Deipnosophistae
Athenaeus of Naucratis
Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
The hepatus or lebias is the next fish to be noticed. Diodes affirms that this is one of those fish which stick to the rocks; but Speusippus says that the hepatus is the same as the phagrus. But it is a solitary fish, as Aristotle declares, carnivorous, and with serrated teeth; black as to its flesh, and having eyes large, out of all proportion to the rest of its size; and its heart is triangular and white. But Archestratus, the marshal of banquets, says—
- Remember that the lebias is best,
- As also is the hepatus, in the waves
- Which wash the Delian and the Tenian shores.
Then come the elacatenes, or spindle fish. Mnesima- chus, in his Horsebreeder, classes together in one line—
But they are a cetaceous fish, very good for curing in his Colons, says—
- The turbot, tunny, tench, elacatene.
And Mnaseas of Patra says, "Of Ichthys and Hesychia, his sister, were born the galene, the lamprey, and the elacatene.
- The tench, th' elacatene, and the tail-fin of
- The sea-dog are the best for pickling.
The tunny must also not be forgotten. Aristotle says this fish swims into the Black Sea, always keeping the land on the right; but that he sails out again, keeping the land on the left. For that he can see much best with his right eye, but that he is rather blind with his left eye. And under his fins he has a sort of gadfly; he delights in heat, on which account he comes wherever there is sand; and he is most eatable at the season when he gets rid of that fly. But he propagates his species after his time of torpor is over, as we are told by Theophrastus; and as long as his offspring are little, he is very difficult to catch, but when they get larger, then he is easily caught, because of the gadfly. But the tunny lies in holes, although he is a fish with a great deal of blood. And Archestratus says—
- Around the sacred and the spacious isle
- Of Samos you may see large tunnies caught.
- The Samians call them horcyes, and others
- Do name them cetus. These 'tis well to buy,
- Fit offering for the Gods; and do it quickly,
- Nor stop to haggle or bargain for the price.
- Good too are those which fair Byzantium,
- Or the Carystian marble rocks do breed.
- And in the famous isle of Sicily,
- The Cephalcedian and Tyndarian shores
- Send forth fish richer still. And if you come
- To sacred Italy, where Hipponium's cape
- Frowns on the waves which lave the Bruttian coast
- Those are the best of all. The tunnies there
- Have gain'd the height of fame and palm of victory.
- Still those which there you find have wander'd far,
- Cross'd many seas, and many a roaring strait,
- So that we often catch them out of season.
But this fish was called the tunny (θύννος) from rushing (ἀπὸ τοῦ θύειν), and moving rapidly. For it s an impetuous fish, from, at a particular season, having a gadfly in its
But the tunny fish and the sword fish are driven to frenzy about the time of the rising of the dogstar; for both of them at that season have under their fins something like a small worm, which is called oestrus, resembling a scorpion, and in size something similar to a spider, and this makes them leap about in leaps as. large as those of the dolphin.And Theodoridas says,—
But Polybius of Megalopolis, in the thirty-fourth book of his History, speaking of the Lusitanian district in Iberia, says,
- The tunnies bend their furious course to Gades.
That in the sea, in these parts, acorn-bearing oaks grow, on the fruit of which the tunnies feed, and grow fat; so that a person who called the tunny the pig of the sea would not err, for the tunnies, like the pigs, grow to a great size on these acorns.
And the intestines of this fish are highly extolled, as Eubulus also tells us, in his Ionian,—
And Aristophanes, in his Lemnian Woman, says—
- And after this the luscious intestines
- Of roasted tunnies sail'd upon the table.
And Strattis, in his Atalanta, says—
- Despise not thou the fat Bœotian eel,
- Nor grayling, nor the entrails of the tunny.
And the same poet says in his Macedonians—
- Next buy the entrails of a tunny, and
- Some pettitoes of pigs, to cost a drachma.
And Eriphus says in his Melibœa—
- And the sweet entrails of the tunny fish.
But when Theopompus, in his Callæschrus, says,
- These things poor men cannot afford to buy,
- The entrails of the tunny or the head
- Of greedy pike, or conger, or cuttle-fish,
- Which I don't think the gods above despise.
we must take notice that the writers of his time apply the term ὑπογάστριον 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 ὑπογάστριον in his Ponticus, where he says—
- The ὑπογάστριον of fish, O Ceres,
And Alexis, in his Ulysses weaving, praises the head of the tunny; and says—
- Whoever has by chance bought dainty food
- For these accursed and abandon'd women,
- Such as ὑπογάστρια, which may Neptune
- Confound for ever; and who seeks to place
- Beside them now a dainty loin of meat . . .
