A. Those yellow-fleshed fish, which the high wave
That beats Æxona brings towards the shore,
The best of fish; with which we venerate
The light-bestowing daughter of great Jove;
When sailors offer gifts of feasts to heaven.
B. You mean the mullet, with its milky colour,
Which the Sicilian multitude calls rhombus.
140. So now, having given you, O Timocrates, the whole of the conversation which took place among the Deipnosophists on the subject of fish, we may conclude our book here; and unless you want some other kind of food, we will end by setting before you what Eubulus has said in his Lacedæmonians, or Leda;—
Besides all this you now shall have
A slice of tunny, a slice of pork,
Some paunch of kid, some liver of goat,
Some ram, the entrails of an ox,
A lamb's head, and a kid's intestines;
The belly of a hare, a pudding,
Some tripe, black-puddings, and a sausage.
Being sated, therefore, with all this, let us now take due care of our bodies, in order to be able to feed comfortably on what is coming next.
Footnotes
[1] From ἀφρὸς, foam.
[2] An Attic drachma was as near as may be 9–3/4d. So that a thousand will amount to something over 40l.
[3] The Greek is Ἐπικούρειος εἰκαδιστὴς, which last word was an epithet of the Epicureans, because they celebrated the death of their founder on the twentieth day of the month Gamelion. Vide L. & S. in voc.
[4] From σφὴν, a wedge.
[5] Schweighaeuser thinks that something has dropped out of the text here; and proposes to insert, "And Ulpian said."
[6] The burgh of Otryna was one of the most obscure ones, while the Phaleric burgh was one of those of the highest reputation.
[7] This is a pun on the similarity of the name Gela to γέλως, laughter, the compound κατάγελως meaning derision. And it is probably borrowed from Aristophanes, who says, Acharn. 606:—
τοὺς δ᾽ ἐν καμαρίνῃ κᾀν γέλᾳ κᾀν καταγέλᾳ.
[8] Venus Zephyritis was the name under which Arsinoe was worshipped; and the next line refers to the custom of the maidens on the occasion of their marriage making a sportive offering of their toys to Venus. Arsinoe was the wife and sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
BOOK VIII.
1. Polybius the Megalopolitan, speaking of the great happiness which exists in Lusitania (and that is a district of Iberia, which the Romans now call Spania), O most excellent Timocrates, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories, says that in that country, on account of the excellent temperature of the air, both animals and men are exceedingly prolific; and the fruits, too, in that country never degenerate. "For there are roses there, and white violets, and asparagus, and other flowers and fruits like them, which last nine months in the year; and as for sea-fish, both in abundance, and in excellence, and in beauty, it is very superior to that produced in our seas. And a siclus (this is equal to a medimnus) of barley costs only a drachma; and one of wheat costs nine Alexandrian obols; and a measure of wine costs a drachma; and a moderate-sized kid costs an obol, and so does a hare. And of lambs, the price is three or four obols; and a fat pig, weighing a hundred minæ, costs five drachmæ; and a sheep costs two. And a talent weight of figs costs three obols; and a calf costs five drachmæ; and a draught-ox ten. And the meat of wild animals is scarcely ever valued at any price at all; but people throw that in to purchasers into the bargain, or as a present." But to us, whenever we sup with our excellent friend Laurentius, he makes Rome another Lusitania,—filling us with every sort of good thing every day, receiving us in a most princely manner with the greatest liberality, while we bring nothing from home as our contribution, except our arguments.