
where διὰ μήλων means "over _all_ the sheep," indicating the size of
the giant. And Daphnus the physician answered him; Meals taken late
at night, my friend, are more advantageous for everybody. For the
influence of the moon is well adapted to promote the digestion of food,
since the moon has putrefying properties; and digestion depends upon
putrefaction. Accordingly victims slain at night are more digestible;
and wood which is cut down by moonlight decays more rapidly. And also
the greater proportion of fruits ripen by moonlight.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
4. But since there were great many sorts of fish, and those very
different both as to size and beauty, which had been served up and
which were still being constantly served up for the guests, Myrtilus
said,—Although all the different dishes which we eat, besides the
regular meal, are properly called by one generic name, ὄψον, still it
is very deservedly that on account of its delicious taste fish has
prevailed over everything else, and has appropriated the name to itself;
because men are so exceedingly enamoured of this kind of food.
Accordingly we speak of men as ὀψοφάγοι, not meaning people who
eat beef (such as Hercules was, who ate beef and green figs mixed
together); nor do we mean by such a term a man who is fond of figs; as
was Plato the philosopher, according to the account given of him by
Phanocritus in his treatise on the Glorious: and he tells us in the
same book that Arcesilas was fond of grapes: but we mean by the term
only those people who haunt the fish-market. And Philip of Macedon was
fond of apples, and so was his son Alexander, as Dorotheus tells us in
the sixth book of his history of the Life and Actions of Alexander.
But Chares of Mitylene relates that Alexander, having found the finest
apples which he had ever seen in the country around Babylon, filled
boats with them, and had a battle of apples from the vessels, so as
to present a most beautiful spectacle. And I am not ignorant that,
properly speaking, whatever is prepared for being eaten by the agency
of fire is called ὄψον. For indeed the word is either identical with
ἐψὸν, or else perhaps it is derived from ὀπτάω, to roast.
5. Since then there are a great many different kinds of fish which
we eat at different seasons, my most admirable Timocrates, (for, as
Sophocles says—
A chorus too of voiceless fish rush'd on,
Making a noise with their quick moving tails.
The tails not fawning on their mistress, but beating against the dish.
And as Achæus says in his Fates—
There was a mighty mass of the sea-born herd—
A spectacle which fill'd the wat'ry waste,
Breaking the silence with their rapid tails;)
I will now recapitulate to you what the Deipnosophists said about
each: for each of them brought to the discussion of the subject some
contribution of quotation from books; though I will not mention the
names of all who took part in the conversation, they were so numerous.
Amphis says in his Leucas—
Whoever buys some ὄψον for his supper,
And, when he might get real genuine fish,
Contents himself with radishes, is mad.
And that you may find it easy to remember what was said, I will arrange
the names in alphabetical order. For as Sophocles, in his Ajax
Mastigophorus, called fish ἐλλοὶ, saying—
He gave him to the ἐλλοὶ ἰχύες to eat;
one of the company asked whether any one before Sophocles ever
used this word; to whom Zoilus replied,—But I, who am not a person
ὀψοφαγίστατοϛ [exceedingly fond of fish], (for that is a word which
Xenophon has used in his Memorabilia, where he writes, "He is
ὀψοφαγίστατοϛ and the greatest fool possible,") am well aware that the
man who wrote the poem Titanomachia [or the Battle of the Giants],
whether he be Eumelus the Corinthian, or Arctinus, or whatever else his
name may chance to have been, in the second book of his poem speaks
thus—
In it did swim the gold-faced ἐλλοὶ ἐχθύεϛ,
And sported in the sea's ambrosial depths.
And Sophocles was very fond of the Epic Cycle, so that he composed even
entire plays in which he has followed the stories told in their fables.
6. Presently when the tunnies called Amiæ were put on the table, some
one said,—Aristotle speaks of this fish, and says that they have gills
out of sight, and that they have very sharp teeth, and that they belong
to the gregarious and carnivorous class of fishes: and that they have
a gall of equal extent with their whole intestines, and a spleen of
corresponding proportions. It is said also that when they are hooked,
they leap up towards the fisherman, and bite through the line and so
escape. And Archippus mentions them in his play entitled the Fishes,
where he says—
But when you were eating the fat amiæ.
And Epicharmus in his Sirens says—
_A._ In the morning early, at the break of day,
We roasted plump anchovies,
Cutlets of well-fed pork, and polypi;
And then we drank sweet wine.
_B._ Alack! alack! my silly wife detain'd me,
Chattering near the monument.
_A._ I'm sorry for you. Then, too, there were mullets
And large plump amiæ—
A noble pair i' the middle of the table,
And eke a pair of pigeons,
A scorpion and a lobster.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
And Aristotle, inquiring into the etymology of the name, says that
they were called amiæ, παρὰ τὸ ἅμα ἰέναι ταῖς παραπλησίαις (from their
going in shoals with their companions of the same kind). But Icesius,
in his treatise on the Materials of Food, says that they are full of a
wholesome juice, and tender, but only of moderate excellency as far as
their digestible properties go, and not very nutritious.
7. But Archestratus,—that writer so curious in all that relates to
cookery,—in his Gastrology (for that is the title of the book as it
is given by Lycophron, in his treatise on Comedy, just as the work of
Cleostratus of Tenedos is called Astrology), speaks thus of the amia:—
But towards the end of autumn, when the Pleiad
Has hidden its light, then dress the amiæ
Whatever way you please. Why need I teach you?
For then you cannot spoil it, if you wish.
But if you should desire, Moschus my friend,
To know by what recipe you best may dress it;
Take the green leaves of fig-trees, and some marjoram,
But not too much; no cheese or other nonsense,
But merely wrap it up in the fig-leaves,
And tie it round with a small piece of string,
Then bury it beneath the glowing ashes,
Judging by instinct of the time it takes
To be completely done without being burnt.
And if you wish to have the best o' their kind,
Take care to get them from Byzantium;
Or if they come from any sea near that
They'll not be bad: but if you go down lower,
And pass the straits into the Ægæan sea,
They're quite a different thing, in flavour worse
As well as size, and merit far less praise.
8. But this Archestratus was so devoted to luxury, that he travelled
over every country and every sea, with great diligence, wishing, as
it seems to me, to seek out very carefully whatever related to his
stomach; and, as men do who write Itineraries and Books of Voyages, so
he wishes to relate everything with the greatest accuracy, and to tell
where every kind of eatable is to be got in the greatest perfection;
for this is what he professes himself, in the preface to his admirable
Book of Precepts, which he addresses to his companions, Moschus and
Cleander; enjoining them, as the Pythian priestess says, to seek
A horse from Thessaly, a wife from Sparta, And men who
drink at Arethusa's fount.
And Chrysippus, a man who was a genuine philosopher, and a thorough
man at all points, says that he was the teacher of Epicurus, and
of all those who follow his rules, in everything which belongs to
pleasure, which is the ruin of everything. For Epicurus says, without
any concealment, but speaking with a loud voice, as it were, "For I
am not able to distinguish what is good if you once take away the
pleasure arising from sweet flavours, and if you also take away
amatory pleasures." For this wise man thinks that even the life of the
intemperate man is an unimpeachable one, if he enjoys an immunity from
fear, and also mirth. On which account also the comic poets, running
down the Epicureans, attack them as mere servants and ministers of
pleasure and intemperance.
9. Plato, in his Joint Deceiver, representing a father as indignant
with his son's tutor, makes him say—
_A._ You've taken this my son, and ruin'd him,
You scoundrel; you've persuaded him to choose
A mode of life quite foreign to his nature
And disposition; taught by your example,
He drinks i' the morning, which he ne'er was used to do.
_B._ Do you blame me, master, that your son
Has learnt to live?
_A._ But do you call that living?
_B._ Wise men do call it so. And Epicurus
Tells us that pleasure is the only good.
_A._ Indeed; I never heard that rule before.
Does pleasure come then from no other source?
Is not a virtuous life a pleasure now?
Will you not grant me that?—Tell me, I pray you,
Did you e'er see a grave philosopher
Drunk, or devoted to these joys you speak of?
_B._ Yes; all of them.—All those who raise their brows,
Who walk about the streets for wise men seeking,
As if they had escaped their eyes and hid:
Still when a turbot once is set before them,
Know how to help themselves the daintiest bits.
They seek the head and most substantial parts,
As if they were an argument dissecting,
So that men marvel at their nicety.
And in his play entitled the Homicide, the same Plato, laughing at one
of those gentle philosophers, says—
The man who has a chance to pay his court
To a fair woman, and at eve to drink
Two bottles full of richest Lesbian wine,
Must be a wise man; these are real goods.
These things I speak of are what Epicurus
Tells us are real joys; and if the world
All lived the happy life I live myself,
There would not be one wicked man on earth.
[Sidenote: EPICURES.]
And Hegesippus, in his Philetairi, says—
That wisest Epicurus, when a man
Once ask'd him what was the most perfect good
Which men should constantly be seeking for,
Said pleasure is that good.
Wisest and best Of mortal men, full truly didst thou speak:
For there is nothing better than a dinner,
And every good consists in every pleasure.
10. But the Epicureans are not the only men who are addicted to
pleasure; but those philosophers are so too who belong to what are
called the Cyrenaic and the Mnesistratean sects; for these men delight
to live luxuriously, as Posidonius tells us. And Speusippus did
not much differ from them, though he was a pupil and a relation of
Plato's. At all events, Dionysius the tyrant, in his letters to him,
enumerating all the instances of his devotion to pleasure, and also of
his covetousness, and reproaching him with having levied contributions
on numbers of people, attacks him also on account of his love for
Lasthenea, the Arcadian courtesan. And, at the end of all, he says
this—"Whom do you charge with covetousness, when you yourself omit no
opportunity of amassing base gain? For what is there that you have been
ashamed to do? Are you not now attempting to collect contributions,
after having paid yourself for Hermeas all that he owed?"
11. And about Epicurus, Timon, in the third book of his Silli, speaks
as follows:—
Seeking at all times to indulge his stomach,
Than which there's no more greedy thing on earth.
