Deipnosophistae

And about Epicurus, Timon, in the third book of his Silli, speaks as follows:—

1. Seeking at all times to indulge his stomach,
2. Than which there's no more greedy thing on earth.

For, on account of his stomach, and of the rest of his sensual pleasures, the man was always flattering Idomeneus and Metrodorus. And Metrodorus himself, not at all disguising this admirable principle of his, says, somewhere or other,

The fact is, Timocrates, my natural philosopher, that every investigation which is guided by principles of nature, fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.

For Epicurus was the tutor of all these men; who said, shouting it out, as I may say,

The fountain and root of every good is the pleasure of the stomach: and all wise rules, and all superfluous rules, are measured alike by this standard.

And in his treatise on the Chief Good, he speaks nearly as follows:

For I am not able to understand what is good, if I leave out of consideration the pleasures which arise from delicately-flavoured food, and if I

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also leave out the pleasures which arise from amatory indulgences; and if I also omit those which arise from music, and those, too, which are derived from the contemplation of beauty and the gratification of the eyesight.

And, proceeding a little further, he says, "All that is beautiful is naturally to be honoured; and so is virtue, and everything of that sort, if it assists in producing or causing pleasure. But if it does not contribute to that end, then it may be disregarded.

And before Epicurus, Sophocles, the tragic poet, in his Antigone, had uttered these sentiments respecting pleasure—

1. For when a man contemns and ceases thus
2. To seek for pleasure, I do not esteem
3. That such an one doth live; I only deem him
4. A breathing corpse:—he may, indeed, perhaps
5. Have store of wealth within his joyless house;
6. He may keep up a kingly pomp and state;
7. But if these things be not with joy attended,
8. They are mere smoke and shadow, and contribute,
9. No, not one jot, to make life enviable.

And Philetærus says, in his Huntress,—

1. For what, I pray you, should a mortal do,
2. But seek for all appliances and means.
3. To make his life from day to day pass happily?
4. This should be all our object and our aim,
5. Reflecting on the chance of human life.
6. And never let us think about to-morrow,
7. Whether it will arrive at all or not.
8. It is a foolish trouble to lay up
9. Money which may become stale and useless.

And the same poet says, in his Œnopion,—

1. But every man who lives but sparingly,
2. Having sufficient means, I call and think
3. Of all men the most truly miserable.
4. For when you're dead, you cannot then eat eels;
5. No wedding feasts are cook'd in Pluto's realms.

And Apollodorus the Carystian, in his Stirrer-up of Law-suits, says—

1. O men, whoe'er you are, why do you now
2. Scorn pleasant living, and turn all your thoughts
3. To do each other mischief in fierce war?
4. In God's name, tell me, does some odious fate,
5. Rude and unlettered, destitute of all
6. That can be knowledge call'd, or education,
7. Ignorant of what is bad and what is good,
8. Guide all your destiny?—a fate which settles
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9. All your affairs at random by mere chance?
10. I think it must be so: for else, what deity
11. Who bears a Grecian heart, would ever choose
12. To see Greeks by each other thus despoil'd,
13. And falling dead in ghastly heaps of corpses,
14. When she might see them sportive, gay, and jesting,
15. Drinking full cups, and singing to the flute?
16. Tell me, my friend, I pray, and put to shame
17. This most unpolish'd clownish fortune.

And, presently afterwards, he says—

1. Does not a life like this deserve the name
2. Of godlike?—Think how far more pleasant all
3. Affairs would be in all the towns of Greece
4. Than now they are, if we were but to change
5. Our fashions, and our habits, and our principles
6. One little bit. Why should we not proclaim,
7. "Whoe'er is more than thirty years of age,
8. Let him come forth and drink. Let all the cavalry
9. Go to a feast at Corinth, for ten days,
10. Crown'd with chaplets, and perfumed most sweetly.
11. Let all who radishes have got to sell
12. Come in the morning here from Megara.
13. Bid all th' allies now hasten to the bath,
14. And mix in cups the rich Eubœan wine? "—
15. Sure this is real luxury and life,
16. But we are slaves to a most clownish fortune.

