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VII.306D‑319C

This webpage reproduces a section of
The Deipnosophistae

of
Athenaeus

published in Vol. III
of the Loeb Classical Library edition,
1929

The text is in the public domain.

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VIII.330E‑337A

(Vol. III) Athenaeus
Deipnosophistae

Book VII
(Part 6 of 6)

 p435  (319C) The Perch. — This also is mentioned by Epicharmus in The Marriage of Hebe, by Speusippus in the second book of Similars, and by Numenius, all of whose testimony has been cited. Aristotle, in the work Pertaining to Animals,JJJ says that the forked hake is stickle-backed and has a speckled skin. So the perch is classed among those fishes marked with lines and having cross-wise stripes. There is also a proverb: "The perch follows the blacktail."JJJ

Needle-fishes. — These also are mentioned by EpicharmusJJJ in the line: "And needle-fishes with sharp snouts, and horse-tails too." Dorion, also, in his work On Fishes, has: "The needle, which they call the needle-fish." Aristotle, in the fifth book of Parts of Animals,JJJ calls it needle (belonê). But in Pertaining to Animals or FishesJJJ he calls it needle-fish (raphis) and says that it has no teeth. Speusippus also gives it the name belonê.

The File-shark. — Dorion, in his work On Fishes,  p437 says that the file-sharks (monk-fish) of Smyrna are especially good, and, in fact, that all the selachians contained in the Bay of Smyrna are superior. But ArchestratusJJJ says: "Selachians, too, glorious Miletus nurtures obest quality; and yet, what boots it to take account of the file-shark, or the broad-backed ray?JJJ I should as soon eat an oven-baked lizard,JJJ the delight of Ionia's children."

The Parrot-fish. — Of this AristotleJJJ says that it has jagged teeth, is solitary and carnivorous, and has a small mouth and a tongue not very solidly attached; heart triangular, liver white, with three lobes; gall-bladder and spleen black, one set of gills double, the other single. Of all fishes it is the only one that chews its cud. It likes to feed on seaweed, and therefore can be caught with it. It is at its best in summer. Epicharmus says in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Of the sailorfolk, sea-breams and parrot-fish, whose dung, even, the gods may not lawfully throw aside." 320Seleucus of Tarsus, in The Art of Angling, says that the parrot-fish is the only one of all the fishes the does not go to sleep" hence it cannot be caught even at night. Perhaps fear affects it in this way. Archestratus, in his Gastronomy:JJJ "ask for a parrot-fish from Ephesus;  p439 but in winter eat mullets which have been caught in sandy Telchioessa, a village of Miletus near the crook-limbed Carians."JJJ And in another placeJJJ he says: B"At Calchedon by the sea bake zzz the mighty parrot-fish, after washing it well. But in Byzantium, too, thou wilt find it good, and as to its size, it bears a back equal to the circling shield. Dress it whole as I shall describe. After it has been thoroughly covered with cheese and oil, take it and hang it in a hot oven and bake it to a turn. Sprinkle it with salt mixed with caraway-seed, and with the yellow oil, pouring its divine fountain from thy hand." CNicander of Thyateira says that there are two kinds of parrot-fish, the one called onias (grey), the other Aeolus (speckled).

The Sea-bream. — Hicesius says that this is better flavoured than the sprat, and is more nourishing than many other kinds of fish. Epicharmus, in The Marriage of HebeJJJ "Poseidon, that leader of the fisherfolk, came in person, bringing, in Phoenician barques, the fairest sea-breams and parrot-fishes that heart could desire; whose dung, even, the gods may not lawfully throw aside." DAnd Numenius, in The Art of Angling:JJJ "Or a sea-bream, or hycae  p441 swimming in schools." The sea-bream is mentioned also by Dorion in his work On Fishes.

The Sculpin.JJJ — Dorion, in the first book of his Hygiene, addressed to Pleistarchus,JJJ says that of the deep-water fishes those which have harder flesh are the sculpins, pipers, sole, sarg, and scad, while the red mullets are less hard-fleshed than these. For the rock fishes are soft-fleshed. And Hicesius says: "Of the sculpins, one kind is found in deep water,JJJ the other in lagoons. The deep-water sculpin is yellowish-red, the other inclined to black. EThe deep-water kind is superior in taste and nourishment. Sculpins are purgative, easily eliminated, full of juice, and very nourishing; for they are cartilaginous." The sculpins spawns twice a year, according to Aristotle in the fifth book of Parts of Animals.JJJ Numenius in The Art of Angling:JJJ "Forked hake, and labrus too, and sculpin with red skin, or a black-tail, guide to the perches." That the sculpin can sting is also attested by Aristotle in the book On Fishes or Pertaining to Animals.JJJ Epicharmus in The MusesJJJ says that the sculpin is speckled: "Sculpins speckled, and grey-fish, and fat horse-mackerel." It is solitary, and lives on seaweed. In the fifth book of Parts of Aias, Aristotle calls the sculpin scorpios and scorpis in different passages.JJJ But it is uncertain whether he means that they are the same; that we have often eaten both a scorpaena and a scorpios, and that their flavour and colour differ,  p443 everyone knows. The fancy cook ArchestratusJJJ says in his golden verses: "But in Thasos buy the sculpin, if it be not bigger than thine arm's length; from one too large keep thy hands away!"

The Mackerel. — Mentioned by Aristophanes in Gerytades.JJJ Hicesius says that though mackerel are very small in size, they are more nourishing and better flavoured than tunny, but not so easily eliminated. They are mentioned thus by Epicharmus in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Flying-fish also, and breams, which are larger than tunnies and mackerel, but smaller, indeed, than female tunnies."