For, on account of his stomach, and of the rest of his sensual
pleasures, the man was always flattering Idomeneus and Metrodorus. And
Metrodorus himself, not at all disguising this admirable principle of
his, says, somewhere or other, "The fact is, Timocrates, my natural
philosopher, that every investigation which is guided by principles of
nature, fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach." For
Epicurus was the tutor of all these men; who said, shouting it out, as
I may say, "The fountain and root of every good is the pleasure of the
stomach: and all wise rules, and all superfluous rules, are measured
alike by this standard." And in his treatise on the Chief Good, he
speaks nearly as follows: "For I am not able to understand what is
good, if I leave out of consideration the pleasures which arise from
delicately-flavoured food, and if I also leave out the pleasures which
arise from amatory indulgences; and if I also omit those which arise
from music, and those, too, which are derived from the contemplation
of beauty and the gratification of the eyesight." And, proceeding a
little further, he says, "All that is beautiful is naturally to be
honoured; and so is virtue, and everything of that sort, if it assists
in producing or causing pleasure. But if it does not contribute to that
end, then it may be disregarded.
12. And before Epicurus, Sophocles, the tragic poet, in his Antigone,
had uttered these sentiments respecting pleasure—
For when a man contemns and ceases thus
To seek for pleasure, I do not esteem
That such an one doth live; I only deem him
A breathing corpse:—he may, indeed, perhaps
Have store of wealth within his joyless house;
He may keep up a kingly pomp and state;
But if these things be not with joy attended,
They are mere smoke and shadow, and contribute,
No, not one jot, to make life enviable.
And Philetærus says, in his Huntress,—
For what, I pray you, should a mortal do,
But seek for all appliances and means
To make his life from day to day pass happily?
This should be all our object and our aim,
Reflecting on the chance of human life.
And never let us think about to-morrow,
Whether it will arrive at all or not.
It is a foolish trouble to lay up
Money which may become stale and useless.
And the same poet says, in his Œnopion,—
But every man who lives but sparingly,
Having sufficient means, I call and think
Of all men the most truly miserable.
For when you're dead, you cannot then eat eels;
No wedding feasts are cook'd in Pluto's realms.
13. And Apollodorus the Carystian, in his Stirrer-up of Law-suits,
says—
O men, whoe'er you are, why do you now
Scorn pleasant living, and turn all your thoughts
To do each other mischief in fierce war?
In God's name, tell me, does some odious fate,
Rude and unlettered, destitute of all
That can be knowledge call'd, or education,
Ignorant of what is bad and what is good,
Guide all your destiny?—a fate which settles
[Sidenote: EPICURES.]
All your affairs at random by mere chance?
I think it must be so: for else, what deity
Who bears a Grecian heart, would ever choose
To see Greeks by each other thus despoil'd,
And falling dead in ghastly heaps of corpses,
When she might see them sportive, gay, and jesting,
Drinking full cups, and singing to the flute?
Tell me, my friend, I pray, and put to shame
This most unpolish'd clownish fortune.
And, presently afterwards, he says—
Does not a life like this deserve the name
Of godlike?—Think how far more pleasant all
Affairs would be in all the towns of Greece
Than now they are, if we were but to change
Our fashions, and our habits, and our principles
One little bit. Why should we not proclaim,
"Whoe'er is more than thirty years of age,
Let him come forth and drink. Let all the cavalry
Go to a feast at Corinth, for ten days,
Crown'd with chaplets, and perfumed most sweetly.
Let all who radishes have got to sell
Come in the morning here from Megara.
Bid all th' allies now hasten to the bath,
And mix in cups the rich Eubœan wine?"—
Sure this is real luxury and life,
But we are slaves to a most clownish fortune.
14. The poets say that that ancient hero, Tantalus, was also greatly
devoted to pleasure. At all events, the author of the book called The
Return of the Atridæ says "that he, when he had arrived among the gods,
and had begun to live among them, had leave given him by Jupiter to
ask for whatever he wished; and that he, being a man quite insatiable
in the gratification of his appetites, asked that it might be granted
to him to indulge them to their full extent, and to live in the same
manner as the gods. And that Jupiter was indignant at this request,
and, according to his promise, fulfilled his prayer; but still, that he
might not enjoy what he had before him, but be everlastingly tormented,
he hung a stone over his head, on account of which he should be unable
to get at any of the things which he had before him." Some of the
Stoics also were addicted to this kind of pleasure. At all events,
Eratosthenes the Cyrenean, who was a pupil of Ariston the Chian, who
was one of the sect of the Stoics, in his treatise which is entitled
Ariston, represents his master as subsequently being much addicted
to luxury, speaking as follows: "And before now, I have at times
discovered him breaking down, as it were, the partition wall between
pleasure and virtue, and appearing on the side of pleasure." And
Apollophanes (and he was an acquaintance of Ariston), in his Ariston
(for he also wrote a book with that title), shows the way in which his
master was addicted to pleasure. And why need we mention Dionysius
of Heraclea? who openly discarded his covering of virtue, and put on
a robe embroidered with flowers, and assumed the name of The altered
Man; and, although he was an old man, he apostatized from the doctrines
of the Stoics, and passed over to the school of Epicurus; and, in
consequence, Timon said of him, not without some point and felicity—
When it is time to set (δύνειν), he now begins
To sit at table (ἡδύνεσθαι). But there is a time
To love, a time to wed, a time to cease.
15. Apollodorus the Athenian, in the third book of his treatise on a
Modest and Prudent Man, which is addressed to those whom he calls Male
Buffoons, having first used the expression, "more libidinous than the
very Inventors themselves (ἄλφησται)," says, there are some fish called
ἄλφησται, being all of a tawny colour, though they have a purple hue
in some parts. And they say that they are usually caught in couples,
and that one is always found following at the tail of the other; and
therefore, from the fact of one following close on the tail of the
other, some of the ancients call men who are intemperate and libidinous
by the same name. But Aristotle, in his work on Animals, says that this
fish, which he calls alphesticus, has but a single spine, and is of a
tawny colour. And Numenius of Heraclea mentions it, in his treatise on
Fishing, speaking as follows:—
The fish that lives in seaweed, the alphestes,
The scorpion also with its rosy meat.
And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, says—
Mussels, alphestæ, and the girl-like fish,
The dainty coracinus.
Mithæcus also mentions it in his Culinary Art.
16. There is another fish called Anthias, or Callicthys; and this also
is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe:—
[Sidenote: FISH.]
The sword-fish and the chromius too,
Who, as Ananius tells us,
Is far the best of all in spring;
But th' anthias in the winter.
And Ananius speaks as follows:—
For spring the chromius is best;
The anthias in winter:
But of all fish the daintiest
Is a young shrimp in fig-leaves.
In autumn there's a dainty dish,
The meat of the she-goat;
And when they pick and press the grapes,
Young pigs are dainty eating.
Then, too, young puppies you may eat,
And hares, and also foxes.
But when the grasshopper does sing,
Just at the height of summer,
Is the best time for mutton fat;
Then, too, the sea-born tunny
Will many a savoury dish afford,
And beats his compeers all
With garlic seasoning richly drest;
Then, too, the fatted ox
Is sweet to eat both late at night,
And at a noon-day feast.
And I have quoted this piece of Ananius at length, thinking that it
might give some suggestions to the present race of Epicures.
17. But Aristotle, in his treatise on the Habits of Animals, says—"They
say that wherever the anthias is found, there is no beast or fish
of prey ever seen; and accordingly the collectors of sponge use him as
a guide, and dive boldly wherever he is found, and call him the sacred
fish." And Dorion also mentions him in his book on Fishes, saying,
"Some call the anthias by the name of callicthys, and also by that of
callionymus and ellops." And Icesius, in his treatise on Materials,
says that he is called wolf by some authors, and by others callionymus:
and that he is a fish of very solid meat, and full of delicious juice,
and easy of digestion; but not very good for the stomach. But Aristotle
says that the callicthys is a fish with serrated teeth, carnivorous and
gregarious. And Epicharmus, in his Muses, enumerates the ellops among
the fishes, but passes over the callicthys or callionymus in silence as
being identical with it; and of the ellops he speaks thus,—
And then the high-priced ellops.
And the same poet says, subsequently—
He was the fish of which great Jupiter
Once bought a pair for money, and enjoin'd
His slaves to give him one, and Juno t'other.
But Dorion, in his treatise on Fish, says that the anthias and the
callicthys are different fish; and also that the callionymus is not the
same as the ellops.
18. But what is the fish which is called the Sacred fish? The author
of the Telchinian History, whether it was Epimenides the Cretan, or
Teleclides, or any one else, says,—"What are called the sacred fish,
are dolphins and pompili." But the pompilus is a very amorous animal;
as being sprung himself, at the same time with Venus, from heavenly
blood. And Nicander, in the second book of his Œtaica, says—
The pompilus, who points the safest road
To anxious mariners who burn with love,
And without speaking warns them against danger.
And Alexander the Ætolian, in his Crica, if indeed it is a genuine
poem, says—
Still did the pompilus direct the helm,
Swimming behind, and guide it down the gulf,
The minister of the gods, the sacred pompilus.
And Pancrates the Arcadian, in his work entitled "Works of the Sea,"
having first said—
The pompilus, whom all seafaring men
Do call the sacred fish;
proceeds to say, "that the pompilus is not held in great esteem by
Neptune only, but also by those gods who occupy Samothrace. At all
events that some old fisherman once threatened to punish this fish,
when the golden age still flourished among men; and his name was
Epopeus, and he belonged to the island of Icarus. He therefore was one
day fishing with his son, and they had no luck in their fishing, and
caught nothing but pompili, and so did not abstain from eating them,
but he and his son ate every one of them, and not long afterwards
they suffered for their impiety; for a whale attacked the ship, and
ate up Epopeus in the sight of his son." And Pancrates states, "that
the pompilus is an enemy to the dolphin; and even the dolphin does
not escape with impunity when he has eaten a pompilus, for he becomes
unable to exert himself and tremulous when he has eaten him; and so he
gets cast on shore, and is eaten himself by the gulls and cormorants;
and he is sometimes, when in this state, caught by men who give
themselves up to hunting such large fish. And Timachides the Rhodian
mentions the pompili in the ninth book of his Banquet, and says—
[Sidenote: FISH.]
The tench o' the sea, and then the pompili,
The holiest of fish.
And Erinna, or whoever it was who composed the poem which is attributed
to her, says—
O pompilus, thou fish who dost bestow
A prosp'rous voyage on the hardy sailor,
Conduct (πομπεύσαιϛ) my dear companion safely home.