The poets say that that ancient hero, Tantalus, was also greatly devoted to pleasure. At all events, the author of the book called The Return of the Atridæ says

that he, when he had arrived among the gods, and had begun to live among them, had leave given him by Jupiter to ask for whatever he wished; and that he, being a man quite insatiable in the gratification of his appetites, asked that it might be granted to him to indulge them to their full extent, and to live in the same manner as the gods. And that Jupiter was indignant at this request, and, according to his promise, fulfilled his prayer; but still, that he might not enjoy what he had before him, but be everlastingly tormented, he hung a stone over his head, on account of which he should be unable to get at any of the things which he had before him.

Some of the Stoics also were addicted to this kind of pleasure At all events, Eratosthenes the Cyrenean, who was a pupil of Ariston the Chian, who was one of the sect of the Stoics, in his treatise which is entitled Ariston, represents his master as subsequently being much addicted to luxury, speaking a follows:

And before now, I have at times discovered him breaking down, as it were, the partition wall between pleasure and virtue, and appearing on the side of pleasure.

And Apollophanes (and he was an acquaintance of Ariston), in his Ariston (for he also wrote a book with that title), shows the way in which his master was addicted to pleasure. And why need we mention Dionysius of Heraclea? who openly discarded his covering of virtue, and put on a robe embroidered with flowers, and assumed the name of The altered Man; and, although he was an old man, he apostatized from the doctrines of the Stoics, and passed over to the school of Epicurus; and, in consequence, Timon said of him, not without some point and felicity—

1. When it is time to set (δύνειν), he now begins
2. To sit at table (ἡδύνεσθαι). But there is a time
3. To love, a time to wed, a time to cease.

Apollodorus the Athenian, in the third book of his treatise on a Modest and Prudent Man, which is addressed to those whom he calls Male Buffoons, having first used the expression,

more libidinous than the very Inventors themselves (ἄλφησται),

says, there are some fish called ἄλφησται, being all of a tawny colour, though they have a purple hue in some parts. And they say that they are usually caught in couples, and that one is always found following at the tail of the other; and therefore, from the fact of one following close on the tail of the other, some of the ancients call men who are intemperate and libidinous by the same name. But Aristotle, in his work on Animals, says that this fish, which he calls alphesticus, has but a single spine, and is of a tawny colour. And Numenius of Heraclea mentions it, in his treatise on Fishing, speaking as follows:—

1. The fish that lives in seaweed, the alphestes,
2. The scorpion also with its rosy meat.

And Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, says—

1. Mussels, alphetæ, and the girl-like fish,
2. The dainty coracinus.

Mithæcus also mentions it in his Culinary Art.

There is another fish called Anthias, or Callicthys; and this also is mentioned by Epicharmus, in his Marriage or Hebe:—

1. The sword-fish and the chromius too,
2. Who, as Ananius tells us,
3. Is far the best of all in spring;
4. But th' anthias in the winter.

And Ananius speaks as follows:—

1. For spring the chromius is best;
2. The anthias in winter:
3. But of all fish the daintiest
4. Is a young shrimp in fig leaves.
5. In autumn there's a dainty dish,
6. The meat of the she-goat;
7. And when they pick and press the grapes,
8. Young pigs are dainty eating.
9. Then, too, young puppies you may eat,
10. And hares, and also foxes.
11. But when the grasshopper does sing,
12. Just at the height of summer,
13. Is the best time for mutton fat;
14. Then, too, the sea-born tunny
15. Will many a savoury dish afford,
16. And beats his compeers all
17. With garlic seasoning richly drest;
18. Then, too, the fatted ox
19. Is sweet to eat both late at night,
20. And at a noon-day feast.

And I have quoted this piece of Ananius at length, thinking that it might give some suggestions to the present race of Epicures.

But Aristotle, in his treatise on the Habits of Animals, says—

They say that wherever the anthias is found, there there is no beast or fish of prey ever seen; and accordingly the collectors of sponge use him as a guide, and dive boldly wherever he is found, and call him the sacred fish.

And Dorion also mentions him in his book on Fishes, saying,

Some call the anthias by the name of callicthys, and also by that of callionymus and ellops.

And Icesius, in his treatise on Materials, says that he is called wolf by some authors, and by others callionymus: and that he is a fish of very solid meat, and full of delicious juice, and easy of digestion; but not very good for the stomach. But Aristotle says that the callicthys is a fish with serrated teeth, carnivorous and gregarious. And Epicharmus, in his Muses, enumerates the ellops among the fishes, but passes over the the callicthys or callionymus in silence as being identical with it; and of the ellops he speaks thus,—

1. And then the high-priced ellops.

And the same poet says, subsequently—

1. He was the fish of which great Jupiter
2. Once bought a pair for money, and enjoin'd
3. His slaves to give him one, and Juno t'other.

