470 PLI>'T's yA'lUEAL HISTOET. [Book IX. 



of Baiie, the orator Hortensius had some fish-preserres, in 

 which there was a murena to which he became so much at- 

 tached, as to be supposed to have wept on heaiing of its 

 death. ^^ It was at the same villa that Antonia,^- the wife of 

 Dnisus, placed earrings upon a murena which she had become 

 fond of; the report of which singular circumstance attracted 

 many visitors to the place. 



CHAP. 82. (56,) WHO INVENTED PKESEEVES FOE SEA-S>'AILS. 



fulvius Lupinus^ first formed preserves for sea-snails,^ in 

 the territory of Tarquinii, shortly before the civil war between 

 Caesar and Pompeius Magnus. He also carefully distinguished 

 them by their several species, separating them from one another. 

 The white ones were those that are produced in the district 

 of Eeate ;-^ those of Illyria were remarkable for the largeness 

 of their size ; while those from Africa were the most prolific ; 

 those, however, from the Promontory of the Sun^ were the 

 most esteemed of all. For the purpose, also, of fattening them, 

 he invented a mixture of boiled wine,^" spelt-meal, and other 

 substances ; so that fattened periwinkles even became quite an 

 object of gastronomy ; and the art of breeding them was brought 

 to such a pitch of perfection, that the shell of a single animal 

 would hold as much as eighty quadrantes.^ This we learn 

 from if. Tarro. 



3^ Porphyry, Tzetzes, and Macrobius relate the same story. 



^ See B. vii. c. 18, and B. xxxr. c. 36. Her grandson, Caligula, is 

 supposed to hare hastened her death. 



" Hirpinius is the more common reading. He is mentioned in B. viii. 

 c. 78. If the reading " Lupinus " is adopted, nothing seems to be known 

 of this epicurean trifler. 



^ Our periwinkles. 



» See B. iii. c. 17. 



^ OfTthe coast of Africa, see B. v. c. 1. These periwinkles, or sea- 

 snaUs, are again mentioned in B. xxs. c. 1-5. 



" " Sapa." Mast, or new wine, boiled down to one half, according to 

 Pliny ; and one third, according to Yarro. 



^ The '• quadrans" contained three cyathi, and was the fourth part of 

 a sextarius, which consisted of about a pint and a-half ; in which case the 

 contents of one of their shells would be no less than fifteen quarts I ! A 

 statement to which no credit can be attached, unless, indeed, the sea-snail 

 was something quite different to our periwinkle. 



