Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/59

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.


FISH.

The sea-born race of grayling or of orphus,
The black-flesh'd blackbird, or the dainty sea-thrush
Sporting beneath the waves.

And Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—

Bambradones, sea-thrushes, and sea-hares;
And the bold dragon fish.

And Aristotle, in his treatise on What concerns Animals, says, "And the fishes with black spots, like the sea-blackbird; and the fishes with variegated spots, like the sea-thrush." But Pancrates the Arcadian, in his Works of the Sea, says that the sea-thrush is called by many names:—

Add now to these the sea-thrush red, which they
Who seek to snare the wary fish with bait
Do call the saurus, and th' æolias,
Add too th' orphiscus with his large fat head.

And Nicander, in the fourth book of his Transformed People, says—

The scarus or the thrush with many names.

72. There is also the sea-boar and the cremys. Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, says, "But some fish have no teeth and smooth skins, like the needle-fish; and some have stony heads, like the cremys; and some are harsher, with rough skins, like the sea-boar; and some are marked down the back with two lines, like the seserinus; and some are marked with many lines and with red spots, like the salpe." And both Dorion and Epænatus mention the sea-boar; and Archestratus says—

But when you go to Acta's favour'd land,
If you by chance should see a rich sea-boar,
Buy it at once, and let it not escape you,
Not if you buy it at its weight in gold;
Else will the indignation of the gods
O'erpower you; for 'tis the flower of nectar.
But 'tis not all men who can be allow'd
To eat this dainty, no, nor e'en to see it;
Unless they take a strongly-woven mesh
Of marsh-bred rush, and hold it in their hands,
Well used to ply the floats with rapid mind.
And with these dainties you must offer up,
Thrown on the ground, some gifts of lamb and mutton.

73. There is also the harp-fish. Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, or on Fish, says, "The harp-fish has serrated teeth, is a fish of solitary habits, he lives on seaweed; he has a