THE FLESH EATEN BY THE ROMANS. 255 



Mosaic law, the ostrich was denounced as an unclean animal, 

 and the Jews were, consequently, forbidden to eat it. The 

 Arabs of the present day still adhere to this prohibition. 

 Some of the native tribes of Southern Africa, however, are 

 less fastidious, and partake of the flesh with great relish, 

 more especially when fat. 



Though people at the present day place little or no value 

 'on the ostrich as an article of food, the ancient Romans, who 

 were great epicures, seem to have been of a diiferent opinion. 

 We are told by Yobiscus that the pseudo-Emperor Firmus, 

 "equally celebrated for his feats at the anvil and at the 

 trencher, devoured, in his own imperial person, an entire 

 ostrich at one sitting."* The brain of this bird was consid- 

 ered a superlative delicacy ; and, like every thing else with 

 that luxurious nation, it was provided on the most magnifi- 

 cent scale. Thus, according to an ancient testimony, the 

 Emperor Heliogabalus was served at a single feast with the 

 brains of six hundred of these birds. f 



If the flesh of the ostrich be not much esteemed, its easrs, 



7 CO 7 



at all events, are prized in the highest degree by natives and 

 travelers. To say nothing of their flavor, each contains as 

 much as twenty-four of the eggs of the barn-door fowl, and 

 weighs about three pounds. 



From the great size of the ostrich egg it might be supposed 

 that one would be a sufiicient meal for any man ; but I have 

 known instances where two eggs have been dispatched by a 

 single individual, even when mixed with a quantity of flour 

 and fat. Indeed, Hans and his companion once finished five 

 ostrich eggs in the course of an afternoon ! 



* Apicius gives a recipe for the best sauce. 



t The Romans, as is Avell known, also introduced large numbers of 

 ostriches into the circus, where they were butchered by the people. 

 We are told that no less than one thousand of these splendid creatures 

 (together with an equal number of the stag, the fallow deer, and the 

 boar tribe) were on one occasion brutally sacrificed to gratify the in- 

 satiable thirst for blood of the Roman populace. 



