198 AUSONIUS—SALMO— FIRST MENTION OF PIKE 



Attempts have been made to explain the absence of this 

 fish previous to Ausonius by identifying Esox lucius with 

 (A) the Oxyrhyjichus, and (B) the Lupus. These seem to me 

 unsuccessful.! 



Petrus Bellonius among the early writers upholds the first 

 identification. In his Observations de Plusieurs Singularitez, 

 Book II. ch. 32 (published 1553), " Le fleuve du Nil nourrit 

 plusieurs autres poissons, lesquelz toutes fois ie ne veul specifier 

 en ce lieu, sinon entat que le Brochet y est frequent, et que 

 nous avons difficult^ de luy trouver une appellation antique, ie 

 veul m6strer qu'il fut ancienement appelle Oxyrynchus." 



His effort breaks down for three reasons. First, ^Elian says 

 that the Oxyrhynchtis, — a fish supposed to have sprung from 

 the blood of the dead Osiris, or to be the impiscation (if the 

 word may be coined) of Osiris — although caught in the Nile 

 (X. 46, I, 12.), dwells mainly, or according to Plutarch, de 

 Iside et Osiride, 7, altogether in the sea, whereas our Esox can- 

 not endure sea-water. Second, the sharp pointed form of beak 

 (whence the name) cannot possibly represent the broad goose- 

 like mouthpiece of our Pike. Third, the size of the Oxyrhynchus, 

 often 8 cubits or 12 feet in length, 2 proscribes the Pike. 



Against the identification suggested by Franciscus Phila- 

 delphus of Esox lucius with Lupus two reasons lean heavily : 

 (A) the etymological impossibiUty of Xvkoq (because of the 

 wolflike nature of the Pike 3) changing into Lucius, and (B) the 

 Lupus is always in Greek called Xa/3|oa^, never Au/coc.^ 



^ For the attempt to identify the Esox with the Huso made by a French 

 writer, apud Vincentium, XVII. 53, and with the Salmon by other writers, see 

 J. G. Schneider, op. cit., pp. 24 and 126. 



2 yElian, N. H., XVII, 32. 



* The epigram on Pope Lucius III. (1181 to 1185 a.d.), who was banished 

 from Rome for his tyranny and exactions, is, both as a comparison and a con- 

 trast, apt. 



" Lucius est piscis rex atque tyrannus aquarum : 



A quo discordat Lucius iste parum. 

 Devorat ille homines, his piscibus insidiatur : 



Esurit hie semper, ille aliquando satur. 

 Amborum vitam si laus aequata notaret. 



Plus rationis habet qui ratione caret." 



* Athen., VII. 86 ; " The \a.$pa^ has his name from his voracity, \afip6Tris" 

 (cf. Opp., II. 130). It is said also in shrewdness he is superior to other fish, 

 being very ingenious in devising means to save himself, wherefore Aristophanes 

 the comedian writes : 



" Labrax, the wisest of all fish that be." 