Sargs. — "These," says Hicesius, "are more costive and filling than black-tails." Numenius, in The Art of Angling,JJJ calls the sarg a mischievous fish to catch: "Blackbird or thrushesJJJ with hues of the sea; at different times and places, a sarg on the point of being landed, that fish most harmful to the line." Aristotle, in the fifth book of Parts of Animals,JJJ says that it spawns twice, once in spring, again in autumn. Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "And if thou desire, sargs there be, and sardines, and those deep-sea creatures . . ." But the Sargini he lists in the following linesJJJ as something different: "There were gar-fish and black-tails too, and the beloved ribbon-fish, thin but sweet." A similar  p445 statement is found in Dorion's work On Fishes; hence he calls them chalcides (sardines) as well as sargini. The wise archestratusJJJ says: "Whensoe'er Orion is setting in the heavens, and the mother of the wine-bearing cluster begins to cast away her tresses, then have a baked sarg, overspread with cheese, large, hot, and rent with pungent vinegar. For its flesh is by nature tough. And so be mindful and dress every tough fish in the same way. But the good fish, with naturally tender, fat flesh, sprinkle with a little salt only, and baste with oil. For it contains within itself alone the rewardJJJ of joy.

The Salpa.JJJ — Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Aones and sea-breams, bass also, and the fat and loathsome scavenger saupes, yet sweet in the summertime." Aristotle, in the fifth book of Parts of Animals,JJJ says that it spawns once a year, in autumn. It is heavily marked with red lines,JJJ has, moreover, jagged teeth, and is solitary. Fishermen declare, so he says, that it can be caught with a gourd, since it likes that food. ArchestratusJJJ says: "As for the saupe, I shall for ever judge it to be a poor fish. It is most palatable when the grain is being harvested. Buy it in Mytilene." Pancrates  p447 in Occupations at Sea: "And saupes too, fishes of equal length, which the masters of the net, who live by the sea, call cows, because for their belly's sake they ever grind seaweed with their teeth." This fish is also speckled. Hence mnaseas, who was either a Locrian or a Colophonian, and who composed the work entitled Bagatelles, was nicknamed Salpa by his acquaintances because of the varied contents of his compilation. But Nymphodorus of Syracuse, in his Asiatic Voyage,JJJ says that Salpa, the author of these Bagatelles, was a Lesbian woman. Alcimus, again, says in his Sicilian HistoryJJJ that the inventor of bagatelles similar to those going under the name of Salpa was born in Messene, which lies opposite the island of Botrys. Archippus in The FishesJJJ has a masculine form salpês: "Loudly bawled the boax and trumpeted the salpês,JJJ for his pay was seven pence." A similar fish called "patchwork" occurs in the Red Sea, having stripes of a golden tinge extending across his whole body, as Philon narrates in his work On metals.

The SynodonsJJJ and Synagris.JJJ — These are also mentioned by Epicharmus:JJJ "Synagrides and codfishes and synodons speckled round." Numenius in The Art of AnglingJJJ spells it with a y when he says: "Or a white synodon, boaces too, and Tricci." And  p449 again:JJJ 'With this bait, if you desire to eat fish, you can catch either a large synodon or an acrobat horse-tail." But Dorion spells the name with an i, and so does ArchestratusJJJ in this lines: "But as for the sinodon, look only for one that is fat. Try also, my comrade, to take it from the strait. This same advice, as it happens, I give also to thee, Cleaenus." And Antiphanes in Archestrata:JJJ "Who can eat a bit of eel, or the head of sinodon?"

The Lizard-fish. — This is mentioned by Alexis in Leucê;JJJ a cook is the speaker: "A. Do you understand how you should prepare the lizard-fish? B. Why, I shall if you will proceed to tell me. A. First take out the gills, wash it well, cut off the spiny fins and all about it, split it nicely, then spread out the whole in two halves, then whip it well and thoroughly with silphium and cover it with cheese, salt, and marjoram." And Ephippus, who composes a catalogue of many other fish sin Cydon,JJJ includes mention of the lizard-fish in these lines: "Slices of tunny, sheat-fish, dog-fish, monk-fish, conger-eel, cephalus,JJJ perch, a lizard-fish, wrasse, brincus, red mullet, piper, bream, mullet, lebias, sea-bream, speckled-beauty,  p451 Thracian wife, pilchard?, flying-fish, shrimp, squid, sole, weever, polyp, cuttle-fish, sea-perch, goby, anchovies, needle-fishes, grey mullets." And Mnesimachus in The Horse-breeder:JJJ ". . . of the sharks, electric ray, fishing-frog, perch, lizard-fish, anchovy, wrasse, brincus, red mullet, piper."

The Shade-fish. — Dorion, who mentions this in his work On Fishes, says that it is called attageinus.

The Maigre. — Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Speckled-beauties and floaters, and dog-tongues, and maigres too, were in it." NumeniusJJJ calls it sciadeus in these lines: "With this bait, if you desire to take fish, you can catch either a large synodon or an acrobat horse-tail, or a crested bream, or whiles a herded maigre."

