The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)

1. Polybius the Megalopolitan, speaking of the great happiness which exists in Lusitania (and that is a district of Iberia, which the Romans now call Spania), O most excellent Timocrates, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that in that country, on account of the excellent temperature of the air, both animals and men are exceedingly prolific; and the fruits, too, in that country never degenerate. "For there are roses there, and white violets, and asparagus, and other flowers and fruits like them, which last nine months in the year; and as for sea-fish, both in abundance, and in excellence, and in beauty, it is very superior to that produced in our seas. And a siclus (this is equal to a medimnus) of barley costs only a drachma; and one of wheat costs nine Alexandrian obols; and a measure of wine costs a drachma; and a moderate-sized kid costs an obol, and so does a hare. And of lambs, the price is three or four obols; and a fat pig, weighing a hundred minæ, costs five drachmæ; and a sheep costs two. And a talent weight of figs costs three obols; and a calf costs five drachmæ; and a draught-ox ten. And the meat of wild animals is scarcely ever valued at any price at all; but people throw that in to purchasers into the bargain, or as a present." But to us, whenever we sup with our excellent friend Laurentius, he makes Rome another Lusitania,—filling us with every sort of good thing every day, receiving us in a most princely manner with the greatest liberality, while we bring nothing from home as our contribution, except our arguments.

2. Now, as a long discussion had taken place about fish, it was plain that Cynulcus was annoyed at it; and so the excellent Democritus, anticipating him, said—But, O you men fish, as Archippus says, you have omitted (for I too must throw in a little contribution of my own) those which are called fossil fishes, which are produced at Heraclea, and near Tium, in Pontus, which is a colony of the Milesians, though Theophrastus gives us an account of them. And this very same philosopher has also told us about those that are congealed in ice the whole winter, so that they have no feeling whatever, and make not the slightest motion, until they are put into the saucepans and boiled. And these fish have this especial peculiarity, which also belongs in some degree to the fish which are called fossil fish in Paphlagonia. For it is said that ditches are dug in those places to an exceeding depth, where no overflow of rivers ever reaches, nor of any other waters whatever; and yet in those ditches there are found living fishes.

3. But Mnaseas of Patra, in his Periplus, says that the fish in the river Clitor are not dumb; though Aristotle has stated in writing that the only fishes which have any voice are the scarus and the river-hog. And Philostephanus, who was a Cyrenæan by birth, and a friend of Callimachus, in his treatise on Extraordinary Rivers, says that in the river Aroanius, which flows through Pheneum, there are fish which sing like thrushes, and that they are called the poiciliæ. And Nymphodorus the Syracusan, in his Voyages, says that there are pike in the river Helorus, and large eels, so tame that they take bread out of the hands of any who bring it to them. And I myself, and very likely many of you too, have seen cestres tamed to the hand in the fountain of Arethusa, near Chalcis; and eels, having silver and golden earrings, taking food from any one who offered it to them, and entrails from the victims, and fresh cheese. And Semus says, in the sixth book of his Delias—"They say that a boy once dipped a ewer into the well, and brought water to some Athenians who were sacrificing at Delos, to wash their hands with; and he brought up, as it happened, some fish in the ewer along with the water: and that on this the soothsayers of the Delians told them that they should become the lords of the sea."

4. And Polybius, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that behind Pyrene, as far as the river Narbo, the whole country is a plain, through which the rivers Illiberis and Rhoscynus proceed, flowing through cities of the same name as themselves, which are inhabited by some of the Celtæ; and in this plain he says that the above-mentioned fossil fish are also found. And he says that the soil of that plain is light, and that a great quantity of the herb agrostis grows in it; and that beneath it, as the soil is sandy for a depth of two or three cubits, the water flows, which wanders away from these rivers; and so the fish, too, leaving the rivers, and proceeding underground, in the course of these erratic underflowings, in quest of food (for they are exceedingly fond of the root of the agrostis), have caused the whole plain to be full of subterranean fish, which people catch when they dig up the plain. "And among the Indians," says Theophrastus, "there are fish which go forth out of the rivers over the land, and then, leaping back, return again to the water, just like frogs; being in appearance very like the fish which are called maxini."