They praised also that part of the tunny which they called
- 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.
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.
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—
And in another place he says—
- I bid you take up hammers now, and beat
- The fiery mass of iron, which will utter
- No groan, but bear in silence like the tunny.
because the tunny cannot see well out of his left eye, as Aristotle has said. Menander, in his Fishermen, says—
- Turning his eye aside, just like the tunny;
And in Sophron we find the word θυννοθήρας (a hunter of
- And the disturbed and muddy sea which breeds
- The largest tunnies.
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 Hecatombæon, 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, distin- guishes the thunnis from the thunnus; and so does Epichar- mus, in his Muses. But Cratinus, in his Pluti, says—
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—
- For I'm a thunnis, a melænas, or
- A thunnus, orphos, grayling, eel, or sea-dog.
And Antiphanes, in his Pæderastes, 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 gods in character,
- And figure too; but if you once forget,
- And vinegar add to them, then you spoil them.
Antiphanes also praises the tail of the thunnis, in his Couris, where he says—
- And the middle slices take
- Of the choice Byzantian tunny,
- And let them be neatly hidden
- Under leaves from beet-root torn.
And some of these iambics may be found in the Acestria, and also in the Countryman, or Butalion. And Hiponax, as Lysanias quotes him in his treatise on the Iambic Poets, says—
- A. The man who's country bred likes not to eat
- Food from the sea extracted; unless indeed
- It comes quite close in shore. 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.
v.2.p.477- 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 Strattis also mentions the thunnis, in his Callipides.
- 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.
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 lam- prey; 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 coryphæna. But Icesius calls it the hippuris; and Epicharmas also mentions them in his Hebe's Wedding, saying—
But Numenius, in his treatise on the Art of Fishing, 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:—
- The sharp-nosed needle-fish,
- And the hippurus, and bright chrysophrys.
And Archestratus says—
- Or the great synodons, or tumbler hippurus.
And Epænetus, in his Cookery Book, says that it is called also the coryphoena.
- Th' hippurus of Carystus is the best,
- And indeed all Carystian fish are good.
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 phycæ and the tender squill . . .
And Antimachus the Colophonian mentions it in his Thebais, where he says—
- The char, the mighty tench of size enormous,
- The channus, and the eel; and he who roves
- By night, the wary pitynus; the mussel,
- The horse-fish, or the sea-green corydulis.
- The hyca, or the horse-fish, or the one
- Which they do call the thrush.
There is a fish, too, called the ioulis, concerning which Dorion says, in his treatise on Fishes,
Recollect that if you boil the ioulis, you must do it in brine; and if you roast them, you must roast them with marjoram.And Numenius says—
But the same writer calls them ioulus, and the entrails of the earth, in the following lines:—
- And ne'er neglect the medicine which keeps off
- To a great degree the greedy fish ioulis,
- And scolopendrus that doth poison dart.
- Moreover do not then the bait forget,
- Which on the highest hills that fringe the shore
- Shall soon be found. And they are called iouli,
- Black, eating earth-the entrails of the earth;
- Or the long-footed grasshopper, what time
- The sandy rocks are sprinkled with the foam
- Of the high-rising tide. Then dig them up,
- And stow them carefully within your bag.
There are also fish called κίχλη, the sea-thrush, and κόσσυφος, the sea-blackbird. The Attic writers call the first κίχλη, with an η; and the reason is as follows:—All the feminine nouns which end in λα have another λ before the λα; as σκύλλα, σκίλλα, κόλλα, βδέλλα, ἅμιλλα, ἅμαλλα: but those which end in λη do not require a λ to precede the λη; as ὁμίχλη, φύτλη, γενέθλη, αἴγλη, τρώγλη, and, in like manner, τρίγλη. Cratinus says—
And Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesomes, says,
- Suppose a man had eaten a red mullet (τρίγλην),
- Would that alone prove him an epicure?
Those fish which are called rocky fish have tender flesh; such as the sea-blackbird, the sea-thrush, the perch, the tench, the phyca, the alphesticus.But Numenius says, in his treatise on Fishing—
And Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—
- The sea-born race of grayling or of orphus,
- The black-flesh'd blackbird, or the dainty sea-thrush
- Sporting beneath the waves.
And Aristotle, in his treatise on What concerns Animals, says,
- Bambradones, sea-thrushes, and sea-hares;
- And the bold dragon fish.
And the fishes with black spots, like the sea-blackbird; and the fishes with variegated spots, like the sea-thrush.But Pancrates the Arcadian, in his Works of the Sea, says that the sea-thrush is called by many names:—
And Nicander, in the fourth book of his Transformed People, says—
- Add now to these the sea-thrush red, which they
- Who seek to snare the wary fish with bait
- Do call the saurus, and th' æolias,
- Add too th' orphiscus with his large fat head.