Syagrides. — Epicharmus mentions these in The Marriage of Hebe and in Earth and Sea.JJJ

Hammer-fishes. — Hicesius says that these are more nourishing than conger-eels, but uninviting and unpalatable to the taste; they are moderately juicy. Dorion has: "The hammer-fish (spet-fish), which they call cestra." And Epicharmus, mentioning the cestra in The Muses,JJJ omits the mention of sphyraenas, evidently because they are the same: "Sardines  p453 and dog-fishes too, hammer-fishes (spets), and speckled perch." Sophron, too, in Mimes of Men:JJJ "Hammer-fish gulping down a botis." Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, explains hammer-fish, needle-fish, and lizard-fish as being alike. Attic writers also as a rule, call the hammer-fish (sphyraena) a cestra, and have seldom used the word sphyraena. Strattis, for example, in The Macedonians;JJJ a native of Attica asks about the word as if he did not know it, and says: "A. The sphyraena, what's that? B. It's what ye in Attica dub cestra." Antiphanes, in Euthydicus:JJJ "A. A very large sphyraena. B. Cestra you must say in Attic Greek." Nicophon, in Pandora:JJJ "Cestras and sea-bass." Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ 'Cestras and speckled perch."

The Cuttle-fish. — Aristophanes in The Daughters of Danaus:JJJ "although he had these, cuttle-fishes and polyps." The penultimate syllable in sepia is accented with the acute, like aitía (cause), so Philemon explains, and similarly the following: telía (board), tainía (ribbon), oikía (house). AristotleJJJ says that the cuttle-fish has eight feet, of which the two hindmost are largest; also two feelers, between which are the eyes and the mouth. It also  p455 has two teeth, one upper and one lower, and what is called the shell is on its back. The inky fluid is in the sac;JJJ this lies close beside the mouth, presenting the character of a bladder. The stomach is flat and smooth, resembling the rennet-bag of cattle. Small cuttle-fish feed on the minute sorts of fishes, extending their feelers like fishing-lines and catching the fish with them. It is saidJJJ that when a storm arises they grasp small stones with their feelers and ride, as it were, at anchor. When the cuttle-fish is pursued, it emits its inky fluid and conceals itself in it, giving the appearance of flying forward. It is also saidJJJ that when the female is caught on a trident the males go to her aid and pull her away; but if the males are caught, the females run away. The cuttle-fish, like the polyp also, does not live more than a year. In the fifth book of The Parts of Animals, AristotleJJJ says that cuttle-fishes and squids swim together and interlocked, fitting their mouths and feelers closely against each other. They also fit proboscis to proboscis. Among the molluscs the cuttle-fishes spawn the earliest, in spring, and continue spawning in every season; gestation last fifteen days. When the eggs are cast, the male follows closely and discharges (the inky fluid)JJJ over them and so hardens them. They move in ranks. The male is more speckled and has a darker back than the female. Epicharmus in The Marriage of Hebe says:JJJ "polyps and cuttle-fish, and scudding  p457 squids." This line should be noted in controverting Speusippus, who says that cuttle-fish and squid are alike. The expression used by Hipponax in his iambic verse,JJJ "a cuttle-fish's suffusion," is explained by the commentators as the inky fluid of the cuttle-fish. This suffusion, as Erasistratus declares in The Art of Cookery, is a sauce-like mixture. He writes: "A suffusion consists of cooked meat, stewed in blood which has been thoroughly beaten up, honey, cheese, salt, caraway-seed, silphium, and vinegar." And Glaucus of Locris, in his Art of Cookery, writes thus: "A suffusion — blood stewed with silphium and boiled wine, or honey, vinegar, milk, cheese, and chopped leaves of fragrant herbs." And the learned ArchestratusJJJ says: "Cuttle-fishes in Abdera, and in mid Maroneia as well." Aristophanes in Thesmophoriazusae:JJJ "Hasn't anybody bought a fish? a cuttle-fish maybe?" And in The Daughters of Danaus:JJJ "Little polyps and spratlets and squidlets." Theopompus in Aphrodite:JJJ "Nay, my girl, take this cuttle-fish and this bit of polyp here and have a feast." Alexis, in The Lovelorn Lass,JJJ introduces a cook who speaks these lines on the method of cooking cuttle-fish: "Three times as many cuttle-fishJJJ for only a shilling. Of all these  p459 I cut up the feelers and the finsJJJ and stew them. The rest of the creature I chop into many cubes, and rubbing them with ground salt, while the diners are beginning their dinner, my next actJJJ is to carry it sizzlingJJJ to the frying-pan."