5. But I am not ignorant of what Clearchus, the Peripatetic philosopher, has said about what he calls the exocoetus fish, or fish which comes out of the water to sleep, which he mentions in his work entitled A Treatise on Aquatic Animals. For he has said, (and I think that I recollect his exact words, which are as follows,) "The exocoetus fish, which some people call Adonis, has derived its name from constantly taking his rest out of the water. He is rather of a red colour, and from his gills down to his tail he has on each side of his body one white stripe reaching the whole length of his body. And he is round, but not being broad, he is equal in size to the cestrinisci which are found near the shore; and they are as near as may be about eight fingers in length. Altogether he is very like the fish called the sea-goat, except that the latter has a black place under his stomach, which they call the beard of the goat. And the exocoetus is one of the fish which keeps near to the rocks, and spends his life in rocky places. When it is calm weather he springs up with the waves and lies on the rocks for a considerable time, sleeping on the dry land, and turning himself so as to bask in the sun: and then, when he has had sufficient rest, he rolls towards the water again, until the wave, taking him again, bears him with the reflux back into the sea. And when he is awake on the dry land then he is on his guard against those birds which are called pareudistæ, such as the halcyon, the sandpiper, and the helorius, which is a bird like the rail. For these birds in calm weather feed on the dry land, and often attack the exocoetus; but when he sees them at a distance he flies, leaping and panting, until he dives beneath the water."

6. Moreover, Clearchus says this also more plainly than Philostephanus the Cyrenæan, whom I have previously mentioned. "There are some fish which, though they have no throats, can utter a sound. Such are those which are found near Cleitor, in Arcadia, in the river called Ladon. For they have a voice, and utter a very audible sound." And Nicolaus, of Damascus, in the hundred and fourth book of his History, says—"In the country around Apamea, in Phrygia, at the time of the Mithridatic wars, there were some earthquakes, after which there appeared in that district some lakes which previously had no existence, and rivers, and other springs which had been opened by the earthquake. Many also which had previously existed disappeared. And such a quantity of additional water, which was brackish and of a sea-green colour, burst up in that district, though it is at a very great distance from the sea, that all the neighbouring country was filled with oysters and fish, and all other productions of the sea." I know also that it has very often rained fishes. At all events, Phænias, in the second book of his Eresian Magistrates, says that in the Chersonesus it once rained fish uninterruptedly for three days; and Phylarchus, in his fourth book, says that people had often seen it raining fish, and often also raining wheat, and that the same thing has happened with respect to frogs. At all events, Heraclides Lembus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says—"In Pæonia and Dardania it has, they say, before now rained frogs; and so great has been the number of these frogs that the houses and the roads have been full of them; and at first, for some days, the inhabitants, endeavouring to kill them, and shutting up their houses, endured the pest; but when they did no good, but found that all their vessels were filled with them, and the frogs were found to be boiled up and roasted with everything they ate, and when besides all this, they could not make use of any water, nor put their feet on the ground for the heaps of frogs that were everywhere, and were annoyed also by the smell of those that died, they fled the country."

7. I am aware, too, that Posidonius the Stoic makes this statement about the abundance of the fish:—"When Tryphon of Apamea, who seized upon the kingdom of Syria, was attacked by Sarpedon, the general of Demetrius, near the city of Ptolemais, and when Sarpedon, being defeated, retired into the inland parts of the country with his own troops, but the army of Tryphon, having been victorious in the battle, were marching along the shore, on a sudden, a wave of the sea, rising to a great height, came over the land, and overwhelmed them all, and destroyed them beneath the waters, and the retreating wave also left an immense heap of fish with the corpses. And Sarpedon and his army hearing of what had happened, came up, and were delighted at the sight of the corpses of their enemies, and carried away an enormous quantity of fish, and made a sacrifice to Neptune who puts armies to flight, near the suburbs of the city."