- The scarus or the thrush with many names.
There is also the sea-boar and the cremys. Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, says,
But some fish have no teeth and smooth skins, like the needle-fish; and some have stony heads, like the cremys; and some are harsher, with rough skins, like the sea-boar; and some are marked down the back with two lines, like the seserinus; and some are marked with many lines and with red spots, like the salpe.And both Dorion and Epænatus mention the sea-boar; and Archestratus says—
- But when you go to Acta's favour'd land,
- If you by chance should see a rich sea-boar,
- Buy it at once, and let it not escape you,
- Not if you buy it at its weight in gold;
- Else will the indignation of the gods
- O'erpower you; for 'tis the flower of nectar.
- But 'tis not all men who can be allow'd
- To eat this dainty, no, nor e'en to see it;
- Unless they take a strongly-woven mesh
- Of marsh-bred rush, and hold it in their hands,
- Well used to ply the floats with rapid mind.
- And with these dainties you must offer up,
- Thrown on the ground, some gifts of lamb and mutton.
There is also the harp-fish. Aristotle, in his treatise on Animals, or on Fish, says,
The harp-fish has serrated teeth, is a fish of solitary habits, he lives on seaweed; he has aPherecrates, in his Slave-Tutor, says—v.2.p.480very loose tongue, and a white and broad heart.
Epicharmus says, in his Marriage of Hebe—
- The harp-fish is a good fish; be you sure
- To buy him when you can. He really is good;
- But, I by Phœbus swear, this does perplex me
- Exceedingly which men do say, my friend,
- That there is secret harm within this harp-fish.
And Apollodorus has said that, on account of his name, he was considered to be sacred to Apollo. And Callias, or Diodes, whichever was the author of the play, says in the Cyclops—
- There were hyænides,
- And fine buglossi, and the harp-fish too
And Archestratus, in his Luxurious Way of Living, says—
- A roasted harp-fish, and a ray,
- And the head of a well-fed tunny.
- I counsel you always to boil a harp-fish
- If he is white and full of firmish meat;
- But if he's red and also no great size,
- Then it were best, when you have prick'd him o'er
- With a new sharpen'd knife, to roast him gently.
- Sprinkle him then with oil and plenteous cheese,
- For he does like to see men liberal,
- And is himself intemperate.
There is also the cordylus. Aristotle calls this fish an amphibious animal, and says that it dies if it is dried by the sun. But Numenius, in his book on the Art of Fishing, calls it the courylus:—
He also speaks of the fish called the cordylis, in these lines—
- All things are ready. First I strip the thighs
- Of courylus, or pirene, and treat too
- In the same way the marine grasshopper.
- Mussels, sea-horses, or the sea-green cordylis.
There is also a fish called cammorus. Epicharmus, in his Marriage of Hebe, says—
And Sophron, in his Female Farces, mentions them. But they are a species of squill, and this name was given them by the Romans.
- Then after this there are boaces and
- Smarides, anchovies, also cammori.
There is also a fish called the carcharias. Numenius of Heraclea, in his Art of Fishing, says—
And Sophron, in his Tunny-hunter, says,
- At times you may too a carcharias catch,
- At times a psamathis who loves the surf.
But if your stomach happens to have swallowed a carcharias.But Nicander the Colophonian, in his essay on Dialects, says that the carcharias is also called the lamias and the squill.
There is also the cestreus. Icesius says,
if the fish which are called by one general name of leucisci there are many sorts; for some are called cephali, and some cestres, and some chellones, and some myxini. But the cephali are the best both in flavour and juiciness; the next to them are those called the cestres; the myxini are inferior to either. But the worst of all are the chellones, which are called bacchi; and they are all full of wholesome juice, not very nutritious, but very digestible.And Dorion, in his essay on Fish, mentions the sea cestreus, but does not approve of the river one. And the sea cestreus he subdivides into two species—the cephalus and the nestis. But the cestreus, which is like the sea-urchin about the head, he calls sphondylus. And he says
that the cephalinus differs from the cephalus, and that this last is also called the blepsias.But Aristotle says, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Parts of Animals,
But of the different kinds of cestreus, the chellones begin to be pregnant in the month Poseideon; so does the sargus and the fish called the myxus; and so does the cephalus: and they go thirty days with young. But some of the cestres are not generated by copulation, but are produced by the slime and the sand.
