FISHES THE FOOD OF MAN. 23 



anchovy (Encrasicholus engraulisj) so common 

 in the Mediterranean, was also known to the 

 Greeks and Eomans, who prepared a sauce 

 from it, much perhaps as we do now ; it was 

 called garum. Another sauce or pickle, made 

 from the tunny, was called muria, but it was 

 less esteemed than garum. There was also 

 another fish sauce, called alex^ or halex ; and 

 salt fish was also used in abundance. It 

 was sold in the Forum Piscatorium, by the 

 salsamentarii, or fishmongers. Fishing was a 

 favourite amusement among the Eomans ; they 

 used both lines and nets. Suetonius states, that 

 Nero was accustomed to fish with a net of gold 

 and purple ; and we learn from Plutarch, that 

 angling was one of the principal recreations of 

 the luxurious Anthony and Cleopatra. 



We need not extend our review to other 

 nations of antiquity, among whom, as in the 

 present day, fishes were of more or less import- 

 ance as an article of food ; and upon which, if 

 indeed we are to credit historians, some people 

 exclusively subsisted ; such were the Ichthyo- 

 phagi, who, according to various authorities, 

 not only lived entirely on these creatures, but 

 even constructed their habitations of the bones. 



