^' Cuvier's Lectures on the Natural Sciences, 



the market. It is said that he wept at the death of one of these 

 fishes. The orator Crassus, on a similar occurrence, went still 

 farther, for he put on mourning. His colleague, Domitius re- 

 proached him for it in the senate. But all this was nothing com- 

 pared to what Vedius Pollio did, who more than once gave his 

 lampreys living men to devour. 



Other fishes were equally the object of inconceivable extrava- 

 gance. The acipenser generally sold for more than a thousand 

 drachmas ; it was never laid on the table without being preceded 

 by the sound of trumpets. The acipenser was not, it would appear, 

 the common sturgeon, but the sterlet, — a small species, with a 

 pointed snout, caught in the rivers which fall into the Black Sea. 

 The mullet, or roach of Provence, called in Paris sur-mulet, was 

 also sold excessively high. A mullet, weighing four pounds, sold 

 for £37, another for £60. Three together, in the reign of Tibe- 

 rius, brought £240. They even brought these fish alive to the 

 dining-room, by canals of salt water, which passed under the 

 table. The fact is undoubted, and is attested by the invectives of 

 Seneca. 



Snails were also the particular objects of attention. The same 

 Fulvius Hirpinus who invented parks for quadrupeds, also con- 

 trived parks for snails ; and, as these animals could not be kept 

 in by enclosures, the place where they were preserved was sur- 

 rounded by water. Earthenware jars were prepared for them, 

 and they were fattened with mulled wine and flowers. Pliny 

 says that there were some which weighed as much as twenty-five 

 pounds. They were certainly not Italian snails which grew to 

 such a size ; but we know that they were also brought from 

 foreign countries, as Africa, Illyria, &c. 



The method of making oyster-beds was first shewn by Sergius 

 Aurata, who, like Lucinius, derived his surname from a fish 

 (the John-dory.) The reservoirs of the Lucrine lake had, for a 

 long time, the reputation of producing the best oysters ; next to 

 them were those of Brundusium. At last, refinement was carried 

 farther, and oysters were brought from Brundusium, to be fed in 

 the Lucrine lake. 



* Fruits, it would seem, were then in less esteem than they have 

 been since. The only new fruit introduced at that time was the 

 cherry, which Lucullus brought from Cerasus, a town in Asia 

 Minor, 69 years before Christ. 



Luxury in perfumes was excessive, and drew to Rome the most 

 valuable aromatics of the East. Luxury in clothing was not less 

 extravagant ; it made known purple, pearls, and precious stones. 

 At one time, there was a complete mania about opals, and one 

 individual let himself be prosecuted rather than give up to Sylla 

 a very beautiful opal, which the dictator wished to have. 



Fashion also extended her empire to furniture, and certain 

 kinds of wood sold at enormous prices. For some time the citrus 

 obtained the preference. The tree so called was not the citrus of 

 Theophrastus, the orange tree of our time, but seems to have been 