The Red Mullet (triglê). — This word, like chichlê (thrush) is spelled with an ê.JJJ For all feminines ending in la require a second l: Scylla, Telesilla. But all words in which g is inserted end in ê, like troglê (hole), aiglê (brilliance), zeuglê (yoke-strap). "The red mullet," Aristotle says in the fifth book of Parts of Animals,JJJ "spawns thrice a year." He says that fishermen infer this from the roe, which is seen three times a year in certain localities. Perhaps, therefore, the name triglê is derived from this circumstance,JJJ just as the amias are so‑called because they do not go solitarily, but in schools, scarus (parrot-fish) and caris (shrimp) from scairo (leap), aphyae (anchovies) because they are aphyes, that is, of poor size; from thyo, dart, the darting thynnys (tunny), because at the time when the Dog-star rises it is driven forth by the bot-fly on its head. The triglê (red mullet) is jagged-toothed, gregarious, spotted all over, and also carnivorous. The third spawning is infertile; for certain worms develop in the womb, which devour the roe that is to be spawned. From this circumstance Epicharmus calls them the "squirming"JJJ in these lines from The Marriage of  p461 Hebe: "So he brought some squirming mullets and disgusting baiones." Sophron, again, mentions trigolae, whatever they may be, in Mimes of Men,JJJ thus: "With a trigolas that cuts the navel-cord;" and "the trigolas that brings fair weather." On the other hand, in the mime entitled Puffing Passion, he has: "The jaw of a Triglê, but the hind parts of a trigolas." And in Mimes of Women:JJJ 'The barbelled Triglê." Diocles,JJJ in his work addressed to Pleistarchus, mentions the Triglê among fish with hard flesh. Speusippus says that the piper, flying-fish, and Triglê are similar. Hence Tryphon declares in his work On AnimalsJJJ that some persons identify the trigolas with the piper because of the hardness of their hind parts, which Sophron has indicated when he says, "the jaw of a Triglê, but the hind parts of a trigolas." Plato says in Phaon:JJJ "But the red mullet will give no strength to the glands. For she is a daughter of the virgin Artemis and loathes the rising passion." The Triglê, on account of the syllable in its name which is common to the epithets of Hecate, is dedicated to her.JJJ For she is the goddess of the three waysJJJ and looks three ways, and they offer her meals on the thirtieth days. By like analogies they associate the turbot (citharus) with Apollo, the boax with Hermes,JJJ the ivy with  p463 Dionysus,JJJ the coot (phalaris) with Aphrodite, by way of insinuating phallus, like Aristophanes's pun in The Birds.JJJ (So some persons associate the duck, called netta, with Poseidon.)JJJ The sea productJJJ which we call aphyê, others aphritis, others still, aphros (foam) — this, I say, is most dear to Aphrodite, because she also sprang from foam. Apollodorus also, in his treatise On the Gods, says that the Triglê is sacrificed to Hecate because of the associations in the name; for the goddess is tri-form. But Melanthius, in his work On the Eleusinian Mysteries,JJJ includes the sprat with the Triglê because Hecate is a sea-goddess also. HegesanderJJJ of Delphi declares that a Triglê is carried in the procession at the festival of Artemis, because it is reputed to hunt sea-hares relentlessly and devour them; for they are deadly. Hence, inasmuch as the Triglê does this to benefit mankind, this huntress fish is dedicated to the huntress goddess. Further, Sophron called the Triglê barbelled, because those mullets which have barbels are better to eat than other kinds. At Athens there is also a place called Trigla, and there is a shrine there dedicated to Hecate Triglanthinê. Hence Charicleides says in The Chain:JJJ "Mistress Hecate of the three ways, with three forms and three faces, beguiled with triglas." If a Triglê be smothered a live in wine and a man drinks this, he will not be able to have sexual intercourse, as terpsicles narrates in his book On Sexual Pleasure. If a woman, also,  p465 drink of the same wine, she cannot conceive. The same is true even of a bird. The encyclopaedic Archestratus,JJJ after praising the triglas of Teichious, in the Milesian territory, goes on to say: E"Also in Thasos buy a red mullet, and you will get one that is not bad. In Teos it is inferior, yet even it is good. In Erythrae, too, it is good, when caught by the shore." And Cratinus says in Trophonius:JJJ "No longer may we eat a red mullet from Aexonê, nor taste sting-ray or black-tail of huge growth." The comic poet Nausicrates commends the red mullets of Aexonê in these lines from The Skippers:JJJ "A. With them, excellent in quality, come the tawny-skins, which Aexonê's wave fosters as its own children, the best of all. With these, sailorfolk pay honour to the goddess, light-bringing virgin, whenever they offer her gifts of dinners. B. You are talking about mullets."

Ribbon-fish. — These also are mentioned by Epicharmus:JJJ "And the beloved ribbon-fish, thin but sweet, and requiring little fire." Mithaecus, in The Art of Cookery, says: "Clean the insides of a ribbon-fish after cutting off the head, wash and cut into slices, and pour cheese and oil over them." They occur in greatest number and finest quality off Canopus, near Alexandria, and in Seleuceia near Antioch. But when Eupolis says, in The Prospaltians: p467 JJJ "His mother was a Thracian ribbon-pedlar," he means the cloth and belt ribbon which women tie round themselves.

Rough-tails. — DioclesJJJ mentions these among the fish of harder flesh. Numenius says in The Art of Angling:JJJ "Halcyons and wagtails . . . a rough-tail even in a season when no boats may sail."JJJ

Taulopias.JJJ — ArchestratusJJJ gives an account of this: "Of the large, deep-sea aulopias buy heads in the summer, what time Phaethon drives his chariot over his outermost orbit. And serve it hot quickly and a sauce to go with it. Take a belly-piece of it and roast it on a spit."

The Squid. — AristotleJJJ says that this also belongs to the gregarious kinds of sea animals, and that it has most of the attributes of the cuttle-fish — the same number of feet and the feelers. But in the case of the squid the hind feet are small, the front feet larger; and of the feelers, that on the right is thicker; the whole of its small body is plump and rather more extended. It also has an inky fluid in the sac, but it is yellow, not black. Its shell is very small and cartilaginous.

The Teuthus. — The Teuthus (totaro) differs from the squid solely in point of size,JJJ which reaches as much as three spans.JJJ It is of a reddish colour; the  p469 lower tooth is smaller, the upper is larger; both are black and resemble a hawk's beak. Dissection discloses inner organs like swine's tripe. In the fifth book of Parts of AnimalsJJJ it is said that squids and cuttle-fishes are short-lived. Archestratus, who circled all lands and seas to gratify his appetite, says:JJJ "Squids there are in Pierian Dium beside Baphyras' flood; and in Ambracia thou wilt see very many" Alexis, in The Eretrian,JJJ makes a cook say: "Squids, spinnas, rays, clams, anchovies, steaks, entrails. As for the squids, I chopped up their fins, mixed in a little lard, sprinkled them with seasoning and stuffed them with finely-chopped greens." Again there is a kind of cake called squid, according to Pamphilus, who quotes Iatrocles' Bread-making.JJJ

