Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

  (14.) There are only two animals without hair that are viviparous, the dolphin and the viper.

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  CHAP. 16.

  HOW MANY KINDS OF FISH THERE ARE.

  There are seventy-four species of fishes, exclusive of those that are covered with crusts; the kinds of which are thirty in number. We shall, on another occasion, speak of each individually; but, for the present, we shall treat only of the nature of the more remarkable ones.

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  CHAP. 17. (15.)

  WHICH OF THE FISHES ARE OF THE LARGEST SIZE.

  Tunnies are among the most remarkable for their size; we have found one weighing as much as fifteen talents, the breadth of its tail being five cubits and a palm. In some of the rivers, also, there are fish of no less size, such, for instance, as the silurus of the Nile, the isox of the Rhenus, and the attilus of the Padus, which, naturally of an inactive nature, sometimes grows so fat as to weigh a thousand pounds, and when taken with a hook, attached to a chain, requires a yoke of oxen to draw it on land. An extremely small fish, which is known as the clupea, attaches itself, with a wonderful tenacity, to a certain vein in the throat of the attilus, and destroys it by its bite. The silurus carries devastation with it wherever it goes, attacks every living creature, and often drags beneath the water horses as they swim. It is also remark- able, that in the Mœnus, a river of Germany, a fish that bears a very strong resemblance to the sea-pig, requires to be drawn out of the water by a yoke of oxen; and, in the Danube, it is taken with large hooks of iron. In the Borysthenes, also, there is said to be a fish of enormous size, the flesh of which has no bones or spines in it, and is remarkable for its sweetness.

  In the Ganges, a river of India, there is a fish found which they call the platanista; it has the muzzle and the tail of the dolphin, and measures sixteen cubits in length. Statius Sebosus says, a thing that is marvellous in no small degree, that in the same river there are fishes found, called worms; these have two gills, and are sixty cubits in length; they are of an azure colour, and have received their name from their peculiar conformation. These fish, he says, are of such enormous strength, that with their teeth they seize hold of the trunks of elephants that come to drink, and so drag them into the water.

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  CHAP. 18.

  TUNNIES, CORDYLA, AND PELAMIDES, AND THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THEM THAT ARE SALTED. MELANDRYA, APOLECTI, AND CYBIA.

  The male tunny has no ventral fin; these fish enter the Euxine in large bodies from the main sea, in the spring, and will spawn nowhere else. The young ones, which in autumn accompany the females to the open sea, are known as “cordyla.” In the spring they are called “pelamides,” from πηλὸς, the Greek for “mud,” and after they are a year old, “thynni.” When this fish is cut up into pieces, the neck, the belly, and the throat, are the most esteemed parts; but they must be eaten only when they are quite fresh, and even then they cause severe fits of flatulence; the other parts; with the flesh entire, are preserved in salt. Those pieces, which bear a resemblance to an oaken board, have thence received the name of “melandrya.” The least esteemed among these parts are those which are the nearest to the tail, because they have no fat upon them; while those parts are considered the most delicate, which lie nearest the neck; in other fishes, however, the parts about the tail have the most nutriment in them. The pelamides are cut up into small sections, known as “apolecti;” and these again are divided into cubical pieces, which are thence called “cybia.”

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  CHAP. 19.

  THE AURIAS AND THE SCOMBER.

  All kinds of fish grow with remarkable rapidity, and more especially those in the Euxine; the reason of which is the vast number of rivers which discharge their fresh water into it. One fish, the growth of which is quite perceptible, day by day, is known as the amia. This fish, and the pelamides, together with the tunnies, enter the Euxine in shoals, for the purpose of obtaining a sweeter nutriment, each under the command of its own leader; but first of all the scomber ap- pears, which is of a sulphureous tint when in the water, but when out of it resembles other fish in colour. The salt-water preserves of Spain are filled with these last fish, but the tunnies do not consort with them.

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  CHAP. 20.

  FISHES WHICH ARE NEVER FOUND IN THE EUXINE; THOSE WHICH ENTER IT AND RETURN.

  The Euxine, however, is never entered by any animal that is noxious to fish, with the exception of the sea-calf and the small dolphin. On entering, the tunnies range along the shores to the right, and on departing, keep to those on the left; this is supposed to arise from the fact that they have better sight with the right eye, their powers of vision with either being naturally very limited. In the channel of the Thracian Bosporus, by which the Propontis is connected with the Euxine, at the narrowest part of the Straits which separate Europe from Asia, there is, near Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side, a rock of remarkable Whiteness, the whole of which can be seen from the bottom of the sea at the surface. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of this rock, the tunnies always hasten in great numbers, and with headlong impetuosity, towards the promontory of Byzantium, which stands exactly opposite to it, and from this circumstance has received the name of the Golden Horn. Hence it is, that all the fishing is at Byzantium, to the great loss of Chalcedon, although it is only separated from it by a channel a mile in width. They wait, however, for the blowing of the north wind to leave the Euxine with a favourable tide, and are never taken until they have entered the harbour of Byzantium. These fish do not move about in winter; in whatever place they may happen to be surprised by it, there they pass the winter, till the time of the equinox.

