OSSEOUS FISHES. 593 



sums ; they cultivated the fish in their fish-ponds not only as a delicacy 

 of the table, but for the beauty of form and colour. This fierce love 

 of beauty, however, too often approached to cruelty. Seneca and 

 Pliny both give us to understand that the rich patricians of Eome 

 gave themselves the barbarous pleasure of seeing the mullet expire 

 under their eyes, in order to witness the various shades of purple, 

 violet, and blue which succeed each other from cinnabar red to the 

 palest white, as the animal gradually loses its strength, and expires 

 by a slow and cruel death. The great rival of Cicero, the advocate 

 Hortensius, who attracted crowds of people to the Forum by his 

 eloquent and elegant discourses, had an inordinate passion for this 

 kind of enjoyment. These little inhabitants of the waters were led 

 by a small canal which was carried under the festive table, and his 

 great enjoyment was to witness the agonies of the unhappy fish just 

 taken from its native element and carried to the table, palpitating 

 with its dying convulsions, as it perished beneath his eyes, he in the 

 meanwhile enjoying a sumptuous banquet. The possession of these 

 poor creatures had, in short, become the rage, a furious passion, and 

 their price soon became excessive. A fish of three pounds produced 

 a considerable sum to the fortunate fisherman, while one of four and 

 a half pounds was simply ruinous, says Martial. Asinius Gelius 

 purchased one for eight thousand sesterces (upwards of sixty pounds). 

 Under Caligula, according to Suetonius, three mullets cost thirty thou- 

 sand sesterces (about two hundred and forty pounds). Although it is 

 no longer the object of ferocious enjoyment on the one hand, or pro- 

 digal expenditure on the other, it is still much sought after, both for 

 its beauty of colour and excellent table qualities. It is found in many 

 seas, but particularly in the Mediterranean, where li is taken all 

 round the coast, usually in muddy bottoms ; it is fished for both by 

 line and net. 



The Gurnards (Trigla) are remarkable for the singular manner in 

 which the head is mailed and cuirassed ; the operculum and shoulder- 

 bones are armed with spines, having trenchant blades, which give 

 them a disagreeable, even a hideous, physiognomy, and has procured 

 them various names, such as sea-frog, sea -scorpion, sea-devil, and 

 sundry other equally significant names. With this forbidding appear- 

 ance, however, the gurnards are among the most resplendent inhabit- 

 ants of the sea. Nothing can exceed the beauty of their markings ; 



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