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
133. There is also the phagrus. Speusippus, in the second book of his
Things resembling one another, says that the phagrus, the erythrinus,
and the hepatus, are very much alike. And Numenius also has mentioned
it in the lines which have been quoted not long ago. But Aristotle says
that he is a carnivorous and solitary fish; and that he has a heart
of a triangular shape, and that he is in season in the spring. And
Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, speaks of the
Aones, and the phagri, and the pikes.
And Metagenes also mentions them in his Thurio-Persæ. And Ameipsias says
in his Connus—
A food for orphi and selachia,
And for the greedy phagri.
And Icesius says—"The phagrus, and the chromis, and the anthias, and
the acharnanes, and the orphi, and the synodons, and the synagrides,
are all very nearly akin to one another; for they are sweet and
astringent, and nutritious, but in the same proportion they are hard of
digestion. And those of them, which are fleshy, and which are caught
nearer land, are the most nutritious, and those also which have the
least fat." But Archestratus says—
'Tis when the dogstar rises in the sky
That you should eat the phagrus; specially
If you in Delos or Eretria are,
Or other favouring harbours of the sea;
But, if you can, purchase his head alone,
And tail; and bring no more within your doors.
Strattis also mentions the phagrus in his Lemnomeda—
Eating a number of large phagri.
And in his Philoctetes he says—
Then, going to the market, they will buy
A great abundance of large phagri, and
Slices of tender round Copaic eel.
There is also a kind of stone called the phagrus. For the whetstone is
called so among the Cretans, as Simmias testifies.
134. There is also the channa. Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—
The channa, with large mouth, and then the cod,
With deep and spacious belly.
Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, says—
The channas and the eel, and pitinus,
Who only roams by night.
[Sidenote: FISH.]
Dorion also mentions him in his treatise on Fishes. But Aristotle, in
his book on Animals, calls the channa a fish variegated with red and
black; and he calls it also ποικιλόγραμμος, because it is marked with
black lines.
135. There is the chromis; this also is spoken of by Epicharmus, who
says—
There is the sword-fish and the chromias,
Who, in the spring, as Ananius says,
Is of all fish the daintiest.
And Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, says—
The hyces, or the beautiful callicthys,
Or else the chromis, and sometimes the orphus.
And Archestratus says—
You may catch noble chromises in Pella,
And they are fat when it is midsummer;
And in Ambracia likewise they abound.
136. There is also the chrysophrys. Archippus says in his Fishes—
The chrysophrys, sacred to Cytherean Venus.
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