The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 88

A hot slice of the newly taken orphus.

And Plato, in his Cleophon, says--

For he has brought you here, old dame, to dwell, A rotten food for orphi and for phagri, And other gristly boneless fish around.

And Aristophanes, in his Wasps, says--

If a man be inclined to purchase orphi, And likes to leave alone the membrades.

Now this word ??f??, in the nominative case singular, is accented with an acute on the ultima by the Attic writers; so Archippus writes the word, in his Fishes, in the lines which I have already quoted; and Cratinus also, in his Ulysses, as I have above quoted it, writes--

t?a??? ??f? ???a???.

98. There is also a fish called orcynus. Dorion, in his treatise on Fishes, says that the orcyni come from the sea near the Pillars of Hercules to the waters on our coasts; on which account, a great number are taken in the Iberian and Tyrrhenian seas; and that from thence they are dispersed over the rest of the sea. But Icesius says that those which are caught near Cadiz are the fattest, and next to them those which are taken near Sicily. But that those which are taken at any great distance from the Pillars of Hercules have very little fat on them, because they have swum a very great distance. Accordingly, at Cadiz, it is only the shoulders by themselves which are dried and cured; as also it is only the jaws and palate of the sturgeon, and that part which is called the melandryas, which is cured. But Icesius says that the entrails are very rich, and very different in flavour from the other parts; and that the parts about the shoulders are superior even to these.

99. There is also the cod and the hake. The cod, says Aristotle, in his work on Living Animals, has a large wide mouth like the shark, and he is not a gregarious fish; and he is the only fish which has his heart in his stomach, and in his brain he has stones like millstones. And he is the only fish who buries himself in a hole in the hot weather, when the Dog-star rages; for all others take to their holes in the winter season.

And these fish are mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding:--

And there are channae with their large wide mouths, And cod with their huge bellies.

But the cod is different from the hake, as Dorion tells us, in his work upon Fish, where he writes thus: "The ???? (cod), which some call ??d??."

There is also the gallerides, which some call a hake, and some a maxinus. But Euthydemus, in his work on Cured Fish, says, "Some call this fish the bacchus, and some call it the gelaria, and some call it the hake." But Archestratus says--

Anthedon's famous for its cod, which some Do call gallerias; there its size is great, But the flesh spongy, and in many respects I do not think it good, though others praise it.

But this man likes one thing, and that another.

100. There is the polypus, declined p???p???, p???p?d??; at least this is the way the Attic writers use the word, and so does Homer:--

As when a polypus (p????p?d?? in the genitive) is dragged from out his lair:

keeping the a.n.a.logy to the noun p???, from which it is derived. But in the accusative case we find the form p???p???, just as we find ????????

and ??d?p???. aeschylus, too, has the form t??p???, as an epithet of a caldron, in his Athamas, from p???, as if it were a simple noun like ????. But the form p???p?? is aeolic. For the Attics always say p???p???.

Aristophanes, in his Daedalus, says--

When then I had this polypus (p????p???) and cuttle-fish.

And in another place he says--

He put before me a polypus (p????p???).

And in another place he has--

They are the blows of a polypus press'd tight.

And Alcaeus says, in his Adulterous Sisters,--

The man's a fool and has the mind of a polypus (p????p?d??).

But Ameipsias, in his Glutton, says--

I want, it seems, a heap of polypi (p????p??).

And Plato, in his Boy, writes--

First of all you like the polypodes (t??? p????p?da?).

Alcaeus in another pa.s.sage says--

I myself eat like any polypus (p????p???).

But others use the accusative case p???p?da, in strict a.n.a.logy with p???, p?d??, p?d?, p?da. Eupolis, in his Demi, has--

The man's a fellow-citizen of mine, A very polypus in disposition.

101. Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, says--"The molluscous fish are calculated to give pleasure, and to excite the amorous propensities; especially the polypi (?? p???p?de?)."

And Aristotle relates that the polypus has eight feet, of which the two highest and the two lowest are the smallest, and those in the middle are the largest; and they have also two feelers, with which they bring their food to their mouth. And they have their eyes placed above their two upper feet; and their mouth and teeth are between their feet. And when the polypus is dissected, he has a brain divided into two parts; and what is called his ink is not black, like the cuttle-fish, but of a reddish colour, in that part of him which is called the poppy; but the poppy lies above the stomach, like a bladder: and it has no intestines, like other fish. But for food it uses at times the flesh of small sh.e.l.l-fish, and casts the sh.e.l.ls outside its body; by which the hunters know where to find it. And it propagates its species by becoming intertwined with the female, and is a long time about it, because it is dest.i.tute of blood: and it ejects its young through the orifice which is called the spiracle, which is the only pa.s.sage for its body; and it lays eggs in cl.u.s.ters, like bunches of grapes.

102. They say, also, that the polypus, when it is in want of food, will eat even itself. And among those who relate this fact is Pherecrates the comic poet; for he, in the play ent.i.tled The Countryman, says--

They live on green anthrysca, and on bracana, And snails and slugs. And when they're very hungry, Then, like the polypus, they e'en at night Nibble their fingers.

