The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 83

But when Theopompus, in his Callaeschrus, says,

The ?p???st???? of fish, O Ceres,

we must take notice that the writers of his time apply the term ?p???st???? 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 ?p???st???? in his Ponticus, where he says--

Whoever has by chance bought dainty food For these accursed and abandon'd women, Such as ?p???st??a, 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 aeschylus likewise mentions the tunny, saying--

I bid you take up hammers now, and beat The fiery ma.s.s 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 ????????a? (a hunter of tunnies); but the same fish which is usually called ??????, the Attic writers call ??????.

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 Hecatombaeon, 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 melaenas, 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 G.o.ds in character, And figure too; but if you once forget, And vinegar add to them, then you spoil them.

And Antiphanes, in his Paederastes, 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 sh.o.r.e. 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 coryphaena. 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 Fis.h.i.+ng, 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 Epaenetus, in his Cookery Book, says that it is called also the coryphaena.

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 phycae, and the tender squill . . .

And Numenius, in his Art of Fis.h.i.+ng, says--