Pig-fish.JJJ — Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe: "There were pig-fishes (hyaenides) and soles and a turbot among them." But he also speaks of certain fish called hyes in this line:JJJ "Sardines and hyes too (pig-fish), flying gurnards and the fat dog-fish." These may, to be sure, be the same as boar-fish. Numenius, in The Art of Angling,JJJ expressly includes in his list a fish called hyaena in this line: "A black bream which had appeared, a hyaena, and a  p471 red mullet." Dionysius, in The Art of Cookery, also mentions the hyaena. Archestratus, the master-chef, says:JJJ "In Aenus and in Pontus buy the pig-fish, which some mortals call sand-digger. Boil its head without adding any seasoning; simply place it in water, stirring frequently; place beside it a pounded caper-plant, and if thou crave aught else, drop on it pungent vinegar; soak it well in this, then make thousand to eat it, even to the point of choking thyself with thy zeal. But back-fin and most of the other parts it were better to bake." Perhaps, therefore, Numenius, in The Art of Angling,JJJ means the pig-fish when he uses the word sand-fish and says: "At one time a hark, at another a guttling sand-fish."

Hycae.JJJ — The hyces is still another fish which CallimachusJJJ in his epigrams calls sacred, in these words: "His god is the sacred hyces." Numenius, in The Art of Angling:JJJ "Or a gilt-head, or hycae swimming in shoals, or a sea-bream wandering booty a rock." Timaeus, in the thirteenth book of the Histories,JJJ discusses the Sicilian castle (by which I mean Hycara), and says that the castle was so called because the first men who came to that place found the fish which are called hycae, and what is  p473 more, found them teeming. Taking them as an omen, they named the place Hycara. Zenodotus says that the people of Cyrene call the hyces Erythrinus.JJJ But Hermippus of Smyrna, in his book On Hipponax,JJJ understands the rainbow-wrasse by the word hyces; he says that it is hard to catch. Hence PhilitasJJJ also writes: "Not even the last hyces-fish escaped."

The Sea-bream. — Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, says that the sea-bream, redsnapper, and liver-fish are alike. It is mentioned in the quotation from Numenius given above.JJJ AristotleJJJ says that it is carnivorous and solitary, that it has a triangular heart, and that it is at its best in springtime. And Epicharmus says in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Aones, too, and sea-breams, bass all." They are mentioned by Metagenes also in Thurio-Persians.JJJ And Ameipsias in Connus:JJJ "Food for sea-perches and sharks and breams to devour." Hicesius says: "Sea-breams, chromis,JJJ beauty-fish, bass, sea-perch, synodons, and synagrides are similar in character; for they are sweet, rather astringent, and nourishing; but they are also, as might be expected, hard to eliminate. More nourishing than they are fish which are full-fleshed and earthy, having less fat." ArchestratusJJJ says that the bream should be eaten "at the rising of Sirius": "In Delos, or in Eretria,  p475 by the fair-harboured dwellings of the sea. But buy only the head of it, and with it the tail-slice; as for the other parts, my friend, carry them not even into the house." The bream is mentioned by Strattis, also, in Lemnomeda:JJJ "He has swallowed many a large bream." And in Philoctetes:JJJ "And then they walk into the market-place and buy large, fat breams, and slices of tender, round-ribbed Copaics."JJJ There is also a kind of stone called bream. For the whet-stone in Cretan speech is bream, according to Simias.

Cannas. — Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Wide-gaping cannas and hake with extraordinary paunches." Numenius in The Art of Angling:JJJ "Cannas and eels, and darkling bottle-fish." It is mentioned also by Dorion in his book On Fishes. Aristotle, in the work Pertaining to Animals,JJJ names it "spotted-red-black" or "spotted-line," because it is spotted with black lines.

Chromis.JJJ — This is also mentioned by Epicharmus,JJJ who says: "And the sword-fish and the chromis, which Ananius says is the best of all fishes in the springtime."  p477 And Numenius in The Art of Angling:JJJ "A hyces or a beauty-fish, or at times a chromis or a sea-perch." And Archestratus:JJJ "The chromis thou gettest in Pella will be large (it is fat if it be summer), as also in Ambracia."

The Gilt-head. — Archippus in The Fishes:JJJ "Gilt-heads, sacred attributes of Aphrodite of Cythera." These fishes, according to Hicesius, are superior to all other sin sweetness and flavour generally. They are also very nourishing. They spawn, as AristotleJJJ says, wherever rivers flow, like the grey mullets. They are mentioned by Epicharmus in The MusesJJJ and by Dorion in his book On Fishes. And Eupolis says in The Flatterers:JJJ "For only a hundred shillings I have bought fish — eight sea-bass and twelve gilt-heads." And the learned Archestratus in his CounselsJJJ says: "Omit not the fat gilt-head from Ephesus, which people there call Ioniscus. Buy it, that nursling of the holy Selinus.JJJ Wash it with care, then bake and serve it whole even though it measure ten cubits."