19. And Apollonius the Rhodian or Naucratian, in his History of the
foundation of Naucratis, says, "Pompilus was originally a man; and he
was changed into a fish, on account of some love affair of Apollo's.
For the river Imbrasus flows by the city of the Samians,—
And join'd to him, the fairest of the nymphs,
The young and noble Chesias, bore a daughter,
The lovely maid Ocyrhoe—her whose beauty
Was the kind Hours' heaven-descended gift.
They say then that Apollo fell in love with her and endeavoured to
ravish her; and that she having crossed over to Miletus at the time
of some festival of Diana, when the endeavour was about to be made to
carry her off, being afraid of such an attempt being made, and being on
her guard, entreated Pompilus, who was a seafaring man and a friend of
her father, to conduct her safe back again to her own country, saying
this,—
O Pompilus, to whose wise breast are known
The rapid depths of the hoarse roaring sea,
Show that your mind doth recollect my sire,
Who was your friend, and save his daughter now.
And they say that he led her down to the shore, and conducted her
safely across the sea: and that Apollo appeared and carried off the
maiden, and sunk the ship with stones, and metamorphosed Pompilus into
a fish of the same name, and that he made
The Pompilus an everlasting slave
Of ships that swiftly pass along the sea.
20. But Theocritus the Syracusan, in his poem entitled Berenice, calls
the fish which is called leucus the sacred fish, speaking thus—
And if a mortal seeks the gods with prayer
For a successful hunt, or plenteous gold,
A man who lives by the sea, whose nets he makes
His ploughs to raise his crops; then let him come,
And just at nightfall sacrifice with prayer
To this same goddess the most sacred fish,
Which men call leucus, (loveliest he of fish,)
Then let him bend his nets; and soon he shall
Draw them back from the waters full of prey.
But Dionysius, who was surnamed the Iambic, in his treatise on
Dialects, writes thus—"We have heard accordingly an Eretrian fisherman,
and many other fishermen, too, of other countries, call the pompilus
the sacred fish. Now the pompilus is a sea fish, and is very commonly
seen around ships, being something like the tunny called pelamys.
However, some one spoken of by the poet catches this fish;—
Sitting upon a high projecting rock
He caught the sacred fish.
Unless, indeed, there be any other kind which is likewise called the
sacred fish. But Callimachus in his Galatea calls the chrysophrys the
sacred fish, where he says—
Or shall I rather say the gold-brow'd fish,
That sacred fish, or perch, or all the rest
Which swim beneath the vast unfathom'd sea.
But in his Epigrams the same poet says—
The sacred sacred hyca.
But some understand by the term sacred fish, one let go and dedicated
to the god, just as people give the same name to a consecrated ox. But
others consider that sacred is here only equivalent to great, as Homer
speaks of
The sacred might of Alcinous.
And some think that it is only called ἰερὸϛ as ἱέμενοϛ πρὸϛ τὸν ῥοῦν (going
down stream)."
21. But Clitarchus, in the seventh book of his treatise on Dialects,
says—"The nautical people call the pompilus the sacred fish, because it
conducts ships out of the open sea into harbour, on which account it is
called πόμπιλοϛ from πέμπω, being the same fish as the chrysophrys."
And Eratosthenes in his Mercury says—
[Sidenote: FISH.]
They left a share of all their booty there;
Still living centipedes, the bearded mullet,
The sea-thrush, with dark spots embroider'd o'er,
Or the swift sacred fish with golden brows.
Now after all this discussion of ours about fish, the excellent Ulpian
may ask why Archestratus, speaking in those excellent suggestions of
his of the cured fish on the Bosphorus, says—
Those which do come from the Bosphoric seas
Are whitest; only let there be no sample
Of the hard meat o' the fish which grow around
The Lake Mæotis; not in verse can I
That fish correctly name.
What is the fish, which he says it is not proper to mention in poetry?
22. Anchovies must be next considered. And, indeed, Aristonymus uses
the word in the singular number, in his Shivering Sun—
So that there really is not one anchovy.
But of the anchovies there are many kinds, and the one which is called
aphritis[1] is not produced from roe, as Aristotle says, but from a
foam which floats upon the surface of the water, and which collects
in quantities when there have been heavy rains. There is also another
kind called cobitis, and that is produced from some little worthless
gudgeons which are generated in the sand; and from this anchovy itself
another kind is produced, which is called the encrasicholus. There is
also another anchovy which is the offspring of the sprat; and another
which comes from the membras; and another still which comes from the
small cestris, which is engendered in the sand and slime. But of all
these kinds the aphritis is the best. But Dorion, in his treatise on
Fishes, speaks of a fish called the cobites, as good boiled, and also
of the spawn of the atherina; and atherina is the name of a fish; and
some also call the triglitis an anchovy. But Epicharmus, in his Hebe's
Marriage, enumerates the anchovies among the shrimps or membrades;
making a distinction between this and what is called the seed. And
Icesius says, "Of the anchovy, there is one sort which is white and
very thin and frothy, which some people also call the cobitis. And
there is another which is not so clean as that, and which is larger;
but the clean and thin one is the better of the two." And Archestratus
the contriver of delicate dishes, says,—
Use all anchovies for manure, except
The Attic fish; I mean that useful seed
Which the Ionians do call the foam;
And take it fresh; just caught within the bays,
The sacred bays of beautiful Phalerum.
Good is it too, when by the sea-girt isle
Of Rhodes you eat it, if it's not imported.
And if you wish to taste it in perfection,
Boil nettles with it—nettles whose green leaves
On both sides crown the stem; put these in the dish
Around the fish, then fry them in one pan,
And mix in fragrant herbs well steep'd in oil.
23. But Clearchus the Peripatetic, in his treatise on Proverbs, speaks
of the anchovy, and says—"Because they want very little fire for the
frying-pan, Archestratus recommends people to put them into a pan which
is already hot, and to take them off as soon as they hiss. And they
are done, and begin to hiss in a moment, like oil; on which account it
is said, 'Anchovy, look at the fire.'" And Chrysippus the philosopher,
in his treatise on the Things which deserve to be sought for their own
Sakes, says, "The anchovy which is found in the sea at Athens, men
despise on account of its abundance, and say that it is a poor man's
fish; but in other cities they prize it above everything, even where
it is far inferior to the Attic anchovy. Moreover some people," says
he, "endeavour to rear the Adriatic fowls in this place, which are
much less useful than our own kinds, inasmuch as they are smaller. But
the people in the Adriatic, on the contrary, send for our breed from
hence." Hermippus, too, uses the word ἀφύη in the singular number, in
his Demotæ, where he says,—
You seem not now to move even an anchovy.
And Callias, in his Cyclops, says—
In preference to the best anchovy.
And Aristonymus, in his Shivering Sun, says—
So that there is not really one anchovy.
But Aristophanes uses the diminutive form, and calls them ἀφύδια in his
Friers, saying—
Nor these little Phaleric ἀφύδια.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
24. But Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras, praising the
Rhodian anchovies, and comparing many of the productions of Attica to
those of Rhodes, says—"We may compare to the anchovies of Phalerum
those which are called the Æniatides, and you may compare the ellops
and the orphus with the glauciscus; and with the Eleusinian plaice
and turbot, and whatever other fish there may be among them enjoying
a reputation higher than that of Cecrops, Rhodes has the fox fish to
compare." But the author of the Delight of Life, exhorts the man who is
unable to purchase enough to satisfy his appetite, to get fish to eat
by robbery, rather than go without it. But Lynceus calls Archestratus
an epicure, who in that much celebrated poem of his speaks thus of the
shark:—
Are you at Rhodes? e'en if about to die,
Still, if a man would sell you a fox shark,
The fish the Syracusans call the dog,
Seize on it eagerly; at least, if fat:
And then compose yourself to meet your fate
With brow serene and mind well satisfied.
25. The acharnus is mentioned by Callias in his Cyclops—
A harp-fish roast, besides a ray,
The head too of a tunny,
And eel, some crabs, and this acharnus,
The great Ænean dainty.
26. The ray, roach, or sea-frog may also be mentioned. They are
mentioned under the two former names by Aristotle in his treatise on
Animals, where he classes them under the head of cartilaginous fish.
And Eupolis, in his Flatterers, says—
At Callias's house there is much pleasure,
For he has crabs for dinner, rays besides,
And hares, and women with light twinkling feet.
And Epicharmus says, in his Marriage of Hebe—
And there were rays and sea-frogs, sawfish, sharks,
Camitæ, roach, and lobsters with hard shells.
And in his Megarian Woman he writes—
Its sides were like a ray,
Its back was altogether like a roach, Its head was
long, far more like a stag's, Its flanks were like a
scorpion's, son of the sea.
And Sannyrion says, in his Laughter—
O rays, O dainty grayling.
And Aristotle in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of
Animals, says that the following are cartilaginous fish; the ray, the
turtle, the sea-cow, the lamprey, the sea-eagle, the sea-frog, and the
whole of the shark tribe. But Sophron in his Farces, gives one fish
the name of botis, saying, "The cestres eat the botis," though it is
possible that he may be speaking of some herb. But with respect to the
sea frog, the wise Archestratus gives us the following advice in his
Apophthegms—
Whenever you behold a frog, why roast him
* * * *
And . . . . prepare his stomach.
And concerning the ray, he says—
A boiled ray is good about mid-winter.
Eat it with cheese and assafœtida;
But all the sons o' the sea whose flesh is lean
Should, as a rule, be dress'd in such a fashion;
And thus I recommend you now again.
And Ephippus the comic poet, in his play called Philyra, (now Philyra is
the name of a courtesan), says—
_A._ Shall I first cut a ray in slender slices
And boil it? aye? or like the cooks in Sicily
Shall I prefer to roast it?
_B._ Copy Sicily.
27. There are also fish called boaxes. Aristotle, in his treatise
entitled Concerning Animals or Fish, says, "The following animals
are marked on the back; the boax and others—the following are marked
transversely, the kind of tunny-fish called colias." And Epicharmus in
his Marriage of Hebe, speaks thus—
And in addition to all these the boax, The smarides,
anchovies, crabs and lobsters.
And Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, calls them boeces, saying—
The white synodons, the boeces, and trinchi.