But Dorion, in his treatise on Fish, says that the anthias and the callicthys are different fish; and also that the callionymus is not the same as the ellops.

But what is the fish which is called the Sacred fish? The author of the Telchinian History, whether it was Epimenides the Cretan, or Teleclides, or any one else, says,—

What are called the sacred fish, are dolphins and pompili.

But the pompilus is a very amorous animal; as being sprung himself, at the same time with Venus, from heavenly blood. And Nicander, in the second book of his Œtaica, says—

1. The pompilus, who points the safest road
2. To anxious mariners who burn with love,
3. And without speaking warns them against danger.

And Alexander the Aetolian, in his Crica, if indeed it is a genuine poem, says—

1. Still did the pompilus direct the helm,
2. Swimming behind, and guide it down the gulf,
3. The minister of the gods, the sacred pompilus.

And Pancrates the Arcadian, in his work entitled

Works of the Sea,

having first said—

1. The pompilus, whom all sea-faring men
2. Do call the sacred fish;

proceeds to say,

that the pompilus is not held in great esteem by Neptune only, but also by those gods who occupy Samothrace. At all events that some old fisherman once threatened to punish this fish, when the golden age still flourished among men; and his name was Epopeus, and he belonged to the island of Icarus. He therefore was one day fishing with his son, and they had no luck in their fishing, and caught nothing but pompili, and so did not abstain from eating them, but he and his son ate every one of them, and not long afterwards they suffered for their impiety; for a whale attacked the ship, and ate up Epopeus in the sight of his son.

And Pancrates states, "that the pompilus is an enemy to the dolphin; and even the dolphin does not escape with impunity when he has eaten a pompilus, for he becomes unable to exert himself and tremulous when he has eaten him; and so he gets cast on shore, and is eaten himself by the gulls and cormorants; and he is sometimes, when in this state, caught by men who give themselves up to hunting such large fish. And Timachides the Rhodian mentions the pom- pili in the ninth book of his Banquet, and says—

1. The tench o' the sea, and then the pompili,
2. The holiest of fish.

And Erinna, or whoever it was who composed the poet which is attributed to her, says—

1. O pompilus, thou fish who dost bestow
2. A prosp'rous voyage on the hardy sailor,
3. Conduct (πομπεύσαις) my dear companion safely home.

And Apollonius the Rhodian or Naucratian, in his History of the foundation of Naucratis, says, "Pompilus was originally a man; and he was changed into a fish, on account of some love affair of Apollo's. For the river Imbrasus flows by the city of the Samians,—

1. And join'd to him, the fairest of the nymphs,
2. The young and noble Chesias, bore a daughter,
3. The lovely maid Ocyrhoe—her whose beauty
4. Was the kind Hours' heaven-descended gift.

They say then that Apollo fell in love with her and endeavored to ravish her; and that she having crossed over to Miletus at the time of some festival of Diana, when the endeavour was about to be made to carry her off, being afraid of such an attempt being made, and being on her guard, entreated Pompilus, who was a seafaring man and a friend of her father, to conduct her safe back again to her own country, saying this,—

1. O Pompilus, to whose wise breast are known
2. The rapid depths of the hoarse roaring sea,
3. Show that your mind doth recollect my sire,
4. Who was your friend, and save his daughter now.

And they say that he led her down to the shore, and conducted her safely across the sea: and that Apollo appeared and carried off the maiden, and sunk the ship with stones, and metamorphosed Pompilus into a fish of the same name, and that he made

1. The Pompilus an everlasting slave
2. Of ships that swiftly pass along the sea.

But Theocritus the Syracusan, in his poem entitled

Berenice, calls the fish which is called leucus the sacred fish, speaking thus—

1. And if a mortal seeks the gods with prayer
2. For a successful hunt, or plenteous gold,
3. A man who lives by the sea, whose nets he makes
4. His ploughs to raise his crops; then let him come,
5. And just at nightfall sacrifice with prayer
6. To this same goddess the most sacred fish,
7. Which men call leucus, (loveliest he of fish,)
8. Then let him bend his nets; and soon he shall
9. Draw them back from the waters full of prey.