ChalcidesJJJ and similar fish, thrissae, trichides, and eritimi. — Hicesius says: "The Chalcides, as they are called, the bucks, the needle-fishes, and the  p479 thrissae are chaffy, fatless, and juiceless." Epicharmus in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "Sardines and pig-fish, flying gurnard too, and the fat dog-fish."JJJ Dorion gives them the name chalcidicae. And NumeniusJJJ says: "But in vain would you try in the same way to spear the tiny herring or sprat with that."JJJ The Chalcis, moreover, is different from the chalceus,JJJ mentioned by Heracleides in his Art of Cookery and by Euthydemus in his book On Salt Meats. The latter says that they are found in the territory of Cyzicus, and that they are round and circular in shape. As for thrissae, Aristotle mentions them in the book On Animals and Fishes in this list: "Non-migratory are the thrissa, encrasicholus,JJJ anchovy, crow-fish, redsnapper, and trichis." These last are mentioned by Eupolis in The Flatterers:JJJ "He used to be close-fisted, for in the old days before the war he bought trichides; but when the Samian affair was on, he bought slices of meat worth ha'-penny." Aristophanes in The Knights:JJJ "If trichides should come to a penny the hundred." Dorion, in the book On Fishes, mentions also the river-thrissa, and gives to the trichis the name trichias. So Nicochares in the Lemnian Women:JJJ "Trichiae and premnad tunnies have come to the table in abounding plenty."  p481 Premnad is a name they give to female tunnies. Plato in Europa:JJJ "Once I went a‑fishing, and caught him, along with some premnad tunnies, most a sprig of andrachna;JJJ and then I let him go, for he turned out to be a boax." Aristotle uses the same term, trichias, in the fifth book of Parts of Animals.JJJ But in the work entitled Pertaining to Animals,JJJ he has trichis. It is one of the fishes of which it is said that they delight in dancing and music, and when it hears the sound of music it jumps out of the water. The eritimi are mentioned by Dorion in his book ON Fishes; he says they behave in the same way as the Chalcides, and that they are good to eat when served with a sauce. And Epaenetus says; "The marten-fish, the picarelJJJ (which some call dog-kennels), Chalcides (which they also call sardines), eritimi, flying gurnard, and flying-fish." Aristotle, in the fifth book of The History of Animals,JJJ calls them sardines. And Callimachus, in National Designations,JJJ writes as follows: "encrasicholus, the eritimus at Chalcedon. Trichidia, Chalcis, ictar, or Atherinê at Athens." And, when giving in another passage a list of terms for fish, he says: "ozaena, the osmyliumJJJ at Thurii. Iopes, the eritimi at Athens." These iopes are mentioned by Nicander in the second book of his poem, Oetaea:JJJ "As when,  p483 amid the freshly spawned school of iopes, sea-breams or owl-fishes or the sea-perch show their might." BAnd Aristophanes in The Merchantmen:JJJ "Alas for the poor devil who was first plunged into a pickle of trichides." For it was the custom to plunge fishes which were adapted for broiling into a pickle which they called Thasian pickle. So the same poet says in The Wasps:JJJ "For twice before, when I had swilled a pickle of broiled fish."JJJ

Thracian Wives. — Now that we are at this point in the discussion, and have prefaced an account of thrissae, let us ask what the "Thracian wives" are in Archippus's play, The Fishes. For in the agreements made between the fishes and the Athenians he has introduced the following:JJJ "To restore mutually whatever property of the other party we now hold, to wit: We shall give up the Thracian wives and Sardella the flute-girl, Cuttle-fish, daughter of Tursio, and the Mullet family; also Eucleides, former archon, the Crow-fish tribe from Anagyrus, the son of Gobio of Salamis, and the assessor Fishing-frog from Oreum." In case someone should ask what these Thracian wives in the custody of the fishes happened to be, which they agree to restore to men, since I have composed a personal treatise on this play,JJJ I will now set forth the chief points of importance. As a matter of fact, the Thracian wife is a small sea fish. Mnesimachus mentions it in The Horse-breeder. He is a poet of the Middle Comedy, and  p485 he says:JJJ "Mullet, lebias, sea-bream, speckled-beauty, Thracian wife, flying-fish, shrimp, squid." Dorotheus of Ascalon, however, in the one hundred and eighth book of his Lexicon, writes thetta for thratta, either because he had before him a corrupt edition of the play, or else because the name thratta displeased him and he expunged it by an emendation of his own. But the word thetta does not so much as occur anywhere in Attic writers. On the other hand, Anaxandrides in LycurgusJJJ shows that they called the small sea fish thrattam when he says: "He sports with the shrimplets among the perchlets and the whitebait."JJJ And Antiphanes in The Etruscan:JJJ "A. As to his deme, he is from Halae. B. Well, that's about the last straw. I shall be constantly abused. A. What do you man by that? B. He will give me a Thracian wife or a plaice or a lamprey, or some damned big thing from the sea."

The Plaice. — Diocles includes these in the list of harder-fleshed fishes. Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, says the flounder, sole, and ribbon-fish are alike. Aristotle, in the fifth book of Parts of Animals,JJJ writes: "In similar fashion the majority of fishes spawn only once a year, as for example all "dumped" fish (that is, those taken in nets), the chromis, plaice, tunny, palamyd, grey mullet, sardine, and the like." 330Again he says, in  p487 Pertaining to Animals:JJJ "Cartilaginous are horned ray, sting-ray, electric ray, ray, fishing-frog, sole, flounder, and mouse-fish." Dorion writes in his book On Fishes: "Among the flat fish are the ox-tongue, plaice, and sole, which is also called coris." Epicharmus mentions ox-tongues also in The Marriage of Hebe:JJJ "There were pig-fishes and soles and a turbot among them." Lynceus of Samos in his letters says that the best plaice are found off Eleusis, in Attica. But Archestratus says:JJJ "Then buy a large flounder, and the rather rough sole; but the plaice only in summer, for it is good at Chalcis." Romans call the flounder rhombus, which is a Greek word. Nausicrates, in The Skippers;JJJ having first spoken of the grey-fish he adds: "A. The tawny-skins, which Aexonê's wave fosters as its own children, the best of all. With these, sailorfolk pay honour to the goddess, light-bringing virgin, whenever they offer her gifts of dinners. B. You are talking about the milk-coloured mullet, which the stodgy Sicilian mob calls rhombus."JJJ

We have at last, Timocrates, reproduced to repletion the prating about fish which occurred at the Deipnosophists' table. Here I will end the discourse, unless you require a bit of other food, quoting for your benefit what Eubulus says in The Laconians, or  p489 Leda:JJJ "Besides this you shall be served with a slice of tunny, pork-chops, kids' entrails, boar's liver, lamb-fries, beef guts, lambs' heads, a kid's appendix, breast of hare, a sausage, black-pudding, lung, and salami." And so, stuffed with all these, let us bestow some attention on our bodies, that you may be able to feed on what comes after. Isn't that reasonable?