But Speusippus and the rest of the Attic writers call them boaces.
Aristophanes in his play called The Women who occupy Tents, says—
But having had a bellyful of boaces,
I turn'd my steps towards home.
[Sidenote: Fish.]
And they derived their name from the noise (βοὴ) which they make, on
which account it used to be said that the fish was sacred to Mercury,
as the harp-fish was to Apollo. But Pherecrates in his Ant-Men,
saying—"They say that there is no other fish whatever, which has any
voice at all;" adds afterwards,—"By Castor and Pollux, there is at
least no other fish except the boax." And Aristophanes the Byzantian
says—"That we are wrong to call the fish boax, when we ought to call
it boops, since, though it is but a little fish, it has very large
eyes, so that it might be called boops, having bulls' eyes." But we
may reply to him, If we are wrong in naming him as we do, why do we
say coracinus, not corocinus? For he derives his name from moving the
pupils of his eyes (ἀπὸ τοῦ κόρας κινεῖν). And so too, why do we not
call the fish σείουρος instead of σίλουρος? for he has his name from
continually shaking his tail (ἀπὸ τοῦ σείειν τὴν οὐράν)?
28. With respect to the small kind of anchovy called membras,
Phrynicus, in his Tragedians, says—
O golden-headed membrades, sons of the sea.
But Epicharmus in his Hebe's Wedding, calls them bambradones, and says—
Bambradones and sea-thrushes, and hares,
And furious dragons.
And Sophron in his Manly Qualities, says—"The bambradon, and the needle
fish." And Numenius says, in his Treatise on Fishing,
Or a small sprat, or it may be a bembras,
Kept in a well; you recollect these baits.
And Dorion in his book on Fishes, says—"Having taken off the head of
a bembras, if it be one of a tolerable size, and having washed it with
water, and a small quantity of salt, then boil it in the same manner
as you do a mullet; and the bembras is the only kind of anchovy from
which is derived the condiment called bembraphya; which is mentioned by
Aristonymus in the Sun Shivering—
The carcinobates of Sicily
Resembles the bembraphya.
Still the Attic writers often call them bembrades. Aristomenes says in
his Jugglers—
Bringing some bembrades purchased for an obol.
And Aristonymus in his Sun Shivering, says—
The large anchovy plainly is not now,
Nor e'en the bembras, quite unfortunate.
And Aristophanes says in his Old Age—
Fed on the hoary bembrades.
And Plato in his Old Men, says—
O Hercules, do just survey these bembrades.
But in the Goats of Eupolis we may find the word written also with a μ
(not βεμβρὰς but μεμβρὰς). And Antiphanes says, in his Cnœsthis;—
They do proclaim within the fish-market
The most absurd of proclamations,
For just now one did shout with all his voice
That he had got some bembrades sweet as honey;
But if this be the case, then what should hinder
The honey-sellers crying out and saying,
That they have honey stinking like a bembras?
And Alexis in his Woman leading the Chorus, writes the word with a μ—
Who to the young folks making merry, then
Put forth but lately pulse and membrades,
And well-press'd grapes to eat.
And in his Protochorus he says—
No poorer meal, by Bacchus now I swear,
Have I e'er tasted since I first became
A parasite; I'd rather sup on membrades
With any one who could speak Attic Greek;
It would be better for me.
29. There is also a fish called the blennus, and it is mentioned by
Sophron, in his play entitled The Fisherman and the Countryman, and
he calls it the fat blennus. It is something like the tench in shape.
But Epicharmus in his Hebe's Wedding speaks of a fish which he calls
baiones, where he says—
Come now and bring me high-backed mullets,
And the ungrateful baiones.
And among the Attic writers there is a proverb, "No baion for me; he is
a poor fish."
30. There is also a shell-fish called buglossus. And Archestratus, the
Pythagorean, says, because of his temperate habits,
Then we may take a turbot plump, or e'en
A rough buglossus in the summer time,
If one is near the famous Chalcis.
And Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—
[Sidenote: FISH.]
There were buglossi and the harp-fish there.
But the fish called cynoglossus differs from the buglossus. And of them
too Epicharmus speaks—
There were the variegated plotides,
And cynoglossi, and sciathides.
But the Attic writers call the buglossus the psetta.
31. There are also fish called congers. Icesius says that these are
coarser than the common eels; and that their flesh is less firm and
less nutritious, and that they are very deficient in palatable juice;
but still, that they are good for the stomach. But Nicander, the epic
poet, in the third book of his Treatise on Dialects, says that they are
also called grylli. But Eudoxus, in the sixth book of his Circuit of
the Earth, says that there are numbers of congers caught off Sicyon,
each large enough to be a load for a man; and some of them even big
enough to be a load for a cart. And Philemon, the comic poet, himself
mentioning the extraordinary congers at Sicyon, represents a cook as
priding himself on his skill, and saying in the play entitled the
Soldier,—
32. How great a wish has now come over me
To tell to heaven and earth the way in which
I did prepare that supper. Aye, by Pallas,
How sweet it is when everything goes right!
How tender was my fish! and how I dress'd it!
Not done with cheese, or powder'd o'er with dyes,
But looking as he did in life, though roasted.
So mild and gentle was the fire which I
Did to the fish apply, you'd scarce believe it.
It was as when a hen does seize some food,
And carries it away to eat at leisure:
She runs all round with care; another sees her,
And straightway follows her to take it from her.
So here, the man who first found out the pleasure
Of dainty eating, sprang up high and ran
All round and round, with his dish in his hand.
The rest pursued him—it was fine to see them:
Some got a little, some got nothing, some
Got all they wanted. Well, as I was saying,
I took some river fish, eaters of mud.
What if I'd had a scare, or blue-back'd fish
From Attic waters, O thou saving Jupiter!
Or boar from Argive woods, or noble conger
From Sicyon's bay, the conger which the god
Of the deep sea doth bear aloft to heaven,
Fit banquet for his brethren. Then no doubt
The guests who ate would all have seem'd like gods;
I should have been immortal, since the dead
By the mere smell of my meat I bring to life again.
33. I swear by Minerva that Menecrates the Syracusan himself would not
have made such a boast as that, he who was nicknamed Jupiter—a man who
gave himself airs as being, by his skill in medicine, the only person
who could cause man to live. Accordingly he compelled all who came to
be cured by him of what is called the sacred disease, to enter into
a written agreement that if they recovered they would be his slaves.
And they followed him, one wearing the dress of Hercules, and being
called Hercules, (and the man who was so called was Nicostratus, an
Argive, who had been cured of the sacred disease, and he is mentioned
by Ephippus, in his Peltast, where he says—
Did not Menecrates call himself a god,
And Nicostratus of Argos a second Hercules?)
and another followed him in the dress of Mercury, having on a cloak
and bearing a caduceus, and wings besides. As Nicagoras of Zelia did,
who also became afterwards the tyrant of his country, as Baton relates
in the history of the Tyrants at Ephesus. And Hegesander says that
he called Astycreon, who had been cured by him, Apollo. And another
of those who had been cured by him, went about with him to his cost,
wearing the dress of Æsculapius. But Jupiter Menecrates himself, clad
in purple, and having a golden crown upon his head, and holding a
sceptre, and being shod with slippers, went about with his chorus of
gods. And once, writing to Philip the king, he began his letter thus—
34. "Menecrates Jupiter to Philip greeting.
"You, indeed, are king of Macedonia, but I am king of medicine; and you
are able, when you please, to put men to death, who are in health; but
I am able to save those who are sick, and to cause those who are in
good health, if they only follow my advice, to live to old age without
being attacked by disease. Therefore the Macedonians attend you as
body-guards; but all who wish to live attend me; for I, Jupiter, give
them life."
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
And so Philip wrote back to him as to a man out of his senses,—"Philip
wishes Menecrates soundness." And he wrote in similar style to
Archidemus, also the king of the Lacedæmonians, and to every one else
to whom he wrote at all; never omitting to give himself the name of
Jupiter. And once Philip invited him and all his gods to supper, and
placed them all on the centre couch, which was adorned in the loftiest
and most holy-looking and beautiful manner. And he had a table placed
before them on which there was an altar and first-fruits of the
different productions of the earth. And whenever eatables were placed
before the other guests, the slaves placed incense before Menecrates,
and poured libations in his honour. And at last, the new Jupiter, with
all his subordinate gods, being laughed at by every one, ran away and
fled from the banquet, as Hegesander relates. And Alexis also makes
mention of Menecrates in his Minos.
35. And Themiso the Cyprian, the friend of Antiochus the king, as
Pythermus the Ephesian relates in the eighth book of his History,
not only used to have his name proclaimed in the public assemblies,
"Themiso, the Macedonian, the Hercules of Antiochus the king;" but all
the people of that country used to sacrifice to him, addressing him
as Hercules Themiso; and he himself would come when any of the nobles
celebrated a sacrifice, and would sit down, having a couch to himself,
and being clad in a lion's skin, and he used also to bear a Scythian
bow, and in his hand he carried a club. Menecrates then himself,
though he was such as we have said, never made such a preposterous
boast as the cook we have been speaking of,—
I am immortal, for I bring the dead,
By the mere smell of my meat, to life again.
36. But the whole tribe of cooks are conceited and arrogant, as
Hegesander says in his Brothers. For he introduces a cook, saying—
_A._ My friend, a great deal has been said already
By many men on the art of cookery,
So either tell me something new yourself,
Unknown to former cooks, or spare my ears.
_B._ I'll not fatigue you; know that I alone
Of present men have sounded all the depths
Of culinary science and invention;
For I have not been just a short two years
Learning my art with snow-white apron girt,
But all my life I have devoted anxiously
To the investigation of each point
Of moment; I have inquired into all
The different kinds of herbs and vegetables;
I know the habits of the bembrades,
I know the lentils in their various sorts;
In short, this I can say—Whene'er I am
At a funereal feast as minister,
As soon as men come back from the funeral,
Clad in dark garments, I take off the lids
Of all my saucepans, and the weeping guests
I clothe with smiling faces in a moment;
And such a joy runs through each heart and frame
As if they were a marriage feast attending.
_A._ What! serving up lentils and bembrades?
_B._ These are some accidental dishes only;
But when I've got my necessary tools,
And once have properly arranged my kitchen,
That which in old time happen'd with the Sirens
You shall again behold repeated now.