8. Nor will I pass over in silence the men who prophesy from fish in Lycia, concerning whom Polycharmus speaks, in the second book of his Affairs of Lycia; writing in this manner:—"For when they have come to the sea, at a place where there is on the shore a grove sacred to Apollo, and where there is an eddy on the sand, the persons who are consulting the oracle come, bringing with them two wooden spits, having each of them ten pieces of roast meat on them. And the priest sits down by the side of the grove in silence; but he who is consulting the oracle throws the spits into the eddy, and looks on to see what happens. And after he has put the spits in, then the eddy becomes full of salt water, and there comes up such an enormous quantity of fish of such a description that he is amazed at the sight, and is even, as it were, alarmed at the magnitude of it. And when the prophet enumerates the different species of fish, the person who is consulting the oracle in this manner receives the prophecy from the priest respecting the matters about which he has prayed for information. And there appear in the eddy orphi, and sea-grayling, and sometimes some sorts of whales, such as the phalæna, or pristis, and a great many other fish which are rarely seen, and strange to the sight."

And Artemidorus, in the tenth book of his Geography, says that—"It is said by the natives that a fountain springs up in that place of sweet water, to which it is owing that these eddies exist there; and that very large fish are produced in that eddying place. And those who are sacrificing throw to these fish the first-fruits of what they offer, piercing them through with wooden spits, being pieces of meat, roasted and boiled, and cakes of barley and loaves. And both the harbour and the place is called Dinus."[9]

9. I know, too, that Phylarchus has spoken, somewhere or other, about large fish, and about fresh figs which were sent with them; saying that Patroclus, the general of Ptolemy, sent such a present to Antigonus the king, by way of a riddle, as the Scythians sent an enigmatical present to Darius, when he was invading their country. For they sent (as Herodotus relates) a bird, and an arrow, and a frog. But Patroclus (as Phylarchus tells us, in the third book of his Histories) sent the before-mentioned fishes and figs; and the king, at the time that they arrived, happened to be drinking with his friends, and when all the party were perplexed at the meaning of the gifts, Antigonus laughed, and said to his friends that he knew what was the meaning of the present; "for," says he, "Patroclus means that we must either be masters of the sea, or else be content to eat figs."

10. Nor am I unaware that all fishes are called by one generic name, camasenes, by Empedocles the natural philosopher, when he says—

And the poet, too, who wrote the Cyprian poems (whether he was a Cyprian or a man of the name of Stasinus, or whatever else his name may have been), represents Nemesis as pursued by Jupiter, and metamorphosed into a fish, in the following lines:—

11. I know, also, what is related about the fish called apopyris, which is found in the lake Bolbe; concerning which Hegesander, in his Commentaries, speaks thus:—"Around Apollonia of Chalcis two rivers flow, the Ammites and the Olynthiacus, and they both fall into the lake Bolbe. And on the river Olynthiacus there is a monument of Olynthus, the son of Hercules and Bolbe. And in the months Anthesterion and Elaphebolion, the natives say that Bolbe sends Apopyris to Olynthus; and that about this time a most enormous number of fish ascend out of the lake into the river Olynthiacus: and this is a shallow river, scarcely deep enough to wet a man's ankles; but for all that there does not the less come a great number of fish, so that all the people of the district get enough cured fish for their use for the year. And it is a wonderful fact that they never pass above the monument of Olynthus. They say, in explanation of this, that the people of Apollonia did formerly, in the month Elaphebolion, celebrate sacrifices to the dead, but that they do so now in the month Anthesterion; and that on this account this ascent is made by the fish in those months alone in which the natives are accustomed to pay honour to their national heroes."

12. And this is the state of the case, O men fish; for you, having collected together every kind of thing, have thrown us out to be food for fishes, instead of giving them as food for us,—making such long speeches as not even Ichthys, the philosopher of Megara, nor Ichthyon (and this also is a proper name), who is mentioned by Teleclides in his Amphictyons, would make to us. And, on your account, I will give this advice to the servant, as it is said in the Ant-Men of Pherecrates:—

For in Delos, as we are told by Semus the Delian, in the second book of the Delias, when they sacrifice to Brizo,—and she is a deity who prophesies to people asleep (for the ancients used βριόζω as synonymous with καθεύδω, to sleep, saying—

so, when the Delian women sacrifice to this deity, they bring her, as their offering, boats full of all kinds of good things, except fish; because they address prayers to her on every subject, and especially for the safety of their vessels.