  Manifesting a wonderful degree of delight, they will often accompany a vessel in full sail, and may be seen from the poop following it for hours, and a distance of several miles. If a fish-spear even is thrown at them ever so many times, they are not in the slightest degree alarmed at it. Some writers call the tunnies which follow ships in this manner, by the name of “pompili.”

  Many fishes pass the summer in the Propontis, and do not enter the Euxine; such, for instance, as the sole, while on the other hand, the turbot enters it. The sepia is not found in this sea, although the lolig is. Among the rock-fish, the sea-thrush and the sea-blackbird are wanting, as also purples, though oysters abound here. All these, however, pass the winter in the Ægean Sea; and of those which enter the Euxine, the only ones that do not return are the trichiæ. — It will be as well to use the Greek names which most of them bear, seeing that to the same species different countries have given different appellations. — These last, however, are the only ones that enter the river Ister, and passing along its subterraneous passages, make their way from it to the Adriatic; and this is the reason why they are to be seen descending into the Euxine Sea, but never in the act of returning from it. The time for taking tunnies is, from the rising of the Vergiliæ to the setting of Arcturus: throughout the rest of the winter season, they lie concealed at the bottom of deep creeks, unless they are in- duced to come out by the warmth of the weather or the full moon. These fish fatten to such an extraordinary degree as to burst. The longest period of their life is two years.

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  CHAP. 21.

  WHY FISHES LEAP ABOVE THE SURFACE OF THE WATER.

  There is a little animal, in appearance like a scorpion, and of the size of a spider. This creature, by means of its sting, attaches itself below the fin to the tunny and the fish known as the sword-fish and which often exceeds the dolphin in magnitude, and causes it such excruciating pain, that it will often leap on board of a ship even. Fish will also do the same at other times, when in dread of the violence of other fish, and mullets more especially, which are of such extraordinary swiftness, that they will sometimes leap over a ship, if lying cross- wise.

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  CHAP. 22. (16.)


  THAT AUGURIES ARE DERIVED FROM FISHES.

  Auguries are also derived from this department of Nature, and fishes afford presages of coming events. While Augustus was walking on the sea-shore, during the time of the Sicilian war, a fish leapt out of the sea, and fell at his feet. The diviners, who were consulted, stated that this was a proof that those would fall beneath the feet of Cæsar who at that moment were in possession of the seas-it was just at this time that Sextus Pompeius had adopted Neptune as his father, so elated was he with his successes by sea.

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  CHAP. 23.

  WHAT KINDS OF FISHES HAVE NO MALES.

  The females of fishes are larger in size than the males, and in some kinds there are no males at all, as in the erythini and the channi; for all of these that are taken are found to be full of eggs. Nearly all kinds of fish that are covered with scales are gregarious. They are most easily taken before sunrise; for then more particularly their powers of seeing are defective. They sleep during the night; and when the weather is clear, are able to see just as well then as during the day. It is said, also, that it greatly tends to promote their capture to drag the bottom of the water, and that by so doing more are taken at the second haul than at the first. They are especially fond of the taste of oil, and find nutriment in gentle showers of rain. Indeed, the very reeds, even, although they are produced in swamps, will not grow to maturity without the aid of rain: in addition to this, we find that wherever fishes remain constantly in the same water, if it is not renewed they will die.

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  CHAP. 24.

  FISHES WHICH HAVE A STONE IN THE HEAD; THOSE WHICH KEEP THEMSELVES CONCEALED DURING WINTER; AND THOSE WHICH ARE NOT TAKEN IN WINTER, EXCEPT UPON STATED DAYS.

  All fish have a presentiment of a rigorous winter, but more especially those which are supposed to have a stone in the head, the lupus, for instance, the chromis, the sciæ- na, and the phagrus. When the winter has been very severe, many fish are taken in a state of blindness. Hence it is, that during these months they lie concealed in holes, in the same manner as land animals, as we have already mentioned; and more especially the hippurus, and the coracinus, which Archestratus looks upon its head as a delicacy, but thinks so little of the other parts, that they are not, in his opinion, worth carrying away. He was, however, well known to be much too refined in his notions of epicurism. are never taken during the winter, except only on a few stated days, which are always the same. The same with the muræna also, and the orphus, the conger, the perch, and all the rock-fish. It is said that, during the winter, the torpedo, the psetta, and the sole, conceal themselves in the earth, or rather, I should say, in excavations made by them at the bottom of the sea.

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  CHAP. 25.

  FISHES WHICH CONCEAL THEMSELVES DURING THE SUMMER; THOSE WHICH ARE INFLUENCED BY THE STARS.

  Other fishes, again, are unable to bear the heat of summer, and lie concealed during the sixty days of the hottest weather of midsummer; such, for instance, as the glaucus, the asellus, of the fish generally known by the ancients as the sea-perch; and that there is reason for thinking that it was similar to the Perca scriba of Linnæus, having black lines running across the body. Most naturalists are and the dorade. Among the river-fish, the silurus is affected by the rising of the Dog-star, and at other times it is always sent to sleep by thunder. The same is also believed to be the case with the sea-fish called cyprinus. In addition to this, the whole sea is sensible of the rising of this star, a thing which is more especially to be observed in the Bosporus: for there sea-weeds and fish are seen floating on the surface, all of which have been thrown up from the bottom.