The Loeb Editor's Notes:

1 p296 Rose.

2 Cf. Matron in Athen. 135C, also 313D, whence it seems that the proverb refers to mixed company.

3 Kaibel 100; Athen. 304C, also 328B. Needle-fish = garfish.

4 Hist. An. 543 B11.

5 p296 Rose. A. meant pipe-fish.

6 Frag. 54 Ribbeck 46 Brandt.

7 Identified with the file, above 312B.

8 Perhaps the giant lizard, a variety of which is eaten in southern California.

9 p314 Rose.

10 Kaibel 100; below 320C; see critical note.

11 Frag. 55 Ribbeck 41 Brandt.

12 Or, "Carians with curved bows"; see critical note.

13 Frag. 41 Ribbeck 13 Brandt.

14 Kaibel 100; cf. above, 319F; see critical note.

15 Frag. 16 Birt; below, 327B.

16 An inexact but convenient translation for Scorpaena scrofa and other species of bullhead.

17 Wellmann 172.

18 Opposed to jjj, rock fishes [Hippoc.] jjj, II.49 (VI.548).

19 Hist. An. 543 A7.

20 Frag. 18 Birt; Athen. 313D, 319B.

21 p315 Rose.

22 Kaibel 100; cf. Athen. 295B.

23 Hist. An. 543 A7, b 5.

24 Frag. 42 Ribbeck 29 Brandt.

25 Kock I.434.

26 Kaibel 102; Athen. 313E.

27 Frag. 17 Birt; Athen. 305C, 315B.

28 Both these are wrasses.

29 Hist. An. 543 A7.

30 Kaibel 100; Athen. 325F.

31 Kaibel 100; Athen. 313D, 325F.

32 0....Frag. 38 Ribbeck 36 Brandt

33 Or, reading jjj, "fullness." See critical note.

34 A kind of stock-fish, French saupe. See 305D note i.

35 Kaibel 102; Athen. 327C. The first fish in the verse is not identifiable.

36 Hist. An. 543 A8, b 7.

37 Aristot. p314 Rose.

38 Frag. 37 Ribbeck 28 Brandt.

39 F. H. G. II.378.

40 F. H. G. IV.296.

41 Kock I.683; for boax cf. Athen. 287A.

42 With a pun on jjj and jjj.

43 Dentex vulgaris, a large species of the sea-bream family. In Aristotle, jjj is a term used of animals whose teeth meet evenly, not like the jagged carcharodons.

44 jjj is the Modern Greek name of Dentex vulgaris; but here is meant D. macrophthalmus.

45 Kaibel 103.

46 Frag. 9 Birt; Athen. 286F.

47 Frag. 6 Birt; Athen. 304D, 322F.

48 Frag. 40 Ribbeck 17 Brandt.

49 Kock II.28.

50 Or The Lady from Leucas Kock II.344. The lizard-fish is the horse-mackerel.

51 Ibid. 256; Athen. 329D, 403B.

52 A mullet; see 306E‑, 307B.f

53 Kock II.438; Athen. 403B.

54 Kaibel 99; Athen. 288B, 307C, 308E.

55 Frag. 6 Birt; Athen. 322B, 304D.

56 Kaibel 95, 103. See critical note.

57 Kaibel 99; Athen. 391B.

58 00kaib 165; Athen. 286D note a.

59 Kock I.719.

60 Kock II.50.

61 Kock I.776.

62 Kaibel 99; Athen. 319B.

63 Kock I.436. In Athen. 316B the line is attributed to the play Daedalus.

64 p320 Rose.

65 00µ. Aristot. Hist. An. 524 B14 jjj (molluscs), jjj: in 526 B32 he compares this sac to the liver.

66 Cf. Aristot. Hist. An. 523 B32.

67 Cf. op. cit. 68 B16.

68 Ibid. 541 B12, 544 A1.

69 Supplied from Aristotle.

70 Kaibel 101; Athen. 318E.

71 P. L. G.4 frag. 68.

72 Frag. 39 Ribbeck 55 Brandt.

73 Kock I.473; Athen. 104E and note a.

74 Kock I.454.

75 Ibid. 734.

76 Kock II.367; cf. Athen. 326D.

77 sc. as fish, perhaps mentioned previously. See critical note.

78 "Fins" is here and elsewhere a popular inaccuracy for tentacles.

79 jjj seems to be used in its theatrical sense, of a new scene. But see critical note.

80 Apparently it was parboiled before being fried.

81 i.e. not trigla; cf. 305A‑B.

82 Hist. An. 543 A5.

83 jjj is here connected with jjj, "three times"; jjj, quasi jjj, a different etymology from Aristotle's, Athen. 278A. On amia see 277E. For jjj from jjj cf. 302B.

