Living and dead, the monsters of the deep
Are hostile to us always. If our ship
Be overturn'd, they then at once devour
Whatever of the crew they catch while swimming:
And if they're caught themselves by fishermen,
When dead they half undo their purchasers;
For with our whole estate they must be bought,
And the sad purchaser comes off a beggar.

And Archippus, in his play called the Fish, mentions one fishmonger by name, Hermæus the Egyptian, saying—

The cursedest of all fish-dealers is
Hermæus the Egyptian; who skins
And disembowels all the vilest fish,
And sells them for the choicest, as I hear.

And Alexis, in his Rich Heiress, mentions a certain fishmonger by name, Micio.

11. And perhaps it is natural for fishermen to be proud of their skill, even to a greater degree than the most skilful generals. Accordingly, Anaxandrides, in his Ulysses, introduces one of them, speaking in this way of the fisherman's art—

The beauteous handiwork of portrait painters
When in a picture seen is much admired;
But the fair fruit of our best skill is seen
In a rich dish just taken from the frying-pan.
For by what other art, my friend, do we
See young men's appetites so much inflamed?
What causes such outstretching of the hands?
What is so apt to choke one, if a man
Can hardly swallow it? Does not the fish-market
Alone give zest to banquets? Who can spread
A dinner without fried fish, or anchovies,
Or high-priced mullet? With what words or charms
Can a well-favour'd youth be caught, if once
The fisherman's assistance be denied?
His art subdues him, bringing to the fish-kettle
The heads of well-boil'd fish; this leads him on
To doors which guard th' approach to a good dinner,
And bids him haste, though nought himself contributing.

12. And Alexis says this with reference to those who are too anxious as to buying their fish, in his Rich Heiress—

Whoever being poor buys costly fish,
And though in want of much, in this is lavish,
He strips by night whoever he may meet.
So when a man is stripp'd thus, let him go

[[360]] At early morn and watch the fish-market.
And the first man he sees both poor and young
Buying his eels of Micio, let him seize him,
And drag him off to prison by the throat.

And Diphilus, in his Merchant, says that there is some such law as this in existence among the Corinthians—