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 [Greek: 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 [Greek: aphydia] in his Friers, saying—
Nor these little Phaleric [Greek: aphydia].
24. But Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras,