84 Literally "curved."

85 Kaibel 102; Athen. 288A and note f.

86 Kaibel 166.

87 Ibid. 163.

88 Ibid. 159.

89 Wellmann 172; cf. Athen. 305B, 320D.

90 Frag. 121 Velsen.

91 Kock I.647; Athen. 5D and note a.

92 i.e., the word triglê was supposed to contain the numeral three; cf. Athen. 84B‑C and note f.

93 Cross-roads or fork in the highway.

94 Athen. 287A, note d, 306A.

95 287A.

96 Both being jjj? Soph. O. C. 674, cf. Eu. Bacch. 81.r

97 l. 566.

98 Evidently Athenaeus (or Pamphilus) derived jjj from jjj, "swim." The words in parentheses are an obiter dictum, interrupting the associations with Aphrodite, born of the foam.

99 Literally "semen"; cf. 285B.

100 F. H. G. IV.444.

101 Ibid. 420.

102 Kock III.394.

103 Frag. 56 Ribbeck 42 Brandt.

104 Kock I.80.

105 Kock II.295; to be added to the fragment given by Athen. 296A. Cf. 330B.

106 Kaibel 100; Athen. 321B. Ribbon-fish were perhaps Cepola rubescens and C. Taenia.

107 Kock I.323.

108 Wellmann 172. The fish were scad.

109 Frag. 20 Birt.

110 These birds can be put out to sea when men cannot (Birt). jjj may be dabchicks.

111 This absurd lemma arose through a misreading of the first line in the Archestratus fragment following. The fish mentioned is the aulopias, perhaps the germon (a tunny).

112 Frag. 9 Ribbeck 33 Brandt.

113 p323 Rose.

114 Aristot. p324 Rose.

115 About two feet.

116 Aristot. Hist. An. 550 B14.

117 Frag. 43 Ribbeck 54 Brandt.

118 Kock II.323‑4; cf. Athen. 324C and note f (p457)

119 For the moulding of dough in shapes see 109F, note c, 114F, note a.

120 Evidently a kind of plaice or sole.

121 Kaibel 102; Athen. 288B, 330A.

122 Kaibel 103; cf. Athen. 328C.

123 Frag. 13 Birt. Hyaena is the fish puntazzo.

124 Frag. 44 Ribbeck 22 Brandt.

125 Frag. 11 Birt; Athen. 306D.

126 Identified with the Erythrinus or redsnapper, 300F.

127 Frag. 72 Schneider; Athen. 284C, 282ce.

128 Frag. 16 Birt Athen. 320D.

129 F. H. G. I.220.

130 Athen. 300F, and note e.

131 F. H. G. III.52.

132 P. L. G.4 frag. 17.

133 327B.

134 p317 Rose.

135 Kaibel 102; Athen. 321D.

136 Kock I.706, Athen. 269E‑; on the title see 228E, note g.f

137 Kock I.672; cf. Athen. 315B‑C.

138 328A, 282B note d.

139 Frag. 45 Ribbeck 26 Brandt.

140 Kock I.718.

141 Ibid. 724.

142 i.e., eels, 297C.

143 Kaibel 102; Athen. 315F.

144 Frag. 10 Birt; Athen. 304E.

145 p296 Rose.

146 See 282B, note d.

147 Kaibel 101; Athen. 282A‑B.

148 Frag. 8 Birt; Athen. 295B.

149 Frag. 46 Ribbeck 30 Brandt.

150 Kock I.682. See critical note.

151 Hist. An. 543 B3.

152 Kaibel 100; Athen. 304C.

153 Kock I.298; an ironical comment on the high price of fish.

154 Frag. 47 Ribbeck 12 Brandt.

155 Not the better known city in Sicily, but the river which flowed beside the temple of the Ephesian Artemis; Strabo 387.

156 Sardines; the names which follow refer to the fine hair-like bones.

157Kaibel 103.

158 326E.

159 Frag. 19 Birt.

160 i.e., with a trident such as was used for taking large fish (Birt).

161 Perhaps the dory (or John-dory).

162 p298 Rose. See critical note.

163 Cf. 285A, 300F, note f.

164 Kock I.299; an ironical description of Hipponicus.

165 l. 662.

166 Kock I.772.

167 Kock I.611.

168 A small plant used as a charm, illecebrum. See Pliny, N. H. XXV.162.

169 Hist. An. 543 A5.

170 p298 Rose.

171 Cf. 313B and notes a and b.

172 p238 Rose.

173 Frag. 38 Schneider.

174 A polyp, 318E; but the terms ozaena and osmylium suggest jjj, which points to the smelt and its peculiar odour, like that of a cucumber, when first caught.

175 Frag. 18 Schneider.

176 Kock I.500.

177 l. 1127, here quoted inaccurately; cf. Achaea. 671.

178 The sentence concludes: "I had to pay the fuller a bill of threepence." For the reason see Aristoph. Eccl. 347.

179 Kock I.684.

180 See Vol. I p. ix.

181 Kock II.438; Athen. 403B, cf. 322E.

182 Kock II.144; Athen. 105F and note e.

183 "little Thracian wives."

184 Kock II.103. A woman is complaining because she must marry a man from a fishing-village. To hand one a plaice or a lamprey was equivalent to handing one a "lemon."

185 Hist. An. 542 B35.

186 p295 Rose.

187 Kaibel 102; Athen. 288B, 326E.

188 Frag. 51 Ribbeck, 32 Brandt; Athen. 288A.

189 Kock II.295; Athen. 325E, cf. 296A.

190 What lurks in the corrupt jjj (sic) I do not know.

191 Kock II.185.

192 zzzz

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