But that epicure Archestratus has omitted to enumerate the pickle-juice called elephantine, which is spoken of by Crates the comic poet, in his Samians; who says of it—

A sea-born turtle in the bitter waves
Bears in its skin the elephantine pickle;
And crabs swift as the wind, and thin-wing'd pike,

[193:1]* * * * *

But that the elephantine pickle of Crates was very celebrated Aristophanes bears witness, in his Thesmophoriazusæ, in these words—

[[194]] Sure comic poetry is a mighty food;
Listen to Crates, he will tell you, how
The elephantine pickle, easily made,
Is dainty seas'ning; many other jokes
Of the same kind he utter'd.

86. And there was another kind, which Alexis calls raw pickle, in his Apeglaucomenos. And the same poet, in his Wicked Woman, introduces a cook talking about the preparation of salt-fish and pickled fish, in the following verses:—

I wish now, sitting quiet by myself,
To ponder in my mind some dainty dishes;
And also to arrange what may be best
For the first course, and how I best may flavour
Each separate dish, and make it eatable.
Now first of all the pickled horæum comes;
This will but cost one penny; wash it well,
Then strew a large flat dish with seasoning,
And put in that the fish. Pour in white wine
And oil, then add some boil'd beef marrow-bones,
And take it from the fire, when the last zest
Shall be by assafœtida imparted.

And, in his Apeglaucomenos, a man being asked for his contribution to the feast, says—

A.Indeed you shall not half a farthing draw
From me, unless you name each separate dish.
B.That reasonable is.
A.Well, bring a slate
And pencil; now your items.
B.First, there is
Raw pickled fish, and that will fivepence cost.
A.What next?
B.Some mussels, sevenpence for them.
A.Well, there's no harm in that. What follows next?
B.A pennyworth of urchins of the sea.
A.Still I can find no fault.
B.The next in order
Is fine dish of cabbage, which you said . . .
A.Well, that will do.
B.For that I paid just twopence.
A.What was't I said?
B.A cybium for threepence.
A.But are you sure you've nought embezzled here?
B.My friend, you've no experience of the market;
You know not how the grubs devour the greens.
A.But how is that a reason for your charging
A double price for salt-fish?
B.The greengrocer
Is also a salt-fishmonger; go and ask him.
[[195]] A conger, tenpence.
A.That is not too much.
What next?
B.I bought a roast fish for a drachma.
A.Bah! how he runs on now towards the end,
As if a fever had o'ertaken him.
B.Then add the wine, of which I bought three gallons
When you were drunk, ten obols for each gallon.

87. And Icesius says, in the second book of his treatise on the Materials of Nourishment, that pelamydes are a large kind of cybium. And Posidippus speaks of the cybium, in his Transformed. But Euthydemus, in his treatise on Salt Fish, says that the fish called the Delcanus is so named from the river Delcon, where it is taken; and then, when pickled and salted, it is very good indeed for the stomach. But Dorion, in his book on Fishes, calls the leptinus the lebianus, and says, "that some people say that is the same fish as the delcanus; and that the ceracinus is called by many people the saperdes; and that the best are those which come from the Palus Mæotis. And he says that the mullet which are caught about Abdera are excellent; and next to them, those which are caught near Sinope; and that they, when pickled and salted, are very good for the stomach. But those, he says, which are called mulli are by some people called agnotidia, and by some platistaci, though they are all the same fish; as also is the chellares. For that he, being but one fish, has received a great variety of names; for that he is called a bacchus, and an oniscus, and a chellares. And those of the larger size are called platistaci, and those of middle size mulli, and those which are but small are called agnotidia. But Aristophanes also mentions the mulli, in his Holcades—