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 Oedipus, 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 he 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 =dia= in the same way, for he says--
He lay within the cave stretch'd o'er the sheep (=dia mêlôn=);
where =dia mêlôn= 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.
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, =opson=, 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 =opsophagoi=, 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 =opson=. For
indeed the word is either identical with =epson=, or else perhaps it is
derived from =optaô=, 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 =opson= 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 =elloi=, saying--
He gave him to the =elloi ichthyes= 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
=opsophagistatos= [exceedingly fond of fish], (for that is a word
which Xenophon has used in his Memorabilia, where he writes, "He is
=opsophagistatos= 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 =elloi ichthyes=,
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.
And Aristotle, inquiring into the etymology of the name, says that they
were called amiæ, =para to hama ienai tais paraplêsiais= (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.
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 Oenopion,--
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
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 Euboean 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 (=dynein=), he now begins
To sit at table (=hêdynesthai=). 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 (=alphêstai=)," says, there are some fish
called =alphêstai=, 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:--
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 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 Oetaica, 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 sea-faring 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--
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 (=pompeusais=) 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 =hieros= as =hiemenos pros ton
rhoun= (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 =pompilos= from =pempô=, being the same fish as the chrysophrys."
And Eratosthenes in his Mercury says--
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[447:1] 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 =aphyê= in the singular number, in his
Demotæ, where he says,--
You seem not now to move even an anchovy.
And Calcias, 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 =aphydia= in
his Friers, saying--
Nor these little Phaleric =aphydia=.
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 midwinter.
Eat it with cheese and assafoetida;
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.
And they derived their name from the noise (=boê=) 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 (=apo tou tas koras kinein=). And so too, why do we not call the
fish =seiouros= instead of =silouros=? for he has his name from
continually shaking his tail (=apo tou seiein tên ouran=)?
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 =m=
(not =bembras= but =membras=). And Antiphanes says, in his
Cnoesthis;--
They do proclaim within the fishmarket
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 =m=--
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--
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 nick-named 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."
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 now 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!
_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,
Not 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.
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 coats 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--
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 Phoebus, 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 =galeos=, 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.[462:1] 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--
Boeotian eels, and mussels too from Pontus,
Graylings from Megara, from Carystus shrimps,
Eretrian phagri, and the Scyrian crabs.
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' Euboean isle,
Near to the stream of the still vext Euripus--
Thence is my race; and Copeus was my sire.
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
Euboea, 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 Boeotians, 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 Boeotian whence it originated, the
Boeotian 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.
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,[468:1] 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 cheese-cake
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.
But the Athenians, as Tryphon says, form all the cases in the singular
number with the =u=, 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 (=enchelyn=);
and, in his Lemnian Women, he says--
=Enchelyn Boiôtian=:
but he uses the nominative case in his Daitaleis--
And smooth too =hôsper enchelys=.
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 (=encheleis=);
and, in his second edition of the Clouds, he says--
Imitating my images of the eels (=encheleôn=);
and in his Wasps we find the dative case--
I don't delight in rays nor in =enchelesin=
And Strattis, in his Potamii, said--
A cousin of the eels (=encheleôn=).
Simonides, too, in his Iambics, writes--
Like an eel (=enchelys=) complaining of being slippery.
He also uses it in the accusative--
A kite was eating a Mæandrian eel (=enchelyn=),
But a heron saw him and deprived him of it.
But Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, writes the word with an =i=,
=enchelis=. 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, (=ek tês
ilyos=,) and it is from this word =ilys= that the name =enchelys= ends
in =ys=. 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,
Tho 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,
Boeotian goddesses; all clothed in beet.
And in his Medea he says--
The sweet Boeotian 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 craw-fish."
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, =hepsêtoi=, 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.
62. Then come the elacatenes, or spindle fish. Mnesimachus, in his
Horsebreeder, 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 Cephaloedian 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 (=thynnos=) from rushing (=apo
tou thyein=), 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 oestrus, 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 Boeotian 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 Meliboea--
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 =hypogastrion= of fish, O Ceres,
we must take notice that the writers of his time apply the term
=hypogastrion= 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 =hypogastrion= in his Ponticus, where he says--
Whoever has by chance bought dainty food
For these accursed and abandon'd women,
Such as =hypogastria=, 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 =thynnothêras= (a hunter of tunnies);
but the same fish which is usually called =thynnos=, the Attic writers
call =thynnis=.
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.
_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 cheese-cakes,
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 . . .
And Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, says--
The char, the mighty tench of size enormous,
The channus, and the eel; and he who roves
By night, the wary pitynus; the mussel,
The horse-fish, or the sea-green corydulis.
And Antimachus the Colophonian mentions it in his Thebais, where he
says--
The hyca, or the horse-fish, or the one
Which they do call the thrush.
70. There is a fish, too, called the ioulis, concerning which Dorion
says, in his treatise on Fishes, "Recollect that if you boil the ioulis,
you must do it in brine; and if you roast them, you must roast them with
marjoram." And Numenius says--
And ne'er neglect the medicine which keeps off
To a great degree the greedy fish ioulis,
And scolopendrus that doth poison dart.
But the same writer calls them ioulus, and the entrails of the earth, in
the following lines:--
Moreover do not then the bait forget,
Which on the highest hills that fringe the shore
Shall soon be found. And they are called iouli,
Black, eating earth--the entrails of the earth;
Or the long-footed grasshopper, what time
The sandy rocks are sprinkled with the foam
Of the high-rising tide. Then dig them up,
And stow them carefully within your bag.
71. There are also fish called =kichlê=, the sea-thrush, and
=kossyphos=, the sea-blackbird. The Attic writers call the first
=kichlê=, with an =ê=; and the reason is as follows:--All the feminine
nouns which end in =la= have another =l= before the =la=; as =Skylla=,
=skilla=, =kolla=, =bdella=, =hamilla=, =hamalla=: but those which end
in =lê= do not require a =l= to precede the =lê=; as =homichlê=,
=phytlê=, =genethlê=, =aiglê=, =trôglê=, and, in like manner, =triglê=.
Cratinus says--