at the present day, the first place in point of delicacy is given to the scarus, the only fish that is said to ruminate, and to feed on grass and not on other fish. it is mostly found in the carpathian sea, and never of its own accord passes lectum, a promontory of troas. optatus elipertius, the commander of the fleet under the emperor claudius, had this fish brought from that locality, and dispersed in various places off the coast between ostia and the districts of campania. during five years, the greatest care was taken that those which were caught should be returned to the sea; but since then they have been always found in great abundance off the shores of italy, where formerly there were none to be taken. thus has gluttony introduced these fish, to be a dainty within its reach, and added a new inhabitant to the seas; so that we ought to feel no surprise that foreign birds breed at rome.
the fish that is next in estimation for the table is the mustela, but that is valued only for its liver. a singular thing to tell of—the lake of brigantia (the modern lake constance), in rh?tia, lying in the midst of the alps, produces them to rival even those of the sea.
of the remaining fish that are held in any degree of esteem, the mullet is the most highly valued, as well as the most abundant of all; it is of only a moderate size, rarely exceeds two pounds in weight, and will never grow beyond that weight in preserves or fish-ponds. these fish are only to be found in the northern ocean, exceeding two pounds in weight, and even there in none but the more westerly parts. as for the other kinds, the various species are numerous; some live upon sea-weed, while others feed on the oyster, slime, and the flesh of other fish. the more distinctive mark 140 is a forked beard, that projects beneath the lower lip. the lautarius, or mud-mullet, is held in the lowest esteem of all. this last is always accompanied by another fish, known as the sargus, and where the mullet stirs up the mud, the other finds aliment for its own sustenance. the mullet most esteemed of all has a strong flavor of shell-fish. the masters in gastronomy inform us, that the mullet, while dying, assumes a variety of colors and a succession of shades, and that the hue of the red scales, growing paler and paler, gradually changes, more especially if it is looked at enclosed in glass.[135] marcus apicus, a man who displayed a remarkable degree of ingenuity in everything relating to luxury, was of opinion, that it was a most excellent plan to let the mullet die in the pickle known as the “garum of the allies”[136]—for we find that even this has found a surname—and he proposed a prize for any one who should invent a new sauce, made from the liver of this fish. i find it much easier to relate this fact, than to state who it was that gained the prize.
asinius celer, a man of consular rank, and remarkable for his prodigal expenditure on this fish, bought one at rome, during the reign of the emperor caligula, at the price of eight 141 thousand sesterces.[137] a reflection upon such a fact as this will at once lead us to turn our thoughts to those who, making loud complaints against luxury, have lamented that a single cook cost more money to buy than a horse; while at the present day a cook is only to be obtained for the same sum that a triumph would cost, and a fish is only to be purchased at what was formerly the price for a cook! indeed, there is hardly any living being held in higher esteem than the man who understands how, in the most scientific fashion, to get rid of his master’s property.
long-spined ch?todon.—heinochus monoceros.
licinius mucianus relates, that in the red sea there was caught a mullet eighty pounds in weight. what a price would have been paid for it by our epicures, if it had only been found off the shores in the vicinity of our city!
eels live eight years; they are able to survive out of water as much as six days, when a north-east wind blows; but when the south wind prevails, not so many. in winter, they 142 cannot live if they are in very shallow water, or if the water is troubled. they are taken about the rising of the pleiades when the rivers are turbid. these animals seek their food at night; they are the only fish the bodies of which, when dead, do not float upon the surface.
there is a lake called benacus, in the territory of verona, in italy, through which the river mincius flows. at the part of it whence this river issues, once a year, and mostly in the month of october, the lake is troubled, evidently by the constellations of autumn, and the eels are heaped together by the waves, and rolled on by them in such astonishing multitudes, that single masses of them, containing more than a thousand in number, are often taken in the chambers which are formed in the bed of the river for that purpose.
