De sollertia animalium

PHAEDIMUS. And we shall observe this difference even more clearly when we turn our attention to the oldest and most important of social institutions and duties, those concerned with generation and procreation. Now in the first place those fish that inhabit a sea that borders on lagoons or receives rivers resort to these when they are ready to deposit then; eggs, seeking the tranquillity and smoothness of fresh water, since calm is a good midwife. Besides, lagoons and rivers are devoid of sea monsters,[*](See 981 e infra; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 71.) so that the eggs and fry may survive. This is the reason why the Black Sea is most favoured for spawning by very many fish. It breeds no large sea beasts at all except an infrequent seal and a small dolphin[*](Cf. Aristotle, Historia Animal. viii. 13 (598 b 2); Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 49 f.; Aelian, De Natura Animal. iv. 9; ix. 59; Mair on Oppian, Hal. i. 599; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. 47; Thompson, Glossary, pp. 54, 281.); besides, the influx of rivers - and those which empty into the Black Sea are numerous and very large - creates a gentle blend conducive to the production of offspring. The most wonderful tale is told about the anthias,[*](On the identity see note on 977 c supra.) which Homer[*](Iliad, xvi. 407.) calls Sacred Fish. [*](See Gow on Theocritus, frag. 3. Homer does not call the anthias Sacred Fish, but merely alludes to a sacred fish; and in later times several were so regarded.) Yet some think that sacred means important, just as we call the important bone os sacrum [*](The last bone of the spine.) and epilepsy, an important disease, the sacred disease.[*](Cf. [Hippocrates], De Morbo Sacro (L.C.L., vol. ii, pp. 138 ff.); Herodotus, iii. 33; Plato, Timaeus, 85 a-b.) Others interpret it in the ordinary sense as meaning dedicated or consecrated.

Eratosthenes[*](Powell, Collectanea Alexandrina, p. 60, frag. 12. 3; Hiller, frag. 14 (p. 31).) seems to refer to the gilthead[*](See Mair on Oppian, Hal. i. 169.) when he says

Swift courser golden-browed, the sacred fish.

Many say that this is the sturgeon,[*](See 979 c supra. They are wrong, for while both the gilthead and the sturgeon were sacred fish, the description points clearly to the gilthead.) which is rare and hard to catch, though it is often seen off the coast of Pamphylia. If any ever do succeed in catching it, they put on wreaths themselves and wreathe their boats; and, as they sail past, they are welcomed and honoured with shouts and applause. But most authorities hold that it is the anthias that is and is called sacred, for wherever this fish appears there are no sea monsters. Sponge-fishers[*](Cf. 950 c supra; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 153; Thompson, Glossary, p. 15.) may dive in confidence and fish may spawn without fear, as though they had a guarantor of their immunity. The reason for this is a puzzle: whether the monsters avoid the anthias as elephants do a pig[*](Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 38; viii. 28; xvi. 36; al..) and lions a cock,[*](Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. iii. 31; vi. 22; viii. 28; al. ) or whether there are indications of places free from monsters, which the fish comes to know and frequents, being an intelligent creature with a good memory.