[449] Cuvier and Valenciennes Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, vol. XVIII., pp. 279-80 (Paris, 1846). See Introduction. If the Pike be late in literature, in heraldry it makes amends, for there is no earlier example of fish borne in English heraldry than is afforded by the Pike in the arms of the family of Lucy, or Lucius—a play on words not confined to heraldry but to be found in Shakespeare, Puttenham, and others. See Moule, op. cit., p. 49.
[450] For the attempt to identify the Esox with the Huso made by a French writer, apud Vincentium, XVII. 53, and with the Salmon by other writers, see J. G. Schneider, op. cit., pp. 24 and 126.
[451] Ælian, N. H., XVII. 32.
[452] The epigram on Pope Lucius III. (1181 to 1185 a.d.), who was banished from Rome for his tyranny and exactions, is, both as a comparison and a contrast, apt.
“Lucius est piscis rex atque tyrannus aquarum: A quo discordat Lucius iste parum. Devorat ille homines, his piscibus insidiatur: Esurit hic semper, ille aliquando satur. Amborum vitam si laus æquata notaret, Plus rationis habet qui ratione caret.”
[453] Athen., VII. 86; “The λάβραξ has his name from his voracity, λαβρότης” (cf. Opp., II. 130). It is said also in shrewdness he is superior to other fish, being very ingenious in devising means to save himself, wherefore Aristophanes the comedian writes:
“Labrax, the wisest of all fish that be.”
[454] Op. cit. II. 127 ff.
[455] Op. cit. I. 30.
[456] De Virtute B. Martini, III. 13.