13. But, my friends, though I admire Chrysippus, the leader of the sect of the Stoics, on many accounts, I also praise him especially for having always classed Archestratus, that man who is so famous for his treatise on Cookery, with Philænis, to whom that indelicate composition about Amatory Pleasures is attributed; which, however, Æschrion, the iambic poet of Samos, says was written by Polycrates the sophist, and attributed to Philænis for the sake of calumniating her, when she was a most respectable woman. And the iambics, in which this is stated, run as follows:—

Therefore that admirable Chrysippus, in the fifth book of his treatise on Honour and Pleasure, says—"The books, too, of Philænis, and the Gastronomy of Archestratus, and all the drugs calculated to provoke appetite or sensual desires, and also all the servants who are skilled in such motions and such figures, and whose occupation it is to attend to these things." And again he says—"That they learn such things, and get hold of the books written on such subjects by Philænis and Archestratus, and by those who have written similar works." And in his seventh book he says—"Just as it would not be advisable to study the writings of Philænis or the Gastronomy of Archestratus, as tending to make a person live better."

14. But you, who are constantly making mention of this Archestratus, have made this entertainment full of intemperance; for what of all the things which could unduly excite men has this fine epic poet omitted?—he, the only imitator of the life of Sardanapalus the son of Anacyndaraxes, who, Aristotle says, is made more obscure still by adding the name of his father; on whose tomb, Chrysippus says, the following inscription was engraved:—

And the great poet has said of the Phæacians—

And another person, not unlike Sardanapalus in disposition, gives this advice and these rules to those who are deficient in wisdom:—

And Amphis the comic poet, in his Ialemus, says—

And, in his play entitled the Gynæcocracy, he says nearly the same—

And a man of the name of Bacchides, who lived on the same principles as Sardanapalus, after he was dead had the following inscription placed on his tomb:—

15. Alexis, in his Tutor of Intemperate Men—(as Sotion the Alexandrian says, in his Commentary on the Silli of Timon; for I myself have never met with the play, though I have read more than eight hundred plays of what is called the Middle Comedy, and have made extracts from them, but still I have never fallen in with the Tutor of Intemperate Men, nor do I recollect having seen any mention of it in any regular list of such plays; for Callimachus has not inserted it in his catalogue nor has Aristophanes, nor even those scholars at Pergamus, who have handed down to us lists of plays,)—however, Sotion says that in that play a slave, named Xanthias, was represented as exhorting all his fellow-slaves to a life of luxury, and saying—

16. But it would be better, says Chrysippus, if the lines inscribed on the tomb of Sardanapalus were altered thus—

And Timon says, very beautifully,—

17. But Clearchus, in his essay on Proverbs, says that Terpsion was the tutor of Archestratus, who was also the first person who wrote a book on Gastronomy; and he says that he gave precepts to his pupils as to what they ought to abstain from; and that Terpsion once extemporised the following line about a turtle:—

which, however, others read—

18. But whence is it, O you wisest of men, that Dorion, who wrote a list of fish, has been mentioned as if he were the writer of some valuable history?—a fellow who, I know, has been named a musician and a fish-devourer, but certainly not a historian. Accordingly Machon, the comic poet, speaks of him as a musician, saying—

