Stone Bass. 
Red Mullet. 
84 ON THE PEACE OF FISH IN. 
it ever has been, an object of inquiry to those who 
indulge in the luxuries of the table, so that it became 
a proverb that those who caught it never knew the 
taste of it ; but to obtain it in its perfection it ought to 
be in the hands of the cook within a few hours after it 
has been taken out of the water. The ancients were 
aware of this, and it was something more than curiosity 
which led the Romans to produce living fish on the 
table for the inspection of the guests, before they de- 
livered them to the cook. Seneca tells us they were 
scarcely valued unless they died in presence of the 
guests. 
In no article of luxury does it appear that the 
Romans of the Empire went to such extravagant and 
even ridiculous extent as in regard to this fish. 
They form an excellent dish at table. 
Lucullus is sufficiently known for the great expense 
he was at in forming his ponds,...and yet he was 
blamed by Hortensius for want of care in allowing 
his fish to remain in what he considered an unhealthy 
situation. 
Martial has an epigram on one who sold a valuable 
slave, that with the price he might for once thus 
indulge himself and be talked of, although, in fact, he 
gave his guest little else to eat. Under these cir- 
cumstances the price might be expected to be high. 
A Mullet of 21b., each pound 12 ozs., was expected to 
bring its weight in silver. This value, however, was 
often exceeded, and specially when the fish had grown 
scarce in their own waters, and in consequence were 
sought for on the distant coasts of Corsica and the 
south of Sicily... .Juvenal speaks of a single Sur- 
mullet as having obtained the price of almost fifty 
* _ 2 aan 
SS ~~ 
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