The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)

by of Naucratis Athenaeus

FISH.

53. "The thynnis and the thynnus are both heavy and nutritious; but the fish which is called the Acarnanian is sweet, very exciting, very nutritious, and easily secreted. The anchovy is heavy and indigestible, and the white kind is called the cobitis; and the hepsetus, a little fish, is of the same genus.

"Of cartilaginous fish, the sea-cow is fleshy, but the shark is superior to that,—that kind, I mean, which is called the asterias. But the alopecias, or sea-fox, is in taste very like the land animal, from which circumstance, indeed, it has its name. The ray is a very delicate fish to the taste; but the stellated ray is tenderer still, and full of excellent juice; but the smooth ray is less wholesome for the stomach, and has an unpleasant smell. But the torpedo, which is hard of digestion, is in the parts below the head very tender, and good for the stomach, and, moreover, very digestible, but its other parts are not so; and the small ones are the best, especially when they are plain boiled. The rhinè, which is one of the cartilaginous class, is very digestible and light; but those of the largest size are the most nutritious; and, as a general rule, all the cartilaginous fish are apt to create flatulence, and are fleshy, and difficult of digestion, and if they are eaten in any quantity, they are bad for the eyes. The cuttle-fish, when boiled, is tender, palatable, and digestible, and also good for the stomach; but the juice which comes from it has the property of making the blood thin, and is apt to cause secretions by hæmorrhoids. The squid is more digestible, and is nutritious, especially the small-sized one; but when boiled they are harder, and not palatable. The polypus promotes amativeness, but it is hard and indigestible; and those of the largest size are the most nutritious, and when they are much boiled, they have a tendency to fill the stomach with liquid, and they bind the bowels. And Alexis, in his Pamphila, points out the useful properties of the polypus, speaking as follows,—

But if you are in love, O Cteson,
What is more useful than these fish I bring?
Ceryces, cockles, (onions too, are here,)
The mighty polypus, and good-sized turbot.

"The pelamys also is very nutritious and heavy, it is also diuretic, and very indigestible; but when cured like the callubium, it is quite as good for the stomach, and it has a tendency to make the blood thin; and the large kind is called the synodontis. The sea-swallow, or chelidonias, is also something like the pelamys, but harder; and the chelidon is like the polypus, and emits juice which purifies the complexion, and stirs up the blood. The orcynus is a fish who delights in the mud; and the larger kind is like the chelidonias in hardness, but the lower part of its abdomen and its collar-bone are palatable and tender; but those which are called costæ, when cured and salted, are a middling fish. The xanthias has rather a strong smell, and is tenderer than the orcynus." These are the statements of Diphilus.

FISH.

54. But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables, says,—"The larger breed of fishes are called by some sectile, and by others sea-fish; as, for instance, the chrysophrys, the sea-grayling, and the phagrus. And these are all difficult of digestion, but when they are digested they supply a great deal of nourishment. And the whole class of scaly fish, such as the thynni, the scombri, the tunnies, the congers, and all of those kinds, are also gregarious. But those which are not seen by themselves, nor in large shoals, are the most digestible, such as the congers, and the carchariæ, and fish of that kind. But the gregarious kinds of fish of that sort are very pleasant to the palate, for they are fat; but they are heavy, and difficult of digestion, on which account they are very good for curing; and, indeed, these kinds make the best cured fish of all; they are also very good roasted, for by that process their fatty parts are got rid of. But those kinds which are skinned before they are dressed, as a general rule, are those fish which have a rough outside to their skin, not of scales, but such as rays and rhinæ have. And all these kinds are easily divided into small pieces, but they have not a sweet smell. And they supply the body with plenty of moist nourishment, and of all boiled fish they have the greatest effect on the bowels; but when they are roasted they are not so good. And the whole class of molluscous fish, such as polypi and cuttle-fish, and others like them, are very indigestible, on which account they are very serviceable in exciting the amatory passions. They are also calculated to cause flatulence; and the time of indulgence in amatory pleasures requires a flatulent habit of body. All these fish are better when boiled. For their juices are injurious, and you may see what juices they emit when they are washed; and the boiling extracts all these juices from their flesh. For as the heat which is applied in boiling is a gradual one, and conjoined with moisture, there is, as it were, a sort of washing of them. But when they are roasted, that dries up the moisture, and moreover, as their flesh is hard by nature, it is natural that it should be made more so in this way.

55. "But anchovies of all kinds, and membrades, and trichides, and all the other little fish which we eat backbones and all, make the digestion flatulent, and give a good deal of moist nutriment. And so, as the digestion is unequal, the flesh being digested with great rapidity, and the bones dissolving slowly, for the anchovies are very bony of themselves, the digestion of the one part hinders the digestion of the other, and so flatulence arises from the digestion, and moisture comes from the quantity of nourishment. They are better when they are boiled, but still they have very unequal effects on the bowels. The fish which keep close to the rocks, such as tench, and scorpions, and sea-sparrows, and others of the same kind, supply a dry kind of nourishment to our bodies, but they are light and nutritious, and are easily digested, and leave nothing behind them, and are not apt to cause flatulence. And every kind of fish is more digestible when dressed simply, and especially those which keep near the rocks have a better flavour when dressed plainly. And the species which is called soft-fleshed is like them, namely, the sea-thrush, the sea-blackbird, and others which resemble them. And these contain more moisture than the others, and with respect to refreshing the strength of those who eat them, they have more efficacy. And if any one wishes to produce an effect upon his bowels, he should eat them boiled; but if he is in good health, then he will find them nutritious roasted. And as diuretic food they are equally useful cooked either way.

56. "But the places of the sea where rivers and lakes fall into it, and also those where there are large bays and gulfs of the sea, are those where all the fish are more juicy, and more full of fat. They are also more palatable when caught in those places, but less nutritious and less digestible. And on the shore where it is exposed to the open sea, and where it is unprotected, then the fishes found there are for the most part hard and thin, beaten by the continued action of the waves. But where the sea is deep close in shore and less exposed to violent winds, especially if there are any cities near, then there is the greatest number of fish, and they are equally excellent in respect of pleasantness of flavour and ease of digestion, and also in the nourishment which they afford to the body. But of sea fish those are the most indigestible and the heaviest which migrate at certain seasons from the sea to the lakes and rivers; such as the cestreus; and as a general rule that is the character of every fish which can live in both salt and fresh water. But of those which live wholly in rivers and lakes, the river fish are the best; for the water of lakes is more apt to putrefy. And, again, of river fish those are the best which are found in the most rapid rivers; and especially the trout; for those are never found except where the river is rapid and cold, and they are far superior to all other river fish in their digestible properties."

57. This now, my friends, is my contribution, and I have brought you the wholesomest food with which it was in my power to provide you. For, as you may read in the Parasite of Antiphanes,—