And Lynceus the Samian, the pupil of Theophrastus, and the brother of Duris, who wrote the Histories, and made himself tyrant of his country, writes thus in his Apophthegms— "When a man once said to Dorion the flute-player, that the ray was a good fish, he said—'Yes, about as good as if a man were to eat a boiled cloak.' And once, when some one else praised the entrails of tunny-fish, he said—'You are quite right, but then a man must eat them as I eat them;' and when the man asked him how that was, he said—'How? why willingly.' And he said that crawfish had three good qualities,—exercise, good food, and contemplation. And once, at Cyprus, when he was supping with Nicocreon, he praised a goblet that there was there; and Nicocreon said—'Whatever there is here that you fancy, the artist will make you another like it.' 'Let him make that,' he replied, 'for you; but do you give me this one.'" And this was a clever speech of the flute-player; for there is an old saying that—

19. And Hegesander, in his Commentaries, says this of him—"Dorion, the great fish-eater, once, when his slave had neglected to buy fish, scourged him, and ordered him to tell him the names of the best fish; and when the boy had counted up the orphus, and the sea-grayling, and the conger, and others of this sort, he said—'I desired you to tell me the names of fishes, and not of gods.'" The same Dorion, ridiculing the description of a tempest in the Nautilus of Timotheus, said that he had seen a more formidable storm in a boiling saucepan. And Aristodemus, in the second book of his Memorials of Laughable Circumstances and Sayings, says—"Dorion the musician was club-footed; and once, in some entertainment, he lost the slipper of his lame foot; on which he said, 'I will not wish anything more to the thief than that the slipper may fit him.'" But that this Dorion was notorious for his epicurism in fish, is plain from what Mnesimachus the comic poet says in his drama called Philip—

20. I know, too, the sportive sayings which Lasus of Hermione has uttered about fishes; which Chamæleon of Heraclea has recorded in writing, in his book on this very Lasus, where he says—"They say that Lasus called raw fish ὀπτὸς (which means roasted or visible); and when many people wondered why he did so, he thus began to prove what he had said; arguing thus: 'As whatever a person can hear (ἀκοῦσαι) is properly called ἀκουστὸν, and as whatever a person can understand by his intellect (νοῆσαι) is properly called νοητὸν, so whatever any one can see (ὄπτεσθαι) is clearly ὀπτόν; as therefore it was possible to see the fish, he evidently was ὀπτός.' And once, in a joke, he stole a fish from a fisherman, and having taken it, he gave it to one of the bystanders; and when the fisherman put him to his oath, he swore that he had not got it himself, and that he had not seen any one else take it; because, in fact, he himself had taken it, but some one else had got it. And then he prompted the other man, on the other hand, to swear that he had not taken it himself, and that he was not acquainted with any one else who had it; for, in fact, Lasus had taken it, and he himself had it." And Epicharmus jests in the same way; as, in his Logus and Logina,—

21. And Alexis, in his Demetrius, ridicules, in his comic manner, a man of the name of Phayllus, as very fond of fish, in these lines:—

And Antiphanes, in his Female Fisher, enumerating some people as exceedingly fond of fish, says—

22. And it is a very clever way in which Antiphanes thus jested upon Misgolas, as devoting all his attention to beautiful harp-players and lyre-players; for Æschines the orator, in his speech against Timarchus, says this of him—"Misgolas, the son of Naucrates, of Colyttus, O men of Athens, is a man in other respects brave and virtuous, and no one can find any fault with him in any particular; but he is known to be exceedingly devoted to this kind of business, and always to have about him some harp-players, and people who sing to the music of the harp. And I say this, not by way of disparaging him, but in order that you may be aware what sort of person he is." And Timocles, in his Sappho, says—

And Alexis, in his Agonis, or the Little Horse, says—

23. But Antiphanes says that Pythionica is fond of cured fish, since she had for lovers the sons of Chærephilus, the seller of salt-fish; as Timocles says, in his Icarians,—

And again he says—

And before this she had a lover whose name was Cobius.

