[113] Lib. vii. p. 309.
[114] Animadvers. vii. 17, p. 540.
[115] Lampridii Vita Heliogab. c. 20.
[116] Lib. vii. p. 309.
[117] This fish was a first-rate article of luxury among the Romans, and was purchased at a dear rate. Juvenal says, “Mullum sex millibus emit, æquantem sane paribus sestertia libris.” See Plin. lib. ix. c. 17. The Italians have a proverb, “La triglia non mangia chi la piglia,” which implies, that he who catches a mullet is a fool if he eats it and does not sell it. When this fish is dying, it changes its colours in a very singular manner till it is entirely lifeless. This spectacle was so gratifying to the Romans, that they used to show the fish dying in a glass vessel to their guests before dinner.
[118] Fr. Massarii in ix. Plinii. libr. Castigat. Bas. 1537, 4to.
[119] A great service would be rendered to the natural history of the ancients, if some able systematic naturalist would collect all the Greek names used at present. Tournefort and others made a beginning.
[120] Philosophical Transact. vol. lxi. 1771, part i. 310.
[121] Variorum, p. 380.
[122] Speculum Naturale.