The tails not fawning on their mistress, but beating against the dish. And as Achæus says in his Fates— There was a mighty mass of the sea-born herd— A spectacle which fill'd the wat'ry waste, Breaking the silence with their rapid tails;) I will now recapitulate to you what the Deipnosophists said about each: for each of them brought to the discussion of the subject some contribution of quotation from books; though I will not mention the names of all who took part in the conversation, they were so numerous. Amphis says in his Leucas— Whoever buys some ὄψον for his supper, And, when he might get real genuine fish, Contents himself with radishes, is mad. And that you may find it easy to remember what was said, I will arrange the names in alphabetical order. For as Sophocles, in his Ajax Mastigophorus, called fish ἐλλοὶ, saying— He gave him to the ἐλλοὶ ἰχύες to eat; one of the company asked whether any one before Sophocles ever used this word; to whom Zoilus replied,—But I, who am not a person ὀψοφαγίστατοϛ [exceedingly fond of fish], (for that is a word which Xenophon has used in his Memorabilia, where he writes, "He is ὀψοφαγίστατοϛ and the greatest fool possible,") am well aware that the man who wrote the poem Titanomachia [or the Battle of the Giants], whether he be Eumelus the Corinthian, or Arctinus, or whatever else his name may chance to have been, in the second book of his poem speaks thus— In it did swim the gold-faced ἐλλοὶ ἐχθύεϛ, And sported in the sea's ambrosial depths. And Sophocles was very fond of the Epic Cycle, so that he composed even entire plays in which he has followed the stories told in their fables. 6. Presently when the tunnies called Amiæ were put on the table, some one said,—Aristotle speaks of this fish, and says that they have gills out of sight, and that they have very sharp teeth, and that they belong to the gregarious and carnivorous class of fishes: and that they have a gall of equal extent with their whole intestines, and a spleen of corresponding proportions. It is said also that when they are hooked, they leap up towards the fisherman, and bite through the line and so escape. And Archippus mentions them in his play entitled the Fishes, where he says— But when you were eating the fat amiæ. And Epicharmus in his Sirens says— _A._ In the morning early, at the break of day, We roasted plump anchovies, Cutlets of well-fed pork, and polypi; And then we drank sweet wine. _B._ Alack! alack! my silly wife detain'd me, Chattering near the monument. _A._ I'm sorry for you. Then, too, there were mullets And large plump amiæ— A noble pair i' the middle of the table, And eke a pair of pigeons, A scorpion and a lobster. [Sidenote: FISH.]