For such shall be the savoury smell, that none
Shall bring themselves to pass this narrow passage;
And every one who passes by the door
Shall stand agape, fix'd to the spot, and mute,
Till some one of his friends, who's got a cold
And lost his smell, drags him away by force.
_A._ You're a great artist.
_B._ Do not you then know
To whom you speak? I do declare to you
I have known many of the guests, who have,
For my sake, eaten up their whole estates.
Now, I beg you, tell me, in the name of all the gods at once, in what
respect this man appears to you to differ from the Celedones in Pindar,
who, in the same manner as the Sirens of old, caused those who listened
to them to forget their food through delight, and so to waste away?
37. But Nicomachus, in his Ilithyia, himself also introduces a cook,
who in arrogance and conceit goes far beyond the artists on the stage.
This cook then speaks to the man who has hired him in this way,—
_A._ You do display a gentlemanlike taste
And kind; but one thing still you have omitted.
_B._ How so?
_A._ You never have inquired it seems
How great a man I am. Or had you heard it
From some one else who was acquainted with me,
And so was that the reason you engaged me?
_B._ By Jove I never heard or thought about it.
_A._ Perhaps you do not know how great the difference
Is that exists between one cook and another?
_B._ Not I, but I shall know now, if you tell me.
_A._ To take some meat that some one else has bought,
And then to dress it tolerably, is
What any cook can do.
_B._ O Hercules!
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
_A._ A perfect cook is quite another thing.
For there are many admirable arts,
All of which he must master thoroughly
Who would excel in this. He first must have
A smattering of painting; and indeed
Many the sciences are which he must learn
Before he's fit to begin learning cookery,—
And you should know them ere you talk to me,—
Astrology, and Medicine, and Geometry.
For by these arts you'll know the qualities
And excellences of the various fish.
You'll learn to guide your dishes by the seasons;
And when this fish is in, and this is out,
For there is great variety in the pleasures
That from the table spring. Sometimes, for instance,
A boax will be better than a tunny.
_B._ Perhaps; but what on earth has that to do
With your geometry?
_A._ Why this. We say
The kitchen is a sphere; this we divide,
And take one portion, as may suit our art,
Borrowing the principles of mensuration.
_B._ I understand; that's quite enough of that.
Where does your medical skill display itself?
_A._ Know there are meats hard, indigestible,
Pregnant with flatulence, causing only torture
To the unhappy eater, and no nourishment.
Yet those who sup at other folks' expense
Are always greedy and not temperate.
For these and similar viands, remedies
Must come from the resources of our art;
And how to marshal everything in order
With wisdom and propriety, we learn
By borrowing from the science of the General.
To count the guests requires arithmetic.
And no one else has all these parts of knowledge
Except myself.
_B._ Now in your turn, awhile
Listen to me.
_A._ Say on.
_B._ Give no more trouble
To me nor to yourself: but just keep quiet,
And rest yourself all day for all I care.
38. And the cook in the Younger Philemon wishes to be a sort of tutor,
and speaks in this fashion—
There, let things be as they are. Only take care
The fire may not too small be or too slow
To roast the joints. (As a fire like that
Makes meat not roast but sodden.) Nor too fierce.
(For that again does burn whate'er it catches,
And yet is far from cooking the meat through.)
It is not every one who has a spoon
And knife about him that we call a cook,
Nor every one who puts his fish in a pan;
There is more wit and reason in the business.
39. And the cook in Diphilus's Painter tells us also to whom he thinks
it worth his while to hire himself, saying—
_A._ I will not use your meat, nor give my aid
Unless I'm sure that I shall have all means
Which needful are to make a proper show;
Nor do I e'er go anywhere till first
I know who 'tis who makes the sacrifice,
Or what the cause may be which prompts the banquet,
Or who the guests are who have been invited.
For I have got a regular list at home
Of where I choose to go, and where I don't.
As first, to speak of the commercial class;
Some captain of a ship may make a sacrifice
Just to discharge some vow, made when he lost
His mast, or broke the rudder of his vessel,
Or, having sprung a leak, threw overboard
His cargo. I'll have nought to do with him:
For he does nothing willingly, but only
Just so much as he thinks he cannot help.
And every time a cup is fill'd with wine,
He makes a calculation of the sum
Which he can charge his owners or his passengers,
And thinks that what his guests do eat and drink
Is his own flesh and blood. Another came,
But three days since, from the Byzantine port,
Safe and successful; joyful in a profit
Of ten or twelve per cent; talking of nothing
But freight and interest, spending all his love
On worn-out panders. Soon as he did quit
The ship and set his foot upon the land,
I blew my nose, gave him my hand, and utter'd
Audible thanks to saving Jupiter,
And hasten'd forth to wait on him. For this
Is always my way; and I find it answer.
Again, an amorous youth will feast and squander
His sire's estate; to him I go at call.
But those who feast in shares, and throw together
Into one dish their petty contributions,
Though they may tear their clothes, and cry aloud,
"Come, who will cook us our new-purchased supper?"
I let bawl on. For if you go to them,
First there is language hard and blows to bear;
Secondly, one must slave the livelong night;
And when at last you ask them for your pay,
"First bring the pot," say they. "There was no vinegar
In all that salad." Ask again. "Aye, you
Shall be the first to be well beaten here."
I could recount ten thousand facts like this.
_B._ But where I take now is a rich brothel,
Where a rich courtesan with other friends
Desires to celebrate with great abundance
A joyous feast in honour of Adonis,
And where you may enjoy yourself in style.
[Sidenote: COOKS.]
40. And Archedicus, in his Treasure, another philosophical cookling,
speaks in this way—
In the first place the guests invited came
While still the fish lay on the dresser raw.
"Give me some water." "Bring the fish up quick."
Then placing all my pans upon the fire,
I soak'd the ashes well with oil, and raise
A rapid heat. Meantime the fragrant herbs
And pleasant sharpness of the seasonings
Delight my master. Quickly I serve up
Some fish exactly boil'd; retaining all
His juice, and all his unextracted flavour;
A dish which any free-born man must know
How to appreciate rightly. In this manner
At the expense of one small pot of oil
I gain employment at full fifty banquets.
And Philostephanus, in his Delian, gives a catalogue of the names of
some celebrated cooks in these lines, and those which follow them—
In my opinion you, O Dædalus,
Surpass all cooks in skill and genius,
Save the Athenian Thimbron, call'd the Top.
So here I've come to beg your services,
Bringing the wages which I know you ask.
41. And Sotades, not the Maronite poet, who composed Ionian songs, but
the poet of the middle comedy, in the play entitled The Shut-up Women,
(for that was the name which he gave to it,) introduces a cook making
the following speech,—
First I did take some squills, and fried them all;
Then a large shark I cut in slices large,
Roasting the middle parts, and the remainder
I boil'd and stuff'd with half-ripe mulberries.
Then I take two large heads of dainty grayling,
And in a large dish place them, adding simply
Herbs, cummin, salt, some water, and some oil.
Then after this I bought a splendid pike,
To boil in pickle with all sorts of herbs.
Avoiding all such roasts as want a spit,
I bought too some fine mullet, and young thrushes,
And put them on the coals just as they were,
Adding a little brine and marjoram.
To these I added cuttle-fish and squills.
A fine dish is the squill when carefully cook'd.
But the rich cuttle-fish is eaten plain,
Though I did stuff them all with a rich forced meat
Of almost every kind of herb and flower.
Then there were several dishes of boil'd meats,
And sauce-boats full of oil and vinegar.
Besides all this a conger fine and fat
I bought, and buried in a fragrant pickle;
Likewise some tench, and clinging to the rocks
Some limpets. All their heads I tore away,
And cover'd them with flour and bread crumbs over,
And then prepared them as I dress'd the squills.
There was a widow'd amia too, a noble
And dainty fish. That did I wrap in fig-leaves,
And soak'd it through with oil, and over all
With swaddling clothes of marjoram did I fold it,
And hid it like a torch beneath the ashes.
With it I took anchovies from Phalerum,
And pour'd on them one cruet full of water.
Then shredding herbs quite fine, I add more oil,
More than two cotylæ in quantity.
What next? That's all. This sir is what I do,
Not learning from recipes or books of cookery.
42. However, this is enough about cooks. But we must say something about
the conger. For Archestratus, in his Gastronomy, tells us how every part
of it should be treated, saying—
In Sicyon my friend you best can get
A mighty head of conger, fat, and strong,
And large; and also take his entrails whole,
Then boil him a long time, well-soak'd in brine.
And after this he goes through the whole country of Italy, saying where
the congers are best, describing them like a regular writer of an
Itinerary, and he says—
There too fine congers may be caught, and they
Are to all other fish as far superior
As a fat tunny is to coracini.
And Alexis, in his Seven against Thebes, says—
And all the parts of a fine conger eel
Well hash'd together, overlaid with fat.
And Archedicus, in his Treasure, introduces a cook speaking of some
fish which he has been buying in the following terms—
[Sidenote: SHARKS.]
Then for three drachmas I a grayling bought.
Five more I gave for a large conger's head
And shoulders. (Oh, how hard a thing is life!)
Another drachma for the neck. I swear
By Phœbus, if I knew where I could get
Or buy another neck myself, at once
I'd choke the one which now is on my shoulders,
Rather than bring these dishes to this place.
For no one ever had a harder job
To buy so many things at such a price;
And yet if I have bought a thing worth buying
May I be hang'd. They will devour me.
What I now say is what concerns myself.
And then, such wine they spit out on the ground!
Alas! Alas!
43. There is a kind of shark called γαλεὸς, which is eaten. And
Icesius, in his treatise on Materials, says that the best and tenderest
kind of galei are those called asteriæ. But Aristotle says that there
are many kinds of them—the thorny, the smooth, the spotted, the young
galeus, the fox shark, and the file shark. But Dorion, in his Book on
Fishes, says that the fox shark has only one fin towards his tail,
but has none along the ridge of his back. But Aristotle, in the fifth
book of his Parts of Animals, says that the centrines is also a kind
of shark, and also the notidanus. But Epænetus, in his Cookery Book,
calls the latter the enotideus, and says "that the centrines is very
inferior to him, and that it has a bad smell; and that the one may be
distinguished from the other by the fact of the centrines having a sort
of spur on his first fin, while the rest of the kinds have not got such
a thing." "And he says that these fishes have no fat or suet in them,
because they are cartilaginous."
