For it was at this period that the great ravagers of the world, who were to carry the name and arms of Rome into distant lands, brought their cooks with them, who vied with one another in contributing the most appetising dishes of various countries. It was then when Antony, intoxicated with the spoils of conquest and more than usually pleased with the artist of his kitchen, sent for him at the dessert and presented him with a city of thirty-five thousand inhabitants--an example followed in a minor way by Henry VIII of England, who rewarded his cook for having composed a pudding of especial merit by the gift of a manor. It was then that the Sybarites bestowed public recompense and marks of distinction upon those who gave the most magnificent banquets, and especially upon those who invented new dishes.[2] It was then that the practised epicure professed to distinguish by the taste from what locality of Italy a wild boar had been procured, or whether a pike had been caught in the lower or upper Tiber. Thus Horace, in one of the "Satires": "But say by what Discernment are you taught To know that this voracious Pike was caught Where the full River's lenient Waters glide, Or where the Bridges break the rapid Tide: In the mid-Ocean, or where Tiber pays With broader Course his Tribute to the Seas."[3] It was then that the rich Romans had at their villas magnificent _piscinæ_ filled with fresh- and salt-water fishes that might be netted at a moment's notice to set before their guests. In his ode "On the Prevailing Luxury," the Venusian bard also alludes to these _vivaria_ and the inordinate fondness for fish of the Romans: "Soon regal piles each rood of land Will from the farmer's ploughshare take, Soon ponds be seen on every hand More spacious than the Lucrine lake."[4] The mansions of the wealthy were likewise provided with splendid aviaries filled with thrushes that were fed with millet and crushed figs mixed with wheaten flour. Cygnets and snow-white geese were held in great repute, and when fattened upon green figs their livers were highly prized.