And in other places Aristotle says,
The cestreus is a fish with serrated teeth, but he does not eat other fishes; and, indeed, he is in no respect carnivorous. But of these fish there are several kinds—the cephalus, the chellon, and the pheræus. And the chellon feeds close to land, but the pheræus does not; and they use the following food—the pheræus uses the mucus which proceeds from itself, and the chellon eats slime and sand. It is said, also, that the spawn of the cestreus is not eaten by any other fish, just as the cestreus also eats no other fish.But Euthydemus the Athenian, in his treatise on Cured Fish, says that the spheneus and the dactyleus are both different species of cestres; and also that there is a species which are called cephali, because they have very large heads. And those which are called spheneus,[*](From σφὴν, a wedge.) are called so because
But the cestres are called by some writers plotes, as Polemo says, in his treatise on the Rivers in Sicily. And Epicharmus, in his Muses, gives them this name—
And Aristotle, in his treatise on the Dispositions and Way of Living of Animals, says that
- Aeolians, and plotes, and cynoglossi.
- There also were sciathides.
the cestres live even if they are deprived of their tails. But the cestreus is eaten by the pike, and the conger is eaten by the turbot.And there is an often-quoted proverb,
The cestreus is fasting,which is applied to men who live with strict regard to justice, because the cestreus is never carnivorous. Anaxilas, in his Morose Man, attacking Maton the Sophist for his gluttony, says—
And that beautiful writer, Archestratus, says—
- Maton seized hold of a large cestreus' head,
- And ate it all. But I am quite undone.
Diocles, in his Sea, says—
- Buy if you can a cestreus which has come
- From the sea-girt Aegina; then you shall
- For well-bred men be fitting company.
- The cestreus leaps for joy.
But that the nestes are a kind of cestreus, Archippus tells us, in his Hercules Marrying:—
And Antiphanes, in his Lampon, says—
- Nestes cestres, cephali.
And Alexis, in his Phrygian, says—
- But all the other soldiers which you have
- Are hungry (νήστεις) cestres.
Ameipsias says, in his Men playing at the Cottabus—
- So I a nestis cestreus now run home.
And Euphron says, in his Ugly Woman—
- A. And I will seek the forum, there to find
- Some one to take my work.
- B. I wish you would,
- You would all have less time to follow me,
- Like any hungry (νῆστις) cestreus.
- Midas then is a cestreus-see, he walks
- Along the city fasting (νῆστις).
Aristophanes, in his Gerytades, says—
- I bought me now a nestis cestreus roasted
- Of no great size.
Anaxandrides says, in his Ulysses—
- Is there within a colony of man cestres?
- For that they all are νήστιδες you know.
And Eubulus, in his Nausicaa, says—
- He usually goes supperless about,
- Like a cestrinus nestis.
- Who has been drown'd 'tis now four days ago,
- Leading the life of a sad nestis cestreus.
When all this had been said about this nice dish of fish, one of the cynics coming late in the evening said, "My friends, are we, too, keeping a fast, as if this were the middle day of the Thesmophoria, since we are now fasting like cestres For, as Diphilus says, in his Lemnian Women—
And Myrtilus answering, said—
- These men have supp'd, but I, wretch that I am,
- Shall be a cestreus through th' extreme of fasting.
as the Hedychares of Theopompus says—
- But stand in order—
For you shall not take a share of any of these things before either you, or your fellow-pupil Ulpian, tell me why the cestreus is the only fish which is called the faster. And Ulpian said,—It is because he never takes any living bait; and when he is caught, it is neither effected by any meat nor by any living animal; as Aristotle tells us, when he says
- hungry band of cestres,
- You who are fed, like geese, on vegetables.
perhaps his being hungry makes him lazy;and also that
when he is frightened he hides his head, as if by so doing he concealed his whole body.But Plato, in his Holidays, says—
But do you tell me, O you Thessalian wrestler, Myrtilus! why it is that fish are called by the poets ἔλλοπεσ? And he said,—It is because they are voiceless; but some insist upon it that, by strict analogy, the word ought to be ἴλλοπες, because they are deprived of voice: for the verb ἴλλεσθαι
- As I was going out I met a fisherman,
- And he was bringing me some cestres, and
- He brought me all those worthless starving fish.
And I say that they are called ἔλλοπες from being covered with scales, [the word coming from the same root, and being equivalent to λεπιδωτός]. But I will tell you (though that is not a question which has been asked) why the Pythagoreans, who do touch other living creatures, though sparingly, and who allow themselves even to sacrifice some, absolutely abstain altogether from fish alone. Is it because of their silence for they think silence a very divine quality. Since, then, you, O you Molossian dogs, are always silent, but are still not Pythagoreans, we will now go on to the rest of the discussion about fish.
- Am by myself enough well to reply
- To what two men have lately said before me.