And the acanthias, or thorny shark, has this peculiarity, that his heart
is five-cornered. And the galeus has three young at most; and it
receives its young into his mouth, and immediately ejects them again;
and the variegated galeus is especially fond of doing this, and so is
the fox shark. But the other kinds do not do so, because of the
roughness of the skins of the young ones.
44. But Archestratus, the man who lived the life of Sardanapalus,
speaking of the galeus as he is found at Rhodes, says that it is the
same fish as that which, among the Romans, is brought on the table to
the music of flutes, and accompanied with crowns, the slaves also who
carry it being crowned, and that it is called by the Romans accipesius.
But the accipesius, the same as the acipenser, or sturgeon, is but a
small fish in comparison, and has a longer nose, and is more triangular
than the galeus in his shape. And the very smallest and cheapest
galeus is not sold at a lower price than a thousand Attic drachmæ.[2]
But Appian, the grammarian, in his essay on the Luxury of Apicius,
says that the accipesius is the fish called the ellops by the Greeks.
But Archestratus, speaking of the Rhodian galeus, counselling his
companions in a fatherly sort of way, says—
Are you at Rhodes? e'en if about to die,
Still, if a man would sell you a fox shark,
The fish the Syracusans call the dog,
Seize on it eagerly; at least, if fat:
And then compose yourself to meet your fate
With brow serene and mind well satisfied.
Lynceus, the Samian, also quotes these verses in his letter to
Diagoras, and says that the poet is quite right in advising the man who
cannot afford the price for one, to gratify his appetite by robbery
rather than go without it. For he says that Theseus, who I take to
have been some very good-looking man, offered to indulge Tlepolemus in
anything if he would only give him one of these fish. And Timocles, in
his play called The Ring, says—
Galei and rays, and all the fish besides
Which cooks do dress with sauce and vinegar.
45. There is also the sea-grayling. Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding,
says—
There is the variegated scorpion,
The lizard, and the fat sea-grayling too.
And Numenius, in his Treatise on Fishing, says—
The hycca, the callicthys, and the chromis,
The orphus, the sea-grayling too, who haunts
The places where seaweed and moss abound.
And Archestratus, praising the head of the glaucus, says—
If you're at Megara or at Olynthus,
Dress me a grayling's head. For in the shallows
Around those towns he's taken in perfection.
And Antiphanes, in his Shepherd, says—
Bœotian eels, and mussels too from Pontus,
Graylings from Megara, from Carystus shrimps,
Eretrian phagri, and the Scyrian crabs.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
And the same writer, in his Philotis, speaks thus—
_A._ What shall be done with the grayling?
_B._ Why
Now, as at other times, boil him in brine.
_A._ What with the pike?
_B._ Why roast him whole, and dish him.
_A._ What with the galeus?
_B._ Do him up with stuffing,
And serve him hot.
_A._ How will you have the eels?
_B._ Cook them with salt, and marjoram, and water.
_A._ The conger?
_B._ Do the same.
_A._ The ray?
_B._ Take herbs
And season him with them.
_A._ There is besides
Half a large tunny.
_B._ Roast it.
_A._ Some goat's venison.
_B._ Roast that.
_A._ How will you have the rest o' the meat?
_B._ All boil'd.
_A._ The spleen?
_B._ Stuff that.
_A._ The paunch
and trail?
46. And Eubulus says, in his Campylion,—
There was a beautiful dish of the sea-grayling,
And a boil'd pike served up i' savoury pickle.
And Anaxandrides, in his Nereus, says—
The man who first discover'd all the good
Of the most precious head of a large grayling,
And then how dainty was the tunny's meat,
Caught where the waves are by no tempests tost,
How good in short is the whole race of fish,
Nereus his name, dwells in this place for ever.
And Amphis, in his Seven against Thebes, says—
Whole graylings, and large slices of the head.
And in his Philetærus, he says—
Take a small eel, and a fine grayling's head,
And slices of a pike fresh from the sea.
And Antiphanes, in his Cyclops, out-heroding even the epicure
Archestratus, says—
Give me an Hymettian mullet,
And a ray just caught, a perch
Split open, and a cuttle-fish,
And a well-roasted synodon;
A slice of grayling, and a head
Of mighty conger, luscious food;
A frog's inside, a tunny's flank,
A ray's sharp back, a cestra's loin,
Sea-sparrows, and sea-thrushes too,
Sprats, and anchovies, let me not
Complain of any want.
47. And Nausicrates says, in his Captains of Ships,—
_A._ They say there are two kinds of fish most tender
And beautiful to see, which oft appear
To sailors wandering o'er the spacious plains
Of ocean. And they say that one foretells
To mortals all the evils which hang o'er them.
_B._ You mean the grayling.
_A._ You are right, I do.
And Theolytus, the Methymnæan, in his Bacchic Odes, says that Glaucus
the deity of the sea became enamoured of Ariadne, when she was carried
off by Bacchus in the island of Dia; and that he, attempting to offer
violence to her, was bound by Bacchus in fetters made of vine-twigs;
but that when he begged for mercy he was released, saying—
There is a place, Anthedon is its name,
On the sea-side, against th' Eubœan isle,
Near to the stream of the still vext Euripus—
Thence is my race; and Copeus was my sire.
[Sidenote: GLAUCUS.]
And Promathides of Heraclea, in his Half Iambics, traces the pedigree
of Glaucus as being the son of Polybus, the son of Mercury, and of
Eubœa, the daughter of Larymnus. But Mnaseas, in the third book of
his history of the Affairs of Europe, calls him the son of Anthedon
and Alcyone; and says that he was a sailor and an excellent diver,
and that he was surnamed Pontius; and that having ravished Syme, the
daughter of Ialemus and Dotis, he sailed away to Asia, and colonised a
desert island near Caria, and called that Syme, from the name of his
wife. But Euanthes, the epic poet, in his Hymn to Glaucus, says that
he was the son of Neptune and the nymph Nais; and that he was in love
with Ariadne, in the island of Dia, and was favoured by her after she
had been left there by Theseus. But Aristotle, in his Constitution of
the Delians, says that he settled in Delos with the Nereids, and gave
oracles to all who wished for them. But Possis, the Magnesian, in the
third book of his Amazonis, says that Glaucus was the builder of the
Argo, and that he was her pilot when Jason fought the Etrurians, and
was the only person unwounded in that naval battle; and that by the
will of Jupiter he appeared in the depths of the sea, and so became a
sea deity, but was seen by Jason alone. But Nicanor the Cyrenæan, in
his Changes of Names, says that Melicerta changed his name and assumed
the name of Glaucus.
48. Alexander the Ætolian also mentions him in his poem entitled the
Fisherman, saying that he
First tasted grass,
(and then was immersed in the sea and drowned,)
The herb which in the islands of the blest,
When first the spring doth beam upon the earth,
The untill'd land shows to the genial sun.
And the sun gives it to his weary steeds,
A most refreshing food, raised in the shade.
So that they come in vigour back renew'd
Unto their daily task, and no fatigue
Or pain can stop their course.
But Æschrion the Samian, in some one of his Iambic poems, says that
Glaucus the sea-deity was in love with Hydna, the daughter of Scyllus,
the diver of Scione. And he makes particular mention of this herb,
namely, that any one who eats of it becomes immortal, saying—
And you found too th' agrostis of the gods,
The sacred plant which ancient Saturn sow'd.
And Nicander, in the third book of his Europe, says that Glaucus was
beloved by Nereus. And the same Nicander, in the first book of his
history of the Affairs of Ætolia, says that Apollo learnt the art of
divination from Glaucus; and that Glaucus when he was hunting near
Orea, (and that is a lofty mountain in Ætolia,) hunted a hare, which
was knocked up by the length of the chace, and got under a certain
fountain, and when just on the point of dying, rolled itself on the
herbage that was growing around; and, as it recovered its strength by
means of the herbage, Glaucus too perceived the virtues of this herb,
and ate some himself. And becoming a god in consequence, when a storm
came, he, in accordance with the will of Jupiter, threw himself into
the sea. But Hedylus, whether he was a Samian or an Athenian I know
not, says that Glaucus was enamoured of Melicerta, and threw himself
into the sea after him. But Hedyle, the mother of this poet, and
daughter of Moschine of Attica, a poetess who composed Iambics, in her
poem which is entitled Scylla, relates that Glaucus being in love with
Scylla came to her cave—
Bearing a gift of love, a mazy shell,
Fresh from the Erythrean rock, and with it too
The offspring, yet unfledged, of Alcyon,
To win th' obdurate maid. He gave in vain.
Even the lone Siren on the neighbouring isle
Pitied the lover's tears. For as it chanced,
He swam towards the shore which she did haunt,
Nigh to th' unquiet caves of Ætna.
49. There is also a fish called the fuller. Dorion, in his treatise on
Fish, says that the juice which proceeds from the boiling of a fuller
will take out every kind of stain; and Epænetus also mentions it in his
Cookery Book.
50. The eel is well known: and Epicharmus mentions sea-eels in his
Muses; but Dorion, in his treatise on Fishes, mentioning those which
come from the lake Copais, extols the Copaic eels highly; and they
grow to a great size. At all events, Agatharchides, in the sixth book
of his history of the Affairs of Europe, says that the largest eels
from lake Copais are sacrificed to the gods by the Bœotians, who crown
them like victims, and offer prayers over them, sprinkling them with
meal; and that once, when a foreigner was astonished at the singular
kind of victim and sacrifice, and asked a Bœotian whence it originated,
the Bœotian answered, That he only knew one thing; that it was right
to maintain the customs of one's ancestors, and that it was not right
to make any excuses for them to foreigners. But we need not wonder if
eels are sacrificed as victims, since Antigonus the Carystian, in his
treatise on Language, says that the fishermen celebrate a festival
in honour of Neptune when the tunnies come in season, and they are
successful in their pursuit of them; and that they sacrifice to the god
the first tunny that is caught; and that this sacrificial festival is
called the Thunnæum.
[Sidenote: EELS.]