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  CHAP. 26. (17.)

  THE MULLET.

  One singular propensity of the mullet has afforded a subject for laughter; when it is frightened, it hides its head, and fancies that the whole of its body is concealed. Their salacious propensities render them so unguarded, that in Phoenicia and in the province of Gallia Narbonensis, at the time of coupling, a male, being taken from out of the preserves, is fastened to a long line, which is passed through his mouth and gills; he is then let go in the sea, after which he is drawn back again by the line, upon which the females will follow him to the very water’s edge; and so, on the other hand, the male will follow the female, during the spawning season.

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  CHAP. 27.

  THE ACIPENSER.

  Among the ancients, the acipenser was esteemed the most noble fish of all; it is the only one that has the scales turned towards the head, and in a contrary direction to that in which it swims. At the present day, however, it is held in no esteem, which I am the more surprised at, it being so very rarely found. Some writers call this fish the elops.

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  CHAP. 28.

  THE LUPUS, ASELLUS.

  At a later period, they set the highest value on the lupus and the asellus, as we learn from Cornelius Nepos, and the poet, Laberius, the author of the Mimes. The most approved kinds of the lupus are those which have the name of “lanati,” or “woolly,” in consequence of the extreme whiteness and softness of the flesh. Of the asellus there are two sorts, the callarias, which is the smallest, and the bacchus, which is only taken in deep water, and is hence much preferred to the former. On the other hand, among the varieties of the lupus, those are the most esteemed which are taken in rivers.

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  CHAP. 29.

  THE SCARUS, THE MUSTELA.

  At the present day, the first place is given to the scarus, the only fish that is said to ruminate, and to feed on grass and not on other fish. It is mostly found in the Carpathian Sea, and never of its own accord passes Lectum, a promontory of Troas. Optatus Elipertius, the commander of the fleet under the Emperor Claudius, had this fish brought from that locality, and dispersed in various places off the coast between Ostia and the districts of Campania. During five years, the greatest care was taken that those which were caught should be returned to the sea; but since then they have been always found in great abundance off the shores of Italy, where formerly there were none to be taken. Thus has gluttony introduced these fish, to be a dainty within its reach, and added a new inhabitant to the seas; so that we ought to feel no surprise that foreign birds breed at Rome.

  The fish that is next in estimation for the table is the mustela, but that is valued only for its liver. A singular thing to tell of — the lake of Brigantia, in Rhætia, lying in the midst of the Alps, produces them to rival even those of the sea.

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  CHAP. 30.

  THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MULLETS, AND THE SARGUS THAT ATTENDS THEM.

  Of the remaining fish that are held in any degree of esteem, the mullet is the most highly valued, as well as the most abundant of all; it is of only a moderate size, rarely exceeds two pounds in weight, and will never grow beyond that weight in preserves or fish-ponds. These fish are only to be found in the Northern Ocean, exceeding two pounds in weight, and even there in none but the more westerly parts. As for the other kinds, the various species are numerous; some live upon sea-weed, while others feed on the oyster, slime, and the flesh of other fish. The more distinctive mark is a forked beard, that projects beneath the lower lip. The lutarius, or mud-mullet, is held in the lowest esteem of all. This last is always accompanied by another fish, known as the sargus, and where the mullet stirs up the mud, the other finds aliment for its own sustenance. The mullet that is found on the coast is not highly esteemed, and the most esteemed of all have a strong flavour of shell-fish. Fenestella is of opinion, that this fish received its name of mullet [mullus] from its resemblance to the colour of the red or mullet-coloured shoes. The mullet spawns three times a year: at all events, the fry makes its appearance that number of times. The masters in gastronomy inform us, that the mullet, while dying, assumes a variety of colours and a succe
ssion of shades, and that the hue of the red scales, growing paler and paler, gradually changes, more especially if it is looked at enclosed in glass. M. Apicius, a man who displayed a remarkable degree of ingenuity in everything relating to luxury, was of opinion, that it was a most excellent plan to let the mullet die in the pickle known as the “garum of the allies” — for we find that even this has found a surname — and he proposed a prize for any one who should invent a new sauce, made from the liver of this fish. I find it much easier to relate this fact, than to state who it was that gained the prize.

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  CHAP. 31.

  ENORMOUS PRICES OF SOME FISH.

  Asinius Celer, a man of consular rank, and remarkable for his prodigal expenditure on this fish, bought one at Rome, during the reign of Caius, at the price of eight thousand sesterces. A reflection upon such a fact as this will at once lead us to turn our thoughts to those who, making loud complaints against luxury, have lamented that a single cook cost more money to buy than a horse; while at the present day a cook is only to be obtained for the same sum that a triumph would cost, and a fish is only to be purchased at what was formerly the price for a cook! indeed, there is hardly any living being held in higher esteem than the man who understands how, in the most scientific fashion, to get rid of his master’s property.