The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
21. 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 πόμπιλοϛ from πέμπω, being the same fish as the chrysophrys."
And Eratosthenes in his Mercury says—
[Sidenote: FISH.]
They left a share of all their booty there;
Still living centipedes, the bearded mullet,
The sea-thrush, with dark spots embroider'd o'er,
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 Bosphorus, says—
Those which do come from the Bosphoric seas
Are whitest; only let there be no sample
Of the hard meat o' the fish which grow around
The Lake Mæotis; not in verse can I
That fish correctly name.
What is the fish, which he says it is not proper to mention in poetry?
22. 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[1] 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 clean and thin one is the better of the two." And Archestratus
the contriver of delicate dishes, says,—
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