EELS. 175 



Eel by the tail," as expressing either a man "lubrica fide" — "a slippery fellow," or an object 

 which it is impossible to retain. The same proverb has found its way into German, " Du 

 hast den Aale bei dem Schwanz." The slippery nature and line-entangling propensities of 

 the Eel are often the subject of much merriment. Who does not remember, as depicted by 

 the pencil of John Leech, the disconsolate look of poor Mr. Briggs as he holds up on the 

 end of his fishing-line a whacking Thames Eel, that has twisted that said line into the 

 most inextricable conglomeration of worse than Gordian knots ? Or who can ever forget 

 the scene of the bursting of the aquarium — the conception of the same inimitable artist — and 

 the vain efforts of the old lady to pick up her favourite Eel with a pair of tongs ! 



Eels were held in high, and indeed in very absurdly high, repute by the ancients. As to 

 the Egyptians, they paid the Eel so great a compliment as to enrol it amongst their gods. 

 Only another fish, if Herodotus is correct, shared this honour with the Eel, and that was 

 known by the name of kpidotus, some fish probably of the Carp family, and so called from 

 the large size of its scales.* Antlphanesf ridicules the Egyptians for the honour they paid 

 to Eels, and contrasts the value of the gods with the high price asked for this fish in the 

 market of Athens. " In other respects men say that the Egyptians are clever, in that they 

 esteem the Eel to be equal to a god ; but they are far more valuable than the gods, for we 

 can propitiate them by prayer; but as for Eels, we must spend twelve drachmas or more 

 merely to get a smell at them." And AnaxandridesJ thus amusingly contrasts the manners 

 of the Egyptians with those of his fellow-countrymen. "I never could associate with you, for 

 neither do our customs nor laws agree with yours, but differ widely. You adore an ox, I 

 sacrifice him to the gods ; you esteem an Eel as the greatest deity, we think him far the 

 best of fish; you don't eat swine's flesh, I am particularly fond of it; you worship a dog, I 

 beat him if I ever catch him devouring my victuals," &c. 



The ancient Greeks carried their partiality for the Eel to a most ridiculous excess ; now 

 she is invoked "as the goddess of pleasure, sometimes as the white-armed goddess — and, 

 finally, as the Helen of the dinner-table, because every guest strove, like Paris, to supplant 

 his neighbour, and keep her for himself "§ The Eels from the river Strymon and lake of 

 Copais appear to have been those generally most highly prized, though Sicily was also cele- 

 brated. || Archestratus,^ of Syracuse, who appears to have been a sort of ancient Soyer, and 

 who travelled far and wide for the purpose of learning anything that might be useful in 

 the culinary art — whose opinion, therefore, we may be content to take in this question — 

 naturally gives the preference to Eels from his own shores. The Greeks, in the time of 

 Aristophanes, used to serve up their Eels with beetroot, though sometimes they were boiled 

 in salt and water, with marjoram and other herbs. Eubulus** is quoted as saying, — 



"then there came 

 Those natives of the lake, the holy Eels, 

 Boeotian goddesses, all clothed in beet." 



The ancients sometimes captured Eels by means of hooks baited with large worms or 

 small fish. Aristotleft mentions a three-pronged spear {rpiohov^) — probably similar to our 



* ii. 72. f Apud Athenjeus, vii. 55, ed. Dindorf. | Ibid. 



§ Prose Halieuiics, p. 381. 



II The Strymon is the modern Struma or Carasu, which flows through the Lake Prasias (now Takino). The 

 Eels that formerly abounded there were doubtless an attraction to the numbers of cranes (Strymoniag grues) frequently 

 mentioned by ancient writers. Belon {Les Observations, p. 124) speaks of the large size of the Eels of the Strymon: 

 "Les anguilles y sont d'une excessive grandeur." The Lake Copais (now Topolias) is still famous for its Eels. In 

 the dark recesses of the subterraneous channels which form' the outlets of the lake Eels would find a congenial 

 habitation. 



^ Athenzeus, vii. 53, Youngc's translation. 



■''* Athen. vii. 56. ff Hist. Aiiim. iv. 10, § 4. 



