Yes, by Minerva, I do marvel at
The tribe of fishmongers, that they are not
All wealthy men, such royal gains they make.
For sitting in the market they do think it
A trifling thing to tithe our properties;
But would take all at one fell swoop away.

8. And the same poet says in his play entitled the Caldron—

[[358]] There never was a better lawgiver
Than rich Aristonicus. For he now
Does make this law, that any fishmonger
Who puts a price upon his fish, and then
Sells it for less, shall be at once dragg'd off
And put in prison; that by their example
The rest may learn to ask a moderate price,
And be content with that, and carry home
Their rotten fish each evening; and then
Old men, old women, boys, and all their customers,
Will buy whatever suits them at fair price.

And a little further on he says—

There never has, since Solon's time, been seen
A better lawgiver than Aristonicus.
For he has given many different laws,
And now he introduces this new statute,
A golden statute, that no fishmonger
Should sell his fish while sitting, but that all
Shall stand all day i' the market. And he says
Next year he will enact that they shall sell
Being hung up; for so they will let off
Their customers more easily, when they
Are raised by a machine like gods in a play.

9. And Antiphanes, in his Hater of Wickedness, displays their rudeness and dishonesty, comparing them to the greatest criminals who exist among men, speaking as follows—

Are not the Scythians of men the wisest?
Who when their children are first born do give them
The milk of mares and cows to drink at once,
And do not trust them to dishonest nurses,
Or tutors, who of evils are the worst,
Except the midwives only. For that class
Is worst of all, and next to them do come
The begging priests of mighty Cybele;
And it is hard to find a baser lot—
Unless indeed you speak of fishmongers,
But they are worse than even money-changers,
And are in fact the worst of all mankind.

10. And it was not without some wit that Diphilus, in his Merchant, speaks in this manner of fish being sold at an exorbitant price—

I never heard of dearer fish at any time.
Oh, Neptune, if you only got a tenth
Of all that money, you would be by far
The richest of the gods! And yet if he,
The fishmonger I mean, had been but civil,
I would have given him his price, though grumbling;
And, just as Priam ransom'd Hector, I
Would have put down his weight to buy the conger.

[[359]] And Alexis says in his Grecian Woman—