But Dionysius, who was surnamed the Iambic, in his treatise on Dialects, writes thus—

We have heard accordingly an Eretrian fisherman, and many other fishermen, too, of other countries, call the pompilus the sacred fish. Now the pompilus is a sea fish, and is very commonly seen around ships, being something like the tunny called pelamys. However, some one spoken of by the poet catches this fish;—

1. Sitting upon a high projecting rock
2. He caught the sacred fish.

Unless, indeed, there be any other kind which is likewise called the sacred fish. But Callimachus in his Galatea calls the chrysophrys the sacred fish, where he says—

1. Or shall I rather say the gold-brow'd fish,
2. That sacred fish, or perch, or all the rest
3. Which swim beneath the vast unfathom'd sea.

But in his Epigrams the same poet says—

1. The sacred sacred hyca.

But some understand by the term sacred fish, one let go and dedicated to the god, just as people give the same name to a consecrated ox. But others consider that sacred is here only equivalent to great, as Homer speaks of

1. The sacred might of Alcinous.

And some think that it is only called ἱερὸς as ἱέμενος πρὸς τὸν ῥοῦν (going down stream).

But Clitarchus, in the seventh book of his treatise on Dialects, says—

The nautical people call the pompilus the sacred fish, because it conducts ships out of the open sea into harbour, on which account it is called πόμπιλος from πέμπω, being the same fish as the chrysophrys.

And Eratosthenes in his Mercury says—

1. They left a share of all their booty there;
2. Still living centipedes, the bearded mullet,
3. The sea-thrush, with dark spots embroider'd o'er,
4. Or the swift sacred fish with golden brows.

Now after all this discussion of ours about fish, the excellent Ulpian may ask why Archestratus, speaking in those excellent suggestions of his of the cured fish on the Bosphoru, says—

1. Those which do come from the Bosphoric seas
2. Are whitest; only let there be no sample
3. Of the hard meat o' the fish which grow around
4. The Lake Mæotis; not in verse can I
5. That fish correctly name.

What is the fish, which he says it is not proper to mention in poetry?

Anchovies must be next considered. And, indeed, Aristonymus uses the word in the singular number, in his Shivering Sun— So that there really is not one anchovy. But of the anchovies there are many kinds, and the one which is called aphritis[*](From ἀφρὸς, foam.) is not produced from roe, as Aristotle says, but from a foam which floats upon the surface of the water, and which collects in quantities when there have been heavy rains. There is also another kind called cobitis, and that is produced from some little worthless gudgeons which are generated in the sand; and from this anchovy itself another kind is produced, which is called the encrasicholus. There is also another anchovy which is the offspring of the sprat; and another which comes from the membras; and another still which comes from the small cestris, which is engendered in the sand and slime. But of all these kinds the aphritis is the best. But Dorion, in his treatise on Fishes, speaks of a fish called the cobites, as good boiled, and also of the spawn of the atherina; and atherina is the name of a fish; and some also call the triglitis an anchovy. But Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Marriage, enumerates the anchovies among the shrimps or membrades; making a distinction between this and what is called the seed. And Icesius says,

Of the anchovy, there is one sort which is white and very thin and frothy, which some people also call the cobitis. And there is another which is not so clean as that, and which is larger; but the

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clean and thin one is the better of the two.

And Archestratus the contriver of delicate dishes, says,—

1. Use all anchovies for manure, except
2. The Attic fish; I mean that useful seed
3. Which the Ionians do call the foam;
4. And take it fresh; just caught within the bays,
5. The sacred bays of beautiful Phalerum.
6. Good is it too, when by the sea-girt isle
7. Of Rhodes you eat it, if it's not imported.
8. And if you wish to taste it in perfection,
9. Boil nettles with it—nettles whose green leaves
10. On both sides crown the stem; put these in the dish
11. Around the fish, then fry them in one pan,
12. And mix in fragrant herbs well steep'd in oil.

But Clearchus the Peripatetic, in his treatise on Proverbs, speaks of the anchovy, and says—

Because they want very little fire for the frying-pan, Archestratus recommends people to put them into a pan which is already hot, and to take them off as soon as they hiss. And they are done, and begin to hiss in a moment, like oil; on which account it is said, 'Anchovy, look at the fire.'

