Chap. 72.] WHO FIEST INYEI^TED AVIARIES. 531 



laying snares for it ; nor, indeed, is it a bird that is any longer 

 known to exist. It will be better, therefore, to confine my re- 

 lation to those the existence of which is generally admitted. 



CHAP. 71. (50.) WHO FIRST INVENTED THE AET OF CEAMMIKG 



POULTRY : WHY THE FIRST CENSORS FORBADE THIS PRACTICE. 



The people of Delos were the first to cram poultry ; and it is 

 with them that originated that abominable mania for devouring 

 fattened birds, larded with the grease of their own bodies. I 

 find in the ancient sumptuary regulations as to banquets, that 

 this was forbidden for the first time by a law of the consul Caius 

 Fannius, eleven years before the Third Punic War ; by which it 

 was ordered that no bird should be served at table beyond a 

 single pullet, and that not fattened ; an article which has since 

 made its appearance in all the sumptuary-*' laws. A method, 

 however, has been devised of evading it, by feeding poultry upon 

 food that has been soaked in milk : prepared in this fashion, they 

 are considered even still more delicate. All pullets, however, 

 are not looked upon as equally good for the purposes of fatten- 

 ing, and onlj' those are selected which have a fatty skin about 

 the neck. Then, too, come all the arts of the kitchen — that 

 the thighs may have a nice plump appearance, that the bird 

 may be properly divided down the back, and that poultry may 

 be brought to such a size that a single leg shall fill a whole 

 platter.^ The Parthians, too, have taught their fashions to our 

 cooks ; and yet after all, in spite of their refinements in luxurj-, 

 no article is found to please equally in every part, for in one 

 it is the thigh, and in another the breast only, that is es- 

 teemed. 



CHAP. 72. — WHO FIRST INVENTED AVIARIES. THE DISH OF 

 ^SOPUS. 



The first person who invented aviaries for the reception of 

 all kinds of birds was M. Laenius Strabo, a member of the 

 equestrian order, who resided at lirundisiura. It was in his 

 time that we thus began to imprison animals to which Nature 

 had assigned the heavens as their element. 



(51.) But more remarkable than anything in this respect, is 



8 Those called Orchia, Didia, Oppia, Cornelia, Antia, and Julia namely. 



9 Eepositoriu. See Ji. iixiii. c. -id. See lUso li. u.. c. 13. 



M M 2 



