26o THE NINE FISH MOST HIGHLY PRIZED 



far and near ; see Horace, Sat., II. 2, 31 ; Macrobius, Sat., II. 

 12 ; and Juvenal, V. 103-8. The latter's " et solitus mediae 

 cryptam penetrare Suburae " was rendered quite clear only in 

 1743, when the remains of the Cloaca leading from the low- 

 lying ground to the Tiber were excavated. From this greedy 

 scavenging he is christened by Lucilius {Sal. 4, frag., 127, 

 Baehrens) "the platter- licker " (catillo) — 



" Hunc pontes Tiberinus duo inter captus catillo." ^ 



The Doctors once more are at variance. The Court, 

 unanimous that (in Walton's phrase) " its savour was excel- 

 lent," only by a majority (Galen and Celsus J.J.) upheld its 

 nutritive powers, Hicesius J. dissenting. Rondolet against 

 the volume of authority affirms that the Lupus of the sea is 

 of better quaHty than that of the river. PHny 2 dubs the 

 Lupus " lanatus " — not from his woolly appearance, or woolly 

 taste, but from the whiteness of his flesh — laudatissimus. 

 But by the time of Domitian it has fallen from its proudest 

 place. 



Its Aristophanic title of " the wisest of fish " was earned by 

 its cunning in escape from net or hook ; its method in the case 

 of the former is vouched for by Cassiodorus,^ and of the latter 

 by Ovid.4 



" quassatque caput, dum vulnere sasvus 

 Laxato cadat hamus et ora patentia linquat." 



PHny, commenting on the marvellous friendships and 

 hatreds which exist among fish, instances the astounding 

 combination of both in the lupus and the 7nugil (grey mullet), 

 " who burn with mutual hate for some, yet live in concord for 

 other, months of the year " — despite the cheery custom, 

 hereditary in the lupus, of nibbling off the tail of the mugil ; all, 

 however, Hve, " quibus caudae sic amputentur." ^ 



1 Cf. Macrobius, Sat.,\l. 12: "Lucilius . . . eum . . . quasi ligurritorem 

 catillonem appellat, scilicet qui proxime ripas stercus insectaretur." A -propos 

 of ' Catillo,' there is a quaint remark in the Gloss. Salorn., " Nomen piscis a 

 catino dictus ob cuius suavitatem homines catinum corrodunt " — the fish was 

 so delicious it made one fairly bite the dish ! 



- IX. 28. 



=* Epist., XI. 40. 



* Hal., 41 f. 



« A^. //.. IX.. 88- Arist.. H. A.. IX. 3. 