51. But among the people of Phaselis, even salt-fish are offered
in sacrifice. At all events, Heropythus, in his Annals of the
Colophonians, speaking of the original settlement of Phaselis, says
that "Lacius, having conducted the colony, gave as the price of the
ground to Cylabras, a shepherd who fed sheep there, some salt-fish,
as that was what he asked for. For when Lacius had proposed to him to
take as a price for the soil either barley-cakes, or wheat-cakes, or
salt-fish, Cylabras chose the salt-fish. And, on this account, the
people of Phaselis every year, even to this day, sacrifice salt-fish
to Cylabras." But Philostephanus, in the first book of his treatise on
the Cities of Asia, writes thus:—"That Lacius the Argive, being one
of the men who had come with Mopsus, whom some say was a Lindian, and
the brother of Antiphemus who colonized Gela, was sent to Phaselis by
Mopsus with some men, in accordance with some directions given by Manto
the mother of Mopsus, when the sterns of their ships came in collision
off the Chelidoniæ, and were much broken, as Lacius and the vessels
with him ran into them in the night, in consequence of their arriving
later. And it is said that he purchased the land where the city now
stands, in obedience to the prophetic directions of Manto, from a man
of the name of Cylabras, giving him some salt-fish for it; for that was
what he had selected from all the ships contained. On which account,
the people of Phaselis sacrifice salt-fish to Cylabras every year,
honouring him as their hero."
52. But concerning eels, Icesius, in his treatise on Materials, says
that eels have a better juice in them than any other fish; and in the
quality of being good for the stomach, they are superior to most, for
they are very satisfying and very nutritious: though he classes the
Macedonian eels among the salt-fish. But Aristotle says that eels are
fond of the very purest water; on which account, the people who feed
eels pour clean water over them; for they get choked in muddy water.
For which reason, those who hunt for them make the water muddy, in
order that the eels may be choked; for, having very small gills, their
pores are almost immediately stopped up by any mud or disturbance in
the water: on which account, also, they are often choked during storms,
when the water is disturbed by heavy gales. But they propagate their
species being entwined together, and then they discharge a sort of
viscous fluid from their bodies, which lies in the mud and generates
living creatures. And the people who feed eels say that they feed by
night, but that during the day they remain motionless in the mud; and
they live about eight years at most. But in other places, Aristotle
tells us again, that they are produced without either their progenitors
laying eggs or bringing forth living offspring, and also that they are
not generated by any copulation, but that they are propagated by the
putrefaction which takes place in the mud and slime—as it is said of
those things which are called the entrails of the earth. From which
circumstance, he says that Homer distinguishes between their nature and
that of other fish; and says—
The eels and fish within the briny deep,
Were startled at the blaze.
53. But a certain Epicurean,[3] who was one of our party, when an eel
was served up, said,—Here is the Helen of the feast; I therefore will
be the Paris! And, before any one else could stretch out a hand towards
it, he seized hold of it and split it up, tearing off one side down to
the backbone. And the same man, when presently a hot cheesecake was set
before him, and when all refused it, cried out,
I will attack it were it hot as fire;
and then, rushing upon it eagerly, and swallowing it, he was carried
out severely scalded. And Cynulcus said,—The cormorant is carried out
from his battle of the throat!
Moreover, Archestratus thus speaks of the eel:—
I praise all kinds of eels; but far the best
Is that which fishermen do take in the sea
Opposite to the strait of Rhegium.
Where you, Messenius, who daily put
This food within your mouth, surpass all mortals
In real pleasure. Though none can deny
That great the virtue and the glory is
Of the Strymonian and Copaic eels.
For they are large, and wonderfully fat;
And I do think in short that of all fish
The best in flavour is the noble eel,
Although he cannot propagate his species.
54. But, as Homer has said,
The eels and fish were startled,
Archilochus has also said, in a manner not inconsistent with that—
And you received full many sightless eels.
[Sidenote: EELS.]
But the Athenians, as Tryphon says, form all the cases in the singular
number with the υ, but do not make the cases in the plural in a similar
manner. Accordingly, Aristophanes, in his Acharnensians, says—
Behold, O boys, the noble eel (ἔγχελυν);
and, in his Lemnian Women, he says—
Ἔγχελυν Βοιωτίαν:
but he uses the nominative case in his Daitaleis—
And smooth too ὥσπερ ἔγχελυς.
And Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—
The tunny, orphus, grayling, eel, and sea-dog.
But the Attic writers do not form the cases in the plural number as
Homer does. Aristophanes says, in his Knights—
For you have fared like men who're hunting eels (ἐγχέλεις);
and, in his second edition of the Clouds, he says—
Imitating my images of the eels (ἐγχελέων);
and in his Wasps we find the dative case—
I don't delight in rays nor in ἐγχέλεσιν
And Strattis, in his Potamii, said—
A cousin of the eels (ἐγχελέων).
Simonides, too, in his Iambics, writes—
Like an eel (ἔγχελυς) complaining of being slippery.
He also uses it in the accusative—
A kite was eating a Mæandrian eel (ἔγχελυν),
But a heron saw him and deprived him of it.
But Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, writes the word with an ι,
ἔγχελις. But when Aristophanes, in his Knights, says—
Your fate resembles that of those who hunt
For mud-fed eels. For when the lake is still
Their labour is in vain. But if they stir
The mud all up and down, they catch much fish.
And so you gain by stirring up the city;
he shows plainly enough that the eel is caught in the mud, (ἐκ τῆς
ἴλυος,) and it is from this word ἴλυς that the name ἔγχελυς ends in υς.
The Poet, therefore, wishing to show that the violent effect of the
fire reached even to the bottom of the river, spoke thus—The eels and
fish were troubled; speaking of the eels separately and specially, in
order to show the very great depth to which the water was influenced by
the fire.
55. But Antiphanes, in his Lycon, jesting on the Egyptians after the
manner of the comic poets, says—
They say in other things the Egyptian race
Is clever also, since they think the eel
On a level with the gods; or I may say
By far more valuable. For, as to the gods,—
Those we gain over by our prayers alone;
But as for eels, without you spend at least
Twelve drachmas you can scarce get leave to smell them.
So it is altogether a holy beast.
And Anaxandrides, in his Cities, directing what he says to the
Egyptians, speaks as follows—
I never could myself your comrade be,
For neither do our manners nor our laws
Agree with yours, but they are wholly different.
You do adore an ox; I sacrifice him
To the great Gods of heaven. You do think
An eel the mightiest of deities;
But we do eat him as the best of fish.
You eat no pork; I like it above all things.
You do adore a dog; but I do beat him
If e'er I catch him stealing any meat.
Then our laws enjoin the priests to be
Most perfect men; but yours are mutilated.
If you do see a cat in any grief
You weep; but I first kill him and then skin him.
You have a great opinion of the shrew-mouse;
But I have none at all.
And Timocles, in his Egyptians, says—
How can an ibis or a dog be able
To save a man? For where with impious hearts
Men sin against the all-acknowledged Gods,
And yet escape unpunish'd, who can think
The altar of a cat will be more holy,
Or prompter to avenge itself, than they?
56. But that men used to wrap eels up in beet, and then eat them, is a
fact constantly alluded to in the poets of the old comedy; and Eubulus
says in his Echo—
The nymph who never knew the joys of marriage,
Clothed with rosy beet will now appear,
The white-flesh'd eel. Hail, brilliant luminary,
Great in my taste, and in your own good qualities.
And in his Ionian he says—
And after this were served up the rich
Entrails of roasted tunnies; then there came
Those natives of the lake, the holy eels,
Bœotian goddesses; all clothed in beet.
And in his Medea he says—
[Sidenote: EELS.]
The sweet Bœotian Copaic virgin;
For I do fear to name the Goddess.
And that the eels of the river Strymon were also celebrated, Antiphanes
tells us in his Thamyras, saying—
And then your namesake river, far renown'd
In all the mouths of men, the mighty Strymon,
Who waters the rich warlike plains of Thrace,
Breeds mighty eels.
And Demetrius the Scepsian, in the sixteenth book of his Trojan Array,
says that there were eels of surpassing excellence produced in the
neighbourhood of the river Euleus (and this river is mentioned by
Antimachus in his work entitled The Tablets, where he says—
Arriving at the springs
Where Euleus with his rapid eddies rises).
57. With respect to the ellops, some mention has already been made of
him. But Archestratus also speaks in this way of him—
The best of ellopes which you can eat
Come from the bay of famous Syracuse.
Those eat whene'er you can. For that's the place
Whence this great fish originally came.
But those which are around the islands caught,
Or any other land, or nigh to Crete,
Too long have battled with the eddying currents,
And so are thin and harder to the taste.
58. The erythrinus, or red mullet, has been mentioned too. Aristotle,
in his book on Animals, and Speusippus both say that the fishes called
erythrinus, phagrus, and hepatus are all very nearly alike. And Dorion
has said much the same in his treatise on Fish. But the Cyrenæans give
the name of erythrinus to the hyca; as Clitarchus tells us in his
Dialects.
59. The encrasicholi are also mentioned by Aristotle as fish of small
size, in his treatise on What relates to Animals. But Dorion, in his
book on Fishes, speaks of the encrasicholi among those which are
best boiled, speaking in the following terms—"One ought to boil the
encrasicholi, and the iopes, and the atherinæ, and the tench, and the
smaller mullets, and the cuttle-fish, and the squid, and the different
kinds of crab or crawfish."
60. The hepsetus, or boiled fish, is a name given to several small
fish. Aristophanes, in his Anagyrus, says—
There is not one dish of hepseti.
And Archippus says in his Fishes—
An hepsetus fell in with an anchovy
And quick devour'd him.
And Eupolis, in his Goats, says—
Ye graces who do love the hepseti.
And Eubulus, in his Prosusia or Cycnus, says—
Contented if just once in each twelve days
He sees an hepsetus well boil'd in beet.
And Alexis, in his Apeglaucomenos, says—
There were some hepseti besides served up
In a dædalean manner. For they call
All clever works by the name of Dædalus;
and presently afterwards he continues—
Will you not now then try the coracini?
Nor trichides, nor any hepseti?
But this word is always used in the plural, ἑψητοὶ, because they are
only served up in numbers. Aristophanes, in his Dramata or Niobus, says—
I will say nothing of a dish of hepseti.
And Menander, in his Perinthian Woman, says—
The boy came in bringing some hepseti.
But Nicostratus uses the word in the singular number, in his Hesiod—
A bembras, an anchovy, and a hepsetus.
