i82 PLUTARCH— CLEOPATRA— OPPIAN—ATHEN^US 



and passionate pilgrims standing bare-legged, awaiting the 

 cure of the vapKi] ! 



Complaints of gout are rife, even among our fish-affecting 

 epigrammatists. From Hedylus, a singer rather of wine than 

 of fish, we trace the lineage of the disease, " of Bacchus the 

 limb-loosener, and of Venus the limb-loosener, is sprung a 

 daughter, a limb-loosener, the Gout " ! ^ 



As to spawning, every author from Herodotus down to 

 Izaak Walton has evolved various but mostly inaccurate 

 theories. Oppian (L 479 ff.) lays down that, as the passion of 

 Love overcomes fish, the bodies of the male and female meet 

 in the water and " exude mingled slime," which swallowed by 

 the female produces conception. To this (L 554 ff.) he allows 

 an exception in the case of the murcBncB. These mate with 

 land serpents, " who for a time lay aside their venom " : a 

 monstrous connection which finds affirmation by Sostratus 2 

 and by Pliny. ^ 



The touching charm of the passage * about the Naucraies 

 ductor or pilot fish (whence its name of /jyrjr/jjo), which for some 

 reason in more modern times has transferred its affection and 

 services from the whale to the shark, compels quotation : 



" Bold in the front the little pilot glides. 

 Averts each danger, every motion guides ; 

 With grateful joy the willing whales attend. 

 Observe the leader and revere the friend ; 

 True to the little chief obsequious roll. 

 And soothe in friendship's charms their savage souU 

 Between the distant eyeballs of the whale 

 The watchful pilot waves his faithful tail, 

 With signs expressive points the doubtful way. 

 The bulky tyrants doubt not to obey, 

 Implicit trust repose in him alone. 

 And hear and see with senses not their own ; 

 To him the important reins of life resign, 

 And every self-preserving care decline." ^ 



1 Anth. Pal.. XI. 414. « Athen., VII. 90. 



» N. H.. XXXII. 6. 4 Oppian, V. 66 ff. 



s Cf. Pliny, IX. 68; .Elian, II. 13 ; Plutarch, De Sol. Anim.. 31, With 

 this pilot fish must be mentioned that other, so famous in New Zealand waters, 

 " Pelorus Jack." A cetacean of the Dolphin tribe, he regularly met the coastal 

 steamers between Wellington and Nelson. The old Maori chief, Kipa Hemi. 