And Diphilus, in his Merchant, says--

A polypus with all his feelers And limbs unhurt; whose wicked tooth Has not devour'd himself, my friend, Is ready for our supper.

But all this is a mistake; for the fact is, that he is pursued by the congers, and has his feet hurt in that manner. And it is said that if any one strews salt over his hole, he immediately comes out. It is also affirmed, that when he flies in alarm, he changes his colour, and becomes like the places in which he conceals himself. As also Theognis of Megara says, in his Elegies--

Remark the tricks of that most wary polypus, Who always seems of the same colour and hue As is the rock near which he lies.

And Clearchus makes a similar statement in the second book of his treatise on Proverbs, where he quotes the following lines, without saying from whose writings they come--

My son, my excellent Amphilochus, Copy the shrewd device o' the polypus, And make yourself as like as possible To those whose land you chance to visit.

103. And the same Clearchus says that, in olden time, about Trzen, it was considered impious to try to catch either the polypus, which was called sacred, or that one which was called the rower. And it was contrary to law to eat either that or the sea-tortoise. But the polypus is a fish very apt to decay, and also very stupid; for it goes towards the hand of the people who are pursuing it: and sometimes even when it is pursued, it does not attempt to get out of the way. Their females waste away after laying their eggs, and get powerless; by reason of which they are easily taken. And sometimes they have been seen leaving the sea, and going on dry land, especially towards any rough or rugged ground; for they shun smooth places: and of all plants they especially delight in the olive, and they are often found embracing the trunk of an olive with their feelers. They have also been discovered clinging to such fig-trees as grow near the sea-sh.o.r.e, and eating the figs, as Clearchus tells us, in his treatise on those Animals which live in the Water. And this also is a proof that they are fond of the olive,--that if any one drops a branch of this tree down into the sea, in a place where there are polypi, and holds it there a little time, he without any trouble draws up as many polypi as he pleases, clinging to the branch.

And all their other parts are exceedingly strong, but their neck is weak.

104. It is also said that the male has something corresponding to the parts of generation in one of his arms, in which there are his two large feelers; and that it is a limb full of nerves, sticking to the arm all along as far as the middle. But, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, Aristotle says--"The polypus propagates his species in the winter, and brings forth in the spring; and it lies in its hole for about two months: and it is a very prolific animal. But the male differs from the female, both in having a longer head, and also in having what the fishermen call its parts of generation in one of its feelers. And when it brings forth, it sits on its eggs, on which account it is worse to eat at that season; and the polypus lays its eggs either in its bed, or in any potsherd, or hollow place or vessel of that sort.

And after fifty days, the little polypi come forth out of the egg in immense numbers, like young spiders. But the female polypus sometimes sits upon the eggs, and sometimes clings to the mouth of the bed, holding on with one of its feelers." Theophrastus, in his treatise on those Animals which change their Colour, says that the polypus generally becomes like only to those places which are rocky, doing this both out of fear and for the sake of protecting itself. But, in his book on those Animals which live on dry Land, he says that the polypi are not fond of sea-water. But, in his treatise on those Things which are different according to the Differences of their Situation, Theophrastus says that there are no polypi about the h.e.l.lespont; for that sea is cold, and not very salt, and that both these circ.u.mstances are unfavourable to the polypus.

105. "But the fish called the nautilus," says Aristotle, "is not a polypus, though it resembles a polypus in its feelers. And the back of the nautilus is covered with a sh.e.l.l; and it rises up out of the bottom of the sea, having its sh.e.l.l upon its back, in order that it may not catch the water. But when it has turned round, then it sails on, putting up two of its feelers, which have a thin membrane growing between them, just as the feet of some birds are which have a membrane of skin between their toes. And their other two feelers they let down into the sea, instead of rudders; but when they see anything coming towards them, then out of fear they draw in those feet, and fill themselves with salt water, and so descend to the bottom as rapidly as possible." But, in his treatise on Animals and Fishes, he says--"Of the polypi there are two sorts; one, that which changes its colour, the other the nautilus."

106. Now, on this nautilus there is an epigram quoted of Callimachus of Cyrene, which runs thus:--

I was a sh.e.l.l, O Venus Zephyritis,[500:1]

Now I'm the pious offering of Selena, The gentle nautilus. When balmy winds Breathe soft along the sea, I hold my course, Stretching my sails on their congenial yards.

Should calm, the placid G.o.ddess, still the waves, I row myself along with nimble feet, So that my name suits rightly with my acts.

Now have I fallen on the Iulian sh.o.r.e, To be a pleasant sport to Arsinoe.

No more shall Halcyons' dew-besprinkled eggs, My dainty meal, lie thick within my bed As formerly they did, since here I lie.

But give to Cleinias's daughter worthy thanks; For she does shape her conduct honestly, And from aeolian Smyrna doth she come.