And Chrysippus the philosopher, in his treatise on the Things which deserve to be sought for their own Sakes, says,

The anchovy which is found in the sea at Athens, men despise on account of its abundance, and say that it is a poor man's fish; but in other cities they prize it above everything, even where it is far inferior to the Attic anchovy. Moreover some people,

says he,

endeavour to rear the Adriatic fowls in this place, which are much less useful than our own kinds, inasmuch as they are smaller. But the people in the Adriatic, on the contrary, send for our breed from hence.

Hermippus, too, uses the word ἀφύη in the singular number, in his Demotæ, where he says,—

1. You seem not now to move even an anchovy.

And Calcias, in his Cyclops, says—

1. In preference to the best anchovy.

And Aristonymus, in his Shivering Sun, says—

1. So that there is not really one anchovy.

But Aristophanes uses the diminutive form, and calls them ἀφύδια in his Friers, saying—

1. Nor these little Phaleric ἀφύδια.

But Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras,

praising the Rhodian anchovies, and comparing many of the productions of Attica to those of Rhodes, says—

We may compare to the anchovies of Phalerum those which are called the Aeniatides, and you may compare the ellops and the orphus with the glauciscus; and with the Eleusinian plaice and turbot, and whatever other fish there may be among them enjoying a reputation higher than that of Cecrops, Rhodes has the fox fish to compare.

But the author of the Delight of Life, exhorts the man who is unable to purchase enough to satisfy his appetite, to get fish to eat by robbery, rather than go without it. But Lynceus calls Archestratus an epicure, who in that much celebrated poem of his speaks thus of the shark:—

1. Are you at Rhodes? e'en if about to die,
2. Still, if a man would sell you a fox shark,
3. The fish the Syracusans call the dog,
4. Seize on it eagerly; at least, if fat:
5. And then compose yourself to meet your fate
6. With brow serene and mind well satisfied.

The acharnus is mentioned by Callias in his Cyclops—

1. A harp-fish roast, besides a ray,
2. The head too of a tunny,
3. And eel, some crabs, and this acharnus,
4. The great Aenean dainty.

The ray, roach, or sea frog may also be mentioned. They are mentioned under the two former names by Aristotle in his treatise on Animals, where he classes them under the head of cartilaginous fish. And Eupolis, in his Flatterers, says—

1. At Callias's house there is much pleasure,
2. For he has crabs for dinner, rays besides,
3. And hares, and women with light twinkling feet.

And Epicharmus says, in his Marriage of Hebe—

1. And there were rays and sea-frogs, sawfish, sharks,
2. Camitæ, roach, and lobsters with hard shells.

And in his Megarian Woman he writes—

1. Its sides were like a ray,
2. Its back was altogether like a roach,
3. Its head was long, far more like a stag's,
4. Its flanks were like a scorpion's, son of the sea.

And Sannyrion says, in his Laughter—

1. O rays, O dainty grayling.

And Aristotle in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals, says that the following are cartilaginous fish; the ray, the turtle, the sea cow, the lamprey, the sea eagle, the sea frog, and the whole of the shark tribe. But Sophron in his Farces, gives one fish the name of botis, saying,

The cestres eat the botis,

though it is possible that he may be speaking of some herb. But with respect to the sea frog, the wise Archestratus gives us the following advice in his Apophthegms—

1. Whenever you behold a frog, why roast him
2. * * * *
3. And . . . . prepare his stomach.

And concerning the ray, he says—

1. A boiled ray is good about midwinter.
2. Eat it with cheese and assafœtida;
3. But all the sons o' the sea whose flesh is lean
4. Should, as a rule, be dress'd in such a fashion;
5. And thus I recommend you now again.

And Ephippus the comic poet, in his play called Philyra, (now Philyra is the name of a courtesan), says—

1. A. Shall I first cut a ray in slender slices
2. And boil it? aye? or like the cooks in Sicily
3. Shall I prefer to roast it?
4. B. Copy Sicily.

There are also fish called boaxes. Aristotle, in his treatise entitled Concerning Animals or Fish, says,

The following animals are marked on the back; the boax and others—the following are marked transversely, the kind of tunny fish called colias.

