At the battle of Actium, it is said, a fish of this kind stopped the prætorian ship[149] of Antonius in its course, at the moment that he was hastening from ship to ship to encourage and exhort his men, and so compelled him to leave it and go on board another. So that the fleet of Cæsar gained the advantage in the onset, and charged with a redoubled impetuosity. In our own time, too, one of these fish arrested the ship of the Emperor Caius Caligula in its course, when he was returning from Astura to Antium: and thus, as the result proved, did an insignificant fish give presage of great events; for no sooner had the emperor returned to Rome than he was pierced by the weapons of his own soldiers. Nor did this sudden stoppage of the ship long remain a mystery, the cause being perceived upon finding that, out of the whole fleet, the emperors five-banked galley was the only one that was making no way. The moment this was discovered, some of the sailors plunged into the sea, and, on making search about the ship’s sides, they found an echeneïs adhering to the rudder. Upon its being shown to the emperor, he strongly expressed his indignation[150] that such an obstacle as this should have impeded his progress, and have rendered powerless the hearty endeavors of four hundred men, particularly as the fish had no such power when brought on board. According to the persons who examined it on that occasion, and who have seen it since, the echeneïs bears a strong resemblance to a large slug. Some of our own authors have given this fish the Latin name of “mora.”[151] If we had not this illustration by the agency of the echeneïs, would it not have been quite sufficient only to cite the instance of the torpedo, another inhabitant also of the sea, as a manifestation of the mighty powers of Nature? From a considerable distance even, and if only touched with the end of a spear or a staff, this fish has the property of benumbing even the most vigorous arm, and of riveting the feet of the runner, however swift he may be in the race. CHAPTER XIX. THE INSTINCTS AND PECULIARITIES OF FISHES.