And Posidippus, in his Woman shut up, says—
She's gone to buy a hepsetus.
But in my country Naucratis, what they call hepseti are little fish
left in the drains or ditches, when the Nile ceases its overflowing.
61. The hepatus or lebias is the next fish to be noticed. Diocles
affirms that this is one of those fish which stick to the rocks; but
Speusippus says that the hepatus is the same as the phagrus. But it
is a solitary fish, as Aristotle declares, carnivorous, and with
serrated teeth; black as to its flesh, and having eyes large, out of
all proportion to the rest of its size; and its heart is triangular and
white. But Archestratus, the marshal of banquets, says—
Remember that the lebias is best,
As also is the hepatus, in the waves
Which wash the Delian and the Tenian shores.
[Sidenote: THE TUNNY-FISH.]
62. Then come the elacatenes, or spindle-fish. Mnesimachus, in his
Horse-breeder, classes together in one line—
The turbot, tunny, tench, elacatene.
But they are a cetaceous fish, very good for curing. Menander, in his
Colons, says—
The tench, th' elacatene, and the tail-fin of
The sea-dog are the best for pickling.
And Mnaseas of Patra says, "Of Ichthys and Hesychia, his sister, were
born the galene, the lamprey, and the elacatene.
63. The tunny must also not be forgotten. Aristotle says this fish
swims into the Black Sea, always keeping the land on the right; but
that he sails out again, keeping the land on the left. For that he can
see much best with his right eye, but that he is rather blind with
his left eye. And under his fins he has a sort of gadfly; he delights
in heat, on which account he comes wherever there is sand; and he
is most eatable at the season when he gets rid of that fly. But he
propagates his species after his time of torpor is over, as we are told
by Theophrastus; and as long as his offspring are little, he is very
difficult to catch, but when they get larger, then he is easily caught,
because of the gadfly. But the tunny lies in holes, although he is a
fish with a great deal of blood. And Archestratus says—
Around the sacred and the spacious isle
Of Samos you may see large tunnies caught.
The Samians call them horcyes, and others
Do name them cetus. These 'tis well to buy,
Fit offering for the Gods; and do it quickly,
Nor stop to haggle or bargain for the price.
Good too are those which fair Byzantium,
Or the Carystian marble rocks do breed.
And in the famous isle of Sicily,
The Cephalœdian and Tyndarian shores
Send forth fish richer still. And if you come
To sacred Italy, where Hipponium's cape
Frowns on the waves which lave the Bruttian coast,
Those are the best of all. The tunnies there
Have gain'd the height of fame and palm of victory.
Still those which there you find have wander'd far,
Cross'd many seas, and many a roaring strait,
So that we often catch them out of season.
64. But this fish was called the tunny (θύννος) from rushing (ἀπὸ τοῦ
θύειν), and moving rapidly. For it is an impetuous fish, from, at a
particular season, having a gadfly in its head; by which Aristotle says
that it is driven about, writing thus—"But the tunny-fish and the sword
fish are driven to frenzy about the time of the rising of the dogstar;
for both of them at that season have under their fins something like a
small worm, which is called œstrus, resembling a scorpion, and in size
something similar to a spider, and this makes them leap about in leaps
as large as those of the dolphin." And Theodoridas says,—
The tunnies bend their furious course to Gades.
But Polybius of Megalopolis, in the thirty-fourth book of his History,
speaking of the Lusitanian district in Iberia, says, "That in the sea,
in these parts, acorn-bearing oaks grow, on the fruit of which the
tunnies feed, and grow fat; so that a person who called the tunny the
pig of the sea would not err, for the tunnies, like the pigs, grow to a
great size on these acorns."
65. And the intestines of this fish are highly extolled, as Eubulus also
tells us, in his Ionian,—
And after this the luscious intestines
Of roasted tunnies sail'd upon the table.
And Aristophanes, in his Lemnian Woman, says—
Despise not thou the fat Bœotian eel,
Nor grayling, nor the entrails of the tunny.
And Strattis, in his Atalanta, says—
Next buy the entrails of a tunny, and
Some pettitoes of pigs, to cost a drachma.
And the same poet says in his Macedonians—
And the sweet entrails of the tunny-fish.
And Eriphus says in his Melibœa—
These things poor men cannot afford to buy,
The entrails of the tunny or the head
Of greedy pike, or conger, or cuttle-fish,
Which I don't think the gods above despise.
But when Theopompus, in his Callæschrus, says,
The ὑπογάστριον of fish, O Ceres,
we must take notice that the writers of his time apply the term
ὑπογάστριον to fish, but very seldom to pigs or other animals; but it
is uncertain what animals Antiphanes is speaking of, when he makes use
of the term ὑπογάστριον in his Ponticus, where he says—
[Sidenote: THE TUNNY-FISH.]
Whoever has by chance bought dainty food
For these accursed and abandon'd women,
Such as ὑπογάστρια, which may Neptune
Confound for ever; and who seeks to place
Beside them now a dainty loin of meat . . . .
And Alexis, in his Ulysses weaving, praises the head of the tunny; and
says—
_A._ And I will throw the fishers headlong down
Into the pit. They only catch for me
Food fit for freed men; trichides and squids,
And partly fried fish.
_B._ But not long ago,
This man, if he could get a tunny's head,
Thought he was eating tunnies whole, and eels.
They praised also that part of the tunny which they called "the key,"
as Aristophon does, in his Peirithus:—
_A._ But now the dinner is all spoilt entirely.
_B._ Here are two roasted keys quite fit to eat.
_A._ What, keys to open doors?
_B._ No, tunny keys;
A dainty dish.
_A._ There is the Spartan key too.
66. But Antigonus the Carystian, in his treatise on Language, says
that the tunny is sacrificed to Neptune, as we have already mentioned.
But Heracleon the Ephesian says that the Attic writers call the
tunny the orcynus. And Sostratus, in the second book of his treatise
on Animals, says that the pelamys is called the thunnis, or female
tunny-fish; but that when it becomes larger, it is called thunnus; and
when it gets to a larger size still, it is called the orcynus; and that
when it has grown to a size which is quite enormous, then it is called
cetus. And Æschylus likewise mentions the tunny, saying—
I bid you take up hammers now, and beat
The fiery mass of iron, which will utter
No groan, but bear in silence like the tunny.
And in another place he says—
Turning his eye aside, just like the tunny;
because the tunny cannot see well out of his left eye, as Aristotle has
said. Menander, in his Fishermen, says—
And the disturbed and muddy sea which breeds
The largest tunnies.
And in Sophron we find the word θυννοθήρας (a hunter of tunnies); but the
same fish which is usually called θύννος, the Attic writers call θυννίς.
67. But as to the thunnis, Aristotle says that this is the female,
differing from the male thunnus in having a fin under the belly, the
name of which fin is the "ather." But in his treatise on the Parts of
Animals, he again distinguishes the thunnis from the thunnus; saying,
that "in the summer, about the month Hecatombæon, it drops something
like a bag, in which there are a great number of small eggs." And
Speusippus, in the second book of his Similitudes, distinguishes the
thunnis from the thunnus; and so does Epicharmus, in his Muses. But
Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—
For I'm a thunnis, a melænas, or
A thunnus, orphos, grayling, eel, or sea-dog.
And Aristotle, in his treatise on Fishes, says that the thunnis is a
gregarious fish, and also a migratory one. But Archestratus, who is so
fond of petty details, says—
And then the thunna's tail, which I call thunnis,
That mighty fish, whose home's Byzantium.
Cut it in slices, and then roast it all
With accurate care, strewing on nought but salt,
Most thinly spread; then sprinkle a little oil;
Then eat it hot, first dipping it in brine.
Or if you like to eat them dry they're good;
Like the immortal gods in character,
And figure too; but if you once forget,
And vinegar add to them, then you spoil them.
And Antiphanes, in his Pæderastes, says—
And the middle slices take
Of the choice Byzantian tunny,
And let them be neatly hidden
Under leaves from beet-root torn.
Antiphanes also praises the tail of the thunnis, in his Couris, where
he says—
_A._ The man who's country bred likes not to eat
Food from the sea extracted; unless indeed
It comes quite close in shore. Such as some conger,
Some ray, or tunny's . . .
_B._ Which part of the tunny?
_A._ The lower part.
_B._ Well, you may eat that safely.
_A._ All other fish I reckon cannibals.
_B._ Do not you eat those fish with the ugly backs?
_A._ Which?
_B._ The fat eels which haunt Copais' lake.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
_A._ Aye, like a ploughman. For indeed I have
A farm not far from that most dainty lake.
But I impeach the eels now of desertion,
For none at all were there the other day.
And some of these iambics may be found in the Acestria, and also in the
Countryman, or Butalion. And Hipponax, as Lysanias quotes him in his
treatise on the Iambic Poets, says—
For one of them with rapid extravagance
Feasting each day on tunnies and on cheesecakes,
Like any eunuch of rich Lampsacus,
Ate up his whole estate. So that he now
Is forced to work and dig among the rocks,
Eating poor figs, and small stale loaves of barley,
Food fit for slaves.
And Strattis also mentions the thunnis, in his Callipides.
68. There is also a fish called the hippurus, or horsetail. Aristotle,
in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, says that
the hippuri lay eggs, and that these are small at first, but come to
a great size, like those of the lamprey; and that they bring forth
their young in the spring. But Dorion, in his book upon Fish, says
that the hippurus is also called the coryphæna. But Icesius calls it
the hippuris; and Epicharmus also mentions them in his Hebe's Wedding,
saying—
The sharp-nosed needle-fish,
And the hippurus, and bright chrysophrys.
But Numenius, in his treatise on the Art of Fishing, speaking of the
nature of the fish, says that it keeps continually leaping out of the
water; on which account it is also called the Tumbler. And he uses the
following expressions about it:—
Or the great synodons, or tumbler hippurus.
And Archestratus says—
Th' hippurus of Carystus is the best,
And indeed all Carystian fish are good.
And Epænetus, in his Cookery Book, says that it is called also the
coryphæna.
69. There is another fish called the horse; and perhaps it is the same
which Epicharmus calls the hippidion, or little horse, when he says—
The coracinus colour'd like a crow,
Fat, well-fed fish; the smooth hippidion,
The phycæ, and the tender squill . . .