And Epicharmus in his Marriage of Hebe, speaks thus—

1. And in addition to all these the boax,
2. The smarides, anchovies, crabs and lobsters.

And Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, calls them boeces, saying—

1. The white synodons, the boeces, and trinchi.

But Speusippus and the rest of the Attic writers call them boaces. Aristophanes in his play called The Women who occupy Tents, says—

1. But having had a bellyful of boaces,
2. I turn'd my steps towards home.

And they derived their name from the noise (βοὴ) which they make, on which account it used to be said that the fish was sacred to Mercury, as the harp fish was to Apollo. But Pherecrates in his Ant-Men, saying—

They say that there is no other fish whatever, which has any voice at all;

ads afterwards,—

By Castor and Pollux, there is at least no other fish except the boax.

And Aristophanes the Byzantian says—

That we are wrong to call the fish boax, when we ought to call it boops, since, though it is but a little fish, it as very large eyes, so that it might be called boops, having bulls' eyes.

But we may reply to him, If we are wrong in naming him as we do, why do we say coracinus, not corocinus? For he derives his name from moving the pupils of his eyes (ἀπὸ τοῦ τὰς κόρας κινεῖν). And so too, why do we not call the fish σείουρος instead of σίλουροσ? for he has his name from continually shaking his tail (ἀπὸ τοῦ σείειν τὴν οὐράν)?

With respect to the small kind of anchovy called membras, Phrynicus, in his Tragedians, says—

1. O golden-headed membrades, sons of the sea.

But Epicharmus in his Hebe's Wedding, calls them bambradones, and says—

1. Bambradones and sea-thrushes, and hares,
2. And furious dragons.

And Sophron in his Manly Qualities, says—

The bambradon, and the needle fish.

And Numenius says, in his Treatise on Fishing,

1. Or a small sprat, or it may be a bembras,
2. Kept in a well; you recollect these baits.

And Dorion in his book on Fishes, says—"Having taken off the head of a bembras, if it be one of a tolerable size, and having washed it with water, and a small quantity of salt, then boil it in the same manner as you do a mullet; and the bembras is the only kind of anchovy from which is derived the condiment called bembraphya; which is mentioned by Aristonymus in the Sun Shivering—

1. The carcinobates of Sicily
2. Resembles the bembraphya.

Still the Attic writers often call them bembrades. Aristomenes says in his Jugglers—

1. Bringing some bembrades purchased for an obol.

And Aristonymus in his Sun Shivering, says—

1. The large anchovy plainly is not now,
2. Nor e'en the bembras, quite unfortunate.

And Aristophanes says in his Old Age—

1. Fed on the hoary bembrades.

And Plato in his Old Men, says—

1. O Hercules, do just survey these bembrades.

But in the Goats of Eupolis we may find the word written also with a μ (not βεμβρὰς but μεμβρὰς). And Antiphanes says, in his Cnœsthis;—

1. They do proclaim within the fishmarket
2. The most absurd of proclamations,
3. For just now one did shout with all his voice'
4. That he had got some bembrades sweet as honey;
5. But if this be the case, then what should hinder
6. The honey-sellers crying out and saying,
7. That they have honey stinking like a bembras?

And Alexis in his Woman leading the Chorus, writes the word with a μ—

1. Who to the young folks making merry, then
2. Put forth but lately pulse and membrades,
3. And well-press'd grapes to eat.

And in his Protochorus he says—

1. No poorer meal, by Bacchus now I swear,
2. Have I e'er tasted since I first became
3. A parasite; I'd rather sup on membrades
4. With any one who could speak Attic Greek;
5. It would be better for me.

There is also a fish called the blennus, and it is mentioned by Sophron, in his play entitled The Fisherman and the Countryman, and he calls it the fat blennus. It is something like the tench in shape. But Epicharmus in his Hebe's Wedding speaks of a fish which he calls baiones, where he says—

1. Come now and bring me high-backed mullets,
2. And the ungrateful baiones.

And among the Attic writers there is a proverb,

No baion for me; he is a poor fish.

There is also a shell-fish called buglossus. And Archestratus, the Pythagorean, says, because of his temperate habits,

1. Then we may take a turbot plump, or e'en
2. A rough buglossus in the summer time,
3. If one is near the famous Chalcis.

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

1. There were buglossi and the harp-fish there.

But the fish called cynoglossus differs from the buglossus. And of them too Epicharmus speaks—

1. There were the variegated plotides,
2. And cynoglossi, and sciathides.

But the Attic writers call the buglossus the psetta.