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
But they are a cetaceous fish, very good for curing. Menander, in his
Colons, says—
The tench, th' elacatene, and the tail-fin of
The sea-dog are the best for pickling.
And Mnaseas of Patra says, "Of Ichthys and Hesychia, his sister, were
born the galene, the lamprey, and the elacatene.
63. 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 Cephalœdian 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.
64. But this fish was called the tunny (θύννος) from rushing (ἀπὸ τοῦ
θύειν), and moving rapidly. For it is an impetuous fish, from, at a
particular season, having a gadfly in its head; by which Aristotle says
that it is driven about, writing thus—"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 œstrus, 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,—
The tunnies bend their furious course to Gades.
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