24. But with respect to Callimedon, the son of Carabus, Timocles, in his Busybody, tells us that he was fond of fish, and also that he squinted:—

And Alexis, in his Crateua, or the Apothecary, says—

And he ridicules him in a similar manner in the play entitled The Men running together. But he also jests on him for his epicurism as to fish, in the Phædo, or Phædria, where he says—

And the very same iambics are repeated in the play entitled Into the Well; but, in his Woman who has taken Mandragora, he says—

And in his Crateua he says—

And Antiphanes says, in his Gorgythus,—

And Eubulus, in his Persons saved, says—

And Theophilus, in his Physician, ridiculing his coldness of expression, says—"And the slave put before the young man himself with great eagerness a little eel: his father had a fine cuttle-fish before him. 'Father,' says he, 'what do you think of your crawfish?' 'It is cold,' says he; 'take it away,—I don't want to eat any orators.'"[10]

And when Philemon says, in his Canvasser,—

And Herodicus the Cratetian, commenting on this in his Miscellaneous Commentaries, says that Agyrrius was the name of the son of Callimedon.

25. The following people, too, have all been great epicures about fish. Antagoras the poet would not allow his slave to touch his fish with oil, but made him wash it; as Hegesander tells us. And when in the army, he was once boiling a dish of congers, and had his clothes girt round him, Antigonus the king, who was standing by, said, "Tell me, Antagoras, do you think that Homer, who celebrated the exploits of Agamemnon, ever boiled congers?" And it is said that he answered, not without wit, "And do you think that Agamemnon, who performed those exploits, ever busied himself about inquiring who was cooking congers in his army?" And once, when Antagoras was cooking a bird of some kind, he said that he would not go to the bath, because he was afraid that the slaves might come and suck up the gravy. And when Philocydes said that his mother would take care of that, "Shall I," said he, "entrust the gravy of game to my mother?" And Androcydes of Cyzicus, the painter, being very fond of fish, as Polemo relates, carried his luxury to such a pitch that he even painted with great care the fish which are around Scylla.

26. But concerning Philoxenus of Cythera, the dithyrambic poet, Machon the comic poet writes thus:—

And in another part he says—

And Diogenes the Cynic, having eaten a polypus raw, died of a swelling in the belly. But concerning Philoxenus, Sopater the parodist also speaks, saying—

27. And Hyperides the orator was an epicure in fish; as Timocles the comic writer tells us, in his Delos, where he enumerates all the people who had taken bribes from Harpalus: and he writes thus—

And in the Icarians, the same poet says—

And Philetærus, in his Æsculapius, says that Hyperides, besides being a glutton, was also a gambler. As also Axionicus, in his Lover of Euripides, says that Callias the orator was; and his words are—"A man of the name of Glaucus came to this place, bringing from Pontus a kind of shark, a fish of extraordinary magnitude,—a great dainty for epicures in fish, and, in fact, for all men who are devoted to the pleasures of the table. And he brought it on his shoulders, and said, 'Whom shall I instruct how to dress it, and how shall it be dressed? Will you have it soaked in a sauce of green herbs, or shall I baste its body with basting of warm brine, and then dress it on a fierce fire? And a man named Moschio, a great flute-player, cried out that he should like to eat it boiled in warm pickle-juice. And this was meant as a reproof for you, O Calaides! for you are very fond of figs and cured fish; and yet you will not taste a most exquisite fish which you have served up to you in pickle." Reproaching him with the figs as if he were a sycophant; and perhaps concealing under the mention of the cured fish, some intimation of his having been implicated in discreditable conduct. And Hermippus says, in the third book of his treatise on the Pupils of Isocrates, that Hyperides was in the habit of taking a walk, the first thing in the morning, in the fish-market.

28. And Timæus of Tauromenium says that Aristotle the philosopher was a great epicure in respect of fish. Matron the sophist, also, was a great fish-eater: and Antiphanes, in his Harp-player, intimates this; for that play begins thus—

And Anaxilas says, in his Morose Man,—

It being the very extravagance of gluttony to carry a thing off while eating it, and such a thing too as the head of a cestris; unless, perhaps, you may suppose, that those who are skilful in such things are aware of there being some particular good qualities in the head of a cestris; and if so, it belonged to Archestratus's gluttony to explain that to us.

29. But Antiphanes, in his Rich Man, gives us a catalogue of epicures, in the following lines:—

But Euphron, in his Muses, says,—